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Az autoriter rendszerekben rosszabb körülmények között kell dolgozniuk az újságíróknak, mint a diktatúrákban - állítják a Nobel-békedíj idei kitüntetettjei, akik hivatalosan szombaton kapják meg az elismerést Oslóban. Maria Ressa fülöp-szigeteki származású amerikai, Dmitrij Muratov pedig orosz újságíró – írta az Euronews.

Les pluies orageuses vont marquer, ce vendredi 10 décembre, leur retour dans plusieurs wilayas ; après une semaine marquée par les alertes de chutes de neiges.

Selon un bulletin météorologique spécial (BMS) émis aujourd’hui par l’Office national de la météorologie ; les pluies seront de retour en force dès ce soir à travers plusieurs régions du pays, plus précisément 14 wilayas. Outre les pluies, l’Office National de Météorologie s’attend également à des orages.

Les wilayas concernées par le BMS sont : Boumerdes ; Bouira ; Tizi-Ouzou ; Bejaia ; Jijel ; Skikda ; Annaba ; El Tarf ; Souk Ahras ; Guelma ; Constantine ; Mila ; Setif et Bordj Bou Arreridj.

Placées en vigilance « Orange », les pluies affecteront les 14 wilayas avec des quantités estimées entre 20 et 40 mm avec parfois sous forme d’averses orageuses ; durant la validité du BMS qui s’étend du vendredi soir minuit jusqu’à samedi 11 decembre à midi.

L’article Alerte météo : pluies orageuses dans 14 wilayas dès ce soir est apparu en premier sur .

Oroszország számára nagyon érzékeny téma a NATO keleti, egyebek között Ukrajna bevonásával történő bővítése – jelentette ki Vlagyimir Putyin.

“Ez az egyik kulcskérdés Oroszország biztonsága szavatolásának szempontjából középtávon, sőt stratégiai perspektívában is. Erről folyamatosan, nyilvánosan beszélünk, figyelmeztetjük partnereinket, hogy ez számunkra elfogadhatatlan” – mondta Putyin a keddi orosz-amerikai virtuális csúcsra vonatkozó kérdésre válaszolva Kiriákosz Micotákisz görög miniszterelnökkel közösen megtartott sajtótájékoztatóján.

Beszámolója szerint Joe Bidennek is kifejtette álláspontját, amely szerint minden országnak joga van ahhoz, hogy a biztonsága szavatolásának a legelfogadhatóbb módját válassza, de ezt úgy kell megtennie, hogy ne ássa alá más országok biztonságát, adott esetben Oroszországét. A problémát az emberek közötti kapcsolatokhoz hasonlította, amelyekben az “Istentől adott szabadság” határtalan, de csak addig, amíg nem ütközik egy másik ember szabadságába.

“És itt kellene a kölcsönös korlátozásoknak életbe lépniük” – mondta

Putyin megismételte Moszkva álláspontját, amely szerint a biztonságnak globálisnak kell lennie, és mindenkire egyformán ki kell terjednie. Elmondta: Moszkvát azért aggasztja Ukrajna esetleges NATO-felvétele, mert ott is ugyanúgy meg fognak jelenni az észak-atlanti szövetség kontingensei és bázisai, valamint – szerinte Oroszországot fenyegető – fegyverzete is.

“Hogy tehetnénk meg, hogy nem gondolunk erre, ez egyszerűen bűnös tétlenség lenne részünkről: passzívan nézni, ami ott (Ukrajnában) történik” – hangsúlyozta Putyin.

Bejelentette: az amerikai elnök javaslatára megállapodott Bidennel egy olyan struktúra létrehozásáról, amelyben konkrétan és részletesen foglalkoznak majd ezekkel a kérdésekkel, és amelyről az orosz fél rövidesen konkrét javaslatokat fogalmaz majd meg. Az ügyben Putyin maximális nyilvánosságot ígért.

Provokatívnak minősítette az azt firtató kérdést, hogy készül-e Oroszország megtámadni Ukrajnát, vagy sem, de válaszolva rá leszögezte:

“Oroszország békeszerető külpolitikát folytat, de jogában áll szavatolnia a saját biztonságát. Ahogy mondtam már, közép- és hosszú távú perspektívában erről tanácskozunk a partnereinkkel, az összes partnerünkkel, beleértve tegnapi tárgyalópartneremet, Biden urat, az Egyesült Államok elnökét is” – mondta.

Úgy vélekedett, a virtuális csúcstalálkozó legfontosabb eredménye, hogy van lehetőség a párbeszéd folytatására.

“Oroszország senkit sem fenyeget. Oroszország intézkedéseket hoz a lopakodó fenyegetés ellen, amely a határai felé terjed. Látjuk, ahogy a NATO elkezdi fokozatosan maga alá gyűrni Ukrajnát. Ez vörös vonal Oroszország számára” – jelentette ki Dmitrij Peszkov, a Kreml szóvivője az Izvesztyija című lapnak nyilatkozva.

Rámutatott, hogy miközben az orosz fegyveres erők a saját területükön, nem pedig “valahol Latin-Amerikában” tartanak hadgyakorlatot, addig az amerikai katonák az orosz határokhoz utaznak, hogy ugyanezt tegyék. Közölte, hogy az amerikai fél a virtuális csúcson egyelőre nem volt hajlandó lényegi tárgyalásba bocsátkozni Putyinnak arról a javaslatáról, hogy kölcsönösen szüntessék meg a diplomaták munkáját megnehezítő korlátozásokat.

Peszkov szerint a két elnök párbeszéde konstruktív volt, de lehetett volna eredményesebb is. Mint mondta, személyes találkozó megszervezéséről egyelőre nem esett szó, és elképzelhetőnek nevezte, hogy Putyin és Biden legközelebb online tárgyal majd, ha munkatársaik párbeszéde gyümölcsözően alakul.

Jurij Usakov, az orosz elnök külügyi tanácsadója elmondta, hogy a két elnök a éppen a második világháborús amerikai hadba lépéshez vezető Pearl Harbor elleni japán támadás 80. évfordulóján beszélt egymással. Mindketten megemlékeztek a konfliktus által a családjuknak okozott veszteségről.

The post Putyin: a NATO keleti bővítése nagyon érzékeny téma Oroszország számára appeared first on .

(B2) Un Rafale, un Mirage 2000 et un A330 MRTT ont été interceptés à deux reprises par des Su-27 russes au-dessus de la mer Noire, les 8 et 9 décembre.

L’état-major des armées françaises a précisé que les missions de surveillance sont « classiques et habituelles » et qu’elles se sont déroulées dans l’espace aérien international. « Il n’y a pas eu d’interception, pas de raccompagnement et encore moins de tentative d’empêcher [les avions français] de rentrer dans l’espace aérien russe », précise le porte-parole, qui réfute certaines informations parues dans la presse russe.

Les avions russes à long rayon d’action effectuent eux-mêmes régulièrement ce type de manœuvre d’approche au large des côtes européennes, de la Baltique à la Manche.

(HC)

Cet article Trois avions français interceptés en mer du Nord par des avions russes est apparu en premier sur B2 Le blog de l'Europe géopolitique.

Les autorités utilise des caméras cachées pour identifier les infractions dans les structures sanitaires publiques.

Der FCL hat es verpasst, den Trainer zu wechseln. Sandro Chieffo hat sich mit seiner Aussage vor dem FCZ-Spiel selbst ins Abseits gestellt, meint Andreas Böni, stv. Chefredaktor Sport.

In der Woche vom 13. bis 16. Dezember wird das Parlament den Sacharow-Preis verleihen, die Pandemie-Situation debattieren und sich mit der Gleichstellung der Geschlechter in der EU befassen.

Quelle : © Europäische Union, 2021 - EP

Außenministerin Annalena Baerbock betonte bei ihrem Antrittsbesuch in Warschau am Freitag die Bedeutung der deutsch-polnischen Freundschaft, sagte aber, dass "intensive Gespräche" über Fragen der Rechtsstaatlichkeit notwendig seien.

Euronews: A magyarországi háziorvosok és a mentők első körben antigénteszteket használnak, uniós gyógyultsági igazolvány viszont csak PCR-teszt alapján jár.

508157 OSCE Centre in Ashgabat

The OSCE Centre in Ashgabat conducted an online lecture series to support the education of future diplomats in Turkmenistan, which concluded today in Ashgabat.

The five-day lecture series is a continuation of a long-running OSCE project activity on topics including neutrality, negotiations, women in diplomacy, the ‘art’ of being a diplomat and inclusive participation in promoting peace and security.

Professors and students from the Institute of International Relations under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan and International University for Humanity and Development participated in the lectures.

High-level career diplomats from Belarus, Moldova and the US delivered the lecture series. The first set of lectures presented examples from the leading international negotiation schools, pointing out similarities and differences and revealing secrets of achieving effective results during the negotiation process. Other key topics of the lecture series included how women in diplomacy can make a difference and overcome challenges and the importance of gender mainstreaming and increased participation of women in foreign affairs.

“This set of lectures will introduce future diplomats to insightful perspectives of the negotiation process, which is critical to conflict prevention and resolution. Additionally, the students will further strengthen their knowledge about the role of women in peacebuilding processes, which remains yet another OSCE commitment aimed at promoting and supporting the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security in the OSCE region,” said John MacGregor, head of the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat.

In der Tiefgarage eines Mehrfamilienhauses in Niederteufen AR ist am Donnerstag ein Anwohner (58) bei Arbeiten in einem Entwässerungsschacht schwer verletzt worden.

The European Union should move on outstanding promises of enlarging the bloc while leaving the two frontrunners in the waiting room, Serbia and Montenegro, to ‘do their homework’, Serbia’s Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue Gordana Čomić told EURACTIV....

Le mécanisme d’ajustement carbone aux frontières (MACF) proposé par l’UE est un instrument qu’il est « légitime » d’envisager, et les États-Unis « explorent » eux aussi cette voie.

Fussballer leben für ihren Sport. Eine Einstellung, die Österreichs Nationalspieler Marko Arnautovic (32) in seiner Karriere nicht immer verfolgte.

When Holocaust deniers are not going around denying that the Holocaust ever happened or claiming that it is exaggerated, they like to make comparisons between Israel and Nazis.

In an interview in 2011 with Haaretz, the Holocaust historian Deborah Lipstadt called these sorts of comparisons "Holocaust abuse": 

Renowned Holocaust historian Deborah Lipstadt says that American and Israeli politicians who invoke the Holocaust for contemporary political purposes are engaging in “Holocaust abuse”, which is similar to “soft-core denial” of the Holocaust...

“When you take these terrible moments in our history, and you use it for contemporary purposes, in order to fulfill your political objectives, you mangle history, you trample on it,” she said.  [emphasis added]

Strong words.
And Lipstadt knows what she is talking about.

After all, this past July Biden nominated Lipstadt as Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism.

So how did Lipstadt react a little over a month later, when Biden was on the presidential campaign and said about Trump:

He’s sort of like Goebbels. You say the lie long enough, keep repeating it, repeating it, repeating it, it becomes common knowledge

Lipstadt supported the comparison to Goebbels:

Goebbels was very successful at what he did, and I think the comparison by Vice President Biden was a very apt comparison because we’re seeing a lot of this now.

In a tweet that she later deleted, Lipstadt went further, claiming that

had VP Biden — or anyone else — compared him to what Hitler, Himmler, Heydrich, or Eichmann did, she/he would have been wrong. But a comparison to the master of the big lie, Josef Goebbels? That's historically apt. It's all about historical nuance.

Goebbels was more than a master propagandist. He was a supporter of the Final Solution.
Nuance only goes so far.

As Melanie Phillips notes:

But it wasn’t apt at all. The comparison was indefensible. Not only was it an egregiously unjustified smear against Trump; more importantly, it downplayed the evil of Goebbels and grossly disrespected the memory of those who were slaughtered in the Holocaust.

For it wasn’t simply that Goebbels was a lying propagandist. It was that he was a Nazi committed to the extermination of the Jews. To compare Trump to such an individual was ridiculous and shameful, and should have been robustly condemned.

And 3 days after Biden's comment, when the Jewish Democratic Council of America released a video comparing the Trump presidency to the Nazi era...

Unlike the ADL, The American Jewish Committee and The Simon Wiesenthal Center -- who all called for the JDC ad to be taken down -- Lipstadt again supported the use of Nazi images for political purposes:

But in the current era, Lipstadt said, the key to acceptable Holocaust comparisons is precision and nuance. Is it the Holocaust? No. But does the current era presage an authoritarian takeover? Maybe.

“People ask me, is this Kristallnacht?” she said. “Is this the beginning of pogroms, etc.? I don’t think those comparisons are correct. “However, I do think certain comparisons are fitting … it’s certainly not 1938,” when Nazis led the Kristallnacht pogroms throughout Germany. “It’s not even September 1935, and the Nuremberg Laws” institutionalizing racist policies.

“What it well might be is December 1932, Hitler comes to power on Jan. 30, 1933 — it might be Jan. 15, 1933.” [emphasis added]

So contrary to her comment in the tweet she deleted, Lipstadt actually does draw a connection between Trump and Hitler.

Nuance, indeed.

Now that Lipstadt has helpfully established that Holocaust comparisons are permitted when they adhere to "precision and nuance," are the people most likely to exploit Holocaust comparisons really going to care -- and how would Lipstadt as Antisemitism Envoy condemn Holocaust comparisons without those doing it laughing at her for her double standard?

For example -- just this week: European Jewish group outraged by use of yellow star during demonstration in Brussels against corona measures:

The European Jewish Association (EJA) reacted with outrage to the image of a yellow star, symbol of Nazi persecution of Jews, used by protestors during a demonstration in Brussels against the governmental corona measures on Sunday.

In a statement, EJA Chairman Rabbi Menachem Margolin said: “It is hard to know where to begin with how wrong this is.’’

Rabbi Margolin goes on to point out how comparisons with the Holocaust demonstrate a lack of understanding for the magnitude of what the Holocaust was:

It makes me sick to think how little people understand the hurt that such banners cause, and how little people have a true understanding and appreciation of the sheer scale and magnitude of the Holocaust. To those who marched today with a huge Yellow star, I say this: “just don’t. No matter how you feel about covid restrictions, nobody is tattooing your arms, nobody is herding you onto cattle trucks, and nobody wants you, your families and all your loved ones to die. Above all, educate yourselves and learn what this yellow star truly represents.”

Would Lipstadt echo Rabbi Margolin's words? Probably.

But how does someone who compares a president of the United States with the Nazi Goebbels ("60 percent of [the Jews] will have to be liquidated, while only 40 percent can be put to work...A judgment is being carried out on the Jews that is barbaric but thoroughly deserved") go on to lecture others who use a yellow star to describe what they consider draconian corona measures?

Another question is: what about Democrats -- has Lipstadt been as critical of them?

According to Fox News:

President Biden’s nominee to serve as U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism once blasted Rep. Ilhan Omar’s controversial statements criticizing Israel.

 And The New York Post reports:

President Biden’s pick to serve as special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism has previously slammed Rep. Ilhan Omar for criticizing Israel.

But actually, in contrast to her comments on Trump that were made in public, Lipstadt's comments about Omar were made in response to a question during an interview:

Adam Rubenstein: As you begin to define antisemitism in your new book, Antisemitism: Here and Now, you write that “Antisemitism is not simply the hatred of something ‘foreign’ but the hatred of a perpetual evil in this world.” So on Rep. Ilhan Omar’s recent comment about “foreign allegiance” in the context of pro-Israel Americans, and in discussion of her Jewish colleagues; what do you make of it? Is this textbook antisemitism?

Deborah Lipstadt: Sadly, I believe it is. Dual loyalties is part of the textbook accusations against Jews. They are cosmopolitans, globalists, not loyal to their country or fellow citizens.

Further on in the interview, it becomes clear that Lipstadt neither "blasts" nor "smashes" Omar's comments. Instead, she manages to criticize the statements, without condemning the person -- a far more judicious approach -- unlike in her comments about Trump.

But she bent over backward to excuse Omar:

AR: In your view, are Rep. Omar’s statements antisemitic or are they simply anti-Israel? Antisemitism and anti-Zionism aren’t in theory the same thing, but they often have connection points. Is what Rep. Omar says, her “foreign allegiance” comment, her support for BDS, and that support for Israel in Congress is “about the Benjamins,” i.e. Jewish money, simply “critical of Israel” or does it cross the line into antisemitism?

DL: This is such a nuanced topic and I deal with it in depth in the book. But simply put, (and giving her the benefit of the doubt… which is harder to do each time she engages in one of these attacks), she may think she is only criticizing Israel and its policies but one cannot ignore the fact that she is relying on traditional antisemitic tropes to do so...

Lipstadt goes even further in this comment, putting Omar in a select category of antisemitism:

What it suggests to me is that, at best, these people exist in a place where antisemitism is out in the ethosphere; they hear it, breath it in, and don’t even recognize it as antisemitism.

Similarly, in the case of Rev. Raphael Warnock, during the special election for senator of Georgia -- despite the anti-Israel sermon he gave in 2018, Lipstadt defended Warnock's later claim 2 years later in 2020 that he was pro-Israel.

Here is the key excerpt of the sermon:

As described by Jewish Insider:

Warnock’s 2018 sermon was delivered shortly after the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem. “It’s been a tough week,” Warnock noted. “The administration opened up the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem. Standing there [were] the president’s family and a few mealy-mouthed evangelical preachers who are responsible for the mess that we found ourselves in, both there and here — misquoting and misinterpreting the Scripture, talking about peace.”

Warnock went on to compare the struggle for Palestinian rights with the Black Lives Matter movement. “Meanwhile, young Palestinian sisters and brothers, who are struggling for their very lives, struggling for water and struggling for their human dignity stood up in a non-violent protest, saying, ‘If we’re going to die, we’re going to die struggling.’ And yes, there may have been some folk who were violent, but we oughta know how that works out,” Warnock said. “We know what it’s like to stand up and have a peaceful demonstration and have the media focus on a few violent uprisings. But you have to look at those Palestinian sisters and brothers, who are struggling for their human dignity and they have a right to self-determination, they have a right to breathe free.” 

“We need a two-state solution where all of God’s children can live together,” Warnock proclaimed in the 2018 video before proceeding to charge Israel with shooting innocent Palestinians. “We saw the government of Israel shoot down unarmed Palestinian sisters and brothers like birds of prey. And I don’t care who does it, it is wrong. It is wrong to shoot down God’s children like they don’t matter at all. And it’s no more antisemitic for me to say that than it is anti-white for me to say that Black lives matter. Palestinian lives matter.” [emphasis added]

Faced with his past remarks accusing Israel of killing peaceful Palestinian Arabs, Warnock's campaign gave an evasive response that posting the video showed that the other campaign was rummaging around videos to 'misrepresent' his actual views.

But just one year before the Georgia election, in March 2019, Warnock signed onto the Group Pilgrimage Statement on Israel and Palestine, which featured common distortions about Israel, including associating it with apartheid:

j. We saw the patterns that seem to have been borrowed and perfected from other previous oppressive regimes:

1. The ever-present physical walls that wall in Palestinians in a political wall reminiscent of the Berlin Wall
2. Roads built through occupied Palestinian villages, on which Palestinians are not permitted to drive; and homes and families divided by walls and barriers.
3. The heavy militarization of the West Bank, reminiscent of the military occupation of Namibia by apartheid South Africa.
4. The laws of segregation that allow one thing for the Jewish people and another for the Palestinians; we saw evidence of forced removals; homes abandoned, olive trees uprooted or confiscated and taken over, shops and businesses bolted with doors welded to close out any commercial activities. [emphasis added]

Yet Warnock's stand on Israel just a year after that is supposed to show that he did an about-face, now supporting Israel. 

He even appeared at AIPAC. Lipstadt writes:

How, I wondered, could someone who had said that, show up at AIPAC? To answer this question, I read his policy paper on Israel. In it, he expressed unequivocal support for Israel, for a strong U.S.-Israel relationship, for a two-state solution, and for the $38 billion Memorandum of Understanding, which when signed in 2016 constituted the largest pledge of bilateral military assistance in U.S. history. He also unequivocally opposed conditioning aid to Israel, as some have proposed.

Lipstadt says that Warnock's new support for Israel answers the question of how he could appear at AIPAC. One might argue that such an abrupt change just one year later only deepens the questions.

In a piece for The Washington Examiner, Jackson Richman includes Lipstadt's support for Warnock as one of the reasons that Deborah Lipstadt should be voted down by the Senate:

Lipstadt said Warnock had come around on Israel-related issues — never mind that he did not apologize or repudiate his past statements and activities on that issue — such as opposing conditioning U.S. assistance to the Jewish state. She argued, "It would be hard for Warnock to repudiate his most recent views as expressed in his Israel policy paper and numerous interviews."

Except it would not have been hard to offer a sincere apology.

It's an odd argument for Lipstadt to make -- vote for Warnock, because even if he is not sincere in his current pro-Israel position, at least he won't be able to easily go back to his previously anti-Israel position.

But all this talk about Lipstadt being Antisemitism Envoy may be for naught, anyway.

Not because her nomination has stalled in the Senate.
But who's to say that Biden will pay any attention to Lipstadt anyway when it is politically inconvenient?

When Fox News wanted to report on the White House reaction to Lipstadt's criticism of Omar -- there wasn't any:

However; when asked if the administration agreed with its nominee’s views on Omar’s comments, the White House was silent, not responding to Fox News’ request for comment.

The Squad can rest easy.

Zakia Soman and Dr Noorjehan Safia Niaz are determined to ensure Muslim women take their rightful place in society.

By Mariya Salim
NEW DELHI, India, Dec 10 2021 (IPS)

Discriminated in society and concerned about the discrimination of women in their homes, the two women who co-founded the Bhartiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) started the movement to further Muslim women’s leadership and help them reclaim their rights.

In an exclusive interview with IPS, Dr Noorjehan Safia Niaz and Zakia Soman say they started the BMMA or the Indian Muslim Women’s Movement to address communal tensions and prejudice within India and the inherent patriarchal prejudices faced within their homes and beyond.

Both Niaz and Soman say the ‘communal’ tensions, parlance for prejudice and violence against the Muslim minority in India, shaped their understandings of gender and identity. This led them to stand firmly on principles of gender justice and reforms – leading to the formation of BMMA. Since 2007 this movement has grown to more than 50,000 women.

Soman says she became conscious of her Muslim identity while interacting with women survivors of the Gujarat riots in 2002 in Ahmedabad. During these riots, many Muslim women were singled out and subjected to sexual violence.

“Gujarat riots were preceded by 9/11 (the attack on the World Trade Centre in New York in 2001) and the so-called war on terror. I felt a huge burden of my identity. My Muslim name invoked curiosity wherever I went,” Soman says.

She realised she was not alone, and many Muslim women shared her feelings.

“On the one hand, there was communalism and communal violence coupled with state neglect. On the other hand, we faced discrimination at home and within the family, wrongly in the name of religion.”

Soman says she was in an “abusive relationship”, and she and other Muslim women “decided to join hands and take charge of our situation.”

BMMA members in a leadership training program. The organisation has grown to more than 50 000 women and they have achieved significant successes.

The BMMA was born out of these sentiments to change a communal, patriarchal world.

For Niaz, the journey began in 1992, just after Babri Masjid, a mosque in Ayodhya, was demolished. What followed was communal violence across the country. Eighteen Muslims were murdered in Ayodhya following the demolition and houses and shops torched. Across the country, including in Mumbai, around 2,000 people were killed.

This communal violence and insecurity were the reasons Muslim women emerged as community leaders, she said.

“By this time, there was also a deeper understanding of all issues, especially of the core basic need for education, livelihood, health, security,” Niaz says. “Additionally, we also had seen from close quarters the legal discrimination that Muslim women faced because of lack of a codified Muslim family law.”

This became the core demand of the  BMMA because “we knew that if we don’t demand it, nobody else will. ‘Our Struggle, Our Leadership’ became our slogan. Muslim women must lead based on the values of the Holy Quran and the Indian Constitution. (She must) demand her rights which emanate from her religion and her identity as a citizen of this country,” Niaz says in an exclusive interview with IPS.

“Zakia approached me with the idea of a national platform, and that is how it all began. We worked for two years on the vision, mission, objectives, values and principles that would govern the movement, with other women leaders,” she said.

After speaking to other Muslim women leaders in various states and after two years of deliberations, in 2007, BMMA was formally launched.

Since its formation, BMMA has been leading change from within on various fronts.

Soman and Niaz recall the various victories and associate these with the relentless struggle of the members who continued to fight for their rights despite little to no resources and often felt the community’s ire for “daring to demand their rights’.

One such victory was the Haji Ali judgement which reversed a prohibition of women’s entry into the sanctum sanctorum of the religious shrine, Dargah/Shrine. BMMA had filed the Public Interest Litigation or PIL to stop the discriminatory practice. It was a victory endorsed by the Supreme Court of India and paved the way for women from other communities to demand the end of discrimination at religious places.

Another significant achievement was the filing of a PIL against triple divorce, polygamy and halala. The BMMA was a significant group that had the practice of triple divorce, a method where Muslim men could divorce their wives by merely pronouncing the term ‘Talaaq’ or divorce, thrice to them, abolished in 2019.

Forming Darul-Uloom-e-Niswaan and training 20 women to become qazis or religious scholars is a first in India and considered by both as a major achievement.

“Some of the women whom we have trained have even performed Nikahs (religious weddings), challenging patriarchal norms,” adds Niaz.

Despite the resource crunch and criticism, the leaders in the states and members continue to work with the most marginalised women, addressing issues ranging from applying scholarship schemes for their children and training them in livelihood skills to empowering them with information on Constitutional and Quranic rights

Most of the leaders run centres from their homes, many in poor ghettos to reach those in most need.

The movement and its leaders have been criticised for addressing women’s rights when Islamophobia and communal violence are on the rise.

Change and reform are slow and require continuous efforts and support from the larger community and progressive forces, according to Soman.

“It is not easy to take on the patriarchal religious establishment that has ruled over the community mindsets for decades. Neither is it easy to fight a discriminatory communal order in the face of state apathy,” says Soman.

“I do not care about the opinions of vested interests. I am satisfied when I look at how dozens of the riot survivor women have turned out to be fiery activists in the last two decades,” Soman says. BMMA has created leaders across the country.

“These women were voiceless in the cacophony of conservative men of religion. (The leaders) have now shown the whole world that gender justice is intrinsic to Islam. They have changed the perception about their religion in the eyes of ordinary Indians,” she says.

The path chosen was never easy. They were asked why the State should be involved in matters of shariah. They were insulted and called stooges of the right-right-wing Hindutva. This criticism came from both religious groups and the so-called secular-liberal feminists

With the additional challenge of COVID-19, Niaz is confident that the path chosen is the right one.

“Amid the heightened Islamophobia, lynchings and open calls for annihilating the community by the state and state-backed Hindutva forces, how can BMMA continue to speak for family law reforms in favour of Muslim women,” they were asked

Niaz’s answer is emphatic.

“Because if we don’t continue to speak and highlight the issue, nobody else will.”

The two women and the leaders from the Indian states, bound by shared objectives of empowering and uplifting Muslim women, find strength in each other. Niaz reflects on this relationship.

“We bond with each other within BMMA. I would like to believe we are soul-mates born with a common divinely sanctioned purpose. Just being with each other, talking to each other gives us strength.”

 

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