News round-up

Here are some news stories from the Guardian website today that caught my attention:

First, a couple of middle-east items.

It appears that Jordan is asking Western governments to ensure the return of 14 of the Dead Sea Scrolls that have been in Israel's possession since the 1967 war; Jordan claims that under obligations from signing the 1954 Hague convention. I don't know what to make of this, personally: the Dead Sea Scrolls are immensely valuable and I suppose that the country in which they were found have a right to be custodians of them. Equally, however, they are very much a part of the Judeo-Christian history specifically and not so much a part of Islamic history (although a case could be made that the Jewish sect who created the Scrolls believed they were doing something similar to what Islam professes to do, which is returning to the true Abrahamic religion, possibly making them an antecedent of Islam?)

I don't know enough about international law to comment, but if Jordan's claims are justified under the 1954 Hague convention, then I think the law should be honoured by the West.

Israel is threatening to kick out the international observers in Hebron. According to the article, these observers were first commissioned following the Oslo Accords. Despite having very little power to help, and being subject to possible censorship by Israeli authorities, there is very much a sense that they provide watching eyes; it is when the veil is drawn that things can get really unpleasant. According to the article, the people of Hebron appreciate this effect and dread the prospect of the observers leaving.

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What a surprise! Daily Mail scaremongering about immigrants based on myth, not facts. Professor Heaven Crawley, director of the centre for migration policy research at Swansea University, said that the study proved that harsher policies would not reduce the number of asylum seekers coming to Britain, she said that instead:

Asylum policy making should be based on solid evidence such as that provided in this report rather than unfounded assumptions and misperceptions about the reasons why people come here. This is the only way to ensure that the system is accessible and as humane as possible for people seeking protection.

Her report also showed that the reasons why a minority did choose Britain as a destination were rather different than suggested. Chief among them was presence of family members who could help them out (i.e. not wanting to be a burden on whichever nation accepted them) and the belief that Britain would uphold and respect their rights (some might say they get an ugly shock when they get here, then!)

That we are seen as a beacon of human rights should be something of which we are proud. We should WANT people to want to come here because of it! We should also work a lot harder to make sure those rights are respected elsewhere in the world.

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People from ethnic minorities are no longer automatically disadvantaged in modern Britain, according to successful middle-aged white dude.

Successful middle aged PoC dude responds appropriately. Incidentally, I had to enlarge the picture of Joseph Harker before I was sure he wasn't also White - he may be naturally quite pale brown, but certainly the lighting used for that picture seems to have made him look even paler, and I find it curious that he's let that go as it is.

I would like to add one remark to Harker's point that:

...anyone who claimed that every single black or Asian person was "automatically" disadvantaged could have only the most superficial grasp of the real meaning of racism. Discrimination is about general cases and general trends – and is in fact very difficult to diagnose in specific instances. In the same way, not every woman is disadvantaged by sexism, or every gay person by homophobia; but that doesn't mean they're not very real problems which have to be tackled head-on rather than trivialised.

While not every woman, or person of colour, or LGBT person, is disadvantaged by the appropriate -isms, it is certainly true that at any point in the future such people know that the may end up facing such disadvantage. So the -isms are still ever-present in their lives, even when no great impact is felt.

I would also like to point out that Harker probably doesn't read too many feminist blogs, because I can recall of plenty of posts (though not their URLs, and I am too lazy to google right now) about how misogyny has a negative effect even on women who haven't been attacked or harassed because of it (and finding a woman who hasn't experienced at least street-harassment is virtually impossible). That's not an "Oppression Olympics" type remark, I imagine that the same issues affect other discriminated groups as well - but it's the one where I've read some source material!

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Apparently, the police were unimpressed by this episode, but the watchers were pleased to see this side of the boys in blue:



The quotes reported by the Guardian were:

Superintendent Andrew Murray, Oxford city commander, said: "The snow has a habit of bringing out the child in all of us. I have spoken to the officers concerned and reminded them in no uncertain terms that tobogganing on duty, on police equipment and at taxpayers' expense, is a very bad idea should they wish to progress under my command."

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Rick Latham, who filmed the 41-second clip on Tuesday afternoon, said he initially thought police were going to tell him off because he was attempting to get down the slope in a kayak. We were just having a laugh, then they pulled up and we thought they were going to give us a hard time.

"Then they asked how slippery the snow was and one of them grabbed the shield. I asked if I could film it and they said that was fine. They said something like: 'We're only human'."

Latham said he was impressed by the officers' behaviour and hopes they were not severely reprimanded. "You don't always build up the most positive image of the police but they broke the mould. They were chatty and pleasant. It was just nice to see them in that situation."

Superintendent Murray ought to be congratulating his officers on an excellent piece of community relations policing, I think!