Category Archives: Fundamentalist terror

Afghan film star in French exile after death threats – The Local

“It’s very important that no-one recognises Marina,” said Azizi, who locks his wife in the room every time he leaves to make sure no one gets to her and carries out the death sentence passed by conservative imams a world away. To avoid detection, Golbahari remains tightly veiled in public — a cruel twist in the tale, given the way their nightmare began. “When you are an actor or actress in Afghanistan, or part of a film, you are accused of being an infidel, you are always in danger,” said Siddiq Barmak, the director of “Osama”, who also became a refugee in France a year ago. Since the withdrawal of most international forces from Kabul in mid-2014, a wave of religious conservatism has washed over the country — “and not only from the Taliban”, said Barmak. Nearly 3,700 civilians died in the ongoing conflict last year according to the UN — a record for the past decade. The increase in violence has sparked a fresh exodus from the country, particularly among Kabul’s middle-class liberals. Golbahari’s appearance at the Korean film festival coincided with two major events in the city of Kunduz — its temporary seizure by the Taliban and the bombing by US forces of a Doctors Without Borders hospital. Around the same time a local-language BBC channel also screened “Osama”. Back in her dank room, Golbahari sees little hope. “Before, I dreamed of the future,” she said. “Now I think only of the past.”

Source: Afghan film star in French exile after death threats – The Local

Japanese MPs visit Tokyo war shrine, China and South Korea displeased

Japanese members of parliament visited a Tokyo war shrine Friday. The ritual will no doubt anger China and South Korea, with memories of Japan’s military record still very raw.

(and the relative of hundreds of thousands of people in South East Asia, US, Australia, New Zealand… of service people who died at the hands of Japanese lead by a government bent on enslaving peoples for their fascist government’s advantage.)

Source: Japanese MPs visit Tokyo war shrine, China and South Korea displeased

» Safe Home

No home is safe for me. Always I am in danger.

Where is my safe home?
I am not safe anywhere.
My father abuses me,
My brother scorns me,
My husband disrespects me,
For the crime of being female!

My penalty is to be hated,
Hated simply for being female,
Hated for being a daughter,
Hated for being a sister,
Hated for being a wife.

No home is safe for me.
Always I am in danger.
I want a safe home,
But that home will come
Only after my death.

That home will be my grave.
I will live without fear,
I will sleep soundly,
I will go into darkness,
Safe at last.

By Nasrin

Source: » Safe Home

» Live Today

What if I die tomorrow?
Nothing is so easy.
I don’t live in yesterday
because it is gone.
I don’t live in the future
because it is not here yet.
It will come, whether I am alive or not
I live today. It is the moment!
Live today,
Not the regrets of yesterday,
Not the worries of tomorrow…
Enjoy the moment,
The smile, the tea, the food,
The dance, the song, the walk
Enjoy the love and existence.
Live in today
Forget yesterday and tomorrow.
They are gone or not here yet.

By Raha

Source: » Live Today

Kurdish commander: European jihadists plan new attacks – Radio Sweden | Sveriges Radio

European jihadists are the most ruthless fighters within the terrorist group the Islamic State and they have formed special units that focus on carrying out terrorist attacks in Europe, says the commander-in-chief of the female Kurdish forces in northern Syria. “European jihadist who join IS become key figures in the organisation. They become professional terrorists,” says Nasrin Abdullah, who is visiting Sweden this week. “A majority of the suicide bombers and decapitators that we see have been selected from the European recruits.” Abdullah heads the YPJ, the Kurdish Women’s Protection Units in northern Syria. Recently, the Kurds have made significant advances in the region, and have managed to reclaim large areas of land from the Islamic State, also known as IS.  But they have paid a high price. Abdullah has lost more than 500 soldiers in the fight against IS over the past two years, and she says IS has far-reaching plans to carry out further attacks in Europe. “IS has formed special units to attack Europe. To a large degree those units are made up of jihadist who have joined from Europe,” Abdullah tells Radio Sweden.

Source: Kurdish commander: European jihadists plan new attacks – Radio Sweden | Sveriges Radio

Bangladesh Activist Is Killed After Criticizing Militants – The New York Times

Witnesses said a group of cleanshaven men surrounded Mohammad Nazim Uddin, a law student, around 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday and slashed his head, then shot him when he fell to the ground, said Syed Nurul Islam, the deputy commissioner of police for Wari, the area of Old Dhaka where the killing took place. Mr. Uddin, 26, was an atheist who frequently expressed his views on Facebook, often posting as many as five times a day. His family had asked him to stop, fearful that the posts would make him a target, and for about four months, ending in January, he had complied, said Gulam Rabbi Chowdhury, a childhood friend. “To tell the truth, he was always a little detached from his family; he had trouble with them because of his views on religion,” he said. “He was very outspoken. He didn’t worry about whether you were with him or not.” Mr. Uddin’s killing deepens the sense of dread among those campaigning for secular causes, said Mr. Chowdhury, an official in a regional chapter of the Communist Party of Bangladesh.

Source: Bangladesh Activist Is Killed After Criticizing Militants – The New York Times

The April 5: The Day that shook the South and its legacy – Groundviews {Textbook Ethno-Racism}

On the 5th April 1971 midnight the revolution began in earnest and it was confined to the areas where the Sinhalese lived. The simultaneous attacks on   police stations went in line with the plan that had been drawn up years before as part of the revolutionary strategy. Between 187-89 the JVP’s armed wing murdered left wing leaders and also trade unionists and activists. Built on a foundation of Sinhalese chauvinism it remains hostile to dissenting political opinions and even the existence of human beings within Sri Lanka of other cultures and religions. This exclusionary nationalism is deeply embedded in the JVP’s DNA, marking their political practice even today. It leaves them with the dubious and contradictory position of upholding majoritarian ethnic nationalism while at the same time adhering to a  ‘proletarian internationalism’. Their answer to the great question of post-Independence Sri Lankan politics, the rights of ethnic minorities is simply to wait for the socialist revolution.  Their political vision is untouched by the need to widen their electoral coalition, persuade voters or make any compromises with the real problems and challenges facing Sri Lankan people. Dissecting the JVP’s ideological and political articulation explains why.

Source: The April 5: The Day that shook the South and its legacy – Groundviews

Security for Turkey′s Erdogan scuffles with journalists in Washington | News | DW.COM | 31.03.2016

The National Press Club condemned the incident. “Turkey’s leader and his security team are guests in the United States,” Thomas Burr, the group’s president, said in statement. “They have no right to lay their hands on reporters or protesters or anyone else for that matter, when the people they were apparently roughing up seemed to be merely doing their jobs or exercising the rights they have in this country.” Turkey is under mounting international criticism over press freedom and free speech. Journalists are regularly physically harassed, arrested, censured and taken to court for reporting. The media landscape is dominated by pro-government mouthpieces as the government takes control of some of the few remaining opposition media outlets.

Source: Security for Turkey′s Erdogan scuffles with journalists in Washington | News | DW.COM | 31.03.2016

ISIS Turns Saudis Against the Kingdom, and Families Against Their Own – The New York Times

BURAIDA, Saudi Arabia — The men were not hardened militants. One was a pharmacist, another a heating and cooling technician. One was a high school student. They were six cousins, all living in Saudi Arabia, all with the same secret. They had vowed allegiance to the Islamic State — and they planned to kill another cousin, a sergeant in the kingdom’s counterterrorism force. And that’s what they did. In February, the group abducted Sgt. Bader al-Rashidi, dragged him to the side of a road south of this central Saudi city, and shot and killed him. With video rolling, they condemned the royal family, saying it had forsaken Islam. Then they fled into the desert. The video spread rapidly across the kingdom, shocking a nation struggling to contain a terrorist movement seen as especially dangerous not just because it promotes violence, but also because it has adopted elements of Saudi Arabia’s intolerant version of Islam — a Sunni creed known as Wahhabism — and used them to delegitimize the monarchy. “Wahhabism is fundamental to the Islamic State’s ideology,” said Cole Bunzel, a scholar of Wahhabi history at Princeton University and the author of a recent paper on Saudi Arabia and the Islamic State. “It informs the character of their religion and is the most on-display feature, in my opinion, of their entire ideology.” Among 20 terrorist episodes in Saudi Arabia since late 2014, the killing of Sergeant Rashidi was the third in which citizens had secretly joined the Islamic State and killed relatives in the security services. In each case, they justified their acts by saying Saudi Arabia practiced a corrupted version of the faith, a charge aimed at a kingdom that holds itself up as the only true Islamic state.

Source: ISIS Turns Saudis Against the Kingdom, and Families Against Their Own – The New York Times

ASIA/SINGAPORE – The Mufti of Singapore to the Archbishop: “the massacre in Lahore is against Islam”

Singapore – The terrorist attack in Lahore, which targeted civilians indiscriminately, “is not only against Islamic teachings, but it is also an attack against all humanity”: is what the Muslim leader in Singapore, mufti Mohamed Fatris Bakaram said in a letter of condolence sent to the island’s Catholic Archbishop, Mgr. William Goh.The letter, sent to Fides, condemned the criminal act which killed 73 people and over 300 were injured in Lahore on Easter Sunday: “We strongly condemn the attack in Lahore and express our deepest condolences to the families of all the victims. We must join together to tell our clear horror of such acts of inhumanity”. The mufti specifies that “it is unjustifiable to attack another human being just because they have a different faith”, recalling that the attack was “an act of inhumanity and an affront to the people who believe in the values of compassion and peaceful coexistence”. This is “a serious error towards peace and inter-religious harmony, promoted by Islam”.On the same day the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore condemned the acts of violence committed in the name of Islam around the world, including attacks in Istanbul, Jakarta, in Syria, in Ankara, Brussels, as well as in Lahore. “We are saddened and outraged by such cruelty”, the Council said. “Along with all Muslims and all the inhabitants of Singapore, we express closeness and solidarity to the families of all the victims of these senseless tragedies” wrote the Council in a statement.

Source: ASIA/SINGAPORE – The Mufti of Singapore to the Archbishop: “the massacre in Lahore is against Islam”