Comments on the Contributors

In this essay, I comment on the contributions of the six authors who have critically reflected on my notion of a ‘Catholic Modernity’ from their own perspectives. Selecting particular issues from these authors to comment on was challenging due to the richness of each contribution. I comment, among others, on the crucial question of religious violence and intolerance in our world and the related issue of how to deal with pluralism among and within religions: we can no longer identify a particular religion with “its” civilization or nation, be it in the form of Christendom, Islamicate, or religious nationalism.

MULTIPLE ACTS OF SEXUAL PENETRATION WITHIN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME – SINGLE OR MULTIPLE ACTS OF RAPE? S v Willemse 2011 (2) SACR 531 (ECG)

The case under discussion exposes a particular twilight zone in respect of the sexual offence of rape, and more specifically, the question as to when multiple acts of sexual penetration perpetrated by the same perpetrator within a relatively short time span, will constitute multiple acts of rape. The latter, in addition, specifically becomes problematic during sentencing. Once it has been established that a victim was raped more than once by an accused, a court is obliged in terms of section 51(1) of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 105 of 1997 (hereinafter “the Act”) to impose a sentence of life imprisonment, unless substantial and compelling circumstances exist to depart from the prescribed minimum sentence. The decision under discussion is of particular interest as the court was once again required to assess whether multiple acts of sexual penetration constituted a single act of rape, or multiple acts of rape and as such falling within the ambit of the provisions of the Act with regards to sentencing. A related issue addressed by the judgment, relates to the anomaly in respect of the appropriate approach to follow in cases of this nature relating to multiple acts of sexual penetration in order to assess whether these acts should be construed as multiple acts of rape, or as one single and prolonged act of rape.

Między Kommune 1 a „niedzielną pieczenią”. Krautrock w świetle koncepcji komunizmu kwasowego

The article examines selected phenomena of the so-called krautrock, i.e. West German rock music of the late 1960s and the 1970s. The analysis is based on Mark Fisher's concept of acid communism and the related issue of collective subjectivity. The author distinguishes two opposing tendencies in the music discussed, the first one being the fascination with the collective that goes back to the student protests of 1967–1968, and the second one being the (re)appreciation of individual perspective, which manifested itself e.g. in an increased interest in spirituality and a certain kind of social criticism performed from a distanced position. Focusing on the relationship between the individual and the group, the article analyzes a number of songs and albums that have received little or no attention from researchers up to now.

On the Problem of Distinguishing between the Closest Connection Principle and Basic Conflict of Laws Rules

The fine line is explored between the application of the closest connection principle as a general gap-filling conflict of laws rule and the solution the related issue based on conflict of laws rules contained in the customs recognized in the Russian Federation. In the absence of a custom, unambiguously recognized in accordance with paragraph 1 of Art. 1186 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the author offers to refer to the closest connection principle in accordance with paragraph 2 of the same article. This proposal is justified by the complexity of the formation of a conflict of laws rule in the form of a custom, since it is not actually implemented in regulatory legal relations. The author reveals a vicious circle in which, in strict accordance with paragraph 1 of Art. 1186 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the condition for the application of a conflict of laws rule in the form of custom is its recognition in the Russian Federation, which it cannot receive in the absence of application. At the same time, when determining the closest connection, special attention is given to the admissibility of reliance on territorial ties recognized in international documents (recommendatory acts and international treaties not ratified by the Russian Federation, including those that have not entered into force), if they correspond to the specifics of a particular relationship.

PROCEDURE AND EFFECTIVENESS OF AID DISTRIBUTION TO LOCAL COMMUNITIES DURING MOVEMENT CONTROL ORDER (MCO) AMIDST COVID -19 PANDEMIC

The implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO) in Malaysia which began on 18 March 2020 after the COVID-19 pandemic has profound implications especially to the local community in Sabah. The implementation of MCO is a new experience among the people in the country. Various efforts were made to alleviate the burden of the people as a result of the pandemic and the implementation of the PKP, including various assistance to the local community. The question is, to what extent is the procedure and effectiveness of aid distribution to the community during the period of the movement control order? Therefore, this study examines the related issue at few selected villages in the districts of Kunak and Lahad Datu, Sabah. The approach used in the study is exploratory and evaluative. This study uses a quantitative method through the distribution of questionnaires and observation in the study area. The study sample was a total of 105 people who were randomly selected. The result showed that there were three aid distribution arrangement procedures used: distribution arrangement through bank accounts (financial related), distribution arrangement through door-to-door delivery, and distribution arrangement through receipt at nearby aid centres. The majority of respondents stated that the aid distribution arrangement procedure of aid distribution which through door-to-door delivery, is 100 people or the equivalent of 75.2%. In addition, the results of the study also found that the majority of respondents, namely 70 respondents (66.7%) stated that the aid distribution arrangement procedure is ‘effective’, 27.6% thought as ‘very effective’ and the rest stated as ‘less effective’, that is about 5.7%. Therefore, the results of the study are important for documentation and literature reference related to pandemic and community issues as well as beneficial to the authorities to improve the effectiveness of aid distribution procedures to local communities in the future.

Defence Against Parfit’s Torturers

In the literature on ‘moral mathematics’ prompted by the section with that title in Derek Parfit’s Reasons and Persons, one issue is whether, and if so to what extent, it is wrong to cause a negligible harm to each of a large number of people, and in particular whether doing so could ever be as seriously wrong as causing a substantial harm to one person. The topic in this chapter is the closely related issue of proportionality in defence against those who would inflict only such tiny harms, though on a large number of victims. For example, might a person who would otherwise inflict a tiny harm on each of a large number of people be liable to be killed in defence of those people? The chapter suggests that such a person seems liable to be killed in some cases but not in others, depending on what other people might be doing or on other facts about the context in which the harms would occur. It reviews a range of examples involving the infliction of tiny harms, including Parfit’s example of the Harmless Torturers, that reveal some surprising facts about the conditions and limits of liability to defensive harm.