I don't usually do this but I have to say the following got me off my fat behind. There's a lot of fat behinds in EED - perhaps you might join me on this one;
Dear All,
As many of you may have heard, a Nigerian woman was recently sentenced to death- for having a child out of wedlock. Amina Lawal has been sentenced to death by STONING- she is to buried up to her neck in the ground, after which her punishers will surround her and throw rocks at her head until her skull is crushed and she dies a painful and horrible death.
I'm sure you all feel equal shock and disgust at this sentence, and I want you to know that she has only thirty days to appeal her trial. Please go to the Amnesty International site, letter page and sign the letter addressed to the President of Nigeria. It literally takes only a minute, and could help to save her life, as well as help put an end to this kind of cruel and disgraceful judgment in a country that calls itself a democracy.
Please copy and forward this letter to others in your address book as well.
Please help her! Thanks
Tuesday 5 November 2002
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Read about this a few weeks back and was utterly shocked to discover that this sort of thing was still going on particularly, as you mention, in a democracy.
ReplyDeleteI guess it just goes to show that a democracy is only as good as the median level of education.
Oh lord I brought out our amateur Henry Kissinger. Dear boy if you'dread anything about the issue, as with all your world-affairscommentaries, you would know that the issue here is nothing to do withthe median level of education - it's due to the fact that Nigeria hasislamic states within it and this is an islamic law ruling. Itsreligion and politics not education. Median level of education indeed.Pot this is kettle calling, over....
ReplyDeleteAnyway having 0wned and moved on - click the link, sign the petition andforward this to your mates. The Nigerian government has the power tointercede here and overule the states on this and it'll only do so ifforeign pressure outweighs the expediency of letting this woman bekilled to keep the fundamentalists quiet.
Indeed; this has been around for a while. Islamic 'Sharia' law is frankly fucking barbaric; a throwback to an age so long ago, 'Draconian Bullshit' doesn't come close.
ReplyDeleteAs with all these medieval-style fuckups, its the women that always get the raw end of the deal, with anything short of rape by the fellas resulting in a swift cup of sweet coffee and a stern look.
I've signed the petition a number of times; the Nigerians quite clearly need to sort their shit out because this isn't the way people should be acting in this day and age.
Religion is one of THE roots of all evil; and fundamentalist 'clerics' who haven't had sex *ever* are some of the most educated, yet retarded people on the face of this earth.
Crikey. Halt lawyer! Thou hast made assumptions about my level of knowledge which are incorrect.
ReplyDeleteI'm quite aware this is a Sharia ruling, are you aware that the Nigerian Constitution (I believe) contains wording to the effect that no part of government shall introduce any religious laws?
I believe it's the president who has the power to intercede and overturn the sentencing, even if Lawals sentence is upheld by the highest appeals court - it's unlikely he would do so though from his public stance and comments, and because he seems to have come under pressure recently, and will not want to rock the boat if he is to maintain power.
The North/South divide in Nigeria is pretty strong - the North is mainly islamic, the south less religious, and to an extent Christian and the last thing Obasanjo will want is yet another civil war.
At the end of the day, the governors of the twelve northern states were voted in democratically (I believe) by their citizens - they must be pretty confident the introduction of Sharia law won't get them voted out - a well edcuated and adjusted populace will not vote in (and likely vote to keep) the kind of person who would introduce Sharia law.
Afty - all paragraphs until the last were doing a reasonable job of preeceeing whatever you'd just looked up on the web but the last, is of course, laughable bollocks. As before when you've toasted yourself into a small corner, you never ever ever ever manage to go 'oh I didn't know that' but just try to argue yourself out of a situation ineffectively. As anyone can see, your tenuous linking of voting and Sharia law is complete straw-linkage. The reason the governors are voted in is because of the predominant religion of the voters not because of their education. This is of course crushingly obvious. If you would like me to hand you a spade then by all means I will. But it won't be the first, second or third time you've used it....
ReplyDeleteAs before - your interest in this stuff is overwhelming - ffs go off to uni or elsewhere and back your interest up with the knowledge...
I was touched earlier this week when I received an e-mail. Fortunately, the man touching me went away and left me to read the e-mail in peace, and now I pass on this plea to you:
ReplyDeleteDear All,
As many of you will have heard, innocent harmless young German teenagers are ABUSED and RAPED on a daily basis on British Counter-strike by EVIL SADISTIC CRUEL computer games players.
I'm sure you'll all feel the shock and disgust at the extreme TORMENT and MENTAL ABUSE that these brave European young men suffered. Please go to the 10 Downing Street website and sign the letter to British President Tony Blair. It only takes a minute, and could help save many thousands of young German men who continue to be raped, to the continual embarrassment of their so-called country that calls itself a democracy.
Please help them! Thanks!
Am : I appreciate what you're saying, but I am still of the opinion that it's an education problem.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, A populace of people who are on the whole well educated will not have a significant number of citizens who choose to vote based mainly upon their religious preferences.
Where's the love! Seriously, I can see where Afty is coming from so I'm not quite sure this was fully deserving of the customary Afty-smackdown. Of course it's not true and that religious populations will carry on their bent regardless of education. This has been demonstrated countless times across measured history. The simple fact is that being educated doesn't mean you will discount something really stupid.That's been scientifically proven with the aid of statistics on the educated Western world. There's an excellent article in the current Scientific American. Despite most Americans being educated, most Americans still believe that UFOs come from alien civilizations and that ESP actually exists.This is of course nothing compared to the beliefs held by people who are brought up with their language, culture and religion embowed upon them by their friends, family and peers. Education doesn't solve that.
ReplyDeleteThere was a piece on this on the radio today, the miss world competition is actually being held in nigeria this year. A number of the competitors have announced that they are boycotting the competition because of this situation.
ReplyDeleteIn case any of you ever remembered this, the appeal was successful and she was released. International pressure was thought to be a key component. She's now back at home caring for her small child.
ReplyDelete