Category: Uncategorized

by Rashad Ali

Thousands gathered in London to express their feelings of palpable pain, anger, and frustration at the invasion and attempted take over of Ukraine by Putin and his regime. Yet the spirit of defiance, indignation, hope and camaraderie were much more poignant. It is the latter that dominated the will of some 8,000 plus protestors throughout the day. In front of Downing Street with the backdrop of a symbolic Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. This is conservative estimate as there were people coming and going throughout the day.

This was a different atmosphere than many other protests I had attended. Ukrainians were well represented, the chants were led by Ukrainians, and clear-cut demands were made. There was no feeling of political partisanship. People came out as people, not as left or right, nor were they led by professional activists. They had nothing in common with the contorted ideology of the misnamed “Stop the War Coalition”. This was genuinely grass roots.

Continue reading “A Protest for Ukraine free of Dogma and Cynicism”

By Rashad Ali

Following the death of a man in police custody, demonstrations against police brutality have spread throughout working class neighbourhoods in Tunisia’s capital of Tunis. The death of Ahmed bin Ammar two weeks ago, sparked protests and reactions across the society with people questioning the gains of the Democratic transition – especially after accusations of torture have been levelled against the Police. 

Protests in Tunisia are emblematic of the post-revolutionary political reality. While this shows that following the revolution and democratic transition, people enjoy a certain level of freedom of expression. However since January their focus has been police brutality. While this problem is not unique to Tunisia, since even established democracies have failed to eliminate police brutality. But there is some hope to be gained from the fact that people in the post-revolutionary phase have low tolerance for such things, that they are able to protest such actions, and that there has been a general decrease in police violence since the revolution.

In this latter sense, it is probably a good thing that post-Arab Spring Tunisians, on this issue at least, feel comfortable expressing their outrage at the police and the way they are being governed. 

But the protests were followed by arbitrary police arrests and then, perhaps worse, brazen police defence of their actions, and encouragement to save the office of the President, by the President, who instead of holding the Minister for Justice and Home Minister to account, lambasted them for not arresting more individuals for insulting him and bringing injury to his office (more later).

By Rashad Ali

Since the 7/7 terrorist attacks in London, it has been commonplace to hear it argued that the “root cause” of terrorism is Western foreign policy: and specifically, the interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Radicalisation is not monocausal. Ideological, personal and psychological factors all have a role to play in the process. But if we are to note the occasions where grievances related to Western military action have been used by Islamist demagogues, we should also acknowledge Western refusal to intervene as a recruiting sergeant for terrorism.

Think of the Bosnian and Kosovo tragedies. Think also about the current situation in Syria.

My political development began during the horrors that followed the dissolution of Yugoslavia. We watched the genocide in Bosnia unfold, on TV, before our eyes. It was this experience that led so many of my peers from radicalisation to political violence and Islamist extremism.

Continue reading “Bosnia, Kosovo, Syria: Western Inaction and Radicalisation”