Anthony Egan SJ's blog

If you shoot, especially too accurately, we’ll condemn you as ‘trigger happy’ or even call you a ‘death squad’. If you exercise restraint, we’ll call you incompetent, cowardly or corrupt. Face it, dear police officers, in the war against crime and for our hearts and minds you will always lose.  Makes you wonder why bother, doesn’t it?

Still struggling to get back into the daily grind after Christmas and New Year, you may complain: why is he so cheerful? Or: Maybe he is just being ironic. Some may even assume that we are about to reflect on the classic 1937 Walt Disney film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  No. In fact I am trying to say something about work. Work is good. Or at least it should be.

On 16 December 1838, a numerically outnumbered but better armed group of Voortrekkers defeated the Zulu army at the Ncome River in Natal. By the end of the day the river was red with Zulu blood – hence the name the Battle of Blood River.

Abandoning a country that treated them like dirt, some one step ahead of brutality, martial law and a ruthless security police, they fled to neighbouring states, finding themselves reliant on the kindness of strangers and fellow exiles.  Having fled one of the richest countries on the continent, they depended on the generosity of nations often poorer than their own. And they numbered in their thousands.

It is by no means clear how to analyse the results of the latest municipal elections. While the outright winners, the African National Congress, are apparently asking ‘What went wrong?’, the Democratic Alliance (DA) , who gained less than a quarter of the votes cast, are delighted. Why is this happening, and what might it all mean?

 The death of Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan at the hands of United States Special Forces this past weekend provokes many questions, both about the action itself and its long term effects. And, to be blunt, there are no morally easy answers.

It impresses me that even in the most secular environments Christian symbols pervade culture and language. Years ago, I was an avid reader of what might be called ‘struggle obituaries’, published in such journals as the African National Congress’ Sechaba and the South African Communist Party’s African Communist and in hastily printed pamphlets of the United Democratic Front and other internal resistance movements.

Five million taxpayers, fifteen million on welfare: this was what President Zuma’s ‘State of the Nation’ address revealed. If the numbers were reversed this would be disturbing news; as they stand they are catastrophic. Five million cannot support fifteen million for any realistic length of time.

By the time you read this piece, Egypt may be under a new government – though who will be in charge is anyone’s guess. There may be a military crackdown – the name Tahrir Square may join Tiananmen Square and Sharpeville in the catalogue of infamy. Or there may be a complete news blackout with unconfirmed updates slipping through via Twitter, email and other social networks.

Seldom have a few lines in a book caused such a „mini-earthquake‟ in the Catholic Church. Everyone is asking: What has happened? And what does it mean? In his new book of interviews Light of the World published this week, Pope Benedict XVI has indicated that condoms may be used (not – please note – must) by persons whose sexual activities put their partners at risk of contracting HIV, so long as the intention of their use is to prevent the spread of the life-threatening virus.