After living for nine months in Jerusalem, myself, I believe that my meetings with Nadia have definitely made the most impact on me. Touring and learning matured my knowledge but speaking freely with Nadia, an Arab woman, has broadened my horizons. As she constantly repeats, “We don’t know what will happen…what will be the end.”We can only start here.
Category Archives: human rights
Egyptian Aak 2016 – Week 17 April 25-May 1 — Nervana
Photo of anti-Sisi protests in Egypt – via Tahrir Institute Top Headlines Protests against President Fattah el-Sisi broken up with tear gas. Monday Egypt puts on trial 237 activists for protests against Sis. Saturday Egypt’s Nour Al-Sherbini becomes youngest ever-female squash world champion. Saturday Egypt’s police arrest two journalists wanted “for incitement.” Sunday […]
Aleppo Killing Field
Tucked in the lower floor of a building was Al-Quds hospital in Aleppo, Syria, a small 34 bed facility in the Sukkari neighborhood. Its windows and entrance were fortified with mostly sandbags for extra protection despite the many buildings around it that, in theory, protected it from being attacked. The hospital was not a rebel-run […]
Joaquin Murrieta
Social Banditry and Ethclass Consciousness
In order to understand the significance of Joaquín Murrieta one must examine two important issues that surround him: social banditry and ethclass consciousness. A definition of Social Banditry is required in order to draw a comparison with Murrieta, as such. A Social Bandit is someone who is considered an outlaw by the legitimate law, while remaining a hero to the populace. He represented the oppressed foreigner who suffered discrimination under the law. He came to California to lead an honest life, he was wronged by a people whom he admired. To revenge himself he took to an outlaw life and robbed and killed the hated “gringo”. Many of his fellow Chicanos did not approve of Murrieta’a actions, but they were sympathetic to his cause because he dared to fight back and lead his people in a crusade against the “gringo”. This concept of social banditry is well known and seen in other historical figures such as Robin Hood, in which the bandit or villain defends the oppressed from the injustices of the ruling class. The issue of ethclass consciousness is also a necessary factor in understanding the rise of Joaquín Murrieta. Ethclass consciousness is the identification, or awareness of one’s own ethnicity and social status and how that plays a role in the way society perceives them. Ethclass consciousness was prevalent among the Spanish-speaking people of California during this era. The social forces in the state during the gold rush period were highly instrumental in creating this consciousness. There was a strong Anglo racism against the Spanish-speaking. This racism was evident in terms of how immigrants were treated in general as well as in legislation that was passed specifically to target them. One example of this was the Foreign Miner’s Tax.
Source: Joaquin Murrieta
Immigration Talk with a Mexican American: Latinos and Minorities Against Trump: Rage On Against the Dying of the Light!
It is clear, the Mexican American protesters are against the racist Trump’s message to build a 2000 mile wall. They are against separating families and deporting the 11M here. They are against the racist Trump’s promise to END Birthright Citizenship and deport (as he calls) “Anchor Babies.” These fearless and strong Mexican Americans will NOT go gentle into this good night. Rage on! Rage on against the racist message of Donald Trump! The racist Trump should expect the same treatment once he is selected as the Republican candidate. While his halls are filled with racist, countrified white men, expect minorities, Latinos, Women, Asian-Americans, African Americans, Muslim Americans, the LGBT community, ALL of us to Rage On against Trump! As Hillary said, “If you see BIGOTRY you should Oppose It!” Trump’s racist response to the protesters: “I expect I was crossing the border.” So clear he sees ALL Latinos as “illeeegals.” Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Niqab-wearing tourist stopped from entering Italian museum – The Local
The Musei Eremitani, located in the cloisters of a former convent, houses the city’s archaeological museum and medieval art gallery, as well as provides access to the Scrovegni chapel – the walls of which are daubed with world-famous Giotto frescoes. When she refused the request and demanded to know why she was not being permitted access to the museum, staff called the police, who eventually convinced the woman to show her face so they could check her identity. After she was identified, the woman and her husband were granted access to the museums, but they chose not to enter. Although Italian law does not forbid the wearing of the burka or niqab, since 1975 it has been forbidden to walk around public spaces with your face covered – for example, by a scarf or motorbike helmet ‘without a valid reason’. In a controversial move last December, Veneto’s neighbouring province of Lombardy amended these laws making it illegal to walk around in public wearing the either the niqab or burka.
Source: Niqab-wearing tourist stopped from entering Italian museum – The Local
Brother and sister slain at checkpoint were executed, Palestinians say | The Electronic Intifada
“Witnesses said it appeared that Ibrahim attempted to grab his sister’s hand and move away from the officers, when they opened fire on her. Maram fell to the ground and when Ibrahim attempted to aid her, he was shot in his tracks,” Ma’an added. “[Maram] had reportedly obtained a permit from the Israeli authorities to enter Jerusalem for the first time when she was crossing on Wednesday,” the agency stated. Eyewitnesses told Palestinian media that Israeli forces fired a barrage of bullets at the pair – “more than 15 rounds into the woman’s body, confirming her death,” the Ma’an News Agency reported. A witness named Ahmad Taha told Ma’an that “Israeli officers approached the two after they had been shot and on the ground before opening fire on them again ‘to ensure that they were dead,’ adding that the officers ‘could have moved the two away without opening fire.’” The man alleged that the knives police said were carried by Maram and Ibrahim were planted. Medical care denied The Palestine Red Crescent Society told Ma’an that Israeli forces denied medics access to the woman and child. Video from the scene shows Israeli forces turning away a Palestine Red Crescent medic and preventing a cameraman from filming. A brother of Maram and Ibrahim told Haaretz that he doesn’t believe his sister intended to carry out an attack, saying that she was on her way to a doctor’s appointment when she was shot dead.
Source: Brother and sister slain at checkpoint were executed, Palestinians say | The Electronic Intifada
23 young Jews arrested in anti-occupation protests across U.S. | +972 Magazine
Hundreds hold ‘Liberation Seders’ outside (and inside) major Jewish American institutions in five major cities, demanding that the Jewish community take a stand against Israel’s occupation. ‘The history of Jewish oppression is not an excuse…
Source: 23 young Jews arrested in anti-occupation protests across U.S. | +972 Magazine
Palestinians create seed bank to save their farming heritage in the Holy Land’s hills | World news | The Guardian
In the rocky hills of the Palestinian West Bank, farmers learned long ago how to adapt to extremes of climate that make spring the shortest season. In a part of the world where agriculture was first practised, they found crops that could survive even if watered only by the occasional rain storm. But a form of farming that informed both Palestinian culture and identity – seeping into the language, songs and sayings – has increasingly come under threat from a combination of factors, including manmade climate change, the incursion onto Palestinian land by Israeli settlement, and agricultural companies’ marketing of hybrid varieties to farmers. Now, however, an initiative is being launched to save Palestine’s agricultural plant heritage, with the first seed bank dedicated to preserving traditional varieties used by farmers for generations – before they vanish for ever. The Palestine Heirloom Seed Library – to be formally launched in June – is part of an effort both to educate Palestinians about traditional forms of agriculture in the Holy Land, which are in danger of being forgotten, and about the culture associated with them. The seed library will preserve “heirloom” varieties particularly adapted to the West Bank. Supported by the Qattan Foundation, the project is the brainchild of Vivien Sansour, who studied and worked abroad before returning to the West Bank city of Beit Jala.
Turkey’s ‘Campus Witches’ take on sexual harassers – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East
In a newspaper interview, Campus Witches co-founder Meral Cinar painted a gloomy picture even for young urban women, describing how the group formed in 2013. “I was one of five female students in an engineering class with 80 males. The professors would address the males as they lectured. Then, there would be off-color jokes and obscenities,” she said. Cinar added, “We were facing harassment in the dorms as well. The security guards would draw up rankings or top 10 lists of the prettiest girls according to room number. At Ege University [in Izmir], the lane to the subway station was unlit, and all the women passing through there would be harassed. Mersin University has the same problem. Two female students were murdered [in unlit areas]. All those reasons led us to take action to try to create an atmosphere where women can express themselves freely on campus.”
Source: Turkey’s ‘Campus Witches’ take on sexual harassers – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East







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