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By Divya TalwarBBC
Asian Network
A growing number of young Muslim women
are being radicalised by extremists while studying at UK
universities, according to a Muslim women's group.
As one Islamic student group denies it is a problem, BBC
News examines how widespread on-campus radicalisation is
and why young women in particular are targets.
''I didn't have a plan and I didn't know how I was going
to do it. But I had so much anger inside me. I wanted to
be heard.
''I thought I could do that through violence, by
becoming the country's first female suicide bomber.''
When Sadia started university, like most
students, she was eager to make new friends and to fit
in, so she joined the Islamic society.
Sadia, 22, (whose name has been
changed to protect her identity), was befriended by a
group of Muslim girls that she met at the events.
''They seemed to know a lot about Islam. As I grew
closer to them, they would give me books to read to help
me learn more about my religion," she said.
Sadia was shown videos of Muslims allegedly "suffering
because of the West", which led to her becoming
radicalised.
"It made me think violence was
acceptable. It made me want to become a suicide bomber.
''I thought if I became the first British woman to do it
then that would make the Western world listen."
Shaista Gohir, a consultant for
Prevent, the government's anti-terror programme and head
of the Muslim Women's Network UK (MWN-UK), said
increasing numbers of Muslim women were being targeted
at British universities.
''I have come across ample
anecdotal evidence through my work, to suggest a growing
problem of women being drawn into violent extremism.
''While it is mostly men who are targeted, women are
also now being recruited by extremist groups.''
''Most Muslim women have no interest in violence, but
there is small number of females who are being targeted.
This is very serious because the numbers are slowly
growing.''
Ms Gohir believes extremist groups could be deliberately
going out of their way to target women, because female
extremists arouse less suspicion than men.
Sadia never ended up pursuing extremist
violence. By confiding in Muslim friends outside of her
London-based university, she slowly realised she had
been brainwashed.
She was introduced to a Muslim women's group who helped
her combat her Jihadist attitude.
"It was a difficult process, but I got proper help and I
was able to see just how wrong I was.
''When I look back at it, I know my religion and the
concept of violent Jihad was completely
misinterpreted.''
The police are aware of her case.
Hadiya Masieh, 32, says she was
recruited by radicals from Hizb ut-Tahrir, an extremist
group which claims it is non-violent, while at Brunel
University. The group is banned from the campus.
She said its members convinced her to become a radical:
"Once they've established that suspicion (against "the
West") and malaise, depending on the person, all that
emotion can be challenged in various ways, including
violence.''
Ms Masieh has since left the group and is now and a
member of the government's Muslim Women's Advisory Board
(MWAB).
Dr Taj Hargey, an Imam from Oxford, said young Muslims
needed to be armed with the right Islamic knowledge to
fight radicalisation.
''Many Muslim students are fed tainted and
misinterpreted ideologies of Islam on campus. This can
then form the gateway to extremism,'' said Dr Hargey.
'No evidence'
However, the Federation
of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS) has denied there is
an extremist element at UK universities.
Its vice-president, Amandla Thomas-Johnson said: ''We
take such concerns very seriously, however there is no
evidence to suggest there is radicalisation on
campuses.''
While Islamic societies may not encourage violent
extremism, there have been concerns that groups use
their events as an opportunity to prey on vulnerable
individuals.
Ms Gohir said many of the government's Prevent projects
did not challenge extremism ideologies head-on, and £7m
has just been cut from its £140m budget.
A spokesman for the programme said it was a "serious but
not widespread" problem.
He said: "The government and the police continue to work
with universities and student groups to help them manage
the risks. We are currently reviewing the Prevent
programme so that it tackles extremism more
effectively."
While Sadia may have found a way out, she is fearful for
others. She said: ''I think if the problem is ignored,
Britain could sees its first female suicide bomber."
Universities UK, which represents a large number of
higher education sites, said it was currently looking at
the issue within its establishments. It plans to provide
guidelines on tackling the problem later in the year.
An Insufferable Hell
“I have seen my generation scouting among the black
streets at dawn vitally searching for drugs”, asserts
Allen Ginsberg.
Nowadays, drugs – taken along with alcohol – are turned
to by more than 48,000 youngsters between the ages of 14
and 18. These tendencies can lead to the abuse of
cocaine and cannabis.
They represent only 2.2 percent of the population.
However, the phenomenon is alarming. It produces various
consequences, such as memory loss, poor school
performance, and missing out on classes as well as
discussions. These consequences provide some clues to
the problem. Narcotics are also the cause of many car
accidents.
These were the results shown by the National Plan on
Drugs, during the exhibition of the 2007 report on
defeating alkaloids. The use of heroine has increased, a
drug which is sniffed through a small straw, as Chinese
surveys have come inform.
The more the drug consumed, the more it is needed. It
becomes an addiction. Drug dealers tempt their clients
to buy drugs, promising them the key to paradise. What
it is not said however, is that the real price to pay is
the consumer’s self-destruction, as well as their
physical and psychical deterioration, transforming the
idealized paradise into a living hell.
“The fight against the market and drug consumption. The
will to stop this pernicious threat menacing the social
net – which promotes crime, violence, and contributes to
the physical and emotional destruction of many people –
requires a political compromise, international
cooperation and the support of the entire community”,
asserted Pope Benedict XVI.
World Hunger
by
Clemente Ferrer
An infant’s semblance is the image of an adult’s moral
condition. Any civilization that fights against infancy
is a world that has lost all sorts of hope. Infancy in
poverty, sacrifice, and abuse is a crime against
humanity that will sooner or later be judged by its own
descendents.
According to the World Health Organization,
approximately 50 million children are not registered
under any record. It is almost 100 million the abortions
that are annually conducted throughout the world. It is
more than 120 million children that lack basic
nourishment. About 50,000 children die of Gasusa on a
daily basis. Not to mention that 1 out of 4 children
less than five years will live the effects of pauperism,
anemia, paralysis, and physical and mental deficiencies.
About 250,000 children are estimated to die from measles
each year.
On the other hand, child mortality rate varies according
to the world’s geographic regions. In rich countries,
child mortality rate approximately 6 for every 1,000
successful child births. Moreover, in Latin America the
rate is about 31 for every 1,000, in Southern Asia 89
for every 1,000, and in Sub-Saharan Africa 169 for every
1,000. It is approximately 25 million under aged
children that live in refugee camps. They are picked up
from war conflicts. About 16 million children are
orphans, one of the reasons being AIDS. And, around 80%
of them live in Africa.
It is also estimated that 400 million children are
slaves, due to the tyranny of exploitation. Among them
there are children in forced labor – due to the poverty
their families merely survive within – in the fields of
agriculture, mines, industries, and as landowners’ own
slaves. Actually, there are about 500,000 child soldiers
and approximately 2 million children are used for sexual
ends; they are treated like crude sex objects.
Lastly, the Annual FAO Report, “The State of Food
Insecurity in the World” of 2009, promotes “the right to
food” as a “basic human right enshrined in international
law”. Furthermore, the right to food has the
“overarching objective of promoting the well-being of
humanity and the dignity of every human being”. Hunger
is an offence to human dignity. (Translated by Gianna A.
Sanchez-Moretti)
Human
rights in Ukraine
It is сonfession
crucified as Jesus :Mental disease of Ukrainian power
makes violence over citizens of Ukraine. The new
president of Ukraine Janukovich continues to play health
and life of ukrainians in the big policy. Having
received a seat of the president, Janukovich continues
to scoff at people morally. The president has asked to
be militia out of a policy. The militia does not listen
to him. The militia makes to people badly and plays with
people in a policy. JAnukovich speaks one, and his crazy
colleagues makes another and all it with impunity. I
have suffered from such as Janukovich, and I ask: why I
should pay in health and life for success Janukovich’s
and other politicians? I wish to arrive to Europe in
medical clinic. To me speak: «it is impossible». Of that
is afraid Janukovich and the Сo.? Why me every day
frighten?. The Ukrainian law protect gangsters at power
and does not protect citizens of Ukraine. The old new
power makes old mistakes. I do not trust Janukovich! The
Ukrainian power preaches fascism, and the power has
executioners of people. They have transformed punishment
over me into show. Honesty the best policy Mr.
Janukovich! He laughs best who laughs last!Please
publish in the newspaper this letter and my story. I
want that the crucifixion which was started Janukovich
and Banderа Yushchenko and the bitch from square
Tymoshenko four years ago by him has terminated. At
length can be received on a
http://dmitryy.ucoz.ru or on E-mail With the best
regards, Dmytry mailto: dolhovskiy@gmail.com
http://dmitryy.ucoz.ru
VOLCANO
OVERSHADOWS GEOTHERMAL CONGRESS
What can you
do to promote a new green energy technology that the
general public, bankers and governments do not yet take
seriously enough? A giant volcanic eruption to stop half
the air flights in Europe at the same time as the World
Geothermal Congress (WGC) was a stroke of genius.
Here is the power to stop the world, or to make it go
without carbon emissions or use of fossil fuel. The
choice is ours. But so far we have understood the
potential of geothermal but not realized it.
The market leader in terms of reserves is Indonesia ,
which has only used 4 percent of its identified
geothermal resources.
But little Iceland has made great efforts to make full
use of its geothermal resources.
Now Indonesia wants to develop 4,000 MW of geothermal
energy urgently, having only developed 1,200 MW
previously. But the road to disaster could be paved with
good intentions. How to make sure Indonesia can deliver?
So when
tall white-haired President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson of
Iceland opened the 2010
WGC
on the
magical and mystical island of Bali then the bearded
bards of green and
clean energy, burgeoning geothermal bureaucrats and busy
businessmen
bowed before
a chief druid whose volcano was
the
biggest and best.
A world stopper and a geothermal publicity whopper.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
who opened the congress
with President Grimsson,
admitted
that
Eyjafjallajokull, the name of the volcano, was utterly
unpronounceable.
But President Grimsson was quite right to point to the
upside of the volcanic eruption. Now the world would
understand the power of geothermal energy which already
provides area heating to all of Iceland and between a
third and a quarter of all its electricity.
So the
world congress of hot and steamy geothermal technology
came to hot and steamy Bali to
convince us all
that this misty if not mystical and mysterious
technology, with its great big steaming pipes and
condensers has suddenly become big business.
It is
already generating 10,000 megawatts (MW) or 10 Gigs (GW)
globally
of electrical
power, out of the 70 GW or so of its current global
potential.
So
when the great druid from the Arctic
North
spoke on the
Indonesian equator
he commanded
the full attention of
the geothermal community. He
told them that
“Never before in the history of geothermal power have we
faced such a challenge, an epoch of fundamental
transformation”, with climate change and
environmentalism driving geothermal energy from being
good to being great.
He
reminded everyone that Iceland had been a developing
country inside Europe in the 1970s when I had worked
with him helping to
introduce
international relations at the University of Haskoli
Islands in Reykjavik.
President Grimsson
explained that geothermal energy in Iceland started with
initiatives by local communities as well as by national
government and with the support of Icelandic scientists,
engineers and experts, whilst keeping the price of
electricity fairly low for consumers and industry.
Icelandic geothermal energy evolved a development model
that was socially, technically and financially viable,
driven by community support and local know-how, based on
local financing and fabrication, providing heat and
power for people, the aluminium industry, greenhouses
and tourism. But all this had to be learned from the
1930’s until now.
And much of global geothermal development is still
obstructed by lack of adaptation of regulatory
frameworks with no easy viable financial model for
development by Independent Power Producers (IPPs) who
cannot easily take on such high front-up costs and risks
of exploratory drilling.
For this green and clean geothermal technology works
like oil and gas, takes longer, and costs more, with
higher risks, not like hydro, or biomass, wind or solar.
President Olafur Grimsson was right to say that change
was in the air, alongside the ash from
Eyjafjallajokull.
“A truly global transformation in the world in the next
5-15 years could see a fundamental breakthrough for the
global geothermal industry”.
And if there is a breakthrough for the global geothermal
industry to exponential growth and onto the world stage
as a big-time player then great big Indonesia has to
achieve the lions share, perhaps inspired by what little
Iceland has already done.
ISRAEL,
IRAN AND THE ATOM BOMB
President Obama said we should all give them up. Good
idea. But the Washington Nuclear Security Summit seemed
more worried about terrorists than the three nuclear
weapons rebels: North Korea, Israel and Iran. And more
upset with Iran for possibly wanting them, than with
North Korea and Israel for having them.
If the Israelis had political guts and “chutzpah” Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could have gone to
Washington and said “Yes, we have the bomb. These are
our fears about Iran. Yes, we will join this forum, help
tackle nuclear proliferation and help keep nuclear
weapons safe from terrorists.”
Instead Netanyahu speaks at Yad Vashem where he equates
the Iranian threat with the Holocaust. “The comparison
is mistaken and damaging”, said Haaretz. The fact that
the Israeli leadership won’t square up to the world in a
more mature way only highlights Israel´s growing
isolation.
The real underlying issue in the Washington summit was
about club membership. Who is in the club and who is
not?
Groucho Marx once said “I would never join any club that
would have me as a member”.
Every power holding nuclear weapons goes through the
stage of justifying building them and then concludes
other countries should not have them. But why should
they think that the reasons of North Korea, Israel or
Iran are any less valid from their point of view than
the reasons they themselves advanced in the first place?
Every country that develops nuclear weapons does so for
reasons of national interest. And no-one else has the
right to tell you what your national interest is.
And who gave anyone the right to tell the countries that
don’t have them not to build them? Did this message come
from God or America?
Why should Iran be hounded like this when they don’t
even have one bomb, yet Israel has reportedly between
100 and 200 nuclear weapons?
Does Israel really believe Iran would be mad enough to
build one bomb and drop it on Tel Aviv when Israel can
retaliate. Or is the real problem that Israel would have
to come to terms with a changing regional power balance?
No democratically elected Iranian government can give up
the theoretical right to build a bomb until there is a
deal with Israel. There is no Iranian “regime change”
without a big change in Israel too. Iran is a democracy,
albeit flawed, but with a proud and stubborn people and
they will not give up rights without benefits. The next
Iranian government will also probably maintain this
right until a deal is made.
The political Sword of Damoclese hangs over Israel and
no amount of delaying tactics nor ownership of the atom
bomb can change this. Nor can the United States or
Europe save Israel from eventually having to come to
terms with the Palestinians and surrounding Middle
Eastern states including Iran and Syria.
This is inevitable. It will happen. And not from a
position of growing strength for Israel and the West,
which cannot save Israel from its own bluster and
prevarication.
Israel throwing its weight about militarily would be
counter productive and not fool anybody. Politically the
balance is gradually changing, and not in favor of
Israel. There are no military solutions, only political
ones. The need for a different and far more pragmatic
approach is self-evident.
Both Israeli and PLO tactics have failed and cannot or
will not bring about a multilaterally recognized twin
state in the foreseeable future. The international
community are lost in the desert following Moses. The
promised land is nowhere in sight.
The Netanyahu government should exploit the opening it
has already created for itself to highlight economic
cooperation with Palestine, but for the Gaza Strip as
well as the West Bank, which means a deal with Hamas
too.
Israel should take the initiative and offer interim
bilateral long term arrangements separately with the
West Bank and Gaza on economic development and political
cooperation, in the context of wider long-term
agreements with neighboring states including on nuclear
cooperation. Use nuclear technology to make peace, not
war.
TOTALLY
USELESS MID-EAST PEACE PROCESS
Before we can have peace between Israel and Palestine we
need peace between President Barack Obama and Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Then we need peace between
President Mahmoud Abbas and the Gaza Strip. Then between
Fatah and Hamas. Maybe we are going about this the
wrong way.
Saeb Arakat, the leading Palestinian peace negotiator,
said recently to Ali Sawafta writing for Reuters “..it
appears that all the consultations that have happened
with the Israeli government and the American
administration and other states have reached a dead end.
I met Saeb Arakat in Jerusalem about twenty years ago
and he was already a leading peace negotiator. Maybe the
trick is going to be to raise generations of peace
negotiators so it runs in the family. Surely after ten
or twenty generations they would get really good at it?
Or maybe it’s the nature of the job that it is better to
travel hopefully than to arrive. But traveling
hopelessly is not such a good option. Its so hopeless.
In fact the Middle East peace process has become a joke.
As you get off the plane at Ben Gurion airport, Tel
Aviv, for another totally useless round of alleged
Middle East peace talks, there´s an old Jewish man on
the roof of the airport with a telescope looking all
around him.
So you shout up and you say “What the hell are you doing
up there?”. To which he replies “My job is to look for
peace”. To which you reply, anxious for his employment
prospects and fading prospects of real income, “Is it
successful? Does it make money?”. To which he replies,
“No, but it’s a very steady job”.
Mao Tse Tung thought up the Permanent Revolution, and
the Israelis have thought up the Permanent Peace
Process.
One way out of the current dilemma would be for states
to appoint Permanent High Representative to the peace
process and it could have a Permanent High Peace Council
with lots of sub-committees. In other words make the
Permanent Peace Process the central objective instead of
the means to something that will never happen anyway.
It could become a permanent job for a lot of people and
then it would be such good fun and so well paid for the
top people that nobody would want it to finish. However
the people on the bottom might not be so happy with this
top-down approach.
And there are wider and pressing reasons why something
may have to happen before the first ten generations of
permanent peace negotiators are fully honed and ready.
Shlomo Ben-Ami writing in the Jakarta Post (09.03.10)
quoted recent testimony from General David Petraeus,
Head of America´s Central Command responsible for
military affairs in the Middle East, to the effect that
the question of Palestine was the root cause of
instability in the region, and that “a perception of US
favoritism for Israel foments anti-American sentiments”.
My God how can some people be so unreasonable? After
everything that we´ve donot for them (or done to them?).
Its almost like some sort of Biblical curse is hanging
over us all. “Their generals will become sociologists,
seeking only milk and honey and an easy life, and they
will no longer sustain the land of Israel to keep the
Palestinians in bondage, as the Chinese will sell their
bonds”.
The interfering Chinese, instead of rebalancing their
currency, will start rebalancing the world. And if
Israel is presented with a weaker and more hostile
America, then how much time do they have before they
have to make real decisions?
Or drop the twin state, stop pretending, form an
economic confederation with political cooperation or
something like that, and get on with life. And get
Chinese investment to hold it all together. Now that
might be worth fighting for.
Safe Toys
The Member
States of the European Union have passed new toy
security measures that will prohibit poisonous
substances and will limit the use of heavy alloys. With
the regulation, chemical substances that can produce
carcinoma, by modifying the genetic information or
affecting fecundation, will be prohibited in children’s
toys and gadgets. Therefore, heavy and harmful minerals,
like lead or mercury, will not be used in toys from now
on.
These measures will prevent children from choking on
removable toy parts. Now, the tiny miniatures, including
those in oatmeal and cereal boxes, will always come in
separate packages. Toys that come in a food related
product, where the consumption of snacks is needed to
obtain the toy, will be prohibited.
The
manufacturers of children’s toys will have to conduct
value formulations on toy security and facilitate
transparent information to all manufactured goods,
including information about the synthetic substances
that were used in order to ease commissary market
surveillance.
Importer must also demonstrate that the manufacturers
have executed adequate toy control tests, as well as
preliminary testing. The requirements for toy
distributors will be strengthen as well.
The Member States of the European Union must allow
surveillance and government officials to execute
different and convenient examinations within the
external limits of the EU to consolidate the
illegalization of dangerous toys. Market surveillance
authorities will also be allowed to eliminate toys that
constitute a mortal danger.
The new measures will substitute the actual regulation.
Toy manufacturers have just two years, after the new
legislation having entered into force, to accommodate to
the new requirements. In the case for chemical
requirements, the time of conversion will be of four
years.
Libya's Gaddafi urges jihad
against Switzerland
BENGHAZI, Libya: Libyan leader Muammar
Gaddafi called on Thursday for a "jihad" or armed
struggle against Switzerland, saying it was an infidel
state that was destroying mosques. "Any Muslim in any
part of the world who works with Switzerland is an
apostate, is against (the Prophet) Mohammad, God and the
Koran," Gaddafi said during a meeting in the eastern
Libyan city of Benghazi to mark the Prophet's birthday.
"The masses of Muslims must go to all airports in the
Islamic world and prevent any Swiss plane landing, to
all harbours and prevent any Swiss ships docking,
inspect all shops and markets to stop any Swiss goods
being sold," Gaddafi said.
The Swiss Foreign Ministry said it had no comment on
Gaddafi's remarks. Libya's relations with Switzerland
broke down in 2008 when a son of Gaddafi was arrested in
a Geneva hotel and charged with abusing domestic
servants. He was released shortly afterwards and the
charges were dropped, but Libya cut oil supplies to
Switzerland, withdrew billions of dollars from Swiss
bank accounts and arrested two Swiss businessmen working
in the North African country. One has been released but
the other was forced this week to leave the Swiss
embassy in Tripoli where he had been sheltering and move
to a prison to serve a four-month sentence, apparently
avoiding a major confrontation.
Libya says the Geneva arrest and the case of the two
businessmen are not linked. "Let us fight against
Switzerland, Zionism and foreign aggression," said
Gaddafi, adding that "this is not terrorism", in
contrast with the work of al Qaeda which he called a
"kind of crime and a psychological disease". "There is a
big difference between terrorism and jihad which is a
right to armed struggle," he said.
Gaddafi accused Switzerland of being an "infidel,
obscene state which is destroying mosques", in reference
to a Swiss referendum verdict barring construction of
minarets. He called for a "jihad against it with all
means".
Gaddafi was speaking before leading prayers in a
Benghazi square in the presence of envoys from dozens of
Muslim countries. Swiss nationals voted 57.5 percent in
favour of the minaret ban in the Nov. 29 referendum
backed by the right-wing Swiss People's Party.
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