With all the stories on the Internet it can be difficult to always stay in the know. To help, we’ve searched the web for interesting pieces of news, videos and tips to help you start off your week on the right foot.
1. A Boy’s Simple Broken Arm Puts Spotlight Back on Refugee Medical Care
BuzzFeed News/Supplied
12-year-old Erfan was riding his bike last year when he fell and broke his arm.
While the average boy would have seen medical care right away, Erfan currently lives at the immigration detention center on the Pacific island of Nauru and, because of the lack of medical care, has developed a painful deformity.
BuzzFeed News reported that according to refugee advocates, Erfan now is unable to hold objects with his left hand as well as struggles to sleep because of the pain.
“The boy needs an orthopedic surgical review urgently to properly assess the deformity and pain he is experiencing,” said Dr Barri Phatarfod from Doctors for Refugees.
Refugee lawyer George Newhouse told BuzzFeed News that Erfan is “growing quickly and his arm keeps deforming”. He says immigration minister Peter Dutton should step in.
“This young boy requires urgent medical attention, I am hoping that the minister will show some compassion and decency,” said Newhouse.
[tweetthis]12-year-old Erfan lacks proper medical attention for a now deformed broken arm simply because he is a refugee.[/tweetthis]
2. The Surprising Intersection Of Islam and Scifi
Photo/National Museum of New Delhi
A new anthology is working to give Scifi loving Muslims a bigger voice in the genre thanks to a collection of short stories based on as well as inspired by Islamic culture.
Islam and Science Fiction founder Muhammad Aurangzeb Ahmad has released Islamicates Volume I, a free collection of 12 short stories. Ahmad told io9 that he started the anthology (and the website 10 years earlier) because he didn’t see enough Muslim representation in science fiction.
“Nobody has brought all this material together in a single resource,” Ahmad said.
The anthology received roughly 78 submissions from both Muslim and non-Muslim writers. A majority of the content take a look at traditional science fiction storylines such as time travel or alien invasion through a Muslim lens. However there are some that take inspiration directly from Islamic culture such as “Calligraphy” by Alex Kreis.
[tweetthis]Islamicates Volume I, a collection of stories, looks at the surprising connection between Islam and Science Fiction.[/tweetthis]
3. Meet Generation M: the young, affluent Muslims changing the world
Young Muslims are proud of their faith, enthusiastic consumers, dynamic, engaged and creative, says Shelina Janmohamed, author of Young Muslims Changing the World. Rob Stothard/Getty Images
Generation M — it’s a detailed portrait of the “influential constituency of the world’s fastest growing religion.” According the book’s author Shelina Janmohamed, members of Generation M are proud of their faith. They’re enthusiastic consumers, dynamic, engaged, creative and demanding.
“When you’re talking about Muslims in particular, but actually people of religion in general, the images you get are really quite depressing,” she says in regards to the book’s cover art. “But I think this really captures it. It’s bold, it’s vibrant, the woman’s got so much attitude. They are exactly the kind of people I’m writing about.”
According to The Guardian, Generation M are the Muslim millennials (the global generation born in the past 30 years) but with a unique twist. Unlike their Christian counterparts in the US and western Europe whom, for the most part, are turning their backs on organized religion, Generation M has “one over-riding characteristic, which is that they believe that being faithful and living a modern life go hand in hand, and there is absolutely no contradiction between the two,” says Janmohamed.
In the book, Janmohamed writes: “Their faith affects everything, and they want the world to know it. This is what sets them apart from their non-Muslim peers. It’s the single factor that will shape them and a world that they are determined should cater to their needs … They are a tech-savvy, self-empowered, youthful group who believe that their identity encompasses both faith and modernity.”
[tweetthis]Generation M’s members are proud of their faith, enthusiastic consumers, dynamic, engaged, creative and going to change the world.[/tweetthis]
4. Someone Made A Guide For What To Do When You See Islamophobia And It’s Perfect
Photo/maeril.tumblr.com
A bystander’s guide to Islamophobic harassment has been created by a young Parisian illustrator and filmmaker known as Maeril. The guide has been made in both French and English and below the guide posted on her Tumblr, Maeril wrote that the technique she’s detailing in the cartoon is one that works for any kind of harassment that happens in a public space. However, she felt it necessary to specifically focus on the Islamophobia she’s witnessed in Paris.
[tweetthis]Someone made a guide for what to do when you see Islamophobia and it’s perfect.[/tweetthis]
5. ‘The Way People Look at Us Has Changed,’: Muslim Women on Life in Europe
Saima Ashraf, 39, at the Barking Town Hall in London, where she is a leader in the local government. She said such an achievement would not have been possible for her as a veiled woman in her home country, France. Credit Andrew Testa/The New York Times
The New York Times, in an effort to hear the female Muslim perspective on veil restrictions, set up a submission form for women all over the world. Their responses — more than 1,000 comments from France, Belgium and beyond — went much deeper than the question of swimwear.
What the NYT discovered was a portrait of life as a Muslim woman, veiled or not, in areas of Europe where terrorism has pushed people to the edge. In the responses a French term, used dozens, was “un combat,” or “a struggle,” just to live day to day. Many women who were born and raised in France described their confusion at being told to go home.
“For years, we have had to put up with dirty looks and threatening remarks,” wrote Taslima Amar, 30, a teacher in Pantin, a suburb of Paris. “I’ve been asked to go back home (even though I am home).” Now, Ms. Amar said, she and her husband were looking to leave France.
[tweetthis]altM’s weekly roundup of news[/tweetthis]
This list was curated by Kaitlin Montgomery, altM News Editor
