Hatem Bazian

Economic inequality has reached extreme levels. From Ghana to Germany, Italy to Indonesia, the gap between rich and poor is widening. In 2013, seven out of 10 people lived in countries where economic inequality was worse than 30 years ago, and in 2014 Oxfam calculated that just 85 people owned as much wealth as the poorest half of humanity. Extreme inequality corrupts politics and hinders economic growth. It exacerbates gender inequality, and causes a range of health and social problems. It stifles social mobility, keeping some families poor for generations, while others enjoy year after year of privilege. It fuels crime and even violent conflict. These corrosive consequences affect us all, but the impact is worst for the poorest people. In Even it Up: Time to end extreme inequality Oxfam presents new evidence that the gap between rich and poor is growing ever wider and is undermining poverty eradication. If India stopped inequality from rising, 90 million more men and women could b...

I have been engaged in a constant writing project that intends to highlight Palestinian narratives since 1948 up to the present. The dispossession narrative touches every Palestinian family including my own. During the 1948 Nakba and the war period, two family members on my father side were martyred, Jawdat Ali Rida Muhammad Bazian and Imran Ali Rida Muhammad Bazian, while another relative, Rida Ali Muhammad Bazian, was tortured by the British and released to the family bleeding and unconscious in a coma and died at home after a few days, in 1946. The Bazian’s narrative is but a small part in a large picture that includes FaouziAs’adBazian and 14-year-old Khalid Bazian who were martyred in 1967 and 2000, respectively. The Bazian family narrative includes the dean of prisoners, ‘Alaa Bazian, a blind man but endowed with piercing vision for freedom, resistance and a towering figure in the prisoners’ movement.

On November 10th, 2013, the Israeli cabinet voted in a special session to authorize the demolition and removal of Umm al-Hiran, an "unauthorized" Palestinian Bedouin village in the Negev Desert. In its place was to be built a new community for national Jews to be named Hiran, which had been planned and approved in early 2002. The stated reason for this demolition and forceful eviction is the existing settlement's lack of permits, with Umm al-Hiran being one of a number of Palestinian Bedouin communities that were settled without permits and are currently subject to intense Israeli plans for removal. Urnin al-Hiran itself was set-up in early 1956 by the Palestinian Abu-Alkian tribe after they had been forced to move from their ancestral tribal lands near Kibbutz Shoval in the Northern Negev. A more critical development related to this event is the Israeli Parliament's passing of the first reading of the Prawer law. If the law wins final approval, as it appears it wi...

International Islamophobia Studies Research Association (IISRA)
Inaugural conference

States of Islamophobia (Studies)

Istanbul-Turkey
July 14-16, 2022

https://irdp.submittable.com/submit/225879/cfp-states-of-islamophobia-studies


While research over the past few decades has highlighted the various ways discrimination, racism, and bigotry have become common occurrence in the lives of Muslims as a racialized and targeted group, the need for more systematic and persistent scholarship remains urgent.  In the context of the intensified levels of violence and cases of genocide directed at Muslims and the demonization of Islam as a “non-Western” religion, the the International Islamophobia Studies Research Association’s (IISRA) vision is to form the global architecture for the field of Islamophobia Studies. In the Islamic tradition, the Arabic acronym for this academic association refers to a nocturnal journey leading to knowledge and spiritual insight known as ‘Isra.’ As an interdisciplinary scholarly network, IISRA draws on this meaning in the development of a ‘global caravan’ dedicated to mobilizing academic knowledge that documents and challenges Islamophobia on a planetary scale.

The inaugural conference will be an important step toward actualizing IISRA’s mission to support the dissemination of academic research and publicly engaged scholarship on Islamophobia through academic fora that will facilitate the transnational, multidirectional flow of knowledge across academia, policy and government, media, and global civil society. By engaging in knowledge mobilization activities—such as networking, disseminating, exchanging, and supporting research-based knowledge, IISRA will provide the hub for academic leadership in the field of Islamophobia Studies.

The call for papers is an open invitation for all the co-producers of knowledge, resistance, and decolonial framing of the world to gather and discuss how to bring about the future horizons to which we all aspire.  We invite papers that take stock of the “States of Islamophobia Studies” in a variety of interdisciplinary and transnational contexts.

The conference seeks papers that examine how the Muslim subject is constructed in public discourses, the distinct periods (historical or contemporary), and the regional specificity of such framings. We encourage the submission of fully-formed panels that can address the theme of the inaugural conference, either from one particular academic field or in an interdisciplinary framing.

Abstracts are limited to 300 words and a one paragraph (100 words) biography to be used for the program, if the paper is selected.

Abstracts are due by May. 31st, 2022
Response to abstracts by June 5th, 2022
Submit Abstract online


IISRA's Board
Hatem Bazian - President, USA
Salman Sayyid - Vice President, UK
Jasmin Zine - Vice President, Canada
Munir Jiwa- Secretary, USA
Saul Takahashi- Treasurer, Japan
Board Members at Large
Abdool Karim Vakil, UK
Amina Easaat-Das, UK 
Rabab Abdul-Hadi, USA
Nadia Fadil, Belgium 
Farid Hafez, Austria and USA
Elsadig Elsheikh, USA
Mattais Gardell, Sweden
Marwan Muhammed, France

Islamophobia, as a problem, is often argued to be a rational choice by the stereotypical media coverage of Islam and Muslims, even though it points to the symptom rather than the root cause. Islamophobia reemerges in public discourses and part of state policies in the post-Cold War period and builds upon latent Islamophobia that is sustained in the long history of Orientalist and stereotypical representation of Arabs, Muslims, and Islam itself. The book What is Islamophobia? Racism, Social Movements and the State, edited by Narzanin Massoumi, Tom Mills, and David Miller offers a unique contribution to how best to define and locate the problem of demonizing Islam and Muslims in the contemporary period. The three scholars provide a more critical and structural approach to the subject by offering what they call the “five pillars of Islamophobia”, which are the following: (1) the institutions and machinery of the state; (2) the far-right, incorporating the counter-jihad movement; (3) th...

This thesis is concerned with the ways in which justice is dispensed in Swedish courts in cases concerning anti-Muslim violence. Based on material accessed through the Swedish National Board for Crime Prevention and classified as Islamophobic hate crimes, the judicial treatment of cases that may involve racism is analysed. An aim is to explore how different laws against racism in the Swedish legal system, most importantly the penalty enhancement provision for crimes motivated by racism, work in practice. Through an in-depth analysis of several cases—of a mosque fire, of insulting emails and of attacks on taxi drivers—the thesis explores a particular type of silence around the possible racist nature of these acts. The main argument is that the courts’ understanding of motive, subject, language and injury, and their definition of racism, make it difficult to notice a racist dimension of these acts of violence and therefore to redress a type of harm entailed by racism. Focusing on obstacles inherent in the workings of the judiciary and in the ways truth is established, the limits of resorting to law in search of justice in cases involving racism are discussed. By bringing in a counter-example, a case in which the focus of the judgement is on the racist nature of the acts on trial, an attempt is made to expand the understanding of the judiciary and make the agency of those involved in cases, and in particular the discretion of the judges, visible. In this way, a more dynamic model of the law is proposed, in which laws, rather than being predefined in a self-contained legal system, are steadily made through acts of interpretation taking place in courts. Theoretically, the thesis is located in an intersection between sociology of racism and sociology of social justice. In particular, the question of how racism and law influence each other is explored. For one, the development of Swedish legislation against racism is analysed as embedded in particular social dynamics related to racism as shameful. These dynamics lead to the passing of progressive laws, at the same time as the existence of racism may be denied. For another, the thesis examines how acts of racist violence take on new forms to avoid the accusation of racism. Drawing on feminist and critical debates on social justice, this thesis explores the limits and potential of using law in the struggle against racism. (Less)

Acquired brain injury commonly results in both cognitive and emotional sequela, and it is increasingly recognized that these domains of functioning interact. Consequently, interventions directed at only or primarily one domain may be confounded by this interaction. To maximize treatment potential, we believe cognitive rehabilitation must integrate both cognitive and emotional interventions, and attend to belief systems about, and affective responses to, cognitive challenges. We review the scant literature addressing the impact of combined interventions for clients with acquired brain injury. Integrated with these reviews are 2 case studies that appear to break treatment "myths." Specifically, we address the notion that emotion-focused treatments are appropriate only for clients with awareness or insight and the notion that cognitive interventions are ineffective, and potentially even contraindicated, for clients whose profile suggests emotional distress and functional, as opposed to neurological, impairments. In each of these cases, we demonstrate that combining cognitive and emotional interventions was not only effective but also even more valuable than previous treatment approaches aimed exclusively at one domain. We conclude by emphasizing the importance of understanding emotional response to, and beliefs about, cognitive difficulties in developing effective interventions.

On December 7th, 1941, the Japanese navy and air force attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbor on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, causing heavy casualties and the destruction of the American Pacific Fleet. Pearl Harbor became the largest one-day loss of American ...

n the last decade, Islamophobia in Western societies, where Muslims constitute the minority, has been studied extensively. However, Islamophobia is not restricted to the geography of the West, but rather constitutes a global phenom- enon. It affects Muslim societies just as much, due to various historical, eco- nomic, political, cultural and social reasons. Islamophobia in Muslim Majority Societies constitutes a first attempt to open a debate about the understudied phenomenon of Islamophobia in Muslim majority societies. An interdisciplinary study, it focuses on socio-political and historical aspects of Islamophobia in Muslim majority societies. This volume will appeal to students, scholars and general readers who are interested in Racism Studies, Islamophobia Studies, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, Islam and Politics.

resigns-as-un-ambassador/5089b505-064d-41d0-ab32-dd98b8136fef/?utm_term=.86cdb7fbe6c7 due to the pressure mounted by pro-Israel groups on then President Carter. The Andrew Young episode demonstrated the increasing power of AIPAC and the centering of US-Israel relations at the expense of all other considerations including the career of an African American civil rights icon. The recent entanglement of Ilhan Omar with AIPAC and pro-Israel organizations is not new, but the outcome points to a rapidly changing socio-political and socio-religious landscape. In 1979, Andrew Young did not advocate or speak of Palestinian rights; instead, a simple meeting was the sufficient cause for losing his post as UN Ambassador. Indeed, AIPAC's targeting of Ilhan Omar and attempts to silence her voice on Palestine adds to a long list of African American leaders who faced a similar backlash from pro-Israel groups for daring to speak out for Palestinians human rights and expressed readiness to challenge the power of the Israel lobby. Just in the past six months alone, Michelle Alexander

http://www.mdpi.com/341414
Islamophobia, “Clash of Civilizations”, and Forging a Post-Cold War Order!

http://www.mdpi.com/341414

Hatem Bazian
Near Eastern and Asian American Studies Department, University of California, Berkeley, 278 Barrows Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720-1070, USA; [email protected]
Provost and co-Founder, Zaytuna College, 1st Muslim Liberal Arts College, 2401 Le Conte, Berkeley, CA 94709
Received: date; Accepted: date; Published: date
Abstract: Islamophobia, as a problem, is often argued to be a rational choice by the stereotypical media coverage of Islam and Muslims, even though it points to the symptom rather than the root cause. Islamophobia reemerges in public discourses and part of state policies in the post-Cold War period and builds upon latent Islamophobia that is sustained in the long history of Orientalist and stereotypical representation of Arabs, Muslims, and Islam itself. The book What is Islamophobia? Racism, Social Movements and the State, edited by Narzanin Massoumi, Tom Mills, and David Miller offers a unique contribution to how best to define and locate the problem of demonizing Islam and Muslims in the contemporary period. The three scholars provide a more critical and structural approach to the subject by offering what they call the “five pillars of Islamophobia”, which are the following: (1) the institutions and machinery of the state; (2) the far-right, incorporating the counter-jihad movement; (3) the neoconservative movement; (4) the transnational Zionist movement; and (5) the assorted liberal groupings including the pro-war left and the new atheist movement. The UK-based research group correctly situates Islamophobia within existing power structures and examines the forces that consciously produce anti-Muslim discourses, the Islamophobia industry, within a broad political agenda rather than the singular focus on the media. Islamophobia emerges from the “Clash of Civilizations” ideological warriors and not merely as a problem of media stereotyping, representation, and over-emphasis on the Muslim subject. In this article, I maintain that Islamophobia is an ideological construct that emerges in the post-Cold War era with the intent to rally the Western world and the American society at a moment of perceived fragmentation after the collapse of the Soviet Union in a vastly and rapidly changing world system. Islamophobia, or the threat of Islam, is the ingredient, as postulated in Huntington’s “Clash of Civilizations” thesis that is needed to affirm the Western self-identify after the end of the Cold War and a lack of a singular threat or purpose through which to define, unify, and claim the future for the West. Thus, Islamophobia is the post-Cold War ideology to bring about a renewed purpose and crafting of the Western and American self.
Keywords: Islamophobia; proto-Islamophobia; Clash of Civilizations; Cold War; Orientalism; Samuel Huntington; Edward Said; Sunni Islam; Shia Islam

Trump and his expanding circle of neo-conservatives, war mongers and torture specialists are stoking the flames of war against Iran, I stand in dissent and in total opposition to this unfolding scheme. The same fictitious logic that pushed the war on Iraq is being utilized to beat the drums of war against Iran with Netanyahu jumping into the mix to urge immediate action against Iran. Let me be very clear, the ongoing fragmentation and conflicts in the region has its origin in empire, colonial, post-colonial and globalization imperatives and not, I repeat not, in historical theological or textual differences between Sunnism and Shi'ism, as two interconnected historical articulation of Islamic worldview. Here, the machination of historical, theological and legal differences to stoke and expand empire, domination of resources and preservation of post-WWII world order should be called out for what it is, an effort directed at divide and rule to maintain the region as a domain for power play between global and regional actors. Sunni Muslims should be very clear that another war will only mean more bloodshed, destruction and continuation of dependency on global power brokers that buy and sell in an economy of death and commodification of war, an instrument of business and a growth industry. Certainly, this dissenting position is not to imply that Iran, as a nation-state actor is not beyond critique, as the engagement in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Iraq has witnessed many wrong steps and entanglements that are utilized to feed into the existing push toward war. In saying this, I am also assigning blame to Gulf, Arab and Muslim nation-state actors that pursued a destructive course of action to preserve their own narrowly constructed power and contribute to the global war economy through massive purchases of weapons from the global north. The equation at work can be summed up in the following: stoke Sunni-Shia tension and weaponized this historical division, foster a divide and rule so as to prevent regional unity and cooperation in an area that is rich with resources, sell weapons to all parties involved and facilitate a massive wealth transfer from the region to northern hemisphere economies so as to help stabilize and maintain the standards of living that is connected to military industrial complex and corporate profit engines connected to it. The role of the region is to sell oil, buy weapons and use it to kill each other, which in the process keep all dependent on northern hemisphere imperial post-colonial power structures. I refuse and resist any attempt at mobilizing any type of Sunni theological, historical, legal, cultural, ethnic and modern nation-state to facilitate another war that at the end of the day will see Muslim bodies and societies set ablaze to push the levers of empire forward. Join me in refusing and resisting this logic and dissent when you are called to beat the Sunni-Shia drums of war! Say no to Trump and Netanyahu now when it counts and not postmortem when the graves are too many to count, the destruction is total and

Disenfranchising the Palestinians
by Dr. Hatem Bazian PP.48-50 Islamic Horizons (10/22/17)
https://issuu.com/isnacreative/docs/ih_november-december_17

In succinct terms, the Declaration is a colonial legalism that reeks of dishonesty in each word used and at its very foundation, for its sole purpose is to provide a cover for the outright " civilized " thievery of Palestine. On Nov. 2, 2017, Palestinians mark the hundred-year anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, a letter from British foreign secretary Lord Arthur James Balfour to Lord Walter Rothschild that committed Britain to the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. In 67 words, Balfour and London dispossessed the Palestinians and incubated Zionism, imperial Europe's last settler colonial project. Certainly, the ongoing conflict in that tormented land is not isolated from the broader colonial legacies in the Global South, and its effects continue to be witnessed to this day. British colonial policies and political machinations across the globe were designed to aggravate ethnic, religious, economic, and political conflicts in order to keep imperial interests intact by other means. Divide and rule was the strategy of choice. The Balfour Declaration and the adoption of Zionism by the British ruling class was carried out with an eye toward a broader regional divide-and-rule strategy as well as a global plan centered on protecting its colonial possessions of Egypt and India. As we commemorate this anniversary, it is important to revisit the development of this declaration, as well as the strategy behind it and how it has affected the Palestinians. More importantly, the British government owes the Palestinian people an apology, restitution and a verifiable end to all forms of support that enables Israel and Zionism to continue their ethnic cleansing and dispossession of the Palestinians. The Balfour Declaration reads: " His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country. " In succinct terms, the Declaration is a colonial legalism that reeks of dishonesty in each word used and at its very foundation, for its sole purpose is to provide a cover for the outright " civilized " thievery of Palestine. Why does this colonial legalism attempt to masquerade as a type of civilized international law? First, the Declaration was issued on Nov. 2, 1917, at a date and a time when the British had not become the occupying power-the Ottoman Empire surrendered Jerusalem on Dec. 9, 1917. In other words, the British promised a territory over which they had neither sovereign power nor control to a third party. Second, the Declaration is contained in a letter to a private citizen, Rothschild, a leader of the British Jewish community, lacked any national or international legal standing to claim Palestine as a national home. This British promise concerning a land and country that was inhabited and belonged to its own people, namely, the Palestinians, represents the highest form of illegality.

The occupation of Palestine was the last settler-colonial project the British empire commissioned, and this colonial project is still unfolding more than one hundred years later. In centering Palestine's modern history around settler-colonial discourses, Hatem Bazian offers a theoretical basis for understanding Palestine while avoiding the pitfalls of the internationally supported "peace process" that, on the one hand, affirms settler-colonial rights and, on the other hand problematizes the colonized and dispenses with the ramifications of the colonial project.

The complex and often contentious relationship between American Jews and Muslims witnessed two momentous events that produced divergent results and emotions. On the one hand, anti-Semitic attacks on a Jewish cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri, brought about a rapid $120,000 online fundraising drive in the Muslim community and hundreds of volunteers to repair damage to the cemeteries and express solidarity. On a national level, Muslims mobilized to visit local synagogues and demonstrate their solidarity with American Jews in a time of rising anti-Semitism and threats directed to their houses of worship and cemeteries. On the other hand, we have an extremely discordant event – the campaign against the candidacy of Representative Keith Ellison for the Democratic National Committee chairmanship. The outcome of the election is that Ellison lost in favor of Tom Perez, the choice of the party establishment, and the wounds of the campaign will not be easily healed. It was abundantly clear that the mainstream organizations of the American Jewish community heavily mobilized to defeat Ellison by utilizing directly and indirectly the charge of anti-Semitism so as to discredit him and his campaign. Let's be clear, the creation of the new DNC deputy chair position and appointment of Ellison to this never before existing post was an attempt to dress-up another ugly smear campaign against an African American Muslim candidate to protect Israel's influence over the Democratic Party. What happened in the lead-up to the vote and why did mainstream American Jewish organizations oppose and work hard to defeat Keith Ellison? At this juncture, it is important to ask if a mainstream Jewish-Muslim alliance against Islamophobia and anti-Semitism would succeed if the effort is directed on a superficial level while the structural empowerment of Muslims is sacrificed for Israel's interests in the United States. At the outset, let me be clear that the American Jewish community is very diverse and no single monolithic characterization can be used to describe it. The line of demarcation in the community covers the full spectrum from far right to far left on all issues. However, recently one can observe a gap emerging between the older and more established mainstream groups that have unquestionable commitment to Zionism and Israel as the focal point of their identity and politics, and a critical mass of post-(and one may say anti) Zionist young Jewish Americans that no longer consider Israel and attachment to it as the issue that defines their identity and politics. As a matter of fact, and across the country, many of the leaders within the ranks of Students for Justice in Palestine are themselves young Jews who represent this readily observable shift. I, for one, have seen this and can attest to the development, and I have a close alliance and organizing working relationship with Jewish Voice for Peace, a large group that has many differing points of view on a number of issues including how to think of Israel and Palestine. Likewise, I have worked and coordinated activities with the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network as well as worked and partnered with Jewish liberation theologians and academics on a number of projects. As a matter of fact, Bernie Sanders' campaign victory in Michigan was a clear evidence that Muslim communities rallied to support a national Jewish American candidate based on shared progressive values and an embrace of the issues of common concern, which

As the sponsoring faculty member for the now " suspended " student-led DeCal course Palestine: A Settler Colonial Analysis, I must set the factual record straight and provide a list of the institutional academic procedures followed to approve the class offering. The Chancellor's Office letter providing the reason for " suspension " stated that: " it has been determined that the facilitator for the course in question did not comply with policies and procedures that govern the normal academic review and approval of proposed courses for the Decal program. " Certainly, one would expect that the Dean and the Chancellor's office would have reached out and communicated with the student facilitator and sponsoring faculty to clarify and consult before taking action to suspend the course two weeks into the semester, but it was not the case. Up to Tuesday morning September 13, 2016, I and Paul Hadweh, the student facilitator, did not receive any communication or requests for clarification from the Administration regarding this course or any issues related to it. The decision to suspend the course was communicated to me via a terse email by Executive Dean Carla Hesse at 9:59am on Tuesday morning, September 13, 2016 with an urgent request to meet either at 3:30PM on the same day or next morning. I responded with a 3:15pm time for a meeting with the Dean Hesse, Paul and Chair of Ethnic Studies Professor Shari Huhndorf. In the meeting, we listened to a list of claims that reflected the content of the letter by the 43 external groups that opposed the course. The Dean insisted that the course did not comply with policies and procedures and the syllabus should have been submitted and needed the approval of the Dean of the College of Letters and Science per University policy. However, as a matter of factual record, the DeCal page that details the steps to be followed for approval includes the following language in bold letters: " Note that DeCals in the College of Letters & Science no longer need to submit a copy of their proposals to the Dean starting Fall 2014. " The Dean also raised concerns of " political indoctrination, " espousing a " single view " and possibly crossing the line into political organizing as other reasons for the suspension. In the meeting it became clear that the concerns about the course content itself were behind the fig leaf of policies and procedures, and were the driving force behind the suspension, despite the course being already approved by the Academic Senate Committee on Courses. Finally, a claim was raised as to whether the course dealing with Palestine and settler colonialism belongs in Ethnic Studies and whether the more appropriate sponsor would be the Department of Near Eastern Studies or the Center for Middle Eastern Studies. The question on whether Ethnic Studies is the right place for such a course is an issue for the faculty of Ethnic Studies to determine, and all evidence points to a substantial engagement on the part of Ethnic Studies with the field of colonialism, postcolonial and decolonization. Furthermore, the call for other units on campus to be the sponsors is thoroughly misconceived, since both Near Eastern Studies and

The refugee: the commodified human Dr. Hatem Bazian During a summer immersion course on immigration and refugees, we had the honor to be visited by Yousif, a Sudanese refugee " living " in Paris after a nearly four-month torturous journey. He shared his story, which started from the moment he left his home up until arriving in Paris. Yousif's story began with him and his younger brother in North Sudan, fleeing from the ranks of the military after refusing orders to shoot innocent people. After managing to cross into Ajdabiya, Libya, and a move into the coastal Tripoli area, they connected with the second stage of the regularized human-trafficking network that transports commodified human cargo to the shores of Europe. Currently, Libya is in the throngs of a prolonged civil war that was ushered in by the Arab Spring and the intervention of European, American and Gulf States powers to prevent an emergence of a unified and independent stable state that is not beholden to expressed interests of global powers. For Yousif, the journey through Libya with its ongoing civil war was the only open route and an effort to collect the payment required by the smugglers for spots on one of the boats departing daily from the chaotic and uncontrollable coast. The simple task of getting food became a difficult act of survival in a war setting — a war that neither Yousif nor his brother had anything to do with but simply were caught in the middle of during the long trek to Europe. The tragedy of leaving home was compounded for Yousif in Libya after losing his younger brother in the war. Yousif can understand dying for a cause or a war that one has a vested role — possibly defending a homeland, family and society — but losing his brother in Libya was a devastating blow that will be with him for the rest of his life. The smugglers are running a thriving business as loads of people from across the global South are making their way into the North African coast for an appointment with a hazardous journey across the Mediterranean Sea. According to Yousif, " it costs almost 700 Euro and sometimes more. To get that much, people sell their homes, some sell their kidney or anything that can get them such an amount. " More importantly, the relationship between the smugglers and local authorities is well structured and the local police in many parts of the human-trafficking routes are paid to look the other way or provide logistical protection for a handsome fee. The first part of the journey was to cross the desert in a 4×4 truck that is overloaded beyond capacity with the already-commodified human cargo. One can " add the desert, the thirst, the speed " to the trek, and after days of using off-road passageways, the smugglers arrived to the " delivery point at the Libyan border, Al Kufra district. " Yousif recalled: " I remember that time clearly because we lost many people, there was no water (we drunk our own pee), they left us for many days without any food or water. " Arriving in Al-kufa was only the first leg in a long, commodified journey through various parts of Libya and witnessing and experiencing abuse, racism and dehumanization at every turn. The

The July 17, failed military coup in Turkey possibly brings to an end a feature that has been around throughout the postcolonial period. Military coups and interventions are a permanent feature of the postcolonial state. Turkish experience with direct colonialism is non-existent but the effects of the Eurocentric discourses and the shift toward Europe post WWI has ironically produced a distinct postcolonial pattern in the form of military interventions and coups to prevent normative state development. Turkey's march westward was secured by a heavy-handed military arm that jumped at every turn to prevent any recourse that might bring about a change of direction, emphasis or reconnecting with a distant problematized past. One has to appreciate the long struggle in Turkey for the regular person, middle class and working class to have a space in the political order in the country since the military constantly acted to prevent such an occurrence. Indeed, since the forming of the modern Turkish state, the military and the Eurocentric trained elite set in motion an antagonistic relation to Islam and its expression in the society. This military approach, for the most part, shut out the poor and middle class, who were mostly the religiously inclined in the society. Being modern and western meant to have an expressed antagonistic distance from Islam, which included the attempt of its total erasure from civil society. The normative development of the modern Turkish state was further complicated by the Cold War, which subverted all internal and external processes to winning the war against communism. Certainly, we can point to the fact that at the regional level — including in Turkey itself — a certain level of toleration was evident toward Islam during the Cold War, but it was as an instrument to counterbalance communism rather than on an epistemic basis. Time and time again, the military and the Eurocentric elites acted to prevent any normative expression and incorporation of Islamic ethos into civil society, thus creating an otherness in one's own land and country. Consequently, after the Cold War, the persistence of negation and hostilities was directed at institutions and individuals who had the temerity to insist on viewing the world from within an Islamic ethos. The military with a self-assigned custodian role of an extreme version of secularism, constantly acted to prevent, at all costs any reconnecting with the past, which included regular use of coups, which were often coordinated with US and European intelligence services. The coups were the norm in the colonized global south, and contrary to popular opinion, they were not a result of an inability to govern; rather they were part of the postcolonial structure. Certainly, the colonial state was secured by a number of important political, social, educational and religious structures with violence and military power brought to bear to maintain order and keep the natives under total control. In addition, the colonial structure depended on the recruitment of a segment of the native population to undertake a number of tasks including internal policing and act as the middlemen in the administrative infrastructure.

"Said’s focus on the role of the intellectual is pertinent today since embedded academics are feasting on empire’s trough filled with grants and projects intended to study the exotic Arab and Muslim subject so as to understand its proclivity to resist. Indeed, the role of the intellectual has been eroded due to the encroachment of power, capitalism, and the narrowly constructed interests that pass for academia today, which is a form of refined sophistry and preoccupation with access to power circles and upward mobility."
http://v.aa.com.tr/580912

American negative attitudes toward Muslims is at an all-time high and the upward trend will continue unabated for the foreseeable future. More alarming is the fact that Islamophobia has met the ballot box, and politicians in the U.S. and Europe have found an easy path to seats of power by creating and riding a Muslim and Islamic fear wave. Fear is an easy commodity to package and sell at every corner to a populace exhausted and beaten down by economic failures, corporate down sizing through outsourcing, massive personal debt, open-ended wars and loss of hope for a better future. At a time when America's corporate elite has wiped out the middle class and managed to create a permanent inequality that has not been seen since the Great Depression, a Muslim boogeyman is the best distraction. China, Mexican immigrants, African-Americans, women and Muslims — to name a few — have been assigned responsibility for the collapse of America's middle class and supposedly weakening the country. Trump's " making America strong again " is an empty slogan since the real causes for the current state of affairs rest with America's elite and not those being targeted in his racist and xenophobic campaign. The ongoing Republican Party presidential campaign has been reduced to a competition on who can be more racist toward Muslims, tough on immigrants and blaming African-Americans for violence in the inner city. Islamophobia and racism has become the rallying cry for everything that went wrong in America. Overt racism has been awakened anew and making America strong means setting the clock back on civil rights and making religious and racial discrimination acceptable again. We have come to a point where if your car breaks down it must be because either a Muslim or a Mexican is hiding inside the engine. If your wife or husband is angry it must be because a Muslim outsourced his/her job or a Mexican took the job for a lower wage. If you are facing a foreclosure, then it must be a Muslim who set you up with a bad loan. Yes, for sure we have the terrorist threat ponied around by politicians as the cause for America's weakness but don't let anyone stop you from thinking straight on this magnified fear and assign real responsibility for what our society is facing. Terrorism is a threat but it has to be placed within the appropriate scope so as not conflate it with the same type of alarm that was present during the Cold War and the specter of a possible nuclear confrontation. A crop of politicians is always ready to scare the living hell out the population while scapegoating the powerless and the marginalized in order to win at the ballot box. We have seen this time and time again in American and European histories with devastating consequences every time around. The current security debates underway are more about the type of society that we are, the dashed hopes and aspirations as well as what type of racial, ethnic and religious diversity America and Europe will have in the future. Certainly, the rapid economic and social changes are producing a high level of unease that politicians are cultivating for their own narrow electoral benefits despite the long-term negative consequences. Islamophobia and racism in election cycles are appealing to fear and insecurity as a way to win seats of power. Fear is a very important commodity and has a very high premium in the current election cycle. Fear makes people ready to vote against their better judgment and long-term interest. Fear closes future horizons and makes people ready to desire an oppressive and dead-end past, as

"Just like the Star War movies have created a rich discourse and tapestry about an imagined and unreal space, Islamophobic imaginary has had success in forging a similar response. What people see and experience daily about Islam and Muslims is akin to a well-arranged studio set with characters and props to fit into the Islamophobic imaginary. Accordingly, the "news" and society's "leaders" end up reproducing what the well-stitched imaginary dictates on a daily basis."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hatem-bazian/trump-and-the-islamophobia-imaginary_b_9470814.html

Join me for a Webinar conversation with Professor Ramon Grosfoguel, UC Berkeley Ethnic Studies.
Register for the Webinar: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_79CBtUtwSVynQo0zoYiTFg
Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HatemBazian/

August 20th, 2020 @6PM PST (California Time Zone)

The UC Berkeley Center for Race and Gender
Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project (IRDP) and Islamophobia Studies Center

The 10th Annual International Islamophobia Conference

Virtual Internment
Islamophobia, Social Technologies of Surveillance and Unequal Citizenship

April 15-21, 2019
Berkeley School of Law
University of California, Berkeley

2017 PARIS, FRANCE SUMMER PROGRAM
Demonizing and Otherizing Muslim in Civil Society

Summer 2017 Location: Paris, France
Dates: July 16th – 28th, 2017
Units: 3 units, Zaytuna or IRDP Certificate, 2017
Cost of Program and Options: $2800 (This does not include airfare)
Application: Apply Here

Course Description:

The 2017 Islamophobia Studies Summer Institute will focus on the French and European context in contemporary efforts to demonize and otherize Muslims in civil society.  The Institute will trace the various periods and initiatives that were directed at Muslim exclusion and the political, economic, social and ideological forces that brought them to the forefront.  The French Islamophobia example is pertinent in the current period and to the examination of the structural and state initiated approaches directed at Muslim otherness.  The Institute likewise will approach Islamophobia with the added complexities of migration and the refugee crisis, which are used by rightwing forces to gain respectability in the mainstream.  As such, using Islamophobia to transform immigration and the refugee crisis from a human phenomenon caused by war and displacement into a clash of civilization and “demographic threat” that undermine Western civilization.  The Institute will utilize a dynamic mix format that includes v.  Students will be introduced to the civil society and religious institutions that are responding to Islamophobia and the immediate needs of immigrants and refugees.  Students will visit the Paris Grand Mosque, a location with deep significance to Muslims and the French State itself.  The Grand Mosque was built by the French State as a gift to the community for its contribution in the liberation of France in WWI -some 100,000 Muslims died fighting for the Republic.  The Mosque importance increased due to the role it played in WWII as Shaykh Kaddour Benghabrit, the Imam of the Mosque during the period, managed to hide “no fewer than 1,732 Resistance fighters [in]… the cellars of the mosque,” and most were Jews.  In addition, Shaykh Benghabrit “took a great risk” in using the mosque to hide and rescue Jews, while managing to supply them “and the many children among them with Muslim identities” so as to escape the Nazis who were occupying France at the time.  Visits to the Musée Arabe and discussion with key staff members who are responsible for key archival materials and historical collections of texts.  Likewise, students will visit the Army Museum and tour WWI exhibit with a focus on Muslim and colonial troops that participated in the defense of France.  Key encounters with Muslim institutions, community leaders and academics engaged in various scholarly projects including translations of classical texts.

RSVP to attend online for free via livestram:
Islamophobia is most commonly understood to be a problem that impacts adversely on Muslim minorities living in Western countries. The growing literature on Islamophobia has contributed to this understanding by focusing on the role of media in spreading of negative views about Muslims and Islam, the implication being that the problem of Islamophobia could largely be resolved by fairer media treatment. It is not clear, however, that Islamophobia is simply about how Muslims are portrayed. As recent events demonstrate, Islamophobia is implicated in the broader crisis of post-Cold War liberal order. The electoral triumph of Trump has been hailed as a clear sign that the post-Cold war liberal order is unravelling. The crisis of post-Cold War liberal order has been read in myriad of ways, including the failure of neo-liberal globalization, the fallout from the financial crisis of 2008, the advance of technology. Throughout the Western plutocracies, politicians and parties who would until recently be considered beyond the pale of political respectability are making electoral gains and reshaping the national conversation. One of the central themes of these challengers to post-Cold war settlement is the desire to 'take back their country'. Despite the variety of national and regional contexts in which these narratives of national recovery and restoration are situated, the Muslim presence looms large as an obstacle and a threat. The Muslim threat enables assertions of national security, cultural integrity and social cohesion to trump demands for diversity, liberty and equality. Islamophobia is not just about the fate of Muslims but about the possibility of an inclusive and sustainable future for all. Not only because the systems of surveillance and restriction deployed to discipline Muslims can be easily redeployed and redirected at other targets, but also because such interventions and controls threaten to reverse the gains in civil rights and multiculturalism that have to come characterize Western plutocracies in the last fifty years. There is a need for an approach to the study of Islamophobia which explores the way in which it is being institutionalized by policies that promote and police a conception of Western societies that appears to be becoming increasingly exclusive and exclusionary. This conference provides an inter-disciplinary platform to reflect and respond to the crisis of post

International Islamophobia Studies and Research Association
Present

The Imagined, Real, Embraceable, Threatening and the in-Between Muslim Subject: From the Inquisition to War on Terror and Securitization!
Call for Papers:
Submit Online
https://irdp.submittable.com/submit/150249/cfp-the-imagined-real-embraceable-threatening-and-the-in-between-muslim-subje
Co-Sponsored: Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project
University of California, Berkeley
&
Centre for Ethnicity and Racism Studies
University of Leeds, UK
Islamophobia Studies Journal
&
ReOrient
Graduate Theological Union Center for Islamic Studies
Haas Institute for Fair and Inclusive Society

English Submission - Islamophobia and Social Sciences: Contemporary Issues-Paris 6th Annual Islamophobia Conference Call for Papers https://irdp.submittable.com/submit/143189/islamophobia-and-social-sciences-contemporary-issues-paris-6th-annual-islamophob

French Submission - Islamophobie et sciences sociales : Questions contemporaines-French Site https://irdp.submittable.com/submit/144045/islamophobie-et-sciences-sociales-questions-contemporaines-french-site

Virtual Internment
Islamophobia, Social Technologies of Surveillance and Unequal Citizenship

Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project
University of California, Berkeley
&
Centre for Ethnicity and Racism Studies
University of Leeds, UK

Islamophobia Studies Journal
&
ReOrient

GTU’s Center for Islamic Studies

Haas Institute for Fair and Inclusive Society

Call for Papers
10th Annual International Islamophobia Conference.

Submit Online: https://irdp.submittable.com/submit/128453/virtual-internment-islamophobia-social-technologies-of-surveillance-and-unequal 

Note: 
Abstracts are limited to 300 words and a one paragraph (100 words) biography to be used for the program, if the paper is selected.

Abstracts are due by Jan. 30th, 2019
Response to abstracts by Feb. 15th, 2019
Final Invite by March 1st, 2019
Submit Abstract online

The Granada Critical Muslim Studies Summer school has been at the forefront of intellectual engagements between decolonial approaches and the analysis of Muslims, Islam and the Islamicate. It has been part of a broader intellectual project which is represented by two academic journals (Islamophobia Studies and ReOrient), a book series (Decolonial Horizons) and websites. The proliferation of these platforms opens the possibility of moving from epistemic critique towards the production of knowledge in a post-Western key. The task of critique of pointing out the inadequacies of current approaches to situating the Muslim experience and the experience of the global South must be reinforced by the articulation of an alternative. The challenges to envisioning such an alternative come from two sources. Firstly, the continuation of old Orientalist framework enhanced by a decade and more of the infrastructure of the war on terror has institutionalised Islamophobia including in the academy. Secondly, the hegemony of neo-liberalism has strengthened liberalism in its flight from the political, as a consequence, the attempt to produce alternative frames are undermined by a refusal to comprehend the constitutive role of the exercise of power. Thus, the liberation becomes and becomes a little endorsement of an underlying and hegemonic liberalism creating a nihilism that suspends any possibility of transforming the world as it is.

The theme for the ninth annual International Islamophobia Conference is framed by a critical article written by Professor S. Sayyid and Abdoolkarim Vakil (https://irdproject.com/reports-of-islamophobia-1997-2017/) on the occasion of Runnymede Trust publishing, " Islamophobia: Still a Challenge for us all ". We included the full article below to contextualize the ninth annual conference call for papers, which seeks to examine five areas framed by the authors and abstracts should engage one or more of these strands. The conference welcomes panels organized around one of the themes or a panel that have distinct papers each covering one of the themes.

Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project
University of California, Berkeley
&
Centre for Ethnicity and Racism Studies
University of Leeds, UK

Islamophobia Studies Journal
&
ReOrient

Call for Papers

Theoretical and Pedagogical Approaches to Islamophobia Studies Field
https://irdp.submittable.com/submit/96938/5th-annual-paris-islamophobia-conference-theoretical-and-pedagogical-approaches

Paris 2017
December 9, 2016

In the past few years, Islamophobia Studies has experienced the arrival of numerous new scholars, researchers, community organizers, journalist and social media contributors to the field.  The field has been enriched and challenged by this rapid expansion.  Each contributor to the field has set out to provide a working definition for Islamophobia, selection of an academic and research methodology and collecting relevant data to qualify their thesis.  The Islamophobia Studies field is expanding rapidly with new books and articles from an array of specialization coming out daily that even “experts” are hard pressed to keep-up with the volume.  Certainly, the Brexit vote and Trump’s election in the U.S. provided impetus for many to enter into the Islamophobia Studies field with an eye toward understanding and theorizing the shifts in public sentiments that led to these two monumental results among others. 

The time is right for a conference focusing on the pedagogical approaches to the Islamophobia Studies Field that can begin to critically examine existing research, explore the gaps and anchor future projects.  The conference seeks contributions from all academic specializations and community based research programs that are broadly engaged in the Islamophobia Studies Field.  What are the pedagogical and theoretical orientation of current ongoing research and what conceptualization are being utilized to determine and shape the intellectual production?  Clearly, the Islamophobia Studies Field has publications and articles from anthropology, De-colonial Studies, critical race theory, cultural Studies, sociology, media and political science fields, comparative immigration and refugee studies, public health, security and public policy etc.  However, the goal of the conference is to foster a sustained conversation on the methods, theoretical and pedagogical approaches shaping all these contributions. 

October 30, 2017:  A 300-word abstract and a 100 words bio in a paragraph format to be used for the program if accepted.  Send the abstract to the attention of Dr. Hatem Bazian, IRDP.

November 7th: Invites for selected papers.

December 1st: Final papers are due for all participants.

Submit online:
https://irdp.submittable.com/submit/96938/5th-annual-paris-islamophobia-conference-theoretical-and-pedagogical-approaches

UC Berkeley, Center for Race and Gender
Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project

Call for Papers

Islamophobia and Eroding Civil Society
Paris 2015
December 11, 2015

IREMMO
7, rue des Carmes
Paris 75006


The January 7th terrorist attacks in France have renewed the singular focus on the Muslim subject, as the contemporary other and the site of constructing an imagined, ideal, static and ahistorical French political, social and religious identity.  In this context, the attacks served to affirm Muslim otherness, difference and uncivilized characteristics while unleashing an avalanche of racist, essentialist and xenophobic attacks from all sides of the political spectrum.  Rather than viewing the attacks as the work of terrorists, the political leadership opted to problematize the Muslims, as a group, and sought to institute measures to restrict political and religious expressions and narrowing the scope of civil society for French Muslims.

Furthermore, the approval of the British Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill law and the extreme measures taken in France including the detention of Muslim children into police custody for interrogation and targeting modest modes of dress has eroded the already battered edifice of civil liberties.  We begin to see the descent into a "police state". Islamophobia in France is now coming out with a force not only to justify and bring votes to extreme right parties but also to justify violation of civil rights and elimination of civil liberties. This affects not only Muslim citizens but in due time all citizens are effected. We would like to explore in this conference four panels that merit a careful attention in Western Europe today:

1)  The relationship between islamophobia and the erosion of citizenship rights.
2)  The relationship between islamophobia and the rise of the extreme right.
3)  The relationship between islamophobia and the emergence of "police state" structures.
4)  The relationship between islamophobia and Muslim self-internalized otherization in the context of living as targeted minorities.

October 10th , 2015:  A 300 word abstract and a short bio in a paragraph form that is no more than 100 words.  Send the abstract to Dr. Hatem Bazian at [email protected]

October 15th: Invited Papers will be informed

October 22nd: Response needed for accepting the invite to participate
December 1st: Papers are due for all participants.

Call for papers

Islamophobia: (neo)racism and systems of oppression
Montreal, 24-25 October 2015


While several analyses have highlighted discrimination, racism and aversion to Muslims as a racialized group and to Islam as a religion, there also seem to be processes of normalization and trivialisation of Islamophobia in the West.  In a “war on terror” mindset and parallel to the rise of right-wing extremist, anti-immigration discourses and an increased globalisation of poverty and neoliberalism, several states have passed laws targeting and stigmatising Muslims, thus allowing an increased surveillance of citizens and of civil society. Although governments developed some of these laws in the aftermath of events such as 9-11 in the United States, the attacks on the Canadian Parliament or the Charlie Hebdo attacks in France, it is revealing to approach the study of Islamophobia by going beyond the mere fear, real or imagined, of Islam and Muslims in order to also consider the impacts of these new forms of governmentality and population management technologies that are put forth in the name of national security. Thinking of geopolitical issues, like wars in the Middle East and the privatisation of conflicts in the expropriation of energy resources, in relation to the increase of Islamophobic discourses and practices at the national and international scales leads to several questions. What possible links are there between Islamophobia’s various conditions of possibility at the global and local levels or at the historical and modern ones? How are the figures of the Muslim man, the Muslim woman and Islam constructed as enemies of the state? How do these Islamophobic discourses and practices unfold? What are the underlying systems of oppression at play? Finally, how is Islamophobia used to construct a utopic image of a free West, defender of equality and freedom?

This conference, a collaboration between the Observatoire international sur le racisme et les discriminations de l’Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM) (International Observatory on Racism and Discrimination) and the Center for Race and Gender Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project at the University of California, Berkeley, aims to be a space for reflection and exchange. The city of Montréal will host this event, since several issues related to these themes are relevant to the Quebecois and Canadian contexts. There is a richer Anglophone literature on the question of Islamophobia and although Francophone academic spaces have barely approached these questions, we would like for this event to initiate a series of gatherings on the topic. In order to do this, we suggest two lines of thinking for consideration of this theme.

1) Approaching Islamophobia through the colonial and neo-colonial matrix
Though several authors have highlighted the expansion of Islamophobia in various contemporary political contexts, much is to gain from considering this phenomenon beyond the conditions of its contemporary possibilities. Indeed, it is useful to study Islamophobia from the European expansion of the 15th century, where Western modernity, shaped by colonialism, produced several rational discourses on inferiorisation, exploitation and domination of numerous peoples and nations. We suggest questioning the impact and the relevance of this hegemony on Otherness in the Western context despite its various national trajectories. We favour a multidisciplinary approach that combines different historical, sociological and anthropological perspectives, among others, in order to reflect on the various Islamophobic discourses produced in this colonial matrix and their structural and structuring lasting effects. Ultimately, it is about considering ties between the various forms of racism deriving from this legacy, such as Islamophobia and racism towards Black people, indigenous peoples, the Roma, etc.

2) Methods of expansion of Islamophobia through different systems of oppression
Analysing Islamophobia as a racist and neoracist discourse also leads to questioning the articulation of race with other systems of oppression such as gender, sexuality, class, etc.  Fostering this intersectional approach allows to identify Islamophobia’s various forms and the intertwining of power relations, in a context where Islam has often been showcased as a threat to secularism, women’s rights, sexual minorities and the nation. Reflecting on the various articulations of Islamophobic discourse, through various national contexts, allows for a better understanding of the underlying issues animating each of them. How does the recurring conflation of Muslims with Arabs and people from the Maghreb contribute to the invisibilization of other oppressed Muslims? We are looking for analyses where Muslim men and women are approached as non-homogeneous groups, varied and diverse, living with and experiencing oppression in manifold subjectivities.

Submission procedures
Proposals should be submitted as a short argument (300-500 words) in English or in French, along with a short biography (100 words maximum). Proposals must be sent before 15 August 2015, by email to [email protected]
You will receive an answer no later than September 1st 2015. The conference will be held on 24-25 October 2015.


Organizing Committee

Leïla Benhadjoudja, Université du Québec à Montréal
Hatem Bazian, University of California at Berkeley and Ramón Grosfoguel, University of California at Berkeley.

Call for Papers

Zaytuna College Invites Scholars and Researchers to submit abstracts for the 2nd Annual Islamic Higher Education conference on April 4, 2015


Forging Islamic Authority: Navigating Text and Context in the Modern World

The Muslim world is in crisis, and the crisis is multi-layered. If international law recognizes nation states, what role is there for solidarity on the basis of a trans-national ummah? With national boundaries, to what extent are Muslims allowed to have solidarity with non-Muslims, whether as minorities in non-Muslim lands or in Muslim majority countries? Can allegiance to a secular state be absolute for a believer? What texts are to be considered authoritative when approaching these questions? And is there one locus or multiple loci for legitimate interpretive authority? While the focus remains on the headlines, a much deeper epistemic debate is at hand centering on re-constituting Islamic authority in the post Ottoman, nationalist and post-colonial periods. The complexity of the inner debate is muddled by a set of external circumstances that impinge into a scholar’s inner sanctum: globalization, neoliberal economics, corporatization, commodification of knowledge, and information technology, all of which challenge traditional frameworks for analysis and modes of transmission. Attempts at re-constituting Islamic authority have taken many forms but there remain more questions than answers. Indeed, we have arrived at a point where Islamic authority is limited, non-existent, sidelined, or mocked due to engagement in tangential and inconsequential debates. Where are we? Who are “we?” And where are we going?

Papers may engage the above theme from any perspective, including:

·        Academic vs. traditional authority
·        Cosmopolitanism and multi-culturalism
·        Science and technology
·        Institution building and citizenship
·        Geopolitics, power, and economic interests
·        Race & Gender
·        Educational philosophy and the human person

This list is meant to be illustrative and not exhaustive. Individual papers will be combined to form thematic panels; pre-organized panels are welcome. Submit a 300 word abstract in a Microsoft word or pdf document, with a short bio to be used for publicity, to Dr. Hatem Bazian [email protected]

Abstract Deadline: Feb 15, 2015
Papers are due April 1st, 2015
Note: No late abstracts will be accepted.

This international and interdisciplinary conference will address recent political developments in the academy that points to increasing administrative moves directed at censoring Palestine as a subject for intellectual engagement and organizing efforts.  The degree and intensity of censorship has taken many forms, most recently with several high profile cases:

• the rescinding and subsequent firing of Associate Professor Steven Salaita at The University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign;
• the unwarranted investigation of faculty members such as Professors Rabab Abdulhadi at San Francisco State University  for undertaking constitutionally protected activities of free speech about the state and people of Palestine;
• the unfair and systematic targeting of SJP, MSA and Arab student organizations for sponsoring and organizing events for Palestinian awareness;
• promoting and funding campus groups and activities that only approach Palestine with an apolitical agenda while isolating, prosecuting and criminalizing those operating independently, critical of Israel, opt not to engage in university crafted dialogues  or supporting BDS; and,
• other instances that includes the official withdrawal of university sponsorships for academic conferences; reduced funding or the cancellation of events; additional requirements beyond the normal process that involves administrative evaluations, policy reminders, speaker approvals, and security precautions. 

In addition to this extraordinary institutional intervention, external organizations, on more than one occasion, have been allowed to influence, dictate, and prescribe the terms of freedom of speech through codes of civility that severely undermines the standing of Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims as an educational topic and a political campaign.  The assault on free speech and academic freedom has also come disguised as civil rights complaints under Title VI directed at Department of Education funding.  Lawsuits targeting the university for the specific purpose of censoring Palestine have already created a chilling effect on college campuses despite federal Judge Richard Seeborg dismissing such claims in Felber v. Yudofheld stating “[a] very substantial portion of the conduct to which [the complainants] object [i.e., speech critical of Israel] represents pure political speech and expressive conduct, in a public setting, regarding matters of public concern, which is entitled to special protection under the First Amendment.”

This conference seeks papers that analyze the academy’s role in the institutional censorship of Palestine and the methods deployed to achieve this outcome.  More broadly, how censoring Palestine at the university is linked to ongoing efforts in the erosion of free speech and academic freedom due to the corporatization and militarization of institutions of higher learning is encouraged.  As the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement takes hold on college campuses across the United States and Europe, how the academy responds by establishing “civility codes” directly marginalizes and criminalizes participants who happens to be not only faculty, students and staff – members of an intellectual, social, and political community – but also members exercising their right to free speech. 

Please send a 300-word abstract in response to one or more of the issues highlighted above is suggested, and a short 100 words biography to the attention of Dr. Hatem Bazian:
[email protected]

The abstracts are due: DECEMBER 20th, 2014.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3XtNM69GHc
Session 5B Criticizing Israel within the American Jewish Community
The Conference for Palestine in the US: Gaza Teaches Life!
Nov. 27-29, 2014, Hyatt Regency O'Hare The Zionist network in the United States stifles criticism

The United States Commission on Civil Rights (“the Commission’) is pleased to transmit our briefing report, Federal Civil Rights Engagement with Arab and Muslim-American Communities. The report is also available in full on the Commission’s website at www.usccr.gov. The purpose of the report is to examine federal efforts to eliminate and prevent civil rights violations, including incidents of hate crimes, prejudice, bias, stereotyping and travel discrimination against Arab and Muslim-Americans spurred by the reactions to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington.

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND
Strategy, Policy, and Review Department
Causes and Consequences of Income Inequality: A Global Perspective
Prepared by Era Dabla-Norris, Kalpana Kochhar, Frantisek Ricka, Nujin Suphaphiphat, and Evridiki Tsounta
(with contributions from Preya Sharma and Veronique Salins)1
Authorized for distribution by Siddharh Tiwari

June 2015

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
“We should measure the health of our society not at its apex, but at its base.” Andrew Jackson
Widening income inequality is the defining challenge of our time. In advanced economies, the gap between the rich and poor is at its highest level in decades. Inequality trends have been more mixed in emerging markets and developing countries (EMDCs), with some countries experiencing declining inequality, but pervasive inequities in access to education, health care, and finance remain. Not surprisingly then, the extent of inequality, its drivers, and what to do about it have become some of the most hotly debated issues by policymakers and researchers alike. Against this background, the objective of this paper is two-fold.
First, we show why policymakers need to focus on the poor and the middle class. Earlier IMF work has shown that income inequality matters for growth and its sustainability. Our analysis suggests that the income distribution itself matters for growth as well. Specifically, if the income share of the top 20 percent (the rich) increases, then GDP growth actually declines over the medium term, suggesting that the benefits do not trickle down. In contrast, an increase in the income share of the bottom 20 percent (the poor) is associated with higher GDP growth. The poor and the middle class matter the most for growth via a number of interrelated economic, social, and political channels.
Second, we investigate what explains the divergent trends in inequality developments across advanced economies and EMDCs, with a particular focus on the poor and the middle class. While most existing studies have focused on advanced countries and looked at the drivers of the Gini coefficient and the income of the rich, this study explores a more diverse group of countries and pays particular attention to the income shares of the poor and the middle class—the main engines of growth. Our analysis suggests that
 Technological progress and the resulting rise in the skill premium (positives for growth and productivity) and the decline of some labor market institutions have contributed to inequality in both advanced economies and EMDCs. Globalization has played a smaller but reinforcing role. Interestingly, we find that rising skill premium is associated with widening income disparities in advanced countries, while financial deepening is associated with rising inequality in EMDCs, suggesting scope for policies that promote financial inclusion.
 Policies that focus on the poor and the middle class can mitigate inequality. Irrespective of the level of economic development, better access to education and health care and well-targeted social policies, while ensuring that labor market institutions do not excessively penalize the poor, can help raise the income share for the poor and the middle class.
 There is no one-size-fits-all approach to tackling inequality. The nature of appropriate policies depends on the underlying drivers and country-specific policy and institutional settings. In advanced economies, policies should focus on reforms to increase human capital and skills, coupled with making tax systems more progressive. In EMDCs, ensuring financial deepening is accompanied with greater financial inclusion and creating incentives for lowering informality would be important. More generally, complementarities between growth and income equality objectives suggest that policies aimed at raising average living standards can also influence the distribution of income and ensure a more inclusive prosperity.

Prof. Ruben Durante and Ekaterina Zhuravskaya
E-mail: [email protected] (corresponding author). 
E-mail: [email protected].

Governments often take unpopular measures. To minimize the political cost of such measures policy makers may strategically time them to coincide with other newsworthy events, which distract the media and the public. We test this hypothesis using data on the recurrent Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Combining daily data on attacks on both sides of the conflict with data on the content of evening news for top U.S. TV networks, we show that Israeli attacks are more likely to be carried out when the U.S. news are expected to be dominated by important (non-Israel-related) events on the following day. In contrast, we find no evidence of strategic timing for Palestinian attacks. The timing of Israeli at- tacks that we document is suggestive of the intention to minimize next-day news coverage which, as confirmed by comprehensive video content analysis, is es- pecially charged with negative emotional content. We also find that: i) strategic timing of Israeli attacks is less relevant in period of more intense fighting, when the need to quickly retaliate reduces Israel’s capacity to time operations strate- gically; ii) strategic timing is present only for the Israeli attacks that bear risk of civilians being affected; and iii) Israeli attacks are timed to newsworthy events that are predictable.

Economic inequality is rapidly increasing in the majority of countries. The wealth of the world is divided in two: almost half going to the richest one percent; the other half to the remaining 99 percent. The World Economic Forum has identified this as a major risk to human progress. Extreme economic inequality and political capture are too often interdependent. Left unchecked, political institutions become undermined and governments overwhelmingly serve the interests of economic elites to the detriment of ordinary people. Extreme inequality is not inevitable, and it can and must be reversed quickly.

EIxecutive summary
n August 2014, a Ferguson, Missouri, policeman shot and killed an unarmed black teenager. Michael Brown’s death and the resulting protests and racial tension brought considerable attention to that town. Observers who had not been looking closely at our evolving demographic patterns were surprised to see ghetto conditions we had
come to associate with inner cities now duplicated in a formerly white suburban community: racially segregated neigh- borhoods with high poverty and unemployment, poor student achievement in overwhelmingly black schools, oppressive policing, abandoned homes, and community powerlessness.
Media accounts of how Ferguson became Ferguson have typically explained that when African Americans moved to this suburb (and others like it), “white flight” followed, abandoning the town to African Americans who were trying to escape poor schools in the city. The conventional explanation adds that African Americans moved to a few places like Ferguson, not the suburbs generally, because prejudiced real estate agents steered black homebuyers away from other white suburbs. And in any event, those other suburbs were able to preserve their almost entirely white, upper-middle- class environments by enacting zoning rules that required only expensive single family homes, the thinking goes.
No doubt, private prejudice and suburbanites’ desire for homogenous affluent environments contributed to segregation in St. Louis and other metropolitan areas. But these explanations are too partial, and too conveniently excuse public policy from responsibility. A more powerful cause of metropolitan segregation in St. Louis and nationwide has been the explicit intents of federal, state, and local governments to create racially segregated metropolises.
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Many of these explicitly segregationist governmental actions ended in the late 20th century but continue to determine today’s racial segregation patterns. In St. Louis these governmental policies included zoning rules that classified white neighborhoods as residential and black neighborhoods as commercial or industrial; segregated public housing projects that replaced integrated low-income areas; federal subsidies for suburban development conditioned on African Amer- ican exclusion; federal and local requirements for, and enforcement of, property deeds and neighborhood agreements that prohibited resale of white-owned property to, or occupancy by, African Americans; tax favoritism for private insti- tutions that practiced segregation; municipal boundary lines designed to separate black neighborhoods from white ones and to deny necessary services to the former; real estate, insurance, and banking regulators who tolerated and sometimes required racial segregation; and urban renewal plans whose purpose was to shift black populations from central cities like St. Louis to inner-ring suburbs like Ferguson.
Governmental actions in support of a segregated labor market supplemented these racial housing policies and prevented most African Americans from acquiring the economic strength to move to middle-class communities, even if they had been permitted to do so.
White flight certainly existed, and racial prejudice was certainly behind it, but not racial prejudice alone. Government policies turned black neighborhoods into overcrowded slums and white families came to associate African Americans with slum characteristics. White homeowners then fled when African Americans moved nearby, fearing their new neigh- bors would bring slum conditions with them.
That government, not mere private prejudice, was responsible for segregating greater St. Louis was once conventional informed opinion. A federal appeals court declared 40 years ago that “segregated housing in the St. Louis metropolitan area was ... in large measure the result of deliberate racial discrimination in the housing market by the real estate indus- try and by agencies of the federal, state, and local governments.” Similar observations accurately describe every other large metropolitan area. This history, however, has now largely been forgotten.
When we blame private prejudice, suburban snobbishness, and black poverty for contemporary segregation, we not only whitewash our own history but avoid considering whether new policies might instead promote an integrated commu- nity. The federal government’s response to the Ferguson “Troubles” has been to treat the town as an isolated embarrass- ment, not a reflection of the nation in which it is embedded. The Department of Justice is investigating the killing of teenager Michael Brown and the practices of the Ferguson police department, but aside from the president’s concern that perhaps we have militarized all police forces too much, no broader inferences from the events of August 2014 are being drawn by policymakers.
The conditions that created Ferguson cannot be addressed without remedying a century of public policies that segre- gated our metropolitan landscape. Remedies are unlikely if we fail to recognize these policies and how their effects have endured.

An Important Article to Read:
The Structure of Knowledge in Westernized Universities
Epistemic Racism/Sexism and the Four Genocides/Epistemicides of the Long 16th Century
Ramón Grosfoguel
U.C. Berkeley
   
Abstract: This article is inspired by Enrique Dussel’s historical and philosophical work on Cartesian philosophy and the conquest of the Americas. It discusses the epistemic racism/sexism that is foundational to the knowledge structures of the Westernized University. The article proposes that the epistemic privilege of Western Man in Westenized Universities’ structures of knowledge, is the result of four genocides/epistemicides in the long 16th century (against Jewish and Muslim origin population in the conquest of Al-Andalus, against indigenous people in the conquest of the Americas, against Africans kidnapped and enslaved in the Americas and against women burned alive, accused of being witches in Europe). The article proposes that Dussel’s argument in the sense that the condition of possibility for the mid-17th century Cartesian “I think, therefore I am” (ego cogito) is the 150 years of “I conquer, therefor I am” (ego conquiro) is historically mediated by the genocide/epistemicide of the “I exterminate, therefore I am” (ego extermino). The ‘I exterminate’ is the socio-historical structural mediation between the idolatric ‘I think’ and the ‘I conquer.’

This Dover edition, first published in 1988, is an unabridged, unaltered republication of the work originally published in 1946 by the American Zionist Emergency Council, New York, based on a revised translation published by the Scopus Publishing Company, New York, 1943, which was, in turn, based on the first English-language edition, A Jewish State, translated by Sylvie d'Avigdor, and published by Nutt, London, England, 1896. The Herzl text was originally published under the title Der Judenstaat in Vienna, 1896. Please see the note on the facing page for further details.

"THE JEWISH STATE" is published by the American Zionist Emergency Council for its constituent organizations on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the publication of "DER JUDENSTAAT" in Vienna, February 14, 1896.

The translation of "THE JEWISH STATE" based on a revised translation published by the Scopus Publishing Company was further revised by Jacob M. Alkow, editor of this book. The biography was condensed from Alex Bein's Theodor Herzl, published by the Jewish Publication Society of America. The bibliography and the chronology were prepared by the Zionist Archives and Library. To Mr. Louis Lipsky and to all of the above mentioned contributors, the American Zionist Emergency Council is deeply indebted.

ABSTRACT In this article, Meer tentatively delineates three ways in which he understands that the concept of Islamophobia is being informed by postcolonial scholarship. The first functions as continuity, in so far as it is claimed that historical colonial dynamics are reproduced in contemporary postcolonial environments, broadly conceived. The second involves translation. This is related to the first but different in that it focuses in particular on the utility of Orientalist critique for the concept of Islamophobia. The third concerns an account of Muslim consciousness, in so far as it is argued that ‘the making of Muslims’ is signalled by the emergence of the concept of Islamophobia, part, as one view has it, of a wider ‘decentring’ of the West. Meer argues that this third framing rests on terrain that is also populated by scholarship beyond the postcolonial tradition. This is because it expresses a story of how Muslims have contested and sought revisions to existing citizenship settlements, not least the ways in which approaches to anti-discrimination are configured. This is a story that is observable within imperfect liberal democratic frameworks that contain some institutional levers through which to challenge Islamophobia.

This article explores the entanglements between the emergence of the anthropological conception of religion and the logic of race in the modern/colonial world. This entanglement is also one between tradi- tional religious categories such as Christian, Muslim, and Jew, and modern ethno-racial designations such as white, indigenous, and black that point to a co-implication between race and what we call religion in modernity. Key in this process was the distinction between peoples with religion and groups without religion in the period of the late Middle Ages and early European expansion. Particularly important in this context are not only religious figures and theologians, but also travelers and conquistadors like Christopher Columbus and others.

English Translation with added comments to the published Turkish language interview:

"The world as we know it and interact with is a Eurocentric edifice that produces White Supremacy at every turn: from political order to economics, from identity to religion and from sports to media productions are all vested in White supremacy assigning value and worth based on it."

An in-depth interview with Dr. Hatem Bazian Chairman of American Muslims for Palestine and co-founder of Zaytuna College in the Turkish press covering a wide range of issues including torture, President Obama and pax-Americana, Ferguson and racism in the US, Islamophobia, Palestine and regional political order, violence, and Orientalist representations etc. 

http://www.lacivertdergi.com/soylesi/2014/12/31/abd-yonunu-kaybetmis-bir-sekilde-ortalikta-tepinen-dev-bir-fil

Listen to KPFA 94.1 interview with Dr. Bazian on the second hour of the program starting at 1:04 in the archive below.
https://kpfa.org/archives/

Sunday Show – August 7, 2016
SUNDAY SHOW
9am Start Time

In the first hour Andrew J. Bacevich, author of “America’s War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History”. In the second hour,Trump’s War on Islam with Hatem Bazian,lecturer in the Departments of Near Eastern, Asian American, and Asian Diaspora Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

1.1 AIMS OF THE REPORT
In its work to date against discrimination in Europe, Amnesty International has raised concerns about negative views and stereotypes affecting ethnic minorities such as the Roma, as well as migrants and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals. Amnesty International has helped bring to the attention of policy-makers and the public the negative impact on human rights which arise from discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity, migrant status, sexual orientation and gender identity.
The aim of this report is to focus on discrimination on grounds of religion or belief and to illustrate some of its consequences on Muslims in Europe. This report is not comprehensive and should not be read as an exhaustive analysis of all forms of discrimination experienced by Muslims. Similarly, this report, researched and compiled in the framework of broader work on discrimination in Europe, does not imply that discrimination on grounds of religion or belief exclusively affect Muslims. Indeed, this form of discrimination can have an impact on other religious groups in Europe. For instance, Christian Evangelicals in Catalonia told Amnesty International that they felt discriminated against in the exercise of their right to freedom of religion because of the barriers they experienced in establishing places of worship. Jews are also still discriminated against in Europe and violent attacks perpetrated with an anti-Semitic bias remain a matter of concern.
As the geographical scope of this research is limited to the European continent, it does not focus on religious-based discrimination experienced by other minority religious groups, including Christians, in other regions of the world.

Attacks on Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Linda Sarsour, Omar Sulieman, Marc Lamont Hill and countless other Muslims in America and across Europe raise philosophical and political questions on whether Muslims can speak and do so where it counts the most! The problem is not in the ability to produce sounds and noises that might qualify them as members of the human race but the "right" to speak on the critical political, economic and foreign policy issues confronting society, which include the meaning of being Muslim and political at the same time. Here, I am not concerned with the yes boss Muslim who can speak only to repeat and amplify the voices and words of others; rather than speaking for themselves. Language is the defining characteristic of humankind, allowing for communication and relations to occur between people from diverse backgrounds and making it possible to transmit meaning over time and space. Language and recorded speech, be it in books or the contemporary electronic medium, are so central to the development and emergence of civilization itself. The Muslims listed above have all been subject to a systematic and structured demonization campaign and efforts to silence their voices. What them all a target is their readiness to speak on Israel, the influence of AIPAC and Zionism, which is considered an off-limits topic in Washington DC's political circles. The effort to silence them is part of a broader strategy, which I will get to later on and why it is so crucial that Muslims speak and more so at this critical time. As Islamophobia and racialization intensifies in western societies, the space for freedom of speech and the scope of the content is continuously shrinking for Muslims. Can Muslims speak in the current period and is society at large ready to listen and engage the ideas that are

" Corporate level, enterprise-grade social media intelligence software " is the sophisticated tools used by Jacob Baime, executive director of Israel on Campus Coalition, to demonize and defame Palestine activists in the US and across college campuses. While the focus on Russia's interference in US domestic affairs, the newly released documentary shows that Mr. Baime coordinates his activities with the Israeli " Ministry of Strategic Affairs " and shares directly " operations and intelligence brief " collected from the field, deserves equal if more attention than the Russian investigation. How did we become aware of all this material and intrusion by Israel operatives into the domestic affairs in the US? The recent " unofficial " release of Al-Jazeera's documentary, The Lobby-US, on the Electronic Intifada site exposed the strategies utilized by Israeli front groups in the United States in targeting Palestine's advocacy, Students for Justice in Palestine and BDS successes on college campuses. The documentary was finished in 2017 but was kept out of the market due to lobbying efforts from major Zionist organizations and individuals. The Lobby-US follows a similar Al-Jazeera undercover investigative documentary that exposed the inner-workings in the British context and the efforts that targeted the Labor Party and student activism for their support of Palestinian human rights and calls for BDS. Electronic Intifada's release of the 4-part series online came after almost a year of the documentary being completed and subject to an intense effort to censor it by major Zionist figures in the US. After the Qatari-Saudi tension, a decision was made at the highest levels not to air it and focus more on an attempt to defuse the ongoing conflict. Keeping the documentary off the air came on the heels of the hiring of Nick Muzin, the US-based lobbying firm Stonington Strategies, to impact US policy on the ongoing Gulf crisis. The documentary is a must-see for anyone who is engaged in domestic US politics, campus organizing and for sure anything related to Palestine, Arab and Muslim world concerns. Undercover investigative reporting is a valuable tool to shed light on a shadowy network that operates in the US on behalf of a foreign state, Israel, with the single focus on keeping the $3.8 billion annual taxpayers' payout to a country that continually violates international human rights standards. Critically, the Lobby-US documentary exposes the direct control and involvement of the Israeli government in the domestic affairs in the US as well as massive intrusion into student organizing on college campuses. According to Electronic Intifada reporting, the documentary exposed the use of social media by " Julia Reifkind – then an Israeli embassy employee " – describing her typical workday on collecting and passing information Palestine activists in the US as " mainly gathering intel, reporting back to Israel … to report back to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Strategic Affairs. " In one clip, Julia admits on the hidden camera to using all type of fake names in her effort to collect information on SJP and MSA of the Ministry of Strategic Affairs.

Jamal Khashoggi's murder inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul epitomizes the governance by death and mayhem approach in modern Arab states. Governance by death or more precisely by bone saw and a chainsaw is inscribed into state structures by the ruling elites who are committed to holding onto power by eliminating all opposition by any means necessary, family members included. The ruling elites' or more accurately ruling syndicates with flags and stamps bearing their likeness clinched power some 100 years ago and have taken the possession of territories and societies in the same way a person claims a personal object to do with it as he/she wishes without the slightest concern for short or long-term consequences. Making this absurdity possible is the proclivity to dress the mayhem and constant depravity with Islam, the religious cloak of legitimacy and guarantying the acquiescence of the captive subjects that are metaphorically called citizens. The current crisis in Saudi Arabia's ruling family is paradigmatic of the governing approach in the region, the foreign interests that protect and feed off them, which is the real cause of the ongoing destruction and never-ending wars in the region. Jamal's murder and dismemberment is not a decision of a low-level operative or even fifteen of them; instead, these are decisions taken at the highest levels of government and are reflective of the whims of a ruler who possess subjects but sees no citizens. Jamal's murder and dismemberment are not unique nor out of the ordinary in a region that has become accustomed to shedding blood as the only instrument of governance. Arab region's wreckage has already claimed millions of lives, sent millions of refugees and exiles abroad and destroyed the future horizons of the next generation or two. Khashoggi's murder in the Saudi consulate, a sanctuary for a Saudi citizen in a foreign country, is paradigmatic of the governance by death that is the norm within the confines of the sovereign territory itself.

The law in the contemporary Arab states is an amalgamation of statutes, codes, and regulations put in place over the past 100-150 years in the process of forming the modern nation-state project. Often, the " Islam " or " Sharia " , to be more precise, is the primary source cited in the first few articles in almost every constitution or legal code across the region but don't allow this neon type pumper sticker inclusion to blind you to the structural foundation of each state, a secular modern nation-state functioning under an Islamic façade. Forging the modern nation-state took place under the watchful eye or, more accurately, the direct guidance of the European powers in the past and the US hegemonic domination at present. What part(s) of the modern Arab nation-states is Islamic? If such a question is ascertained, the answer should be " not much ". Law is born out of social condition and in the Arab nation-states, this meant that the legal codes and constitutions were forged under social, economic, political, and religious colonial conditions. One can't approach the legal codes without examining the process that brought them into existence in the first place and the interests they were set to serve. The legal codes in the modern Arab nation-states consisted of an admixture of direct translations from French, German, British, Swiss and increasingly US statutes that are totally disconnected from the direct and contemporary social conditions present in each of the respective Arab states. Consequently, this basic fact calls for us to dig deeper into the rationale behind this wholesale adoption. The reason behind the adoption has been a basic thesis that problematized Islam itself and posited the lack of capacity for it to guide a modern nation-state. In the 19 th century, Europe was the offered model to construct this modern nation-state. This was a very convenient tool to accelerate the domination of the region by the same European powers that were offering to help the regional dash toward nation-statehood and modernity. If the European style nation-state modernity is the quest, then Islam's legal principles and epistemology were the impediment that had to be removed, be it in the political or economic realms.

In his book, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, John Perkins detailed the pernicious and destructive economic strategies deployed by Global North powers and the institutions that represent their interests against countries in the Global South. The term " economic hit man " is used to describe the role of individuals, like Perkins himself, whose assigned part is to produce, create or invent out of thin air the needed financial projections and plans to legitimize the rationale behind disastrous and destructive projects in countries in the Global South. The intent behind the economic hit man activity is to sink countries in the Global South deeper in debt, dependency, and foster elite's corruption and then use international trade and " legal " institutions to claim their natural resources and funnel massive amounts of wealth to the Global North. The mechanism for achieving this destructive outcome is a sophisticated well-stitched infrastructure of corporations, banks, foreign policy outfits, and international governmental and non-governmental agencies. At the core of the mechanism is the following undisputed fact – the Global South is home to the overwhelming known world natural resources and these have been siphoned, stolen, and pillaged to support the continued destructive lifestyle and policies of the Global North. Beginning from the 16 th and leading to the 21 st century, powers from the Global North have invaded, colonized, intervened, cheated, pillaged, destroyed, killed, cutoff limbs, and committed multiple genocides against native populations in the Global South to wickedly lay claim on their natural resources. During the " age of discovery " and " colonization " the stealing and robbing of the resources were direct with no need to rationalize the enterprise other than simply using racial superiority, manifest destiny and the industriousness of the European man opposite the Global South. Africa, South and Central America and parts of Asia were subject to systematic pillaging and destruction and the mercilessly made impoverished populations to uplift Europe and North America. No resource or natural setting was left untouched and the existing economies, markets,