Headlines:
- Muslim Job-Seekers are Disadvantaged, UK Government admits
- ‘Everyone Will be Muslim Because of Our Stupidity’: Catholic Leader
- China Warns of War after Rex Tillerson’s South China Sea Remarks
- Raheel Sharif heads “Muslim NATO”
- Venezuela in Crisis
- Muslim Girls Must Swim with Boys in Switzerland
Muslim Job-Seekers are Disadvantaged, UK Government admits
Muslims are held back in the jobs market, the Government admits – saying universities and job centres could play a big role in tackling inequality. Britain’s 2.7 million Muslims were found to have the highest levels of disadvantage in finding work and face significant pay gaps compared with those who identify as Christian. The Government Equalities Office has published its response to last year’s hard-hitting report by the women and equalities select committee on employment opportunities for Muslims. The GEO accepted a “lack of comprehensive data” is hindering progress in getting more Muslim people into higher education, which in turn has an impact on their chances of employment. It said more could be done to raise awareness among employers about workplace discrimination and it also accepted that informal recruitment practices mean bias may not always be “picked up”. The Government said it will not come up with a specific plan to tackle workplace inequality for Muslims, despite this being one of the report’s recommendations. Instead it highlighted its work to support disadvantaged communities. The GEO said it will ask universities to extend the admissions data they collect beyond the current “Asian, black, mixed and white” categories. It will also meet commerce and industry leaders to discuss the best way of raising awareness of the Equality Act 2010 with employers. [Source: Evening Standard]
The results of the survey are not surprising. The anti-Islamic media encouraged by the UK government has created a climate of discrimination against Muslim job-seekers.
‘Everyone Will be Muslim Because of Our Stupidity’: Catholic Leader
An important figure in the Catholic church has warned that everyone in Italy will ‘soon be Muslim’ due to the country’s ‘stupidity’. Italian Archbishop, Monsignor Carlo Liberati, said that the growing number of Muslim migrants in Europe and increasing secularism will lead to Islam becoming the continent’s foremost religion. The Bishop Emeritus of Pompeii said: ‘In 10 years we will all be Muslims because of our stupidity. Italy and Europe live in a pagan and atheist way, they make laws that go against God and they have traditions that are proper of paganism. ‘All of this moral and religious decadence favours Islam.’ He added: ‘We have a weak Christian faith. The Church nowadays does not work well and seminaries are empty. ‘Parishes are the only thing still standing. We need a true Christian life. All this paves the way to Islam. In addition to this, they have children and we do not. We are in full decline.’ Italy has become a prime destination for Muslim migrants with some 330,000 people from Africa, the Middle East and Asia arriving by sea over the past two years. Many are fleeing war and cross the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa via a dangerous boat ride. The number of Muslims residing in Italy has skyrocketed from 2,000, during the 1970s, to over two million at the end of 2015, according to official Italian statistics. Liberati claims the increasing number of new arrivals, including Eastern Europeans and Romanians migrating to the country since the expansion of the European Union, have impinged on the quality of life for native Italians. He said: ‘We help without delay those coming from outside and we forget many poor and old Italians who are eating from the trash. We need policies that take care of Italians first: our young people and the unemployed. ‘I am a protester. If I were not a priest, I’d be out there demonstrating in the squares. What is the point of so many migrants that instead of thanking for the food we give them, they just throw it, spend hours with their cell phones and even organise riots?’ The Archbishop even chided the fact the Catholic Church donates money to the recent migrants. [Source: Daily Mail].
Europe’s secular and religious leaders know that Western liberalism and Christianity are bankrupt philosophies that Europeans are quickly losing confidence in it. It will not be long before Islam sweeps Europe.
China Warns of War after Rex Tillerson’s South China Sea Remarks
China’s state tabloid accused U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of state of “rabble rousing” and warned of “war,” after Rex Tillerson condemned Beijing’s construction of artificial islands in the South China Sea during his Senate confirmation hearing. The Global Times editorial published Friday called Tillerson’s suggestion to block China’s access to the islands an illegal act that could lead to a major military conflict. “China has enough determination and strength to make sure that his rabble rousing will not succeed,” the editorial read. “Unless Washington plans to wage a large-scale war in the South China Sea, any other approaches to prevent Chinese access to the islands will be foolish.” On Wednesday, the former chief executive of ExxonMobil likened Beijing’s land reclamation activities to “Russia’s taking of Crimea,” a statement China’s state-owned news site described as “astonishing.” Tillerson had also said, “We’re going to have to send China a clear signal that, first, the island-building stops and, second, your access to those islands also is not going to be allowed.” The Beijing newspaper said the suggestion “lacks legality,” and credited the Chinese leadership for showing “restraint whenever [Trump’s] team members express radical views.” It added claimants in the South China Sea “have the ability to solve divergences … without U.S. interference.” On Thursday Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang defended Beijing’s right to remain active in its “sovereign territories” in the South China Sea. “The United States should stop issuing statements that take a side on the issue of [Chinese] sovereignty” over the islands, Lu said, according to South Korean newspaper Donga Ilbo. During the Senate hearing, Tillerson also described North Korea as an “adversary” and criticized China for making “empty promises” on North Korea. [Source: UpdatedNews]
Great power politics appears to be theme of Trump’s presidency. America is eager to cut a deal with Russia and then focus on taking aggressive moves against China.
Raheel Sharif heads “Muslim NATO”
The former head of the Pakistan army Raheel Sharif, has accepted an offer to head a Saudi led coalition of nations to “fight terrorism”. The coalition, whose headquarters is in Riyadh has appointed Sharif based upon his expertise in organising and leading the Pakistan army, considered the most developed army in the Muslim world. Many see this as a way to bring legitimacy to a coalition in which some Muslim countries immediately denounced or disassociated themselves with. This was always part of Saudi Arabia’s aim to posit itself as the “Sunni resistance” within the Muslim world against its Iranian competitor and so far this attempt of uniting the Muslim armies whilst affirming their national identities and secular interests has failed. What good will Raheel do to an already weak coalition of nations?
Venezuela in Crisis
Economic conditions within Venezuela continued to escalate this week, as it appointed its new economic czar to manage the crisis. As an oil producing nation, it has not fared well since the plunge in prices. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates that the country’s inflation is expected to rise 1,660% this year and 2,880% next year. The country is suffering from huge shortages in food, medicine, and electricity, which has triggered upheavals ranging from widespread looting of stores to disruptions in the school year for millions of children. Minimum wages have risen by over 50% in the past week alone and analysts say the latest increase in minimum wage doesn’t come close to keeping up with the rate of inflation, meaning that it won’t raise the minimum wage to a rate that’s easy to actually live on. The inflation crisis has made the everyday use of cash incredibly difficult. When Velasco visited Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, last fall, it took about 10 100-bolivar bills, which was the country’s largest-denomination bill to simply buy a cup of coffee in a shop. Crisis has certainly reached Venezuela and only time will tell if it can recover from this economic anarchy.
Muslim Girls Must Swim with Boys in Switzerland
Switzerland has won a European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) case allowing it to force Muslim parents to send their daughters to mixed school swimming lessons. They were ruling on a legal challenge brought by two Swiss-Turkish parents from Basel, Aziz Osmanoǧlu and Sehabat Kocabaş, who refused to send their daughters to mixed swimming lessons on the grounds “that their beliefs prohibited them from allowing their children to take part”. A panel of seven judges found that freedom of religion had been “interfered with” but that the move was legitimised by the aim of “social integration”. “The Court observed that school played a special role in the process of social integration, and one that was all the more decisive where pupils of foreign origin were concerned,” a statement said. “The children’s interest in a full education, thus facilitating their successful social integration according to local customs and mores, prevailed over the parents’ wish to have their children exempted from mixed swimming lessons.”