Apologias for Neo Nazis : Michael Coren

The recent vote to ban minarets in Switzerland has produced some interesting responses. The usual Muslim-bashers are out in full force, including Michael Coren. In a Toronto Sun article (http://www.torontosun.com/comment/columnists/michael_coren/2009/12/05/12048301-sun.html), Coren issues an apologia for neo-Nazis. the message seems to be Neo Nazis are good if they hate Muslims but not when they hate others. Banning minarets wasnt about hate apparently. it was all democracy.

Coren writes :

voted into the constitution by a referendum in which a clear majority of the people supported the ban. It’s an intensely democratic measure that took place in arguably the most democratic nation in the world,

Apparently, when white people vote for neo-Nazi proposals its democracy, but when Muslims vote for violent orgs like Hamas, its a sign of immaturity.

Coren repeats an argument made by others as  well on the absence of religious rights in Saudi Arabia, and the mistreatment of Christians in several Muslims countries.  All correct, and something we need to speak up about, but irrelevant to the question at hand.

Coren, Barbara and Jonathan Kay et al cannot get themselves to simply state how wrong this vote is, and the fact that tolerance is not based on reciprocal behaviour - and condemn the neo Nazis behind it. instead they issue apologias for them. sad.

Terrorist Group Invites Tarek Fatah

In a ‘no surprises here’ move, the Jewish Defence League, a terrorist outfit, invited Tarek Fatah to join their anti Muslim programs.

http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=2156737

Breaking the silence

National Post  Published: Thursday, October 29, 2009

Re: Let’s Stop Greeting Hate With Silence, Tarek Fatah, Oct. 28.

Tarek Fatah claims that many targeted non-Muslims are too fearful to act against this hateful Muslim imam.

Not all of us fit this timid description. The Jewish Defence League of Canada and the Canadian Hindu Advocacy, which is the largest Hindu lobby in Canada, will be staging community town halls and pickets in front of the Abu Huraira Centre in the next few weeks.

This is not a first for our organizations. Two years ago, we held a well-received town hall meeting in Newmarket, Ont., to oppose construction of a mosque led by a radical imam.

We expect Mr Fatah and others who claim to oppose Muslim extremism to join and support us fully.

Ron Banerjee, director, Canadian Hindu Advocacy; Meir Weinstein, national director, Jewish Defence League of Canada.

 

Muslim Canadian Congress praises terrorists

In a history rewriting move that would make Kim Jong Il proud, the supposedly moderate and self described ‘progressive’ Muslim Canadian Congress praised the Viet Cong as ‘progressive’. As progressive as i am sure,  Stalin, Pol Pot and other communists partial to massacres and torture. its also insulting to lump these murderous people wiht the ANC.

if you didnt know, the Viet Cong was involved in several massacres including :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_at_Hu%E1%BA%BF

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dak_Son_Massacre

and of course widespread torture and terrorism.

below is an excerpt from the MCC statement :

The MCC president also criticized the leadership of the Left that treats Islamists with tender gloves and feeds their addiction to self-imposed victimhood. “Jihadi terrorists are not some progressive national liberation movement such as the ANC or the Viet Cong that deserve the backing of the Left,” said Raza. “On the contrary Islamists represent a reactionary and fascist force whose victims are mostly progressive Muslims, women’s rights workers and the most marginalized in society,” he added.

-30 –

-For more information, please call Sohail Raza

The Emperor has no Clothes (or Money)

The Emperor has no clothes (or money)

 On Sunday the entire Pakistani nation celebrated the victory of its cricket team at the ICC World Twenty20 Cup. Most commentators had pretty much declared the team a non –contender after a disastorous start, while recognising its potential. But towards the end, as one Cricinfo editor put it, the team displayed a performance that was “clinical, professional and un-Pakistani” to beat Sri Lanka in the final.

 

On Monday, President Zardari, in a Mughal Emperor like move, announced cash awards of 1,000,000 Rupees (about Cdn $14,000) each to team captain Younus Khan and Shahid Afridi (the man of the match for both the semi and the final) and 500,000 Rupees each to the rest of the team. The sum may not mean much when converted into Canadian dollars, but in Pakisan, where the average annual income is about Cdn $650, it’s more than what many will earn in their entire lifetime.

 

To put this into perspective, this is a nation where there are approximately 2 million internally displaced people (internal refugees) living in desperate conditions following the Pakistani Army’s offensive in the northern areas of the country. This the same Zardari who has been criss crossing the world, cap in hand, asking for aid. Most recently, in Europe last week. Apparently there is enough to dole out to batsmen and bowlers, but not for refugees.

 

Zardari isn t the first Pakistani leader to treat the nation’s Treasury as a personal slush fund. Everyone before him has done the same thing – Zia ul Haq, Benazir Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif and Pervez Musharraf. But no one has rewarded millionaire sportsmen while 2 million Pakistani refugees have little shelter or food.

 

The players played well – if anyone should be rewarding them, it should be private businesses through the usual sponsorship deals. Not the government of a near bankrupt nation.

 

The best thing the players could do now is to donate that public money to help the refugees in Swat. That would be a move truly worthy of champions.

 

BTW, there is a Swat Relief event in Mississauga going on next weekend. Details below :

 

Join ReliefWorks and the Edhi Foundation to raise funds and  awareness. The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “Religion itself is sincere concern.” Express your concern, and please join us:

 

Speaker:

Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

 

Featuring performances by:
Halal Meat, Waleed Hilal, & Nader Khan

 

Also featuring:

The ManiacMuslim: Hamza Moin

 

 

The Goal:    To raise $60,000 for Swat Relief

The Date:      Saturday June 27th 2009

The Time:     5:30 pm 

The Venue:   Pearl Banquet Hall
                     1638 Aimco Blvd, Mississauga Ontario

Tickets:        $35 ($45 at the door)

Proceeds are for Swat Valley Relief through Edhi Foundation  (www.edhifoundation.com)

Speaking Up – Khadr vs Kohail

Here is a tale of 2 Muslim men. They both get into trouble. Both are tortured, and tried through a flawed and unfair judicial process. One is still going through the process, and the other gets sentenced to death. So why is our community passionate about one of them, and ignoring the one sentenced to die?

The first case refers to Omar Khadr – a widely publicised case, and one that has many Muslim and non-Muslim organisations actively involved in petitioning for his release. The second refers to Mohamed Kohail – where the Muslim community has adapted a shamefully uniform code of silence.

Last week a Saudi court upheld a death sentence for 23 year old Mohamed Kohail. Mohamed has been judged guilty in a Saudi court for the murder of a 19 year old Syrian boy, Munzer Hiraki, who died in a schoolyard brawl in January 2007. His brother, 17 year old Sultan, has been sentenced to 200 lashes and one year in prison for the same brawl (he was originally sentenced to death as well, but this was subsequently overturned).

In January 2007, Mohamed and Sultan were involved in a fight that broke out after a girl’s male cousin accused Sultan of insulting her. Muhamed, Sultan and their friends got into a fight with between 12 and 14 (depending on which side of the story) of the girls relatives, some of whom were armed with knives, clubs and chains (http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/02/10/saudi-beheading.html).  According to the victim’s cousins, Sultan, Mohamed and another boy grouped on Munzer and beat him to death. There is no footage on this event. However there is a clear film that shows the victim, Munzer, kicking Mohamed in the head (http://www.amnesty.ca/blog_post2.php?id=523). There is also conflicting reports of how Munzer died. Although the prosecution claimed that he had been beaten to death, medical evidence did not support this. The Kohails argued that Munzer died when he was caught under a collapsing stone wall, and that he had a heart condition. Munzers family denies this.

Differences in how the families and friends of the unfortunate victim, and those of the alleged perpetrators, view the same events, is not uncommon. It’s something for the courts, and not the point here.

What should happen is that these versions of the truth need to be argued in an open, transparent and fair judicial process. What happened in Saudi Arabia during the trial of the Kohails was far from it.

Firstly, the 2 brothers and their friend were held incommunicado for over a month and half, and tortured. The trial itself took place over 9 sessions, each about 10 minutes long. The Kohail’s lawyer was allowed to attend only the last 2 sessions (or 5 minutes of it, based on the various reports), and was not allowed to challenge the evidence being presented against his clients  . The court then refused to admit witnesses the Kohails brought forward, and who could have helped in the case. 90 minutes for a murder trial ?

Torture, secret trials, inability to challenge prosecution evidence – aren’t these exactly the sort of things Muslim groups get riled over when they are practised by the Canadian and American governments ? Aren’t these exactly the things we protested and campaigned against during the Arar/Almalki/Noureddin hearings and the security certificate issue ? Those are also the reasons why we oppose the kangaroo courts in Guantanamo and whats happening to Khadr and others there.

Amnesty International launched a campaign for the Kohails. But so far, no major Muslim group has signed up to help, nor spoken up for them. Forget repatriation to Canada, we haven’t even asked for a fair trial.

In February 2009, over 185 Muslim groups accused (with some justification, given Harper and Jason Kenney’s actions) Stephen Harper of anti-Muslim bias for not being more aggressive in bringing Omar Khadr home. The same 185 haven’t said a thing about Kohail or the Saudis. So what does that make them ?

Why does Saudi Arabia get a “get out of torture and unfair trials free” card from Muslim groups ?

First, separate out the Saudi rulers from Makkah and Madinah. Just because they are ruling over 2 cities that are extremely near and dear to our hearts, it doesn’t give them any special powers, wisdom or inherent fairness – nor should it stop us from criticising them. Neither the Saudi justice system, nor their decision making is automatically “Islamic” by virtue of them advertising it as so. Obviously what we’re talking about here is fair criticism, not the sort of Muslim bashing exercises masquerading as “criticism” frequently seen in places like the National Post.

There are numerous ayahs in the Quran that speak of justice – and standing up for justice.  O ye who believe! Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to Allah, even as against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, and whether it be (against) rich or poor: For Allah can best protect both. Follow not the lusts (of your hearts), lest ye swerve, and if ye distort (justice) or decline to do justice, verily Allah is well-acquainted with all that ye do. ( Surah 4:135)

This is not an obscure verse – it’s recited quite frequently by Imams and others to showcase the high value of standing up for justice – to the point where you would bear witness against yourself and your own parents. So we are ready to bear witness against our parents, but we draw the line at the Saudi rulers ? There is something very wrong with that.

If Imams and advocacy groups have some fear of being criticised for pointing out injustices in Saudi Arabia (“what will our people say”, or “we can’t anger our support base”), get over it. Muslims are more mature than that. There are plenty of Indo Pak immigrants in Canada who can tell you stories of racism, oppression and injustice in Saudi (and everywhere else – that’s why a lot of them are here).  Criticising the American and Canadian governments for dubious judicial processes, but not the Saudis, is hypocrisy.

Standing up for basic things like freedom from torture, ability to defend yourself fairly in a court of law, and freedom of worship should not be a difficult decision – whether in Canada, US or Saudi Arabia.

So what will it be – Fear Allah or Fear the House of Saud ?

Censorship and Canwest

David Harris’s “Look at me” letter in the Calgary Herald was amusing in so many ways. Mr. harris complained that his comments got edited by CBC staff. hmmm, that must mean the CBC is just a vipers nest of Islamists then. Forget the fact that all newspapers edit letters and comments – and Canwest “edits”.

This letter on censorship appears in a Canwest owned newspaper – the same Canwest people who are threatening freedom of speech by suing some social activists for producing a spoof of the Vancouver Sun (see seriously free speech website for details). The same Canwest that shows the spoof filled Saturday Night Live. If you happen to be unfortunate enough to rely on the National post or other Canwest papers, you probably dont know about this lawsuit, since they dont talk about it. editing anyone ?

Of course, Canwest probably doesnt need to censor – its writers like Barbara Kay, Jonathan Kay etc., who all screamed loudly and vicously at Muslims over the Mark Steyn and Ezra Levant affairs are all smart enough not to use big words like “Mordechai Briemberg”, “SLAPP lawsuit” and “Canwest is threatening freedom of speech” in their columns. More so, Canwest has also managed to house train its “moderate” Muslims like Tarek Fatah, Salim Mansur, Farzana Hassan amd Raheel Raza to not mention those same big words. These are of course, people who were trotted out to criticise CIC and other Muslims on free speech and satire.

As if we didnt have enough irony on freedom of speech already, Tarek Fatah is censoring all questions on the Canwest lawsuit on a public discussion group. The Toronto Peace Action Coalition, a yahoo group formed after 9/11, was a place for open discussions unil tarek fatah was made moderator. Tarek immediately appointed himself Chief Martial Law Administrator – first he ignored all questions on his hypocrisy over the Mordechai Briemberg issue .. then he just started censoring all posts on it. The same Tarek who lectures Muslims on freedom of speech, doesnt have the honesty or integrity to stand up for Mordechai Briemberg – but will censor discussion on the Canwest lawsuit.

shameful.

China’s Forgotten Muslims

(this was written earlier in Ramadan 2008)

 

On Monday September 8^th, The New York Times reported on the imposition of restrictions on Chinese Muslims during Ramadan. Among the measures announced were:

-         banning teachers and students from observing Ramadan (fasting/praying)

-         prohibiting retired government officials from entering mosques

-         requiring men to shave off beards

-         banning women from wearing the hijab

-         banning restaurants from closing during Ramadan

-         Communist Party members, civil servants and retired officials cannot fast, enter mosques or take part in any religious activities during the month.

That the Chinese government is putting in place onerous conditions on Muslims, and persecuting/harassing them is not a surprise. This has been going on for many years. Uyghurs in East Turkestan and Xinjiang face oppression on a daily basis including imprisonment, forced relocation, job discrimination and murder. Amnesty International’s report on China for 2008 states “Uighur individuals were the only known group in China to be sentenced to death and executed for political crimes, such as “separatist activities”. The Chinese government even destroyed a mosque that refused to put up an Olympics sign. More than 5000 Muslims in China have been murdered by the government. As with Tibet, China relocates millions of ethnic Han Chinese into Xinjiang and other Muslim areas, and suppresses local identity, culture and language.

The Muslims aren’t the only ethnic or religious minority facing state sponsored persecution in China. The case of the Tibetans and Chinese Christians are just as bad.

What is surprising is the sound of absolute silence from the rest of the Muslim world. No official word from the Saudis or Pakistanis or Iranians. No demonstrations, no condemnations from Muslims organizations – Islamist or otherwise. The Jamaat-e-Islami website in Pakistan doesn’t even carry the story. No Muslim nation made an issue out of the mosque demolition before the Olympics. The OIC website has statements on all sorts of issues, but nothing on the Chinese government. North American and European Muslim organizations, who regularly issue statements of concern and condemnation over human rights in Kashmir, Iraq and Palestine, have had nothing to say to support their brothers in China. The Pakistani’s (and I am one), who can usually be relied upon to hit the streets and destroy public property to defend Islam, have been uncharacteristically non-chalant. Its as if nothing happened – Chinese Muslims don’t exist.

 

But they do. Since 1998, the Pakistani government has even sent back Uyghurs fleeing Chinese persecution (Xinjiang, Chinas Muslim Borderland S. Frederick Starr, 2004). It did so with 13 Uyghur students who were executed upon their return to China. The Central Asian Republics do the same. That’s where a Canadian, Huseyincan Celil was kidnapped and handed over to the Chinese. Imam Celil is currently imprisoned in China. In the Arab world, no Uyghur organizations are allowed, despite the fact that there are about 40,000 refugees from East Turkestan in Saudi Arabia.

 

What’s wrong with this picture ?

 

This doesn’t happen when the US, Israel or Europe are involved.

 

As has happened with the cases of Geert Wilders documentary, French headscarf ban, Danish cartoons etc etc., statements of condemnations pour in from governments, organizations and legislative assemblies. Some unfortunately have resorted to violence. But in either case, Muslims have reacted both officially and as individuals.

 

And that’s why the silence over the brutal oppression of Chinese Muslims is even more shameful. Chinese Muslims have become “the ignored” in our community. We have demonstrations over books, but have nothing to say over the torture of Muslims in Xinjiang. Uyghur leaders seldom feature on the Muslim conference circuit. Prayers are said for mujahideen in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kashmir, Palestine and Chechnya, but the word “Cheen” is seldom heard in that sentence. Muslims who walk around with bar code data to identify Danish made products are quite happy buying all sorts of Chinese made goods in markets around the world. Why boycott Danish made butter and buy goods made by Chinese government owned factories ?

 

This cannot be right.

 

We cannot condemn US foreign policy but remain silent on Chinese oppression. If we care about Muslims instead of just having something against the US/Europe, we can’t remain silent any longer. The Uyghurs deserve better treatment than this, both from the Chinese government and their fellow Muslims.

 

So here are my suggestions:

 

1. Especially in Ramadan, pray for your brothers and sisters in China. May Allah make it easier for them and remove the oppression from their lives.
2. Educate yourself. There are plenty of websites that will give you the Uyghur story, like:http://www.uyghurcanadian.org/En/home.asp ,http://www.uyghuramerican.org/, http://www.uyghurcongress.org/En/home.asp
3. If you are involved with conferences, invite a rep from the Uyghur community. Their story must be heard. See websites above for contacts.
4. Ask organizations and Muslim governments to speak up for Chinese Muslims. They need to stop the hypocrisy.
5. Write to the Chinese Embassies and tell them to ask their government to stop the oppression of Chinese Muslims and other ethnic minorities. The address, fax number and email for the Chinese Ambassador to Canada is below. Ambassador: Mr. Lan Lijun,

AP.O.BOX 8935 NEW TERMINAL, ALTA VISTA, OTTAWA, CANADA
Tel: 1-613-7893434
Fax: 1-613-7891911

Email: chinaemb_ca@mfa.gov.cn

The Moderate Extremists

 

This week I came across an article by Toronto based Raheel Raza in an online publication called “American Thinker” (http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/11/the_islamist_role_in_the_2008.html). Among other things, Ms Raza complained that the “Islamists” were using democracy in Canada to further their goals, and of course, referring to valiant efforts to expose this agenda by good “moderate” Muslims like her, Tarek Fatah and Salim Mansur.  Some of the more sillier points were that Wajid Khans loss was engineered by Islamists – forget the fact that the man was a floor crosser and had issues with the financing of his campaign. Mohammed El Masri of the CIC was also identified as a dangerous Islamist – among the reasons : he agitates for an anti Israel foreign policy (agitating for an anti Muslim one apparently is OK .. read on below).

 

Setting aside the absurdness of a self marketed “moderate” complaining about someone else participating in the democratic process, what really made this ridiculous was the last line  : Raheel Raza writes for Islamist Watch, a project at the Middle East Forum

 

The Middle East Forum is an outfit run by Daniel Pipes. Among other things, Pipes is known as a “Smearcaster” by Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (http://www.smearcasting.com/index.html ) and America’s leading anti-Muslim bigot. Among the gems from Ms. Raheel Raza’s colleague:

 

“Western European societies are unprepared for the massive immigration of brown-skinned peoples cooking strange foods and maintaining different standards of hygiene…. All immigrants bring exotic customs and attitudes, but Muslim customs are more troublesome than most.” (National Review, 11/19/90)

 

“the presence, and increased stature, and affluence, and enfranchisement of American Muslims” entail “true dangers” for American Jews. (American Jewish Congress, 10/21/01)

 

Like Tarek Fatah and the other secular extremists, Pipes is not averse to using words like madrassa to smear. As one of the leaders of the “Stop the Madrassa” campaign against a secular Brooklyn-based Arabic language school (see FAIR  Case Study), he himself has admitted (New York Times.com, 4/28/2008) to misleading the public by using the word “madrassa” to get attention.

 

Daniel Pipes also runs a disgusting program called Campus Watch, which encourages students on campuses to monitor their professors’ political views and report any deviations from the extreme ideology that racists like him espouse.

He thinks the internment of Japanese Americans/Canadians during WWII was a good idea and espouses the same for Muslims (Daniel Pipes, Japanese Internment: Why It Was a Good Idea–And the Lessons It Offers Today. http://hnn.us/articles/9289.html)

So heres a person who chooses to associate with a hate monger, and is lecturing Muslims on extremism ?

That’s nothing new though. Fatah, Mansur, Raza and the other secular extremists aren’t known for balance or fairness. For all the lecturing they, and the other Muslim haters, give to Muslims on censorship and freedom, they are uniformly silent when neo-con publishers like Canwest harass and censor.

Check out Seriously Free Speech (http://seriouslyfreespeech.wordpress.com/). These are a group of people who produced a parody of the Vancouver Sun. Canwest, the owners of the Sun and the National Post among others, sued them. This is the same Canwest whose Global network shows Saturday Night Live – where parodies are the norm. apparently parodying is OK when insulting Muslims, but not when done by Pro-Palestinians.

What exposes these secular extremists is their total silence on this issue. Theirs, and that of the others like Barbara Kay, Mark Steyn, Ezra Levant etc. who only seem to come out of the woodwork for free speech when Muslims are involved. Lets be honest – none of them are interested in freedom of speech, they’re in it for the Muslim bashing.

Raheel Raza is not the only Islamophobe anointed moderate to flirt with bigots. The Muslim Canadian Congress seems to have found friends at Frontpage magazine. MCC’s “Director of Sharia Law”, Hasan Mahmud found them willing listeners, as have Tarek Fatah and Raheel Raza. Tarek Fatah is listed as one of the chosen “Muslims for an Islamic Reformation”. Who are the people behind this website ?

Front page magazine is a project of David Horowitz – another bigot. Mr. Horowitz has given space in his magazine to neo-Nazis’ like James Lubinskas and Jared Taylor. A good review of Horowitz’s neo-Nazi connections are done by Barbara Foley at the Minnoesotan Review (http://www.theminnesotareview.org/journal/ns67/foley_barbara_1.shtml). David Horowitz has been called a “real, live bigot” by Time magazine, and a modern day apologist for slavery. Among the gems this friend of the “moderate” Muslims is comment that “claim that all African-Americans suffer from the economic consequences of slavery and discrimination” is “unsubstantiated.” He even claims that, in spite of a tremendous amount of documentation, “No scientific attempt has been made to prove that living individuals have been adversely affected by a slave system that was ended nearly 150 years ago.” Horowitz also claims that African-Americans “owe a debt” to America. And he demands “where’s the gratitude” for all this!

On Palestinians : “‘Israel had every right to annex the West Bank and Gaza from the so-called Palestinians’…’Israel should have done just that and expelled the Arab aggressors from Gaza and the West Bank.’”

This, and much more of the MCC’s friend is at http://www.mediatransparency.org/personprofile.php?personID=15. Like Daniel Pipes, Horowitz is also involved in attempts to censor left wing opinions at universities.

Horowitz is also the instigator behind Islamo Fascism Awareness Week at universities in North Ameerica and Israel, and has been called an “Anti Muslim Smear Machine” (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/isabel-macdonald/the-anti-muslim-smear-mac_b_133695.html)

Those are only 2 of the racists that Tarek Fatah, MCC and Raheel Raza are happily associating with. Outside of flirting with known racists, these “moderates” have of course stopped criticizing Israel and no longer speak up for Palestinians. No wonder newspapers like National Post call them “moderate”.

During the recent US elections, copies of an anti-Muslim video called “Obsession” was distributed in several swing states (http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081015/LIFESTYLE04/810150384/1409/METRO). The group financing this, The Clarion Fund, is backed by radical Jewish organizations (http://tampabay.com/news/politics/national/article827910.ece). The movie has been called “hate propaganda”. More info at  http://www.obsessionwithhate.com/about.php

So why should Canadians care ? In July 2006, the same movie had a showing in Toronto. Mainstream Muslim groups denounced it as the hate propaganda that it is. Of course, the “moderates” disagreed. Tarek Fatah, then with the Muslim Canadian Congress, and Stockwell Day were some of the invited guests. Tarek Fatah spoke at the screening. Think about that. Someone who considers himself a representative of Muslims, spoke at a screening of anti-Muslim hate propaganda. You get an idea of how low things have gotten.

For those of us who see moderation as a lifestyle, and not a marketing label, this is no different from someone who pretends to be a moderate writing anti-black articles for the KKK newsletter. The Muslims Canadian Congress, Tarek Fatah and Raheel Raza have done just that.

 

 

 

 

 

Naeem Siddiqi is at Naeem.siddiqi@gmail.com

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