C L O S E R

Protected: NRC Handelsblad – De Christen is geen Moslim

Posted on December 20th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Islam in the Netherlands, Religion Other.

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Protected: NRC Handelsblad – 'Verzwak radicale sekten met infiltranten'

Posted on December 20th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: International Terrorism, Murder on theo Van Gogh and related issues.

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Protected: NRC Handelsblad – ‘Verzwak radicale sekten met infiltranten’

Posted on December 20th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: International Terrorism, Murder on theo Van Gogh and related issues.

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Moslim van het Jaar – Wij Blijven Hier!

Posted on December 20th, 2005 by .
Categories: Joy Category.

Moslim van het Jaar – Wij Blijven Hier!
En ja wie anders dan Wijblijvenhier.nl had het kunnen verzinnen: Moslim van het Jaar

En eindelijk is het begonnen. De Moslim van het Jaar kan vanaf vandaag door jullie gekozen worden.

Aan het einde van ieder jaar komen overal allerlei lijstjes te staan met de beste of opmerkelijkste gebeurtenissen, producten of personen van het afgelopen jaar. Er zijn duizend-en-één categorieën en nu dus ook de categorie ‘Moslim van het Jaar’. Er zijn moslims uit allerlei verschillende gelederen genomineerd om zo een volledig en gevarieerd geheel te krijgen waaruit gestemd kan worden.

Er kan gestemd worden op mvhj.wijblijvenhier.nl

Moge de beste winnen…. Amien!

Benieuwd wie er gaat winnen… Ik vind Affelay wel goed…maar ja ben dan ook een Brabander. Nog even nadenken op wie ik ga stemmen.

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Protected: Elsevier.nl – De voorlijke islam

Posted on December 19th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

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Politiek-Digitaal.nl – Mohammed Jabri: "Autochtonen kunnen niet tegen kritiek"

Posted on December 19th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Multiculti Issues, Young Muslims.

Mohammed Jabri: “Autochtonen kunnen niet tegen kritiek” – Politiek-digitaal.nl

“Het Nederlanderschap zou moeten staan voor culturele identiteit, gevoed door historie en onderbouwd met normen en waarden”, zegt publicist Mohammed Jabri tegen Politiek-Digitaal. Maar het ontbreekt Nederlanders aan kennis. Dit leidt volgens Jabri tot misplaatste grootheidswaanzin. Volgens de publicist kunnen autochtonen niet tegen kritiek. Al helemaal niet als het van een allochtoon komt.

Volgens Jabri verraadt dat vermeende superioriteitsgevoel een structurele onzekerheid en een minderwaardigheidscomplex. “Men is blijkbaar in Nederland nog niet klaar voor een Marokkaan die zijn eigen normen en waarden perfect laat samengaan met de Nederlandse samenleving, zonder dat een ander daar last van heeft.”

Politiek-Digitaal sprak eerder met Mohammed Jabri, nu precies een jaar geleden. Destijds stelde hij dat de zogenaamde anti-islamieten – Verdonk, Hirsi Ali, Wilders en Zalm – alleen maar óver de islam aan het zeuren zijn. Ze zouden een reactiebeleid voeren, omdat ze geen gesprekspartner van formaat hebben die namens de moslimgemeenschap kan spreken. Dat was ook de reden dat hij zich destijds bezig hield met de oprichting van een moslimpartij. Nu richt hij zich op het opzetten van een Nederlandse editie van de The Islam Times. Een papieren tweetalig tijdschrift (Arabisch en Nederlands), dat over de islam in Nederland gaat publiceren.

(more…)

4 comments.

Politiek-Digitaal.nl – Mohammed Jabri: “Autochtonen kunnen niet tegen kritiek”

Posted on December 19th, 2005 by .
Categories: Multiculti Issues, Young Muslims.

Mohammed Jabri: “Autochtonen kunnen niet tegen kritiek” – Politiek-digitaal.nl

“Het Nederlanderschap zou moeten staan voor culturele identiteit, gevoed door historie en onderbouwd met normen en waarden”, zegt publicist Mohammed Jabri tegen Politiek-Digitaal. Maar het ontbreekt Nederlanders aan kennis. Dit leidt volgens Jabri tot misplaatste grootheidswaanzin. Volgens de publicist kunnen autochtonen niet tegen kritiek. Al helemaal niet als het van een allochtoon komt.

Volgens Jabri verraadt dat vermeende superioriteitsgevoel een structurele onzekerheid en een minderwaardigheidscomplex. “Men is blijkbaar in Nederland nog niet klaar voor een Marokkaan die zijn eigen normen en waarden perfect laat samengaan met de Nederlandse samenleving, zonder dat een ander daar last van heeft.”

Politiek-Digitaal sprak eerder met Mohammed Jabri, nu precies een jaar geleden. Destijds stelde hij dat de zogenaamde anti-islamieten – Verdonk, Hirsi Ali, Wilders en Zalm – alleen maar óver de islam aan het zeuren zijn. Ze zouden een reactiebeleid voeren, omdat ze geen gesprekspartner van formaat hebben die namens de moslimgemeenschap kan spreken. Dat was ook de reden dat hij zich destijds bezig hield met de oprichting van een moslimpartij. Nu richt hij zich op het opzetten van een Nederlandse editie van de The Islam Times. Een papieren tweetalig tijdschrift (Arabisch en Nederlands), dat over de islam in Nederland gaat publiceren.

(more…)

4 comments.

Asharq Alawsat The Recovery of New York's Muslim Community from 9/11

Posted on December 19th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

The Recovery of New York’s Muslim Community from 9/11

Since the September 11 attacks on New York in 2001, the spotlight has been focused largely upon those Muslims in the United States who fell victim to harassment and suffered from psychological pressures resulting from the attacks. This was a relatively new phenomenon especially in New York itself, which has traditionally been tolerant to different races and religions. Since the late 18th century, Muslim immigrants had left their countries and headed for New York in search of a better life. Today, Muslims find themselves having to defend their identity and right of residence in the United States.

Four years after 9/11, the media’s focus on Muslims has begun to recede slowly allowing them to resume with their day- to –day lives far away from the effects of the attacks that targeted their well-being and stability.

New York City, with its population of 19 million, is home to some 800,000 Muslims. It has the second largest Muslim community in the United States after California, which is home to one million Muslim residents. In parts of the city with a significant number of Muslims, one can often hear the stories of Muslims living peacefully, while others speak of receiving death threats representing the level of discrimination and racial tension that emerge after any terror incidents related to Islam.

Since the Muslim community’s arrival in New York, just like other cities with a migrant population, a larger part of the community chose to be based around the mosques of the city and its suburbs. The opening ceremony of New York Central Mosque in 1991 was especially important, as it presented an area where up to 4000 Muslims would congregate for the weekly Friday prayer. The number of smaller mosques has increased especially in Queens and Brooklyn, where migrants have established smaller versions of their original towns.

The Muslims of New York share the same religious practices, yet differ in their traditional backgrounds as over twenty different Muslim ethnicities, including Arabs, Africans and Turks, reside side by side. Each ethnic group usually attends a specific mosque where other members of their original nationality go to pray.

As one enters the New York Central mosque on 3rd Avenue in Manhattan, where the New York Islamic Center is located, one notices that various worshippers come here, from sick women to angry men demanding to see the Imam of the mosque. The various visitors and hectic atmosphere resemble, to some extent, a waiting room in a hospital, rather than a place of worship. The number of worshippers increases during the holy month of Ramadan, during which many poor Muslims would come to the mosque to receive Zakat, the charity-tax given by all Muslims who can afford it.

Before the noon prayer, I visited the mosque which was strangely crowded despite it not being prayer time. The visitors were asking for the Imam, causing his assistant much stress as the Imam had not yet arrived. It turned out that many members of the impatient crowd had visited the mosque, not for the prayers but rather to receive their share of the Zakat contributions that reach a total of $100,000 US annually and can only be distributed by the Imam.

There are a number of poor Muslims who visit the center in genuine need of financial aid, as well as others who do not actually require the help of these donations, or those who claim to be followers of the Islamic faith. Whoever claims Zakat must present identification papers and certain documents to prove that they rightfully require this form of charity. Each individual case is documented and kept by the center.

The Central Mosque’s Imam, Omar Abu Namus, told Asharq Al-Awsat, “I have a special insight that allows me to determine who is genuine in their demand for financial aid and who seeks to exploit the generosity of Muslims.” He added that there is no doubt that some of the requests for help are not legitimate, especially as the community is aware that the mosque gives money to the poor. He stressed, however, that even if 10% of the cases are fraudulent, at least 90% of them really do need assistance.

In addition to donating financial aid, the Center sponsors many conferences addressing religious tolerance and organizes weekly classes on Islam for both Muslims and curious non-Muslims. Abu Namus spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat about the increase in the general public’s interest in Islam after 9/11 and the high number of Americans who visited the center to obtain information about the religion. He explained, “The Center’s establishment was sponsored by a number of Islamic governments, therefore, we are generally regarded as an official source of information about Islam.”

A number of Muslim countries contributed to the founding of New York’s Central Mosque and the Islamic Center, the building of which cost 17 million US dollars. Kuwait donated two-thirds of the amount and the Kuwaiti ambassador to the UN is the head of the Center’s board of trustees.

Most American journalists contact the mosque with questions concerning Islam. Imam Omar referred to an American journalist who had contacted him wanting to know his view on another Imam’s comments that indicated that the 9/11 hijackers were not guilty of their crime and that they had been caught up in a conspiracy. “I told the journalist that the Imam’s comments were nonsense. My reply was crucial as this center represents a large number of Muslims.”

Imam Omar expanded that post-9/11 New York was “very difficult for Muslims and for us at the mosque in particular.” He said that two weeks after the attacks, the former Imam of the mosque, Mohammed Gomaa left the United States, leaving those at the mosque in a difficult situation. The former Imam had claimed that it was best for him to return to his country of origin, Egypt, only having later discovered that the Imam had received death threats in New York and had not disclosed this information to anybody else. Imam Omar said, “I, personally, did not receive any death threats, but I was subjected to racial harassment which I decided to ignore and not to report to the police as I believed the incidents were trivial.” The Imam kept some of the threatening letters including one from the ‘United States Catholic War Veterans,’ which called for “the bombing and elimination of Muslims.” The Imam highlighted, “terrorism is not restricted only to those who claim to be Muslims. Members of other religions also practice terrorist behavior as evident from these letters; however, the media does not focus upon them.”

Imam Omar Abu Namus stressed that Islam had come under attack by the racists and extremists of America. He emphasized, “The terrorist organizations that carry out their attacks allegedly in the name of Islam offer the biggest pretext for the enemies of Islam. As some groups settle old scores with the US government, the American people and Muslims nations become victims of the ammunition”.

Recently, American media outlets have produced a number of reports concerning the increasing rate of those converting to Islam, especially in America’s prisons. Some of these reports insinuate that certain factions of Muslims are involved in crime. Imam Omar disagrees with this suggestion as he says, “less than one crime in a thousand is carried out by a Muslim in America. The majority of Muslims in prison also do not originate from the Middle East. They embraced Islam in America, leaving Christianity. A large number of Afro-Americans seem to maintain resentment against the white man, who they feel, has persecuted them as a people.” Government statistics indicate that 30% of imprisoned Afro-Americans are Muslims. The discrepancy of the socio-economic backgrounds of American Muslims reflects clearly in their varying lifestyle and backgrounds.

As one leaves the affluent central Manhattan, it is clear that different Muslim communities based on ethnicity live in the suburbs. For example, in Jackson Heights and Harlem there is a large number of Afro-American Muslims in comparison to Astoria, Queens, where there is a large Egyptian and Yemeni community. The communities are usually based around a mosque and its affiliated school. The media frequently focuses on incidents of minor conflict between different Muslim groups, for example the case of Abu Bakr Al Siddiq in Flushing, Queens where leaders of the Afghan Muslim community fought over the management of their local mosque. The case was presented before the American courts and is yet to be resolved. The media further highlights activities of small extremist groups such as the ‘Islamist Thinkers’ Society’, which is closely linked to the dis-banded extremist movement, ‘Al-Muhajiroun’ in the United Kingdom. The majority of New York’s Muslims considers these cases to be marginal and nothing but fuel for those who consider that Muslims are unable to integrate into American society.

Mohamed, from Lebanon, who owns a shop on Steinway Road in Queens told Asharq Al-Awsat, “We live like any other migrant community. I have not suffered from any particular incident and do not know anybody who has. September 11, however, has changed the international situation, and the perception of Muslims by authorities, especially here in New York.” He added, “The American authorities now are very harsh in dealing with any form of illegal immigration. Furthermore, accusations cast upon Muslims are much stronger and abundant now.”

Mohamed explained that he established his own shop five years ago after 24 years of saving money from various jobs since his arrival in the United States. He said that he was keen to enroll his children in American state schools to guarantee integration into their new society and surrounding environment. Nevertheless, he was equally dedicated to ensuring that his children learnt Arabic. Mohamed added, “Muslims have been living here for decades peacefully. After 9/11, it was only natural for us to be put under the spotlight. Today, however, we feel that the wounds have healed and that we can move on with our lives”.

While Steinway Street has a number of Middle Eastern shops, Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn is home to stores of South Asian and South East Asian origins especially those from Pakistan and Bangladesh. Ahmed, the owner of ‘Aziz’ gift shop stated that neither he nor his family and friends were ever subjected to harassment after the 9/11 attacks. However, he continued to say, “We all felt a psychological pressure to explain Islam to non-Muslims after what happened.” He stressed that he has lived peacefully in the United States, stating: “Since I moved here in the 1990’s, I have never been made to feel unwelcome. The nearby Farouk mosque makes us feel like part of one large family.”

Ali who sells international phone-cards (low cost calling cards to international destinations), mainly for low-cost calls to Arab and Asian countries, said that he had emigrated from Yemen with his father thirty years ago and is now “comfortable, as income is reasonable and life is good.” However, he added that his wife and children live in Yemen, saying that he believes “it is better for them to remain close to the family.” Although Ali had personally never experienced hostility from society, he did say that Muslims have been placed under the watchful eye of society, which he described as “tiring, as we just want to live peacefully.”

Walking through Atlantic Avenue, there is a noticeable absence of Americans of European origin, except perhaps the occasional police officers who walk past the Asian and Arab shops. However, a little further down the road, one sees a variety of other shops and restaurants with cuisines from Mexico, Italy and China. American society’s combination of people from all walks of life indicates an openness that has prohibited the creation of secluded ghettos, allowing Muslims to live in multi-cultural areas rather than isolating them.

0 comments.

Asharq Alawsat The Recovery of New York’s Muslim Community from 9/11

Posted on December 19th, 2005 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

The Recovery of New York’s Muslim Community from 9/11

Since the September 11 attacks on New York in 2001, the spotlight has been focused largely upon those Muslims in the United States who fell victim to harassment and suffered from psychological pressures resulting from the attacks. This was a relatively new phenomenon especially in New York itself, which has traditionally been tolerant to different races and religions. Since the late 18th century, Muslim immigrants had left their countries and headed for New York in search of a better life. Today, Muslims find themselves having to defend their identity and right of residence in the United States.

Four years after 9/11, the media’s focus on Muslims has begun to recede slowly allowing them to resume with their day- to –day lives far away from the effects of the attacks that targeted their well-being and stability.

New York City, with its population of 19 million, is home to some 800,000 Muslims. It has the second largest Muslim community in the United States after California, which is home to one million Muslim residents. In parts of the city with a significant number of Muslims, one can often hear the stories of Muslims living peacefully, while others speak of receiving death threats representing the level of discrimination and racial tension that emerge after any terror incidents related to Islam.

Since the Muslim community’s arrival in New York, just like other cities with a migrant population, a larger part of the community chose to be based around the mosques of the city and its suburbs. The opening ceremony of New York Central Mosque in 1991 was especially important, as it presented an area where up to 4000 Muslims would congregate for the weekly Friday prayer. The number of smaller mosques has increased especially in Queens and Brooklyn, where migrants have established smaller versions of their original towns.

The Muslims of New York share the same religious practices, yet differ in their traditional backgrounds as over twenty different Muslim ethnicities, including Arabs, Africans and Turks, reside side by side. Each ethnic group usually attends a specific mosque where other members of their original nationality go to pray.

As one enters the New York Central mosque on 3rd Avenue in Manhattan, where the New York Islamic Center is located, one notices that various worshippers come here, from sick women to angry men demanding to see the Imam of the mosque. The various visitors and hectic atmosphere resemble, to some extent, a waiting room in a hospital, rather than a place of worship. The number of worshippers increases during the holy month of Ramadan, during which many poor Muslims would come to the mosque to receive Zakat, the charity-tax given by all Muslims who can afford it.

Before the noon prayer, I visited the mosque which was strangely crowded despite it not being prayer time. The visitors were asking for the Imam, causing his assistant much stress as the Imam had not yet arrived. It turned out that many members of the impatient crowd had visited the mosque, not for the prayers but rather to receive their share of the Zakat contributions that reach a total of $100,000 US annually and can only be distributed by the Imam.

There are a number of poor Muslims who visit the center in genuine need of financial aid, as well as others who do not actually require the help of these donations, or those who claim to be followers of the Islamic faith. Whoever claims Zakat must present identification papers and certain documents to prove that they rightfully require this form of charity. Each individual case is documented and kept by the center.

The Central Mosque’s Imam, Omar Abu Namus, told Asharq Al-Awsat, “I have a special insight that allows me to determine who is genuine in their demand for financial aid and who seeks to exploit the generosity of Muslims.” He added that there is no doubt that some of the requests for help are not legitimate, especially as the community is aware that the mosque gives money to the poor. He stressed, however, that even if 10% of the cases are fraudulent, at least 90% of them really do need assistance.

In addition to donating financial aid, the Center sponsors many conferences addressing religious tolerance and organizes weekly classes on Islam for both Muslims and curious non-Muslims. Abu Namus spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat about the increase in the general public’s interest in Islam after 9/11 and the high number of Americans who visited the center to obtain information about the religion. He explained, “The Center’s establishment was sponsored by a number of Islamic governments, therefore, we are generally regarded as an official source of information about Islam.”

A number of Muslim countries contributed to the founding of New York’s Central Mosque and the Islamic Center, the building of which cost 17 million US dollars. Kuwait donated two-thirds of the amount and the Kuwaiti ambassador to the UN is the head of the Center’s board of trustees.

Most American journalists contact the mosque with questions concerning Islam. Imam Omar referred to an American journalist who had contacted him wanting to know his view on another Imam’s comments that indicated that the 9/11 hijackers were not guilty of their crime and that they had been caught up in a conspiracy. “I told the journalist that the Imam’s comments were nonsense. My reply was crucial as this center represents a large number of Muslims.”

Imam Omar expanded that post-9/11 New York was “very difficult for Muslims and for us at the mosque in particular.” He said that two weeks after the attacks, the former Imam of the mosque, Mohammed Gomaa left the United States, leaving those at the mosque in a difficult situation. The former Imam had claimed that it was best for him to return to his country of origin, Egypt, only having later discovered that the Imam had received death threats in New York and had not disclosed this information to anybody else. Imam Omar said, “I, personally, did not receive any death threats, but I was subjected to racial harassment which I decided to ignore and not to report to the police as I believed the incidents were trivial.” The Imam kept some of the threatening letters including one from the ‘United States Catholic War Veterans,’ which called for “the bombing and elimination of Muslims.” The Imam highlighted, “terrorism is not restricted only to those who claim to be Muslims. Members of other religions also practice terrorist behavior as evident from these letters; however, the media does not focus upon them.”

Imam Omar Abu Namus stressed that Islam had come under attack by the racists and extremists of America. He emphasized, “The terrorist organizations that carry out their attacks allegedly in the name of Islam offer the biggest pretext for the enemies of Islam. As some groups settle old scores with the US government, the American people and Muslims nations become victims of the ammunition”.

Recently, American media outlets have produced a number of reports concerning the increasing rate of those converting to Islam, especially in America’s prisons. Some of these reports insinuate that certain factions of Muslims are involved in crime. Imam Omar disagrees with this suggestion as he says, “less than one crime in a thousand is carried out by a Muslim in America. The majority of Muslims in prison also do not originate from the Middle East. They embraced Islam in America, leaving Christianity. A large number of Afro-Americans seem to maintain resentment against the white man, who they feel, has persecuted them as a people.” Government statistics indicate that 30% of imprisoned Afro-Americans are Muslims. The discrepancy of the socio-economic backgrounds of American Muslims reflects clearly in their varying lifestyle and backgrounds.

As one leaves the affluent central Manhattan, it is clear that different Muslim communities based on ethnicity live in the suburbs. For example, in Jackson Heights and Harlem there is a large number of Afro-American Muslims in comparison to Astoria, Queens, where there is a large Egyptian and Yemeni community. The communities are usually based around a mosque and its affiliated school. The media frequently focuses on incidents of minor conflict between different Muslim groups, for example the case of Abu Bakr Al Siddiq in Flushing, Queens where leaders of the Afghan Muslim community fought over the management of their local mosque. The case was presented before the American courts and is yet to be resolved. The media further highlights activities of small extremist groups such as the ‘Islamist Thinkers’ Society’, which is closely linked to the dis-banded extremist movement, ‘Al-Muhajiroun’ in the United Kingdom. The majority of New York’s Muslims considers these cases to be marginal and nothing but fuel for those who consider that Muslims are unable to integrate into American society.

Mohamed, from Lebanon, who owns a shop on Steinway Road in Queens told Asharq Al-Awsat, “We live like any other migrant community. I have not suffered from any particular incident and do not know anybody who has. September 11, however, has changed the international situation, and the perception of Muslims by authorities, especially here in New York.” He added, “The American authorities now are very harsh in dealing with any form of illegal immigration. Furthermore, accusations cast upon Muslims are much stronger and abundant now.”

Mohamed explained that he established his own shop five years ago after 24 years of saving money from various jobs since his arrival in the United States. He said that he was keen to enroll his children in American state schools to guarantee integration into their new society and surrounding environment. Nevertheless, he was equally dedicated to ensuring that his children learnt Arabic. Mohamed added, “Muslims have been living here for decades peacefully. After 9/11, it was only natural for us to be put under the spotlight. Today, however, we feel that the wounds have healed and that we can move on with our lives”.

While Steinway Street has a number of Middle Eastern shops, Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn is home to stores of South Asian and South East Asian origins especially those from Pakistan and Bangladesh. Ahmed, the owner of ‘Aziz’ gift shop stated that neither he nor his family and friends were ever subjected to harassment after the 9/11 attacks. However, he continued to say, “We all felt a psychological pressure to explain Islam to non-Muslims after what happened.” He stressed that he has lived peacefully in the United States, stating: “Since I moved here in the 1990’s, I have never been made to feel unwelcome. The nearby Farouk mosque makes us feel like part of one large family.”

Ali who sells international phone-cards (low cost calling cards to international destinations), mainly for low-cost calls to Arab and Asian countries, said that he had emigrated from Yemen with his father thirty years ago and is now “comfortable, as income is reasonable and life is good.” However, he added that his wife and children live in Yemen, saying that he believes “it is better for them to remain close to the family.” Although Ali had personally never experienced hostility from society, he did say that Muslims have been placed under the watchful eye of society, which he described as “tiring, as we just want to live peacefully.”

Walking through Atlantic Avenue, there is a noticeable absence of Americans of European origin, except perhaps the occasional police officers who walk past the Asian and Arab shops. However, a little further down the road, one sees a variety of other shops and restaurants with cuisines from Mexico, Italy and China. American society’s combination of people from all walks of life indicates an openness that has prohibited the creation of secluded ghettos, allowing Muslims to live in multi-cultural areas rather than isolating them.

0 comments.

Protected: NRC Handelsblad – Het is toch gek als je de schrik in iemands ogen ziet

Posted on December 18th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Multiculti Issues.

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Protected: Evolutietheorie leidt tot Big Bang

Posted on December 17th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

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Brieven aan…

Posted on December 15th, 2005 by .
Categories: Joy Category.

Zojuist op het journaal een item gezien over brieven aan God. Die worden zowaar in Israel bezorgd aan een rabbijn die ze dan naar de Klaagmuur brengt (mooie impressie met een doosje met daar op: Letters to God).

In Nederland worden ze anders gewoon bezorgd bij de EO als ze anoniem zijn. Anders gaan ze retourafzender (dat vind ik dan wat flauw; voor God maakt dat toch niet uit). Brieven voor Allah kan schijnbaar ook want die worden dan doorgestuurd naar een imam of naar een moslimorganisatie. Geen idee wie of welke.

Maar wat dan voor de ongelovigen (atheisten of agnosten)? Die willen hun zieleroerselen toch ook wel eens ver weg sturen. Naar God of Allah kan niet.

Daarom weet ik het goed gemaakt. Als u atheist of agnost ben dan stuurt u uw mijmeringen maar naar mij via de comments of email. Slap aftreksel van God hoor ik u nu denken of denkt die jongen dat hij god is? Wat dat laatste betreft: zeker niet . Wat dat eerste betreft: klopt zonder meer, maar als atheist of agnost moet u het er maar mee doen. Mijn virtuele postvak staat open.

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Protected: NRC Handelsblad – Integratie hapert, vindt de politiek

Posted on December 13th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Multiculti Issues.

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Protected: nu.nl/algemeen | Spaanse huiszoekingen wegens moord Van Gogh

Posted on December 13th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Murder on theo Van Gogh and related issues.

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Protected: nu.nl/algemeen | Spaanse huiszoekingen wegens moord Van Gogh

Posted on December 13th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Murder on theo Van Gogh and related issues.

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BBC NEWS | World | Europe | French jihadis thrive on alienation

Posted on December 13th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims.

BBC NEWS | World | Europe | French jihadis thrive on alienation

Writer Olivier Roy, author of Globalised Islam, says the main problem is not so much social deprivation as lack of a clear cultural identity.

“They have been uprooted,” he says. “They are alienated from traditional Islam and their parents.”

French policeman escorts a suspected Islamic radical in November 2005 in Bourges
French police frequently arrest suspected radicals in the suburbs
The young men who carried out the London bombings did not view themselves as members of the Pakistani community but as members of a radical Muslim Umma, Mr Roy notes.

“The same is happening in France,” he says.

No one knows exactly how many French Muslims have gone down the same route.

Yacine, a 17-year-old from Saint-Denis near Paris, reckons that five “out of more than 100 kids I know” have become radical.

This percentage seems in line with estimates from police, who believe that about 50 of France’s 1,600 mosques or prayer halls are under the influence of extremists.

Of course, not all radicals are prepared to take up arms. Mr Roy says the number of jihadis in France could be around 1,000.

Olivier Roy argues that the government is wrong to regard the global jihad primarily as a religious phenomenon. Some disaffected youths, he says, are attracted to al-Qaeda simply because of its fighting image.

“In the 1970s they would have joined the radical Left. Today they join radical Islam, both because they often have Muslim roots and because it is the main violent ideology available.”

If militants do not draw their force from Islam itself, putting Muslims under suspicion may not be the best strategy, Mr Roy argues.

French Police, however, feel they have no option but to continue monitoring the Islamic pool from which militants draw their recruits.

“In this field, either you are on top on things and then you barely manage to stop attacks, or you are not on top and then it is even harder to avert them,” Mr Berthomet says.

0 comments.

BBC NEWS | World | Europe | French jihadis thrive on alienation

Posted on December 13th, 2005 by .
Categories: Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims.

BBC NEWS | World | Europe | French jihadis thrive on alienation

Writer Olivier Roy, author of Globalised Islam, says the main problem is not so much social deprivation as lack of a clear cultural identity.

“They have been uprooted,” he says. “They are alienated from traditional Islam and their parents.”

French policeman escorts a suspected Islamic radical in November 2005 in Bourges
French police frequently arrest suspected radicals in the suburbs
The young men who carried out the London bombings did not view themselves as members of the Pakistani community but as members of a radical Muslim Umma, Mr Roy notes.

“The same is happening in France,” he says.

No one knows exactly how many French Muslims have gone down the same route.

Yacine, a 17-year-old from Saint-Denis near Paris, reckons that five “out of more than 100 kids I know” have become radical.

This percentage seems in line with estimates from police, who believe that about 50 of France’s 1,600 mosques or prayer halls are under the influence of extremists.

Of course, not all radicals are prepared to take up arms. Mr Roy says the number of jihadis in France could be around 1,000.

Olivier Roy argues that the government is wrong to regard the global jihad primarily as a religious phenomenon. Some disaffected youths, he says, are attracted to al-Qaeda simply because of its fighting image.

“In the 1970s they would have joined the radical Left. Today they join radical Islam, both because they often have Muslim roots and because it is the main violent ideology available.”

If militants do not draw their force from Islam itself, putting Muslims under suspicion may not be the best strategy, Mr Roy argues.

French Police, however, feel they have no option but to continue monitoring the Islamic pool from which militants draw their recruits.

“In this field, either you are on top on things and then you barely manage to stop attacks, or you are not on top and then it is even harder to avert them,” Mr Berthomet says.

0 comments.

Al-Ahram Weekly | Opinion | Brothers and others

Posted on December 13th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

Al-Ahram Weekly | Opinion | Brothers and others
Brothers and others

Opinion article by Sameh Fawzi in Al-Ahram Weekly:

While the Muslim Brotherhood courts the Copts, doubts remain as to the movement’s credentials regarding religious and moral tolerance.

In The Conquest of Egypt, a document allegedly compiled by Deputy Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood Khairat El-Shater, calls are made for the abolition of plurality among Muslims. “Plurality has given many Muslims excuses for evading organisational affiliation,” it states. “We must realise how important it is that people perceive us as the sole representatives of Islam and that this image becomes so fixed in people’s minds as to gradually eliminate the possibility of others fulfilling this role.”

(more…)

0 comments.

Al-Ahram Weekly | Opinion | Brothers and others

Posted on December 13th, 2005 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

Al-Ahram Weekly | Opinion | Brothers and others
Brothers and others

Opinion article by Sameh Fawzi in Al-Ahram Weekly:

While the Muslim Brotherhood courts the Copts, doubts remain as to the movement’s credentials regarding religious and moral tolerance.

In The Conquest of Egypt, a document allegedly compiled by Deputy Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood Khairat El-Shater, calls are made for the abolition of plurality among Muslims. “Plurality has given many Muslims excuses for evading organisational affiliation,” it states. “We must realise how important it is that people perceive us as the sole representatives of Islam and that this image becomes so fixed in people’s minds as to gradually eliminate the possibility of others fulfilling this role.”

(more…)

0 comments.

Police look for answers in text messages – National – smh.com.au

Posted on December 13th, 2005 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

Police look for answers in text messages – National – smh.com.au
Police look for answers in text messages

By Jonathan Pearlman, Josh Paine and Jordan Baker
December 14, 2005

TEXT messages and emails urging gangs to muster for rampages in and around Sydney continued to be widely circulated yesterday, as police announced a taskforce would investigate the use of phones to incite violence.

Residents of Sutherland Shire yesterday reported receiving several messages a day, including one purportedly intercepted from Lebanese gangs that threatened to “exterminate the enemy at Cronulla”. Emails were also sent announcing plans to attack Terrigal, Wollongong and Bondi this weekend.

A Cronulla resident, Cameron Johnston, said he had received about three or four texts a day.

“You are getting text messages from people you don’t even know,” he said. “The next day I would ring the number and it was disconnected. [I have] no idea where it came from. I don’t know where they’re getting my number.”

The Minister for Police, Carl Scully, said a 36-person taskforce was investigating the use of mobile phones and could order arrests of those who had incited violence.

Under the Commonwealth criminal code, anyone who uses phones to threaten, menace or offend another person can be jailed for up to two years. The law can be applied by NSW police.

A legal expert said anyone who sent messages inciting racial violence, wore T-shirts with offensive slogans (one that read “Mahommid [sic] was a camel f—ing faggot” was worn at Cronulla) or sang Waltzing Matilda in malicious contexts, which also happened in the Cronulla riots, could be prosecuted under the Federal Government’s new sedition laws.

0 comments.

C L O S E R – Race, Religion, Culture & ethnicity

Posted on December 12th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

The (continuing) riots in Australia sparkle a debate about the relation between these riots and Race, religion and culture & ethnicity.

According to PM Howard Australians are not racists.

Mob violence is always sickening and always to be unconditionally condemned,” he said. “Attacking people on the basis of their race, their appearance, their ethnicity, is totally unacceptable and should be repudiated by all Australians, irrespective of their own background and irrespective of their politics.”

But he said the riots were primarily a “law and order issue”.

“I do not accept that there is underlying racism in this country. I have always taken a more optimistic view of the character of the Australian people. I do not believe Australians are racist.”

But the Premier, Morris Iemma, condemned the weekend riots as “un-Australian”. “What it showed on the weekend was the ugly face of racism in this country,” he said.

“There is no way this disgraceful behaviour will be tolerated anywhere, not in Cronulla, not in Maroubra , not anywhere.”

The Minister for Police, Carl Scully, said there appeared to have been an element of white supremacists inciting the weekend violence, and that their attitudes had no place in mainstream Australian society.

According to others such as Aussie News & Views it is religion (ic Islam):

“The chief weapon in the quiver of all Islamist expansionist movements, is the absolute necessity to keep victims largely unaware of the actual theology plotting their demise. To complete this deception, a large body of ‘moderates’ continue to spew such ridiculous claims as “Islam means Peace” thereby keeping non-Muslims from actually reading the Qur’an, the Sira, the Hadith, or actually looking into the past 1400 years of history. Islamists also deny or dismiss the concept of ‘abrogation’, which is the universal intra-Islamic method of replacing slightly more tolerable aspects of the religion in favor of more violent demands for Muslims to slay and subdue infidels”

Interesting to see that that also means the attacks are not framed as attacks but as ‘protests‘ Also the role of the mosque is interesting there, with a call for prayer (in the whole article no mention is made of prayer though, only of rumours; a nice example of framing the conflict. Also the ‘protests’ (yes i can play with words as well) of the Muslims are framed as attacks

Nadia Jamal blames ‘culture’ instead of religion but also pays attention to the process of framing:

The search is on for answers. For their part, Muslims need to ask themselves why so many young Muslim men, not Muslim women, have problems; why some men of Australian Lebanese Muslim background seem to be so aggressive and violent.

This might have something to do with the double standards that have taken hold in some Muslim households. There are different rules for boys and girls, especially when it comes to discipline. Anyone who denies this is kidding themselves. The boys are allowed to get away with things their sisters would not. This has everything to do with culture and patriarchal attitude, and nothing to do with religion.

The lack of ambition among some of these men seems to be growing. One teacher who taught in a high school in Sydney’s south-west whose pupils were mostly Arabic-speaking could not understand why some boys wanted to do work experience at McDonald’s, rather than setting their sights higher. There is nothing wrong with working at McDonald’s, but if you can’t see more for yourself at 15, then when can you? And it’s even sadder for the families who came to Australia to give their children a better life.

There are no simple answers to these problems – yet the answers should be so simple. Violence is violence and racism is racism.

Sydney’s young Arab men have had much to deal with. Little has been done to address the emotional and psychological impact Sydney’s gang rapes and recent terrorist bombings around the globe have had on the great majority of decent, innocent Muslim men. Many are treated with suspicion by the broader community because of the way they look and some have been unjustly labelled “rapists” and “terrorists”.

Then there are the inconsistent positions taken by the media and politicians on ethnic descriptions. Middle Eastern can mean anyone from an Aborigine to an Italian. Arab or Middle Eastern always seems to mean Lebanese and Lebanese automatically means Muslim, but most Muslims don’t speak Arabic and more Lebanese are Christian than Muslim.

When a Sydney man was found guilty last week of murdering his girlfriend and stuffing her body into a cricket bag, no one described him as being anything but a Sydney man who had murdered his girlfriend and stuffed her body into a cricket bag. The same is true for the man charged with the attempted murder of teenager Lauren Huxley.

None of this is an excuse for criminal behaviour. But why is it that when men of Middle Eastern background get together, they are described as “gangs”, and when men of Anglo-Celtic background gather they are “groups of people” or “mobs”?

When things go wrong, every Muslim is left to pick up the pieces. So the next time you ask a Muslim to explain another Muslim’s actions, remember that they are not politicians or religious scholars. And they are tired of being told that they need to stand up every time some idiot who claims to share their religion commits a crime. They should not be expected to apologise for the actions of every Muslim who does something wrong in the world. This does not mean that they are being silent to those wrongs but, like everybody else, they want to get on with their lives and leave the politics to the politicians and the religion to the scholars.

Some people warn things will worsen before they get better. I just want things to get better – and they will, with goodwill on all sides.

Andrew West disagrees and insists on focusing on (certain forms of) Islam and has some interesting points to think about:

Australia does not have a race relations problem. We have a clash of cultures and that’s a big difference — and maybe the problem is certain forms of Islam.

Of course, the marauding boneheads who rampaged through Cronulla on Sunday don’t make this distinction. If they did, perhaps they would realise that when they screech “Lebs out” they are also referring to the majority of Lebanese Australians who are Maronite Christians, in communion with the Roman Catholic Church.

The problem is not the blood that runs through people’s veins. Any form of discrimination based on race or ethnicity — based on the colour of one’s skin or hair or eyes — is inherently immoral, illogical and evil.

But culture and religion are behavioural. They involve values.

People can be born into a particular culture or religion but sooner or later they reach an age of reason where they can embrace or reject their precepts. And if people freely embrace a culture that is antithetical to the prevailing social mores — in our case, I would hope, liberal, enlightenment values — then we are entitled to judge, object, censure and even discriminate.

Which brings us to this extremely prickly issue of radical Islam.

My colleague on this paper, Nadia Jamal, has mounted a strong and sophisticated argument that the issue is not religion but culture, specifically the patriarchal culture that prevails in many traditional Muslim households. This is a good point but I think it diplomatically sidesteps the fact that some strains of Islam — most obviously the strict, puritanical and downright fanatical Wahhabism — do, indeed, sanction attitudes and behaviour that are not simply patriarchal but repressive. I’m sorry, but to this extent, this particular brand of Islam is most definitely the problem.

When groups of young Muslim men stalk the beaches of Sydney making sexually threatening comments against women in bathing costumes, as they indisputably do; and when they believe they act with the license of a sheik who claims that such women are responsible for their own sexual violation, then I do blame, in part, their religion.

Some multicultural theorists will squawk and say that I prefer only a soft multiculturalism (if they insist on calling it that) that does not offend western liberal values. They would be spot on. My acceptance ends when the assault on the liberality of society itself begins.

None of this erases the points I made yesterday, condemning the lynch-mob mentality of the Cronulla crowds, boozed up, in their thousands, chasing down lone Lebanese teenagers.

But I do accept the need for a debate about cultural, rather than ethnic, compatibility — because the two are not the same.

Enough to think about for the people down under.

0 comments.

C L O S E R – Race, Religion, Culture & ethnicity

Posted on December 12th, 2005 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

The (continuing) riots in Australia sparkle a debate about the relation between these riots and Race, religion and culture & ethnicity.

According to PM Howard Australians are not racists.

Mob violence is always sickening and always to be unconditionally condemned,” he said. “Attacking people on the basis of their race, their appearance, their ethnicity, is totally unacceptable and should be repudiated by all Australians, irrespective of their own background and irrespective of their politics.”

But he said the riots were primarily a “law and order issue”.

“I do not accept that there is underlying racism in this country. I have always taken a more optimistic view of the character of the Australian people. I do not believe Australians are racist.”

But the Premier, Morris Iemma, condemned the weekend riots as “un-Australian”. “What it showed on the weekend was the ugly face of racism in this country,” he said.

“There is no way this disgraceful behaviour will be tolerated anywhere, not in Cronulla, not in Maroubra , not anywhere.”

The Minister for Police, Carl Scully, said there appeared to have been an element of white supremacists inciting the weekend violence, and that their attitudes had no place in mainstream Australian society.

According to others such as Aussie News & Views it is religion (ic Islam):

“The chief weapon in the quiver of all Islamist expansionist movements, is the absolute necessity to keep victims largely unaware of the actual theology plotting their demise. To complete this deception, a large body of ‘moderates’ continue to spew such ridiculous claims as “Islam means Peace” thereby keeping non-Muslims from actually reading the Qur’an, the Sira, the Hadith, or actually looking into the past 1400 years of history. Islamists also deny or dismiss the concept of ‘abrogation’, which is the universal intra-Islamic method of replacing slightly more tolerable aspects of the religion in favor of more violent demands for Muslims to slay and subdue infidels”

Interesting to see that that also means the attacks are not framed as attacks but as ‘protests‘ Also the role of the mosque is interesting there, with a call for prayer (in the whole article no mention is made of prayer though, only of rumours; a nice example of framing the conflict. Also the ‘protests’ (yes i can play with words as well) of the Muslims are framed as attacks

Nadia Jamal blames ‘culture’ instead of religion but also pays attention to the process of framing:

The search is on for answers. For their part, Muslims need to ask themselves why so many young Muslim men, not Muslim women, have problems; why some men of Australian Lebanese Muslim background seem to be so aggressive and violent.

This might have something to do with the double standards that have taken hold in some Muslim households. There are different rules for boys and girls, especially when it comes to discipline. Anyone who denies this is kidding themselves. The boys are allowed to get away with things their sisters would not. This has everything to do with culture and patriarchal attitude, and nothing to do with religion.

The lack of ambition among some of these men seems to be growing. One teacher who taught in a high school in Sydney’s south-west whose pupils were mostly Arabic-speaking could not understand why some boys wanted to do work experience at McDonald’s, rather than setting their sights higher. There is nothing wrong with working at McDonald’s, but if you can’t see more for yourself at 15, then when can you? And it’s even sadder for the families who came to Australia to give their children a better life.

There are no simple answers to these problems – yet the answers should be so simple. Violence is violence and racism is racism.

Sydney’s young Arab men have had much to deal with. Little has been done to address the emotional and psychological impact Sydney’s gang rapes and recent terrorist bombings around the globe have had on the great majority of decent, innocent Muslim men. Many are treated with suspicion by the broader community because of the way they look and some have been unjustly labelled “rapists” and “terrorists”.

Then there are the inconsistent positions taken by the media and politicians on ethnic descriptions. Middle Eastern can mean anyone from an Aborigine to an Italian. Arab or Middle Eastern always seems to mean Lebanese and Lebanese automatically means Muslim, but most Muslims don’t speak Arabic and more Lebanese are Christian than Muslim.

When a Sydney man was found guilty last week of murdering his girlfriend and stuffing her body into a cricket bag, no one described him as being anything but a Sydney man who had murdered his girlfriend and stuffed her body into a cricket bag. The same is true for the man charged with the attempted murder of teenager Lauren Huxley.

None of this is an excuse for criminal behaviour. But why is it that when men of Middle Eastern background get together, they are described as “gangs”, and when men of Anglo-Celtic background gather they are “groups of people” or “mobs”?

When things go wrong, every Muslim is left to pick up the pieces. So the next time you ask a Muslim to explain another Muslim’s actions, remember that they are not politicians or religious scholars. And they are tired of being told that they need to stand up every time some idiot who claims to share their religion commits a crime. They should not be expected to apologise for the actions of every Muslim who does something wrong in the world. This does not mean that they are being silent to those wrongs but, like everybody else, they want to get on with their lives and leave the politics to the politicians and the religion to the scholars.

Some people warn things will worsen before they get better. I just want things to get better – and they will, with goodwill on all sides.

Andrew West disagrees and insists on focusing on (certain forms of) Islam and has some interesting points to think about:

Australia does not have a race relations problem. We have a clash of cultures and that’s a big difference — and maybe the problem is certain forms of Islam.

Of course, the marauding boneheads who rampaged through Cronulla on Sunday don’t make this distinction. If they did, perhaps they would realise that when they screech “Lebs out” they are also referring to the majority of Lebanese Australians who are Maronite Christians, in communion with the Roman Catholic Church.

The problem is not the blood that runs through people’s veins. Any form of discrimination based on race or ethnicity — based on the colour of one’s skin or hair or eyes — is inherently immoral, illogical and evil.

But culture and religion are behavioural. They involve values.

People can be born into a particular culture or religion but sooner or later they reach an age of reason where they can embrace or reject their precepts. And if people freely embrace a culture that is antithetical to the prevailing social mores — in our case, I would hope, liberal, enlightenment values — then we are entitled to judge, object, censure and even discriminate.

Which brings us to this extremely prickly issue of radical Islam.

My colleague on this paper, Nadia Jamal, has mounted a strong and sophisticated argument that the issue is not religion but culture, specifically the patriarchal culture that prevails in many traditional Muslim households. This is a good point but I think it diplomatically sidesteps the fact that some strains of Islam — most obviously the strict, puritanical and downright fanatical Wahhabism — do, indeed, sanction attitudes and behaviour that are not simply patriarchal but repressive. I’m sorry, but to this extent, this particular brand of Islam is most definitely the problem.

When groups of young Muslim men stalk the beaches of Sydney making sexually threatening comments against women in bathing costumes, as they indisputably do; and when they believe they act with the license of a sheik who claims that such women are responsible for their own sexual violation, then I do blame, in part, their religion.

Some multicultural theorists will squawk and say that I prefer only a soft multiculturalism (if they insist on calling it that) that does not offend western liberal values. They would be spot on. My acceptance ends when the assault on the liberality of society itself begins.

None of this erases the points I made yesterday, condemning the lynch-mob mentality of the Cronulla crowds, boozed up, in their thousands, chasing down lone Lebanese teenagers.

But I do accept the need for a debate about cultural, rather than ethnic, compatibility — because the two are not the same.

Enough to think about for the people down under.

0 comments.

Race riots spread to suburbs – National – smh.com.au

Posted on December 11th, 2005 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

In the Sydney Morning Herald extensive coverage of the Autralian race ‘riots’ between ‘Aussies’ and ‘Lebs’ (Lebanese and other foreigners).

Race riots spread to suburbs – National – smh.com.au

RACIAL violence erupted in several Sydney suburbs last night in retaliation for a rampage by thousands of young residents through Cronulla that turned the seaside suburb into a battlefield.

Political, community and religious leaders joined stunned locals to condemn an afternoon of violence by a crowd that turned on people of Middle Eastern appearance and those trying to protect them, with police and ambulance officers also attacked.

As the violence spread, police cars raced through Sydney streets from Cronulla to Miranda, Brighton-le-Sands, Rockdale, Maroubra, Woolooware and Tempe. Police said they had received reports of firearms being “flashed” threateningly but not discharged. “So far we have had no one shot,” an officer said.

A 23-year-old man was in St George Hospital in a serious condition after a fight in Woolooware about 10.25pm. A radio report said he had a knife embedded in his back. Police said the man was with friends when he had an altercation outside a golf club with a “group of males of Mediterranean or Middle Eastern appearance”.

The violence followed a week of simmering tension after an attack the previous Sunday on two lifesavers. Appeals by text message for “Aussies” to descend on the beach to reclaim it drew a crowd estimated at 5000 people, but a carnival atmosphere in the morning gave way to an ugly mood as a hard core of about 200 turned violent. Thousands chanted them on.

The trouble began with scuffles about midday. As the crowd moved along the beach and foreshore area, a man on the back of a utility began to shout “No more Lebs” – a chant picked up by the group around him. Others in the crowd yelled “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie … Oi, Oi, Oi”. Members of the mob set upon their prey with fists, feet, flags and beer bottles. Two paramedics were injured as they tried to get victims out of the North Cronulla Surf Life Saving Club, where they had fled to escape the rioters. One of the women had fled into the clubhouse for safety after her headscarf was ripped off.

An account of the events on the streets and Cronulla beach is also given: Thugs ruled the streets, and the mob sang Waltzing Matilda

A BARE-CHESTED youth in Quiksilver boardshorts tore the headscarf off the girl’s head as she slithered down the Cronulla dune seeking safety on the beach from a thousand-strong baying mob.

Up on the road, Marcus “Carcass” Butcher, 28, a builder from Penrith, wearing workboots, war-camouflage shorts and black singlet bearing the words “Mahommid was a camel f—ing faggot” raised both arms to the sky. “F— off, Leb,” he cried victoriously.

It was one last act of cowardly violence on a sad and shameful day that began as a beach party celebrating a kind of perverted nationalism that was gatecrashed by racism.

A crowd of at least 5000 – overwhelmingly under 25 – took over Cronulla’s foreshore and beachside streets. Police were powerless as 200-odd ringleaders, many clutching bottles or cans of beer and smoking marijuana, led assaults on individuals and small groups of Lebanese Australians who risked an appearance during the six-hour protest.
Cronulla was possibly Australia’s biggest racist protest since vigilante miners killed two Chinese at Lambing Flat in 1860.

Yesterday’s violence had been brewing for months. It came to a head last weekend when some Lebanese Australian men attacked members of the North Cronulla Surf Life Saving Club after they asked the visitors to stop playing soccer because it was disturbing other beach users.

“Steely” – who did not want to identify himself “for fear the Lebs will come and shoot up my joint during the week” – said his children had been scared by Lebanese Australians coming in from the western suburbs.

“I’ve got a four-year-old girl and a boy who’s 11, and they see these bastards come here and stand around the sea baths ‘cos their women have got to swim in clothes and stuff, or they see them saying filthy things to our girls,” he said. “That’s not Australian. My granddad fought the Japs to see Australia safe from this sort of shit, and that’s what I’m doing today.”

The word went out last week that the Shire boys would not take it lying down any more. Yesterday was shaping as a giant clash if Lebanese Australians came to run the gauntlet.

Chairman of the Community Relations Commission and President of the Anti-Discrimination Board of NSW responds in SMH: Worst possible outcome – vigilantes rip unity to shreds

Forget race and bring all criminals to justice, writes Stepan Kerkyasharian.
AdvertisementAdvertisement

YESTERDAY we witnessed a sight that I thought we would never see in Australia.

A few years ago Australians of all backgrounds – indigenous, Muslim, Asian, European – united to display national pride, Australian pride, to put on the best ever Olympics.

A few weeks ago tens of thousands of people, young and old, combined to help our Socceroos ride the wave to the World Cup. Those Australians were, again, of all backgrounds. Young girls wearing the Islamic hijab were proudly displaying green and gold.

And then at North Cronulla beach we had a bunch of thugs bashing that great symbol of Australian devotion to their countrymen, surf lifesavers.

It is sad that these thugs appear to be more or less of the same ethnic background, or are perceived to be, because that causes pain to the hundreds of thousands of people of that background who live and work peacefully. That community’s leaders condemn the actions of these young thugs just as the rest of us do. Yesterday, as if on cue, people took this opportunity to reclaim territory – whatever that means.

SMH links the troubles to a major question in Australia’s identity politics: Ethnic tension troubling the whole neighbourhood

WHILE Sydney grapples with a problem of ethnic identity on the beach at Cronulla, Australia has resolved the most significant question of its international identity in a conference room in Malaysia.

For decades, Australia has been asked whether it is a Western nation or an Asian nation.

When John Howard flies into Kuala Lumpur tomorrow to represent Australia at the inaugural East Asia Summit of 16 nations, he will be providing the answer.

Australia is Western – and Asian.

An account of Mustafa one of the victims of the riots: A day at the beach becomes a nightmare

The Lebanese were too scared to come to Cronulla today, “and that’s why there is so few of us. The Lebanese did not come because there were too many pigs. Today the beach might be theirs. Tomorrow it will be ours.”

The trouble had started earlier in the afternoon when a Lebanese youth and his girlfriend were walking along the North Cronulla beachfront.

According to their account, two girls turned around and screamed “Lebanese get off our f—ing beaches”.

Mustafa said “at that point the whole street turned on us”.

As usual is the case with events like this, most local people don’t want this mess: Locals talk of fear and disgust after violence of bloody Sunday

STUNNED by the racist rampage in their suburb, Cronulla residents have condemned the violence perpetrated by local youths, saying they felt shamed, saddened and disgusted.

A long-time beachfront resident, Jeanie, said she would be moving her family to live with a son in Thirroul for a few days until the violence abated. Like many residents the Herald spoke to she would not give her surname for fear of reprisal.

“It’s a sad day for Cronulla and a sad day for Australia when the locals are behaving like pack animals,” she said.

“It’s absolutely disgusting, and I don’t want to live here any more. I’ve made arrangements to get out of town because it’s not safe any more. This isn’t how I want to live, like I’m in Beirut. The local surfers are boozed up and behaving just as bad as the Lebanese gangs.”

One outsider in the crowd, who would only give his name as Tony, wore a T-shirt that read on the front, “I’m ashamed to be an Australian in Cronulla”, and on the back, “December 11, a day of racism”. Tony, from Caringbah, said: “I know people who are saying that this is enough, they don’t want to live here any more [and] I can’t blame them.”

0 comments.

Protected: de Volkskrant – Jason W: het was allemaal stoerdoenerij en gedol

Posted on December 10th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Murder on theo Van Gogh and related issues, Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims, Youth culture (as a practice).

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C L O S E R – U bent zeker nog nooit een jongen van dertien geweest

Posted on December 10th, 2005 by .
Categories: Joy Category.

Even wat anders. Gisteren op ‘d’n Belg’ The Virgin Suicides gezien? Ik wel. Op de één of andere manier heb ik een zwak voor films die draaien om herinneringen. Memento is er zo één, en The virgin… een hele andere. Even kort het verhaal:

geregisseerd door Sofia Coppola
met James Woods, Kathleen Turner en Kirsten Dunst

In een rustig en conservatief stadje in het Amerika van de jaren ’70 leven de knappe, maar mysterieuze Lisbon-zusjes. Wanneer één van de meisjes zichzelf van het leven berooft, zet zij met deze dramatische daad het leven van de hele famillie op zijn kop. Meer en meer sluit de famillie zich af van de buitenwereld, totdat de meisjes zelfs het huis niet meer uit mogen. Terwijl hun buurjongens een laatste poging ondernemen om de meisjes uit hun isolement te redden, escaleert de situatie volkomen. Vijfentwintig jaar later zijn de jongens de Lisbon-zusjes nog steeds niet vergeten. Hun fascinatie duurt voort. Ze proberen alsnog het raadselachtige verhaal achter de zelfmoorden aan de hand van dagboekfragmenten en brieven te reconstrueren.

Denk nou niet dat de film gaat over het waarom van de zelfmoord(-en). Dat denken die jongens alleen maar. Die jongens denken wel meer. Zij willen die meiden begrijpen. Maar wat ze ook doen, hoeveel ze ook lezen, hoeveel ze ook van die meisjes opnemen, het lukt ze voor geen meter. Dat is ook geen wonder. Het meisje Cecilia zegt tegen haar psychiater die wil weten over het waarom van haar zelfmoordpoging:

“U bent zeker nog nooit een meisje van dertien geweest”

Sterker nog, het wordt duidelijk dat na al die jaren de jongens nog steeds niet snappen van vrouwen. Dat valt ook niet mee als je moet afgaan op wat herinneringen. De vijf meisjes worden in de film één meisje. Als ze bij elkaar zijn op hun kamer, liggen ze bij elkaar. Hun haar in en over elkaar. Het zonlicht maakt hen tot één ondoorgrondelijk wezen: prachtig gefilmd. De meisjes zijn één zo blijkt ook uit hun kleding als ze naar het schoolbal gaan: dezelfde ‘vormloze zakken’.

Het gevolg is wel dat je de meisjes in die film nooit echt leert kennen. Waarschijnlijk is dat ook de bedoeling. Over de ouders valt niet veel te vertellen behalve dat ze proberen om een hels idylle van gewoonheid te scheppen voor hun een opgroeiende maagdelijke dochters. Daarvoor moeten die meisjes dan wel binnen blijven, Lux moet haar rockplaten verbranden (ook aerosmith verdomme).

Je ziet alles door de ogen van de jongens die ook samengebald worden in één jongen. De film gaat daardoor misschien nog wel meer over jongens dan over meisjes. Wie dat niet snapt is vast nooit een jongen van dertien geweest.

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