Talk Islam

Tagged: NGOs Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

• 

  thabet 3:55 pm on September 13, 2010 Permalink
  Tags: afghanistan ( 507 ), aid ( 15 ), civilians ( 52 ), collateral damage ( 114 ), foreign policy ( 302 ), geopolitics ( 234 ), liberal imperialism ( 30 ), NATO ( 84 ), NGOs, taliban ( 294 ), united states ( 803 )   

  NATO concedes, in its usual style, of the ‘possibility of more civilian deaths in a recent air strike’.

  Perhaps these continual ‘collateral damage’ incidents goes some way to explains the ‘deteriorating security condition; in Afghanistan?

  Even as more American troops flow into the country, Afghanistan is more dangerous than it has ever been during this war, with security deteriorating in recent months, according to international organizations and humanitarian groups.

  Large parts of the country that were once completely safe, like most of the northern provinces, now have a substantial Taliban presence — even in areas where there are few Pashtuns, who previously were the Taliban’s only supporters. As NATO forces poured in and shifted to the south to battle the Taliban in their stronghold, the Taliban responded with a surge of their own, greatly increasing their activities in the north and parts of the east.

  The worsening security comes as the Obama administration is under increasing pressure to show results to maintain public support for the war, and raises serious concerns about whether the country can hold legitimate nationwide elections for Parliament next Saturday.

  Unarmed government employees can no longer travel safely in 30 percent of the country’s 368 districts, according to published United Nations estimates, and there are districts deemed too dangerous to visit in all but one of the country’s 34 provinces.

  (Via Steve Hynd.)

   
• 

  thabet 7:41 am on August 27, 2010 Permalink
  Tags: #pkfloods ( 2 ), aid ( 15 ), charity ( 22 ), floods ( 4 ), humanitarianism ( 5 ), NGOs, Pakistan ( 682 ), taliban ( 294 )   

  Classy:

  The Taliban hinted Thursday they may launch attacks against foreigners helping Pakistan respond to the worst floods in the country’s history, saying their presence was “unacceptable.” The U.N. said it would not be deterred by violent threats.

  The militant group has attacked aid workers in the country before, and an outbreak of violence could complicate a relief effort that has already struggled to reach the 8 million people who are in need of emergency assistance.
  Pakistani Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq claimed the U.S. and other countries that have pledged support are not really focused on providing aid to flood victims but had other motives he did not specify.

  “Behind the scenes they have certain intentions, but on the face they are talking of relief and help,” Tariq told The Associated Press by telephone from an undisclosed location. “No relief is reaching the affected people, and when the victims are not receiving help, then this horde of foreigners is not acceptable to us at all.”

   
• 

  thabet 1:30 am on July 13, 2010 Permalink
  Tags: afghanistan ( 507 ), aid ( 15 ), ngo ( 2 ), NGOs, occupation ( 147 ), politics ( 979 ), taliban ( 294 )   

  Something that we’ve known for some time now:

  Armed attacks on non-governmental organisations and humanitarian agencies working in Afghanistan have lessened over the past six months, not only because of their own security measures, but also because the Taliban have stopped targeting them, according to the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office (ANSO).

  While some 1,200 security incidents were recorded in June 2010 — more than in any month since the fall of the Taliban — assaults on NGOs by armed opposition groups in the first half of 2010 were 35 percent lower than in 2008-2009, says ANSO, which provides free safety analysis and advice to member NGOs.

  “At a strategic level the armed opposition are in many cases acting more like a government in waiting and so see a convergence of interests in maintaining NGO services. However, it is still possible for mistakes to be made at the tactical level and for an NGO to become targeted,” Nic Lee, director of ANSO.

  Nevaeh Green is discussing. Toggle Comments

   
  • 

    Nevaeh Green 5:54 am on July 19, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    food aids are badly needed by third world countries and we really need to give something to the poor..”-

• 

  johnpi 9:22 pm on January 26, 2010 Permalink
  Tags: civil society ( 6 ), NGOs, nonprofits, Syria ( 41 )   

  Syria’s first lady calls for civil activism.

  Syria’s first lady has called for the country’s citizens to play a more active role in the country’s social and economic life.

  Syrian First Lady Asma Al-Assad encouraged her fellow Syrians to become more involved in non governmental organizations (NGOs) during a recent conference in the Syrian capital Damascus, according to local media outlets.

  Civil society organizations are relatively rare in Syria due to the lengthy and difficult process involved in securing permission from the government to establish an NGO.

  “There is a maturation of the whole trend in Syria towards the empowering of what we call civil society,” Dr Samir Al-Taqi, Director of the Orient Center for International Studies in Damascus, told The Media Line.

  “Previously the use of civil society in Syria has been used not as a link to empower [social or environmental] aims but rather used on a political basis,” he said. “Syrian society is now elaborating on a new trend towards the formation and multiplication of civil society bodies.”

  I’m tagging this ‘nonprofits’ because in the US that’s the term used instead of ‘NGO.’

  arif, thabet, and abunoor are discussing. Toggle Comments

   
  • 

    abunoor 9:47 pm on January 26, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    Nadim Houry, a Middle East researcher for Human Rights Watch, disagreed with Al-Taqi.

    “It’s part of a public relations campaign,” he told The Media Line, arguing that the government has talked about the importance of civil society before but have been unwilling to relinquish control.

    “There are zero human rights NGOs in Syria,” Houry continued. “What happens is that especially for human rights activists, they ask to form an NGO and they are then either denied or never given an answer.”

    “If they start meeting and for some reason upset the authorities, then they are charged with membership of an illegal organization,” he said. “It would be an encouraging step if her comments were followed by concrete action, specifically the introduction of a new associations law and the permission for independent organizations to actually exist.”

    • 

      abunoor 9:54 pm on January 26, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      Syria has been under emergency law, which suspends most constitutional protections, since 1963. Tell Ms.Assad to give her speeches to her husband.

      • 

        arif 9:50 am on January 27, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

        which suspends most constitutional protections

        abunoor, I take it that you think there is a problem with this type of government in Syria? Would you mind sharing the ideal and comparable type of government – in present time – you have in mind against your above statement?

        • 

          abunoor 11:11 am on January 27, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

          I don’t have a quick answer to that, and it’s not just because I’m still learning and thinking (which I hope I am inshAllaah) but because I don’t really think one should have a precise answer. I think in the “Muslim world” the task is to develop a form of government which is based on the principles outlined in the Qur’an and Sunnah. Although there are attractive aspects to “western” governments in the world today, there are also many unattractive aspects and I do not agree with those who imply although sometimes hesitate to state directly that the model of the US or UK or France or Germany is completely in line with the principles of Qur’an and Sunnah. I don’t have a problem saying that the governing system in the US is better than the governments in most of the Muslim (and especially Arab) world, which are tyrannies which bear almost nothing in common with the principles outlined in the Qur’an and Sunnah.

          I also don’t agree with those who would claim that the Qur’an and Sunnah outline a precise and exact model or that past governing systems under the Ottomans or the Ummayads or the Abbasids or the Mughal empire should somehow attempt to be replicated in our time.

          As I said at the beginning, I don’t believe that one should have a model of the ideal government in their head and then simply seek to implement that on the world. People can and should put forth principles and maybe look to certain models as being things to follow or definitely not to follow, but actual governing systems are formed over generations, through give and take between people with different ideas, through the creation of institutions and contestation between those institutions. This is the reality of the way things are done, and I don’t see any example in the life of the Prophet (saw) for setting down some detailed model for government and then seeking to implement it.

          Of course that is a process which will take place in the Muslim world, and my role and voice in that process is (and basically should be) nothing at all. As I Muslim and member of the ummah I have a tremendous interest and I will follow developments and comment and have ideas and make du’a but what I can actually do is quite limited. My particular role is most likely here in the country of my birth and my contribution here is different as the struggle for Muslims here is different.

          I’m not entirely sure I understand your question (ideal and comparable type against my above statement) but those are some thoughts I would start with to frame any discussion on Islamic government in our times from my perspective.

          Allah Knows best.

          • 

            AA 6:17 pm on January 27, 2010 Permalink

            We pretty much agree. I have several thoughts here:

            1) Democracy is not alien or in conflict with Islam , it’s principle goes back to 1400 years when Muslims debated how best to implement the premises Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) had established for being qualified for leadership.

            2) leadership everywhere must work to ensure that pluralism, and all its benefits, become top priorities. In this effort, civil society has a vital role. Pluralism here simply means our readiness to listen to many voices – whether we agree with them or not – and a readiness to embrace a rich diversity of cultures

            3) the central element of the Islamic faith is the inseparable nature of faith and world. This is not as same as saying no separation of church and state. There is a big difference here when we look at governing politics in the Islamic context versus governing politics of church versus state.

            4) Democratic systems are mostly self-correcting so public-accountability provides the best hope. We should also be looking into ways to make the democratic system work rather than replace it with something else. The public integrity is where the strength of democracy lies.

  • 

    thabet 2:37 pm on January 27, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    Syria’s first lady has called for the country’s citizens to play a more active role in the country’s social and economic life.

    But not in its political life.

• 

  johnpi 8:16 pm on December 3, 2009 Permalink
  Tags: civil rights ( 54 ), Extremism ( 181 ), extremists ( 15 ), hate speech ( 8 ), human rights ( 515 ), NGOs   

  Egyptian human rights groups disagree over ‘Islamic hate channels.’

  Egyptian human rights activists submitted a report to the Egyptian government this week demanding it ban aggressive religious Islamic channels from broadcasting.

  The activists, who include lawyer and human-rights activist Nagib Gabriel, described these channels as extremist and said they were disseminating “subversive ideas that call for discrimination against women and Copts and lean towards radical behavior that is far from the spirit of Islam,” according to a report in the Kuwaiti Al-Jarida.
  ….

  Human rights activists are not all in agreement over how to deal with these stations.

  “The stations are very problematic,” Ahmad Samih, director of the Andalus Institute for Tolerance and Anti-Violence Studies told The Media Line. “It’s not an easy decision for a human-rights activist fighting for freedom of speech to ask them to take it off air, but I think they need to be punished and they need to understand what responsibilities they have.”

  Bahey Eddin Hassan, director of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies told The Media Line that “with all due respect to the good intentions of those NGOs, I’m afraid this will indirectly help the government limit the freedom of satellite channels in Egypt and other parts of the region.”

   
• 

  johnpi 9:22 am on November 8, 2009 Permalink
  Tags: Afghan Taliban ( 41 ), afghanistan ( 507 ), Hamas ( 68 ), hizbollah ( 5 ), Mullah Omar ( 5 ), Muslim-on-Muslim violence ( 79 ), NGOs, Pakistan Taliban ( 125 ), Pakistani Taliban ( 129 ), social justice ( 5 ), taliban ( 294 )   

  Reading Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid’s “Taliban” the much-praised book about the ‘student movement’ that was published just prior to Sept. 11th.

  An observation: It’s interesting to note how different the Taliban are as an Islamic movement in control of a population from other Islamic movements with similar responsibilities. Hizbollah and Hamas essentially made their names and established their ‘street credibilty’ through focus on social welfare and improving a population’s well-being.

  Hamas funds schools, orphanages, mosques, healthcare clinics, soup kitchens, and sports leagues. “Approximately 90 percent of its work is in social, welfare, cultural, and educational activities,” writes the Israeli scholar Reuven Paz. The Palestinian Authority often fails to provide such services, and Hamas’s efforts in this area—as well as a reputation for honesty, in contrast to the many Fatah officials accused of corruption—help to explain the broad popularity it summoned to defeat Fatah in the PA’s recent elections.

  The Taliban, in contrast, were distinct for their extraordinary lack of interest in the social welfare of the populations it came to control. Here’s Rashid’s description of events after the Taliban kicked the NGOs out of Kabul in the summer of 1998:

  With more than half of Kabul’s 1.2 million people benefiting in some way from NGO handouts, women and children were immediate victims when aid was cut off. Food distribution, health care and and the city’s fragile water distribution network were all seriously affected. As people waved empty kettles and buckets at passing Taliban jeeps, their reply to the population was characteristic of their lack of social concern. “We Muslims believe God the Almighty will feed everybody one way or another.”

  Since the Taliban had dubbed Mullah Omar Amir of all Muslims, not just Afghans – demonstrating transnationalist aspirations – I guess they felt they could use the ‘royal we.’ Tagging this post ‘Muslim-on-Muslim violence’ since the Kabul victims of Taliban indifference were probably all Muslims.

  Conrad Barwa, sa.c, and johnpi are discussing. Toggle Comments

   
  • 

    sa.c 9:30 am on November 8, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    Not necessarily all Muslims. There are (or perhaps a better term is “were” until very recently) ages-old communities of Hindus and Sikhs living in Afghanistan who likely suffered under the Taliban too.

    • 

      johnpi 10:14 am on November 8, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      Ismailis and Jews too. Afghanistan was a vibrant multi-cultural, multi-ethnic society. But at some point during the Taliban takeover between ’94 and 2000 a lot of those populations left and became international refugees because the taliban bore down so hard on them. Non-Muslims lives were worth little and their property was targeted for looting.

      I don’t know how much of those populations were still left in ’98.

      • 

        johnpi 10:18 am on November 8, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

        Also the Taliban were keen to take concubines too. Rashid writes about the Taliban taking a lot of Shia Hazara women after massacres in Hazara areas back to Pashtun areas in the south of the country.

        Mullah Omar even threw one of his battle commanders in jail after his wife complained about all the concubines he brought back with him.

        • 

          pi.info 10:52 am on November 8, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

          This brand of Islam appeals to some in the West and throughout the Muslim world, sometimes dressed up as ‘Dawah.’

          The Taliban provide a good case study of the results.

      • 

        sa.c 11:43 am on November 8, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

        I don’t have numbers (and wouldn’t know where to find them), but personal anecdotes indicate that there was quite a significant community there after the Taliban takeover as well. Hindu’s were not always viewed as being “too different” (Hindu Pashtuns have always existed, as a minority though, – I’ve heard most fled for India in 1947 and no longer identify as Pashtun/Pathan in India) and thus had had some common ethnic-tribal ground with the all Pashtun Taliban. Sikhs on the other hand are most likely an old established merchant community who retained their own Punjabi language (obviously fluent in others though). I’m told that the 2001 war has also contributed greatly to the almost-disappearance of both of these communities – no safety.

        • 

          sa.c 11:45 am on November 8, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

          that however, is not to downplay their persecution (which is and has been very real).

  • 

    Conrad Barwa 12:16 pm on November 8, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    Tagging this post ‘Muslim-on-Muslim violence’ since the Kabul victims of Taliban indifference were probably all Muslims.

    To be more specific, I think disproportionately most of the victims were women; since it was closing of access to schools for girls and in particular the decline in healthcare access, especially to hospitals and maternal care that affected women, in some cases with fatal consequences. Ideologically, the Taliban were so keen to prevent any significant mobility for women or inter-gender mixing that it was difficult to deliver these services to women.

• 

  thabet 10:32 pm on September 2, 2009 Permalink
  Tags: activism ( 4 ), Feminism ( 29 ), human rights ( 515 ), international law ( 248 ), Muslim women ( 106 ), NGOs, politics ( 979 )   

  A bunch of white men debate how best to save the eternally oppressed Muslim woman…

  eliza, thabet, and Buzz Kill are discussing. Toggle Comments

   
  • 

    Buzz Kill 1:35 am on September 3, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    When all is said and done, we must encourage the little brown fellow to allow his little brown wife to do more than cook, clean and make babies just as we have allowed our white ladies unprecedented freedom and they have indeed shown remarkable progress and now are, in some cases, every bit as successful as a man.

    This is progress.

    • 

      thabet 2:07 am on September 3, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      I don’t know if this is a serious comment.

      • 

        Buzz Kill 2:20 am on September 3, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

        Yeah, you know.

      • 

        Buzz Kill 2:39 am on September 3, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

        It is not fair to hint at a white stereotype without illustrating the full extent of the caricature. Comment #2 and #3 of this thread, I think, have very adequately displayed what was on your mind. Mission accomplished.
        One patronization and one stereotype complete.

        • 

          thabet 3:13 am on September 3, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

          It was sarcastic… A dig (not a good one granted) at what you’re saying.

          If you read the links Neil Robertson is opposed to the view put forward by Clive James and Nick Cohen.

        • 

          thabet 3:22 am on September 3, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

          Having said that the debate is pretty poor overall.

          They spend lots of time arguing over the ‘legacy’ of Ayan Hirsi Ali, even though she says she isn’t Muslim. No numbers/statistics (e.g. improving/declining literacy rates, wealth/poverty) are offered, and no social or historical context is provided. We’re given a few links to some organisations, and a handful of names.

          In fact, the debate isn’t really even about ‘saving Muslim women’. It is about political infighting amongst centre-left and centre-right liberals, and an argument about ‘what feminism should mean’.

          • 

            Buzz Kill 3:26 am on September 3, 2009 Permalink

            It is patronizing, which is what annoys me. It is true that the place of women is one of the flaws of some Middle Eastern cultures. But, ultimately, women have to change that. Not male outsiders.

          • 

            thabet 3:29 am on September 3, 2009 Permalink

            But, ultimately, women have to change that. Not male outsiders.

            I agree.

            But then we’re just two men arguing about saving Muslim women too

            (And I am violating my own code of conduct here. I promised myself I would never get involved in this debate. Not because I don’t care, but because the last thing this whole argument ever needs is another man shouting about what’s ‘best’ for a woman.)

          • 

            Buzz Kill 3:39 am on September 3, 2009 Permalink

            Disagree with you. (Again) What you are doing is reminding men to stay the hell out of it. The best we can do is wait.

          • 

            thabet 3:42 am on September 3, 2009 Permalink

            Stay out… wait… it’s a matter of perception.

  • 

    thabet 3:45 am on September 3, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    Btw, for those interested there was something similar at Comment is free.

  • 

    eliza 9:39 am on September 3, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    There is nothing quite so bad for a woman as a man who thinks he’s good. (From old US song). Or a man who thinks he’s God.