Article published in Amauta with permission from TomDispatch

Source: TomDispatch

Protesters in New York rallying against the "Mosque at Ground Zero" on June 19, 2010. (Photo: Robert Huffstutter)

by Stephan Salisbury

There is a distinct creepiness to the controversy now raging around a proposed Islamic cultural center in Lower Manhattan.  The angry “debate” over whether the building should exist has a kind of glitch-in-the-Matrix feel to it, leaving in its wake an aura of something-very-bad-about-to-happen.

It’s not just that opposition to the building has coalesced around a phony “Mosque at Ground Zero” shorthand (with its echoes of dust, death, and evildoers). Many have pointed out — futilely — that the complex will be more than two blocks from the former World Trade Center, around a corner on Park Place, and will feature an auditorium, spa, basketball court, swimming pool, classrooms, exhibition space, community meeting space, 9/11 memorial, and, yes, a prayer space for Muslims. The shorthand still sticks.

Nor is it just that this is only the most visible of a growing number of nasty controversies over proposed mosques in Tennessee, California, Georgia, Kentucky, Wisconsin, and Illinois as well as Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, and Midland Beach, Staten Island, in New York City.  Read the full story

Article published in Amauta with permission from the author

Palestine, for many Muslims existed as part of a collective imagination, solidified with unifying symbols.

by Ramzy Baroud

Thousands of faithful assiduously listened as I outlined the challenges facing Palestine and its people. Cries of ‘Allahu Akbar’ – God is Great – occasionally resounded from a corner of the giant South African mosque. Many whimpered as I described the tragedy that had befallen Gaza as a result of the Israeli siege. They cheered, smiled and nodded as I emphasized how the will of the Palestinian people would not be defeated. A few older people at the front simply wept throughout my talk, which preceded a Friday sermon in Durban a few months ago.

If passion and kindness were powerful in and of themselves, then the compassion that poured from those Muslim faithful could surely better the world in a myriad ways. The sheer love and concern displayed by men and women of different races, age groups, class affiliation and languages was most uplifting and validating. Read the full story

Article published in Amauta with permission from the author

Why are Muslims playing right into this scenario? Actually, they are not, although it would seem otherwise. (Via NYT)

by Ramzy Baroud

“Any depictions of the prophet are considered blasphemous by Muslims,” wrote Agencies, as reported readily by Aljazeera.net English. The above statement is meant to fully summarize the reason behind the outrage that arises in Pakistan and other parts of the Muslim world whenever some provocative ‘artist’ decides to express his freedom of expression and ‘expose’ Muslims as anti-democratic.

Such a simplistic interpretation of such an intricate issue.

There is no denial – and no shame – in the fact that most Muslims hold their Prophet in the highest regard. Despite the continued decrease in the number of faithful in increasingly secularized Western societies, Muslims are clinching even tighter to their faith. However, while the outrage over the latest transgression by some Facebook user and his “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!” may appear as a straightforward news story – that of Western values vs Muslim narrow-mindedness – the true underpinnings of the outrage is suspiciously missing. Read the full story

Artículo publicado en Amauta con permiso de Rebelión

Fuente: Rebelión

Los trabajadores del Centro de Investigación Minero Metalúrgico –Tecnología y Servicios, están en pie de guerra ante la eventual privatización de esa empresa ligada al Estado. ¿Las causas? La voluntad política del actual gobierno de echar mano a propiedad fiscal asociada al cobre

por Paco Carreño, Ignacio Castro, Chus Martín y Elena Garrido

Permítasenos una pregunta en medio de este universo del pluralismo. ¿No es un poco sospechosa en sí misma esta convergencia casi unánime de izquierda y derecha, de cristianos y ateos, de feministas de ayer y machistas de toda la vida en torno a esta cuestión de las chicas musulmanas que aparecen con el velo en nuestras escuelas? La ideología democrática, ésta que ha entronizado lo público como el reino de ciertos poderes privados, ¿se ha convertido ahora en religión verdadera ?

Al condenar el pañuelo descubrimos nuevas supersticiones, propias de una religión que no admite ningún signo de espiritualidad. Desconociendo en profundidad los motivos culturales para cubrirse la cabeza, el velo es interpretado a toda prisa como una manifestación de la sumisión de la mujer frente al hombre. Nos arrogamos una interpretación casera de una prenda que, en principio, no debería molestar a nadie, sobre todo porque la mayoría no conocemos de su significado más que habladurías refritas en tertulias y artículos de opinión sobe el tema. Read the full story

Article published in Amauta with permission from the author

The story of IslamOnline pertains more to media freedom and editorial independence in Arab countries.

by Ramzy Baroud

A widely popular Islamic website has been, until very recently, an undisputed success story. IslamOnline arrived at a time that millions of Muslims needed a common platform and a unifying outlet. Here was a website that neither shunned nor alienated. Its influence was upbeat and positive, rather than destructive or divisive. While it wasn’t an apologetic outlet, it reached out to patiently and progressively present Islam and Muslim issues to the world. These were understood and communicated by hundreds of scholars and qualified journalists, who toiled day and night from their Cairo offices.

Then something happened to abruptly bring the noble mission to an end. The success story suddenly became a terrible nightmare for hundreds of IslamOnline’s principled employees. Read the full story

Fuente: London Review of Books
Traducción: Sinfo Fernández, Rebelión

por Tariq Ali
25 de marzo, 2010

Salí hacia el Yemen cuando Obama estaba insistiendo en que “grandes trozos” del país “no están totalmente aún bajo el control del gobierno” después que el Senador Joseph Lieberman hubiera anunciado triunfalmente que el Yemen era un objetivo propicio para la guerra y la ocupación. El triste terrorista del calzoncillo que intentó hacer explotar una bomba en el vuelo de Amsterdam el día de Navidad había desencadenado un nuevo interés por el país, y por la presencia de Al-Qaida en la Península Arábiga (AQPA), alegando que aunque se hubiera convertido al islamismo de núcleo duro en Gran Bretaña, su intensiva carrera en el terrorismo suicida, afortunadamente infructuosa, había sido sufragada por AQPA en algún lugar del Yemen.

El Yemen es un país de verdad, a diferencia de las gasolineras imperiales que salpican otras partes de la Península Arábiga, donde las elites gobernantes viven en rascacielos construidos apresuradamente diseñados por arquitectos célebres y flanqueados por centros comerciales en los que se exhibe toda la parafernalia consumista de Occidente, atendidos por trabajadores con salarios esclavistas procedentes del Sur de Asia y Filipinas. Sanaa, la capital del Yemen, se fundó cuando aún se estaba escribiendo, corrigiendo y recopilando el Antiguo Testamento. Es verdad que el nuevo hotel Mövenpick, situado en el corazón del enclave diplomático de la ciudad, es una reminiscencia de lo peor de Dubai –cuando me encontraba allí tenían en promoción un Menú de la Cena del Día de San Valentín-, pero en el Yemen las elites son cuidadosas y no hacen ostentación de sus riquezas. Read the full story

Fuente: IPS

Mujer iraquí llora (Crédito: Mohammed Omer/IPS)

por Abdu Rahman y Dahr Jamail

BAGDAD, 12 mar (IPS) – En el régimen de Saddam Hussein (1979-2003) las mujeres de Iraq tenían casi los mismos derechos que las de Occidente. Pero tras la ocupación de Estados Unidos en 2003 el Islam se convirtió en la religión oficial, lo cual dejó en poder de los clérigos la interpretación de sus libertades.

La ley de Estatuto Personal, que entró en vigor el 14 de julio de 1958 cuando los iraquíes derrocaron la monarquía instalada por Gran Bretaña, otorgaba a las iraquíes la mayoría de los derechos de los que gozan las occidentales.

Pero ahora el artículo 2 de la Constitución estipula que “el Islam es la religión oficial del Estado y es la fuente básica de la legislación”. Read the full story

Source: Salon

by Glenn Greenwald
February 4, 2010

Last week, I wrote about a revelation buried in a Washington Post article by Dana Priest which described how the Obama administration has adopted the Bush policy of targeting selected American citizens for assassination if they are deemed (by the Executive Branch) to be Terrorists.  As The Washington Times‘ Eli Lake reports, Adm. Dennis Blair was asked about this program at a Congressional hearing yesterday and he acknowledged its existence:

The U.S. intelligence community policy on killing American citizens who have joined al Qaeda requires first obtaining high-level government approval, a senior official disclosed to Congress on Wednesday.

Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair said in each case a decision to use lethal force against a U.S. citizen must get special permission. . . . Read the full story

Source: ZNet

by Fawwaz Traboulsi

Translator’s Introduction: The following article by Fawwaz Traboulsi appeared in the Beirut daily as-Safir of December 2, 2009.

Traboulsi’s article is an assessment and left critique of the main themes in Hezbollah’s new political platform. The platform was released on November 30 at the conclusion of a general congress that had met intermittently over several months. It was published partially or entirely in several Arabic-language media outlets, inside and outside Lebanon, in early December 2009. The platform now becomes Hezbollah’s political manifesto in place of its founding document, its so-called 1985 Open Letter. Read the full story

Source: ZNet

by Randall Amster
January 13, 2010

It might be a bad dream but it feels real enough. The mantle of warfare slips seamlessly from one president to another, from one party to another, from one decade to another, from one generation to another. The impetus of national aggression transcends race, creed, socio-economic status, age, and geography. Our collective sin is the bald lie that we all live and perpetuate from moment to moment, year upon year, from our past to the days ahead: the misbegotten belief that we are a peaceful people.

Yes, we are good and peaceful, and they (whatever “they” we’re focused on today) are ruthless and evil. Institutionally, these values are operationalized every day. Drone attacks, propped-up murderers and dictators, weapons manufacturing and distribution, clandestine death squads, full-on warfare, neglect of starvation and disease, collateral damage, structural adjustments, black holes of torture, targeting civilians — this is the essence of our foreign policy, and to borrow the frank words of Madeleine Albright when asked about the deaths of a half million Iraqis due to imposed sanctions, “we think the price was worth it.” Since we operate in the name of democracy and freedom, all is forgiven. Read the full story