Trump is a Threat to Life on Planet Earth

 

Over many decades, I have participated in public protests against injustices committed by governments across the world including those perpetuated by the Soviets in Afghanistan, the Chinese in Tibet, the British in Northern Ireland, the Turks in Syria, the apartheid regime in South Africa, the Russians in Ukraine, the Israelis in Lebanon and Palestine, and the US government in Iraq, Central America and Afghanistan.

But the actions of Trump far exceeds the evil of many of these regimes as his administration has armed the forces of genocide and has put all forms of life on planet Earth at risk.

All ages, All creeds, All professions together against Trump.
So I proudly took part earlier this month in a 10,000 strong crowd of all ages marching through the streets of Dublin against the presence of Trump in our country. Their banners signified their presence as Christians, as medical professionals, as legal professionals, as environmentalists, as academics, as community workers, as scientists... who are all opposed to a political leader that enables Israel to openly commit genocide, befriends politicians such as Netanyahu and Putin who are wanted by international courts for war crimes, threatens to obliterate one of the world’s oldest civilizations, is weaponizing Outer Space, has started to attack and take control of countries in order to steal their national resources, wants to stop any regulation on a technology that its own creators warn could destroy humanity if left unchecked and threatens those countries that bring in such regulations, who has been found by US courts to have sexually abused a female, and who has been convicted as a felon as a result of his business dealings.

The False Prophet
Trump often portrays himself as Christ-like figure and “the chosen one” anointed by God, promotes a AI video of himself sunning on a beach in Gaza alongside Netanyahu with a golden statue (shades of the biblical 'Golden Calf') of himself on a nearby street whilst in the real world tens of thousands of its population were been murdered with high tech US weaponry. He breaks most of the Ten Commandants (Thou shalt not kill, commit adultery, steal, covet, bear false witness against thy neighbour...) whilst professing to be a righteous Christian. Trump deliberately overlooks a key trait of Jesus Christ, namely that he was a pacifist, who preached that one should “love thy neighbour as thyself.”

“L'État, c'est moi” (“I am the state”)
Surrounding himself with a court full of sycophants, Trump is encouraged to become even more narcissistic, nasty, greedy, a serial liar and allowed to act as if he is above the law. He deliberately insults women, the disabled, people of different religion and ethnicity, and who like the autocratic emperors of old wants to tear down and rebuild in imperial grandeur public places that are then named in his honour. Out of fear, his threats and bullying are too often placated with expensive luxurious gifts, resources and treaties that enrich his family, humiliates the giver and translates as loss of sovereignty to so many countries.

Burn, Baby, Burn!
This year's summer has been the hottest on record in Ireland and on continental Europe. Across the globe, the weather patterns have gone awry with wildfires, droughts, flooding, glacier meltdown caused by the rise in airborne greenhouse gases.
Earth is the only planet in the Universe we know that sustains life, made possible by a delicate equilibrium of gases that make up its atmosphere and which took billions of years to form. Now this fragile balance is being undermined by a dramatic rise in carbon dioxide and methane due to the burning of fossil fuels that are being promoted by Trump's policy of “Drill, Baby, Drill” which translates as “Burn, Baby, Burn.” His roll-back of environmental regulations in order to expand U.S. fossil fuel production, increase its fuel exports to other countries and make global energy deals is putting all of humanity and all forms of life at risk.

Anti-Life
Trump's contempt of biodiversity is well known as shown by his family's pleasure in the killing for fun of wild animals in America, Africa and Asia such as bear, elephant, leopard, buffalo, crocodile; the opening up of marine and land habitats to oil drilling and his move to dismantle key protections for US endangered species which is putting the survival of over 1500 species of American flora and fauna such as wolves, whales and ancient forests at risk.

An Enemy of the Law
Trump's regime has declared war against those genuine humanitarians who are trying to enforce international human rights legislation designed to protect victims of oppression. His political and financial undermining of the United Nations, whilst simultaneously arming the oppressors, has devastated communities in many of the countries across Africa and the Middle East that I have worked with. His political and environmental actions and those of his allies are designed to force millions of peoples from their homelands and create an unprecedented refugee crisis that will destabilise the whole world

Making America Weak
As someone who loves so much about the United States and what it has given to the world over the decades in the arts, in environmental protection, in human rights and in science and technology, I can honestly say that Trump's personal greed and insatiable appetite for power as he tries to create an imperial Americana is weakening the respect of many for his country. His wars are causing misery across all continents. As with its staunchest ally Israel, the USA is becoming a pariah nation under his watch.

To use Oscar Wilde's words: “Trump is a man that knows the price of everything, but the value of nothing.”

It was great to listen to an inspiring speech on stage from our very own Michelle Clarke on behalf of Tonn na Clé and to be part of a strong Galway contingent in Dublin.
But it was a particular joyous feeling to protest alongside Jackie O'Dowd and Grainne McMorrow (see photo left), we first started protesting together in 1979 during our radical Galway student days! And we are still at it!

Worth remembering that once there was a US President that stood up against Zionism, was a genuine peacemaker & did not use his office for personal gain.

 

Jimmy Carter did so much during and after his term as US President which brought benefits to the world and truly deserved the Nobel Peace Prize when it was eventually awarded to him in 2002.

He was not perfect but Jimmy was a deeply religious man who actually tried to live by the basic tenets of Christianity and, unlike Trump, used his public status not for personal wealth but to promote peace.
In fact he was the antithesis of the present day US President who is the personification of 5 of the 7 deadly sins that I was taught as a child in Christian religious class to beware of namely: pride, greed, lust, envy and wrath.

Among Jimmy's achievements:
-Helped mediate peace between Egypt and Israel through the 1978 Camp David Accords.
-Was the first President that called for a Palestinian homeland.
-Began the transfer of ownership of the Panama Canal from the USA to the country of Panama.
-Established Human Rights as an important element of U.S. foreign policy.
-Introduced energy conservation for the first time as a key element of US policy and established the Department of Energy.
-Spent decades after his Presidency personally helping to build houses for the poor, funding disease eradication programmes and undertaking diplomatic peace missions across the world.

I will never forget his interview on BBC Newsnight in the early 2000s when he warned the world of the dangers of the Israeli right-wing Zionist wealthy lobbyist group known as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), mentioning how they had corrupted US politics, saying that one could not successfully run as a small town sheriff in the USA if they were up against you. He correctly stated that they were a barrier towards achieving a just peace in the Middle East.

We are living in an Age of Empires

The US government's illegal war on Venezuela was never about drugs or democracy.

It was always about oil and regime change.

 

Trump has made it quite clear that he does not care what Greenlanders, Canadians, Panamanians and Venezuelans think. For in his imperial mindset, their country’s natural resources belong not to them but to the USA (i.e big American corporations).

Imperialism is back with a vengeance. Trump wants total control of the Western Hemisphere; is happy to allow Netanyahu to integrate and colonise the Palestinian territories and control Lebanon; and for Putin to recreate the Tsarist Empire with puppet status and assimilation awaiting Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia.

International Law and the United Nations have being totally ignored by the USA, Russia and Israel.

As with Israel's genocide in Gaza and increasing colonisation of the occupied West Bank, the EU will behave spinelessly and will do absolutely nothing of substance to hold the USA to account.

With China expanding its territorial ambitions in the seas bordering Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and having economic control over so many countries, we are sadly returning to an Age of Empires with their ‘Spheres of Influence’ where ‘Might is Right’ and small countries exist only to serve the Big Powers.

The Age of Empires is Back.

I stand with Ukraine as I always did with Palestine. Putin does not recognise Ukrainians as a separate people with the right to their own independent country. Netanyahu does not recognise Palestinians as a separate people with the right to their own independent country.

We are living in dangerous times.

Trump, Netanyahu and Putin are narcissistic, expansionist and imperialistic leaders wanting to return their states to a mythical past with a supposedly God-given right to consume their smaller neighbours.

We as an Irish people that suffered centuries of occupation and colonisation can empathise with the present day struggles of the Palestinians and Ukrainians. Their struggles are our struggles.

Beir bua!

 

The World Deserves Better than Harris & Trump

Donald Trump is a narcissistic racist misogynist who has been convicted in a US court of sexual assault, has helped transform social media into a realm of hate, wants to undermine the United Nations and has openly declared war on the planet and all living things by dismissing the overwhelming scientific consensus on the Climate Crisis, calling it a ‘hoax’ invented by China. For him, the world and all of its species exists solely to serve and to be exploited for the benefit of the rich and powerful amongst the homo sapiens.

Kamala Harris is Vice President of a US administration that has given unhindered political, financial and military support to an Israeli government to allow it to conduct a policy of ethnic cleansing and genocide which has reduced Gaza to rubble, destroyed huge swathes of Lebanon, aided the racist colonial Zionist settlers to continue to confiscate Palestinian lands in the West Bank, left nearly 50,000 people mainly women and children dead, and forced over 3 million civilians to flee their homes and become refugees.

Having lived there for a while and visited many times, I love so much about the USA- its music, its arts, its grassroots environmentalism, its innovations, its technologies and lots more. But its people must know better. The world deserves better.

I cannot in all honesty understand how any one of good character can justify voting for either of these politicians.

Belarus 2020: A Female-led Revolution that the world desperately needs.

 

The protests against the dictator Alexander Lukashenko represent the most female-driven political revolution that I have ever witnessed.

Women are at the forefront of the rebellion against a patriarchal chauvinistic ruler whose misogyny can best be summarised in his comment that "Our society has not matured enough to vote for a woman opposition presidential candidate".

He gravely underestimated the power of women.

For it was a female (Svetlana Tikhanovskaya) that was the opposition candidate in the recent presidential election and her key campaign advisors were women. The response to police brutality and a rigged election was not stone throwing and smashed windows but flower-waving women dressed in white (symbol of hope) marching through the streets who, by their courage and leadership, became the rallying call for the rest of the Belarus nation to follow in what has been so far the most peaceful rebellion of the modern era.

A female-led revolution is what humanity needs now more than ever. When the Earth lies on the edge of the abyss due to the man-made Climate Crisis, the male leadership of Britain, China, India, Israel, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, USA, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are squandering the world's financial resources on a new machismo ("my missiles are bigger than your missiles") arms race instead of using these monies to tackle poverty, social inequality, pollution and biodiversity loss by dramatically increasing investments in health, education, renewable energies, reforestation and green sustainability technologies.

It is not surprising that the policies and comments of so many of these political leaders, as well as those of other countries including Brazil, Philippines and Somalia, are characterised by a lack of empathy and often open hostility towards women, religious/ethnic minorities and the environment. Bolsanaro, Erdogan, Trump, Putin, Mohammed bin Salman and Ayatollah Khomeini represent an arrogant macho culture that has nothing to offer the world but hate, division, aggression and greed.

It is no coincidence that so many of the countries that have coped best with the COVID-19 pandemic are led by women - Finland, Germany, Iceland, New Zealand, Norway and Taiwan.

It is also worth reminding ourselves that it was the caring nurturing skills of (super)ordinary doctors, carers, first responders, hospital back-up personnel, social workers, teachers and gardeners as well as benign musicians, cleaners, grocers and community volunteers amongst others that got us through the pandemic not the violence of a military, nor the get-rich quick profiteering of property speculators or the brash in-your-face lifestyles of self-centred opinionated celebrities.

For most of the history of humanity, women were society's leaders and worshipped as the 'givers of life'.

But with the capability to smelt metal and create weapons of war from the Bronze Age onwards, it was the male warrior as the 'taker of life' that came to dominate religion and governance.

A patriarchal culture has been but a brief intermission in the over 200,000 years of hominid existence. It is time for it to finally end and to liberate women from all forms of servitude and rediscover a sense of connection and respect with the rest of Nature (Mother Earth) before it is too late.

All power to the brave women of Belarus for showing us all the way forward. Let the men of the police, army and government departments of their country have the awareness and common sense to now stand beside their daughters, sisters, wives, partners, girlfriends, mothers and grandmothers in the common struggle to end oppression.

Trump's Ban, Palestine & My Galway Workplace.

Recently my friend Ihab Salawdeh gave a highly illuminating talk on his homeland of Palestine as part of our institute’s “My Country” series. The idea is for staff/students working at the Insight Centre for Data Anlaytics to present informative but light-hearted overviews of their country to their colleagues. With over 30 nationalities represented at our university research centre, we have had some excellent insights into places far and near. 

The jovial Ihab introduced us to a Palestine that not too many outsiders are aware off; a land where, in spite of Israeli military occupation and colonial settlements, is rich in natural beauty, culture and history. The inhabitants of the Holy Land are proud of their ethnic cuisine, folk dances, vibrant musical heritage, traditional dress, scenic hillwalking routes, churches, mosques, synagogues as well as ancient Roman/Greek/Jewish and Byzantine ruins. Bethlehem, Nazareth and Jerusalem are great world centres of tourism and religious pilgrimage.

Thinking about Ihab’s talk and the ‘United Nations of Galway’ that is my research institute at NUI Galway, I have come to the conclusion that Trump’s decision to ban travel to the USA for refugees and people from seven countries that have majority Muslim populations will have enormous and immediate negative ramifications not just socially, economically and politically but also scientifically.
Some of the researchers at our university centre are respected scientists from Syria and Iran who often as part of their work attend research conferences in the USA and elsewhere. America is now off limits to them and the research community of Galway, Ireland, Europe and the world will suffer as a result.
Trump will I feel extend the ban to other countries with Palestine probably at the top of the list.

With Trump promoting his newly discovered Christianity (of the conservative strand) and his support of American business entrepreneuralism, I should remind him that Steve Job’s father was Syrian and that the family of Jesus Christ fled to Egypt as refugees to escape probable death at the hands of a despotic ruler.

Trump is bringing a coldness and darkness to a United States that has such a proud bright history of welcoming immigrants escaping religious, racial and cultural persecution.