The Nomad and the Olive Branch

With the appointment of "wanted" clerics in the newly-formed parliament, and the peace accord signed with several warlords, Somalia's situation is looking more or less brighter by the day. Then you've got the corruption in Egypt, with big, fat Mubarak hogging the pResidential throne, which is already accustomed to his pompous posterior, and stays on that chair of his as long as he receives military aid from big ol' U.S.A., so he can keep political reform from jumping into his bedroom every single day. And then there's Bono's tour, where he goes around and helps AIDS victims; I lost my respect for the guy when he stood side by side with Bush Jr. But you have to admit: the "Dark Continent" of Africa is surely "getting back" into the "light" these days. But let's switch out views to a certain place in a certain country. I'm talking about the Western Darfur region in Sudan, which has seen much violence in the past few year

I find it strange and comical that people come out and claim that they know Islam and its teachings. They have associated "Jihad" with terrorism and a backward, inept mentality. Many have spoken ill of Islamic history, which, although imperfect, was far from brutal and bloody every step of the way. Certainly, Islam and Muslims were in a much better condition during these times than they are right now, falling subservient and succumbing to hindrances in their political progress. I came across many biased sources bashing Islam for "terrorism", denigrating it and associating it with the worst kinds of crimes, along with prejudiced calls against Muslims, who are classified as people who "behead" or "kill" or "riot" or "murder". I found this particular article , which I am going to address right now in debunking these lies. "Jihadi terrorism is as old as Islam. Jihad war, death and destruction have followed in the wak

I know I wrote a post about the world cup regarding the political presense there, but I decided to write up a personal post on the issue to make up for it. The World Cup has proven to be one of the most exciting sports events ever to be conceived, even more than the Olympic games themselves. Every match is a tale of action, drama, suspense, fear and triumph after hard (foot)work and team coordination. Right now, as of today, we will be witnessing the final 16 compete for the final spot in mid-July. From the beginning of the World Cup, I was supportive of Italy and Tunisia to make it to the second round. Tunisia is an Arab team, and moreover, they've got classy players like Jaidi, Chedli, Trabelsi and now Jaziri. Their tie with Saudi Arabia was unexpected, though: their level of playing is much higher. When they played against Spain, I was jumping with joy after the first half ended, with their 1-0 lead on the Matadors. The Carthage Eagles (Tunisia) lost 3-1 in that match, though th

Take a look at the town of Tel Rumeida in Palestine. Peaceful at first sight, but when you take a look closer, you'll find things are not always what they seem to be. You'll find Zionist settlers who are attacking Palestinian civilians. No wonder suicide bombers go and attack civilians. I would still condone and attack on soldiers ONLY, but this series of videos led me to drop all my sympathies with Israeli settlers and their so-called "plight". Personally, I'm not surprised, but I was shocked nonetheless at what settlers can do to disturb the peace. I slightly concur with this opinion piece . Eretz Yisroel, a settler friendly site put up an article which I find rather interesting. It talks about Psyops used in within the settler community in order to influence both the settlers (through use of agents provocateurs) and Israeli public opinion (through information that filters as a result of these staged events) about a number of issues. While there is very much in

Over the past few years since that fateful day, on September 11, 2001, the media and many rightwingers, despite all the condemnations from the Muslim Community, have continued to lambaste Muslims and Islam, painting them with the same brush. The buzzwords "terrorism", "terrorist ideology" and "evil" have pervaded rightwing media, and have been used to attack Islam and Muslims under the guise of "free speech". Sadly, words and ideas like Jihad are being given a new meaning in the semantically incorrect rightwing propaganda/fearmongering dictionary. We hear that Jihad is "Holy War" or "terrorism", and that Islam is an "ideology of terror". There has been no hesitation in ignorantly connecting the 2, despite all the differences. Why do people do this? The answer lies in the notion that they can't find a political reason that their perceived enemies are doing the things they do, and thus resort to the race or backg

There have been many falsehoods these days about Muslims being spread around, as well as racist diatribe being thrown at them for biased reasons, all in the name of "free speech". Let's just address some of these issues that regard the mentality of Muslims in general. Misconception 1: Muslims have polarized or all-or-nothing-thinking (e.g.: believers and non-believers, daru-ul-Islam, dar-ul-harb) Response: This is actually untrue, and very short-minded thinking to begin with. This doesn't exclude extremist elements or bad elements within the Muslim community, but effectively paints all Muslims with the same brush. To start off with, Muslims have not segregated the world into believers and non-believers. Nomenclature is not a sign of division or polarized thinking. Second, Dar-ul-Islam is the Muslim community, and is disunited in its present state. Third, Dar-ul-Harb is the Caliphate analogue to the Ministry of Defense. Fourth, all religions distinguish between those

In today's world, Islam is looked upon negatively when it comes to the issue of women's rights, usually with bias and ignorance on certain issues; in light of these misconceptions, I will conduct a series of posts to disspell such myths about women's status in Islam. This post will reflect on the issue of so-called "honor" killings. Islamic society at its prime is a centrist society: it does not take conservative nor liberal values solely for a certain value or aspect. Islamic law tends to be strict on an issue and, at the same time, loose when it comes to certain circumstances surrounding that particular issue. However, it tends to be strict on the most severe of injustices. Among them is, of course, murder: a hateful crime punishable by death only when the killer is a sane adult who knows what he or she is doing. A form of murder that has arised wrongly in Islamic countries is the centuries-old practice of "honor" killings, which happen to be crimes co

I hear this all the time, and yet I still have yet to not only materialistically comprehend this prospect, but to philosophically grasp it. There are so many cultures and races that dot this earth, and yet we have seen them come and go as well. But how can cultures themselves clash? To answer this question, one should take a look at the definition of culture. The word culture , from the Latin colo, -ere, with its root meaning "to cultivate", generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. Different definitions of "culture" reflect different theoretical bases for understanding, or criteria for evaluating, human activity. Note the definition: patterns of personal activity. Patterns by themselves are immeasurable and also immaterial. However, the only material object encountered in the definition is the set of "symbolic structures" that represent these patterns and give them significance. Cult

Traditions and false religious beliefs both contributed to the ill treatment of women in previous civilizations and societies. Arabian tribes were no different from other people when it came to mistreating women, although some were well treated in renowned tribes such as Quraish. The burial of newborn female infants and girls was a common practice. They were seen as a burden to the family, for when poverty stroke, they would have to sustain an additional person. Moreover, when a tribe was attacked, the girls were taken as captives and raped, which brought much shame to the family and tribe. Women were not allowed to inherit; not the daughter from her father nor the wife from her husband or the mother from her son. The Arabs left inheritance only to those who carried the sword and defended the tribe. Furthermore, the maternal relatives were of no importance; only the paternal family was recognized. When the husband died, the wife was not allowed to leave his family, for as soon as he di

It is often said that democracy is the best form used to choose a government and affect the policies that it brings forth, for the simple reason that it is chosen by the people and is "for the people". It gives people a voice in what a government should do, but does not always yield successful results. Democracy may not be entirely "representative" of a group of people, but at least it's better than other forms of government, like fascism... But can it be just as bad? Think of it this way: a democratic election process leads to a party being chosen as the majority in the parliament of a certain state. It is also assumed that the government itself is "representative" of the people in that whatever decision it makes is also a decision "made by the people". Therefore, every policy implemented by the state is also implemented by the people... supposedly, that is. Let's assume that a policy suddenly came out which was not approved by a good po

I never expected to post a second part to this, but I'd like to add some excerpts and analyses (thanks to all who provided me with this information) to this topic. Democracy Now hosted an interview with several people who have seen the atrocity and civil strife in the country. Amongst those interviewed was Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Global Exchange and Code Pink that organized the delegation of Iraqi women of whom two attended the interview. While she stated much of the obvious, this particular quote caught my eye. "They could not prove that they would want to go home. So, yes, we killed their families and then denied them the right to come to the United States to tell what the U.S. had done to their families. " You can't blame her for knowing about the mess going on Iraq. What she's claiming is that those who have seen the true horrors of war as it is going on in Iraq have been barred from recounting their experiences on American soil, save for those who have

The American government has waged war on dozens and dozens of democratic countries for economical hegemony in the last half century. I'll describe a few examples by continent or area Central America Guatemala - In 1954 The US organizes a military coup in Guatemala to remove the president, Jacobo Arbenz. The country had been democratic since 1944... Arevalo had permitted free expression, legalized unions and diverse political parties. - The US claims it is preventing a USSR takeover by using communism scare tactics but in reality it is economics. Arbenz’s fatal mistake was expropriating unused land from the American United Fruit Company, and distributing it to landless peasants. - Allen Dulles, at the time director of the CIA has personal interest in American United Fruit Company - American companies benefit from cheap labor, lax safety laws and a helpful government. Arbenz was attempting to bring in unions and fair labor laws and distribute land to the poor. Coca-Cola also had bo