lokoleyacongo

[lokoleyacongo]

Land and Theologies in Conflict

TerritoryArab and other population% Arab and otherJewish population% JewishTotal populationArab State725,00099%10,0001%735,000Jewish State407,00045%498,00055%905,000International105,00051%100,00049%205,000Total1,237,00067%608,00033%1,845,000Data from the Report of UNSCOP: 3 September 1947: CHAPTER 4: A COMMENTARY ON PARTITION Dating back to extensive use of “Kairos” in the New Testament,…

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As the first Pope from outside Europe since the 8th century , Francis represented well the issues and aspirations of the peoples of the southern hemisphere and all poor and marginalized people. His papal proclamations remain poweful indictments of the "technocratic paradigm" that has led to anthropocentric, nationalist thinking of politicians and economists that threatens our planet and its living species.

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The poem "Christmas on the Border" honors the creativity and empowerment generated by resistance to the schemes dividing us. It strengthens and encourages the best within each of us.

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From Aid to Empire

At the January Presidential inauguration Elon Musk twice used the Nazi salute to rally the new President’s supporters. Raised in apartheid South Africa until age 18 Musk has repeated white nationalist warnings that the current black leadership intends to follow up seizure of idle white land with genocide of whites. “But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to…

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What We Need

Until the election this year, no U.S. Presidential candidate has identified so many enemies within the nation whom we should fear.  The Republican Party’s candidate for President has made, as in 2016, purging of immigrants within our borders the foremost plank of his policy platform.  But they are not the only group targeted for condemnation and reprisals.  His opponents in 32 felony cases in…

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Make American White Again

. A labor shortage for the town’s economic surge brought Haitian workers to Springfield, OH. Granted “temporary protected (immigration) status” over ten years ago, there is no evidence Haitians have been eating the pets of the town’s residents. (Photo from 9/18/24 Miriam Jordan article in the NYT on Springfield.) The U.S. economy has long relied on immigrant labor in its growth. The United…

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Opposition to U.S. Christian Zionism

An interfaith group protests the Christian Zionism of Christians United for Israel at the organization’s summit July 29. (RNS photo/Jack Jenkins) In a coast to coast tour of the U.S., the Palestinian Lutheran Pastor Rev. Munther Isaac, delivered the message to U.S. Christians and their leaders that our “Silence is Complicity”.  Citing our unconditional official support for Israel’s War on Gaza…

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Kansas City Haberdasher and the Founding of Israel

Eddie Jacobson with former U.S. President Truman in Downtown Kansas City The 1948 announcement of Israel’s creation owed a great deal to a notable friendship.  In his unqualified endorsement of the move President Harry Truman defied Secretary of State George Marshall and the U.S. foreign policy establishment.  In doing so he did, however, demonstrate his loyalty to an enduring…

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Palestinian Christians Call for Repentance

Gaza’s Greek Orthodox Church of St. Porphyrius where families had sought refuge soon after Israel began its bombing in response to the Hamas attacks. Nineteen churches and mosques were bombed in the first month of the war on Gaza. Raised by Christian minister parents I married a Jewish woman from a Conservative Jewish family and at age 35 did so with a commitment to Judaism. Following Jewish…

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A Bethlehem Christmas Appeal for Solidarity

Separation wall dividing Bethlehem from Jerusalem; begun in 2002 as response to Palestinian Second Intifada, it stands 26 feet high. 2018 Photo by Alissa on the website inlocamotion.com . “We are angry…  We are broken…  This should have been a time of joy; instead, we are mourning. We are fearful.” With these words Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac began his Christmas sermon “Christ in the Rubble” in…

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At the Bottom of the Supply Chain Children Pay High Price for Congo's Cobalt Mining Profits

Cobalt Red describes the forceful recruitment of children to work in cobalt mines of southern Congo Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives pulls back the cover on work in the cobalt mines of southern Congo.  Published this year, the book focuses on the deaths and maiming of children and the multiple harmful effects on all miners in the cobalt artisanal and small scale mining…

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Nearer to Gaza November 15, 2023

He couldn’t have been more than 17 seated across from a middle aged man scrutinizing an Arabic newspaper at the clothed table facing theentrance “A snack” he responded quickly to my question about aspinach/cheese roll wrapped in a delicate pastry dedicated toprotecting his mother from embarrassment with her timorousperfectly constructed English “Two minutes” she assured meholding up fingers as…

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What Congo Gets for Mining Its Cobalt

A cobalt vein in a tunneled Katangan hillside is covered with “artisanal” miners digging and those waiting their turn. (Photo by Junior Kannah of AFP through Getty Images) Before buying an electric vehicle you may want to consider the cost in human lives and environmental ruin at the first level of the EV battery’s supply chain.  Congo (DRC) mines 70 per cent of the world’s cobalt and despite…

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Dr. Denis Mukwege is a Candidate for President of Congo (RDC)

A sombre Dr. Denis Mukwege faces the press following his announcement of his candidacy for President of the Congo October 3, 2023 in the Gombe District of Kinshasa. Photo Jonathan Fuanani, Radio Okapi The lone Congolese Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Denis Mukwege announced on October 3 his candidacy for President of Congo.  In a crowded Catholic Church in Kinshasa, the 68 year old son of a…

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U.S. Expansion of "Christian Nationalism" as a "Theology of Empire"

A sculpture memorializing the killing of 45 residents of the village of Acteal in the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico Among all the nation states now dominated by a form of religious nationalism – be it India, Afghanistan or Myanmar or others – there is only one nation in the world today beholden to a “theology of empire” and it is the U.S.    The nation shaped originally by a theology of…

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Erasing Borders of Global Acceptance and Agreement

The writer of this blog aims to describe with this article why the title "erasing borders" was chosen. It calls for consideration of what will benefit all humankind instead of priority given to our national interest.

The “one giant step for humankind” hailed the technological achievements that enabled Neil Armstrong and Apollo crew to set their feet on the moon. But we are a long way from achieving the global understanding and trust required by the crises challenging our species today. One of this blog’s readers asked recently in the Comments section what I have in mind by the title “erasing borders”.  I am…

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Lake Atitlan in Guatemala is called “Nahachel” in the Quiche Mayan language. It is the southernmost of four sacred lakes that mark the boundaries of the Quiche world. The traditional Mayan today lives by the metaphors inherited not only from their forebears’ poetic imaginations. They are also guided by intense and prolonged study of the night sky.  The Quiche Mayan “Council Book”, the Popol Vuh,…