A very powerful poem written by an ex-Muslim YouTube user. Some of the images may be disturbing.
Showing posts with label Islam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Islam. Show all posts
May 26, 2010
May 20, 2010
May 13, 2010
Mohammed cartoonist attacked
Lars Vilks, the cartoonist who drew Mohammed head on the body of a dog, was attacked while lecturing in Switzerland on free speech. He wasn't seriously harmed but the attacker managed to break his glasses. The security guards quickly gained control of the situation.
Several students can be heard chanting "Allah is great" (in Arabic) in the background. Violence is a totally unacceptable way to respond to satirical treatment of religious figures. Complaints and peaceful protests are the way to promote your dissatisfaction at the situation. The more certain groups of Muslims use violence to attack free speech, the more critical it becomes to continue producing depictions of Mohammed to preserve that freedom. This is going to be a hard lesson to learn about Western values, but they are going to have to learn it.
Draw Mohammed day on the 20th will be a good start.
Several students can be heard chanting "Allah is great" (in Arabic) in the background. Violence is a totally unacceptable way to respond to satirical treatment of religious figures. Complaints and peaceful protests are the way to promote your dissatisfaction at the situation. The more certain groups of Muslims use violence to attack free speech, the more critical it becomes to continue producing depictions of Mohammed to preserve that freedom. This is going to be a hard lesson to learn about Western values, but they are going to have to learn it.
Draw Mohammed day on the 20th will be a good start.
May 12, 2010
Countering the Narrative
A recurring phenomenon in the spate of Islamic terror attacks has been that the perpetrators are often citizens who turn on their own countries. Mjr. Hasan's attack on Ft. Hood in America being a prime example. A recent 60 minutes documentary purports to explain how peaceful Muslims can be turned into fanatical extremists willing to engage in suicide attacks on the very countries they live in.
Recruiters for these fundamentalist Islamic organisations rely on 'the narrative', a collection of stories, conspiracy theories, propaganda, and outright lies that claims the USA and the rest of Western civilisation is trying to eradicate Islam. This set of stories has been propagating wildly since the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre and appeals not to the poor and needy, but to prosperous and educated citizens who make foreign countries their home. Consider Mohamed Atta, the leader of the WTC attacks and educated at universities in Cairo and Hamburg. Mohammad Sidique Khan, leader of the London metro attacks, educated at Leeds University and prior to the attack was holding down a steady job. Or the would-be Times Square bomber, Faisal Shahzad. He holds double degrees from American universities, had a good job, a wife, and a nice house in the suburbs. These are the faces of Islamic terrorism in the West.
Even though there are many instances of Western governments defending or supporting Muslims in Bosnia, Somalia, Kuwait, Pakistan and Indonesia (disaster relief), Iraq and Afghanistan (overthrowing tyrannies) belief in the narrative remains strong. This set of beliefs is also being successfully exported to Western countries, with tragic results. Hatred of those who kill Muslims is encouraged yet, despite the fact that deliberate suicide bombings by Al-Qaeda kill more Muslims than drone attacks by American forces, adherants to the narrative still direct their hatred towards the West and their support towards terrorist organisations. The narrative includes the idea that the US government actually encouraged Al-Qaeda to carry out the attack on the WTC as a justification to invade Afghanistan - these fundamentalist Muslims are apparently 9/11 truthers.
Funded by the oil revenues of the Arab states, political Islamism is attempting to spread itself across the globe by going to war with any opposition. Having seized control of many regimes in the Muslim world, Islamists are enlarging the area they control. Conflicts between Muslims and other local populations in Russia, Indonesia, India, North Africa, Europe, and the USA show they have been extremely successful in spreading their ideology and bringing the fight to us. According to Maajid Nawaz of the Quilliam Foundation, countering the narrative is the most important aspect to preventing the spread of Islamism. I would add that moving away from an oil-based economy and ending the cosy relationship with Saudi leaders would also help by cutting off the economic backing of this dangerous, and deadly, movement.
Recruiters for these fundamentalist Islamic organisations rely on 'the narrative', a collection of stories, conspiracy theories, propaganda, and outright lies that claims the USA and the rest of Western civilisation is trying to eradicate Islam. This set of stories has been propagating wildly since the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre and appeals not to the poor and needy, but to prosperous and educated citizens who make foreign countries their home. Consider Mohamed Atta, the leader of the WTC attacks and educated at universities in Cairo and Hamburg. Mohammad Sidique Khan, leader of the London metro attacks, educated at Leeds University and prior to the attack was holding down a steady job. Or the would-be Times Square bomber, Faisal Shahzad. He holds double degrees from American universities, had a good job, a wife, and a nice house in the suburbs. These are the faces of Islamic terrorism in the West.
Even though there are many instances of Western governments defending or supporting Muslims in Bosnia, Somalia, Kuwait, Pakistan and Indonesia (disaster relief), Iraq and Afghanistan (overthrowing tyrannies) belief in the narrative remains strong. This set of beliefs is also being successfully exported to Western countries, with tragic results. Hatred of those who kill Muslims is encouraged yet, despite the fact that deliberate suicide bombings by Al-Qaeda kill more Muslims than drone attacks by American forces, adherants to the narrative still direct their hatred towards the West and their support towards terrorist organisations. The narrative includes the idea that the US government actually encouraged Al-Qaeda to carry out the attack on the WTC as a justification to invade Afghanistan - these fundamentalist Muslims are apparently 9/11 truthers.
Funded by the oil revenues of the Arab states, political Islamism is attempting to spread itself across the globe by going to war with any opposition. Having seized control of many regimes in the Muslim world, Islamists are enlarging the area they control. Conflicts between Muslims and other local populations in Russia, Indonesia, India, North Africa, Europe, and the USA show they have been extremely successful in spreading their ideology and bringing the fight to us. According to Maajid Nawaz of the Quilliam Foundation, countering the narrative is the most important aspect to preventing the spread of Islamism. I would add that moving away from an oil-based economy and ending the cosy relationship with Saudi leaders would also help by cutting off the economic backing of this dangerous, and deadly, movement.
May 10, 2010
Ban the Burqa
This story aired on a current affairs program last night. It talks about France's possible ban on the burqa and niqab - clothing which is designed to cover the wearer's face. This is a very contentious issue so I liked the programs approach of interviewing a Muslim woman who chooses to wear the burqa. She, and others like her, will be the ones who have their rights infringed if this new law is passed.
Banning the burqa has been done before in certain public buildings in both Egypt and Turkey but France and Belgium are going further in implementing a ban in all public places. The burqa itself is like a mobile prison that traps the woman and prevents her from properly interacting with the rest of society. It is a symbol of female submission and is often forced upon wives by their controlling husbands. I can see why many people, including many Muslims, come down on the side of a ban.
On the other hand, banning a form of clothing seems like a fairly big imposition on personal freedom. In modern Western civilisations wives are free to leave their controlling husbands at any time. Perhaps more focus needs to go on promoting women's shelters and prosecuting domestic violence incidences. Another argument that could be made is that by banning the burqa, these women won't even go outside and will become even more isolated from society. This result is the opposite of the intended goal.
As much as I sympathise with Muslim women's rights groups and Islamic religious leaders who want to see and end to this Saudi and Talibani practice the way to deal with the problem in a free civilisation that values both equality and liberty is not through a restrictive ban. Empowering these women through education and example will allow them to choose liberty for themselves. Our laws should support them when they decide to make that choice, not force that choice upon them.
Banning the burqa has been done before in certain public buildings in both Egypt and Turkey but France and Belgium are going further in implementing a ban in all public places. The burqa itself is like a mobile prison that traps the woman and prevents her from properly interacting with the rest of society. It is a symbol of female submission and is often forced upon wives by their controlling husbands. I can see why many people, including many Muslims, come down on the side of a ban.
On the other hand, banning a form of clothing seems like a fairly big imposition on personal freedom. In modern Western civilisations wives are free to leave their controlling husbands at any time. Perhaps more focus needs to go on promoting women's shelters and prosecuting domestic violence incidences. Another argument that could be made is that by banning the burqa, these women won't even go outside and will become even more isolated from society. This result is the opposite of the intended goal.
As much as I sympathise with Muslim women's rights groups and Islamic religious leaders who want to see and end to this Saudi and Talibani practice the way to deal with the problem in a free civilisation that values both equality and liberty is not through a restrictive ban. Empowering these women through education and example will allow them to choose liberty for themselves. Our laws should support them when they decide to make that choice, not force that choice upon them.
April 30, 2010
Class, take out your pencils
After the recent kerfuffle with the (non)depiction of the Islamic prophet Muhammed on (lame) TV show South Park, a couple of web-based initiatives to draw Muhammad have sprung up.
The first is being promoted by YouTube user NonStampCollector. Every YouTuber is being encouraged to draw a non-offensive stick figure and call him Muhammed. The campaign is called Have You Seen This Man? and I hope all those with YouTube accounts get into it.
The second is being promoted by a group calling themselves Citizens Against Citizens Against Humor. They are also encouraging posting of non-offensive Muhammad drawings to sites all across the internet. The cartoonist behind this movement is Molly Norris, and she has declared May 20th Everybody Draw Mohammed Day.
I love this idea and will be doing my own drawing closer to the 20th. In order to show as much deference as possible to Muhammed and his modern followers I'll be copying an old piece of Islamic art which depicts Muhammed preaching to some of his earlier converts. The prohibition against drawing Muhammed didn't arise until the 16th century and has only been sporadically enforced since then. There is actually quite a rich history of Islamic medieval art which shows Muhammed with a full view of his facial features. Claims that drawing Muhammed has always been considered offensive are completely false.
I can imagine one objection to these campaigns might be that we ought not cause offense to our muslim brethren. In normal situations I would agree that it's better to play it safe rather than to set out to deliberately annoy someone. However, Islam has repeatedly demonstrated that it will over-react to even mild satire in a completely unacceptable way. Consider the riots and race-based pogroms that occurred after Jyllands-Posten printed 12 Muhammed cartoons in 2005. Secularists dragged Christianity, kicking and screaming, into the 21st century and now it's time to give Islam a little remedial schooling. A creative arts lesson should be an easy place to start.
The first is being promoted by YouTube user NonStampCollector. Every YouTuber is being encouraged to draw a non-offensive stick figure and call him Muhammed. The campaign is called Have You Seen This Man? and I hope all those with YouTube accounts get into it.
The second is being promoted by a group calling themselves Citizens Against Citizens Against Humor. They are also encouraging posting of non-offensive Muhammad drawings to sites all across the internet. The cartoonist behind this movement is Molly Norris, and she has declared May 20th Everybody Draw Mohammed Day.
I love this idea and will be doing my own drawing closer to the 20th. In order to show as much deference as possible to Muhammed and his modern followers I'll be copying an old piece of Islamic art which depicts Muhammed preaching to some of his earlier converts. The prohibition against drawing Muhammed didn't arise until the 16th century and has only been sporadically enforced since then. There is actually quite a rich history of Islamic medieval art which shows Muhammed with a full view of his facial features. Claims that drawing Muhammed has always been considered offensive are completely false.
I can imagine one objection to these campaigns might be that we ought not cause offense to our muslim brethren. In normal situations I would agree that it's better to play it safe rather than to set out to deliberately annoy someone. However, Islam has repeatedly demonstrated that it will over-react to even mild satire in a completely unacceptable way. Consider the riots and race-based pogroms that occurred after Jyllands-Posten printed 12 Muhammed cartoons in 2005. Secularists dragged Christianity, kicking and screaming, into the 21st century and now it's time to give Islam a little remedial schooling. A creative arts lesson should be an easy place to start.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)