Latest news with #ElifShafak
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Influential women urge inclusion of asylum seekers in Labour plans to tackle violence
More than 50 influential women, including actors, authors and comedians, have warned in a letter to the government against the risk of creating a 'two-tier' system to tackle violence against women and girls if tens of thousands of female asylum seekers are left out. Labour has pledged to halve violence against women and girls in the next decade and is due to publish its strategy in September. According to research from the charity Women For Refugee Women, which coordinated the letter, more than 85% of female asylum seekers have been raped or tortured. They are a particularly vulnerable group, who have often suffered violence in the home countries they have fled from and on their journeys seeking safety. Signatories of the letter include Cherie Blair KC, Elif Shafak, Ali Smith, Juliet Stevenson, Laura Whitmore, Zoë Wanamaker, Rosie Jones and the former Green party leader Caroline Lucas. Their message to the government is that violence does not stop at the border. But they warn serious gaps in the UK's asylum process leave many retraumatised by a system exposes them to further harm. They are calling for: Fast-tracking asylum claims for women from high grant-rate countries such as Afghanistan, Sudan and Eritrea. Reforming asylum accommodation so women have somewhere safe to call home. Lifting the ban on work for women seeking asylum to prevent further exploitation and harm. The letter states the government's commitment to halving the rate of violence against women within the next decade is unachievable unless it includes women seeking safety in the UK. It adds that without action the government risks creating a two-tier system, with women seeking asylum treated as less deserving and left behind. 'The government is right to say that violence against women is a national emergency. But this national emergency cannot be tackled without including all women – including those who have sought safety here. Violence doesn't stop at the border and neither should our compassion and support for survivors,' the letter says. Blair said: 'We must create a country and a world where all women and girls are protected from gender-based violence. Women and girls who seek asylum in the UK often do so because they want a life that's free from violence and abuse. The UK government needs to consider their needs as they seek to tackle violence against women and girls and create a safer, more peaceful country for all.' Whitmore said: 'I am proud to have signed this letter to urge the government to include all women – including those seeking asylum here – in its commitment to tackle violence against women. No woman should be left behind when it comes to protection from violence.' The Home Office declined to respond directly to the calls made in the letter for a commitment to include asylum-seeker women and girls in its new strategy. A Home Office spokesperson said: 'The scale of violence and abuse suffered by women and girls in this country is nothing less than a national emergency. That's why we have pledged to halve violence against women and girls in a decade. 'We have taken immediate action to increase protection against vile perpetrators. This includes launching a new national centre for violence against women and girls and public protection, Raneem's law, which puts domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms, and new domestic abuse protection orders. 'We will set out further plans in a new, transformative strategy to halve violence against women and girls, which we aim to publish in September.'
Time Business News
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Business News
Until I Held You Again
By Sara Zantout Until I Held You Again is a poignant and lyrical short story told in ten powerful heartbeats. This story traces a mother's emotional journey through love and loss—revealing how motherhood is shaped, tested, and redefined through moments of deep vulnerability in a contradiction-filled city of Beirut where beauty and grief coexist. Written by Lebanese author Sara Zantout, this poetic short story offers an intimate reflection on what it means to be a woman navigating personal and cultural memory in a city that mirrors both strength and sorrow. Motherhood as transformation and endurance Memory's fragility and power Identity shaped by emotional upheaval Beirut's fractured beauty: a living metaphor To explore how motherhood, memory, and identity are shaped by emotional complexity—especially in a Middle Eastern setting. It pays tribute to women who hold themselves together amid contradictions, celebrating both quiet strength and vulnerability. To explore how motherhood, memory, and identity are shaped in the emotional landscape of the Middle East. A tribute to women who hold themselves together in fractured worlds where quiet strength, vulnerability, and love become acts of power. Perfect for readers who appreciate: Middle Eastern women's fiction Stories of motherhood and memory Emotional fiction of resilience and hope Poetic, literary reflections on love, identity, and strength Sara Zantout is a Lebanese writer and journalist based in Dubai. Drawing on extensive experience in writing and storytelling, she brings emotional depth and lyrical style to her literary work, Until I Held You Again. Authentic Middle Eastern female perspective Ten heartbeats of raw emotional narrative Compact, poetic short-story format Beirut's vibrant, conflicted culture Nuanced portrayal of motherhood and identity Elif Shafak Hala Alyan Nawal El Saadawi Ghada Al Saman Bold, lyrical stories of passion, identity, and Middle Eastern womanhood. Explore Sara Zantout's work at Subscribe for updates and new releases. Follow on Instagram: @ TIME BUSINESS NEWS
The National
28-05-2025
- General
- The National
Zadie Smith and Hanif Kureishi among 380 writers calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza
Zadie Smith, Elif Shafak and Hanif Kureishi are among the 380 writers and organisations from the UK and Ireland that have signed an open letter denouncing Israel's war in Gaza as genocidal and urging an immediate ceasefire. The letter begins with A Star Said Yesterday, a poem by the late Palestinian poet Hiba Abu Nada, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in October 2023. The poem, imagining a cosmic sanctuary, is a poignant yearning for refuge and safety amidst devastation. 'The government of Israel has renewed its assault on Gaza with unrestrained brutality,' the letter reads. 'The use of the words 'genocide' or 'acts of genocide' to describe what is happening in Gaza is no longer debated by international legal experts or human rights organizations. " Amnesty International, Medecins Sans Frontieres, Human Rights Watch, the International Federation for Human Rights, the United Nations Human Rights Council and many other specialists and historians have clearly identified genocide or acts of genocide in Gaza, enacted by the Israel Defence Force and directed by the government of Israel.' Besides an immediate ceasefire, the letter calls for the unrestricted distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza, the release of all Israeli hostages and the liberation of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. It also urges the imposition of sanctions on Israel should these demands not be met. 'Palestinians are not the abstract victims of an abstract war,' reads the letter, which was also signed by Ian McEwan, Brian Eno, Ben Okri, Kate Mosse and Irvine Welsh. 'Too often, words have been used to justify the unjustifiable, deny the undeniable, defend the indefensible. Too often, too, the right words – the ones that mattered – have been eradicated, along with those who might have written them.' 'The term 'genocide' is not a slogan. It carries legal, political and moral responsibilities.' Israel's war on Gaza has killed at least 54,084 Palestinians and injured 123,308 since October 7, 2023, the enclave's Health Ministry said on Wednesday. Israel resumed military operations in the territory on March 18 ending a two-month ceasefire. Since then, 3,924 people have been killed.
Al Arabiya
28-05-2025
- General
- Al Arabiya
Some 380 writers from UK, Ireland denounce Israel's ‘genocide' in Gaza
Nearly 380 writers from the UK and Ireland, including Zadie Smith and Ian McEwan, penned an open letter Wednesday denouncing Israel's 'genocide' in Gaza and urging a ceasefire. The letter called on 'our nations and the peoples of the world to join us in ending our collective silence and inaction in the face of horror,' they wrote in a letter published on the Medium website. 'The use of the words 'genocide' or 'acts of genocide' to describe what is happening in Gaza is no longer debated by international legal experts or human rights organizations,' the letter continued. Israel has repeatedly denied all accusations of genocide in its war on Gaza. The letter comes a day after 300 French-language writers, including Nobel Literature prize winners Annie Ernaux and Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio, signed a similar statement condemning 'genocide.' 'Palestinians are not the abstract victims of an abstract war. Too often, words have been used to justify the unjustifiable, deny the undeniable, defend the indefensible,' the British and Irish writers said. The writers, including novelist Elif Shafak and playwright Hanif Kureishi as well as the Scottish and Welsh writers PEN clubs, called for a ceasefire, the 'immediate distribution of food and medical aid' in Gaza and sanctions on Israel. International condemnation has grown over Israel's humanitarian aid blockade and relentless strikes after it ended a ceasefire in March and intensified military operations this month. The health ministry in Gaza said 53,977, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israel's offensive since October 2023. 'This is not only about our common humanity and all human rights; this is about our moral fitness as the writers of our time,' the writers said. On Monday over 800 UK-based legal experts, including former Supreme Court justices, wrote to Prime Minister Keir Starmer saying: 'Genocide is being perpetrated in Gaza or, at a minimum, there is a serious risk of genocide occurring. 'Serious violations of international law are being committed and are further threatened by Israel,' the lawyers said, adding the UK is 'legally obliged to take all reasonable steps within their power to prevent and punish genocide.'
The Guardian
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
If Ted Talks are getting shorter, what does that say about our attention spans?
Name: Ted Talks Age: Ted started in 1984. And has Ted been talking ever since? Ted – short for Technology, Entertainment, Design – is an American-Canadian non-profit media organisation that has an annual conference … I know, and they do the inspirational online talks. Correct, under the slogan 'Ideas change everything'. Anyway, what about them? They're shorter. The talks? Than what? Than before. How much shorter? Six minutes. Says who? Says Elif Shafak. The Turkish-British novelist? Novelist, essayist, public speaker, activist. She was talking at the Hay festival, in Wales. What did she say? That when she first did a Ted Talk she was given a limit of 19 minutes, but a decade later she was told to keep it to a trim 13. Why? That's what she asked Ted. And Ted said? According to Shafak, TED said: 'Well, the world's average attention span has shrunk.' How did that make her feel? 'Really sad. We are incapable of listening to a talk for more than a few minutes.' She went on to say that it was because we are living 'in an age of hyper-information'. Too much to take in? Exactly. 'We cannot process this much information,' she continued. 'And in the long run it makes us tired, demoralised, then numb because we stop caring.' My god, sounds terminal. Is it true, that our attention spans have shrunk? A lack of long-term studies means we don't know for sure, but the public seems to think it has. Tell me more. But get on with it. A study by King's College London in 2022 found that 49% of people believe their attention spans have become shorter, 50% say they can't stop checking their phones … Young people probably. Nope. Also a struggle for the middle-aged. And 50% of people also believed – wrongly – that the average attention span for adults today is just eight seconds. Sorry, what were we talking about again? Short attention spans. Oh yes. I knew that. What about books though, are they getting shorter too? Well, interestingly, a 2015 study suggested the opposite, that they were 25% longer than they were 15 years earlier. I'm sensing there's a but coming. But the longlist for this year's International Booker includes eight books that are less than 200 pages. What about films, they're definitely getting longer, right? The short answer: no. Slightly longer answer: again, we just think they are, probably because of marketing. Studios want to incentivise people to spend money on a ticket, which they do by telling you it's big, epic and special. Hang on, so we think attention is going down but it might not be, and films are getting longer, but they're not? Very perceptive. Someone should do a Ted Talk about it. Do say: 'Can you even change everything in 13 minutes?' Don't say: 'Hurry up, you're losing the room.'
