Is rape something we can joke about?

I was watching Ricky Gervais’ Fame tour last night and about 30 minutes in he starts joking about rape. In the skit he asks “what sort of society has to remind people not to rape?” It’s referring to an advertisement that emphasises consent in sexual encounters. Instead of this being an insight into how much of a problem rape is in the UK, this becomes a joke. He parodies the court case where the judge asks “why did you rape her” and the rapist responds “I forgot [about consent]”.

One of his jokes is in reference to another radio advertisement warning people against taking illegal cabs in the UK. The phrase they used to warn people was “if you want to know the cost of an illegal minicab, just ask a rape victim”. Gervais then looks to the crowd and says “don’t! Worst advice I’ve ever had. It really winds them up. It brings back terrible memories. I don’t want you to make the same mistake I did”. He refers to it as “irresponsible advertising”. The crowd laughs and I strained my ears to hear the awkwardness in their laughter, maybe a nervous cough or two, but I couldn’t. The crowd laughed along as though there was no truth in what he was saying.

I couldn’t laugh. For me that became the line. It was no longer funny. There was no humour in that.

There are many jokes out there that make fun of particular groups. Everyone’s heard a joke about thin Ethiopians, murderous Nazis, black people, white people, Indian people. Some of them may make you laugh, and others won’t.

This time I didn’t laugh. What is it that stops you from laughing? For me it wasn’t funny because I work in the field of gender-based violence research and know that a rape has lifelong effects on a survivor. You only need to read any one of these blogs:

• www.becausenoonewouldtalk.blogspot.com
• www.1sttime2010.wordpress.com
• http://dark2light.wordpress.com
• www.victimempowermentsa.wordpress.com

to understand that this is no joking matter.

So if you were someone who has watched it and found it funny, how did you? How did you get past that? Can we ever joke about rape

Women’s sexual fantasies — what do they mean?

Pssst … hey you. Guess what? Women think about sex … sometimes more than once a day. Sometimes we’re thinking about it while you’re talking to us at our desks. Sometimes we’re thinking about it on the bus. Sometimes we’re just thinking about it while having our lunch. We think about sex.

Pssst … there’s more. Women fantasise about sex too. We don’t just simply think about our last sexual experience with our partner, or that one great time on holiday in 1976, we make up stuff. That means we take in all the things we’ve ever wanted from a sexual experience and cram them all into one daydream, or night dream or middle-of-the-morning dream and just go with it. And you know what — we love it.

What I cannot impart with enough emphasis is that these are our fantasies. They are our imagination running wild and letting us get a little pleasure out of this soon to be dry and dusty old world. These are our fantasies and they are not to be used against us.

What do I mean by this? Someone on my previous blog commented that Mills & Boon put women out there as ready and waiting, and perhaps some of us are. But, I mean that if I fantasise about hanging upside down from a harness with petals falling from the sky whilst receiving wonderful sexual pleasure it doesn’t mean that I will do that in real life. And if I fantasise about being ravished by a strapping chap in chaps, against my will against a door that doesn’t mean that I’m giving any old man permission to do this to me against my will in reality. And if I fantasise about being raped, it doesn’t mean that I want someone to rape me, nor does it give anyone permission to rape me.

Fantasies are so enjoyable because you have complete control over them. They happen in your mind, and if you’re lucky enough to have a supportive partner who you trust, they might happen in your bedroom. But, as soon as that control is taken away they are no longer enjoyable.

My fantasies are not there for the taking. They don’t justify any unwanted sexual attention, and they most certainly don’t give someone permission to rape me.

Shake off the 2010 World Cup hangover with Sepp!

TO:

Federation Internationale de Football Association
Fifa-Strasse 20,
PO BOX 8044 Zurich, Switzerland
Att: Mr Sepp Blatter

FROM:
Gavin Foster

25 March 2010

Good morning Mr Blatter

I know you’re a very busy man, what with checking that nobody makes any money from the World Cup without giving your organisation a fat chunk of it, so I’ll cut to the chase.

Motorsport in South Africa is in a parlous state — apparently nobody’s made any decent money from it since 1652. Still, we hosted motorcycle Grand Prix races at Welkom for six years until the Free State provincial government reneged on payment of R35-million they owed the organisers in 2003. The politicians said they saw no benefit to the people of South Africa in holding a round of one of the most keenly followed sports worldwide in the shadow of their dusty mine dumps. Things started looking up again last year when we lured World Superbike racing back to Kyalami, but a bun-fight over alleged fraud and corruption makes it likely that the series will leave for good after this year’s event on 15th May without a backward glance.

And this is where you and your organisation come in. Bloomberg.com reports that South Africa spent R34-billion preparing for the Soccer World Cup, a competition that lasts but one month every four years and is unlikely to return to Africa for another century. The unwashed masses were brainwashed into believing that they were going to benefit enormously from Fifa’s largesse, so the poor sods who have lowly paid jobs building new stadiums and airports haven’t yet realised that August 2010 is likely to be a pretty grim month for them as they stand in the dole queue. In Durban, the city council even got the ratepayers to pay for a R3,3-billion stadium right next door to the existing world class rugby stadium, and thoughtfully had different coloured patterns painted on the grandstand seats so TV viewers will think they’re all occupied when the cameras swing past. That is sheer genius, and I salute whoever thought of it!

Please bear with me just a little longer. My plan is as follows:

Analyse
We lost the MotoGP series because of a piffling R35-million debt that nobody saw as worth bothering about. It’s no secret that the only reason we took on the Soccer World Cup was so our shakers and movers in politics and big business could dip into large chunks of the R34-billion lying on the table for airports, stadiums, access roads and so on. For top-level motorcycle racing to come back we have to similarly raise the stakes.

Strategise
I propose that you and Fifa approach government and ask to be granted control of motor sport in this country — Motorsport South Africa is in any case an archaic colonial institution that needs to be disempowered. Tell government that once Fifa takes over you intend shutting down all the existing race circuits in the country because they’re unsuitable for world championship events. Kyalami is too hilly, Phakisa is too flat, Killarney is too old and Zwartkops is owned by an Afrikaner who could well be descended from farmers. Tell them that you wish them to put out tenders to construct new circuits to replace these, and we might as well revamp Aldo Scribante, Idube and Midvaal while we’re at it to get them up to scratch. All the new and revamped circuits will, of course, be named after those we see as role models for the new South Africa — Joseph Stalin, Samuel Doe, Bob Mugabe, Jeffrey Dahmer …

We may need to initially present some slightly inflated figures regarding the number of foreign visitors the racing is likely to attract, but these can always be quietly adjusted downwards over a period of months once the contracts have been awarded.

Budget
A major construction company will design and build a new ultra-modern racetrack like the one in Abu Dhabi for about R2-billion. If we allow selected Cabinet ministers and their cronies to submit successful tenders for R3-billion each and then subcontract the work to the people who actually know how to do it everybody should be very happy. The workers who were laid off after the football stadiums and airports were finished will be feeling the pinch by then, so they’ll probably settle for half pay to work on the racetracks. Maybe we can use this to put the squeeze on the construction guys, reduce the R2-billion building costs, and push our profits even further upwards?

Implement
Once work on the circuits has commenced we can revise the budgets and squeeze another few billion out of the taxpayers. Then, of course, the old World Cup airports will probably need a lot of work to make them suitable for all the MotoGP flights coming in.

I can see that the unpatriotic and disloyal naysayers are going to point out that we’ll end up with six or seven truly world class circuits for just one Grand Prix meeting a year. That is not a problem, because we’ll change the way things are done! Meet with Dorna and propose that they run the entire world championship series in South Africa, with two rounds at each of our tracks. Point out how that will reduce the travelling allowances they have to pay the teams and award Dorna’s leadership a contract or two through the back door and I’m sure they’ll jump at the chance to help uplift Africa’s poor.

I’ve just had another brainwave! Why don’t we sell naming rights for MotoGP with the bid-winning manufacturer being allowed to brand every single bike in the race as its own? Rossi may not want to ever ride for the big H again, but if they have the money to replace his Yamaha’s insignia with their own he may have no choice but to start bringing home the bacon for Honda once again. It’s a win-win situation for everybody! There will, of course, be a suitably large commission payable to whoever handles the negotiations — maybe 40%?

Sepp, I can’t tell you how pleased I am that I’ve finally written to you! South Africa will undoubtedly benefit from my proposal. Critics have spoken repeatedly of the hangover that will follow the Soccer World Cup. Now, with the new MotoGP World Championship series destined to held in South Africa we can offer our people a hair of the dog that bit them!

Kind regards from your ally in entrepreneurship,

Gavin Foster

This is a modified version of a column in the April 2010 edition of 2Wheels magazine.

Men in black — bodyguards without a cause

It’s always struck me as rather odd the way ANC politicians and public servants seem obsessed with security. Surely, as democratically elected representatives of the people they should feel free to walk in the streets without let or hindrance? The much-hated apartheid hierarchy were certainly nowhere near as paranoid about being assassinated as our supposedly much-loved present leadership is. Nowadays every two-bit town clerk, mayor, deputy minister or third wife demands a throng of square-jawed thugs in black suits, dripping with earphones and sunglasses, to accompany them wherever they go, and all at the taxpayers’ expense.

Years ago I met an ex-cop who was very partial to the old South Africa and not too fond of the new. We started talking about his days of being an official bodyguard, and the man came up with some enlightening anecdotes. He and a couple of colleagues were once looking after a very high-profile Nationalist cabinet minister who booked into a room at the Royal Hotel in Durban. They were holding station outside the door of his suite when two hookers arrived. “The minister let them in and told us to take the night off, but we declined because our job was to look after him,” the ex-cop told me. The discussion became a little heated. “Eventually we compromised and agreed to sit in the lounge downstairs for an hour or two while he enjoyed the privacy he obviously needed.” While they were downstairs the bodyguards were called to the phone. It was the minister, instructing them to bring some drinks up to his room. They declined and told him to call room service because they were there to protect him, not wait on him.

Interestingly, the same right-wing fellow was tasked with looking after Nelson Mandela in the same hotel after the old man was released from prison but before the ‘94 election. He and his two colleagues saw Madiba to his room and took up station on chairs outside the door. After an hour or so Mandela opened the door, saw them there and told them there was no need to sit up all night as he was going to sleep. They told him that they had to do their duty so he went back inside. A few minutes later the door opened once again, and the future president told them he’d organised for them to occupy the room across the passage, so two could sleep while one sat up watching his door, each in turn.

That showed class.

There were two interesting stories in my morning newspapers today that got me thinking about this subject. The Mercury kicked off my day with a front-page story about Nompumelelo Ntuli-Zuma, South Africa’s first, second or third wife, whatever, being found guilty of unlawfully dismissing her domestic worker, and ordered to cough up R16 000. The story mentioned that when the worker, Sbongile Doris Ngobese, stayed off sick (after being short paid), Ntuli-Zuma sent her bodyguard to give Ngobese her money and get her back to work. The bodyguard returned with the sick note and no solution to the mounting piles of dirty dishes and ironing, so he was sent back the next day to tell the domestic not to bother returning to work. I don’t know how Ntuli-Zuma coped with the immense pressure of fearing for her life while her bodyguard couriered messages between her and her aggrieved domestic servant, but I’m quite sure he was the most expensive deliveryman in town.

The second story, in The Times, reported on the attack on Zindzi Mandela’s family as they arrived at their northern Johannesburg home earlier this week. The report said that two unknown gunmen pounced on the car carrying Zindzi’s children when the driver dropped them at home after their famous grandfather’s birthday party the Sunday before. “The driver,” said the paper “is believed to be Winnie Mandela’s bodyguard”.

Not a very good one either, by the sounds of it. He apparently lay down on the ground at the request of the bad guys before the shooting broke out, and then, when he did eventually draw his weapon managed to not hit anybody in the subsequent shootout.

I’m glad that the four children escaped this very peculiar attack without injury, but would still like to know how the criminally convicted ex-wife of a president, albeit a great one, who left office more than a decade ago qualifies for a full-time bodyguard at my expense. And, if she does need one, should he be sent out to chauffeur her daughter’s children around, no doubt in government vehicles using government fuel? And who was looking after Winnie, whose life is apparently under permanent threat, while her bodyguard played taxi driver to her grandkids?

There’s only one simple explanation. The ruling elite has bodyguards chiefly as status symbols, but they also come in handy for carrying messages to the servants, and for playing taxi driver to friends and family when required.

The media needs a hug

By Ilham Rawoot

Writing a good investigative story is hard work. It’s not a matter of sitting down at a computer and typing away. It takes a lot of time, talking to many sources, going through documents, research and asking questions to people implicated or involved.

This includes putting allegations to people and getting a response. What’s scary, however, is the lack of co-operation we so often have to face from government spokespeople and departments.

This week alone, we had to beg for responses from two government entities, one of which responded two days later, long after deadline, their response followed by an email threatening to sue if we got any information wrong due to us not being able to include their responses.

The spokesperson had not taken my calls during the week, nor responded to my emails and text messages. The other entity didn’t bother to respond at all.

They did, however, put their PR people onto me, who passed on the message that they insisted on meeting with not only me, but my news editor or deputy editor, if we wanted a response from them. It is not practice for editors to attend meetings with the people we write about, unless their surnames are, say, Obama or Zuma. When I told my subjects my editors couldn’t attend, they refused to meet.

What these spokespeople don’t understand is that it’s their job to meet with us. Taxpayers pay them to be the mouthpiece for government, and if they avoid the media or make us feel like they’re doing us a favour so much of the time, then who else is going to tell us what’s going on?

Secondly, they should want to respond. It’s a good thing to be given the opportunity to have your say, to justify yourself, explain allegations or even convince us with hard facts that there’s no story! Yet they run from us like we’re blood-dripping hounds.

This week’s problems are merely symptomatic of the government’s general adversity to the media.

At the same time that I was facing difficult spokespeople, our editor-in-chief, Nic Dawes, and colleagues, Stefaans Brümmer and Sam Sole, were in Parliament, making representations about the consequences of passing the draconian Protection of Information Bill, which will make it harder for investigative journalists to obtain information and easier for government to classify documents they wish to.

And on Thursday evening former minister Essop Pahad and the Gupta family launched their newspaper, The New Age, and said it would report more on the “positive” side of South Africa and less on investigative journalism.

What does all of this mean? It is our job as journalists to uncover the truth, warts and all. It is obvious the government wants to make life harder for us to do just that.

Where will this all end? Hopefully around a coffee table, and not in the trenches.

On The Violence Against Women

In my culture, for one to quote his father is likened to swearing an oath. Though my father died early, I have many causes to quote him and even swear by his name. I learnt much from him. Whenever the year draws to an end, I feel the pains of his death for it was at such a time that he departed this world many years ago. One of the lessons he taught me early in life was my relationship with women. That day, I came home triumphantly after beating up a girl in the school. I told him the story, thinking that he would praise me for being strong. For the first time, he was so harsh on me and made me understand that whoever fights is a fool and whoever beats a woman is a coward. He further made me to understand that every woman is my mother, wife and sister and that on no account should I beat her. He ordered me to apologize to the girl and I did that the following day.

Another day, I returned home from school very moody. I was asked why I looked sad and I narrated how I struggled over pebbles for our arithmetic lessons with a girl. Unfortunately for her, I got them and she slapped me in frustration. I wanted to retaliate and actually raised my hand but my father’s voice was whispering to me, “Every woman is your mother, wife and sister. Do not raise a hand on her!” I let her go. When I told my dad this, he smiled and parted my head and told me, “You are learning so fast. Look, my son, you will be a good husband.” I smiled at the thought of being a good husband then and covered my face with my hands. When I returned the next day and told my father that the girl apologized to me in tears, he told me that she had good parents who talked to her. However, he quickly added that I should beware of women’s tears. Spontaneously, I asked, “Why? Do they burn?” My father simply replied, “You will understand later.” I thought much about this and only understood later.

Why I went on to narrate these experiences is because of the media report few weeks ago. It was how the Deji of Akure, Oba Oluwadare Adesina, in company of some thugs and his new queen, Olori Remi, assaulted his ex-wife, Olori Bolanle Adesina. It was said that they poured some poisonous powdery substance on the hapless woman which got her arms burnt. The reason for this act of brutality was that the traditional ruler wanted to forcefully retrieve some of his property in possession of his ex-wife. This brings us face to face with the abuses that our traditional societies have subjected women to even in this modern time. Most unfortunately, some women or groups of women sometimes participate in enforcing the practice of some of these pagan beliefs and superstitions on the womenfolk especially the widows, childless and unmarried women.

In some cultures and traditions, the women are generally believed to be nothing but the property of their husbands and hence, they have no rights whatever even in their matrimonial homes. They just exist for procreation and sexual satisfaction of their husbands, sometimes in polygamous families. In many occasions, when the husbands die, the widows are subjected to some obnoxious pagan practices especially the ones that will prepare them to be inherited by other men, many a time, against their will. In some places, they are forced to perform the Ajadu ritual in which they are taken to a stream in the dead of the night for a ritual bath. It is alleged that an unknown dwarf, pre-arranged for the purpose will perform the ceremony after which he will have a carnal knowledge of the woman, thereby ‘severing’ the bond between her and her dead husband such that no harm will befall any man that sleeps with her. They are so much intimidated to believe that they will die if they do not perform the ritual. It is unbelievable that the women themselves champion this. Many a time, the refusal to do this is behind all forms of oppressions against the widows, including dispossessing them of their husbands’ property and ostracizing them.

In the same manner, the dust-to-dust rites performed at funerals have had this belief attached to it. Many believe that if a woman pours sand into the grave of her deceased husband, the bond between them will not be severed. Therefore, it is believed that any man who goes to her will be slain by the spirit of her dead husband. This has caused some rumpus between the church and some local communities which now see any funeral of any Christian man to be a theatre of war against the church. Funny enough too, some women lead this war against the church and themselves, still preferring to remain in the dark.

Another aspect of this is the plight of women without male children or childless women. In many occasions these two groups are regarded as one because of the low regard for the female children, who in the ancient African culture are just mere alternative to barrenness. Some of these women have always been made from onset to understand that their lives are wasted. Many a time, their husbands discard them to marry brand new wives who are always available in different shapes and sizes, and are so convinced of their fertility. One thing our people have not come to terms with is that, in spite of the advance in modern science, it is God that gives children. Human beings are just collaborators. For this, the love for one’s spouse should be considered first above any other thing in marriage. The value of a woman should not therefore depend on the number of children she produced, whether male or female. After all, the women reproduce what the men gave them.

It is true that the people like the Deji of Akure have been taken care of by some punitive measures like deposition; the women should come out to free themselves from these shackles. As I rightly pointed out, in many occasions, the women are the cause of their own woes. Take for instance, the youngest wife of the Deji who accompanied him and joined in beating up his fellow woman. She could have stopped him from the assault if she has respect for womanhood. In the same way, it is the women who form the cartel for the exportation of their fellow women to foreign countries for prostitution from which they make high profits. In the recently concluded World Cup in South-Africa, it is said that of the 40,000 prostitutes imported for the occasion, Nigerian girls from different universities in the country were the highest in number. So what we lost in the pitch, we won in strange beds.

It is again disheartening to know that many women still subject themselves to some outmoded religious and traditional beliefs. A female lay reader was of the view that her monthly period is a ritual impurity and so, she could not ascend the altar to read in that condition. Another believed that it made her lose the state of grace and therefore, could not receive the Holy Communion that time. Most surprisingly, both of them are not illiterate. It was like squeezing water out of the rock to make them understand that, “Grace does not destroy nature but perfects it.” The greatest disease is ignorance!

This piece is not intended to portray the women as innocuous. They have their own problems. Some of them have been known to be behind the ruin of many men, including their husbands. Many have been known to be on the offensive against the men and cry foul at the reaction of such men. Their best weapon is to accuse the men of sexual harassment. It was said that Hon. Doris Uboh, a member of the House of Representatives for whom the women demonstrated against the way she was taken out of the chamber during the exchange of blows recently, was the first to slap a male legislator. The women demonstrators did not think of that. They also did not think of how some of the male legislators were beaten up and their dresses torn. That is real selfishness. Recently, the Nigerian nation was held to ransom by a woman during the period of illness of the immediate past president. It was only God himself that came to our rescue. Also a woman is said to have held one of the South-Eastern states in-between her laps, manipulating and financially draining it with her son, an ex-governor. Women achieve their goals with crocodile tears. This is the situation where their tears become more corrosive than raw acid.

However, these are exceptions. There are many wonderful women who can help liberate others. They should seek their rights and protect them instead of leaning on the so-called privileges granted by men. Women should encourage themselves to participate actively in politics and not just stay back to seek 30% political appointments after the men must have sweated to clinch the political posts. It must also be acknowledged that naturally, though men and women are human beings, they do not have equal physical strength. As such, men should protect the women where they should without taking undue advantage of them. The women should also help the men where they can. Men should ultimately remember that every woman is their mother, wife, sister and daughter and should not bear a hand in any violence against them, directly or indirectly.

*Rev. Fr. Clement Muozoba okochacm@yahoo.com 07060843010

Islamophobia In America, Islam And Muslims Under Siege

Islamophobia in America, Islam And Muslims Under Siege

Written by Paul I. Adujie

Refudiate is not a word, refute and repudiate are words of course!

In her hurry to excoriate Islam and Muslims in New York, Sarah Palin, former Governor of Alaska and former presidential running mate of Senator John McCain, created a new “word” as she demanded that Muslims in New York City should “refudiate” plans to build a mosque, a holy house of worship, which they constitutionally entitled to build

Simultaneously, Rich Lazio, a candidate for governor of New York in stridently demanding the disallowance of the proposed mosque near the so-called ground zero, a part of lower Manhattan in the financial district where World Trade Center stood, before the September 11, 2001 attacks. Rick Lazio went as far as referring to Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, as an incompetent Attorney General, a position he currently occupies even as he runs for governorship of New York as well. Lazio went to the extent of also accusing Cuomo of liberal bias and pandering to liberal voters as reason for not launching a full scale inquiry into the proposed mosque.

see story

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has rightly declared and required all those opposed to the mosque project to submit evidence or data of any wrongdoing to the office of the attorney general for review; and so far, there have been no scintilla or atom of evidence suggesting wrongdoing by anyone Muslim connected to the mosque project in question, and yet, there is an inflamed sentiment within a segment of the New York City public which is bent on preventing the mosque from being erected.

Islam and Muslims are surely under siege in America and particularly here in New York City. There are strong and very vehement opposition to Muslims who have sought building permit to erect mosques on Long Island, and in Manhattan, as well as in Staten Island and Bay Ridge, a part of Brooklyn! And before these stiff oppositions to mosques buildings, there was hurried firing of a female principal of a Muslim school and her firing or dismissal which has since been reversed, was precipitated by scurrilous attacks and criticisms by the same motley crews which have been at the throats of Muslims in New York City

See: NYC was wrong to fire Muslim principal

http://blog.beliefnet.com/beliefbeat/2010/03/panel-nyc-wrong-to-fire-muslim-principal.html

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=Principal+of+a+Muslim+school+fired+in+New+York+city&aq=&aqi=&aql=&oq=Principal+of+a+Muslim+school+fired+in+New+York+city&gs_rfai=&fp=d571b3712fffe003

Some of us are now left to wonder about these bigotries directed at Islam and Muslims in New York City. This is particularly so, for a plural and multicultural and multi-religious New York City which proudly refers to itself as the American melting pot. The United Nations Organization is headquartered in New York City, and New York City in name, composition, nomenclature and reality, is microcosm of all nations, New York City is really a mini United Nations of all the nations of the world! But, denying Muslims the right, a fundamental right to erect mosques, places of worship and Islamic community centers, surely cannot be the way to advertise tolerance, diversity and the much vaunted and loudly advertised status as America’s and the world’s melting pot!

As an irreverent Catholic or semi-retired Catholic, I hold all religions in equal awes and equal suspicions . I would also repeat a partial excerpt of a statement below and here it is, “oppose Islam for the same basic reason I oppose all religion: supernaturalism is false, and people ought not believe things that are false

USA Today: Muslims in USA face fears, bias to build, expand mosques

The vast majority of American mosques were buildings built for other purposes,” he said. ... meeting in mid-June to protest the Murfreesboro mosque. Similar resistance helped derail a proposed mosque http://muslimmatters.org/2010/07/05/usa-today-muslims-in-usa-face-fears-bias-to-build-expand-mosques/ By Bob Smietana The Nashville Tennessean

When Muslims want to pray in Rutherford County, many go to an office building on Middle Tennessee Boulevard that houses the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro. There’s usually enough room for evening prayers until Fridays when about 100 people gather during the week’s main service. On warm days, it can get uncomfortable. “During prayers, it gets so hot that the air conditioning doesn’t work,” said Saleh Sbenaty, a member of the mosque’s board of directors. “This building was not designed for this kind of use.

Thousands Protest Mega-Mosque Plans at - Gateway Pundit

To put it bluntly, Ground Zero is the one place in America where Muslims .Why do you think there is growing resistance against new mosques being .. But “building a 15-story Islamic center at ground zero Do we need an area for pilgrimage for Muslims in New York?

http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2010/06/thousands-protest-mega-mosque-plans-at-ground-zero/

Do we need a holy mosque on Ground Zero? They will come and pay their pilgrimage right here in New York at the mosque. We have 3,000 dead Americans looking down on us today. They are saying, “We don’t want to hear ‘Allahu Akbar’ any more.”

Mosque planned for (two bocks away from) Ground Zero, jingos aghast —again

Plan to Build Mosque Near Ground Zero Riles Families of 9/11 Victims ... to balance those from 9-11 Families for a Safe and Strong America? A Century and a Half of Protest & Resistance on New York's Lower East Side ...Submitted by Bill Weinberg on Sun, 05/16/2010 - 18:25.

New York City's kneejerk jingos, already aghast that the hubristic "Freedom Tower" name has been dropped from the new skyscraper going up at Ground Zero, have got a new cause to gripe about. Plan to Build Mosque Near Ground Zero Riles Families of 9/11 Victims

http://www.ww4report.com/node/8624

Outraged family members and community groups are accusing a Muslim group of trying to rewrite history with its plans to build a 13-story mosque and cultural center just two blocks from Ground Zero, where Islamic extremists flew two planes into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

Outraged family members and community groups are accusing a Muslim group of trying to rewrite history with its plans to build a 13-story mosque and cultural center just two blocks from Ground Zero, where Islamic extremists flew two planes into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

10000 throng to protest Islamic supremacist mega-mosque at Ground ...

Jun 8, 2010 ... Gandhi advised "passive resistance" to the Jews against Hitler, ... some faithful American was to go on the site where the mosque is to be built and .... "Plans to build a memorial to the 333 hostages killed three years ... 10,000 throng to protest Islamic supremacist mega-mosque at Ground Zero "10,000 throng to stop Ground Zero mosque: Group vows to sue federal government: '3,000 good Americans didn't die in vain,'" by Chelsea Schilling in WorldNetDaily, June 7:

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/06/10000-throng-to-protest-islamic-supremacist-mega-mosque-at-ground-zero.html

As many as 10,000 protesters from across the country - including family members who lost loved ones on Sept. 11, 2001 - took to the streets in New York City Sunday to fight construction of a 13-story Islamic mosque to be built just steps from Ground Zero where Muslim terrorists murdered 2,751 people in the name of Allah. Now the organizers plan to sue the federal government to designate the site as a war memorial....

New York Mosque Protest « Bartholomew's Notes on Religion

For Geller and her Stop Islamization of America organization (currently on .... reasons — their qualms and resistance need to be respected. ... to protest the proposed building of a mosque on the World Trade Center site. http://barthsnotes.wordpress.com/2010/06/09/new-york-mosque-protest/

The only Muslim center that should be built in the shadow of the World Trade Center is one that is devoted to expunging the Quran and all Islamic teachings of the violent jihad that they prescribe, as well as all hateful texts and incitement to violence”

Of course, this isn’t a statement made in good faith: a Muslim center with an “expunged” Quran makes about as much sense as a church with the anti-Jewish parts of the New Testament expunged or a synagogue with the more sanguinary passages of the Torah expunged – ancient religious texts may be re-interpreted or contextualized in ways that make them more amenable to the modern world, but they are seldom repudiated by adherents

Free Colorado: Let Them Build the Mosque

Gotham Resistance claims that forbidding the mosque would preserve "decency, ... Let us grant that, in America, we do not punish children for the sins of their fathers. ... Both said they had come to protest the mosque. ... http://blog.ariarmstrong.com/2010/06/let-them-build-mosque.html

oppose Islam for the same basic reason I oppose all religion: supernaturalism is false, and people ought not believe things that are false. In today's world, Islam is a particularly destructive force, in many sectors sanctioning the abuse of women, totalitarianism, mass murder, and terrorism. Thankfully, Islam also has a more enlightened, Aristotelian tradition, and in the modern world at least some Muslims promote political and religious freedom and peace among nations.

Muslim mosque to be built on ground zero - Patriotic Resistance

Muslims are planning to build a mosque on ground zero after they destroyed ... as possible to call the Mayor of New York to protest this build. ... The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration's War on America

http://www.resistnet.com/group/oregon/forum/topics/muslim-mosque-to-be-built-on

Muslims are planning to build a mosque on ground zero after they destroyed the twin towers. We need as many people as possible to call the Mayor of New York to protest this build. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxFzFIDbKpg&feature=player_embedded

Whatever you think about Muslims, they do not like you even if they are friendly toward you. If you think you can be the friend of a Muslim click on the link below.

East Berlin's First Mosque: The Muslims Are Coming! - SPIEGEL ...

"In our experience, the protests stop as soon as we start to build the mosque ... every mosque they've built has met with local protests and resistance. ... 11, 2001, at the invitation of William Timken, America's ambassador to Germany. http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,456751,00.html

The Muslims Are Coming! By Michael Scott Moore and Jochen-Martin Gutsch in Berlin

A citizens' group in Berlin turned out this week for a candlelight vigil to protest plans for a new mosque in their neighborhood. It will be the first to be built in the former East Berlin, where almost no Muslims live -- but no one can quite explain why it shouldn't be there.

Anti-mosque Protest | loonwatch.com

But the movement to prevent the building of a Mega Mosque at Ground Zero ... of America', “but we are here today to condemn the kind of mosque that will .... reasons — their qualms and resistance need to be respected. http://www.loonwatch.com/tag/anti-mosque-protest/ The uproar over a proposed mosque near ground zero is predicated around the idea that this specific site was inappropriate for a mosque because of its proximity to the place where Islamic terrorists killed thousands of Americans. The logic is still, not even very subtly, anti-Muslim — it only makes sense if you believe that Muslim-American worshipers are sympathetic to Muslim terrorists. Now a community on Staten Island is opposing another proposed mosque, and without the pretense that it’s motivated by anything but outright hostility toward Muslims.