Former Muslim against Islamism

Kelantan-to-reward-good-polygamous-men

yangburz — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 01:01:41 +0000

Will U.S. Move On Global Gay Rights Hurt, Or Help?

yangburz — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 00:42:17 +0000

Pakistani students of the Islam-e Jamiat party rally to condemn a meeting organized by the U.S. Embassy supporting gay rights in Islamabad in July.

By Daisy Sindelar

December 07, 2011

Is the United States upholding human rights, or meddling in other people’s business?

That may be the question in many countries following a coordinated call by President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for governments around the world to do more to protect gay rights.

Clinton, speaking on December 6 at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, called for a worldwide end to the persecution of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, saying, “It should never be a crime to be gay.”

Adding muscle to her remarks, Clinton said Obama had instructed government agencies responsible for allocating foreign aid to contribute to the fight.

“The president has directed all U.S. government agencies engaged overseas to combat the criminalization of LGBT status and conduct, to enhance efforts to protect vulnerable LGBT refugees and asylum seekers, to ensure that our foreign assistance promotes the protection of LGBT rights,” Clinton said.

In a memo released the same day, Obama ordered all representatives of the U.S. government working overseas to “ensure that U.S. diplomacy and foreign assistance to promote and protect the human rights of LGBT persons.”

The initiative is certain to raise hackles in conservative countries that chafe at the notion of Washington acting as a kind of morality police.

‘Consistency, Honesty Important’

Homosexuality is currently a criminal offense in dozens of countries worldwide, including two of the top recipients of U.S. aid, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The directive, however, stops short of making foreign aid conditional on a country’s performance on gay rights.

Some activists defended the move as an attempt to protect local LGBT activists from coming under attack as a result of slashed foreign aid.

Renato Sabbadini, the co-secretary-general of the Brussels-based International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA), also says that such conditions can only be effective if they are applied consistently.

Russian police arrest a gay-rights activist holding a poster reading “Homophobia is a disease” during a banned gay-pride rally in St. Petersburg in June.

Sabbadini cites the examples of Iran and Saudi Arabia. Both countries say homosexuality is punishable by death. But one, Saudi Arabia, enjoys close ties with the United States, while the other, Iran, does not.

“If the U.S. government were to cut foreign aid on the basis of the violation of LGBT rights, then this would be a wise measure only if it was applied consistently both to Iran and to Saudi Arabia,” Sabbadini says.

“We understand that there are probably many other considerations which probably wouldn’t see this kind of action from the U.S. government,” he adds. “So in this case it is better to be honest, as the White House has been in its communications, and say that foreign aid is not directly linked to the violation of LGBT rights.”

Little Change In South Asia

Without the threat of slashed aid, it remains unclear how U.S. government pressure can be brought to bear on countries with a history of antigay discrimination.

The problem is particularly difficult in countries like Pakistan, where social conservatism and anti-American sentiment are both strong. Large demonstrations broke out in the country in June after staff at the U.S. Embassy held a gay-pride celebration there.

Pakistan has made unusual strides in recent months toward establishing the rights of its third-gender minority, but otherwise social stigma and the Criminal Code are strongly discriminatory against gays and lesbians.

Afghanistan likewise prohibits homosexual activity. The U.S. State Department, in its annual human rights report, found that Afghan authorities “sporadically” enforce the prohibition.

‘May Make It Worse’

Another country that is likely to resist U.S. finger-wagging is Russia, where the Orthodox Church and nationalist movements have joined forces to repress the country’s burgeoning gay-rights movement.

The Moscow City Court last month upheld the city government’s decision to ban a gay-pride parade in May, a standoff that culminated in a violent confrontation between gay-rights activists, police, and antigay demonstrators.

And lawmakers in the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly are currently mulling a bill that would ban anything seen as promoting homosexuality and pedophilia among minors. The proposal has sparked angry protests among gay-rights activists, who say such a law could be used to crack down on members of Russia’s LGBT community.

Russian officials, however, defend their record on gay rights and have indicated they will broach no criticism from American shores. Konstantin Dolgov, the Foreign Ministry’s commissioner for human rights, democracy, and rule of law, criticized what he called U.S. “intervention” on his country’s legislative process after Clinton made an earlier call for gay tolerance last month.

Russian gay-rights groups have cautiously welcomed the latest show of support from Clinton and Obama.

But Olga Lenkova, the head of communications for Coming Out, a St. Petersburg-based LGBT support group, says her group is concerned that the well-intentioned U.S. message may have unintended consequences for things like Petersburg’s propaganda bill.

“We were actually a little worried by the Foreign Ministry’s reaction. There’s traditionally a very strong anti-American mood in Russia. We’re worried that the Petersburg Legislative Assembly will now, to the contrary, pass the legislation out of malice.”

Still, Lenkova says, it was good to hear the words of support. “The issue of gay rights gets very little attention in Russia,” she says. “If the West didn’t bring it up, it wouldn’t come up at all.”

http://www.rferl.org/content/us_move_on_gays_rights_could_help_or_hurt/24415051.html

Windows on Iran Update – 13

yangburz — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 23:58:14 +0000

December 7, 2011 by Fatemeh Keshavarz

Dear All,

I hope you are all well. The events related to the invasion of the British Embassy in Iran keeping us in the headlines. As we are going to dive right into not-so-pretty political discussions and pictures, I want to open this window with a view of the ordinary non-political people and natural scenes from North of Iran. Just visit this site, scroll down, look at the pictures, read and enjoy, here. I do think we need sites like this because our visual vocabulary has become so limited to guns, demonstrations, and rows of prayer — which exist, no doubt. However, they should not mask peaceful cities and their ordinary people.

Invasion of the British Embassy by “Students”

Now you can watch the not-so-pretty scene of invading the British embassy. If you have any doubts that the crowd is small and mobilized by the government, ask two simple questions: why do the cameras not show us a long shot of the crowd, and why is there such a heavy presence of the official media in the first place, here.

The event of invading the British embassy, and its residential garden, is still hard to understand. As pieces of information surface gradually, it becomes clear that the heavily publicized release of the IAEA report on the Iranian nuclear situation in early November triggered a series of events which seem to have got us where we are now. The release of the report was followed by talk of further sanctions, even possibility of military action by western officials. See the chronology of some of the important events here. Weeks later a major explosion shook a military base near Tehran and killed 27 people including the founder of the Iranian missile program. Now it seems the explosion has been more extensive than initially thought, here. Amidst all of this, the British government declared a special sanction on the Iranian Central Bank, a move truly devastating to Iranian economy particularly the small businesses.

If you add to the above picture that the British government has been extremely unpopular and held responsible for historical disasters such as the 1953 coup that toppled the democratically elected and popular Prime Minister of Iran Dr. Mohammad Mosaddegh, it is not hard to see why the Iranian authorities could even hope for sympathy in targeting the British. If you are interested in reading a superbly researched and highly readable account of the toppling of Dr. Mosaddegh, I refer you to Stephen Kinzer’s:

[pageview url="http://windowsoniran.wordpress.com/" title="Windows on Iran"]

Obama Administration Bans the Truth About Islam and Jihad

yangburz — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 06:58:18 +0000

It has been a long time coming, but the Obama Administration has now officially banned the truth. Deputy U.S. Attorney General James Cole declared Wednesday at a conference in Washington that he had “recently directed all components of the Department of Justice to re-evaluate their training efforts in a range of areas, from community outreach to national security.” This “reevaluation” will remove all references to Islam in connection with any examination of Islamic jihad terror activity. The Obama Administration has now placed off-limits any investigation of the beliefs, motives and goals of jihad terrorists.

Here is the story in Full

[pageview url="http://frontpagemag.com/2011/10/24/obama-adminstration-bans-the-truth-about-islam-and-jihad" title="Obama Administration Bans the Truth About Islam and Jihad" title="Obama Administration Bans the Truth About Islam and Jihad"]

I Killed Muammar Gaddafi

yangburz — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 11:08:30 +0000

I Killed Muammar Gaddafi’

“I fired two bullets at him, one hit under his armpit, the other his head. He did not die immediately. It took him half an hour,” he said.

Here is the story in Full
[pageview url="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29486.htm" title="I Killed Muammar Gaddafi"]

Unfreezing Arab history

yangburz — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 06:39:46 +0000

The gory death of Libya’s strongman Colonel Muammar Qaddafi at the hands of young fighters of half of the age of his 42-year long rule confirms the high hopes of the

Arab Spring — the history of the region is unfreezing. I wish to push the time-centred view of history on the side and think of modern-day history as a growth of

freedoms, civil liberties and people having rights to determine their individual and collective choices. While most of the modern world, even the post-colonial

societies, capitalised on ‘peoples awakening’ to shape a new social and political order reflecting modernist notions of liberty, representative government and

political authority under law, the opposite was true in the Middle East.

Here is the story in Full
[pageview url="http://tribune.com.pk/story/279616/unfreezing-arab-history/" title="Unfreezing Arab history"]

Pakistan’s non-‘anti-India’ generation

yangburz — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 06:58:26 +0000

Pakistan was not formed as an Islamic nation. It was instead envisioned as a state designed to provide economic stability and opportunity to Muslims who, post-Partition, would otherwise have found themselves a minority in a predominantly Hindu nation. A state founded for Muslims is by no means the same as an Islamic state. Adding further to this confusion is the central question, what form of Islam was Pakistan meant to follow? Important also to remember is that it was not till 1956 that Pakistan was officially renamed the ‘Islamic Republic of Pakistan’.

[pageview url="http://tribune.com.pk/story/278219/pakistans-non-anti-india-generation" title="Pakistan’s non-‘anti-India’ generation"]

Iran Supreme Court annuls pastor’s death sentence, status remains unsure

yangburz — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 06:57:53 +0000

On October 11, Iran’s Supreme Court announced that Christian pastor Yousef Nadarkhani’s controversial death sentence has been annulled.

The court of Iran said “defects” in Nadarkhani’s case require his case to be returned to a local court, reported Mohabat News, the Iranian Christian news agency.

[pageview url="http://blog.beliefnet.com/news/2011/10/iran-supreme-court-annuls-pastors-death-sentence-new-verdict-to-be-studied.php" title="Iran Supreme Court annuls pastor’s death sentence, status remains unsure "]

Iran death sentence unjust, ACL says

yangburz — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 06:57:24 +0000

A Christian lobby group has called on the federal government to urge Iran to allow religious freedom as a pastor there faces a death sentence for refusing to convert to Islam.

Western news media outlets report Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani has been sentenced to death for apostasy – the crime of abandoning Islam – and converting to Christianity.

[pageview url="http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8362416/iran-death-sentence-unjust-acl-says" title="Iran death sentence unjust, ACL says"]

Muslim Scholars Issue Fatwa Declaring No Conflict Between Islamic Law And U.S. Constitution

yangburz — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 06:57:01 +0000

Islamic scholars tired of conservative charges that Muslims in the United States constitute a radical fifth column bent on subverting American values and obligated by their religion to launch jihadist terror attacks are fighting back by issuing a fatwa.

The Islamic religious ruling, a “Resolution On Being Faithful Muslims and Loyal Americans,” is a response to what its authors call “erroneous perceptions and Islamophobic propaganda” that has built up for a decade following the 9/11 attacks and subsequent terrorist plots by adherents of al-Qaida and other extremist groups. It was issued in Virginia late last month by the Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA), a group of Islamic scholars who meet several times a year to draft opinions on issues of concern to American Muslims.

[pageview url="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/19/muslim-scholars-fatwa_n_1020641.html" title="Muslim Scholars Issue Fatwa Declaring No Conflict Between Islamic Law And U.S. Constitution"]