Francis Chartrand for Rivière-des-Mille-Îles

When the church bells ring in Saudi Arabia, the minarets will rise up in Europe.

TORONTO -

The Swiss have said no to mosques with minarets in a referendum that has just taken place. Nearly 58% of voters were against the minarets. In certain regions of the sequence, the proportion reached 70%! Leaders of the Muslim world have condemned the referendum as usual and have proposed a boycott of Swiss products. Are we going to stop eating cheese and Swiss chocolate or stop buying Swiss watches are renowned for their accuracy?

The referendum is indeed an important occasion for Muslims to seek to understand the deeper meaning of the Swiss rejected it as a warning to undertake major internal changes. Tariq Ramadan, a popular preacher who has recently visited Canada, spoke eloquently of the beauty of Islam, but he always forgets to mention the internal problems that beset the Muslim communities in the West, particularly in Europe: problems that slides under the carpet when addressing large audiences.

And therein lies the problem. Yes, Islam is a beautiful message for me and many Muslims. But it is not as good to many people and that is what we must learn to recognize and accept. The beauty of Islam must be demonstrated in our daily interactions with others, and not aggressively projecting our religion or we cover the face.

We have become people who plan aggressively "Muslimness" and we are the only religious group to use constant religious references with non-Muslims who have no idea what we mean. In so doing, we demonstrate a lack of vision and we continue to show intolerance towards "the other", while making unreasonable demands.

In Canada, they say that "he who sows the wind reaps the storm". Well in Europe, the tide is turning so quickly that if Muslims do not wake up, they will be swept into an abyss from which they are responsible.

The solution is simple.

It is difficult for Muslims to understand and accept that Islam is not the only faith that its message is not the only cause. Islam is the last, the youngest of the three Abrahamic monotheistic religions, yet Muslims are the most spoiled and those who behave the worst. Muslims can only advance if they do not seek out to other religious groups.

Muslims must also understand that criticism of their actions, their behavior is not Islamophobia (a term often used indiscriminately). Islamophobia is the "fear of Islam." Yes, the fear of Islam and Muslims and we do nothing to mitigate or eliminate this fear. Our impulse to defend Muslims, whatever they do is train to discredit us. We are not the guardians of our faith. Our only obligation is to learn to live in peace and harmony with all others, what we do very poorly. For example, it is rare that Muslims take time to discuss how treaties are non-Muslims in Islamic countries. If Muslims could practice their religion in the West and were treated as third class citizens, they would know better what discrimination and harassment mean really. We love to scream at "racism" at every opportunity, but they are silent when others are abused. Thus, in Switzerland, the minarets banned. Does this have any consequences for Islam? No. The first mosques had no minarets. They were added to many mosques after the death of the prophet, when Islam was becoming a political regime. But what is more important from a spiritual point of view is that the Creator does not live in domes or minarets, but in our hearts. Before starting to build minarets, first learn to build bridges with others.

Raheel Raza was one of three panelists for the public lecture organized by Point ROCKING October 2, 2008 in Montreal entitled Political Islam threatens our freedoms is also a member of the Muslim Canadian Congress (MCC), the only Muslim lobby Canadian which is not sponsored by foreign interests or by one or other of the countries of North Africa, Middle East, Persian Gulf countries or the Muslim world in general.

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Labels: Canada, Europe, Islam, Religion and fanaticism, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland

# posted by Francis Chartrand @ 8:12 PM 0 Comments

"At 9 years, I was abducted into slavery and given to an Arab family. My people have been subjected to mass murder, slavery, systematic rape, religious persecution, famine imposed, dislocation, exile. We are the victims of what Khartoum has called "a holy war against infidels." How long will the world let the infidels be slaughtered and enslaved in the name of jihad? How long will the world be silent to avoid offending the killers and defenders of slavery? "

Former slave Simon Deng South Sudan has managed to escape and reached the United States where he received political asylum. Human rights activist, he gives lectures around the world on the situation in Sudan, where black Christians and animists are victims of slavery and forced Islamization.

Today, Algeria had called on Arab countries to enter the Security Council of the United Nations to oppose the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir last week to answer charges of crimes against humanity.

In 2006, Simon Deng made a presentation at a symposium organized by an NGO on the victims of jihad.

Slavery is not the past ..., blog Ketibi, January 14, 2006

On April 18, 2006, while the Commission on Human Rights UN was preparing once again to reject a resolution condemning the actions to pressure Sudan on Islamic countries, three NGOs organized a symposium in conjunction with the Committee on the "victims of jihad".

In front of a room moved to tears, Simon Deng has told how he had been enslaved - because black and Christian - by the Arab Islamist regime in Khartoum:

My name is Simon Aban Deng. I am Sudanese shiluk of the tribe, by the Christian religion. My people have been subjected to mass murder, slavery, systematic rape, religious persecution, famine imposed, dislocation, exile. We are victims of genocide, physical and cultural. We were wiped out as human beings because belonging to a different culture. All that we have not stumbled upon by accident: we have been and remain victims of jihadist regime in Khartoum.

During the two genocides committed by the Islamists, our losses have been enormous. From 1955 to independence in 1973, 1.5 million Sudanese Christians have been eliminated by the pro-Arab government in Khartoum. From 1983 until the recent peace treaty, 2 million people in southern Sudan were killed in what the regime in Khartoum has called "a holy war against infidels". Yes, I am an infidel according to their definition. I think many of you are too. We, the blacks "infidels" of the South, Christians and other non-Muslims, we refused to obey Islamic laws, we refused to be Arabized.

I was kidnapped and given to an Arab family as a "gift"

For this reason, ladies and gentlemen, I have been a victim of Arab slavery in Sudan. At nine years, my village was raided by Arab troops paid by Khartoum. As I ran to take refuge in the bush to escape the massacre, I saw my childhood friends being shot down. The old and the sick were burnt alive in their hut. The Arab troops were eventually find me. I was kidnapped and given to an Arab family as a gift. When you look at me, ladies and gentlemen, you see a gift? Do I look like an object or product?

Now is the turn of Darfur.

I was a child slave for several years. I was beaten repeatedly for a yes or a no. Sometimes a whim of my children "master". I worked hard and I had to endure many humiliations. As a child I had loved in my family, I had to get used to sleeping with animals and clean the ground where I slept. I ate the leftovers in the plates of my "master". I got up first and went to bed last, after having completed all the chores. The life of a slave was like hell, but there is no shame in being a slave, it is not a choice. The one who should be ashamed is the one who proclaimed himself the "master". If anyone should feel shame, it is the fundamentalist Muslim regime in Khartoum and its allies in the Muslim world. It is important never to forget that the African Christians of southern Sudan are victims of Islamism. The war against us has been and continues to conduct in the name of jihad.

There are 2 or 3 million refugees from South Sudan. They are treated like dogs. They are not even considered citizens in Sudan because citizenship is based on religion and that only Muslims are entitled. The Africans 'infidels' of this nation are not considered full citizens, while nearly 90% of the population is black.

This is the great challenge of Jihadists in Khartoum: Sudanese and Arabs, they wanted to impose an Arab culture in a country largely populated by blacks. They have done their work very effectively with weapons supplied by their friends in the Arab world. When they committed their genocide against us in the South, the world simply looked away. When millions of black Africans were slaughtered and hundreds of thousands of Sudanese children were enslaved, the world was indifferent. Even the UN has turned its back. Now is the turn of Darfur. Some observ, but most are used to not watch ...

How long will the world let the infidels be slaughtered and enslaved in the name of jihad?

Ladies and gentlemen, I ask this as a victim of slavery in Sudan: How long murder, slavery, religious persecution, systematic rape, starvation imposed and "the ethnic and religious cleansing" going they continue? When those who have the power to act and stop these crimes will they do?

I ask for my fellow Christians and animists in southern Sudan. My voice is their voice. How long will the world let the infidels be slaughtered and enslaved in the name of jihad? How long will the world be silent to avoid offending the killers and defenders of slavery?

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Labels: Children, Darfur, Saudi Arabia, Sudan

# posted by Francis Chartrand @ 11:28 PM 0 Comments

The rapporteur of the UN on issues of racism promptly condemned the Danish cartoons two years ago. But he did not deign to respond to complaints of UN Watch, an NGO accredited to the UN, against hate textbooks of Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

UN Watch is a Geneva-based NGO and special consultative status by the Economic and Social Council. Its International Board of Directors includes Mr. Irwin Cotler, former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada.

UN Watch has submitted to Doudou Diene, UN Special Rapporteur on the issues of racism and intolerance, two detailed reports based on an examination of the contents of textbooks 119 Egyptian and 93 Saudi textbooks. UN Watch condemns the incitement of children to racial hatred in a systematic and sustained by the state, and asks Doudou Diène to take action. We have translated the letter from UN Watch in Diène. Read below, we propose an action to take.

The UN Watch reports were submitted in 2005. Doudou Diène has not responded to those governments whose official textbooks are promoting hatred. He had promptly criticized the Danish government for its lack of "commitment and vigilance in the fight against religious intolerance and incitement to religious hatred" because it was not fast enough to condemn a newspaper edited by a private company that published caricatures of Muhammad.

Reports submitted to Doudou Diène show that Saudi Arabia and Egypt focus the education of their youth on xenophobia, anti-Semitism, Christianophobia and hatred of the West. For example, these books refer several times to Jews and Christians as "cursed", the "infidels" and "unbelievers" and "enemies of Islam". The West is "a society in decomposition endangered", and Jews were "a wicked nation, characterized by corruption, malice, deceit, betrayal, aggressiveness, and pride."

In his letters from 2005 to Doudou Diène, UN Watch complains that "the language of textbooks is shocking indoctrination of young students" and that therefore "there is a strong likelihood that children educated in this culture will develop racist stereotypes and intolerance. "

Given the inaction of Doudou Diène, UN Watch suggests citizens to send a letter to Diène asking him to take action against the teaching of hatred and intolerance. The website offers a UN Watch letter online (in English. We offer a translation below). You can join this campaign. Just a few mouse clicks.

Take Action - Fight the teaching of prejudice

We show here a translation of the letter from UN Watch in Doudou Diène (which Diène has not deigned to answer), followed by a translation of the letter posted on the website of UN Watch that you can sign online.

UN Watch letter to Doudou Diène

Mr. Doudou Diene, Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance, OHCHR - Palais des Nations 8 - 14 avenue de la Paix 1211 Geneva 10

On 7 January 2005

Dear Mr. Diène

This letter is an allegation that the textbooks distributed by the governments of Egypt and of Saudi Arabia are promoting hatred of Jews and Christians, as detailed in the attached report.

The teachings of these manuals are acts by those two governments, of contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination and intolerance associated with it. As an NGO based in Geneva and in special consultative status by the Economic and Social Council, we submit this information under the A/C.3/59/L.7lY Resolution of the General Assembly dated 24 November 2004, which provides for cooperation with NGOs.

You ask, in accordance with this resolution, to respond effectively to this serious information about the teaching of racism in the Saudi Arabian and Egyptian schools, and keep track of visits to these countries to encourage national authorities to undertake the necessary investigations and corrective actions, including the replacement of the message of hatred of those books with a message of tolerance.

The two attached reports are published by the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace in collaboration with the American Jewish Committee. In War and Peace, Israel and the West in Egyptian school textbooks, the contents of 119 Egyptian textbooks was examined for references to issues of peace and "Other", namely Christians, Jews and the West. In the Egyptian school textbooks, the report shows that "malice, greed, treachery, exploitation of others, fomenting strife, deceit, racism, arrogance, hypocrisy, deception, and hostility - all are presented as characteristics of Jews ". Therefore, there is a strong likelihood that children educated in this culture will develop stereotypes racist and intolerant.

The second attached report, entitled The West, Christians and Jews in the textbooks of Saudi Arabia, examining 93 Saudi textbooks. In these texts, Christians and Jews are denounced as "infidels," the West is "a society in decomposition endangered", and Jews were "a wicked nation, characterized by corruption, malice, the lies, betrayal, aggressiveness, and pride. " This language is shocking indoctrination of young students with a blatant anti-Semitism.

Our youth of the world, including that of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Middle East, deserves an education for peace which preaches tolerance, reconciliation and respect for others. Unfortunately, the attached reports show that Saudi Arabia and Egypt rather focus the education of their youth on xenophobia, anti-Semitism, Christianophobia and hatred of the West.

In addition to the remedies requested above, we ask that you discuss this allegation and equipment attached, and any replies from the Egyptian or Saudi, in your reports to the General Assembly and the Commission Human Rights.

Hillel C. Neuer Executive Director United Nations Watch

Doudou Diène letter you can send online to the website of UN Watch

Mr. Doudou Diene Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance OHCHR - Palais des Nations 8 - 14 avenue de la Paix 1211 Geneva 10

Subject: Textbooks Semitic and anti-Christians in Egypt and Saudi Arabia

Your UN mandate requires you to speak out against racial and religious intolerance, and you have so often been commendable. To give a recent example, in November 2005, after UN Watch and 30 other organizations have sent you a complaint regarding the call by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad so that Israel be "wiped off the map", you are admirably delivered demanding that Iran is due. In January 2006, in your report (E/CN.4/2006/16), you have condemned the declaration of Iran as "a manifestation of anti-Semitism." I congratulate you and thank you for your views on this issue.

I am writing today to ask you to take action against another case of racism and intolerance: the anti-Semitism and an anti-state sponsored, in schoolbooks in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. For example, these books refer several times to Jews and Christians as "cursed", the "infidels" and "unbelievers", and "enemies of Islam". They teach students that "the Jews are a people of treachery and treason." And that "a malicious Crusader alliance of Jews and trying to eliminate Islam from all continents." Despite assurances of reform of school textbooks by the Saudis, the report by Freedom House in May 2006 entitled The curriculum of intolerance of Saudi Arabia reveals that the teaching of hatred continues.

The non-governmental organization UN Watch has sent letters of allegations regarding these textbooks, in January and May 2005. I urge you to respond to these letters without delay. Please raise these allegations with the Egyptian and Saudi governments, and request that they stop this curriculum to teach offensive and hateful.

In your last report (E/CN.4/2006/17), you criticized the Danish government for failing "engagement and vigilance in the fight against religious intolerance and incitement to religious hatred," because your opinion, it was not fast enough to condemn a newspaper published by a private company for the publication of caricatures of Muhammad. Surely governments whose official textbooks are, and for a long time, the blatant promotion of anti-Semitism and Christianophobia should merit your immediate attention and should earn a strong denunciation. Such a denunciation against the incitement of children to racial hatred in a systematic and sustained by the State should include a statement as you did for the Danish newspaper, for you and the UN Special Rapporteur for freedom of religion.

Sincerely,
Noémie Cournoyer

Labels: Egypt, Noémie Cournoyer, Religion and fanaticism, Saudi Arabia, UN

# posted by Francis Chartrand @ 11:53 PM 2 Comments

The 133-page report, "'As If I Am Not Human': Abuses against Asian Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia," concludes two years of research and is based on 142 interviews with domestic workers, senior government officials, and labor recruiters in Saudi Arabia and labor-sending countries.

"In the best cases, migrant women in Saudi Arabia enjoy good working conditions and kind employers, and in the worst they’re treated like virtual slaves. Most fall somewhere in between," said Nisha Varia, senior researcher in the Women’s Rights Division of Human Rights Watch. "The Saudi government should extend labor law protections to domestic workers and reform the visa sponsorship system so that women desperate to earn money for their families don’t have to gamble with their lives."

Saudi households employ an estimated 1.5 million domestic workers, primarily from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Nepal. Smaller numbers come from other countries in Africa and Asia. While no reliable statistics exist on the exact number of abuse cases, the Saudi Ministry of Social Affairs and the embassies of labor-sending countries shelter thousands of domestic workers with complaints against their employers or recruiters each year.

Excessive workload and unpaid wages, for periods ranging from a few months to 10 years, are among the most common complaints. The Kingdom’s Labor Law excludes domestic workers, denying them rights guaranteed to other workers, such as a weekly rest day and overtime pay. Many domestic workers must work 18 hours a day, seven days a week.

The restrictive kafala (sponsorship) system ties migrant workers’ visas to their employers, and means employers can deny workers the ability to change jobs or leave the country. Human Rights Watch interviewed dozens of women who said their employers forced them to work against their will for months or years. Employers often take away passports, and lock workers in the home, increasing their isolation and risk of psychological, physical, and sexual abuse. After interviews with 86 domestic workers, Human Rights Watch concluded that 36 faced abuses that amounted to forced labor, trafficking, or slavery-like conditions.

"The Saudi government has some good proposals for reform but it has spent years considering them without taking any action," Varia said. "It’s now time to make these changes, which include covering domestic workers under the 2005 Labor Law and changing the kafala system so that workers’ visas are no longer tied to their employers."

The Saudi Ministry of Social Affairs, in cooperation with the police operates a shelter in Riyadh to assist domestic workers to claim their wages and return home. However, in many cases shelter staff negotiated unfair wage settlements between employers and workers, often leaving workers empty-handed because they had to forego back pay in exchange for their employer’s permission to leave the country.

Poor investigations and criminal proceedings that often stretch for years mean that abusive employers are rarely punished through the criminal justice system. For example, after three years of proceedings, a Riyadh court dropped the charges against the employer of Nour Miyati, despite the employer’s confession, ample medical evidence, and intense public scrutiny. Nour Miyati, an Indonesian domestic worker, had her fingers and toes amputated as a result of being starved and beaten daily by her employers.

Human Rights Watch said that rather than seeing their abusers brought to justice, domestic workers are more likely to face counter-accusations of witchcraft, theft, or adultery. And in such cases, domestic workers often face severe delays in getting access to interpreters, legal aid, or consular assistance, or are denied help.

The punishments are severe. In a sample of cases studied by Human Rights Watch, punishments for "witchcraft" and "moral" crimes such as adultery and being in the presence of unrelated men included up to 10 years of imprisonment and between 60 and 490 lashes. Domestic workers who are pregnant as a result of rape also risk prosecution if they cannot meet strict evidentiary standards to prove the rape.

"Many of the women I talked to did not file complaints for fear of countercharges," Varia said. "In other cases, they dropped the charges against their abusers, even if they had a strong case, because otherwise they would be stuck in an overcrowded shelter for years, away from their families and unable to work, and with very little chance of ultimately getting justice."

In the absence of effective local redress mechanisms, the foreign missions of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Nepal often play a critical role in providing shelter, legal aid, and assistance to those who have wage claims or court cases. The demands placed on these embassies far outweigh their resources, and many domestic workers complain of long waiting periods with little information about their cases and, in the cases of Indonesia and Sri Lanka, overcrowded and unhygienic shelters.

Human Rights Watch called upon Saudi Arabia to investigate and punish abusive employers and to protect domestic workers from spurious countercharges. It also called upon Saudi Arabia to cooperate more effectively with labor-sending countries to monitor domestic workers’ employment conditions, facilitate rescues, ensure recovery of unpaid wages, create shelters for survivors of abuse with comprehensive support services, and arrange for timely repatriation. Both Saudi Arabia and governments in labor-sending countries should also establish mechanisms for rigorous and regular monitoring of labor agencies and recruitment practices.

More than 8 million migrants work in Saudi Arabia, comprising roughly one-third of its population. They fill critical gaps in the health, construction, and domestic service sectors, and also support their home economies, sending back US$15.6 billion in 2006, approximately 5 percent of Saudi Arabia’s gross domestic product.

Select accounts featured in the report:

“My employer didn’t allow me to go back to Indonesia for six years and eight months…. I never got any salary, not even one riyal ... My employer never got angry with me, she never hit me. But she forbade me from returning to Indonesia.”

– Siti Mujiati W., Indonesian domestic worker, Jeddah, December 11, 2006

“After awhile, the employer started showing some affection for me. He called me into his bedroom. He said, ‘I want to tell you how I got you from the agency.’ He said, ‘I bought you for 10,000 riyals.’…The employer raped me many times … I told everything to madam … The whole family, madam, the employer, they didn’t want me to go. They locked the doors and gates. [After escaping and waiting in the embassy for nine months for the trial to conclude,] I don’t want to go home feeling empty like the others…. One day, they told me the case was unsuccessful [and I will be sent to deportation to return home.]”

– Haima G., Filipina domestic worker, Riyadh, December 7, 2006

“For one year and five months, [I received] no salary at all. I asked for money and they would beat me, or cut me with a knife, or burn me. There are markings on my back. My body ached all over. They would take my head and bang it against the wall. Whenever I requested my salary, there would be a fight.”

– Ponnamma S., Sri Lankan domestic worker, Riyadh, December 14, 2006

Labels: Francis Chartrand, Human Rights Watch, Saudi Arabia

# posted by Francis Chartrand @ 12:04 PM 0 Comments