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I'm Muslim and I'm sorry for everything

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muslim-apologies

by Shehzad Ghias Shaikh

After the tragic Charlie Hebdo shootings there has been a call by some people to make all Muslims all over the world apologise for the incident. I completely agree with the sentiment. It is the only way to root out terrorism for once and for all.

Nothing could make all the victims of terrorist attacks all over the world happier than watching every single Muslim in the world say “sorry”. To really drive the point home, we can even send them greeting cards with our heartfelt apologies.

I am sure the world would reciprocate in kind. We can start an apology trend. Once every single Muslim in the world apologises for Charlie Hebdo then we can move on to making every single Christian in the world apologise for Hitler. Hitler’s moustache is for the Christians what an unkempt beard is for the Muslims. I have no idea why mass murderers are so keen on making fashion statements too.

The British can fly all Brits to all their previous colonies and make them all apologise to every single member of those countries. It might be much harder for the Americans to do the same considering the amount of things they have to apologise for. They can make a world tour out of it: Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Vietnam, Palestine, Cuba, Mexico, Spain, England. At this stage it is easier to just name the countries America does not need to apologise for.

“Sorry” should be the first word we should teach all future Muslim kids. We should roam around wearing shirts which say “sorry”, better yet maybe even permanently tattoo “sorry” on our foreheads.

I personally feel responsible for every single person of my faith who does anything. While I am at it, I want to say sorry to every person who got his slippers stolen at the masjid but if and only if you can confirm that the person who stole your slipper was a Muslim. He must have been shouting “Allah o Akbar” while stealing them for you to be sure.

I now fully comprehend why our justice system has such a huge bottleneck of cases. If every single Muslim is responsible for every single thing done by any Muslim, I do not blame the judges for all the delays. The entire Muslim population of the world has to be included as defendants in every case.

I hope Pakistan’s military courts are much more effective. I hope they can follow the efficient model of North Korea, who use the “three generations of punishment” rule. It is the only way to ensure the collective responsibility for one’s actions. Clearly if a person commits a crime, then people who brought that person into the world must be guilty too. And any person a criminal brings to the world is obviously a criminal too.

Pakistan believes in having family businesses: an engineer’s son is an engineer, a politician’s son is a politician ergo a terrorist’s son must be a terrorist. Why should the unborn not suffer just because they do not exist yet?

Every single Muslim that is yet to be born should be brought up being taught to apologise for everything. Why just limit it to Charlie Hebdo? Muslims should apologise for all the ills caused by Muslims to the world.

To make life easier for all parents, I am drafting a generic apology that they can make their kids memorise.

“My name is (Insert Islamically acceptable name here) and I was born into a Muslim family so that makes me guilty of all the things Muslims have ever done. Before you put me in Guantanamo Bay, I just want to say I am deeply sorry.

I would like to apologise for inventing astronomy. The guilt of Al-Sufi naming all the visible stars in 10th century and Abu-Mahmud Khojandi calculating the tilt of the Earth’s axis in 994 AD is something that I still carry with me. It was because if their crimes against humanity that these terrorists are able to accurately calculate the dates for their attacks.

I would like to apologise for Ibn al-Haytham’s contribution to optical science. Had he not discovered all human beings actually see, how would these terrorists be able to see who they were killing? Clearly these Muslim terrorist organisations have been active since the 10th century. Had Al-Haytham not figured out that light travels in straight lines, we would not have the cameras of today that terrorists use to promote their organizations. Al-Haytham was basically the first member of ISIS.

I would like to apologise for Al-Jazari’s water-raising machines, his use of cranks to push water up helped agriculture and in turn fed all these terrorists: While I am on the subject, sorry about creating hospitals too. They are just a needless obstacle in the way of killing terrorists. I have no idea what 10th century Muslim civilisations were thinking providing free 24-hour universal health care to people. At least I am happy they were self-conscious of this insanity and also created the first hospitals for the mentally ill in the world.

The use of the Al Jazari’s ideas lead to the creation of the bicycle giving the world the horrible form of terrorism called the Tour de France. If watching grown men cycling across a country wearing yellow jerseys is not torture, I do not know what is.

I would like to apologise for the invention of windmills, guitars, the hookah and coffee.

I would like to apologise for the role of Muhammad Ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi in the development of algebra and algorithms. If he was alive, I am sure he would be selected for a random spot check in an airport relying on his work for their daily calculations.

I would like to apologise for Al-Jahiz’s theory of the “struggle for existence”. I am sorry for even mentioning it. I realise it is completely contrary to the Science and Islam binary narrative perpetuated freely by networks such as Fox News. How dare I mention that the theory of natural selection actually has roots in a 9th century book of animals called Kitab al-Hayawan.

I would like to apologise for the University of Al Karaouine, recognised as the world’s oldest university that granted degrees to individuals, way back in 859. I am sure they were just handing out degrees in terrorism anyway.

Sorry about the Caliph Harun al-Rashid founding the House of Wisdom in the 9th century. It was his ill intentions that led to the west being exposed to the works of the Greek philosophers. If it wasn’t for him kids in the west would not be terrorised by the works of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle throughout their school lives. I feel their pain.

Sorry for all the art also. And the architecture. All the mosques were meant to be terrorist headquarters anyway so I am glad you took all the inspiration from them and took the techniques out of the religious context. I am not even interested in anything that happened before the Renaissance in Europe. If you tell me it happened out of nowhere then I have no need to trace the traditions back anyway. It is not like things happen in a historical context relying on all the traditions gone by.

I sound like a crazy person even attempting to compare Andy Warhol’s techniques to the repetition of patterns and pictures prevalent in mosques and Islamic architecture so I am going to shut up about it. We all know Muslims hate art anyway.

Trying to read calligraphy is also terrorism, so sorry about that too.

Lastly, I would also like to apologise for the Arabs discovering how to distil water and create alcohol out of fermented fruits. All the Muslims should definitely apologise for all the drunk driving accidents caused around the world

I could go on but I think you realise how sorry I am about everything. I hope you would be able to accept me as one of your own in a way that would make you feel that you are celebrating diversity but in reality you are promoting uniformity. Thank you for letting me retain my token identity while robbing me of my historical traditions. I hope all the future Muslim generations never get to learn about those traditions so that they find it much easier than me to simply associate all things Islam with merely terrorism. It would make it easier to apologise for them.

Apologetically yours,

(English name I have taken up to make you like me more.)”

This article first appeared on Shehzad Ghias Shaikh’s website.

AB de Villiers cracks fastest ODI ton in 31 balls

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AB-de-Villiers

Johannesburg: Premier South African batsman AB de Villiers Sunday cracked the fastest century in One-Day International (ODI) history, reaching three figures in just 31 deliveries against the West Indies at the New Wanderers Stadium here.

The previous One-Day International record was held by New Zealander Corey Anderson, who took 36 balls to reach his ton playing against the same opponents a year ago.

However, Chris Gayle’s 100 from 30 balls in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in April 2013 is the fastest century in cricket history.

De Villiers, who ended up scoring a 44-ball 149, hammered 16 sixes that also helped him share the record of scoring maximum sixes in an ODI innings with Indian Rohit Sharma.

Openers Hashim Amla (not out 153) and Rilee Rossouw (128) provided the platform for the 30-year-old De Villiers to explode as the trio helped South Africa register their highest total in an ODI of 439 for two — bettering the total of 438 for nine the Proteas scored against Australia in 2006.

Sunday’s total was just four short of the all-time ODI record score of 443 for nine set by Sri Lanka against the Netherlands in July 2006 and highest against a Test-playing nation.

South African skipper De Villiers, who bludgeoned nine fours to score his 19th century, reached half century in 16 balls. The innings also saw three centuries scored for the first time.

De Villiers forged a 67-ball 192-run partnership for the third wicket with the 31-year-old Amla, who scored his 18th ODI hundred.

Amid all this carnage, the 25-year-old Rossouw, who had six ducks in his first 16 international innings, recorded his maiden century.

(IANS)

Did RAW's Colombo chief play a role in Mahinda Rajapaksa's poll defeat?

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Photo: AP

Photo: AP

Colombo/ New Delhi: Sri Lanka expelled the Colombo station chief of RAW in the run up to this month’s presidential election, political and intelligence sources said, accusing him of helping the opposition oust the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

An Indian foreign ministry spokesman denied any expulsion and said that transfers were routine decisions. Rajapaksa, voted out of office in the Jan 8 election, told Reuters he did not know all the facts while the new government in Colombo has said it is aware of the reports but cannot confirm them.

But several sources in both Colombo and New Delhi said India was asked to recall the agent in December for helping gather support for joint opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena after persuading him to ditch Rajapaksa’s cabinet.

A sketchy report in Sri Lanka’s Sunday Times newspaper on December 28 said that “links with the common opposition” had cost India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) station chief his job in Colombo.

India has often been involved in the internal politics of the small island nation off its southern coast — it sent troops there in 1987 in a botched effort to broker peace between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels.

Rajapaksa’s unexpected defeat after two terms in office coincided with growing concern in India that it was losing influence in Sri Lanka because of the former president’s tilt toward regional rival China.

The concern turned to alarm late last year when Rajapaksa allowed two Chinese submarines to dock in Sri Lanka without warning New Delhi as he should have under a standing agreement, the sources said.

Sirisena, the new president, has said he will visit New Delhi on his first foreign trip next month and has said India is the “first, main concern” of his foreign policy.

An Indian official said the RAW agent was recalled after complaints that he had worked with Sri Lanka’s usually fractious opposition parties to agree on a joint contender for the election. Then, he was accused of facilitating meetings to encourage several lawmakers, among them Sirisena, to defect from Rajapaksa’s party, the official said.

The agent was accused of playing a role in convincing the main leader of the opposition and former prime minister Ranil Wickremasinghe not to contest against Rajapaksa in the election and stand aside for someone who could be sure of winning, said the officer and a Sri Lankan lawmaker who also maintains close contacts with India.

The agent was also in touch with former president Chandrika Kumaratunga, who was a key player in convincing Sirisena to stand, said the officer and the lawmaker, who also confirmed that the agent had been asked to leave.

“They actively were involved, talking to Ranil, getting those things organized, talking to Chandrika,” the lawmaker told Reuters.

Wickremasinghe, who is now prime minister again in Sirisena’s government, met “two or three times” with the man identified as the agent in the months before the vote, as well as with the Indian high commissioner, or ambassador, the prime minister’s spokesman said.

“They discussed the current political situation,” Wickremasinghe’s spokesman said, but he denied that the Indians had advised him. “He does not know if he advised other politicians.”

It was not clear if Wickremasinghe was aware at the time that he was meeting with an intelligence official. India’s RAW officers are usually given diplomatic posts when assigned to foreign missions.

Former president Kumaratunga did not respond to requests for comment.

Rajapaksa declined to confirm the involvement of India in the campaign against him.

“I don’t know, I won’t suspect anybody until I get my real facts,” he said at his party headquarters.

“There are certain things you don’t talk about,” a close associate of the Rajapaksa family said, but added that “there were clear signs of a deep campaign by foreign elements.”

Sri Lanka’s then defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa — a brother of the former president — complained about the agent’s activities to Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval in November when Doval was visiting the island nation for a defence seminar, the Indian official said.

Another Indian official, who monitors the region for security threats, said New Delhi had been watching Beijing’s growing influence and heavy investments in Sri Lanka under Rajapaksa, who visited China seven times since becoming president in 2005.

But India was stunned and angry last year when the Chinese submarines docked in Sri Lanka on two separate occasions, a step New Delhi saw as part of Beijing’s “string of pearls” strategy to secure a foothold in South Asia and maritime access through the Indian Ocean.

“The turning point in the relationship was the submarines. There was real anger,” the Indian security official said.

Indian military officials said that New Delhi reminded Sri Lanka it was obliged to inform its neighbours about such port calls under a maritime pact, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the issue with Rajapaksa at a meeting in New York.

In a possible sign of shifting allegiances, India’s top envoy in Colombo, high commissioner YK Sinha, presented Sirisena with a large bouquet of flowers just hours after the results were announced on Jan 9. China’s ambassador was only able to meet the new president six days later.

(Reuters)

3 burned to death in Hindu-Muslim clash in Muzaffarpur, Bihar

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Representational image: Photo: Rahi Gaikwad, The Hindu

Representational image: Photo: Rahi Gaikwad, The Hindu

Patna: At least three Muslim villagers were burned to death Sunday when their thatched huts were set on fire during a clash between Hindu and Muslim groups in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district, a government official said.

Atul Prasad, a Bihar state administrator, said the violence erupted after the body of a young Hindu boy was found in Sarayian village more than a week after he went missing.

Prasad said Hindu fishermen blamed Muslims for killing the boy who was friendly with a Muslim girl from the village, 105 kilometers (65 miles) north of Patna, the capital of Bihar state.

The charred bodies of three Muslims were found in the burned huts in the poor community, he said.

Police arrested eight Hindu men, and Prasad said the situation remains tense but under control in the village.

As many as 400 policemen, including 40 police officers, were camping in the village to monitor the law and order situation which was tense, but under control, the SSP said. Kumar had gone missing from the village on January 9.

(With inputs from AP)

Humanity is in the existential danger zone, study confirms

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Humans have ignored the signs. Thomas Hawk, CC BY-NC

Humans have ignored the signs. Thomas Hawk, CC BY-NC

by James Dyke, The Conversation

The Earth’s climate has always changed. All species eventually become extinct. But a new study has brought into sharp relief the fact that humans have, in the context of geological timescales, produced near instantaneous planetary-scale disruption. We are sowing the seeds of havoc on the Earth, it suggests, and the time is fast approaching when we will reap this harvest.

This in the year that the UN climate change circus will pitch its tents in Paris. December’s Conference of the Parties will be the first time individual nations submit their proposals for their carbon emission reduction targets. Sparks are sure to fly.

The research, published in the journal Science, should focus the minds of delegates and their nations as it lays out in authoritative fashion how far we are driving the climate and other vital Earth systems beyond any safe operating space. The paper, headed by Will Steffen of the Australian National University and Stockholm Resilience Centre, concludes that our industrialised civilisation is driving a number of key planetary processes into areas of high risk.

It argues climate change along with “biodiversity integrity” should be recognised as core elements of the Earth system. These are two of nine planetary boundaries that we must remain within if we are to avoid undermining the biophysical systems our species depends upon.

The original planetary boundaries were conceived in 2009 by a team lead by Johan Rockstrom, also of the Stockholm Resilience Centre. Together with his co-authors, Rockstrom produced a list of nine human-driven changes to the Earth’s system: climate change, ocean acidification, stratospheric ozone depletion, alteration of nitrogen and phosphorus cycling, freshwater consumption, land use change, biodiversity loss, aerosol and chemical pollution. Each of these nine, if driven hard enough, could alter the planet to the point where it becomes a much less hospitable place on which to live.

The past 11,000 years have seen a remarkably stable climate. The name given to this most recent geological epoch is the Holocene. It is perhaps no coincidence that human civilisation emerged during this period of stability. What is certain is that our civilisation is in very important ways dependent on the Earth system remaining within or at least approximately near Holocene conditions.

This is why Rockstrom and co looked at human impacts in these nine different areas. They wanted to consider the risk of humans bringing about the end of the Holocene. Some would argue that we have already entered a new geological epoch – the Anthropocene – which recognises that Homo sapiens have become a planet-altering species. But the planetary boundaries concepts doesn’t just attempt to quantify human impacts. It seeks to understand how they may affect human welfare now, and in the future.

It’s been a stable 11,000 years.

The 2009 paper proved to be very influential, but it also attracted a fair amount of criticism. For example, it has been argued that some of the boundaries are not in fact global in scale. There are very large regional variations in consumption of freshwater and phosphorus fertiliser pollution, for instance.

Phosphorous pollution in croplands.

That means that while globally we may be in the green, there could be an increasing number of regions that are deep in the red.

Updated boundaries

The latest research develops the methodology so that it now includes regional evaluations. For example it assesses basin-level freshwater use and biome-level species extinction rates. It also includes a new boundary of “novel entities” – new forms of life and novel compounds the likes of which the Earth system has not experienced and so impact of which is extremely challenging to assess. Ozone-depleting CFCs are perhaps the best example of how a seemingly inert substance can produce planetary damage.

Tree cover remaining in the world’s major forest biomes.

The paper also gives an update on where we stand on some of the planetary boundaries. At first sight, it looks as though there may be some good news in that climate change is no longer in the red. But then closer inspection reveals that a new yellow “zone of uncertainty with increasing risk” has been added to the previous green and red classification.

2/9ths into the red.

Climate change impacts are firmly within this new yellow zone. Our atmosphere currently has about 400 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide. To recover back to the green zone we still need to get back to 350ppm – the same precautionary boundary as before.

Perhaps most importantly the research produces a two-tier hierarchy in which climate change and biosphere integrity are recognised as the core planetary boundaries through which the others operate. This makes sense: life and climate are the main columns buttressing our continual existence within the Holocene. Weakening them risks amplifying other stresses on other boundaries.

Reasons not to be cheerful

And so to the very bad news. Given the importance of biodiversity to the functioning of the Earth’s climate and the other planetary boundaries, it is with real dismay that this study adds yet more evidence to the already burgeoning pile that concludes we appear to be doing our best to destroy it as fast as we possibly can.

Extinction rates are very hard to measure but the background rate – the rate at which species would be lost in the absence of human impacts – is something like ten a year per million species. Current extinction rates are anywhere between 100 to 1000 times higher than that. We are possibly in the middle of one of the great mass extinctions in the history of life on Earth.

James Dyke is a Lecturer in Complex Systems Simulation at University of Southampton.

The Conversation

Growing religious 'intolerance' has to be 'nipped in the bud', observes Delhi High Court

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Bajrang Dal

New Delhi: Growing instances of religious “intolerance” have to be “nipped in the bud” as the country can “ill-afford” that they spread like “wild fire”, Delhi High Court has observed.

Dismissing a PIL against Aamir Khan’s block buster ‘PK’, a bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice RS Endlaw said “the present petition is an instance of a growing tendency in the country of intolerance and which tendency has to be nipped in the bud and unless done so, is likely to spread like wild fire and which the country can ill-afford.” The bench also observed that just as the Constitution protected the right of an artist to portray social reality in all its forms, seeing a film was a conscious choice of the spectator and those offended by the content or the theme of a particular film were free to avoid watching it.

The High Court said the film, which broke the box office records with over Rs 600 crore global business, illustrated the social evil prevalent and cannot be considered as contemptuous of the essential tenets and beliefs of Hindu religion or as promoting communal attitude.

“We are unable to hold the film or any sequence thereof being contemptuous of the essential tenets and beliefs of Hindu religion or as promoting communal attitude. The said sequences have to be necessarily shown to illustrate the social evil prevalent,” it further said in a recent order.

The bench dismissed the PIL seeking directions to delete “objectionable” scenes from ‘PK’ claiming that the contents of the film have hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus.

“The petitioner is assuming that the faith and belief of persons in their religion, whether it be Hindu or any other, is so frail as to be shaken or be scandalized by the depictions in the film to which objection is taken. The said assumption in our view is totally mistaken.

“The sequences of the film to which objection is taken are in the nature of a satire bordering on parody on certain Hindu customs and practices. The said sequences in the film can thus also be seen as socially beneficial, helping a better understanding of the religion,” the court said.

The bench further said that “in a diverse country as ours, citizens and residents profess nearly all religions, people are used to a high level tolerance in the matters of religion”.

“The Constitution protects the right of the artist to portray social reality in all its forms. Some of that portrayal may take the form of questioning values and mores that are prevalent in society,” it said.

The High Court also said that watching a film is a conscious choice of the spectator and those offended by the content or the theme of a particular film are free to avoid watching the film.

The High Court was hearing a PIL filed by a local priest Ajay Gautam seeking directions to delete “objectionable” scenes from the movie ‘PK’ claiming that the contents of the film have hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus.

(PTI)

Breathtaking Images of an Iceberg That Looks Like a Giant Floating Gem

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alexcornell-antarctica

by E.D.W. Lynch: During a recent trip to Antarctica, designer and filmmaker Alex Cornell came across a breathtakingly beautiful iceberg that, unlike its icy neighbors, had a gem-like translucence and a striking aquamarine color. The unusual iceberg was an example of a rarely photographed phenomena–an iceberg that has recently inverted, revealing its normally hidden semi-translucent underside. Photos of the inverted iceberg can be viewed in Cornell’s Antarctica photo gallery and on his Instagram account.

photos by Alex Cornell

Protect novelist Murugan's freedom of expression: Sahmat

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Perumal Murugan

New Delhi: The Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (Sahmat) Saturday called upon the Tamil Nadu government to protect novelist Perumal Murugan’s constitutionally guaranteed freedom of expression from extra-constitutional cultural censors.

Tamil novelist Murugan Jan 13 announced his decision to give up writing, saying there will be continuing controversy over his novels and short stories fanned by various outfits and individuals.

Thanking those who stood in his support in connection with the controversy surrounding his novel “Madhorubhagan”, he said the issue was not going to end with this.

“We call upon the state government of Tamil Nadu to protect the writer, his constitutionally guaranteed freedom of expression and his creative integrity from such extra-constitutional cultural censors,” Sahmat said in a statement.

“We call upon artists, writers, intellectuals, readers and the concerned public at large to rise to the defence of democracy imperiled by this unwarranted and vile abrogation of an author’s right to write,” it said, adding that it was a “shocking and serious blow to the freedom of expression”.

According to Delhi-based Sahmat, Murugan was bullied, blackmailed and harassed by “anonymous vested religious elements led by the Hindutva right, in collusion with the police and the state administration of Tamil Nadu, into helpless submission – so much so that he has, in pain and frustration, announced that he is giving up writing altogether”.

It said “Madhorubagan” was published in 2010 in Tamil and an English translation was published in 2013 under the title “One Part Woman”.

“As if on cue to an orchestrated campaign initiated by the RSS and the BJP in the state, the work has, over the last few weeks, suddenly come under attack for allegedly being offensive to the local dominant caste of Tiruchengode (near Erode in Tamil Nadu), where the story is set,” it said.

Various organisations, caste outfits in Murugan’s home town Thiruchengodu, 410 km from Chennai, protested against the novel, whose story revolves around the problems faced by a childless peasant couple and the woman’s attempt to get pregnant following a tradition of consensual sex with a stranger.

(IANS)

Book Excerpt: The Red Sari

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A dramatised excerpt from the story of the day Sonia Gandhi prepared to turn down the post of Prime Minister of India in 2004.

sonia_saree

by Javier Moro

In the afternoon of 15 May, after having been elected unanimously as the leader of the Parliamentary Party, Sonia Gandhi addresses her MPs. “Here I stand in the place occupied by my great masters, Nehruji, Indiraji, and Rajivji. Their lives have guided my path. Their courage and devotion to India have given me the strength to continue along their path years after their martyrdom. Soon we will have here, in the central government, a coalition led by the Congress party. We have triumphed in the face of all the forecasts. We have overcome in spite of the ill-omened predictions. In the name of all of you, I want to express with all my heart my gratitude to the people of India. Thank you.”

The hall bursts into an enthusiastic ovation and then the MPs prepare to congratulate her personally. They all want to get close to the architect of so much joy and expectation, the person who holds the key to power. In that hall, which has been witness to so many national dramas, so many bitter arguments – a festive atmosphere now reigns. Sonia is radiant. There is so much commotion that the MPs have to stand in line to shake her hand or, even better, to exchange a witty comment… Among the last waiting his turn is a young man, dressed in a white kurta and pyjama, her son, Rahul.

However, the veterans and those closest to Sonia are worried because in her speech, there was not a single word about her role in the new coalition. When they suggest that she should go to the president the next day to formally request permission to form a government, Sonia wriggles out of it by saying that the Left has still not confirmed its support, which is really just an excuse. The fact is that she wants to use all the time available to think about it.

After spending a whole day at home with her children weighing the pros and cons of the situation, she meets her closest allies. She has something important to say to them. They can see it coming: “I think I should not accept the position of prime minister.” She does not say it categorically, as though her decision was firm, she says it as if she wanted to judge the reaction. “I do not want to be the cause of division within the country,” she adds, leaving them all uncomfortable and disconcerted. And she goes on to suggest a Solomon-like solution, which causes some annoyance: her suggestion is that she should continue as president of the party… and that Manmohan Singh should be prime minister. It is a revolutionary idea because it means a two- pronged leadership, an experiment in governance.

A deep silence greets her words. Sonia goes on, “He is honourable, he has an excellent reputation as an economist, and he has experience in administration… I am convinced he will be a great prime minister.” But the suggestion leaves them cold. It is well-known that Manmohan Singh has no charisma. He is a serious man, a technocrat, not a politician. “It’s like saying this victory has served for nothing. The coalition will not hold together without a Gandhi,” says one of the Congress leaders. Neither does the idea dazzle the more veteran leaders, some of whom have been members of the party for fifty years. Manmohan Singh is a relative newcomer.

But above all, it is the reality of not having a Gandhi in the key position what worries her people. At this point, the mystique of the name counts for more than anything else. “It will be the most short-lived government in history,” some predict. Even the two party members who complained in private of having “an uneducated Italian housewife” as leader beg her to agree to be prime minister. In one week, she has gone from being a plain “housewife” to being “a friend, a guide, the nation’s saviour”.

In the afternoon, Manmohan Singh arrives at number 10, Janpath. It is hard for him to make his way through the crowd of MPs and followers who block the entrance. There are so many people that they do not fit inside the house. They wait in the garden or on the street, in the blazing summer sun, for their leader to make a decision. For Sonia, the situation is familiar; she has the impression of having lived through this already, when they were trying to convince her to accept the presidency of the party. However much she tries to argue, they do not accept her decision. They do not understand how she can refuse the position with the most power, which is the dream of all politicians. It is unacceptable to them, in spite of knowing that for Sonia, power has never been a goal in itself. They know that she is in politics out of a personal commitment, because fate wanted it to be that way. “It would be a disaster for the party, for the coalition, for the country…” they say again and again. “Sonia, don’t abandon us.”

One of the congress leaders, Era Anbarasu threatens to set himself on fire if she turns down the job. Sonia becomes alarmed and capitulates. Two hours after having suggested that perhaps she would not accept the role of prime minister, Manmohan Singh comes out into the garden and announces in his gentle voice: “Mrs Gandhi has agreed to meet with the president tomorrow morning.” A murmur of approval sweeps through the crowd. The announcement relaxes things. Those who begin to leave do so convinced that the pressure has worked. In the end, the leader has agreed to take on her responsibility. The Congress party will be in power again, under the leadership of a Gandhi.

For Sonia, the problem is how to get those who venerate her and all those who expect everything of her to swallow the bitter pill. How to get them to see reason? How can they think that she can govern this country on her own? The Opposition will give her no refuge: every day they will throw the matter of her origins in her face. Some madman will end up killing her; she is convinced of it. Besides, she does not have much experience.

What she needs is to be alone. In her room, she opens the windows before she goes to bed. She breathes the hot air in deeply. All her childhood, she slept with the windows wide open, in spite of the cold. Today, she again feels that old distress. It is a feeling of drowning that comes back every time she has to take an important decision. Every time she feels unbearable pressure mounting.

She turns off the air-conditioning and leaves the window open. The warm breeze, brings no relief. Finally, it all goes quiet, just the way she likes it. In these last few days, her home has been like a madhouse. All that noise has prevented her from hearing her inner voice. She needs silence to get in touch with herself, to listen to herself. To know what to do tomorrow. Or rather, how to do it.

Excerpted with permission from The Red Sari: A Dramatized Biography of Sonia Gandhi, Javier Moro, translated by Peter J. Hearn, Roli Books.

17 Journalists Killed in Media’s Deadliest Year in Palestine by Israel

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media-death

by Al-Akhbar

2014 was the deadliest ever for journalists working in the Palestinian territories, a Gaza-based watchdog said on Thursday, months after a bloody war in the besieged enclave claimed the lives of more than 2,310 Gazans.

Meanwhile, a UN senior official on Thursday called on Israel to “immediately” unlock millions of dollars in taxes owed to the Palestinian Authority (PA) that were withheld after it decided to join the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the late December.

“2014 was a black year for freedom of the press in Palestine… and it was the worst and bloodiest,” the Gaza Center for Press Freedom said in its annual report.

The report accused Israel of committing 295 separate “violations of press freedom” across the occupied Palestinian territories.

These resulted in the deaths of 17 journalists during the deadly war in July and August, including that of an Italian photographer working for Associated Press.

The report revealed Israel arrested or detained an unspecified number of journalists, denied freedom of movement to local media workers wanting to leave the blockaded Gaza Strip, and partially or completely destroyed 19 buildings housing editorial operations during its bombardment of the territory during the conflict.

According to the Gaza Center for Press Freedom, the PA also committed 82 violations of press freedom, including arresting or summoning 28 journalists, and injuring or assaulting 26 more.

For 51 days this summer, Israel pounded the Gaza Strip — by air, land and sea — with the stated aim of ending rocket fire from the coastal enclave.

According to estimates based on preliminary information, as many as 96,000 Palestinian homes were damaged or destroyed during the days of hostilities, a higher figure than was previously thought.

Withheld tax revenues

On Thursday, UN Assistant Secretary-General Jens Anders Toyberg-Frandzen called on Israel to resume the transfer of $127 million tax revenues that were withheld after the PA decided to join the ICC.

He told the Security Council that the freeze of tax funds imposed on January 3 was in violation of the Oslo agreements between Israel and the PA.

The council’s monthly meeting on the Middle East was the first on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since the failure of a Palestinian statehood bid at the United Nations Security Council in December.

On Thursday’s meeting, chief Palestinian delegate Riyad Mansour called the withholding of Palestinian tax revenues a “blatant act of reprisal and theft of Palestinian funds” and condemned Israel’s “rabid settlement colonization.”

The Israeli side has also condemned Palestinian moves, with Ambassador Ron Prosor accusing Palestinians of “running away from negotiations” and obstructing the peace process.

The United States and the European Union have criticized Israel’s retaliatory move in response to the Palestinian application to join the ICC, which could investigate war crimes complaints against Israel.

Israel-Sweden encounter

Meanwhile, Israel said on Thursday that Sweden’s foreign minister was not welcome for an official visit in the country, with relations strained over Stockholm’s recognition of Palestine.

The minister, Margot Wallstroem, last week postponed a trip to Israel indefinitely, with Israeli media reports suggesting that Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman did not want to meet her.

Sweden’s decision in October to recognize the state of Palestine — the first major EU nation to do so — infuriated Israel, which temporarily recalled its ambassador to Stockholm.

“Do not wait to travel to Israel until the Swedish foreign minister comes here, because that could take a long time,” Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon told public broadcaster Swedish Radio.

“The Swedish foreign minister would not have been given any official meetings in Israel if she had traveled here. What Sweden did was an utterly unfriendly action,” Nahshon added.

Wallstroem considered making the trip without official meetings but would have been without a security detail during the commemoration of Swedish Holocaust hero Raoul Wallenberg and other events, the radio said, without giving sources.

“It is basically an insult,” Per Joensson, an editor with the Swedish Institute for International Affairs, told AFP.

“That is not a way to treat a sovereign foreign minister, unless you really want to punish her.”

Despite the furore, Sweden said Wallstroem would visit Israel after its March 17 legislative elections.

(AFP, Reuters, Al-Akhbar)

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