Category Archives: Politics

5 REASONS KIDNAPPING OF PAKISTANI ACTIVISTS MATTERS TO YOU

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An article shared by Dr.Ehtesham

From The clarion project

5 Reasons Kidnapping of Pakistani Activists Matters to You

Up to nine secular activists have disappeared in Pakistan as families scramble for news. Here’s why their disappearances matters.
BY ELLIOT FRIEDLANDPrintEmail

Demonstrators demanding the recovery of missing activist Salman Haider outside the Karachi Press Club.

Over the weekend, several prominent Pakistani activists disappeared in mysterious circumstances. Activists from Pakistan are speculating that the government is behind the spate of disappearances in which at least four but possibly up to nine activists were kidnapped. Supporters of the missing activists have taken to the streets to demand they are recovered. They are sharing messages of support on social media using #RecoverSalmanHaider and #RecoverAllActivists.

Here are five reasons we should all care about what’s happening in Pakistan:

 These are the people fighting against the ideology of extremism

Pakistan is a large country which in the past has sheltered radical Islamist groups such as the Taliban. It’s where Osama bin Laden was able to hide out for years before he was finally brought to justice. One of the two founding fathers of modern extremist Islam, Abu A’la Maududi, was Pakistani.

Yet there is a growing movement of secularists in Pakistan who are struggling against the extremism within their country and who want to make Pakistan a better place. If they succeed, what we will see coming out of Pakistan is more and more educated integrated anti-extremist Muslims and less and less extremists affiliated with groups like the Taliban.

This will have a knock-on impact internationally and will reduce the amount of extremism in the world, including the amount of extremism in the United States. Their success will protect those who value secularism as a way of life around the world

If the activists currently disappearing in Pakistan are wiped out, Pakistan will become more extreme which will lead to the Muslim world in general becoming more extreme.

 Pakistan Has Nuclear Weapons

Pakistan just tested a nuclear-capable missile from a submarine. This development reportedly gives Pakistan second-strike capabilities, meaning that even if the country is wiped out by a nuclear strike, Pakistan would be able to respond by firing nuclear warheads from strategically-placed submarines.

If a country with such capabilities eliminates all its secularly-minded and rational thinkers and becomes completely overcome by theocratic Islamist ideology, then this nuclear arsenal will be in the hands of Islamist extremists.

That would be a serious national security risk to the United States of America.

 Other Countries Will Follow Suit

If the persecution of secularist and anti-extremist activist continues in Pakistan unabated and without significant international opposition, other countries will take note. Pakistan is a U.S. ally and the beneficiary of significant sums of aid money for decades. Last year, President Obama proposed $860 million in aid to Pakistan, which was a significant drop in the aid usually provided by the United States.

If America or other countries which have relations with Pakistan do nothing to stand up for the rights of secularists in Pakistan, countries such as Turkey and Indonesia will take note. The Turkish parliament is currently discussing increased powers for the Islamist President Tayyip Recep Erdogan. Indonesia is currently putting the governor of Jakarta (a non-Muslim) on trial for alleged blasphemy.

These countries may see America’s failure to protect secularism in Pakistan as a green light to persecute activists in their own countries.

 Refugees Will Increase

 A Free Pakistan Will Have A Stronger Economy

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5 Reasons Kidnapping of Pakistani Activists Matters to You

Basic Guaranteed Income For Every Cirizen

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With automation and moving of jobs to cheap labor countries, possibly we are entering a permanent era where significant potion of citizens may never find a job or jobs may not pay enough to survive. One of the solution put forward is a basic guaranteed income for every citizen by the government. Finland has started this experiment and some other countries, including Canada and Netherlands, are preparing to start similar experiments. Worth reading article below.( f sheikh  ) 

It looks like 2,000 citizens in Finland will welcome the new year with outstretched arms.

These Finns are the lucky recipients of a guaranteed income beginning this year, as the country’s government finally rolls out its universal basic income (UBI) trial run.

UBI is a potential source of income that could one day be available to all adult citizens, regardless of income, wealth, or employment status.

This pioneering UBI program was launched by the federal social security institution, Kela. It will give out €560 (US$587) a month, tax free, to 2,000 Finns that were randomly selected.

The only requirement was that they had to be already receiving unemployment benefits or an income subsidy.

The program allows unemployed Finns to not lose their benefits, even when they try out odd jobs.

“Incidental earnings do not reduce the basic income, so working and … self-employment are worthwhile no matter what,” says Marjukka Turunen, legal unit head at Kela. If successful, the program could be extended to include all adult Finns.

Full article

 

 

Failure Of Democracy Or Liberalism

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Worth reading two interesting articles with different perspective but same conclusion. Kenan Malik argues that there is inherent tension between democracy and liberalism. The mob rule is part of the package of democracy and current crisis, rejection of liberal values, is crisis of liberalism and not democracy. While Nancy Fraser in her article in Dissent argues that it is the failure of progressive neocolonialism that undermined the economic interests of the their own constituents, working class, by adopting trade deals like NAFTA and TPP and promoting the interests of the wealthy.

Click links below for articles;

A crisis of Democracy or Liberalism by Kenan Malik  

End Of Progressive Neoliberalism by Nancy Fraser

posted by f.sheikh

I Voted for Hillary. And Now I’m Going to Write for Breitbart.

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We can’t ignore the voices that put Trump in the White House. But maybe we can persuade them. By GREGORY FERENSTEIN

 November 29, 2016   The 2016 election was a turning point for me as a writer. Like many of my fellow journalists, I felt that Donald Trump’s campaign was such a threat to the civic order that I set aside the norms of objectivity and actively wrote in favor of Hillary Clinton, arguing for instance, in one piece, why the business community should enthusiastically support her. I was in pretty good company; media outlets ranging from the Atlantic to the Arizona Republic made historic endorsements for a Democratic candidate.  Then, as the election results poured in on November 8, I was forced to reflect on a very (very) difficult realization: Much of my work last year was, electorally speaking, worthless. I, evidently, needed to start writing for publications that were trusted by Trump supporters.  So, two weeks ago, I emailed my contacts at Breitbart News to tell them I would be happy to start contributing.  My reasoning is very simple: I believe we are living in a new political order, where populism is a permanent fixture in our democracy. I might vehemently disagree with some of the anti-immigration and militaristic beliefs that Trump used to excite his supporters. But if I want to persuade those supporters—and I do—I have to reach them on the platform where they are getting their ideas. In the meantime, I just might be persuaded a bit myself.

For more of this article from Politico click the link below:

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/11/why-im-writing-for-breitbart-gregory-ferenstein-214488