Israel: Jewish National Fund Bill

Petitioning for social action

Ann El Khoury (Reclaiming Space)

Do petitions matter? Do they help to effect social progress?

Ann El Khoury on “Richard Silverstein’s petition on the first reading of the Israeli Knesset’s profoundly discriminatory Jewish National Fund (JNF) bill… The bill would prohibit Israel’s Arab citizens from leasing land owned by the Jewish National Fund (JNF) and managed by the Israeli Land Authority (which administers 93% of Israel’s land). “

Link to the Petition.

Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich: Bush as the Liberator

A friend alerted me to this article, via Dandelion Salad:

The Liberator

Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich (Information Clearing House)

“He who lives by fighting with an enemy has an interest in the preservation of the enemy’s life.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

Holding a joint press conference with the new British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, George W. Bush called Iraq a ‘new democracy’; The gift of democracy from the Bush White House. It would seem appropriate that a statue of George W. Bush be erected where Saddam’s statue once stood – after all, he is the liberator. The momentous unveiling ought to be accompanied by the wailing of mothers rocking back and forth as they beat their chests holding corpses and shrieking in anguish. The ‘new democracy’ should have its orphaned children present, delivering their gratitude with growling stomachs and tears that are all they have to relieve their parched throats. The liberator’s statue would be adorned not with the promised flowers, but with stains left behind by the blood of the innocent buried in mass graves – the shame of women raped. Indeed, they were liberated from their dreams, their tomorrows, from their hopes…

UAE: Jobseekers in Niqab Face Jobseeking Challenges; Back Office Jobs Deemed More Suitable

Face veils an impediment even to Gulf jobseekers

Deena Hussein (Reuters)

Aysha Obeid is hoping that job prospects in a Muslim country will improve for her now that she’s decided to abandon the veil which usually covers her face.

The 22-year-old says several potential employers in the United Arab Emirates have turned her down because she wore the niqab, a face veil that usually leaves only the eyes uncovered…

… “No one takes women with niqab in the retail sector,” said Obeid who unsuccessfully applied for jobs at two retail outlets. She is now looking for back office administrative jobs where she believes she may have more chance of being employed…

PSA: Hijab Causes Rickets? Run for Cover!

How to alienate the female Muslim population

Jillian York (Arabisto)

The variety of attacks made on hijab by the ignorant never ceases to amaze me. From the ubiquitous – “hijab is outdated” – to now, the downright bizarre – “Muslim women who wear the hijab are at risk of serious illness because they do not get enough sun.”

You read right. Some doctors in Britain have actually found a compelling medical reason to convince women to remove their hijab (thisislondon.co.uk). So what illness are they referring to? Could it be cancer, or perhaps something more serious?

Nope. It’s rickets…

Afghanistan: Female Boxers Yearn for Olympic Contest

Afghan women ‘fighting for peace’

David Loyn (BBC News)

The barked instructions and sounds of feet running round on a matted floor are like any team anywhere in the world warming up.

But this training session is unique.

The people running round to warm up before putting on their boxing gloves are women – and this is Afghanistan…

Actress and Mathematician Danica McKellar: “Cute and dumb isn’t as good as cute and smart”

Actress McKellar: Smarts, Looks Add Up

(Associated Press)

Danica McKellar has a message for girls: Cute and smart is better than cute and dumb.

McKellar, who played Winnie on the 1990s television show ”The Wonder Years,” is coming out with a book, ”Math Doesn’t Suck,” to encourage girls to get into math…

Nigeria: Marriage Scam; Show Some Flash, Marry into Cash. Then Divorce Her.

With this ring, I do thee con
Fraudulent weddings are causing panic in parts of Nigeria as unscrupulous tricksters try to marry their way, again and again, into a better life.

Robyn Dixon (Los Angeles Times)

… Ise, 30, is a master of the fraudulent wedding, known as auren yaudara, that is raising alarm here in northern Nigeria’s Kano state. So masterful, in fact, that he offers his services to others, sometimes for a hefty fee, to help them fool the daughters of the very rich into opening their hearts and their family’s purses. Mothers weep at the ruin he creates. The government has done little to remedy the situation.

Ise sees it as a thrilling battle game. He has married six women, four of whom divorced him for being “too strict.” Polygamy is legal in this predominantly Muslim state, and Ise has his sights on two other women. He’s better off than when he started — with fancy clothes and a house with several rooms — but he still hopes the next nuptials will pay off big.

“This kind of thing is like a business,” he said. “When you get into it you are likely to hit the jackpot. A rich family can take you in and set you up in business…”

Egypt: Cairo’s Dr. Ruth

Frank talk from Muslim sex therapist
Cairo-based Heba Kotb tackles sensitive issues within the framework of Islam.

Jeffrey Fleishman (Los Angeles Times)

In the delicate realm where the Koran meets human desire, Heba Kotb, a Muslim sex therapist in a ruffled gold head scarf, has strong opinions on vibrators, foreplay, premature you-know-what and why more men can’t seem to locate the G-spot…

Iraq: Refugees Fleeing to Neighboring Countries; a Humanitarian Disaster

Iraq: One in seven joins human tide spilling into neighbouring countries

Patrick Cockburn (Independent News)

Two thousand Iraqis are fleeing their homes every day. It is the greatest mass exodus of people ever in the Middle East and dwarfs anything seen in Europe since the Second World War. Four million people, one in seven Iraqis, have run away, because if they do not they will be killed. Two million have left Iraq, mainly for Syria and Jordan, and the same number have fled within the country.

Yet, while the US and Britain express sympathy for the plight of refugees in Africa, they are ignoring – or playing down- a far greater tragedy which is largely of their own making.

The US and Britain may not want to dwell on the disasters that have befallen Iraq during their occupation but the shanty towns crammed with refugees springing up in Iraq and neighbouring countries are becoming impossible to ignore…

Arts: This is Not Us; Muslim Musical Artists Join in Song Protesting Terrorism & Violence

Pakistani pop stars promote anti-terror hit

Riazat Butt (The Guardian)

In Pakistan they are as famous as Beyoncé and Justin Timberlake, with 60m album sales between them, and their first musical collaboration has had 65,000 downloads and been number one on MTV. But the pop stars on one of the biggest Pakistani records of 2007 are not singing about young love or broken hearts, but terrorism.

Yeh Hum Naheen, This Is Not Us, has become an anthem for Muslims wanting to distance themselves from extremism and violence and the artists want it to inspire a similar reaction in Britain, where the single has just been released…

More about Yeh Hum Naheen: View the YouTube Video (English Subtitles), read about it on Wikipedia, and a Yeh Hum Naheen blog, with photos and information about the artists.

The comments at YouTube are rather depressing, ranging from complaints from some Muslims that the music is haram (don’t listen to it then) to complaints from some Westerners that it is just PR (yes, guys it is “PR” against terrorism and in favor peace & tolerance. Glad you caught that.)

The video is very nice to listen to, even for someone like myself who does not speak or understand Urdu.

Book: Unbroken Spirit, by Ferzanna Riley

A visitor here, who I will call SK, wrote:

I saw an interview on tv (This Morning) with a Muslim who wrote a book called Unbroken Spirit. I went out and bought the book and couldn’t put it down until I read it all the way through. It’s a very powerful book about her life as a British Muslim and how she tried to find her identity and make sense of being in both east and west cutures [sic] and how she was treated differently just because she was a girl…

So… I went in search of more information about the book, Unbroken Spirit: How a Young Muslim Refused to Be Enslaved by Her Culture, by Ferzanna Riley.

It looks like a harrowing read, with plenty of beatings, harassment, imprisonment, the threat of forced marriage and other all sorts of other maltreatment. She is no longer Muslim, perhaps because, like so many others, she wrongly identified this sort of treatment as being “Islamic.”

Have you read the book? What did you think?

Anyone intrigued by Ferzanna Riley’s tale might also be interested in Jasvinder Sanghera’s story which is very similar. (Sanghera was raised in a Sikh household in the UK.)

USA: Missouri Teens Discuss Hijab

Muslim teens become cultural ambassadors via head scarves

Annie Nelson (Columbia Tribune)

… This easily identified style of Muslim dress [hijab] often puts girls in a position as cultural ambassadors for their religion in America.

“If I’ve had a bad day, if I had a fight with my mom and I’m at the grocery store throwing things in the cart or shoving it around, if someone sees me they won’t say, ‘That girl is having a bad day,’ ” Eman said. “They’ll say ‘Muslim women are angry…’ “

Jung: Islam and Dreams

Irfani looks at Jung’s ideas on Christianity and Islam in light of American Episcopalian priest Ann Holmes’s recent announcement that she is both Christian and Muslim. (She has since been suspended from practicing as a priest. The bishops thought she needed time to “think it over.”)

Islam, dreams and Jung

Suroosh Irfani (Daily Times Pakistan)

Jung’s investigations into the symbolism of the Crescent and the Cross in the Western unconscious made him believe that the coming together of these two religions would create a ‘tremendous outburst, a release of energy as an enormous sphere of light… the light of a new enlightenment’

Water: Drink Up

Access to potable water will be a determining factor in emigration, geopolitical wars and the mortality rates of global populations.

Drink Up graphically illustrates the problem. (From Good Magazine)

Beeman: Culture and International Affairs; Dealing with Iran

Found out today about a blog maintained by Will Beeman, Culture and International Affairs.

Beeman teaches at the University of Minnesota where he is Chairperson of the Anthropology Department.

My tipster noted that “His last article is vilified in rightist blogs.” Read “How to Talk with Iran” and judge for yourself. It makes plenty of sense and makes points that most level-headed people ought to be able to comprehend. First and foremost, he notes that diplomacy with Iran will require at least the facade of mutual respect.

That first talking point is probably where Beeman loses right-wing warmongers.

Respect? Nevvah…

Our diplomacy with Iran revolves around twin concepts: We tell them what to do. And then they must do it.