Monthly Archives: June 2022

As the United States celebrates Juneteenth, in its second year as an official federal holiday, policy makers should take the opportunity to embrace a new vision of US-Africa relations. The United States is not taking enough steps at home to foster the connection between the African diaspora and communities in Africa. It will need to act locally and globally (or glocally) to grow these connections.

Good foreign policy is good domestic policy, and vice-versa. But the systemic flaws in US domestic policy when it comes to racial justice became even clearer after police officers killed George Floyd in 2020. Human-rights organizations across the world, but especially in Africa, demanded justice. African countries lobbied the United Nations Human Rights Council to investigate systemic racism and police brutality in the United States and elsewhere. Two years later, we are in the same position, and more Africans and African descendants are dying.

Meanwhile, African diaspora communities in the United States and Caribbean are strengthening economic and cultural ties with African communities through business, sports, art, movies, politics, religion, philanthropy, and more. One of Africas first tech unicorns, Flutterwave, became the highest-valued African startup at three billion dollars, and its backers include American companies. Pearlean Igbokwe, who is Nigerian, is chairman at American film producer Universal Studio Group. Virgil Abloh, the late artistic director of Louis Vuitton, came to the United States from Ghana.

The second annual AFRICON last month in Los Angeles saw prominent members of the Black diaspora gather to celebrate Africa. As Grammy-nominated recording artist Jidenna told BET: I thought it was special that first-generation Africans here care so much about building the bridge between Black Americans, Caribbean Americans, and Africans.

That bridge is fortified through programs like the US Peace Corps, which trains and deploys volunteers around the world, and the Young African Leaders Initiatives Mandela Washington Fellowship, which hosts Africans to study at US universities and work with US employers.

Working as a US Peace Corps volunteer in rural Zambia, I experienced this ecosystem of collective impact firsthand while I helped create health programs and carried out sponsored projects in collaboration with African government officials and private-sector stakeholders. This opportunity for me and plenty of other African Americans to become more involved on the continent is a result of influential travelers to Africa and international-affairs professionals who paved the way.

Meanwhile, the number of Sub-Saharan African immigrants residing in the United States tripled from 2000 to 2019. This is a clear signal that diaspora communities want to become part of the solution for American and African innovation.

There is strong public demand for continuing to improve ties between African diaspora and African communitiesand there are several ways the United States can foster those ties.

The government has already made a few gains, as Congress passed the 400 Years of African-American History Commission Act establishing a group to educate the public about the contributions of African-Americans since 1619. Congress also passed the Countering Malign Russian Activities in Africa Act requiring the US State Department to develop a plan to counter Russian influence in Africa. Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden issued an executive order expanding initiatives supporting Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and formed the Presidents Board of Advisors on HBCUs. Biden also is planning to host a US-Africa Leaders Summit after an eight-year hiatusearning unanimous praise from the Senate for doing soand theres movement in the House to support the US African Development Foundation.

The United States has recently made gains in improving the representation of the African diaspora in public positions, most notably with the election of US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Senates confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, and the appointment of White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. Bidens cabinet includes seven Black leadersincluding Lloyd Austin, the first Black secretary of defensewhile the 117th Congress includes fifty-eight Black representatives, with Representative Gregory Meeks (D-NY-5) becoming the first Black lawmaker to chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee. And just weeks ago, Lisa Cook was sworn in as the first Black woman on the Federal Reserves Board of Governors.

Following these diversity and representation achievements, the United States is moving toward inclusion for Black communities everywhere, with the goal being what Nigerian curator Okwui Enwezor envisioned: The formation of a diaspora could be articulated as the quintessential journey into becoming; a process marked by incessant regrouping, recreations, and reiteration. Together these stressed actions strive to open up new spaces of discursive and performative postcolonial consciousness.

And yet, according to the Atlantic Councils Freedom and Prosperity Indexes, the United States only ranks forty-first in minority rights among the 174 countries measured. Theres plenty of work to be done, and it should include concrete action from the US government in the form of glocal policies that empower African diaspora communities and improve their access to cross-cultural collaboration and economic opportunity.

In this new vision, the United States should implement policies at the local level that fold into an international agenda. The United Kingdoms 2015 Modern Slavery Act, for example, is a local policy that aims to end modern slavery in the United Kingdomand ultimately seeks to remove the United Kingdom, an important economic player, from the centuries-long global system of oppression behind the transatlantic slave trade. Meanwhile, the United States has yet to amend the Thirteenth Amendment which, while abolishing slavery, allows criminally convicted people to be subjected to involuntary servitude.

Another example of glocalization is the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). While states are taking up some measures to reach the SDGs, theyre far off course for meeting them by 2030and progress on a fifth of indicators in every state is moving backwards. That poor performance, according to the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, points to rising inequality in the United States and, especially, economic disparities by race and ethnicity. By working more meaningfully on the SDGs, states could not only reduce inequality and its consequences, improving livelihoods across the board, but also improve the United States reputation as a leader in human rights and equalityleaving a different impression on its African partners.

However, some states are spearheading important glocal policies. One example is California, which established a Reparations Task Force, the first of its kind in the nation to study slavery and its harms. Its interim report included recommendations for supporting, compensating, and empowering local African Americans. But California cant transform the countrys reputation alone.

In addition, the massacre in Buffalo, New York, that killed ten Black people has reignited fear of more racist attacks. This impedes the United States ability to project values like equality, liberty, democracy, unity, and diversity. If these kinds of killingsand the climate of fear they createare left unaddressed, tourism and immigration from Africa could decline, with devastating impacts on the African diaspora and the economy.

There are other creative glocal policies that the US government could deploy. For example, it can create soft landings for African or African-diaspora entrepreneurs and foster cross-cultural collaboration by issuing entrepreneur passports similar to the United Arab Emirates Gold Visa. This would contribute to the ecosystem of collective impact that is central to the relationship between the African diaspora and African communities.

There is a strong desire to connect Black Americans whose ancestors were uprooted from their homes back to their African brothers and sisters. As a young Black man, I am fully aware that we are one people. The African American and African communities are my home, and the world is my backyard. I am proud to be part of a diverse and global community that cares about and loves Africa, and I believe that everyone, not just every Black person, has a role to play in supporting African diaspora communities. I see many Africans and members of the African diaspora traveling across the Atlantic to form meaningful connections, often using these journeys to self-reflect and discover ancestral rootsaided by advances in DNA research allowing them to make specific connections.

Tremendous progress has been achieved, but global leaders must continue to push for glocal measures that empower the African diaspora and strengthen ties with African communities. It starts with educating American youth about African and Black history and cultureand the ties that bind our two continents. Glocal policies have the potential to boost development on the continent and within US Black communities. Western governments, financial institutions, and civil society leaders are mobilizing now to protect and ultimately realize their collective impact.

Tyrell Junius is the associate director of the Atlantic Councils Africa Center.

Image: A protester marches during a Black Lives Matter through central London, asking for justice for the death of Somalian 12-year-old Shukri Abdi, following a raft of Black Lives Matter protests across the UK. Picture date: Saturday June 27, 2020. (Photo by Isabel Infantes/PA Images via Reuters Connect.)

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Time to get 'glocal': Here's how the US can better connect the African and African diaspora communities - Atlantic Council

No Escape: The True Story of Chinas Genocide of the Uyghurs

Author: Nury Turkel

ISBN-13: 978-0008498603

Publisher: Harper Collins

Guideline Price: 20

No Escape, by the Uighur American lawyer and activist Nury Turkel, is a grim yet vital read about the Chinese governments horrendously relentless repression of his countrymen and women in East Turkestan, or Xinjiang, the Chinese name by which it is better known.

This westernmost region of China is home to the Uighurs, a Turkic Muslim people, who have long had an uneasy relationship with Beijing, notably for the past two decades, as the communist government has clamped down on what it sees as local separatism and Islamism.

Turkel gives a summary account of his own life, from his birth in a detention centre in Kashgar during the Cultural Revolution both his parents were incarcerated but for the most part he recounts the experiences of other Uighur men and women. All suffered imprisonment and/or physical and sexual abuse at the hands of the authorities, some for no reason other than being married to Muslim foreigners.

The accounts are all from Uighurs who managed to later flee China. Though Beijing routinely calls such refugees liars, the substance and scale of the repression, with up to a million people incarcerated, is backed up by extensive research and leaked Chinese government documents.

A number of countries, including the United States, have characterised Chinas actions in Xinjiang as genocide, something Beijing has dismissed as the lie of the century. As Turkel points out, people tend to think of genocide as involving mass murder, such as the Holocaust or Rwanda. But there is a strong argument that many of Chinas documented actions, such as forced sterilisation of women, separation of children from their parents and the active suppression of language, religion and culture, meet the United Nations definition of genocide.

Turkel is smart enough to contextualise his account with references to egregious human rights abuses of western powers, no doubt mindful of the resistance of many in the West to the notion that authoritarian states such as China are unique offenders in this respect.

Sadly, while the situation in Xinjiang has gained more attention in recent years thanks to the efforts of Turkel and others, the lack of serious leverage to be wielded against Beijing makes the plight of the Uighurs a particularly desperate one. Nonetheless, No Escape is an important testimony to one of the greatest humanitarian outrages of our time.

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No Escape by Nury Turkel: Grim but vital read about China's oppression of Uighurs - The Irish Times

Wimbledon has been urged to cut ties with HSBC over its refusal to condemn Beijing's authoritarian crackdown in Hong Kong.

MPs from the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Hong Kong have called on Wimbledon to drop ties with its banking partner to show the championship will not tolerate links with any entity "complicit in oppression and human rights abuses".

The call comes ahead of the start of the world's biggest tennis tournament on June 27.

In a letter seen by The Telegraph and sent to Wimbledon's chief executive Sally Bolton, MPs accused the bank of profiting "from human rights abuses" by backing a law which bans dissent in Hong Kong.

"This year, when 1st July is the 25th anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong to China, we must show Hongkongers that they are not alone, that those who support their oppression will not benefit from doing so," the letter reads.

Signatories include Labour MP Siobhain McDonagh and former Green Party leader Baroness Bennett.

HSBC, which also sponsors tennis star Emma Raducanu, has repeatedly come under fire from activists and politicians for publicly backing Beijing's law, which bans anti-government activity in the former British colony.

The law came into force in 2020 and continues to attract widespread criticism. Campaigners say it has led to a rapid dismantling of Hong Kong's freedoms.

Wimbledon and other major sporting events came under pressure to drop HSBC as a sponsor last year but all continued the relationship. The bank has now unveiled a four-year partnership with US Open champion Raducanu. Hong Kong is where the London-listed bank makes most of its money.

In the latest letter, the APPG said HSBC's support for the Hong Kong crackdown has made it "complicit in gross human rights abuses in the city". It added that the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) must distance itself.

"The AELTC encapsulates some of the very best of Wimbledons values of integrity and respect, the letter said. To receive financial support from a bank which profits from human rights abuses is a stain on that exemplary reputation."

HSBC declined to comment.

An All England Club spokesperson said: "We have recently received the APPG for Hong Kong's letter, and we appreciate them raising their concerns. We will be responding to them in due course."

CLARIFICATION: An earlier version of this article mistakenly attributed quotes from the APPG letter to Sally Bolton. The article has been corrected, and we apologise for the error.

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Wimbledon told to drop HSBC over its support for Hong Kong oppression - The Telegraph

The Arab world did not always view the Shi'ite regime in Iran through sectarian lens, despite the fact that the majority of Muslims in the world are Sunni.

Former Iranian Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini, the father of the Iranian Revolution, used to be seen as the leader of the protest against the Shah's oppression, Western hegemony and Israel's influence.

3 View gallery

Pictures of Ayatollah Khomeini and Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei

(Photo: AP)

Later, the Iran Iraq war undermined Iran's reputation in the Arab world, but during Tehran's campaign in assisting Lebanon in its war against Israel in 2006, it has managed to repair the damaged image.

But, since then Iran has widened its rift with the Sunni world by backing Shi'ite political parties in Iraq and Lebanon, instead of viewing the Middle East as the home of the united Arab nation.

Iran's condescension has not remained unanswered, and the loss of political power by some Shi'ite parties in recent elections can be seen as a direct result of the anger leveled at Tehran, which has been brewing in Arab countries for quite some time.

In fact, you'd be hard-pressed to find a Sunni Muslim in Lebanon who is not angered by Hezbollah - which up until a few weeks ago had a majority in the Lebanese parliament - and the recent election results are proof of that.

Hezbollah is also immersed in sectarianism in its political alliances. The party demonstrates a lax position towards Lebanon's President Michel Aoun, who was suspected of having ties with Israel among other foreign interests affairs, when he was a general in the military.

The Iran-backed organization has no such tolerance of Lebanon's Sunni leaders, as was evident by the death sentence given to former Sunni Imam Ahmad Al-Assir, who dared to criticize Iran. He was accused of causing civilian deaths in sectarian fighting and attacking the military in Sidon - the third-largest city in Lebanon - in 2013.

But such policies have consequences. Iran and Hezbollah have paid dearly for viewing Lebanon as an extension of Iraq and Syria, and not a sovereign state that it thrives to be.

Iran was also harshly defeated in other geopolitical arenas when it sought to exploit those countries for its own interests.

For instance, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was tasked by Tehran with the responsibility of executing Iran's orders in Iraq and Yemen. He appointed Sheikh Mohammed Kawtharani as Lebanon's representative in Iraq, who then was in position to decide the fate of local politicians.

As a result, like in any other authoritarian government, it became utterly corrupt and Kawtharani's brother, Adnan, took advantage of the situation to advance his business dealings.

Alongside this, Iran has also set up drug and arms smuggling networks, which rely on Lebanese cannabis and Syrian stimulant drugs such, and it is hard not to see this as further humiliation of Sunnis

Sunni men, women and children are still displaced in their own lands, with the best among their youth incarcerated, while Hezbollah occupies their cities.

Iran seeks to sow chaos and is focused only on its own interests instead of considering the entire Arab nation as one - irrespective of factional affiliation. Until it adopts a different policy, it stands to lose even the support of Shi'ite Muslims.

Yasser Abu Hilala is a Jordanian journalist and his article was published by the Van Leer Institute's Ofek program

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Iran is the divisive force in the Middle East - Ynetnews

Confronting unbearable poverty, a Sri Lankan mother of three from Warunagama, a remote village near Wellawaya, 140 kilometres east of Colombo, tried to take her own life early this month.

Varuni Dilhani, a 33-year-old former garment worker, had consumed highly poisonous nerium seeds (locally known as kaneru). After being admitted to Wellawaya hospital in a critical condition on June 7, she was immediately transferred to the main provincial general hospital in Badulla where she was treated for two days.

World Socialist Web Site (WSWS) reporters visited Warunagama last Sunday to see Dilhani and her family. She was lying on a bed, still ill, and unable to speak due to unbearable pain. W. A. Anura, her 43-year-old husband, explained that she needed prolonged rest and was worried about how to get the 8,000 rupees (about $US25) he needed to take her back to hospital in two days, as doctors had instructed.

This tragic incident and the account given to WSWS reporters by Anura highlights the social catastrophe facing Sri Lankas workers and oppressed masses, as a result of the brutal austerity measures being imposed by the ruling elite and President Gotabhaya Rajapakses regime. Skyrocketing increases to the cost of essentials and shortages of staple food items have forced millions to drastically reduce meals while throwing others into starvation.

Anura told WSWS reporters about the desperate situation facing his family. Im a diabetic patient and was instructed to have one of my hands amputated after an infection. It was cured at the Colombo National Hospital but the diabetic situation has not lessened. During my illness we lived on income from hiring a three-wheeler [taxi], he explained.

Before coming to Warunagama, we lived in Piliyandala [Colombo district] and Dilhani worked at the Hirdramani Apparel factory in Kahathuduwa. She is skilled at cutting and sewing cloth and if we had enough money to buy a sewing machine, she could have earnt some income from sewing. She was mentally suffering from thinking about all of this, he said.

We were only able to cope with the income received from the three-wheel owner after paying his portion. Our household equipment was bought from what we earned, he added.

The family moved to Warunagama, he continued, because of housing difficulties and other problems. Dilhanis mother gave them a small piece of land there, but his wife could not look for a job because she had to look after their three daughters who are 4, 5 and 9 years old.

Our major issue is not having a proper house. We do not have the ownership of this wattle and daub house or this land, he said. We have to travel five kilometres to get to the nearest school and classes only go up to Grade 5. We have to walk through sugarcane land to get there, but the children are getting burnt by the sun.

I used to take my children to school on the three-wheeler but we were hit by the skyrocketing petrol prices and petrol scarcity so there are no hires now. We dont have any other income and the children now have to walk to school with someone else.

People are really struggling day-to-day to survive here because of the price of goods. Those who work at the sugarcane estate are only paid a 1,200-rupee daily wage and others who did this or that odd job do not have any work now. Because of the drought people cannot grow maize. The land is full of weeds but there are no weedicides. Theres no end to our problems and were all facing the same problems, he said.

Even though the government claimed that it would provide an allowance of 5,000 rupees, many people have not received it, and if you ask for it, you get scolded. We need this 5,000-rupee allowance and also Samurdhi [a limited government welfare payment]. People are trying to survive on whatever they find, including drinking water, but we cannot buy goods because we do not have money. All of these issues worsened our family problems, Anura said.

On June 11, Divaina, a Sinhala-language daily, published a vicious editorial entitled Let us beg even to commit suicide. While it did not explicitly mention the attempted suicide in Warunagama, the editorial referred to the poverty-stricken familys situation.

It cynically declared: [T]he biggest responsibility of a father that has legs and hands is to properly feed his children by whatever means Our biggest question is that the father has not done anything to end the hunger of his children. The editorial then callously proclaimed that there has always been hunger in Sri Lanka and that it will worsen in the future.

In other words, the population is to blame for the current situation and the responsibility for the tragic suicide attempt in Warunagama lies with the father of this poor family.

Sri Lankan newspapers and television broadcasters publish daily reports about growing numbers of families begging on roadsides and cursing the government over high prices and scarcities, while desperately attempting to the hide the reality that the source of this social catastrophe is capitalism. Responsibility lies with the government and big business, not their victims.

Wellawaya is in Monaragala district, one of the areas hardest hit by Sri Lankas economic crisis and the governments brutal social measures. Large numbers of workers and peasants are employed in sugarcane plantations owned by Pelwatte Sugar Company, many living in wattle and daub homes like Anuras family.

Multinational corporations began cultivating sugarcane in the district, overtaking traditional farming, during the 1980s. Peasant farmers were allocated four-acre plots to cultivate sugarcane, and half an acre to build a home, with fertiliser supplied by the Pelwatte Sugar Company. This transformed them into wage slaves on their own land.

The sugarcane companies were established with the support of the government, which suppressed the eruption of struggles by small sugarcane farmers in Wellassa against land grabbing, low harvest prices and the cost of seed.

One ton of sugarcane is worth 6,000 rupees and from 4 acres you need to produce 20 tons. To do this you need about 153,000 rupees for harvesting, labour and transport, Sujith from Buttala told the WSWS.

I began production on a loan basis. After harvest, the company pays us 250,000 rupees but after paying back your loans to the company you are only left with a small amount of money and so I abandoned cultivation, he said.

The farmers in Monaragala district, which has dry weather, are among the most oppressed peasants in Sri Lanka, with poverty, malnutrition and unemployment dominating the masses in the district.

According to Census Department data in 2016, there were 149,215 families in the Monaragala district, with 38 percent of them receiving the grossly inadequate Samurdhi welfare. In 2019, the United Nations Childrens Emergency Fund reported that child malnutrition rates in the Monaragala and Hambantota districts were 25.4 and 21.8 percent respectively, close to rates in South Sudan.

The world economic crisis exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and escalated by the US-NATO proxy war against Russia in Ukraine has led to rampant inflation and a worldwide food crisis. The social horrors that led to Varuni Dilhanis suicide attempt will intensify as the Rajapakse-Wickremesinghe government imposes round after round of brutal social attacks demanded by the International Monetary Fund.

As the Socialist Equality Party has explained, there is no socially progressive alternative to these attacks within the capitalist system. What is required is the building of independent action committees by the working class and the fight for a workers and peasants government based on a socialist and internationalist perspective to put an end to the capitalist system, the source of this poverty and social oppression.

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Facing poverty and starvation, Sri Lankan mother of three attempts to take her own life - WSWS

The FBI has finally announced it will investigate the spate of pro-abortion violence that has followed the Supreme Court leak indicating a possible overturn ofRoe v. Wade.

Live Action has listed at least 67 incidents of violence and intimidation across the United States over recent weeks, including vandalism, fire bombings, church service interruptions and the attempted murder of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Most of these events never made the national news but they are well documented.

But up until late last week, the federal government remained uninterested in the attacks. It was a jarring scenario, given the ease with which the Biden administration has thrown around the domestic terrorism label in its short time in office.

In February this year, the Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin suggesting that if a citizen expressed scepticism toward federal Covid-19 mandates they might be a domestic violent extremist.

In the latter half of 2021, after a series of heated exchanges between school boards and parents upset over radical left-wing ideology in schools, the National School Boards Association sought White House intervention via a letter that characterised parents as potential domestic terrorists. Evidence later emerged that the White House itself may have solicited the letter.

Why did it take weeks of arson attacks and church desecrations and an open letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland signed by 25 pro-life groups for the Feds to turn their domestic terrorist radar on? They went after disgruntled parents and Covid sceptics for mere dissent.

The politicisation of Americas intelligence agencies is only the latest casualty in the culture wars.

Acts of violence carried out by pro-lifers have long been used to discredit the movement. Despite this, violence has been an aberration rather than a norm in the pro-life camp, and it is philosophically inconsistent with the movements values.

The same cannot be said for those arguing for the deaths of the unborn, a tally that now surpasses 63 million in the United States.

While it is no shock to see violence marshalled in defence of further violence, it is deeply concerning that the Biden administration has tolerated so much of it for partisan ends.

It took until Wednesday and a sinister communique from radical pro-abortion outfit Janes Revenge for the White House to issue a clear denunciation of the violence that has been taking place.

The Janes Revenge communique boasted that it is easy and fun to attack pro-life centres and vowed to take increasingly drastic measures against oppressive infrastructures.

You could have walked away. Now the leash is off, the post continued. And we will make it as hard as possible for your campaign of oppression to continue Rest assured that we will, and those measures may not come in the form of something so easily cleaned up as fire and graffiti.

It is still unclear whether Janes Revenge is an organised group, or merely a call to violence via copycat attacks. It did, however, claim responsibility for attacks in Madison WI, Ft. Collins CO, Reisertown MA, Olympia WA, Des Moines IA, Lynwood WA, Washington DC, Ashville NC, Buffalo NY, Hollywood FL, Vancouver WA, Frederick MA, Denton TX, Gresham OR, Eugene OR, Portland OR, and others.

While the FBIs investigation comes as welcome news, the outcome already feels predictable: a token report months from now, and no arrests.

Meanwhile, Supreme Court Justices will continue fearing for the safety of their families as pro-abortion activists are allowed to picket their houses in violation of federal law. As Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen noted:

Just as it is against the law to tamper with witnesses or jurors by intimidating them or their family, its unlawful to tamper with a Supreme Court justice by coming to their home to threaten, harass or coerce them to influence their vote in a case before the court.

Its unlikely but possible that some on the bench might choose to uphold Roe simply to keep themselves and their loved ones alive.

They say that justice must be blind but who could ever have imagined that the US President and his Attorney-General would turn a blind eye to injustice?

Kurt Mahlburg is a writer and author, and an emerging Australian voice on culture and the Christian faith. He has a passion for both the philosophical and the personal, drawing on his background as a graduate...More by Kurt Mahlburg

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Has the White House awakened from its indifference to pro-abortion violence? - MercatorNet

The demarche issued by a host of Islamic nations with regard to the unfortunate Nupur Sharma incident has stirred up a hornets nest in India and unleashed a welter of emotions. A cocktail of shame, embarrassment, anger and helpless distress is swirling in the air. And the usual suspectsthe anti-Modi groupsare beating their chests and wailing out loud that our international image has taken a beating, while secretly rejoicing at the BJPs discomfiture.A disgruntled ex-BJP leader, a political lightweight, who owes his prominence to the party sanctimoniously claimed that Indias image has now come crashing down. He averred (Mask comes off, Indian Express, 11 June 2022): The outrage in the Muslim countries with which we have had very cordial relations until now obviously cannot be taken lightly. It has brought down Indias standing in the comity of nations and caused grievous damage to our image as a liberal, secular democracy. The cat is finally out of the bag because we are no more a secular, liberal democracy; we have, under Modi, become a Hindu Pakistan. Really? Pakistan is a country that has largely eliminated the minorities while India has 230 million citizens from the minority community.So why do we need to feel ashamed or embarrassed? And does a single incident erode our credibility as a liberal secular democracy? Why are such conclusions floated? We as Indians suffer from a deep-set flaw in our psyche; a profound lack of self-esteem, a dearth of basic self-confidence that stems from not knowing who we are. A direct effect of being subject to oppression for over a thousand years. So much so that even when nations with a combined moral quotient of zero pass adverse remarks about us, we go into a tizzy, lose all composure and subject ourselves to an endless bout of self-loathing. Nothing illustrates this phenomenon better than our response to the current controversy.First, one persons aberration even if the individual belongs to the ruling party cannot indict an entire nation and a people. Second the government has acted to rectify the indecorum by asserting its respect for all religions and suspending the errant office bearer. Nupur Sharma too has apologised for her mistake.Next, let us take a closer look at those Muslim countries that are hectoring India on moralities. These include Kuwait, Qatar, Iran, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Jordan, Bahrain, Maldives, Malaysia, Oman, Iraq and Libya.The majority of them designate Islam as the official religion; a caveat that automatically relegates all other religions to second class status. When we delve further into the track record of these countries with regard to religious freedom, shocking details emerge. Countries like Saudi Arabia prohibit the construction of non-Muslim places of worship; in some other Gulf countries non-Muslims have to seek government permission to establish religious places.Some of these countries do not even afford non-Muslims the basic courtesy of dignity in death. Kuwait and Qatar do not allow cremations, forcing non-Muslims to fly dead bodies out of the country to their native places. Other countries like UAE have only three centralised crematoriums, which involves transporting dead bodies over considerable distances. And Qatar is the country that blatantly reiterated and endorsed M.F. Husains blasphemy against Hindu Gods by honouring him with a citizenship.Despite all the criticism that the current government has been subject to, both at home and abroad and despite all the talk of Hindu hyper-nationalism, India still remains a liberal democratic country par excellence that treats all its citizens equally. The manufactured narrative of Muslim persecution is nothing more than an illusion; a false campaign of calumny that is often politically and ideologically motivated and far from reality. Muslims have the same rights as any Hindu. They have access to the same educational institutions, same job opportunities, same health facilities and are beneficiaries of the same ration cards that Hindus get. They can build their own mosques and pray unhindered in them.Apart from some Muslim-majority countries, the wider world has responded with a studied silence; a silence that says that we have been there and will not swayed by the violent tantrums played out on the street. A few scattered reports have appeared that for the most part have been penned by Indians or Indian origin authors with a known anti-Hindu or anti-Modi bias.Rana Ayyub in an article titled, The world is finally reacting to Indias descent into hate (The Washington Post, June 7) wrote: Throughout all of this, the social-media-savvy Modiknown to invoke values of pluralism abroadhas remained silent as Indian democracy has descended into hate and is humiliated with international backlash. The land of Mahatma Gandhi, Abul Kalam Azad and Rabindranath Tagore is being reduced to a caricature of hate on the global stage.Debasish Roy Chowdhury writing in Time claimed that the state machinery is increasingly geared to tormenting and brutalizing Muslims. He appeared to take delight in the fact that Afghanistan had rebuked India. He sarcastically commented: It takes considerable talent to be called fanatics by Afghanistans Taliban government.We must not be shamed by countries whose record on religious freedom is questionable. Neither can we allow ourselves to be undermined by the bigots amongst us. We need to be confidentb and answerable to ourselves alone as the bearers of an ancient moral civilization.Coming to the question of trade, the Gulf Cooperation Council (consisting of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates) is a major trading partner with exports of $44 billion and imports worth $110 billion (2021-22). About a third of Indias crude oil needs (Saudi Arabia 18%; UAE 9% and Kuwait 5%) are supplied by Gulf countries.On the flip side, it is the Gulf countries that are overwhelmingly dependent on India for their food needs. Specifically, India accounts for 84%, 91% and 80% of Qatar, Kuwait and Irans rice requirements. So, vulnerability due to trade disruption cuts both ways and both sides will think long and hard before upsetting the apple cart. Relations between India and the Gulf countries remain strong, unaffected by an ill-advised remark that resulted in swift action against the errant member of the BJP.The most concerning aspect of this imbroglio is that it has emboldened terrorists to come out and threaten India with attacks. Additionally, it has encouraged anti-social elements. Calls for beheading on national television have become common, rioting through the streets has erupted in several cities, and there have been obscene calls for Hindu genocide.The Gulf countries too must step up to the plate. After having vented their disapproval publicly, they must not allow the narrative to be hijacked by radical fundamentalists. This will only serve the purposes of extremists on both sides. To put this matter to rest, it may be a good idea for them to welcome the Government of Indias actions and acknowledge India as a genuinely secular nation.

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Gulf countries must appreciate India's action - The Sunday Guardian Live - The Sunday Guardian

I dont own to knowing much, but if there is one truth Ive gleaned from nine years of post-secondary academics (engineering, public policy, and law if were being annoying about it): if someones making something sound complicated, its either because they dont understand it much themselves, or theyre incentivized for you to lose interest.

So when reading the comments on the long-awaited gender equity pay legislation for the province, I became endlessly curious about which of the former it was: a general lack of fundamental understanding by these politicians, or an objective to push off the public interest?

P.E.I. recently announced their pay transparency legislation to take effect June 1. While it is not technically their pay equity legislation (as that came into effect, like many other provinces in, like, oh, you know, 1988) it does do a lot with what appears to be a little and adds to the existing framework.

The legislation basically mirrors that of other provinces: requiring companies to post salaries when publicly advertising jobs and prohibiting companies from asking potential job seekers past salary information or salary expectations. It also prohibits employers from lashing out against employees who ask for pay raises or initiate discussions around pay. Thats it. Its like a few additional lines of text in the, what, entire Employment Standards Act of the province.

What it does, though, is really interesting it puts the onus back on employers to publicize pay information and reduces the ability of companies to exploit workers who may accept less (statistically, women and other minority workers) for a similar job that would normally pay more.

Like nearly all policies meant to benefit equity groups, pay equity/pay transparency legislation actually benefits everyone (at least all workers), as most studies show that pay secrecy is how you lose out on making the most you could in your position. If companies are forced to publicize job salaries on postings, everyone is able to keep a healthy understanding of their specific value to a company and have the data to demand more without penalization.

You may think, "Shucks, if we want to see how that turns out, well have to wait a little while and see if its effective." Except we dont need to because were the fourth (potentially third, at the rate B.C. is going) last province to enact such legislation. P.E.I.s new policies are virtually the same as Ontarios existing legislation.

For those of you with actual interest, Im sure the thought of reading legislation is sleep-inducing (which is a healthy response). However, as someone who has read more legislation and statutes than the average person, I can promise you it is all quite largely the same. And why wouldnt it be? Effective policy is often proven policy. Transferable legislation helps with interprovincial matters.

The MHAs are talking about this legislation like were playing some game of complex Operation and if we use the wrong word in line 2 sub (b), the buzzer goes off and our chance at gender equity is over. But thats bananas and a complete either misunderstanding of their jobs or an attempt to distract us from how unnervingly straightforward these policies are, especially with the legislation in use and well understood in almost every other province.

This is far from me saying the legislation thats out there right now is perfect but you cant adjust what doesnt exist. You misserve everyone by not having any protection while we collectively work through optimizations.

Every statute goes through multiple edits once in place some multiple times a year over often decades of modifications. Such is the cycle of life (and, of course, politics).

To suggest that the MHAs of this province cant even agree to add some words encoding a right of workers to know how much money they might make on a job or protecting them with a process if theyre being exploited is incredibly concerning. (Almost as concerning as the completely-serious comment made by elected officials that there are still pay gaps in provinces that have pay equity legislation, somehow conveniently leaving out that most of the provinces without pay equity legislation have the highest pay gap. Come on.)

I think my naivety shows through in my ability to remain impressed at those constantly weaving a fable about making hoverboards only to have somehow pulled back the curtain to (ta-da!) a reinvented wheel.

Again.

To suggest that the MHAs of this province cant even agree to add some words encoding a right of workers to know how much money they might make on a job or protecting them with a process if theyre being exploited is incredibly concerning.

I know at a critical academic even level, public policy must be adapted to the environment to which it is applied. True, evidence-driven public policy takes proven fundamentals from other jurisdictions and engages with local stakeholders, runs variables, and edits what is necessary to ensure positive outcomes are demonstrated when applied in the intended environment.

However, were not talking about something that is jurisdiction driven were merely demanding people get paid the same for the same work. Were asking that be put in writing so those who find themselves in situations where that isnt the case have the power to protect themselves, their co-workers, their families, from that inequity. That there are mechanisms for them to make that fight possible.

The only way we can accept that as a jurisdiction-based issue is if we suggest that women or other equity groups in Newfoundland and Labrador matter less than those in P.E.I. or Ontario or, comparatively, if the companies in N.L. matter more than its people. This is certainly not a complex issue I'm not even sure how the government has managed to frame it as a divisive one.

I will leave us with this thought: starting in 1991, the N.L. government fought its people tooth and nail, bringing a case all the way up to the Supreme Court of Canada, to avoid paying its people (a subdivision of unionized women) equal pay, in violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

They asked the Supreme Court to state these women deserved to be paid inequitably from others in their fields. The N.L. governments argument was they just simply couldnt pay them; the province would go bankrupt. The government asked that these women of our province be denied a right under the Constitution.

The Supreme Court allowed it (years later the back pay was issued).

That was over 30 years ago. We have seen economic busts since then, sure, but we have also seen economic booms. We did not stop to repay those women by ensuring none would suffer quietly the same fate as those who suffered it so publicly.

We did not stop and check-in to ensure an ongoing safekeeping of our neighbours during those times of wellbeing. Is this the history we desire to leave of our province?

This question of do we deserve basic pay equity and pay transparency legislation is so soundly an all of us question. The only them who lose are the corporations who are profiting off the gap between wages, and the silence on discussing wage earnings publicly.

It is shameful that there is a narrative being encouraged that others those who are asking merely for a safeguard against oppression or abuse of power. It is embarrassing that we are dragging our feet against protecting each other. But the one thing I can confidently say is it is not complicated: so it merely, apparently, interferes with some other interests.

Which begs the question whose interest are these elected officials more concerned about than the people of this province?

Lori Wareham is from Mount Pearl, N.L. She has a background in graduate-level gender-based public policy research with an interest in diversity and equity in employment law. She was recently called to the bar in Nova Scotia and is now commencing a clerkship in Ottawa.

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COMMENTARY: Not recreating the wheel no reason pay equity legislation hasn't moved forward in NL - Saltwire

When Elon Musk embarks to his colony on Mars, there will be an Indian waiting for him with Chai, there is an Indian in every nook and corner of the world phrases of this nature are familiar to all of us. These invoke the globality of Indians. According to 2011 census data, 45.6 crore Indians are categorised as migrants of which 1 percent account for international migration.

International celebrities of Indian descent are constantly brought up and quickly claimed by us Made in India. Kamala Harris and Sundar Pichai are used by parents to set standards and remind their children of the smartness and efficiency inherent in Indians. An addition of a foreign degree, in particular from an Ivy League Institution, to the Indian Merit, is the secret recipe to success.

In 2017, 5.86 lakh Indian students studied abroad spread across 86 countries, with 66 percent of the target population concentrated in three countries: the U.S, Canada, and Australia (MEA 2017). In 2019, I secured a scholarship to study gender in the U.K and Spain for a year each. Unsurprisingly, there were already Indian student groups in place.

At one of the parties hosted by an Indian acquaintance, I was introduced to a group of jolly good Indians. I was discussing my scholarship terms and the inability to afford the posh student accommodations. A postgraduate student was gobsmacked and blurted out, There are scholarships for Indians? No one told me. I was in turn shocked that he did not even think of the possibility.

He followed it up with You are so lucky!. Thank you? Confused, I moved on to another group of students who were discussing Rajnikanth movies and I pitched in saying how much I loved Kaala, to which a film student replied, It is a nice movie and he is a great director but his problem is he is obsessed with those people. I perfectly understood which people he was referring to my people, the Dalits and Bahujans. My Indianness was lacking, an avarna Indian, I did not belong. Born in India, marked abroad, lucky Indian.

Democracy is hanging by a loose thread. Globally, overt racism and full-fledged xenophobia are resting comfortably on the rhetoric of merit. In popular conception, a meritocratic society rewards efficiency and talent which stands isolated from social and cultural baggage. It is based on the holy trinity of personal responsibility, natural talent, and hard work. How did the idea of merit develop?

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The concept of meritocracy is entangled and derived from the moral and ethical virtues closely related to religious faith. Sandel argues, Biblical theology teaches that natural events happen for a reasonthis outlook is the origin of meritocratic thinking. This hides the whole social process of making merit by proclaiming that merit is inherent and divinely ordained, which can be enhanced through hard work. Therefore, merit exists outside the purview of class, race, and gender.

Similarly, the making of merit in India is hidden within Hinduism. Pattaril pottan ella is a frequently used Malayalam phrase which translates to No idiot can be found among the Pattar (Brahmins). Ajantha Subramaniam in her book The Caste of Merit, elaborates on the co-option of middle-classness and merit by the Tamil-Brahmins of the nation.

So why do we have a problem with reservations? In India, the narrative of meritocracy is propagated through strong anti-reservation sentiments which is also a reflection of a nationwide decrease in the standard of living and increasing inequality. We need someone to blame. We are all working hard but earning less. This is a global capitalist phenomenon that needs sacrificial lambs. It is the migrants; the Muslims; the Dalits; the colored; and thus, never the system

She explains, Their characterisation as a middle-class fighting with only one weapon in their arsenal- education- disregards their long multifaceted history of Tamil Brahmin capital encompassing ritual authority, landownership, and state employment. In common logic, merit relies on the individuals ability to make something of their own. Merit is conceived as the residual power of a person after filtering their economic capital, the core intrinsic talent.

However, merit cannot exist in a vacuum and needs to be made. Merit encompasses the value added by social, economic, and cultural forms of capital. The access to best schools, parents education, ability to fund coaching classes, ability to self-fund tuition fees, and affordability to apply to multiple universities are requisite to acquire the basic conditions which could then make merit.

I am a good (merit adjacent) marginalised caste student, as I qualify to meet the eligibility of basic merit. In other words, I am lucky. I am lucky that I was not a first-generation Dalit, I am lucky that I studied in an English medium school, and I am lucky I got a scholarship. I am lucky to slip in with a meritorious crowd who can choose their university without looking at the funding options. The sad part is that I am indeed lucky because I am the exception, not the rule.

While merit is competing with luck, affirmative action stands opposite merit. It is a reservation seat as opposed to a merit seat. It is a reservation student as opposed to a meritorious student. Slowly, merit became synonymous with Savarna, while meritless minorities steal their education and jobs.

I was researching for this article and stumbled upon a Quora discussion. The question was, How do people from India see forward caste students going abroad to study since they are denied opportunities due to reservation?. It completely escapes the Savarna consciousness that it is a privilege to study abroad and not a disadvantage. One of the answers suggests a solution: the government funding backward caste students to go study abroad and retaining all general category students in Indian institutions. What a marvelous idea! Dalit and Bahujan students can escape the casteism in the Indian academia, while all the premier Indian institutions could be retained as hundred percent Savarna safe-havens.

All the premier Indian institutions including AIIMS and IITs have been repeatedly criticised for the overt shaming and stigmatising of Dalit students. Aside from alarming statistics of caste discrimination in Indian universities, I know a number of Dalit students who have been harassed and mentally abused to the point of suicide and discontinuation of education.

Also read: Public Universities: The Site For An Emerging Ambedkarite Struggle

In addition, professors who teach Bourdieu and preach equality, reject the supervision of Dalit/Bahujan (and reservation) students citing a lack of the academic flair or their incapability to articulate complex research ideas. I wonder what is more complex than caste. The few professors who agree to supervise lucky marginalised caste students like myself are keen to dilute the Dalitness of the topics to maintain the relevance. They encourage the use of words such as class, group differentials, community, etc., to replace the word caste. It makes the research more topical and adds academic vigour (read-merit).

Dalit topics are marginal, not sophiticated or mainstream. A few weeks earlier, one of my friends who is preparing for central government exams was blatantly discouraged by a parent. If you dont have reservation in this nation, there is no hope for you, cried a disgruntled Savarna. Let us check some facts.

Based on article 16(4) of the Constitution, reservation is provided to Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) at the rate of 25 percent, 7.5 percent and 27 percent (49.5 percent), respectively, in case of direct recruitment on all-India basis by open competition. According to the 2011 Census, the population of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes is 19.7 per cent, 8.5 percent and 41.1 percent, respectively, amounting to a total of 69.3 percent, indicating an under-representation by 20 percent points. From the other side, for the Savarnas who consist of 30.8 percent of the total population, 51.5 percent seats are reserved.

According to 2016 data, the representation of OBC is 19.28 percent which is less than the prescribed percentage. Furthermore, in 2019, the Union Council of Ministers approved a 10 percent reservation in government jobs and educational institutions for economically weaker sections within the forward castes.

the visibility of Indians abroad is a result of multiple waves of migration. With the Indians, caste was also exported globally. The western world got acquainted with the Indians, their culture, their food, their literature, and their rituals. Caste is presented to the outside world merely as a religious habit, family ancestry, or a community. It is never expressed as an ONGOING system of oppression. Suraj Yengde, a rising Dalit scholar, mentions in his book Caste Matters, the explicit casteism he faced at the worlds best universities and how he found solace with the African American community

Dalit scholars and activists have pointed out the inappropriateness of reservation as a poverty alleviation measure. Reservation was conceptualised to work as a long-term measure to enable social mobility of the historically oppressed. It is ill-suited to solve the relatively recent loss of economic capital of forward castes. A quick comparison of the income eligibility for reservation benefits will help to fish out the double standard within government policies.

Any OBC candidate with a family income of 8 lakhs and above will be considered as a member of the creamy layer within the group and is denied reservation benefits. The income eligibility of EWS candidates is also 8 lakhs. In short, an OBC with 8 lakhs as family income is considered the elite, while a general category candidate is considered economically weak.

So why do we have a problem with reservations? In India, the narrative of meritocracy is propagated through strong anti-reservation sentiments which is also a reflection of a nationwide decrease in the standard of living and increasing inequality. We need someone to blame. We are all working hard but earning less. This is a global capitalist phenomenon that needs sacrificial lambs. It is the migrants; the Muslims; the Dalits; the colored; and thus, never the system.

The pervasiveness of casteism within Indian academia, along with the power of a foreign degree to establish the merit, worked as a push factor for me to apply for a Ph.D abroad. In my search for scholarships, I found the National Overseas Scholarship, a unique scheme to financially support SC/ST students to study abroad.

But it comes at a huge cost. The scheme guideline specifies topics/courses concerning Indian Culture/heritage/History/Social studies on India based research topic shall not be covered under NOS. This effectively clips the wings of aspiring social scientists. In India, science has always been considered respectable and meritorious, the masculine stream which requires intelligence, logic, and objectivity. While social science is treated as an educational after-thought; a less serious school is made of stories.

Globally, the bias-free tag of science and the binary of objectivity-subjectivity have been discarded by welcoming reflexivity. However, countries that stray away from democracy always seem to hold on to this obsolete division and are hostile to the social sciences and humanities. Science is essential. Social science disrupts. It comments on the current socio-political situation. It is inconvenient.

The government does not support aspiring social scientists and is aggressively cutting UGC funding for the social sciences and the humanities. This leaves us with the option of seeking international funding, which depends on the internal committees of the respective universities.

As mentioned above, the visibility of Indians abroad is a result of multiple waves of migration. With the Indians, caste was also exported globally. The western world got acquainted with the Indians, their culture, their food, their literature, and their rituals. Caste is presented to the outside world merely as a religious habit, family ancestry, or community. It is never expressed as an ongoing system of oppression. Suraj Yengde, a rising Dalit scholar, mentions in his book Caste Matters, the explicit casteism he faced at the worlds best universities and how he found solace with the African American community.

Meritocracy teaches us that if you deserve it, the system will reward you. If you have merit in you, you prosper. This means if you do not achieve what you hope for, you are not meritorious. But you know you have worked hard, so why are you not rewarded? All through my life, I had to reaffirm myself, that I can, that I deserve this. I had to observe patterns, read books, and cross-check data to finally accept merit is made, merit is reproduced, and merit is social

Recently, Dalit activist, Thenmozhi Soundarajans scheduled talk on caste discrimination at Google as part of their Employees Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) program was cancelled. They cited that the talk could be seen as discrimination against privileged castes. Oh, Sundar Pichai! While Kamala Harris invoked her Indian roots and Hindu-phobia, she conveniently left out her Tamil Brahmin identity, lest someone smell privilege. Savarnas hold positions of great power and represent India.

Diversity and inclusivity scholarships within admission procedures in Ivy League and high-ranked universities usually club all minorities together. For example, BAME is a diversity policy of the U.K. Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnics (BAME) policy reserves a small percentage of seats for the minorities, while reserving the rest for home students.

This policy received huge backlash for clubbing vastly diverse groups together and the term is now rarely used. However, the essence remains the same. Due to the limited availability of seats, the scholarships are allotted to the under-represented minorities. Indians are well-represented in the global academia. But are all Indians the same?

The representation of Dalit students is minimal in high-ranked international universities and statistics related to the same are unavailable. This is another hurdle marginalised caste scholars have to face in addition to the lack of social networks which could support them on internal committees. However, we do have a group of rising Dalit scholars, who research above and beyond binaries. We need our turn. The modernity and continued reproduction of caste need to be emphasised.

The chaos we witness all around, the hustle, unemployment, the struggle to fill the gap in the CV, and our degrading mental health exhaust all of us. It is hard to empathise, reflect on history and mourn daily injustices. It is easy to deflect. It is a highly competitive world, and no one wants to accord their success to privilege.

Meritocracy teaches us that if you deserve it, the system will reward you. If you have merit in you, you prosper. This means if you do not achieve what you hope for, you are not meritorious. But you know you have worked hard, so why are you not rewarded? All through my life, I had to reaffirm myself, that I can, that I deserve this. I had to observe patterns, read books, and cross-check data to finally accept merit is made, merit is reproduced, and merit is social.

The rise of meritocracy is directly linked to the withdrawal of welfare schemes. It is here, that the neo-liberal system tells us look over there- reservation; migrants; meritless handouts. It is a scheme of politics where all individuals lose to a broken system. This is the global case of meritocracy. Merit camouflages rising inequality. Let us unmask meritocracy and demand a decent life for all.

Also read: The Argument Of Meritocracy Is Inherently Flawed. It Is Time We Put It To Rest

Uthara Geetha is an independent researcher. She is an Erasmus Mundus Scholar of Gender Studies from University of York (UK) and University of Oviedo (Spain). She also holds a masters degree in Applied Economics from Centre for development. Her main research area is on the intersection of caste, class and gender. She may be found onInstagram

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Merit Is Made, Reproduced, Social: Investigating The Soundness of Meritocracy - Feminism In India