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Mehdi Rizvi

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Mehdi Rizvi is a former member of the Community Editorial Board, Toronto Star and an affiliate of the Center of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement, which is a consortium of three Toronto universities. He is a chemist who has worked in the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, cement and UV printing products for the last 38 years.
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Gaza: The dictates of conscience or dictated conscience

Photo: helga tawil souri/flickr

"War is organized murder, nothing else."

- Harry Patch, last survivor of the First World War

The recent painful round of hostilities in Gaza followed by efforts to restore peace in the area, have resulted in a temporary but highly inflammable ceasefire. The month-long conflict telecast a live dance of death and destruction on TV screens around the globe. The terrible tragedy has created a challenge for all who love and respect human life, irrespective of colour, cast and creed.

The miseries, sufferings and violation of human rights in Gaza have taken the precious lives of nearly 1,900 Palestinians, mostly civilians, along with 70 Israeli soldiers and four innocent Israeli civilians.

Tags:
Middle East human rights peace religion Israel-Palestine Conflict palestinian human rights attack on Gaza UN declaration holy land

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Observing Yom Ashura in a multicultural Canada

Photo: Naseer Najwa/flickr

When I came to Canada nearly 15 years ago, I could not have imagined that the place which is now my new home would be so accepting, accommodating and tolerant of other cultures. Here we learn how to earn respect by giving respect to others. This is the beauty of Canadian society, which allows hundreds of cultures to co-exist peacefully.

Tags:
islam religion multiculturalism Canadian culture Yom Ashura

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Racism in academia: Addressing racial oppression in post-secondary education

Photo: Steve Chou/flickr

A version of this paper was read at a seminar on "Racism in Academia" held at The Centre of Excellence for Research (CERIS) on Immigration and Settlement, York University, on November 21, 2012.

During the 2010 Metropolis conference held in Montreal, Dr. Luin Goldring, Director of CERIS asked me to suggest a topic for a university seminar. I immediately proposed the topic "Racism in Academia," as I had written on the same issue a few years back.

My observations and inferences were based on the real experiences of Dr. Shiva Sadeghi, Faculty Associate and senior researcher at the University of Toronto. She was very disappointed, discouraged and disgusted with her job experiences and the painful realities faced by some communities on campus.

Tags:
anti-racism post-secondary education multiculturalism immigrants Canadian culture Canadian Universities

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