Category Archives: Government Oppression

Govt will return land to Kashmiri Pandits

New Delhi, April 6 (UNI) The government is capable of returning the land forcibly taken away from Kashmiri Pandits, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai told the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. "Those who left the Kashmir Valley due to oppression... whose land has been forcibly taken away, the government, under the leadership of Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi, is quite capable of ensuring that the land is returned to them." He said the properties of 610 applicants have so far been returned in Jammu and Kashmir. "The land of all those whose complaints are found to be correct will be returned one by one," Rai said. The Minister said the government has taken several steps to improve road connectivity in Jammu and Kashmir. He said that the government has fast tracked all the under-construction hydel projects and concrete steps have been taken to complete the projects in a time-bound manner. UNI ASU MR

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Govt will return land to Kashmiri Pandits - United News of India

War is not only about the killing of innocent people; it also involves big business. Russia's invasion of Ukraine illustrates the knock-on effects of war with the unprecedented social, cultural, political and sporting isolation of the Russian people.

The political establishment in Moscow headed by President Vladimir Putin and his cronies, including the oligarchs, is under attack. The Russian oligarchs have for many years stolen wealth which is then enjoyed in Europe and America. So why is action only being taken now?

I grew up in apartheid South Africa and was influenced by the antiracist activism of Hassan Howa, who coined the phrase "There can be no normal sports in an abnormal society". I would paraphrase Howa by saying that there can be no normal sport in an abnormal world. Big money rules in all sports, it seems, and politics is no longer a stranger to sport, as many sports' governing bodies once insisted it should be.

Top tennis player Daniil Medvedev is a Russian citizen. He has been pressured by the British government and establishment to denounce Putin following the invasion of Ukraine if he wants to play at Wimbledon this year. Medvedev has said repeatedly that he wants to "promote peace" but this is not enough for Boris Johnson and his cronies. Former MP George Galloway called this a crime, as no other players of any sport have been asked to condemn their own governments. He pointed out that this was not demanded of American and British sportsmen and women whose governments, in violation of international law, invaded Iraq in 2003 and "killed millions of Iraqis".

This is an example of the double standards and hypocrisy which has been exposed by events in Ukraine. Of course there has been warm-hearted support from ordinary people for the victims of aggression in Ukraine. At an official and government level, though, the hypocrisy is brazen.

Staying with sport, look at the European governing body for football, UEFA, and the English Premier League and Spain's La Liga, both of which have global TV coverage. English football clubs played and wore Ukrainian colours on one weekend, and yet players and fans elsewhere have been censured by UEFA and the world governing body FIFA when they have displayed support for the Palestinian victims of Israeli aggression and occupation.

The Real Madrid v Barcelona match carried the slogan "Stop Invasion", and yet neither team had any qualms about playing in Saudi Arabia in January, earning huge amounts while turning a blind eye to the killing of hundreds of thousands of Yemeni citizens by the Saudi-led coalition. Amnesty International called out this collaboration between the Spanish Football Association and the regime in Riyadh as "whitewashing" the image of the Saudi authorities, but UEFA, FIFA and other sporting bodies, as well as political leaders, were silent. Now they have found their voice, apparently because Ukrainians are more deserving victims of war than other people. And they have acted swiftly.

OPINION: Sport and politics do mix, as FIFA's hypocrisy demonstrates

Within record time of the invasion on 24 February, Russian athletes were expelled from almost all sports tournaments. Even judoka Putin was stripped of his honorary status by the sport's governing body. The International Tennis Federation (ITF) released a statement on 1 March announcing "the immediate suspension of the Russian Tennis Federation (RTF)". Here in South Africa, Russia was banned from the FIH Hockey Women's Junior World Cup taking place now in Potchefstroom.

Other sports followed suit, including archery, badminton, baseball, taekwondo, triathlon and volleyball. FIFA stopped Russia's Gazprom sponsorship of the UEFA Champions League. Europeans, meanwhile, continue to obtain gas and oil from Russia. Russian footballers were not so lucky when they were unable to play against Poland in a FIFA World Cup qualifying playoff match, killing any hopes of getting to the finals in Qatar later this year.

It is a clich that sport and media businesses are joined at the hip, but in the modern era one cannot survive without the other. Sports are marketing tools for all kinds of products, with media advertising and sponsorship dominating. The general convention prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine was for sport to stay away from politics and causes that would damage the possibility of making money. Major media outlets linked to sport have, though, been showing their pro-Ukraine bias openly. Even the right of resistance has been espoused for Ukrainians, while the same media condemn legitimate Palestinian resistance as "terrorism".

OPINION: Russia's war in Ukraine even exposes football's hypocrisy

After South Africa's SAfm sports news carried an item about a former Ukrainian tennis player being trained to shoot "I can hit the head three out of five times from 25 metres in practice," boasted Alexandr Dolgopolov I called in and asked the presenter if this right to resist, which I support, and publicity was only afforded to Ukrainians. Would a similar item about a Palestinian athlete being trained to resist Israeli occupation a right enshrined in international law be broadcast, or would the station pass on such a news item, fearing a backlash from a well-known lobby group?

In a similar vein, CNN carried the impassioned statement by Ukrainian tennis star Elina Svitolina, who told the world on air that, "All prize money I win at the Monterrey Open will go to the Ukrainian army."

Generally speaking, dissenting voices have been struggling to be heard. Although Turkey, the Muslim nation that is a NATO member, is supporting Ukrainian victims of war, former international footballer Aykut Demir, the captain and centre back of BB Erzurumspor, which competes in the top tier of Turkish football, declined to wear a shirt denouncing the Russian invasion. His reason was simple: the lack of attention paid to the struggles in the Middle East, in particular the war in Yemen, where a UN report published last year said that almost 380,000 children, women and men had been killed; millions have been displaced.

Russian oligarchs are also linked to major sports. In 2019, Forbes reported that Roman Abramovich's net worth was approximately $12.9 billion. He is said to be linked to Vladimir Putin. He bought English football club Chelsea in 2003, since when it has won 18 trophies, including two Champions League titles, five Premier League championships, and most recently the 2022 Club World Cup.

The British government has sanctioned Abramovich and frozen his ownership of Chelsea FC, but he still has his supporters. Israel's chief Ashkenazi Rabbi David Lau and the Director Sheba Medical Centre, Yitshak Kreiss, have urged the US not to impose sanctions on the oligarch because he is a major donor to Zionist causes. According to David Klion, the editor of Jewish Currents, this amounts to over half a billion dollars given to various Jewish organisations and causes.

Abramovich has Israeli citizenship and is said to be the occupation state's second richest man. Klion ended his article headlined "Our oligarch" by quoting a 2020 BBC Arabic investigation, which revealed that, "Abramovich has used front companies registered in the British Virgin Islands to donate more than $100 million to a right-wing Israeli organisation called the Ir David Foundation, commonly known as Elad." This organisation has worked from the 1980s to move Jewish settlers into occupied East Jerusalem. It also controls "an archaeological park and major tourist site called City of David, which it has leveraged in its efforts to 'Judaise' the area, including by seizing Palestinian homes in the surrounding neighbourhood of Silwan and digging under some to make them uninhabitable." Elad, apparently, did not respond to Klion's request for a comment.

Such is the calibre of a major figure in the English Premier League, but no sanctions have ever been imposed by either the League or the British government for Abramovich's involvement in the funding of illegal Israeli settlement projects. Only for being Russian and a crony of Vladimir Putin.

The House of Saud, meanwhile, went about its own bloody business while all of this has been going on, executing 81 people in a single day on 12 March. The Saudi Public Investment Fund, remember, was given the go ahead by the English Premier League last year to buy an 80 per cent stake in Newcastle United Football Club. No action has been taken by UEFA against the team or players for the latest mass execution by the Saudi government. According to one newspaper, "[Newcastle coach] Eddie Howe has revealed he is 'well aware' of the mass executions taking place in Saudi Arabia." That's it.

So when UEFA removed Spartak Moscow from the Europa League in response to Russian aggression and moved the final of the Champions League away from St Petersburg, the governing body was not playing ball; this was hypocritical politics.

None of this is new, though. The former captain of the Egyptian national football team, Mohamed Aboutrika, was given a yellow card in 2009 for displaying a t-shirt with "Sympathise with Gaza" written in Arabic and English when he scored a goal. The referee was abiding by the rules of the game, which prohibit religious and political slogans during matches, although this was a call for human solidarity. Aboutrika was duly sanctioned by FIFA.

In contrast, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and FIFA did nothing to Ghanian footballer John Paintsil for waving the Israeli flag after a goal scored by a teammate against Czech Republic in the 2006 World Cup. This was blatant propaganda, as Israel did not qualify for the tournament.

That was then, this is now. Solidarity in sport is acceptable, it seems, as long as the "right" people and cause are being supported.

"Nobody should ever accept any killings in the world, any oppression," said Egypt's Ali Amr Farag recently. "But we've never been allowed to speak about politics in sports, but all of a sudden now it's allowed. So, now that we're allowed, I hope that people also look at the oppression everywhere in the world."

"I mean, the Palestinians have been going through that for the past 74 years and, well, I guess because it doesn't fit the narrative of the media of the west, we couldn't talk about it. But now that we can talk about Ukraine, we can talk about Palestinians. So please keep that in mind."

The current world squash champion's comment was made after a match, and his words have been expunged from the official records. He was backing the wrong side in a world dominated by hypocrisy. Nevertheless, he joins hundreds of top sportsmen and women who have stood up against injustice when it was neither fashionable nor easy. There can be no normal sport in an abnormal world.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.

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There can be no normal sport in an abnormal world - Middle East Monitor

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In the weeks since Russia invaded Ukraine, I've been in contact with my immediate family a lot more often. Beyond exchanging updates on our family members scattered throughout the country, I've also listened to more stories about their former life in Ukraine during the Soviet Union.

While I've heard about my parents' and grandparents' lives in the USSR before incomprehensible tales of censorship and corruption it's become more important than ever for me to really know my family history, especially in the context of understanding the brutality that Ukraine is facing from Russia right now.

It's why I finally decided to pick up a book I've always had on my reading list: "The Gulag Archipelago."

Written by Nobel Prize-winning Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, "The Gulag Archipelago" is a nonfiction account of his experience being imprisoned within the Soviet prison camp system, weaving in stories of other prisoners and Russian political history starting from the Bolshevik revolution in 1917.

Originally a three-book series (I read the abridged version), "The Gulag Archipelago" was considered groundbreaking when it was first published in France in 1973, shedding light on a host of atrocities that thrived in secrecy and darkness. According to "The New Yorker" journalist David Remnick, "it is impossible to name a book that had a greater effect on the political and moral consciousness of the late 20th century" and it was named the best nonfiction book of the 20th century by TIME magazine in 1999.

With Soviet history referenced so often in the news right now, reading this book has given me a greater context for understanding the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as my family's past.

In "The Gulag Archipelago," Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who was arrested in 1945 for criticizing Stalin in private letters to a friend, describes his 8-year sentence in various Gulag work camps. He also shares countless anecdotes of other prisoners, the technical ways the Gulag system worked, and the Stalin-era show trials. While this wasn't the only written account of Gulag life, it was the first to go into this level of detail.

As you'll quickly learn from reading this book, Soviet labor camps were meant to be secretive. Many arrests happened in the middle of the night to avoid witnesses or protests, popular forms of torture left no physical marks, and prisoners were threatened into pretending they were well-fed and taken care of in the presence of Western journalists.

As a result, it's hard to know the full scope of these crimes to this day, historians can't confirm how many millions were killed in the Gulag alone. While I wouldn't put this in the same category as a traditional history book (some figures are disputed), it feels like a multi-dimensional account of how these oppressive tactics worked, whether people were dragged to prison camps or terrified they'd be next.

Beyond how thorough Solzhenitsyn is in describing Gulag life and broader Soviet society, he's also just a phenomenal writer along with "The Gulag Archipelago," his experiences inspired several works of fiction as well, including "In the First Circle" and "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich."

Aside from including many shocking anecdotes, Solzhenitsyn is also sarcastic and acerbic throughout, highlighting the endless irony of a government claiming to liberate people by jailing and murdering millions instead. (A concept that's not entirely unfamiliar in today's landscape.)

What I find most powerful is how Solzhenitsyn's writing style directly rebels against the oppressive society it was born in: As people were killed en masse and made to disappear, he mentions specific names, quotes, and stories. In describing a system that was calculating and mercilessly indifferent, he is impassioned from beginning to end.

Throughout the book, I saw disturbing parallels to what is happening today, from how political prisoners are treated in Russia to the ruthlessness of Russia's attacks on Ukraine. It adds another layer to the anguish Ukrainians and vocally anti-war Russians are feeling right now that this is essentially repeated history.

Solzhenitsyn also criticizes complacency in both Russia and the West, arguing that "we didn't love freedom enough" to have let the Gulag system exist. He laments that those responsible for the executions and imprisonments of millions of people never faced any consequences and continued to live freely in Russia, and he also critiques the West for not doing more to help according to him, people living under the USSR during WWII hoped they would be saved from Soviet labor camps the same way civilians were liberated from the Nazis.

On a macro scale, many of the points Solzhenitsyn makes can apply to oppression and totalitarianism in general. One such universally applicable quote, "Unlimited power in the hands of limited people always leads to cruelty," was made in reference to Gulag guards being wholly disinterested in any kind of personal growth.

The most prominent theme of the book, though, is how anyone can be brainwashed into committing unforgivable crimes if they unquestioningly follow an ideology that "The line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being."

Particularly in today's context, his words hold a sense of urgency.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's "The Gulag Archipelago" not only provides a crucial first-person perspective but also important takeaways for future generations to learn from.

Like many political figures, Solzhenitsyn held some controversial views, especially pertaining to Ukraine's sovereignty, before his death in 2008. I vehemently disagree with him on this, but if there's one concept this book instilled in me, it's the importance of seeing people as people and not walking collections of perfectly aligned or immutable views.

Beyond that, Solzhenitsyn's words have given me a place for my anger to rest. As a Ukrainian-American, I was drawn to this book right now precisely because it isn't diplomatic or polite it's a sharp rebuke of inaction, of continuing to prioritize comfort over justice.

To me, the most chilling part of "The Gulag Archipelago" isn't the laundry list of tortures inflicted by the Russian government or the unimaginable volume of casualties it produced: It's that it's happening again.

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'The Gulag Archipelago' review: a parallel to the war in Ukraine - Business Insider

After the Enforcement Directorate (ED) provisionally attached assets worth Rs 11.15 crore of three persons, including Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Rauts wife Varsha, Raut on Tuesday said that the attached properties have been bought with his hard-earned money and that neither he nor Sena will bow down.

Leaders of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition stood behind Raut, terming the ED action as political vendetta.

With such actions, neither Sanjay Raut nor Shiv Sena will bow down. A few months ago, men from BJP came to my house in Delhi seeking help in overthrowing the Maharashtra government and threatened me saying that I will have to face a lot of difficulties. Since I refused to cooperate with them, action is being taken against me, Raut told mediapersons.

Alleging that the investigative machinery is working under political pressure, he added, I have bought the flat and some land parcels with our hard-earned money. Even if one rupee has come into our account through money laundering and we have bought a property with it, we are ready to donate all properties to the BJP. Raut said he was not afraid of anyone and would never kneel before anyone. It is a coincidence that the ED action come after the Maharashtra government announced setting up of a SIT to probe my complaint against the ED officials.

He added that he had received calls from NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, expressing concern.

Tourism Minister and Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray termed the ED action as vindictive politics. It is clear that action is being taken for political purposes. Whatever is happening in the country is neither democracy nor politics but it is the politics of oppression, he told mediapersons.

Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil added, There is definitely political vendetta The action was taken without issuing any notice to him (Raut) and conducting any probe. Attempts are being made at all levels to destabilise the MVA government, but the government is stable and there is no threat to it. The MVA government will complete its five-year term.

Irrigation Minister and NCP leader Jayant Patil said the ED action was an attempt to pressurise Raut and to discredit the government and people associated with it. Two days ago, the Supreme Court also questioned the actions of the ED. Therefore, it is well known that investigative agencies are being misused. Attempts are being made to discredit the government and those associated with it. The central investigative agencies are being used to create suspicion about it.

State Congress president Nana Patole alleged that central agencies are being widely misused to silence the voice of the Opposition. The action against Raut is part of the same pressure tactic but MVA is not afraid of such actions. We will face it together, he said.

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Properties bought with hard-earned money, wont bow down: Sanjay Raut - The Indian Express

The Lady Justice statue stands atop the Final Court of Appeal in Hong Kong after a ceremony to mark the opening of the legal year on Jan. 24, 2022 in Hong Kong. Anthony Kwan/Getty Images hide caption

The Lady Justice statue stands atop the Final Court of Appeal in Hong Kong after a ceremony to mark the opening of the legal year on Jan. 24, 2022 in Hong Kong.

LONDON Britain said Wednesday that it is withdrawing its judges from Hong Kong's top court because keeping them there would legitimize oppression in the former British colony.

British judges have sat on the court since Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997. The British government's move underscores the Asian financial hub's growing isolation as the ruling Chinese Communist Party works to assert its control and silence independent voices.

While the U.K. had judges serving on the Court of Final Appeal as part of efforts to safeguard the rule of law in the city, the British government said it was "no longer tenable" because of increasingly oppressive laws enacted by China. The two senior British judges on the court submitted their resignations with immediate effect Wednesday.

"The courts in Hong Kong continue to be internationally respected for their commitment to the rule of law," U.K. Supreme Court President Robert Reed said after his resignation from the Hong Kong court. "Nevertheless, I have concluded, in agreement with the government, that the judges of the Supreme Court cannot continue to sit in Hong Kong without appearing to endorse an administration which has departed from values of political freedom, and freedom of expression."

Fourteen non-permanent judges remain at the Hong Kong court, including 10 from other common law jurisdictions such as Australia and Canada.

China has intensified its crackdown on Hong Kong's semi-autonomous political and legal institutions in recent years. Those efforts include passage of a sweeping national security law in 2020 and changes to the electoral system that have effectively ended political opposition in the territory.

The security law, which outlaws secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign collusion, has been used to arrest more than 100 pro-democracy figures, and many others have fled abroad. Since the law's introduction, Hong Kong police have raided the offices of pro-democracy media, shutting them down and arresting journalists.

Lawmakers, students and the organizers of candlelit memorials marking Communist Party's deadly 1989 crackdown on a pro-democracy movement have also been targeted.

Some Western governments and the United Nations say the security law is eroding the autonomy promised when the city was transferred back to China under the "one country, two systems" principle.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the two U.K. judges had "concluded that the constraints of the national security law make it impossible for them to continue to serve in the way that they would want."

"I appreciate and I understand their decision," he said.

In announcing the move, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said there had been "a systematic erosion of liberty and democracy in Hong Kong."

"The situation has reached a tipping point where it is no longer tenable for British judges to sit on Hong Kong's leading court, and would risk legitimizing oppression," she said.

The decision to pull British judges out after many years in Hong Kong was welcomed by British lawmakers. A senior Conservative Party member of Parliament, Tom Tugendhat, said British judges should not help empower "a legal system that is now being used to lock up Hongkongers without due process."

Conservative lawmaker Iain Duncan Smith, a longtime critic of the government in Beijing, said "the government has done the right thing here, and not a minute too soon."

"What Ukraine teaches us is that you simply cannot appease totalitarian states or make excuses for their behavior, which is exactly what the presence of our judges (was) doing in Hong Kong,'' Duncan Smith said. "They were lending legitimacy to a regime hell-bent on undermining our way of life."

The Hong Kong Bar Association called the decision "a matter of deep regret." It appealed to the Court of Final Appeal's remaining overseas judges to stay and serve the city, and help uphold its judicial independence.

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Britain withdraws its judges from Hong Kong's top court - NPR

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THE GOVERNMENT PARTIES have voted against a private members bill calling for a referendum on Irelands neutrality to be held.

People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett said his party are seeking a referendum on the insertion of neutrality into the Constitution.

There were 67 votes for the proposal and 53 against, with no abstentions.

Many people believe that Irelands neutrality is protected in the Constitution because there is a long understanding and overwhelming support for the idea that Ireland should be neutral but, in fact, that neutrality is not protected in the Constitution, and we believe it is seriously under attack, he told the Dil earlier today, ahead of the vote.

He said the Government and the wider European political establishment are seeking to exploit the crisis in Ukraine to justify moving towards greater EU militarisation, the establishment of a European army, and closer alignment with NATO.

The Green Party just had the decisive vote on whether we have a referendum to insert neutrality into the Constitution.

They used it to vote against their own policy which Eamon Ryan has voted for three times before in the Dil, supporting the militarists of FFFG.

Shame pic.twitter.com/LKgcS879qj

A betrayal

Irelands neutrality and the struggle for an independent Irish republic are one and the same, they always have been. To move away from Irelands neutrality is not just some sort of interesting tactical or strategic choice. It is in fact a betrayal of the essential struggle to establish an independent republic, he said.

Neutrality does not mean indifference. Neutrality means standing against warmongers and empires and standing with the oppressed. If we throw that away, we will throw away what is the identity that was the struggle for the Irish Republic, and we will do so at our peril. We should not do that and I hope the House will support the Bill, he told the Dil.

TD Paul Murphy hit out at Fine Gaels position on neutrality over the years, telling the Dl that in 2003, Fine Gael proposed a policy document called Beyond Neutrality.

Murphy claims this was a move towards participation in a common EU defence policy and abandoning the so-called triple-lock mechanism.

Let us not kid ourselves that this latest push to fully undermine and get rid of this political straitjacket and to undermine neutrality is a mere pragmatic response to the war in Ukraine, he said.

Murphy said that NATO is being rebranded as some sort of peace force as if it was simply the neutral teacher on the playground stopping the bullies.

Tell that to the ordinary people of Afghanistan whose country was invaded and occupied by NATO for years. Who gave NATO or the US the right to consider themselves the world police? he asked.

The Green Party position

Murphy also questioned the Green Party on its stance, stating that the party leader, Eamon Ryan, has voted to enshrine neutrality in the Constitution on three previous occasions in 2003, 2016 and 2018.

The question of neutrality is very clearly in the Green Party manifesto, he pointed out.

Pictured are protestors, including Sinn Fein's defence spokesperson John Brady, at a demonstration organised by People Before Profit-Solidarity outside Leinster House this evening, calling for Ireland to remain neutral in the Russian Ukraine conflict. Source: Leah Farrell

In response, Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney told the Dil that Irelands neutrality has never stopped us participating in world events nor, self-evidently, from being affected by them.

It does not mean that we are inactive in situations where we see flagrant breaches of the UN charter and clear violations of international law, including international humanitarian law, said the minister.

The Bill would likely to curtail Irelands efforts to contribute to international peace and security, rather than in any way enhance it, said Coveney.

He said the Bill also purports to provide constitutional guarantees that the State shall not allow its territory to be used by other states to transport war material or personnel to third countries for the purpose of war or other armed conflict.

Everyone in this House already knows that foreign state and military aircraft that are permitted to land at Irish airports, including Shannon Airport, must comply with strict conditions. These include routine stipulations that the aircraft must be unarmed, carry no arms, ammunition or explosives, and must not engage in intelligence gathering, said Coveney.

Pull the other one

Yeah, right, replied People Before Profits Mick Barry, before telling the minister to pull the other one.

Labours Brendan Howlin said Ireland should remain neutral and not be aligned to any military pact. However, he said Ireland is enthusiastic to use its vast experience in peacekeeping, peacemaking, humanitarian efforts and in soft international power.

He said Ireland is in a unique position where it is seen internationally as honest brokers that are not involved in armed oppression but there to bring peace, diplomacy and relief to those who are oppressed.

The Government has stated that it is opposing the Bill, calling it unnecessary.

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Irelands policy of military neutrality as practised by successive Governments means that we do not participate in military or common or mutual defence arrangements.

There is no need to insert a Constitutional provision, which could constrain the Governments scope to respond flexibly and effectively in urgent circumstances.

Any discussion of Irelands approach to security and defence should take place in an open and evidence-based way, and at an appropriate time, said a Government spokesperson.

Inserting provisions into the Constitution would close that conversation off.

The provisions seem designed to also preclude contributing to even medical supplies, food rations or protective equipment via the European Peace Facility, to partners such as the African Union or Ukraine.

Wemay well need to have a fresh conversation about our approach to security and defence. This Bill obstructs rather than facilitates such a conversation, which should beopen and evidence-based way, and at an appropriate time, it said.

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Government parties vote against bill calling for a referendum on Ireland's neutrality - TheJournal.ie

Salih Hudayar talks to the Taipei Times about the war in Ukraine, its impact on the ongoing genocide in his homeland and how Taiwan can work with his government in exile

By Mark Buckton / Contributing reporter

When Salih Hudayar was born in the small city of Artux, East Turkestan, in May, 1993, the land of his birth had been under Chinese control for 44 years.

A Uighur by birth, Hudayar was just seven years old when he and his family moved to the US in 2000, arriving as political refugees before settling in Oklahoma, where he went to school and eventually joined the US Reserve Officer Training Corps.

Always aware of his background and family heritage, however, in 2017 Hudayar established the East Turkestan National Awakening Movement, and within 12 months was meeting members of the US Congress to promote awareness of Chinas oppression of Uighur people.

Photo courtesy of Salih Hudayar

GENOCIDE IN XINJIANG

His reference to a genocide being carried out against his people in 2018 is now a commonly accepted term for Chinas treatment of millions of predominantly Muslim Uighurs and other Turkic peoples across East Turkestan an area Beijing refers to as Xinjiang.

In late 2019, as an increasingly prominent figure in the push for East Turkestan independence, Hudayar was elected prime minister of his nations government-in-exile, and early last year, the term genocide was echoed by former US secretary of state and recent visitor to Taiwan Mike Pompeo, who said I have determined that the Peoples Republic of China (PRC), under the direction and control of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), has committed genocide against the predominantly Muslim Uighurs and other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang.

Photo courtesy of Salih Hudayar

He added that the world is witnessing the systematic attempt to destroy Uighurs by the Chinese party-state.

A few days ago Prime Minister Hudayar, one of the worlds best known faces of the Uighur cause, spoke with the Taipei Times.

Hudayar last year said that world leaders have largely ignored the genocide in East Turkestan, choosing profits over humanity. Have conditions improved? Not much has changed, he says.

Photo courtesy of Salih Hudayar

The Trump Administration formally recognized Chinas atrocities as genocide and this has carried on into the Biden Administration with nations in Europe including the UK, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Belgium and France formally recognizing the same. However, not much has been done beyond that, Hudayar says.

In recent weeks Russian aggression against Ukraine has taken attention away from the Chinese genocide against the Uighurs.

The US and Western governments, he says, are almost belittling themselves, begging China to step in and apply pressure on Russia.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping () on March 18 told US President Joe Biden that the US must oppose Taiwan independence and not interfere in issues such as Tibet and Xinjiang.

This has had a negative impact on our struggle because the international community no longer seems to be willing to apply pressure on China because of the conflict in Ukraine, Hudayar says.

But, he adds, this isnt about race or religion, a common claim made by the international media. Instead, the free world being more impacted by the actions Russia will take in Ukraine due to geographical location, whereas in East Turkestan, Taiwan and Tibet, were thousands of miles away from Europe or the US.

DOUBLE STANDARD

The world has completely or largely forgotten, given the fact that it is now eight years since China initiated its campaign of genocide and mass internment in East Turkestan, yet you dont see governments doing anything significant to punish China, or to uphold their obligations under the UN Genocide Convention, whereas with the Russian invasion of Ukraine you see this double standard, Hudayar says.

Immediately you have Western governments applying sanctions, hundreds of western companies leaving Russia and governments urging the International Criminal Court (ICC) and International Court of Justice (ICJ) to investigate Russia although no such moves have been made to support the people of East Turkestan, who launched their own ICC case in mid-2020, he adds.

No government has formally stepped up to urge the ICC to investigate Chinese officials for genocide, he says, adding that the international community in this regard are remaining silent.

Hudayar also commented on Taiwans approach to the Uighur and Turkic peoples cause, with Taipei increasingly vocal in its condemnation of the Russian invasion in recent weeks, despite being largely silent on the genocide in East Turkestan.

There have been people in the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and other party members who have spoken out against Chinas genocide, but on an official level the government has been relatively quiet, Hudayar says.

He also noted the large number of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supporters in Taiwan who still officially view East Turkestan, Tibet and Mongolia as part of China.

We fully support Taiwanese independence and we support the people of Taiwan, he says. We believe that [Taiwan is] already an independent and free nation. This is something they need to formally step up, and declare, whether there are protests from China or not.

However, we have the same common enemy, he adds. Its crucial that we work together in as many ways as we can to cooperate and give each other mutual recognition and support in any way so we can to stand up against the PRC and the threat of the CCP.

Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.

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The double standard on Russia and Xinjiang -

By Margaret Stafford Associated Press

LIBERTY, Mo. (AP) A man who runs a little-known, low-budget radio station in suburban Kansas City says he is standing up for free speech and alternative viewpoints when he airs Russian state-sponsored programming in the midst of the Ukrainian war.

Radio Sputnik, funded by the Russian government, pays broadcast companies in the U.S. to air its programs. Only two do so: One is Peter Schartels company in Liberty, and one is in Washington, D.C.

Schartel started airing the Russian programming in January 2020, but criticism intensified after Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Schartel said people accuse him and his wife of being traitors to the U.S. and occasionally issue threats. Some critics say he is promoting propaganda and misinformation, but Schartel maintains most people who call to complain havent listened to the program.

Some will talk to me, but others will still call me a piece of whatever, he said. What I am thankful for is we are still living in a country where they can call me up. Even if they arent thinking about free speech theyre exercising that right.

Radio Sputnik is produced by the U.S.-based branch of Rossiya Segodnya, a media group operated by the Russian government. Its content prompted the National Association of Broadcasters to issue an unusual statement on March 1 calling on broadcasters to stop carrying state-sponsored programming with ties to Russia or its agents.

The statement from NAB President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt said the organization is a fierce defender of free speech but that given Russias unprovoked attack on Ukraine, we believe that our nation must stand fully united against misinformation and for freedom and democracy across the globe.

During one recent broadcast of The Critical Hour that aired on Schartels KCXL, the hosts and their guests echoed false and unsupported claims about Ukraines government. They repeated Russian state media lies about the Russian militarys attacks on civilian targets and its destruction of entire neighborhoods, as well as Russian President Vladimir Putins baseless claim that his enemies in Ukraine are Nazis.

Schartel acknowledged that he initially accepted the Radio Sputnik contract because he was struggling to keep KCXL afloat. The station operates out of a dilapidated, cluttered building. He said he stopped taking a salary months ago, though he does nearly all the work.

Schartels Alpine Broadcasting Corp. is paid $5,000 a month to air Radio Sputnik in two three-hour blocks each day, according to a U.S. Justice Department Foreign Agent Registration Act filing in December 2021.

KCXLs other programming includes shows that are heavily religious, offer opinions across the political spectrum and promote conspiracy theories. One program, TruNews, has been criticized by the Anti-Defamation League for spreading antisemitic, Islamaphobic and anti-LGBTQ messages.

Schartel said he airs programs that are not commercially viable and dont depend on advertising, which he contends influences news reporting. He said he is promoting free speech by providing a platform for people who otherwise arent heard.

Roy Gutterman, director of the Tully Center for Free Speech at Syracuse University, said all radio station owners in the U.S. have a right to air whatever content they want.

If this station thinks its going to make a mark in Missouri by playing Radio Sputnik, they have the right to do so, Gutterman said.

The Federal Communications Commission, which regulates licensing of radio and television broadcasts, does not censor content unless it intentionally endangers public safety or is found to be obscene, indecent or profane.

Radio Sputnik listeners hear discussions not only about Russia but also current issues in the U.S. and other countries. The theme throughout the broadcast is that U.S. policies intentionally damage the U.S. and other countries while benefiting other corrupt governments, the rich and big business.

The deal that brought Radio Sputnik to the small Missouri station was brokered by RM Broadcasting, based in Florida, which is run by Anthony Ferolito. He signed a similar deal in 2017 with Way Broadcasting, which agreed to lease WZHF-AMs airtime in Washington, D.C., to RM Broadcasting.

Because of his contracts with Rossiya Segodnya, the Justice Department required Ferolito to register as a foreign government agent in 2018, citing a 1938 law for people lobbying for or acting on behalf of a foreign government. Ferolito lost a lawsuit over the registration.

Ferolito did not return messages from The Associated Press, but RM Broadcasting said in a statement that the company stands with Ukraine and all victims of oppression and aggression. It said RM Broadcasting is dedicated to freedom of speech.

The public is explicitly notified throughout the broadcast day of the source of the material, so that people can make an informed decision on whether to listen or turn the dial and that freedom of choice is the ultimate underpinning of our republic, the statement said.

Schartel doesnt think the uproar over the Radio Sputnik broadcasts will last.

Russian state-controlled RT America, the television counterpart to Radio Sputnik, closed its U.S. branch this month and laid off most of its staff. Schartel said that likely means his contract wont be renewed when it ends in December.

See more here:

Area radio station airing Russian state programming The Examiner - Examiner

Wearing crisp, olive-green robes and a towering, white head covering embroidered with the somber face of Jesus, Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, addressed the faithful from an ornate 10,000-seat cathedral in Moscow.

For weeks, religious leaders around the globe had been begging the bearded patriarch to speak out against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But in weekly sermons that air live on Russian TV, Kirill, 75, has done just the opposite, painting the war as an apocalyptic battle against evil forces that have sought to destroy the God-given unity of Holy Russia.

The day before Russians marched on Ukraine, he congratulated Russian soldiers as defenders of the fatherland and said they cannot have any doubt that they have chosen a very correct path in their lives. Less than two weeks after the invasion began, he described the conflict as having metaphysical significance and warned his flock that the price of admission to the happy world of Western consumption and freedom was as simple as it was terrible: to agree to hold gay pride parades.

We are talking about something different and much more important than politics, he said. We are talking about human salvation.

Last week, the patriarch said it was Gods truth that the people of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus share a common spiritual and national heritage and should be united as one people a direct echo of Russian President Vladimir Putins defense of the war.

Someone must pray for our united people, Kirill said, holding a gilded staff symbolizing his role as spiritual shepherd of the more than 90 million members of his church. Someone must defend Gods truth that we are really one people.

The same day, Ukrainian authorities accused Russian forces of bombing an art school where more than 400 people had sought shelter.

In a country where more than 71% of people identify as Russian Orthodox, Kirill is a powerful religious and political figure who has consistently refused to acknowledge the destruction, dislocation and growing death toll of the war in his frequent public statements.

He lives in a parallel universe, said UC Riverside professor Georg Michels, who specializes in Russian and Ukrainian history. He describes the current situation in Ukraine as Russians defending against a foreign invasion, not as Ukrainians fighting for democracy, and their lives, against a Russian autocracy.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, congratulates Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill on the 11th anniversary of his enthronement in Moscow in February 2020.

(Alexei Druzhinin / Sputnik)

Experts say Kirill is a complex figure in Russian politics: smart, charismatic and an ambitious operator. He rose in the ranks of the Russian Orthodox Church during the Soviet period when the communist government viewed religion as an archaic relic of oppression and was the first patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church to meet with a Catholic pope in nearly 1,000 years. He is also rumored to have been associated with the KGB, the former Soviet Unions main security apparatus.

To be fair, to become a church leader in the Soviet Union and get anything done at the time, you had to be affiliated with the KGB, Michels said.

Kirill set off a scandal a few years after becoming patriarch when he was photographed wearing a $30,000 watch that was subsequently photoshopped out of an official image put out by the church. (A reflection of the watch remains visible in the picture.)

He and Putin have long been close allies. Kirill once described the first 12 years of Putins rule as a miracle of God. Putin has said that Kirills father, who worked as a priest in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), baptized him in secret in 1952. The two men frequently appear in public together: at Easter services, visiting monasteries and traveling to pilgrimage sites.

In recent years, Putin has increasingly highlighted his own religiosity: wearing a silver cross around his neck, kissing icons and famously immersing himself in the freezing waters of a lake in front of television cameras. The icy dip was a brazen display of manhood and an Orthodox Christian ritual to mark the Feast of the Epiphany.

But whether this represents a true spiritual awakening by Putin, or political theater, is hard to say.

He sees religion as helping to give Russians a proud identity, said John P. Burgess, professor of theology at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and author of Holy Rus: The Rebirth of Orthodoxy in the New Russia. When Putin makes pilgrimages to the major Orthodox Russian sites and encourages restoring them, hes saying, This is something we can be proud of; this is beautiful and historic.

Putin and Kirill also share a nationalist ideology that, in their eyes, justifies the war in Ukraine.

As they see it, the origins of Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church date to 988. Thats when Vladimir I, the ruler of Kievan Rus, which included parts of current-day Ukraine and Russia, converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

The way this narrative unfolds, there is an organic wholeness between the relation of the Russian and Ukrainian people, and if Ukrainians see it differently, it is only because they have been led astray and corrupted by the West, said Victoria Smolkin, a scholar of communism and the Cold War at Wesleyan University.

Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church takes part in a religious service in Bucharest, Romania, in October 2017.

(Vadim Ghirda / Associated Press)

From this point of view, Russia is not attacking a sovereign nation-state; its restoring the natural relationship between two countries.

What they are after is salvation, Smolkin said. Not just of the Ukrainians, but of themselves. They see it as their mission to establish unity.

The schism between the two countries is not just geopolitical; it has played out in the church as well. For more than 300 years, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was officially tied to the Russian Orthodox Church and overseen by the Moscow patriarch, but that is no longer the case. In 2019, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was authorized by the patriarch of Constantinople to break away from Moscow and become autonomous. With 78% of Ukrainians identifying as Orthodox as of 2015, this reduced Kirills flock by one-third.

That was a big and significant event, Smolkin said.

Kirill refused to accept that Orthodox Christians in Ukraine were behind the split and, in a sermon March 13, blamed the schism on political pressure from outside forces.

It must be remembered that we all belong to the One Holy Catholic Apostolic Church the same church as in Moscow and in Kyiv, he said. And God grant that we all preserve unity, regardless of any external pressures and any efforts alien to the church, to destroy the spiritual unity of our peoples.

For decades, Russian church leaders have cooperated with the government in order to advance the interests of the church, said Stephen Batalden, professor emeritus of history at Arizona State University. But now, this tacit quid quo pro is being tested in new ways as the Russian state engages in what the U.S. has declared to be war crimes committed by Putin against Ukraine.

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Kirill has failed disastrously to defend the integrity of the Russian Orthodox Church, and that has all kinds of ramifications for the splintering of the church, Batalden said.

In the days after the invasion, some Orthodox parishes in Ukraine stopped commemorating the Moscow patriarch in their prayers during public worship, in open defiance of his authority. And some Russian Orthodox churches in other countries are denouncing the Moscow patriarchate or breaking ties altogether.

The more churches and religious connections the Moscow patriarchate loses, the weaker its claims in the so-called Russian world, Smolkin said.

However, it is unclear how much agency Kirill has to denounce the war. Nearly 300 Russian Orthodox priests in Russia signed an open letter appealing for peace, but thats a small fraction of the 35,000 priests there.

I think there is every indication that Kirill and Putin have overlapping interests, but its also hard to imagine Kirill taking a different position than the Kremlin, Smolkin said.

The United States and other Western nations have also seen ties between political and religious leaders. During Francisco Francos rule in Spain, the Roman Catholic Church was granted legal status and other financial benefits while colluding with the fascist dictatorship. The evangelist Billy Graham was a friend and advisor to a procession of U.S. presidents. When President Trump was in office, evangelical leaders laid hands on him to pray. But experts say the relationship between Putin and Kirill is different.

In U.S. politics, religious institutions are profoundly important, but they are autonomous actors. They can lobby and negotiate in their own right, Smolkin said. It is hard to see the Russian Orthodox Church as a fully autonomous actor independent of the Russian state.

And yet, scholars say, the U.S. is not immune from the religious and political ideologies that Putin and Kirill are using to justify the war. Both men portray themselves as defenders of traditional Christian values against the excesses of an immoral and decadent West symbolized by gay pride parades, same-sex marriage and feminism, Batalden said.

Right-wing politicians in America that are manipulating these same issues for their advantage are singing from the same choir as Vladimir Putin and Kirill, he said.

See the rest here:

A spiritual defense of the war? Putin's patriarch is trying - Los Angeles Times

Dr. S. Anandhi, a professor at the Madras Institute of Development Studies in India, discussed class division for the lowest class, the Dalits and womens rights in a talk titled, The Pandemic of Castes. The event was held on March 25, 2022. Photo courtesy of sociology.uconn.edu

Without the enforcement of laws, there isnt change. The Indian caste system, a system where people are ranked based on their social class, was outlawed in 1950, but the hierarchy still exists culturally in India. S. Anandhi, a professor at the Madras Institute of Development Studies in India, spoke about class division for the lowest class, the Dalits and womens rights in a talk titled, The Pandemic of Castes.

All of this tells us very clearly that caste and womens rights practices are something that has always been the backbone of maturing and sustaining the caste system in India, and unless endogamy is broken, it is impossible to break the caste system, Anandhi said.

The caste system was developed from the Manusmriti, an ancient Hindu law book that served as the basis of Hindu law in India, Anandhi explained. The Manusmriti determined that there was a rule of hierarchy, also known as Varna. She added that there are four levels of Varna.

Brahmins are highly educated thinkers; for example, teachers, scholars and priests. Kshatriyas, who are known to be leaders, mostly made of warriors and rulers, are next in the hierarchy. Next, there are the Vaisyas, or merchants, landowners and skilled workers. Following the Vaisyas are the Shudras, who are often servants and farmers. Lastly, in the lowest caste are the Dalits or untouchables. They are often forced to do menial tasks like cleaning and sweeping.

The mobility of castes is very very important, while the caste system may be 2,000 years old and we may say that there have been various ways that there have been intermixing, caste groups have always taken place before the implementation of Manusmriti as a legal text. So only when Manusmriti comes in that there has been a forbidding of intermixing of caste.

Anandhi pointed out that Dalits faced gruesome violence throughout the late 20th century. Examples include the Karamchedu Massacre in 1985 and the 1996 Bathani Tola Massacre where women and children Dalits were killed. Several other massacres against the Dalits also occurred during the 1990s. According to Anandhi, though people tried to demand accountability, culprits did not get punished. From 2020 to 2021, violence against Dalits increased by 9.4%.

During the pandemic, Dalit children have been denied education not because of the very fact they could not access school, but because no state was willing to make provisions for accessing technology, or in the case of even providing the mid-day meal, Anandhi said.

On a daily basis, four Dalits die due to suffocation from cleaning septic tanks. One Dalit is assaulted every hour and many others are subject to other violence, according to Anandhi. Despite the 2013 Rehabilitation Act which banned hiring people to remove unsafe human waste, the law has not been effective and employers were not punished.

Therefore, we say that caste is pervasive in some sense, Anandhi said. Which is not only among Hindu, its not just an ideology practiced by the Hinduism per se. The division of Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, even Buddhists does exist but the level at which they come into conflict is something that is probably not studied very well. Except for Tamil Nadu where one could see that the converted do have caste tensions, Christians have caste tensions, Sikhs have caste tensions.

Specifically, Dalit women are often denied public wealth and resources. The disregard for Dalit womens rights contributes to the caste patriarchy, according to Anandhi. She added that the caste system plays a crucial factor in gender oppression in India.

This one particular movement I want to talk about is the Beijing international conference. It is during this international conference that Dalit women in large numbers, right at the international forum, very clearly said that our interests do not coincide with upper-caste womens interests in contesting inequality because our experiences in inequality are embedded in caste relations.

According to Anandhi, during the 1970s, Dalit womens reproductive rights were limited because the government wanted to control the population of the lower caste. However, they were seen as valuable when people found out that they can be used to create a market for surrogacy pregnancies.

As of now, education for Dalit has meant improving the social status, not economic status, Anandhi, said. Many of them have been able to contest the caste hierarchy in the rural area with some education. The younger generation of Dalits asserts themselves against caste oppression through means of education. Education is the source to contest social status.

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The reinforcement of gender norms in the caste system - UConn Daily Campus