Nuclear Pop

Did my eyes deceive me, or are the Sugababes re releasing a track for inclusion in the Eurovision Song Contest?

Of course they aren't (although they are one of the few pop acts I actually respect - Keisha is my favourite). Though there is a song called "Push the Button" being entered into the annual contest (which I religiously avoid due to having an affliction otherwise known as... taste), alas it is not the one sung by the Sugababes.

No, this "Push the Button" is an anti-nuclear anthem (apologies for picture or any other quality you may find distasteful), believed to be written in response to the potential threat posed by everyone's favourite poison dwarf - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. It was overwhelmingly chosen by the Israeli public. You can read more about it in this BBC article.

Many would accuse Israel of hypocrisy (they maintain a policy of nuclear ambiguity, but most people don't doubt they have the technology). However, to my knowledge Israel have never once publicly voiced an opinion that implied any desire to entirely obliterate a nation with such technology. The Iranian President, compensating for his insecurities, has made such statements without as yet having that technology. .. and that is the major difference. Iran does have serious energy needs... but you can understand why people are jittery about allowing such a nation to have nuclear power, when their most prominent spokesman has himself propagated the notion that Iran harbours nuclear ambition for an entirely separate agenda.

I call upon the Iranian people to throw down this vile idiot, he puts his own personal insecurities before the security and wellbeing of his nation. I say to you, deal with the monster on your thrown and we will deal with the monsters on ours (Bush and Blair will both be out of office by the end of 2008).

Going back to Eurovision and it will be interesting to find out how well this group performs, because it may well reveal just how strongly Europeans feel about nuclear technology, for or against.... the song isn't just restricted to Israel'[s specific situation.

On a side note, reading the BBC article revealed an interesting fact. It is against Eurovision rules to quote the Bible (and presumably any other religious text) in any song entry. What is with that? We know what happened last time a European nation started getting overly worried about books...

Holocaust Memorial Day

Today (27th January) is the UK's chosen day for commemorating the events of the Holocaust. This day was chosen because it marks the day when Auchwitz was liberated and shut down.

I decided to hold a minute's silence to contemplate on the senseless genocide of bygone wars... and show my respect for those who suffered and either died or prevailed having suffered terrible indignity or brutality at the hands of evil men.

I also decided on being a little more proactive. What follows is a copy of the text from an email that I sent to the President of Iran - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a man who in recent blogs I have taken issue with over remarks he has made about Israel and the Holocaust:

Dear President Ahmadinejad.

I am writing to you to express my deep concern and disdain over your comments in December concerning the Holocaust. I would like you to explain what you mean by describing it as a "myth".

I do not believe you can seriously entertain the idea that 6 million Jews didn't die at the hands of Nazism. That many people do not simply disappear... it is impossible to hide an absence of that magnitude.

I would be interested to know exactly which parts of the Holocaust you class as myth. Would you also take issue with the number of 5 million non Jews who shared the same fate - The Pole's, the Romanian gypsies, the communists, the homosexuals, the Africans and the disabled?
11 million people Jew and gentile alike... were wiped of the planet - that is NO myth. You also need to understand that Adolf Hitler's extremist views would not have ended with the Jews. Simply put, Arabs would have had no more place in Hitler's eugenic nightmare than Jews. He was hell bent on Aryan supremacy. Very few people fit the characteristics he praised. Your people would have suffered... so instead of pouring scorn on the Jews for their suffering, you should instead be praising God that a similar fate did not befall you.

You may think I have an agenda in writing this. I do not. I am no politician, I am no Jew, I am from none of the groups I have listed above. What I can tell you is that today is my country's commemoration of the Holocaust (for ALL sufferers of Holocaust through history), and that as part of my act of respect and remembrance for every man or woman of the human race who has ever died in the wake of such horror - I decided to make a statement for them... for they have no voice of their own. I speak because silence in the face of ignorance is a crime. As Martin Niemoeller said:

"First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me--
and there was no one left to speak out for me."

So it does not matter what or who I am... I MUST speak out for those who have suffered because I would want them to speak out for me. You have done the same yourself, during recent tragedies in your own country... so I hope you understand.

I do not speak to you with hatred... but rather with concern and a heartfelt plea for piety and compassion.

I ask that you turn away from your inflammatory statements regarding the Holocaust and the Jews.

Whatever you choose, I pray that God will have compassion on you and that you can grasp how high and wide and deep his love for humanity and you yourself is.

Your sincerely

Nick Payne

Will he read it?

Probably not. (Author's note as at 10th January 2007... obviously not!)

Should that stop me saying it? By no means. I doubt he'll pay the likes of me much heed, but when men say such things they should be held to account and told they are wrong. Not just by politicians... but by the common man. Politicians are duplicitous and almost everything they do is done for men to see. Their agendas are their own. It is more powerful when the ordinary folk rise up to condemn evil. I believe the following quotes are true:

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing." - Edmund Burke

"The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it." - Albert Einstein

"When good people in any country cease their vigilance and struggle, then evil men prevail." - Pearl S. Buck

"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant." Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

If you want to join me in my moment of clarity/madness, the President of Iran can be emailed at the following address: dr-ahmadinejad@president.ir