By: Gulshan Aalani
SubhanAllah! We are lucky that we can ‘Vote’. Due to the Democracy, and Freedom, we can proudly declare that we are given all kinds of goodies on a Silver platter, including Islam that we never knew about.
We don’t need to fight about anything, especially for our (Women) rights of ‘Voting’ for which the Women of Suffragette worked so hard to get the voting rights for Women. We are all grateful to them.
Although, the Voting rights for men and women was established in 14th.C. by the final Prophet Muhammad SAWS on order of Divine Authority. He was the first one to practice the democratic rights by leaving it to the community to choose the leader after his demise.
We should take a full advantage of this freedom of ‘Voting’ rights and choose the best leader who is honest, truthful, not a liar, or concealing any wrong doings, protecting other’s criminal activity, caring, has soft point for the poor, down trodden, believe in equality, justice, anti-racist, has high Biblical ethics and moral values, must not compromise its law and is brave enough to stand up and speak up like any ‘Human Rights Activist’ and is good for the whole world. Choosing such person is the most difficult task but we must try hard and stand up with the good leader and for our country we adore, stand Guard for it, only possible by ‘Voting’ for the right leader who stands guard for humanity and the Divine Law.
South Asian Colourism
By: Zoya Siddiqui
I’ve always been called ‘Gori’. It’s been thrown around me my entire life. Passed around by the mouths of my family and their friends, rolling off their tongues as a compliment. It’s said lovingly, with admiration and a strikingly palpable sort of jealousy that takes the form of meaningful glances thrown at younger children who are too often told to stay inside so that their skin doesn’t tan darker.
“Your skin tone is so pretty,” my mother would sigh, holding her arm to mine as I struggled to fathom how my own mother could ever dislike the tone of her skin, how anyone could. Before I ever had the decency to be grateful for being white-passing, I was angry that it was something to be grateful for in the first place. How can my mother, my grandmother, and my cousins see their skin and not see shades of molten copper, warm chocolate, and smooth caramel? How could they possibly be unable to see that the tones of their skin can rival the prettiest autumnal colours that nature can create? Though I cannot wholly identify with their struggles, I will not allow my family to bring themselves down for the colour of their skin.
The concept that darker-skinned people are inherently inferior and unattractive is sickening, and its perpetuation is only a confirmation in my belief that the South Asian community has a massive ideological problem that must be dealt with immediately.
Colourism is deeply rooted in South Asian culture, as it traces back to the ideology of the ancient Indian caste system and a legacy of European colonialism. It has continued to fester into the worst form of psychological damage, especially when it comes to dark-skinned women. Skin lightening companies leech directly off of its prominence in our culture, much to the point where the global market size for skin bleaching products is projected to reach “13.7 billion” United States dollars by 2025 (Grand View Research). Following the surge of Black Lives Matter protests, however, these companies have fallen under extreme backlash. Multinational company Unilever has since renamed its best-selling “Fair and Lovely” bleaching cream to “Glow and Lovely”, a move that came nowhere near American tycoon Johnson and Johnson’s resolve to pull its bleaching products from the market altogether. Changing the name of the product, though, does not change its function. Regardless of what it is called, it is still a bleaching cream. It is a step in the right direction, but I am asking for a leap because the bare minimum should not be celebrated. The renaming of a product strikes me as something designed only to placate those who have chosen to boycott the brand. Had it been a genuine effort to make progressive change, the brand would have stripped the product and all of its variations from shelves immediately.
Skin lightening products are not the only reminder of the age-old idea that paleness is a measure of beauty. Bollywood and much of South Asian media continue to feed directly into colourism via their idealization of whiteness. There is a notable lack of dark-skinned actors in main casts, as they are typically shoved into backup dance crews while light skinned actors are given main parts. The industry has no problem with making their colourism clearer, it seems, as the upcoming Bollywood romantic comedy film, Khaali Peeli, came under fire in early September for a song lyric that promoted anti-blackness. The lyric, that has since been changed, was originally “ho tujhe dekh ke goriya Beyonce sharma jaayegi” (by looking at you, fair lady, Beyoncé will feel shy). The lyric was a testament to just how deep white idealization runs in South Asian culture. It can be deemed even more shocking when it is taken into account that only a few weeks prior to the song’s release, Beyoncé released the music video for her song “Brown Skin Girl” in which there is a clip that celebrates a dark-skinned South Asian woman. The main community that is able to emphasize with our struggle with colourism has done nothing but uplift us, yet we have done nothing but put them down.
It is shameful, the way we treat others, the way we treat each other, the way we treat ourselves. While the black community has made amazing strides towards the eradication of racism and colourism, we have done nothing. There is a disgusting amount of comfort surrounding the way in which dark-skinned people are treated in our culture. It is not talked about, it is not recognized, it is not ever seen as something to be fixed. I am both untouched by colourism and surrounded by it, and I do not want to sit and stay comfortable in a community so wrought with the worst form of internalized hatred. Centuries of damage cannot be undone, but that does not mean that its legacy should continue. Tell your daughters that they are beautiful, tell your children that they can play in the sun, and make strides towards forsaking the labels of “gori” and “kaalee” altogether. Before you do that, though, tell your mother that her complexion is beautiful because you do not know how many treatments and creams she has slathered onto her skin in hopes that they would make her pretty.
My reassurance for my colored skin friends and family is always on the tip of my tongue. Is it on yours?
The Moment Of Crisis Has Come
By: Hanif A. Patel, Surrey
For several days last month ( September), British Columbia endured smoky skies due to wildfires in Washington states, Oregon and California.
This change in the quality of air seriously impacts health, spreads unpleasant bed smells. It makes people feel suffocated, causes difficulty breathing and poor visibility creates an obstacle to drive on roads.
Wildfires smoke not only respiratory and health hazard, but adversely affects the environment – it can increase the temperature and produce more heat on earth.
Every Summer we have to face a similar threat of bush-fire whether in Canada or the United States. The important question is that how to tame burning threat and save life and property? We need to find new strategies to avert disasters.
People seem to be more concerned about Wildfires problems. The simple reason for that, Wildfires around the world are surging in number, size strength and destruction, driven partly be global warming.
It’s a reminder that moment of crisis has come we can no longer prevaricate.
Humans yet fail to comprehend the gravity of the catastrophe that is unfolding before their eyes.
