BBC: British National Party leader Nick Griffin told a crowd that Islam was a "wicked, vicious faith" a court heard.Mark Alexander
Mr Griffin, 47, from mid-Wales, is charged with using words or behaviour intended to stir up racial hatred in Keighley, West Yorkshire, in 2004.
BNP activist Mark Collett, 25, of Leicestershire, also faces four similar charges at Leeds Crown Court.
The charges arose out of speeches filmed by BBC journalist Jason Gwynne for a documentary on the party.
The jury heard Mr Griffin, of Llanerfyl, Powys, urged the gathering to vote BNP to ensure "the British people really realise the evil of what these people have done to our country". BNP leader 'said Islam is wicked'
Friday, November 03, 2006
Vor diesem Kloster in Erfurt hat sich Weisselberg verbrannt
Photo dank der Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: 03. November 2006Mark Alexander
Auf der Pressekonferenz am Mittwoch nachmittag zeigen sich Bischof Axel Noack aus Magdeburg und der Kurator des Augustinerklosters in Erfurt, Lothar Schmelz, ratlos. Was sollen sie, die selbst noch erschüttert sind, zur Selbstverbrennung des Pfarrers Roland Weisselberg am Reformationstag vor dem Erfurter Augustinerkloster sagen? Die Erfurter Pröpstin Elfriede Begrich, die mit Verspätung zur Pressekonferenz kommt, macht den Bischof wohl noch ratloser. Denn sie berichtet, daß sie bis eben mit der Witwe gesprochen habe und mit ihr einig sei, das Motiv des Pfarrers offenzulegen, um Spekulationen vorzubeugen. Roland Weisselberg sei es mit seinem Selbstmord „um die Ausbreitung des Islam und die Haltung der Kirchen dazu gegangen. Das war immer sein Anliegen.“ Seit drei Jahren habe er darum gebeten, sich des Themas anzunehmen. Es sei „das große Thema, das uns bewegt für die nächsten Jahre“. Weisselberg habe in Briefen dazu aufgefordert, „das Problem ernster zu nehmen“. Es sei für ihn „wirklich ein Dauerthema gewesen“. Die Kirche, sagt die Pröpstin, habe sich zwar damit beschäftigt, „aber nicht so exzentrisch“. „Nicht aus Angst, sondern aus Protest“ Von Claus Peter Müller, Alfons Kaiser und Raoul Löbbert
Photo courtesy of the BBC
BBC: The Prince of Wales has called for tolerance between all religions as he continues his tour of Pakistan.Mark Alexander
Accompanied by the Duchess of Cornwall, his trip to Lahore took in a mosque, a Sikh temple and a cathedral.
The prince called on community leaders of all faiths to have the "courage" to encourage mutual understanding and tackle religious intolerance.
BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt says the prince is passionate about improving inter-faith dialogue. Charles urges inter-faith respect
M & C NEWS: TALLAHASSEE, FL, United States (UPI) -- Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has strongly condemned a county commissioner and his wife for their calling Islam a 'hateful, frightening religion.' Jeb Bush denounces anti-Islam statementMark Alexander
Thursday, November 02, 2006
THE BRUSSELS JOURNAL: Europe’s current problems are entirely self-inflicted. This does not mean, however, that the result will be less catastrophic. By subverting the roots of its own Judeo-Christian culture – a process that started with the French Enlightenment (as opposed to the Scottish Enlightenment, which was not anti-religious) – a religious and cultural vacuum was created at the heart of European civilization. The collapse of faith in its own values has, not surprisingly, led to a demographic collapse because a civilization that no longer believes in its own future also rejects procreation. Today, a new religion and culture is supplanting the old one. There is little one can do about it, but hope for a miracle. The Closing Civilization of Europe by Paul BelienMark Alexander
BBC: Some 1,500 migrants arrived to live in the UK every day in 2005, according to official estimates.Mark Alexander
Government figures suggest 185,000 more people came to live in the UK than emigrated in 2005 - making the population grow by 500 a day.
The total for those arriving was lower than 2004's record, but continues a trend of high levels of migration.
While the number of arriving Eastern European workers grew, the numbers of people leaving the UK has also risen.
In total, 565,000 people arrived in the UK in 2005 saying they intended to stay for at least a year. At the same time, 380,000 people left - 1,000 people a day - more than half of whom were British citizens. 1,500 migrants arrive in UK daily
Watch video: UK takes 1,500 migrants a day
Outline of the problem [facing the UK]
What is it with these people? Don't they ever wear anything except black? Why do they always have to be so morbid? Black veils, black turbans, black abayas, black, black, black. Everywhere you look, they're dressed in black! Psychiatrists! Please get on their case. This has got to be indicative of something. I think I know what it is: It's a morbid outlook and a love of death and the so-called afterlife. But a more scientific opinion would be more than welcome.Photo courtesy of the BBC
BBC: Teaching assistant Aishah Azmi has no regrets about the huge controversy stirred by her refusal to take off her veil during lessons.Mark Alexander
She is small in stature, but big on principle.
The Cardiff-born support teacher is unfazed by the national - and international - attention paid to her refusal to take off her veil when working with male colleagues.
The 23-year-old, married mother-of-one knows she could defuse the row by backing down, but will she?
"No" is her polite but firm reply. The woman at centre of veil case
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: For almost half a century, Turkey has been pursuing European Union membership. With negotiations now started though, enthusiasm is waning. And the influence of Islam is on the rise.Mark Alexander
At first glance, the "Sah Inn Suite" Hotel in Alanya looks no different from the average sunny resort along the Turkish Mediterranean coast: a bulky construction with a honeycomb of balconies, looking out over a generous swimming pool surrounded by parasols and lounge chairs. But, in fact, only men are allowed to take a refreshing plunge into these shimmering blue waters. Women vacationers at the Sah-Hotel swim in a strictly isolated pool for women. And what about a cold beer? Forget it. There is no alcohol here; instead, a mosque offers communion with God. Less Europe, More Islam
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: 01. November 2006Mark Alexander
Der evangelische Pfarrer, der sich in Erfurt am Reformationstag selbst anzündete und tötete, hat den Suizid begangen, um ein Zeichen zu setzen gegen die Ausbreitung des Islam in Deutschland. Bevor er sich anzündete, rief er in Anspielung auf den Pfarrer Oskar Brüsewitz die Worte: „Jesus und Oskar!“
Das bestätigten Bischof Axel Noack aus Magdeburg und die Erfurter Pröpstin Elfriede Begrich am Mittwoch nachmittag in Erfurt. Begrich sagte, seit mehreren Jahren habe den Mann der angeblich wachsende Einfluß des Islam umgetrieben. Pfarrer verbrennt sich aus Angst vor dem Islam
INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE: BERLIN: A retired Protestant minister died Wednesday of burns after setting himself on fire, apparently to express his concern over the spread of Islam, a church official said. Retired minister dies after setting himself on fire over Islam, church official says
Retired pastor burns himself in Islam protest
THE GLOBE AND MAIL: TEHRAN — Iran's Culture Ministry on Thursday dismissed criticism of its competition of cartoons on the Holocaust and lauded it as an expression of hatred against oppressors, while the Israeli Foreign Ministry, echoing widespread international condemnation, deplored that Tehran had joined the “obscene chorus” of denial.Mark Alexander
Iran awarded a Moroccan artist late Wednesday the top prize in an exhibition of cartoons against the Holocaust, saying it wanted to emphasize that Palestinians were the indirect victims of the Nazi's killing of six million Jews in Europe during the Second World War.
“Palestinians have been victim of a deceptive history by Zionists,” Iran's Culture Minister Hossein Saffar Harandi was quoted as saying by the Kayhan conservative daily on Thursday.
“The cartoonists expressed their hate against oppressors and their love toward [Palestinian] victims in their works,” the Culture Minister said.
Israel, where many Holocaust survivors immigrated to, expressed its dismay at such hatred. Iran dismisses criticism of Holocaust cartoon contest by NASSER KARIMI
Photo courtesy of the BBC
BBC: UK Muslims should obey British law as well as accepting the obligations of citizenship, the former president of Iran has urged.Mark Alexander
Mohammad Khatami, during a three-day visit to Britain, told BBC News the UK was right to fear radicalism.
But it had added to the problem by getting involved in Iraq, he said. Obey UK law, Iran ex-leader urges
BBC: The former president of Iran, Mohammad Khatami, has branded US attempts to impose Western-style democracy in the Middle East as "a great joke".
Mr Khatami was critical of the US-led military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq, which he said had led to more Muslims supporting al-Qaeda.
In a wide-ranging interview with the BBC, Mr Khatami, said he was committed to fighting extremism around the world. Khatami labels US policy 'a joke'
Audio Interview: Khatami: US policy is a joke
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
ZAMAN ONLINE: Following the cartoon crisis and Pope Benedict XVI’s offensive remarks on Islam, many European state-owned TV channels have launched new initiatives to disseminate more information on Islam.Mark Alexander
Inspired by the TV programs on Islam broadcast by state-sponsored TV channels in France, the Netherlands and Denmark, Germany and Belgium are also now considering starting programs of the same kind.
The lack of accurate information on Muslims, which became clearer following the cartoon crisis, and the pope’s contentious remarks, has led some European countries to introduce TV programs on Islam and its fundamental precepts. It is already expected that the Islamic programs, which will be prepared in the native language of the country, will contribute to social cohabitation. European Television Hosts more Programs on Islam
This award to the former President of Iran disgraces Scotland’s oldest universityMark Alexander
THE TIMES: WE MUST thank the University of St Andrews for that rare opportunity — the chance to employ with a straight face the cliché “it’s like Caligula appointing his horse as consul”. How so? Because Scotland’s oldest university has decided to award an honorary doctorate of law to former President Khatami of Iran “in recognition of his efforts to encourage interfaith dialogue”.
I kid you not. No less a person than Sir Menzies Campbell, the university’s Chancellor, will bestow the accolade on the acceptable face of violent, arbitrary clerical rule. It will come to be seen as one of the most shameful days in the university’s history — on a par with the honorary degrees granted by the University of Edinburgh to Robert Mugabe, of Zimbabwe, or the Central London Polytechnic to Elena Ceaucescu, of Romania. They, too, were once fashionable items among the appeasing classes, of which Sir Menzies is the contemporary personification. The dishonouring of St Andrews by Dean Godson
THE SUNDAY TIMES: STUDENT leaders are organising a mass protest over St Andrews University’s decision to award an honorary degree to a former Iranian president who praised Hezbollah.
Muhammad Khatami is to be made an honorary doctor of laws by Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat leader who is also the university’s chancellor.
Khatami will open the university’s Institute for Iranian Studies, which will house 12,000 books donated by Sadegh Kharazi, Iran’s former ambassador to France. The collection of Iranian texts, the largest of its kind in Europe, is estimated to be worth more than £100,000. Fury as St Andrews honours Hezbollah backer by Mark Macaskill and Abul Taher
BBC: The former president of Iran, Mohammad Khatami, has begun a visit to the UK by calling for dialogue between civilisations to prevent religious wars. He is the most senior Iranian figure to visit the UK since the Islamic revolution in 1979. Mixed reception for Iran's ex-president
BLOOMBERG: London Police have concluded there is insufficient evidence to pursue a criminal investigation against Iran's former president Mohammad Khatami, after two exiled Iranians said they were tortured by his government.
The Metropolitan Police service received a letter last week referring to alleged acts of torture in the Islamic Republic in 1999. Torture committed anywhere in the world is a criminal offence under British law, according to section 134 of the Criminal Justice Act. London Police Dismiss Accusations Against Iran's Khatami by Caroline Alexander
BBC: A court in the Turkish city of Istanbul has acquitted a 92-year-old academic of charges of insulting Muslim women and inciting religious hatred.Mark Alexander
Archaeologist Muazzez Ilmiye Cig was prosecuted over a book in which she linked the wearing of headscarves with ancient Sumerian sexual rites. Turkey court clears archaeologist
THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: According to the latest polls, by spring 2007 the president of France could well be Nicolas Sarkozy, the man who The Washington Post described as “not your everyday French politician.” For a start, the current French Interior Minister and leader of the UMP conservative party is pro-American. He understands that the war on terrorism is the world’s fight and not one America should have to bear alone. He grasps the nature of the threat facing Continental Europe from Muslim extremism and favors fighting terrorism head-on and without apology. His worldview is not one that ends in the Michelin-starred restaurants of Paris. Further, he is vocally enthusiastic about the Anglo-Saxon economic model and keen to shake up the statist, government-centered French economy with a hefty dose of innovation and entrepreneurialism. So if Nicolas Sarkozy does become president next year, what exactly will it mean for U.S. interests? Regime Change in Paris: How Nicolas Sarkozy Could Reinvigorate U.S.-French Relations by Sally McNamaraMark Alexander
Monday, October 30, 2006
THE TELEGRAPH: Riot police reinforcements were deployed in Marseille last night after the latest outbreak of urban violence in France left a young woman in a critical condition with life-threatening burns.Mark Alexander
President Jacques Chirac expressed his horror at the attack hours after the 26-year-old woman and three others were ambushed by rioting teenagers while travelling on a bus in the southern port city.
The assailants – said by some witnesses to be as young as 15 – forced the vehicle's doors open, spilled flammable liquid inside, and set it alight.
There were similar attacks in major cities across the country at the weekend, just hours after the passing of the anniversary of the rioting and car-burning that brought terror to urban areas last year. Chirac's horror as woman burnt in riot
La violence tourne au drame à Marseille
In Marseille haben die Anschläge eine neue Dimension erreicht
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Ayaan Hirsi Ali lives under a death threat for daring to challenge the Islamic patriarchy and says the West must support women like her if it wants to spread freedomMark Alexander
Ideas can be dangerous. I have learnt that the hard way. But I know that when it comes to freedom and human rights these precious ideas, so valued in the West, are worth fighting for. As a young Muslim woman, born in Somalia, I abandoned my family to avoid an arranged marriage to a distant cousin and fled to Holland. I was just 23 and I had no idea back then that my refusal to submit to a traditional Muslim woman’s life would come to dominate my whole career.
So for me, the debate that is raging about the veil, particularly the niqab, which covers most of the woman’s face save for the eyes, goes to the very heart of the matter of liberty for Islamic women. Not just freedom for its own sake, but from a life of repression, subordination and violence.
Muslim women are the key to change
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Five years have now passed since 9/11, but we are no closer now to winning the “War on Terror” than we were on day one after the ruthless and cruel tragedy on that sunny September day in New York.
There are some very good reasons for this. One of them is the determination of Western leaders not to identify and name the enemy. Without identifying and naming the enemy - Islam in this case - then no significant achievements can be made in the war in which we are engaged.
With each passing day, we are able to read stories of appeasement of the enemy. Indeed, our political élite is going out of its way to make Muslims feel at home in the West, out of its way to make excuses for Muslims, out of its way to apologize for Muslims, out of its way to inform the electorate that Islam is a ‘religion of peace’ and love. In fact, President Bush bends over backwards to appease Muslims in America and throughout the world. Just look at the Iftaar banquets held in the White House for prominent Muslims in the States and from throughout the Islamic world. And read the statements that Bush has recently made on the occasions of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr:
"I send greetings to the many Muslims observing Ramadan in America and around the world.Then there’s this message sent to Muslims on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr:
Ramadan is the holiest time of the Muslim year and an important holiday when Muslims take time for prayer, fasting, and personal sacrifice. According to Islamic teachings, this month represents when God delivered His word to the prophet Muhammad in the form of the Qur'an. Ramadan is also an opportunity to gather with friends and family and show thanks for God's blessings through works of charity.
Ramadan and the upcoming holiday seasons are a good time to remember the common values that bind us together. Our society is enriched by our Muslim citizens whose commitment to faith reminds us of the gift of religious freedom in our country.
Laura and I send our best wishes for a blessed Ramadan. Ramadan Mubarak." - GEORGE W. BUSH
October 20, 2006By now, it should be becoming increasingly obvious to all thinking people that there is something going on behind the scenes. There is more to this than meets the eye. It is becoming increasingly obvious that Western leaders are in cahoots with Muslims, especially Gulf Arabs who have the petrodollars which Western governments are so determined to get back into Western economies, and perhaps also into their pockets!
"I send greetings to Muslims in the United States and around the world celebrating Eid al-Fitr.
Islam is a great faith that has transcended racial and ethnic divisions and brought hope and comfort to many people. Throughout Ramadan, Muslims have fasted to focus their minds on faith and to direct their hearts to charity. Eid al-Fitr marks the completion of this holy month with the Festival of Breaking the Fast. During this joyous celebration, Muslims thank God for his guidance and blessings by gathering with family and friends, sharing traditional foods, and showing compassion to those in need.
America is strengthened by the countless contributions of our Muslim citizens, and we value our ties with Muslim nations throughout the world. For people of all faiths, Eid al-Fitr is an opportunity to reflect on the values we share and the friendships that bind all who trace their faith back to God's call to Abraham.
Laura and I send our best wishes for a joyous Eid and for health, happiness, and prosperity in the year ahead. Eid Mubarak.
GEORGE W. BUSH"
For those petrodollars, there are no limits to the depths to which our leaders will sink. No price is too high for the likes of Blair and Bush. The Saudi royal family have become like ‘brothers’ to them. The money must be rolling in!
Only today, I read on Jihad Watch that Georgetown University is in receipt of $20 million from Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal. Muslims, especially rich ones, are buying influence everywhere in the West.
Then we have CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, backing Keith Ellison as a Democratic representative who could well become the first Muslim in Congress. The backing money for the funding can surely also be traced back to Saudi Arabia. And so it goes on, both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
I think we are deluding ourselves if we continue to think that this problem is one merely of ignorance on the part of our political representatives. It must be obvious to all of us by now that there is something quite sinister going on at the top! As I have said so many times before, rich Muslim Arabs are buying up our businesses, and they are funding Islamic schools and Islamic propagation centres too. In addition, tens of millions of dollars are being spent on proseltyzing literature for the purpose of daw’ah.
This, it would now seem, is not a problem of ignorance; rather, it is a problem of the enormous amounts of money changing hands at the very top of our societies. Isn’t it true to say that too many people at the top of Western political and business life are making far too much money from rich Muslim Arabs even to contemplate changing course?
Depressing as it is to think about this, it must be faced. I stated in my book, The Dawning of a New Dark Age, that régime change in Saudi Arabia might be a blessing in disguise for the West. I stand firm behind my idea.
The way things are going with the powers that be here in the West, and the way that the House of Saud has successfully bought influence in the States and the United Kingdom, and in many other Western countries besides, then it is difficult to see how, in the long term, Western civilization can survive. This is an onslaught of colossal proportions. Our leaders are certainly not going to stop this scramble for the petrodollar. To me, it seems that our only hope is for a new world order.
Osama bin Laden objects to American and Western influence in Saudi Arabia in particular, and in the Arab world in general. In fact, it is one of his main gripes. Don’t we object to the increasing influence of Islam in Western countries too? Are his objectives and ours that different? Aren’t they opposite sides of the same coin? Would it, perhaps, be true to say that were Osama bin Laden to manage to bring about régime change in Saudi Arabia that we would also have a chance of saving Western civilization from the onslaught of Islam? And wouldn’t it be the irony of ironies if the very man we despise so much were to bring about the conditions necessary for the survival of the West?
Is Osama bin Laden our only hope of change at the top, I wonder? And are his objectives really so terrible for the West? If our leaders won’t change, then maybe Osama bin Laden is the one to force change upon them. For indeed, were there to be the kind of Saudi Arabia that he envisions, we would surely know who our real enemies are.
©Mark Alexander*
*All rights reserved
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
HUMAN EVENTS: It is necessary once in a while to clear the decks on a given issue, to discard the accumulated rhetoric and concepts and start afresh. As we enter the sixth year of the War on Terror, such a fresh start is desperately needed.Mark Alexander
Today’s statesmen and commentators —left, right, and center—have so far demonstrated themselves incapable of bringing clarity to the world situation. To them, the world today appears hopelessly complicated: wars in Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan and Somalia; Iran in pursuit of atomic weapons; unrest in the streets of Europe; terrorism worldwide. The problem is that the modern political view of the world is now being confronted with something that does not fit into its theoretical framework, something that is fundamentally not modern: the return of Islam to the world stage. Islam's Growth Requires New Thinking by Greogory Davis
How appropriate is it for the President of the United States of America to send Eid greetings to Muslims throughout the world when Muslims are the very people who are trying to destroy our civilization, and when Muslims are the very people who NEVER return the compliment at Christmas?
October 20, 2006Mark Alexander
"I send greetings to Muslims in the United States and around the world celebrating Eid al-Fitr.
Islam is a great faith that has transcended racial and ethnic divisions and brought hope and comfort to many people. Throughout Ramadan, Muslims have fasted to focus their minds on faith and to direct their hearts to charity. Eid al-Fitr marks the completion of this holy month with the Festival of Breaking the Fast. During this joyous celebration, Muslims thank God for his guidance and blessings by gathering with family and friends, sharing traditional foods, and showing compassion to those in need.
America is strengthened by the countless contributions of our Muslim citizens, and we value our ties with Muslim nations throughout the world. For people of all faiths, Eid al-Fitr is an opportunity to reflect on the values we share and the friendships that bind all who trace their faith back to God's call to Abraham.
Laura and I send our best wishes for a joyous Eid and for health, happiness, and prosperity in the year ahead. Eid Mubarak.
GEORGE W. BUSH"
Presidential Message: Eid al-Fitr
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)