Should freedom of speech not be absolute in a liberal democracy? Should disagreement not come to the surface and be discussed openly? If not, who is to say what is right and wrong? In my opinion we have to stand up for the freedom of speech in order to save our liberal democracy. Charlie Hebdo said, "it's better to die standing up, than living on your knees." I totally agree, and I repeat what Malala has said "The pen is mightier than the sword" or as Charlie Hebdo said, "Parce que le crayon sera tojours au dessus de la barbarie." People killing in the name of God are neither Christians nor Muslims, they are barbarians. Listen to this debate.

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Terrorist attacs

So, they have done it again, this time in Peshawar in Pakistan two days ago.

141 people killed - 132 of them school children. Taliban did it. Why? Why kill innocent children? Do you have the right to kill a child because his/her father is a soldier? "Us president Barack Obama said terrorists had "once again shown their depravity" while UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said it was "an act of horror and rank cowardice."http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-30491435 Both of them are right, the Talibs have no moral, they are evil, and killing children states that they are cowards. In addition, Malala said in her speech in the UN that a Talib doesn't know what is inside a book. In other words, they are illiterate and ignorant and afraid that literacy will hinder recruitment to their cause. And of course it will, remember "the pen is mightier than the sword."

58million kids around the world are deprived of their right to education - thank God we have persons like Malala Yousafzai (17) from Pakistan and Kailash Satyarthi (60) from India. Today they will receive their Nobel Peace Price. Watch it all on NRK here. 

World Population Clock Live - Population of the World Today - The World Counts

World Population Clock Live - Population of the World Today - The World Counts

Is He Going to Make It?

The question is whether president Obama will manage to fix the USA's broken immigration system or not. Last night he gave a speech where he pointed out that illegal immigration was at it lowest since the 1970s. In addition, he told the nation what he intended to do to make the immigration system work. He mentioned three steps that he would take, one of them being, "Requiring undocumented parents of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents who’ve been here 5+ years to pass a background check and pay taxes in order to temporarily stay in the U.S." He also asked Congress to pass the bill that they had delayed for one and a half year - he asked the members of the House of Representatives to not forget that "we are all immigrants". Listen to Obama's speech here.

A Break from Politics?

Let's take a break from politics, war and global challenges! Taking a look at how the English language has developed into a World Language, and why it is the most used lingua franca today will be a relief - or will it really? Is language politics as well? English rules in international education, international business and trade, in international diplomacy, in art and entertainment, and in science and technology.  It does so even though it is just number four on the list of top ten languages in the world by native and second language speakers (Access p 17). According to David Crystal, "A language becomes a global language because of the power of the people who speak it. It has nothing to do with the structure or the grammar (...) It's all about political power". So, it seems we'll have to deal with politics even though we are going to look at language! Check out week 47 in First Term.