Thursday, September 10, 2009

The chador and feminism don't always fit - Meghan Daum - LA TIMES

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-daum10-2009sep10,0,4040349.column



latimes.com


Opinion

The chador and feminism don't always fit

Some romanticize Islamic women's dress as liberating; the case of Lubna Hussein is a reminder of the dark side of the veil.

On Monday in Sudan, Lubna Hussein, a 34-year-old journalist, was convicted and jailed for wearing pants (long, loose ones) on the streets of Khartoum. Though she was released the next day and, moreover, avoided the 40 lashes with a plastic whip that is considered a standard sentence under Sudanese law for wearing "indecent clothing," her case made international headlines and attracted protesters outside the courthouse, many of whom were women who wore trousers in solidarity (and some of whom were arrested).

Hussein, who was entitled to immunity because she worked for the United Nations, quit her job and used the arrest as an opportunity to spotlight the punishment for dress code violations in Sudan. Having refused to pay the $200 fine, Hussein said she was glad to go to jail and seemed disappointed when she was released after a journalists union paid her fine. "I am not happy," she told Reuters. "I told all my friends and family not to pay the fine. ... [T]here are more than 700 women still in the prison who have got no one to pay for them."

Hussein isn't the only rabble-rousing feminist journalist who has made waves in sartorial politics. In a column that was published a year ago but has grabbed widespread interest on the Internet in recent days, America's own Naomi Wolf had a revelation. Islamic dress protocol, she says, can be empowering and is infused with feminist dimensions that Westerners, in their Islamaphobia, are too quick to deny. Writing in the Sydney Morning Herald in August 2008, Wolf talked about visiting Muslim countries and meeting with women in their homes and realizing that "Muslim attitudes toward women's appearance and sexuality are not rooted in repression, but in a strong sense of public versus private, of what is due to God and what is due to one's husband."

Noting (with apparent surprise) that in the privacy of their homes Muslim women avail themselves of body lotions, attractive clothing and Victoria's Secret lingerie, Wolf wonders if Western sexual liberation, at least when it comes to how women are expected to look and dress, offers its own kind of tyranny. In fact, when she donned full-body covering and a chador and visited a Moroccan bazaar, she had something of an epiphany. "As I moved about the market -- the curve of my breasts covered, the shape of my legs obscured, my long hair not flying about me -- I felt a novel sense of calm and serenity," Wolf wrote. "I felt, yes, in certain ways, free."

Clearly, Wolf, who is nothing if not a master of taking obvious, not- exactly-original ideas and disguising them as radical inquiry (her name-making and "groundbreaking" book, "The Beauty Myth," offered up the ostensibly novel idea that obsession with physical appearance was damaging to women's progress in other areas) must never have dressed up as a ghost (or a nun or a cereal box for that matter) for Halloween. If she had, she could have saved herself the plane fare to Morocco and figured out what I thought most women -- actually, most human beings -- already know: Invisibility (or at least plainness) has its good points. Sure, it can be fun to get attention -- sometimes for showing skin, if that's your thing -- but it also can be tremendously liberating to bow out of the whole "am I hot?" enterprise altogether.

Given that for the last several years, American fashion trends have taken a skimpy (some might say sleazy) turn, it's easy to look at "repressive" dress codes in the Islamic world and attempt to make counterintuitive arguments about how it's potentially easier for women to thrive under a veil than in a miniskirt. And Wolf, for her part, is hardly the first Westerner to find a kind of romance in the idea of being covered. A significant percentage of Western Judeo-Christians who convert from Christianity to Islam are women, many of whom enthusiastically embrace the protocol for modesty and speak about the relief of no longer being seen as sex objects.

It's not difficult to understand how demureness and chastity can be a source of fascination, even a kind of fetish, for all kinds of people. After all, some young women still dream of becoming nuns, Lanz of Salzburg flannel nightgowns still abound and "repressed" eras like the Victorian are in many ways imbued with more eroticism than even the hyper-sexual world of today. There's a reason the lingerie company didn't call itself Madonna's Secret -- maybe because she doesn't appear to have any.

But if equating the hijab with patriarchal oppression is reductive and reactionary, romanticizing it is even more so, and the case of Lubna Hussein is a reminder of that. As Wolf's experience suggests, it's fun to dress up if you're truly dressing up, if the fabric that covers you feels more like a fun costume than a state- enforced shield against arrest or worse. Miniskirts may represent their own kind of tyranny, but in this country we have a way of fighting back: We can wear something else.

mdaum@latimescolumnists.com

Fwd: Complicity of Unon Government in Modi's crimes



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Iqbal A. Ansari <iqbalansari35@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 10:08 PM

Subject: Complicityof Unon Government in Modi's crimes

Dear friends,

On the eve of the last NIC meeting in October 08 ,I had addressed a letter to the PM.It started thus:

 

"Mr.Prime Minister,

 

You are presiding over the destiny of a nation ,which claims to be the largest democracy in the world without rule of law and a secular state without secular justice."

.The latest example of  the lawlessness of the  Indian State  is the recent report on fake encounter killing of Ishrat Jahan and three others by police officers in Gujarat in which most damning aspect is the collusive role of the Union Home Ministry .No less harrowing is to recall the  media – official collusive reporting of the event by likes of Praveen Swami of the Hindu and most electronic news channels as a definite case of L-e-T /J-e-M backed acts of terrorism aimed at enabling one mass  murderr wear the halo of martyrdom .

 

What does the Unioin  Minister for Law and Justuice ,Mr.Veerappa Moily mean by stating that revelations in Ishrat Jahan encounter case was a "very serious matter for the country and  in  any other foreign country Narendra Modi would have been in some other place" ? as reported by the Indian Express of 9Sep 09.It is an  obvious admission of absence of rule of law in India ,which largely  obtains in Western democracies, irrespective of their lawlessness while dealing with others .

 

Why do Advanis ,Uma Bharatis,Kalyan Singhs ,Bal Thackerays,Singhals,and Modis enjoy not only impunity but respectability because even Human Rights activsts swear by Indian Secularism  which means equal respect for all religions ,not effective equal  enjoyment of human rights including equal protection of the law by all ,especially vulnerable minorities and weaker sections.

 

Have  the  human rights groups ,like the PUCL,taken any notice of  the Special Report on India by the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief  released in Feb 09 in which it has warned about  repetition of Ayodhya /Mumbai 1992  and Gujarat 2002 if the guilty continue to  enjoy impunity  ?

 

It is time that victims asked  senior   human rights and peace activists, who unambiguously gave their verdict of genocide/pogrom about Gujarat 2002,  why did they not show any  perseverance in demanding dismissal of the Modi government by the UPA government soon after its coming into power in 2004,   followed by appointment of a special Tribunal for  trial of  members of the government  and officials responsible for mass hate crimes   on the additional ground of the Supreme Court's  strictures about   systematic  subversion of justice in Gujarat and on the ground of  its  non –compliance of norms and directions on relief operatios by the NHRC.The fig leaf of Modi having won popular mandate was too thin to provide any real  protection in the Court  against exercise of article 356 by the Union Government if it had the will to punish the guilty and rehabilitate the victims .Whenever article 356 has been or will be appropriately used,it will be exercised  against popularly elected government in the event of serious breakdown of constitutional functioning of the system in the state as was the justification for its recourse in 1992. ,which got upheld by the Supreme Court.

 

We know why the Government led by Manmohan Singh-Sonia Gandhi,who had stalled the functioning of the Parliament for a number of days in 2002 over their demand for dismissal of the Modi Government ,lacked the will to try and punish Modi and company.They must have  got terrified by the ghost in the mirror ,very palpable in 1984 but also by   very many others  like Nellie  1983 ,Hashimpura-Maliana 1987,Bhagalpur 1989 etc etc

 

But why do we not muster courage and perseverance?The question requires us    to widen the perspective  and raise ethical-philosophical questions like the Hindu attitude to pain and suffering  of the innocent  other ,explained in terms of the  previous life / or perceived wrongs of history and the Partition.

 

How long will the Indian  Muslims be required to live under the shadow of a Partition for which they alone are not to blame.?

 

 

Iqbal .A.Ansari

 

Iqbalansari35@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are we not willig   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


From: PIPFPD@yahoogroups.com [mailto:PIPFPD@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Khalid Azam
Sent: Tuesday, September 08, 2009 1:45 AM
To: Khalid Azam
Subject: [PIPFPD] Shabnam Hashmi: An Open Letter to Dr Manmohan Singh, Hon'ble PM of India

 

 

 

FYI - A very powerful letter from Shabnam

--- On Mon, 9/7/09, shabnam hashmi wrote:


From: shabnam hashmi 
Subject: An Open Letter to Dr Manmohan Singh, Hon'ble PM
To: "manmohan@sansad.nic.in" <manmohan@sansad.nic.in>
Date: Monday, September 7, 2009, 12:33 PM

An Open Letter to Hon'ble Prime Minister

 

Dr. Manmohan Singh

Hon'ble Prime Minister of India

September 8, 2009, 1.02am

Dear Dr Manmohan Singh.

 

                                     I had written a small article in The Hindustan Times in June 2004. It was called 'Come Shoot Me: I am a Terrorist'. It was to express my anguish on Ishrat Jahan's killing in Gujarat.

 

The Magisterial Enquiry, which is mandatory in every encounter case (and which was never done in the Batla House encounter) has finally termed it Ishrat jahan's killing as a fake encounter yesterday in a metropolitan court. It is not a matter of surprise for us as we knew that she was killed in cold blood. Perhaps you will also agree that such things are happening and happened in Gujarat under Modi. But I am not writing to talk about how bad Modi is.  

 

I am writing this to ask you a small favour.

 

I know you have absolutely hectic schedules and thousands of issues to handle so I am putting down here the facts, gathered from various media reports.

 

On June 15, 2003, the Ahmedabad city crime branch, then headed by the now jailed IPS officer D G Vanzara, shot four young people –Ishrat Jahan, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjad Ali Rana  and Jisan Johar. It was propagated that these four young people were alleged Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operatives who were allegedly on mission to kill chief minister Narendra Modi.

 

Ishrat, was a 19-year old student of Khalsa College in Mumbra, a Mumbai suburb.

 

Ishrat's mother filed a petition in the high court in 2004 demanding death compensation and a CBI probe. Ishrat Jahan's mother's Petition alleged that it was a fake encounter as one of the many that the present government regime in Gujarat headed by Narendra Modi had done to achieve Political Mileage to publicly create panic and sympathy that the Chief Minister was sought to be assassinated.

 

The crime branch carried out the operation and the same agency conducted investigation.

 

When the petition was heard by Justice KS Jhaveri , he immediately proposed, almost on line taken by the Supreme Court in the infamous Sohrabuddin fake encounter case, for which Vanzara was jailed along with other policemen, that a five-member team - all of the rank of additional DGP - should probe this case.

 

 The encounter was done by the infamous D. G. Vanzara and his team who are presently arrested under Orders of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of fake encounter of Sohrabuddin and his wife Kausarbi. Sohrabuddin's encounter has been admitted by the state to be fake and recently on 11/08/2008, they have agreed to deposit an amount of Rs. 10.00 Lakhs as interim ex-gratia compensation for being paid to the Kith and Kin of the two.

There are allegedly 28 encounters which were fake and have been covered up.

 

In Ishrat Jahan's matter the CBI was impleaded as a Party and it took a stand that if the Court so orders they are willing to carry out fresh investigations and unearth the truth. Such stand triggered panic with the State Government and it seems even with some Officers of Central Home Ministry.  After UPA came to power some tainted CBI officers placed in Gujarat during the NDA with questionable track record were removed after  a lot of pressure and almost two years but they soon found plush positions in Delhi under UPA regime.

 

To our dismay we realized last month through the media reports that the Ministry of Home Affairs in an affidavit stated that Ishrat, Javed and two others Jisan Johar and Amjad Ali Rana were all operatives of Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Toiba.

 

Maintaining that the four were terrorists, the Union government told the high court, "No proposal for CBI investigation is under consideration of the Centre nor does it consider the present case fit for CBI probe."

 

Moreover, the Centre claimed that there is no question of independent inquiry, as an additional DGP (CID & Intelligence) had carried out an independent probe into the incident and the officer is neither working with crime branch nor is he a subordinate to the crime branch, which carried out the operation and later investigated the case itself."

 

If you remember Hon'ble prime Minister when I met you regarding the Package for the Gujarat 2002 victims along with other activists from Gujarat I had jokingly said, "The news that UPA has replaced NDA at the centre has not reached your Home Ministry as yet'. I had said this precisely in the connection of how the tainted officers promoted by the BJP were still being pampered under the UPA.

 

The reason behind filing of the Affidavit by the Central Government was to dissuade the Court from appointing a strong S I T and give a message that even the Central Government had approved the act of fake encounter. But for the magisterial enquiry the Central Home Ministry had left no stone unturned to prove that Ishrat deserved to be killed.

 

The logic used always is what will happen to the morale of the officers. My question is what happens to the morale of the officers when they torture innocent young people, when they kill them, when they illegally detain them, beat them. What happens to their morale then? Do they just go home and sleep?

 

Why don't we as nation stop playing the farce of being a secular nation and why don't we remove the article from the constitution which says all citizens are equal?

The affidavit filed by the Home Ministry is a proof of the fact that in Ishrat Jahan's fake encounter case UPA has connived with the Gujarat government in a blatantly communal manner. With 3 days to go before assembly bye election in 7 seats in Gujarat 5 more innocent boys have been picked up in Baroda and declared' terrorists'. 

 

I do not know if this letter will be also lost on the way and find itself in a dustbin as I have never received any acknowledgment from your office, so I will be forced to circulate it to others to lodge a strong protest against this blatant connivance of the Home Ministry with the Gujarat government. 

 

My request to you is that if your government has any political will then please ask your home ministry to tender a public apology for filing the affidavit against the innocent girl who was so brutally murdered. It requires some courage and conviction.

 

You are fond of poetry.

Faiz ke chand lines apki nazar kar rahi hoon:

 

Tujh ko kitnon ka lahoo chahiye ae arz-i-watan, Jo tiray arz-i-berang ko gulnaar karein

Kitni aahon se kaleja tira thanda hoga, Kitne aansoo tiray sehraon ko gulzaar karein


(
The blood of how many do you need O motherland;That which will brighten your colourless earth; 

How many sighs will soothe your heart; How many tears will cause your deserts to bloom.)

 

 Sincerely Yours

Shabnam Hashmi

Member, National Integration Council

Cc: Media & fellow human rights activists

__._,_.___

Messages in this topic (1) Reply (via web post) | Start a new topic

Recent Activity

Visit Your Group

Give Back

Yahoo! for Good

Get inspired

by a good cause.

Y! Toolbar

Get it Free!

easy 1-click access

to your groups.

Yahoo! Groups

Start a group

in 3 easy steps.

Connect with others.

.

__,_._,___


Muslim Coalition to Host D.C. Hearing on Health Care Reform

September 10, 2009 Forward to a Friend Support CAIR Contact Us Update Your Profile
Untitled Document

-----

HADITH OF THE DAY: ASK GOD FOR FORGIVENESS AND HEALTH - TOP

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Ask God for forgiveness and health, for after being granted certainty, one is given nothing better than
(good) health."

Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 780

-----

MUSLIM COALITION TO HOST D.C. HEARING ON HEALTH CARE REFORM - TOP

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 9/10/2009) - On Tuesday, September 15, the American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections (AMT), a coalition of major national Islamic organizations, will host a Capitol Hill citizens' hearing on mobilizing Muslim support for health care reform.

DATE: Tuesday, September 15, 2009
PLACE: Rayburn Building, Room 2203, Capitol Hill, Washington, D. C.
TIME: 10 AM-1 PM (Social Hour 10-11 AM, Presentations 11 AM-12:30 PM, Lunch 12:30-1 PM)

Presentations:

  1. President Obama's Healthcare Initiative and the Legislative Process: This is How You Can Help!
    Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN)
  2. Why the Healthcare Status Quo is Untenable
    Khalique Zahir, M.D., President, Islamic Medical Association of North America (IMANA)
  3. The Obama Healthcare Initiative: Realties and Misperceptions
    Zahid Imran M.D., Association of Pakistani Physicians of North America (APPNA)
  4. Why Universal Healthcare is Both Medically and Economically Desirable and Feasible
    Esam Omeish M.D., Chief of Surgery, INOVA Alexandria Hospital, Va.
  5. US Healthcare: Human Dimensions
    Personal Testimonies
  6. Muslim American Free Clinics: A Brief Report
    Khizer Husain, Washington Liaison, Task Force on Health Affordability, American Muslim Health Professionals (AMHP)
  7. Concluding Remarks
    Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN)

For More Information Contact: AMT Chair Dr. Agha Saeed, 510-299-9313, E-Mail: aghaksaeed@yahoo.com, Salim Akhtar, 773-507-5335

AMT is an umbrella organization that includes American Muslim Alliance (AMA), American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA), MAS-Freedom, Muslim Student Association-National (MSA-N), Muslim Ummah of North America (MUNA), and United Muslims of America (UMA). Its observer organizations include American Muslims for Civic Engagement (AMCE), Islamic Educational Council of Orange County (IECOC), the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), and Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC).

-----

US MUSLIMS: BACKLASH FEAR BUILDS EACH 9/11 - TOP
By RACHEL ZOLL, Associated Press, 9/10

NEW YORK — There is the dread of leaving the house that morning. People might stare, or worse, yell insults. (More)

-----

EXERCISE TAILORED TO A HIJAB - TOP
Abby Ellin, New York Times, 9/10/09

The first time Julia Shearson rode her bike after converting to Islam seven years ago, her headscarf became stuck in the wheel.

She lost her balance, and by the time she got going again she was met with stares as she whizzed along, arms and legs draped in loose clothing, her scarf billowing in the breeze.

“You have to overcome the looks,” said Ms. Shearson, 43, the executive director of the Cleveland chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “It’s already hard enough to exercise, and if you look different…it’s even harder.” (More)

-----

CAIR: ANTI-MUSLIM BIAS PERSISTS, POLL FINDS - TOP
Fewer in U.S. see Islam as violence-prone
Julia Duin, Washington Times, 9/10/09

Eight years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the general public thinks Muslims are second only to homosexuals in being discriminated against, a new survey shows.

Nearly six in 10 Americans -- 58 percent -- think Muslims are subject to "a lot" of discrimination, according to two combined surveys released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center. Almost two-thirds of those surveyed -- 64 percent -- said there was "a lot" of discrimination against homosexuals…

Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the conclusions of the Pew study match his group's tracking of bias against Muslims. Mr. Hooper said his organization's research shows that discrimination against Muslims has increased since the group began tracking it in 1995.

"It's unfortunate," Mr. Hooper said. "But I don't want to get into that idea that we are more of a victim than any other minority group. We don't want to see anyone targeted by bias or intolerance."

Mr. Hooper also agreed with the Pew study's conclusion that those who are more familiar with Islam were less likely to link the religion to violence.

"Our research has shown time and time again that when people know more about Islam, prejudice and stereotyping [go] down," he said. "I think that just confirms what we've seen a number of times in the past." (More)

SEE ALSO:

CAIR-MI: POLL: 58% BELIEVE MUSLIMS FACE DISCRIMINATION - TOP
Oralandar Brand-Williams, Detroit News, 9/10/09

Eight years after the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks, Americans know more about Islam, which may be helping foster more favorable views about Muslims, according to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center.

At the same time, the survey found Americans believe Muslims in the United States face more discrimination than any other major religious group. Six in 10 adults in the United States say Muslims are subjected to far more discrimination than evangelical Christians, Jews, Mormons or atheists, according to the study, released Wednesday…

The Pew results are not surprising to Dawud Walid, Council on American-Islamic Relations -- Michigan executive director.

"Discrimination towards Muslims has steadily increased according to our own study, Walid said. "It seems Islam-phobia has drastically increased."

Walid says his organization is trying to bridge the gap in understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims through a campaign called Share the Quran campaign, which seeks to enhance understanding of Islam. (More)

-----

CAIR-NY: MUSLIM GROUP WELCOMES NYPD CLARIFICATION ON HOMEGROWN TERRORISM REPORT- TOP
Tom Hays, Associated Press, 9/10/09

Despite welcoming the changes, the New York-based Muslim American Civil Liberties Coalition accused the NYPD of not doing enough to publicize them. Also, the study still has passages that "criminalize religious behaviors," said Aliya Latif of the New York office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a coalition member. (More)

-----

CAIR-MI: COPS: GIRL SUFFERS BEATING AND SLURS IN ANN ARBOR - TOP
Group ripped Islamic scarf off, police say
Niraj Warikoo, Detroit Free Press, 9/10/09

An Islamic advocacy group said a 16-year-old Muslim girl of Iraqi descent was verbally and physically attacked Tuesday afternoon in Ann Arbor by a group of African-American students.

The assailants allegedly said "(expletive) Arabs, they are dirty," pulled the girl's Islamic headscarf off, and dragged her to a nearby home where she suffered injuries from an assault that required six stitches, the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said Wednesday.

Ann Arbor Police Lt. Angela Abrams confirmed the incident.

Dawud Walid, head of Michigan CAIR, said Wednesday that police are investigating the incident, which he said began about 3:30 p.m. on a bus after school.

Walid said the attackers were five students. (More)

SEE ALSO:

CAIR-MI: GROUP CALLS FOR HATE CRIME CHARGES AFTER TEENS ATTACKED - TOP
Oralandar Brand-Williams, Detroit News, 9/10/09

Ann Arbor -- The Michigan chapter of the Council of American-Islamic Relations is calling for state and federal hate crimes charges to be filed against students who allegedly attacked a 16-year-old girl and her 17-year-old brother on a school bus coming from Skyline High School on Tuesday.

The siblings, who are of Iraqi heritage, were allegedly attacked by a group of black teens.

Dawud Walid, the executive director of CAIR-Michigan, said the teens hit the girl in the face and pulled off her hijab, a head wrap.

The teens also hurled racial slurs at the brother and sisters, according to Walid.

The girl required six stitches to her head, said Walid. Her brother was attacked while trying to come to his sister's defense. (More)

-----

CALLING 50,000 MUSLIMS TO PRAYER ON CAPITOL HILL - TOP
William Wan, Washington Post, 9/9/09

It began as the idea of one man in a New Jersey mosque after hearing President Obama speak about the need to reach out to Muslims in America. Now that man, Hassen Abdellah, is trying to mobilize 50,000 fellow Muslims from across the country to gather in front of Capitol Hill at the end of this month and pray for the country.

Abdellah says he's already obtained a permit from police to gather on Capitol Hill on Sept. 25. And he's heard from thousands willing to make the trek. "Fundraising is going slow," he admitted, "but the bottom line is all we're doing is praying, you don't need that much money to pray."

The gathering is not supposed to be political, Abdellah said in an interview. No placards or signs allowed. No major famous imams or popular celebrities scheduled so far. No real agenda other than to pray together.

"We want this to be purely about Islam," he said. "We want to change the perception of Islam to show we are not terrorists, but that most of us Muslims here love America and abide by its laws." (More)

Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Ave, S.E., Washington, D.C., 20003
Council on American-Islamic Relations Copyright © 2008 All rights reserved.

CAIR Concerned by 'Spike' in Anti-Muslim Incidents in Ramadan

September 10, 2009 Forward to a Friend Support CAIR Contact Us Update Your Profile
Untitled Document

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CAIR Concerned by ‘Spike’ in Anti-Muslim Incidents in Ramadan
Police say shooting at Oregon Muslim family’s home motivated by hate

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 9/10/09) - A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy organization today expressed concern about a recent “spike” in reports of anti-Muslim incidents nationwide during or just prior to the month of Ramadan.

The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said the most recent incident involved a hate-motivated attack on a Muslim family’s home in Oregon.

SEE: Shooting at Oregon Muslims' Home Motivated by Hate (Video)

“We are concerned that the rising level of anti-Islam rhetoric in our society is contributing to this apparent spike in hate crimes targeting Muslims or those perceived to be Muslim,” said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad. “Our nation’s leaders must speak out against the increasing use of anti-Islam hate speech on the Internet, on talk radio and in editorial pages.”

Yesterday, CAIR’s Michigan chapter called for state and federal hate crime charges against assailants who allegedly attacked members of a Muslim family in Ann Arbor yesterday. The FBI and the Michigan Department of Civil Rights are now looking into the case.

SEE: 5 Teens Attack, Injure Muslim Girl on School Bus (Detroit Free Press)

CAIR called for similar charges in the recent case of two men who allegedly called a California assault victim “Taliban” and “terrorist” during the attack.

SEE: Arraignment Put Off for Two Men Accused in Assault on Pleasanton Cabdriver

In late August, CAIR reported a bias-motivated attack on Muslims in New York. The FBI now says it is monitoring that case.

SEE: Feds Monitoring Apparent Bias Case Involving Muslims (NY Newsday)

CAIR also recently reported that anti-Iranian graffiti was scrawled inside a Muslim-owned store in Philadelphia that was ransacked by vandals.

SEE: Vandalism at Penn. Business Probed as Hate Crime
SEE ALSO: Philadelphia Muslim Store Target of Apparent Hate Crime

In Maine, a Somali Muslim was shot after leaving prayers at a mosque. No motive has been established for the shooting.

SEE: Somali Man Shot After Leaving Mosque in Maine

In Missouri, a man was sentenced this week to three years in prison for vandalizing a mosque earlier this year in that state.

SEE: Cape Man Gets Three Years in Prison for Breaking Windows at Islamic Center

Awad cited a poll released yesterday showing that Americans see Muslims as being targeted by bias more than any other religious group.

“The poll also showed, as does CAIR’s previous research, that prejudice is reduced when knowledge of Islam increases,” said Awad.

SEE: Poll: Muslim Americans Still Struggle for Acceptance (Time)

To help educate Americans of all faiths about Islam, CAIR is asking Muslims to sponsor the distribution of 100,000 copies of the Quran to governors, state attorney generals, educators, law enforcement officials, state and national legislators, local elected and public officials, media professionals, and other local or national leaders who shape public opinion or determine policy.

SEE: Share the Quran
VIDEO: CAIR Hopes to Educate Americans About Islam

CAIR is also urging American Muslim individuals and institutions to review advice on security procedures contained in its "Muslim Community Safety Kit."

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

- END -

CONTACT: CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair.com; CAIR Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787 or 202-341-4171, E-Mail: arubin@cair.com

Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Ave, S.E., Washington, D.C., 20003
Council on American-Islamic Relations Copyright © 2008 All rights reserved.

Fwd: In the garden of Aenesidemus - edited



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: anwar shaikh <anwarbmm@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Sep 10, 2009 at 8:02 PM

Subject: In the garden of Aenesidemus - edited

ISHRAT JAHAN AND INDIAN STATE


[0405cartoon.jpg]

A catalepsy (A trancelike state with loss of voluntary motion and failure to react to stimuli) is the defining feature of our time. 

It is not just because the discovery of truth is painful, but infact the need of truth and discovery itself has lost its meaning. So, comprehending with any kind of truth is just a matter of our political 'self'. Manufacturing events, news, enemies, chaos, consent is a primary need of a "state", else the survival of a state become dubious.

For this, the state is ready to force all kinds of violence. The only way to achieve "objective" is violence (means can be different). Weber was right in claiming the "natural" behavior of State. He argues:

"the state is a relation of men dominating men, a relation supported by means of legitimate (i.e. considered to be legitimate) violence." This "consideration" is also state's will.

Nandigram, lalgarh, salwa judum, rape, POTA, fake encounter etc are the metaphors, and the phenomena, which is a wacky face of development. Obviously these are also development[s]. And the rate of development in this domain is much higher than our GDP. It is omnipresent. The manifestation is represented on different stage. They are camouflaged but they are not meaningless like our feelings. Sometime Manipur, sometime Sophian, sometime salwa judum (rape episode) and sometime "unsolved" mystery of arrest and fake encounter attract us on this developmental model as well.

It's five years now. Some young souls departed as a result of state sponsored stage killing. A cold blooded murder. The warmness of being youth becomes a freezing experience. Ishrat jahan a girl from Mumbai along with Javed Gulam Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjad Ali and Jisan Abdul Gani were gunned down by Gujarat Police outside Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004, and now a magistrial inquiry report found that the encounter was fake.

Ishrat jahan and others are just an addition in the list of victims into state's notebook of "legitimized terror". An early view on the state's role forces us to conclude that state is pathetic. Why doesn't it understand that imperial tones of policy will go against it? Why doesn't it understand that such displacement and repression will develop anxiety, which in turn will lead to "terror"? And one can conclude that state is poor and lacks farsightedness. But what if state is doing it because of farsightedness, and what if it's an intended programme and a determined policy?

Historical injustice is fatal for a nation and to surmount that, we speak for reservation and delivery of justice to that class. But what if history of injustice is written in front of us? Then how much abnegation can "we" avail? Country is becoming fragile and weak (from inside). Its real strength – the people of India, are becoming hopeless about justice and skeptical about "developmental" policy. We have failed to learn or in fact we have not learned how to resolve issues through dialogue, how to settle things with argument and tolerance. Let it be Lalgarh or Darjeeling or Manipur. There is worth noting distress and anxiety within the intellectual class [too] from this developmental model. But "food for thought" is still not worth to be translated into a movement – a movement for change.

In the mood of deep dejection I entered into the garden of Aenesidemus*. He was busy in planting some new tree. He read the pain of my face and said, "distress??" I said, "yes!" Then he shook his head and said, "Skepticism?" I said yes! And he expressed his emotion as, "ha ha ha." He quickly claimed, "skepticism is a way of life; you can only achieve peace of mind by suspending justice. Go boy, be skeptic and be happy." I returned from his garden in a more thoughtful mood, and I realized that subsidiary of his garden is everywhere, and our skepticism is producing happiness without any sense of irony.

………………………………………………………………………………...

* He was skeptical philosopher of 1st century BC. He saw skepticism as way of life


By