Merry Christmas!

Dear friends,

2008 was a very eventful year. In the course of all events, I did not see you as much as I would have wanted. Last January, I was convinced that this would be a better year. It surely turned out to be a better year.
After resigning from my ChristenUnie Party Amsterdam board membership and embracing my full identity, I feel stronger than before. There remains some challenges: my research work, my spiritual quest…
One New Year’s resolution that I will not keep in 2009 is to see my friends more often. End of March next year, I will leave for Beijing (China), for a two year research fellowship. After seven years in Amsterdam, I reckon a change of habitat will be stimulating, even when I really do love life in Amsterdam. I will try to make it to Europe every half a year; to work on the emancipation of gay Christians in the Netherlands, but also to see friends and family in this part of the world.
I wish you a merry Christmas and a blessed 2009!

Peace,

Sander

2008,Sander Chan,Amsterdam,Netherlands,Christmas

Heineken's closing down Beamish Beer! NO!

My favourite pint is a pint of Beamish, creamy, buttery and black. It was sad to see one of my favorite bars switching Beamish for another beer on draft. (What's the name again,... that cold tea... oh yes, Guiness!)
The Beamish brand was taken over by Dutch beer giant Heineken. Since Heineken owns more stout beer brands, it decided keeping Beamish is 'not a sustainable solution', whatever that means... Beamish' tradition goes back 210 years, so how sustainable can it get?

To quote a fellow blogger: Beer lovers unite!

Beamish,beer,Heineken,Ireland,brewery

A Sunday in Beijing: Some Photos

(Click photos to enlarge)

So I didn't get much time to take photos in Beijing, since I'm on a business mission. However, Sunday I took a walk through Beijing. A long walk, taking me from the most modern places of Beijing to the hutongs (alleys) where life does not seen to have changed much over the last decennials. Here I'm crossing a street to Tiananmen Square. Crossing streets in Beijing is the ultimate experience,... and for the ultimate experienced...

On Sunday, the Xidan area is crowded with shoppers. The new face of China is a consuming one. I was in a shopping mall so big I couldn't find my way out. The 'House of Books', must be the biggest bookstore I have ever see, I tried to find the English section but couldn't...
Tiananmen Square is just in front of the Palace Museum, a.k.a. the Forbidden city. The Square itself is enormous, the biggest in the world. In the middle of the square is Mao Zedong's mausoleum.
My hostel is in one of the many hutongs, the old alleys of Beijing (Downtown Backpacker's, a great choice!). The hutong (Nan Luo Gu Xiang) I'm in has been tou ched up quite a bit, with western style cafés and restaurants. But the side alleys are still the domain of the Beijingers.
Beijing is a city that is changing fast. I was here three years ago, but many places I don't recognize. Last year some 4 subway lines were added to Beijing's transport network (maybe a best practice for Amsterdam's 'Noord-Zuid Lijn'). But also new landmarks have been built, the Olympic Stadium (Bird's Nest), CCTV Headquarters (by the Dutch OMA buro), and here I'm standing in front of the National Theater by French Architect Jean Nouvel.
Beijing,architecture,hutongs,travel,accomodation

Eerste lesbische minister in Obama's regering?

De avond van Obama's overwinning voelde voor mij als bevrijdingsdag. Eindelijk gerechtigheid voor vele zwarte Amerikanen, eindelijk een zwarte Amerikaan op de hoogste post. Niet minder belangrijk: een einde aan de christelijk-rechtse koers van Bush die de wereld er niet vrediger op heeft gemaakt.
Die zelfde avond was er echter ook een verlies te betreuren voor homo's in Amerika. In Californië werd tegen het homohuwelijk gestemd, vaak juist door de zwarte bevolking, als ook christenen en mormonen.
Op één avond kon je zien dat er veel vooruitgang is geboekt sinds de jaren zestig, maar dat er ook nog een hele wereld te winnen valt.

En Obama? Obama valt niet tegen. Juist hij maakt zich sterk voor homo's. Niet alleen laat hij zich adviseren door een homoseksuele Anglicaanse bisschop (Gene Robinson), ook benoemt hij misschien de eerste openlijk lesbische minister in de VS, Mary Beth Maxwell. Maxwell wordt genoemd als minister voor werkgelegenheid.
Obama is een zelfbewuste president, die - voor Amerikaanse standaarden - radicale, liberale keuzes durft te maken, iemand die wel eens geschiedenis zou kunnen schrijven als breekijzer voor homo emancipatie.Obama,emancipatie,homo,politiek,Amerika

Me and Beijing

For the next two years I will have two homes. To do research on the emergence and the potential of partnerships for sustainable development, I'll move to Beijing in April. However, I'll try to be in Amsterdam twice a year.

At the moment I'm in Beijing to prepare for my big move. I will meet the professors I'll be working with and some of my colleagues. Also I'll do some interviews with representatives of partnerships.

You might wonder what partnerships are. Well, I've been working on them for almost three years and I also still wonder. They take many forms, but in general I'd describe them as collaborative arrangements between various sectors, for instance governments, NGOs and Business, that aim at protecting the environment, and promoting social and economic development. Or as the Chinese would say, partnerships that aim at a harmonious society.

Partnership is very much United Nations speak, but how does it work out domestically in China? In many ways China's legal system, NGO sector and government system are different from their Western counterparts, does this impact on the emergence and the potential of partnerships? These are some of the the questions I'll deal with the next two years.

I'll report on my project and my stay in Beijing the next three weeks. Greetings from Beijing, China!

China,Beijing,partnerships,sustainable development,travel

Is 'Pink' the Spirit of Christmas?

Various Dutch Christian commentaries have been harsh on 'Pink Christmas', the world's first gay Christmas market, to be held in Amsterdam. Jos de Keyzer, columnist at news site habakuk.nl, 'Pink Christmas suggests that Christian belief supports something (homosexuality) that it doesn't.' André Wisse, leader of a church says 'It defies Heaven that a Christian holiday is stained by homosexual manifestations'.

I understand the reactions from these Christians. I consider Christmas the celebration and commemoration of God's incarnation through Jesus Christ; a wonderful act of divine compassion. That Christmas has become a consumption frenzy, is quite far from the spirit of Christmas. I found myself often feeling guilty after being served much more than I could eat at Christmas dinners. How can I account for such waste when there's hunger in this world? Also, by celebrating Christmas like 'just another party' to live out our decadence,  we miss out on the opportunity to contemplate our personal lives and peace on earth.

That said, I must accept that my view of Christmas cannot be generalized as a standard for others. To some Christmas is all about friends and family, eating and drinking. To others it is all about making the best of a holiday. And maybe that is not too bad. The birth of Christ of course did not happen 2008 years ago on 25 December, rather the date has other - (heathen) mid-winter - origins. So one might as well argue that every day is Christmas, every day is a great day to remember Christ!

How about Pink Christmas? It is sad that homosexuality gets singled out again by Christian commentators. Why not critically note the commercialization of a Christian holiday? Why focus on an already much condemned group? Perhaps it is 'necessary' to proof one's orthodoxy?
I am absolutely sure that, whatever 'the Christian opinion' of homosexuality is, Christ accepted people as they are, male or female, Jew or Greek; there was no discrimination in Christ; well there's one exception... He only accepted sinners.

AD VENT!

Pink Christmas,gay,Christian,Jesus,Amsterdam

There ARE gay friendly traditional Churches, Hallelujah!

Article from: LaCrosse Tribune

Quaker statement on gay marriage
By DAVE CHAKOIAN | Viroqua, Wis.

On November’s ballot, Wisconsin will vote on a constitutional ban on same-gender marriages. We of Religious Society of Friends believe the movement to isolate and scapegoat homosexuals, to promote hatred against them, and to impose in law one group’s religious beliefs on us all, is blatantly immoral and contrary to Jesus’ teachings.

With half of marriages ending in divorce, unquestionably the right thing to do is to strengthen marriages. But diverting the question to whether two people of the same sex can have legal rights together completely loses track of the problem of frail marriages.
The proposed constitutional amendment really has nothing to do with marriage; it is a thinly veiled attack on gays and lesbians, part of a pattern of discrimination and institutionalized hatred. It is a strategy of power practiced by would-be tyrants throughout history.

Some have portrayed persecution and hatred of gays as a Christian thing to do. We can find nowhere that Jesus said anything about homosexuality. Nor did Jesus ever suggest encoding Christian teachings into a Sharia-like law to force religious beliefs on society.

We believe that God loves us all equally, and that we are called to treat each other with the same love in which God created us. We have no need to hate, or to discriminate against, any group for any reason. It is simply not Christian to do so.

David Chakoian is clerk of the Kickapoo Valley Monthly Meeting, Religious Society of Friends (Quaker).

gay,marriage,us,politics,Wisconsin