Abdel-Karim Nabil Suleiman, the Egyptian blogger from Alexandria was this week, sentenced to four years in prison for what he wrote in his blog. He was first arrested in 2005. A blogger and a law student in Al Azhar (world's second oldest operating University), Karim's blog was critical of the University which he termed "was promoting extreme ideas". Point to note is that he was a casual blogger who commented on issues around him occasionally. Karim's post accusing Muslims of savagery during clashes between Muslims and Christians in Alexandria in 2005 titled “The Naked Truth of Islam as I Saw it" created an uproar in the Sunni fundamentalist circles.
Excerpt :
"It is worth mentioning that although some people may think that this Christian-owned liquor store was particularly targeted because the owner is selling the forbidden alcoholic beverages that is forbidden in Islam, but another liquor store in front of the Christian-owned store happens to be owned by a Moslem merchant, and none of the thugs dared to attack, as they did with the Christian-owned store. Now you can see the hateful sectarian actions."
Karim's criticism of Papa Bear Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s president since 1981, "likening him to the dictatorial pharaohs who ruled ancient Egypt" is cited as yet another reason to jail him - as criticizing the President put "National Security at a higher risk".
Egypt, an Enemy of the Internet is a long way away from individual freedom. A country where the supreme religious leader, the Grand Mufti is in favour of reconstructive hymen surgery for women who lost their virginity before marriage cannot be expected to be a beacon for secular progressive forces; and its not.
The fate of Abdel-Karim Nabil Suleiman does not bother me, if it bothers you, you might find something here. What bothers me is the fact that Egypt is arguably the cradle of human civilization, man and his intelligence has constantly worked wonders by the banks of the Nile.
If what Egypt implies is that individual freedom and human progress are not directly proportional to the age of civilization, then they should be products of certain choices the society makes as a whole. We need to find those choices; We need to make those choices; We cannot afford to be Egypt.
As for Egypt, USA's Man Friday in the region, you can wait by the Nile , looking upstream till Uncle Sam sends you a wooden basket down the river with Nile's gift of democracy. This will take some time of course and Egypt being obedient to US is not helping things at all. If you are obedient, you don't get the democracy gift - see Saudi, Kuwait, UAE, Jordan. All the prodigal disobedient kids got democracy - see Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan. The whole point is obedience.
Good Night and Good Luck !
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9 comments:
this is a lot of shit man...i particularly liked that woman, wafa sultan's replies to the cleric. islam seems to be going back and back into the middle ages...the hosni's, zia-ul-haq's, sheikh hasina's have all pandered to islamic hardliners to preserve their rule.
i personally forsee a world without religion in the future...but that will come about only when the forces of islam have been routed. i really wont blame the US on propping up all these nations coz they fear far greater fundementalist forces will usurp power if these kingdoms and dictators leave.
A human is entitled to Freedom.
Every religion is as ridiculous as others. Islam for sure is retrograde but same is the case with Christianity. Refer the link below.
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20070226/opledereligion66.art.htm
http://www.alternet.org/story/46908/
I can provide innumerable links like this. US is pillaging these places not because of the retrograde theocracy, but sheer greed for oil and these wars a sanctified in the name of bible. So what is the difference between the "western democracy" and Islamic theocracy? People have been getting persecuted all along history and let’s not forget America has the maximum number of criminals in their jails. And the funniest part is more than 50% of them are blacks and they are denied voting rights citing these charges, how better can it get? Petty crimes charged and then disenfranchising you.
Church through a concerted effort has made people believe that Islam is the greatest threat on earth; the church was foremost in this branding exercise. No wonder, we rarely hear the fanaticism happening in America!
Hope people have heard about a documentary called "Jesus camp".
What considerable difference can a "Jesus camp" have from an “al-Qaeda camp”?
Jiby, I'm not sure if we can pin point islamic societies as such. there are several countries like indonesia, malaysia, iran,india, bangladesh and to some extent pakistan as far as I know (which is almost 70% of the worlds islamic population) which have strong secular forces within them. these people struggle everyday against the fundamentalists. for an onlooker muslims and christians in india are oppressed, but how true is it on the ground - western media will never recognize our fabric. the same with islamic countries. It is the oppression by the western capital and as you named a few, these dictators (you aptly named Zia who made pakistan what it is today) which feeds these fundamentalists.bottomline is there is a lot of shit.
Alex, works with Hosni mubarak:)
clash, muslim vs christian vs jew debate is kinda outdated. there aren't any christian countries as such left in the west like there are muslim countries in the mid-east. if you are refferring to xian countries as such they would be in Africa or south america. As John paul pope had once pointed out, the church faces a desert of values in the west. so xian influence, though present in certain pockets is not a law of the land in the west. moreover, church has been subjected to its share of criticism by the forces of modernity and the church has tempered its way to a large extend.the same i believe is not applicable to islam. when the time comes, islam will be modernised :)
btw i've added "Jesus Camp" to my movie queue :) thanks
The funniest part is that, Judaism, Islam & Christianity, sharing the same origin have had the bloodiest of theological differences in history.
And the fundamental question is what role does religion play in the society? When I see the most educated and sophisticated ppl clinging to the tale of some ancient fictional books, the psychedelic effect these books still can create on the modern man sickens me.
Though I buy your point that the Church has been thru its share of criticsm, there is a startling portion of Christian mankind that is equally damaging as the Muslim radicals. They may not be exhibiting it thru physical violence, but the pshychological impact such sects can create can't be ignored. It teaches to lead close minded life, which refuses even to listen to any other point of view.
Islam has always gone thru and is still going thru its share of criticism. But the point here is that Islam is being criticised for the human rights violations it is excercising within its community. The violence that burst out and reaches others is mainly when they feel others are encroaching into the sacred realm of their faith.
In Christianity, they have a Gospelic obligation to preach their religion. And these attempts eventually lead to kiling of missionaries by Hindu fundamentalists and others.
And the Hindus associate India with their religion. Their Gods & Godesses being the guardian angels of their land. Those who consider Golwalkar's - We or Our Nationhood Defined as their Gospel can't seem to understand that anyone who is born here has a right to live thier life here, their own way.
Islam and the Shivsainiks are out in the sun. The evangelists are hypnotising us while we sleep. The first grp chops us off. The second makes us mentally retarded. They all are equally dangerous. I wish a third grp emerges and chops them all off.
Mobarak, and for that matter any future Egyptian president will prolly sh1t bricks if someone likens them to a Pharaoh. Note that when Sadat was assassinated the assassin Islambouli shouted "Death to the Pharaoh"..... It's prolly because of the old Moosa and Pharaon thingie.
There's another thing too.... the "Egyptians" we see today are not the Egyptians whose forefathers built that ancient glorious civilization.... most of them were killed first by the Church leaving the rest Coptic Christians. These were in turn nearly liquidated by the Islamic invasion led by Amr bin Al'Aas in early 7th cent. Only 15% of todays Egyptians are Coptic and hence could lay claim to the old Egypt. The rest are Arab.... and that's why Egypt is considered part of the Arab world though it is in Africa.
The pride in the old civ is not shared generally by the Arab Egyptians.... it was resurrected, re-built and sustained by western archaeologists (starting from Napoleon's invasion. Till then the old monuments/records/art were repeatedly defaced/destroyed by the militant Arabs (The famous "Dilemma of the Librarian" story stems from this.)
The present ruling elites of Egypt sustain themselves by American aid and mollycoddling the Islamists home to a "bearable" extent. Banning a blogger or even mummifying him alive's not gonna cause a lot of heartburn in the West or in the Egyptian elite... and if that can placate a few bearded dingbats, why the hell not? Hey, nothin' personal, eh? The show must go on.....
hahaha. obedience n democracy. that was some great sarcasm. hey you are living in big brother's own land. be careful, u might be sent to a secret jail :p u might continue blogging from there hehehe
First time here, Nice blog you have!
very good and thought provoking post!
Shall visit more often!!
Anon, there are third,fourth, fifth groups n all. All the same :)
Pappan, Welcome back !!!
Anish, No USA wont do that, they are the home of the brave and land of the free :)
Contented, welcome n thanks :)
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