Living with strangers

We don't really talk, the three of us. Living under one roof, but I do my own thing, whereas they're always together doing their thing. I think the last time my brother spoke to me was almost three weeks ago. Without saying a word, they just left to go out to dinner with friends, whereas they were supposed to be cooking tonight for a change! It's not so much not cooking, but the fact of not telling me at all and having to go hungry till almost nine...

Just beacuse we don't talk doesn't mean I don't need to put up with their mess. Every day I go into the kitchen, living room and bathroom to find used plates, cigarette buds, toothpaste stains. I'm not a clean freak, but at least clean and clear away after you're finished with something. Papers lying here and there, pots and pans unwashed for days lying around, things used but not put back in place, box of biscuits with nothing but the empty packaging left in the cupboard ...and recently a cup of coffee which had been sitting in the same place for I don't know how many weeks and gone moudly.

I've stopped cleaning up after them. Why should I do that, only to come back home at the end of the day and see the place filthy again? How old are these people already? I'm on strike.

It'd be so much easier living by myself.

Netherlands safe for (Iranian) homosexuals!

After wrangling on for months on whether it is safe to deport two Iranian homosexuals back to Iran, the minister for Immigration and Integration FINALLY decided that it is not. She did this on the basis of a letter from Human Rights Watch, which stated that the Netherlands would be in breach of its international obligations should the Iranians be sent back. Back in February, Minister Verdonk ridiculously suggested that “simply keeping one’s sexuality covert and one’s selfhood hidden is a safe and acceptable response to the likelihood of persecution.”

What kind of persecution do homosexuals face in Iran?

“Iran is distinguished by the overt severity of the penalties it imposes on consensual, adult homosexual conduct. “Sodomy” or lavat—consummated sexual activity between males, whether penetrative or not—is punishable by execution. (Article 111 of the Islamic Penal

Code states that “Lavat is punishable by death so long as both the active and passive partners are mature, of sound mind, and have acted of free will.”) Tafkhiz (the rubbing together of thighs or buttocks or other forms of non-penetrative “foreplay” between men) is punishable by one hundred lashes for each partner, according to Articles 121 and122 of the Penal Code. Recidivism is punishable by death on the fourth conviction. In addition, Article 123 of the Penal Code further provides that “If two men who are not related by blood lie naked under the same cover without any necessity,” each one will receive ninety-nine lashes. Articles 127 to 134 stipulate that the punishment for sexual intercourse between women is one hundred lashes and if the offense is repeated three times, the punishment is execution.”

I don’t think anyone with a vague understanding of the Iranian regime and its stringent application of Sharia would doubt that sending back Iranian homosexuals is the same as a death sentence.

“As is well known, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979 called for homosexuals to be extirpated as “parasites and corruptors of the nation” who “spread the stain of wickedness.” In a further sign of the general judicial attitude to homosexual conduct, Ayatollah Musavi-Ardebili, at the time the head of the Supreme Council of Judiciary, said in a sermon delivered in 1990 at Teheran University: “For homosexuals, men or women, Islam has prescribed the most severe punishments… Do you know how homosexuals are treated in Islam? After it has been prov[en] on the basis of Shari’ah, they should seize him [or her]…they should keep him standing, they should split him in two with a sword, they should either cut off his neck or they should split him from the head. He will fall down. They get what they deserve” (BBC Monitoring, May 21, 1990).”

A year ago two Iranian teens were hanged for being homosexual. Despite this, the minister earlier this year said there was no threat posed to people to be sent back to Iran. Because of this, the minister won herself a place in HRW's Hall of Shame. Under pressure from Parliament and the public she had to freeze the deportation order. It was feared that granting asylum on the grounds of homosexuality would flood the country with those who declare themselves to be gay overnight. COC, the largest holebi interest group in the Netherlands, says this is ridiculous:

“With this decision it is ridiculous to think that tomorrow dozens of Iranians [will stand] at the border with the claim of being gay. Many Dutch gays find it difficult enough to tell them surroundings that they are gay or lesbian. Let alone if you as a straight man come from a completely homophobic country like Iran and have to, through an interpreter from your own country, tell to a government official in the Netherlands with a straight face that you have feelings for people of the same sex.”

The minister decided that “homosexual asylum seekers who have to fear persecution or risk inhuman treatment at return, are eligible for a residence permit”.

It feels like a break...

I can put away the 700+ course book away for now. Just had a mid term test this morning, and despite having just slept four and something hours last night I feel suprisingly 'alive'. One more long, busy day tomorrow, and it's a week of Autumn Break! : )

I guess the test went alright. It's International Relations, one of those courses in which you can sort of get a passing grade if you know a thing or two about current affairs, history and international politics. Besides the technical stuff about theories of realism, liberalism the rest seems like 'general knowledge'. Though that didn't mean it was that easy. It's been over five years since I had a 'test' (technically not exam), and I, and others, really had difficulty knowing how much to write and what to write.

Ten questions, 90minutes, and we were supposed to write 100 words for each question. How do you discuss whether the post-Cold War order is based on world or international order and discuss the differences in 100words? How do you assess the disadvantages and advantages (there are advantates!!) of nuclear proliferation, and refer to North Korea specifically? Or even debate about the difference between the European Union and other regional arrangements, as well as analyse the 'final goal' of European integration in just as few words? I just wrote and wrote what I knew, using one side of A4 for each question, and with my handwriting that's a couple of hundred words per answer!

After a quick bit to eat, two friends and I decided to 'relax' and try catach a movie to kill time before this fascinating extracurricular lecture tonight. We walked from cinema to cinema, but in the little town of Leiden cinemas don't open till 19.00! Shocked, horrified and bored we walked a bit more...and actually ended up in... church. A really beautiful Calvinist church, completely spacious and empty on the inside, and by the looks of it you can hire the church for all sorts of events. On a picture I saw people having a dinner party, with wine and all, right in the main hall. In a month's time the International Whisky Festival will be held there too. This is, after all, the Netherlands, where literally anything goes.

Some people today were talking about Facebook today, and how wonderful it is. It's basically an online "social utility that connects you with the people around you", where you can search and connect with (long-lost) friends, and meet new ones. I've signed up, and part of the 'personal details' asks whether you're interested in 'man or woman'. I'm just thinking if this would be a place to subtly 'come out' if I just tick 'man'. I mean my friends will be able to see all the details, and if they look closely enough they might see and find out. I've heard many secrets are revealed and spread on this thing, and I'm not really bothered if words get out. But then I wonder how they would take it. Really inclined to do so...

Really looking forward to this little break. Time to catch up on some reading, get prepared for up-coming assignments, comment in my blog on issues I've been dying to write about, work further on "Loving you, loving me"...and of course, relax a little! Maybe take a trip outdoors...get out into nature and the wild. Something I miss, even though the last couple of weeks since term started has been pretty wild enough.

Who is that?

Funny feeling I felt today.

Stood in front of the mirror and I smiled.
Full lips, two deep dimples.
Soft eyes, carrying a silent shyness,
Boyish charms, and floating on an air of warmth.
Wild hair, trimmed short and stylish.
Smooth skin, adorned with a sweet little smile.

Who was this I was looking at?
Or better said,
Who was this looking at me?

Someone I'm liking,
More and more.