I mentioned Pakistan's formation yesterday, and of course today is the day that modern India came into being.
As I quoted the Pakistani National Poet Muhammad Iqbal yesterday, I suppose I can only match it by some of the finest and most stirring words ever written in English.
Jawaharlal Nehru leader of the Indian National Congress and the first Prime Minister of India gave a speech on the eve of independence which beautifully captures the exultation of the end of the century-long struggle against the Raj in India.
With your indulgence, I'd like to quote the first paragraph:
"Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity".
It was Nehru's passion for democracy, secularism, and liberalism that made him a champion for the poor and underprivileged not only in India, but across the Third World.
Saturday 15 August 2009
Friday 14 August 2009
Happy Birthday Pakistan
Today as many of you will know is the date in 1947 when Pakistan gained independence from the British Indian Empire and joined the Commonwealth.
I know many Pakistani-born and Pakistani-heritage friends in Keighley and beyond will be celebrating later today.
My best to you all on this Yom-e-Istiqlal.
A line of Allama Sir Muhammad Iqbal's poetry comes to mind however, "mazhab nahin sikhata apas men bair rakhna" "religion does not teach us to bear ill-will among ourselves".
Pakistan zinda-baad.
I know many Pakistani-born and Pakistani-heritage friends in Keighley and beyond will be celebrating later today.
My best to you all on this Yom-e-Istiqlal.
A line of Allama Sir Muhammad Iqbal's poetry comes to mind however, "mazhab nahin sikhata apas men bair rakhna" "religion does not teach us to bear ill-will among ourselves".
Pakistan zinda-baad.
Tuesday 11 August 2009
Britain has more CCTV cameras than China
A recent report shows the absolutely mind-bogglingly frightening statistic that Britain has "half as many more CCTV cameras again as the whole of China".
We have a population of 60 million and theirs is twenty times that.
We have more than 4.2 million cameras. That works out as 1 camera for every 14 people, or two for each infant school class.
Whereas China has the equivalent of one camera for the whole of Bradford.
This shows New Labour's worrying obsession with surveillance, and we have created the model "Big Brother" state that the Chinese government, or any 21st century non-democratic regime, would love to have.
Although I am convinced of the argument that CCTV has a role to play in the fight against crime, it is still unclear how well it does this.
An argument against is that it merely moves criminal behaviour from one area that has CCTV to another area that doesn’t.
However, I believe that the money spent on cameras could be better spent on police to solve crimes and patrol the streets.
We have a population of 60 million and theirs is twenty times that.
We have more than 4.2 million cameras. That works out as 1 camera for every 14 people, or two for each infant school class.
Whereas China has the equivalent of one camera for the whole of Bradford.
This shows New Labour's worrying obsession with surveillance, and we have created the model "Big Brother" state that the Chinese government, or any 21st century non-democratic regime, would love to have.
Although I am convinced of the argument that CCTV has a role to play in the fight against crime, it is still unclear how well it does this.
An argument against is that it merely moves criminal behaviour from one area that has CCTV to another area that doesn’t.
However, I believe that the money spent on cameras could be better spent on police to solve crimes and patrol the streets.
Thursday 6 August 2009
"NO MORE HIROSHIMAS" 2
I forgot to say, probably the best piece of work on Hiroshima is a magazine article written by John Hersey that appeared in The New Yorker magazine in August 1946.
The article was soon made into a book, and I read it as teenager. It described how the bombing affected the lives of six individuals, a doctor, a Methodist minister, a widow, etc. and it's as powerful piece of reportage as you'll ever read.
The article was soon made into a book, and I read it as teenager. It described how the bombing affected the lives of six individuals, a doctor, a Methodist minister, a widow, etc. and it's as powerful piece of reportage as you'll ever read.
"NO MORE HIROSHIMAS"
Today, 64 years back, the city of Hiroshima was devastated by an atomic explosions killing more than 140,000 people. The horror continued with tens of thousands more injured and thousands more birth defects for years to come.
Whilst mayor of Hebden Royd I signed the Cities Appeal in Support of Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol. This is a practical plan by which governments can achieve a nuclear-weapon-free world by the year 2020 given that the economic and technical means of ridding the world of nuclear weapons before 2020 already exist.
Tonight at 7:30, I'll be giving a talk on Lib Dem Defence Policy at the White Lion in Hebden Bridge, and publicising our total opposition to Trident.
On this fateful anniversary, we should all be determined that the scourge of nuclear weapons is never visited on our planet again.
Whilst mayor of Hebden Royd I signed the Cities Appeal in Support of Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol. This is a practical plan by which governments can achieve a nuclear-weapon-free world by the year 2020 given that the economic and technical means of ridding the world of nuclear weapons before 2020 already exist.
Tonight at 7:30, I'll be giving a talk on Lib Dem Defence Policy at the White Lion in Hebden Bridge, and publicising our total opposition to Trident.
On this fateful anniversary, we should all be determined that the scourge of nuclear weapons is never visited on our planet again.
Saturday 1 August 2009
White Rabbits
Does anyone say that anymore? White rabbits on the first of the month?
I love August there are so many anniversaries to remember and commemorate, one in particular is that in 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella drove the Jews out of Spain, which I would argue was to be disastrous in the long-term for Spain, but enriched the rest of Europe by providing an educated and cosmopolitan group of people to help the spread of the Renaissance and eventually the Enlightenment.
I love August there are so many anniversaries to remember and commemorate, one in particular is that in 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella drove the Jews out of Spain, which I would argue was to be disastrous in the long-term for Spain, but enriched the rest of Europe by providing an educated and cosmopolitan group of people to help the spread of the Renaissance and eventually the Enlightenment.
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