New video by Geo Headlines - 05 PM - 28 February 2019 Geo News on YouTube

Geo Headlines - 05 PM - 28 February 2019
Geo Headlines - 05 PM - 28 February 2019 #GEONEWS is the Pakistan most watch and trusted news channel for authentic news and update. GEO informs and entertains while celebrating cultures and prompting dialogue in the spirit of live and let live. Geo News Programs: • Capital Talk - https://goo.gl/wJXaYA • Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath - https://goo.gl/hP1GcG • Aapas Ki Baat - https://goo.gl/WmVdns • Naya Pakistan - https://goo.gl/qqZxKs • Mere Mutabiq - https://goo.gl/cQwKWN • Khabarnaak – https://goo.gl/UUxVxn • Lekin - https://goo.gl/eV9CR2 • Jirga - https://goo.gl/ogxjwe • Report Card - https://goo.gl/z3pCKD • Geo Pakistan - https://goo.gl/o5Cda9 • Geo Headlines - https://goo.gl/3r8kfz • Geo Bulletins - https://goo.gl/owZcvc For More Videos Subscribe - https://www.youtube.com/geonews Visit our Website for More Latest Update - https://www.geo.tv/ Like Us on FB - https://ift.tt/2Du0lma... Follow Us on Twitter - https://twitter.com/geonews_english #GEOHEADLINES #GEOBULLETINS

View on YouTube

Read More

South Asia: on the brink again

You cannot prevent and prepare for war at the same time, counselled Einstein. But this is what India and Pakistan are doing right now. As I write this, a day after India claimed to strike deep inside Pakistani territory in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, a claim rejected by Islamabad, the neighbours are almost at war, claiming to have brought down each other’s fighter jets. All civilian air traffic over a number of airports in north India and in Pakistan, including flights between the two countries, have been grounded.The respective civilian and military leadership in both countries has been holding high-level meetings as it contemplates the dangerous escalation – unprecedented since the 1999 war over Kargil – and the uncharted path ahead.The day after the exultations in the myriad television studios and on social media over what the Modi government and many of its acolytes proclaimed as ‘Surgical Strikes 2.0’, the mood in India is sombre. The reality of the seriousness of the situation and what may unfold in the event of a full-scale conflagration is beginning to sink in. This only serves to illustrate how portentous brinkmanship by unscrupulous politicians, ahead of a critical election, can easily get out of hand and lead to potentially catastrophic consequences.Under siege from a combative opposition led by a resurgent Congress that has single-mindedly gone after the BJP government and its dreadful performance on virtually every front – from the demonetisation- and GST-hit economy to the unemployment crisis to the farmers’ distress. Added to the regime’s woes is the stink over the Rafale fighter jets deal, favouring India’s richest business family, very close to Modi.The continuing disclosures by India’s most respected newspapers like The Hindu, revealing how the Prime Minister’s Office sidestepped the defence ministry and the army to deal directly with the French government in the deal involving billions of rupees have only added credence to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s relentless refrain that ‘chaukidar chor hai’ (the self-anointed guard of India’s resources is himself a thief!)That the party is over for the BJP became starkly clear in the stunning defeats it sustained in the Hindi heartland states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.Responding swiftly to the shifting political landscape and groundswell of anger against the most media-savvy government in history, PM Modi has taken several strategic measures over the past month or two to turn the tables on the opposition, setting a whole new narrative ahead of the 2019 polls.The move to offer 10 percent reservations to all – for those not covered by quota on the basis of caste given to the Dalits and other backward communities – through an unthinkable constitutional amendment within 12 hours was clearly a masterstroke, leaving much of the opposition speechless and clueless. The opposition was forced to fall in line and vote for the government move on the 10 percent quota; no one could afford to strike a discordant note and face an angry electorate in elections that are less than month and a half away.That was clearly not enough for Modi, who cannot countenance losing an election at this stage of his career. He is determined to win somehow, no matter what the cost for the nation or for peace and stability in the region. He had to make it certain that come May 2019 it is him, and not his challenger Rahul Gandhi, who once again takes the oath of office at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Raisina Hill in Delhi.The unprecedented attack on the CRPF contingent killing 40 troops at Pulwama in Kashmir couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time. No wonder many on both sides of the border, including Raj Thackeray no less, suspect it to be a false flag aimed at helping desperate politicians win elections. As Prime Minister Imran Khan tried to reason, if anyone paid attention, why would Pakistan resort to such an attack at a time when it was all set to host an all-important friend and ally, namely Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman?Whoever orchestrated and staged the Pulwama attack, it was quickly hijacked and milked cleverly by those in power – a la Gujarat 2002 – whipping up hate and jingoistic sentiment in the country and leading to hundreds of attacks on Kashmiri students and merchants as well as Indian Muslims.Modi himself vowed to avenge Pulwama repeatedly at his electoral rallies across the country, talking of giving a “free hand” to the armed forces – as if his predecessors had ever restrained them – and setting the stage for an inevitable showdown with Pakistan.Whatever happened in Balakot – wherever that is, in Rajouri in Indian-administered Kashmir or in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – it has dangerously escalated the situation. The two nuclear-armed rivals with a long and bitter history of perpetual conflict, and worse, are locked in a hair-raising, eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation. The fate of 1.5 billion people of South Asia hangs by a thread. What would it take for India and Pakistan to step back from the brink in the interest of peace and stability in the region and wellbeing of their billion and half people and talk and resolve their issues like mature adults?What is reassuring is the fact that, despite the relentless warmongering and madness seen in television studios and at political rallies, there are enough sane minds on both sides who know only too well what a war between the South Asian giants could entail.Imran Khan, who has many friends and fans in India, has added several inches to his stature by reaching out to the neighbour at a time when the war-war sentiment on both sides is dangerously high. He has demonstrated immense courage and maturity by striking a conciliatory note and calling for better sense and restraint on both sides at a time like this.Indeed, if anyone has the potential to sincerely engage and do business with India, it’s this unconventional politician. India would do well to accept his hand of friendship extended with genuine sincerity. By refusing to engage the saner elements in Pakistan, the Modi government is only helping the extremists.Of course, the last thing a cash-strapped Pakistan wants right now is a debilitating and immensely costly war with India. But this is not going to be a picnic for India either. With a struggling economy and multiple other crises facing the country, India can pay an incalculable price if its adventurous rulers decide to take a shot at quick political glory.However, if the lessons of all the Indo-Pak wars, including the last showdown over Kargil, are any guide, all wars are easy to start but hard to end. Besides, if politicians think military adventures or even mere muscle-flexing could help them win elections, they are grievously mistaken. Let’s not forget that despite the success of Kargil and the spiel of ‘India Shining’ campaign, Vajpayee, a much wiser leader from Modi’s own party, lost the 2004 elections to Sonia Gandhi’s Congress.Winston Churchill, Britain’s legendary hero of the World War II against Hitler’s Germany, lost elections to Labour’s Atlee. So military adventures are no guarantee of electoral glory. When nuclear powers face off, there are no winners – only losers all around.Email: Aijaz.syed@hotmail.comTwitter: @AijazZakaThe writer is an independent writer and former editor.

from The News International - Opinion https://ift.tt/2HcSak1

Read More

Towards grassroots democracy

A rural woman narrated her story of transformation in an experience-sharing workshop organised by the EU funded Sindh Union Council and Community Economic Strengthening Support (SUCCESS) Program in Hyderabad, Sindh last week.Addressing an audience of rural development practitioners, civil society representatives, government officials, journalists and fellow women from rural areas, Mariya Partab articulated the vision of inclusive democracy for the poor. As an elected president of one of the Local Support Organizations (LSOs) formed through financial and technical assistance of one of the Rural Support Programs (RSPs) in the poverty-stricken rural areas of Sindh, Marya Partab was able to move out of poverty. It was not only her story but that of 548,000 rural women who have been able to transform their lives through the SUCCESS programme implemented by RSPs.LSOs have been formed at the union council (UC) level as apex institutions of village organisations managed, governed and led by poor women who were hitherto excluded from the mainstream national political and economic life. One day before this experience-sharing workshop, hundreds of rural women of different LSOs gathered at Haji Mir Bahr village of Tando Allayar whose intrepidity of public speeches was so inspiring that even the most educated, articulate and urbane would envy this eloquence.Once suppressed and unrepresented, poor women have now become the architects of a simmering movement of change in rural Sindh. Most of us would not believe in such stories unless we see them ourselves. As they say, development is a messy process and its impact is incremental with small steps towards a larger goal of transformation. The impact of investment in rural development is gradually unfolding in Sindh – despite all the political, economic and structural issues of poverty and underdevelopment. It is all anecdotal and experiential, reflected through strong voices of poor rural women whose mobility was once restricted to male-dominated domestic spaces.This is the time to invest more in rural development to build an inclusive and prosperous Pakistan. One must learn from the enduring struggle of Shoaib Sultan Khan and his team of rural development whose conception of rural transformation has worked well across South Asia. Look at the human development indicators of Bangladesh, where successive governments have invested in rural development to transform their nation into a fast-growing country. The secret of this impressive journey of development in Bangladesh lies in investment in promoting and protecting the rural economy and helping build those enabling institutions of the poor.The current government’s rhetoric of investing in human development in Pakistan can best be demonstrated through investing in those village organisations created through RSPs which will otherwise wither away in the course of time. This will also strengthen local government institutions and will usher in an era of grassroots democracy in Pakistan.There is an emerging dimension to grassroots democracy which remains unattended in the mainstream discourse of politics and development. Democracy as a process to enhance downward social accountability is what constitutes its real strength and it works as an incremental force to diffuse the foci of power. However, downward social accountability is not a mechanical process to be triggered through the ballot box but rather more of an institutional arrangement.Let us explore first what downward social accountability entails. All human relationships are governed through institutions mediated by an unwritten principle of reciprocity. From family to professional networks and from corporate entities to the state, all are socially and historically constructed institutions governed by the principle of reciprocity. Faced with the changed realities, these institutions keep evolving and reshaping over time to redefine human relationships.Having said that, all human relationships which are mediated through institutions are not always established on an even keel or on a principle of equality. Institutions are socially constructed mechanisms to help diffuse the conflict caused by human will to absolute freedom and to help articulate collective interest for the larger cause of social protection and socioeconomic necessity.Despite their inherent feature of mediating social relationships, not all institutions are democratic in nature. As institutions grow, they become more bureaucratic and are governed by standard rules and regulations which are formulated to exert effective control and to reduce individual discretion. In our modern societies, institutions are driven by the economic and political interests of different social classes living in a nation-state. Since modern societies are complex and heterogeneous in nature, they need a multitude of institutions to represent the interests of different segments of society.Institutions in a politically and economically divided society are also based on the interests of diverse groups and they cannot be seen as a cementing force for all of society. Therefore, in our modern society one can find diverse networks of social, professional and political groups – each vying for the protection of their professional, economic and political interests. Social groups that are organised can easily protect their collective interests as compared to those groups which have not created their own organisation. For a democracy to work effectively as a system of downward social accountability, it is vital that the people at the bottom of the socioeconomic pyramid must have their own organisation to influence policymaking in the modern nation-state.The state is one of the most complex modern institutions which has evolved into a supra political entity; most of us are made to believe that the modern nation-state is a neutral and overarching political structure above society. But this is not true because the state is an institution to protect the collective interest of an organised ruling elite through legislation if left to its own devices. Legislation may provide legitimacy to the action of those who are well organised and have resources to control the state.All institutions, including the state, are not neutral entities. Rather, they are driven by the collective interests of the socioeconomic class they represent in society. The state has monopoly over the use of violence against disruption of the status quo – and in doing so it tends to protect the interests of those whose stakes are well served in a given political and economic system.How to make the state accountable to those who are at the bottom of socioeconomic pyramid then? The only viable answer to this question is that, unless the poor have their own institutions – run, governed and led by the poor themselves – there would be no downward accountability in favour of the poor in a political system. The institutions of the poor thus created are key to help articulate the collective political and economic interests of the poor. The downward accountability of a government to its people will effectively be used to promote and protect the grassroots’ democracy.Are there any viable ways to promote such grassroots democracy in a developing country like Pakistan, where the political will to strengthen democracy has always been shaky? The answer is yes. Apart from a generic and elitist political debate on democracy, we must now focus on investing in those institutions which have the potential to build a critical mass of socially responsible and economically active citizens who could contribute to nation-building.We are fortunate to have a strong network of rural development programmes in Pakistan with immense experience to help the government achieve its goal of building a strong local government structure. The government must commit resources to help RSPs scale up social mobilisation and institutional development programmes at the village and UC levels to form inclusive and democratic organisations across the rural areas of the country.The writer is a social development and policy adviser, and a freelance columnist based in Islamabad.Email: ahnihal@yahoo.comTwitter: @AmirHussain76

from The News International - Opinion https://ift.tt/2tIpnM1

Read More

Give peace a chance

The escalation between Pakistan and India has reached a dangerous level. Tensions are running high between the nuclear-armed neighbours. As I write these lines, Pakistan has closed its airspace for air traffic. India too has closed 10 airports in North India and Indian-occupied Kashmir. Heavy shelling has taking place at the LOC and the Working Boundary.First, the Indian jets violated Pakistani airspace and dropped a few bombs at an isolated place near Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. This provocative act and aggression by India further escalated the situation. In response, Pakistan Air Force on Wednesday struck at non-military targets across the Line of Control and shot down two Indian air force jets, according to the Foreign Office and the DG ISPR.And if India decides to retaliate and strike back then that might lead to an unthinkable war between these two nuclear-armed neighbours. The situation is so tense, volatile and vulnerable that it could lead us to the unthinkable. Peace-loving people on both sides should come forward against this madness, and voices for peace and love should be louder than the beats of war drums. China, Russia, the US and the UN, and the rest of the international community, should intervene to stop any escalation.The fate of 1.5 billion people is at stake. This madness must be stopped. Sanity should prevail. War will not solve anything because war itself is a problem. Meaningful dialogue, peaceful engagement and talks between the two countries can normalise the situation. So sit and talk to each other.We have a choice here. Either go to war and engage in death and destruction or stop the war hysteria and initiate a peace process to solve all longstanding issues and problems. Going to war would destroy infrastructure, cause destruction to each other economically and militarily, and to the property, human lives and infrastructure that both countries build in the last 71 years. Even after the 1999 limited Kargil war and year-long military standoff in 2001-2, both sides eventually initiated peace dialogue and talks..Forget about nuclear weapons, just imagine a full-scale conventional war between the two military forces. A conventional war will cause significant damage and destruction. Both armies are well armed with modern war machines and lethal weapons. But the fact is that a war will result in a stalemate after causing unimaginable damage and destruction on both sides.The Modi government has created this war-like situation and hysteria to take political advantage in the upcoming general elections in India. The media is also playing its role to beat the drums of war. Indian mainstream media is busy instigating a war by promoting war hysteria, war-mongering, and jingoism. A big section of the Indian media is acting as the mouthpiece of the BJP and Modi. There are some on the Pakistani side that are also behaving like their Indian counterparts but, in general, Pakistani media has shown restraint so far – which could change in the coming days.Corporate media will sell whatever is profitable, be it hate, war-mongering, jingoism, government propaganda or even all-out war. But Indian corporate media has shown its ugliest face. It is easy to start a war but difficult to finish it. History shows that whenever there is war; it is the people who ultimately suffer.As Dwight D Eisenhower put it in these words “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its labourers, the genius of its scientists, and the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.”Give peace a chance before it’s too late. Give peace a chance before starting a war that will bring destruction and further miseries to millions of people on both sides of border. Give peace a chance to end poverty, unemployment, starvation, hunger, and exploitation.The tremendous suffering that results from war is unimaginable. Innocent civilians are maimed or killed while soldiers face irreparable physical, psychological and emotional damage.War brings humiliation, poverty, hunger, misery, suffering, devastation, starvation, and destruction. War not only destroys crops, factories, land, schools, hospitals, homes but also destroys society, human values, culture, and families. No one can ever fully recover from the different forms of destruction war causes. It tends to leave scars, some more painful than others.War is another name for destruction. It brings with it endless suffering. When we look at the countries affected by war, we see the tears and tragedies of innocent victims.The writer is a freelance journalist.

from The News International - Opinion https://ift.tt/2H7wkhG

Read More

Prioritising sanitation

Access to safe drinking water and proper sanitation facilities is a promise successive governments have been making and something that political parties have stated in their election manifestos.Unfortunately, progress on this has been far from satisfactory. While different governments, both in the centre and in the provinces, have launched ambitious programmes in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Sector (WASH) sector in the past, these have somehow fallen short of expectations.Technical and administrative glitches related to implementation, lack of capacity and coordination on the part of the concerned government departments, disruption in flow of required development funds or their diversion to schemes in other sectors etc are the main reasons why such plans have failed to deliver. The fact that these programmes were designed with short-term objectives in mind, and an absence of there being a long-term policy to provide guiding principles, has also rendered them ineffective.With every change of government, the initiatives taken by the outgoing setup are rolled backed or altered to suit the agenda of the newcomers. Quite understandably, they (the newcomers) have not been willing to take ownership of the initiatives taken by their predecessors. They do not want them to get credit if these initiatives start paying dividends and so they discontinue release of government funds required to keep such projects functional.In the case of Punjab and Sindh, even ruling parties enjoying multiple tenures have failed to make a difference in the WASH sector, despite claiming it to be a high-priority area. One can recall how billions of rupees were pumped into the Saaf Pani Project of the PML-N government in Punjab but it could not reach the execution stage. Similarly, the unsatisfactory performance of the Sindh government led to the formation of a judicial commission by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The commission is supposed to make the provincial government take immediate steps for provision of safe drinking water to the people of the province, with a special emphasis on underdeveloped areas like Thar.Against this backdrop, there is an encouraging development in Punjab that needs to be replicated in other provinces. The Punjab Assembly has passed resolutions on the provision of safe drinking water to the people of Punjab and ensuring toilet facilities within five years. The point worth noticing is that the resolution, presented by a ruling PTI MPA Nadeem Qureshi and seven others from both the treasury and the opposition benches, demands of the sitting government to judiciously spend the whole Rs21 billion earmarked for this purpose during the current fiscal year. In the past, most of the funds allocated for the WASH sector would remain under-utilised or get diverted to other politically-motivated projects that had greater visibility.Similarly, the resolution urging the Punjab government to make the province free of open defecation within five years highlights an area that has remained ignored to a great extent. The house has given the PTI government the target as well as the deadline. The MPAs who presented the resolution urged the government to make it binding on all the concerned departments to utilise the allocated funds in the best possible way, and strive to meet the targets.One may question what is so special about these resolutions. The answer is that this is for the first time that even members of the ruling party have bound their government in the province not to divert WASH-sector funds to any other, show tangible progress in this field and make the whole population start using toilets within the next five years. Another plus point is that the sitting provincial cabinet has approved the Punjab Water Policy, which will provide the guiding principles once it is adopted. This means the government will hardly have any excuse and will be answerable to the House. The Sindh province has taken the lead by formulating its water policy much before Punjab but Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan are lagging behind.The point here is that, despite all this, the desired results cannot be achieved till the time the people realise the importance of WASH facilities and demand these from the government instead of roads, flyovers, mass transit projects etc. It is a common observation that voters, especially those in rural areas, hardly ask politicians to announce sanitation schemes in their areas. That is why streets and fields there are always inundated in sewerage water.Lack of awareness about the harm of poor WASH facilities is one big reason why people are not so demanding in this respect. It is imperative they stand up now and seek government intervention in this field without any delay. As per estimates, around 53,000 children die every year from diarrhoea and the economic cost of poor WASH services that cause such deaths is around 3.94 percent of Pakistan’s GDP. The contamination of sources of drinking water with sewerage water also leads to deadly diseases and casualties.Statistics on open defecation are also quite alarming. The UN points out that 22 million Pakistanis relieve themselves in the open. In Punjab, 17 percent population does not have access to toilet facilities. The situation is even worse in Rajanpur, Muzaffargarh and Dera Ghazi Khan where the rate of uncovered population is as high as 40 percent when it comes to access to proper toilet facilities.Public pressure is necessary also because lack of toilet facilities is known to lead to sexual harassment of women going to open fields for toilet purposes. The dropout ratio among school-going girls is also high, especially in southern Punjab, because their schools lack proper toilet facilities. The Punjab government’s departments, with the support of INGOs like WaterAid UK, have done pilot projects in southern Punjab and developed low-cost toilet facilities that even poor households can afford. Now it is up to the government to scale up such initiatives and persuade the uncovered population to spend on toilet facilities. They will realise the benefits are far more than the cost.The writer is a staffer at The News.Email: shahzada.irfan@gmail.com

from The News International - Opinion https://ift.tt/2tKjDRT

Read More

Say no to war

When Nimrod tried to burn Hazrat Ibrahim (AS) in a horrific fire, a little sparrow was carrying water in its beak with a purpose to quench the great the fire. A crow asked the poor bird why it was doing something so useless, since the fire was so huge and its beak was so small.The sparrow said: “I know, I am not so strong to fight the fire, but I am playing my due role to extinguish the fire.”This ancient story echoed in my mind due to my recent visit to India. At the time of my appointment as convener of the recently-formed Pakistan-India Parliamentary Friendship Group in the National Assembly, I vowed to bring the people of both countries closer. That is why, when I was invited by the Indian government to attend the holy Kumbh festival, I decided to avail the opportunity to spread the message of peace.It is an ugly tradition in the neighbouring country to promote Pakistan bashing, especially during election campaigns. Unfortunately, this year the Pulwama attack also occurred just a few months before the general elections. As a result, the Indian media started non-stop coverage to blame Pakistan for the unfortunate incident.Due to the ongoing tough situation, I was advised by my many well-wishers to postpone the India tour. However, after consultation, I decided to participate in the Kumbh Mela, held at Allahabad. The festival is the world’s largest religious. It is a peaceful event, which also has deep philosophical and spiritual significance for the Hindu community across the globe.It is believed that anyone who takes a holy dip in the sacred water of rivers Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati gets rid of all sins and attains eternal peace. This year, 182 participants, belonging to 181 countries, were invited to attend with the purpose of promoting interfaith harmony.I told the Indian media that Pakistan is a peace-loving country, and being the frontline state against war on terror, it has offered huge sacrifices in order to achieve peace and prosperity. We must strengthen people-to-people contacts, and resolve long-standing conflicts in a peaceful manner. My presence also resulted in empowering the local peace communities in India. Similarly, I warned the international community that possible war between two nuclear powers can destroy ninety percent of the world population. I succeeded in convincing many that the solutionto each and every conflict is dialogue, not war.I also reminded my Indian guests about the poetry of their own poet, Sahir Ludhianvi. After the Indo-Pak war 1965, the renowned poet highlighted the miseries of war in his poems. I am glad that my message of peace had secured due coverage by Indian, Pakistani and foreign media. On behalf of the Pakistani nation, I condemned the Pulwama attack, and also offered condolences with the families of the deceased.Later, I was accompanied by former Indian army chief V K Singh and other international delegates of the Kumbh Mela to New Delhi in a special plane. On the second day, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on to greet us warmly. On the occasion, I once again urged the importance of maintaining regional peace and harmony. I also had an exclusive one-on-one meeting with Indian Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj and other high-level officials.I made it clear to the Indian leadership that no Pakistani institution was behind the Pulwama attack and that restoration of peace is in the best interest of the people of Pakistan and India. No doubt, there are on both sides those that are trying to sabotage the peace process but the door of dialogue must never be closed. It is a clear message from Pakistan to India that if war is imposed then the entire Pakistani nation will safeguard its national dignity and honour.However, just after three days, India invaded Pakistani territory. We must salute our brave armed forces that are quite capable to defend our motherland Pakistan. India must understand that now the entire Pakistani nation is united against Indian aggression. Still I am hopeful that peace-loving segments across the borders will join hands to restore regional peace. It is a good sign that internet users from both countries are running a campaign using the hashtag #SayNotoWar on social media.The writer is a member of the National Assembly and patron-in-chief of the Pakistan Hindu Council.Twitter: @RVankwani

from The News International - Opinion https://ift.tt/2H6qbCl

Read More

Unfair attacks

Our moral convictions and faith values demand that we speak out and challenge injustice anywhere. We therefore strongly criticize the injustices of the Israeli occupation and discriminatory laws and policies against Palestinians.Rep Omar’s critiques of pro-Israel lobby efforts are especially necessary given ongoing efforts to silence criticism of Israel. Five days before the storm of attacks on Rep Omar, the Senate passed a bill, S 1, which would provide federal protection to states that pass laws penalizing Americans who participate in boycotts aimed at Israel and its illegal settlements in occupied territories. The ACLU and others have condemned anti-free speech, anti-BDS bills like this. But unfortunately, 77 Senators voted to support it. This bill was backed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the largest pro-Israel lobby group in the US and the one explicitly mentioned by Rep Omar in her tweet.Bills like S 1 – and the allegations of anti-Semitism targeting those who have spoken out against the bill or who otherwise support the BDS movement – are particularly dangerous, since they risk dividing progressive movements that should otherwise be allies in seeking justice for all.While we fully expect some on the political right to target progressives in this way, it is discouraging to see similar attacks come from those on the left – in the case of S 1, from Democratic politicians and mainstream Jewish organizations (even as some internally recognize how such efforts hurt Jews, too). When those on the left join the chorus of criticism, they play into the divide-and-conquer strategy that those in power have used again and again to undermine the struggle for justice and equity for all.Further, by focusing on progressive figures such as Omar, Tlaib, Sarsour, and others who speak out against the Israeli government and their lobbying allies in the US, we risk ignoring and simultaneously emboldening those who actually hate Jews and pose a physical threat to our communities. We need to accept in our American political discourse that anti-Zionism does not equate to anti-Semitism. When we fail to do this and instead conflate the two, the American Jewish community becomes less safe.We must stand with those who speak truth to power, and we cannot allow progressive communities to be divided. Nor can we accept the concept of ‘progressive except Palestine’ anymore. Instead, it is long past “time to break the silence on Palestine,” as Michelle Alexander (author of The New Jim Crow) wrote last month. Because it is only when we recognize that our various forms of struggle are connected and we advocate for the liberation of all that we will truly be free.From our own experiences, we know that things can – and must – be different. In our work, we help Muslims and Jews (and others) come together to solve the challenges in our cities, while also supporting those among us who are most vulnerable, including immigrants, refugees, people of color, and more. We educate people to reduce Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, and all forms of hate. And we know first-hand that while discourse around Israel and Palestine is fraught and emotional, we must engage deeply and honestly if we truly believe in justice for all.If we are to be successful in building a just and equitable society, one that lives up to our American ideals, we must not forget where the threat really lies. If we attack those who are our allies, we will never achieve freedom and liberation for all.This article has been excerpted from: ‘Progressives Must Stop Weaponizing Charges of Anti-Semitism Against Critics of Israel’.Courtesy: Commondreams.org

from The News International - Opinion https://ift.tt/2tJ3GLW

Read More