Prince William Shows Conservation Still Has A Problem With ‘White Saviours’

Prince William Shows Conservation Still Has A Problem With ‘White Saviours’ AOC Eye

By Hannah Mumby, Research Fellow, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge ; originally published on The Conversation Africa

Prince William recently spoke at one of the largest illegal wildlife summits ever held in London. He said, “Poaching is an economic crime against ordinary people and their futures.”

The quote could have been better. Poachers, after all, are merely the corner boys of the global illegal wildlife trade, the ones who benefit least financially and risk most, usually their lives. They’re ordinary people too, and vilifying them is not getting to the heart of the issue.

William had travelled to Tanzania, Kenya and Namibia in September and October this year, to learn about conservation, and a video of his trip to Tanzania was presented to the attendees. It did not go down well with various NGOs and campaigners who accused the video of promoting a “white saviour” image, given that only one African, a student, spoke to the camera, while the rest of the interviewees were international participants.

Architect Sir David Adjaye Curates Artist Lina Iris Viktor For Wondereur.com

SECOND 2018. LINA IRIS VIKTOR. PURE 24-KARAT GOLD, ACRYLIC, GOUACHE, INK, PRINT ON COTTON RAG PAPER. 52 X 40 IN.

At New Orleans Museum of Art, Lina Iris Viktor Explores Blackness As A Source Of Energy and Creation

Spectacular paintings by artist Lina Iris Viktor are on view at the New Orleans Museum of Art until Jan. 6, 2019. Introduced to her work via Harper’s Bazaar Arabia, further investigation about Viktor brought me to Wondereur.com, an outstanding website curating artists by other credentialed creatives.

New York based Viktor is profiled by Sir David Adjaye, a leading figure in the architecture world, and lead designer of the new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC. In 2017, TIME magazine named Adjaye as the world’s most influential architect. He was also knighted by the British government in 2017, an opportunity for Adjaye to reiterate the responsibility and potential of architects “to effect positive social change.”

Thelma Golden, the director and chief curator of the Adjaye-designed Studio Museum in Harlem wrote in TIME: “His work – deeply rooted in both the present moment and the complex context of history – has envisioned new ways for culture to be represented and reflected in the built environment. Nowhere is this more evident than in his recent triumph on the National Mall.

"How can a design acknowledge, and embody, the weight of this monumental history and yet transcend it right before your eyes? How can a building be true to the earthbound burdens of centuries of oppression and struggle, while at the same time displaying the faith, joy and triumphs of African-­American life, so that the structure soars into the light?

“In his epoch-making design, David made us aware of those questions and brilliantly solved them, with a singular gesture.”

In his curator’s statement for Wondereur.com about Lina Iris Viktor, Sir David Adjaye describes her work:

“Lina’s work is as evocative as it is strikingly beautiful. Her explorations with gold possess incredible intelligence, drawing out at once powerful connections to global indigenous heritages, opulent futuristic visions of black beauty, and vast philosophical notions of cosmology, geometry, and atomic matter. Her work crosses confidently across a landscape of science, technology, culture and identity with a timeless elegance and a casual defiance that is definitively modern.”

Sir David Adjaye named by TIME 2017 as world’s most influential architect.

Adidas Three Stripes Campaign by Pharrell Williams Implores Us | Don't Be Quiet Please

adidas Three Stripes Campaign by Pharrell Williams Implores Us | Don't Be Quiet Please AOC Fashion

Pharrell Williams, tennis legend Stan Smith and adidas Tennis want to reinvigorate the world through the power of love and positivity. The Three Stripes  (Don't Be) QUIET PLEASE campaign launched Saturday at Frederick Johnson Community Court in Harlem. adidas brought together some of its most talented tennis athletes: Garbiñe Muguruza, Angelique Kerber, Sascha Zverev, Dominic Thiem and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and the local youth to launch its new campaign.

Three Stripes collaborator Pharrell Williams’ is launching his first performance tennis collection, bringing tennis into the modern world -- much as the Williams sisters have done. As a huge Hillary Clinton supporter and 2016 presidential campaigner, Pharrell Williams knows that equality, community, and sportsmanship are core to everything he stands for -- and citizen activism is a must. Three Stripes is a tennis collection that seeks to elicit an emotional connection around our shared humanity through art and design. The premium collection will be available at adidas and Billionaire Boys Club flagships, adidas.com, and select retailers globally August 31st.

Adidas and Pharrell Williams announced a community program including the restoration of a New York City tennis court through a donation to the NYC Parks and children's tennis scholarships in partnership with Court16 and Horizons. 

After Paris Murders In Name of Islam, Saudi Arabia Launches 1000 Lashes Friday January 9, 2015 For Blogger Who Insulted Islam

Saudi Blogger To Be Publicly Flogged For Insulting Islam NPR

A Saudi blogger will be flogged 50 lashes tomorrow, the first of 20 public floggings for insulting Islam. In all, 1000 lashes will be administered to Raif Badawi, increased from 600 lashes during the appeal process. The blogger Badawi was found guilty of insulting Islam on his website Free Saudi Liberals and was also fined about $266,000 and 10 years in prison for his crime.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the U.S. was greatly concerned at Badawi’s punishment “for exercising his rights to freedom of expression and religion.”

“The United States Government calls on Saudi authorities to cancel this brutal punishment and to review Badawi’s case and sentence,” she said.

Amnesty International said it too had learned of Badawi’s impending punishment.

“It is horrifying to think that such a vicious and cruel punishment should be imposed on someone who is guilty of nothing more than daring to create a public forum for discussion and peacefully exercising the right to freedom of expression,” Philip Luther, Middle East and North Africa director for the group, said in a statement.

Badawi’s wife and children moved to Canada after he was arrested and his website has been closed.

Saudi blogger Raif Badawi.

Anne of Carversville has a long history of supporting women’s rights in America and internationally.

We have never involved ourselves in the case of a man before, but coming on the heels of the assassinations in Paris this week in the name of Islam, we must speak up for another blogger Raif Badawi.

AOC has worked to end the flogging of 40,000 women a year in Sudan for perceived indecent exposure. This is what a flogging of a woman in Sudan looks like. Women in Saudi Arabia are also lashed for an offense like an ankle showing.

Although there is no mention of burqas or their equivalent in the Quran, the most orthodox, fundamentalist, murderous branches of Islam say that an ankle showing warrants this punishment for offending Islam.

I am just convulsing over the thought of the punishments that await Raif Badawi for trying to moderate the tribal-mentality, Saudi Arabian government in the 21st century. There is a petition at Amnesty International for readers and friends wanting to stop this brutal punishment coming on the heels of the Paris murders in the name of Islam.

Laughing Brutality in Woman’s Flogging Video Chills Sudan The files of this video were transferred to Anne, after You Tube continually took it down for violating its restrictions on violence. It was the government in Khartoum that demanded that it be taken down. We posted the files on AOC and social media, but also transferred the files to a contact at Bloomberg News.

Flogging of Sudanese women in Khartoum from Anne Enke on Vimeo.

Update

The first public lashing of Raif Badawi was carried out today. The Saudi video was horrific — much worse than this video out of Sudan, which is also just heart breaking to watch. And then men laughed at this poor woman.