Posted on 12/10/2004 11:36:45 PM PST by Destro
Eye on Eurasia: Islamophobia rising
UPI - Wednesday, December 08, 2004
Date: Wednesday, December 08, 2004 3:01:58 PM EST By PAUL GOBLE
TARTU, Estonia, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- Efforts by Russian Muslims to counter the rising tide of anti-Muslim items in the Russian media are often so unprofessional, emotional and grotesque they increase anti-Muslim sentiment in Russia and abroad, says a leading Moscow specialist on Islam.
Roman Silantyev, who serves as secretary of the Inter-religious Council of Russia and also as the chief specialist on Islam in the Patriarchate's External Relations Department, makes precisely that argument in the current issue of the Russian Orthodox Church's Tserkovniy vestnik.
Silantyev notes Islamophobia is increasing in Russia -- a view shared by most participants in a roundtable organized by the editors of NG-Religii in its Dec. 1 issue. And that makes countering this form of bigotry -- and doing so successfully -- all the more important.
In his article "Several Thoughts About Islamophobia," Silantyev notes there are many responsible defenders of Islam in Russia both among the country's Muslim leadership and in the media. But at the same time, he suggests the fight against Islamophobia in Russia is all too often dominated by "doubtful." people.
Sometimes these "defenders of Islam" expect non-Muslims to accept that "Islam is a religion of peace because it is peaceful," a circular argument he suggests is just about as impressive to non-Muslim Russians as were Soviet-era claims the teachings of Karl Marx "are all-powerful because they are true."
On other occasions, he says, the self-styled defenders of the faith engage in nasty personal attacks such as suggesting one or another writer should be examined by a psychiatrist or should be ostracized because of positive attitudes toward Israel. Or they make irresponsible claims about the size of the Muslim community in Russia or the number of ethnic Russians who have supposedly converted to Islam.
Silantyev is especially critical of Russia's largest Islamic information Web site, Islam.ru. He writes the editors of this portal have managed "at one and the same time" to launch suits against Izvestiya for xenophobia and to post often vicious attacks on Jews and Orthodox Christians.
Moreover, Silantyev notes, this site seems to spend much of its time attacking leaders of the Russian Muslim community such as Ravil Gainutdin and Talgat Tadzhuddin, the head of the Union of Muslims of Russia -- actions that only encourage hostility toward Muslims by non-Muslims.
What those who want to fight effectively against Islamophobia must do, Silantyev maintains, is "to create a positive image of Islam in the eyes of Russian society by stressing historical examples of the peaceful coexistence of Muslims and Christians, their joint opposition to the godless power in the past, and their common struggle against non-traditional religions and new religious movements in the future."
But none of that will matter, Silantyev concludes, unless Muslim scholars and Muslim commentators provide a satisfactory answer to "the principled question: why do the overwhelming majority of terrorist groups now acting in the world associate themselves with Islam and why does not a single terrorist organization act in the name of Orthodox Christianity?"
Not surprisingly, Silantyev's ideas have been attacked by those he criticizes, a development not unexpected but one that may receive greater attention than would otherwise be the case because of the opening in New York of a U.N. seminar devoted to the question of how best to counter Islamophobia and promote tolerance.
The response of the editors of Islam.ru to Silantyev's article was immediate and -- at least from the point of view of Silantyev -- compelling evidence of some of the problems he points to.
In often extremely sharp and personal terms, Islam.ru's Abdulla Khasinov argues Silantyev is illiterate on Islamic questions, his statements about Islam.ru are both ignorant and unprofessional, and he has rendered himself unfit to serve as secretary of the Inter-religious Council of Russia.
Indeed, Khasinov concludes the only thing that Silantyev could possibly be fit to serve the members of that Council is tea "because for that he would only need to smile."
Many Russian Orthodox clergy and laity will read Silantyev's article, but few will see Khasinov's response. By Khasinov's own admission, Islam.ru has only some 8,000 subscribers, and beyond any doubt most of them are Muslims who already agree with the site's point of view.
That imbalance in access to the mainstream media, the Internet's tendency in many cases to reinforce the views of surfers rather than promote dialogue among them, and the equally nasty comments of some of those who attack Islam all help to explain some of Khasinov's anger.
But Silantyev is surely right that getting angry won't solve anything and that those who do want to combat the evil of Islamophobia will never be able to do so until and unless they overcome these limitations and answer the challenge he has posed.
--
(Paul Goble teaches at the EuroCollege of the University of Tartu in Estonia.)
-- Copyright 2004 by United Press International. All rights reserved.
I like your thinking. But remember, for that work they do get their own sex slaves and they can beat them up at will without fear of the law.
Double Ow.
Well I was at a hotel this weekend for a conference and while taking a break in the lobby I came upon a group of chess players. Several men were bragging about how great they were, who was the best, and who had played chess the longest non-stop. They wouldn't stop bragging. I've never seen such a group of chess nuts boasting by an open foyer.
Wow, it's like you read my mind, because I think exactly the same thing, and make similar remarks to my seven year old. I always want to say to these crows, "Woman! You don't HAVE to cover your head here!" They are a terrible example for young American girls and I just won't let it go by without comment. With apologies to NO ONE. You are a man after my own heart, BobL.
But of course, its perfectly ok to ridicule and despise Christians and Jews in our PC ridden culture. Well, I am just not having it. I will continue to fight this blind love of islam wherever I encounter it. If Muslims come to this country to live out their lives, they have to assimilate like everyone else, like the immigrants in my family who learned English and became true Americans. We don't want their sick twisted hateful culture polluting ours and I have no qualms about verbalizing this.
[yerg]
So there's this French guy who decides he's sick of hearing from his wife how she likes heifeweizen and can't stand the overhopped barley brew he prefers. Knowing what a Democrat she is, he takes her outside to ask the neighborhood what they think. They traipse up and down the broken cobblestone street interviewing the other residents as to their preference of malt ingredient, the lousy roadway punishing their feet to the point they're leaving a trail of blood behind them--ironic, considering the street was named after the ol' Punisher himself. After an exhaustive interviewing, the tally is 99% against hefeweizen. His wife complains the poll was of wine drinkers who wouldn't know the difference between an ale or a lager, but the husband states, NON...
...Rue Dolph the Red knows grain beer!
Ping to 65--if you've enjoyed the suffering so far.
What's the pun?
[missing a pun is considered high praise, by the way, where I come from]
Speaking of nuts, I was flying in a small jet back from Korea to Singapore late the other evening, and heard the only other passengers arguing over something really silly. A teenager was telling his mom she was at fault for causing his acne to get worse, because she refused to buy him Clearasil. Just what you'd suspect around this season...
...zit blame upon a midnight Lear.
Islam is correctly viewed as NOT peaceful, while Christianity is rightly viewed as peaceful.
Muslims have, by their actions the last few decades, proved this to be true, so they are the only ones able to turn this tide, by their actions.
Act peacefully to be presumed peaceful.
The Beslan school outrage didn't help either.
I didn't want to have to do this.
The remote island of Bali is renowned for its herds of cattle with extremely sensitive noses. So discerning are these bovine, in fact, that the US DEA finally got its act together enough to request two of them for use in Chicago's O'Hare International Airport as drug sniffers. Supposedly, these creatures could pick out contraband in concentrations that would baffle even the best trained dogs on the force, so they were used on highly suspect packages that seemed to be innocent as far as the dogs were concerned.
One day a passenger arrived carrying an armful of Haitian figurines. Well, the guards were naturally suspicious, so they brought in the dogs. You guessed it. Nothing. Still thinking something was up, one of the guards decided to call for a little stronger nasal support. He looked the dog handler in the eye and said:
"Check the dolls with cows of Bali"
Once again, you are my hero! (Are you male, single, 40 ish?) Seriously, I love your candor and your anti-PC sentiments. I've got your back always.
Male, single, 21 (just a pup, so to speak).
So the Bali thing reminds me of this time I went to the south of the island to Kuta with my pal, a former wrestler by the name of Rhodes. We were busking, me playing saxophone and him playing the violin (we both like sax and violins) and we came up to Ubud, where the local Catholic priest, a cantankerous old man, also had a narcolepsy problem. This time, it had gotten a mite dangerous. He'd climbed up a palm to rescue a kitten stuck up there, gotten up to the top, and fallen asleep.
Well, Mr. Rhodes not being the subtle sort, discovering the situation, chucked his violin at the preacher and woke him up, to which the good father exclaimed, "What is this wood thing that hit me?!?!" I answered:
A Dusty fiddle it is, lazy, treed old padre!
You are very astute for one so young..took me twice as long to wise up!
I have a good teacher.
Well back on the egg farm when I was young, we had a hen named Elizabeth. She was quite prolific egg turner. Occasionally we let some eggs hatch when we needed more chickens. Elizabeth had this one chickling who turned out to have quite a personality. She was always curious and getting into all sorts of mischief and provided great entertainment for us. Well one day she went missing. And as we strode over the farm, searching for her, our cries would echo through the valley, "O little clown of Beth the hen..."
Funny you should mention farms. During the interim before Superman's return while the villains from the Phantom Zone ruling the earth, General Zod, Urse, and Non were often called on to deal with minor disputes as they flew around demanding tribute. One such case was the result of an argument between a rancher and a lesbian boutique shepherd. The lesbo's all-girl flock had a unique mutation that caused them to bob their heads up and down, which made them exceedingly popular pets in the Castro district. However, these mutant sheep were eating the grass down to the roots on the rugmuncher's property and the open range, and it was taking a toll on the feed which would normally sustain the rancher's cattle, which is why he and the lesbo were about to come to blows as the supervillains flew over. The rancher waved down the trio, and nicely asked the General if he would please do something about it--or the rancher would himself shoot at the sheep.
The General and his minions, of course, weren't of a kindly nature regarding the rancher's complaint, which to them sounded a bit beneath their notice. And of course, they were evil, so they liked the degenerate anyway, which is why the General proclaimed,
"Zod blast you prairie gentleman, let nodding ewes dis hay!"
(I defy you to top that one)
Wow...good ...but painful...be on the lookout...
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