yonmei

11:11 am: Things that I would like to consider about British politics, should I get around to writing them
( 10 things to think about and in the darkness bind them )

Tags: evil british politics, i am a feminist, lists, scottish politics

05:39 pm: Friday, er Thursday five: what's your culture?
afrai describes this as sort of like IBARW for the indolent. Cool.

( List 5 things which are basic common knowledge in your culture, which people outside are unfamiliar with. This is not about obscurity, but something everyday to you, that others go bzuh? at. )

( What was the last book you read that was written by a person who is a different race than you? Do you seek out books written by people of other races? Why? Why not? )

( What did you eat at dinner last night? Would you call it ethnic food? Why? )

( Has your gender presentation changed over the last 5 years? Has this change/lack of change been a deliberate choice on your part? )

( Do you discuss race and racism in your insanejournal/blog or in person? Why have you made that choice? )

( Bonus question. Were you aware of International Blog Against Racism Week? Did you choose to participate in it? Why or why not? )

Tags: edinburgh, friday five, let's all be outcasts together, meme, scottish politics

11:28 am: Overheard in the Forest Cafe: and thoughts about the hierarchy of equality
Man, furiously: "And now a court says I can't see my kids!"
Other man, sympathetically: "Mumble mumble, rough, mumble, man, mumble rhubarb rhubarb."
Man, furiously explaining: "There's an exclusion order! If I go near them I could get arrested! My own kids!"
Other man, still sympathetically: "Mumble mumble rhubarb rhubarb."
Man, even more furiously: "And I've still got to pay! Why the hell do I have to pay if I can't see my kids!"
Other man, still sympathetically though his mumbles were getting shorter and shorter: "Mumble rhubarb."
Me, cravenly: *silence*

I was standing at the computer, and the two men were sitting at the table behind me (or possibly, going through the Free Shop stuff, I didn't turn to see).

What is an exclusion order? (from Shelter):

An exclusion order is a court order that suspends the right of a married person, civil partner or cohabitee to live in the family home. You can apply for an exclusion order if your spouse or partner has done or is threatening to do something that has harmed or would harm you or your children either physically or mentally. This will probably need to be more than one isolated incident that was out of character. It can be difficult to get an exclusion order and it will depend on your individual circumstances.

I don't want to say anything like "The courts don't make mistakes!" etc, but the fact is: there is a strong principle in the UK, in European law in general, that a parent has not just the right but the obligation to get to spend time with his kids. (I say "his" advisedly: mothers, having usually been the primary caretakers from birth, and in general remaining so even after a relationship splits, won't usually have the same difficulties in exercising this obligation.)

Courts don't serve an exclusion order lightly. If the man had been served with an exclusion order it was probably because he had, more than once, turned up at the family home since he and his partner split, and terrified the hell out of her and the children - terrified at least, and possibly struck his ex-partner or their children. The police had probably been called, at least once, to get him to leave. Or it could be worse. And given the way this man was behaving in the Forest, yelling and scaring his ex and his children seemed certain, and the rage in his voice made it more certain.

I wouldn't ordinarily even have considered joining in a conversation that I was not included in, but the Forest is one of those places where you can. But as the only things I would have had to say would have been on the lines of "Yes, you still have to support your children because their legal right to your support isn't tied to or affected by your legal right to see them, which it sounds like you've voided by your own fault" the main reason I didn't say any of that was because I was chickenshit.

There are seven equality strands (six recognised, but seven ought to be): race/ethnicity, religion/belief, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, and poverty.

( And while there are individual differences, individual circumstances, it is surprising how consistent we are in Western culture about what order it's acceptable to be openly prejudiced: poverty, age, gender identity, disability, sexual orientation, gender, religion, race. )

Having sorted all this out in my head - and I will accept agreement, disagreement, re-ordering, shuffling, in comments - looking at my list, which is based on "what I feel the situation to be in Scotland at this time", I notice that it's very strongly based on legislation and law enforcement. It's been illegal since 1975 to incite hatred on the grounds of race; anti-sectarianism has been strongly enforced in Scotland, both socially and legally, precisely because Protestant and Catholic have been (and are) big issues for so long. (Edinburgh and Glasgow, and other cities in Scotland, have a city football team for the Protestants, a city football team for the Catholics, and if the city's big enough, a third team for - as a Catholic fan of Partick Thistle told me - the ones who don't like getting beaten up.)

There is no legislation banning incitement of hatred against people for their gender or their sexual orientation or their disability. (There might be in England and Wales soon, for sexual orientation at least, but there isn't in Scotland, nor likely to be.) There is a kind of fumbling recognition that it's not a good thing, expressed in some local authority guidelines and government language, but no legislation.

Not only is there no legislation about it, it's actually considered a positively good thing for children to be harassed/bullied about their gender identity, because of course children need to learn to conform.

No one talks about the problem of inciting hatred against people because of their income level at all. Contempt for people on a low income is considered, perhaps not positively good, but perfectly normal.

Which is worth thinking about, when considering if legislation will "make a difference". Eventually it will, though expecting instant results is not something that happens. A generation or two who grow up under the new legislation grow up at least knowing that it's unacceptable to express such hatred. Which is a step in itself, as I think anyone would agree who has ever been made uncomfortable by open expression of prejudice by someone who sees nothing wrong with it...

Tags: evil british politics, i am a feminist, outcasts should stick together, powerful speech vs. powerless silence, scottish politics, working at the forest

11:31 pm: Posted using <a href
"A monumental morass! Clearly some terrifying Scottish geological formation."
Um, yes. See them all over the place, you do.
Wot's an Ent MP say?

( What DOES an Ent MP say? )

Tags: scottish politics

12:11 pm: Who makes me angriest, right now?
From this BBC story it seems that the wording that so annoyed me this morning was from BBC Scotland's political editor, Brian Taylor - a man who damned well ought to know that it's not a question of "those who say Scots Law is different".

But on the whole, I think I'm angriest at Jack McConnell, who has proved himself to be a political coward and a fool. With a side-order of rage at Mike Rumbles, who says that allowing same-sex couples equal rights with mixed-sex couples is "gesture politics".

We will fight this. Not merely because the Westminster proposal is homophobic, heterophobic, and transphobic: but because Jack McConnell should learn that he has responsibilities towards LGBT people in Scotland too, that he cannot duck out of by gesturing helplessly at Westminster and whimpering about how the Catholic Church isnae gonnae like this. (He's really afraid of the Daily Record, too.) And because, whatever Brian Taylor may think, Scots marriage law is substantially different from English marriage law, and no matter what, the legislation affecting Scotland is going to have to be written in Scotland. It would be ludicrous to then have to ship it down to Westminster to have it bolted on to the England/Wales act.

Tags: being queer, scottish politics

08:29 am: Bloody BBC
Just overheard the BBC newsreader announcing that Westminster is going to move on the registration of partnership for same-sex couples in England and Wales (backed by a nice shot of two happy smiling couples coming up the stairs) and then she added that: (paraphrased) "Westminster may also be asked to rule on this for the whole of the UK, but expect a fight [shot of the Scottish Parliament] from those who say that Scottish law on property and marriage is different, and deserves different treatment."

Excuse me?

Scottish law is different. It's not a matter of opinion, it's a matter of fact. There are a lot of issues around Westminster passing registration-of-partnership law for Scotland as well as for England and Wales, but "those who say that Scottish law on property and marriage is different" will be found on both sides of the fight.

Bah. Stupid BBC.

Tags: being queer, scottish politics

06:13 pm: Heh
I may be a very sad person, but having dutifully voted-by-post last week (my individual MSP vote went to Malcolm Chisholm, my list-MSP vote went to the Scottish Greens, and my local councillor vote went to one of the two women on the list of candidates, the Scottish Socialist Party representative) I`m dead chuffed at the results of the election I missed.

It rained all morning. I had breakfast with last night`s companion in Cora Dejeuner, where I had a buckwheat crepe with apple and cheddar, yum, and then we went up to the Insectarium and wandered about going awk! and ack! at lots of enormous insects. I saw eight-inch millipedes that were at least half an inch across, and no, they do not really have a thousand legs, and yes, the moment I realised that they were ALIVE in that tank, I jumped back. You can buy lollipops with edible insects entombed inside, but I didn`t. The Chinese Garden in the Jardine Botanique is very nice, if a little weird after China: it strives so hard to be authentically Chinese. On the other hand, I wandered down the rows of bonsai donated by an elderly Chinese millionaire to the City of Montreal wondering why I don`t have the patience to create something like this: some of the tiny trees were over 70 years old, and there was a Japanese Maple that was gorgeous.

Tags: montreal, scottish politics