Monthly Archives: August 2015

Gender, Religion + Belief

India News | Muslim Women

“Instant divorce” in Muslim personal law leaves Indian Muslim women highly vulnerable
  • Triple talaq (saying the word “talaq” three times in a row) grants men instant, unquestioned divorce from their wives, allowing them to throw women out of their home and take their children.
  • A government committee has submitted a recommendation for a ban on the practice to India’s ministry of women and child development, but it faces stiff opposition from religious groups.
  • Because of India’s religious plurality, the government has left matters of personal law (including marriage and divorce) to be governed by individual religious communities, allowing talaq (permitted under sharia law) to have legal standing.

“For the women I see in my office – hardworking women, good wives and good mothers – this is just plain and simple cruelty.”

Read the full story at the Guardian.

(Image Credit: Amrit Dhillon, via The Guardian)

Gender, Race + Color + Ethnicity, Religion + Belief

U.S. News & Feature | Nonbelievers of Color

Arian Foster: Freethinking in the NFL

Image Credit: Josh Goleman/ESPN
Image Credit: Josh Goleman/ESPN

NFL running back Arian Foster, currently playing for the Houston Texans, has come out as a freethinker and nonbeliever, one of very few professional players to have ever professed nonbelief. With little to no separation between church and field in the NFL, Foster sits down with ESPN to share his experiences being out to teammates, the evolution of his belief, and the ubiquity of Christianity in football.

Read the full profile at ESPN.

Gender

Chile News | Women

1 Comment
Chilean government advances bill to modify ban on abortions
  • The Chamber of Deputies’ health commission voted 8-5 in favor of proposals to create exceptions to the country’s total ban on abortions in cases of rape, maternal life endangerment, and the inviability of the fetus.
  • The bill will now be voted on article by article before moving to the full chamber, where it faces stiff opposition from lawmakers and Catholic Church interests.
  • Since Augusto Pinochet implemented the ban in 1989, women have faced up to five years in prison for aborting a fetus in one of only seven countries in the world with a total ban on abortions.

“The vote reflects the opinion of a majority in Chile, which considers that its time to assume the reality of the more than 30,000 illegal abortions in the country every year.”

Read the full story at Bloomberg.

(Image Credit: Martin Bernetti/AFP/Getty Images, via Bloomberg)

Health + Ability, Race + Color + Ethnicity

Australia News | Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians face high kidney disease rates and low likelihood of transplant
  • According to official figures, nearly 18% of Indigenous Australians show signs of chronic kidney disease affliction and are ten times more likely to die of kidney disease than the non-Indigenous population.
  • Distance from treatment facilities and Australia’s comparatively low organ donation rate have created obstacles to treatment for affected individuals.
  • Northern Territory has the highest rates of kidney disease in the country, with Indigenous Australians comprising at least 85% of the afflicted.

“There’s a lot of work and hassle being to be on the waiting list so the incentive to be on the waiting is if you actually have to believe you’re going to get a transplant. If you believe your chances of getting a transplant are very low then it’s not worth the effort.”

Read the full story at BuzzFeed News.

(Image Credit: via BuzzFeed News)

Ideology + Affiliation

Zimbabwe News | Workers

Police break up worker protest following Supreme Court ruling in Zimbabwe
  • The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions had been planning to lead a demonstration in Harare before police arrived to disperse the crowd.
  • Plans for the demonstration emerged following the Supreme Court’s ruling that employers could terminate contracts on notice, which has reportedly led to significant job losses.
  • Smaller demonstrations moved forward in Gweru, Mutare, and other cities.

“The leaders (of the demonstrations) were taken and thrown all over Harare but that is not a solution. Government must know that they are creating a time bomb. We have 2018 that is coming and several issues that must be addressed.”

Read the full story at The Standard.

Ideology + Affiliation

Mexico News | Journalists

1 Comment
Protests follow murder of 7th journalist in Mexico this year
  • Several thousand gathered in Mexico City to protest the epidemic of journalist murders in the country, where photographer Ruben Espinosa was the latest victim.
  • Espinosa covered politics in Veracruz and spoke out against the harassment of journalists, but was found dead in a Mexico City apartment.
  • According to one media rights group, 41 journalists have been killed since 2010, with 13 having been killed in the state of Veracruz alone.

“I can’t put responsibility for his death on the government directly, but we can hold this government responsible for the climate of harassment and impunity that prevails in Veracruz.”

Read the full story at the New York Times.

(Image Credit: Alex Cruz/European Pressphoto Agency, via The New York Times)

Ideology + Affiliation

Brazil News | Journalists

1 Comment
Provincial journalist covering government corruption murdered in Brazil, at least the 4th this year
  • Gleydson Carvalho became the 16th journalist reported killed since 2011 after gunmen stormed his radio program in Camocim, Ceará.
  • According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 65% of those murdered had been covering government corruption, with government officials suspected of responsibility in 52% of cases.
  • The targeted killings have taken place outside of Brazil’s major cities, where fewer law enforcement resources have led to stalled cases.

Read the full story at The New York Times.

Race + Color + Ethnicity, Religion + Belief

Israel News | Ultra-Orthodox Jewish

Israel detains third far-right Jewish Israeli suspected of extremist ties
  • Israeli police have placed the three men in “administrative detention” for six months, allowing them to be held without charge.
  • Police have accused the men of being involved in terror attacks, although no evidence has been presented for formal charging.
  • The arrests follow the recent arson attack by Ultra-Orthodox Jewish extremists against a Palestinian family’s home in the West Bank that left a toddler and his father dead.

“Right now there are three detentions. In the coming days it could be 30, and we could end up with 300. … These orders endanger the entire justice system.”

Read the full story at Reuters.

Ideology + Affiliation

China News | Advocates

1 Comment
Chinese police accuse human rights lawyer of “endangering state security”
  • The accusations of “inciting subversion” have paved the way for formal charges to be brought against Wang Yu, a lawyer whose firm’s clients include Uyghur dissident Ilham Tohti.
  • The development comes following the mass-scale detention of human rights advocates and activists in July that saw more than 50 arrested.
  • CCTV released footage of Wang calling officials “thugs” in what activists consider to be a smear campaign.

“I said ‘this is all nonsense.’ … The authorities put out the video of her saying that: ‘You all are thugs.’ Why not release the full video? And even if what she said was extreme, is that considered a crime?”

Read the full story at Reuters.

Class + Socioeconomics, Nationality + Migration, Race + Color + Ethnicity

Sweden News | European Migrants

1 Comment
E.U. migrants in Sweden threatened by growing anti-immigrant sentiment
  • In addition to the more than 30,000 migrants of non-E.U. origin granted asylum in Sweden last year, the E.U.’s open migration policy has brought many Southern and Eastern Europeans to the country, including the highly vulnerable ethnic Roma.
  • Police estimate there are around 4,000 people begging on the street in Sweden, among whom at least 77 violent attacks have occurred in the last 18 months according to one charity group.
  • Many Roma live in tents outside major cities while saving money from begging and bottle-collecting, lacking access to adequate health care and basic living resources.

“The response has not been convincing from Sweden’s political leaders. … They have been hoping the problem will go away by itself — and it won’t.”

Read the full story at the New York Times.

(Image Credit: Moa Karlberg/The New York Times )

Gender, Race + Color + Ethnicity

U.K. News | Black British Men

1 Comment

Black in London

Four years following the protests and riots that broke out following the death of black Londoner Mark Duggan, relations between the black community and law enforcement remain tense. Black men in particular express anxiety over police interactions and face targeting through stop-and-search policies. BuzzFeed News reflects on developments since Duggan’s death and the spaces black men turn to for camaraderie and relief.

“When you fail to make people in your country feel like the country belongs to them, you have riots.”

Read the full feature at BuzzFeed News.

(Image Credit: Shyamantha Asokan/BuzzFeed)

Ideology + Affiliation, Religion + Belief

Bangladesh News | Secular Atheist

Secular Bangladeshi blogger murdered in Dhaka
  • Niloy Chakrabarti was murdered in his home by hacking at the hands of a gang whose work was claimed by al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent.
  • Chakrabarti was the fourth secularist advocate against political Islam to have been murdered in the officially secular country this year.
  • Chakrabarti had reportedly requested police protection after being listed on a target list as groups called for the murder of atheists.

Read the full story at the Guardian.

(Image Credit: The Guardian)

Nationality + Migration, Religion + Belief

India News | Immigrants

India plans to amend law to grant citizenship to migrants seeking asylum from religious persecution
  • The Home Ministry is expected to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, to grant citizenship to religious minorities who fled persecution in neighboring Pakistan and Bangladesh.
  • Immigrants who arrived before the start of 2015 will be eligible for citizenship through either a 7-year residency or 12-year naturalization process.
  • Legislators are also looking to amend visa laws to allow undocumented religious asylum-seekers to remain in the country while their citizenship applications are processed.

Read the full story at The Hindu.

(Image Credit: AP file photo, via The Hindu)

Nationality + Migration, Religion + Belief

India Perspectives | Jewish Indian

Jewish in India

Nathaniel Jhirad shares his perspective on growing up Jewish in India, a country where the religions of the world often find themselves in close quarters. From Muslim-majority Jewish schools to overlapping calls to prayer, Nathaniel offers an optimistic view on interfaith relations in the world’s second-largest nation.

Read Nathaniel’s story at Forward.

(Image Credit: Nathaniel Jhirad, via Forward)

Sexual + Gender Minorities

Jamaica News | LGBT

1 Comment
Jamaica holds its first LGBT Pride celebration
  • Held in Kingston, the week-long celebration includes a flashmob, art exhibit and performances, and a dance party in the Jamaican capital.
  • The festival received the support of Kingston’s mayor and Jamaica’s minister of justice despite the continued presence of anti-sodomy laws on the books.
  • Jamaica Pride is a major step forward for a country widely known for its pervasive homophobia, including violence against gays and lesbians and abject homelessness among out gay youth.

“I think we will look back on this and see it as a turning point because many persons thought that it would never actually happen.”

Read the full AP story at the Star Tribune.