Al Spittoon | Heresy is another word for freedom of thought

Pakistan the Oppressor

By Guest | Published: January 30, 2010

This is a guest post by human rights campaigner, Peter Tatchell. It was first published on CiF.

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A series of massacres of peaceful protesters by Pakistani security forces look set to sink hopes of a settlement deal between the government in Islamabad and Baloch nationalists who are campaigning for self-rule. There are fears that the sinister, shadowy Pakistani military and intelligence agencies are behind these killings, in a deliberate attempt to sabotage the reconciliation package put forward by the government of President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.

On 15 January, at least two Baloch political activists were shot dead and four others seriously wounded after Pakistani security forces opened fire on a peaceful, lawful protest organised by the Baloch Students Organization (BSO) in the Khuzdar district of Balochistan.

Posted in International Affairs, Islamism, Terrorism | 1 Comment

“well, they’re a bit extreme, but they do such good work bringing people back to judaism!”

By bananabrain | Published: January 29, 2010

david t from harry’s place forwarded me this cartoon by eli valley, whose satirical strips appear monthly in the leading us jewish magazine “the forward”.

scary kiruv cartoon

on reading it, i didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. on one hand, it’s a caricature of the position of the kiruv (“outreach”) organisations, but on the other hand, once you start digging into their theology, their internal politics, their fundraising activities and their influence on the jewish community and israeli politics, it’s hard not to find them scary.

Posted in Entryism, Freedom of Expression, Identity Politics, Interfaith, Jewish Extremism, Obscurantism, Politics, Sectarianism | 57 Comments

Questions for Daud Abdullah

By Guest | Published: January 29, 2010

This is a cross-post by Shiraz Maher from Standpoint Magazine.

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So the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) is back in with government. It was not all that long ago that the Department for Communities and Local Government cut ties with the group after its Deputy Secretary General, Daud Abdullah, signed the Istanbul declaration which you can read in full here.

Framed as a ‘statement’ addressed to ‘all rulers and peoples concerning events in Gaza’, it condemns those who have ‘given up the choice of jihad in the way of Allah as an effective means in defeating the occupation’.

The document did not stop there. It also issued a number of ‘legal judgements’ which include:

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Friday Caption Competition – 29/01/2010

By Effendi | Published: January 29, 2010

This week we return to an old favourite here at the Spittoon, Azad Ali. Last night we received some fantastic news about Ali. Even the most litigant friendly of libel judges, Mr Justice Eady, could not find in his favour when he tried to sue the Mail on Sunday after they exposed his writings in support of killing British troops in Iraq. In fact, Eady said Ali’s case displayed “an absence of reality”.

Someone should send him to the stocks…oh!

Posted in Caption Competition | 10 Comments

Awlaki on Amnesty International

By Guest | Published: January 28, 2010

This is a cross-post of an article by habibi of Harry’s Place

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Amnesty International UK has promoted Moazzam Begg of Cageprisoners for years, right up to a Downing Street publicity stunt earlier this month.

Begg and Cageprisoners in turn have promoted al Qaeda preacher Anwar al Awlaki. Just two weeks ago Begg was still defending him, with this laughable line about what happened after Awlaki’s detention in Yemen in 2006 and 2007:

After his release, I am told, Anwar’s position on issues pertaining to US foreign policy had started to become more hostile.

Begg continues:

A cursory look at Awlaki’s pre-incarceration lectures would clearly show just why he became so popular. He was not a radical ‘preacher of hate’ by any stretch of the imagination.

Posted in Islamism, Terrorism | 7 Comments

Israel’s religious system will bring to its demise

By Guest | Published: January 28, 2010

This is a cross-post of an article from Haaretz by Sefi Rachlevsky, author of ‘The Messiah’s Donkey’, the best-seller which critiqued the Jewish Orthodox establishment.

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“A Bag of Fibs,” the classic collection of tall tales from the pre-state Palmach militia, tells of a truck driver sent from Tel Aviv to deliver a water cistern to Jerusalem. During the steep approach to the city, at Sha’ar Haggai, he slams on the brakes and the tank slips off the truck. While backing up in order to reload the tank, he falls in and drowns. Israel’s cistern is the religious autonomy that has grown within it.

In 1985 I spoke on Army Radio with Moshe Unna, then a leader of the National Religious Party and of the Religious Kibbutz Movement, which had created a world in which mixed dancing and egalitarian, socialist culture were taken for granted. In the middle of the interview, Unna suddenly grew quiet and began to cry. Eventually he said meekly that when he tried to speak to his own party, Haim Druckman would shout him down until the veteran MK was silent.

Posted in Jewish Extremism | 22 Comments

Dr Daud Abdullah’s Open Letter to Secretary of State, John Denham

By Guest | Published: January 27, 2010

This is an open letter from Daud Abdullah.

You can read the Istanbul Declaration (pdf) here.

Monday 25th January 2009

Middle East Monitor, London

Mr John Denham MP
Secretary of State
Communities and Local Government
Eland House
Bressenden Place
London
SW1E 5DU

22nd January 2010

Dear Secretary of State,

Re: Dr Daud Abdullah

I am taking this opportunity to write to you after the appearance of several articles about my signing the Istanbul Declaration in the national media among them the Daily Telegraph and the Jewish Chronicle which quote an official statement from your Department as saying,

“We still have concerns about the uncertainty of Daud Abdullah’s personal position on this issue. Until he is able to provide the clarification that we have always been seeking we will not be engaging with him.”

Posted in Islamism | 28 Comments

Reza Pankhurst Responds

By Guest | Published: January 27, 2010

This is a guest post by Raziq

Reza has now produced a written response to the articles which appeared in The Times recently claiming that he was a member of Hizb ut Tahrir. It makes for very interesting and sometimes amusing reading. He says:

When applying to the LSE, I made it clear who I was and the views I was persecuted for in Egypt, and my hope that I could add a different voice and angle within academic circles that is mostly absent in a highly politicised field currently being filled largely by anti-terrorism careerists rather than serious research.

How dare the field be filled with ‘anti-terrorism careerists’, surely we need more HT-careerists eager to promote HTs insane ideology. It gets worse:

Posted in Islamism | 2 Comments

Islam Channel chief Harrath Arrested on Terror Claims

By Abdul Hamid al Manchesteri | Published: January 26, 2010

From the Times:

The head of the Islam Channel, Britain’s most popular Muslim television station, has been arrested in South Africa and faces deportation to Tunisia over terrorism allegations.

The Times disclosed more than a year ago that Mohamed Ali Harrath, a Scotland Yard adviser against Islamic extremism, was wanted by Interpol because of his alleged activities in his homeland. His arrest on Sunday after a flight from London is being blamed by supporters on a security clampdown by the South African authorities in the run-up to this summer’s World Cup.

Posted in Islamism, Terrorism | Tagged Islam Channel | 13 Comments