All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

France to recognize Palestinian state if deadlock with Israel remains

France would recognize a Palestinian state if its plans to make a final push for a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine fail. Peace talks collapsed in April 2014.

Afghan youngsters use hip hop to speak for women′s rights | NRS-Import | DW.COM | 29.01.2016

Sonita Alizadeh was just like any other teenager in Afghanistan. Growing up in a country in which girls are up for sale as brides meant her fate would not be any different. But she had other plans. Her dream was becoming a hip hop artist, and she was not going to let it go.Iranian film director Rokhsareh Ghaemmaghami found Sonita in an Iranian school after she and her family fled the Taliban. Seeing the girl’s story and her musical talents, Ghaemmaghami decided to film a documentary about her story, even stepping in when the girl’s family planned to sell her as a bride: she paid Sonita’s family 2,000 dollars (€1,833) for them not to force the youngster into marriage.These experiences resulted in the film “Sonita,” which has been screened at the Sundance film festival, receiving many plaudits. In the movie, Sonita speaks up against many practices limiting women’s rights in her country, including forced marriage and limited education for girls, and her weapon of choice is hip hop music.

Source: Afghan youngsters use hip hop to speak for women′s rights | NRS-Import | DW.COM | 29.01.2016

Danes in ‘historic’ flight from Social Democrats over asylum – The Local

 Social Democrats leader Mette Frederiksen. Photo Thomas Lekfeldt/Scanpix

 

Danes in ‘historic’ flight from Social Democrats over asylum

A new poll shows a “historic” drop in voter support for the Social Democrats, with eight of ten voters who jumped ship saying they left the party over its hard-line position on asylum and immigration.

A Megafon poll showed that the Social Democrats plummeted seven percentage points, going from 26.3 percent support in November to just 19.3 percent this week.  The drop was so significant that Megafon conducted an extra poll just to make sure the numbers hadn’t lied.  “The poll shows an historic large drop in support for the Social Democrats. The drop is so big that we have to go all the way back to 1998 to see anything similar,” Megafon CEO Asger Nielsen told TV2.  Measured by parliamentary seats, the poll would mean that the Social Democrats would go from their current 47 down to 34.  The reason for the drop in support was clear. Voters rejected the party’s hard lurch to the right on immigration and asylum policies.  “We asked everyone who left the Social Democrats in the poll to explain why and when I looked at all of the explanations, for 80 percent of them the refugee situation was the clear reason,” Nielsen told Politiken.  Earlier this week, the Social Democrats were the only ‘red bloc’ party to vote in favour of Denmark’s controversial asylum package, which among other things allows for the confiscation of cash and valuables from refugees and will make some refugees wait three years before they can even apply to bring their families to Denmark.

Source: Danes in ‘historic’ flight from Social Democrats over asylum – The Local