Islamic Societies Review WEEKLY

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Hitched to Qatar's rising star, Al Jazeera takes a bumpy ride skyward

Sunday, October 14, 2012 No comments

By Elizabeth Dickinson

It’s mid-afternoon as Al Anstey, managing director of Al Jazeera English, takes a brief respite from the news to recall a whirlwind year.

As a wave of Arab uprisings swept the region, Egyptian revolutionaries broadcast the channel live on giant screens in Tahrir Square. Rebels in Benghazi gave reporters a hero’s welcome in Libya. And US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton publicly credited the channel for helping her to stay abreast of the upheaval.

In short, Al Jazeera televised the revolutions, and the world tuned in.

Yet three fallen leaders and more than a year later, it’s not just Al Jazeera’s audience that has grown. So, too, have its critics. Founded by the Qatari emir in 1996, the channel's main detractors early on came from the West, where its penchant for broadcasting Al Qaeda messages and portraying graphic images of the US-led war in Iraq irked many, including former President George W. Bush.

But since the Arab Spring, Al Jazeera’s previous success has been amplified and the Qatari government has started playing a bigger part in regional policy. Suddenly, the cozy relationship between patron and broadcaster carries a bit more baggage.

“It’s important to take seriously where the funding of this network comes from,” says Ethan Zuckerman, senior researcher at Harvard University’s Berkman Center. “You’re basically talking about a journalistic organization that by definition has a conflict built in.”

Such criticisms have indisputably grown – that Al Jazeera downplayed uprisings in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, and overemphasized certain Islamist groups’ perspectives in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, all seemingly in line with Doha’s foreign policy interests. Concerns about Al Jazeera’s independence were amplified when the station’s director general, Wadah Khanfar, resigned in September and was replaced by a member of the royal family.

Serious as they are, however, such accusations are also a sort of backhanded compliment – an acknowledgment of the impact that the network now has. Viewership is higher than ever, reaching 260 million households in 130 countries.

in multiple pages >>

Tuesday, October 09, 2012

Turkey's opposition leader calls FM 'an idiot'

Tuesday, October 09, 2012 No comments

Main oppoisiton Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu slammed Turkey's foreign policy decisions today, calling Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu "an idiot," daily Hürriyet reported.

"Who is on Turkey's side? Hamas, Barzani, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Syria has Brazil, Iran, Russia and China on its side," Kılıçdaroğlu said. "Is this 'strategic depth,' or strategic blindness? The process that resulted in Turkey's becoming part of such a meaningless balance comes from a foreign minister whose incompotence is known by the entire world. You don't need deep knowledge to know that. You have to be a real idiot to do that."

Source: Hurriyet

US Protestants no longer a majority, says study

Tuesday, October 09, 2012 No comments

For the first time since European settlement the US does not have a Protestant majority, according to a study, with the number of Americans claiming no religious affiliation on the rise.

The percentage of Protestant adults in the US has reached a low of 48%, the first time Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life has reported with certainty that the number has fallen below 50%.

The drop has long been anticipated and comes at a time when there are no Protestants on the supreme court and the Republicans have their first presidential ticket with no Protestant nominees.

Among the reasons for the change are the growth in nondenominational Christians who can no longer be categorised as Protestant, and a spike in the number of American adults who say they have no religion. The Pew study, released on Tuesday, found about 20% of Americans said they have no religious affiliation, an increase from 15% in the past five years.

Scholars have long debated whether people who say they no longer belong to a religious group should be considered secular. While the category as defined by Pew researchers includes atheists, it also encompasses majorities of people who say they believe in God, and a notable minority who pray daily or consider themselves "spiritual" but not "religious".

Still, Pew found overall that most of the unaffiliated were not actively seeking another religious home, indicating that their ties with organised religion were permanently broken.

Growth among those with no religion has been a major preoccupation of American faith leaders, who worry that the US, a highly religious country, would go the way of western Europe, where church attendance has plummeted.

Wednesday, October 03, 2012

Slavery Still Exists

Wednesday, October 03, 2012 No comments

It was 130 degrees when I was first introduced to the brick kilns of Nepal. In these severe temperatures, men, women, and children -- whole families, in fact -- were surrounded by a dense cloud of dust while mechanically stacking bricks on their heads, carrying them, 18 at a time, from the scorching kilns to trucks hundreds of yards away.

These are slaves. Deadened by monotony and exhaustion, they worked without speaking, repeating the same task 16 hours a day. They took no rest for food or water, no bathroom breaks -- although their dehydration suppressed their need to urinate.

Around the world human traffickers trick many people into slavery by false promises of good jobs or good education, only to find themselves forced to work without pay, under the threat of violence. Trapped by phony debt, these slaves are hunted by local police and private security guards if they try to escape. Sometimes slaves don't even understand that they're enslaved, despite people working 16 or 17 hours a day with no pay. They're simply used to it as something they've been doing their whole lives. Their bodies grow weak and vulnerable to disease, but they have nothing to compare their experience to.

For the last 28 years I have documented people in more than 100 countries on six continents. In 2009, at the Vancouver Peace Summit, I met a supporter of Free the Slaves, an NGO dedicated to eradicating modern-day slavery; weeks later, I flew down to Los Angeles and met with the director of Free the Slaves; thus began my journey into exploring modern-day slavery.

Oddly, I'd been to most of the locations where I started photographing slavery many times before. I even considered some of them homes-away-from-home. But there can be dark corners in familiar places.

These are not images of "problems." They're images of people. There are 27 million slaves in the world today: That's more than double the number of people taken from Africa during the entire transatlantic slave trade. A hundred and fifty years ago, an average agricultural slave cost over three times the average yearly wage of an American worker, about US$50,000 in today's money. Yet now, entire families can be enslaved for generations over a debt as small as $18. Slavery is illegal everywhere, but it exists all over the world.

Tuesday, October 02, 2012

State television in Syria issued a withering attack on a longtime ally, Khaled Meshal,

Tuesday, October 02, 2012 No comments

State television in Syria issued a withering attack late Monday on a longtime ally, the leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, Khaled Meshal, declaring him an ungrateful child and a corrupt traitor, saying he was having a “romantic emotional crisis” over the Syrian uprising and accusing him of selling out “resistance for power.”

...

The newscaster who delivered the rebuke to Mr. Meshal also castigated Egypt and Turkey for what it said was their complicity in the Palestinians’ plight.

At certain points its tone became downright snide: “Meshal, since you are having a romantic emotional crisis over what you call the suffering of the Syrian people,” the newscaster said, “why didn’t the Palestinian people elicit the same emotional reaction?”

She recalled how Syria defied other powers to grant him refuge in 1999. “The plane that was carrying him was sent back from the skies of airports as if he was the plague,” she intoned. “Doha and Ankara and Amman and Cairo all evaded him that day because Israel had vetoed his reception, and only Damascus dared defy the Israeli veto.”

Addressing him directly, she continued, “The only possible interpretation for their sudden welcoming attitude today is that you are no longer wanted by the occupation” — referring to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories — “and no longer a threat to their safety.”

She offered a barely veiled “good riddance.”

“Syria is not regretful because it didn’t do what it did expecting loyalty or thanks,” she said. “Syria is happy that the person who sold resistance for power is leaving it now.”

The editorial also took shots at Turkey’s bid to become a regional leader and champion of the Palestinian cause.

For the Turks — who have been major allies of the Syrian insurgency, providing a haven for its fighters — that role is “too much for them to handle,” the newscaster warned. “The Turkishization of the resistance is read in Arabic as your complete abandonment of the cause.”

“Meshal, remember that fire needs authentic oil or the smoke will blind eyes. And the authentic oil for the fire of resistance is Syrian, Palestinian, Arab.”

Monday, October 01, 2012

Free Syrian Army (FSA) return to Turkey after moving to Syria

Monday, October 01, 2012 No comments

Different members of the Syrian opposition, who spoke on condition of anonymity, have claimed leaders of the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) have not returned to Syria as was claimed by the FSA leadership, but travel back and forth to Syria from Turkey.

“The leaders of the FSA, Colonel Riad al-Asaad and General Mustafa al-Seyh had gone to Syria for one day and the next day they returned to Turkey. The fighters on the ground don’t care about their leadership, this is why they are all in Turkey now,” a prominent member of the SNC told the Hürriyet Daily News in an interview on Sept. 28.

On Sept. 22 the FSA announced it had moved its command center from Turkey to “liberated areas” inside Syria. A video posted on YouTube appeared to show the leader of the FSA, al-Asaad, confirming the move.

Invisible in Saudi Arabia

Monday, October 01, 2012 No comments

Ikea, the global furniture company, has apologised for deleting images of women from the version of its catalogue circulating in Saudi Arabia.

The issue was highlighted on Monday by the free newspaper, Metro, which compared the Swedish and Saudi versions of the catalogue and showed that women had been airbrushed out of otherwise identical pictures showcasing the company's products.

Ikea's Saudi catalogue, which is also available online, looks the same as other editions of the publication, except for the absence of women.

One picture shows a family apparently getting ready for bed, with a young boy brushing his teeth in the bathroom. However, a pyjama-clad woman standing next to the boy is missing from the Saudi version. Another picture of five women dining has been removed in the Saudi edition.

Yousef Bin Al-Alawi Bin Abdulla, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Oman

Monday, October 01, 2012 No comments

YOUSEF BIN ALAWI BIN ABDULLAH, Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs of Oman, calling on his “brothers in Syria” to renounce violence and enter into a political process to end the crisis, called on the Security Council to reach a unified position on the Syrian crisis “away from any political contradiction and without bias to any party,” that would usher in inclusive political dialogue for that purpose. The principles laid out by the Action Group for Syria in Geneva could be used as a guideline in that respect, he stated, adding that the time had come for collective action to preserve the security, stability and development of all the countries in the Middle East.

In that light, he said, the role of the United Nations in relation to the Question of Palestine should change “from managing the crisis to seriously searching for a just and lasting comprehensive political solution,” which would take into account the interest of both parties and lead to two States living side by side. From that standpoint, he supported the application of Palestine to become a non-member state of the United Nations, hoping it would usher in a new phase in negotiations. He expressed the hope that the upcoming Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) review conference will be able to declare the establishment of a Middle East zone free of weapons of mass destruction.

On Somalia, he welcomed political progress there and called on the international community to provide political, economic and humanitarian assistance to the people, urging Somalis of all political and tribal affiliations to reject violence, cease hostilities, engage in national dialogue and place the interests of the nation above their own. Noting the location of his country on the Arabian Sea, he reconfirmed its support for international efforts to eradicate piracy and armed robbery against merchant vessels in that sea and the Indian Ocean. Condemning the recent video that slandered the Prophet Muhammad while rejecting the escalation of violence that followed its dissemination, he said it was incumbent on the United Nations to adopt international legislation that would “hold accountable those responsible” for any deliberate abuse of and slander of the sanctity of people and their beliefs.

Turning to threats to food security, he said that among remedies worth exploring were the establishment of a global food reserve system to meet shortages, with reserve centres in several continents managed through a targeted international fund. He suggested that the Food and Agricultural Organization conduct a study of the matter and encouraged industrialized countries to support more research towards innovative solutions to keep pace with the steady increase in the global demand for food. Describing his country’s progress in the areas of health, public services and sustainable development, he looked forward to international cooperation in implementing the results of the Rio+20 conference. He also stressed progress Oman had made in safeguarding human rights, fighting human trafficking, acceding to international treaties and empowering the Oman Council, granting it wide legislative powers.

Walid Al-Moualem, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Syria

Monday, October 01, 2012 No comments

WALID AL-MOUALEM, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of Syria, said that, while the peoples of the world waited to see effective and coordinated international efforts to overcome contemporary crises, reality pointed instead to the escalation of hegemony and domination. Instead of seeking to contribute to the settlement of regional and international disputes by peaceful means, some well known countries continued to pursue “new colonial policies” based on hypocrisy. “Under the pretext of humanitarian intervention these countries interfere in the domestic affairs of States and impose unilateral sanctions that lack a moral and legal basis”, he stressed, adding that, under the pretext of concepts such as “the responsibility to protect”, the “drums of war are beaten”, and sedition and unrest were spreading and damaging the structure of national societies. Perhaps worst of all was to see the permanent members of the Security Council — who launched wars under the pretext of combating terrorism — now supporting terrorism in Syria.

For more than a year, his country had been facing organized terrorism that led to bombings, assassinations and massacres, as well as looting and sabotage activities that horrified citizens in many parts of Syria. Citing a recent bombing, which had taken place just last week and for which responsibility had been claimed by a terrorist group, he said that it was no surprise that the Security Council had failed to condemn that act. That terrorism was, in fact, externally supported, and was accompanied by “unprecedented media provocation” based on igniting religious extremism. Some States in the region either turned a blind eye to the situation, or provided active material and logistical support for armed terrorist groups. “These facts make me question whether this international consensus by our States on combating terrorism was serious, or was it just merely ink on paper?” In that context, he noted the “explicit request of the United States” that the armed terrorist groups not surrender their arms in response to amnesty decrees issued by the Syrian leadership. He also wondered to what extent the statements of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United States and France — which clearly induced support for terrorism in Syria — were in line with the international responsibilities of those States in combating terrorism.

The Syrian Government had responded positively throughout the crisis to each sincere initiative aiming to find a peaceful solution based on national dialogue among Syrians, and rejected external manipulation. Syria had cooperated with the Arab Observers Mission, and the subsequent international initiatives linked to the work of the United Nations Special Envoy Kofi Annan. It had received the United Nations Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS) and announced its commitment to the implementation of the Six Point Plan presented by Mr. Annan. Syria had also welcomed the appointment of Lakhdar Brahimi as Special Representative of the Secretary-General and stressed its willingness to cooperate with him on the principles agreed by the international community. The success of any such effort, however, depended on the commitment of States supporting armed groups in Syria — particularly Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Libya and others — to stop arming, funding, training and harbouring such terrorist groups, and instead to encourage dialogue and renounce violence.

The crisis in Syria was a two-sided problem, he went on. The first side was linked to the need for political, economic and social reforms demanded by the public, while the second side was the exploitation of those needs and demands for completely different objectives. In the past year the Government had made serious and important reform steps that culminated in a new constitution that embraced pluralism and that was followed by parliamentary elections. Syria was continuing to work with the patriotic components in the opposition to build a new and pluralistic Syria that responded to the aspirations of its people. Calls from the General Assembly’s podium for the President of Syria, Bashar Al-Assad, to step down were a “blatant interference in the domestic affairs of Syria”, and the unity of its people and its sovereignty. The Syrian people were the only party authorized to choose its own future and the shape of its own State, he stressed, urging countries that were proud of their own democracy and freedom of expression to support Syria in “our democratic course” and leave the Syrian people to choose its leadership through elections whose form was defined by the new Constitution.

Inviting the national opposition to join efforts to stop shedding Syrian blood by sitting at the dialogue table, he stressed that the Government of his country still believed in a political solution as the essential way out of the current crisis. He called, therefore, for all parties and political groups — inside and outside of Syria — to take part in a constructive dialogue “under the umbrella of the homeland”. To that end, countries represented in the Assembly should exert pressure to end the violence. The results of that national dialogue, after agreement by all parties, would be the map for a more pluralistic and democratic Syria. The events in Syria had led to growing humanitarian needs in several key sectors in areas affected by the terrorism of Takfiri groups, which had led to the worsening of the living conditions of the Syrian citizens there. While the Government had been working hard to meet the basic needs of the people, some had sought to “fabricate a refugee crisis” through inciting armed groups to intimidate Syrian civilians in border areas and by forcing them to flee to neighbouring countries. He appealed to those Syrian citizens to return to their towns and villages, where the State would guarantee their safe return and their precious lives, away from the “inhumane conditions” they had suffered in refugee camps. He also questioned the credibility of those who called for humanitarian assistance, but at the same time tightened economic sanctions.

In addition, he recalled his country’s natural right to the full return of the occupied Syrian Golan and support for the independent Palestinian State on the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967. Further, he stressed that the insistence of the United States and countries of the European Union, among others, to adopt unilateral economic measures contradicted the regulations of international law and the principles of free trade, and raised questions about the legality and morality of such practices. In that vein, he called for the lifting of the embargo imposed on Cuba by the United States, as well as for the lifting and ending of all unilateral coercive measures imposed on countries including Venezuela, Belarus, Iran, Syria and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Mourad Medelci, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Algeria

Sunday, September 30, 2012 No comments

MOURAD MEDELCI, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Algeria, said the world faced a complex turning point, due to geopolitical upheavals in the Middle East and the global economic crisis. The collective faith in multilateralism should pool efforts to overcome the uncertainty caused by those ills. He called for efforts to prevent the economic crisis in the developed world from spilling over to other regions, particularly Africa. The return of confidence and growth should lead the world to better coordinate the work of the Bretton Woods institutions. Algeria had made enormous sacrifices, carrying out rigorous expenditure control and social policy to redistribute wealth. It would maintain investment to spur economic growth during the 2010-2014 period. Development, peace and security were interrelated. Regionally, Algeria had contributed to the process of democratization and the rule of law. It had maintained cooperation with countries in the Magreb and Sahel regions to fight hunger and poverty, achieve food security, and develop agriculture, infrastructure and renewable energy.

Algeria shared with its Arab and African partners its experience with fighting terrorism, organized crime and trafficking of drugs and weapons, he said. It welcomed recent changes in North Africa and the Middle East, due to the quest for democratic ideals, justice and liberty. He condemned all forms of violence and repression. He expressed hope that the people of Western Sahara would be able to exercise their right to self-determination. He urged Morocco and the Polisario Front to act in good faith and launch formal talks to reach a just solution to their conflict over Western Sahara. He supported the United Nations commitment to conflict prevention through tireless diplomatic efforts and the role of the Organization in promoting solutions to major crises as part of efforts to promote development. Algeria was a member of the Special Joint Committee of the United Nations and the League of Arab States to monitor the Syrian crisis. Algeria had supported Special Envoy Kofi Annan and it would do the same for his successor.

In the Middle East and North Africa region, violence and terrorist acts were linked to organized crime and trafficking of drugs and weapons, he said. The complex situation in Mali, whose root cause was underdevelopment, seriously threatened the Sahel region. Algeria was working with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union and other regional actors to achieve a peaceful, lasting settlement to the crisis. He supported United Nations reform, including to revitalize the Assembly and to make the Council more democratic and representative, particularly for Africa. Algeria had contributed to decolonization in Africa, enjoyed peace with its neighbours and was working towards regional integration. It was a candidate for membership in the Human Rights Council in 2014-2016. He stressed the need to fight Islamophobia, which had been used to commit acts of terrorism. He condemned the tragic events sparked by the anti-Muslim video and violent acts against diplomatic personnel and installations. He proposed holding an initiative under United Nations auspices to identify ways to prevent hate crimes. The responsible, adequate use of freedom of expression was needed to give the world a more brotherly dialogue among peoples of different religions.

He welcomed Palestine as a new United Nations member, based on 1967 borders. He recognized the legitimate, inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to sovereignty and self-determination. Creation of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East was an important confidence-building measure. He supported the efforts of Finland’s Secretary of State to serve as a facilitator of the upcoming conference on the Middle East. He supported efforts towards sustainable development and urged Member States to shoulder their common but differentiated responsibility in terms of capacity-building, technology transfer and financing. Algeria’s President had given new impulse to reform to ensure the rule of law and women’s empowerment. Today, women accounted for 146 members of Parliament, or one third of the lower chamber. Algeria had made progress towards democratic freedoms and it already had achieved the Millennium Development Goals. It was selected as one of 50 countries to consult with the United Nations on the Millennium Development Goals and the post-2015 development agenda.