How bigotry distorts our thinking

Nasir Khan, January 10, 2015

If the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik (for more on Breivik, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anders_Behring_Breivik) were a Muslim, then all Muslims would have been blamed for his crime and the lives of Muslim population of Norway made a living hell. (I live in Norway and I had seen how the Muslim people of Norway, including myself as a humanist and secularist [!], were blamed and treated in the wake of September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States of America. It was as if Muslims from Norway had attacked the Twin Towers in New York and they suddenly had to face the hatred, revulsion and hostility of so many native Norwegians against them.) 

But Breivik was a white Norwegian, a white supremacist, an anti-Muslim ‘Knights Templar’ and a cold-blooded killer. Therefore no one ascribed his crime to the Norwegian people or to Christianity. That’s how we categorise ‘our terrorists’ and ‘their terrorists’ so differently. Such is the nature of bigotry that rules the passions of many people who have traditional ethno-religious blinkers.

————–
Muslim shooter = entire religion guilty
Black shooter = entire race guilty
White shooter = mentally troubled lone wolf
————-

Anders Behring Breivik – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Anders Behring Breivik (Norwegian pronunciation: [ˈɑnːəʂ ˈbeːrɪŋ ˈbrɛiviːk];[6] born 13 February 1979) is the perpetrator of the 2011 Norway attacks. On 22 July 2011, he bombed government buildings in Oslo, killing eight people. He then killed 69 more people, mostly teenagers, in a mass shooting at…

en.wikipedia.org

The danger of using the Paris killings against Muslim people

Nasir Khan, January 8, 2015

Any person who commits a premeditated murder is held accountable for culpable homicide under the rules of criminal law. If any such murderer thinks his actions are in the service of some cause or has some other motives then he will still stand accused of the crime of unlawful killing. Only a court of law can find out about all the surrounding circumstances including the state of mind or the intention of the accused, in legalese the mens rea of the crime to ascertain his guilt.


The abominable killings of twelve people in Paris by two men who are still at large has shaken the conscience of the world. That is a good thing that the world has reacted in this way. But unfortunately the world does not always react in this way when some powerful countries attack and kill innocent people in hundreds, thousands or hundreds of thousands.


At the same time, it is also important to remember that the actions of these two men in no way can be ascribed to other people who by religion are Muslims and are spread all over the world. It is very easy for the media and some officials to blame Muslims and their religion, Islam, for any ghastly crimes by some individuals.


In fact, the Paris killings are already being used by anti-Muslim forces to spread hatred and hostility against the Muslim people, who have nothing to do with these murders. The tragedy of the Paris murders should not be used to provoke hostility towards innocent Muslim people.

The Paris Massacre January 7, 2015

Nasir Khan, Januar 7, 2015

Today’s cold-blooded massacre of 12 people was a deeply shocking, reprehensible and horrible massacre of journalists and employees of Charlie Weekly. The misguided killers have committed the most despicable crime in the name of a great religious figure.

But countless millions of ordinary, peace-loving and hard-working Muslims around the word have nothing to do with these criminals and murderers. There is also the danger of inter-ethnic and inter-religious tensions because many neo-Nazis, political extremists and right-wingers in Europe will use the tragic killings to stir hatred against Muslim communities living in European countries, put the blame on Muslims and provoke people against them. 

Let’s hope and pray that all people with religious and non-religious affiliations and identities stand united and condemn the Paris murders and uphold the banner of freedom of expression and speech for all, everywhere. No religious maniacs, hoodlums or murderers should be allowed to dictate and impose their barbaric views on free and secular people and societies.

The Kashmir Conflict and the Indo-Pakistan military confrontaions

Nasir Khan, January 6, 2015

There has been no tangible move to resolve the Kashmir issue that had started at the partitioning of India in 1947 when the British raj came to an end there. Soon military hostilities started between the two new neighbours, India and Pakistan, over the princely State of Jammu and Kashmir. It was only through the UN mediation that the hostilities between the two countries were brought to an end and the parties occupying the areas were accepted as de facto powers. The temporary border-line between these powers was demarcated as the Line of Control.

However, the parties agreed to hold plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir to ascertain the will of the people, whether they would join India, Pakistan or become independent. That promise has remained unfilled. Despite resorting to military confrontations that led to much bloodshed and misery, the people of Jammu and Kashmir have been the main victims.

During the period of insurgency against the Indian rule in Kashmir some 100,000 (India says around 70,000) people were killed. At his time there are some 700,000 Indian soldiers in Kashmir to suppress the people who are asking for the end of the Indian rule and demanding their freedom (Azaadi).

But India has a different view of the conflict. According to this view Jammu and Kashmir are an ‘integral part of India’ and there is no problem in Jammu and Kashmir except for the terrorists operating there with the help of Pakistani authorities and militant groups.

—————
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/06/thousands-flee-homes-in-kashmir-as-india-pakistan-clashes-spread?commentpage=1
Thousands flee homes in Kashmir as India-Pakistan clashes spread

About 6,000 civilians in Indian-controlled region leave homes as intense shelling reported along border

Thousands of Indians have fled their homes as fighting between India and Pakistan spread along a 124-mile stretch of the border in the disputed region of Kashmir.

Continues >>

Richard Falk: The Irrelevance of Liberal Zionism

Editor’s remarks:   In this article eminent scholar and peace activist Richard Falk shows the delusional side of the liberal Zionism and debunks all the claims made by its vocal advocates. His penetrating analysis cuts across the deception and misleading projections that are tossed around as a way forward in the present situation. Diverse views and opinions offered by the liberal Zionists are meant to cover-up the designs of the Israeli government and facilitate the expansionist policies in the West Bank by illegal settlements and marginalising the Palestinians to the extant that they have nothing left but to accept what the occupier decides for them. It is easy to see that the ‘two-state solution’ has been a useful tool in the hands of Israel while expanding its illegal settlements and thus making a viable Palestinian state virtually impossible if it didn’t relinquish the land it occupied in 1967. We have to keep in mind that Israel has not planted 600,000 militant Jewish settlers in the West Bank with the idea of dislodging them at some time. On the contrary, they have been put there as an essential part of the colonisation of the occupied Palestine. Their numbers are increasing and new settlements are expanding. The Palestinians have hopes and aspirations for self-determination and creating a sovereign state in their own land. But Israel has the military power and the backing of the United States to impose its will on a captive people.

Nasir Khan, Editor

----------------------------------------------------------
Richard Falk, MWC News, January  5, 2015

Frustrated by Israeli settlement expansion, excessive violence, AIPAC maximalism, Netanyahu’s arrogance, Israel’s defiant disregard of international law, various Jewish responses claim to seek a middle ground. Israel is criticized by this loyal opposition, sometimes harshly, although so is the Palestinian Authority, Hamas, and activists around the world. Both sides are deemed responsible in equal measure for the failure to end the conflict. With such a stance liberal Zionists seek to occupy the high moral ground without ceding political relevance. In contrast, those who believe as I do that Israel poses the main obstacle to achieving a sustainable peace are dismissed by liberal Zionists as either obstructive or unrealistic, and at worst, as anti-Israeli or even anti-Semitic.

Listen to the funding appeals of J Street or read such columnists in the NY Times as Roger Cohen and Thomas Friedman to grasp the approach of liberal Zionism. These views are made to appear reasonable, and even just, by being set off against such maximalist support for Israel as associated with AIPAC and the U.S. Congress, or in the NY Times context by comparison with the more conservative views of David Brooks (whose son currently serves in the IDF) who published a recent ‘balanced’ column lionizing Netanyahu, “The Age of Bibi” [Jan. 2, 2014]. Of all the deformed reasoning contained in the column, perhaps the most scandalous was comparing Netanyahu to Churchill, and to suggest that his story has the grandeur that bears a resemblance to Shakespeare’s MacBeth, an observation that many would find unflattering.

Continues >>

Pakistan: Salman Taseer defended the rights of religious minorities

Editor’s comment: Salman Taseer was the governor of the Punjab Province, Pakistan. He stood for justice, religious toleration and the protection of the rights of religious minorities. He voiced his opposition to the victimization of innocent Christians who were falsely accused of insulting Islam and the Qur’an by some goons and were tried under the Blasphemy Laws of Pakistan. The governor’s bodyguard, a religious fanatic, killed him. While thousands of people were appalled by this ghastly assassination of a noble person, hundreds of thousands of fanatic people and mullahs in Pakistan openly supported the murderer and held demonstrations in his favour. Such is the social and political reality of Pakistan where dogmatic indoctrination has paralysed people in the last few decades. Gone are the days of humane thinking and respect for other peoples’ differing views or outlook.

Nasir Khan, Editor
—————-

http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/20417/why-should-we-remember-salman-taseer/

Salman Taseer was certainly not a leader of the masses. He didn’t have the charisma of Bhutto or the populist support of Benazir. He was, however, a man who believed in a liberal Pakistan. PHOTO: FILE

January 4 and 5 are two days that every PPP (Pakistan Peoples Party) supporter will remember, but for two very different reasons. January 5 is the birthday of their enigmatic party founder Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. January 4, on the other hand, remains one of the darkest days in our history of political murders – a day that is, surprisingly, not spoken of enough.

January 4, 2011, was the day when the serving Governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer, was shot dead by his guard, because the guard was in disagreement with Taseer’s opposition to the blasphemy law. Salman Taseer’s assassin was a man called Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, reportedly a member of Dawat-e-Islami.

Continues >>

American rulers and Israel’s occupation of Palestine

Editor’s comment: The rejection of the Palestinian resolution in the Security Council was expected because of the role of American power in the world and also in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). There was hardly any indication of any change in the US policy in the UNSC. But in case of more favourable voting in favour of the resolution, the US would have vetoed it. Such has been the standard US practice in the UNSC on numerous occasions when any matter came up regarding Israel’s violations of human rights or violence against the Palestinians in the occupied land. In any case, the US has been pivotal in supporting the Israeli occupation of Palestine for many decades and it will continue to do so because of the power of Israel and Israeli lobby on the US Governemnt and the US Congress. Therefore, America is the main hurdle to the Palestinians’ right to self-determination, the guarantor of the continued Israeli occupation of Palestine and its firm supporter for the oppression, suppression and enslavement of the people of Palestine.

Nasir Khan, Editor

—————————-

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS,  DEC. 31, 2014, 2:07 A.M. E.S.T.

UNITED NATIONS — The Security Council rejected a Palestinian resolution demanding an end to Israeli occupation within three years late Tuesday, a blow to an Arab campaign to get the U.N.’s most powerful body to take action to achieve an independent state of Palestine.

The United States, Israel’s closest ally, had made clear its opposition to the draft resolution, insisting on a negotiated peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, not an imposed timetable. It would have used its veto if necessary but it didn’t have to because the resolution failed to get the minimum nine “yes” votes required for adoption by the 15-member council.

Continues >>