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Why Akbaruddin Owaisi Lashed Out

By Faiz Ahmed Recent events in India have caused a fall-out between the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen and the Congress party. This led to a countrywide uproar at the words of Mr. Akbaruddin Owaisi, the sitting MLA in the Andhra Pradesh State Parliament. Owaisi is accused of having given a speech that is divisive and hateful which caused quite a stir in the media, and indeed some of the things that he did say were hurtful to Hindus and should not have been said. However, one must realize that Owaisi only said those things in frustration and after becoming emotional. The reason for his frustration and emotion, he laid out throughout his entire speech – injustice. It is a testament to the sad state of injustice and apathy in Indian public opinion that no controversy is created when Praveen Tagodai incites people to kill Muslims, no one is outraged when genocide is perpetrated against Muslims in the state of Assam, and no one is outraged when the mass murderer of Gujar
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Self-Sufficient Communities: Rising through Food Sovereignty

Faiz Ahmed Oakland University Food: A Power Struggle The current global economic system is fragile, threating a most basic need: food. Eric Holt Gimenez, author of ‘From Food Crisis to Food Sovereignty’ mentions that in the summer of 2008, there was massive starvation and hunger world over, despite “record harvests and record profits for the world’s major agro-food corporations.” He cites World Bank records of price hikes in food which amounted to “83%” over a period of “three years” and according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN, food price hikes amounted to “45%” in just over a period of nine months. The author mentions that this caused riots. “Protests in Mexico, Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal, Indonesia, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Yemen, Egypt, Haiti and twenty other countries were sparked by skyrocketing food prices.” The author also mentions that according to the FAO, “There was more than enough food in the word to feed everyone in 2008 – at least 1.5 time
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Benefits of Organic Small Farm Meat Over Supermarket Meat

Meat from large factory line food industries must be avoided. First, large corporations destroy the way of life for the rural farming communities, by running small family farming businesses into the ground because they can afford to sell meat at a lower price. Second, the meat that they do provide is associated with many health problems. Third, the industrial farming method is energy intensive and contributes in a large way to the contamination and pollution of our environment in ways that organic and natural farming does not. Fourth, employees suffer health risks because of the factory system and the fumes, usually are underpaid and do not have benefits. Fifth, the animals themselves are treated in very unethical ways. The meat that consumers get looks good but is in antagonism to their needs, ethics, health and the environment. Meat that is accessible in the supermarkets or restaurants should be avoided at all cost, rather the meat that we must consume should be purchased from local
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Pakistan’s Dismal Future, The Arab Spring and The State of Israel

By Faiz Ahmed Oakland University Rarely, has the world ever seen so many world changing and tumultuous events taking place in such a short period of time. From the start of the year 2011 the world has seen massive revolutions and protests across the globe especially in the Arab world however not limited to it. Europe has had its own protests’, USA has had its protests, nuclear disasters and earthquakes in Japan, tornadoes in USA. This leads me to think, that we are living in monumental times when wars, revolutions, poverty and destitution and natural disasters are all coming about at the same time. All these are culminating at the same time. Is this all by chance or is the world, in its political, economic and in its cosmic and ultra cosmic realities shifting? Is the world reaching the climax of this era? Last month, the USA, went into Pakistan and supposedly killed Osama Bin Laden, its arch nemesis. In the eyes of the Pakistani people, the USA invaded Pakistan, killed an o
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Advertising – Good for Society or Bad?

By Faiz Ahmed The question was posed to me about whether advertising is a positive activity in relation to society or whether it is a negative one. There are two types of advertisements, informative advertisements and commercial advertisements. Informative advertisements are just that – informative. Informative advertisements are used to inform us about health issues, political issues, social issues, religious issues etc. Commercial advertisements on the other hand, are used to inform people about goods and products in the market. There is nothing wrong with that, however when advertisements start effecting the consumption patterns of people, wherein people become so attached to acquiring material possessions that the rest of the world suffers, then advertising in indeed a danger to society. Materialism, through advertising and marketing has created some of the most dangerous problems for the world as a whole. Materialism has created the problems of global warming and global poverty an
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What is McCarthyism? Why is it Bad?

Faiz Ahmed ---“The domestic anti-communist crusade of the 1940s and 1950s was essential during a time of great peril. American communists posed a legitimate threat to national security and the American way of life. Indeed, many American communists were spies and traitors. Although it is possible that some innocent people suffered, that was a relatively small and necessary price to pay to defend American freedoms. Those who fought communism at home deserve our nation’s highest praise”---- McCarthyism was a phenomenon in the history of the United States at the time of the Cold War, when elected officials used extremely exaggerated fear mongering tactics to marginalize Socialists, Communists, Leftists and even Liberals. Many patriotic Leftist, centrist and even conservative people suffered because of the actions of a few members of the communist party. McCarthyism brought about a lot of repression and many of the constitutional rights of people were trampled upon. Senator Joe McCa
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