politics for the 99%

Published on Al-Ahram weekly online, by staff, Jan 14, 2015. http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/News/10126/21/Who-isn%E2%80%99t-Charlie-.aspx

Words are not enough to summon the sense of grief we, the staff at Al-Ahram Weekly, feel for our Charlie Hebdo colleagues, mowed down by an evil of such terrible proportion — an evil of such depth that many still have trouble fathoming, and many will be dwelling upon for a long time to come.

Our shock and horror, our sadness and our undivided solidarity with Charlie Hebdo have nothing to do with the material it publishes. We don’t care if we agree with it or not. No man or woman wielding a camera, a brush or a pen deserves to be killed for what he or she writes or portrays … //

… Something is happening in Paris and other Western cities that had already taken place in Cairo and other Middle Eastern capitals.

The irony is that when the Egyptians ousted a government that was nothing but a front for radical Islam, in June 2013, the West was up in arms against us. How dare the Egyptians depose the Muslim Brotherhood?

The fact that the Muslim Brotherhood came to power in closely contested elections and then proceeded to dismantle Egypt’s secular traditions without compunction seemed to be beyond the grasp of the average Western analyst or diplomat.

Then, when a sliver of the horror the Egyptians knew so well hit Paris, all hell broke loose — as it should.

To say that we could have told you, or have told you, is no consolation, not to the families of the victims of the Charlie Hebdo massacre, not to the freedom of expression that has been trampled upon, not to the millions of Muslims who live in Europe and are bound to suffer the backlash of far rightwing bigotry.

But the horror that unfolded in Paris was written in big letters on Cairo’s walls all along. We read it, but the West refused to take notice. Even today, Western sympathy for political Islamists who tried, not without success, to hold Arab capitals hostage following the Arab Spring revolts hasn’t abated.

Even today, Western diplomats see the Muslim Brotherhood as a moderate force that was denied its birthright by an unfair, heavy-handed, army-backed popular upheaval. Political Islamists may, and often do, pose as moderates. But in fact, they share much of the ideology that led well-armed jihadists to wreak havoc upon Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Yemen, Tunisia, Libya, Mali, Nigeria, Somalia and Lebanon.

Four years after the Arab Spring revolts unleashed the latent power of radical Islam, Europe is now facing the same questions that we had to grapple with for years, indeed decades.

There are at least six million Muslims living in Europe, nearly five per cent of the population in Britain and Germany, and some say close to 10 per cent in France. These Muslims, among whom the radicals can easily hide, are now faced with a tidal wave of rightwing abuse. Our heart goes out to them as well: our sympathies go to the victims of Islamophobia, just as to those who are the victims of radical Islam … //

… Washington and European capitals thought they could befriend the Muslim Brotherhood, help it come to power and then use it as a magnet to coax radical Islamists out of Europe and back into the Middle East. The Muslim Brotherhood was a sort of political vaccination Western diplomats hoped to inflict upon us, in order to protect themselves from the more virulent forms of Islam.

But the vaccination didn’t take — not in Egypt, at least. The Egyptian mainstream objected to the Muslim Brotherhood with the same indignation many Parisians feel for militant Islam following the infamous shootings at Charlie Hebdo.

(full text);
(my comment: yes, there are also voices agreeing the slaughter, here they have no place – Heidi);

Related Links:

SINCE THE ATTACK:

• Nottingham imam denounces Charlie Hebdo cover but calls for calm, on Nottingham Post, Jan 14, 2015;
• It’s tragic that so many of my fellow British Muslims are turning their backs on freedom, on Mail online, by YASMIN ALIBHAI-BROWN, Jan 13, 2015;
• Muslim mayor of Rotterdam Ahmed Aboutaleb tells extremists who ‘don’t like freedom’ to ‘f*** off’, on The Independent.co.uk, by KASHMIRA GANDER, Jan 13, 2015;
• Muslim Police Officer Buried Amid Fears of Backlash in France, on VOA, by Lisa Bryant, Jan 13, 2015;
• No Islamic extremists in Malta – Imam, on Times of Malta, Jan 13, 2015;
• Slain officer’s family warns against viewing all Muslims as extremists, on France24, Jan 12, 2015;
• Don’t Forget, Muslim Extremists WANT YOU to Hate ALL Muslims, 3.40 min, uploaded by David Pakman Show, Jan 12, 2015;
• Muslims against Islamic Extremism and Islamic Phobia, 6.21 min, uploaded by Conflict Studies, Jan 12, 2015: “To a cartoon you reply with a cartoon, to a drawing with a drawing, to a newspaper article with a newspaper article… But you don’t reply with guns,” said Mustafa Riad of the Union mosque in the southern city of Montpellier – “I am afraid that their acts will get worse in the coming days,” said Abdallah Zekr, the president of the French Muslim Council (CFCM), which monitors Islamophobic attacks …;
• Are Arab countries handling radical Islamic threat properly? 5.06 min, uploaded by Fox News, Jan 9, 2015;
• Irish imam highlights issue of extremists hijacking Muslim faith, on IRISH Times, by Ronan McGreevy, Jan 9, 2015: Muhammed would never have condoned people killing in his name, Dublin congregation told;
• Arabs against extremism, on Al-Ahram weekly online, by Ameera Fouad, Jan 8, 2015; Arab intellectuals gathered at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina to discuss strategies to combat extremist thought;

BEFORE THE ATTACK:

• The Unwinding of the Arab Spring and The Resurgence of Extremism, 48.25 min, uploaded by Rudaw English (kurdish), Jan 5, 2014;
• United Arab Emirates stands against Extremism, 5.19 min, uploaded by Julianus Hammurabi, Dec 21, 2014: Addressing tens of Sunni and Shi’ite scholars gathered in the Iranian holy city of Qom for a conference entitled “World Congress on Extremist and Takfiri Movements in the View of Islamic Scholars,” Shaykh Tajuddin al-Hilali, an Egyptian-born Sunni scholar who is the former Grand Mufti of Australia, stressed upon the necessity of fighting against all types of Takfiri and extremist thoughts;
• ISIS Has Nothing To Do With Islam – Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, 4.41 min, uploaded by infoknowledge, Dec 20, 2014;
• Untold Stories of Women’s Struggles Against Muslim Fundamentalism, with Karima Bennoune, 59.35 min, uploaded by University of California Television (UCTV), Dec 14, 2014: Visit UCTV. Karima Bennoune, Professor of International Law at UC Davis and author of “Your Fatwa Does Not Apply Here,” gives the keynote talk for the “Defying Extremism” conference focusing on how moderate Muslims, women and their allies can stand up to violent extremism …;
• United Arab Emirates battle ISIS extremism, 4.19 min, uploaded by Conflict Studies, Sept 23, 2014;

Other Links:

When The Camera Lies: Our Surveillance Society Needs A Dose Of Integrity To Be Reliable, on Washington’s Blog, by Joshua Gans and Steve Mann, both University of Toronto, Jan 14, 2015;

How states regain their monetary sovereignty, on Current Concerns, by Francis Gut, Jan 14, 2015;

The other Europe: Russia and the West, on Current Concerns, by Karl Müller, Jan 14, 2015: Various media quoted or provided a forum for a number of European voices who do not agree with the confrontation policy with Russia. Here is a small selection …;

Why is Australia’s vaccine mafia desperately trying to silence this brilliant scientific researcher? on NaturalNews, by Mike Adams, Jan 13, 2015;

Glenn Greenwald on How to Be a Terror Expert: Ignore Facts, Blame Muslims, Trumpet U.S. Propaganda, 18.09 min, on Dissident Voice, by Democracy Now, Jan 13, 2015;

Fathers’ versus sons’ wage rates in the USA (2 graphs), on RWER Blog, by David Ruccio, Jan 7, 2015;

Peter Scholl-Latour: The Curse of the Evil Deed – The West’s Failure in the Orient, on Current Concerns, by Rainer Schopf, Jan 14, 2015;
Book in german: Peter Scholl-Latour, Der Fluch der bösen Tat, Das Scheitern des Westens im Orient, auf amazon;
Scholl-Latour-Zitate, auf Hubert Brune.de, nicht datiert;

… and this:

• Das Beste aus dem Zillertal (Medley) HQ, 11.58 min, uploaded by VolksmusikFan2, March 27, 2011 … und viel mehr: 30 Jahre Musikantenstadl in autoplay;

… et encore ceci:

• Oscar Brenifier: Atelier de philosophie en 4e, 98.56 min, mise en ligne par Oscar brenifier-Videos, le 23 Avril 2011.