Love can feel like the softest of sentiments. Especially when we’re surrounded by cookie cutter templates of what it looks like, on a day like Valentine’s Day.
Even if you don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day, you can make your love a form of resistance to commodification, resistance to the superficiality of pinks and reds and cuddly toys. If you do celebrate it, enjoy the hearts, flowers, cards and meals. Make your love a form of resistance in a world of growing hate, division and despair. Make it intentional, a statement of humanity, respect and value for another.
Stories that make the news often depict such templates of love, that don’t fit the soft focus Hollywood or Hallmark depictions.
A mother in Afghanistan educating her daughters at home in the face of erasing women and their rights is love as resistance. Images of a wedding in Gaza amid the destruction is the real-life version of love as resistance. The photographs of medics treating orphaned children in the destruction of Palestinian hospitals, rescuing babies under rubble – this tenderness is love as resistance.
In London, the imam who in 2017 stood over a terrorist who attacked the Finsbury Park mosque to protect him from being attacked by crowds may be described as a hero – he was recognised for his heroism. But his act of saving the man should also be seen as an act of his love in the face of discord and violence.
In the same year, in the US, two men were stabbed to death on a train in Portland, Oregon, defending Muslims from slurs. That incident can also be seen as love as resistance. There are countless brave acts of love. The women’s marches holding hands, the peace marches with people from all backgrounds.
Too often, we see stories of hate and division on the news, on social media. But even in these spaces, we so often also see stories that stand out, that become the blood in the veins of our social discourse.
There are so many other examples that give voice to love and humanity. And poets and musicians and artists understand this all too well. Mahmoud Darwish through his poetry resisted with love. So did Umm Kulthum, Fayrouz and many others through their songs.
Love is powerful in all its forms – romantic, familial, and communal. It is the ultimate tool in times of hardship. Through storytelling, love is not just experienced – it is documented and shared.
Those who seek to oppress and dehumanise will seek to erase the stories of love. And often the most striking of these are found in the most difficult circumstances.
In Gaza last year, when three-year-old Reem was killed, we saw the deep emotion of her Palestinian grandfather Khaled Nabhan, who called her the "soul of my soul". His existential love for her can also be considered resistance against oppression . And people stood with him a year later when he too was killed. There are so many such stories just in Gaza.
Love is not passive. It is an act of defiance. In today's world, it is our distinction from Al. It is about speaking up when silence is demanded. It is about loving the truth, facts and justice in a world that can seek to distort and destroy them.
As we increasingly walk in the shadow of polarisation and confusion, we can become tired and disoriented, unable to resist feeling defeated. And too tired for resistance can mean too tired for love. Because hate is easier.
I think of my own story. Years ago, I wrote a book titled Love in a Headscarf, a tale of my search for love. At the time, I thought it was just my story. But now I see it as an act of resistance, in the face of constantly being told love wasn’t for Muslim women, for South-Asian women. That as a woman with such an identity, I wasn’t seen as worthy of love or with a right to it. To challenge that, my story for me became one of love as resistance.
Your love is also resistance. Your love is an act of defiance that asserts your existence beyond mere survival. It is a declaration that you are not just alive – you are human.
Company Fact Box
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
The biog
Hometown: Cairo
Age: 37
Favourite TV series: The Handmaid’s Tale, Black Mirror
Favourite anime series: Death Note, One Piece and Hellsing
Favourite book: Designing Brand Identity, Fifth Edition
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
From exhibitions to the battlefield
In 2016, the Shaded Dome was awarded with the 'De Vernufteling' people's choice award, an annual prize by the Dutch Association of Consulting Engineers and the Royal Netherlands Society of Engineers for the most innovative project by a Dutch engineering firm.
It was assigned by the Dutch Ministry of Defence to modify the Shaded Dome to make it suitable for ballistic protection. Royal HaskoningDHV, one of the companies which designed the dome, is an independent international engineering and project management consultancy, leading the way in sustainable development and innovation.
It is driving positive change through innovation and technology, helping use resources more efficiently.
It aims to minimise the impact on the environment by leading by example in its projects in sustainable development and innovation, to become part of the solution to a more sustainable society now and into the future.
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
Most sought after workplace benefits in the UAE
- Flexible work arrangements
- Pension support
- Mental well-being assistance
- Insurance coverage for optical, dental, alternative medicine, cancer screening
- Financial well-being incentives
The specs
Engine: 2.2-litre, turbodiesel
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Power: 160hp
Torque: 385Nm
Price: Dh116,900
On sale: now
