Civil Rights

22 years ago today, the former Iraqi regime ordered its air force to bombard the Kurdish town of Halabja with chemical weapons, instantly poisoning to death 5000 men, women and children. I went to Halabja for the first time in the spring of 2006 to pay my respects to the dead. I [...]

Hypocracy[1] is understood as a so called democratic government in which hypocrisy rule i.e. the ruling party/individuals does not keep on what is being promised and/or told.

Bloggers across the globe are being imprisoned for writing posts that are deemed “blasphemous” or are accused of “spreading false information harmful to the country.”
In the last month almost 10 netizens and bloggers have been arrested worldwide.
The March 18 Movement aims to shed light on these cases and calls for free speech on the [...]

It’s oppressive. It’s degrading. It’s this, it’s that. Jack Straw claimed this, Nicholas Sarkozy mentioned that. Let us liberate them in Afghanistan, let us liberate them in France. Yawn. I am getting fed up of these burka stories. They seem to be never ending and at times very cringe worthy. ’Burka woman sacked from her job!’  ’Lets [...]

This story happened more than 70 or 80 years ago, in the Galilee Heights, during the British occupation “Mandate” to Palestine, a long time before we had the “honor” to host our “cousins’ the jews. There, in one of the Galilee villages, there was a Palestinian peasant who had a stubborn donkey. Both, the peasant [...]

I had the opportunity recently to read the Manifesto of the Green Movement in Iran. It’s quite an impressive document; very reminiscent, in many ways, of American democracy, as spelled out in such historic documents as the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. Thomas Jefferson would have approved. The trouble is, however, as the [...]

The Arab communities and even non-Arab Islamic had left us a legacy of customs and traditions against the female, and had subsequently generated a series of consequences of the process of discrimination between human beings on the basis of gender, ie, discrimination between women and men because of masculinity and femininity, both [...]

Maziar Bahari, an Iranian Canadian journalist and documentary filmmaker who was arrested without charge during the Iranian election protests in June, thanks supporters everywhere who campaigned for his release on Twitter, Facebook, and through diplomatic relations which all contributed to his eventual freedom. Below is a video taken by our partners, Highest Common Denominator Media [...]

Art is a path charged with risks and dangers. Undoubtedly, when I mention this statement I shall face wide opposition voices saying that art is the path to money, fame and beauty.
My dear reader, Naji Al-Ali, who is beyond description, is among the magnificent artists who adopted art as a way for resistance, freedom fighting, [...]

This is what the United 4 Iran movement has in storage for tomorrow: “a day devoted to worldwide displays of musical, visual, and performing arts highlighting the issues of human rights in Iran.”
We are proud to be collaborating with United 4 Iran on this project alongside Shahrzad Dance Company, Kala Art Institute, Design Action Collective, [...]