Why Anti-American Sentiments Exist in The Muslim World

Just read ``Why Anti-American Sentiments Exist in The Muslim World by Mian Usman``
I have been a keen observer of all that you mentioned above ! Its true that the west and especially the US, has a self righteous and arrogant outlook to the muslim world while continuing to kiss ass in interest of its oil imports from the middle east. America loves to protect its interest and is two faced where policy is concerned, anything to suit Uncle Sams convenience.... Americans as a whole are not a stupid people, many of them have a good head on their shoulders, but a majority tend to gobble up whatever their media tells them about islam and the muslim world. They don`t really want or care enough to research the truth. It is always easier to believe the negative aspect rather than read up on the facts. The average american is a case in point ! Muslim=terrorist, non-muslim-outsider=alien, americans=we-can-do-nothing-wrong !
I remember recently a site forwarded to me by a friend of mine who was extremely anti muslim. I spent a little time discussing it with him and was surprised at the lack of actual fact or research in any of his ravings ! It was mostly fuelled by religious fervour and misinformed patriotism. anyways he goes around propagating this site he found on the internet... see for yourself and judge... http://www.faithfreedom.org/ .I`d love to discuss this with fellow chowkwalas !
I personally have read the Qua`ran and excerpts from the Talmud while I was in school and busy with my Bible study classes, much to the chagrin of the Jesuit priest who learned about my other readings from a little snitch in class ! That got me a long lecture about god and the power of faith and how it shouldnt be questioned. I personally, tend to question the whole concept of multiple gods and the misplaced ego wars that it fuels and has fuelled throughout history ... God is God whatever we choose to call him/her/it in any language. supreme being, energy, all knowing whatever ...

Very interesting piece. It made me think. It also made me more scared of the ``muslim`` world. How can we change the things or thoughts of millions?

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Fuzair,

I visited the website you had mentioned in connection on the two Indian soldiers.

I was impressed. It is a shame that our histories tend to be one-sided, that we are somehow afraid to consider the totality of our current and historical realities....

I find that grossly unfair. These soldiers should be recognized for their bravery and dedication to their duties.

You know, the Library of Congress brings out a very nice magazine called ``Civilization.`` One of its issues carried a beautiful piece on Walt Whitman. Whitman, arguably America`s greatest poet, I was surprised to learn, was also a nurse, tending the soldiers wounded in America`s Civil War. What impressed me even more was the fact that in his duties he made no distinction between the Southerners and the Unionists. When a southern soldier expressed a sense of embarrassment at receving care from Whitman, Whitman assured him that that did not matter: ``I have also nursed your brother, a Unionist, who is lying wounded in the next room,`` was something like what he is supposed to have said. It seems the soldier just didn`t know!

It is a shame that we do not attempt to develop the sensibilities of a Whitman. Instead of honoring our people, we forget them (or worse, malign them) because they fought on the ``wrong side.``

Thanks for sharing that information with me.

re: Saminashah # 75

``Someone compared the God/Goddess Hindu pantheon as ``Disney like``. Salt on paper cuts! Someone should write them, Rsax, Sadna and take them to task...``

Well, whoever made that comparison wasn`t very wrong! Afterall, gods and goddesses in Hindu pantheon can OUT-DISNEY Disney any day :)

Sigalph,

re: ``On an aside, I do greatly appreciate your courtesy in posting the URLs of important items. That is a far cry from the entire articles being posted about repetitious things by unknown commentators, quoted by bored chowkwallahs. We could all learn from you in this regard. Thank you.``

(Face turning red)

Actually Sigalph dada, I (cough!) have actually posted one of those long winded articles of which you speak on another board...I couldn`t resist it...

I must confess to a few things: On one hand I agree that we need to cut down on the cutpastes, some of us in particular anyway. But I actually appreciate some of the articles being posted by interactors who cutpaste sparingly. I am so pressed for time lately, and quite frankly, cyber lazy, that it suits me just fine to read articles that aren`t drivel on interact boards...but, thanks for the shout out!

Btw, how are you? How was your trip to NYC? Were you able to find the music you were looking for?

I`ve got to get to Jackson Heights and Oak Tree Road-havent been anywhere for the last three monthes and am getting a bit antsy for chaat, mendhi and clothing! I`ve been SOOOOO GOOOOOD :(

Rsax, Sac, Scout-

Did you see last Sunday`s NYTimes Styles Section? (okay, yes, I read that piece of fluff, yes I am embarrassed to admit it-but its all for Pinkyfeld!)

There was a bit on Indian fashion storming NYC.

My reservations:

1. HELLO! This is SOUTH ASIAN CULTURE that we are talking about, not just India. What are the rest of us- haleem?

2. The misbegotten writer of the piece actually used the ``E`` word; yes folks, ``exotic`` and whats more, the ``G`` word-``garish`` to describe Indian aesthetics! Hud ho gaye! How dare they? After reading the article, I looked at my subtle dupattas, earrings and kurtas and wondered if I was misrepresenting....was I ``South Asian`` enough? Did I need to put on alot more jewelry and wear several patterns and colors at the same time? Is the NYTimes engendering yet another form of anxiety in its desi readers?

3. Someone compared the God/Goddess Hindu pantheon as ``Disney like``. Salt on paper cuts! Someone should write them, Rsax, Sadna and take them to task...

re saminashah 68

On an aside, I do greatly appreciate your courtesy in posting the URLs of important items. That is a far cry from the entire articles being posted about repetitious things by unknown commentators, quoted by bored chowkwallahs. We could all learn from you in this regard. Thank you.

progressive #69 you write ``Can anybody who supports the american thugs be considered sane,educated or even human?``

Dont worry about americans. The best among them are so evolved from ape-brains like you that for all practical purposes they are a different species. And I dont mean the white americans only, if that is what you immediately thought of. There are people from all over the world in the USA, and the best among them are advancing the cause of mankind in ways an idiot like you would never understand. You are like a dog barking at the moon when you post your bs about the US.

AAmir #57

Yes, of course, it is a ``natural`` response amongst the esteemed muslim community to respond with suicide bombing and ``kill all jews`` statements and lots and lots of hatred....

Of course, if the western countries were to give in to their ``natural`` response to the WTC murders, well, that would be ``oppression`` and ``racism`` wouldn`t it?

Why, aren`t the killings of innocent muslims in Gujrat a ``natural`` response to burning alive 58 hindu pilgrims? Isn`t this consistent with the kind of garbage thinking your article espouses.

Hatred of an entire race or culture cannot be justified. Suicide bombing of civilians is not justified or understandable under any circumstances. Killing of muslim indians in ahmedabad cannot be given any justification.

When will you guys grow up and stop talking like 11 year olds? Never, I guess....

Posted on Thu, May. 09, 2002



Officialdom driving fun out of Fremont

By Dennis Rockstroh

Mercury News

Indians run out of town.

It reads like a headline from the Old West.

But it`s from the new West, the new California, from DiverCity where 128 languages are spoken and culture is honored and celebrated.

Fremont wants to drive the Festival of India out of the city.

Too successful. Too big. Too rowdy.

Why, it`s almost one-fourth the size of the Fremont Festival of the Arts.

But there`s something they forget in the halls of government. They don`t own this festival. It belongs to the people. The government exists to serve the people -- and their festivals.

The Indo-American heart is in Fremont.

This is a Fremont festival just as Cinco de Mayo belongs to San Jose, rowdy or not. Juneteenth belongs to Oakland. Same thing.

These festivals have one thing in common: They celebrate a people`s victory over oppression.

Cinco de Mayo honors a Mexican victory over French troops, and Juneteenth is a celebration of African-Americans over slavery.

The Festival of India celebrates that country`s independence from the colonial oppression of England.

Time to speak up

It`s time the people put a stop to City Hall`s oppressing special talent for driving fun out of Fremont.

The bureaucrats and politicians wring their hands in woe over the recently revealed fact that the inhabitants of the Bay Area`s fourth largest city spend $1 billion annually having fun outside the city.

How do we stop this flow of money elsewhere, they wonder.

How about driving the Festival of India out of town? Let`s see. About 70,000 people spending $20 each. We could lose $1.4 million just in one weekend.

Hey, I love Fremont. From Coyote Hills to the tippy top of Mission Peak, this is one beautiful city with interesting people. It`s generally well-run, with good schools, low crime, pretty streets and trees. Almost a dream community.

But the folks who have run this place have made it about as much fun as doing your income taxes.

There used to be a roller skating rink in the middle of town. It was driven out.

Too successful. Too big. Too rowdy.

Gone.

Nightclubs have vanished.

Same reason.

The annual Fourth of July fireworks show was canceled.

Too dangerous. Or so they say.

This used to be a city with a world-famous drag strip.

Gone.

Two recreational airports.

Gone.

I have sensed over the years that Fremont officialdom is afraid of too much fun.

This city could become too successful, too big, too rowdy.

This is a city that proclaimed war on the placement of basketball hoops in neighborhood streets.

Even the preferred language at City Hall can strip out the fun.

Take the annual Fremont Festival of the Arts.

Remember when it was the Fremont Arts and Wine Festival?

Then there was the legendary Niles Swine and Wine Festival, a name that still lives on -- on a few T-shirts.

Brass changed name

When the brass at City Hall learned that the organizers were calling their gathering the Swine and Wine Festival, they withdrew the street permit.

The brass demanded a name change.

So it became the Niles BBQ Cook-off.

But everybody called it something else: Pig and Swig, Pork and Cork, Grill and Swill.

Meanwhile some folks are trying to get City Hall to change its mind about the Festival of India.

Sure there have been problems, and City Hall has a right, a duty to set down and enforce rules on security, insurance, bonds and things like that.

But the brass at City Hall better get hopping.

I hear Jerry Brown`s Oakland is interested in hosting the Festival of India.

His city could use the $1.4 million.

Contact Dennis Rockstroh at drockstroh@sjmercury.com.

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Can anybody who supports the american thugs be considered sane,educated or even human?

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Bush`s Hit List At the United Nations

Ian Williams, Foreign Policy in Focus

May 9, 2002

Quietly, and without the fanfare that accompanies the campaign in the mountains of Afghanistan, the administration has begun a long march through multilateral institutions. At the UN and elsewhere, the U.S. has mounted a campaign to purge international civil servants judged to be out of step with Washington in the war on terrorism and its insistence that the U.S. have the last word in all global governance issues.

The first and most prominent to go was Mary Robinson, the former Irish president whose work as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has been acclaimed by human rights groups across the world. Officially, she retired after a one-year renewal of her contract. In fact, the U.S. ferociously lobbied against here reappointment. UN officials and Western diplomats also said she was ``difficult to work with`` -- the usual euphemism for not willing to be dictated to. Most human rights activists see this as precisely her strength in an organization where not rocking the boat seems to be genetically engineered into many officials.

The U.S. could not forgive her for her stands on the Middle East issues or for her endorsement last year of the results of the UN`s Durban Conference on Racism, which both the U.S. and Israel walked out of. The rest of the world stayed and adopted a toned-down document, and subsequently Washington began its campaign to force Robinson out.

Another recent victim of the U.S. campaign was Robert Watson, the much-respected chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. On Apr. 19, the U.S. administration succeeded in replacing him with Rajendra Pachauri, an Indian economist. The panel is (or perhaps was is the correct tense) an independent scientific body established to assess the degree of climate change and the contribution made by human activities such as burning fossil fuels. The panel`s work had come to a consensus, not shared by the Bush administration, that human activity is a factor in climate change.

A leaked memo from ExxonMobil had previously asked the White House, ``Can Watson be replaced now at the request of the U.S.?`` The memo goes on to recommend that the administration ``restructure the U.S. attendance at upcoming IPCC meetings to assure none of the Clinton/Gore proponents are involved in any decisional activities.`` Apparently, the administration heeded ExxonMobil`s recommendation. Pachauri himself attributes his selection to being the developing world candidate, but environmental NGOs ascribe it to U.S. lobbying.

A few days later, on Apr. 22, the U.S. right achieved a new level of success with the deposition of Jose Mauricio Bustani, the head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), a mere year after he had been unanimously elected for a second five-year term. The voting was 48-7 with 43 abstentions. The OPCW was created by the Chemical Weapons Convention, which outlaws the production of chemical weapons. It arranges regular inspections of member countries` facilities to ensure that no one is cheating. Bustani, a Brazilian, has headed it from its creation five years ago, and his inspectors have overseen the destruction of 2,000,000 chemical weapons and two-thirds of the world`s chemical weapon facilities in the past several years. They have carried out 1,100 inspections in more than 50 nations.

From the beginning of 2002, however, the U.S. has treated Bustani almost as if he were some form of bureaucratic Bin Laden. Bush administration officials accused him of ``ongoing financial mismanagement, demoralization of the Technical Secretariat staff, and ill-considered initiatives.`` Only last year he had been reelected unanimously, with plaudits from all, including Colin Powell. Moreover, his staff pointed out that the organization`s finances and management were controlled not by Bustani but by a U.S. government appointee.

So what had changed? Not Bustani, but Washington. His main persecutor was John Bolton, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. Bolton earned his right-wing credentials when he served as the house UN-basher for the Heritage Foundation. But his anti-UN convictions have never stopped him taking money from the organization himself. Most recently he served as assistant to James Baker on the failed Western Sahara mission. For years, Bolton had argued that the U.S. should get out of the United Nations. At the same time, however, Bolton served as a consultant to Taiwan advising the government how it could get into the UN, according to The Nation. Although Bolton may have flexible principles, like many of Bush`s hard right entourage he has a rigid line in grudges and he soon developed a major one against Bustani.

Having Bolton in charge of disarmament is like letting a pyromaniac have the run of a fireworks factory -- as his recent hardnose attitude to nuclear limitation talks with Russia, and staunch advocacy of the ``Star Wars,`` Strategic Defense Initiative suggests. Bustani first started running into problems when he resisted American efforts to dictate the nationality of the OPCW inspectors assigned to investigate American facilities. What`s more, he had opposed a U.S. law allowing the president to block unannounced inspections in the United States and banning OPCW inspectors from removing samples of its chemicals.

Diplomats suggest that Bustani`s biggest ``crime`` was trying to persuade Iraq to sign the convention, which could mean that OPCW inspectors would inspect Iraqi facilities. The hawks in the administration resented these ``ill-considered initiatives.`` If Iraq would sign the convention and allow UN inspectors, it would deprive Washington of a quasi-legal justification for military action against Baghdad.

Earlier this year the U.S. asked Brazil to recall him, but the Brazilian government pointed out that Bustani was not a Brazilian appointee but rather was elected unanimously by the entire OPCW. Then Bolton, personally, asked Bustani to resign. After he refused, the U.S. then attempted to have the OPCW Executive Council sack him. Failing that, Washington called for a special session of member states to fire him, threatening that the U.S. would not pay its dues if he were reappointed. Faced with losing an effective and popular disarmament agency, a majority of states succumbed to this blackmail. This acquiescence to Washington was in stark contrast to the willingness of so many countries to defy the U.S. by ratifying the Rome Treaty establishing the International Criminal Court only two weeks before.

In the end, it seems most members of the OPCW, with varying degrees of pragmatism and reluctance, decided that the survival of one of the most successful disarmament organizations was more important than the fate of its director. However, they set an ominous example -- and possibly gave the hawks in Washington a strong scent of blood to follow. As Bustani presciently told the kangaroo court, ``By dismissing me … an international precedent will have been established whereby any duly elected head of any international organization would at any point during his or her tenure remain vulnerable to the whims of one or a few major contributors. They would be in a position to remove any Director-General, or Secretary-General, from office at any point in time.``

To Play, U.S. Must Get Its Way

The right wing has long had a reflex hostility to international and multilateral organizations. But during the Reagan administration, which was the first time that the right wing exercised such control over U.S. policy, there was the fear that the U.S. could not pull out of the UN and leave it in the hands of its cold war enemy. Today, however, the U.S. has no counterweight at the UN, and the Bush administration officials are unabashedly insisting on exercising the influence that comes from being the world`s only superpower. Playing upon its indispensability in this unipolar world, the Bush team is playing hard ball at the UN-in effect, threatening to render the multilateral organization impotent unless it gets its way.

It bodes ill for global affairs the way the administration has managed to achieve these recent coups with little or no public awareness, let alone discussion. In the case of Mary Robinson, the U.S. did fear that any open campaign to unseat her would upset Irish American voters. Instead of tapping its public diplomacy, the administration used stealth tactics against Robinson. Human rights organizations complained, but this administration has successfully sidelined these organizations from foreign policy decisionmaking and now routinely dismisses the concerns of these organizations.

Who is the next target? It may be Hans Blix, who heads UNMOVIC, which is the UN organization established at the end of the Persian Gulf War to inspect Iraqi arms facilities. It`s been reported that Paul Wolfowitz, Under Secretary of Defense, ordered a CIA investigation of Blix. One reason that the administration is concerned is that under the framework supported by Powell, if Blix`s team goes into Iraq and gives the regime a clean bill of health, then the sanctions regime against Iraq will be largely terminated. For Wolfowitz and other hardliners, this eventuality would remove another main causus belli against Baghdad. Deposing the highly respected Blix, who formerly headed the International Atomic Energy Authority, would facilitate the administration`s case for launching a war on Baghdad.

It`s also likely that included on the administration`s hit list are the individuals on the proposed fact-finding mission to Jenin that have found disfavor with the Sharon government. One was Mary Robinson, who has already been ousted. The others were Terje Roed Larsen, one of the main agents in establishing the Oslo channel that led to what was once the peace process, and currently the UN`s special coordinator for the peace process. Although half-heartedly defended by Shimon Peres, it will be difficult to keep him in position when he has ``lost the trust`` of Sharon, and presumably his allies in the U.S. administration.

The third person the Israelis regarded as biased is Peter Hansen, the recently reappointed Commissioner General of UNRWA, the U.S.-funded agency that helps Palestinian refugees. Hansen was appointed by the Secretary General Kofi Annan, who angrily sprang to the defense of all three individuals criticized by Israel. But Annan may find it hard to stand behind monitors criticized by the U.S. and Israel, especially if the U.S. would threaten to cut off its funding of UNRWA, which would likely result in starvation in the Palestinian refugee camps.

Kofi Annan, himself, may also be targeted soon. Even though he has only just started his second term, and even though he is immensely popular, Kofi Annan has recently become stronger in his public exasperation with Sharon`s behavior. Given the recent pattern of arrogant American diplomacy, one cannot help but suspect that, but for Colin Powell and Shimon Peres -- who have a strong rapport with the secretary-general -- the anti-Iraq and pro-Sharon hardliners in the Bush administration will soon begin a campaign to invite Annan to retire.

It`s likely that they will first suggest that he could retire with honor and that this decision would be for his own good. If that strategy doesn`t work, they will likely accuse him of managerial incompetence and inability to work well with member states combined with yet another threat to withhold dues.

If the U.S. purges continue and rise to higher levels, other UN member nations may regret their pandering to Washington as they see the entire post-World War II framework of multilateralism start to disintegrate.

Ian Williams (uswarreport@igc.org) writes for Foreign Policy In Focus and is the author of ``The UN for Beginners.``

An interview with Pakistani intellectual and leftist Tariq Ali

www.asiapacificforum.org

re: AAmir

{The nay sayers Harami Ou ,Jay,Arjun_m.Akash & many Hindians ,failed to note how Imran & Pakistan inspires others }

....yeah, pakistan does inspire me...to call the army to overthrow the government, to have generals conduct referendums, to have generals burn the constitution...and to make india`s economy teeter on the edge of bankruptcy...

Sharon’s Day Will Come



Tuesday, May 07 2002 @ 01:57 AM GMT

After killing the child of Peace in Bethlehem, King Herod comes in triumph to Rome - or rather Sharon to Washington. Who would have believed 57 years ago at the end of WWII that Jews would be behind the re-emergence of fascism in the world and America its supporter?

Who would have believed that after 5700 years of calling themselves the ``chosen people`` the best that they can come up with to lead them is Ariel Sharon and that the Christian fundamentalists are eager to follow him to our mutual destruction too?

The road to destruction was paved by American tax dollars and the tanks of tyranny have rampaged through the villages and homes of the poor and the powerless in Jenin.

Israel, established in violence and duplicity is now triumphant over those who dare to speak the truth. The UN investigation was cancelled by Israel. They simply said no and the UN folded because the UN is no longer the voice of the people. The people cry out but the UN has no ears for them.

Destruction has rampaged through the streets but the UN has no eyes to see it. And for those who anguish and sorrow the UN has no voice. America has caged it and leashed it to its own interests. One single veto can nullify the votes of 185 nations. And so King Sharon arrives in triumph in the new Rome. But there will be a judgment upon him. He will not escape those he has massacred in Jenin and in Sabra and Shatilla. They are linked to him forever.

Time will not be his ally, nor America his shield. His time, his shoah, will come soon.

Roger Lafontaine

this is for all the indians who are lecturing muslims states on human rights, good governance, corruption, free society etc.

all of you guys should first look at india and its state before giving your learned opinion to muslims and muslim nations.

india has been independent for more than 50 years and still you have a nation where half the population is illiterate, half the population lives below the poverty line and corruption is the way of life.

child labour, dowry deaths, child marriages, state abetted oppression of minorities, burning of churches, demolition of mosques, caste divisions... you name it and all the vices you would find in india.

as regards india being a secular state, events of past few years have clearly exposed the fascist agenda of indian government. is it just a conincidence that india`s two minority dominated states, punjab and kashmir, have witnessed terrorism?



having few software technology parks and missiles doesnt make a nation great.

so first indians need to look into their sorry state of affairs before lecturing others.