Amid a stirring debate among SA Muslims about their role within a democracy and political engagement as the country approaches the 2009 national election, the office of the Presidency announced on that the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC)’s senior members are to pay a courtesy call on President Kgalema Motlanthe on at Tuynhuis. However, the delegation excludes MJC president, Maulana Igsaan Hendricks, who is presently in Yemen.
Did Al-Zeidi think only of Bush ?
Reem Al-Faisal I Arab News
No matter how many times the scene is played on TV channels or Internet sites, one simply can’t get enough of it. Every time I see Muntadar Al-Zeidi throw the pair of shoes at US President George W. Bush, I feel I need to pinch myself so as to make sure I’m not hallucinating, but then I realize it really happened. An Arab journalist truly took his shoes off and threw them at the tyrant who was the cause of the death and misery of millions of Muslims. This man who dragged his nation into a mindless war and brought down on them the scorn and hatred for generations to come.
The most amazing thing to me is that there is still anyone left in the Arab world who has it in him to stand alone and defy tyranny in any one of its forms and I think that is what made Al-Zeidi’s actions produce such violent reactions in the Arab and Muslim world. His act spelled not only the bravery of individual action — for no one can deny his bravery — but it touched the much deeper wound which is the utter insignificance of the Arab states and the people they represent. We as a region have become invisible on the geopolitical map. If at all we are seen, it is as mere pawns in the hands of Western imperial powers and their desired dominance of other rising powers such as Russia or China.
British telecom firm severs ties with Israeli counterparts
UK’s FreedomCall informs Israeli company of decision via email, blames Gaza operation Meir Orbach
British telecommunications firm FreedomCall has terminated its cooperation
with Israel’s MobileMax due to the IDF operation in Gaza.
"We received an email from the British company informing us that it is
severing all ties with us and any other Israeli company following Israel’s
strike in Gaza," said CEO Raanan Cohen.
"We weren’t expecting this from them and there was no prior warning. I don’t
intend to appeal to them or answer the letter."
The email from FreedomCall said, "As a result of the Israeli government
action in the last few days we will no longer be in a position to consider
doing business with yourself or any other Israeli company."
MobileMax, established in 2004, produces a program providing cellular phones
with inexpensive international service.
Read More »British telecom firm severs ties with Isaraeli counterparts
Dispatch publishes major probe into Somali killings
by Kenichi Serino
The articles are being published online concurrently with the print edition of the newspaper, under the series headline “Dying to live”. The newspaper’s lead story, headlined “Why I killed”, is based on an interview with a man jailed for the murder of Somalis.
In a front-page editorial, the paper wrote South Africans were giving the lie to the constitutional promise that the country belongs to all who live in it, united in diversity. "Instead, we behave like dogs snarling at a suburban gate when strangers come to call. Our series exposes the prejudice and hatred we hold in our hearts against those who are not one of ‘us’.
"Government policy is utterly inadequate, the system corrupt, and political leadership on this question is practically non-existent – and why, after all, should politicians care?" the editorial asks.
Read More »Dispatch publishes major probe into somali killings