Today
in the news, there was a story about the publisher of a secular blogger being
hacked to death.
A publisher of a slain online critic of religious
militancy has been hacked to death in the Bangladesh capital, police said,
hours after similar attacks on two secular writers and another publisher in the
majority-Muslim country.
Faysal Arefin published books by Avijit Roy, a US citizen of Bangladeshi origin who was
killed by Islamists militants in the
same way in February.
Arefin was hacked to death on Saturday (local time)
with sharp weapons in his office on the second floor of a crowded market in the
capital, police said.
Militants have targeted secularist writers in
Bangladesh in recent years, as the government has cracked down on Islamist
groups seeking to turn the South Asian nation of 160 million people into a
Sharia-based state.
Four secular bloggers have been hacked to death
this year for writing critically about Islamist militancy.
Another blogger is imprisoned and flogged.
Religious Freedom Coalition, 28th
November, 2015
Raif Badawi, a
Saudi critic of Saudi’s anti-democratic government and its religious police
network, was arrested in 2012 and sentenced to a decade in prison and 1,000
floggings.
Badawi endured 50
floggings in January and became so weak he almost died from his injuries. The
Saudi government halted the floggings until he could heal. These floggings are
to begin again soon and will be done weekly – 50 lashes at a time for 20 weeks
in a row.
Until his arrest,
he wrote a blog called “Saudi Arabian Liberals” where he advocated for
secularism in this religious dictatorship.
http://www.religiousfreedomcoalition.org/2015/10/28/floggings-begin-again-for-saudi-blogger/
Charlie Hebdo, a satirical magazine. Twelve people were murdered because they'd 'offended' Muslims.
'Je suis Charlie,' remember? A world-wide movement in support of the twelve murdered Charlie Hebdo journalists and cartoonists. A world-wide movement in support of freedom of speech. They said it - je suis Charlie. But it didn't happen. People are more afraid to speak up than ever.
The Tribune, May 6th, 2015 -
http://tribune.com.pk/story/881963/authors-boycott-ceremony-as-charlie-hebdo-feted-in-new-york/
NEW YORK: French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo received a freedom of expression award on Tuesday at a gala US ceremony boycotted by some leading authors in protest at the publication’s lampooning of Islam.
Security was tight at the PEN America ceremony in New York, which came 48 hours after an attack targeting a Texas venue that featured a contest to draw the Prophet Mohammed.
Police officers armed with semiautomatic weapons stood guard outside the American Museum of Natural History, where the award was conferred by the literary and campaigning group during a dinner.
Officers also patrolled with dogs outside the building, near Central Park, and guests had to pass through metal detectors.
Charlie Hebdo was hit by a militant attack in Paris in January after regularly publishing caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed. Twelve members of its staff were shot dead.
Chief editor Gerard Biard told the New York ceremony that he was “very proud” to accept the award, and urged others to espouse the magazine’s values in support of freedom of conscience.
“Each citizen of the world must adopt these values and stand up for them, against political and religious obscurantism. The more numerous we are, the weaker they are,” he said.
Two points - the security needed because they were so afraid of attacks by Islamists. and that far too many people decided to boycott the ceremony - afraid to stand up for freedom of speech.
It had already succeeded on the other aspect -
The Tribune, April, 29, 2015.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/878079/charlie-hebdo-cartoonist-says-he-will-no-longer-draw-cartoons-about-the-prophet/PARIS: Cartoonist Luz, who drew Charlie Hebdo’s front cover picture following the massacre of the satirical weekly’s editorial team by militants in January, has told a French magazine he will no longer draw sacrilegious cartoons.
“I will no longer draw the figure of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH). It no longer interests me,” he told Les Inrockuptibles magazine in an interview published on Wednesday. Luz’s cover image in January portrayed Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) with a sign saying “Je Suis Charlie” under the words “All is forgiven”.
The issue was published a week after militants had attacked the magazine’s office and killed 12 people. It had a print run of eight million — a record for the French press.
“The terrorists did not win,” Luz told Les Inrockuptibles.
“They would have won if the whole of France continues to be scared,” he added, accusing the far-right National Front of trying to stir up fear in the wake of the attacks.
But of course, the terrorists won. People are afraid.
In more civilised areas, people are not flogged or hacked to death or imprisoned for stating the facts - but there are some very real sanctions against free speech. Being vilified on social media is one.
Pamela Geller - http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/10/31/facebook-sky-news-pay-jizya-to-migrants-for-every-hate-post-bild-publishes-lists-of-hate-posters/
A couple of days ago, there was a huge controversy about Bild. They took screenshots of what they claimed were hate posts, along with the picture and name from Facebook, and published them. Like a pillory.
They are putting the people’s backs up against the wall and taking down any rational voice that speaks against this tyranny. It’s a recipe for civil war.
They published a list with the “top 10” of “hate posters.” And they meant to publish a list of the worst offenders.
It’s a threat — a warning — letting people know if they say anything against the invasion they will put a target on their heads. The response by freedom-loving peoples should be millions more posts, more tweets.
There are sites set up that encourage the encourage the reporting of instances of 'Islamophobia.' A German site offers money for reports of instances, and I've seen an Australian site doing likewise - $1/ report.
And yet, true hate speech is ignored.
Check this you-tube video if you think it is not so.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm8gGX0lHTk&feature=youtu.be
There was a police staff member recently shot dead. He'd just been to Paramatta mosque, and it was there that someone had handed him the gun.
https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/29706350/police-search-mosque-in-parramatta-shooting-investigation/
There is also, of course, just plain censorship:
It comes in the form of omitting the reporting of important incidents, and the deliberate misreporting of incidents.
A clear instance of Islamic terrorism is reported as an individual who is mentally ill. Remember Man Monis? He waved an Islamist flag, he told his hostages to pass on Islamist messages, and still there was this insistence that Islam had nothing to do with it. Any who pointed out that there was a very clear religious motivation were labelled bigots and racists. (And for the 1000th time, I will point out that Islam is not a race, it is a religious ideology.)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-26/experts-divided-over-sydney-siege-as-terrorism-or-mental-illness/6726772
On October 27th, there was a man probably having a psychotic episode - he waved a meat cleaver around, causing a Melbourne street to be closed down for a few hours. It was lucky that no-one was hurt, just some property damage and a great deal of inconvenience. He claimed he was 'the Islamic Messiah.' But in reports, it was denied that religion had anything to do with it, and then, it was reported that he'd claimed to be 'the Messiah' - dropping the 'Islamic.' (Two out of three TV news bulletins I watched that night did not mention it, and the third gave it a scant 20 seconds without mention of motive.)
https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/29919235/melbourne-siege-situation-man-armed-with-meat-cleaver-holding-up-la-trobe-st-cafe/
It is reported that facebook could be deleting 'Islamophic' posts, though it does not seem to have much success when they try and delete ISIS propaganda posts. So is perceived 'Islamophobia' more terrible than posts urging Muslims to commit violence?
According to Pamela Geller, 31st October, 2015.
http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/10/31/facebook-sky-news-pay-jizya-to-migrants-for-every-hate-post-bild-publishes-lists-of-hate-posters/
Apparently the spineless, gutless Mark Zuckerberg made good on his promise to German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Merkel had been prodding and strong-arming Zuckerberg to “do something” about the posts and comments on Facebook that oppose the Muslim invasion of Europe. Attending a luncheon on the sidelines of a United Nations development summit in New York several weeks ago, Merkel and Zuckerberg were overheard on a live transmission broadcast on the UN website as participants took their seats.
After Merkel confronted Zuckerberg about anti-migrant posts, the Facebook CEO is heard responding that “we need to do some work” on the issue. This is so typical of the elites. They control policy, they control the media, they control the culture — but they can’t control the people. And this makes them crazy. If they could, they would change the people.Islamophobia, they call it. A phobia, of course, is an irrational fear. Sadly, a concern about hardline Islam is not at all irrational. Ask the 200 schoolgirls in Nigeria who were kidnapped, and are now, presumably, wives. In hardline Islam, a 'wife' is effectively a slave.
And ask the journalists thrown into prison because they were doing their jobs. Others kidnapped and with heads sawn off. This is hardline Islam, and this plague is spreading across the planet.
So we're not allowed to talk about it?
A little story:
The village folk
saw the dragon - breathing fire, killing, standing right there in front of
them, threatening. It was too big to kill, and too fast to run from. One young
and foolish man had an idea. 'It's not really a dragon,' he said. 'It's just a
cuddly pussy cat.' Everyone chant with me, 'Just a cuddly pussy cat.'
A woman
whispered, 'It's a dragon and will kill us,' but the man turned to her sternly,
'You will not undermine our peace. It is just a cuddly pussy cat.'The woman shook her head, but another who stood next to her gave her a thump in the ribs, and she said obediently, 'Just a cuddly pussy cat.'
But it was a dragon. It set fire to the town and killed its residents.
Islam is a religion of peace. Of course. And the dragon is a cuddly pussy cat.
