Post 230--Away with Gangsters

I've written about gangsters before.  I was almost going to write that it's a topic that fascinates me, but that would not be true. It's a topic--no, it's not a topic or a subject; it's a person or a group of persons, mostly male, if I may still use that term! And it's hardly a fascinating person or group. I really want to say that a gangster or a group of them are probably among the most despicable of all human beings. That's how I feel, deep down in my heart.

Now I know a Christian is not to despise anyone. Heh, God so loves the world...!  And if He can love a world that has offended Him time and again, 24 X 7 over the centuries and millennia, perhaps even over billions of years, who am I to despise people who really have hardly affected me?  I read about them in the papers and I cut out many articles to file away for occasions like this one, when I write about them. No, I really need to change my attitude radically and seek forgiveness. Learn to love them even, perhaps? 

You may remember that in the previous post I treated you to an article I translated from my favourite Dutch daily, Trouw. It told the story how a Dutch court has criminalized the most vicious of Dutch gangs, the Hell's Angels.  Not sure I used the right word: "criminalized."  Lawyers, like us theologians, have a way with words and distinctions that are hard to follow for others. Perhaps the word "ban" would be more correct, though I would not know the difference. At any rate, both mean something like "away with them."

Now I do not regret their banning, for this is not banning persons from life, but their organization and their way of life or, rather, their way of death. If you were to spend a few hours reading my newspaper cuttings about gangsters, I don't see how you could defend them or how you could tolerate their culture, their way of life and their organizations. The Dutch have declared them not wanted and illegal. They have decided there no longer is place for them in Dutch society.

Here in Canada?  We put a protective shield around them. We call it "human rights." Human rights allegedly protect every body in Canada--yes, allegedly.  In reality, they protect criminals with their violent behaviour more than the ordinary law-abiding citizen. For the latter, human rights seem more like a prison that prevent us from protecting ourselves and each other. Gangsters do not care about anyone's rights; they step on them; they shoot and kill without genuine provocation. They spread terror left and right, but the authorities protect them with their gentrified legal system. They even spend unlimited time and money to find out who killed one of them.

Why on earth should society be so concerned and so protective about gangsters, people who have voluntarily chosen a most dangerous life style?  When a proven gangster has been killed, why not just bury the guy and move on? That's one less to worry about. Now the police can spend time protecting law-abiding citizens.

In my mind, people who chose violence should lose their human rights. Finish. Why should we protect them from their own choices? So, I appreciate their criminalization in the Netherlands. It's an important step forward.  But I recommend the next step also: Deny them their human rights. Quit protecting them while the ordinary citizens live in fear or just get shot.

Canada, when will you close the door to your prison of false human rights?  You have criminalized terrorists. What's the difference between those, apart from their motivation? 

==========

PS--I was planning to copy one of the many newspaper cuttings I have on the subject of gangsters. However, you will have noticed irregularities in the fonts used in these posts. I have not been able to overcome that problem; I'm just not a techie.  However, a techie friend has just promised to help me fix the problem.  So, I resist the temptation to include that cutting. Hopefully he will be able to help me out this evening.  Once that is done, I may well succumb to the temptation of listing quite a number of such articles by their web access.  We'll see what happens--but he first has to help me with the immediate past posts. 
      

Post 229--Paradise: Banning Gangs!

Good morning on a fine sunny Saturday morning in Vancouver.  Yes, after an absence of a whole month, most of it in California with Kevin, our son and his family there.  From sunshine, through sunshine, back into Vancouver's sunshine.  Sunshine everywhere.  Plus--a heatwave almost everywhere along I-5, the route we took back with our RV. And believe me, as much as my wife, Fran, and I enjoyed the visit and the ride through all that beautiful West Coast country, there's no place like home.

Today our focus is on criminal motorcycle gangs in my birth country, the Netherlands. Originally, the article was published in Dutch in the Christian newspaper Trouw of June 18, 2018. The author is Dristel van Teffelen. I present you with this article because, though there are differences between Canada and NL, in this range of concerns the similarities are much the same.      Here, then the article. Read it carefully and give it some thought. I will try to make my own comments about it a couple of posts from now.  Have a good read.

Prohibiting Satudarah Means a New Success for the Ministry of Justice in Its Handling of Criminal Motorcyle Gangs

Dristel van Teeffelen

Trouw  June 18  2018

The motorclub Satudarah is no more. The Society was dissolved after the court in The Hague pronounced a prohibition this morning. For the Ministry of Justice this signals a new and important victory in its handling of criminal motorcycle gangs, even though not all problem are solved with this step.

That the judge should resort to a prohibition was not step to be taken for granted. The right of association is in the constitution and may be restricted only when there are weighty reasons. In the case of Satudarah, a motorclub that exists since 1990, the court recognized enough reasons.The list of criminal behaviours of its members is so long and the culture of the association so violent, that Satudara endangers the public order and is even capable of destabilizing society, the judge concluded.

The society uses violence against its own members who want to disassociate themselves, but also against other citizens. Even board members of other clubs get beat up after members of Satudarah demand that their club join Satudarah. It is striking that many victims do not dare to report this violence for fear of retaliation. Furthermore, the club resists the police actively and the board justifies injustice and even stimulates it. All in all, this is enough to conclude that this society is a genuine attack on the security of the society, according to the judge.

The Ministry opted for the avenue of civil rights to achieve a prohibition, just as it did before with another motorclub, the Bandidos. In 2009, an attempt to ban a branch of the Hells Angels ran stuck at the High Court. That judge concluded that the behavior of individual members cannot be attributed to the society.  The Ministry once again aimed its arrows at the Hells Angels, this time on the entire organization and via a civil rights procedure. 

It is questionable whether the prohibition strategy will work.  Satudarah itself argued with the judge that a ban would be useless, because the members could easily continue under a different name.  The judge acknowledged this fact. Nevertheless, a ban on Satudarah in any case means that everything associated with the society, like dress, name, logo and public expression, comes to an end.  In addition, the national LIEC, an organization that is dedicated to combat the undermining criminality, affirms that a firm approach on the part of the Government to criminal motor clubs has delivered fruit.  For example, the growth in members slowed down in 2017. 

Banning of the entire society is but one of the ways by which the Government can put the clamps on criminal motorclubs. For example, in 2017, members of the clubs were imprisoned for committing punishable acts in organized contexts. In addition, many local governments during that year closed eighteen club houses of societies that were preoccupied with criminality and violence more than with motorcycle touring.   That ban also holds for “chapters” and support clubs associated with them.  
                  

Read also (if you can read Dutch!):

Public Ministry: “Time for a ban on Hells Angels in the Netherlands.”

For the oldest Dutch motorclub, the Hells Angels, there is no more place in the society, according to the Public Ministry. The Ministry of Justice has asked the judge for a ban. The club is allegedly a danger to the public order.

“Judge’s Ruling Paralyzes Motorclub Bandidos.”

There is no place left in The Netherlands for Bandidos. The society can no longer operate a bank account or rent a clubhouse, while all assets must be handed over. A Government appointee is to wind up the club’s finances.

Post 115—Our Dutch Trip--Reflections

I’m back!  And if I get this post online today, I’m back even earlier than promised on May 27.  And let me tell you, as wonderful as our trip was, there’s still nothing like home, which for me is downtown Vancouver BC.

Canada--My Home

Yes, home for me is in Canada, but I continue to have a strong feeling for two other countries. There is my birth country as well as Nigeria, the country where my wife and I spent 30 years in ministry, where we raised our family and, even after having left there 20 years ago, is still uppermost in my mind and affections. But for today, it is my birth country, NL—The Netherlands.

My Affection for Nigeria

My many Nigerian friends who read this post should not be jealous at my “divided” affection. Many things in life diminish when you share or divide them. When you give a $100 to one person that recipient gets more than when you divide it over two persons. But when you give love to one or two or a thousand persons, it does not diminish, each gets an equal share. Money divided diminishes; love or affection divided increases. That’s the nature of the beast. (I should probably call it “the angel” rather than “the beast.”) 

Besides, if you check my website ( www.SocialTheology.com) , you will find that I have paid much more attention, energy, time, money and, yes, affection on Nigeria than I have on the NL. At the same time, the background and perspective I utilized in my Nigerian ministry, including my many publications, have a definite Dutch philosophical and theological colouration, based as they are on the Kuyperian or Reformational school of thought. So, a nice mixture of these two cultures in my life with no need for either party to be jealous! Actually, I don’t believe anyone will be jealous in this situation, but there is nothing like  pre-emptying a negative possibility! But for this post and the next, it will be NL.

Flat and Green

Living as I do in BC (British Columbia, Canada), there is one thing that particularly strikes me every time I visit the “Old Country” is its flatness.  When I lived in Nigeria and visited the country, I was struck by its greenness. So fresh and green everywhere as soon as you leave the city. And that, in contrast to Nigeria’s seasonal green, all year round. But coming out of BC, it is the flatness of the country that is impressive, especially when combined with the green. It is interrupted only by the many man-made “hills” that serve as approaches to bridges or as overpasses.  Now such unending flatness may sound dull to those who prefer rolling hills or towering mountains, but in combination with the green, it creates beautiful breath-taking scenery wherever you go. I am not sure which of the two I would prefer to live in, flat or mountainous, but for a change, I simply loved it as my wife and I rolled through it all by means of train, bus, rental and even bike. The flat lusciousness of it all.

The Bike Culture

Living as I do in North America (NA), another thing that made my eyes grow green with jealousy is the large presence of bicycles (from here on referred to as “bikes”).  What a different love affair from NA’s love of cars. Bikes everywhere, no matter where you turn, except, of course, along express ways. Not being used to such heavy bike traffic, it was more challenging for us as pedestrians in the city to avoid collisions with bikes than with cars. They even have single-floor parking garages for bikes but often store them two high above each other, especially at bus and train stations. Bikes are used for most local trips as well as farther afield. They are used for serious transportation even more than for recreation, but their vacation use is the greatest demonstration of the Dutch love for the bike. Our hosts took us out biking into the country along a network of crisscrossing bike paths everywhere.

Various features of the bike culture struck me. Most people wear ordinary street clothes on their bikes; no special attire, even women in minis. No helmets and, not infrequently, no hands either, for they are needed for the smart phone as you negotiate traffic!  

Single bikes are good for transporting entire families!  A parent in/on the saddle doing the peddling, with one child on the back carrier and one in a special seat mounted on or behind the handle bar. Our main hostess told us that this is a major time of intimacy with your little tike at your front on your bike. And if your children are not on the actual bike, they could be sitting comfortably in a box mounted on the front of the bike, an arrangement called “bakfiets” or “boxbike,” two or even three at a time, but now we have graduated to three-wheelers.  

Another sociable feature of the bike culture is that with separate bike paths, people often ride side by side, chatting amicably as they go, so different from the sparse biking in Vancouver where it is always behind instead of next to each other. As to the bakfiets, it is also used to transport goods, sometimes in open, sometimes in covered boxes.

You’d think that flat country would make for effortless biking, but there is a hitch—strong winds that are as challenging as steep hills. From my own childhood I remember regularly coasting up one of these artificial hills, pushed along by strong winds, but peddling hard on the way down. I also remember peddling a bakfiets to deliver bread for a neighbouring bakery. So, as fascinating as I found the bike culture, it was not altogether new to me. I experienced all the above features at one time or another way back then. Though other forms of transport have greatly proliferated since then—cars, buses, trains—the bike has not lost its popularity or omnipresence in any way.  In fact, the bike has increased along with the country’s population.  

Mayor Robertson's Bike Challenge

I’m sure our Vancouver mayor’s eyes must be as green as mine were. I wish him all the success, luck and blessing he needs to make our city more bike friendly.  He has courageously pushed ahead in his bike programme in the face of much ridicule and opposition. I hope he will not relent. I believe he represents the future of our city when it comes to biking.  We once thoughtlessly embraced the car without considering many of its negatives or even being aware of them. It will take a lot of planning and politicking to undo the damage we have inflicted on ourselves and our environment.

Post 114—Announcing a Break

The purpose of this post is to inform you readers that I will be away till the end of June. I’m going to visit relatives and friends in my native country, The Netherlands. Though I would like to share my road experiences with you during this time, I doubt I will have much computer time.  If I see a chance, even if a short one, I may try to tell you a bit of our adventures there.

I was born there in 1938 and immigrated with my parents in 1951 at age 13 to Canada.  I went back for graduate studies from 1972-1974. Since then I have visited there every few years, usually on my way to or from Africa. This time  NL is the actual destination. We won’t go beyond its borders.  It’s a very small country but more than enough to see for a month, especially since the “things” we want to see include relatives and friends. 

So, enjoy your June and I hope to meet you again early July.  

Post 110—May 5: A Tale of Four Celebrations

As so frequently happens, I am unexpectedly again interrupting the flow of thought from Post 109—unexpectedly for me, at least. I’ll try to continue that train of thought in the next entry.  Do I need to apologize? Well, at least, this way you can never quite tell what the next post will bring you. It’s called keeping you in suspense!                                                  

Mexican's Cinco de Mayo

I have occasionally reproduced in this blog some items from the Denison Forum. Today, I will not reproduce much from them, but I will summarize a bit of their entry for today, May 5, 2016. They encourage us today to celebrate two important events, the first of which is called Cinco de Mayo, a Mexican holiday that commemorates the Mexican army's 1862 defeat of France at the Battle of Puebla. This victory, where a rag-tag force of 2,000 overcame 6,000 well-trained French troops, bolstered the Mexican people in their resistance against the French. Six years later, French forces withdrew. Cinco de Mayo remains a symbol of the Mexican people's struggle against imperialistic forces. Since we have many Mexicans in Canada and in view of our important trade agreement NAFTA with them, I considered it a neighbourly thing to draw your attention to this worthwhile celebration of independence.  We can be doubly grateful in view of the fact that Canada did not have to fight its way to independence from Mother UK. Our transfer of power came amicably, though I am not sure our Quebecois compatriots would interpret that transfer in quite the same way.

Jewish Holocaust Memorial 

And then there is the Holocaust Memorial Day known as Yuom HaShoah. In Jerusalem, all places of entertainment, bars, restaurants, cinema, and theater must be closed by law. At 10:00 A.M. a siren will be heard for one minute." When that siren sounds today, traffic on the roads will stop. The entire nation will cease all activities as its people remember what happened and pledge that it must never happen again. I refer you to the Denison Forum itself to follow up on their suggestions for our proper response. It is well worth reading.

Dutch Liberation Day

But then there is a third celebration: the liberation of my home country, The Netherlands, from Nazi occupation in 1945 that we began celebrating on May 5.This event involved Canadians more than Americans and so it is more of a Canadian celebration than American, though they too were involved. The Dutch in Canada, among whom I am one, always organize events to mark this Vrijheids Dag—Freedom Day. We all continue to be exceedingly grateful to the role of Canada in that liberation. As a seven-year old at the time, I well remember the Canadian tanks rumbling through our village, throwing chocolate bars and other goodies to the public lined up along the road. As well I remember the 2-week celebration of evening dancing in the village. Two weeks is a long time in the life of a seven-year old. I had come to the conclusion that all of life is one grand party!  You will find that story in our memoirs, Every Square Inch, vol. 1, chapter 2 (www.SocialTheology.com/boeriana.htm).

Ascension Day

But the most important celebration is a universal one in contrast to the previous three. Christians especially should recognize this day as Ascension Day! See in the Bible—Luke 24:50-51; Acts 1:9-11.  Ascension refers to the ascension of the risen Christ to heaven in the presence of and, yes, in the very eyes of His disciples, soon to become apostles. I realize I’m always referring you to the books I have published, most of them both hard copy and online. This celebration is also captured by a book written by my main role model, Abraham Kuyper, that I translated under the title The Ascent of the Son—The Descent of the Spirit, the latter section referring to Pentecost. It is found on the Kuyperiana page of the above website SocialTheology.com.  

Let me treat you to my translation of Kuyper’s Introduction and then leave the rest for you to read on the website:

On Pentecost, the Church of God steps onto the world stage as the Catholic World Church. Originally, the Church was universal or catholic—the meaning is the same. It was so during early days of life in Eden and in the days of Noah , even during the time that Terah, the father of Father Abraham, wandered in the area Ur of the Chaldeans and Haran, that is the modern land of Iraq.

However, since the call of Abraham, the universal Church was narrowed down to one people and nation and, eventually, enclosed within the national borders of Israel. From this point on, the church was no longer universal or catholic but became a volkskerk, a national church in the strictest sense of the word. She retained that status until the day of Pentecost, when she laid down the trappings of a national church and once again morphed back into the original universal Church, catholic in its higher Scriptural import.

This development flowed out of Christ’s Ascension into Heaven. From the Ascension on, the Head of the Church no longer has His seat in the earthly Jerusalem on Mount Zion, but in the Jerusalem that is above, from where He rules His Church for all peoples and nations alike. The Apostle Paul especially has abundant praise over this mystery in his touching epistles to the Churches of Ephesus and Rome. Thus the Ascension and Pentecost belong together in one single unity. He ascended into Heaven in order to pour out the Holy Spirit. It is because of that unity that this bundle offers you meditations on both of these aspects of salvation history together. These meditations first take you into the heavenly Jerusalem, into the Tabernacle made by God without human participation. From that point, they descend with you back to the Church on earth, but now together with the Comforter, that is the Holy Spirit.

Abraham Kuyper May 1, 1888