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Geopolitics

ARABICA - A Daily Shot Of What the Arab World is Saying/Hearing/Sharing

ARABICA - A Daily Shot Of What the Arab World is Saying/Hearing/Sharing
Kristen Gillespie


A R A B I C A
ارابيكا

WHAT IS THE LIMIT?
A Turkish grassroots campaign to "welcome our Syrian brothers to our country" is organizing a caravan to transport citizens from Istanbul on July 16th to the Turkish-Syrian border where refugees are staying. Calling the effort "For Syria – we will go to the limit" (the Arabic word for limit also means border, creating a play on words), organizers write it will be "a day to support Syrian refugees in Turkey. Your brothers are there and they need your help." The convoy leaves on the 15th from Istanbul and arrives at the refugee camps along the border the next day.

HOW LONG WILL IT LAST?
The Syrian Revolution Facebook group is calling for a nationwide strike on Thursday. The group's home page features a "Closed" sign used on shop doors, with the additional words: "Until the regime falls."

WHAT WILL IT TAKE?
Bahrain's largest opposition bloc walked out on reconciliation talks with the government, saying it is not serious about political reform. The Al-Wefaq opposition is demanding a parliamentary-majority model, which would threaten the ruling Al Khalifa family's monopoly on power. One of the main demands of opposition activists across the political spectrum is justice for the thousands of protesters who were rounded up and allegedly tortured. That pressure led King Hamad to order an inquiry into incidents during a wave of protests that rocked the island kingdom earlier this year. But activists are far from satisfied, with Mohammed al-Maskati tweeting the names of alleged torturers. "One of those who was arrested told me the tortures were: Issa al-Majali, a Jordanian, Khalid, a Pakistani, Ali Zaid and Mubarak bin Hwail." Adjusted for population size, more Bahraini protesters were killed than those killed in Syria.

WHAT LEADS A MAN TO GOODNESS?
Large-scale protests continue in cities across Egypt demanding the removal of the ruling military council, the prosecution of officers who killed protesters and a faster pace of reforms. But at the same time, the Grand Imam of Egypt's renowned Islamic university, Al-Azhar, says that "absolute freedom is a chaos that threatens society." Ahmad al-Tayib said that "as Arab and Islamic peoples, our values and traditions are not compatible with democracy" and that "religion is what leads man to goodness."


July 14, 2011

photo credit: illustir

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FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

A New Survey Of Ukrainian Refugees: Here's What Will Bring Them Back Home

With the right support, Ukrainians are ready to return, even to new parts of the country where they've never lived.

photo of people looking at a destroyed building with a wall containing a Banksy work

People look at a Banksy work on a wall of a building destroyed by the Russian army, in the town of Borodyanka, northwest of Kyiv.

Sergei Chuzavkov / SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire
Daria Mykhailishyna

After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, millions of Ukrainians fled their homes and went abroad. Many remain outside Ukraine. The Center for Economic Strategy and the Info Sapiens research agency surveyed these Ukrainian war refugees to learn more about who they are and how they feel about going home.

According to the survey, half of Ukrainians who went abroad are children. Among adults, most (83%) are women, and most (42%) are aged 35-49.

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Most Ukrainian refugees have lost their income due to the war: 12% do not have enough money to buy food, and 28% have enough only for food.

The overwhelming majority of adult refugees (70%) have higher education. This figure is much higher than the share of people with higher education in Ukraine (29%) and the EU (33%).

The majority of Ukrainian refugees reside in Poland (38%), Germany (20%), the Czech Republic (12%), and Italy (6%). In these countries, they can obtain temporary protection, giving them the right to stay, work, and access healthcare and education systems.

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