US – Features

El al decision hailed

by MRN
January 1, 2013January 6, 2014

(source: VOCfm Online)

ELAL

A decision by the South African government to deport an El Al security official for overstepping their bounds has been hailed by the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) and Media Review Network (MRN). The two organisations have for the last two years been waging a battle to have action taken against the airline’s security officials who have notoriously been responsible for racial profiling and interrogating South African citizens who were trying to get to Palestine. Malick said the "bold" move showed political will and determination that no other government – who have faced similar challenges – have been willing to show.

"We must congratulate the SA government who have shown real political will and determination, because this is a global phenomenon where Israel has been violating rights of many international airlines for many years. For example, there have been many complaints from Muslims travelling through New York, Paris, Vienna and Geneva specifically. None of those complaints were dealt with by those airlines or their governments. So alhamdulilah, as South Africans we can be proud that our country has taken the lead and shown that we won’t tolerate such violation against our citizen."

Eu endorses goldstone report

by MRN
January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

PCHR welcomes Resolution by the European Parliament endorsing the Goldstone Report

(source: Palestinian Centre for Human Rights)

On Wednesday, 10 March 2010, the European Parliament adopted a resolution that backs the findings of the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict (the Goldstone Report) and urges its member states to “demand the implementation of the Goldstone Report’s recommendations and accountability for all violations of international law”. The resolution calls all parties to respect international humanitarian law and international human rights law under all circumstances.

In line with the UN General Assembly resolution adopted on 26 February, the European Parliament "urges both sides to conduct investigations within five months that meet international standards of independence, impartiality, transparency, promptness and effectiveness."

Read More »Eu endorses goldstone report

Beware bigotry some thoughts on free speech the zapiro cartoons

by MRN
January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

Text of talk on receiving an honorary doctorate at the University of Johannesburg, 25 May, 2010

By Mahmood Mamdani, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda

It warms my heart to see these flowing gowns. I congratulate you on work accomplished! For over a millennium, these gowns have been a symbol of high learning from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic. Should anyone ask you where they came from, tell them that the early universities of Europe – Oxford, Cambridge, le Sorbonne – borrowed them from the Islamic madressa of the Middle East.

If they should seem incredulous, tell them that the gown did not come by itself: because medieval European scholars borrowed from the madressa much of the curriculum, from Greek philosophy to Iranian astronomy to Arab medicine and Indian mathematics, they had little difficulty in accepting this flowing gown, modeled after the dress of the desert nomad, as the symbol of high learning. Should they still express surprise, ask them to take a second look at the gowns of the ayatollahs in Iran and Iraq and elsewhere and they will see the resemblance. Education has no boundaries. Neither does it have an end. As the Waswahili in East Africa, which is where I come from, say: elimu haina muisho.

Confidence games and ponzi schemes

by MRN
January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

Confidence Games and Ponzi Schemes

By Lynn Henderson

The United States economy continues its plunge into the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s, dragging in its wake the entire world’s financial system. What is the cause of this now world-wide economic catastrophe? Without a clear understanding of its root causes we will not be able to find a way out. Rather the crisis itself will be used to inflict even greater damage on its chief victims, working people here and around the world.