After months of deadly attacks across the country, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to “destroy terrorists.” In Syria, Turkish forces have ramped up their offensive against “IS” and Kurdish-led forces.
Category Archives: Apartheid
Amir-Moazami: ′France does not have a homogeneous mainstream culture′ | Europe | DW.COM | 28.08.2016
Schirin Amir-MoazamiIn France, the notion of a homogeneous mainstream society has not existed for centuries. This has a lot to do with the colonial past and more recently, with the country’s immigration policy. That is why it is difficult to speak of specifically “French” values, especially if we have to determine this in the matter of how much of a body is allowed to be visible in public. These values have always been linked to contexts outside of France. So it is regrettable that France has never analyzed this past in a critical manner – for example, by asking about its consequences and impact on life today. What is certain is that one can no longer speak of original “French” values.Nonetheless, the debate has been raging in France. The philosopher and bestselling author Alan Finkielkraut points out the fact that many French people complain they no longer feel at home in their own country.This statement seems problematic to me. What does “at home” mean with regard to a past in which France took its “home” to other parts of the world? Finkielkraut himself comes from a Jewish background that he has analyzed journalistically. Unfortunately, he does not apply his question to the present. He does not ask how it is for minorities today that are also stigmatized and reproduced as minorities. It is quite obvious that Maghreb Muslims did not come to Islamize France. Instead, it is a case of postcolonial immigration.Do you see opportunities that could turn the tense situation into a successful integration story?So much has gone wrong in France in particular, so it is really hard to offer reasonable guidance. Society has become so polarized – and Germany is showing a similar tendency – that the findings are relatively serious. The recent decision of the [French court] to suspend the burkini ban is a step in the right direction. It is right not to allow the problem to heat up even more and to polarize society even more. But it would also be sensible to not to let the burkini represent an Islamist or terrorist threat. It would also be wrong to conduct this debate at the expense of women. Instead, people should look at matters of social justice, for in France, as in Germany, Muslims represent a certain social class in which a certain culture has emerged and then been marginalized.
Source: Amir-Moazami: ′France does not have a homogeneous mainstream culture′ | Europe | DW.COM | 28.08.2016
‘No Vacancies’ for Blacks: How Donald Trump Got His Start, and Was First Accused of Bias – The New York Times
Looking back, Mr. Trump’s response to the lawsuit can be seen as presaging his handling of subsequent challenges, in business and in politics. Rather than quietly trying to settle — as another New York developer had done a couple of years earlier — he turned the lawsuit into a protracted battle, complete with angry denials, character assassination, charges that the government was trying to force him to rent to “welfare recipients” and a $100 million countersuit accusing the Justice Department of defamation.When it was over, Mr. Trump declared victory, emphasizing that the consent decree he ultimately signed did not include an admission of guilt.But an investigation by The New York Times — drawing on decades-old files from the New York City Commission on Human Rights, internal Justice Department records, court documents and interviews with tenants, civil rights activists and prosecutors — uncovered a long history of racial bias at his family’s properties, in New York and beyond.That history has taken on fresh relevance with Mr. Trump arguing that black voters should support him over Hillary Clinton, whom he has called a bigot.While there is no evidence that Mr. Trump personally set the rental policies at his father’s properties, he was on hand while they were in place, working out of a cubicle in Trump Management’s Brooklyn offices as early as the summer of 1968.Then and now, Mr. Trump has steadfastly denied any awareness of any discrimination at Trump properties. While Mr. Trump declined to be interviewed for this article, his general counsel, Alan Garten, said in a statement that there was “no merit to the allegations.” And there has been no suggestion of racial bias toward prospective residents in the luxury housing that Mr. Trump focused on as his career took off in Manhattan in the 1980s.In the past, Mr. Trump has treated the case as a footnote in the narrative of his career. In his memoir “The Art of the Deal,” he dispensed with it in five paragraphs. And while stumping in Ohio, he even singled out his work at one of his father’s properties in Cincinnati, omitting that, at the time, the development was the subject of a separate discrimination lawsuit — one that included claims of racial slurs uttered by a manager whom Mr. Trump had personally praised.
European Muslims | In English | EL PAÍS
The worst exponent of this trend is Geert Wilders, leader of the Dutch Freedom Party, which compares the Quran with Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and calls for it to be banned. But there is an even more dangerous type of Islamophobia that is weakening the foundations of an integrated Europe. This is a more subtle Islamophobia based on seemingly enlightened principles and arguments, one never made explicit, although it occasionally lets its discriminatory veil slip. The French Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, is a master of this approach. He distinguishes between what he calls the Islamic fascism of some groups (which at the moment are the Muslim Brotherhood and ISIS) and a more agreeable Islam, one that is largely invisible. Can we imagine anybody daring to talk about Christian fascism or Judeo fascism, or Buddhist fascism? There is no shortage of examples of countries where all the major religions have been involved in violence in recent years, and neither is there of its role in providing an ethics of compromise and human dignity.Reducing things to the level of a confrontation between European Muslims and the rest of the population is the core of the Islamophobic project. Making Muslims outsiders, putting them on the defensive and attributing obscure objectives to take over the world is far from accidental. What Muslims want from Europe is basically bread, freedom, and social justice; which is pretty much what everybody else wants, sick and tired as we are of the supremacy of the markets and seeing our sovereignty undermined.
Colonial nostalgia is back in fashion, blinding us to the horrors of empire | Kehinde Andrews | Opinion | The Guardian
Lest we forget: far from being a benevolent saviour, the British empire was based on the exploitation, murder and devastation of people across the globe. Some notable atrocities include, but are by no means limited to: transatlantic slavery, famines in the British Raj, and brutal settler colonial regimes in Zimbabwe and Kenya. Hundreds of millions of people died as a result of Britain’s vicious regime. The empire collapsed after campaigns, rebellions and revolutions from the people who were oppressed by Britain. The natives did not happily accept colonial rule; they resisted at every turn because they understood the cost of the system to their nations.Walter Rodney’s classic book How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, goes into forensic detail as to how colonialism set back the continent by creating political and economic systems that impoverished Africa, with the direct purpose of enriching Europe. Even after independence, Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of liberated Ghana, explained in the 1960s that the economic policies of the country had an “Alice in Wonderland craziness about them”, with Britain extracting all the wealth from the resources of the nation.It is essential that the legacy of the British empire is understood because it still plays a key role in the world today. The devastation of nations by European colonialism goes a long way to explaining extreme poverty and conflict in many parts of the world, and is continued in manifestly unjust trade relations. Reminiscing about the days of empire and pining for Britain to be great again is a device to avoid any reckoning with Britain’s terrible colonial legacy and debt.Perhaps a recognition of the brutality, violence and horror at the dark heart of empire would shake the nation out of its postcolonial melancholia. To acknowledge the dark side of colonialism, however, would destroy the nostalgia that is such a strong part of British imperial identity. It is far easier to get lost in national pride from Olympic success than to reckon with Britain’s history and real place in the world.
‘Mr Brexit’ meets Mr Brexit: Nigel Farage to stump with Trump | US news | The Guardian “Racist Birds” Gather together the same feathers – apologies to birds. LOL
Nigel Farage, the anti-EU British politician and former Ukip leader, will appear with Donald Trump at a rally on Wednesday, a week after the US presidential candidate branded himself “Mr Brexit” and tapped one of the leading American supporters of Brexit to run his campaign.The Trump campaign confirmed that Farage would appear with Trump at an evening rally in Jackson, Mississippi, to tell US voters “the Brexit story” of how he triumphed over the electoral odds. Farage will not endorse Trump.Trump hopes to ride to victory a populist wave of nationalist enthusiasm comparable to the movement behind Britain’s June vote to leave the European Union. As leader at the time of Ukip, Farage was a key promoter of the Brexit.
Source: ‘Mr Brexit’ meets Mr Brexit: Nigel Farage to stump with Trump | US news | The Guardian
Police force migrant out of German church | News | DW.COM | 24.08.2016
Church leaders in the Germany city of Münster were shocked after police entered a monastery on Tuesday to forcefully remove a migrant seeking church asylum.Police said there was an altercation when they tried to remove the 31-year-old Ghanaian, who bit a police officer when being handcuffed.The police and other local officials said they were merely acting on the orders of the Federal Ministry of Migration and Refugees (BAMF) to deport the man to Hungary.The Ghanaian first registered for asylum in the European Union in Hungary. Under European Union rules, the member state where an asylum seeker is first registered is responsible for processing the application.Church asylum is a tradition in Germany whereby refugees or migrants without legal residence status can be temporarily hosted by parishes. The goal is to prevent someone in hardship or in potential danger from facing the threat of immediate deportation so that their case can be reviewed again.
Source: Police force migrant out of German church | News | DW.COM | 24.08.2016
Donald Trump Cues Up Another Conspiracy – The New York Times
Mr. Trump did not invent paranoia; he did not create the Republican meme of fraudulent minority voting. He just took it — as he so often does — to an extreme. Senator John McCain made similar warnings in 2008, and murmurings of cheating go back at least to 2000, a close national election, botched in Florida, decided for George W. Bush by the conservative majority of the Supreme Court. And long before Mr. Trump entered the presidential race, Republican legislators were busy passing voter ID laws based on the fallacy of widespread fraud.Mr. Trump’s brain is a pincushion for conspiracy theories, so maybe it’s no surprise that he thinks the Clinton campaign will be sending African-Americans and foreigners into booths across the country to fake their votes over and over, millions of times.Now, more than ever, the country needs responsible political leaders and the courts to defend and expand voting rights, rather than sitting silently while Mr. Trump further demolishes public confidence in the foundations of our government.
Source: Donald Trump Cues Up Another Conspiracy – The New York Times
Here’s Why Simone Manuel Needed to Bring Up Race At the Olympics | Dame Magazine
The sight of our happiness, achievements and success disrupt the entrenched dehumanization of black girls and women. The only thing more disconcerting than #BlackGirlJoy is #BlackGirlRage. It is no wonder that many are mad that Black women athletes are using their platform to speak truth to power.“I feel unsafe all the time. I had someone follow me home from practice and try to report me to police,” noted Ibtihaj Muhammad, a Black Muslim American women and the first Olympian to wear a hijab. “I’m very vocal about these things because I want people to know I’m not a novelty, I’m not special in any way, I’m a woman who wears hijab and these are my experiences.”Her comments sparked outrage on social media from the Trumpian corner of the nation, which described her comments as “shameful” and “insulting.”The collective voices of Simone, Gabby, Muhammad, and others deepen the power in showcasing talent, skill and dominance, along with one’s political voice. In that spirit of resistance, Manuel, Muhammad, countless women on the USA basketball team, are using their athletic talents and voices to make clear that Black Lives Matter, that Black humanity must be seen, and Black genius is everywhere. In doing so, these Black women are carrying on a proud tradition of Black women at the Olympics who have not been afraid to speak up about racism at a time when much of America wishes they would pretend that their nation’s original sin of slavery and its racist legacies didn’t exist, especially when the eyes and ears of the world are upon them. Their work is reminiscent of the iconic moment when gold-medalist sprinter Tommie Smith and bronze medalist John Carlos raised black-gloved fists during the American national anthem at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City—a move that was heavily criticized at the time, but has now become a treasured moment in American sports and Civil Rights history.Once again, Black women are giving the world language about protest, freedom and humanity. Only this time—unlike in the Civil Rights and Black Power movements—their voices and views are front and center. As with Black Lives Matter, and protests from Ferguson to Baltimore, from New York to Los Angeles, it is young Black women, who are visibly organizing for justice and change.
Source: Here’s Why Simone Manuel Needed to Bring Up Race At the Olympics | Dame Magazine
‘This generation will be the last to skin cows in India’ – Times of India
“The Brahmanical influence on social structure soon after the collapse of the Mauryan empire in 150 BC became so overpowering that it dehumanised the lower castes forever. For the following centuries, the Dalit could never rise or prosper,” he fumes. Then his face lights up. “One of my sons is a law graduate from Delhi University. The other is studying at the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad. Both are preparing for the civil services. Mine will be the last generation from my family to skin cows. In fact, I think this is India’s last generation of Dalits to be involved it as a traditional profession.”
Source: ‘This generation will be the last to skin cows in India’ – Times of India






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