Justice for Aafia: No CHANGE for America

Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s case is one that I have tried to follow as much as possible over the last year or so and is one of the most puzzling things in the news for me at the moment. I have only in the past week seen how she is portrayed in the Western media as I was made aware of her case by my parents who have been following the case on Pakistani news channels available on satellite here in the UK. I am simply shocked. Now I am beginning to understand why I am sometimes at a loss at how some people are just so ignorant of the truth. I have all too long seen the arguments put forward by my co-religionists about the media being against Muslims etc etc and a lot of the time, I do agree that in the past decade and obviously post-9/11, it does seem that way. This past week has shown me why a lot of my compatriots and other members of Western societies would have a negative view of Muslims.

A few days ago, I went onto youtube and searched for “aafia siddiqui”. One result popped out so I clicked it. The title of the video read: “Lady al-Qaeda…”. It was a report taken from the news channel, Russia Today. This was the first time that I had heard this phrase and I was horrified at the way Dr Siddiqui was being portrayed in this tabloid-style, sensationalist “report”. If the reporter in question was displaying the extent of her knowledge about this case, then I’m sorry to say that I, a mere student, am far more qualified to do her job than she is. With no mention of how Aafia was abducted in Karachi along with her kids (one of whom was only 6 months old at the time) on her way to Islamabad and being imprisoned for six years prior to this current trial in New York, she was being spoken about as if she was some sort of terrorist who had the training and “messed-in-the-head”-edness to commit the crime she has been shamefully accused of committing. After only getting information about her case through my parents and their Pakistani news channels, I was simply bewildered at the character being portrayed. This was the polar opposite to what I had been following.

Here is an innocent woman, educated at MIT as a neuroscientist before moving back to Pakistan with young children, described by her family as never really being overly religious, being torn apart by people who simply have no idea of the facts. The point that I wish to stress here is that a lot of the mainstream news outlets that I have come across in the past week since her “guilty” verdict was given have not made a mention of her young children being missing, since her abduction, which was also conveniently omitted. If you miss out these details, it paints a very different picture. The “official” US Military version of the story goes something like: she was picked up in Afghanistan, wandering around in the street (why was she picked up and how did she get there in the first place guys?? Oh yeah, Pakistan and Afghanistan both end in -stan so nobody will notice) and once in custody, she had the strength to overpower two FBI agents and attempt to murder them with a far too conveniently placed firearm on the floor next to her. What kind of joke facility has readily-available guns for prisoners to gain access to anyway?

I just wanted to highlight these points. Even I can tell you she’s been set up and I’m sitting thousands of miles away in Leeds. This is just the tip of the iceberg with countless other people apparently going missing in countries like Pakistan, post-9/11 and ending up in US custody in Afghanistan. What ever happened to due process? We have to stop turning the other way when innocent people are being so harshly treated and having their lives taken away from them, just because we assume that they are guilty because they are a different colour to us or worse: a Muslim! Because when the chickens come home to roost, how do you know the same won’t happen to someone you do care about? I’ve never been impressed by lefties or conspiracy-theorists but from now on, I am going to think twice before taking the news I read at face value. I’m going to start appreciating The Huffington Post and Democracy Now a lot more.

And I was happy when Obama was elected but I’m sorry; CHANGE has not come to America.

It’s who you know that counts

This is my first blog post from Japan. It’s only fitting that I should write one while I’m here since this is the country where the legend began. I’ve been thinking about the many blessings that I’ve experienced on this trip so far and I thought of writing about something that Rob reminded me of when I stayed with him in Tokyo last week. I was telling him how grateful I was for his hospitality and he reminisced about something his father told him.

It’s not what you know. It’s who you know that counts.

Over the course of this last week, I have since moved on to Kansai and am now in Kyushu and Rob’s dad’s saying has been reinforced for me. I have not spent a penny on accommodation since I arrived in Japan, which is simply down to so many friends offering to let me stay with them. First Rob, then Megu and Taka (and family) in Osaka and Wakayama respectively. Now I’m at Yudai’s and tomorrow I’m staying with Yusuke in Fukuoka. When I return to Tokyo at the end of the week, I have a choice of who’s place to stay at.

This trip would not have been possible without these people, who I see as truly awesome people and I will surely remember them in my prayers. Having dinner with old friends from over 5 years worth of Uni has been truly memorable and I still have over a week until I fly back to London!

God bless everyone of you guys. You know who you are. It’s going to be difficult to say goodbye to everyone.

Flying out tomorrow!

So people, the day is almost upon us. Inshallah, my flight to Tokyo is on Monday and I’ll be in Japan until xmas eve. Many people to see and many places to visit, not forgetting my beloved Matsudo. It will be extremely natsukashii to see the place I called home during my first visit back in 2004. I’ve been looking at the weather reports for Tokyo over the last few days, as you do in the build-up to a trip abroad, and it’s going to be a little warmer than here so I guess that’s another good thing to look forward to.

Anyway, I will try and post updates if I find the time to but I do promise to take plenty of piccies. Aah and of course I will be tweeting. Some of the highlights this time around will be a Japanese mosque-crawl and meeting up with some of the vloggers I subscribe to on youtube. Wish me luck and happy non-denominational generic winter season’s greetings to all (Eid and Chrismukkah included)!

Booked to go to Jyapaan

So, tickets are purchased, language skills need a bit of brushing up but I’m soooo looking forward to it. It’s my first voyage back to the land of Gatsby body paper since my working holiday in 2004. As soon as the xmas holidays begin, I’m off for just over 2 weeks.

I love the feeling of going to Japan. The only thing I don’t like, if I remember correctly, is… the actual going bit. The 12 hour trek across the world is a bit on the unbearable side of things as it just screws with your mind. However-many long-haul flights I have taken, it doesn’t really get any more pleasurable. I do generally like flying, I just wish it was faster.

This time, I thought I’d give Virgin Atlantic a try. Well, actually the decision was made for me really as I used my Virgin Flying Club mileage to get a bit of a discount and compared to other direct Heathrow-Narita flights, it was a good £100 cheaper. I flew JAL last time so I’m not expecting Virgin to be better as Asian carriers generally have a better service but past experiences with a good old British airline (BA and their limited legroom) means that if I have space, I’ll be happy. Plus now that I’m a little older, I’ve come to expect to be treated a little better for the money you have to fork out to sit in a metal tube for half a day.

A big plus this time around is that because I will be entering Japan with a simple 90-day tourist stamp on my passport, I can actually use the Japan Rail Pass!! Score! It means that I can use the Shinkansen unlimited for 7 days so I can go and see friends all over the place. My current plans include using it to head West to Nagoya, Kansai and Fukuoka to see as many of my JapSoc friends as possible. One of the main reasons I chose to go in December is because some of my Leeds buddies are out in Japan for their year abroad so meeting up with our Japanese friends will be just like old times.

Anyway, that’s all for now. I’m currently spending this fine autumnal Sunday afternoon in bed with a case of the dreaded Freshers flu. I leave you with the bombshell: “aiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii can give you GATSBY”

I just wish that we could have a Matsudo Legends reunion. See you in the Toke!

A Letter to the Culture that Raised Me

I just thought a lot of people need to read this so I posted the link. Lazy, I know, especially since I haven’t blogged for a while but whatever.

A Letter to the Culture that Raised Me

By Yasmin Mogahed

From Suhaib Webb

Posted using ShareThis

Why twitter = awesome. A true story.

A lot of my friends know that I am an avid user of twitter. Thanks to a friend (@mohsin) who introduced it to me, I have been tweeting for quite a while now; well before the press started making it popular. Anyway, at first I used it to accompany this blog as a way of advertising new posts to the world. Now, I use it less for that and more to follow friends who I have never met in person but whose updates I find very interesting and informative through their sharing of links to cool stuff amongst other things.

As the media started to report on this new phenomenon, celebrities and personalities began to jump on to the bandwagon and being the sad cool person that I am, I began to follow a select few, occasionally sending tweets to them in the hope of getting a reply. Mind you, only the really cool ones have had the honour of being sent a direct message from me. People like John Mayer and Andy Roddick to name a few. Anyway, after watching United’s first game of the new season against Birmingham (did I mention I’m a United fan?), I sent a tweet to Wayne Rooney after he checked in to twitter after the game.

As usual, I didn’t expect a reply. I continued on my merry way on the tinterweb, when this pops up on my screen:

I couldn’t believe it! One of my favourite players replied to my tweet!! Is twitter nuts or what?? Please note the poor grammar and lack of punctuation in his original post, which both confirm it’s actually him.

But none of that matters to me as he is the first famous person that I follow on twitter to reply (besides the TRS guys that is). He is a legend in the eyes of all United supporters and I am no different. He’s easily one of England’s bestest best players and he let’s his boots do the talking and that’s the way I like it. Wazza is ace!

Now that he’s my homeboy, I hope to keep in touch with him from now on. It just goes to show how the web is ever-evolving and in particular how the advent of web 2.0 has changed the ways we connect with people. Adding famous people to your facebook account is so 2007. Now you tweet with them and make them read your messages (well, if they use a twitter app with growl notifications at least). Cheers Wayne!

I can’t wait for Ramadan to start next week so I can begin to feel guilty about wasting time like this.

Now I have to go to Okinawa!

Kuroshio Sea: An amazing video by Jon Rawlinson of the 2nd largest aquarium in the world. Watch in HD for all its beauty. The music is “Please don’t go” by Barcelona.

You can visit his website: jonrawlinson.com

Follow him on Twitter here: twitter.com/jonrawlinson

This was shot at the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium in Japan. kaiyouhaku.com/en/

There is such an incredible life in our oceans… we must protect them. – Jon Rawlinson

Subhanallah it’s so beautiful.

The PM’s caught the TED bug

Our mate Gordon gave a talk at TEDGlobal in Oxford yesterday about how we have to take advantage of our increased connectivity and the global village. Just watched it myself and thought it was a pretty decent effort so watch it if you have the time.

婚カツ！(Just started watching it)

I just started watching the Japanese dorama, konkatsu! (which means “Marriage Hunting!”) after my friend recommended it to me. It’s actually pretty funny so I have started downloading ordering the remaining episodes through legal means. It’s actually quite an unlucky predicament that Nakai’s character gets himself into from the beginning so I wanna know what happens. Not quite 24 in terms of back-to-back-watching potential but still, you get my drift right?? I will report back later (or most probably, just after I’ve watched it).

How to get traffic to your blog ;p

As some of the more regular readers may have deduced already, I like to experiment with often ironic ways to get people to read this, let’s face it, very average blog. Well, this post is no different to those aforementioned attempts. I found this list posted by Seth Godin on his blog and thought that seen as it is a potentially desirable piece of info, I would blog it in a vain attempt to get people to come to my blog. I’m really lame cool like that (when you’re done reading, feel free to read my posts on what islam is and what it isn’t or how watching japanese dorama backed up my thoughts on tony robbins’ TED talk).

1. Use lists.
2. Be topical… write posts that need to be read right now.
3. Learn enough to become the expert in your field.
4. Break news.
5. Be timeless… write posts that will be readable in a year.
6. Be among the first with a great blog on your topic, then encourage others to blog on the same topic.
7. Share your expertise generously so people recognize it and depend on you.
8. Announce news.
9. Write short, pithy posts.
10. Encourage your readers to help you manipulate the technorati top blog list.
11. Don’t write about your cat, your boyfriend or your kids.
12. Write long, definitive posts.
13. Write about your kids.
14. Be snarky. Write nearly libelous things about fellow bloggers, daring them to respond (with links back to you) on their blog.
15. Be sycophantic. Share linklove and expect some back.
16. Include polls, meters and other eye candy.
17. Tag your posts. Use del.ico.us.
18. Coin a term or two.
19. Do email interviews with the well-known.
20. Answer your email.
21. Use photos. Salacious ones are best.
22. Be anonymous.
23. Encourage your readers to digg your posts. (and to use furl and reddit). Do it with every post.
24. Post your photos on flickr.
25. Encourage your readers to subscribe by RSS.
26. Start at the beginning and take your readers through a months-long education.
27. Include comments so your blog becomes a virtual water cooler that feeds itself.
28. Assume that every day is the beginning, because you always have new readers.
29. Highlight your best posts on your Squidoo lens.
30. Point to useful but little-known resources.
31. Write about stuff that appeals to the majority of current blog readers–like gadgets and web 2.0.
32. Write about Google.
33. Have relevant ads that are even better than your content.
34. Don’t include comments, people will cross post their responses.
35. Write posts that each include dozens of trackbacks to dozens of blog posts so that people will notice you.
36. Run no ads.
37. Keep tweaking your template to make it include every conceivable bell or whistle.
38. Write about blogging.
39. Digest the good ideas of other people, all day, every day.
40. Invent a whole new kind of art or interaction.
41. Post on weekdays, because there are more readers.
42. Write about a never-ending parade of different topics so you don’t bore your readers.
43. Post on weekends, because there are fewer new posts.
44. Don’t interrupt your writing with a lot of links.
45. Dress your blog (fonts and design) as well as you would dress yourself for a meeting with a stranger.
46. Edit yourself. Ruthlessly.
47. Don’t promote yourself and your business or your books or your projects at the expense of the reader’s attention.
48. Be patient.
49. Give credit to those that inspired, it makes your writing more useful.
50. Ping technorati. Or have someone smarter than me tell you how to do it automatically.
51. Write about only one thing, in ever-deepening detail, so you become definitive.
52. Write in English.
53. Better, write in Chinese.
54. Write about obscure stuff that appeals to an obsessed minority.
55. Don’t be boring.
56. Write stuff that people want to read and share.

(again, credit to Seth Godin)