Is this freedom absolute? Are there limitations to it?
Does the freedom of speech include also the freedom to say what would be considered hate speech?
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On free markets
I have seen some libertines argue that we should have no government regulations and I think this would include no subsidies nor protections and that each business should be free to enter the market and compete only on merit. No trade unions, no minimum wage regulations and all. Maybe even no employment act as we have in Ke.
The argument is that in such a system, bad business practices will be weeded out naturally and that this may even be beneficial to the environment.
I have also seen some oppose taxation. Since some governments use the bulk of tax money in military investment, maybe this will help the peace effort if there is no money to be appropriated to the war effort.
Is this practical? Is it desirable? Should we demand no control for markets and all?
And from Robert’s blog, capitalism is facing a crisis
Some lost sayings of jesus
Since it is Sunday, one is allowed to be irreverent. In this list saying, Jesus says heaven is for males only.
In vs 114 of the gospel of Thomas, Jesus tells Peter thus
I myself shall lead her in order to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every woman who will make herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven.
A question for abolitionists
Over the years, I have come to the position that prisons should be abolished however I have always wondered what to do with administrators and politicians who through acts of omission or Commission, lead to death or destitution among the population.
I saw this question and wondered what most of you here you support abolition think
https://twitter.com/ClaireShrugged/status/1119202162603712515?s=20
Reasons to be a christian
Who knew?
And here, Satan gets a bad rap while the harbinger of light is Lucifer. How does this work? God knew we would sin, before we were even a dream, died for us and we still continue to sin so that pastors can make money reminding us that god died for our sins.
on the housing levy
by the thieving UhuRuto government.
Housing can be looked at as a process and a product. And there are local and international instruments that underscore the right to housing as a fundamental right. For example Article 43 (1)b of the Constitution of Kenya provides specifically that every Kenyan has a right to accessible and adequate housing, and to reasonable standards of sanitation.
There are philosophies around housing provision viz: welfare (social housing) approach and market approach.
Habitat for Humanity notes the housing deficit in Kenya stands at 2 million and continues to grow at a rate of 200K per year.
Now that you know what housing is (this is where you say thank you Mak) and what the law says. The drafters of the constitution added this section
Article 21 (2) states The State shall take legislative, policy and other measures, including the setting of standards, to achieve the progressive realisation of the rights guaranteed under Article 43.
and while I am no lawyer, it is my belief that the government is riding on this provision to implement a housing levy in the pretext of financing housing ( I have learnt this is not the case. The stupid people in government are relying on HousingAct17of1953 (1) (pdf)! in developing these regulations). In the context of (local) economic development, this levy would be viewed as a method of capital formation. But having said so, I think it would only make sense if the government reduced massive leaks through corruption, was transparent in how it spends our money, reduced its expenditure among others. Short of the above, it does seem this government is only keen in increasing the money available to be stolen.
My countrymen and women are not amused especially if one were to check the #resisthousingfundlevy which, yours truly believes, is a flopped resistance.
But I digress.
We, the tax payers have genuine reasons to protest this levy. And it should not be construed by those in government or their mouthpieces that we have abandoned our right to adequate housing, far from it. There is good reason that this state capture by the Kenyatta family enterprise. If a government were to win a trophy for sleaze, this regime would take first place and first runners-up. It has made promises from irrigation to school laptops and failed miserably at it. It promised to house police in decent housing and has failed to do so. It is inconceivable that in the two years it has left in office that it could build 500K units. My professor makes the following observations and here where he argues among other things that the regulations are not properly thought out.
In my view, given the current economic circumstances many working people find themselves in as a result of the bad policies and habits of this government, this levy is an ill-conceived idea that should not have been left to see the light of day. While public participation in required by law, our government does not take a robust approach to meeting this requirement. It is not lost to us that the ICC duo treat the citizens with disdain and not surprising that government approach to the citizens is that of antagonism, and threats of violence.
It is time we collectively rise and send them home. We cannot be slaves to the constitution in the face of despotism waiting for the term of the government to collapse to try to do something. The time to do anything is now.
I should write about architecture
I am doing capitalism badly. I have been running this blog for so many years but I hardly ever write about architecture, except to share buildings that I like instead of making all the visitors to this humble blog that we are architects, love architecture and practice architecture :).
But I have other interests. You see I am an African and Africa interests me. And so today I want to remember an African killed by the military dictatorship of Abacha. Ken Saro-Wiwa’s final summation to the military court is a brilliant and short oration. It is the conviction of a man about to die for what he believes in that I found so moving. It reminds me of Castro’s History will absolve me.
My lord,
We all stand before history. I am a man of peace, of ideas. Appalled by the denigrating poverty of my people who live on a richly endowed land, distressed by their political marginalization and economic strangulation, angered by the devastation of their land, their ultimate heritage, anxious to preserve their right to life and to a decent living, and determined to usher to this country as a whole a fair and just democratic system which protects everyone and every ethnic group and gives us all a valid claim to human civilization, I have devoted my intellectual and material resources, my very life, to a cause in which I have total belief and from which I cannot be blackmailed or intimidated. I have no doubt at all about the ultimate success of my cause, no matter the trials and tribulations which I and those who believe with me may encounter on our journey. Nor imprisonment nor death can stop our ultimate victory.
I repeat that we all stand before history. I and my colleagues are not the only ones on trial. Shell is here on trial and it is as well that it is represented by counsel said to be holding a watching brief. The Company has, indeed, ducked this particular trial, but its day will surely come and the lessons learnt here may prove useful to it for there is no doubt in my mind that the ecological war that the Company has waged in the Delta will be called to question sooner than later and the crimes of that war be duly punished. The crime of the Company’s dirty wars against the Ogoni people will also be punished.
On trial also is the Nigerian nation, its present rulers and those who assist them. Any nation which can do to the weak and disadvantaged what the Nigerian nation has done to the Ogoni, loses a claim to independence and to freedom from outside influence. I am not one of those who shy away from protesting injustice and oppression, arguing that they are expected in a military regime. The military do not act alone. They are supported by a gaggle of politicians, lawyers, judges, academics and businessmen, all of them hiding under the claim that they are only doing their duty, men and women too afraid to wash their pants of urine. We all stand on trial, my lord, for by our actions we have denigrated our Country and jeapardized the future of our children. As we subscribe to the sub-normal and accept double standards, as we lie and cheat openly, as we protect injustice and oppression, we empty our classrooms, denigrate our hospitals, fill our stomachs with hunger and elect to make ourselves the slaves of those who ascribe to higher standards, pursue the truth, and honour justice, freedom, and hard work. I predict that the scene here will be played and replayed by generations yet unborn. Some have already cast themselves in the role of villains, some are tragic victims, some still have a chance to redeem themselves. The choice is for each individual.
I predict that the denouncement of the riddle of the Niger delta will soon come. The agenda is being set at this trial. Whether the peaceful ways I have favoured will prevail depends on what the oppressor decides, what signals it sends out to the waiting public.
In my innocence of the false charges I face Here, in my utter conviction, I call upon the Ogoni people, the peoples of the Niger delta, and the oppressed ethnic minorities of Nigeria to stand up now and fight fearlessly and peacefully for their rights. History is on their side. God is on their side. For the Holy Quran says in Sura 42, verse 41: ‘All those that fight when oppressed incur no guilt, but Allah shall punish the oppressor.’ Come the day.
–Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa
