War-Cry ?

Last weekend we got a flier in the mailbox. An event called War Cry scheduled for today (March 21), arranged by some Christian groups. Their aim according to the flier was to take back the country from the criminal and immoral elements. A good cause? yes definitely. Good execution, definitly NOT. For example, in the road march which followed, there were no banners or placards stating their anti-crime message.

Let me give some background on this little island, we are a Christian country, we have the largest number of churches per square mile than anywhere else in the world. We also have one of the largest crime and murder rates in the world.

During Easter (The Christian holidays), we have Jamaica Carnival (Bacchanal), loud music, half naked people parading and gyrating to this music in a series of build up events culminating in the actual carnival. The carnival involves trucks with lots of loud music (some questionable lyrics, promoting all sorts of promiscuity etc, but that can take up another post), and of course the carnival revellers in glittery bikinis and tight shorts. The Christian community has always condemned the events but have never been able to stop it.

This War-Cry seems to be a pre-emptive response to the upcoming carnival and with all good intentions they have gone wrong. It seems like an 'if you can't beat them, join them' mentality. I am writing this while the music is pounding at my head, since they are just now passing my neighbourhood. The music sounds the same like a carnival or dancehall show, just different lyrics, I mean I heard them mention 'Jesus Christ' and 'war cry' a couple of times but the music itself is overpowering their message. I mean why do they have to imitate the people they are 'condemning'? What do they hope to accomplish? They are apparently trying to get the young people involved by enticing them with music and revelry, but imitation is only a form of flattery. This group, however, unlike their carnival counterparts, was uniformly dressed in modest tee shirt and jeans.

The next point is, what's with the name War-Cry? couldnt they have called it Peace-Cry? That seems more fitting . Imagine if us Muslims staged a march called War-Cry? I'm sure the police, the army and maybe even the CIA would be down on us trying to shut it down.

Christianity started out by trying to cater to the masses by changing the laws of Jesus and Moses to suit the pagan Romans and Greeks of the time, bringing in the concept of 'Son of God' and the 'Trinity' so it wouldnt seem quite so different than what they were used to with their many gods and sons of gods. It continues to pander to popular thought and behaviours to get people on their bandwagon. Come on people this is not a popularity contest. Truth is plain from falsehood and no amount of innovating and pandering will make a lie become the truth.

Like I said I am not condemning their intentions, and well-meaning Christians will say, that at least they are doing something, and ask what the Muslim community is doing in protest of crime and immorality. I am not making any excuses because I do think we need to be doing something, but right now we are less than 1% of the population. I think our best action is to do dawah and let people know that there is an alternative, remembering that the best dawah is our own actions and how we treat other people. Thats all for now, the war-criers have moved on and its quiet again.

Jamaican Parliament Death Penalty Vote In

34:15 - Hangman wanted

published: Wednesday November 26, 2008

PARLIAMENT yesterday gave warm-up instructions to the hangman, telling him through a unanimous conscience vote that he was wanted back at work soon.
However, the Senate will have a say, by way of a similar vote, whether the death penalty should be retained.

Prime Minister Bruce Golding said yesterday's decision, taken by elected members of the House of Representatives, might take precedence if the Senate votes to abolish the death penalty.
"I think a great deal of weight would have to be attached to what the 60 members of parliament said because those were the persons who were elected by the people," Golding told journalists outside Gordon House shortly after the vote.

Provided that the Senate votes in a similar manner to the House, Golding has said he would move an amendment to the Constitution to remove the stricture which requires that the process of appeals through execution takes place within five years of sentencing or a condemned inmate's sentence should be commuted.

The prime minister also said there were no international treaties or conventions that conflict with the vote of MPs to retain capital punishment on its books.

10 mps absent

Thirty-four members, including Golding, voted for the death penalty to remain on the law books, while 15 voted against. Ten MPs were absent. The House speaker did not have a vote.
On the reverse question of whether MPs were in favour of the abolition of capital punishment, 36 MPs said no, while 15 voted to remove the death penalty. The additional votes came from two MPs who had entered the House during voting on the second.

"Provided that the position that the Lower House took today holds, then we are going to stand ready to carry out that penalty whenever any person on death row has exhausted his avenues of appeal," the prime minister said.

Punishment appropriate

Unlike Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller, who was absent from the sitting of the House and had never made clear her stance on the death penalty, Golding said he believed the punishment was appropriate.

"... The death penalty, which I think is an appropriate penalty for someone who takes someone else's life in those cases that we define as capital murder, I believe [the judicial system] it can withstand that scrutiny," the prime minister said.

He added: "I have looked at the reviews that have been conducted by the Privy Council in England and I would venture to say that, whatever deficiencies may have impaired a trial here, it is not going to pass the Bar in the Privy Council."

Golding said that as long as the Privy Council "is an avenue of appeal open to the persons, then I am satisfied that once somebody is convicted, then the death penalty should be carried out".

Eight persons on death row

There are currently eight persons on death row and, according to Golding, none have exhausted their appeals.

The condemned man has a right of appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and the International Commission on Human Rights.

Yesterday's conscience vote was the second such in the history of modern Jamaica on abolition of the death penalty.

Of the 44 members who voted in the first conscience vote in 1979, a majority of 24 members voted in support of the retention of hanging while 19 voted against. As occurred yesterday, Simpson Miller was also absent then, prompting government members to heckle the Opposition about its leader.

"If you are voting for, then vote for. If you are voting against, then vote against. But don't run and hide," West St Thomas MP James Robertson shouted across the aisle.

Simpson Miller said on Sunday that she had a prior engagement overseas that would prevent her from voting

Source: Jamaica Gleaner

Vote Left Hanging

Vote left hanging - MPs now to decide on death penalty Tuesday
BALFORD HENRY, Observer writer balfordh@jamaicaobserver.com
Thursday, November 20, 2008

THE House of Representatives last night pulled back from the brink of a crucial vote on the death penalty, at the suggestion of Prime Minister Bruce Golding.
Golding, who introduced the motion last week, asked that the vote be delayed until next Tuesday to facilitate more MPs being present. There were 45 members of the 60-seat House present at the time.

The decision was a disappointment for the so-called "hawks", who support retention of the death penalty and who are obviously the majority. But it was welcomed by the opposing "doves", who probably hope to sway some of the "hawks" by Tuesday.The MPs streamed out of the House after accepting Golding's proposal, mostly confident that there would be no further delay beyond the deadline set last night by the prime minister.Minister of Labour and Social Security Pearnel Charles, one of the fiercest supporters of the death penalty, said last night that although he would not be in the island for Tuesday's vote, he was confident that his view would prevail.

Government's chief whip, Andrew Gallimore, who is passionately against the death penalty, said he had resigned himself to be on the losing end of the vote, but hoped that by Tuesday others could be swayed to his view.

The decision to delay the vote came at the end of a marathon debate lasting four days with contributions from over 40 MPs.Yesterday's portion was highlighted by Charles' demand for immediate action against "murderers" including those who he said recently beheaded an uncle of his, and Gallimore, who severely criticised those supporting capital punishment.

At one stage, Opposition MP Phillip Paulwell (East Kingston and Port Royal) criticised Charles for lashing out at those against the death penalty. Another Opposition MP, Dr Peter Phillips, also accused him of imputing motive for criticising MPs who were against the death penalty and had violence-prone communities in their constituencies.

Opposition MP Robert Pickersgill, whose follow-up motion to have the UK Privy Council's five-year stricture on carrying out the death penalty removed, and has already attracted criticisms from human rights activists, proclaimed "I am for the capital punishment".

Among those absent yesterday were: Leader of the Opposition, Portia Simpson Miller, who had indicated Tuesday that she would not be present; cabinet ministers Mike Henry, Clive Mullings and Olivia Grange, who are abroad; Opposition MP Ronald Thwaites, who left after prayers; and Leader of the House, Derrick Smith, who had surgery over the weekend in Florida.

Source:http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/