Current Events: What should the world think when a majority of the people in a country support a Genocidal regime?

Current Events: What should the world think when a majority of the people in a country support a Genocidal regime?

    Saturday, May 04, 2024   No comments

How should a nation whose majority support extremists be treated?

It depends.

If such a country is a non-Western nation-state, then that will make the entire country a terrorist country and genociding them by a “civilized” state will be acceptable.

If such a country is a “Western” nation-state, the will of the majority is sacred. That is what seems to be the implication of the extraordinary admission by head of the US State Department, Anthony Blinken.

US State Secretary Anthony Blinken said on 4 May that the genocidal actions undertaken by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Gaza are "a reflection of where a large majority of Israelis are in this moment.”

“This is a complicated government. It’s a balancing act when you have a coalition. And if you’re just looking at the politics of it, that’s something that he has to factor in,” Blinken said at an event in Arizona.

"What’s important to understand is that much of what [Netanyahu is] doing is not simply a reflection of his politics or his policies; it’s actually a reflection of where a large majority of Israelis are in this moment,” the top US diplomat said.

Last month, a survey conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute revealed that three-quarters of Jewish Israelis support Netanyahu's much-anticipated ground invasion of Gaza’s southernmost city, Rafah, where about 1.3 million Palestinians are sheltering after being violently displaced from their homes.

Surveys conducted over recent months have shown a similar trend despite growing pressure to see Netanyahu removed from office.

In January, opinion polls showed that Israelis overwhelmingly agreed that “the best way” to obtain the release of captives held inside Gaza was “military pressure” against Hamas, falling in line with the same rhetoric Netanyahu and his war chief have been repeating daily since 7 October.

Polls have also shown a stern objection to delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza, even if the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) is “replaced.”

The problem of seeing a majority electing demonstrably authoritarian, supremacist bigots is the true test of the limits and flaws of democracy. In the past, when such processes happened in non-Western  nation-states, it is often blamed on corruption and processes being flawed. Turkey, for example, over 4 decades voted for a conservative party and a conservative leader. The West dismissed these elections, because they simply thought of all Turkish people as backward, incapable of embracing "true democracy". 

However, with rise of extremist politicians through democratic processes, the West is now facing a moment of truth about democracy. In the past, when democracy did not represent any problems at home, Western leaders used it abroad as a political instrument to intimidate and subjugate other nations.

Anti-Genocide student protests go global

Anti-Genocide student protests go global

    Saturday, May 04, 2024   No comments

By mid-April, students attending wealthy private universities that have tens of billions of dollars in endowments invested in all forms of economic activities wanted their universities to be selective in their investments and divest from companies that produce anything tied to the Gaza Genocide. This happened after the International Court of Justice found that Israel is committing a plausible genocide and ordered it to take specificactions to stop the genocide. Since then protests spread to almost all Western countries, and there are signs that it will spread to poor countries though universities in such countries have no large investments in weapon manufacturing enterprises.

 Universities in France, Canada, Switzerland, Australia and Mexico are witnessing sit-ins and movements demanding an end to the war that broke out seven months ago on the besieged Gaza Strip. In America, the police, who attended in large numbers, broke up the camps set up by pro-Palestinian students at various universities, the most recent of which was the University of California - Los Angeles, where dozens were arrested.

 As the uprising of American university students continues to escalate in intensity, student mobilization is expanding in a number of countries in solidarity with the Gaza Strip, the day after US President Joe Biden called for order to prevail in American universities, while the French police evacuated the building of the Institute of Political Sciences in Paris of unarmed demonstrators. accidents.

 

On April 18, students who rejected the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip began a sit-in on the campus of Columbia University in New York, demanding that its administration stop its academic cooperation with Israeli universities and withdraw its investments in companies that support the occupation of Palestinian territories.

 With the intervention of police forces and the arrest of dozens of students, the state of anger expanded, and the demonstrations extended to dozens of American universities, including leading universities such as Harvard, George Washington, New York, Yale, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and North Carolina.

 Later, the unprecedented student movement in support of Palestine in the United States expanded to universities in countries such as France, Britain, Germany, Canada and India, all of which witnessed demonstrations in support of their American counterparts and demands to stop the war on Gaza and boycott the companies that supply weapons to Israel.

 CNN reported that the administration of the University of California, Riverside reached an agreement with its students to ensure the end of their sit-in camp, after the university pledged transparency and disclosure of investments and academic cooperation programs with external institutions.

 CNN reported that the faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences at Emory University in Georgia will vote in favor of no confidence in the university president, against the backdrop of his calling the police against the protesting students.

 The administration of the University of Chicago in the United States said that there was information “about the presence of physical altercations” on campus, indicating in a statement that in the absence of an agreement with the protesters, the time had come to disperse the crowd.

Students seem to know the consequences of their actions but act, why?

A report in the Times newspaper reviewed the story of Jewish student Iris Hsiang, who was among more than 100 people arrested, in television scenes that credited her with inspiring similar acts of protests on college campuses across the United States.

Hsiang was arrested along with dozens of students at Columbia University for refusing to leave the campus during protests in support of the Palestinians and rejecting the Israeli war on the besieged Gaza Strip.

The student who was suspended from her studies and did not know whether the university would allow her to continue her studies - explained to the newspaper, in a report written by Josie Ensor - the reason for her participation in the pro-Palestinian demonstrations and what prompted her to do so. She said that she was arrested, her hands were tied with ties, and she was placed in a detention cell at the police headquarters all night. .

Hsiang - according to the British newspaper - is now standing outside the gates of the Columbia University campus during the afternoon, because she was prevented from attending classes and accessing the library, dining halls and any other buildings on campus, and was only allowed to remain in her residence as part of the terms of her suspension.

Hsiang has been charged by Columbia University, based on a police indictment, with trespassing, vandalism and “disruptive behavior.” The climate science and human rights student has been suspended from her studies, but she asks indignantly, “How can I trespass on my property at my university?”

Hsiang, who wears a black-and-white keffiyeh as a symbol of solidarity with the Palestinian cause, faces a court hearing later this month and is awaiting the university's decision on whether she will be allowed to continue her studies.

She says that her parents (the mother is Jewish and the father is Asian) are worried about her like all parents, and they support her. She adds, “I grew up in a house where we stood up to injustice, so I formulated the matter to them as follows: What do we want people to do if we were in Gaza and this happened?” Happening to us?

However, the threat of a criminal record and permanent expulsion worries the outstanding student, especially since tuition fees at Columbia University cost $66,000 annually, and she will have to pay another year’s fees if she is forced to repeat her studies after missing crucial classes and exams during the demonstration.

Although a number of professors have reached out to students to offer their support, particularly criticizing the university's handling of the demonstrations, and at least 10 faculty members wearing orange jackets standing hugging each other in Central Park on Monday when the evacuation order was issued, Hsiang is disappointed. “I can't believe it has come to this.”

The newspaper reported that New York City officials ran out of patience due to the protests, and its Mayor Eric Adams called on the parents of the students who entered Hamilton Hall to “come pick up their children” and said that the campus must be a safe place for all students.

But Hsiang rejected the idea that Columbia had become an unsafe place for Jewish students. “I am Jewish and I am afraid to enter campus, but for a different reason. I was arrested for my peaceful protest,” she said. “There is a history of using Jewish identity as a weapon. Because I am Jewish, I support the Palestinians against persecution.” .

The newspaper concluded that Hsiang, even if she was not expelled, would have to repeat the academic year because she missed most of her final exams, although it is up to the individual professor to accept or reject the course work of the arrested protesting students, according to the university.

Hsiang concluded her interview with the newspaper by saying, “I am thinking about my future, but at the same time I am thinking about the students of Gaza, as there are no longer established universities. This will definitely change the course of my life, but I went into it knowing that it was a possibility. If Columbia University continues in this situation "There's not much this university can teach me."

Journalism: The protests in solidarity with Palestine revealed the flaw in Washington’s policy

Journalism: The protests in solidarity with Palestine revealed the flaw in Washington’s policy

    Sunday, April 28, 2024   No comments

The American magazine Foreign Policy published an article by Howard French, the magazine’s main writer and professor of journalism at the Graduate School of Columbia University, in which he says: “The revolution of universities in solidarity with Palestine revealed that the flaw is not in the students, but in the foreign policy of the United States of America towards Israel and the Middle East.” 

The writer in "Foreign Policy" describes the protests in Columbia and other universities as "extremely important," adding: "They in turn inspired a growing series of reactions by university administrators, politicians, and American law enforcement officials, respectively, who sought to reduce the student demonstrations." Or prevent, condemn or, in many cases, violently suppress it.” He added, "What this moment revealed most clearly to me is not the crisis of student culture or higher education in the United States, as some have claimed, but rather a crisis in US foreign policy, and specifically its long-term relationship with Israel." 

"What I have seen inside the university’s gates has generally been a picture of exemplary civility. For nine days now, there has been an orderly encampment of students, most of them chatting relaxedly, some of them with tents, occupying an expanse of lawn in front of Butler Library, the biggest of Columbia’s libraries."  ~ Howard French, Professor of Journalism, Columbia University.

Protesting students teach American society and the world about democracy and citizenship. The writer says that through peaceful protest, students at Columbia University and in an increasing number of other universities are teaching American society, and indeed the entire world, about true democracy and citizenship. This came to mind in conversations I had with students from China and other countries, who marveled at the ability of Columbia students to respond through protest. In the midst of atrocities, they say enough is enough, and they always do so peacefully. 

They say that confronting terror requires more urgency than letter-writing campaigns to members of Congress or waiting patiently to vote in the next election. He adds that Gaza is not the only horror in the world at all, and we can all benefit from the moral urgency and civility of these students. They put pressure where they can on the institutions they belong to, and as students, they are the bedrock of communities. If they cannot convince the US government to do something to stop the war in Gaza and in the West Bank, which is largely ignored, they can at least convince their universities to stop supporting it. 

This is what the divestment demand means: stopping institutional support and investments in the Israeli war effort. Many critics object that this demand is unrealistic and can never succeed. But what is the appropriate response for a citizen? Sitting and folding your hands, for example? 

The writer concludes that the threat facing Zionism in the world today does not come from the students demonstrating in American universities and elsewhere. Rather, he claims that the greatest threat to Zionism does not even come from Hamas. The greatest threat stems from the blurring of any dividing line between Zionism and the crushing of Palestinian lives and hope for the future, says the American writer and academic.

   

Pakistan government commissioner admits election fraud; Maulana Fazlur Rehman, head of Pakistani Islamic Scholars Association, admitted that the overthrow of Imran Khan by Army Commander, General Qamar Javed Bajwa

Pakistan government commissioner admits election fraud; Maulana Fazlur Rehman, head of Pakistani Islamic Scholars Association, admitted that the overthrow of Imran Khan by Army Commander, General Qamar Javed Bajwa

    Saturday, February 17, 2024   No comments

 Today, Saturday, a government commissioner surprised everyone when he publicly admitted that he had falsified the results of the general elections held on February 8, announcing his resignation from his position, and demanding that everyone who participated in the fraud be punished.

Liaquat Ali Chatha, a government commissioner in the city of Rawalpindi (southeast of Islamabad), admitted to falsifying the results of the elections that took place under his supervision in the city of Rawalpindi.

Meanwhile, protest demonstrations swept through many Pakistani cities against what they called the manipulation that occurred in the elections, demanding a recount so that the results are correct, stressing the right of supporters of Imran Khan, founder of the Tehreek-e-Insaf Party, to win more seats.

“I bear responsibility for all these violations,” Chatha said at a press conference in Rawalpindi on Saturday afternoon. "The Chief Election Commissioner and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court are involved in this matter," he added.

"We made independent candidates who received between 70,000 and 80,000 votes lose by submitting fraudulent ballot papers," he added.

In a handwritten letter, Chatha said he was resigning from his position because he was deeply involved in the "serious crime of rigging the 2024 general elections."

The handwritten letter was addressed to the governor of the Punjab province, the interim prime minister of the province, Mohsin Naqvi, and the secretary general of the province.

In front of the media, Chatha said that he “stabbed the country in the back,” referring to election fraud, so he cannot sleep.

He further said, "I must be punished for the injustice I committed, and others who participated in this injustice must be punished."

Earlier, Chatha said that he was under intense pressure not to announce the fraud to the point that he thought about committing suicide, but he finally decided to present matters to the public.

In response to Chatha's allegations, the Election Commission of Pakistan said it "strongly rejects the accusations leveled against her or her boss."

In a press statement, the election monitoring body said that none of its officials had issued any instructions to Chatha to “change the election results.”

He added, "But the Election Commission will conduct an investigation into the matter as soon as possible."

For his part, interim Punjab Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi ordered an “impartial investigation” into the allegations leveled by Chatha.

Yesterday, the leader of the Pakistani Islamic Scholars Association, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, detonated a heavy political bomb when he admitted that the overthrow of Imran Khan from power in April 2022 came based on directives from the then Army Commander, General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

Fazlur Rahman explained that he was personally against the move of no confidence in Imran Khan's government, but this position would not have worked in light of the insistence of other parties, most notably the Muslim League led by Nawaz Sharif and the People's Party led by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

Fazlur Rehman was the head of the People's Democratic Movement coalition that ousted Imran Khan and the PTI in April 2022 and took power, after which Shahbaz Sharif led a multi-party coalition of the country for 16 months before handing over the reins to the interim government.

Regarding the recent elections, Fazlur Rehman pointed out that it is clear that fraud occurred in the elections, and that the PML-N party is the biggest beneficiary of that.

He said to me, "Parliament has lost its credibility." He added, "Decisions will no longer be made in Parliament, but will be taken in the streets," indicating that there will be protests in the country against the results of the elections, the validity of which is being debated.

Media review: Western democracy is declining and losing its value

Media review: Western democracy is declining and losing its value

    Sunday, February 11, 2024   No comments

Under the title “Democracy is declining in a number of countries that seek to achieve it and is losing its value in the democratic countries themselves,” Alain Frachon wrote in the French newspaper “Le Monde” an article in which he highlighted the decline of democracy in a number of countries, and considered that democracy has lost its ability to seduce. Its soft power was shaken under the weight of the blows received by Westerners as a result of their repeated betrayals of its principles.

Summary

Hail to democracy: In 2024, about half of the adults on this Earth are expected to vote. We can already hear skeptics about the results of this democratic activity even before it happens. Voting conditions are not the same in the United Kingdom and India under Narendra Modi and in the United States and Russia under Vladimir Putin if we take a few countries whose residents are asked to elect their rulers.

However, the call to go to the polls reflects an important dedication to the principle of democracy. The elections that will be held in several countries, in Azerbaijan, for example, which is ruled by Ilham Aliyev, the autocratic ruler believes that he is forced to hold them, even with his prior knowledge of the results.

Elections are a purely formal procedure, hypocritical, or whatever it is, but the tyrant sees it as a way to obtain the legitimacy and respect that the results of the ballot box give him, just as one puts on a tie or wears a hat to go to a wedding. It is certain that this process does not stem from a sincere belief in the principle of democracy, although it is felt as an obligation. Rather, it expresses a simple fact, even if in the subconscious mind, that the democratic character is taking a better turn.

This situation is not without contradictions. According to Janan Ganesh, a columnist for the Financial Times, the “man and woman of 2024” are the voters.

But democracy is “in decline,” according to American Larry Diamond, a professor at Stanford University. As for the number of countries that practice this system, it is declining. In the lands that established this system, especially in the West, this system lost its quality.

Democracy, in the broad sense of regular and fairly free elections, reached its peak in 2000, benefiting about 54% of the world's population, according to Freedom House, a non-governmental organization that conducts this type of statistics. This percentage then decreased to 50% in 2018, finally reaching 32% in 2019. This is mainly due to the reclassification of India, which today is the most populous country on this earth.

Only 34 countries are classified as liberal democracies, which includes elections, the rule of law, freedom of the press, powers, checks and balances, and minority rights, which in short constitute the complete and complex institutional arsenal of democratic life. American Samantha Power, who heads the US Agency for International Development, expressed this situation by saying: “For 17 years, freedom has been in decline.”

The export of democracy has declined, it has lost its ability to seduce, and its soft power has been shaken under the weight of the blows that Westerners are receiving as a result of their repeated betrayals of its principles. George W. Bush is considered one of the main contributors to changing the course of democracy after his invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Samantha Power continues by saying that the slide of some democracies towards authoritarianism puts us before a fundamental question about “which model [of government] will prevail in the coming years?” Estimates from the Cambridge University Center on the Future of Democracy indicate that China and Russia enjoy slightly more popularity than the United States. In the Global South, however, this information is difficult to confirm.

She adds that liberal democratic systems are eroding from within, which she calls "democracy fatigue." She believes that Western youth will move away from the chaotic and exhausting system, which decides slowly and always searches for short answers and confuses them with its ambiguous decisions. The contemporary voter decides according to what he wants from the list and not according to what is presented to him from the list. He is no longer loyal to his party affiliations; Accordingly, the popularity of the main institutions of democracy and political parties is declining.

Other risks loom in the digital environment, where the distinction between truth and falsehood is blurred by conspiracy theories and the dominance of social media over traditional journalism, as well as disinformation and manipulation of public opinion. According to what Lawrence Norden, an expert from New York University School of Law, told the New York Times, “Everything that has been threatening our democracy for some time may be exacerbated by generative artificial intelligence.” For example, false speeches attributed to President Joe Biden are circulating on the Internet.

According to opinion polls, the European Parliament elections that will be held in June herald the rise of far-right parties. In a climate that encourages taking advantage of elite parties' loss of credibility, these anti-investment parties are betting on contemporary problems, including immigration, economic and social disparity, and environmental restrictions.

These parties follow the approach of illiberal democracy, also known as “democracy,” and the champion of this democratic retreat was Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian Prime Minister.

The US elections scheduled for November 5 will determine whether the most powerful liberal democracies are willing to submit to “democracy” by returning Republican Donald Trump to the White House.

The dilemma of the times is that the announcement of this decline in liberal democracy comes at a time when it has proven its absolute superiority in its battle against the “Covid-19” pandemic. Also, the Polish "democracy" was defeated by the centrists led by Donald Tusk.

The West, which is described as a decadent and decadent entity, remains the preferred destination for an unprecedented migration movement. Crowds of hapless people from the Global South seem drawn to the promise of freedom and prosperity embodied by liberal democracy. Therefore, announcing her death seems very premature.

Sheikh Hasina wins elections boycotted by the opposition in Bangladesh

Sheikh Hasina wins elections boycotted by the opposition in Bangladesh

    Sunday, January 07, 2024   No comments

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina (76 years old) won a fifth term in power, after legislative elections that were boycotted by the main opposition party and described as “sham elections.”

A spokesman for the National Election Commission said on Sunday that the ruling Awami League party led by Sheikh Hasina “won more than 50% of the seats,” while the counting process is still ongoing.

Bangladesh, which occupies eighth place on the list of the world's most populous countries (about 170 million people), has witnessed strong economic growth under the leadership of the Awami League party led by Hasina, according to Agence France-Presse, which adds that the government has faced accusations of violating human rights several times and suppressing the opposition with violent methods. .

The Awami League party faces almost no opponents in the electoral districts in which it competes, but it has refrained from nominating candidates in a number of them, in an attempt to avoid parliament becoming a tool controlled by one party.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party, whose ranks witnessed a widespread wave of arrests, called for a general strike at the end of the week, and urged residents not to participate in what it described as “sham” elections.