Muslims around the world: food for thought

Brexit and Trump and Le Pen and the rise of national socialism around the world and more so in the "West" is depressing.

One feels as if Daesh has won. They managed through fear to separate the world with a deep bridge in between.
On one side the Islamic world amalgamed with Arab culture whether Muslim or Christian.
On the other side what was the world that upholds democracy and human rights who seems to have crumpled into bigotry and intolerance at the first sign of stress and danger.

In the middle, most of us in both worlds that do not belong and are foreign to the stereotyping.
Stuck in the middle, betrayed by the social and liberal democrats who are supposed to uphold solidarity, we see women rights and minorities rights eroded and trampled under the brunt of the "fight against terrorism".

Then today, and following the Trump messed up border protection decree of banning people from Muslim countries entry to the US, I saw people sitting in airport to defend Syrians, Iraqis, Yemenis, and all citizens from countries included in the ban.

I also heard Trudeau welcoming refugees to Canada and Pope Francis who faithful to his name seek Francois D'Assise, entered the debate setting the precept of Christianity away from bigotry and the "Christian values" of intolerance preached be the extreme right. Respect! His words count for many and are respected and admired by the other half.

It gave me hope, and belief that maybe Daesh did not win after all. And that the values I believe in are still alive.

It also drives me to say to Muslims around the world that it is time that they stand against injustice and violence and extremism. They cannot cower and be driven by an intolerant doctrine that seems to prevail.

Many of the young Arab women I meet these days, ask me about the sixties and seventies and if it is true that they were enlightened times. They tell me that their mothers tell them about the time they did not wear the veil and where they had more freedoms than today.
The majority of the young women wear the veil, not out of conviction, but due to societal pressures.

It is high time for the majority of Muslims that are not part of the actual fundamentalist interpretation of Islam to take to the streets, not against dictators only, but against the religious institution that is driving them into the direction of the dark ages.

May -Trump, the alliance of necessity?

Hearing May talking yesterday to a caucus of Republicans made feel the spectator of a tragicomedy.

She talked about many things and hit the right buttons to reach a trade deal that could save the UK, in her opinion, from the economic mess of a hard Brexit. She is desperate, keeping a stiff upper lips, playing a game of poker whose end is not certain.

Many times she made reference to Reagan and Thatcher, the cold war, and the common values of conservatism and democracy.

What she swept under the carpet is that Trump doctrine is blunt self serving interests leaving behind the embellishment of  promoting the values  of freedom and democracy around the world.
What she swept under the carpet is that Trump doctrine is one of protectionism and divorce of globalism and free trade.
What she shied away from noting is that Trump conservatism is linked to a tough stand on abortion that many women in her own party oppose. Many health service providers in the UK will suffer from the ban on funding operations overseas that not only provide abortion service but "mention the option".

What she promoted is again the international dimension of Great Britain, the links and ties to India, Pakistan, countries in Africa, etc. Turning a blind eyes to a history of colonialism and occupation. These are old colonies whose relations with Great Britain were forged in blood an injustice.
When she addressed the transnational organizations and in particular the UN, she reminded that the UN was formed by the US and the UK and that they should go back to their primary goal of serving the interest of the people of these nations!

In short she promoted a world lead by the US and the UK, based on self serving interest and using the fight against terrorism to support dictatorships ready to engage in this fight.
In fact a British neocolonialism under the umbrella of the US as Great Britain alone is incapable to achieve such an aim today.

I wonder if those who voted to get out of EU, a coalition of 450 million people united under values of democracy, freedom, women equality, and solidarity are on board for this new alliance.
I wonder if Corbyn has any idea of where his euro skepticism is leading the UK.

A real tragicomedy!

Partisan or failed media?

Hearing the analysis of Trump inauguration on a US international media broadcast made me wonder about an issue that gave me food for though for long.

Is the media failing to play its role of providing balanced relevant information to the public? Is it an important factor in the formation of a public opinion that seems polarized to the extremes, intolerant, and unable to hold politicians accountable for what they say?

I cannot pretend to hold the answer, all I can say is that the coverage of the inaugural seemed to me an exercise in futility, as deep as a tea cup.

I am no fan of Trump, in fact, he represents all that I fought against all my life. He is the epitome of national socialism.
But comparing him to Obama all the time saying that Obama is a unifier while Trump will not be is ridiculous, specially that Trump never pretended being a unifier, he always presents himself as somebody elected to shake the system.
Obama was not able to pass any of the policies that constituted his main election promises. Even Obama care was passed by executive order. Obama was not able to get his own party on-board, so how he can be a unifier? Just because he makes nice speeches?

Then moving to analyse the inaugural speech again on the basis of a comparison with Obama as to the relation of the US with the world is counter productive.
And more so by talking about the role of the US in the world. Get real! Obama doctrine was leading from behind. The result is an empowered Putin that is the major player in the Middle East and is threatening ex Soviet bloc European countries. After eight years of Obama nobody trust the US, it undermined an important ally like Turkey, an drew red lines without keeping their commitment.

Then in comparing the first ladies as to style... honestly I do not care, but I do not understand how anybody can say that Evana is not stylish.

In fact, the coverage by insisting on comparing Obama and Trump was not able to address the real concerns of a Trump presidency, and they are many.
Comparison is taking sides with one against the other, and thus delegitimizing the criticism.
It seemed to me that they are taking the easy way out.
It does not require real analysis based on research and fact check.

War on the "loss of hope" rather than terrorism

Reading the Oxfam report on distribution of wealth worldwide made me realize that the "war on terrorism" that consists in bombing people, destroying lives and livelihoods is grotesque when

“While one in nine people on the planet will go to bed hungry tonight, a small handful of billionaires have so much wealth they would need several lifetimes to spend it. The fact that a super-rich elite are able to prosper at the expense of the rest of us at home and overseas shows how warped our economy has become.”

Mark Goldring, chief executive of Oxfam GB, said:

“This year’s snapshot of inequality is clearer, more accurate and more shocking than ever before. It is beyond grotesque that a group of men who could easily fit in a single golf buggy own more than the poorest half of humanity."

One just needs to look at the numbers to understand that globalization made it possible for the few to enslave us all.
You wake up early morning go to work, come back in the evening, take care of your personal chores, sleep and then the cycle starts again.
You wait for the week end to supposedly enjoy life, but it often consists in trying to make ends meet.
It does not differ a lot whether you are that the middle or lower levels of any institution.
And if you are a dedicated worker, you are working hard to increase the income of the wealth owners.

All value added production from the combination of our work will not trickle down to us. It is gathered by thNorway, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Iceland and Denmark filled the top five places in the WEF’s inclusive development index, with Britain 21st and the US 23rd. The body that organises the Davos event said rising inequality was not an “iron law of capitalism”, but a matter of making the right policy choicese owners of the means of production. Reminds me of the pillars that gave way to Marxism. The experience of socialism failed on the political level. But the experience of capitalism did not succeed.

"Between 1988 and 2011 the incomes of the poorest 10% increased by just $65, while the incomes of the richest 1% grew by $11,800 – 182 times as much"

The trend of inequality in the distribution of income is on geometrical progression.
A year ago, 62 billionaires owned the same wealth as the poorest half of the global population. Today the world’s eight richest billionaires control the same wealth between them as the poorest half of the globe’s population. It said that over the next 20 years, 500 people will hand over $2.1tn to their heirs – a sum larger than the annual GDP of India, a country with 1.3 billion people.

It is time to call to arms, the real war should be on the loss of hope resulting from grotesque warped inequalities in the distribution of wealth.

Trump, Brexit, terrorism, and the rise of national socialism are a knee jerk reaction but they are definitely not the answer.
Lets look at Norway, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Iceland and Denmark who filled the top five places in the WEF’s inclusive development index.
Yet I wonder if rising inequality is not an “iron law of capitalism”, they say it is a matter of making the right policy choices, I wonder?

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/jan/16/worlds-eight-richest-people-have-same-wealth-as-poorest-50?CMP=share_btn_gp