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JERUSALEM (RNS) — Throughout high school, Adina Levin, 17, dreamed about spending a gap year in Israel studying at an Orthodox Jewish seminary.
Then COVID-19 hit.
“I was worried the seminary would cancel for the coming year, but it hasn’t,” said Levin, a recent high school graduate and resident of Walnut Creek, California.
Despite its continuing entry ban on all but a few noncitizens, in July the Israeli government decided to allow some 17,000 foreign students — including 12,000 mostly American Orthodox yeshiva and seminary students on their gap year — to enter the country, under strict COVID-19 protocols.
Among them is Levin, who starts classes in September.
She’s glad to be in Israel but had worried that the program’s usual field trips and even Shabbat meals with Israeli families may be curtailed due to Israel’s ever-changing COVID-19 restrictions.
After speaking with some students who had been to the seminary under lockdown during the past academic year, she was reassured that things would work out fine.
“They said the experience wasn’t quite the same, but still great,” Levin said.
Allowing students like Levin into the country has been controversial. Israel is struggling to contain the coronavirus and is denying many requests for family reunification.
Some lawmakers accused the government of caving in to pressure from ultra-Orthodox political parties, which threatened to bring down the government if the students weren’t allowed into the country.
“Why are yeshiva students and (other) students allowed over relatives of Israeli citizens?” parliamentarian Merav Michaeli, a member of the opposition Labor party, tweeted.
Aryeh Deri, from the Orthodox Shas party, defended the move.
“A mother does not tell her children that she doesn’t have the strength to host them,” Deri told Channel 12, an Israeli news channel.
Orthodox gap year programs in Israel are a rite of passage for thousands of diaspora high school graduates, who want to immerse themselves in Jewish studies, holy sites and Israeli hummus.
Partitions separate columns of Kerem B’Yavneh yeshiva students in the study hall. Photo courtesy of Kerem B’Yavneh
Seminary and yeshiva students who study in Israel “experience a lot of religious and emotional growth that can’t be replicated anywhere else,” said Suzanne Cohen, director of Israel guidance at the Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls in Teaneck, New Jersey.
Cohen, whose own daughter will be spending the year at an Israel seminary, said she trusts that Israel and the gap year programs will do everything in their power to keep the students safe.
Dov Lipman, a former Knesset member who pushed for the students’ entry, said both Israel and the students benefit from the experience.
Gap year and other youth programs annually contribute $200 million to the Israeli economy, and the students return home “strengthened in their religious faith and supportive of Israel,” Lipman said.
“Of course there have to be strict rules, and if the programs can’t hold students to the highest standard of safety there have to be very strict ramifications, including shutting down the programs,” Lipman said.
Rabbi Shalom Rosner, a leading rabbi at the Kerem B’Yavneh yeshiva south of Tel Aviv, said 83 overseas students there will need to remain in quarantine for 14 days, in groups of six, as soon as they arrive in Israel.
While the overseas students would ordinarily mix with the yeshiva’s Israeli students, that likely won’t happen, at least for a while.
“That’s a pity because both thrive on getting to know each other,” he said.
Dina Blank, executive director of Machon Ma’ayan, a seminary for Orthodox young women from the diaspora in central Israel, said leaders of gap year programs have been working hard on COVID-19 precautions.
“To the parents, I’d say: Everyone in the industry is dedicated and determined to take care of their children. We take the responsibility very seriously,” Blank said.
All of Machon Ma’ayan’s students will arrive on Sept. 2 and quarantine in groups of six, with each “pod” having its own shower and bathroom. Meals will be delivered to and laundry collected outside their door.
The seminary’s staff already has experience teaching during the pandemic. In March, 17 of the of the seminary’s 50 students decided to stay in Israel — under lockdown. The rest returned to their home countries.
Machon Ma’ayan seminary students pose at a farm where they volunteered after COVID-19 lockdown restrictions were eased in Israel. In March, when the Israeli government imposed a COVID-19 lockdown, most of the students at the Machon Ma’ayan seminary in Israel flew to their home countries. Photo courtesy of Machon Ma’ayan
“Running in the midst of COVID had its challenges,” Blank said. “But it also afforded us a great opportunity to learn how to keep students quarantined and social distancing while continuing to learn and grow.”
Last June, when the government lifted restrictions, the seminary managed to take its students on an overnight hike and brought them to a farm, where they picked produce for struggling farmers.
Given the uncertainty caused by the virus, some prospective students took the difficult decision to stay home this year.
“I realized that if I came to Israel now I probably wouldn’t be able to experience 90% of the things I was looking forward to doing and seeing,” said an 18-year-old American who requested anonymity because he is the only one of his friends to cancel his trip. “I know I’ll be coming in a year or two, maybe on a semester abroad at an Israeli university.”
Avi Weinreb, a yeshiva student who flew back to Los Angeles just before Israel sealed its borders in March due to COVID-19, will be spending the coming year – his third – in Israel.
He plans to return this fall to serve as a counselor to first-year students at the Aish HaTorah yeshiva in Jerusalem. Weinreb hopes the time he spends in Israel this year will make up for what he missed out on during the pandemic.
“I feel like last year was cut short, and I feel like I still need to experience some growth and guidance in my life. I know I’ll get this in yeshiva. I love being in Israel and probably see myself having a future there.”
Padmavyuha
Padmavyuha, a film that aims to explore religious fundamentalism, has received online backlash for targeting Hinduism and the makers have now pulled down the trailer from YouTube.
Director Raj Krishna asserts his film is an exploration of faith at its highest level. The film, that was recently screened at the International Film Festival of Toronto, traces a religion studies professor who receives a mysterious late-night call. The caller leads him onto a mystic path of puzzles and symbols, taking him on a discovery of a global conspiracy that involves the history of Hinduism. Calling it a Da Vinci style religious, mystery murder, Krishna says “It is also an Indian-American co-production. Ninety percent of our cast was from San Francisco and LA. Pooja has the unique honor of being our Bollywood participant.”
The 40-minute film takes a close look at the fundamentalist nature of religion and those using religion to propagate political agenda and gain power. While Padmavyuha names Hinduism, it could be really about any other religion with Godmen and blind faith. However, it is now facing criticism and has been called a propaganda film against Hinduism. Twitter users have slammed the film, the makers and cast involved, claiming it is an anti-Hindu movie.
While Krishna admits that he is perhaps trying to find a connection with his own roots by making films like Padmavyuha, he claims that he’s done his research. “I read a number of books on the history of colonization and history of Hinduism. I also read about Orientalism – the concept that the west corrupted eastern narratives. I also took help from my father because he is into Hinduism. He was the one who came up with the name. I went deep down into Padmavyuha – the military formation. I went into versions of Mahabharata, Manusmriti, and the Vedas,” he says.
Responding to the backlash, Krishna says, “Over the last few days, the Padmavyuha team has had to endure harassment online as there has been a misinformation campaign across Twitter, WhatsApp, and Facebook to spread ideas about how our film is ‘anti-Hindu’, when it is, in fact, the opposite. Our film explores the beauty of Hinduism, and delves into the history of Hinduism and India, and explores how these histories have been corrupted by the West. Our intention as filmmakers is to shine a light on the rich mythology associated with Hinduism, and to explore the power of faith of all religions and cultures.”
Krishna still anticipates that the film will be widely available next year.
The Nasarawa State Youth Wing of the Christian Association yesterday warned politicians in the state against the use of religion to settle their scores, calling on all politicians in the state to demonstrate patriotism and avoid dragging the people into unnecessary religious crisis for their selfish interests.
CAN Youth Chairman Solomon Inusa, Nigeria is currently going through difficult times occasioned by insurgency, banditry, kidnapping and other forms of criminality threatening the peace, Nasarawa State has its fair share in these disturbing happenings.
The Christian youth wing observed that dragging religion into politics at this time efforts by all men and women of goodwill is being required to redirect the nation’s course towards a peaceful society, will spell doom in particular and the country at large.
“As a handful of mischief makers who are bent on fanning the embers of disunity and violence are high at work to achieve their selfish aim, men of God and other Nigerians must rise against the trend” YOWCAN stated.
The group noted that the recent story in the media trending since August 23, 2020 with the claim that Governor Abdullahi Sule had joined forces with others to frustrate the appointment of the immediate past Deputy Governor Silas Ali Agara to head the National Population Commission for being a Christian in preference to Alhaji Kura Isa, a Muslim, was not only disturbing but quite unfortunate.
“The content and spirit of the story is deliberate falsehood to cast aspersion on the person of the Governor with the aim to unsettle the Peace the State is beginning to build from the fragments it inherited from the past.
The authors of this falsehood ought to know that this is not the time to whip up religious sentiments to cause division among the Nasarawa People”, the group declared.
Russia has sent a warning to the United States and the European Union, warning them not to impose sanctions on Belorus.
The announcement was made following a meeting between the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, and American envoy Stephen Bigan.
— Melania Trump, the first lady
The number of high-ranking women in Mr. Trump’s administration is not “unprecendented.” Melania Trump’s remark goes a step further than a comment made by a narrator in a video earlier in the program.
Of the 877 key executive branch nominees put forth by Mr. Trump for positions that require Senate confirmation, about 27.6 percent have been women. Of the 679 that have been confirmed, about 25 percent have been women.
That’s a lower percentage than the appointments of both former President Bill Clinton (37 percent) and former President Barack Obama (43 percent).
At the cabinet level, Mr. Trump has nominated seven women and 32 men. That’s lower than the eight women who served at cabinet-level positions in Mr. Obama’s first term and 10 in his second term, and the nine who served in Mr. Clinton’s second term.
— Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state
President Trump has weakened NATO. His constant criticism of the alliance has generated widespread distrust of Mr. Trump among its European members and questions over the reliability of the United States. European allies are incensed over Mr. Trump’s denunciations of them, and they are aware the American president wants to withdraw from NATO, as several of Mr. Trump’s former senior aides have said.
In this statement, Mr. Pompeo is also trying to portray Mr. Trump as being tough on Russia. The opposite is true. A congressional inquiry last year found that Mr. Trump tried to hold up American weapons shipments to Ukraine, which is fighting against Russia-backed insurgents, in exchange for personal political favors. That resulted in the Democratic-led House of Representatives bringing two impeachment charges against Mr. Trump, though a Republican-led Senate found him not guilty on both counts. Mr. Trump has also praised President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and said he believes Mr. Putin over his own intelligence agencies on Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. elections. And Mr. Trump has said nothing to Mr. Putin about U.S. intelligence findings that Russia offered bounties to Afghan fighters for the killing of American troops, which became public after The New York Times reported on the findings this summer.
— Melania Trump, first lady
Other presidents have addressed the United Nations on the topic of religious freedom, including President Barack Obama in this address.
— Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
President Trump did begin high-level diplomatic talks with North Korea. Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea, has not conducted nuclear tests or long-range missile tests since the two first met in Singapore in June 2018.
But national security hawks on North Korea say Mr. Trump’s concessions have weakened Washington’s leverage over Pyongyang and have emboldened Mr. Kim to take aggressive actions that have increased tensions in Asia. They criticize Mr. Trump for his meetings with Mr. Kim and for certain actions of his that have softened the American line on North Korea, including halting large-scale U.S. military exercises with South Korea after the Singapore summit to accede to the wishes of Mr. Kim.
Last year, Mr. Kim stepped up the pace of the testing of short-range missiles, which has worried Japan and South Korea. Mr. Kim has also said he no longer wants to pursue diplomacy with the United States and has denounced the U.S. government’s approach.
Mr. Trump has met with Mr. Kim three times — the only times that an American president has done so with a leader of North Korea since the Korean War — but those talks have done nothing to diminish North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. Experts say North Korea can produce enough fissile material for a nuclear warhead every six months.
— Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state
Mr. Pompeo’s comments lack nuance. While it is true that officials in the city of Wuhan — where the coronavirus was first detected — tried to hide information from China’s central leadership, top Chinese officials do not appear to have engaged in deceit about the true threat posed by the virus to the extent portrayed by the Trump administration. The spread of the virus out of China was also a natural consequence of intercontinental travel; entry of the coronavirus into the United States was, ultimately, a repeat affair, with several large outbreaks seeded by individuals returning from Europe, not Asia. And the fault of the subsequent spread of the virus within U.S. borders certainly cannot be pinned on China. In just a few short months, the United States outstripped all other countries in coronavirus case counts — which currently exceed 5.7 million — and has clocked more than 178,000 deaths. China, with a population four times the size of the United States’, has yet to hit 100,000 cases or 5,000 deaths.
— Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state
President Trump signed a limited trade agreement with China in January, which was the first such agreement ever signed between the two countries. It opened up China’s financial and agricultural markets and required China to make significant purchases of American products, but it was widely criticized for failing to address structural issues in the Chinese economy that have harmed American workers. As a result, most economists believe the trade pact will have a limited impact on American employment.
— President Trump
Women’s unemployment rate did fall to its lowest levels since the 1950s in 2019 and early 2020, and last year, women accounted for about 1.5 million of the 2.1 million jobs gained — slightly more than 70 percent.
— Eric Trump, President Trump’s son
Mr. Biden has called for increasing taxes on high-earning individuals and on corporations, and his tax proposals would increase federal revenues by $4 trillion over a decade, according to an analysis by the Tax Policy Center in March. About half of that total would come from increased taxes on businesses, and the other half would come from increased taxes on households with high incomes.
Other analyses have made similar projections for how much additional revenue Mr. Biden’s tax plans would generate, so the total figure that Mr. Trump cited is sound. But the tax increases Mr. Biden is proposing would not fall broadly across American households, as Mr. Trump suggested. Mr. Biden is not proposing to directly raise taxes on middle-class households. He reiterated in an interview that aired Sunday on ABC that he would not raise taxes on people who make below $400,000. That said, he wants to increase corporate taxes, and some portion of the burden of corporate taxes falls on workers — though it is debatable how much. The analysis by the Tax Policy Center, which took into account the indirect effects of raising corporate taxes, found that Mr. Biden’s proposals would reduce after-tax incomes across income groups. But the analysis found only a modest effect on most households, with the additional tax burden falling overwhelmingly on the highest earners. Nearly three-quarters of the proposed tax increase would fall on the top 1 percent.
— Ryan Holets, a police officer in New Mexico
While overdose deaths did drop by around 5 percent in 2018, the first decrease since 1990, they started rising again last year. The decline was largely explained by reductions in deaths from prescription opioid painkillers, the drugs that started the nation’s addiction epidemic three decades ago. But deaths involving illicit drugs, particularly fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine, continued to increase, not just in 2018 but also last year. And preliminary data suggests 2020 could see even more overdose deaths, including in some states where overall drug deaths had started to decline.
President Trump and Congress have provided several billion dollars in grants to states since 2017 for treatment, prevention and recovery services, expanding access to medications that treat opioid addiction in particular. But at the same time, the administration has continued fighting in court to overturn the Affordable Care Act, a law that has allowed states to expand Medicaid and provide free addiction treatment to low-income adults.
— Eric Trump, the president’s son
Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. has repeatedly said that he opposes defunding the police and instead has proposed “to get police more money.” He has proposed that federal aid to police departments could be contingent on whether agencies meet certain standards.
Mr. Biden has also said he supports the Second Amendment and is a gun owner himself. But Mr. Biden also argues for a ban on the sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and he supports background checks and other regulations.
— Eric Trump
The president has made this claim dozens of times and it remains false. The $1.5 trillion tax cut, enacted in December 2017, ranks below at least half a dozen others by several metrics. The 1981 Reagan tax cut is the largest as a percentage of the economy and by its reduction to federal revenue. The 2012 Obama cut amounted to the largest cut in inflation-adjusted dollars: $321 billion a year.
— Eric Trump, President Trump’s son
By most measurements, it is not true that the economy hit heights it had never seen before under President Trump. Before the pandemic, which sent the economy into a tailspin, overall growth was little changed under his administration — and much slower than the rates it had regularly achieved in the 20th century. The job market was strong, but that was a continuation of trends well underway during President Barack Obama’s administration. For instance, unemployment had continued a yearslong decline — one that started in 2009 — and stood at a half-century low of 3.5 percent in February 2020. It is true that Black American and Hispanic Americans were enjoying record low joblessness before the pandemic, but women actually experienced their lowest unemployment rates in the 1950s.
— A video produced for the RNC
Kellyanne Conway, Mr. Trump’s third campaign manager for his 2016 bid, was the first woman to run a winning presidential campaign, and three of his White House press secretaries have been women. But the number of high-ranking women in his administration is not record-breaking.
Of the 877 key executive branch nominees put forth by Mr. Trump for positions that require Senate confirmation, about 27.6 percent have been women. Of the 679 that have been confirmed, about 25 percent have been women.
That’s a lower percentage than the appointments of both former President Bill Clinton (37 percent) and former President Barack Obama (43 percent).
At the cabinet level, Mr. Trump has nominated seven women and 32 men. That’s lower than the eight women who served at cabinet-level positions in Mr. Obama’s first term and 10 in his second term, and the nine who served in Mr. Clinton’s second term.
— President Trump
The president’s friendly words about immigrants at the naturalization ceremony stands in stark contrast to almost four years in which he has repeatedly pursued anti-immigrant policies, often fueled by xenophobic language.
The president has largely blocked asylum seekers and refugees fleeing persecution, war and violence. He has built nearly 300 miles of border wall (though without getting Mexico to pay for it). He has made it harder for poor people to immigrate to the United States, imposed travel bans on mostly-Muslim countries, and separated migrant children from their parents at the border.
At times, his has used racist rhetoric, condeming “shithole countries” and complaining that people from Haiti “have AIDS.”
Even as he praised the new citizens on Tuesday, Mr. Trump has long sought to reduce legal immigration into the United States and has recently moved to shrink or eliminate visa programs that allow companies to hire foreigners to work in America. Aides to the president brag about the reductions in overall immigration, saying the efforts are helping to protect Americans from having to compete with immigrants for jobs.
— Pam Bondi, former attorney general of Florida
Hunter Biden did in fact travel with his father aboard Air Force Two to China, and Hunter Biden did meet with a Chinese business partner during the trip. Several days after the trip, a Chinese government-linked private equity fund in which Hunter Biden has been involved, BHR Equity Investment Fund Management Co., won a business license from the Chinese government.
Hunter was on the board of the fund when it was formed in late 2013, and he later invested roughly $420,000, giving him a 10 percent stake, after his father had left the vice presidency. But Hunter’s lawyer has said that he has never been paid for his role on the board, and has not profited financially since he began as a part-owner. Hunter left the board in April, according to a letter produced by his lawyer. But as of June, he still owned his stake in the fund, which he was trying to sell. His lawyer did not respond to a request for comment about the status of that effort.
— Pam Bondi, former attorney general of Florida
Mr. Biden did make those remarks on China in May 2019. They prompted criticism at the time from Republicans and some Democrats, including Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who was Mr. Biden’s main challenger in the Democratic primary this year.
Mr. Biden’s aides say his comment was the kind of expression of confidence in the superiority of the United States that he has made throughout his political career. And Mr. Biden has made more recent comments on China that portray it as a formidable challenge. He told The Washington Post this year that China is the greatest “medium-term” strategic challenge for the United States. In a Foreign Affairs essay this year, he wrote: “China represents a special challenge. I have spent many hours with its leaders, and I understand what we are up against.”
He added: “The United States does need to get tough with China. If China has its way, it will keep robbing the United States and American companies of their technology and intellectual property.”
— Abby Johnson, anti-abortion activist
Margaret Sanger, the sex educator who opened the first birth control clinic in the United States in 1916, did find common ground with those who advocated eugenics, the widely debunked theory that the human race could be bettered by encouraging people with traits like intelligence and hard work to reproduce. But there is no evidence that she was a racist who intended to “eradicate the minority population.”
Ms. Sanger’s views on race and eugenics have been widely debated. N.P.R. fact-checked similar claims made by Ben Carson in a 2015 interview with Fox News.
In the United States, eugenics intersected with the birth control movement in the 1920s, and Ms. Sanger reportedly spoke at eugenics conferences. She also talked about birth control being used to facilitate “the process of weeding out the unfit [and] of preventing the birth of defectives,” N.P.R. wrote, adding, “Historians seem to disagree on just how involved in the eugenics movement she was. Some contend her involvement was for political reasons — to win support for birth control.”
In 1939, Ms. Sanger founded what she called “the Negro Project,” one of the first major undertakings of the Birth Control Federation of America, a forerunner to Planned Parenthood. It was aimed at giving Black women control over their own fertility and limiting reproduction among poor and uneducated women who could least afford it. Conservatives have argued that it was a racist effort to reduce the Black population. The Margaret Sanger Papers Project, a New York University initiative to examine Sanger’s writings, addressed the project and dismissed such assertions in a 2001 newsletter.
“In fact, the Negro Project did not differ very much from the earlier birth control campaigns in the rural South designed to test simpler methods on poor, uneducated and mostly white agricultural communities,” the papers project wrote. “Following these other efforts in the South, it would have been more racist, in Sanger’s mind, to ignore African-Americans in the South than to fail at trying to raise the health and economic standards of their communities.”
— Pam Bondi, former Florida attorney general
It is true that Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s son Hunter, despite having no discernible experience in Ukraine or the energy sector, was paid as much as $50,000 a month in some months to serve on the board of the directors of a Ukrainian gas company owned by an oligarch who was widely considered in the international community to be corrupt. And it is true that Vice President Biden, the Obama administration’s point-man on Ukraine, helped force the ouster of a Ukrainian prosecutor, partly by threatening to withhold $1 billion in United States loan guarantees if Ukraine’s leaders did not dismiss the prosecutor. But there is no evidence that the prosecutor was aggressively pursuing investigations into the oligarch or his gas company. Instead, the oligarch’s allies say that the prosecutor was using the threat of prosecution to try to solicit bribes from the oligarch and his team — allegations that comport with others that swirled around the prosecutor, who was eventually fired. The pressure campaign to have the prosecutor fired was international, embraced by many Western governments, not just the Obama administration.
— Cissie Graham Lynch, a granddaughter of Billy Graham, the founder of Christianity Today
While there is plenty of room for subjective judgments about what constitutes religious freedom and there are deep divisions between left and right about how politics should intersect with faith, Mr. Biden is a practicing Catholic. There were opening prayers during the Democratic National Convention. And one of Mr. Biden’s close friends, Senator Chris Coons, offered a lengthy testimony to Mr. Biden’s faith, saying Mr. Biden would be “a president for Americans of all faiths, as well as people of conscience who practice no particular faith.”
Ms. Graham Lynch was likely referring to positions Mr. Biden has — such as his support for same-sex marriage or abortion rights — that she personally views as against her faith.
— Abby Johnson, anti-abortion activist
It is true that Mr. Trump has made a huge number of appointments to the bench — 203, including two to the nation’s highest court. And it is true that his appointees have been confirmed with polarizing paper trails, having spent their careers more openly engaged in causes important to Republicans, such as fighting against government funding for abortion, than the appointees of past presidents. But judges do not take the bench as “pro-life” or “pro-choice,” and, upon questioning from senators in confirmation hearings, many of Mr. Trump’s appointees explicitly pledged to apply existing precedent like Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that legalized abortion.
Unlike other parts of the world, Islam spread in Southeast Asia without a major conquest.
It came on ships and boats. It travelled with spices and silk. Swords remained in the scabbards, there was hardly any bloodshed. The benefit of aligning with rising Muslim powers was obvious, but sufis played an important role too.
Indonesia became the world’s largest Muslim country over a period spanning centuries, yet experts are still undecided on how it actually came about.
Looking back at the Islamic roots of the vast archipelago, which straddles the Indian and Pacific oceans, it has attained significance despite the ongoing debate about whether Indonesians are moving away from their so-called pluralistic version of Islam.
What is interesting about how the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad spread in Southeast Asia, says historian Dr Carool Kersten, is that it did not involve a conquest, and that it happened gradually and surprisingly very late.
“First evidences of the local people converting to Islam in present-day Indonesia does not date further than the 13th century. That’s when we find ground archelogical evidence namely tombstones of sultans with Arab names, which demonstrate that local leaders have embraced Islam,” he tells TRT World.
Muslim forces began venturing out of the Arab lands in the 8th century – they were in control of Spain by the 720s and the famed young military commander, Muhammad Bin Qasim, had just invaded Sindh and Multan, in what is now Pakistan, a few years earlier.
In Indonesia, Islam spread peacefully unlike in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia, where it came under its sway as a result of Arab conquests, says Dr. Kersten, who teaches at Kings College London and authored A history of Islam in Indonesia.
A 13th century tombstone of a local ruler, Sultan Malik al Salih, found in Sumatra, is often cited as a historical marker for when Islam started to make inroads in the region.
Salih, who controlled a principality in the northernmost Indonesian island of Sumatra, had converted to Islam.
“The fact that he adopted an Arab title and called himself a Sultan rather than a Raja, which is a Sanskrit word for a ruler, is the first compelling evidence that someone from the Southeast Asia decided to embrace Islam and his population followed suit,” says Dr. Kersten.
What has really baffled historians and archeologists is his tombstone, which is designed with the motifs and patterns of what you can find in the Indian state of Gujarat.
What changed in the 13th century?
Gujarat is known for risk-taking traders and businessmen who would not have hesitated in travelling to far-off regions to find a livelihood. Among them were many Muslims.
Trade routes have been instrumental to the spread of Islam. For instance, there’s a large community of Hadrami Arabs from Yemen in Indonesia.
Muslims from China have also left an imprint. The 15th century Muslim Chinese admiral, Cheng Ho, is often credited for helping spread Islam in the Indonesian island of Java.
“It’s always been very tempting to assume that it were the traders who brought Islam. But you need to be careful here. Trade routes were maybe used as conduits but traders are businessmen, they are not propogaters or missionaries of religion,” says Dr. Kersten.
An alternative theory suggests that people belonging to the sufi orders might have travelled the same routes and helped spread Islam in the region. The Islam Tradisional — practised in the region — is closer to the mystic Barelvi sect prevalent in Pakistan and India.
Indonesians and Malays enjoyed trade links with the Arabs and Persians even before the advent of Islam. The answer to why it gained a foothold in Southeast Asia relatively late, might be found in the economics of the region.
Surrounded by water, Indonesia, which comprises thousands of islands, did not have the best land for cultivation and its inhabitants relied mainly on sea trade. They felt threatened by Hindu empires in Burma, Cambodia, and Thailand who had prospered on the back of their vast river plains that were suitable for growing rice.
“The people in Indonesia no longer wanted to pay tribute to Hindu and Buddhist rulers from the mainland. And so they looked for political allies in the Middle East and Africa,” says Dr. Kersten.
A tight hierarchical governing structure, where a ruler had the last word on important matters, might have helped speed up the conversion of the local population without too many skirmishes, experts say.
“Unlike the Mughals in much of India who appointed nizams, amirs and maharajas to do the ruling for them, a king in Southeast Asia was the center of power and wielded significant influence,” Nawab Osman, a Singapore-based Southeast Asia researcher, tells TRT World.
Besides taking up the role of a religious leader with the practice of building mosques next to their palaces, these new Muslim rulers also began to look towards the Ottomans for an alliance, he says.
After Constantinople’s conquest in the mid-15th century, Muslims controlled the international maritime routes and a lot of Indonesian rajas saw it as a mark of prestige and opportunity to be part of such a network should they have converted to Islam.
As Islam became a prominent reglion in parts of Souteast Asia, the local imams woud recite the Friday prayers not just in the name of the local king but also the Ottoman caliph, says Osman.
Orientalist misconceptions
Puppetry also helped spread Islam in Indonesia, where 90 percent of the population is now Muslim.
Like in South Asia, society has traditionally used puppet theatre and effigies to tell heroic tales of the Hindu scriptures such as the Ramayana.
“Puppet shows are a big part of Indonesian culture. So what the Muslim scholars did was they changed the characters of Ramayana to Muslim figures — showing the companions of the Prophet and so on. That was a very effective way for people to convert to Islam.”
“So if you look at the orientalist writings from that period, it would seem that Muslims don’t practise Islam and continue to adhere to certain elements of Hindu belief. That’s quite untrue. Muslims would never do certain things such as worshiping a deity,” says Osman.
And Indonesian Muslims were not just passive receivers of the Islamic teachings. They actively participated in its attainment.
“Spread of Islam in Indonesia was a hybrid process. There was no one moment of conversion – it was a much more fluid system where locals did not give up all their practices and beliefs in one go,” says Dr. Kersten.
Once Islam was established, Indonesian Muslims travelled to Muslim learning centres around the world. The scholars were well versed in Arabic, Persian and vigorously sought Islamic knowledge, he says.
“Islam shouldn’t be seen as something varnished on the Southasian culture. These people were an integral part of the Muslim world.”
Reverse Islamisation
In recent years, Indonesia’s religious groups have come under the spotlight amid concerns that hardliners have started to dominate political discourse.
Jakarta’s 2017 gubernatorial race, in which a Christian of Chinese descent was defeated after a backlash from religious groups, is often cited as an example of rising intolerance.
Osman sees a problem when the current debate is framed around the question of whether ‘Islamists’ are on the rise – a narrative which, he says, was sparked after a strong showing of Islamic groups in the 1999 national elections.
Former Indonesian dictator Suharto, who ruled the country for 31 years between 1967 and 1998, enforced curbs on Muslim political groups and tried to reduce the role of religion in affairs of the state.
That does not mean that groups such as Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah have acquired millions of followers only after Suharto’s removal. Even in the previous openly contested election of 1955, Islamic groups had garnered some 40-45 percent of votes, says Osman.
These days even the moderate groups, such as NU, feel they are under threat from what they see as a creeping Arabisation of the Indonesian strain of religion — dubbed as Islam Nusantara.
“Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama both have been arguing that moderate Islam is under threat from the Salafis, Hizb ut Tehrir and the Muslim Brotherhood types.
“But I think what has happened over the years is that there’s been a rupturing within the ranks of the traditionalist muslim groups and some of their own members have started taking a harder Islamic position.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
Islamabad: Deputy ameer of Jamaat-i-Islami Pakistan and former member of the National Assembly Mian Muhammad Aslam has praised non-Muslims, especially Christians, for playing a significant role in the country's progress and said his party had included a revolutionary programme for their development in its election manifesto.<!-- /1063725/thenews_int_postpages_inarticle_btf -->
Addressing a function organised by the Jamaat-i-Islami Ahle Kitab Wing here on Tuesday, the JI leader said the Islamic State was responsible for the protection of the lives and property of its citizens without religious distinction or discrimination.
He said the founder of Pakistan Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah had declared that Muslims and non-Muslims would have equal rights in Pakistan and that the state would guarantee the protection of life and property of both Muslims and non-Muslims.
Deputy ameer of Jamaat-i-Islami Muhammad Kashif Chaudhry said all citizens of Pakistan were entitled to equal rights and that the protection of their life and property was the responsibility of the state.
“Everyone should have equal access to education, healthcare, and employment. The only way to eradicate terrorism is to eradicate economic and political terrorism from the country,” he said.
The JI leader said as long as the people’s rights continued to be violated, the end of unrest and chaos would be a dream come true. He said his party had played an unforgettable role in bridging the gap among religions.
“We share each other’s grief and joys and will work together to protect each other’s rights,” he said.
President of JI Ahle Kitab Wing Jamil Kho Khar and Bishop Shahid Mahmood also spoke on the occasion.
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Europe is in the grip of a uniquely virulent and pernicious disease that threatens the wellbeing of its peoples and of the world: not Coronavirus, but appeasement. Anglo-French foreign policy in the 1930s was also dominated by appeasement — of Nazi Germany — a policy that failed to prevent one of the greatest catastrophes that ever engulfed civilisation and that led to the deaths of millions.
Now, Britain and France seek to appease the three powers that most threaten the world today: Iran, China and Russia. As permanent members of the UN Security Council, last week both Britain and France genuflected to their arch-enemies by refusing to support their greatest ally, the United States, in its resolution to extend the UN arms embargo on Iran. The US resolution was of course opposed by China and Russia, both of which intend to sell advanced conventional weapons to Iran as soon as the embargo runs out in October.
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Back in the 1930s, the aggressive intentions of Nazi Germany were clear. Although appeasement of Hitler was inexcusable, the main reason was perhaps understandable: a prevailing attitude of “peace at any price” following the unexampled butchery of World War I, then still so fresh in everybody’s minds.
Today, the intentions of Khamenei’s Iran are just as clear, and have been frequently demonstrated in imperial aggression across the Middle East, especially against Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Saudi Arabia, as well as in its unwavering threats and military actions against Israel.
Even if European countries were so blinkered as to overlook these distant aggressions, how could they ignore the multitude of terrorist and assassination plots mounted by Iranian proxies on their own soil in recent years? As well as the murder and attempted murder of Iranian dissidents, these have included a failed bomb plot against a Paris convention in 2018 and the stockpiling of tons of explosive materials in London in 2015. Only a few years earlier, I was involved in discussions in Downing Street about the killing of British troops in Iraq by Iranian proxies and encountered a widespread reluctance to take any meaningful action.
The excuses for British and French timorousness are less compelling today than they were in the 1930s. They include the hangovers from recent campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, although compared to the Great War, these affected hardly anyone in Europe. This paralysis is compounded by long-standing and ingrained colonial guilt, exploited for decades by the left to undermine national self-confidence and promote a spirit of appeasement of Middle Eastern countries. Growing Islamic radicalism in both the UK and France, which each have tens of thousands of known jihadists living amongst them, has also served to encourage pusillanimity.
As the economic legacy of the Great Depression fuelled appeasement in the 1930s, today’s commercial entanglement of Europe with China and Russia, combined with apprehension over the post-Covid economic landscape, scare European governments and institutions from alienating either of them.
A further factor perhaps weighs even heavier on the minds of our bewildered European politicians. Britain, and even more so France, had deep concerns over former US President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, the JCPOA, which is directly responsible for the crisis about to engulf the UN Security Council. Both countries, as well as Germany and the EU itself, knew only too well that, rather than its stated purpose of denying Iran a route to nuclear weapons, the JCPOA in fact paved Iran’s pathway — not just to acquiring nuclear capabilities, but doing so legitimately, effectively, and with the blessing of the UN Security Council.
Against their better judgement, they acceded to the JCPOA because it was President Obama, whom they venerated, that demanded it of them. US President Donald J. Trump’s withdrawal from the deal threw them into a quandary. They despised Trump as much as they revered Obama and, although they knew he was right, could not possibly bring themselves to follow his lead.
Last week, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo fired the starting gun in New York for the snapback provisions which underpinned UN support for the JCPOA in Security Council Resolution 2231. He did this because the council rejected the extension of the UN arms embargo on Iran. Its effect will be to reimpose all previous UN sanctions against Iran, including the conventional arms embargo. It will also ban international support for Iran’s missile programme, development of nuclear-capable missiles and nuclear enrichment activities; and reimpose travel bans on sanctioned individuals in the Tehran regime. Snapback will effectively end the JCPOA in a way that will be beyond repair in any form.
Snapback is justified under the terms of Resolution 2231 because of Iran’s violations of their JCPOA undertakings as certified by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The IAEA reported in June that Iran has enriched uranium and increased low-enriched uranium beyond its allowances, stored excess quantities of heavy water, tested advanced centrifuges and re-commenced enrichment at its Fordow plant, all in breach of the agreement. The IAEA also specified that Iran continues to refuse access to nuclear sites to international inspectors, and may be concealing undeclared nuclear materials and processes.
Britain and France of course know this only too well and in January themselves initiated, together with Germany, the JCPOA dispute resolution mechanism in protest at Iran’s violations. Yet still they rejected the US demand to extend the arms embargo and are planning not only to deny support for the US snapback but actively frustrate it at the Security Council, in support of Russian and Chinese attempts to do so, cheered on of course by Germany and the EU.
Like Iran, these countries are expecting, and hoping, that President Trump will lose at the polls in November and that the nuclear agreement will be salvaged by his successor. Whoever wins the election, that will not be so easy. A 30-day period of delay and obfuscation at the Security Council now begins. Iran’s supporters are desperate to prevent snapback on the grounds that the US, having withdrawn from the JCPOA, no longer has standing to demand it. Unfortunately for them, they are wrong. That will not stop them going into endless convulsions, however, while attempting to bend the terms and precedents of the Security Council to their will.
The end result is likely to be the success of Pompeo’s snapback. The re-imposed sanctions will then leave China, Russia and the European countries with tough choices about whether they observe them or take the damaging consequences to their own trade with the US. Along the way we could see irreparable damage not just to US-European relations but also to the UN itself, an institution already under heavy fire from many in the US.
And for what? Perhaps for the benefit of Russia and China, whose weapons sales to Iran will both bring financial benefit and extend their influence in the region at the expense of America and Europe.
As for Europe, they may hope to gain some twisted kudos in standing up against the evil Trump and the US, and perhaps some meagre pickings from trade with Iran. Definitely it will not advance peace or global security. There may be benefits for the warmongering Ayatollahs in Tehran, but there will certainly be no benefit for the Iranian people or other countries in the Middle East. Many decent Iranian people want nothing more than a swift end to the repressive ayatollahs who have turned them into pariahs and forced them into destitution. If US snapback sanctions succeed, that can only hasten the end of the terrorist regime in Tehran. It will also boost confidence and security among the Arab countries, increasingly fearful of a nuclear-armed Iran.
European appeasement in the 1930s was ended almost single-handedly by one man: Winston Churchill. Britain’s prime minister today, Boris Johnson, who has written a biography of Churchill, would be advised to reflect on what would certainly be his reaction to this dire situation, and get alongside our American allies at the UN Security Council.
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As the Republican National Convention continues, Sputnik spoke to Pastor Mark Burns, an evangelical preacher and former Republican candidate for South Carolina’s 4th congressional district seat, who shared his opinion on the level of support for Trump among religious communities, people of color and the undecided, touching upon other topics.
Sputnik: The RNC includes several conservative Christian speakers. What do you think is the level of support for the president among the conservative Christian community? Will President Trump be able to keep conservative Christian votes?
Mark Burns: Support for President Trump among Christians and people of faith is extremely high. You got to remember that evangelical Christian’s community is the largest voters block in America. So this is the number one group. If you’re able to have their support it is very difficult for a Democrat to win on a national level. People of faith and Christians are the strongest groups here in America.
Sputnik: Democratic Georgia State Rep. Vernon Jones, who is African American, is planning to vote for Trump. He said that “The Democratic Party does not want Black people to leave their mental plantation”. Will this rhetoric resonate with black Democratic voters?
Mark Burns: I’ve been on the ground level since President Trump announced his candidacy in 2015. I was here watching the campaign grow from just a few people to this massive machine. I was just with the president yesterday and I can tell you that the rhetoric is causing a lot of black people to second guess their support to the Democratic Party. Now will the majority of black people vote Democrat? Yes, absolutely – that’s going to be the case. So it will take a longer time than rhetoric before the campaign or before the election to begin a change in mentality. Maybe they should take somebody like me and I should run for president (laughs).
But I‘ve seen with my own eyes that black Americans who start as Democrats are now questioning what exactly the Democratic party does for people of color and low income families and at risk communities in this nation. People who voted Democratic their whole life, now, because President Trump is doing more for African-Americans not with just good words or identity politics or playing to your color base, but he is actually doing things like giving money to HBCU’s (historically black colleges and universities), helping people who are getting out of prison or placed in prison by a failed 1994 Democrat policy of putting millions of black people in jail. The president is getting them out of jail. 98% of those that had been released from prison are black Americans. Not only is that he is getting them out of jail, but he is assuring that they have a way to go to work.
For the first time ever the president is working with the federal agencies to allow those who have been released from prison to be able to get a job in the federal system. That is getting people an opportunity to not get back in jail not to do more criminal activities after they are released. The unemployment level among African-Americans is at the historically low level, especially before coronavirus. The president is actually doing things. He is not going to play you to feel good like the Democrats do. They talk about slavery; they talk about Jim Crow, what the Democrats have done in the past, etc. Let’s just look at the cities that are led by the Democrats. When you look at them you’ll see that these cities are in ruins in America.
Sputnik: How much of the African American electorate do you think Republicans can attract?
Mark Burns: President Trump attracted 8% which is pretty high. It was higher than Mitt Romney’s 6%. The supposedly “racist” Donald Trump gets 8%, more than Mitt Romney. We’re looking between 13-15% of the African American votes here in America. It has grown from the 2016 Presidential Election.
Sputnik: Many topics were raised at the RNC ranging from health care to economics and race. In your opinion, will the Republicans be able to attract undecided voters?
Mark Burns: Without a question. I think one of the greatest things of the Democratic party is that they allowed the violence and riots to take place. Not the peaceful protests. Everybody knows that George Floyd should not have died. Donald Trump Jr. said during his speech that if you talk to any police officer in this country, they will all agree that George Floyd should not have died. We need to eliminate racism in America.
But what the liberal socialists have done – they have taken George Floyd’s death and it has been highjacked by socialist anarchists who want to destroy western culture. So the riots, looting and even a murder that has taken place – that is not America. So for those who are in the middle of the road, those who are undecided – they are certainly painting a picture of what a society, the socialist left Democrat party is leaning towards. They are celebrating these violent acts, they are not condemning them. Even those who are in the Black Lives Matter movement should be condemning those who have infiltrated themselves and have highjacked the peaceful protesters.
And you can see what is taking place in Milwaukee right now with this young man who is now paralyzed. He was walking away to his car and the cops shot him six to eight times and now this young man is paralyzed. That is a senseless death at the hands of the police, two people of color in this country and there is a right way to do it and the socialist Democratic Party is doing it the wrong way by burning, looting, killing.
Black Lives Matter, they absolutely matter, just like the black cops that are being killed. Just like the black sheriff that was assassinated while he was protecting his friend’s store while there was looting and burning, the black federal officer that was beaten badly while he was wearing uniform by these so-called BLM protesters. So black lives do matter. All lives matter – baby lives matter, unborn and born. Let’s talk about all black lives. All black lives matter.
Sputnik: The mainstream media is stating that the RNC is trying to “rewrite pandemic history,” saying that Trump supporters are trying to whitewash his actions in the fight against COVID-19. How would you assess such rhetoric and media attacks?
Mark Burns: It is clear that mainstream media has never been a fan of Donald Trump. Since day one they never gave him a fair shot. I am very happy today that President Trump sent a “thank you” tweet to CNN for at least covering the large part of RNC. I am saying some healing is beginning to take place in that matter but the mainstream media has never given President Trump a real chance in that matter and they are blaming this COVID-19 crisis on President Trump.
According to CDC and the doctors who are leading the calls against this horrible virus that is in America, they stated themselves that President Trump acted swiftly once this information began to bump America’s shores. But yet the mainstream media are trying to downplay Trump’s involvement and leadership ability and trying to portray this as this is his fault. This is not his fault. This is a ‘China virus’ and it happened when China refused to allow America, the WHO and other countries that tried to assist them, they tried to keep it quiet. It could have been prevented. It is China’s fault. And Joe Biden and the Democratic party are also downplaying the seriousness of this virus.
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The views and opinions expressed in the article do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.
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Gauging the global threat posed by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) amid the COVID-19 pandemic, counter-terrorism officials cautioned the Security Council during a 24 August videoconference meeting* that Member States must address pressing issues — particularly the repatriation of detained foreign fighters and their families — to prevent the group from spreading its influence across countries and regions.
Vladimir Voronkov, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism, briefing on the Secretary-General’s report on the threat posed by ISIL to international peace and security (document S/2020/774), said that COVID-19 pandemic-related restrictions such as lockdowns and restrictions on movement seem to have reduced the risk of attacks in non-conflict zones in the short-term. However, the reverse is true in Iraq and Syria, where more than 10,000 ISIL fighters are believed to be active, moving freely in small cells between the two countries, further complicating an already dire and unsustainable situation.
“The global threat from ISIL is likely to increase if the international community fails to address pressing challenges,” he warned, adding that ISIL and other terrorist groups seek to exploit the far-reaching disruption and negative socioeconomic and political impacts of the pandemic.
Citing the group’s rising online presence as a concern, he said ISIL’s opportunistic propaganda efforts during the pandemic could be fueling continued attacks carried out by individuals inspired online. The impact on recruitment and fundraising activities remains unclear, but command and control arrangements between the ISIL core and its remote “provinces” have continued to loosen, thereby strengthening regional affiliates.
Highlighting regional developments, he said that Islamic State in West Africa Province remains a major focus of the group’s global propaganda, with its total membership of 3,500 making it one of the largest remote “provinces”. Equally worrisome are attacks staged by Islamic State Central Africa Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in Mozambique. In Europe, the threat continues to be mainly from Internet-driven, homegrown terrorist radicalization. Several countries report a growing terrorist threat from “right-wing violent extremism”, which requires intelligence services to shift their operational and analytical priorities away from a focus on ISIL.
Turning to Asia, he said ISIL’s affiliate in Afghanistan remains capable of high-profile attacks in various parts of the country and concern remains over the recruitment of ISIL fighters in the Maldives and the looming challenge of managing returnees from the core conflict zone. In South-East Asia, attacks on security forces occur regularly, but Government authorities have maintained pressure on ISIL activities through counter-terrorism operations.
Highlighting a range of United Nations efforts in support of Member States, as mandated by Security Council resolution 2368 (2017), he cited examples such as the Office of Counter-Terrorism’s launch of the Global Counter-Terrorism Coordination Platform. Countering the financing of terrorism remains a key priority, since the pandemic has increased the potential risk of cybercrime by terrorists to raise and move funds. The Office has also continued to partner with a broad range of entities to support Member States in law enforcement and border security.
As emphasized during the Virtual Counter-Terrorism Week, strengthening collective action and international counter-terrorism cooperation must remain a priority during and after the pandemic, he said, adding: “As Member States continue their efforts to develop comprehensive responses to the threat posed by ISIL and terrorism, they can count on the full support of my Office and the United Nations system through the Global Counter-Terrorism Coordination Compact.”
Michèle Coninsx, Assistant Secretary-General and Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate, summarizing its activities and the consequences of the pandemic, said the dire situation faced by thousands of ISIL-associated women and children in the detention camps of north-eastern Syria remains a major challenge for the international community. The COVID-19 pandemic risks exacerbating an already untenable humanitarian, human rights and security situation. Indefinite detention is legally unjustifiable and has significant security and moral implications.
In July, the Executive Directorate published an analytical brief published on the prosecution of ISIL-associated women, which highlights the gender-specific challenges encountered by States in the investigation, prosecution, rehabilitation and reintegration of women returnees, she said, emphasizing that: “We cannot allow these women to become the forgotten demographic.”
Pointing to signs of progress amid an urgent need to institutionalize strategies and provide States with the required technical assistance, she said some Governments have repatriated their citizens, despite the additional challenges posed by COVID-19, while others are making progress in prosecuting ISIL returnees for terrorism-related offences. States should continue to improve the collection and sharing of admissible, terrorism-related information and evidence by the military, she stressed.
At the same time, pandemic-related restrictions may exacerbate existing grievances, and with people spending more time online, ISIL and its affiliates are taking the opportunity to accelerate the spread of their toxic propaganda via digital platforms, she observed. Member States must ensure that policies adopted to curtail the spread of terrorist narratives and misinformation are human-rights compliant and gender-sensitive, and they should introduce innovative and practical counter-terrorism measures, strengthen existing partnerships, and ensure that victims’ rights are respected. “Our response to this enduring transnational challenge must be a multilateral one, rooted in enhanced information-sharing and international cooperation,” she said.
For its part, the Executive Directorate has conducted a range of activities, she noted, including adapting its working methods in response to the pandemic, conducting virtual “deep-dive” missions, and holding consultations with Member States and experts on the use of biometric technologies for pandemic-related measures, aimed at ensuring their compliance with international human rights law. While making counter-terrorism more difficult, the pandemic has also provided an opportunity to question the status quo, she said, encouraging stakeholders to review and strengthen approaches to countering terrorism and violent extremism. “We must collectively uphold our shared principles of a rule-of-law-based international order and develop human rights-compliant and gender-sensitive policies, practices, and whole-of-society approaches,” she said.
Council members, including those whose countries are coping with terrorist threats, largely agreed that a united response was required. Some said regional actors played an important role. Others raised concerns, including the importance of resolving repatriation issues involving foreign terrorist fighters and their families.
South Africa’s representative described ISIL/Da’esh as a stubborn threat to international peace and security, stressing the need to address the root causes that give rise to the resentment that fuels terrorism. He also urged the United Nations and its Member States not to allow COVID-19 to derail efforts to reach the Sustainable Development Goals by their target date. A key concern for South Africa is the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where Islamic State in Central African Province has continued its attempts to establish a greater operational presence, including an insurgency gripping northern parts of neighbouring Mozambique. He noted that a few days ago the member States of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) expressed their commitment to support Mozambique in addressing terrorism and violent attacks.
The speaker for the Russian Federation agreed that the threat remains high, as ISIL’s organization and tactics suggest it has now fully transformed into a network structure with sufficient financial resources to restore coordination and planning mechanisms to attack the Iraq-Syria border area in line with its continued plan to revive the “caliphate” in Iraq. Expansion across Africa and Afghanistan alongside active recruitment drives in South and South-East Asia are also evident. Sharing concerns about increased online activities, he said terrorists are also seeking to use the pandemic to increase the number of supporters, primarily at the expense of those dissatisfied with the actions of the authorities in the context of the crisis.
There is still much room for improvement for international cooperation in addressing pressing issues, he said, such as the repatriation of foreign terrorist fighters and their family members, many of whom are languishing in detention camps. Unfortunately, this is a battle that some colleagues, including in the Council, decided to withdraw from. Any Council resolution addressing the fight against terrorism at this time cannot fail to recognize this problem, he stressed.
The United States representative, commending the work of the Global Coalition, noted that efforts are based on four main non-military lines: counter-financing; counter-messaging; detention, repatriation and accountability for crimes and abuses by foreign terrorist fighters; and stabilization of liberated areas. Given the continuing threat, the United States seeks to identify, sanction and target each ISIL affiliate and has worked with Council members to this end. Efforts must also address repatriation to ensure that detained foreign terrorist fighters and their family members in Syria and Iraq do not become “the nucleus of an ISIS 2.0”. The United States has led by example, she said, adding that countries must repatriate, prosecute, rehabilitate and reintegrate foreign terrorist fighters and their families as appropriate.
Disappointed that Council members’ refusal to include repatriation had stymied Indonesia’s efforts to draft a meaningful resolution on this issue, she said “the world is watching”, and wondered whether the Council would try to address the situation or dismiss the threat and “bury its head in the sand”, as it did two weeks ago with the Iran arms embargo resolution. Challenging Council members to refuse to accept countries’ attempts to misuse counter-terrorism to pursue their own political ends, she expressed deep concern about the situation in Xinjiang, where more than 1 million Uyghurs and other Muslims have been detained under the false guise of fighting terrorism. The United States, she added, stands ready to work with partners to prevent and counter terrorism while protecting and promoting human rights and fundamental freedoms.
China’s representative, emphasizing that his Government participates in international and regional counter-terrorism cooperation and works closely with other Member States, said the situation in Xinjiang falls under China’s internal affairs. It is neither a religious nor human rights issue, but one of counter-terrorism and anti-extremism, and all measures taken are consistent with United Nations resolutions and agreements. Voicing regret that the United States chooses to smear and discredit those measures, he instead urged Washington to “give up bigotry and double standard”, step up its own efforts to combat COVID-19 and safeguard the lives of the American people.
The pandemic, he said, has laid bare inequalities within and between countries. “Ignorance, anxiety, stigma, and politicization that come with the pandemic have led to hatred and xenophobia, which have been aggravated and amplified by the popular use of social media,” he said, adding that conditions conducive to terrorism may also be exacerbated. All counter-terrorism cooperation must abide by the Charter and national sovereignty must be respected. He underlined the need to further promote multilateralism, calling for integrated policies that address the root causes of terrorism and eradicate its breeding grounds, while also spotlighting the important role of regional organizations. Among several priority issues, he underlined the questions of foreign terrorist fighters, the diversified means of terrorist financing, the misuse of the internet and the collusion of terrorist groups with organized crime.
Germany’s representative outlined four tools for fighting international terrorism and foreign terrorist fighters: people must be given opportunities to live a meaningful, dignified life; former terrorist fighters must be rehabilitated and reintegrated, and given a second chance after adequate due process; societies and countries must cooperate; and civil society must have a strong role. Ending Da’esh’s territorial control was an enormous achievement, but its withdrawal into the shadows, however, is not a reason to celebrate. Counter-terrorism measures must never serve as a pretext for human rights violations, he said, citing examples of so-called counter-terrorism measures that indiscriminately target ethnic minorities. “That must not be our approach,” he emphasized.
Belgium’s representative said that it is not clear yet how COVID-19 is impacting the threat posed by ISIL. As there has been an increase in the group’s activities in Iraq and Syria, particularly in the most fragile regions, it is important to remain vigilant and continue to assess the situation to prevent any resurgence in the coming months. During the pandemic, the group’s offensive propaganda efforts, mainly on online platforms, have benefited from a fragile, confined audience, which feels marginalized and downgraded. Preventing and fighting against such hate speech must remain a long-term priority, as it exacerbates radicalization that leads to violent extremism and terrorism. Given the evolving ISIL threat, the Council of the European Union in June updated its conclusions about the bloc’s external action on preventing and countering terrorism and violent extremism. The fight against terrorism can only succeed if it fully complies with human rights and international humanitarian law.
The representative of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines emphasized the need to advance comprehensive strategies that promote social inclusion and cohesion to build resilient societies and reduce radicalization. Moreover, all counter-terrorism actions must be conducted in accordance with international law and with the full implementation of relevant Security Council resolutions and the United Nations Global Counter Terrorism Strategy. It is vital to monitor the changes in terror financing techniques utilized by ISIL, he said, calling on the international community to fully implement Council resolution 2462 (2019), which requires Member States to disrupt and criminalize the financing of terrorism for any purpose. In that regard, he commended the efforts made by the Executive Directorate and Counter-Terrorism Office, welcoming the recent launch of a global capacity-building programme pursuant to the resolution.
Viet Nam’s delegate, highlighting the importance of international and regional cooperation, said that no country is safe until all are safe. One growing challenge is the issue of foreign terrorist fighters returning to their home countries, alongside concerns about the $100 million in ISIL’s financial reserves and various fundraising methods by terrorist groups. Sharing intelligence is crucial, he said, emphasizing that the pandemic demonstrates the importance of coordinating action within limited resources. Bringing terrorists to justice and preventing their return to terrorism is essential and must be carried out in line with national laws and international obligations. Mutual legal assistance and sharing best practices in prosecution, reintegration and rehabilitation of terrorists and their dependents, as appropriate, can prove beneficial and should be furthered, he said. It is also critical to adopt a whole-of-society approach in building balanced and cohesive societies that are resilient to terrorism and radicalization.
The representative of the Dominican Republic condemned the rising number of attacks by ISIL/Da’esh in such places as Iraq and Syria at a moment when Governments are forced to focus their limited resources on saving lives amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It is crucial to pay due attention to the socioeconomic impact of the crisis, which could exacerbate conditions conducive to terrorism in the medium- to long-term. Also voicing concern about the humanitarian situation that people with alleged links to ISIL/Da’esh continue to face in camps and detention centres, he said COVID-19 has added an additional element of destabilization to those already serious situations. It is necessary to strengthen initiatives aimed at countering the risk of exploitation and radicalization in camps and detention centres, with assistance from specialized United Nations agencies and the support of the international community. Given the large shift online during the pandemic, relevant bodies should also remain alert and able to react to increases in cybercrime for terrorist financing and ISIL/Da’esh propaganda, he said.
France’s representative expressed his country’s determination to pursue the fight against Da’esh within the framework of the international coalition, stressing that there will be no complete and lasting victory against Da’esh without a political solution to the Syrian crisis. Noting that Da’esh’s financial capabilities remain high, he underscored the need to combat the financing of terrorism effectively. It is also important to curtail the use of the Internet for terrorist purposes. The Christchurch Call that France launched together with New Zealand in May 2019 now brings together some 50 States and partners, including major Internet companies. The COVID-19 pandemic has led, during periods of containment, to increased exposure to online terrorist propaganda. Furthermore, the fight against terrorism, radicalization and violent extremism must be conducted in accordance with international humanitarian, refugee and human rights law.
The representative of Indonesia, Council President for August, spoke in his national capacity, warning that ISIL affiliates are still active in many parts of the world, even as the world now faces the COVID-19 pandemic. Through media propaganda, they may inspire attacks, once normal public mobility and assembly resume. It is imperative to invest in soft measures towards countering terrorist narratives and steering people away from violent extremism while promoting and facilitating the spread of messages of peace, moderation and tolerance. The fight against terror should neither cease nor waver in the face of the pandemic. COVID‑19 should in no way hinder the combat against terrorism. It is necessary to stay attuned to how ISIL threats continue to evolve, during and after the pandemic, so that responses can be adjusted.
Also speaking were the representatives of the United Kingdom, Niger, Tunisia and Estonia.
*Based on information received from the Security Council Affairs Division.
For information media. Not an official record.
<h2>Dr. Jake Shachar Laks<span class="s1"> has joined the surgical staff of Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Israel, a hospital ranked ninth-best in the world by <i>Newsweek</i> magazine.</span></h2>
Jake Shachar Laks, 41, has spent his life moving between his birthplace in Israel, growing up in Farmington Hills, receiving his medical degree at the Sackler School of Medicine at Tel Aviv University, working at U.S. hospitals and now, finally, going back home to Israel.
For Laks, an oncology surgeon who specializes in treating pancreatic cancer, his aliyah is a dream come true.
“It’s always been a dream for me to go back home,” he said. “The medical community there was so difficult to enter. There were only a few positions I could move into.”
Laks, who was an associate professor at East Carolina State University before his move, has joined the surgical staff of Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Israel, a hospital ranked ninth-best in the world by Newsweek magazine. He is now using his highly specialized robotic surgical training for the benefit of pancreatic cancer patients in Israel and is a faculty member of Tel Aviv University.
“It’s been really exciting,” Laks said about his move to Israel in the fall of 2019. “(Sheba Medical Center) has a really incredible innovation center I have never seen anywhere else. All you have to do is talk to people around the water cooler and you get ideas for cutting-edge research.”
Laks said he has also been impressed with Sheba’s response to the COVID-19 global pandemic and its ability to secure PPE devices and ventilators in the face of a worldwide shortage.
“The initial response of the hospital was perhaps the most impressive mobilization of resources I’ve ever seen,” he said. “The entire hospital switched to working in three separate pods around the clock to minimize the possibility of health care workers becoming infected and causing a shortage of health care staff while still being able to deliver quality and efficient health care.
“That type of mobilization of resources would have taken months of negotiations and board meetings to get approved in a hospital in the United states. (The mobilization) occurred essentially overnight in an Israeli hospital whose structural operation runs more like an army division than a hospital at times of emergency. This proved to be a great asset in the initial response.”
Laks obtained his bachelor’s of science degree in biology from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. After receiving his medical education in Israel, he did his surgery residency at St. Louis University in Missouri and his surgical oncology fellowship at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. He also spent six years at Columbia Surgical Associates and at the University of Missouri. He practiced for an additional three years at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C.
Laks’ family joined him on the move, including his wife, Meital, who is a veterinarian, and his two daughters, Noam Renee, 11, and Einav Elle, 10. Laks met Meital when he was going through medical school in Israel.
His daughters are becoming accustomed to Israel, which he said is very different from America in terms of schooling.
“My oldest daughter was struggling with Hebrew, but she is getting used to it,” he said, recalling with a laugh a Jewish phrase that goes something like, “learn to use your elbows.”
“She came from a very coddled Hebrew school in the states, where it was a very controlled environment,” he said. “She is learning to use her elbows.”
Laks said he is thrilled to have the opportunity to use his robotic surgical skills for his pancreatic cancer patients and that taking the “cancer journey” with them is humbling. It is one that he has personally taken, given that his eldest daughter was diagnosed with and survived rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare cancer that develops in the soft tissue around the skeleton.
Laks has noticed the differences in the levels of communication that Israeli patients prefer, compared to American patients.
“In the states, we see a very solid line between the patients and the doctors, and it’s a line that is literally never crossed,” he said. “In Israel, that does not apply. It’s very informal. Patients have no qualms about giving you advice. It’s quite amusing. At the same time, that brings you closer to the patient and the family and it can make it difficult.”
Laks said it’s normal that all his patients have his cell phone number. And those patients take advantage of that fact. Laks said he doesn’t mind.
“If I don’t give them my number, they wouldn’t get the kind of answers or care they need,” he said. “Patients don’t really have the kind of resources they have in the states.”
Laks and his family, who are Reform, now live in Tel Mond. He says that realizing his dream of returning “home” brings him in greater connection with all aspects of Judaism, both the religion and the culture.
“One of the things I do feel is a special bond with the Jewish people and being able to take care of people who are my own,” he said. “It’s really quite rewarding to give back to a country that is a homeland to our people. It’s important we live in that home and it’s important to be part of that home. I wanted my children to grow up in Israel and feel like they belong.”
The independent Africa Regional Certification Commission (ARCC) for Polio Eradication officially declared that the 47 countries in the UN World Health Organization (WHO) African Region are free of the virus, with no cases reported for four years.
“This is a momentous milestone for Africa. Now future generations of African children can live free of wild polio,” said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa.
Polio is a viral disease that can cause paralysis, and mainly affects children under five.
The virus is transmitted from person to person, mostly through contact with infected faeces, or less frequently through contaminated water or food. It enters the body through the mouth and multiplies inside the intestines.
While there is no cure for polio, the disease can be prevented through a simple and effective oral vaccine, thus protecting a child for life.
The ARCC certification entailed a decades-long process of documentation and analysis of polio surveillance, immunization and laboratory capacity, as well as field verification visits to each country in the region.
The last case of wild poliovirus in the region was detected in Nigeria in 2016.
“Today is a historic day for Africa,” said Professor Rose Gana Fomban Leke, ARCC Chairperson, announcing the certification.
The journey to eradication began with a promise made in 1996 by Heads of State during the 32nd session of the Organization of African Unity held in Yaoundé, Cameroon, where they pledged to stamp out polio, which was paralyzing an estimated 75,000 children annually on the continent.
That same year, the late Nelson Mandela jumpstarted Africa’s commitment to polio eradication by launching the Kick Polio Out of Africa campaign, supported by Rotary International, which mobilized nations to step up efforts to ensure every child received the polio vaccine.
Since then, polio eradication efforts have spared up to 1.8 million children from crippling life-long paralysis, and saved approximately 180,000 lives, WHO reported.
“This historic achievement was only possible thanks to the leadership and commitment of governments, communities, global polio eradication partners and philanthropists,” said Dr. Moeti.
“I pay special tribute to the frontline health workers and vaccinators, some of whom lost their lives, for this noble cause.”
However, Dr. Moeti warned that Africa must remain vigilant against a resurgence of the wild poliovirus.
Keeping vaccination rates up also wards against the continued threat of vaccine-derived polio, or cVDPV2.
WHO explained that while rare, vaccine-derived polioviruses can occur when the weakened live virus in the oral polio vaccine passes among populations with low levels of immunization. Over time, the virus mutates to a form that can cause paralysis.
Adequate immunization thus protects against wild polio and circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses, the UN agency said.
WHO officials in Africa believe that the experience in eradicating wild poliovirus has other benefits for health on the continent.
Despite weak health systems, and significant logistical and operational challenges, countries collaborated effectively to achieve the milestone, according to Dr. Pascal Mkanda, Coordinator of WHO Polio Eradication Programme in the region.
“With the innovations and expertise that the polio programme has established, I am confident that we can sustain the gains, post-certification, and eliminate cVDPV2,” he said.
The experience also will inform response to other challenges, both new and ongoing, Dr. Moeti added.
“The expertise gained from polio eradication will continue to assist the African region in tackling COVID-19 and other health problems that have plagued the continent for so many years and ultimately move the continent toward universal health coverage,” she said. “This will be the true legacy of polio eradication in Africa.”
Through two airlifts and commercial cargo routes, vital personal protective equipment (PPE), medical, health hygiene and nutrition supplies were able to reach those in desperate need.
“Before the dust had begun to settle, UNICEF teams were working to ensure that urgently needed humanitarian supplies could reach children and families affected as soon as possible”, said UNICEF Lebanon Representative Yukie Mokuo.
On 4 August, a cache of ammonium nitrate caused a deadly explosion in Lebanon that rocked the capital of Beirut, causing devastation in a city already suffering from the global coronavirus pandemic.
The blast killed close to 200 people, injured thousands of others, left around a quarter of a million homeless, and sparked protests that prompted the resignation of Prime Minister Hassan Diab and his entire cabinet.
The UN agency’s immediate response was to distribute 18 shipments of pre-positioned supplies, which were in stock, while working to procure additional humanitarian items locally, including PPE, infection prevention and control (IPC) kits and other hygiene items, as well as provisions to support psycho-social assistance to affected children.
To compliment the locally procured supplies, additional materials were sent to Beirut from UNICEF’s global supply hub in Copenhagen, with further shipments planned in the coming days and weeks.
“Children have had their lives turned upside-down”, Ms. Mokou reminded. “Making sure that families have their basic needs met will allow them to start rebuilding their lives and look to the future”.
Against the backdrop that COVID-19 cases in the country continue to surge, and that the explosions destroyed 10 containers of PPE, it was critical that UNICEF was able to deliver more than $3.5 million worth of critical PPE and IPC kits.
“As families fight to rebuild after the chaos of the explosions, coupled with the ongoing economic crisis and the added threat of COVID-19, the support of our donors and partners has been absolutely critical”, she continued, “but much more is still needed”.
The humanitarian supplies were delivered with the assistance of the European Union’s European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) and the Government of Belgium and through a donation from the Sanofi Foundation.
However, UNICEF still requires $46.7 million to respond to the immediate needs of children and families over the next three months – with a focus on keeping children safe; rehabilitating basic essential services; and equipping young people with the skills they need to help rebuild their country – all while limiting the spread of COVID-19.
“Now is the time for the international community to stand with the people of Lebanon and ensure that they receive the help and assistance required”, concluded the UNICEF envoy.
Speaking to journalists in Geneva, World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson Dr. Margaret Harris addressed concerns that the development could herald a new alert.
“The important – other important – thing to note is the numbers are very, very small,” she said. “So this is one documented case in over 23 million and we will probably see other documented cases. But it seems to be not a regular event we would have seen many more cases.”
Nonetheless, Dr. Harris& noted that the reinfection signalled on Monday was significant.
According to the University of Hong Kong scientists who announced the development, the virus strains that infected the man more than four months apart were different.
“The important thing here is that this is clear documentation,” the WHO spokesperson said. “So, we’ve had anecdotal reports every now and then from people who’ve tested negative, then tested positive. And it hasn’t been clear up until this case whether that was simply a problem of testing or whether people were getting infected a second time.”
Priorities for the UN health agency include understanding “what this means in terms of (people’s) immunity”, Dr. Harris continued.
“This is why we have got a lot of research groups actually tracking people, measuring antibodies, trying to understand how long the immune protection lasts – the natural immune protection – and that should be understood as it is not the same as the immune protection that a vaccine provides.”
To date, the WHO has recorded nearly 23.5 million cases of COVID-19 infection globally, with more than 809,000 deaths. The Americas have been worst-hit by region, with more than 12.5 million people infected, followed by Europe (3.995 million), South-East Asia (3.666 million), Eastern Mediterranean (1.840 million), Africa (1.007 million) and Western Pacific (460,991).
In a related development, WHO said that more than 170 countries are cooperating on a global initiative to produce fairly priced COVID-19 vaccines once they are licensed and approved.
The COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access Facility (COVAX) initiative involves countries and vaccine manufacturers; it is led by WHO, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
In a statement, WHO said that COVAX has the world’s “largest and most diverse COVID-19 vaccine portfolio” with nine candidate vaccines, nine more “under evaluation and conversations underway with other major producers”.
WHO described the project as only global initiative that is working with governments and manufacturers to ensure COVID-19 vaccines are available worldwide to both higher-income and lower-income countries.
But it insisted that in order to secure enough doses of vaccines to protect the most vulnerable populations – such as health workers and the elderly – funding was needed by 31 August deadline.
More than one million people to benefit from improved access to life-saving services across the country
DAMASCUS, 24 August 2020 – The European Union has contributed €1.5 million to UNICEF’s COVID-19 response in Syria, supporting the most vulnerable children and families. This additional funding will help UNICEF raise awareness of COVID-19 prevention while ensuring improved access for over one million conflict-affected children and caregivers to protection, nutrition, education and water and sanitation services during the global spread of Coronavirus.
“Over nine years into the conflict in Syria, existing humanitarian needs of more than 5 million children in the country have been compounded by the global spread of COVID-19,” said UNICEF Representative in Syria Mr. Bo Viktor Nylund. “The regular and substantial support from the European Union has greatly assisted us in fulfilling our commitments to reaching the most vulnerable children and families in Syria and ensuring continuation of critical services.”
Since 2016, the European Union has provided more than €34 million in funding for UNICEF’s support to children in Syria, including a recent generous contribution of €7.5 million in September 2019.
“The European Union remains committed to responding to the most urgent humanitarian needs of children and families across Syria,” said EU Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič. “We are certain that our contribution will help children return to school, stay protected, keep healthy, and have access to safe water and proper sanitation during these challenging times.”
The multi-donor humanitarian action, supported by the European Union, will help UNICEF reach:
More than 350,000 children and mothers with life-saving curative and preventive nutrition services, including the provision of nutritional supplements and Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) counselling.
Nearly 450,000 people with access to safe water, through emergency rehabilitation of water systems.
36,600 vulnerable out-of-school children or those at risk of dropping out with access to education, through the provision of self-learning materials.
By James Blears
The new academic year has started this week in Mexico, but children remain at home, doing classes via the television or the internet.
Mexican Education Secretary Esteban Moctezuma says this is by far the best and the safest option for Mexico, pointing out that children in other countries have gone back to classes, and almost immediately new outbreaks have occurred.
Standing alongside Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Moctezuma says that the main educational reliance is on television, because it has more scope and range than the internet for public education. However, many private schools have gone back to the internet formula.
More than half of the country’s work force is employed in the informal economy, so they have to physically go to their jobs, often taking their younger children with them. The Education Ministry has established 160 telephone support lines, but with more than thirty million students, resources are thinly spread and sorely stretched.
President Lopez Obrador claims the virulence of the virus is now waning, yet Health Officials confirm the death toll now exceeds 60,000 victims. Testing for Covid-19 has now dropped to three people per one hundred thousand.
In June Deputy Health Minister and Covid Spokesman Hugo Lopez Gatell said that if deaths surpassed 60,000 by October it would be a catastrophe and the worst-case scenario. Now these words have come back to haunt him.
By Vatican News
The African continent is now free from cases of wild polio, as global efforts to completely eradicate the virus continue to move in the right direction. Currently, only two countries in the world – Afghanistan and Pakistan – still report cases of polio.
On Tuesday, the Africa Regional Committee for Certification (ARCC), an independent regional body set up by the World Health Organisation (WHO), concluded that the transmission of the wild poliovirus strain has been interrupted in all 47 countries of the WHO African Region.
This certification comes after Nigeria, the last African country with polio cases, recorded no new cases for the past four consecutive years. This announcement means that five of the six WHO regions, representing 90 percent of the world’s population is polio-free.
Certification of polio eradication is done on a regional basis. A region is only eligible for certification after all countries in the area show proof of the absence of wild poliovirus for at least three consecutive years, and demonstrate a high standard of surveillance for any outbreaks.
Polio, a crippling and potentially fatal infectious disease, has no cure but can be prevented by the administration of a vaccine. It is typically transmitted through contaminated water and usually affects children under five, sometimes leading to irreversible paralysis.
By 1996, more than 75,000 children across Africa were affected by polio. That same year, the late Nelson Mandela launched the “Kick Polio Out of Africa” program which mobilized health workers and organisations to put in renewed efforts to ensure a polio-free Africa.
The final efforts to eradicate polio in Africa were concentrated largely on northeastern Nigeria after an outbreak was reported in 2016. Before that, the country had gone two years without any cases identified and had even been taken off the global list of polio-endemic countries in 2015.
Leading virologist and chairman of the Nigeria Expert Review Committee on Polio Eradication and Routine Immunization, Professor Oyewole Tomori, said that the country’s journey to eradicating polio began in 1977 when the WHO adopted the Universal Child Immunization Program. The goal, he explained at a press conference on Tuesday, was to vaccinate every child in the world against measles, tetanus, whooping cough and polio by 1990. However, by that deadline, Nigeria was barely able to achieve the 80 percent target.
Tomori explained some of the challenges to achieving this global health milestone include difficulty in accessing some areas in order to reach some populations, as well as a 2003 boycott of vaccines by some states in Nigeria due to unfounded rumors that they caused infertility.
He recalled that in Kano state alone, approximately 3.7 million children went unvaccinated in 2004 due to the misinformation. The situation was further compounded by the outbreak of armed conflict in northern Nigeria which displaced millions of people. He said some of his colleagues were killed in the line of duty while trying to vaccinate children against polio.
This new certification does not mean that Africa is completely polio-free.
A vaccine-derived poliovirus – a rare mutated form of the virus – still remains in Africa with several dozen cases identified this year. Even though it is not the wild polio strain, it can still emerge among populations living in areas of low immunity.
In addition, immunization campaigns that have been effective in keeping numbers low have been significantly disrupted due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
By Robin Gomes
Fear over a revolutionary government surfaced again in the Philippines after an assembly in Pampanga on August 22 revived a long-running push for the establishment of a revolutionary government headed by Duterte. Citing the need to heal “all the ills of our society”, Duterte’s supporters want him to overthrow his own constitutionally mandated government, dump the Constitution and everything it stands for.
Several Catholic bishops in the Philippines have raised concern over a call for a revolutionary government by supporters of President Rodrigo Duterte, saying it will only end in “chaos” rather than improvement in the country’s situation.
Caritas Philippines director, Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo of Kidapawan, said that the call is not only inciting sedition, but it will, at best, ruin the government.
He warned that instead of solving the nation’s real problems, a revolutionary government will “use the Filipino people as pawns to justify vested interests”.
Bishop Bagaforo said that rather than focusing too much on dividing the nation, Duterte must commit himself to handle the COVID pandemic more efficiently, support the private sector against recession, maximize government funds to aid education, and do better at defending human rights. The Caritas head urged Filipinos to watch out against “deceiving plots” against democracy and people’s welfare.
Bishop Broderick Pabillo, the Apostolic Administrator of the Manila Archdiocese, agreed with Bishop Bagaforo. Describing a revolutionary government as unjust, immoral and seditious, he said such an act is a betrayal of the nation.
Archbishop Martin Jumoad of Ozamiz said the government should rather focus on the pandemic and the ongoing health crisis.
For his part, Bishop Ruperto Santos of Balanga said that the proposal is not only unconstitutional but an “open admittance that the present government is a total failure.”
“They want to change the government just to install the same government officials. There is no sense, void of human reason,” he said.
Recalling the bitter experiences of the people under the dictatorship of President Ferdinand Marcos, retired Bishop Arturo Bastes of Sorsogon warned that if such a plan is “pushed through, Filipinos will get impatient and something worse might happen”.
Retired Bishop Teodoro Bacani of Novaliches denounced the supporters of a revolutionary government as “crazy”.
According to the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), which brings together all the lawyers in the country, “There is no legal, factual, practical, or moral basis for a revolutionary government under the present circumstances.” “If the president truly cares about the country he vowed to serve, he should focus on solving imminent problems and get back to real work which is piling up,” said IBP national president Domingo Egon Cayosa in a statement.
Both the Philippine National Police and the Department of National Defense have said they would not support any calls for a revolutionary government.
The League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP), the formal organisation of all of the Philippines’ 81 provinces, has also rejected the idea of a revolutionary government. According to LPP president, Presbitero J. Velasco Jr., the governor of Marinduque, if the goal is to make way for a federal form of government, there are constitutional means to do so. “An adventurist attempt at a revolutionary government might give the illusion that it is the solution to the problem but it will only aggravate the problem by creating anarchy and destabilisation,” Velasco said.
By Lydia O’Kane
From 1 September to 4 October, Christians all over the world will celebrate the Season of Creation, as well as the Day of Creation on 1 September.
As in past years, both the Conference of European Churches (CEC) and The Council of Bishops’ Conferences of Europe (CCEE), are encouraging Member Churches in Europe to come together over the course of the month to celebrate the “richness of the Christian faith as an expression to protect our common home.
In a statement issued by Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, President of CCEE, and Rev. Christian Krieger, President of CEC, Creation is described as “a gift of God for mankind and for all living beings. It is, therefore, our responsibility to protect it as good and reliable stewards, and as faithful servants of God.”
They point out that Pope Francis, in his encyclical Laudato Si’, underlines, “the urgent challenge to protect our common home includes a concern to bring the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development.”
They also stress Pope Francis’s appeal “for a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet.”
The eminent theologian Jurgen Moltmann, they highlight, calls for “a discernment of the God, who is present in creation through his Holy Spirit,” a discernment that “can bring men and women to reconciliation and peace with nature.”
Emphasizing the ecumenical dimension to the Season of Creation, the joint statement gives thanks for the proposal of the late Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I in 1989.
Since that time, the two presidents comment, “the idea of the Season of Creation and its ecumenical spirit has been further confirmed by the European Ecumenical Assemblies organised jointly by CEC and CCEE in Basel 1989, Graz 1997 and Sibiu 2007.”
This year, the Season will be observed in the midst of a global pandemic.
The Coronavirus, the statement reads, has shown “more than ever that we are not isolated from each other and that conditions related to human health and well-being are fragile.”
It goes on to say that the “impact of the pandemic forces us to take seriously the need for vigilance and the need for conditions of sustainable life throughout the earth. This is even more important when considering the environmental devastation and the threat of climate change.”
In conclusion, the two presidents invite Christians to celebrate the Season of Creation this year under the heading of Jubilee for the Earth. “The concept of Jubilee,” they note, “is rooted in the Bible and underlines that there must exist a just and sustainable balance between social, economic and ecological realities.”
They also underline that “the lesson from the biblical concept of jubilee points us towards the need to restore balance in the very systems of life, affirming the need for equality, justice and sustainability and confirming the need for a prophetic voice in defence of our common home.”