By Zahra Khosroshahi/The Conversation

In a speech to the UK’s House of Commons in March 2017, actor and rapper Riz Ahmed, a Muslim, delivered a message about the importance of diversity and representation in the media:

What people are looking for is a message that they belong. Every time you see yourself it’s a message that you matter, that you’re part of the national story.

But when it comes to the “national story,” the one about Muslims is pretty grim. The pressing issue of Islamophobia is both fueled and defined by the misrepresentation and stereotyping of Muslims in the media.
Instead of challenging the images of the “oppressed” Muslim woman, or the violent Middle Eastern man that propagate our media, mainstream films often reinforce them.
But films are also platforms with the potential to create change through alternative narratives. Our visual culture can play a crucial role in the way we understand the world.
So the question is, what do our visual platforms tell us about our cultural perceptions of Muslims? In other words, how are Muslims represented in our stories?

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Posted on January 25, 2019

By Jake Johnson/Common Dreams

After West Wing producer and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin lectured the bold freshman class of congressional Democrats to “stop acting like young people” in a CNN interview on Sunday – remarks that were quickly interpreted as a call to move right – Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) responded that the progressive policies championed by young Democrats aren’t mere “trends” with no real-world consequences.

News Flash: Medicare for All & equal rights aren’t trends.

When people complain about low turnout in some demos, it’s not because communities are apathetic, it’s bc they don’t see you fighting for them.

If we don’t show up for people, why should you feel entitled to their vote? https://t.co/oGRsG9NZV3

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 20, 2019

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Posted on January 22, 2019

By Gash Scav/YouTube

Scandinavian style.

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Posted on January 21, 2019

By Jessica Corbett/Common Dreams

In a biting resignation letter published in full by CNN, longtime NBC News reporter, commentator, and military analyst William “Bill” Arkin blasted the corporate media network for embracing U.S. “national security leaders and generals” while “ignoring the empirical truth of what they have wrought: There is not one country in the Middle East that is safer today than it was 18 years ago. Indeed the world becomes ever more polarized and dangerous.”
Reflecting on his past couple of decades working with the network – in addition to writing books and columns for major newspapers and serving as as military adviser to human rights and environmental groups – Arkin laments, “My expertise, though seeming to be all the more central to the challenges and dangers we face, also seems to be less valued at the moment. And I find myself completely out of [sync] with the network, being neither a day-to-day reporter nor interested in the Trump circus.”
Noting in his 2,228-word memo that “the world and the state of journalism [are] in tandem crisis,” Arkin delivers a scathing critique of how NBC has responded to the foreign policy of Donald Trump – whom he calls “an ignorant and incompetent impostor” – asserting that “in many ways NBC just began emulating the national security state itself – busy and profitable. No wars won but the ball is kept in play.”

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Posted on January 8, 2019

By Julia Conley/Common Dreams

Taking advantage of the attention brought to his Netflix series Patriot Act by the Saudi government’s objection to an episode that criticized Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, comedian Hasan Minhaj called on supporters to contribute to aid efforts in Yemen, where tens of thousands of civilians have been killed by the Saudi’s U.S.-backed military campaign.
On Tuesday, on Saudi orders, Netflix removed from its Saudi platform a Patriot Act episode released shortly after the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents – which the CIA concluded was ordered by bin Salman, often called MbS – because Minhaj discussed the need for the U.S. to cut ties with the Saudis in light of the murder. However, the episode remained on YouTube in the country and is still available on Netflix outside Saudi Arabia:

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Posted on January 2, 2019