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In this mailing:
by Abigail R. Esman
• October 27, 2014 at 5:00 am
More
problematic is that it reaches a point where discussion or debate is
impossible because the questions themselves become a crime.
Such
laws not only run counter to the basic principles of democracy; they are,
in many instances, representative of a duplicitous selective application
of the law. Why are the prosecutors not going after Yasmina Haifi, who tweeted
that ISIS is a Zionist plot? Is the criminalization of hate speech now
dependent only on whom you hate?
The
people are entitled to a country in which they can voice their
frustration and be heard.
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Geert Wilders during his March 2014 speech, which
may result in criminal charges of "hate speech" against him.
(Image source: nos.nl video screenshot)
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Last March, Geert Wilders, the controversial right-wing Dutch
Parliamentarian best known for his stance against Muslims and Muslim
immigration, stood before supporters at a campaign rally and asked a
simple question: "Do you want more Moroccans, or fewer?"
He expected the question to raise enthusiasm among the crowd, and
drive his party to greater Parliamentary success. It has also possibly
landed him before the courts, to be tried for "hate speech" --
a crime in the Netherlands, which, despite its claims of "freedom of
speech," still criminalizes speech that "offends" on the
basis of race, religion, sexual orientation, or even personal convictions
and ideology.
Wilders, however, didn't make a statement: he simply asked others
what they wanted. It was the Dutch people themselves who, in response,
cried out, "Fewer! Fewer!"
by Mohamed Chtatou
• October 27, 2014 at 4:30 am
As in
every dictatorship, the government's only fear is of its own people.
Today,
China's authorities are going back on their promise of maintaining Hong
Kong's special political status, inherited from Britain. Hong Kong,
however, is moving the Arab way: it is choosing democracy.
Such
movements do not die; they just take shelter to let the storm pass. The
Arab Spring will arrive in these lands with the sweetness of democracy,
equal opportunity, and the promise of freedom for everyone.
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Tens of thousands of protesters throng Harcourt Road
in Hong Kong, September 29, 2014. (Image source: Wikimedia
Commons/Citobun)
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In 2010, the tiny North African nation of Tunisia rejected patriarchy,
nepotism and tribalism and opted for Arab democracy. Soon its call for
overthrowing absolutism engulfed the Arab world and ushered in a new
beginning -- only soon to find itself undermined and overwhelmed, like
Egypt, by organized, well-funded autocracies.
The democrats' movement was often swamped by blood and atrocities,
but still the hope for democracy and freedom is alive and waiting for the
next wave of uprisings -- sooner rather than later; no one can resist the
call for democracy, freedom and human rights.
The Arab Spring Tsunami Goes Global
For the first time ever, an Arab-born movement reverberated in
democratic countries such as Spain, with the Outraged Movement 2011-2012
(Indignados or Moviemente 15-M). It kicked off on May 15, 2011 in Madrid
and 58 other Spanish cities, and called for more democracy and more
youths represented in politics.
by Burak Bekdil
• October 27, 2014 at 4:00 am
Erdogan's
Turkey is no longer an attraction for the Muslim street. Instead, it is,
overtly or covertly, on hostile terms with Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia,
Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Iran -- all at the same time.
In
this mind-set, "We're so superb that we cannot be wrong because what
we think right is Allah-given." If things go wrong, it must be
because of something else.
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We're rock stars either way: In Turkish Islamist
thinking, Turkey's election to the Security Council is acknowledgement
of its success, but failure is the work of unprincipled nations who
envy Turkey. Pictured above, then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
addresses the UN General Assembly in 2011. (Image source: UN)
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Early in 2010, James Jeffrey, then U.S. ambassador to Turkey, sent a
cable to Washington, DC in which he described Turkey as a country
"[w]ith Rolls Royce ambitions but Rover resources". Time has
proven him right.
Back in 2009-10, then Turkey's Prime Minister (now President) Recep
Tayyip Erdogan was greeted like a rock star in every Arab capital. He was
presumably the darling of the Arab Street, including Damascus, Beirut and
Egypt -- all of which are today Turkey's regional nemeses. In 2011, an
Egyptian columnist wrote a commentary in which he "begged the Turks
to lend [them] their prime minister." To which this columnist
replied: "By all means. Take him, and you need not return him."
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