69th birth anniversary of constitution of India

69th birth anniversary of constitution of India

in India — by Shamsul Islam — November 26, 2018

RSS PRESENTS MOST LETHAL INTERNAL THREAT TO DEMOCRATIC-SECULAR INDIAN POLITY

The history is replete with instances when the democratic polities have been destroyed not by the foreign enemies but inimical forces from within, camouflaged as saviours. Germany’s take-over by the Nazi Party led by Hitler and Italy by the Fascist Party led by Mussolini are the living examples of this trend. The Indian polity governed by a democratic-secular constitution passed by the Constituent Assembly on November 26, 1949 seems to be in process of being captured by RSS and its appendages which rule India today. This lot has no hesitation in, unabashedly, declaring that they are in power to convert present Indian constitutional s                                                                       ystem into a Hindutva exclusionary state. This sinister Hindutva project is declared to be their object despite the fact that these rulers who are mostly cadres of RSS took oath to uphold a democratic-secular constitution.

Blue-eyed boy of both RSS and PM Modi, a minister in latter’s cabinet, Anantkumar Hegde addressing an event organised by the Brahman Yuva Parishad in Koppal district of Karnataka declared “We are here to change the Constitution” and decried those who believe in seculari                                                                                         sm as “people without parentage”. [i] We have forgotten how many times present RSS boss, Mohan Bhagwat like his predecessors declared India to be a Hindu nation where Hindutva politics will rule.

RSS DEMANDED MANUSMRITI AS CONSTITUTION OF INDIA

There is no hidden agenda so far as undoing democratic-secular India is concerned. It is as old as the constitution of India. The Constituent Assembly of India ratified the constitution on November 26, 1949,  RSS was not happy. Its organ, ORGANIZER in an editorial (The Constitution) on November 30, 1949, complained:

“The worst about the new constitution is that there is nothing Bhartiya about it. The drafters of the Constitution have incorporated in it elements of British, American, Canadian, Swiss, and sundry other constitutions. But there is no trace of ancient Bhartiya constitutional laws, institutions, nomenclature and phraseology in it…in our New Constitution there is no mention of the unique constitutional development in ancient Bharat. Manu’s Laws were written long before Lycurgus of Sparta or Solon of Persia. To this day his laws as enunciated in the Manusmriti excite the admiration of the world and elicit spontaneous obedience and conformity. But to our constitutional pundits that means nothing”.

The RSS continued vigorously its campaign for the enforcement of Manu’s Codes in India. Sankar Subba Aiyar, a retired High Court Judge wrote (‘Manu Rules Our Hearts’) in the same RSS organ on February 6, 1950,

“Even though Dr Ambedkar is reported to have recently stated in Bombay that the days of Manu are ended it is nevertheless a fact that the daily lives of Hindus are even at the present day affected by the principles and injunctions contained in the Manu Smrithi and other Smrithis. Even an unorthodox Hindu feels himself bound at least in some matters by the rules contained in the Smrithis and he feels powerless to give up altogether his adherence to them.”

How loyal the RSS is to the Constitution of India can be known by the following statement of MS Golwalkar which is being reproduced from Bunch of Thoughts which is not only selection of the writings of Golwalkar but also a Bible for the RSS cadres:

“Our Constitution too is just a cumbersome and heterogeneous piecing together of various articles from various Constitutions of Western countries. It has absolutely nothing which can be called our own. Is there a single word of reference in its guiding principles as to what our national mission is and what our keynote in life is?”[ii]

RSS HATED FLAG OF DEMOCRATIC-SECULAR INDIA

The RSS English mouthpiece ORGANIZER demeaning the choice of the National Flag just on the eve of Independence(14 August 1947) wrote:

“The people who have come to power by the kick of fate may give in our hands the Tricolour but it never be respected and owned by Hindus. The word three is in itself an evil, and a flag having three colours will certainly produce a very bad psychological effect and is injurious to a country.”

RSS AGAINST DEMOCRACY

Golwalkar while delivering a speech before the 1350 top level cadres of the RSS at RSS headquarter, Resham Bagh in 1940 declared:

“RSS inspired by one flag, one leader and one ideology is lighting the flame of Hindutva in each and every corner of this great land”.[MS Golwalkar, Shri Guruji Samagar Darshan (collected works of Golwalkar in Hindi), vol. 1, Bhartiya Vichar Sadhna, Nagpur, p. 11.]

When the Constituent Assembly adopted adult franchise for future elections, RSS was not happy and declared it as a kind of threat to political stability,

“realizing the inertia of the to think out political issues and vote intelligently, we cannot be over-optimistic about universal adult franchise. A country where economic inequalities are appalling can introduce political economy only at the risk of political instability”.

RSS DECRIED FEDERAL STRUCTURE

The RSS is also dead against federal structure of the constitution, again a ‘Basic’ feature of the India polity. This is clear from the following communication of Golwalkar which he sent to the first session of the National Integration Council in 1961. It read:

“Today’s federal form of government not only gives birth but also nourishes the feelings of separatism, in a way refuses to recognize the fact of one nation and destroys it. It must be completely uprooted, constitution purified and unitary form of government be established”.[iii]

RSS AGAINST COMPOSITE INDIAN NATIONALISM

The Constituent Assembly of India founded an all-inclusive, non-sectarian and secular polity but Organizer in its issue on the very eve of Independence (14 August, 1947), rejected the whole concept of a composite nation in an editorial titled ‘Whither’:

“Let us no longer allow ourselves to be influenced by false notions of nationhood. Much of the mental confusion and the present and future troubles can be removed by the ready recognition of the simple fact that in Hindusthan only the Hindus form the nation and the national structure must be built on that safe and sound foundation…the nation itself must be built up of Hindus, on Hindu traditions, culture, ideas and aspirations”.

Unfortunately, those who profess faith in the present Indian polity or constitutional institutions like judiciary which are supposed to safeguard the basic structure of the Indian polity, have largely failed to realize the gravity of the critical challenge presented by the Hindutva gang led by RSS. A simplistic narrative has been that RSS is OK except its inimical attitude towards Muslims and Christians of the country. It was due to this discourse that when Narender Modi as CM of Gujarat while talking to the Reuters on July 7, 2013 declared that he was a ‘Hindu nationalist’, there were no protests in or outside Parliament. It is to be noted that it was for the first time in the history of independent India that a person occupying a high constitutional post declared to be a ‘Hindu nationalist’, the same epithet which killers of MK Gandhi had used for themselves. There was no uproar, either from secular political parties or higher judiciary which is expected to safeguard the democratic-secular constitutional set up of the country.

It is shocking that ‘Maoists’, ‘Urban Naxals’, ‘Khalistanis’ and ‘Islamists’ who according to the Indian State want to destroy Indian polity are hanged or put behind bars regularly but the RSS cadres rule India despite their open declarations/deeds of  undoing Indian constitutional polity. Sad beginning of an end of a glorious future of India as an egalitarian and justice-able society dreamt by the constitution makers!

Shamsul Islam is a retired Professor of University of Delhi.Email: notoinjustice@gmail.com

For some of S. Islam’s writings in English, Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Punjabi, Urdu & Gujarati see the following link:

http://du-in.academia.edu/ShamsulIslam

Shamsul Islam | University of Delhi - Academia.edu du-in.academia.edu It is an interview which was recorded by a correspondent of electronic portal Indian Nation on the side lines of a mammoth protest in Delhi against the assassination of journalist, political activist, a dear friend, Gauri Lankesh.

Facebook: shams shamsul

Twitter: @shamsforjustice

[i] [https://indianexpress.com/article/india/anantkumar-hegde-we-are-here-to-change-the-constitutionsecular-mos-4998737/]

[ii] M.S. Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts, Sahitya Sindhu, Bangalore, 1996, p.238.

[iii] MS Golwalkar, Shri Guruji Samagar Darshan (collected works of Golwalkar in Hindi), vol. 3, Bhartiya Vichar Sadhna, Nagpur, p. 128.

Uneasy head that wears the crown

Uneasy head that wears the crown 
Dr Mohammad Manzoor Alam

I begin this piece with a request to the reader to read it as a continuation of my last article (The magic moment, again!, November 13, 2018).

And with that I am going to make a paradoxical statement: whoever wins the Lok Sabha election in 2019 will be an unhappy person. The next prime minister from the party winning the majority seats would be the unhappiest and unluckiest person in India as he/she would be inheriting problems from this government that cannot be solved, only postponed, to become greater and more unmanageable for future governments. The new prime minister in 2019 (even if we are cursed to have Mr Modi again as prime minister for another term) will be sitting on a stove of burning coal.

Why? Because the four and a half-year misrule of Mr Modi has destroyed major democratic institutions, torn the social fabric of the country with hate propaganda and given the licence to rowdy Sangh foot soldiers to lynch Muslims, Dalits, women and other weaker people at will, with impunity, because policemen act as spectators and bystanders, if not active participants.

Possibly no less a matter of concern is the economy, particularly rural economy. Some indicators of the rural economy’s health are: prices of agricultural and horticultural products, sale of motorcycles (which shows movement in the rural economy), sale of cement and steel (which indicates prosperity and construction of new houses in villages) - all these show adverse trends for village economy. The rural economy was shattered after a reckless and irrational note ban two years ago as millions of rural daily wage workers in cities suddenly became jobless and returned to their villages because there was no cash available to pay them.

The rural economy was shattered as it had more mouths to feed, but more idle hands. Villages did not need new workers. The supply of labour in the villages far exceeded the demand for them. As a result, rural wages fell suddenly. The government has been concealing the negative impact of the double whammy of note ban and GST, but the fact is that the national economy has badly staggered under their impact and slackened at a time when the economy of the rest of the world is showing an upward trend.

The worst thing to happen for the next government is a full-blown banking crisis blowing up in its face in 2019 itself. The medicine government has forced the Reserve Bank of India to dispense to failing banks and NBFCs will be worse than the disease and empty out India’s treasured wealth. The crisis is only being postponed for the elections, and it is going to return in a more powerful form.

Meanwhile, I would like to quote from a recent column of the economist and former finance minister P. Chidambram:

CHILLING FACTS

India occupies the ‘heights’ in other respects too:

• In the Global Hunger Index, India’s place is 103, denoting severe hunger. Sixteen countries have higher (meaning worse) ranks.
• In the Gender Inequality Index, India’s rank is 125 out of 188 countries.
• In the Index of Economic Freedom, India occupies rank 130 out of 180 countries.
• In the Human Development Index, it ranks 130 out of 189 countries. India is in the bottom third.
• In the Freedom of Press Index, the rank is 138 on a descending scale of 180 countries.
• In per capita GDP, India’s rank is 140, also in the bottom third of 188 countries.
• In the Education Index, it is worse: 145 out of 191.

We can take satisfaction that India has not reached the ‘height’ of 182 in any index constructed after a survey of a maximum of 191 countries. However, ranks of 103, 125, 130, 138, 140 and 145 are not such that they can be dismissed in a cavalier manner by citing dubious statistics. What do these ranks tell us? That the high rate of growth and considerable economic progress achieved by the country have not put an end to the abject poverty of a significant proportion of the population. We can debate the size of that proportion, but even at 20 percent, it means that 250 million have been left behind. While poverty cuts across race, religion and caste, it is an undeniable fact that most of the 250 million of the very poor are Dalits, Scheduled Tribes, most backward classes, minorities and the disabled.

PITY

Pity the next prime minister who is going to inherit the bitter fruit of Mr Modi’s misrule. Even Mr Modi is not going to handle the situation well if he inherits himself.

Are the Distinctive Kalash People of Pakistan Really Descendants of Alexander the Great’s Army?

The Kalash (known also as the Kalasha) are an indigenous people living in what is today Pakistan. Although Pakistan is an Islamic Republic, with more than 95% of its population being adherents of Islam, the Kalash hold on to their own religious beliefs, along with their own identity, way of life, and language. The Kalash people are also noted for their fair skin and blue eyes, leading to a popular hypothesis that they were of Greek origin, specifically the descendants of Alexander the Great’s soldiers who followed him on his campaign in India.

The Kalash can be found in the Chitral District, which is situated in the northwestern Pakistani region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. They live in three specific valleys in this area, Bumboret, Birir, and Rumbur. In an article from 2016, it was estimated that the Kalash community consist of about 3000 people, which makes them the smallest minority group of Pakistan. Nevertheless, this group is best known for their unique and well-preserved culture, which has led to it being listed by UNESCO for consideration as an Intangible Cultural Heritage. As a matter of fact, this bid for recognition is an attempt by the Kalash to safeguard their culture.

Islam Ki Taqat

5 Horrible Things Happening to Uyghur Muslims

5 Horrible Things Happening to Uyghur Muslims

 

Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi wa Sallam said, “The believers are like one body of a person; if the eye is sore, the whole body aches, and if the head aches, the whole body aches.” (Muslim)

 

By Gulnaz Uighur

 

In 1949 two things happened, first was the establishment of the People’s Republic of China and second was the invasion of East Turkestan by them. Soon after these events, the world witnessed ‘cultural revolution’ under Mao Zedong. It was one of the most dreadful phases in my people’s history.

 

History is repeating itself. Today again two things are happening, current Chinese leader Xi Jinping, an early comrade of Mao and an atheist, is exercising his power over China and has sent Uyghurs and Kazakh Muslims to illegal concentration camps, which are being called as ‘re-education’ camps. This term is inspired by Mao’s renaming of genocide as ‘cultural revolution’.

 

Uyghur Muslims who have Turkic roots are forced to become robots for PRC.  They are being kept apart from their families, their children and tortured to forget their identities, denounce their religion and pledge allegiance to the Communist Party. This is happening because Uyghurs practice Islam and have a unique culture and China thinks of us as extremists for doing so.

 

While European Union and United Nations are condemning these camps, Muslim nations like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Pakistan, Indonesia, Egypt, Bangladesh, Islamic countries in Africa, Maldives have chosen to keep quiet and continue their ‘friendship’ with Beijing. Out of all these countries, only Malaysia has had the courage to stand up and support Uyghurs. In Islamic Studies, we have always learned about the concept of Ummah (Muslim Brotherhood) as explained in the Quran. Now is the time to truly show its power by saving Uyghurs from Chinese torture. China’s policies are clearly anti-Islam and we must stop this plague before it takes down all the others.

 

Below are 5 horrible things that are happening with your brother and sisters in these Chinese secret camps. Please share our pain and demand your government helps Uyghurs before it’s too late.

1. Brainwashed to forget Islam: People living in the camps are not allowed to pray. They are specifically told that rituals in Islam are dangerous, to not follow things that have been told in Quran. They have to sing pro-Chinese songs to get food. The authorities make sure that they learn Chinese propaganda and forget about their own culture. Many ex-detainees have said that people are increasingly becoming like robots. The guards make them fearful and weaken detainees, physically and mentally, so that they become obedient.

 

2. Forced to eat pork and drink alcohol: Party leaders in Urumqi have begun an anti-halal movement in which they led responsible parties to swear an oath to “fight a decisive battle against pan-halalisation”. Uyghurs are now pressured to not only denounce their religion but are also being forced to eat pork and drink alcohol. The Halal signs have been removed from the boards of restaurants. Chinese Government says that this anti-halal campaign will help them to stop Islam penetrating secular life and fueling “extremism”.

 

3. Forms of Torture: In order to make people obey their orders, the authorities torture them in various inhumane ways. Victims are shackled to “tiger” chairs by their ankles; their hands are locked behind. Chinese Communist Party torturers don’t let them sleep, hang people for hours and beat them. Tools like thick wooden and rubber batons, whips made from twisted wire, needles to pierce the skin, pliers for pulling out your nails etc. are used to torture the person and beat the Islam out of them. People are made to stand on cement slabs in the hot sun, without any clothes except flimsy underwear. They put people in a water prison filled with very dirty, smelly water, up to the neck, for up to five days. During this torture, Uyghur victims are given a small piece of bread, the words of prison guards, “just so [they] survive”.

 

4. Women are raped: During an interview, some ex-detainees have revealed that young Uyghur women are raped daily by CCP officials in the camps and are killed if they resist. These women are taken from their cells and raped all night long. If they keep resisting, then they are injected with something and killed. Women are also given pills to stop them from becoming pregnant. There are usually 40 to 50 women in one small room, but five to 10 are regularly taken out and they just disappear, they never come back. People are being killed daily.

 

5. Bizarre Reasons behind being sent to the camps: At present anyone is taken in the camps. In prior years religious Uyghurs were targeted, but now not a single Uyghur is safe. They may go out to buy vegetables and may never come back. Still, some of the reasons that can get Uyghurs in trouble are bizarre. They are being detained for reasons such as contacting friends and relatives abroad, traveling to a foreign country, growing a beard, and hearing a religious sermon while getting a haircut. Bodies of those who die in the concentration camps are never released to their family members.

 

In the words of an ex-detainee,

“You can’t even commit suicide in these camps. Because of the “extreme pressure” in the detention camps, a lot of Uyghurs want to commit suicide, But there is no way to do so, because five to ten people are always watching you, and there are cameras in the rooms.”

 

May Allah Ta’ala alleviate the plight and suffering of the Ummah who are being afflicted with tribulations on a daily basis. May He protect them from the tyrants and oppressors, safeguard and protect their Imaan, and grant the Ummah His divine help. Ameen. 

India’s Hindu nationalists changing Muslim town names

India’s Hindu nationalists changing Muslim town names

Demand to rename Agra, the city of the 17th-century Taj Mahal, is most curious

By Rahul Bedi

14 November 2018

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party is on a name-changing spree across northern Uttar Pradesh state, but only of towns and places with a Muslim association.

The state’s BJP government recently renamed Allahabad, one of Uttar Pradesh’s larger cities, which was named by India’s Mughal rulers in the 17th century.

Located on the banks of the holy Ganges River, the city will now be known as Prayagraj, which according to folklore is the spot where the four-faced Hindu creator god Brahma offered his first sacrifice after making the world.

The nearby Mughalserai (Mughal Hostelry) railway station, one of north India’s busiest, has been named after Deendyal Upadhya, an associate of the ultra-Hindu right-wing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) or National Volunteer Corps, which provides spiritual guidance to the BJP.

The fundamental role of the 93-year-old corps is to keep Hinduism “pure” from outside influences such as Islam and Christianity, a goal the BJP has been avidly pursuing after assuming federal power in 2014.

Gandhi assassination

The RSS, which Mr Modi joined as a novitiate, has been proscribed twice since India’s independence in 1947 for its extremist beliefs. Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin subscribed to RSS tenets, murdering him for his secular approach towards India’s Muslims.

Meanwhile, Faizabad, 160km north of Allahabad, the seat of former regional Nawabs or Muslim chieftains since the 18th century, is now known as Ayodhya, a name associated with the birthplace of Rama, another Hindu god.

But the demand from BJP legislator JP Garg to rename Agra, the city of the 17th-century Taj Mahal, is more curious.

He wants the city, 230km southeast of New Delhi, to be named Agar-Van, meaning “city of forests”, or Agar-Wal after India’s trader community of the same name.

“Agra has no meaning,” Mr Garg said, adding that there had once been forests in the area and people from the Agarwal community lived here, but provided no supporting evidence to back his claim.

No proof

Several historians said no such proof exists, and critics believe Agra’s name change is being mooted by the BJP simply because the city was the Mughal capital for 92 years until 1648.

But BJP lawmaker Sangeet Som, who is demanding the renaming of Muzaffarnagar, a small town 315km north of Agra, founded in the 17th century by a Mughal nobleman, is possibly the most forthright about his party’s motives in this regard.

Aiming to change the name of Muzaffarnagar to Laxmi Nagar, after the Hindu goddess of wealth, Som said that by renaming cities the BJP was only trying to “retain and safeguard” Hindutva or Hindu hegemony destroyed by Muslim rulers.

Opposition parties have responded by accusing the BJP and the RSS of rewriting history in an attempt to extend their cultural influence.

They also said that by resorting to changing city names, the party was deflecting attention from its inability to kick-start the flagging economy, create jobs and improve civic amenities such as roads, sewage and sanitation.

“The BJP is busy doing things which have nothing to do with progress and development,” said Sharad Yadav of the National Democratic Party.

Image: A monkey on the banks of the Yamuna River, next to the Taj Mahal in Agra, India. Photograph: Saumya Khandelwal/Reuters

UN office warns 97 percent of ground water in Gaza is undrinkable, causing risk of disease outbreak and epidemic

UN office warns 97 percent of ground water in Gaza is undrinkable,

causing risk of disease outbreak and epidemic

November 16, 2018

Electricity supply in Gaza increased up to 18 hours a day in some areas, following the provision of additional fuel to operate the Gaza Power Plant.

Only 22 per cent of patients injured during the Gaza demonstrations, who were referred for follow-up surgery in the West Bank or Israel, have been granted Israeli exit permits.

97 per cent of ground water extracted in Gaza is unfit for human consumption, generating the risk of a waterborne disease outbreak.

The number of Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians and their property during 2018 grew by 57 and 175 per cent, compared with 2017 and 2016, respectively.

Overview: October 2018

Israeli settlers, accompanied by Israeli soldiers, assault ‘Urif village (Nablus), 6 July 2018. © Photo by ‘Adel al-’Amer/B’Tselem

During the first week of November, residents of the Gaza Strip experienced some respite from the deteriorating humanitarian situation. First, the electricity supply increased up to 18 hours a day in some areas, from 4-5 hours in previous months, following the provision of additional fuel to operate the Gaza Power Plant. Second, around 27,000 civil servants, hired by Hamas after the 2007 takeover, were paid their August salaries, while 50,000 of the poorest families began receiving an US$ 100 allocation. These developments have been made possible due to funding provided by the Government of Qatar, and following Israel’s authorization of the entry of the fuel and cash into Gaza. In addition, while the ‘Great March of Return’ demonstrations along the perimeter fence continue, there has been a significant decline in clashes between demonstrators and Israeli forces and a resulting decrease in casualties.

Read more

More casualties sustained during the ‘Great March of Return’ in Gaza

*This figure includes 171 Palestinians killed during the Great March of Return demonstrations and other activities and 57 killed in other circumstances.

While participating in a demonstration near the Gaza fence with Israel on 6 April 2018, a university student in his mid-twenties was shot and injured in his left hip by Israeli forces. He was standing about 30-40 metres from the barbed wire fence inside Gaza territory and burning a tyre with other demonstrators.

Read more

Study warns water sanitation crisis in Gaza may cause disease outbreak and possible epidemic

A recent report prepared by the RAND Corporation warns that if the chronic state of emergency in Gaza’s water and sewage sector continues, an endemic disease outbreak or other public health crisis is imminent, with the risk of it spreading to Israel and Egypt. The projection is based on data collected by Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) partners and authorities over previous years, analysis of the expected impact of recent developments, and lessons learnt from disease outbreaks in Haiti, Yemen and Iraq. The report emphasised that cooperation between the Palestinian Authority, Israel and Egypt is vital if an epidemic is to be pre-empted.

Read more

High level of violence by Israeli settlers; rise in Israeli fatalities

Settler violence and settlement expansion in western Ramallah

The high level of Israeli settler violence against Palestinians reported during the first four months of 2018 in an earlier Humanitarian Bulletin, continued through October as the annual olive harvest began. Since the start of 2018, OCHA has documented 217 incidents attributed to Israeli settlers that have resulted in Palestinian casualties (60 incidents) or in damage to Palestinian property (157 incidents). As a monthly average, this is the highest level of incidents recorded since 2014 and represents a 57 and 175 per cent increase compared with 2017 and 2016 respectively (see chart).

About UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

OCHA oPt works to ensure a coordinated and effective response to humanitarian needs stemming from the conflict, the occupation and other policies, as well as from natural disasters or extreme weather events.

Other posts by UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Zionist Barbarism Against Gaza Civilians Intensifies

Zionist Barbarism Against Gaza Civilians Intensifies

Crescent International

13 November 2018

Within the last 48 hours, the Gaza Strip has witnessed another major Israeli military escalation. Zionist warplanes bombed residential neighborhoods in the tiny enclave while artillery shells rained down every few minutes.

Two more civilians were killed in Gaza today in Israeli artillery shelling while seven civilians were wounded, at the time of filing this report.

Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesman for the Gaza Health Ministry, said a 26-year-old farmer, Khaled Riyad Ahmed al-Sultan was killed in his field. His body was shredded to pieces. A two-year-old child was also wounded.

Another civilian was wounded when Israeli shells fell on the Salatin area west of the city of Beit Lahia, five kilometers north of Gaza City.

Musab Hus, 20, also died and three others were wounded during an Israeli attack on an area east of al-Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City.

The latest attacks occurred less than a day after Israeli warplanes conducted a string of airstrikes throughout the Gaza Strip, killing three people.

The Israeli military announced in a statement that the aerial assaults were carried out shortly after the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement fired an intense barrage of rockets against settlements in the southern part of the occupied territories, triggering air sirens.

Palestinian officials and witnesses said the Israeli military bombed the studios of the Arabic-language al-Aqsa satellite television network, which is affiliated to Hamas. There was no immediate word of any casualties in the airstrike.

On the night of November 11, seven Palestinians, including a senior Hamas commander, were killed when Zionist occupation forces staged an incursion into the southern Gaza Strip.

One Israeli soldier was killed and another injured in the illegal raid. This caused such angst among the Zionists that they launched a massive barrage of missiles and artillery strikes against the defenceless people of Gaza.

Life for the nearly two million inhabitants of Gaza is absolute hell. They live under constant fear of Israeli terror attacks and have little or no recourse to protection.

This is the biggest Zionist onslaught since Israel’s July-August 2014 offensive on the tiny Gaza enclave.

The latest escalation started with an Israeli special undercover unit “Mista'arvim” infiltrating the Khan Younis neighborhood in the Southern Gaza Strip on November 11.

The Zionists killed 7 members of the Palestinian resistance groups, including a commander in al-Qassam Brigades from Khan Younis.

The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas retaliated for this latest provocative criminal Zionist assault by firing a barrage of rockets deep into Israeli cities adjacent to the Gaza Strip. A number of Israeli targets including an Israeli military bus were hit.

Since the latest Zionist onslaught, almost all residential areas of Gaza have been attacked causing civilian deaths and injuries. Houses, TV studios, hotels and police stations have all been targeted and destroyed.

From Northern Gaza Strip to Southern Gaza Strip and residential neighborhoods—essentially makeshift camps of extremely poor Palestinians have been hit with missiles or artillery shells.

The tiny enclave measuring 25 miles by 15 miles has been described as the biggest open-air prison. It is besieged from all sides and no food, medicines or repair equipment is allowed to enter the Strip.

Even Egypt, a so-called Muslim country, has blocked all access to Palestinians. It is the biggest collaborator of the Zionist regime and complicit in the starvation of the people of Gaza.

https://crescent.icit-digital.org/articles/zionist-barbarism-against-gaza-civilians-intensifies

Tlaib and Omar are the first Muslim women elected to Congress. They’re also so much more

Tlaib and Omar are the first Muslim women elected to Congress. They’re also so much more

Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar are two powerful political forces to be reckoned with

By Tara Isabella Burton

Vox, 8 November 2018

Tuesday was a historic night for Muslim women in US politics.

Two Muslim women won their House races in Midwest districts. Democratic candidate Rashida Tlaib was elected in Michigan, without opposition, to replace Rep. John Conyers, who stepped down after facing sexual harassment allegations. In Minnesota, Democrat Ilhan Omar defeated Republican Jennifer Zielinski. Omar is replacing Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison — the first Muslim person elected to Congress — who on Tuesday won his race for state attorney general.

Upon her victory, Omar congratulated Tlaib on Twitter expressing her solidarity with her “sister” and excitement to serve in Congress together.

Neither victory was a complete surprise: Tlaib and Omar ran in two districts that tend to favor Democrats. Still, their wins remain hugely symbolic, both for Muslim visibility in the United States and as a repudiation of anti-immigrant, nativist sentiment in the age of Donald Trump.

Suman Raghunathan, the executive director of advocacy group South Asian Americans Leading Together, told Vox, “It’s incredibly inspiring ... to see the nation’s first Muslim American women elected to Congress just two years after the administration decided to introduce the first ‘Muslim ban’ — I think that’s a very strong, powerful message of repudiation against the politics of division rather than the politics of inclusion.”

She stressed the importance of the women’s backgrounds not only as Muslims, but also as those with immigrant and refugee backgrounds. Tlaib is the child of Palestinian immigrants, while Omar came to the United States more than 20 years ago as a refugee from Somalia. Both have made pro-immigrant policies a staple of their platforms and have been vocal critics of the Trump administration’s hardline approach to migration.

Raghunathan also highlighted the fact that Tlaib and Omar’s elections are only a small part of what she sees as a wider electoral repudiation of the Trump administration’s specific brand of nationalism and conservatism.

“Tlaib and Omar are not the only firsts,” Raghunathan said. “Last night saw a number of other oppressed and marginalized communities who also elected their first members of Congress. Kansas saw both the repudiation of the noted anti-immigrantdemagogue Kris Kobach, rejected in the governors’ race, and also you saw Kansas’s Third District — which was the home of Meshon Cooper who was murdered by a white supremacist last year — flip, and elect one of the nation’s first Native American women, and Kansas’s first gay women,” Democrat Sharice Davids.

Tlaib and Omar’s victory, therefore, must be seen as part of a broader movement: one in which progressive women and members of minority groups are bringing their experiences to the fore to combat Trumpist rhetoric and policies alike.

Omar and Tlaib have both been explicit about the degree to which their identities inform their politics. Before her election, Omar toldthe New Yorker’s Emily Witt that her opposition to Immigration and Customs Enforcement was rooted in her own consciousness of oppression. “I’ve always seen how it was created out of fear, and how it became a tool to dehumanize and treat Muslims as second-class citizens within this country,” she said.

Likewise, Tlaib told ABC News before the election, “I ran because of injustices and because of my boys, who are questioning their [Muslim] identity and whether they belong. I’ve never been one to stand on the sidelines.”

While their elections are historic, some commentators caution against reducing Tlaib and Omar down solely to their identities as Muslim women. As imam Dawud Walid told Vox, all too often, people focus on Muslim candidates’ identities rather than focusing on their policy proposals.

“It’s very important to have a democracy that truly represents and reflects the people that live in the country,” Walid said. “With [Tlaib and Omar], we’re adding to that representation that has been sorely missing in Congress, [but] there is a tendency of wanting to place Muslims in a policy ghetto.”

Walid added, “There is somehow an expectation that [an elected Muslim] person is supposed to be a spokesperson for Muslim. ... I don’t see either of them as a spokesperson for their faith. We’ve got Islamic scholars, and female Islamic scholars for that. These are people who got elected in districts that are majority non-Muslim and they are representing the interests of their district and the country as a whole.”

Wajaharat Ali, a journalist and frequent commentator on Islamic issues, concurred. Pointing out that the district that Omar won in was predominately white and 70 percent Christian, he argued that Omar and Tlaib’s victories were fundamentally about their ability to connect with the needs of a population hungry for strong, progressive candidates. “Oftentimes [the narrative will] be — ‘we’re the first Muslims.’ But what you’re seeing now is [the narrative of] ‘we are public servants and champions of the people who happen to be Muslim.’”

“What that shows you,” he added, “is an evolving America that has a more nuanced, sophisticated understanding of how to deal with women and people of color and minorities. Meaning those markers are not used to tokenize them, but are seen as just one of the many aspects of their identity.”

Image: Ilhan Omar (pictured) and Rashida Tlaib are the first two Muslim women elected to Congress. Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

https://www.vox.com/2018/11/8/18072610/rashida-tlaib-ilhan-omar-congress-election-muslim-women

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