fundamentalism is on the rise. pemenang pemilu di prancis, presiden sarkozy, adalah 'far right wing'. pemilu swiss dimenangkan oleh partai svp 'far right wing' juga. partai swiss ini sih malahan lebih radikal, memakai kampanye poster 'black sheep (si ambon) yang ditendang pantatnya oleh domba putih dengan slogan "more security".
kesian.., imigran seperti si ambon dan jusfiq yang udah mati-matian ngebelain si muka pucat di milis ini, ternyata malahan dibikin poster yang ditendang pantatnya oleh si muka pucat. imigran emang cuman jadi beban doang. anyway, jadi fundamentalisme itu baik islam, kristen, yahudi, sedang naik daun. ini ada wawancara koran the jakarta post dengan profesor ucla tentang sebab naiknya fundamentalisme islam. ====== Who's to blame for the rise of Islamic fundamentalism? October 22, 2007 ===== The debate between the West and the East continues, with many countries blaming Islam for the emergence of fundamentalist groups around the world. Prof. Ismail K. Poonawala, Ph.D, a lecturer in Arabic Studies at the University of California in Los Angeles, spoke recently with The Jakarta Post's Irawaty Wardany to give his own account of the situation after presenting a public lecture on Islamic Studies in the West at the Center for Dialogue and Cooperation among Civilizations in Jakarta. ==== Question: You said in your lecture that Western governments played a part in creating Islamic fundamentalist groups. What did you mean by this? Answer: Why I said (they were) a creation of the West is because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and because of the Cold War between America and Soviet Russia. So, as the Soviet Union was involved in Afghanistan, what the Americans did, they got help, especially money from Saudi Arabia and the Arab countries, and they supported the Mujahiddin, meaning the Islamists or fundamentalists. They gave them money and America supplied all the arms through Pakistan and so this was how the Taliban government later on came into position because once the Soviets were defeated in Afghanistan, America's mission was successful and they felt very joyous. They said they had succeeded in their aim of defeating Russia and so they left and because they left, Afghanistan was in chaos. At least one has to give credit to the Taliban for establishing some kind of government and administration, but then it was too fundamentalist. Osama Bin Laden, who originates from Saudi Arabia and comes from the royal family, later supported the Taliban. He opposed the Saudi Arabian policy of ... establishing an American base in Saudi Arabia. Since Osama Bin Laden criticized the Saudi Arabian government, he could no longer live in Saudi Arabia and went to Afghanistan, where he also fought against Soviet Russia. In other words, who created or supported Osama Bin Laden at the very beginning? America. If it had not supported him, he would not have come into influence. Question: But you also said in your lecture that Muslim governments could be blamed for the creation of fundamentalist groups too. Can you explain this? Answer: Because there is no freedom of thought and no freedom of expression under most Muslim governments ... all the intellectuals either are silent or get their books published in other countries. But then a number of them had to leave the Arab region and live in Europe or America. Question: How about the Indonesian government? Answer: I will pass on that question since I'm not as familiar with Indonesia as I am with the Arab countries, like Pakistan or Iraq. So I better keep my mouth shut. But here, from what I heard from (Din) Syamsuddin, I would blame the Indonesian government for siding with America against Iran's nuclear project, because every country has a right to develop nuclear energy. You can't just blame them. (Nuclear energy) was like a white Christian monopoly before India and Pakistan became (nuclear) an China became (nuclear). It was restricted to Russia, America, Great Britain and France. They are all white Christian groups. Question: What do you think is the biggest misconception about Islam in the West? Answer: It is mainly because of the news. Because of the image of Osama bin Laden and certain fundamentalist movements, they still think that Islam is very militant and aggressive. All the wrong images ... are being perpetrated in the media by (people with) vested interests, especially ... the Jewish lobby in America and ... fundamentalists in the South. Question: So you blame the media for these misconceptions? Answer: Yes. The media is (supporting) the growth of fundamentalists from Christian fundamentalist groups and Zionist groups in America because officially the Jewish lobby is very powerful and influential. They buy most American congressmen and senators for reelection. They give a lot of money, so in that way the American Congress and Senate is heavily influenced by the Jewish lobby. Question: So are you saying they are trying to destroy Islam? Answer: No. There are many who are fair minded also. (There are) Jews who criticize Israeli policy and support the Palestinians. And what about the Islamic studies thinkers? There are a number of excellent teachers in American Universities. They are either Christian or Jewish and they do not have this type of bias. I do not put everybody in the same basket because not all Muslims are fundamentalist and not all Muslims are liberal-minded. It is only that I blame governments, (some) western governments. The French and Germans opposed the Americans when they decided to attack Iraq, so one should try to ... not put each and every person in the same basket. Question: How did the 9/11 incident change the image of Islam in America? Answer: Because of that incident, people want to know more about Islam, whether it is militant or so on and whether what is presented in the media is true or not. They did not buy it and they want to study and see what Islam is. So in that way many students are coming to universities and enrolling in these classes to learn more about Islam and Islamic history. This is their reaction. Unfortunately in America, unless something happens they do not wake up. Before that they were just asleep. Before that Russia was their enemy, so everybody was studying the Russian language or Russian history. Now that Russia is gone, Islam (has been made into) the enemy of America and the West by some people in the media, but that is also the reason why they want to learn about Islam. Question: Did the 9/11 incident increase the public's understanding about Islam? Answer: Yes it did. Day by day. I think there are ... a number of news stations which invite Muslim scholars and Muslim professors (to speak), and there might be some stations that try to present balanced pictures. Even on CNN and CBS there are six special programs about fundamentalism in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Not absolutely good, but it is good for American people that (fundamentalism is being discussed) not only in Islam, but ... in Christianity and ... Judaism also. So the picture is changing and in American academia and in universities there is an altogether different picture. A number of people have written about and ... criticized American foreign policy and the new image of America. ============= Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] List owner : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
