THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume X, Issue # 319, December 6, 2008
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
THE UNITED ISLAMIST NATIONS
By Supna Zaidi
ISLAMISTS PROMOTING ANTI-BLASPHEMY LAWS IN THE WEST: SEEKING TO SUPPRESS FREEDOM OF SPEECH IN THE
WEST & REMOVE ISLAM FROM PUBLIC SCRUTINY & PUBLIC DEBATE
FULL STORY:
Last week, the Jihadi terrorist attacks in India and the threat to New York City's subway system provided another stark
reminder of the need for a united front against global terrorism. Yet, instead of figuring out how to combat Islamic
extremists, the United Nations is worried about offending them.
On November 24, 2008, the U.N. passed a draft resolution against the defamation of religion, a resolution sponsored by
the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), where all U.N. members are being asked to pass domestic
legislation against blasphemy. The resolution was originally introduced in 1999 by the OIC, asserting that "Islam is
frequently and wrongly associated with human rights violations and terrorism."
In reality, terrorism happens in Islam's name, or more accurately, in Islamism's name. Islamism is a 20th. century product
arising from the writings of sincere Muslims such as Hasan al-Banna and Syed Qutb. Frustrated by the fallen status of
Muslims vis-à-vis the West, they offered a new version of Islam as a totalitarian socio-political alternative to
constitutional democracy and Western license. Disparate followers from Osama bin Laden, Hezbollah, and Hamas to the
Jihadis that waged war on Mumbai last week are not deranged or crazy. Rather, they subscribe to a worldview that is
antithetical to that of most Muslims and the West.
The OIC nations charge critics of Islamic extremism with "racism" and "Islamophobia" to deflect attention from the fact
that such violence originates at the hand of Muslim clerics born and bread in their lands. This is because they realize they
can't control Islamism, or they tacitly agree with its message.
These Muslim clerics also export this ideology to the West to radicalize Muslim immigrants abroad, and reform-minded
Muslims are usually the first victims.
Kadra Noor was beat up in 2007 for speaking out against "Islamic" female genital mutilation in Norway. In Sweden,
Cabinet Minister Nyamko Sabuni proposed that honor killings be labeled a separate crime in the Swedish penal code and
girls get mandatory gynecological exams to discourage female circumcision. She also told the Sunday Times that
arranged marriages are not a part of Islam.
As a result, she was called an "Islamophobe" and, instead of supporting her, 50 Islamic Swedish organizations petitioned
against her appointment to the Cabinet in an effort to suppress her growing influence in Swedish politics.
Pakistan spokesman for the OIC recently promoted a politician to Minister of Education, after he defended the live burial
of five girls in Balochistan as "tribal custom." It is not a stretch to argue that Pakistan is not an OIC member interested in
reform.
The 2005 Danish cartoon controversy kick-started the OIC campaign to pass last month's resolution when it was cited as
another example of increased discrimination against Muslims after 9-11. The "cartoon intifada" arose 5 months after the
original printing of the images of Muhammad, but only weeks before the UNHCR was due to consider the OIC's resolution
on "Combating Defamation of Religion."
Such a coincidence caused the National Secular Society to state in its Memorandum to the United Kingdom Parliament:
". . . the Danish cartoon crisis was manufactured … to exploit
sensitivities around racial discrimination and to promote (or
even exaggerate) the notion of 'Islamophobia' in order to
restrict possibilities for open discussion or criticism of Islam.
. . . [M]easures calling for legislation banning 'defamation of
religion' …. aim to remove religion, especially Islam, from
public scrutiny and public debate."
The OIC forgets that Muslims are already protected in the West. The U.S.A., for example, increases sentences on crimes
ranging from assault and battery to murder, if they are deemed "hate crimes," which includes crimes against a victim based on
his or her religious identity.
So what is this 57-nation organization really pushing with this "anti-blasphemy" resolution at the U.N.?
In the Muslim world, anti-blasphemy laws are regularly used to suppress free speech by attacking fellow Muslims and
non-Muslims who criticize the government or protest human rights violations. Such laws are also used as pretext against
individuals in personal and business disputes. The mere allegation puts mobs before the accused before the police can arrive
to investigate.
At the U.N., the OIC has manipulated the language of racism to make its anti-democratic agenda more attractive to "third
world" nations recovering from their own genuine post-colonial struggles. Nations that voted in favor of the resolution or
abstained were predominantly from Latin America or developing African nations.
A final version of the resolution is up for a vote this month. It would be a mistake for these U.N. members to fall for
anti-colonial rhetoric once again. By aligning with Islamists, the U.N. would be supporting the stifling of free speech and the
suppression of human rights, and crushing the goal of building tolerant constitutional democratic societies.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Lawfare -- The Use of Law as a Weapon in War & Politics:
Islamist Lawfare & the "Legal" Jihad Against America & the West
The United Nations, Its Agencies, & U.S. National Interests
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
Middle East -- Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors
American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East
International Politics & World Disorder:
War, Peace, & Geopolitics in the Real World:
Foreign Affairs & U.S. National Security
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
Counterterrorism & U.S. National Security
U.S. National Security Strategy
Supna Zaidi is the Assistant Director of Islamist Watch, a project at the Middle East Forum.
The foregoing article by Supna Zaidi was originally published in the American Spectator, December 4, 2008, and
can be found on the Internet website maintained by the Middle East Forum, a foreign policy think tank which seeks to
define and promote American interests in the Middle East, defining U.S. interests to include fighting radical Islam,
working for Palestinian Arab acceptance of the State of Israel, improving the management of U.S. efforts to promote
constitutional democracy in the Middle East, reducing America's energy dependence on the Middle East, more robustly
asserting U.S. interests vis-à-vis Saudi Arabia, and countering the Iranian threat.
(Article URL: http://www.meforum.org/article/2020)
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
December 6, 2008
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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