Category Archives: human rights

CENSORED NEWS: Video: Crow Nation arrives at Standing Rock Camp

Source: CENSORED NEWS: Video: Crow Nation arrives at Standing Rock Camp

Enough with the Clothes Shaming of Muslim Women – sister-hood magazine. A Fuuse production by Deeyah Khan.

In our communities women who do not cover, or dress in conservative ways (again, with or without hijab), are not considered Muslim enough – not Muslim enough to be taken seriously, not Muslim enough to be invited on conference panels, not Muslim enough to represent Muslims, not Muslim enough for God. This is spiritual abuse. It is a form of violence.It’s violence created by the male-dominated, patriarchal discourses common within our communities, and as such this is not a critique of dressing modestly or more traditionally, nor is it a critique of the women who choose to do so. Indeed, it is misogynistic to criticize women’s choice of conservative clothing. This is a discussion of a patriarchal discourse used to control women’s bodies; a patriarchal discourse that MUST be challenged.There is no doubt that challenging this exclusion and this abuse is very tricky. We live in a world in which Muslim women who wear the hijab and/or niqab are targeted by Islamophobic violence. Hell, Muslim women and girls who simply dress conservatively, hijab or no hijab, are targeted by Islamophobic violence under the label of secularism. As Muslim women we need to protect each other from that form of oppression. We need to fight for the right of Muslim women to dress however they wish without threat of being targeted for being Muslim. Part of that solidarity and resistance to Islamophobia does mean promoting and celebrating representations of Muslim women in hijab and niqab. Absolutely. But within our own communities there are a group of women who are hurting spiritually and no one wants to talk about it. No one wants to help us fight this expression of misogyny within our own communities. Even when we try to tell our side of the story, as El-Naggar did in the Gawker piece, there are attempts to purposely obfuscate and distract from it.Too many are mistaken that we cannot focus our energies on resisting both gendered Islamophobia from non-Muslims and spiritual misogyny from within our communities. Islamophobes will be Islamophobes and will use our internal struggles against us, regardless of what we do or do not do. But that doesn’t mean we let women be spiritually abused within our communities. It’s a fine balance but we have to at least begin to make an effort to find that fine balance.

Source: Enough with the Clothes Shaming of Muslim Women – sister-hood magazine. A Fuuse production by Deeyah Khan.

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.

Source: European Muslims | In English | EL PAÍS

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.

Source: Colonial nostalgia is back in fashion, blinding us to the horrors of empire | Kehinde Andrews | Opinion | The Guardian

‘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

Leslie Jones faces constant abuse – because that’s how racism works | Rebecca Carroll | Opinion | The Guardian

Ostensibly, the initial attacks were the apex of ongoing negative reaction to Jones starring in the all-female remake of Ghostbusters. Trolls went after her looks, her skin, her body – everything that makes her who she is, and makes her black. She was called an ape. The attacks were unequivocally racist. Twitter issued a bland, cookie-cutter response.But this all didn’t happen just because she did a movie. It was because she is a statuesque dark-skinned black woman, sister in spirit and posture to Nina Simone; elegant in her vocal command, towering with a feverish, ebullient talent that cannot be contained. It’s asinine to say that the racists who are targeting Leslie Jones are Ghostbuster purists, and that’s really what this is all about.And while the New York Times reported that Jones “and her white cast mates have endured months of criticism since the announcement of a reboot of the blockbuster franchise,” those same white cast mates were not called a “big lipped coon”. What stopped one or all of these actors from saying during one of the myriad talk shows they appeared on: “You know what’s not cool? Racism. You know why? Because it targets and maims people we love and respect and live on the planet with.”The film’s director, Paul Feig, did come to her defense, tweeting: “Leslie Jones is one of the greatest people I know. Any personal attacks against her are attacks against us all.” But again, if it really were an attack against us all – assuming he means himself and the rest of the mostly white cast – and it actually felt like an attack in the same way these feel like attacks to Leslie Jones, you can be sure he’d be doing more than tweeting about it. You’ll note he didn’t mention the R-word.Here’s the thing: those who limit their allyship to tweeting their support when we’ve been targets of online racism have absolutely no idea how far removed they are, and yet how intricately tied they are to this thing that is killing us. Racism’s unceasing power lies in the way in which it can weaponise words: now, in 140 characters.By all means up the Twitter support, which is all well and good, but then go deeper. Particularly those in positions of power or who have public platforms – call your friends, call your state representatives, send group emails and reply all to everyone; be vigorous in your accountability and encourage the same in those around you, call into radio shows, launch Kickstarter campaigns, think about ways you can help dismantle racism all the time. Because it is happening all the time.

Source: Leslie Jones faces constant abuse – because that’s how racism works | Rebecca Carroll | Opinion | The Guardian

WikiLeaks posts medical files from rape victims and sick kids, investigation finds | Media | The Guardian

A partially disabled Saudi woman who’d secretly gone into debt to support a sick relative said she was devastated. She’d kept her plight from members of her own family. “This is a disaster,” she said in a phone call. “What if my brothers, neighbors, people I know or even don’t know have seen it? What is the use of publishing my story?”Paul Dietrich, a transparency activist, told the AP that a partial scan of the Saudi cables alone turned up more than 500 passport, identity, academic or employment files.Lisa Lynch, who teaches media and communications at Drew University and has followed WikiLeaks for years, said Assange may not have had the staff or the resources to properly vet what he published. Or maybe he felt that the urgency of his mission trumped privacy concerns. “For him the ends justify the means,” she said.

Source: WikiLeaks posts medical files from rape victims and sick kids, investigation finds | Media | The Guardian

Zika, a Formidable Enemy, Attacks and Destroys Parts of Babies’ Brains – The New York Times

The images tell a heartbreaking story: Zika’s calamitous attack on the brains of babies — as seen from the inside.With a macabre catalog of brain scans and ultrasound pictures, a new study details the devastation done to 45 Brazilian babies whose mothers were infected with Zika during pregnancy. The study, published Tuesday in the journal Radiology, is the most comprehensive collection of such images so far, and it reveals a virus that can launch assaults beyond microcephaly, the condition of unusually small heads that has become the sinister signature of Zika.Most of the babies in the study were born with microcephaly, but many of them also suffered other impairments, including damage to important parts of the brain: the corpus callosum, which connects the two hemispheres of the brain; the cerebellum, which plays a significant role in movement, balance and speech; the basal ganglia, which are involved in thinking and emotion.

Source: Zika, a Formidable Enemy, Attacks and Destroys Parts of Babies’ Brains – The New York Times

Raising Money for Clinton, Cher Sounds Off (and Not Just About Trump) – The New York Times

She compared him to Hitler, likened his campaign to a “racist” version of “Fun with Dick and Jane” and even said he evoked the murderous child star in “The Bad Seed.”“I just think he’s” an idiot, Cher said of Donald J. Trump, adding a decidedly unprintable modifier.The crowd in Provincetown, Mass., one of the country’s gay capitals, roared its approval at Cher’s succinct and salty assessment. But the famed singer and actress was not just riffing between songs at a concert: She was introducing Hillary Clinton at a fund-raiser for her presidential campaign.Cher did more than just blister Mr. Trump. She also offered a blunt appraisal of Mrs. Clinton’s strengths and weaknesses. “This chick is just tougher than Chinese algebra,” Cher said of the Democratic nominee.Prompting a mix of nervous laughter and applause, she added: “She is shy, and she’s not the greatest speaker in the world.”

Source: Raising Money for Clinton, Cher Sounds Off (and Not Just About Trump) – The New York Times

Woman fined for wearing headscarf on Cannes beach – The Local – French racism rules over idea that French are cosmopolitan and freedom loving.

A journalist for France 4, Mathilde Cusin, watched the incident unfold. “I felt like I was watching a pack of hounds attack a woman who was sitting down, in tears, with her young daughter,” she said.”Racist terms were used freely,” said Siam. “I was stunned. I heard things which no one had ever said to me, like ‘Go home!’ and ‘we’re Catholics here!'”While some people defended the 34-year-old, Siam says around three quarters of beachgoers took the side of the police and demanded that she remove the veil or leave the beach. In the end, she paid the €11 fine, and has since contacted the Collectif Contre l’Islamophobie, a French organization which protects Muslims’ rights.Siam said the incident left her feeling “humiliated” and that she felt she was fined simply for being a Muslim.The mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard, has supported the police officers, arguing that they were within their rights to fine anyone considered to be wearing an “ostentatious” symbol of faith, and that he had “no reason to doubt their judgment,”, according to La Depeche newspaper.

Source: Woman fined for wearing headscarf on Cannes beach – The Local