Roqayah Chamseddine

Roqayah Chamseddine is a Lebanese-American writer, published poet, and journalist, whose work can be found at Roqchams.com.

Flint Residents Struggle To Have Voices Heard As Crisis Continues & Media Moves On

“We are not going to stop until we see justice for Flint, but we hope to be a good example for all other cities fighting this same uphill battle.” This Michigan city is still struggling with lead-contaminated water, a struggle that reflects a hidden lead crisis brewing in cities nationwide.

Roqayah Chamseddine
By Roqayah Chamseddine
Flint resident and founder of Water You Waiting For, Melissa Mays.

FLINT -- For nearly three years, the residents of Flint, Michigan, a city located just 70 miles north of Detroit, have had contaminated water running through their pipes, poisoned by lead and other dangerous metals. The crisis began when local authorities decided to switch the city’s main water source in April 2014, choosing to pull water from the

Read Full Article

Beneath Modern Sheen Of Gulf States Is Slave Labor

Gulf states like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are well-known for their gleaming skyscrapers and other conspicuous emblems of wealth. But underneath their modern sheen lies a problem as old as civilization – a labor system that makes migrant workers into modern slaves.

Roqayah Chamseddine
By Roqayah Chamseddine
A worker passes by a wall painting in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP/Kamran Jebreili)

The awe-inspiring skyscrapers and buildings that litter the region have been described as being “stained by the blood of migrant workers.” This subjugation of laborers lines corporate coffers while putting the lives of migrant workers at risk. Though many believe slavery is a thing of the past, it is very much alive in the regimes of the Persian

Read Full Article

Gulf Nations Celebrated In Western Press While Silencing Their Own Journalists

Western media outlets routinely portray despotic Gulf regimes as benign and friendly states. However, these same outlets ignore the harsh realities that their fellow journalists deal with on a regular basis within those countries, including harassment, imprisonment and torture.

Roqayah Chamseddine
By Roqayah Chamseddine
A journalist takes photos at a palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (AP/Hasan Jamali)

MINNEAPOLIS-- While serving as an unabashed arms dealer to the world's most repressive governments, the United States is also acting as their public relations agent, characterizing countries that routinely undermine freedom of the press, as well as the rights of women and minorities, as being safe and friendly. The clearest examples can be

Read Full Article

Whitewashing An Extremist Kingdom: Corporate Pundits Shill For Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia has benefited from its cozy relationship with the United States for decades, receiving funding and arms despite its horrific human rights track record. Mainstream media outlets continue to lavish praise on the kingdom while largely ignoring its misconduct.

Roqayah Chamseddine
By Roqayah Chamseddine
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir meet at the State Department in Washington, Thursday, March 23, 2017. (AP/Sait Serkan Gurbuz)

SAUDI ARABIA-- Saudi Arabia is being marketed to U.S. audiences as a nation on the precipice of reformation. But the efforts made by corporate-backed pundits to whitewash the country can’t hide its wrongdoings. Since 1933, Saudi Arabia has enjoyed a “special relationship” with the U.S. that's been unbreakable. The relationship has helped the

Read Full Article

Media Silent As U.S. Prisoners Continue To Hunger Strike Abysmal Conditions

Prisoners across the U.S. have been holding hunger and labor strikes since last year, with tens of thousands of inmates protesting abuse and poor conditions. But news reports on the strikes have been few and far between, leaving prisoners’ requests for humane treatment in the dark.

Roqayah Chamseddine
By Roqayah Chamseddine
prison strike

On Oct. 30, 2016, Robert Earl Council was found sprawled unconscious on the floor of his cell in Alabama’s Limestone Correctional Facility after being on hunger strike for 10 days. Medical staff at the prison force-fed him intravenously, as his blood sugar levels had reached dangerous levels. But Dara Folden, a member of the Free Alabama

Read Full Article

Unnecessary Force – What Will Policing Look Like Under Trump?

Jeff Sessions, Attorney General for the Trump administration, has ordered a review of police reform agreements that could result in less oversight for local law enforcement agencies. This policy rollback could result in an increased incidence of police brutality.

Roqayah Chamseddine
By Roqayah Chamseddine
Two Chicago police officers take a man into custody during a protest march, Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2015, in Chicago, the day after murder charges were brought against police officer Jason Van Dyke in the killing of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

MINNEAPOLIS-- The effect of police brutality on black communities in the United States is well-documented. Under President Donald Trump, who marked his first day as president by vowing to end what he called a “dangerous anti-police atmosphere,” this form of abuse will likely continue with little to no consequences for those guilty of perpetrating

Read Full Article

“Collateral Damage”: Dehumanizing Millions Of Victims In America’s War On Terror

‘No matter how many times the U.S. bombs us, no one bats an eye.’ These are the words of just one of millions of Iraqis who have died needlessly in America’s ongoing ‘War on Terror.’ The country’s endless war has figuratively and literally destroyed the lives of countless non-combatants.

Roqayah Chamseddine
By Roqayah Chamseddine
A resident carries the bodies of six people killed during fights between Iraq security forces and Islamic State on the western side of Mosul, Iraq, Friday, March 24, 2017. Residents of the Iraqi city's neighborhood known as Mosul Jidideh at the scene say that scores of residents are believed to have been killed by airstrikes that hit a cluster of homes in the area earlier this month (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

WASHINGTON, D.C.-- In the Iraqi city of Mosul, local residents have retrieved almost 300 bodies from underneath buildings that were leveled by a U.S. airstrike that took place on March 17. The strike killed hundreds as part of an attempt by a U.S.-led coalition to combat Daesh (ISIS) forces by bombing their network of tunnels. Lt. Gen. Stephen

Read Full Article