Media Review Network – Page 1329 – Providing Context and Substance

Little shop of horrors

by MRN
January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

By Mark Perry, Bitter Lemons, November 6, 2008

I once asked one of my Palestinian friends what he thought the United States should do to help the peoples of the Middle East. He was incredulous: “Haven’t you done enough?” In retrospect that pained reply seems the perfect answer to my presumption: I’m from America and I’m here to help.

Sadly, the self-congratulation attendant on Barack Obama’s election has seemingly revived this tradition of selfless altruism. As a former Clinton administration official told me several weeks ago: “We’re going back into the Middle East, but this time we’re going to get it right.” That it did not occur to this official that we aren’t exactly “out” of the Middle East is a testament to American optimism–and amnesia. “Really,” he added, “our capacity for doing good is limitless.”

The muslim judicial council mjc calls on president kgalema motlanthe

by MRN
January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

The Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) has described a courtesy call made to the Tuynhuis home of President Kgalema Motlanthe on Wednesday as very fruitful, characterised by “cordial but tough talks with hard questions asked” on key issues. Speaking to VOC on Thursday morning, MJC deputy president, Sheik Achmat Sedick, said that the meeting was a follow up on a letter of congratulation sent to Motlanthe upon his appointment as new president.

“This type of meeting is not unusual for the MJC. We have a legacy of meeting the reigning presidents since 1994. We did so with Nelson Mandela and with Thabo Mbeki. Yesterday’s courtesy meeting stems from when a letter of congratulation we set to the president on his election, followed by a dinner invitation upon the occasion of Eidul Fitr. He was unable to accept the invitation – which we have now reissued for Eidul Adha – but notified us that he would still like to meet with us which set up Wednesday’s meeting,” Sedick explained.

Mjc to meet motlanthe

by MRN
January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

Amid a stirring debate among SA Muslims about their role within a democracy and political engagement as the country approaches the 2009 national election, the office of the Presidency announced on that the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC)’s senior members are to pay a courtesy call on President Kgalema Motlanthe on at Tuynhuis. However, the delegation excludes MJC president, Maulana Igsaan Hendricks, who is presently in Yemen.

Memorandum about the palestinian dialogue

by MRN
January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

1) The Islamic Resistance Movement (HAMAS) considers dialogue the only effective means of settling political disputes among the Palestinian factions and forces. In observance of this principle, the movement has played a principal and major role in accomplishing the Cairo Declaration of March 2005, the National Accord Document of June 2006, the Mecca Agreement of February 2007 and the National Concord on the Tahdi’ah (truce or calming) of June 2008.