struggle within Islam

Southeast Asia

Thailand: southern insurgency accepts peace plan

Muslim separatists in Thailand’s Deep South agreed in principle to an “improved” peace plan with the government. The agreement, facilitated by Malaysia, follows years of abortive talks. The Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), the main separatist organization, announced a unilateral ceasefire in 2020 in response to the COVID 19 pandemic. More than 7,000 people have been killed in 20 years of intermittent fighting between government forces and separatists in the country’s three southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, whose populations are overwhelmingly Malay Muslim. (Map: Wikipedia)

Palestine

Podcast: whither ‘From the River to the Sea’? II

In Episode 204 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg returns to the persisting controversy around the slogan “From the River to the Sea“—portrayed as either a call to genocide or a cry for liberation. Much mainstream media coverage has dishonestly accepted the prior interpretation as a fait accompli. On the other hand, displays of unseemly enthusiasm for the Hamas attacks by certain sectors of the Palestine solidarity movement have provided propaganda fodder for Israel and its stateside pressure groups. This is (at least) a tactical error that abets moves toward campus censorship of pro-Palestinian voices. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Photo: Daniel Arauz via WikimediaCommons)

Watching the Shadows

Anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism: parsing the difference II

In a disturbing coincidence in Missoula, Mont., a Palestine solidarity march to protest the bombardment of Gaza ran into a separate but simultaneous anti-Israel march by neo-Nazis. Since the Gaza bombardment began, open neo-Nazi marches have also been reported from Madison, Wisc., Dallas, Tex., and elsewhere around the country. Yet, in addition to displaying enthusiasm for Hamas, their banners also read “REFUGEES NOT WELCOME”—and we may assume it was a similar ultra-right xenophobe who shot three Palestinian youths in Burlington, Vt. This makes it all the more maddening that elements of the “left” share with the Nazis an unseemly enthusiasm for Hamas—providing much fodder for the pro-Israel and “anti-woke” right. In Episode 201 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg continues to explore the dilemma. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Photo: Hayden Blackford/Daily Montanan)

Palestine

Jewish-Arab solidarity meetings held in Haifa

Since the Gaza bombardment began, three joint Jewish-Arab gatherings for coexistence and mutual solidarity have been held in Haifa, hosted by the Israeli city’s Ahmadiyya Mahmud Mosque. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community convened the meetings, bringing together representatives from various faiths, including Jewish rabbis, Christian pastors, Muslim and Druze imams, and even a Buddhist monk. The meetings have drawn up to 600 attendees. The Ahmadiyya amir of the Holy Lands, Muhammad Sharif Odeh, urged Jewish guests not to justify collective retaliation: “It is haram [unlawful] to kill civilians and innocent people—this is not the right way, there are other solutions, without weapons. Muslims and Jews have lived together for more than 1,300 years, and Jews were given their rights under the Muslim rule… Muslims and Jews should know that not speaking up in the face of oppression destroys the human feelings in our hearts, and stops us from feeling empathy towards the pain and suffering of each other.” (Photo: Al Hakam. Banner reads: “We are allies, not adversaries”)

The Caucasus

Anti-Semitic riots, attacks in Russian Caucasus

An angry mob in Russia’s Caucasus republic of Dagestan stormed the airport of regional capital Makhachkala, seking to confront passengers arriving on a flight from Israel. Some held signs reading “Child killers have no place in Dagestan” and “We are against Jewish refugees.” The National Guard only showed up hours after rioters had overrun all areas of the airport, including the runway. Clashes then ensued, with several arrested. There was a similar scene in the Dagestani city of Khasavyurt, after reports on social media claimed that “refugees from Israel” were being accommodated at a local hotel. Another such rally was reported from Cherkessk, capital of Karachay-Cherkessia republic. And in Nalchik, capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, an under-construction Jewish cultural center was set ablaze, with “Death to the Yahudi” written in Russian on one wall. (Map: Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection)

Iran

‘Islamic State,’ Islamic Republic both target Baluchi

More than 50 were killed and dozens injured in a suicide attack in Pakistan’s Balochistan province as people gathered to celebrate the birth of the Prophet Muhammad. Those targeted in the blast at the town of Mastung were overwhelmingly members of the Baluch ethnicity. The attack is believed to have carried out by the local “Islamic State” franchise, ISIS-Khorasan. That same day, Iranian security forces opened fire on Baluchi protesters at the town of Zahedan, Sistan & Baluchestan province, leaving several wounded. The demonstration had been called to commemorate the previous year’s “Bloody Friday” massacre in Zahedan, when some 40 were slain by security forces during a protest held amid the national uprising then sweeping through Iran. (Map via Wikipedia)

Afghanistan

UN human rights office: Taliban not ‘reformed’

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released a statement condemning the idea that the Taliban are “reformed” since the last time they were in power in Afghanistan. The statement, written by multiple human rights experts, drew attention to the gap between the promises made by the Taliban upon its return to power in August 2021 and the reality of “gender apartheid” in Afghanistan. (Photo: Milad Hamadi/Tasnim News Agency via Wikimedia Commons)

Greater Middle East

Yemen: civil society groups call for just peace

More than 40 Yemeni civil society organizations released a declaration on laying out a vision for how to achieve justice and reconciliation post-conflict. They highlight the importance of addressing past human rights violations to prevent future violence and call for accountability and reparations through a gender-equal and victim-centered process. The war, which started in 2014, has led to one of the world’s most acute crises, with more than 20 million people requiring humanitarian assistance and 80% of the population facing hunger. (Map via PCL)

South Asia

Bangladesh protests demand prime minister resign

Bangladesh opposition supporters protested to demand the resignation of prime minister and the leader of Awami League, Sheikh Hasina. The protests followed a call to action from the Bangladesh National Party (BNP). Protestors blocked several entry points to the capital Dhaka, and some threw rocks at police. The police responded with tear-gas, rubber bullets and batons. BNP leader Abdul Moyeen Khan said that 1,000 supporters have been arrested. These protests were the latest among a year-long series of demonstrations demanding new elections under a caretaker government. The BNP believes that elections that brought the Awami League to power in 2018 were not free and fair. (Photo via Twitter)

Iran

Iran: ‘morality police’ to resume hijab patrols

With the protest movement in Iran now in abeyance, Tehran’s national Police Command announced that the feared “morality police” will resume patrols enforcing the mandatory wearing of the hijab by the country’s women. Formally known as the Guidance Patrols (Gasht-e Ershad), the force created in 2006 was that which arrested Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, last September. Her death in custody three days later sparked the uprising that has lasted for months. The patrols were suspended for review as the protests mounted last December. Article 638 of Iran’s Islamic Penal Code states that: “Women who appear in public without prescribed Islamic dress (hejab-e-shar’i), shall be sentenced to either imprisonment of between 10 days and 2 months, or a fine of between 50,000 and 500,000 rials.” (Photo of Melbourne protest in solidarity with Iran uprising: Matt Hrkac/Flickr)

The Caucasus

UN: Russia must investigate Chechnya attack

A group of United Nations human rights experts called on the Russian Federation to investigate a violent attack in Chechnya against journalist Yelena Milashina and human rights lawyer Alexander Nemov, and bring to justice the perpetrators. Milashina was covering, and Nemov participating in, the trial of Zarema Musaeva, the mother of exiled opposition activists who challenged the leader of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov. Milashina is known for breaking the story of the “anti-gay purges” in Kadyrov’s Chechnya in 2017, which sparked international outcry. (Image: OHCHR via Twitter)

Afghanistan

Women’s rights at issue as Taliban seek recognition

Roza Otunbayeva, the UN’s special representative for Afghanistan, told the Security Council that the Taliban’s continued restrictions on women made it “nearly impossible” for the international community to recognize it as a legitimate government. In particular, Otunbayeva referred to an April edict banning Afghan women from working with the UN—a follow-up to an earlier ban on them working for local or international NGOs. However, the “Islamic Emirate,” as the Taliban prefers to be known, continues to push for international recognition, most recently at a stakeholder meeting convened on the matter in Oslo. (Photo: UNICEF)