Category Archives: Government Oppression

Canadas Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Bentwood Box, made of western red cedar, by artist Luke Marston, member of the Stzuminus (Chemainus) First Nation. Commissioned in 2009, the Bentwood Box traveled the country with the TRC, collecting items from Residential School survivors until reaching its home at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation at the University of Manitoba. Traditional bentwood boxes were used for collecting and storing food and goods, such as medicine. Courtesy of United Church/Flickr.

by Gloria Y.A. Ayee|June20,2022

This essay is part of the Zcalo/Mellon Foundation editorial and public program series How Should Societies Remember Their Sins? Register for What Is Our Responsibility for Our Governments Wars?, taking place on July 12.

Can democracy stand the test of time? Many factors have triggered the deep schism in American politics today. But a root cause of our faltering democracy may be our failure to grapple with the truth about the nations history of discrimination and institutionalized racism. Because Americans cant even agree on basic truths about our history of exclusion, slavery, and Jim Crow segregation, we have become mired in contentious debates about what role, if any, the government should play in addressing past injustices and their present-day legacies. To forge a path ahead, Americans must acknowledge our problematic past and collectively commit to upholding the principle of liberty and justice for all.

Where could we possibly start? As a first step, we can look to other nations that were once deeply divided, and learn from their efforts to address their difficult histories in pursuit of accountability and justice. The United States might do well to consider transitional justice approachesthe political, social, and legal processes societies use to respond to legacies of systematic or serious human rights abuses, primarily during periods of political transition like changes in leadership after a period of civil war or conflict, or the transition from an authoritarian to a democratic political system. These temporary judicial and non-judicial mechanisms and practices include criminal trials and prosecutions, truth commissions, reparations, and institutional reforms to help transform a society and reestablish the social contract. The United States is not undergoing a political regime transition, but transitional justice tools can still help us promote national reconciliation and reinforce our democracy as we reckon with the truth of our history and legacies of systemic harm and oppression.

The Human rights, universal challenge room at the Museum of Memory and Human Rights in Santiago, Chile, showing a map of human rights abuses around the world. Courtesy of Warko/Wikimedia Commons.

The truth commission is a widely used transitional justice instrumentand one that can offer the most insight to Americans looking to reshape the collective memory and conscience of our nation. These official fact-finding bodies investigate, document, and disseminate accurate information about past wrongdoing and human rights violations authorized or carried out by the state. The United States can certainly learn a great deal from the successes and failures of these commissions in countries like Argentina, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Morocco, Peru, South Africa, South Korea, and Timor-Leste (East Timor).

The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) is one of the best-known national truth-telling and reconciliation processes and has been the model for several other truth commissions. In 1995, South Africas newly elected democratic, multicultural Government of National Unity established the TRC to investigate serious human rights violations perpetrated under the apartheid regime from 1960 to 1994. Apartheid was a brutal system of white minority rule and legally enforced racial segregation that formalized and expanded white supremacist and segregationist policies that had existed since the period of colonial rule. Institutionalized racism stripped Black South Africans and other non-whites of their civil and political rightsincluding their citizenshipand created extreme inequality and poverty. Anti-apartheid protests, demonstrations, and strikes organized by freedom fighters were met with swift and ruthless repression, and an estimated 21,000 people, the majority of whom were Black South Africans, were killed in the political violence during the apartheid era.

The primary purpose of the TRC was to promote reconciliation and forgiveness among all South Africans, while holding perpetrators of human rights abuses accountable for their actions. The commissions work involved a systematic process of investigating human rights violations, organizing public proceedings where victims and perpetrators could testify, offering reparations to victims, and granting amnesty to perpetrators under specific, limited conditions. The TRCs mandate covered both violations committed by the state and by anti-apartheid liberation movements. In its comprehensive final report, which the government endorsed, the truth commission outlined detailed recommendations for reforming the political system and civil sector, which included financial and symbolic reparations. President Nelson Mandela also apologized to victims on behalf of the state.

It is intriguing to consider the possibilities of a national truth and reconciliation process that could apply these approaches of truth-telling, restorative justice, and healing to address Americas legacy of slavery and racial discrimination.

The TRC faced some criticism for its amnesty provision and the limited identification of perpetrators, among other things. Many South Africans later railed against the government for its delay in implementing the TRCs recommendations, including the reparations program. But despite these critiques, the TRC succeeded in making sure the crimes of apartheid would be fully documented so that South Africas horrific history would never be forgotten. And in the decades since, the TRCs broader emphasis on truth-telling, social transformation, and national reconciliation have made it a standard for other justice and accountability efforts around the world.

Inspired by truth and reconciliation processes in other countries and recognizing the need to educate Americans on the historical context for current racial inequalities, in early 2021, Rep. Barbara Lee (CA-13) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) called for the establishment of a national truth commission in the U.S., proposing legislation to create the United States Commission on Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation. The history Americans must reckon with is not as immediate as South Africas, and our political system is not in a moment of democratic transition. But similar efforts have succeeded in non-transitional societies, notably in Canada, which established a truth commission in 2008 to investigate, document, and educate Canadians about the abuses that occurred in the Indian residential school system for Indigenous children over the 19th and 20th centuries (between 1894 and 1947 attendance was made compulsory). These residential schools are a legacy of Canadas colonial system and have been described as a form of cultural genocide because of their explicit goal of cultural erasure, and forcible assimilation of Indigenous peoples. The Canadian TRC documented widespread physical and sexual abuse in these schools, and officially recorded the deaths of 3,201 students, though concluded the actual toll is much higher. As part of its work, the commission hosted national events in different regions across Canada to support public education about the residential school system, pervasive discrimination, and the lasting trauma for survivors and Indigenous communities.

Citizens march for justice following the Greensboro Massacre of 1979. Twenty-five years later, community leadership organized the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Project to uncover the full harm done to victims of the domestic terrorist attack. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

In the United States, there have been similar initiatives, organized by grassroots groups, to address abuses and wrongdoing at the local level. In 2013, the state of Maines Office of Child and Family Services with the support of the Wabanaki Tribes established the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission (MWTRC) to investigate and document state child welfare policies, their compliance with the Indian Child Welfare Act, and their effects on the Indigenous Wabanaki people. The commission collected testimony and found compelling evidence of public and institutional racism toward the Wabanaki people, documenting how Native children in Maine were placed in the foster care system at a rate of more than five times that of non-Native children, and concluding that the administration of child welfare by the state constituted a form of cultural genocide. The commission wanted to provide opportunities for truth-telling and healing, give voice to the Wabanaki people, establish a more complete account of the history of the Wabanaki people, and foster deeper understanding and reconciliation between Wabanaki people and the state of Maine.

The city of Greensboro in North Carolina also embarked on a notable truth and reconciliation effort, modeling the 2004 Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission after the South African TRC. Greensboro created its commission to investigate and document the underlying causes and consequences of a single event: the Greensboro Massacre, a confrontation between members of the Communist Workers Party, the American Nazi Party, and the Ku Klux Klan on November 3, 1979. During a Death to the Klan rally, Klansmen and neo-Nazis shot into the crowd, killing five demonstrators and wounding 10 others. Suspiciously, there was no police presence at the rally, even though the Greensboro Police Department knew about the planned attack. Despite eyewitness accounts and videotaped evidence, the Klansmen and neo-Nazis claimed self-defense and were acquitted of all charges by all-white juries in two separate criminal trials. During a civil trial in 1985, the Greensboro Police Department, the Klan, and Nazi Party members were found liable for one of the deaths.

After about two years of collecting evidence and holding public hearings, the commission concluded that the decision of the police to stay away from the rally was a significant factor in the violence that unfolded. The commission also found that the police department and city managers deliberately misled the public in order to absolve the police department of any responsibility. They found fault in the two criminal trials as well: Neither jury was representative of Greensboro residents and community members, which contributed to impunity for the killings, distrust of the police department, and further strained race relations. The Greensboro truth commissions goals were multifacetedto pursue the truth about racially motivated political violence; to foster healing, reconciliation, and social transformation; and to learn from other truth and reconciliation processes.

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Could a Truth and Reconciliation Commission Unite America? - zocalopublicsquare.org

On Friday, British Home Secretary Priti Patel announced that she has approved WikiLeaks founder Julian Assanges extradition to the United States. Assanges family, including his wife, Stella Moris, immediately declared that they would fight the decision, including through a further British legal appeal.

If Assange is extradited, he faces 18 charges under the Espionage Act and 175 years imprisonment for publishing what the American government and the British courts acknowledge was true information exposing US foreign policy.

When it comes to Ukraine, the US and its allies continuously claim that they are defending democracy against Russian authoritarianism. On the basis of these assertions, the Biden administration has funneled tens of billions of dollars in weaponry to the Ukrainian government, in what has become a US-NATO proxy war against Russia.

In the Asia-Pacific, Washington and its allies similarly assert that they are defending freedom in opposition to Chinese autocracy.

The persecution of Assange exposes all of these statements as complete lies used to justify a program of aggressive militarism and war.

In the heart of Britain, Assange, a journalist, is imprisoned in a maximum-security prison without charge, while the US seeks his extradition for exposing its war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Assanges legal and democratic rights have been continuously attacked. There is clear evidence that the US oversaw a massive spying operation against Assange, while he was a political refugee in Ecuador Londons embassy. This included illegal surveillance of his privileged communications with lawyers.

Last September, Yahoo! News reported that in 2017, the Trump administration and the CIA discussed kidnapping or assassinating Assange in London. The article was based on the statements of 30 former US officials.

Outgoing United Nations Rapporteur Nils Melzer has repeatedly branded the US and British treatment of Assange as torture. Hundreds of doctors have demanded Assanges freedom and warned of his deteriorating health.

Despite all of this, the Biden administration has continued the prosecution and the British courts have facilitated it. The contradiction between the supposed US-led campaign for freedom in Ukraine, and its determination to lock Assange away, is a staggering display of imperialist hypocrisy.

What is Assange accused of? The American charges against him cover WikiLeaks 2010 and 2011 publication of the US armys Iraq and Afghan war logs, its Guantanamo Bay detainee files and 250,000 diplomatic cables.

Together, the documents are one of the most powerful exposures of imperialist war in recent history. They exposed all the lies about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan being about democracy and human rights. Instead, these wars were shown to be bloody neo-colonial operations involving daily killings, torture and mass oppression.

The Afghan war logs detailed atrocities that had never seen the light of day, from NATO bombings of school buses and weddings, to the existence of a US hit squad tasked with assassinating opponents of the occupation.

The Iraq war logs recorded the deaths of 109,000 Iraqis, 66,081 of them described by the US army as civilians. 15,000 of those murdered would have left no trace in history but for Assange, because their killings had been completely covered up by the US and its allies.

American soldiers gunning down civilians at military checkpoints, their contractors opening fire in crowded markets, the torture of thousands of detainees by the US puppet government were all registered in the logs as the norm, not the exception.

The Guantanamo Bay detainee files exposed the global dragnet of the war on terror. The files showed that those being subjected to the most horrific forms of incarceration were overwhelmingly innocent civilians, an 89-year-old Afghan farmer with dementia was one, a 14-year-old boy another.

The diplomatic cables revealed that the illegality of the wars was standard operating procedure for US imperialism all over the world. In their pages was proof of US sponsorship for innumerable dictatorships, the plotting of coups, the cultivation of agents in governments, friendly and hostile alike, and spying on United Nations officials.

All of the revelations were summed up in the Collateral Murder video, the footage of US soldiers in an Apache helicopter gleefully gunning down a crowd of Iraqi civilians and two Reuters journalists. No other video, in recent decades, has played such a role in activating the mass anti-war sentiment that exists among workers and young people.

For all of these crimes, the only person in the world facing prison time is Julian Assange, who exposed them. Meanwhile, the war criminals walk free.

George W. Bush lied about weapons of mass destruction and has the blood of a million Iraqis on his hands. But he has been rehabilitated by the Democrats and the corporate media, and is presented as an elder statesman of US politics.

Tony Blair, the former Labour Prime Minister who oversaw Britains participation in the invasion of Iraq, is a figure of mass popular hatred. But this month, Blair was provided with a knighthood.

The attempt to prosecute Assange is an exercise in retribution for his exposure of imperialist lies. It is also part of the preparation for new and even greater crimes.

The neo-colonial wars that WikiLeaks exposed have metastasized into a global conflict that threatens nuclear war. The US is waging a proxy war against Russia in Ukraine and is confronting China in the Asia-Pacific.

This program, which threatens a world war, is incompatible with even the trappings of democracy. Assanges persecution is intended as a precedent for broader frame-ups and victimisations targeting opponents of imperialism.

In other words, the stakes are immense and the fight for Assanges freedom is more urgent than ever.

In this struggle, nothing would be more fatal than illusions that moral appeals to Assanges persecutors will convince them to end their decade-long attacks on him.

What is required to free Assange and to bring the war criminals he exposed to account is the mobilisation of the international working class.

All over the world, workers are entering into struggle against the very governments that have spearheaded Assanges persecution. In Britain, the US and everywhere else there is immense hostility to the herd immunity COVID policies, which have resulted in mass infection and death. And now, mass strikes and protests are developing in opposition to the massive price rises, continuous cuts to wages and cuts to social spending.

In Britain, 50,000 rail workers are going on strike this week. Many of them will be only a few miles from where Assange is imprisoned. In the US, there are struggles brewing among auto workers, nurses, teachers and other sections, as there are in Australia.

This emerging movement of the working class provides the constituency for a fight for Assanges freedom, the defence of democratic rights and the struggle against war. We appeal to all workers and youth to take up the defence of Assange, as part of the fight for all of your social and democratic rights.

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Julian Assange faces extradition and state murder while the war criminals he exposed walk free - WSWS

Veteran human rights lawyer Michael Vidler decided it was too dangerous to work in Hong Kong the moment a judge designated to handle national security law cases implied offering legal support to democracy activists could be a crime.

Judge Stanley Chan cited a contact card naming two law firms, including Vidlers, as evidence of how organized the 2019 anti-government camp was in his judgment for an unlawful assembly conviction earlier this year. As to whether the lawyers named were accomplices to that crime, Chan said he couldnt comment.

It was deeply disturbing for me as a lawyer to be, in essence, accused of inciting a crime because a potential client had a piece of paper on him which listed my firm as a source of legal advice and assistance, said Vidler, who previously defended now-jailed democracy activist Joshua Wong and won a landmark appeal that recognized spousal visas for same sex couples.

There was no longer space for my firm to continue its public interest litigation work, he added, without an increasing risk of serious adverse consequences for my team and myself.

Vidler left Hong Kong in May after almost two decades working in the former British colony, and closed his law firm shortly after. His experience reflects growing concern that Hong Kongs rule of law, for decades a foundational pillar of its standing as an international financial center, is becoming more influenced by the mainland where the Communist Party controls the courts.

A government spokesperson said Hong Kongs rule of law remained solid and robust after the security legislation Beijing imposed on the city in June 2020, crediting it for restoring a peaceful and stable environment. The spokesman said Chan made his comments outside the context of a national security law case, and denied that he suggested a lawyer could be criminally liable for simply providing legal services.

Authorities have ramped up pressure on lawyers whove defended some of the 10,000 protesters arrested during the 2019 unrest. Prominent barrister Margaret Ng was arrested over her work with a fund providing financial aid to activists, with police reporting other lawyers to their professional bodies for misconduct unearthed in that investigation. She has denied the charges and a court hearing is set for Sept. 19.

Former Hong Kong Bar Association chief and human rights lawyer Paul Harris left the city in March after being questioned by national security police.

Any degradation of Hong Kongs strong rule-of-law tradition by hollowing out rule-of-law-related institutions will not be favorable to the security of international investments and finance, said Michael Davis, a professor of law and international affairs at O.P. Jindal Global University in India, and former law professor at the University of Hong Kong. Presumably, investors who carry on despite these growing limitations will demand a higher premium on their investments as associated with higher risks.

The changes strike at a central pillar of Chinas 50-year promise to maintain Hong Kongs liberal institutions and capitalist markets until at least 2047 under a framework called one country, two systems. The city will celebrate the halfway mark of that guarantee on July 1, in a ceremony that could be attended by President Xi Jinping.

Lawyers in Hong Kong are operating in an environment where many are debating whether even recognizing the accomplishments of the accused could run afoul of the security law. The stakes are high, since authorities havent dropped charges against any of the at least 114 people so far prosecuted as part of national security cases.

Keith Richburg, head of the Foreign Correspondents Club, Hong Kong, said the board suspended its longstanding Human Rights Press Awards earlier this year after lawyers advised him the police would probably investigate the organization for aiding, promoting or celebrating sedition, according to a recording of a meeting with local journalists to explain the decision. The winners included Stand News, which shut down in December after police arrested seven people connected to the publication on a colonial-era sedition law.

You wont get a fair hearing before an NSL judge, Richburg said a lawyer told him, referring to the national security law.

How many people arrested on the sedition or national security law have gotten off? he added. You think theyre getting a fair trial in Hong Kong and China? Arresting people means that youre guilty. Richburg declined to comment further.

The Society of Publishers in Asia, which is also based in Hong Kong, last week gave out a human rights reporting award to Chinese-language publication Ming Pao for a series on the legal risks involved in commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. Its unclear if Stand News submitted entries for the SOPA awards. SOPA didnt respond to questions.

Bloomberg is currently represented on the board the FCCHK, and the editorial committee of SOPA.

The national security law altered the citys legal system in several ways: It enabled the citys leader to choose which judges in the city can handle security law cases, diminishing the impartiality and independence of the judiciary, and allowed certain cases to be tried across the border, in vaguely defined circumstances a power yet to be exercised.

Perhaps most significantly, it changed the rules for bail by removing the presumption of innocence, a precedent thats seen scores of defendants jailed for more than a year without a trial and has since been expanded to other crimes with a security element.

So far, all four security law cases that have come to trial have resulted in guilty verdicts, with the sole defendant who fought charges denied a reduction in sentence in part because he chose not to plead guilty. Those outcomes have likely put defendants off trying to clear their names, said one senior lawyer, who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the subject matter.

These changes have already impacted Hong Kongs international reputation. Two British judges withdrew from the citys Court of Final Appeal earlier this year, after the U.K. government said their roles risked legitimizing oppression, while seven U.S. lawmakers have called on President Joe Biden to sanction judges and prosecutors handling national security cases for enabling Beijings crackdown on freedoms.

Hong Kongs global ranking on the World Justice Projects Rule of Law Index fell three spots to 19th out of 139 countries surveyed in 2021, after holding the No. 16 rank for the past four years, with a decrease in legal accountability for government officials one of the biggest factors for the drop. The citys legal system still ranks the fifth highest in the region.

Officials used a symposium organized by Hong Kongs Justice Department last month to defend the citys legal system, with Chinas top local diplomat, Liu Guangyuan, arguing that countries that claim to promote democracy were the ones undermining the rule of law around the world by interfering in the affairs of others.

Hong Kong boasts an independent judiciary and fundamental rights and freedoms fully protected under the Basic Law, Carrie Lam, Hong Kongs outgoing chief executive, told the event. That is why Hong Kong is often the preferred choice for multinational cooperation when it comes to legal and dispute resolution services.

Despite fears for the legal protection of civil liberties, four lawyers who either currently practice or recently worked in Hong Kong said there appears to be an expectation in the business community that other areas of law wont be eroded, which they considered to be misguided. All four spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Commercial law wont be interfered with because thats one of the pillars of Hong Kong being an international center for business, trade, and finance, said George Cautherley, vice chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce in the city. Maintaining that reputation will be crucial to Hong Kongs stated goal of expanding the city as an international center for legal and arbitration services.

Thomas Kellogg, the executive director of the Georgetown Center for Asian Law, cautioned that mainland Chinas system showed such a bifurcation between public law which governs relations between people and a government and private law that manages contracts is difficult.

China ranked 98th globally in the World Justice Projects index last year, due to a lack of governmental institutions subject to checks and balances, among other things.

The situation in Hong Kong is becoming all too reminiscent of the Xi-era crackdown on rights lawyers in China, Kellogg said, referencing the 709 crackdown that saw some 300 human rights lawyers arrested in 2015. Many are still imprisoned, while others lost their licenses.

The pressure being put on lawyers who take security cases makes it even harder for lawyers to step forward, Kellogg said. I worry such cases will only handled by pro-Beijing lawyers, who will press their clients to cut a deal with the prosecution, even if they have strong human rights claims they could make in a defense.

2022 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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Hong Kong lawyers are the next target of Xi's national security law - Walla Walla Union-Bulletin

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

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 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

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