Burqa Ban Debate Becomes Violent in France

Ni Putes Ni Soumises (NPNS – Neither Whores Nor Submissives), an international human rights organization that advocates on behalf of women’s rights as universal human rights without compromise, organized an open public meeting on the anticipated French burqa ban in Montreuil, a suburb of Paris, France, on Tuesday, May 18, 2010, at 7:30 pm. The meeting was held in an elementary school in Montreuil. Ni Putes Ni Soumises representatives had canvassed the city earlier in the day, to spread awareness of the event. The President of Ni Putes Ni Soumises, Ms. Sihem Habchi, was present, along with a number of local elected government officials and Ms. Lubna Al Hussein, the Sudanese journalist and women’s rights activist who risked 40 lashes of the whip for wearing pants in Khartoum. Approximately 150 persons attended the debate, including a number of Islamists who attempted to shout down anyone expressing support for the public burqa ban in France. A handful of veiled women were present and gave testimonials, including one woman in niqab (the face veil that will be included in the anticipated ban).

Hostilities began almost immediately. The gulf that exists between the pro and anti-burqa ban camps could not have been more apparent. When the women’s rights activists and elected officials spoke, they spoke of the creation of a safe, egalitarian and secular public space in which all citizens enjoy equal rights and equal protection under the law. They spoke of women’s rights and the importance of ensuring gender equality and gender desegregation in a secular, democratic republic.

When the anti-burqa ban contingent spoke, they spoke only of Islam amid accusations of anti-immigrant racism. They defended the burqa as a tenet of Islam, as indicated in the Quran and supported by the Sunnah in the Hadith.

The secularists refused to address the tenets of Islam as wholly irrelevant. The Islamists interpreted this refusal as bigotry. The heated debate erupted in violence, which resulted in only minor injuries, but which provided further evidence of the utter incompatibility of democratic governance and religion. The police arrived. They detained the remaining participants for some time, but the perpetrators had already fled the scene.

Many persons expressed that their participation in the truncated debate had served to increase their support for the ban on identity obscuring face coverings in public in France.

POTUS Expressed Sorrow Over Loss of Jihadist Life

There is something terribly horribly wicked when the leader of the free world cannot distinguish between good and evil, barbarity and humanity, bloodlust and self defense. The Post-American Presidency:

The following testimony was forwarded by Dina Moskowitz to an Israeli forum.

Below, a first hand account from Amir, an Israeli soldier who was there.

"Hello Uncle Erwin,

This is Amir writing you after reading what you sent to my father, Eitan.

As you know, it was my unit and my friends who were on the ship. My commander was injured badly as a result of the "pacifists" violence.

I want to tell you how he was injured so you could tell the story. It shows just how horrible and inhuman were the activists.

My commander was the first soldier that rappelled down from the helicopter to the ship. When he touched ground, he got hit in the head with a pole and stabbed in the stomach with a knife. When he drew out his secondary weapon-a handgun (his primary weapon was a regular paintball gun: "Tippman 98 custom") he was shot in the leg. He managed to fire a single shot before he was tossed from the balcony by 4 Arab activists, to the lower deck (a 12 feet fall). He was then dragged by other activists to a room in the lower deck were he was stripped down by 2 activists. They took off his vest, helmet and shirt, leaving him with only his pants and shoes on.

When they finished they took a knife and expanded the wound he already had in his stomach. They cut his ab muscles horizontally and by hand spilled his guts out.

When they finished they raised him up and walked him on the deck outside. He was conscious the whole time. If you are asking yourself why they did all that, here comes the reason. They wanted to show the soldiers their commander's body so they will be demoralized and scared.

Luckily, when they walked him on the deck a soldier saw him and managed to shoot the activist that was walking him down the outside corridor. He shot him with a special non-lethal bullet that didn't kill him.

My commander managed to jump from the deck to the water and swim to an army rescue boat (his guts still out of his body, and now in salty sea water). That was how he was saved.

The activists that did this to him are alive, now in Turkey, and treated as heroes.

I'm sorry if I described this with too many details, but I thought it was necessary for the credibility. Please tell this story to anyone who will listen. I think that these days you are one of Israel's best spokesman.

Thanks uncle Erwin, Shabbat shalom!

Amir

Atlas Shrugs

Violence is Its Own Reward

Many Progressives have a strange and convoluted approach to Israeli foreign policy. Somehow, they manage to link Israeli motives to American ones and then demonstrate that such aims can only arrive to a negative conclusion. The latest demonstration of this is today's article byIra Chernus, The Wages of Fear in Israel and the U.S.. Posted in Tomdispatch.com.

“When people criticize Zionists they mean Jews; you are talking anti-Semitism." Dr. Martin Luther King said shortly before his death. Many Muslims substitute Zionist for Jew, because they wish to avoid being labeled as opposed to the Jewish human being's right to exist. They claim they attack political [Zionist] Jews and not human beings who happen to be of the Jewish faith. This distinction is lost when a bus is demolished or Yeshiva students are gunned down.

Chernus argues the Israelis and the Americans share an unreasoning fear. Since both possess a huge advantage in conventional weapons, he claims they are in a good position to wage peace. The Americans have lost three land wars in Asia as hostilities continue without an indication of wisdom from any of the parties involved. From 1967 Israelis have learned that victory in warfare does not guarantee peace. The treaties with Egypt [1978] and Jordan [1988] occurred only after the leadership of those nations agreed that violence avails nothing.

The Israeli wall-building, blockades, settlements construction and unilateral withdrawals have had little - if any - effect on the prospects for peace. As long as Palestinians hold out for a military victory, the clouds of war will not drift away.

Bloggers on the Frontline for Liberty

American bloggers are on the verge of discovery. They have pretty much figured out the Fascist ‘surge’ of the past 60 years.
Among progressives there has been much said about amending the present situation. Potential reformers may find the following article helpful.

'Egypt: Bloggers on the Frontline'
by Amira Al Hussaini, Global Voices

Egyptian bloggers worked round the clock telling the world about a workers' revolt that shook their country, as thousands rioted at a textile mill in Al Mahalla, demanding better pay and protesting against increasing prices. They were also among the first casualties of the unrest, which left two people killed, scores injured and an undetermined number of activists, organisers and mere spectators behind bars. Their coverage came in the form of blog posts, YouTube videos, Twitter feeds, Flickr shots, Facebook messages and all other online tools they could get their hands on.

April 6 was supposed to be a day of civil disobedience, where a general strike would be observed, with people staying home for the day. The government swore to hit the strike with an iron fist, and warned the public not to heed to the call. Rallies were also quashed and the day ended with a confrontation between workers and the police at the Mahalla district, at the heart of Egypt's textile industry.

Blogger Malek Mustafa was the first to be arrested, allegedly for distributing flyers, on the day of the strike. Malek has since been released, but other bloggers are still behind bars, awaiting prosecution, along with an unspecified number of detainees. Among them is Esraa Abdul Fattah, an Egyptian girl, and one of the founders of the 6 April - The Day of Anger Facebook Group, which was instrumental in spreading the word about the strike. So far, the group has attracted 68,000 members and counting. Bloggers Sharkawy and Karim Al Bihairi have also been reportedly arrested.

Tadamon Masr blog (Ar) announced Bihairi's arrest saying:

Karim Al Bihairi, of the Egypt Labour Blog, who works in Mahalla, was arrested and taken to an unidentified location, where he was beaten up and electrocuted. He was also asked about all the telephone numbers which were registered on his cell phone. The source of all this information is Karim himself, who met with lawyers from the Coalition to Defend Egyptian Protesters and told them what happened to him.

Blogger Hossam El Hamalawy offers exceptional coverage of the unrest and security threats on bloggers, in his detailed reports, which are regularly updated and which include accounts of the incidents, dotted with graphic photographs. More photographs can be seen here and here.

Dedicated phone lines were also set up for members of the public to report their sightings of unrest to a collaborative blog called 6 April 08 (Ar), which provides detailed coverage of the three days of unrest. A coalition of lawyers to defend those arrested has been formed too and the blog posts the following plea:

The coalition to defend those arrested following the strike calls upon all lawyers interested in human rights and freedom to volunteer their services and participate.

American photojournalist James Buck, who is in Cairo, posts the following Tweet, saying:

Hundreds still missing in mahalla; families beg for human rights help

More clashes are expected in the next few weeks as online activists, supported by the masses on the ground, gear up for another face off with authorities. A new Facebook Group calling for a bigger strike on May 4, which coincides with Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak's birthday.

Photo credit: May 4 Strike Facebook Group

You may view the latest post at

http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2008/04/09/egypt-bloggers-on-the-frontline/

Violence Promotes Freedom - Big Brother?

Overseas, the administration hones its skills of repression. They enlist the media in disinformation. After the coup d'etat, they can assure the public that domestic spying, torture and imprisonment are prerequisite for safety.

Martial Law will maintain the new order through violence. "It's going to take awhile, but it's a necessary part of the development of a free society," Bush said.

The Folly of Preemptive War

Egypt: Hossam Al Hamalawy, from Egypt, posts an email he received from Mohammad Omar, in Palestine. The message says:
Where to start…, what to talk about…? The crippling electricity shortages, affecting hospitals as well as civilians? The air strikes & on-going, daily bombings by the Israeli army, their indiscriminate targeting of civilians and police stations…? Israel ’s non-accidental, enforced starvation of 1.5 million people by closing off ALL borders and not allowing in even UN aid, let alone basic medicinal, food, and construction needs…?Shortages of fuel have re-surfaced in Gaza : most of Gaza has no electricity and even more importantly, the shortage of medicine in Palestinian hospitals continues to increase, with the Ministry of Health reporting a looming humanitarian catastrophe.Or should I begin with the bomb which just hit a wedding close to the Ministry of Interior building in Gaza City , with 15 apartment buildings within the bomb’s target range? One woman was killed and 47 others were injured –mostly children and women who had been inside their homes or playing on the street!!
http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2008/01/21/palestine-gaza-under-seige/

At some point or other every nation must choose between guns and butter. Do we introduce our kids to classical music or to bus bombing? Do we pursue economic development, or do we invade another country to steal her property.
The people of Gaza have chosen guns, bombing and invasion. If they had succeeded in murdering all Israelis, they would be enjoying the standard of living bought by our toil and industry.
Violence is its own reward.If the Americans haven't realized this, how can we expect the Palestinians to smarten up?