TAXI FOCUS
NASHVILLE TAXI DRIVERS PROTEST AGAINST GOLF CART DRIVERS
Taxi drivers in Nashville are protesting against golf cart drivers who also pick people up on Lower Broadway and beyond. The issue is simple: cab drivers are licensed and regulated by Metro Government, and golf carts are not. At least not until last month. At a Transporta- tion Licensing Commission meeting, Metro granted JoyRide Golf Carts and three of its competitors permission to continue business in Music City. Fox News reports that as with Uber, and Lyft, Metro Government will now regulate and license golf carts to conduct business there. Cab drivers protested the city’s sidewalk extension project, which made it illegal for them to pick up passengers on Lower Broadway. A day after the protest, Metro reversed its deci- sion. So now, cabs can return to pick up passengers. So now cab companies are going to have to take on even more competition in Nashville now that golf carts can also pick up customers.
the incident is being investigated as a hate crime. The alleged assailant is in police custody.
Mr Mukker gave a statement to the Sikh Coalition, the non-profit advocacy group pro- viding his legal representation.
“No American should be afraid to practice their faith in our country,” he said. “I’m thankful for the swift response of authorities to appre- hend the individual, but without this being fully investigated as a hate crime, we risk ignoring the horrific pattern of intolerance, abuse and violence that Sikhs and other minority communities in this country continue to face.” According to Simran Jeet Singh, a senior religion fellow at the coali- tion working on Mukker’s case, Sikh Americans have been increasingly victimised in hate crimes in the years since 9/11. “For Sikh Americans, the unique markers of religious identity - the tur- ban, the beard - these markers are associated with the markers of terrorism,” he said. “People see a Sikh and construe him as the enemy.”
from Egypt
PINK TAXI STRIKES BACK AGAINST SEXUAL ASSAULTS IN EGYPT
SIKH TAXI DRIVER ACCUSED OF BEING A TERRORIST AND BADLY BEATEN IN CHICAGO
Police in Chicago said they are investigating an apparent hate crime attack after a Sikh taxi driver was beaten and accused of being a “ter- rorist”.
The Independent reports that Inderjit Singh Mukker, 53, was on his way to the shop and pulled over when the vehicle behind him kept getting close. But rather than pulling past him,
the driver of the car stopped, got out of his car and approached Mr Mukker. “Terrorist”, “Bin Laden”, “Go back to your country,” the man yelled at the father of two, according to a local Sikh organisation. “His cheek was fractured, he had a laceration that required six stitch- es, he had black eyes, and bruising and swelling all over his face,” Sikh Coalition Legal Director Harsimran Kaur told NBC Chicago. Mr Kaur added that Mukker was likely targeted because of articles of his faith, including a turban and beard. The taxi driver, originally from India, has spent 27 years in the US, campaigners said. Mr Mukker lost consciousness and had to be taken to the hospital, where he received treatment for a fractured cheekbone, bruising and blood loss.
Police in Darien, 30 miles southwest of downtown Chicago, said that OCTOBER 2015
There is a new taxi company in Egypt reserved for women: Pink Taxi.
Sexual harassment and Egypt- ian male society’s behaviour toward women is the worst in the Arab world, according to experts in 22 Arab countries. With no clear signs of improve- ment, Pink Taxi founder Reem Fawzy has taken a business approach to the problem. Fawzy told Euro-news: “Any new idea takes its cue from society, and we need a transport service for Egyptian women. Not only for them, in fact: for all Arab women and foreigners - women in general.” In June last year, a new law was passed in Egypt, which made sexual harassment an offence punishable by six months in prison or the equivalent of a roughly 340-euro fine. Intervention groups continue to press to have existing laws enforced, and to turn attitudes around. Pink Taxi driver training includes psychological preparation for deal- ing with the public. The women must have a secondary school diploma and speak a language in addition to Arabic. At the wheel, Mervat al-Badry said: “The passenger can feel safe, not anxious as she would with a man driving, or as she might if she is going somewhere in the evening or at night, if she is driven there by a woman she can trust.” Kareema Sakoot, one of the first customers, said: “I’m thrilled with this new idea, with women taking charge. Of course, Egyptian society is always going to reject new ideas and doesn’t understand initiatives like this, but it will get used to it, and I am sure that Pink Taxi will be a success.” According to the UN, more than 99 per cent of Egyptian women report being sexually harassed, almost all in some physical way, as well as by abusive language.
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