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Posts Tagged ‘dhimmitude’

The camel caravan limit

Posted by Richard on March 19, 2007

Go to Little Green Footballs right this minute. Read about how German judges decided what rules should govern the participation of Muslim schoolgirls in school field trips.

Words fail me.

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Veiled threat, part 2

Posted by Richard on January 3, 2007

Remember a couple of weeks ago when we learned that the burqa is the preferred dress for wanted murderers who’d like to sail through British airport security? Well, now it turns out that the burqa is also popular with jewel thieves in India. And, of course, the jewelry store owners had to apologize for being so insensitive as to suggest that they didn’t want people completely concealed in burqas snatching up jewelry and running off:

Jewelers in western India have apologized to Muslims for proposing to ban women wearing burqas from their shops following a series of thefts by burqa-clad customers.

British radio (BBC) reports that the jewelers association in the city of Pune withdrew its request Friday for a ban on serving women who wear face veils or burqas. The association says it decided not to pursue the ban for fear of offending religious sentiments.

Jewelers asked police for the ban after surveillance cameras showed veiled thieves stealing. Shopkeepers and police say they cannot identify them because their faces are covered.

The jewelers say the request was a security measure and was not targeted at minority Muslims in Pune.

The request sparked tensions among local Muslim leaders who said the ban discriminated against Muslim women.

I’ve got a couple of questions. First, why are women who aren’t supposed to show any portion of their body in public or experience any pleasure so interested in jewelry anyway? Second, when will someone have the stones to tell outraged Muslims, "We’ll tolerate your burqas and niqabs in our jewelry stores and airports as soon as you tolerate our bikinis and beer in Riyadh."
 

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Veiled threat

Posted by Richard on December 20, 2006

A couple of months ago, many Muslims were outraged when British MP Jack Straw politely suggested that Muslim women uncover at least their noses and mouths when meeting with him:

Jack Straw, the ex-foreign secretary, has angered Muslim groups by suggesting women who wear veils over their face can make community relations harder.

The Blackburn MP says the veil is a "visible statement of separation and of difference" and he asks women visiting his surgery to consider removing it.

The remarks attracted an angry response from some organisations representing Muslims.

It was "astonishing" that Mr Straw chose to "selectively discriminate on the basis of religion", said Massoud Shadjareh, chairman of the Islamic Human Rights Commission.

Rajnaara Akhtar, who chairs the organisation Protect-Hijab, suggested the "appalling" comments showed "a deep lack of understanding".

Mr Straw was putting women "into a very awkward position by compromising the faith they believe in and that is ill-placed", Council of Lancashire Mosques chairman Hamid Kureshi told BBC Radio Five Live.

Well, now we know at least one reason why radical Muslims stridently defend the wearing of the burqa and niqab: it makes it so much easier for terrorists wanted for murder to travel freely in and out of countries that value political correctness and multi-culturalism above security, common sense, and equality before the law:

Only here in the UK could this happen, Mustaf Jama wanted over the murder of PC Sharon Beshenivsky, assumed his sister’s identity — wearing the niqab and using her passport — to evade supposedly stringent checks at Heathrow, according to police sources.

The use of the niqab, which leaves only a narrow slit for the eyes, highlights flaws in British airport security. At the time, Jama was Britain’s most wanted man, while Heathrow was on a heightened state of alert after the 7/7 terrorist atrocities in London five months previously. Not so much a secure state as an episode of the Keystone Cops.

Detectives believe that Jama, 26, was allowed to board an international flight from Heathrow because no attempt was made to uncover his face.

A good libertarian argument can be made against requiring airline passengers to identify themselves. But this is simply absurd: They require IDs — and demand that the name on the ID exactly match the name on the ticket. They check those IDs against a terrorist watch list. But if you say, "I’m a Muslim woman and I don’t believe in showing my face," (actually, you don’t have to say anything, so your voice won’t give you away), they just wave you right through.

It’s reverse profiling — taking the least precaution with the highest-risk passengers. Welcome to Bizarro World.
 

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Remembering the London bombings

Posted by Richard on July 7, 2006

It’s been a year since the London tube (subway) bombings, and Howie at The Jawa Report put together a retrospective, linking to "The Jawa Reports account of the hours and days following this cowardly attack." Well worth your time.

Others are remembering the 7/7 bombings, too. As Bill Roggio noted at Counterterrorism Blog, al-Qaeda is celebrating the anniversary via a newly-released video crowing about the attack, lionizing the perpetrators, and promising more to come.

Meanwhile, Perry de Havilland at Samizdata.net reminded us that Britain has more than its share of craven cowards who’ll do anything to avoid incurring the wrath of the Islamists and are ready to embrace their dhimmitude. De Havilland linked to this Daily Mail article reporting that the Church of England may dump St. George as patron saint of England. He scoffed at the idea (emphasis added by me):

I would have to say that the Church of England are flattering themselves if they think it is actually up to them. … I suspect the association of this mythic dragon-slayer with ‘Englishness’ will outlive England’s established church comfortably.

In a post-Christian society like England, St. George, who may or may not have been a Roman general, is really just a cultural construct that embodies certain mythic values ascribed to England. And that is, of course, why the emasculated appeasers who make up the leadership of the Church of England really want to replace the mythic warrior St. George:

But the Church of England is considering rejecting England’s patron saint St. George on the grounds that his image is too warlike and may offend Muslims.

The news story provided further evidence of why the pusillanimous poltroons of the Church of England might not be comfortable with St. George:

The image of St George was used to foster patriotism in 1940, when King George VI inaugurated the George Cross for civilian acts of the greatest bravery. The medal bears a depiction of the saint slaying the dragon.

However, George has become unfashionable among politicians and bureaucrats. His saint’s day, April 23, has no official celebration in England, and councils have banned the St George flag from their buildings and vehicles during the World Cup.

The saint became an English hero during the crusades against the Muslim armies that captured Jerusalem in the 11th century. 

The crusades … oh, my! No wonder that flag’s been banned and the Church wants to dump this guy. Why, any invocation of St. George is bound to offend Britain’s Muslims, and who knows what that might drive them to do. On the other hand, if we avoid giving offense, the Islamists won’t hurt us, right?

I wonder how long before the bishops of the Church of England discuss dumping the cross as a symbol because it offends Muslims.

 An infallible method of conciliating a tiger is to allow oneself to be devoured.
      — Konrad Adenauer

 

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Support Oriana Fallaci

Posted by Richard on July 6, 2006

Italian journalist and author Oriana Fallaci is a remarkable woman. Born in 1929 to anti-fascist parents, she began her fight against fascism as a young girl during WWII — she joined the armed resistance group founded by her father, earning a medal at the age of 14.

Fallaci was in her 70s and long retired when 9/11/01 caused her to renew her fight against fascism — this time, Islamofascism. The result was two books — The Rage and The Pride (2001) and The Force of Reason (2004) — warning Italy and Europe that they’re being "colonized" and subjugated by radical Islam, that freedom and democracy and Western Civilization are under attack and virtually no one in Europe has the courage to resist.

Fallaci is living in New York and dying of cancer. But in Italy — in ironic proof that she’s right about Europe’s pandering to the Islamofascists — she is on trial for writings "offensive to Islam" (the trial was recessed in mid-June, and I can’t find any news of its resumption via Google News). If Fallaci were to return to Italy, she’d be thrown in jail during the trial, in which she faces large fines and up to two years in prison for statements (in The Force of Reason) such as this:

Despite the massacres through which the sons of Allah have bloodied us and bloodied themselves for over thirty years, the war that Islam has declared against the West…is a cultural war…they kill us in order to bend us. To intimidate us…Their goal is not to fill cemeteries. Not to destroy our skyscrapers…It is to destroy our soul, our ideas. Our feelings and our dreams. It is to subjugate the West once again.

The Future Europe association, founded in Poland last year, is rallying support for Oriana Fallaci at www.OrianaFallaciTrial.org, where you can sign the Letter of Solidarity with Oriana Fallaci:

Judge Armando Grasso of Bergamo acknowledged a suit against Oriana Fallaci filed by the president of Muslim Union of Italy. On June 6th the trial against a journalist and a publicist over insult of Islam by statements made in her book "The force of reason" will start. We want to express our concern about the decision made by the judge of Bergamo, since such practices can lead to restrictions of freedom of speech in the realm of European democracy with human rights being its largest achievement.

We believe that freedom of speech is a universal value and should not fall within political, cultural or religious interests. Oriana Fallaci has been fighting for the freedom of expression in her work as a journalist throughout her whole life. As we intend to protect the freedom of speech we want to express our solidarity with Oriana Fallaci. Being aware of contentiousness of her latest statements, we still stand against the trial which is infringing the freedom of expression.

Certainly a mild and polite (too polite for my tastes) defense of free speech and Western values, perhaps a bit awkwardly translated from the Polish.  Something no reasonable person should hesitate to put their name to. So what are you waiting for? Go to www.OrianaFallaciTrial.org and add your name right now. As Kentucky Dan said, "If you only sign to have your name on the same petition as LECH WALESA, do it for that reason."

Support Oriana Fallaci and free speechFor more about Oriana Fallaci, her books and ideas, and her trial, check out:

Michelle Malkin (with links to previous posts)

This interview with Fallaci in OpinionJournal

Robert Spencer at JihadWatch here and here

Robert Spencer in an excellent FrontPageMag article last year (addresses each of Fallaci’s 18 "defamatory" statements)

This outstanding post by Dymphna at Gates of Vienna

This WorldNetDaily story about the trial

 

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Ayaan Hirsi Ali coming to America

Posted by Richard on May 15, 2006

It hasn’t been easy for Ayaan Hirsi Ali lately. At the end of April, a Dutch appeals court agreed with her neighbors that — since Islamofascists want to kill her — her presence put them at risk, thus violating their human rights. She was ordered to vacate her apartment.

Ponder the logic of that for a moment. The court held that Ayaan Hirsi Ali — not the murderous thugs who threaten her — had caused her neighbors to feel less safe, and thus had violated their rights under Article 8 of the European Treaty on Human Rights.

More recently, political opponents expressed shock at the "news" that she’d lied on her 1992 asylum application (even though she’d revealed this in 2002 when she ran for parliament), and demanded that she be deported. Judith Apter Klinghoffer noted that Hirsi Ali, like Anne Frank, seems to be "too much trouble" for the Dutch.

Apparently, Hirsi Ali has had enough of Dutch cowardice and dhimmitude. Today, it’s being reported that she’s accepted a position with the American Enterprise Institute and will be moving to the United States in September.

The Netherlands’ loss is our gain. Welcome, Ms. Ali!
 

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Anti-Dhimmi

Posted by Richard on March 24, 2006

I ran across an interesting new blog worth keeping an eye on. Anti-Dhimmi is the work of a 22-year-old female Scandinavian who "got the wake-up call from the Muhammed cartoons folly." It’s a nicely done site with lots of graphics and interesting, short posts.

Regarding Peter Risdon’s announcement that the Danish cartoons aren’t welcome at Saturday’s pro-freedom rally in Trafalger Square, she said:

And they dare calling it March for Free Expression? How can you have a March for Free Expression without Freedom of Expression? Non sense. Can you say dhimmitude?

 She’s succinct, logical, and doesn’t mince words. I like that. 🙂

UPDATE: Regarding the March for Free Expression and its organizers’ desire to avoid giving offense, see also David T’s post, Compromised, at Harry’s Place, which suggests this as an appropriate chant:

"What do we want: FREEDOM OF SPEECH. When do we want it: NOT NOW BUT CERTAINLY IN A FORUM IN WHICH THINGS CAN BE SEEN AND DEBATED WITHOUT THEM BEING, IN CONTEXT, INTIMIDATING TO ANYONE"

Britain’s leftists are so much more articulate and funny than America’s.

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