Fieldnotes on Humanity

My nephew Amir, a diehard football fan, watched the match between Egypt and Argentina and was devastated when Egypt lost. He watched the interview with the Egyptian coach Hossam Hassan afterward and explained to me at length what the complaint was all about. As I listened, he asked me, "What does it mean when the Egyptian coach says, 'We have suffered injustice'?" " chim dayee -  eyes of uncle - 'injustice' could mean many things, but I think the coach meant there was a double standard in how the game was refereed," I responded. "What is a double standard?" he asks. "A double standard is rooted in prejudices and biases, applying rules and laws differently based on someone's background, color, religion, or ethnicity," I respond as simply as I can. "That sounds like racism," he says, pausing to stare at me through the WhatsApp screen, a cubical world that connects us from thousands of miles away. And then he asks: ...

After much thought, I finally decided to rename this blog, changing its title from "On the Way" to "Fieldnotes on Humanity." The title "on the way" reflected my sense of belonging. As a migrant, I have always seen myself as someone on the way who never arrives anywhere, because there is nowhere to arrive. The home of a displaced person is always on his back, literally and figuratively; he/she carries it with him/her wherever he/she goes.  The title "On the way" had a kind of Sufi-like feeling. When I say Sufi, I mean the classic definition that we read in Persian poetry books. A Sufi has no home; his home is in the hearts of the people. I am not there yet, and it seems like a far-fetched goal in this day and age. I've walked through a lot of paths. I'm still on the way, but there is a difference. I am now on my way deliberately, and that is my way of life, and I take notes, fieldnotes to be more accurate, of whatever I see and experience....

The Taliban are not the only enemies of women who prevent them from education. British government banned  female students from Afghanistan from attending universities in the UK as well. See below what Carrie Patsalis says and sign her petition . The number of these students who can enter UK higher institutions can be counted on the fingers of one hand; there are not many, and yet the UK government shockingly decides to restrict them from the opportunities that they don't have under the Taliban de facto regime. If it is true that annually around 40,000 Pakistani students are given visas to come to the UK and study there, and eventually around 5,000 of them apply for asylum, why can't the UK issue visas for a few Afghanistani female students to come to the UK to study?

Amir, my nephew, is a diehard football fan in every sense of the word. His loyalty to European teams is unshakable, to the point that he proudly displays his allegiance by wearing hats and jerseys from clubs and famous football players.  In this World Cup, he supports Argentina, France, and Spain. He is in middle school and knows most of the players and great details about them, which I greatly admire, since I barely know a few famous players. During my visit here in Calgary, we watched a few games live with the help of a VPN to bypass the paywall; otherwise, we would have had to pay $85 to corporations that monopolize the live broadcast of games, driven by insatiable greed and an endless hunger for more power. The plotocrats who have no shortage of ways to entertain themselves, and yet, with breathtaking audacity, they want to turn the only entertainment accessible to the poor, requiring nothing more than a ball, into yet another opportunity to extract profit. Of course, let's not...