In-laws force Afghan girl into prostitution

Gordon Sinclair was, for many years, a fixture in the Toronto media. He was read in the Toronto Star, listened to on CFRB radio, and watched on CBC-TV. Almost a stereotypical Scot, with that ethnicity's keen regard for the dollar and lack of tolerance for humbug, he brought to many eyes a twinkle almost as bright as that in his own.

Mr. Sinclair had a lengthy and profound fascination with the Indian subcontinent, which he described as "filthy and fascinating" -- sentiments which I found, decades later, to be well founded in fact. In 1935, the Star sponsored Sinclair's "Khyber Caravan", a little jaunt through Kashmir to "Khyber and beyond".

The area through which he passed was, at the time, one of the nether parts of the British Raj. This was before the partition of India and the unending battle between that country and Pakistan, which, along with the similarly unending turmoil in Afghanistan, today renders a journey along Sinclair's route impossible.

In his book, logically entitled Khyber Caravan (Hurst & Blackett, 1936), Sinclair tells a story of an encounter with some Pathans on the far side of the Khyber pass. He was invited into his escort's fortress home for tea. Whereupon...

A girl brought tea up in a pot-bellied jug. I was surprised at that because the code of behaviour on the Afghan border is so stringent that no woman comes into the presence of a strange man, even in her own home. The old chieftain must have understood my surprise because he soon explained that this girl was about to take the blue spot, that is become a professional lady of the evening, in Peshawar, where the more ardent grow rich before they marry.

This girl was engaged, they explained. Her groom-to-be was in Britain's army but he had three years to serve and the family thought it best that during that time the girl be occupied and earn her keep, so what better occupation for a girl of her charms than selling those charms?

That was in 1935. Since then, the British have left, the Soviets [or Russians, if you like. Ed.] have come and gone, and now the Americans and their running dogs ["allies", surely! Ed.] have come and (almost) gone. All these foreigners have sought to impose at least a veneer of civilization on the Afghans. And they've had at least some success. Right? Girls don't get sold into slavery any more...right? Well, check out this story, from Agence France Press.

Afghan police have rescued a teenage girl who was beaten and locked up in a toilet for over five months after she defied her in-laws who tried to force her into prostitution. This was reported on Tuesday, December 27th...2011.

Sahar Gul, 15, was found in the basement of her husband's house in northeastern Baghlan province late on Monday after her parents told police she had disappeared. Three women including the teenager's mother in-law have been arrested in connection with the case but her husband had fled the area, a police spokesthingy said.

Plus ça change, says Walt.

Got your Caganer for next year?

What you're looking at is part of a very elaborate Spanish Nativity scene. In the centre you can see the Magi and their attendants proceeding to Bethlehem to see the Infant Jesus.

In the lower left corner of the picture you see another figure, who is, errr, answering a call of nature. His name is El Caganer, and he has been a familiar figure in Catalan folklore since the 17th century, usually found squatting off to one side of the traditional scene.

You'll be glad to know that our modern, marketing-driven society has now produced Caganers in a wide variety of styles and colours. Representations of famous figures assuming the position are common. If you don't have one of these among your holiday decorations, contact Walt and I'll get one for you next time I'm in Spain.

Multiculturalism: a failed experiment?

Let's start with the provocative quote: two paragraphs from "When multiculturalism doesn't work", a long but worthwhile article by Ingrid Peritz and Joe Friesen, in today's Globe and Mail.

As the first generation of Canadians raised under the banner of multiculturalism graduates to positions of power, fissures are emerging in the Canadian mosaic. The proposed law to ban niqabs for those seeking public services in Quebec, the controversy surrounding the so-called honour killing of Muslim teenager Aqsa Parvez, the backlash against Tamil asylum seekers, the arrest of a Canadian-born doctor and Canadian Idol contestant in an alleged Islamist terror plot – all of these raise questions about Canada's nurturing of cultural difference. Even one of Canada's most prominent visible-minority politicians, Ujjal Dosanjh, accuses multiculturalism of allowing Sikh extremism to take root here.

[All of these stories have been mentioned in Walt's blog. Use the search feature to find my comments.]

Our European allies call multiculturalism a failed experiment. Germany, the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands and even our Commonwealth cousin Australia have all, to differing degrees, blamed multiculturalism for separating peoples, weakening national cohesion and encouraging Islamic extremism.

Now some observations. Niqabs, hijabs and honour killings have get a lot of press, but there are other serious problems with multiculturalism as found in Canada and (to a lesser degree) the USA.

Item: Most Chinese immigrants hang onto their Chinese or Hong Kong passports. (According to Chinese law, dual citizenship is not allowed, but Chinese law is, shall we say, less than uniformly applied. Westerners dealing with China and the Chinese had better learn at least one word -- guanxi.)

Item: Recent arrivals from non-European countries show a distinct lack of enthusiasm for learning English (or French). And why should they? Everything from ATMs to the police to automated answering machines serve them in their own languages. Cities like Toronto have become modern-day Babels. There are parts of the Greater Toronto Area where an English-speaker can't even read the signs. But at least a linguist can figure out which ghetto he's in.

Item: Speaking of ghettos, ethno-racial segregation is now commonplace. Most North American cities have long had their Chinatowns, Greektowns and Little Italies. But now we have Little Indias being further subdivided into the Tamil village, the Punjabi quarter (hello Sikhdale!) and the commercial section where everyone's name is Patel.

Item: Speaking of the Indian communities (note the plural), let's not ignore "ethnic protection", now becoming evident in such sectors as trucking and transport, which are largely controlled by Punjabi gangs.

Item: Politicians of cities with large "minority" populations have long known the benefits of ethnic segregation. How can a "McCarthy" get elected in an Italian neighbourhood? (Answer: probably better than a "Smythe-Jones".) Would a "Khan" ever be elected in a Sikh ghetto? (Answer: he'd have a Chinaman's chance!)

Item: Segregation continues even in death. A large part of Calgary's Queen's Park Cemetery is now a "Chinese [only] Section". And Toronto has its own Chinese cemeteries. Which just goes to prove that segregation by race, ethnicity, even religion is voluntary.

Since the beginning, we've had separate cemeteries for Catholics and non-Catholics, and separate school systems too in some places. So what? It seems to me the natural human condition to want to be with people who are "like us", even in death. Multiculturalism, especially when enforced, goes against our natural human "hard wiring".

Conclusion: Multiculturalism is not a recipe for long-term socio-political stability. It is an experiment in social engineering whose all too apparent failure is rooted in a fundamental misunderstanding of human nature.

If the USA and Canada are not to be still further fragmented, our diverse peoples increasingly alienated from one another, we must discard the multicultural model imposed on us by the liberal elites. It's time to revisit the old concept of the melting pot, where people try to become unhyphenated Americans and Canadians.

As for immigration -- now that debate on the subject seems to have been initiated -- let's close the doors to all but those who are ready, willing and able to fit into our society, rather than expecting us to reshape our society to accomodate them.

Firing the first shot of the Canadian culture wars

In his book Open and Shut (see Walt, passim), John Ibbotson talks about the differences between American and Canadian political culture and society. Keeping the book short, Mr. Ibbotson did not explore the significance of the "culture wars" that now divide the USA.

To paint with a very broad brush, Americans divide into two camps: the Christian right vs the secular left. The Democrats tend to line up with the latter. The Republicans tend to waffle becauase the former are a minority...a very vocal minority to be sure...and the Republicans need some of the non-religious voters to get back in office.

And now we have the Tea Partiers, the cranky old white men (and women) like Walt who are against the nanny state and in favour of individual rights, freedoms and responsibilities. A few weeks ago Walt said Canada needs a Tea Party. Just recently Sarah Palin spoke to a sell-out crowd in Hamilton, Ontario -- Canada's answer to Bethlehem PA. Believe me, there are lots of disgruntled Canadians out there.

Now Frank Graves of Ekos Research, a sometime adviser to Canada's Liberal Party, has told the Grits that the "wedge politics" of the Conservatives provide the Liberals with a chance to present a "stark alternative".

In other words, he recommends that the Libs throw the conservative wing of their party under the big red bus and pin their hopes on winning a majority of the "progressives" who reside in the genteel areas of Toronto and Montréal. "Forget about the yokels. Win Westmount and Rosedale and all will be well."

Bring on the polarizing debate, says Mr. Graves. It worked for Jean Chrétien against Preston Manning and Stockwell Day, so why wouldn't it work for the Iggster?

"I told them," Mr. Graves confides to a reporter, "that they should invoke a culture war. Cosmopolitanism versus parochialism, secularism versus moralism, Obama versus Palin, tolerance versus racism and homophobia, democracy versus autocracy. If the cranky old men in Alberta don’t like it, too bad. Go south and vote for Palin."

Wow! Strong stuff! Walt doesn't live in Alberta, but hopes most fervently that the Liberals will take Mr. Grave's advice and BRING IT ON!

Paedophilia in the Church - the effect of the Sixties

An article in Chiesa this week analyses the widespread scandal of sexual abuse by priests and bishops of the Roman Catholic Church. The scandal of pedophilia has always been there, the article says, but was magnified by the cultural revolution of the half a century ago.

The Hippy-Dippy Sixties was a decade of "liberation" -- political, cultural and sexual -- which changed the world. Fruits of this revolution were the "liberation" of women, the spread of feminist ideology, and the acceptance of divorce, birth control pill, and abortion.

The Second Vatican Council (Vatican II) was a product of the turmoil of its times. The Church, which for nearly two millennia stood like a rock for certain principles and revealed truths, started to bend to the winds of fashion. Out of this came the corruption and rot which pervades Her seminaries, rectories and even chanceries today.

The Holy Father, Benedict XVI, makes the claim in his recent letter to the Catholics of Ireland. The Chiesa article provides commentary by two cardinals and a sociologist. Worth repeating here are a couple of paragraphs written by Professor Massimo Introvigne, president of the CESNUR, the Center for Studies on New Religion, in a commentary that appeared on 22 March in the Italian edition of the Zenit online news.

"There was in the 1960's an authentic revolution – no less important than the Protestant Reformation or the French Revolution – that was fast-paced and dealt a tremendous blow to traditional adherence to Catholic teaching and values....

"In the Catholic Church, there was not at once a sufficient awareness of the scope of this revolution. On the contrary, it infected – Benedict XVI maintains today – 'also priests and religious', created misunderstandings in the interpretation of [Vatican II], and caused 'insufficient human, moral, intellectual and spiritual formation in seminaries and novitiates'.

"In this climate, certainly not all priests who were insufficiently formed or infected by the climate following the 1960's, and not even a significant percentage of them, became pedophiles. We know from the statistics that the real number of priest pedophiles is much lower than the ones presented by certain media outlets. And yet this number is not equal to zero – as we would all want – and justifies the extremely severe words of the pope.

"But the study of the revolution of the 1960's, and of 1968, is crucial to understanding what happened afterward, including pedophilia. And to finding real remedies.

"If this revolution, unlike those before it, is moral and spiritual and touches the interiority of man, it is only from the restoration of morality, of the spiritual life and of comprehensive truth about the human person that the remedies can ultimately come. But for this reason the sociologists, as always, are not enough: there is a need for fathers and masters, teachers and saints.

"And we all have a great need for the pope: for this pope, who once again – to borrow the title of his latest encyclical – speaks the truth in charity and practices charity in truth."

The reality of Africa: MY conclusion

Yesterday we looked at some facts and figures from Richard Dowden's Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles, showing how Asia has progressed since the end of the colonial era. On Monday we saw how, during the same 40-50 years, Africa has regressed.

The book is full of examples of Africa "going back to bush". It's actually quite a depressing read, especially for those who believe, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary, that we are all created equal. Here's Dowden's observation of a small west African country, a long-time British colony now suffering from the "benefits" of independence.

Sierra Leone seems to be turning away from modernity and retreating into the Iron Age. I had felt the same sensation in Uganda, in Congo, Angola, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sudan, Ghana and even in some countries like Senegal and Kenya that had not suffered a complete political breakdown.

It is as if everything manufactured -- bricks, cars, engines, paper, plastic bottles, oil cans -- had been carried into Africa on a tide that is now retreating. The strange imports lie like rusting and rotting flotsam beached on an alien shore. Africa is strewn with buildings and machinery that were supposed to bring development but somehow got adapted or transformed into something else or now lie broken and useless in the sun.

And it is not just things. Sometimes the very nation states themselves, with their borders, flags, airlines, presidential palaces and government offices, seem to be disintegrating and dissolving.

I hear a wise old African saying with a polite smile: "Thank you for these things but they do not last long and they really are not suitable for Africa. It is better we rely on what we know, mud and wood, fire and a little smelted iron."

Exactly. Africa is going back to the iron age because that's all Africans know and that's what they are comfortable with. The problem with Africa, which The Economist called "the hopeless continent", is Africans!

Yes, yes, I know that'a a sweeping generalization, but that doesn't make it untrue. Nor does saying so make me a racist. I lived in Africa for six years and saw firsthand the effects of African ignorance, incompetence and corruption, as described in Mr. Dowden's wise, compassionate and understanding account.

Dowden is not a racist. I am not a racist. We are just realists. That is the way Africa is!

It has always been so. Travelling in Europe and Asia you see, in the architecture alone, evidence of civilizations and cultures which have subsisted for thousands of years. In sub-Saharan Africa there is virtually nothing.

Of course there's the odd exception, like the Great Zimbabwe ruins, which may have been built by Africans...or not. But until the Europeans came there was virtually no infrastructure, no written language, no government or social structures beyond the tribe or small "kingdom". African society before the advent of the white man was primitive.

What the white man did was to attempt to graft a skin of civilization over the raw body of African society. It didn't take. And now that the doctor is gone, the patient is rejecting the treatment, just as the "wise old African" says.