Arabs for Israel(!?)

What a refreshing discovery! A website maintained by moderate Arabs and Muslims that promotes peace between the Arab World and Israel. Could we hope that this trend might flourish?

Update: Today I did a quick research and I was proud to discover that the founder is a fellow woman, Nonie Darwish. I also found out about Brigitte Gabriel, a journalist from Lebanon, and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, born in Somalia, raised in Saudi Arabia, now Dutch MP, leader of a political party. These women all dare to raise their voices against the direction the Islamic world is taking. They actually risk their very lives in doing so, yet they feel strongly enough to do it.

It dois make me a bit uneasy at first that the above women are actually apostates, that is they are Christian converts, a fact which may be viewed as a contributor to a potentially biased approach to the issue. But then I remembered Wafa Sultan and Irshad Manji, both Muslim women strongly critical of present day Islam. And then there are men, too, like Kamal Nawash of the Free Muslims Coalition, or Hussein Abdulwaheed Amin of the Muslims against Terrorism.

As I continue my search on the net, I will add to this list of my discoveries. I find the phenomenon very encouraging. Muslims of this type may still be a minority, but I very much hope that their number will one day grow to the point of being able to have an influence on the political scene.

Fuel-casts and Tory party politics

There is a greenhouse gas emission policy the Liberals are working on, as we have been hearing for a while now, nothing final, not even a touchable proposal on the table yet. Now out of the blue we are bombarded by this expensive ad campaign, not only on the radio but so called "fuelcasts" played on the little screens at gas stations. All funded by the Conservative Party of Canada, or should I say: us, the taxpayers...? The ads warn us about the Liberals', or as the the website claims, Stephan Dion's personal plans of "taxing Canadians to pay for his reckless spending promises." How about this reckless spending on silly ads? Couldn't the Tories at least wait until there is an actual presentation of that alleged tax proposal? I, and the average citizen, have no idea what exactly that proposal will look like until we see it. Then we can make our minds up whether we endorse it or not. We don't need pre-emptive Tory propaganda to guide us in a "desirable" direction. At least I myself don't like to be guided. Instead, I will remember this silly political maneuvering at the polls next time, and I will shun any gas station that endorses it by running the fuelcasts while pocketing MY tax money that they are paid for the service. (Even better: I will avoid all gas stations with fuelcasts...)

Freedom of expression in danger!

The United Nations was created with noble goals in mind, one of them being the safeguarding of freedom of expression worldwide. Freedom of expression is one of the most important human rights. During the mandate of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan the old Commission on Human Rights had been replaced by the Human Rights Council, a new body that was supposed to support and defend the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That was the theory anyway. Things did not develop that way. Ever since its inception the Human Rights Council has been acting in a most bizarre fashion. It is common knowledge that there are enormous human rights problems in many corners of the world. Sudan, Byelorussia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, China, just to name a few. The new council turned a blind eye to all of them, instead it repeatedly condemned Israel, and Israel alone.

This phenomenon, though, was just a warning sign of what was coming. There has been a great shift in the balance of power in the UN. For eleven years now the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) that represents the 57 Islamic States in the world, has been undermining the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. On 28 March 2008 they finally killed it.

On that fateful day the OIC, with the support of Russia, China and Cuba, forced through an amendment to a resolution on Freedom of Expression which in effect will place a muzzle on a lot of our rights that we have taken for granted until now.

The Human Rights Council has a Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, a position Canada supported, fighting hard for the renewal of its mandate. The mandate of the Special Rapporteur requires that information be gathered from governments, NGOs and others on the discrimination, violence or harassment of persons, including professionals, in the exercise of their right of freedom of opinion and expression.[*] At first glance the amendment to the resolution to renew the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression may even sound reasonable. It says that the Special Rapporteur is "to report on instances in which the abuse of the right of freedom of expression constitutes an act of racial or religious discrimination …"
But let us just stop and think for a moment of its ramifications.

The amendment requires the Special Rapporteur to report on such "abuses" as someone writing critically about Sharia law, a law which requires gays to be hanged, women to be stoned to death if accused of adultery, or if someone speaks out against such practices as female circumcision, or young girls being married off at the age of 9-10. By doing so the Special Rapporteur will not be a defender of freedom of expression any more, it will become a policing entity.

The passing of this amendment on April 28 was a bitter blow for Canada. Even earlier it's position was that "If this amendment is adopted, Canada will withdraw its sponsorship from the main resolution." This stance was supported by other delegates, such as India, the European Union, the United Kingdom, who also spoke for Australia and the United States, Brazil, Bolivia, Guatemala and Switzerland. They all withdrew their sponsorship of the main resolution when the amendment was passed. Altogether more than 20 of the original 53 co-sponsors of the resolution withdrew their support.

The Sri Lankan delegate put it in word correctly when he explained his reasons for supporting the amendment. He said: ".. if we regulate certain things 'minimally' we may be able to prevent them from being enacted violently on the streets of our towns and cities." He was referring, of course, to the Danish cartoons incident. But let us think a bit about this. According to the Council we must limit one of our basic human rights in fear of violent reactions. So it is not the violence that needs to be regulated but the cartoonists. Does this mean that Theo van Gogh was actually responsible for his own death...?

If we do not have complete freedom of expression, we open the door for tyranny, we bind our hands in our fight against corruption, injustice and oppression. Nobody knows this more than those who live under the tyranny of Islamic law, in the very countries that pressed through this amendment. There is a brave little group from the Islamic States that issued a statement before the amendment was passed, urging the delegates to oppose it. In spite of all opposition, the amendment was voted in, amid chaotic proceedings, with 27 for and 15 against, and three abstentions.

The gossamer sham of an international consensus on the promotion and protection of human rights is now exposed for what it really was. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is now dead. Instead, there is a proposed Islamic Charter on Human Rights with plans to create a parallel Islamic Council on Human Rights. What is this if not a fragmentation of human rights?

Roy W Brown, the British-born Humanist and human rights activist, urges all delegates who are genuinely concerned with human rights to immediately withdraw from the Council until it proves itself to be accountable and honouring their pledges. Failing this -- they should consider creating an alternative organization...

New elections in Canada?

I like to regularly peruse The Hill Times, an online Canadian politics and government newsweekly. In yesterday's edition they draw our attention to the fact that both the Conservatives and the Liberals started to run training sessions for their party workers, seemingly in preparation for imminent new elections. What is more: "In preparation for the strong possibility of the next federal election to be called in the next two months, some of the electoral district associations have started to hold their nomination meetings.

Really? Are they up there on Parliament Hill out of their minds? In my personal opinion, and according to my personal observation, Canadians are not exactly enthusiastic about the prospect of having to face another election any time soon. We see both parties and their leadership as still relatively inexperienced (sorry, Mr Harper). Neither of them are convincing enough to make people strongly rally in their support. There are no distinct favourites at this point.

If an election was called, as the rumors make us believe, the result will be yet another minority government whichever side wins. The way things stand, it is anybody's guess which party that might be. The results most probably would be dictated by the whim du jour of the electorate. And don't you think that the people will be influenced much by the "printed material" that is apparently already in preparation right now. Our mail boxes are overpopulated by spam mail as is, both virtual and paper based. Today's electorate is more sensitive to factual news items from TV, radio, general media. We are able to follow, analyze and criticize, the daily actions of our politicians - or at least what is visible for the benefit of the general public.

So what would really be the point of calling an election now? I suppose both parties hope that they can sway public opinion in their favour. But, as I said above, even if enough voters could get fired up enough just to drag their behinds to the nearest polling station, the results will most probably be another government much the same as the present one.

And besides, why on earth would they want to try and make us pay attention to Canadian political battles when it is so much more interesting right now to watch the American elections unfold? I mean, really...!