Chinese President Xi Jinping’s two-day visit to Pakistan has been replete with flowery rhetoric extolling mutual love between both countries, but the name chosen for a new joint think tank has left some social media users in titters. Dedicated to research on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a $46 billion dollar…
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On February 27, 2015 at 6:00pmEST/9:00pm PST, altMuslimah (“altM”) hosted the #MuslimWomenArts Twitter chat. This conversation was a prelude to a celebration of Muslim Women Artists at altM’s 6th birthday on March 8th, hosted by Princeton Muslim Life in Princeton, NJ. We were joined by Aisha Saeed, a rising literary star…
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AltMuslimah and Brown Girl Magazine planned a Twitter conversation called #OwnBrown based on a previous Hashtag called #BrownParts. We hoped to address the issue and engage followers about skin color discrimination and the results were eye opening, sombering, and hopeful. AltMuslimah and Brown Girl Magazine welcomed followers to the event at 3:00…
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Abuse is a shame filled subject in our communities that no one wants to address or even admit too. Many people continue to bear the pain in silence and in shame. In early January, Orbala (@qrratugai), AltMuslimah’s Sabina Khan-Ibarra and Asma T. Uddin (@altmuslimah), and Coming of Faith’s Laila Alawa…
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I’m a Muslim American Mom. And I’m sorry. I’m sorry for Kansas City Chief Husain Abdullah’s prostration of gratefulness (or Sajdat al-Shukr) after intercepting Patriot Tom Brady’s football pass and returning it 39 yards for a touchdown. I’m sorry for Michael Jackson — for that time he converted to Islam….
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The tweet is mightier than the sword.
Social media campaigns by members of minority communities are responding to racism and stereotyping in the media, and getting results.
For instance, last week, Asian American activists launched #CancelColbert in response to an offensive tweet posted by The Colbert Report’s Twitter account. They were hoping to achieve a similar outcome as American Muslims had with Alice in Arabia, an ABC pilot television programme that was cancelled following a Twitter offensive that highlighted the show’s stereotypes of Muslims.
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A couple of years ago, while discussing the Arab spring uprisings and their implications, a good friend commented to me, “Isn’t it interesting that all these men are risking their lives protesting for their rights and dignity, the same rights and dignity they often withhold from their own women?” It was an astute observation about the broad dynamic between Muslim men and women today in many countries across the world.
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