SANDER CHAN 陈文山

Democratie verslaat zichzelf op de Malediven

2012-02-09T17:39:00.001+08:00

Mohamed Nasheed is afgetreden als president van de Malediven, een overwegend moslim archipel ten zuid-westen van Sri Lanka, het kleinste land van Azië. Een ogenschijnlijk onbeduidend voorval in een politiek turbulente wereld. Maar in wereldpolitieke zin is Nasheed van groter statuur dan je zou verwachten van een president van een klein landje. Nasheed is in het westen vooral bekend om zijn vooruitstrevend beleid ten aanzien van klimaatverandering. Niet zo gek, want klimaatverandering bedreigt de Malediven heel direct. Op het internationaal toneel heeft hij zelfs zijn mannetje gestaan tegenover China, wat niet onopgemerkt is gebleven in de wereldpers.
Maar Nasheed is ook een lichtend voorbeeld van een democratisch leider in een islamitisch land. In oktober 2008, nog voor de Arabische lente begon, werd Nasheed verkozen tot president in democratische verkiezingen. Enerzijds getuigt Nasheeds aftreden van zijn geweldloosheid, anderzijds gaat het hier in feite om een staatsgreep geleid door een groep rond de autocratische oud-president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom en zijn handlangers. Wat er nu gebeurt in de Malediven is een trieste terugval voor de democratische wereld. Meer over Mohamed Nasheed en zijn aftreden door Mark Lynas.

Peiling: Even veel goede als slechte ervaringen bij 'Different'

2012-01-23T16:02:00.002+08:00

Different, de christelijke hulpverleningsorganisatie voor mensen die met homoseksualiteit worstelen, is veel genoemd dezer dagen. De organisatie zou homogenezing aanbieden en nog wel op kosten van de gemeenschap, iets waar Minister Schippers zo snel mogelijk een einde aan wil maken. Ervaringsdeskundigen denken echter vaak veel genuanceerder over Different. Dit blijkt uit een peiling gehouden op het Regenboogforum, een internetforum van christelijke homoseksuelen.

Uit de recent gehouden peiling blijkt dat Christelijke homoseksuelen lang niet allemaal aankloppen bij Different, een meerderheid is nooit cliënt geweest bij Different of haar voorganger EHAH. De helft van de mensen die wel hulp zochten bij een organisatie kwamen wel terecht bij Different. Het effect van hulpverlening bij Different werd even vaak positief als negatief ervaren.

Old news, but still relevant: the human cost of IPads and IPhones

2012-01-14T00:55:00.002+08:00

This week NPR's This American Life is entirely about Mike Daisey's research on Foxconn, one of Apple's main suppliers. Foxconn also supplies Nokia, Dell, Nintendo, Sony, etc. He reports on the the work conditions in China. Cramped quarters, repetitive motion injuries, child labour, unpaid over-hours,... We knew it, but do we care about it enough to make a change and challenge corporate misbehavior?

Daisey wrote on 'the dark side of Apple' in his book 'The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs'. Last year, Foxconn hit the headlines when workers committed suicide. Apple now says it's not being supplied by Foxconn anymore, but they don't name who their suppliers are. Daisey says Apple, a company that cares about every detail should know about the abuse, but Apple just didn't care enough. But it's not only Apple and its supplying companies who are to blame. The official Chinese unions, Western consumers,... throughout the whole consumer and production ecosystem people know about the poor labor conditions, people see it but perhaps they don't care enough.

There is some hopeful news though, wages in the areas that were visited by Daisey are rising. After media attention, some corporation are improving conditions for workers. This also highlights the role of the media, as a force that can pressure corporations to act more responsible.

Chinese "Geconfisceerde kinderen" in Nederland

2011-12-30T22:00:00.000+08:00

Ambtenaren in de Centraal-Zuid Chinese provincie Hunan, die verantwoordelijk zijn voor de uitvoering van het één-kind-beleid, blijken te handelen in zogenaamde 'geconfisceerde kinderen', zo melden de BBC en diverse Chinese media. Ouders die beboet worden voor het hebben van meer dan één kind en het niet op kunnen brengen riskeren confiscatie van hun kinderen en de sloop van hun huis.

Lokale ambtenaren zouden de afgelopen tien jaar geconfisceerde kinderen voor zo'n 2300 Euro ter adoptie hebben aangeboden aan buitenlandse adoptie-ouders. Volgens Xinhua, het Chinees persbureau, bevinden één of meer van deze kinderen zich nu in Nederland. Afgelopen maandag is een onderzoek begonnen door de Chinese autoriteiten. Er wordt gezocht naar ongeveer twintig kinderen.

In Memoriam: Václav Havel

2011-12-19T13:50:00.003+08:00

I wrote my master thesis in 2004 on the impact of Europeanization on the break-up of Czechoslovakia in 1993. During my research, it was hard to miss out on the historical significance of Václav Havel, poet and play-write, dissident and politician, and President of, first Czechoslovia, then the Czech Republic. (I think Havel is one of the very few people to have been state of head of two different countries, with the exception of instances in colonial and occupational empires.)

As one of the initiators of Charta77, a petition for democracy which still continues to inspire dissident groups around the world, Havel became a dissident leader. When a 'velvet revolution' overthrew the Czech and Slovak Communist Party, Havel led the transformation towards a multiparty democracy. During his terms as president, Havel had to cope with internal strife and an rapidly dissolving opposition movement (Civic Forum), and even the dissolution of his own state. In 1992 Havel saw - with great regret - Czechoslovakia falling apart. However, the unity of the country was the price to play in a poker game between Václav Klaus (Czech conservative politician, current Czech president) and Vladimír Mečiar (Slowak nationalist leader). According to me, another factor leading to Czechoslovakia's disintegration, oddly enough, is Europe's integration (which Havel staunchly supported). The Czech economy, with a relative strong service sector, was better adapted for a quick integration into the European - then - Community; while Slovakia had much more restructuring to do in its heavy (military) industry, paying a much higher price to integrate into the European Community and the global economy. Ironically, bot successor states would both enter the European Union in 2004.

Although, Havel had its critique on the practice of integration, his ideas and his ideals had a firm European outlook, a European vision (contrary to the current Czech president). During his presidential term, EC accession negotiations began. Charta77 was part of wider European movement for a post-cold-war, democratic Europe. In his last years, Havel was devoted to fighting racism and xenophobia in Europe.

Cannibalism on TV in the Netherlands

2011-12-13T16:41:00.003+08:00

In a shocking piece of reality show two Dutch TV hosts will put the question 'how does human flesh taste like?' to the test. They have had 2 to 3 inches of tissue surgically removed from their buttocks and stored in a freezer. Hosts, Valerio Zeno en Dennis Storm will consume each others meat on the show, to be aired this Wednesday, 14 December.

The show called 'proefkonijnen' (loosely translated as 'guinea pigs') is aired by BNN, a public broadcasting corporation and explores 'science questions'.

It is not the first time BNN raises controversy. In June 2007 it aired 'De Grote Donorshow' ('The Great Donor Show'), which involved a terminally ill old woman donating a kidney to one of twenty-five people requiring a kidney transplantation. The show ended with the host, Patrick Lodiers, revealing that the show was a hoax with the purpose of drawing attention to problem of shortage of donors.

Perhaps this latest piece of shock TV will also turn out to be a hoax; otherwise another low will be set in reality TV history.

Chinees persbureau Xinhua: Chinese Nederlanders zijn modelmigranten

2011-11-17T23:25:00.001+08:00

Het Chinees persbureau Xinhua besteedt aandacht aan Chinese migranten in Nederland. Met een paar verwijzingen naar rapporten van het Sociaal-Cultureel Planbureau concludeert de nieuwsorganisatie dat de Chinese bevolking in Nederland - met name de tweede generatie - bijzonder succesvol is; hoger opgeleid dan autochtonen, vloeiend Nederlands sprekend en relatief weinig werkloos.

Of Chinese Nederlanders zich nog echt Chinees voelen, daar spreken noch Xinhua noch SCP over. De 'Chinese Nederlander' categorie is sowieso al vaag, Indonesische, Antilliaanse en Surinaamse Nederlanders van Chinese afkomst tellen bijvoorbeeld niet mee in SCP analyses. Bovendien, beschouwen 'Chinese Nederlanders' zich überhaupt nog als Chinees? Het feit dat een deel van de zogenaamde Chinese Nederlands geen Chinese taal machtig is, is toch een indicatie dat velen zich niet meer als Chinees zien.

GDP

2011-11-10T23:57:00.000+08:00

In today's The Guardian: Green group accuses China of climate blackmail

2011-11-10T23:19:00.002+08:00

The row over hydrofluorocarbon-23 offsets has intensified before international climate negotiations in Durban this month
An environmental group has accused China of climate blackmail after threats to vent powerful greenhouse gases if Europe cuts off carbon credits next year. The row over hydrofluorocarbon-23 offsets – which have a much greater warming effect than carbon dioxide and linger in the atmosphere for 200 years – has intensified before international climate negotiations in Durban this month. Read more here.

Aandacht voor Nederland in Chinese National Geographic

2011-11-09T19:12:00.005+08:00

Het aantal Chinese toeristen in Nederland neemt sterk toe. Nederland promoot zich graag als vakantieland, maar ook in de Chinese media is er aandacht voor Nederland. De Chinese versie van National Geographic Traveller (时尚旅游) komt deze week met een bijlage over Amsterdam.

Volgens de bijlage was het percentage homo's in Amsterdam ooit 30%, maar - waarschuwt NGT China - van een homoparadijs is geen sprake, jaarlijks zijn meer dan 100 homo's slachtoffer van geweld. Verder is er in de bijlage (natuurlijk) aandacht voor het Nederlands drugsbeleid. Er is ook een interview te lezen met Baoluo Fanhuowen (Paul Verhoeven) over de meest succesvolle Nederlandse film in China*: Zwartboek (黑皮书).

Om het lezers gemakkelijk te maken is er zelfs een plattegrond bijgevoegd. Althans, de Brandenburger Tor op het Waterlooplein zoeken lijkt mij geen eenvoudige opgave (zie foto).

*Voor zover ik kan beoordelen op basis van het aantal illegale DVDs die op straat worden aangeboden.

Chinese Papercut... with a twist

2011-11-07T12:54:00.001+08:00

西伯利亚蝶 or Siberian Butterfly is one of the very few male Chinese paper cut artists. His work is beyond mere decorative. While using the ancient art of paper cut, his work shows conflict between tradition and modern ways of life. A gay man, he portrays the joy but also the guilt of sex. More works from Siberian Butterfly, click here.

Triodos Bank Occupies Times Square

2011-11-06T12:24:00.000+08:00

Triodos Bank, a Netherlands based ethical banking corporation with branches in Spain, Belgium, the UK, Germany and the US, was named the most sustainable bank in the world by the FT in 2009.

Triodos Bank recently took over the most famous ticker tapes in the world on New York's Times Squarre. Ordinarily, these screens show stock prices as anonymous numbers, but they were unexpectedly replaced with something altogether different.

By 'occupying' Times Square, Triodos Bank wanted to show that money is about much more than figures.

China gebruikt voortaan energiebesparende lampen

2011-11-05T13:01:00.001+08:00

China faseert de gloeilamp uit. En dat dát wat uitmaakt, daar schrijft the Guardian over. De overgang naar energiezuinige lampen levert een flinke besparing op. Vergeleken met oude gloeilampen zijn energiebesparende lampen tot 75% zuiniger. Wereldwijd wordt 20% van electiciteit gebruikt voor verlichting. Nu de productie van energiezuinige lampen in China flink toeneemt, zullen kosten door schaalvoordelen naar verwachting wereldwijd dalen.

Volgens de Guardian is het overstappen naar zuinige lampen de meest goedkope maatregel tegen klimaatverandering. De hoop is dat andere landen volgen.

China en duurzame ontwikkeling in 2011

2011-11-04T19:28:00.001+08:00

Het economisch succes van het China van de laatste decennia is onbetwist, de Volksrepubliek is erin geslaagd grootschalig armoede te bestrijden. Recentelijk is China zelfs Japan voorbijgestreefd als tweede economie van de wereld. China betaalt echter ook een hoge prijs voor deze economische ontwikkeling. De Wereldbank schat de jaarlijkse kosten ten gevolge van lucht- en waterverontreiniging op 6% van het BBP. Volgens de Wereld Gezondheidsorganisatie sterven zo’n 656.000 mensen jaarlijks aan luchtvervuiling gerelateerde aandoeningen, nog eens 95.600 sterven aan de gevolgen van vervuild drinkwater. China is ook één van de kwetsbaarste landen voor klimaatverandering, in toenemende mate zullen Chinezen extreme droogte, overstromingen en hittegolven ervaren. Bovendien is de wereldwijde impact van China’s ontwikkeling groot. China is de grootste producent van broeikasgassen; China’s luchtvervuiling word zelfs aan de overkant van de Stille Oceaan gevoeld en het smelten van de gletsjers op in de Himalaya en op de Tibetaanse hoogvlakte (ook wel de ‘derde pool’ genoemd) heeft grote gevolgen voor de watervoorziening in grote delen van Azië. Het meest recente (12e) Vijfjarenplan, door het Volkscongres goedgekeurd op 14 maart 2011, weerspiegelt de groeiende zorg van het Chinees leiderschap om duurzame ontwikkeling. Voor het eerste wordt aan klimaatverandering en energie een apart hoofdstuk gewijd, met schijnbaar ambitieuze doelstellingen. Zullen deze doelstellingen China leiden op het pad van duurzame groei?

Na de klimaatconferentie in 2009 in Kopenhagen, kondigde China een middellange-termijn doelstelling aan om de CO2 intensiteit (emissies ten opzichte van het BBP) te verminderen met 40-45% tegen 2020 (ten opzichte van 2005). Klimaat en energie ambities in het nieuwe vijfjarenplan zijn in overeenstemming met deze langetermijn doelstelling. In 2015 moet het energieverbruik per eenheid van het BBP dalen met 16%; koolstofdioxideuitstoot per BBP moet met 17% afnemen. Deze doelstellingen zijn nu eens ambitieus genoemd, dan weer 'business as usual'. Wat zeker is, is dat de absolute verandering van de emissies zal afhangen van economische groei. Wat dat betreft stelt de Chinese regering een opmerkelijk lage groeidoelstelling (7%) (vergeleken bij de dubbele cijfers van de afgelopen jaren).Hoewel de intensiteit van energieverbruik en koolstofdioxide moet afnemen, mogen ze in absolute hoeveelheden toenemen naar gelang de economie groeit. Een absolute groei van uitstoot is dus meer dan waarschijnlijk.

Toch laat China's doelstelling vele landen ver achter zich (India richt zich op 20 tot 25% vermindering van intensiteit van 2020, de VS stellen een reductie van 4% in absolute emissies). Terwijl na de economische crisis van 2008 veel landen snijden in onderzoeks- en duurzame ontwikkelingsinvesteringen, steekt de Chinese regering tot 2020 naar schatting zo’n 540 miljard euro in nieuwe energie. Tot 2020 zal naar verwachting 320 euro geinvesteerd worden in milieubescherming. Ook zogenaamde ‘sleutelindustrieen' kunnen veel fikse investeringen verwachten, bijvoorbeeld de alternatieve energie automobielindustrie kan zo’n 11 miljard euro verwachten, totale investeringen zullen zeer waarschijnlijk nog veel hoger uitvallen door particuliere investeringen. Innovatie wordt verder gestimuleerd door een toename in R&D-uitgaven (2,2% van het BBP). Het aandeel van niet-fossiele energie zal stijgen van 8,3% 11,4%. Daarbij moet opgemerkt dat niet alle 'nieuwe energie' duurzaam is; nucleaire capaciteit zal toenemen tot 40 miljoen kW in 2015. Ook de waterkrachtcapaciteit zal worden vergroot tot 120 miljoen kW, soms door grootschalige dammen in ecologisch kwetsbare gebieden. Echter, China bevestigt ook haar rol als wereldleider windenergie; windenergiecapaciteit zal naar verwachting toenemen tot 70 miljoen kW, een stijging van 225% ten opzichte van 2010. Zonne-energiecapaciteit zal zelfs 715% toenement tot 5 miljoen kW.

Daarnaast worden in het vijfjarenplan ook doelen gesteld ten aanzien van andere aspecten van duurzame ontwikkeling dan energie en klimaat. Bijvoorbeeld watergebruiksintensiteit moet met 30% afnemen. Bovendien zet China in op prolongatie van haar titel als wereldkampioen van (her)bebossing; het bosareaal zal moeten toenemen tot 21,66% (thans 19%), de bosvoorraad moet toenement met 600 miljoen kubieke meter, een significante contributie aan CO2-opslag.

Maar wat betekent zo’n vijfjarenplan? Uitvoering van beleid in China is immers bekend om de ineffectiviteit. Om te voldoen aan de emissiedoelstellingen van het laatste vijfjarenplan hebben enkele lokale overheden stroomonderbrekingen opgelegd, waardoor verkeerslichten werden uitgeschakeld en soms zelfs ziekenhuizen zonder elektriciteit kwamen te zitten. Groeiende regionale verdeeldheid bemoeilijken bovendien de uitvoering. Rijkere kustprovincies moeten de meeste emissiereducties realiseren, terwijl deze reducties hier duurder zijn dan dan elders. Armere provincies in het binnenland zijn op hun beurt niet bereid groei op te offeren voor emissiereducties. Toch is het vijfjarenplan meer dan een wenslijst. Het bereiken van de in het vijfjarenplan gestelde doelen is voor het Chinees leiderschap een kwestie van politieke legitimiteit. Bovendien zijn duurzame ambities in het nieuwe vijfjarenplan beter ingebed in een structurele ontwikkelingsvisie dan voorheen, ze maken deel uit van een bredere strategie om het macro-economische evenwicht te bewaren. China wil leider worden in duurzame 'sleutelindustrieën', onder andere: nieuwe energie, energiebesparing en schone(re) mobiliteit. Het aandeel van deze industrieën in het BBP moet stijgen tot 8% in 2015 (nu 5%, in 2020 is 15% het doel). Effectieve uitvoering wordt verder ondersteund door een aanpassing van het ambtelijk evaluatiesysteem, waarin met milieuprestaties zwaarder gaan meewegen. Dit is een grote verandering ten opzichte van het recente verleden, waarin carrièrevooruitzichten van ambtenaren bijna uitsluitend afhingen van het realiseren van economische groei, met vaak in rampzalige gevolgen voor het milieu. Bovendien wil de Chinese overheid sterker meer partners, zal betrekken de uitvoering, onder anderen bedrijven en consumenten (die steeds machtiger worden naar mate het besteedbaar inkomen groeit) . Het vijfjarenplan stelt ook marktinstrumenten in het vooruitzicht, door beprijzing, belastingen en andere marktmaatregelen wil China stimulansen creëren voor bijvoorbeeld energiebesparing. Tegelijkertijd lijkt een paradox te ontstaan tussen enerzijds de toenemende afhankelijkheid van consumenten en markten en anderzijds de beperkingen op maatschappelijke organisatie.

China’s relatief ambitieuze doelstellingen moeten andere landen inspireren om eigen stappen te zetten op weg naar een duurzame toekomst. Toenemende innovatie en investeringen in belangrijke sectoren biedt kansen voor internationale samenwerking met China, maar veel westerse landen zullen concurrentiepositie verliezen in sommige bedrijfstakken. Wat betreft klimaatverandering, wat een 'eerlijke' inspanning is blijft de vraag. Absolute reductieverplichten van de EU en de VS (respectievelijk 20 tot 30% en 4% in 2020) zijn moeilijk te vergelijken met China’s relatieve doelstellingen, maar China is nauwelijks minder ambitieus gezien haar ontwikkelingsniveau. Het vijfjarenplan is niet het einde van een proces. Sectorale, regionale doelstellingen en gedetailleerde voorschriften worden nader geformuleerd. China’s bationale energie-autoriteit heeft bijvoorbeeld gezinspeeld op het instellen van een maximaal energiegebruik basis van 7% groei. Bovendien is China begonnen met proefprojecten voor de ontwikkeling van een emissierechtenhandelssysteem. De uitkomst van deze processen is onvoorspelbaar, zeker gezien de aankomende leiderschapswisseling in 2012. In het recente verleden hebben dergelijke leiderschapswisseling grote invloed gehad op beleid. Toch heeft het Chinees leiderschap duidelijk duurzame ontwikkeling en ‘low-carbon’ ontwikkeling geintegreerd in haar visie op ontwikkeling.

De prominente positie van duurzame ontwikkeling in het leidend beleidsdocument van China weerspiegelt niet enkel een papieren verplichting, maar vertegenwoordigt omvangrijke financiering en bureaucratische herstructurering. Hoewel de doelstellingen ambitieus zijn volgens sommige normen, hebben zij niet automatisch een verbeterd milieu tot gevolg. Sommige beleidsmaatregelen zullen de levenskwaliteit direct verbeteren door verminderde luchtvervuiling in de stad of waterverontreiniging. Door het gebruik van betere technologieën en beleidsinstrumenten is het waarschijnlijk dat veel Chinezen een schonere toekomst tegemoet zien. Ander beleid is echter minder effectief, woestijnvorming blijft bijvoorbeeld een groot probleem. Voor sommige regionale en mondiale milieuproblemen is "ambitieus" bovendien niet genoeg. In de nabije toekomst zal een lagere emissie-intensiteit nog steeds leiden tot een hogere uitstoot. De verantwoordelijkheid hiervoor kan niet uitsluitend worden gelegd bij China of (ontwikkelings)landen. Westerse landen die ambitieus zijn geven China een eenvoudig (en tot op zekere hoogte een gerechtvaardigd) excuus om niet-duurzame economische activiteiten voort te zetten en uit te breiden. De netto-effecten van de toekomste ontwikkeling in China zullen, ondanks de ambitieuze doelstellingen, rampzalig zijn voor het mondiale milieu.Wereldwijde veranderingen in het milieu, zoals klimaatverandering, noodzaken wereldwijde samenwerking. China heeft met haar ambitieuze planning te kampen met uitvoering door some onwillige lagere bestuursniveaus en door gebrek van medewerking van verschillende sectoren. Het Westen draagt duurzame ontwikkeling in het vaandel, maar valt gemakkelijk ten prooi aan korte-termijn electorale overwegingen en particuliere belangen. In plaats van deze modellen voor duurzame ontwikkeling tegenover elkaar te steelen, is het van elkaar te leren en tot een betere en wereldwijde samenwerking te komen op het pad van duurzame ontwikkeling.

Henk Krol vergelijkt weigerambtenaren met nazi's

2011-11-04T18:23:00.002+08:00

Nou dat helpt ook niet echt. Henk Krol heeft zeker nooit van Godwin's Law gehoord en haalt de nazi's er wel erg snel bij. Trouwens, ook niet cool dat hij zijn oma erbij haalt... wat een onderschatting van andermans lijden. Er is nogal een verschil tussen je gekwetst/oneerlijk behandeld voelen en in tot aan de dood toe vervolgd te worden.

Oud-CU senator: bestrijden homohuwelijk was intolerant

2011-11-04T09:39:00.001+08:00

In het Reformatorisch Dagblad van 28 oktober 2011, in een artikel dat betoogt dat christenpolitici toleranter zijn dan seculiere politici, staat een opmerkelijke quote van oud-senator Schuurman.

De christelijke partijen die nu ruimte vragen voor gewetensbezwaarde trouwambtenaren, hebben het zogeheten homohuwelijk altijd fel bestreden. En daarmee dus geen ruimte gegeven aan mensen van hetzelfde geslacht die ook graag met elkaar wilden trouwen.
Oud-CU-senator Schuurman was de eerste die toegaf „dat het best zo zou kunnen zijn dat wij zelf te ver zijn gegaan.”

In tegenstelling tot de haakse conclusie van het RD duidt deze quote op behoorlijke tekortkomingen in de verdraagzaamheid van christenpolitici. Het is echter positief dat er een groeiend besef is onder sommige ChristenUnie politici dat het fel bestrijden van het homohuwelijk een historische vergissing was.

China, EU pass youth leaders statement

2011-10-27T18:12:00.000+08:00

I attended the EU-China Youth Leaders Summit this week as a part of the EU youth delegation. Here is a report by China's press agency Xinhua. The Youth Leaders Summit suffered from the cancellation of the EU-China Summit in Tianjin. EU government leaders had to attend emergency meetings in Brussels on the European debt crisis. Therefore the only EU delegates to finally go to Tianjin were the EU youth representatives.

BEIJING, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- The EU-China Youth Leaders Summit concluded on Monday with the issuance of the EU-China Youth Leaders Statement.
The three-day summit, co-organized by the All-China Youth Federation and the European Commission, is a part of a series of "flagship events" for the EU-China Year of Youth.
Young people from both sides are using the events to discuss various topics, including the role of young people in an aging society, climate change and sustainable development, the role of regional organizations and youth entrepreneurship.
Highlighting the positive aspects of the Year, especially the launch of new initiatives between Chinese and European youth, the EU-China Youth Leaders Statement aims to boost future cooperation between the EU and China.
The statement said Chinese and European youth organizations should be effectively involved in the formulation, implementation and monitoring of the EU-China strategic partnership and provided with adequate support as they strive to contribute to the further development of youth policy dialogues.
The statement also urges the establishment of a mechanism for structured dialogues between youth stakeholders, academics, the private sector, civil society and decision-makers from China and the EU, in order to allow them to follow policy discussions and monitor their implementation, ensure ongoing dialogues and raise awareness on common global challenges.
The creation of multiple avenues, including online platforms and networks, is recommended to inspire young people to share the knowledge created through experience and success, the statement said.
Premier Wen Jiabao and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barosso jointly initiated the EU-China Year of Youth during the 12th EU-China summit held in 2009.
The initiative aims to promote intercultural dialogue and strengthen mutual understanding and friendship between young people in China and the EU, as well as encourage them to support the development of China-EU relations.
Lu Yongzheng, vice president of the All-China Youth Federation, said during the closing ceremony of the EU-China Youth Leaders Summit that the Year has won active support and involvement from young people of both sides.
"It proved to be fruitful in expanding consensus and cooperation between youth and youth organizations of both sides," Lu said.
Youth exchanges are an important part of people-to-people exchanges, Lu said, adding that the development of people-to-people exchanges not only complies with the common interests and needs of both sides, but are also a necessity for the continued development of EU-China relations.
Lu expressed his hope that new media, especially official websites, microblogs and mobile phones. should be extensively used to promote EU-China youth exchanges and relations.
European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth Androulla Vassiliou also made an appearance at the closing ceremony.

Jem Bendell Talks Money Myth

2011-10-27T09:34:00.003+08:00

Behind the current economic crisis, environmental crisis, lies a hidden crisis of money creation.

God is not a white man

2011-10-01T19:02:00.002+08:00

Maldives, a small nation leads the way in low-carbon development

2011-09-29T18:49:00.003+08:00

Following my friend on his assignment, I joined him in the Maldives, an azure string of atolls in the Indian Ocean, Asia's smallest country. We joined a Maldives official to one of the many islands to meet his wife's family, enjoy home cuisine, wander about and swim from our island to another one. A perfect opportunity to get to know the Maldives beyond its famous resorts, and the capital Male'.

I learned that Maldives is much more than a collection of high-end island resorts catering honeymooners. According to legend, in the twelfth century a Muslim traveller found the Maldives haunted by a sea monster, Rannamaari. To appease the monster, every month a virgin was sacrificed. The traveler went instead of the virgin to the sacrificial site on the night of the offering to read verses from the Quran. And thus the traveler ridded the Maldivians of the monster, and the people embraced Islam. The woman who told me the story pointed out that - in fact - the Maldives were Buddhist before, adding in a most matter of fact way "it's not true".

Resort tourists may miss out on the religion and culture of the Maldives, as islands perfectly isolate the paradise experience. My friend asked when the women start to wear head scarfs, she explained that head scarfs are actually a relatively new phenomenon. Since the devastating Tsunami in December 2008, some mullahs preached that it was because women not wearing head scarfs. She told us how Saudi Wahabists are funding local groups, opposing the current government. She refers to Mohamed Nasheed, once opposition leader against the authoritarian president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. President Nasheed has made a point of allowing for opposition and even extremist voices, having himself been imprisoned many times before under the former regime. Some Malivians would rather have Nasheed acting more decidedly against extremism. However, it is hard not to admire the current President for leading his country towards democracy. If only for that Nasheed should be considered a man greater than one would expect to find from such a small country. However Nasheed really claims a place among world leaders as an climate activist. In preparation of the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, the President and his cabinet held a much televised underwater meeting; as a sort of gloomy forecast of what would become of the Maldives if seawater levels would continue to rise and coral reefs would die. He also announced the bold target for the the Maldives to become the world's first carbon neutral country in 2020.

Currently the government seems to put a great effort to realize the 2020 goal. Whether the targets will be entirely reached or not, the Maldives are clearly leading the way in a world that is reluctant to switch from carbon fueled development.

There is also the "It does NOT get better campaign"

2011-09-03T01:30:00.000+08:00

Dit gebeurt vandaag de dag, niet alleen in Amerika, maar ook in Nederland.

We Accept Food Stamps

2011-06-24T10:41:00.003+08:00

We Accept Food Stamps, a photo by Man-san on Flickr.

I took this photo on my first visit to New York in 2007. This photo will appear as a 1/3 page chapter opener in the 3rd edition of ECONOMICS by Paul Krugman and Robin Wells.

"True Love Hesitates"

2011-06-23T15:23:00.001+08:00

Stillforus 'a place for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people to explore the place where our sexuality and spirituality meet' features a post 'True Love Hesitate': "what if the idea of sexual purity is more about why we have sex with someone than it is about whether we have sex with someone?".

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'True Love Hesitates'

Contrary to popular belief, being gay isn’t all about sex. Homosexuality is about emotional and spiritual attraction as much as it’s about physical attraction. But let’s be honest… it’s also sometimes about sex.

When straight Christians speak against homosexuality, I think their problem isn’t just with the mechanics of our sex life (what we like to do with our genitals), but also with the volume of our sex life (how many people we do these things with).

Many straight Christians feel that being gay is immoral not just because LGBT people might want to have sex with someone of our own gender… but because they assume we want to have sex with anyone (and possibly everyone) of our own gender. They think we’re “loose.” They think we’re “promiscuous.” They think we’ll have sex with anything that wiggles.

In his article “Christians and the Sin of Hating Homosexuals,” Randal Rauser (professor of historical theology at Taylor Seminary), says:

This seems to be the reasoning [of many straight Christians]: an additional reason to reject homosexuality is because homosexuals are generally more promiscuous than heterosexuals.
Here’s the problem. The degree to which there is promiscuity in the homosexual community has absolutely NOTHING to do with homosexuality per se. And how do I know this? Because it is a male problem, not a “homosexual” one. Males have a very different libido than females. So it is hardly surprising that when males are attracted to males, promiscuity rates rise. Consider this experiment: do you suppose that the average number of sexual partners for your typical male sports hero or rock star is closer to the number of the average heterosexual male or homosexual male? Clearly the latter. And the reason is opportunity: they have women willing to meet their sexual desires on a regular basis. We definitely can’t blame Tiger Woods’ fall from grace on homosexual tendencies. So we shouldn’t be blaming homosexuality per se for male homosexual promiscuity rates. Rather we should blame the male gender.
(Need it be said that Jesus doesn’t see much difference between the male who sleeps with six hundred partners and the male who would have slept with six hundred partners if only he had the opportunity? I would have thought the Sermon on the Mount made that point clear enough.)

Promiscuity isn’t a gay problem… it’s a human problem. Pretty wise, eh?

Those of us raised in churches that preached “no sex before marriage” undoubtedly feel the tension between sexual desire, sexual opportunity, and sexual purity.

As teenagers, our youth pastors taught us that “True Love Waits.” Of course, if our teenage self was “playing straight,” it wasn’t hard to wait. In fact, waiting was easier than the alternative. “Purity” was our excuse to not do the things we really didn’t want to do anyway.

After we give ourselves permission to be gay, however, the game changes. As gay people with lots of gay opportunities, the ideal of sexual purity starts to sound, well… idealistic. Especially for guys in relationships with other guys, the combined demands of two testosterone driven sex drives can be overwhelming. “Wait” feels practically impossible. We begin to wonder if “True Love Hesitates” might be a little more realistic.

Many of us also begin to wonder whether the church is more concerned with sex than it should be. And to prove how open minded, free spirited, and sexually uninhibited we are, we give in to the gay stereotype (and our newly liberated sex drives) and have sex at every opportunity.

In essence, we rebel against purity.

But what if the idea of sexual purity is more about why we have sex with someone than it is about whether we have sex with someone?

If Jesus is as concerned with our motivations as he is about our actions (as the Sermon on the Mount suggests), does this new perspective take away a few of the hang-ups our sexually obsessed churches have given us, while still maintaining a standard that would make Jesus proud?

Cures that Kill - Documentary about turning gay people straight in China

2011-05-19T09:43:00.001+08:00

Posted on TimeOut Beijing: May 2011

How much does it cost to become straight in China? Staff at Beijing’s Guo’ao Psychology Hospital claim that they can straighten you out in two to five sessions (500RMB-800RMB a pop) once you have paid a 10RMB registration fee. Although, they caution, everyone’s situation is different and it may take a lot longer.

The information was provided through a chat window on the hospital’s website manned by the therapists themselves – therapists seemingly chafing at the bit to get anyone who inquires to register and sit themselves on the couch as soon as possible. And that, says filmmaker Xiaogang Wei (pictured), is what ‘curing’ gays is all about: profits.

‘It’s very clear they just want our money’ says Wei, who is currently working on a documentary about the practice. ‘They tell us: “As long as you are gay, we will still treat you.”’ Wei is also the founder of Queer Comrades, an online podcast of gay themed shows, which will also host this film.

He describes how he was inspired to begin the project. ‘About two years ago, a Chinese company started to sell a special pill online [治同性恋胶囊 or Cure Homosexuality Medical Capsule] that was said to cure gayness, 100 per cent,’ Wei explains. Of course, it couldn’t, he adds, and the product has since been withdrawn after an outcry from the gay community and several academics. But it planted the seed in Wei’s mind to further explore the topic.

We have all heard of mostly religious-based sexuality conversion camps in the West (Exodus International is one of the more notorious ones). China has nothing like that, says Wei, but there are many hospitals, including Guo’ao in Beijing, claiming to be able to cure homosexuality.

Wei and his team contacted four or five of these hospitals around the country, asking them for an interview. All declined. However, they did record phone inquiries with hospital staff where they asked for details of the treatment. It’s not as bad as it sounds. The therapists said they were open to counselling patients to accept their sexual orientation, not just to help them to become straight. (‘That’s up to the patient to decide.’) Their methods are restricted to therapy – there is no electric shock treatment or pills to take. One doctor said he had many patients, some who voluntarily came and others who were brought in by their parents. Another said: ‘If you’ve been around the gay circuit for many years, then your chances of being cured are not so good.’ But they all said they had had successful cases where gay patients turned straight.

Until 2001, China classified homosexuality as a mental disorder. Now, like in most of the rest of the world, gays and lesbians are being cautiously accepted as part of society. So why, then, are hospitals trying to cure something that is officially not a disease?

‘China has lots of rules and lots of contradictions. Homosexuality is no longer an illness yet you still have these hospitals that claim they can cure you. It doesn’t make sense,’ mulls Wei. ‘And these hospitals can legally and openly advertise these services online, but there’s nobody to supervise what they are doing.’

In the film, Fang Gang, a sexologist from Beijing Forestry University, explains that one of the main problems is that university textbooks still talk about homosexuality as a 变态 (perversion) and this may be what causes health professionals to misunderstand it.

The documentary will be showing at the French Cultural Centre to mark the International Day Against Homophobia (Tuesday 17). As well as an interview with Fang (who is pro sexual diversity), the film features several therapists who help gays and lesbians come to terms with their sexuality, and some surprises.

Wei adds that it was a shame he didn’t get any of the hospitals to agree to an interview or find someone who had successfully undergone sexual reorientation therapy to appear on camera, but it is not his style to go undercover or to arrange hidden identity interviews.

‘I don’t like this style of documentary, of going undercover,’ he explains. ‘In one way, I would feel like I am doing something really good, but in another way I would feel that I am creating weird ways to explore the truth. It’s just a way I don’t like to find the truth.’ The whole point of Queer Comrades, he explains, is to encourage gays and lesbians to come out in the open and feel good about their sexuality. And so his style of filmmaking has to reflect this.

Queer Comrades look into Gay therapy in China

2011-05-19T09:28:00.001+08:00

The French Embassy, the British Embassy and Queer Comrades are holding an event in connection with the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO) on Thursday 19 May, 14.00 – 16.00 pm.

IDAHO raises awareness of discrimination and challenges faced by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered (LGBT) people. Our theme this year is “Homosexuality – Not a Mental Disorder”. Mental health professionals play a vital role in helping LGBT people deal with their sexuality and giving them the right support. We would like to invite you to attend this event to meet and interact with representatives of LGBT civil society organizations, mental health professionals as well as the international community to explore these issues.

The event, hosted by the French and British Embassy, will take place at the Institut Français in Beijing. It will consist of an introduction of the topic of LGBT and mental health by Dr. Fang Gang (Expert Sexologist, Institute of Sexualities and Gender Studies at Beijing Forestry University) and a screening of the documentary “Cures that Kill” by the LGBT organization Queer Comrades. This will be followed by an informal networking event where you are encouraged to get to know the Beijing LGBT organizations.

This is also activism in China (and we think it's silly)

2011-05-08T14:46:00.002+08:00

Just one day after Apple's iPad 2 launch drew long lines in China, conflicting reports emerged Saturday regarding an alleged altercation at an Apple Store in Beijing.
....The report alleges that a near "riot" erupted after retail staff attempted to close the store and usher customers out the back door. A separate unconfirmed report claims that a fight broke out between "a foreigner and a Chinese man," though MacX notes that the information "is difficult to distinguish between true or false."

I am slightly worried about Western portayals of Chinese, as a consuming frenzy mass. Though I cannot deny it is not there, or that materialism is not the near national religion of China (very consistent with Marxist ideology). However to emphasise and reduce people to mere economic beings is a worrying trend, not only in China. How different is it from consumerism in China from elsewhere, in the West? Domestic consumption in China, while representing close to 2 trillion USD in value, is still low compared to Western countries. Moreover, consumption in China cannot be seen as separate from a globalized world. It could well be that the 'riots' are organized (or allowed) by the company in question to help to create an air of desirability to the product; that is what I heard from an Apple app developer in Beijing. The perverseness of this consumerist religion is not limited to class or country. To only show how 'silly' (some) Chinese-comme-consumer act is like saying 'remove that splinter' while not seeing the beam in your own eye.

Landelijke manifestatie: "Schoon genoeg van kernenergie"

2011-03-31T02:16:00.002+08:00

Een blog geleden heb ik gesteld dat de anti-kernenergy lobby in Nederland op haar lauweren rust. Ik ging onder andere af op de schaarse mediaberichtgeving en het teleurstellende gebrek aan activiteit bij het Landelijk Platform Tegen Kernenergie. Gelukkig zat ik fout! Een gezamelijk initiatief is opgezet door Comité Borssele2Nee, DWARS (GroenLinks jongeren), GroenLinks, Greenpeace, Jongeren Milieu Actief, Stichting Laka (Landelijk Kernenergie Archief), Milieudefensie, Natuur en Milieu, Partij van de Arbeid, Partij voor de Dieren, ROOD (SP jongeren), SP en WISE (netwerkorganisatie tegen kernenergie) en de twaalf Natuur en Milieufederaties.

Deze coalitie van maatschappelijke organisaties en politieke partijen roept op tot een landelijke manifestatie tegen kernenergie op 16 april op de Dam in Amsterdam. Helaas is ChristenUnie niet van de partij, hoewel zij ook - voorlopig - tegen kernenergie is; dit heeft waarschijnlijk te maken met het feit dat men vreest geassocieerd te worden met 'links'. Jammer, want kernenergie is geen exclusief links thema en moet dat ook niet zijn.

De doel is omschreven als: "Laat samen met ons zien dat Nederland schoon genoeg heeft van kernenergie. Dit kabinet moet kiezen voor een schone en veilige energietoekomst." Daarbij moet gemeld worden dat de actie met name betrekking heeft op de bouw van een nieuwe kerncentrale (zoals het huidig kabinet van zins is). Het gaat dus niet direct over de sluiting van de bestaande centrale in Borsele, of de onderzoeksreactor in Petten. Dit blijkt uit de rondzendbrief die ondertekenaars aan hun contacten kunnen doorsturen:

"Hallo,

Ik heb net de petitie 'Schoon genoeg van kernenergie' ondertekend, omdat ik niet wil dat er nieuwe kerncentrales worden gebouwd in Nederland. Kernenergie is onveilig, duur en zadelt ons 240.000 jaar op met levensgevaarlijk afval. Het kabinet moet juist kiezen voor een schone en veilige energietoekomst. Vind jij dat ook? Teken dan hier.

Bedankt!"

De website is zelf karig, er wordt bijvoorbeeld niet op aangegeven wat verstaan wordt onder 'schoon'/'vuil'; er is weinig achtergrondinformatie. Dat is jammer. Ik hoop dat de boodschap duidelijk mag zijn:

Risico's zijn niet te verzekeren, de (verzekerings-)kosten worden afgewenteld op de burger
Kerncentrales zijn niet niet emissievrij (op dit moment een populair argument van de kernenergielobby)
We blijven duizenden jaren opgescheept zitten met radioactief afval, een permanente oplossing blijft uit
Investeringen in een nieuwe kerncentrale ten koste gaan van investeringen in duurzame energie
Veiligheidssystemen worden telkens weer verslagen door 'menselijke fouten' (zo bewijst elk incident weer)

"I preached against homosexuality, but I was wrong"

2011-03-28T19:20:00.000+08:00

American news site Salon.com features an interview with Murray Richmond, a Presbyterian minister for 17 years and a hospital chaplain for three years.
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As a Presbyterian minister, I believed it was a sin. Then I met people who really understood the stakes: Gay men.

A recent poll shows a huge shift in American attitudes toward gay marriage, from a 32 percent approval in 2004 to 53 percent today. I am one of those people who changed their minds.

In 1989 when I was ordained as a minister to serve a small church in North Carolina, homosexuality was an invisible issue. Gay rights were barely on the radar of mainstream churches. The idea of an openly gay pastor was beyond the pale.   I knew there were "gay churches," of course, but I did not believe one could be a practicing homosexual and a Christian. The Bible was straightforward on this issue. It all seemed incredibly obvious to me. But over the next five years, homosexuality not only became an issue -- it became The Issue. Sides were drawn, and those of us in the middle were pulled to either end. I was a biblical Christian, of the "hate the sin, love the sinner" crowd. And so it seemed clear that I could not fully accept, ordain and marry gays. If I was going to be forced to choose a side, that was mine.

The truth is, I was put out that this was an issue. Feeding the hungry, preaching the gospel, comforting the afflicted, standing up to racial intolerance -- these were the struggles I signed up for, not determining the morality of what adults did in their bedrooms.  But the debate would not go away. It came up, again and again, year after year, pushed by activists on either end. Each time, I grudgingly voted to hold the traditional line and limit the role of gays in the church. But I felt increasingly uncomfortable. What I believed was biblically correct began to feel less and less right in my heart.

Continue reading on Salon.com

Fukushima? Nederlandse anti-nucleaire lobby rust op lauweren

2011-03-27T13:59:00.006+08:00

Onze ´groen-rechtse' Minister President grijpt de situatie in Fukushima doodleuk aan om te pleiten vóór een nieuwe centrale in Nederland, immers, dan kunnen we ook de lessen uit Japan meenemen. Het Landelijk Platform tegen Kernenergie blijft opvallend stil. 25 Jaar na Tsjernobyl wordt weliswaar aangegrepen voor een herdenking, maar op de website wordt verder geen woord gerept over Japan waar zich de op een na grootste ramp met een kernenergiecentrale afspeelt. Dat terwijl deze week,oud-hoogleraar elektriciteitsvoorziening Cees Andriesse, in een interview stelt dat er sinds de jaren tachtig ernstige en 'onacceptabele' storingen hebben voorgedaan. "Een van de ernstigste incidenten deed zich voor in 1986, tijdens een brandstofwisseling, waarbij een nieuwe transformator in bedrijf werd genomen. Door een storing viel de elektrische voeding uit en door een menselijke fout kwam slechts één noodstroom-dieselaggregaat in werking." De enige reactie? Van EPZ, de uitbater van de centrale in Borsele, die zegt dat "Serieuze veiligheidsincidenten volgens de internationale norm" zich niet hebben voorgedaan. We moeten EPZ dus maar op haar woorden vertrouwen, want kamervragen zijn volgens mij niet gesteld; reacties en vragen van het Landelijk Platform blijven voor alsnog uit.

Nee, dan Duitsland, waar Fukushima aanleiding geeft tot massale protesten tegen kernenergie.... De Bundeskanzlerin heeft haar pro-nucleaire agenda zelfs moeten aanpassen in de hoop verliezen voor de CDU te beperken in de aankomende bondsstatenverkiezingen. Zeven kerncentrales die voor 1980 in gebruik zijn genomen worden voor drie maanden gesloten voor controle. Natuurlijk, het besluit is meer ingegeven door politieke redenen dan door wijsheid. Ten eerste is het controleren van zoveel centrales in drie maanden tijd gekkenwerk, ten tweede importeert Duitsland in de tussentijd meer kernenergie uit Frankrijk. Maar goed, in ieder geval rust Duitsland niet op zijn lauweren; wat Nederland wel lijkt te doen.

Nederland is te klein voor een (nieuwe) kerncentrale, de risico's zijn niet te verzekeren, de (verzekerings-)kosten worden afgewenteld op de burger (so much for goedkope energie); de bouw (en de operatie van een kerncentrale) is alles behalve emissievrij; een permanente oplossing voor opslag van afval blijft uit; bovendien zou een investering in een nieuwe kerncentrale ten koste gaan van investeringen in duurzame energie. We horen telkens dat 'onze centrale' nu en in de toekomst tot de veiligste ter wereld behoren, maar duurzame veiligheidsmanagementsystemen worden telkens weer verslagen door 'menselijke fouten', zo bewijst elk incident weer. Nederland verhef je stem tegen een nucleaire toekomst!

10 jaar Homohuwelijk: nog steeds anker voor zelfrechtvaardigende christen

2011-03-26T19:01:00.004+08:00

Na meer dan tien jaar blijven partnerschapsregistratie en homohuwelijk filosofisch-linguïstische ijkpunten voor het opdelen tussen goed en kwaad. Dat blijkt weer eens uit een RD commentaar van 26 maart 2010, over tien jaar homohuwelijk. Als je schrijft: "Het homohuwelijk ...Wie daaraan went, miskent bijbelse, historische, culturele, en internationaal-juridische bezwaren." Dan denk ik... je hebt nog heel wat uit te leggen... Of, misschien ook niet, immers het homohuwelijk is een magisch, symbolisch anker voor de zelfrechtvaardigende christen; die staat boven rationele uitleg.

Het is bedroevend hoe homo's omwille deze zelfrechtvaardiging met zulk gemak worden afgeschilderd als een kerk- en maatschappijondermijnend collectief. Individuele homo's worden per definitie als representant van 'de homobeweging' gezien. Zo wordt over de ruggen van homo's de heiligheid van de eigen kring bevestigd. (Welke rol rest God nog in de heiliging?)

Ondertussen verhullen sommige broeders en zusters door dit magisch symbolische discours, het strijden en het lijden van individuele homo's, of zo men wil: het strijden en het lijden van 'mensen die worstelen met homoseksuele gevoelens'. Deze mensen zijn geen exponent van 'de homobeweging', evenmin kunnen zij uit de voeten met een hard magisch symbolisch discours dat hun geen tussenweg laat tussen zwart/wit, wij/zij, redding/verdoemenis... leven/dood.

Wanneer spreken deze broeders en zusters over mensen. Is er de intentie om echt de harten van mensen te begrijpen. Is er de intentie om mensen te overtuigen door liefde (en zelf overtuigd te worden door liefde)? Of tekenen we dikke scheidslijnen tussen 'wij' en 'zij'? Ik heb verdriet over het stukje christendom dat zo haar redding boven dat van anderen wil bewerken.

It Gets Better? If Youth Lead the Struggle, Perhaps…

2011-03-26T10:24:00.000+08:00

It gets better campagne, ik vind het een mooi initiatief. Maar er zijn ook kritische geluiden die waard zijn gehoord te worden. Zoals het volgende komentaar van Radical Queer.

It Gets Better? If Youth Lead the Struggle, Perhaps…

Allen Ginsberg saved my life. Listening to his crass celebration of sexuality, his explorations of his suicidal tendencies, his vivid descriptions of madness sweeping through his generation, and his hatred of the military, the state, and the church, I found a friend, a mentor, and someone I resonated with. He was bitter, perverted, and outcast like me. Thus, in my moments of utter despair and self-loathing, as a youth, I’d turn up the volume on tapes of his poetry and feel free and alive. And I survived.

If my Mom was concerned that I was a depressive kid suffering from bullying and decided to hand me a book with Bill Clinton, a bunch of liberal preachers, a few sex-columnists and a slew of rich married people telling me life would get better, I’d have burst into tears or chopped up the book for an art project. Either way, within hours, I’d be jerking off to Ginsberg’s Howl again.

To this day, when I’m self-destructive and depressed, I’m not in a space where I want to listen to successful people talk about how good their lives are. I want to hear raw, painful, complex truth.

So for me, reading the affirming words of successful members of the LGBTQ and allied communities in It Gets Better: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating a Life Worth Living, I felt skeptical that the book was doing anything more than helping older people feel better about themselves.

I too love telling childhood war stories of overcoming bullies and surviving violence. Like many adults, I’m proud I survived.

But do our stories really change people? Somehow our narcissism makes us feel like we are doing are part. Are we?

With excellent intentions, sex-advice columnist Dan Savage and his husband Terry Miller started the “It Gets Better” online video project as a response to the suicides of a number of gay youth. The idea was that if kids could hear from successful LGBTQ people living normal lives, the youth could overcome the pains of bullying and survive. The book compiles edited transcripts of the best of the older generations’ video testimonies.

Most of the entries in the book are from socially privileged and economically successful people. We don’t hear from the homeless, people in nursing homes, incarcerated people, or others suffering through the violence of the system. We mostly hear from folks who have walked the gauntlet of white high school hallways and perceive that they’ve come out on the other side where life is a bowl of ripe strawberries. How irritating for the rest of us.

Were the book’s biggest crime the self-indulgence of older LGBTQ folks it would be passable; however, reading Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama support victims of bullying is enough to make socially aware LGBTQ youth upchuck in their mouths. How could politicians who have been supporting military-might across the world for a decade have anything reasonable to say about the issue of bullying? After waging wars that have killed hundreds if not thousands of LGBTQ youth in Iraq and Afghanistan, how dare they pretend to sympathize with the suicidal tendencies of youth in the United States?

Despite powerful older people blowing smoke up the asses of a younger generation, a few entrances in It Gets Better: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating a Life Worth Living ring true, perhaps even useful.Kate Bornstein opens her piece with the most honest words in the book: “I don’t always think it is going to get better. Sometimes it gets worse.” She argues that outside of being mean, young people can do anything, and she really means anything, to make life worth living. She goes so far as to admit that at times the only reason she’s lived is to do illegal things. According to her, as long as people are not mean, they are ethically okay.

Luan Legacy writes quite bluntly: “I’ve never been a big advocate of hope, and I never will because, frankly, hope is for losers. Hope is for people who are too lazy to solve their own problems so they rely on hope.”

Legacy’s critique of hope could be used to articulate my trouble with this book and why I suspect it won’t be that powerful for most youth. It is based in hope, in the wrongheaded argument fueling the American dream: “You can be anything you want in life if you want it bad enough.”

Guess what, middle-aged messiahs: it’s not true.

Some people will suffer from mental illness their entire lives and may very well die from it. Despite all the affirming words that their friends, family, and self-congratulatory, talking heads on Youtube videos say, they may still feel that there is nothing worth living for. Suicide is their last decision and I believe it should be respected.

Unfortunately, Legacy goes on to make some blanket statements about suicide I find rather offensive. ”Suicide is quitting. Suicide is you not having enough respect for your own life that you just give up. You should never give up.”

I find it crass for the living to judge the dead for their choices. Why does our society disgrace the last decision a person who died by suicide ever made? While we can inspire people to fight to live, we should not do so by insulting their autonomy and their free will to end their lives. Instead of judging the dead, we should live to take action against our oppressors and struggle to find reasons to thrive.

Urvashi Vaid writes eloquently in her piece entitled “Action Makes it Better,” that “The only reason big changes happen is when people like you and me decide to fight for things to change, when we take action to make things different.” Instead of arguing that things “get” better, Vaid argues we have to fight to make them better. She uses the example of Gandhi’s multi-decade struggle to free India from the British to demonstrate action creates change.

The book is peppered with a handful of inspired writings. Nonetheless, the crux of the book perpetrates a condescending “we’ve been there done that” attitude from one generation to the next.

If youth survive, it will not be because older folks tell them, “It gets better, just wait.” Youth will survive because they take action, fight back, and discover reasons to live. They will forge the path towards their own survival. It will not be determined by us older folks. While our fights are indeed inspirational, young people are figuring their shit out and are in charge of their destiny. No amount of autobiographical history and inspiration can change that.

Other Blog mistakenly fed through www.sanderchan.com

2011-03-14T13:54:00.000+08:00

I subscribed to an interesting blog "Queer Today, Equality Tomorrow". Instead of using my usual email address, I used the direct blog feeder address, which I often use in China as a means to 'jump over' the great fire wall. However, by doing this the QTET blog directly fed into my blog. Meanwhile China's been stepping up internet control over the last weeks because of the annual CPPCC and NPC sessions. And since almost all blogs are blocked, I could not repair my mistake. But now... finally this blog should be 100% ww.sanderchan.com again.

[New post] The Homosexual Germ

2011-03-13T13:33:00.001+08:00

The Homosexual Germ

bmoneyhabs | March 13, 2011 at 5:33 am | Tags: anti gay, bisexual, children, gay, gay gene, germ, homophobe, homophobic, homosexual, homosexuality, lesbian, monster, parents, queer, sex education, sexuality, transgender | Categories: Queer News and Features, Queer Question | URL: http://wp.me/p1j3rh-30

Apparently, to a lot of close minded human beings out there, there is still something of a homosexual germ. Apparently, if you spend enough time with a queer person you too can catch the awful bug of homosexuality. It usually starts off with an occasional feeling or two, but eventually can turn into something worse. According to church doctrine, this germ is also a sin. You will go to hell if you catch this bug, and don't get rid of it. Thankfully for all of us, there are a lot of wonderful organizations that can help you become homosexuality negative.

There are a lot of silly theories floating around out there.

Even while writing this, I felt like a total idiot. Folks, being a queer person is NOT caused by a germ, the germ theory. Let's grow up here. However, there are still people who think like this, maybe not to this extreme, but there are remnants or mutations found in almost nearly every single anti-gay person. Some believe that is a disease, others a genetic mutation. Some people think it is like the comic to the right portrays it, as a sexual addiction or habit that can be passed on to someone else. Some see it in the religious/faith based perspective, queerness being a temptation or a sin. Regardless of the view, it is portrayed as something that comes to a person that they can opt out of with careful work and determination. Did you know that Wikipedia lists the pathogen hypothesis as one the many theories causing homosexuality. In an article from Out Magazine from 12 years ago, Did a Germ Make You Gay?, the author states the potential for this. However, in the article there is also mention of what homophobes could do with such a theory.

The theory that being gay is caused by something that is as easy a fix as a pathogen is really hard for us to swallow, and as liberal, modern queer people, I think we could very easily chock it up to a bunch of crock science with no validity to speak of. However, a fellow Redditor, Bootled said this concerning my post on the lack of queer sex education in schools/homes: "It's necessary, but in most of America it will take decades for people to realize they aren't "trying to teach our children to be faggots" just because they try to include LGBT sex education."

Could these been monsters to homophobes?

How often do we think of our queerness in these ways? Terms that to us seem archaic really are legitimate concerns to some people. Could the idea of homosexuality be something that we can rub off on children (pardon the suggestiveness of the chosen statement). Do anti-gay, lack of queer knowledge people really foresee me as that much of a threat? When I come off as a little over dramatic, could homophobes really be seeing me as a monster? Is it possible that when homophobes see images such as the ones portrayed on the right they are only capable of imagining the worst for them, for their children, for others and their children? Do they automatically think that if exposed to a homosexual and their beliefs you could potentially become gay? Is it like the boogie-monster? "No, Jimmy, don't go around the gay man next door, or he might eat you, or dress you in ass-less leather chaps!!"

Are we really just monsters to homophobic people? Is this idea of homosexuality being a contagion really the source of some of the contention in our movement? We know religious doctrine is a huge area of contention, but what about those who aren't overly religious that still persecute queer men and women for living as who they are? Where's the line in the sand?

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[New post] Bisexuals? Real or imaginary?

2011-03-12T12:21:00.001+08:00

Bisexuals? Real or imaginary?

bmoneyhabs | March 12, 2011 at 4:10 am | Categories: Uncategorized | URL: http://wp.me/p1j3rh-2V

Many queer people know that sometimes the safest way to come out is to first say, "I'm bi! I'll probably fall in love with the other sex, but for right now I am just opening myself up." Bisexuality to a lot of gay and lesbian people is the stepping stone to come into their own. I said it, almost all of my other queer friends said it. It wasn't till I felt truly comfortable with who I was that I was able to label myself as gay. As I have learned in the past few months, bisexuality takes a lot more identity and discovery time, and really for a lot of people isn't a stepping stone, its their life.

If you saw Glee from a couple weeks ago, the episode Blame It on the Alcohol, you saw Blaine dealing with a bisexual stage. After kissing Rachel in a drunken stupor, he decided he would go on a date with her to see. When Kurt, who actually has feelings for Blaine, found this out he shouted a few lines that really struck a beloved friend of mine who is bi. Kurt said:

Bisexual is a term that gay guys in high school use when they wanna hold hands with girls and feel normal.

It wasn't until Blaine kissed Rachel again that he knew he was 100% gay because of the lack of a firework, a spark of sorts. Very humorous storyline, cute, right? Well, I really don't think its the best way to encourage true bisexuals to feel completely comfortable with themselves. They already have a nasty stigma in society from people in their own queer community as "people who just can't make up their minds." Some gays and lesbians go as far as to oppress bisexuals and make them feel like they are less than welcome making them almost pick between being gay/lesbian or straight.

Why is this happening? Even in our own queer community, we cannot even agree to be open with all inside of it. Is there a true bisexual though, someone who is attacted, 50/50 to both male and females? Are all bisexuals just gays, lesbians, or straights who have a slight attraction to something else? Is bisexuality a freedom of sex type of thing? Is it true what Kurt said, is bisexual just that stepping stone term?

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[New post] Coming Out Resources

2011-03-12T00:21:00.001+08:00

Coming Out Resources

bmoneyhabs | March 11, 2011 at 4:21 pm | Tags: bisexual, coming out guide, Coming Out Project, gay, gay rights, homosexual, homosexuality, HRC, Human Rights Campaign, intern, lesbian, LGBT, National Coming Out Day, PFLAG, queer, straight, transgender | Categories: Coming Out | URL: http://wp.me/p1j3rh-2R

I feel like I have been talking to a lot of people this week about coming out, the process, the pain, the journey. I think I have been specifically connecting with people to this extent since the blog has been receiving a ground swell of support from people, and I am so happy to be connecting with each of you. A lot of people have been asking about how they should come out, whether to friends, family, or others. I have been putting a lot of thought into this the past couple days, and I wanted to share some resources that I have found really helpful all from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). As many of you may or may not know, I actually spent my fall semester of 2009 interning at the HRC, the largest LGBT civil rights organization in the United States. I specifically worked with their Public Education and Outreach Division, and put a lot of my hard work into the Coming Out Project.

Working four months in this program really changed my life, and has inspired me to focus my work on LGBT people in coming out of the closet. I want to specifically give some focus to the awesome work going on at HRC. Before I say anything, I will critique them in one way, I think they could really benefit from having a full time person working on the Coming Out Project. The site hasn't changed since I have been there, and its kind of sad. Coming out is the framework of helping create stronger allies, the publications and online resources should be updated regularly and kept fresh for all.

HRC publishes a lot of really awesome Coming Out publications that you may enjoy requesting some of, free of course, which you can request using the request form. You can also view any of the publications, plus others, completely free in PDF format. Its pretty awesome how connected they are.

The Resource Guide to Coming Out is the best concise guide with practical steps for coming out and living openly. It gives steps and support for assessing your sexuality, who you think you are, and then most importantly gives you conversation starters for coming out to people. My favorite section in this guide is the awesome reassurance that it gives for coming out to your family. The writers and editors in no way sugar coated the coming out process and have prepared it in a way that could suit people in more supportive environments to people in non-supportive, harsh ones.

My dearest girlfriend, Carmen, and I at the Human Right Campaign, getting ready to march.
The Straight Guide to LGBT Americans provides practical tips and ideas for becoming a supportive straight ally for the greater LGBT movement or just for a friend or family member who might need you. It addresses the issues in a fairly straightforward way. I printed this guide out from the PDF, and I wrote in the margins all these little notes and I gave it to a friend of mine who had never had a gay friend before. It was an opening for dialogue, and I really think he is grasping the idea of being a straight ally. My favorite aspect of this guide is when it addressed people mistaking straight allies with being gay, which I think prevents a lot of people from being vocal. It is put together with help from Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG)
Living Openly in Your Place of Worship is the final publication I'll talk about today. In Living Openly, you get a lot of ideas and thoughts for being gay and Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, and anything else you could imagine, with a specific focus lying on Christianity. We've discussed a lot this week about Pray the Gay Away, the documentary on the Oprah Winfrey Network, and this provide support to people wanting to live openly in their faith.
National Coming Out Day is just important to touch on. HRC always promotes a lot of interesting opportunities on the weeks preceding and on October 11th. If you've never been involved in a Coming Out Day activity, look into it this year.

HRC's Coming Out Project provides other wonderful guides that I fully encourage you to check out from transgender resources to resources for Spanish speakers and African Americans. If you are interested in learning more about HRC and their Coming Out Project, click one of the links above and go to them. I am sure you won't be sorry for it.

I also encourage you to e-mail me, brandonhabron@gmail.com. I would really love to be a point of support for you. Just know, I am proud of you as are soooo many people around me and even around you, even if you can't see them.

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[New post] Queer Sex Ed

2011-03-11T06:50:00.001+08:00

Queer Sex Ed

bmoneyhabs | March 10, 2011 at 10:50 pm | Tags: birds and the bees, bisexual, Burt Hummel, education, gay, gay rights, gay sex ed, Glee, homosexual, homosexuality, Kurt Hummel, lesbian, LGBT, parents, queer, queer teen, sex, sex education, sex talk | Categories: Queer News and Features | URL: http://wp.me/p1j3rh-2N

In the life of some straight teenagers, their parents awkwardly set them down and have the weirdest, most uncomfortable conversation. The birds and the bees, the sex conversation, the big one about where babies come from. In the awfully awkward time during this conversation, there are a lot of different avenues the conversation can take. There is "don't have sex till your married" street, which was what I got told in church in its best attempt at sex ed. Then there is always "don't have sex, but if you do use protection/contraceptives" lane, which I never heard from anyone as an option growing up. There are also those cool parents that are really chill with sex encouraging the teenager to have sex when they are ready, evaluate the situation, don't jump into it, practicing safe sex with provisions that the parents give, i.e. birth control, box of condoms, etc. Another option that I think causes a lot of problems is the one I lived in "Let's not talk about that". I know SOOO many people who never had a conversation of this caliber with their parents, including myself. Sex is something that you don't talk about in my house, period, and I truly believe my parents only had sex twice, one time for each of their children.

Then if you happen to be gay... oh wow... things just go from bad to worse.

One of the worst parts about growing up queer is that you are never taught by anyone the process of having sex, being safe, and knowing when its right. Very few queer teens have parents who want to talk about them being gay much less gay sex. Most of them have no clue how it works or proper precautions that need to be taken. This isn't good for the teens or the parents because sure enough, the close minded parents will end up getting the blamed for the teen's lack of sexual knowledge. What's the solution?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wr3AJ2maSS8

This, while incredibly awkward, is what should be happening in homes where teenagers are brave enough to come out to their parents. Parents should be educating themselves, overcoming their own discomforts, and learning about their children's sexuality.

At this point queer teens learn their sex ed on the internet by watching porn, reading on websites, and consulting mature gays on dating site chats. Impersonal, discouraging, and not how queer youth should be educated when it comes to sex. This education of sex should have happened in the homes and schools of the queer youth. It should be about them and their feelings. Imagine how confused and awkward it was for you to talk with your parents about sex, imagine how that would feel for a gay teen going to his straight parents that have no idea how gay sex works.

But! What can actually be done to change this?

In the long run, the first step would be to bring open queer sex education to schools. You start educating kids in safe straight sex practices as well as gay sex in school then as time goes on, the cycle will create safety for the students and also an opening for future parents. This education should be devised in a way that teachers and facilitators are universally educated and expected to teach the exact lessons, almost like a standard of learning developed by prominent queer scholars.

But! What about now?

That is my question to you! I have been pondering this since seeing the Glee episode the other night. Burt and Kurt Hummel on Glee had an increasingly awkward conversation, but it was eye-opening for a lot of us. Are their publications available for parents to stimulate dialogue with their children? Are there people out there trying to stimulate conversations like these? I did a lot of research on this topic, and I could not find anything that is a potential assistant to keep queer teens off the internet and in their classrooms and living rooms asking questions about condoms, lube, and sex toys.

Your thoughts?

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Funniest Opinion in the Global Times

2011-03-10T05:30:00.002+08:00

Charlie Sheen is not filial

Source: Global Times
[10:34 March 07 2011]

By Hao Leifeng

Actor Charlie Sheen is a classic example of the difference in Western and Eastern values and norms.

Ignoring public pleas from his father, Sheen has continued a weeklong media blitz, exhibiting obvious signs of mania. With no firm hand to guide them, Western media has deliberately goaded him into making increasingly delusional statements, more concerned about "winning" higher ratings than Sheen's own sense of pride, or the negative example his brash public admissions about his private sex life and unverifiable international conspiracies could be setting for society.

How many young people have been led astray by Sheen's boasts about his substance abuse and freewheeling sex life? And that was when he was in character on national television, as a randy bachelor in Two and a Half Men.

Sheen attracted 1 million Twitter followers in just 24 hours, yet more evidence that microblogs spread the most unhealthy contagions in society like a disease. Chinese family, coworkers, or the authorities would have taken firm steps to make sure someone like Sheen did not make a public spectacle of himself.

Take Edison Chen, who humbly apologized and slipped away to Canada. Or Li Gang's father, who wept as he sought forgiveness on his son's behalf.

The fact that Sheen continues to embarrass himself unabated, becoming even a hero to many, points to the vast differences in cultures.

His employers are unhappy that he was distracted with prostitutes and drugs, and didn't show up to work on time. Why not take a tip from the Chinese business community, and make visits to a KTV parlor part of Sheen's workday?

And instead of epic parties at his home with porn stars, why not keep Sheen occupied with business banquets?

Sheen goes on television and boasts that he has two girlfriends, who both sleep in the same bedroom. Is he too poor to set up his wives and mistresses in different houses?

In Chinese society, these problems are dealt with delicately and privately. Sheen is like a typical Westerner throwing fuel on the fire with each interview and tweet. It is almost as if he feels no shame and is loving the attention.

Racism, spousal abuse, addiction, politics, mental illness, boasting about mistresses, - these are all subjects best dealt with behind closed doors.

As much as Sheen has lived a life most Chinese men can only fantasize about, our admiration of him can only go so far. He has not only lost face with his public rants, but also crossed a cultural barrier no Chinese can abide.

He ignored his own father's advice to keep quiet, who was once the president of the US. Sheen is a disgrace, unfilial to his father and his fatherland.

Martin Sheen should at once go on television and tearfully apologize on behalf of his son for his inability to keep up appearances and keep his mouth shut.

Bike Labyrinth

2011-03-10T04:55:00.001+08:00

An artistic project comissioned by the Amsterdam municipality to raise awareness for the many abandoned bicycles in the city. February 2011.

Marketing Sustainable Consumption... MarQt

2011-03-10T04:46:00.001+08:00

'Markt met een Q ja,... Dat staat namelijk voor kwaliteit!'

Pastor Haggard (berucht om homoseksuele/drugs affaire) en zijn nieuwe kerk

2011-02-27T19:34:00.001+08:00

Wat kunnen we verwachten van een interview van Amerikaans homoblad 'The Advocate' met voormalig ultra-conservatief National Evangelical Association voorzitter Ted Haggard, die aftrad vanwege een prostitutie-, drugs- en homoseksuele affaire? - Een heel interessant, openhartig en respectvol interview waarin de 'The Advocate' interviewer Andrew Harmon een dagje meeloopt met St. James Church, de nieuw opgerichte kerk door Haggard. Click hier voor het interview.

Homo heeft Arie Boomsma niet nodig - de Volkskrant - Opinie

2011-01-17T15:29:00.003+08:00

Homo’s moeten hun slachtofferrol opgeven. Ze zijn uitstekend in staat hun eigen boontjes te doppen." Volgens Mario Gommeren, schrijver, purser en homo, heeft de Homo Arie Boomsma niet nodig. "Je tot het zorgenkind maken van het heteroseksueel politiek correcte geweten, is wat homo’s kwetsbaar maakt. Terugslaan of je schouders ophalen is een vele malen krachtiger en effectievere reactie op alles en iedereen wat homo’s plaagt. ... Waar is de unieke identiteit van homoseksuelen gebleven en wat maakt dat ze hun linkse dogmatiek hebben verruild voor populistische aandachttrekkerij? Het antwoord ligt in het niet willen opgeven van een collectieve slachtofferrol.... Er is geen land zo veilig, open en hartverwarmend voor homo’s als Nederland en toch lukt het ze steeds weer hun identiteit tot speelbal te maken. Wat is dat voor een malle, onzekere houding die niet getuigt van gevoel voor eigenwaarde? Groeit je eigenwaarde als je mag trouwen en zo mag aansluiten bij de heteronorm die eeuwenlang niet toegankelijk was voor homo’s? Groeit je eigenwaarde door het krijgen van een hostie of door je te laten wijsmaken dat de PVV je beschermt tegen Marokkanen die we massaal hebben gebombardeerd tot de boosdoeners van deze tijd? Homo’s moeten zich niet tot het zorgenkind van de samenleving willen maken. Ze moeten hun slachtofferrol opgeven. Het is te gemakkelijk en te kinderachtig om verontwaardigd te reageren op iedereen die iets lelijks zegt over homo’s."

Reactie: Bij het lezen van de kop, 'homo heeft Arie Boomsma niet nodig', denk ik; natuurlijk niet, althans, ik heb ook mijn 'coming-out' zonder hem gedaan. Maar dat neemt nog niet weg dat hij een belangrijke vertolker kan zijn van de moeilijke situatie waarin sommige homojongeren zich bevinden. Daarbij homo's dan het verwijt maken dat ze zich inkapselen in een slachtofferrol gaat mij dan ook te ver. Iedereen maakt een process door, van opgroeien, volwassen worden, acceptatie van jezelf en door anderen. Daar zijn zwakke en daar zijn sterke momenten bij. Hulp of anderen nodig hebben maakt je nog niet chronisch slachtoffer. In mijn gehoor klinkt dit commentaar zeer 'arrivé'; we moeten niet zeuren we hebben immers alles. Ik ben het met de schrijver eens dat homo's geen heil vinden bij populisten. Toch valt er nog veel te behalen wat betreft emancipatie - ook in Nederland; de perceptie van vrijheid is erg afhankelijk van waar iemand in opgroeit; het maakt bijvoorbeeld - ondanks secularisatie - doorgaans nog altijd een wereld van verschil of je uit een liberaal of een confessioneel nest komt. Ik vraag mij dan ook af of dit opiniestuk meer verband houdt met een algemene werkelijkheid of met een projectie van persoonlijke ervaring en perceptie. Dat leid ik mede af uit het eenzijdige beeld dat de auteur schetst van Nederland. Ja, denk ik dan, Nederland is een veilig land; behalve als je in elkaar geslagen wordt. Ja, Nederland is tolerant; behalve als jij uit huis wordt uitgegooid. En misschien ben jij wel een Nederlandse Marokkaan die homo is ...

Vallen deze situaties dan enkel te duiden onder de noemer slachtofferrol? Een samenballing van zuivere zwakte? Ik zou niet mee willen gaan in dat determinisme. Slachtoffer zijn is (meestal) een momentopname, zijn het immers niet juist 'slachtoffers' die door lijden, afwijzing en zelfs vervolging macht en soms monumentale aanzien verwerven? Waarom is de Nobelprijs voor de Vrede dan doorgaans een Oscar voor de beste slachtofferrol? Dit opiniestuk is te nederlandcentrisch; en daarbij berust het op wankele aannames van wat Nederland is; veralgemeniseert en projecteert individuele ervaring op een heel volksdeel; het schotelt ons een norm voor van een superhomo, homoseksueel of niet. Ik kan daar persoonlijk niet in mee.

"Prodigal Sons" te universeel om 'gay' te heten

2011-01-03T15:55:00.002+08:00

Een vriend van mij was jurylid op een GLTB filmfestival in Kopenhagen vorig jaar. Hij liet mij een paar dagen geleden een selectie zien van de winnaars. Daar onder was de documentaire "Prodigal Sons", misschien de meest indrukwekkende documentaire die ik heb gezien.
De documentaire begint met een voormalige quarterback football speler die na twintig jaar voor een reünie terugkeert naar zijn dorp in Montana. Alleen heet hij niet meer Paul maar Kimberly.

Eerst lijkt het er op dat de documentaire gaat over de acceptatie van Kimberly door haar heimat. Maar tijdens het filmen van de documentaire komt de focus steeds meer op Kimberly's geadopteerde broer, Marc, te liggen. Na jaren geen contact te hebben gehad sinds Pauls operatie lijkt hij het moeilijk te vinden Kimberly te accepteren. Door een auto-ongeluk heeft Marc hersenschade opgelopen, waardoor zijn persoonlijkheid gespleten is geraakt. Soms gedraagt hij zich aggressief naar Kimberly toe, op andere momenten sluit hij Kimberly in de armen.

We komen er achter wie de biologische ouders zijn Marc. Zijn grootouders blijken niemand minder dan filmmaker Orson Welles en actrice Rita Hayworth. De rollen lijken nu omgedraaid. Marc was altijd jaloers op zijn broertje Paul, die langer, athletischer en knapper was dan hij. Terwijl Marc blijft opkijken tegen zijn broertje Paul, probeert Kimberly haar verleden als Paul te vergeten. Kimberley zegt: "eerst was Marc altijd jaloers op mijn genen, nu ben ik jaloers op zijn genen".

Marc lijkt zijn nieuwgevonden identiteit te omarmen, en daarmee ook die van Kimberley. Hij leeft helemaal op in Kroatië, waar Kimberly en Marc, Orson Welles' maitraisse ontmoeten. Zoals zo vaak in deze documentaire blijkt alles anders dan eerst lijkt. Terug in Montana, tijdens een Kerstdiner, raakt Marc weer verhit, wordt aggressief en dreigt met een mes. Hij eindigt die avond in de bak.

Terwijl Marc ervan overtuigd is dat hij verstoten is door zijn familie, proberen Kimberly, haar moeder en zijn vrouw een plaats te zoeken in een psychiatrische inrichting.
De scene waarin Kimberly Marc bezoekt op zijn verjaardag is hartverscheurend. Marc ziet alles zwart, gelooft niet dat iemand van hem houdt. Kimberly snijdt de taart aan die moeder voor Marc gebakken heeft. Zij is er op gebrand haar broer weer als broer te zien (en daarmee haar vorige identiteit als Paul ook weer te omarmen).

De documentaire eindigt met de voice-over van Kimberly, over hoe zij overweegt haar oude achternaam weer aan te nemen.

Wat mij ten diepste ontroert in de film is de pijn die gepaard gaat bij de zoektocht naar identiteit. Deze film is eigenlijk helemaal geen 'GLTB' of 'gay' film, daarvoor is het thema te universeel, te relevant.
Toen ik met een paar vrienden de film begon te kijken, begonnen we te becommentariëren hoe vrouwelijk Kimberly toch eigenlijk is, hoe je niet aan haar af kunt zien dat zij ooit Paul was, wat een mooie vrouw zij is... Gaandeweg merkten we op dat haar schouders wel breed zijn voor een vrouw, of dat haar achterste best unisex is... Maar uiteindelijk ging het helemaal niet maar om man- of vrouwzijn. Kimberly is Kimberly en ze wordt nog meer Kimberly in het accepteren van haar 'oude identiteit' als Paul. Marc probeert Kimberley te accepteren, maar eigenlijk is hij vol zelfmedelijden, meerdere keren roept hij: "dit is niet wie ik eigenlijk ben. Het komt door dat ongeluk. Ik ben eigenlijk een heel ander (beter) mens." En je ziet hem proberen, de liefde van Kimberly te winnen, die eerst zo afstandelijk lijkt. Dan zie je alle vooruitgang weer meer dan teniet worden gedaan in de zoveelste woede-uitbarsting.

Je vraagt je na de film af: waarom zijn hetero-, homo-, bi- of transseksualiteit überhaupt categorieën? Ieder doen ze tekort aan de unieke mensen die we zijn. Wat is de relevantie van een discussie over 'homoseksualiteit en de Bijbel' of 'homorechten' of 'huwelijk', als niemand 'man' of 'vrouw' is, maar gewoon 'is', gewoon 'gendered'. Dat 'Prodigal Sons' GLTB filmfestivals wint is misschien de doodsklok van homoseksualiteit, van GLTB als categorie, of als cultuur; tegelijkertijd is het de viering van de diepte van 'gender', die pancultureel is, en categorieën dwars doorsnijdt, van individualiteit, authenciteit en het unieke van ieder mens.
Zie ook:"Winst en verlies voor twee verloren zoons." Janiek Kistenmaker schijft: "een indrukwekkend monument van levensmoed"http://www.continuum.nl/index.php?id=332
Transsexual film-maker Kimberly Reed wows America with Prodigal Sonshttp://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/07/kimberly-reed-prodigal-sons-transsexual

China urges more efforts for forest protection in next 10 years

2010-12-30T16:30:00.000+08:00

Today People's Daily, the CPC Central Committee's newspaper, reports a prolongation of China's forest protection scheme.

China announced Wednesday that it would continue and expand its forest protection program in the coming 10 years as part of an effort to safeguard the national ecological security and tackle climate change.

The program, first begun in 2000 in regions including the upstream of the Yangtze River, mid- and upper reaches of the Yellow River and the country's northeastern areas, had effectively improved local eco-systems, eased soil-erosion and protected the area's bio-diversity, according to a statement issued after a meeting of the State Council, the Cabinet.

Participants at the meeting, chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao, agreed to kick off the second phase of the program in the 2011-2020 period and add 11 more counties, cities and districts around the Danjiangkou Reservoir to the program.

Also, the government vowed to increase to 78 million mu (5.2 million hectares) of forest during the second phase of the program and planned to channel 219.5 billion yuan (33.16 billion U.S. dollars) from the central budget to fund the program during that period, the statement said.

Further, according to the statement, the government would continue the moratorium of chopping down natural forests along the upstream of the Yangtze River and the mid- and upper reaches of the Yellow River, as well as continue decreasing timber production in the northeastern regions and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

It also urged more efforts to enhance afforestation and improve the incomes of forest workers.

China in Afrika: kapitalist/kolonist

2010-12-27T23:40:00.001+08:00

Een interessante bijdrage van Hanneke Post, medewerker beleidsbeïnvloeding bij Stichting Woord en Daad, op de aan de ChristenUnie gelieerde Christelijke opinieblog, OpUnie, over de rol van China in Afrika.

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China, kolonist of succesvolle kapitalist?

Als geen ander land investeert China in Afrika, daarbij kan men denken aan handel of investeringen in grote infrastructuurprojecten, zo zijn bijvoorbeeld veel Afrikaanse wegen van een Chinese maker. China’s motief om te investeren is niet die arme Afrikanen te helpen hun economie een flinke impuls te geven. Dan zouden de Chinezen thuis al genoeg werk hebben aan het overbruggen van de gigantische kloof tussen arm en rijk. De Chinezen gaan voor de winst en dat komt ze op scherpe kritiek te staan van westerse grootmachten als de VS en Europa.
Lees meer hier.
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Links

"It's not colonialism"
http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/3908--It-s-not-colonialism-1-

"Is China colonizing Africa?"
http://www.chinatalkingpoints.com/video-is-china-colonizing-africa/

"Why Africa Welcomes 'New Colonialism'
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6908835.ece

ChristenUnie en homoseksualiteit -- Opnieuw een Commissie Cnossen?

2010-12-26T15:04:00.003+08:00

De ChristenUnie presenteert evaluatierapport Met hart en ziel. Hoe komt het dat de ChristenUnie op 9 juni een zetel verloor terwijl zij volgens peilingen kon rekenen op winst?

Uit het rapport blijkt dat bijna tien procent van de potentiële ChristenUnie kiezers er van af zag de partij te stemmen toen homoseksualiteit ter sprake kwam. Het hekele punt werd breed uitgemeten in de week voor de verkiezingen. Toen stelde partijleider André Rouvoet in een interview met Paul Rosenmöller, dat de homoseksuele kandidaat Jonathan van der Geer waarschijnlijk niet kandidaat zou zijn als hij een relatie had. Een kwart van de de de potentiële kiezers vond de uitspraken verwarrend of zelfs schokkend.

De uitkomsten van het evaluatierapport komen deels overeen met een eerdere analyse over de invloed van het homostandpunt op de uitslag van de TK verkiezingen.

De evaluatiecommissie adviseert een 'persoonlijke' en 'authentieke' antwoord op het vraagstuk, in plaats van te 'zakelijke' en afstandelijke communicatie. Gelukkig gaan de aanbevelingen verder dan de vorm. De commissie vindt namelijk dat de ChristenUnie weliswaar een 'handreiking' heeft geboden aan homoseksele broeders en zusters, maar dat de praktische uitwerking voor de positie van homo's in de partij onduidelijk blijft.

Het partijbestuur lijkt dit advies ter harte en pakt 'handschoen' aan. Wat dit betekent is - zoals we inmiddels gewend zijn - onduidelijk. Misschien kijken we uit naar een 'Commissie Cnossen' deel 2; deze commissie kwam in 2008 met een vaag advies rondom het thema homoseksualiteit. Nog steeds kan nauwelijks gesproken worden over een partijstandpunt ten aanzien van homoseksualiteit, eerder een gebrek aan standpunt.

Het rapport meldt verder dat kiezers niet op de ChristenUnie stemmen vanwege haar standpunt ten aanzien van duurzaamheid, dat terwijl de partij er wel veel aandacht aan besteed in haar programma. Het is te hopen dat deze conclusie niet aanleiding geeft tot minder ferme standpunten ten aanzien van milieu en duurzaamheid.

Links:

Commentaar en kritiek op het evaluatierapport:
http://cmonotjes.web-log.nl/vrijheid_gelijkheid/2010/12/christenuniek-de-problemen-van-de-christenunie.html

Zie ook: http://www.geencommentaar.nl/2010/12/24/christenuniek-de-problemen-van-de-christenunie

Henk van Rhee voorspelt verder verlies voor de ChristenUnie in de Eerste Kamer:

http://www.cip.nl/nieuwsbericht_detail.asp?id=19901

Joop.nl vindt dat de ChristenUnie op basis van het evaluatie-onderzoek meer zou moeten doen om linkse Christenen aan zicht te binden, maar lijkt de partij te wantrouwen vanwege haar januskop (linksig én conservatief).

http://www.joop.nl/opinies/detail/artikel/de_januskop_van_de_christenunie

Zie ook: http://vriendklei.blogspot.com/2010/12/de-januskop-van-de-christenunie.html

Werkt "It Gets Better" Campagne tegen zelfmoord onder homojongeren?

2010-12-22T14:40:00.024+08:00

In reactie op het grote aantal zelfmoorden onder jonge Amerikanen met homoseksuele gevoelens is een tijd geleden een grote internetcampagne gestart onder de naam "It Gets Better". In video's op het internet vertellen homoseksuele mannen en vrouwen over hun jeugdervaringen, hoe ze hebben geleden onder pesterij, depressie, zelfmoordpogingen, etc. Ze vertellen ook over hoe hun levens uiteindelijk beter zijn geworden. Inmiddels worden video's geplaatst door heteroseksuelen - waaronder President Obama - om aan te moedigen homojongeren te volharden.
Inmiddels heeft het homo-organisatie COC het initiatief genomen deze campagne ook uit te breiden naar Nederland. De eerste videos in het Nederlands zijn inmiddels op het internet verschenen. De boodschap aan homoseksuele jongeren is: al is het leven nu nog zo zwaar, geef niet op, het wordt beter. Het initiatief is belangrijk, maar kan in sommige gevallen negatief uitwerken.

Wat opvalt wanneer je de video's ziet is het groot verschil tussen Nederland en de VS van de rol van religie. Waar in de VS de kerk nog centraal staat in het (maatschappelijk en persoonlijk) leven van de meeste mensen, is in Nederland de ontkerkelijking heel hard gegaan. De Amerikaanse videos laten vaak homo's zien die na afwijzing door kerk en medegelovigen, toch een manier hebben gevonden om gelukkig te worden met hernieuwde inzichten als gelovige en kerkganger. De meeste Nederlandse "It Gets Better" video's refereren weliswaar ook aan afwijzing en pesterij in de kerk, maar in 'het betere leven' komen kerk en geloof nauwelijks meer voor. Afgaande van de Nederlandse video's, lijkt het alsof ontkerkelijking en het verwerpen van het geloof voorwaarden zijn voor het betere leven.

Dit is jammer, om drie reden. Ten eerste, ondanks het feit dat Nederland grotendeels ontkerkelijkt is en veel Nederlanders zichzelf als atheïstisch bestempelen, is er een grote minderheid van gelovigen en kerkelijken, waaronder ook velen met homoseksuele gevoelens. Ten tweede, kerken en gelovigen kunnen ook een positieve rol kunnen spelen in homo-emancipatie. Ten derde, als je homoseksuele gevoelens hebt is niet meer naar de kerk gaan en atheïst zijn niet de enige optie.

Volgens een aantal onderzoeken is de kans dat een homoseksuele jongere zelfmoord pleegt vier maal hoger dan andere jongeren. Het zou mij niet verbazen als dit percentage nog hoger ligt onder gelovige homoseksuele jongeren, omdat de heteronormatieve druk van familie, kerk en orthodoxie doorgaans groter is dan bij veel andere jongeren. Stel, je bent zo'n gelovige jongen of gelovig meisje met homoseksuele gevoelens; wat voor een boodschap communceren de meeste Nederlanderse "It Gets Better" video's?
Het is in de meeste gevallen waarschijnlijk niet opzettelijk, maar wat eigenlijjk gecommuniceerd wordt is: het leven wordt inderdaad beter, als je maar geloof en kerk maar vaarwel zegt.

Wat je ook kiest, gelovig of niet gelovig, kerk of geen kerk; ik spreek er geen waardeoordeel over uit. Maar het is vanuit de beleving van een gelovige homojongere funest, als zij of hij moet kiezen tussen geloof en kerk of seksuele geaardheid. In de beleving van een gelovige kan 'het betere leven' niet worden los gezien van geloofsovertuiging. Dat hoeft natuurlijk ook niet. Het is te hopen dat bij deze Nederlandse campagne en ook in ander werk van homo-organisaties de keuze tussen geloof en seksualiteit niet te scherp wordt gesteld. Dat het wat dit betreft goed kan gaan, is te zien bij de vele Amerikaanse video's die inmiddels online zijn gezet.

The Global Culture of 'Don't Ask Don't Tell'

2010-12-20T12:24:00.003+08:00

Finally, the Don't Ask Don't Tell (DADT) policy has been repealed by the US senate. DADT, devised by President Clinton in 1993, restricted the US military to discover homosexual staff and candidates, while at the same time kept the prohibition in place on gay, lesbians, and trans- and bisexuals (GLTB) to serve in military. At the time the policy was an improvement from the outright ban that existed before. However, in practice, DADT still meant that if a GLTB wanted to serve, he or she should shut up.

I have never been too passionate about the issue, even when DADT represents an injustice towards GLTBs. As a non-American, I am not particularly sentimental about the US military. If anything, I am very critical about the use of force by the US, or by any country. I grew up in a time in Europe when military was almost generally frowned up on. Intuitively, I always felt that the natural disposition of GLTBs was (or should be) progressive, anti-militaristic, even pacifist, with the heart beating left of the middle. Of course, this is more a projection of my personal views and convictions rather than anything else. (Although, in some respect I think approvingly of military conscription)

While I think that the repeal of DADT is a good thing, I still think it is made too much of. In my opinion, the repeal falls short of being a milestone in gay emancipation (in the States). While, the repeal is a matter of equality and justice, DADT as a policy was rather restricted, namely to the US, to the military, and to policy. However, we could also view DADT as a cultural norm. A cultural nom is more persistent than a policy; culture is an enduring set of institutions while policies are subject to change in a continuously changing political environment. DADT matters most as a cultural norm; when it is not merely military, American, policy. It matters most when DADT as a cultural norm features large in many countries, and in many walks of life.

It is still not safe for many GLTBs to 'be asked' and to 'tell' in their own families, in their prayer houses, at work, etcetera. This is true in the States as much as it is true in China, and even in 'progressive' Europe. A recent internet campaign 'It Gets Better' called for attention to teenagers who face risk exclusion, cruelty and bullying when telling and being asked/blamed. while the campaign was initiated in the US, it has gone global in a short time.

What is needed, more direly than the repeal of a single policy, is a culture where it is safe (both physically, materially and psychologically) to ask and to tell. Much more than negative decision-making (repeals, punishments and prohibitions), this requires positive decisions (awareness raising, cultural construction of sexual diversity, and the strengthening of GLTB voices).

China reads

2010-12-20T11:05:00.001+08:00

Two books published this year I really liked about China, but not officially available in China.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jul/17/when-billion-chinese-jump-watts

http://www.google.nl/search?http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/nov/13/the-party-richard-mcgregor-review

New publication: Ethische narratieven en klimaatverandering in een transnationale context

2010-11-28T14:04:00.001+08:00

Radix, het multidisciplinaire kwartaaltijdschrift dat zich richt op vragen over de verhouding tussen christelijk geloof en wetenschap, brengt deze deze maand een themanummer uit over klimaatverandering en duurzaamheid met bijdragen van ondermeer CNV jongerenvoorzitter IJmert van Muilwijk, Jan Harmsen (bijzonder hoogleraar duurzame chemische technologie aan de Rijkuniversiteit Groningen). Ondertekende heeft de volgende bijdrage geleverd. Voor het volledige artikel kun je natuurlijk contact met mij opnemen.
Ik overweeg een Engelse versie, wat denken jullie ervan?

ETHISCHE NARRATIEVEN EN KLIMAATVERANDERING IN EEN TRANSNATIONALE CONTEXT

Sander Chan

Bewijzen voor klimaatverandering stapelen zich op, maar publieke woede blijft uit omdat burgers voor oplossingen te veel kijken naar wereldleiders en internationale akkoorden. Zulk vertrouwen is echter ook een manier om een verantwoordelijkheid af te schuiven. Dat is jammer want onder niet-statelijke spelers gelden alternatieve ethische narratieven die kunnen aansporen tot ethisch handelen. In (klimaat-)onderhandelingen worden meestal consequentialistische narratieven toegepast; het ethische wordt bepaald door de uitkomsten van maatregelen, bijvoorbeeld meer rechtvaardigheid of efficiëntere uitgaven. Achter deze narrarieven schuilt echter de aanname dat economische groei en natuurbehoud samengaan. Maar als duurzame ontwikkeling 'grenzen aan groei' betekent, vergt dat offers die moeilijk te legitimeren zijn op basis van consequentialistische narratieven. Bovendien zullen mensen niet altijd slechts één doel hebben. Er is ruimte voor alternatieve narratieven waarin meer ruimte is voor 'deugd' en 'principes'. Juist niet-statelijke organisaties als kerken, milieuorganisaties en mensenrechtenorganisaties kunnen bewustzijn kweken en mensen aansporen tot ethisch handelen.

M.S. (Sander) Chan MA is onderzoeker aan de School of Environment and Natural Resources, Renmin University of China (Beijing), en promovendus aan het Instituut voor Milieuvraagstukken (IVM), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Het volledige artikel kunt u lezen in Radix 36/4 (2010). Of je vraagt mij gewoon om een kopietje :-)

What the U.S. Can Learn from the Dutch About Teen Sex

2010-11-12T00:39:00.000+08:00

The Dutch are known for their liberal attitudes toward sex and drugs: while not officially legal, marijuana use and sale in “coffee shops” is tolerated in The Netherlands, as is prostitution, most notoriously in the street windows of Amsterdam's red light district. Pragmatism, the Dutch have long believed, is better than punitive prohibition — and they've got lots of data on their side.While 12% of the American population has smoked marijuana in the last month, for example, the same is true of only 5% of citizens of The Netherlands. (More on Time.com: 5 Little-Known Truths About American Sex Lives)

As Salon reports, this practical attitude — and data favoring it — extends to teenage sex. Two-thirds of Dutch parents allow their 15-to-17-year-old children to sleep with their partners in their homes, according to a 2003 survey cited by the Salon post.

But rather than resulting in crazed teen orgies and high rates of teen pregnancy, abortion or transmission of STDs, the Dutch have far lower rates of these problems than the U.S. For example, the teen pregnancy rate in the Netherlands is just 12 pregnancies per 1,000 girls aged 15 to 19. In the staid U.S., there are 72 pregnancies per 1,000 girls the same age. The Dutch teen abortion rate is 20% lower than that in the U.S. And the rate of HIV infection in America is three times higher than in The Netherlands. (More on Time.com: Study: 'Hyper-Texting' Teens More Likely to Have Had Sex, Tried Drugs).

The differences between the cultures, and between the parenting styles in each country, are many, but key among them is attitude toward sex. The Salon article highlights a telling passage from the paper "Sex, Love, and Autonomy in the Teenage Sleepover" by University of Massachusetts, Amherst, sociologist Amy Schalet, comparing Dutch parents' stance on teen sex to that of Americans:

Dutch parents, by contrast, downplay the dangerous and difficult sides of teenage sexuality, tending to normalize it. They speak of readiness (er aan toe zijn), a process of becoming physically and emotionally ready for sex that they believe young people can self-regulate, provided they've been encouraged to pace themselves and prepare adequately. Rather than emphasizing gender battles, Dutch parents talk about sexuality as emerging from relationships and are strikingly silent about gender conflicts. And unlike Americans who are often skeptical about teenagers' capacities to fall in love, they assume that even those in their early teens fall in love. They permit sleepovers, even if that requires an “adjustment” period to overcome their feelings of discomfort, because they feel obliged to stay connected and accepting as sex becomes part of their children's lives.

The Sociological Images blog has produced a collection of charts showing just how “awful” the results of realism on teen sex have been in Holland. If parents really want to keep their teens safe, rather than closing their eyes and pretending that kids don't have sex, they might be better off going Dutch. (More on Time.com: Can an iPhone App Save Your Marriage?)

Joel Burns tells gay teens "it gets better" http://www.joelburns.com

2010-11-02T21:17:00.000+08:00

Ontschaving 1: Stilte

2010-10-05T13:10:00.001+08:00

Ontschaving, althans, zo luid mijn vertaling en interpretatie van een nieuwe beweging dat zich 'Dark Mountain' noemt. Ik wil op deze blog een serie beginnen over dit opmerkelijke manifest. Ik heb zelf deze Engelse beweging pas ontdekt, het is dus ook voor mij een ontdekkingsreis. Ik spreek daarom niet vanuit de autoriteit als kenner, maar als iemand die op zoek is naar eerlijkheid en betekenis in een tijd van langzame, maar zekere, erosie van menselijke beschaving. Het is een persoonlijke zoektocht, want ook mijn denkwereld is aan erosie onderhavig. Ik ben bijna tien jaar geleden met een nieuw optimisme in het leven gaan staan, mijn bekering tot het Christendom was licht in de duisternis van pijn, depressie en misbruik (waar ik nu nauwelijks meer aan terugdenk als een ver en irrelant verleden). Het Christelijk positivisme, de lineaire ontwikkeling naar bevrijding en redding, dat ik mij eigen maakte, leek een opmerkelijke tegenstelling ten opzichte van de negativistische, deconstructivistische aard die ik voorheen altijd liet zien. Ik maakte mij het Christelijk leven eigen door 'roomscher dan de Paus' te zijn, ik ontkende mijn homoseksuele aard; ik overkwam mijn vrees voor mensen om iedere voorbijganger het goede nieuws van Jezus' herrijzenis te delen; ik liet mijn deur altijd open zodat ik niet in verleiding zou komen tot zondige daden. Met een terugblik lijkt het Christelijk positivisme dat ik mij eigen maakte een verhulde deconstructie van mijn leven voorheen. Ik moest met Christelijk positivisme uit de gevangenis treden van (zelf-)afwijzing; van het opgroeien tussen culturen die niet samen gaan; van dagelijkse depressieve sleur.
De Christelijk positieve lijn hield aan tot zo'n drie jaar geleden. Inmiddels was ik een gerespecteerd lid van de kerk en in de politiek liet ik mij steeds vaker zien. Maar de nieuwe Christelijke werkelijkheid zou weer worden gedeconstrueerd, met de gebruikelijke vragen (wie is God; welke last legt God op mij; van waar de discrepantie tussen mijn gevoel en mijn geloof). Al vroeg in mijn Christelijke leven stelde ik mij deze vragen, maar mijn Christelijke zelfverwezenlijking kreeg een mokerslag, toen een bekende collega van mij in de ChristenUnie verkondigde dat homo's de geestelijke dood verdienen. Gek genoeg, heeft zij gelijk gekregen, in zekere zin was het mijn geestelijke dood, de depressie die daarop volgde was de finale deconstructie van mijn Christelijk leven. Ik stapte uit de kerk; uit de partij; en op deze website beschreef ik mijzelf als 'agnostisch christen', wat door o.a. het Reformatorisch Dagblad werd gequote om mij te bestempelen als niet-christen. Wederom moet ik zeggen, het RD heeft gelijk gekregen. Het RD bedoelde ongetwijfeld mij te delegitimeren en zij ging voorbij aan de zware strijd waarin waarheid en God zocht, maar zij had gelijk omdat ik inderdaad mijn christenzijn weer aan het deconstrueren was.
Ik liet Nederland, de partij en de kerk achter en vertrok met een onderzoeksbeurs naar China. Een goede vriend heeft wel eens gekscherend gesteld dat ik de eerste politiek vluchteling van Nederland naar China ben. Inderdaad was mijn ervaring in het eerste jaar er één van ontheemding. Ik probeerde mijn Christelijk-positief en Nederlands leven voort te zetten en bezocht verschillende kerken. Terwijl mijn Nederlandse vrienden mij vroegen naar het veronderstelde repressieve kerkelijk leven in China, was dat zeker niet hetgeen mijn opviel of mij zelfs ook maar stoorde. Wat mij stoorde is dat telkens als ik in de kerkbanken zat, het gevoel had dat een kerk vanuit de verte terstond geplant was in een beschaving dat de hare niet was. Ik heb in kerken gezeten waar vrouwen kwamen in rokken tot over de enkels, en mannen in pak, het was alsof een ruimteschip geland was in Beijing; zo volkomen vreemd, als een vreemdeling in bed. De ontheemding ging diep; ik verloor mijn passie voor bijvoorbeeld het milieu, homo-emancipatie, politiek. Het zinloze leven lachte mij toe, Beijing is een geweldige stad voor mensen zonder overtuiging. Ik wist wel dat mijn leven een wending aan het nemen was, maar ik wist niet waar toe, dus ik maakte mij niet bezorgd. Het knaagde af en toe dat ik zo weinig 'zin van het leven' zag en op sommige momenten voelde ik mij zelfs schuldig.

Ik sprak met een goede vriend in Amsterdam over mijn schuld en het gewetensgeknaag en trok de conclusie dat ik de dankbaarheid weer moest voelen van Gods voorziening en zijn liefde voor de schepping. Het lukte mij echter niet om terug te grijpen op Christelijk positivisme, ik wist niet of God man of vrouw is, of God bestaat; en op den duur konden die vragen mij eigenlijk ook niet meer boeien. Toen volgde stilte, stilte in mijn werk, stilte in mijn schrijven, stilte op deze website. Ondertussen was het natuurlijk niet stil in de wereld om mij heen, in mijn wetenschappelijke discipline. Eerder dit jaar mislukte de klimaattop in Kopenhagen (en eigenlijk wisten de meeste experts dat er weinig te halen viel). Ik was op onderzoek naar ontbossing en herbeplanting ergens in zuid-west China, terwijl de aarde schudde in Qinghai, een provincie 150 km van mijn onderzoeksveld. Van de economische crisis kreeg ik weinig mee in China, waar ontwikkeling en vooruitgang nog steeds voorpaginanieuws zijn, terwijl Europa en Amerika af en toe worden genoemd op licht schertsende toon. Als ik de Nederlandse kranten online in Nederland las, zou ik haast geloven dat er een politieke meltdown plaats vond in de naam van vrijheid. Het stak mij - ik hou van mijn geboorteland -, maar aan de andere kant scheen het mij ook zo irrelevant in een wereld zonder betekenis, die als een gletsjer - langzaam maar zeker - de diepte in glijdt. Welke hoogverheven idealen? Waarom nog een inspanningskracht?

Ik kwam tot het pijnlijk sobere inzicht dat mijn beschavingsprojecten - een beter milieu, vrijheid van onderdrukten, armen, homo's, sociale rechtvaardigheid - zinloos waren in een tegengesteld krachtenveld. Want zullen er niet altijd mensen zijn die homo's haten? Bestaat een groot deel van de kerk niet bij gratie van uitsluiting? Zullen we ooit onze (persoonlijke) ontwikkeling en onze 'survival' opgeven, ten bate van de rest van de wereld en de schepping? In alle redelijkheid moest ik concluderen, nee. Mijn persoonlijke inzet, al zou ik een stap 'in de goede richting' zetten, is hooguit nobel, of anders hypocriet te noemen, maar het is voor alles irrelevant in the grootsheid van onze kosmos. Deze kosmische gevangenschap, de veroordeling tot een zinloos bestaan, is iets dat ik moet erkennen. In de beweging die zich Dark Mountain noemt herken ik mijn persoonlijke kritiek op de beschavingsprojecten in deze wereld en in mijn eigen leven. Ik beschouw op ontschaving niet als waarheid of zingeving, maar enkel inspiratie tot een niet-zo-definitief antwoord op een zinloos en beschaafd bestaan.

Populism

2010-10-04T23:43:00.000+08:00

Dutch Christian Democrats fail to act against populism and discrimination, instead join a coalition government supported by anti-muslim 'Freedom Party'. New political trend in Europe?

Straight Guy Comes Out to Anti-Gay Family

2010-09-26T00:49:00.004+08:00

Under the LGBT section of social news website reddit, a heterosexual guy comes out to his family. In the following; the original comment, and one of the 200+ reactions to the comment.

Comment by Heterogay:

"I'm a straight male. Very straight. I love women. I also totally support gay rights - with all my heart. I can't STAND bigotry and it really pisses me off that you don't have equal rights. I'm straight but if I have a son or daughter that's gay I'll be damned if they don't have the same rights that I do.... My family however, is fairly homophobic. They live on the east coast. I live in SF. I've never let them say anything discriminatory in front of me without it being challenged and flat out calling them hateful bigots.

Anyway. Last week I flew back to spend some time with them... They're my family after all and before this our relationship was good... I see them like 1x a year. We're having dinner and somehow the conversation turns to Obama and "Don't Ask, Don't Tell". Long story short, my brother in-law says that "fags shouldn't be able to serve in the military" ... and I lose it. I stand up and say that it's not right to discriminate against ANYONE regardless of sexuality, race, or religion. ... then it dawns on me... they don't know that I'm NOT gay. So I just come out of the closet. I live in SF... I'm 35... I'm fit, fashionable, metrosexual even. I've NEVER been married. I've never even brought a girl home to meet Mom... (though for the record I have plenty of girlfriends, ha).

They think I'm bluffing but once I stick to my guns (and they can see that I'm visually upset) it dawns on them that I'm homosexual. My dad goes silent and just leaves the table. My sister calls me a jerk for coming out ...my brother in law is pissed. My mother is crying. At this point I decide I'm not going back. I'm going to be gay as far as they're concerned for the rest of my life.

It was pretty heated... I left shortly after. My calls to the house aren't answered. My sister says she's ok with it but that I shouldn't have come out of the closet... In a way it hurts because I had a good relationship with my mother and father before this - however, I feel strongly that if they don't love me regardless of my sexuality, then I don't want them in my life. So here I am.... one of you . I'm ostracized from my family. I'm out of the closet and kicked in the teeth. This is harder than I thought."

Reaction by Kryptondog:

I think your heart's in the right place, but as a gay guy this doesn't sit right with me. It took me years of agonizing before I came out. And agony is the word for it. When I was still a practicing Catholic I'd pray to God, begging him not to send me to Hell for being gay. I tried to tell my parents so many times. I wanted to. It was on the tip of my tongue more times than I can remember, and then I'd suddenly get very afraid that they'd not love me and kick me out. So it was back to the closet for me. One time I lied to dad about wanting to go to the psychologist for social anxiety when I really just wanted to get "cured" and be "normal." When dad told me to man up and try to work it out myself, I took his gun without him knowing about it, hid under my bed, and tried to work up the nerve to blow my brains out all night long. You ever do any of that, sport?

It took me years, and it took you a single night over a heated dinner conversation. You did it because you were angry at your parents' ignorance, and I did it because I was angry at having to live a lie for the sake of other people's sensibilities. I'm very lucky that everything worked out for me, and that I now love myself for who I am and have my sanity fairly intact. A lot of gay people don't make it through the process unscathed.

I really do feel like you're a good person, and you were acting out of a sense of justice. In a way, it's touching that you'd defend us to that extent to your parents. Thanks for that. But please don't compare your gesture to actually coming out. Don't even call it that, you know nothing about it. It's cultural tourism, nothing more. Sorry, bro.

PS, now that I've got all the butthurt worked out of my system... I'm sorry that your folks are ostracizing you now. Despite their position on homosexuality, it would be a shame to throw away a good relationship with them. I hope you guys make amends soon. After I came out, it took a few weeks before dad could look me in the face and mom could keep from bursting out in tears when I came in the room.

Why Chinese firms don’t apologise

2010-09-09T01:49:00.000+08:00

Why Chinese firms don’t apologise:

Unlike BP, China’s state-owned polluters have been allowed by friends in government to ignore the consequences of their actions, writes Tang Hao.

There is more than one BP in this world. On July 3, toxic waste from a Zijin Mining copper plant spilled into the Ting River in Fujian, south-east China, killing thousands of fish. On July 16, an explosion at an oil depot in Dalian, sent 1,500 tonnes of crude oil flowing into the sea off the north-east coast. On July 28, floods at Yongji in Jilin province swept 7,138 barrels of chemicals from two chemical plants into the Songhua River.

But China’s companies do not handle responsibility in the same way as their overseas counterparts. To date, BP has spent billions of dollars plugging the Gulf of Mexico leak and dealing with the spilled oil. It will also cover government clean-up bills, running to hundreds of millions of dollars, and it has been forced to establish a US$20 billion (136 billion yuan) compensation fund. In contrast, Zijin only got around to disclosing its pollution incident nine days after the event. Even then, its vice-president repeatedly stated that the leak “was largely a natural disaster and could not have been predicted”.

Meanwhile, the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) has offered neither apology nor compensation for the oil that gushed from its Dalian facilities into the Bohai Sea. State-owned enterprises (SOEs) such as CNPC have a track record when it comes to this kind of behaviour: after polluting the Songhua River in 2005, CNPC paid a mere 5 million yuan to the local government and 1 million yuan in fines to the environmental authorities. Those living alongside the river received nothing.

So why are these state-owned firms – founded with taxpayer money – able to cover up their actions and behave so arrogantly after wreaking environmental havoc? They appear even more unflappable than richer, stronger businesses abroad. The answer is simple: they have back-up. Both CNPC and Zijin inhabit sectors that do not yet function according to market principles. Since the 1990s, central government’s market reforms have shifted in focus from “marketisation and privatisation” to eliminating weaker firms in sectors with overcapacity, such as coal mining, power generation and non-ferrous metals, thereby opening the door to SOE monopolies.

China’s market economy is a distorted one, and state-owned firms have grown up in an environment of unfair competition. There are numerous examples of such organisations enjoying monopolies, putting pressure on private firms and setting rules that favour their own. The refusal to pay environmental costs is simply one expression of these special privileges.

Moreover, the special relationship between the SOEs and local government is itself a root cause of environmental incidents. China’s GDP-obsessed local authorities prioritise growth over the environmental protection and, as a result, the country’s industrial sector has become a huge ecological hazard, presenting a degree of risk rarely seen elsewhere in the world.

Nothing demonstrates this more clearly than the locations of chemical plants on river banks – chosen for the sake of profit, with no thought given to the environment. Of China’s 7,555 chemical and petrochemical plants (with a combined capital cost of just over one trillion yuan) 81% are located in environmentally sensitive areas – by rivers, or in densely populated areas – and 45% are considered to pose major risks. In some areas, chemical plants are sited just 300 metres from rivers. Weng Lida, former head of the Yangtze River Water Resources Protection Bureau, has been quoted as saying: “Half of all China’s chemical industry is in the Yangtze basin. A Yellow River’s worth of domestic and industrial waste water flows into the Yangtze every day.”

China’s particular method of development and industrial structure have given rise to a chemical industry that poses a major threat to public safety. The frequent pollution incidents we have seen this year are merely a warning that similar, larger-scale accidents are yet to come.

The environmental policy successes of western governments have been based on government transparency, honesty and the utilisation of civil powers. Corporate and individual environmental responsibilities are set out clearly in legislation; environmental information is easily accessible; the media can report on the issues freely; and the public is both concerned and engaged. These are all necessary conditions for environmental protection. In Europe, both governments and NGOs are environmentally active. In the United States, it was the pressure applied to BP by Barack Obama’s administration that ultimately prevented the environmental catastrophe from getting even worse.

But in China, the government – the natural safety valve – is itself flawed. Close links between the authorities and business, especially the SOE sector, have long been recognised as a problem. Against this background of tight relationships, state-owned firms are rarely punished for environmental breaches, even if they already have a poor record. According to an official survey, 36% of 3,486 state-controlled enterprises that release waste water were found to be breaching standards when inspected. And, out of 3,557 businesses releasing atmospheric pollution, 41% had breached all or some standards over the course of a year. But enforcing the law in such cases is extremely difficult. Pollution by SOEs is not, at root, an environmental issue – it is a problem of governmental will and commercial incentive.

In fact, Zijin Mining topped a list of 11 firms found to have severe environmental problems, published by China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection in May – two months before the Fujian disaster took place. The firm had already been named and shamed in this way several times previously, but local-government protection meant it was untouchable. In 2010, the firm was even awarded the title “Most Sincere Enterprise of China, 2009”. After it caused a major environmental catastrophe, an anonymous company employee said to Time Weekly magazine: “The government will not let us become a BP.”

In China, state-owned and government-controlled firms have even closer ties with government than private business, and so the environmental authorities have greater problems exercising oversight. In this context, it is easy to see why CNPC and Zijin did not promptly report their incidents to the environmental authorities or take measures to reduce the impacts, instead opting to cover up the events and refusing to pay compensation.

There needs to be a range of forces involved in environmental protection. Legislative and judicial bodies, the media, public opinion, NGOs and other civil society bodies and international organisations all have their role to play. But in China today, just as SOEs have monopolies in certain sectors, the government has a monopoly on power. Legislative bodies are weak, civil oversight is suppressed, and large state-controlled firms have formed tight alliances with government. There is no scope for these diverse forces to fulfil their rightful functions.

Faced with frequent environmental disasters, the typical reaction is to hope the government will actively intervene to change corporate behaviour. But when the dividing line between government and commerce is blurred, excessive power is concentrated in the hands of the authorities and other societal forces are helpless, environmental protection in China is in a quandary. If the powers of the government are increased so that it can intervene to a greater extent in the marketplace, then it will have further opportunity for rent-seeking behaviour, corruption will increase and environmental problems will become even harder to solve. But if government powers are weakened, then already brazen businesses will be even freer to do what they will to the environment. If the current monopoly on power is not broken, the environmental issue will, like other social problems, remain unsolvable.

Judging by historical pollution patterns, it seems likely that China – three decades after the start of its manufacturing boom – is about to enter a period of frequent environmental disasters. During this period, large monopoly firms will be major polluters. Despite being built on taxpayers’ money, such firms, with their unique economic and political position, pose an even greater threat to the environment those taxpayers inhabit than private enterprises or foreign companies. To turn this situation around requires not so much a change in the relationship between government and business as the creation of a responsible government.

Tang Hao is an associate professor and a columnist. He is currently Fulbright scholar-in-residence at Randolph-Macon College in the United States.

Homepage image by Sygne.

Wildlife conservation projects do more harm than good, says expert

2010-08-11T12:41:00.000+08:00

Wildlife conservation projects do more harm than good, says expert: "

New book claims western-style schemes to protect animals damage the environment and criminalise local people

Ecotourism and western-style conservation projects are harming wildlife, damaging the environment, and displacing and criminalising local people, according to a controversial new book.

The pristine beaches and wildlife tours demanded by overseas tourists has led to developments that do not benefit wildlife, such as beaches being built, mangroves stripped out, waterholes drilled and forests cleared, says Rosaleen Duffy, a world expert on the ethical dimensions of wildlife conservation and management.

These picture-perfect images all too often hide a 'darker history', she adds. Her new book, Nature Crime: How We're Getting Conservation Wrong, which draws on 15 years of research, 300 interviews with conservation professionals, local communities, tour operators and government officials, is published today.

When wildlife reserves are established, Duffy says, local communities can suddenly find that their everyday subsistence activities, such as hunting and collecting wood, have been outlawed.

At the same time, well-intentioned attempts to protect the habitats of animal species on the edge of extinction lead to the creation of wild, 'people-free' areas. This approach has led to the displacement of millions of people across the world.

'Conservation does not constitute neat win-win scenarios. Schemes come with rules and regulations that criminalise communities, dressed up in the language of partnership and participation, coupled with promises of new jobs in the tourism industry,' claims Duffy, professor of international politics at Manchester University.

A key failure of the western-style conservation approach is the assumption that people are the enemies of wildlife conservation – that they are the illegal traders, the poachers, the hunters and the habitat destroyers. Equally flawed, she says, is the belief that those engaged in conservation are 'wildlife saviours'.

Such images, she argues, are oversimplifications. 'The inability to negotiate these conflicts and work with people on the ground is where conservation often sows the seeds of its own doom,' she adds.

'Why do some attempts to conserve wildlife end up pitting local communities against conservationists?' she asks. 'It is because they are regarded as unjust impositions, despite their good intentions. This is vital because failing to tackle such injustices damages wildlife conservation in the long run.'

Duffy stresses that her intention is not to persuade people to stop supporting conservation schemes. 'Wildlife is under threat and we need to act urgently,' she acknowledges. Instead, she says, she wants to encourage environmentalists to examine what the real costs and benefits of conservation are, so that better practices for people and for animals can be developed.

'The assumption that the ends justify the means results in a situation where the international conservation movement and their supporters around the world assume they are making ethical and environmentally sound decisions to save wildlife,' she says. 'In fact, they are supporting practices that have counterproductive, unethical and highly unjust outcomes.'

Duffy focuses on what she says is the fallacious belief that ecotourism is a solution to the problem of delivering economic development in an environmentally sustainable way.

This is, she says, a 'bewitchingly simple argument' but the assumption that such tourism necessarily translates into the kinds of development that benefits wildlife is far too simplistic.

'Holiday makers are mostly unaware of how their tourist paradises have been produced,' she says. 'They assume that the picture-perfect landscape or the silver Caribbean beach is a natural feature. This is very far from the truth. Tourist playgrounds are manufactured environments, usually cleared of people. Similarly, hotel construction in tropical areas can result in clearing ecologically important mangroves or beach building which harms coral reefs.'

But the World Wildlife Fund for Nature, one of the four biggest environmental NGOs in the world, maintains that the loss of wildlife is one of the most important challenges facing our planet. As such, a powerful focus on conservation is necessary: 'Conservation is essential so let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater,' says a WWF-UK spokesman. 'There are examples out there where ecotourism is working and has thrown a lifeline to communities in terms of economics and social benefits, as well as added biodiversity benefits.

'Let's have more of those projects that are working for everybody and everything,' he adds. 'There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to ecotourism and conservation.'

Amelia Hill

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Azariah Southworth: The Church must repent

2010-08-09T20:13:00.001+08:00

American writer and former TV host, Azariah Southworth, shares his faith as a Christian and an openly gay man on his blog 'Azariah Speaks'. In a recent post he asserts that the Church must repent from pointing the finger to LGTB people. "The blood of countless LGBT people, who have taken their lives, due to hateful messages ... drip from your deceitful hands."

---

"The church has so much to repent for." I said as tears streamed down my face and past my quivering bottom lip. I was having dinner with my parents in the middle of a Ruby Tuesdays. I didn't anticipate having this conversation with them and I most certainly didn't expect or want to make a scene. I couldn't help it, it was something weighing heavy on my heart.

"Calm down. This isn't the place for..." my Dad said interrupting. "No Dad, this is real. This needs to be said. I don't care where we are and who is around us," I replied trying to control my volume. "You don't know what it was like to be told who you are is wrong. You don't know what it was like to go through exorcisms every single week for five years. You and Mom put me through that. You allowed that to happen. I was lied to. I remember going into Pastor's office that Sunday night, she told me a story about a man who was raping little boys and made it seem like that is what all gay people do. I felt scared and I knew I didn't want to do that. All that counseling ever did was create a cycle of success and failure for me. It made me suicidal."

Tears were still streaming down my face. I tried to regain my composure and continued. "You don't know what it was like to push your dresser against your bedroom door and begin to write what I thought would be my last note to you and Mom." I paused.

"Change is possible," my Dad said. "There are people who have changed." Now with my emotions under control, I looked at him in the eyes and said, "Then you change. If I can change, so can you."

The majority of our conversation that evening dealt with the fact that the church does indeed need to repent. The Christian church, specifically Evangelicals, owe LGBT people a huge apology. The lies, fear, abuse and rejection of LGBT people, which has been nurtured and perpetuated by the Christian church, is incomprehensible. Yet, it continues to this day. Just this week Pat Robertson said on his daily TV show, The 700 Club... "Homosexuals only want to destroy the church and institution of marriage." Maybe some do. However, I know of a lot more heterosexuals who have been doing that for a long time. Specifically, YOU Mr. Robertson. You're guilty. As you point your finger at people like me, the blood of countless LGBT people, who have taken their lives, due to hateful messages like yours, drip from your deceitful hands.

"The church does need to apologize," my Mom said as the waitress refilled her coffee. "I believe they have wrongly dealt with gay people." My Dad agreed, "Yeah, I've seen it. Pastors shunning gay people. They're overreacting."

It seems to me, that the only time when "Christians" like Pat Robertson want to speak to the LGBT community is when they want to fight against their civil rights. But when have we heard about Pat Robertson, Tony Perkins or even James Dobson calling up a well-known gay activist like Michael Signorelli and invite him to their home for dinner? When will the day come when the Christian church chooses to love us instead of fight us?

My Dad was right... "Change is possible" but not in the context he was talking. The Christian church needs to change. Pat Robertson needs to change. I need to change. We all need to continuously be changing to a faith based in love and abandon the fear we have based our faith in for too long. The church needs to change, repent, and learn to love. The LGBT community, I believe, will teach the church how.

Be love,
Azariah Southworth

Amalfi 2003

2010-08-07T11:47:00.003+08:00

October 2003, Amalfi coast, Italy, I walked around a range overlooking the azure blue sea. I sat down to take in the view, as a shepherd came over to sit next to me. He tore bread with his hands big and lumpy, and shared it with me. His cheeks were red, almost purple, strain with wind and sun. We didn't share any language, so instead we stared at his sheep. I thanked him and I continued my climb until sunset when I got slight slightly worried about not finding a place to rest before dark. When I saw a village downhill I quickly descended to find I a little guest house after one of the many curves on the road. Both the garden and the house were overgrown with citrus and oranges, this sweet place I called home for the night.

There were only a few guests. We sat in the garden, watching the last bit of sun dissolve into the Mediterranean. The radio was playing Johnny Cash. An American guy, I cannot recall his name, remarked that he hated Johnny Cash. When Johnny Cash died, a month before, it was the only time he saw his father care about anything. The radio died and crickets chirped into the night. I took a last shot of Limoncello.

Wachten op de Heteroboot

2010-08-06T19:24:00.002+08:00

(Published on zinweb.nl 7 August 2010)

Door Sander Chan[1]

De Amerikaanse anti-slavernijbeweging streed voor het recht van ieder mens op leven, vrijheid en het nastreven naar geluk; zij is de kroon op de geschiedenis van emancipatie. Deze geschiedenis is niet afgesloten, de anti-slavernijbeweging is nog steeds het lichtend voorbeeld voor elke emancipatiestrijd. Het is daarom belangrijk te observeren dat de strijd om meer ging dan ‘acceptatie’ van de medemens. Acceptatie is machtsuitoefening: wie heeft de macht al of niet te accepteren? Zo bevestigt acceptatie ongelijkwaardigheid. De strijd tegen slavernij vergde meer dan acceptatie; het vergde een actieve verwerping van het kwaad van ongelijkheid; het vergde mensen die zich openbaar uitspraken tegen slavernij. De anti-slavernijbeweging was geen belangenbehartiging door (bevrijde) slaven, maar een voorafschaduwing van een vrijere, meer geëmancipeerde samenleving waarin blanke vrouwen en mannen een even belangrijke rol speelden als voormalige slaven. De rol van de kerk en blanke mannen en vrouwen is opvallend in deze geschiedenis. Vele christenen hebben zich in de strijd tegen slavernij bewezen; zij zetten, als het ware, het bevrijdende werk voort dat Christus begon. In de Christelijke traditie is acceptatie niet genoeg voor verzoening, zij moet gepaard gaan met berouw en een actieve verwerping van het kwade. Zo verbrandde William Lloyd Garrison in 1844 de Amerikaanse constitutie omdat die artikelen bevatte die slavernij in stand hield. Garrison handelde naar zijn rotsvaste overtuiging dat God ieder mens gelijk heeft gemaakt, zijn ‘werelds’ burgerschap mocht opgeofferd als deze bijdroeg aan het systeem van slavernij.

Ik moest aan deze emancipatiegeschiedenis denken toen ik onlangs las over een groep christenen die demonstreerden tijdens een gay pride parade in Chicago. Anders dan in de geschiedenis van het abolitionisme, staat de kerk in de homo-emancipatie niet bekend als avantgarde van een vrijere en meer geëmancipeerde samenleving. Veel homo’s die ik spreek koesteren een diepe haat tegenover religie; zij zijn bitter over religie, de christelijke kerk en christenen, zelfs homoseksuele christenen. Het negatieve oordeel blijft, zelfs al was Christus misschien wel emancipatie-activist pur sang. Dit is niet vreemd, een groot deel van de kerk heeft homo’s in de steek gelaten. En zo blijft emancipatie gefragmenteerd, of is zij zelfs zoek geraakt; homo’s verenigen zich in homo-belangenorganisaties, christelijke homo’s verenigen zich in christelijke homo-belangenorganisaties, de kerk blijft de kerk, al verenigen sommige homoseksuele christenen zich in homokerken. Zo ontstaan verschillende werelden met weinig onderling begrip. Hooguit is er ‘acceptatie’. Er zijn zeker christenen die progressief zijn, die 'pro-homo’ zijn, maar het besef lijkt nauwelijks door te dringen dat privé acceptatie niet genoeg is voor emancipatie. Waar blijven de de christelijke (en moslim-) hetero’s die hun stem verheffen? Zelfs christenen die homo’s ‘accepteren’ blijven ver weg van een gay pride parade, want de pride is toch vooral ‘provocatie’. Zo accepteren zij de homo, maar niet de pride. Deze vorm acceptatie is een machtsuitoefening die de morele superioriteit bevestigt van de kerk ten opzichte van de homo. Dat het anders kan, blijkt uit de eerder genoemde demonstratie van christenen tijdens de gay pride parade in Chicago. Deze christenen kwamen niet om te veroordelen. Zij zijn tot het inzicht gekomen dat veel homo’s geleden hebben onder veroordeling en uitsluiting door de kerk; het probleem blijkt niet bij homo’s te liggen maar bij zichzelf. Zij protesteerden met plakkaten met daarop: ‘Sorry’, ‘vergeef ons’; zo draaiden zij de gangbare logica van ‘acceptatie’ om: zij hadden geen acceptatie in de aanbieding, zij vroegen juist acceptatie.

Het is weer pride week in Amsterdam. Dit jaar varen nog meer boten, er is een christenboot, een moslimboot, een jodenboot; vele bedrijven en politieke partijen varen ook mee. Alles heeft de schijn van een geëmancipeerde samenleving, waarin homo’s een gelijkwaardige plaats hebben. Homo’s varen in homoboten, christelijke homo’s varen in een ‘heilig bootje’, en wie het provocatie vindt blijft thuis; een alleszins acceptabele harmonie. Deze gay pride bevestigt echter ook bestaande fragmentatie. De gelovige homo heeft nog steeds te maken met verwerping door moskee en kerk; kerk en moskee zullen nog steeds worstelen met ‘acceptatie’; en voor de meeste homo’s blijft religie verbonden met onderdrukking. Natuurlijk is slavernij een andere situatie dan homodiscriminatie en afwijzing, toch is het wachten op een spreekwoordelijke ‘blanke die zich uitspreekt tegen slavernij’: de christelijke of moslim hetero die berouwvol verzoeking met homo’s bewerkt. Het wachten is op het uitvaren van de christelijke of moslim heteroboot.

[1] Sander Chan is lid van de ChristenUnie en onderzoeker aan de Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam en Renmin University in Beijing.

Emancipation, Acceptance is just not enough

2010-07-29T17:03:00.002+08:00

By Sander Chan

Abolitionism in 19th century America is undoubtedly a highlight in the history of emancipation. The recognition that every man and woman has the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness has seldomly seen such a great extension as with the abolition of slavery. However, the history of emancipation never ended, and abolitionism still stands as a great example for remaining parts of humanity that still are denied inalienable rights. Therefore, it is important to recognize the lessons of the abolitionist movement. One the most important lessons is that emancipation is not merely about ‘acceptance’ of the other man or woman. Acceptance is a form of power exercise: who commands the power to accept or to deny? This way acceptance only reaffirms unequality. The cause of abolitionism was supported by much more than acceptance; it was supported by an active denial of the evil of inequality; it was supported by people who publicly spoke out against slavery. The abolitionist movement was not an interest organization of (ex-) slaves, but a foreshadowing of a freer, emancipated world, wherein people of every sex and colour are equally take part. The role of the Church and Christians in abolitionism has widely been acknowledged. Christians have spoke out against slavery, and fought injustice. This way they continued the liberation work that Christ began. The Christian tradition teaches us that reconciliation requires more than mere accceptance, reconciliation requires grief over injustice and a resolute denial of evil. This kind of reconciliatory action was displayed by William Lloyd Garrison in 1844 when he burned the US Constitution, which contained articles supporting slavery. Garrison acted according to his firm conviction that God created man equal, endowed with inalienable rights. He was willing to sacrifice his ‘earthly citizenship’ and allegiance to his country if it would help the greater cause of emancipation.

I was reminded of this history of emancipation while reading about a group of Christians demonstrating at the Chicago pride. The Church is not particularly known for being the avant-garde of gay-emancipation, as it may have been in the abolitionist movement. Many gay men and women deeply hate religion, in particular the church, Christians, and even Christian gays. Such negative judgments endure, even if Christ may be considered a pre-modern emancipation activist. This is hardly surprising since a larger part of the church has turned its back on gays. This results in a fragmented kind of emancipation, even a regression in the history of emancipation. Gay people unite in gay interest organizations, Christian gays have their own Christian gay organizations, the church stays put, while some gay Christians gather in gay churches. Different parallel worlds continue to exist without much mutual understanding and communication. At most there is ‘acceptance’. Of course, there are 'pro-gay’ heterosexual Christians, but it is hardly recognized that a private acceptance is just not enough for emancipation. Where are the Christian (or for that matter: Muslim) heterosexuals who stand up and speak out against inequality? When gay pride comes to town, even 'pro-gay Christians' stay away, since a pride is ‘mere provocation’. This way they accept the gay, but deny the his pride. This kind of acceptance is nothing more or less than a power exercise, affirming the moral superiority of the Church in relation to the gay person.

However, there are hopeful developments. At the aforementioned demonstration by Christians at the Chicago pride, the demonstrators did not come to condemn. They have come to acknowledge that gay people have for long suffered condemnation and exclusion by the church. They have come to realise that a larger part of the problem does not lie with gays, but with them. That is why they flew banners saying ‘Sorry’, ‘Forgive us’, etc. In so doing they subsided the common logic of ‘acceptance’, they had no acceptance on offer, rather they needed acceptance and forgiveness.

Of course, discrimination and condemnation of gays is in many ways incomparable to the hardships that slaves had to endure in pre-abolitionist America. However, the principle of the 'white man speaking out against slavery' is equally valid for gay emancipation. Even more than gay pride, an emancipated world needs Christian and Muslim straight people to speak up.

“Deng would back green growth”

2010-07-29T10:13:00.001+08:00

Elisabeth Hilton (China Dialogue) interview with Hu Angang (Economist at Tsinghua University) for China Dialogue.

“Deng would back green growth”

Hu Angang is a leading Chinese economist, government advisor and advocate of low-carbon development. He talks to Isabel Hilton about his country’s path to fiscal success – and how it can be painted green.

The distinguished Chinese economist, Hu Angang, is noted for his radical approach to economic reform and, more recently, to the political economy of climate change. On a recent visit to the United Kingdom, he explained to chinadialogue how he has been examining China’s past – including the relatively unfashionable ideas of Chairman Mao – to help him formulate policies for China’s future.

“I wanted to understand why Mao’s first period, from 1949 to 1956, was a golden age,” he said. “Why this period was the mother of his later failure and how Mao’s failure was the mother of Deng Xiaoping’s success. I wanted to explain why China took off for 30 years in the second golden age after 1978. If we want to maintain this growth for the next 30 years, we have to change the model now. We can’t get locked in to the pattern of the past.”
In looking at China’s future, Professor Hu has adopted one of the more famous sayings of the late leader, Deng Xiaoping: it doesn’t matter if the cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice. Deng first used this aphorism in the early 1960s to contest what he considered Mao Zedong’s erroneous policies. He did not prevail then, but deployed the saying to more effect after Mao’s death, successfully breaking China’s attachment to Maoist dogma and launching his economic reforms. Now Hu is adapting Deng’s words to advocate a new set of reforms.
“Under Mao the cat was red. Under Deng the cat was black. Now we need a green cat,” he said. “We needed different coloured cats for different moments.”
Hu draws lessons from both the successes and failures of the past in thinking about China’s new development path. Even today, he urges his students to read Mao, as he himself was obliged to do during the Cultural Revolution. “I think his ideas were highly suited to China’s culture and background,” he said. “I urge my students to have a dialogue with Mao.”
In 1956, he explained, when Mao was preparing the second five-year plan and wanted to break with the Soviet model, he thought about how to reconcile the needs of China’s coastal and inland areas, or agriculture and industry. “At that time, we also looked at the relationship between population and development, between resources, energy and development. The key idea is how to find a good road for China’s modernisation and to understand what kind of character, what kind of ideas are suited to China’s real situation.”
Hu is a prominent advocate of a new, green economy and of a pro-active approach to reducing carbon emissions. If Mao and Deng were alive today, he believes they would approve of his ideas. “If Deng was thinking about climate change, the biggest challenge we face today, I think he would come up with similar ideas to mine. We need to create an international environment that is not only peaceful but green,” he said.The international context, he believes, has been crucial to China’s success since 1978, allowing China to catch up with more developed countries. Now, China has to think about innovation. But to achieve its green potential, he believes China needs a better understanding of the relationship between altruism and self-interest.
“I think China owes everything to the peaceful international environment over the last 30 years,” he said. “China quickly became the biggest beneficiary of globalisation. Today the equivalent of joining the World Trade Organization [WTO] is the international effort to reduce carbon. If China joins in, it will be successful in five to 10 years.”
Today, Hu believes that the green revolution is capturing the Chinese imagination. “Private sector CEOs are very interested in the new green market opportunities – green energy, green building and so on,” he explained. “It’s the new green game and you will lose if you don’t change your colour. If per capita GDP rises to US$3,000 to US$4,000 [around 20,000 to 27,000 yuan], it will stimulate green demand and green consumption; when China gets out of poverty to middle income level, it will naturally produce a demand for green consumption.”
Hu argues that it is in China’s interest to take a proactive role in carbon reduction. Acknowledging that China’s per capita income and emissions are lower than Western countries, he believes that the total effect is equally important: “China’s rapid rise has produced two important effects – the positive contribution to global growth, trade and poverty reduction, which was very successful. But there were also strong, negative externality effects. China, as a big beneficiary of globalisation, needs to take responsibility for the global and reduce the negative effects.” China came under fierce international criticism for its approach to global climate negotiations in Copenhagen in December 2009, as Hu had predicted it might. “China was at a crossroads: either active cooperation with developed and developing countries or risk being the object of attack from both. This was my warning. As you know, after Copenhagen, that is what took place.” But despite the international criticism, he believes China’s leaders are taking the domestic challenge seriously. “I think the next five year plan will be based on the green development principle, and if China follows this path of green development it will make a big global contribution.”The disparity between China’s international and domestic efforts, he thinks, is partly explained by “information asymmetry” in China’s foreign policy, a product of the relatively closed manner in which foreign policy is formed in China, which makes it harder to persuade those behind it to take climate and environmental problems as seriously as they merit: “Since 1978, debates on economic policy have been more and more transparent, with more and more experts involved. But foreign policy remains relatively closed, without expert involvement. It’s a black box.”Hu stresses the importance of reliable data to make his case. “Data on things like GDP in China is authoritative and reliable,” he said. “But we only set up solid data for energy consumption three or four years ago, when China set its 20% energy intensity reduction target. The next step, based on the energy account, should be to set up a carbon emissions account.”With both energy consumption and emissions accounts, he argues, policymakers can calculate green GDP for different sectors and regions to illuminate policy choices. “If we compare Shanxi [northern China] and Guangdong [southern China] for instance, we find that Shanxi’s energy consumption has a very high ecological cost because it is based on coal. Guangdong has to import energy, so the price is very high, which makes it much more energy efficient,” he said. “In 2008, Guangdong’s energy consumption per unit of GDP was 0.5715 tons. In Shanxi it was 2.554. That’s a huge difference, with very strong implications for policy. We can use taxation to stimulate efficiency.
“We need to use both cap and trade and carbon tax. Last year, we imposed a carbon tax on gasoline for the first time and it was very successful. Car numbers increased by 40%, but gasoline consumption increased by just a few percentage points and diesel consumption fell. At the same time, Beijing subsidised public transportation and increased parking charges, so people were buying cars but using them less.”The most effective incentives, he believes, are VAT on fossil-fuel heavy electricity at 17% and no VAT on clean energy, to acknowledge the positive externalities of renewable energy and penalise power generation that produces big negative externalities in the form of carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide. As well as taxation, Hu would like to see China establish the world’s biggest domestic carbon market within the next five years: “The forest sector is the biggest carbon reducer, and electricity generation the biggest carbon source. How do you get them to make a deal? The domestic market has huge potential and we should use the market as a driver to give a strong incentive to entrepreneurs to develop renewable energy and clean-coal technology.
“It’s a two handed approach – government and the market. We hope that China will be a green innovator and, as a low cost manufacturer, will quickly become an exporter. For example, from 1995 to 2000 China was a net importer of mobile phones. Now we are the number one exporter.”

China needs to encourage indigenous green technologies but should not use this policy to exclude foreign firms from the Chinese market, he said. “Multinationals took a prominent role in technology transfer in the past, so China quickly became a major exporter and producer. We need to keep our policies open, but on the other hand we need to encourage domestic innovation and knowledge creation based on China’s real situation.”Both foreign and domestic companies, he argued, will need to become green to maintain their market share. “For example, the CEO of Motorola told me that Motorola’s share of the Chinese domestic market has declined and that they need to give the Chinese consumer smart, green and safe technologies to maintain it.”Hu believes that some foreign companies have a good demonstration effect in China, though promoting fair competition to benefit from this demonstration effect is more complex.

“Sometimes there are issues, frankly, with intellectual copyright,” he acknowledged. “But sometimes local competitors are very smart about innovation. Baidu, for example, has more than 2,000 engineers and scientists doing research. Google only has a few hundred and it can’t compete in the local market. Nokia has a huge research and development centre, not just in Beijing but regionally, because in China different regions have different cultures and demands. Foreign companies have to adapt to the market.”
Hu has no doubt that the forthcoming 12th Five Year Plan will set China on a new, green pathway. He points to his 2007 book, China in 2020, as the blueprint for a society that pays attention to health and lifelong learning as well as to such constraints as China’s energy shortage.Hu is also optimistic about the perennial problem of aligning central policy with regional, local or provincial implementation. He believes that China’s notoriously wayward local authorities are increasingly aligned with national objectives, closing the worrying gap between China’s central policy and local implementation. Officials in such cities as Beijing and Nanjing generate their own indicators to complement the national plan and his research indicates that the overlap of local and national development indicators under the 11th Five Year Plan had risen to 85%, from less than 70% under the ninth plan.
“It allows local government to realise both national and local targets,” said Hu. “These are Chinese characteristics – two hands and two legs! It explains why China is able to walk faster and remain stable.”

Isabel Hilton is editor of chinadialogue

Hu Angang is one of China’s best-known economists. He is professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Tsinghua University and has worked as the chief editor for China Studies Report, a circulated reference for senior officials.

O jee... de homotheologie rukt op!

2010-07-16T08:16:00.005+08:00

Henk van Rhee, directeur van Stichting tot Heil Des Volks, waarschuwt voor 'homotheologie'. Hij maant aan vooral niet homoseksualiteit op bijbelse gronden goed te praten. Hij quote zijn eigen medewerker en Different hulpverlener Reitze Siebesma, die waarschuwt de hedendaagse cultuur niet als norm te beschouwen.

Ik lees dit en merk dat ik hierom razend wordt. Ik vraag mij af waarom; omdat het woord homotheologie zo vies klinkt uit de monden van mensen die het uitstampen (of 'verbleken') van de menselijke seksuele aard tot hoofdsport hebben geheven? Of omdat de argumentatie nergens op slaat, we noemen het 'verlicht' (ik doe dan maar net alsof dat mij schokt 'oef...'). Of is het de arrogantie van 'iedereen leest door een gekleurde bril behalve wij'.

Ik overdenk dit, maar mijn gedachte verandert in 'jongen, waarom laat je je weer zo boos maken en richt je je op wat negatief is? Ondertussen luister ik naar mijn Ipod, en ik merk op, het is Tracy Chapman. Ze zingt: 'To be and not be afraid... to reach for Heaven'.

Be And Be Not Afraid
I believe in mistakes and accidents
That the nature of life is chaos and confusion
That man's rules of law and order may not stand
I should be and be not afraid to reach for heaven

I may think that I know the true hearts needs
My pride may bring me low, unable to see
No closer than yesterday, but tomorrow I may stand
Be and be not afraid to reach for heaven

I'll see the black car cavalcade, lights on in the morn
I'll run fast and far away, I'll run without stopping
Till heart and feet fail or until I can stand

Be and be not afraid
Be and be not afraid
Be and be not afraid to reach for heaven

Social institutions contribute to homosexual youth suicide | The News is NowPublic.com

2010-07-15T12:55:00.000+08:00

Social institutions contribute to homosexual youth suicide | The News is NowPublic.com

Christians apologise at pride

2010-07-02T14:35:00.001+08:00

A group of Christians at the Chicago pride parade waved signs and exposed the audience and participants to the message of Jesus Christ. Unlike many Christians who show up at prides to bash gay people, these protesters came to apologise.

I Hugged a Man in His Underwear. And I am Proud.

I hugged a man in his underwear. I think Jesus would have too.

I spent the day at Chicago’s Pride Parade. Some friends and I, with The Marin Foundation, wore shirts with “I’m Sorry” written on it. We had signs that said, “I’m sorry that Christians judge you,” “I’m sorry the way churches have treated you,” “I used to be a bible-banging homophobe, sorry.” We wanted to be an alternative Christian voice from the protestors that were there speaking hate into megaphones.

What I loved most about the day is when people “got it.” I loved watching people’s faces as they saw our shirts, read the signs, and looked back at us. Responses were incredible. Some people blew us kisses, some hugged us, some screamed thank you. A couple ladies walked up and said we were the best thing they had seen all day. I wish I had counted how many people hugged me. One guy in particular softly said, “Well, I forgive you.”

Watching people recognize our apology brought me to tears many times. It was reconciliation personified.

My favorite though was a gentleman who was dancing on a float. He was dressed solely in white underwear and had a pack of abs like no one else. As he was dancing on the float, he noticed us and jokingly yelled, “What are you sorry for? It’s pride!” I pointed to our signs and watched him read them.

Then it clicked.

Then he got it.

He stopped dancing. He looked at all of us standing there. A look of utter seriousness came across his face. And as the float passed us he jumped off of it and ran towards us. In all his sweaty beautiful abs of steal, he hugged me and whispered, “thank you.”

Before I had even let go, another guy ran up to me, kissed me on the cheek, and gave me the biggest bear hug ever. I almost had the wind knocked out of me; it was one of those hugs.

This is why I do what I do. This is why I will continue to do what I do. Reconciliation was personified.

I think a lot of people would stop at the whole “man in his underwear dancing” part. That seems to be the most controversial. It’s what makes the evening news. It’s the stereotype most people have in their minds about Pride.

Sadly, most Christians want to run from such a sight rather than engage it. Most Christian won't even learn if that person dancing in his underwear has a name. Well, he does. His name is Tristan.

However, I think Jesus would have hugged him too. It’s exactly what I read throughout scripture: Jesus hanging out with people that religious people would flee from. Correlation between then and now? I think so.

Acceptance is one thing. Reconciliation is another. Sure at Pride, everyone is accepted (except perhaps the protestors). There are churches that say they accept all. There are business that say the accept everyone. But acceptance isn’t enough. Reconciliation is.

But there isn’t always reconciliation. And when there isn’t reconciliation, there isn’t full acceptance. Reconciliation is more painful; it’s more difficult. Reconciliation forces one to remember the wrongs committed and relive constant pain. Yet it’s more powerful and transformational because two parties that should not be together and have every right to hate one another come together for the good of one another, for forgiveness, reconciliation, unity.

What I saw and experienced at Pride 2010 was the beginning of reconciliation. It was in the shocked faces of gay men and women who did not ever think Christians would apologize to them.

What I saw and experienced at Pride 2010 was the personification of reconciliation. It was in the hugs and kisses I received, in the “thank you’s” and waves, in the smiles and kisses blown.

I hugged a man in his underwear. I hugged him tightly. And I am proud.

Here's the embrace.

Photo Credit: Michelle at maladjustedmedia.com

Wouldn't such a protest for reconciliation between the gay and christian community be a good idea for European prides?

Mache dich, mein Herze, rein

2010-06-24T18:00:00.001+08:00

This sounds like a good theme for today...

Bwv 244 Nr.75 Mache Dich, Mein Herze, Rein, Johan Sebastian Bach, St. Matthew Passion, Karl Richter, Walter Berry

Emergency Appeal For Drought-Stricken Niger and Chad

2010-06-22T10:14:00.002+08:00

The Guardian reports on a food emergency situation in drought-stricken Chad and Niger. Up to 10 million face conditions of 1984 Ethiopia famine

Caroline Gluck (Oxfam) has likened the developing situation to that of the 1984 famine in Ethiopia, during which an estimated 1 million people died due to drought and a slow response to the crisis both within the country and internationally.

"West Africa has traditionally not been very high on the developed world's priority list. The question now is how many people do we have to see die before the world will act?" she said.

Reactie op RefDag commentaar

2010-06-22T02:59:00.004+08:00

Naar aanleiding van een commentaar in het RD ('homostandpunt') schreef ik het volgende aan de hoofdredactie:

Homostandpunt

14-06-2010 11:30 | gewijzigd 14-06-2010 11:30

Geachte RD redactie,

Ik wil kort reageren op het bovenstaande stuk dat grotendeels over mijn persoon ging.

Ik vind het stuk 'homostandpunt' slecht geschreven. U wekt de suggestie dat ik zou verzwijgen welke stem ik zou uitbrengen. Alsof dit zou afdoen aan het betoog van mijn ingezonden stuk in het ND. Bovendien valt het wel mee met mijn geheimzinnigheid; dat ik GroenLinks zou stemmen was te lezen was op mijn blog, in de Volkskrant en in het ND. Ook verwijst u te onpas naar de persoonlijke situatie van dhr. Ganzevoort, hetgeen zeker niet mijn beweegreden was om hem te stemmen.

Ik snap bovendien niet waarom u verwijst naar mij als 'die uit China komt'. Kunt u mij vertellen wat de relevantie is om mijn afkomst in het stuk te noemen. Bovendien is het feitelijk onjuist. Ik ben Nederlander, kom uit Nederland, ben in Leiderdorp geboren en in Leiden getogen, ik werk in Amsterdam en ben tijdelijk gedetacheerd in China.

U neemt uitspraken over van mijn blog en u eindigt sarcastisch en neerbuigend in het commentaar 'het is maar dat de partij het weet'. Kunt u zich nader verklaren? Ik geef mijn mening op mijn eigen pagina, is dat - uws insziens - procedureel bezwaarlijk? Mag ik - omdat ik een onbeduidend persoon ben (weliswaar politicoloog) - mij niet uitlaten over mijn persoonlijke meningen over politiek en maatschappij op mijn eigen blog?

Het valt mij van het RD tegen dat zij zo stijlloos personen wegzet, niet alleen mij maar ook Professor Ganzevoort. We kunnen best van mening verschillen, maar op deze wijze is het RD minder dan respectvol - laat staan bewogen door naastenliefde -.

In verwachting van uw antwoord verblijvende,

Sander Chan

In het ND: Nieuw homostandpunt zou goed zijn voor CU

2010-06-21T21:56:00.003+08:00

Vorige week in het Nederlands Dagblad is een artikel van mij gepubliceerd waarin ik commentaar lever op het verlies van de ChristenUnie en de rol van homoseksualiteit als issue. Het ND heeft als kop gezet: "Nieuw homostandpunt zou goed zijn voor CU".

Over het artikel is bericht in het Reformatorisch Dagblad, de Gaykrant en Gay.nl.