Myrtus

The Diary of Anne Frank - Free Download in Arabic

Apparently, other than in Morocco and Tunisia, most people in the Arab world have never heard of "The Diary of Anne Frank". 

This is kind of surprising to me, especially when, in most cases, the book is banned for political or ideological reasons.  You would think that's the more reason people would want to get a hold of it and pass it around, even if it's just out of curiosity, no?  Plus the fact that it's one of the most read books in the world!  I guess that's possible, but it looks like that's going to change now.

They say thousands of copies have been downloaded in Arab countries since it's been made available online free of charge by Aladdin Library about a year ago.

"Aladdin is the first multilingual, free online library in the world that offers its subscribers 24/7 access to an online collection of books translated for the first time into Arabic and Persian with the aim of enhancing mutual knowledge among peoples of different cultures and rejecting conflicts of memory, including all forms of Holocaust denial and trivialization. You can read every book cover to cover and – for the first time in an online library – you can download the entire book free of charge. The library allows subscribers to search each and every word of all of the books and articles in the collection.

The library is the result of a partnership that aims to create a network of non-governmental organizations, intergovernmental institutions and private publishers in Europe and in the Muslim world with the objective of providing a multilingual, reliable and free source of knowledge and information easily accessible on the Internet."

Anne Frank House reports: Islamophobia is on the rise in The Netherlands

The Anne Frank House and the Leiden University have conducted an interesting study on the recent developments of racism and extremism in The Netherlands and the report on their findings is out today.

Along with Islamophobia, extreme right-wing activism and Geert Wilders' Party of Freedom are also topping the list on their findings as the primary factors in the growing trend of hate-driven social change in The Netherlands.

The report goes into lengthy detail listing all possible aspects which may be contributing to the sudden changes towards extremism, but it does not discuss Islamophobia as a separate issue as it does in the case of right-wing extremism and Geert Wilders.  Instead, the report strongly hints Islamophobia when it goes into detail citing both, the law and several examples of Geert Wilders political statements regarding Islam and Muslims, in order to prove that what he's doing is in fact against the law and purely intended to incite hatred, racism and discrimination towards Muslims with his hate-filled political agenda.  However Geert Wilders cannot be charged with any crime he commits in this regard as long as he keeps making these hate-filled statements within the confines of parliament.  As a parliamentarian he is granted immunity when it comes to freedom of speech, which basically means he can say whatever he wants even if it's racist or incites to hatred.  As long as he doesn't do it in public, he is OK.

 

According to this report Geert Wilders and his Party of Freedom do not fit the profile of the typical right-wing xenophobic nationalists like Vlaams Belang (formerly known as Vlaams Blok) for instance, because he is not anti-Semitic.   In fact he's against all non-native Europeans, except Jews and he goes out of his way to make it known to the public.

Eighth monitor racism & extremism - the official Anne Frank House website

The problem of 'Islamophobia' in the Netherlands has grown considerably in the past year, not only in terms of negative public opinion towards Muslims but also in terms of the increased violence directed at this community and the growing tendency to turn a blind eye to crimes of expression aimed at them.

This is one of the most salient findings in the Racism & Extremism Monitor, a work published today that is part of the running scholarly study being carried out by Leiden University and the Anne Frank House.

Dutch Teacher Finds Christmas Card Written by Anne Frank

From YnetNews

A Dutch school director preparing an exhibition on Anne Frank found a Christmas postcard signed by the Jewish teenage diarist, the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam said Wednesday.

Maatje Mostard, of the museum, said the card was sent in 1937 and addressed to Samme Ledermann, one of Frank's best friends. It was postmarked from Aachen, a town just across the Dutch border in Germany.

The postcard, with a picture on the front of a Christmas-decorated bell in the foreground and a snow-covered field behind it, was signed 'Anne Frank' with no other handwritten message. Mostard said it was the second such card the museum had seen. "We know it's an original," she said.

The teacher, Paul van den Heuvel, found the Christmas greeting in a box of cards in the antique store owned by his father in the town of Naarden, 15 kilometers east of Amsterdam. Van den Heuvel was gathering material on Anne Frank for his school to mark Liberation Day, the May 5 anniversary of the end of German occupation, when he came across the card.

The museum was informed of the find Tuesday by a journalist. "I don't know what he will do with it. We hope we can get it for our collection," Mostard said.

The museum, which encompasses the small Amsterdam apartment where the Frank family hid from the Nazis for 25 months, has the largest collection of documents and papers on Anne Frank, whose diary is the most widely read book relating to the Holocaust.

Anne, her parents and sister and four other Jews hiding in the apartment were arrested in August 1944 and deported to Auschwitz. The sisters were later sent to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp where Anne died of typhus in March 1945, two weeks before the camp was liberated. She was 15.

Controversial Symbolism

What do YOU think of these images?

"Banned Frank"

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"Palestinian Jesus"

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Go see Martijn for the scoop on the conflicting symbolism.

Update 1/29:

Anne Frank postcard won't be withdrawn

The distribution in the Netherlands of a free postcard depicting Anne Frank wearing a Palestinian scarf will not be stopped, according to editor-in-chief Pascale Bosboom of Boomerang publishers.

She regards the card as a small work of art which encourages people to reflect on a peaceful solution for Israel and the Palestinians. However the Dutch Centre for Information and Documentation on Israel (CIDI) considers the card to be ‘a tasteless rewriting of history' and is calling for halt to its further distribution.

Muslim Anne Frank

You probably already heard of Iran's movie making of Muslim Jesus, but have you heard of Muslim Anne Frank yet?  Nah it's probably not what you think.

Martijn shares this Dutch news article about Asli Bayram, the Muslim girl who won the Miss Germany title in 2005, and now is making the headlines for playing a role as Anne Frank.

Sad News for Anne Frank's Tree

Anne Frank's tree to be axed next week

Anne Frank's chestnut tree is to be cut down next week - it had been granted a reprieve until January but it has been decided that it has to go a lot sooner.

It has now become so diseased that it is likely to topple over damaging the surrounding houses.

The tree was lovingly described by Anne Frank in the diary that she kept whilst hiding from the Nazi German occupation in World War II.

Pretty sad isn't it? 

You can still visit Anne Frank's virtual tree here and sign a leaf if you like.

Ahmadinejad Petition - almost there

Ahmadinejad Petition Thank you for signing the Ahmadinejad petition. Over 94,500 people have signed the petition. It will be presented to the International Court at the Hague once we reach 100,000 signatures. Click here to tell more friends. What's New at Aish.com And while you're at it... feel free to leave a leaf at the Anne Frank Tree here.

Petition to Indict Ahmadinejad

Found this little gem via Little Green Footballs.  Probably get blown off because of it but still I found it interesting.  A petition to the Hague against Ahmadinejad for the crime of inciting genocide.  Just think if the Hague actually considered the case and found him guilty?  Would make him visiting the UN a bit dicey.

Aish.com petition.

Of course the video gets a bit over the top by using Aushwitz in conjunction with the killing fields of Cambodia, Rawanda, and Darfur.  The 1948 UN Resolution on Genocide was created in response to Hitler's Final Solution of exterminating all the Jews.  And there were a few people in the 1930s who did see what was coming with Hitler, like Sir Winston Churchill, but were ignored.  So the passengers of the liner St. Louis and Anne Frank ended up in concentration camps to be slaughtered.  One would think human beings would learn this lesson by now, all this happening in the span of less than a century.  Lets prove we have learned the lesson.