Amidst the annual Christmas book hoard, I was given The Power of the Powerless by Vaclav Havel – poet, author, playwright, dissident, statesman, last president of Czechoslovakia and first president of the Czech Republic.
He was a prolific writer and played a huge part in the dismantling of the communist-led Warsaw Pact.
I just finished reading this piece of work in which Havel rails against the allure of apathy in the face of oppression or injustice. Few could match his commitment to humanity, though John Hume probably came close.
One of the striking comments made by Havel was the often-ignored observation that “the salvation of this human world lies nowhere else than in the human heart, in the human power to reflect, in human meekness and human responsibility“.
The use of injustice to hold on to power is endemic in the British state – Tom Collins
There are no ‘good guys’ on the global stage - Mary Kelly
Reflecting on recent news, one wonders where is the “human heart” in the middle of so much conflict, inequalities and hatred.
The situation in Gaza is well beyond any reasonable or legitimate right to defend the borders of Israel and to protect its citizens. Any further Israeli military action is morally and legally indefensible.
Injured Palestinians arrive at al-Shifa Hospital (Abed Khaled/AP)
The war-mongering Netanyahu clearly has no intention of seeking peace. The policies developed by his right-wing government in land-grabbing Palestinian territories aggravated an already deteriorating and fragile situation.
Like most belligerent securocrats, his actions are counter-productive and merely act to increase international sympathy for the Palestinian cause and, more worryingly, recruit more young men into the ranks of Hezbollah and Hamas.
The original target may have been Hamas but the tens of thousands of casualties which the IDF are amassing are built on the back of slaughtered babies, children, women and old people.
The situation in Gaza is well beyond any reasonable or legitimate right to defend the borders of Israel and to protect its citizens. Any further Israeli military action is morally and legally indefensible
Like all terrorist organisations, Hamas is cowardly, hiding behind the ordinary Palestinian people; who are in turn caught in a war of attrition between the terrorists and the occupiers. The international community can’t turn a blind eye to a humanitarian crisis which is now of biblical proportions.
And as if things can’t get worse, the USA and UK have launched what amounts to a mini-war on Houthi insurgents in Yemen. Yemen has six million of its citizens on the brink of famine and is in effect a weary, war-torn third world country. Where was the reflection and responsibility of both Biden and Sunak in taking unilateral action which could draw other countries into the tinder box conflict of the Middle East? Iranian Ayatollahs would love an east/west-type international war and no doubt,the dictator Putin is only too happy to fan the flames.
DEFENCE RedSea (PA Graphics/Press Association Images)
Sunak probably welcomed the distraction of being able to play the international hard man after the dismal handling by several Tory governments of the Post Office scandal. Any compensation to those hundreds of sub postmasters/mistresses, who suffered not just the indignity and ignominy of being falsely accused of corruption but who also had to watch their tormentors being paid bonuses and given civic awards, will be totally inadequate. This all could have been so easily avoided if a bit of the human heart had been brought to bear on a failed and corrosive process of investigation.
- Chris Heaton-Harris has the power to stop the public sector strikes - but so does JefOpens in new window
- The courage of the storytellers under fire in Gaza – Patricia MacBrideOpens in new window
- ‘Genocide Joe’ Biden has got the Gaza crisis wrong in every way – Brian FeeneyOpens in new window
Closer to home, this Thursday we will see what amounts to a general strike in all but name. Tens of thousands of nurses, doctors, teachers, bus drivers, cleaners and public sector workers will take to the streets to get a pay increase which would be available to them in any other part of the UK. Thanks to the Secretary of State, these workers know the money is exists – only they are caught up in a Mexican stand-off between the British Government and the DUP.
Those in the DUP who claimed they would eat grass before conceding on the sea border may get their chance as they attempt to implode the Northern Ireland economy from within. In truth, these days, there’s wiser eating grass than what passes for the political classes.
Where's the human heart in middle of so much conflict?
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16.01.2024
Amidst the annual Christmas book hoard, I was given The Power of the Powerless by Vaclav Havel – poet, author, playwright, dissident, statesman, last president of Czechoslovakia and first president of the Czech Republic.
He was a prolific writer and played a huge part in the dismantling of the communist-led Warsaw Pact.
I just finished reading this piece of work in which Havel rails against the allure of apathy in the face of oppression or injustice. Few could match his commitment to humanity, though John Hume probably came close.
One of the striking comments made by Havel was the often-ignored observation that “the salvation of this human world lies nowhere else than in the human heart, in the human power to reflect, in human meekness and human responsibility“.
The use of injustice to hold on to power is endemic in the British state – Tom Collins
There are no ‘good guys’ on the global stage - Mary Kelly
Reflecting on recent news, one wonders where is the “human heart” in the middle of so much conflict, inequalities and hatred.
The situation in Gaza is well beyond any reasonable or legitimate........
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