Many mainstream films depict Arabs and Muslims in a negative light. Throughout the history of Hollywood, Arabs have been portrayed in many different racial stereotypes in both Western culture and film. Often portrayed as barbaric, as oil sheiks, and most famously, terrorists.

British-Pakistani actor Riz Ahmad, an Oscar nominator actor, who represents a minuscule number of Muslims in Hollywood came up with a group of activists that together launched a campaign to combat ‘toxic portrayals’ of Muslims in the film industry that is dominated by Hollywood.

“The progress that’s been made by a few of us doesn’t paint an overall picture of the progress of most of the portrayals of Muslims on screen that are still either non-existent or entrenched in those stereotypical, toxic two-dimensional portrayals,” says Riz Ahmed. He became the very first Muslim actor to be nominated for the best actor category at the Oscars for his role in The Sound of Metal.

Despite the number of Muslims in the world, the representation of Muslims in movies in the US remained at 1.6 percent. Out of 200 movies, 182, they have no Muslim characters. Among all the countries that were examined, US films had the worst representation. There is no particular representation in animation movies or series either, that’s a lot to talk for itself. A study says that most Muslims go through racism in western countries while being asked to ‘go back to their country’ or ‘ isn’t it against your religion, and ‘are you a terrorist.’

Muslim representation is rare, and when it exists, it is highly problematic. For many Muslims, it’s better to have no representation than to be shown as a negative influence on society. Muslim women characters who wear hijabs are often shown in conflict with their appearance. The act of taking off the hijab is portrayed as a sign of freedom which is the complete opposite of why the women choose to wear the hijab. Islam doesn’t force women to wear the hijab, it is all up to the women if they want to wear it or no. Due to this false representation, people think the hijab is oppression.

More than 50 percent of Muslims on screen were linked to violence and rendered as “foreigners” who are refugees or migrants, while the majority of them spoke with an accent and wore “different” clothes that make no definite sense. Despite Muslims are one of the most racially and ethnically diverse religious groups in the world, the characters are mainly stereotyped as Middle Eastern/North African. They’re also illustrated as threatening, and as subservient, particularly to white characters,” says Pillars fund, the organization that joined forces with Riz Ahmad. 

Article by : Haniah Mirza

Your dreams have footprints. They could be beautiful or they could be uneasy. Footprints get life only when you breathe them right. You breathe in the destiny and breathe out a plan hence giving life to footprints in front of you.

The footprints you left behind are so important that a right footprint you left behind could create a thousand more right footprints. If you have opened a very important path for humanity, all you have to do now is to protect your footprints.

Definitely some will doubt you but don’t doubt yourself. Surely some will hate you mission but don’t change your vision. Surely you shall meet obstacles but learn to overcome all obstacles. You may meet the rocks but climb the rocks,you shall feel the fresh air. Truly you shall hear so many things but know what to listen to. Surely some will misunderstand you but learn to understand yourself. You may definitely have so many things to do but mind what is more important.

There is no great journey without issues but learn to overcome all issues and get to the end of the journey with distinctive footprint and a good sense of fulfillment. Sometimes even a thousand waves hitting the shore continually one after the other also can’t erase few footprints on the shore.

Studying the footprints on existing roads enables you to create a new path with fulfillment expectation.

We walk on the moon. We made footprints somewhere no one else had ever made footprints and unless someone comes and rubs then out, those footprints will be there forever because there is no air.

I think that is what we all want, in the end, to know that we left footprints. You were for a purpose! Live it ! Love it ! Achieve it ! And don’t forget to make your footprints…

Solid Wastes mainly include municipal wastes, hospital wastes, industrial wastes and e-wastes etc. The solid wastes are dumped in the soil which results in landscape pollution.

Solid- waste management involves the collection, treatment and proper disposing of solid material that is discarded from the household and industrial activities.

Methods of solid wastes disposal

Segregation:

It is the separation of different type of waste materials like biodegradable and non biodegradable wastes.

Sanitary landfill:

Solid Wastes are dumped into low lying areas. The layers are compacted by trucks to allow settlement. The waste materials get stabilised in about 2-12 months. The organic matter undergoes decomposition.

Incineration:

Composting:

Biodegradable matter of solid wastes is digested by microbial action or earthworms and converted into humus.

Recycling of Wastes

Papers from old books, magazines and newspapers are recycled to produce papers in papermills. Agricultural wastes like coconut shells, jute cotton stalk, bagasse of sugarcane can be used to make paper and hard board. Paddy husk can be used as livestock fodder. Cowdung and other organic wastes can be used in gobar gas plant to provide biogas and manure for fields.

4R Approach

The 4R approach such as Reduce, Reuse, Recovery and Recycle may be followed for effective waste management.

Patriotism
means in essence, the love of one’s own country. An individual citizen who
loves his country and is loyal to it at all cost, even at the cost of his own
life is, a patriot. A patriot is one who is always willing to sacrifice all
that belongs to him at the altar of his country. This is the measure of
patriot’s extreme love for his country and in common terms it is called
patriotism. India has seen a spate of several patriots in the early decades of the 20^th century. When the motherland was writhing in
pain under foreign rule, these patriots took birth and helped the country to
come out of the wilderness of foreign domination. They sacrificed their lives,
their pleasures, their families at the altar of freedom for their motherland
from the shackles of foreign rule.

In Oct, 1930,
Jawaharlal Nehru, from the Nainital Prison, wrote to his dear daughter, Indira
thus, “We have India’s honour in our keeping, and that honour is a sacred
trust”. Keeping the honour and the name of the country ‘ever high and ever
flying’ is the fundamental duty of every citizen. A nation can leap forward
only if its citizens are patriotic who are ready to live and die for their
motherland. Basically,
it is putting national feelings above personal feelings and national concerns
above personal gains. It is living and dying for one’s motherland. It is the
deep fervour coupled with the spirit of working for the advancement of one’s
country.

The spirit of patriotism is not merely a
noble sentiment within the heart. If it is so, then it is only sham patriotism.
True patriotism calls for certain concrete actions and external expressions.
First and foremost, it requires offering our valuable services when national
integrity and independence is threatened by external forces or neighbours. It
demands offering material and moral support in the fight for national freedom.

Patriotism does not always mean that you
have to sacrifice your life for your country; contributing good service towards
the country and its people is also equivalent to your sacrifice. Mathunny
Mathews has set a great example of patriotism. Mathunny Mathews was an Indian,
a resident in Kuwait, and was one of the people credited with the safe airlift
evacuation of about 1, 70,000 Indians from Kuwait during the 1990 invasion of
Kuwait. Only celebrating the flag hoisting ceremony on 15th August and 26th January,
posing for photos with the flag, and posting on social media doesn’t imply that
you are a true patriot. A real patriot is a person who has a true love for his
country. He fights against the atrocities upon his countrymen by insiders or
outsiders of the country. Patriotism is the most
important thing for the development of a country. As patriots think about the
country, its growth, and countrymen’s improvement, it positively impacts the
development of the country. A sense of patriotism helps to reduce corruption
and riots hence the country develops effectively

Apartheid was a system of legislation that upheld segregationist policies against non-white citizens of South Africa. After the National Party gained power in South Africa in 1948, its all-white government immediately began enforcing existing policies of racial segregation. Under apartheid, nonwhite South Africans (a majority of the population) would be forced to live in separate areas from whites and use separate public facilities. Contact between the two groups would be limited. Despite strong and consistent opposition to apartheid within and outside of South Africa, its laws remained in effect for the better part of 50 years. In 1991, the government of President F.W. de Klerk began to repeal most of the legislation that provided the basis for apartheid. President de Klerk and activist Nelson Mandela would later win the Nobel Peace Prize for their work creating a new constitution for South Africa.

WHO STARTED APARTHEID IN SOUTH AFRICA? 

Racial segregation and white supremacy had become central aspects of South African policy long before apartheid began. The controversial 1913 Land Act, passed three years after South Africa gained its independence, marked the beginning of territorial segregation by forcing black Africans to live in reserves and making it illegal for them to work as sharecroppers. Opponents of the Land Act formed the South African National Native Congress, which would become the African National Congress (ANC).

The Great Depression and World War II brought increasing economic woes to South Africa, and convinced the government to strengthen its policies of racial segregation. In 1948, the Afrikaner National Party won the general election under the slogan “apartheid” (literally “apartness”). Their goal was not only to separate South Africa’s white minority from its non-white majority, but also to separate non-whites from each other, and to divide black South Africans along tribal lines in order to decrease their political power.

APARTHEID BECOMES LAW. 

By 1950, the government had banned marriages between whites and people of other races, and prohibited sexual relations between black and white South Africans. The Population Registration Act of 1950 provided the basic framework for apartheid by classifying all South Africans by race, including Bantu (black Africans), Coloured (mixed race) and white. A fourth category, Asian (meaning Indian and Pakistani) was later added. In some cases, the legislation split families; parents could be classified as white, while their children were classified as colored.

A series of Land Acts set aside more than 80 percent of the country’s land for the white minority, and “pass laws” required non-whites to carry documents authorizing their presence in restricted areas. In order to limit contact between the races, the government established separate public facilities for whites and non-whites, limited the activity of nonwhite labor unions and denied non-white participation in national government.

APARTHEID AND SEPARATE DEVELOPMENT

Hendrik Verwoerd, who became prime minister in 1958, would refine apartheid policy further into a system he referred to as “separate development.” The Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act of 1959 created 10 Bantu homelands known as Bantustans. Separating black South Africans from each other enabled the government to claim there was no black majority and reduced the possibility that blacks would unify into one nationalist organization. Every black South African was designated as a citizen as one of the Bantustans, a system that supposedly gave them full political rights, but effectively removed them from the nation’s political body.

In one of the most devastating aspects of apartheid, the government forcibly removed black South Africans from rural areas designated as “white” to the homelands and sold their land at low prices to white farmers. From 1961 to 1994, more than 3.5 million people were forcibly removed from their homes and deposited in the Bantustans, where they were plunged into poverty and hopelessness.

APARTHEID COMES TO AN END

In 1976, when thousands of black children in Soweto, a black township outside Johannesburg, demonstrated against the Afrikaans language requirement for black African students, the police opened fire with tear gas and bullets. The protests and government crackdowns that followed, combined with a national economic recession, drew more international attention to South Africa and shattered all illusions that apartheid had brought peace or prosperity to the nation. The United Nations General Assembly had denounced apartheid in 1973, and in 1976 the UN Security Council voted to impose a mandatory embargo on the sale of arms to South Africa. In 1985, the United Kingdom and United States imposed economic sanctions on the country.

Under pressure from the international community, the National Party government of Pieter Botha sought to institute some reforms, including abolition of the pass laws and the ban on interracial sex and marriage. The reforms fell short of any substantive change, however, and by 1989 Botha was pressured to step aside in favor of F.W. de Klerk. De Klerk’s government subsequently repealed the Population Registration Act, as well as most of the other legislation that formed the legal basis for apartheid. De Klerk freed Nelson Mandela on February 11, 1990. A new constitution, which enfranchised blacks and other racial groups, took effect in 1994, and elections that year led to a coalition government with a nonwhite majority, marking the official end of the apartheid system.

Harry has spent yet another miserable summer at home with the Dursleys.  He can’t wait to get back to school at Hogwarts, and he’s especially anticipating the third-year privilege of visiting the all-magical village of Hogsmeade near the school. The only problem is that he has to get Uncle Vernon to sign his permission slip to do so. Harry’s bargain with his uncle over the form backfires when Harry gets angry and accidentally “inflates” Aunt Marge.

Rather than being punished by the Ministry of Magic, Harry soon finds that he is being protected. A much-feared prisoner named Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban, the wizard prison, and Harry is believed to be the target of his next kill. Soon, Black has found his way into Hogwarts, so Harry isn’t even safe in his own dormitory.

Once again, Harry, Ron and Hermione must solve the mystery—what were the circumstances of Black’s original crime, and how is he related to Harry’s parents and their death? Who is the traitor who informed on Harry’s parents to Voldemort? In working out this puzzle, Harry finds both his father’s best friends and his own godfather. 

Positive Element:

Harry practices self-control in not spending extravagantly, even though he desperately wants a new flying broom, he is on his own and he has plenty of money. New Professor Lupin teaches the students that laughter fights what one fears the most. Selfless loyalty to one’s friends is upheld as a high virtue: ” ‘If you want to kill Harry, you’ll have to kill us too!’ [Ron] said fiercely.”

Harry’s loyalty is clearly to his birth family, and he responds angrily in their defense when Uncle Vernon lies to make Harry’s father look bad. Again, Harry finds a family at Hogwarts, where the dormitories take on a family feeling and the students look out for others in their Houses.

Hatred And Anger:

As Harry and his friends grow into their teenage years, hatred and anger become more prominent themes:

“A reckless rage had come over Harry. He kicked his trunk open, pulled out his wand, and pointed it at Uncle Vernon.”

“Even Harry, who hated Snape, was startled at the expression twisting his thin, sallow face. It was beyond anger: it was loathing. Harry knew that expression only too well; it was the look Snape wore every time he set eyes on Harry.”

Adolescent Love:

The maturation process that J.K. Rowling has promised as the series continues is just barely evident in Book III: “Wood looked as though he could have kissed her.”

In a restaurant in Hogsmeade, Ron is clearly attracted to the beautiful waitress: “A curvy sort of woman with a pretty face was serving a bunch of rowdy warlocks up at the bar. ‘That’s Madam Rosmerta,’ said Ron. ‘I’ll get the drinks, shall I?’ he added, going slightly red.”

Spiritual Elements:

New magical creatures are introduced in Book III: Dementors. “Dementors are among the foulest creatures that walk the earth. They infest the darkest, filthiest places, they glory in decay and despair, they drain peace, hope and happiness out of the air around them. Even Muggles feel their presence, though they can’t see them. Get too near a dementor and every good feeling, every happy memory will be sucked out of you. If it can, the dementor will feed on you long enough to reduce you to something like itself … soulless and evil. You’ll be left with nothing but the worst experiences of your life.”

Conclusion:

Dark Magic is still seen here as a great evil to be combated by good witches and wizards. And Dark-Side wizards are often portrayed as selfish and of bad character: “When a wizard goes over to the Dark Side, there’s nothing and no one that matters to him any more.” But that merely underscores Rowling’s intimations that there can be good and bad witches. Such is not the case. The underlying danger of Rowling’s books is the fact that, though witches and wizards aren’t portrayed realistically, they (at least the “good” ones) are portrayed positively.

Your love grows stronger when it is among rocks and thorns of life. Love speaks in flowers but trust requires thorns because when petals fall off the stem ,only thorns try to catch them.

Some people are like thorns but you have to let them be thorns because thorns can’t turn into petals. The trick is not letting them prick you. A rose does not stop looking beautiful, because of the thorns around it , so never allow weakness to stop you from admiring your own strength.

If you don’t feel the pointed things in life, you will soon take the soft ones for granted. The more the thorns on the way are sharply pointed, the more intensely the fire burns for quenching the great destination.

This heart ,sometimes it is like a flower spreading fragrance but most of the times it is like thorns pricking you with your past memories and make you realise this heart is not made of flowers. Don’t always grumble because roses have thorns, be thankful that thorns have roses.

Problems are only opportunities with thorns on them. Not every thought is a flower, some are thorns but while a flower may make you fall asleep and too see dreams, a thorn will wake you up and make you to think more.

Pain is like a rose, it amazes you with it’s beauty untill and unless you don’t try to pluck it, it makes you bleed when you try to own it. Life is uncertain. Today you get a rose. Tomorrow you feel the thorns.

A life with love will have some thorns but a life without love will have no roses.

There is darkness in light, there is pain in joy and there are thorns on the rose. There is no rose without thorns and no life without pain, your thorns are the best part of you.

If you enjoy the fragrance of a rose, you must also accept the thorns with a smile and move on.