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MEDIA REVIEW NETWORK COMMENDS UMAMA FATEEMA FOR REJECTING MADELEINE ALBRIGHT AWARD IN PROTEST AGAINST ISRAELI GENOCIDE

By Mariam Jooma Çarikci

The Media Review Network (MRN) wholeheartedly commends activist and student leader Umama Fateema for her courageous and principled decision to decline the US State Department’s ‘International Women of Courage’ award. Umama was nominated as recognition of her role in the July uprising against Bangladesh’s long time Sheikh Hasina regime but declined the award to protest the ongoing US sponsored genocide being perpetrated by Israel against the Palestinian people. As the spokesperson for the Students Against Discrimination (SAD) movement the reasons for her rejection of the award underline the inextricable link between the Palestinian struggle and other struggles for freedom and equality around the world.

Explaining her reasons for rejecting the award, Umama Fatema stated, “Collective recognition of women activists is highly honorable for us. However, this award has been used to directly endorse Israel’s brutal attack on Palestine in October 2023. By justifying Israel’s assault while ignoring Palestine’s freedom struggle, the award’s neutrality has been compromised. The Palestinian people have long been deprived of their fundamental human rights, including their right to land. In solidarity with Palestine’s independence struggle, I am personally rejecting this award.”

According to the US State Department, they demonstrated extraordinary bravery, including standing between security forces and male protestors in spite of threats and violence.

The Madeleine Albright Honorary Group Award would also be given to the group of female students who were at the forefront of the student protest movement against violent repression in Bangladesh in July-August 2024.

Umama Fateema’s rejection of this accolade sends a powerful message to the global community: that those who claim to champion human rights cannot remain silent in the face of Israel’s relentless massacres, war crimes, and apartheid policies. Her decision underscores the growing refusal of conscientious individuals to be associated with institutions and figures that have historically enabled or justified such atrocities. Umama Fateema joins a growing caliber of morally conscious professionals who recognize Israeli crimes for what they are – ethnic cleansing and genocide.

Madeleine Albright, for whom a general award for all other female activist is named, was infamous for her callous endorsement of U.S. policies that led to the deaths of thousands, including her infamous remark justifying the deaths of half a million Iraqi children. It is, therefore, fitting that Umama Fateema has chosen to distance herself from an award that carries such a tainted legacy, particularly as Israel continues its brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing in Gaza and the West Bank.

Other female activists like Rumeysa Ozturk incarcerated without charge have been criminalized for student activism by the Trump administration. The same Marco Rubio who will be co-hosting the awards Albright award ceremony today, 1 April 2025, with Melania Trump suggested without evidence that Ozturk was involved in disruptive student protests over Israel’s war in Gaza. The hypocrisy could not be more stark.

MRN stands in full solidarity with Umama Fateema and all those who take a stand against Israeli aggression and Western complicity. We urge other activists, policymakers, and thought leaders to follow her example by refusing honors and partnerships that whitewash the crimes of oppressive regimes.

We reiterate our unwavering support for the Palestinian people in their struggle for justice, dignity, and self-determination. The international community must hold Israel accountable for its crimes, and voices like Umama Fateema’s are crucial in amplifying the call for action.

Issued by:
Mariam Jooma Çarikci
Media Review Network
Johannesburg
South Africa
0822252333

Mariam Jooma
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