MAYOR SADIQ KHAN: LONDON’S MUSLIM FACE OF TOLERANCE

Posted on May 7, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged Edward Said, elections, Islam, Islamaphobia, london, london mayor, mayor, media, media representation, Muslim, muslim politicians, racism, sadiq khan, uk, uk politics, Western media, Zac Goldsmith.

by Faizal Nor Izham

It’s been a pretty rough decade or so for Muslims. Since 9/11, negative images of the Islamic world have been relentlessly smeared all over the Western media, in a manner often mirroring the Orientalist perspective of Arabs as described by the historical anthropologist Edward Said. Ever since the Europeans first encountered Arabs during the time of the Crusades, Middle Easterners have been perpetually stereotyped as the social “Other”, known to act and appear completely differently from Westerners. Furthermore, the otherwise diverse Islamic world is frequently reduced to exclusively “exotic” stereotypes such as bearded mullahs, shady sheikhs in their groups of concubines, terrorists, Bedouin, belly dancers and harem maidens. Meanwhile, Muslim women are constantly portrayed as quiet, modest and uneducated, covered from head to toe and traveling several paces behind domineering males.

THE PANAMA PAPERS: NOT THE BEGINNING AND NOWHERE NEAR THE END

Posted on April 12, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged alternative media, BCCI, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, david cameron, Denis Healey, Gerard Ryle, Gibraltar, Henry Morgenthau, ICIJ, Isle of Man, Jersey, media, Mossack Fonseca, Napoleon Bonaparte, Nicholas Shaxon, Panama Papers, tax, tax avoidance, tax havens, Tax Justice Network, transparency, Western media.

by Gunnar Eigener

“The difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion is the thickness of a prison wall.”

Denis Healey, UK Chancellor 1974-79

The leak of over eleven million documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca only really scratches the surface. Like all tax havens, there is a long history of corruption and exploitation to which the tale of Panama is no exception.

In 1937, then US Treasury Secretary, Henry Morgenthau, wrote a letter to President Franklin D Roosevelt, singling out the Bahamas, Panama and Newfoundland as places where:

‘stock-holders have resorted to all manners of devices to prevent the acquisition of information regarding their companies. The companies are frequently organised through foreign lawyers with dummy incorporators and dummy directors, so that the names of the real parties in interest do not appear.’

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

DON’T COUNTER VIOLENCE WITH MORE VIOLENCE

Posted on August 23, 2015 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national, Perspectives and tagged 9/11, Al-Qaeda, david cameron, ISIS, Islam, Islamaphobia, Islamic State, jeremy corbyn, Jihadi John, Labour, media, middle east, military, Nato, terrorism, US military, Western media.

by Faizal Nor Izham

Despite almost 14 years of Western nations waging a ‘war on terror’, not much has been achieved in the way of making the world a truly secure place for all. With Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden now considered yesterday’s news, the Iraq war that was waged after 9/11 — widely considered by critics to be “pointless” — merely gave birth to another terrorist threat in the form of ISIS. Today, some sections of the Western media continue to be awash with Islamophobic articles on an almost daily basis, further fueling the public’s misconception of Islam and its supposed roots in terrorism. This in turn has affected Britain’s immigration and multicultural policies to an extent, and has only served to further heighten levels of prejudice against Muslims.

It begs the question: has the Western response to 9/11 really been that worthwhile?Continue Reading

Western media

MAYOR SADIQ KHAN: LONDON’S MUSLIM FACE OF TOLERANCE

THE PANAMA PAPERS: NOT THE BEGINNING AND NOWHERE NEAR THE END

DON’T COUNTER VIOLENCE WITH MORE VIOLENCE

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