Intelligence officer and ex-diplomat Richard Colvin, right, testifies as he sits beside lawyer Lori Bokenfohr at a commons special committee on Afghanistan hears witnesses on transfer of Afghan detainees on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
Prime Minister Of Canada Stephen Harper- An Anti-Big Government Neoconservative who is trying to radically change Canada so that it is more like America was under the Regime of his heroes George W. Bush and Dick Cheney aka "the Kings of Torture and War Profiteering". Harper would prefer to dismantle or gut a number of federal government departments to reduce regulations on corporations and the private sector.
Unfortunately the new leader of the Liberal Party Michael Ignatieff would not be much of a difference if he were elected Prime Minister. For instance Ignatieff has over the years defended the use of torture and supported the Bush Regime's unnecessary invasion of Iraq and so will continue if elected the policies and programs of Harper/Bush & Cheney. Having spent over twenty five years in the United States it would appear he has taken on an American view on governance which is antithetical to Canada's traditional views on governance. To put it mildly Ignatieff though he belongs to the Liberal Party in reality he is not very liberal and is not a Progressive.( see video in EndNote)
Obama has also forgiven the Bush Regime for lying to the American Public , to the United Nations and the World about the imminent threat from Saddam which in fact did not exist-ah well Hallibuton and Black Water & KBR etc. made lots of money and that 's what America and the West is all about after all. Sometimes we forget and think things like honesty, integrity, fairness and justice matter but in the dog eat dog Christian Capitalist world all that matters is profit and the bottom line.
For Harper the issue of torture and other abuses of POWs (detainees) are just a matter of Public Relations and blown all out of proportion by those who do not "Support Our Troops" and are therefore even according to Canada's mainstream media to be characterized as traitors.
First a Canadian story as evidence that Canada since 9/11 has been involved in America's dirty war of kidnappings, renditions, torture and abuse of prisoners. This is the story of how the Canadian & American Government conspired to arrest and send an innocent Canadian Citizen Maher Arar to Syria to be tortured. Canadian government clears his name while the American government refuses to apologize and in the face of overwhelming evidence that he was innocent.
Innocent Tortured Detainee Speaks of Bush's "Professionals"
Sept. 26,2006
Jack Layton leader of the New Democratic Party Demands Public Inquiry on Torture Allegations "What Does the Government Got to Hide, Let Colvin Speak."
Canadian diplomat Richard Colvin testified before a special House of Commons committee on the Canadian mission in Afghanistan on Nov. 18, 2009.
Colvin alleged that prisoners were turned over to Afghanistan's notorious intelligence service by the Canadian military in 2006-07 despite warnings that they would be tortured. He also suggested the federal government may have tried to cover up what was happening.
NDP: Jack Layton on Torture in Afghan Prisons 2 Jan 30, 2008
Note in this video PM Harper turns the torture question around claiming Jack Layton is attacking & insulting the Canadian Military - he also like his American counterparts laughs off any suggestion that POWs are being tortured even though various Human Rights organizations were making allegations against the US troops & CIA & special Interrogators as well as sending POWs to other countries to be tortured . Within the last year a number of reports were released in the US showing that abuse and torture of prisoners were and are still taking place.
Jack Layton: Question Period April 25 2007 Question on Torture Video recorded by and copyright by the House of Commons Broadcasting Service.
Americans Get away with torture claim God Approved??? Obama says by definition an American cannot be guilty of a War Crime or of Crimes against humanity.
Republicans and Corporate America defend the use of forced convict labor, slave labor and forced child labor as part of and essential to "The Free Market Place" They think ending slavery and child labor in America was a mistake Do Republicans and the Evangelical Christian Right want to return America to its pre-Civil War Era-The Good Old Days.
America astounds the world refuses to ratify convention protecting the Rights of the Child-so what CEOS across America say if children are used as slave labor or as suicide bombers or as child soldiers or are beaten by their guardians everyday-America say Who Cares? Just those whiny "Godless Liberals" and their "Commie Fellow Travelers" as Glenn Beck and Hannity might say.I'm sure the corporations they run are instructed to cut costs and increase profits anyway they can.
Lest we forget God sanctioned Capitalism first on "Mount Sinai" and later in "the Sermon on the Mount"
Yes investigators have discovered another "secret Torture Prison" but does it matter. Obama has already given pardons to the CIA, the Pentagon, the military and Bush & Cheney and all their co-conspirators. So most Americans just they say want to move on. The thing is too many Americans even today see nothing inherently wrong with torture of bad people. It never occurs to them that many of these POWS were innocent. And why should the world take America at its word-Bush & others said America did not torture but it has and as far we know is still doing so at Bagram and in Iraq. The only thing that bothered most Americans was the release of all those pornographic images at "Abu Ghraib" .It is not just the Conservatives but also the Democrats and President Obama who refuse to admit to committing various War Crimes and Crimes against humanity in their ill-fated War on Terror. When WOT started Bin laden had a few thousand follower not the Islamic terrorists now have a few hundred thousand hard core trained fighters. But worse than that is the so-called insurgents who number in the millions in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Every time an American Drone blows up a village a thousand more insurgents are instantly created. In the 1950s & 1960s the French had the same problems in Algeria and in Vietnam til they had to give in or just leave.
CIA Secret 'Torture' Prison Found at Fancy Horseback Riding Academy-NOV. 19,2009
US Republicans And Conservatives Heritage Foundation Support Use of Slave Labor & Child labor 2009 Nov 11 - Maddow: Slavery Defenders
Shocking resistance by business groups to legislative measures that ban slavery and child exploitation.
Best "Rachel" line at (06:13) "...you child labor endorsing, pro-slavery freaks!!" Business Aims to Relax Bans on Products Made with Child & Slave Labor http://is.gd/4SmSu
and more hypocrisy on the part of the United States which joins Somalia as being the only two countries against the Rights of Children. Isn't this odd since so many on the right are anti-abortion yet have no interests in the rights of the child once they are born. They don't want to help children who are are poor and don't have proper housing, clothes or food. As John Hagee says which sums up the American exceptionalist rugged individualism belief system -if they won't or can't work "Let Them Starve"
Americans are not in favor of human rights if it means they actually have to put such a belief into practice-they just seem to like the idea and pretend to care but in fact do not care about everybody's rights -to Americans it seems that only those damned bastards the Commies and Progressives and Liberals keep going on about human rights when Americans are more interested in Gun Rights, Property Rights and the right to execute those who have committed crimes.
UNITED NATIONS - When the U.N. children's agency (UNICEF) commemorates the 20th anniversary of its landmark international treaty protecting the rights of children next week, there will be two countries skipping the celebrations: the United States and Somalia.
"It is embarrassing to find ourselves in the company of Somalia, a lawless land," presidential candidate Barack Obama said last year during his election campaign.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which was adopted unanimously by the United Nations back in 1989, will be 20 years old on Nov. 20.
Described as the world's most rapidly and universally ratified human rights treaty, the Convention has been ratified by 193 states.
But the only two countries that have not ratified the treaty have nothing in common.
"Somalia is understandable," Kul Gautam, a former U.N. assistant secretary-general and ex-UNICEF deputy executive director, told IPS.
It has been a failed state without an effective government for over two decades, he added.
"But the United States does have a functioning government, which claims to be a great champion of human rights in the world. It baffles non-Americans, and even many Americans, as to why the U.S. is reluctant to ratify this Convention," Gautam added.
When he was on the campaign trail last year, President Obama also said it is important that the United States return to its position as a respected global leader and promoter of human rights.
The Convention recognises every child's right to develop physically, mentally and socially to his or her fullest potential, to be protected from abuse, discrimination, exploitation and violence.
The treaty also gives children the right to express their views and to participate in decisions affecting their future, in accordance with the child's evolving capacities.
Robert Spencer of "Jihad Watch" and other anti-Islam/anti-Muslim propagandists in their attack on Islam go so far as to revise the History of the Crusades though this revisionism is to a great extent a return to the way that Western historians before the modern era characterized the Crusades as a necessary war against the Evil Muslims. They claimed that the Holy Land belonged to the Christians and that Islam had no right to The holy Land or Jerusalem. In their revised view the Christian Crusaders were on a "Noble Quest" and acted with honor whereas they claim the Muslims acted as savages and barbarians. In the view of the Muslims the Christians were the barbarians .
For instance the purported reason for the Pope calling for a Crusade in 1097 was a call for help from Constantinople. But by the time the Crusaders reached the city the foreign invaders had already been expelled from Jerusalem.When they finally recaptured Jerusalem they butchered most of the Inhabitants which included Muslims, Jews and Christians. The Jews were locked in a Temple then burned alive. The remaining Muslims were locked into a Mosque and then slaughtered since they had no weapons.
The HOLY CRUSADES "First Crusade: Jerusalem" (part 17) Crusaders Boiling people alive
and talk about savagery THE HOLY CRUSADES "1st: Antioch to Jerusalem" amore balanced & historically accurate view of the Crusades than that of Christian Apologist or their "Fellow Travelers such as Robert Spencer of "Jihad Watch"
Robert Spencer - The Crusades, Fact & Truth (Part 1/5)
Robert Spencer presents an apologetic on the Crusades. Christians he believes were justified to invade the Middle East to retake land they lost a couple of centuries earlier. Given his argument then Native Americans would be justified in retaking land taken from them just two centuries ago. That is Native Americans should be given back the land they had at the time of creation of the United States of America and Mexicans should therefore insist on retrieving the land they lost ie Texas, Arizona, California etc.
One of the reasons Robert Spencer feels it is necessary to back the Christian Crusade is that he and others who support Israel unconditionally believe Palestine as such was given to the Jewish people by God some 2500 years ago as "The Promised Land". So other people such as Arabs or Persians therefore have no right to this land even if they had occupied Palestine for the last 1300 -1400 years.
So the so called legal and rational argument about the rebirth of Israel is based upon what is said in the Bible, the Talmud and Torah- only the law derived from these sacred and Holy sources have any validity. So it is no wonder the Israeli settlers Movement believes they are justified in kicking all non Jews out of the Occupied Territories. Present day Israel given this "Divine Sanction" is therefore not compelled to uphold the rights of any-non Jew or Non-Israelite in their "Domain". The non-Jews in Israel have no rights and therefore can be treated by Jewish Israelis anyway they wish.
And from the Conservative Evangelical Fundamentalist point of view if Israel can be denied the territory given to it by God then God's word is therefore not binding which means the Bible can not be taken literally and as inerrant.Therefore one can raise doubts about the veracity of the Bible both old and New Testament and that it lends itself to various interpretations.
Robert Spencer who is Jewish doesn't seem to get the irony of his defending the Christian Crusaders who no only slaughtered Muslims but also Christian heretics and the Jews living in Europe or in the Holy Land. The Crusaders at times treated all Christians living in the Holy Land as being heretics and traitors to Christianity by daring to live somewhat peacefully in Islamic dominated states or nations.
Robert Spencer's defense of Christianity also appears to ignore that anti-Semitism is embedded in Christianity from its very beginnings. It is not the Romans who are blamed for the death of the Nazarene but rather the Jews of Jerusalem. This act is referred to as "Deicide" the murder of God and God in return we are told put a terrible curse on all Jews that they would wander the world without a home and be persecuted by all nations and peoples.
The 2,000 years of anti-Semitism led to the killing and oppression of millions of European Jews sometimes killed by Crusaders or by Christian Mobs in Pogroms during the last 1,000 thousand years or so . The Jews were kept out of the various professions or Guilds, they were at times segregated into over-crowded Ghettos and locked in at night. At various times one nation or another would expel all Jews ie England , Spain etc. or they were made to convert or die or be expelled. Those who converted were often harassed and persecuted for practicing Jewish customs and rituals in secret. The Church sanctioned most of this oppression of European Jews and when the reformation came Martin Luther and other protestant Reformers also preached against the Jewish people.
In the end this embedded virulent anti-Semitism was turned into the "Jewish Conspiracy" which meant that the Jews as a :Race" were no longer just a separate religion but were in fact pursuing the secular goal of controlling all of Europe at first secretly and eventually once they would have risen to power openly. The Jews were turned into an all powerful threat to Christendom and to those who ruled in Europe and that they were behind the various radical political and social reform movements such as Liberalism, Marxism, Communism, Anarchism, egalitarianism, socialism, Feminism.
This suspicion and hatred of the Jews and characterizing Judaism as really a form of Devil worship led inevitably to the NAZI engineered Shoah/Holocaust.
The Nazis and the German people were not the only ones who were virulently anti-Semitic. Most Europeans & The Soviet Union and Americans and Canadians were anti-Semitic to a greater or lesser degree. This is why so many nations did not welcome the Jewish refugees of Germany and Europe and so save a mere remnant. The Church Catholic & Protestant had taught that the Jews could be persecuted but never completely destroyed because a remnant must survive in order to continue to suffer and witness the rise of Christianity and to be witnesses in the last days when Jesus the Christian Messiah would return.
Many antiSemites in the 19th & 20th centuries blamed "liberalism" and its pernicious views on "tolerance" the liberal laws for allowing the European Jews to enter into the mainstream of European society and because of their cunning way the Jews supposedly were "The Hidden Hand" of political and social changes taking place. Everything wrong with Europe or with Russia was all blamed on the Jews.
Now anti-Semitism is no longer acceptable and so for the Ultra -Conservativists, Nationalist , Nativists who believe Western Culture is superior to all others and that Judeo-Christian values are responsible for the great achievements of Western Civilization. So they are concerned about allowing "foreign elements and culture and values entering and undermining Western Civilization and Christendom. It is has been said that a culture, a society, a Nation needs an enemy to focus on in order to maintain itself. Once again especially since 9/11 Muslim Terrorists attacks these UltraConservatives and their Christian and Jewish "Fellow Travelers " are now promulgating the theory not just that a small minority of fanatics under the guise of Islam are involved in a bloody Jihad against America and the West but rather that it is Islam itself which is inherently by its scriptures and its very nature is violent and its followers are driven as it is their duty to destroy all other religions. This creation of a "conspiracy theory" in which Muslims are taking over the West by a violent bloody Jihad but also by a "Stealth Jihad" .
The "Stealth Jihad" works brilliantly as a "Conspiracy Theory" because like all such "Conspiracy Theories" there is no way to disprove it because of its self creating all encompassing premises and conclusions. Muslims are either fighting in the open on the battlefield or fight using Gurrila tactics or using "Suicide Bombers" but even more pernicious is their "Stealth Jihad" so the Muslims in the West who appear to be assimilating and act as loyal to the Nations in which they live -secretly so the "Conspiracy Theory " goes are biding their time to either commit violent acts or to sow chaos or by stealth to permeate at all levels the government institutions and public institutions to undermine Western Judeo-Christian values to prepare for their control and the universal enforcement of "Sharia" laws.
So in the same way it is believed by anti-semites that there is or was a Jewish Conspiracy to take over Christendom that paranoid bigoted view is now transferred to "Islam".
here's a BBC series on the Crusades a more balanced & historically accurate view of the Crusades than that of Christian Apologists or their "Fellow Travelers such as Robert Spencer of "Jihad Watch"
THE HOLY CRUSADES; The First Crusade: Cannibals "Pilgrims in Arms" Antioch to Jerusalem By Monty Python's Terry Jones (Part 16 of however many God wants)
Christian Characters: Emperor Alexius, Pope Urban II, Peter the Hermit, Peasants, Knights and other Christians "Pagan" Characters: Jews & Muslims & Eastern Orthodox Christians
The purpose is to show parallels between Old War "Quagmires" & Modern War "Quagmires", because so often people dont realize there is so much more to "Winning a War" than what happens on any battlefield regardless of how many battles there are. Unless people are willing to entirely slaughter the other people (which is almost impossible because there will always be a few left), the Victory really comes for the "Military in Control" with negotiation agreements.
His themes: Homosexuality Gay Rights Abortion Feminism Men as the true leaders of Christianity in the church,in society and in the family Rachel Park Memorial Islam and Mosques in America God's judgement going against America America has turned it back on God America has become more Pagan in its beliefs reform the Church The Church is the real means to bring about the change needed
Thom confronts Rev. Rusty Lee Thomas on the Christian bootcamp "Spiritual Warfare" for Teenagers? http://www.elijahmin.com/ Elijah ministries Rusty Thomas
Ron Luce at Battlecry Rally Praises a Navy Seal as a "True Christian" willing to kill Muslims and other Heathens-Yet Christians claim they are peace loving than all other religions-so ignore the Crusades, centuries of murdering Jews , witches, heretics slaughtering millions to spread their culture around the globe.
Another militant Christian training kids to be real warriors for God sort of like the Taliban?
Canada's revamped citizenship guide warns newcomers that "barbaric cultural practices" such as honour killings will not be tolerated, marking a stronger tone against importing beliefs that clash with Canadian values.
We often hear Evangelical Christians and others claiming while Christianity is a religion of Peace Islam they characterize as a religion of violence and war. If you listen to the sermons of Pastor John Hagee, Pat Robertson, Ron Luce of BattleCry or the pastor at "Jesus Camp"or hundreds of other Evangelical Christians they often talk in terms of an ongoing war between God and Satan, Good and Evil, the True Believers and the Unbelievers and heretics who must be exposed shunned or killed.They also tell their followers that they must be willing to lay down their lives in this Holy War and be willing to be martyrs. Most of these Conservative biblical literalists support the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and wish to see it broadened because to these Christians this is a battle for God's chosen people against the forces of Evil embodied in the religion of Islam and other non-Christian faiths.
"Life is not a playground," says Rev. Rusty Lee Thomas in The Kingdom Leadership Institute Manual. "It is a war zone."
...For Thomas, the call is not only to criminalize abortion and homosexuality, return prayer to the schools, get women out of the workplace, and declare the U.S. a Christian nation, but also to impose Biblical rule on all who reside within our national borders. Furthermore, he's going for blood -- and I mean that literally. "Whether we like it or not, ours is a bloody religion," he explains. "Beginning with God slaying the animals to cover Adam and Eve after the fall…to the final sacrifice by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, one theme rings true. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins."
In 2006, a black American convert to Islam, Keith Ellison, won election to the United States Congress from Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District. He did so with public support from a number of Jewish community leaders. When asked about “Islamic terrorists”, Ellison replied, “Osama bin Laden no more represents Islam than Timothy McVeigh [convicted in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing] represented Christianity”.
The campaign to demonise all Muslims because of their faith includes an intellectual side. A conference last February entitled Preserving Western Civilisation drew a number of anti-immigrant propagandists and so-called scientific racists. As reported by Devin Burghart in the April issue of Searchlight, attendees were encouraged to compare “Islam with Nazism and the Koran with Mein Kampf”.
In the recent past a number of books and articles have been published that put forward similar arguments. In fact a debate has arisen in these ranks. One side contends that the Islamic faith is not a religion at all, but more akin to an anti-modern political ideology, inherently prone to aggression and genocide. In this view, the Islamic civilisations of the past were “parasitic” in nature and disappeared after killing off their host peoples.
The other side of this debate says that it is only the current incarnation of Islam that has produced terrorism and extremism, and that it can be reformed, presumably by modern-thinking westerners.
A number of different threads are tied up here. The horrors of 11 September 2001 have produced a non-Muslim public that equates the Islamic faith with terrorism. Nativist and white nationalist organisations, eager to find new constituencies and keep the anti-foreigner fires burning, have stoked these sentiments and brought them to bear in the current policy debate over immigration reform.
I have briefly discussed how to deal with issues concerning the values of immigrants to a country where those values or practices or traditions come into conflict with the values and laws and traditions of their host country. So a nation needs to make it plain that certain customs and practices will not be permitted. So for instance "Honour killings", 'spousal abuse' or "female genital mutilation" and the abuse of children and the denial of rights to women or children etc. would not be tolerated. So the Canadian government has taken a necessary and reasonable first step by issuing a "New Citizenship Guide" which lists a variety of practices which will not be tolerated in Canada..
Canada's revamped citizenship guide warns newcomers that "barbaric cultural practices" such as honour killings will not be tolerated, marking a stronger tone against importing beliefs that clash with Canadian values.
"In Canada, men and women are equal under the law," the document says. "Canada's openness and generosity do not extend to barbaric cultural practices that tolerate spousal abuse, ‘honour killings,' female genital mutilation or other gender-based violence. Those guilty of these crimes are severely punished under Canada's criminal laws."
The guide, released on Thursday and called Discover Canada: The Rights and Responsibilities of Canadian Citizenship, (read the full guide) is the first of its kind to explicitly denounce violence in the name of family honour -- a crime in the headlines just this week after an Ottawa man was sentenced to a year in jail for threatening violence against his daughter.
While honour killings remain relatively rare in Canada, several high-profile cases have drawn attention to the issue. Even the use of the term "honour killings" has stirred debate, as critics of the wording say it implies the practice is accepted by certain religions when, in fact, it is not.
"The government had long been cautious about offending people," said Amin Muhammad, a psychiatry professor at Memorial University and author of a recent paper on the subject, which was submitted to the federal Department of Justice. "But now, the government is bravely -- but politely -- warning that this is something that is not to be tolerated."
...But Farzana Hassan, spokeswoman for the Muslim Canadian Congress, said there is nothing controversial about the statement in the new guide, adding that it is a long-overdue step toward tackling a cultural practice that does not jibe with Canadian values.
"We cannot ignore this in the name of multiculturalism," she said. "But it's not enough to make statements about what people should or shouldn't do, because that approach doesn't register with people who are influenced by this very irrational religious zeal."
Phyllis Chesler, an American feminist author who will soon publish a study of 230 honour killings across five continents, said honour killings are most often committed by Muslims, but added that Canada and the United States have also seen many cases involving Sikhs and Hindus. "The punishment is for becoming western after having moved to the west," Ms. Chesler said. "Wanting to leave a husband, going to college - these sorts of things that we take for granted - are seen as capital crimes among those who practice honour killings."
Another militant Christian Leader shows how similar they are to the Fundamentalist Muslims.
"Life is not a playground," says Rev. Rusty Lee Thomas in The Kingdom Leadership Institute Manual. "It is a war zone."
Thomas' Elijah Ministries has started the Kingdom Leadership Institute, a weeklong ideological boot camp for home-schooled Christians between the ages of 14 and 21. His recently released book, The Kingdom Leadership Institute Manual, is a roadmap for their training and a fascinating -- if twisted -- look at the concerns of far right evangelicals, complete with a game plan for action.
There's no pussy-footing in Thomas' screed. For him the battle between God and Satan is at hand, pitting True Believers against Sinners. Common ground? Impossible since there are only two sides, one resulting in heavenly salvation and the other ending with the earth’s destruction.
"Life is not a playground," he rails. "It is a war zone -- a clash of ideas, philosophies, values, and worldviews. It demands leaders who do not shrink back in [sic] the day of battle." He calls it "spiritual warfare" and repeatedly summons images straight out of the Middle Ages, with gallant Knights protecting grateful maidens, and courtliness trumping gender equity.
Thomas’ solution for changing this and returning American youth to the Christian fold is straightforward, if absurd, and starts with home schooling. Women, he writes, should quit working for money and instead work on inculcating “Christian values”, including male supremacy, in the next generation. “A patriarch is a family ruler. He is the man in charge,” Thomas begins. “Biblical manhood demands men … defend and shield or cover women from injury, evil or oppression.” Not surprisingly, Thomas puts forward an essentialized view: Men are logical, women emotional and spiritually attuned. Feminist challenges to this monochromatic definition are anathema to nature, he charges. Worse, they challenge the male birthright to establish a “dynasty” at home.
Yep, you read right. A dynasty.
“Feminists charge that Christianity promotes a patriarchal religion, which oppresses women and steals their potential. Although it is true that Christianity is patriarchal, the function of true patriarchy is to protect, provide, and care for women and children. Biblical patriarchy is expressed as chivalry,” Thomas writes.
...For Thomas, the call is not only to criminalize abortion and homosexuality, return prayer to the schools, get women out of the workplace, and declare the U.S. a Christian nation, but also to impose Biblical rule on all who reside within our national borders. Furthermore, he's going for blood -- and I mean that literally. "Whether we like it or not, ours is a bloody religion," he explains. "Beginning with God slaying the animals to cover Adam and Eve after the fall…to the final sacrifice by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, one theme rings true. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins."
It's hard to know whether this is an oblique reference to murdering abortion providers or is a more literal reference to the war Thomas envisions between his parishioners and everyone else.
The propagandist uses various strategies in order to manipulate its audience. The Enemy whomever they are are characterized in various ways to show how different they are and who are characterized as an imminent threat. They are seen as treacherous and cunning they infiltrate and insinuate themselves into their host societies only to betray that trust to achieve their agenda total control by the unseen hand which is theirs. The Enemy are likened to a disease a cancer that must be rooted out of the body politic. They are likened to parasites to rats and vermin. They are described as invading hordes. As Jews were demonized for centuries by Christianity now these anti-Muslims demonize Muslims.
The video below is an anti-semitic Nazi Propaganda Film about Imaginary Jewish Conspiracy. Notice how similar this propaganda is to that of those who are on a Crusade against Islam and all Muslims and it can be compared to those who exaggerate the impact on America by illegal & legal immigrants from Mexico and Latin America. Once a group is demonized stereotyped as being an a "foreign Invasion" bringing crime ,disease, a lack of morality as a "Fifth Column" it makes it easier to discriminate against them and this can eventually lead to extremist views becoming main stream as anger, hatred and fear are stirred up by professional agitators such as Pam Geller, Glenn beck, Lou Dobbs. (Video posted For educational purposes ; it is offensive!)
Signs of the Coming Holocaust
The teaching of Islamofascism in the west-Brigette Gabriel & Glenn beck
This video proclaims to be using well documented facts on projected demographics but most are exaggerated. For instance the claim is that there are 9 million Muslims in America but the more realistic figure is that of 2 to 3 million. So the other figures cannot be trusted. The projected figures are further based it appears on a static model in which the variables do not change. The assumption is that these future immigrants especially Muslims will not change their attitudes towards the number of children they have. It also assumes immigration will continue to grow which is not a certainty.
the Conservative Evangelicals & the so called Third Wave Movement which Sarah Palin and others such as Lou Engle of the Call & the Ramp, Ron Luce of Battlecry , and Bill Johnson of Bethel Church, Rick Joyner of MorningStar Ministries who believe in the "Gifts of the spirit"- healings, speaking in tongues, spiritual warfare, the power of prayer to fight off the Devil etc. -Morningstar Ministries, Joel's Army, the Call , Battlecry! etc.
Bill Johnson:Urgent Call to Prayer-Preaching Hate Against All Muslims- God never said to love your enemies and if he did you should kill them without hate or malice but as a form of "Mercy Killing" since these poor souls are possessed by evil spirits or demons.
and other related posts at gordspoetryfactory. September 03, 2009 Glenn Beck's 9/12 Rally & The American Liberty Tour & ResistNet.com - Radical Right Going Mainstream & Winning ?
August 24, 2009 Francis A. Schaeffer The Religious Right Part II and Ron Luce's " Battlecry Ministries"
August 08, 2009 Former Right-Wing Insider Frank Schaeffer Calls Republican Party Profoundly Anti-American and Pro-Fascism
June 16, 2009 The Potent Mix Of Theology & Racism :" Christian Identity " & " The Embassy of Heaven Church "
Above photo Geert Wilder & Pam Gellar Two Nazis ? Geert Wilder Dutch Anti-Muslim-"I Don't Believe that there is such a thing as a moderate Muslim."Eliminationist ???
Anti-Islamic the ever popular racist Brigette Gabriel
Brigette Gabriel 's Rightwing Organization American Congress for Truth- (Funny coming from someone who makes stuff up like her fellow travelers Lou Dobbs and Glenn Beck, Robert Spencer, David Horowitz & Melanie Phillips)
Fear Mongering Propaganda Against all Muslims On American Congress For Truth.
British Nationalist Party BNP racist and anti-Islam
"Racism in the context of the BNP is more than just colour prejudice. The BNP's racism is more fundamental, predicated on the belief that there is a racial hierarchy and that the white race is superior.
The BNP has publicly toned down its message on repatriation but it still wants an all-white Britain. The BNP constitution says that anyone who cannot prove a link to Britain before 1948 can never be considered British.
The British National Party stands for the preservation of the national and ethnic character of the British people and is wholly opposed to any form of racial integration between British and non-European peoples. It is therefore committed to stemming and reversing the tide of non-white immigration …"
BNP Recommend Melanie Phillips 's books attacking Islam and Liberalism so she is as much a Nazi as the BNP.( Glenn Beck school of logic & she has been on Lou Dobbs and Glenn Beck well they must be Nazis)
Melanie Phillips Bashing Muslims Liberals Feminists Homosexuals believes the British government and major institutions have been taken over by a liberal leftist Fifth Column
War has been declared on Christians, Jews, non-Muslims and secularists worldwide by Islamic extremists...simply because we are infidels according to their belief. As Islamic fundamentalism spreads its tentacles worldwide, it is crucial for the people of the Western world to understand the danger, know what to expect, and know what to do about it.
Threats and realities of forced conversions to Islam, beheadings, torture and murder are quickly becoming commonplace. They’re rarely mentioned in the news and when they are, it’s with a disclaimer…the word “insurgent” has replaced the truth of “terrorists.”
Political correctness is killing us.
We Must Win This War The enemy loves death -- far more than we love life.
The enemy uses children as human bombs, mothers as suicide bombers, men driven by the glory of death and the promise of eternal sexual bliss in heaven...and martyrdom on earth. This is the enemy reality: murder and death of "infidels" by any means for the glory of Allah.
In this interview of Geert Wilders it is painfully obvious when he contradicts himself or tries to soft sell his brand of racism saying most Muslims are not a problem but then goes on to attack Islam and then stating that Muslims want to impose Sharia law on the rest of the population. To him the Muslims are the Other the outsiders,who have no interest in assimilation and so can be characterized as foreign invaders who are capable of violence or of stealthily taking control and their numbers are increasing rapidly since they are capable of outbreeding native Europeans Geert Wilders: "Islam is a Fascist Ideology"
Anyway let's begin with some disturbing news about the British commentator , writer anti-Muslim Melanie Phillips who I discussed in the last post.
Melanie Phillips views on immigration and on Islam and Muslims in Britain is extreme enough to be honored as "recommended reading" in various extremist right-wing racist neo-Nazi and Fascist organizations such as the British nationalist Party BNP.This is of concern because she is treated by the mainstream media in Britain and the United States as if she were just another expert on Islam when in fact she is at the least an alarmist and at worse a racist.And as we saw she is very critical of the current state of things as they are in Britain which she like her American counterparts believe that Western Civilization has been taken over by liberals and leftist who for various nefarious reasons are sympathetic to Muslim extremists and are using them to push their agenda to fundamentally change Western Society.
Mail columnist book now officially on sale on far-right online shop as 'recommended reading'.
This should come as no surprise. For years now, at least twice a week, Daily Mail columnist Melanie Phillips has been banging on about immigration and what some people refer to as the "Islamification of Britain".
So here we are. For all the Daily Mail's disclaimers that they're anti-BNP (often recited as foreword to some virulently anti-immigration "opinion column"), the consonance is so striking that the BNP website is now selling Melanie Phillips' own book Londonistan: How Britain is Creating a Terror State Within, along with right-wing nut classics such as Vienna 1683: Christian Europe Repels the Ottomans.
Quoting several paragraphs from her book, the BNP site refers to it as "recommended reading" as well as "a revealing insight into the Islamist threat facing Britain".
So, as some citizens begin to connect years of tabloid headlines lashing out at the same target and the recent surge in far-right demonstrations across Britain (for a small but representative selection, please see this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this and this), here comes the BNP's official endorsement of one of the Daily Mail's star columnists.
Melanie Phillips can now be proud: a bunch of white supremacists, sexists, homophobes and holocaust deniers are now officially amongst her biggest fans.
The only difference between the BNP of today and the BNP of old is presentation. The BNP knew that to be electorally successful it had to improve its image. It is the image, rather than the fundamental politics, that has changed.
Too often we hear the BNP being described as "anti-immigration" or "nationalist" or even simply "rightwing". Nothing could be further from the truth.
The BNP leaders might wear snappy suits and tone down their public message but their real politics are the same as they have always been.
The BNP is racist and nazi and must be exposed as such.
The BNP as racists
Racism in the context of the BNP is more than just colour prejudice. The BNP's racism is more fundamental, predicated on the belief that there is a racial hierarchy and that the white race is superior.
The BNP has publicly toned down its message on repatriation but it still wants an all-white Britain. The BNP constitution says that anyone who cannot prove a link to Britain before 1948 can never be considered British. The British National Party stands for the preservation of the national and ethnic character of the British people and is wholly opposed to any form of racial integration between British and non-European peoples. It is therefore committed to stemming and reversing the tide of non-white immigration …
BNP constitution
The BNP makes much of its policy of voluntary repatriation but if you read the small print it states clearly that the option of compulsory repatriation would be open to any BNP government.
All the BNP's politics and beliefs are based on viewing society through the lens of race. The BNP's booklist reveal its true politics. It includes titles from the racial eugenicists Roger Pearson (pictured), Henry Garrett, J Philippe Rushton and Jared Taylor, whose books claim that members of the "white race" have a higher IQ than other people. Roger Pearson now runs the Pioneer Fund, which supported eugenics and Nazism in the 1930s, and in the 1960s and 1970s combated integration and civil rights and supported apartheid. BNP publications regularly carry articles promoting racial eugenics.
South Africa under apartheid was a state in which racism was enshrined in law. Unsurprisingly the BNP supported apartheid and continues to do so today. The BNP would like to introduce a similar system in Britain. Its 2005 general election manifesto called for white British people to be given preference in jobs, housing and education. Ethnic minorities would become second-class citizens under the law. The BNP as a Nazi party
Nazism combined extreme nationalism, racial superiority, state authoritarianism and a conspiracy theory which blamed all of the world's ills on a single racial group, namely the Jews. The BNP might have toned down its political tone but the core beliefs of its leaders, especially Nick Griffin, remain hardline.
For those who characterize all Muslims as being potential terrorists who want to single out Muslims in Europe or America or Canada to take special loyalty oaths to the nations in which they reside and to be under extraordinary scrutiny and that no more Muslims be permitted entry into these countries then you should listen to the likes of Neo-Nazi Geert Wilders of Holland in which he talks about deporting millions of Muslims from Europe. He tries to appear reasonable by saying not all Muslims are violent yet proceed to argue that Islam is not a religion but a totalitarian ideology which its followers are determined to enforce Sharia law on all Western Nations if they get their way.
Dutch Racist & Extremist Geert Wilders in Denmark: Deporting millions of Muslims may be necessary - Interview
The major issue I have with these Muslim Bashers is that when it comes to Sharia laws these can be dealt with by legislation and the criminal justice system. There have been immigrants who entered the United States or Canada who had different views and different traditions and this is fine til these beliefs go contrary to our basic core beliefs about equality, justice, fairness etc. At different points for instance in American history there were unprecedented waves of Immigration for instance from Ireland and there were those Nativists who thought America would be ruined and destroyed but accepting several million Irish over a short period of time but they were wrong.
For instance so called "honor killings" committed by Muslims will not be tolerated or accepted as a defence so those who attempt to or carry out such an act under our laws this is a matter for the criminal justice system. Murder is still murder.As for the full Burqa the legislators can insist that women be free not to wear it and that women be permitted the same freedoms as all women in our society.
The rights of women in Islamic societies and wherever Sharia is applied has become the main plank as it were in the anti-Islam anti-Muslim movement. This is rather odd since those conservatives who speak out about these injustices are the same people who have been fighting in the US and elsewhere to deny women reproductive rights such as the use of the pill or other contraceptives or the option of abortion. In fact these conservatives are against any form of sex-education. They would prefer to pass laws criminalizing pre-marital sex and adultery. These are also the same group in the United States who stopped the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment giving women the same rights as men.Spokespersons for the Conservative Movement would also limit the jobs and professions women might enter. Over and over again for the past 30 years they have been insisting that the majority of women should be stay at home moms who look after their children and their husbands. They don't believe people should be getting married and having sex and yet not have children and the more children they have the better.In their view divorce for instance would not be as easy as it is now.They would also make the reporting of rape as more difficult .For instance rape victims would have to pay out of pocket for a medical examination and for a rape kit and they would prefer to revert to the way things were four or five decades ago in which women claiming rape are treated with suspicion and the belief that they probably led the rapist on or put herself in a situation where the possibility of rape was increased .
The anti-Islam anti-Muslim views and conspiracy theories about Islam are unfortunately no longer just a part of a few fringe racist organizations but to some extent has gone mainstream. For instance Fox news is generally anti-Muslim so we have Sean Hannity ,Glenn Beck ,Brigette Gabriel Michael Medved. Dennis Miller , Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Michelle Bachman going into tirades against not just Islamic terrorists which is of course justifiable but then go on to characterize Islam as a religion which values violence, war and martyrdom over all else. They further claim Islam is an evil religion or that it is in fact not a real religion but a Totalitarian Ideology . So as we have seen David Horowitz, Pam Gellar, Robert Spencer, Geert Wilders,Melanie Phillips of Great Britain who have come to believe in an all encompassing conspiracy to undermine the traditional values of America and Europe and Western Civilization through violence or by stealth.
But couldn't one make the same sort of case against Christianity and Judaism . As for the supposedly superiority of America we find it fails in a number of ways from capitol punishment, to not ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment for women, and refusing to ratify the international agreement on "The Rights of The Child' or their dismissive attitude towards The Geneva Conventions and the special convention on torture and the well-being of Prisoners of War . Further the US has condemned the International Courts on Justice . The Americans in general believe because they are exceptional country created with the approval of Divine Providence that the laws applied to other nations does not apply to the United States. The us also incarcerates mor people than any other country and executes more than most Western Nations. They also have executed children, the mentally ill and the mentally retarded and even those who are innocent with no apology.
Below is a clip in which Sean Hannity and his panel who are all biased against Islam not so surprisingly believe there are large numbers of American Muslims who are not loyal to America but to Islam first and so believe in a violent Jihad against all Non-Muslims. This sort of discussion by a bunch of anti-Muslims is far from being fair and balanced. There was no experts on Islam and the Quran who had a different interpretation of the Quran and the life of the Prophet Muhammad to challenge the views of this panel .There was then no one to discuss how there were different interpretations of Islam and about the Quran.
In the same way there are different interpretations of the Bible by Jews and Christians.To some Christians and Jews the Bible's message boils down to a belief in the Jews as the Chosen People and that God gave the Israelites Palestine and that violence was often necessary and the rule is "an eye for an eye" while others see the Old Testament as preaching kindness, mercy, compassion and peace and can be reduced to the Golden Rule :"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"
Setting the stage for more bigotry and abuse of Muslim-Americans Hannity and guests theorize Muslims more radical than people willing to admit Nov. 12, 2009
Citizens In Action ACT! For America promo-Sept. 02,2008 Gabriel Brigette
"Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against The West" - Abridged Version
Islamic Jihad - Brigette Gabrielle (1 of 8) July 06, 2008 With strident confidence, American Congress for Truth founder Brigitte Gabriel rebukes the American public for being "weak, asleep or careless" in the face of Muslim terrorism. A Christian survivor of the extermination Lebanese Christians by the Muslim population in the 1970s, Gabriel leans on her own terrifying experiences to explain the very real threat of Islam (as a set of ideas) -- its imperialism, inherent bigotry, and violent nature.
Brigitte Gabriel and Bill O'Reilly slams Islam
9-9-08 Brigitte Gabriel with Pat Buchananon MSNBC Sept. 13,2008
The BNP's antisemitism goes right to the top of the party. In 1997 Griffin produced a pamphlet entitled Who are the Mind-benders? in which he claimed that Jews controlled the British media in order to brainwash white British people into accepting non-white immigration. I am well aware that the orthodox opinion is that 6 million Jews were gassed and cremated or turned into lamp shades. Orthodox opinion also once held that the earth is flat… I have reached the conclusion that the ‘extermination’ tale is a mixture of Allied wartime propaganda, extremely profitable lie and latter witch-hysteria.
Nick Griffin 1997
David Duke, former KKK leader (left), Nick Griffin (right)
The BNP has links to several openly nazi organisations around the world, including the National Alliance and David Duke, a former KKK leader, in the United States. The leader of the National Alliance attended the 2003 BNP summer festival.
In 2007 a BNP councillor addressed a meeting of outright fascist European National Front (ENF) in Germany which blows the mask of respectability off the BNP once and for all.
The BNP has links with fascists in France, Germany and Italy.
The BNP as Holocaust deniers
Many people get confused when anti-nazis bring up the issue of Holocaust denial. On the face of it the claims that the Holocaust did not happen are so ridiculous that nobody would give them credence.
Yet Holocaust denial has always been a central plank of BNP ideology. The BNP's leaders realise that the Holocaust is clearly the worst possible advert for nazi policies and because they cannot justify it they have to deny it happened.
The European National Front
The ENF brings together some of Europe’s most extremist and openly fascist groups. They include:
NPD NPD (Germany) A bunch of nazis that the German government tried and failed to ban. Its members include terrorist bombers such as Peter Naumann and racist thugs and arsonists.
La Falange La Falange (Spain) So fond are they of the dead Spanish Fascist dictator, the bloodstained General Franco, that they still use his emblem.
Noua Dreapta Noua Dreapta (Romania) Worship Corneliu Codreanu, pre-war leader of the fascist Iron Guard which slaughtered Jews on Hitler’s behalf.
Forza Nuova Forza Nuova (Italy) Led by Roberto Fiore, an Italian terrorist and millionaire slum landlord, this mob is notorious for its violence. It was a member of Forza Nuova who killed a police officer in a football riot in Catania in February.
Renouveau Français (France) A handful of fascist and Roman Catholic fundamentalist cranks who think the Nazi occupation of France during the Second World War was a good idea.
Nationale Alliantie Nationale Alliantie (The Netherlands) A deeply unpleasant crowd of racists, antisemites and Nazis that has organised petitions to demand the expulsion of Muslims from Europe and takes part in illegal paramilitary camps.
Nordiska Förbundet (Sweden) Influenced by the pro-terrorist US National Alliance and the former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, this outfit distributes antisemitic books and denies the Holocaust happened.
Melanie Phillips author of the book "Londonistan" is another rabid anti-Islam anti-Muslim agitator who characterizes the majority of Muslims as potential terrorists. Like her " Fellow Travelers" in America such as Robert Spencer, David Horowitz, Pam Geller , Glenn beck, Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham,Bridgette Gabriel et al she believes that the left and liberals in Britain and in the United States and throughout Europe have joined to undermine Western Civilization and Christendom as we know it. The Islamists and leftists are anti-democracy or democratic institutions but have infiltrated these institutions from the Churches and Government funded schools and Universities and the Media pushing their own ideology based upon relativism, multiculturalism, diversity, pluralism, socialism and tolerance to remake Western Civilization .
Are these conspiracy theories about Islam a conscious or unconscious rationalization and cover for irrational feelings, anxieties and fears which translate into racism, xenophobia, Uber-Nationalism.
The suicide bombings carried out in London in 2005 by British Muslims revealed an alarming network of Islamist terrorists and their sympathizers. Under the noses of British intelligence, London became the European hub for the promotion, recruitment and financing of Islamist terror and extremism - so much so that it has been mockingly dubbed 'Londonistan'.
In this ground-breaking book, Melanie Phillips pieces together the story of how Londonistan developed as a result of the collapse of British self-confidence and national identity and its resulting paralysis by multiculturalism and appeasement. The result is an ugly climate in Britain of irrationality and defeatism, which now threatens to undermine the alliance with America and imperil the defence of the free world.
"Melanie Phillips’s Londonistan is a last-minute warning for Britain and for much of the free world ... This book is powerful and frightening, but also courageous. In dictatorships, you need courage to fight evil; in the free world, you need courage to see the evil."
"Muslims who support overturning the British Government to impose Sharia is anti-Democratic: Londonistan - Melanie Phillips Feb. 26,2008
What Has Mad Mel Been Smoking?
How Britain is creating a terror state within by Melanie Phillips- Part 1 Sept. 18, 2009
In this next article commentator Ed Husain says Ms Melanie Phillips ( like David Horowitz & other Neocons)went from the radical left to eventually landing in the camp of the radical right. She is radical in that she believes that the only Muslims and Non-Muslims who are to be trusted or listened to are those who not only condemn Muslim Extremists but must support Israel unconditionally . That is to say that any criticism of Israel in her view is an attack on Israel's right to exist and by extension is an attack on all Jews throughout the world. Given her extremist position where is there room for resolving these issues. So she like her counterparts in America condemn and treat as the enemy any who dare criticize Israel or who dare to defend the rights not just of Palestinians but of all Arabs and all Muslims.To her President Obama who might actually be a secret Muslim is not just an appeaser but is an enabler of Islamic terrorism.
In her McCarthy-style paranoid parallel universe, the Spectator columnist views every Muslim a potential Islamist terrorist
Melanie has gone from being a tree-hugger during her Guardian days to ranter about climate change "totalitarians". And worse, seeing conspiracies and dangerous links where there are none. What else explains her suggestion in last October's Spectator magazine that President Barack Obama "adopts the agenda of the Islamists" and is "firmly in the Islamists' camp"?
Such ludicrous, illogical lines of thought led her to address to me last December the following remarks, after I dared suggest that Palestinians had been victims of much injustice:
"To repeat for the nth time: Israel was never the Palestinians' 'homeland'. It was never taken from them 'by force'. On the contrary, they tried to take the Jews' homeland from them by force – and are still trying. It was the Jews alone for whom historically 'Palestine' was ever their national homeland."
David Ben Gurion and most Israelis would disagree. History itself cannot be wished away, Melanie.
In Melanie's world, anybody – non-Muslim (Barack Obama) or Muslim (me) – who opposes her views on Israel is either an Islamist or "in the Islamists' camp". I reject Islamism on grounds of principle, experience, faith and political philosophy – and I refuse to pass the "Israel First" test. That is a perfectly coherent, normative political stance.
Upset over criticisms of Israel- Israel is never wrong
Infantile leftism that the first world can not doing anything good and that the 3rd world can not do anything wrong
Post-moral, Post-rational
British Intelligensia
Folly of embracing U.N. trans-nationalism: Melanie Philips on the Left's psychological warfare
Melanie Philips explains how the West is succumbing to the global Left's psychological warfare of U.N.- centered, trans-nationalism which exploits Israel as its unifying scapegoat. Exclusive video filmed live by DemoCast.TV in Jerusalem.
also see: another rationalization for fearing and hating Islam and all Muslims according to Melanie Phillips only Muslims who support Israel and all Jews can be called a moderate Muslim and therefore one with whom Jews and other Non-Muslims can associate with. But her argument is really about unconditional support of Israe's government, its military all facets of its society and of all Israelis. This is like telling other nationalities that if they disagree with their government they are therefore disloyal, traitors who are aiding and abetting their country's enemies. So an American citizen who criticized President Bush or President Obama's policies in any way is UnAmerican.
So Ms Phillips argues that any hostility towards Israel would include criticisms of the way its military operates or that prisoners in Israeli jails are abused and tortured or the massive bombing of Gaza and the cruel Ghettoization of Gaza and of large parts of the West Bank or the Arab side of Jerusalem. But of course we have to make allowances for someone like Melanie Phillips who may know very little about the oppression of Arab Israelis, Christian Israelis and Palestinians in the occupied (NOT Disputed) territories. So to show any sympathy for the citizens of Gaza or the West Bank or Arab Jerusalem is by definition to be anti-Israel and by extension anti-Semitic.
In her article she complains about political correctness, diversity and multiculturalism in relation to the media and Obama's response to the massacre. There is also certain distinctions to be made about such actions shootings, bombings etc. There are those typical terrorist acts in which there is a conspiracy by two or more people and /or under supervision of a larger organization to commit an act
of violence on civilians or on soldiers not on the battlefield in these cases we have suicide bombers or shooters who then shoot themselves or engage against a superior force hoping to get killed .
The other way of separating out terrorist is by differentiating between the foreign terrorist and the home grown terrorists. Again if the home grown terrorist is in contact with a terrorist organization and has his plans approved or given to him by members of the terrorists groups then it is an official act of terrorism connected to a terrorist organization. If some organization knew before hand about Tim McVeigh's plans they would be culpable for the crimes committed. But if he acted on his own and the action was meant as an act to show his disapproval of the government or aimed at a particular group because the color of their skin , their religion etc. it is an act of terrorism and is not just some guy going off the deep end .
The shooter at Fort Hood Maj. Hasan is at the least a mass murderer guilty of thirteen murders but was the action authorized by or planned by other individuals or a group. If the main motivation was to commit an act which in his mind was divinely approved then it is an act of Islamic terrorism. The targets he chose were US soldiers about to be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan and staff who were helping these soldiers to get ready to deploy and therefore in his mind legitimate targets and he therefore saw the situation in Fort Hood Texas as being part of the war against Islam. In this sense he was a Jihadist killing in the name of his religion and believing that he would be rewarded in the after life by Allah. Yes he is a terrorists but he is also the lone-gunman type of which America has had many.
I do indeed think that the issue that defines true Muslim moderation is the absence of hostility towards Israel and, by extension, the Jewish people.
There are some Muslims who have zero prejudice towards Israel and the Jews. I have met a few of them — and there are indeed only a very few. They are excessively brave people.
They have to be — because even among Muslims who would never have any truck with sharia law or Islamist violence, theologically-based prejudice against Israel and the Jews runs very deep indeed.
Those who are free of such bigotry have the integrity to reject that theology. They are true moderates because, in supporting Israel’s defence against those who want to extinguish it as a Jewish state, they are on the side of truth against lies, justice against injustice and freedom against murderous tyranny.
Those who don’t support Israel’s self-defence — such as Ed Husain — are on the wrong side of the fight to defend civilization. No-one — whether Muslim, Christian, atheist or anything else — can be considered to be a “moderate” person if he or she is bigoted towards Israel or the Jewish people. You cannot be a moderate bigot.
Jewish community leaders who are engaged in outreach to the Muslim community are making a heroic attempt to build bridges. But unless they make their friendship conditional upon rationality towards Israel and the Jews, such initiatives are likely to be as conducive to communal health as an auto-immune deficiency to the body’s natural defenses.
Note how Melanie uses the disease analogy concerning Muslims which is similar to that used by anti-Semites including Hitler and his Nazi Part.
Melanie Philips’s zealotry and ignorance frighten me. How did we produce a public commentator filled with such anger, venom and hatred, asked Ed Husain over the weekend. Good question. But that’s like asking how long is a piece of string. The sheer stupidity of the articles Mel writes for the Spectator knows no bounds.
Ed carries on:
In Melanie’s world, anybody – non-Muslim (Barack Obama) or Muslim (me) – who opposes her views on Israel is either an Islamist or “in the Islamists’ camp”. I reject Islamism on grounds of principle, experience, faith and political philosophy – and I refuse to pass the “Israel First” test. That is a perfectly coherent, normative political stance.
…
The Israel First test, which she seeks to impose on British Muslims (as well as an American president), reeks of racism. Why is Israel more important than any other country in the world? With leading British Muslims increasingly supporting a secular state, democracy, women’s rights, gay rights and liberal pluralism, and opposing Islamist extremism – then still be attacked as “extremists” or “Islamist” because they don’t support Likud’s plans for Israel is bullying and uncompromising in the extreme. How dare she?
But as communism slowly crumbled, those on the far-Left who remained hostile towards western civilization found another way to realize their goal of bringing it down.
This was what might be called ‘cultural Marxism’. It was based on the understanding that what holds a society together are the pillars of its culture: the structures and institutions of education, family, law, media and religion. Transform the principles that these embody and you can thus destroy the society they have shaped.
This key insight was developed in particular by an Italian Marxist philosopher called Antonio Gramsci. His thinking was taken up by Sixties radicals — who are, of course, the generation that holds power in the West today.
Gramsci understood that the working class would never rise up to seize the levers of ‘production, distribution and exchange’ as communism had prophesied. Economics was not the path to revolution.
He believed instead that society could be overthrown if the values underpinning it could be turned into their antithesis: if its core principles were replaced by those of groups who were considered to be outsiders or who actively transgressed the moral codes of that society.
So he advocated a ‘long march through the institutions’ to capture the citadels of the culture and turn them into a collective fifth column, undermining from within and turning all the core values of society upside-down and inside-out.
This strategy has been carried out to the letter.
The nuclear family has been widely shattered. Illegitimacy was transformed from a stigma into a ‘right’. The tragic disadvantage of fatherlessness was redefined as a neutrally-viewed ‘lifestyle choice’.
Education was wrecked, with its core tenet of transmitting a culture to successive generations replaced by the idea that what children already knew was of superior value to anything the adult world might foist upon them.
The outcome of this ‘child-centred’ approach has been widespread illiteracy and ignorance and an eroded capacity for independent thought.
Law and order were similarly undermined, with criminals deemed to be beyond punishment since they were ‘victims’ of society and with illegal drugtaking tacitly encouraged by a campaign to denigrate anti-drugs laws.
The ‘rights’ agenda — commonly known as ‘political correctness’ — turned morality inside out by excusing any misdeeds by self-designated ‘victim’ groups on the grounds that such ‘victims’ could never be held responsible for what they did.
Feminism, anti-racism and gay rights thus turned men, white people and Christians into the enemies of decency who were forced to jump through hoops to prove their virtue.
This Through The Looking Glass mindset rests on the belief that the world is divided into the powerful (who are responsible for all bad things) and the oppressed (who are responsible for none of them).
This is a Marxist doctrine. But the extent to which such Marxist thinking has been taken up unwittingly even by the Establishment was illustrated by the astounding observation made in 2005 by the then senior law lord, Lord Bingham, that human rights law was all about protecting ‘oppressed’ minorities from the majority.
None of this is to say there has been a giant, organised conspiracy to undermine Britain in this way. Admittedly, some Left-wingers did so conspire, but many others bought into these ideas for different reasons.
In her McCarthy-style paranoid parallel universe, the Spectator columnist views every Muslim a potential Islamist terrorist
Melanie has gone from being a tree-hugger during her Guardian days to ranter about climate change "totalitarians". And worse, seeing conspiracies and dangerous links where there are none. What else explains her suggestion in last October's Spectator magazine that President Barack Obama "adopts the agenda of the Islamists" and is "firmly in the Islamists' camp"?
Such ludicrous, illogical lines of thought led her to address to me last December the following remarks, after I dared suggest that Palestinians had been victims of much injustice:
"To repeat for the nth time: Israel was never the Palestinians' 'homeland'. It was never taken from them 'by force'. On the contrary, they tried to take the Jews' homeland from them by force – and are still trying. It was the Jews alone for whom historically 'Palestine' was ever their national homeland."
David Ben Gurion and most Israelis would disagree. History itself cannot be wished away, Melanie.
In Melanie's world, anybody – non-Muslim (Barack Obama) or Muslim (me) – who opposes her views on Israel is either an Islamist or "in the Islamists' camp". I reject Islamism on grounds of principle, experience, faith and political philosophy – and I refuse to pass the "Israel First" test. That is a perfectly coherent, normative political stance.
An Israel First mindset is about supporting Israel regardless of whether its behaviour is right or wrong, whether it is victim or oppressor; it also involves holding political activists hostage with accusations of antisemitism and/or Islamism in seeking to gain unconditional support for Israel.
The Israel First test, which she seeks to impose on British Muslims (as well as an American president), reeks of racism. Why is Israel more important than any other country in the world? With leading British Muslims increasingly supporting a secular state, democracy, women's rights, gay rights and liberal pluralism, and opposing Islamist extremism – then still be attacked as "extremists" or "Islamist" because they don't support Likud's plans for Israel is bullying and uncompromising in the extreme. How dare she?
I support Israel's right to exist, but not its brow-beating tactics in dealing with its neighbours. Britain and America are committed to a two-state solution – so are, one hopes, most British Muslims. Why can't Melanie accept and rejoice that rather than poke fun at Muslim individuals and organisations that are on a journey to moderation?
Melanie's most recent outburst is not against al-Muhajiroun extremists, but individuals and groupings trying to oppose them.
Phillips and others have repeatedly asked why the MCB and its affiliates do not oppose extremism. Well, this weekend, a leading affiliate, the Islamic Society of Britain, and a prominent leader of the MCB, Inayat Bunglawala, will, once again, oppose extremism. Rather than welcome this much-needed shift in protecting Britain's national security, setting the right tone among activist Muslims, Melanie imagines a grand conspiracy lying behind his actions. Even when he is right, he is wrong. Inayat, with all his faults, has risked much among entrenched, dinosaur Muslim "leaders" by publicly supporting gay rights, freedom of speech for Salman Rushdie and Geert Wilders, and challenging conventional narratives on creationism. Holding him to account for comments made in 1993, from which he has since very plainly distanced himself, is neither fair nor humane.
But do fairness and humanity matter to Phillips? After all, Obama was, apparently, being "tactical" in his Christianity:
"We are entitled to ask precisely when he stopped being a Muslim, and why. Did Obama embrace Christianity as a tactical manoeuvre to get himself elected?"
To that demented mindset, whatever Muslims do, right or wrong, principled or otherwise, we will always be subject to Robert Spencer's brigade of trolls who will shout "taqiyya" to our supposed hiding of Islamist loyalties.
I have hope for British Muslims. The journey ahead is tough, risky and fraught with danger. But with the right interjections, alliances, encouragement and guidance from Muslim and other thought leaders, British Muslim communities can become shining examples of hope, prosperity and progress. Melanie Phillips and her ilk need to decide whether they want to help or hinder. It's not too late. She can always travel back to the centre.
She once described the ex-Hizb ut-Tahrir activist and self-confessed one-time "Islamist" Ed Husain as a "brave Muslim", who should be "applauded for his courage . . . intellectual honesty and guts", before turning on him for opposing the Israeli war on Gaza and accusing him of adopting "the very narrative and rhetoric that are driving Muslims to mass murder". But now Melanie Phillips has had a taste of her own bilious medicine in the form of a harsh, biting and brilliant takedown from Husain himself in a piece entitled "The personal jihad of Melanie Phillips".
Husain slams the Daily Mail columnist and Spectator blogger for her "zealotry and ignorance . . . anger, venom and hatred" and "ludicrous, illogical lines of thought", before accusing her of travelling on a "journey into darkness and ignorance".
His central criticism of the swivel-eyed Phillips revolves around her obsession with Israel, and the "Israel First" test that she sees fit to impose on self-described Muslim "moderates":
In Melanie's world, anybody -- non-Muslim (Barack Obama) or Muslim (me) -- who opposes her views on Israel is either an Islamist or "in the Islamists' camp". I reject Islamism on grounds of principle, experience, faith and political philosophy -- and I refuse to pass the "Israel First" test. That is a perfectly coherent, normative political stance.
An Israel First mindset is about supporting Israel regardless of whether its behaviour is right or wrong, whether it is victim or oppressor; it also involves holding political activists hostage with accusations of anti-Semitism and/or Islamism in seeking to gain unconditional support for Israel.
The Israel First test, which she seeks to impose on British Muslims (as well as an American president), reeks of racism. Why is Israel more important than any other country in the world? With leading British Muslims increasingly supporting a secular state, democracy, women's rights, gay rights and liberal pluralism, and opposing Islamist extremism -- then still be attacked as "extremists" or "Islamist" because they don't support Likud's plans for Israel -- is bullying and uncompromising in the extreme. How dare she?
Bravo! I've had my own disagreements with Ed Husain in the past but, on this matter, I cannot help but nod, agree and applaud. He is right to call out Melanie and others on their own "jihad" against British Muslims, be they "moderate", "extreme", "secular or "Islamist".
My one humble piece of advice for Ed would be to use this opportunity to take a long and hard look at those he calls his friends and allies. He has, belatedly, dumped Phillips. But does he have the wisdom -- and the guts -- to dump the rest of the liberal-left, Israel-first, pro-war hawks who have gathered around him in recent years? I suspect he will never have real credibility in Britain's Muslim communities until he does so.
and so it goes,
GORD.
End Notes:
Book Review of Melanie Phillips Londonistan
Published 2006 by Encounter Books in US and Gibson Square in the UK.
MAS presents themselves as religious Muslims who wish to reform Islam “away from the evil and into good.”
What made me suspicious of this site? First, for religious Muslims, they use a tremendous amount of obscenities in commenting on other sites. Secondly, they do not use the required “pbuh” (praise be unto him) when referring to Muhammad, as religious Muslims do. Third, they want to – and are in the process of – rewrite the Qur’an, a holy book delivered from God to an angel to Muhammad. One does not do major rewrites to the word of God. Lastly, the anti-Muslim rhetoric is too almost identical to sites run by anti-Muslim and neo-Nazi extremists.
Let’s take a look at who is really behind this site (and all their periphery sites.)
QUOTES FROM MUSLIMS AGAINST SHARIA:
Sharia
Sharia Law must be abolished, because it is incompatible with norms of modern society.
Outdated practices
Any practices that might have been acceptable in the Seventh Century; i.e., stoning, cutting off body parts, marrying and/or having sex with children or animals, must be condemned by every Muslim.
Outdated verses
The following verses promote divisiveness and religious hatred, bigotry and discrimination. They must be either removed from the Koran or declared outdated and invalid, and marked as such.
Outdated words & phrases
Use of the following words and phrases or their variations must be prohibited during religious services:
• Infidel / Unbeliever: these terms have negative connotation and promote divisiveness and animosity; Islam is not the only religion
• Jihad: this word is often interpreted as Holy War against non-Muslims
• Mujaheed / Holy Warrior: no more wars in the name of Islam
• American (Christian / Crusader / Israeli / Zionist) occupation: these terms promote bigotry; at this point in time, Muslims living in non-Muslim lands have more freedoms than Muslims living in Muslim lands
The Crusades vs. The Inquisition
While the Inquisition was a repulsive practice by Christian Fundamentalists, the Crusades were not unprovoked acts of aggression, but rather attempts to recapture formerly Christian lands controlled by Muslims.
(My note: Of course, the quote about the Crusades is true only if one completely overlooks the Crusades against pagan Slavs, Jews, Russian and Greek Orthodox Christians, Mongols, Cathars, Hussites, Waldensians, Old Prussians, and political enemies of the popes. (Riley-Smith, Jonathan. The Oxford History of the Crusades New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. ISBN 0192853643.)
Conclusions: Who is behind “Muslims Against Sharia”? Pam Geller (the shrieking harpie from NY), Ted Belman (Canadian member of a terrorist organization), and others that will be identified in future articles.
Joe Kaufman had previously been identified by multiple sources as part of MASh.
but he claims not to be.
Joe Kaufman was offered the opportunity to disavow his affiliation with or participation in MASh when I sent him a very polite email offering him the opportunity to do so. I promised him that if he wished to make such a statement, I would include it in all of the MAS articles on the Chasing Evil site.
Mr. Kaufman did respond and stated: “I have never had anything to do with that organization.” (emphasis mine) Mr. Kaufman’s statement should be kept in mind when reading articles about his affiliation with Muslims Against Sharia.
Read about Pam Geller:
http://www.chasingevil.org/2009/01/supremacists-in-space.html
More info here: http://freethinker.co.uk/2007/09/24/non-muslims-against-sharia/ showing Pam Geller of Atlas Shrugs and Ted Belman of IsraPundit as members/authors. Belman is a self-admitted member of the Jewish Defense League (JDL), a terrorist organization of which we’ve previously written. http://www.chasingevil.org/2006/12/jdl-kahane.html
Prime Minister Of Canada Stephen Harper- An Anti-Big Government Neoconservative who is trying to radically change Canada so that it is more like America was under the Regime of his heroes George W. Bush and Dick Cheney aka "the Kings of Torture and War Profiteering". Harper would prefer to dismantle or gut a number of federal government departments to reduce regulations on corporations and the private sector.
