Calls for a Cease-FireBut Then What?

Published

11 months ago

November 3, 2023

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The protest began with a prayer. Several thousand Muslims knelt in rows before the Capitol building yesterday afternoon, their knees resting on the woven rugs theyd brought from home. Women here and men over there, with onlookers to the side. Seen from the Speakers Balcony, this ranked congregation would have looked like colorful stripes spanning the grassy width of the National Mall.

We are witnessing, before our eyes, the slaughter of thousands of people on our streets, Omar Suleiman, the imam who led the prayer, had said beforehand. We are witnesses to the cruelty that has been inflicted upon our brothers and sisters in Palestine on a regular basis.

The prayer group was part of a demonstration hosted by more than a dozen self-described progressive and religious organizations to call for an Israel-Hamas cease-fire. After Hamas massacred more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians, in its October 7 attack, Israeli bombardments of Gaza have reportedly killed more than 4,000 Palestinians, the great majority of whom were also civilians.

Peter Wehner: The inflection point

Although the protests organizers spanned a broad spectrum of faiths and group affiliations, it appeared that most of the rally attendees were Muslim, judging by the sea of multicolored head scarves and traditional dress. But progressives of other faiths were there, too, waving the red, white, and green flag of Palestine. Rally-goers called for President Joe Biden and the United States to stop supporting Israels blockade and air assault on Gaza. (The first convoy of trucks carrying aid entered Gaza through Egypt this morning, the United Nations reported.) As I moved through the crowd, we heard speeches from Gazan expats and representatives of progressive groups such as Jewish Voice for Peace, the Movement for Black Lives, the Working Families Party, and the Center for Popular Democracy.

Enough is enough, Alpijani Hussein, a Sudanese American government employee who wore a long white tunic, told me. He and a friend carried a banner reading BIDEN GENOCIDE . Every time Hussein, a father of four, sees coverage of children killed in Gaza, he told me, he imagines his own kids wrapped in body bags. Im a father, he said. I can feel the pain.

For nearly two weeks, the world has watched, transfixed, as a litany of horrors from the Middle East has unspooled before our eyes. First, the footage from October 7: the tiny towns on the edge of the desert, bullet-riddled and burning. Parents shot, their hands tied. Women driven off on motorcycles and in trucks. The woman whose pants were drenched in blood. And approximately 200 peopleincluding toddlers, teenagers, grandparentsstolen away and still being held hostage.

Then, more death, this time in Gaza. The body of a boy, gray with ash. Rubble and rebar from collapsed concrete buildings or their ghostly shells. TikTok diaries from teenagers with phones powered by backup generators. Theyre bombing us now, the teens explain, somehow sounding calm. Almost half of Gazas population are under 18; all they have known is Hamas rulethe Islamist group took over in 2007and a series of similar conflicts. A barrage of rockets fired by Hamas and other militants; a wave of air strikes from Israel.

But this time is different: Israel has never been wounded this wayOctober 7 represented the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaustand over the protest hung a frantic sense that the vengeance had only just begun. Hackles were up and, at one point, a police car drove by, sirens blaring. Two women near me clutched each other nervously, but the officer drove on without stopping.

Conor Friedersdorf: A collection of narratives on the Israel-Hamas war

Inside the Capitol, a plain consensus prevailed: Many members of Congress from both parties have opposed a cease-fire and expressed strong support for the U.S. providing military aid to Israel. But outside, things werent so simple; they never are. None of the people I met said they supported Hamas, and certainly not the recent atrocities. But many said that the violence cuts both ways. Israel is a terrorist country in my eyeswhat theyve been doing to the Palestinians, Ramana Rashid, from Northern Virginia, told me. Nearby, people held placards reading ISRAEL=COLONIZERS and ZIONISM=OPPRESSION . Many protesters told me they did not believe that Israel has a right to exist. At various points in the protest, the crowd broke into the chant Palestine will be free! From the river to the sea! (Whatever that slogan might mean for protestersan anti-colonial statement or an assertion of homelandfor most Israelis it is clearly denying the Jewish states right to exist.)

A cease-fire is the minimum to save lives, a D.C. resident named Mikayla, who declined to give her last name, told me. But what we really need is an end to the occupation. Leaning against her bike, she shook her head no when I asked whether Egypt should open its doors to fleeing Palestinians. If Egypt lets Gazans leave the Gaza Strip, then that is the definition of ethnic cleansing, Mikayla said.

Other protesters I spoke with expressed concern only for ending the daily suffering of Gazans. The humanitarian crisis came first; the rest, the political stuff, would come later.

Sheeba Massood, whod come with her friend Rashid from Northern Virginia, burst into tears when I asked why shed wanted to attend. It was important to pray together, she told me. It doesnt matter if youre Muslim, if youre Palestinian, if youre a Christian, if youre Jewish, Massood said, we are all witnessing the killing of all of these children that are innocent. Everything else, she said, was politics.

When I asked the demonstrators what might happen in the region, practically, after a cease-fire was enforced, most of them demurred. Im not a politician to know all the details and technicalities of it, a Virginia man named Shoaib told me. But I think just for one horrible thing, you dont just go kill innocent kids.

Every person I met was angry with Biden. The president has been unwavering in his support for Israel since October 7, and in an Oval Office address on Thursday, he reiterated his case for requesting funds from Congress for military aid to Israel. That same day, a senior State Department official resigned over the administrations decision to keep sending weapons to Israel without humanitarian conditions.

Read: Around the world, demonstrations of support, grief, and anger

In his remarks on Thursday, Biden spoke of the need for Americans to oppose anti-Semitism and Islamophobia equally. Fridays demonstrators, so many of whom were Muslim Americans, were not impressed with that evenhandedness.

Mr. President, you have failed the test, Osama Abu Irshaid, the executive director of American Muslims for Palestine, said from the podium outside of the Capitol. Ice-cream trucks parked nearby for tourists played jingles softly as he spoke. You broke your promise to restore Americas moral authority. Frankie Seabron, from the Black-led community group Harriets Wildest Dreams, led the crowd in chants of Shame directed at Biden. This is a battle against oppression, she said. We as Black Americans can understand! The crowd, which was beginning to thin, cheered its agreement.

As is generally the case, the program went on far too long. After two hours of speeches, the enthusiasm of an already thinned-out crowd was waning. The temperature dropped and raindrops fell, gently at first, then steadily. Finally, after organizers distributed blood-red carnations to every rally-goer, the group began the trek to the presidents house.

The demonstrators marched slowly at first up Pennsylvania Avenue, struggling with their banners in the driving rain. But as the remaining protesters got closer to the White House, the rain paused, and the sun peeked through the dark clouds. The protesters laid their flowers in the square before the White House gatesan offering and a demand for a different future for Gaza.

Entertainment

Influential artist Sir Michael Craig-Martin says he’s had ‘terrible things’ said about his work

Published

5 hours ago

September 21, 2024

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Influential artist Sir Michael Craig-Martin says he's had 'terrible things' said about his work

Sir Michael Craig-Martin is one of the most influential artists of his generation – but he says he’s had “terrible things” said about the work he’s now famous for.

The 83-year-old’s long career is now the subject of a major retrospective opening this weekend at the Royal Academy.

But he told Sky News: “I’ve had terrible things said about all the work that now people think is wonderful… If you can’t survive criticism… you’re in the wrong game.”

The Royal Academy retrospective brings together his life’s work in one show, including his early experimental sculpture, his landmark conceptual work and a new immersive digital work.

While much of Sir Michael’s painting has been dominated with depictions of modern icons, like laptops and iPhones, he says technology has made it “harder for people to look” at his work.

“We’ve become probably the most visual age there’s ever been and at the same time it’s become harder and harder for people to actually look,” he said.

“[Paintings] don’t move – you have to come to them, you have to give them a little time,” he explained, adding that nowadays people are more “used to something that’s doing something for them”.

The subject matter of much of Craig-Martin’s large-scale, vivid colour paintings of everyday objects – from trainers to paperclips, glasses to coffee cups – is universally understood and easily accessible.

“What’s ordinary is what unites everybody,” he explains.

“When you buy a coffee, they give you the cup. You don’t buy the cup, it’s free with the coffee, and yet to make a painting out of it is to give it a certain kind of presence, a certain kind of dignity, a way of looking at it that may be different, to what its value or use is.”

Now in his 80s, Sir Michael’s work has become sought-after around the world. Not only has he proven to be one of the most successful artists of his generation, he’s also been one of the most influential teachers.

In the late 80s, his students at Goldsmiths would go on to be the headline-making Young British Artists, or YBAs as they became known – and they include Damien Hirst and Sarah Lucas.

“They were very, very young,” Sir Michael explained. “There were people who said to me that it was very dangerous for them to be having this kind of success because they were so young and my advice to them at the time was ‘if the door opens, it’s best to go through it’.”

Decades before, in 1974, he’d made headlines of his own with a piece called An Oak Tree – now widely considered a landmark moment in the history of conceptual art.

Recreated for the retrospective, provocatively you won’t find any big logs propped up in a gallery as the piece is just a glass of water on a glass shelf.

“People often do say to me… it changed my idea about what I thought art was, what it could be, my relationship, and that’s an amazing thing to be able to say.”

Challenging us all to look with fresh eyes at the ‘ordinary’ all around us, Michael Craig-Martin’s body of work is proof of why he is one of the most extraordinary artists working today.

Michael Craig-Martin is at the Royal Academy in London from 21 September to 10 December.

US

Well-fitted suits, pearls and ‘the same’ red tie: What Donald Trump and Kamala Harris’s fashion tells us about them

Published

5 hours ago

September 21, 2024

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Well-fitted suits, pearls and 'the same' red tie: What Donald Trump and Kamala Harris's fashion tells us about them

The style choices of politicians have long been scrutinised by voters and the media.

Women have historically been subject to more inspection for their looks than men.

But all politicians are communicating through their style, according to two experts.

“We receive most of our information, many of us, through screens and through the visuals,” says Hazel Clark, professor of design and fashion at the Parsons School of Design in New York.

Democratic candidate Kamala Harris has been leaning into trouser suits.

“The well-fitted suit, the more masculine suit, is telling voters that she is not a politician’s wife, she is not the president’s wife, she is the president,” says Deirdre Clemente, professor of history at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas.

She wore a dark suit to make her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention.

The look “gives that sense of the legal profession, judges and authority. I think it was just saying ‘I’m here to be taken seriously, I can be your leader’,” says Ms Clark.

Many of the audience were wearing white, thought to be a reference to the suffragettes, who fought for women to have vote.

“I think there’s a lot of weight in the choice of white in the audience of the DNC that night and her choice of a black suit was a power move,” Ms Clemente said.

Donald Trump has had a consistent style for many years – he’s known for his dark blue suit and silky red tie.

“He seems to have been wearing the same red tie since the 1970s. It seems to have gotten longer,” said Ms Clemente.

“It is his way of projecting power, confidence and stability.”

And his vice presidential pick JD Vance seems to have adapted his style to match.

“It’s putting on a uniform to say we are all one, we are all following this person. I think sameness, perhaps, with the party as well,” said Ms Clark.

“With Trump it’s almost become like a costume now.”

Harris often wears a pearl necklace, a reference to her college sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha, which was founded by black women at Howard University.

“Her wearing of the necklace is absolutely a shout-out to all the women who have supported her and that sorority is central to that,” said Ms Clemente.

The vice president is also known for her love of Converse shoes.

The trainers, which are associated with American basketball culture, “are a powerful cultural tool because what she’s saying is these shoes are just like the ones you have in your closet”.

Mr Trump and his supporters often wear the instantly recognisable red Make America Great Again baseball cap.

“The MAGA hat has an incredible amount of power, especially here in battleground states,” said Ms Clemente. “You see MAGA hats all around.”

Baseball caps are “ubiquitous in being used to signify something, it’s like having a slogan on your t-shirt”, says Ms Clark.

One accessory all US politicians are rarely seen without is an American flag pin badge on their lapel, which can be used to show patriotism.

It may also project a message that “we are all fighting for the same team” despite political differences, said Ms Clemente.

UK

‘Dangerously stretched’ Met Police has fewer officers working on unsolved murders

Published

5 hours ago

September 21, 2024

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'Dangerously stretched' Met Police has fewer officers working on unsolved murders

Fewer police officers are working on unsolved murder cases amid warnings the Metropolitan Police is dangerously stretched.

Five officers from the force are moving from a specialist cold case department investigating the 30-year-old murder of Atek Hussain to instead bolster basic command units.

Mr Hussain, 32, was stabbed in the heart as he returned from work in September 1994. He managed to stagger to his home and tell his family that his attackers were Asian before collapsing.

No charges have ever been brought in the case despite two focused appeals by the police on the 10th and 20th anniversaries of his killing.

Mr Hussain’s daughter Yasmin was 10 when she watched her father die in their family home. She told Sky News she had hoped the Met would launch a renewed appeal on the 30th anniversary of his death this week.

“I waited and waited as September approached, hoping they’d say something but all of the officers I’d been dealing with have either retired or moved on, and it seems nobody knows what to do with me,” she said.

“One person told me to call 101.”

The Met told Sky News the case is not currently active. However, no unsolved murder investigation is ever closed and Mr Hussain’s case was last reviewed by its Serious Crime Review Group in August.

“Should any new information come to light, it will be assessed accordingly,” it said in a statement.

“In order to better protect the public, including the prevention of future homicides, we are moving some experienced officers from specialist units to bolster BCU (basic command unit) public protection teams to ensure they have the right skills, experience and capacity.

“The MPS (Metropolitan Police Service) continues to maintain a strong capability to investigate cold case homicides. No unsolved homicide is ever closed and all cases remain under review.”

Clive Driscoll, a former Detective Chief Inspector of the Met Police who finally secured two convictions for the murder of Stephen Lawrence, explains how the forces deal with cold cases.

“Every two years you would review the case to see if there are opportunities. The one that always stands out is forensics opportunities. Forensics moved on while we’ve been talking. So that’s what you would do with a review, you would be looking to see whether or not something has changed from the last time you saw it.”

Mr Driscoll says forces across the country are facing challenges including a shortage of officers and staff, greater scrutiny of the police and an issue with confidence among officers.

“They feel that maybe their job has become harder,” he told Sky News before urging police units to go the extra mile.

“As hard as it may be for a police officer, it can’t be even a slightest comparison of how hard it must be for Mr Hussain’s children who’ve lost their father.”

Recent data shows the annual number of unsolved homicides across Britain has more than doubled since 2010. That is thought to be driven almost entirely by a surge in larger police forces, in particular the Met.

On Wednesday, Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley described the force as “dangerously stretched”, telling an audience at the Police Foundation that a wave of new pressures, a lack of investment, abuse and insults of the police and reduced confidence among officers has left London less safe.

Mr Driscoll warned that failing to properly review unsolved homicides sends a dangerous message.

“We don’t want to send the message out to people that feel they can take the life of a human being and after a certain amount of time ‘oh that’s alright then I’ve got away with it’. The message must always be that if there is an opportunity to affect an arrest, put someone before a court then we will take it. We must always show that we will not forget the victim and also that out there is someone who felt that they can take someone’s life.”

Atek Hussain had spent the evening working at his family-run restaurant in Croydon before arriving home to Burnels Avenue in East Ham at around 2.35am on 18 September 1994.

Officers believe he had just got out of his blue Vauxhall Cavalier and was walking towards his front door when he was attacked and stabbed in the chest.

In the absence of a renewed public plea from the police, Yasmin Hussain has launched her own appeal for help finding her father’s killers.

If you have information that could help police, call 101 or post @MetCC, or to remain 100% anonymous contact the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, or visit crimestoppers-uk.org.