#BBC News Brasil

[indizombie]

In Venezuela, the lack of electricity and fuel is among the main challenges faced by the country’s population, according to local economists. The Venezuelan Association of Electrical, Mechanical and Related Professionals (AVIEM) noted that over the last 20 years, “Venezuela was a fully electrified country (97% coverage) and had a robust system that was an example in Latin America. Now, it lives dealing with an electrical system in operational collapse, deteriorated, difficult to recover”, according to recent information from the German broadcaster DW. Venezuelan economist Daniel Cardenas, professor of macroeconomics at the Central University of Venezuela (UCV) and the Metropolitan University of Caracas, tells BBC News Brasil that oil production between 2021 and 2022 increased from 300,000 barrels per day to around 700,000 barrels per day. However, this number is nothing compared to production in the 1990s, when the country produced more than 3 million barrels a day.

‘Why Venezuela will grow 12% in 2022 after 10 years of decline’, Goa Spotlight

[aci25]

Ríos secos y delfines muertos: las imágenes que muestran el avance de la sequía en el Amazonas

El Amazonas nunca había experimentado una sequía como la vivida en 2023. Ha sido la temporadas más seca desde que existen registros meteorológicos hace 121 años. El daño ecológico aún está siendo cuantificado, pero para los científicos la selva podría estar cerca de un punto de no retorno que comprometa el futuro del principal pulmón natural del planeta. La reportera Stephanie Hegarty y el productor Paul Harris de la BBC viajaron hasta el corazón de la jungla donde además registraron el drama humano que está provocando la peor sequía registrada en la región.

[anitaradix]

Investigations are actively examining how Jared Kushner managed to secure a significant $2 billion investment from Saudi Arabia after leaving the White House. Representative Jamie Raskin has raised concerns about a potential "quid pro quo" relationship between Kushner's $25 million salary for overseeing Saudi funds and his involvement in the Trump White House.

Raskin is advocating for Congress to issue subpoenas for documents related to this investment, as there are suspicions that Kushner's financial dealings might be connected to his role in shaping Trump's foreign policy decisions. 🇸🇦💰🏛️

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Fires in Brazil and Bolivia trigger 'black rain' across the region

Large swathes of forests, fields, and meadows in Brazil and Bolivia are being ravaged by fires. Smoke carried by the wind is reaching other countries on the continent, such as Uruguay and Paraguay, creating a phenomenon known as "black rain," according to the Spanish-language station BBC.

The threat of "black rain" was highlighted by 44-year-old Brazilian farmer Tiago Klug, who decided to conduct an experiment. He placed a clean white bucket in his yard, away from buildings, to collect rainwater falling "directly from the clouds". The next day, the water in the bucket had a darker than usual tint.

I have never seen anything like this. It was very sad – he told BBC News Brasil journalists.

The "black rain" phenomenon arises when water mixes with soot carried by fire smoke. Meteorologist Estael Sias from MetSul explained that when soot is exposed to moisture, it can become condensation nuclei around which rain droplets gather.

Continue reading.

[beardedmrbean]

When two young Brazilian women were reported missing in September 2022, their families and the FBI launched a desperate search across the US to find them. All they knew was that they were living with wellness influencer Kat Torres.

Torres has now been sentenced to eight years in prison for the human trafficking and slavery of one of those women. The BBC World Service has also been told that charges have been filed against her in relation to a second woman.

How did the former model who partied with Leonardo DiCaprio and graced the cover of international magazines come to groom her followers and lure them into sexual exploitation?

“She kind of resembled hope for me,” says Ana, describing her reaction on stumbling across Torres’ Instagram page in 2017.

Ana was not one of the missing women targeted in the FBI search - but she too was a victim of Torres’ coercion and would be key to their rescue.

She says she was attracted to Torres’ trajectory from impoverished Brazilian favela to international catwalks, partying with Hollywood A-listers along the way.

“She seemed like she had overcome violence in her childhood, abuse, all these traumatic experiences,” Ana told BBC Eye Investigations and BBC News Brasil.

Ana was in a vulnerable situation herself. She says she had suffered a violent childhood, moved alone to the US from southern Brazil, and was previously in an abusive relationship.

Torres had recently published her autobiography called A Voz [The Voice], in which she claimed she could make predictions as a result of her spiritual powers, and had been interviewed on reputable Brazilian media shows.

“She was on the cover of magazines. She was seen with famous people such as Leonardo DiCaprio. Everything I saw seemed credible,” she says.

Ana says she was particularly taken with Torres’ approach to spirituality.

What Ana didn’t know was that the inspirational story Torres told was based on half-truths and lies.

Torres’ ex-flatmate in New York, Luzer Twersky, told us that her Hollywood friends had introduced her to the hallucinogenic drug ayahuasca, and she was never the same again.

”That’s when she kind of… started going off the deep end,” he says.

He said he also believed that she was working as a sugar baby - paid for romantic involvement with wealthy and powerful men who were also paying for the flat they shared together.

Torres’ wellness website and subscription service promised customers: “Love, money and self-esteem that you always dreamed of.” Self-help videos offered advice on relationships, wellness, business success and spirituality - including hypnosis, meditation and exercise programmes.

For an extra $150 (£120) clients could unlock exclusive one-to-one video consultations with Torres during which she would claim to solve any of their problems.

Amanda, another former client who lives in the Brazilian capital, says Kat made her feel special.

“All my doubts, my questions, my decisions: I always took them to her first, so that we could make decisions together,” she says.

But it appears that advice had a dark side. Ana, Amanda, and other former followers say they found themselves becoming increasingly psychologically isolated from friends and family and willing to do anything Torres suggested.

When Torres asked Ana in 2019 to move to New York to work as her live-in assistant, she agreed. She had been studying nutrition at university in Boston, but arranged to study online instead, and says she accepted the offer to look after Torres’ animals - and do her cooking, laundry and cleaning - for about $2000 (£1,564) a month.

When she arrived at Torres’ apartment, though, she quickly realised it did not match the curated perfection projected on the influencer’s Instagram.

“It was shocking because the house was really messy, really dirty, didn’t smell good,” she says.

Ana says Torres seemed unable to do even basic things without her, like taking a shower, because she couldn’t bear to be alone. She describes having to constantly be available for Torres, only being allowed to sleep for a few hours at a time, on a sofa covered in cat urine.

She says some days she would hide in the apartment building’s gym, grabbing a few hours’ sleep rather than working out.

“Now, I see that she was using me as a slave… she had satisfaction in it,” Ana says.

Ana says she was never paid.

“I felt like, ‘I’m stuck here, I don’t have a way out,’” she says. “I was probably one of her first victims of human trafficking.”

She had given up her university accommodation back in Boston, so she had nowhere to return to, and no income to pay for alternative housing.

Ana says when she tried to confront Torres, she became aggressive, triggering Ana’s painful history with domestic violence.

Eventually, after three months, Ana found a way to escape by moving in with a new boyfriend.

But that wasn’t the end of Ana’s role in Torres’ life. When the families of two other young Brazilian women reported them missing in September 2022, Ana knew she had to act.

By this point, Torres’ life had grown in scale. She was now married to a man called Zach, a 21-year-old she had met in California, and they were renting a five-bedroom house in the suburbs of Austin, Texas.

Repeating the pattern she had begun with Ana, Torres had targeted her most dedicated followers, trying to recruit them to come and work for her. In return, she had promised to help them achieve their dreams, capitalising on the intimate personal details they had shared with her during life-coaching sessions.

Desirrê Freitas, a Brazilian woman living in Germany, and Brazilian Letícia Maia - the two women whose disappearance would go on to spark the FBI-led search - moved to live with Torres. Another Brazilian woman, who we are calling Sol, was also recruited.

Posting on her social media channels, Torres introduced her “witch clan” to her followers.

The BBC has discovered at least four more women were almost persuaded to join Torres in the house but had pulled out.

Some of the women were too scared to appear in the BBC’s film - afraid of receiving online abuse and still traumatised by their experiences - but we have been able to verify their accounts using court documents, text messages, bank statements, and Desirrê’s memoir about her experiences - @Searching Desirrê, published by DISRUPTalks.

Desirrê says that in her case, Torres had bought her a plane ticket from Germany, having told her she was suicidal and needed Desirrê’s support.

Torres is also accused of persuading Letícia, who was 14 when she started life-coaching sessions with her, to move to the US for an au pair programme and then drop out to live and work with her.

As for Sol, she says she agreed to move in with Torres after becoming homeless and was hired to carry out tarot readings and yoga classes.

But it was not long before the women discovered their reality was very different to the fairytale they had been promised.

Within weeks, Desirrê says Torres pressured her into working at a local strip club, saying if she did not comply Desirrê would have to repay all the money she had spent on her: flights, accommodation, furniture for her room, and even the “witchcraft” Torres had performed. Desirrê says not only she did not have this money, she also believed at the time in the spiritual powers Torres claimed to have, so when Torres threatened to curse her for not following orders she was terrified.

Reluctantly, Desirrê agreed to work as a stripper.

A manager from the strip club, James, told the BBC she would work extremely long hours, seven days a week.

Desirrê and Sol say the women in the Austin mansion were subjected to strict house rules. They describe being forbidden from speaking to each other, needing Torres’ permission to leave their rooms - even to use the bathroom - and being required to immediately hand over all earnings.

“It was very difficult to, you know, get out of the situation because she holds your money,” Sol told the BBC.

“It was terrifying. I thought something could happen to me because she had all my information, my passport, my driving licence.”

But Sol says she realised she needed to somehow escape after overhearing a phone call in which Torres was telling another client she must work as a prostitute in Brazil as a “punishment”.

Sol was able to leave with the help of an ex-boyfriend.

Meanwhile, the guns Torres’ husband kept began to regularly feature on her Instagram stories, and became a source of fear for the remaining women.

Around this time, Desirrê says Torres tried to persuade her to swap the strip club for work as a prostitute. She says she refused and the following day Torres took her on a surprise day out to a gun range.

Scared, Desirrê says she eventually gave in to Torres’ demand.

“Many questions haunted me: ‘Could I stop whenever I wanted?’” Desirrê writes in her book.

“And if the condom broke, would I get a disease? Could [the client] be an undercover cop and arrest me? What if he killed me?”

If the women didn’t meet the earning quotas that Torres set, which had risen from $1,000 (£782) to $3,000 (£2,345) a day, they were not allowed to return to the house that night, they say.

“I ended up sleeping on the street several times because I couldn't reach that,” Desirrê adds.

Bank statements, seen by the BBC, show Desirrê transferring more than $21,000 (£16,417) into Torres’ account in June and July 2022 alone. She says that she was forced to hand over a substantially higher figure in cash.

Prostitution is illegal in Texas and Desirrê says Torres would threaten to report her to the police if she ever talked about wanting to stop.

In September, friends and family of Desirrê and Letícia back in Brazil launched social media campaigns to find them, having become increasingly concerned following months without contact.

By this time, they were barely recognisable. Their brunette hair had been dyed platinum blonde to eerily match Torres’. Desirrê says by this point all her phone contacts had been blocked and she obeyed the influencer's orders without question.

As the Instagram page @searchingDesirrê gained momentum, the story dominated news outlets in Brazil. Desirrê’s friends even worried she might have been murdered, and Letícia’s family put out desperate pleas for their safe return home.

Ana, having lived with Torres in 2019, said alarm bells rang as soon as she saw the news stories. She says she immediately guessed that “[Torres] was keeping other girls”.

More information and support about human trafficking and modern slavery is available via BBC Action Line.

Along with other former clients, Ana began to contact as many law enforcement agencies as possible, including the FBI, in an attempt to get the influencer arrested. Five months earlier, both she and Sol had reported Torres to the US police - but say they weren’t taken seriously.

In a video she recorded at the time for evidence, since shared with the BBC, a distressed Ana can be heard saying, “this person is very dangerous and she has already threatened to kill me”.

Then the missing women’s profiles on escort and prostitution websites were discovered. Suspicions of sexual exploitation, shared on social media, appeared to be confirmed.

Panicked by the media attention, Torres and the women travelled more than 2,000 miles (3,219 km) from Texas to Maine. In chilling Instagram videos, Desirrê and Letícia denied being held captive and demanded people stop searching for them.

But a recording, obtained by BBC News, gives an insight into what was really happening at this time. By now the US authorities were aware of the concerns about the women’s safety. Homeland security had tipped off a police officer who managed to FaceTime Torres to check on the women. But just before this starts, Torres can be heard saying on the video:

“He will start asking questions. Guys, they are full of tricks. He’s a detective, be very careful. For God’s sake, I’ll kick you out if you say anything. I’ll scream.”

In November 2022, the police finally convinced Torres and the two other women to attend a welfare check in person at Franklin County Sheriff's Office in Maine.

The detective who questioned Torres, Desirrê and Letícia - Detective David Davol - told the BBC he and his colleagues had been immediately concerned, noticing a number of red flags, including a distrust of law enforcement, isolation and their reluctance to speak without Torres’ permission.

“Human traffickers aren't always like in the movies, where you have… a gang that kidnapped people. It's far more common that it's someone you trust.”

By December 2022, the two women had been safely returned to Brazil.

Det Davol says, in his experience, human trafficking is on the rise. His observation is backed up by the UN, which says it is one of the fastest growing crimes, generating an estimated $150bn (£117bn) in profits a year worldwide.

He believes social media gives it a platform on which to thrive, making it much easier for traffickers to find and groom victims.

In April this year, our team was granted a rare court order to interview Torres in a Brazilian prison - the first media interview with her since her arrest. At that point, she was still waiting for the verdict of a trial against her relating to her treatment of Desirrê.

Smiling, Torres approached us with a calm and collected demeanour.

She was adamant that she was completely innocent, denying that any women had ever lived with her or that she had ever coerced anyone to take part in sex work.

“When I was seeing the people testifying, they were saying so many lies. So many lies that at one point, I couldn't stop laughing,” she told us.

“People are saying I am a fake guru, but at the same time, they are also saying that… ‘She is a danger to society because she can change people’s mind with her words.’”

When we confronted her with the evidence that we ourselves had seen, she became more hostile, accusing us of lying too.

“You choose to believe whatever you choose to believe. I can tell you I'm Jesus. And you can see Jesus, or you can see the devil, that’s it. It's your choice. It's your mind.”

As she got up to return to her cell, she issued a parting threat, claiming we would soon find out if she had powers or not. She pointed at me, and said: “I didn’t like her.”

The BBC can reveal that earlier this month Torres was sentenced by a Brazilian judge to eight years in prison for subjecting Desirrê to human trafficking and slavery. He concluded that she had lured the young woman to the US for the purpose of sexual exploitation.

More than 20 women have reported being scammed or exploited by Torres - many of whom the BBC has spoken to and are still undergoing psychiatric therapy to recover from what they say they experienced as a result of her treatment of them.

Torres’ lawyer told the BBC she has appealed her conviction and maintains her innocence.

An investigation into the allegations from other women is ongoing in Brazil.

Ana believes yet further victims may come forward, once they read about Torres’ crimes. This is the first time Ana has spoken publicly.

She says she wants people to recognise that Torres’ actions amount to a serious crime and not some “Instagram drama”.

In the closing pages of her book Desirrê also reflects on her experiences.

“I’m not fully recovered yet, I’ve had a challenging year. I was sexually exploited, enslaved and imprisoned.

“I hope my story serves as a warning.”

[gregor-samsung]

" Nel Brasile di Bolsonaro, il ministro dell'Istruzione Ricardo Vélez ha promosso una campagna per modificare i testi di storia allo scopo di presentare un’«immagine piú equilibrata» – cioè piú positiva – del colpo di Stato militare del 1964 che rimosse il governo progressista allora in carica (Bbc 2019). Nel 2011, il partito di Berlusconi propose di condurre un’inchiesta parlamentare sui libri di testo di storia italiana, accusati di fondarsi su forti pregiudizi di sinistra, in particolare riguardo alla Resistenza contro il nazifascismo (Luppino 2011). Secondo un reportage del «New York Times», negli Stati Uniti i testi di storia sono stati alterati a seconda dei diversi climi politici dei singoli Stati, per cui Texas e California, per esempio, non sembrano condividere la stessa storia nazionale (Goldstein 2020). Il presidente dell'Associazione degli insegnanti di storia ungheresi ha dichiarato che l’obiettivo degli interventi del governo sull'istruzione era quello di «creare una versione della storia piú gradita a Orbán» (Kingsley 2018). Anche il presidente russo Vladimir Putin si è impegnato nella (ri)produzione di narrazioni storiche che offrissero un quadro piú unificante della storia del Paese, con una direttiva che ha indotto la Società storica della Russia a produrre 80 pagine di linee guida per la compilazione dei manuali (Baczynska 2013). Gli esempi potrebbero moltiplicarsi all'infinito, ma il messaggio di fondo sarebbe lo stesso: «la conoscenza è una forma di potere», come ha scritto Howard Zinn. "

Marco Armiero, L’era degli scarti. Cronache dal Wasteocene, la discarica globale, traduzione di Maria Lorenza Chiesara, Einaudi (collana Passaggi), 2021. [Libro elettronico]

 [Edizione originale: Wasteocene. Stories from the global dump, Cambridge University Press, 2021]

[megathulsadoom]

Acupuntura de filosofia a ciência 📚livro grátis🔬https://pixeldrain.com/u/S9XYP6V4 Acupuntura de Filosofia a Ciência escutar🔊 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=E9NZiyQoigs https://marciopolfluxx.wixsite.com/artigosci-1

[delicatuscii-wasbella102]

Photo: Drik/ Bengal Muslin / BBC News Brasil

[semi-deuses]

A nossa Estrela Guia está cada vez mais próxima do ápice de sua maior manifestação radiônica. Como sabem, tudo no Universo é sustentado por Deus, de forma cíclica, e que de tempos em tempos o Sol lança ao seu Sistema de uma só vez, uma grande quantidade de partículas de energia, que penetram em tudo que existe.

Falando cientificamente, o Sol possui ciclos de 25 anos entre a menor e a maior manifestação das explosões, com a previsão desse pico de máxima atividade solar para o verão do hemisfério norte em 2025, daqui a 2 anos. Não saberia dizer se os jornais e revistas que publicam as matérias sobre o assunto conseguem diferenciar os níveis de intensidade. Falam que a última grande atividade solar ocorrida nos anos 90, será ultrapassada, então, pode ser que não seja mesmo sensacionalismo midiático.

A Terra, pelo menos é o que se conhece, é o único planeta do Sistema Solar que possui vida nessa condição mais densa de matéria. Acontece isso porque existem mecanismos de proteção que filtra boa parte da radiação dos conhecidos raios ultravioleta, alcançando a nossa superfície em níveis suportáveis para a manutenção natural da vida de todos os seres vivos. Se não fosse a camada de ozônio e também de outras camadas da atmosfera terrestre, como a magnetosfera e a ionosfera, que impedem as fortes ondas de energia (massas de prótons e elétrons) ou os chamados ventos solares alcançarem a superfície, com certeza a Terra seria um deserto, como é o Planeta Marte hoje - falando de existência na condição de encarnado.

Além disso, estas camadas de proteção mais a força gravital, evitam a dispersão dos elementos químicos espalhados em volta do planeta, principalmente o oxigênio, essencial para a vida do encarnado. Não é a toa que a atmosfera superficial da Terra é chamada pelos espíritos de mar de oxigênio.

O próprio JN faz notícias sobre esse período de maior manifestação solar. Porém, como todas as outras redes, os âncoras não fazem relação com as mudanças climáticas, porque existe interesses maiores envolvidos e que todos já conhecem sobre esses efeitos serem exclusivamente de causas humanas. Com um pouco de discernimento, as pessoas conseguem perceber a incoerência que há sobre a culpa dos hábitos humanos ao desequilíbrio climático. Eles existem, mas numa proporção 1/9, eu diria. A relação dos gases liberados na atmosfera pelas industrias, automóveis e "puns" das vacas, comparada com os vulcões ativos, é inexpressiva. Quantos cataclismas já passaram? Os mesmos que falam da teoria da existência de um só continente, e que um dia, mudanças climáticas ocorreram para separá-los, colocam na conta do homem as mudancas do aquecimento global. Mesmo assim, a Terra se manteve por milênios preservando a vida na condição que conhecemos.

Estudiosos sérios afirmam da existência do nono planeta (2006, Plutão perdeu o seu posto como um planeta), chamado Nibiru, e que de tempos em tempos cruza o Sistema Solar. Ele possui uma órbita diferente das órbitas dos outros planetas do nosso Sistema Solar.

A NASA e as outras agências espaciais do ocidente, da mesma forma que não confirmam a existência de vida fora do planeta, também nunca confirmou a existência desse misterioso planeta. Mas de onde surgiu a ideia da existência desse planeta?

Esse conhecimento foi encontrado em traduções de antigos documentos Sumérios, feitas pelo arqueólogo Zecharia Stichin que diz existir um planeta chamado Nibiru.

Na Internet, muitos vídeos e sites mostram imagens de 2 sóis vistos em algumas partes do planeta. Uns acreditam e outros dizem ser montagens perfeitas. Há também muitos livros e sites que tratam sobre o assunto.

Segundo as publicações que encontrei, essa aproximação de Nibiru, está fazendo o Sistema Solar sofrer estas alterações. E não é segredo pra ninguém que o planeta está mudando. Por mais que os principais meios de comunicação negam essas informações desacreditando, mudanças ocorrem nosso Sistema Solar.

Anos atrás, as notícias eram mais fidedignas, e quando um assunto como esse vinha à tona, não existia esse modelo atual de rotular as informações, classificando as pessoas como negacionistas e outros adjetivos canceladores.

Anos atrás, quando pesquisadores que utilizavam os sites ligados aos principais observatórios do planeta, começaram a obter imagens com estruturas desconhecidas próximas do Sol, tiveram os seus acessos dos canais dos observatórios públicos bloqueados, ficando difícil agora confirmar o que as agências espaciais estão detectando no espaço.

Espiritualmente falando, tudo que existe está sob o controle da governança universal de Deus. Nada ocorre sem estar sob as rédeas da Justiça Divina, que haje em acordo com a Lei Absoluta que é o próprio Deus. Existem regras, há reações, e tudo é pesado, sublimando ou adensando. Somos feitos de pura energia e estaremos sempre no local exato em que a nossa energia assim vibra.

Os meios que determinam os acontecimentos, para a grande maioria, inclusive eu, são desconhecidos, cabendo tal conhecimento para aqueles que hoje controlam o caminho dessa nossa casa cósmica. Quanto maior o nosso grau evolutivo, maior será o grau de conhecimento das leis e dos fatos. E tudo que ocorrerá a partir do segundo seguinte dessa publicação, será da ciência do nosso Pai Eterno, pois só ele tem ciência do que ocorreu no passado e do que ocorrerá no futuro. Deus vive no Eterno Presente. Ele É, simples assim.

[lgbtqiamuslimpedia]

Parvez Sharma

DOB : July 8, 1976

Occupation : Journalist, Filmmaker,Writer, Activist

Gender : Male

Sexuality : Gay

Ethnicity : Indian 🇮🇳

Spouce : Dan

Awards : Best Film,Mix Brasil 2008,Best Film,Image +Nation,Montreal 2008,Monette Horowitz Award,Cinereach Award,Arts PAC—Artists for Freedom Of Expression,Arcus Foundation Award,The Hartley Film Award,Andy Warhol Foundation for The Visual Arts 2006,GLAAD Media Award,Stonewall Community Fund, etc

Parvez Sharma (also known as Parvez Hussein Sharma) is an Indian-born American journalist, writer, filmmaker & activist. He proudly identify himself as Gay & Muslim. Sharma's writings have appeared on The Huffington Post, The Daily Beast and The Guardian.He is a recipient of the 2018 Guggenheim Fellowship in the film/video category. He is best known for his films In the name of Allah (short), A Jihad for Love, A Sinner in Mecca, & his book A Sinner in Mecca: A Gay Muslim's Hajj of Defiance. He received the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Documentary amongst several other international awards for A Jihad for Love. For his 2 controversial documentaries, Parvez Sharma faced lots of criticism from Muslim communities.After the release of A Jihad for Love, Sharma was labeled as Apostate by the Muslim Judicial Council of South Africa.

Early Life:

Parvez Sharma was born on 8th July of 1975 in a small town of New Delhi. His parents were sunni muslim. He grew up in various cities all over India. His high school was a Catholic School called St Mary's Academy where all students had to recite the Pater Noster during morning assembly. At the age 12, he had (inappropriately) speed-read his mother’s copy of “Gone with the Wind” & even gotten his hands on Christopher Isherwood’s “Berlin Diaries”. By 13 he was precociously photographing everything with a pretty basic Vivitar camera which was gifted by his American cousin.

He recieved his bachelor degree in English literature from Presidency College of the University of Calcutta.He received his master's degrees in Mass Communication (Film and Television) from Jamia Millia Islamia University,Broadcast Journalism from the University of Wales,Cardiff & Video from American University's School of Communication.He moved to the United States in 2000 as a student at Columbia University's Film School, but was unable to continue a second semester due to lack of funds and moved to American University where he was given scholarships.

Career:

Parvez Sharma worked as a journalist for India's 24-hour news television network NDTV.He also worked on programming for BBC World Television(India), the Discovery Channel(United States), & the World Bank (United States).Parvez Sharma worked in several radio,print, and broadcast.

In the nineties, Sharma was a print journalist for several prominent Indian newspapers including The Telegraph,The Statesman,The Economic Times,The Business Standard, & India Currents Magazine.While at the Statesman he reported on what was the first ever detailing of the lesbian experience within India for a national newspaper - Emerging from the Shadows (July 3, 1994)– which became a rallying point for lesbians around the country and was crucial in the formation of many lesbian organizations.

Sharma was instrumental in setting up the first organized LGBT effort in the eastern state of West Bengal,setting benchmarks for many other LGBT organizing efforts around the subcontinent.

Films

In his short film, In the name of Allah , Parvez interviewed American,British & South Asian Gay & Lesbian Muslims.A Jihad for Love film was preceded by this short film.Parvez Sharma came up with the idea after listening to the stories of gay muslims, when he attended American University.He decided to give a voice "to a community that really needed to be heard, and that until now hadn't been.Parvez Sharma and his film's co-producer Sandi Dubowski raised more than a million dollars over a 6 year period to make this daring film. Parvez conducted interviews of many LGBTQ+ muslims from different backgrounds.He met these people through the Internet.The film was filmed in 12 different countries and in 9 languages. Sharma compiled 400 hours of footage of interviews throughout North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, & the Middle East.Countries included Iran,Iraq,Saudi Arabia,Egypt,Bangladesh,Pakistan,Turkey,France,India,South Africa,USA & UK.

In just its opening week during a limited release of 33 cities, A Jihad for Love, for example, ran for four weeks at New York's IFC theaters.The film grossed $22,287, out of which, $10,519 was just in New York.The Domestic Total Gross for the film is $105,659.A Jihad for Love was theatrically released in 33 cities,while A Sinner in Mecca was only released in four cities, for a week each.Its box office numbers were low, except in New York where it had a higher box office return of $11,220.The film also premiered in 2007 at the Toronto International Film Festival & in 2008 at the Berlinale.It went on to premier at more than a hundred film festivals globally and was released in theaters in the US and Canada in 2008 by First Run Features and Mongrel Media.A Jihad for Love was broadcast in India and other countries by India's NDTV.It was shown in two parts over the Aug 1-2 and Aug 8-9 weekends.Further A Jihad for Love was banned from screening in the Singapore International Film Festival, 2008.The film was also banned in several muslim-majority countries.By 2011, Sharma conducted live events and screenings of A Jihad for Love in many Muslim nations and capitals ranging from Beirut,Lebanon and Istanbul, Turkey, to Bishkek,Kyrgyzstan and Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia.In Indonesia, the film did an 8-city tour to acclaim.

In 2007 he wrote a chapter for the book Gay Travels in the Muslim World. In 2009 Parvez Sharma wrote the foreword for the anthology Islam and Homosexuality.

In 2009, Sharma was named as one of "50 Visionaries changing your world" in a list headed by the Dalai Lama.The OUT Magazine named Parvez Sharma one of the OUT 100 twice for 2008 and 2015- "one of the 100 gay men and women who have helped shape our culture during the year".On 29 May 2013 Sharma was honored as an "LGBT hero" by first-lady Michelle Obama at a DNC fundraiser in New York.

Activism:

As an activist Parvez Sharma has spoken internationally on distinguished film/media panels and panels on Muslim & South asian LGBTQ+ issues, human rights violations across the world & the crisis in 21st century Islam.