Wednesday 11 January 2017

Unfair and Exclusionary Practices



Written by Aya Sherif_3rd Science_Jan 2017

One day, I was preparing to participate as an assistant in the Redwood company. On my way there and as soon as I arrived, I thought about taking the elevator since it was a bit late.

One minute later, the door popped open and I came in adjusting comfortably. Two men and a woman in their early 20s stepped inside. I pressed 4th floor button and waited just for an instant.

I saw the woman walk slowly next to me. It was odd… I was confused even more when she slapped the hand of one of the men who was intentionally trying to reach her pencil skirt. I gasped for what seems like ages, shocked.

But still feeling numb, I was witnessing the rude, offensive harassment. I kept glaring at him but he escaped my gaze as he shifted his eyes to look closely at the poor woman. He then tried to play with her long curly hair which was cascading down her back and smirked saying “Hello beauty! ‘’.

The other man chuckled saying ‘’Come on Kitten, don’t play hard to get! ‘’ but didn’t touch her, leaving the “work’’ to his friend. I bet the woman was terrified with what might happen next. Hatred in her eyes, fire in her body, the girl seemed hopeless.

Just when his filthy hand sought to touch her again, I grabbed it roughly and twisted it in full rotation. He closed his eyes, feeling pain gushing in his veins… Not exaggerating, but that was what it looked like.

I felt my lungs were striving for air. I felt shocked and furious. In 2016, we still see women as sheer bodies… Simple objects to satisfy the bestial desires!! I grabbed the woman’s hand, held it firmly while pointing to the two men, spitting venom out of my tongue telling him ‘’don’t you both dare and step an inch or I slit your throats! ‘’

 Seconds later, the door opened and felt a great relief. I picked the tear rolling down on her cheek with my thumb comforting her telling ‘’don’t you bow or your crown will fall’’.

She smiled softly and I headed to the boss ‘office, dumbfounded, perplexed and drowned in my thoughts. As soon as I got back home, I made it a point to share this experience on all social media in an attempt to raise awareness and make people take a stand and rid the world of these psychopaths and their   nasty manners. 

Express Yourself in Verse





Heartbroken


By Sarah Guessmi_ 2nd Arts_Dar Chabaane Sec. School

 I can never resist your temptation
To me, you’re a sample of perfection
My heart is weary… It's love and infatuation

What I’m feeling is true
But you seem to have no clue
That your love for me is the sweetest coup

I remember that night, while sitting in the park
You said your daily life was a bit dark
And that for YOU I was the first spark…

Or that night when we were in the car
You said you just wanted to shine like a star,
Take me away and never look back on your scar

Far… Far away into space
You would hide me in the safest place
Your heart would be our airspace


Years passed by… But I never forgot your face
Before I met you again, I was like a hopeless case
My life was like an exhausting race

My heart was aching
My hands were shaking
My soul was fading

Your face haunted my dream
You never looked when I tried to scream
All in pain, I lost my self-esteem

My love for you was mad
I was good but I felt so sad
To see those who stole you from me glad

I was lost, but your voice was the sound
That always guided me around
Telling me “in your heart, peace can be found”

Now, you’re gone and I pretend not to care
Looking strong, but I am in despair
Into your photos, I always stare

 Here I am…Packing all my stuff
Leaving those who made my life rough
Going away, travelling… the world is vast enough

Checked by Abdelmalek HADJI_ Dar Chabaane Secondary School

Tuesday 10 January 2017

Unfair and Exclusionary Practices


Written by Ghada Bouzana_ 3rd Arts_ Jan 2017

Good Afternoon schoolmates!

Stealing and killing are undeniably seen as a crime…But have you ever seen somebody convicted for destroying a soul?! I see you surprised!
Actually, this is always ignored and it goes unnoticed.

Hurting the soul is not visible, you don’t see blood…but it’s as painful as hurting the body…Why aren’t we mindful of that?

It is an eyesore and heartache to witness humans make fun of other humans based on prejudice. Here, we expose the connection of an idiot to a victim.

The idiot is the person who allows himself/herself to accept preconceived ideas created by ancestors or society without digging deep into their credibility or trying to find out their foundations. 

Nobody questions those ideas as random and that they have absolutely nothing to do with reality or truth...
So, you see him or her blindly adopting such thoughts and forcing them on reality to make other simpletons take their ideas as an absolute truth.  
And that's how the vicious circle of dumbness goes on!
Yes, we are all dumb to a certain degree, people!

Today, I'm asking you to be lucid. Open your eyes and weigh things up! Use your BRAIN_ the only thing that seems to make us HUMANS- to make coherent judgements.
Why should we call people ugly for their dark complexion?!
Why should we underestimate others because they are fat, tall or short?!
Why should we lock a woman at home simply because she is a "female"?!
Why should we call someone terrorist because he is a Muslim?!
Why should we build mental or physical barriers–between us - and constantly create such meaningless problems?!
Why should we always look aside instead of facing reality?!

People! My friends! With our ignorance and passivity, we've made this life a living HELL! We should take a stand NOW.

Open your eyes! Just count… How many people have committed suicide because of that?!  How many of them have lost their self-esteem?!
Our dumbness led them to madness unfortunately…We ARE to blame.
Look around you, how many victims should we see before we sense our dumbness?!
We are the “HUMAN RACE”, but we are destroying each other!!
 Let’s stop this madness… This torture…This constant agony!
Let’s stop scarring our own souls! 



Unfair and Exclusionary Practices




By Nour Azaiez_ 3rd Science2_ Jan 2017


It has always been evident to me that the problem of homophobia is still well alive in our society. It is in fact one of the many discriminatory actions that are not only accepted, but also encouraged. This case has been proven to me beyond a shadow of doubt when I was wandering in the city with one of my male friends who happened to be openly gay. This guy had what some would call "feminine features" and was wearing earrings.

Along with the hostile stares, the shoves by guys and the occasional name-calling and insults, one incident in particular had marked that infamous day in my memory.
One middle-aged man had come up to us in a shop, raging with fury, and slapped my friend right on the face knocking him to the floor. It didn't stop there unfortunately; he proceeded to kick him in the gut violently while shouting "DEATH TO HOMOSEXUALS".

I couldn't believe what I was witnessing; that someone would act monstrously to a peaceful stranger who never did him any harm.
I stepped in immediately and started to push the guy off him. I shouted for help but no one intervened. They only watched silently, some laughed, and some even cheered. It took a lot of energy and time of me to get the man off my friend because of how considerably heavy and strong he was compared to both of us.

Even then, the man wanted to continue beating my friend. Yet this time I stepped between them before he could jump at him asking him what the hell he thought he was doing beating a person half his age and strength for no apparent reason.
He roared with laughter saying that "she" is no man and that she indeed did him great harm by merely existing and being gay, that this is an insult to the public that this "thing" is out and walking freely along "our" streets.

Apparently, the man, and everyone else around, thought it high treason and blasphemous that my friend being a homosexual, was somehow some kind of blow-in-the-face to their religion and God.
They also agreed that he is a public danger, "he WILL sexually harass us" cried the men with conviction. They are certain that he WILL, just because he happens to be attracted to men rather than women.
"Ironically", I told them, "that's what every woman suffers from on a daily basis her whole life. Yet when we complain about it, we're immediately silenced by your "not all men" and "men are not animals". It is the same situation here." They did not think so. "It's not the same" they said. "Women can take it… It's just how it is working."

What they were saying was "sexual harassment is okay as long as we're the doers not the (potential) victims." It is a belief deeply rooted in their minds that men have always been immune to harassment and always should be. Now that other men "might" do the same to them that they do to women every day, it's suddenly blasphemous. It's degrading. It's unacceptable. And the (potential) doer must die.
This is absurdly ironic because if we go down using the twisted logic of theirs, all men must die. Most sexual predators are men… So all men are "potential harassers"! Yet no one advocates for a mass killing against men …

I tried to convince them that their arguments were illogical and inconsistent. And talked to them about how scientifically, homosexuality is NOT regarded as a mental illness as they think. It is an inherited belief… And if we followed their allegation, we might as well start burning women for wizardry.
I told them that they have absolutely no right telling my friend, nor any person for that matter, who he was "supposed to be" attracted to. The matter is completely personal and is not, and should never be, a public matter or a debatable topic in every corner.
It is highly unlikely that that man changed his perception of homosexuality. But at least neither he nor the others could disprove my arguments.

I have made it my business since then, to raise awareness over this huge issue. I have gone to protests against the laws made against homosexuals, was involved in debates where the subject was raised and went to Gay-pride and similar parades advocating for their rights.

What I continuously do now, is a new age kind of activism that has been growing over the years. It's "social media activism" which is an effective way of giving people the power to call out injustices,  misconceptions and bad social representations and bring about a better understanding of other people and their culture. Posts shared could change mindsets, laws or even start revolutions.

Through these posts, I made it a point to raise people’s awareness through peaceful debates and conversations mainly by disproving the arguments against homophobia and xenophobia. I wanted to show everybody that it’s unconceivable to bad-mouth and insult someone and call it freedom of speech.

May be the reason why such males are homophobic is their deep down fear of being emasculated. Society's exaggerated directives of “hyper-masculinity” have degraded “femininity”.

I have received a lot of positive feedback and thankful wishes which I am proud of. I will not stop fighting for the oppressed –whoever they are, whatever their tendencies- and so should everyone else (I suppose).


My motto is:  "I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to death your right to say it."