Categories: uncategorized
Date: 27 January 2009 18:00:04
Today is Holocaust Rememberance Day and the theme is "Stand Up to Hatred".
To remind us of why here is Pasto Niemollers poem again:
First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the communists
and I did not speak out - because I was not a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out - because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me -
and by then there was no one left to speak out for me.
Pastor Martin Niemöller
I was going to reflect upon the pantomime which occurred at the station, on the way home today when I was stopped and searched under section 44(2) of the Terrorism Act 2000. However, I don't think it's appropriate. In our society if you have the "right" social characteristics it can be turned into a farce where all involved see the ridiculousness of what is happening. Yet in so many places in our world today, and in places in the past stop and search and all that is associated with it is not a laughing matter. In those places "democratic" governments use these laws which passed onto the statute book in the name of "security" to oppress and deny the humaness of "the other".
I am thankful that I happen to have been born in and live in a country and a time where my rights are respected; where there is freedom of expression; where my sexuality is not a crime; where I can lawfully belong to a trade union, where I can publically engage with my faith and where I can refuse to give my details to the officer who stopped me, without fear of retribution. I am thankful, but I also pause to remember those now and in the past who don't have those rights and who in some cases died as a result.
Let us always remember!