Halo Halo / Tiny tips
Halo Halo
American Wobbly activist Joe Hill’s song, The Preacher and the Slave, describes how ‘Long-haired preachers come out every night, Try to tell you what’s wrong and what’s right’. But when asked for a bite to eat will decline and say you’ll have to wait till you get to heaven to experience the good life:
‘You will eat, by and by, In that glorious land above the sky; Work and pray, live on hay, You’ll get pie in the sky when you die.’
One wonders what Joe Hill would have made of the contemporary preachers who decided that rewards in heaven were for the poor, the downtrodden and the working class, but they, the preachers, wanted theirs here, now and plenty of it thank you very much.
The South China Morning Post (27 April) featured ‘8 of the richest televangelists of 2024.’ Type ‘rich pastors’ into a search engine and many more than eight are listed. Sitting at Numero Uno was Kenneth Copeland with an estimated worth of 300 million dollars. A Kenyan website, Tuko.co.ke has his worth listed as 760 million dollars.
The South China Morning Post’s eight nominees are all American whereas the Kenyan site is far more international, listing Nigerians, Malawians, Zimbabweans, South Africans as well as Americans. The gullible are found all over the world.
A common feature these snake-oil salespersons seem to share is a predilection for private jets and vast property empires. Also in on the racket are women but they don’t appear to come anywhere near the amounts amassed by the males. Joe Hill’s song: ‘Give your money to Jesus they say.’ What they’ve always meant was ‘give it to me’.
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Meanwhile, in Karachaevo-Cherkessia, a Muslim-majority region in southern Russia, the Islamic authorities have banned the wearing of the niqab, citing risks posed by the practice to security and sectarian tolerance, and follows a similar move in Dagestan. The niqab is a type of garment worn by women in some parts of the world which covers the body and face, except for the eyes. The Muftiate denounced people who claim that the niqab is mandatory in Islam, stating that the false claim is ‘introducing strife and division into society’. Under current circumstances there, the garment and similar items that fully cover the face ‘inflict practical harm to Muslims and threaten discontent in relations between religions and ethnicities’.
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The UK National Secular Society notes a report from the Commission for Countering Extremism which highlights the link between UK religious (Islamic) charities and anti-blasphemy extremism. It says that there is a ‘new generation’ of activists working to ‘make blasphemy a key issue of concern for British Muslims’. Incidents highlighted include ‘a teacher in Batley forced into hiding after allegedly showing pupils a drawing of Muhammad in 2021; screenings of the film The Lady of Heaven cancelled following protests in 2022; and a pupil receiving death threats in 2023 after a Quran was lightly damaged at a Wakefield school’.
DC
Tiny tips
Religion in the twenty-first century is alive and well across the world, despite its apparent decline in North America and parts of Europe. Vigorous competition between and within religious movements has led to their accumulating great power and wealth. Religions in many traditions have honed their competitive strategies over thousands of years. Today, they are big business; like businesses, they must recruit, raise funds, disburse budgets, manage facilities, organize transportation, motivate employees, and get their message out (Princeton University Press).
Around one quarter of all Canadians are living in poverty, according to a new report authored by several non-governmental organizations. The report comes in the midst of a historic cost of living crisis for working class Canadians and bumper profits for big business… banks and war profiteers (wsws.org).
What about your country’s relations with the German government?
…It was hostile to us, the Greens and the SPD wanted to prevent the sale of weapons to us [Saudi Arabia] before the election. But now, the Greens are in government and are authorizing these arms sales. The foreign minister herself announced it (Der Spiegel).
… India’s richest 1% own around 40% of the country’s wealth, according to Credit Suisse data cited by a 2023 Oxfam report, while more than 200 million people continue to live in poverty. One study by the World Inequality Lab in March found that the gap between India’s rich and poor is now so wide that by some measures, there was more equality in India under British colonial rule than today (Time).
A Palestinian activist known for organising anti-Hamas protests in Gaza has been taken to hospital after an attack by a group of masked men. Amin Abed, 35, was admitted in critical condition after being kidnapped near his home by five assailants on Monday afternoon. A well-known activist, Mr Abed told the BBC: “I will not stop using my right to express my rejection of the 7 October attack.” Public dissent against Hamas has grown in recent months as residents of Gaza grow angry at the huge toll inflicted on the enclave since the start of the war (BBC).
The $320 million project—which consists of a floating offshore barge and 1,800-foot causeway to the shore—was touted as eventually being able to accommodate up to 150 aid trucks per day. Instead, it facilitated the shipment of the equivalent of about a single day’s worth of prewar food deliveries while operating for a total of less than three weeks (Common Dreams).
In Rwanda’s case, Kagame paid an astonishing $50,000 per month to public relations firms to present himself as a transformative leader while doing very little for his people. Did you know that the President travels in a convoy of two luxurious Gulfstream jets, each costing $66.5 million? (BAR).
Every worker should be able to feel joy on Monday morning instead of anxiety on Sunday night (Libcom).
(These links are provided for information and don’t necessarily represent our point of view. )