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'Help! My name is Jihad'

The Local Sweden
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'Help! My name is Jihad'
Jihad Eshmawi. Photo: Private

My name doesn’t make life easy for me, Jihad Eshmawi tells us.

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His mission is to get the Swedish media to balance their reporting on refugees, but who’s going to listen to a guy called Jihad? 

“Nowadays if you google my name Jihad…you will mostly find definitions like ‘struggle’, ‘sacred war’, ‘suicide bomb’.”

That's not ideal, obviously. In fact, Jihad is so fed up with having to justify the origins of his name that has even considered printing out explanatory cards. 

They would probably have proved useful the day he forgot his bag on a Gothenburg bus and his friend’s voice echoed across a city square: “Jihad, Jihad, Jihad.” 

"One woman walking with her child became panicked as she heard my name, and her face changed colour."

It's frustrating, especially when he's got much more pressing things to talk about. 

Read the full article to find out more about the meaning of his name, and why Jihad thinks the media need to re-consider how they cover migration. 

Also, watch him and others explain the issues in this MigTalks video:

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