Hat tip Gates of Vienna
The blog Gates of Vienna has posted a German news report on the on-going hardships being suffered by Malmo's Jews. The video has English sub-titles.
http://gatesofvienna.net/2013/05/the-persecution-of-jews-in-malmo-again/
I salute the young Muslim man who is trying to combat the anti-Jewish hatred within his Rosengaard community. Part of the problem, however, has been the open hostility of Malmo's mayor, Ilmar Reepalu, to his Jewish community. He is virulently anti-Israel and resents that Malmo's Jews don't join him. Thus, according to Reepalu, the Jews can leave if they wish.
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Obama Aide Says the Three Scandals are "Irrelevant"
President Obama with Mr Irrelevant (Dan Pfeiffer)
"What difference at this point does it make?"
Dan Pfeiffer, a White House aide to President Obama went on weekend news shows today and told interviewers that the scandals involving Benghazi, the IRS, and Associated Press are all "irrelevant".
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/05/19/top-obama-adviser-stakes-out-defiant-defense-on-irs-benghazi-ap-scandals/
As to where the President was on the evening of September 11, 2012 when our consulate in Benghazi was attacked, Mr Pffeiffer says it is "irrelevant". As to who changed the talking points on the attack, Mr Pffeiffer says it is "irrelevant".
IRS targeting conservative groups?
"Irrelevant" Even the law is irrelevant, says Pfeiffer. The President only heard about it when it came out in the press. (Hat tip the late, great Jim Healy and John Speedie)
Really? Would that be on National Public Radio or MSNBC's Hardball?
"Hmmmm. Somebody killed the tsar and his whole family. Imagine that. We'll have to make sure that never happens again."
How about the Justice Department rounding up the telephone toll records of the AP reporters, Mr Pfeiffer?
"Mox nix."
You talk about arrogance! (h/t Jim Healy and John Speedie)
"With the final pick in the 2013 NFL draft, the Baltimore Ravens select Dan Pfeiffer........"
Dan Pfeiffer, Ladies and Gentlemen. "Mr Irrelevant".
Nigeria Launches Offensive Against Boko Haram While John Kerry Urges "Restraint".
John Kerry trying to restrain his wind sail (What do you call that thing?)
You can't make this stuff up, Folks. As the Nigerian army launches a major offensive against the terror group Boko Haram (whose major pastime is massacring Christians and blowing up their churches) our secretary of state, John Heinz Kerry, is urging restraint.)
\http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-22580707
"Mr Kerry said there were "credible allegations" of "gross human rights violations" by the Nigerian military."
Which side are you on, Mr Kerry?
War on terror? With John Kerry at State, Eric Holder at Justice, and Janet Napolitano at DHS. Even our military under Obama calls the Ft Hood massacre "workplace violence". If you read the latest training materials our military and FBI have to train with, you wouldn't know what it is we are fighting. We may as well say we are fighting the Vikings.
"Death to America."
Union Power Grab in Works
Hat tip Washington Free Beacon and National Right to Work Committee
With radical DOJ henchman Thomas Perez set to become secretary of labor, read this slippery move by the Obama administration to help unions get their foot in the door of the workplace.
http://freebeacon.com/throwing-open-the-doors-to-unions/
To help fight back, you can help the NRTWC.
Union bosses count on Barack Obama's bureaucracy to serve as an organizing arm for Big Labor.
That's why they know pro-forced unionism Thomas Perez is just the man for the job to be Barack Obama's next Secretary of Labor.
A recent article in the Washington Free Beacon exposes yet another power grab Obama's Department of Labor bureaucrats have implemented to grease the skids for forced unionization of American workers.
You see, when the DOL's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) conducts workplace inspections, workers may select one of their own to observe.
Now, for the first time ever, Obama's OSHA has advised union bosses that they too can observe these inspections, even in nonunion workplaces.
Union operatives would get automatic access to company property and an opportunity to browbeat workers with union-boss propaganda.
Once the Obama Administration has let Big Labor in the door, union bosses could make frivolous accusations of safety violations to try to get the company to sell out its workers with a "card check" agreement.
Over the last four years, the Obama Administration has implemented one behind-the-scenes sweetheart deal after another to make it easier for union bosses to ensnare workers into forced-dues-paying ranks.
That's why if you haven't already, please watch and share the National Right to Work Committee's urgent video alert exposing Perez's long history of using his positions of power to do Big Labor's bidding.
Based on Thomas Perez's record, you can expect more of the same if he's confirmed.
Sincerely,
Mark Mix
P. S. The National Right to Work Committee relies on your voluntary contributions to fund its programs. Please chip in with a contribution of $10 or more today.
The National Right to Work Committee is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, single-purpose citizens' organization dedicated to combating compulsory unionism through an aggressive program designed to mobilize public opposition to compulsory unionism and, at the same time, enlist public support for Right to Work legislation. The Committee's mailing address is 8001 Braddock Road, Springfield, Virginia 22160. The Committee can be contacted toll-free at 1-800-325-7892.
Not produced or e-mailed at taxpayer expense.
With radical DOJ henchman Thomas Perez set to become secretary of labor, read this slippery move by the Obama administration to help unions get their foot in the door of the workplace.
http://freebeacon.com/throwing-open-the-doors-to-unions/
To help fight back, you can help the NRTWC.
Union bosses count on Barack Obama's bureaucracy to serve as an organizing arm for Big Labor.
That's why they know pro-forced unionism Thomas Perez is just the man for the job to be Barack Obama's next Secretary of Labor.
A recent article in the Washington Free Beacon exposes yet another power grab Obama's Department of Labor bureaucrats have implemented to grease the skids for forced unionization of American workers.
You see, when the DOL's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) conducts workplace inspections, workers may select one of their own to observe.
Now, for the first time ever, Obama's OSHA has advised union bosses that they too can observe these inspections, even in nonunion workplaces.
Union operatives would get automatic access to company property and an opportunity to browbeat workers with union-boss propaganda.
Once the Obama Administration has let Big Labor in the door, union bosses could make frivolous accusations of safety violations to try to get the company to sell out its workers with a "card check" agreement.
Over the last four years, the Obama Administration has implemented one behind-the-scenes sweetheart deal after another to make it easier for union bosses to ensnare workers into forced-dues-paying ranks.
That's why if you haven't already, please watch and share the National Right to Work Committee's urgent video alert exposing Perez's long history of using his positions of power to do Big Labor's bidding.
Based on Thomas Perez's record, you can expect more of the same if he's confirmed.
Sincerely,
Mark Mix
P. S. The National Right to Work Committee relies on your voluntary contributions to fund its programs. Please chip in with a contribution of $10 or more today.
The National Right to Work Committee is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, single-purpose citizens' organization dedicated to combating compulsory unionism through an aggressive program designed to mobilize public opposition to compulsory unionism and, at the same time, enlist public support for Right to Work legislation. The Committee's mailing address is 8001 Braddock Road, Springfield, Virginia 22160. The Committee can be contacted toll-free at 1-800-325-7892.
Not produced or e-mailed at taxpayer expense.
Zuhdi Jasser- Fighting Islamic Anti-Semitism
Hat tip Pundicity and Squid
Dr Zuhdi Jasser, a Syrian-American Muslim, has written this article on the problem of Islamic anti-Semitism.
http://www.mzuhdijasser.com/13320/islamist-antisemitism
"The Qatari owned Al Jazeera has aired countless sermons and programs vilifying Jews and Israel. Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi is arguably Sunni Islam's most influential cleric in the world and wields considerable influence in the Muslim Brotherhood. Reaching weekly over 60 million viewers in his program "Shariah and Life," he commonly spews anti-Western and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. On January 28, 2009, he stated "the last punishment was carried out by Hitler…this was divine punishment for them. Allah willing, the next time will be at the hands of the believers."
I cannot resist the temptation to point out that Al Gore recently sold his Current TV to Al Jazeera after refusing to sell it to groups that "do not share his ideology." Way to go, Mr Gore.
"We must support them by heeding the warnings which the horrible history of Islamist antisemitism has shown and take action to prevent its prevalence on every front throughout the world. The Obama administration cannot even get itself to even use the word "Islamism," let alone take a stand against the pervasive antisemitism created by Islamists at home and abroad. Just like Islamist inspired terror, Islamist inspired antisemitism cannot be treated without targeting Islamism. Instead, President Obama's national security team has engaged Muslim Brotherhood legacy groups in the U.S. and oddly seems to consider the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt an ally in the making."
Indeed. What kind of contribution has the Obama administration made to fighting anti-Semitism, here or abroad? The President appoints a woman (Hannah Rosenthal) from the George Soros-funded J Street, which masquerades as pro-Israel, but consistently sides with the Palestinian side, as State Department envoy on anti-Semitic issues. She starts off by blasting Michael Oren, the Israeli ambassador to the US in Israel and runs off to attend international conferences devoted to combating Islamophobia. All Obama does is placate the forces that would kill every last Jew in Israel-or anywhere else, for that matter.
I admire Dr Jasser and believe he is a loyal American and courageous person. He chooses to remain a Muslim. Therefore, I fear that there are certain areas that he cannot go into in this article. Specifically, Islamic anti-Semitism has deeper roots than simply the rise of Islamists or the creation of the state of Israel. It is in the texts (Koran, Hadith). Therein lies the problem. How do moderate reformers like Jasser argue theological points with the Yusuf al Qaradawis of the world? How can they win? Those like Jasser have righteousness on their side. The Qaradawis have the texts on theirs. Qaradawi is not considered a fringe character in the Islamic world as many consider Terry Jones to be a fringe Christian pastor. He is one of the most highly respected figures in the Islamic world. His views are generally shared by other leading Islamic authorities such as the prestigious Al Azhar University in Cairo and the Bukhari (Shaf'i) School of Thought.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_al-Bukhari
My question is; were Dr Jasser to refute the references to Jews (as well as Christians) in the Koran and the Hadith (for example, the Jews hiding behind rocks and trees on the Day of Judgement and the rocks and trees calling out to the Muslim to come and kill them), would he be guilty of blasphemy, and thus, subject to the death penalty under (hudud) sharia law?
Dr Jasser probably has enough death threats as it is.
When a Somali Journalist Decides It's Safer to Tell the Truth in Somalia Than Sweden
Hat tip Vlad Tepes
Here is a Swedish news report on the plight of a young Somali refugee/journalist who is returning to Somalia. Why? She has decided it's safer to tell the truth about al Shabab in Somalia than it is in Sweden.
Here is a Swedish news report on the plight of a young Somali refugee/journalist who is returning to Somalia. Why? She has decided it's safer to tell the truth about al Shabab in Somalia than it is in Sweden.
More on Anti-Semitism at the University of California, Those Who Speak Out-and Those Who Do Not
Hat tip American Thinker
Abraham H Miller, in the American Thinker, has written an excellent piece on the problem of anti-Semitism on the University of California campuses. The article is focused on the brave efforts of two Jewish professors, my friends and colleagues, Tammi Rossman-Benjamin and Leila Beckwith, to fight the problem and the attacks they are experiencing. Miller also highlights the hypocrisy of UC administrators in speaking out against certain forms of bigotry while ignoring anti-Semitism. Finally, Miller criticizes so-called Jewish organizations who refuse to join the fight.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/05/two_modernday_deborahs_fight_antisemitism.html
Once again, I note with embarrassment that the university where I teach part-time (UC Irvine) is mentioned. Once again, UC San Diego, with its feckless administration over the past several years, is high-lighted. Just last week, UCSD covered itself in shame as it hosted the annual hate fest against Israel and prevented outside people from video-taping at the behest of the Muslim Student Association.
I also note that Hillel, the national organization that is a support group for Jewish students, refuses to get involved-preferring to advise its members to stay away. From what I am told, Hillel at UCSD is a big part of the problem. Here at UC Irvine, their performance has been pretty underwhelming. An even bigger problem in Orange County is the feckless Jewish Federation, which has consistently refused to criticize the university or stand up against anti-Semitism on campus-preferring instead to fund the Olive Tree Initiative, a thinly-disguised pro-Palestinian PR venture masquerading as neutral, all the while assuring its donors that all is well on the UCI campus. And the Anti-Defamation League? Where the Hell have they been? Abraham Foxman has denied any problem at UCI.
Some people need to go back and read their history books.
Abraham H Miller, in the American Thinker, has written an excellent piece on the problem of anti-Semitism on the University of California campuses. The article is focused on the brave efforts of two Jewish professors, my friends and colleagues, Tammi Rossman-Benjamin and Leila Beckwith, to fight the problem and the attacks they are experiencing. Miller also highlights the hypocrisy of UC administrators in speaking out against certain forms of bigotry while ignoring anti-Semitism. Finally, Miller criticizes so-called Jewish organizations who refuse to join the fight.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/05/two_modernday_deborahs_fight_antisemitism.html
Once again, I note with embarrassment that the university where I teach part-time (UC Irvine) is mentioned. Once again, UC San Diego, with its feckless administration over the past several years, is high-lighted. Just last week, UCSD covered itself in shame as it hosted the annual hate fest against Israel and prevented outside people from video-taping at the behest of the Muslim Student Association.
I also note that Hillel, the national organization that is a support group for Jewish students, refuses to get involved-preferring to advise its members to stay away. From what I am told, Hillel at UCSD is a big part of the problem. Here at UC Irvine, their performance has been pretty underwhelming. An even bigger problem in Orange County is the feckless Jewish Federation, which has consistently refused to criticize the university or stand up against anti-Semitism on campus-preferring instead to fund the Olive Tree Initiative, a thinly-disguised pro-Palestinian PR venture masquerading as neutral, all the while assuring its donors that all is well on the UCI campus. And the Anti-Defamation League? Where the Hell have they been? Abraham Foxman has denied any problem at UCI.
Some people need to go back and read their history books.
Saturday, May 18, 2013
The Insane Asylum in Janet Napolitano's DHS
Hat tip Daily Caller
Sensitivity is the key word.
Here's the latest from our gal Janet Napolitano's DHS.
http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/17/homeland-security-guidelines-advise-deference-to-pro-sharia-muslim-supremacists/
What kind of Rube Goldberg organization is this woman running here?
I'm sorry, but I am at a loss for words here. I'll just post it as it is and try to come up with some game show analogy tomorrow.
"Remember boys, not all Germans are bad."
Sensitivity is the key word.
Here's the latest from our gal Janet Napolitano's DHS.
http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/17/homeland-security-guidelines-advise-deference-to-pro-sharia-muslim-supremacists/
What kind of Rube Goldberg organization is this woman running here?
I'm sorry, but I am at a loss for words here. I'll just post it as it is and try to come up with some game show analogy tomorrow.
"Remember boys, not all Germans are bad."
The UC San Diego Anti- Israel Week- A First- Hand Account
Cynthia McKinney- The nakba at UC San Diego
This past week, the Muslim Student Association at UC San Diego had their annual gloom and doom week of Israel-bashing. JJ Surbeck of T.E.A.M. San Diego was in attendance and has sent me this report.
______________________________________________________________________________
This past week UCSD went through the perennial, wasteful and hateful event known (depending on the year) as "Israel Apartheid Week" or, as was the case this year "Justice in Palestine Week". The same predictable pro-Palestinian "wall" was there on Library Walk. I'll send a separate message analyzing them later.
Further down the walk, the Tritons for Israel had set up a good combination of panels used the last two years and a new great set of banners created by StandWithUs.
  Additionally, the Tritons for Israel had come up with a great idea: a banner and booth that said "Come talk to a real Israeli soldier", a place manned by several young Israelis who - by definition - just went through their military service. .jpeg)
Worth nothing also, because to my knowledge that was a first: the Young Republicans had a booth in the "free speech area" closer to the Geisel Library with a big panel displaying two great quotes, one from Bill Clinton and the other from Condoleeza Rice, both blaming the Palestinians for the absence of peace. Way to go, Young Republicans!
This year, there were no activities at noon on the Palestinian side, which was surprising, while the Jewish students met to discuss the situation of Israel.
The pro-Palestinians also had their usual roster of speakers (more on that below), while the pro-Israel students had none, having decided (rightly or wrongly) that there was no point inviting speakers whose lectures were attended only by a handful of pro-Israel students (just as the pro-Palestinian speakers never garnered audiences of more than 40 people as far as I could see).
As I had done in previous years, I wanted to tape the pro-Palestinian speakers, but once again the UCSD administration bowed to the demands of the MSA (Muslim Students Association) and banned all taping, distribution of flyers or sign display. In the heart of academe where all you hear year round are clamors demanding free speech and academic freedom, it is particularly bizarre, if not shocking, to see the administration of a UC system college prevent anyone from exercising their first amendment rights to film or tape an event taking place in a publicly funded institution of higher learning. I had a long discussion with Gary Radcliff, who represented UCSD to explain (and enforce) this policy, and his position was that the MSA being a student organization, they are considered as separate from UCSD (try to figure that one out since it is UCSD that approves them and gives them the coveted "student group" status) and therefore as a "separate" body that rents space on the campus, they are entitled to determine whether the events they organize are going to be open or closed. This is a general problem within the entire UC system and it needs to be addressed globally. From another perspective, one is entitled to ask what it is that all these pro-Palestinian groups (who do the same thing on every campus where they use similar tactics) have to hide. What are they so afraid of showing? After listening to (too many) of their lectures, I find that there is nothing particularly enlightening, brilliant, sophisticated or constructive in there. What you have are lots of slogans, tired clichés, angry outbursts, demands, demands and more demands, but nothing in terms of dialogue or expression of willingness to compromise. What they're probably concerned about is that their raw hate is so blatant that the risks are high that they slip into legally actionable language.Their message is always the same: we have been wronged, we are entitled to everything we demand, Israel is an illegal occupier and we will eventually get our land back. Simplistic and misleading as it is, repeated with enough conviction and passion, ignorant students fall easily for their theatrics. After all these years, it is still a zero-sum game in their mind: Israel will disappear and Palestine will replace it. Really?
After arguing with Mr. Radcliff over the silliness of their no-taping policy, I said fine, but I didn't want to abandon my camera, so I asked if it would be ok if I took it with me and not use it, since the security service hired by the AS for the MSA (yep, student money paid for this) kept an eye on me (and everybody else), ready to pounce on anyone even appearing to want to tape or take a picture. He said fine. But not even five minutes after I had sat down in the auditorium, the security staff and Mr. Radcliff converged on me, all of them telling me that I needed to surrender my camera. What happened (most likely since I saw the same thing happen two days later) was that the MSA leader, a certain Amal, had a fit when he heard that I had been allowed in with a videocam and demanded that it be seized. The security personnel took it and promised to give it back to me on the way out (which they did when I left). I tried to ask Mr. Radcliff on what legal ground they had demanded that I surrender my camera, but he refused to answer, which could mean that the administration is on shaky legal ground in this respect.
Be that as it may, after all these exciting preliminaries, I was eager to hear the speakers. First came Remi Kanazi, a Palestinian-American activist who kept repeating "I'm a poet". And indeed he recited over a long hour four fiery "poems" that sounded more like angry political statements, interspersed with long rants using all the usual terminology. Some of his comments would probably hurt the feelings of J Street, which he dismissed as useless, and made fun openly of the "dialoguers" since in his opinion there is nothing to dialogue about. The titles of his four "poems" were "This poem will not end apartheid", "Nakba", "Before the machetes are raised", "Normalize this". I'll admit to not knowing much about poetry, but that was either very bad poetry, or hateful prose masquerading as poetry.
Next came an old Nemesis, local Palestinian activist Nasser Barghouti, who launched into a long attack on drones and how Israel plays an important role in the development of these flying machines. The rest was his usual explanation of why the BDS movement is so important and how it is winning hears and minds all over the world (the fact that this boasting was largely fictional did not seem to bother him too much).
I was not able to attend the lecture that took place the next day with Gary Fields and Rosauria Sanchez, so if anyone went, please let me know what you got out of it. I'll just mention that I saw Gary Fields the next day, and he seemed very pleased with himself, telling me that it had been a great evening (the topic was a comparison between the security fence built by Israel to protect itself from Palestinian suicide bombers, and the US-Mexico fence, built by the US to prevent illegal immigrants to infiltrate in the country). Sorry I missed that one...
Finally, on Thursday, Prof. Hatem Bazian from UC Berkeley and former congresswoman Cynthia McKinney gave the most bizarre duo performance I've seen in a long time. Bazian started by stating that it was "investigations against the SJP at UCSB and UCI that caused divisions on campuses" (right, it could not have been the divisive activities of these groups themselves, could it?), that all the money Israel receives from the US is not just $ 3B but 7B (!!!), and that the grand total from 1949 to 2010 has been $114B (he cited unspecified congressional sources). Another clever twist: he acknowledged that critics of Hawking who pointed out that his elaborate electronic chair that allows him to function and communicate despite his severe physical limitations was based on Intel chips, but he quickly added that the real question was how Intel came to set up shop in Israel in the first place. That was rather pathetic. He concluded by acknowledging that Arab countries receive also loads of money from the US, but he was opposed to that because it prevented them from developing themselves on their own (go tell that to Egypt right now, on the brink of massive famine.) One last interesting wrinkle: he claimed that the reason Jonathan Pollard is still in jail is because he gave information not only to the Israelis, but in fact to the Russians VIA the Israelis. Never heard that one before.
Finally, the apotheosis was Cynthia McKinney. The best and shortest description of her performance was is that she made absolutely no sense. Long-winded sentences interrupted by long blanks and awkward silent moments, she lost track of whatever she wanted to say (assuming she was trying to say something) so often that the embarrassment became palpable. Then she fumbled with her laptop so badly that an MSA student had to run from the back of the room to come to her rescue. She showed a couple of YouTube clips, one of which showed ex-NATO Supreme Commander Wesley Clark report that someone at the Pentagon had told him that the US was planning to invade and destroy 7 Middle Eastern countries in 5 years. She concluded with a shot of The Forward, a left-leaning Jewish journal, with the headline "New Congress has a record number of Jews". She didn't comment on it, but the implied anti-semitism was obvious. At any rate, that is one speaker that the MSA is certain to never invite again. She ruined their show. Since I didn't see anyone that I know from the pro-Israel side in the room, I don't know if others enjoyed this debacle, but I certainly did. Maybe that's why they're so secretive about their lectures and they don't want anyone to tape anything: their speakers are so bad or lie so much that they would prove embarrassing if it became public. Well, this one became public anyway, which proves that their no-taping policy is pointless, and the UCSD administration is wrong to allow it. Let's hope that this ridiculous attitude will be changed for the better and all lectures on campus will be open and transparent. Student groups must be notified that no ban will be allowed any more.
J.J. Surbeck
Executive Director  Training and Education About the Middle East ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kudos to JJ and T.E.A.M. San Diego. Kudos as well go out to Tritons for Israel, Stand With Us, and the Young Republicans of UCSD. As for the university, they need to hire some new legal counsel if they think they can collude with the MSA to deny people their rights to film. They are probably going to need it. As for that wall, if it's the same wall used at UC Irvine the previous week, they'd better check it for termites. |
The Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project at the University of California at Berkeley
Gary Fouse
fousesquawk
http://garyfouse.blogspot.com
Get a load of this:
http://crg.berkeley.edu/content/islamophobia
This, of course, is the brainchild of professor Hatem Bazian, who not so long ago was an activist student at Berkeley. Just this past week, he was sharing a stage at UC San Diego with Cynthia McKinney as she struggled to put a coherent thought together (see my post).
http://garyfouse.blogspot.com/2013/05/hatem-bazian-cynthia-mckinney-at-ucsd.html
So now Berkeley, which is a boffo institution on its best of days, has this what-ever-you-call- it devoted to documenting any thought or utterance critical of Islam and the Islamist agenda of establishing world-wide supremacy over the rest of us and whatever other religion we may believe in.
Never mind that Muslims enjoy equal rights in America and full freedom to practice their faith-as they do in that other country so vilified by Bazian-Israel.
Never mind that in virtually every Muslim majority nation on earth, religious minorities are being actively persecuted by violent and often legal means.
Never mind that just since 9-11, there have been over 20,000 acts of terror carried out world-wide in the name of Islam.
Never mind the virulent expressions of hate spewing forth from the mouths of imams reading passages from the Koran directed toward Jews and Christians in mosques and madrassas around the world.
Never mind that on almost any day, Muslims in Iraq, Pakistan, or Afghanistan are killing other Muslims (Sunni-Shia) while Sufis and Ahmadiya Muslims are also persecuted in Muslim countries.
None of that matters, you see because all that matters is that little things like the above have given some folks a rather negative perception of Muslims.
Except for the fact that most Americans have done a good job of separating the innocent Muslims from the violent jihadists-and their apologists.
But let's take a look inside the pages of this "project" (link above). The first thing you note is the recent 4th annual study of Islamophobia conference (apparently just concluded). I wonder if Cynthia McKinney spoke at that one.
Also check out the inaugural edition of the Islamophobia Studies Journal and peruse the list of articles. They can be read in full if you are into masochism.
http://crg.berkeley.edu/content/islamophobia/islamophobia-studies-journal
Like this one from Bazian:
http://crg.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/Bazian.pdf
"Since the events of September 11, 2001, the FBI and other security
agencies have resorted to the recruitment of Muslim informants by means of
enticement and, if necessary, threats of deportation or financial ruin. From
the cases that have come to light, it is clear that vast sections of the Muslim
community and its civic and religious institutions are the intended targets of
these FBI operations."
Bazian then goes into a lengthy treatise of the "objectionable" FBI efforts to develop sources of information within the Muslim community and likens it to the COINTEL probes of decades past. Of course, what he doesn't stress is that the objective is to save innocent lives from terrorist attacks. His article, was of course, written before the latest attack in Boston.
Speaking of Boston, there is also this gem by Professor Muhammad Tamdgidi of the University of Massachusetts at Boston, in which he quotes a definition of Islamophobia as adopted by the Runnymede Trust on Islamophobia Report of 1997.
http://crg.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/Tamdgidi.pdf
"The Runnymede report defined Islamophobia and “closed views of
Islam” as follows:
1. Islam [is] seen as a single monolithic bloc, static and unresponsive
to new realities.
2. Islam [is] seen as separate and other—(a) not having any aims or
values in common with other cultures (b) not affected by them (c)
not influencing them.
3. Islam [is] seen as inferior to the West—barbaric, irrational,
primitive, sexist.
4. Islam [is] seen as violent, aggressive, threatening, supportive of
terrorism, engaged in ‘a clash of civilisations’.
5. Islam [is] seen as a political ideology, used for political or military
advantage.
6. Criticisms made by Islam of ‘the West’ [are] rejected out of hand."
7. Hostility towards Islam [is] used to justify discriminatory practices
towards Muslims and exclusion of Muslims from mainstream
society.
8. Anti-Muslim hostility [is] accepted as natural and ‘normal’.4
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But our friends at the IRDP wish to define Islamophobia as follows:
"Islamophobia is a contrived fear or prejudice fomented by the existing Eurocentric and Orientalist global power structure. It is directed at a perceived or real Muslim threat through the maintenance and extension of existing disparities in economic, political, social and cultural relations, while rationalizing the necessity to deploy violence as a tool to achieve "civilizational rehab" of the target communities (Muslim or otherwise). Islamophobia reintroduces and reaffirms a global racial structure through which resource distribution disparities are maintained and extended."
According to that latter definition, I am can proudly attest that I am not an Islamophobe. Admittedly, the former, at least in certain points, is more problematical for me. I know one thing, however; I don't go around referring to people from other religions as "apes and pigs" and envision the day when I will hunt them down behind the last tree or rock to kill them. I don't know where that fits into anyone's definition of "phobia", but it must fit in somewhere.
Another featured article is by two professors at British universities who compare Islamophobia with European anti-Semitism:
http://crg.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/Meer-Modood.pdf
What is conveniently missing from this piece is the fact that most of the anti-Semitism in Europe today is by young male Muslim immigrants who are making it impossible for Jews to walk the streets of major cities dressed in distinctive Jewish garb lest they be insulted, spat upon, accosted or assaulted by the aforementioned criminals while intimidated Europeans turn a blind eye. Also missing are images like this, which just may contribute to "British Islamophobia".
But here is where it really gets good. Introducing Professor Ramon Grosfoguel of (where else?) UC Berkeley:
Ramon Grosfoguel
http://crg.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/Ramon-Grosfoguel.pdf
" For the sake of economizing space, when we use the term
“world-system” in this essay, we refer to the “modern/colonial Westernized
Christian-centric capitalist/patriarchal world-system” (Ibid). At the risk of
sounding ridiculous, we prefer a long phrase like this to characterize the
present heterarchical structure (multiple power hierarchies entangled to
each other in complex historical ways) of the world-system, than the limited
characterization of a single hierarchy called “capitalist world-system” with
capital accumulation as the single logic of the system (Ibid). The latter leads
to an economic reductionist understanding of the world-system, while the
former leads to a more complex, non-reductive structural-historical analysis.
Islamophobia as a form of racism against Muslim people is not an
epiphenomenon but constitutive of the international division of labor."
(It means capitalism is bad.)
"At a world level, Islamophobia has been the dominant discourse used
in the post-civil rights and post-independence era of dominant cultural racist
discourses against Arabs. The events of 911 escalated anti-Arab racism
through an Islamophobic hysteria all over the world, specifically among the
dominant elites of the United States and Israel. The latter is not surprising
given US and Israeli representation of Palestinians, Arabs and Islamic people
in general as terrorist decades before 911 (Said 1979; 1981). The
responsibility of US foreign policy is never linked to the tragic events of 911."
OK. Enough of that. I think you get the flavor. Essentially, everything about the West is bad, which leads one to wonder why the various authors have chosen to live in the West.
This is no Simon Wiesenthal Center, Folks. Keep in mind that as we speak, the 56-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation is still working hard to get the UN to pass a resolution that all member nations should criminalize any criticism of Islam. So is it fair to ask whether this "research and documentation" project is meant to be a repository of information on all those so-called "Islamophobes", real or imagined? Is there a larger agenda at work here against capitalism, democracy, true freedom and respect for ALL religions, and other institutions we have heretofore held so dear?
How sad it is that this is what passes for scholarship in places like the University of California at Berkeley.
fousesquawk
http://garyfouse.blogspot.com
Get a load of this:
http://crg.berkeley.edu/content/islamophobia
This, of course, is the brainchild of professor Hatem Bazian, who not so long ago was an activist student at Berkeley. Just this past week, he was sharing a stage at UC San Diego with Cynthia McKinney as she struggled to put a coherent thought together (see my post).
http://garyfouse.blogspot.com/2013/05/hatem-bazian-cynthia-mckinney-at-ucsd.html
So now Berkeley, which is a boffo institution on its best of days, has this what-ever-you-call- it devoted to documenting any thought or utterance critical of Islam and the Islamist agenda of establishing world-wide supremacy over the rest of us and whatever other religion we may believe in.
Never mind that Muslims enjoy equal rights in America and full freedom to practice their faith-as they do in that other country so vilified by Bazian-Israel.
Never mind that in virtually every Muslim majority nation on earth, religious minorities are being actively persecuted by violent and often legal means.
Never mind that just since 9-11, there have been over 20,000 acts of terror carried out world-wide in the name of Islam.
Never mind the virulent expressions of hate spewing forth from the mouths of imams reading passages from the Koran directed toward Jews and Christians in mosques and madrassas around the world.
Never mind that on almost any day, Muslims in Iraq, Pakistan, or Afghanistan are killing other Muslims (Sunni-Shia) while Sufis and Ahmadiya Muslims are also persecuted in Muslim countries.
None of that matters, you see because all that matters is that little things like the above have given some folks a rather negative perception of Muslims.
Except for the fact that most Americans have done a good job of separating the innocent Muslims from the violent jihadists-and their apologists.
But let's take a look inside the pages of this "project" (link above). The first thing you note is the recent 4th annual study of Islamophobia conference (apparently just concluded). I wonder if Cynthia McKinney spoke at that one.
Also check out the inaugural edition of the Islamophobia Studies Journal and peruse the list of articles. They can be read in full if you are into masochism.
http://crg.berkeley.edu/content/islamophobia/islamophobia-studies-journal
Like this one from Bazian:
http://crg.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/Bazian.pdf
"Since the events of September 11, 2001, the FBI and other security
agencies have resorted to the recruitment of Muslim informants by means of
enticement and, if necessary, threats of deportation or financial ruin. From
the cases that have come to light, it is clear that vast sections of the Muslim
community and its civic and religious institutions are the intended targets of
these FBI operations."
Bazian then goes into a lengthy treatise of the "objectionable" FBI efforts to develop sources of information within the Muslim community and likens it to the COINTEL probes of decades past. Of course, what he doesn't stress is that the objective is to save innocent lives from terrorist attacks. His article, was of course, written before the latest attack in Boston.
Speaking of Boston, there is also this gem by Professor Muhammad Tamdgidi of the University of Massachusetts at Boston, in which he quotes a definition of Islamophobia as adopted by the Runnymede Trust on Islamophobia Report of 1997.
http://crg.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/Tamdgidi.pdf
"The Runnymede report defined Islamophobia and “closed views of
Islam” as follows:
1. Islam [is] seen as a single monolithic bloc, static and unresponsive
to new realities.
2. Islam [is] seen as separate and other—(a) not having any aims or
values in common with other cultures (b) not affected by them (c)
not influencing them.
3. Islam [is] seen as inferior to the West—barbaric, irrational,
primitive, sexist.
4. Islam [is] seen as violent, aggressive, threatening, supportive of
terrorism, engaged in ‘a clash of civilisations’.
5. Islam [is] seen as a political ideology, used for political or military
advantage.
6. Criticisms made by Islam of ‘the West’ [are] rejected out of hand."
7. Hostility towards Islam [is] used to justify discriminatory practices
towards Muslims and exclusion of Muslims from mainstream
society.
8. Anti-Muslim hostility [is] accepted as natural and ‘normal’.4
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But our friends at the IRDP wish to define Islamophobia as follows:
"Islamophobia is a contrived fear or prejudice fomented by the existing Eurocentric and Orientalist global power structure. It is directed at a perceived or real Muslim threat through the maintenance and extension of existing disparities in economic, political, social and cultural relations, while rationalizing the necessity to deploy violence as a tool to achieve "civilizational rehab" of the target communities (Muslim or otherwise). Islamophobia reintroduces and reaffirms a global racial structure through which resource distribution disparities are maintained and extended."
According to that latter definition, I am can proudly attest that I am not an Islamophobe. Admittedly, the former, at least in certain points, is more problematical for me. I know one thing, however; I don't go around referring to people from other religions as "apes and pigs" and envision the day when I will hunt them down behind the last tree or rock to kill them. I don't know where that fits into anyone's definition of "phobia", but it must fit in somewhere.
Another featured article is by two professors at British universities who compare Islamophobia with European anti-Semitism:
http://crg.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/Meer-Modood.pdf
What is conveniently missing from this piece is the fact that most of the anti-Semitism in Europe today is by young male Muslim immigrants who are making it impossible for Jews to walk the streets of major cities dressed in distinctive Jewish garb lest they be insulted, spat upon, accosted or assaulted by the aforementioned criminals while intimidated Europeans turn a blind eye. Also missing are images like this, which just may contribute to "British Islamophobia".
But here is where it really gets good. Introducing Professor Ramon Grosfoguel of (where else?) UC Berkeley:
Ramon Grosfoguel
http://crg.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/Ramon-Grosfoguel.pdf
" For the sake of economizing space, when we use the term
“world-system” in this essay, we refer to the “modern/colonial Westernized
Christian-centric capitalist/patriarchal world-system” (Ibid). At the risk of
sounding ridiculous, we prefer a long phrase like this to characterize the
present heterarchical structure (multiple power hierarchies entangled to
each other in complex historical ways) of the world-system, than the limited
characterization of a single hierarchy called “capitalist world-system” with
capital accumulation as the single logic of the system (Ibid). The latter leads
to an economic reductionist understanding of the world-system, while the
former leads to a more complex, non-reductive structural-historical analysis.
Islamophobia as a form of racism against Muslim people is not an
epiphenomenon but constitutive of the international division of labor."
(It means capitalism is bad.)
"At a world level, Islamophobia has been the dominant discourse used
in the post-civil rights and post-independence era of dominant cultural racist
discourses against Arabs. The events of 911 escalated anti-Arab racism
through an Islamophobic hysteria all over the world, specifically among the
dominant elites of the United States and Israel. The latter is not surprising
given US and Israeli representation of Palestinians, Arabs and Islamic people
in general as terrorist decades before 911 (Said 1979; 1981). The
responsibility of US foreign policy is never linked to the tragic events of 911."
OK. Enough of that. I think you get the flavor. Essentially, everything about the West is bad, which leads one to wonder why the various authors have chosen to live in the West.
This is no Simon Wiesenthal Center, Folks. Keep in mind that as we speak, the 56-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation is still working hard to get the UN to pass a resolution that all member nations should criminalize any criticism of Islam. So is it fair to ask whether this "research and documentation" project is meant to be a repository of information on all those so-called "Islamophobes", real or imagined? Is there a larger agenda at work here against capitalism, democracy, true freedom and respect for ALL religions, and other institutions we have heretofore held so dear?
How sad it is that this is what passes for scholarship in places like the University of California at Berkeley.
In Egypt, the War on Christians Continues
Here's one for the files of the UC Berkeley Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project. In Luxor, Egypt, a Coptic Christian female teacher is on trial for blaspheming Islam in her classroom.
http://news.yahoo.com/egyptians-targeted-blasphemy-charges-063917101.html
This, of course, is one of many cases in Egypt and other countries in the Islamic world. Many of these cases are manufactured by people with an ax to grind against the defendant. This is a weapon being used against Egypt's Coptic Christian community.
http://news.yahoo.com/egyptians-targeted-blasphemy-charges-063917101.html
This, of course, is one of many cases in Egypt and other countries in the Islamic world. Many of these cases are manufactured by people with an ax to grind against the defendant. This is a weapon being used against Egypt's Coptic Christian community.
Friday, May 17, 2013
Heterosexual White Males Need Not Apply
Hat tip Campus Reform
Steven Piotrkowski
Clearly not qualified
So you want to serve in some university student government position on inclusion and diversity, do you? Here is what happened at Northwestern University.
http://www.campusreform.org/blog/?ID=4759
Do you see how ridiculous this has become? Are we going backwards in our efforts over the decades to put racial differences behind us?
This is the result of the whole "Diversity Industry". Instead of having a young generation of young Americans who otherwise would be free of the prejudices of their fathers' and grandfathers' generations, we have this insanity.
Here's my suggestion: Universities should forget about this whole diversity, inclusion, sexual orientation and gender identification business. It is counter-productive. Get rid of these so-called Cross Cultural Centers on campus that only encourage tribalization and division. All we ever hear about on campus is, "people of color" (but never colored people), "brown people", "white people", "queers" (which used to be an epithet) and some alphabet concoction I can't memorize that covers every sexual persuasion imaginable-whether we care any more or not.
Once upon a time, there was a man who told us we should judge people on the content of their character and not on the color of their skin. We listened. It seems his message has, in a perverse way, been forgotten.
What was his name?
Steven Piotrkowski
Clearly not qualified
So you want to serve in some university student government position on inclusion and diversity, do you? Here is what happened at Northwestern University.
http://www.campusreform.org/blog/?ID=4759
Do you see how ridiculous this has become? Are we going backwards in our efforts over the decades to put racial differences behind us?
This is the result of the whole "Diversity Industry". Instead of having a young generation of young Americans who otherwise would be free of the prejudices of their fathers' and grandfathers' generations, we have this insanity.
Here's my suggestion: Universities should forget about this whole diversity, inclusion, sexual orientation and gender identification business. It is counter-productive. Get rid of these so-called Cross Cultural Centers on campus that only encourage tribalization and division. All we ever hear about on campus is, "people of color" (but never colored people), "brown people", "white people", "queers" (which used to be an epithet) and some alphabet concoction I can't memorize that covers every sexual persuasion imaginable-whether we care any more or not.
Once upon a time, there was a man who told us we should judge people on the content of their character and not on the color of their skin. We listened. It seems his message has, in a perverse way, been forgotten.
What was his name?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
