The Governor's Cold Shoulder to Muslims
Rebuffing California's Islamic leaders sends a message of intolerance.
By Shakeel Syed. SHAKEEL SYED is the executive director of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California.
August 25, 2006. EARLIER THIS MONTH, with war raging in the Middle East, I saw that my governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, was meeting with rabbis and others who support Israel. As executive director of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California, a federation of more than 75 mosques and Muslim organizations serving half a million Muslims, I thought that such a high public official should also meet with members of my community. I wrote to him on Aug. 7.I wanted to talk to the governor about three important points. I wanted him to know that my community felt that the deaths of innocent Israeli civilians from the rockets of Hezbollah were painfully tragic, and just as tragic as the deaths of innocent Lebanese people and the destruction of their country's infrastructure by the Israeli bombing. I wanted to ask him to listen to another, equally important side of the story. And I wanted to urge him to remember that the governor should represent and listen to all the people of California.After waiting for more than a week, and following up with at least 10 phone calls to the governor's office, I had gotten no response. I felt it was my duty and my right as a citizen to avail myself of a public forum to reach the governor. When a reporter from the L.A. Times called, I spoke with him and, on Aug. 16, The Times correctly reported my perspective: The fact that the governor had ignored my request to meet was disrespectful and insulting. I believe what I did comes under the heading of Democracy 101. Politicians govern and win elections by responding to the populace. And when they do not, the populace has two remedies: the power of the vote and the power of public opinion. Finally, when the governor agreed to meet with two Muslims, it was as individuals, not on behalf of any organization. He refused to meet with me. His communications director, Adam Mendelsohn, was forthright in a public statement: "We did not meet with Mr. Syed [because] it was inappropriate for the governor to meet with someone who uses the media to demand meetings and threaten political retaliation." I think the governor's communications director needs work on his communication skills. What he calls demanding a meeting, I call paying attention to constituents; what he calls political retaliation, I call voting.I think that deliberately avoiding a meeting with me solely because I made use of my 1st Amendment rights is simply un-American. This isn't a personal matter between me and the governor. It's about making sure that the half a million people I represent are heard in Sacramento. Marginalizing Californians who are Muslims subtly reinforces anti-Muslim stereotypes, which all too often cast us as outsiders. This is not principled, it's not good politics and it's not good for the state. In these volatile times, with attacks on Muslims and our mosques, we cannot afford to be ignored by our governor; we can't stand by when his actions deepen religious and cultural divisions. Californians are, by and large, decent and well-intentioned. They want to solve problems; they want to break down barriers.Shouldn't their governor be helping them bring down the walls that separate us rather than building them higher?
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Published as an Op-Ed in Los Angeles Times on Aug 25, 2006.(http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-syed25aug25,0,2973237.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail)
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Callous Cartoons
Callous cartoons
Images depict a growing Islamophobia in the West
10:07 PM PST on Tuesday, February 7, 2006
By SHAKEEL SYED
Freedom of speech is an inherent right and, in many societies, is legally protected. But that doesn't make every expression of it right. The inflammatory content of the Danish cartoons -- comparing Prophet Muhammad to a terrorist -- belies the claim that it was an exercise in "freedom of the press." Muslims worldwide see it as anti-Semitism reborn as "Islamophobia" in a Europe that gave the world the Inquisition, the Holocaust and the recent Bosnian genocide.
From the Islamic perspective, freedom of speech and expression ( hurriyyat al-qawl wa bayan) is "vindication of truth" and "protection of human dignity," with embedded maxims of morality and legality. Slander and libel are not protected under free speech.
The outcry over the Danish cartoons didn't emerge overnight. After their first publication in September, Muslim and Arab envoys tried to persuade the publishers that the cartoons were at best insensitive and at worst inciting hatred toward an entire community. The Danish courts refused even to admit the case on the grounds of freedom of expression; and the Danish prime minister cried off, citing freedom of press in his country.
Diplomacy Failed
After such efforts failed, the envoys turned to the EU and the United Nations and, finding no response even as more papers printed the insulting cartoons, only then were diplomatic withdrawals and economic boycotts started and demonstrations seen from London to Jakarta. But it is regrettable that some elements have used this issue to stage violent protests.
Why have Muslims pursued the matter? Islamophobia is a clear and growing trend throughout the West, and Muslim immigrants bear the brunt of this animosity and atmosphere of hatred and mistrust. In this context, the motive of a small, right-wing Danish paper in printing such drawings is highly questionable. Would the same champions of press freedom approve reprinting of anti-Semitic cartoons from 1930s Germany?
Also, Muslims are aware of the double standards of freedom of expression in the West. Al-Jazeera's offices are bombed and shut down for showing the "collateral damage" of U.S. invasions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The 21st century has divided the world into two camps -- the secular and the religious, living together without knowing one another. What is sacred in one camp is deranged in the other. These are the two civilizations clashing, not East and West.
The Closed Circle
Fostering an environment where nothing is sacred in the name of freedom of speech will not help anyone understand the values of a civilization in which the sacred is all that counts. Many Christian and Jewish leaders recognize this and have decried the Danish cartoons.
Failing to see beyond oneself will result in a life that sees all within the closed circle as good and all outside as evil. In an ever more interconnected and interdependent world, this is a sure recipe for a disaster of biblical proportions.
All strands of artists and academics, journalists and politicians must engage in a thoughtful discourse to advance the understanding of Isaac and Ishmael. The world belongs to both and they belong to one another.
Shakeel Syed is executive director of the Islamic Shura Council, a federation of more than 70 mosques in Southern California ( www.shuracouncil.org).
Online at: http://www.pe.com/localnews/opinion/localviews/stories/PE_OpEd_Opinion_D_op_08_syed_loc.628d7e0.html
Images depict a growing Islamophobia in the West
10:07 PM PST on Tuesday, February 7, 2006
By SHAKEEL SYED
Freedom of speech is an inherent right and, in many societies, is legally protected. But that doesn't make every expression of it right. The inflammatory content of the Danish cartoons -- comparing Prophet Muhammad to a terrorist -- belies the claim that it was an exercise in "freedom of the press." Muslims worldwide see it as anti-Semitism reborn as "Islamophobia" in a Europe that gave the world the Inquisition, the Holocaust and the recent Bosnian genocide.
From the Islamic perspective, freedom of speech and expression ( hurriyyat al-qawl wa bayan) is "vindication of truth" and "protection of human dignity," with embedded maxims of morality and legality. Slander and libel are not protected under free speech.
The outcry over the Danish cartoons didn't emerge overnight. After their first publication in September, Muslim and Arab envoys tried to persuade the publishers that the cartoons were at best insensitive and at worst inciting hatred toward an entire community. The Danish courts refused even to admit the case on the grounds of freedom of expression; and the Danish prime minister cried off, citing freedom of press in his country.
Diplomacy Failed
After such efforts failed, the envoys turned to the EU and the United Nations and, finding no response even as more papers printed the insulting cartoons, only then were diplomatic withdrawals and economic boycotts started and demonstrations seen from London to Jakarta. But it is regrettable that some elements have used this issue to stage violent protests.
Why have Muslims pursued the matter? Islamophobia is a clear and growing trend throughout the West, and Muslim immigrants bear the brunt of this animosity and atmosphere of hatred and mistrust. In this context, the motive of a small, right-wing Danish paper in printing such drawings is highly questionable. Would the same champions of press freedom approve reprinting of anti-Semitic cartoons from 1930s Germany?
Also, Muslims are aware of the double standards of freedom of expression in the West. Al-Jazeera's offices are bombed and shut down for showing the "collateral damage" of U.S. invasions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The 21st century has divided the world into two camps -- the secular and the religious, living together without knowing one another. What is sacred in one camp is deranged in the other. These are the two civilizations clashing, not East and West.
The Closed Circle
Fostering an environment where nothing is sacred in the name of freedom of speech will not help anyone understand the values of a civilization in which the sacred is all that counts. Many Christian and Jewish leaders recognize this and have decried the Danish cartoons.
Failing to see beyond oneself will result in a life that sees all within the closed circle as good and all outside as evil. In an ever more interconnected and interdependent world, this is a sure recipe for a disaster of biblical proportions.
All strands of artists and academics, journalists and politicians must engage in a thoughtful discourse to advance the understanding of Isaac and Ishmael. The world belongs to both and they belong to one another.
Shakeel Syed is executive director of the Islamic Shura Council, a federation of more than 70 mosques in Southern California ( www.shuracouncil.org).
Online at: http://www.pe.com/localnews/opinion/localviews/stories/PE_OpEd_Opinion_D_op_08_syed_loc.628d7e0.html
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Beware of The Pied Piper
Beware of The Pied Piper
By Shakeel Syed
During a typical in-flight neighborly conversation, a Frenchman sitting next to me protested, “Too many American made programs are being shown on French television.” To a casual observer this may sound strange. After all, what is the difference between French and American television? True, the French consider the Americans ‘uncultured’, but the matter goes beyond culture.
The Frenchman argued that American television series were undermining their values and that the effect of American programs, which depict and glorify violence, would impact French society. Even when sharing common philosophical roots, people are concerned about preserving their own values. Imagine the situation when people approach life from very different perspectives.
The Islamic value system is rooted in the belief in One God, Allah, and the belief that the Qur’an is the revelation of Allah communicated through Prophet Muhammad (salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam). Muslims, also, believe in family values. This means no premarital sex; an abhorrence of violence and waste; no drugs, including alcohol; love for honesty and justice; respect for the rights of all; respect and caring for elders; and love for young ones.
Often, what has come to be popularly identified as the “Western value system” stands at odds with Islamic, and other faith-based, values. Popular culture in North America, including television, is overwhelmingly produced and controlled by those who believe and indeed enjoy popularizing what they believe is the “Western value system.” This raises the question: are Muslim parents in North America aware of the challenge facing them?
Like all youth, Muslim children are, also, subliminally assimilated into the American society through one of the most powerful tools, television. Television with its overwhelming presence offers “processed thinking.”
A parent’s worst nightmare is a six year old to thirteen year old television addict who watches television in the morning before going to school; fixes himself/herself in front of the box as soon as he/she gets home in the afternoon; and has another dose in the evening. Today, electronic gadgets like DVD players have turned favorite shows and movies into an endlessly repeatable pastime. Computer and video games have added to the home box’s allure. The popular ‘Sesame Street’ ©, nothing more than a highly amusing business filled with cute critters and special effects, offers a type of learning that consists solely of watching. A child may learn the alphabet, but will never learn to think. As a result of the indoctrination by television, children have little patience to pursue anything that requires a steady stream of thought or the linking of one thought with another. Television is potentially so addictive that it can undermine the child’s imagination.
The passive experience, also, crowds out other, more active endeavors, such as congregational prayers at home, playing indoors and outdoors with family members, reading, etc. These traditional forms of interaction are most definitely not passive. They are all physically, mentally and spiritually active. A child watching television cannot simultaneously build a model or let his/her imagination soar with a good book. Instead, they are cut off from participation, imagination and the rest of the family. The child’s facial expression is transformed; the jaw is relaxed and hangs open slightly, the tongue rests on the front teeth (if there are any) and eyes develop a glazed, vacuous look.
Television, also, reveals to children the “backstage” activities of adults, exposing them to behavior that adults have spent centuries trying to hide. The average child who watches television routinely sees adults hitting or killing each other or breaking down and crying. Revealing the “secrets” of adulthood has virtually destroyed the notion of childhood as a discrete period of innocence. There are now more adult-like children and more childlike adults!
RealVision, an initiative to raise awareness about television’s impact on America, is a project of the Washington, DC TV-Turnoff Network. This year, its 11th annual TV-Turnoff Week was observed April 18-24, 2005. According to RealVision, an average child will have watched over 2,000 hours of television by the time he/she enters first grade and over 20,000 hours by the end of high school. This is more time than he/she will spend in a classroom. They will spend 28 hours a week watching television, more time than they spend doing any other single activity except sleeping. These 28 hours do not include time spent watching DVDs, videotapes, playing video games, or listening to records, audiotapes or CDs.
Research by RealVision has shown that prolonged television viewing by children is associated with more aggressive behavior (a.k.a. violence); excessive commercialism; sedentary lifestyles; and lack of creativity, patience, imagination, participation, and physical, mental and spiritual development. So who will correct it and how?
No institution plays a bigger role in shaping the attitudes of children than the family. The ultimate responsibility rests with the parents. It is necessary to strictly limit TV watching time and other electronic amusements and to continually monitor children’s behavior. At the same time, the influence and impact of the short time they spend watching television should be counterbalanced with other healthy activities such as Qur’an, seerah, lessons in Islamic history, Islamic board games and other indoor/outdoor activities with the family. In this way, TV can be put into proper focus, if not completely out of the picture, Insha’Allah.
Talking with children, also, helps: ‘Not to them, but with them’. Encourage them to share their thoughts and ideas and to think things through. Let them know that both logical reasoning and creative thought are wonderful accomplishments. Encourage children to read books and to consider their significance in the larger scheme of things. Avoid ‘drilling’ your children or forcing them to ‘listen’ to you. Rather, you should listen to them!!
Shakeel Syed, a freelance writer on sociopolitical issues, lives in California with his 4 pre-teen children in a TV-free home.
By Shakeel Syed
During a typical in-flight neighborly conversation, a Frenchman sitting next to me protested, “Too many American made programs are being shown on French television.” To a casual observer this may sound strange. After all, what is the difference between French and American television? True, the French consider the Americans ‘uncultured’, but the matter goes beyond culture.
The Frenchman argued that American television series were undermining their values and that the effect of American programs, which depict and glorify violence, would impact French society. Even when sharing common philosophical roots, people are concerned about preserving their own values. Imagine the situation when people approach life from very different perspectives.
The Islamic value system is rooted in the belief in One God, Allah, and the belief that the Qur’an is the revelation of Allah communicated through Prophet Muhammad (salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam). Muslims, also, believe in family values. This means no premarital sex; an abhorrence of violence and waste; no drugs, including alcohol; love for honesty and justice; respect for the rights of all; respect and caring for elders; and love for young ones.
Often, what has come to be popularly identified as the “Western value system” stands at odds with Islamic, and other faith-based, values. Popular culture in North America, including television, is overwhelmingly produced and controlled by those who believe and indeed enjoy popularizing what they believe is the “Western value system.” This raises the question: are Muslim parents in North America aware of the challenge facing them?
Like all youth, Muslim children are, also, subliminally assimilated into the American society through one of the most powerful tools, television. Television with its overwhelming presence offers “processed thinking.”
A parent’s worst nightmare is a six year old to thirteen year old television addict who watches television in the morning before going to school; fixes himself/herself in front of the box as soon as he/she gets home in the afternoon; and has another dose in the evening. Today, electronic gadgets like DVD players have turned favorite shows and movies into an endlessly repeatable pastime. Computer and video games have added to the home box’s allure. The popular ‘Sesame Street’ ©, nothing more than a highly amusing business filled with cute critters and special effects, offers a type of learning that consists solely of watching. A child may learn the alphabet, but will never learn to think. As a result of the indoctrination by television, children have little patience to pursue anything that requires a steady stream of thought or the linking of one thought with another. Television is potentially so addictive that it can undermine the child’s imagination.
The passive experience, also, crowds out other, more active endeavors, such as congregational prayers at home, playing indoors and outdoors with family members, reading, etc. These traditional forms of interaction are most definitely not passive. They are all physically, mentally and spiritually active. A child watching television cannot simultaneously build a model or let his/her imagination soar with a good book. Instead, they are cut off from participation, imagination and the rest of the family. The child’s facial expression is transformed; the jaw is relaxed and hangs open slightly, the tongue rests on the front teeth (if there are any) and eyes develop a glazed, vacuous look.
Television, also, reveals to children the “backstage” activities of adults, exposing them to behavior that adults have spent centuries trying to hide. The average child who watches television routinely sees adults hitting or killing each other or breaking down and crying. Revealing the “secrets” of adulthood has virtually destroyed the notion of childhood as a discrete period of innocence. There are now more adult-like children and more childlike adults!
RealVision, an initiative to raise awareness about television’s impact on America, is a project of the Washington, DC TV-Turnoff Network. This year, its 11th annual TV-Turnoff Week was observed April 18-24, 2005. According to RealVision, an average child will have watched over 2,000 hours of television by the time he/she enters first grade and over 20,000 hours by the end of high school. This is more time than he/she will spend in a classroom. They will spend 28 hours a week watching television, more time than they spend doing any other single activity except sleeping. These 28 hours do not include time spent watching DVDs, videotapes, playing video games, or listening to records, audiotapes or CDs.
Research by RealVision has shown that prolonged television viewing by children is associated with more aggressive behavior (a.k.a. violence); excessive commercialism; sedentary lifestyles; and lack of creativity, patience, imagination, participation, and physical, mental and spiritual development. So who will correct it and how?
No institution plays a bigger role in shaping the attitudes of children than the family. The ultimate responsibility rests with the parents. It is necessary to strictly limit TV watching time and other electronic amusements and to continually monitor children’s behavior. At the same time, the influence and impact of the short time they spend watching television should be counterbalanced with other healthy activities such as Qur’an, seerah, lessons in Islamic history, Islamic board games and other indoor/outdoor activities with the family. In this way, TV can be put into proper focus, if not completely out of the picture, Insha’Allah.
Talking with children, also, helps: ‘Not to them, but with them’. Encourage them to share their thoughts and ideas and to think things through. Let them know that both logical reasoning and creative thought are wonderful accomplishments. Encourage children to read books and to consider their significance in the larger scheme of things. Avoid ‘drilling’ your children or forcing them to ‘listen’ to you. Rather, you should listen to them!!
Shakeel Syed, a freelance writer on sociopolitical issues, lives in California with his 4 pre-teen children in a TV-free home.
Monday, June 13, 2005
Our Abu Gharaib
Nine Eleven "changed everything" has become popular. In fact, nothing has changed since 1775. The imperialist mindset remains the same. The then founders killed the native American Indians and believed they are giving themselves a free America.. The (hopefully outgoing) current President shamelessly apologizes to a King, instead to the victims and compounds their pain by distancing himself with the "wrongdoing of a few".
The popular press joins the imperial masters in debating pictures, prison guards and chain of command with the Generals and Colonels. Attacker's perspective is inundated while the victims' perspective is completely blotted out. They do not understand, no tragedy could ever be understood without the victims perspective.
Their Abu Gharaib was guarded by the Brigadier General Janis Leigh Karpinski, a Jewess from New York replaced with the Major General Geoffrey Miller, the commander in charge of the prison at Guantánamo. One can soar high or dive deep to imagine the possible improvements that the Guantánamo chief may have now brought to Abu Gharaib!
The very little that we now know about Guantánamo and by extension it's Commander in charge, Major General Geoffrey Miller is through the interviews given by the "Tipton Three" of UK (Shafiq Rasul, Ruhal Ahmed and Asif Iqbal) to Guardian Newspaper. They all survived three whole months of solitary confinement for acts they did not commit. Guardian reports Ahmed saying "all the time I was kneeling with a guy standing on the backs of my legs and another holding a gun to my head." The Tipton Three are yet to have the privilege of getting a simple five letter "sorry" from neither the Cowboy of Crawford nor the No:10 Dud of Downing!
Another Abu Gharaib that is yet to be discovered is within and amidst us. America's patronage to the pornographic "industry" made it one of the most profitable business with a domestic annual revenue of $12 Billion. The glamour of defense industry lures growing minds and turns them into the likes of Brigadier General Karpinski who said, "I think what attracted me originally was that the Army offered the opportunities to do all the exciting things I could never do as a school teacher or in any other capacity."
The end products of such a society are the likes of Lynndie England, her boyfriend Charles Grainer, Steven Stefanowicz, John Israel (prison guards at Abu Gharaib) and others, such as the infamous young men of Columbine. With the blooming industries of pornography, gambling, drugs and violence, our home made Abu Gharaib will unfold itself sooner or later.
The discourse that is equally important if not more, is to genuinely explore the deep rooted causes for such inhumane behavior by the soldiers and the leaders of the USA.
The rare courageous journalist, Seymour Hersh reports in a recent piece in New Yorker that Mr. Rumsfeld chafed over what he saw as the reluctance of senior Pentagon generals and admirals to act aggressively. By mid-2002, he and his senior aides were exchanging secret memorandums on modifying the culture of the military leaders and finding ways to encourage them “to take greater risks.” One memo spoke derisively of the generals in the Pentagon, and said, “Our prerequisite of perfection for ‘actionable intelligence’ has paralyzed us. We must accept that we may have to take action before every question can be answered.”
Contrary to Seymour Hersh is a Lt. Gen. William Boykin, an evangelical Christian (under review) for saying "his God was superior to that of the Muslims", is now linked to the abuses of detainees in Iraq.
Islamophobia today is as much a reality as anti-Semitism was during the Nazi Germany. Assimilated Muslims in the Yugoslavia were challenged to drop their pants and the Muslim women in France are made to reveal their hair, both to prove their patriotism. The West is rarely content with the Muslims.
The founding leadership killed native American Indians and later generations thrived on plantations and the current leadership also wants to assure its place in history. They shamelessly articulate to convince the citizenry that smaller nukes that can actually be used are better than the big ones that cannot be used. Simple Economics 101.
Talking of economy, our defense department finds itself helpless in spite of a budget six times bigger ($400 billion) than the budget of education department ($70 billion). They award millions of dollars worth of contracts to Private Contractors run by former government (defense department) employees who then become 'interrogators' at places like Abu Gharaib.
Titan Corporation is one such organization. It is based out of San Diego with approximately 12,000 employees and annual sales of approximately $2.0 billion. 95 percent of its revenues comes from the U.S. government defense contracts. Their clientele includes the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense and all branches of the armed services. Their A to Z product line includes products such as "Advanced Training Solutions", "Affordable Weapon", to a X-Craft.
Steven Stefanowicz of Titan Corporation is an alleged "interrogator" of Abu Gharaib. The ex-generals and colonels who started Titan Corporation perhaps trained him. The Titan, that could either be as the Titanic (in size) or the other Titan whose ideological white supremacist doctrine was that all civilization was created by the "white" race, led in particular by the "Nordic" race and that the civilizations of Greece and Rome declined due to mixture with the African and Middle-Eastern slaves. Therefore, Stefanowicz may have believed that the Abu Gharaib enslaved prisoners must be treated as such. Urinating at and keeping human beings in a leash can be done only with such twisted titanic beliefs.
Unlike those who seemingly enjoyed torture, rape & sodomy, a courageous young man (a.k.a. whistle blower) from within, Army Specialist Joseph Darby slipped an anonymous note under the door of his commander. His simple and quiet act has become the single biggest reason to expose the heinous acts of US soldiers at Abu Gharaib. Joseph Darby is a hero to some but not to all. His wife now fears retaliation for a noble act of her husband, in the land of the free!
Joseph Darby and other such courageous people proves that actions that are genuine and sincere does make a difference. The Generals and Colonels can only perpetuate death and destruction with their new toys of smaller and more lethal nukes. The Army and War Colleges must remember the words of Margaret Mead who once said, "I have spent most of my life studying the lives of other peoples -- faraway peoples -- so that Americans might better understand themselves."
The popular press joins the imperial masters in debating pictures, prison guards and chain of command with the Generals and Colonels. Attacker's perspective is inundated while the victims' perspective is completely blotted out. They do not understand, no tragedy could ever be understood without the victims perspective.
Their Abu Gharaib was guarded by the Brigadier General Janis Leigh Karpinski, a Jewess from New York replaced with the Major General Geoffrey Miller, the commander in charge of the prison at Guantánamo. One can soar high or dive deep to imagine the possible improvements that the Guantánamo chief may have now brought to Abu Gharaib!
The very little that we now know about Guantánamo and by extension it's Commander in charge, Major General Geoffrey Miller is through the interviews given by the "Tipton Three" of UK (Shafiq Rasul, Ruhal Ahmed and Asif Iqbal) to Guardian Newspaper. They all survived three whole months of solitary confinement for acts they did not commit. Guardian reports Ahmed saying "all the time I was kneeling with a guy standing on the backs of my legs and another holding a gun to my head." The Tipton Three are yet to have the privilege of getting a simple five letter "sorry" from neither the Cowboy of Crawford nor the No:10 Dud of Downing!
Another Abu Gharaib that is yet to be discovered is within and amidst us. America's patronage to the pornographic "industry" made it one of the most profitable business with a domestic annual revenue of $12 Billion. The glamour of defense industry lures growing minds and turns them into the likes of Brigadier General Karpinski who said, "I think what attracted me originally was that the Army offered the opportunities to do all the exciting things I could never do as a school teacher or in any other capacity."
The end products of such a society are the likes of Lynndie England, her boyfriend Charles Grainer, Steven Stefanowicz, John Israel (prison guards at Abu Gharaib) and others, such as the infamous young men of Columbine. With the blooming industries of pornography, gambling, drugs and violence, our home made Abu Gharaib will unfold itself sooner or later.
The discourse that is equally important if not more, is to genuinely explore the deep rooted causes for such inhumane behavior by the soldiers and the leaders of the USA.
The rare courageous journalist, Seymour Hersh reports in a recent piece in New Yorker that Mr. Rumsfeld chafed over what he saw as the reluctance of senior Pentagon generals and admirals to act aggressively. By mid-2002, he and his senior aides were exchanging secret memorandums on modifying the culture of the military leaders and finding ways to encourage them “to take greater risks.” One memo spoke derisively of the generals in the Pentagon, and said, “Our prerequisite of perfection for ‘actionable intelligence’ has paralyzed us. We must accept that we may have to take action before every question can be answered.”
Contrary to Seymour Hersh is a Lt. Gen. William Boykin, an evangelical Christian (under review) for saying "his God was superior to that of the Muslims", is now linked to the abuses of detainees in Iraq.
Islamophobia today is as much a reality as anti-Semitism was during the Nazi Germany. Assimilated Muslims in the Yugoslavia were challenged to drop their pants and the Muslim women in France are made to reveal their hair, both to prove their patriotism. The West is rarely content with the Muslims.
The founding leadership killed native American Indians and later generations thrived on plantations and the current leadership also wants to assure its place in history. They shamelessly articulate to convince the citizenry that smaller nukes that can actually be used are better than the big ones that cannot be used. Simple Economics 101.
Talking of economy, our defense department finds itself helpless in spite of a budget six times bigger ($400 billion) than the budget of education department ($70 billion). They award millions of dollars worth of contracts to Private Contractors run by former government (defense department) employees who then become 'interrogators' at places like Abu Gharaib.
Titan Corporation is one such organization. It is based out of San Diego with approximately 12,000 employees and annual sales of approximately $2.0 billion. 95 percent of its revenues comes from the U.S. government defense contracts. Their clientele includes the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense and all branches of the armed services. Their A to Z product line includes products such as "Advanced Training Solutions", "Affordable Weapon", to a X-Craft.
Steven Stefanowicz of Titan Corporation is an alleged "interrogator" of Abu Gharaib. The ex-generals and colonels who started Titan Corporation perhaps trained him. The Titan, that could either be as the Titanic (in size) or the other Titan whose ideological white supremacist doctrine was that all civilization was created by the "white" race, led in particular by the "Nordic" race and that the civilizations of Greece and Rome declined due to mixture with the African and Middle-Eastern slaves. Therefore, Stefanowicz may have believed that the Abu Gharaib enslaved prisoners must be treated as such. Urinating at and keeping human beings in a leash can be done only with such twisted titanic beliefs.
Unlike those who seemingly enjoyed torture, rape & sodomy, a courageous young man (a.k.a. whistle blower) from within, Army Specialist Joseph Darby slipped an anonymous note under the door of his commander. His simple and quiet act has become the single biggest reason to expose the heinous acts of US soldiers at Abu Gharaib. Joseph Darby is a hero to some but not to all. His wife now fears retaliation for a noble act of her husband, in the land of the free!
Joseph Darby and other such courageous people proves that actions that are genuine and sincere does make a difference. The Generals and Colonels can only perpetuate death and destruction with their new toys of smaller and more lethal nukes. The Army and War Colleges must remember the words of Margaret Mead who once said, "I have spent most of my life studying the lives of other peoples -- faraway peoples -- so that Americans might better understand themselves."
Monday, April 25, 2005
Monotheism versus Moneytheism
Monotheism versus Moneytheism
By Shakeel Syed
The claimants of monotheism have become adherents of moneytheism!
The perpetrators of this new paradigm must be held accountable. We define our character when we say a word of justice to an oppressive royal or a ruler. And if we do not we also become accountable.
A recent news magazine reports a headline "Geneva caters to an ailing king". A water-front feast on caviar, kebab and coffee while their maidens are guarded by Swiss soldiers and their toddlers are dandled by Filipino nannies. The 80+ year old wheel-chair confined patriarch with an entourage of 350 is heard to be re-tracking his princely wild days in Geneva & Marbella, Spain, his two most loving cities. This is the self-proclaimed custodian of the two most Holy Mosques, Fahd bin Abdul Aziz!
Across the waters in France was the other 80+ year old octogenarian gulf ruler, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. He is claimed to have been elected as first President of the UAE in 1971 with five successive (re-elected) five year intervals. The year of 1971 must be an auspicious one for the "elected rulers." The Prime Minister of Dubai, Sheikh Maktum ibn Rashid al-Maktum also happens to be serving his prime ministerial terms since 1971 with an interim absence between 1979 & 1990.
While a war of the United States upon Iraq looms over, they are busy on the streets of Geneva and Marbella. The Saudis have clogged the Geneva streets with Mercedeses, delighting the merchants on the elegant Rue du Rhone. The local tourist bureau estimates the royals spending a whopping $10 million a day. And this is just the beginning!
Fahd flew into Geneva with two 747s, a Boeing 757 mobile hospital, a Boeing 777, a Falcon 900 and a couple of Gulfstreams. His entourage took more than 400 rooms in the city's five-star hotels and rented 600 Mercedes limos exhausting Geneva's entire auto rental inventory. An additional 150 Mercedeses were imported from Germany to cater to the wheel-chair bound ailing guest.
One of the royal family's staff member is reported to have said "domestic concerns are for another day, another place. I am more worried about the diabetes from all the rich food, pinching a roll of fat at his waist."
Tensions between royals and the people have grown as they are tired of the financial bloat and moral laxity of the royals. These ailing kings, rulers and presidents must completely be stripped of their titles and completely removed from their ornate palaces. Their hereditary successors must be made to realize that their real inheritance is to resume the life like everyone else and struggle on the streets to make an earnest living.
They mistakenly believe that they are securely unchallenged and supreme. They have falsely made themselves think that it is permanent and invincible. Monotheistic Islam is the very state of nature. Every part of it is capable of regenerating all other parts. It is only a matter of time that it happens. It is only then that there will be the restoration of a just order, where the monotheistic belief is properly valued and practiced.
The claimants of monotheism must question and expose such obnoxious excesses of unprecedented magnitude from the adherents of moneytheism. This discourse is completely missing from our intellectual and political dialog. Voluminous scrolls have documented the ills of others but no one cares to speak, write or debate about our own. There is a clear absence of descriptive and analytical political thought from the massive intellectual industry of the Muslims.
Without a paradigm of political thought that describes and explains the present political situation, we cannot even begin to work towards the regeneration of monotheistic political power. The original model at Madinah had to defeat the power of falsehood, which was then local, or at best regional, and there were no vast disparities in the areas of technology and economy. In the contemporary situation the false and secular civilization is globally organized in a world economy with inter-linking political systems, that includes the corrupt systems of Muslim rulers and regimes. Monotheism, therefore, has to repeat itself in a vastly more complex world than existed 1,400 years ago. This difference between the two historical situations has to be bridged by sincere leadership and profound contemporary thought in absence of Prophethood and Divine Revelation in the original model.
Monotheism has no frontiers and is fervently preached to the entire humanity by all the Prophets from Abraham to Muhammad (peace be upon all of them) and this must now be intensely continued by its' claimants. And, the adherents of Moneytheism has to be sent and sent away quickly in the dustbin of forgotten history.
Shakeel Syed is a freelance writer on socio-political issues and lives in California.
By Shakeel Syed
The claimants of monotheism have become adherents of moneytheism!
The perpetrators of this new paradigm must be held accountable. We define our character when we say a word of justice to an oppressive royal or a ruler. And if we do not we also become accountable.
A recent news magazine reports a headline "Geneva caters to an ailing king". A water-front feast on caviar, kebab and coffee while their maidens are guarded by Swiss soldiers and their toddlers are dandled by Filipino nannies. The 80+ year old wheel-chair confined patriarch with an entourage of 350 is heard to be re-tracking his princely wild days in Geneva & Marbella, Spain, his two most loving cities. This is the self-proclaimed custodian of the two most Holy Mosques, Fahd bin Abdul Aziz!
Across the waters in France was the other 80+ year old octogenarian gulf ruler, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. He is claimed to have been elected as first President of the UAE in 1971 with five successive (re-elected) five year intervals. The year of 1971 must be an auspicious one for the "elected rulers." The Prime Minister of Dubai, Sheikh Maktum ibn Rashid al-Maktum also happens to be serving his prime ministerial terms since 1971 with an interim absence between 1979 & 1990.
While a war of the United States upon Iraq looms over, they are busy on the streets of Geneva and Marbella. The Saudis have clogged the Geneva streets with Mercedeses, delighting the merchants on the elegant Rue du Rhone. The local tourist bureau estimates the royals spending a whopping $10 million a day. And this is just the beginning!
Fahd flew into Geneva with two 747s, a Boeing 757 mobile hospital, a Boeing 777, a Falcon 900 and a couple of Gulfstreams. His entourage took more than 400 rooms in the city's five-star hotels and rented 600 Mercedes limos exhausting Geneva's entire auto rental inventory. An additional 150 Mercedeses were imported from Germany to cater to the wheel-chair bound ailing guest.
One of the royal family's staff member is reported to have said "domestic concerns are for another day, another place. I am more worried about the diabetes from all the rich food, pinching a roll of fat at his waist."
Tensions between royals and the people have grown as they are tired of the financial bloat and moral laxity of the royals. These ailing kings, rulers and presidents must completely be stripped of their titles and completely removed from their ornate palaces. Their hereditary successors must be made to realize that their real inheritance is to resume the life like everyone else and struggle on the streets to make an earnest living.
They mistakenly believe that they are securely unchallenged and supreme. They have falsely made themselves think that it is permanent and invincible. Monotheistic Islam is the very state of nature. Every part of it is capable of regenerating all other parts. It is only a matter of time that it happens. It is only then that there will be the restoration of a just order, where the monotheistic belief is properly valued and practiced.
The claimants of monotheism must question and expose such obnoxious excesses of unprecedented magnitude from the adherents of moneytheism. This discourse is completely missing from our intellectual and political dialog. Voluminous scrolls have documented the ills of others but no one cares to speak, write or debate about our own. There is a clear absence of descriptive and analytical political thought from the massive intellectual industry of the Muslims.
Without a paradigm of political thought that describes and explains the present political situation, we cannot even begin to work towards the regeneration of monotheistic political power. The original model at Madinah had to defeat the power of falsehood, which was then local, or at best regional, and there were no vast disparities in the areas of technology and economy. In the contemporary situation the false and secular civilization is globally organized in a world economy with inter-linking political systems, that includes the corrupt systems of Muslim rulers and regimes. Monotheism, therefore, has to repeat itself in a vastly more complex world than existed 1,400 years ago. This difference between the two historical situations has to be bridged by sincere leadership and profound contemporary thought in absence of Prophethood and Divine Revelation in the original model.
Monotheism has no frontiers and is fervently preached to the entire humanity by all the Prophets from Abraham to Muhammad (peace be upon all of them) and this must now be intensely continued by its' claimants. And, the adherents of Moneytheism has to be sent and sent away quickly in the dustbin of forgotten history.
Shakeel Syed is a freelance writer on socio-political issues and lives in California.
Friday, March 15, 2002
Proclaim Good and Forbid Evil
Proclaim Good and Forbid Evil, always and at all costs !"If you do not march forth, Allah will chastise you grievously and will replace you by another people, while you will in no way be able to harm Him. Allah has power over everything". 9:39.
No people can live successfully, fruitfully and triumphantly without strong memory of their past. 10th of Moharram is one such occasion. Muslims attempt to recall the tragic event around the 60th year after Prophet Muhammad migrated from Makkah to Madinah. This time it was his family led by his noble grandson Imam Hussain (peace & blessings be upon all of them).
Reciting Divine words, reflecting Prophetic advises and studying history enables us crystallize our insights. However, when we attempt to draw the imagery of Karbala, no heart could be so hard as not to be pierced with piteous feeling while replaying the Day of Ashura. Words can simply not do justice to the sacrifices made on that day. They kept their heads high, faces bathed in blood and tears, looking one upon another. Others stood in dolorous pain, looking up to the highest heavens, fixing their eyes upon it, crying out, asking help from the Only Helper; while others made lamentations in the manner of dirge.
Today we try to recall their pain, suffering and sacrifices, as they happened, to inspire ourselves and to understand the concept of sacrifice for a noble cause.Regrettably, sacrifice as is generally understood today, is to give up something that should not have been touched in the first place. Selfless and unasked giving is a rarity and unheard of. Giving one's entire self and off springs for His pleasure is unimaginable.
Muslims must spiritually survive from the unparallel yesterdays of Prophet's progeny.We have been largely overwhelmed by a culture that has emptied our memories, made us apologetic for who we are, and stripped us along the way of the sheerest hope of self-definition. We alone are presumed past less and are left to repair our self-esteem. Imperative it is for us today, to define ourselves by our ongoing tribulations and those who mete them out to us. Otherwise, we cannot be collectively successful if we have no idea or, worse, have the wrong idea of who we were and who we are. Getting replaced, then seems to be only logical and deserving (refer 9:39).
The intent of this writing is to stimulate, not to sate -- to pose the question and to invite reflection -- to cause ourselves to act for an almost forgotten legacy of the sacrifices made by our beloved Prophet (pbuh) and his progeny.O Allah (swt) bestow upon us the courage to enjoin, proclaim and enforce Good and patience and perseverance to forbid and stop Evil for and by all.
Ameen Ya Rabb.------
It is with deep regrets that we like to record yet another attempt to silence Muslim activism in the USA. The ongoing witch hunt started by the US Government around Oct/Nov 2001, continues!
Nov 2001: the funds of 3 major Relief Organizations (Holy Land Foundation, Global Relief Foundation & Benevolence International) were frozen.
Dec 2001: 1 Board member of GRF continues to remain in prison.
March 2002: 14 Muslim organizations & some of the top Muslim leaders living in the Virginia area were raided, under the pretext of aiding and abetting terror.
No people can live successfully, fruitfully and triumphantly without strong memory of their past. 10th of Moharram is one such occasion. Muslims attempt to recall the tragic event around the 60th year after Prophet Muhammad migrated from Makkah to Madinah. This time it was his family led by his noble grandson Imam Hussain (peace & blessings be upon all of them).
Reciting Divine words, reflecting Prophetic advises and studying history enables us crystallize our insights. However, when we attempt to draw the imagery of Karbala, no heart could be so hard as not to be pierced with piteous feeling while replaying the Day of Ashura. Words can simply not do justice to the sacrifices made on that day. They kept their heads high, faces bathed in blood and tears, looking one upon another. Others stood in dolorous pain, looking up to the highest heavens, fixing their eyes upon it, crying out, asking help from the Only Helper; while others made lamentations in the manner of dirge.
Today we try to recall their pain, suffering and sacrifices, as they happened, to inspire ourselves and to understand the concept of sacrifice for a noble cause.Regrettably, sacrifice as is generally understood today, is to give up something that should not have been touched in the first place. Selfless and unasked giving is a rarity and unheard of. Giving one's entire self and off springs for His pleasure is unimaginable.
Muslims must spiritually survive from the unparallel yesterdays of Prophet's progeny.We have been largely overwhelmed by a culture that has emptied our memories, made us apologetic for who we are, and stripped us along the way of the sheerest hope of self-definition. We alone are presumed past less and are left to repair our self-esteem. Imperative it is for us today, to define ourselves by our ongoing tribulations and those who mete them out to us. Otherwise, we cannot be collectively successful if we have no idea or, worse, have the wrong idea of who we were and who we are. Getting replaced, then seems to be only logical and deserving (refer 9:39).
The intent of this writing is to stimulate, not to sate -- to pose the question and to invite reflection -- to cause ourselves to act for an almost forgotten legacy of the sacrifices made by our beloved Prophet (pbuh) and his progeny.O Allah (swt) bestow upon us the courage to enjoin, proclaim and enforce Good and patience and perseverance to forbid and stop Evil for and by all.
Ameen Ya Rabb.------
It is with deep regrets that we like to record yet another attempt to silence Muslim activism in the USA. The ongoing witch hunt started by the US Government around Oct/Nov 2001, continues!
Nov 2001: the funds of 3 major Relief Organizations (Holy Land Foundation, Global Relief Foundation & Benevolence International) were frozen.
Dec 2001: 1 Board member of GRF continues to remain in prison.
March 2002: 14 Muslim organizations & some of the top Muslim leaders living in the Virginia area were raided, under the pretext of aiding and abetting terror.
Wednesday, February 20, 2002
High Tech Bully
High Tech Bully!
At moments of national peril or national exaltation, patriotic emotions rise and people enthusiastically subscribe to any cause put forth to them. But these moments pass, the process of disengagement begins, and it usually does not take long for disengagement to eventuate in alienation. Another lunar cycle of thirty days has completed it's course (US bombing on Afghanistan started on Oct 8) and the might is yet to prove itself. The process of frustration and demands of disengagement has begun.
British ministers privately expressed frustration yesterday with the US prosecution of the war against terrorism, the first sign of serious differences between London and Washington since the attacks on September 11. (Guardian, Nov 9)
The German government came to the brink of collapse yesterday when Joschka Fischer, the Foreign Minister, threatened to resign over his Green party's reluctance to support the country's first combat mission since the Second World War. (Independent, Nov 9)
The United Nations is warning of a "disaster of tremendous proportions" after US planes bombed a hydro-electric power station close to a vast dam in southern Afghanistan. (Independent, Nov 8)
It seems to be our privilege today to prove ourselves right in the thesis that the world is our enemy; for if we reiterate this frequently enough and makes it the background of our conduct we are bound eventually to be right. Each one of us may have a different answer to the questions "who is whose enemy" and "who is waging a war against whom and why"?
We wage a war to save civilization itself. (President Bush - Nov 8 Address to the nation)
'Brutality smeared in peanut butter' America must stop the war now. (Arundhati Roy, Oct 20, MSNBC)
Hidden Agenda Behind War on Terror (John Pilger, Former Mirror chief foreign correspondent)
What creates a community of people who believe in 'reason', as against a mere aggregate of individuals, is the fact that they think objectively. This faculty permits them to interpret the past, make sense of the present and outline a shape for the future. Many believe that the political personality of US, as is known today, is the product of "imperial mentality", because what it does not do is just as significant, and just as consequential, as what it does. New set of rules are being laid out for the world to subscribe to.
"Murder of values and universally accepted fundamental human principles is taking place on such a wide scale that if the world leaders still choose not to remove the blindfold of American influence from their eyes the whole world will turn into a perpetual inferno of violence and chaos." (Mufti Taqi Usmani, Nov 4)
Senator Joseph Biden (D-Delaware) of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee warned that the US should avoid giving the perception to the Muslim world that it is a "high tech bully". Senator Biden's assessment needs to be given due consideration, because through just and moral actions can the US create a positive image in the World.
Behind the general fog that the ideology of dissent generates, the outlines of a very material sociological and political problem are emerging. This is not a popular war, indeed. It is among the people of reason that extreme dissatisfaction is rife. It is among them that the isolationist ideal is experiencing its final convulsive agony.
Conscientious people must offer alternate policies relevant to the reality that can sustain a system based on justice and address the harsh and nasty imperatives of imperial powers. Until that happens, mothers will continue their silent cries and children will not stop to sob and the world will remain restless and explode!
At moments of national peril or national exaltation, patriotic emotions rise and people enthusiastically subscribe to any cause put forth to them. But these moments pass, the process of disengagement begins, and it usually does not take long for disengagement to eventuate in alienation. Another lunar cycle of thirty days has completed it's course (US bombing on Afghanistan started on Oct 8) and the might is yet to prove itself. The process of frustration and demands of disengagement has begun.
British ministers privately expressed frustration yesterday with the US prosecution of the war against terrorism, the first sign of serious differences between London and Washington since the attacks on September 11. (Guardian, Nov 9)
The German government came to the brink of collapse yesterday when Joschka Fischer, the Foreign Minister, threatened to resign over his Green party's reluctance to support the country's first combat mission since the Second World War. (Independent, Nov 9)
The United Nations is warning of a "disaster of tremendous proportions" after US planes bombed a hydro-electric power station close to a vast dam in southern Afghanistan. (Independent, Nov 8)
It seems to be our privilege today to prove ourselves right in the thesis that the world is our enemy; for if we reiterate this frequently enough and makes it the background of our conduct we are bound eventually to be right. Each one of us may have a different answer to the questions "who is whose enemy" and "who is waging a war against whom and why"?
We wage a war to save civilization itself. (President Bush - Nov 8 Address to the nation)
'Brutality smeared in peanut butter' America must stop the war now. (Arundhati Roy, Oct 20, MSNBC)
Hidden Agenda Behind War on Terror (John Pilger, Former Mirror chief foreign correspondent)
What creates a community of people who believe in 'reason', as against a mere aggregate of individuals, is the fact that they think objectively. This faculty permits them to interpret the past, make sense of the present and outline a shape for the future. Many believe that the political personality of US, as is known today, is the product of "imperial mentality", because what it does not do is just as significant, and just as consequential, as what it does. New set of rules are being laid out for the world to subscribe to.
"Murder of values and universally accepted fundamental human principles is taking place on such a wide scale that if the world leaders still choose not to remove the blindfold of American influence from their eyes the whole world will turn into a perpetual inferno of violence and chaos." (Mufti Taqi Usmani, Nov 4)
Senator Joseph Biden (D-Delaware) of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee warned that the US should avoid giving the perception to the Muslim world that it is a "high tech bully". Senator Biden's assessment needs to be given due consideration, because through just and moral actions can the US create a positive image in the World.
Behind the general fog that the ideology of dissent generates, the outlines of a very material sociological and political problem are emerging. This is not a popular war, indeed. It is among the people of reason that extreme dissatisfaction is rife. It is among them that the isolationist ideal is experiencing its final convulsive agony.
Conscientious people must offer alternate policies relevant to the reality that can sustain a system based on justice and address the harsh and nasty imperatives of imperial powers. Until that happens, mothers will continue their silent cries and children will not stop to sob and the world will remain restless and explode!
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