Myrtus

Is Europe's Far Right Revival Nazism?

In today's Los Angeles Times, human rights professor, Ian Buruma, stipulates that Europe's far right revival should not be confused with Nazism because its practitioners use nonviolent, democratic means to foster their goals. I do not really agree with his assessment. It may not yet be official, in-your-face Nazism, but it sure smells like something is festering; and it won't be content until it does its worst. There is a history all over the world where certain political groups use democratic means to foster undemocratic ideals and policies, and once they get in power, violence often follows. I do not trust groups who go on the march to gain power for themselves while demanding others be stripped of theirs. It is one thing to demand to be integrated into the system. It's another to demand others be disenfranchised from it.

All that said, I do think Buruma makes a good point that political elitism is a catalyst for social angst. And, although he doesn't say it outright, he basically stipulates that political correctness that does not come in accordance with viable social policies creates backlash and a variety of social problems.

Basically, this is one solid way to create hate, but that is exactly what it is.

From today's LA Times:

Opinion
Europe's far-right revival isn't Nazism
Much of the support for the right-wing parties springs from a resentment of long-ruling political elites.
By Ian Buruma
October 3, 2008

Two far-right parties, the Austrian Freedom Party and the Movement for Austria's Future, managed to win 29% of the vote in Sunday's general elections in Austria. This is double what they got in the elections of 2006.

Both parties share the same attitudes toward immigrants, especially Muslims, and the European Union: a mixture of fear and loathing. Because the leaders of the two parties, Heinz-Christian Strache and Jorg Haider, can't stand each other, there is little chance of a far-right coalition actually taking power.

Nonetheless, this is Adolf Hitler's native land, where Jews were once forced to scrub the streets of Vienna with toothbrushes before being deported and killed, so the result is disturbing. The question is: How disturbing?

Twenty-nine percent is about 15% more than populist right-wing parties usually get even in very good (for them) years in other European countries. Strache, leader of the Freedom Party, wants the government to create a new ministry to manage the deportation of immigrants. Muslims are openly disparaged by leaders of both parties. Haider once praised the employment practices of Hitler's Third Reich. Inevitably, the new rightists bring back memories of storm troopers and race laws.

Yet to see the rise of the Austrian right as a revival of Nazism would be a mistake. For one thing, neither party is advocating violence, even if some of their rhetoric might inspire it. For another, it seems to me that voters backing these far-right parties may be motivated less by ideology than by anxieties and resentments that are felt in many European countries, including ones with no Nazi tradition, such as the Netherlands and Denmark.

In Denmark, the hard-right Danish People's Party is the third-largest party in the country, with 25 parliamentary seats. Dutch populists such as Rita Verdonk, or Geert Wilders, who is driven by a paranoid fear of "Islamization," are putting the traditional political elites -- a combination of liberals, social democrats and Christian democrats -- under severe pressure.

And this is precisely the point. The biggest resentment among supporters of the right-wing parties in Europe these days is reserved not so much for immigrants as for political elites that, in the opinion of many, have been governing for too long in cozy coalitions, which appear to exist chiefly to protect vested interests.

Read the rest here ...

Fighting Hate with Hate

It's really upsetting when people insist on combatting hate with their own hate, so that around and around they go bashing each other back and forth without any real change. It seems that so many people think they get a special dispensation to hate entire groups of people in order to suit their own agenda and make a point. Uh ... wrong.

The entire process has gotten so corrupt ... how frustrating.

Check this out ... some dude named "Urban Infidel" has photos of the anti-Ahmadinejad rally in NYC. And yes, it is true that AJ is a renowned hatemonger. His presence should be protested, and his views thoroughly rejected, but not with stupid, blanket bigotry, hello!

This is not how one protests a real and obvious hate monger. This is how one perpetuates negative stereotypes against Muslims. Enough!

Taught to Hate

How much do you want to bet the vast majority of these people have never met an American or an Israeli in their lives, and know next to nothing about either society except what has been indoctrinated into their minds? They are just taught to hate. It's very sad really, and intolerable. This is not Islam's purpose, and whoever says it is is a liar. Ramadan is about spiritual cleansing, not politically-inspired hatred. This is just so wrong.

This is not just about hating the USA and Israel, it's also about abusing Islam and turning it into something it is not. These are Pakistanis following the Iranian government by commemorating that government's overly politicized and non-spiritual "al-Quds Day" on the last Friday of Ramadan. Do these people look renewed, rejuvenated, and reconnected to G'd? No. But they are supposed to be.

Going out of your way to hate people you have never met or had conflict with during a time of spirital cleansing? Unbelievable.

Enough already!

From Reuters

Watching Wales and Others

Yesterday I went out into the Pacific Ocean along California's southern coast to look at whales. It was one of the most amazing experiences to see them up close ... so huge, so graceful, and so peaceful. We were hoping to see dolphins too, but unfortunately, they weren't around. We did see other sea mammals in their natural habitat though.

The next time Myrtus comes to L.A., this is what we're gonna go and do.

   

Here (below), you can see the whale's back in the bottom of the photo:

Lebanese Government Celebrates Return of Child Murderer

It looks the Lebanese government, which of course includes Hizb'allah, has chosen to celebrate the return of a maniac who personally bashed in the head of a four year old little girl rather than maturely receive their people back from their prisoner swap with Israel. Hmm ... well, I guess rolling out the red carpet for a sociopath merely to enjoy a juvenile celebration of "gotcha!" is at least one thing Siniora and Nasrallah can agree on, n'est-ce-pas? Let's call it ... hate-motivated coexistence.

I gotta say something else too. It's really so very ... nerdy. Seriously, grow up. Are they kidding?

Nasrallah: "Sammy. Duuuuuuude, you killed a four year old ... coooooool. That musta been awesome to watch ... I could just imagine ... there musta been like ... brains oozing?"

Siniora: "Heh heh heh ... yeah ... brains oozing ..."

Excuse me but these guys are old enough to be grandparents yet they act like they're in middle school. If anyone from Lebanon has video of Siniora and Nasrallah ^5ing and giving each other a chest bump because they got a criminal back on their soil (hello? How dumb are they for being glad about that?), please send it to us here at Myrtus. However, don't be surprised if we're not surprised.

I have no doubt the good people of Lebanon, many of them our friends, are outraged and disgusted that they are represented by so-called leaders with "morals" like this. WTF? I am so sorry for you all. Change please, and I don't mean four quarters for a dollar.

Welcome to the politics of gutter hatred where no life is sacrosanct, and spilling the blood of innocent children is cause for governmental celebration. I don't care what your political agenda is, some things are beyond humanity.

A convicted killer who shot an Israeli father in front of his four-year-old daughter then bashed her head against a rock until she was dead has been released to Lebanon as part of a controversial prisoner swap between Israel and Hizbollah.

He was greeted with a red-carpet welcome at the Lebanese border, with Hizbollah officials and well-wishers present, and then delivered to Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport by presidential helicopter, where he was greeted by the new Lebanese president, Michel Suleiman, the prime minister, Fouad Siniora, and parliamentary speaker, Nabih Berri.

And, just so you know, they are celebrating the guy responsible for the deaths of ALL the people in this photo, which was taken one week before Kuntar made it one of their last:

Some hero. Thanks for the government accountability.

Read it and get nauseated here

The Emerging Interfaith Youth Movement

This was written by Eboo Patel, on his blog, The Faith Divide.

Two weeks ago, about 75 leaders and stakeholders of the emerging interfaith youth movement gathered at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) in an event co-organized by my organization, the Interfaith Youth Core, to discuss the shape and future of what we are about.

The core idea of our movement is simple: Religious diversity can either unite us or divide us, and the direction we go on this key issue will be largely determined by young people.

There are at least five intersecting trends which create the context for the interfaith youth movement.

1) The youth bulge
2) The religious revival
3) The breakdown in traditional socio-economic patterns
4) The increased frequency and intensity of interaction between people from different backgrounds
5) The growth in numbers and power of civil society forces

One of the remarkable things about the gathering at USIP was the diversity of stakeholders represented.

Read the rest here ...

There are at least five intersecting trends which create the context for the interfaith youth movement.

1) The youth bulge
2) The religious revival
3) The breakdown in traditional socio-economic patterns
4) The increased frequency and intensity of interaction between people from different backgrounds
5) The growth in numbers and power of civil society forces

One of the remarkable things about the gathering at USIP was the diversity of stakeholders represented.

Egypt's Facebook Showdown

It seems pretty clear that the internet is paving the way to social change and the development of democratic institutions in the Middle East. I am posting the entire opinion piece here, written by Sherif Mansour of Freedom House, because the L.A. Times sometimes requires registration to read its articles.

Right now, the government of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is considering blocking Facebook, the social networking website that has become a popular hangout for twentysomethings worldwide and a favorite venue for Egypt's disaffected youth. The reason: In April, one group of young citizens mobilized 80,000 supporters to protest rising food prices. Facebook networking played a crucial role in broadening support and turnout for an April 6 textile workers' strike and protest.

The Egyptian government, which has governed for 25 years under emergency law and doesn't allow more than five people to gather unregistered, hit back hard, jailing young dissidents and torturing Ahmed Maher, a young activist who tried, unsuccessfully, to organize a second demonstration in early May.

Despite these setbacks, the "Facebook movement" in Egypt is significant for several reasons. First, it challenges the perception that there is no prospect for independent, secular opposition in the country. The majority of Egyptians are under 30 and have known no other ruler than Mubarak. They have not seen real political parties because the government has long restricted opposition parties and free media. The Facebook movement engaged large numbers of youth for the first time.

Second, the Web offers a safe political space -- a role the mosque has traditionally played in Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood has for decades been the only viable opposition. With Facebook, young secular people can communicate, build relationships and express their opinions freely. (Significantly, the Muslim Brotherhood opposed the successful April demonstration but supported the unsuccessful May event.) Every member in the 100,000-strong online community could be, at any given moment, a leader of a movement.

Third, engaging Egypt's youth is an important item on the agenda of Mubarak's son, Gamal, as he works to gain support for his succession to power. As a young politician, Gamal established the Future Generation Foundation in 2000, which incubated many of the current leaders of the ruling National Democratic Party and the new Cabinet. Facebook activists and their supporters should be able to turn to this group for support. A few weeks ago, Belal Diab, a 20-year-old college student, interrupted one of the Egyptian prime minister's speeches to protest the arrests of Facebook activists, shouting: "Look who are you fighting; it is us, the younger generation who stood with you and supported you!"

Nevertheless, Facebook activists are being targeted by government-based media campaigns defaming the website and the youth activists who use it. The government also warns media not to talk about the phenomenon. I saw the heavy-handed efforts of the government while recording a TV show with Maher. During the taping, Egyptian police broke into the studio, threatened the station manager and forced the guest outside the room.

What can be done to help this movement? The international community and the U.S. government should pressure the Egyptian government to support Internet freedom and keep Facebook accessible to Egyptians. One young activist, Ahmad Samih, is campaigning to gain local and international support to prevent the Egyptian government from blocking Facebook. So far, nearly 20 Egyptian human rights organizations are supporting this cause. International human rights organizations should publicly join in that show of support.

Egyptian democrats are "Facebooking" their advocacy in order to escape heavy recriminations. It would be shameful for the international community not to stand up on their behalf against a government that seeks to deny them even that small space to express themselves. Otherwise, Mubarak's self-fulfilling prophesy as the only alternative to the Muslim Brotherhood will continue to hold Egypt back from the democracy its people deserve.

Sherif Mansour works at Freedom House, a human rights organization that has been monitoring political rights and civil liberties in Egypt since 1972. He can be reached at smansour@freedomhouse.org.

A Homemade Peace in the Mideast

Recent talks mediated by Qatar, Turkey and Saudi Arabia suggest the region is assuming responsibility for its own stability.

I'm posting the entire article here because you may have to register with the L.A. Times to read it on their site.

You know something interesting is happening in the Middle East when a major peace agreement is brokered by Qatar. This tiny emirate (population 900,000) has accomplished what the United States, France, the United Nations and the Arab League failed to do: get Lebanon's chronically feuding factions to agree to a deal that will at least give the country a temporary government and allow Qataris and other Gulf Arabs to spend their summer in Beirut without worrying about being caught in another civil war.

Americans who have followed the Middle East for decades and lost any optimism that the region can ever resolve its chronic conflicts should feel good for a change about what is happening these days. Instead of complaining about a lack of U.S. leadership (or evenhandedness), the region is trying to solve problems on its own.

While Qatar was pacifying Lebanon, Turkey was attempting to mediate a peace agreement between Syria and Israel. That effort, which has been going on for months, is a long shot, and its initial progress may have more to do with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's desire to distract attention from corruption charges against him than any real prospect of Israel withdrawing from the Golan Heights. But it also reflects Israel's recognition that it cannot afford to wait for a new U.S. administration to breach a tightening circle of hostility formed by Hamas, a Lebanon in which Hezbollah has veto power and a Syria in the arms of Tehran.

Meanwhile, Saudi King Abdullah has invited former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani to an "Islamic dialogue conference" in Mecca at the end of June. Even as they exchange hostile rhetoric, Saudi Arabia and Iran also have been talking about trying to ease Sunni-Shiite tensions in Lebanon and Iraq. Saudi Arabia also has tried to mediate between Fatah and Hamas in the Palestinian territories, as has Yemen, not exactly known as a diplomatic powerhouse. Egypt, a durable diplomatic heavyweight, has been working for months to arrange a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel.

These developments are not an argument for U.S. neglect. Ultimately, the United States needs to be involved in the region, if for nothing else to guarantee Israel's security. A U.S. imprimatur for peace deals, if not a signing ceremony on the White House lawn, can only be for the good. But what the Bush administration has inadvertently shown is that a policy of neglect and choosing sides -- seeking to isolate those one does not like -- can produce unforeseen good results by forcing other countries to act as mediators.

Perhaps after all the war and bloodshed between Arabs and Israelis, Americans and Arabs, Persians and Arabs, and Arabs and Arabs, the Middle East is collectively saying: Enough.

Barbara Slavin is a senior fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace and the author of "Bitter Friends, Bosom Enemies: Iran, the U.S. and the Twisted Path to Confrontation."

Morocco To Pay Parents To Send Their Kids To School

This MUST become a primary issue for Moroccans everywhere! Please don't make me state the obvious again ... why this has to rise to the forefront of Moroccan outreach.

Morocco is to pay parents to send children to schools in a system so bad that there is no drinking water in three quarters of rural establishments, the country's education minister said Saturday.

Ahmed Akhchichine told the newspaper Journal Hebdomadaire that a new government programme would tackle neglect of the education of poor children especially in rural areas, saying a similar scheme had already proved effective in Mexico.

"We are going to pay parents to send their children to school," said Akhchichine.

"At present, 75 percent of countryside schools have no drinking water and 80 percent have no toilets," he revealed.

Girls can give up going to school entirely because of the absence of toilet facilities, the minister admitted.

Moroccan school education did not meet the hopes of society, he said.

Bahrain's Ambassador to the USA Will Be Jewish

It's always great to see minorities elevate their status -- in this case a Jewish woman from the Persian Gulf. From the JTA via the Jerusalem Post:

Bahrain will name a Jewish ambassador to the United States, a report said.

Huda Azar Nunu, a Jewish woman who is a lawmaker in Bahrain's upper house, will be named to the Washington position, according to a report this week in A Sharq al-Awsat, a Saudi-owned pan-Arab daily published in London.

"The sources denied that the appointment of Nunu as a woman and a Jew is a public relations campaign by Bahrain in the West, emphasizing that Huda Nunu has proven her qualifications, whether through her membership in the Consultative Council or through her work in human rights associations, of which she is an active participant in Bahrain," the newspaper said.

Bahrain, a Persian Gulf state sandwiched between Iran and Saudi Arabia, has a tiny Jewish population dating back to Talmudic times. Nunu is descended from Iraqi Jews who migrated to the port of Manama in the late 19th century. Jews in Bahrain have kept a low profile but generally have been treated well.