Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Yvonne Ridley
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The hijab is not the real issue in sanction-hit Iran
Ordinary people have risen up against the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran a few times since its inception more than 40 years ago. Historically, that is not unusual in the normal way of revolutions. Like earthquakes, there are always aftershocks and second waves, and to that extent Iran…
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Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi: A man for all seasons
Like millions of other Muslims, I was deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Dr Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi. He truly was one of the greatest of contemporary Islamic scholars whose life and work had a huge impact on us all in both the 20th and 21st centuries. As a…
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Western democracy is being destroyed to protect Israel
The past few days have seen an almost unprecedented attack on high-profile supporters of Palestine resulting in a concerted effort to silence some of Israel’s most vocal critics once and for all. While this blatant attack on free speech has been rolled out it has also served to divert attention…
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Britain is haunted by its violent colonial past
The British media want us to believe that the awful scenes of violence on the suburban streets of Leicester were triggered by a cricket match between India and Pakistan in Dubai last month. That narrative pushed by lazy journalists is much easier than confronting the real issues at play in…
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The state of modern Britain and its monarchy
I must apologise for the absence of my regular column for MEMO. This was largely due to a sense of overwhelming grief and loss throughout the just ended mourning period in Britain. However, please don’t think for one moment that I was grieving over the demise of Elizabeth II, although…
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Saudi Arabia’s power and global influence are wasted on one man
It takes just a few seconds to post a tweet, but for one woman in Saudi Arabia it has resulted in a 45-year prison sentence which has shocked ordinary citizens across the kingdom. Nourah Bint Saeed Al-Qahtani was convicted in the Saudi Specialised Criminal Court on charges of using the…
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We won’t be fooled again, say people of Pakistan
Politicians in Pakistan rise to power and fall from grace with alarming regularity, so much so that not a single prime minister has ever completed a full term in office. The one constant has been the genuine love and affection ordinary people have for the military. However, that could be…
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Who will stand up for women against the Saudi regime?
No doubt emboldened by US President Joe Biden’s recent visit and matey fist bump with Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, a Saudi judge has just handed out the longest ever prison sentence to a peace activist and women’s rights campaigner for posting a few critical tweets about the regime: an…
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Don’t judge the Taliban after just one year in charge
The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has been in existence for one year now, but change has been agonisingly slow; early promises on women’s rights are as yet unrealised; and the closure of schools for teenage girls continues to be a running sore for the international community. The country is in…
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Barclays Bank must be held to account over its support for apartheid Israel
We never seem to learn from history, even from the most recent events during our lifetime. Just today, for example, I had a feeling of déjà vu as a press release popped up in my email from the anti-poverty charity War on Want. The charity is launching a campaign urging…
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Israel’s killing of Palestinians in Nablus has triggered a backlash in British drone factories
I think most of us have heard of the chaos theory, commonly called the “butterfly effect”, which states that if one butterfly flaps its wings at just the right time in just the right place it can cause a hurricane thousands of miles away. I’m not sure how true it…
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American democracy has been turned into an illusion
These are troubling times for the men who claim to run the world’s greatest democracy. They have meddled so much in other countries’ democratic systems and undermined so many overseas elections that their treachery is beginning to backfire. I am talking about the United States of America, which has been…
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Before Israel alleges ‘anti-Semitism’ abroad, it should root out the plague at home
When Dr Deborah Lipstadt became America’s special anti-Semitism watchdog she decided to embark on an 11-day tour of the Middle East, making Saudi Arabia the first stop. As predicted, it wasn’t long before the US State Department’s anti-Semitism ambassador was confronted by an explosive episode of Jew-hatred. However, it wasn’t…
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The lonely Highland grave that links Scotland with Makkah
Rainswept and bleak, Gleann Fhiodhaig in the northwest Scottish Highlands couldn’t be more different from Jabal Ar-Rahmah, which shimmers in the baking heat and desert climes on the outskirts of Makkah, known to millions of Muslim pilgrims around the world as Mount Arafat. Despite the thousands of miles that sets…
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Journalists beware — telling the truth should carry a health warning
It was no real surprise when Delhi police officers arrested Indian journalist Mohammed Zubair after he outed the media chief of Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for making derogatory comments about Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). Sadly, today’s political climate has made the business of…
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Israel’s leading arms dealer is running scared
It must be rather humiliating when you claim to be a world leader in security and surveillance systems but have your own headquarters breached frequently by a disparate group of angry citizens armed with nothing more than red paint and innovative ideas about peaceful resistance to a brutal military occupation…
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The Prophet of Islam gives Muslim rulers a lesson on strength in unity
Many of the world’s Muslim rulers have come together in a powerful show of unity which could well bring the increasingly Islamophobic Indian government to its knees. There are many lessons to be learned from this. It may even bring an end to the genocidal tendencies within the world’s largest…
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Rogue state Israel is licensed to kill
Israel has become a law unto itself and unless the international community stands up to the rogue state it will continue to use the world as its own backyard in order to plot against and kill its enemies. This was made clear on Sunday when Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett…
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Imran Khan could be up against spies, lies and black propaganda in Pakistan
Millions of Pakistanis are being asked to converge on the capital Islamabad by charismatic ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan and his supporters who claim that he was removed from office in a dirty tricks campaign run by US intelligence agents because his policies were against America’s regional and global interests.…
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The Scottish government is silencing Palestinians
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is facing a backlash after a group of Palestinian academics criticised her decision to embrace the working definition of anti-Semitism prepared by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance because the definition clearly contradicts a hate crime review commissioned by her own government. The Holyrood government took…
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Israel must be held to account for Shireen’s murder
Like a worm on a fish hook, Tel Aviv is slithering and wriggling over the assassination of Palestinian journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh. Showing absolutely no shame, the Zionist State began spewing out lies and a false narrative the moment the iconic Al-Jazeera journalist hit the ground, taking her last breath.…
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This runaway Afghan general should push his own off button
I read with some incredulity that a former three-star general in the Afghan National Army is planning to launch a new war against the ruling Taliban eight months after the movement’s victory which brought an end to a brutal 20-year conflict involving US-led NATO forces. According to defeated Lieutenant General…
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Springtime in Islamabad
Is Pakistan embarking on its own version of the Arab Spring? The incredible scenes of people power from Peshawar to Islamabad, Lahore to Karachi and beyond suggest that 227 million Pakistanis are on the brink of something momentous. If so, they could smash dynastic Pakistani politics forever. Recently ousted Prime…
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We might be powerless to stop state-approved theft, but we should still call it out
The anniversary of the fateful day when US troops took the Iraqi capital Baghdad in 2003 will no doubt be marked this week with a deafening silence in Washington, because it was also the day when the so-called victors looted and plundered the country’s banks. The fact that such daylight…