The owner's One Wallet system allows players to enter more than five operators under one login.
Although advertised everyone is paid within a maximum of three business days, winners need to wait for a longer period to receive their money.
The majority of influential gambling portals think there are better places to bet and win money than this one.
Entertainment is powered by Saucify.
Although the overall amount is small, all categories are featured.
There are welcome bonuses and ongoing promotions, with a variety of options and the chance to become a VIP participant.
Established in 2001, Bella Vegas is authorized by the Curacao eGaming licensing services. Its owner is the GrandPrive Group, which was founded that same year and, over the course of its existence, has launched several sister sites, such as GrandBay, Jupiter Club, Lake Palace, and RoadHouse. All of these are linked by the One Wallet system, which allows for a single username and password for the entire group. It is also beneficial when it comes to accumulating loyalty points because it makes the process so much easier and faster.
The content of the reviewed brand is available in English, French, German, and Italian. The majority of the incoming traffic comes from the United States, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Germany, and the Netherlands. These are not the only countries accepted, however, as the license allows for a broader geography of visitors and has a smaller list of restricted countries.
The registration process includes three blocks of information, which cover new account details and personal facts. A login allows players to access a variety of bonuses, including a welcome bonus. It also makes instant play possible. Betting and winning from smartphones and tablets is an option as well.
The mobile version opens the door to the portable lobby, which has a smaller number of available entertainment. Downloading software is the third possibility, and it is the only one where the complete collection of games is provided.
The list of accepted currencies includes Euros; British pounds; U.S., Australian, and Canadian dollars; Danish and Norwegian krone; and Swedish krona. Deposit methods are limited to a few e-wallets, the prepaid voucher, major cards, and bank transfer, which includes German Giropay and iDeal for the Netherlands.
All cash-outs start at USD 100 and go up to USD 2,000 for a single request and USD 8,000 per month. These are considered extremely small withdrawal limits. VIP members are allowed to receive payouts of up to USD 10,000 per week.
The cash-out speed is from two to three business days to e-wallets and from seven to thirteen business days by bank check. In reality, though, all financial transactions across the network are disbursed on Mondays and Thursdays so that it may be longer. The risk of non-payment is non-existent at 0%.
As for fees, there is one for account inactivity over 180 days and up to USD 30 for withdrawals depending on their amounts and methods.
Feedback from registered customers is 38% positive. The devoted representatives, which are available by phone, e-mail, and in 24/7 live chat, are appreciated, however, as well as the high-quality software. Around half of the comments are negative. Complaints are caused mostly by slow verification and delayed withdrawals.
Bonus Codes: All promotions come with codes, which can be copied from our chart.
No-Deposit Bonus: An EUR 10 bonus is given to all newly registered clients.
Game Contribution: Slot machines and arcades contribute 100%, while table games count from 5% to 50% toward the play-through terms, and video pokers contribute 10%.
Cashable: Once the rollover requirements are completed, all bonus money can be converted into cash.
Clients can take advantage of a variety of offers. Newbies are entitled to EUR 10 for free, which should be wagered 45x. They can also claim a 100% match up to EUR 100, which should be played through 40xB.
Mondays are double deposit days up to USD 50 with the code SHOWMETHEMONEY. The middle of the week offers 25 free spins, and on Fridays, everyone can benefit from USD 50 for free.
Loyalty and active wagering are rewarded with special points that lead to advancement through the program. The five tiers are Jack, Queen, King, Ace, and Black Diamond. The benefits include daily bonuses, exclusive tournaments, cashback, and anniversary, birthday, and milestone deals.
The lobby features more than 100 games by Saucify. They are of all types, including video and classic slots, table games, video poker, progressive jackpots, and arcades. Live dealer is not available here.
Slot machines are represented by such hits as Rise of Spartans, Captain Shockwave, Big Game, Zodiac, and a progressive Molten Moolah. Table games cover baccarat, craps, several pokers like Three Card, variations of roulette like American and European, and a few blackjack options that include Vegas Strip, European, Single Deck, and Atlantic City.
As for video pokers, they are represented by Joker Poker, Double Bonus, Jacks or Better, and Deuces Wild, just to name a few.


Next message: Mir16609@aol.com: "Obs 15 February"
Previous message: finn@main.jetnet.ab.ca: "Okean-O r Obs"
In reply to: Bjoern Gimle: "Re: Mr. Orbit"
Next in thread: Darwin Teague: "Re: Mr. Orbit"
it needs further attention. And it's comfortably in the satellite era too!
that mine handled 2000+ ok anyway so I didn't need it.
> To have it working after Feb.28, pick the year 1996 or 1980 instead!


text:
Sydney Trains awards $630 million maintenance contract
Infrastructure Journalist, July 3, 2019 July 3, 2019 , Asset Management, Condition monitoring and maintenance, Contracts awarded, News, NSW, Rail, spotlight, 0
Sydney Trains has awarded a five-year extension to the contractor currently delivering maintenance and logistics services for part of its metropolitan passenger rail fleet.
UGL, a CIMIC Group company, secured the five-year extension, effective from 1 July 2019, which replaces the two-year extension announced on 30 January 2019.
UGL will provide heavy maintenance, component overhaul and supply chain capabilities, coupled with engineering and depot-related support.
The services will be delivered through UGL Unipart, a 70:30 joint venture between UGL and Unipart Rail UK.
The joint venture draws on both UGL's asset management and maintenance capability and extensive knowledge of Sydney's metropolitan passenger rail fleet, and Unipart Rail UK's capacity to deliver world class supply chain services to both the rail and vehicle industries.
The extension is expected to generate revenue of approximately $630 million to UGL, replacing the $277 million of revenue announced in January.
CIMIC Group Chief Executive Officer, Michael Wright, said, "We are very pleased to be extending our long-standing relationship with Sydney Trains and Transport for NSW, building on a partnership that has spanned several decades.
"CIMIC Group, through its various operating companies including UGL, CPB Contractors, Pacific Partnerships and EIC Activities, provides a unique and market leading rail capability to the rail network owners and operators of NSW and beyond. Through this contract extension, UGL will provide value and optimal benefit for the people of New South Wales."
UGL Managing Director, Jason Spears, said, "This significant contract extension further confirms UGL's position as a market leader in rail maintenance and asset management, and our reputation for delivering reliable rolling stock asset management and maintenance."
New transport hub for Launceston
Infrastructure Journalist, August 28, 2017 August 28, 2017 , News, Project, Rail, TAS, Transport, 0
Launceston City Council has approved Toll Group's $20 million proposal for a new transport hub in Launceston, Tasmania. As...
Quiet Metro Tunnels with noise absorption materials
Infrastructure Journalist, August 27, 2019 August 27, 2019 , Noise and Vibration, NSW, Partner Solutions, Project, Rail, Standards, Transport, Tunnel, 0
On 26 May, the first stage of Australia's largest public transport project was opened: the Sydney Metro Northwest. The...
Road resurfacing to begin on South Eastern Freeway
Infrastructure Journalist, February 11, 2020 February 11, 2020 , Asset Management, Condition monitoring and maintenance, Investment, News, Project, Road, SA, Transport, 0
The South Australian Government has invested $7.39 million in resurfacing works to five sections of the South Eastern Freeway. ...
ANDOR – Railway revolution: a competent partner in rail
Eliza Booth, September 3, 2020 September 4, 2020 , Asset Management, Partner Solutions, Rail, 0
Grinding Techniques, a well-known abrasive company and part of the Tyrolit group, has been supplying abrasive solutions to the...
Big spend on infrastructure in Queensland budget
Jess, May 22, 2018 May 29, 2018 , Construction, News, Project, QLD, Rail, Road, Transport, 0
The Queensland Government will invest $45 billion in infrastructure funding in its 2018/19 Budget over the next four years....
$200 million infrastructure funding for Sydney community
Infrastructure Journalist, May 17, 2019 May 17, 2019 , Construction, Investment, News, NSW, Planning, Project, Smart Cities, Space, Sustainability, Urban Development, 0
The City of Sydney is set to spend almost $200 million in the next financial year on major infrastructure...
New Victorian bridge to eradicate bottleneck
Infrastructure Journalist, July 2, 2018 July 2, 2018 , News, Road, bridge, bridge work, Construction, road, 0
A new six-lane bridge for Victoria's Chandler Highway will soon ease traffic concerns, with the first sections of the...
Queensland producers shape future flood recovery services
Infrastructure Journalist, July 15, 2019 October 9, 2019 , Disaster Management, News, QLD, 0
The Queensland Government are asking producers across the state's north-west to provide estimates of their monsoonal flood impacts and...
ARA calls out National Transport ReformsInternational company acquires operator of Darwin-Tarcoola rail line
Why owners need more data transparency from contractors January 12, 2021
by AJ Waters, Vice President Industry Solutions, InEight With all the talk aroun...
Using virtual technology to drive sustainable innovations	December 15, 2020
Water for Life, the next act in Dassault Systèmes The Only Progress is Human ca...
smartmicro takes next generation vehicle detection technology to a new level	December 4, 2020
Vehicle detection is becoming an increasingly critical element to monitor and op...
Protecting rail cabling from mechanical damage	December 2, 2020
Flexible conduit system manufacturer, Flexicon, has launched an extended range o...
Transform concrete surfaces with rapid-set epoxy	November 20, 2020
Concrete is one of the most economical, durable surfaces utilised in workplaces ...
The South Australian Government has approved Port Augusta Operations' Development Application, which will allow a n… https://t.co/MYqYVk3c8i about 22 hours ago from TweetDeck
Shovels are now officially in the ground for the next stage of the Riverina Intermodal Freight and Logistics hub.… https://t.co/HlmEKUFpWl about 22 hours ago from TweetDeck
The Federal Government has issued a suite of funding for road safety improvements up north, with $33.3 million allo… https://t.co/DRhTj6f4d8 01:53:26 PM January 19, 2021 from TweetDeck
Following high demand in the empty container parks in Sydney by carriers and customers for empty container de-hire,… https://t.co/j1tWATabpf 01:49:37 PM January 19, 2021 from TweetDeck
The South Australian Government has appointed a private operator to take over the running of Adelaide's rail networ… https://t.co/SkUy8GeEFE 01:45:07 PM January 19, 2021 from TweetDeck
@inframagoz
Smart Cities 2021
Safety in Action 2021
Energy magazine
©2021 Infrastructuremagazine. All rights reserved

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Looking for a security of a fence without blocking the view? Then the option of installing Wrought Iron or a Steel fence is your best bet. With the peace of mind that these manufacturers offer anywhere from 5-25 year warranties- you'd have to consider this as a long-term investment for your property. The durability of Wrought Iron is shown through the use of the materials way back in the late 1800's when they were used for railway tracks and the construction of the Eiffel Tower.
Here is an example of a Montage Plus Style galvanized steel fence with multiple coats offering a 20 year warranty. Many prefer steel fences as oppose to aluminum for the additional strength and durability. They typically come in 48″ tall and 8′ wide panels and each picket would hold 3″ of dead space between them. Although there are many different styles to choose from.


text:
International Scientific Board
Prof. Dr. Sherine Farouk
Conference Chair
Professor of Accounting
Abu Dhabi University, United Arab Emirates
Prof. Salam Abdullah
Professor of Information System
College of Business at Abu Dhabi University
Prof. Dr. Belén Díaz Díaz
Academic Director of Santander Financial Institute (SANFI).
Associate Professor of Financial Economics.
University of Cantabria, Spain.
Prof. Dr. Nicholas Capaldi
Legendre-Soulé Distinguished Chair in Business Ethics at Loyola University New Orleans, USA
Prof. Samuel O. Idowu
Senior Lecturer in Accounting at the London Metropolitan University, UK
Prof. Dr. René Schmidpeter
Dr. Jürgen Meyer Endowed Chair for International Business Ethics and CSR, Cologne Business School, Germany
Prof. Nadia Nedzel
Southern University Law Center
About Abu Dhabi University
Abu Dhabi University is a private, multi-campus University committed to meeting the education, skills and knowledge needs in the United Arab Emirates and neighboring countries through qualifications and standards that are respected across the world.
Although young, the University is recognized as a world-class institution committed to excellence in teaching, student experience, research and corporate education. We are regularly featured in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) rankings as among the best higher education institutions in the region. We hold prestigious international accreditations for the institution as a whole, for particular fields of provision and for specific programs. We were the first private higher education institution in the UAE and the GCC region to earn international accreditation from the Californian Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). ADU's College of Business holds international accreditations from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and the prestigious EFMD Quality Improvement System (EQUIS). Only 1% of business schools worldwide have this double accreditation. In addition, its College of Engineering has earned accreditation from the world-renowned Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) and the Computing Accreditation Commission (CAC) of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). It houses the only architecture program to hold accreditation by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).
According to the QS World Universities Rankings, ADU ranks in the top 701-750 universities worldwide, the top 150 leading institutions under 50 years, the top 27 universities in the Arab World, and the top 6 in the UAE. Being rated 3rd globally for international faculty and 10th for international students, we consider diversity to be among our key strengths.
Established in 2003, Abu Dhabi University has over 7,500 students across its four campuses and sponsored programs. Structured into Colleges of Arts and Sciences, Business, Engineering, Law and the University College, we offer undergraduate and graduate programs across arts, law, education, business and management, engineering and sciences, including to Etihad pilots, trainees and personnel of the UAE military. Alongside the well-established campuses in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, we have launched a new campus in Dubai Knowledge Park and recently opened a teaching facility in the Al Dhafra Region of the Abu Dhabi Emirate. In addition, a brand-new state-of-the-art campus is planned to open in Al Ain in September 2019.
Extended Abstract / Short Paper / Full-text Paper Submission March 15, 2019
Author Acceptance April 1, 2019
Final Paper (Camera Ready) Submission April 30, 2019
Author Registration April 30, 2019
Conference Dates June 12-13, 2019
Information icom2019@adu.ac.ae
© 2019 6th International Conference on CSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance. All Rights Reserved. Abu Dhabi University.


I cuf you want to reduce your chances of getting breast cancer try drinking 3 cups of tea a day saysthe Daily Telegraph.
A survey of 5000 women in Florida found that those that did so had a 37% less chance of developing a tumour. The beneficial effect is thought to be due to health-giving chemicals contained in tea called polyphenols, which are known to fight disease. Previous tests have shown that it can also provide protection against heart disease and can lower cholesterol.
"Given that tea is the most common beverage in the world, it makes an attractive candidate for breast cancer prevention" said Dr Nagi Kumar of the Moffit Cancer centre in Tampa, Florida who led the research. However she went on to note that tea drinking in women over 50 did not seem effective in preventing cancer, possibly because the polyphenols only act against the types of tumour found in younger women.
So yet again something that many personal trainers might advise you to avoid (caffene in drinks has traditionally been a personal trainer no-no) turns out to actualy have some benefits; remember that many foods and drinks have both a good and bad side to them, and that the key is to try and follow the diets don't work philosophy of moderation in all things and trying to stick to he wholefood nutrition plan as much as possible.


text:
KARMA Real time electronics/ drum set percussion.
by Rodrigo Castellanos & Milo Tamez.
Antecedents.
KARMA is the resulting process of a collaboration with composer Rodrigo Castellanos in 2010 in Chiapas, Mx.
The creative matrix for this working process did happen within the interchanging of aesthetic ideas; art, philosophy, anthroposociology, art paradigms and the artist as a phenomenon of the human communication, counterposed to the actual dominant cognitive and representation mechanisms that dehumanized and fragmentize the curiosity, imagination and inventiveness proper to human being. These are questions that motivated an intense performance interchange working together with experimental films, free improvisations, and further analyzing the actual performative action between percussion and its electronic processing in real time.
After a year period of paused the process of collaboration (Rodrigo moved to Santiago de Chile), in 2012 we met in Oaxaca creating an audiovisual piece called ACUSTICALIA (name inspired by M. Kagel ¨ACUSTICA¨; a composition I was listening and researching at that time), presented at MACO (Contemporary Art Museum of Oaxaca), also in collaboration with Mexican visual artist Eduardo Meléndez. And these encounter and collaboration configured the origin of a this new work KARMA.
KARMA materializes in 2013 after a year of uninterrupted collaborative work at distance, the development of ideas and conceptions ended with the piece ready to be performed.
KARMA approaches a sound crossing based on the metaphor within emotional drama associated in humannes and the energy consequences resulting from the flow of actions and reactions commonly linked to the ambitioning of power that restrain new values of our era, smilingly characterized by a sense of guiltiness, fearless and intolerance.
The piece is composed and developed based on a graphic score that works paralleled to a Pd Patch, which processes the percussion sound in real time. Both materials are presented openly for their interpretation by the performer, that can be presented in different time formats; contracting or expanding the graphic elements in the score, as well as the procedures within the electronic environment developed on the patch.
The two levels of interpretation - that of the instrumentalist and the patch performer -, proposes the simultaneous generative of ideas in the imaginary, through an exhaustive exploration of the graphic score superimposed with the processing of the acoustical sound in real time, that resignifies the instrumental material; resulting in an intricate interplay of counterpoints, reactions, spacial perspectives and fuge lines as in a canvas. It is a symbiosis between the imaginary and the reaction-conditioning attitudes among human beings.
The performance of the piece.
KARMA can be presented in a short version format (9-11 minutes long), or in an extended version (45-50 minutes long). It can be presented in stereo form or surround system. It also offers the possibility of real time video processing.
Extended version premiere at CMMAS, Morelia Michoacán, MX (January 2014)
More about Rodrigo Castellanos at http://www.rodrigocastellanos.com


text:
const express = require('express')
const session = require('express-session')
const request = require('request')
const urljoin = require('url-join')
const randomColor = require('randomcolor')
const swaggerUi = require('swagger-ui-express')
const bodyParser = require('body-parser')

const config = require('./config')
const swaggerDocument = require('./swagger.json')

const app = express()

app.use(bodyParser.json({ limit: '50mb' }))
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({ limit: '50mb', extended: true, parameterLimit: 50000 }))

app.use('/api-docs', swaggerUi.serve, swaggerUi.setup(swaggerDocument))

app.use(session({
    secret: '343ji43j4n3jn4jk3n',
    resave: false,
    saveUninitialized: true
}))

app.use(express.json())

app.use(['/login', '/create-project', '/get-collected-data', '/delete-project', '/get-project-stats'], (req, res, next) => {
    const {ceo: {url, username, password, userId}} = config
    request.post({
        url: urljoin(url, 'login'),
        form: {
            email: username,
            password,
        },
    }).on('response', response => {
        const cookie = response.headers['set-cookie']
        req.session.cookie = cookie
        request.get({
            headers: {
                Cookie: cookie,
            },
            url: urljoin(url, 'account'),
            qs: {
                userId
            },
            followRedirect: false,
        }).on('response', response => {
            const {statusCode} = response
            req.loginStatusCode = statusCode !== 302 ? 200 : 403
            req.isLogged = statusCode !== 302 ? true : false
            next()
        }).on('error', err => {
            next(err)
        })
    }).on('error', err => {
        next(err)
    })
})

app.get('/login', (req, res, next) => {
    res.sendStatus(req.loginStatusCode)
})

app.post('/create-project', (req, res, next) => {
    const {isLogged} = req
    if (!isLogged) res.status(500).send({error: 'Login failed!'})
    const {session: {cookie}} = req
    const {ceo: {url, institutionId}} = config
    const {classes, plotSize, plots, title, imageryId} = req.body
    if (!Array.isArray(classes) || classes.length === 0
        || typeof plotSize !== 'number' || plotSize < 0
        || !Array.isArray(plots) || plots.length === 0
        || typeof title !== 'string' || title.trim() === ''
        || (imageryId !== undefined && typeof imageryId !== 'number')) {
        return res.status(400).send('Bad Request')
    }
    let csvHeader = Object.keys(plots.reduce((result, obj) => {
        return Object.assign(result, obj)
    }, {})).sort()
    csvHeader.splice(csvHeader.indexOf('lon'), 1)
    csvHeader.splice(csvHeader.indexOf('lat'), 1)
    const plotFile = plots.reduce((acc, curr, i) => {
        const {lon, lat, ...newCurr} = curr
        let csvRecord = `${acc}\n${lon},${lat},${i+1}`
        if (csvHeader.length !== 0) {
            csvHeader.forEach(key => {
                const value = newCurr[key] || ''
                csvRecord = `${csvRecord},${value}`
            })
        }
        return csvRecord
    }, csvHeader.length !== 0 ? `LON,LAT,PLOTID,${csvHeader.join()}` : 'LON,LAT,PLOTID')
    const colors = randomColor({
        count: classes.length,
        hue: 'random',
    })
    const sampleValues = [{
        id: 1,
        question: 'CLASS',
        answers: classes.map(function(currentValue, index) {
            return {
                id: index + 1,
                answer: currentValue,
                color: colors[index],
            }
        }),
        parentQuestion: -1,
        parentAnswer: -1,
        dataType: 'text',
        componentType: 'button',
    }]
    const data = {
        ...(imageryId !== undefined && {imageryId}),
        description: title,
        institutionId,
        lonMin: '',
        lonMax: '',
        latMin: '',
        latMax: '',
        name: title,
        numPlots: '',
        plotDistribution: 'csv',
        plotShape: 'square',
        plotSize: plotSize,
        plotSpacing: '',
        privacyLevel: 'private',
        projectTemplate: '0',
        sampleDistribution: 'gridded',
        samplesPerPlot: '',
        sampleResolution: plotSize,
        sampleValues: sampleValues,
        surveyQuestions: sampleValues,
        surveyRules: [],
        useTemplatePlots: '',
        useTemplateWidgets: '',
        plotFileName: 'plots.csv',
        plotFileBase64: ',' + Buffer.from(plotFile).toString('base64'),
        sampleFileName: '',
        sampleFileBase64: '',
    }
    request.post({
        headers: {
            Cookie: cookie['0'],
        },
        url: urljoin(url, 'create-project'),
        qs: {
            institutionId,
        },
        json: data,
    }).on('response', response => {
        const {statusCode} = response
        if (statusCode !== 200) return res.sendStatus(statusCode)
        response.on('data', data => {
            const jsonObject = JSON.parse(data)
            const {projectId, tokenKey, errorMessage} = jsonObject
            const isInteger = n => /^\d+$/.test(n)
            if (!isInteger(projectId)) {
                res.status(400).send({
                    projectId: 0,
                    ceoCollectionUrl: '',
                    errorMessage,
                })
            } else {
                request.post({
                    headers: {
                        Cookie: cookie,
                    },
                    url: urljoin(url, 'publish-project'),
                    qs: {
                        projectId,
                    },
                }).on('response', response => {
                    const ceoCollectionUrl = urljoin(url, 'collection', `?projectId=${projectId}&tokenKey=${tokenKey}`)
                    res.send({
                        projectId,
                        ceoCollectionUrl,
                        errorMessage: '',
                    })
                }).on('error', err => {
                    next(err)
                })
            }
        })
    }).on('error', err => {
        next(err)
    })
})

app.get('/get-collected-data/:id', (req, res, next) => {
    const {isLogged} = req
    if (!isLogged) res.status(500).send({error: 'Login failed!'})
    const {session: {cookie}, params: {id}} = req
    const {ceo: {url}} = config
    request.get({
        headers: {
            Cookie: cookie['0'],
        },
        url: urljoin(url, 'get-project-by-id'),
        qs: {
            projectId: id,
        },
    }).on('response', response => {
        const {statusCode} = response
        if (statusCode !== 200) return res.sendStatus(statusCode)
        response.on('data', data => {
            const project = JSON.parse(data.toString())
            const [sampleValue] = project.sampleValues || project.surveyQuestions
            const {question, answers} = sampleValue
            if (!question || !answers) return res.sendStatus(500)
            const answersById = answers.reduce((acc, cur) => {
                acc[cur.answer] = cur.id
                return acc
            }, {})
            request.get({
                headers: {
                    Cookie: cookie['0'],
                },
                url: urljoin(url, 'dump-project-raw-data'),
                qs: {
                    projectId: id,
                },
            }).on('response', response => {
                let body = ''
                response.on('data', data => {
                    body += data
                }).on('end', () => {
                    const lines = body.toString().split('\n')
                    const header = lines[0].split(',')
                    const qIndex = header.findIndex(ele => ele === question.toUpperCase())
                    const ret = lines.slice(1).reduce((acc, cur) => {
                        const values = cur.split(',')
                        const [id, , yCoord, xCoord] = values
                        const answer = values[qIndex] || ''
                        const answerId = answersById[answer] || ''
                        return `${acc}\n${id},${yCoord},${xCoord},${answerId},${answer}`
                    }, 'id,YCoordinate,XCoordinate,class,editedClass')
                    res.send(ret)
                })
            }).on('error', err => {
                next(err)
            })
        })
    }).on('error', err => {
        next(err)
    })
})

app.get('/delete-project/:id', (req, res, next) => {
    const {isLogged} = req
    if (!isLogged) res.status(500).send({error: 'Login failed!'})
    const {session: {cookie}, params: {id}} = req
    const {ceo: {url}} = config
    request.post({
        headers: {
            Cookie: cookie,
        },
        url: urljoin(url, 'archive-project'),
        qs: {
            projectId: id,
        },
    }).on('response', response => {
        const {statusCode} = response
        res.sendStatus(statusCode)
    }).on('error', err => {
        next(err)
    })
})

app.get('/get-project-stats/:id', (req, res, next) => {
    const {isLogged} = req
    if (!isLogged) res.status(500).send({error: 'Login failed!'})
    const {session: {cookie}, params: {id}} = req
    const {ceo: {url}} = config
    request.get({
        headers: {
            Cookie: cookie['0'],
        },
        url: urljoin(url, 'get-project-stats'),
        qs: {
            projectId: id,
        },
    }).on('response', response => {
        const {statusCode} = response
        if (statusCode !== 200) return res.sendStatus(statusCode)
        response.on('data', data => {
            const stats = JSON.parse(data.toString())
            const {unanalyzedPlots, analyzedPlots, flaggedPlots} = stats
            const totalPlotsReviewed = flaggedPlots + analyzedPlots
            const completationPercentage = parseInt((totalPlotsReviewed / (flaggedPlots + analyzedPlots + unanalyzedPlots)) * 100)
            res.send({
                projectId: id,
                unanalyzedPlots,
                analyzedPlots,
                flaggedPlots,
                totalPlotsReviewed,
                completationPercentage,
            })
        })
    }).on('error', err => {
        next(err)
    })
})

app.use((err, req, res, next) => {
    console.info(err.stack)
    res.status(500).send('Something went wrong!')
})

const PORT = process.env.PORT || 3000

app.listen(PORT, function() {
    console.info(`App listening on port ${PORT}!`)
})

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
package org.springframework.data.crate.repository.support;

import java.io.Serializable;

import org.springframework.data.crate.core.mapping.CratePersistentEntity;
import org.springframework.data.crate.core.mapping.CratePersistentProperty;
import org.springframework.data.mapping.context.MappingContext;
import org.springframework.util.Assert;

/**
 * CrateEntityInformationCreatorImpl
 *
 * @author Rizwan Idrees
 */
public class CrateEntityInformationCreatorImpl implements CrateEntityInformationCreator {

	private final MappingContext<? extends CratePersistentEntity<?>, CratePersistentProperty> mappingContext;

	public CrateEntityInformationCreatorImpl(
            MappingContext<? extends CratePersistentEntity<?>, CratePersistentProperty> mappingContext) {
		Assert.notNull(mappingContext);
		this.mappingContext = mappingContext;
	}

	@Override
	@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
	public <T, ID extends Serializable> CrateEntityInformation<T, ID> getEntityInformation(Class<T> domainClass) {

		CratePersistentEntity<T> persistentEntity = (CratePersistentEntity<T>) mappingContext
				.getPersistentEntity(domainClass);

		Assert.notNull(persistentEntity, String.format("Unable to obtain mapping metadata for %s!", domainClass));

		return new MappingCrateEntityInformation<>(persistentEntity);
	}
}


text:
Lochinver Farm Homestead takes out top accommodation award
Christie Harrison, Friday, February 8th, 2019. Comments offContact the author
Lochinver Farm Homestead and Cottages' Alison Teese is pleased to have earned Booking.com's 2018 Guest Review Award.
Carisbrook's own Lochinver Farm Homestead and Cottages is officially one of the most loved accommodation properties in the region after taking out a guest review award last month.
The homestead has received the Booking.com 2018 Guest Review award for its top service and beautiful country setting.
The award is part of Booking.com's (a travel fare aggregator website and travel metasearch engine for lodging reservations) Guest Review Awards program, an annual appreciation program that recognises partners for their top-notch hospitality according to review scores left by guests after their stay.
Properties eligible for the award needed a review score of between eight and 10 out of 10 and at least five online reviews, and with a 9.9 out of 10 rating, Lochinver's Alison Teese said she's pleased with the win.
"I'm very pleased with the award," she said.
"We've been with Booking.com for about two years and we get a few bookings through it, but we do find that although people will find us on the website they often call and book directly with us."
The property has been providing accommodation for 30 years after a friend encouraged Ms Teese to get into the accommodation business.
"My husband's family moved here in 1891 so the property has a lot of family history," she said.
For more on this story see Page 11 of The Advertiser, Friday, February 8
MEC and Highview College record highest VCE study scores in six years
Christie Harrison, Tuesday, July 16th, 2019. Make a commentContact the author
Local high schools MEC and Highview College have recorded a rise in median VCE study scores since 2012, proving location doesn't always determine scores.
Westpac branch closure a "blow" to Maryborough
The announced closure of Westpac's Maryborough branch has left residents shocked and angry, while three of the town's other major banks have provided assurances that they have no current plans to close their local branches.
Rotary club hosting movie night to help young people
The Maryborough Rotary Club are calling on locals come along and enjoy a movie this Thursday, all for a good cause.
Blockbuster performance coming to Maryborough
Riley Upton, Tuesday, July 16th, 2019. Make a commentContact the author
The Dunolly Theatre Company is bringing a blockbuster performance of Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus to Maryborough this weekend.
Meals on Wheels volunteers to benefit from new equipment
Maryborough Meals on Wheels volunteers will soon be kitted out with some new equipment thanks to a $500 donation.


John Gustafson, who taught math to many of our classmates, and was a Cardinal football, baseball and basketball coach, died in New Mexico. Here's his obituary.
Our beloved husband, father and Papa, John "Dr. G." Alvin Gustafson, born December 12,1932 has gone on to be with the Lord as of June 5, 2012.
John was born December 12, 1932 to Alfred Ruben Gustafson and Stella Evelyn (Spilseth) Gustafson in Kensington. John graduated from Alexandria High School in 1950, where he received an athletic scholarship from St. Olaf College. He excelled in athletics and was a 'Little All American, End' and graduated in 1955. John earned his MA degree from the University of Northern Colorado and then his PhD from the University of Utah.
John brought his family to New Mexico in 1972 to take a position as a professor of physical education at the University of New Mexico, where he faithfully taught and served for more than 30 years.
John married June Anne Day in Big Springs, Texas in 1956, while he was serving in the United States Air Force as a pilot. After his service was completed, John and June moved to Alexandria, where they began their much beloved family of John Allan Gustafson, born March 27, 1961, Jodi Day Gustafson, born March 18, 1963, and Jill Gustafson, born September 9, 1967. Jill married David Shingledecker in 1992, whom John considered a devoted son.
John's life was marked by his deep love of God, his love and commitment to his family and helping his fellow man through his constant display of the Great Commission. John was a man of God, a devoted husband and father, a teacher, mentor and coach, a servant of all men and a true friend. John will be greatly missed and his legacy will continue in the programs and lives he touched.
Memorial contributions may be made to The Albuquerque Rescue Mission or the Calvary of Albuquerque Food Bank.
A memorial service was held Friday, June 8 at The Hub at Calvary of Albuquerque, 4001 Osuna Rd NE.
An online guestbook for John can be found at: RememberTheirStory.com.
Personal note from Stan Rolfsrud, Alexandria Class of 1965, which was long before Nike and Starter and the rest made everyone look athletic.
I have fond memories of this wonderful man.
John was a great guy and an inspiring B team basketball coach. He taped my ankles daily during the winter season of 1962-63. His trademark basketball practice outfit was a red tee-shirt and black softball pants with a red stripe down the side that he would cuff up high over the ankle like floods.
To needle him, I would play dumb and subtly refer to these makeshift sweats as his "band pants," knowing he was a consummate jock and wouldn't particularly want to be associated with a fancy musician's band uniform. He was quick to take the bait. "These are softball pants," he would correct with a twinkle and a headshake, as if feeling sorry for someone who couldn't tell the difference.
A great guy, a real man. He always told us to "Be a Tiger."


text:
Brian M. Meloy
brian.meloy@stinson.com
Brian works with clients in the energy industry to achieve their business and regulatory objectives.
Brian has spent his entire career representing businesses located throughout the U.S. in energy transactions and regulatory matters before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and state utility commissions on issues ranging from power purchase negotiations to cost of service ratemaking to wholesale electric market design.
Brian advises energy investors and lenders, generation and transmission cooperatives, electric and gas utilities, renewable energy companies, independent power producers and transmission companies. He counsels market participants active in centralized energy markets at FERC on ratemaking, energy and capacity markets, transmission access and cost allocation, and generator interconnection. His state regulatory practice focuses on permitting renewable and traditional generation, pipeline and transmission facilities, cost-of-service ratemaking and ongoing regulatory compliance matters and representing utilities, developers and businesses before public utilities commissions.
Before practicing law, Brian clerked for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance in Washington, D.C., and worked for Facilities Management-Electric Distribution at the University of Iowa.
Represented market participants in major initiatives at FERC relating to the markets administered by ISO New England, PJM Interconnection, the Southwest Power Pool and the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc.
Represented independent transmission company in cost-of-service rate cases before FERC.
Represented numerous market participants in settlement proceedings at FERC relating to reactive power revenue requirements, market uplift payments, cost of service rates and generator interconnection.
Represented investor-owned utilities and independent power producers at FERC seeking Section 203 authorizations for acquisition of electric generation and transmission facilities.
Represented renewable energy companies in the development and permitting of over 1000 MWs of utility scale wind and solar energy facilities before the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission and the North Dakota Public Service Commission.
Represented lenders associated with construction and/or debt financing of hundreds of MWs of utility scale solar and wind energy facilities.
Represented purchasers in negotiating power purchase agreements for over 1000 MW of wind and solar energy.
Represented investor-owned public utilities in cost-of-service rate cases, service territory disputes, and contested case litigation before states public utilities commissions.
Speaker, "Experiences and Best Practices for Managing Your ISO/RTO Relationship," NRECA G&T Legal Seminar, November 6, 2014, Hilton Head, South Carolina
Moderator, EBA's Electricity Regulation & Compliance Committee luncheon on "Transmission Incentive Ratemaking," November 24, 2009, Washington, D.C.
Speaker, EUCI's "8th Wind Energy & Power Markets Conference" October 30-31, 2006, Denver, Colorado
Speaker, EUCI's "Wind Energy and Power Markets Fundamentals Conference," February 27-28, 2006, Denver, Colorado
Speaker, EUCI's "6th Wind Energy & Power Markets Conference" August 23-24, 2005, Westminster, Colorado
Co-Author, "New Rules Address Special Nature of Wind Power," Power Magazine (March 2005)
Quoted by Michael T. Burr in "MISO: Building the Perfect Beast," Public Utilities Fortnightly (August 2004)
Named an "Up & Coming Attorney" by Minnesota Lawyer
Honored as the firm's Legal Clinic Volunteer of the Year for exemplary pro bono legal service
Energy Bar Association, Electricity Regulation Committee, Past Chair
The District of Columbia Bar Association
Minnesota State Bar Association, Public Utilities Section, Former Council Member
U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
University of Iowa College of Law, J.D., with high distinction, 1998
The Journal of Gender, Race & Justice, Staff Writer
University of Iowa, B.A., with honors, 1995


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Rina Mitra, a Madhya Pradesh-cadre IPS officer with roots in Bengal, is shortlisted among 12 candidates from whom the selection committee led by the Prime Minister is expected to pick the new CBI director on Thursday.
In the course of her 34-year career in the police, she has served in Madhya Pradesh as District Superintendent of Police of three districts, DIG & IG CID, Inspector General (Legal/Pers), Spl. DGP(Trg) and Spl. DGP, PHQ.
If chosen, Mitra, who belongs to the 1983-batch, would be the first woman to head the CBI. Currently, she is posted as a special secretary (internal security) in the Union home ministry and has a clean record, a non-controversial image, and experience of working in the CBI. She was the CBI superintendent for five years and had a long tenure in Madhya Pradesh state vigilance where she handled serious corruption cases.
The home ministry, which is the cadre-controlling authority of the IPS, had sent a list of nearly 60 officers from across the country on Monday to the Prime Minister's Office out of which 12 candidates were shortlisted based on their seniority, integrity, experience in probing anti-corruption cases and most importantly their experience of working in the CBI or handling vigilance matters.
Mitra has been awarded Police Medal for Meritorious Service in 1999 and President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service in 2008.


text:
#Kuwait
If you want to live longer, you might want to consider moving to Kuwait, according to the findings of a life expectancy study.
Lifespan 2040 researchers said that people in Kuwait are expected to live to an average age of 81.4 years in 2040, the highest in the region.
According to the study, Kuwait's life expectancy is set to rise from 79.4 in 2016, putting it 41st on the global list and ahead of Saudi Arabia despite the Gulf kingdom's rise in the rankings.
Saudi Arabia is set to jump 18 places between 2016 and 2040 as its life expectancy is set to rise from 77 to 81.2 years.
In the UAE, which is poised to rise nine places from 77th to 68th in the same period, life expectancy will increase from 75.5 to 79.5 years.
Bahrain is set to fall three places from 64th to 67th as its life expectancy rises from 76.8 to 79.6 years while Oman is set to rise one place from 62nd to 61st with a life expectancy in 2040 of 79.9 compared to 76.9 in 2016.
Globally, life expectancy in 2040 is set to rise at least a little in all nations, with Spain taking the top spot while China and the United States trade places.
With a projected average lifespan of nearly 85.8 years, Spain – formerly in 4th place – will dethrone Japan, which sits atop the rankings today with a lifespan of 83.7 years, and will drop to 2nd place in 2040.
In a shift that will be seen by some to reflect a superpower changing-of-the-guard, the world's two largest economies effectively swap positions compared to 2016 – in 2040 the US drops from 43rd to 64th (79.8 years), while China rises from 68th to 39th (81.9 years).
The researchers found other nations set to lose ground in the race towards longevity include Canada (from 17th to 27th), Norway (12th to 20th), Australia (5th to 10th), Mexico (69th to 87th), Taiwan (35th to 42nd) and North Korea 125th to 153rd).
Moving up the ranking are Indonesia (117th to 100th), Nigeria (157th to 123rd), Portugal (23rd to 5th), Poland (48th to 34th), Turkey (40th to 26th), Saudi Arabia (61st to 43rd).
Assuming its interminable and devastating war comes to an end, Syria is set to rise from 137th in 2016 to 80th in 2040.
For the world as a whole, the researchers' study projected a five-year gain in lifespan, from 73.8 in 2016 to 77.7 in 2040.
"The future of the world's health is not pre-ordained," said lead author Kyle Foreman, head of data science at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington.
"But whether we see signficant progress or stagnation depends on how well or poorly health systems address key health drivers."
The top five "drivers", or determinants, of average lifespans two decades from now are all related to so-called "lifestyle" diseases: high blood pressure, being overweight, high blood sugar, along with alcohol and tobacco use.
More generally, the world will see an acceleration of the shift already under way from communicable to non-communicable diseases, along with injuries, as the top cause of premature death.
Ranking a close sixth is air pollution, which scientists estimate claims a million lives a year in China alone.
The world's poorest countries in 2018 will continue to fair poorly when it comes to life expectancy, according to the study, published in The Lancet.
With the exception of Afghanistan, the bottom 30 countries in 2040 – with projected lifespans between 57 and 69 years – are either in sub-Saharan Africa or small island states in the Pacific.
Lesotho, the Central African Republic, Zimbabwe, Somalia and Swaziland are in the basement of the rankings.
Keywords: Kuwait
Category: #Life | 2018/10/31 latest update at 12:36 PM
Source : Arabian Business | Photocredit : Google


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Things to do in Harrison Hot Springs, with reviews on places to stay and eat.
Continue reading "Things to do in Harrison Hot Springs and a Guide to attractions at Harrison"
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Westin Wall Centre Vancouver Airport, Discount Rates and Reviews about this hotel located very close to YVR.
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Vancouver Luxury Hotels - Vancouver has many 5 Star, Luxury Hotels throughout the downtown area. This guide will help you chose the right hotel for you.
Continue reading "Vancouver Luxury Hotels - The Best 4 and 5 Star Vancouver Hotels"
Descriptions and Reviews of Vancouver Downtown Waterfront Hotels. Includes Pictures and Locations of Downtown Vancouver Seaside Accommodation.
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Discount Rates, Reviews and Locations of Spa Hotels in Vancouver with information on Vancouver Hotel Spa Packages.
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Vancouver Airport Flight Arrivals - Find arrival information here for Vancouver International Airport, including Air Canada and WestJet YVR arrivals, plus USA and international flights.
Continue reading "Vancouver Airport Flight Arrivals - YVR Arrivals for Air Canada, WestJet, etc"


Tundra® SS closed-cell polyethylene foam self-seal pipe insulation is used in residential and light commercial plumbing projects to prevent heat loss and protect pipes from freezing. It is available in wall thicknesses of 3/8" to 1" in sizes ranging from 3/8" up to 4" IPS ID.
Tundra SS is available to the trade in 6' lengths and also sold in limited sizes through retail stores across North America. Tundra SS has a low thermal conductivity and very low water vapor transmission rate. This low density product demonstrates excellent thermal, physical and chemical resistant properties and has a broad service temperature range between -297°F and 200°F (-183°C and 93°C). It can be installed in residential and light commercial plumbing projects. It is acceptable for use with heat tracing/heat tape.
Tundra® SS closed-cell PE foam self-seal pipe insulation is used in residential and light commercial plumbing projects to prevent heat loss and protect pipes from freezing. Tundra SS has an integrated self-sealing system that makes it quick and easy to install. This product is also sold in limited sizes through retail stores across North America.
For complete Specification and R-Value details, download the product submittal sheet.


Easter Seals Iowa Durable Medical Equipment Loan Program runs solely off of donated equipment. The equipment is sanitized and then loaned out at a nominal fee, for Iowans in need, and can be used for an unlimited length of time. Easter Seals seeks donations of used medical equipment for use in this program. The application for equipment and additional information can be found by visiting www.easterseals.com/ia/at or calling 515-309-2395 (Phone) or 515-289-4069 (TTY).
If you have equipment that is no longer in use, please consider donating it to Easter Seals Iowa.


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Prime Gammon Joint ideal for steaks or cooked ham.
Boneless. Roast and use as a centre piece for that special occasion.
2 x 500g Packs no added water to our bacon.


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Wedding Festivals for Nick and Priyanka
Fairy-tale weddings in the land of magic
By Helena Saadeh
There are things in life that you cannot deny, and one of them is the fact that Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra stole the wedding spotlights! The countdown for the wedding began and each day we find a little surprise on social media which gives us a sneak peak on the wedding preps. This is probably why a recent picture of the couple in Mumbai went viral in which they are both wearing festive attire designed by Manish Malhotra. The couple was spotted in Chopra's mother's house, heading for the traditional Ganesh puja. This is a custom of prayers pre-wedding for the bride and groom. That evening, Chopra was spotting heading to her hotel wearing a copper-colored velvet crop top and matching pants.A few days earlier at night, the couples went out for dinner with Joe and Sophie. Chopra was sent at a young age to the US to live with her aunt, it wasn't until 2000 that she made it international by winning beauty pageant awards and the notable Miss World 2000, later Bollywood offers were presented to her which was a thread to her Hollywood career.
"One of the most special things that our relationship has given us is a merging of families who love and respect each other's faiths and cultures. And so planning our wedding with an amalgamation of both was so so amazing."
This Saturday afternoon, the coupled tied the knot in a Christian ceremony in Jodphur's Umaid Bhawan palace, and they will do a Hindu traditional ceremony this Sunday – stay tuned with us for more details. Both celebrities made it official on their social media accounts.
Here's our scoops concerning the Hindu wedding ceremony -Sangeet: Joe Jonas is performing as a video leaked by the bride herself showed us. His girlfriend, and most probably Priyanka's future sister-in-law Sophie Turner, wore a red Lehenga as she danced the night away-the groom also showed us his dancing talent. But since India is all about colors and dances, the bride also shared a performance with her mother. the wedding photographer said that despite years of photographing Sangeet ceremonies, this one is by far incomparable to the others as it's magical. We wish nothing but love and happiness to the newly weds
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text:
Opinion |
To honour Tutu's legacy, we must side with the oppressed not the oppressor
Published date: 31 December 2021 16:22 UTC | Last update: 9 min 52 sec ago
Tutu would have wanted a commitment from world leaders to fight injustice, inequality, and apartheid wherever they occurred, including in occupied Palestine
Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu (L) listens to a survivor from the Al-Asamneh family in Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip on 28 May 2008 (AFP)
Both the late president Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu were icons for the fight against Apartheid in South Africa.
It is sad to say "were". Mandela passed away at the age of 95 in December 2013, and the year 2021 saw Tutu pass on to a better place at the age of 90.
World leaders should head Tutu's advice, respect his legacy and stand with the Palestinian people against Israel's Apartheid policies
Tributes to Tutu have been plentiful. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted that he was saddened to hear of Tutu's death and that he was a "critical figure in the fight against Apartheid and in the struggle to create a new South Africa - and will be remembered for his spiritual leadership and irrepressible good humour".
US President Biden said in a statement that he was heartbroken by the news and that Tutu's "courage and moral clarity helped inspire our commitment to change American policy toward the repressive Apartheid regime in South Africa".
In his tweet, Johnson did not commit to opposing Apartheid wherever it occurred, while Biden acknowledged that "Desmond Tutu followed his spiritual calling to create a better, freer, and more equal world. His legacy transcends borders and will echo throughout the ages."
Tutu would have wanted a commitment from world leaders to fight injustice, inequality, and Apartheid wherever they occurred, including fighting the Apartheid policies of Israel.
Ending the suffering of the Palestinian people was dear to his heart.
When he visited Palestine/Israel in 2002, he saw Apartheid first hand. He said: "I've been very deeply distressed in my visit to the Holy Land; it reminded me so much of what happened to us black people in South Africa. I have seen the humiliation of the Palestinians at checkpoints and roadblocks, suffering like us when young white police officers prevented us from moving about."
'See beyond the moment'
Despite being attacked for his comments, in 2014, he wrote a message to the Presbyterian General Assembly meeting that "we learned in South Africa that the only way to end Apartheid peacefully was to force the powerful to the table through economic pressure".
Desmond Tutu: What the anti-apartheid icon said on Palestine
He became a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement which the Palestinian civil society launched in 2005.
In 2014, he wrote an article in Haaretz in which he asked Israelis to "see beyond the moment," that a "mindset shift" was required and that tools were needed to end the status quo.
He explained the need for the tools adopted - and ultimately proved effective - to end the Apartheid regime in South Africa "because they had a critical mass of support, both inside and outside the country. The kind of support we have witnessed across the world in recent weeks, in respect of Palestine."
Even when both Israeli human rights organisation, B'tslem, and Human Rights Watch produced ground-breaking reports earlier this year accusing Israeli officials of committing the crime of Apartheid, thus confirming both the warnings of the Palestinian people and Desmond Tutu that world leaders and politicians not only turned a blind eye to them but worked to increase trade and to normalise relations with Israel.
Former South African president Nelson Mandela (R) hugs South African Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu on 17 May 2003 (AFP)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas paid tribute to Tutu calling him "a hero for serving humanity and its causes, a fighter against Apartheid, a global human rights activist, and a defender of the oppressed".
The Guardian's grave omission
While some western media reported on Tutu's death and achievements, they failed, deliberately or not, to refer to his unwavering support of the Palestinian people.
In the UK, the Guardian's obituary, which ran to over 3,000 words, could not add 100 words to describe his position on Israel's Apartheid policies. And when readers wrote back flagging this grave omission, the comments were removed - apparently for violating the paper's 'community standards'.
While the inclusion of a reference to Tutu's stance on Israeli Apartheid would have spared the Guardian this mini storm, its handling of the episode raises many questions
The move triggered a backlash and the newspaper's editor came under pressure to restore the comments and explain in what way such comments violated these community standards.
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign penned a letter, which I signed together with 29 academics, writers, and activists.
We asked the Guardian to publish it, but the paper declined, adding injury to the insult felt by campaigners for justice.
Later, the paper restored the comments, without an apology, and published an excellent article by Chris McGrail that addressed the inadequacy of the obituary and the unwarranted attack on Tutu by supporters of Israel.
While the inclusion of a reference to Tutu's stance on Israeli Apartheid would have spared the Guardian this mini-storm, its handling of the episode raises many questions. We will be addressing these questions with the Guardian's editor in a meeting we requested.
Rest in peace Desmond Tutu, a tireless campaigner for justice. Not only did you campaign for freedom, justice, and equality for Palestinians in your life, but as you passed to the next world, you once again forced many, including politicians and the media, to choose who they want to side with; the oppressor or the oppressed.
The Guardian shifted somewhat under pressure. Now it is world leaders' turn to heed your advice, respect your legacy, and stand with the Palestinian people against Israel's Apartheid.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.
Kamel Hawwash is a British-Palestinian engineering professor based at the University of Birmingham. He is chair of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and a founding member of the British Palestinian Policy Council (BPPC).
Remembering Desmond Tutu in times of uncertainty
Stiaan van der Merwe
Algeria: Former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika dies aged 84
Tariq al-Bishri: A legacy of resolving Egypt's tensions
Mohammad H Fadel
Anti-apartheid icon Archbishop Tutu dies. Here is what he said about Israel-Palestine
Israeli politicians aim to normalise apartheid under the guise of 'shrinking the conflict'
'Partisan or simplistic': South Africa's media coverage of Israeli occupation 'lacks nuance'


text:
10.6 Popular Dissatisfaction
Constitutional Struggles in the Muslim World
Learn what motivates the restive Muslim youth from Tunis to Tehran, what political positions Islamists from Mali to Chechnya are fighting for, where the seeming obsession with Islamic law comes from, where the secularists have vanished to, and whether it makes sense to speak of an Islamic state. Since 2009 there has been a renewed wave of popular unrest sweeping throughout much of the Muslim world. Secular, but generally repressive and inefficient autocracies have come under pressure or been swept aside entirely. At the same, the various Islamic Republics have not fared much better, but been convulsed by internal unrest, economic and social decline. Throughout the Muslim lands, existing constitutional arrangements are being challenged, often very violently. This course is a survey of the constitutional ideas and institutions that have developed since the mid 19th century throughout predominantly Muslim countries, but its focus will lie on the actors that have dominated this discourse and shaped its outcomes. We will look at the large body of classical writings on the Islamic state only in so far as it is necessary to understand the contemporary debate, but concentrate on the legal and political developments of the 20th and 21st centuries. Three common themes will characterise the course: We privilege the study of the legal and social reality and seek to highlight where it is at odds with dogmatic stipulations, be they religious or constitutional. We seek to illustrate the practical tensions posed by limited administrative capabilities and political legitimacy that resulted from the incomplete reception of modern bureaucratic statehood. We seek to examine how popular dissatisfaction with the practical performance of Muslim governments has fuelled demands for greater accountability under the guise of cultural authenticity. Ultimately, the course aims to equip participants to better understand Muslim contemporary discourse about the res publica, better contextualise the demands for religious law in public life, and to better ascertain the theoretical and practical feasibility of postulated religious alternatives to the still-dominant secular model of governance.
The course was good. But the real situation has been changing drastically. A supplement or extension of course is required to cover the up to date situation about IS activities, syria Iraq etc.
It is an attractive course about middle east. The instructor is born in Iran, he told a little bit story about him and his family in Iran. You will understand more than you read books.
Conclusion and Outlook
This week, we move beyond the geographical focus as we try to tie up some of the loose ends and highlight some of the recurring issues we have studied during the past weeks together. We look at what the different countries have in common, what separates them and at the different kinds of tensions that we have found across the region. At the end of the week, you should have a good understanding of how issues in different countries relate to to each other and of the challenges that the region as a whole is facing today.
10.6 Popular Dissatisfaction40:48
Dr. Ebrahim Afsah
Select a languageArabicEnglishFrenchSpanish
In this next to last video of this course I'd like to talk
about the issue that perhaps brought you to this course in the first place.
And this is the issue of popular dissatisfaction,
the popular unrest that lies at the heart of
the ongoing upheavals in the Arab and Muslim world.
Which, you know, to understand them, that might have been
one of the factors that drew you to this course.
hope that in the course of our joined exploration of the region, you
have found clues that help you understand it better, even if you can't
completely fully comprehend it or find a definite answer, and in that you
are in good company because most of us can't explain it fully.
one of the themes that I tried to work out in this course was
the general malaise that exist with respect
to constitutionalism in the Arab and Muslim world.
And that is both those countries that are explicitly secular as well as those
who are along a spectrum of religiousity
from moderate reformist Islam to fundamentalist Islam.
All of these constitutions don't function particularly well.
We have complex set of problems affecting these countries and it's as
the word malaise means, you know, where you have an unhealthy disorder situation.
So both economically, socially
spiritually and not least militarily it is societies are not doing particularly well.
Now, this is not a statement
of my personal preferences, or my assessment of the situation.
This is not a personal issue.
It's an issue that can be verified. It's an issue that can be shown
across relatively objective indicators.
And some of the indicators I'd like to go through with you now.
Most of the graphs we have already, discussed during this course.
Let's look at the first graph here, which shows unemployment rates.
We see that unemployment rates are very high for all
of the, this is just a selection, but
they're representative of the rest of the Arab countries.
Unemployment rates are generally very high for
the red ones are women, the green ones are male,
and the blue ones, that is the truly interesting one,
This is youth unemployment, 15 to 24.
And as you can see, it's extremely high in most of the countries and if you see the
pink chart here that shows the labor force growth
over the last ten years from 1990 to 2009.
And once you have a labor force growth of
you know 4.5%, that means you need to have
an economic growth that allows 4.5% more people every year to find jobs.
And that is clearly a challenge. And that's
clearly a challenge that the societies don't meet, because that is why
the young people who come late to the job market can't find jobs.
And so we have here in Algeria unemployment rates of, you know, 45%.
In Jordan you have close to 40%.
That is a recipe for, at the very least, unhappiness.
And one of the reasons these societies can't produce
jobs is shown in this graph here, which shows
value added per employed worker. And that is an indicator of how much
wealth is generated by the individual
worker and therefore how much income he can command.
And another way of putting it, is the productivity growth over time.
So you see here if you look at those countries that
are doing well, which is South Asia, and the East Asian Pacific.
You know, you see here they started, if we take the year 1991 as 100,
they dramatically increased. They doubled their productivity in
these 15-16 years.
And now if you look at the high income OECD countries that already start from
very high productivity obviously their rate of gross is much less.
But even they increased quite substantially and
so did Eastern Europe, East and Central Asias.
So all of these countries are doing reasonably well.
And what is now very surprising and very damning for
the Arab world is if you look at this red graph, which is Sub-Saharan Africa.
Even they are doing reasonably well after many decades of stagnation.
That's what we discussed last week when we talked about Sub-Saharan Africa.
So they have, in the last 10-15 years also
managed to actually set off on a path to sustained growth.
However, if you look at
this green line, which is the Arab world. It's a pretty, pretty bleak history.
They are not doing well at all.
Their, their productivity growth is relatively stagnant.
And that means the types of incomes
that workers can command has also been relatively stagnant.
So that's not a good performance of these states and societies.
Look at the issue of migration,
this is just an image of North African refugees trying to
brave the waters of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean to come into Europe.
This is against those of, it's some, you know,
we had discussed it when we talked about migrations.
There are these claims that people are discriminated here in Europe.
That these are anti-Muslim societies,
anti-Muslim prejudices that exist.
Some of it is certainly true, but by and large
we see that people prefer to risk their lives to
get to these places rather than staying at home, and
whatever that says about Europe, that's not our concern, it
simply means, the issue we are concerned here is
that the places where they are coming from are not
offering them any prospect so that they'd rather risk their
lives and a very, very insecure future rather than staying
at home and that is not a particularly good indictment for a state
and its society. This is, this unhappiness, this malaise of
these societies is reflected in very high rates of social unrest.
We see it throughout the last couple of years: once
the repressive machineries have either broken down, or people are simply
no longer willing to tolerate it because the desperation is becoming too large.
So here you see an image from the Green Movement in Iran 2009.
These are the corresponding images two years later from Egypt.
And these are images from across the Arab world in the last few years.
What these phenomena show you is that people are not happy back home.
This seems like a self-evident statement.
But if you compare this to what we discussed
earlier on about the claims, particularly of political Islam,
but also the claims of authoritarian governments that they actually
can provide and they promise economic benefits to their societies.
This is a clear indication that they have failed in that promise.
And they have failed so much that someone like Mohammed Bouazizi,
the Tunisian street vendor, who saw absolutely no hope for his life,
and the thing that he was particularly upset about was the constant humiliation,
the constant attacks on his dignity as a person by government officials
who were corrupt and who were harassing him.
And this is a citizen in own country
being harassed by basically civil servants.
People who were supposed to serve him as a citizen.
He was so desperate that he immolated himself, as you see here.
And the fact that he is, as you see on the left
picture that he is celebrated as a hero throughout the Arab world.
The person who actually set off
these revolts in a
society where Islam strongly condemns suicide, that shows you how desperate
the situation from a psychological point of view,
from a moral point of view, has become.
The military failure likewise we have discussed at great length.
Here you see images from the '67 war that was an absolute
disaster for the Arab world.
So we are dealing here with states that
by any measure are not doing particularly well.
And in addition to that, we have some of the states that actually disintegrate.
We have states that have failed like
Somalia, or Afghanistan, and states that are in
the process of disintegrating, like Sudan, or currently
Syria, and Mali seems just to have averted
that fate. So, the overall
picture, is not good, I think I've made that point fairly clear now.
The problem with the failure to accept military defeat and learn from it,
the way, you know, when we talked about Japan,
how it has learnt from its weakness and reformed
itself and how it then inflicted this devastating defeat
on Russia, and Russia in turn, using that defeat to reform itself.
This is something we do not see across the
Muslim world, these are some of the casualty figures
and we took the more conservative estimates on each
of the wars that my assistants collected for me.
And, I'd like to show you one thing in particular.
We've grouped these wars and this is just
a selection of the wars, these are not all of the
wars, where we grouped them by those wars that are purely
inner Muslim or at least have no Western or Israeli involvement.
And you see the very, very high numbers of people being killed, particularly
you know it's the Iran-Iraq war here, you have the Indonesian domestic killings.
This is cold
blooded murder by a state of its own citizens.
Muslim against Muslim.
You have the Indian-Pakstani Separation War at the
beginning of this state that has very high casualty numbers.
The Bangladeshi liberation war that led to the separation of East Pakistan.
Again, this is an extremely conservative estimate,
the estimates go up to 3 million dead.
People being slaughtered by their own government.
And now compare this with the wars that
had a Western involvement and here, apart from
the Algerian War of Independence and the second
Iraq war we see extremely few casualty figures.
And now the issue that is close to my heart and that I'd like to stress.
Look at all the wars that did have an Israely involvement and
look at the casualty figures of all of these wars of the last 60 years.
And you see that they pale in comparison with the other wars.
And now compare this with the degree of psychological and political
space being devoted to these conflicts, those conflicts that involved Israel.
And if you would listen only to the rhetoric
of the Arab world you would think that this conflict
determines their survival,
the essence, the existence of being a Muslim and an Arab.
And that's clearly something that is not evidenced in these figures.
Or if it is, if that shows the priority you're attaching to these wars.
You, it says something about how you value the human life when you are killing
them yourself. Or other Muslims are killing them.
So one of the things that, in the book by
al-Azm that I referred to a few times in this book,
Self-Criticism after the Defeat,
what we need to do, is to highlight the surprising lack of
engagement, critical engagement with one's own history, that's one
of the things that I think the casualty figures show.
Here I'd like to read you a quote from al-Azm's
book, which I think sums up this problem quite well.
He contrasts the ability of Russia and of other countries
to learn from their defeats and turn it into a constructive experience
through self-criticism, through engagements, through reform and
this he contrasts now with, I'm quoting:
"Our vehement tendency to expend the greatest effort in order to shirk
our responsibility and shift it instead onto factors outside our control,
allowing us to excuse ourselves for the
embarrassing situation we fell into, to save face,
protect appearances, defer to emotions, and concern ourselves
with proprieties, morale, flattery and sensitivities, instead of
doing the necessary work of calling things by
their names and fixing responsibility where they belong,
saying to the ones who failed "you failed" and
to the ones who are incompetent "you are incompetent.""
End of quote.
This tendency to shift things to factors outside your
control is ultimately also the source of the
penchant for conspiracy theories that I've mentioned repeatedly through
this course and that is such a characteristic of
the region and such a drag on learning if
you think of van Evera's article that I mentioned to you,
why do states and societies believe in foolish ideas?
One reason
is because they don't self-evaluate.
And, that's one of the things that I hope you now will go out and at least
in your own lives do somewhat differently,
look at this history in a more critical way.
And do not fall for the cheap, easy
explanations that always find an external source to blame.
So this logic
of exoneration I think is one of the key sources to
the malaise of the constitutional order we see throughout the region.
This failure to learn is perhaps, it's
evident throughout all social activities,
but perhaps most dramatically shown in the
way Muslim societies have fought the wars of
last 40-50 years. The issue is dramatically
shown in 2003 when the Iraqi army
that fought reasonably on equal terms against the
Iranian's is now facing the Americans and you
all know how unequal a contest it was.
And ultimately, the inequality of the context is due to the failure
of one side, the Iraqis, to adapt to the changed environment that has happened.
You cannot use strategies and tactics that are 40 years old,
and expect to prevail in a conflict.
That holds true for any society.
And the persistent willingness to blame external actors,
colonialism, for the self-inflicted wounds, for the failure to prepare,
that's one of the key characteristics.
We can contrast this with the need to assume responsibility to
be aware of the dangers, the psychological
dangers of overreliance on colonialism and external domination.
And that is perhaps the most important point
that I mentioned already when we talked about Ngugi,
the danger of demonizing ideas that are coming from
the outside, simply because they come from the outside.
And that is perhaps the most
damning problem that we see as
contributing to the malaise of the constitutional orders.
Because ideas that have proven to work elsewhere,
they're now being rejected simply because they come from the non-
Muslim world, particularly from the former colonizing strong parts of the world.
in this light, let's look again at this listing of casualty figures.
And don't concentrate on the absolute figures.
Because as I said, the absolute figures are in dispute.
We took a relatively conservative estimate.
But the relative size of these figures to each other, that remains accurate.
And it
tells us a story about how blame is being shifted,
how things are being looked at out of their proportion.
In the Pakistani case for example, the '71 War was truly catastrophic
for the society, for its institutions and not least for the people who got killed.
And its an issue that is completely silenced
in West Pakistan, at least in
the state today that still carries the name of Pakistan.
And we see the same thing in the
Iran-Iraq War, the way it's celebrated, martyrs are celebrated.
But there's no discussion whether truly these hundreds of thousands of people,
whether it was truly necessary to kill them.
And whether, if other tactics had been used,
one could have avoided many of these casualties.
If you look at these wars that are fought by modern armies.
And I think that is basically what the Western and the Israeli army shows us.
Very few, fewer people get killed and also these
armys these wars are much less damaging to these societies.
They might be damaging to you psychological condition
but that is something that is deliberately created.
And that's the point I'd like
to draw your attention to, and it's a controversial point that
you might disagree with me, but my reading of the data
is that we see the issue being instrumentalized by states who want
to draw attention away from their own relative failure to perform.
That's why a straw man is created,
a straw man outside that is blamed, and here
I'd like to particularly point your attention to
those countries that have only the flimsiest relationship to the
Arab-Israeli conflict, let's say places like Malaysia, places like Iran.
And if you look how dominant the issue
is in the popular perception, in the political discourse,
I think it allows you [...]
to draw your conclusions about that problem of instrumentalization.
Here, for example, we see a square in
Central Tehran devoted to the Palestinian struggle and
I'm not saying that you cannot be and
you shouldn't be supportive of the Palestinian struggle.
That's not the point I'm trying to make, the surprising thing
is that you only talk about the Palestinian struggle, and you do not talk
at all about your own relative failures, that is the problem.
The previous account, just at least this whole course, assumes that the
necessity and desirability of adopting a common way to deal with problems.
Just as professor Waltz in his book Theory of International
Politics, predicted, that there is a socializing effect of the
international system due to its competitive
nature that units, in this case
states will become alike because they want to survive in that competitive system.
And if you do not adapt you will lose out and ultimately seize to exist,
but now this is a point that a discussion that I rarely have with people
from the South but I often have with my colleagues and students here
in the developed affluent West.
People who have who are attracted to post-modern, cultural relativist notions
of societies, of looking at societies and
my explanation is because they discount things that they take for granted.
They simply they don't enter their calculations anymore.
Things like stable societies, that have not the remotest threat of physical
violence, either internal or external. There's no organized violence
There is great prosperity and it's equally shared.
Universal education is existing and often it's free.
There's freedom in both in economic, intellectual and social sense.
So all these things are simply taken for granted, something I encountered
daily in my interactions with my Danish students and
also with my Danish colleagues.
So then from them you get these supposedly critical questions
of, who are you to impose your western notions on those Middle Easterners?
So, they accuse the positions that I've now presented
throughout this course as a fundamentally chauvinistic and Euro-centric
position because I'm taking the values that exist here
as the yardstick against which to measure other societies.
What I just tried to do, to show you was that
these are not subjective measures, these are measures that are there and
can be shown through indices.
And also these are measures that these people who live in these societies that
do not have these things that my
Danish colleagues take for granted, that they want.
That's why they brave the waters and sit in boats and try to get here.
And therefore, I reject this line or argument because it's
actually they, my Danish colleagues who are here the chauvinists,
because they deem what is good enough for them to be not
applicable to people who happen to live in southern societies,
and, it's almost as if they imply that brown people
don't deserve to live a decent life, that the things that
are necessary for people here living in stable societies:
being affluent, going to school, not being raped in the streets,
not being shot at on your way to school, that somehow these things are
less important for someone who lives in Afghanistan or in Somalia or now in Syria.
Obviously if you put it that crassly as I just did, people would object.
But that's ultimately the meaning of their position of saying you are projecting
an euro-centric view, when
I'm talking about stable socities and efficient governments.
And most importantly these preferences can simply
be measured by asking people what they want.
And that is something the people have done and that's something we will now look at.
Before we get there, it's
important to again go back what we discussed in the first week, there are
basic functions of government that any government
worthy of its name needs to achieve.
And the governments throughout the
world are aware of these basic functions.
Here this is a mural in Tehran that I've
shown before and it shows the necessity to pay taxes.
And it exhorts the Iranian citizens
to pay their taxes.
Because they say, you pay taxes to us who
are, who is your government and we deliver services to you.
It's a pretty clear universal bargain and so the
societies are aware that paying taxes is a good thing.
It's not an Euro-centric idea.
The question is only how good are they at collecting taxes
and most of the countries that we looked at in this course
are not particularly good at that. The other thing is population growth.
This can be measured.
And population growth beyond a certain
threshold causes problems in economic terms.
That's what I showed earlier on with the rise in the labor market.
Once you have a 4-5% raise in the labor market, you
have a problem because you cannot produce quickly enough jobs.
And if you look at this chart here, it shows population
growth annually in percentage terms over the last 50 years, you have
obviously here in the EU, it's been fairly low and its going down.
And its actually to low to maintain the society at the level where it is.
That was the chart we showed some videos back this week
about the population actually shrinking which may not be a particularly good thing.
You can see the world population growth
which is, you know, 2% here and then it's falling slowly, but then you see the Arab
world which has very, very high and in some years, extremely high rates.
It is falling as well, but it's not falling nearly fast enough to
catch up with the
problem of economic growth, and also what this graph
hides are the divergences within the Arab world.
So if you go to place like Yemen, you have extremely high population growth and that
causes domestic problems into delivery of services, in
the provision of jobs, in the provision of education.
And, as I said before, we can simply ask people, how do you like it where you are?
And that's a question here
people were asked: "are you thriving?"
Are you thriving is a, refers to your assessment of how
well you're doing today and what is your assessment of the immediate future.
And if you look here at this selection of
Arab countries, we have the figures with
2007, these are the red figures and they show
relatively decent assessments of people being happy, they consider
themselves to be thriving.
And if you now look at the figure three years
later, we see dramatic falls in some of these places.
And it's not coincidentally that it's the countries where we see the biggest fall,
in Egypt, in Tunisia, in Syria that you see domestic conflict.
People are unhappy with their situation and
ultimately they're so unhappy that they go to
the street.
And if you look to places where this assessment of people's happiness,
whether they are thriving has actually increased like
in Jordan, like in the United Arab Emirates,
or in Yemen.
And these are actually the societies that are relatively stable.
Yemen is a special case.
But you see the point, people are actually happy and I can measure it.
It's not me saying it about them, it's
them saying it about their own living conditions.
Another factor that I mentioned people are not happy with
the governments that they have, because these governments are inefficient.
Again, we look at two selected countries
that have experienced turmoil, Egypt and Tunisia.
And again we have figures from 2009 and the year after, 2010.
And then people were asked how happy
they are with the provision of certain important services.
Public transport,
environment, housing, educational systems and slightly different
things in Tunisia, housing, healthcare, roads, schools.
And you see precipitous drops in this period.
You know from 78% people being happy with public
transportation, 30% drop, and the same here in Tunisia.
And this is what motivated people to go to the streets
to force the governments to provide better services.
Because they could not imagine themselves putting up with this
anymore and here again the map that we had before.
If you add to this endemic unemployment, particularly for young people,
you have a recipe for social unrest.
That explains why we see the Arab uprisings
of the last three years.
That is in short, the story of it, and I
refer to you early on to the book, After The Spring,
which I think makes this story very convincingly showing
data, this is where the oldest data is taken from.
And I invite you to have a look at this book.
One other thing that remains an unresolved problem is
the vagueness, the emptiness of many of the constitutional provisions.
The promises, we talked about, the social promises the constitutions make, the right
to work stipulations that are simply
not kept, that are also completely unrealistic.
They cannot be kept because the economic basis for it doesn't exist.
But what about the right guarantees that are also included
in these constitutional texts. We see many, if not all of these
guarantees about fundamental rights being made subject to a religious veto.
And we discussed how that is problematic
already from a methodological point of view.
Because you put two different legal normative orders with two different
methodologies, two different structures of implementation,
and you take one and make it subject to the veto of the other.
And that ultimately means, you make it subject to the veto
of a very small minority of people who are self-appointed, basically.
And we see endemic problems that
are not resolved. We see the endemic problem of
child marriage.
All of the societies that we talk about have been,
not all of them,
some have been dramatically better than others,
but we see certain parts of the region that seem to be
either unable or unwilling to address the very severe human rights
problem of basically selling young girls into sexual slavery
because this is not marriage if you marry off an 8-year old girl.
And what is frustrating and what shows the resistance to constructive
change in these societies is that the changes most decent people
would agree are necessary are made now subject to the veto of religious
authorities, claiming practices that existed thousands
years back.
And that is, to say the least, problematic.
We have the other endemic, unresolved issue is slavery.
It's an issue that was prominent in the Islamic world as it was elsewhere.
[...] It's an area that is legally regulated, but
it's also an area that was outlawed in the 20th century, but we
see it endemically persisting in many parts of the countries we looked at.
Either formally, as it does in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa,
or de facto as we discussed with respect to the Gulf, for example.
And it's an issue that is unresolved and that throws
a very large blot on the moral integrity of these societies.
And I'm sorry it has to be stated as clearly as I just did.
So, in short, people are not happy,
as we see here, and what people are not
happy are both on the economic front,
but perhaps equally important they want to be treated decently.
They are fed up with being living in autocratic governments
that do not respect them as individuals, as human beings.
So here you see the slogan of the Egyptian Revolution,
for example I think it sums it quite well.
It's "bread, freedom and human dignity."
And that pretty much sums
up what these people are demonstrating for.
And equally it sums up what the governments have failed to provide so far.
Against this psychological refusal to deal head on
with the problems, the endemic social and moral problems that exist
in these societies, the tendency to look away, this is
something that al-Azm already in 1968 in his book Self-Criticism,
addressed, here I'm quoting:
"Just as one of you will not meet
an Arab who does not consider himself of the party
of charity, motherhood, and 'commanding the good and forbidding the
bad', so you will not find an Arab who does
not consider himself a friend of science, modernity, and progress.
At this level of generality and abstraction we
all agree and our assent remains compulsory."
And then he goes on, that more is needed, that you need
to accept the changes that are necessary and how they would affect
cherished traditions, and you would have to let go of cherished traditions.
But now, note something quite important and quite upsetting.
al-Azm writes this in '68 at that time he could still say
that the average Arab would be in principle in favor
of progress, modernity and, you know, what he calls
charity, motherhood in 'commanding the good and forbidding the evil.'
Now, something has happened in the intervening years,
for the same author, now writing not in 1968, but writing in 2011,
in a recent book that I also mentioned before, Orientalism and Conspiracy,
he writes about the Islamist, Shukri Mustafa, [...] I'm
quoting, whom he describes as "an ardent defender and propagator of this
kind of vulgar Occidentalism which glorifies
illiteracy and innumeracy in the true Muslim
community as part of the
religious ideal of the imitatio of Muhammad."
So, we see now a large part and a growing part of Arab and Muslim society that
no longer subscribes at all to this language
and the idea of progress, modernity and charity.
Rather and here I'm quoting the Islamist Shukri Mustafa himself:
"Was it really possible for the prophet Muhammad and his companions - the hermits of
the night and the knights of the day in God's service - to be also physicists,
mathematicians, pioneers of space explorations
and makers of modern civilization?!
For 13 years in Mecca, Allah's Prophet taught
the Muslims Islam and nothing but Islam, neither astronomy,
nor mathematics, nor physics, nor philosophy; where are those impostors
who claim that Islam cannot be established unless it becomes
a servant of the European sciences?"
So, we now have, a large and growing minority within the Muslim world,
who openly rejects science, progress, the idea of
of bettering life.
You know, that there's a possibility
for improving the living conditions of people.
And we exclusively look to the past as inspiration.
And who as Mr. Mustafa is very explicit, who
are proud of their lack of knowledge. Something that
al-Azm now in the same book where I got this quote is paraphrasing and I think
he's deliberately dramatic about this paraphrasing, but it's something that
we actually see very clearly expressed by many of the most radical
exponents of this kind of thinking. I'm quoting Mr. al-Azm:
There is that vulgar, barbarous and
spiteful Talibanish variety of Occidentalism, which insists
that: What you the West and your
local stooges call our backwardness is our authenticity;
what you term our primitivism is our identity; what you
denounce as our brutality is our sacred tradition; what you
describe as our superstitions is our holy religion; and what
you despise as our illiteracy is our ancient custom,
and we are going to insist on the superiority to all
what you have to offer, no matter what you say, and no
matter what you do." End of quote.
it needs to be said clearly, these views are no longer fringe views.
They have reached large parts of many of the societies we have talked about.
Some societies more than others.
We highlighted particularly Pakistan. Due to the factors that we highlighted,
external factors often, but also deliberate choices
were taken by people in these societies.
But also these are views that have come
to be fairly prominent among Muslim immigrant minorities.
But, to make it also very clear, these
are not views that are passing unobjected.
See here a demonstration of
very courageous woman in Pakistan,
I believe it's in Balochistan,
you know, who are standing up to this Talibanish
view of a narrow-minded,
backward, anti-modernist, anti-progressive, anti-humanist view.
So there are people who reject this view and you
ultimately have to make a choice on which part of this
cultural battle you want to end up.
So, I apologize for the not very optimistic outlook of this video, but
I invite you to come back for the last video of this course.
And there you will meet some other people who have
made that choice, and taken a stance in this cultural battle.


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