By Khaled Diab Despite the paranoid conspiracy theories and fear-mongering of the extreme right, cultural diversity is a beautiful and wondrous thing. Monday 1 March 2021 Belgium’s statistical agency Statbel has released the first official survey of the diversity of…
Tag: children
Robust health systems are society’s first line of defence against pandemics
Belgium has long been written off as a dysfunctional and failing state, yet its response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been surprisingly functional and successful. This highlights how effective healthcare acts as society’s immune system. Wednesday 6 May 2020 With its chronic, record-breaking inability to…
After ISIS, former Yazidi sex slaves are caught between trauma and taboo
By Boštjan Videmšek Safia, a Yazidi teenager from Iraq, was captured by the Islamic State, sold into sexual slavery, raped, tortured and made pregnant, leaving deep psychological scars. Her ability to come to terms with the trauma are thwarted by…
The demographic dimension: The role of population growth in the Arab uprisings
By Khaled Diab Decades of unprecedented population growth have played a significant role in Arab regime repression, the two main waves of revolutions that swept the region, and the fierce counterrevolutions that followed. Friday 24 January 2020 Over the past…
The unlikely demonisation of Salman Rushdie
By Khaled Diab Salman Rushdie made a very unlikely target for the fury of conservative Muslims, which is why the opportunistic fatwa issued by a Khomeini in serious decline took the novelist and the world by surprise. Thursday 21 February…
Losing faith in education
While it is important for children to learn about religion, they should not be schooled in any particular faith.
Island of despair
While the outrage of Europeans has been turned to Donald Trump’s wall and the handling of migrants at the border with Mexico, they ignore a humanitarian disaster closer to home. The EU has left Greece to handle the influx of refugees on its own and those stuck on Lesbos are living in abysmal conditions.
What does being a Muslim actually mean?
In much of the world, ‘Muslim’ is often used as a marker of ethnic origin rather than of religion. This must change.
When Mariette met Mary
By Christian Nielsen The Virgin Mary appeared eight times to a child in Belgium and the rest is ‘alternative history’ Thursday 10 May 2018 On the eve of a quiet Sunday in January 1933, the young Mariette Beco saw the…
Post-ISIS Mosul, pt 2: Home is where the hurt is
Despite the destruction, pain, trauma and dread for the future, Mosul’s tough and long-suffering are returning to the ruins of their devastated city.
