Prominent Turkish Muslim preacher and writer Fethullah Gulen...ruled that a woman should return the violence (on her husband) with interest.
Read full story here.
Thursday, 30 October 2008
Irish students protest over uni reforms
Irish students protest over uni reforms, originally uploaded by solomonsmfield.
Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill
STUDENTS MARCH: STUDENT protesters brought traffic to a standstill in Dublin city centre yesterday afternoon as an estimated 15,000 young people took to the streets to voice concern about the potential reintroduction of third-level fees.
Students gathered in Parnell Square at lunchtime ahead of the march, which culmintated with a rally outside Leinster House where the protesters were addressed by student leaders and opposition politicians.
The students cited budgetary cutbacks in the education sector, a €600 increase to the annual student registration charge announced in the Budget and recent comments by Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe on the possible reintroduction of third-level fees as the fuel for their protest.
The protest was organised by the Union of Students in Ireland (USI), the representative body of some 250,000 third-level attendees in the State.
USI president Shane Kelly said he was delighted with the response of students, which he said was one of the largest student protests in years.
Read more here.Another Education is Possible conference-sign up now
Sign up HERE
Conference Agenda 1st November
11 – 11.30 am Registration:
Registration desk will be inside the foyer of the main SOAS Building. If you have not yet paid you will be asked for a £5 fee to receive your ticket
11.30 – 12.30 pm Opening Session: Education in a Neoliberal World:
Room G2 (on left handside of SOAS reception desk)
- Paul Mackney, former joint General Secretary of University and College Union
- Italian Student, activist from the occupation of Rome University. Witness to the wave of occupations and protests sweeping Italy.
- Alex Callinicos, Author of “Education in a neoliberal world”
- Stalin Vermudez, victimised cleaners leader and SOAS Unison branch chair
12.30 – 1pm Lunch break: Home made Ugandan food will be served for a suggested price of £4. All proceeds will gotowards the cost of educating refugee children.
1 – 2.30 pm Workshops:
Fighting Racism and Fascism (Room G2)
- Brian Richardson, ‘Tell it like it is’ campaign on racism in education.
- MC’s Lo Key and Bashy, leading UK grime artists involved in Love Music Hate Racism
- Assed Baig, Staffordshire Student Union Exective
- Phil Thornhill, Campaign against Climate Change
- Alison Smith, VP Education and Welfare Plymouth SU
- Andrew Murray, Stop the War coalition
- George Solomou, Former Soldier involved in Military Families against the War
- Noreen Fatima, Student at London Met University
- Ben Sellers, SOAS Justice for Cleaners and Co President SOAS SU
- Sean Vernell, UCU Left activist and member of UCU National Executive (pc)
- PCS branch secretary on how we can support the PCS strikes
Room G2
Wes Streeting, NUS National President Vs Rob Owen, NUS National Executive
4.30 – 5.30: Closing Session: Building a democratic, campaigning student movement
Room G2, Chair: Ben Sellers
Italian students protest Uni reforms
| Italian students protest Uni reforms | | |
| Written by Kasia Mychajlowycz |
| Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi threatened to call in the police to break up the week-long student demonstrations and protests that have been taking place across Italy in opposition to his conservative government’s planned reforms of primary and university-level education in the country. According to the Associated Press, “thousands” of students - up to thirty thousand, by one estimate - conducted sit-ins, demonstrations and marches throughout last week. Since the beginning of term, political unrest amongst university students has disrupted classes, with some students skipping class for weeks in protest. Even some teachers have joined the students and begun conducting lectures in the streets and squares, reported AP. Primary school staff plan a general strike next Thursday, while higher education faculty are to strike on November 14. The main march on Thursday saw secondary school and university students marching from Sapienza University in Rome to the Senate, where members of the government were voting on the reforms. If passed, universities and secondary schools will see drastic budget and job cuts to conform to the national budget set in August, which called for a €7.8 billion cut in state-run schools over the next four years. In the lower schools, elementary students will have the same teacher over five years, and could fail a grade for poor conduct. Both the Italian Carabinieri and Rome’s police force had a heavy presence during the demonstration. On Friday morning, PM Berlusconi threatened to order police to break up the sit-ins and demonstrations, stating that he “will not tolerate schools and universities being occupied”. Organizers of the protests, in particular Italy’s student union (Unione degli Universitari), said that they have no plans to cease the demonstrations until the reforms are voted down by the Senate, stating defiantly in one press release “The mobilisation not only continues, it is growing”. |
Fifty Iraqi Kurds forcibly deported to Iraq
Yadga an Iraqi Kurd detained in Tinsley House reported to IFIR that a number of Iraqi Kurdish asylum seekers were taken from Tinsley and Dover House to Stansted Airport yesterday 27October..
Yadga told the Home Office escorts that he was due to be released that day.The escorts however ignored him.Yadga was forced onto a coach with the other Kurdish asylum seekers.Yadga deported there was a convoy of four coaches travelling to the airport. Each asylum seeker as before was accompanied by two escorts. Following phone calls from Yadga’s solicitors he was taken from the holding area at Stansted airport and returned to Tinsley House at 6pm yesterday evening.
Dashty Jamal IFIR Secretary called Awat from Sulaymania.Awat said he and five other Kurdish asylum seekers refused to board the plane and were beaten very badly by their escorts prior to being forced to board the International Hamburg airplane.The filight arrived at Arbil airport at approxiamately 4am the morning of the 28 October. Awat reported that they waited in Arbil for
30 minutes until they were diverted to Sulaymania airport.
This is the sixth time that Iraqi Kurds have been forcibly removed in such large numbers. Generally the UK deports Iraqi Kurds using Royal Jordanian airlines on charter planes. All of these removals are in contravention of the Geneva Convention which states that asylum seekers should not be returned to a war zone.
IFIR asks all Human and refugee rights organisations, Trade Unions and Trade Councils to write letters of protest condemning this flight to the Home
Secretary:Yadga told the Home Office escorts that he was due to be released that day.The escorts however ignored him.Yadga was forced onto a coach with the other Kurdish asylum seekers.Yadga deported there was a convoy of four coaches travelling to the airport. Each asylum seeker as before was accompanied by two escorts. Following phone calls from Yadga’s solicitors he was taken from the holding area at Stansted airport and returned to Tinsley House at 6pm yesterday evening.
Dashty Jamal IFIR Secretary called Awat from Sulaymania.Awat said he and five other Kurdish asylum seekers refused to board the plane and were beaten very badly by their escorts prior to being forced to board the International Hamburg airplane.The filight arrived at Arbil airport at approxiamately 4am the morning of the 28 October. Awat reported that they waited in Arbil for
30 minutes until they were diverted to Sulaymania airport.
This is the sixth time that Iraqi Kurds have been forcibly removed in such large numbers. Generally the UK deports Iraqi Kurds using Royal Jordanian airlines on charter planes. All of these removals are in contravention of the Geneva Convention which states that asylum seekers should not be returned to a war zone.
IFIR asks all Human and refugee rights organisations, Trade Unions and Trade Councils to write letters of protest condemning this flight to the Home
Phil Woolas,
2 Marsham St,
London SW1P
Fax:00442070354745
International Federation of Iraqi Refugees-IFIR CSDIraq
For more information please contact: , Dashty Jamal 078 5603 2991, Karen
Johnson 078 0489 1082 or Samera Ahmad 078 2842 4164 email:
sarahp107@hotmail.com, Karen.Johnson@btinternet.com, d.jamal@ntlworld.com
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
Tuesday, 28 October 2008
Sudanese comrade's political cartoon blog
Monday, 27 October 2008
Missogynisity London Beauty pagant
No doubt you have all heard of and are equally outraged by the Miss University of London pageant that is confirmed to take place again this year. At SOAS we passed a motion at the UGM that the union would not support SOAS taking part, but a group of slimy students (all male of course) are nevertheless widely publicising a SOAS qualification on 25th Nov at the Crystal Club.
We are discussing our course of action at our Women's Society meeting Wednesday, 6pm in the Institute of Education bar and would LOVE it if you could come along to let us know what your unions are planning and to organise some action that we can take together- whether its protests, events, publicity campaigns or lobbying our individual universities, the University of London or the pageant sponsors.
Please forward this to anyone who may have fab ideas/ and or bodies to contribute to the campaign. If we work together on this the feminist voice will be heard and it will be a resounding roar of indignation!!!
From Elly-SOAS Women's officer
We are discussing our course of action at our Women's Society meeting Wednesday, 6pm in the Institute of Education bar and would LOVE it if you could come along to let us know what your unions are planning and to organise some action that we can take together- whether its protests, events, publicity campaigns or lobbying our individual universities, the University of London or the pageant sponsors.
Please forward this to anyone who may have fab ideas/ and or bodies to contribute to the campaign. If we work together on this the feminist voice will be heard and it will be a resounding roar of indignation!!!
From Elly-SOAS Women's officer
Coming soon to a SWSS group near you-Life after Capitalism...
...the series.
Watch this space.
Suggestions for titles welcome-comment below please.
Watch this space.
Suggestions for titles welcome-comment below please.
Sunday, 26 October 2008
Saturday, 25 October 2008
She did it! Mum's graduation.
Congratulations to my dear mummy on graduating from Winchester University this summer with a higher division 2:1. Being the very first person in our family to graduate-well done.
Click here for the link to my Flickr account for more pics.
As a 'graduand' before the ceremony outside Winchester Cathedral.
Me, my mum and my 18 yr old sister Tia at the ball
Me & Tia singing Madonna's Papa Don't Preach-it's much harder than we thought it would be!!
Click here for the link to my Flickr account for more pics.
As a 'graduand' before the ceremony outside Winchester Cathedral.
Me, my mum and my 18 yr old sister Tia at the ball
Karl Marx: did he get it right? Vote here...
From the Times Online Comment Central blog
Did Karl Marx get it right? That's the poser in today's paper. The Prussian has recently been ignored by the mainstream - consigned to obscure curricula as the business world steamed ahead. But as markets plummeted last week, dog-eared copies of Das Kapital started to fly off the shelves.
Did Karl Marx get it right? That's the poser in today's paper. The Prussian has recently been ignored by the mainstream - consigned to obscure curricula as the business world steamed ahead. But as markets plummeted last week, dog-eared copies of Das Kapital started to fly off the shelves.
Comment Central wants to know your thoughts. Can you hear an 'I told you so' reverberating from Highgate Cemetery? Or are you still using the work of its most famous resident to prop up your television?
Cast your vote here.
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