Activist who helped desegregate Birmingham library dies


BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — A Black Army veteran who helped peacefully desegregate an Alabama city's library with a sit-in protest in 1963 has died, according to the library and an obituary published by his family.

Shelly Millender Jr. of Birmingham died on Saturday. He was 86.

Millender already was a veteran when he attended Miles College, a historically Black school where he was student government president and became active in the civil rights movement.

Recruited by Southern Christian Leadership Conference director Wyatt T. Walker, Millender was among the students who staged a sit-in at Birmingham's main downtown library on April 10, 1963, to demonstrate against a policy that banned Black people.

"Shelly Millender engaged the librarian who told him you should be going to the colored library. Shelly said, ‘No I want to use this library,’” Wayne S. Wiegand, who wrote “The Desegregation of Public Libraries in the Jim Crow South: Civil Rights and Local Activism,” said in an interview with a library official in 2018.

“The librarian must have called the police. The police came, but didn’t bother to arrest them. Because they weren’t arrested, the students then left because they were there to be arrested,” Wiegand said.

Library leaders agreed to end segregation soon after in what was described as one of the few peaceful desegregation efforts in Birmingham, a flashpoint of civil rights demonstrations because of its strict enforcement of race-based separation and oppression.

Wiegand said library leaders were worried about the reputation the city was gaining because of white segregationist Eugene “Bull” Connor, the police commissioner who unleashed dogs and fire hoses on civil rights demonstrators.

“The fact the library became integrated peacefully in the middle of that violent summer is kind of lost on people. It was the sole site of racial conciliation in the middle of a town that was hosing African Americans and turning dogs on them,” Wiegand said.

Millender spent decades selling cars and served as host of a radio show after retirement. Survivors include two sisters, three children, a lifelong companion and her son, the obituary said.

The Associated Press

Alberta regional chief hopes ‘political will’ leads to action to combat racism in health care

Alberta Regional Chief Marlene Poitras is determined not to be frustrated by provincial government officials who are only now “becoming aware” of the racism faced by First Nations in the province. She’s wiling to accept that if it leads to change.

“The discovery of those children in residential schools, I really believe, has woken up people to the issues of First Nations people in this country,” said Poitras, referring to the unmarked graves located at former residential school sites at Tk’emlups te Secwépemc, B.C., Cowessess First Nation, Sask. and other places in recent months.

“I think that while the awareness was likely there, the will to do something is now becoming more evident because of what happened,” said Poitras.

Yesterday, Health Minister Tyler Shandro announced that the province would be providing close to $2.8 million to fund Indigenous-led mental health services for those impacted by Canada’s residential school system.

After that announcement, Shandro held a meeting with Environment and Parks Minister Jason Nixon, Poitras and O’Chiese First Nation Chief Douglas Beaverbones and Sunchild Councillor Joey Pete to discuss a recent incident of racist treatment. Also at the meeting were representatives and staff from Rocky Mountain House and Clearwater County. Nixon is also MLA for Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre.

Nixon is also MLA for Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre.

Earlier this month, O’Chiese member Sonny Strawberry posted on social media two encounters he had in quick succession. On July 4, he flagged down Lakeside EMS. He was on the road with his mother sitting beside him in his car, unconscious. But the EMS paramedics turned down Strawberry and care to his mother saying they were “out of service.” Later, at the hospital, a security guard challenged his sobriety and accused him of bringing in drugs.

From this incident, O’Chiese, Sunchild and Big Horn First Nations and the town of Rocky Mountain House announced the formation of an anti-racism task force.

Poitras says Nixon “is going to be more involved in working with the Nations and figure out what exactly they need to get this task force up and running in a good way.”

However, Poitras says she was firm in stressing that the racism experienced in Rocky Mountain House is not unique. It is experienced by First Nations in the healthcare system—and other systems, such as justice—throughout the province. She also said that racism was experienced by Indigenous people working in the healthcare system.

“Racism has no place in this province, least of all in the health system,” said Steve Buick, press secretary to Shandro.

Poitras said accountability measures had to be put in place. A form available at a healthcare centre to be filled out with concerns is not enough.

“They fill it out and it goes wherever. Whether they deal with it or not is up to the person on the other end of things. I told (Shandro) we need to build the trust of our people that something is being done. They need to respond,” she said.

Poitras recommended a 1-800 number for complaints where there is “somebody at the other end that's going to make note of their concerns and deal with it. We need that kind of response. We need to quit talking and we need to take action.”

She also pointed out that Elders, who are the most vulnerable and the most in need of treatment, are afraid to get health services so steps need to be taken “to ensure our people are comfortable using those services.”

She brought up the high number of suicides and overdoses among First Nations people. She said the money announced for residential schools is a “good start, but then we need to do more and we need to keep on top of it. And as we’re moving along and we discover what it is that we need then everybody needs to come together and figure out a way how to move forward.”

Poitras said Shandro will be sharing a list of recommendations that came from the meeting. She said she will compile her own list of recommendations from the meeting and will be sending them to Shandro and asking him “to please follow up.”

“We need to have the political will and be serious about working together to address systemic racism in Alberta,” said Poitras.

She says she believes she heard that commitment from Shandro and the other ministers.

“It was just a commitment that they spoke about and how they're becoming aware of the issues and that they want to do something about it,” she said.

“The minister thought the meeting was very positive and respectful on all sides. There was real value in bringing this group together so that AHS could hear the concerns of the First Nations face to face, and he’s deeply grateful to the chiefs for their engagement, and their commitment to working through the issues,” said Buick.

Buick said that Shandro committed to meet with the chiefs to review progress and hear any other concerns.

Windspeaker.com

By Shari Narine, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Windspeaker.com, Windspeaker.com

BC

Ancestral remains found in Kyuquot

Ancestral remains were discovered during a beach cleanup led by Rugged Coast and Ka:'yu:'k't'h'/Che:k'tles7et'h' First Nation, in Kyuquot.

A newly identified burial site was reported to the Port McNeill RCMP and BC Coroners Service on July 21, after a Kyuquot First Nations member found a skull and other remains around 30 metres inland from the high tide line, according to the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development.

The RCMP is working with the archaeological department at the ministry, the BC Coroner Service and the nation to further investigate, according to Port McNeill Sgt. Curtis Davis.

While Davis said there are several missing persons files from the area dating back to 1973, BC Coroner Service identification experts have determined that the remains are “archaeological in nature,” said Ryan Panton, BC Coroners Service communications manager.

“We don’t do a coroner’s investigation in those circumstances,” he said.

According to the BC Coroners Service’s identification expert, the remains are archaeological based on the description of the scene, which is consistent with “ancient Indigenous coastal burial practices,” said Panton.

The remains revealed a tooth with wear that is consistent with pre-contact Indigenous remains, he added.

“There was no evidence located, such as clothing or artefacts, that would suggest the remains were modern,” said Panton.

The remains have been left undisturbed and have been recorded with the province as an archeological site, said the ministry.

The RCMP and Ka:'yu:'k't'h'/Che:k'tles7et'h' First Nation will continue to monitor the site.

Melissa Renwick, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Ha-Shilth-Sa

Is space travel compatible with sustainability?

The commercial space race is on with rich entrepreneurs taking to their rockets to reach for the stars. But the jaunts to space have courted plenty of criticism about space tourism and its carbon footprint.

Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Blue Origin, speaks during an event at Space Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida for the announcement that Blue Origin will build rockets at Exploration Park at NASA's Kennedy Space Center and launch them from SLC-36 at the Cape. Looking on is Rick Scott, Florida governor. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

By Arabesque July 23, 2021


“A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away…”

…a small blue planet grew more and more fascinated by what lay beyond its planetary boundaries. Many of us young Skywalkers (and princess Leia’s) have turned our heads to the sky and dreamed about spaceships, aliens, and traveling at the speed of light.


While the race to colonialise the Moon ended with the Cold War, the exploration (and commercialisation) of space is back on the agenda. With entrepreneurs Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson each spending a few minutes (and a couple billions of dollars) in Earth’s orbit, the commercial space race is on.

But are space travel and sustainability compatible? It’s not like we have a shortage of problems on the Earth to fix. But the wheels of space research are already turning and cannot exactly be stopped at this point.
What does the data tell us?

Space companies are traditionally defence firms posing an interesting question for sustainability investors who typically screen-out weapons-related businesses. The likes of Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems or Northrop Grumman are leaders not just in weapons manufacturing, but also space technology. However, there is a new breed of space companies on the horizon.

Listed in 2019, Virgin Galactic is the first publicly-traded space tourism company. The company’s Environment score (E in the ESG) is at a mere 32/100*, with low 30s* in Emissions, Environmental Solutions or Environmental Stewardship. This comes as no surprise as the Virgin VSS Unity spaceship runs on a combination of highly polluting fuels. Similarly, one SpaceX launch emits as much as 336 metric tonnes of CO2, enough to drive your car around the world 70 times. Bezos’ Blue Origins uses hydrogen fuel which does not emit carbon — though its production often does.

Conversation on the emissions caused by space travel will inevitably increase, and lead us to differentiate between space exploration (research) and space tourism which provides no tangible benefit to society beyond providing entertainment to the ultra-wealthy.

What can we do?

How does one go about allocating a proportion of their sustainable portfolio to “space”? And what’s would be the motivation given that we may never sit in a rocket ourselves?

One must realise that the topic of space goes beyond rockets. In many cases, space-related research has resulted in life-changing discoveries including satellite technology which today serves a vital function in measuring and tracking the climate crisis. The vital role of space research in society is reflected in space-related ETFs such as ARK’s ARKX or HanETF’s YODA, where we find names such as Nvidia, Tencent or partial allocations into a 3D ETF.

All in all, we haven’t come across financial products that look at space from a sustainability driven perspective with much investor focus still on the military application of space research. So, we will leave it for you to decide whether to support the “Light” or “Dark” side of space innovation … to infinity and beyond.

Arabesque is a global group of financial technology companies offering sustainable investment, advisory, and data services through advanced ESG and AI capabilities.

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FAA Changes Astronaut Definition, Disqualifying Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson

Home > News > Space Junk

24 Jul 2021· 

by Elena Gorgan 

July was the month of billionaires launching themselves to the edge of space on their own ships and calling it “work” to the benefit of the entire human race. Be that as it may, but these billionaires are still not astronauts in the eyes of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

 8 photos

Ironically, on July 9, Blue Origin pointed out the differences between its New Shepard rocket and the Virgin Galactic spaceplane Unity 22, and how not a single member of the crew of the former had “an asterisk next to their name” and the astronaut title, like the crew from latter did. The difference was in the fact that New Shepard would fly above the Kármán line, reaching an altitude of 62 miles (100 km). Branson, by comparison, only reached 50 miles (80 km), so he didn’t really go to space.

According to the FAA, Bezos doesn’t get bragging rights as an astronaut just because he flew higher, so he’d better put that asterisk back. In the first revision since it established the Commercial Astronaut Wings program in 2004, the FAA has narrowed down the definition of “astronaut” so as to rule out future billionaires whose idea of space exploration amounts to joyrides in suborbital space.

One of the conditions for someone to get their astronaut wings from the FAA is that they travel 50 miles (80 km) above Earth, and both Bezos and Branson have met it. But the FAA is now saying that would-be astronauts must also have “demonstrated activities during flight that were essential to public safety, or contributed to human space flight safety,” and neither meets this requirement. The change went into effect on July 20, the very day when Bezos made the inaugural 11-minute flight on the reusable rocket New Shepard.

Both Bezos and Branson have talked a great deal about how their space launches are for the benefit of mankind and might even, in some yet-to-be-explained way, help us solve all of our pressing problems here on Earth. Realistically speaking, if that is the case, it won’t become apparent for many years to come, when space travel becomes norm. For the time being, both missions were just experimental launches and very expensive joyrides.

As such, the FAA will not be awarding Bezos or Branson their astronaut wings anytime soon. It’s a good thing then that their companies designed their own, which they started wearing right after touchdown. That said, they could apply for an honorary set of wings from the FAA, but as of the moment of writing, no application on their behalf has been submitted.

  Download attachment: FAA revision of the "astronaut" definition (PDF)

LOL JEFF BEZOS RICHARD BRANSON FAA ASTRONAUT SPACE TOURISM BLUE ORIGIN VIRGIN GALACTIC

SpaceX to launch the Europa Clipper mission for a bargain price

Decision comes after shaking issue with SLS rocket made it untenable.

ERIC BERGER - 7/23/2021, 2:45 PM

NASA has selected SpaceX's Falcon Heavy to launch the Europa Clipper, the first mission to conduct detailed reconnaissance of the Jovian moon.
Trevor Mahlmann


And Falcon Heavy is going to be the rocket to get it there. Here it is clearing the tower on its maiden flight on February 6th, 2018.
Trevor Mahlmann


Heavy.
Trevor Mahlmann


Heavy.
Trevor Mahlmann


More heavy, still.
Trevor Mahlmann


Europa Clipper will launch from historic LC-39A to study the vast ocean scientists presume is below its icy shell.
Trevor Mahlmann


Europa has the right ingredients essential to support life.
Trevor Mahlmann


No simultaneous booster return this time around. Europa Clipper will likely utilize a Falcon Heavy in an expendable configuration with a Star 48 kick stage.
Trevor Mahlmann



After years of speculation, NASA officially announced Friday that SpaceX's Falcon Heavy would launch what is arguably the space agency's most important Solar System exploration mission of the 2020s—the Europa Clipper.

Slated to launch in October 2024, the $4.25 billion mission will spend much of the remainder of this decade flying to the Jovian system before entering an elongated orbit around Jupiter. The spacecraft will then make as many as 44 flybys of Europa, the intriguing, ice-encrusted Jovian moon that scientists believe harbors a vast ocean beneath the surface. It is possible that aquatic life exists there.

The total contract award amount for launch services is approximately $178 million, NASA said in a news release. This is a significant moment for SpaceX, as the company will be entrusted with one of NASA's highest-priority exploration missions. The deal also saves NASA about $2 billion.

The selection of a launch vehicle for this ambitious mission has been subjected to a long, drawn-out political process. Originally, at the urging of Congress, NASA planned to launch the spacecraft on its Space Launch System rocket. There were two reasons for this. Legislators (particularly US Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala.) wanted to find additional missions for the SLS rocket. And second, the powerful SLS rocket had the ability to get the Clipper to Jupiter within about four years.

However, many in the scientific community preferred to launch on SpaceX's Falcon Heavy for a variety of reasons. For one, SpaceX offered launch services at a steep discount compared to the SLS rocket, which the White House estimated would cost more than $2 billion for the Clipper mission. Scientists were also concerned that the oft-delayed SLS rocket would simply not be ready for a 2024 launch date, and selecting it would delay the science mission.Advertisement


However, politicians continued to insist that NASA launch Clipper on the SLS rocket. Three different events finally forced legislators to relent. First, in late 2018, NASA scientists concluded that the Falcon Heavy could complete the Clipper mission without needing a gravity assist from Venus, and therefore it would not have to go into the inner Solar System. The Falcon Heavy could do so with the addition of a Star 48 "kick stage." (United Launch Alliance's Delta IV Heavy rocket would have necessitated a Venus flyby, significantly increasing the thermal shielding needed on the Clipper spacecraft, so it was eventually ruled out.)


FURTHER READINGNASA does not deny the “over $2 billion” cost of a single SLS launch

"Nobody is saying we're not going on the SLS," Barry Goldstein, of NASA, said at a meeting in November 2018. "But if by chance we don't, we don't have the challenge of the inner Solar System. This was a major development. This was a big deal for us."

Second, after finalizing plans for the Artemis Moon Program, NASA realized that the primary contractor for the SLS rocket's core stage, Boeing, simply was not up to the task of building an additional rocket for the Clipper mission in time. All of the SLS core stages, NASA officials realized, would be needed to support the effort to land humans on the Moon in the mid-2020s.

Finally, what forced Shelby and the rest of Congress to give in was a "shaking" issue with the SLS rocket. This large vehicle is powered off the pad by two very large solid rocket boosters that produce significant vibrations. SLS program officials had been telling the agency's leadership that the torsional load—essentially a measurement of twisting and vibration—was a certain value. However, after NASA performed wind-tunnel testing, the actual torsional load value was nearly double the SLS program estimates.

Accommodating for this launch stress, NASA officials told Ars, would have required an additional $1 billion in modifications to make the spacecraft more robust. That additional cost was ultimately what led NASA to be able to make Friday's announcement.

Listing image by Trevor Mahlmann

A $200M injection from the U.S. will allow Aspen to produce more Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines for Africa

by Kevin Dunleavy |
Jul 22, 2021 10:53am

Only 1.5% of Africa's 1.3 billion people have been fully vaccinated. Pfizer's and Johnson & Johnson's vaccine manufacturing outposts in South Africa will help relieve the shortfall. (FG Trade/iStock/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images)

With just 1.5% of its 1.3 billion people fully vaccinated, Africa is the least protected continent in the world against the coronavirus.


But the U.S. is stepping up to help address the shortfall. With a $200 million investment in an Aspen Pharmacare manufacturing facility in South Africa, the U.S. is trying to pave the way for increased production of COVID-19 vaccines.

The investment will allow the plant to expand its capacity beyond its current rate of 300 million doses per year, according to News24.

Aspen, the largest pharmaceutical company in Africa, produces the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the port city of Gqeberha, formerly Port Elizabeth, in South Africa’s Eastern Cape. J&J and Aspen revealed their vaccine partnership in November of last year.

RELATED: Johnson & Johnson pledges 400M single-dose COVID-19 vaccines to African Union

Also this week, Pfizer and BioNTech revealed a manufacturing agreement with the Biovac Institute of South Africa. From its plant in Cape Town, Biovac will perform fill-finish and distribution of the vaccine after receiving shipments of bulk substances from Europe. The facility will provide more than 100 million doses annually, with production kicking off by the start of next year.

As for J&J's vaccine, in March, the company unveiled an agreement to provide the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) 220 doses of its single-shot vaccine, with an option of up to 400 million doses overall. Supplies were due to start in the third quarter of this year.

In June, however, Aspen said that it discarded bulk substance from J&J that was awaiting manufacture. The substance was part of a batch that was potentially contaminated at an Emergent plant in Baltimore.

RELATED: With Biovac agreement, Pfizer and BioNTech extend their COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing network to Africa

J&J has said it is providing its vaccine on a “not-for-profit basis” during the pandemic. In December, the company pledged 500 million doses to the COVAX worldwide relief initiative.

The African Union was counting on vaccines from COVAX, but the effort has been hindered by export restrictions on its primary supplier, the Serum Institute of India as the country battles its own COVID-19 surge.

According to the World Health Organization, of the 74.6 million vaccine doses received by Africa, 47 million have arrived from other countries bilaterally, 26.6 million have come through COVAX and 1 million have been procured from the AVAT.

ZAMBIA
Johnson and Johnson vaccines arrive


July 22, 2021

The 151, 200 doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine have today arrived in the country Zambia. The vaccines are from the United States of America donated to Zambia under the COVAX facility as part of its global efforts to fight the coronavirus.

Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary Technical Services, Kennedy Malama was at hand to receive the consignment at Lusaka’s Kenneth Kaunda International Airport this afternoon. Dr Malama thanked the Unites States (U.S) government for supporting the country’s vaccination programme. He said the receipt of the vaccine today is a symbol of the long standing partnership between the two governments.

The Permanent Secretary noted that Zambia and the U.S government have a long standing collaborative partnership not only with HIV and AIDS but in Malaria, Tuberculosis and now the COVID-19.

“The support is not only for the vaccination programme but more other health programmes. The focus has been on health system strengthening,” he stated.

And Dr Malama noted that COVID-19 is still affecting the country at various levels hence government’s commitment to its fight.

“COVID-19 is still with us in Zambia but as we continue fighting against it in our country, we are also aware of what is happening at a global scale. Government remains committed to ensuring that we put COVID- 19 under control sooner than later,” the Permanent Secretary hinted.

Dr Malama indicated that by tomorrow the nation will be guided on how the Johnson and Johnson doses will be executed stating that government does not want to lose any time.

“For us this is a work in progress. We are delighted that the vaccines have arrived and will swing into action. We are very excited that we are moving forward, by the end of this year most of our people will have a chance to be vaccinated,” Dr. Malama said.

The 151, 200 doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine

And World Health Organisation (WHO) Country Representative, Nathan Bakyaita also thanked the United States government for the support rendered to Zambia in its COVID-19 vaccination programme. Dr Bakyaita there is need to tackle COVID-19 globally including its 2021 variance. He further thanked the U.S government for its generous technical and financial support to fight COVID-19 at global level.

Meanwhile, the U.S Embassy in Zambia is pleased with the arrival of 151,200 doses of the Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine in the country.

U.S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires, David Young said the vaccines which were made available through the African Union COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) facility, are part of the U.S. pledge to provide at least 25 million of 80 million doses globally to Africa.

“This donation will help protect the Zambian people from the ravages of the COVID-19 virus and begin to reduce the barriers to building back the Zambian economy,” he said.

Mr Young expressed optimism at the latest stage of the U.S -Zambian relationship, and assured the country of the U.S. support to assist Zambia to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The United States is proud to strengthen our friendship through the donation of these life-saving vaccines. The third wave of COVID-19 has been especially difficult in Zambia. Through these vaccines, and the additional U.S. shipments to come, we partner to save lives,” said Chargé Young.

These 151,200 doses are part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to share the U.S. vaccine supply with the world.

U.S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires, David Young receiving the Johnson and Johnson vaccine

 

Syria tells OPCW that Israel has destroyed the Douma cylinders

One of the cylinders was found on a bed

Two gas cylinders that formed crucial evidence in connection with a suspected chemical attack in Syria have been destroyed by an Israeli airstrike, according to the Syrian authorities.

The cylinders were at the centre of an investigation by the OPCW’s Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) regarding events in Douma in 2018. Inspectors were able to examine the cylinders but the Syrian authorities did not allow them to be taken out of the country for forensic examination.

As a result of that stand-off the cylinders had been placed in sealed containers and the Syrians were told not to tamper with them or move them without written consent from the OPCW.

In a communiqué to the OPCW, Syria says the cylinders were destroyed in a "flagrant" Israeli missile attack on a military site known as al-Nasiriyah1 at 23:40 on 8 June. The following day, several news reports (here, here and here) quoted Syrian government media as a saying Israel had carried out a series of airstrikes shortly before midnight on 8 June but did not mention the exact locations.

Even if al-Nasiriyah1 was among the targets, the cylinders should not have been hit because according to the arrangements with the OPCW they were supposed to be stored at a different site 60km away. The OPCW is now seeking an explanation from Syria.

In a report in 2019, the FFM found “reasonable grounds” for believing a toxic chemical had been used as a weapon in Douma, that the chemical in question contained reactive chlorine and it was “possible” that the cylinders were the source of the chlorine.

Although the FFM’s work on Douma is over, the OPCW’s Investigation and Identification Team (IIT) is carrying out further work with a view to identifying those reponsible. The IIT had been seeking to transport the cylinders to OPCW headquarters in the Hague but the Syrians once again refused to let them leave the country.

There was a previous incident in 2019 when inspectors noticed that remains of destroyed chemical munitions and production equipment which Syria had agreed to retain for further investigation had disappeared. A military official later told the inspectors he had sent them to a local smelting company where they were melted down.

Aside from the issue of the cylinders, the Nasiriyah1 site was of particular interest to the OPCW because it housed a former chemical weapons production facility. Syria had previously declared the facility to OPCW inspectors but claimed it had never been used. The OPCW has since discovered evidence that casts doubt on the claim.

The other cylinder was found on a balcony

 

Arabs Without God: Introduction

By Brian Whitaker

  

Introduction 

 

PART ONE: Roads to disbelief

1: Denying God, subverting society 

2: Atheism in Arab history 
3: God’s own book 
4: Fear of disbelief 
5: Losing their religion 
6: Atheism, gender and sexuality 

7: Godless on the internet 

 

PART TWO: Protecting the faith

8: The privileges of religion 

9: Once a Muslim, always a Muslim 

10: The right to offend, shock and disturb 

11: A taste of freedom? 
12: Atheism and Islamophobia  

13: A question of tolerance 

---

Introduction

ARABS, in popular imagination, are assumed to be Muslims and potential religious fanatics. The reality is a lot more complex. Islam is far from monolithic and has many strands: Sunni, Shia, Salafi, Wahhabi, Zaidi, Sufi, Alawi, Ibadi, Isma’ili and others. Nor are Arabs necessarily Muslims. There are millions of Arab Christians, plus smaller numbers of Druze, Yazidis, Mandaeans and Jews.

Added to this mix is a growing number of Arabs – mainly young – who openly declare themselves to be atheists, agnostics or sceptics. Non-believers have probably always existed in the Middle East, mostly out of sight, but now they have begun to find a voice. Social media have provided them with the tools to express themselves and the “Arab Spring” uprisings that began in 2010 emboldened some of them to speak out.

In countries where religion permeates most aspects of daily life, publicly challenging belief shocks families, society and governments. Many have been imprisoned merely for expressing their thoughts, others have been forced into exile and some threatened with execution. Many more keep their thoughts to themselves, for fear of the reaction from family, friends and employers.

For an established order that favours orthodoxy and conformity and is unaccustomed to questioning, these dissenting voices are a problem – especially for autocratic governments that base their claims to legitimacy on religious credentials. Regardless of attempts at suppression, though, what some see as the “problem” of disbelief is unlikely to go away; more likely, it will grow.

Thanks to the internet, along with satellite television and foreign travel, young Arabs today are far more aware of the outside world than previous generations and, when they hold up their own countries to the mirror, many dislike what they see. Rejecting religion is one response to that but it is also part of broader demands for political and social change. The inclusion of religion in this wave of disaffection was almost inevitable, since religion in the Arab countries – far from being a personal, private matter – has become heavily politicised and is responsible for many of the social restrictions that cause so much frustration, especially among the youth.

It is not the purpose of this book to make a case for atheism or to single out Islam among religions for particular criticism, though Islam happens to be the dominant faith in the region. Rather, the purpose is to look at non-belief as a social phenomenon – its causes and its consequences – and to argue for the right of non-believers to be treated as normal human beings.

Public discourse in the Arab countries has opened up considerably since the 1990s. Many of the old taboos have been broken and things can be said in public now that would have been unimaginable only a decade or two ago. Despite that, religion is still generally treated as sacrosanct: challenging it is the biggest and most untouchable of the remaining taboos.

This, in turn, raises important questions about how best to press for change. Some of the non-believers interviewed for this book could be described as activists who openly question and confront religion in all its forms (as is their right). Others simply want a quiet life; they see no need to advertise their disbelief but resent being forced to comply with rules imposed by believers. Both of these approaches are fraught with difficulties, however, and may also bring their adherents into conflict with the law.

The result is that Arab non-believers face two separate but related struggles. One is their dispute with religion itself; the other is with societies and governments that refuse to  recognise their disbelief. This broader struggle for personal rights – freedom of thought, freedom of expression, freedom of conscience, and so on – is one that they share with millions of religious Arabs too, especially religious minorities. Anyone who does not conform to whatever happens to be the local religious orthodoxy is liable to fall victim to blasphemy and apostasy laws or sectarian prejudices. The irony of this is that while believers and non-believers are on opposite sides where religious ideas are concerned they may also find themselves on the same side in the struggle for freedom of belief. A substantial part of the discussion in this book is therefore concerned with broader questions of religious liberty which affect believers and non-believers alike.

Nevertheless, minority religious beliefs tend to be more accepted than atheism. There is some recognition of religious diversity, at least among the monotheistic faiths, even if prejudice and discrimination persist. Outright disbelief in God, on the other hand, tends to be greeted with general abhorrence. In lands where religion holds sway, the treatment of non-believers thus becomes the ultimate test: when an atheist can be accepted and respected as a normal human being, liberty will truly have arrived.

Continue reading >>>

Arabs Without God is available in paperback from Amazon (US) or Amazon (UK). It is also available in Arabic (online, free of charge) and in Italian under the title Arabi Senza Dio.