OPINION: Israel’s scramble for Africa: Selling water, weapons and lies

Fri 02 August 2019: Israel is trying to rewrite history to tap into the hearts of ordinary Africans, but it will not succeed. For years, Kenya has served as Israel’s gateway to Africa. Israel has been using the strong political, economic and security relations between the two states as a way to expand its influence on the continent and […]

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OPINION: How Iran’s new education proposal silences and criminalizes non-Persian languages

Wed 31 July 2019: For many decades, successive Iranian regimes have perpetrated injustices against non-Persian peoples who make up approximately half of the country’s population. Indeed, the Islamic Republic chose to follow in the footsteps of the Shah in terms of promoting Persian ethnic supremacism. Since its inception, the regime has enacted a number of […]

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OPINION: Ignoring Islamophobia in Sri Lanka is harming an already vulnerable community

Mon 29 July 2019: I returned this week from my first visit to Sri Lanka since the horrific Easter bombings which were claimed by Islamic State (IS) and carried out by the National Thowheed Jamath, a relatively little known extremist group who have gone against the very faith they claim to be part of. As a […]

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OPINION: How Temporary Marriage, or Sigheh, is Spreading in Iran

Sun 28 July 2019: There have been news reports about the mushrooming of “chastity houses,” particularly in holy cities, and their increasing popularity with male foreign tourists visiting Iran. Though they are yet to become legal, chastity or morality houses are religiously sanctioned establishments that enable couples to engage in intimate relationships by performing sigheh (temporary marriage). […]

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OPINION: The long history of black Americans being told to ‘go back’

Thu 25 July 2019: Trump’s latest quip reflects old white supremacist desire to keep black people in a position of servitude and weakness. If the blatant racism on display in the lead-up to the 2020 election is at all surprising, you have not been paying attention. Candidate Donald Trump began his ascent to the US presidency descending down […]

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OPINION: Can South Africa follow through on its anti-apartheid solidarity with Palestine?

Tue 23 July 2019: In the week of what would have been his 101st birthday, Nelson Mandela made an emotionally unexpected return to South African, and world, TV screens. His memory had already been briefly revived in the Middle East and Europe on July 7 when his grandson, Nkosi Zwelivelile Mandela, a South African MP, slammed Israel […]

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OPINION: Why Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are protesting

Sun 21 July 2019: Palestinian refugees say they are victims of ‘racist’ system and demand legal clarity to their status. Thousands of Palestinian refugees protested in and around their camps on Friday to demand that the Lebanese government end its requirement that they must obtain a work permit to gain employment. The intensifying protests were […]

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OPINION: No, Mughals didn’t loot India. They made us rich

Thu 18 July 2019: They remained as Indians, not colonists. India gained independence in 1947 after a long freedom struggle with British imperialism. Perhaps because of that, lack of historical knowledge and sense we see all conquests as colonisation. Colonisation is described by professor Harbans Mukhia as “governance of a land and its people, now […]

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OPINION: Gory tales of torture in Indian-administered Kashmir

Wed 17 July 2019: On March 19, 2019, Mohammad Asadullah Pandith, received a dead body of his 28-year-old son, Rizwan Asad Pandith, a school principal by profession, from police in Indian-administered Kashmir. Just two days before he was allegedly killed in the custody, Rizwan, a resident of South Kashmir’s Pulwama district, was picked up by police […]

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OPINION: Hamza Yusuf may be the token Muslim Trump’s administration needs

Sun 14 July 2019: Can the esteemed scholar be trusted to speak truth to power, and should the public intellectual be held accountable to a higher standard? Mike Pompeo, United States Secretary of State, announced the formation of the Commission on Unalienable Rights this Monday. The 10-member panel chosen by the former CIA director, will […]

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