I mentioned earlier this week that the International Civil Liberties Alliance sent a delegation to the OSCE in Warsaw.

As might be expected, some of the other participants at the meeting became upset that criticisms of radical Islam and the Islamization of Europe were part of the presentations by ICLA and its sister organization Pax Europa. Also not surprisingly, the complaints aimed at Pax Europa accused it of racism, racism, racism!

Whenever anyone criticizes Islam — WAYCISM!

Paulipoldie has rebutted one of the complaints in a post at Mission Europa. With the permission of the author, I am reposting the entire rebuttal below.

“Shocker! Pax Europa Accused of Racism At OSCE Conference!”

Regular readers will be aware that I usually do not comment on anything I post here; comments can be found at the original sites. However, I was alerted to this piece below [from Internet Centre Anti Racism Europe], which prompted me to reply. And swiftly at that.

Blue stars, yellow stars

(opinion)

On the tables with information booklets outside the pelnary hall a leaflet appeared of the ‘Burgerbewegung Pax Europa’ (BPE). They call themselves a Human Rights organization for Freedom and Democracy. “The Citizens’ Movement Pax Europa clearly distances itself from all right-wing or left-wing extremists and all xenophobic movements” I always get suspicious when I read a disclaimer like that. Why would you put that in your flyer? There must be something in it that could perhaps make the reader think your either an extremist, a racist or both.

“The Citizens’ Movement Pax Europa is open to all those who want to join and support the association’s objectives: Democracy, rule of law, and human rights according to the ‘UN Declaration of Human Rights’ “ Apparently the UN charter doesn’t apply to migrants, ehh Muslims, ehh Turkish Muslims in Germany in particular. “About 1 million Muslims — 700.000 Turkish — have been granted German citizenship” So? You would think the BPE would be happy that so many wish to become German citizen and fulfill all requirements that come with it. No, BPE is not, they are outraged that there are some 2600 Islamic prayer houses and on top of that 163 traditional mosques “with minarets and dome” Eeeks, minarets and dome, that’s scary…. Since 34% of Germans are Protestant and another 34% Roman Catholic how many churches (with bells and tower) would there be? The migration rate of 2.19 migrants/1,000 population (2009 est.) puts Germany on place number 40 of the world migration rate, countries like the Netherlands (34) Denmark (33) and Portugal (29) above them.

The entire leaflet is riddled with so-called arguments why Muslims/Turks (being Turkish = Muslim apparently) should not be allowed to become citizen of Germany or any European country. Turkey should, as an Asian — Muslim country, never be allowed to join the EU. It also lists demands for migrants to be allowed into an European country, it all comes down to assimilate or ship out. It is rather curious, to put it mildly, to see this odious piece of racist propaganda appear during the HDIM, an event where people gather to exchange thoughts on human rights, certainly not always agreeing, but at least trying to debate issues on bases of arguments and most of the time in a respectful manner. The BPE has reversed the EU logo colors, they have a yellow background with blue stars. Folks, the EU yellow stars only have 5 points, no problem there….

Suzette
I CARE News team

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Pax Europa has made the effort to engage in a process — now there are people implying that it should not be bothering and should shut itself off to all other ideas.

This opinion piece is “riddled” with idiocies. But I will address them step by step.

1. Apparently the UN charter doesn’t apply to migrants, ehh Muslims, ehh Turkish Muslims in Germany in particular.

Of course, it does. The leaflet does not, and will never, deny the fact that there is a UN Charter (I take it the author meant the UN Charter on Human Rights). Pax Europa deeply respects the Charter and will continue to do so. However, one must be aware that there is also a parallel set of human rights which is endorsed by the United Nations: The Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam (1990). No such thing as “universal rights” if there is another set of human rights, is there?
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Whereas the Universal declaration states

‘Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.’

CDHRI does not guarantee equal rights, but merely equal dignity: Article 6 (a) Woman is equal to man in human dignity, and has rights to enjoy as well as duties to perform; she has her own civil entity and financial independence, and the right to retain her name and lineage. (b) The husband is responsible for the support and welfare of the family.

‘All men are equal in terms of basic human dignity and basic obligations and responsibilities, without any discrimination on the basis of race, colour, language, belief, sex, religion, political affiliation, social status or other considerations.’

In particular, CDHRI has been criticised for failing to guarantee freedom of religion.

Here, I rest my case.

2. You would think the BPE would be happy that so many wish to become German citizen and fulfill all requirements that come with it.

BPE would be very happy about many becoming German citizen (sic!), if they only abide by the law. Many become German citizens without giving up their original citizenship, which makes one wonder why they bother at all. Could it be that some have other motives? No, that couldn’t be it because there are no bad and sinister asylum seekers and migrants; it the host societies’ fault that migrants are not feeling welcome. (Sarcasm off)

3. “…they are outraged that there are some 2600 Islamic prayer houses and on top of that 163 traditional mosques “with minarets and dome” Eeeks, minarets and dome, that’s scary.”

May I remind your readers of the following statement made by the current Turkish prime minister:

“Mosques are our barracks, minarets our bayonets, domes our helmets, the believers our soldiers.” Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Turkey, 1997.

Or perhaps this statement made by Erdogan in Cologne, Germany:

ANKARA — Turkish PM warns Germany’s leaders not to confuse assimilation with integration. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Turks in Germany on Tuesday to reject assimilation, repeating comments that drew a furious response last weekend.

“I repeat… assimilation is a crime against humanity,” Erdogan said in a speech to parliament in Ankara.

Erdogan warned Germany’s leaders not to confuse assimilation with integration for the nearly three million people of Turkish origin living in the country.

“I explained over there (Germany) that they must differentiate very clearly between assimilation and integration. We can think differently from (Chancellor Angela) Merkel about this, but that is my opinion,” Erdogan said (…)

4. Turkey should, as an Asian — Muslim country, never be allowed to join the EU.

No, it should not. It does not need to join the EU. It already enjoys a privileged association status, which should suffice. See here for more information.

5. It is rather curious, to put it mildly, to see this odious piece of racist propaganda appear during the HDIM, an event where people gather to exchange thoughts on human rights, certainly not always agreeing, but at least trying to debate issues on bases of arguments and most of the time in a respectful manner.

Would you care to elaborate on the racism charge? Otherwise I will assume your are using the racism charge because you ran out of arguments and to stifle debate.

6. “… most of the time in a respectful manner…”

And would you also point out where Pax Europa and its colleagues departed from respectful manners?

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Surely OSCE meetings are places where problems can be resolved rather than glossed over. To dismiss a position via name calling does not make the world a better place because it makes people afraid to raise matters of public concern that that fester as a result.

See also: International Civil Liberties Alliance.