We need your help to get the word out about this great opportunity to build back up the enrollment of women in the CIS Department. More detailed information http://www.famu.edu/index.cfm?a=headlines&p=display&news=602&archive.You can also contact Dr. Black by email at jblack@cis.famu.edu
Peace, Leslye J Allen
A good playlist I compiled. Watch and challenge your political ideology. From a black mans perspective.
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=A172C117BBE89BCC
There is nothing in the United States Constitution that allows the U. S. Senate the clear-cut capacity to deny Roland Burris the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama. Indeed, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich seemed to be thumbing his nose at all of Illinois, if not all of the United States, by appointing Burris. As best we can tell, Burris has a clean political record and has done nothing wrong. Yet Blagojevich seems well on his way to being convicted of attempting to sell Barack Obama’s former Senate seat to the highest bidder.
After Burris was denied access to the Senate chambers on Tuesday January 6, 2009, black pundits of every ilk came out of the woodwork to claim that denying Burris his Senate seat was a blatant attempt to prevent an African-American from becoming a member of the United States Senate. I watched former Georgia State Senator, a founder of SNCC, and former chair of the NAACP Julian Bond attempt to make a case for racism. This was one of his least convincing arguments. For a moment, I wanted to cry.
Bond likened the blockade of Burris to the U. S. Senate to the one Bond received in the state of Georgia back in 1966. I was in kindergarten when a very young and dashing Julian Bond was denied admittance and acceptance to the Georgia State Senate because he had dared to speak out against the Vietnam War. He was bold, defiant; and he was right. Later in 1966 the Supreme Court ruled that the Georgia House of Representatives had denied Bond his right to freedom of speech, and further ordered Georgia’s House of Representatives to seat him. He took his seat in Georgia's House of Representatives in early 1967. Everyone in the state of Georgia and America were the better for it. Today Bond suggested that House Democrats surely must have considered that it might look racist to deny Burris entry to the Senate. I wanted to scream.
There is no evidence that Roland Burris is anything other than an upstanding and highly experienced public servant. What no one, including Julian Bond, seems to want to ask is why Burris would accept an appointment from a governor that has so clearly and blatantly violated the public trust? Why would Burris accept such an appointment from a governor who has refused to step down when propriety and decency demands that the people of Illinois would be best served if he did so? Burris cannot be ignorant of the evidence stacked against Blagojevich, even if Blagojevich has yet to be tried and convicted of his crimes.
It appears that some compromise between Burris and House Democrats has been reached. It appears he will be seated. However, he was not initially denied entry to the Senate because he is black; he was chosen by Blagojevich precisely because he was black and a member of a dying breed of black politician. In vulgar arrogance, Blagojevich knew he could count on old-guard black politicians to yell racism should Burris’ appointment be questioned; this is why he chose a 71-year-old Burris, rather than a younger, less-Illinois-politics-tethered individual to fill Obama’s vacant Senate seat. Many members of the black old-guard are proud of Obama. Yet far too many of them are scrambling for political capital and social relevancy as many of them erroneously hitched their political wagons to a Clinton nomination and presidency in the mistaken belief that a person with African ancestry could never occupy the highest office in the land. The old guard clings to an era that has passed and arguments that have long since lost any semblance of validity.
I fondly remember a young Julian Bond winning election to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1965. He was finally seated in 1966. I was proud of his actions then. Racism was blatant and visceral then; it is real, visceral, but often more inconspicuous now. An Obama presidency will not eliminate racism; he cannot make racism less severe. Yet Obama’s election will make confronting issues of race, racism, and race-baiting more complex; this is precisely why it is important to remember the lessons of the mid-1960s without confusing them with the lessons of 2009.
Copyright © 2009 by Leslye J Allen
A house Negro and field Negro were terms from a different time in America history, when black people had no choice and no ability to change the direction of this country. At that time in history, black people didn’t enjoy being called or being in a position to be a “house or field Negro. They were both slaves and suffered equally the oppression of racist America. Today 96% of black American voters, voted for the so called “house Negro;” we make our own choices. I find al-Zawahri’s comments very disingenuous and disrespectful to black people. Furthermore, al-Zawahri should know that while black Americans have displayed kinship with Africans and Arabs, we have not forgotten the role Arabs played in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
The whole blog can be view at: www.hubpages.com/hub/obama-vs-malcolmx
After loosing the elections to Obama. John Mccain goes home with hope of having a wonderful Thanksgiving with his immediate family. Mccain flew into his hometown on his private jet but when he reached the airport, his usual guest didn’t greet him. There weren’t any balloons, the bands weren’t playing or crowds weren’t cheering. This was unusual, he didn’t even see Sarah Palin. He looked into the distance but all he could see was snow and his cold breath in the air. He looked at his secret service and even they looked shocked about what was happening. For 40 years his town greeted him every Thanksgiving, so WHAT HAPPENED.
He looked at his wife and gave her a smile then said, “Moneys been tight this year for everyone baby. Maybe the town couldn’t afford a celebration this year”
Mrs. Mccain looked at her husband with her devilish grind, “You’re probably right baby. Everyone can’t afford the things we have!”
Mccain grabbed his wife arm and helped her through the snow. He looked at his wife then said, “At least we still have our limo!”
Mccain’s limo was black and warm inside. The bar was filled with Champaign, just like years before. His secret service followed the limo in their black Yukon. Mccain could see despair in his wife’s eyes. He looked at her and said this while he rubbed her thigh, “Baby, I’m still your little P.O.W, right”
Mrs. Mccain’s wife batted her eyes then ran her finger thru Mccain’s hair and gave him a hug as he continued to rub her thigh, “You are my little soldier. Don’t worry!”
Mccain leaned back in his leather seats proud of what he just heard. But when he looked out his window it all disappeared, “What’s going on here?”, Mccain yelled.
Mrs. Mccain rushed to the window because she wanted to see. But what she saw she couldn’t believe, “Why do everyone in your town have Obama campaign signs in there yards!’
Mrs. Mccain looked at John and she immediately knew he was scarred. His eye lit up like a deer staring into your headlights, “I can’t believe it. My own people voted for Obama. What’s going on?”
Alarms kept ringing in John’s ears as he looked out the window and things slowly started to become clear. Most of the people he knew was in Obama’s below 250 thousand dollar tax bracket. While Mccain was trying to help the rich, he was forgetting about the poor. This is something that Republicans have done thousands of times before. As Mccain’s thoughts lingered as his wife started to scream.
Mrs. Mccain, “What the hell did you do? You lost to a black man. Now our lives are ruined. No one will ever remember you for being a prisoner of war. Now everyone will look at us and laugh. And our friends want come to our parties or to any of our functions because you were the first White Republican Man to loose to a Black Democrat.”
Mccain couldn’t believe what was ringing in his ears. He looked at his wife because he felt like he had to make things clear, “LooK!”, pointing, “This race wasn’t about color. I lost to a great man. A-----smart guy!”
Mrs. Mccain laughed, “You lost to a Smart Guy… You lost to a great man”, She paused, “You didn’t say that when you were running around calling him a terrorist. You didn’t say that when you made allegations that Obama was a socialist or he wasn’t fit to be President for the last 23 months”
John looked his wife dead in her eyes, “Now you listen here. I only said those things because your family was about to be taxed because of his policies, if your family loose money then I loose money. I didn’t marry you for only your body, Baby. I married you for power and your family seen me as an opportunity to increase their power.”
Mrs. Mccain was furious about what she just heard. Her eyes was red and her vision was blurried, “You little short dwarf. I know you are angry right now, so I’m going to act like I didn’t hear what you just said. But remember one thing! I made you and I’ll break you… Believe it..You had a chance to get power but you lost, I never lost and I can changed your world with a flick of the wrist”
(Arab racism by Islamic) Al Qaeda’s No. 2 leader - uses racial epithet against Barack Obamalatimes ^ | Nov 20, 2008
Al Qaeda’s No. 2 leader uses racial epithet against Barack Obama Los Angeles Times - Nov. 20, 2008 In a video, Ayman Zawahiri says the president-elect is ‘the direct opposite of honorable black Americans’ and says Obama, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice are ‘house Negroes.
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-house-slave20-2008nov20,0,1727083.story
Both forms of bigotry "working together" Arabism & Islamism, just like the terrible "palestinians"...
The dawning of a new day is here, both for America as a whole and for those who call ourselves "compassionate conservatives," a code name for politically active Christians.
It's a time when our nation has the opportunity to break from the tradition of the past--from racial and class division, from partisan politics, from us against them--and to ride into a bright, new future of unified effort for the good of all Americans, truly non-partisan policy making and cooperation in Washington.
The undeclared but clearly evident leader of this new effort is Barack Obama, an American of mixed racial background (half white, and half black), and of mixed socio-economic background, a recent graduate from the struggling middle class to the echelons of upper class America. He is the leader we need right now not just because of superior intellect, highly effective communication skills, and his high level of educational attainment, but also because of the character and the temperament with which he has been divinely blessed. Character he has demonstrated in this election in quite distinct contrast to his Republican contender, John McCain.
It is for this reason that I, a social activist at heart for the poor and for the good of all men, and a Christian conservative as it relates to the two most pivotal moral issues of our time--abortion and homosexuality--have decided to vote for Senator Barack Obama to become the next president of the United States.
Though the Republican party may attempt to portray it--God is not the God of one political party. He is not more concerned about small government than he is about helping those in need. He did not only send His Son to die for upper class and upper middle class whites. He does not want us to lock-up first time, young non-violent offenders for most of their young adult lives and throw away the keys. He does not want us to ignore the social causes of crime. He does want his people involved with both parties so that both parties ultimately represent His interests, which are the best interests of us all.
This is our opportunity. In this election, we have the ability to show the rest of America that "conservative Christians" can make a balanced, intellectual, and still spiritual choice for President. We can choose to vote for Barack Obama, not because we agree with him on every issue, but because we agree with him on many. And we can make our voices heard during his administration to affect the way he governs on issues with which we do disagree.
Make the change. Take the leap. Make a new choice, and encourage other like minded people to make this choice as well--praying all the way for Christ to grant Sen. Obama the wisdom to make the right decisions at the right time, not swayed by what's popular, but based on the right foundation--God's Word--at "such a time as this" in our nation's and the world's history.
--Pat Perry
I must confess that I am a James Baldwin fan. Baldwin was one of those rare writers who had the capacity of speaking about race and racism while making everyone culpable and vulnerable to the pathology of racism. Black folks and white folks alike, according to Baldwin, had distorted visions of themselves due to the poison of racism.
In too many cases, we all were/are guilty of protecting and promoting our self-definitions and group definitions with a zeal that borders on the pathological. Never mind what someone says they are or what someone says they believe in. Someone will swear that the person cannot be telling the truth simply because that person defies the definition that has been created for them. Barack Obama defies many folks’ definitions.
Obama is from all appearances a devoted husband and father. America, black and white, is not accustomed to seeing black men in the media spotlight in that capacity on a regular basis. Many of us have not only grown up adoring our fathers, but were recipients of support from a steady supply of male relatives and friends. Obama is obviously well educated. Yet the current statistics on black male dropouts in some parts of the United States is frightening. Yet some of us grew up around black male scholars in every discipline. Obama is seeking the highest political office in the land. And if we tell the truth, none of us was certain, when he announced his candidacy in February of 2007 that he would win the Democratic Party nomination. For all of his credibility and decency, he has been called an elitist, terrorist, the pal of a terrorist, and a left-wing liberal. Do not expect the attacks to stop!
James Baldwin once said that, “You must embrace what you fear.” It took me a long time to figure out what he meant. The things that we fear most are not monsters hiding under our beds or bumping into a stranger in a dark alley. The things we fear most are those things that defy our comprehension and our definitions even when they have done nothing to us and even when they promise to do something for us. All of us have been (or will be) guilty at some point in our lives of avoiding that which we do not fully understand even when we suspected it would be beneficial to us.
YES, WE CAN.
Copyright © 2008 Leslye J Allen
ARABISM = THE RACISM!
Arabism Equals Racism http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp? ID=24912
The Kurdish people in Syria has been subjected to racist Arabist policies ... social backwardness and the repression of non-Arab nations and minorities http://home.cogeco.ca/~dbonni1/18-3-03-opinion-kamal- miraddeli.html
Hanging Saddam: New Middle East's Aurora America's lethal enemy: Pan-Arabism A free Iraqi, free of the mental pestilence of Pan- Arabism. He was free of any criminal intimidation expressed by any criminal bogus-ambassador of a Pan-Arabist tyranny! And the verdict was a victory for the long tyrannized peoples of that land... - http://ww w.theconservativevoice.com/article/20525.html
Arabism at its Most Ugly http://beirut2bayside.blogspot.com/2004/07/arabism-at- its-most-ugly_23.html
'Eurabia' Defined Arab and Islamic anti-Israeli propaganda, barely disguised in academic and ... and geopolitics of Euro-Arabism; in this process, European anti-Americanism... http://ww w.faithfreedom.org/oped/AndrewBostom51116.htm
Lounsbury: Darfur - On Racism, On Ignorance, [Arabism, Arab supremacist government in Sudan,] On Laziness and just plain stupidity (and Arab responses) http://lounsbury.aqoul.com/archives/2004/08/darfur_on_racis.html&n bsp;
Origin of Islam - A historical human rights guide to Islam ...Today Islam's main weapon has been oil-money serving pan-Arabism. ... dictatorship and Arabic racism and the systematic killing and raping in Sudan/Darfur http://www.geocities.com/klevius/MuslimRacism.html? 1111924826171
Arabism and the on-going Palestinian terrorism http://media.www.mustangdaily.net/media/storage/paper860/news/2006/0 4/27/LettersToTheEditor/Arabism.And.The.OnGoing.Palestinian.Terrorism- 2100073.shtml? sourcedomain=www.mustangdaily.net&MIIHost=media.collegepublisher.co m
Sudan is a perfect illustration of a mix of islamofascism and "Arabism is Racism" gone unopposed. Want to make a movie? Here are some additional ideas... http://www.anti- com.com/weblog/archives/2004_06.html
Across the Bay: Arabism at its Most Ugly She left out that other still unresolved horror show in Sudan where the victims ... There you have it, Arabism at its finest. And this deadly ideology is ... http://beirut2bayside.blogspot.com/2004/07/arabism- at-its-most-ugly_23.html
Arabists, "Arab Oil Interests", "Pro-Arab Sympathisers" - The Peace Encyclopedia Arabists in government do not have names like Hamadi or Abdullah. They can be generally defined as either motivated by money or as Arabists: meaning they ideologically agree with Arab orders. http://peace.heebz.com/arab ists.html
Arabists vs. the Middle East - Campus Watch Having done hardly any independent research on the twentieth-century Middle East, Cole's analysis of this era is essentially derivative, echoing the conventional wisdom among Arabists and Orientalists regarding Islamic and Arab history... Cole, the Arabist, expresses the views of Arab nationalists and their Islamist allies. Arab nationalists express their views through the use of terrorism, financial incentives and ethnic cleansing. http://www.campus- watch.org/article/id/1967
"Terrorism and Racism: The Aftermath of Durban," by Anne F. Bayefsky Durban uncovered racism as a real root cause of terrorism, a motivation which the ... by the victims of anti-Arabism in the United States and elsewhere. ... http://www.jcpa.org/jl/vp468.ht m
Islam Watch - "An Introduction to Real Islam" by Shabana Muhammad... is the cradle of pan-Arabism and the root cause of not only ... Allah favours Arab racism' prophet is to be of Quraysh stock and of white complexion. ... http://www.islam- watch.org/Shabana/RealIslam/Chapter2.htm
Racism Masquerading As Arab-Islamic Nationalism By Charles Deng - This racist attitude leads the troika to the obvious hostility to the SPLM and ... North imposition of Arabism and Islamism on the African South... http://www.sudaneseonline.com/en2/publ ish/Articles_and_Analysies_12/Racism_Masquerading_As_Arab- Islamic_Nationalism_By_27.shtml
Kurdistan Observer The Arab League as a useless ideological racist Arabist institution has existed only to promote Arabism and Arab racism against colonised non-Arab nations. ... http://mywebpage.netscape.com/KO% 20News/23-9-03-opinion-mirawdeli-kurdistani-intellec.html
CMIP - CENTER FOR MONITORING THE IMPACT OF PEACE: REPORTS [the sense of] Arabism is firmly established in (Arab racist textbooks) Israel is depicted as an alien entity that Imperialism has planted in the midst of the Arab homeland in order to crush the Arabs. Hence, it is both illegitimate and artificial. http://www.edume.org/report s/6/5.htm
Undoubtedly, Iranians of all stripes are offended at the "Arab Gulf" scandal, not to mention pan-Arabist attempts at fomenting Arab racism against Iranians. Arabs have complained (with justification) that they are portrayed negatively in western press, media and education, yet so many in the Arab world are unaware of the Husri-Shawkat-Aflaq legacy of racism within their own ranks. http://www.ven usproject.com/ecs/aFarrokhArab.html
Who is Racist in the Middle East - Zionism or Arabism? http://www.zionism- israel.com/log/archives/00000012.html
Understanding the Problem in the Middle East Netanyahu says: "The soldiers of militant Islam and Pan-Arabism do not hate ... need a place to escape to because of a specific racism called antisemitism. ... http://www.omdurman.org/mid east.html
Berber Leader: "No Worse Colonialism Than That of the Pan-Arabist Clan" http://www.memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi? ID=SD156907
Why black Africa should resist Arab domination of African Union http://afgen.com/arab_domi nation.html
Arab Colonization Series: Pan-Africanism vs Pan-Arabism | Nigerian ...Arab racism, whose wellspring is the Koran itself... http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/chinweizu/arab- colonization-series-pan-africanism-vs-pan-ar-2.html
MAURITANIA: SLAVERY, ETHNIC CLEANSING, DEMOCRATIC OPPOSITION ...unfortunately, coming back to pan-Arabism and the international Baath .... And I believe the struggle against racism and slavery in Mauritania... http://ww4report.com/node/1022
FIFTY YEARS OLD AND DYING - Amir Taheri - Benador Associates, Nasser had his dream of pan-Arabism which would make Egypt the leader... to the capital of suffering left by centuries of slavery and oppression. ... http://www.benado rassociates.com/article/14024
Amazon.com: Islamic Imperialism : A History: Books: Efraim Karsh, Middle East scholar Karsh surveys for a general audience the region's Islamic political past. Parallel to his narrative, Karsh frequently contrasts the universalistic proclamations of Islam with cycles of imperial consolidation and fragmentation. After recounting the Prophet Muhammad's religio-political establishment of Islam, and the discord about his legacy that continues today, Karsh narrates the battles over Muhammad's caliphate that eventuated in the Umayyad and Abbasid Empires. Karsh's commentary often looks forward to contemporary ideologues of Islam who ransack history to justify grievances. In Karsh's coverage, the irruption of the Crusaders into the Levant hardly provoked a jihad to eject them; that occurred, in his account, through politically ordinary processes of empire building, eventually by the celebrated Saladin. Islamic unity and zeal, however, had always to be affirmed by reestablishers of the caliphate, a theme Karsh incorporates into his chronicling of the rise and decline of the Ottoman Empire, the distribution of its territories after World War I, and varieties of pan-Arabism prevalent after World War II. An informative foundation for further exploration of Islamic history. http://www.amazon.com/Islamic-Imperialism-History -Efraim-Karsh/dp/0300106033
How a British jihadi saw the light - Times Online I sat there pondering on the pan-Arab denial of the truth, a refusal to accept that the ..... Racism and even slavery are rampant in the Middle East. ... http://entertainment.timesonli ne.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/book_extracts/article1685726. ece - Jun 30, 2007
Op-Ed: What apartheid is and is not - The Stanford Daily OnlineAnd while black labor was exploited in slavery-like conditions under apartheid, ..... Islam is clearly anti-Semitic and racist against the Jews. ... http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2006/11/13/opedWhatApartheid IsAndIsNot
To this day, Islam has retained its imperial ambitions. The dream of regional and world domination has remained very much alive, despite the destruction long ago of the last great Muslim empire, which has left the Islamic caliphate vacant. The 20th century doctrine of pan-Arabism (exemplified by Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser), though secular in appearance, has been effectively Islamic in its ethos, worldview, and imperialist vision. Karsh quotes Nuri Said, longtime prime minister of Iraq and a prominent early champion of pan- Arabism: "Although Arabs are naturally attached to their native land, their nationalism is not confined by boundaries. It is an aspiration to restore the great tolerant civilization of the early caliphate." http://www.jewishtimes- sj.com/news/2008/0815/columns/018.html
Attacks on Jews by Arabs in Concordia University the "centre of militant Arabism in Canada" http://www.hfienberg.com/kesher/2002_09_08_kesher_archive. html
Doing Zionism - Resources and articles on Israeli Arabs There was a certain degree of anti-Jewish rhetoric present in these protests. ... Once the Israeli Arabs had re-encountered their Palestinian brethren in ... http://www.wzo.org.il/doingzionism/resources/expand_subject.asp ?id=151
So much for the good Israeli Arabs | Jewish Journal Sam - The word Ultra Orthodox is an invention of the anti Jewish media that seeks ..... Israeli Arabs feel the same denial of Israel as a Jewish State as do ... http:// www.jewishjournal.com/forums/viewthread/1367/P75/
Similarly, the assorted versions of pan-Arabism — Nasserism, Ba’ athism — were seen as alternatives to Islam, when in fact they were not alternatives at all. They merely displayed, for quite specific and local reasons, an emphasis on “Uruba” or Arabdom that was explicable given the impoverished state of the “Islamic world” and the fact that there were local stumbling blocks to pan-Islamism (including the lack of financial wherewithal). In Turkey Kemalists were in control; in Iran there was the Shah, trying in his maladroit way to emphasize the pre- Islamic past. Pan-Arabism was a version of pan-Islamism, a subset, which at the time seemed to be as much as one could hope for. Nasser or Saddam Hussein could dream of being King of the Arabs, but the idea of a much bigger operation, especially since for both Nasser and Saddam Hussein the most dangerous political opposition was mosque-based (the Muslim Brotherhood for Nasser, the Shi’a clerics for Saddam Hussein), was out of the question. http://newenglishreview.org/blog_display.cfm? blog_id=5685
The Myth of the Jewish Race - Google Books Result by Raphael Patai, Jennifer Patai - 1989 - History - 456 pages In 1960 the French Comite d’Action de Defense Democrat ique published a pamphlet titled Racism and Pan-Arabism: A Conspiracy against Human Liberties, ... this is followed by a paper by Shlomo Friedrich on “Pan-Arabism: A New Racist Menace? .. http://books.google.com/books? id=Xt7f6WBEP0EC&pg=PA187&lpg=PA187&dq=pan- arabism+is+a+menace&source=web&ots=tJRgYj1k9x&sig=DSzYzEbg2 - woZhyI8itan6DX4Uc&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=5&am p;ct=result
Syrian Liberal Nidhal Na’isa On the West, Pan-Arabism, Islamism, and Al-Jazeera MEMRI ^ | May 17 2007 Syrian liberal author Nidhal Na’isa began his career in journalism as a teenager, at the government dailies Al-Thawra and Syria Times,(1) but today he is a vocal opponent of the Arab regimes and the pan-Arab ideology, as well as of Islamism and Islamist terrorism. He has written that due to the Islamist “tsunami,” the Middle East could be declared an “intellectual disaster zone”; that if one were to try to sell pan- Arab identity to “the bushmen and the cannibals” they wouldn’t buy it; and that the pan-Arab media is “a harbinger of ill, pain, and destruction.” In contrast, he praises the West for its humanism and its respect for the individual, and writes that, given the current state of affairs in the Arab world, the real question is not “why does the West hate us?” but rather why it does not.
The following are excerpts from some of Nidhal Na’isa’s recent articles:
“We Could Declare [The Middle East] an Intellectual Disaster Zone After the Surging Fundamentalist Tsunami Swept Through”
In an interview published April 23, 2007 on the liberal Arab website Aafaq, Na’isa discussed the Islamist phenomenon:
“The world is swept up in globalization, whereas our unfortunate regions are being swept up everywhere by fundamentalism. We could declare [the Middle East] an intellectual disaster area after the surging fundamentalist tsunami swept through it.
“This is a wave that came after the slaughter, on the debris of the failure and disintegration of the leftist pan-Arab projects, [when] their intellectual hollowness and the superficiality of their proposals... became evident...
“Fundamentalism is a notion that disturbs the sleep of everybody concerned with the present and the future of this region. All of us are fundamentalists, when fundamentalism is taken in the sense of tenacious clinging to [our] opinion and rejection of the other. I see fundamentalism on the faces of all, in their thoughts and proposals. Nobody comes to terms with the other; no one pays attention to anyone else. In my view, this is fundamentalism in its more important and fuller meaning...”
“In Our Totalitarian Societies... Leaving [the Fold of] Collective Thought is Considered Error, Heresy, and Atheism”
When asked about the phenomenon of increasing religiosity in Syria, Na’isa said that it was part of “the spread of the culture of the herd and ‘group’ thinking, which means the negation of the individual and the individual’s importance in creation, development, and originality.”
He continued: “Western civilization was founded on unleashing individual initiative and glorification of individual reason – and not collective reason, which is generally emotive and not of sound judgment.
“In our totalitarian societies, the collective ‘I’ prevails over the individual ‘I,’ and all become equals under the podiums of the [Islamic] jurisprudents. Leaving [the fold of] collective thought is considered error, heresy, and atheism...”
Na’isa’s praise for the West does not, however, extend to current U.S. policy in the region, which he feels has been counterproductive and has fed extremism: “Much of the religiosity in our societies is based on the principle ‘not out of love for ‘Ali, but in order to spite Mu’awiya,’ [i.e.] in order to spite the current regimes, and in order to goad George Bush and the U.S., which acts in a reckless, thoughtless, and foolish manner, and, through its policies, increases the strength of this [fundamentalist] current...
“So long as the [Syrian] nationalist opposition forces remain repressed and banned, and religious activity is the sole [kind of activity] permitted and tolerated, many will see in it a shelter for the expression of... their identities as [people who] reject the Arab constellation of despotism...”
The Syrian Media is “A Mongoloid Child, Retarded and Underdeveloped”
In the interview, Na’isa draws a clear distinction between past heroes of resistance to colonialism and those whom the modern Arab media crowns as martyrs:
“It goes without saying, and is clear to anyone with eyes to see, that there is a distinction between [on the one hand] someone who ends a life full of human giving and sacrifice... and who worked for a noble and lofty goal, and [on the other hand] someone with a black history... The lying pan-Arabist, Islamist-propagandist media will never succeed in creating saints and martyrs out of slaughterers, butchers, and hired killers...
“The hypocritical pan-Arab hissing [i.e. the pan-Arab media]... has poisoned our lives and turned them into a cheap lie.... The viper, before it bites, emits a hissing sound, which is a harbinger of ill, pain, and destruction.”
Na’isa said of the Syrian media in particular that it is “a mongoloid child, retarded and underdeveloped.”(2)
“In Truth, I Think That Those Wicked ‘Infidels’ Love Us More Than We Hate Them”
On April 22, 2007, Nidhal Na’isa published an article on the liberal Arab website Elaph titled “Why Don’t They Hate Us?” in which he lampooned the Islamists’ anti-West discourse:
“A great part of the fiery, devout, [Islamic] revivalist discourse... is based on [the claim] that the ‘infidel’ West is our mortal archenemy, that it hates us with the greatest hatred, and that it does not let any opportunity pass for hatching conspiracies and striking at us.
“[It is also based on the claim] that all of the backwardness, misery, deterioration, decline, defeats, and baseness currently present in the Arab and Muslim worlds are due to an uninterrupted flood of machinations on the part of those evil infidels. [The claim is] that they target our religion and our being because they have no religion, and because we are better than them in Allah’s view, and that they envy us for this very reason.
“[The Islamists claim] that we are a great source of concern for [the West], and that we are their sole preoccupation and fear, and that the green [i.e. Islamic] ‘giant’ is ambushing them with its extraordinary capabilities of poverty, hunger, corruption, despotism, ignorance, prisons, delusion, superstitions, and preachers.
“[According to the Islamists, Islam] is, for this reason, the only one capable of destroying Western civilization, defeating it on its home ground, and wiping it out of existence through ‘a few explosive belts’ that do nothing other than kill and target Arab and Muslim children and their innocent blood.
“[They say that] the mother of all decisive [battles] – the fateful war with the atheist, sinful infidels – passes by way of those innocents, and that if it were not for accursed Israel, wicked America, the infidels, and the descendants of apes and pigs that lie in wait for us night and day, our countries and homelands would be like Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, and Oslo... When Allah rids us of those wicked, accursed people, we will live in tranquility and bliss, and live happily ever after, and we will have offspring, and girls whom we will dress in chadors, veils, and hijabs.
“But in truth... I think that those wicked ‘infidels’ love us much more than we hate them. If it were not for them, life would be transformed into hell and fire.”
“London Has Become a Safe Haven for Fundamentalists Fleeing the Hell of Middle Eastern Despotism”
“[The West] has contributed greatly – through material aid, technical expertise, and advisory assistance – to many of the amenities of life we enjoy. Tens of millions of humans have benefited from the West’s achievements in the sciences, and Western universities have opened [their doors] to the multitudes of students arriving from all countries of the world.
“They have granted citizenship and inducements – material and other – to all of the outstanding, the gifted, and the creative to live in those countries – and even to those who were chased out of their own countries. For instance... London has become a safe haven for fundamentalists fleeing the hell of Middle Eastern despotism. They release, from London, their fiery communiqués for the destruction of the infidel West ...
“The prophecy has been fulfilled, and [these Islamists in London] have, in fact, become the only group to be redeemed from the inferno of tyranny, the hell of oppression, and the fire of despotism.
“It was the infidel West, for instance, that extracted oil from the Arabian desert, and turned it into a green paradise and expansive oases full of vitality. [In these oases,] various kinds of economic, intellectual, athletic and artistic activities flourish, and conferences and conventions are held to revile the infidel West and to accuse [other Arabs] of treachery, in the intoxicating atmosphere of the heart of the desert.
“If it were not for this massive technological aid, those countries would be living now as [they lived] in the earliest period of that great, time-honored history of theirs, before there was a West and before there were infidels.
“In addition, this infidel West dedicated its utmost efforts and thinking... to the medical sphere, and eliminated many of the contagious, infectious diseases that used to be predominant in the world. And it is this same West that gives [the Arabs] electricity with which to desalinate water...
If the West Were To Reciprocate the Enmity of the Arab Satellite Stations, “It Could Turn Their Lights Off and Send Them Back to the Early Camel Age”
“And it was [the West] that launched satellites ‘that float in the sky’(3) [that made possible] the [Arab] satellite TV stations which show up every day on the [TV] screens, and which sprinkle their unique ‘masterpieces’ over mankind. If the West wanted to, and if it were to act with the same logic of unveiled enmity [as the Arab satellite stations do], it could turn their lights off with one push of a button and send them back to the deep black depths and the Early Camel Age...
“I believe that applying oneself to putting forward all of the overwhelming conclusive arguments concerning the humanism of the West, the loftiness of its endeavors, and the nobility of its intentions, would be... a pointless linguistic digression. The general concept can be summed up by [the fact] that the West has not been grudging in [sharing] its humanism and its civilization with others, and it demands of them only a bit of quiet – if there is to be no good faith, recognition, and return of the favor...
“The world has become a narrow lane in a small global village. It listens, follows [developments], thinks, contemplates, and analyzes – and it cannot at all fathom the motives and the goals of this hostile and vicious discourse of incitement that some tirelessly market, exploiting their alliance with despotic regimes.
“One painful conclusion can be drawn from all of this... [and it is] that the more logical question... is not ‘why do they hate us?’ – if there is indeed some degree of hatred – but rather ‘why don’t they hate us?’...(4)
Al-Jazeera Talk Shows as a Window on Arab Society
In an April 15, 2007 article on Elaph.com, Na’isa took issue with those who criticize the popular Al-Jazeera talk show “The Opposite Direction.” In a rather backhanded compliment, he “praises” the confrontational show as an accurate, if pale, reflection of the conflictual state of contemporary Arab society:
“I don’t understand why many criticize ‘The Opposite Direction’... and call it... a cockfight, or a boxing ring, or a dialogue of the deaf.
“All the aforementioned program does is to pass on, through its participants and its unaffected interviews, some random aspects of a head-butting, fragmented Arab reality...
“’The Opposite Direction’ is a microcosm of the larger ‘opposite directions’ that are to be found in every home, in the street, within every institution, group, and political party, and in every small gathering, even those around a hookah and a backgammon table in a popular café, or in an out-of-the-way village.
“In fact, relatively speaking, [’The Opposite Direction’] is far less violent than what goes on in reality: the deafness, the anger, the resistance, the mutual shoving and head-butting. It often seems to me as though no one understands the other, and no one wants to listen to the other.
“If Allah, may He be praised and elevated – and the fact that he has not done this is [due to] His great wisdom – [but] if Allah were to bestow upon us weapons of mass destruction, we would destroy one another down to the last man... And then we could rest, and give tortured humanity a respite from our long and wearying problems, discussions, and talks.
“Hopefully our discussions will remain at the level of the ‘The Opposite Direction’ – a ‘bit’ of yelling and vituperation... and will not transform into a deadly hell and tremendous bloodshed...
“So first off, I would like to sincerely thank all of the participants... in this program, because they express, in a true and spontaneous manner, the nature of our societies, their innermost being, without any ‘touchup’... These are our people and our peoples. This is how we are. This is what we have to offer...”(5)
On the Arab Media’s Version of “Arab Identity”
In an April 26 article on Elaph, Na’isa wrote: “The charlatan... propagandistic media glories in the bombastic term ‘Arab identity,’ and it extols it and promotes it as the heavens’ gift to those sinking into a morass of backwardness...
“In truth, I tried hard, exhausted with fatigue and worn down by sleeplessness, and I [still] am trying, to define the basic characteristics of this identity vaunted by the Arab nationalists, professional pan-Arabists, and the Islamists, [thinking that] perhaps I could find a single reason or convincing explanation as to the uniqueness of this gift of nature that they dote on night and day.
“[I thought that] perhaps I could stumble on just one find by which I could advance a single proof concerning the enigma of the Zionist, colonialist, Burmese, Bengal, and Nepalese conspiracies to make this identity disappear from existence...
“I couldn’t find any convincing reason [to make] people cleave to this identity, apart from a wicked and obscure desire, not free of bad intent, to take revenge on them, deceive them, and keep them in their state of misery, decline, and in their humiliating position.
“This identity has come to mean... oppression, despotism, coercion, repression, prison, mass graves, security chases, exploitation, persecution, the organized plunder of national resources, odious racist discrimination against minorities and women, monopolization of thought, talent, and creativity, and the punishment of the free. It contains many distinguishing characteristics, such as: corruption, fragmentation, wars, tribal conflict, clannishness, blood feuds, and deep-rooted hostilities that never had any basis in the first place.
“[In the Arab world] the ruler is the army boot..., dictatorship, demagoguery..., military coups, and deification of the leaders. Without these unique characteristics, Arab identity loses its... customary and familiar luster and glamour...
“In light of all of these saddening and oppressive facts, if we were to put this identity... up for sale – to the bushmen or the cannibals in the jungle, to outcasts or refugees, to gypsies or to vagabonds – would any of them agree to buy it?...”(6)
Endnotes: (1) www.aafaq.org, April 23, 2007. (2) www.aafaq.org, April 23, 2007. (3) Paraphrase of Koran 21:33. (4) www.elaph.com, April 22, 2007. (5) www.elaph.com, April 15, 2007. Several weeks after publishing this article, Na’isa himself was invited to appear on “The Opposite Direction” on Al-Jazeera; see MEMRI TV Clip No. 1448, May 8, 2007: http://www.memritv.org/search.asp? ACT=S9&P1=1448. (6) www.elaph.com, April 26, 2007. http://www.memri.org/bin/art icles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP159007
PLAN OF ACTION AGAINST EGYPTIAN GOVERNMENT AND OTHERS... what happened in Egypt is the plain and clear manifestation of Arabist hatred of Africans, Arabism’s disrespect of Africaness, and naked Racism. ... http://www.sudaneseon line.com/cgi-bin/sdb/2bb.cgi? seq=print&board=50&msg=1137188574&rn=
Israelism defines its borders, respectful of alternative cultures. Arabism is rogue and misinformed, it believes that all cultures must adopt its ideologies. http://opinion.latimes.com/opinionla/2008/06/obama-the- self.html
“One thing we should do immediately is drop the lazy concept of “the Arab street”: it means nothing, it doesn’t exist. Like most formulations beloved by the left, it’s an excuse to avoid having to learn anything hard or specific - facts, dates, trade patterns, economic relationships. The Bahraini street has nothing in common with the Ramallah street. The “Arab street” is as useless a notion as the “European street”: Americans should compare, for example, France and Belgium with Kuwait and Qatar. Who are the real allies? The difference at Arab League meetings henceforth will be between those members of a moderate, modernizing tendency and a dwindling number of decrepit thug states who prefer to carry on taking refuge in pan-Arabism’s perversion of traditional Arab fatalism and celebrating their failure.” - Mark Steyn http://wso.williams.edu/~ljacobso/quotes/ME .shtml
denouncing Pan-Arabism in all its forms of practice as racism, ... http://www.buzzle.com/articles/end-darfur-genocide-21st- century-most-outrageous-crime-against-mankind.html
The Last Chance for Sudan to Exist: Get Out of the Arab League Now ... Pan-Arabism: the Epitome of the most Anti-Human Racism, a Forgery aiming at bestializing the Human Being. An inquisitive approach to the chances of the ... http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/9-4-2004-58911.asp
Deep down in Darfur - TLS Highlights - Times Online Handicapped by the latent Arabist racism of the leadership, which hails, as it always has, almost entirely from Khartoum and the Middle Nile Valley, ... http://tls.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25346- 1886267_4,00.html
Arabists VS Middle East http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/2005/04/arabists-vs- the-middle-east.php
The Arab League as a useless ideological racist Arabist institution has existed only to promote Arabism and Arab racism against colonised non- Arab nations. ... http://www.kurdmedia.com/article.aspx?id=9285
Islamist and Arabist-racist attitudes, refracted through the honor- shame paradigm, greatly multiplied the scope and duration of the [Arabs vs Israel] conflict, ... http://www.theaugeanstables.com/2008/06/22/writing-away-ones- future
OLD STAND-BY ARABIST RACIST http:/ /www.shalomjerusalem.com/jerusalem/jerusalem74.html
Their grievance is not really Russian imperialism, or the 5 to 10 percent of the West Bank under dispute, or black African encroachment on Arab land, or purported French insensitivity to legitimate Islamic pride, much less an American “crusade” to harm Muslims.
All these issues and the hundreds of others — from the right to build a reactor in Iran to the desire for a semi-autonomous Chechnya — in theory could be discussed, argued about, and adjudicated through democratic dialogue.
But that is impossible. For you see, the real problem is the democratic dialogue itself — unknown in the Arab Middle East and much of the Islamic world, and a hindrance to both sharia and the pan- Arabist thug with epaulettes and sunglasses. Yet consensual government alone is the key to ending failed statist economies, gender apartheid, religious intolerance, state-controlled media, and tribalism. It alone might stop the self-induced misery and with it the tedious scapegoating of “the Jews and America.”
Much of the Islamic Middle East continues to blame others for its own induced catastrophe, apparently unaware — thanks to the lever of oil it didn’t discover, doesn’t know how to develop, and uses to intensify rather than alleviate its poverty — that its entire culture is becoming an international pariah. Islamic young men on European flights are looked at with distrust; they are not welcome in Russia. China wants
none of them. They are wary of visiting India. Australia learned from Bali. The whole world is watching — in disgust. In short, the suicide bomber, the improvised explosive device, the car bomb, the televised beheading, the wacko fatwa, the sleazy propaganda streamer on the Internet, the new cult of death — all cowardly and lethal phenomena — these are now the innovations that the world associates with the Middle East in lieu of gene research, car production, or computer breakthroughs. If you look for gender equity in the Middle East, you won’t find it in Arab Olympic delegations, Saudi schools, or the Iranian government, but in the opportunity for young women to blow themselves up right beside men. Indeed, killing infidels is the nascent women’s-liberation movement of the radical Muslim world. http://factso fisrael.com/blog/archives/000790.html
Arabism - Racism [Wiki style]
For the historic Pan-Arabism movement see Pan- Arabism. This page is more about the nature of Arabism as a whole, not just the Pan-Arabism movement.
Arabism and Arabization - asides from association with the a movement for unification among the peoples and countries of the Arab World, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Arabian Sea. it is more about Arab nationalism which asserts that the Arabs constitute a single nation. At times Pan-Arabism has tended to be secular and often socialist, but often it embeds within it Islamic tradition and culture or Islamism (like the genocide in Darfur). and has strongly opposed colonialism and Western political involvement in the Arab world. Also historic Arabizing of the middle east [1] and in Africa that process is still going on today [2].
There's a strong argument that Arabism was never detached from Islamism, To this day, Islam has retained its imperial ambitions. The dream of regional and world domination has remained very much alive, despite the destruction long ago of the last great Muslim empire, which has left the Islamic caliphate vacant. The 20th century doctrine of pan- Arabism (exemplified by Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser), though secular in appearance, has been effectively Islamic in its ethos, worldview, and imperialist vision. Karsh quotes Nuri Said, longtime prime minister of Iraq and a prominent early champion of pan-Arabism: "Although Arabs are naturally attached to their native land, their nationalism is not confined by boundaries. It is an aspiration to restore the great tolerant civilization of the early caliphate." [3].
An Arabist can be referred to someone that is well knowlodgeable of Arab culture and nationality but can also be referred to a radical nationalist anti non-Arab.
As an ultra nationalist ideology it has been embedded with bigotry in its roots and in its motivated action.
'Arabism Equals Racism', in an elaborated article, Gerald A. Honigman writes on the "acceptance of anyone else’s political rights in a multi-ethnic region that most Arabs see exclusively as "purely Arab patrimony." That's the Arab-Israel conflict in a nutshell; but it is also the core of the Arab-Berber, Arab-Kurd, Arab-Black African, Arab- Copt, Arab-Assyrian, Arab-non-Arab Lebanese conflicts, as well, among others. The Arabs' Anfal Campaign against the Kurds and their actions in Darfur and the rest of the southern Sudan are just a few of many examples of Arab genocidal actions against all who might disagree." [4].
The bigotry linkage of Arabism's supremacy and radical Islam, by A 'Short Critique of Islamic Fundamentalism' Around the late 1920s the Moslem Brotherhood was formed by Arabist thinkers racial supremacy [1]. In the aftermath of 7/7/ London bombing a group calling itself: "Organization of Qaidat Al-Jihad in Europe" posted: Rejoice O Islamic nation. Rejoice O Pan-Arab nation. Rejoice, for the time of revenge on the British Zionist Crusading government has come [5].
Walid Phares writes about Arabism's denial of identity of millions of indigenous non-Arab nations as an ethnic cleansing on a politico-cultural level [6].
Christians of Iraq site published an extensive historic account on "The Foolishness of imposing Oppressive Arab Nationalism on Non Arabs, Non-Arab Muslim minorities such as the Amazigh, or Berbers, Kurds, and Turkmen found themselves officially out of favor. They faced the prospect of becoming "Arabized" or of being denied political and even civil rights. Groups that identified themselves as neither Arab nor Muslim had it even worse: Southern Sudanese, Copts, Jews, and Assyrians were plunged into a protracted nightmare that saw their communities ground into anonymity, forcing many to emigrate permanently. Even Maronites, whose retention of political power in Lebanon immunized them from utter marginalization, watched with alarm as Arab nationalist propaganda increasingly portrayed them as a foreign and sinister element in the heart of the Arab nation." [7]
Adel Makhoul wrote in May 1, 2005 about Pan-Arabists: Hiding Arab Racism, that they're agents of racism: Arab Racism, that always supported Arab unity and "Islam" at the expense of non-Arab and non-Moslem peoples and tries to deflect the world's attention from Arab and Moslem attrocities committed against Christians, Kurds, Jews, Israelis, Coptic Christians, non-Arab Sudanese, etc. he also points to the fact that Sadam Hussein's poisoning of the Kurds has never been condemned by one Arab intellectual or leader. This is because a racist prevalent attitude in the Arab mind is that the entire Middle East should be Arab. This also explains the attitude towards Israel, a country that is predominantly non-Moslem and speaks a Middle Eastern language other than Arabic.[8] Michael Totten decries the tired Arab nationalist myth that Arabism protects Christians. [9]
The linkage to terror - Protecting terrorism, Pan-Arabism: the inhuman progenitor of Islamic Terrorism [10].
A historic account of Pan-Arabism's Legacy of Confrontation with Iran & Arab racism against Iranians. [11], Iran Heritage says that It was in Saddam Hussein's Iraq where Arab racism attained its most vulgar ... The "Arabization" of Persian contributions on the world stage was in full. [12]
The Egyptian Arab in the Al Qaeda organization, A. Zawahri described in April 2008 the "Persians" as the enemy of Arabs [2].
The Kurds in Syria between 2 to 2.5 million [13] they're second class citizens, for many not citizens at all, the attempts of Erasing Ethnic Identity. Syrian Kurds were banned from giving their children names reflecting their ethnic identity. Pary Karadaghi, Director of Kurdish Human Rights Watch in Washington, says one of the most basic ways of showing Kurdish identity was taken away. "The campaign of 'Arabization' actually replaced the Kurdish names, People could not have Kurdish names on cities, buildings [and] businesses. Children's names could not be Kurdish." Syria's Kurds struggle for years to survive despite government oppression on many fronts. [14] And a cry against syria's oppression has gone out. [15]
Iraq's Saddam Hussein's Anfal campaign was designed to depopulate ethnic cleansing the Kurdish regions in northern Iraq. [16], Kurdish writers decry the massacre of Halabja and The Racism of so-called Arab Intellectuals towards Kurds and Kurdistan [17] [18].
The UN documented the racism against Indigenous peoples Multi-ethnic States, The Imazighen Berbers are the indigenous peoples of northern Africa and the Sahel [19]. Despite Arabization's oppression in north-Africa, they are a proud people[20], Morocco's Berbers Battle to Keep Their Culture [21], in 2004 they spoke out and attacked Moroccan state racism [22]. Berber Leader Belkacem Lounes: ’There Is No Worse Colonialism Than That of the Pan-Arabist Clan that Wants to Dominate Our People’ [23].
Kabylia info writes about oppression and tyranny of its people by Arabic-Islamic colonialism [24], the IHT's description: This is Kabylia, one of Algeria's most restive regions - home to a stubborn and proud ethnic minority of Berbers who since the end of the colonial era four decades ago have fought to preserve their cultural identity and independence. [25]
SHEIK Taj Din al-Hilali: "The Western people are the biggest liars and oppressors and especially the English race," the Mufti of Australia said in Arabic during the extensive interview in Egypt, his birthplace. [26]
On the racist gang rape spree by Arab Lebanese in Australia targeting specifically white girls, From the Sydney Morning Herald 2002 Racist rapes: Finally the truth comes out, So now we know the facts, straight from the Supreme Court, that a group of Lebanese Muslim gang rapists from south-western Sydney hunted their victims on the basis of their ethnicity and subjected them to hours of degrading, dehumanising torture. The young women, and girls as young as 14, were "sluts" and "Aussie pigs", the rapists said. So now that some of the perpetrators are in jail, will those people who cried racism and media "sensationalism" hang their heads in shame? Hardly. [27]
Saudi Arabia's King Fahd Bin Abdul-Aziz, Jeddeh 1993: "I summon my blue-eyed slaves anytime it pleases me. I command the Americans to send me their bravest soldiers to die for me. Anytime I clap my hands a stupid genie called the American ambassador appears to do my bidding. When the Americans die in my service their bodies are frozen in metal boxes by the US Embassy and American airplanes carry them away, as if they never existed. Truly, America is my favorite slave." [28]
In 2006 Arab "Youths” Kick Man to Death on Crowded Bus in Antwerp Belgium [29] .
Pan-Arabism's anti-Jewish ideology
The champion of pan-Arabism Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser used the infamous anti-Semitic "protocols" libel in his war against Israel. [30], Both pan-Arabism and pan-Islamic ideologies looked to Hitler's Germany as a model Haj Amin al- Husseini expressed his admiration for the way 'the Germans have definitively solved the Jewish problem,' [31] & Gamal Abdel Nasser's affinity for the Mufti was great [32], Joachim Wurst describes the emergence and psychological mechanisms of modern anti-Semitism and particularly of genocidal Islamist anti-Semitism. He traces the development of this trend from the Muslim Brotherhood and the Mufti of Jerusalem in the 1930s and 1940s through the pan-Arabism of the 1950s and 1960s up to the present-day Islamism. Mail to a Friend | Link | Comments (4) | Report Objectionable Content
Yahoo came out with a poll that says a lot of whites won't vote for Obama just because he is black. Well, DUH! Did anyone REALLY think that there was no more racism in our Country?
However, the only thing that Yahoo's Poll did, in effect, is prove that the entire poll was rascist! Anyone who is NOT rascist wouldn't even be ABLE to answer those questions.
Example from the Poll: How does each of these words describe most blacks?Hardworkingviolentdependablelazycomplaininggood neighbors(you get the idea)
If you are NOT prejudice you can speak about specific people that you know; but using generalities like Yahoo Polls did (generalities to describe a whole race of people) is, in itself, racist!
I am sure that I have some racism in me. I have never met anyone who didn't. However, this POLL is a crock!
It is based on a wrong assumption. The assumption that ANYONE can fit an ENTIRE race of people into certain little boxes.
Not ALL blacks are law-breakers. Not ALL blacks are law-abiding. Not ALL blacks are friendly. Not ALL blacks are unfriendly. etc., etc.
I WOULD have to say though, that ALL blacks are just like ALL whites, in that they have good days and bad ones. Sad days and happy ones. Angry days and helpful ones. Families that they love and that love them. Hard times and Good times.
People (of any race) cannot be pegged into little boxes; like Yahoo tried to do.
Yahoo Polls, before you try to take the splinter from my eye; take the beam from your own.
http://news.yahoo.com/page/election-2008-political-pulse-obama-race;_ylt=AsoPbkEg2x_3a7JWZUFDN9l2KY54
http://heyjude.name
When John McCain picked Sarah Palin to be his vice-presidential running mate, I wondered if he had taken leave of his senses. Here was a woman who did not even own a passport until a year ago being chosen for the Republican vice-presidential slot at the very time the McCain camp was shouting about Barack Obama’s lack of foreign policy credentials.
Then there were rumblings from white women who would not vote for McCain because he was pandering to them. He picked an inexperienced woman to be his running mate because he assumed that women, white Democratic women that is, would come running in the aftermath of Hillary Clinton’s losing the Democratic nomination for president. Then there were those white women who felt vindicated and decided to jump on the McCain bandwagon because there she was—a woman on a major party’s political ticket.
As the economy has taken a nose dive and Americans of all persuasions are anxious about their jobs, homes, and retirements, the allure of Palin is slowly fading. But we who support Obama need not rejoice so soon. We need to remember McCain and the Republican Party’s psychological, if not political, motivation for having chosen her for the V-P slot in the first place. It has to do with a little something called “privilege.”
The one thing at stake in this country right now is the "American Dream.” The other thing at stake is “white privilege.” White Americans do not like to hear that they escape a good deal of discrimination, annoyances, slights, and real dangers, by virtue of being white. “White privilege” is always a sore subject because to acknowledge it is to acknowledge that your problems and particular disadvantages might pale in comparison to other peoples of color. What does this have to do with Sarah Palin? Everything!!
As a woman I know that sexism does exist. Sexism is ugly, painful, ridiculous, and downright counterproductive. As a Black woman, however, I know that when most of the pundits on CNN or any other network say the word “women” or “women voters,” they are not talking about me or any other woman of color. “Woman” and “women” are synonyms for “white women.” Just like Obama being labeled by some political nitwits as an “elitist” is simply their way of calling him an “uppity n****r” without their being accused of using a racial slur against him.
Palin was chosen to fill a psychological void for many white women who feel that they have been cheated out of something—namely a potential woman president or vice-president. What they have not fully sorted out is whether they feel cheated because they are women or because they are white women. I rather suspect the latter, and so does McCain. We need only consider that back in 1972, Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm, the first black woman elected to the U. S. Congress, lost her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. I was a young girl back then, and no one expected Congresswoman Chisholm to win the Democratic Party’s nomination for president. But it was Chisholm who always insisted that she was “unbought and unbossed,” that she encountered more discrimination due to her gender than her race.
Is it not strange that Chisholm was never mentioned or even acknowledged by Hillary Clinton or any other woman during the primary season? She certainly will not be mentioned by Palin or any of her supporters. Chisholm spoke out against the Vietnam War, spoke out and up for Native Americans, Spanish-speaking Americans, Black Americans and yes, women. Her bold assertions about sexism—often in the face of opposition from some segments of her own black community—should have earned her a place among all women who believe that sexism is a stain on our nation’s character. Yet why has she been reduced to a footnote? If you can answer this question honestly, then you know that the battle to win the Whitehouse is not over until it is over.
We need not delude ourselves into believing that race doesn’t play a real factor for white women voters anymore than we need not acknowledge that the pundits often forget that some of us black folks are women.
Copyright © 2008 by Leslye J Allen
"The Moynihan Report"When Politics and Sociology Collide
PRESIDENT LYNDON B. JOHNSON: Let this session of Congress be known as the session, which declared all-out war on human poverty and unemployment in these United States.
BEN WATTENBERG: But it was not to be an easy war, and there was more to poverty than just a lack of money. In 1965, a young academic in the Johnson administration began a serious study of how culture and economics were intertwined. Daniel Patrick Moynihan examined the data and wrote, "The Negro Family: The Case for National Action." The report, published by the Department of Labor, used data to focus attention on the problems of black families.
DANIEL PATRICK MOYNIHAN: These are accurate statistics, most of them government statistics. Most of them are available if you dig through those Census volumes. The issue is, what are we going to do about these facts?
BEN WATTENBERG: Scouring the Labor Department's statistics, Moynihan found, unsurprisingly, that when unemployment went up, more people went on welfare, and vice-versa. This correlation seemed to be set in stone. But Moynihan noticed that something was changing.
SENATOR DANIEL PATRICK MOYNIHAN (D-NY): In 1963, that correlation had disappeared. Suddenly the unemployment for minorities, as well as everybody else, was going down, and the dependency rate, if you want to put it that way, was going up. Now, what was this all about?
BEN WATTENBERG: According to Moynihan, "at the heart of the deterioration of the fabric of Negro society is the deterioration of the Negro family."
DANIEL PATRICK MOYNIHAN: It seems to me that there are a great many Negro Americans, perhaps half the population is securely in the middle class, doing very well, taking care of itself, needing no help from anybody, thank you very much. But the slums are also filling up with a lower-class people, unemployed, ill-educated, ill-housed, for whom the cycle of no jobs and bad education and bad housing just reproduces itself and takes its most pregnant personal form in the great tragedy of the family lives of these men and women and of their children.
GLENN LOURY (Boston University): The Moynihan report takes up the question of what would be necessary to bring African-Americans into a status of equal opportunity in American society and argues that a major impediment would be that the family structure among blacks was weaker and was becoming a major problem.
BEN WATTENBERG: Out-of-wedlock births among blacks had gone up from 17 percent in 1950 to 26 percent in 1965. By 1970, that figure would reach 39 percent. More children were being raised without the presence of fathers.
DANIEL PATRICK MOYNIHAN: At any given moment, two-thirds of the Negro families are husband-and-wife families. But over the lifetime, only about a little more than a third of Negro children come of 18 having lived all their lives in such a family. And that hurts people. That deprives them of opportunities. Not to have a father, not to have a mother, you've lost something that helps you in life. And so this process feeds back into the cycle.
BEN WATTENBERG: For Moynihan, the issue was more than just one of dry social science. From the age of 9, he had been raised in a single-parent home.
JAMES Q. WILSON (UCLA): It was his view, a man who grew up in a female-headed single-parent family, quite sensitive to this issue, that without an intact family, the problems of manhood, of establishing true manliness among some black Americans, would prove to be very difficult, possibly insoluble.
BEN WATTENBERG: Moynihan's argument convinced his boss, President Lyndon Johnson.
PRESIDENT LYNDON B. JOHNSON: Perhaps most important, its influence, radiating to every part of life, is the breakdown of the Negro family structure. And when the family collapses, it is the children that are usually damaged.
BEN WATTENBERG: The Moynihan report stirred the pot. Was the erosion of the black family the consequence of a culture that was broken or of discrimination or of an economy that could not produce enough good jobs?
FRANCIS FUKUYAMA (George Mason University): What Moynihan did was to notice that perhaps the family itself ought to be addressed as an explicit issue for social policy and not simply the economic issue of having enough jobs and opportunities.
BEN WATTENBERG: Opportunities had been growing for blacks during the 1960s. Civil rights legislation killed Jim Crow. The black poverty rate declined, and the black middle class grew. To many civil rights leaders, Moynihan's views were heresy.
GLENN LOURY: We had the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which had been enacted, a great victory for the civil rights movement. We had the Voting Rights Act of 1965, bringing African-Americans fully into the body politic. Now along comes someone who says, "Yes, hold on, but wait just a minute. Have you noticed these social trends?"
JAMES Q. WILSON: Now, the reaction, of course, was "Moynihan is blaming the victim." The inundation of criticism of him in the early 1960s was ferocious.
BAYARD RUSTIN (Civil Rights Activist): The interesting thing is that if one considers the Moynihan report about the breakdown of the Negro community, one needs to look back to the Irish and to the Italian experience, which is really simple, that as the heads of families were permitted by this society to have economic independence, all of the so-called defects of crime, illegitimacy and the like disappeared.
BEN WATTENBERG: Another key study of the time looked at the importance of the family, this time in relation to education. Sociologist James Coleman's report was called "Equality of Educational Opportunity." It had been mandated by the 1964 Civil Rights Act to study the effects of school segregation.
CHRISTOPHER JENCKS (Harvard University): Coleman had two big expectations when he did his report. He thought he was going to find that the schools that black children attended got far less adequate resources than the schools that white children attended, and he thought that he was going to find that the resources that schools got made a big difference to students' achievement.
BEN WATTENBERG: To test these theories, Coleman and his researchers surveyed over 600,000 students and 4,000 schools. It was one of the largest social science projects ever undertaken. Working day and night on a tight deadline, holed up in a hotel room, Coleman and his team crunched the numbers.
CHRISTOPHER JENCKS: This was really a mammoth undertaking. The number of social scientists, some living today, who could claim to have ever written a major piece of work in three months is extremely small. In fact, it may be zero other than Jim Coleman.
BEN WATTENBERG: By looking at the numbers, Coleman ended up challenging conventional wisdom as well as his own previous views.
DANIEL PATRICK MOYNIHAN: Early one evening, there was a reception at the Harvard Faculty Club, and Seymour Martin Lipsett, the incomparable Marty Lipsett, walks in, sees me, comes over and says, "You know what Coleman's finding, don't you?" I said, "No." He said, "It's all family."
BEN WATTENBERG: The Coleman report pointed to the family as the most important indicator by far of how a child would perform at school. And since the Moynihan and Coleman reports were published, the American family, black and white, continued to change, but not necessarily for the better.
CHRISTOPHER JENCKS: I think today most social scientists would agree with Moynihan's view that single-parent families really have adverse effects on children and that this contributed to the problems of African-American communities in the 1960s and since, but also now there are the problems of Latino and white and other communities.
BEN WATTENBERG: Not only did black out-of-wedlock birth rates skyrocket, but so did white rates. In fact, by 1999, the white illegitimacy rate was equal to the black rate when the Moynihan report was written. And black out-of-wedlock births reached almost 70 percent.
But there is some good news. The teenage birth rate is down. This may well lead to lower out-of-wedlock birth rates in the future.
GLENN LOURY: If we ask the question today of how the Moynihan report looks, now we look back 35 years later, I'd have to say it's looking pretty good. A fairly prescient piece of social forecasting would, I think, have to be a fair-minded person's judgment. I wish I could produce the document that would look as good 35 years from now.
BEN WATTENBERG: Out-of-wedlock births were not the only problem. Social scientist Francis Fukuyama has called the phenomenon "the great disruption."
FRANCIS FUKUYAMA: I think that in many ways, a lot of the problems that occurred during the great disruption were the result of a much too expansive sense of individual entitlement and, you know, almost total absence of responsibility for your spouse, for your children, for your neighbor, country, all of the communities in which we're embedded.
BEN WATTENBERG: And we can measure that disruption. Here's just a sample. The nature of the family was changing. In the 1960s, divorce rates spiked. Once it was rare and called "living in sin." The number of men and women living together without the benefit of marriage went up six-fold between 1960 and 1970, and then another six-fold between 1970 and 1998. Today, about half of all those getting married have lived in a cohabiting relationship.
A third disruption concerned drugs. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, the use of marijuana increased by over 400 percent; mind-altering hallucinogens by over 800 percent; cocaine, 2300 percent.
The worst part of the great disruption was crime. Pat Moynihan warned that if more children grew up without the presence of fathers, the result would be social chaos, including crime. Crime rates soared, and crime and punishment became one of the most important issues in American life.
John McCain says he wants to secure American borders. But John McCain doesn't care about border security. He fought AGAINST border security when he voted against DELAYING opening the border to Mexican trucks for security reasons. John McCain says he cares about the FUTURE of the American people and globalization will get us a secure future. John McCain is engaging in wishful thinking.
Regarding globalization, John McCain said, he "understands that globalization will not automatically benefit every American. We must prepare the next generation of workers by making American education worthy of the promise we make to our children and ourselves. We must be a nation committed to competitiveness and opportunity." --"Bold Solutions for Economic Prosperity" Feb 3, 2008
John McCain just doesn't care about what you are going through NOW. He doesn't even have a plan or know how to develope a plan to improve the present in order for American families to have a successful future. That's why John McCain will leave the presidency to Barack Obama. John McCain knows Obama is able to protect Americans now, and in the future. John McCain's plan is to expose Americans to more job loss today so they can "compete" tomorrow.
I subscribe to BL Ochman's newsletter. Today, this newsletter grabbed my attention. Ochman, makes salient arguments in this article. Eventually, the Republicans are going to use race as a divisive and nasty campaign strategy. Obama needs to address the 'elephant in the room.'
Subscribe to What's Next News Read Online Advertise Contact RSS 1.0 Feed RSS 2.0 FeedBL Ochman's What's Next NewsThursday, September 4, 2008
Please note: These are simply the last two days' posts from What's Next Blog. You can read all my recent posts, and add comments if you like, at What's Next Blog You will need to read the blog online in order to see the videos in the posts. Thanks for subscribing! Follow me on Twitter. B.L.
I COPIED AND PASTED THIS BECAUSE THIS INFORMATION IS TRUE AND IMPORTANT!
How to Market Obama Now: Play the Race Card
Love them or hate them, (and I hate them) Sarah Palin’s views are transparent. What’s not transparent is the race issue, and Barak Obama needs to address it now.
Then we can move on to the real issues, without the whispering. Otherwise, the GOP puppet masters will find a way to poison the well of hope, and we can’t let that happen again.
Race is the whispered undercurrent of this campaign. Friends ask each other: “Do you really think a black man can win?” “Is America really ready for a black president?” And in their private conversations, people say things that no politician or pundit would dare to utter in public, like “Black people will think they can do whatever they want if he’s elected” (This from a liberal professor at a New York City University.)
If I was on the marketing team, I'd advise Obama to come out and say “I know race is the whispered issue, but we need to talk about it. I’m what happens when – no matter where you come from – you work hard, you dream big and you nevergive up. And I’m here to tell you that if you worry about the color of my skin, you are worrying about the wrong issue.”
I'd tell him to do it on YouTube, in blog advertising, in email, in text messages to his supporters, content sponsorship, and on his website. Bypass mainstream media and let them get the news online where millions turn instead of TV or newspapers.
The race issue may be over in tennis and golf, but it’s not over around dining room tables across the country, in gated communities or in the projects. It needs to be discussed on a national stage, because until it is, we’re stuck in the past.Posted by B.L. Ochman
GOOD NEWS:
Which presidential candidate is winning on the Internet? Let the numbers tell the story.
The vast majority of forum discussions on McCain Space, the candidate's social network, have fewer than 10 replies, and most have none as of 3 pm today. Most of the groups have 50 members or less, and less than 50 user-made videos have been uploaded to the site, where the most popular video, with 470 votes is "some random rifle spinning" by a Texas supporter who never says a word. The McCain Blog's posts have about half the number of comments as the Obama Blog.McCain News on Twitter is following 119 and has 1,686 followers.
Comments on Obama Blog posts range from 450 to 1200+ per post. Obama has 496,701 friends on MySpace, 1,662,290 supporters on Facebook, Obama's campaign is following 75,287 people on Twitter, where he has 72,367 followers. Following others is a key indicator that a person using Twitter in actually participating in the community.
Politicians have been using the Internet to reach confirmed and potential supporters for more than a decade. But once the Obama campaign won MoveOn.org's support, it became able to use the web to build a two-way conversation and recruit MoveOn's remarkably organized members to quick, strong action and donations.
The proof is in the numbers, says ITbusiness.
On Web traffic-tracking site Alexa, BrackObama.com ranks 535 and JohnMcCain.com 4,497 out of all Web pages, as of Aug. 29. That stark contrast wasn't heightened by the timing of the Democratic convention – over the past several months, Obama's site has ranked an average of 7,000 positions higher than his opponent's site.
Categories: Internet strategy, Marketing Strategy, Politics, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Word of Mouth
Adrienne Zurub
http://adriennezurub.typepad.com
INSIGHT - Locking up Sudan’s Al-Bashi ...Daily Nation, Kenya - Jul 24, 2008Sudanese intellectuals, like Deng and Prof Ibrahim, have seen Arab racism as the curse of Sudanhttp://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=39&newsid=128002
A witness and victim of the conflict in Darfur finds a voiceEconomist, UK - Aug 14, 2008The description of playground rivalries between the “African” girls and the “Arab” girls captures the racism and snobbery that underlie the conflict. ...http://www.economist.com/books/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11919269
Mbeki and the Butcher of KhartoumHuffington Post, NY - Aug 8, 2008Mbeki's siding with the Butcher of Khartoum is painful and incomprehensible. ... Brutality, Arab racism, genocide, slavery were chapters of the same book; parts of the same side of the coin of injustice and totalitarianism. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pius-kamau/mbeki-and-the-butcher-of_b_117148.html
Darfuri Refugee Thanks British Jewryby Justin Cohen - Thursday 7th August 2008A Darfuri refugee this week made an emotional plea to Anglo-Jewry to continue supporting those forced to flee the region as he thanked the Jewish News for its efforts to halt deportations to SudanPouring out his heart this week, the 32-year-old recalled how he was forbidden from speaking his own language at school “because the Arab government wanted us to be more Arabic” and how Black Africans had to sit at the back of the class. http://www.totallyjewish.com/news/national/c-9772/darfuri-refugee-thanks-british-jewry/
Egyptian troops execute another Darfur refugeeIsrael Today, Israel - Aug 6, 2008Egyptian troops have killed at least 20 African refugees trying to reach Israel this year alone. In at least one incident late last year the Egyptians even ...Thousands of Sudanese refugees from Darfur have been in Egypt for years. Recently, many have begun making the long difficult trek across the Sinai desert to escape the oppression and discrimination they experience at Egyptian handshttp://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=16830
A Sudanese killed as he attempts to cross into IsraelThursday 21 August 2008 02:46. Printer-Friendly version Comments... August 20, 2008 (ISMAILIA) — Egyptian police shot dead a 27-year-old Sudanese man while he was trying to sneak across the border into Israel. This is second killing during this month.Since January 2008, Egyptian authorities arrested a587 illegal African migrants attempting to cross border to Israel. 172 were from Sudan and mostly from Darfur troubled region.The killing of Ibrahim Tayeb Juma, which took place at night on Monday, brings to 20 the number of African migrants killed at the border so far this year.http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article28346
Soyinka Links Darfur Crisis to Arab Racism, Slavery Written by Evan Mwangi: Afrika News Books and Arts Editor Wednesday, 25 April 2007 Nigerian author Wole Soyinka has linked the Darfur genocide to the history of Arabs enslaving Negroid Africans in Sudan, the Harvard Crimson has reported. The first African winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature and a consistent critic of the Sudanese government asked the Arab section of Sudan to confront its enslaving past and acknowledge its current role in the violence in Darfur as racist instead of remaining in a “state of amnesia.” An articulate intellectual and dramatist, Soyinka delivered the speech “Darfur: Anything to do with Slavery?” to a full house at the Center for Government and International Studies, Harvard University. He addressed the ongoing violence that has resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths and millions of displaced refugees. Soyinka argued that Arabs played a historic role in the African slave trade, and a feeling of supremacy still prevails among the Janjaweed, a militia terrorizing the Negroid part of the Sudan. Soyinka said the Janjaweed are “motivated” by a mentality in which they see their victims as slaves. “You destroy a people if you treat them with disdain,” Soyinka is quoted as saying. http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=518470
Written by Evan Mwangi: Afrika News Books and Arts Editor
Wednesday, 25 April 2007
Nigerian author Wole Soyinka has linked the Darfur genocide to the history of Arabs enslaving Negroid Africans in Sudan, the Harvard Crimson has reported.
The first African winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature and a consistent critic of the Sudanese government asked the Arab section of Sudan to confront its enslaving past and acknowledge its current role in the violence in Darfur as racist instead of remaining in a “state of amnesia.”
An articulate intellectual and dramatist, Soyinka delivered the speech “Darfur: Anything to do with Slavery?” to a full house at the Center for Government and International Studies, Harvard University. He addressed the ongoing violence that has resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths and millions of displaced refugees.
Soyinka argued that Arabs played a historic role in the African slave trade, and a feeling of supremacy still prevails among the Janjaweed, a militia terrorizing the Negroid part of the Sudan. Soyinka said the Janjaweed are “motivated” by a mentality in which they see their victims as slaves. “You destroy a people if you treat them with disdain,” Soyinka is quoted as saying. http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=518470
