More immigration news tonight: Lampedusa figures prominently.
Also notice the New York Times article about the young woman from Turkey whose wearing of the hijab makes her a “youthful rebel”. Compare it with what I posted earlier tonight about the state-sanctioned enforcement of Islam on an adopted child in the UK. On the one hand you have trendy, hip, youthful rebellion on behalf of Muslims. On the other you have the full bureaucratic might of the socialist state enforcing Islam.
Ordinary Westerners are caught in the jaws of this elite media-driven pincer.
Thanks to Aeneas, C. Cantoni, Diana West, DJ, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, RRW, Steen, TB, Yorkshire Miner, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
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ACORN Controversy: Voter Fraud or Mudslinging?
The stories are almost comical: Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, registered to vote on Nov. 4. The entire starting lineup of the Dallas Cowboys football team, signed up to go the polls — in Nevada.
But no one in either presidential campaign is laughing. Not publicly, anyway.
Republicans, led by John McCain, are alleging widespread voter fraud. The Democrats and Barack Obama say the controversy is preposterous and is just political mudslinging.
In the middle is the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, known as ACORN, a grass-roots community group that has led liberal causes since it formed in 1970. This year, ACORN hired more than 13,000 part-time workers and sent them out in 21 states to sign up voters in minority and poor neighborhoods.
They submitted 1.3 million registration cards to local election officials.
Along the way, bogus ones appeared — signed in the names of cartoon characters, professional football players and scores of others bearing the same handwriting. And in the past few days, those phony registrations have exploded into Republican condemnations of far-ranging misconduct, and a relatively obscure community activist group took a starring role, right behind Joe the Plumber, in the final presidential debate.
Looking beyond the smoke and fire, the raging argument boils down to essentially this:
Is ACORN, according to McCain, perpetuating voter fraud that could be “destroying the fabric of democracy”? Or are Republicans trying to keep the disadvantaged, who tend to be Democrats, from casting ballots in a hotly contested presidential race that has drawn record numbers of new voters?
Obama’s Muslim Outreach Problem
by Robert Spencer
Last Friday, Fox News — one of the few media outlets that isn’t entirely in the Obama camp — revealed that yet another Muslim outreach adviser for the Obama campaign has questionable ties to jihadist groups.
Minha Husaini replaced Mazen Asbahi as Obama’s Muslim liaison after Asbahi resigned over revelations that groups linked to the Muslim Brotherhood featured him as a speaker. The Muslim Brotherhood, according to a 1991 internal memorandum revealed during last summer’s Holy Land Foundation (HLF) trial, is engaged “in America [in] a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and Allah’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.” The HLF is accused of funneling charitable donations to the jihad terror group Hamas.
And now Fox has revealed that Husaini also met with groups tied to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas in Virginia on September 15. Also present were members of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), including the group’s co-founder and executive director, Nihad Awad…
Outrage! Somalis Try to Silence Mayor of Grand Island, NE…
Posted by acorcoran on October 18, 2008
…and, if they succeed, you will be next!
Boy does this make my blood boil! Do you remember last Wednesday that the New York Times actually published a front page story about the multicultural tension in Grand Island, NE in the wake Muslim prayer demands and the subsequent firing of Somalis at the Swift meatpacking plant there?
The mayor of Grand Island expressed to the Times that the presence of so many Somalis in town made her and others uncomfortable. Well that is the truth, and it is happening in every town in America where large numbers of Somalis have arrived.
Does it surprise anyone to hear now that Somali COMMUNITY ORGANIZER Mohamed Rage (we’ve heard from him before) says, “She is not fit to be mayor.”
Actually I am not surprised, but outraged by this overt ploy. This isn’t just because he is angry with this mayor, this is to send a message to any mayor or elected official anywhere in America that you better not speak the truth!
GRAND ISLAND —
An Omaha Somali leader is asking Mayor Margaret Hornady to recant comments she made in a national publication that he says are discriminatory.
In a story that appeared Thursday in The New York Times, Hornady suggested she had difficulty adjusting to the sight of local Somali women in Muslim headdresses.
Hornady said that after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, it “gives some of us a turn.”
Seeing the Somali’s traditional dress reminds her of Osama bin Laden and the attacks on the U.S., she said, adding that she knows it sounds prejudiced and that she’s “working very hard on it.”
Mohamed Rage, who leads the Omaha Somali-American Community Organization, condemned the comments Friday and said he is trying to reach the mayor to address his concerns.
Rage said such comments are inappropriate for a leader, and the city’s Somali community has reacted with shock…
1000 Years of Islam in Britain
By Farrukh I. Younus
Many of us hold the perception that the Muslim communities of Britain were the result of post-war mass migration, and to some extent this is true. But among the talks during the Islam Awareness Week — an annual week of activities aimed at encouraging knowledge and understanding of Islam across the United Kingdom by engaging local communities — was “1000 years of Islam in Britain” by Mohammad Siddique Seddon of the Islamic Foundation.
Imagine that, a thousand years of Islam in Britain! Well, while this statement needs to be nuanced, it is, however, clear that there has been an Islamic influence in this country for more than a millennium, a heritage that belongs not only to myself as a second generation British Pakistani Muslim, but also to the “native” English who can trace their genealogy on the island back for generations.
The first hint of Islamic influence that the speaker referred to was that felt under the leadership of King Offa of Mercia, a wealthy Anglo-Saxon king who ruled until the end of the 8th century CE. He is perhaps more famously known for commissioning Offa’s dyke, a massive wall built to separate England from Wales, compared by many to the building of the pyramids in terms of the resources employed.
King Offa commissioned a gold coin using the Islamic gold standard. On the one side it reads “There is no deity but God, without partners.” On the other, one way up it reads “Offa Rex” (King Offa). When rotated 180 degrees, it reads “Muhammad is the Messenger of God.” There are a number of theories about the coins: the need to align with one of the two Muslim authorities of his time and to facilitate business with Muslim traders. However, the one that I am partial to is the need to pay the Pope his dues — a process perhaps best illustrated in the Robin Hood movies.
Having accepted the need to pay tribute, King Offa did so willingly but with tongue in cheek by marking the coins with the testimony of the belief in one God, quite contrary to the Trinitarian belief of Christianity of which the Pope was the supreme authority. Then again, perhaps he even accepted Islam. Whatever the hypothesis, what cannot be denied is the minting of a coin bearing the mark of one of the most powerful English kings and the Muslim testimony of faith.
At the turn of the 9th and 10th centuries, we find another anomaly: the Ballycottin Cross. Found on the south coast of Ireland, it is a brooch in the shape of a symmetrical cross at the center of which sits a glass bead that reads “In the name of Allah.” It is assumed to be a decorative Celtic brooch that leaves many questions unanswered: Who made it? To whom did it belong? How did it get there? What influence was the owner under to have worn something which conflicted so staunchly with the ideology of Christian belief?
Two centuries later, the younger brother of the famed Richard the Lion Heart, King John, is reported to have undertaken an unusual diplomatic move. After having quarreled with the Pope, he was excommunicated. Further struggles with the land barons led him to send an emissary to the Muslim ruler of Spain, Muhammad An-Nasr, in which he offered to accept Islam. King John was willing to submit himself and his kingdom to the rule of Islam under one condition: that An-Nasr would send an army of Muslim soldiers to help him in his battles against the land barons. After much deliberation An-Nasr declined, but imagine how different life would have been had he accepted King John’s offer…
Eastern Germany’s First Mosque Opens Amid Protests
A new mosque has opened in Berlin — the first in former East Germany. Just blocks away, some 300 people demonstrated against what they called the “Islamisation of Europe.”
Located in Berlin’s Pankow district, the 1.6 million-euro ($2.15-million) mosque has a 12-meter (39-foot) high minaret and can hold 500 worshippers.
Built for members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, the mosque was inaugurated on Thursday, Oct. 16, with a celebration attended by approximately 300 people, including Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit.
According to Wowereit, the mosque symbolizes “religious and cultural tolerance” in Berlin. His comments may have been overly optimistic, though, given that hundreds of protesting residents and the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) were gathered only blocks away from the site.
Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Protestors said they were concerned about the abuse of religious freedom
The demonstrators held banners with statements such as, “Stop the Islamisation of Europe” and “Stop the Abuse of Religious Freedom.” A petition against the construction of the mosque had also gathered some 20,000 signatures.
Construction plagued by vandalism
The Ahmadiyya mosque has been a source of controversy since its building plans were announced in 2006, with attacks on the site hindering its construction.
Ijaz Ahmad, spokesperson for the mosque, is hopeful however that the new two-story building will help bring clashing Muslims and non-Muslims in Berlin closer together.
“The mosque will be a hub of social activity, not just for praying,” she said. “It will play a role in boosting integration and promoting dialogue with politicians and other religious groups.”
A local citizens’ group doesn’t seem to see integration in the cards though. “We have a big problem with sects that put religion above everything else, allow the beating of women and deny equal rights,” the group said on its Web site.
Muslims seek asylum in Germany
Berlin is home to about 220,000 Muslims, with only 200 belonging to the Ahmadiyyah community. Ahmadiyyah’s Muslim roots are a source of debate, however, as it is not recognized by some mainstream Muslim groups on account of different beliefs.
According to the Ahmadiyyah group, it has 30,000 members in Germany, many of whom came to the country seeking asylum from religious persecution in Pakistan and other Islamic countries.
France: Algerian Diplomat Accused of Involvement in Murder
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, OCTOBER 15 — The Court of Appeal in Paris has confirmed the charge against Algerian diplomat Mohamed Ziane Hasseni for “aiding the assassination” of his opponent Ali Mecili, killed in 1987 in Paris. The case was discussed today by Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci with his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner. Lawyer Ali Mecili, exiled to France in 1965 and known for his condemnation of torture and violations of human rights in his country, was assassinated on 7 April 1987 at the entrance to his building in Boulevard Saint Michel in Paris. Former head of the secret services of the National Liberation Front during the War of Algeria, he was the spokesman for one of the leaders of the NLF, Hocine Ait Ahmed, now head of the opposition Front for Socialist Forces, who immediately talked of murder on the orders of the special services of the NLF. The man suspected of the crime, Abdelmalek Amellou, was expelled in an emergency measure a month later. In a book on the murder Hocine Ait Ahmed maintains that the French government allowed the episode to be buried in order to maintain good relations with Algeria during negotiations over French hostages in Lebanon. Hassani, in charge of protocol at the Foreign Ministry, was stopped on 14 August at Marseille airport using an international arrest warrant issued in December 2007 by the French authorities. The diplomat who claims to be the victim of having the same name as the true culprit, is on bail, and must present himself once a week to the police. (ANSAmed).
Germany Snubs Prophet Look-Alike Contest
FRANKFURT — Germany has scrapped a controversial contesting of alleged look-alikes of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing be upon him) that was to be held during Frankfurt international book fair.
“We are pleased because there would surely have been problems without this cancellation,” Frankfurt prosecutor Doris Joeller-Scheu was quoted as saying by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Monthly satirical magazine Titanic has planned to hold the controversial contest on the sidelines of the Frankfurt book fair, the world’s biggest, which opened Tuesday.
The contest would have shown participants reading from the Noble Qur’an and imitating how Prophet Muhammad walked, talked and moved.
But Frankfurt city officials cancelled the event to avoid offending Muslims.
“We are relieved, because there will be no protests this way,” said police spokesman Juergen Linker.
Muslims Begin Wester Mosque Construction Without Permit
THE HAGUE, 18/10/08 — Turkish mosque organisation Milli Gorus has started construction of the controversial Wester mosque in Amsterdam without permission. About 100 Muslims symbolically drove the first pile into the ground.
Milli Gorus does not have the necessary documentation for the construction. The Turkish organisation is involved in a long-running dispute about this with government organisation Stadgenoot. This is the Amsterdam housing corporation (formerly called Het Oosten) which co-financed and developed the project.
Stadgenoot does not believe the mosque will be built quickly. “We have not understood Milli Gorus any more for some time. They just engage in mud-slinging, and now they say all of a sudden that they are beginning construction, though this is absolutely not allowed. I think that they want to make a symbolic statement,” said a spokesman.
There has been wrangling over the mosque for years. This began shortly after a symbolic first brick was laid by the then Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner. He called the project a “symbol of integration” — but this statement rapidly turned out to be untenable.
Milli Gorus withdrew from a contract in which it was specified that the mosque would proclaim a moderate Islamic message. Subsequently, various media reported that the leadership of the present, smaller mosque that wants to base itself in the Wester mosque was perpetrating fraud running into millions with fictitious Islamic investment funds. The Public Prosecutor’s Office (OM) however found no evidence.
Still, Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen could not do otherwise than halt the construction. Stadgenoot has since withdrawn from the mosque project and is only building the offices and housing that were part of the project — not the mosque.
Because a new, unknown investor was found, construction can after all begin, according to Milli Gorus. It say sStadgenoot is withholding documents that make the construction legally impossible.
But Stadgenoot says these documents do not exist at all. “Milli Gorus simply does not have its affairs in order, and is trying to blame this on us.” The Turkish organisation is however threatening a court case “if Stadgenoot does not hand over the documents.”
The mosque is intended to be one of the biggest in Europe. The style is Ottoman, with high minarets and a large central dome. Mayor Cohen has repeatedly said he hopes the mosque can eventually be built after all.
Olympic Mosque Could Create Breeding Ground for Extremists, Says Senior Anglican
Building a mosque next to the Olympic site could create a breeding ground for extremists, a senior Church of England official has warned.
Dr Philip Lewis, an interfaith adviser to the Bishop of Bradford, said that the plans threaten to establish a ghetto of Muslims taught to embrace jihad.
Tablighi Jamaat, the group behind the proposal, are “isolationist”, “patriarchal” and has a narrow reading of Islam that leaves it vulnerable to extremists, he said.
In the first intervention by a Church figure over the controversial project, Dr Lewis raised fears that a 12,000-capacity mosque in London would lead to a segregated Muslim community. The mosque would be four times the size of Britain’s largest cathedral.
“Tablighi Jamaat does not try to engage with wider society so there must be clear worries that such a mosque would lead to a ghetto,” he said.
“The danger is that this becomes a self-contained world, which would be vulnerable to extremists.”
The leaders of the liquid bomb plot, who were last month found guilty of conspiracy to kill, attended mosques run by Tablighi Jamaat. Suicide bombers who carried out terrorist attacks in July 2005 also went to meetings held by the group.
Spain: Fraga, Francoism Investigation Legal Absurdity
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, OCTOBER 17 — President of honour of the Popular Party and ex-Francoist, Manuel Fraga, today defined “a legal absurdity” and a “very serious political mistake” the decision of the judge of the Audiencia Nacional, Baltazar Garzon, to open a trial for crimes against humanity committed by soldiers during the Civil War and Francoism. Speaking at the Nueva Economia Forum, the founder of the Popular Party and the Galician senator sustained that “it is nonsense that a person defines himself as having jurisdiction for an issue where it is debateable whether anyone has jurisdiction, given an amnesty law has already been passed”. Fraga also stated that “politically it is a very serious error to bring back problems from the Civil War and what was a tragedy for both sides”. In declaring himself as having the jurisdiction to prompt an investigation, Judge Garzon has authorized the opening of 19 mass graves, among which is the one where it is thought that poet Federico Garcia Lorca is buried. Against the initiative, the Public Prosecutor’s office has announced an appeal, sustaining that the crimes in question were barred in the Amnesty Law in 1977. (ANSAmed).
Spain: Garzon Decides on Enquiry Into Franco Victims
(by Paola Del Vecchio) (ANSAmed) — MADRID, OCTOBER 14 — The judge in the Audiencia Nacional, Baltazar Garzon, is finalising the wording of the ruling with which he will declare the opening of a criminal enquiry into victims and missing of the Civil War (1936-1939) and the Franco dictatorship, according to sources from the supreme court reported on radio programme Cadena Ser. The resolution, which should be published today, involves the gathering of statements made from 2006 by several associations for the recovery of historical memory. Applying the principle of universal jurisdiction, the Audiencia Nacional will investigate violations of human rights, in particular the forced disappearences during the time of the Civil war and the Franco era which constitute a permanent crime as long as the bodies of the victims have not been found and identified. The judge has drafted a census of those missing in Spain from 17 July 1936, the starting date of the civil conflict. On 1st September he asked the Government, four councils — Granada, Cordova, Seville and Madrid — the episcopal conference, and the Valley of the Fallen, where 34,000 combattants are buried, including General Franco, to present data relating to the dead. The request was extended later to the republican tribunals created in the Civil War during the defence of Madrid. In the last few days Garzon asked for the production of a single online list, to avoid duplication or cases of the same names, which he received on 6 October, numbering 133,708 disappeared. The Public Prosecutor judged against the ability of the Audiencia Nacional to investigate the cases reported by the associations for Historical Memory in the last few months. For his part Justice Minister Mariano Fernando Bermejo today avoided making a judgement in merit. In an interview on Spanish national TV Bermejo confirmed: “It is not my job to give an opinion on this. There is the Prosecutor and the parties involved, it is a juridical matter which I am not part of”. At the same time however, Bermejo confirmed that he had made the National Toxicology Institute available to Garzon “to be a reference in identification matters” of the victims buried in mass graves which will eventually be reopened by order of the Audiencia Nacional. The Justice Minister opened the way for historical rehabilitation with a formal declaration by Central Government in the figure of Lluis Companys, former president of the Generalitat catalana shot in 1940 after a summary pronouncement by a war tribunal. The request was put forward by one of the grandchildren of Companys and by the Catalan regional Government on the basis of the law for historical memory. The wish of the family of the former president captured by the Gestapo in France with the mediation of the then Spanish ambassador, is that the process of rehabilitation culminates with the annulment of the sentence of the war tribunal. The latter is not provided for under the rules due to the juridical uncertainty which would provoke the annulment of sentences made by war and peoplés tribunals during the civil war and dictatorship. (ANSAmed).
UK Women Protest Woman-Led Prayer
LONDON — British Muslim women took to the streets in the south-east city of Oxford on Friday, October 17, to protest the first-ever women-led Friday prayer in Britain.
“What she is doing is against Islam,” angry Maryanne Ramzy told the BBC News Online, referring to American professor Amina Wadud, who led the Friday weekly prayer at the Oxford Muslim Educational Center.
“I disagree with it.”
Wadud, an associate professor of Islamic studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, led about a dozen of male and female worshipers at the Friday prayer at the MEC conference hall.
The Status of Woman in Islam
Women in Leading Posts
Before the prayer, Wadud, who has led a similar prayer three years ago in New York, delivered a brief sermon to the mixed congregation.
The mixed prayers, organized by the MEC, marked the start of a conference on Islam and feminism at Wolfson College in Oxford.
Many Muslim women gathered in front of the conference hall to protest Wadud’s prayers, despite calls from Muslim leaders not to protest to avoid giving it more publicity.
“We’re here to uphold the traditions and the values of Islam and uphold the ways of the prophet — peace be upon him,” said protestor Aishah Samah.
Bosnian Muslim Schools in Graft Grip
Bosnain Muslim professors selling exams, demand money for a passing grade, others want sex from female students; dean of the Bosnian Muslim law school arrested for soliciting Ukrainian prostitutes and organizing orgies for professors in a hotel.
The Muslim half of Bosnia is in the midst of cascading reports and shocking revelations of sexual abuse of students and corruption in its educational institutions.
“Corruption in the universities must be placed in context of general cultural, moral, spiritual and other context. Everyone talks that in Bosnia there is system of values that is absolutely contrary to human nature,” says Esma Hadzagic, deputy in the Bosnian Muslim ministry for civilian affairs for higher education.
Hadzagic says that it is nonsensical to talk about corruption in one sector when corruption is everywhere because that value system is encouraged in the Bosnian Muslim Federation.
Bosnian newspaper Dnevni List recently conducted a survey seeking an answer to a question “What do you consider the most important to complete the university in Bosnia?”.
At 73.6% citing money as the prerequisite for a university diploma, Bosnian capital Sarajevo is suggestive of the perceptions throughout the country dominated by Bosnian Muslims: Mostar cited the same at 51%, Zenica at 68%, the same goes for Tuzla, the epicenter of one of the most shocking revelations of organized sexual abuses of students by professors.
In September, two female students from the law university in Tuzla, Sejla Ledenjak and Sanela Cajic, were arrested because they were matchmakers for female students willing to have sex with professors in order to pass a class.
These two were part of the sexual abuse network managed by Jasmin Masic, considered to be the main pimp and is held in custody, that organized frequent orgies between female students and several professors in hotels in Tuzla and Zivinici.
Professors Bajro Golic, Fuad Saltag, Zdravko Lucic i Sanjin Omanovic were seen in Jet Star hotel taking part in orgies with female students.
“One would go with Jasmin in a room, and the other with Lucic. Golic would not go in a room but wait in the restaurant. Every time there were other girls coming in, but all of them behaved very intimately. They called them ‘professor’ or with a name, but did not hesitate to kiss even while at the table,” said a witness whose name is shielded for protection.
Golic denies that he even knows of a hotel called Jet Star but hotel’s owner Jozo Banovic says that Golic and other professors have been “frequent guests” at the hotel.
Abused females are reluctant to go public partly because of social stigma and partly because of fear for their safety…
Cultural and Social Centers for Youth and Students Open in Bosnia
Amid a large attendance of senior officials and ordinary people, the OIC Fund for the Return of the Displaced in Bosnia and Herzegovina, celebrated on October 14, 2008, the inauguration of three cultural and social centers for youth and students in Bosnia.
The opening of these centers unfolds within the framework of a number of projects slated for the reconstruction and development undertaken by the Fund in order to encourage refugees and displaced persons to return to their areas of origin after being forcibly driven out from their homes during the war.
The Fund’s projects include building houses, schools, and health and cultural centers. The three centers were constructed thank to funds provided by the Zayed Foundation for Charitable and Humanitarian Works.
The opening ceremony was attended by H.E. Ambassador Atta al-Mannan Bakheet, Assistant Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Sheikh Salem Al Dhaheri, Director General of Sheikh Zayed Foundation for Humanitarian and Charitable Works, together with a large pool of officials representing the federal and provincial governments of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Spain: Melilla, Fresh Incident With Moroccan Police Officers
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, OCTOBER 17 — A Spanish policeman was assailed by Moroccan policemen at Melilla while he was trying to stop them from putting under arrest a Spanish national on Spanish territory, the daily El Pais reported Friday. It was the second incident at the border of the Spanish enclave in Morocco. A month ago Spanish high-ranking officers were the target of an attempted aggression by a crowd of people held up at the Moroccan border point. The new incident, according to a complaint filed with the Police Commissary in Melilla, broke out after Moroccan officers on duty at the border point tried to extort money from a couple of Spanish-Moroccan merchants. A Spanish officer stepped in to help the couple and as a result Moroccan colleagues tried to attack him. “It was an isolated and limited incident — the newspaper quoted sources of the Central Government’s Delegation in Melilla as saying. Spaisnh authorities, as with the previous case a month ago, did not lodge any official protest with the Moroccan government. (ANSAmed).
Trade: Libya First Partner of Italy in the Mediterranean
(ANSAmed) — MILAN, SEPTEMBER 24 — While in the field of politics and diplomacy the relations between Italy and Libya register development alternating to incomprehension, as regards the trade the scenario has never been better; in the beginning of the year the trade between the two countries increased by a two-digit number exceeding 8 billion euro, data which confirms Libya as a first trade partner of Italy in the Mediterranean basin. It is revealed by a survey of the Milan Chamber of Commerce on Istat’s data on the import-export with 13 countries of the area (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Malta, Turkey, Cyprus, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, the occupied Palestinian Territories, Jordan) in the period January-May 2008. Libya is still the first provider of Italy in the region, to which it sells mainly hydrocarbons, and represents 42% of the import of the Mediterranean area. That data increases by 40% compared to the same period of last year, exceeding 7 billion euro. As regards the export towards the North African country the situation is good (an increase by 45%) with Libya which exceeds a quota of 900 million euro and becomes the fifth outlet market of the Mediterranean for the made in Italy. (ANSAmed).
Tunisia: Reforms, Tunis Eyes Council of Europe
(ANSAmed) — STRASBOURG, MAY 21 — Tunisia is ready to review its Constitution and its legislation and to adopt the European judicial standards, according to the suggestions of legal experts of the Council of Europe. Tunis is actually invited to take part in the Venice Commission, the advisory body of the Council of Europe which gives opinions of legal nature to its members, encouraging the adoption of regulations in line with the European spirit. The Venice Commission has played a key role in the adoption of constitutions complying with the standards of the European constitutional heritage in the countries that used to be part of the former Soviet Union. The membership of Tunisia takes place a little after that of Israel (in January 2008), of Algeria (which has to name its member) and Morocco which entered the Venice Commission in 2007. A special co-operation status was awarded to the Palestinian Territories on May 15, which was attributed for the first time by the Venice Commission to South Africa in 1993. The process which led to the invitation of Tunisia was very fast: there have been only two months from the first contract between the Venice Commission and representatives of the southern Mediterranean country to the invitation by the Committee of Ministers to become a member of the advisory body of the Council of Europe. The Venice Commission prepares for another important step in the cooperation with the Arab states: on June 24 a cooperation accord between the Commission and the Union of Arab Constitutional Courts and Councils, a body in which 13 countries take part, including Libya, Egypt and Sudan, will be signed. The accord, made possible by a voluntary funding of Italy and Norway, will cover all spheres of the competence of the Commission: constitutional assistance, elections and referendums, cooperation with constitutional courts and trans-national studies, reports and seminars. The European Commission for Democracy through Law, better known as the Venice Commission, after the name of the city where it meets, is an advisory body of the Council of Europe. Set up as an instrument for emergency constitutional building, nowadays the Venice Commission has extended its competences and has been recognised the role of the first advisor in many matters of legal nature. (ANSAmed).
University: Agreement Between Messina and Jerusalem
(ANSAmed) — MESSINA, OCTOBER 14 — The University of Messina will sign a teaching and scientific cooperation agreement on 18 October with the University of Jerusalem, creating a kind of ‘bridge’ between east and west, with an exchange of students, professors and specialists. The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Twal Fouad will ratify the agreement with Messina. The event was announced this morning in a press conference at his official residence by the Archbishop of Messina, monsignor Calogero La Piana, and the rector of the University of Messina, Francesco Tomasello. The rector confirmed that the visit of Twal Fouad represents “an opportunity for Messina to become the centre of gravity for the Mediterranean and to give its contribution towards the development of a culture of peace”. The Archbishop, monsignor Calogero La Piana, said that “the visit of the Patriarch will represent a happy moment, both from a pastoral point of view and a cultural one, because two such distant worlds will have the chance to meet, dialogue and set the basis for a reciprocal closening of ties.”(ANSAmed).
Egypt: 24 American Universities to Attend College Fair
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, OCTOBER 17 — Representatives from 24 leading US universities will take part in the annual American College Fair today in Cairo and in the American Center in Alexandria tomorrow, a statement by the US embassy in Cairo said yesterday. “The year’s American College Fair will host 24 US institutions with campuses in various parts of the US, Europe and the Gulf,” the statement read. “The fair is a great opportunity for Egyptian students who are interested in applying to undergraduate or graduate programs in the US,” the statement said. “At the fair, students can meet with university representatives and discuss admission requirements, procedures for examinations, fields of study, housing expenses and the availability of financial aid and scholarships,” added the statement. The following universities will participate in this year’s event: American Intercontinental University London; American University of Paris; American University of Rome, Ashland University, Boston University, Bryant University, Carnegie Mellon University Qatar; Chaffey College; Dickinson College; Fairleigh Dickinson University; Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar; Hope International University; Indiana University School of Law; Lawrence Technological University; Murray State university; National University; Northampton Community College; Northwestern University Qatar; Pierce College; Suffolk University; Texas A&M Qatar; University of Denver; Josef Korbel School of International Studies; Virginia Commonwealth University, and Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar. (ANSAmed)
Middle East: Fatah Student Leaders in Gaza Strip Announce ‘State of Alert’
Gaza, 17 Oct. (AKI) — Student leaders in the Gaza Strip belonging to the ruling Fatah faction announced on Friday a “state of alert” over recent clashes with Islamist students at Al-Azhar University, according to a statement sent to Palestinian news agency Maan.
Students called upon the Palestinian people to “stand together” to protect the university in Gaza City from “attacks by the Islamic bloc.”
The Fatah students also accused Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, of being responsible for attacks against students and workers at the university earlier this week, according to the statement.
Members of the Hamas-linked Islamic bloc, equipped with guns and hand grenades, broke into the campus on Tuesday, beating three students with whips, damaging furniture and breaking windows, Riyad Aleila, head of the Student Affairs department told media.
The university was closed on Wednesday.
The Fatah students said the party “would not stand by” as attacks against its students “damaged the image of the university and its students.”
Middle East: Bush Offers Golan Heights Withdrawal, Report Says
Kuwait City, 17 Oct. (AKI) — A report in a Kuwaiti newspaper claims that Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas delivered a secret letter from US President George W. Bush to Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad offering Israel’s withdrawal from the disputed Golan Heights
In exchange for Israel’s withdrawal, Syria would have to end the ‘Syrian-Iranian’ alliance once and for all.
Abbas reportedly delivered the letter to Assad during his recent visit to Damascus, reported Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth quoting Kuwaiti daily al-Jarida on Friday.
“In the letter, Bush suggested finalising the agreement within several weeks, before the US presidential elections, in order to push the Middle East peace process, an achievement the president will be able to proudly present before leaving the White House in January.”
Al-Jarida added that the delegation accompanying Abbas on his visit to Syria “was unaware of the letter or its details, and the US insisted that this be carried out secretly and far away from the official channels.”
Following the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel captured the Syrian territory of the Golan Heights and annexed it to its territory in 1981.
Syria and Israel have been technically at war ever since.
Last May, Israel and Syria launched peace talks aimed at a comprehensive peace agreement, under the auspices of Turkey.
Talks reached a stalemate in September and have now been postponed.
Prior to May, the last time both countries initiated peace negotiations was in 2000, when both sides failed to reach an agreement over the fate of the Golan Heights plateau and the shore of the Sea of Galilee, which the Golan Heights overlook.
Tunnels Are a ‘Vital Artery’ for the People Under Siege
The tunnels dug underneath the border between Gaza and Egypt have become the principal route for contraband heading toward Gaza and they are a “vitally important area” for the economy and the subsistence of Palestinian inhabitants, on account of “the limitations that Israel has imposed upon the territory”. So says a report published by the UN Humanitarian Affairs Coordination office (OCHA), according to which “shutting them down would have a dramatic impact on the living conditions of the population”. The document also confirms the denunciations coming from human rights associations in Gaza, which suggest that “an ever higher number of youth are ready to risk their lives working with contraband in the tunnels” because of “the deterioration of the humanitarian situation at an unprecedented level”. Some volunteers — says the report — have conceded that even NGO’s and human rights groups use the tunnels to “bring food and other goods to distribute to the population under siege”. Despite the fact that it is an illegal trafficking system, the volume of goods being traded has become such that one may describe it as an actual ‘industry’ involving licenses and managers that go as far as monitoring the health and safety of their employees. Nevertheless, there are significant risks for those who work in the tunnel ‘sector’ — about 6,000 people says the report — and since the start of the year about forty people have been killed in accidents involving explosions or collapses in the tunnels
Everything is Negotiable in the Mesopatamian Souk
Remember that problematic Status of Forces Agreement between the US and Iraq—the one that’s been kicking around forever, sticking mainly on the matter of who—the US or Iraq—would have legal jurisdiction over American troops and contractors serving in Iraq?
And remember how the US has said that US jurisdiction over US personnel was non-negotiable?
Well, it looks as if everything is negotiable in the Mesopatamian souk. From today’s Washington Post, a story about the latest “draft agreement”:
BAGHDAD, Oct. 17 — A number of senior Iraqi and U.S. politicians expressed strong reservations Friday about the terms of a draft agreement that gives IraqU.S. military bases here. the “primary right” — subject to U.S. acquiescence — to try American soldiers accused of serious crimes committed during off-duty hours outside
Hmm. Now why would Iraqis be upset?
Some political leaders in Baghdad, who got their first look at the controversial agreement to extend the U.S. military presence in Iraq beyond 2008, said it did not go far enough in guaranteeing Iraqi sovereignty.
In other words, there are no provisions to fry American troops in oil.
The bilateral accord was presented Friday to the Political Council for National Security, an advisory body including political, legislative and judicial leaders, whose support is necessary before it can be submitted to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s cabinet and then to parliament for final approval. After an initial review, the council said it would continue discussions next week.
And the US?
In Washington, congressional Democrats questioned ceding any authority over U.S. troops to Iraq. “I am very concerned about reports that U.S. service personnel may not have full immunity under Iraqi law,” said Rep. Ike Skelton House Armed Services Committee chairman.
Well, I am not a congressional Democrat, and I am “concerned” too. Where are congressional Republicans on this?
Mosul: Refugees Increase, is it an “Organized Campaign”?
1560 Iraqi Christian families have abandoned Mosul in the past week alone after receiving direct or indirect threats says UNHCR in a note reporting an official count by the Iraqi ministry for Refugees and Migration. The note suggests that the almost 9400 refugees represent close to half of the entire Christian community of the northern Nineveh province. UNHCR also said that it has sent ten verification missions around Mosul and especially in the areas of Telesquf, Batnaya, Bartilla, Baashiqa, Akre, Dahuk and Erbil, where some of the refugees had found shelter. The refugees said that their leaving has been prompted by a number of threats delivered through flyers and even text messages on mobile phones; those who are leaving are heading to family, friends and even Chaldean Church facilities in outside of Mosul. The UN and the local Church had noted the urgent need for food, clothing and other urgent items such as medicine. Meanwhile, in Mosul, the police continue its vast security operation after receiving reinforcements to confront the attacks and threats against the Christian community. Local press sources said that ten people, suspected of being involved, were arrested bringing the total number of arrests to 50. Yesterday, after meeting some Christian families, the Iraqi defense minister Abdul Qader al-Ubeidi said that there is “an organized threat campaign” in place against Christians as reported by the Iraqi press agency Awsat al Iraq. Meanwhile, expressions of solidarity and support for the Christian community of Mosul are coming from various fronts: the Iranian government was joined by the Kurdish Parliament in its solidarity; the president of the Kurdish regional parliament, Adnan al-Mufti, described the campaign “against our Assyrian and Chaldean brothers” as a crime against humanity.
Turkey: 70% of Istanbul’s Buildings Has No Licence
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, JULY 18 — The majority of Istanbul buildings are “illegal” and almost 70% were built without the appropriate licence, daily Turkish Daily News reports quoting ‘The Coordination of Infrastructural Facilities in Metropolitan Municipalities Report’ issued by the Turkish Court of Account. Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir have the highest levels of illegal settlements and the majority of the metropolitan municipalities have an illegal settlement percentage of more than 50% the report reveals. Istanbul is the rank leader with 70%, while 60% is registered in Izmir and 40% in Ankara. The report discloses that frequent changes in building projects break the binding character of the plans and underlines that the building schemes in the metropolitan municipalities have undergone ‘considerable architectural changes’. The investigation of the construction licenses and building permits of 32 municipalities in the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality revealed that municipalities granted very few buildings permits although all of the applicants complied with the major requirements for construction licenses. (ANSAmed).
Turkey-Iraq: Arbil University Opens Turkish Language Faculty
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, SEPTEMBER 23 — The regional Kurd administration of northern Iraq has decided to open a faculty on teaching Turkish at the Salahaddin University of Arbil with the purpose to create a cultural dialogue between Turkey and the Iraqi Kurdish minority living in northern Iraq. The news was reported today by Today’s Zaman which quoted statements by the rector of the University of Arbil, Mohammad Sadik, according to whom “the new university department will be a source of dialogue and cultural exchange between northern Iraq and Turkey”. Sadik added that in the 2008-2009 academic year 35 students will attend the courses of the new faculty but the number of the students is bound to increase in the next few years. The bilateral relations between Turkey and Iraq have made significant steps ahead since July after the official visit in Baghdad of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the signing of an important document of strategic-economic collaboration with the Iraqi side. (ANSAmed).
Pakistan: Top Taliban Militant Announces Split
South Waziristan, 17 Oct. (AKI) — By Syed Saleem Shahzad — Pakistani Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud’s opponent faction in North Waziristan announced on Friday the creation of a new parallel organisation, called Muqami Tehrik-i-Taliban or local Taliban, effectively splitting from Mehsud’s Tehrik-i-Taliban.
The announcement was made by Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a top Pakistani militant from North Waziristan and former lieutenant under Mehsud.
Bahadur also said that a decision by a ‘shura’ or consultation council said that attacks against Pakistani security forces only weaken the cause of the Afghan resistance against foreign forces.
Instead, militants can focus on fighting against NATO troops in Afghanistan, said the council.
It is said that the Tehrik-i-Taliban movement fell apart due to Mehsud’s violent policies against the Pakistani security forces.
However, Gul Bahadur remained a silent spectator and entered into a peace agreement with the Pakistani government in January 2008 after a long conflict which left over 100 members of the security forces dead.
Badahur also announced on Friday that he would not break the peace agreement reached with the government.
The announcement takes place a day after six people were killed and five others were injured during air strikes by suspected US spy drones on the village of Sam, believed to be the headquarters of Mehsud — Pakistan’s most wanted militant.
Mehsud, 35, reportedly suffers from high blood pressure, diabetes and kidney disease. Earlier this month rumours of his death were circulating.
However, he rapidly recovered and celebrated his second marriage to a young girl from Mehsud’s Shabikhel tribe.
Mehsud was believed to have been responsible for the assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto who was killed in December last year when she returned to Pakistan from exile.
Sangh Parivar Wants to Remove Every Christian Trace in Orissa
Christians are not allowed to pray even in government-run refugee camps. The ground on which homes and churches once stood are taken over and “cleansed” of every trace of violence. Hindus tell raped nun to marry her rapist. The hue and cry is still on for Christians.
Bhubaneshwar (AsiaNews) — The Hindu fundamentalist groups that have been involved for more than a month in Orissa’s anti-Christian pogrom are becoming more methodical. Sometimes with police assistance they prevent Christians from meeting to pray, try to murder new converts, and are trying to take over the land where churches and Christian homes once stood in order to wipe off the face of the earth any trace of Christian presence. Whilst Indian public opinion is shocked by the violence, especially by the rape of a nun, Hindu radicals want to reintroduce a tribal law that would have the rape victim marry her rapist.
The destruction of 180 churches and 4,500 homes, burnt and razed to the ground, and the 50,000 refugees this has generated are but the first chapter in a programme whose ultimate goal is to do away with Christianity in this state from the roots up. Christians are treated like criminals even in refugee camps set up by the government for those who fled their homes.
After visiting three such camps, Fr Ajay Singh, director of Jan Vikas, a centre for social action run by the diocese of Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar, told AsiaNews that “our people are being treated like animals. They have been given just one blanket per family and sanitation and hygiene are simply non-existent. But what is even more tragic is the fact that they are not even allowed to pray, and are instead closely monitored by security forces. Women are particularly vulnerable—they are not allowed to get any counselling so that their emotional health is deteriorating rapidly.”
Outside, in the villages already destroyed by the Hindu fundamentalist fury, things are not getting any better. According to eyewitness accounts collected by the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), the Sangh Parivar (an umbrella organisation of Hindu extremist groups) has began “cleansing” the land where Christians had their homes and churches, torched to the ground in the past weeks.
They are even pulling out the bricks from foundations, filling up holes in the ground, removing marks indicating demarcation lines of fields owned by Christians so as to divide them up among themselves.
“Their goal is to use fraudulent means to take over Christian property,” said GCIC Chairman Sajan K George, “showing that there was no Christian presence, no Christian house, no Christian church. I am concerned that they might start building Hindu temples on land where Christian homes and churches once stood.”
For him behind this purge there might be another motive. “Hindu radicals want to hide from public opinion the evidence of their brutality against innocent people now that Indians have seen what their attacks have done.”
Indian newspapers are in fact full of stories describing the tragic events, especially Hindu violence against women, with the rape of a nun as the lowest point.
In response to public criticism for its inaction in this case, Orissa state authorities have held three Hindu activists, Mitu Patnaik, Saroj Ghadai and Munna Ghadai, who were arrested in Kerala a month after the fact. All three are from Baliguda (Orissa).
In view of the gravity of the situation Hindu fundamentalist publications and organisations have launched a campaign to play down the facts.
Lal Krishna Advani, leader of the fundamentalist-friendly Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), condemned the rape as a “shameful crime” but other related groups like the Bajrang Dal are raising doubts, saying that the he nun might have been “consenting”.
Last Monday also saw five thousand radical Hindu women demonstrate in K Nuagaon demanding that “the victim marry her rapist in accordance with local tradition.”
As if this was not enough the anti-Christian campaign has opened a new chapter in its attempt to stop conversions to Christianity, forcing instead new converts to re-convert to Hinduism by threats of violence
Last Sunday a student association, the Kandhamal Chatra Sangharsa Samiti, called for a moratorium on conversions by Christian NGOs to honour the late Swami Laxamananda Saraswati whose lifetime work (for 45 years) was to stop Christian conversions.
It was his murder by a Maoist group that unleashed the anti-Christian rage because Hindu fundamentalists blamed Christians for his death.
As part of this campaign Hindu fanatics in Kandhamal district have prepared a reconvert-or-die list that includes people like Pabitra Mohan Katta, a man from Adigar village. Ten years ago Pabitra was a follower of Swami Laxamananda and a member of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) before he became a Christian. On 26 August his home was set on fire but he managed to get out unscathed thanks to his Hindu brother’s intervention. A few days later his brother’s home was however torched as well.
Meanwhile some Christians are “reconverting” (see photo) to Hinduism, forced to burn Bibles and prayer books, have their heads shaved, coerced into drinking cow urine (to purify them), placed for days under the watchful eye of Hindu groups so that they do not have any contacts with their former co-religionists.
China Watches Over Internet Café Customers in Web Crackdownjane Macartney in Beijing
All visitors to internet cafés in Beijing are to be required to have their photographs taken in a stringent new control on the public use of cyberspace.
Hopes that the Olympic Games would usher in a relaxed approach to the internet had already been hit hard when the “Great Firewall of China” — the blocking of websites deemed subversive — was reimposed not long after foreign reporters left the country.
The temporary lifting of the firewall applied to only a few sites and Chinese citizens experienced few changes.
According to the latest rules, by mid-December all internet cafés in the main 14 city districts must install cameras to record the identities of their web surfers, who must by law be 18 or over. There are more than 250 million internet users in China, approximately ten times more than there were in 2000.
It has been several years since internet cafés were required to register users to ensure that customers were not under-age.
All photographs and scanned identity cards will be entered into a city-wide database run by the Cultural Law Enforcement Taskforce. The details will be available in any internet café.
At the Mingluo internet café in the Dongcheng district about 60 people were ensconced in front of terminals. Most were chatting online or watching films. The manager affected a lack of concern about the regulation, saying that he had introduced the policy a month ago. “I think most people don’t mind. We explain to them that this will not have any impact on them,” he said.
The Times searched for online comments on the rules but was unable to find any — often a sign that most commentary has been critical and has therefore been erased. However, a survey by the internet version of the People’s Daily showed that 72 per cent of respondents were opposed to the measure, calling it an infringement of their rights. Just over 26 per cent supported the photographing because it would benefit children.
Today is the expiry date on one of the concessions to the greater freedom that came with the Olympics: permission for foreign reporters to travel the country unhindered. China had promised complete media freedom when it applied to host the Games…
France: “Immigration is a Moral Necessity…”
Former deputy in the French National Assembly, from 1967 to 2004, Jacques Barrot was one of the founders of today’s UMP party, an institution that claims to be conservative. UMP is the party of Nicolas Sarkozy, who is known to the media and the world as a politician of the “Right.” Barrot had previously supported Jacques Chirac, and before that had been a leader of the centrist movement. Since 2004, Barrot has been a European Commissioner.
This article from Yves Daoudal gives the first and last questions from an interview with Barrot posted at Café Babel. Daoudal says that Barrot’s answers reveal the European suicide that is underway:
– Does Europe need immigration?
– Yes. The demographic situation of Europe requires a migration that must be concerted. Europe’s mission is also a desire to facilitate exchanges between countries. Immigration is both an economic and a moral necessity.
– Islam is perceived by some as incompatible with European values of democracy, peace and equality of the sexes. What is the EU’s position with regard to this problematical situation? (Question from Roman Moravcik, a Slovak journalist)
– This way of looking at Islam as antagonistic to European values is a totally partial and erroneous view. Islam is a monotheistic religion that seems to me to be compatible with our principles of laïcité. What is not compatible, are all the fundamentalists, not only Islamic, who wish to segregate and exclude other religions. As soon as pluralism is accepted by Islam, in any case in Europe, Islam is welcome. What IS true is that we will always fight against the fact that in the Islamic milieu Christian communities are not always respected as they should be. But that is characteristic of a certain number of Islamic States, it is not characteristic of Europe. Europe favors religious pluralism and it is obvious that if Islam wants to exist in Europe, it must accept this pluralism…
Immigration: Help for a Boat Off Lampedusa
(ANSAmed) — LAMPEDUSA (AGRIGENTO), OCTOBER 17 — A large boat with a yet unknown number of immigrants aboard received assistance by a patrol boat of Italian Coast Police 18 miles off south of Lampedusa. The non-EU citizens were taken to the island’s port where they are undergoing identity controls. More than 800 immigrants landed on the island yesterday on six boats. Those who landed so far today after having been intercepted 18 miles off the island number about 90. The boat carried some 200 people: about 30 were transfered on the patrol boat, 60 remained on the boat which was tugged to port, some 100 were picked by the Minerva ship of the Navy. The Minerva also carried 67 immigrants who were picked up yesterday. All were transfered to a patrol boat of the Port Authority which hasn’t yet arrived in port. (ANSAmed).
Immigration: Two-Day Protest Against Pact in Paris
Two days of mobilisation begin today for “another concept of immigration” in Europe, called by over 70 African and European Non-Governmental Organisations the day after the approval of the “Pact on immigration and asylum” by the European Council. With the motto “build bridges, not walls”, ‘Secours Catholique’ (French Caritas) explains that dozens of organizations want to express their concern over the measures adopted by the Pact in view also of the second Euro-African Inter-ministerial Conference on migration and development to be held October 20-21. “We want another Europe that doesn’t transform into a Fortress”, write in a manifesto the promoters of the two-day demonstration in Paris that begins today, particularly critical regarding a ‘selective’ immigration and obligations on nations of the South to readmit their expelled citizens. The mobilisation begins today with a European-African Non-Governmental conference, which will address issues such as political responsibilities for minors in migration, freedom of circulation, the right to asylum and brain drain.
Rai Med: on Mediterraneo, the Islands of Human Traffickers
(ANSAmed) — PALERMO, OCTOBER 17 — The Pelagie and the Canary Islands are by now the favourite and fixed landing point of traffickers of human beings. Thousands of illegal migrants arrive in Lampedusa and Tenerife every year. After having their identities checked, they are left alone. At the Canaries have sprung up a number of humanitarian organizations which after giving migrants urgent health care, engage also in basic social actions to help them meet legal obligations with Spanish authorities. A report from Tenerife will open the instalment of “Mediterraneo”, the weekly programme of the Palermo Regional News Desk produced by Rai — France 3 — Rtve Spain jointly with Algiers’ Entv, on the air Saturday at 1.30 pm on Rai Tre and at 9 pm. on Rai Med. The second report was produced in Albania and deals with rights abuses suffered by women. Women, who at times are hit twice, in the family and in jail, tell about their own experiences. (ANSAmed).
Separate Classes for Non-Italians Get Green Light
Chamber of Deputies votes for Northern League motion. “Abject proposal”, says Democratic Party’s (PD) Piero Fassino.
ROME — The Democratic Party’s (PD) Piero Fassino called it “an abject proposal that introduces discrimination into schools”. “My proposal serves to prevent racism and aims to bring about genuine integration”, countered Roberto Cota, the Northern League’s group leader in the Chamber of Deputies. The bone of contention is the majority’s motion, presented by Roberto Cota, on the creation of “insertion classes” for foreign students who speak little or no Italian.
The controversial motion was passed by a majority of twenty votes with 265 in favour, 246 against and one abstention. Some of the wording had to be changed to avoid a split in the majority with “insertion classes” replacing “bridging classes”, a term that leaves room for doubt about the success of the transition. The purpose of the measure was also redefined as “favouring” entry, instead of “authorising” it, since authorisation sits uncomfortably with the concept of education. In future, access to Italian schools for foreign students may be regulated by new mechanisms, such as tests and other instruments of evaluation. Those who do not pass the tests will be put in special classes to enable them to learn the Italian language before they are assigned to traditional classes. Another new development is that foreign students will not be admitted to mainstream classes after 31 December, and the number inserted will have to be proportionate to the total number of students.
For the Northern League parliamentarian and the motion’s other signatories, these are things “that go on in most European countries, which have set up separate learning places for immigrant children”. There have been no B-list classes in Italy since streaming was abolished but the new measure is based on the conviction that young immigrants do not learn in mixed classes and hold back the other — Italian — children. Mr Cota’s motion almost caused a split in the majority. Some of his colleagues distanced themselves, including People of Freedom parliamentarians Nicolò Cristaldi and Mario Pepe. Neither did the idea of combating social exclusion by setting up special classes convince the People of Freedom’s deputy group leader, Italo Bocchino, who pointed out that whatever the motion’s merits, its wording was to say the least clumsy. Mr Bocchino suggested that the Northern League should change the term “bridging classes” to “insertion classes”. The motion’s presenter, Mr Cota, with Northern League leader Umberto Bossi and the junior education minister Giuseppe Pizza for the government, accepted the suggestion. The motion was then approved.
Giulio Benedetti
France Bans Burqa in Immigrant Classes and Denmark Secularises Its Courts
France has banned the wearing of burqas in French classes for immigrants. The High Authority for the Fight Against Discrimination and for Equality (HALDE) has ruled that “The burqa signifies female submission that goes beyond its religious notion and can be seen as breaching republican values.” The ruling will result in the barring of the burqa or the niqab, another full-body veil, in French classes for immigrants. French language classes are mandatory for immigrants applying for work papers, residency permits and citizenship.
Louis Schweitzer, the head of HALDE, told the newspaper La Croix that religious freedom is “not absolute” and could be limited if there is a valid reason. He denied any “extremism” in France’s implementation of its secularism. The HALDE said its decision was based on rulings from the European Human Rights Court’s ruling and took into account the demands of the French constitution.
A 2004 law bars students from wearing prominent religious symbols in schools or universities, including the Christian cross, the Jewish skullcap, the Muslim veil or the Sikh turban. The rule prompted demonstrations across the country.
But the French are having problems with consistency in applying the law. At an appeals court in the eastern city of Nancy, a woman was ordered to pay compensation to a family and the Human Rights League because she refused to let women guests wear veils in her bed and breakfast. In July, France’s highest court denied a Moroccan woman citizenship, saying her burqa and her religious practice, a fundamentalist branch of Islam called Salafism, didn’t fit with “essential values of the French community.”
Meanwhile, in Denmark, the government has decided that its courts will be secular and that no religious symbols will be permitted. Danish judges will not be allowed to wear Muslim headscarves in court — and the Christian cross, the Jewish skullcap and the Sikh turban will also be banned.
“We have decided to prohibit the wearing of (all) religious or political symbols while exercising the function of a magistrate, because a judge must be neutral and impartial,” the Justice Minister Lene Espersen told reporters.
The wearing of Muslim headscarves in courtrooms was authorised in December, although the country has no Muslim judges at present. The decision was only revealed by the media recently, causing a public outcry. New legislation is required to overturn the December ruling, but the support of the People’s Party means the government will carry a comfortable majority. Espersen is due to present draft legislation to parliament in the autumn.
Lego Ad Red Lighted Over Shades of Pink and Blue
A Swedish advertising watchdog has slammed Danish toymaker Lego for a catalogue it claims promotes outdated gender roles.
Sweden’s Trade Ethical Council against Sexism in Advertising (ERK) singled out images in a recent Lego catalog which featured a little girl playing in a pink room with ponies, a princess, and a palace accompanied by a caption reading, “Everything a princess could wish for…”
On the opposite side of the page, a little boy can be seen in a blue room playing with a fire station, fire trucks, a police station, and an airplane. The caption beneath reads, “Tons of blocks for slightly older boys.”
In its findings, the ERK singled out the images for preserving traditional and anachronistic views on gender roles, according to the Göteborgs-Posten newspaper.
Furthermore, said ERK, the pictures constituted a form of stereotyping which was degrading to both men and women.
Lego defended the images in question by pointing out they were included in a catalogue which also contained several pictures of boys and girls playing together.
The company said it didn’t believe the catalogue would be viewed as promoting stereotypes, insulting, or discriminatory.
The ERK backed its ruling by referring to the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), which says that advertising should be not be discriminatory when it comes to issues of gender.
Iran Seeks Seat on UN Security Council
The regime of the mullahs has no practical possibility of obtaining the necessary two thirds vote of the United Nations assembly, but it is counting on gaining prestige from participating.
Tehran (AsiaNews) — Iran is seeking to join the UN security council, although, at the moment, it is under sanctions from the same body for its nuclear program. Today the UN assembly will vote to elect five of the ten non-permanent members of the highest body of the United Nations. One of the seats is set aside for an Asian country. This is currently occupied by Indonesia, but now Japan and Iran are vying to replace it.
Tehran presented its candidacy in 2007. In doing so, it asserted that Iran has played an “undeniable” role in the area of regional security, and that it is “firmly committed to pursuing the realization of the goal of a world free from weapons of mass destruction.” This assertion comes from this semi-official news agency Fars, which emphasizes that Iran is one of the founding countries of the UN, and has been part of the security council only once, from 1955-1956. The same source reports the fact that Japan has spent a total of 18 years on the council. And according to published reports, Tehran is believed to have sought the support of Tokyo, in exchange for its own support of Japanese candidacy for one of the permanent seats on the council, in a future reorganization of the UN.
In order to be elected as one of the non-permanent members, two thirds of the votes are needed from them the 192 member states of the UN assembly. Iran has practically no chance, in spite of the fact that the voting takes place in secret, and therefore provides an opportunity for demonstrations of support for an anti-Western and anti-Israeli country. But the very fact of candidacy — and of obtaining votes — is considered by some countries as indicative of international prestige, in that it permits presenting oneself as an outsider.
Islamist Group Claims Responsibility of US Financial Meltdown
CAIRO- Members of the Egyptian Jihad group have declared that Islamic Jihad groups are responsible for the financial meltdown in the US as they distributed hundred of millions of US dollars in the world stock markets.
Fact International (FI), received a copy of the statement made by members of the Jihad Group in Abu Zabal Prison in Egypt, which said that the Jihad groups distributed the millions of dollars in the world’s stock exchanges, to hit the US economy, which resulted in the global financial crisis.
This issue is related to the collapse of the US Empire, after the main banks in the world collapsed and the world stock markets lost billions of US dollars.
The statement which was signed by prisoners who will not be mentioned by FI, said that, “the US failed in the war on Iraq and Afghanistan and had massive military, human and economic casualties.”
The statement also mentioned that a plant had to be set up for producing artificial limbs in the Occupied Palestine to overcome the loss. Another plant was established for producing the tyres of the US military Bradley as they had been damaged by the resistance in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Islamic Leaders to Non-Muslims: Do Not Question Islam
As we surf across net it is very clear to see that the criticism of Islam is on the rise. This is obviously because the non-Islamic world has become more aware of the threat that Islam brings to our way of life, as the Islamic way of life and our way do not mix. When there is a problem people have every right to speak up and try and deal with that problem, but according to Islamic leaders we do not have that right.
Youthful Voice Stirs Challenge to Secular Turks
ISTANBUL — High school hurt for Havva Yilmaz. She tried out several selves. She ran away. Nothing felt right.
“There was no sincerity,” she said. “It was shallow.”
So at 16, she did something none of her friends had done: She put on an Islamic head scarf.
In most Muslim countries, that would be a nonevent. In Turkey, it was a rebellion. Turkey has built its modern identity on secularism. Women on billboards do not wear scarves. The scarves are banned in schools and universities. So Ms. Yilmaz dropped out of school. Her parents were angry. Her classmates stopped calling her.
Like many young people at a time of religious revival across the Muslim world, Ms. Yilmaz, now 21, is more observant than her parents. Her mother wears a scarf, but cannot read the Koran in Arabic. They do not pray five times a day. The habits were typical for their generation — Turks who moved from the countryside during industrialization.
“Before I decided to cover, I knew who I was not,” Ms. Yilmaz said, sitting in a leafy Ottoman-era courtyard. “After I covered, I finally knew who I was.”
While her decision was in some ways a recognizable act of youthful rebellion, in Turkey her personal choices are part of a paradox at the heart of the country’s modern identity…
A little more than a week has passed since Austrians woke up to the news of Jörg Haider’s death. And it is still very difficult to comprehend the loss of this man whose death has caused Carinthia to lapse into a collective ocean of tears. Thousands of red and white candles, even more flowers, line the streets. Thousands of Carinthians lined up in front of the governments building to pay their respects to Jörg Haider, their beloved governor (and beloved he was, despite MSM commentaries to the contrary), lying in state in a simple casket draped with red roses and a wreath bearing the words of his widow: “With love, Claudia”.
In recent news feeds I’ve been focusing on stories that relate to the Mediterranean Union: the ever-closer immigration, business, scientific, and military ties between the EU and North Africa (and the Middle East). The recent report about Morocco moving into “fast track” status for EU membership was an important EuroMed story.