Monthly Archives: May 2015

All show-no go - spin

Blatter launches “blusterous” attack on FIFA’s critics after re-election

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Sepp Blatter launches a scathing attack on FIFA’s critics, saying efforts to unseat him were down to “English media and the American movement” because of their failed World Cup bids.

“The more corrupt you are, the more bluster in your defense!”

 
Original enclosures:

via Blatter launches attack on FIFA’s critics after re-election.

Apartheid, Fail!, Feminism, Fundamentalist terror, human rights

Behind the Niqab: The (Male) Photographer’s Perspective of Life Through the Veil – Part 1 — BagNews

It’s true that in many countries women wear niqabs without threats of legal punishment or death; however, to assert, as does Ammar, that “for most, the niqab is a choice,” glosses over the ways in which women are compelled by religious tradition, family expectation, or societal convention to adopt a religious practice that is so confining and restrictive, it would never have survived as a requisite sign of religious piety had men been required to participate. The Quran instructs both women and men to “lower their gaze and guard their modesty.” If the goal is reducing the likelihood that men will lust after women, doesn’t it make as much sense for them to use a veil to curtail their own gaze as it does to enshroud women in perpetual darkness?

via Behind the Niqab: The (Male) Photographer’s Perspective of Life Through the Veil – Part 1 — BagNews.

Viva!

The New Old Wafd

Nervana

Egypt’s oldest nationalist party, the Wafd Party, is facing a deep and challenging internal conflict. Despite intervention by Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a new internal election, and a formal announcement that the crisis is over, the party’s internal problems are unlikely to heal soon.

On the surface, the party appears to be divided between two camps. The first is led by party leader El-Sayid El-Badawy, while the second supports leading member, Fouad Badrawy, who hails from a family with strong Wafd roots.

Badrawy lost by a small margin in the party’s leadership elections in April, 2014. He received 956 of the votes, while current leader, Badawy, received 1,183. Earlier this month, following a decision by over 1,000 members to withdraw confidence in Badawy, the current leadership suspended Badrawy and seven other members of the party’s high board. Together the suspended members refer to themselves as the Wafd’s Reform Front…

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Fail!, healthcare

ASIA/INDIA – Street dentists for the poor: a widespread service

Bangalore – A group of non-specialized dentists have organized themselves to work on the streets in some small Indian cities offering very low rates for the poorest people. Ignoring noisy buses and curious onlookers, these street dentists carry out their work undisturbed in Bangladore, although this is not hygienic. There are millions of poor people in the Country who cannot pay for expensive dental treatment. Tools are thoroughly washed in soap and water – but not disinfected. The teeth in all shapes and sizes are made in China and in India from dental cement.
In big cities such as New Delhi and Mumbai, street dentist numbers have dwindled in recent years on growing awareness of contracting HIV/AIDS and other diseases, rising customer income levels, and a surge in dentist graduates. But they still thrive in smaller cities as well as towns, although few perform root canals, fillings or other operations. The Indian Dental Association, a private body of licensed dentists, still does not have figures on qualified dentists in India. It is estimated that each year 30,000 graduates join the profession every year, but India still has only one dentist per 10,000 people in urban areas and about 250,000 in rural areas.
From dentists to shoe shiners, barbers and chefs, street services are an engrained part of life in India, particularly for the poor.

via ASIA/INDIA – Street dentists for the poor: a widespread service.