Category Archives: human rights

Blood on Ratzinger’s hands

Posted on April 6, 2007 by Charles Lambert

Last Tuesday, a sixteen year old boy in Turin threw himself from the window of his fourth floor flat. We shouldn’t know his name, because Italian law is supposed to protect the identity of minors. But now that he’s dead, … Continue reading →

Posted in homophobia, human rights, pope, ratzinger | Leave a comment

Watch out! Relativism!

Posted on April 3, 2007 by Charles Lambert

As an example of sloppy thinking, the latest Vatican broadside would be hard to beat. According to King of Bling Benedict and his new mouthpiece, Bagnasco, opening the door to civil unions would let in, as an inevitable consequence, incest … Continue reading →

Posted in human rights, pope, religion | 3 Comments

Chocolate Christ gets licked

Posted on March 31, 2007 by Charles Lambert

Tasteful? Well, obviously not. Bannable? Apparently, yes. This statue of a hanging man made entirely out of chocolate and drawing on a familiar religious icon for its inspiration has attracted the ire of something called the Catholic League, a non-elected … Continue reading →

Posted in art, human rights, religion | 4 Comments

Lese-majesté

Posted on March 30, 2007 by Charles Lambert

Almost four years ago, Piero Ricca accused Silvio Berlusconi of being a buffoon as the then-PM left a courtroom during one of his many trials for corruption and generally illicit business activities. Ricca, a freelance journalist and the son of … Continue reading →

Posted in berlusconi, human rights | Leave a comment

Emergency response

Posted on March 29, 2007 by Charles Lambert

PeaceReporter and Emergency, the humanitarian organization founded by Gino Strada to provide medical care to civilian victims of war, landmines and poverty, have started a petition calling for the release of Rahmatullah Hanefi, head of Emergency’s hospital at Lashkargah. Rahmatullah … Continue reading →

Posted in gino strada, human rights, war | Leave a comment

Women in wartime (2)

Posted on March 23, 2007 by Charles Lambert

If you’d like to see more of Patrizia Casamirra’s extraordinary collection of photographs of women in wartime (in Argentina, Bosnia, Guatemala, Palestine and Rwanda), get hold of a copy of this week’s Internazionale. And don’t miss the cartoon on p. … Continue reading →

Posted in callahan, cartoon, human rights, patrizia casamirra, photography, war, women | Leave a comment

Archbishop Arsehole strikes again

Posted on March 15, 2007 by Charles Lambert

A New York Times editorial had this to say on 8 March: Denying Rights in Nigeria A poisonous piece of legislation is quickly making its way through the Nigerian National Assembly. Billed as an anti-gay-marriage act, it is a far-reaching … Continue reading →

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Grace… to be born and live…

Posted on March 14, 2007 by Charles Lambert

Jane just sent me this photograph of a protest in Dalston Lane, in London, about houses and shops being demolished for some brand new city type development and it made me think of Grace Paley, who would no doubt be … Continue reading →

Posted in frank o'hara, grace paley, human rights, value, war | Leave a comment

The tyranny of conscience

Posted on February 26, 2007 by Charles Lambert

Umberto Galimberti has an interesting piece in today’s Repubblica, which unfortunately doesn’t seem to appear on the paper’s website. He talks about the way people claim to be unable to do certain things or behave in a certain way because … Continue reading →

Posted in civil union, human rights, kant | Leave a comment

A question of priorities

Posted on February 21, 2007 by Charles Lambert

It‘s interesting that the Anglican church appears to prefer the homophobic Archbishop Arsehole of Nigeria to the rather more gay-friendly Episcopalians in the States. It‘s none of my business, of course, but wouldn‘t it be a little closer to the … Continue reading →

Posted in gay, homophobia, human rights | Leave a comment