African, Asian Migrants Dying in Mass in the Mediterranean

European Union, United States attempt to distance imperialism from crisis

By Abayomi Azikiwe
Editor, Pan-African News Wire

An accident on a substandard boat resulted in the deaths of over 900 refugees from Africa, the Middle East and Asia on April 19. Many of the passengers seeking asylum in Europe, were locked in the lower decks of the vessel which was overloaded with people fleeing Africa from Libya, a nation which is a source of instability throughout the region.

This recent tragedy has brought attention to the growing problem of out migration stemming in part from the imperialist wars of regime-change in Libya, Syria and other states in the region.

Four years ago, the United States and NATO engineered and carried out a dreadful war against the people of Libya. After financing and coordinating counter-revolutionary militias to attack and seize cities and villages in the east of the country, the-then Jamahiriya government headed by Col. Muammar Gaddafi mobilized military forces and volunteers to take back areas overrun by the rebels.

By March 19, 2011, the rebels were in retreat and the Pentagon-NATO alliance embarked upon a massive naval blockade, arms embargo and aerial bombardment of Libya, at the time the most prosperous state in Africa. After over seven months of bombing and rebel activity, the imperialists declared victory placing in government many individuals who had not been in Libya for decades.

Although there was outmigration from Africa and the Middle East prior to 2011, the crisis has recently surpassed anything seen in modern history. Just since the beginning of 2015, it is estimated that over 1,800 people have died in the Mediterranean in route to southern Europe.

Libya has two rebel regimes claiming authority over the state with additional militias which act as the law unto themselves. The economic status of the country has deteriorated while the country which had once chaired the African Union (AU) under Gaddafi is now shunned as a haven for criminal activity and reactionary political trends.

In addition to the destruction of Libya by the West, the Middle Eastern nation of Syria has been subjected to a similar destabilization campaign through a U.S.-NATO funded and strategically-directed civil war prompting the mass exodus of hundreds of thousands from the country.

In the Horn of Africa, war is still raging in Somalia and spilling over into Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti through the failed attempts by Washington to shape the political structures which govern Mogadishu and its environs. The 22,000-member African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) and the Somalia Federal Government are largely subsidized by the U.S. and the European Union.

Hundreds of thousands of additional internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees are re-locating out of the East African states of Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea. The Pentagon maintains a large military base in Djibouti at Camp Lemonnier where the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) directs its operations in the region.

The Atlantic Slave Trade in the 21st Century

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi likened the current situation in the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Slave Trade. Italy, the former colonial power in Libya, Somalia and Eritrea, is a relatively underdeveloped southern European state in comparison to the countries of the north and west of the continent, nevertheless is taking the majority of migrants from Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

Renzi has called upon other European states to assist his country in addressing the migration issue. During the same week that the 900 migrants perished, some 1,200 others were retrieved by Italian vessels in the Mediterranean.

The prime minister said that the rest of Europe must take an active role in the crisis of migration, urging the United Nations to become more involved.  Renzi urged Europe to invest in countries where migrants originate, calling on the EU bloc to make a "long-term investment" on the continent.

"We are asking for this to be a priority for an EU that wants to be something other than an assembly of member countries in an economic club, something other than a club of learned technicians that knows all the geopolitical dynamics and forgets to respond to the pain of our times," the prime minister told parliament.

Nonetheless, other more developed countries are speaking about the situation in the Mediterranean and Libya as if it is an accident of nature. However, some western media outlets have drawn attention to the root cause of the horrendous situation involving migrants.

The Guardian newspaper noted that “a large number of these people are displaced by wars. The top three nations from which maritime refugees to the EU come are Syria, Afghanistan and Eritrea. The country where they are most likely to start their journey is Libya, which is now effectively a failed state. In other words, many are running for their lives through countries we have bombed. Those in the west who insist we cannot take in ‘the world’s misery’ must, at the very least, acknowledge how much of that misery we are responsible for.” (April 26)

Imperialist War and Genocide

Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said in the response to the situation in the Mediterranean that "Gangs of criminals are putting people on a boat, sometimes even at gunpoint. They're putting them on the road to death, really, and nothing else."

It's "genocide -- nothing less than genocide, really," Muscat told CNN. (April 19)

Nonetheless, the EU at an emergency summit in Brussels called for the further militarization of the Mediterranean. Several countries held a meeting on April 23 where further assistance was requested to destroy the vessels that transport migrants.

Such an approach will only cause more deaths. The flow of migrants from these regions cannot be halted by utilizing purely military means.

The problems stem from the crisis of world capitalism and burgeoning racism in the foreign policy of western states. In attempts to control the regions of Africa, the Middle East and Asia, the U.S. and its allies are creating deeper crises through dislocations and deaths.

Within Europe there is a fierce debate and political struggle over immigration from African and Asian states. Numerous political parties and fascist groups have sprung up to oppose migrants from countries of the South.

The ruling parties in Europe and North America have also stepped-up their attacks on migrants. At the same time the wars of regime-change utilizing aerial bombardments and surrogate armies are fueling the desperation and shattering of post-colonial nations and communities.

In the same above-mentioned article in the Guardian its points out that “Around 3 billion people live on less than $2.50 a day. The global 99% did not come about by accident. It’s the result of centuries of colonization, decades of imperialism and the current corruption that has allowed a handful of people, in different ways at different times, to steal natural resources and pilfer public goods. As Winston Churchill once said of Britain, ‘This small island is dependent for our daily bread on our trade and imperial connections. Cut this away and at least a third of our population must vanish speedily from the face of the earth.’”

In the U.S. the narrative surrounding the migration crisis is also framed within the context of criminality devoid of any serious reflection on the character and impact of the foreign policies of Wall Street and Washington. Only when there is a redistribution of wealth, resources and political power as it relates to international relations, the problems of migration and mass death on the seas will continue. 

Pan-African Journal: Special Worldwide Radio Broadcast Hosted by Abayomi Azikiwe on Sun. April 26, 2015

To hear this broadcast in its entirety just click on the website below:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/panafricanjournal/2015/04/26/pan-african-journal-special-worldwide-radio-broadcast

Listen to this special edition of the Pan-African Journal hosted by Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire.

This program brings to you our regular PANW reports with dispatches on the devastating earthquake in Nepal, the ongoing United States supported Saudi-GCC war against Yemen, an update on the health crisis of Pennsylvania political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal and the unfolding mass demonstrations in Baltimore demanding justice for the police killing of Freddie Gray.

Our first guest will be Lee Patterson of the Baltimore People's Power Assembly discussing the political situation in this city where youth have taken to the streets in civil disobedience and rebellion.

In the second hour we will welcome Toronto-based broadcaster and bluesologist Norman Otis Richmond examining the theme 'From Bandung to South-South: 1955-2015', reflecting on six decades since the historic African-Asian Summit and the recently-held commemorative gathering in Indonesia several days ago.

The final hour features a broadcast from China Radio International presenting several perspectives on the Indonesian Summit marking the 60th anniversary of Bandung.

Pan-African Journal: Worldwide Radio Broadcast Hosted by Abayomi Azikiwe for Sat. April 25, 2015

To hear this broadcast just click on the website below:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/panafricanjournal/2015/04/25/pan-african-journal-worldwide-radio-broadcast

Listen to this edition of the Pan-African Journal hosted by Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire.

We feature our regular PANW reports with dispatches on Yemen, the African migration crisis in the Mediterranean, the efforts by the South African government to curtail xenophobic violence, the African-Asian Summit in Indonesia and other issues.

The second hour highlights an update on the medical emergency of United States political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal in an interview with his wife Wadiya.

Also in the second hour we present a radio broadcast with host Abayomi Azikiwe aired earlier this week over Radio 786 in Cape Town, South Africa on the African migration crisis from the Mediterranean to RSA.

In the final hour we will hear an audio documentary on the life, times and ideas of A. Phillip Randolph, the labor organizer and civil rights activist during the 20th century.

Abayomi Azikiwe, PANW Editor, Quoted in Sputnik News: Saudi 'Commitment to Imperialist Domination' Creating Yemen 'Catastrophe' 

Sputniknews.com

There are growing concerns over the effects the western-backed Saudi Arabian-led bombing campaign of Yemen is having on civilians, with fears the military intervention is triggering an escalation in the conflict, which is contributing to the 'catastrophic' humanitarian crisis.

There have been many media reports detailing the hardships of the Yemeni civilians caught up in the conflict since the military intervention — codenamed Operation Decisive Storm — which was initiated in late March.

The bombing of Yemen by Saudi-led forces, which have also been backed by the US and UK, is in reaction to the armed takeover of large parts of the country by the Houthi rebel groups, who have also been widely condemned for their violent actions and disdain for democracy in taking power.

The UN estimates that 550 civilians, including 115 children, have been killed in street fighting and air strikes over the past month, while a further 1,200 civilians have also been wounded over the same period.

While there have still been reports of indiscriminate street fights between Houthi rebel groups and forces loyal to the overthrown government, aid agencies have noted that the bombing campaign, led by Saudi Arabia, has led to continued civilians deaths, despite Riyadh announcing that it would halt airstrikes.

Intervention Creating 'Catastrophic' Situation

On top of the many deaths and injuries, there is growing concern for the plight of millions of other Yemenis, who are suffering from a severe shortage of food as a result of the Saudi-led coalition arms blockade of the country.

Aid representatives have noted how the blockade, aimed at preventing any potential weapons from being smuggled into the country, is exacerbating the problem in Yemen — a country that imports 90 percent of its food in order to feed its population of 25 million.

The shortage of food and water has resulted in many locals hoarding what they have, and has led to prices skyrocketing, with many people unable to afford basic food and water supplies.  

"It was difficult enough before, but now there are just no words for how bad it's gotten," International Committee of the Red Cross spokeswoman Marie Claire Feghali said.

"It's a catastrophe, a humanitarian catastrophe."

The ongoing and worsening impacts of the conflict have led many to question whether the Saudi-led approach, despite its purported aims, is having a positive or negative impact on the Yemeni people.

"Unless a better arrangement is found to meet the international community's desire to keep weapons out of the hands of Yemeni rebels, a prolonged naval blockade will have major negative impacts on a much wider region," J. Peter Pham, Africa director of think tank, the Atlantic Council, told Reuters.

'Imperialist Domination' of Yemen

Meanwhile, other analysts, such as activist and researcher Abayomi Azikiwe, have been far more critical of the intervention, suggesting the efforts are merely aimed at increasing Riyadh's, and in turn America's, sphere of influence in the region.

"As the death toll mounts, Riyadh and its allies representing the ousted government of President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi have rejected efforts aimed at declaring a ceasefire and re-opening political dialogue among the various political forces in the country," he said as part of an article published by think tank Global Research.

"The further exposure of Saudi Arabia in blocking UN peace initiatives illustrates clearly that the monarchy, backed by Washington, is committed to maintaining imperialist domination in the Persian Gulf, Arabian Peninsula and the waterways between Africa and western Asia."

"The bombing since late March has not won the desired results by Riyadh," he added, suggesting there may be many more months of hardship for the Yemeni people before the situation improves.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20150428/1021477793.html#ixzz3YfirecOX

US Protesters Defy Curfew in Baltimore

Wed Apr 29, 2015 3:4AM
presstv.ir

Clashes erupted between police officers and hundreds of protesters in the US city of Baltimore following days of demonstrations against police brutality in the country.

Police fired smoke bombs and tear gas to disperse the protesters who defied a curfew that took effect across the city late Tuesday.

The city is in turmoil after an African-American was killed of injuries suffered from police officers.

Freddie Gray, 25, was killed on April 19 and his funeral was held on Monday.

The black man died one week after his spinal injury during arrest.

The peaceful protests turned violent after the funeral of Gray. More than 250 people have been arrested so far.

Police said 144 cars were set on fire and 15 buildings were destroyed.

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake imposed the curfew in response to the ongoing protests.

According to Maryland's Gov. Larry Hogan, 2,000 National Guardsmen and 1,000 law officers were deployed to the city following a state of emergency.

“This combined force will not tolerate violence or looting, which has led to the destruction of property and put innocent Marylanders at risk,” Hogan said.

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama blamed "criminals and thugs" for the violence.

“When individuals get crowbars and start prying open doors to loot, they’re not protesting. They’re not making a statement. They’re stealing,” Obama said.

“When they burn down a building, they’re committing arson. And they’re destroying and undermining businesses and opportunities in their own communities. That robs jobs and opportunity from people in that area,” he added.

The unrest in Baltimore comes after American authorities ignored protests against police brutality in several cases during the past year.

Many protests were held across the US over the police killings of African-American men, including 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri; Eric Garner in New York; and Walter Scott in North Charleston, South Carolina.

Baltimore City Council Member Brandon Scott said the violence was fueled by “a long, long, longstanding issue with young African-Americans.”

“We’re talking about years and decades of mistrust, of misfortune, of despair that it’s just coming out in anger,” Scott said. “No, it is not right for them to burn down their own city. But that is what’s coming out of these young people.”


Police enforce curfew in Baltimore, disperse protesters

BALTIMORE
BY SCOTT MALONE AND WARREN STROBEL

(Reuters) - Thousands of police in riot gear and National Guard troops patrolled Baltimore to enforce a curfew on Tuesday night, dispersing protesters with pepper spray a day after the city was shaken by the worst rioting in the United States in years.

With helicopters overhead and armored vehicles on the ground, most people respected a curfew that started at 10 p.m. EDT (0200 GMT Wednesday) and goes until 5 a.m. all week.

But a few hundred people defied authorities, gathering at an intersection that was the scene of heavy looting in the largely black city a night earlier. Police broke up the group using rubber bullets and projectiles with pepper spray chemical irritant, and arrested seven people. Three more were arrested elsewhere in the city.

Baltimore erupted in violence on Monday hours after the funeral for a black man who died April 19 after he was injured in police custody a week earlier.

The death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray has renewed a national debate on law enforcement and race that was sparked by police killing unarmed black men last year in Ferguson, Missouri; New York City and elsewhere.

Just ahead of the curfew, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake went to the intersection where protesters had gathered and pleaded with them to go home.

"Let's take our babies home and abide by the curfew. I want to thank you for understanding that we want to bring peace," Rawlings-Blake said through a megaphone.

On Monday, shops were looted, 19 buildings were set on fire, 20 officers were injured and police arrested more than 250 people in the city just 40 miles (64 km) from the nation's capital in Washington.

More than 2,000 National Guard troops and 1,000 police from all over Maryland, as well as from New Jersey and the District of Columbia, were sent in to restore order.

Almost a quarter of the 620,000 people in Baltimore live below the poverty line and decayed, crime-ridden areas of the city inspired the gritty television police drama "The Wire."

CLEANUP

Baltimore saw scenes of reconciliation, cleanup and even celebration, as well as continued protest on Tuesday.

Groups of demonstrators marched and chanted "Black Lives Matter," one of the anthems of a national movement against police use of lethal force, which is used disproportionately against minorities.

Near a looted and burned-out CVS pharmacy, hundreds of people waved flags and swayed in the street as they watched 50 dancers gyrating to the drumming of a unity band put together for the evening from music groups from all over the city.

"It feels good to see everyone coming together. People just enjoying themselves," said Roxanne Gaither, 45. "This is what Freddie Gray would have wanted to see. Last night was terrible if a curfew is what it takes to avoid that, so be it."

In Chicago, about 500 people demonstrated outside police headquarters and marched in solidarity with the people of Baltimore, chanting "Stop Police Violence." At least one person was arrested, but the event was mostly peaceful.

For nearly a week after Gray died from a spinal injury, protests in Baltimore had been peaceful and Mayor Rawlings-Blake said she acted cautiously on Monday to avoid a heavy-handed response that would incite more violence.

Police in Ferguson, Missouri, were widely criticized last year for an aggressive, militarized response to demonstrations and rioting after a white police officer shot dead an unarmed black teenager.

On Tuesday Baltimore's mayor responded to critics who said she waited too long to act.

"It's a very delicate balancing act, when we have to make sure that we're managing but not increasing and escalating the problem," said Rawlings-Blake, 45, an African-American and Democrat who grew up in the city.

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, a Republican, said he had called Rawlings-Blake repeatedly Monday but that she held off requesting the National Guard until three hours after looting started. He ended up declaring a state of emergency while she imposed the curfew.

'NO EXCUSE'

The security crisis disrupted the city's daily routines. Schools were closed on Tuesday, but were scheduled to reopen on Wednesday. In a rare move, the Major League Baseball game between the Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox will be played as scheduled Wednesday but closed to the public.

Gray was arrested on April 12 while running from officers. He was taken to the police station in a van, with no seat restraint and suffered a spinal injury.

Six officers have been suspended, and the U.S. Justice Department is investigating possible civil rights violations.

"There's no excuse for the kind of violence that we saw yesterday," said President Barack Obama. "It is counterproductive."

Obama also said at a news conference the problems in places such as Baltimore were not new and need to be addressed by everyone.

"We can't just leave this to the police," Obama said, adding that, "We as a country have to do some soul searching. This is not new. It's been going on for decades."

(Additional reporting by Jim Bourg and Ian Simpson in Baltimore, Laila Kearney in New York, Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles and Suzannah Gonzales and Tracy Rucinski in Chicago; Writing by Mary Milliken and Fiona Ortiz; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Grant McCool)

Iran's Bavar-373 Air Defense System to Be Deployed by Year-end: Cmdr.

Tue Apr 28, 2015 10:20AM
presstv.ir

A senior Iranian commander says the country’s domestically-built Bavar-373 air defense system would be ready for deployment by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 19, 2016).

Commander of the Iranian Army's Khatam al-Anbiya Air Defense Base Brigadier General Farzad Esmaili made the announcement about the system, which is already under development, among reporters in Tehran on Tuesday.

Bavar-373 air defense system was successfully test-fired last August.

The long-range system, which is similar to the Russian S-300, has been manufactured by Iranian defense experts and is capable of hitting air targets at a high altitude.

Esmaili also told IRNA that Iran has successfully tested the domestically-built Talaash (endeavor) air defense system at medium latitude.

The missiles of Talaash air defense system were showcased during massive parades on the National Army Day on April 18, the Iranian commander said.

“We seek to complete the Talaash air defense system with [a range of] ultra-high altitude next year,” the commander said.

In recent years, Iran has made great achievements in its defense sector and reached self-sufficiency in producing essential military equipment and systems.

Iran has repeatedly assured other countries that its military might poses no threat to other states, insisting that its defense doctrine is entirely based on deterrence.


Russia to seek removal of arms embargo against Iran in nuclear talks

Fri Apr 24, 2015 6:36AM

Moscow will urge the lifting of an arms embargo against Iran during Friday’s talks over Tehran’s nuclear program, the Russian deputy foreign minister says.

Sergey Ryabkov told reporters on Thursday that one of the priorities in Iran’s nuclear talks is to ensure that all participants in the negotiations "recognize the foremost need to cancel the existing weapons embargo against Iran,” Russia’s news agency Tass reported.

He also stressed the UN Security Council’s exclusive role in bringing back sanctions against Tehran if the Islamic Republic fails to fulfill its commitments.

The Russian diplomat’s remarks come as representatives from Iran and the P5+1 group of countries are to resume intensive talks over Tehran’s nuclear program in the Austrian city of Vienna on Friday.

The two sides kicked off the latest round of negotiations aimed at drafting a final nuclear accord on Wednesday with a bilateral meeting between Iran and the European Union.

Abbas Araqchi, the Iranian deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, who leads the Iranian negotiating delegation, said on Wednesday that the issue of anti-Iran sanctions is among the key topics on the agenda of this round of talks.

Iran and the P5+1 - the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain, and Germany – reached a mutual understanding on the parameters of a comprehensive agreement over Iran’s nuclear program in the Swiss city of Lausanne on April 2.

Following the mutual understanding, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a decision to lift a 2010 ban on the delivery of S-300 missile systems to Tehran.

The ban had been imposed on Iran under the pretext that an agreement signed between Tehran and Moscow in 2007 on the shipment of the systems was covered by the fourth round of the United Nations Security Council sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Iranian Forces Board Ship in Persian Gulf: Pentagon

Tue Apr 28, 2015 3:15PM
presstv.ir

Iranian forces have boarded a ship carrying Marshall Islands flag in Persian Gulf, the US Defense Ministry says.

The incident took place in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday after the ship, a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo vessel with 34 crew aboard, reportedly trespassed on Iranian waters.

Reports say that Iranian naval forces fired warning shots across the bow of the vessels.

According to Colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, the captain of the vessel had to comply with the orders of the Iranian forces after the warning shots.

The cargo ship "complied with the Iranian demand and proceeded into Iranian waters in the vicinity of Larak Island," Warren said.

He further noted that there have been no US nationals in the vessel and nobody has suffered injuries in the incident.

Following the incident, the Marshall Islands-flagged ship sent distress call to USS Farragut, but the destroyer left after Iranian forces told it not to intervene.

The destroyer was directed "to proceed at best speed to the nearest location of the Maersk Tigris," he said.

According to Press TV, the cargo ship was seized due to legal issues, with an Iranian Foreign Ministry source telling Press TV that the ship has been seized over financial violations.

Veil or No Veil, Egyptian Women Are Often Stigmatized, Or Worse

Sherif Tarek
Tuesday 28 Apr 2015

Calls for women to take off their veils at a demonstration in Cairo initiated debate over Islamic attire for women in Egypt

After spending one year living in Cairo, Muslim teenager Sara decided to adopt the Islamic veil, dressing modestly to show only her face and the palms of her hands in public as per mainstream Islamic teachings for women.

She was not following her religious beliefs by wearing the hijab, but rather succumbing to social pressure and seeking to avoid recurrent harassment.

Sara had visited Cairo beforehand. But when she began living there in 2001, she says, she experienced the predicament of being a woman in the huge city, both with and without the hijab.

"Getting groped or touched by sexual harassers would happen on average once a month," recalls Sara, the daughter of an Egyptian mother and a Moroccan father who was born and raised in Kuwait.

"Verbal harassment, that's all the time. Not a day would go by without hearing comments whether from people flirting with me, hurling sexual insults at me, criticising or even cursing me for the way I dress.

"Many people would think women in Kuwait, as a Gulf country, have less freedom than in Egypt. As a matter of fact it's completely the opposite," says Sara, who speaks Egyptian Arabic almost perfectly.

Sara moved to Cairo to join the English section of the linguistics faculty at Ain Shams University. She first started to feel the differences between both countries' norms on campus.

"In my early days, I once went to the university in shorts. I was playing basketball at the time and shorts were just the most practical and convenient [thing]. I was denied entry at the gate by security personnel."

The hijab became increasingly common among the working classes in Egypt from the 1970s.

In the early 2000s, thanks to rhetoric from Islamic preacher Amr Khaled, who was massively popular at the time among the youth, many girls from upper and middle classes opted to be veiled as well.

The harassment Sara was subject to was not always sexual, she says, but some also came from people – mainly female colleagues – who were not happy with the fact that she was Muslim and not veiled.

"I was once in the mosque of the university reading the Quran during the holy month of Ramadan, and then a girl congratulated me on 'converting to Islam.'

"Most people thought I was Christian because I was not veiled like the majority of Muslim girls in Cairo, and also because most of my university friends were Copts.

"Many veiled girls who found out I'm Muslim would persistently ask me to wear the hijab. Their concern about my religion, my beliefs or how I dressed baffled me and was really annoying."

Sara wore the veil for five years. But the headscarf gave her little respite throughout the remainder of her time in Cairo, and she took it off following her departure.

"It was primarily to protect myself from sexual harassment, but the hijab barely made a difference. Harassers would approach me anyway, though I lived in the upper class district of Maadi," she says.

"I also still found people who would express dismay at my hijab, for not wearing a longer shirt or whatever. I would still hear comments from people who gave themselves the right to judge me.

"I took it off after I returned to Kuwait, where I can afford my penchant for wearing what I want. My father always told me I would eventually do that because he knew I never really wanted to be veiled.

"Sexual harassment could be the reason why a girl would wear the veil in Egypt, even today, I believe. I have visited Cairo several times in recent years and I see that sexual harassment is rampant.

"Also during my university days the hijab was trending; another reason why I became veiled. My cousin at the time made the same decision and that encouraged me."

Social pressure and calls to wear the Islamic veil further increased after the 2011 uprising, which saw longstanding autocrat Hosni Mubarak toppled and Islamist forces come to power.

In the years that followed the uprising, Islamist forces dominated the first post-Mubarak parliament and helped Mohamed Morsi, who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood, win the 2012 presidential poll.

At the same time, calls to "Islamise" Egypt became common on Islamist-leaning media outlets and from well-known clerics.

Flip side of coin

Morsi's ouster in July 2013 after nationwide mass protests against his rule, and the ensuing crackdown on Islamists and much of their media, have ended that rhetoric, paving the way for secular voices.

Writer Cherif Choubachy recently called for a demonstration in which veiled women would take off their headscarves, arguing that the hijab is the result of oppression and backwardness.

His proposed protest stirred up controversy, with some voicing support and others objecting to the call. There has still been no confirmation that any such rally will actually be staged.

Although she felt she was obliged to wear the hijab, Sara says she would not have taken part in such a demonstration had it taken place in Cairo when she was still veiled.

"If this is what I think, I shouldn't impose my opinion on the public," says Sara, who now works as a simultaneous interpreter and lives with her husband in New York.

"I can't really imagine a protest taking place in New York against a certain attire, though there are a lot more freedoms here.

"Right before I took off the hijab my application for a job at an international organisation was turned down in Kuwait. The official reason for the rejection was the veil. I was really upset."

While this is arguably a form of discrimination against veiled women, it is clearly discrimination to prevent them from entering public places.

In Egypt, it is common to prohibit veiled women from entering night clubs and pubs. Since last year, an increasing number of veiled women were reported to have been denied entry to restaurants as well.

One of the cases that created a fuss was that of Heba Arnaout, a professor of microbiology in her 50s who has been veiled for many years.

Going to a restaurant and bar in Cairo's upscale district of Zamalek late in December, she says she was asked to leave with her husband and foreign friends because she was wearing the hijab.

They got a table after threatening to go to the police and file a report against what she and her husband described as an encroachment on her civil and constitutional rights.

"Places like that, if they dare, should put a sign outside saying 'veiled women are not welcome.' Like when hotels would put a sign reading 'no pets allowed,'" Arnaout says.

"My only interpretation of what happened is that it's a form of religious discrimination. I understand if certain places have a dress code, like the Opera House for example. But that's not the case.

"What if I was wearing a hat? Or from a country where they wrap their heads in a traditional way and not for religious reasons? Will I still be given that attitude? The answer is probably not.

"Having a dress code and specifically preventing the Islamic veil are two different things. When we were arguing they told me they serve alcohol, as if they should decide for me if I should drink or not.

"A woman could be wearing the hijab only because she has cancer. Another could be wearing it and not praying, or drinking alcohol; not all veiled women are devout. In all cases it's none of their business."

Similarly, Choubachy has unilaterally decided to talk on behalf of veiled women and express what he thinks is best for them, Arnaout says.

"I understand that people have the right to express their opinions. A writer would produce an op-ed for instance, but you don't get to tell people what to do. It's my choice whether to wear the hijab or not."

But how often is it a matter of choice?

'Put on what people like,' or else

In Egypt, women are not usually free to wear what they want, states Dalia Abd El-Hameed, Gender and Women's Rights Officer at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR)*.

"For instance, an upper-class lady could be given hard time for wearing a veil because it's not very suitable for her social circles. That happens a lot and could affect the way a woman wants to dress.

"On the other hand, girls in rundown districts after a certain age would have to wear the hijab as per communal traditions. If not, she could suffer dire consequences in school, at home, or in the street.

"Women are not free to wear what they want and I'm glad this topic is brought to public discussion these days," Dalia opines, seeing the debate around the hijab as an impetus to female emancipation.

"Many factors control how women dress in Egypt," she explains. "Social class, workplaces, places of residence, families, among other elements affect how a woman dresses.

"These are layers of authority imposed on women's bodies, and that makes talking about how free women are to dress how they want relatively meaningless.

"In some cases, physical violence could be the price of challenging these authorities."

A photo of a young womanwith a swollen eye and bruises on her cheek went viral on social media on Monday. She was allegedly assaulted for taking off her hijab three months ago.

A Facebook account named Nehal Kamal, the girl in the photo, says the injuries were the price of taking off the veil. She did not go through details and was not available for further comment.

"The one who wants to take off [the hijab] is not as untroubled as the one who wants to put [it] on," says Nehal, who identifies herself on Facebook as an interior designer, vocalist and actress.

"This is part of what happened to me when I decided to take off the hijab and only today [Monday] I felt enough courage to post this photo," she says in the public post.

In a later post, she explains that she uploaded the photo because "lately there was a mass call to take off the veil."

Many people reacted by saying every woman can just wear or not wear what she wants, Nehal goes on, "as if we live in a country that backs freedoms... as if whoever takes off the veil would live in peace."

"People need to know what we're living in our country and that there is no human, a boy or a girl, who does what they want."

A proverb saying "eat what you like, and put on what people like" sheds light on how judgmental Egyptian society can be when it comes to appearance, says Samia Kadri, a sociology professor.

"The old Egyptian proverb simply means people here have for long cared about appearance more than what's inside," she says, stressing that non-veiled women get the lion's share of prejudice.

Since the 1970s, women's veils started to become familiar in Egypt, "primarily due to strong religious rhetoric, and mass migration to Gulf countries that resulted in some of their traditions being brought back home."

"Now, maybe around five percent of women in Egypt are not veiled. That makes them out of the norm and, consequently in a society like ours, more prone to harassment and discrimination.

"There is a notable lack of morals. Thus many people, whether sexual harassers or conservative individuals, wouldn't hesitate to stigmatise women in different ways for how they dress," Samia says.

"It will take decades to have a society that accepts differences in Egypt, if that will ever happen. Media and education, among a myriad of other elements, would be involved in such a transformation."

Next to social pressure, political affiliations could be an extra burden for women, Dalia elaborates.

"EIPR observed cases where veiled Syrian women were physically attacked, insulted and kicked out of public microbuses because people recognised their nationality through their distinct hijab."

Many people who oppose ousted president Morsi believe Syrians in Egypt, who are in the many thousands thanks to the civil war in Syria, were supporting him and opposed his toppling.

"We also got reports that face-veiled women [who are usually ultra-conservative and of Islamist affiliations] were attacked by anti-Islamists individuals," Dalia continues.

"On the other hand, we had reports of women who were attacked by Islamists for not wearing the hijab; it goes both ways."

In general, there is a widespread notion that women are bearers of the national identity and should dress accordingly, Dalia says.

"Veiled women from the Brotherhood always stress the way they dress expresses the Islamic identity of the country. Some liberal women would think they support secularism by doing the opposite.

"Women need to be free of that notion and realise they only represent themselves. No one asks men not to wear trousers and put on traditional attire for the sake of the country's identity."

*Established in 2002, EIPR's mission reads it has been working to strengthen and protect basic rights and freedoms in Egypt, and is supporting litigation in the fields of civil liberties and social rights.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/128817.aspx


Women with or without headscarves should be accepted and respected in Egypt

Nervana Mahmoud
Tuesday 21 Apr 2015

Calls for a 'take off the veil' rally in Cairo are not the way to improve religious tolerance in Egypt

A call by Egyptian journalist Cherif Choubachy for veiled Muslim women to take off their headscarves (hijab) has stirred widespread controversy in Egypt.

Choubachy has also proposed a “take off the veil” rally to be held at Cairo’s Tahrir Square. While some have welcomed Choubachy’s proposal, others vehemently oppose the idea. A senior official at Al-Azhar, Egypt’s highest Sunni Islamic institution rejected the call, stressing that the head-cover is a religious must for female Muslims once they reach puberty.

Heated discussions spread to talk shows, and social media, with pro- and anti-veil trading accusations and counter-accusations.

The responses to Choubachy’s proposal have exposed the shallow, mediocre approach to contentious, sensitive topics, and the inability of society to tackle different viewpoints in a constructive manner.

The debate about Islamic dress code for women is not new. On a personal level, as for any Egyptian female, this issue has been a regular facet of my life since childhood. Family friends, neighbors, and even complete strangers preached about the “mandatory” headscarf, even before I reached puberty.

At university, I was one of a small group of females who did not wear a veil. Dressing modestly in a non-revealing garment, avoiding tight jeans and make-up was not enough to protect me from the avalanche of criticism. Almost daily, I heard comments like, “Go and cover that hair,” “That wild hair will put you in hell.” Islamists used to offer non-veiled students books about the “right” dress code that were filled with threats of punishment in the afterlife for staying un-veiled.

I decided, however, that a dress code should not be allowed to shape my identity or the depth of my religiosity, and opted not to wear a headscarf. Social coercion is not pretty, but it is still manageable in Egypt; if the woman is willing to persevere and ignore the noise.

The wearing of an Islamic veil has fluctuated in popularity throughout the last few decades. In the seventies and eighties a strict Islamic dress code started to sweep society, with some popular female celebrities joining the wave and declaring their “repentance” for their past without the veil. Moreover, covering the face as well as the head (niqab) and long headscarves covering the chest (jilbab), mostly in dark plain colours started to also make a strong appearance in Egypt.

Later in the nineties, creativity dominated the scene with a flurry of various headscarves that started to appeal to younger generations.

During and after the January 2011 revolution, Egyptian women have displayed a wide variety of dress codes during protests, from no veil at all, to the full niqab.

This plurality in display was a healthy sign of a society embracing freedom and change.

In fact, the last few years of upheaval in Egypt have exposed the flawed line of demarcation between religion and politics in Egypt. Not all religiously conservative women have backed the Muslim Brotherhood and president Morsi.

In 2013, many women in strict Islamic dress joined anti-Morsi protests to the shock and dismay of the Islamists. On the other hand, the pro-Morsi camp was keen to demonstrate that some non-veiled women, albeit only a few, were among their supporters.

Nearly two years later, Egypt is still tense and polarised. The Muslim Brotherhood may have vanished from the political scene, but ordinary Egyptians are still feeling uneasy about their faith, which they care about dearly, and its place in public life. This is precisely why the bickering about headscarves is not helpful.

In Egypt, headscarves are not imposed by the state, therefore, the call for a rally to remove the scarves, even if it is well intentioned and with valid reasons, is misguided. President El-Sisi’s wife and daughters (who have only appeared in public during his inauguration) are religiously conservative and wear headscarves. Calls to remove the headscarves will only trigger resentment and elicit a stubborn response. In fact, it will provide Islamists with the victimhood environment that they desperately need to re-kindle their social popularity among conservative Egyptians.

With this said, it is also time for Egypt’s Muslim clerics to stop treating the way a woman dresses as if it is a fulcrum of the faith. It is not. This misplaced priority is rather alarming. Moreover, Islam has always been a faith with diverse views and interpretations of sacred text. The current totalitarian approach to any religious controversy needs to stop. Diversity and tolerance are the two essential ingredients for a healthy society.

In sum, it is about time to respect the basic right of a woman to choose her own manner of dress without angry bickering and petty debates. Women with or without headscarves should be accepted and respected in Egypt.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/128290.aspx

Disinfectants in Water Tanks Caused Nile Delta Mass Poisoning: Prosecution 

Ahram Online
Monday 27 Apr 2015

On Friday, hundreds of residents of Al-Ibrahimiya village in Sharqiya governorate flocked to hospitals suffering from apparent water poisoning

The mass poisoning in Egypt's Sharqiya governorate is due to the fall of disinfectants in drinking water tanks, initial investigations by the prosecution revealed on Monday, Aswat Masriya reported.

The head of Al-Ibrahimiya prosecution, Amir Sweillam, requested the remaining reports concerning water samples.

Hundreds of residents of Al-Ibrahimiya village in Sharqiya governorate flocked to hospitals suffering from apparent poisoning as a result of contaminated water last Friday.

On Sunday, out of 761 possible water poisoning cases, eight patients were still being treated, while the others had been discharged from hospitals after recovering, a health ministry official said.

The general prosecution had decided earlier to take samples from drinking water and food scraps from the homes of infected people.

On Saturday, a 51-year old man, suffering from the same symptoms, died in the hospital.

Authorities are currently investigating the outbreak and questioning the local public water company, which has stressed that their water is safe to drink.

Reports of water poisoning are not uncommon in Egypt.

In October 2014, around 100 people were poisoned in a similar incident in Sharqiya. Some blamed the illnesses on the drinking water, but officials at the time said the water was clean.

The poisoning cases come a few days after a barge carrying 500 tons of phosphate capsized in the Nile in Upper Egypt’s Qena governorate after colliding with the foundations of the city's Dandara Bridge.

Egypt’s water and irrigation minister denied Friday that the sicknesses in Sharqiya were connected with the sinking of the barge.

Health Minister Hossam Moghazi stated that the Nile River passes seven cities between Qena and Sharqiya and none of these cities had reported any cases of water poisoning.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/128781.aspx


8 still being treated, 752 discharged from hospital in Egypt’s mass poisoning

Ahram Online
Sunday 26 Apr 2015

On Friday, hundreds of residents of Al-Ibrahimiya village in Sharqiya governorate flocked to hospitals suffering from apparent poisoning from water

Out of 761 possible water poisoning cases in Egypt’s Sharqiya governorate, eight patients are still being treated, while the others have been discharged from hospitals after recovering, a health ministry official said on Sunday.

The remaining patients are expected to be released from the hospital within the next hours, Health Ministry Undersecretary Sheriff Makin told State News agency MENA.

On Friday, hundreds of residents of Al-Ibrahimiya village in Sharqiya governorate, Nile Delta, flocked to hospitals suffering from apparent poisoning from contaminated water.

On Saturday, a 51-year old man, suffering from the same symptoms, died in the hospital.

Authorities are currently investigating the outbreak, and questioning the local public water company, which has stressed that their water is safe to drink.

Several locals told Ahram on Friday that they believe the symptoms were caused by drinking tap water, with some of them saying the water had smelled strange before the incident broke out.

Reports of water poisoning are not uncommon in Egypt.

In October 2014, around 100 people were poisoned in a similar incident in Sharqiya. Some blamed the illnesses on the drinking water, but officials at the time said the water was clean.

The poisoning cases come a few days after a barge carrying 500 tons of phosphate capsized in the Nile in Upper Egypt’s Qena governorate after colliding with the foundations of the city's Dandara Bridge.

Egypt’s water and irrigation minister denied Friday that the sickness in Sharqiya was connected with the sinking of the barge.

Health Minister Hossam Moghazi stated that the Nile River passes seven cities between Qena and Sharqiya and none of these cities had reported any cases of water poisoning.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/128717.aspx


No connection between Egypt's Nile phosphate accident and poisoning cases: Minister

Ahram Online
Saturday 25 Apr 2015

Hundreds of poisoning cases appeared shortly after a barge carrying phosphate capsized in the Nile; ministry says cases unconnected

Egypt's minister of water and irrigation has denied any connection between cases of poisoning in the Nile Delta city of Sharqiya and the sinking of a barge in the Nile carrying phosphate.

Hossam Moghazi said samples taken from the main lake that feeds the water supply to Sharqiya governorate proved potable with no contaminants.

On Tuesday, a barge carrying 500 tons of phosphate capsised in Upper Egypt’s Qena, sparking fears among Egyptians over contamination of their primary source of drinking water.

On Friday, some 379 people in Sharqiya were hospitalised showing symptoms of poisoning, with polluted water becoming the main suspected cause.

Commenting on the incident Friday, Moghazi said the Nile passes seven cities between Qena and Sharqiya, the website of state television reported.

None of the seven cities witnessed complaints of poisoning, he said.

Any contamination would take 12 days to pass from Upper Egypt to the Nile Delta, while in this case only three days had passed, setting the two incidents apart, Moghazi added.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Adel Adawy said his ministry is taking samples from the Nile every 12 hours and is on high alert for emergencies.

Egypt is heavily dependent on the Nile River, from which it gets 55 billion cubic metres of water annually.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/128586.aspx

Egypt Irrigation Minister in Ethiopia for African Climate Summit

Ahram Online
Monday 27 Apr 2015

The three-day conference is to discuss measures related to the development of infrastructure that is resilient to climate change

Egypt's Irrigation Minister Hossam Moghazi will attend Monday the opening of the three-day Africa Climate Resilient Infrastructure Summit, which is partly organised by the African Union Commission, in Ethiopia's Addis Ababa, state news agency MENA reported.

The minister traveled Sunday night to the Ethiopian capital.

Ninety ministers and 500 delegates are expected to attend the summit.

The summit's participants will present governmental or private projects that are ready for investment.

The summit aims at "preparing an implementing measures related to resilient infrastructures in their respective countries, as well as in developing and strengthening local, regional, international cooperation on these matters," according to its official website.

The African Ministers' Council on Water, founded in 2002, had set a goal that by 2015, $94 billion would be spent in order to provide drinking water and sewage for 50 percent of the African population, according to MENA.

Egypt had signed in March a Declaration of Principles with Nile basin countries Ethiopia and Sudan, where they agreed on broad guidelines about Ethiopia's contested Renaissance Dam - a 6,000-megawatt dam that is feared may negatively affect the Nile share for Egypt and Sudan.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/128733.aspx

Spain to Support Egypt's Bid for Security Council Seat: Egyptian Envoy

Ahram Online
Tuesday 28 Apr 2015

Madrid will condone Egypt's bid for a non-permanent seat at the United Nations' 2016-2017 Security Council, says Egypt's ambassador to Spain

A day before Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi visits Spain, the Spanish government has decided to support Egypt's bid for a non-permanent membership at the United Nations Security Council, Egypt's ambassador to Spain has said.

Egypt announced its bid for the seat at the UN General Assembly for the 2016-2017 term.

It received the support of African states at the latest African Union summit in January 2015. The Arab Parliament has also expressed support for Egypt’s bid.

Ambassador Ahmed Ismail said that Spain had expressed its appreciation of Egypt's role in supporting stability in the Middle East and combating terrorism, and added that the country is grateful for Egypt's support for its election to that position as Spain is a current member of the council.

The ambassador said that, according to a statement by Egypt's foreign minister, relations are strong between both countries, and expressed hopes that more Spanish tourists would come to Egypt after El-Sisi's visit.

El-Sisi was invited to Spain by Spanish king Felipe VI when he met him during a visit to Ethiopia in January.

El-Sisi plans to hold talks with the Spanish king, followed by another meeting with Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy, according to Egypt's State Information Service.

Ismail said that Spanish engineering firms may dig tunnels under a new waterway along Egypt's Suez Canal, the digging of which should be concluded this summer.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/128892.aspx

Kidnapped Egyptian Director Killed in Libya - Relative

Hana Afifi
Ahram Online
Tuesday 28 Apr 2015

Mohamed Galal Okasha, 31, was kidnapped in Libya in August 2014, along with four other crew members from Libyan Barqa TV channel

An Egyptian director at Libyan TV stationBarqa, who was kidnapped in August 2014, was confirmed dead on Monday, his cousin, journalistDoaaSultan, announced on her Facebook page.

Mohamed Galal Okasha, 31,was kidnappedin August 2014 along with four of his Libyan work colleagues.

A district army commander, Faraj Al-Barassi, told Reuters that all five dead bodieswere found, with slit throats, outside the eastern city of Baydhanear Derna, which is controlled by the Islamic State group in Libya.

Al-Barassi said all five men were killed by militants loyal to the Islamic State group in Libya.

Sultan said a member of the Islamic State group in Libya had told Bayda authorities that the militant group killed Okasha, his TV crew and 30 others, before leading officials to the place where all the dead were buried.

Sultan said that officials in Bayda, who were able to successfully identify the bodies of the murdered Libyan citizens, failed to send the right casket carrying Okasha body to Tunisia on its way back home. The casket Libyan authorities sent to Tunisia contained the corpse of a different deceased Egyptian, she said.

According to Sultan, Okasha's family had submitted an official request to the foreign ministry asking for assistance in the repatriation of his body.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Badr Abdel-Aty told Ahram Online that the ministry is discussing issues related to the Okasha case with the Egyptian ambassador in Libya, but declined to elaborate.

Following the ouster of long-time dictator Muammar Ghaddafi and a short-lived invasion of the country by NATO in 2011, various Libyan militias have been fighting the central government in a civil war that has ravaged the country.

An internationally-recognised parliament operates out of the city of Tobruk in the east, while anti-government rebels control the capital Tripoli in the west.

The Islamic State group in Libya is one ofseveralIslamist militias fighting against Tobruk.

Bayda, where Okasha's body was found, lies in the east of the country and falls under the control of Tobruk.

In late 2014, the IS group in Libya decapitated 20 Coptic Egyptian migrant workersnear Derna.

Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians have worked in the oil-rich north African country for decades.

However, since the start of the civil war, thousands of Egyptian labourers have fled Libya.

Many Egyptians have been kidnapped bymilitias across Libya,and remain missing in different parts of the country.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/128840.aspx

Italy PM and Egypt's Sisi Discuss Libya, Europe's Migrant Crisis

Ahram Online
Tuesday 28 Apr 2015

Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and Egypt's president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi discussed ongoing fighting in Libya and Europe's migrant crisis on the phone on Tuesday, according to a presidency statement.

Renzi said that the Libyan crisis presented a danger not just to Egypt and Italy, but also to the world, according to the statement.

El-Sisi said that the international community should support Libyan's government, parliament and army based in Tobruk, it stated.

In January, the Islamic State militant group, just one of several militia groups currently fighting Libya's internationally-recognised government in Tobruk, decapitated 20 Coptic Egyptian migrant workers in Libya, prompting Egypt to launch air strikes against alleged IS targets in the country.

Renzi also spoke of the migrant crisis on the southern shores of Europe.

The prime minister last week called for emergency talks after over 950 migrants drowned trying to cross reach Europe by boat across the Mediterranean.

Huge numbers of migrants from Africa and North Africa have travelled to Libya in the hope of paying traffickers to cross over to Europe from its shores.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/128915.aspx

Large-scale Egyptian Army Massed for Operation to Capture Eastern Libya From ISIS

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report April 26, 2015, 6:20 PM (GMT+02:00)

The Middle East is on the brink of its fourth war (after Syria, Iraq and Yemen). debkafile’s military and intelligence sources report that Egypt is massing large-scale ground and air forces in the Western Desert along the Libyan border, in preparation for a military campaign to capture eastern Libya – Cyrenaica - from the Islamist State of Syria and Iraq – ISIS - occupation.

The substantial naval and marine forces assembling at Egypt’s Mediterranean ports indicate the possible launching of the offensive by dropping Egyptian marines on the Libyan coast around Derna (pop: 100,000), which ISIS has made its provincial capital. They may be accompanied by simultaneous landings of paratroops from the air.

For President Abdel-Fatteh El-Sisi, ISIS’s presence in eastern Libya (as well as Sinai) poses an unacceptable peril to his country. He has been warned in a number of intelligence reports that the Islamic State’s terrorists have already penetrated some Egyptian towns and even infiltrated certain army units.

To counter the Egyptian plan of campaign, ISIS is rushing reinforcements to eastern Libya from Syria and Iraq. From Syria, they are traveling by air or sea through the Mediterranean; from Iraq, through the Sinai Peninsula, whence oil and drug rings smuggle them across the Suez Canal and Egypt.

debkafile’s sources reveal that Egypt’s projected invasion of Libya was high on the agenda of American CIA Director John Brennan’s unannounced visit to Cairo on April 19 for a meeting with the president.

In reply to his visitor’s demand for precise information on Egypt’s Libyan campaign. President El-Sisi offered an assurance that he had no intention of keeping the Egyptian army in Libya. He would pull the troops out after defeating and disarming the jihadis and hand power to the Libyan government, which has established its seat in the eastern town of Tobruk near the Egyptian border and home to Libyan military bases and oil terminals.

The Tobruk government was set up by Libyan members of parliament who fled the capital Tripoli when it was overrun by a group of extremist Islamist militias, known as the Libyan Dawn, which included elements associated with Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb – AQIM.

The head of the this government is Abdullah al-Thinni, who is recognized by the United States and most Western governments as the legitimate prime minister of Libya.

President El-Sisi was not surprised to hear from the CIA director that the Obama administration objects to a direct Egyptian invasion of Libya, but would not oppose Cairo acting through local Libyan militias. Brennan put forward the name of Gen. Khalifa Hifter, a Libyan-American, who set up a militia in the eastern Libyan town of Benghazi to fight the Islamists, aided by Libyan army units based in the region.

On March 2, Prime Minister al-Thinni and the Tobruk parliament appointed Gen. Hifter commander-in-chief of the Libyan army, promoting him to the rank of lieutenant general. He was entrusted with two missions: To liberate Libya from the clutches of the Islamic militias and to rebuild the national army.

debkafile’s military sources disclose that, for the past six months, the Egyptian president has given Hifter his support and even supplied him with weapons. But he does not see him as a sufficiently powerful and emblematic figure to unify the Libyan nation.

Brennan leaned hard on the Egyptian president to follow Washington’s line, but El-Sisi refused.

Their differences on the Libyan campaign were reflected by omission in the joint communiqué they issued after their conversation: After discussing “regional issues, terrorism and ways of enhancing bilateral relations, the two sides agreed to continue consultation and coordination on issues of mutual interest.”

Interestingly, Egypt is ready to throw ground, sea and air forces into its offensive in Libya, while at the same time abstaining from deploying air or ground power in the Yemeni conflict, although it is a member of the Saudi-led coalition fighting Iran-backed rebels.

Egypt is already fighting the Islamic State’s branch in Sinai. It is now gearing up to tackle the Islamist peril on its western border.

The Rise of Privatized Policing: How Crisis Capitalism Created Crisis Cops

Tuesday, 28 April 2015 00:00
By Candice Bernd, Truthout

On February 13, 2014, Thomas Michalak and Cheryl LaBash, who organize with Moratorium NOW!, a coalition fighting foreclosures, evictions and water shutoffs in Detroit, fired off some quick tweets encouraging others to join their group in a demonstration opposing the state-appointed emergency management of Detroit's bankruptcy. They'd planned the protest for the next day, at Detroit's Campus Martius Park.

LaBash, a retired city employee, tweeted from Moratorium NOW!'s account that activists were planning to meet at the park to hand out flyers and circulate the group's petition calling on Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr to make big banks pay the brunt of Detroit's debt obligations, and to protect the city's pensions (including her own).

What the two didn't know was that operators at a private surveillance center in downtown Detroit's Chase Tower were watching their tweets closely behind their bevy of computer monitors.

The surveillance center is operated by a subsidiary of Rock Ventures, which serves as the umbrella entity for Quicken Loans CEO and mega-developer billionaire Dan Gilbert's business and real estate investments. The center works in partnership with the Detroit Police Department (DPD) and private security firms to monitor surveillance footage from 300 cameras covering more than 2 million square feet of property Gilbert owns in downtown Detroit.

The next day, when a group of four activists, including Michalak and LaBash, headed over to the park's historic Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument to pass out flyers as planned, they were quickly confronted by a private security guard with Guardsmark, the security firm hired by Detroit 300 Conservancy, which privately manages the city-owned park. The guard asked the group to leave and warned them they would be arrested if they refused.

"I said, 'Isn't this public property?' and [the security guard] said, 'Yes, but it's privately managed,'" Moratorium NOW! organizer Abayomi Azikiwe told Truthout about the confrontation.

A DPD officer parked across the street backed up the security guard, telling the activists from his patrol vehicle that their activities were against park rules, but the four weren't convinced as they argued with the cop while standing beneath the park's red light pole banners proclaiming the space "Detroit's Gathering Place."

The confrontation served as a stark reminder of the chilling implications of exactly what the activists were there to fight: the mass privatization of Detroit's public services and assets in the aftermath of the largest municipal bankruptcy filing in the United States.

"They have an agenda of suppressing dissent in the downtown area because they're trying to protect an image of Detroit which we don't agree with," Azikiwe said.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan took up the group's case, filing a federal lawsuit in January against the Detroit 300 Conservancy and Guardsmark, and the City of Detroit has agreed this month on a series of interim rules safeguarding First Amendment activities at all of the city's public parks, regardless of whether they are managed privately or publicly.

The city, while not technically a defendant in the suit, is representing the DPD officer who backed up the security guard, and introduced the new rules to help settle the case, which has not yet been dismissed. Officers and private security guards will now reportedly be trained to enforce rules allowing groups to gather, leaflet and demonstrate at all the city's public parks.

"With the continued privatization of government functions in Detroit and throughout the country, we thought it was critical to establish the principle that our constitutional rights cannot be outsourced out of existence," said Michael Steinberg, the ACLU of Michigan's legal director who represented the activists in the case.

Steinberg said that private entities such as Detroit 300 Conservancy and Guardsmark are working in concert with Gilbert's Rock Ventures subsidiaries and the DPD to create a mostly privatized, "quasi-surveillance state" in downtown Detroit - setting up a "frightening" situation for dissenters in the area.

An ongoing series of crises in Detroit fueled by the city's state-imposed bankruptcy filing in 2013, including most recently the devastating water shutoffs and the looming possibility of water privatization, has created an intense sequence of neoliberal shocks on Detroit's populace, and provide a cogent example of author Naomi Klein's "shock doctrine" theory at its worst.  Her theory describes a strategy in which neoconservatives exploit crises to advance neoliberal policies as the public remains too distraught and caught up with disasters to effectively resist such policies.

Detroit's desperate, increased reliance on private security and a private-public surveillance partnership in monitoring dissenters provides a model backdrop to the kind of crisis capitalism at work not just in Detroit, but across the United States, as the ranks of privatized police forces continue to surge since the September 11, 2001, attacks, now dwarfing the public sector as budgets for police departments experience cuts throughout the nation.

However, the policing cuts haven't happened uniformly across the country since the economic downturn of 2008. A 2013 report from the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) found that police department budgets nationally have been recovering since 2010. Of the 416 police agencies that responded to two PERF surveys in 2010 and 2012, 51 percent reported budget cuts, down from 78 percent in 2010.

Steinberg says he expects to see more cases involving private security firms infringing on constitutionally protected activity as the numbers of security guards continue to climb. "Unfortunately, I think it's going to take more cases like our Campus Martius case to establish limits [on private police]," he told Truthout.

While many on the libertarian-right have hailed private police as a solution to systemic police violence because the security industry is "driven by efficiency and threats from liability," a closer look at the industry reveals that guards receive only a fraction of the training required for municipal cops. Plus, shootings by private armed guards are rarely reported and investigated, and citizens' legal protections in encounters with guards remain unclear.

The private security industry is so poorly regulated, in fact, that only about a dozen state regulatory agencies require security guards to file firearm discharge reports.

The Rise of Private Police

The use of private police is, of course, nothing new. Most prominently in US history, industrial magnates Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller relied on such forces as the infamous Pinkertons, known for breaking labor strikes and infiltrating unions, to protect their business interests.

Nineteenth century industrialists' reliance on such forces came to be so great that in the late 1890s, the Pinkerton National Detective Agency employed more private agents than there were soldiers in the standing army. Today, the numbers of security guards still rival the number of people on active duty in the armed forces, and completely eclipse the number of municipal police officers on duty.

The numbers of private security guards began to grow in the 1970s, but the industry has boomed since the September 11, 2001, attacks. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are nearly 1.1 million private security guards in the US, overshadowing the Bureau's count of 640,000 public police officers. Some of the United States' largest private police forces regularly patrol college campuses, such as the University of Chicago Police Department, which has jurisdiction over more than 65,000 Chicago residents and has the same power to search, ticket, arrest and detain citizens as a municipal police force.

Other private security forces patrol both upscale neighborhoods on behalf of wealthy homeowners' associations and low-income housing projects - sometimes being contracted with grant money from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development to police poor residents. Armed guards also patrol corporate office complexes and museums.

The armed security industry is increasingly supplementing public police forces in many poor urban areas, in places such as Oakland, New Orleans, Baltimore and Atlanta. Some small towns like Foley, Minnesota, are going beyond simply supplementing their police departments, opting instead to replace them with private security entirely.

As private police forces gain jurisdiction over campuses, parking lots, neighborhoods and even entire towns, cash-strapped local and state governments turning to such firms as an answer to their budget woes are increasingly granting the industry traditional police powers, including the ability to make arrests - a function that used to be the sole province of municipal policing.

The provisions of some states, such as Virginia, allow private citizens to petition courts for such police powers, but how such authority is granted typically varies from state to state.

Private security guards increasingly resemble traditional beat cops, calling themselves police, wearing similar uniforms, flashing badges and driving patrol vehicles with flashing lights. Not only do many citizens frequently mistake private guards for public cops, but often even magistrates and judges do as well.

In most states, private guards almost always work closely with municipal police departments, exchanging information and often turning over felony-level crimes to the city department to handle. Oftentimes, armed security guards are off-duty police officers who have been contracted by a government agency, or are moonlighting for private firms.

In Detroit, activists and lawyers say the private security industry and municipal police are entwined. Nicholas Klaus, who is the student national vice president of the National Lawyers Guild and worked on the Campus Martius case for a time, told Truthout that DPD officers have been instructed to take direction and dispatch from Gilbert's Rock Ventures command center. "The DPD has become an extension almost, of Rock Ventures," he said.

A DPD public relations representative told Truthout that the department's Secondary Employment in Uniform Program allows private vendors such as Rock Ventures to use off-duty DPD officers to work in a law enforcement capacity for their businesses. The program was established by city ordinance. "When working with a vendor, they may call and request us to do certain things, and we receive command from them, however, if it's a criminal matter, we touch base with our police department," said DPD Officer Nicole Kirkwood.

Lax Regulation Allows Dangerous Guards on the Streets

An investigation by the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) in collaboration with CNN shows that many state regulators "repeatedly ignore or fail to thoroughly investigate guard-related shootings, leaving inadequately trained, traumatized or potentially dangerous guards on the job."

Other CIR investigations have found that lax oversight has allowed many ex-municipal officers who were fired due to misconduct or brutality to easily find new jobs as armed guards. State regulators have also allowed ex-felons who have been barred from owning a gun to work as private guards, including those who have been convicted of domestic violence.

How the armed security industry is regulated varies from state to state, but according to the CIR/CNN investigation, only 12 states require armed guards to file firearm discharge reports. If a company fails to report a shooting, there are seldom any consequences.

Of the states that require such reports, the problems found mirror common problems associated with municipal police misconduct, violations of civil rights, excessive force and shooting cases that have sparked a national debate about police tactics in the wake of the events in Ferguson, Missouri, including armed guards "shooting at fleeing suspects, shoplifters and moving cars and into crowded shopping malls, apartment complexes and parking lots."

While it remains standard that every shooting by a municipal cop is automatically investigated, either by an independent agency or by the department's internal affairs unit, in the vast majority of states, armed-guard shootings are not reported and rarely investigated. Only two states - Florida and Virginia - regularly investigate such shootings, according to the CIR investigation.

Typically, regulatory agencies tasked with monitoring the private security industry only take action when a conviction of an armed guard has been secured in the courts first. Regulators usually rely on slow criminal investigations to determine whether or not a firearm license should be revoked.

The CIR investigation found more news reports of armed-guard shootings than discharge reports filed with the regulating agency in at least four states: Georgia, Louisiana, Texas and Wisconsin. Some state regulators reported that they have yet to collect their first firearm discharge report.

While armed-guard shootings are rarely investigated and reported, such shootings may occur, in part, because security guards are often "chronically undertrained," according to a 2012 study from the University of Illinois College of Law and the University of California. Armed guards are typically required to receive only a small fraction of the training municipal police must undergo to work as beat cops.

It was concerns over training standards in the 1970s, which initially prompted states to create regulating agencies that would require firearm discharge reports for private guards. Now, renewed concerns over lax oversight and training has again prompted bills in state legislatures aiming to close the regulatory gap between private security guards and their public counterparts.

In February, the Virginia legislature passed a bill that would increase the number of training hours private citizens, known as "special conservators of the peace" or "SCOPS," must undergo from 40 to 130 hours. In March, California lawmakers heard testimony regarding oversight of the private security industry as part of an ongoing review by the joint oversight committees of the state's regulating agency. And in Arizona, a state senator is also pushing for more stringent background checks for armed guards in that state, saying he is prepared to introduce legislation that would change a policy allowing those who've been banned from owning guns to become armed security guards.

Moreover, there are few accountability mechanisms outside the court system available to citizens who have been wronged during an encounter with a security guard. While the courts remain the primary vehicle for citizens to redress grievances, many laws that establish protections from municipal police don't necessarily apply to the private sector.

Outsourcing Accountability

Like municipal policing, the private security sector is plagued with misconduct and cases of armed-guard fatal shootings and violence, including widespread racial profiling and routine violations of civil rights.

In 1995, a security guard at a Best Buy named Ricky Coleman, who was unlicensed, untrained and possessed a violent criminal record, strangled a fraud suspect to death as another guard restrained him.

More recently, residents of one Baltimore neighborhood filed a lawsuit for $25 million in 2012 against an Ohio-based security company, alleging its guards had routinely violated their civil rights, stopping and arresting residents illegally.

In one particularly abhorrent example, Colorado prisoner Angela Weishoff filed suit in January against an armed security guard who sexually assaulted her at a hospital, only 15 minutes after she gave birth in 2012.

Security expert Bruce Schneier maintains that these types of "[a]buses of power, brutality, and illegal behavior are much more common among private security guards than real police." Such a claim is hard to verify because many - likely most, even - incidents go unreported.

What exactly are one's rights during an encounter with a private security guard? The answer, in many instances, is fuzzy, as the lawyers and private security experts contend that many laws designed to establish due process and other legal protections from municipal police don't apply to private citizens serving as "SCOPS" or the private security industry.

According to Klaus, the National Lawyers Guild student leader, in most cases, a citizen cannot bring a suit against a private individual for a constitutional violation. He said a federal law known as Section 1983, which allows citizens to bring claims against the police through the Fourteenth Amendment over civil rights violations (including misconduct, interrogation methods and evidence collection), simply does not apply to private security personnel.

A private individual can be held liable in some civil conspiracy cases, but Klaus says it is often difficult to prove a private individual and a cop worked together for the express purpose of depriving somebody of their constitutional rights.

"So if you're walking by Dan Gilbert's building and the security guards rough you up because they don't like your politics, you can't sue them in federal court for violating your First or Fourth Amendment rights," Klaus said. "And I think that's what [business owners] want. It's less constitutional liability. They see that as an impediment to their business."

Those who feel they have been wronged by private guards may have no other option but to complain to the guards' supervisors.

In the ongoing Campus Martius case, ACLU attorneys have brought just such a claim, arguing that under Section 1983, the private groups named as defendants are constitutionally liable for First Amendment violations because they "were performing public functions of managing a public park." The case also argues the DPD conspired to deprive activists of their free speech rights. The crucial difference in the ongoing Campus Martius case and others like it may come down to the fact that Campus Martius Park is owned, ultimately, by the city of Detroit.

While a complaint regarding a municipal officer can be taken to an elected board of police commissioners (who may or may not have subpoena power), no such formal mechanism exists for the private security industry. Those who feel they have been wronged by private guards may have no other option but to complain to the guards' supervisors.

"Unfortunately, businesses are not going to lend a very friendly ear to complaints about their private security forces," the ACLU's Steinberg told Truthout.

The Police Assessment Resource Center's (PARC) Private Policing & Consulting project provides assessments to private security firms about potentially problematic policies that could render firms liable, including policies that could lead to racial profiling and illicit arrests by security guards.

PARC's deputy director Matthew Barge told Truthout that it's up to private security firms to come up with internal accountability and reporting mechanisms; he works with private firms to put those policies in place.

Barge says private security firms should follow the example of many municipal police departments across the United States that have taken steps to make their public accountability processes transparent and accessible to the public in recent years, especially the process by which citizens can make complaints.

"One thing that we tell agencies of all stripes is that the time to kind of think through what happens when a major incident may occur really is now," Barge said. "You want to have something on the books, a standard operating procedure."

But even if private security firms establish robust internal procedures, their accountability mechanisms remain fundamentally different from municipal departments operating with taxpayer dollars. Private firms are contracted and work on behalf of corporations, not taxpayers, and therefore can't be compelled to open up their records to the public, even when, in many cases, they are performing public functions.

The Freedom of Information Act and other state open records laws typically don't apply to private security firms. Another ongoing ACLU case in Massachusetts demonstrates the problem, as attorneys there sued the North Eastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council (NEMLEC) in June 2014 after NEMLEC refused to answer their public records request for documents related to the organization's SWAT team. NEMLEC claims it is not subject to the Massachusetts public records law, despite receiving government grants and taxpayer money to buy military gear.

Another crucial difference is that the private sector has wider latitude to collect private information. According to security expert Schneier, the same kind of information the government is prohibited from collecting from citizens can be collected by the private sector - and then sold to the police.

Crisis Cops for Crisis Capitalists

Taken together, such little regulatory oversight and near impunity under the law constitutes an emerging paradigm of neoliberal policing under which the private sector buys influence and exacerbates the already violent and racist culture of public policing.

Even a private individual who simply volunteers for a municipal department can curry such favor to the detriment of public safety and accountability - as the recent shooting death of Eric Harris in Tulsa by Reserve Deputy Robert Bates makes clear. Bates' donations to the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office have been widely received as a pay-to-play scheme resulting in another tragic loss of life. That Bates has been allowed to vacation in the Bahamas for a month following the shooting further exemplifies the prioritization of wealth and privilege over accountability in a neoliberal criminal legal framework.

In Detroit, some see Klein's "shock doctrine" at work in the creation of a privatized surveillance apparatus operating to protect the business interests of mega-billionaires like Quicken Loans' Dan Gilbert. Klaus outlined the role Gilbert played in the racialized subprime mortgage lending scheme, which created the financial conditions for Detroit's revenue problems, hitting the city hard in 2008.

In two separate cases in 2011, awards of $3 million and $2 million were meted out by courts in Ohio and West Virginia to former Quicken Loans customers who judges ruled were victims of predatory lending.

In 2013, the Obama administration appointed Gilbert chairman of the Detroit Blight Removal Task Force. He pledged to assist the city in tearing down blighted properties - essentially pledging to clean up a mess that his company had, in part, created.

The MFI-Miami reviewed Detroit mortgage filings and found that 70.6 percent of 75 homes listing Quicken Loans as the mortgage holder went into foreclosure within 24 to 36 months of being sold on the secondary housing market.

Now, Gilbert is being rewarded for his exploits with private security contracts and an ever-expanding private-public surveillance system designed to protect and ensure his plans for Detroit's redevelopment - and no end appears to be in sight.

"In Detroit, it's justice for those, and safety for those, that can afford it," Klaus said.

Candice Bernd is an assistant editor/reporter with Truthout. With her partner, she is co-writing and co-producing Don't Frack With Denton, a documentary chronicling how her hometown became the first city to ban fracking in Texas. Follow her on Twitter @CandiceBernd.