The Art About Muhammad

When Danish Jyllands-Posten Cartoons came around the Muslim world went beserk at the sacreligious attack on their beloved religion and its founder.Ridiculous.Anti-Islamic.The Attack of Infidels on Islam.Never has anyone dared to depict the Holy Prophet ever,for making the images is haraam in Islam and it is what differentiates the Muslim Ummah from the Kafirs.
Well,it doesnt seem like they have read the history of Islamic art.Muhammad's image in Jyllands-Posten certainly is not the first one,but what surprised me most was that even in a strictly Islamic nation like Iran,the art on Muhammad can be seen,and is tolerated.
Then why such furore over what has already been the legacy of Islamic artists themselves.Of Course we might hear 'they were not Muslim.They were hypocrites' from the good Muslims and their leader(or should I not say masters) the Ulema.
But many of these hypocrites are revered today by Muslims all over the world.Trust me Rumi or Ibne Sina were not good old Muslims follwing Islamic teachings literally.
Rumi drank.So much for being a good Muslim? And trust me he is not the only good one here….I am saving it to make another post out of those good fellows.

Danish Muhammaden Images can be found in this post.There is a website which lists and posts a plethora of Muhammaden Cartoons.If you cant open the website,thats because its banned in Muslim countries,at least Pakistan. You can go to www.freeproxyserver.net and use it to surf anonymously into the website link:
www.zombietime.com/mohammed_image_archive.

Spread the knowledge about those Muhammaden images which were tolerated by Muslims and think why would Muslims want to chop off heads of Danish cartoonists for doing something that many,including many Muslims,had done before?

Muslims such as Jami' al-Tawarikh and the Persian scholar al-Biruni,along with others.Talk about hurting Muslim feelings through art depiction of Muhammad.
Jami Al-Tawarikh's drawing has been included in this post.
While the West remains in fear if any other Secular step might kick start another anti-West rollercoaster ride for us in the Muslim world,the Muslims in West remain perfectly okay despite the fact that a young Muslim immigrant published a poster depicting the Virgin Mary with naked breasts.
We just hope no riots occur in Brussels and no Saudi embassy is damaged.

My Thoughts On Karachi Stampede Tragedy

Ramadan holds a special place in the hearts of muslims all over the world as its not only a month of piety and fasting but also charity thus affirming their belief in Islam as a way of life.
But this Monday,atleast 18(and according to some reports even 20)women and children died in a stampede in the area of Khori garden,in Karachi,a populous city,of 15 million,of Pakistan.
'18 Women, Girls Killed in Karachi Stampede' reads the CBS News website.But this headline alone would not do much to make us understand what happened there.These 18 women and children were not only 'women and children'.They were someone's wives,daughter,mothers,sisters,squashed under the feet of fellow human beings,all in a race to get the coupons to get the freely distributed flour before the distributors ran out of it.
The God for whom these women and children fasted,Himself,killed them.No.I wont blame God alone.'We' killed them.'We' brought them to one of the most macabre ends that,I for one,cannot even imagine.Who are 'we'? We,the elite class of Pakistan,which just cant get enough of shaking their booties on satureday nights at dance parties,where there are served Pina Coladas and extra large Cheese Burgers.We the rich(even if not famous)who seem to be oblivious to the common man's hunger.We who just cant think of any other bag than that of Gucci or Chanel to match with our red Saris at our sisters' extravagant weddings,while more than half the fathers of this country worry about their daughters' dowries .I have nothing against red saris,extravagant weddings,Gucci and Chanel or Pina Coladas and Cheese Burgers,nor anything against satureday night parties.But I find it repugnant that amidst such poverty,illiteracy and loathesome tragedies such as that at Karachi Stampede at Khori Garden,the richer gets richer and the poorer gets poorer.
What happened at Khori Garden is just one of the myriad forms of the same reality:Pakistan has turned into one of the best examples of class-based unequal societies.Going through the pages of 'Sunday' magazine of the Daily Times,one really cant imagine that this country would be filled up with so desperate people that right after the stampede at Karachi,women still came to Chaudhary Iftikhar's shop,seeking the flour to fill their and their families' empty stomachs.
The story of the victims of this stampede is the story of more than half the population of this nation.M.A Jinnah would definitely be turning in his grave,as this would not have ever been the nation he hoped to find,where the selected and previliged few hold the key to money and power(and of course Flour),while most of the common people get fits and depressions thinking how another day would pass.Actually they stopped worrying much now,because they have become accustomed to the fact that they have to do their 'Iftari' with salt,and nans and yogurt,while the fashionistas arrange iftar parties at Pearl Continental.But who am I to speak all this?I myself am an accomplice in this elitist game,albeit a contrite one perhaps.Again:I hold nothing against Iftar parties but the least we can do is to give the same amount of charity to the destitute ones,that would cost us the Pearl Continental Iftaar dinners.But no.The moment we see beggar outside our car windows we turn around our faces and pretend to speak to eachother,telling the poor ones clearly to just get lost.To get over our feeling of guilt at this inhumanity of ours,we have disgustingly,coated our guilt with excuses such as:'We shouldnt give the hatta katta(healthy) beggars money,they can earn themselves'.Of Course they can! And some of them might as well do,but they didnt know your enjoinment was to be sought,you the ones who cant move the lazy arse from their sofas.
Once,many years ago,I saw our female servant at a wedding.This woman worked for us,as well as many other homes.But still she was there to earn extra money,and you might as well label her a beggar for she was doing beggary to some extent.I have always wondered why she did that when she was working for atleast four houses down the street.And today I know the answer.Greed.Insatiable desire.Want.
No.Not the greed that you and I understand it.This greed is driven by the force of motherhood to earn more for ones children.This insatiable desire of a mother is not the one for fame or Gucci bags,but for the food to feed the hungry stomachs of her children.This want is not of a Pearl Continental iftaar party,but for another day's hunger to die.Its 'we' who are greedy with wants and insatiable desires.These women who died were not greedy.They were mad.Mad with thoughts of 'what if he flour stock ends before we reach the top of the stairs'.Mad with the thoughts of 'what if we return home empty handed?'.
Reportedly the women at Khori Garden incident were to go up the stairs,and get the flour.The same stairs were being used to let these women come down.In a rush to get up first,those who fell,fell in to the hands of death(or more appropriately,under the feet of other women),and those who made it perhaps have to live with the guilt of somehow contributing to death of these women for the rest of their lives.But still they got the flour to feed crying children.O Hunger! How inhmane you can turn us.
Quite amazingly,the Police arrested Chaudhary Iftikhar who was responsible for the distribution of free flour.Apparently he was arrested because he failed to notify the city administration of him arranging the distribution of the ration.So now that we have no Israel,no America,no India to blame for this internal tragedy of our nation,we are to arrest the few ones who have some humanity in them left to provide free flour to poor and needy.I do agree that city administartion should have been notified about this all taking place.But then nobody imagined in their wildest dreams that the women would run amok.What made them do run like as if they were being chased after by mad cows,we all know:Hunger.But I wonder why city administration has never taken such initiatives,which Chaudhary Iftikhar took,even when they needed no notifications of poor and hungry in the big city of Karachi,and the need to help them out before they are starved to death by the rising prices of everything they can imagine to eat(from sugar,to flour,to meat,to vegetables),except perhaps for their own crap.
Although I am non-religious,even if I were a believer I would refuse to believe that these people belonging to this poverty-stricken section of our society have any obligatry need to fast.They fast everyday,Ramadan or No Ramadan.Its us,the ones who come up with shameless excuses to drive away the 'Hatta Katta' beggars and who complain of feeling the hunger during the fast.But still we refuse to question our coscience as to why these 'Hatta Kattas' would be willing to degrade themselves(I donot think beggers have left much self-respect after they beg to the Mercedes driving rich people).
Ramadan is an Islamic custom for Muslims because it shows them what it feels like to be hungary and to be without food for only twelve hours,leave alone,the case of sometimes going without food for two or three days.Yet this practise has become a mechanical process for many Muslims:Eat Sehri,fast twelve hours,and do Iftaar.
Another of my memories:My mother used to walk in a park nearby our house and there she met this young girl who use to walk with her round the park track.I have no idea as how she looked or anything else but this is what all has been narrated to me and my siblings by my mother(and I see no apparent reason why she would come up with a far-fetched story,except if she were a pathological liar,which she clearly is not).Once through some talk my mother asked this young lady what she cooked in her iftaari.Firstly she enumerated a whole list of delicious items but afterwards conceded that she and her family were so poor that they were doing their iftaars with eating salt.My mother eventually gave her a thousand rupees to help her.That was as much as five years or more from today.And today we have much worse conditions.
There are NGOs and Individuals who are helping out the ones in need of financial aid and food.But they are only helping out.We need a bigger change.A social and political turnover to change this whole system in interest of the rich elite and in the disadvantage of those who struggle to keep their lives together.Initiatives such the 'Grameen Bank' need to be taken in any country struggling with poverty,major class inequality and illiteracy.Until then I fail to see how we can prevent the incidents such as Karachi stampede tragedy from ever happening again.If such stampedes dont occur,hunger,metal depressions and poverty would kill the destitute ones anyway.Apart from that 'we' the elite class need to come together and think of some projects to overcome these social evils in our societies.'We' need to help 'Them' to help 'Us All'.

Allah’s Pink Sons; Persecution of Homosexuals in Islamic Countr‏ies

The Below article is a translation of the German article in Der Spiegel's this week issue.Thanks to Mr.Faris Malik,of Queer Jihad for sending me the translated document.


Here is the Article:


In most Islamic countries, homosexuals are despised, persecuted and sometimes even killed. Repressive regimes foment hatred against "effeminized men."



Bearded men kidnapped him in the middle of Baghdad, threw him into a dark hole, bound him with a chain, urinated on him and beat him with an iron pipe. But the worst moment of all for Hisham, 40, came on the fourth day when his abductors called his family. He became scared they would tell his mother that he was homosexual and that this was the reason they had abducted him. Then he would never see his family again. The shame would be unbearable for them.



"Do what you want with me, but don't tell them!" he cried.



Rather than humiliate him in front of his family, the abductors demanded 50,000 dollars in ransom, a huge sum for an ordinary Iraqi family. The parents had to borrow money and sell all of their son's possessions. A short time later, the abductors threw Hisham out of a car in northern Baghdad. They did not shoot him, they let him walk, but they yelled after him: "This is your last chance. If we see you again, we'll kill you."



That was four months ago, and Hisham has gone to Lebanon. Helies to his family, telling them he was fleeing violence and terror, and had found a job in Beirut. He kept it to himself that, as a gay man, he could not remain in Iraq because of the death squads that are hunting down "effeminized" men.

At the beginning of the year in Baghdad, there began a new series of murders of men suspected of homosexuality. They are often raped,their genitals cut off, their anuses glued shut. Their corpses end up in trash dumpsters or on the street. There is a "systematic campaign" with hundreds ofmurder victims, according to Human Rights Watch, which has documented this string of violence.



The trigger for the murders, rapes and kidnappings isconsidered to be the video of a party in Baghdad in the summer of 2008, at which men danced with one another. It was viewed thousands of times on handheld devices and the Internet. Islamist preachers then began agitating against the spreading danger of a "third sex," brought into the country by American soldiers. Especially followers of radical Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr have since then felt called to restore "religious morality." Their black-clad militiamen patrol their bastion, the Sadr City district of Baghdad, and lie inwait for everyone whose "unmasculine behavior" catches their attention. Longhair, tight t-shirts and pants, or a strutting walk often enough bring a death sentence.



Other groups, too, not only the Mahdi Army, are said to be involved in the murders of gays: for instance, Sunni militia who are close to Al-Qaida, but also Iraqi security forces.



The lives of homosexuals are particularly endangered in Iraq at the moment, but they are ostracized virtually throughout the Islamic world.More than 100,000 women and men are discriminated against or threatened,according to gay groups. Thousands commit suicide, end up in prison, or have fled.

More than 30 Islamic countries prohibit homosexuality bylaw. The punishments range from flogging to life in prison. In Mauretania, Bangladesh, Yemen, in parts of Nigeria and Sudan, in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Iran, gays even face the death penalty.

But even in countries where homosexuality is not prohibited by law, gays are persecuted, arrested, and sometimes murdered. Egypt is particularly harsh, although the country was long known for its open gay scene. Homosexuals are pursued by a morals police force that taps phones and recruits informants. Then they are charged with "debauchery."



In Malaysia, homosexuality is even used as a political weapon: In the year 2000, the well-known politician Anwar Ibrahim was sentenced to nine years in prison for "unnatural sexual intercourse" with his chauffeur and a speechwriter, but then was exonerated on appeal in 2004. In the summer of2008, the macabre drama was repeated. The charge was "homosexual sexual intercourse," and the trial still continues.

Anwar was once the protégé of Mahathir Mohamad. He was supposed to succeed him as prime minister, until Mahathir sacked him in 1998. Ten years later, Anwar won back his seat in Parliament – but that is as far as his comeback has made it so far.



Even in cosmopolitan Lebanon, homosexuals are threatened with one year in jail. Still, Beirut is the home of the only gay and lesbian organization in the Arab world, called "Helem" (meaning "dream"). At an office in the middle of the city, posters about AIDS education and tips against homophobia are on the walls. Helem is no more than tolerated, as the Interior Ministry has yet to issue an official permit to the organization. "And it is hardly conceivable that we will ever get it," says executive director Georges Azzi.



In Istanbul, there is a free homosexual scene and a Christopher Street Day festival, and even devoutly religious fans rave for transsexual pop diva Bülent Ersoy or gay singer Zeki Müren. But away from the catwalk or the stage, it is considered a disgrace, a disease, to be a "götveren" (meaning"faggot"). In the army, homosexuality is grounds for discharge. To unmask fakers, military doctors require photos or videos as evidence, showing the recruit having sex with a man – in the "passive" role, of course, because being active passes as masculine enough in Turkey.



It looks as though a wave of homophobia has gripped the Islamic world, which was once known for its openness. Homoerotic literature was widespread here, sex roles were less narrowly defined, and, like the ancient Greeks, men let themselves be entertained by dancing youths.



But now the Islamists have assumed cultural hegemony. They include men like popular Egyptian television preacher Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who demonizes gays as perverse. Shiite Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani published a fatwa four years ago, in which he called for the most brutal possible murder of gays. These opinion leaders justify their aversion with the history of Lot in the Qur'an: "You approach men in lust instead of women. You are immoderate people." For these sins, the people of Lot are destroyed along with their cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. In addition, there are a few statements of Muhammad, in which he condemns the "act of the people of Lot," once even calling for the death penalty.



However, the Lot story and other Qur'anic verses were not clearly applied to homosexual sex until the 20th century, says New York professor Everett Rowson. He says this redefinition originated in the West, of all places – due to the prudery of European colonial masters, who spread their sexual morality in the newly conquered world.



In fact, half the prohibitions of homosexuality that still exist worldwide go back to a single law promulgated by the British in India in1860. "Many attitudes toward sexual morality, that are said to be identical with Islam, owe more to Queen Victoria than to the Qur'an," Rowson declares.

Modern persecution of gays was brought on, above all, by the politicization of Islam, because since then sexual morality has been no longer private, but rather is regulated and instrumentalized by the state.



"The most repressive are secular regimes like Egypt, Morocco and Turkey, which are under pressure from Islamists and therefore try to outdo them when it comes to morality," says Scott Long of Human Rights Watch. "In addition, the persecution of homosexuals shows that a regime has control over the private lives of citizens – that is a sign of power and authority." Thus for the last few years there has been a deliberately fomented "moral panic" in many countries.



For instance, in Iran. Since the Islamic Revolution,homosexuals have been persecuted, sometimes more, sometimes less – and rather more since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took office, who never tires of stressing that there are no homosexuals in his country at all.



Even the suspicion of "unnatural" acts is enough to earn a whipping. Anyone who is caught multiple times faces the death penalty. So far148 gays have been executed according to official figures, but presumably the number is far higher. The most recent case to draw attention was that of 21-year-old Makwan Moloudzadeh, who was hanged in December 2007. He is alleged to have raped three boys years before. Homosexuals are almost always charged with other crimes in addition,like rape, fraud, or theft, in order to justify the execution.

Thousands of gays and lesbians have fled Iran for this reason, and for most the first stop is Turkey. "There was no alternative for me but to flee," says Ali, a 32-year-old doctor. "If I had stayed, they would have killed me."



Ali had been careful. He only rarely went to parties, used several different Internet cafés for chatting, and he did not even tell his family his secret. That went well, until his boyfriend's father caught the two of them kissing. Two days later, Ali lost his job at the hospital, then he washit by a car, apparently not by accident, and a short time later he received a call: "We want to see you hang."



What he had not known before was that his boyfriend's father was a high-ranking member of the Revolutionary Guard.

Ali withdrew his savings from his account and took a train to Turkey, where he applied for asylum. Since then, he has been living in a tiny apartment in Kayseri in Central Anatolia – one of 35 gay Iranian exiles living in this city.

Arsham Parsi, 29, fled too from Shiraz four years ago. This graceful man with downy cheeks and glasses is one of Iran's "most wanted" men,because he founded the country's first gay network in 2001. They only communicated by e-mail, few people knew his real name, yet he was still found out. Parsi managed to escape the morals police at the last second. He received a visa for Canada, where he founded the "Iranian Queer Organization," which now has 6000 members in Iran. They include many transsexuals – or people who consider themselves such. After all, Parsi estimates: "Nearly half of all sex changes are undergone by gays."



Gay persecution has led to a boom in sex changes, so that more operations are performed in the Islamic Republic of Iran, of all places,than anywhere else in the world except Thailand. They were permitted in 1983 by Ayatollah Khomeini himself, who defined transsexuality as a disease that could be cured with an operation. Since then, thousands have sought the treatment,with a portion of the costs borne by the state.



"Relatives and doctors push gays to undergo operations to normalize their improper sexual orientation," says Parsi. This is also how a high-ranking Shiite religious scholar was able to finance a female body for his secretary and then marry him afterwards.



The ultra-conservative Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the only Arab country where Shari'ah law is applied exclusively – homosexuals are whipped or executed. "Nonetheless, gays are much freer here than in Iran," says Afdhere Jama, who traveled through the Islamic world for seven years researching his book "Illegal Citizens."



The Kingdom leaves gays an astonishing amount of freedom in everyday life. Newspapers report on lesbian sex in school bathrooms. Certain shopping centers, restaurants and bars in Jeddah and Riyadh are considered gay meeting places, which is an open secret.



"There are many Saudi Arabs who take boys as love objects,because they are single or because their wives happen to be pregnant," says Jama. Homosexual sex is often the only option to have sex at all – extramarital affairs with women are virtually impossible. "Here in the West, a man would be considered gay in that case, but in countries like Saudi Arabia, it is harder to make that classification," says Jama. Most Muslims hardly know what to make of the Western conception of a "gay identity" – there is no gay lifestyle or movement here.



Daayiee Abdullah, 55, is an imam, he wears a prayer cap and a beard – and he is gay. That makes him one of only two imams in the world who openly declare their homosexuality. He voluntarily chose Islam, having grown up a Baptist in Detroit. During his studies in Beijing, he came to know Chinese Muslims and converted to Islam. "They told me it was no problem to be gay and a good Muslim."

The imam – and not only he – interprets the history of Lot differently: The people whom God condemned were not homosexuals, but rapists and robbers. It is not homosexuality, but rape, that the Qur'an detests. "The rejection of gays is based on culture and politics," he says. "Just like honor killings and arranged marriages – those things are not in the Qur'an, either."

Abdullah lives in the US capital of Washington, and says prayer at funerals of homosexuals, especially when they died of AIDS, since no other imam is willing to do it. He performs same-sex marriages and has counseled pious gays for eleven years through his "Muslim Gay Men" Internet forum.

He receives death threats over and over, but at this point he laughs about it, saying: "How can two loving gays shake the foundations of God?"

Juliane Von Mittlestaedt/Daniel Steinvorth

The Story Of Gaza

Hatred for Israel is prevalent throughout the Muslim world,and after the 22 day Gaza offensive the anti-semitic feelings are high,for alot of people believe that Israel is a strictly Jewish country.But Muslim hatred for Jews and Zionists,is a result of the unjust use of Israeli power against Palestine,something which the Gaza offensive has clearly demonstrated.President of the General Assembly, Miquel d'Escoto Brockmann, accused Israel of violating international law.According to him"it has been turned into a burning hell." The UN's Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, Professor Richard Falk, characterized the Israel offensive as containing "severe and massive violations of international humanitarian law." Its a shame that a little condemnation came in the way of Israel.I dont see any difference between the Taleban and the Israeli officials.Only that latter is supported and protected by West.As usual Israel is has unsuccessfully tried to decieve public by claiming that it meant no harm to the general civilian public,but it had to take on the Gaza offensive for the security of Israel's security concerns were at hand.But its not only the Gaza offensive which the humanitarians and Muslims loathe about Israel.For six decades Pete knows how many lives have been slain at the hands of Israelis. According to Stephen Lendman ''Throughout its history, Israel has willfully and repeatedly committed crimes of war and against humanity, always with impunity.'' What are crimes against humanity? The term 'crimes against humanity dates back to Nuremberg Charter of 1945 for the trial of the major Nazi war criminals,where in the Nuremberg Charter of 1945, a new type of international crimes was introduced,to deal with the Nazi persecution of the Jews.But U.N Human Rights Commission determined that Israel is currently involved in the same crimes against Palestine:Crimes against Humanity.First the Jews suffered at the hands of Jews,and now Zionists(whose ancestors are,obviosuly,Jews) and Jews are doing the same to Palestinians.What hope is left for humanity?After the Holocaust the Zionists and Jews(I am using distinct words,Zionists and Jews,because not all Jews are Zionists,and not all Zionists are practicing Jews) should be the most humble race on the face of the earth that ever existed.But they seemed to have still not learned the lesson,even hard way,as Stephen Lendman records in his article 'Incriminating Evidence of Israeli War Crimes In Gaza':
'....according to one Operation Cast lead soldier: "That's what is so nice, as it were, about Gaza - You see a person on a road....and you can just shoot him." This message is ingrained in young recruits, to see Jews as superior, Arabs as sub-humans, so it's "morally" OK to slaughter them.'
But what really angers me,among many others,is that U.N has been doing little to tackle with the issue.Ban Ki-Moon's 'outrage' is not going to bring back dead families and friends, to the grieved Palestinians.They want Israel to pay price for the unjust killing of Palestinian civilians in over six decades.But U.N itself is to be blamed for the suffering of the Palestinians,as Professor George Bisharat from the Hastings College of the Law at the University of California notes:
The UN is deeply implicated in the injustices and violations of rights of the Palestinians over the last six decades," he said. "It is not at all clear that the General Assembly had the legal authority to partition Palestine, and the plan it passed in 1947 violated the rights of the indigenous people of Palestine to self-determination.'' He says "The United Nations has owed the Palestinian people a moral debt since that time ? and one that it has never effectively paid."
The world powers do little,if nothing at all.After all,they did nothing for the Chechens.They did othing for the Afghans.They did nothing for the Iraqis.So why bother about Gaza?The fact is that most of the world states are lead by the slaves and faithful pets of United States,the biggest and the most powerful supporter of Israel.But I wonder if Israel needs U.S,or vice versa.When U.S called for a meeting to call onto,Hamas and Israel,for a ceasefire,U.S itself voted against the notion of ceasefire,much to the embarrassment of Condolleza Rice.Why?We all know that,dont we?Apparently because Ehud Olmert called the President Bush to vote against the ceasefire.He went as far as to say,when he was told that Bush was busy,'I dont care'.
We all know that.Israel doesnt care for its reputation,the voices of millions of humanitarians,the cries of Palestinians,and now Ehud Olmert doesnt care, whether President Bush had time to talk to him or not.And of course,Israel certainly doesnt care for United Nations.In fact Israel has exposed the weakness of U.N itself.Author and Political scientist,Norman.G.Finkelstein said "Why should Israel care? The world is doing nothing. The only hope is public opinion, which is light years ahead of the elected representatives."
Francis Boyle,Porfessor of International Law,notes in his article 'Israel's Crimes Against Palestinians:War Crimes,Crimes Against Humanity,Genocide':
'In operative paragraph 1 of its 19 October 2000 Resolution, the U.N. Human Rights Commission: "Strongly condemns the disproportionate and indiscriminate use of force in violation of international humanitarian law by the Israeli occupying Power against innocent and unarmed Palestinian civilians...including many children, in the occupied territories, which constitutes a war crime and a crime against humanity..." '
'And in paragraph 5 of its 19 October 2000 Resolution, the U.N. Human Rights Commission:"Also affirms that the deliberate and systematic killing of civilians and children by the Israeli occupying authorities constitutes a flagrant and grave violation of the right to life and also constitutes a crime against humanity;..."'
So if Israel didnt care about United States' wording in the 19 October 2000 Resolution,before the Gaza offensive,can anyone give me one good reason why it would care in future?Kole Kilibarda,an organizer of Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid(CAIA) bleieves ''Social change has never come from the UN," Kilibarda said. "At its best, the UN has only managed to legitimize what social movements had fought for over decades and sometimes centuries."
I believe I have successfully proved that U.N can do little to help Palestinians.For more information do read Francis Boyle's amazing and eye opening article mentioned above.
Now what about Israel's crimes during the 22 day Gaza offensive?According to Ehud Barak IDF is the "the most moral army in the world." The morality(or shouldnt I say 'immorality') of IDF came out when Military correspondent Amos Harel revealed that Israeli soldiers and pilots were ordered to kill unarmed civilians and destroy their property - accounts at variance with official claims that only military targets were attacked and that "Israeli troops observed a high level of moral behavior during the operation."
Stephen Lendman notes another incident in his article 'Incriminating Evidence of Israeli War Crimes Against Gaza':
"Moral" examples( of IDF)included an infantry squad leader recounting the shooting of a mother and her two children: "There was a house with a family inside....We put them in a room. Later we left the house and another platoon entered it, and a few days after that there was an order to release the family....The platoon commander let the family go and told them to go to the right. One mother and her two children didn't understand and went to the left," after which a rooftop sniper "shot them straight away''.
The Immorality of IDF can be furthered seen from the fact that a squad leader told of a company commander ordering an elderly Palestinian woman to be shot and killed while a soldiers said "we should kill everyone (in the center of Gaza); everyone there is a terrorist;".
Then the case of soldiers writing "death to the Arabs on walls" and spitting on family pictures, a squad leader saying: "At the beginning, the directive was to enter a house with an armored vehicle, break the door down, (and) start shooting inside - I call it murder - to shoot at everyone we identify;" commanders called it OK "because everyone left in the city is culpable because they didn't run away;"and soldiers ordered to indiscriminately destroy property and farmland;

Each and every one of these incidents shows the racism that the Israelis are subject to(carrying on the legacy of Hitler with them),and all of them are gruesome,inhumane,unacceptable and much like the Taleban's activities(then why condemn Taleban alone?Because they dont want to follow Western Liberalism-We all know that isnt the real case for there are Human Rights problems in many other countries too,but U.S,never took interest in them,because they were strategically important to it).But one of the most horrifying ones,that I find is that orders were given to enter a house, "switch on loudspeakers and tell (occupants) you have five minutes to run away and whoever doesn't will be killed;"

As I stated before,world powers would do little(just to pretend helping Palestinians),if nothing at all,for the world is filled up with the America's lapdogs.It is upto us,the civilians,to take actions and pressurize our governments,and other people's too,to take action,before more lives and properties are lost.According to a confidential EU report,Israel has been accused of "of using settlement expansion, house demolitions, discriminatory housing policies and the West Bank (Separation) barrier as a way of 'actively pursuing the illegal annexation' of East Jerusalem." Israel,Of Course,denies the whole charge,but we all know the truth.
But I guess we are to much concerned about our ownselves that we have ourselves lost our humanity,our altruistism.We have forgotten how Israel has killed our Palestinian brothers and sisters,just like we have forgotten the suffering the Chechens.Probably because we have gotten too used to hearing all the atrocities committed against them,or maybe we are provided we half knowledge by the so called 'free media'.Whatever the reason,the silence of majority,when such inhumane crimes are committed cant be excused.After all,we are to keep quite,when we know our darling politicians are going to do nothing,then what hope there exists for Palestinians,Chechens,Afghans,Iraqis,and humanity in general?If anyone has got any ideas as to how we can spread more awareness about the Israel's crimes against Palestinians,do suggest them to me.I will be more than willing to hear them.

'Parrot Patriots' by Nadeem Paracha

In situations where democracy hasn’t had the time to take root in political institutions and social psyche, there is always the danger of it becoming a backdoor sanctuary for mobs of intolerant thugs, who start making use of democratic principles, especially freedom of speech.

Of course, they use this principle to attack democracy itself and when confronted, they throw up their arms, pleading that they have a democratic right to express their opinion — even if that opinion is about glorifying notions of authoritarian rule (over a democratic one), and a mindset that smacks of political chauvinism and other puffed up notions of social and racial bigotry.

Now the question arises, is democracy really about such free-for-all scheme of things? My answer would be a resounding no. I have been fortunate to be able to travel across many European democracies in the last six years and discover that in these countries where liberal democratic principles are akin to unshakable belief, they come attached with an important condition.

This condition is about owning and demonstrating a strong sense of responsibility, no matter what spectrum of political thought one comes from. For example, an anti-democratic fascist individual or party will be taken to task if it preaches hatred, bigotry or racism; at the same time it will be largely tolerated if it decides to run for an election and take its beliefs and air them before voters or in parliament.

There it will be up against instant disagreement; but the point is, the beauty of democracy is such that either a voice of hatred will eventually soften its stance, or more so, the democratic process will prove that this voice was no more than a part of the lunatic fringe no matter how demagogic it may have sounded outside the parliament and the democratic process.

What I am getting at is that in Pakistan where democracy has always been a struggle, we have to keep a concerned eye on the lunatic fringe that (mainly through the mainstream electronic media) is having a ball with the whole democratic notion of freedom of speech and expression.

Obviously, this fringe, largely made up of certain TV personalities, conspiracy theorists, politicians and televangelists, may have been able to find applause from within some of the country’s urban middle and upper-middle-class drawing rooms, but they remain largely demagogic and focused on attacking democracy — either as a ‘destructive Western/ Zionist construct’ or worse, an ‘unacceptable Hindu offering.’

What is offered as an alternative are high-flying Utopian arrangements weaved together from a largely mythical understanding of Islamic and Pakistani history in which certain prominent Muslim and Pakistani figureheads are spun into becoming glorified hate-mongers. This is then explained away as a ‘proof’ that Islam (and Pakistan) are historically not compatible with liberal democracy and its principles.

Men like Munawar Hussain, Imran Khan, Zaid Hamid, Shahid Masood, Aamir Liaquat, Mubashar Lucman (and growing) will stir and shake passionately on the mini-screen, like doing a modern-day impersonation of the great Aziz Mian Qawal; they will sweat, they will shout, wring their hands and clench their fists, pleading at the top of their voices the meaning of ‘true patriotism,’ and ‘Islam’ and how both Pakistan and Islam are in danger of being infiltrated, adulterated and eventually obliterated by strange sounding ‘lobbies’, whose existence may make fictional sense in Middle Earth in the Lord of the Rings; they smell of cynical, demagogic paranoia.

The biggest irony is perhaps that it is this fringe that is a most obvious lobby. A lobby of men and women whose pleading and shouting is a clear indication of their fear of populist democracy and how this democracy can render them obsolete. This is Pakistan’s version of the ubiquitous lunatic fringe; great software for mainstream TV and something for certain sections of the urban middle-class to vent their frustration at the exit of General Pervez Musharraf; and equally at the entry of populist political parties such as the PPP and the PML-N.

The democratic government and parliamentarian opposition now know that this fringe has little or no popular roots in the figurative masses; but since such groupings have become mainstream media mainstays, it has to be asked exactly how much can be tolerated in their self-righteous attacks on parliamentarianism, religious tolerance and their habit of turning demagogic fiction into ‘historical fact?’

Of course, they are more than welcome to make use of democratic principles and notions, such as freedom of speech, while operating outside the hard-fought democratic process, but they should not be allowed to do so without first understanding the responsibility aspect that naturally comes attached to this democratic notion.

More than the government, I think, the onus lies on TV channels that put them in front of the camera. These televangelists and ‘security analysts’ remain colourful media and cyberspace personalities rather than ones with substance. Interestingly, even though such gentlemen have not been able to strike root among the people, thanks to their media presence they most certainly have got going in finding fans and believers from amongst certain sections of the middle-class — from fashion designers to former rock stars, to born-again yuppies and businessmen.

Here is where democratic forces should get concerned because, in the past, it has been sections of the well-to-do middle and upper-middle-class whose money and influence were used to drill a destructive wedge in the democratic process. I can see it being repeated.