Cow’s milk becomes pricier than non-dairy alternatives in UK

01 October 2022 - BY KATIE LINSELL

With prices rising for everything from food to utility bills, milk has been hard-hit with the cost of production climbing to a record high.
Image: 123RF/Aurélie Le Moigne

The cost-of-living crisis has pushed the price of cow’s milk, a staple for households across the UK, above dairy-free alternatives for some shoppers. 

A two-pint bottle of own-brand milk now costs £1.25 ($1.38) on average across four of the UK’s main supermarkets, a 36% jump since January. The nearest comparable own-brand alternatives, which come in one-liter bottles, cost £1.05 for soya milk, £1.07 for almond milk and £1.24 for oat milk, according to retail research company Assosia.

Typically, plant-based products such as oat milk have cost more than cow’s milk, with some cafes facing criticism for charging extra for the non-dairy options. Vegan activists and customers suffering from lactose allergies have even complained that the charges are discriminatory.

But now with prices rising for everything from food to utility bills, milk has been hard-hit with the cost of production climbing to a record high. Other dairy products have suffered notable price spikes with Lurpak butter requiring security tags used to stop expensive products from being shoplifted.

The pricing difference is not the same when branded products are taken into account. An analysis of data from Trolley.co.uk including branded and unbranded products shows milk costing £1.71 on average, the same as oat milk and slightly cheaper than soya milk at £1.73 and almond milk at £1.78. 

Still, in every analysis cow’s milk has posted the biggest price increase this year. The two most recent editions of Bloomberg’s monthly Breakfast Index also found that milk had the largest rise among fry-up ingredients including eggs, butter, sausages, tea bags, and bread.

(Bloomberg) --
Image: Bloomberg

In the long term, the average price of non-dairy milk is falling as supermarkets bring out their own-label cheaper versions of big brands like Oatly and Alpro. By contrast, cow’s milk went through that process long ago when grocers started selling it as a loss-leader to pull in consumers, said Susie Stannard, consumer insight manager for the dairy sector at the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board which represents farmers. 

While Stannard still sees cow’s milk as the cheaper option, she says “the prices are getting closer.” 

“It is likely that the cost-of-living crisis will accelerate this shift,” she said.

Massive expansion

Higher prices on the shelves have already led consumers to adapt how they shop, choosing cheaper own-brand products and visiting discount supermarkets. Now that the cost of milk is creeping up above its traditionally premium competitors, shoppers may switch to non-dairy products based on price, according to Richard Lim, CEO at Retail Economics.

“If the alternatives are at a significantly different price point to dairy products, then it wouldn’t surprise me that people would experiment with other products,” said Lim. “There are so many different alternatives and it’s a new market that’s expanded aggressively over the last five years.”

Along with other staples like eggs and cheese, milk is one of the most competitive products when it comes to supermarket pricing. It’s a benchmark for consumers, and grocers try to keep the price low as a method of maintaining market share. The rising price of milk “is evidence of just how much pressure the retailers are under,” said Lim.

Feed and fertiliser

Some of the pressure on milk comes from the cost of cow feed, fertiliser and fuel as well as energy prices. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has impacted the production and transport of fertiliser, used to grow feed for cattle, while in Europe more than 70% of fertiliser production capacity has been curtailed as prices for natural gas, the number one input for most nitrogen fertiliser, has soared.

The UK’s largest dairy producer, Arla Foods, pushed up milk prices in August citing the impact of extremely dry weather on the cost of feed, fertiliser and fuel.

Input costs “have all risen significantly, and like everyone, farmers are also seeing the drastic increase in energy prices,” said a spokesperson for Arla.

Cow’s milk is still by far the most popular option, with 95% of British households buying it over the past 12 weeks compared with 22% choosing alternative milks, according to Kantar Worldpanel data.

bloomberg.com

RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE

As Leicester tries to understand its recent unrest, impact of global Hindutva cannot be ignored

Research shows Hindutva sentiment has been on the rise in Britain since 2014.

Chris Allen, 

The Conversation

The Haymarket Memorial Clock Tower is a prominent landmark at the main pedestrian junction in central Leicester. 

| NotFromUtrecht, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Since late August, the city of Leicester in England has seen violent confrontations between groups of Hindu and Muslim men. The situation escalated on September 17 when about 200 Hindu men marched through a Muslim-majority area of east Leicester. Wearing masks, hoodies and balaclavas, they chanted “Jai Shri Ram” (meaning “Hail Lord Ram”).

In response, groups of Muslim men gathered in the area. A flag was forcibly removed from a Hindu mandir. Bottles and other missiles were thrown. Further violence ensued the following evening when the outer wall of a mosque was graffitied and a Hindu flag was burned.

Leicestershire police called for calm and at least 47 people have been arrested. Mayor Peter Soulsby has announced an independent review into what caused this disturbance.

Soulsby reportedly expects the review to make immediate headway. My research into unrest in Bradford in 2001 shows that an official response that sacrifices complexity in favour of quick solutions only serves to attribute blame at the expense of real understanding.



I investigated the 2001 disturbances in Bradford, when up to 1,000 young men of South Asian and Muslim heritage battled hundreds of police officers, following a banned march by the far-right National Front in the city earlier in the day. Not only was there pressure to explain why the disturbances had happened but also pressure to find solutions. This resulted in the disturbances being largely blamed on the city’s Muslims, the lives they lived and the values they adhered to.

The sustained and deliberate provocation of white far-right groups, meanwhile, was overlooked. So too, like almost every other disturbance involving minority communities, a host of social, political and economic factors.

In Leicester, no single group has, as yet, been blamed. However, there is a similar reluctance to dig into the complexity of the situation. Though proactive in communicating information about its policing of the disturbances, Leicestershire Police has referred, not specifically to Hindus or Muslims, but to “the community”.

Temporary Chief Constable Rob Nixon has variously thanked “the community for their ongoing support”, made reference to a “community meeting”, expressed gratitude to “the community who have joined us in calling for calm” and reiterated his commitment to working “alongside community leaders” to find solutions.

Political geographer Arshad Isakjee has shown applying the notion of “community” to ethnic and religious minorities makes the lazy assumption that ethnic minorities have more in common with each other than white or Christian communities do.

What’s more, it homogenises all people deemed to be within the group in question, thereby “othering” them as distinct from anyone outside that group. In other words, the problem becomes “their problem”, not “ours”. The onus is put on them to provide “solutions” to what is actually a vast array of social problems.

Community groups and community leaders do of course exist, in Leicester as elsewhere. But it is entirely possible that they may be oblivious to what is happening or out of touch with those outside of their immediate circles of influence. This is especially true of religious leaders who are unlikely to engage those who do not attend the same places of worship or who practice their faith differently.
Blaming outsiders

On September 20, Hindu and Muslim religious leaders issued a joint statement, describing Hindus and Muslims as “a family” who share a city that is “a beacon of diversity and community cohesion”. It echoed the increasingly popular explanation that the trouble was instigated by outsiders, bolstered by media reports that eight of the 18 people arrested on September 18, 2022 did not reside in Leicestershire.

“We together call upon the inciters of hatred to leave our city alone,” the joint statement said. “Leicester has no place for any foreign extremist ideology that causes division.” Soulsby made the same point when announcing the inquiry, saying that it would be necessary to investigate whether the disturbances were “motivated by extreme ideologies imported from elsewhere”.

Some will assume this to be Islamist extremism. Despite there being no evidence to support such an assumption, research shows that a key trope of Islamophobia is the conflation of all things Islam with extremism. The mere involvement of Muslims will be evidence enough for some to jump to such a conclusion.

However, it is necessary – given the slogans chanted in Leicester and wider concerns dating back to 2019 – to also examine the extent to which Hindu nationalist ideologies or “Hindutva” is causing tensions outside of India’s borders.

Research shows Hindutva sentiment has been on the rise in Britain since 2014. This far-right ideology promotes hatred towards all non-Hindu religious minorities and Muslims in particular.

Despite this, local media has begun to distance the city’s established Hindu communities from blame. Instead it cites wide claims that Hindu nationalism has been imported into the city by recent migrants from India.

For two decades, Leicester has presented itself as the most ethnically harmonious city in Britain. This differentiates it from cities such as Birmingham or Bradford, which have seen disturbances involving ethnic and religious minorities. Blaming outsiders and imported ideologies has the potential to protect Leicester’s reputation.

Soulsby has reportedly said to be baffled by the violence. To believe that such things could never happen in Leicester suggests either wilful ignorance or collective denial at the level of the city’s leadership. To ensure that all the different people that make up the city, as well as the problems they face, can be both understood and responded to, this needs to change.

The review offers a crucial opportunity to actually understand what is happening. There needs to be a full recognition that communities are not homogenous. Whether in Leicester or elsewhere, neither Muslim nor Hindu communities are one-dimensional or singular.

There also needs to be a recognition that the problems experienced by religious communities are not necessarily religious. Their lives are impacted by socio-economic and socio-political factors that transcend ethnic and religious identities.

Further, the impact of the global on the local cannot be overlooked, as the influence of Hindutva in Leicester, as elsewhere in Britain demonstrates. To take this into account is not to apportion blame. Ignoring it, however, won’t help us fully understand what is happening

Finally, the review cannot be premised on the basis that the solutions to the disturbances can be singularly found within Leicester’s communities. This is a collective issue that has the very real potential to have a detrimental impact on our collective futures.

This article first appeared on The Conversation.

SEE LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Hinduism Is Fascism

GEMOLOGY ACTIVISM

Yianni Melas, the Greek Modern-Day Indiana Jones of Gems

ByPaula Tsoni
October 1, 2022

Yianni Melas discovered the aquaprase, the first new gem of the 21st century. 

Credit: Courtesy of Yianni Melas

World-acclaimed gems guru and human rights activist Yianni Melas has been budded the modern-day Indiana Jones of gems, a nickname first attributed to him by the French Vogue in 2016 shortly after his discovery of a never-seen-before brand new gemstone.

Nonetheless, the high-achieving gemologist and gem explorer poses a sole condition for aspiring interviewers—to feature him as a Greek before anything else.

As a top-class rough gem trader and gemstone adviser to major international jewelry brands, but also as an ethical mining advocate, anti-kleptocracy activist, teacher, speaker, and TV personality, Yianni Melas has been roaming the Earth for over three decades, making fascinating discoveries, bonding with communities, and positively impacting the lives of people every step of the way.

“I have to say that my life has been really incredibly fun and interesting,” Melas tells Greek Reporter in an interview as he celebrates his sixtieth birthday.

Greek Indiana Jones’ new gem discovery

It was in 2016 that Yianni Melas made international headlines for the discovery of “the first new gem of the 21st century.” The aquaprase, as it is named, was discovered by Melas three years earlier at an undisclosed location in Africa.

On a planet that has consistently been dug up for centuries, the chances of such a find are almost impossible.

“If you spend 35 years in the jungle and that much amount of time immersed in exploring, sometimes God throws something to you,” Melas said. “In this particular case, he threw to me the most incredible gift because for the rest of history that gemstone will be associated with me; a Greek gemologist,” Melas points out.

Yianni Melas discovered the aquaprase at an undisclosed location in Africa.

 Photo Credit: Courtesy of Yianni Melas

Although at first, experts opined that the blue-green gem that he had presented them with was simply a new variation of the chrysoprase, a gem known since the times of Alexander the Great, Melas insisted that it couldn’t be.

The name “chrysoprase” in itself -an ancient Greek amalgamation of the colors gold (chryso) and green (prasino)- would dismiss such a claim.

Eventually, extended scientific tests at the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), where Melas had worked as a teacher, confirmed that the stone’s chemical composition was indeed entirely never-before-seen, and so the aquaprase was officially recognized and trademarked as a new gem.

“To discover a new gemstone is not something that happens so easily. It truly is a remarkable feat. I have unearthed all kinds of gemstones that are new discoveries, but these were part of known gemstones, eg. a new ruby deposit, and a new emerald deposit. But aquaprase is, gemologically, a brand new gem”, Melas details.
Empowered by Greek heritage

When a 12-year-old Yianni Melas was leaving his home island, Rhodes, to continue his education in the USA in 1974, he gave his severely ill grandfather one promise as they said goodbye at the airport. That was to make the surname Melas known across the world.

Little could the young boy or his deteriorating grandfather, imagine, at that time, the great extent to which this ambitious promise would materialize over the next few decades.

“My pappou was my greatest teacher and what I loved about him was that he worked so hard for his family”, Melas says of his grandfather today.

“That promise was a lot of motivation; the forces that drive you are not necessarily sometimes your own. They sometimes are the foundation upon which others have given and which you feel that you owe something to, to make sure that those people are recognized”.

Having quit his studies in medicine to pursue gemology, Melas volunteered to catalog the John Sinkankas library of ancient, antique and contemporary books, acquired by the GIA in the 1980s. He spent a year reading about the journeys of legendary treasure hunters and explorers, from Marco Polo to Tavernier.

“In these books, there were treasure maps and pictures of all their travels and drawings. That was the moment that created the excitement for me to travel”, he recalls.

The opportunity appeared when the young Greek gemology teacher met Helmut Swarovski and persuaded him to introduce natural stones to his brand; gemstones that Melas would discover and buy on Swarovski’s behalf.

Yianni Melas (left) with Helmut Swarovski in the 1990s. 

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Yianni Melas

Upon his arrival to Africa, established Greek miners like the Pappas brothers, took the inexperienced GIA instructor under their wings and taught him the secrets of gemstone hunting in the wild.

Melas’s leap into activism

Starting off as a rough gem trader in Kenya, then Tanzania, Madagascar, Zambia, through his work Melas began to see the positive effects that the gem trade could have in developing nations, which lead to his involvement in human rights activism and beneficiation.

He places heavy emphasis on giving back to the communities where gems are discovered, with priority to gem and jewelry education so that the indigenous community fully benefits from these “gifts of God”, as he calls gemstones.

Growing into a devoted advocate of ethical mining and self-empowerment of artisanal miners in the communities that he worked in, Melas sensed that one reason for his sensitivity to human rights struggles was his growing up listening to stories about his mother’s harsh childhood in WWII Greece.

Yianni Melas with artisanal miners in Africa.

 Photo Credit: Courtesy of Yianni Melas

“A lot of people would like to say that you see so much unhappiness and so much misery and everything else and you become an activist. No. That was a part of it. I think the main reason was my mother.

“When I heard her stories about being a 5-year-old growing up under those terrible WWII circumstances, it made me realize that, although Greece today is not going through that, a lot of the kids at war throughout the world, in this particular case now Ukraine, were still going through some very hard times.

“I felt that no child should have to go through what my mother went through. And so whenever I was fighting for human rights, I was actually fighting for something not to repeat itself”, he confesses.

Melas’s activism started in junta-run Burma in the 1990s: “This was an incredible place to understand just how corruption in the military and in politics could really change the way that the people lived; a hardcore lesson in how natural resources could only benefit the rich and powerful.

“The only people that were benefiting from the natural resources of Burma were those connected to the military, while the average citizens were really struggling to feed their families”, he explains.

During his years in the country, Melas would secretly participate in dangerous pro-democracy propaganda. Had he been caught, he would have faced execution.

“Looking back, I think about those things that I did and I realize I had an angel on top of me”, he admits.

A hunger strike that brought down an empire

In the years that followed, Melas continued his activism in countries like Botswana and Zimbabwe.

One of his hardest fights was fought for Angola, where he became instrumental in the exposure of political corruption which eventually led to the bankruptcy of Swiss luxury jeweler De Grisogono. It was owned by Isabel Dos Santos, the daughter of Angola’s president, who was also the richest woman in Africa.

“By coincidence, I found out that Angola had an incredible wealth of diamonds and of oil, and yet it had the highest mortality rate for children under five. 256 out of 1000 children were dying before reaching the age of 5″, he recalls.

Yianni Melas sorting gems with artisanal miners in Bangkok. 

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Yianni Melas

Around that same time, Melas’s own daughter became ill with a horrible cough that the doctors could not diagnose.

“At night, Electra would turn blue, as she couldn’t even breathe, and every night I wouldn’t sleep, for months. At one stage I almost had a nervous breakdown because I didn’t know what to do, and so I made a tama to the Madonna, promising that, if my daughter was cured, I would do my best, in my whole life, to help children survive life-threatening diseases”.

When a Greek doctor diagnosed the child with pertussis, an eradicated disease that Melas had apparently brought with him from Africa, it became clear to him that he had to keep his tama; his contract with God.

“I kept thinking how there were fathers and mothers just like me, in Africa, who couldn’t save their kids. So I had to do something to boycott this kleptocracy that kept the people of Angola in poverty”, he says.

In November 2017, Melas started a 31-day hunger strike in Geneva, in protest of the Christies’ auction of a 163-carat Angolan diamond sold by De Grisogono. He then continued the last three weeks of his hunger strike in Athens, where he used to walk 5 km daily from his rented flat in the district of Koukaki up to the Acropolis and back, for motivation.

“I remember every step I took, the pain was unimaginable. But I said to myself, if I can save even one kid from this, I will do it” – and he did.

On day 28 of the hunger strike, the new President of Angola publicly recognized the corruption involved with De Grisogono. Three years later, the Financial Times exposed the full story and the brand went bankrupt.

Yianni Melas places heavy emphasis on giving back to the communities where gems are discovered, with priority to gem and jewelry education.

 Photo Credit: Courtesy of Yianni Melas

Planning ahead

Besides his gem-hunting and human rights activism, Melas has been designing jewelry in his personal time for over 30 years, feeding his dream to someday launch his own jewelry brand.

“There is a reason why I didn’t release my brand then, and that’s because when you are doing activism and at the same time you are selling something, it’s very difficult to prove why you are doing this”, he expounds.

“A lot of people do activism to make themselves look glorious so that they could sell whatever they are making, and I didn’t want to do that.

“Everybody is on sustainability and beneficiation these days and everyone is trying to prove how ethical they are, and I realize that, if I could give the bad guys one reason that they could associate my activism as a way to promote something, then that would basically dilute the message of ethics and truth which I wanted to talk about”, he adds.

However, as he turned 60 in May, Melas reminds himself that all warriors have to one day ride into the sunset.

“Being involved in human rights really sucks all your energy out of you. It’s not the way people perceive it. You are constantly giving and there’s very little that you get out of it, other than for yourself and the legacy you leave behind for your family, for your children. I am so tired from all these wars; there are far more than you imagine”, he notes.

“So I promised myself that, at 60, I would stop being that person trying to save the world and I would finally do what I wanted to do without people questioning me in a way, what my motivation was.

“And I think now, what I’d like is that nobody can say that I lived this luxurious life of robbing the poor or whatever, everything that’s associated with blood diamonds and all these things, and nobody can say that because I’ve been actually on the opposite side, supporting human rights”.

A young Yianni Melas in the jungle in Vietnam. 

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Yianni Melas

Greek Indiana Jones’s new creative journey

Past his milestone 60th birthday, Melas envisions himself on a small Greek island, like Symi or Rhodes, by a taverna, having his meze, playing tavli, and enjoying life.

“I will still be involved in human rights, but because this time I will be in the gem trade and jewelry market as a brand, I will focus on less confrontational and dangerous activism and instead focus on bringing gem cutting and jewelry education to the mining communities”, he states.

On the other hand, Melas can’t rule out embarking on new international adventures.

“Exploring has become part of who I am, my DNA. And thanks to the way that the world works with the internet today, you could be in the middle of the jungle and you could be designing and searching for gemstones that you are going to actually put into the jewelry that you want”, he concludes.

In the meantime, Melas will continue to be an ambassador to the Greek culture and the values of democracy, as he firmly believes that, as Greeks, we must represent ourselves as honorable as we can.

At the time of publication, he was defending the rights of Iranian women and preparing to make a public statement from the Acropolis of Rhodes to support the 150 protests taking place across the globe on October 1st, 2022, in solidarity of the Iranian people.

Opposition groups secure nearly 60% of Kuwait's National Assembly

September 30, 2022 

People cast their votes in parliamentary elections at a polling station in Shamiya, Kuwait on September 29, 2022. [Jaber Abdulkhaleg - Anadolu Agency]

September 30, 2022 at 2:19 pm

Kuwaiti opposition groups secured nearly 60 per cent of the seats in the 50-seat National Assembly, according to the final results of early parliamentary elections announced on Friday, Anadolu News Agency reports.

According to the results, only 23 members of the previous parliament managed to keep their seats in the new parliament, while 27 are new members.

The state-run KUNA news agency said 305 candidates, including 22 female candidates, ran for seats in the assembly.

The number of representatives of the Shia bloc rose from six to nine.

Two people who are currently in jail also won seats.

The Muslim Brotherhood group in Kuwait, known as the Islamic Constitutional Movement (Hadas), secured five seats, the same number as in the previous parliament.

While the previous National Assembly had no women members, the results showed at least two women joining the body.

On Thursday, Kuwaiti voters cast ballots in the Gulf country's parliamentary elections, the second such vote in two years.

Last month, Crown Prince Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, who has taken on most of the ruling Emir's duties, dissolved the National Assembly, citing a political standoff between the government and the legislature.

The National Assembly is the Gulf State's legislative authority and is mandated to observe the work of the executive authority and issue laws, which come into effect after being ratified by the country's ruler.

KUWAIT

After two years, women return to parliament. Two opposition candidates, Jenan Bushehri and Alia Al Khaled, won their election battle on Sept. 29. Of the 50 seats up for grabs, opposition forces gained 28

'Iran launches new strikes' on Kurdish opposition in Iraq

Tehran has accused Kurdish armed groups based in Iraq's Kurdistan region of stoking a wave of unrest that has rocked Iran since death of Mahsa Amini

A wounded soldier is taken to hospital following strikes by Iran on the village of Altun Kupri, in Iraq's Kurdistan region, on 28 September 2022 (AFP)

By MEE and agencies
Published date: 1 October 2022 

Iran launched artillery and drone strikes on Saturday targeting Kurdish militants in Iraq's north, an Iranian Kurdish official has claimed, days after cross-border attacks killed 14 people.

Tehran has accused Kurdish armed groups based in Iraq's Kurdistan region of stoking a wave of unrest that has rocked the Islamic republic since Mahsa Amini, a Kurd, died in custody last month.

"The Iranian forces launched artillery fire and drone strikes" on bases used by exiled Iranian group Komala in the Mount Halgurd area, near the Iranian border, Atta Nasser, an official from Komala, told AFP.

Iran: Deadly bombing of Iranian Kurdish opposition inside Iraq sparks outrage

Read More »

The strikes "destroyed some outposts, without causing casualties among our ranks", Nasser said.

On Wednesday, a barrage of some 70 missiles and "kamikaze drone" strikes left 14 people dead and 58 wounded, Kurdish officials said. Iraqi Kurdish authorities said most of the casualties were civilians.

In a statement on Thursday, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said they would press on with attacks on rear bases in neighbouring Iraq until Kurdish rebels had been disarmed.

"We ask the central government and the government of the northern region of Iraq to show more seriousness in their responsibilities towards Iran as a neighbour," it said.

Iran has seen a major wave of protests since the death of Amini, 22, was announced on 16 September after her arrest by the "morality police". A crackdown has left dozens of demonstrators dead.
'Vague incident'

Several Iranian Kurdish groups have been based in northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region for decades.

While combat activities have greatly declined over the years, they continue to mobilise on social media, playing a key role in circulating images of the protests in the aftermath of Amini's death.

'The Iranian state is a target and so any incident is exploited… to incite against this state'

- Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah

The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah movement has said that the death of Amini was a "vague incident" that was being exploited against Tehran.

In a speech on Saturday, Hassan Nasrallah said that her death, in circumstances he said remained unclear, was being exploited to incite the protests.

"The Iranian state is a target and so any incident is exploited… to incite against this state," Nasrallah said.

"This vague incident was exploited and people took to the streets," he said.

The Hezbollah chief, a staunch Iran ally, said that the protests rocking the country did not reflect the true will of the Iranian people who he said are loyal to their leadership.

Iran "is stronger than ever and will not be affected", he said.

Iranian Kurds go on strike to protest IRGC attacks on Kurdistan Region

A coordinated strike took place in cities in Iranian Kurdistan on Saturday.

Wladimir van Wilgenburg

Several cities in Iranian Kurdistan went on strike on Saturday 

(Photo: Hengaw).

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A coordinated strike took place in cities in Iranian Kurdistan on Saturday in response to Wednesday's Iranian drone and missile attacks on the Kurdistan Region, which killed at least 14, and injured 60 others.

Kurdish human rights organization Hengaw on Saturday said the widespread took place in 15 cities including Urmia, Oshnovieh, Naqadeh, Bukan, Mahabad, Piranshahr, Rabat, Sardasht, Saqqez, Diwandareh, Mariwan, Sanandaj, Kamiyaran, Rawansar, Shahu, and Ilam.

A Hengaw report said that on Thursday, the Center for the Cooperation of Iranian Kurdistan Parties issued a statement calling on the people of Iranian Kurdistan to go on a general strike on Saturday.

Videos posted by activists show that shop owners in several cities in Iranian Kurdistan closed their shops.

On Wednesday, Iran attacked Kurdish opposition groups with missiles and ‘suicide drones’ into the Kurdistan Region’s Sulaimani and Erbil provinces, killing at least 14, and injuring 60 others.

Mostly civilians were injured during the attack. Also one pregnant woman Reyha Kenani and her child Wanyar died in the Iranian attack.

Furthermore, for the seventh consecutive day Iranian artillery on Saturday bombed a number of border areas inside the Kurdistan Region amidst widespread anti-government protests in Iran over the death of Jina Amini at the hands of Iran's morality police.

 

Canada, EU, Belgium strongly condemn IRGC attacks on Kurdistan Region


The EU, Canada and Belgium recently strongly condemns Iran’s missile and drone attacks against the Kurdistan Region.

Wladimir van Wilgenburg

Kurdish school children hide from Iranian attacks near Koya
(Photo: social media).

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Both Canada and the European Union on Friday strongly condemned the Iranian shelling of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq this week.

“The EU condemns in the strongest possible terms the shelling of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq this week, for which Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps have claimed responsibility,” the statement read.

“Our thoughts are with the victims and their families. These attacks are a violation of Iraq’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The EU reiterates its full solidarity with the Iraqi people, the Iraqi Government and the Kurdistan Regional Government.”

Moreover, the EU expressed concern about the recent political and security escalation in Iraq amidst the third anniversary of the Oct. 2019 protests in Baghdad.

“Violence is never a solution and must not be allowed to undermine the democratic process,” it said, calling on all parties to work to de-escalation.

Also the Canadian government on Friday “strongly condemns Iran’s missile and drone attacks against the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, which have resulted in multiple civilian deaths and injuries.”

“The Government of Canada extends its condolences to all those affected,” it said.

Moreover, Canada called “on Iran to refrain from attacking its neighbours and to stop undermining peace and stability in the Middle East. These attacks violate Iraq’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, jeopardize civilian lives and do nothing to address the legitimate concerns of the Iranian people.”

“Canada will continue to stand by the Iraqi and Iranian peoples in the face of the Iranian regime’s continued violence and human rights violations.”

Also the Belgian Foreign Ministry in a tweet on Saturday condemned the the Iranian missile attacks in Iraq.

"Our country calls for respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country and for international law. Our thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones," it said.

As a result of the Iranian strikes, at least 14 people were killed on Wednesday while nearly 60 others were wounded.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed responsibility and said they would resume strikes unless Iranian Kurdish opposition groups would surrender.

Furthermore, for the eighth consecutive day Iranian artillery on Saturday bombed a number of border areas inside the Kurdistan Region.

Read More: Recent attacks on Kurdistan show ‘repeated pattern of Iranian destabilization’, says UK envoy

Several countries over the past days have condemned the Iranian strikes, including the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Poland, Germany, UK, US, Jordan and Egypt.

UNCHR says civilians lives “must be 

protected” after Iranian attack“

We are extremely shocked and concerned that the

attack has impacted refugee families."

Wladimir van Wilgenburg

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Shaza Shekfeh, a media officer of the United Nations Refugee Agency, known as UNHCR, told Kurdistan 24 on Thursday that the Iranian attack on Kurdish opposition parties in Koya affected refugees living in the vicinity.

“The Kurdistan Regional Government is leading the response to support those who are impacted by yesterday's attack and according to the Department of Health in Koya, regrettably the attack resulted in nine casualties and 28 people were injured,” she said.

According to later data, at least 14 people were killed by the Iranian missile and drone attacks on Wednesday while nearly 60 others were wounded. Also one pregnant woman Reyha Kenani and her child Wanyar died in the Iranian attack near Koya.

The Iranian attacks come amidst widespread protests in Iran over the death of Zhina Amini at the hands of the morality police in mid September.

“We are extremely shocked and concerned that the attack has impacted refugee families. It also impacted a school where refugee students were present. Civilian lives must be protected at all times, including the refugees and especially the children," Shaza Shekfeh underlined.

"The UNHCR is in close dialogue with the authorities concerning the immediate needs of the most affected,” she added.

Koya hosts around 500 refugee families who fled Iran. The UNCHR in a statement on Wednesday also underlined UNHCR “is gravely concerned about today’s attack, which impacted the Iranian refugee settlements in Koya, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.”

Read More: UN Refugee Agency says Iranian attacks affected refugees in Koya

"The attack is reported to have resulted in a number of civilian casualties and injuries, including Iranian refugees – among them are women and children. "UNHCR extends our deepest condolences to all those affected."

Moreover, the UNCHR confirms the attack "reportedly impacted a primary school where refugee students were present."

“We have started engaging with authorities in dialogue since yesterday. Our partners on the ground are providing psychosocial support to traumatized families, especially children who are in school at the moment,” Shekfeh said.

Moreover, she said “refugee outreach volunteers are showing strength and resilience by supporting their communities as well and offering comfort and psychosocial support.”

“I'd like to extend our appreciation for the work the outreach volunteers are doing on the ground despite these difficult circumstances.”

However, she underlined that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is leading the humanitarian response to the attack. “And of course, UNHCR is closely engaging in dialogue how to better respond to those who are mostly impacted.”

She also said that the UNHCR has been supporting Kurdish refugees from Iran in Koya with cash assistance with the winter assistance, registration and education services. “They were also receiving health benefits from the public institutions that are available”

She said in line with the ‘one refugee approach, ‘the Iranian refugees in these settlements were receiving the same services as any refugee in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.”

Egypt condemns Iranian attack on 

Kurdistan region of Iraq

September 30, 2022

Smoke rises over the headquarters following an attack in the Koy Sanjaq district of Erbil, Iraq on September 28, 2022.

 [Ahsan Mohammed Ahmed Ahmed - Anadolu Agency]

September 30, 2022 at 5:56 pm

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry has condemned the Iranian bombing of areas in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, describing it as a "blatant violation of Iraq's sovereignty and security".

In a press statement made available to the Russia Today Arabic news website, the Ministry denounced Iran's attacks on areas in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, which resulted in the death of "innocent civilians".

Egypt "has been monitoring the tensions in the region over the past few days, and warns of their repercussions on the stability of the region and the safety of its people," the statement read.

Egypt further expressed its "sincere condolences to the government and people" of Iraq for the victims of this attack, and it wished a speedy recovery to the injured.

UPDATES

Protests In Iran Continue Despite Violent Government Crackdown
October 01, 2022 
By RFE/RL's Radio Farda

Protesters in Sanandaj, the capital of Mahsa Amini's native Kurdistan Province, take to the streets for the 10th night in a row on September 26.

Iranians are continuing to protest the death of a 22-year-old woman in police custody two weeks ago despite government warnings that a harsh crackdown will continue.

Videos posted on social media showed demonstrations taking place in several cities across the country on the evening of September 29 and the morning of September 30.

The latest wave of protests in Iran was sparked by the death Mahsa Amini on September 16 after she was detained by the morality police for allegedly improperly wearing a hijab, or headscarf.

Activists and relatives say Amini was killed as a result of blows to the head by police, while the authorities claim she died of a heart attack, a rare event for someone her age.

News of her death struck a nerve in a country already wracked by social unrest over poor living conditions and economic hardships exacerbated by crippling U.S. economic sanctions in response to Iran's nuclear program.

Protests have erupted in more than 80 cities to denounce state violence against women and demand greater rights, freedom, and justice for women. Many of the protesters have also called for an end to the Islamic republic.

Police have responded harshly. Iran Human Rights, an Oslo-based rights organization, said 83 people, including children, have been killed during the two-weeks of protest.

SEE ALSO:
Iran 'Ruthlessly' Suppressing Protests, Amnesty Says

Iran's Intelligence Ministry said on September 30 that nine foreigners had been arrested in connection with the protests.

Those arrested include citizens of Germany, Poland, Italy, France, the Netherlands, and Sweden, state news agency IRNA reported. It was not immediately clear if they held dual citizenship.

The violent response, however, has not stopped Iranians, including popular figures, from taking to the streets in protest or voicing their anger on social media.

On the evening of September 29, protesters gathered in the northeastern city of Mashhad, according to posts on social media. An officer can be seen firing at least twice at the demonstrators, thought it did not appear that anyone was hurt.

The same evening, young people in the northern city of Rasht gathered to chant anti-government slogans, according to another video.

Meanwhile, protesters can be seen running in the central city of Kerman on the evening of September 29 as gunshots ring out.

Security forces reportedly tried to prevent protesters from gathering in the southwestern Iranian city of Ahvaz on September 30. In videos published online, women in Ahvaz can be seen chanting slogans against the government without headscarves.

Iranian media reported on September 29 that Hossein Mahini, the retired captain of Iranian soccer giant Persepolis FC, has been arrested on charges of "encouraging riots and sympathizing with the enemy" after he posted content on social media in support of the protesters.

Actress Katayon Riahi, one of the first Iranian celebrities to have removed her hijab in protest of Amini's death, reportedly fled before police showed up at her home to arrest her.

Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda. With reporting by AP

Weekend rally in Seattle will show support for Iranian women protesting mandatory hijab law

Niku Kazori
Fri, September 30, 2022 

Women in Iran are leading a nationwide protest against the mandatory hijab law, following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody.

She was picked up by the Iranian morality police for improperly wearing her hijab.

People across the globe are now coming together for a nationwide day of action, Saturday, Oct. 1.

“Everyone from around the world has united and is calling out what is happening in Iran. So we’re going to have people who are Iranian and non-Iranians. Churches reached out, and they wanted to help, and some other American activists have reached out. It’s going to be everyone from all ages coming together to protest what’s happening in Iran.”

While access to the internet has been cut off by the government, Iranian Americans are doing what they can to support those who are risking their lives on the streets by organizing protests and raising awareness to what’s happening inside Iran.

“We are going to continue fighting until Iranians are fighting on the streets for their freedom of expression. We’re just going to gather here, we’re going to chant things they’re chanting in Iran to again continue echoing their voice,” said protester Saghar Amini.

Ever since the revolution 44 years ago, it has been mandatory for women to wear the hijab in public. Now, many are demanding change.

“Women deserve to be supported everywhere, and I’m happy to see that. We’re all here to support the people of Iran, and it’s nice to see that people care,” said protester Nilu Jenks.

OPINION

The hijab protests have resonated beyond Iran – to all countries that want to control women

No state, whether it is Iran, India or any other, has the right to tell women what to wear.

Rafia Zakaria, Dawn.com

Delhi University students and activists during a condolence meeting after the death of Mahsa Amini on September 26. | Reuters

She was a Kurdish woman who had been visiting relatives in the Iranian capital Tehran. Mahsa Amini (who was also called Jina) was out and about in the city when she was detained by the morality police for not wearing the hijab according to Iranian law. No one knows what happened in the time she was brought to the centre where the authorities impart “education” about the proper hijab. The next time Amini’s family saw her she was dead.

A photo circulating on the internet showed the 22-year-old woman before the detention, another showed her hooked up to various tubes, blood oozing from her ear. Her body appears lifeless even in the photo. Reportedly, a woman who had also been detained said that Amini complained she had been hit by the police. The state released a short CCTV clip which purportedly shows Amini collapsing.

In the meantime, a wave of protests has erupted in Iran.

The protests that began in Tehran have spread to cities and towns in most Iranian provinces. Led largely by young people they have included a wide variety of social classes and ethnicities.

There are a number of issues that have caused the festering discontent in Iran – not least the horrendous condition of the Iranian economy, that has faced international sanctions for years, and corruption in the bureaucracy.

Also enervating for many have been examples of how unapologetic some Iranian leaders are in indulging their nepotistic tendencies.

It is all of these factors that form the seething background for the current protests. At its heart lies the struggle over the hijab – over which Mahsa Amini was arrested and likely killed in custody. Iran’s ruling clergy considers the hijab to be a requirement for all Muslim women

.

An Iranian woman living in Turkey cuts her hair during a protest outside the Iranian consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on September 21. Credit: Reuters.

It is a convenient belief because in the era when politics from the United States to everywhere else has become mostly about performance, imposing the hijab also makes for excellent political theatre. Just like the reinstated Afghan Taliban in Kabul, Iran’s conservative circles can look around at the women present in the public spaces of their country and get an instant power high about their own might.

Similarly, hungry for power highs, Islamophobic politicians from parties such as Marine le Pen’s National Rally in France and Narendra Modi’s BJP in India want to forbid the wearing of the headscarf and appeal to an ignorant and self-serving version of secularism or Hindutva supremacy.

The truth is far simpler: no state, whether it is the Iranian or the Saudi, the French or the Indian, or any other, has the right to tell women what to wear.

At its heart, the struggle over the hijab shows just how eager male-dominated state machineries are to use their power to force women to do one thing or another. In some countries, power is signalled by forcing women to wear the hijab, in others to force them to take it off. In either case, the idea is that women can be ordered to do this or that.

This is why it is so heartening to see Iranian women leading these protests. Many have cut off their hair or burned their headscarves even as the Iranian authorities use deadly force to quell their convenings. Having borne the brunt of the Iranian state’s denegration and being treated as subhuman, dragged into vans and detained by an increasingly repressive morality police at the slightest “provocation”, they have had enough. So they have been marching, even though the danger to their lives and the overall cost is huge.

The state had recently announced that at least 41 protesters and police had been killed but the number is likely to be much higher as Iran has vowed to “deal decisively” with the protesters.

Here in Pakistan, women know a few things about repression and patriarchal control. One video from the streets of Tehran shows a middle-aged, bearded man on a motorbike almost pushing his face through the window of an adjacent car as he yells and screams at the women inside for their improper hijab. Raining abuses on them and trying to intimidate them, he does not stop until traffic around them forces him to move. Any Pakistani woman who can drive or who has spent any time on the streets would not be surprised at a similar move.

In the past decade, drivers, motorcyclists, grocery shop clerks, restaurant owners, really anyone at all in the public realm, have similarly become an expert in how Pakistani women should and should not be dressed. In these cases, it is always the women who have to be defensive because angry men have all the rights in Pakistan. “Mera jism meri marzi” is at the centre of the Pakistan’s women’s movement, and is being reflected in Iran.

This is just why Pakistani women have an important role to play as allies in Iranian women’s struggle against bodily control by the state.

Even though Western feminists in white-majority countries are eager to jump in, Iranian women are rightly rebuffing those offers, because they taint what is a local and grassroots struggle in a country where half the population is just fed up of the repressive status quo. When white and Western feminists get involved it is not about the struggle but the rescue, and how Iranian or Pakistani or Somalian women are being “saved” by the “real” feminists who are also the white feminists.

Even though the internet has been blocked in many parts of Iran, many tweets, pictures and slogans, are still emerging through those with VPN servers. Pakistani feminists must make it their business to amplify the voices of Iranian women who are fighting and protesting and showing the world what true feminist courage actually means.

Rafia Zakaria is an attorney teaching constitutional law and political philosophy.

This article was first published on Dawn.