A comprehensive review by The Intercept of the writings of Sam Charles Hamad -- author of this Daily Beast article accusing the "global left" of remaining "silent" on abuses by Russia -- reveals that he has been completely silent, shockingly and appallingly so, about the following wide array of severe global injustices, never once writing about, let alone condemning, any of this:
- Police brutality in Peru ("police and the armed forces have been granted a 'license to kill' demonstrators")
- High-level corruption in Malaysia ("a $681 million payment made to what is believed to be [Prime Minister] Najib's personal bank account")
- Fascism in the Ukraine (key militia led by "a political figure that is often described as an extremist, ultranationalist and fascist")
- Prison overcrowding and police murder sprees in Brazil ("overcrowded, violent and brutalizing"; "every year Brazil's police are responsible for at least 2,000 deaths")
- Imprisonment of a publisher in Zimbabwe for running articles the government disliked ("convicted of publishing a newspaper in a southern town without government permission")
- Arrests of Muslims for their political views throughout Europe (where Hamad studied) and outlawing of BDS activism in France.
- Devastating mistreatment of migrant workers and outlawing of homosexuality (with a little-used death penalty) by Qatar (for whose media outlet, a l-Araby, Hamad writes)
- Mass human rights violations by Indonesia ("The Indonesian government continues to arrest peaceful protesters. " Security forces responsible for serious violations of human rights continue to enjoy impunity")
- Due process-free imprisonment and other pervasive abuses in Kenya ("arbitrary arrests and detentions, extortion, and other abuses against Somalis")
- Starvation and severe hunger in South Sudan ("At least 30,000 people are facing starvation in South Sudan. ... Two years of civil war have left nearly 4m people -- particularly young children -- facing severe hunger")
- The still unsolved, deeply suspicious disappearance of 43 students in Mexico ("serious doubts surround the official version of events")
- Violent, brutal persecution of Muslims in Burma by the Buddhist majority ("thousands of members of the Rohingya Muslim minority are fleeing persecution ... they are being turned away from Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand" ... "Nearly one million Rohingya were deprived of the vote earlier this year on the grounds they could not prove their families had been long resident in Myanmar")
- Serious threats, discrimination and violence against LGBT citizens in Uganda ("if some Ugandan politicians have their way, coming out as homosexual could mean life in prison, or worse")
- Increasingly violent Hindu nationalism in India aimed at the Muslim minority ("Is Modi's India Safe for Muslims?")
- Use of brutal child labor in Bangladesh to provide garments to the U.K., where Hamad is a citizen ("factories producing clothes for British retailers are forcing girls as young as 13 to work up to 11 hours a day in appalling conditions")
What could possibly explain Hamad's stunning, disgraceful silence about these massacres, abuses, injustices, and extreme levels of avoidable human suffering? One might conclude from his utter silence that he supports these heinous actions. Or perhaps he is an apologist for the perpetrators, seeking to conceal their culpability by never acknowledging these crimes? Or he could just be a propagandist, fixating on certain acts of abuse and violence committed by some regimes while systematically ignoring those of others.
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