Syed Irfan Ali, MD, a hospitalist at MaineGeneral Medical Center’s Thayer Unit in Waterville, received the 2011 NASF Humanitarian of the Year award from the Nasreen & Alam Sher Foundation last month. Dr. Ali earned the honor after spending several days in Pakistan providing free care to patients at Aisha Bibi Memorial Hospital.
Chelsea, Maine-based NASF supports health, education, humanities, and peace in South Asian countries. Later this month, Dr. Ali will move to a residency program in anesthesiology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, but he hopes to return to Pakistan, perhaps at the end of this year.
Pakistani Civic Association honors community workers
STATEN ISLAND,NY–The Pakistani Civic Association of Staten Island Inc. celebrated Eid-ul-Fitr and Pakistan 65th Independence Day last Sunday on the South Meadow at Livingston’s Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden.
A host of people were honored for their longtime service to the community are: Dr. Ted Brown, director of the Institute for Basic Research; the Hon. Faqir Syed Asif Hussain, consul general of Pakistan New York; Melissa Rabinovich, executive editor of NY1 News; Shafiq Saddiqui, president and CEO of Media Broadcasting Network; the Rev. Terry Troia, executive director of Project Hospitality, Staten Island, and Mohsin Zaheer, a Pakistani American journalist and editor of Sada-E-Pakistan.
Dr. Brown is a world-renowned medical internist and geneticist, author and educator. He began his research into premature aging conditions, including progeria and Down syndrome, while an assistant professor at Cornell Medical School and moved to become chairman of the Department of Human Genetics of Staten Island’s Institute of Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities (IBR). With the recognition that autism spectrum disorders are so prevalent in the community, his research today is focused on finding more effective means to diagnose, treat and determine the causes of autism.
Hon. Faquir Syed Asif Hussain is the consul general of Pakistan at the Consulate General, New York, since November. A career diplomat, Mr. Asif has an experience of both multilateral and bilateral diplomacy. Mr. Asif has represented Pakistan in several international and regional conferences and meetings.
Melissa Rabinovich joined New York 1 News in February 1998 and nearly 12 years later has assumed the position of executive editor of the station’s local edition. She sits on the board of the Jewish Community Center, is vice president of Chromosome 22 Central and is a supporter of myriad community organizations, including the Seton Foundation and Parent to Parent NYS, as well as other special-needs groups.
Shafiq Saddiqui is an award-winning Pakistani journalist and media personality. He is one of Pakistan’s lead anchor/reporters currently residing in New York. He has covered events from the White House, Capitol Hill and the United Nations, and has worked as a freelance journalist, reporting on location with a CNN crew on the earthquake in Guarjat, India. Mr. Saddiqui appeared as a panel guest on “Real Time with Bill Maher.â€
The Rev. Terry Troia, a native Staten Islander, began volunteering in Project Hospitality’s (the Port Richmond-based agency that feeds and shelters the homeless and needy) Carpenter Shelter in 1984. She joined the Brighton Heights Reformed Church in 1985, serving as youth minister until 1990. An appointed director of the church’s Project Hospitality, an interfaith outreach project, she was ordained a specialized minister to the hungry and homeless by the Reformed Church in 1989, the same year she was named an Advance Woman of Achievement.
Mohsin Zaheer is a Pakistani-American journalist and editor based in New York whose work spans two decades. He won the New York Community Media Alliance’s Ippies Award several times and has been the beneficiary of numerous Pakistani-American Awards. He joined Daily Khabrain, Lahore, in 1989 as a staff reporter, eventually becoming the deputy editor of reporting.
Muslim grave desecrated again in Evergreen Park
EVERGREEN PARK, IL–A Muslim gravesite has been desecrated for the second time in two weeks in Evergreen Park. The Evergreen Cemetery holds about 500 Muslim graves. According to media reports the grave was defaced with anti-Islamic slurs and remarks taunting police.
Evergreen Park police have placed a light and camera strategically within a tree near the gravesite, which the vandals mentioned in the graffiti, thanking police for the light, a police sopkesperson said. The cemetery is also cooperating with the FBI.
This is a time when most Muslims and definitely many many American Jews in the United States would prefer to think of themselves as fair and respectable citizens, rather than as partisan hatemongers or intolerant bigots. In the US, and especially in Detroit, “interfaith†groups abound; such cross-cultural icons as Ghalib Begg and Imam Abdullah El-Amin and Brenda Rosenburg, among many others, have worked assiduously to cross picket lines and work with people of faith from Islam, Judaism, Christianity and many other faiths–at such a time it is something of a body blow to see a bigoted and unfair anti-Muslim crusade launched from behind the doors of a synagogue, where all the ringleaders appear to have come from the same congregation and to have used that synagogue as a launching ground for their attempts to politicize and derail the legitimate growth of another community that apparently they would like to squelch.
And yet, that is what we see in the case of Eagle Elementary, which after being bought at its appraised price by the Islamic Cultural Association, the powerful kernel of the Muslim community in the Bloomfield area which has been the genesis of the Unity Center, of the Huda School, and Beverly Hills Academy, and which continues to grow.
Because of that continued growth the community decided to buy additional property, in this case a Farmington Hills school slated for demolition, Eagle Elementary. Through some effort the ICA was able to make an offer and after an appraisal the Farmington Hills School District accepted an offer for the appraised amount of apparently $1.1 million. Now this rattled the cages of some people. Yes, the very same people you are thinking of. One of the more recent manifestations of this disturbance was a meeting held by a newly formed “Care4Eagle†group with the support of attorneys from the Thomas More Center, at Congregation B’nai Moshe in West Bloomfield, attended by 200, who discussed the progress of the work by attorneys to foil the sale.
Eugene Greenstein and Melvin Sternfeld, (part of the same congregation?) had filed a civil lawsuit against Farmington Public Schools in relation to the sale. Their lawsuit failed to go forward on the basis that the Plaintiffs had no standing to sue.
Sue Burstein-Kahn, the wife of Farmington school board member Murray Kahn, and Irving Ginsbert, Linda Stulburg and others, began Care4Eagle in order to prevent the sale to the Muslims. Now doesn’t all of this amount to a pattern? Perhaps it is time to investigate Congregation B’nai Moshe in West Bloomfield on the basis of their incredible intolerance for Muslims? Does their persistent opposition on the basis of their intolerance for Islam amount to ethnic intimidation, which by the way is a crime in Michigan? Or perhaps the Congregation has ties to terrorism? The “Thomas More Law Center,†an apparently (from the lawyers on its website) all-male bastion of Catholics and other “pro-life†Christians wrote a letter on June 13, 2012, documenting their version of the facts leading up to the sale to the ICA, the previous year, alleging corruption because meetings concerning the sale to ICA were sometimes behind closed doors for the stated purpose of negotiation. The letter petulantly described the buying of another $1,000,000 allegedly less valuable property in Bloomfield Hills by a Catholic group that had been rebuffed by the school district. The letter alleged that many potential buyers had been discouraged from making offers.
The More letter also alleged that the appraised value of the property (from an appraisal conducted by an independent law firm, probably forced by its fiduciarity duties to uphold an even higher standard of integrity than the Thomas More Law Center) was much less than a 2008 appraisal for the same property.
The letter then documented donations by the exuberant Muslims to all of the school district leaders they could find in the wake of the sale.
The More Center letter (actually written by More’s president and chief counsel Richard Thomson), demanded a grand jury investigation of the supposed corruption involved in the case.
Now, the only possible explanation for the More Center letter is that Richard Thomson hoped that by throwing together a house of cards of flimsy evidence, with choice words like “Islamic Cultural Association†and “house of worship,†he could be able to ignite a knee-jerk anti-Muslim reaction from a bigot such as himself, to derail a successful transaction by a vibrant Muslim community. But apparently Michigan’s Attorney General Bill Schuette was not ready to accommodate such unfair dealings.
But on our own we should consider the facts Thomson alleges.
First, consider the closed meetings. After all the controversy surrounding Muslims around the country who have bought mosques (trust me, I’ve read many reports) isn’t it wise for a public body selling property to a Muslim group to keep it quiet? And after all, negotiations are occurring–negotiations are not such a flimsy excuse to close your door and have negotiations!
Second, consider the donations. Of course they made donations. They wanted to help the people who had facilitated their deal despite all the virulent anti-Muslim rhetoric, sometimes veiled (like the Thomas More letter) and sometimes open. If Mr. Thomson had been on the receiving end of discrimination instead of the supply side, he might also appreciate the tremendous sense of relief from just being treated fairly for a change.
Third, consider the refusals. Probably the ICA also was refused. However perhaps this particular community is resilient and persistent, and perhaps that dogged persistence is what brought this perfectly legal, honorable, and ethical real estate transaction to closing.
Fourth, consider the property value. Never mind that, instead of considering the property value, consider what planet Richard Thomson has been living on since 2008, since apparently he is unaware of the crash in real estate values.
All this is yet another attempt by the brownshirts of the Tea Party, the crusaders of Thomas More, and their allies to foil the legitimate hard work of Muslims.
This week in Tampa, the Republican party is considering a bold idea that could fundamentally transform the U.S. economy: a return to the gold standard. The GOP’s proposed platform, which will be debated over the next few days, calls for a commission to study the feasibility of a return to a fixed value currency. In such a system, the dollar would be directly backed by a commodity, most likely gold, and could be freely traded in to the government for the precious metal.
The idea of returning to the gold standard is incredibly controversial, and nearly all economists are highly skeptical about how it would effect the economy. What most analysts have failed to discuss, however, is its impact on the average taxpayer. With that in mind, here’s a look at what the gold standard means — and how it would affect you.
“In God (and Washington) We Trustâ€
To understand what returning to the gold standard would mean, it’s first necessary to understand our current “fiat†currency. Under a fiat system, the actions of the government largely determine the value of the currency, and good stewards can and do act to keep their economy stable. These currencies aren’t backed by commodities, but rather by the reputations of their governments.
The fiat system allows a government to control the flow of money into the economy. When prices are dropping too fast (think of the housing bubble burst, for example), the government can “print†more money, slightly inflating the currency and steadying prices. Conversely, when prices are rising too rapidly, the government can decrease the flow of money, making the currency slightly more valuable and steadying prices again.
In the U.S., the Federal Reserve controls this ebb and flow by regulating banks, adjusting the flow of money into the economy, and lending capital to banks when necessary. Chartered to prevent and temper the sorts of massive financial panics that were once regular occurrences, the Fed has three specific tasks — maximizing employment, stabilizing prices, and moderating long-term interest rates. Ultimately, its overarching goal is to create a stable, sustainable economy.
The Gold Standard of Arguments
Fixed-value supporters, notably U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), claim the fiat method actually destabilizes the economy and hurts consumers. According to Paul, when more dollars go into circulation, our currency becomes diluted and the value of each dollar drops. Prices go up, because it takes more of these devalued dollars to buy the same amount of gas, or eggs, or anything.
Paul argues that, by reducing the value of the money in your pocket, the government is taking money away from you — effectively “taxing†you without your consent. According to him, a fixed-value currency would make this sort of inflation impossible:
If our money were backed by gold and silver, people couldn’t just sit in some fancy building and push a button to create new money. They would have to engage in honest trade with another party that already has some gold in their possession. Alternatively, they would have to risk their lives and assets to find a suitable spot to build a gold mine, then get dirty and sweaty and actually dig up the gold. Not something I can imagine our “money elves†at the Fed getting down to whenever they feel like playing God with the economy.
In speeches, Paul has argued that the fiat-based currency system keeps Americans from saving money because it causes them to fear that their money will decrease in value. Worse yet, he says, it conceals the actual workings of the monetary system, enabling the government to hide its social welfare expenditures and funnel money to special interests.
How Converting Would Work
Under the gold standard, the government must have enough gold on hand to redeem every single dollar in circulation — at the moment, that’s $2.6 trillion.
(To illustrate, note the fine print in the upper left quadrant of the 1928 $5 bill above)
Given that the U.S. gold reserve is an estimated 260 million ounces — worth around $431 billion — to convert to the gold standard, Washington would first have to acquire a massive amount of bullion. One method would be to buy some of the estimated $10 trillion worth of gold in the world. Unfortunately, the more gold the U.S. bought, the higher the price of gold would go, and the higher the price tag of moving to the gold standard would rise.
The other option would be to raise the price of gold in dollars by legal legerdemain from today’s level of about $1,660 per ounce to $10,000 per ounce, which would allow the existing gold reserves to cover the existing monetary base. Unfortunately, doing that would seriously destabilize the economy, overwhelming the alleged benefits of the switch to a gold-based currency.
Difficult transitions aside, what would the nation look like once it was on a gold standard? In some ways, a lot like our recent past.
As economist James Hamilton noted earlier this year, under the gold standard, deep, brutal recessions were pretty much a way of life. Over the 73 years from 1860 to 1933, when the U.S. went off a direct gold standard, the country suffered through 19 recessions.
In the last 73 years, by comparison, the U.S. economy has gone into recession 13 times — in one respect, only a slight improvement over the gold standard years. But the real change has been in the severity of the recessions. Before the U.S. went off gold, recessions lasted an average of 26 months. After the country dumped the gold standard, the average shrank to 11 months. To put it in context, the Great Recession lasted 18 months, making it 30% shorter than the average gold-standard-era recession.
That improvement is no coincidence: Tying dollars to gold limits the number of dollars available. That, in turn, creates a great deal of rigidity, making it impossible for the Fed to control the flow of money into or out of the economy. Denied its strongest tool for goosing a stagnant economy or putting the brakes on an overheating one, the government basically has to ride out the economy’s fits and starts.
Not surprisingly, many countries abandoned the gold standard during the Great Depression. And as Hamilton notes, the sooner a government went off the standard, the sooner its economy started to recover.
Tied to a Big Yellow Brick
To make things worse for individual Americans, there’s the fact that the price of gold is constantly changing, whether it’s locked to a dollar value or not. Under a gold standard, movements in the price of gold would directly change the value of cash, changing the prices in stores and the salaries that workers would get paid.
Consider this: The price of gold rose by almost a third between 2009 and 2010. If it had taken the value of a dollar with it, the cost of consumer goods in dollars would have dropped sharply — after all, the more valuable a dollar is, the lower the price tags of the things it can buy. Of course, as dollars become more valuable, companies would be less willing to pay them out, so worker salaries would also drop.
At first glance, this might not seem so bad — after all, if salaries and consumer prices both keep pace with the value of a dollar, the overall effect on workers might be minor.
The trouble is, while salaries might bob up and down with the price of gold, the amount of debt people owe wouldn’t. If the value of a dollar rose, and salaries were cut to compensate, that would translate into a heavy fiscal blow as people would be left working more hours to repay their credit card debts, mortgages and other loans.
For the government, returning to the gold standard would make the economy harder to manage. For ordinary workers, it would make long-term planning and borrowing almost impossible. In fact, the only people it would likely help are those who have large amounts of money in the bank, as the rising value of gold would act as a dividend, consistently adding value to their holdings. So for the wealthy, a return to the gold standard might work out well, but it would be a disaster for everyone else.
Bruce Watson is a senior features writer for DailyFinance. You can reach him by e-mail at bruce.watson@teamaol.com, or follow him on Twitter at @bruce1971.
A man comforts a small child in the aftermath of the horrendous Gujarat riots.
The Special Court’s verdict in India in a case pertaining to the brutal killing of 95 Muslims in Naroda Patiya during the Gujarat pogrom of 2002 is a victory of the India that is, over the India that the murderers want it to be. It is a verdict against the Gujarat government led by the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) and its leader Narendar Modi. It is a verdict against the Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh, Vishva Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal, Shive Sena and similar outfits, who supported the bloodthirsty fanatics roaming the streets of Gujarat and killing “the other†in the name of religion.
Visionaries like Teesta Setalvad, Mukul Sinha, Shabnam Hashmi and Harsh Mander, among many others, were the ones who never abandoned the path of peaceful justice–and ultimately the people got what they should have got immediately after the 2002 pogroms.
The Gujarat pogrom should have never happened. But they were planned in the evil minds of people leading the Hindutva movement. In a climate where revolt against caste Brahmins wasbecoming common, where people identified as lower castes were renouncing Brahminism and where the BJP was losing hope to ever come to power in Gujarat and India, the riots were conceived and planned as the only hope for the future.
No one can prove that they were planned. No one can produce evidence that meetings to organize mass killing ever took place, because whenever these evil deeds are planned there is no record, there are no memos, there are no written blueprints and, on the record, there is no such meeting. It is the oath of secrecy that matters. Thus, the true story of the Gujarat riots will not come willingly.
The way mobs were mobilized, the kinds of weapons the fanatics acquired, the manner in which the local police reacted, the style of the state leadership in responding to the news of the violence, the way religious clergy instigated people from religious institutions over public broadcasting systems, the manner in which the state officials behaved, and the slogans the fanatics used to incite mobs, clearly indicate that everything was pre-planned. There were people who knew what to do, when to do it, whom to target and how to target.
The BJP knew the culprits and Narendra Modi knew the instigators–because he rewarded many of them, in fact one of them was made a minister and his close confidante.
What was done in Gujarat in 2002 is exactly what even Hitler had not conceived in his dreams. Had Hitler had the mind of RSS and the skills of Modi, his Reich would have survived even today the same way Modi, RSS and BJP have survived.
There is no justification for these parties and their leadership to remain a part of a democratic fabric. Just as Hitler’s Nazi party would never be accepted as part of the pluralistic culture of our world, the BJP and RSS, the VHP, the BJP and leaders like Narendra Modi should never be accepted as leaders of the nation.
But fanaticism makes people blind and forces them to commit acts that only evil minds can commit. Gujarat, regardless of its claim of being a state of peaceful people, demonstrated that in 2002 and its refusal to acknowledge and accept the evil and seek forgiveness clearly demonstrate the level of arrogance of its leadership. Every Gujarati, no matter, what religion he or she comes from, has to take the responsibility for the blood thirsty fanatic who surpassed all limits of cruelty. After all, the people of Gujarat are the ones who put BJP and Modi in power.
A party like BJP does not belong to India’s secular fabric. A leader like Narendra Modi does not belong to the league of leaders. Yet, both are thriving and dreaming of leading India. Regrettably, they might one day, who knows! It is easy to incite masses to violence. It is easy to destroy human life and property. It is easy to shed blood in the name of religion.But it is challenging to stand for human dignity, human life and respect for all. It is difficult to recognize the humanity of the other.
The court verdict against the criminals is a statement of hope and courage. It is a life affirming act. It reminds each one of us that if people stand for the human dignity, truth and justice and ignore the differences they have created in the name of God and religion and caste and ethnicity and nationalism, the worst evil forces can be defeated and brought to justice.
So let us at least put our demands on the table.
1. Modi government must resign as it shielded the criminals and rewarded them with a ministry in his government. 2. BJP should be punitively reprimanded for sheltering murderers and criminals in its leadership ranks. 3. Modi must be banned for life to hold any public office. 4. Criminals must be given the exemplary punishment so that future murders might learn some lesson.
But there are some other steps that are also needed.
Muslims must actively participate in the political process of the country identifying with elements that are secular and supporting those who stand for the rule of law. They should fearlessly work for the common good of all and not just Muslims. Rather than begging for their rights, they should be seen as people standing for justice and truth. In every state, they should initiate programs to develop alliances with people of other faiths and ethnic groups. Even after living in India for thousands of years, there are psychological and social barriers between Muslims and other religious communities. They must be broken down by holding each others hand for the common good of common human being regardless of the religion or caste. That requires a dynamic and bold leadership and Indian Muslim community is capable of producing it.
It was almost 3 years ago when we landed at Cairo Airport on a cold, breezy December night. I will never forget looking at the Great Sphinx the next morning from our window. Egypt is the most popular country in Africa and Middle East most of the people live near the banks of Nile River. Cairo and Alexandria are the two largest cities. Egyptians are proud of their glorified history and the beautiful archeology spread across the Valley of Kings outside Luxor, along the ancient ruins of Karnack and Thebes.
Egypt’s unified kingdom was founded by King Menes in 3150 BC, leading to a series of dynasties which ruled Egypt for a long time. Many pyramids were constructed during the rule of these dynasties. The 18th kingdom, commonly known as the new dynasty, expanded the Egyptian Empire across Africa up to Namibia. This period had many popular Pharaohs, namely Thutmose 3, Akhenaton, Neferiti and perhaps the most notable Egyptian pharaohs Hatshepsut. She was very successful and the longest serving female pharaoh. Hatshepsut mostly ruled dressed up as a man as it was uncommon to have a female pharaohs. Two other female pharaohs came after Hatshepsut namely Nefertiti and Cleopatra.
It was the year 332 BC when Alexander the Great conquered Egypt which started the rule of the Ptolemaic Dynasty. Cleopatra was the last queen of this dynasty after that Egypt became a part of the Roman Empire. It was in the 7th century Egypt was captured by the Muslims who ruled it for up to the 15th century when it became a part of the Ottoman Empire. The British ruled the country after them it became an independent state.
Valley of Kings is located near Luxor and tombs of the Nobel’s are together with the Pyramids of Giza the most visited sites in Egypt. The great Pyramids of Giza are believed to be the last surviving Ancient Wonder of the World. This pyramid was built in the year 2580 BC. The city of Karnack and Luxor near the banks of River Nile are also popular tourist’s sites. Most of the buildings have long columns made of mostly limestone, paintings of birds and people are painted on the walls of these temples. Egyptians invented the process of “mummification†which is to preserve a human body. There is a special room for the preserved mummies in Cairo Museum.
Alexandria and Saqqarra are two other towns visited by tourists every year. The tourism industry generates over $11million every year since 2010. Nile Cruises are very popular among tourists which are 3,4 or 6 days long which are accompanied with lavish feasts, Arabic music and belly dancing. “Feluccas†are called hanging hotels are colorful decorated boats on which one can enjoy a boat ride across the River Nile with beautiful scenery and delicious food cooked on the boat.
A trip to Egypt is incomplete without a quick trip to “Khana Kalili†the beautiful bazaar located inside the city of Cairo popular for antiques, papyrus paper and small tea cafes located within the bazaar. Cairo is also famous for its Islamic Architecture it is called the city of “1000 Minarets†.The famous Al -Azhar University and the Hanging Coptic Church is also located here.
Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following.
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan (center front row) pose with members of their staffs for a campaign staff picture in the convention hall during a walk through before the fourth session of the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, August 30, 2012. REUTERS/Jason Reed
Does anyone remember when National Public Radio was an independent voice?
During the 1980s NPR was continually on the case of the Reagan administration. NPR certainly had a Democratic slant, and a lot of its reporting about the Reagan administration was one-sided. Yet, NPR was an independent voice, and it sometimes got things correct.
In the 21st century that voice has disappeared, which was the intention of the George W. Bush regime. Bush put a Republican woman in charge who made it clear to NPR producers and show hosts that the federal part of their funding was at risk.
Money often over-rules principle, and when corporations added their really big money NPR collapsed. Today the local stations still pretend to be funded by listeners, but if you have noticed, as I have, there are now a large number of corporate advertisements, disguised in the traditional terms “with support from . . .†If you are not listening to classical music, you are listening to corporate advertisements.
Today the entire “mainstream media†is closed to truth-tellers. The US media is Washington’s propaganda ministry. The US media has only one function–to lie for Washington. What reminded me of NPR’s surrender was NPR’s August 31 report with its two regular talking voice political pundits discussing the Republican Convention and Romney’s speech. After witnessing the Republicans at their nominating convention at Tampa violate all their own rules and ride roughshod over the Ron Paul delegates, one expected some discussion of the Republican Party’s refusal to allow Ron Paul to be placed in nomination or his delegate account to be announced.
The operative question was obvious: How can the American people trust the Republicans with the awesome power of the executive branch when the Republican Party just finished demonstrating for all to see its Stalinist qualities by crushing the anti-war, anti-police state wing of its party?
The authoritarianism was gratuitous. Romney had a sufficient number of delegates to be nominated. It would have cost Romney nothing to follow the rules and allow Ron Paul to be placed in nomination and his delegate numbers to be reported. Instead, Romney wrote off the liberty contingent of the Republican Party. The Brownshirts demonstrated their power.
The last Republican who wrote off a chunk of his own party was Barry Goldwater, and he went down to crushing defeat. Makes one wonder if the Republicans are relying on those electronic voting machines programed with proprietary Republican software that leave no paper trail. The Democrats have acquiesced to Republican election theft. There have been numerous cases where exit polls indicate that voters chose a different candidate than the one chosen by the Republican programmed voting machines.
One would have thought that NPR and its pundits would have found the parallel with Goldwater worth comment, but the suppression of the Ron Paul delegates was already down the memory hole.
One would also have thought that NPR and its pundits would have found Clint Eastwood’s speech a fascinating topic of discussion. Eastwood had a Republican National Committee approved speech, but discarded it. Instead, Eastwood stood beside an empty chair and pretended to be talking to Obama, but it could just as well have been Romney in the chair. By pretending to be talking to Obama, Eastwood made his points without eliciting boos from the Republican audience.
Not many in the Republican audience caught on, but there were some stony faces when Eastwood said “I haven’t cried that hard since I found out that there are 23 million unemployed people in this country.†More stony Republican faces when Eastwood showed his opposition to the Iraq and Afghan wars and asks the chair, “why don’t you just bring them home tomorrow morning?†Those who thought he was digging at Obama cheered; those who realized he was criticizing hardline Republican positions were displeased.
But NPR and the US media in general are uncomfortable with such real news as a political party being told off by one of its heroes and a political party sufficiently stupid to repeat Barry Goldwater’s mistake. The establishment might complain. The money might dry up or employees be fired for permitting such a story to be aired. The Democrats lost their independent financing when jobs offshoring destroyed the unions. There are no longer countervailing powers to Wall Street and the corporations, which have been endowed by the Republican US Supreme Court with First Amendment rights to purchase US elections, and placed in charge of the US Treasury, the regulatory agencies and the Federal Reserve.
In Tampa the Republicans wrote off the Ron Paul vote, because they are enamored of power and its gratuitous demonstration. Can people so desirous of power and the thrill of its use be trusted to let go of power when they lose the next election? There are enough presidential executive orders and national security orders, even some signed by the Democrat Obama, that any president can assert them and refuse to face election.
Once Rome accepted Julius Caesar’s coup, the Roman Republic was gone. Those who tried to save the Roman Republic by assassinating Caesar failed, because the majority of the legions had gone over to the dictatorship, which promised them more money than the Republic had. Caesar’s name became the title for Rome’s dictators.
In the US, even your friendly local police have gone over to dictatorship. And they are armed with its tools. A friend, a competitive shooter for accuracy, told me that as he left his gun club on August 27, a local sheriff department entered in a military armored vehicle, something one would expect to see on a battlefield, followed by a large sheriff’s department truck full of military equipment. He says that the gun club allows local police to use the club’s facilities so that club members are not stopped and harassed about their firearms as they go to and from the club. He reports that the police will line up 30 abreast, with automatic weapons, not allowed to club members, and fire at one target, with 30 police emptying 30-round magazines at the same target.
He once asked our protectors if they were practicing for some competition. The answer was, “No, we are preparing to control the outcome when there is trouble.â€
Control is the operative word. We have seen for a number of years now that the Republican Party is power-addicted. Remember when the Bush administration fired the US Attorneys who refused the order to indict only Democrats? Remember the Republican Party’s transparent frame-up of popular Alabama Democratic governor Don Siegelman? Evidence indicates that the Republican operative Karl Rove took advantage of a Republican federal judge, vulnerable according to news reports to corruption charges, and a compliant Republican US attorney in Alabama to railroad Governor Siegelman. The message to Democrats was: if you get elected in our Southern Territory, we will get you.
But never fear, we have “freedom and democracy.†George W. Bush told us so himself.
The weak, chicken-hearted Obama administration has not commuted Siegelman’s outrageous sentence. The inability of the Democrats to stand up for their own members and their own principles is the best indication we have that Republican tyranny will prevail.
It didn’t take Caesar George W. Bush 10 minutes to wipe out the prison sentence of vice president Dick Cheney’s chief aid for revealing the identity of a CIA operative, a felony under US law. But the Obama Justice (sic) Department supports Karl Rove’s destruction of one of its most popular governors.
It was the German left-wing’s weak opposition to the National Socialists that gave the world Hitler.
The Republican Party has become the Party of Hate. Decades of frustration have made Republicans mean. They object to everything that has happened since the Great Depression in the 1930s to make the US a more just and humane society.
The Republican Party wants power so that it can smash all vestiges of regulation and welfare and all those of whom Republicans disapprove: the poor, the minorities, liberals, the imagined “foreign enemies,†war protestors and others who challenge authority, those American weaklings who have compassion for the unfortunate, the US Constitution, that pinko-liberal-commie document that coddles criminals, illegal aliens, and terrorists, and all dissenters from the policy of enriching the one percent at the expense of the 99 percent.
Above all else, the Republicans want to turn Social Security and Medicare into profit centers for private corporations.
Would the world be surprised if Republicans donned brown shirts? America has declared itself to be “the indispensable nation,†justifying its hegemony over the world. Any country that does not submit to Washington is “a foe.†The neoconservative propaganda that America is the indispensable nation with a right to world hegemony sounds a lot like “Deutschland uber alles.â€
A decade ago the Bush regime demonstrated that it could over-ride US statutory law, the US Constitution, and the constitutional separation of powers in order to concentrate unaccountable power in the office of the president.
The Democrats, when they gained control of Congress in the mid-term elections, did nothing about the unprecedented legal and constitutional crimes of George W. Bush. The Democratic Speaker of the US House of Representatives, who could easily have impeached George W. Bush for his obvious crimes against US law and the US Constitution, announced that “impeachment is off the table.†Money was more important to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi than the rule of law.
When a people have no political party that represents them, they are doomed to tyranny.
And to war.
Russia and China are in the way of Washington’s hegemony. Romney, the Republican presidential candidate, has declared Russia to be “our number one geopolitical foe†for opposing Washington’s plans to overthrow by violence the Syrian government. Why is overthrowing the Syrian government so advantageous to Washington that Romney in a fit of pique recklessly brought the United States into direct confrontation with Russia?
Arrogance and hubris lead to wars. Do Americans really want a person as president who is so reckless as to gratuitously declare a large nuclear-armed country to be our number one enemy? The American and Israeli trained Georgian army did not last an hour when the former Soviet republic foolishly, on Washington’s encouragement, provoked the Russian bear.
Meanwhile the Obama regime, concerned with China’s rapid economic rise, has indicated that it thinks China is the number one enemy. The Obama regime has forgot that China, when a primitive, backward country, fought the US to a stalemate in Korea more than a half century ago.
The Obama regime has announced that the US Navy is being repositioned to the Eastern Pacific, that the US regards the South China Sea as America’s national interest, and that new naval, air, and troop bases are being established in the Philippines, South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, and elsewhere in the region. The purpose of these bases is to block China’s access to energy and raw materials, which is what Washington did to Japan in the 1930s.
Are Americans aware that the hubris and idiocy of their political leaders have now saddled Americans with the burden of two number one enemies, both well equipped with armies and nuclear weapons? Only Iran can be happy about this as it moves Iran off the front burner.
Washington is putting its forward military bases in place, and the propaganda war is being cranked up. The subservient British press was quick to fall in line with Washington. A British reader of my column reports that the Guardian/Observer and New Statesman are at Putin’s throat: “Every day this week we’ve had Russia/Putin hate stories. Headlines such as ‘medieval dictatorship’ as we saw in last Sunday’s Observer are common. In this week’s New Statesman we have a front page picture of Putin with the headline ‘Putin’s reign of terror.’ They’ve got Putin with a crown on his head and dressed as a Tsar-like figure. It’s a relentless information battlefield assault on Russia.â€
Another line of Washington’s attack on Russia is Washington’s covert backing of Chechnya terrorist groups in the Caucasus and funding of front groups in Russia for protest and terrorist organizations. Allegations of corruption and stolen elections come primarily from Washington-funded groups operating in Russia. See http://www.globalresearch.ca/al-qaeda-blitzkrieg-wests- terror-battalions-eye-russia-next/ andhttp://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/08/bombshell-us- neo-cons-state-department.html Through these methods, Washington hopes to destabilize the Russian government and to isolate it internationally in order to remove a barrier to Washington’s hegemony.
Two of Romney’s right-wing neoconservative advisors said that Romney as president would “confront Moscow on its poor record on democracy, human rights, and the rule of law.†The western media will not comment on the irony of these propagandistic allegations against Russia issuing from the US, the country that has destroyed habeas corpus and due process protections of the accused, tortured detainees in violation of the Geneva Conventions and its own statutory law, kidnaps, tortures, and assassinates foreign nationals as well as its own citizens, supports terrorism against Libya, Syria, Iran, and Russia, runs roughshod over international law, never submitting to law itself but using law as a weapon against governments that it has demonized, while it carries on military operations against seven Muslim countries without a declaration of war.
The Nuremberg Trials of Germans after World War II established that naked aggression is a war crime. Naked aggression, renamed by Washington, “preemptive war,†has become the operative principle of US foreign policy.
When war and its frequent companion, occupation, strike an area, those hardest hit are those least able to fight back – the children. While many organizations work with the children of Palestine who have severe health problems, certainly one of the most effective is the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund.
The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF) will hold its annual banquet/fundraiser on October 13 at the Anaheim Hilton Hotel in Anaheim, Ca. The keynote speaker will be Ken O’Keefe, a humanitarian activist and a survivor of the Mavi Marmara. Mr. O’Keefe’s name will be familiar to readers of The Muslim Observer. He was the captain of the first ship to break the decades long Israeli siege of Gaza, Palestine in 2008. He founded Aloha Palestine, an EU safe trade commercial exchange of non hazardous materials to ship passengers and goods to and from Gaza, Palestine. Ken initiated and brought to completion the Samouni Project, which created educational and business support facilities for the Samouni family. — a family that suffered the greatest losses during Israel’s Cast Lead assault.
Musical entertainment will be provided by Doc Jazz. Doc Jazz is a Palestinian surgeon and musician who terms his performances ‘Musical Intifada’. He has worked tirelessly for the Palestinian people using his music as a venue. His work gives new meaning to the term ‘music with a messageâ€.
Present also – and perhaps the center of the evening – will be children who were helped to lead normal lives by the PCRF. They will greet the attendees and share their stories via pictures and video. Tickets are $100 per person and should be purchased in advance as previous banquets have been sold out before the event. Tables are available. To purchase tickets, please use the following addresses. Those wishing to make a donation but unable at attend may also use these addresses..
The PCRF is one of world’s leading children’s charities serving children under siege in the Middle east. The primary focus (though not the only one) is on the children of Palestine. Children are treated free of charge either on site or, if that is not optimum, they are transported to Dubai or to a hospital in the West. Transportation, if it is required, is also free of charge for the child and for a guardian should one be necessary.
The PCRF sends medical teams to Palestine, not only to treat children there, but also to serve as teaching models for medical personnel. Types of treatment include (but are not limited to) addressing congenital defects; a pediatric intensive care unit for cardiac patients in Makassad Hospital in East Jerusalem; a new pediatric oncology department in Al Hussein Hospital in Beit Jala; reconstructive plastic surgery, orthopedic treatment, treatment for urinary illnesses; custom built wheelchairs, eyeglasses and a summer camp for disabled children.
The Pediatric Oncology Unit was the dream of the late Huda Al Masri Sosebee who succumbed to the disease a few years ago. If Steve Sosebee is the CEO, Huda was the heart of the PCRF, and the pediatric oncology unit is the fulfillment of her dream.
The PCRF has been praised by Bishop Desmond Tutu, Senator Diane Feinstein, former President Jimmy Carter, and actor/humanitarian, Richard Gere, to name but a few.
In addition, the PCRF runs a Women’s Empowerment Program and provides emergency relief. To find out more about this outstanding organization, please access their web site at: www.pcrf.net.
Occupied Territories, Palestine–The Palestinian Civil Society’s official boycott began in 2005, just seven years ago; launching the call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel. This turned into an international cause, spreading throughout not only the Middle East, but across major European countries, South Africa, Latin America, India, Australia, New Zealand and North America. However, Israel’s violations of international law and Palestinian rights, poses a threat to any freedom of people across the region; whether they are Jewish or Arab, just so long as they are peace activist fighting for the cause of equality.
Inspired by the South African struggle against apartheid, the BDS movement stems from a hundred-year plus institution of the Palestinian struggle for freedom, justice and basic human rights. Incident after incident where there was no reprimanding from the United Nations or the international community to hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law, the Palestinian civil society appealed to citizens of the world in 2005. Their appeal was for the moral responsibility of people from every nation to end Israel’s violations of international law. Launched in July of 2005, the BDS call had the endorsement of over 170 Palestinian organizations. The signatories to this call represented the three major groups of the Palestinian people: the refugees in exile, Palestinians under occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the discriminated Palestinian citizens in the Israeli state.
According to the Palestinian Civil Society, what they are asking for is the fundamental rights of the three main factors for the Palestinian people: to live free from Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem; to end Israel’s system of institutionalized racial discrimination, and for the Palestinian refugees and internally displaced (the great majority of the Palestinian people), to be granted their UN-sanctioned right of returning to their homelands, and to receive reimbursements.
The efforts to coordinate the BDS campaign began to grow so fast that it surfaced the first Palestinian BDS Conference in November of 2007. Emerged out of this conference was the BDS National Committee (BNC) as the Palestinian coordinating body for the campaign worldwide. The BNC’s main activities include demonstration with BDS activists locally and worldwide and include organizing the annual Global Palestinian Land Day on March 30th, which The Muslim Observer covered.
The BDS call was so successful that several European companies and institutions joined in the boycott efforts. Italian supermarkets COOP and Nordiconad, and British supermarkets Marks and Spencer and Co-operative Group, announced that they ceased to sell produce from illegal Israeli settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territory. The May 2010 Congress of the British University and College Union (UCU) made history by voting to boycott the “University Center of Ariel in Samaria†(AUCS), an Israeli colony-college in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Bolivia and Venezuela cut ties with Israel, shutting down Israeli embassies in their countries. Nicaragua suspended its diplomatic relations with Israel following the attack on the Freedom Flotilla, and South Africa recalled its ambassador to Tel Aviv. US basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar cancelled a scheduled public visit to Israel after hearing of the illegal occupation.
Among musicians, filmmakers, and writers, Bono, Snoop Dogg, Jean Luc Godard, Elvis Costello, Carlos Santana, the Pixies, Cat Power, and Zakir Hussain have all refused to perform in Israel, or cancelled scheduled performances following pressure from the BDS movement.
Following a call for concrete solidarity from Palestinian Christians, churches around the world have taken on BDS-related actions. The worldwide United Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. have both called on their members to boycott produce from illegal Israeli settlements.
In a poll conducted by the Jerusalem Post, as well as “suggested by the BBC news companyâ€, Israel has again been voted the most negatively viewed country in the world. As the Israeli government is rapidly losing support around the world, their attempt to whitewash its system of occupation and apartheid through culture is increasingly eliminated by the visible cultural boycott. Today there are campaigns for the cultural boycott of Israel in the US, Britain, France, Italy, Spain, South Africa, Australia, Germany, Belgium, Canada, Norway, among others.
The other day while waiting in line at CVS, I overheard an elderly man arguing about the cost of his prescription medication, which was well over $100. “Won’t my insurance cover it?†he protested. The pharmacist explained to him that the actual price of the drug was over $300 so yes, the insurance company was covering it, after the cost of the deductible. The old man did not have the money and walked away muttering under his breath. Access to medicine becomes a real problem when the supply is restricted and you are in immediate need.
I had my own CVS drama not that long ago myself. After a certain medical procedure, I was given a prescription for Oxycodine; however I was in so much pain that I could hardly stand up. Naturally, there were about eight people ahead of me in line. Luckily there was a folding chair nearby, so I grabbed it to stop from collapsing as I shook uncontrollably with waterfalls of sweat pouring down my face despite the chilly air conditioning. Finally I got to the head of the line. I sat on the folding chair and gasped out my prescription request. As soon as they gave me the pills I ripped open the package and swallowed one without even moving out of line. No one seemed at all shocked or even disturbed by my behavior – which makes me have to assume that they see this kind of thing a lot. When you are in pain, you can’t think about anything else except getting that pain to stop!
As our population ages, these types of problems will increase. Angela, a retired secretary in Boston admitted to me that she became addicted to Oxycontin, the painkiller her doctor gave her after hip replacement surgery. She also suffers residual pain from a neck fracture. If she cannot get her pain pills in time she becomes terribly sick, which has resulted in late night visits from a shady drug dealer. For as long as I’ve known her she’s been trying to wean herself off the pills, and earlier this year she actually became clean. However, this experience reminded her why she was taking the pills in the first place. She was in pain. She could not function! So, she started to take the pills again. The next problem that arose was that her doctor informed her that the continued use of her pain medication, especially coupled with her moderate but regular drinking habits, was destroying her liver. The doctor warned her that she might end up in the hospital soon from liver poisoning.
It makes me so sad that someone should have to choose between dying of liver disease and living with intense pain. It makes me so sad, and indeed outraged, that Americans like Angela and that old man at CVS are being put in desperate situations in want of pain medicine more than twenty years after the United States invaded Afghanistan to corner the market on narcotic poppy flowers. Why aren’t the marines bringing back that sweet sticky sap for their elders to mix with their tobacco? During the Reagan era, white and purple opium resin sold on the streets alongside hashish and marijuana. Opium, a traditional favorite of poets and artists, would make a smoker feel way too happy for his own good, but it was unlikely to cause sudden death. Heroin, a powdered derivative of opium, can easily kill a person overnight. It’s a similar situation with cocaine. South American villagers can chew coca leaves all day while they work the fields, and it gives them some kind of lift like we get from drinking coffee. But when you turn the coca leaves into cocaine, that’s when you have pharmaceutical grade drugs that could kill you overnight, especially if it’s injected or smoked as crack.
Why is it that Americans are suffering from a lack of medicine? How can this be possible, after we have invaded country after country, directly and indirectly, for control over their drugs? The rich have their pills while the poor have their heroin and crack, but why is it that in the United States of America my friend Angela, who is already a cigarette smoker, has never been given the opportunity to see if smoking opium might control her pain in a way that is less poisonous than pills and alcohol? Why are Angela’s friends calling her on the phone crying and begging her to share her painkillers? There are so many people living in pain. Why is pure opium not available to the American public?
Eric Margolis reported in his book, “War at the Top of the World†that during the Reagan administration, opium was transported to Pakistan for processing into heroin, and then was brought through Kosova into Europe for distribution. He mentions shootouts between the FBI and CIA since the FBI was over there to combat drugs while the CIA was there to make money to fund their wars. Then the Taliban took over, outlawing the growing of poppies. It was a huge change. They ran their politics by the force of faith. The Afghan farmers were so convinced that Mullah Omar was their Amir by the will of Allah that they pledged to obey his leadership even if their own children starved to death. According to UN reports, under Taliban rule, the growth of opium poppies was largely reduced. This made America angry. As soon as the US invaded Afghanistan under Clinton, the first thing we did was build local heroin processing plants. So now, once again, we have Afghan farmers growing opium for the world heroin supply, but for some reason the raw opium is only locally available. If an Afghan woman who doesn’t even have food has access to opium to help her baby sleep, why can’t my friend who is going to die if she doesn’t stop taking painkiller pills have some of it? There are people in our neighborhood injecting heroin and leaving needles in the alleyways, exposing people to AIDS, but Angela can’t kill her pain by smoking opium. Why are some drugs legal and some illegal? Why are some drugs available and others unavailable?
Last Tuesday, delegates to the Republican National Convention voted in support of the 60-page party platform that has been described as “the most conservative in modern history.†An ultra-right wing ideology has overtaken the Republican agenda, evidenced by the platform’s extreme positions on decisive issues, including immigration, women’s rights, foreign policy and even Sharia law, the Muslim religious code.
While Democrats may have taken Muslim voters for granted, the Republicans have altogether discounted them to their detriment. In an election that could be decided by razor-thin margins, the proposed GOP platform is alienating undecided Muslim voters. The attempt to galvanize the party base with anti-Muslim rhetoric could backfire. Over the course of Mitt Romney’s campaign, anti-Muslim bigotry has been used to extol votes and spur fundraising efforts.
The GOP platform aims to ban foreign law with an eye on Sharia. The U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals has already struck down Oklahoma’s “Save Our State†ballot initiative which banned foreign law, including Sharia. Any other court would likely rule the same regarding baseless claims that Sharia will take over American courts. In fact, the Quran exhorts Muslims to follow the law of the land. Therefore, no conflict between Sharia and U.S. law can exist as the U.S. Constitution and federal and state laws take precedence over any other law, including Sharia.
Unfortunately, the Republican Party’s own principles of smaller government, freedom from governmental intrusion, free markets and freedom of religion are compromised by the GOP platform’s stance on foreign law. The GOP platform with respect to Sharia is far-fetched and out of touch with reality.
Deepa Kumar, professor and author of “Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire,†said to Alternet: “The discourse about ‘Muslim terrorism’ is so dominant in this country, and Muslims have been so thoroughly vilified, that no savvy politician is going to come to the defense of Muslims. To do so, you would actually have to have principles and ethics, both of which have little place in our money dominated electoral system.†She continued, “The Democrats at best stay silent and at worst tacitly add to this climate. At the broader level, this is because both Democrats and Republicans share a common vision for U.S. foreign policy.â€
The Republican delegates’ official adoption of an anti-Muslim platform, will likely catalyze Muslim voters to cast a ballot against Romney. The GOP anti-Sharia position has led to a major uptick in Muslim voter registration campaigns across the country.
While the Muslim-bashing tactic worked in the 2010 election cycle in many parts of the country, it is a risky proposition for the GOP because of the population dynamics in many swing states. In Karl Rove’s latest poll, which shows state-by-state percentages, the race is neck and neck for the Electoral College in Florida, Virginia, Ohio, Iowa, Colorado and North Carolina. All these states have swells of Muslim voters, so the GOP strategy is a huge gamble.
The Associated Press reported Sunday that nearly a quarter of voters remain undecided. Bottom line: The election is still up for grabs. President Obama’s mediocre record during his term in the White House and backtracking on campaign promises are reasons Muslims may not give him another shake. The Muslim vote is an opportunity, not a liability.
Incidentally, this election, like 2000, could be decided by a single state and a few hundred votes. If so, by pushing an anti-Muslim agenda on its party platform, the Republicans are purposefully sideswiping their Muslim constituents and gambling with potential votes. Perhaps the Republican National Convention should have been moved from the Forum to the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino because in this high-stakes election the GOP is betting on the wild card of ignorance and racism.
Ahmed Bedier is the founder and president of United Voices for America, an organization dedicated to bringing people of color to politics. Nadia B. Ahmed is a Denver-based attorney. You can connect with Bedier directly at http://facebook.com/bedierusa.
Cybertex Institute of Technology, a Texas based computer enterprise owned and run by Pakistani-American businessman Iqbal Sheikh, has been recognized among the top 5000 fastest growing private companies in the United States. The prestigious Inc. magazine in its 2012 list of best performing American companies has placed Cybertex at the 3498th position.
A delighted Sheikh said his company has been focused on providing the best services with a team of tech-savvy experts. This recognition is indeed inspiring for us to grow further and with greater commitment in the years ahead, he said.
The inclusion in the Inc. list of best companies is the latest in a series of honors and recognitions, Sheikh has earned for his entrepreneurial spirit since his arrival in the United States about ten years ago.
A few years ago, Sheikh was also instrumental in establishing Charlie Wilson Chair in Pakistan Studies , the 1st privately funded Chair in Pakistan Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.
Besides, Sheikh is also on the advisory council of Texans for Stem Cell Research, Austin, Texas and a leader of the chamber of commerce.
Editor’s note: This is a first report from the ISNA convention. We plan to have a more comprehensive report later.
Mustafa Tameez
What should be the role of Muslims in politics? That was the question before the panel Saturday morning [September 1, 2012] at the 49th annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America in Washington, D.C.
First up was Mustafa Tameez, founder and managing director Outreach Strategists in Houston, Texas. A seasoned political strategist, he suggested that the problems for Muslims came from people “at the margins†of American life.
Noting that the United States is a country of immigrants, he suggested that “our focus has to be broader than earning our right to be part of the fabric of this nation. We will help make it stronger.†Tameez noted that “if others have succeeded, so can we. We must be active citizens where we live and start by serving our local communities.â€
Azizah al-Hibri
Azizah al-Hibri, founder and President of KARAMAH: Muslim Women Lawyers for Human Rights, pointed out that part of the “problem†is that Muslims have been “painted as a political not a religious groupâ€, just as “terrorism by the few†has tainted the many.
She suggested forming something like a council of political elders — both male and female — to sift through the welter of anti-Muslim rhetoric in the U.S. and formulate strategies to combat the falsehoods.
Nihad Awad
The third panelist, Nihad Awad, is the Executive Director and co-founder of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. He pointed out that his organization, a civil rights and advocacy group, is prohibited by law from endorsing candidates.
He nonetheless called on the audience to be politically active.
“It is not an option to boycott the upcoming election,†Awad said. “We have to be civically engaged so that our leaders stand out and are part of the decision-making process.†Photo-ops are fine, but “access is not influenceâ€, he said.
Al-Hibri agreed. “We need to be ‘in the room’ making our voices heard,†she noted, but “we should not overvalue gestures.â€
The controversy over shari’a was discussed, with Al-Hibri (a former law professor) noting that the laws passed in the U.S. as a result were “either unconstitutional or redundant†because “of course U.S. law is supreme in U.S. courtsâ€.
The moderator for the panel was Suhail Khan, a senior political appointee in the Bush administration who described himself as a conservative Republican. He said that the “no foreign laws†movement by the GOP was to counter environmental regulations that the United Nations intended to impose on the U.S., not a response to concerns about shari’a.
In their concluding statements, all three panelists encouraged the audience in civic engagement. “It’s important to empower our children to become politically active,†emphasized Tameez.
Awad added that political activity “is not enough. We also need to be socially active and ‘give back’ to show the human face of the Muslim community.â€
Al-Hibri agreed: “If you don’t volunteer in your community, you’ll always be on the fringe.â€
A Chat with Syria’s Free Soldiers – Perspectives from the Resistance
By S. Syed
Editor’s note: S. Syed is from Troy, Michigan, and has gone to Turkey representing the Syrian Medical Association, to distribute medical supplies. He is on the Board of Directors of The Muslim Observer Youth Group.
Free Syrian Army fighters sit in front of a huge Syrian opposition flag as they take a break in the city of Aleppo September 3, 2012. REUTERS/Youssef Boudlal
GAZIANTEP, Turkey – Morale and resolve is high among Syria’s revolutionaries. In the face of increasing violence and casualties, there is a sense of divine will and impending victory among many of the freedom fighters and activists. Even so, several FSA veterans in Turkey did have wish lists of support they would like to see. Syrian revolutionaries recovering in Turkey identified the following high priority needs:
• Anti-aircraft weapons • Satellite phones • Walkie-talkies • Ammunition • Portable radar systems (to detect aerial attacks) • Medical/surgical kits (to place in vehicles)
While some supplies, especially humanitarian and medical supplies, can be purchased in Turkey, the revolution must look elsewhere for armaments. Revolutionaries seem to think Iraq is a better source for even basic ammunition, and Deir ez-Zor province bordering Iraq is where many soldiers in northern Syria get their bullets. More advanced weapons may also be available from the black market, but for now, several revolutionaries report that most weapons are either captured or purchased from elements within the regime.
Abu Abdullah, a young soldier and normally a student at Abu Nour University in Damascus, shared the following insights on how the freedom fighters are waging war:
• Each bullet costs 200 Syrian Pounds, or about $5 (as a comparison, that is how much a kilo of tomatoes reportedly costs in Syria these days, which is itself 10x the normal rate) • Revolutionary soldiers are paying for ammunition out of their own pockets – no support is received from the FSA or SNC and little value is placed on FSA or SNC leadership or instructions • Freedom fighters fight until they run out of bullets, then they must find additional funding and bullets • Revolutionaries (and civilians) are rationing fuel – carpools with about 20 passengers (in larger cars) are not unheard of • Communication is a major limiting factor among the revolutionaries, even for units operating within the same village – as such, walkie-talkies would be very helpful, especially those with a range over 5 kilometers
In the end, the Syrian freedom fighters believe just one or two policy changes from the international community will end Assad’s regime in a matter of days, if not hours. Most fighters and activists from northern Syria report that the regime no longer controls the ground and that it is now relying heavily on aerial bombardment. As such, a no-fly zone would be seen as particularly helpful, and though the fighters understand the potential complications vis a vis Iran, they strongly question whether Iran will ever attack anyone. Barring such direct outside support, the supply of advanced surface-to-air missiles to the Free Syrian Army could have a similarly fatal effect on the regime, in the view of most revolutionaries. They attribute the reluctance of the international community to provide such armaments to a desire to protect Israel and maintain its ability to bomb Syria with impunity.
At this point, after all the sacrifice and bloodshed, some revolutionaries would prefer to just finish the job themselves without outside help. When asked what support he would like from the international community, a critically wounded FSA soldier first demurred then simply said “Dua.â€
