NOT JUST A WEAPON OF WAR!

It always amazes me how bad or tragic news always hits the headlines and stays there for days on end, whereas good news is relegated to maybe just one little mention but once or twice.  I think it must be because horrors and dramas, plus reports about people who really have done nothing of importance in life except happen to have money, carry a fascination for people these days - quite apart from the fact that headlines on these things sell the papers and advertising space on the radio and television.  I wonder really of what is the importance of four days of headline news that tell us that someone called Kim Kardashian (who is she anyway and what has she done?) suddenly changed the venue of her wedding from Paris to Italy, that she flew to Italy in a privately chartered jet from Paris and that she and her fiancee spent over $400,000 just to rent the castle where the wedding was held.!!   Let's get real!  Is all that really worthy of four days of headline news?   I don't think so.

Then there is the "flip" side of the news that was barely mentioned other than two short articles on the first and fourth day - the closing day.  I am talking about the "Global Summit To End Sexual Violence in Conflict" that was held in London and ended just yesterday (Friday).  That was an extraordinarily important event that was organized by the British Foreign Secretary, Mr. William Hague and the actress Miss Angelina Jolie.  Apart from the BBC giving it full coverage and Miss Christiane Amanpour doing an excellent joint interview with Miss Jolie and Mr. Hague , the other media outlets - including the rest of CNN - and sources almost ignored it.

This 4-day summit in London really was an historic occasion.  It is almost three years since Mr. Hague and Miss Jolie got together and produced what was called "The Declaration of Commitment to End Sexual Violence in Conflict" and in that length of time they succeeded in getting 141 countries to sign on.  What an achievement!  Church Leaders, Heads of State, Diplomats, Politicians as well as survivors of rape converged on London for the occasion from all over the world.  What a tremendous achievement, and this morning I was so pleased to see that Miss Jolie's efforts in this matter have been rewarded by Queen Elizabeth making her an Honorary Dame Commander of the British Empire.

The world has got to stop and take notice of what has been going on.  So often people put down these things as something that happens in Third World countries, but as Miss Jolie and Mr. Hague so forcefully pointed out it happens everywhere - they saw it first hand in Bosnia and Serbia - countries not regarded as Third World.  Education on the subject is the only thing that will stop future soldiers from doing this and bringing to justice those responsible for these atrocities is also a "must".

However the whole question of violence against women cannot stop just in the area of sexual abuse as a weapon of war, bad as that is.  It is seldom mentioned - and it is certainly not generally talked about that 1 in 8 women in the United States are sexually abused and/or have violence used against them  In Australia the figure is 1 in 6.  I do not have the figures for the United Kingdom or the rest of Europe, but it goes on there as well, and in this otherwise beautiful country of Cambodia, violence against women whether sexual or otherwise is prevalent.

The whole subject that violence of any kind against women is totally wrong, is a very difficult subject to deal with for the simple reason people don't like to discuss it.  If someone has been through it, then they feel ashamed and are embarrassed to mention it.  In my days as a parish priest in London, mainland U.S.A. and Hawaii I came across many cases of where women stayed with abusive husbands or partners only because they were ashamed to tell people or to admit what was going on.  In some countries women are stigmatized, banished and regarded as outcasts if they have been raped and in some Middle East and African countries they can be tried as criminals and adulterers.

Every Monday evening I watch a programme on ABC - Australian Broadcasting Corporation from Sydney.  The programme is called "Q & A"- Question and Answer - during which members of the audience ask questions of the panel which is always comprised of well-known politicians, authors, actors or whomever.  Just two weeks ago the subject of violence in general came up and a well-known Australian journalist and critic surprised everyone by saying that she had been the subject of violence and rape, but she was not going to keep quiet about it.  She said she did not feel herself as a victim, but rather as a survivor and as such it was her duty to speak out.  A difficult attitude to take, but a right one nevertheless.

As Miss Jolie pointed out in her closing speech at the London Summit, sexual violence is not just a weapon of war - although the practice of that is decidedly prevelant has to be stopped - but it happens in all walks of life.  India has been rocked by horrific violence against women in the last couple of weeks.  Two teenage girls were raped and then hanged from a mango tree in their village.   Since then two other women in  Utar Pradesh State have also suffered the same fate.  Another young woman was stoned to death outside of a Court House because she had married the man of her choice, and the police - who since have been arrested fortunately, stood by and did nothing.

Both Miss Jolie and Mr. Hague said that every person can do something about it if only by speaking out against violence at every opportunity.  Every voice counts, and people should know that they need not be ashamed if they have been the subject of violence.  Asked by Miss Christiane Amanpour how else she was going to fight violence, Miss Jolie replied that she was taking up the subject of sexual violence in the U.S. armed forces.  That will be an uphill struggle for her as the Pentagon is firm in its many statements that there is very little of that going on.  Look and listen again, I say to them.

I congratulate both Mr. Hague and Miss Jolie for their initiative in tackling the very important subject in such a forthright manner, and I further congratulate Miss Jolie in receiving from Queen Elizabeth the honour of being made an Honorary Dame Commander of the British Empire.  Because she is not a British citizen, she cannot officially be called "Dame Angelina Jolie" but nevertheless it is an honour well deserved.

This is a subject that should never be forgotten or overshadowed by some so-called TV starlet's wedding.  This is an extremely serious matter with which the world has to deal and deal with now.

FOUR TIMES IN TEN DAYS?

When Mr. Larry King finished his well-liked TV show "Larry King Live" on CNN maybe two years ago, he was succeeded in a new but somewhat similar programme hosted by Mr. Piers Morgan.  Mr. Morgan had previously been - among other things - Editor of the English tabloid newspaper, "The News of the World".  I was never really a fan of Mr. Morgan's programme because I always felt he talked too much and vented his own views rather than listening to those of the person he was interviewing.  However, be that as it may, one thing I will always admire about him is the fact that he was never silent or withdrawing in his views about the liberal way guns are treated in the U.S.  As a result of this, it is no secret that Mr. Morgan's contract with CNN was not renewed earlier this year due to heavy pressure from organizations like the National Rifle Association.

During the past ten days there have been four deadly shooting sprees in the United States.  I just wait to see where the next one will be - no doubt next week somewhere - and what is being done about these events?   Absolutely nothing at all except that they are wonderful photo opportunities for politicians in Washington - even the President - who rush to the nearest camera and microphone and with long faces say "My prayers and thoughts are with the victims and their families and loved ones". Well, of course they are, but that doesn't solve anything.  They might as well just make a recording of those words and then just press a button and play it again when the next shooting takes place.  I am in no doubt of the fact that I shall probably have many harsh emails as a result of writing this, but we have to be practical and understand exactly what is what if anything is to be done to stop these.  One thing is painfully obvious, those in the National Rifle Association who so vehemently canvass for guns and weapons of all kinds to be available to all, are noticeably silent when these shootings take place.  Not even an word of condolence to those affected. So we have to look at everything very carefully to understand the situations.

The wording of the much quoted Second Amendment is very clear.  "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear shall not be infringed."  I have no problem with those words, but it doesn't require a person to have a degree from the Harvard Law School to know that the United States does already have a "well regulated militia" for "the security of the state".     This was a fact recognized until fairly recently and it is only since 1977 when there was what was virtually a coup d'etat at the Annual Convention of the National Rifle Association which brought in a group of ultra political conservatives to power.  This new group pushed for a what was then a novel interpretation of the Second Amendment - one that gave individuals, not just the militia - the right to bear arms.  It was then an uphill battle for them and at first they were scorned, and Chief Justice Warren Burger - who was certainly no liberal by anyone's standards - mocked this individual rights theory as "a fraud".  But the NRA kept pushing and in 1980 it received a tremendous boost by the election of Mr. Ronald Reagan as President, as it brought a guns right enthusiast to the White House.

It didn't stop there.  Mr. Orrin Hatch, the Senator from Utah as Chairman of a subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee did a report that claimed to find "clear and long-lost proof that the Second Amendment was intended as an individual right of an American citizen to keep and carry arms in a peaceful manner for the protection of himself, his family and his freedom," and as a result this theory was just absorbed into the law even though the "clear and long-lost" proof was never stated.

However, in a famous court case of "The District of Columbia vs. Heller" in 2008, the Supreme Court upheld the individual rights theory but in writing his opinion, Justice Antonin Scalia said that the District of Columbia could not ban handguns because "they are the most popular weapon chosen by Americans for self protection in the home, and a complete prohibition of their use is invalid."    Alright - here we come to a most important and almost always ignored point.  Following Justice Scalia's opinion, the government cannot ban hand guns but it can ban other weapons.  How interesting.

All of the above may be long-winded, but I think it shows some points that are not generally known.  I would ask why does the National Rifle Association want to see the ordinary people going around carrying AK-47 rifles?   The NRA has never decried any of the shootings where these weapons have been used.  How can they say that the present system of "vetting" a person buying a weapon is good, when the young man who shot up the students in Seattle was known to be mentally disturbed - his parents had already warned the police about him - and had five guns all legally bought and licensed to him personally?  Something is surely amiss here.

I am sure little will be done to stop these shooting sprees, especially this year when there is a half term election coming up in October.  Those standing for election are only too anxious to hold on to their positions by not upsetting the NRA people so that they can benefit from their large contributions.  So what will happen?  More people will be shot dead and more politicians will just rush to the microphones and cameras to say "Our prayers and thoughts..........."

In a much publicized and somewhat pompous speech at West Point Military Academy a few weeks ago, Mr. Obama said that the world "looks to America as a leader".  He was right - the world looks to America as the leader in shooting rampages, as the leader where its politicians are willing to bow to pressure rather than care for the well-being and safety of its students in the universities around the country.

What a shame that is!