On Sunday the Egyptian Civil Aviation Minister Mohamed Manar announced the country would reopen all of its airports to regular international services from July 1 after closing them in mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The move is a win for Egypt’s flailing tourism sector and a group of Belarusian visitors, who are set to be the first to benefit from Egypt’s Red Sea coast this summer when they arrive in Hurghada on July 4.
During a press conference on June 14, the civil aviation minister, along with Tourism Minister Khaled El Anani and Information Minister Osama Haikal, said flights will gradually resume from the beginning of July, to the delight of struggling tourism operators. Tourism is a major employer in Egypt and accounts for between 5% and 12% of GDP, but has faced a difficult decade rocked by the 2011 revolution, terrorism, and now COVID-19.
To facilitate the resumption of flights, Egypt has put in place a “comprehensive plan” that takes “into account the safety of citizens and tourists alike,” Haikal said. International tourists will initially only be allowed to visit Egypt’s three “touristic provinces” along the Red Sea — South Sinai, the Red Sea, and Marsa Matrouh governorates — but the restrictions will gradually be eased, the trio said.
“Passengers will be required to finalize several measures before boarding their plane to Egypt, including signing an acknowledgment document specifying the Egyptian city they plan to visit before receiving their boarding cards,” Manar explained.
“Passengers coming from countries announced to be affected by the pandemic shall submit a fresh PCR [COVID-19] test no later than 48 hours before their flights,” he added.
Travelers, the airplanes they arrive on, airports, and hotels will all be subject to strict sterilization and disinfection regimes, while passengers and crew will be required to wear masks and maintain social distancing during boarding and while exiting the plane, the civil aviation minister noted.
The Egyptian government is also offering a number of incentives to entice travelers back. The government is subsidizing aviation fuel, temporarily removing tourist visas and their $25 fee, reducing airport fees and taxes by 50%, and cutting the admission price for Supreme Council of Antiquities sites by 20%.
The Tourism Minister said he will brief his Arab counterparts on Egypt’s re-opening plans, and hopes to encourage tourists from the Arab world back quickly. Anani has also been in talks with his Belarusian counterpart, and those of fellow Eastern European nations Serbia and Ukraine.
As a result of a recent virtual meeting between the tourism ministers, a flight carrying eager Belarusian tourists is set to become the first group of foreign visitors to return to post-COVID-19 Egypt when they land at Hurghada Airport along the Red Sea on July 4. Egypt is a top tourism destination for Belarusian travelers, 90% of which visit the coastal resorts located in the picturesque Red Sea and South Sinai governorates, according to the Red Sea Tourism Investors Association.
The term “Internally Displaced Person” (IDP) is a rather abstract term the United Nations uses to indicate a person who has been made a refugee in their home country. For the 1.6 million people crammed in the permanent camps in Darfur, Sudan, the term is anything but abstract. For almost two decades, the residents of Darfur’s camps for “IDPs” have lived in fear of returning home as they remain powerless in the face of violence.
The relative safety of Darfur’s camps are now facing a new threat as humanitarian and medical workers in the area have warned of an alarming rise in suspected COVID-19 related deaths. Darfur’s camps have only sparse medical facilities in a country that has suffered immensely from two tumultuous decades during which Sudan has broken into two, seen a fragile and inconclusive popular revolution, and is now in no way prepared to face the threat of the coronavirus.
COVID-19 in Darfur
The Sudanese government has reported 7,007 cases of COVID-19 and 447 related deaths, according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO) on June 15—a vast underestimation of the true scale according to experts, the Associated Press reports. In Darfur’s IDP camps, the elderly are getting infected and dying from COVID-19 symptoms without any treatment or response. People are dying at a disastrous rate as medical workers are unable to treat the infections that are creating another untold tragedy for Darfur’s fragile population.
Dozens of death announcements are posted each day in the camps outside Al Fashir, the capital of North Darfur province. The town has nearly tripled in size since the influx of internal refugees when heavily armed militias burned down villages during Darfur conflict and forced many to take refuge in UN camps. Now, a new threat has emerged in their midst, leaving no safe place for the victims of Darfur’s brutal conflict.
Vanished people
Mohamed Hassan Adam, director of IDP camp Abu Shuk, told the Associated Press that his camp has seen 64 unexplained deaths in one corner of the camp alone. Adam told the press agency about his neighbors, all in their 60s, who withered away and “vanished” one by one.
“They get exhausted then they die. There is no way to tell what happened,” Adam stated.
Ashraf Issa, spokesman for the local UN peacekeeping mission said “we are in the eye of the storm” about the explosion of COVID-19 infections, as local officials have little resources to treat or even detect cases of the coronavirus. A health ministry official told the AP that Darfur is “like a separate continent” as Darfur’s problems are exponentially worse than the eastern parts of the country.
No revolution
For those in Darfur’s camps, the virus presents a potential death sentence. Most people there have nowhere left to run as continued violence and oppression awaits them if they attempt to return home. For many, the entire concept of home has changed as children have grown up in Al Fashir’s sprawling and crammed camps, with many knowing no other life besides it.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) wants to try Sudan’s former dictator Omar al-Bashir on charges of genocide and war crimes for his role in the Darfur conflict. Although the Sudanese transitional government has agreed to hand Al Bashir over to the ICC, few things have changed for the people in Darfur, for whom the revolution has meant very little.
With no outlook for change and the continued threat of violence outside of the UN camps, Darfur’s people face an unprecedented challenge with nowhere to go. “We’re losing a whole generation,” Gamal Abdulkarim Abdullah, director of Zam Zam camp, told the AP.
“The government barely knows we exist,” Mohamed Hassan Adam reiterated. “I fear the worst is yet to come.”
In a largely male-dominated industry, the world of rap has opened up considerably in recent years under the impulse of many women who want to make their voices heard — even in the Arab world, where little space has been made for female rappers who are too often held to a different standard than their male counterparts.
After scouring both the mainstream and underground rap scene, here are eight of the best Arab female rappers you need to listen to. Strong, passionate, and politically engaged, these women are challenging social norms and stealing the spotlight.
Shadia Mansour
The British-Palestinian musician is one of the pioneering women of Arab rap. Dubbed “the First Lady of Arab Hip Hop,” Shadia Mansour has been performing from an early age, singing classical music before shifting to rap music.
Her songs are political statements that carry her passion for Palestinian liberation with a rapping style reminiscent of the 80s and 90s.
Malikah
Despite her sparse releases, Lebanon’s rapping queen Malikah has been in the game for over a decade.
Born Lynn Fatouh, she started her journey rapping both in English and French, and then, in 2006, she switched to Arabic after reinventing herself as Malikah, the Arabic word for queen, a title she has kept ever since.
She has collaborated with many central figures of the Arab rap scene and has made her way into the international festival circuit with cross-cultural projects such as Lyrical Rose, her trio with Kenyan artist Nazzi and Columbian rapper Diana Avella.
Meryem Saci
Montreal-based singer and rapper Meryem Saci is considered one of Algeria’s first female rappers.
Her sound is eclectic, mixing together various influences such as jazz and reggae with Middle-Eastern undertones and Gnaoua-style music.
The Algerian rapper never fails to impress with new aspects of her art and defines her style as “Afro-Arab.”
Mona Haydar
Syrian-American rapper Mona Haydar ventured into the music industry in 2017 and found immediate success.
Her first song “Hijabi” totals a whopping 7.2 million views on YouTube.
Far from being a one-hit-wonder, she has since released many songs and has racked up impressive views, making her one the most prolific and female rappers in the Arab world. Her songs speak of feminism, denounce racism, and advocate self-love, tolerance, and world peace.
Asayel Slay
The rapper shot to fame with her debut song, “Bint Mecca” (“Mecca Girl”), a song in which she celebrates women from Mecca, Islam’s holiest city.
Conservatives slammed her song along with the music video, accusing the rapper of undermining the customs and traditions of Mecca, Saudi Arabia. This led to the singer’s arrest, but she was released shortly after.
The controversy only made Asayael Slay’s hit even more popular as people went online to show support and solidarity with the rapper through the hashtag #بنت_مكة_تمثلني. (“Mecca girl represents me”).
Soultana
Soultana is one of the first female rappers in Morocco and the MENA region and has paved the way for a generation of Arab and North African women in the rapping industry.
Well-known for her a passionate rapping style and energetic delivery, Soultana rose to international prominence as part of Moroccan girl group Tigress Flow, before branching out as a solo artist.
Her biggest hit to date, Sawt Nssa, or “Voice of Women,” is a feminist manifesto in which she condemns street harassment and gender-based violence.
Medusa
Medusa Lp Aug 14 Photo 1 2 900×600
Boutheina El Alouadi, known as Medusa, is a rapper and dancer who has been immersed in Tunisia’s burgeoning hip-hop scene from the age of 10.
She is also the first woman rapper from Tunisia to break out onto the international scene. Her songs touch on topics ranging from abortion rights and revolution to world peace.
Mayam Mahmoud
She made a name for herself on the popular “Arabs Got Talent” television show, but Mayam Mahmoud is much more than a hijab-wearing rapper: She is a women’s rights activist who made it her mission to combat sexual harassment in Egypt, a mission that got her the 2014 Index Art Award in London.
Just like her advocacy, her songs tackle harassment, sexism, and victim-blaming.
Astronomer Ibrahim al-Jarwan from the Arab Union for Astronomy and Space Sciences said he predicts Eid al-Adha, the Islamic holiday to celebrate the end of the Hajj pilgrimage, is likely to fall on July 31 this year.
“The crescent of the lunar month of Dhu Al Hijjah 1441 is to be spotted on Monday, July 20, 2020, at 9.33 p.m. UAE time,” Al Jarwan said on June 14.
“July 22 will mark the first day of Dhu Al Hijjah month and Friday, July 31, shall be the first day of Eid Al Adha, according to astronomical calculations,” he continued.
Families that can afford it mark the second of Islam’s two biggest holidays by sacrificing an acceptable animal such as a sheep, goat, cow, or camel. The animal is then divided into three portions: One third for family, one third for friends and neighbors, and one third for the poor.
UAE-bound sheep stranded in Australia
Across the Gulf, thousands of live sheep arrive from countries like Australia in the lead up to Eid. One ship bound for the UAE, the “Al Kuwait,” has been stuck in Australia since May 22 after 21 of the 48 crew members tested positive for COVID-19 after docking in Fremantle, Western Australia—putting its 56,000 cargo of live sheep in limbo.
On June 13, the Australian Department of Agriculture approved an application for an alternative ship to leave with 50,000 of the 56,000 sheep originally supposed to be transported by the “Al Kuwait.” Australia has a moratorium on live sheep exports to the Gulf from June to September to protect animal welfare from the area’s extreme summer temperatures.
Kuwait renewed a plea to the Australian government to waive its moratorium on live export in the wake of a drop in international freight, which has significantly impacted fresh meat imports and supply in the Gulf state.
Kuwait’s Minister of Trade and Industry Khalid Nassir Alrowdan asked Australia’s Agriculture Minister David Littleproud to “reconsider the Australian livestock export ban during the hemisphere summer…to enhance our national food security and the Australian national economy.”
The latest request comes after the CEO of the state-run Kuwait Livestock Transport and Trading, Osama Boodai, wrote to the Australian government on April 2 asking it to “reconsider” the June to September ban.
“The current COVID-19 outbreak around the world has placed increased pressure on food supplies into the Middle East region,” Boodai said in his letter to Littleproud.
“The revered Eid Al Adha festival falls in late July and live animals are of critical importance to that occasion and we fear there will also be shortages then,” Boodai continued.
“Restricting the trade of Australian sheep puts the region’s sovereign food security at risk and damages very long time trading relationships,” Bodai warned.
It appears that the combined economic opportunity and the food insecurity issues raised by the Kuwait government forced the Australian government’s hand and pushed it to permit the one-off shipment.
Eid preparations begin
Morocco, like many Middle Eastern and North African countries, started preparing for Eid al-Adha just a few days after celebrating Eid al-Fitr. Over the past month, local authorities in Morocco tagged 4.5 million livestock, including sheep and goats ahead of the major religious holiday—a phenomenon playing out across the region.
On May 26, Moroccan Agriculture Minister Aziz Akhannouch announced some 2.6 million sheep had been selected and vaccinated in preparation for what is known in English as the “sacrifice holiday.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic did not stop us from celebrating Eid al-Fitr, but the Eid al-Adha celebration poses logistical challenges and requires good planning and organization,” Akhannouch said.
Moroccan authorities have also agreed to subside stock feed this year given the dry season and COVID-19 economic difficulties to ensure stock are in good condition for slaughter and to prevent high feed costs from impacting consumer prices.
Hajj could be canceled
In Saudi Arabia, it is shaping up to be a very different Eid al-Adha in 2020, and authorities are still considering whether or not to cancel the annual hajj pilgrimage.
In late July, some two million pilgrims usually flock to Saudi Arabia to complete what for many is a once-in-a-lifetime religious journey in the Muslim Holy Land, which ends in Eid al-Adha. Canceling the pilgrimage would be a first since the Gulf kingdom was founded in 1932 and could cost Saudi Arabia millions in visitor revenue.
Saudi Arabia has a high number of COVID-19 cases, and with the ongoing worldwide travel restrictions, the Saudi government said it will make a decision within the week about cancelling the 2020 hajj.
“The issue has been carefully studied and different scenarios are being considered. An official decision will be made within one week,” a senior official from Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of the Hajj and Umrah told the Financial Times on June 12.
One idea the ministry is considering is allowing a small number of local Saudi pilgrims, around 20% of the usual number, to complete the hajj.
“All options are on the table but the priority is for the health and safety of pilgrims,” the official said.
With over 123,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, Saudi Arabia has one of the highest counts in the Gulf, and the latest embassy closures show that even diplomatic missions have not managed to escape the novel virus.
The Embassy of Yemen, located in the Diplomatic Quarter of Riyadh, announced its closure through its official Facebook page at 6 p.m. on the evening of Saturday, June 13.
“The Embassy of the Republic of Yemen in Riyadh announces suspension of work from tomorrow Sunday, 14/6/2020 indefinitely due to the emergence of a number of cases of Coronavirus-19,” the post read.
“The embassy wishes everyone good health and wellness,” it concluded. The Yemeni Embassy had long been closed to the public due to the COVID-19 outbreak in Saudi Arabia and only began accepting consular appointments again on June 11.
Meanwhile, on June 10, the Embassy of the Philippines, also located in Riyadh’s Diplomatic Quarter, said it would also be forced to close again, “effective June 14 2020 until further notice,” after identifying a coronavirus cluster among staff of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO).
“POLO-Riyadh officials and staff need to undergo quarantine processes after several of them recently tested positive for COVID-19,” the embassy said in an official press release.
“Embassy personnel who recently came in contact with the infected POLO-Riyadh employees shall also undergo quarantine and COVID-19 testing to ensure the safety of the transacting public,” it added.
The statement did not specify how many staff members were infected with COVID-19, but Arab Times reports six staff members tested positive for the virus. The office will be subject to deep cleaning and sterilization while staff work from home, according to the same source.
Services at the Embassy of the Philippines, which only reopened on June 7, will not be affected. POLO-Riyadh personnel will continue to offer client services and counselling over the phone, the embassy added.
The Yemeni Civil War has created the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, leaving more than one hundred thousand dead, millions homeless, and even more without food and water.
More than 20 million Yemeni civilians continue to suffer from food insecurity, with 18 million lacking access to clean water. The economy of the Arab country has fallen into shambles, with the worst of this impacting Yemen’s densely-populated North, which remains under the control of the militant Houthi movement.
However, despite the continued economic disaster affecting the Yemeni people, the Houthis have now implemented a major tax reform that critics argue is designed to siphon money away from the Yemeni people in order to further sustain the Houthis’ domination over their occupied territories.
They undertook the change, an amendment to Yemen’s Zakat tax code, through an executive order in April; however, the Houthis postponed the announcement of the change until recently. Independent from traditional taxes collected by the state, the Zakat is typically defined as a religious levy specifically earmarked to aid the poor.
The “Khums”—one-fifth—amendment imposed an additional levy of 20% on all of Yemen’s natural resources, including agriculture, oil, and livestock, three of Yemen’s most important industries.
The Zakat is by no means a novel concept in Yemen; in fact, as one of the five pillars of Islam, the Zakat tax is established as law in numerous countries, including Libya, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Yemen. However, while the Zakat is traditionally designed to help the poor, the money raised through these means will now be given to the descendents of the Prophet Muhammad, the “Bani Hashem” tribe—of which the Houthi’s leadership claims to be a part.
In following with a long history of what some claim is a Houthi monopolization of power in Yemen, the move seems to represent yet another attempt by the group to consolidate the country’s wealth into its own hands.
The Houthi Yemen
In the mountainous interior of Yemen’s densely populated North, the Houthi occupation has become analogous to the authoritarian rule of Yemen’s former dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh. Rather than overthrow the previous regime in Yemen, the Houthis have instead acted to replace it with an equally authoritarian leadership.
The Houthis and Saleh initially reached a power-sharing agreement when the former took control of Sana’a in 2014, but the alliance eventually broke down three years later and Saleh was killed.
Within months, the Houthis began to purge Saleh-loyalists and monopolize their grip on Yemen. The group appointed “mushrifeen”—supervisors—within every level of the government to ensure loyalty.
On Wednesday afternoons, the Houthis send civil servants, academics, and other officials to “dourat thiqafiya”—cultural sessions—where they swear allegiance to the Houthi’s leader, Abdul-Malik Badreddin al-Houthi. These euphemized indoctrination camps reflect the new culture of Yemen, one where the authority and legitimacy of al-Houthi is beyond question.
“The trajectory [of the Houthis] is towards a Zaydi version of the Taliban,” Abdul-Ghani al-Iryani, a Yemeni analyst, said earlier this year.
Although the Houthis maintained the parliament and military, the group created a parallel government, the Supreme Political Council (SPC), that wields ultimate power. At the reins of this new Yemen is al-Houthi, who has since adopted the title of “Wali al-Alam,” loosely translated as “Supreme Leader.”
Not content with the mere title of “Supreme Leader,” al-Houthi has styled himself as a military strongman, in the likes of Saleh many years before. Al-Houthi has claimed that he is leading a “massira quraniya,” a Koranic march, and his followers proclaim that the Houthis will soon take control over Islam’s holiest cities—Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem.
However, despite these grandiose proclamations, the Houthis remain firmly entrenched in North Yemen, continuing to rule over their territory in the authoritarian style that has dominated Yemen for decades.
The Fear Economy
The aftermath of the Houthi insurgency left the economy of Yemen in ruins, with the ongoing Yemeni Civil War imposing a hold on any reconstruction efforts. However, beyond being victims of circumstance, the Houthis have persistently operated a systematic campaign to disrupt the flow of aid from the United Nations and foreign actors into Yemen.
Although the World Food Programme (WFP) imports enough food into Yemen to feed more than 12 million people, the Houthis’ “mushrifeen” determines how the food is distributed. Houthi loyalists remain well-fed, with the remaining food being gifted to favored merchants who profit from the monopolized food market. By the end, the rest of the population in Houthi-occupied Yemen are left to fend for themselves.
Aid workers who attempt to circumvent this network of Houthi obstruction are often extorted for money or arrested and held hostage. This has forced many aid organizations to leave the country and abandon their efforts.
Within the ensuing climate of fear in the new Yemen loyalty is a prerequisite to survival. Further, the consolidation of Yemen’s national wealth into the hands of the Houthis has made the group into the sole provider for social welfare in their occupied territories.
The new change to the Zakat tax only exacerbates this power monopoly in Sana’a, as the Houthis will continue to profit from the levies on a barely-recovering economy. However, although the Houthis are unlikely to lose their foothold in North Yemen any time soon, the group’s recent activities and promotion of tribalist policies have awakened dissent from both within their occupied territory and abroad.
Dissent Within and Abroad
The people of North Yemen initially greeted the Houthis as liberators, offering applause and open arms. As the Houthi leadership grew more predatory and oppressive, discontent began to surface among the Houthis’ subjects.
This discontent has been evident following the Houthis’ decision to amend the Zakat, with Yemeni citizens criticizing and mocking the decision on social media.
Following news of the amendment, Yemeni citizens took to social media to voice their grievances over the issue.
In particular, critics have argued that the policies of the Houthi government continue to inch closer to those of South Africa’s apartheid regime, highlighting the Zakat amendment as further evidence.
“If what is rumoured about the Houthi legislation that gives the Hashemites a fifth of the country’s wealth under the claim that it is their legitimate right, then that is a calamity for the Hashemites before being a disaster for the country,” Mohamed Azzan, a Yemeni Islamic scholar, said on Twitter.
“Yemenis will look at it as looting their wealth motivated by racism, and this tyranny only deepens feelings of oppression, giving rise to appalling revenge, albeit after a while.”
Members of Yemen’s government-in-exile feature among the critics, including Minister of Human Rights Mohammed Askar, who argued that the amendment displayed the Houthis’ attempts at dividing Yemen through sectarianism and discrimination.
“The so-called law issued by Houthi militias gives them a new opportunity to rob Yemenis and national resources, and it was not ratified by constitutional entities in the country,” Askar told the newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat.
“When examining the law, it becomes evident that it is exceptionally discriminatory and it sets the stage to divide society into classes and abolish the concept of citizenship among the members of the community.”
Joining with Turkey, the United States, Brazil, and others, the Houthis in Yemen are continuing to follow the path of authoritarianism and domination. As Yemen’s population adjusts to their country’s disappearing wealth, the Houthi leadership remains immune to Yemen’s fragile economic state.
Workers building the Al Bayt Stadium went without pay for seven months as their employer, Qatar Meta Coats (QMC), failed to compensate them. Qatar’s World Cup organizing body has banned QMC from obtaining further contracts for world cup projects and required the company to pay three months of salaries owed.
Despite the progress many workers are still owed wages. Many were unable to renew their work permits after the company was sold and new management came in to resolve the payments issue.
The Pakistani government has raised concerns with the Qatari Ministry of Labor over the mistreatment and non-payment of approximately 80,000 Pakistani workers contributing to the effort to build stadiums, roads, and accommodation. In addition to individual workers, Pakistani company Descon claims that Qatari authorities failed to pay them for their services, a concern which Pakistani officials have also raised.
Amnesty International has long sought to highlight the plight of migrant workers in Qatar running a campaign entitled “Qatar World Cup of Shame.” On the issue of non-payment of wages, Amnesty’s Head of Economic and Social Justice, Steven Cockburn, said, “This case is the latest damning illustration of how easy it still is to exploit workers in Qatar.”
Amnesty has also questioned why, if Qatar knew about non-payment issues from July, 2019, as the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy has indicated, the government allowed the employer to continue to exploit workers for months.
Pakistani workers have said they lost their jobs after reporting non-payment to Qatari authorities, creating fear among workers to speak out and underlining the inadequacies in Qatar’s complaints processes for migrant workers.
Despite the well documented abuse of migrant workers, FIFA refuses to take responsibility, disputing claims that ongoing mistreatment of workers is indicative of the organization’s disregard for human rights.
A controversial choice
The selection of Qatar to host the 2022 cup was a controversial choice given the lack of infrastructure and extreme heat. The competition normally takes place during the summer period. Investigations into FIFA, launched by the United States, later revealed that Qatar won the bid as a result of extensive bribes given to FIFA officials.
As detailed by Arabia Policy in April, former FIFA President Sepp Blatter suggested that the United States could end up hosting the 2022 cup instead of Qatar. Whilst a change of host country is unlikely to occur, Blatter’s suggestion highlights the ongoing trepidation about Qatar’s ability to host the cup.
The ongoing exploitation of migrant workers in Qatar is a cause for international concern and is a further stain on the Gulf nation’s World Cup, prior to the event kicking-off in over two years’ time.
The presence of churches is inescapable in Portugal, a country that has centered its identity since the Middle Ages on a Christian heritage and where students continue to learn of the reconquest against Muslim “invaders.”
Missing in any meaningful way from this narrative however is the approximately 500 years of Muslim rule during which Christians, Jews, and Muslims lived together in relative harmony. Ignored too is the influence that this period continues to have on art and culture in the region once known as al-Andalus.
Tracing al-Andalus
In 711, Arab armies from North Africa led by Tariq ibn-Ziyad conquered large parts of Portugal and Spain to create a region known in Arabic as al-Andalous. Whilst Arabic invaders did not force conversion, historians believe that by the 10th century approximately half of the population had converted to Islam.
Following the reconquest in the 12th and 13th centuries, subsequent Portuguese kings gradually expelled Muslim and Jewish communities from their territory. In 1496, the decision by King Manuel I to expel all remaining Muslims and Jews resulted in the creation of Portugal as an exclusively Christian nation.
Despite its violent end, the influence of the Andalusian period is still identifiable in the Portuguese language today. Portuguese writer Adalberto Alves has identified 19,000 Portuguese words that originated from Arabic and recently arriving refugees report surprise at recognizing words in a language they expected to be completely foreign.
One of the most extraordinary examples of this influence is the Portuguese word “oxala.” Pronounced “oshallah,” it is derived from the Arabic word “inshallah” and has the same meaning, “God willing.”
Eschewing the narrative of Europeans and Muslims as natural enemies, Alves has explored the ongoing influence of al-Andalus in Portugal and Spain. As a result of this work, which has highlighted contributions to poetry and art, many in Portugal are increasingly embracing Andalusian culture as a part of local history.
Celebrating examples of coexistence
Nationalist dictator Antonio de Oliveira Salazar furthered the conceptualization of Portugal as an exclusively Christian nation during the Estado Novo. Lasting from 1933 to 1974, the Estado Novo period depicted Muslims as the enemy and “the traces of Islamic history were erased,” explains anthropologist Maria Cardeira da Silva.
In the small town of Mertola in southeastern Portugal, archaeological work has highlighted how communities lived together and challenged dominant narratives of conquest. Claudio Torres, who founded of the archeaological Field of Mertola in 1978, suggests that trade was particularly important to the spread of Islam in the region.
As a result of centuries of interaction between Southern Europeans and North Africans, Torres believes the two groups “have a common past and a lot of cultural similarities. We are closer to northern Africa than we are to northern Europe.”
To that end the town of Mertola is embracing its history and in 2019 held its 10th Islamic Festival of Mertola. The annual festival highlights the influence that Islam and Muslim residents had on the region and draws performers and crowds from across the region.
As interest in Portugal’s Muslim history continues to grow, it serves as an anecdote to counter rising intolerance around the region and highlights the possibilities of peaceful coexistence.
Governments across the MENA region, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE, have shut down shisha cafes as they attempt to slow the spread of coronavirus.
In Europe, where shisha bars are also closed due to government-mandated shutdowns, a number continued to operate illegally. Government officials in both Germany and the United Kingdom caught out illegal shisha cafe operators when health authorities identified the cafes as the source of new coronavirus outbreaks.
Earlier this month in the town of Gottingen in Lower Saxony, 36 people contracted coronavirus after visiting an illegally operated shisha cafe. A further 310 entered quarantine as a result of contact with those infected.
Perfect for spreading the virus
The communal nature of shisha, with the pipe being passed among groups, makes it a natural conduit for coronavirus. Health experts have suggested that the threat is heightened by the fact that only the mouthpiece is changed between use by one group of customers and the next.
The pipe and base remain the same between customers, furthering the risk of the virus spreading via particles from a contaminated user. The details of the spread of coronavirus during shisha use remain slightly unclear and further research is needed to understand in precise detail how the device contributes to the spread of the virus. Doctors remain sure, however, that the device is susceptible to spreading the virus.
Health experts have also suggested that the large exhalations of smoke clouds may also contain virus particles with the risk being particularly high when smoking in an enclosed space. The bouts of coughing that often accompany shisha smoking present a further risk.
Established health concerns
The case against reopening shisha bars is being expanded by some to include a discussion of the health impacts of smoking shisha.
Prior to COVID-19 concern was growing over the health impacts of shisha with studies showing that smoking shisha for one hour can be as harmful as smoking 100 cigarettes. The practice has also been linked to increased rates of diabetes and obesity.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has previously stated that smokers are more likely to suffer from severe forms of coronavirus if they fall ill. As a result of the impact of smoking on the lungs, smokers are unable to fight the virus as effectively as non-smokers.
Despite the health concerns, the number of daily shisha smokers remained high prior to COVID-19. Arab News estimates there are 100 million daily smokers with 15% of 13-15 year olds in Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, and Yemen smoking shisha.
The use of charcoal for heating shisha is a further cause for concern as it releases carbon monoxide. In enclosed bars and spaces this can lead to poisoning of staff and patrons. Last year, a shisha cafe in Tooting, in South London, was forced to close after the residents in the flats above, including young children, suffered carbon monoxide poisoning.
Carbon monoxide poisoning occurs when the colorless and odorless gas enters the bloodstream. As a result of mixing with haemoglobin, the blood is no longer able to carry oxygen and this causes the body’s cells and tissues to die.
Fortunately, all those in Tooting recovered, but the incident further highlights the risks of shisha. As coronavirus restrictions begin to ease and cafes reopen, there is space for broader discussions about the future of shisha cafes.
Racists in Europe must have breathed a sigh of relief over the weekend. Thousands rallied across the continent in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and against police brutality, but few even mentioned that the EU is showing a similar disdain and disregard for Black lives at its borders.
In the US, the legacy of slavery is obvious and noticeable on a daily basis, as the victims of American slavery are part of the country’s society. In Europe, the victims of centuries of oppression and slavery are hidden away, kept from even entering the world’s most prosperous region and claiming even a fragment of the results of their ancestors’ labor.
When European empires stretched across the globe, as recently as 70 years ago, colonizers constantly reminded their subjects of their “mother country” in Europe. Now that these countries no longer profit from them, the descendants of the colonized, often separated by only a single generation, are considered unwelcome foreigners, with no right to enter the continent that their ancestors’ suffering helped build.
In a case of incredible projection, Europeans who once invaded countries to extract resources now accuse poor migrants of trying to “profit from and exploit” Europe’s welfare system that their ancestors helped build as much as Europeans did.
Europeans remain shocked and incredulous in the face of US racism but remain blind to their own similar or often even worse treatment of those that do not have the right immigration papers.
Anti-racism protests
European leaders were quick to express their condemnation of the brutal murder of George Floyd and some even highlighted similar forms of racism in Europe. The continent’s continued complicity in the daily deaths and suffering of its own colonial victims did not receive any attention.
Just in the one week since the anti-racism protests spread across the EU, dozens of Black people experienced their own silent and unreported “I can’t breathe” moment as they drowned in the Mediterranean.
Many have commented on the apparent lack of accountability for police violence in the US, but if George Floyd had been a drowning migrant, those who called for the officer to stop could have been prosecuted, as saving a migrant’s life during sea crossings is a crime in several EU countries. All sense of human decency appears to have been abandoned in the concerted effort to ensure Europe’s wealth is never shared with its colonial victims that helped create that wealth.
Countries such as Britain, France, Spain, the Netherlands, and Italy that have extracted untold amounts of wealth from their colonial subjects now accuse the descendants of their victims of exploiting them, with no apparent sense of shame whatsoever. “Let them die because this is a good deterrence,” is how a UN rapporteur described the European strategy.
FRONTEX
In order to avoid a confrontation with Europe’s colonial past, the EU has set up a paramilitary force in control of concentration camps, advanced military hardware, mobilized a $350 million budget, and granted an unspoken license to kill. Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency is Europe’s version of a militarized police force, conveniently hidden from citizens’ view and used to commit daily human rights violations.
Black migrants in Europe are not even considered worthy of human rights, if they are not lucky enough to already be in possession of a European passport. Those unfortunate people in dangerously overcrowded boats in the Mediterranean are all structurally denied their human right of asylum (Article 33 of the Geneva Convention on Refugees.)
They are similarly denied the human right to not experience inhuman and degrading treatment (Article 3 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) and the right to leave any country (Article 13.2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.)
By keeping migrants away from European shores, the EU is ensuring it does not have to recognize the rights of those attempting the dangerous journey and instead putting that responsibility on regimes it knows will not uphold them.
Europeans have some of the most powerful passports on earth and can travel virtually unimpeded, but apparently see no moral problem in the fact that others are barred from entering their territory.
Deal with the devil
Increased scrutiny of FRONTEX has not changed Europe’s ways, instead it has changed its methods to avoid responsibility. Europe has made deals with oppressive regimes in Turkey and Libya that exchange large amounts of euros to move the structural and continuing death toll of Black people away from European coasts and towards those of North Africa.
The move has led to Libyan coast guard and European ships forcing migrants back to African shores, Libyan concentration camps full of migrants, and a reemergence of slave auctions in Libya.
But another devil with whom European politicians are making a deal is the anti-immigration voting bloc that they aim to appease. Politicians employ many of the brutal strategies to keep former colonial subjects out because of fear of losing support from Europe’s anti-immigrant voters. Far from a fringe group, they constitute enough political power to make even left-wing politicians approach the topic with caution.
Many on Europe’s right claim the continent is doing enough to help Africa through development aid. But the decreasing development budgets of EU countries stand in stark contrast with the net outflow of over $16.3 trillion of wealth extracted from developing countries to developed ones since 1980.
American law enforcement disgracefully kills an average of 1,000 Black people every year, while the EU’s tally in 2019 was 1,283. Its immigration policies killed 2,299 in 2018. The number of recorded deaths has gone down only because rescue ships are no longer searching for migrants and therefore not recording the death toll.
Since 2014, ships have found at least 19,164 migrants dead in the Mediterranean, all simply human beings trying to exercise their human right to claim asylum in Europe.
While Europeans protests in solidarity with America’s anti-racist movements, perhaps they should take a deep look at their own structural and continuing murder of their former colonial subjects in an effort to keep “them” away from Europe’s shores.
Europe needs to stop wagging its finger at others and perhaps take a deeper look into the structural racism and xenophobia that keeps Europe rich at the cost of Black lives, which, unlike those in the US, are lost far away from cameras and moral outrage.
