C L O S E R Morocco - 2/3 - C L O S E R

BBC NEWS | Africa | Two dead in Morocco terror raid

Posted on April 10th, 2007 by martijn.
Categories: International Terrorism, Morocco.

BBC NEWS | Africa | Two dead in Morocco terror raid
Two dead in Morocco terror raid

Eighteen were held after an internet cafe was blown up last month
Two suspected militants have been killed in a security operation in the Moroccan city of Casablanca, the authorities have said.

Security forces killed one suspect while another suspect blew himself up during the raid, police said.

Last month, police arrested 18 people after a suicide bomb attack at an internet cafe in the city.

In May 2003, some 45 people, including 12 bombers, were killed in a series of co-ordinated suicide bombings.

“One of the two was hit by bullets and died from his injuries while the other blew himself up just as police officers were in the process of arresting him,” the police statement said of Tuesday’s operation.

The statement said police had been looking for the two suspects as part of an investigation into the attack on the internet cafe on 11 March.

The bomber was killed in that attack, in which four people were injured, including a suspected accomplice.

Several of those arrested then were said to be linked the May 2003 bombings.

BBC NEWS | Africa | Two dead in Morocco terror raid

Posted on April 10th, 2007 by .
Categories: International Terrorism, Morocco.

BBC NEWS | Africa | Two dead in Morocco terror raid
Two dead in Morocco terror raid

Eighteen were held after an internet cafe was blown up last month
Two suspected militants have been killed in a security operation in the Moroccan city of Casablanca, the authorities have said.

Security forces killed one suspect while another suspect blew himself up during the raid, police said.

Last month, police arrested 18 people after a suicide bomb attack at an internet cafe in the city.

In May 2003, some 45 people, including 12 bombers, were killed in a series of co-ordinated suicide bombings.

“One of the two was hit by bullets and died from his injuries while the other blew himself up just as police officers were in the process of arresting him,” the police statement said of Tuesday’s operation.

The statement said police had been looking for the two suspects as part of an investigation into the attack on the internet cafe on 11 March.

The bomber was killed in that attack, in which four people were injured, including a suspected accomplice.

Several of those arrested then were said to be linked the May 2003 bombings.

Protected: nu.nl/algemeen | 'Homohuwelijk' in Marokko

Posted on April 9th, 2007 by martijn.
Categories: Morocco.

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Protected: nu.nl/algemeen | ‘Homohuwelijk’ in Marokko

Posted on April 9th, 2007 by martijn.
Categories: Morocco.

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Protected: NRC Handelsblad – Wijn uit Marokko?

Posted on March 31st, 2007 by martijn.
Categories: Morocco.

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Bombers had targeted Casablanca landmarks: papers – washingtonpost.com

Posted on March 26th, 2007 by .
Categories: International Terrorism, Morocco.

Bombers had targeted Casablanca landmarks: papers – washingtonpost.com
Bombers had targeted Casablanca landmarks: papers

By Lamine Ghanmi

RABAT (Reuters) – A Moroccan who was blown up in a Casablanca Internet cafe was part of a gang of suicide bombers who planned to attack landmarks in Morocco’s commercial capital, newspapers reported on Tuesday.

Abdelfattah Raydi, 23, blew up a belt of explosives he was carrying on Sunday night, killing himself and wounding four people after a tussle with the owner of the Web cafe in a suburb that is home to Casablanca’s largest slum.

“Five young men recruited by a man in the area of Hay Mohammedi were ready to carry out suicide bombings in Casablanca,” said Annass daily, which is considered to be well-informed on security matters.Assabah newspaper said the blast was accidental. The real target had been Casablanca’s police and paramilitary headquarters, restaurants and hotels, the paper said, citing unnamed security agencies. (more…)

Poverty-stricken Morocco bomber served jail time – washingtonpost.com

Posted on March 26th, 2007 by .
Categories: International Terrorism, Morocco.

Poverty-stricken Morocco bomber served jail time – washingtonpost.com
Poverty-stricken Morocco bomber served jail time

By Zakia Abdennebi

DOUAR ESCUELA, Morocco (Reuters) – Neighbors of a Moroccan suspected suicide bomber portray him as a religious man who tried in vain to lift his family out of poverty after his release from a prison term for membership of a militant group.

But no one in this fly-blown Casablanca slum raided overnight by police was able to explain why Abdelfattah Raydi detonated a belt of explosives in an Internet cafe on Sunday night, blowing himself to pieces and wounding four people.

New case of terrorism in Morocco

Posted on March 15th, 2007 by .
Categories: International Terrorism, Morocco.

A man with explosives hidden on his body blew himself up in an Internet cafe after the owners prevented him from looking at terror Web sites, the Interior Ministry said Monday.

The man was killed and four people were injured in the Sunday night blast in a Casablanca slum, said ministry spokesman Abderrahman Achour. One of the wounded was the dead man’s companion, who was hospitalized with burns and a throat injury.Both men were carrying explosives. But officials believe the cybercafe may not have been their target and that the explosion was an accident. The dead man was identified as Abdelftah Raidi, who was convicted of suspected terror links and sentenced to five years in prison before being pardoned in 2005, Achour told The Associated Press. Raidi, a Casablanca native in his early 20s, was unemployed, he said. Raidi’s injured companion was identified as Yusuf Khoudri, from the same Casablanca neighborhood, Achour said.

The news agency reported that two men entered the cafe at 10 p.m. Sunday seeking access to terrorist sites, but the owner’s son refused. A scuffle broke out, and the owner called for help before Raidi’s explosives went off, Kacemi was quoted as saying by MAP. Khoudri then fled, dropping an explosives belt on his way out, the official said. He was arrested about an hour later.

Khoudri was taken to Mohamed V Hospital in Casablanca, where he underwent an operation on his throat, the ministry spokesman said. Police questioning was limited because of his injury.

Moroccan officials are investigating if this was an act of (attempted) suicide terrorism but other officials seem already sure it is an act of terrorism. Morocco has been on a high alert since the series of bomb attacks in Algeria recently and the formation of the Algerian Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, formerly known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC). This change might be an attempt as to gather more recruts for Algeria but can also seen as an attempt of the GSPC to present itself as the only true representer of Al Qaeda and widening its range of activities. An imporant part of Morocco’s war against terror is also aimed at chasing down perpetrators of the Madrid attacks; one of whom is recently arrested.

Claiming Equal Citizenship Â» Morocco Amends Nationality Code

Posted on February 27th, 2007 by .
Categories: Gender, Kinship & Marriage Issues, Morocco.

Claiming Equal Citizenship Â» Morocco Amends Nationality Code

Great News – On January 18, 2007, the Moroccan Government passed a bill to reform the countryâ€™s nationality code which will enable women the right to pass on their nationality to their children. Although the bill has passed at the Cabinent level, it is awaiting approval from the Parliament, which hopefully will come next week.

The law was amended in line with the countryâ€™s family code, the Moudawana, meaning that only Moroccan women who have married Muslim men in accordance with the Moudawana would benefit.

The Moroccan Minister of Communication, Nabil Benabdallah, is quoted in The Magharebia, a news source reporting on the Maghreb region, as saying, â€œthe bill is an important step towards the emancipation of the Moroccan woman, after the reform in the family code (mudawana). Thus, the child will acquire Moroccan citizenship even if the father is a foreigner, but only if he is a Muslim and married according to the rules of the mudawana.â€ (more…)

Morocco to abolish capital punishment

Posted on February 4th, 2007 by .
Categories: Morocco.

Death penalty: Morocco to abolish capital punishment

[Hat Tip: Myrtus]
Paris, 1 Feb. (AKI) – Morocco will become by the end of April the first Arab state to remove the death penalty from its statute books, the president of the state appointed Consultative Committee on Human Rights, Ben Dhikri, confirmed to Adnkronos International (AKI) on Thursday. He is among 600 delegates gathered in the French capital, Paris for a two-day international conference against the death penalty. Prospects for abolishing capital punishment in North Africa are the main focus of the event – ‘The 3rd World Congress Against the Death Penalty’.

Dhikri said a “general consensus” in favour of ending capital punishment exists among MPs in the current Moroccan parliament whose term ends in April. Dhikri, who is a close advisor to Morocco’s King Mohammed VI, praised the monarch’s appointment of a special legal commission tasked with removing capital punishment from the country’s penal code.

“The law has already been amended and capital punishment abolished for a number of crimes,” Dhikri explained. “The plan now is to revise Morocco’s constitution to remove the death penalty,” he said.

“No true opposition to abolishing capital punishment exists, but there is some concern about the growth of terrorism and new forms of the phenomenon,” Dhikri said. “The positive aspects of Islam need to be stressed. It does not order people to kill, carry out reprisals or state executions,” he added. (more…)

Gouda – Imzouren

Posted on January 25th, 2007 by .
Categories: Gouda Issues, Morocco.

Imzouren is een klein stadje in het noorden van Marokko, vlakbij Al Hoceima. In 2003 heb ik dit plaatsje heel kort even bezocht. Het was op een zaterdag, dus markt en dat was erg aardig. In 2004 werd Imzouren, net als de rest van het noorden, getroffen door een zware aardbeving. Nu een paar jaar later, zo heb ik begrepen want ik was gisteren in Gouda, is er veel herbouwd maar er ontbrak nog geld voor een school: Lycee d’Imzouren.

De stichting SIGI (Stichting Initiatief Gouda-Imzouren) onder voorzitterschap van dhr. Laaguilli had gisteren een fundraising-avond georganiseerd in de Goudse Schouwburg. Tijdens deze avond waren vertegenwoordigers van Goudse instellingen en bedrijven aanwezig en werd er, volgens het AD,Â door de entree en veiling (van schilderijen)Â en het ‘adopteer een schoolklas-project’ 141.197 Euro opgehaald. Een mooi succes en een applausje waard voor de Gouwenaren.

Preserving oral traditions and visual history in Morocco

Posted on January 22nd, 2007 by .
Categories: Morocco.

Via BO18 and View from Fez:
An interesting site about the old Morocco: MarocAntan with an amazing collection of postcards and photographs of the old Morocco. Recently audio material has been added to this treasure in order to protect the oral traditions.

Updates

Posted on January 16th, 2007 by .
Categories: Misc. News, Morocco.

Updates on two trials.

About the Nichane-case in Morocco: the editor and author were given a three-year suspended sentence and a fine of 80.000 dirhams each. See Eatbees.
About the Iranian girl Nazanin: She is exonerated but has to pay blood money. See Save Nazanin.

Protected: Mithli in Marokko

Posted on January 6th, 2007 by martijn.
Categories: Gender, Kinship & Marriage Issues, Morocco.

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“Jokes: How Moroccans laugh at religion, sex and politics”

Posted on January 3rd, 2007 by .
Categories: Morocco.

Jokes are a serious matter and it can become awkward when some people don’t laugh at your jokes. The Moroccan Arab magazine Nichane ran a cover story about the role of jokes while sharing a few with readers. The jokes that were deemed particularly offensive were the ones dealing with religion. Jokes you can actually here everywhere and therefore nothing new. The article was written by Sanaa al Aji. A lawsuit has been filed against her and the magazine’s director for “insult to the Islamic faith” and “publication and distribution of writings that are contrary to the morals and mores” of the country. The cover story brings harm [to] the fundamental values of the Moroccan society, all the more reason that these values constitute the basis of cohesion between the various components of the Moroccan people. The trial is set for January 8th (thanks to Aisha for translating the Arab sites).

Meanwhile several Moroccan bloggers have set up a solidarity action such as Refusenik, Eatbees, Larbi, other blogs like View From Fez and Maroc-Blogs (1,2,3) also pay attention to it and also in some of the mainstream there seems to be some attention (but not much) like for example this interesting op-ed in Dar al Hayat by Mohamed Ashab, who raises some interesting questions: (more…)

"Jokes: How Moroccans laugh at religion, sex and politics"

Posted on January 3rd, 2007 by martijn.
Categories: Morocco.

Jokes are a serious matter and it can become awkward when some people don’t laugh at your jokes. The Moroccan Arab magazine Nichane ran a cover story about the role of jokes while sharing a few with readers. The jokes that were deemed particularly offensive were the ones dealing with religion. Jokes you can actually here everywhere and therefore nothing new. The article was written by Sanaa al Aji. A lawsuit has been filed against her and the magazine’s director for “insult to the Islamic faith” and “publication and distribution of writings that are contrary to the morals and mores” of the country. The cover story brings harm [to] the fundamental values of the Moroccan society, all the more reason that these values constitute the basis of cohesion between the various components of the Moroccan people. The trial is set for January 8th (thanks to Aisha for translating the Arab sites).

Meanwhile several Moroccan bloggers have set up a solidarity action such as Refusenik, Eatbees, Larbi, other blogs like View From Fez and Maroc-Blogs (1,2,3) also pay attention to it and also in some of the mainstream there seems to be some attention (but not much) like for example this interesting op-ed in Dar al Hayat by Mohamed Ashab, who raises some interesting questions: (more…)

Marrakech Inshallah – A film by Steffen Pierce

Posted on December 22nd, 2006 by .
Categories: Arts & culture, Morocco.

Harvard Film Archive’s Steffen Pierce to Debut Feature Film Saturday – HCL News – Harvard College Library
In the 1980s when Steffen Pierce, Assistant Curator of the Harvard Film Archive, spent several years working as a photographer in southern Spain, he fell in love with the country and culture of nearby Morocco, and took advantage of the opportunity to visit close to every other month. Later when a New York producer hired him to return to Morocco and Algiers to write a script on the French historical figure Charles de Foucauld, he took the jobâ€”but the film was never made. In frustration, Pierce decided to turn to small-budget films that he could make himself. Two decades later, Pierce, working in collaboration with brother and fellow filmmaker Christian, has channeled his familiarity with Morocco to produce two movies filmed there on location.

This Saturday, December 16, Pierce and his brother will debut their feature film, Marrakech Inshallah, at the HFA in a special screening and meet-the-director event. Pierce, who has been with the HFA for 15 years, was motivated to make the fictional film after his experiences with the brothersâ€™ first movie made on Moroccan soil, the documentary The Bride Market of Imilchil (1988). At the time, the Pierces interviewed two dozen individuals for their film and only later, after they had returned to the United States, learned that everyone theyâ€™d spoken to had been arrested and â€œre-interviewedâ€ by Moroccan authorities.

Protected: Trouw, hetNieuws| wereld – Arabisch / Marokkaans dialect komt los van ordinair imago

Posted on December 4th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: Morocco.

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Protected: Trouw, hetNieuws| wereld – Arabisch / Marokkaans dialect komt los van ordinair imago

Posted on December 4th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: Morocco.

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HLRecord: Justice and Spirituality / Al Adl Wal Ihsane – A Moroccan View – News

Posted on November 25th, 2006 by .
Categories: Gender, Kinship & Marriage Issues, Morocco, Religious and Political Radicalization.

Justice and Spirituality – A Moroccan View – News

Sapan Gupta
Issue date: 4/20/06 Section: News

Last Friday, the Islamic Legal Studies Program, along with the Moroccan Studies Program at Harvard’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies presented a talk titled “Legal Reform in Morocco: Views of a Moroccan Feminist Dissident.” Along with Nadia Yassine, Emad Shahin from American University of Cairo, and Ann Mayer from University of Pennsylvania were the other participants at the forum. Nadia Yassine is the leading spokesperson for the banned Moroccan Islamist movement Justice and Spirituality (Al Adl Wal Ihsane). Nadia Yassine was at HLS to present her book Full Sails Ahead, recently published by Justice and Spirituality Publishing. With a tight headscarf and loose clothing, the 47-year-old spokeswoman of the Islamic movement looks like a traditional Muslim woman, but often sounds like a western feminist.The group Justice and Spirituality rejects violence and is seen as the main opponent to the North African monarchy. It has a strong following in universities and is popular in poor areas. Many educated middle-class Moroccans see Justice and Spirituality as a backward movement, because of its emphasis on religious values, yet Nadia Yassine believes that Islam holds the keys to the progress that the country yearns for. A vocal social activist in Morocco, Nadia Yassine is now under indictment in Morocco for disrespect of “national sacred institutions.” The indictment is based an interview she gave to the Moroccan weekly Al Usbu’iya Al Jadida in June, 2005 where she adamantly criticized monarchy and favored the republic as the proper system of government, and closest to the Islamic theory of political power. She has been recurrently voicing such views for years. Nadia Yassine is expected to be sentenced from 3 to 5 years of imprisonment, and to be fined from $1000 to $100,000.

Morocco, located in the North African region known as the Maghreb, has a culture drawn from Arab, European, Berber, and African influences. A former French colony, the country has been ruled since 1956 by monarchs who claim executive and religious authority as “Commander of the Faithful.” Since becoming monarch in 1999, King Mohammed VI has introduced a radical and controversial new Islamic family code, the “Mudawwana,” which recognizes women as equal partners in the home, with equal property and divorce rights to men. In a groundbreaking development it eliminated the dictate that men are the head of the household. This created an opportunity for a tremendous cultural shift and revisions within many aspects of Moroccan life.

However, Nadia Yassine believes that Mudawwana comes within the framework of a desire by the North to dominate the South through setting up a standard model for the world in order to facilitate a better cultural domination of nations. In her view, an Islamic state could learn from the West in creating a truly representative democracy, but would not have to separate religion from politics and would create its own model instead of aping the West. Neither Iran, nor Saudi Arabia, nor Afghanistan provide an example to follow, Yassine believes, because nobody has yet managed to create a state faithful to the principles of Islam, she explains. Islam is a totally pacific religion, and people such as Bin Laden tarnish the reputation of other fundamentalist groups which follow a completely different path, she complains. She further subscribes to the view that Mudawwana should be changed. She believes that Mudawwana represents the image of ruling autocracy. Nadia Yassine clarifies that her movement is not against integrating the woman in development and her societal movement bases its activities on a constant intellectual effort of adapting the sacred text to the ever-changing context and advocates the vital need to promote and develop the status of women. “We are not only for amending the status of women, said Yassine, “we are changing such status in real life.” She claims that the proposal of her society concerning the status of women is well ahead of the Mudawwana’s advocated reforms.

Nadia Yassine said that her campaign is purely political and not religious. However, her talk did not explain that if Mudawwana helps in integrating the women to development, why her society is opposing it. During the talk, no particular provisions of Mudawwana were debated or presented as causes of consideration. Two other speakers made brief comments on the topic and were not called upon to answer any questions.In her book, Full Sails Ahead, Nadia Yassine does not blame the West for the Islamic fundamentalism. She commented that “our problems are internal and we should look from inside rather than blaming others.” She further said that “The Bible has not given the rights to Western women. They have earned their own rights and I salute it.”

Telegraph | News | Town that breeds suicide bombers

Posted on November 25th, 2006 by .
Categories: International Terrorism, Morocco, Religious and Political Radicalization.

Telegraph | News | Town that breeds suicide bombers

By Fiona Govan
Their destination may be almost 3,000 miles away, but the draw of martyrdom in Iraq is proving irresistable for the young men of Tetouan.

American intelligence officials believe that the Moroccan town, less than 30 miles from the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, has become one of the world’s most fertile recruiting ground for jihadists.

In the last eight months a group of young men, all worshippers at the same mosque, have left their homes to become suicide bombers in Iraq.

After DNA tests on their bodies, and Moroccan authorities asking families to provide samples, US intelligence traced at least nine of those responsible for recent suicide missions in and around Baghdad to Tetouan and its surrounding area in the foothills of the Rif Mountains.

Local reports suggest that another 21 individuals have left the area to seek martyrdom, following in the footsteps of five other Tetouanis who blew themselves up in a Madrid suburb when cornered by police, who believed they played a part in the train bombings in the Spanish capital in March 2004.

The families of the young men, all in their twenties, tell the same stories â€“ of sons, brothers, husbands who became disillusioned with the daily struggle to earn. (more…)

Telegraph | News | Town that breeds suicide bombers

Posted on November 25th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: International Terrorism, Morocco, Religious and Political Radicalization.

Telegraph | News | Town that breeds suicide bombers

By Fiona Govan
Their destination may be almost 3,000 miles away, but the draw of martyrdom in Iraq is proving irresistable for the young men of Tetouan.

American intelligence officials believe that the Moroccan town, less than 30 miles from the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, has become one of the world’s most fertile recruiting ground for jihadists.

In the last eight months a group of young men, all worshippers at the same mosque, have left their homes to become suicide bombers in Iraq.

After DNA tests on their bodies, and Moroccan authorities asking families to provide samples, US intelligence traced at least nine of those responsible for recent suicide missions in and around Baghdad to Tetouan and its surrounding area in the foothills of the Rif Mountains.

Local reports suggest that another 21 individuals have left the area to seek martyrdom, following in the footsteps of five other Tetouanis who blew themselves up in a Madrid suburb when cornered by police, who believed they played a part in the train bombings in the Spanish capital in March 2004.

The families of the young men, all in their twenties, tell the same stories â€“ of sons, brothers, husbands who became disillusioned with the daily struggle to earn. (more…)

C L O S E R – Youssef ‘Chico’ Slimani

Posted on September 4th, 2006 by .
Categories: Morocco, Youth culture (as a practice).

Wie wel eens in Oujda is geweest of in de omgeving ervan, kan het zich waarschijnlijk niet helemaal voorstellen. Oujda is een beetje saai stadje in het noorden van Marokko, dicht bij de Algerijnse grens. Veel migranten uit Nederland komen uit die regio; economisch gezien niet zo heel goed ontwikkeld (ondanks de prachtige huizen van veel (re-)migranten die er ook te bewonderen zijn), cultureel gezien zeker niet vergelijkbaar met het westen van Marokko. De natuur is wel mooi, zeker als je in de richting van Berkane gaat en de bergen aldaar. Zoals gezegd, Oujda is een beetje saai (nou vooruit dan de markt is erg leuk, daar moet je zeker een keer geweest zijn) en wordt soms ook nog eens gezien als Ã©Ã©n van de Marokkaanse bolwerken van fundamentalisme. Een swingend imago heeft Oujda zeker niet, maar misschien kan daar verandering in komen met Youssef ‘Chico’ Slimani. Waarschijnlijk is dat niet, want de beste man woont gewoon in de UK.

C L O S E R – Youssef 'Chico' Slimani

Posted on September 4th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: Morocco, Youth culture (as a practice).

Wie wel eens in Oujda is geweest of in de omgeving ervan, kan het zich waarschijnlijk niet helemaal voorstellen. Oujda is een beetje saai stadje in het noorden van Marokko, dicht bij de Algerijnse grens. Veel migranten uit Nederland komen uit die regio; economisch gezien niet zo heel goed ontwikkeld (ondanks de prachtige huizen van veel (re-)migranten die er ook te bewonderen zijn), cultureel gezien zeker niet vergelijkbaar met het westen van Marokko. De natuur is wel mooi, zeker als je in de richting van Berkane gaat en de bergen aldaar. Zoals gezegd, Oujda is een beetje saai (nou vooruit dan de markt is erg leuk, daar moet je zeker een keer geweest zijn) en wordt soms ook nog eens gezien als Ã©Ã©n van de Marokkaanse bolwerken van fundamentalisme. Een swingend imago heeft Oujda zeker niet, maar misschien kan daar verandering in komen met Youssef ‘Chico’ Slimani. Waarschijnlijk is dat niet, want de beste man woont gewoon in de UK.

C L O S E R – Back from liminoid

Posted on September 1st, 2006 by .
Categories: Blogosphere, Gouda Issues, Internal Debates, International Terrorism, Joy Category, Morocco, Religious and Political Radicalization, Some personal considerations.

Well, hello there. It’s been a while. I think besides during my stay in Morocco a few years ago, there was never a ‘blog-less’ period that was so long. Holidays (indeed, that was my liminoid phase), writing research applications, writing two chapters of my Ph.D (yes!) and a lot of small things kept me away from here. Not that there wasn’t anything to blog about. Let me give you a small tour of what happened and what would certainly have been part of the blog:

A Romeo and Juliet story

St. Paul Pioneer Press | 08/09/2006 | Love in the time of holy war
Love in the time of holy war
More than distance and prison separate a Muslim extremist and his Jewish girlfriend.

Racialization of Muslims

spiked | Making Muslims into a race apart
Making Muslims into a race apart
In his TV show on British Muslims, Jon Snow was more anthropologist than journalist, trekking to an exotic land to meet apparently peculiar people.

Some things about IsraÃ«l and Hezbollah

towards God is our journey
Muslim disagreement on the ‘Party of God’

Islamicate: Invoking Spinoza

The Qana Conspiracy Theory – World Opinion Roundup
The Qana Conspiracy Theory

Some things about irritating aircraft passengers a.k.a. terrorists

Mirror.co.uk – News – EXCLUSIVE: MALAGA JET MUTINY PAIR’S SHOCK AT PLANE EJECTION
EXCLUSIVE: MALAGA JET MUTINY PAIR’S SHOCK AT PLANE EJECTION
Sohail Ashraf & Khuram Zeb
We just couldn’t believe they feared we were bombers We’re ordinary Asian lads who only wanted some fun

The Peninsula On-line: Qatar’s leading English Daily
All is well, say Indians in terror scare

Some Dutch stuff

NRC Handelsblad – Digitale Editie – Zaterdag 26 augustus 2006

Strijd in Midden-Oosten bewijst het failliet van de koude oorlog tegen de moslimdemocraten
Saad Eddin Ibrahim

NRC Handelsblad – Digitale Editie – Zaterdag 26 augustus 2006

Ook ik had een martelaar voor Allah kunnen worden
Naema Tahir

Het is, in je hoofd, niet eens zoâ€™n grote stap, martelaar worden voor de islam. Toen schrijfster Naema Tahir als ontheemde puber klem zat tussen Pakistan, Engeland en Nederland, lokte het gastvrije hemelse paradijs heel wat meer dan het verwarrende leven als immigrant.

AD.nl – 24 uur per dag actueel nieuws /
Groei islamitische basisschool Gouda zet door

STOPlog
De Vliegeraar
Dit boek geeft je het gevoel de geschiedenis van de laatste 30 jaar in Afghanistan van binnenuit te hebben beleefd. Daarin is schrijver Khaled Hosseini zondermeer geslaagd. De Vliegeraar van Kabul is een verpletterend boek dat je van het begin tot het eind gevangen houdt. Net als een vlieger zal de lezer het verhaal ook daarna niet meer loslaten, zoals dat bij bepaalde boeken het geval is.

Trouw, deVerdieping| letter-geest – Veroordeeld tot verstoting uit de maatschappij
Veroordeeld tot verstoting uit de maatschappij
door Joshua Livestro

Essayist Joshua Livestro signaleert een streven om te willen terugkeren naar vroeger, â€™naar de tijd van vÃ³Ã³r de polarisering, vÃ³Ã³r de kogels, de messteken en de harde woorden over de (radicale) islamâ€™.

Maar â€™wat bedoeld is als een herstel van oude verhoudingen, draagt in praktijk vooral bij aan de voortschrijdende islamisering van de Nederlandse samenlevingâ€™. Degenen die zich hiertegen verzetten, worden maatschappelijk verstoten.

Een gevalletje ‘vrijheid van meningsuiting’ van iemand die zich presenteert als de ridder van het vrije woord, maar dat beter niet kan doen (ook al had hij in de kwestie zelf gelijk).

Some interesting research stuff

Pearsall’s Books: Pentecostalism and the Berbers
Pentecostalism and the Berbers

rfmcdpei: [BRIEF NOTE] The Christianization of Kabylia?
The Christianization of Kabylia?

Something about free speech

Raed in the Middle: back from the mideast
One of the two men who approached me first, Inspector Harris, asked for my id card and boarding pass. I gave him my boarding pass and driver’s license. He said “people are feeling offended because of your t-shirt”. I looked at my t-shirt: I was wearing my shirt which states in both Arabic and English “we will not be silent”. You can take a look at it in this picture taken during our Jordan meetings with Iraqi MPs. I said “I am very sorry if I offended anyone, I didnt know that this t-shirt will be offensive”. He asked me if I had any other T-shirts to put on, and I told him that I had checked in all of my bags and I asked him “why do you want me to take off my t-shirt? Isn’t it my constitutional right to express myself in this way?” The second man in a greenish suit interfered and said “people here in the US don’t understand these things about constitutional rights”. So I answered him “I live in the US, and I understand it is my right to wear this t-shirt”.

Something strange

There is this funny video I found only recently seems to make clear why we, men, never should be allowed to come close to an iron (which is undoubtedly true of course 😉 ). Funny thing is though that the same video was emailed to me and the video there was called: muslim-of-the-week (moslim-van-de-week). Don’t know how people know if this guy is a Muslim or not and I don’t know what it means this name change (there was no comment in the email), but nevertheless I found it remarkable. Another thing that is remarkable; I do a lot of stupid things every day and luckily no cameras around, while this one is filmed in such a way (angle) that the effect would be clear. So it is probably fake. But still, it is funny, so here watch it yourself:

Totallycrap: Call me on My Mobile

And something funny

Austin Powers in Goldmember – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
* Goldmember: “Hey, everybody! I’m from Holland! Isn’t that vierd?”
* Goldmember: “Look everyvone! My vinky vas a key!” (triumphantly holds up his penis/spare tractor-beam key)

Nigel Powers: “Only a bloody Dutchman!”

* Nigel Powers: “There’s only two things I hate in this world. People who are intolerant of other people’s cultures…and the Dutch. ”

So, yes, that means that I’m back from going liminoid, but still without an answer to the most important question in the blogosphere: what’s the use of blogging? And for the people who have noticed that this blog wasn’t online the last few days, religionresearch.org (of which this blog is part of) had exceeded the bandwith limit. Mainly due to my blog but I don’t know why: a hundred and something visitors isn’t enough for that. So is anyone stealing my bandwith?

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