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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.

Be very afraid “ we are being fleeced by purveyors of fear

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Home Office threat levels are absurd abstractions of no help to anyone except the security lobby raising cash through fear

By Simon Jenkins

(source: The Guardian)

In case you missed it, since Monday an “Irish-related” attack on Britain has been “a strong possibility”. At the same time, an al-Qaida attack is “highly likely” and “only a matter of time”. This presumably means one will occur – though, since August 2006, when this alarmist language was first to put us on continuous alert, terrorism has been like mad flu disease, afflicting Whitehall but strangely absent from the nation at large.

I hesitate to tempt fate, but this dog’s dinner of nouns and qualifiers cannot mean anything to the general public. Rather than describing a menace to the British state, the words are more a comment on English teaching in schools. They are verbal garbage, reflecting a habit of bureaucratic mind and relieving public services – airport security, railway guards, traffic police – of the need for courtesy. They just want to keep the public scared and paying taxes.

Travelling on a First Great Western train nowadays is like entering Guantánamo – a cacophony of repetitive announcements telling passengers to protect their belongings at all times and inform the police if they see anything suspicious. Likewise the fatuous frisking of old ladies at airports, the half-hearted searching of bags in shops, the reams of safety literature pouring from the nation’s printers. It is the white noise of state fear.

Nothing is as absurd as Home Office “threat levels”. They purport to grade the risk of something called an “attack”. This is not defined, but graces a crime with the glamour of a soldierly act. It grants terrorism political status and thus dusts the security industry with the glory of defending the realm.

Above all the threat must be kept alive, sorted into classes of low, moderate, substantial, severe and critical. We are currently at severe. What regius professor of English chose these words? I would put severe below substantial, the word being a strengthener of very, while substantial has substance. But I assume Whitehall has done focus groups and sweat tests. Substantial was perhaps greeted with a shrug, while severe brought on the shakes. As for critical – mujahideen “expected imminently” to hurl bombs down Oxford Street – it is surely the most devalued word in the OED.

Read More »Be very afraid “ we are being fleeced by purveyors of fear

Stronger palestinian resistance needed to fight attacks

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By Tasneem Mohammed

(source: Voice of the Cape fm Online)

“Where is the democracy that Israel claims to uphold? Where are the peace-loving people that Israel claims to have? Where is the respect and tolerance for religious sensitivities?” These are the pertinent questions raised by Al Quds Foundation SA president Maulana Igsaan Hendricks, in response to brutal attack on a mosque Beit Fajjar in Bethlehem in the early hours of Monday morning.

 

A group of Israeli settlers forcibly entered the mosque, desecrated its walls and set the carpet alight. The perpetrators also burnt copies of the Holy Qur’an, sprayed graffiti blaspheming the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) on the walls of the mosque, and later held a demonstration demanding the military demolish a mosque in Burin, Nablus. 

 

Speaking to VOC this week, Hendricks denounced the attack as a “violation of religious sanctity and total disregard for a place of worship”. This assault was an attempt to provoke a religious fracas and to disrupt and sabotage any efforts made by foreign governments to resume peace talks, he said.  

 

“This is a typical example of what happens under Zionist occupation. For the last 40 years, since the occupation of the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza, there has been a systematic attack on Palestinians by Jewish settlers. They have constantly exercised violent, malicious and brutal attacks against Palestinians. This is something that must be condemned in the strongest terms.”

 

From 1967 to date, there have been approximately 650 recorded attempts to destroy Masjidul-Aqsa, Islam’s third holiest site. On the 22 August 1969, the sacred mosque was brutally attacked by Michael Rohan, an extremist Australian Christian. A few years ago, medical doctor Dr Baruch Goldstein massacred 19 Muslims and injured 150 in a mosque in Hebron whilst performing Fajr salaah.

Read More »Stronger palestinian resistance needed to fight attacks

Kashmir protest victory for democracy India humiliated

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sakag logo.jpgkcau logo.jpg 

MEDIA DESK:  SAKAG & KCAU

South African Kashmiri Action Group

0826916048

www.kashmir.co.za

The planned peaceful protest held on Thursday, 27th October 2010, was almost disrupted by officials at the Indian High Commission. They used their political muscle and influence in high office to intimidate the protesters. They even used an official from South African Police Services to bully the peaceful protesters into submission.

Officials of the Indian High Commission asked members of the SAPS to throw the protesters out and to disband the gathering. The convenors of the gathering, Mr. Salman Khan and Mr. Umar Farooq were confronted by the SAPS and asked to leave. Mr. Khan explained that permission to hold the demonstration was granted and that they had every right to hold the protest. They were asked to hold the gathering at a nearby Rose Garden. They refused to do so. The SAPS officer threatened to have them arrested.

Tempers flared and it took the intervention of a senior SAPS Colonel to resolve the impasse. He studied the notification granting the permission and allowed the protest to proceed in front of the Indian High Commission. Viva Democracy!

Officials of the Indian High Commission should realise that civil liberties will not be trampled upon in South Africa as it is commonly done in India.

The Noisy protest group numbered about 50 people. The plight of the oppressed people and their fight for self determination of the Kashmiris was highlighted. In the latest uprising in the Kashmir Valley, July/August/September 2010, 150 civilians were killed by the military and paramilitary forces of the Indian Government.

Mr. Salman Khan said that the Commonwealth Games, currently being held in New Delhi, India, makes a mockery of democracy.

“We have always, right from the beginning accepted the idea of the Kashmiri people deciding their fate by a referendum or plebiscite……………….” Jawaharlal Nehru, in London, January 1951.

These and other sentiments expressed by India’s first Prime Minister have been ignored for six decades.

Read More »Kashmir protest victory for democracy India humiliated