MRN

The aspiration of the Media Review Network is to dispel the myths and stereotypes about Islam and Muslims and to foster bridges of understanding among the diverse people of our country. The Media Review Network believes that Muslim perspectives on issues impacting on South Africans are a prerequisite to a better appreciation of Islam.

In shiftUSlifts visa curbs on professor

by MRN
January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

By Sarah Lyall

(source: NewYork Times)

tariq

Prof. Tariq Ramadaan

LONDON — Six years after using the Patriot Act to revoke the visa of a prominent Muslim academic, the United States State Department reversed itself and said Wednesday that it would no longer bar the scholar from entering the United States.

The decision came in the form of an order signed by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. It paves the way for the scholar, Prof. Tariq Ramadan, to apply for a new visa free of the authorities’ former accusation that he had contributed money to a charity connected to terrorism.

“I am very happy and hopeful that I will be able to visit the United States very soon and to once again engage in an open, critical and constructive dialogue with American scholars and intellectuals,” Professor Ramadan said in a statement.

Academics fuel hatred of muslims

by MRN
January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

By Firoz Osman

(source: The Star – January 21, 2010 Edition 1)

Self-proclaimed "terror and security experts", among them Hussein Solomon, have warned "of a terror plot targeting US interests in South Africa" (The Star, January 14). Citing faceless and dubious "intelligence" sources, they claim that al-Qaeda operatives are harboured by the Muslim community in South Africa.

The inquiry into Britain’s role in the invasion of Iraq should provide an explicit lesson about the nefarious workings of "intelligence" agencies in pursuing diabolical agendas with heinous motives.

What has emerged reveals that then prime minister Tony Blair used fabricated evidence to support the US in invading Iraq, an unjustified act of war in violation of international law. This "evidence" included: that Saddam Hussein cooperated with al-Qaeda and was responsible for 9/11; that Iraq sought uranium from Niger; that Iraq tried to import aluminium tubes for gas centrifuges; and that Iraq had 10 000 litres of anthrax. Intelligence also produced dodgy dossiers that Iraq was capable of launching weapons of mass destruction; that two trailers were mobile biological laboratories; that it had vast stocks of chemical and biological weapons; and that war with Iraq would be a cakewalk!

Israel finds a new way to play the victim

by MRN
January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

By Ira Chernus

(source: AntiWar.com)

A report released by the United Nations last year says that Israeli settlers, angered over the destruction of Jewish outposts, could exact revenge on up to a quarter million Palestinians in the West Bank.

It’s not just vague speculation. The report, issued by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Occupied Palestinian Territory, names 22 specific Palestinian communities, with a total population of 75,900, that are “highly vulnerable” to revenge attacks, and another 59, with about 175,000 residents, that are “moderately vulnerable.” It also names numerous road segments and junctions where Palestinians are especially at risk.

The people who wrote this report have obviously been there, observed carefully, and know what they are talking about.

Academics fuel hatred of muslims

by MRN
January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

By Firoz Osman

(source: Th Star – January 21, 2010 Edition 1)

The advent of 2010 heralds for South Africa the Soccer World Cup, and the associated anxieties that the world’s greatest sports event must proceed without incident. The SA Football Association (SAFA) has convincingly dispatched the pessimists and cynics who questioned South Africa’s capabilities of hosting the World Cup, but other detractors have emerged from the woodwork.

Self-proclaimed “terror and security experts”, among them one Hussein Solomon, warned, citing faceless and dubious “intelligence” sources, that Al-Qaeda, harboured by the SA Muslim community, “of a terror plot targeting US interests in South Africa.” (Togo terror: taste of more to come? 14.01.2010).