-Caveat Lector- >From NewStatesman (UK) Where are my Muslim brethren? Ziauddin Sardar fears another holocaust in Europe, but the Islamic states couldn't care less Once again, we Muslims find ourselves between the Devil and the deep blue sea. We are glad that something is being done about Milosevic and his evil plan to cleanse Kosovo of all Muslims. But we are not sure about the new role of Nato. A host of images, from the crusades to the Gulf war, the Holocaust and the carpet-bombing of Baghdad, hurling towards us at great speed, have numbed our senses. If our endorsement of Nato action has been muted, we have hardly been vocal in speaking out on behalf of our brothers and sisters in Kosovo. There is absolutely no doubt in the mind of any Muslim that what is happening in Kosovo is an intended pogrom, an incipient holocaust. Europe has a long history of turning against Muslims and this history has been repeating itself in cycles since the crusades. The purpose of crusading was to cleanse the earth and purify the blood of the nation. It was St Bernard who first saw Christ glorified in the death of a Muslim. Slobodan Milosevic quite evidently is made in the St Bernard mould, a modern-day crusader. But what is different this time is that Muslims are not the outsiders, the barbarians at the gates of Vienna. They have now replaced the Jews as the feared and hated internal Others. Muslims are dreaded and loathed not just in Serbia, but throughout Europe. In France, they have been dubbed "blood-thirsty savages" (by Brigitte Bardot, no less) and an aromatic affront to civilisation (by Jacques Chirac). Jean-Marie Le Pen's National Front has fought two elections on a singularly anti-Muslim ticket. The designer fascism of the Deutsche Alternative party in Germany is fuelled by anti-Muslim sentiments. The Progressive Party of Denmark openly campaigns on a "Denmark with no Musselmen" ticket, as does the Swedish New Democratic Party. If Milosevic emerged as a victor, for whatever reason, the consequences for Muslims throughout Europe could be devastating. Muslims do not see just one man as the enemy of peace in the Balkans, the sole perpetuator of ethnic cleansing. It is the entire system he presides over and all those who participate in its operation. Fascism may be an inflated term but the Republic of Serbia has all the characteristics of the real thing - death squads, concentration camps, extensive paramilitary and police forces and an extreme clerical-nationalist ideology. It is this system we fear; and it is this system that we want to see rooted out. But the new role of Nato also sends shivers down Muslim spines. The next time the bombs drop it could easily be on a Muslim people. Many Muslim countries are actively suppressing their minorities. Think of what Turkey, Iraq and Iran are doing to the Kurds or of the brutal suppression of East Timor by Indonesia. Secessionists are everywhere in the Muslim world; and everywhere they are being ruthlessly suppressed. If Nato succeeded in protecting a minority in Serbia, would it not be motivated to extend its tentacles to other parts of the world? This was the question uppermost on the minds of its members when the contact group on Bosnia-Herzegovina of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), the Muslim UN, met last week in Geneva. The meeting was grudgingly organised by the current OIC chairman, President Khatami of Iran, after he was pressured by Pakistan's prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, to consider all aspects of the Kosovo situation. With the sole exception of the Pakistanis, who described the Nato action as "sincere in purpose", the OIC contact group refused to back the bombing. Indeed, the OIC seems to abdicate its Islamic responsibility to rally to the support of their "Muslim brethren" in Kosovo. This would not come as too much of a surprise to ordinary Muslims in Europe. They know better than to look to the political leadership of Muslim nations for support. Muslim regimes have been specialising in moral bankruptcy for generations. And if they know anything at all of the politics of public opinion in the west, they know better than to raise their voices on any issue. Such people are not only ineffectual to their friends but are more likely to aid their enemies. Muslims in Britain and elsewhere in Europe have therefore been deliberately following a quiet, two-pronged strategy. First, the community has mobilised an enormous relief effort, through such organisations as Muslim Aid and Islamic Relief, and is silently lobbying for Nato to send ground troops to Kosovo. Second, they have been presenting Kosovo not as a Muslim issue but an intrinsic European problem. Europe, they have argued, bears a heavy burden of responsibility for the dynamics that brought Milosevic to the fore. When Helmut Kohl persuaded a reluctant European Union to recognise the independence of Croatia, the Milosevic effect was set in train. The European Union has the duty to end the barbarism it helped to unleash before it catches fire in the ghettos of mainland Europe. >From http://www.zivildienst.at/deescalating_media.htm Tell the complete story The suggestions are based on the principal that media can have a positive impact on conflict and should be encouraged to do so. It also responds to the need to counteract the increasingly destructive role of media in most war zones. The goal of deescalating reporting is to provide readers of media with the complete story, with new perspectives on conflicts in a manner which promotes humanitarian values and supports peace-building. The ZiviWEB The seven suggestions for deescalating journalism are 1.None of the parties has absolute standards of truth. 2. Conflicts are always open to be conceptualised either as a competitive (win-lose) or as a cooperative (win-win) process. 3. Conflicts can take a constructive course only, it they are conceptualised in the framework of a win-win model. 4. War culture is biased towards win-lose interpretation. 5. Peace processes must be based on creativity: Give voice to the voiceless. 6. Deescalating journalism must provide an alternative motivation logic and redirect the indignation with the enemy against the war itself. 7. Deescalating journalism must obey to an unconditional obligation to all-sided truth. Source: Univ. Prof. Dr. Wilhelm KEMPF, University of Konstanz, PO Box 5560, D-78457 Konstanz, Germany: Media coverage of third party peace initiatives Projektgruppe Friedensforschung Konstanz >From http://www.zmag.org/Instructionals/ForeignPolicy/id1.htm Foreign Policy Instructional Understanding U.S Foreign Policy based on ZMI Lectures by Stephen Shalom This is a rough transcript of a course given at ZMI in June 1998. Material in quotation marks are exact quotes (not from Shalom, but from the indicated sources), while material without quotation marks are loose -- sometimes very loose -- paraphrases. Regretably, the extensive discussions accompanying this material in class were not transcribed and therefore do not appear in this instructional. The Course was given in two parts and the Instructional is divided similarly, with subdivisions in each. You can use the buttons below this area or the map above to navigate into the tutorial. In the Map, the two main parts of the course are the top and bottom sequences of boxes, each box representing a brief section of the presentation. The parts can be done separately or even in reverse order (bottom first) but the preferred approach is top from end to end, then bottom from end to end. Enjoy yourself, and let us know if this approach to online education seems effective and useful. Thank You ~~~~~~~~~~~~ A<>E<>R The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Every great advance in natural knowledge has involved the absolute rejection of authority. -Thomas Huxley + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
