Monday 12 January 2015

je suis charlie


"I am Charlie" is the evocative statement that rang around the world after the attack on the Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris. The subsequent events are widely known if not understood. 

What kind of religious edict demands that girls and women should be subject to the kind of barbarism that we have seen in the media for a long time now? What kind of community flocks to the local stadium to see a young woman buried up to her neck and stoned for for adultery?  She was in fact raped by a policeman?  After stoning the young woman a doctor inspects her to determine she is dead, They dig her out of the ground. The young woman moves so they put her back in the hole and stone her until she finally expires. 

What kind of society does not want its women educated? How can music be so evil that it must be banned.The IS  mantra  is unsophisticated at best and at worst is an odious distortion and hi jacking of the commandments of  a beautiful religion. I know like all of the great religions the Muslim religion is based on love and peace and so it is impossible for me to think of the worst excesses of the IS  version of Sharia law as being anything to do with the teachings of the prophet.  

We have seen how throughout history nations have distorted the great teachings or rejected them entirely for their own ends. We have seen in recent times how nations who think of themselves as great world leaders forget the rules as and when it suits them.  Ongoing revelations regarding US torture and illegal detention, with UK support, continue to dismay all who expect better.  Is there a link between the atrocities of Guantanamo Bay and the attacks in France? Of course there is. Meanwhile today Rupert  Murdoch stated that all Muslims should take responsibility for the French attacks and Steven Emerson, US terrorism commentator, stated  Birmingham UK is a "Muslim-only city where non-Muslims don't go",  on Fox News. Rupert Murdoch is an arse and his control of so much media continues to be a serious worry. It is surely detrimental to a free and honest press. We know many Americans care little about things outside of the state they live in but a little research from a professional journalist would have avoided his ludicrous portrayal of Britain's second city where Muslims and everyone else live quite happily together. The children of Birmingham don't take weapons to school to massacre their fellows on a regular basis either Steven.

In France it would appear every one has come together for a day or so but the racism and racial inequality that stains the egalitarian aspirations of the nation tells another story. The young disenchanted Muslims must be addressed. That is how you begin to deconstruct the possibility for radicalisation. Close down the US torture program and start treating so called terrorists in captivity with the same accord that the US demand for it's soldiers and as is stipulated by the Geneva Convention and others.

This uprising will not easily be defeated but most of us don't want to live in a medieval society where cruel and deranged values are common place nor will we. I don't want to live in a country that hangs homosexuals and stones young women to death. In Sudan a war between the Christian and Muslim populations has ravaged the country and here as in many other locations, the kidnapping of girls and young women and their eventual enslavement is increasing. It seems the doctrine of IS calls for the elimination of all political opposition and total censorship of anything said or written that opposes their mad ideology. It seems to want to eradicate difference. Pol Pot decided to remove all professional/ educated people from Cambodia in order to begin again with a level playing field. He was a deranged kind of socialist who actually set out to remove cleverness so that all could be equal.

The zealous Viking Eric the Red would cheerfully cut off a man's head in the name of Christ if the man would not convert to the faith. The Spanish inquisition and European Crusades against Saladin and others are all examples of people forgetting what is good and decent in order to basically do what they like and it has been so often wrapped up in the cloak of faith in order to justify tyranny and repression. So it has always been with us but still we must oppose those who would use any religion as an excuse to diminish the quality of our lives so that they can control what we think and do with impunity.

Muslims everywhere are appalled by the abominable acts of the sons of IS. Muslims in the UK and all over the world must be seen to be victims of IS along with the rest of us and their right to share life with us unmolested must be supported.

I write what I like and nothing will stop me. Je suis Charlie.


peace

14 comments:

Mike from Albuquerque said...

I agree .there is no God.If there is, he is asleep or dead himself.We must protect the weak,disadvantaged and the minorities. At any cost.That means whatever it takes.

mike from Albuquerque said...

je suis Charlie.

Anonymous said...

I agree, well put - je suis Charlie

Anonymous said...

'You can never silence the voices of the voiceless.'

We must not accept the unacceptable - these events cannot be allowed to just pass in to history - surely?



Je Suis Charlie

Sally

Mick said...

We cannot blame the majority for the sins of the minority.

JE SUIS CHARLIE

Anonymous said...

je suis Charlie.lets move on and prove what they really are.........

Steve Broughton said...

It's not about not wanting to live in a country that is rife with oppression any more, we have become global beings living in that one country that is planet earth. It is our problem , all of us. Otherwise we remain divided.
We don't have many more chances t0 learn from our endless mistakes so let's wise up now.

Potty-Pott said...

I'll be honest, I personally don't know what to make of the Muslim religion, on the one hand I hear of it's a peaceful religion, then I hear that the Prophet Mohammed married Aiesha when she was 6 and consumated the marriage when she was 9, and I don't believe a 9 year old can give informed consent to sex, so if true then that to me is rape. Look at the grooming gangs that have been operating in British cities such as Rotheram and Rochdale, the crimes commited against white teenage girls by mainly Muslim men.
As a female if I venture into Luton, about 10 miles from me, I do avoid going into the mainly Muslim area of the town, tho Birmingham isn't 100% Muslim, maybe some non Muslims won't venture into the area. I've been through the Sparkhill area on a bus to get to Moseley.
Agreed about Guantanomo Bay, the captives should be charged or released. I do speak from my fellas point of view as ex military, if the military have to follow the Geneva Convention, the terrorists don't and it's like fighting with "One hand tied behind your back". Yet in Afghanistan if the Taliban find a dead British or US soldier they hang his body parts/insides from trees. OF course I don't think our military should've been sent there, if anything I think various governments of the world are to blame. Wouldn't it be better to concentrate on weeding out home grown terrorists as if anyone they're the most likely to commit a Paris style attack.

However I don't think the vast majority of Musilms are bad. I've met a few, a friend has Muslim neighbours, and they're pleasant enough folks. I guess like any religion or none you get good and bad.
I have to hand it to the Mayor of Rotterdam, himself a Muslim, he basically said integrate or get out, which would seem to say most Muslims are decent peaceful folk, but it's a minority that stir up trouble.

Potty-Pott said...

Hi Edgar,
On a slightly different topic,
You know I organised a FDWFAFDP concert for Tim's birthday in September, just thought I'd let you know I've found out he was taken to hospital this morning with a serious infection, jyust wondered if we could pray/ get a circle of positive energy for him. I'm more into Paganism, Hinduism and Bhuddism than the Abrahambic religions, tho I'm sure in the hospital he's in the best hands, I know some run the NHS down, but it's not the NHS is bad, just governments out to destroy it!!!

Galadriel

Potty-Pott said...

Update on Tim. He's in hospital, has a chest infection, water infection and dioherrea. Came on suddenly he seemed fine Thurs afternoon.

Potty-Pott said...

Further update, the chest infection is pneumonia, tho he's improved apparently form yesterday. He can''t wait to come home, I do feel a bit sorry for the medical staff, as knowing Tim, he'll whinge a biit, as in his state he can't do things such as hold a book, and I'm sure Jack (his dog) wonders where he is.

Anonymous said...

We need to weed these people out.They are predators.

Anonymous said...

Channel 4 are set to air their 6 part follow up series to Benefit Street in the run up to the general election. The series entitled, Immigration Street, rather ironically is made by a company called, 'Love' productions.

The series is based in Derby road in Southampton & has met with vociferous opposition by most of those living in the road & indeed Southampton. I will be attending the rally on Saturday in London under the banner STAND UP FOR SOUTHAMPTON. Most of the residents are not new migrants they have been living there for decades & have a strong community. Immigration Street to me is vile serving only to fuel racial hatred & bring harm to an otherwise happy settled community. For Nigel Forage it probably is like a late christmas present from Channel 4.

Haven't we had enough? Metaphorically stoning our fellow human beings? What do we hope to achieve? Drive them out? Feel superior? Do what? Maybe go back to the days of Freak shows only wouldn't be much to see as they just look like you & me!

Even if you are one who feels there should be tighter controls on immigration surely you can not agree with this demonisation of migrants.

Sally

Potty-Pott said...

Tim been out of hospital a while and is gradually making progress!!!