An Open Letter to Moderate Muslims written by Ali A Rizvi
A Pakistani-Canadian writer and activist, Ali A Rizvi, wrote this 'Open Letter' to all moderate Muslims in the Huffington Post. It is worth reading and highly illuminating. The link is given first, followed by the full text.
What happened to 'freedom of speech?
The chorus of condemnation of the ex-Minister for Post, Telecommunication and Information Technology, Mr Abdul Latif Siddiqui (ALS) for raising some pertinent questions regarding Hajj and its implications are raging not only in Bangladesh but also in all countries of the world where Bangladeshis live. On Sunday, 28 September afternoon local time, Abdul Latif Siddiqui was speaking as a guest speaker at a local Bangladeshi gathering at the Jackson Heights Party Centre, New York. ALS was in New York attending the UN General Assembly Meeting as a member of the delegate (184 member team from Bangladesh) with the Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina.
SAD STORY OF WEST BENGAL & ITS BENGALIS
That Bengalis are cowards is a common saying in India outside West Bengal. That West Bengal has only a few industries in comparison with many other States of India is a naked fact. In this background I faced two uncomfortable questions from my daughter.
The Aberration of Veiling Women
Recently there were two op-ed articles in the Bangladesh-based internet daily, bdnews24.com, on the issue of veiling women. Bangladesh is a Muslim-majority country, and veiling of Muslim women is a serious topic there, with increasing number of women there using veils.
Should Britain consider banning burqa and niqab?
The European Court of Human Rights at Strasbourg upheld the French government's ban on wearing burqa or niqab in its ruling on 1 July 2014. A French Law on religious headgear banned wearing burqa or niqab in public in 2010. The European Court ruling states that the law does not breach Muslim women's Human Rights and consequently there is no reason why the ban should not be upheld. This is a landmark ruling and it could prompt other European and Western countries to consider banning such attires without the risk of legal challenges.
India's Feudal Rapists (Op-ed from International New York Times, June 4 2014)
India's Feudal Rapists By AMANA FONTANELLA-KHANJUNE 4, 2014
WHY BANGLADESH SHOULD FACE THE CRITICISM?
I have written this article as a response to the one written by Mahwash Badar on 12.05.2014 in the blog of The Express Tribune of Pakistan. Badar's article was entitled "Jinnah made a mistake and I am ashamed of being Pakistani". The article has since been withdrawn. Mahwash Badar wrote "I find myself deeply wishing that Jinnah hadn't made this mistake- that he had thought about the future of Pakistan. He didn't think of obscurantist mindset that he had propelled forward, the countless millions that died at the hand of this vague agenda that fails to unite us as a nation"..... "We share more with our Indian brothers than our ancestral DNA. Our food, language, cloths, lifestyles are more like them than the Arabs we so badly want to mimic and ape".
A breath of fresh air
On my recent trip (Feb/March, 2014) to Bangladesh, I came across a moderately new university by the name Khwaja Yunus Ali University (KYAU), which gave me a renewed hope and confidence in the propriety of educational establishments and academic excellence in Bangladesh. But before I go into the details of this university, let me set out the prevailing situation in the higher education system in Bangladesh.
NAME GAME IN SAUDI ARABIA
The love birds across the world, in past half a millennium, have been vouching with "What's in a name? that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet;". But the name did matter then as it does now also.
A few characteristics of contemporary capitalism
The inherently chaotic, crisis-prone nature of capitalism was a key part of Marx's writings. He argued that the relentless drive for profits would lead companies to mechanize their workplaces, producing more and more goods while squeezing workers' wages until they could no longer purchase the products they created. Sure enough, modern historical events from the Great Depression to the dot-com bubble can be traced back to what Marx termed "fictitious capital" – financial instruments like stocks and credit-default swaps. We produce and produce until there is simply no one left to purchase our goods, no new markets, no new debts. The cycle is still playing out before our eyes: Broadly speaking, it is what made the housing market crash in 2008. Decades of deepening inequality reduced incomes, which led more and more people to take on debt. When there were no sub-prime borrows left to scheme, the whole facade fell apart, just as Marx knew it would.