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.

Saffron terrorism

by MRN
January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

Hindu holy man reveals truth of terror attacks blamed on Muslims

By Andrew Buncombe in Delhi

(source: The Independent)

India is being forced to confront disturbing evidence that increasingly suggests a secret Hindu terror network may have been responsible for a wave of deadly attacks previously blamed on radical Muslims.

Information contained in a confession given in court by a Hindu holy man, suggests that he and several others linked to a right-wing Hindu organisation, planned and carried out attacks on a train travelling to Pakistan, a Sufi shrine and a mosque as well as two assaults on Malegaon, a town in southern India with a large Muslim population.

He claimed the attacks were launched in response to the actions of Muslim militants. “I told everybody that we should answer bombs with bombs,” 59-year-old Swami Aseemanand, whose real name is Naba Kumar Sarkar, told a magistrate during a closed hearing in Delhi. “I suggested that 80 per cent of the people of Malegaon were Muslims and we should explode the first bomb in Malegaon itself. I also said that during partition, the Nizam of Hyderabad had wanted to go with Pakistan so Hyderabad was also a fair target. Then I said that since Hindus also throng [a Sufi shrine in] Ajmer we should also explode a bomb in Ajmer which would deter the Hindus from going there. I also suggested the Aligarh Muslim University as a target.”

Police in India have suspected for some time that Hindus may have been responsible for the attacks carried out between 2006 and 2008, and in November of that year several arrests were made, including that of a serving military officer. But the confession of Swami Aseemanand, obtained by an Indian news magazine, is perhaps the most damning evidence yet that Hindu extremists were responsible. It also suggests those involved were senior members of a religious group that is the parent organisation of India’s main opposition party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“The evidence is not conclusive but people have to take notice of this,” said Bahukutumbi Raman, a former national security adviser and now a leading regional security analyst. “This could aggravate tensions between India’s [Hindu and Muslim] communities. It will create problems.”

Mjc press statement

by MRN
January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

Desmond Tutu – A Living Legacy of Liberation

By Molana Ihsaan Hendricks

President – Muslim Judicial Council

The recent petition launched by David Hersch, vice-chairman of SA Zionist Federation calling for the axing of Nobel Peace Laureate Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, because of his outspoken advocacy and belief that all human beings should be respected and valued is an insult to the victims of the Holocaust and all oppressed. This attempt to silence the voice of justice, ironically trashes the very principles that the Holocaust Museum stands for and exposes the Zionist federation’s blind defense of Israeli policies at the expense of the legacy of holocaust survivors.

The memory and honor of those who have lost their lives should never be tainted by individuals who shun International Human Rights reports and unabatedly continue to justify Israeli crimes and engage in various forms of intimidation, propaganda and viciously attack those who expose the truth of their dastardly crimes. This feeble attempt will only harvest the signatures of individuals who have fallen victim to Zionist intimidation and threats which appear to be a policy of response against any dissenting voice and critique. A further disgusting and shocking reminder of the racist mindset of some Zionist supporters was a statement printed in the Cape Times, 12 January, 2011 which said “Chain Tutu to a plough and let him pick some taters”.

An attack against Desmond Tutu is an attack against the struggle against Apartheid as his legacy symbolizes the strength of good men who led this nation towards the liberation of the people of South Africa. We are therefore not surprised that the Zionist mind would attack noble and justice loving individuals as the Zionists’ disgraceful history is tainted by its role in perpetuating Apartheid.

Amongst the true stalwarts if justice are individuals who have joined the struggle against the oppression of Zionism and include brave and honorable people such as Reuven Moshkovitz, a Holocaust survivor who whilst aboard the Gaza relief vessel, Irene said: “It is a sacred duty for me as a Holocaust survivor to protest against the persecution, oppression and imprisonment of so many people, including over 800,000 children in Gaza,”. It is this consciousness of the sanctity of all life that enriches mankind towards wanting for others what we want for ourselves which is a characteristic of the noble and honorable man, Desmond Tutu, a principle that David Hersch and co have sorely been blinded to.

We therefore thank and salute Arch Bishop Tutu for his continued support of the Palestinian people and for not becoming complacent in the struggle for Freedom and Liberation.

End.

For further reading on the crimes committed in Palestine, the current Human Rights Watch 2010 report is available on http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2010/12/19/separate-and-unequal-0 )

Sign the petition here: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/defend-tutu/
Read More »Mjc press statement

Israeli wall of lies

by MRN
January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

By Terry-Crawford Browne

(source: Cape Times Letters – 13/01/2011)

The letter below written by Terry Crawford-Browne, was published in the Cape Times, 13 January, 2011. It provides factual and clear first hand evidence of his experiences whilst monitoring the check points between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Prior to leaving on his maiden journey to Palestine Crawford said “ I’m going to come home and talk about the experience. Churches have tended to be silenced on this issue because of the holocaust era. The Israeli lobby has been clever in maximising the Christian sense of guilt about its involvement in the holocaust,” . He further stated that “The Israeli lobby in South Africa has always been very strong, so people are weary to stick their heads out.”

I have just returned to Cape Town after three months of monitoring the checkpoint between Bethlehem and Jerusalem, and the villages of the Bethlehem area. My colleagues and I were at the checkpoint four days a week from 4am until 7.30am to collect data for the World Council of Churches and the UN, and to provide a calming international presence when tension flared. We formed part of a team of 27 people from 12 countries.

The “apartheid wall” runs 750km – the distance from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth. In Bethlehem it is 12m high. In rural areas, where it is a “fence”, it is even more economically devastating because it cuts a swathe of 100m, and prevents farmers from tending their fields. The rationale always is “security”. This is utter rubbish, as monitoring the checkpoints soon confirms. The “apartheid wall” is there to strangle the Palestinians economically so that they emigrate and, secondly, to foment fear among Israelis to support right-wing militarisation. The “apartheid wall” is about land and water theft, and it is totally illegal in terms of international law, including the Geneva Conventions.

Social conflict in maghreb has international implications

by MRN
January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

By Ann Talbot

(source: World Socialist WebSite)

Continuing protests in Tunisia and Algeria threaten to spread to the whole of the Maghreb region and, beyond that, to engulf the Middle East, where the same conditions of poverty and insecurity exist. Rising food prices are daily exacerbating social tensions caused by growing inequality and mass unemployment, especially among the young. The global financial crisis has set light to a tinderbox in North Africa and the Middle East.

This has provoked growing unease among the international ruling elite. Speaking in Doha, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told an audience of government officials and businessmen, “In too many places, in too many ways, the region’s foundations are sinking into the sand.” She warned that the populations of the region had “grown tired of corrupt institutions and a stagnant political order.”

In an attempt to placate popular anger, in Tunisia, President Zein al-Abidine Ben Ali, a close US ally, went on television Thursday and promised to step down when his current term of office ends in 2014. He had previously sacked his interior minister, released some of those arrested in the recent protests and promised to create 300,000 new jobs. The Algerian government has reduced the price of oil and sugar by a total of 41 percent. This followed riots that were provoked by the removal of food subsidies. Even where no demonstrations have taken place, Libya has reduced taxes on wheat-based products, rice, vegetable oil, sugar and infant milk. Morocco has introduced subsidies on milling wheat. Jordan has cut taxes on fuel and some foods.

Both the US and the European Union have applied pressure to Tunisia in the face of reports that the police were overwhelmed by demonstrators in the capital, Tunis. French ministers have refrained from publicly criticising Ben Ali’s violent repression of demonstrators that have left scores dead in many town and cities. Only after a French citizen was killed did Paris voice concerns about the use of “disproportionate” violence.