Regular hate offender group Hindu Sena on March 6, 2022 supported a hate-crime of international proportions by supporting Russia in its invasion of Ukraine. Members chanted a mix of slogans like ‘Jai Shri Ram’, ‘Bharat-Russia Dosti Zindabad’ with singular explanations for their stand.

Amidst conflict in Ukraine, a right wing group,Hindu Sena(Hindu Army)rallied in support of Russia on Sunday in heart of India’s capital New Delhi.

“Whenever India was in trouble at international level Russia has supported us..if needed Hindu Sena soldiers will fight for Russia” pic.twitter.com/AUyIaFwqj0

— Zafar Aafaq (@ZafarAafaq) March 6, 2022

The RSS-affiliated organisation marched in Connaught Place, central Delhi with saffron, Indian and Russian flags in hand. One Hindu Sena member speaking to local mediapersons, said, “India and Russia are good friends. Whenever India was in trouble at the international level Russia has supported us. If needed, Hindu Sena soldiers will fight for Russia. And Ukraine has always voted against us. India should help Russia in every way.” He went on to say that NATO countries are those of western nations that hinder the progress of Asian countries, completely oblivious to what NATO is and what its objectives are.

As per the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) website, the organisation’s purpose is to guarantee the freedom and security of its members through political and military means. Established after World War II, the NATO has not caused any explicit suffering to Asian countries as implied by the Hindu Sena member.

However, the attack on Ukraine by Russia has been condemned by many countries fearing a third world war following a global pandemic. This includes Russian television channel TV Rain (Dozhd) whose staff resigned on-air, declaring “no to war” in its final live telecast.

Meanwhile, when asked about the students stuck in Ukraine, the member said that all children are in contact with the Indian government and are safe. Again, this is at odds with news reports, stating that over 600 Indian students are stranded at Sumy State University, close to the Russian border. Students have complained that the Indian Embassy in Ukraine neither evacuated them nor gave any assurance to that effect.

Yet, when Ivano Frankivsk National Medical University MBBS student Vaishali Yadav asked for help from the Government of India, was trolled by right-wing media. All of this, after the Ministry of external Affairs reported the death of final year medical student Naveen Shekarappa Gyanagoudar on March 1.

Despite such circumstances, the Hindu Sena maintains its support for Russia with slogans like, “Russia tum sangharsh karo, hum tumhare saath hai (Russia fight, we are with you).”

Already on Tuesday, the same group stuck posters on Russian poet Alexander Pushkin’s statue in Delhi that said “Indian Hindus are with Putin and Russia in establishing the Soviet Union. Jai Ho Akhand Russia, Jai Bharat – Hindu Sena”.

The right-wing organisation repeatedly supports instances of aggression. Before the Russia-Ukraine war, it supported the ban of hijab inside classrooms, a controversy that hindered education in Karnataka for at least a month. Before this in 2019, the Hindu Sena even celebrated Queen Victoria’s birth anniversary stating the Britishers brought India together as a nation.

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Ukraine invasion: Indian student killed in Kharkiv, right-wing blames the victim!

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The Russian invasion of Ukraine on Feb 24, 2022, has brought uncertainty to the lives and futures of nearly 4,00,000 Muslims who call the country their home, the majority being Crimean Tatar. According to an estimate, as many as 1,00,000 Muslims are living in the capital Kyiv alone, while others are in other war-torn cities like Kherson, etc.

The other ethnic Muslim groups in Ukraine besides Crimean Tatar are Volga Tatars, Azeris, North Caucasians, and Uzbeks. After the Russian invasion, the future of the Ukrainian Muslims hangs in balance and largely depends on the ongoing diplomatic efforts by world leaders to defuse the escalating tensions.

The Union of Islamic Communities of Italy has urged Muslim communities in the country, and across Europe, to open the doors of their centers so they can be safe havens for those fleeing from war in Ukraine. Muslim communities throughout Italy have been organising local initiatives to collect food and medicine to be donated to Ukraine, in cooperation with the Catholic organisations.

In this regard, there is little effort made by the Muslim countries. In fact, their reaction to the current Ukraine war does not inspire any hope. While Turkish President Erdogan has criticised the Russian invasion, Iran has accused the U.S. and the West of causing the ‘problem’ in Ukraine. The other Muslim countries are silent about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and they have no words of support for the fleeing Ukrainian Muslims.  

To recall, in March 2014, Russia annexed Crimea after a disputed and internationally rejected referendum. The occupying forces immediately began to crack down on the Crimean Muslims. The war displaced some 7,50,000 Muslims from the Crimea peninsula and they moved to the capital Kyiv and Kherson, a city in southern Ukraine.

Now with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the nightmare of persecution once again looms large over the minds of Muslims and they are worried about their future. The renewed threat of their displacement by the Russians, lays their future uncertain, and they fear being treated in the same way as they were in 2014, during the Crimea war.

The history of Muslims in Ukraine is associated with the Crimean Tatars, the Turkic-speaking descendants of Turkic and non-Turkic peoples who had settled in Eastern Europe as early as the 7th century. The Crimean Tatars are a Muslim ethnic group indigenous to the Crimean Peninsula, on the northern coast of the Black Sea. Muslim settlements are concentrated in the countries in the southern half, particularly in Crimea, although there are Lipka Tatar colonies in other regions such as Volhynia and Podolia.

Muslims established the Crimean Khanate in southern Ukraine in the 15th century. The Khanate soon lost its sovereignty and fell to the Ottoman Empire, although its local rulers retained a significant degree of autonomy. The Khanate ended after growing Russian influence leading to its annexation into the Russian Empire after the Russo-Turkish Wars in the late 18th century. At the time when the Khanate was annexed by Russia, its capital of Bakhchysarai had at least 18 mosques along with several madrassas. Later, at the time of the Russian Revolution in 1917, Muslims constituted one-third of Crimea’s population. Nearly all major cities in Crimea had a significant Muslim population.

However, the Russian Empire began persecuting the Muslims. Crimean Muslims were subjected to mass deportation in 1944 by Joseph Stalin who accused them of collaborating with Nazi Germany. This stigma was propagated about the Muslims despite tens of thousands of Crimean Tatars serving in the Red Army.

In 1944, more than 200,000 Crimean Muslims were deported to Central Asia, primarily to Uzbekistan. They were forced onto the cattle trains and exiled. It is estimated that about half of them died due to the harsh journey, starvation, and subsequent diseases.  

After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Crimean peninsula became part of Ukraine, and the exiled Muslims were asked to return to their homeland. The repatriation though began in 1989, accelerated after 1991. The returnees faced challenges such as being blocked from buying or renting homes, including those that they had previously owned before the deportation.

Estimates of the Ukrainian Muslim population vary. According to a 2011 Pew Forum study estimate, the Ukrainian Muslim population is about 3,93,000, but the Clerical Board of Ukraine’s Muslims claim that there are two million Muslims living in Ukraine. According to another report of 2012 an estimated 5,00,000 Muslims live in Ukraine, among them, are as many as 3,00,000 are Crimean Tatars.

The condition of the Muslims in Ukraine has been improving since 1991, that is since Ukraine’s independence. During the Soviet era, Ukrainian Muslims were not allowed to practice their religion in open but after 1991, Muslims were allowed to pray in their mosques.

There are other notable developments taking place with regard to Ukrainian Muslims since 1991. A Crimean Tatar representative body was formed to be called Mejlis in 1991. In addition, Crimean Tatar language schools were introduced to reverse the effects of the Soviet ban on the study of the language. Now Muslims in Ukraine have 445 communities, 433 ministers, and 160 mosques, more mosques being built there slowly and steadily. There are nearly 360 registered Ukrainian Muslim communities and organisations, including several charitable organisations.

Muslims in Ukraine lead an Islamic way of life. Weddings are conducted as per Islamic rituals, halal food is served, and Islamic education for children and adults and other facilities are provided. Ramadan programs are organised in a big way. During the month of Ramadan, there are about 800-1,000 people who visit the Central Mosque in Kyiv for iftar and Tarawih prayers daily.

The assumption is Russia may not persecute the Muslims of Ukraine as it has done before, because there is no reason for doing so. It is believed that Vladimir Putin has built a brand image for himself in the Muslim world that he is the only leader that can stand up to Western anti-Muslim biases. In the war against Ukraine, he must deploy this Russian capital in the most effective way and spare the Muslims from any harm to gain the support of Muslims from all over the world.

*The author is a journalist based in Chennai.

Related:

Trolls hound UP village leader stuck in Ukraine for asking GoI for help
Ukraine invasion: Indian student killed in Kharkiv, right-wing blames the victim!
Kashmir and Crimea – where is the difference?

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Shocking videos of scores of Indian students, walking long distances to reach safe border points, as well as those sending distress messages, have flooded social media. Every parent’s worst nightmare, however, was confirmed when it was officially announced by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) that an Indian student was killed in Ukraine on Tuesday. The young man has been identified as Naveen Shekarappa Gyanagoudar (21), a final year medical student who hailed from Chalageri in Karnataka’s Haveri district. He was killed when Russian soldiers blew up a government building he was standing near, stated media reports. 

With profound sorrow we confirm that an Indian student lost his life in shelling in Kharkiv this morning. The Ministry is in touch with his family.

We convey our deepest condolences to the family.

— Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) March 1, 2022

According to a report in NDTV, Pooja Praharaj, a student coordinator in Kharkiv, told the media, “He lived near the Governor’s House and had been standing in the queue for food. Suddenly there was an air strike that blew up the Governor’s House and he was killed.” According to Praharaj a Ukrainian woman picked up his phone, and said “the owner of this phone is being taken to the morgue” The news went viral even as this morning, the Indian Embassy issued an advisory to all Indian citizens, including students, to leave Ukraine capital Kyiv “urgently today, by trains or any other means available.”

Advisory to Indians in Kyiv

All Indian nationals including students are advised to leave Kyiv urgently today. Preferably by available trains or through any other means available.

— India in Ukraine (@IndiainUkraine) March 1, 2022

According to NDTV, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla called in the ambassadors of Russia and Ukraine to “reiterate India’s demand for urgent safe passage for Indian nationals.” However there are conversations doing the rounds that India’s response to the crisis and the need for urgent evacuation has been slow to say the least. Students and aid workers, both, have been sending regular appeals which have also found their way onto social media. Some students have managed to also appeal by jumping into the video frames of television anchors who are in the region reporting on the evacuations.

Critics say that the Indian government may have ignored the early warning signs such as the “United States notification to its officials to evacuate”. 

However, humanity was shamed most, as soon as the news of the student’s death came in, and questions began being asked on the lack of response and empathy from the government. The right-wing ecosystem of Hindutva-fed influencers began blaming the victim himself. Tweet after tweet they said that Navin was “ignoring” the advisories from the Indian government. Pro-government media further amplified this blame game against the victim.

Here you go… They’ve started blaming him.. pic.twitter.com/w5gZPGMuW5

— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) March 1, 2022

जो बच्चा मरा है वो अपनी गलती से मरा है, मोदी सरकार बहुत अच्छा काम कर रही है : आजतक का पत्रकारpic.twitter.com/2DugDxjpv6

— Puneet Kumar Singh (@puneetsinghlive) March 1, 2022

Received the tragic news of an Indian student Naveen losing his life in Ukraine.

My heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.

I reiterate, GOI needs a strategic plan for safe evacuation.

Every minute is precious.

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) March 1, 2022

The students have been trying to leave but needed your support. Those who did get to other international borders were faced with hostility and no support from your team.

We offered to fund extra buses in Ukraine but you didn’t accept our offer ! Our offer stands https://t.co/uWZ8i9vE3S

— ravinder singh (@RaviSinghKA) March 1, 2022

According to NDTV, satellite images showed a convoy of Russian military vehicles on roadways northwest of Kyiv and “around 16,000 Indian students are still stranded in Ukraine.” Scores of students continue to share images, from underground bunkers, metro stations and bomb shelters, where they have been hiding since the Russian attack started last Thursday. So far, only around 9,000 Indian nationals have left by various special flights, stated NDTV. Many Indian students remain stuck in eastern parts of Ukraine, which are most affected by the Russian military offensive. The students are facing grave challenges to reach the western borders and have been reportedly walking “in sub-zero conditions, hoping to cross over and take a flight home”. The embassy asked students to go to the railway station in Kyiv, where special evacuation trains have been arranged by Ukraine to take people to the western region. However, many students complained that they were not allowed to board the trains or they were mistreated by officials. 

Back home, these students have also been vilified by none other than Union Minister Prahlad Joshi, who, on Monday, told the media that “90% of medical students who go abroad for studies fail in NEET”. This is the entrance exam students must clear with high scores to earn a medical medical seat in the country. Joshi had mocked the students who went abroad to study medicine as ‘failures’.

“विदेश जाने वाले 90% स्टूडेंट्स भारत में मेडिकल की प्रवेश परीक्षा NEET में ही Fail हो जाते हैं”

केंद्रीय मंत्री प्रह्लाद जोशी#UkraineRussiaWar #IndiansInUkraine pic.twitter.com/3yRQzFwzh7

— News24 (@news24tvchannel) March 1, 2022

As long as the Prachar Minister is in power, these visuals of our people being abandoned, visuals of their sufferings, visuals of inhumanity will continue to haunt our nation.#ModiActNow pic.twitter.com/904TP8BhKp

— Congress (@INCIndia) March 1, 2022

As soon as the right-wing IT cell, and their media’s insensitive reactions went viral, the BJP politicians condoled Naveen’s death. But by then it was clear, that the condolences were merely an image repair exercise.  

Deeply distressed with the unfortunate death of Karnataka student Naveen Gyanagoudar in bomb shelling in Ukraine.

I pray for the Sadgati of Naveen’s Soul and offer my deepest condolences to His family members.

— C T Ravi ?? ಸಿ ಟಿ ರವಿ (@CTRavi_BJP) March 1, 2022

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Reactor number four of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant suffered an explosion during a technical test on April 26, 1986. As a result of the accident, in the then Soviet Union, more than 400 times more radiation was emitted than that released by the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima (Japan) in 1945. It remains the largest nuclear accident in history.

Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (Ukraine) with the new safe confinement building over the number 4 reactor unit. May 2017. Germán Orizaola

Decontamination work began immediately after the accident. An exclusion zone was created around the plant, and more than 350,000 people were evacuated from the area. They never returned. And severe restrictions on permanent human settlement are still in place today.

The accident had a major impact on the human population. Although there are not clear figures, the physical loss of human lives and physiological consequences were huge. Estimates of the number of human fatalities vary wildly.

The initial impact on the environment was also important. One of the areas more heavily affected by the radiation was the pine forest near the plant, known since then as the “Red Forest”. This area received the highest doses of radiation, the pine trees died instantly and all the leaves turned red. Few animals survived the highest radiation levels.

Therefore, after the accident it was assumed that the area would become a desert for life. Considering the long time that some radioactive compounds take to decompose and disappear from the environment, the forecast was that the area would remain devoid of wildlife for centuries.

Chernobyl wildlife today

But today, 33 years after the accident, the Chernobyl exclusion zone, which covers an area now in Ukraine and Belarus, is inhabited by brown bears, bisons, wolves, lynxes, Przewalski horses, and more than 200 bird species, among other animals.

In March 2019, most of the main research groups working with Chernobyl wildlife met in Portsmouth, England. About 30 researchers from the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Belgium, Norway, Spain and Ukraine presented the latest results of our work. These studies included work on big mammals, nesting birds, amphibians, fish, bumblebees, earthworms, bacteria and leaf litter decomposition.

These studies showed that at present the area hosts great biodiversity. In addition, they confirmed the general lack of big negative effects of current radiation levels on the animal and plant populations living in Chernobyl. All the studied groups maintain stable and viable populations inside the exclusion zone.

A clear example of the diversity of wildlife in the area is given by the TREE project (TRansfer-Exposure-Effects, led by Nick Beresford of the UK’s Centre for Ecology and Hydrology). As part of this project, motion detection cameras were installed for several years in different areas of the exclusion zone. The photos recorded by these cameras reveal the presence of abundant fauna at all levels of radiation. These cameras recorded the first observation of brown bears and European bison inside the Ukrainian side of the zone, as well as the increase in the number of wolves and Przewalski horses.

European bison (Bison bonasus), boreal lynx (Lynx lynx), moose (Alces alces) and brown bear (Ursus arctos) photographed inside Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (Ukraine). Proyecto TREE/Sergey Gaschack

Our own work with the amphibians of Chernobyl has also detected abundant populations across the exclusion zone, even on the more contaminated areas. Furthermore, we have also found signs that could represent adaptive responses to life with radiation. For instance, frogs within the exclusion zone are darker than frogs living outside it, which is a possible defence against radiation.

An oriental treefrog (Hyla orientalis), Chernobyl (Ukraine). May 2018. Germán Orizaola

Studies have also detected some negative effects of radiation at an individual level. For example, some insects seem to have a shorter lifespan and are more affected by parasites in areas of high radiation. Some birds also have higher levels of albinism, as well as physiological and genetic alterations when living in highly contaminated localities. But these effects don’t seem to affect the maintenance of wildlife population in the area.

The general absence of negative effects of radiation on Chernobyl wildlife can be a consequence of several factors:

First, wildlife could be much more resistant to radiation than previously thought. Another alternative possibility is that some organisms could be starting to show adaptive responses that would allow them to cope with radiation and live inside the exclusion zone without harm. In addition, the absence of humans inside the exclusion zone could be favouring many species – big mammals in particular.

That final option would suggest that the pressures generated by human activities would be more negative for wildlife in the medium-term than a nuclear accident – a quite revealing vision of the human impact on the natural environment.

The future of Chernobyl

In 2016 the Ukrainian part of the exclusion zone was declared a radiological and environmental biosphere reserve by the national government.

Forest and meadows inside Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (Ukraine). May 2016. Germán Orizaola

Over the years, Chernobyl has also become an excellent natural laboratory for the study of evolutionary processes in extreme environments, something that could prove valuable given the rapid environmental changes experienced worldwide.

At present, several projects are trying to resume human activities in the area. Tourism has flourished in Chernobyl, with more than 70,000 visitors in 2018. There also plans for developing solar power plants in the area, and for expanding forestry work. Last year, there was even an art installation and techno party inside the abandoned city of Prypiat.

Over the past 33 years, Chernobyl has gone from the being considered a potential dessert for life to being an area of high interest for biodiversity conservation.

It may sound strange, but now we need to work to maintain the integrity of the exclusion zone as a nature reserve if we want to guarantee that in the future Chernobyl will remain a refuge for wildlife.

Courtesy: The Conversation

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Stephen Colbert Greets U.S. Soldiers in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Stephen Tour, 2009.|Lee Craker/PA. All rights reserved
 

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At the same time when the conference was hosted in Moscow, however, the Taliban mounted concerted attacks in the northern Baghlan province, the Jaghori district in central Ghazni province and the western Farah province bordering Iran.

In fact, according to a recent report by the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), the US-backed Afghan government only controls 55% of Afghanistan’s territory. It’s worth noting that SIGAR is a US-based governmental agency that often inflates figures. Factually, the government’s writ does not extend beyond a third of Afghanistan. In many cases, the Afghan government controls city-centers of districts and rural areas are either controlled by the Taliban or are contested.

If we take a cursory look at the insurgency in Afghanistan, the Bush administration toppled the Taliban regime with the help of the Northern Alliance in October 2001 in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attack. Since the beginning, however, Afghanistan was an area of lesser priority for the Bush administration.

The number of US troops stationed in Afghanistan did not exceed beyond 30,000 during George Bush’s tenure as president, and soon after occupying Afghanistan, he invaded Iraq in March 2003 and American resources and focus shifted to Iraq.

It was the Obama administration that made Afghanistan the bedrock of its foreign policy in 2009 along with fulfilling then-President Obama’s electoral pledge of withdrawing the US troops from Iraq in December 2011. At the height of the surge of the US troops in Afghanistan in 2010, they numbered around 140,000 but still did not manage to have a lasting effect on the relentless Taliban insurgency.

The Taliban are known to be diehard fighters who are adept at hit-and-run guerilla tactics and have a much better understanding of the Afghan territory compared to foreigners. Even by their standards, however, the Taliban insurgency seems to be on steroids during the last couple of years.

They have managed to overrun and hold vast swathes of territory not only in the traditional Pashtun heartland of southern Afghanistan, such as Helmand, but have also made inroads into the northern provinces of Afghanistan which are the traditional strongholds of the Northern Alliance comprising Tajiks and Uzbeks.

In October 2016, for instance, the Taliban mounted brazen attacks on the Gormach district of northwestern Faryab province, the Tirankot district of Uruzgan province and briefly captured [1] the city-center of the northern Kunduz province, before they were repelled with the help of US air power.

This outreach of the Taliban into the traditional strongholds of the Tajiks and Uzbeks in northern Afghanistan bordering the Russian satellite states Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan has come as a surprise to perceptive observers of the militancy in Afghanistan.
It is commonly believed that the Taliban are the proxies of Pakistan’s military which uses them as “strategic assets” to offset the influence of India in Afghanistan. The hands of Pakistan’s military, however, have been full with a homegrown insurgency of the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) since 2009 when it began conducting military operations in Swat and the tribal areas.

Although some remnants of the Taliban still find safe havens in the lawless tribal areas of Pakistan, the renewed vigor and brazen assaults of the Taliban, particularly in the Afghanistan’s northern provinces as I described earlier, cannot be explained by the support of Pakistan’s military to the Taliban.

In an August 2017 report [2] for the New York Times, Carlotta Gall described the killing of the former Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour in a US drone strike on a tip-off from Pakistan’s intelligence in Pakistan’s western Balochistan province in May 2016 when he was coming back from a secret meeting with Russian and Iranian officials in Iran. According to the report, “Iran facilitated a meeting between Mullah Akhtar Mansour and Russian officials, Afghan officials said, securing funds and weapons from Moscow for the insurgents.”

It bears mentioning that the Russian support to the Taliban coincides with its intervention in Syria in September 2015, after the Ukrainian Crisis in November 2013 when Viktor Yanukovych suspended the preparations for the implementation of an association agreement with the European Union and tried to take Ukraine back into the folds of the Russian sphere of influence by accepting billions of dollars of loan package offered by Vladimir Putin to Ukraine, consequently causing a crisis in which Yanukovych was ousted from power and Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula.

Although the ostensible reason of Russia’s support – and by some accounts, Iran’s as well – to the Taliban is that it wants to contain the influence of the Islamic State Khorasan Province in Afghanistan because the Khorasan Province includes members of the now defunct Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), Russia’s traditional foe, the real reason of Russia’s intervention in Syria and support to the Taliban in Afghanistan is that the Western powers are involved in both of these conflicts and since a New Cold War has started between Russia and the Western powers after the Ukrainian crisis, hence it suits Russia’s strategic interests to weaken the influence of the Western powers in the Middle East and Central Asian regions and project its own power.

In order to grasp the significance of the New Cold War between Russia and the Western powers, on March 4, Sergei Skripal, a Russian double agent working for the British foreign intelligence service, and his daughter Yulia were found unconscious on a public bench outside a shopping center in Salisbury. A week later, another Russian exile Nikolai Glushkov was found dead in his London home.

Skripal was recruited by the British MI6 in 1995, and before his arrest in Russia in December 2004, he was alleged to have blown the cover of scores of Russian secret agents. He was released in a spy swap deal in 2010 and was allowed to settle in Salisbury. Theresa May’s government concluded that Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with a Moscow-made, military-grade nerve agent, Novichok, and expelled 23 Russian diplomats. In a tit-for-tat move, Kremlin also expelled a similar number of British diplomats.

Emmanuel Macron and Donald Trump assured their full support to Theresa May and also expelled scores of Russian diplomats. Thus, the relations between Moscow and the Western powers have reached their lowest ebb since the break-up of the former Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War in December 1991.

Although Russia might appear as an aggressor in these instances, in order to understand the real casus belli of the New Cold War between Russia and the Western powers, we must recall another momentous event that took place in Deir al-Zor province of Syria a month before the poisoning of Skripals who have since recovered.

On February 7, the US B-52 bombers and Apache helicopters struck a contingent of Syrian government troops and allied forces in Deir al-Zor that reportedly killed and wounded scores of Russian military contractors working for the Russian private security firm, the Wagner group. The survivors described the bombing as an absolute “massacre” and Kremlin lost more Russian citizens in one day than it had lost during its entire military campaign in support of the Syrian government since September 2015.

The reason why Washington struck Russian contractors working in Syria was that the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – which is mainly comprised of Kurdish YPG militias – had reportedly handed over the control of some areas east of Euphrates River to Deir al-Zor Military Council (DMC), which is the Arab-led component of SDF, and had relocated several battalions of Kurdish YPG militias to Afrin and along Syria’s northern border with Turkey in order to defend the Kurdish-held areas against the onslaught of the Turkish armed forces and allied Free Syria Army (FSA) militias in their “Operation Olive Branch” in Syria’s northwest.

Syrian forces with the backing of Russian contractors took advantage of the opportunity and crossed the Euphrates River to capture an oil refinery located east of Euphrates River in the Kurdish-held area of Deir al-Zor.

The US Air Force responded with full force, knowing well the ragtag Arab component of SDF – mainly comprised of local Arab tribesmen and mercenaries to make the Kurdish-led SDF appear more representative and inclusive – was simply not a match for the superior training and arms of Syrian troops and Russian military contractors. Consequently, causing a carnage in which scores of Russian citizens lost their lives, an incident which became a trigger for the beginning of a New Cold War which is obvious from the subsequent events.

Sources and links:
[1] Concerted Taliban onslaughts on Kunduz, Faryab, Uruzgan, Farah and Helmand:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/10/afghanistan-taliban-captures-ghormach-district-161011141613477.html
[2] In Afghanistan, U.S. Exits, and Iran Comes In:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/05/world/asia/iran-afghanistan-taliban.html

Nauman Sadiq is an Islamabad-based attorney, columnist and geopolitical analyst focused on the politics of Af-Pak and Middle East regions, neocolonialism and petro-imperialism.

Courtesy: https://countercurrents.org/
 

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FEMEN activists. Photo: Jacob Khrist.Such are the risks to some frontline activists who have dared to challenge religious orthodoxies around the world that an international conference on Free Expression and Conscience, 22-23 July, is taking place at an undisclosed venue in central London, the location known only to the participants.

One of the keynote speakers, Bonya Ahmed, was attacked by machete and her husband, Avijit Roy, was brutally killed on the crowded streets of Dhaka, Bangladesh because they ran a blog for freethinkers.

Other speakers and participants – including members of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain (CEMB), the main organising group behind the conference – also have stories of harassment, death threats and physical danger. Even (or perhaps especially), in the 21st century, with the rise of the religious right, free speech can result in a death sentence.

…in the 21st century, with the rise of the religious right, free speech can result in a death sentence.

Inna Shevchenko, leader of the controversial group FEMEN, is scheduled to speak on “Gods vs Girls: Is Religion Compatible with Feminism?” She had to leave her native Ukraine in 2012, and seek asylum in France, after being abducted, beaten, tortured and threatened with death by security forces.

FEMEN activists have achieved notoriety because their main form of public protest has been inscribing slogans across their bare chests. Shevchenko told me, in their defence: “What do we do? We appear in the square, we take off our tops, we put slogans on our breasts and we scream the slogans, we do nothing else. We are then thrown on the floor and strangled, kidnapped, arrested. This is disproportionate. It reveals a lot about the violence that patriarchal institutions inflict on women who dare to disagree”.

In Ukraine, FEMEN has used these tactics to protest against what Shevchenko calls the three institutions of patriarchy: dictatorship, the sex industry and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – an important reminder to those who equate extremism with Islam that institutionalised religion of all denominations can be dangerous to your health.

Shevchenko says: “Dictatorship is usually one male leader who fosters the cult of the father of the nation. Similarly, in monotheist religions, there is one father i.e. God who punishes you, who protects you and who defines who you are and what your position in society will be”. (Of course, this pattern is also replicated in the family).

A FEMEN activist is tackled to the ground. Photo: Jacob Khrist. FEMEN was founded in 2008, Shevchenko says, as a reaction to the exponential growth of sex tourism in Ukraine. She grew up in post-communist Ukraine and recalls a catastrophic economic collapse in which the national currency was replaced for six years by coupons that expired within three months. Under communism, she says, gender gaps had reduced somewhat as women’s employment and educational opportunities opened up – but afterwards unemployment hit women the hardest, pushing many into the arms of a rich husband or the sex industry.

Shevchenko and FEMEN have been criticised for the crudity of, and contradictions in, their arguments and tactics. But her clarity of analysis on the question of religion is lacking in some feminist quarters. Whilst she accepts that a feminist can be a believer, the idea of religious feminism to her is an oxymoron. Shevchenko says: “It would be intellectually dishonest to say that religion will provide the grounds for women’s liberation. No, it’s feminism that will provide the grounds for women’s liberation and it is through feminist ideas that religious ideas and text could be modified”.

FEMEN’s topless tactics have been condemned by some feminists for playing into the culture of sexism by exposing their breasts. To this Shevchenko responds: “I get it when sexists make this argument, but I don’t understand it when feminists [do]… What those feminists are saying is that a woman’s body can be de-sexualised by hiding it – but that is what religious institutions are saying. I’m saying I’m going to give my definition of what my body is. My body is sexual when I decide it to be sexual, my body should be political when I decide it to be political”.

“My body is sexual when I decide it to be sexual, my body should be political when I decide it to be political”

The success of nudity as political protest seems to depend largely on context. In the west, where women’s naked bodies have been commodified and used to sell goods, reclaiming nakedness for political purposes is much harder. In conservative societies, where women’s dress is intensely policed, any breach of the codes is both brave and revolutionary.  

Mona Eltahawy tells a funny story in her book Headscarves and Hymens; Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution about a Tunisian feminist Amira Yahyaoui who asked a Salafist member of the constituent assembly a question. When he refused to answer her, as he did not speak to “naked” women (she was not wearing a hijab), Yahyaoui began to undress. The Salafist was horrified and demanded to know what she was doing. She said: “I’m showing you what a naked woman looks like” – and he promptly answered her question.

Other Muslim women have braved censure or death to use their bodies to make a political statement, including Aliaa Elmahdy, the naked Egyptian blogger, and Amina Tyler, the Tunisian blogger who posted a topless picture of herself in 2013. Maryam Namazie – an Iranian ex-Muslim, and an organiser of this weekend’s conference – has used toplessness as a form of protest on a number of occassions, most recently at the Pride 2017 march in London.

Maryam Namazie. Photo: CEMB (Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain).Namazie told me: “A pillar of Islamist rule is the erasure of the female body from the public space. So what better way to resist than with the female body?” Both Elmahdy and Tyler, under threat from conservatives, have had to flee their countries of origin. Feminists and progressives must defend the right of these women to free expression, rather than make common cause with religious conservatives, even if we do not personally see nudity as a form of liberation.

“A pillar of Islamist rule is the erasure of the female body from the public space. So what better way to resist than with the female body?”

This insight is sometimes missing in white feminist critiques of female nudity. When the Pakistan social media celebrity Qandeel Baloch was murdered by her brother – for bringing “shame” to the family with sexually-charged videos and photos posted online – some older British feminists took to a Facebook discussion where one asked whether Baloch “joining the oppressive western world and slathering herself in make-up and posting vids of herself twerking and always doing the bidding of men… [was] SO empowering”. But nothing is as undermining of religious patriarchal mores as a woman flaunting her sexuality. 

The failure of some sections of the progressive left to challenge institutionalised religion’s assault on free expression will be one of the themes running through this weekend’s conference in London. Billed as the Glastonbury of freethinkers and featuring 70 speakers from more than 30 countries, other discussion topics will be resistance to religion from gay rights campaigners, the growing influence of religion in the law and the state, secularism as a human right and identity politics. 

For Namazie, “the conference is a timely reminder that freedom of conscience is not just for the believer but [also] for the nonbeliever. That free expression is not just to defend the sacred but to reject it”. Exercising this right has already caused harm and cost lives. This is a significant battleground for our times.

Rahila Gupta is a freelance journalist and writer. Her work has appeared in The Guardian and New Humanist among other papers and magazines. Her books include, Enslaved: The New British Slavery; From Homebreakers to Jailbreakers: Southall Black Sisters; Provoked;  and ‘Don’t Wake Me: The Ballad of Nihal Armstrong (Playdead Press, 2013). She is co-authoring a book with Beatrix Campbell with the title Why Doesn’t Patriarchy Die? Follow her on twitter @ RahilaG

Courtesy: Open Democracy
 

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