IT MADE SENSE IN PUTIN'S RUSSIAN

Russian foreign minister makes bizarre comments comparing Ukraine to Palestine

to 'calm people down'

Kremlin Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made strange comments in a video posted online last week saying 'if you 'cannot sleep' because of the Russian conflict...Imagine Ukraine is Palestine, imagine Russia is the United States'.

«если вам не спится из-за конфликта с Россией… Представьте, что Украина — это Палестина, а Россия — это Соединенные Штаты».

«yesli vam ne spitsya iz-za konflikta s Rossiyey… Predstav'te, chto Ukraina — eto Palestina, a Rossiya — eto Soyedinennyye Shtaty».

NOPE GUESS NOT

Sergei Lavrov recently said Hitler had Jewish blood, causing a geopolitical storm in which Putin was forced to apologise to Israel [source: Getty]


Russia’s Foreign Minister made bizarre comments shared on social media last week saying that if people are losing sleep over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, they could compare Ukraine to Palestine.

Sergei Lavrov, one of President Vladimir Putin's closest allies, said he saw advice on Telegram from the Middle East claiming that to "calm down" amid the conflict, you can imagine the war is happening in Africa or the Middle East.

"Imagine Ukraine is Palestine, imagine Russia is the United States," he said in a video which has now been watched more than 80,000 times.

The confusing remarks, shared by the Russian Mission in Geneva on Twitter, were made in response to what Lavrov called “hysteria” from the United States, and other Ukrainian allies.

"When the United States declares that there is a threat to the United States 10,000 kilometres from the border of the United States, some people were grumbling, some were expressing their concern, but there was no hysteria like the one we witness today," said Lavrov. The video was shared on May 11, but it is unclear what day it was filmed, reported to Newsweek.

"You know, there was one interesting message I saw in Telegram from the Middle East. They say if you 'cannot sleep' because of the Russian conflict, there are some advices to calm you down,” said Lavrov.

“First, imagine this is happening in Africa. Imagine this is happening in the Middle East. Imagine Ukraine is Palestine, imagine Russia is the United States."

One user, who replied to the Embassy's post in Russian, said: “Don’t compare apples to oranges, and don’t think the EU is naive.”

Lavrov caused a geopolitical storm recently after he said Hitler had Jewish blood when asked why Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky could, as Russia claims, oversee a “Nazi” regime.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid condemned the comment as “unforgivable”.

Putin was forced to make a rare public apology over the remarks.

Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a "special military operation", over two months ago. Thousands of people have been killed and millions forced to flee their homes in the conflict.

The Kremlin has launching a robust disinformation campaign to shield Russians from the realities of unprovoked attacks and alleged war crimes in Ukraine.

Daughter: Pakistani police arrested former rights minister

Pakistan's former human rights minister was arrested Saturday in Islamabad allegedly over a decades-old land grabbing allegation


Mazari served in the ministerial position under former prime minister Imran Khan [Getty]

The New Arab Staff & Agencies
21 May, 2022

Pakistan's former human rights minister was arrested Saturday in the capital over a decades-old land grabbing allegation, her daughter and another former minister said.

Shireen Mazari, who served in the Cabinet-level position under former Prime Minister Imran Khan, was detained by police near her Islamabad home, daughter Imaan Mazari said in a tweet.

She said "male police have beaten and taken my mother away and I have been told that anti corruption wing of Lahore has arrested her."

Footage on local Geo TV showed female police officers detaining Mazari. There was no immediate comment from Pakistani police.

Fawad Chaudhry, former information minister in Khan's administration, said on Geo TV that Mazari was manhandled during the arrest by anti-corruption police. He alleged the senior leader in Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party had been politically targeted by the new administration of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif under the guise of a land dispute allegation dating back to 1972.

Mazari has been critical of Sharif's government in tweets since Khan's government was toppled in a no-confidence vote in parliament last month. Khan is mobilising supporters through public rallies across the country to pressure the government into an early election.

Muthaffar al-Nawab, Iraqi revolutionary poet, dies at 88

Political divides followed the polemic writer in death as in life, as mourners and protesters ejected Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi from al-Nawab's funeral procession on Saturday.

The poet's funeral took place after his body was repatriated from Dubai, before being buried in Najjaf [Getty]

The New Arab Staff
21 May, 2022

Iraqi revolutionary poet Muthaffar al-Nawab passed away on Friday in the United Arab Emirates, at the age of 88.

The elderly writer had been suffering with chronic illnesses, and had stopped publishing poetry for many years.

Al-Nawab, who was once handed a death sentence for writing highly critical verses against the Baathist regime, is a household name throughout Iraq.

While in prison al-Nawab reportedly dug his way to freedom and lived in exile across the Arab world for over 40 years, writing poetry condemning the tyranny of dictators throughout the region.

The poet also pioneered writing verse in Iraqi dialect, reaching further into the Iraqi public consciousness than many of his contemporaries.

His funeral took place on Saturday as thousands of mourners gathered in central Baghdad to receive his body.

During the procession Iraqi prime minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, who was attending the funeral was ejected after paying his respects as mourners shouted “corrupt, corrupt” and other anti-regime slogans.

Videos circulating on social media show al-Kadhimi being surrounded by security personnel as mourners become aware of his presence and start chanting in unison “Muthaffar is for the people, not for the thieves!”

The prime minister is then seen being escorted through the crowd and whisked into his motorcade, which drives away at pace.

Al-Kadhimi, a former head of the Iraqi intelligence service, had previously tweeted a picture of him standing beside the beloved poet with the caption “Iraq, whose name you have sung wherever you went, is filled with sadness as it bids you farewell to your final resting place.”

An anonymous social media activist tweeted saying: “to those who called for respect of the funeral rites, I call for respect of the poet Muthaffar al-Nawab himself… it’s he who expelled the corrupt politicians from his own funeral.”

Al-Nawab’s body will be buried in Najaf, in the same grave as his mother, at the poet’s request.

Iraq's communist poet Muzaffar al-Nawab dies in Emirati hospital

Muzaffar al-Nawab died on Friday in an Emirati hospital after a long battle against illness, according to Iraqi authorities.  

The poet died on Friday in an Emirati hospital [Getty]

The New Arab Staff & Agencies
20 May, 2022

Iraq's renowned communist poet Muzaffar al-Nawab, who faced jail time and exile in the 1960s, died Friday in an Emirati hospital aged 88, Iraqi authorities announced.

The culture ministry said he died after a long battle against illness, without giving details.

"He lives on in the spirit of all those who sing his immortal poems," President Barham Saleh tweeted.

Born in 1934 into a prominent Baghdad family, Nawab was renowned for his poems filled with revolutionary fervour, a commitment to the communist cause and criticism of Arab dictatorships.

His stands led to spells in prison, as well as periods of exile in Iran, Damascus, Beirut and European capitals.

Nawab is credited with having integrated colloquial Iraqi Arabic into his works.

He last visited Iraq in 2011, when he was received in grand pomp by the presidency. Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi called Friday for his body to be repatriated by ministerial aircraft.

The poems of Nawab, who was unmarried and had no children, were often evoked during the autumn 2019 wave of youth-led anti-corruption protests that swept Iraq.

"Why did Muzaffar al-Nawab die in the Emirates?... Because you've governed Iraq for 19 years, because Baghdad hospitals do not treat patients, because the country is not livable," Iraqi journalist Omar al-Janabi tweeted.

Sudan forces arrests Communist Party figures amid anti-coup protests

Sudanese security forces have arrested two leading members of the Community Party- who are both anti-coup figures- during protests against the country's military takeover.

Sudanese forces arrested Mohammed Mukhtar Al-Khatib, a leading figure of the Communist Party, on Thursday [Getty]

The New Arab Staff & Agencies
19 May, 2022

Sudanese security forces arrested leading anti-coup figures on Thursday, their party said, during protests by thousands against last year's military takeover.

"Security forces raided the house of the political secretary of the Sudanese Communist Party Mohammed Mukhtar Al-Khatib," the party said in a statement.

Another leading party member was also arrested at Khartoum airport, and the two men were taken to an "unknown location," the party said.

The arrests came despite a pledge by coup leader General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan to free political detainees to set the stage for talks among Sudanese factions.

Last month, authorities released several anti-coup civilian leaders arrested in a crackdown.

The Communist Party members were detained following a trip to Juba, South Sudan where they met with rebel leader Abdel Wahid Nour who has refused to sign a landmark 2020 peace deal with the Sudanese government, according to the party statement.

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They also visited rebel-held areas in South Kordofan controlled by Abdelaziz Al-Hilu, who also abstained from the 2020 deal, it said.

Thousands of protesters on Thursday took to the streets, mainly in Khartoum but also elsewhere, to again call for civilian rule in the latest rally against the October coup led by Burhan, according to AFP correspondents.

The pro-democracy Central Committee of Sudan Doctors said security forces fired tear gas "in large quantities" to quell the protests.

Regular mass demonstrations have rocked Sudan since the coup which derailed a fragile political transition set in motion after the 2019 ouster of longtime autocrat Omar Al-Bashir.

Demonstrations have been met by a violent crackdown which has so far killed at least 95 protesters and wounded hundreds of others, according to medics.

The United Nations, along with the African Union and regional bloc IGAD, have been pushing to facilitate Sudanese-led talks to resolve the crisis after the northeast African country's latest coup.

UN special representative Volker Perthes in late March said the country was heading towards "an economic and security collapse" unless its civilian-led transition was restored.

Burhan threatened to expel Perthes for alleged "interference" in the country's affairs.

Satanic Temple asks Boston to fly flag for Satanic Appreciation Week after US Supreme Court ruling

The Satanic Temple describes itself as a promoter of benevolence and empathy among people rejecting tyrannical authority.

It comes after a US Supreme Court ruling this week on a flag case concerning a Christian group 

Offbeat
The New Arab Staff & Agencies
05 May, 2022

The Satanic Temple has asked to fly its flag over Boston City Hall after the US Supreme Court this week ruled that the city violated a Christian group's constitutional free speech rights by refusing to raise a flag bearing the image of a cross.

The Salem, Massachusetts-based Satanic Temple following the ruling posted a request filed on Tuesday with the city's property department asking to have its flag raised for "Satanic Appreciation Week" from 23 to 29 July.

The city had operated a programme that let private groups use the flagpole while holding events in the plaza below.

It suspended the programme last October amid the litigation to ensure that the city could not be compelled to "publicize messages antithetical to its own" and has said it is re-evaluating the program.

Asked about the Satanic Temple's request, a spokesperson for Mayor Michelle Wu's office noted the programme's suspension and said the city was reviewing the high court's Monday decision.

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The Satanic Temple, also known as the United Federation of Churches LLC, describes itself as a promoter of benevolence and empathy among people rejecting tyrannical authority.

The Supreme Court found that Boston's rejection of the Christian group Camp Constitution and its director Harold Shurtleff violated their right to freedom to speech under the US Constitution's First Amendment.

In turning down Camp Constitution, Boston had said that raising the cross flag could appear to violate another part of the First Amendment that bars governmental endorsement of a particular religion.

Boston has said that requiring it to open the flagpole to "all comers" could force it to raise flags promoting division or intolerance, such as a swastika or a terrorist group.

The Satanic Temple did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

(Reuters)

Thousands protest Turkish opposition politician's conviction

Thousands gathered for a rally in Istanbul to protest the conviction of leading Turkish opposition politician for insulting the president

Kaftancioglu heads CHP's Istanbul branch and is one of the strongest voices in it [Getty]

The New Arab Staff & Agencies
21 May, 2022

Thousands gathered for a rally in Istanbul on Saturday to protest the conviction of leading Turkish opposition politician Canan Kaftancioglu for insulting the president and the state.

Demonstrators in the central district of Maltepe chanted songs and waved the opposition and national flags.

Kaftancioglu, who was sentenced to just under five years in jail, heads Republican People's Party's (CHP) Istanbul branch and is one of the strongest voices in it.

In 2019, she played a significant role in municipal elections in the city that saw the CHP take over the mayoralty, which had been held by President Tayyip Erdogan's AK Party and its Islamist predecessors for the last 25 years.

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Turkey's judicial independence has been in the spotlight in recent years, notably since a crackdown on the judiciary and other state bodies after an abortive 2016 coup and a switch to an executive presidency last year.

The country's top court upheld three convictions in a ruling made public earlier this month, but reduced the prison term to four years, 11 months and 20 days.

Under Turkish law, sentences of under five years are suspended, and two legal experts told Reuters that Kaftancioglu would not be jailed.

(Reuters)

New journalism awards commemorate life and work of Shireen Abu Akleh

Efforts to commemorate the veteran reporter and support upcoming Arab journalists have gathered pace since Abu Akleh's death.

Outpourings of grief and anger across the MENA region have led to new initiatives in Abu Akleh's name [Getty]


The New Arab Staff
21 May, 2022

Moroccan organisation Bayt Mal al-Quds has launched a new journalism award commemorating the life and work of slain Palestinian reporter Shireen Abu Akleh.

The Bayt Mal Al Quds Agency is a funding initiative started by the King of Morocco, which claims a “mandate to protect Al-Quds and support its people in their steadfast dedication to their Holy City.”

The Marrakesh-based charity has a range of projects in Jerusalem.

The new award will be given to a Palestinian journalist this year, and will bear the name of Shireen Abu Akleh.

The awarding jury will consist of both Palestinian and Moroccan journalists and media experts, according to a statement from the organisation obtained by Turkish news agency Anadolu.

The award is not the first to be named after Abu Akleh in recent days, after Birzeit University launched an annual “Shireen Abu Akleh for Media Excellence” award last week.

Both the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate and the Tunis-based Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organisation have also launched commemorative awards in honour of the slain Palestinian journalist.

Fifty-one-year-old veteran Al Jazeera reporter and household name Shireen Abu Akleh was shot dead by Israeli troops as she covered a security raid in the occupied West Bank's Jenin refugee camp on 11 May.

Palestinian officials and witnesses, including journalists who were with her, say she was killed by army fire. The military, after initially accusing Palestinians of being responsible, later backtracked and now say that it's "very likely" that Abu Akleh was killed by Israeli gunfire.

Raise the Keffiyeh, the unofficial flag of Palestine

Diana Alghoul
11 May, 2022

A symbol of resistance or an emo kid's accessory in 2006? The Palestinian keffiyeh has a history that makes it a central part of Palestine's culture and must be preserved during and outside of World 

On Wednesday, Palestinians marked World Keffiyeh Day to celebrate one of the most prolific symbols of Palestine’s culture.

Wearing the black and white scarf is used as a marker of identity and a token of solidarity with the cause.

On the surface, it is an accessory that is loved by millions, but the connotations behind it are a lot deeper than what initially meets the eye.

"The Palestinian keffiyeh serves the same purpose in functionality and status, with it bringing an air of authority and presence, but it’s also a reminder that the Palestinian campaign for freedom is alive and here to stay"

As an item, the keffiyeh is used across the Arab world and has different uses. Its primary functional use is for protection from sun and sand and has different names and patterns and colours depending on the part of the Middle East and North Africa.

In Jordan, the keffiyeh also called a shemagh or a hatta, is red and white, which represents the colours of the Arabian deserts.

Saudi Arabia has the same pattern but it’s called a ghitra in their dialect. The Kuwaiti ghitra is white and supported with a black headband called an agal, whereas, in Oman, the scarf is called a masar and is worn as a turban. All are used as status symbols.

The Palestinian keffiyeh serves the same purpose in functionality and status, with it bringing an air of authority and presence, but it’s also a reminder that the Palestinian campaign for freedom is alive and here to stay.

It was originally worn by farmers, but political connotations of the keffiyeh began during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine when resistance fighters wore it over their faces to protect their identity from British soldiers.

Subsequently, the scarf became a symbol for “trouble makers” for the British, who would arrest Palestinians wearing them under suspicion. This solidified the keffiyeh a symbol of Palestinian resistance and was even banned by Israel between the years of 1967 and 1993, along with Palestine’s flag.

As resilient as they are, Palestinians ended up walking around with slices of watermelons because it naturally features the colours of the Palestinian flag – along with the colours of the keffiyeh

.

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The design of the scarf considers the minute detail of Palestine’s culture. The printing on the keffiyeh is said to have three symbols for Palestine. The bold lines symbolise Palestine’s trade because it was a hub for importing and exporting goods for the whole region.

The olive leaves represent a symbol of Palestinian culture and resistance and reliance on olives for the economy.

The fishnet pattern on the keffiyeh also represents Palestine’s famous fishing industry which is still a lifeline for the besieged Gaza Strip’s economy but is also a metaphor for the sea being an escape from Israeli occupation.

"Wearing a keffiyeh with pride, regardless of whether a person is Palestinian or not is another power move because it facilitates the local Palestinian economy and keeps Palestine on the radar"

For decades, Palestinians and Arabs have used the Palestinian keffiyeh as a marker of solidarity with the cause. People wore it around their heads and necks in various styles.

How a person wore it never really mattered, as long as they were wearing it and representing Palestine with pride. It was and is still used by Palestinians to protect themselves from Israeli teargas, especially in the occupied West Bank where they are subjected to such attacks the most.

Yasser Arafat, then-leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), famously lifted his keffiyeh off the top of his head to represent Al-Aqsa Mosque’s golden Dome of the Rock.

He often draped his keffiyeh off his right shoulder so it somewhat resembles a map of Palestine and famously addressed the United Nations General Assembly in 1974 in this fashion.

Ironically, critics of Arafat blame him for the demise of the sentiment of the keffiyeh because of the way it became mass-produced after he signed the Oslo Accords in 1993.

The keffiyeh is also commonly referenced in Palestinian music, with ‘ale al keffiyeh’, meaning ‘raise the keffiyeh’ by famous singer Mohammed Assaf being a song commonly played at weddings and is spun around during dabkeh – Palestine’s national dance.

Three cheers for sweet appropriation

The original Palestinian keffiyeh is made of a sturdy cotton material that is meant to withstand environmental or wear-and-tear distress. There is only one factory in the whole of Palestine that produces the original keffiyeh which is the occupied West Bank city of Hebron.

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Nowadays, the majority of keffiyehs in the market are mass-produced with flimsy material and no attention to its cultural significance or meaning.

Fashion designers and fast-fashion retailers have also taken to the keffiyeh as a quirky pattern to be mindlessly mass-produced.

Activists say this saturates the meaning of the scarf, which is often regarded as Palestine’s second or unofficial flag and takes on a dangerous form of cultural appropriation.

"The keffiyeh has a special place in every Palestinian’s heart and outrage for these mimics is often very well justified considering the scarf was once a reason Palestinian civilians got arrested for wearing it not long ago"

In the 2000s, the keffiyeh was sold everywhere as a “dessert scarf”, “Arab scarf”, or even an “emo scarf” when it blew up in the emo fashion scene with black skinny jeans, heavy eyeliner and an overly straightened fringe that covered half of the face.

Sometimes it was paired with a Hello Kitty t-shirt and the style featured everywhere on MySpace profile photos that were taken from a high angle with a “Rawr xD” watermark done on Microsoft Word.

They were found in the traditional red and black, but also pink, blue, green, and any colour imaginable. The traditional pattern was replaced with stars, hearts, and skulls and sometimes you were able to find them with shimmery threads at a more premium price.

Palestine's supporters lift national flags and traditional keffiyeh scarves ahead of the FIFA Arab Cup 2021 group C football match between Palestine and Saudi Arabia 

[Getty Images]

No longer was the keffiyeh associated with Palestinian culture in the mainstream, rather it was reclaimed by the “non-conforming as can be” emos who dressed exactly like their fellow non-conforming friends blasting out the exact same My Chemical Romance’s infamous Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge album.

This is when the keffiyeh became less of a political symbol and more of a teenage annoyance. Arab mothers would laugh in awe at the way things changed in comparison to the connotations the keffiyeh had in the 1990s in the West and a lot of their teenage sons and daughters complied with the trend without giving politics much thought.

In some ways, appropriation took a more sinister turn. In 2010, Palestinians were outraged at the “Israeli keffiyeh”, which was designed in white and blue in tribute to the colour of the flag of Israel and featured the Star of David.

At the time, Palestinian Authority Minister of Culture Siham Barghouthi condemned the move as disrespectful to Palestine by replacing Palestinian nationalist symbols with “Zionist symbols.”

The scarf has also been ripped off by brands such as Topshop which in 2017 released a keffiyeh playsuit and luxury brands such as Fendi and Louis Vuitton who replaced the Palestinian symbols with their own logo.

A Louis Vuitton “keffiyeh” which was released last year caused exceptional outrage because it was designed in monogram blue, with much resemblance to the Israeli version.

The keffiyeh has a special place in every Palestinian’s heart and outrage for these mimics is often very well justified considering the scarf was once a reason Palestinian civilians got arrested for wearing it not long ago.

Expressing nationalist pride makes way for being targets of racist attacks which can at points turn violent.

With only one more keffiyeh factory left and with Palestinian culture being constantly threatened, it is more important than ever to preserve the meaning of the scarf in the face of mass production and cultural appropriation and erasure.

Luckily, there is a way forward and it involves activism through positive reinforcement.

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Buying authentic keffiyehs will serve more of a purpose than condemning emo culture of 2006.

Wearing a keffiyeh with pride, regardless of whether a person is Palestinian or not is another power move because it facilitates the local Palestinian economy and keeps Palestine on the radar.

Palestinian or not, World Keffiyeh Day or not, this accessory is more than just a scarf. Wear it with love for the culture and pride to be an active supporter of one of the justest causes in the entire world.

Diana Alghoul is a journalist at The New Arab and a spiritual blogger.

Follow her on Twitter: @yinfinitewrites and Instagram: @yinfinitewrites

Remembering Siah Armajani, the late Iranian architect who made America beautiful again

Kourosh Ziabari
12 May, 2022

An understated giant of midwestern architecture, Iranian-born Siah Armajani has cemented his place in the design history of the United States. Profiling his achievements over a 60-year career, The New Arab looks back on his life and his legacy.

Many residents of Minneapolis, Minnesota, cross over the Irene Hixon Whitney Bridge every day or move past it.

It offers a unique vantage point to the well-liked Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, epitomised by the iconic $500,000 Spoonbridge and Cherry sculptural design.

Most of the locals recognise Whitney, a Twin Cities philanthropist and civic leader who was married to the 1980 Independent-Republican gubernatorial candidate Wheelock Whitney and passed away in 1986.


"Siah Armajani is reputed to have kept a relatively low profile during his career, but that doesn’t mean his work was not noticed or did not earn plaudits"

But to many Minnesota denizens and visitors of the Garden who happen to walk over the bridge spanning an interstate highway, or at least catch a glimpse of it from afar, the story behind the structure is almost undisclosed, unless one is deeply involved with arts and history.

The passers-by appraise it as a commendable artefact boasting aesthetic perfections, but few of them are familiar with its designer, the late Siah Armajani, one of the countless Iranian artists who have chosen the United States as their home and worked to give a facelift to their quarters.

Siah ‘Siavash’ Armajani was an Iranian-American artist and architect who lived most of his life in Minneapolis and died in 2020 at the age of 81 because of heart failure.

He was born in 1939 in Tehran when Reza Shah Pahlavi, the first monarch of the House of Pahlavi was in power. When the throne was passed to his son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, it was the fear of persecution by an undemocratic leader, whose grip on power was consolidated after the 1953 coup co-engineered by the United States and Britain, that compelled the young Siavash to bid farewell to a motherland he cherished and embark on a new journey.

Siah Armajani's: 'Bridge Over Tree' is displayed at Brooklyn Bridge Park. The Iranian-born artist's installation features a 91-foot-long walkway with a set of stairs that rise and fall over a single evergreen tree [Getty Images]

A Christian by upbringing, he was engrossed by Islamic arts and his artistic productions as a teenager included collages denouncing the coup, and critiquing, in a subtle and low-intensity mode, the authoritarian regime helmed by the shah, which could leave him in a vulnerable position and most probably see his liberty compromised.

In 1960, he relocated to the States, and enrolled at the St. Paul-based Macalester College, a premium liberal arts school of higher education, whose most noted alumnus is probably the former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

An inimitably prolific artist, the harvest of his six-decade career can be spotted all around the United States: from the Bridge Over Tree in Brooklyn Bridge Park, New York City, to the cauldron for the centennial edition of the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and the exquisite Glass Bridge for Nashville pledged to the Cheekwood botanical garden.

A total of 38 artworks by Armajani are kept by the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the most monumental of which is Fallujah.

Fallujah by Siah Armajani [courtesy of the Met Museum]

Named after the Iraqi city of Fallujah – which was besieged during the US invasion of Iraq and witnessed the bloodiest chapter of the war when 82 US troops, six Iraqi troops and nearly 2,000 “insurgents” were killed after the Second Battle of Fallujah broke out – the model is a courageous expression of dissent against the US militarism.

Some arts connoisseurs assert it is evocative of the 1937 oil painting Guernica by the Spanish legendary artist Pablo Picasso, created to challenge Hitler’s callousness after his aerial bombing of the village of Guernica in the Basque County during the Spanish Civil War.

An emigre fascinated by the vision of American democracy, there are frequent references to the works and quotations of pro-democracy intellectuals Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, Emma Goldman and John Dewey in Armajani’s constructions.

Yet, the invasion of Iraq was a moment of rupture and disillusionment, not only for him, but for many of those who were convinced the United States would be the first to practice what it preaches and stand up for the rule of law and accountability, and were proven wrong.



The radicalising effect of that military campaign was what gave birth to Fallujah, and from that point onward, Armajani embraced a new artistic trajectory.

He announced that he would no longer create habitable forms but would start enclosing, or rather caging them, in glass; an encirclement that mirrored his suppressed frustration with how the American democracy had failed its devotees.

Frank Jossi, a journalist in St. Paul and contributor to Midwest Energy News who also studies culture and history in Minnesota believes Armajani has been able to carve a name for himself as one of America’s finest sculptors: “I can say Armajani is thought-provoking, drawing you into his pieces not with a sledgehammer but instead through the enthralling beauty of work that slyly invites to enjoy the view before delivering an uncomfortable understanding of the world.”

"Siah Armajani was a Midwestern who stayed, and an Iranian who exercised his talent in a country that would appreciate it, in a region that would celebrate it. And oddly enough, his recognition was far above many of his contemporaries who exercised their ambitions on the coasts"

Armajani belongs to a generation of Iranian immigrants whose transition to the United States didn’t coincide with the insolvency in bilateral relations that is playing out today.

Before 1979, Iran and the United States were stalwart allies. President Jimmy Carter famously referred to Iran as “an island of stability in one of the more troubled areas of the world” at a 1977 state dinner in Tehran.

But however unlikely it seemed at the outset, the Islamic Revolution plunged the erstwhile genial bilateral ties into an apparently irreversible blackout from which the two countries haven’t recovered yet, and tensions have even metastasized over time.

All the same, Iranian immigrants, mostly questing for their “American dream,” kept flowing in post-1979, and many of them went on to become leading authorities in sciences, academia, arts, culture, media and politics.

The absence of diplomatic ties means even getting to the US soil is a daunting task for people of Iranian origin holding a tenuous passport. Against the odds, many of them have surmounted the adversities, worked hard and made contributions that are appreciated by the broader public.The United States, carrying the accolade of the land of opportunity, empowers almost anyone who aspires to succeed to find their right place and make headway. For Iranians, however, things are slightly different.

From the uniquely witty stand-up comedian Maz Jobrani to the Crystal Award-winning visual artist Shirin Neshat and the Primetime Emmy Award-winning star of the House of Sand and Fog Shohreh Aghdashloo, household names in arts and culture hailing from the community of Iranian-Americans are not scarce.

Siah Armajani is reputed to have kept a relatively low profile during his career, but that doesn’t mean his work was not noticed or did not earn plaudits.

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In March 1990, The New Yorker did a profile of him, and he took his installations to national and international exhibitions, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Storm King Art Center to Nelson Atkins Museum of Arts and Museo Reina Sofia.

“I think his work is celebrated because he was an immigrant who came not to the art capital of the country, New York, but instead to Minneapolis, an arts-rich metropolis a long way from the coasts. He made his life in the Twin Cities as other artists decamped to California and New York, the nation’s two art centres, to seek fame,” Jossi said.

“In that sense, he was a Midwestern who stayed, and an Iranian who exercised his talent in a country that would appreciate it, in a region that would celebrate it. And oddly enough, his recognition was far above many of his contemporaries who exercised their ambitions on the coasts,” he told The New Arab.

Kourosh Ziabari is an award-winning Iranian journalist and reporter. He is the Iran correspondent of Fair Observer and Asia Times. He is the recipient of a Chevening Award from the UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office and an American Middle Eastern Network for Dialogue at Stanford Fellowship.

Follow him on Twitter @KZiabari

Nazir Afzal: The UK's national expert on violence against women and girls who will never stop fighting for their rights

Interviews11 min read
Sophia Akram
06 May, 2022

The New Arab Meets: Nazir Afzal, whose tireless work as both a public prosecutor and a prominent activist against gender-based violence has been invaluable in helping shed light on the depth and breadth of the problem in the UK and beyond.

Hear the town Rochdale mentioned and many will relate it to one of the most notorious child grooming cases in the UK, involving mostly British Pakistani men as the perpetrators.

As difficult as it is to stomach the details that emerged of the abuse of the 47 underage victims in the case, it is also difficult to overlook how the authorities ignored them with fears of racism – causing hesitancy and dismissals that the main accuser was unbelievable. Nazir Afzal OBE believed her, though.

When he overturned the Crown Prosecution Service's (CPS) previous decision not to prosecute the accused men as the then Northwest Chief Crown Prosecutor in 2011, all of the nine men charged were eventually convicted. It also arguably changed how child sexual exploitation was viewed in the UK.

"Nazir Afzal was one of the first prosecutors to look at honour-based violence crimes and notably tackled forced marriages after being the youngest person, at 38, and the first Muslim, appointed as assistant chief crown prosecutor for London in 2001"

Nazir Afzal faced visceral criticism from within the community and outside it for his efforts but in truth, it hadn't been the first time and may well not be the last.

Before Rochdale, Nazir was one of the first prosecutors to look at honour-based violence crimes and notably tackled forced marriages after being the youngest person, at 38, and the first Muslim, appointed as an assistant chief crown prosecutor for London in 2001.

Now retired from the CPS, he acts as the Welsh Government's national adviser on violence against women and takes on any challenge where he can continue his mission.

Nazir Afzal spoke to The New Arab about his work and reflections on tackling violence against women and girls and what else he has on the horizon.

You're most known for your work on violence against women and girls, particularly impacting minority communities that you started focusing on in the early 2000s. Were there particular influences or turning points in your early career that set you on your current path?

Nazir Afzal: My upbringing was in Birmingham, a very inner city, with no role models – there were no people of colour in any positions of responsibility.

There was an enormous amount of racism back then and I was assaulted and spat at on more occasions than I care to think about. All of that had a part to play in the journey I took. I worked doing defence work for a year or two and then realised it wasn't for me and moved on to prosecuting.

It was a time when we didn't have key performance indicators, so you could just get on with it. I'd go to court and do cases way above my pay grade too, making and learning from mistakes and I was very fortunate to be doing that in central London’s most important courts, dealing with the most severe and serious cases.

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Early on, I realised I needed to plug the gap between what the public wanted and what a prosecutor should do. The government, when they created the whole concept of an independent Prosecution Service, were very deliberate about calling it the Crown Prosecution Service, rather than the Public Prosecution Service because they wanted people to realise that they're not really for the public – I think that was a terrible mistake.

I decided I wanted to get as close to what the public wanted and what their priorities were. I became the first contact for the National Paedophile Unit in Scotland Yard – it was cutting edge work.

I had my own little children at home and was looking at cases involving the most terrible abuse. I remember one particular actually, where I was dealing with a case of two parents that had been sexually abusing their own children – the mother had video recorded the father raping an 18-month-old baby.

Preparing this case, I realised that actually, my job is no job. It's a mission. I can't simply switch off at five o'clock or 10 o'clock. It is a 24-hour-a-day, seven-days-a-week existence.

"Honour-based abuse and forced marriage were some of the issues that hadn't been registered as a subject. I organised what I thought then was the first conference in this country on forced marriage (actually, the first in the world), ensuring there was a platform for survivors"

There were so many crimes that were happening in plain sight not generating any public awareness. The media wasn't covering them, the state wasn't very good at dealing with them and so I chose that as my path.

In 2001, I became the first Muslim chief prosecutor in this country, which was a bold move for my employer, after 9/11 when every Muslim in the whole world was demonised. I respect them for doing that. It gave me the privilege to think about those areas we weren't doing very well. And so I reached out to NGOs and survivors and asked them and since then the door has never been closed.

Honour-based abuse and forced marriage were some of the issues that hadn't been registered as a subject. I organised what I thought then was the first conference in this country on forced marriage (actually, the first in the world), ensuring there was a platform for survivors.

With the court, there was a lack of understanding of the threat victims faced – that if we, as agencies, don't respond quickly, we're raising the level of risk. Whereas on most occasions going to the police makes you feel safer, as a victim of honour-based abuse, once you go to the police you feel less safe. So, it was how to deal with that lack of cultural understanding.

With every new endeavour or path, there will be challenges, what was yours when challenging these through the courts and from the community?

The broader community generally were really supportive – women's groups and NGOs were particularly excited these cases were going on our register and we were addressing them seriously – but the men weren't so supportive.

I remember doing a talk to about 300 men in a northern city and mentioned one in four women in this country suffer domestic abuse and asked 'who can be one in four of you that abuse your wives and daughters and sisters, please stand up,' and it caused a kerfuffle in the room. The point is, that people were just in denial that it was somebody else outside the room, rather than them.

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I did another talk where there was booing and hissing coming from the local councillors while the vast majority of people in the audience were receptive and understood the challenges. The exception from the leaders of that community was because they said that I was giving the far-right ammunition to attack their culture.

My response to that was that we should be dealing with the issues that affect our culture. The reason why the far right was utilising this ammunition was that we hadn't dealt with these issues. It's a catch 22.

NGOs were desperate for me to speak up as frequently as possible because they realised that the men in the room were more likely to listen to a man than the survivors. That remains a challenge.

"This is not an issue of women's safety. It's an issue of male violence. That means men need to address what it is that causes them to do what they do. I'm still disappointed in most men that I come across, that whilst they publicly or privately say how horrified they are about things that are happening, they won't stand up and do something about it"

Are there more male role models now? What advice would you give them if so, to navigate the hate?

It hurts me. Don't get me wrong. I have had to have additional security for my house and have had it at both ends: being on an al-Qaeda hit list while getting it from the far right.

The more general point is where your resilience comes from. For me, it comes from my parents. They lived through the partition, lost family members and have been touched by tragedy most of their lives. No doubt, that played a significant part in giving me resilience.

But the broader question you asked about – where are the male allies? I can name them on the fingers of one hand; even today, in 2022. They're still so few. There are many who are supportive and have publicly said that they recognise the need to challenge these behaviours but won't do anything more. I tried to organise a Million Man March in 2016 against violence against women and girls and I got 52 signups.

This is not an issue of women's safety. It's an issue of male violence. That means men need to address what it is that causes them to do what they do. I'm still disappointed in most men that I come across, that whilst they publicly or privately say how horrified they are about things that are happening, they won't stand up and do something about it.

Women are seen shouting slogans during the Million Women Rise March in London [Getty Images]

Are there any cases in your career you think have changed the landscape of gender-based violence?

According to the US State Department, I prosecuted more honour-based violence cases than anybody in the world and the best part of 100 or so during my career and every single one ultimately changed the law in this country.

Every institution now has national guidelines on tackling honour-based abuse and forced marriage. All of that flowed from the casework that I did.

I prosecuted the grooming gangs but that led to more high-profile child sexual abuse cases involving very famous white people being prosecuted – I led on those nationally. So, we changed the landscape of child protection, we changed the landscape of how child sexual abuse was viewed and what needs to be done to improve that.

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What about Rochdale? Can you reflect on how that might have changed things?

Before my involvement, nobody prosecuted these men. Nobody wanted to prosecute these men because they'd reached a view that these girls were somehow too troubled, chaotic and unbelievable. I believed them.

I figured, well, if I believe them, why can't a jury believe them. So, I put in place bespoke support for the victims. I reversed the original decision not to prosecute.

We managed to get those men over the line and convict them. Then, on the back of one case, I was suddenly the world's expert. The ethnicity of the men was an issue. But it wasn't the issue. The issue was that there is a sizeable chunk of people in this country and very young women and young boys for that matter, who are just not listened to, believed or being heard.

[Flowing from the case], we put in place national guidelines for every police force. I went up and down the country explaining what would happen differently and chaired a national panel with Keir Starmer where we invited every agency to send in the cases they were concerned about and we re-investigated and prosecuted them again.

We admitted when we got things wrong. We went from being really rubbish to having the highest conviction rates for child sexual abuse. If you think of all the high-profile white celebrity cases...Jimmy Saville... that came after. Rochdale changed the landscape in this respect.


"We've talked recently about the police and the misogyny that exists within the police service. There are great police officers but there are so many criminals in the police service and they now have a warrant card, which makes them even more dangerous"

What emerging issues are you concerned about?

My concerns are that we've become complacent when the amount of crime particularly against women is going up and not going down.

We've talked recently about the police and the misogyny that exists within the police service. There are great police officers but there are so many criminals in the police service and they now have a warrant cards, which makes them even more dangerous. It's every community and every place so I'm really concerned that we're focused just on London.

I think the international nature of crime means that your abusers can be from abroad. So trafficking is a massive problem. The moment the Ukrainian war started, the first plane that landed there would have been sex traffickers. And that's true of every crisis, whether it's an earthquake, flood, or anywhere in the world. We don't seem to talk about it enough but it is rampant.

With you being on the receiving end of community criticism, whether it's giving the far-right ammunition or for your view on the government Prevent programme, do you think that there is a more nuanced starting point for these issues to gain buy-in?

Absolutely. The greatest number of victims of terrorism are Muslims. My family come from northern Pakistan and there are 150 children that were murdered in a school by the Taliban.

We are the greatest victims of terrorism. And so, it's in our interest to weed out extremists and radicals, and those who would wish us harm shouldn't be just left to British authorities.

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You have a documentary about Prevent on Channel 4. What else is next for you?

My second book comes out with HarperCollins in the autumn called the Race to the Top. It's about racism experienced by senior leaders in British society. I've interviewed people like Sadiq Khan and many others across British sectors, including publishing, health, education, politics and religion, about their experiences of racism. It sets out some thoughts about how we can tackle structural racism in our country.

In the summer, I'll be doing book festivals.

My current other roles are as the chair of the Catholic Church's safeguarding agency, chair of the London fire brigades review of culture and chair of the further education college Hopwood Hall. I am also a patron of various charities, all of them women-led, all of them working for vulnerable victims.

So, I'm extraordinarily busy but I will carry on and maintain all of these activities and hope to make a difference.

I've always believed you make a difference by doing things differently. And I'm not going to rest on my laurels.

Sophia Akram is a researcher and communications professional with a special interest in human rights, particularly across the Middle East.

Follow her on Twitter: @mssophiaakram