Some months you just can’t catch a break, eh? Like almost all its predecessors in 2016, July has been a chaotic four weeks. In the UK, it’s been characterised by our departure from the EU and a period of intense uncertainty at a national and global level. At a time that begs for unity, we’ve seen division between members of the public locking horns over the outcome of the referendum and our politicians debating the best way forward.
Indiscretions from tycoons of British business… Heavy investment in nuclear defences while the NHS is further dismantled… Unequivocal assurance by the head of the London Metropolitan Police that a terrorist attack on London is now inevitable… And yet, in all this rough, there are still some diamonds, if you care to read on…
Modern Mosques
In an unexpected move from a country still reeling from extremist attacks, France’s interior minister has backed a proposal by the French Muslim council to fund mosques in France to counter attempts from abroad to radicalise French Muslims. The proposal suggests that fees taken from the halal food sector be used to fund the construction and running of mosques throughout the country.
France’s prime minister Manuel Valls has already spoken out against the funding of mosques from abroad, amid fears that it increases the risk of extremism within France, following the closure of 20 Muslim places of worship due to extremism in 2016. Instead of demonising French Muslims, the state is offering support. “There is an urgent need to help Islam in France to rid itself of those who are undermining it from the inside,” said Valls. Interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve expects the foundation to be up and running by October this year.
The King of Capitalism
In July Philip Green lost his title of ‘King of the High Street’ to be branded the “unacceptable face of capitalism” as BHS finally went into administration with a £571m black hole in its pensions fund. Green has long been the focus of controversy over his unorthodox tax arrangements and the exorbitant earnings of his wife, a resident of Monaco, to whom he has paid dividends in excess of £1bn.
His handling of BHS has proved a step too far, however. Having bought the company for £200m in 2000, he’s alleged to have methodically stripped the chain of its assets before selling it on for £1 in March 2015 to an investor with a known history of bankruptcy. 11,000 people have since lost their jobs and a government investigation has been launched into Green’s affairs.
Turkey Coup
On the evening of Friday July 15, bridges over Istanbul’s Bosphorous Strait were blocked by military personnel, fighter jets and helicopters seen overhead, and gunfire heard throughout the city. Shortly after it was announced by prime minister Binali Yildrim that an attempted coup had been launched against the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The coup had in fact been launched by a small faction of the Turkish military, who later confirmed this aim.
On holiday at the time, Erdogan — usually averse to the use of social media—contacted media outlets via FaceTime and urged his supporters to take to the streets in his defence. “There is no power higher than the power of the people,” he said. “Let them do what they will at public squares and airports.”
The rest of the evening descended into violence, with scores of deaths and over 1400 people injured. Soldiers stormed television stations, protesters were shot, military aircraft gunned down and the government buildings stormed, but by morning the coup had failed. With little to no support from the civilian population or opposing political factions, the soldiers surrendered.
The purpose of the coup remains unclear, though it has been suggested that the secular military were responding to increasing political Islamism within Erdogan’s AKP and his suppression of the media. The Turkish government blames Fetullah Gulen, a US-based Muslim cleric and fierce opponent of Erdogan.
Erdogan has since arrested over 6,000 people thought to be connected to the coup, keeping in them in conditions that Amnesty International has claimed constitute grave human rights abuses.
Armenian Standoff
31 gunmen took control of Erebuni police station in the Armenian capital of Yerevan, holding four police hostages for two weeks from July 17, while demanding that the leader of the government’s opposition be released. “We demand the release of Zhirair Sefilyan,” they said, “we will only obey his orders. Sarkisian must resign. We are doing this for you. People, take to the streets!”
Sefilyan, the leader of the New Armenia Public Salvation Front was arrested, along with six others, in June following allegations that he had instigated a plot to seize government buildings and communications facilities.
After a two-week standoff that saw thousands of people join nightly rallies in support of the gunmen, 20 were arrested and vowed to continue their struggle as political prisoners.
The government of Serzh Sargsyan has become increasingly unpopular due to failures in his economic policy, accusations of widespread corruption and a lost war with Azerbaijan earlier in 2016 in which the country conceded land.
Students Groan
As of August 1, students starting university courses in England will no longer be able to apply for grants. The controversial new measures were introduced by George Osborne in his July 2015 budget, but only instigated as the new prime minister came into power.
Previously, students whose families had annual incomes of £25,000 or less were eligible for a grant of £3,387 a year to help with their living costs, but Osborne said there was a “basic unfairness in asking taxpayers to fund grants for people who are likely to earn a lot more than them.”
The decision has already been lambasted by the National Union of Students as prohibitive to those from poorer backgrounds, the potential of a lifetime of debt serving as a clear barrier to higher education.
“It’s a disgraceful change that basically punishes poorer students simply for being poor,” said NUS president Sorana Vieru, “so they have to take a bigger loan than those students from privileged backgrounds.”
Gender Positives
Norway has become the first country to allow its residents to change their legal gender without the need for gender reassignment surgery or securing the approval of a medical professional. The new law was brought in on July 1, since when 190 people have applied to have their legal gender changed.
Previously the law required that those wishing to change their gender had to receive medical diagnosis, treatment and then undergo gender reassignment surgery, which many argued was equivalent to compulsory sterilisation. But the liberal newlaw negates all of this, facilitating what the state secretary in the Ministry of Health says is about “the right to be who you are. When we introduced this, Norway went from the rearguard to the vanguard when it comes to human rights.”
Weapons of Reason issue #3: The New Old, is available to order now.
