Adopt villages, not pet children
By Bashir Goth

Just as the Europeans justified the scramble for Africa in the19th century and the slave trade before it that it was the white man’s burden to civilise the “Half-devil and half-child,” the celebrities of today justify their child poaching for being in the name of philanthropy and altruism, saving poor children from the heart of darkness and bringing them to the world of light. Anyone who thinks my argument to be unfair or hostile, may convince me how could a person go to an orphanage in a foreign poor country, ask the children to be paraded for them, pick up “a lucky” one, pay cash and get away with their prey.

Adoption by itself is a genuine human need and a noble action that gives a child to a childless person and a good home, comfort and a future to an orphan or poverty stricken child. Needy children however are everywhere; they are in America as they are in Africa and Asia. But why do the celebrities not adopt American children instead of going overseas to adopt African or Asian children. The answer is that there are no children for sale in America. Anyone who wants to adopt goes through years of gruelling procedure to qualify for child adoption. Over there, children are human beings and cannot be bought as toys, playmates or pets for celebrities’ children. But in Africa people are still sold in exchange for beads, tobacco and petty cash. And as a Malawian journalist said: “We are showing to the world that our poverty has extended to the brain.” Read more on Khaleej Times

Adopt villages, not pet children
By Bashir Goth

Just as the Europeans justified the scramble for Africa in the19th century and the slave trade before it that it was the white man’s burden to civilise the “Half-devil and half-child,” the celebrities of today justify their child poaching for being in the name of philanthropy and altruism, saving poor children from the heart of darkness and bringing them to the world of light. Anyone who thinks my argument to be unfair or hostile, may convince me how could a person go to an orphanage in a foreign poor country, ask the children to be paraded for them, pick up “a lucky” one, pay cash and get away with their prey.

Adoption by itself is a genuine human need and a noble action that gives a child to a childless person and a good home, comfort and a future to an orphan or poverty stricken child. Needy children however are everywhere; they are in America as they are in Africa and Asia. But why do the celebrities not adopt American children instead of going overseas to adopt African or Asian children. The answer is that there are no children for sale in America. Anyone who wants to adopt goes through years of gruelling procedure to qualify for child adoption. Over there, children are human beings and cannot be bought as toys, playmates or pets for celebrities’ children. But in Africa people are still sold in exchange for beads, tobacco and petty cash. And as a Malawian journalist said: “We are showing to the world that our poverty has extended to the brain.” Read more on Khaleej Times

Editorial: Newspaper burning immortalizes media defiance
Bashir Goth
True to the superstition of the day, Friday the 13th of October 2006 was a day of bad luck for Somaliland press freedom. On this day, mobs of people, led by religious fanatics assembled in a public square in the second Somaliland city of Buroa, and burned editions of Haatuf newspaper, Somaliland's leading paper. This was the first time in Somaliland's living memory that forces of darkness tried to kill enlightenment.

The newspaper burners also threatened that the paper 's offices will be their next target if it did not stop its critical reporting on Islamists. But what they did not say out loud is that it will be the reporters themselves that would be burning next time. They don't have to say it because we know they are capable of doing it. We have seen it in Iraq, in Sudan, in Pakistan, in Somalia and in other places.
READ MORE at Awdalnews Network

Editorial - Silencing the watchdog
By Bashir Goth
After banning music, concerts, cinemas, home videos, mixed gender singing in wedding ceremonies and even watching international sports on satellite television, the Islamist clerics in Mogadishu have now decided to deprive the Somali people of their last window of freedom, the free press.

In an attempt to create a supine media that applauds their onslaught on the freedoms of the people, the Wahhabist-oriented Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) have proposed draconian regulations aimed at purging the press of telling the truth. The war-weary and famine ravaged Somali people could not help but to turn a blind eye to the Islamists initial encroachments on their personal freedoms. Well, yes, singing is the nemesis of hunger in Africa, it alleys fear at times of war and entertains the hungry at times of famine, but the Somali people may have thought that relinquishing their right to sing might not be that disastrous if the Islamists were going to bring them real peace and real food. READ MORE On Awdalnews Network.

Sex is a Massive U.S. Industry
By Bashir Goth
Somalia/United Arab Emirates - Americans are not the only ones obsessed with sex and politics. Sex has forever been the bane and blessing of humankind. It is the cause of man's fall. Kingdoms have been turned to dust because of sex. There have been epic conflicts and thousands of ship launched for the sake of a woman. Both female and male sexual organs have been worshipped at times. Holy places often bear the structure of female reproductive organs or are decorated with representations of them. Great works of literature such as Shehrazade's Thousand Nights and the Kama Sutra have been woven around sexual escapades. READ MORE on Washington Post/Postglobal

Look Out For Shia-Sunni War
By Bashir Goth
Washington Post/Postglobal,4Oct. 2006=
Somalia/United Arab Emirates - Given the abhorrent sectarian strife in Iraq, one might envision federalism as the only reasonable way to stop the bloodshed and pinch down violence to its roots. But dividing the country into oil rich Shiite south and Kurdish north with a Sunni dominated waste land in the West and northwest will be a recipe for a more explosive situation. Oil will fuel a long struggle for survival.

One must also consider the ethnic and religious groups such as Assyrians, Turkmen, Armenians, Persians, Christians and Jews that could lose their identity and political rights within a federal Iraq.

The source of the current violence is unclear. It is hard to believe that citizens of the same country could commit such unprecedented crimes against each just in the name of revenge or in a power struggle. The only plausible explanation is that what is happening in Iraq is a war by proxy of neighboring regional powers. It is known that the rule of Iraq was in the hand of Sunni Arabs since the Umayyad dynasty. The Kurds had also their day in power through the Ayyubids whose rule extended from Iraq through the Levant countries to Egypt.
READ MORE Washington Post

Community Censorship Plagues the House of Islam
By Bashir Goth
Even worse than the official censorship is censorship imposed by the community, which then becomes self-censorship. Friends, colleagues and even ordinary acquaintances all impose strict censorship rules on me under the guise of being concerned about my personal safety or honor. They demand that I tone down my strong views about sensitive issues.

Freedom of the press in the Muslim world cannot be separated from freedom of expression in general. Journalists, due to their conspicuous public role, risk their lives everyday. They have been targeted and killed in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Palestine, Somalia, Sudan and other countries. The Muslim world is not a friendly place for freedom of speech at all.

Journalists, creative writers and artists all share the same fate. The writer in a Muslim society is in shackles. Every time I put pen to paper it is a struggle against the tyranny of community-imposed self-censorship. Nowhere is Rousseau's statement that "Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains," truer than in the House of Islam.
Read More Washingpost/Postglobal,
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tailrank and Censor Watch.