Is the Burqa more oppressive than high heels and eating disorders?

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Daily Show, feminism, Islam

Globalistan mourns the passing of MJ. Few artists could match the truly global appeal of MJ, so much that he inspired thousands of imitators and look alikes all over the world.
So, we think it would be a fitting commemoration to Michael Jackson if we can post videos of MJ inspired videos from different parts of the world. Here is the Indian version of Thriller, with hilarious lyrics:

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This week two stories related to racist discrimination caught my eye. The first of these is from Dresden, not too far from a our beloved Leipzig, within a region that has been host to a spate of racist attacks.
It was while Marwa el-Sherbini was in the dock recalling how the accused had insulted her for wearing the hijab after she asked him to let her son sit on a swing last summer, that the very same man strode across the Dresden courtroom and plunged a knife into her 18 times.
Her three-year-old son Mustafa was forced to watch as his mother [...]

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deptention, Egypt, Germany, human-rights, immigration, Racism, U.S.A

Thereafter I walked to the Hauptbahnhof and a drunken young man passed me and shouted “hail Hitler” and it was at that precise moment, that I thought to myself welcome to Germany the place of Hitler (hoping secretly that Hitler would stand up from his grave to protest against me being here), the Second World War, The Berlin Wall and every other historical sight that I made a point of seeing … This is why I left South Africa, and I was secretly satisfied by this young mans outburst

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Germany, immigration

Check out this video produced by a number of Pakistani pop-musicians that is all the rave in Pakistan. ‘Yeh Hum nahin’ which means ‘This is not us’ in Urdu is a song aimed at condemning terrorism. What fascinates me about this is the attempt at redefinition of identity that goes in procliaming ‘this is not us’.
This song became a sensation in Pakistan giving rise to the a campaign against terrorism by major artists and TV personalities. The YHN campaign has currently got 62.8 million signatures for a petition condemning terrorism, surely making it one of the biggest petitions in [...]

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culture, Music, Pakistan

A Globalistani cheer for Gay Rights activists in India who prevailed on the Delhi High Court to overturn a ban on gay sex.
Homosexuality became illegal in 1861 when, under British rule, Section 377 of the Indian penal court was passed that prohibited “carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal”.
The Delhi HC scrapped down the law:
“We declare that Section 377 of IPC in so far as it criminalises consensual sexual acts of adults in private is violative of Articles 14, 21 and 15 of the Constitution”.
This is big, considering that the ruling beyond decriminalizing,  also [...]

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Homosexuality, human-rights, India

The one line project is a stab at providing a different avenue of expression for global themes and individual experiences. The aim is to link people through the
contribution of one line to an ongoing story. Read what’s been written, and add your line, so that we can create something cohesive out of many separate pieces.
Every line needs to relate to what’s already been written, but should provide context or direction of its own.
The first line is…
People invest too much time and energy in pretending they aren’t animals.

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_by Lisa Sturm
Land of the free, home of the brave, in a plane I landed in California. The sun shines and the people have open minds. Long blond hair, beaches, surfers, free thinkers, California of the mind.
You are from Germany? Yes.
Where is your blond hair and blue eyes? What?
I thought Germans had blond hair and blue eyes? Some, I guess.
Well, you are on time, so that makes sense.
And then a Hitler joke here and there and a Nazi reference or two and California begins to look less like I thought. Shopping malls, fast food restaurants, chain stores and more chain [...]

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Dear reader,
Welcome to Globalistan. Globalistan is a forum in which people are encouraged to share the way they see the world. It’s about connecting people through their thoughts and experiences, and encouraging people to think creatively and critically about the issues that unite and divide them.
Often we tend to understand the world in terms of boundaries-of nations, races, religions etc. We think that there is much to be gained by looking beyond the boundaries. Our humble aim is to connect people by sharing our experiences of living in a globalized world with each other.
But what is Globalistan without its people? [...]

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