Former Muslims United >>>
Monday, January 11, 2010
FRONTPAGE MAGAZINE: Islam is in trouble at the heart of its birthplace, Saudi Arabia, and consequently in other Muslim countries. Muslim leaders and media are desperately trying to regain control both internally and externally. Muslims are starting to openly and defiantly ask questions about their religion and rulers; while the international image of Islam is being tarnished daily with by every act of Islamic terror, hate speech and calls for jihad from the pulpits of mosques. The traditional Muslim call for violence and jihad that Islam got away with for centuries is now under increasing — scrutiny especially after 9/11. Islam is now under the microscope. That is the quagmire of Muslims today. How can they continue teaching their basic religious jihad education but still save Islam’s reputation in a culture where image and honor is everything?
The West is not fully aware of what is happening in the Muslim world today, where taboo topics are being discussed by brave Muslim reformists and former Muslims. There are ground-breaking Arabic TV and internet shows aired inside homes in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq, Algeria, etc, discussing what ordinary Muslims were never allowed to hear before.
The brilliant Rachid Hmami, a former Muslim-turned-Christian and originally from Morocco, has a show, Suaal Garii ‘Daring Question,’ that is making shock waves across the Middle East. Another equally effective show is that of the brave Coptic priest, Father Zakareya Botros, who was imprisoned in Egypt for proselytizing to Muslims. Father Botros’s show is a huge success in exposing tyranny, contradictions and weaknesses in Islam. Muslims who call in are often shocked by what they hear for the first time about their own religion, yet another proof that the Muslim establishment intentionally spreads misinformation and ignorance about basic Muslim doctrines to Muslims. Many Muslims, even from Saudi Arabia, call in to renounce Islam.
Unprecedented defiance is happening in the heart of the Muslim world. Recently a prominent Egyptian female attorney and human rights advocate, Nagla Al Imam, announced she left Islam and became a Christian and insists that she will remain in Egypt, in defiance of Islamic law condemning her to death. She is now under intense 24-hour security. Islam is in trouble from within.
Both King Abdullah, custodian of the two Holy Mosques of Islam in Mecca and Medina, and the Islamic establishment everywhere, are extremely alarmed by the status of Islam today. Their power to control Muslims, trained for centuries to blind submission, is slipping away. Huge sums of oil money dedicated to rescue Islam’s image, is not enough to do the job.
That is where Obama’s services come to the rescue of King Abdulla. Obama’s bow to the king was no small matter, but of great significance in Muslim culture. It is a Muslim symbol of subjugation and inferiority. >>> Nonie Darwish | Monday, January 11, 2010
BBC: "The kids, that's the highest cost," says Ido Lev, 30, who hasn't seen his two children for five years.
It's hard to imagine the software engineering student, now wearing jeans and a checked shirt, in the black hat and suit of the ultra-orthodox Jew he used to be.
It is seven years since he walked out of his home, cut off his curly side locks in a public toilet and slept in a shopping mall for a week.
Israel's ultra-orthodox Jews, also known as Haredim, make up roughly 10% of the population. Most live their lives in voluntary isolation from the secular world.
Men tend to spend their days studying the Jewish scriptures, which are the primary focus of education for both genders.
Posters on the walls of ultra-orthodox areas pass on community news, as many residents shield themselves from what they see as the secular influence of television and radio.
Images of women are banned, and anyone driving on the Jewish Sabbath is likely to have stones thrown at their car.
Every detail of life is determined by religious observance, says Mr Lev, "even how you put on your shoes". >>> Heather Sharp, BBC News, Jerusalem | Monday, January 11, 2010
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: LONDON: A group of British Muslims who were detained and allegedly tortured last month while travelling in Yemen say their interrogators demanded detailed information about mosques in London and their associates in Britain.
The three young men and a teenage boy were held for almost five weeks after being dragged off a bus outside the capital, Sana'a, where they had enrolled in an Arabic language institute a few days earlier.
They say that while being held at a prison run by one of the Yemeni Government's intelligence agencies they were beaten, deprived of sleep and forced to watch others being tortured. They allege that they were then ordered to write a list of mosques they attended in London, told to describe those mosques and some of the people who pray there, and instructed to hand over the names and telephone numbers of some of their associates in Britain.
They were released without charge. The men are angry that the British Foreign Office has made no complaint about their alleged mistreatment to Yemeni authorities, although they reported it to Scotland Yard and Foreign Office officials.
They are also angry that the Foreign Office denies any of them had visible injuries when they were visited by a British consular official shortly before their release. >>> Ian Cobain | Tuesday, January 12, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: In Africa 38 out of 53 countries have criminalised consensual homosexual sex.
Matuba Mahlatjie is gay, African and married, which is unheard of outside liberal South Africa, because the continent's governments are clamping down on homosexuality.
Gay pride parades, same-sex marriages and the famously gay-friendly city of Cape Town puts South Africa way ahead of countries such as nearby Malawi, where a gay couple was thrown in jail this month for trying to marry.
But scratch the surface and sexual intolerance and hate crimes still riddle the continent's powerhouse.
"We still have hate crimes perpetrated against gay and lesbian people in our communities. The legalisation of same-sex unions did not make our life any easier," said Mahlatjie, who feels gays are still "under siege" in the country.
Across Africa governments are laying down the law against homosexuality and 38 out of 53 countries have criminalised consensual gay sex, in what Human Rights Watch says is a method of "political manipulation".
Uganda has been criticised for the tabling of a bill against the "sinful lifestyle" that would toughen penalties for gays and also punish anyone who "promotes" homosexuality.
In Malawi, where discussing sex is taboo, the attempt by the gay couple to get married was labeled a matter of "gross indecency". A judge is expected to decide next week whether they will face trial. >>> Fran Blandy, in Cape Town for AFP | Monday, January 11, 2010
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Israel will seine Grenze zu Ägypten befestigen: Ein Zaun soll künftig das Eindringen von Extremisten und illegalen Einwanderern verhindern, kündigte Ministerpräsident Netanjahu an. Damit solle der "jüdische und demokratische Charakter" Israels bewahrt werden.
Jerusalem - Israel will nach den Worten von Ministerpräsident Benjamin Netanjahu entlang der Grenze zu Ägypten eine Grenzbarriere bauen. Damit sollen "Eindringlinge und Terroristen" daran gehindert werden, ins Land zu gelangen. Der "jüdische und demokratische Charakter des Staates Israel" solle so bewahrt werden, sagte der israelische Regierungschef in einer am Sonntag veröffentlichten Erklärung.
Israel stehe zwar weiterhin für Flüchtlinge aus Konfliktgebieten offen, könne es aber nicht zulassen, dass tausende illegale Arbeiter in das Land strömten, so Netanjahu. Die israelische Polizei geht nach eigenen Angaben davon aus, dass jede Woche 100 bis 200 illegale Arbeitssuchende, Flüchtlinge und "Kriminelle" die israelisch-ägyptische Grenze passieren. Entlang des Grenzzauns sollen auch Bewegungsmelder angebracht werden. >>> anr/dpa/Reuters | Montag, 11. Januar 2010
LE FIGARO: La branche de l'organisation terroriste au Maghreb islamique affirme qu'elle exécutera Pierre Camatte, capturé le 27 novembre dernier, si quatre de ses prisonniers au Mali ne sont pas libérés sous 20 jours.
Al-Qaida au Maghreb islamique (Aqmi) a dévoilé ses revendications dans l'affaire Pierre Camatte. Le groupement terroriste menace d'exécuter l'otage français enlevé fin novembre, si quatre de ses prisonniers au Mali ne sont pas libérés sous vingt jours, ont affirmé lundi les centres américains de surveillance des sites islamistes, SITE et Intelcenter.
Pierre Camatte a été kidnappé le 27 novembre dernier, en pleine nuit, dans un hôtel de Ménaka, au Mali. Agé de 61 ans, le ressortissant français préside notamment l'association «Gérardmer-Tidarmene». Il se rendait «régulièrement» au Mali où il s'impliquait dans la culture d'une plante thérapeutique contre le paludisme.
En décembre, l'Aqmi avait revendiqué son enlèvement, de même que celui de trois autres humanitaires espagnols, enlevés quatre jours plus tard en Mauritanie, un pays frontalier du Mali. Un «risque sérieux d'enlèvement» au Mali >>> M.B. (lefigaro.fr) avec AFP | Lundi 11 Janvier 2010
THE GUARDIAN: Contest aims to boost community's confidence in country where homosexuality was classed as illness until 2001
There's a swimwear round and a talent section where contestants can show off their singing and dancing. But organisers insist the contest to be held this Friday is a serious business. It is China's first gay pageant.
The event is a striking sign of how far attitudes in China have changed and of gay people's increasing confidence. Gay sex was illegal until 1997. Homosexuality was classed as a mental illness for four years after that. Now an emerging gay community is busting stereotypes.
"We are intelligent, we're professionals, we're gorgeous – and we're gay," said contestant Emilio Liu, from Inner Mongolia. "I want the audience to know there are a whole bunch of people like us living in China. It's a wonderful life and it's not hidden any more."
These days there are gay support groups and websites helping people to explore their sexuality and meet potential partners. There are gay venues in most major cities; last year, the first government-backed bar opened in Kunming, in south-western Yunnan. Shanghai held the first Gay Pride week and in Beijing, campaigners called for same-sex marriages.
Now comes Mr Gay China, reported in approving terms in English-language state media. Eight finalists will take to the stage of a Beijing nightclub to strut their stuff in casual clothes and swimwear, exhibit their talents and answer questions. The winner – picked for his ability to represent gay issues as well as his skills, personality and looks – will head to Norway for next month's finals of Worldwide Mr Gay. >>> Tania Branigan in Beijing | Sunday, January 10, 2010
THE INDEPENDENT: The collapse of all restraint in society is pushing some Muslims to the edge of reason
Last week I once again condemned the burkha and will do so till the end of my days. By that time, with the unstoppable rise and rise of Wahhabi Islam, they will probably have incarcerated me in black polyester and turned off my voice.
I unconditionally hate fanatical proselytisers – male and female – what they do to my faith and the faithful. The way they ban pleasures and progress, fill young minds with strictures to paralyse the will and suppress god-given desires in lands of freedom and autonomy. Their inner lives are stormy, psychological dramas which turn dangerously unstable. Some of the resulting turmoil and sexual unrest may be swelling the seething brain of the next terrorist manqué.
On blogs now thought to be written by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian accused of trying to blow up a plane over Detroit, you are given the impression from news reports that he was a lonely boy, unhappy with his peers who drank and partied. At university he apparently cut himself off, tried to hold on to Islamic Puritanism in a country of no shame, no restraint. Millions of Britons of all backgrounds are alarmed by the dissipation and debauchery that now defines Britain.
For Umar Farouk and many other Muslim men like him, living in such a landscape is literally intolerable. He confesses that he does try to lower his gaze in front of females, wonders if he should get married because he is getting too aroused. You could make a movie, a Taxi Driver for our times, about just such an anti-hero, the hormonal male who is expected to live a life of total abstinence in the middle of licentiousness.
The Pakistani journalist Maruf Khwaja describes this inner chaos in an Open Democracy blog. In some homes they cannot watch television, listen to music, dance or indulge in anything pleasurable: "[Muslims] want to do what their secular friends do, have nights out, go clubbing, have boyfriends and girlfriends. Many are depressed by social isolation and attempt to escape by leaving parents and Islamic legacies behind."
Others, like Asif, revert. He says he had a contact list full of willing white women whom he chatted up to "get into their knickers" and now that he is a good Muslim, he talks to covered-up ladies and can "really communicate with them". The saintly Muslim female has desexualised herself, protects herself in the polluted land she lives in full of mad, bad and dangerous sinners.
Women who are not coerced but choose to cover themselves are expressing that revulsion and fear of contamination. Their solutions are as bad as the problems they are trying to escape, sometimes worse. Sexual abuse, rape and forced homosexuality remain the dirty secrets of British Muslim communities, kept under wraps as it were, while they flap around proclamations of purity.
I cannot stand these false virtues and self-reverential pieties nor am I pleading on behalf of screwed-up men who would murder us naming Allah. I am saying that the collapse of all restraint in our societies is breeding sicknesses and madness, and may be pushing some Muslims to the edge of reason. >>> Yasmin Alibhai-Brown | Monday, January 11, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010
MAIL ONLINE: Bill Clinton was at the centre of a race storm last night after he was accused of denigrating Barack Obama.
The former president allegedly claimed during the hard-fought Democratic primary race: ‘A few years ago, this guy would have been getting us coffee.’
He is said to have made the racist remark in a phone call entreating Senator Teddy Kennedy, the party’s vastly influential elder statesman, to endorse his wife, Hillary, in the delicately balanced 2008 nomination battle.
But the call so offended Senator Kennedy that it backfired and helped make up the veteran Washington power broker’s mind to throw his complete support behind Mr Obama’s historic bid for the White House, according to a new book.
Mr Clinton was once lauded by African-American admirers as America’s ‘first black president'.
But the ‘coffee’ controversy has opened old wounds from the campaign trail when Mr Clinton was accused of being racially dismissive about the underdog who went on to derail his wife’s White House dreams.
At the time, Mr Clinton scorned Mr Obama’s primary election victory in South Carolina, noting that Jesse Jackson had also carried the state in his failed presidential bid two decades earlier.
The former two-term president angrily denounced critics who suggested the comments were racially motivated and still seethes about the rumpus it caused to this day.
Last night, he was unavailable for comment about the new claim, which is featured in a new book about the presidential election called ‘Game Change.’ >>> David Gardner | Sunday, January 10, 2010
BBC: Harry Reid apologises for 'light-skinned' Obama remarks: The US Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, has apologised for private comments he made about Barack Obama before the 2008 presidential election. >>> | Sunday, January 10, 2010
DIE PRESSE: HC Strache will in Wien und auf Bundesebene auf längere Sicht zur Nummer eins werden. Bürgermeister Häupl sei rücktrittsreif. Nicht nur die Gegner der Wien-Wahl waren die Zielscheiben der zweistündigen Ansprache.
Mit einem zünftigen Frühschoppen in der blau ausgeleuchteten Wiener Messehalle hat am Sonntag das Neujahrstreffen der FPÖ begonnen. Rund 2000 freiheitliche Sympathisanten waren erschienen, um der Rede von Parteichef Heinz-Christian Strache zu lauschen. Der hat seine Anhänger nicht enttäuscht und zu einem Rundumschlag gegen den politischen Gegner auf Bundes- und Landesebene ausgeholt. "Wir wollen mächtig sein", lautete die Ansage, mit der die blauen Funktionäre auf den Wahlreigen 2010 eingestimmt wurden. Der Schwerpunkt der gut zweistündigen Rede lag natürlich auf der Wien-Wahl, den amtierenden Bürgermeister Michael Häupl (SPÖ) bezeichnete Strache als "rücktrittsreif".
"Ich will nicht nur dritte Kraft in Österreich bleiben, ich will, dass die Freiheitliche Partei in Österreich einmal zweite und auch erste Kraft wird", setzte sich Strache die Latte gewohnt hoch. Vor allem Wien, wo der FPÖ-Chef das Rathaus erobern will, war der Großteil der Ansprache gewidmet. Häupl sei "gescheitert an all dem, was er als Bürgermeister angegriffen hat", viele Wiener hätten "die Schnauze voll". Daran könne auch die geplante Volksbefragung nichts ändern. Im Gemeindebau habe man der Wiener SPÖ längst den Rücken gekehrt. Strache: "Herr Bürgermeister Häupl, genieren Sie sich für Ihre Leistungsbilanz, sie sind in Wirklichkeit rücktrittsreif."
Auch das Ausländerthema ließ Strache nicht aus, in gewissen Bezirken seien die Wiener zur Minderheit geworden, betonte er: "Ich will Wien wieder zu einer Weltstadt und nicht zu einer Allerweltsstadt machen." Bei der Vergabe von Gemeindebauwohnungen müssten Staatsbürger wieder bevorzugt werden, in Schulklassen dürfe es nicht mehr als 20 bis 30 Prozent an Migranten geben. Vor dem FPÖ-Chef brauche sich niemand zu fürchten, "außer ein paar rote Bonzen und ein paar Kriminelle, denen wir ordentlich einheizen werden". >>> Ag. | Sonntag, 10. Januar 2010
LE FIGARO: Trente personnes, dont des touristes, ont été blessées samedi dans un quartier commerçant de la ville. La sixième attaque de ce genre en seulement un an. Un suspect a été interpellé.
Trente personnes, dont des touristes étrangers, ont été blessées samedi à Hong Kong au cours d'une nouvelle attaque à l'acide, la sixième en un an, a indiqué la radio publique RTHK. Dix-neuf hommes et onze femmes ont été hospitalisés. Parmi eux figurent neuf touristes et un enfant de sept ans.
La police a précisé qu'une bouteille d'un liquide corrosif avait été jetée au beau milieu d'un marché nocturne de Yau Ma Tei, un quartier commerçant animé de la cité, qui compte marchands ambulants, diseurs de bonne aventure et discothèques. Un suspect a été interpellé dimanche et placé en détention. L'homme, un Chinois d'une trentaine d'années, a été arrêté après avoir été repéré sur le toit d'un immeuble proche du lieu où s'est produit le méfait.
Depuis fin 2008, la plupart de ces attaques ont été commises dans des quartiers commerçants. Le dernière en date remontait jusqu'ici au 12 décembre : de l'acide avait été lancé depuis un toit d'immeuble à Causeway Bay, faisant six blessés, dont deux graves. 100 personnes blessées au total >>> F.G. (lefigaro.fr) avec AFP | Dimanche 10 Janvier 2010
ZEIT ONLINE: Die Regierung in Sanaa kämpft gegen schiitische Rebellen. Beide Kriegsparteien werden aus dem Ausland unterstützt, von Saudi-Arabien und Iran.
Die Kampfjets ließen den Rebellen keine Chance. Sie bombardierten die Stellungen der schiitischen Aufständischen im Jemen und töteten zahlreiche Kämpfer und Anhänger der Huthi-Miliz. Die Flugzeuge kämpfen für die jemenitische Regierung, das Kriegsgerät gehört aber der saudischen Armee. Das mächtige Nachbarland des Jemen unterstützt das sunnitische Regime in der Hauptstadt. Die schiitischen Rebellen sollen dagegen Waffen und Geld aus Iran erhalten.
Der Bürgerkrieg in der Provinz Saada im Jemen hat sich längst zu einem Stellvertreterkrieg der beiden Regionalmächte Iran und Saudi-Arabien entwickelt. Die Rivalen werfen sich gegenseitig vor, die jemenitischen Konfliktparteien aufzurüsten und sich in die inneren Angelegenheiten des Landes einzumischen. Riad beschuldigt Teheran, im Jemen eine zweite Hisbollah aufzubauen und den Terrorismus zu fördern. Iran warnt Saudi-Arabien, sich nicht weiter in den Bürgerkrieg einzumischen. >>> Von Hauke Friederichs | Donnerstag, 07. Januar 2010
WELT ONLINE: Das Sturmtief "Daisy" hat mit meterhohen Schneeverwehungen den Verkehr im Nordosten Deutschlands fast völlig lahmgelegt. Autos blieben in Schneewehen stecken, Helfer kämpfen verzweifelt gegen Deichbrüche. Besonders schlimm traf es die Ostsee-Insel Fehmarn.
Tief „Daisy“ ist über die Ostseeküste gefegt und hat in Schleswig-Holstein zu teils katastrophalen Verhältnissen geführt. Besonders betroffen waren die Ostseeküste und der Südosten. Auf mehreren Bahnstrecken musste der Verkehr zeitweise eingestellt werden. Das öffentliche Leben der Ostseeinsel Fehmarn war praktisch lahmgelegt, wie der Chef des für den Winterdienst zuständigen Inselbauhofs, Timo Jaedke, berichtete. Die Lage auf der Insel blieb am Abend weiter angespannt.
"Neunzig Prozent der Insel Fehmarn sind dicht. Wir haben überall Verwehungen, es passiert gar nichts mehr“, sagte Jaedke. Bis zum Nachmittag waren zwar einige der 35 Inselorte wieder erreichbar. Rund die Hälfte bleiben voraussichtlich auch über Nacht von der Außenwelt abgeschnitten und werden erst im Verlauf des Montags wieder erreichbar sein. >>> ddp |Sonntag, 10. Januar 2010
ZEIT ONLINE: Sturmtief “Daisy” – Deutschland versink im Schnee: Noch immer sorgt Tief "Daisy" für Chaos: Besonders Norddeutschland leidet unter den ungewöhnlichen Schneemassen. Am Frankfurter Flughafen saßen Tausende Pass[ag]iere fest. >>> Zeit Online, dpa, Reuters | Sonntag, 10. Januar 2010
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: Vague de froid en Europe, l'Allemagne paralysée par la neige : HIVERNAL | Avions cloués au sol, axes routiers bloqués: l'Europe continuait dimanche à subir une vague de froid polaire accompagnée de chutes de neige. Le nord de l'Allemagne a été particulièrement touché. >>> ATS | Dimanche 10 Janvier 2010
leJDD.fr: Après trois jours de violences, Rosarno, petite ville de Calabre, a retrouvé son calme. Les ouvriers agricoles africains, victimes d'une véritable "chasse à l'homme" initiée par la population locale, ont fui la ville. Le pape Benoit XVI a appelé dimanche à plus de tolérance envers les immigrés.
Victimes de violences, des centaines d'ouvriers agricoles immigrés ont fui le sud de l'Italie et un calme précaire est revenu dans la ville de Rosarno (Calabre). Après trois jours de heurts, les autorités italiennes ont déclaré dimanche que les habitations de fortune des immigrés seraient détruites et le reste des occupants évacués vers le nord du pays. Les violences ont fait une cinquantaine de blessés.
Le ministre de l'Intérieur, Roberto Maroni - qui appartient à la Ligue du Nord, un mouvement d'extrême-droite - a tenu à féliciter dimanche les autorités qui ont "brillamment résolu le problème d'ordre public" ainsi que la police qui a œuvré de "façon exemplaire". Mais cette prise de position n'est pas du goût de tous. L'opposition accuse le gouvernement de Silvio Berlusconi d'alimenter la xénophobie ambiante. Un journal italien va même jusqu'à parler de "nettoyage ethnique". Parallèlement, beaucoup accusent le président du Conseil italien de laisser faire, estimant qu'il a besoin du soutien de la Ligue du Nord, membre du gouvernement de coalition qu'il dirige.
Selon des organisations de défense des droits de l'Homme, les immigrés seraient en fait exploités par la Ndrangheta, la mafia calabraise, la plus puissante du pays. "L'Etat n'existe pas en Calabre. C'est la Ndrangheta qui régule les relations sociales", affirme de son côté le chef de l'Union des chrétiens démocrates d'opposition, Pierferdinando Casini. Quelque 8000 immigrants clandestins sont employés illégalement en Calabre méridionale. Travaillant à la cueillette des agrumes, ils s'entassent dans des entrepôts désaffectés, sans eau courante, ni électricité. Tirs au fusil à air comprimé >>> Anne-Charlotte Dusseaulx, leJDD.fr | Dimanche 10 Janvier 2010
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