also out of the old dread of do mystical of flights that exist in france with the kind of benefits that would be really reduced really cheap so we feel that it's far from being an issue and beyond the walls that make it seems like everybody shares it's not it's not so we are quite disappointed with the decision and this the lower level of phoenician. quick reminder of the headlines now iran is saying the electrical blackout and nuclear facility was a terrorist act earlier they said the incident at the town's facility was a problem with the electrical grid feeding the site power's out across workshops and underground enrichment holes the incident came a day after the country advanced your quit meant and ahead of further talks about reviving the 2050 nuclear deal iran is now urging the international atomic energy

agency to take action and says it reserves the right to punish the perpetrators as i beg is intact iran. the seems to be an admission now from iran that this was some sort of attack and the head of iran's atomic organization has come out and said that this act was carried out by those that oppose iran's progress in the nuclear industry and it was shows a failure of those that oppose iran's negotiations to have those sanctions lifted he said that iran condemns the act and he urged the international community and the international atomic energy agency to confront what he called nuclear terrorism you also said iran reserves the right to act against those that carried out this act and those that ordered it. now the number of coronavirus infections in india has hit a new record high for the 6th day in a row 152000 new cases and 839 deaths reported on sunday this is the highest

single day death toll in 5 months authorities in several states a warning a vaccine shortages in the coming days but india's health minister has accused state governments of famine growing both in kyrgyzstan of granted the president sweeping new powers in a referendum it's something new president has been pushing for changes in the power to appoint judges and shrinks the size of the country's parliament while allowing him to run again and ukraine is saying that one of its soldiers has been killed in another seriously wounded in shelling from russian back separatists in the east of the country this is the latest incident in rising tensions along russia ukraine border the 2 countries exchanging verbal threats this week. that's it for myself and the team here in london that will be. in about 25 minutes time studio b. unscripted is the program coming up next. on counting the cost m.r.i.

and a ball that is changing the world of vaccines not just the covert $19.00 big business and place that cost thousands of pixels millions of dollars and not the ponderable token we demystify the world of crypto are helping because on al-jazeera. i couldn't accept their reality and my actually going to go on a rubber boat and cross the aegean with 60 people to seek asylum in europe i don't care the color of your skin i don't care at the city please cook my food but at least respect my guts to come here navigate seeing your chrissy racism language barriers to borders and stigma and then rebuild your life is by itself a success. for protesting i was arrested and tortured and. i travelled across the agency

through the calorie count and on to the u.k. we must see the smiles you can see on see you live you see on the. past on a card a filmmaker photographer and refugee from syria. on a restaurant of entrepreneur and activist i don't want to know how many michelin stars a restaurant i want to know how they treat their staff the diversity in the workforce i want to shake up unfair social hierarchies and elevate women. i've witnessed for the extremes of human. the worst in serious prisons and the best in the people i worked with as a hospital cleaner during the course of our spending. just doesn't use

a scanner i use food as a storytelling to foster equality and combative justice. the whole point of having an all female café was it should be like analysis food is not just about what to eat us about nourishment and healing and center speak with journeys how to cultivate community and make this world a fair place to live and join us in studio b. unscripted. tell me i want to start off with the syrian story 1st what politicized you. i wasn't always political because it wasn't an option you know and. growing up attorney i didn't have

a voice because you have to go by what they tell you to do now when the arab spring started and and nastily it found itself in syria i was living a very comfortable life but i could not condone what the syrian regime was doing and dealing with protesters so 10 years ago when these schools and. scribbled people on the downfall of the regime on the walls of their school there was an uprising people started protesting i got involved and my role was small i was protesting but i was also trying to document protests to show the world what's happening in my own country i got arrested in a protests and i got treated very badly so i i was tortured i was. and then i was released i was sacked as a teacher and then i was arrested again and i was going to feel safe anymore there was no way in life that i would have left damascus i was having an incredible time

and i never thought that i would ever be a refugee because before that we've had lebanese refugees we've had iraqi refugees we've had palestinian refugees i never thought there would be 11 day but then you're faced with this decision you either leave or you die now i have a question for you you have ph d. in law but then you turned to be a cook. and since coming to london you've been using your platform for to pass some other voices i'm so interested in it's own i think i was always driven with this need to be useful to play a role to play a part in my father always would tell me you know you are very privileged you are by birth you must leave a legacy you must do something and when the day is ending you must feel that i did something for someone you know my father very sufi philosophy really kind of you know that was part of my d.n.a. and i felt it and when i was doing law and a lot of people who are watching this who are south asian will understand this

you're below you're a doctor there's like you here there's your whole life and i thought you know this will please my parents you know make my new strange husband because i had a at arranged marriage so i was trying to impress him as well i thought yeah great you know i study law and i don't think i'm so smart and then all of me then got to work out that way because i realized that i was so soulless rootless hollow in this country i felt bereft and i remember my 1st winter in cambridge touching the bark of this very bare wrought tree and i felt this was me i will never have a spring the tree will never have a spring i had to cook to survive to live i know that sounds very extreme but i didn't feel i could live i felt so cut off i couldn't really go home because there's so much shame to leave a marriage and go back i knew the only way i could go home was to cook but you know

talking of journeys i nor so many stories of people making these journeys across but i have to say and i'm very ashamed to admit the 1st time i actually met someone who has made this journey how was it so. to give it a context when i left. syria i did not want to come to europe so there is this misconception in america in europe that arab men or muslim men are told from the cradle go to europe go to the west's and it's not true even when i left i stayed in the regions or wherever i went there was an expiry date on my id and that always made me so anxious because i knew that there was no way that i could go back home but i cannot settle somewhere where there is an expired on my id and i want to find i am in pursuit of a new home so it was 2015. it was the peak of the refugee crisis in europe and my cousin had fled also he felt persecuted in damascus and my best friend also

fled so we made a decision to travel together and. we found ourselves in is mirrored in turkey and i couldn't accept the reality there was this denial through and during the whole time like am i actually going to go on a rubber bullets and cross the edge ian with 60 people to seek asylum in europe when i was a teenager listening to them and i never expected that this would have been like literally because this is what you see in films this is not going to happen to me and then so we went on a boat. the smugglers lie to us as they do to everyone and our boat sank because there were $63.00 people including children and woman. we got picked up by the turkish coast guards we were sent back and we tried the next day so we made it to greece and then we trekked all might like everyone who was with us wanted to go to germany or sweden which isn't bad then was easier but then i wanted to come to

britain so i got to cali is a small town in northern france and then after 2 months of trying i finally made it here in september 2015 so yeah it was a crazy tourney incredible journey with yes i'm going to move away from the journey a bit and i want to talk about food because i'm from damascus and. damn it seems that it is incredible yes even had a peter assurance and you are a cook so how do you use your pseuds as a storytelling mechanism it's very very important for me that you acknowledge the honor that is due to my food because what has happened a lot in the west is that ethnic food culture and food are separated i don't care the color of your skin i don't care ethnicity please cook my food but at least respect my roots and the problem is that a lot of people see ethnic food is cheap and cheerful in orders as like so one of

the things that i was very against is that you know you break bread on my table sit down listen to my stories i want to tell you about that women in my family graveyard the ones who taught bases dishes i have the right to be respected food is part of our d.n.a. you and i understand that you know that but death marriage is food is there and i you know i studied law i did a ph d. i don't know how there are people in families who say or you know look at her you know not using her law degree i use it everyday i use the skills of advocacy to use to food as my conversation food as my bridge had been me and my host nation and you and i came to this country for different reasons i came here as a new bride full of hope and you know excitement but suitcases full of true saw that my mother had collected for years on my beautiful handmade you know

soak in clothes and jewelry i'd come here to start a new life so our journeys were different but you know it. it didn't take me long to understand that you know what i left i needed to find a way to tell the story so that someone who looked like me someone who looks like you you know we have a story don't separate us from our food our stories and then call us names and put labels on us this is the one thing about labels that you know people use the lowest category when they describe the outsider i want you to explain to me how this is a problem and what you think it's demonizing when you label people. when i did my journey i filmed it and the reason why i filmed it is because i read articles in british tabloids describing us as cockroaches and invaders and coming here to steal jobs so that is very day here by dehumanizing and it's very problematic and the

reason why i filmed my journey and i it was it was made into a film which millions of people watched it is because i wanted to tell the story i want to people to walk in my footsteps the difference between a migrant and refugee is purely a choice you know when you're a refugee you were forced to flee. for your persecuted for your sexual orientation for your political views for your religion when you're a migrant you were not forced you made a decision to leave for reasons to study family unification better life and a solemn seeker is someone who is applying for refugee status to become a refugee now the last 4 years have taught me that there is such hierarchy and there are fiji world itself because i'll tell you about britain as an example us syrian refugees are on top of that hierarchy you know we are seen as the most acceptable ones and there are 2 reasons in my opinion a because most of us are white passing. and be. britain is

less implicit in syria then it is in afghanistan and iraq before the pandemic if you're a british citizen and want and you who wants to flight afghanistan you are warned against all types of travel to afghanistan however it's deemed safe enough to deport afghans back to afghanistan so. to speak of these iraqis you know because i do not want to be treated better than someone else just because i i don't know i i am a bit familiar than he is on this thing you're absolutely right this little. britain doesn't have the best you know history of leaving any place without sowing the seeds of death but you're it's interesting what you're saying about the you know the hierarchy but it is saw sad because you know i felt different you know and i don't fall into any of these categories and this is why i haven't all my current kitchen these are the men who started life as nannies but i am very proud i haven't

been of a kitchen or female kitchen at the average age of the minutes cook them cooking in my kitchen is 50 and they're all migrants because b. we claim back this up you don't ask me but i have the right to be here i have the right to be here and i will feed you the best reality come i said i'd never. assume you and i have gained attention because we were both in a documentary people know about us from social media and stuff but i'm always aware that this reinforces the rhetoric the good immigrant rhetoric the problem with the good immigrant rhetoric. is that we focus on individual cases but we forget the bigger costs the bigger picture so if i clean a hospital then i get attention if a migrant in france climbs on a building and rescues a kid from the balcony he gets attention so it almost makes us feel like we will only accept you if you go above and beyond to help while in my opinion to come here

navigating b.-o. crissy racism language barriers to booze and statements and then rebuild your life from scratch is by itself a success so we shouldn't be judging who is good and who is bad only because they got some attention but i think that this is is a huge problem because i think we are all paying the price for a very very divisive extremely xenophobic and racist bragg's it campaign and that literally release the genie from the bottle of racism and the fact that you know you hear stories in a very close to where i lived where people had put graffiti on the polish center it really nasty graffiti against the pools who flew over the r.a.f. in the 2nd world war you know people's memories are incredibly short incredibly short people from south asia fought in the 1st world war and the 2nd world war you

know you still have gone curse you know from the above who are part of the british army yet this whole thing of you know. everybody was put you know in the same bracket and the hatred and islamophobia that was really deeply troubling we were actually giving out food during the breaks the debate after the break that we had supper club you know series of supper clubs where you know we had our you know cuisine polish cuisine even had you know irish british cuisine because we're all together there we celebrated the fact that especially in london this is a city of migrants the when you look around here in these beautiful buildings these are modern but the base of these burnings is the blood of by people the wealth of this country was built on colonialism on exploitation on slavery this is something

that is not taught in schools and i no one understands when they look at me this see a brown accented you know muslim. asked me why i'm here i will ask you what you were doing but 200 years in my country you know you know yeah you know what i do when i feel homesick when i miss syria i go to the british museum. 6 because there's this entire section full of syrian artifacts her other thing is that you know it's not as if you know for me it is about the fact that in schools there is absolutely no you know we're not taught any colonialist tree you know talk about the empire and so we are you know in this situation anyway let's get some questions from our audience i say my question was to ask how did you mean you've. been keeping you from 18 rushton and beginning to new since your message on the message that you have now i'm very lucky i think that you know i feel very blessed

i know that this is not something that can happen to everybody it was never planned i didn't want to open a restaurant i didn't have the money to open a restaurant and also you know i never saw anybody who looked like me who sounded like me in food media in the press anywhere so you know i never even thought it was possible that i could have become a restaurant or but you know i was lucky i got breaks you know from people a lot of people helped me but the biggest thing that i stand on the shoulders of my team the very men who were there nannies who came in and worked with me in my kitchen in my home and help serve people in my own house today are still in my restaurant they had their chef scott there been there with me throughout yes i am the face that people see of dodging express what i am standing on the shoulder of giants my team and this is so important collaborate you know bird networks and you know yes my network is all female but bear that box even with men like minded

people our power comes as a collective we will never 6. if you're alone and this is why story you know i've reached out and i impressed other people and that's how i got where i have the arsenal let's let's hear the 2nd question as annual i little thought about how there is just misconception or are refugees and migrants want to con to america to u.k. and i just wanted to ask you where using this misconception comes from. actually. this prejudice doesn't come from nowhere obviously the media plays a massive role in this. tabloids who are always running articles about my gross and refugees and often highlights like i mean exaggerating the issue so i'll give you an example less than one percent of the refugees around the world are in britain still the cover page after cover page after cover page talking about refugees and

addressing it as if this is massive issue it's politicians and media who are exaggerating the issue and that's why people have this misconception while if you ask me if our countries were not so troubled why wars and famines and crises i would have loved to stay in syria and i miss my food too. i also think that there's these other people who don't have votes they're the people who cannot actually hit back in some ways they cannot dispute facts you put this label migrants and refugees they're a very disparate group and they're not they don't even speak the same like which so the problem is that you know they cannot unify and then they cannot actually fight back and so it's that easy target you hit the weakest because they cannot come back with a story with their with their side of the story we never hear that 2 people at hudson have got in world history is always written by the victor and this is again

a deflection of that that what is happening at this conversation is the powerful are telling you the story and those who do not have power right now cannot actually tell their story and this is so important that big give the space for them to tell their story let's take another question. from the bar ever a lot of stories about police people migrating to europe and the us from a similar manner are treated by and also by other people in his documentary but the movie is generally based on economic instabilities rather than political instability but looking at the news and looking at the general media we can see there political migrants and political refugees are often seen in a positive light then the economic migrants so what's your opinion on this dichotomy yes i do agree with you that economic migrants are often demonized in the media and the focus is always on the political refugees.

i think it's unfair and i think it shouldn't be that way i think anyone who is. trying to live a better life somewhere else should not be demonized for it. and who decides whether you should be accepted in your society or not or whether you should be given another chance or not and if so it's very easy for it sometimes for people in the west to say well why you've come here while not understanding the conditions in the migrants home country how long does it take to queue outside a bakery to get bread or how long does it take to walk and get fresh water and not understanding how hard it is to get a job it is frustrating that sometimes people are detrimental of economic migrants but it can be combated by speaking out about speaking out against it and addressing

the issue well thank you very much for that and let's move on to the next question please i was really interested in without saying about the tendency of u.k. society well the west are supposed to separate. from the stories of the culture in many ways actually the same as what his son was saying about the british museum you know we take the artifacts and we put them into boxes and we look at the movie think how lovely but they've got nothing to do with the people from whose culture they come and i'm just wondering if you could talk a little more insular about the ways in which your food activism i suppose to make those links stronger again and visible thank you very much this is what i want to dedicate the rest of my life to i want people to understand that you know . there are stories with every dish the stories of every human being and you know i

i began by entire food business if you can call it a business i call it a social enterprise from my home around my dining table i serve people personally i clean their tables and i. presented each dish and i talked about the symbolism of each dish why it was so important for me what was so significant about the ingredients the names but i also wanted to acknowledge which is now very you know it has led to a lot of division in india the fact that indian food was actually you know amalgamation of loads of people you know the portuguese got potatoes the british got cauliflower and you know a lot of the things that we take for granted is indian even some also is not indian you know it was got in by you know people who came to court in delhi you know they arrived and presented them as the most us so this lack of knowledge meant of the contributions of others i also try to describe this because

a lot of indians themselves don't understand that you know this is not this 2 month xenophobia when it comes to food people are building walls around food i present to food as i present them yonder in river you know it will get there it flows it has shades it has light and dark it has both and you know conversations about food will allow you to have conversations about more difficult things and this is what i try to do let me use food as a conversation but it is really about activism because i this is not where i want to make my money and this is not where i want to impress you i don't want to have the glory i want you to understand me better that's my main aim. thank you everybody for asking all these questions all very very interesting but. a lot of white feminists don't get me i can be deeply rooted in all the positive

things about the culture i can still raise my voice against patriarchy as a refugee i was always at the receiving end of humanitarian work or advocacy we should be doing the work you know i don't want someone to advocate on my behalf i want to advocate for myself offer me the tools give me the training and i can do it if a man a chef had touched a female outside the kitchen he would be in jail somehow inhospitality protected men who are violent and bully. when the news breaks here in windsor with to see me this is the one reach completely under water when people who need to be heard 1000 people staying in the stands just a stone's throw from the us mexico border and the story needs to be told i felt

like the whole sky is full of them with exclusive interviews and in-depth reports al-jazeera has teams on the ground the house of abraham to bring you more award winning documentaries and life means. a star striker in the top a top in the what they voted to the working class of his hometown and its club. footballing legend eric cantona produces destry on the lakotah a one of a kind see the stuff. he could adored by his fans for his socialist values as his many goals against italy's footballing elite football rebels on disease. the climate has changed every year for millions of years decades of talk but little action it's all about distracted create confusion to face smoke and mirrors the shocking truth about how the climate debate has been systematically subverted the

oil industry was a main bankroller or opposition to campaign against the climate do you think that's a bad thing. it was fears of the same absolute. 0. iran says it's an act of terrorism a power blackout at its main nuclear facility. the whole rommany watching of 0 live my headquarters here in doha coming up in the next 30 minutes china admits it's reviewing the effectiveness of vaccines it's produced to combat covert 19. also voting in the middle of a pandemic peruvians cast their ballots.