What was this thread about?

Thanks for sharing, Abbaas (what's this Maqane?)

Is this not in violation of international human rights law? Were Somali refugees in Kenya consulted before drafting the agreement? What does "voluntary repatriation" even mean, and how will it be implemented? I'm interested to know what resettlement and reintegration plan will be in place to prevent the refugees in Kenya from becoming internally displaced people... I'm not sure whether the conditions in Somalia can even accommodate large scale returns.

No I don't, Mooge. Classified;985234 wrote: ^ According to her, wearing the Hijab isn't compulsory. It's a matter of interpretation. According to her, a woman can wear whatever she wants, from Niqab to a bikini in [islam]. According to her and I'm paraphrasing it, we can bend Islam to fit into our choosing. Fascinating, because that's news to me. If I've said any of those things, I'd love for you to quote me directly. This is a forum, there's a written record after all.

This thread is about Western democracies, specifically the UK.

Classified;985227 wrote: As Muslims, we can use the banning of the Niqab to our advantage. Knowing that the Niqab isn't really a mandatory in Islam, we can make the Western governments to ban women wearing Bikinis on the beach. I'm quite sure many holy Christians and Jews will be onboard with this. lol well... at least you're consistent. The problem with niqab bans is that they're intended to target a specific minority, so I'm not sure why some of you are applauding the xenophobia and Islamophobic attitudes in Western countries that are fixed on Muslim women as objects that need to be "saved" from their cultures/religion. There is no way to swing that sort of racism in your favour. Women can and should be able to dress however they want, whether that's a bikini or a niqab.

Blackflash;985213 wrote: I've just finished watching it. It's an excellent watch for anyone who doesn't know all the particulars of this scandal so far. I was a bit surprised that the "community organizer" would broadcast his charges and the details surrounding them while his case is still before the courts. I just watched it as well, really interesting documentary but certainly more of a synthesis of what we already know rather than new investigative journalism. I'm also surprised Mohamed Farah decided to reveal himself and I'm not sure why it was necessary at this point. I wish the CBC had gone further into the Anthony Smith murder and examine other evidence of Rob Ford's implication in criminality... they hinted at some of the activities Toronto police ignored but sort of left it at that. I'm sure everything will come out, though.

The Broker: In His Own Words Long before the Toronto Star labeled me the 'broker' as part of their story about a video of Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine, I was helping young men in my community negotiate a future that did not involve a life of crime. For more than a decade I’ve been a broker of sorts in a struggle for survival among young and vulnerable Canadian born Somali men who live in the Dixon community. I am proud of that accomplishment and I hope to continue serving in a similar capacity long after the Rob Ford story disappears from the headlines. Our community, made up of Canadians born in Somalia or to Somali immigrants, has been marginalized both by politicians elected to help them and by the police assigned to protect them. The media are never in our neighbourhood when families celebrate their children’s many accomplishments. Instead, cameras and live satellite trucks are everywhere on the morning of a raid or the day after a tragedy. By then, we are too busy worrying about our safety or grieving for a lost one to offer intelligent commentary on our social condition. The Toronto Sun profiled me ten years ago and describing the services my friends and I were providing to the community through the Dixon Youth Network, dubbed me the “Peacemaker.” Shortly after the Sun’s profile, my best friend at the time was attacked and hit over the head with an iron bar. Some misinformed thugs apparently did not like what we at the DYN were trying to do. My friend, Mohamed Omar, a budding math genius, survived the attack, but the head trauma left him with difficulties learning and remembering new information. Incidents like these are too frequent and they send a chill down the spine of anyone who wishes to help make a difference. The police was not there to protect Omar when he was attacked and yet today as young Somali men are murdered across the GTA and Alberta, Toronto Police and the RCMP has the gall to say the reason they can’t solve these murders is because no one in the community is willing to cooperate with their investigations. People who don’t share our experience are often quick to judge us and dismiss our young men as drug dealers and gangbangers. For the record, I’ve never been a member of a gang nor have I ever possessed or sold drugs to anyone. I have tried my best to be a role model to young people by becoming a contributing citizen of this wonderful country of ours. I am still burdened by an incident that took place in 2011. A young man approached me asking for my help with a problem in his life. I was apparently too busy with my own affairs to help him. A few days later 24-year-old Abdikadir Khan was killed in one of the Dixon high-rise buildings. The fact that I could have helped him and didn’t has haunted me and since that day I have made it an unwritten policy never to turn my back on anyone who reaches out to me for help. When I was approached by a young man in Dixon earlier this year to find a buyer for a video showing Mayor Ford smoking what was described to me at the time as crack cocaine, I asked to see it before agreeing to do anything. I thought it was a hoax, a skit or a prank. Unfortunately, it was none of the above. I asked him what he hoped to gain by selling it. He told me he had two videos that would be of public interest and he thought the video with Mayor Ford had a monetary value and with it he could perhaps get a head start on a new life somewhere other than Dixon. I believed he was sincere. The intense media coverage of what transpired in the days and week after the story broke has been the cause of much distress to me and many in my neighbourhood. Then came the Project Traveler raids. I too was arrested and charged with gun possession and yet I have never owned a gun in my life. I plan to defend myself against these charges in court in the months to come. In the eyes of our elders the raids were connected to reports of the crack video a month earlier. The real ‘trauma’ of the video, to invoke Bill Blair’s descriptive term, was experienced by mothers and grandmothers in Dixon on the morning of June 13 when hundreds of law enforcement officials descended on Dixon as if it was a shanty town infested with gangsters. Yet again, the Dixon neighborhood was making headlines around the world for all the wrong reasons. Now that Mayor Ford has ‘fessed’ up to his actions and more videos are beginning to surface of behavior deemed unacceptable for an elected official, my community still has to carry around the negative label of being a ‘hood’ where gangs thrive. I don’t hold out much hope for change. I expect our youth will continue to struggle to get jobs even when they have excellent qualifications. Unemployment in Dixon is about four times the national average. High school drop-out rates for Canadian born Somali teenagers will likely continue to hover just under 40 percent if action is not taken soon to reverse the trend. The lack of resources and facilities for our women, elderly and youth will continue to go unaddressed if politicians refuse to intervene and help alleviate the situation. My intention for coming out and telling my story is to shed light on the hypocrisy of a system that punishes the vulnerable for minor misdemeanors while the rich and powerful are protected by the same laws for crimes that are much more egregious. Has the time not come for our elected officials to take action that would lift my community out of a state of distress and give our youth a chance to prosper? Mohamed Farah

Live and let live. I don't like the niqab, but what I'm against is the idea that it's within the state's right to limit women's autonomy and dictate what they can or can't do with their bodies. I am more disturbed by people who think they can infringe on people's right to practice their religion as they interpret it.

I hate having a good hair day and no plans to go out. My original plan tonight was to stay in and read/catch up on work, but because my hair looks great and I can't waste a good hair day like that, I shall go out.

Thanks Blackflash, video does work here in the States. I'll watch the episode sometime tomorrow. Americans have been asking me what the hell is going on in Toronto all week. Embarrassing that this is international news at this point.

lool of course Nin-Yaaban is the one to post the photos of the Somali guy arrested

Alpha Blondy;985141 wrote: with this post, i'll have reached my 10,000 post. caajib. i will no longer be posting on SOL. see y'all around. Al. This song takes me back to my emo teen years lol

Classified;985153 wrote: Yeah, no thanks. I'll leave that to you. If you quote my initial post, you'll see the links. Good luck. The links don't work, that's my point. You can fix your thread on your own.

Looks like the website blocks hotlinking so pics don't show... can you try saving them to your computer and uploading via a site like tinypic.com? That should do the trick.

Haatu;985078 wrote: It's on the decrease. People are more aware nowadays especially the ladies who were the supporters of this practice in this past. It should have died out by my kids' generation inshallah. Nothing to get alarmed over. Wish we could say the same about Somalia and Ethiopia.

So this is the song my af-xabashi class will be dancing to. My eskesta is pretty good! I just don't want to do it in front of an audience

*Ibtisam;985047 wrote: ^^^Locked up? I am more for poetic justice- load them up to a ship and dump them in the sea. Mass murders. Agreed.

Interesting, I wonder how it has fared so far. Banning/suppressing female circumcision has a long history in Kenya and it has always had the effect of intensifying the practice. I think the only effective route is to educate people about the problems, rather than make them defensive and feel their cultures are under attack by the government.

Ahmed Samatar is an embarrassment to academics, his analysis is always shaped by his political ambitions, and to me that's the worst form of academic dishonesty. Our intellectuals should be above this. I don't know how anyone can take his opinions seriously anymore.

SP, context? Where is that law supposed to be enforced?

Somali or whatever ethnicity, the people who sell dreams to desperate people and put them on the overcrowded boats that lead to their watery deaths should be locked up forever. I'm often desensitized to the news but whenever I hear of a capsized ship leaving the Horn for the Middle East or North Africa for Europe (or the many stories of ship crews telling Africans to jump off the boat when an overweight ship becomes an issue mid trip or they're about to be caught), I find it so upsetting.

Khayr;984930 wrote: Shuukansi class 202....Alpha has some lines So when is the big day? Alpha is the only single man with white teeth in Sland. No date yet, just a strong possibility we'll elope when I'm in Hargeisa again next summer I'm surprised no one is trying to discourage me dee, does this mean we have SOL's blessings?

This is the funniest thing I've seen all year:

Reposting because Toronto Star removed it from YouTube...