Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

A crucial part of Europe’s history

Proceeds from this brutal labour enriched the Kingdom of the Netherlands and contributed to the "Golden Age", a period of economic prosperity in the 17th Century that saw the Netherlands witness huge advancements in science and culture.  In the western province of Holland alone, a Dutch Research Council study found 40% of economic growth between 1738 and 1780 could be attributed to slavery. The Netherlands has been accused of perpetuating and institutionalising racism. Approximately 70% of the African-Caribbean community in the Netherlands, which mostly consists of descendants of slaves, believe an apology is important. And yet in the broader population, almost half of the Dutch do not support an apology, while 38% do, according to an I&O Research poll. What built modern Holland

Source: The New Statesman  

Deception, disinformation and social media

Against amnesia While many cheer and clap in and for the World Cup and while some were outraged by the ‘banning’ of alcoholic in stadiums, let’s not forget the criminal role of Qatar and Qatar-based media and business entrepreneurs in the destruction of Syria.  “Rather than using ‘static categories’ (Fujii, 2009, p. 8), such as ‘sectarianism’ and ‘militarism’, I examined processes of ‘sectarianisation’ and ‘militarisation’ to adequately analyse dynamic socio-political phenomena. In dynamic settings (such as genocide, social movement, revolution, and civil war), static categories cannot fully capture actors' shifting relations, behaviours, discourses, perspectives, motives and identifications, nor can they capture the endogenous sources of changes.” Boundary making and sectarianisation in Syria 2011-2013

and a young family paid the price “ Unknown to the British public at that time, SAS operatives were already suspected at the highest levels of UK Special Forces of illegally killing Afghan men who had surrendered and been detained, and later covering up the killings with fabricated reports.” " Instead of getting to the bottom of what happened and correcting any criminal behaviour, SIRs [Serious Incident Reviews] became a way of cleansing an incident of any wrongdoing," a former senior Royal Military Police officer said. "Some senior officers were using SIRs as a tool to prevent scrutiny. It seemed they were deciding on non-referral and then writing the SIR to justify the decision." Related Australian elite troops killed Afghan civilians [for practice] Hunting Russians, Giving Pass to Americans The bombing killed more than 160 civilians

According to  the World Economic Fortum’s  Global Gender Gap Report 2020