ISLAM: THE NEW VIETNAM WAR SYNDROME

Posted on August 16, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged #ParisAttacks, 9/11, Afghanistan, Charles Kurzman, David Schanzer, defence, Donald Trump, George W. Bush, Investigatory Powers Bill, iraq, Islam, Islamaphobia, jihad, media, media representation, military, paris, Patriot Act, terror, terrorism, terrorist, US, Vietnam, war.

by Gunnar Eigener

“Since the news, little kids haven’t played outside, as if their moms are afraid someone might snatch them out of their yards and send them off to war.”
Kimberly Willis Holt, ‘When Zachary Beaver Came To Town’

In the early hours of 26^th July, Satoshi Uematsu drove to a home for the disabled where he had previously worked and stabbed 19 residents to death and injured 26. Shortly before handing himself in, he tweeted “May there be peace in the world…Beautiful Japan!!!!” Once in custody, he said that ‘it is better that disabled people disappear’. Barely a week later and at a rally Donald Trump claimed to have seen video footage of $400 million being transferred to Iran by the US government as well as recounting the time he saw Muslims celebrating the devastation of 9/11. One of these stories received little attention while the other gathered headlines.

UNDERSTANDING THE FRENCH LABOUR REFORM: THE LAST RADICAL ATTEMPT TO INVERT HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT RATES

Posted on April 5, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged #NuitDebout, #ParisAttacks, 2017 election, contract, contract workers, El Khomri, el khomri law, François Hollande, France, french labour reform, guarantie jeune, Italy, Jobs Act, Labour, labour reform, Minister of Labour, Myriam El Khomri, OECD, overtime, paris, reform, student protest, terrorism, terrorist attacks, trade unions, unemployment, wage earner, workers rights, youth guarantee, youth unemployment.

by Julian Ignacio Canlas

On 9th and 31st March, a series of protests unfolded throughout France. Students and workers came together to reject the reform on the labour code proposed by the current French Minister of Labour, Myriam El Khomri. But what does this reform — the El Khomri law — really represent? And, with 71% of French people against the El Khomri law, why is it considered to be detrimental for wage earners?

A SIMPLE MESSAGE

Posted on March 27, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Arts, Inter|national and tagged #ParisAttacks, #prayersforbrussels, #prayfornigeria, anger, Ankara, antiwar, art, arts, Asia Patel, Baga massacre, Baghdad, Bauchi, Beirut, Belgium, Brussels, brussels attacks, Chibok, colour, daesh, Dalori, digital art, Dikwa, dove, Europe, face, flowers, frustration, killing, Lahore, Maiduguri, Naija, Nigeria, non binary artists, non-binary, nonviolence, olive branch, original art, original design, peace, peace lilies, POC, portrait, solidarity, suicide attack, symbol, Syria, terrorism, war, woc.

by Asia Patel

WHERE ARE THE #PRAYERSFORNIGERIA?

Posted on March 23, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged #ParisAttacks, #prayersforbrussels, #prayfornigeria, Abba Aji, Abubakar Shekau, Ankara, awareness, Baga, Baga massacre, Baghdad, Bauchi, Beirut, Belgium, bias, boko haram, Brussels, brussels attacks, charlie hebdo, Chibok, daesh, Dalori, Dikwa, Europe, facebook, hashtag, ISIL, ISIS, Islam, Maiduguri, media, MSM, Naija, new media, Nigeria, paris, privilege, profile picture, shock factor, social media, solidarity, suicide attack, Syria, terrorism, West Africa, Western media.

by Cadi Cliff

On Tuesday night, landmark buildings from Germany to Dubai were lit up with the Belgian flag — a sign of solidarity after the horrific attacks in Brussels. The attacks — two bombs at the city’s main airport, and one at a metro station near the EU headquarters— have killed at least 30 individuals and injured hundreds of others. Daesh (read: the so-called Islamic State) have claimed responsibility for the attacks. It’s the most violent terrorist attack to hit Europe since the November attacks in Paris, which killed 130. But this is not the first, or even 100^th, terrorist attack since Paris — though this certainly will be reported on by the Western media far more than the rest combined.

Since Paris there have been hundreds of terrorist attacks worldwide. Attacks that didn’t result in tricolour Facebook profile pictures; attacks that didn’t lead to projected flags on lumps of architecture. Their narratives are only a headline, barely breaking. The descriptions are factual, not empathetic. There is no footage of candlelight vigils played on a loop on the news outlets. The shock factor simply isn’t there for the media splash if it’s a country that gets attacked again and again and again.Continue Reading

WHY WE NEEDED CHARLIE HEBDO’S CARTOON OF ALAN KURDI

Posted on January 27, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged #ParisAttacks, Alan Kurdi, Angela Merkel, asylum seekers, attack, Calais, Cardiff, cartoon, charlie hebdo, Cologne attacks, dehumanisation, germany, immigrants, immigration, media, new year, policy, politics, refugee, robbery, sexual assault, xenophobia.

by Natasha Senior

The series of coordinated sexual assaults and robberies across Cologne on New Year’s Eve, prompted an outcry from the media when it came to light that a majority of the perpetrators were refugees from the Middle East and North Africa. A steady stream of articles surfaced examining and criticising Angela Merkel’s mantra of “refugees welcome”, all of them reeking with an infuriatingly smug “I told you so”. The tabloids dealt with the news with as little finesse as you’d expect—publishing quotes from questionable sources about how some refugee was overheard to be describing western women as sex objects (as if this was somehow representative of the opinions of all refugees). Others have taken a more sympathetic approach, pointing out that these refugees probably didn’t understand our esteemed cultural practice of not robbing and sexually assaulting people.

Amidst all of this was a cartoon published by Charlie Hebdo depicting Alan Kurdi, the drowned toddler whose body was photographed washed up on a beach in Turkey. This haunting image has come to represent the plight of refugees. In this particular cartoon he was portrayed to be all grown up and groping a woman in Germany. Rightfully, this elicited a furious media backlash.

THE MEMORY OF THE WORLD IS SHORT

Posted on December 2, 2015 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged #DontBombSyria, #ParisAttacks, aistrikes, Ankara, army, Bashar al-Assad, Beirut, bombing, daesh, Daniel Heath Justice, Instanbul, IS, Islam, Islamaphobia, Maiduguri, media, media bias, memory, middle east, MSM, nation, nonviolence, politics, privilege, propaganda, racism, refugee crisis, selective memory, Syria, terrorism, violence, West.

by Ellen Musgrove

Cherokee writer and academic Daniel Heath Justice writes in The Kynship Chronicles that ‘the memory of the world is short, and death rides hard in the forgetting.’ Being indigenous and queer, Justice knows very well the selective amnesia of the nation-state, and the resistance that demands.

Such an introduction may seem obscure, but this perceived obscurity demonstrates the problem I want to discuss. The same nation-state amnesia is imbricated in “western” society’s selective mourning of recent terror attacks, the current refugee crisis, and now renewed military intervention.

LET’S TALK ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED IN PARIS, NOT SHOUT

Posted on November 25, 2015 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged #ParisAttacks, 9/11, daesh, facebook, fear, François Hollande, ISIS, Islamaphobia, Martin Luther King Jr, MLK, paris, politics, racism, Syria, terrorism, war.

by Josh Wilson

I wrote an article a few weeks ago about how there is no chance for anyone to win outright in Syria. Since that article the tragic events in Paris have taken place and leaders from around the world alongside ordinary citizens have reacted to the news. As with all heartbreaking events, reactions have been fuelled by emotion, with the debate surrounding tricolore Facebook photo becoming a heated element of reaction to the atrocity. Many took up the option offered by Facebook to drape the French flag over their profile picture. I do have my reservations about this, mostly regarding Facebook picking and choosing which tragedies to offer this show of solidarity for. However, in a time of grief and high emotion I think this is a debate best left for another time.

AFTER PARIS – THINKING FOR OURSELVES

Posted on November 19, 2015 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national, Perspectives and tagged #ParisAttacks, backlash, bombings, fear, ideology, media, MSM, narrative, news, privilege, question, safety, security, selectivity, terror, terrorism, West, world events, world news.

by Micha Horgan

The events that took place in Paris are deeply upsetting; the implications, vast and immeasurable. Immediate thoughts are naturally for those killed and injured and those who loved and depended on them but beyond this there is a lot to think about. Blame, heightened surveillance, further scrutiny of immigration policies (at a time when this is not needed) and other discriminatory backlash will be at the forefront of our media in the coming months.

Following Friday’s events the rhetoric from some people has been that the Western world is “no longer safe”, that we are moving into a darker time. What is certain is that it is time to think.Continue Reading

THE VOICE YOU DIDN’T HEAR – A BRITISH-IRAQI WOMAN ON PARIS

Posted on November 19, 2015 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national, Perspectives and tagged #ParisAttacks, account, daesh, iraq, ISIS, Islam, Islamaphobia, Muslim, paris, perspective, politics, terrorism, terrorist, world.

By Dahlia Al-Abdullah

The events that unfolded in Paris have been devastating, as have the other numerous attacks of terrorism that we have seen ripple out across the globe over the last few days, months, and years. To acknowledge the other mass killings in Lebanon, Iraq, Kenya etc. is not a way of trying to play down this act of terrorism. Terrorism exists. Terrorism is absolutely disgusting. What happened in Paris is enough to instil enough fear in me to want to stay away from any big cities for a while.Continue Reading

WE DON’T NEED TO TALK ABOUT ISLAM, WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT HUMANITY

Posted on November 17, 2015 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged #ParisAttacks, 9/11, Ann Coulter, Beirut, china, Christianity, daesh, EU, extremism, foreign policy, homosexuality, humanity, immigration, ISIS, Islam, Jurgen Todenhofer, Liberia, Lydia Wilson, media, media coverage, middle east, migrant, migration, MSF, MSM, Muslim, Nigeria, obama, paris, petition, racism, republicans, Saudi Arabia, terrorism, uk, US, war, West, Western privilege.

by Gunnar Eigener

The terrorist attacks in Paris have brought back a feeling of despair, that no matter where we live, there is always someone who wants to hurt us. The shaky camera footage of police storming a building, the bangs of smoke grenades, the echoes of gunfire, have sent a shockwave through France, Europe and the world. In the aftermath, a reaction is already beginning and anger will turn on Muslim individuals, communities, businesses and places of worship. Already a petition to “Stop all immigration and close UK borders until ISIS is defeated” is circulating and has got over 383,000 signatures so far. This will not solve anything, nor will blaming Islam.

#ParisAttacks

ISLAM: THE NEW VIETNAM WAR SYNDROME

UNDERSTANDING THE FRENCH LABOUR REFORM: THE LAST RADICAL ATTEMPT TO INVERT HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT RATES

A SIMPLE MESSAGE

WHY WE NEEDED CHARLIE HEBDO’S CARTOON OF ALAN KURDI

THE MEMORY OF THE WORLD IS SHORT

LET’S TALK ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED IN PARIS, NOT SHOUT

AFTER PARIS – THINKING FOR OURSELVES

THE VOICE YOU DIDN’T HEAR – A BRITISH-IRAQI WOMAN ON PARIS

WE DON’T NEED TO TALK ABOUT ISLAM, WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT HUMANITY

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