Gaza Musicians and the Struggle to be Heard

I’m a 23-year-old rapper, music producer and filmmaker living in the world’s largest open air prison.

I’m also a multimedia student at university. I’ve worked with many other young artists on creative projects, but unfortunately these projects never see the light of day, because no matter how hard we try, our dreams are constantly crushed by the tyranny of the limitations we face.

This article is my attempt to reach out to the world to share a different perspective on life in Gaza for musicians and rappers, to vent some of the frustrations we feel and to explain the obstacles we face. I hope to spark a discussion that could lead to change.

Of the many barriers artists and performers in Gaza face, the biggest of all is Israel’s ongoing siege and repeated wars and bombing raids. But we face many other challenges from the ground up.

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Gaza teacher challenges stigma of Down syndrome

The children counted in unison. One to ten. Their teacher, by way of encouragement, applauded in appreciation when they had finished.

It might have been any class in any primary school in Gaza except for one thing: the teacher and students all had Down syndrome.

Hiba al-Shurafa, 26, seemed confident and relaxed. Her manner was friendly and keen and her students responded during this recent class at the Right To Live Association in the eastern part of Gaza City.

The Right to Live Society is Gaza’s chapter of Down Syndrome International, an organization for those born with the condition.

It is here that al-Shurafa was trained to become the first Down syndrome teacher in Gaza.

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Gaza: Witnessing The War And Destruction

Who has Done This?

Migrant Crisis in Europe

Schengen will ‘break down’ in 10 days if no solution to migrant crisis found – EU commissioner.

There are only ten days left for European Union officials to significantly reduce the flow of migrants and asylum-seekers into the EU from Turkey, or the Schengen system is at risk of total collapse, according to the EU’s migration commissioner.
“In the next 10 days, we need tangible and clear results on the ground. Otherwise there is a risk that the whole system will completely break down,” Dimitris Avramopoulos, EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, told the media on Thursday.


The senior EU official's warning came after a Thursday meeting of EU justice and home affairs ministers in Brussels, where the officials had gathered to once again try to find a solution to the current migrant crisis. Read Full

Perfect Religious Knowledge

     

 The patterns set in motion by biblical religion make the question of religious knowledge of the utmost importance. In essence, mortals have been brought into a state of potential. Everything has been primed in advance: human beings can collaborate with God, to match human actions with God's intention. It is possible to feel the momentum of this idea building; in the biblical outlook individuals can make the decision to let their wills act in unison with that of God, they can stand ready to live in accordance with the whole purpose of history. But how do they do so? How do they know if their actions are correct? How do they know what God's intentions are?

       In trying to answer these questions, the biblical approach begins with a word of caution: no one is ever able to know God completely. No mortal can "become God" in the same sense as can the mystic. No one can claim, "I am God." At best, a human being can only gather information about God, collect insights into the workings of God in history, and on this basis construct what is believed to be a close approximation to God's will. But there is always room for error. Humankind is fallible; anyone can make honest mistakes, they can misjudge. There are, however, two things working in one’s favor: God's steadfast nature and desire to have that fellowship brought about. There is no method that guarantees perfect religious knowledge; individuals must act on trust. Consequently, the first step to such knowledge is the sincere desire and decision to understand God, no matter how imperfect that understanding may be.

Sojourn in Baghdád

A twenty-year-old Faith had just begun to recover from a series of successive blows when a crisis of the first magnitude overtook it and shook it to its roots. Neither the tragic martyrdom of the Báb nor the ignominious attempt on the life of the sovereign, nor its bloody aftermath, nor Bahá'u'lláh's humiliating banishment from His native land, nor even His two-year withdrawal to Kurdistán, devastating though they were in their consequences, could compare in gravity with this first major internal convulsion which seized a newly rearisen community, and which threatened to cause an irreparable breach in the ranks of its members. 
More odious than the unrelenting hostility which Abú-Jahl, the uncle of Muhammad, had exhibited, more shameful than the betrayal of Jesus Christ by His disciple, Judas Iscariot, more perfidious than the conduct of the sons of Jacob towards Joseph their brother, more abhorrent than the deed committed by one of the sons of Noah, more infamous than even the criminal act perpetrated by Cain against Abel, the monstrous behavior of Mírzá Yahyá, one of the half-brothers of Bahá'u'lláh, the nominee of the Báb, and recognized chief of the Bábí community, brought in its wake a period of travail which left its mark on the fortunes of the Faith for no less than half a century. 
This supreme crisis Bahá'u'lláh Himself designated as the AyyÁM-i-Shidád (Days of Stress), during which "the most grievous veil" was torn asunder, and the "most great separation" was irrevocably effected. It immensely gratified and emboldened its external enemies, both civil and ecclesiastical, played into their hands, and evoked their unconcealed derision. It perplexed and confused the friends and supporters of Bahá'u'lláh, and seriously damaged the prestige of the Faith in the eyes of its western admirers. 
It had been brewing ever since the early days of Bahá'u'lláh's sojourn in Baghdád, was temporarily suppressed by the creative forces which, under His as yet unproclaimed leadership, reanimated a disintegrating community, and finally broke out, in all its violence, in the years immediately preceding the proclamation of His Message. It brought incalculable sorrow to Bahá'u'lláh, (Source)