Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

Jessica Ellis replying to Michael Moore

Engaging Books Series

In Chinatown, London: Swoop and rescue 

Verso Feminist Classics

In this times of barbarism, absurdity and mediocrity, I wish Dario Fo, who has just left us forver today, could give me some of his wit. Angelina Jolie and William Hague are now visiting professors at the London School of Economics, London. They have joined the LSE Centre for Women, Peace and Security. William Hague and peace! Remember that scene in Life of Brian? Peace? The man who supported the invasion and occupation of Iraq (and thus was complicit in the destruction and the consequences of that war ) and who came out recently to reitrate that support by standing with Blair. Blair himself became a peace envoy to the Middle East, didn't he?  Regarding Angelina, here is a good dissection of the "ideology" of charity and the hypocrisy of it. Against Charity

I recommend this Contradiction of Capital and Care

Rethinking Muslim Women and the Veil Published in 2002, but ...

"When, as happened recently in France, an attempt is made to coerce women out of the burka rather than creating a situation in which a woman can choose what she wishes to do, it’s not about liberating her but about unclothing her. It becomes an act of humiliation and cultural imperialism. Coercing a woman out of her burka is as bad as coercing her into one. It’s not about the burka. It’s about the coercion. Viewing gender in this way, shorn of social, political, and economic context, makes it an issue of identity, a battle of props and costumes. It’s what allowed the US government to use Western feminist liberal groups as moral cover when it invaded Afghanistan in 2001. Afghan women were (and are) in terrible trouble under the Taliban. But dropping daisy cutters on them was not going to solve the problem." — Arundhati Roy ( see extract from her book here )

Britain: A report Evidence suggested the biggest cause of the "acute" disadvantage felt by Muslim women is their religion, it said.  "The impact of Islamophobia on Muslim women should not be underestimated," it went on.  "They are 71% more likely than white Christian women to be unemployed, even when they have the same educational level and language skills."  They face particular issues of discrimination when applying for jobs because of the clothes some of them they wear because of their religion or culture, the MPs suggest. Married women in Muslim communities are often expected to be home-makers while their husbands are the breadwinners, the committee heard from expert witnesses.  "The impact of the very real inequality, discrimination and Islamophobia that Muslim women experience is exacerbated by the pressures that some women feel from parts of their communities to fulfil a more traditional role," the committee said. ( source: t

" "Only nations which liberate themselves can be free." Malalai Joya "really is one of the bravest women in Afghanistan". She told the 300-strong audience at Conway Hall in central London last week that she has survived five assassination attempts and is still not safe with personal security guards or by wearing a burkha to cover her identity. Yet she continues to campaign against foreign occupation and fundamentalist warlords, and for women's rights and education. She believes all NATO troops must leave Afghanistan immediately. On July 16 thousands of quarry workers in Egypt went on strike in the central province of Al-Minya, in opposition to a decision by the authorities to impose a tax of E£40 on each ton of quarried rock. The tax had led some quarries to close and lay off their workers. The dispute is only one of several ongoing textile workers’ strikes since privatisation, despite the brutality with which last year’s strike at Mahalla al-Kubra was put