World Press on Child Marriage, Comedian Nabil Abdulrashid and Pompeo: New Age Islam's Selection, 10 October 2020
By New Age Islam Edit
Bureau
10 October
2020
• As Humanitarian Crises Escalate, So Does
Child Marriage
By Bjorn Andersson and Jean Gough
• Comedian Nabil Abdulrashid Abused Online With
Racism and Islamophobia
By The Muslim Vibe
• Is Pompeo Changing Tack On Turkey?
By Seth J. Frantzman
• Covid-19 Has Unmasked the True Nature of
Donald Trump and Trumpism
By Jonathan Freedland
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As Humanitarian Crises Escalate, So Does Child
Marriage
By Bjorn Andersson and Jean Gough
October 10,
2020
Photo: UNFPA
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Mona's
village was located in the far west of Nepal when the devastating 2015
earthquake struck. The temblor damaged her house but more significantly, her
father did not return home from his work in India. Her family was left to fend
for themselves within their remote and poor Dalit ethnic community. Then, in a
further upheaval, Mona received a marriage proposal. She was just 16.
In another
trauma-stricken community in South Asia, Rohingya refugee Asmot Ara was barely
14 when she gave birth to her first child. Forced to flee her village amid
violence in Myanmar, Asmot travelled alone for days until she arrived at Cox's
Bazar in Bangladesh. Now she lives in a makeshift settlement with her husband
whom she agreed to marry soon after arriving in the camp when his family
promised to take care of her.
Mona and
Asmot's stories speak to an observed escalation in child marriage amid
humanitarian disasters in several countries across Asia and the Pacific,
including South Asia, where one in every three women aged 20-24 is married
before the age of 18. Their plight shines a spotlight on restrictive social
expectations and barriers that millions of girls face as they become
adolescents.
Unfortunately,
propelled by the perils of climate change and tensions of an increasingly
globalised yet divided world, the frequency and force of disasters like
these—one natural, the other man-made—will continue picking up speed. And the
far-reaching tentacles of Covid-19—a global pandemic—is further exacerbating
and reinforcing such practices.
Beyond
their immediate havoc, the fallout from humanitarian crises is treacherous to
girls' and women's rights. Besides child marriage, emergencies fuel other
harmful practices such as gender-biased sex selection and gender-based
violence. All of these share a common thread: the culturally sanctioned and
ill-informed social and patriarchal notion that girls and women hold less value
than boys and men.
The current
global health and humanitarian crisis of Covid-19 is proving no different. As
forecast by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the pandemic has
disrupted efforts to end child marriage and could potentially result in an
additional 13 million such unions taking place globally between 2020 and 2030
that could otherwise have been averted.
Lockdowns,
school closures and economic downturns linked to Covid-19 are
disproportionately affecting girls, with reduced access to sexual and
reproductive health services, and rising incidence of harmful practices.
The United
Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reports that the Covid-19 crisis has plunged
an additional 150 million children into poverty globally, whilst a third of the
world's school children remain out of school. Both poverty and access to
education, coupled with harmful social norms, are key drivers of child
marriage. Not surprisingly, emerging anecdotal evidence indicates child
marriages are occurring more frequently. And, we can be sure that for every
report of violations to girls' rights through harmful practices, far more
incidents hide in the shadows, unreported.
Now,Child
Marriage in Humanitarian Settings in South Asia, a new report commissioned by
UNFPA and UNICEF, confirms earlier indications that humanitarian crises do in
fact result in child marriage spikes. Reported cases are only the tip of the
iceberg, as referral and support systems are weakened. The report's launch
aligns with this year's International Day of the Girl which demonstrates global
solidarity towards upholding girls' rights and amplifying their voices.
For many
impoverished families with young girls, child marriage may seem the only viable
solution to the socio-economic problems compounded by emergencies. But this
option represents negative coping strategies. Indeed, the underlying drivers of
child marriage persist and even intensify all the more in disasters.
The report
finds that in times of crisis, communities already disposed to this human
rights violation are particularly vulnerable to the practice. Behind the guise
of keeping girls safe and preserving family honour, is one of the most
entrenched and corrosive norms of all: gender discrimination, fuelled by
patriarchy and the chauvinistic desire to control adolescent girls' sexuality
and reproduction.
However,
countries can, and should, seize opportunities to mitigate the situation and
safeguard the gains made towards stamping out harmful practices made in recent
years.
The report
recommends that governments must strengthen laws, policies and programmes all
the more and be diligent in monitoring their impact, including in the context
of humanitarian response. However, as policy and legal frameworks are
strengthened, attention also needs to be paid to the possibility that child
marriage may go further "underground", as social and legal sanctions
against the practice may prevent reporting or access to support services.
Efforts to
bolster girls' and women's economic and physical security—grounded in gender
equality and human rights—should be prioritised, including in disaster
response. Support for girls who are married, for example, to remain in school,
are critical to both their own long-term wellbeing and eventually that of their
children. And, not least, comparative data on child marriage across a range of
settings can help organisations and district officials understand its true
scale and trend. Governments and civil society should work together to fill
this dire gap.
Ultimately,
our report indicates that out of crisis may come opportunity. Humanitarian
settings could open doors which can be leveraged to enable action against child
marriage, with girls empowered to be change agents within their own
communities.
In Nepal,
for example, more adolescents found their voice to resist marriage after the
2015 earthquakes, when government, UN partners and non-governmental organisations'
relief efforts made education and other services more attainable in affected
communities. Gender-responsive social protection measures were introduced to
increase resources within households and support linkages to referral networks.
In fact,
unlike her two sisters, Mona successfully refused the marriage proposal she
received after the earthquake destroyed her village. "In my village, most
of the girls get married young," Mona explains. "But I won't do that.
I have a dream to be the first Dalit teacher of our village."
We know
what works to end child marriage. For International Day of the Girl tomorrow,
let's pledge to stay the course.
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Bjorn Andersson is the UNFPA Asia-Pacific
Regional Director and Jean Gough is the UNICEF South Asia Regional Director.
https://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/news/humanitarian-crises-escalate-so-does-child-marriage-1975277
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Comedian Nabil Abdulrashid Abused Online with
Racism and Islamophobia
By The Muslim Vibe
7th October
2020
Comedian
Nabil Abdulrashid
----
Comedian
Nabil Abdulrashid, performing a stand-up for the fifth semi-final for Britain’s
Got Talent, has received a horrendous wave of racist and Islamophobic abuse
online following his most recent successful audition.
Revealing
that he has received death threats and abuse after his comedy stand-up, where
he in part touched on topics such as racism, police discrimination, and
Islamophobia, Nabil’s experience is just another example of far-right and
xenophobic rhetoric that continues to target successful minority figures in
Britain.
Much of the
abuse, being racist and Islamophobic, targetted Nabil simply because of what he
represents: a diverse and multi-ethnic Britain that is not afraid to speak out
on the systematic wrongs that need to be dealt with. Taking to Twitter, Nabil
responded with:
Despite the
backlash that came after, Nabil’s performance was highly praised by the judges,
who sent him through into the upcoming Britain’s Got Talent final.
Alesha
Dixon, the judge who gave him the Golden Buzzer, said: “I think you’re very
brave to take on the subject of racism…it’s very poignant right now and we all
need to learn to laugh a bit more and have a sense of humour”.
With the
rise of open Islamophobia and right-wing extremism sponsoring anti-immigrant
and racist ideology, many who are from ethnic-minority or religious backgrounds
fear for the future in both the UK and Western Europe.
Representation
and visibility have become more important than ever – and people like Nabil,
who remain proudly Muslim and unabashedly themselves, continue to pave the way
for those most vulnerable in society. Let us hope that he not only continues to
gain traction in mainstream British media but helps open doors for other
Muslims to follow as well.
Nabil hosts
a podcast with TMV’s Chief Editor Salim Kassam called “I Am Not Your Bilal”, in
which they discuss a wide range of topics, from systematic racism, the history
of Islam in Africa, and interracial marriages and multi-ethnic identities – to
listen click here!
https://themuslimvibe.com/western-muslim-culture/britains-got-talent-finalist-and-comedian-nabil-abdulrashid-abused-online-with-racism-and-islamophobia?utm
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Is Pompeo Changing Tack On Turkey?
By Seth J. Frantzman
October 5,
2020
US
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has paid a visit to the eastern Mediterranean,
where he met Greek leaders. He was also in Cyprus on September 12. Turkey has
been threatening Greece and Cyprus and causing tensions in the eastern
Mediterranean. Ankara’s challenge has caused Greece, Cyprus, Egypt and Israel
to work together more closely.
Pompeo’s
trip appeared to illustrate a new US commitment to listening to Athens and
Nicosia, rather than appeasing Ankara’s aggression. The trip raised eyebrows in
Ankara where leaders have gotten used to bashing the US while also having a direct
line to the White House.
Most
recently, Pompeo aimed criticism at Turkey for fuelling tension in Azerbaijan
and Armenia because Turkey had said it could support Azerbaijan militarily. He
also expressed concern that Syrian mercenary fighters, many of them wanted for
looting in Afrin and Libya and known for religious extremism, had been
recruited by Ankara to fight Armenia.
For the
first time, the US appears to be confronting Turkey over its fueling of
conflicts across the region. In the last year Turkey has invaded Syria, bombed
Iraq, threatened Greece with forcing refugees across the border, stoked
tensions in Idlib, signed deals with Russia, sent arms and Syrians to Libya
illegally, threatened to “liberate” Jerusalem from Israel’s control, threatened
the UAE, bashed the Israel-UAE deal, hosted Hamas terrorists, encouraged war
between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and continued to put journalists and opposition
politicians in prison.
Pompeo has
a mixed record on Turkey’s role. On the one hand, his State Department has
pushed pro-Turkish envoy James Jeffrey on the region. This resulted in the US
misleading Kurdish civilians in eastern Syria in 2019, to the extent that days
before a Turkish invasion US officials were telling Kurdish activists such as
Hevrin Khalaf that Ankara would not attack them. Days later, on October 12 she
was dead, murdered by Turkish-backed extremists.
Ankara’s
far-right media called her murder a successful “neutralization.”
However,
the Secretary of State has also been critical of Turkey over its turning of the
historic church and museum, Hagia Sophia, back into a mosque. He has also said
Ankara would not be allowed to slaughter Kurds. The State Department also
critiqued Turkey’s President for hosting Hamas terrorists.
The recent
trips to Cyprus and Greece seem to have caused Turkey to wonder if Pompeo has
finally changed tack on Turkey.
Instead of
the double game where the US coddles Turkey with some diplomats but expresses
concern with others, the trip purposely avoided meeting Turkish officials. Over
the years Ankara’s officials have gotten used to meeting with Russia and Iran
while always bashing European and western leaders. Turkey does not take the
West seriously and thinks slandering the US, France, Germany, Austria, Holland
and other countries is how to get progress from western officials. Turkish
pro-government media for instance, regularly bashes the US while not critiquing
Russia and Iran the same way.
Mevlut
Cavusoglu, Turkey’s foreign minister, recently threatened US Speaker of the
House Nancy Pelosi. Turkey has also bashed Joe Biden for critical comments.
Cavusoglu has called Europe “spoiled, racist children” and threatened to “crash
and kick out to sea” critics in Greece. It is hard to find a week in the last
year that Turkish officials have not attacked some western country, while at
the same time demanding they work with Turkey.
Now the top
US diplomat, who is also one of the key figures in the Trump administration and
central to the US’s role in the world today, is more critical of Turkey. That
the US State Department has slammed Ankara for hosting Hamas and also for
sending Syrians to Azerbaijan, appears to show that Washington understands that
Turkish aggression is harming US interests and allies.
For years
the pro-Ankara lobby in Washington sold the White House on a theory that Turkey
would work with the US against Iran. However, Turkey supported trade with Iran
and opposed US sanctions, and wanted the Iran Deal to remain. Turkey regularly
hosts Iranian delegations and greets them warmly. Turkey works with Iran and
Russia in Syria to side-line the US. Ankara accuses the US of working with
“terrorists” in Syria but has never used similar language against Iran. It may
be that the US State Department is merely playing both sides, but Pompeo’s high
level visits to Greece and Cyprus appear to show a shift in attitude.
Turkey has
sunk political support into bashing Biden and supporting Trump. It has gambled
since 2016 that it could interfere in US domestic politics to get the results it
wanted. When the Turkish President visited the US in 2017 Turkish security even
beat up US peaceful protesters in Washington, a sign that Ankara felt it
controlled Washington.
To show the
US who was boss Ankara harassed a US soldier at an airport in Turkey, detained
a US pastor on false charges, and imprisoned a US consular employee, as well as
harassing US journalists. Ankara believed the US would appease its policies and
get into line. Now Ankara’s attempt to control US foreign policy may be
slipping away.
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/is-pompeo-changing-tact-on-turkey-analysis-644544
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Covid-19 Has Unmasked the True Nature of Donald
Trump and Trumpism
By Jonathan Freedland
9 Oct 2020
Just in
case you were about to feel an unfamiliar spasm of sympathy for Donald Trump
following his contraction of coronavirus, this week has provided a helpful
reminder not only of his morally repugnant character but also of the danger he
poses to the United States and the wider world.
Firmly in
the first category is his attempt to blame his infection on the grieving
relatives of slain soldiers, citing Gold Star families’ tendency to “come
within an inch of my face”. Speaking to Fox Business on Thursday, Trump said,
“They want to hug me and they want to kiss me”, and so perhaps it was them who
had made him sick. Clearly keen not to keep all that viral load to himself,
Trump later told Fox News – in between coughing bouts – that he plans to host a
rally in Florida on Saturday and another in Pennsylvania. He’ll doubtless
repeat the gesture he premiered in his bargain-bin Mussolini performance on the
White House balcony on Monday night, ripping off his mask with a flourish – as
if to prove that nothing and nobody will stop him shrouding his devotees in a
cloud of his contaminated breath.
More
serious are his assaults on democracy, which become ever more explicit. Lashing
out at his own henchmen, he channelled Elton John to warn that the slavishly
loyal attorney general, William Barr, would find himself in a “sad, sad situation”
if he did not indict Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden for “the
greatest political crime in the history of our country”, namely the federal
inquiry into the 2016 Trump campaign’s links to Russia. Like strutting on a
balcony, threatening to jail your predecessor along with your former and
current opponents for political crimes tends to be a feature of darkly
authoritarian states rather than democratic ones.
As if to
confirm that Trump’s threats to democracy are not empty, that the signals he
transmits are received, 13 men were arrested in Michigan on Thursday over a
violent plot to kidnap the state’s governor and try her for treason. You’ll
recall that in April, Trump urged his followers, angry about the state’s
lockdown, to “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!”. Trump’s chief response to the revelation of
this episode of domestic terrorism was not contrition, but rather a rebuke to
the governor for failing to say thank you to “my justice department” for
uncovering the conspiracy. That “my” is telling: it is the grammar of the
authoritarian strongman.
Most
Republicans continue, like Trump’s doctors, to act as enablers in all this.
Especially eye-catching was a tweet from infected senator Mike Lee of Utah,
arguing that democracy was less important than liberty, peace and prosperity –
and that sometimes “Rank democracy can thwart” those goals. Few Republicans
dare echo the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, who rather generously described
Trump’s increasingly unhinged ramblings as evidence that “he’s in an altered
state”.
And yet,
the admission by the Republican leader in the senate, Mitch McConnell, that he
had not gone near the White House since 6 August because of the
administration’s lax approach to masks and social distancing, was striking.
Now, McConnell is not a man to speak without prior thought: unencumbered by
scruples, he is a political calculating machine. And what that remark suggests
is the calculation that Republicans need to distance themselves from a
president they suspect is heading towards defeat.
They’ve
seen the polls, same as everyone else. Those show Biden’s lead growing when the
race should be tightening, the Democrat consistently ahead in every
battleground state bar Florida, and breathing down Trump’s neck in states that
should be reliably Republican, including must-win Ohio. What’s more, Biden’s
lead has increased since Trump’s diagnosis a week ago. Hard-headed Republicans
are beginning to suspect that the pandemic will be the president’s undoing.
If that’s
right, there would be a compelling, even karmic, logic to it. For Covid-19
could almost have been designed to expose the essence, and failings, of
Trumpism.
Consider
that one of Trumpism’s defining traits is its contempt for truth, facts and
science. It was during Trump’s first weekend in office that he had his
officials lie about the size of his inaugural crowd and speak of “alternative
facts”. Opponents railed against this epistemic vandalism, but “truth” always
seemed an abstract, even elitist concern. And then came coronavirus,
accompanied by Trump’s insistence that it would just disappear “like a
miracle”, or that it could be chased away with an injection of bleach, as if to
demonstrate in the starkest possible terms where a disdain for facts and for
science leads: namely, to the graves of more than 200,000 Americans.
Similarly,
Trumpism adapts the traditional Republican attachment to individual freedom and
mutates it into a darker, Darwinian belief that the strong individual can and
should do whatever they like, and to hell with the “suckers and losers” who
might suffer as a result. In normal times, plenty of Trump supporters saw that
as an exhilarating libertinism, one that allowed Trump to cheat on his wives
and pay no taxes, all without consequences. They’d have lived like that if they
could. But coronavirus doesn’t work that way. Suddenly the “suckers and losers”
included Trump supporters, or their loved ones. The virus even caught up with
Trump himself – along with everyone who got near him.
And, of
course, Trumpism is defined by its toxic brand of masculinity, mocking Biden
for wearing a mask – “Might as well carry a purse with that mask, Joe,” quipped
one Fox host – forgetting that covering your face is mainly to protect others,
not yourself. Trump is still bragging that he is a “perfect physical specimen”,
that he’s seen off Covid, but he says it while wheezing. This virus has done to
Trumpian machismo what it’s done to Trumpian disrespect for rules and science:
it’s exposed it as hollow and a failure.
We don’t
know what further twists await in this long, melancholy drama; we don’t know
who will win next month. But if Donald Trump is ejected from office, Americans
will still have to wrestle with a tough question: what does it say about the US
if it took a pandemic to do it?
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Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/oct/09/covid-19-unmasked-true-nature-donald-trump-trumpism
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