Category Archives: Viva!

Diaspora Jews must place our bodies on the line | +972 Magazine

We came to Sarura to place our bodies in the gears of the occupation machine. Our Palestinian partners knew that our presence would make it possible for them to reclaim their space and regain their homes. And it’s working. We are physically reversing the process of displacement, with every cleared cobweb in every abandoned cave. I’ll be headed back to Sarura this week, and I call on every Jewish community I have ever been part of to join me.Leanne Gale is a Jewish anti-occupation activist and former NIF-Shatil Social Justice Fellow. She will be starting Yale Law School in Fall 2017.

Source: Diaspora Jews must place our bodies on the line | +972 Magazine

Nabi Samuel… Ongoing displacement and zionization

Occupation of their lands and dislocation of Palestinian people is a crime against all humans.

نادية حرحش

Nabi Samuel is a village on the seams of Jerusalem towards the west-northern part of the city. In 1971 the whole village was destroyed, and the people partially fled, and some were displaced outside the village close to their agricultural land. Nabi Samuel stands on more than 3500 dunums of land including one of the most impressive fortresses within a mosque that landmarks the mountain that stands in the middle of a landscape that shows you as far as Jordan and Tel Aviv.

Today the village of 200 inhabitants is considered part of a national park where Israelis feel like a holy site right under the mosque. You will see ultra Jewish people praying, in all direction of the place with minimal attention to the grand mosque that hosts this whole site. They enter, they move, their kids play, and somehow over there you may spot a Palestinian who became…

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Trump the truth: Free expression in the US president’s first 100 days – IFEX

PEN America’s new report Trump the Truth: Free Expression in the President’s First 100 Days clocks more than 70 separate instances where President Trump or senior Administration officials have taken potshots at the press, including Presidential tweets decrying “fake news,” restrictions on media access, intimations that the press has “their reasons” for not reporting terror attacks, and branding press outlets as “the enemy of the American people.” These instances amount to near-daily efforts by the Trump Administration to undermine the press during the President’s first 100 days. Such efforts not only chip away at public trust for the media and its indispensable role in keeping the public informed, but also signal to regimes abroad that the United States will not stand up for press freedom

Source: Trump the truth: Free expression in the US president’s first 100 days – IFEX

Chunks of a Shia Muslim childhood – sister-hood magazine. A Fuuse production by Deeyah Khan.

Grade five. During recess. Seven girls from my class crowd around me while they hold their lunchboxes. I must explain to them why Shias drink blood. I am a Shia Muslim so I must know. But we do not drink blood, I start out. The tallest of the bunch smirks at me. We know, you know. You cannot keep it hidden or anything. Why are you guys so disgusting? I close my eyes and remember a conversation I had with my uncle. Why are there always almost no Shias in school and so many Sunnis, maamu jaan? There is no one to support me when someone bullies me. I feel lonely and scared. My uncle just smiles. I press on. Kisa beta, one Shia equals thirty Sunnis okay? Not that we are better than them, everybody is equal, just the same as each other. But we have much more knowledge than them, jaan. We learn and relearn our religion for two months straight every year when we have majlis. We have discussions and analyze the viewpoints of so many scholars. That makes us very powerful. Never forget that. I look at the seven jeering faces eyeing me expectantly. Well, we drink blood because we are vampires, I shrug. The horrified expressions as I bite into my sandwich are hilarious.

Source: Chunks of a Shia Muslim childhood – sister-hood magazine. A Fuuse production by Deeyah Khan.

What it means to be a White Muslim – sister-hood magazine. A Fuuse production by Deeyah Khan.

My ethnicity is Afghani. My mother was born in Pakistan, where she lived until she was my age. My grandmother is a direct descendent of a man regarded as the founder of modern day Afghanistan. However, my lineage, my roots, and my family tree were, and still remain broken. Coming from a kingdom that was colonised, shattered, and then portioned out with figurative lines results in that breakage. That’s why when people expect me to give them a solid response to the question ‘Why do you look white?’ I can’t answer honestly, because I don’t know. My fair skin and my green eyes are remnants of my forgotten lineage. My great grandmother’s sharp, bright blue eyes and white blonde hair tell me why I look the way I do.Growing up in the US has erased my understanding of my appearance completely. I was thrown into a puddle of other white-presenting children whose great grandmothers may have all had blue eyes and bright hair. I blended in physically, and I started to blend in socially, mentally, emotionally. To them I was another pretty white friend. But to myself, I was a confused kid who would come home to a mother that would sit me down and teach me how to read the Quran. And when my second grade best friend asked me which church I went to, I responded with one that I passed by on the way to my school every day, one that I would never realistically step foot in. Because I had no choice.I am still apologetic to those who ask me where I’m from and expect a less difficult response. I am still scared to say that I am Muslim. But I am privileged. I am able to hide in the white shadows; to hide the side of me that is different, that is exotic, and that is automatically associated with terrorism. I am able to reap the benefits of being a white woman in America, up until someone asks me my name. At that moment, I feel the fear that so many brown and black Muslim bodies feel on a daily basis. I am proud of my heritage, and I am proud of my people. But I know that out there exist those young women whose mother’s taught them the same verses of the Quran that my mother taught me. Those young women who are chastised, harassed, embarrassed, and who are forced to be apologetic, because they wear their ethnicity on their bodies, unlike me. Those are the women that I and everyone else must stand up for.

Source: What it means to be a White Muslim – sister-hood magazine. A Fuuse production by Deeyah Khan.

Unstoppable You – Adopt The New Learning 4.0 Mindset And Change Your Life – (Recommended by Ned)

 

Learning 4.0 is an upgrade in how LEARNERS approach learning: on their own; in groups and teams; with help from managers and others who are not trained to assist learning, and in formal programs, apps and other experiences designed by professionals. Think of Learning 4.0 as a fourth major upgrade in our human learning “software”.

Source: Unstoppable You – Adopt The New Learning 4.0 Mindset And Change Your Life

Egyptian Aak 2017- Week 20 (May 15-21)

Nervana

Top Headlines

  • Trump praises Sisi, says he hopes to visit Egypt
  • Sisi: Timing not right to declare my stance on 2018 presidential elections
  • In surprise move, Egypt central bank hikes key interests rate
  • Egypt refers 48 to court in connection with three bombings of Coptic churches.
  • Egypt prosecution investigates escape of Mubarak era interior minister
  • North Sinai’s second largest tribe al-Sawarka declares war against Sinai Province
  • Egyptian party Future of a Nation suspends Islamic cleric over “Christian unbelievers” remark

 Main Headlines

 Monday

 Tuesday

  • North Sinai’s second largest tribe al-Sawarka declares war against Sinai Province
  • IS mourns Palestinian member killed in Sinai
  • Sudan’s president said he will remain patient with Egypt even…

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في انتظار ترامب والفرص الضائعة

نادية حرحش

يقف المجتمع الفلسطيني علي شفا حفرة من نار لا يوجد من ينجيه منه , وبسذاجة ربما كونية في تاريخ المكون الفلسطيني ينتظر حلا من ترامب القادم لعقد صفقات وكأن المنطقة منتجع سياحي استكمالي لمشاريعه الخاصة .

نقف متفرجين كمن يقف في حواشي الافراح والاتراح معلقا متهكما ,لا فرحا ولا حزنا . لأننا فقدنا في ظل كل ما يجري جزءا مهما من كينونتنا تلك التي تضخ المشاعر في نفوسنا .

تتداخل كل الأمور والقضايا لدرجة أصبحت كلها سواسية. تقلص حجم الوطن الى بعض المطالبات التجارية لا ترقى حتى الى تسميتها بالاقتصادية , أصبحت فيها خطط نتانياهو السالفة لسلام اقتصادي اقرب الى الاعجاز العلمي.

نسخر من السعودية وميلانيا وايفانكا والكوميديا الشيطانية التي نقف امامها مستهزئين متهكمين ولكن بالنهاية موافقين . فالرهان السعودي والامريكي على خمولنا وغباءنا كشعوب رهان كاسب. فبالنهاية تقوم أمريكا بعقد صفقات أسلحة للسعودية لقتل العرب والمسلمين في اليمن وسورية والعراق وغيرها  من خلال التنظيمات الإرهابية التي لا تزال تنشؤها…

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An Open Letter to Rev. Franklin Graham from a “Small Church” Pastor

Peter's Outer Cape Portico

Dear Frank

Can I call you Frank? This is just pastor to pastor. Feel free to call me Peter. Anyway, I have to say I was flattered when I learned that your Decision America Tour took a detour off the beaten path to call upon us “small community churches.” We are nothing if not small. We seat 30-40 on a good Sunday. And we are a century old fixture of our small community. Most often we are overlooked and overshadowed by mega-churches and politically influential religious voices like your own. We don’t hold a candle to an auditorium filled with the music of a one hundred voice choir led by professional musicians. We probably will never be recognized in any nationally syndicated media. After all, we don’t do anything really “newsworthy.” We just preach the good news of Jesus Christ; love one another the best we can (which sometimes isn’t…

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