After bans on full-face veils, head scarves in schools and rules about students’ skirt lengths, France’s perennial problem with Muslim women’s attire has taken its most farcical turn yet with a new controversy over the “burkini,” body-covering swimwear whose name is an amalgam of burqa and bikini. As of Thursday, five French mayors had banned the burkini, calling it, variously, a threat to public order, hygiene, water safety and morality, tantamount to a new weapon of war against the French republic. Thierry Migoule, an official with the city of Cannes, the first to ban the burkini, declared the swimwear “clothing that conveys an allegiance to the terrorist movements that are waging war against us.”This hysteria threatens to further stigmatize and marginalize France’s Muslims at a time when the country is listing to the Islamophobic right in the wake of a series of horrific terrorist attacks. And with presidential elections scheduled for next spring and the right-wing National Front’s popularity on the rise, French officials and politicians have leapt to support the mayors.
Category Archives: human rights
Burkini ban: The garment’s Australian designer says the French are ‘digging a hole’ for themselves – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Ms Zanetti said that was out-dated thinking, because women were the ones making the decision to buy the swimwear.”I think he is digging a hole for himself where women will be purchasing the garment no matter what,” she said.”If they are banning them in their beaches, [women] should be holidaying in Australia.”The Collective Against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) last week filed a complaint against the bans.The group’s spokesman Marwan Muhammad said they restricted fundamental liberties and discriminated against Muslim women. “This summer we are witnessing a hysterical political Islamophobia that pits citizens against one another,” he said.
Meet Palestine’s animal rights activists | +972 Magazine
Ahmad Safi, a PAL employee, gave us a presentation about their work. I was amazed by the amount of knowledge he had on animals in Palestine. He told us about their rescue operation to save animals from Gaza’s Khan Younis zoo who hadn’t eaten for 52 days during the 2014 Gaza War, and on treating working animals: the volunteers go to villages where donkeys and horses work the land, vaccinate them and instruct the owners about treating them respectfully.They also have a campaign to raise awareness among children about their pets.“We have to break the cycle of violence,” he said. “We have to tell these kids that what they see the occupation doing – killings, incursions and raids into their villages and schools – is not a natural reality. This violence eventually comes out on defenseless animals, and kids think it’s all right because violence is king. Everybody harms the weaker, and animals are an easy target.”“We try to convey to them that we are all living creatures, and we all have feelings – animals and human beings alike, “Sham, a volunteer, explains. “The same way we fear a tank or an armed soldier, they do too. We are under the occupation together, and therefore should help every living creature.”“It says so in the Qura,” Jiwa adds.Our ancestors didn’t eat meatI ask them whether they are vegan – khudaryat, in Arabic, meaning “herbivores.”“Sort of,” says Siham. “I barely eat meat. Since I became involved in this I noticed I don’t like the taste that much.”“I am vegetarian,” says Dana. “I gradually stopped eating murdered stuff, I can’t put in my mouth something that was once living.Sham says she does not proselytize or try to enforce anything on her family. “Palestinian cooking has so many vegetables. Even if they eat meat and I eat salad and rice, I’m happy.”“So many vegetables, yes,” adds Jiwa. “And how can you open a cafeteria without falafel? It has all the iron and protein that you need. Who needs shawarma?”“But meat is a requirement at any special meal,” I say. “Look at the iftar meal after Ramadan. Is there an Arab dinner party anywhere that doesn’t have meat?”“That’s right, Safi says. “We were taught meat was prestigious. But what did our ancestors eat? Plants and vegetables. They ate meat only once a week because they couldn’t afford it. Meat-eaters were considered the rich ones, that’s why it took over our diet. The meat industry here uses hormones profusely, we learned that from Israel. The owner of one of the biggest chicken farms in Palestine said that he learned from Israelis how to feed his chickens a mixture of chicken meat leftovers, intestines, hormones, antibiotics and some seeds, instead of the regular food, to make them fat quickly, and cash in on it. Since when did Palestinian farmers start growing chickens like that? It’s all about the money. Jews and Palestinians want to be as rich as they can.”
Source: Meet Palestine’s animal rights activists | +972 Magazine
American Xenophobic Racist Murders Lebanese Man Because He’s “Filthy Lebanese Ay-rab” | A Separate State of Mind | A Blog by Elie Fares
Vernon Majors did not kill Khalid Jabara because he had an “unusual fixation” with his Lebanese neighbors. He killed them because he was a xenophobic racist terrorist murderer.If the tables were turned and Khalid had been the person to whom all those criteria apply, you wouldn’t have hesitated to apply them. You’d have even decided what his entire background was judging by his name, the color of his skin, and the country where he came from.That’s not different from what Vernon Majors did. It’s not “unusual fixation,” it’s him making sure Khalid’s family knew they were: ‘dirty Arabs,’ ‘filthy Lebanese,’ ‘Aye-rabs,’ and ‘Mooslems,’ as he told them repeatedly to make sure they knew their place in his world. Not that it matters in the grand scheme of things, but the Jabara family is Christian.The story goes back to last year when Vernon Majors willingly ran over Khalid Jabara’s mother trying to kill her. Unfortunately for him, she did not die, and he ended up in jail, but like the good white American that he is, Vernon Majors saw himself out of jail a few weeks ago, back to the same streets, neighboring the Jabara family, and wanting to take out his revenge on them.Picture this: a man who willingly ran over a woman trying to kill her ends up in jail for one year, with no conditions on his bond — no ankle monitor, no drug/alcohol testing. It was as if he never entered.The Jabara family learned of his release. They also knew he had a gun. They also notified the police who informed them they couldn’t do anything, because second amendment and all. Minutes after the police left, Khalid went outside of his house to get the mail, and he was fatally shot by Vernon Majors, who has since been apprehended.
The Rise Of The Right Isn’t All Just About Class | Race Files
Consider the religious right. Are they a class movement? I argue no. They’re self-described cultural warriors, organized out of a born-again evangelical movement that rose as a response to sudden changes brought about by the baby-boom/free love/civil rights/anti-war/feminist uprising of the mid-last century by leaders who politicized what it meant to be “born-again,” exploiting the conservatism that dominated a cultural movement. During the height of religious right wing attacks against LGBTQ people and abortion, we were in a growing economy. The spoils of that growth may have been hoarded almost exclusively by the top ten percent, but the perception of good times was widespread throughout the middle class, and was demonstrated through the enthusiasm with which so many middle-classers responded to dot.com bubble investment opportunities that went bust. Never has the stock market been such a popular forum for the articulation of “hope” married to individualism than during the tech-bubble 90s.So let’s get this one straight so that class reductionists don’t steal the real opportunity presented by the fight against the right: class matters absolutely, but the rise of the right isn’t near as much about class as it is about culture, who gets to control it, and what that means about American cultural identity.I know opponents of “identitarianism” (the term for identity activists who they equate with neoliberals) will hate this, but those of us they’ve labeled “identitarians” include a not inconsiderable faction that understands that identity politics is, maybe, one of the most virulent expressions of anti-intellectualism out there. That’s right, we are able to hold a critique of identity politics while also having the sensitivity to recognize that you have to start with people where they’re at when you’re organizing a popular front for change. It’s an act of walking and chewing gum at the same time that I strongly recommend.Culture and identity are inseparable. We are cultural animals. This is what makes people distinct from other species. Identity is what holds cultures together. In order to win a more just world, we need to put political change in the context of cultural transformation and acknowledge this reality and not waste our effort trying to wish it away.
Source: The Rise Of The Right Isn’t All Just About Class | Race Files
UP dancer gang-raped by 4 company executives in Lucknow – Times of India – How long before men of the world unite and say no more and mean it!?!
A 25-year-old dancer was allegedly gangraped at gunpoint by four manager-rank employees of a renowned Ayurvedic drug company in a hotel room after an office party in Banthara, 20 km from Lucknow, early Sunday morning.The four accused, Satyavir Singh, Devraj Singh, Rashtriya Bhushan Bharti, and Paresh Tomar, all in their 30s and residents of Lucknow, were arrested and sent to jail after being produced in court. The manager of the hotel, Saurabh Sachchar, was also arrested for allowing a dance troupe to perform in the hotel in violation of norms.
Source: UP dancer gang-raped by 4 company executives in Lucknow – Times of India
Once Unthinkable, More British Jews Seek German Citizenship – The New York Times
Until Britain voted to leave the European Union, Philip Levine never thought deeply about his Jewish heritage.But looking for a way to ensure that he could still work and live in Europe once Britain leaves the bloc, Mr. Levine, 35, who was born in Britain and lives in London, decided to do what some Jews, including his relatives, might consider unthinkable: apply for German citizenship.He did so by employing a provision of German law that has been on the books since 1949 but that has been little used in recent years. It allows anyone whom the Nazis stripped of their German citizenship “on political, racial or religious grounds” from Jan. 30, 1933, to May 8, 1945, and their descendants, to have their citizenship restored. Most of those who lost their citizenship during that period were Jews, though they also included other minorities and political opponents.He is not alone in turning to the German law after Britain’s decision to end its membership in the European Union, also known as Brexit. Since the vote in June, the German embassy in London said it had received at least 400 requests from Britons for information about German citizenship under a legal provision known as Article 116.
Source: Once Unthinkable, More British Jews Seek German Citizenship – 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
Background on the Dakota Access Pipeline — LRInspire
The Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation is home to Dakota and Lakota people of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Since time immemorial, they have lived and governed a vast territory throughout North and South Dakota, and parts of Montana, Wyoming, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska. Currently, the Tribe is located in central North and South Dakota.
Secret Ledger in Ukraine Lists Cash for Donald Trump’s Campaign Chief – The New York Times
Handwritten ledgers show $12.7 million in undisclosed cash payments designated for Mr. Manafort from Mr. Yanukovych’s pro-Russian political party from 2007 to 2012, according to Ukraine’s newly formed National Anti-Corruption Bureau. Investigators assert that the disbursements were part of an illegal off-the-books system whose recipients also included election officials.In addition, criminal prosecutors are investigating a group of offshore shell companies that helped members of Mr. Yanukovych’s inner circle finance their lavish lifestyles, including a palatial presidential residence with a private zoo, golf course and tennis court. Among the hundreds of murky transactions these companies engaged in was an $18 million deal to sell Ukrainian cable television assets to a partnership put together by Mr. Manafort and a Russian oligarch, Oleg Deripaska, a close ally of President Vladimir V. Putin.
Source: Secret Ledger in Ukraine Lists Cash for Donald Trump’s Campaign Chief – The New York Times











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