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MPV Newsletter

June 2024

President's Note

Authoritarian America

There’s so much to say about American politics and politicians that even I, as a true believer of the democratic system and
for all the values it claims to promote, have lost all faith in our system.

Our government is morally corrupt, bought and paid for by foreign interests and corporate clientele. And that dictates the
political conversation.

Our political dissent against America’s complicit in the human rights violations in Gaza and West Bank in the form of freedom
of speech is being curtailed by corporate America like Meta and Google, and of course the military-styled police, called on
by our educational institutions the very institutions who do a good job of teaching critical thinking, but God forbid should
you exercise that critical thinking.

And, to ensure our political dissent is bound by law, the House passed an “anti-terrorism” bill H.R.6408 requiring the IRS to
strip non-profits of their status if deemed to be supporting "terrorism". Now, it is already illegal to fund terrorism
anyway, so this new law is all about censoring any support for the Palestinian cause in the guise of “anti-Semitism". You can
listen to the The Committee on Ways and Means for yourself here ( [link removed] ). And if you have not been paying attention to this bill, you should and I urge you to read this article ( [link removed] ) by The Guardian.

America is no better than Georgia in which the country’s parliament overrode a presidential veto of the “foreign influence”
law which requires media, NGOs and other nonprofit groups to register as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they
receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad. This Georgian law was swiftly condemned by various American
government representatives when these same people voted for H.R. 6408.

What hypocrites. American authoritarianism in both parties and Trump, a convicted criminal, is not even in office yet.

In the past few months I’ve seen horrors upon horrors unfolding in Gaza and the Occupied West Bank. A father sniped by IDF
while holding his daughter’s hand walking down the street, in Gaza pieces of human remains picked up by children for burial,
a 10-year old boy’s will to his family and the world, too many heart-breaking please to stop the bombing from children, women
and men, and a man holding up the body of a child, decapitated. Yes, unlike the fake claims by Israeli organization Zaka of
40 decapitated babies ( [link removed] ) (and
repeated as truth by Blinken and Biden ( [link removed] )), this is real,
on video. (Similarly, just as African Americans have been calling out police brutality toward them for decades, nobody
believed them until it was documented on video).

All this horror with Biden’s fake “red line” which regardless of Israel’s atrocities never seems to cross, and Nicky Haley’s
signing on an American bomb with the message “finish them” leaves me speechless. Mulling over a post I saw: Are you more
appalled by Trump’s “grabbin a pussy” comment or by Biden’s role in America's complicity in the genocide of Palestinians?

American politicians are just war mongers. Peace can only come through a political solution. Every policy expert knows that.
Even Hamas has agreed to lay down its arms ( [link removed] ) in return for
the establishment of a Palestinian state. The South African militant arm of the African National Congress did just that with
the freeing of Mandela from jail and the demise of the apartheid regime which the U.S. government supported.

In the meantime, 146 out of 193 countries now recognize the State of Palestine, and America is becoming a pariah state.

Just like the upheaval against the South African apartheid regime by people of conscience in America, this too will be a
successful upheaval. I may not have faith in the American political system, but I do for its future with the thousands of
Americans protesting, and especially the moral compass of Generation Z.

Onward and upward…

Ani Zonneveld,

President & Founder

 

National Updates

Guest Blog

In honor of Mental Health Awareness month, we published a new piece, Mental Health of Muslims: Who was Arif Faisal, by guest
writer Tamanna Syed on our blog. Head to the website to read the latest blog piece today.

Read Here ( [link removed] )

 

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MPV LA

The Muslim Musical Mosaic Project

June 30th, 5-6:30 pm PST, the Muslim Musical Mosaic Project event will anchor the rich conversations held by the Mosaic
cohort about our history and anthropology with live performances as an illustration of that history as well as two new
compositions: a blues rendition in Urdu and a modern rendition of the old gnawa music.

This is a free event but RSVP for tickets: [link removed] ( [link removed] )

SPEAKERS & PERFORMERS

Professor Mark Levine (University California-Irvine), LuFuki, Alfred Madian, Farah Mitha, Tazeen Ayub, Aiman Khan and Ani
Zonneveld

This project and free event is made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National
Endowment for the Humanities. Visit www.calhum.org ( [link removed] ).

Additional funding from generous MPV donors. Thank you!

RSVP Here ( [link removed] )

 

RSVP Here! ( [link removed] )

Chapter Events

MPV Boston

The celebration of visual arts, music and performance is rooted in Islamic Tradition on many different levels. This is a part
of our identity which is often not celebrated in traditional settings. Please join MPV Boston ( [link removed] ) on June 9 at 1:30 PM as we bring together local Muslim artists to celebrate true
diversity within our Muslims community of Boston with an Eastern Edge.

 

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Chapter Updates

MPV Boston

MPV-Boston was honored to co-present films (left) including ‘Queen of my Dream’, ‘The Judgement’ and MENA short films at the
40th Annual Wicked Queer Film Festival. ( [link removed] )For 40 years, this film
festival has done incredible work to highlight real life stories of Queer and trans Muslims from around the world.

The MPV Boston community is thrilled to continue meeting for Zikr / Islamic meditation gatherings (right). This has been an
incredible addition to our community work as Zikr brings Muslims from diverse backgrounds together in one zen space.

Join MPV Boston ( [link removed] )

 

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