Media Review Network – Page 1320 – Providing Context and Substance

Humoristic designs by young muslim to break prejudice

by MRN
January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

A graphic designer living in Germany launched an initiative to break rising prejudice against Muslims, which is very popular these days.

World Bulletin / News Desk

A graphic designer living in Germany launched an initiative to break rising prejudice against Muslims.

Melih Kesmen says the idea to start with "styleislam" came up when insulting cartoons about the Prophet Muhammad(PBUH) was published in Denmark.

Kesmen says Muslims and Non-Muslims had to talk each other, adding "My intention was to make people curious with eye-catching messages on T-Shirts".

World Bulletin interviewed Kesmen on his initiative very popular these days.

World Bulletin: Tell a little about your backround and how did you came up with the idea of t-shirts?

Melih Kesmen: I am a graphic designer from Germany. I studied graphic-design in Dortmund. For many years, I was active as a graffiti artist.

Graffiti is a straight and honest way to express yourself and your message. At that time I learned a lot and improved my skills.

Unfortunately the reason to start with styleislam could be a better one. The first idea came up while they published the cartoons about the Prophet Muhammad(PBUH). Not the cartoons but the intention made me angry. Because of many reasons the situation between Muslims and the western world was very tense anyway and unnecessarily these cartoons heat-up the situation even more. I thought to myself that the future between the cultures is nothing without Communication. Muslims had to talk to Non-Muslims and the other way around. And the best reason to start a conversation could be curiosity. My intention was to make people curious with eye-catching messages on T-Shirts…

WB: How long the Styleislam have been going on?

MK: We have started in October of 2007. It was during Ramadan.

WB: How many clients do you have and from which country?

MK: It´s hard to tell an exact number. We also sell on36and Festivals all over Europe and Turkey. But it should be a few thousand customers all over the world now.

WB: How do you choose the messages? Have there been some, that had been too provocative?

MK: It´s very different how the ideas come up for a motif. Sometimes you walk down the streets and have an interesting experience. Other times you here a conversation or get an idea while you watch TV. It´s like writing a Song or painting a picture. The inspiration has to come at the right time in the right place!

Our intention was never to provoke. But if some people still feel provoked, they should take a minute and inform themselves. Styleislam is spreading peaceful messages. Let me give you an example: The Word "Muslim" in Arabic means: one who surrenders God, active participle of ‘aslama, to surrender God and the motif -Jesus is a Muslim- has got an obvious meaning. All Prophets from Abraham, Moses, Jacob to Muhammad are surrender to God.

WB: What has been the reaction of the Islamic community?

MK: Most of the reactions were straight positive. It was like the Muslim community was waiting for Styleislam. A contemporary way to communicate the peaceful message of Islam.

WB: What do you think about the Muslim reactions for exp. towards the Danish33year 2005?

MK: Of course we can criticize the anger of the Muslim world. By criticizing the one side we should not forget the other.

In my opinion these cartoons were completely senseless. Even freedom of opinion was just a plea. I think that our world needs some hope, peace and a constructively dialog between the Muslim and the Non-Muslims world.

WB: How well humoristic t-shirts go with the idea of Islam?

MK: In my opinion it goes very good with the idea of Islam. Even the Prophet Muhammad said that "SMILING IS CHARITY". He was humorous and made jokes with his companions. Unfortunately even the Muslims themselves forgot this reality. But exact for that reason styleislam starts with the Islamic-council in Germany a nationwide "comedy-contest". We want to challenge the Muslims how they deal with their religion in relation to humor. For further information you can go to: http://www.waymo.de/comedycontest/

Obama captures historic white house win

by MRN
January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

Obama led a Democratic electoral landslide that also expanded the party’s majorities in both chambers of Congress and firmly repudiated eight years of Bush’s leadership.

Democrat Barack Obama captured the White House on Tuesday after an extraordinary two-year campaign, defeating Republican John McCain to make history as the first black U.S. president.

Obama will be sworn in as the 44th U.S. president on Jan. 20, 2009 and will face a crush of immediate challenges, from tackling an economic crisis to ending the occupation in Iraq and trying to overhaul the U.S. health care system.

McCain saw his hopes for victory evaporate with losses in a string of key battleground states led by Ohio, the state that narrowly clinched President George W. Bush’s re-election in 2004, and Virginia, a state that had not backed a Democrat since 1964.

McCain told supporters in Phoenix he had called Obama to congratulate him on his victory and praised his foe’s inspirational and precedent-shattering campaign.

"We have come to the end of a long journey," McCain told supporters. "I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him but offering our next president our goodwill."
Obama led a Democratic electoral landslide that also expanded the party’s majorities in both chambers of Congress and firmly repudiated eight years of Bush’s leadership.

The win by Obama, son of a black father from Kenya and white mother from Kansas, marked a milestone in U.S. history. It came 45 years after the height of the civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King.

The announcement of Obama’s win on U.S. television networks set off celebrations by supporters around the country, from Times Square in New York to Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, King’s home church.

"This is a great night. This is an unbelievable night," said U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, who was brutally beaten by police in Selma, Alabama, during a voting rights march in the 1960s.

Tens of thousands of Obama supporters gathered in Chicago’s Grant Park for an election night celebration, cheering results that showed his victories in key states. Obama was to address the crowd later in the evening.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, a civil rights leader, joined the celebrations, tears streaming down his cheeks.

In a campaign dominated at the end by a flood of bad news on the economy, Obama’s leadership and proposals on how to handle the crisis tipped the race in his favor. Exit polls showed six of every 10 voters listed the economy as the top issue.

Obama has promised to restore U.S. leadership in the world by working closely with foreign allies and dropping some of the policies that made Bush an unpopular leader at home and abroad.

McCain, a 72-year-old Arizona senator and former Vietnam War prisoner, had hoped to become the oldest president to begin a first term in the White House and see his running mate Sarah Palin become the first female U.S. vice president.

But he lost not only Ohio and Virginia but also Iowa and New Mexico, two more states won by Bush in 2004. His loss in Pennsylvania, a state won by Democrats in the last four elections, eliminated his best hope of capturing a Democratic-leaning state.

Long lines

Long lines greeted voters on Election Day in many key states but no major breakdowns or irregularities were reported as at least 130 million Americans were expected to cast votes on a successor to the unpopular Bush.

The voting on Tuesday capped an extraordinary two-year campaign marked by the rapid rise from obscurity of Obama and his bitter Democratic primary battle with New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, and McCain’s comeback from the political scrap heap to win the Republican nomination.

Obama hammered his favorite theme throughout the campaign, accusing McCain of representing a third term for Bush’s policies and being out of touch on the economy.

McCain, whose campaign attacked Obama as a socialist and portrayed him as a tax-raising liberal.

But in a difficult political environment for Republicans, McCain struggled to separate himself from Bush. Exit polls showed three out of every four voters thought the United States was on the wrong track.

In the fight for Congress, Democrats were making big gains as well, but appeared unlikely to pick up the nine Senate seats to reach a 60-seat majority that would give them the muscle to defeat Republican procedural hurdles.

Democrats had picked up four seats early on Tuesday and knocked off two-high profile Republican incumbents — North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole, a former presidential candidate and wife of 1996 Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole, and New Hampshire Sen. John Sununu.

Democrats also gained about 25 more House of Representatives seats to give them a commanding majority in that chamber.

Reuters

Israel grinds palestinian olive grove

by MRN
January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

Palestinians sort olives during harvest season in an olive grove in the West Bank village

IslamOnline.net & News Agencies

KAFR QADDUM — A rifle-toting Israeli soldier pointed to a dozen of Palestinian farmers heading to their olive grove in the northern West Bank.

"They are a security risk," he said, ordering the villagers off a hillside just outside Qedumim settlement in the northern West Bank, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

As delighted settlers watched on, soldiers forced the Palestinian farmers from nearby Kafr Qaddum village off their land.

"It has become worse," said British activist Hellela Siew, 64, who has travelled from Britain for the past six year to take part in the annual Palestinian olive harvest.

In recent weeks, settlers have stepped attacks at Palestinian farmers across the West Bank at the beginning of the annual olive harvest.

Worse still, Israeli soldiers often turn a blind eye the settler attacks.

"Soldiers usually watch the settlers attack, then kick people out and declare it a closed military area," said Jamal Juma, a Palestinian with the Stop the Wall Campaign.

The West Bank economy largely depends on the annual olive harvest.

"The production of olive oil is absolutely central to the Palestinian economy," European Commission representative John Kjaer.

This year’s harvest is expected to contribute 123 million dollars to the Palestinian economy, or 18 percent of the territories’ total agricultural production.

The United Nations says up to 100,000 families depend on the olive harvest to some extent for their livelihood.

But many farmers are cut off from their olive groves by the Israeli separation barrier and Jewish settlements, and need special permits to access their fields through barriers that only open at set times.

Israeli Shame

Foreign activists have joined the Palestinians in picking up their olive harvest and defend them against settler attacks.

"We do this because we want to defend Palestinians’ rights to their land," said Rabbi Yehiel Grenimann, of the Israeli Rabbis for Human Rights which organizes volunteer teams to work in olive groves.

"As a last resort we stand between Palestinian farmers and the settlers," said Grenimann, who was born in Australia.

Around him, half a dozen volunteers plucked olives — some with their fingers, others using small plastic rakes — which they dropped onto tarpaulins laid out on the rocky ground.

German activist Lukas Mall denounced the Israeli treatment of Palestinian civilians.

"They say Israel is a democracy, yet they prevent Palestinians from picking olives," said Mall, 24, who was among the volunteers turned back from a hillside near Qedumim.

As the army pushed the group away, Kafr Qaddum Mayor Mohammed Abu Nimer led villagers and Palestinian activists in chanting "This land is our land, the settlers are thieves. All we want is peace and our land."

"They don’t want peace, they want trouble," said Mall, as settlers Esther Karach glared at the Palestinians.

Picking olives with an energy that belied his 75 years of age, Israeli volunteer Jonah Ben Tal hopes that his help would counter the shame he feels for the way his country treats Palestinians.

"I don’t really see it as helping Palestinians, but I help myself. At least I can look myself in the mirror," he said.

Twin bombs wound 62 in muslim southern thailand

by MRN
January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

A car bomb at a fruit market and another explosion minutes later at a nearby teashop wounded 62 people in Muslim southern Thailand on Tuesday, Thai police said.

The first explosion appeared to target an outdoor meeting of village chiefs at a district office in Narathiwat, one of the three southernmost provinces, police said.

A second device exploded two minutes later at a tea-shop 100 metres (yards) away, police said.

Reuters