121Contact

March 26 2012 ...governmental infrastructure complicit in the growth of anti-muslim sentiment...?

Is the U.S. governmental infrastructure complicit in the growth of anti-muslim sentiment?  

An internal FBI investigation into its counter terrorism training has purged hundreds of bureau documents of instructional material about Muslims, some of which characterized them as prone to violence or terrorism. [wired.com] This spread of bias at the top of law enforcement cannot help but trickle down in the worst way.

New York City's Mayor ( M. Bloomberg)and its Police Commissioner (R.  Kelly) both defend the patently illegal spying on Mosques, Muslim Community and College groups, and individual Muslims in all walks of life without any other reason save that they are Muslim. [Huffington Post] This effectively plans the seeds of bias in the general population.

The difference in the speed of attention paid by federal law enforcement to the cases of Shaima Alawadi and Trayvon Martin emphasizes alack of concern about anti-Muslim violence. The former murder remains a local issue, while the latter has attracted Federal attention. Shaima's murder, as a hate crime requires, by the  1994 Federal law#103-322A, the same level of attention from the Feds.

The 50% increase in anti-Muslim hate crimes in 2011 alone [The Atlantic] would seem to indicate that the Feds, and New York City's self-appointed illegal spies, should focus a bit more on American terrorists who target Muslims.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oct 25 2010 Christianity, Islam, and the hate monger Republicans.

It's simple truth, told simply:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWx3o6DbtHY&feature=related

Aug 5 2011 Iraq, Ramadan, and Evil, (plus some notes about the MEK).

Ramadan:  For so many Muslims around the world, Ramadan is a time of deep reflection and sacrifice. As in other faiths, fasting is used to increase spirituality, discipline, and consciousness of God's mercy. [Obama] A time dedicated to faith, to God, to the path.

In Iraq the lie has been put to Ramadan with an upsurge in violence reminiscent of an earlier, bloodier time. Who puts this lie? 

A small number of people, for sure. While the overwhelming majority of Iraqis enter a month of quiet reflection there exists a poisoned knot of maniacal people whose values have acquired an importance beyond the value of human life.

When what you believe in becomes more important than human life you have crosse the line to evil. Maybe even Evil.

We pray the good people of Iraq remain steadfast in thier commitment to peace and not be led into the further violence of revenge.

---and now for something completely different---

In the news, below, you see a mentions of an attack on the prominent Shia cleric Iyad Jamaluddin. It calls him a former legislator. It does not mention that he is a supporter of the Shia resistance movement in Iran (aka the mujahedin khalq, aka MEK).

(MEK), or the People's Mujahedeen Organization, was founded in 1965 as an urban guerrilla group opposed to the monarchy of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. It participated in the 1979 Revolution but later broke with revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini over ideology and direction. In 1981, it went underground.

Now based in Iraq and Europe, the MEK is a Marxist-Islamist opposition group that seeks the overthrow of Iran's theocratic government.

Read more: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2011/02/the-mujahedeen-e-khalq-controversy.html#ixzz1U8UxHSrL

Many of their members are hiding from Iranian wrath in the North of Iraq. Iyad has called upon the Maliki government to protect them from attacks by

A rumor: he is a CIA operative. This is a totally unfounded, by me, rumor. It makes some sense in that the CIA supports the MEK and so does Jamaluddin.

 

Today in Iraq:

Baghdad:
#1: Four Iraqis have been killed in two successive bomb attacks targeting a shop selling alcohol in western Baghdad, police and health officials said. A police officer said 13 other people were injured in the blasts, which occurred in the capital's Rissala neighbourhood. He said the first bomb went off near the shop, while the second came a few minutes later as police and residents rushed to the scene. Three policemen were among those killed.

Three policemen have been injured, 15 others including 7 civilians, were injured in an explosive charge blast close to an alcohol shop south of Baghdad, a security source reported on Wednesday.

#2: Three persons have been injured, when a Katusha rocket fell close to east Baghdad’s Rusafa Prison early on Wednesday, a security source reported. “A Katusha rocket fell close to east Baghdad’s Rusafa Prison, not far from the Interior Ministry’s Headquarters on Wednesday morning, wounding 3 civilians that happened to be close to the area where the rocket fell,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, giving no further details.

Iraq’s former Legislature, Iyad Jamaluddin, has been injured when a rocket fell on his house in Baghdad’s Jadiriya district on Tuesday night, a security source reported on Wednesday. “A rocket fell on Tuesday night on the house of former Legislature, Iyad Jamaluddin in central Baghdad’s Jadiriya district, seriously wounding him and setting his house on fire,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

Two policemen were wounded when a Katyusha rocket landed in eastern Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.


Hilla:
#1: Gunmen killed two taxi drivers late on Tuesday in middle of Hilla, 100 km (62 miles) south of Baghdad, a local police source said.


Abu Ghraib:
#1: Two persons, one military officer, were killed and six wounded, 3 of them were soldiers, in a double bomb blasts in Abu Ghraib area, west Baghdad. The first explosion took place in front of billiard hall, while the second one occurred in the same place when army patrol arrived.


Tikrit:
#1: “An explosive charge blew of on Tuesday night against armed men, who were carrying it in their car in northern Tikrit, the center of Salahal-Din Province,” killing two of them and seriously wounding a third one,” the security source reported, charging that the armed men belong to al-Qaeda organization.


Samarra:
#1: In another incident, an explosive charge blew off on Wednesday morning against a police patrol, in central Samarra city of Salahal-Din Province, wounding a policeman and setting fire to a police car, the security source said.


Baiji:
#1: “Two other explosive charges blew off early on Wednesday against an electric pole, carrying high-tension power south of Beiji, also in Salahal-Din Province, bringing down the pole and damaging another.


Kirkuk:
#1: Two soldiers were gravely wounded today by a bomb blast directed against their patrol south of Kirkuk, security sources said.

#2: Gunmen opened fire late on Tuesday and killed an off-duty Iraqi army officer in southwest Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, a source from Kirkuk's police operation centre said.

#3: A sticky bomb attached to a civilian car seriously wounded one man in southern Kirkuk, a source from Kirkuk's police operation centre said.

Aug 3 2011 Islam, women, reformation and freedom; Snatches of conversation of Arabic/Islamic women:

Recorded Aug 3, 2011 by Bruce Wallace, 121Contact

Snatches of conversation of Arabic/Islamic women:

While it is true that women in many Islamic countries lack much of their civil rights, it is not a homogeneous condition of all Islamic countries. And where some rights in some areas are broad in one country, these same rights may be heavily proscribed in others.

In the Iranian culture if a woman is westernized then there is shame in this. 35% of the Iranian Parliament were women as recently as 10 years ago. The backsliding has been considerable. Iran under the shah was very free for the upper classes. Of course the poor suffered, and the culture kept many poor women from the rights that rich women enjoy[ed].

Muslim women do not need to fight for their rights. Islam gave them the rights. Of course anything that has to do with the body is different. These things are not discussed. But inheritance, law, property...all  this was written as new justice for women.

In Iraq there was never this idea. Women wore a wide range of styles of clothing, covered or not. Women were given a great deal of latitude. We had a wonderful life with freedoms that no other Islamic country has seen.

We can have friends, even boys, even men. I travelled outside of the country by myself. We were able to shop and meet friends and go out of the  house alone.

A teacher in a Brooklyn madras quit her job. Why? The atmosphere was too religiously strict; too fundamental. She is a Turkish-American who wanted to go to college in Turkey.They insisted she take off her hijab. She refused and instead chose to leave her family and friends andd come to America where she heard things were freer.  She said, "It was not a religious decision. I just did not want to be told what to do." 

Freedom means different things to different people and the culture in which one grows and lives determines a lot of how one thinks about freedom. Imagine a boy in his  early 20's and he never talked to a girl. Since he was 5 years he was kept from females not his mom or aunts or sisters. In his teens he feels his hormones rise but has no idea of what to do. He has only male friends and spends no time with young women. Then comes the father who tells him he found a suitable wife.  The boy will  be very happy. He will not question this decision as tying his freedom. His culture shows him this is not even an issue to be raised.

When Islam came along it was a tremendous liberation for women; a revolution of women's rights. But this was 14th century. Now is a new time for a new Islam.

You can't even discuss 'the book', making changes to Islam, a reformation in Islam. It is not allowed. And yet there are progressive Imams who speak of a new way. At the same time there are those like that Iraqi Imam who made fatwa for  killing Christians...as a good thing, a duty under what he calls Islam.

Perhaps in this time we are beyond religion; beyond the organized mosque/church/synagogue of religion.

 

 

 

 

 

July 30 2011 Salafist Egypt? A potentially sad ending to a social/political 'revolution'.

 

This from today's Times:
"Various Salafi groups have been taking the law on social issues into their own hands, including severing a teacher’s ear about 10 days ago in upper Egypt after accusing him of renting an apartment to prostitutes. And the army intervened on Monday to calm violence in the oasis of Fayoum that broke out after Salafists destroyed places selling beer and the owners shot a Salafi dead. Critics say the Salafi program is too religious to have broad appeal; while the Muslim Brotherhood frames its arguments in policy terms, the Salafis emphasize spiritual benefits that play well among the poor. "

I've seen estimates of Salafi in Egypt that range from 5 to10 percent of the population. I think of ten percent as a potential tipping point. How sad, and how ominous a note in the Egyptian 'revolution'. I fear the young idealists will be overwhelmed by these older (certainly in social evolutionary terms) zealots.

How can we support the young idealists of the 'true' (to me, at any rate) revolution?
b

[Note: the Times quote, above, draws a distinction between the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafi that I don't see. Back in May 2011 the UK's Telegraph wrote about the Brotherhood's forming an electoral coalition with a host of Salafi groups in Egypt, under the banner of seeking an Islamic state.]

Mar 9 2011 King Hearings Set Up to Persecute Muslims

Tomorrows Homeland Security hearing, "The Extent of Radicalization in the American Muslim Community and that Community’s Response,” sounds like a neutral investigation, but it must be watched closely for bias. Congressman King can hardly be called an impartial investigator and his selection of witnesses will be crucial in defining his findings. Zuhdi Jasser, an arch conservative Muslim who is a doctor-not an expert, is the only publicized witness. We hope the vast majority of America's moderate Muslims will also be represented.

The view from 121Contact:

• The enemy is radicalism, not Islam. Radicals exist in all factions of society, whether in anti-abortion groups, , eco-terrorists , Tea Party members, media extremists, and indeed Muslims, but singling out one group does nothing to help the situation.
  • Eric Rudolph: anti-abortion bombings, his Christian identity and religious motivations for the bombings did not prompt the media to question the loyalties of all Christians,
  • No hearings for Christian churches as breeding grounds of terrorist abortion bombers and murderers.
  • Part of the solution: Moderates of all stripes must stand together.Not a single minority group has attained a measure of equality without the support of the general population: not Women, Blacks, Italians, Irish, or Jews…We call on all Americans to support the mainly peaceful Muslim community.
• Within the US these hearings will alienate the Muslim community and send the damaging message to Muslim youth that they are viewed with suspicion based on their choice of faith.
• Internationally,  Al Jazeera’s recent headline, “Congressman is Attacking Islam” is an example of how King’s hearings are perceived overseas, the locus of terrorist recruiting.
• King’s lies are evidence of the unfairness of these hearings: “More than 80 percent of the mosques in America are run by extremists”—This is totally unsubstantiated; a form of "McCarthyism."
• He has claimed that American Muslims have generally refused to cooperate with law enforcement agencies on terrorism cases. In fact the American Muslim community is the largest source of tips. 48 of the 120 Muslims turned in for suspicion of plotting attacks since 9/11 were turned in by other Muslims.

We join with September 11^th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows calling for the House Homeland Security Committee to broaden the hearings to include all threats to national security rather than singling out American Muslims.

101225 Have a very nonsense Christmas

In a discussion with some self-proclaimed Muslim scholars the other day (yes, I do find odd ways to pass the time these days) I heard the voicing of caution against taking part in anything to do with Christmas, as if the mere giving of a gift could taint one's Muslim faith; could put a chink in the armor or ardor for Koran and its teachings. It was refreshing to me to hear such radical nonsense because it reminded me of the broad spectrum of belief that runs through all religions (and atheists, too, since their views on existence, permanence, and afterlife vary widely also). Almost every Muslim I know (save the sad extremists) adheres strictly to the widely held tenet, "One's practice is between one and Allah. Let no man judge another's faith." That's my kind of religion

Allah, praise be his name, would never stop a person from giving a gift. What nonsense. So here is my gift to you, the PT membership. We were rought together without our plan or consenst, but certainly within a larger scheme of things. We are as diverse as can be, yet uniformly dedicated. We are widely contrasting in styles, yet consistently united in goals. We are yadda, yadda, yadda...enough of the blather,
you've heard it before, and there are things I would rather
say,
like,

Have a Very Nonsense Christmas

 My Christmas wish

To all who hear

Is that your year be

Filled with cheer.

 Cheer for Barca,

The Yankees, the Mets,

And most of all cheer for

The peace that begets

 the peace that begets.

Amen.

b

Sep 8 2010 Fire cannot burn the heart of Islam

by Nisreen, www.121Contact.typepad.com

Today a lot of people gathered in the Dawood Mosque. Different people, different sects, different religions; just like our world that contains all nationalities, all religions on earth.

I wanted to speak at the microphone, but I was hesitant. I regret not saying anything, so I decided to write these words instead.

I am from Iraq and a lot of people have no idea about the Iraqi woman. They are strong and dignified. And I consider myself one of them. For this reason I wanted the people to hear me today. And because I love my country I have to enlighten some people who have already closed their minds. They satisfy themselves by accepting the shell; not thinking deeply.

As a Muslim what is going on these days against the Muslims really hurts me. In such a country as the USA where freedom and equality are proclaimed, lately voices are rising against building an Islamic center in Manhattan. An innocent young man, who wants to live in peace, was stabbed because he is a Muslim. And lastly-the intention to burn copies of the holy Quran. It really hurts me. Especially in this country.

And I am surprised. The one who wants to burn the Quran claims to be a religious person, which means he knows God. But he still insists upon burning the Quran...It's a shame. Unfortunately a lot of people are going to applaud and hail his actions. But they don't know a very important thing...

Normally there is a reaction for any action. So it is natural for the Muslim to be hurt by such an action. But I want to tell these people, who intend to burn the Quran, that one of the principles about Muslims is not to be weak, and not to bow to any except Allah. What they have to know is that Muslims are very courageous, and brave when it comes to their dignity.

Unfortunately, as Muslims, we cannot do the same actions. We cannot burn the bible. We cannot destroy the Torah, or any other holy book. Not because we are too weak, but the Quran forbids us. One of the conditions to be a Muslim is to believe in 'the holy books,' and to believe in all the prophets and messengers that are in them. So we respect all religions and we believe in them.

What I want to tell that priest is even if he burns millions of copies of the Quran, he is only burning books with words. The Koran is an idea and a belief. His fire cannot burn the heart of Islam.

100902 Accepting Intolerance in America

By Bruce Wallace, www.121Contact.typepad.com

 

We’ve been hearing about how tolerance is a basic element in American culture. 121Contact has done its own share of talking about this, but we’ve stepped back a bit now, and taken a harder look at the American psyche.

Actually, intolerance has been part of America ever since, and before, there was an America. A very brief list will remind us of America’s intolerant past:

• Colonial Intolerance
  • The Massachusetts Bay Colony’s guiding principle and religious authority overrides civil authority, refusing to tolerate any beliefs or practices in civil society that conflicted with Cotton Mather’s idea of religion.
  • Colonial women were largely viewed as the property of their husbands or fathers
• After the revolution, the colonies
  • In most of the thirteen colonies, Catholics and Jews were considered persona non grata.
  • Weekly church attendance mandatory: In more egalitarian Virginia, an offender missing three consecutive Sundays in church could be put to death in the early days of the colony.
• Later days
  • anti-Catholic Ku Klux Klan propaganda
  • mob attacks on Mormons
  • lynching of blacks
  • kidnapping of "cult" members
  • bombing of abortion clinics
• and now a new manifestation:
  • anti-Muslim actions around Mosque building, and individual hate crimes against Muslims

So let us not posit false foundations, based upon ignoring the truth, for our arguments against intolerance. We should admit our failings, as well as the deep roots of intolerance in America. Acceptance is the first step toward building more compassionate and peaceful tomorrows.

 

Sept 2 2010 Brooklyn's Bay Ridge Courier Reinforces Anti-Middle East Attitudes?

In the Sept. 2-8, 2010 issue of the Bay Ridge Courier we found a hint that Middle Eastern men in their 20's are violent criminals. It was in the Police Blotter section, by  Thomas Tracy.

Of the 10 perpetrators listed in this issue, only two were identified by region, race, or religion. Tracy reported about "two suspects described as Middle Eastern men in their 20s..." The other reports of crime listed less-identifying descriptions such as: 'blood-thirsty', 'thugs', 'thieves', 'conniving women', 'people', 'a man', and even 'a fiendish felon'.

The only group-pointer on the page was 'Middle Eastern.' This singling out of a group is a subtle hint to readers that this group is more violent than others. It reenforces fear and prejudice. Make no mistake, this kind of hinting has been proven to be very effective in the past. Bush and Cheney used 'hints' to imply that Iraq was part of the 9/11 attacks, without ever making declarative statements about it. By the summer of 2004 polls showed that over 70% of Americans believed Iraq helped attack us on 9/11.

That Tracy should be guilty of skewing the news this way comes as a surprise to me. I found his earlier reporting to be quite balanced, and around the issue of rabid opposition to Mosque building I found his reporting much more fair than that of the New York Post or Daily News.

So what's up, Thomas? A slip? An intentional slur? Or was the origin of this wording the Police Department itself?

Whatever the reason, given the current frenzy to demonize Muslims in New York, we feel it is important that our media take a more careful look at their content with an eye to the attitudes they help create.