Category Archives: Apartheid

‘I hope Merkel keeps us’: how Nujeen Mustafa travelled from Syria to Germany in a wheelchair | World news | The Guardian

A year ago, Nujeen completed a 3,500-mile journey from Syria to Germany in a cumbersome steel-frame wheelchair, an Odyssean adventure that involved dodging masked Isis fighters, navigating perilous Mediterranean waters and fending off packs of wild dogs. Now the wheelchair is folded up on the veranda and she sits on a faded beige sofa in the living room of the flat she shares with two sisters and four nieces, struggling with a crumbly German biscuit.Looking at this teenager, with her thick black-and-red spectacles, I cannot help thinking of her as a Harry Potter figure, exiled on a Westphalian Privet Drive. There are even some Dursley-esque neighbours who, Nujeen says, “aren’t such big fans of refugees”.When I suggest the comparison, she shakes her head. She likes the town she has ended up in, and the fact no one knows her here. “Harry Potter is such a lifeless book, there’s too little emotion and too much display of power,” she says, adding a barb that has a special sting coming from someone with her backstory: “It makes every boy in the world think they are the chosen one.”Nujeen Mustafa was born on New Year’s Day 1999 in Manbij in northern Syria, the youngest of a Kurdish family of 11 in a mostly Arab town. Though Muslim, she says her family were never “obsessed” by religion: she and her sisters and cousins were the only girls who didn’t cover their heads in their local high school.Her pride in her cultural identity as a Kurd is fierce, however, and shaped her view on her country’s descent into civil war. As the population divided into supporters and opponents of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, “the Kurds had their own side as they couldn’t trust anyone”, as Nujeen puts it in the memoir she has co-written with Sunday Times journalist Christina Lamb, who also co-authored Malala Yousafzai’s autobiography.

Source: ‘I hope Merkel keeps us’: how Nujeen Mustafa travelled from Syria to Germany in a wheelchair | World news | The Guardian

Video: Israeli sniper shoots youth during assault on refugee camp | The Electronic Intifada

 

This video shows part of an incident in which an Israeli military sniper severely wounded 22-year-old Palestinian Muhammad al-Amsi during a massive army raid on al-Fawwar refugee camp in the southern West Bank city of Hebron in mid-August.Al-Amsi was standing on his roof talking on the telephone when the sniper shot him four times.It was filmed by Mahmoud Abu Yousef, a videographer with the Ma’an News Agency, and published on Friday by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem as part of a report into the Israeli raid in which another youth, 19-year-old Muhammad Abu Hashhash, was shot dead by Israeli forces.A separate B’Tselem investigation has found that Abu Hashhash was killed as he posed no danger to anyone.Meanwhile, two Palestinians and a Jordanian citizen – one reportedly 15 years old – were shot dead by Israeli forces on Friday in separate incidents. Another Palestinian was shot dead on Saturday morning. On Thursday, a person died from wounds he received when Israeli forces shot him during a raid on his village. Last week, a Palestinian youth was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza.

Source: Video: Israeli sniper shoots youth during assault on refugee camp | The Electronic Intifada

So blue. The heartbroken case for Hillary Clinton – Medium – I am for her but for those who doubt – read this, please.

Hillary Clinton will provide some small, inadequate measure of assistance to the growing masses of victims even while she continues to pander to the very forces of their destruction. She’s oblivious to techno-capitalism’s looming dead end, because it contradicts the story of human infallibility, and she’s too cynical to believe that a post-capitalist future is possible. But she won’t (overtly) suppress dissent or work to attack, disrupt and destroy progressive people’s movements or to terrorize and ruin the lives of immigrants (at least, not as aggressively as Trump surely would with a helping hand from ALEC, the NRA, the KKK and legions of confused, scared, heavily-armed white men). That doesn’t give us much breathing room, but it’s something.I won’t belabor the Trump-Hitler comparison here, but read this if you harbor any doubts about the nature of Trump’s personality disorder and intentions. This is a nihilistic man punch drunk on ego and power, hungry for violence, all in for cutthroat competition, incapable of self-reflection, one hand on the nuclear button and the other on Mein Kampf, capable of the unthinkable. What he cannot create he will destroy — such is the nihilist’s endgame.That, in the end, is why I’ll vote for Hillary Clinton — because she isn’t Donald Trump. I will vote for Clinton* and, if she wins, I will not be excited or happy, not even a tiny bit.

Source: So blue. The heartbroken case for Hillary Clinton – Medium

A Holiday in Palestine? An Indian Woman Travels through Guns, Graffiti and the Strange Denial of Stamps – The Ladies FingerThe Ladies Finger

We walked through the souk, the market in the old city, and took a turn towards the entry of the Al-Aqsa mosque. Three Israeli soldiers stood at the corner. Overhearing us talking in English, they approached to ask us where we were going. This, because there are two entrances to the Al-Aqsa mosque, one for Muslims, and another for non-Muslims, which sort of translates into one for locals and the other for foreign tourists.We were headed to the Muslim entrance. Assuming we were tourists, they probably wanted to tell us we weren’t allowed entry from this side. As they approached us, AK retorted, “why?” They asked us where we were going. Why are you asking us, she snapped back. Where are you from, they insisted. It’s none of your business. We are trying to help you, they responded. We didn’t ask for your help. We walked away. One of them walked ahead of us and into the mosque. We stopped to look at an Afro-Palestinian neighbourhood. We then walked over to the entrance of the mosque where we were stopped and asked if we were Muslim. We were asked to recite a verse from the Quran. Neither of us could. After a short altercation we returned.As we approached the same corner again, one of the two remaining soldiers called out to us. AK snapped back again. He stopped us and asked where she was from. I’m Palestinian, she answered back. Can I see your ID, he responded. AK has a Blue ID because she resides in Jerusalem. Those living in West Bank and Gaza have a Green ID. She handed over her ID in anger and told him to keep it because she wasn’t going to sit around and be made to wait for hours as they harassed her. She had broken no law and there was simply no need for her to be stopped, she snapped and walk off. I followed her silently, wondering what would happen next. Don’t you need your ID to cross the checkpoint to go to work tomorrow, I asked. Yes I do. She called her cousin who ran a juice shop in the same market and turned around to get her ID back before the soldier disappeared with it. When we returned to the corner he told her she needed to stay there until he was done with her. She asked what his problem was again. So hurt simply because I wouldn’t listen to you? As she carried on, enraged, he snapped back, “Ok you need to shut up now.” At this point she lost all cool that she had left and demanded to see his captain.

Source: A Holiday in Palestine? An Indian Woman Travels through Guns, Graffiti and the Strange Denial of Stamps – The Ladies FingerThe Ladies Finger

In the West Bank, even calling the fire dept. has an ethnic dimension | +972 Magazine

In 2004, under the cover of the Second Intifada, Sil’it’s security fence was expanded to includes S.’s land. Now there is both a fence and gate between him and his land, meaning he can no longer reach his land – no one disputes the land is his – unless he receives prior permission from the military commander. In 2009 his land was set ablaze; he believes Israeli civilians were responsible. During last year’s olive harvest, S. managed to obtain permission for his workers for three workdays – yet the IDF prevented them from accessing the land. S. kept trying to get them permits to work the land, but the IDF bureaucracy is slow, and in the meantime the harvest season passed.Half a year later S. was standing and watching his land burning from across a locked gate. He called the Palestinian District Coordination Office (DCO), which in turn summoned Palestinian firefighters. But the IDF did not allow them to enter the land; it is unlikely we will ever know the reason for the refusal.But the wind, damn it, the wind — it does not discriminate between Palestinian or Israeli property; it is indifferent to land documents and ethnicity. The wind blew the fire toward Sil’it. The distance, you will remember, is only 150 meters.And then S. beheld a wondrous sight: as the flames consumed his land while Palestinian firetrucks were prohibited from aiding him, Israeli firetrucks swiftly reached the other side of his plot and quickly began dowsing the flames. The firetrucks weren’t sufficient, so a short time afterward two firefighting planes flew overhead and extinguished the fire, which nearly reached the gates of Sil’it.Unlike the wind, Israeli soldiers can perfectly discriminate between land owned by a Palestinian and land seized by Israelis. And there you have it, the whole occupation in a nutshell.Written by Yossi Gurvitz in his capacity as a blogger for Yesh Din, Volunteers for Human Rights. This post was first published on Yesh Din’s blog.

Source: In the West Bank, even calling the fire dept. has an ethnic dimension | +972 Magazine

Norway hairdresser on trial for refusing client in hijab – The Local

The 47-year-old hairdresser told the court she saw the hijab as a political symbol representing an ideology that frightens her, rather than as a religious symbol. “I see it as a totalitarian symbol. When I see a hijab, I don’t think of religion, but of totalitarian ideologies and regimes,” she told the judges, cited by daily VG. “A hijab is not religious, it’s political,” she added. Described by Norwegian media as a former activist in Islamophobic movements such as Pegida, Hodne recently told TV2 news channel that the headscarf was a symbol of “Islamic ideology” — which she called “evil” — just like “the swastika is that of Nazism”. She said that accepting a woman in hijab as a client would have meant she would have had to turn away male customers, since the woman would not have been able to expose her hair with men present.

Source: Norway hairdresser on trial for refusing client in hijab – The Local

Ferguson protest leader Darren Seals shot and found dead in a burning car | US news | The Guardian

More than 100 people gathered Tuesday night for a candlelight vigil at the site where Seals’ body was found, friends said. Activists who attended the vigil said they were furious to find that police had not taped off the crime scene, and that there were still bullet casings on the ground they thought police should have collected as evidence.“We were literally stepping on the ashes from his car and his body,” said Tamara “Bates” Dodd, a St Louis hip-hop artist and activist. “That was probably the thing that shook me up the most, seeing little kids walking past, not knowing what they’re standing on.”Local activists were also troubled by the parallels between Seals’ death and the 2014 murder of 20-year-old Deandre Joshua, who was shot and left in a burning car on the same night a grand jury chose not to indict police officer Darren Wilson in Brown’s death. In all, according to one activist’s count, five other men in the St Louis area have been shot and left in burning cars since 2014.“Many people are really worried. We don’t know if there’s some type of movement serial killer on the loose,” said Patricia Bynes, a protester and former Democratic committeewoman for Ferguson.

Source: Ferguson protest leader Darren Seals shot and found dead in a burning car | US news | The Guardian

Israel using “black ops” against BDS, says veteran analyst | The Electronic Intifada

Black ops

In Maariv, Melman sounds a somewhat skeptical note, pointing out that the fight against BDS may be more of an excuse for the ministry to maintain its budget after its original purpose, facing the “threat” from Iran, became irrelevant following last year’s nuclear agreement.But that does not mean it is not capable of damaging actions.Among the ministry’s activities are what Melman terms “special operations” or “black ops” which may include “defamation campaigns, harassment and threats to the lives of activists” as well as “infringing on and violating their privacy.”In this context Melman points to recent attacks on the websites of the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) and other organizations supporting Palestinian rights.He also notes the death threats received by Nada Kiswanson, an attorney with the Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq, which is collecting evidence of Israeli war crimes in Gaza to submit to the International Criminal Court.These threats are being investigated by Dutch authorities, where the ICC is based.The well-connected Melman does not confirm long-standing suspicions of Israeli involvement, but hints strongly at an Israeli role.“Of course, no one has assumed responsibility for the incident against the Palestinian lawyer, and no one has addressed the BDS campaign’s claims that the Israeli intelligence is running a cyber war against it,” Melman states. “But it is no secret that at the ministry of strategic affairs, as well as Israeli intelligence agencies which are assisting in the struggle against the BDS and delegitimization movement, diverse means which may be applied are being discussed.”“It cannot be ruled out that these actions, if indeed taken by Israel, were a ‘shot across the bow,’” he adds.Melman also suggests that the efforts may have been curtailed by concerns at Israel’s justice ministry that “the passion for secret actions and operations in the strategic affairs ministry may eventually end up in mishaps which would harm Israel’s foreign relations.”As examples of such “mishaps,” Melman recalls “an elimination action, entry into buildings or the use of a false passport” – operations in which Israel “did not hesitate to violate the laws and sovereignty of foreign states, including its best friends.”In recent years, countries including Canada and New Zealand have protested over Israel’s use of their passports to provide cover for agents from the Mossad spying and assassination agency.

Source: Israel using “black ops” against BDS, says veteran analyst | The Electronic Intifada

AfD supporters attack activists, journalists in Munich – The Local – Wannabe Nazis Start a Fight and then Blame the Victims – One more Putsch Deflated!

A member of the press who was at the event told The Local that three men from the AfD party attacked demonstrators and journalists, with Ares “running madly into the crowd attacking everything in front of him.”The journalist said she did not see any left-wing demonstrators carrying weapons.All three men are reportedly linked to right-wing extremist groups and appear regularly at AfD events in Bavaria.Photographic evidence also shows one AfD supporter, reportedly Ares, aiming a kick at a journalist. Other media reports suggest a journalist was punched in the face.

Source: AfD supporters attack activists, journalists in Munich – The Local

Essentializing Islam will not stop Islamophobia | Nervana

Muslims’ attitudes towards divisive trends have also been disturbing. In fact, Muslims are divided between those who immediately adopt a reflexive defensive attitude in justifying practices such as wearing the Niqab, even if they do not agree with it on a personal level. On the other hand, other Muslims quietly agree with the bans on the Niqab and Burkini, but refrain from saying it loudly for fear of looking as if they are betraying their community.As a result, slowly, but surely, Islam has been essentialized into a religion that is at best benignly conservative, and at worse, rigidly radical. Both the red and blue camp are using the Hijab, Niqab, and Burkini as weapons in their battles, enforcing consciously or sub-consciously the narrative of political Islam, which wrongly portrays itself as the most authentic model of Islam. Yes, the ban on the Burkini has been suspended, but it has left behind an unhealed and divided landscape.That is neither healthy for the Western world nor for the Muslim communities in the West. In fact, it is profoundly disturbing.It is indeed great to see Hijabi Muslim women celebrated for their achievements, and Burkini-wearing Muslims defended against an unjust ban, but we should also accept the right of others, including many Muslims, to voice disdain about the Niqab or Burkini. Freedom of expression goes both ways. Expecting that conservative Islam will be loved and embraced by all native Europeans is simply naïve; forcing respect for regressive Islamic patterns on traditional Western communities can be perceived as provocative.Moreover, while defending freedom, it is crucial not to be an advocate of illiberal multiculturalism, in which Islamist Muslims can demand respect and understanding for their conservative, often illiberal attitudes, while non-Muslims’ illiberalism is damned as sick and unacceptable. It is infantilizing and reductive to portray Muslims as a collective bunch of victims who need more protection and less scrutiny. The notion that Islam is exceptional, and not necessarily liberal, has gained a sympathetic ear from the same people who were outraged at France for its illiberal ban on the Burkini. This hypocritical notion is not just untrue, it will ignite more resentment and anger among many non-Muslims.The Western world needs a centrist approach to its Muslim communities that acknowledges and highlights their diversity, maintains the rights of conservative Muslims, and addresses the fears (even irrational ones) of local communities. The best way to fight Islamophobia is to show sympathy for local anxieties, celebrate and support Islamic diversity, and encourage liberal Muslims’ voices. Reductive emotional outrage, however, will never be part of the solution.

Source: Essentializing Islam will not stop Islamophobia | Nervana