Saturday, May 29, 2010
TIMES ONLINE: The food bank in Vic, 40 miles north of Barcelona, occupies an old bakery in a side street. Each day hundreds of unemployed stream in to collect handouts of bread, milk, pasta and other necessities. The overwhelming majority are immigrants, predominantly Moroccans and sub-Saharan Africans who flocked to Vic in the past few years to work on building sites or in the huge pig farms and meat factories that surround the town and give it its distinctive smell.
At least 10,000 came, swelling Vic’s population by a quarter. They did the hard, dirty work and were welcomed. Not any more. Half lost their jobs when Spain’s construction bubble burst in 2008 and brought the good times to an abrupt end.
A deeply unpopular €15 billion (£12.7 billion) austerity package rushed through parliament yesterday will make life even harder. On top of that, the immigrants are now the target of Platform for Catalonia, Spain’s equivalent of the BNP, which is based in Vic. “Control immigration — stop the crisis,” its leaflets proclaim.
“They insult us. They say maybe we’re the cause of the crisis, that we take their jobs. It’s not fair and it’s not nice,” said Mercy Omoroagbon, 30, as she collected her handout. She arrived from Nigeria in 2002, lost both her cleaning jobs last year and now lives off the charity of friends.
“They say the Spanish can’t work because of the immigrants. It’s not true. We did the work the Spanish didn’t want or wouldn’t do,” said Joy Ekechukwu, 33, another Nigerian who came to Spain 11 years ago, lost her factory job and now struggles to support her two young children. Read on and comment >>> Martin Fletcher | Friday, May 28, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Tired of Detroit's status as the symbol of everything wrong with urban America, its new mayor has come up with a radical solution: to bulldoze the city.
David Bing, a businessman and former all-star basketball player who entered politics late in life, says he has no choice.
The 2010 census is expected to reveal a population of about 800,000, down from a peak of 1.8 million in the Motor City heyday of the late 1950s.
The long decline of the car industry and all its spin-off business has been exacerbated by the collapse of a housing market that has left prices close to what they were 50 years ago, when lifestyle magazines featured Detroit as the most desirable city in the United States.
Decent three-bedroom homes can be bought for $10,000, but no one wants to buy.
Decades of poor and at times corrupt administration have also taken their toll, and with the city facing a deficit of between $85 and $124 million this year, the answer, says Mr Bing, is to accept reality and reduce the size of the city.
"There is just too much land and too many expenses for us to continue to manage the city as we have in the past," he said. "If we don't do it, this whole city is going to go down."
Plans currently being devised would be the most revolutionary carried out by a major American city. >>> Alex Spillius in Detroit | Friday, May 28, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: A Swiss man fined for nude hiking has won an appeal of the 100-franc (£60) penalty because a court decided that the charge of "indecent behaviour" did not apply.
The 47 year old went to the court in eastern Switzerland's Appenzell Ausserrhoden canton to defend his right to hike naked, after he refused to pay a fine of 100 francs imposed following a complaint from a woman who saw him.
The woman had complained to the authorities about his "indecent behaviour."
The nudist's lawyer argued however that his client was not behaving in an indecent manner, and that the woman must have followed him to observe his actions.
In addition, the lawyer noted that the canton's penal code did not prohibit hiking naked.
The hiker said he has been rambling nude over the past two years, and that he always sticks to little used tracks.
The court waived the fine on the nudist and instead ordered the state to cover legal costs of 2,000 francs. >>> | Friday, May 28, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: Undercover Guardian investigation reveals plan by English Defence League to hit racially sensitive areas in attempt to provoke disorder over summer
MPs expressed concern tonight after it emerged that far-right activists are planning to step up their provocative street campaign by targeting some of the UK's highest-profile Muslim communities, raising fears of widespread unrest this summer.
Undercover footage shot by the Guardian reveals the English Defence League, which has staged a number of violent protests in towns and cities across the country this year, is planning to "hit" Bradford and the London borough of Tower Hamlets as it intensifies its street protests.
Senior figures in the coalition government were briefed on the threat posed by EDL marches this week. Tomorrow up to 2,000 EDL supporters are expected to descend on Newcastle for its latest protest.
MPs said the group's decision to target some of the UK's most prominent Muslim communities was a blatant attempt to provoke mayhem and disorder. "This group has no positive agenda," said the Bradford South MP, Gerry Sutcliffe. "It is an agenda of hate that is designed to divide people and communities. We support legitimate protest but this is not legitimate, it is designed to stir up trouble. The people of Bradford will want no part of it."
The English Defence League, which started in Luton last year, has become the most significant far-right street movement in the UK since the National Front in the 1970s. A Guardian investigation has identified a number of known rightwing extremists who are taking an interest in the movement – from convicted football hooligans to members of violent rightwing splinter groups.
Thousands of people have attended its protests – many of which have descended into violence and racist and Islamophobic chanting. Supporters are split into "divisions" spread across the UK and as many as 3,000 people are attracted to its protests.
The group also appears to be drawing support from the armed forces. Its online armed forces division has 842 members and the EDL says many serving soldiers have attended its demonstrations. A spokeswoman for the EDL, whose husband is a serving soldier, said: "The soldiers are fighting Islamic extremism in Afghanistan and Iraq and the EDL are fighting it here … Not all the armed forces support the English Defence League but a majority do." >>> Matthew Taylor | Friday, May 28, 2010
Watch* Guardian video: The English Defence League uncovered: Formed less than a year ago, the English Defence League has become the most significant far-right street movement since the National Front. The Guardian spent four months undercover with the movement, and found them growing in strength and planning to target some of the UK's biggest Muslim communities >>>
*Warning: video contains very strong language. Viewer discretion is STRONGLY advised.
THE GUARDIAN: Muslims must refuse to rise to EDL provocation: By ignoring planned EDL demonstrations and looking toward dialogue to dispel myths, Muslims can facilitate cohesion >>> Samia Rahman | Saturday, May 29, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Web developers in Pakistan have launched a version of Facebook for the Muslim world after the social networking site was blocked for showing “blasphemous” images of the Prophet Mohammed.
Six young IT experts in the city of Lahore have set up MillatFacebook – using the Urdu word for nation – which they hope will become a hub for Muslims around the world.
Omar Zaheer Meer, one of the founders, said the site was launched on Wednesday and had already attracted 8,000 users.
The aim, he said, was to register their disapproval of the images of the Muslim prophet and to offer an alternative to a site that has also been criticised for its lax and confusing privacy controls.
"We are saying that we are technologically independent and that you can't make money from us and then not respect our views," he said.
Thousands of people in Pakistan have demonstrated against the US-based social networking site for hosting a contest calling for cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
The country's courts ordered internet service providers to block the social networking site last week, along with others that featured sacrilegious content. YouTube, Wikipedia and hundreds of other pages have all been subject to temporary bans.
Muslims argue that any representation of the Prophet Mohammed is blasphemous. >>> Rob Crilly in Islamabad | Friday, May 28, 2010
Friday, May 28, 2010
WELT ONLINE: Zum Abschluss ihrer Reise durch die Golfregion hat sich Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel für ein engeres Verhältnis zwischen Europa und den arabischen Staaten ausgesprochen. Wichtig sei Toleranz auf beiden Seiten. Deutschland müsse sich zudem anstrengen, den Anschluss an die Boom-Region nicht zu verpassen.
Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel hat um mehr Verständnis in Europa für die Werte der islamischen Welt und einen besseren Austausch mit arabischen Staaten geworben. „Wir in Europa vergessen manchmal, über wie viele Jahrhunderte der arabische Raum in Wissenschaft und Kultur weit vor uns lag“, sagte Merkel in einer Grundsatzrede in dem Museum für Islamische Kunst in Doha, der Hauptstadt von Katar.
Wichtig seien auf beiden Seiten religiöse Toleranz und Meinungsfreiheit. „Wir brauchen Respekt vor den unterschiedlichen Wertevorstellungen.“ In Deutschland gestalteten Muslime die Gesellschaft aktiv mit – „nicht zuletzt in der Fußballnationalmannschaft“.
Die globale Entwicklung mache einen Austausch über die Grenzen hinweg mehr denn je möglich – vor allem auch in der Wirtschaft. Hier müsse sich Deutschland anstrengen, um den Anschluss in der wirtschaftlich rasant aufstrebenden Golfregion nicht zu verpassen. „Von dem Tempo können wir uns manchmal eine Scheibe abschneiden“, sagte sie. „Zu schnell sind wir mit Sicherheit nicht.“ >>> dpa/pku | Donnerstag, 27. Mai 2010
TIMES ONLINE: The euro plunged and US stockmarkets dived tonight after Spain was stripped of its top-level credit rating by a leading rating agency over concerns about its economic growth.
In the latest blow to the eurozone, which is struggling to cope with the fallout from the Greek fiscal crisis, Fitch Ratings downgraded Spain’s sovereign credit rating — a measure of how easily it can meet the interest payment on its debt — by a notch from the top AAA rating to AA+.
Standard & Poor’s, another ratings agency, downgraded Spain’s rating for the second time to AA last month but Moody’s, the other major ratings agency, has maintained the rating at AAA.
Any downgrade in a sovereign credit rating will push up the interest that a country must pay on its debts. Brian Coulton, Fitch’s head of EMEA sovereign ratings, said that the process of cutting the country’s debt could slow economic growth.
Fitch queried Spain’s forecasts for economic growth, highlighting that the inflexibility of the labour market and the restructuring of regional and local savings banks could act as a drag on growth. >>> Gráinne Gilmore, Economics Correspondent | Friday, May 28, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: Saif Gaddafi, son of the Libyan leader, has engaged a New York PR firm to present the face of a modern reforming state
It looked, for a while, just like the bad old days: a handful of angry demonstrators on one side of a London street, shouting "Gaddafi is a murderer" and waving placards as a larger group of men on the other pavement lobbed back Arabic insults over the heads of the watching policemen. But the past was swiftly banished when Muammar Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi, began to speak from the podium in a university lecture hall packed with businessmen, diplomats and students.
Saif, 37, is the face of modern, reforming Libya, emerging from its long years as a pariah state to become a dazzling mecca for western investment, with a reinvigorated energy industry, billions of dollars in cash reserves, a re-opened US embassy, and even plans for mass tourism.
Gaddafi junior has no formal position in the Jamihiriya – the "state of the masses" – but he is an energetic champion of change who has a finger in most pies in Libya, as well as jet-setting friends such as Britain's Lord Mandelson. It is widely assumed that he will one day succeed his father, although he insists he is a democrat for whom dynastic rule ended with the 1969 revolution.
Saif got all the difficult old issues out of the way at the start of his speech at the London School of Economics this week; a rare public appearance. He surveyed Libya's decision to dismantle its programme to develop nuclear and chemical weapons, the lifting of UN sanctions, the settlement of claims relating to the Lockerbie bombing and the end of a long row with Bulgaria over medics who were jailed for allegedly infecting children with the Aids virus.
A predictable question about Abdel-Basset al-Megrahi, the terminally ill Lockerbie bomber who was freed from his Scottish prison and allowed to go home to die last summer, produced a response so terse it was almost non-existent: Saif is evidently well-advised by his New York PR company.
The trick is to focus on the country's new-found respectability and its future prospects. >>> Ian Black, Middle East editor | Friday, May 28, 2010
Related articles here, here and here
THE TELEGRAPH: Gunmen armed with grenades stormed two mosques belonging to a minority Islamic sect in the Pakistani city of Lahore, seizing hostages and opening fire on police.
At least 20 people died in the attacks against the persecuted Ahmadi sect during Friday prayers, according to government officials, who said the death toll was expected to rise.
Men armed with AK-47s appeared in the minaret of one of the mosques shooting at onlookers.
"Some gunmen have managed to enter the worship place. We have surrounded it. I have no idea of casualties," said Illyas Saleem, a senior police officer in Model Town, outside one of the mosques, shortly before it was cleared of attackers.
One man was arrested and a dozen ambulances took dead and injured to hospitals.
Witnesses said they saw four gunmen attack with two grenades. A bomb on a motorbike was also detonated outside the building. >>> Rob Crilly, in Islamabad and Farzana Fiaz, in Lahore | Friday, May 28, 2010
TIMES ONLINE: President Obama launched a ferocious attack on BP and the oil industry yesterday as what is now officially the worst spill in US history threatened to derail his presidency.
Seizing the initiative on the first day of potentially good news from the Gulf of Mexico, Mr Obama cancelled or suspended dozens of offshore drilling projects and condemned a “scandalously close relationship” between oil companies and government regulators.
He said: “As far as I’m concerned, BP is responsible for this horrific disaster, and we will hold them fully accountable on behalf of the United States as well as the people and communities victimised by this tragedy. We will demand that they pay every dime they owe for the damage they’ve done and the painful losses that they’ve caused.”
While Coast Guard officials in the Gulf said that BP’s so-called top kill strategy to fill the gushing well with mud seemed to be working, the President warned that there was no guarantee of success yet.
In his first White House press conference in ten months, he said that he would leave it to others to judge whether this was “his Katrina” — a reference to the hurricane that destroyed President Bush’s reputation for competence — but said he was “confident that people will look back and say this Administration was on top of what was an unprecedented crisis”. >>> Giles Whittell, Washington | Friday, May 28, 2010
TIMES ONLINE: Israeli tanks lie smashed and upturned on a remote mountaintop in south Lebanon, while Hezbollah fighters, wearing camouflaged uniforms and carrying rifles, crouch near by in the dense undergrowth.
The scene could be the latest battle between the militant Shia group and Israeli troops, but while the tanks are real, the fighters are plastic dummies and the display is part of a newly opened tourist project to mark the tenth anniversary of Israel’s withdrawal from south Lebanon.
That historic event — the first time Israel unilaterally abandoned occupied Arab land — comes at a time of heightened tension in the region amid fears that another war is brewing between Hezbollah and the Jewish state.
Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader, vowed in a speech on Tuesday night that in the next war, his organisation could attack Israel-bound shipping in the Mediterranean.
Addressing Israel, he said: “If you launch a new war on Lebanon, if you blockade our coastline, all military, civilian or commercial ships heading through the Mediterranean to occupied Palestine will be targeted by the Islamic resistance.” Read on and comment >>> Nicholas Blanford | Thursday, May 27, 2010
Compares Himself to Mussolini
THE TELEGRAPH: Silvio Berlusconi has compared himself to Benito Mussolini, complaining that like the Second World War leader he does not have enough real power.
The Italian prime minister said he empathised with Il Duce, who had complained that he lacked real authority and that true power lay with officials in his fascist administration.
Mr Berlusconi said he had recently been reading Mussolini's diaries, which had led him to reflect on the challenges of governing Italy in the 21st century.
"I will dare to quote you a phrase from someone considered a dictator, a great, powerful dictator, Benito Mussolini," the 73-year-old media tycoon told a news conference at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris.
"In his diary, I recently read this phrase. 'They say I have power. It isn't true. Maybe my party officials do. But I don't know. All I can do is say to my horse go right or left. And I have to be happy with that.'" >>> Nick Squires in Rome | Friday, May 28, 2010
DIE PRESSE: Die FPÖ will mit der "Christlich-freiheitlichen Plattform für ein freies Europa souveräner Völker" Migranten aus Ost- und Südosteuropa ansprechen. Die Plattform soll den Erhalt der "abendländischen Tradition" sichern.
Die FPÖ hat eine neue Vorfeldorganisation: Die "Christlich-freiheitliche Plattform für ein freies Europa souveräner Völker" (CFP). Sie wurde am Donnerstag von FPÖ-Chef Heinz-Christian Strache und ihrem Präsidenten Konstantin Dobrilovic präsentiert.
Strache erklärte, das christlich-abendländische Wertesystem sei in Gefahr. Weltwirtschaftskrise, islamistischer Terrorismus und Massenzuwanderung stellten eine immer größere Bedrohung dar. Daher müsse das christlich-freiheitliche Europa über die Grenzen der EU hinaus "den Erhalt und die Förderung seiner Grundwerte, die in der christlich-abendländischen Kultur und Identität verwurzelt sind, sicherstellen". In der CFP sollen sich "freie und stolze Europäer und freiheitlich gesinnte europäische Gruppierungen" organisieren. "Migranten aus Osteuropa hervorragend integriert" >>> Red. | Donnerstag. 27. Mai 2010
LE FIGARO: Le «recentrage» du premier ministre britannique dans le cadre de son alliance avec les LibDems agite les rangs des conservateurs.
Deux semaines après sa prise de fonctions à Downing Street, David Cameron doit déjà faire face aux premiers remous au sein de sa coalition, bâtie avec les libéraux démocrates. La belle image d'unité montrée mardi par les tories avec leurs nouveaux alliés sur les bancs de la Chambre des communes, après le discours de la reine, semble n'être qu'une attitude de façade. Certains députés conservateurs contestent en effet ouvertement les concessions faites aux LibDems.
L'un d'eux, un ancien ministre de Margaret Thatcher, a même publié la lettre qu'il a adressée au secrétaire au Trésor pour protester contre le projet d'augmentation des prélèvements sur les plus-values financières, faisant passer ce taux d'imposition de 18 % à 40 %. «Si le gouvernement faisait plus que doubler le taux d'imposition sur les plus-values instauré par les travaillistes, cela enverrait un signal étrange sur les intentions de la coalition conservateurs-LibDems», met en garde John Redwood dans sa missive. >>> Par Cyrille Vanlerberghe, Correspondant à Londres, Le Figaro | Jeudi 27 Mai 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Advertisements on New York buses offering help to Muslims who wish to leave Islam have been denounced as a "smoke screen for anti-Muslim bigotry".
The advertisements - paid for by conservative activists - ask readers: "Leaving Islam? Fatwa on your head? Is your family threatening you?" The adverts point to a website called RefugefromIslam.com.
Pamela Geller, who leads an organisation called Stop Islamization of America, said the adverts were designed to help provide resources for Muslims who were fearful of leaving the faith. She said the adverts, which will run on 30 city buses for a month, cost $8,000 (£5,500), which was contributed by the readers of her blog, Atlas Shrugs, and other websites.
"It's not offensive to Muslims, it's religious freedom," she said. "It's not targeted at practising Muslims. It doesn't say 'leave,' it says 'leaving' with a question mark."
Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials said Ms Geller's advert had been reviewed and did not violate the agency's guidelines. >>> | Thursday, May 27, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: Gay rights groups celebrate key step in scrapping controversial 1993 'don't ask, don't tell' legislation
America moved a vital step closer to repealing the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" anti-gay legislation that forbids homosexuals from serving openly in the US military.
Gay rights activists have long sought to repeal the controversial 1993 law, which has seen thousands of Americans forced out of the armed services since it was brought in under President Bill Clinton.
Now that dream is almost certain to happen, after the powerful Senate armed services committee voted 16 to 12 in favour of an amendment that would pave the way for getting rid of the law. The measure was tacked on to a larger defence bill and the House of Representatives was also expected to pass a similar amendment.
That will clear the hurdle for a full vote in the summer, which the measure is now expected to pass, and then it will be signed off by President Barack Obama.
The amendment, however, contains language that makes repeal of the law contingent on the results of a current Pentagon survey investigating the impact of integrating gay people into the military. If the report concludes repeal will not harm the military's ability to fight wars or recruit soldiers, preparations will be made for integration. The survey's conclusions are due to be announced in early December.
Gay rights groups hailed the Senate vote as historic. "The importance of this vote cannot be overstated. This is the beginning of the end of a shameful ban on open service by lesbian and gay troops that has weakened our national security," said Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign. >>> Paul Harris in New York | Friday, May 28, 2010
ADVOCATE.COM: Congress Moves To End DADT: The U.S. House of Representatives and a Senate panel have both approved measures that would begin the process of dismantling the 17-year-old "don't ask, don't tell" policy that prohibits gays and lesbians for serving openly in the military. >>> Kerry Eleveld | Thursday, May 27, 2010
NZZ ONLINE: Ein Berliner Gericht hat entschieden, dass muslimische Schüler kein Recht haben, ihr rituelles Mittagsgebet auf dem Schulgelände zu verrichten.
Das Oberverwaltungsgericht Berlin-Brandenburg hat am Donnerstag entschieden, dass ein 16-jähriger muslimischer Berliner Schüler nicht berechtigt ist, sein Mittagsgebet während der Pause auf dem Schulgelände zu verrichten. Damit veränderte das Gericht ein anderslautendes Verdikt des Verwaltungsgerichts aus dem letzten Jahr, das dem Schüler dieses Recht unter Berufung auf das Prinzip der Religionsfreiheit eingeräumt hatte. Der Berliner Senat hatte dieses erste Urteil angefochten. Separater Gebetsraum >>> Ulrich Schmid, Berlin | Freitag, 28. Mai 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: Forty women send unprecedented letter to pontiff saying priests need to 'experience feelings, love and be loved'
Dozens of Italian women who have had relationships with Roman Catholic priests or lay monks have endorsed an open letter to the pope that calls for the abolition of the celibacy rule. The letter, thought by one signatory to be unprecedented, argues that a priest "needs to live with his fellow human beings, experience feelings, love and be loved".
It also pleads for understanding of those who "live out in secrecy those few moments the priest manages to grant [us] and experience on a daily basis the doubts, fears and insecurities of our men".
The issue was put back on the Vatican's agenda in March when one of Pope Benedict's senior advisers, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, the archbishop of Vienna, said the abolition of the celibacy rule might curb sex abuse by priests, a suggestion he hastily withdrew after Benedict spoke up for "the principle of holy celibacy".
The authors of the letter said they decided to come into the open after hearing his retort, which they said was an affirmation of "the holiness of something that is not holy" but a man-made rule. There are many instances of married priests in the early centuries of Christianity. Today, priests who follow the eastern Catholic rites can be married, as can those who married before converting to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism. >>> John Hooper in Rome | Thursday, May 27, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: President Barack Obama's administration will focus on homegrown extremists in a new security strategy to be unveiled on Thursday.
Mr Obama will stress that US military superiority must be matched by muscular diplomacy and all the tools of statecraft, from development aid to intelligence gathering.
The released [sic] of the document comes as the United States continues to have a huge foreign military commitment, in Iraq and Afghanistan. The US is also facing new terror threats in a world destabilised by the worst economic meltdown since the 1930s.
The document will be closely read for signs that Mr Obama has adjusted his policy of offering dialogue to US foes like Iran and North Korea, which has yet to bear fruit, and will come against a backdrop of his nuclear non-proliferation effort.
Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, will on Thursday make a speech at the Brookings Institution, laying out diplomatic and military aspects of the strategy and national security advisor James Jones is due to weigh in later.
For the first time, the government strategy document, which lays down a doctrine for national security policy, is likely to focus attention on the threat posed by homegrown, radical extremists.
Following a spate of attacks or near misses - at Fort Hood military base last year and in Times Square, New York, this month - the administration appears to have reframed the matrix of threats to US national security. >>> | Thursday, May 27, 2010
"Nor do we describe our enemy as jihadists or Islamists because jihad is holy struggle, a legitimate tenet of Islam meaning to purify oneself or one's community." – Brennan
It is quite unbelievable that the White House refuses to get to grips with the fact that the Jihad is being waged against America and the West. To say that jihad is a legitimate tenet of Islam, meaning to purify oneself or one’s community is a lie. One BIG damn LIE, too! What Brennan describes is but ONE aspect of the jihad, and a MINOR one at that!
This is dissimulation of the facts at its worst. Moreover, America in particular and the West in general will never be victorious until they accept and come to terms with the true nature of the jihad: a fight to the death to make only Islam the accepted religion on earth, and Muhammad Allah’s final messenger.
Brennan and B. Hussein Obama are deluding themselves. More importantly, they are trying to pull the wool over the people's eyes. But then should we be surprised considering the president's Muslim roots? – © Mark
GUYSEN INTERNATIONAL NEWS: Dans son nouveau rapport 2010 sur la situation des droits de l'Homme, Amnesty International a pris position contre le projet de loi française visant à interdire le voile intégral dans l'espace public. Un projet de loi audacieux qui entre pourtant en contradiction avec le droit interne et international, et risque en outre d’envenimer les relations de l’hexagone avec la communauté musulmane.
"Que cela soit au Proche-Orient ou dans les pays du Golfe, les médias - et surtout Al-Jazira - suivent avec attention le débat et sont assez critiques à l'égard de la France », s’inquiète un chercheur de l'Institut de relations internationales et stratégiques (IRIS).
L’ancien ministre des Affaires étrangères Hervé de Charrette prévient :"Ni les Français, ni le Parlement ne sont assez informés du retentissement international que peut avoir la prohibition du voile intégral".
Les musulmans acceptent en effet difficilement « l’islam républicain » que veut promouvoir le gouvernement Français. Pour eux, l’Islam, en tant que message spirituel et universel, n’a pas vocation à être réglementé par un Etat. Cette divergence de point de vue provoque chez les musulmans, lorsque l’on veut interdire le voile intégral, l’incompréhension, voir le sentiment que l’on s’attaque à leur communauté.
« Cette interdiction me gêne. On est dans le pays de la liberté, les femmes peuvent montrer leur string, provoquer les hommes par des tenues indécentes, mais on n'accepte pas qu'elles soient pudiques », estime Charif Muldi, marchand ambulant tunisien vivant à Paris.
Beaucoup plus radical, le collectif pro-palestinien Cheikh Yassine a avancé que les musulmans étaient devenus "des moutons noirs" en France .
La loi française pourrait donc provoquer une contestation populaire dans les pays arabes. Il est même possible que des régimes autoritaires ou des groupes religieux radicaux instrumentalisent cette question en organisant des manifestations, estime Barah Mikhaï, spécialiste de la région. >>> Par Martin Lippmann | Jeudi 27 Mai 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: A concert by Sir Elton John has tested the limits of Morocco's drive for modernity, exposing the Muslim nation's complex and ambiguous attitudes toward homosexuality.
Islamists in the North African kingdom were outraged by the gay pop star's visit, while the royal palace, government and his many fans supported his appearance.
Authorities had beefed up security with thousands of police and plainclothes officers patrolling the concert. No violence was reported, despite calls from The Justice and Development Party, or PJD, Morocco's largest authorised Islamist group, for the show to be stopped.
"This singer is famous for his homosexual behaviour and for advocating it," said Mustapha Ramid, a leader and spokesman for the PJD, the country's biggest opposition party.
"We're a rather open party, but promoting homosexuality is completely unacceptable," he said.
Mr Ramid said that homosexuality was against Muslim values, and he feared the British singer would "encourage the phenomenon" and be a bad influence for Moroccan youth.
But in a sign of Sir Elton's popularity, several thousand of his fans appeared to know his lyrics by heart even though most people in this French and Arabic speaking country know little or no English.
Moroccan officials dismissed the calls to ban Sir Elton from performing. >>> | Thursday, May 27, 2010
MITHLY.NET: Elton JOHN au cœur d'un complot contre le Maroc ! >>> Par Stonewall
Related articles and videos here
THE GUARDIAN: Homosexuality is illegal in Morocco but the publishers of a gay magazine feel its launch is a sign of progress
With gay rights under attack across Africa, it might not seem the best time to launch a magazine for homosexual people there.
But the owners of Mithly believe the launch of the magazine in Morocco is a sign of progress in a country where most gay men and lesbians tend to keep their sexuality secret.
Since its launch last month, Mithly – the title is an Arabic word meaning "the same as me", signifying gay – has covered subjects including the controversy over Elton John playing at a music festival in the country, a study of suicide among gay Moroccans and a book by an Algerian transsexual named Randa. The Arabic-language publication has sold 200 copies so far.
The paper edition circulated informally because it lacked a distribution licence from the government, said Samir Bargachi, general co-ordinator of Kif-Kif, Morocco's only gay rights group and the magazine's publisher.
He told the website Afrik.com that Mithly could reduce the stigma of being gay. "For over five years now, there has been a debate surrounding homosexuality in Morocco. But the mainstream media has the tendency to sensationalise the subject. With Mithly, we have the opportunity to give the views of homosexuals, and the opportunity to interact directly with society." >>> David Smith and agencies | Thursday, May 20, 2010
AFRIK.COM: Samir Bergachi is unstoppable. Barely 23 years old, the young Moroccan is simply not content to live his homosexuality openly in a country where it is considered as a crime. For the past 6 years, Samir has been running the first Moroccan gay association, kif-kif. And only a month ago, he caused a real stir: the launching of Mithly, the first gay magazine in the Arab world. Some find his initiatives inadmissible. Others admire his courage.
He founded and launched Mithly, the first gay magazine in the Arab world, on the first of April and has since made headlines both in Morocco and the Arab world. Samir Bergachi, general coordinator of Kif-Kif, — an association that fights for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people in Morocco, founded in 2004, — launched Mithly in order to offer homosexuals a mouthpiece. Moroccan conservatives, hostile to homosexuality, which to them is deviant, do not accept the emergence of what has been termed a journalistic UFO. The Moroccan state, on the other hand, considers homosexuality as a crime. Gay Moroccans are, hence, caught between the hammer of the judiciary and the anvil of Islamist wrath. It is for this reason that the offices of Mithly and Kif-Kif have been established in Madrid, Spain. Despite these difficulties, Samir Bergachi told Afrik.com that the independent press as well as rights associations have "welcomed" the magazine.
Hard copies of the first issue of the magazine were printed and distributed clandestinely in Rabat. But for now, those in charge of Mithly want to focus their efforts on the Internet version for the sake of convenience. The first issue devotes several pages to British pop singer Elton John, whose participation in the Mawazine Festival, scheduled to take place in Rabat from May 21 to 29, has aroused the ire of the Islamists, due to his homosexuality. The singer is expected to meet Kif-Kif activists before his performance. Samir Bergachi believes that there is an implicit recognition by the authorities of the gay movement in Morocco. "We won a battle," he exclaims. >>> Djamel Belayachi | Tuesday, May 04, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: A Spanish town could become the first in the country to ban the wearing of the burqa in municipal buildings, according to the mayor's office.
A proposal for the town of Lerida was being drawn up to ban the face-covering Islamic veil in the municipality's buildings, a spokesman for the mayor's office said.
The town had asked its legal services to look into the possibility of banning the garment in all public spaces in the name of the fundamental rights of women, the official said.
"We cannot regulate the usage of the burqa in the road, but we can do that in municipal buildings," he said. >>> | Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: A cancer patient is to be forced to undergo life-saving treatment against her wishes after a landmark ruling by a judge.
Doctors will be allowed forcibly to sedate the 55-year-old woman in her home and take her to hospital for surgery. She could be forced to remain on a ward afterwards.
The case has sparked an intense ethical and legal debate. Experts questioned whether lawyers and doctors should be able to override the wishes of patients and whether force was ever justified in providing medical care.
Treatment was ordered by Sir Nicholas Wall, the President of the Family Division, in the Court of Protection, after surgeons at the woman's local hospital applied for permission to force the surgery on her. They argued that without it, advanced cancer of the uterus would kill her.
Sir Nicholas agreed because the woman, who has learning difficulties, was deemed incapable of making a rational decision about the operation.
She had previously agreed to surgery, only to change her mind and repeatedly refuse to turn up for medical appointments, claiming a phobia of hospitals and needles. >>> Martin Beckford and Stephen Adams | Wednesday, May 26, 2010
LE TEMPS: A l’invitation du Tages Anzeiger, six femmes ont débattu mardi soir à Zurich de l’interdiction de la burqa. Même parmi celles qui s’opposent à une interdiction, le scepticisme, voire l’agressivité envers la seule femme à porter le voile intégral lors de la discussion était palpable
Faut-il interdire la burqa, ou plutôt le niqab, pour employer le terme correct? Le Tages Anzeiger avait invité six femmes pour en débattre, mardi soir à Zurich. Parmi elles, Nora Illi, déléguée aux questions féminines du Conseil central islamique suisse, qui, drapée dans son voile intégral noir, a cristallisé l’irritation, voire l’agressivité de toutes les participantes, mêmes de celles qui s’engageaient à ses côtés pour une interdiction de la burqa. Le public, des femmes à une large majorité, était acquis à une interdiction. Extraits des échanges parfois vifs qui ont animé la soirée.
Opposée à une interdiction, la conseillère nationale Jacqueline Fehr, a commencé par attaquer violemment Nora Illi: «La question de l’interdiction de la burqa est un faux débat qui nous coûte de l’énergie que nous ferions mieux d’investir pour améliorer l’intégration. Cela ne concerne pas Mme Illi qui peut faire ce qu’elle veut. Avec le zèle de convertie qu’elle démontre, et sa manière de se couper des autres, je la considère plutôt comme membre d’une secte.» >>> Catherine Cossy | Mercredi 26 Mai 2010
Eine blöde Schweizerin, die sich zum Islam bekehrt hat. Dümmer geht’s doch nicht! (Mit Video in Schweizerdeutsch*) >>>
THE TELEGRAPH: Europe's "man in the street" was misled for years over the vast political and economic implications of the creation of "Euroland", Herman Van Rompuy has admitted.
The EU's president told a selected audience of civil servants and businessmen that the Greek debt crisis and euro zone bailout had come as a nasty shock to ordinary Europeans.
He said the public was not made aware of the full social and economic implications of the currency before it was created.
"Nobody ever told the proverbial man in the street that sharing a single currency was not just about making peoples' lives easier when doing business or travelling abroad, but also about being directly affected by economic developments in the neighbouring countries," he said on Tuesday evening. "Being in the 'Euro zone' means, monetarily speaking, being part of one 'Euroland'."
Public anger over the cost of supporting other euro zone governments, so far totalling £470 billion in taxpayer funded loans or guarantees, has created new political instability, especially in Germany.
Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor and her coalition government, lost its parliamentary majority two weeks ago following a furious reaction to a Greek bail-out that cost Germany's taxpayers £19 billion.
Public rage has since grown after Chancellor Merkel was last week forced to push through another £105 billion in loan guarantees intended to shore up southern European governments that most Germans regard as victims of their own profligate spending. >>> Bruno Waterfield in Brussels | Wednesday, May 26, 2010
THE WASHINGTON POST: After the British army conquered the Sindh region of what is now modern-day Pakistan in the 1840s, Gen. Charles Napier enforced a ban on the practice of Sati -- the burning of widows alive on the funeral pyres of their husbands. A delegation of Hindu leaders approached Napier to complain that their ancient traditions were being violated. The general is said to have replied: "You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: When men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. . . . You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."
The incident can hardly be commended as a model of cross-cultural relations, but it clarifies a tension. Conflict can arise between respect for other cultures and respect for universal human rights.
This is particularly true when it comes to the rights of women. Traditional societies can be deeply admirable -- conservative, family-oriented, stable, wise about human nature and human society. But they can also be highly patriarchal, evidenced by such practices as Sati, foot-binding, widow inheritance and female circumcision. This is not to say that modern, rights-based societies are without their own faults and failures; it is only to recognize that multiculturalism and human rights can sometimes clash.
For the most part, these tensions no longer emerge through colonialism but through migration, which can transplant a traditional culture smack in the middle of an aggressively liberal one. The most visible areas of difference -- say in dress -- can spark controversy, just as the wearing of the burqa is now doing in Europe. >>> Michael Gerson, Op-Ed Columnist | Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Mr Gerson misses the point totally here. The French had a revolution in 1789. It established three main principles: liberté, egalité, fraternité. That means to say, liberty, equality, and brotherhood. It appears to me that the wearing of the burqah violates all three principles: it takes away a woman’s liberty; it renders women unequal to men; and it certainly makes brotherhood impossible, because a burqah cuts a woman off from the rest of society.
In addition to this, it should be added that the French take laïcité very seriously indeed. Laïcité can best be translated as secularim. But it is a poor translation. It means far more: it is the strict and official separation of church and state.
It would appear that Mr Gerson does not fully appreciate the significance of la Révolution française which took place in 1789.
The French must go ahead with the ban so as to be true to the principles of the revolution and la République. – © Mark
INDIAN EXPRESS: Melbourne –– A survey has found that three in five Australians would support a ban on Muslim women wearing the burqa.
The national online poll of 1000 done this month by UMR Research showed that only 33 per cent were opposed to the ban compared to 59 per cent who were in favour of it, reports the Age.
South Australian Liberal senator Cory Bernardi, who said the burqa was “un-Australian”, had promoted the idea of a ban recently.
But either side of politics has not supported a ban on the burqa.
The greatest support for a ban was among males with 63 per cent, and 55 per cent among women. Read on and comment >>> Agencies | Wednesday, May 26, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: José Manuel Barosso's public criticism of German chancellor signals growing political friction across eurozone
The head of the European commission today launched a strong attack on the German chancellor Angela Merkel's handling of the euro's crisis of confidence.
José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European commission, who is believed to be supported by a majority of the 27 member states, described Merkel's campaign to reopen the Lisbon treaty as "naïve". He said that the bill of almost €900bn for rescuing Greece and shoring up the euro would have been much cheaper had Berlin acted more swiftly, and accused the German government of failing to lead public opinion in defence of thebeleaguered single currency.
Barroso's surprisingly public criticism, in an interview with Germany's conservative newspaper the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, signalled the high-level political friction in the EU over how to restore faith in the single currency.
Barroso's staff, as well as the governments of many other EU member states, think the mixture of hard line and prevarication shown by Merkel since the crisis erupted in February have made a bad situation worse. They say that swift action in February would have deterred the financial markets and contained the crisis to Greece and its sovereign debt. >>> Ian Traynor | Tuesday, May 25, 2010
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: Im Gespräch: José Manuel Barroso – „Manchmal haben Krisen auch ihr Gutes“ >>> FAZ | Dienstag, 25. Mai 2010
TIMES ONLINE: It is a gloriously sunny Pentecôte bank holiday, and hundreds of people have descended on Morschwiller-le-Bas, a suburb of the French city of Mulhouse, for its annual marché aux puces — flea market.
The eurozone crisis is hardly uppermost in their minds as they pick through the mounds of second-hand clothes and bric-a-brac, but they respond when asked, and their views could scarcely be more different from those we found in Germany, a mere 15km (9 miles) to the east.
The hard-working Germans were furious at the €148 billion euros (£126.1 billion) in loan guarantees that their Government has offered the Greeks and other states of the southern eurozone. Here in France, nobody even knows how much their Government has put up (the answer is €111 billion) and there has been scarcely a murmur of dissent.
“If we consider Europe a serious matter we have to help the Greeks,” said Jacqueline Wertz, a retired hotel worker eating pizza in the shade. “They have to have more discipline, but we have a duty of solidarity and have to help,” agreed Martial Fixalis, 39, a businessman manning his own stall.
“We’re European, and it’s our role to help others,” said Josiane Mehlen, who was queueing at a beer stand and turned out to be Morschwiller’s mayor.
There are many explanations for this Gallic insouciance. The French believe in state intervention. Like the Greeks, they have their own sizeable black economy. Unlike the Germans, they are no fiscal saints themselves. Their national debt is 84 per cent of GDP — 6 per cent higher than Britain’s.
“Money is a means to an end. If you can live well with a deficit it’s not a big problem,” chuckled Denis Fauroux, a Mulhouse lawyer, as we ate lunch in his garden and admired the distant mountains of Les Vosges.
The French, with their 35-hour working week and propensity to retire early, do not share the German work ethic evident this week in Ludwigshafen, a four-hour train ride north up the Rhine valley. “Here it’s a Latin culture. The French have more sympathy with the Greeks than the Germans,” observed Marc Sarwatka, 44, the head of a large recruitment agency, over an early evening beer in the elegant Place de la Bourse.
Nor are they such sticklers for rules, as our translator observed when a French driver sped over a pedestrian crossing. “The Germans always stop,” she remarked.
Amongst the cognescenti, there is even a certain pride that President Sarkozy pressed Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, into backing the €750 billion bailout package. Read on and comment >>> Martin Fletcher | Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
LE POINT: La Corée du Nord a décidé, mardi, de rompre ses relations avec la Corée du Sud qu'elle a menacée d'une "guerre totale" si de nouvelles sanctions lui étaient imposées, la Chine acceptant de son côté de "collaborer" avec les États-Unis face à cette nouvelle crise coréenne. Par la voie d'un communiqué du Comité d'État pour la réunification pacifique de la Corée diffusé par l'agence officielle nord-coréenne KCNA, Pyongyang affirme que sa mise en cause par la Corée du Sud dans le naufrage de la corvette Cheonan, qui a fait 46 morts parmi les marins sud-coréens, équivaut à une déclaration de guerre. La Corée du Nord annonce dans ce texte rompre toutes ses relations et les communications avec la Corée du Sud et abroger un accord de non-agression pour protester contre les accusations de torpillage de ce bâtiment faites par Séoul. Tous les navires et avions sud-coréens se verront en outre interdire l'accès aux eaux maritimes et à l'espace aérien nord-coréens, toujours selon KCNA reçue en Corée du Sud. >>> AFP | Mardi 25 Mai 2010
YAHOO! NEWS: North Korean Troops 'Prepare For Combat': North Korea's armed forces have reportedly been ordered to prepare for combat as tensions mount with the South over the deadly sinking of a warship. >>> Sky News | Tuesday, May 25, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Queen's speech point by point >>> | Tuesday, May 25, 2010
TELEGRAPH BLOG – PHILIP JOHNSTON: It was heartening to see that after 13 years of Labour “modernisation” the State Opening of Parliament retained all the pomp and circumstance that we as a nation still do so well. Funnily enough this great pageantry and its ancient rituals date all the way back to, well, 1852. Although the symbolism — such as taking an MP hostage and keeping him in Buckingham Palace until the Queen returns, or searching the Palace of Westminster for gunpowder — deliberately evokes our history, the form of the State Opening is relatively recent in origin. >>> Philip Johnston | Tuesday, May 25, 2010
THE INDEPENDENT: Queen's Speech lays out radical agenda for coalition >>> PA | Tuesday, May 25, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: David Cameron renewed his pre-election attacks on Labour following the Queen's Speech, claiming Gordon Brown had left the country in an ''appalling mess''.
In his first major speech at the Commons despatch box since becoming Prime Minister, Mr Cameron clashed with Harriet Harman, Labour's deputy leader.
His comments followed acting Labour leader Harriet Harman's response to the Queen's Speech from the Opposition front bench.
Mr Cameron said there was ''something missing'' from her speech: ''Not one word of apology for the appalling mess that has been left in this country.
''Nothing to say about leaving Britain with a deficit that is bigger than Greece's.
''Not a single idea for getting to grips with it.
''Until they learn what they got so badly wrong I'm not sure people are going to listen to them again.''
Mr Cameron said the Queen's Speech was the first in 65 years from a coalition government.
"It is a Government not driven by party interest but by the national interest, with clear values at its heart," the Prime Minister said.
"The values at its heart are freedom, because over the past decade the state has become over-mighty and civil liberties have been undermined consistently... >>> | Tuesday, May 25, 2010
TIMES ONLINE: David Cameron ignored the traditional niceties of the Queen’s Speech debate today to tear into Labour’s record in office and complain that Gordon Brown’s Government had left the country in an “appalling mess”.
The Prime Minister’s vitriolic attack in his first Commons appearance of the new Parliament raised eyebrows on a day when MPs usually act as though they can rise above party politics.
Speaking after Harriet Harman, the acting Labour leader, gave a gently chiding response to the introduction of the Lib-Con legislative programme, Mr Cameron said there was “something missing” from her speech.
“Not one word of apology for the appalling mess that has been left in this country. Nothing to say about leaving Britain with a deficit that is bigger than Greece’s. Not a single idea for getting to grips with it,” he said.
“Until they learn what they got so badly wrong I’m not sure people are going to listen to them again.” >>> Philippe Naughton | Tuesday, May 25, 2010
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