The Danish Cartoons >> Freedom of Racism

there has been an explosion of reactions in the Muslim world, both online and offline. The blogosphere has witnessed a huge number of blogs about this topic, people all over the Muslim world are boycotting Danish and Norwegian products, some countries have pulled their ambassadors, ...etc. Over this time I've mainly been watching from the sidelines, wanting to write more about it, but just not finding the time to. Most opinions I've read in the blogosphere are totally against what happened, yet some people think it's not normal and very backward to react this strongly to these caricatures, and that we should just let it go. I personally strongly disagree with these people. We've let go of a lot of things, we've tolerated a lot of disrespect and racism over the years, but when it gets to our Prophet and touches our religion, there is no way we can just let go! It is totally unacceptable!! I'm against any violent reactions or death threats, but I'm totally for peaceful protest and political or economic boycott if necessary. If the same paper published some caricatures that touched a Jewish figure, the whole world would have stood against it and pointed the anti-semitic finger at them, and ripped them apart. But the caricatures being about the prophet of Islam, no one cares, and the angry and offended muslims are made out to be backward thinking and untolerant. Well yeah, we don't tolerate anyone attacking our Prophet or religion, and you can call it whatever you want! A bit earlier, I read that the Danish newspaper that published the cartoons has apologized for offending Muslims around the world, not for publishing the cartoons, but for offending Muslims. "We apologize for the fact that the cartoons undeniably have offended many Muslims,"' Carsten Juste, editor-in-chief of Jyllands-Posten, wrote late yesterday in a letter on the paper's Web site. He said Jyllands-Posten wasn't sorry for running the cartoons though. As for Vebjoern Selbekk, the editor of Norwegian Magazinet, the paper that republished the caricatures, he too said that he "regrets if the drawings were offensive to Muslims." Those sound like half ass apologies to me. It's like someone raping someone and then saying: "I'm not sorry for raping you, but I'm sorry it hurt!" It's more of an insult than an apology! I think they should be able to do a lot better than that!

Palestine US Exhibit Stirs Controversy

Made in Palestine art exhibition stirs controversy in US... A unique art exhibition showcasing the works of 23 Palestinian artists, from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip as well as those living in exile in countries such as Jordan, Syria and Germany, is facing uncertain times in the United States, with major museums refusing to play host. Chronicling the modern history of Palestinians since 1948, Made in Palestine had its first showing in the United States at the Station Museum in Houston, in May 2003. Currently on display in San Francisco, the opening attracted up to a thousand people. But alongside the accolades, it has also drawn the ire of some politicians. As a result, most museums are fearful that hosting an exhibit that is pro-Palestinian could cost them their funding. Once the current show draws to a close on 21 April, organisers suspect it could be curtains for the exhibition. [Source: Al Jazeera] I think it's so unfair to not even let Palestinians express themselves and show their side of the story through peaceful art exhibitions like this one. There is so much bias and ignorance that almost anything that is even slightly pro-Palestinian is automatically unaccepted and denied. I think this is where those fat rich Arab purses should come in handy, funding projects like this and helping to get the peaceful message through.

Free Tayseer

As the restrictions imposed by the American war machine on the free and independent media continues, and the pressure on them intensifies, so do the massacres and human rights violations committed by the American military wherever they happen to have a foothold. This aggressive war machine continues to endeavour tirelessly to gag every free, independent and self respecting media organization in the world that tries to convey a message of truth to others without distortion or perversion. As we strongly condemn and denounce the Spanish government's yielding to American pressure and arresting Allouni and leave him to languish in jail despite his poor health, which reconsider a violation of basic human rights and the principle of free press which the West has long been paying lip service to. The Spanish government, in our view, has done itself a great disservice by giving in to the demands of the Americans. It has thus proven once again to be an obedient servant of the American imperialists. In the process, the Spanish judiciary has inflicted upon itself a great deal of damage to its credibility and honour. We therefore call upon human rights organisations and all those who concern themselves with defending the rights of journalists to bring pressure to bear on the Spanish government and through lawful means to bring about a speedy release of Mr. Allouni. We believe this matter to be of great urgency in view of what has reached us from reliable sources of the conditions surrounding Mr. Allouni's incarceration. He is being kept in a tiny cell (2.5 by 1.6 m ). He is also being subjected to near total solitary confinement and not allowed outside his cell except for two hours in the morning and two in the evening, and even this is only into a small space in which he is not allowed to see more than five inmates on the strict condition of not engaging in any form of conversation and under close guard. The temperature in the cell where he is being kept is very cold reaching below zero at times. The heating is only switched on for two hours a day which has severely aggravated the back pain Mr Allouni suffers from. He is only allowed two visitors a time which means that he is deprived of seeing his entire family together