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ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17933 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
 Posted: 08-02-2013 15:16 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Nigeria polio vaccinators shot dead in Kano
Nigeria is one of only three countries where polio is still endemic
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21381773
Nine female polio vaccinators have been killed in two shootings at health centres in northern Nigeria, police have told the BBC.
In the first attack in Kano the polio vaccinators were shot dead by gunmen who drove up on a motor tricycle.
Thirty minutes later gunmen targeted a clinic outside Kano city as the vaccinators prepared to start work.
Some Nigerian Muslim leaders have previously opposed polio vaccinations, claiming they could cause infertility.
On Thursday, a controversial Islamic cleric spoke out against the polio vaccination campaign, telling people that new cases of polio were caused by contaminated medicine.
Such opposition is a major reason why Nigeria is one of just three countries where polio is still endemic.
But this is believed to be the first time polio vaccinators have been attacked in the country.
Some Kano residents told the BBC's Yusuf Yakasai in the city that other people injured in the first attack had been taken to hospital.
A health official confirmed to the BBC that those killed in the second attack in Hotoro were female health workers - there were earlier reports that people waiting at the clinic may have been among those shot.
Witnesses in Hotoro told the BBC gunmen also approached the health centre using a motor tricycle.
Continue reading the main story
Polio
Polio is an infectious disease caused by a virus which invades the nervous system and may cause irreversible paralysis
It can strike at any age but mainly affects children under five
There is no cure for polio, it can only be prevented
Polio vaccine, given multiple times, can protect a child for life.
As long as a single child remains infected with polio, unvaccinated children in all countries are at risk
Nigeria's battle to contain polio
Bill Gates: The world can defeat polio
Kano banned motorbikes from carrying passengers after a recent attack on the prominent Muslim leader, the emir of Kano.
Analysts believe the attacks may have been the work of the militant Islamist group Boko Haram but it has not yet commented.
The group - whose name translates as "Western education is forbidden" - says it is fighting to overthrow the government and impose Sharia.
It has been blamed for the deaths of some 1,400 people in central and northern Nigeria since 2010.
According to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, there were 121 cases of polio in Nigeria last year, compared to 58 in Pakistan and 37 in Afghanistan.
In the past month, polio workers have also been targeted and killed in Pakistan, where the Taliban have threatened anti-polio efforts - accusing health workers of working as US spies and alleging that the vaccine makes children sterile. |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17933 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 12-02-2013 15:51 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Nigeria Wazobia FM journalists held over polio deaths
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21425923
Nigeria is one of only three countries where polio is still endemic
Two Nigerian journalists have been arrested over the killing of nine female polio vaccinators in northern Kano state on Friday, police have said.
Kano police chief Ibrahim Idris told the BBC the journalists would be charged with culpable homicide.
They had incited the public to oppose vaccinations through their Wazobia FM radio station, he alleged.
Some Muslim leaders in northern Nigeria believe polio vaccinations cause infertility among women.
They see it as a Western conspiracy to reduce the Muslim population.
Such opposition is a major reason why Nigeria is one of just three countries where polio is still endemic.
There were 121 cases of polio in Nigeria last year, compared to 58 in Pakistan and 37 in Afghanistan, according to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
No group has said it carried out Friday's two separate attacks on the polio vaccinators.
Some have accused Islamist militant Boko Haram of the killings but the group has not commented on the allegations.
Continue reading the main story
Polio
Polio is an infectious disease caused by a virus which invades the nervous system and may cause irreversible paralysis
It can strike at any age but mainly affects children under five
There is no cure for polio, it can only be prevented
Polio vaccine, given multiple times, can protect a child for life.
As long as a single child remains infected with polio, unvaccinated children in all countries are at risk
Nigeria's battle to contain polio
Bill Gates: The world can defeat polio
In the first attack in Kano, vaccinators were shot dead by gunmen who drove up on a motor tricycle.
Thirty minutes later gunmen targeted a clinic outside Kano city as the vaccinators prepared to start work.
Mr Idris told the BBC the journalists had incited the public to reject polio immunisation, in a programme broadcast two days before the attacks.
Wazobia's station chief Sanusi Bello Kankarofi told AFP news agency that a presenter and a reporter were being held by Kano police, along with a man who featured on their programme.
A third journalist had been released after being questioned, Mr Kankarofi said.
Wazobia's popular Sandar Girma programme focused on a man who was allegedly forced to submit his children to vaccinations by district officials, AFP reports.
The children's father is among those being held, it quotes Mr Kankarofi as saying. |
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| Quake42 Warrior Princess
Great Old One Joined: 25 Feb 2004 Total posts: 5310 Location: Over Silbury Hill, through the Solar field Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 19-02-2013 16:03 Post subject: |
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Fascinating article about the fight against the Islamists in Bangladesh. In a depressing coda, one of the organisers of the demonstration has since been murdered by Jamaat's student wing.
| Quote: |
The agonies of Bangladesh come to London
Shahbag protests in Dhaka are reflected in the demonstrations in London
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Nick Cohen
The Observer, Sunday 17 February 2013
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Three men stand in Bangladeshi national colours in Shahbag square. Photograph: Kazi Sudipto/ Demotix/Corbis
The Shahbag junction in Dhaka has become Bangladesh's Tahrir Square. Hundreds of thousands of young protesters are occupying it and raging against radical Islamists. Even sympathetic politicians cannot control the movement. The protesters damn them as appeasers, who have compromised with unconscionable men.
Theirs is a grassroots uprising for the most essential and neglected values of our age: secularism, the protection of minorities from persecution and the removal of theocratic thugs from the private lives and public arguments of 21st-century citizens
Naturally, the western media show little interest in covering the protest. The indifference is all the more telling because the Shahbag movement is a response to a crime westerners once deplored, but have almost forgotten.
The young in Dhaka have revolted over the war crimes trials of members of Jamaat-e-Islami. That useful leftwing term "clerical fascist" might have been invented to describe what they did. In 1971, the oppressed "eastern wing" of Pakistan rose against its masters to form Bangladesh. The Pakistani army responded with a campaign of mass murder and mass rape, which shocked a 20th century that thought it had seen it all. George Harrison and Ravi Shankar, the Bonos of their day, organised benefit concerts at Madison Square Garden. The murder of Hindus and Christians, the flight of refugees and the chance to weaken Pakistan pushed Indira Gandhi into one of the finest actions of her murky career. She sent the Indian army to liberate the tortured land.
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Full article here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/17/bagladeshi-protests-reflected-londons-east-end |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17933 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 11-03-2013 01:48 Post subject: |
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Article by Maryam Namazie. Full text at link.
| Quote: | Sex segregation not miscommunication
Politics by Maryam Namazie
http://freethoughtblogs.com/maryamnamazie/2013/03/11/sex-segregation-not-miscommunication/
On March 9, the Islamic Education & Research Academy (a nice sounding front for Islamism) organised a “debate” at the University College in London between atheist Lawrence Krauss and Hamza Andreas Tzortzis entitled “Islam or Atheism: Which Makes More Sense?” I guess that’s what they call it when they don’t have political power.
Just in case you don’t know about IERA, here’s more information. I’ve also written a post about them in the past, aptly titled: “For those who don’t know the difference between a Muslim and an Islamist“.
Despite sex-apartheid and segregation of the sexes at the event, the debate shockingly went ahead. I was returning from an 8th March conference in Germany. Had I been there, I would have been arrested before I would have allowed the debate to go ahead.
For all those who stayed on as if it was business as usual: you remind me of those who sat through “debates” with racists at racially segregated events. How utterly shameful.
Lawrence Krauss has Tweeted: “Met with IERA people today, who told me there was no intent to have enforced gender segregation. Problem was communication to and from staff.” IERA lies. Sex apartheid and misogyny is a pillar of their existence. It does make me wonder when people will stop believing their propaganda and instead side with human principles and equality?
By the way, here is a letter written by Chris Moos to UCL about the event:... |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17933 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 08-04-2013 23:05 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Hamas 'force men to cut long hair'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-22062626
By Jon Donnison
BBC News, Jerusalem
Ayman al-Sayed (right) says he was forced to shave his long hair by Hamas police
A human rights group in Gaza has accused Hamas police of forcing men to shave their heads after saying their hairstyles were indecent.
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights says several young men have been arrested for wearing their hair too long or with too much hair gel.
Officials from Hamas, the militant group that governs Gaza, denied this.
The human rights group says the men were beaten and forced to sign an agreement to keep their hair short.
They are also being forced to agree that they will not wear low-waisted trousers, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights says.
If Hamas does want to crack down on hair gel and low-slung jeans it will have its work cut out.
Both styles are fashionable with young men in Gaza, where more than half the population is under the age of 18.
The Hamas-run interior ministry in Gaza has denied its police are involved and says Islamic student groups are responsible.
Witnesses to the arrests dispute this.
Critics of Hamas accuse it of increasingly imposing laws that reflect a conservative interpretation of Islam.
In the past Hamas has banned women from smoking shisha pipes and outlawed men from cutting women's hair. But both laws have never been fully enforced.
Some believe Hamas introduces such legislation to appeal to conservative elements in Gaza who consider the government to be too moderate. |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17933 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 29-05-2013 17:02 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Saudi cleric faces backlash over harassment tweet
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-22705573
By Sebastian Usher
BBC News
The tweet also cited an academic thesis comparing women's employment to human trafficking
Saudis on social networks have called for legal action against a writer and cleric who urged his Twitter followers to harass women cashiers.
Abdullah Mohamed al-Dawood, who has almost 100,000 Twitter followers, used an Arabic hashtag on Sunday which read: "sexually harass female cashiers".
He advocated harassment as a way of discouraging women from working.
Recently Saudi women have been allowed to work in public in shops, provoking a backlash from conservatives.
Hundreds of Saudis and other Arab tweeters attacked him, some asking him what right he had to stop women working, others accusing him of inciting sexual attacks.
Others have defended him, arguing that his tweet was aimed at preserving the country's deeply conservative Islamic identity.
One of Mr al-Dawood's arguments is that letting women work is tantamount to human trafficking - he claims they are being exploited to attract business.
But a number of Saudi women have tweeted to contradict him.
Conservative anger
Traditionally Saudi women have worked as professors, teachers or doctors in all-female workplaces.
It is a sign of changing times in the country that women have not only been permitted to work with men, but that many have also seized the opportunity for jobs that once would have been seen as too menial.
But this has not gone down well with the powerful religious elite, which has shown its displeasure with similar moves, such as granting women the vote in the next municipal elections and letting them serve on the influential Shura Council.
But in defending the conservative position, Mr al-Dawood has gone out on a limb. It is not the least of the ironies of his position that it appears to transgress the deepest social and religious taboos in Saudi Arabia.
It is not, however, the first time he's courted such controversy - he has previously suggested that babies should be veiled to protect them from being sexually molested.
Another irony is that he has used Twitter to make his point, although in recent weeks the site has come under sustained attack from leading Saudi clerics for corrupting and misleading young Saudis.
To lighten the debate with a touch of humour, tweeters have been sharing a recent cartoon in a local newspaper. It shows a huge, authoritative Saudi man holding out his hand to deny entry to a veiled woman.
She, however, has already walked straight through him, leaving him looking surprised - and with a gaping hole in the middle of his body. |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17933 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 15-08-2013 12:12 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Protect Nahla Mahmoud
http://ex-muslim.org.uk/2013/08/protect-nahla-mahmoud/
Following an interview on Channel 4 on Sharia law, Islamists have threatened Sudanese secular campaigner and Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain Spokesperson Nahla Mahmoud with death, calling her a ‘Kafira’ and ‘Murtada’ who has offended Islam and brought “fitnah”. The threats have been reported to the police who have closed the case and advised that nothing could be done.
We the undersigned are extremely concerned about the safety of Nahla and that of her family in Sudan. We ask the authorities to investigate the threats made particularly by Mr Salah Al Bandar.
Nahla writes: “I am most concerned with the harassment by Mr. Salah Al Bandar. Not only is he endangering my health and sense of safety and security in the UK, but he is also organising against me back in Sudan in ways that are potentially very dangerous for both myself and my family. As a consequence, my younger brother has been physically attacked in Sudan, my mother has been seriously threatened and I continue to get threats and have had to endure a number of cyber stalking episodes by Mr Al Bandar or his associates.”
Mr Al Bandar claims to be a “democratic, liberal Muslim” who has been politically active and until recently a councillor with the Lib-Dem Party in Cambridgeshire; he is a director at the Sudan Civic Foundation in the UK. He has attempted to silence Nahla with his threats which include the following:
On 22nd January, Mr Al Bander posted an article in Arabic on the Sudanese Online Website (one of the most widely read websites in Sudan and throughout the Sudanese diaspora) entitled “A Sudanese woman announces that she is a ‘Kafira” on British TV”. In some parts of this article he says:
“I will not forgive anyone who wants to start a battle against Islam and the beliefs of the people…”, “Be aware of this ‘fitna’ and I know who is behind it and I will never have any mercy on her here…”, “I will have no tolerance for anyone here who talks about freedom of belief or freedom of thought or any of the other clichés…”
On the 25th of January 2013 he posted a new piece saying: “infidel Mohamed Mahmoud Kassalawi is the one who organised this scandal from A to Z. He is looking for someone like Nahla to pass his scandalous agenda. ….I am against those who use her to offend people’s sanctities….” [Dr. Mohamed Mahmoud is an academic and director of the Critical Centre for Religious Studies in the UK.]
On 29th January 2013, Mr Al Bander added an article featuring Nahla with Maryam Namazie and Mohamed Mahmoud ‘photoshopped’ together with a background of a Facebook page he made up and named ‘Sudanese Atheists’ Page’. He also discussed the relationship of the three in a post on 8 February. The article is full of fabrications, including that Maryam Namazie “trained” Nahla in “public activities against Islam” and that Mohamed Mahmoud “created this idol Nahla and presented her as a champion of freedom of expression”. Also, he posted a screen shot of Nahla’s article published in ‘Left Foot Forward’ about ‘Sharia implementations in the UK and elsewhere’ after adding a main headline into the article to read “Freedom of practicing ‘Luat’ and promoting it” (“ Luat” is a derogatory term for homosexuality).
On the 10th of February he posted “I forbid anyone from trying to change Nahla’s scandal to a case worthy of support… It will all get back to them… Be cautioned! Be cautioned!… No excuses for those who have been warned! ”
On the 22nd of February he added a new post entitled “She sold her faith for a legal status… The second episode of Nahla Elgaali’s series” where he said: “January 2013 is an unusual month for the Sudanese diaspora in the UK. For the first time a Sudanese young woman goes public provoking the feelings of those in and outside the country. Not publicising her own beliefs, but joining a group which promotes atheism among the Sudanese diaspora”. He continues: “the topic is now being discussed outside this website. It has spread to include in-country platforms. A ‘Khartoum newspaper has done an interview with Mrs. Huda Mohamed el-Khair, Nahla’s mother, exploring the background of Nahla’s complicated journey.”
His posts against Nahla and his labelling her ‘Kafira’, ‘Murtadda’ and ‘Zindiga’ has resulted in governmental and official bodies such as the ‘General Administration of the Sudanese Armed Forces’ , Blue Nile Channel , and the official Sudanese governmental newspaper, ‘Elentibaha’ speaking against “the infidel woman in Britain who offends Islam and promotes nudity”. These include: al ‘Khartoum’, ‘el- Sudani’, ‘el-Ayam‘ , and ‘el-Ray el Aam’, ‘el watan’ , ‘Hurriyat’ and a number of other local newspapers. A number of online platforms also considered it their headline news over a few weeks, including Sudan Motion, Sudan.Net, ‘el-Nilain’, Sudanile, Sudanforall, ‘el-Rakoba’, Sudaress, Mugren Net and others. A few Middle Eastern websites also reported the incident such as ‘el-hiwar el-mutamdn’, ‘Kitabk’ and Alhurra TV.
We the undersigned call on the authorities to investigate Salah Albandar’s bullying, harassment and threats against Nahla Mahmoud, prosecute him and guarantee Nahla’s safety and security.
To support Nahla Mahmoud, please add your signature in the comments section below. It must include a first and last name. The signatories will be added to this list on a regular basis |
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| Pietro_Mercurios Heuristically Challenged
Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 25-09-2013 10:52 Post subject: |
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Probably the right thread for this.
| Quote: | http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/one-in-four-young-people-do-not-trust-muslims-8838413.html
One in four young people 'do not trust Muslims'
The Independent. Heather Saul. 25 September 2013
A quarter of 18 to 24-year-olds in Britain "do not trust Muslims", the results of a BBC poll have suggested.
Of the 1,000 people interviewed in a Radio 1 Newsbeat survey, 28 per cent said they felt Britain would be "better off" with fewer Muslims, whilst 60 per cent believed the British public had a negative image of Muslims.
The Comres poll also found that only 29 per cent of people surveyed believed Muslims were doing enough to combat extremism in their communities and a third of those surveyed disagree that immigration is good for Britain.
Over 40 per cent believed Muslims did not share the same values as other members of the community.
However, 48 per cent agreed that Islam is a peaceful religion.
Figures taken from the Metropolitan Police have shown a 61 per cent rise in anti-Muslim based crime over the last year in London. The Muslim Council of Britain has also noted an "unprecedented escalation of violence" following the death of Fusilier Lee Rigby in May.
Akeela Ahmed, an advisor on anti-Muslim hatred said more integration was needed amongst young people. “These findings indicate that we need to ensure young people are mixing at local levels and that they're working on projects together so that people can get to know Muslims and vice versa,” he said.
Professor Matthew Goodwin, a member of the Extremis Project who analyse research into extremism and terrorism, said surveys undertaken by him and his academic colleagues suggest "that a significant proportion of the British population hold negative views of Islam, and by extension British Muslim communities.”
The Government is currently funding a service to record Islamophobic crime and provide support to victims.
A Department for Communities and Local Government spokesman told Newsbeat that the message from the Government is "unequivocal"- "there is no place for anti-Muslim hatred or any kind of hatred in Britain, and we are committed to tackling this unacceptable scourge.” |
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| Zilch5 Vogon Poet
Great Old One Joined: 08 Nov 2007 Total posts: 1527 Location: Western Sydney, Australia Gender: Male |
| Posted: 01-10-2013 07:03 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Saudi cleric says women who drive risk damaging their ovaries
A conservative Saudi Arabian cleric has said women who drive risk damaging their ovaries and bearing children with clinical problems, countering activists who are trying to end the Islamic kingdom's male-only driving rules.
A campaign calling for women to defy the ban in a protest drive on October 26 has spread rapidly online over the past week and gained support from some prominent women activists. On Sunday, the campaign's website was blocked inside the kingdom.
In an interview published on Friday on the website sabq.org, Sheikh Saleh bin Saad al-Lohaidan said women aiming to overturn the ban on driving should put "reason ahead of their hearts, emotions and passions".
Reuters earlier wrongly identified him as Sheikh Saleh bin Mohammed al-Lohaidan, a member of the Senior Council of Scholars, one of the top religious bodies in the birthplace of Islam.
By contrast, Sheikh Saleh bin Saad al-Lohaidan, the person quoted in the sabq.org report, is a judicial adviser to an association of Gulf psychologists.
His comments reflect the extent of opposition to women driving among some conservatives in Saudi Arabia.
"If a woman drives a car, not out of pure necessity, that could have negative physiological impacts as functional and physiological medical studies show that it automatically affects the ovaries and pushes the pelvis upwards," he told Sabq.
"That is why we find those who regularly drive have children with clinical problems of varying degrees," he said.
He did not cite specific medical studies to support his arguments.
The ban on women driving is not backed by a specific law, but only men are granted driving licenses. Women can be fined for driving without a license but have also been detained and put on trial in the past on charges of political protest.
Sheikh Abdulatif Al al-Sheikh, the head of the morality police, told Reuters a week ago that there was no text in the documents making up sharia, or Islamic law, that barred women from driving.
King Abdullah has pushed some cautious reforms aimed at expanding women's freedoms in Saudi Arabia, including opening more employment opportunities for them, but he has not addressed the issue of driving. |
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/29/us-saudi-driving-idUSBRE98S04B20130929 |
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