Monthly Archives: May 2021

Washington, D.C., May 07, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Bahai International Community is concerned that a recent intensification of the persecution of the Bahais in Iran appears to be underway, signaling the implementation of a larger plan by the Iranian government to increase the persecution of the community, the largest non-Muslim religious minority in the country.

A campaign of raids on Bahai homes and baseless arrests of Bahais is currently unfolding across Iran. So far, dozens of Baha'i homes have been raided by authorities in Baharestan, Isfahan, and Shiraz, resulting in the detention of over 20 Bahais and more who can be called to prison at any time. These raids and arrests are the latest in a long list of recent incidents of persecution, including the confiscation Bahai-owned properties in the village of Ivel in Mazandaran Province, a confidential directive from the Commission on Ethnicities, Sects and Religions in the town of Sari in Mazandaran Province to monitor and suppress Bahais, and the banning of the Bahais of Tehran from burying their loved ones in land previously allocated to them in Tehrans Khavaran cemetery. Such incidents are nothing less than an extensive government campaign, the aim of which is the systematic eradication of the Bahai community as a viable entity.

Waves of courageous domestic and international support for the Bahais in Iran has generated a global outcry in solidarity for the most basic human rights of Iranian citizens. As a result, one facet of the Governments campaign was reversed, as the Bahais of Tehran have now been able to bury five of their dead in Tehran's Khavaran cemetery, returning the situation to the previous arrangement which had been made for the community.

The recent events have proven that unity and solidarity are at the center of the achievement of human rights for all Iranians, said Diane Alai, representative to the United Nations of the Bahai International Community in Geneva, This support and solidarity is now essential in responding to the intensification of the persecution of the Bahais in Iran that is currently underway.

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Iran's oppression of Baha'is is unfolding with greater intensity - GlobeNewswire

On March 30th, the French Senate voted in favour of legislation which, if passed, will ban girls under the age of 18 from wearing hijabs in public spaces. This change is not yet in effect and must first be approved by the National Assembly. The proposed legislation will impose the prohibition in the public space of any conspicuous religious sign by minors and of any dress or clothing which would signify an interiorizationof women over men, including a ban on burkinis (full-coverage swimsuits) in public pools. Hijab-wearing mothers may also be disallowed from accompanying their children on school trips.These laws, which are part of the proposed Separatism Bill, violently target the more than five million Muslims living in France.

The controversial bill against separatism appears to validate and legalize Frances rising anti-Muslim sentiment. For many, additional amendments have confirmed fears that the French state is using the bill to attack Muslims and specifically, Muslim women for their faith. One of the more common criticisms is that French girls are considered above the age of sexual majority at 15. A 15-year-old girl under this legislation would be allowed to legally consent to sexual relations, but she would not have the right to freely wear a symbol of her faith.

Frances History with the Veil

France has long had a fractious relationship with the veil. The latest drive to ban minors from wearing the hijab stems from a movement that has targeted women wearing the burqa and the niqab since 9/11.

In February 2004, the National Assembly began debating a bill which would prohibit religious symbols in schools, including Muslim headscarves, Jewish skullcaps, and large Christian crosses. The state has often argued that religious symbols like veils conflict with European principles of individualism and enlightenment.

A few years later, in 2011, France would pass a law prohibiting women from wearing the niqab. This ban was the first of its kind and clearly demonstrated how far France would go to further marginalize Muslim women. Right-wing parties, including the Republicans led by Nicolas Sarkozy and the National Rally led by Marine Le Pen, affirmed Frances Christian heritage. A national debate on the place of Muslims in France followed.

The European Courts upheld the ban in 2014, claiming their decision represented the preservation of national integrity. In 2016, several coastal towns introduced the burkini ban.

History shows that the new Separatism Bill is not a recent phenomenon. France has gradually introduced and enforced draconian and discriminative policies against Muslims in the name of national integrity.

Hijab Oppression or Liberation?

The French governments vision of the hijab as an oppressive tool is a prime example of the orientalist gaze. Palestinian-American researcher Edward Said introduced the concept of orientalism in his 1978 book by the same name. According to Said, the West continues to perceive and uphold the perception of the East as backwards and less developed. Indeed, it is still easy to find orientalist ideas in Western medias representation of Muslim women.

From a Western perspective, the veil is exotic and threatening. A Muslim womans veil is a sign of her oppression. Since the emergence of second-wave feminism, a womans autonomy over her own body has been represented in the West as her being able to dress how she wants, show as much skin as she wants, and have sex when she wants. But if women have the right to make decisions about their bodies and how those bodies are exposed, why is the French government choosing to strip Muslim girls of their right to dress modestly?

Researcher and journalist Rafia Zakira has argued that white feminism has limited feminist liberation to sexual liberation. Zakira points to a shift from a deep and complex movement to a movement centred around the consumption of sex. Within this movement, its biggest casualty is the stereotyping and exclusion of Muslim feminists, who struggle against terror, obscurantism and the weight of patriarchal domination, all relegated to a position of inferiority, based on their refusal to affirm that freedom essential means the freedom to have sex, she writes.

Feminist movements in the West are often defined and led by white women, who focus on issues within their own societies that centre their own concerns. This approach leaves behind those with other experiences and fails to take into account the ways even common issues may be filtered through different racial or cultural lenses.

Thus, the feminist movement, particularly as the media presents it, focuses on sexual liberation and a womans right to nakedness on her own terms. With this in mind, it is unsurprising that the French government has used mainstream assumptions about the hijab to justify the ban as a means to empower women.

The Western lens does not view the hijab, or other religious coverings Muslim women wear, as empowering. But for many of the people who choose to wear a headscarf, the hijab represents thousands of years of culture and tradition. The choice to wear the hijab or not to wear the hijab is a matter of personal autonomy. It is not for the French government or any other to tell Muslim women what they should or should not wear.

The idea that Muslim women must be freed from a life of oppression, and that said freedom must be accomplished by imposing arbitrary bans, is deeply rooted in both a white savior complex and the colonial mindset. Dictating how minority ethnic women should act and what they should wear under the assumption that they need to be saved is the complete opposite of empowerment.

The Western perception of empowerment is not the only one. The way to truly empower women is to create safe and welcoming environments where they can feel included, irrespective of what they choose to wear. To be truly liberated, a woman must have the right to choose what she wears without society or the government prescribing for her.

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#HandsOffMyHijab: Women Cannot Be Empowered By Taking Away Their Autonomy - The Organization for World Peace

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday added his voice to a growing chorus of political figures in the United States and around the world who have expressed alarm about Israeli forces' violence against Palestinian protesters in occupied East Jerusalem and deadly airstrikes on Gaza, along with retaliatory rocket fire from Palestinians.

"Palestinian children should not have to grow up under the constant violence and oppression of occupation, as so many do, and have done."Sen. Bernie Sanders

"I am extremely concerned by the growing conflict in Israel and Palestine," Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a statement. "Once again we are seeing how the irresponsible actions of government-allied right-wing extremists in Jerusalem can escalate quickly into devastating war."

In a message to the Biden administration, he added: "The United States must call for an immediate cease-fire and an end to provocative and illegal settlement activity. And we must also recommit to working with Israelis and Palestinians to finally end this conflict."

"Israeli children should not have to spend the night scared in bomb shelters, as many are doing tonight," he said. "Palestinian children should not have to grow up under the constant violence and oppression of occupation, as so many do, and have done."

U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), who has repeatedly spoken out about recent Israeli actions and the Biden administration's response to conditions in the region, also shared a message about Palestinian children:

Palestinian children deserve advocates for their humanity, safety and security. No exceptions.

Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) May 11, 2021

The escalating violence on Tuesdayincluding an airstrike that destroyed a 13-story apartment building in Gazafollowed crackdowns on protests against attempts by Israeli forces and settler colonists to force Palestinians from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem.

Political leaders and human rights experts the world over condemned the violence and noted that the takeovers of Palestinian homes are violations of international law.

U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) urged the Biden administration to pressure Israel to "move away from annexation" and said that Congress should condition military aid to the country on whether the Israeli government is abiding by international law.

To protect lives, the Biden Administration must demand that Israel end these acts and move away from annexation and towards a two-state solution.

U.S. funding shouldn't be used to further human rights abuses.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) May 11, 2021

Should the Israeli government continue these actions and illegally annex territory, Congress must quickly and forcefully respondwith all options on the table. This includes the conditioning of military funding to Israel until the Israeli government abides by international laws.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) May 11, 2021

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"We cannot ignore the ongoing violence in Jerusalem and beyond as the Israeli government uses excessive force on worshippers at the Al-Aqsa mosque," U.S. Rep. Ral Grijalva (D-Ariz.) said Tuesday. "We need to have serious conversations about U.S. taxpayer dollars funding actions like these."

Some advocates for peace went further. In an email Tuesday, the U.S.-based anti-war group CodePink said:

What is happening in Palestine is heartbreaking and people around the world are taking to the streets demanding a just and lasting end to the root cause of the violence: Israeli apartheid. This week marks 73 years since hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were violently displaced from their homes to make way for the Zionist project. We have the obligation to be loudly and proudly in solidarity with Palestine and Palestinians, so that not one more family will lose their homes or loved ones to Israeli attacks.

In a tweet, CodePink slammed U.S. military aid to Israel and promoted a petition calling on President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to "stop funding Israeli apartheid and violence."

The US government has Palestinian blood on its hands! By continuing to send Israel $3.8 billion in "aid" every year, the US has made itself complicit in the horrific violence against the Palestinian people. Sign the petition to @POTUS & @SecBlinken!https://t.co/eUNrMYJG45

CODEPINK (@codepink) May 11, 2021

According to Jewish Voice for Peace, activists and members of Congress on Tuesday delivered another petition to the U.S. State Department calling for the Israeli government and settlers to stop ethnically cleansing Palestinians from Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah.

Critics of Israeli settler colonialism also protested in New York City and outside the State Department in Washington, D.C.:

As of Tuesday evening, according to the New York Times, at least 30 Palestinians, including 10 children, had been killed and another 203 others were injured in recent days, while three people had been killed in Israel and at least 100 were wounded.

During a press briefing on Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that the president's support for "Israel's security, for its legitimate right to defend itself and its people, is fundamental and will never waver."

"Jerusalem, a city of such importance to people of faith around the world, must be a place of co-existence," said Psaki. She added that evictions of Palestinian families "work against our common interests in achieving a solution to the conflict."

This post has been updated with comment from White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.

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Sanders Says US Must Call for Cease-Fire and End to 'Provocative and Illegal Settlement Activity' by Israel - Common Dreams

The proposed bill would aim to restrict Zimbabweans from criticising the country abroad

Zimbabwe is planning to introduce a law to punish people who are deemed "unpatriotic" because they criticise the country when abroad - and it has left activists feeling nervous.

Constitutional lawyer and opposition politician Lovemore Madhuku calls the proposal "dangerous", saying that "no state can define patriotism".

People seen as unpatriotic for allegedly undermining the national interest abroad could face criminal charges if the measures being considered are passed.

The move is part of a plan to improve the government's international reputation but campaigners and opposition parties argue it is another "vehicle for oppression", in the words of Dr Madhuku.

"Activists travel - we are the voice of the voiceless and speak the truth," says campaigner Rita Nyampinga, who spent years in the trade union movement.

"The government has always tried to persuade its citizens to behave in a patriotic way to maintain unity"", Source: Pupurai Togarepi , Source description: Zanu-PF Chief Whip, Image: Pupurai Togarepi

But those who back the proposed Patriotic Bill, as it has been called, say that it is about national cohesion.

"The government has always tried to persuade its citizens to behave in a patriotic way to maintain unity," Chief Whip for the governing Zanu-PF party Pupurai Togarepi told the BBC.

"But after the coming in of opposition parties [in 1999] many agendas came to the fore and it led to a situation where you are at war as a country.

"It is difficult to manage behaviour and you cannot arbitrarily arrest people without a law to back that."

The MP, who seconded a motion in parliament in March calling for the law, said the measures should also apply to the media and NGOs.

The reputations of both Zanu-PF and the government have been damaged over the past two decades.

Controversial policies, such as the seizure of white-owned farms, economic mismanagement and alleged human rights abuses, including the killing of opposition activists, have led to its pariah status among Western nations.

The US and EU imposed economic and travel sanctions on party officials, military figures and companies over the alleged abuses and also election irregularities.

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The government, however, believes the sanctions were a result of pressure from opposition activists and civil society groups.

Opposition supporters and police clashed in the wake of 2018's disputed election results

For years the government has accused the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, of getting too close to Western diplomats. It says that its representations to US congressional hearings as well as other foreign meetings have tarnished the image of the country.

Those who back the measure think that a patriotism law would address this negative portrayal, which they say has discouraged foreign investment.

Outlining the proposals, government official Virginia Mabhiza told the state-owned Sunday Mail newspaper that "conniving with hostile foreign governments and nationals to inflict harm on the country and its citizens will be criminalised".

"In the event of a conviction, stiff penalties will be imposed," the Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs permanent secretary added.

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This has had a chilling impact on people like Ms Nyampinga, the 63-year-old veteran campaigner.

She has been arrested a number of times over the past 40 years and was left traumatised by her last detention in May 2019.

Talking to the BBC about the debate in parliament over the plans for a Patriotic Bill, she broke down and cried remembering her arrest, along with six others, after returning from a peace-building workshop in the Maldives.

They were charged with subverting the government and accused of undergoing insurgency and weapons training.

"Even those who live in the diaspora, when they speak about their experiences in Zimbabwe it does not mean they are not being patriotic"", Source: Rita Nyampinga, Source description: Civil society activist, Image: Rita Nyampinga

Though released on remand, after 15 months the charges still hang over her and she believes a new law could shrink civil liberties further, restricting freedom of expression.

"If I cross the border and people ask me why I am shopping in South Africa and I say these items are not there in Zimbabwe, am I being unpatriotic?" she asks, suggesting that people could be unfairly targeted.

"Even those who live in the diaspora, when they speak about their experiences [in Zimbabwe] it does not mean they are not being patriotic."

Zanu-PF MP Mr Togarepi denies that the law will be used to stifle criticism, but acknowledges that people will be expected to express those views in Zimbabwe only.

"We are not saying we are not going to be criticised but we cannot allow a Zimbabwean to go and meet those who are hostile to us You can criticise me here in Zimbabwe, just don't go there and do it," he says.

An increase in arrests in Zimbabwe, though, seems to contradict the view that people are free to speak out at home.

Hopewell Chin'ono was arrested last year after he was accused of tarnishing the reputation of the president's family

Over the last year, more than a dozen journalists, civil society activists and opposition members have been detained.

Neither have private citizens been spared, according to the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights. It says it has represented a number of people charged for criticising President Emmerson Mnangagwa using a law which criminalises "undermining the president".

The government has said there is international precedent for the Patriotic Bill, citing the US Logan Act.

This is a rarely invoked measure enacted in 1799 aimed at preventing private citizens from conducting foreign affairs without the permission or involvement of the US government.

Several people have been accused of violating the law, including Reverend Jesse Jackson for travelling to the Kremlin in the 1980s. None of the accusations led to prosecutions.

"Look at [Julian] Assange. Why is he being arrested and taken to America? It is because he has violated their interests," Mr Togarepi says.

It is not clear when the proposed bill will be brought before parliament, but presidential spokesman George Charamba has said that it is next on the legislative agenda.

If it is passed, lawyer Dr Madhuku says it will be challenged in court, where he feels it would be deemed unconstitutional. He wonders why the government and MPs are even considering this.

"It is unnecessary, undesirable and dangerous," he adds.

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The Zimbabwe bill that could outlaw 'unpatriotic acts' - Yahoo News

RALEIGH According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Americans of Filipino descent had a median household income of just over $100,000 in 2019. The median household income of white Americans that year was about $66,000.

Based on these two facts, should we conclude that our society is pervasively biased in favor of Filipino immigrants, or of Americans whose ancestors once immigrated from the Philippines? Should we draw the same conclusion about Americans with ancestral ties to India (their median household income is $136,000), China ($85,000), or Nigeria ($69,000)?

No, we shouldnt. That would be an exercise in bad math and faulty logic. Differences in household incomes or other measures among ethnic groups have many potential explanations. Cultures, traditions, and family structures vary. Educational levels and labor-force participation rates vary. Settlement patterns vary. Preferences vary.

If youre with me so far, then you likely dont agree with a key tenet of critical race theory. Pieced together in the 1980s and 1990s out of disparate strands of Marxist and postmodernist thought, critical race theory seeks to explain gaps in income, wealth, education attainment, and other measures as primarily the product of discriminatory social structures rather than individual choices.

Its parent idea, critical theory, was concocted by Marxist intellectuals of the mid-20th century in the aftermath of disillusionment with revolutionary socialism as actually practiced behind the Iron Curtain. Some scholars and activists began applying their new ideas to the judicial system, yielding critical legal studies. Others concluded that prior Marxist analysis had focused too much on class at the expense of other structures of oppression, devising critical race theory (and even more narrow and esoteric applications) not only as an approach to radical scholarship but also as a guide to radical political action.

What does all this have to do with the public-policy conversation in North Carolina? Plenty unfortunately.

Do you believe in diversity, equity, and inclusion? So do I, at least when the terms are properly defined. Surrounding yourself with people of differing views and backgrounds is often good for you. It can make organizations and teams stronger. I also think people ought to be treated fairly, that they shouldnt be discriminated against based on race, ethnicity, or other characteristics that have nothing to do with performing a job well. And I think its best to include, not exclude. Dont you agree?

These beliefs are, alas, not what the current Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion movement is all about. Much of it is just critical race theory rigorously and sometimes ruthlessly applied to workplaces, government, philanthropy, and the social sector. It assumes statistical disparities must be the product of discriminatory practices and attitudes deeply embedded in our social structures. Therefore, it embraces the use of discriminatory practices and attitudes as the only proper response.

Let me explain that latter point more clearly. If disparities of outcomes are a sufficient proof of systemic racism and other forms of structural oppression, then the only way to know if the oppression has been dismantled would be for those disparities to go away. The logical goal must be an equality of results, not just an equality of opportunity. If that requires ongoing discrimination against privileged groups racial and ethnic preferences in hiring, contracting, and higher education, for example so be it.

Its all utter nonsense. Its based on simplistic and easily discredited analysis, and employs crude tools such as implicit bias tests that are both methodologically unsound and highly destructive of real human relationships.

Still, Id pay little attention to critical race theorists if they confined their nonsense to scarcely read journals and sparsely attended classes. In a free society, we all have an equal right to be very, very wrong.

But critical race theory has now spread far beyond the cloister. Its advocates seek to transform corporate governance, our justice system, and the curriculum of our public schools. Its assumptions are incompatible with freedom, liberal education, and equality under the law. Those assumptions must be fully revealed, clearly understood, and relentlessly opposed.

John Hood is a Carolina Journal columnist and author of the forthcoming novel Mountain Folk, a historical fantasy set during the American Revolution (MountainFolkBook.com).

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John Hood | Race theory is dangerous nonsense - Richmond County Daily Journal

Mahantha Thakur, one of the two chairs of the Janata Samajbadi Party, has refused to be part of the new government formation.

Issuing a statement on Monday midnight, Thakur said that his partys priority is getting its agendas addressed rather than government formation or being part of any government.

The statement followed President Bidya Devi Bhandaris call to parties to stake claim to a new government by Thursday 9pm after Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had lost the confidence of the House on Monday evening.

Thakurs statement also contradicts the view of Upendra Yadav, the other chair of the Janata Samajbadi, who is willing to support the Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) to form a coalition government.

Thakurs assertion makes the government formation process even trickier.

That the Janata Samajbadi Party, which has 32 votes, is vertically divided was also evident in the House during Monday's voting.

Fifteen lawmakers from the Thakur faction stayed neutral, as the leader had announced while addressing the House.

The Yadav factions 15 lawmakers, however, voted against Olis confidence motion.

The Congress and the Maoist Centre, which jointly have 110 seats, need 26 votes more to reach the magic number of 136 to form a coalition government.

Without the entire Janata Samajbadi support, the new government formation does not look likely. One of the ways the Congress and the Maoist Centre can form a coalition government, with the support of 15 lawmakers of the Yadav faction of the Janata Samajbadi, is if lawmakers from the Madhav Nepal-Jhala Nath Khanal faction resign.

The 28 Nepal-Khanal faction lawmakers were absent in Mondays House meeting and they did not vote.

Thakur in his statement has said that it has been in public knowledge that for the last few weeks the party has been holding talks with the Oli government in order to address the demands of Madhesis, Janajatis, Adivasis, Tharus, Muslims, women and other marginalised communities.

The other demands include withdrawing cases and releasing party cadres and leaders, amendments to the constitution and making public a report prepared by a commission that studied oppression during the Madhes movement, according to the statement.

So as a responsible political party, the Janata Samajbadi Party will continuously work and struggle for Madhesis, Janajatais, Adivasis, Tharus, Muslims, women and other marginalised communities, said Thakur in the statement. It is against our party's objective and the spirit of the Madhes movement to be involved in participating in any government or getting involved in forming any alternative government. Such activities will sure create instability and affect our efforts to get our demands fulfilled.

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Janata Samajbadi's Thakur not to support government formation process - The Kathmandu Post