Germany: Fear of a Muslim Society

International Spiegel features a very long article on how awful it is that all these Muslims, mostly of Turkish descent, are living in Germany and practicing their religion. The article might lead one to think that all Muslim women are forced to marry, purposely kept uneducated and are beaten regularly, first by siblings and fathers and later by their husbands.

The problem is that everything that Muslims might do, including acts that are un-Islamic (like honor killing and wife beating) are lumped together and portrayed as representing radical Islam. A woman wearing a headscarf is treated with the same horror as a woman getting knocked around by her husband.

That sort of attitude doesn’t leave room for a rational discussion.

Paving the Way for a Muslim Parallel Society

A recent ruling in Germany by a judge who cited the Koran underscores the dilemma the country faces in reconciling Western values with a growing immigrant population. A disturbing number of rulings are helping to create a parallel Muslim world in Germany that is welcoming to Islamic fundamentalists…

See also:

Can Germany learn to live with Islam?

Roger Hardy (BBC News)

California: Cows Not So Happy After All

Jason Hribal discusses dry-lot dairies: dairy farms with no barns and no pasture. Farms consisting of dirt, concrete, production schedules and unpaid labor (the “happy” cows).

This article might make you think twice before you grab that gallon of milk off the shelf.

The Dairy Industry and the Labor of Reproduction
California’s Most Unhappy Cows

Jason Hribal (CounterPunch)

…Dry-lot dairying began in the 1950s and 1960s. The reason for its invention was simple: far cheaper to build and operate, greater numbers of cows, more efficient production process, and much higher profit margins. First springing up on the outskirts of large cities – Los Angeles, Phoenix, Honolulu, Tokyo, Madras, Baghdad – , it is called dry-lot because there is no barn, stalls, or pasture. Rather this industry operates in the open with fenced fields of concrete and bare earth. There may, or may not, be shade or wind protection installed during certain months of the year. The average size of an urban lot is between 5 to 15 acres. In more rural areas, though, they grow up to 800 acres. The average number of cows per lot ranges between 500 to 6000…

For Many Palestinians, Right of Return is Non-negotiable

Palestinians cling to ‘right of return’

Martin Patience (BBC News)

As you wind your way through the tight alleyways of the al-Amari refugee camp it’s almost impossible not to rub your jacket against the dirty walls.

The sun barely reaches these parts of the camp, which echo with sound of young children playing.

But it’s in alleyways like these across the Middle East that one of the thorniest issue of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict lies – the Palestinian refugees and their “right of return”…

Sean Penn: Speaking His Mind Again

Sean Penn’s latest Bush bash

Transcript of actor’s anti-U.S., pro-Iran rant

Sean Penn’s remarks at Rep. Barbara Lee’s March 24 Town Hall Meeting on the 4th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq…

Note how Worldnet Daily’s caption portrays Sean Penn as a traitor. I admire this Sean Penn. He has a lot of integrity and he backs up his words with action.

Iran: Bush Administration Plans Pre-Date 9/11

Escalation of US Iran military planning part of six-year Administration push

Larisa Alexandrovna and Muriel Kane (The Raw Story)

My link-mad friend says pay special attention to the links within the Raw Story article, including “Neo-con cabal blocked 2003 nuclear talks” from The Asia Times.

Action: Is Iran Next? A Fresh Approach

From a friend:

Is Iran Next?

Think Again. If we believe we can stop the war, we can.

“I just came across a site working to stop the war on Iran. They have a fresh approach and give a list of important contacts in America that should be send emails, faxes, postcards, etc.”

Also, for the convoluted reasoning behind the push to war on Iran, Winter Patriot lays it out in “Should I Kill My Neighbor?“

Also check out the Persian New Year celebrations in New York. People from Iran don’t have tails and horns. Really!

S. Shirazi: A Note on Islamofascism

S Shirazi discusses the fiction of “Islamofascism.”

A note on “Islamofascism”

S. Shirazi (Print Culture)

Recently in the American Scholar, Thomas Mallon challenged readers with 10 questions about American intellectual life today. As our regular readers know, the gang at Printculture thought we should rally the troops and try to actually answer them. The one that interested me in particular was #7.

“Are American writers, artists, and thinkers truly prepared to admit that Islamofascism is a real, and even imminent, threat to everything they are accustomed to thinking, saying, and creating?”

First let’s examine the question itself…

The referenced essay by Thomas Mallon in American Scholar is here.

Minnesota: Muslim Cab Drivers to Offer Free Transportation to Blind Convention Attendees

CAIR-MN Facilitates Free Cab Rides for the Blind

The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN) today announced that Muslim employees of the Twin Cities Airport Taxi, Viking Airport Taxi, and Bloomington City Taxi will offer free cab rides to blind individuals (and their guide dogs) attending a one-day semiannual convention of the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota.

The convention will take place on April 21, 2007, in Minneapolis. The Muslim drivers are also willing to provide each convention member with his or her personal driver for the day, free of charge.

CAIR-MN facilitated the offer after inaccurate reports surfaced of cab drivers refusing to serve passengers with guide dogs. “As Muslims, we believe that we must do all we can to assist those who have physical challenges and special needs,” said CAIR-MN Communications Director Valerie Shirley…

This is a great move on the part of CAIR and the participating Muslim drivers, especially in light of the conflicts over alcohol, pork and prayer currently raging in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

Video: Humiliation of Women by Israeli Forces — Why?

CommonPlacer has two must-see videos on the treatment of Arab women (and sympathizers) at the hands of Israeli security forces, including strip-searches and other humiliations at the checkpoints and at Ben Gurion Airport.

I previously blogged about the situation here (with a link to an Alison Weir essay on the topic), but seeing women describe their treatment certainly has a greater impact.

What is the point of making Arab women (Muslim and Christian) strip and remove their sanitary pads? Of forcing a disabled, wheelchair-bound menstruating woman to board a plane while bleeding all over herself? For what reason was an elderly Jewish (American) woman subjected to a body-cavity search by Israeli police? Why was a ten-year old girl subjected to a strip search?

Answer: So that these Arabs will tire of returning to the West Bank and to Gaza. (In the case of the elderly Jewish woman, she had participated in non-violent protests of Israeli treatment of Palestinians. That’s what “earned” her a body cavity search.)

There are two videos, parts 1 and 2.

Iran: Treatment of British Soldiers Has Not Reached the Depth of British & US Abuses

If only the “international community” was as incensed by the brutal treatment meted out to prisoners of the US and Britain in “The War on Terror” as they are with the treatment of the British soldiers being held by Iran.

A peculiar outrage

Ronan Bennett (The Guardian)

It’s right that the government and media should be concerned about the treatment the 15 captured marines and sailors are receiving in Iran. Faye Turney’s letters bear the marks of coercion, while parading the prisoners in front of TV cameras was demeaning. But the outrage expressed by ministers and leader writers is curious given the recent record of the “coalition of the willing” on the way it deals with prisoners.

Turney may have been “forced to wear the hijab”, as the Daily Mail noted with fury, but so far as we know she has not been forced into an orange jumpsuit. Her comrades have not been shackled, blindfolded, forced into excruciating physical contortions for long periods, or denied liquids and food. As far as we know they have not had the Bible spat on, torn up or urinated on in front of their faces. They have not had electrodes attached to their genitals or been set on by attack dogs…

Arts: Most Serene Republic of Venice and the Lands of Islam

Geographic, political and economic realities have always made Venice a bit different from the rest of Italy. In the case of her dealings with Muslim empires, trade and the arts were the cornerstones of those relationships. A new exhibit at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, “Venice and the Islamic World, 828-1797″, will examine this East Meets West phenomenon.

The Republic of Beauty, Melding West and East

Holland Cotter (NY Times)

Told often enough that the West and Islam are natural enemies, we start to believe it, and assume it has always been so. But the Metropolitan Museum of Art argues otherwise in “Venice and the Islamic World, 828-1797,” a show that, with classic Met largesse, recreates the spectacle of two different cultures meeting in one fantastic city, where commerce and love of beauty, those great levelers, unite them in a fruitful bond…

Flying Imams: Much Ado About Nothing

Muslims removed from flight sue fellow fliers

(Associated Press via MSNBC.com)

Six Muslim men removed from a plane last fall after being accused of suspicious behavior are suing not only the airline but the passengers who complained — a move some fear could discourage travelers from speaking up when they see something unusual…

A lot of the misunderstanding can be traced to nervousness about the way that Muslims pray — in Arabic, making particular body movements. Due to the negative media attention given Muslims, many people instinctively think that Muslims only pray for bad things to happen. Many also think that Muslims are “showing off” and acting like the Pharisees portrayed in the New Testament. Of course, the reality is quite different; prayer is very humbling. And, in general, if you see a Muslim praying in a public space, it will be out of necessity: desire not to miss the timing of an obligatory prayer, or lack of a prayer room.

This business with the “Six Flying Imams” has been blown entirely out of proportion. When the dust finally settles, I believe it will become clear that they were only praying and not having a pep rally for Saddam Hussein.

Australia: Step-Father From Hell Pours Lye Down Child’s Throat

Caustic soda used on tot

(Perth Now)

A QUEENSLAND man who poured caustic soda down the throat of his four-year-old stepdaughter faces life in prison after a jury found him guilty last night…

And the chemical burns are only part of what that poor child suffered at the hands of this man and her mother. It wasn’t until after the doctors started treating her for the chemical burns that it was discovered that she had 5 broken ribs, as well as a broken arm.

The man who did this to this little girl deserves to die. Painfully. Along with the dim-witted mother who stood by and watched it happen.

Uri Avnery: School Books and Borders

School Books and Borders

Uri Avnery (CounterPunch)

… Forty years have passed, and the name “Israel” does not appear in Palestinian schoolbooks, nor, I assume, on any school map from Morocco to Iraq. And the name “Palestine” does not appear, of course, on any Israeli school map. Only when the young Israeli joins the army, does he see a map of “the territories”, with its crazy puzzle of Zones A, B and C, settlement blocs and apartheid roads…

Samson the Suicide Bomber and the Chocolate Savior

Choir to depict bible hero as a suicide bomber
Samson to be a Zionist terrorist

Sarah Petrescu (CanWest News Service at Canada.com)

In the Bible, Samson is a hero who used his superhuman strength to do God’s will by pulling down pillars in a Philistine temple, killing thousands and himself in an act of vengeance.

But in what’s sure to be a controversial interpretation of the story, a Victoria choir will next month present Samson as a suicide bomber.

Simon Capet, music director of the Victoria Philharmonic Choir, says he wanted to update Handel’s Samson oratorio to be relevant to today’s audiences by drawing comparisons to ongoing conflicts in the Middle East…

Instead of destroying the Temple, this modern-day Samson will carry out a mission similar to the bombing of the King David Hotel by the Zionist Irgun in 1946.

On the eve of Passover and Easter, this seems like a strange choice for a musical performance.

But, for anyone not disturbed by that scenario, there’s always the 6-foot tall nude chocolate Jesus (sws) slated to go on display at a New York City hotel the day after Palm Sunday. The artist, Cosimo Cavallaro, is shocked SHOCKED that some people (and not just Bill Donahue, btw) are offended by his “anatomically correct” work of art.

Hmmmph. Happy holidays.

UPDATE MARCH 30: The chocolate Jesus exhibit has been canceled and the art gallery’s creative director has resigned in protest.