Tag: activism

  • Malala will make history as the youngest speaker at Mandela Annual Lecture

    Malala will make history as the youngest speaker at Mandela Annual Lecture

    Youngest Nobel laureate and education activist Malala Yousafzai will be delivering the 21st Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in Johannesburg, South Africa.

    The announcement was made by Nelson Mandela Foundation (NMF) on social media on Monday.

    The NMF acting Chief Executive Verne Harris posted on X (formerly Twitter): “Scheduled for 5 December 2023, this lecture holds special significance as it coincides with the tenth anniversary of Madiba’s passing.”

    The Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture Series consists of prominent people initiating debate on significant social issues and difficult subjects in order to address the challenges the world encounters.

    Nelson Mandela was the first Black president of South Africa (1994–99). He was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize with South African Pres. F.W. de Klerk for Peace in 1993 for their efforts towards the rights of Africans.

    “Malala embodies the type of leadership we believe the world needs across all levels of society. In the face of current global challenges, which can seem daunting, she stands as an inspiring symbol of hope for a just and equitable future,” said Harris.

    Some of the previous speakers include South Africa’s Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, former US president Barack Obama; Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai; former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan; Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates.

  • ‘Take the money and run’; Danish artist submits blank canvasses to museum

    ‘Take the money and run’; Danish artist submits blank canvasses to museum

    A Danish artist owes around 500,000 kroner (Rs14,408,870) to Kunsten museum in Aalborg after submitting two blank canvasses as part of a project called “Take the Money and Run”.

    Conceptual artist Jens Haaning presses upon the issues of power and inequality through his work and one of his projects was commissioned by by the Kunsten Museum of Modern Art in Aalborg, Denmark, in 2021 in which he had to recreate banknotes in two pieces.

    Haaning, instead, gave two blank canvasses.

    He said, “The work is that I have taken their money.”

    While the museum did put his work on display, Haaning refused to return the money which he owes. Resultsntly, the museum has taken legal action against the artist.

    A court has now ordered him to return the cash – but keep some for expenses.

    The court has deducted artist fee and mounting fee from the total sum and order Haaning to refund 492,549 kroner.

    BBC spoke with Museum director Lasse Andersson who said that he had laughed out loud when he first saw the two blank canvasses in 2021, and decided to show the works anyway.

    “He stirred up my curatorial staff and he also stirred me up a bit, but I also had a laugh because it was really humoristic,” the museum’s director, Lasse Andersson, told BBC’s Newsday programme in 2021.

    Haaning, on the contrary, said that he did not intend to pursue the case any further, “It has been good for my work, but it also puts me in an unmanageable situation where I don’t really know what to do.”

    While talking to TV2 Nord on Monday, Hanning said that the museum had made “much, much more” money than what was invested because of publicity.

  • Prime Minister Imran Khan breaks silence on Aurat March

    Days after it was held, Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has broken silence on Aurat March 2020, saying that a “culture clash” was developing in the country due to different education systems and it was most visible in the mixed reactions drawn by women marching on International Women’s Day to demand basic rights.

    “We will, hopefully by next year, introduce a core syllabus for all schools that will be mandatory for students apart from the additional subjects each institution chooses to teach,” the premier said in a speech marking the groundbreaking ceremony of housing projects for low-income people.

    “This is how you create a nation. This is how you end rival cultures from developing,” he said. “The Aurat March that just happened… a different culture was visible in it… this is a cultural issue and this comes from the schooling system,” he added.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    https://twitter.com/mmnewsdottv/status/1237783284723179522

    PM Imran said that by adopting a uniform education system, Pakistan could bring an end to the societal divide that is perpetuated by different educational standards.

    In various cities across Pakistan, the Aurat March was held on Sunday to mark International Women’s Day. The marches were attended by women, children, men, transgender people and others.

    The first Aurat March was held in 2018 in Karachi. Last year, it was extended to more cities, including Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad, Larkana and Hyderabad. The Aurat March, as it has come to be known since its first iteration, was organised by Hum Aurtain — a feminist collective.

    It has a manifesto demanding basic rights for women in each field of life.

    Many people object to placards and demands of women marchers, saying that they are “un-Islamic” and “unconstitutional”.

  • GCU Lahore denies ‘terminating’ political science teacher ‘for being too political’

    Government College University (GCU) Lahore has denied “terminating” a contractual faculty member of the Department of Political Science, Zagum Abbas, “for being vocal about issues facing students, cultivating a culture of dialogue and encouraging his students to engage in political activities”.

    Zagum, in a Facebook post on Wednesday night, had said that his contract was not extended because he “taught his students to question everything that had been fed to them”.

    According to Zagum, he was “verbally” informed of the decision. “After four years of service to GCU, the administration didn’t even have the decency to provide written notice of termination.” He had further said that he was accused of being “political” and “vocal against the issues facing students and teachers on campus”.

    He had, however, not disclosed the nature of the issues.

    “I want to state proudly that I invited my students to be open, rational and taught them to engage in critical debates. I cultivated a culture of dialogue and engagement and taught my students to question everything which had been fed to them. These were the activities that the myopic men on campus could neither digest nor tolerate.”

    Highlighting his teaching career, Zagum had said he loved his job enough to live away from his family in Gilgit, believing that at least he was “contributing something meaningful to society and the country at large”.

    While support from colleagues and student activists is pouring in for the teacher, the varsity has clarified the termination and welcomed Zagum to apply for a regular appointment “since contractual appointments are subject to workload”.

    “Contractual appointments are subject to workload and classes, as determined by the head of the department. Currently, the workload at the political science department is complete,” a GCU spokesperson told The Current.

    “However, Zagum is welcome to apply for a regular appointment at GCU whenever a post is advertised. If he has any constructive suggestions towards improving the working conditions of contract employees, he is encouraged to provide his feedback directly to the GCU vice chancellor (VC). We wish him all the success in the future,” the spokesperson added.