The girl caught between Islamophobia and westophobia

Last week, under a grey March sky, thousands of Polish women took to the streets once more to protest against an anti-abortion bill. Lawmakers from the Law and Justice Party (PiS), a national-conservative party currently the largest in Polish government, are making a renewed attempt to pass a previously rejected bill that will see the all abortions become illegal, even if the fetus is guaranteed to die in infancy.

When the bill was first introduced in October 2016, it included limited access to prenatal care and contraception while also pursuing legal threat to women who sought abortion care outside of the country, and to doctors who aided them. As a response, more than 150,000 women rallied in the streets of 140 cities. Two days later, the bill was rejected.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski, co-founder and current chairman of the Law and Justice Party, has publically spoken out on his political and religious goals. In 2016 he stated that he “strives to make cases of even very difficult pregnancies, when the child is doomed to die because it is severely deformed, finish with birth, so that the child can be baptized, buried, given a name.” In a country that is currently experiencing the slow rooting of right-wing ideology and autocratic ruling, the women of Poland are not only fighting for reproductive rights, they are fighting for their lives. In recent years the country has severely distanced itself from European allies by supporting the independence turn of the high courts, and suggesting to pass a bill that some 200 nongovernmental organisations the world over and the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights have condemned “places women’s health and lives at risk and violate Poland’s international human rights obligations.”

Previously a country that was considered extremely liberal for its abortion rights, which were made legal by the Communist rule in 1956, the fall of the party and the rise of the Catholic church saw the outlawing of abortion in 1993. Yet since 2015, the Law and Justice Party has been fighting hard to limit women’s rights to reproductive choices even further. Under the legal ‘conscience clause’, doctors have the right to refuse giving out contraceptive prescriptions and pharmacists can refuse to dispense them.

The march that saw thousands of women spill out to the streets once again is only a reminder to the power for change women have in each and every society. The bill currently needs to be reviewed by another commission before it will be passed to Members of Parliament for a vote – where the Law and Justice party reign with 66 seats out of 100 in the senate. President Andrzej Duda, who is close to the Catholic Church, vowed to sign the controversial bill into law if approved by parliament. ‘STOP’ the picket signs read in black and red. This is a call for women and men all over the world to join the fight, and stop the repression of women’s rights for good. Sign this Amnestry International petition to put pressure on the Polish parliament and President to reject this bill. 

Photo: Krytyka Polityczna & European Alternatives

Anyone who has strolled along the bustling streets of Madrid has probably witnessed the scene: a group of street vendors displaying wallets, belts, sunglasses and other articles on a blanket on the floor that is always tied with two crossed wires. Each time the police approaches, the so-called "manteros", the vast majority from Senegal, quickly pull the strings, turning the blanket into a huge bag which they carry on their backs as they swiftly flee from the authorities. Considered an offense, with prison sentences ranging from six months to two years, street sellers live in constant turmoil and fear of arrest.

Recently, one of the frequent episodes of police harassment resulted in the death of a “mantero”, the Senegalese Mame Mbaye, 34, who regularly sold perfumes in the centre of the Spanish capital. As had happened numerous times before, having been approached by the police, he fled towards the neighbourhood of Lavapiés, where he lived. But this time, the escape had a dramatic end, with the death of Mbaye, victim of a heart attack.

The tragedy caused shock and outrage amongst his fellow street vendors, as well as residents of Lavapiés who, in the following days, took to the streets by protesting against the criminalisation of street vending and the clandestine nature to which most of these immigrants are condemned to live.

Despite having lived in Spain for 14 years, Mbaye was never able to obtain a residency permit. Like him, hundreds of immigrants in Spain live in an irregular situation, due to practically unattainable requirements for residency to be granted, such as a 40-hour work contract. Many of them are, therefore, forced to sell on the street to survive. However, the criminalisation of this activity ultimately blemishes their criminal record, hindering their ability to gain citizenship.

In response, humanitarian organisations, have accused the ruling conservative Popular Party in Spain of fomenting institutional racism, which has culminated in serious consequences for the mental and physical health of these migrants. To avoid further unnecessary deaths like Mbaye's, Spain must, therefore, urgently change its inhumane and discriminatory laws. Because survival shouldn’t be a crime.

READ OUR DOSSIER ON RACISM

Photo: ARAD.org

Six out of every ten women living in urban areas in Africa have, at one time, faced a form of violence, with two-thirds of families having had to contend with some aspects of disturbance that has disrupted their way of life, new studies indicate. According to the reports, the emerging and prevalent distresses include rape, domestic violence, child abuse and street crime. This stems from a growing population of angry, desperate and frustrated urban population looking for avenues to vent.

In a shocking pattern of child abuse for example, ranging from sexual violence to kidnapping, it appears that trusted family friends have been behind a growing number of child abductions that come with hefty ransom demands. And such social ills are poised to spike, as more people continue to migrate to urban areas in search of better days.

A third of the African population has been urbanised, the largest number the world over. 70 percent of those who live in urban areas live in informal settlements after having failed to secure gainful employment or a dignified source of income in the cities. Every year, thousands of graduates leave school with the hope of acquiring a stable and promising future, only to be faced with a harsh reality. The world shows them otherwise. Such cocktails of hiccups, psychologists say, are enough to disrupt the social fabric.

The urban violence recorded is currently mutating to more radical crimes, including terrorism and high profiled robberies – with the young people at the heart of this melee.

The onus isn’t just on governments and policy makers to bring back sanity to our societies, but a collective responsibility that fosters cohesion, unity and the realisation that injustice to one is injustice to all.

The transformative ‘nyumba kumi’ concept in East Africa, that embraces the ten houses ideology in making neighbours their brothers' keepers, offers tangible and practical lessons on taming mutating crime. It has successfully foiled terror attacks and assisted law enforcers nab notorious criminals. Perhaps we should replicate nyumba kumi across all aspects of our city lives to forestall anarchy and reweave the social fabric.

Photo: Digital citizen

One of the surprising things about the recent Cambridge Analytica scandal is that it's not really a scandal at all. Of course in the obvious sense of the word it could be perceived as a scandal: Facebook facilitated and covered up its role in handing over the data of more than 30 million users to private app developers. However, it is also rather pedestrian: users have known throughout their use of social media and website browsing that their data is the primary value point, and is routinely packaged and sold to third-parties the world over. 

I believe the outcry over the affair has much less to do with data-misuse, and much more to do with us all finally getting to grips with just how valuable our data really is. 

The network of companies, dummy companies, politicians and (potentially) nations involved in the scandal has now been well-documented and publicised by The Guardian. But as facts begin to solidify, it's becoming apparent that the story is only beginning to increase in complexity. There are political personalities such as Nigel Farage who are implicated, as it seems that it wasn't just the 2016 Presidential Election in the U.S. that was targeted, but also the U.K. referendum on EU membership. It is still unclear how, and if, Russia was involved. Further to this point, the involvement of foreign States in elections and guerilla-social media tactics are worrying in themselves, but ultimately distract from more pressing issues: the concerns of voters, the dead-end nature of capitalism, and the heightened state of emotions in which our politics operates. 

Facebook's involvement in the scandal could, however, be a watershed moment for digital privacy. Previously, as users we have always been aware – to some extent – that our data is being misused, if only in a very peripheral way, as there have been two decades' worth of stories indicating that multinational corporations, as well as nations, are buying big data from companies to finesse the craftsmanship of what we now call target advertising. Yet, we never took this concern to a critical mass, as individuals we found it hard to believe that in such a sea of data, a single drop could be isolated and targeted. In conjunction with the minor fact that many countries have laws in place that protect against the selling of sensitive personal data to third parties. 

Despite our trust in the platforms we subscribe to and the laws that protect us, this is precisely what Cambridge Analytica with the help of Facebook did. The company built highly personalised profiles of individuals using rich, granular information from their Facebook profiles to build political advertisements and fake news carefully constructed to influence their votes. Basing their algorithms on studies, which indicate that cultural affiliation and consumer tendencies have a direct link to political inclination. It resulted in Donald Trump winning the election and what we call the never-ending Brexit story.  

Users now have a chance to fully understand what data extraction and manipulation mean. Privacy settings and careful online use are no longer boring buzzwords or hypothesised myths, rather they protect users from predatory practices online. And you shouldn't be fooled: drops in the water will eventually cause the levels to rise, and your data is as valuable to companies as anyone else's. 

The public display of brutal state-force as well as manipulation of hidden forces by the state and non-state actors against candid democratic manoeuvres continue to undermine civic liberties in places like Pakistan and Afghanistan.

During a sit-in camp in Kabul staged to express solidarity with the Pashtun Long March in neighbouring Pakistan, a young man lost his life to an improvised explosive device blast close to the site of the gathering last week. This attack was aimed at the peaceful protestors who were doing nothing unlawful but gathering in a civilised manner in support to their brethren in neighbouring Pakistan, currently in the face of decades-long state-oppression.

Eleven other participants of the ‘Kabul Parlat’ were wounded by the blast, which has so far not been claimed by the Taliban or any other group; the forces behind this attack chose to stay in the dark. This heinous attack sends a clear message to the peaceful agitators: that their endeavour to raise voices and momentum for the oppressed Pashtun people, particularly of the tribal belt between the two countries, is not approved by certain forces who aren't hesitant to use violence in return for silence. 

Decades after the end of the British-colonial rule, this tribal belt is still governed with the draconian laws of the bloody past in the country. 

In Pakistan, where the law and order situation is relatively better compared to Afghanistan, the participants of the Pashtun Long March are facing legal as well as security challenges. The young organisers of this moment are demanding an end to state-oppression in the tribal areas, and in an aim to expand their agitation campaign within the country, the grip around them is tightening.

One of the state’s pawn, police officer Rao Anwar – the main culprit behind extra-judicial killings of tribal Pashtun youth in the port city Karachi that sparked the Pashtun Long March, continues to enjoy unannounced impunity despite the presence of mounting evidence against him.

Elsewhere, military jets and helicopters of the Pakistan Air Force entertained local and foreign state-guests at a carefully orchestrated parade in the capital Islamabad last week. These are the same jets and helicopters that were used to pound bombs over hideouts of the suspected militants who were once, and continue to be, used for the policy of so-called strategic depth in neighbouring Pakistan and India.

Photo: Twitter, Pashtun Long March

As we celebrate another World Water Day today, March 22nd (marking its 25th consecutive year), the theme is Nature for Water, raising awareness of the need for dialogue and action on water governance and how we can change water behaviours and decisions across the world.

The 8th World Water Forum held in Brazil’s capital Brasilia, from March 18-23, is the world’s largest conference on water, and has attracted more than 40,000 representatives from governments, NGOs and companies – all brought together to outline the global targets for the coming years and how to invest and nurture the development of innovative water solutions for our future. The United Nations is set to release new International Decade for Action on Water (2018-2028) alongside its annual World Water Report, collected from 130 nations who have complied to the survey. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has also announced its Water Governance Indicators based on 12 Water Governance Principles.

There are currently 663 million people living without a safe and clean supply of water in their vicinity – without choice or agency, the journeys taken to access fresh water are often long and tumultuous, with many forced to use contaminated water instead. The fight to tackle the current and foreseenly worsening droughts, water pollution, contamination and outdated infrastructure that supports the supply and reuse of water in expanding urban areas need to be tackled in unity. The challenge of supplying safe water to the world’s population is a global mission, with each country facing its own challenges. Water governance problems are increasing in areas of both scarcity and abundance. Countries with ample water such as Brazil (the world’s highest) and Canada are faced with reversing the effects of polluted lakes and rivers while South Africa is currently going through the worst drought in decades and Yemen with an outbreak of Cholera due to its lack of fresh water resources. Yet “globally, over 80 percent of the wastewater generated by society flows back into the ecosystem without being treated or reused” as reported by the United Nations.

Nature for Water is a call to action and an urgent plea for global forces; legislators, NGOs, tech incubators and governments to work together towards shifting water governance by investing in education around the habitual use of water and in the people focused on the social, economic and political challenges of our future water. ImagineH20 for example, is an accelerator that helps makers develop and deploy solutions to water challenges while linking the innovators directly into global markets. This World Water Day is once again a reminder to the essence of our life on this planet and to realign us all to work towards the UN’s Goal 6: Ensuring the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.

A state of shock has shaken Brazil after the death of Marielle Franco, a female councillor in Rio de Janeiro, murdered last Wednesday while she was returning from a meeting concerning black women’s rights. The four bullets that hit her in the head were bought by the Federal Police of Brazil, leading some to believe that it was not simply murder, but an execution.

Aged 38, the young left-wing activist, elected by the PSOL party, was one of the loudest voices in Brazil to condemn racism, sexism and the arbitrariness of police violence. Black, female, a mother in adolescence and a member of the LGBTGI community, Marielle represented a segment of Brazilian society otherwise not used to having a voice.

She was born in the Maré favela, one of the most violent in Rio de Janeiro, home to 140,000 people, and plagued by wars between drug traffickers and violent interventions by the Brazilian military police. Against all odds, she took a sociology course thanks to a scholarship, and became a political leader, dedicated to defending human rights. Recently, she also became a courageous voice against the policies of Michel Temer, the country's President, and a strong critic of military intervention in the favelas of Brazil. She ultimately became a victim of the violence she spoke out against.

Greatly affecting the lives of poor and black communities living in the favelas, where the right to security is non-existent, violence results in increasing already stark inequalities, and the figures are overwhelming. Although supposedly at "peace", more people have been murdered in Brazil in the last five years than in Syria. Between 2012 and 2016, 279,000 people suffered violent deaths in Brazil, whilst the figure was 256,000 in Syria, a country currendly amidst a 7 year armed conflict. Furtherstill, political representatives and activists are frequent targets of violence: since 2016, a total of 36 councillors have been murdered in Brazil.

The execution of Marielle Franco is an attack on freedom and an attempt at intimidation, striving to destroy the resistance she represented. However, perhaps what the authors of this ignoble crime did not expect was the reaction of Brazilian society. "In the moment Marielle died, thousands of Marielles were reborn," said a woman participating in one of numerous demonstrations, which, in recent days, have taken to the streets of Brazilian cities.

Indignation is therefore giving way to a wave of solidarity and the rebirth of hope. Marielle's struggle against impunity will thus have continuity in many other Marielles. They know that is the best way to keep her memory alive, so that at least, her death was not in vain.

Photo: Daniel Arrhakis/flickr

The resignation of Mauritius president Ameenah Gurib-Fakim on account of spending NGO money for her own personal use is the latest surprise and unprecedented move that is seeing African presidents leave office following sustained public and media pressure.

For Ameenah, the only African female head of state and celebrated biologist who has been the president of the Indian Ocean Island since 2015, the rain started beating her when it was revealed that she used a credit card meant for official logistical and travel expenses to purchase personal items worth at least $26,000.

But even as she and the NGO she was attached to worked to clear her name, she has also been under serious accusations that border on abuse of office. She has been accused of using her position to influence the allocation of a banking license to controversial Angolan businessman Álvaro Sobrinho, the founder of Planet Earth Institute where Ameenah has been working and who is under investigation in Portugal and Switzerland for suspected fraud.

But more profoundly, these latest scandals have left the archipelago with an image crisis and reversed the gains of good governance and transparency that it has projected over the years. In a continent where taking personal responsibility and resignation of heads of states and senior government officials are alien concepts, the resignation of Ameenah, coming months after that of South Africa’s Jacob Zuma and Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe is heralding a new political dispensation that is laudable. Credit goes to a more vibrant media, civil society and opposition that now have more teeth and clout to demand accountability.

The new Africa is slowly gravitating towards the maxim, “To whom much is given, much is expected.” Such nascent but bold steps inspire hope of fighting the continent’s most endemic rots including graft, plunder of public resources, abuse of office and favouritism.

Photo: Ameenah Gurib-Fakim

Racism in the U.K. is nothing new. Different groups have suffered persecution and vilification since before the Anglo-Saxons first docked on some lonely English coast way back when. The recent rise in hate crimes, as reported by the Office for National Statistics, and the rise of public Islamophobia, does show something entirely new however: Britain is becoming hysterical. 

For a nation that prides itself on cool heads, fair play and a stoic sense of bearing up, there is rather a lot of poisonous emotion currently floating in the air. Take professional troll, Katie Hopkins, for example. In a recent tweet she derided the teenage victims of the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Florida, as kids who were 'just crying because they'd been shot at', and therefore, didn't deserve to have any say on public policy around guns. Katie Hopkins also frequently tells her audiences that Britain needs to defend itself against Muslims, because British (read: white) children are vulnerable. So children are OK to be shot at by an American (read: white) killer, but they are completely vulnerable when it comes to potential Islamist killers. Why the sudden change in standards, Katie? 

Or take Tommy Robinson, a professional thug and generally incoherent Islamophobe who this past weekend, took to Speaker's Corner of London's Hyde Park to read the speech that was supposed to be delivered by Martin Sellner, the Austrian founder of the Identitarian movement. Sellner and a handful of other professional racists were barred from entering the U.K. last week, on the grounds that they were there to cause disturbances to the peace (read: they were there to incite racism against Muslims and other people). Robinson read the speech at the corner, and defended free speech – something supposedly under attack by Muslims. Now, this isn't ironic, exactly, but it is a little strained, shall I say. To go to Speaker's Corner and defend free speech is a little like going to a sweet shop and crying about there being nothing to snack on. Speaker's Corner exists for the sake of free speech. Anyone can go there and say anything, within the limits of the law (read: all the normal rules apply, such as no slander, etc.)

The point is, U.K. racism is beginning to spin out of control. It's riding a wave of emotion that is based on the false perception that the lives of white people are under threat, simply by the existence, or coexistence of Muslims, and other dark-skinned people. People simply don't see, or are choosing not to see, the basic flaws in their thinking. They might retort 'well, Islam is not a race, therefore it's OK to criticise it and it's not racist to do so'. Sure, it's not racist to criticise a religion – agreed. But when criticism of that religion is leveraged to help create hate against minorities, particularly ethnic minorities, then we can say it's at least helping to foment racism. I would go much farther of course and call it for what it is: racist, racist, racist. 

No one's lives are under attack. No one's lifestyles are threatened. Nothing is happening. These messages won't get through to the racist elements in the British public, because they feel a wave of support. They're being backed by ordinary British people more and more, who are turning to simpler answers in more complex times. International threats? Blame the Muslims. A lack of expertise on the Brexit negotiating team? Get behind the nation or get out. Potential conflict with Russia? The real threat is Islam!

The truth is, there is money to be made from hate. Katie Hopkins, Tommy Robinson, Nigel Farage, UKIP, Donald Trump, AfD, the Identitarians and others know it. You can sell anything you want to a gullible public who are eager to subscribe to anything intelligible. Not only do we, as anti-racists and anti-Islamophobes, need to stand up and protest this vicious rise in hate, we also need to speak clearer and louder about how ridiculous, how absurd, how contradictory hate is. It will lose, it must lose, because it is weak, and it knows it. 

On Saturday 24 March, Birmingham UK will be home to the UK's largest ever Islamophobic gathering. Stand up to Racism will also be there – get to their protest.