Human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa says Mukoko is in Chikurubi prison without access to lawyers.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Mugabe Regime is in Contempt of Court
Dec 26th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMugabe’s regime has ‘no intention’ of releasing Mukoko and the other opposition figures.… Read the rest
ZLHR on Abductees in Zimbabwe
Dec 26th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe abductees were removed from the prison to a secret location in a minibus with South African plates.… Read the rest
Ahmadinejad Gives ‘Alternative’ Xmas Message
Dec 26th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWho’s next? Mugabe? Maulana Fazlullah? Laurent Nkunda? Warren Jeffs?… Read the rest
Medical Mistletoe Myths
Dec 26th, 2008 | By Colin BrewerThe season of consumerist indoctrination, dietary excess and Panglossian sentimentality is approaching its peak, so here is a heart-warming little Christmas story. Actually, its roots – literal and metaphorical – go back well before the intrauterine innovations that traditionally attended the conception and birth of Christianity’s founder and it will warm principally and selectively the hearts of cheerful cynics and pessimists like myself (and, I assume, like many readers of B and W) in whom any habits of optimism have long been replaced by a null hypothesis as the default mode. One of the favourite hobbies of People Like Us is saying ‘I told you so’ and we derive additional schadenfreude from noting that even in the current financial crisis, … Read the rest
Taliban ‘Ban’ Female Education in Swat District
Dec 25th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonTeacher says they have also ordered women not to visit markets. They kill anyone who disobeys.… Read the rest
Pakistan: Taliban Promise to Kill Girls in School
Dec 25th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘You have until January 15 to stop sending your girls to schools. If you do not pay any heed to this warning, we will kill such girls.’… Read the rest
Scruton Speaks Up for Midgley
Dec 25th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIs dismayed that she joined ‘the disastrous attack on hunting with hounds’ though.… Read the rest
Fears for Safety of Zimbabwean Activists
Dec 25th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonJudge ordered Mukoko and her co-accused to be sent to hospital but police ignored the order.… Read the rest
Mukoko and Other Activists Missing Again
Dec 25th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe police have refused to comply with the court order that Mukoko be taken to a hospital.… Read the rest
Mukoko, Other Activists Remanded to Hospital
Dec 25th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMukoko is among a list of 32 human rights and MDC activists abducted by state security agents..… Read the rest
Meet the elf
Dec 25th, 2008 11:15 am | By Ophelia BensonOn a lighter note – in case you’ve never heard it, or haven’t heard it lately – here is Santaland Diaries. I defy anyone not to laugh. ‘Santa doesn’t deal in coal any more. He comes to your house and steals things.’
The snow is still up to our ear lobes here, and the streets going down and up the hill are still closed, and the buses are still not coming up here or going down from here…but I’m going to wrap myself in heavy-duty plastic and pad myself with inner tubes and venture out, with good hopes of being no more than two or three hours late.… Read the rest
Silent night
Dec 25th, 2008 11:02 am | By Ophelia BensonThe Taliban in northwest Pakistan is in a festive mood.
Taliban in Swat district have imposed a ban on female education and have warned teachers of ‘severe consequences’ if any girl is seen heading for school after a 15-day deadline ends.
They’re not messing around.
“You have until January 15 to stop sending your girls to schools. If you do not pay any heed to this warning, we will kill such girls,” one official quoted the commander as saying. “We also warn schools not to enrol any female students; otherwise, their buildings will be blown up.”
They’re not shy. They clearly don’t feel any need to win hearts and minds.
… Read the restDurran said local Taliban leaders were determined not
What do the bible say
Dec 24th, 2008 12:04 pm | By Ophelia BensonNow…let’s think a little more about Rick Warren and this here ‘invocation’ and what it all involves. Let’s think about Rick Warren’s beliefs apart from gay marriage.
Let’s consult that cached page of faqs again.
The Bible is God´s word to all men. It was written by human authors, under the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is the supreme source of truth for Christian beliefs and living. Because it is inspired by God, it is truth without any mixture of error. 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20,21; 2 Timothy 1:13; Psalm 119:105,160, 12:6; Proverbs 30:5
That’s nuts. It’s childish. You can’t cite statements internal to a document to back up the claim that the document is inspired by … Read the rest
Jestina Mukoko Alive but not Safe
Dec 24th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonShe and other activists appeared in court, charged with trying to overthrow the ‘government.’… Read the rest
Rick Warren Whines About ‘Christophobia’
Dec 24th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonPeople who disagree with him are doing hate speech, people who agree with him are wrongly accused of hate speech.… Read the rest
The Pope Takes the Low Road
Dec 24th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMuch of organised Christianity is powerful only when it is sanctioning the persecution of individuals.… Read the rest
Pope is Partly Right
Dec 24th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBiology helps to shape gender; what follows from that is another issue.… Read the rest
Conservative Anglicans Cheer Pope’s Assertions
Dec 24th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe Catholic church ‘teaches’ this and that, the pope supports Catholic ‘teaching’; all good.… Read the rest
Scheisshaus Luck: Surviving the Unspeakable in Auschwitz and Dora
Dec 24th, 2008 | By Max DunbarIf you’re seeking a Holocaust survivor’s memoir with a profound philosophical or poetic statement on the reasons six million Jews and many millions of other unlucky souls were slaughtered, and why a person like myself survived the Nazi camps, you’ve opened the wrong book. I’d be lying if I said I knew the reason, or if I even believed there is a reason, I’m still alive. As far as I’m concerned it was all shithouse luck, which is to say – inelegantly – that I kept landing on the right side of the randomness of life.
Pierre Berg, from his Foreword, Scheisshaus Luck: Surviving the Unspeakable in Auschwitz and Dora
Scheisshaus Luck is the memoir of Pierre Berg, a teenage … Read the rest