Smuggling up the Congo

My friends may not be surprised, given that I seem to be drawn to warzones like a moth to flame, to learn that in 48hr time I will be touching down in the Democratic Republic of Congo. What I suspect will surprise them is that on this trip I will be smuggling contraband goods, in fact smuggling them for the Congolese government itself.

I am currently in my flat in central London awaiting a phone call from the Congolese Ambassador to inform me off the pickup instructions. I am then to collect a mysterious sealed box which I have been told to deliver at precisely 11am on Tuesday into the hands of the Foreign Minister in Kinshasa. I have no idea what the box will contain. It might be fairly standard merchandise such as trafficked human organs, drugs or non-sequential dollar bills. It could however be something slightly more exotic, such as the design blueprints for a nuclear weapon, or evidence linking political enemies with the missile attack in 1994 which destroyed the plane carrying the Rwandan and Burundian Presidents and sparked a decade of genocide and war in the region.

The official description which the Ambassador gave me yesterday, when he persuaded me to make the delivery (in return for getting a visa at short notice without all the officially required documentation), was that the box contains "headed stationary". So perhaps the truth of this little anecdote is merely that President Major General Joseph Kabila has a predilection for the kind of high quality scented letter writing paper that can only be bought from certain shops located on London's Bond Street... surely that's the most plausible explanation, isn't it?

My trip to Congo, by the way, is part of the work I'm doing on HIV/AIDS in the region. I'm just going to be in the capital for a week on this occasion, but will hopefully spend most of July visiting AIDS projects out in the eastern part of the country around lake Kivu, and also in Rwanda and Burundi. As a side line while I'm there, I'm hoping to solve one of the last remaining puzzles of African geography by discovering the source of Um Bongo .

The truth about Falluja

Reports suggest that at least 600 Iraqis have been killed and over 1000 injured in Falluja. Most of the UK media has repeated uncritically the US story that those all killed are "insurregents" but my friend Jo Wilding, who is taking a circus around schools in Iraq, spent the weekend working with ambulances in Falluja and tells a very different story: "The satellite news says the cease-fire is holding and George Bush says to the troops on Easter Sunday that, "I know what we're doing in Iraq is right." Shooting unarmed men in the back outside their family home is right. Shooting grandmothers with white flags is right? Shooting at women and children who are fleeing their homes is right? Firing at ambulances is right? Well George, I know too now. I know what it looks like when you brutalise people so much that they've nothing left to lose." (read more from her).

I feel so helpless here in the UK. Rationally I can argue to myself that I may be able contribute more to Iraq by working on long term issues such as debt through Jubilee Iraq, but my heart says I should be out there now like Jo standing alongside Iraqis and using my white skin, blond hair and english accent to try and protect the innocent and the wounded, assuming I could summon up a fraction of the courage that she and many brave Iraqis have.

Following on from my post on Easter Sunday, a story of solidarity from Iraqi newspaper Azzaman which reported that Iraqi Christians did not celebrate Easter in the normal way this year. They only went to church, prayed, and asked the Lord to end this distress. Instead of visiting relatives and friends, as is common on Easter, they went to health centres to donate blood. Najat Yousif Hanna said "How can we celebrate while our brothers in Fallujah, Karbala, Najaf, and other cities are suffering and bleeding."

Karbala and Calvary

I've long been intrigued by the Shi'ite understanding of the martyrdom (shahada in Arabic) of Mohammed's descendents, particularly that of Imam Husayn at Karbala. Husayn had been promised the caliphate (leadership of the Islamic community) after Caliph Mu'awiyya, however when Mu'awiyya died in AH61 (AD680), his son Yazid seized power and wiped out Husayn’s tiny army at Karbala on Ashura, the 10th day of Muharram.

This year is particularly poignant because as pilgrims gathered at Karbala to commemorate Ashura, hundreds were killed in terrorist attacks. Also the Arba’in (the 40th day after Ashura), which marks the end of the period of mourning both for Husayn and for the Iraqis killed by terrorists, falls today - Easter Sunday, which for Christians ends the period of mourning for Jesus, being the day of his resurrection. This coincidence of dates provides an opportunity to consider the concepts of martyrdom in the two faiths.

Others have noted the similarities. Sayyed Farqat Al Qizwini, Director of Relgious Studies at Hilla University says that "Imam Hussein sacrificed himself for human beings, justice, freedom, and peace on Earth -- just like Jesus Christ did for the same reasons." Anglican vicar Ray Gaston from Leeds gave a lecture at Karbala University, this year with his own reflections on how, as a Christian, he is inspired by the story of Imam Hussein.

What strikes me most powerfully is that both Ashura and Good Friday are considered to have cosmic significance and an empathetic quality. Husayn's descendent Imam Ja'far ibn Muhammad as-Sadiq famously said that "Kullo yawm'in Ashura, kullo ardh'in Karbala" which means "Every day is Ashura and every place is Karbala". The injustice and suffering experienced by Husayn at Karbala resonates in every instance of injustice and suffering, and can comfort and inspire the victims. Ghandi said “I have learnt from Husayn how to be oppressed yet victorious.” The resonance is particularly strong for Iraqis at the moment who have been suffering so much for so long, and are able to celebrate in public for the first time in 25 years. Channel 4 produced an excellent documentary tracing British pilgrims going to Karbala, and the website contains some quotes from pilgrims about "what Muharram means to me."

Jesus, like Husayn, willingly suffered an unjust death which appeared to be a defeat but was in fact a great victory over evil that brings comfort and inspiration to the oppressed today. So Christians might say in parallel that "Every day is Good Friday and every place is Calvary.”

Just as Ashura has resonance for every time and place, so many Muslims attempt to express their grief and share in Husayn’s sufferings through self-flagellation. There are also Christians groups who practice self-flagellation. While this practice is not mentioned in the Bible, self-denial and a willingness to endure suffering certainly is. Jesus said that anyone who wanted to be his disciple “must deny himself and take up his cross daily”, while Paul talked about “the fellowship of sharing in Christ’s sufferings”, and Peter even enjoined persecuted believers to “rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ.” The Shia have always been persecuted, with the first 11 Imams all being martyred, and so have faithful Christians: all of Jesus’ apostles were martyred along with a large proportion of believers over the first three centuries under the Roman empire. The presecution continues today and it has been estimated that more Christians were martyred in the 20th century than in the previous 19 combined.

There are differences in the two martyrdoms. Husayn’s death on the battlefield was honourable, as he himself said it is “better die with honour than live in shame.” Jesus’ death however was an inherently shameful way to die (as Mel Gibson’s film The Passion powerfully depicts): he was flogged, spat on, mocked and nailed to a cross. Another difference is that while Ashura is a time for tears, Christians actually rejoice and call the day of the crucifixion Good Friday not Bad Friday.

The differences related to an underlying difference in theology. Christians believe that Jesus’ death was redemptive, that he lovingly chose to take upon himself the burden of human sin and shame in order to offer people the opportunity of forgiveness through repentance and trust in him. Isaiah had prophesied 600 years before: “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” And the Apostle Peter wrote: “He himself bore our sins in his body on the Cross… once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring us to God.”

Some Shia do seem to understand Husayn’s death in a redemptive way, for example Martyr Murtada Mutahhari writes “Imam Husayn… has insured us against the consequences of sin in return for our tears. All that we have to do is to shed tears for him and in return he guarantees immunity to the sinners.” However mainstream Islamic thought has generally rejected the idea of redemptive sacrifice. For example Imam Sa’dullah Khan, director of Muslim affairs at the University of Southern California, writes: “Muslims do not believe that another person can die to atone for the sins of human beings. Atonement for sins comes from sincere repentance of one’s wrongdoings, and salvation lies in submission to the commands of Allah and doing righteous deeds.” This is a soteriology (theory of salvation) based on good works, in contrast to the Christian soteriology of salvation through grace ("it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith... not by works, so that you can't boast").

With regard to Jesus’s crucifixion, some Muslims such as the apologist Ahmed Deedat argue that he did not die on the cross since, without the notation of redemptive sacrifice, that unjust death would imply that his mission had failed. One common theory is that he was teleported from the Cross and replaced with someone else (usually given as Judas) who died in his place. The Qu’ran does not contain this story, and some argue that the substitution theory comes from a misunderstanding of Sura 4.157-8 (which rebukes some Jews who were apparently boasting about killing Jesus) and that when it is read in the context of Sura 3.54 ("O Jesus, I will cause thee to die and exalt thee in My presence") the Qu’ran is actually in harmony with the Gospel accounts of the crucifixion.

This is an area of intense speculation and controversy which I need to research more, as I believe that many theological disputes between Christians and Muslims result from misunderstanding on both sides accentuated by centuries of conflict. As Muslims and Christians come to understand each other's faith from the perspective of individuals' heart-beliefs and experience, they realise that there is a great deal more commonality than they might expect. This is not to imply relativism or pluralism - there are indeed important theological differences between the two faiths - but God is much bigger than any human theology and reaches out in love to all people irrespective of their background and beliefs.

Self-sacrifice in the face of injustice is at the heart of both Karbala and Calvary, and it is this kind of loving self-sacrifice from Muslims and Christians working together which can build a peaceful and prosperous future for Iraq in the face of enourmous injustices.

International voting in the US Presidential election

An idea I've been mulling over for a while is to set up mock elections around the world to coincide with the US Presidential elections, since these arguably have more bearing on many of us than our own domestic elections. It seems that someone else has had the same idea, and there's now a website where you can cast your vote for the three main candidates. So far about 3000 votes have been cast, and Ralph Nader is narrowly ahead of John Kerry. The results are broken down by country, so you can see that twice as many Austalians favour Kerry over Nader, while in New Zealand the reverse is true. Interestingly the Netherlands is the only country which seems to have a sizable minority (22%) who favour George Bush.

Epiphany on the Central Line

Do you ever find yourself assessing people on the Tube? Yestarday I was standing in a crammed carriage and found myself unconsiously passing the time by inspecting my fellow passangers. It's the shallowest kind of judgement, deciding whether someone looks interesting or attractive based on a few seconds glance in a sweaty train. Most of the people around me looked depressing, ugly and smelly (as I'm sure I appeared to them). No one's at their best on the Tube, but some people look particularly repelant (and other passangers edge away from them, not wanting to be squeezed up with against an Arsenal supporter reeking of lager or an obesse American tourist) while once every few days, among the thousands of people one passes, there is the flash of an angelic face, seemingly untainted by the London grime, which causes one to gasp and almost miss a stop.

Then it struck me. Looking around at all those depressing and ugly faces of my fellow commuters - God loves them.

Not in some sort of general philosophical way (love is an attribute of the divine nature) but in an intense and individual way. Mel Gibson's controversial new film The Passion covers the most extreme expression of this love - that God "became nothing, taking the very nature of a servant" and chose to bear immense suffering to wipe away our sins. But God's love is also revealed in more tender ways. The Bible says that he counts the numbers of hairs on each of our heads (the sort of thing lovers might do as they are wrapped in each other's embrace) and that he even sings love songs about us! [Phil.2.7, Matt.10.30 and Zeph.3.17]

I've known this all for many years, but occassionally it strikes me at a particular moment in a profound way. And that's what happened yestarday on the Central line between Oxford Circus and Bond Street!

I've just watched the DVD of "Bruce Almighty" the rather mediocre Jim Carrey film in which a very self-centred TV reporter is given God's power for a week. The film is not very theologically sound of course, but I rather like Morgan Freeman's representation of God as a wise-cracking cleaner. It captures two characteristics of God - the way he humbles himself in order to relate to humans and the deep love he has even for Carrey's spoilt and irritating character.

Nonviolent muslims and Bollywood stars

I'm reading a really inspiring book "Nonviolent Soldier of Islam" about Badshah Khan, Ghandi's contemporary in the North Western Frontier province (now the Afghan/Pakistan border). He transformed a hundred thousand Pathans, renowned for their blood feuds and fierceness as warriors, into a nonviolent satyagraha force (the Khudai Khimatgars = "Servants of God") who contributed a great deal to the end of the British Raj. Here is a quote:

"There is nothing surprising in a Muslim or a Pathan like me subscribing to the creed of nonviolence. It is not a new creed. It was followed 1400 years ago by the Prophet all the time he was in Mecca, and it has since been followed by all those who wanted to throw of an oppressor's yoke."

It would be wonderful if this example of effective Islamic nonviolent resistance could inspire people in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East. If anyone has any ideas on how to go about doing this then please do get in touch.

Lots happening with Jubilee Iraq over then next fortnight: A demonstration in Geneva against the reparations Iraq is paying, a conference on Saddam's odious debt in Berlin hosted by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation and then a meeting in Vienna with Austrian MPs. Alongside this I'm writing articles, putting together a report for Iraqi politicians, failing to control my bursting inbox... as well as doing my day job and trying to keep some contact with my friends and family.

Just discovered that a friend from university, Soha Ali Khan, has become a rising star of the Bollywood film industry! She has two (!) films under production and when I Googled for her I found over a thousand articles, mainly from the last few months, in english alone! Her forthcoming films are "Yeh Dil Maange More" and "Mohabbat Ki Kii Kiii" which is apparently a "breezy romantic comedy depicting three phases of love directed by Ananth Narayan". Here's an early interview and a more recent one. Here are some photos. Also turns out one of the stars of my favourite Bollywood fic Dil Chahta Hai is Soha's brother Saif.

I wonder which of our Balliol colleagues will be next on the big screen? Will Adi McGowan quit his job as a Vice-President at Deutsche Bank and become the next James Bond? Will Mike Follett soon eclipse Hugh Grant in trans-Atlantic romantic comedies? What about John Riordan in Dennis Hoper style bad-guy roles? All of this will be meaningless of course to most of the readers of this blog.

SPEAK against the arms trade

Today I participated in an inspiring prayer and protest action against the arms trade. About 400 young people from SPEAK gathered at the Defence Export Service Organisation to repent of our nation's involvement in the arms trade and pray for its abolishment. DESO is funded with £16m a year of British taxpayers money and exists to push the arms trade, often to poor countries and oppressive regimes.

(see my photos from the event - they're not great unfortunately because I was in the thick of it).

The day began in nearby Bloomsberry Baptist Church for teaching and prayer. We then walked to DESO in a silent funeral procession. On the way a guy in the top floor of a building we passedspontaneouslyy stuck his head out and added some beautiful mournful harmonica music to the slow drum beat at the head of the procession. A mock World War 1 trench had been constructed in the road opposite DESO, to symbolise the horror and pointlessness of war, and we all descended into the trench. The trench also represented the "gap"referredd to in Ezekiel "The people of the land practiceextraordinaryn and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the foreigner, denying them justice. I looked for a man among them who would stand before me in the gap onbehalfd of the land so I would not have to destroy it." (Ezekiel.22.29-30) The gap of sinfulnessseparatingg God and people has been bridged by Jesus'sacrificiall death.

The main action began with a drama about the lies of the arms trade (it brings security, it is essential to our economy etc.) and using the light of God's word to reveal them as falsehoods. Next we all participated in a liturgy of repentance for the sins of our nations, involving reflection on the terrible facts about the arms trade and confession on behalf of ourselves and our nation.

(some extracts)

"We pray for those who are starving whilst their leaders buy more weapons. We pray for those trapped in a land full of war. We pray for child soldiers who have never had childhoods... Set us all free God"

"In permitting the continuation of this brutal trade: Lord we have sinned.Inn our worship of money and materialism: Lord we have sinned. In walking past on the other side: Lord we have sinned. In failing to pray for change: Lord we have sinned. In our unjust colonial history: Lord we have sinned...."

After the litugy we all shared communion. By this stage we were freezing from kneeling on concrete on a cold, rainy February day - but it was appropriate that our repentance for the arms trade involved discomfort. As you'll see from the photos, we were kneeling in quite a disordered way, and could learn a lot from muslim friends about how to organise into neat ranks. As Christians we need to rediscover communal prayer involving kneeling and prostration which was common in the early church - in fact in many ways the style of Islamic prayer would be very familiar to early Christians.

Next we prayed for strength to bring about change and advocate for the rights of the poor. Here we tied messages calling for an end to government support for the arms to daffodils (representing the alternative to war: life) which were handed into DESO. We ended the day with drumming and song in praise of God's love and justice.

More mumbai

My most intense reaction in India came as a considerable shock. I was overwhelmed by the immense number of people crammed together in the stinking slums of northern Mumbai. Apart from two relatively quiet hours between 2-4am, every single street in the city is seathing - with lorries, cars, rickshaws, motercylces, bicycles and (fearless) pedestrians, dogs, cows and even one elephant all jostling to get in front. Over a billion people in the country, and 18 million in Mumbai alone. The noise and smell are so intense. What shocked me about my reaction to all this was that I found myself thinking about the people as drones or parasites, rather than as precious individuals loved and cherished by God, just as I am.

My main companions during the WSF were people I luckily met on the plane. When we touched down at midnight on wednesday last week, I had no idea where I was going to stay that night. But as we were preparing to leave the plane someone overheard my conversation with my neighbour about Iraq - the person turned out to be Andreas, an American filmmaker also going to the WSF. So I waited and chatted, for about an hour it turned out because his traveling companion Myrna, an energetic 70yr old Pueto Rican activist, had lost her luggage in transit. By the time all the lost-luggage paperwork was completed, and the clock had passed 1.30am, I had two new friends and a place to stay for the week. Andreas is cheerful, bearded, passionate and wears a distinctive sailors cap. He fasted for 50 days (6 longer than David Blaine!) to try and persuade Bill Clinton to meet religious leaders from Pueto Rica to hear about the suffering of the people of Viequez, the little island where Myrna lives which for 60 years had been used by the US Navy to test weapons. He's also been a tireless campaigner against the School of the Americas (where the US trains Latin American police in torture). Myrna is a radiant and gregarious. She has recently survived a bout of cancer, quite possibly caused by depleted uranium or other toxins from the weapons testing on Viequez. I was exhausted by the WSF, and so I don't know how Myrna, nearly triple my age, managed to thrive in that environment. Both Andreas and Myrna were a barrel of laughs whether we were chewing the cud at the hotel or braving the streets in a rickshaw. The third member of the gang, who joined us a couple of days later, was an Swedish-Iraqi girl we christened "the princess" (al-emira in Arabic) because of her appauled reaction to Myrna's basic hotel room which she was going to share!

Mumbai photos

My snaps from the World Social Forum now online. I'll try to write up some more about the trip this weekend.

I've managed to come back not with an exciting tropical illness, but a boring irritating common cold. Also managed to walk into a lampost today. Yes, really - I was texting at the time! Luckily it was in a dark sidestreet so no one saw me do it, but I have got a gash on my forehead as proof! Might be doing CNN interview tomorrow on James Baker's trip to Gulf about debt, so prayers welcome as those cameras still scare the pants off me.

A hard time in Baghdad

This is an email from an Iraqi friend who has just returned home after many years in exile with the hope of helping rebuild the country, his reaction indicates the difficulty of the situation:

...As for business please forget any thing whatsoever. If I can come back tommorow i will do so. It is a place that we can not live.. no way you can make a deal with people that have lived with corruption and deceit. No electicity for the last 24 hours. After my last eamil to u, we were tapped as 14 canons hit an american convoy in the area where i live- 4 helicoptere and hundred of tanks surrounded and blocked the area.. you cannot imagine the horror and panic in this internet cafe."