Muslim Americans, Like Nabeela Syed, No Longer On The Fringe Of US Politics
New
Age Islam News Bureau
16
November 2022
•
UN Condemns Beheadings Of 2 Girls At Syria's Al Hol Camp, Demands Investigation
•
UN Emphasizes On Women’s Access To Education And Public Life In Afghanistan
•
Statistics On Kuwaiti Women Married To Expats
•
Bodies Of 2 Girls Found In Syria Camp Housing Daesh Families
•
UTAS Salalah Students Participate In Forum For Female Students In The GCC
Countries In Saudi Arabia
•
Pakistani Fashion Designer Maheen Khan’s Dubai Pop-Up Raises Style Stakes
•
Afghan Women Fight Their Own War Through Activism And Courage
•
Uprooted Women’s Rights Activist Wants Change Within Afghanistan
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/muslim-americans-nabeela-us/d/128413
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Muslim
Americans, Like Nabeela Syed, No Longer On The Fringe Of US Politics
Nabeela
Syed (Photo: Instagram)
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16th
November 2022
Delhi:
Indian-American Nabeela Syed, who was recently elected to Illinois’ lower
house, thanked her Indian-American campaign manager and friend Anusha Thotakura,
for her victory in the November 8 midterm polls.
The
recent college graduate and a first-generation hijab-wearing Indian-American
Muslim woman, trounced Republican incumbent, Chris Bos.
“The
story of this campaign cannot be told without telling the story of my
incredible friend and campaign manager, Anusha Thotakura,” Syed tweeted on
Tuesday.
“When
we met in high school debate 9 years ago, I never would’ve guessed we would
have done so much together a” from knocking on doors in Georgia to flip the
Senate to working on successful school board races… And now, this historic
campaign,” Syed, the youngest member of the state’s House of Representatives,
wrote in a series of tweets.
Thotakura,
24, is a program director at Citizen Action, an Illinois-based political
coalition that has led campaigns for fair taxes, affordable and quality health
care, retirement security.
It
was during the Covid-19 pandemic, when Syed and Thotakura contemplated running
for office.
Born
in Palatine — an upper-middle-class neighbourhood in Illinois — Syed is a
graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, with a degree in political
science and business.
According
to Syed, Thotakura was the “first” and the “only” person to ask her to run for
office.
“…And
not only did she tell me to run, but she managed this winning campaign… We knew
it would be an uphill battle for a Democrat, let alone a 23-year old woman of
colour like me, but Anusha saw something in this district and she saw something
in me,” Syed wrote in an emotional post.
While
campaigning, she had promised to be an advocate for the issues most important
to the community, including healthcare, education, taxes, and equal rights.
Thotakura
was tasked with determining the campaign strategy, creating website, to
designing and managing the campaign team, which she balanced along with her
full time job and studies.
“Anusha
wanted to lead a campaign that connected with voters in the most genuine way
possible… There’s nothing Anusha can’t do,” Syed wrote.
She
said that initially she felt disconnected from politics as a child, which
changed gradually — the turning point being Donald Trump’s win in the 2016
presidential election.
Before
barging into active politics, Syed had served as the campaign manager for the
election to the school board and worked with non-profits on different aspects
of elections, which included raising campaign money.
“Find
a candidate that inspires you the way that Nabeela Syed inspires me. The rest
is easy,” Thotakura wrote in response to Syed’s thread on her.
The
recently-concluded midterm results showed that Muslim Americans, like Syed,
were no longer on the fringe of US politics.
They
won at least 83 seats across local, state, and federal midterm elections,
according to an analysis by the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Almost
150 Muslim Americans had run this year for office, including 51 state
legislative candidates across 23 states.
(Meenakshi
Iyer can be reached at meenakshi.i@ians.in)
Source:
Siasat Daily
https://www.siasat.com/nabeela-syed-thanks-indian-american-friend-for-poll-win-2458072/
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UN
Condemns Beheadings Of 2 Girls At Syria's Al Hol Camp, Demands Investigation
Children wait as Syrians prepare to be released from
the YPG-run al-Hol camp, which holds relatives of suspected Daesh terrorists,
in the northeastern Hassakeh governorate, Syria, Aug. 14, 2022. (AFP Photo)
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Betul
Yuruk
15.11.2022
The
UN on Tuesday condemned the beheadings of two girls, aged 11 and 13, at the
Al-Hol refugee camp in eastern Syria, home to families of suspected Daesh/ISIS
terror group members.
''We've
been drawing attention to the poor conditions at the Al‑Hol camp for some time
now, and this is another extremely sad reminder of how bad the conditions
are,'' said UN's deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq.
''We
continue with our pleas for all parties to do what they can to improve the
situation there. And of course, this needs to be thoroughly condemned and
thoroughly investigated.''
The
bodies of the Egyptian girls were found near the sewage system of the camp,
according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The
monitoring group said the bodies of the two girls, who had gone missing in the
past few days, had stab wounds.
The
Al-Hol camp is run by the YPG/PKK terror group and houses 55,000 suspected
Daesh/ISIS members and their families from Syria, Iraq and 60 other countries
with more than half of the residents being children.
The
UN has deplored inhumane and degrading conditions at the camp with human rights
experts urging nations to repatriate citizens held at the location.
Some
countries, including Türkiye, Russia and Kazakhstan have repatriated citizens
but Western nations have shown a reluctance to address the situation.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
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UN
emphasizes on women’s access to education and public life in Afghanistan
November
16, 2022
The
United Nations office in Afghanistan has reacted to the Taliban’s recent
announcement on barring women from visiting public parks and baths.
In
a twitter message, the UNAMA has emphasized on Afghan women’s access to
education and public life.
UNAMA
is deeply concerned by recent Taliban officials’ statements and mounting
on-the-ground reports of women being prevented from using parks, gyms and
baths, UNAMA News tweeted on Tuesday.
All
Afghan’s rights should be upheld, particularly women’s access to all forms of
public life and girls right to education, UNAMA said.
This
comes as the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan have recently announced that
women are not allowed to visit parks, gyms and public baths as these activities
are against the Sharia law.
Taliban
regained power on the 15th of August 2021 after the former President of
Afghanistan, Mohammad Ashraf Ghani fled and the country’s national army
collapsed.
A
number of limitations were imposed on Afghan women including barring them from
work and education. Any kind of pressures on Taliban by the international
community to uphold the basic rights of Afghan women, did not help. Based on
Taliban’s interpretation from Islam, women must be fully covered in Hijab and
do not appear in a shared space with men.
Dozens
of women rights activist who marched on streets agains the limitations and
raised voice had to either leave the country or were silenced after being
detained or prisoned.
Source:
Khaama Press
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Statistics
on Kuwaiti women married to Expats
15
November, 2022
KUWAIT
CITY, Nov 8: At a time when the issue of naturalization is being widely
discussed in the country, particularly for the categories of non-Kuwaiti wives
and children of Kuwaiti women married to foreigners, official statistics
revealed that the total number of children of Kuwaiti women married to
non-Kuwaiti men is 15,100 as of the end of June 2022.
According
to statistics from the Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI), there are
19,429 Kuwaiti women married to non-Kuwaitis. This includes 17,429 Kuwaiti
women married to Western nationals, 688 Kuwaiti women married to Asian
nationals, 379 Kuwaiti women married to North American nationals, 246 Kuwaiti
women married to European nationals, 57 married to South American nationals, 49
married to African nationals, and 39 married to Australian nationals.
The
statistics revealed that the number of Kuwaiti women who are married to
non-Kuwaiti men and do not have children is 4,329.
There
are 2,552 Kuwaiti women with one child, 2,571 with two children and 2,519 with
three children.
About
2,282 Kuwaiti women who are married to non-Kuwaiti men have four children,
about 1,915 have five children, 1,249 have six children, 894 have seven
children, 527 have eight children, 324 have nine children, and 267 have more
than nine children.
The
total number of Kuwaiti women married to non-Kuwaiti men reached 20,128 as of
mid-2021. By Najeh Bilal , Al-Seyassah & Arab Times Staff
Source:
Arab Times Online
https://www.arabtimesonline.com/news/statistics-on-kuwaiti-women-married-to-expats/
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Bodies
of 2 girls found in Syria camp housing Daesh families
November
15, 2022
BEIRUT:
The beheaded bodies of two Egyptian girls were found Tuesday in a sprawling
camp in northeastern Syria housing tens of thousands of women and children
linked to the Daesh group, an opposition war monitor and local officials said.
The
bodies of the girls were found in the sewage system of the camp days after they
went missing, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The group
said the girls had been beheaded. It was first such crime in weeks in the
facility.
An
official at the camp who requested anonymity for fear of reprisals said the
girls were aged 11 and 13.
Siamand
Ali, an official with the Kurdish-led US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces,
confirmed the killings.
Such
grisly crimes in the camp are usually committed by members of Daesh sleeper
cells, especially against women who resist abiding by the group’s extreme
ideology. The Observatory, Ali and the official at the camp all blamed Daesh.
The
killings are the first since US-backed Syrian fighters concluded a 24-day sweep
at Al-Hol in mid-September during which dozens of extremists were detained and
weapons were confiscated in the operation. The operation came after Daesh
sleeper cells committed crimes inside the camp.
Following
the rise of Daesh in 2014 and its declaration of a co-called Islamic caliphate
in parts of Syria and Iraq, thousands of men and women came from around the
world to join the extremist group. Daesh lost the last sliver of land it once
controlled in east Syria in March 2019, but since then its sleeper cells have been
blamed for deadly attacks in Syria and Iraq.
“We
are horrified to hear reports that two children have been killed in Al-Hol camp
(in) Syria,” said Tanya Evans, Country Director for the International Rescue
Committee in Syria. She added that the latest incident involving the deaths of
children in the camp highlights the urgent need for longer-term solutions for
children in Al-Hol.
Some
50,000 Syrians and Iraqis are crowded into tents in the fenced-in camp. Nearly
20,000 of them are children; most of the rest are women, the wives and widows
of Daesh fighters.
Earlier
this month, Doctors Without Borders said the camp is witnessing pervasive
violence, exploitation and lawlessness. The group said that countries with
citizens held in Al-Hol have failed to take responsibility for protecting them.
The
two teenage girls were found in a separated, heavily guarded section of the
camp known as the annex, where an additional 2,000 women from 57 countries —
considered the most die-hard Daesh supporters — along with their roughly 8,000
children are housed, the Observatory said.
The
Observatory that tracks Syria’s 11-year conflict has recorded 28 crimes since
the beginning of the year at Al-Hol in which 30 people were killed.
Source:
Arab News
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2200331/middle-east
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UTAS
Salalah Students Participate In Forum For Female Students In The GCC Countries
In Saudi Arabia
16/November/2022
Salalah:
The University of Technology and Applied Sciences (UTAS) Salalah students
participated in the 3rd Cultural and Scientific Forum for female students in
the GCC countries, organised by Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University in
the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The
event, held for three days between November 5 to 8 featured literature,
calligraphy, women's empowerment, digital transformation and sustainable
development competitions. This event was a platform for talented female
students from all over GCC to share their creative ideas through writing poems,
presenting scientific research, and in various arts and artificial intelligence
fields.
As
part of the delegation representing female students of universities and
institutions of higher education in the Sultanate of Oman, Tafoul bint Ali Beit
Saeed and Rouya bint Omran al Abri from UTAS- Salalah participated in
competitions. Tafoul from the BA department participated and presented a
research paper in the scientific competition with research titled
‘Environmental awareness and its impact on combating pollution and in promoting
sustainable development trends’.
It
was a joint research paper with Noura al Kathiri from the Mass Communication
department. Rouya bint Omran al Abri participated in the literary competition
by giving a speech on the determination and enthusiasm of young people and
their role in the advancement of societies.
Speaking
about her experiences regarding her participation, Rouya bint Omaran al Abri
said, "It was a good experience for me to participate in an international
event for the first time. The interaction with students from other GCC
countries was very inspiring and enriching. "
It
is worth mentioning that students of the Salalah campus have won accolades and
prizes by participating in seminars, research conferences and student forums
held across campuses of UTAS and other national universities.
Source:
Times Of Oman
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Pakistani
fashion designer Maheen Khan’s Dubai pop-up raises style stakes
November
16, 2022
Iconic
Pakistani designer Maheen Khan, who is on the speed dial of Pakistani
celebrities and British royalty, has hailed her recently held pop-up store in
Dubai as a whopping success, with many appreciating the fashion veteran’s
pieces.
Khan’s
‘The Complete Woman’ collection was exclusively made available at the Boulevard
One store pop-up that was set up at Dubai Design District from November 11-13.
In
the past, Khan has famously dressed celebrities such as Bollywood actress
Sharmila Tagore, Pakistani star Mahira Khan and even Catherine, Princess of
Wales.
In
a statement to Gulf News, it was said that the Dubai pop-up was different from
Khan’s previous ones in Singapore and London.
“I
make different clothes from what women want, I make what most women don’t
want,” Khan said in the statement.
Throughout
her career, Khan has been a driving force for the Pakistani fashion industry
and has always brought a fresh perspective to design. She was even once known
as the Coco Chanel of Pakistan.
In
her statement Khan added: “Follow your heart always; whether it’s your work,
your life, your clothes. Be you.”
Source:
Gulf News
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Afghan
women fight their own war through activism and courage
15
November, 2022
Kabul
[Afghanistan], November 15 (ANI): Afghan women have proved to the world that
they are not passive victims to be pitied by the world or waiting for the
United States and their international allies to liberate them.
Nazila
Jamshidi, writing in Afghan Diaspora Network said that even though women have
been persecuted, detained, and tortured, they continued the non-violence
resistance.
Afghan
women do not wait for foreign liberators but are committed to maintaining their
autonomy through activism and courage, added Jamshidi.
A
week ago marked 400 days since the Taliban blocked girls from attending
secondary school. The misogyny entrenched in the fundamentalist Taliban regime
is soaring and has undone women’s significant gains.
Restricting
women’s right to education, protective judicial services, and health, combined
with the deteriorating humanitarian crisis and economic collapse in the
country, creates a breeding ground for violence against women and girls in a
country that was already one of the worst places to be a woman.
But
women are not waiting for anyone to liberate them. Their fundamental rights
under the Taliban are denied, but like other women worldwide, they fight for
their right to become educated and to participate in society, reported Afghan
Diaspora Network.
Standing
alone against the world’s most oppressive regime, Afghan women have contested
the belief that women were passive characters in their history, a victim and in
need of liberation. They are constructing a new perspective on women’s role as
change-makers in society.
Since
the Taliban took over Kabul, Afghan women have engaged in various forms of
resistance, from directly protesting against the oppressors to keeping their
resistance hidden.
From
chanting, “do not be afraid, we are all together” a day after the occupation of
Herat by the Taliban to “food, work, freedom,” and “fearless education” in
Kabul and to building secret schools, women have defied the Taliban’s policies
on women and never gave up the hope of freedom and equality.
Women’s
resistance is a counter-action to the Taliban’s overbearing policies. Afghan
women have maintained their autonomy without reckoning the world will come to
their rescue, despite their challenges, said Jamshidi.
Through
their writings, Afghan women, inside and outside the country, form an honest
account of women’s resilience and highlight the complexity of life in society
under the control of the fundamentalist group.
Lina
Rozbih, a prominent Afghan woman poet, has been actively writing and producing
a collection of poems in Dari that illustrate narratives of women and girls in
Afghanistan. She resists patriarchal structures and acceptance of the violation
of human rights under the name of religion through her poetry.
Afghan
women activists across the globe write women’s stories and their circumstances
through their personal websites, blogs, and social media, which reflect their
opposition and awakening against oppression, marginalization, and misogyny,
reported Afghan Diaspora Network.
Rukhshana
Media, Zan TV, and Ravi Zan, the news website run by Afghan women journalists,
publish articles and updated news on new restrictions and violence against
women and girls in various provinces of the country. (ANI)
Source:
The Print
https://theprint.in/world/afghan-women-fight-their-own-war-through-activism-and-courage/1218331/
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Uprooted
Women’s Rights Activist Wants Change Within Afghanistan
Akmal
Dawi
November
15, 2022
When
the U.S. government started formally negotiating with the Taliban in Doha,
Qatar, in 2019, Tamana Ayazi was concerned the process excluded prevalent fears
of Afghan women that a Taliban return to power would deprive them of their
basic human rights.
A
filmmaker, Ayazi decided to tell the world what was at stake for Afghan women
through a documentary centered on the life of a prominent Afghan woman.
“We
began filming in January 2020,” Ayazi told VOA.
The
ambitious project, however, was stalled by months of COVID-19 restrictions
followed by rapid changes in Afghanistan after the Taliban returned to power,
forcing Ayazi out of the country before she could put the final pieces
together.
“As
a female journalist and filmmaker, I could not return to Afghanistan to complete
the project,” she said, adding that her male co-director was able to travel to
Afghanistan to do the final filming in mid-2022.
'I’m
just the mayor'
Premiering
at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, the 90-minute
documentary, "In Her Hands," shows glimpses of the life of Zarifa
Ghafari, the first female mayor of Maidan Shahr, an insurgency-stricken small
city less than 30 miles to the south of Kabul, the Afghan capital.
Warned
by the Taliban to quit her post or face death, the young mayor is filmed as she
defies persistent social, political and even personal challenges until she
tearfully flees the country after the Taliban returns to power in August 2021.
“Actually,
I’m not a hero,” Ghafari is shown telling an audience at the U.S. State
Department in March 2020 as she receives the International Women of Courage
Award from former first lady Melania Trump. “I’m just the mayor of Maidan
Shahr.”
The
documentary then shows Ghafari surviving a Taliban ambush before cutting to a
separate attack in November 2020, where Taliban assassins kill her father, an
Afghan army official, in front of his house.
Less
than six months after her evacuation to Germany, Ghafari returned to
Afghanistan in February 2022 to assess the situation of women under Taliban
rule.
“The
situation is worsening day after day,” Ghafari told VOA last week from her home
in Germany. “It’s painful … it’s like 100 ignorant individuals have taken over
2,000 people hostage in a village.”
The
Taliban have reversed women’s rights gains in Afghanistan by closing secondary
schools for girls and giving women no political representation. Last week, the
regime prohibited women’s entry to public parks and sports facilities, alleging
that the ban was issued because women did not appropriately observe Islamic
hijab.
'Lasting
change should come from within'
Despite
widespread calls to restore women’s rights, the Taliban have remained defiant,
repeatedly introducing policies that banish Afghan women from the public space
despite the condemnation of human rights groups.
“Women
have been erased from public life and their civil, political, economic, social
and cultural rights disregarded,” Richard Bennett, a U.N. Special Rapporteur on
the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, said in October.
While
commending international sympathy and support for Afghan women, Ghafari said
advocacy in Western capitals alone will not bring lasting change to
Afghanistan.
“Real
and lasting change should come from within Afghanistan,” said Ghafari, warning
that continued Taliban efforts to repress growing calls for change will only
return the country to civil war.
Source:
VOA News
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