Category Archives: Fundamentalism

Japan plans final push to bring home its war dead | Asia | DW.COM | 19.04.2016 Prelude to? Renewed Imperialism, Reconciliation, Uber-Nationalism?

More than 70 years after the end of World War II, the government announces plans to locate and repatriate 1.13 million Japanese who died on battlefields across the Asia-Pacific region. Julian Ryall reports.

Source: Japan plans final push to bring home its war dead | Asia | DW.COM | 19.04.2016

“There had been talks about joint recovery operations prior to the visit by the emperor and empress, but that trip did become something of a catalyst for more action,” said Charles Mitchell, the deputy chief of mission at the embassy of Palau in Tokyo.

Buried alive

On Peleliu, many of the Japanese defenders refused to surrender and so were simply buried in the tunnels that they had turned into a warren of interconnected fighting positions. Many of those tunnels have not been reopened to this day.

“We expect to be able to provide local knowledge of exactly where these caves are and where other remains might be, but there will also be a strong commitment to safety when recovery work begins,” Mitchell said. “We need to make sure that it is safe to enter these tunnels before we can start recovering remains.”

In May last year, a ceremony was held at Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery, built in 1959 to serve as the last resting place for the remains of unidentified Japanese repatriated from battlefields overseas, to inter the latest sets of remains.

Attended by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Prince Akishino and his wife, Princess Kiko, the remains of 2,498 soldiers killed in Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Russia were solemnly interred.

The Israeli Right’s historic ties to European fascism | +972 Magazine

The ties Likud is trying to build with extremist right-wing groups in Europe is an attempt to find common ground over both’s hatred for Islam. This way, Europe’s racist right wing is no longer considered anti-Semitic, while the Israeli Right gets more support for settlement building and the violence against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Likud, whose members often do not hesitate to label President Barack Obama an “anti-Semite,” does not think twice before it grants legitimacy to a racist political party. This is an alliance of hatred, which mocks the very idea of Israel’s war against global anti-Semitism. Unfortunately, Jewish-Israeli nationalism, as we have seen, did not shy from forming rotten alliances with the most deplorable groups. It continues to do so today. Noam Rotem is an Israeli activist, high-tech executive and author of the blog o139.org, subtitled “Godwin doesn’t live here any more.”

Source: The Israeli Right’s historic ties to European fascism | +972 Magazine

The New Ten Commandments:

1) Thou shall believe that “they” are the “Chosen” 2) If you see their numbers extremely over-represented in high positions of power and control thou shall not mention, except if it was to praise their “superior” IQ 3) If you become aware that they are “running the show” in the media thou shall only […]

https://nahidaexiledpalestinian.wordpress.com/2016/04/15/the-new-ten-commandments/

Agenzia Fides News

Cairo (Agenzia Fides) – If laws ban Muslim women from wearing the full veil (niqab), at that point, to avoid discrimination, we must also ban Christian women wearing necklaces with crosses. This – as reported by the Egyptian media – is the controversial comparative argument put forward in recent days by sheikh Ahmed Karima, a Sunni professor of al-Azhar University, to defend the use of the niqab by the growing mobilization of Egyptian organizations that are calling for the abolition in public places. In February, such campaigns achieved significant success, with the ban on wearing the full veil imposed on all women who work in the University hospital of Cairo.
According to scholar Karima, known as the Islamic Law expert (Sharia), such campaigns are an expression of a planned strategy put in place to hit the Islamic traditions of the Country, which risks fueling extremist reactions by radical Islamic groups. According to the sheikh, an eventual ban on wearing the full veil imposed by law to Muslim women should have in consideration the ban for Christian women to wear the cross.
For weeks, the scholar and other Islamic leaders are launching the alarm about the spread of “secularist” tendencies in Egypt which in their opinion aims to outlaw everything that expresses their belonging to Islam. Sheikh Karima reiterated that, in his view, the so-called “renewal of religious discourse”, wished for several times in Egypt also by President Abdel Fattah Sisi, will certainly not lead to the abolition of what is required by the Sharia, because Egypt is an “Islamic country” and “Islamic rituals must be respected”. (GV) (Agenzia Fides 14/04/2016)

Source: Agenzia Fides News

A state of Monologue: Terror or Resistance in Palestine

I can assure that every single Palestinian has lost his faith in any possible hope from the Palestinian authority, either by believing that they are helpless, and thus they cannot do anything, or because they believe that thye are in full collaboration with Israel, and their role is nothing but to give a hand to Israeli power.

On the Israeli level of the Palestinian life, when for the whole last year, and as a consequence of the brutal burning and killing of abu Khdeir, more coercion was authorized against Palestinians? Shooting, lynching and imprisoning remarkably targeted children. When restriction increased. Violations expanded. And on top of all, if I was a young Palestinian who wants to be part of a demonstration and I know that throwing a stone will send me to a life imprisonment, I may as well try to stab. The result is always one, either death or prison.

Palestinians reach to a level where full despair made them enter a closed tunnel where they know that the end is a crash that is fatal. With full realization. It could be revenge to the weak disappointing Palestinian authority that failed to meet the minimum of peoples demands, especially in such times when the people are directly targeted and not a single statement is made properly in levels with the situation.

When the Palestinian sees his friend, his neighbor, or the scenes of lynching the bleeding bodies of youngsters with no remorse and absolute inhumanity and fascist behaviors. What does the Israel expect?

My Israeli friend was telling me yesterday: “ do you think it is fair that I will be walking with my infant in the old city and get stabbed?” suddenly for her everything Arab became a red zone and dangerous, even though she lives in abu gosh an Arab town, that she insists they are an exception. They are what stand for the good Arabs in Hillel Cohen’s book “the Good Arabs”. For her the fear of every Arab became the norm. At that instant I could but see the norm of my very own life. She wouldn’t even understand what it means to be a mother in my situation, like all those mothers who have just lost their children thinking that they went to school or colleges, living with an eternal mourning on a child who was just names a martyr for an act that no one really knows if it happened or not, and in any norm, should it have cost him his life? She doesn’t realize that the moment my daughters leave the door of my home, I leave them with a chance of the absolute hideous fate of a Palestinian living under Israeli occupation. She doesn’t understand that if my daughter for any reason made a wrong move and stopped by an Israeli could be the next Palestinian “terrorist” in her eyes.

 

Reblogged on WordPress.com

Source: A state of Monologue: Terror or Resistance

Five years into ban, burqa divide widens in France | Europe | DW.COM | 10.04.2016

Roy says burqas were never popular in France. “The bulk of the Muslim population didn’t oppose the ban openly because they don’t ask for the freedom of the burqa,” Roy says. “There has been a feeling among people of Muslim origin, believers and nonbelievers, that the ban of the burqa is in fact part of pressure and attack against Islam as a religion.” France is home to the largest number of Muslims in Western Europe, with about 5 million. When the law went into effect, it was estimated that fewer than 2,000 women wore the full veil.

Source: Five years into ban, burqa divide widens in France | Europe | DW.COM | 10.04.2016

Turkey: Proposal to annul citizenship threatens fundamental rights – IFEX

In a speech on April 5, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that Turkey should counter supporters of terrorism by stripping them of Turkish citizenship. Erdoğan in recent months has accused academics, journalists, and lawyers critical of his policies of supporting terrorism and called for the legal definition of terrorism to be widened. Turkey is militarily fighting the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which the United States designates as a terrorist organization. Historically, the Turkish state has not distinguished either legally or politically between speech it considers in favor of the PKK or other terrorist organizations and actual membership in a terrorist organization. The Turkish government has also designated the Gülen movement as a terror organization.

Source: Turkey: Proposal to annul citizenship threatens fundamental rights – IFEX

no veil ,no testimony | nadiaharhash

My point was as simple as it still remains … There is a whole system of degrading women. The sharia law as applied under the name of God, and as a student of law and Islamic philosophy with modest knowledge on Islamic jurisdictions n accordance with Qur’an and pioneer jurists has nothing to do with this applied law of sharia. It is a collection of laws that are a mixture of Turkish, Arabic, and Israeli man enforced law for political gains in overpowering who ever or whatever, and the women seem to be the easiest scapegoats. In a patriarchal structure as such, it is no wonder that the laws are all designed to maintain men power over women, and make sure that a man is always given the just treatment he is entitled to have due his supremacy. After all he is the family “god”. There is something in the system that we women allowed. Whether voluntarily or by force I really don’t know. Changing it is not by condemning an act or two or some. It is by changing it all from the core. And this change can only happen if women are sitting on the same table with men defining and articulating that law. Objecting to a woman’s testimony with a veil or not is not a surprise. Veil is becoming a code dress to societies in the Middle East. A woman can be prostitute and still wearing a veil. Veil is actually becoming a veil to women’s restricted movement. A veiled woman has more access to freedom than that who is not. The controversy and the paradox in describing or comparing veiled with unveiled is also an extreme one. There is no middle way in the comparison. Wearing a veil makes a woman part of the social wanted structure. Not wearing it makes her an infidel. Or as close to one. This should take me to different level of the story … But I will leave it here for now …

Source: no veil ,no testimony | nadiaharhash

′Erdogan wants to silence all opposition media′ | Europe | DW.COM | 08.03.2016

For Dundar, Turkey’s government is leading the country down a road that leads ever further toward authoritarian rule. The European Union, he says, is easing the way. Watch video01:34 Black

Watch video01:34 Black day for democracy in Turkey

“The attitude and stance of Europe is a great concern,” Dundar said. “The refugee crisis is clearly very serious but I’m afraid the EU is accepting Turkey’s abuses of basic rights and press crackdowns because of it – they are engaged quite comfortably in dirty bargaining on this.” “Europe should not be surrendering its fundamental values and condoning abuses of human rights in Turkey because of the refugee crisis.” Now, Dundar is recuperating ahead of his trial. Perhaps fittingly, it will be a closed hearing. Asked whether, in light of the state takeover of Zaman, he fears for the future of his newspaper Dundar responded: “Nothing would be a surprise anymore, but somehow I don’t think so. For me, however, Erdogan will do his best to put me away.”

Source: ′Erdogan wants to silence all opposition media′ | Europe | DW.COM | 08.03.2016