Saturday, August 17, 2013

Via JMG: MOSCOW: Swedish High Jumper Told To Paint Over Her Rainbow Fingernails


 
On Thursday, Swedish high jumper Emma Green Tregaro competed at the World Track & Field finals in Moscow with her fingernails painted in rainbow hues in support of the LGBT community. Her gesture sparked international headlines after she was denounced by the Russian pole vaulting world champion, who later backtracked.  Now comes this:
Swedish officials told the 28-year-old her rainbow gesture, which brought international attention as a protest against Russia's new law against gay "propaganda," could be a violation of the competition's code of conduct. She said the Swedish track and field federation asked her to "please respect the rules" and change the colour of her nails. "So I decided to paint them red instead, for love," she said. Green Tregaro said she was surprised the strong reaction to her subtle criticism of Russian law. "It was harder to not paint them in the rainbow than it was to choose to paint them," she said.
Swedish officials say they were warned by the event's governing body before they spoke to Tregaro.


Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: RUSSIA: Finnish Official Waves Rainbow Flag At World Track & Field Championships


 
 
Finnish Minister of Culture & Sports Paavo Arhinmäki waved a rainbow flag this afternoon during the World Track & Field Championships in Moscow.  The above-linked article is in Finnish. I'll update this post with an English report if it appears that action will be taken by the Russian government.
RELATED:  Arhinmäki ran for president of Finland in 2012 and finished sixth with 5% of the vote.  Here's how a Finnish website recapped his candidacy before the election.
Arhinmäki, 34, is the youngest and the most radical of the candidates. Before entering politics, he was active in a radical group which organised Crash the Party demonstrations in front of the Presidential Palace, packed with VIPs celebrating Independence Day. He has been fined for trespassing in a nuclear power site and when the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) was held in Helsinki he was arrested during the Smash ASEM demonstration. Arhinmäki is Minister for Culture and Sports in the present six-pack government, a six-party coalition, and he chairs the Left Alliance. A sports fan, he caused a minor scandal in autumn 2011 by attending a basketball game instead of the Helsinki Music Centre opening gala. Arhinmäki boasts of being the most anti-NATO candidate of the race and argues the rest of the candidates are in fact pro-NATO. He is known for good oratory and for being a vegetarian. He describes himself as “a green-red democratic socialist”, but not a communist.


Reposted from Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma August 17, 2013

Spiritual but not Religious?

The way ‘spirituality’ is often used suggests that we exist solely as a collection of individuals, not as members of a religious community, and that religious life is merely a private journey. It is the religious expression of the ideology of free-market economics and of the radical 'disencumbered' individualism that idolizes the choice-making individual as the prime reality in the world.
- Robert Bellah, “Future of Religion”
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