This movie has been out for some time, but I recently saw it and want to recommend it here. I have for some reason been avoiding it, thinking it would be an hurtful experience which good movies often can be. It is powerful, and creates the feelings I am sure the director wanted. This one brings my memories back to “Schindlers list”.The music, the pain, do you remember the little girl depicted in red in Schindlers list? A similar visual instrument is used in this animated documentary. The pictures are beautiful and the voices are real interviews from the real people involved in this story.

This time the roles are changed from the Nazi Germans hunting for jews. The Israeli army are the powerful, and the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are the week and the hated.

The biggest injustice and evil done in the aftermath of Lebanon 1982 is making the man responsible “Sharon” prime minister of Israel 20 years later.

Put this one on your “to see list”!

Read more about the movie below and

the history of Lebanon 1982 below.

A few weeks ago the Scottish government released Al-Megrahi, the man convicted of bombing U.S.-bound Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.

The past few weeks have been rough ones for the Scots. Angry Americans threatened to boycott Scottish products. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lined up to condemn the move. (I was by the way a strong supporter of Hillary, and I still am, but disagree with her on this reaction)

This is one of many good examples on the polarization and the great gap between American thinking and European thinking when it comes to Justice and the theories and platforms on which this thinking is built.

Let me generalize to try to show my point.

An eye for an eye

The American system wants the offender to get what he deserves. The punishment is then awarded according to the crime committed.

In Europe it’s very different. Let this encounter serve as an example.

I was talking to a friend of mine some time ago. He works as a Judge in one of the biggest courts in Oslo. I asked him about a case he had presided over and asked him why he only gave 2 years in jail for what I considered was a grave offense. (It was the case in which Munch’s scream painting was stolen)

His answer was this. First of all he told me that he felt 2 years was a very tough and hard sentence for the offender.  Second of all he told me that his main purpose as a judge was not to give this man what he deserved, but give him a chance to both live with the consequence of what he did and get back into society and become a good citizen again.

The decision to free Al-Megrahi was made in accordance with Scottish legal practice, which makes explicit provision for the early release of prisoners on compassionate grounds.

Let me summarize: In Europe the goal is not to give the offender only a punishment in accordance with the gravity of his crime, or to give him what he deserves, but  also to show and give grace with the desire to help him into a normal life some day again.

Intertwined with view of God

This fundamental view on justice is also very much intertwined in the view on salvation, God and Christianity. One can argue that both views come out of how one understands salvation, humans worth the bible and God.

The dominant American Christian view is again God as a judge, giving us what we deserve. And in this aspect the western European church follows the Americans. But the Eastern European church(Orthodox) have a totally different view. God as a father, trying to help his children with their mistakes.  As a parent guides his children. This thinking is very far from a judicial view of God and his relation with humanity.  The way of Jesus is never one that gives back what one deserves. It is one that shows grace and mercy also in the Judicial sphere of humanity. I applaud the Scottish for following the way of Jesus in this case. Grace and Peace to Al- Megrahi.

Read more about Eastern Christianity and the difference between western and eastern Christianity in my post; “The lost Christianity”

Amoz Oz was recently in Gothenburg (where I live) promoting his newest book “Rhyming life and death”.

It made me pick up a copy of  Amoz Oz`s “how to cure a fanatic”. If you haven’t read it, it is a must read (and short read) for anyone interested in finding common ground with people you don’t necessarily like, and how to find a way to live together with people you dont really want to

live together with!

If you dont want to read it have a look at some of his thoughts on the Palestinian/Israel conflict.

Part one:

Part two:

I saw a documentary about Amos Oz tonight.

You can watch it here.

He says the following towards the end of the movie;

“we live now in a world where people work harder than they should be working in order to make more money than they really need, in order to buy things they don’t really want in order to impress people they don’t really like. this will lead to a certain reaction, and this reaction will brings back some kind of voluntary collectivist spirit.”

Amos Oz

Read more about this remarkable writer here, and read an interview with newsweek here.