Call for a Muslim Bloc: April Mobilization in DC

Islam is reactionary ideology. Planting a rose in a pile of cow shit does not change the nature of the dung.

Take your Muslim Bloc, and your Saudi Oppression, and your pakistani religious-nationalism, and your assorted evils foisted upon the world in the name of your religion, and shove it!

any religios pack banging pans in free streets raises ire. the math of the fear is simple math. arab looking religios extremists attacked citizens of the u.s. in dramatic terrifying fashion. religios arabs deny religios arab involvement. arab religion American religios activists take to overt acts of protest on american streets and stages. islam is stuck in our face already.
"our" = who ? roughly 200.000.000 u.s. citizens who are not overtly religios and dont get it. religion kills.
the damned christians keep us busy enough. when religion puffs your chest like that, religion kills. we saw it. Remember ?
and you want to yell at us ? here ? now ? we're only monkeys. what if we can't take any more ?

As an Anarchist I cannot team up with anyone that supports murdering regimes. If any of these Muslim's support the P.A., Fatah, Tanzim, Al-Aqsa Brigads, Hizbullah or Hamas than I cannot march with them. You will have problems if you try to fly the above flags in the streets of DC. Many, harsh physical problems. That is a promise.

There are many U.S. activists that prefer a more inclusive approach to the movement than those represented by the above comments in response to the post. I for one welcome a progressive muslim contingent and am proud to march with them.

We first heard about this on Friday … now we’re reading the details. It’s yet more news about the wonderful, peaceful nature of Islam.

In Saudi Arabia they have a group of goons wandering the street called the “Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.” This committee has a police force called the mutaween.

It seems there was a fire in the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca. The fire was in a girl’s school. Among the first on the seen of the fire were mutaween members. So … did the mutaween go about trying to rescue girls from the fire? The answer, according to Saudi newspapers, would be “no.” Instead, the mutaween began beating young girls to prevent them from leaving the school .. from leaving a burning building. Why the beatings? Because the young girls were not dressed appropriately. They weren’t wearing head scarves and their entire bodies weren’t covered.

It wasn’t enough that the mutaween were trying to beat these girls back into the burning school. Newspapers also report that they were also actively working to prevent firemen and police officers from rescuing the girls. The mutaween would warn anyone trying to rescue the girls that “it is sinful to approach them.”

The end result? Fourteen young girls died in the fire.

And this is the behavior we get from a peace-loving religion?

No religious banners are welcome at the April 20 peace marches. Religion is the opiate of the people and is always a reactionary political force. The term "progressive muslim" is a contradiction in terms, or to use the current vernacular, an oxymoron. Religion is superstition; science means knowledge. The basic contradiction in this society is between labor and capital and these peace marches are of and for the workingclass, for only labor can put an end to war by putting an end to capitalism and establishing socialism. The best way to prevent the horror of religion rearing its ugly reactionary head at our secular, political peace demonstrations is to have all socialist groups carry lots of red flags.

As to religion: All religions are not only superstition and thus by definition anti-science, they are anti-women and anti-gay. They are simply money-making rackets for child-molesting parasites who do not want to get a real job.

On Islam: We have had a particularly bad experience in the US with the Nation of Islam, an outfit that is used by the Democratic Party to commit election fraud. It is also anti-union, anti-women, anti-gay and anti-Semitic. It actively promotes capitalism in the black community, so a handful of blacks, namely the Nation of Islam, can exploit the black workingclass with black-owned (actually Nation of Islam) businesses. Labor organizing is not wanted at these Nation of Islam businesses.

The world has witnessed a horrible experience of progressive secular activists uniting with Islam in Iran, only to be murdered by those Islamists when their leader, Ayatolleh Khamenei, took over. This same Khamenei government became better known as a party to the Iran-Contra scandal during the Reagan administration. In other words, this Islamic government was another CIA front.

The many Islamic governments of the world from Saudi Arabia to Iran to Afghanistan are excellent examples of why Islam must be viewed as reactionary, which it objectively is. Whether it be the veil or female genital mutilation or its anti-science premise, there is nothing progressive about Islam.

On Judaism: It is just as anti-science and anti-women as any other religion. The State of Israel is a good example of a Jewish theocratic state. We do not need or want that.

On Buddhism: The history of China and Tibet includes the history of struggle against parasites commonly known as Buddhist priests. The poorer a society is, the more common is religion. We see this in Asia today and throughout the world today and historically, including right here in the USA. These religious organizations participate in perpetuating the poverty for their own gain.

On Hinduism: The backwardness of Hinduism is evident in India. It, along with Islam and all the other religions, flourish with poverty and ignorance.

On Christianity, from the Crusades to the many horrible Christian theocracies of Europe of early European history to the Christian theocracies of today which oppose our right to abortion and oppose the gay liberation movement, the horrors of Christianity are probably sufficiently known to the readers of this article that a list is not necessary. You need only consult any European history book for enough details to make you sick.

Today, in the US, the Christian fundamentalists are not only anti-abortion and anti-gay, but are busy making American schools the laughing stock of the industrialized world by promoting superstitious nonsense called creationism in opposition to evolution. This lunacy confirms to the world that the United States is a profoundly backward country, which is objectively true. However, we all live here and really have no place to go, and on that basis, we can and must change it.

We do not want any religious organizations or banners in the San Francisco and Washington, DC April 20 peace marches. And please, socialist organizations, bring thousands of red flags!

Atheist reminds us that 'religion is the opiate of the masses' ( believing undoubtedly that somehow we've all forgotten this..) but omits the salient fact that among the groups actually organizing the A-20 actions (in both coalitions and both coasts ) are dozens of Christian peace and social justice groups and activists. Would he/she care to disinvite them? Or just exclude those from other religious backgrounds and beliefs who are trying to find a path toward meaninful action by participating in a larger movement whose politics are decidely progressive and secular?

What utter horseshit. "Atheist" would do well to go back to whatever introductory Marxist political education class he/she attended (..and apparently slept through ) and re-read the part that deals about mass work. You wanna be a revolutionary? Then you better learn to work with real people..including those with different orientations.

And yes, some of us remember the tragedy of Iran. And sadly, we also remember how the leadership of some Iranian left factions spent outrageous amounts of time squabbling with each other in pursuit of the correct 'line', while their rank and file members were being slaughtered wholesale by the Shah's CIA trained SAVAK torturers.

Threatening those who would take to the streets to protest imperialist policy in the ME is pretty asinine.
( But just the kind of provocation the SF police might issue)

Still, I'll bet that the Palestinian kids who might attend probably have more experience than you ever will get dealing with "harsh physical problems' and how to respond to them in kind. So don't let your mouth cut checks your ass can't cash.

http://www.rense.com/general21/fut.htm

If religion is so bad, how come I'm having trouble locating the First Athesist Hospital or the Anarchist Memorial Hospital??

"Atheist"'s dogmatic diatribe against religion shows how for him or her, it is "science" and "socialism" that are religion. Yes, the world has seen religious nastiness, especially when organized religion is involved. But then again, we've seen the USSR.

Atheist overlooks the role of religion in the black civil rights movement, Catholic liberation theology, the movement of religious people in the US opposed to Central American intervention in the 1980's, etc.

It would behoove atheists who are anarchists and socialists to have a more nuanced view of religion and spirituality. There are lots of anarchists and socialists who are Christians, and probably many others of other religions as well. Indigenous peoples' cultures are an inspiration for anarchist and socialist thought, and all indigenous cultures have a strong spiritual aspect.

So think a little next time.

...just please don't drive a car, or go outside to get the mail barefoot, if you're a woman. Please.

Since some folks have decided to make broad generalizations and idle threats about supporting the Fatah and other groups that have been succesful in fighting the occupation, and yes I fully support all members of Fatah, my personal opinion, not a PMN position, I would like folks to read what the PMN believes in. You can find our statement of positions on such things as women's liberation, gay rights and other human rights positions at the link below. Allahu Akbar!

For those that don't have time here is a brief position statement on what PMN Opposes:
Progressive Islam Opposes

           * The projection of an inevitable of Pax Americana and the unfettered march of globalization in the service of the market. While globalization has the potential to  be harnessed for universal solidarity among the mustad’afun fi’l-ard, its use as the cornerstone of neo-colonialism and economic exploitation must be opposed to as
part of the vision of a  world socio-economic equality and justice

           * The relentless promotion of corporate culture and consumerism  which results in the exploitation of our natural environment deforestation, the destruction of local communities and the eco-system and cruelty to animals.

           * Racism, sexism, homophobia and all other forms of socio-economic injustices both within and outside of Muslim societies and communities. These injustices detracts from the sacredness of all humankind imbued when Allah blew of his own spirit into the first created person.

          * Intolerance and fascist tendencies which insist on and seeks to enforce a single and absolute appreciation of truth in all religious and cultural communities including Islam. While we have a special affinity with a particular expression of Islam which we identify as progressive, we acknowledge that others may have their own understanding of the Islamic tradition which differs from ours.

P.S. Daniel you can find me in the streets I will be the one dressed in black with a Fatah arm band. But you might get my race mixed up since I don't look Muslim.

What a joke. The group you belong to and represent doesn't support Fatah, but you do.

" I would never be part of a club that would have me as a member"

NO RELIGION IS PROGRESSIVE

"No religion is progressive"? How about the Catholic Worker movement?

It is easy to blame a contry that is supremely rich and prosperous beyond many of your wildest dreams.
They say you can judge a culture by the way it treats the weak and judging by your treatment of childern and your women makes me sick. All you have is your idiotic
religeon to grasp for some pathetic hope of succeding in this new global economy. It is YOUR people that are blowing themselfs up and creating the problems, you have access to the whole world but your immaturity and inability to deal with it makes me SICK What do you think these recent bombings in Israel are doing to the tourist economy? and it BOTH sides that loose. Now you pathetic people think your going to accomplish anything by your actions against the USA, you caught us once with our pants down, but you are just SO insignificant to us it makes us laugh. You had better be careful not to stir this mighty country into taking serious action against you because you will loose. Just think about Greece 100 years ago that beat back you pathetic Muslims back to the hills and we were outnumbered by 1000 times, outgunned and
poor and we STILL kicked you out of our country. So go ahead with your pathetic policies, you will be the ones to loose it all.

MARCHING TOWARD AN AMERICAN POLICE STATE - Part II

MID-EAST REALITIES - http://www.MiddleEast.Org - Washington - 3/22/2002:
The above title was used to headline an article published on Wednesday, the same day we now learn the federal government was raiding Muslim homes and organizations in the Washington DC area. It's the way this is being done that should be of great concern to all Americans. Thus the importance of this first-hand and very credible account.



MUSLIM LEADERS, VICTIMS DENOUNCE FEDERAL RAIDS ON
HOMES, BUSINESSES AND INSTITUTIONS

By Ayesha Ahmad and Neveen Salem,
IOL Washington Staff

WASHINGTON, March 21 (IslamOnline) - It seemed like an
innocent delivery at first. At 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, a
deliveryman approached the home of Aysha Nudret Unus in
Herndon, Va., bearing an appliance, accompanied by another
man dressed in black.

An hour later, the man in black was banging at the door,
demanding, "Open the door!" in a very loud voice.

"All I could see was the man in a black jacket," Unus said,
speaking at a press conference on Thursday about her ordeal.
"I could see the barrel of the gun [through the peephole] of
the door."

Unus, an American citizen of Pakistani origin, yelled for her
19-year-old daughter, who was sleeping upstairs, to call 911
and "tell them someone is at the door with a gun."

Her daughter came downstairs and picked up the phone, but at
that point, the man broke down the door and entered the house,
pointing his gun at them. The two women are Muslim, and
because they were in their home, neither were wearing her
hijab - the Islamic head-covering women are required to wear
in front of non-related males.

The man ordered Unus' daughter to drop the phone, and raise
her hands. He then proceeded to handcuff them both, Unus said.
Not until they were handcuffed and seated were they told that
the man was an officer with a search warrant.

"I was actually relieved at the time," Unus said. "At least
they are government people."

The invasion of the Unus' home was part of a series of federal
raids conducted on Muslim homes and Muslim-owned businesses
and institutions on Wednesday in a search for information
based on alleged support for terrorist groups. Fourteen search
warrants were issued for the Northern Virginia region, and one
in Georgia; all the groups and individuals involved were
Muslim.

Publicly the Customs Agency, which helped conduct the raids
through the warrants issued by the U.S. District Court in
Alexandria, Va., was reported to have claimed that no one was
handcuffed during any of the raids.

Unus' husband, Dr. Iqbal Unus, is the dean of students at the
Graduate School of Islamic Social Sciences in Leesburg, Va.,
which was also raided on Wednesday. Both were present at the
press conference held Thursday at the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) on Capitol Hill.

Unus also told reporters how she and her daughter were both
photographed without their head-coverings, despite asking to
be allowed to cover themselves; after one officer attempted to
put the scarves on the two women, their handcuffs were removed
and replaced in front so that they could don the scarves
themselves.

When she showed her driver's license to the agents, they told
her it was fake, before they checked it out and found it to be
legitimate, she said.

"We feel the system has humiliated us," Unus said. "As
American citizens, we feel we deserved better."

The Unus's home was one of several others invaded; Laura
Jaghlit, also an American citizen and a schoolteacher in
Fairfax, Va., whose home was also raided, told reporters she
knew of at least six homes involved in the search.

Jaghlit, who came home on Wednesday afternoon to find her home
turned upside down and her 62-year-old husband speaking with
the supervisors of the federal agents who surrounded his house
earlier that day, denounced the raid on her home as
un-American and began to weep as she told her story.

"What happened to us yesterday was the most un-American thing
I have ever seen in my life," said Jaghlit, whose father
fought in World War II and whose brother died in the Vietnam
War.

Jaghlit told reporters that federal agents targeted their home
because of her and her husband's associations with
organizations listed on the search warrant; her family's
personal trust accounts were also mentioned in the warrant.

She told IslamOnline that agents told her family they "might
even find Osama bin Laden in the basement," when they searched
her house.

Muslim leaders at the press conference denounced the raids as
serious civil rights infringements and a "fishing expedition"
targeting Muslims and Arabs. Many expressed the concern that
the "war on terrorism" has become what some Muslims have been
saying all along - a war on Muslims.

"This is a sad day," said Mohamed Omeish, the president of
Success Foundation, a non-profit humanitarian relief agency
that was raided. "This war claims to be against terrorism, but
it is against Muslims and Arabs. The track record of this
administration does not show otherwise."

Louay Safi, director of research at the International
Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), said that the raid
shocked his organization; federal agents entered the building
around 10 a.m. and kept the staff confined in a room for
several hours without showing them the search warrant
initially.

"My organization is a research organization," Safi said. "We
are committed to reforming Islamic thoughtÖ and workingÖ to
integrate the Muslim community into the American system. We
are very much surprised and even shocked at agentsÖ looking
for terrorist support [in our offices]."

Safi told IslamOnline after the press conference that the
agents treated staff members like criminals.

"They were trying to intimidate us. They tried to take
people's pictures without individual warrants. Without those
warrants you cannot treat an individual like a criminal," Safi
told IslamOnline.

"The fact of the matter is that they [the agents] do not
realize that they are dealing with people who know their
rights," he continued.

Safi told the press conference that such measures would only
serve to further remove American Muslims from their community.
"This effort to fight terrorism is heading now in the wrong
direction," he said, decrying what he called the government's
"attempt to alienate even the most moderate Muslim voices."

Shaker El-Sayed, head of the National Muslim Leadership Summit
and of the American Muslim Foundation, whose offices were also
swept because of their proximity to those of Success, also
warned about the effects of the raids on the American Muslim
community.

"This is a blatant harassment of respected Islamic
institutions and families, and it sends a hostile and chilling
message to the American Muslim community and contradicts
President [George W.] Bush's repeated assertions that the war
against terrorism is not a conflict with Islam," he said.

Abdulwahab Alkebsi, executive director of the Washington-based
Islamic Institute, said that although his organization has
stood by the president in his war on terror, these raids
constitute harassment and raise serious civil rights concerns,
making American Muslims feel targeted.

"If such raids and targeting of Muslims continues, the
community will begin to feel as though they are part of the
problem when in fact they have always cooperated and vowed to
be a part of the solution," Alkebsi told IslamOnline after the
conference.

"The American Muslim community, as law abiding and patriotic
Americans are uniquely positioned to be able to help the
government, but such a blatant disregard for their civil
rights has made them victims twice overÖ once on September 11
and again now by our government."

Asked what the American Muslim community expects the U.S.
government's next steps should be, Alkebsi had harsh words for
U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, demanding that he assume
responsibility for the violations and put an immediate end to
the targeting of Muslims.

"Ashcroft must call for an immediate halt to the sledgehammer
approach to the 'war on terrorism'," he said.

He also called on Ashcroft to "stop the media circus," and to
explain why media officials were told about and "practically
invited" to the raids. IIIT staff also told IslamOnline that
at least one television station was close at hand when their
offices were raided.

A CAIR representative, Jason Erb, said that the destruction of
civil liberties was not needed for the sake of security,
calling the raids "a fishing expedition by federal authorities
using McCarthy-like tactics in a search for evidence of
wrongdoing that does not exist."

Alkebsi said the Federal Bureau of Investigation
"categorically" denied any involvement with the raids;
however, witnesses said that FBI agents were present, and
media reports on Wednesday said that FBI agents were part of a
team of about 150 law enforcement authorities who carried out
the raids.

El-Sayed told reporters at the press conference that the
Muslim groups were planning to meet to discuss the next step
for both the organizations and the individuals whose civil
rights were infringed upon. But he said that the government
had so far not been responsive, turning a "blind eye and a
deaf ear to our calls."

Erb, whose organization has been working for years as a
champion of Muslim civil rights, said that the raids were the
latest in a long line of measures that target Muslims and
Arabs, including anti-immigration laws and secret evidence.

"We're tired of telling people in the government that we don't
like [what's happening] and [then] not seeing any policy
changes," he said.

Other groups that were raided included the FIQH Council of
North America, a non-political religious organization which
gave a religious ruling in October in support of Muslims
joining the U.S. anti-terror effort, the Muslim World League,
the International Islamic Relief Organization, and twenty-two
other groups, including those mentioned above, some of which
shared office space with each other.

All of the organizations subjected to the raids are well known
and respected religious organizations in the U.S., as were the
individuals whose homes were raided, and all have time and
again denounced acts of terrorism. The organizations
represented at the press conference asserted their innocence
of the allegations stated in the warrant and reaffirmed their
stance against terrorism and the killing of innocent
civilians.

Muslim community leaders also stated that Friday's
congregational prayer services would focus on how to mobilize
American Muslims towards proactively seeking to ensure that
the civil rights of all persons living in the U.S. are
protected and enforced by the government.




A STATEMENT ABOUT THE RAID ON THE HOME AND
THE OFFICES OF DR. TAHA JABER AL-ALWANI

March 21, 2002:
As the director of Al-Hewar Center I share the concerns of
Arab and Muslim Organizations over Virginia Raids yesterday.
In particular, I wish to express my deep shock and dismay over
the raid of the home and the offices of Drs. Taha Jaber
Al-Alwani and Mona Abul-Fadl on March 20, 2002. Drs. Taha
Jaber Al-Alwani and Mona Abul-Fadl are well-known and deeply
respected throughout the community as moderate thinkers and
writers. They have been members of the Advisory Board of
Al-Hewar Center -- an organization dedicated to better
understanding among cultures and civilizations through
dialogue -- since it began 7 years ago.

Both of them have spoken at Al-Hewar Center on many occasions,
always calling for moderation and supporting the values and
principles of the American system. They have consistently
spoken out against extremism of all kinds.

It is unclear what the government seeks to accomplish by
treating such good American citizens and well-respected
thinkers with such disrespect. Punishing good people hardly
seems to be the direction in which the United States should
proceed.

We must not allow suspicion, ignorance, and unfounded
accusations to override our good sense or erode our
freedoms.

Drs. Taha Jaber Al-Alwani and Mona Abul-Fadl should be
accorded an immediate apology.

Sobhi Ghandour
Executive Director, Al-Hewar Center

Religion is the opiate of the masses. Womens' Catholic whatever, the Pope, the Rabbi, The Mufti.

God is man and man is god and however you want to call a hierarchical thought control structure, it is what it is.

"Religion is the opiate of the masses" to me means that often religion is used to pacify the masses and get them to hope and pray for the next life rather than improve this one.

But many religious movements have specifically aimed to improve this life.

Religion is a band-aid to cover up the wounds inflicted by structural inequalites.

Temporary 'fixes' afforded by some religious movements only prolong the disease and prevent the cure.

Thus, they do more harm than good by far. Our society is ill, revolution is the cure.

If "religion is a band-aid to cover up the wounds inflicted by structural inequalities", how do you explain religion and spirituality in egalitarian, anarchistic indigenous cultures?

The Catholic Worker movement and liberation theology, among many examples, do not seek temporary fixes.

Hi,
my name is Anarchical. I am an elitist hierarchical anti-hierarchy "anarchist" that thinks everyone that doesn't aggree with me is inferior. Therefore, i have to spam my views on a free service like IMC. Listen to me I am the one true knower of the true nature of the multidimensional and faceted religious experience that is part of thousands of cultures through out the world. of course all cultures that haven't had the european experience with heirarchical patriarchies are just in denial of their true fascist religious underpinning. so what it is a broad stereotype i project onto everything. live with it. I am right and you are wrong and all those terrorist muslims should be locked up because they are not me and should not be able to live freely. obviously all this talk of progressiveness is just a front and part of a terrorist plot to do in the movement that has not yet realized how right i am and how wrong everyone else is. anyone that stands up against oppression that is not in accordance with my tunnel vision is also worthy of disection.

sarcastically yours,

self righteous anarchical

Let's see... invective that I could read at freerepublic.com, some divisive cop-speak (that would be you, Daniel), and an "anarchist" who feels it's his/her place to tell other people that their thoughts and beliefs are wrong.

I'm tempted to do a search on a couple sites... I wonder... maybe the Hatred Patrol is just really hopped up on caffeine this morning.

Free Israel Religious Freedom Free Israel Religious Freedom Free Israel Religious Freedom Free Israel Religious Freedom Free Israel Religious Freedom Free Israel Religious Freedom Free Israel Religious Freedom Stop hate crimes against Jews Stop hate crimes against Jews Stop hate crimes against Jews Stop hate crimes against Jews Stop hate crimes against Jews Stop hate crimes against Jews Stop hate crimes against JewsFree Israel Religious Freedom Free Israel Religious Freedom Free Israel Religious Freedom Free Israel Religious Freedom Free Israel Religious Freedom Free Israel Religious Freedom Free Israel Religious Freedom Stop hate crimes against Jews Stop hate crimes against Jews Stop hate crimes against Jews Stop hate crimes against Jews Stop hate crimes against Jews Stop hate crimes against Jews Stop hate crimes against Jews