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ADC Webwatch
3 May 2010
Volume 3 No. 17 |
Student Islamic societies must tackle hate speech
Incitement to hatred cloaked as free speech |
The wave of hate speakers that has hit UK campuses this academic year has proven the current legal provisions to be at best, insufficient and at worst, wholly impotent. Occasionally, extreme abusers of this law have been punished. So often, though, despite considerable evidence catalogued against speakers, university authorities and government ministers alike hold their hands up in a silent display of mock remorse. Prevention would be so simple, yet time and again, those who hold a duty of care have been found wanting....For years now, hate speakers have treated our campuses like the Wild West, roaming across the blurred line of legality with joyful abandon.
Any criticism levelled at such individuals and organisations is met with (admittedly poor) interpretations of John Stuart Mill that, in the current context, would make him turn in his grave. For the Union of Jewish Students (UJS), the price tag we must never pay is incitement to antisemitism. Over the years, campuses have been host to those who promote hateful ideology against Jews or, more routinely, Zionists (the two words have become interchangeable in such ideology). It is vital to acknowledge that using the words Zionist and Jew synonymously does not detract from the general design and intent. The Federation of Student Islamic Societies (Fosis) has begun to set out a case for its support for hate speakers, utilising spurious "freedom of expression" arguments. It would have us believe that it holds a commitment to liberal ideology. Carly McKenzie, The Guardian , 26 Apr 2010 |
Sudanese helicopter gunships and artillery attack in Darfur
World media overlooks on-going genocide |
| The rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), renewed today its accusations to the Sudanese army of attacking their positions in the restive region of Darfur despite a truce signed last February in Doha. JEM forces are fighting the Sudanese army in Jebel Jalik located 25klm south of Jebel Marra in Western Darfur state, said Ahmed Hussein Adam the spokesperson of the rebel group on Friday. He further said that helicopters gunships took part in the attack and shelled their positions. The rebel spokesperson said this attack represents a violation of the Doha framework agreement signed with Khartoum government in Doha on February 23. He further said the government troops bombed water wells and killed livestock. Sudan Tribune, 1 May 2010 |
Punish parents to save indigenous kids
Tough love needed in Aboriginal education |
| IN a tiny West Australian community on the edge of the Tanami Desert, former indigenous affairs minister Mal Brough is facing up to the hard truth at the heart of Aboriginal education. It is not about teaching methods, school resourcing, government policy or any of the myriad angles of political debate that rage around the failure of remote indigenous education.
"There is only one point - attendance," Mr Brough says.
"Everything else is just peripheral - it's incidental, it's truly academic.
"I hear the same thing here as I heard as a minister: treat us like whitefellas.
"If these kids aren't going to school, bring people to account."
The former Howard government minister was yesterday in the community of Bililuna, two hours' drive south of Halls Creek in remote Western Australia. The community of just 200 people has one of more than 700 schools across the nation that have turned to the charity Mr Brough heads up, the Bluearth Foundation, to encourage engagement by the students with their school. Natasha Robinson, The Australian, 29 Apr 2010 |
UN Human Rights Org Charged with Antisemitism
UNHRC inciting antisemitism via its website |
The UN Watch organization has sent a detailed letter to the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights demanding an end to anti-Israel and anti-Semitic discrimination. The letter charges the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) with ignoring former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s pledge that “the human rights machinery of the United Nations has been mobilized in the battle against anti-Semitism.”
It was sent on April 28 to Commissioner Navi Pillay by UN Watch Executive Director Hillel C. Neuer. The immediate reason for the letter was the UNHRC’s refusal to remove from its website an anti-Semitic text (A/HRC/13/NGO/23) that falsely accuses Israeli doctors of a racist conspiracy to steal organs from Palestinian Authority Arabs. The text was submitted by the International Organization for Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, a group created in Libya and closely tied to Muammar Kaddafi’s regime. Hillel Fendel, Arutz Sheva, 29 Apr 2010 |
'Lenient asylum' pulls Sri Lankans
Sri Lankan assessment of Australian asylum policy |
AUSTRALIA'S "lenient" asylum policy, easy access to citizenship and generous welfare benefits are the main pull factors attracting Sri Lankan asylum-seekers, says the head of Colombo's anti-human-trafficking operation.
Prabath Aluthge, chief of Sri Lanka's National Counter Human Trafficking Resource Centre, told The Australian the recent wave of boat arrivals was driven by success stories spread by Sri Lankans who had travelled to Australia.
But as authorities intercepted another boat carrying 41 asylum-seekers near Ashmore Reef on Monday, Mr Aluthge said a crackdown by the Sri Lankan authorities and the toughening of Australia's asylum regime had led to a decline in the number of boats leaving Sri Lanka. Paul Maley, The Australian, 28 Apr 2010 |
Bin Laden 'wants to use nuclear weapons'
Al Qaeda plans pose serious risk of nuclear terrorism |
Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden has sought and wanted to use nuclear arms, former bodyguard Nasser al-Bahri said in an interview with an Arab daily published on Wednesday. "Sheikh Osama used to dream of possessing nuclear weapons, and I am sure that if he were to get his hands on a nuclear weapon, he would not have hesitated to use it," the Yemeni guard told the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi.
The United States warned earlier this month that al-Qaeda's interest in nuclear weapons was still strong and said the risk of nuclear terrorism was serious. "Al-Qaeda has been engaged in the effort to acquire a nuclear weapon for over 15 years, and its interest remains strong today," said John Brennan, President Barack Obama's top anti-terrorism and Homeland Security adviser. Sydney Morning Herald, 29 Apr 2010 |
Mohammed censorship no joke
Violent threats and self-censorship |
THE decision by Comedy Central to censor an episode of South Park that alluded provocatively to the prophet Mohammed illustrates once again the fear terrorists acting on behalf of Islam have instilled in the Western media. South Park recently celebrated its 200th episode with a couple of programs that brought back old characters. The first one had Mohammed dressed in a bear suit, prompting a small Muslim group in the US to fire off death threats over the internet against Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators and directors of the series. As a result, Comedy Central censored parts of the second program relating to the prophet with image blocks and bleeps. The creature disguised as a bear became Santa Claus.
In one post, Zachary Adam Chesser, a university dropout who has written rubbish on Twitter and on RevolutionMuslim.com, a website for the 12-member organisation behind the threats, asked Allah to burn Stone and Parker in hell; in another he predicted they "will probably wind up like Theo van Gogh". It is not difficult to fathom Comedy Central's actions. The threats and violence against artists who have referenced Mohammed in unorthodox fashion or have simply depicted him are well-known. Alvaro Vargas Llosa, The Australian, 29 Apr 2010
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Reports of Scuds stir talk of war
Genocidal plots by men of bloodshed and deceit |
WHEN Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary, said on Wednesday that Hezbollah now had "far more rockets and missiles than most governments in the world", he appeared to be referring to Israeli intelligence reports that Syria had supplied the Lebanese militia with the latest generation of long-range Scud missiles. The alleged transfer of the missiles would, if true, make Hezbollah, as Israeli intelligence officials pointed out, the only guerilla organisation in the world to be equipped with long-range ballistic missiles, in this case with a range of more than 640km and a 700kg payload.
The accuracy of the latest generation of Scuds is far greater than those fired by Saddam Hussein at Tel Aviv during the 1991 Gulf War, which caused minor damage and few deaths. Senior Israeli defence officials say the deployment alters the strategic balance in the region, given that the next war - which King Abdullah II of Jordan has warned could erupt as soon as the northern summer - will be one waged principally with rockets rather than tanks and ground forces. The new Scuds could potentially reach any target in Israel, and officials fear their accuracy could allow them to target military installations with far greater effect than the Katyushas fired more or less blindly in the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah. James Hider, The Australian, 1 May 2010 |
April and genocide
Is diplomacy helping prevent genocide better than in the past? |
April is the cruelest month for genocide survivors. When Governor-General Michaëlle Jean was in Rwanda acknowledging Canada's feeble efforts during the 1994 genocide, she found herself in the middle of the country's annual period of commemorative mourning. I've been there several Aprils and it's a grim, trying, often traumatic time for victims and perpetrators alike.
Why April? By some weird fluke, both the Armenian genocide and the Jewish Holocaust also have anniversaries in April. So the memorialization of the three indisputably classic genocides of the 20th century, those that fit every criterion of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, all occur within the same 30-day period.
Last week I spoke at a memorial service at Tufts University in Boston. Jewish and Rwandan survivors and the granddaughter of Armenian survivors were joined by a survivor of the Cambodian killing fields for a deeply affecting evening. We first remember the past to honour the victims, and every one of the speakers lost a mind-numbing number of family in his or her respective apocalypse. We also hope to learn lessons for the future, since everyone who commemorates genocides is also by definition committed to genocide prevention. Despite all the experience of this past century of genocide, how well humankind is doing in preventing such atrocities is by no means clear. Gerald Caplan, Globe and Mail, 1 May 2010 |
Lost tribe Bnei Menashe planning to head home to Israel after three millennia
Lost tribes return home |
When Tzvi Khaute landed at Tel Aviv for the first time, he wanted to kiss the earth. Alas, the modern airport was all tarmac and stone, so he kissed the first soil he came across, in a flowerpot. Thousands of diaspora Jews from around the world make aliyah - the migration to Israel - every year, but for Tzvi and his fellow Tibeto-Burmese immigrants from the far northeast of India, the journey was particular freighted with symbolism. They believe they are descendants of one of the ten lost tribes of Israel, sent into exile by the Assyrians almost 800 years before the Romans destroyed the temple in Jerusalem.
About 1,700 members of the Bnei Menashe tribe - the Sons of Manasseh, one of the original 12 biblical tribes of Israel - have migrated to Israel, completing what they believe is an extraordinary, 2,700-year exile that took them from the Middle East seven centuries before the Christian era, through Afghanistan, China, Burma and India, before they heard that a new state of Israel had been created 62 years ago. James Hider, The Australian, 27 Apr 2010 | |
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ABOUT ADC WEBWATCH
Welcome to ADC Webwatch, a weekly update on what the public is hearing about issues of race, tolerance and human rights. Skim the newsletter to stay abreast of the issues or click on the hyperlinks for more information.
ADC Webwatch is published by the B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation Commission, a community organisation dedicated to opposing antisemitism and racism and promoting respect and tolerance.
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A 3-day leadership training workshop and ongoing program for 18-26 year olds committed to interfaith contacts. Expressions of interest now open for 2011. Click here to read the brochure.
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Antisemitism 
