Saturday, October 23, 2010

Reports from Europe:

Via "Islam in Europe":

In Malmo, Sweden:

"Police in Malmö issued a warning on Thursday urging residents with immigrant backgrounds to be extra careful when out alone at night or in the evenings.

The warning comes following information released by the police on Wednesday indicating that residents with immigrant backgrounds have been targeted in a number of recent shootings, up to 15 of which the police believe may be related.

Police also cautioned members of the public not to try to intervene if they witness a new shooting.

“You shouldn’t give chase. The first think you should think about is your own safety, then call the police,” J-B Cederholm of the Skåne County police said at a Thursday press conference, according to the Kvällsposten newspaper."

In France:

Ivan Rioufol, of Le Figaro, wrote the following on his blog (FR):

All students are obviously not rioters. But the rioters of the past few days - and Wednesday morning again in the center of Lyon - are indeed students. They are, mainly, from the ghettos. The hooded people aren't marching to defend retirement at 60, or even the welfare system which enticed their parents or grandparents.
They're there to battle the Republic, its culture and it's most visible symbols: the security forces, the schools. That's why a school was burned down in Mans. The scenes of urban guerrilla warfare that they're reproducing are very similar to the images of the intifada of the young Palestinians confronting the Israeli forces. Comparisons are misleading, but these ethnic insurrections of youth who are often of Muslim culture, also reject the state seen as a colonizer and oppressor. These wild people, each time more intrepid and organized, remind us of the failure of their integration.

In Holland:

Christian asylum seekers living temporarily in Dutch refugee centres are often threatened or physically abused by fellow refugees who are Muslims, according to a support group. The Christian group, the Gift Foundation (Stichting Gave) presented its findings on Dutch public TV on Tuesday.

In Norway:

The Saudi Arabian government and wealthy Saudi individuals want to build mosques in Norway for tens of millions. They are legally entitled to do so, according to Norwegian law for financially supporting religious communities, but the large sum means that the government will have to approve the financial support.

The foreign office is not only refusing to approve the funding. In a response to the Tawfiiq Islamic Center, the ministry wrote that it would be 'a paradox and unnatural to approve funding from sources in a country which is not open to religious freedom."

__________

The root of the problem: According to the authors of this article, it's lack of clarity and absence of teachable definitions:

Is It Islamic or Islamist?

The West’s confusion spells trouble.

At least a few on the left are defending Islamism because they think that they are defending Islam. Recently, a European policymaker told us that she had become sympathetic to Turkey’s governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) because “in the post-September 11 world, I wanted to defend Islam.” Well, the AKP, and other Islamist movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood in the Arab world, do not represent Islam. These Islamist parties, even when not using violence, stand for an ideology that is illiberal to its core—for instance, its refusal to recognize gender equality. In the same way that communism once claimed to speak for the working class, Islamism claims to represent Muslims. By defending radical Islamist movements, the left is helping only to give Muslims a bad name. The left ought to side not with so-called moderate Islamist parties, but rather with liberal Muslim movements, such as the Republican People’s Party in Turkey and the pro-democracy movement in Egypt, which support gender equality.

The right, on the other hand, often targets Islam while thinking that it is attacking Islamism. Banning the building of minarets, as Switzerland did, is exactly the wrong thing to do. The problem is not a mosque; the problem is a mosque used to promote violence, jihadism, and illiberal Islamism. The crimes of Al Qaeda, Hizbullah, and other groups are rooted in jihadist Islamism, which advocates violence to impose extremist dogma on Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

5 Comments:

At 9:20 AM EDT, Blogger EscapeVelocity said...

Michigan Woman Charged with Discrimination For Seeking A Christian Roommate

 
At 10:01 PM EDT, Anonymous Anonymous said...

"In the Mideast, No Politics but God’s" Anthony Shadid
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/24/weekinreview/24shadid.html?ref=weekinreview&pagewanted=all

trying to dispel the delusion that any secular democracy can emerge in the World of Islam.

Maybe Rabbi Yosef is the only one listening?

K2K

 
At 12:12 PM EDT, Anonymous Anonymous said...

http://www.observer.com/2010/real-estate/how-about-terrorist-motel-ground-zero-instead-mosque

[press release from the architect provocateurs, to accompany the 'Afghan chic' renderings, which are nicer than the officiial crashing Star of David renderings for the GZM]:
"The entrance will be in the form of a dramatic mountain cave with a thirty foot high opening, loosely fashioned on the Tora Bora outpost of Osama Bin Laden. [...] The motel will be non-denominational, with no preferences given to religion, race or creed. Mr. Muhammad Imam, the spokesperson for Stealth Architects, said "rather than spending three trillion dollars on an ‘endless war' which cannot be won, we can put the terrorists up here; at the motel, at the International community's expense and it will be much cheaper."


article links to NYT interview with Prince Walid: "I have been associated with this mosque in New York, but frankly speaking, I have nothing to do with it. I'm not for putting that mosque there."

K2K

 
At 6:22 PM EDT, Blogger EscapeVelocity said...

Couple of things Noga.

As regards your Malmo story there. Did you see the latest season of Wallander, Swedish writer, British actors, Kenneth Branaugh as Wallander, the Swedish dectetive. You might look into the first episode Faceless Killers. The Malmo story reminded me of this episode which aired on Oct 2, 2010.

2ndly, bravo to Norway for this action. Hopefully all Euro Christian naitons will follow suit. "When tolerance is a one way street it leads to cultural suicide." - Col Allen West

And lastly, as regards The Wests Confusion Spells Trouble.

This fellow isnt quite there yet. Im all for supporting the small minority of reformers and liberal Muslims on the oposite side of the Bell Curve from the Jihadis. However most of the center of the Bell Curve is filled with Islamic Supremacists of the non violent persuasion, (though they may not object to the violence itself, they just arent into committing it).

As such, I do not wish to fight this Herculean task of Islamic Reformation in Western Euro Christian countries. Im all for supporting the Islamic Left in the countries where they are in the majority. Let's keep as much of the planet as possible Islam free...and work from a place of strength, not opening ourselves up to violence and deteriorating liberty and rights, for little gain.

 
At 8:53 PM EDT, Anonymous Anonymous said...

what you will not read about in the NYT. The Congressman Nadler for the GZM has a Jewish woman GOP challenger, Susan Cone.
http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/new_york/challenger_nadler_not_pro_israel

No wonder the 'king' is so ornery these days. Jewish Republicans challenging three Dems south of
96th Street. Mosques are issues in at least three other NY CDs.

under the radar...

K2K

 

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