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Archive for the ‘Pakistan’ Category

The Norwich Conference Network » The Limits of Freedom – Ian …

norwichconference.com1/4/12

To address the theme of the limits of freedom, of course one must begin by defining freedom before proceeding to inquire if it has limits and, if so, what these limits are. On examination, we find that the philosophical discourse …

Falling into history, part 3: Beyond the natural limits to freedom

scifiben.livejournal.com1/2/12

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. – Benjamin Franklin Central to civilized law is the notion that a person cannot be held without a charge and …

If you don’t already know about expanding Muslim protests against EDMD (Everybody Draw Mohammad Day) on Facecbook then please watch this video before reading the article because it will help get you up to speed.

The recent appearance of several competition pages on Facebook that asked readers to submit their Muhammad caricatures is causing a worldwide furore with Pakistan banning the site until the end of the month, and in the port city of Karachi protesters have taken to streets protesting the Facebook page.

Competition winners were due to be announced on May 20, but several of the pages were and are unavailable and it’s not clear whether Facebook’s management pulled them or if they really had technical difficulties which is what is being claimed.

At the time of writing I could only find one Facebook EDMD (Everybody Draw Mohammad Day) that is up and running.

The lead up to the chaos is that a cartoonist named Molly Norris drew a cartoon in April to protest the decision by a US television channel to cancel an episode of the popular show South Park because of a contentious depiction of the Prophet Muhammad and satirically suggested May 20 as an Everybody Draw Muhammad Day.

But what she didn’t expect was that her idea would almost immediately spawn several other pages on Facebook that asked people to submit Muhammad cartoons.

A clearer frightened Ms Norris, who has received death threats on Facebook says that she had nothing to do with the ensuing pages or competitions and has publicly apologized for her role in the controversy saying that the content of the pages was "Offensive to Muslims who did nothing to endanger our right to expression in the first place".

YouTube has also removed links and references to the page and Ms. Norris noted that, "What started as something about censorship has ended in censorship. It’s a full circle situation".

The Facebook pages drew around 100,000 people so far and several Facebook pages that oppose it are now up and running.

Mimi Sulpovar, who started a sister cartoon page that’s had several thousand visitors said she’s received numerous death threats since she started the page on April 22 to protest what she calls the "manifestation of gradual silencing and subjugation" of free speech rights in the name of political correctness.

Should Freedom Of Speech Have Its Limits?

I want to make it clear that I do understand that the cartoons are seen as blasphemous and disrespectful by Muslims, but having said that I can see no justification for death threats and can’t imagine, Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists or any other religious group issuing such threats.

Anger is a totally negative emotion and there is no such thing as righteous anger, so the people issuing the threats and holding violent protests simply harm their cause.

The Clash Between Islam And The Rest

Even so called moderate Muslims would clearly like to restrict not just freedom of speech but also freedom of action and have and are attempting to achieve their goal in various ways.

They would like Christian related objects removed from public buildings.

They would like bikinis banned as a starter.

In Minnesota Muslim taxi drivers at St. Paul airport refused to pick up passengers who’d purchased alcohol at the duty free and I have personally had a Muslim on a plane suggest that I order a coffee and not a beer.

The question that might well be asked is, Would Muslims be satisfied if they obtained the above three items and possibly some other ‘small’ changes and the answer is probably, "No".

It is almost certain that there would be more and more demands for change and it’s not hard to foresee a coming clash and probably a violent one between Muslims and others.

What I hear and read most often is that the indigenous peoples of most western countries would have no problem per se with Muslims if they were prepared to integrate which they clearly aren’t able to because of their religion, and the straw that might seemingly break the proverbial camel’s back is that Muslims want the host population to adapt to that culture which the host population is understandably not willing to do.

Freedom Of Speech?

I wouldn’t personally antagonize Muslims or anybody else by saying writing or doing something that was blatantly insulting to them or their religions, and I believe that Muslims are inviting things such as the Everybody Draw Mohammad Day because of their intransigence.

Although the right to freedom of speech is recognized as a human right under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is recognized in international human rights law in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), in practice it is not absolute in any country and the right is commonly subject to limitations, such as on "hate speech".

The ICCPR’s interpretation of the right to freedom of speech is;

The right to hold opinions without interference.

Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression.

Freedom of speech is recognized in European, inter-American and African regional human rights law.

Pennsylvania Judge Enforces Sharia: Muslim Attacks, Chokes Moe …

atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com2/23/12

Pennsylvania Judge Enforces Sharia: Muslim Attacks, Chokes Moe Parade Goer, American Muslim Judge Rules against Infidel Victim. This is why anti-sharia legislation is so essential. Back in October, I …. This is to say nothing of the judge counseling the defendant that it is also not acceptable for him to teach his children that it is acceptable to use violence in the defense of religious beliefs. Instead, the judge gives Mr. Perce a lesson in Sharia law and drones on …

Muslim Judge Rules Against Free Speech… In Pennsylvania …

americanglob.com2/25/12

A state judge in Pennsylvania has dismissed an assault and harassment case against a Muslim defendant who admitted attacking the victim. Magistrate Judge Mark Martin, a veteran of the war in Iraq and a convert to Islam, ruled that Talag Elbayomy's sharia defense — what he claimed was his obligation to strike out against any insult against the prophet Mohammed — trumped the First Amendment free speech rights of the victim. Yes, you read that correctly.

USA – Britain – And Much Of Asia Raise Their Levels Of Preparedness

Oven the last four days, eleven countries publicly announced elevated levels of preparedness against Islamist terror and six other countries raised their levels, but in a quieter manner.

Just today (January 24) Osama bin Laden took credit for the failed Delta bombing attack at Christmas and asserted that there would be more attacks, adding that, America would have no peace unless there was "security for Palestinians".

Palestinians however were generally dismissive of his call for ‘Palestinian security’ saying, "What good does Bin Laden’s speech do for us? All his talk is very well known among al-Qaeda, therefore, this speech is merely to prove he exists’, and "Pro-al-Qaeda jihadists should refrain from finding excuses for Bin Laden’s twisted ideology. First of all, Bin Laden ought to disavow the killing of innocent people around the world and stop verbal attacks on Hamas. It’s time to revise al-Qaeda’s ideology".

Airlines and airports in India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka went on high alert for a possible airplane hijacking by al Qaeda or Lashkar-e-Taibem, and the U.K. elevated its terror threat level from "substantial" to "severe" which is one below the highest and it suspended direct British airline flights to and from Yemen.

Just last week, five Britons were apprehended at Islamabad airport attempting to pass their boarding passes to five others, and Yemen stopped issuing entry visas at Sanaa airport. Britain said it had evidence indicating that an attack would be carried out by "International terrorists" and was careful to avoid saying the words Islamic or Muslim.

Saudi Arabia and the Gulf emirates have taken their own precautions and Jordan’s security services have been fully mobilized since the attempt to blow up an Israeli embassy convoy on Jan. 15.

U.S. airport authorities were warned that at least two female suicide bombers of "non-Arab appearance" and bearing Western passports may have been sent to America by al Qaeda-Yemen – either to blow up U.S. bound flights or to commit suicide attacks inside the country and White House counter-terrorism adviser Richard Clarke told ABC, "There are others who are still out there who have been trained and who are clean skins, and that means people who we do not have a record of, who may not look like al Qaeda terrorists, who may not be Arabs, and may not be men".

I have no idea what "clean skins" means, and only the phrase "the great unwashed" comes to mind.