CanWest:

A House of Commons committee has recommended making it a crime to “glorify” terrorism, a proposal critics fear would erode freedom of speech and alienate Muslims.

*
(h/t DMB)

This is the only link you’ll be getting from me today – The 2007 Irving Kristol Lecture, by Bernard Lewis.

Again, Europe counterattacked, this time more successfully and more rapidly. They succeeded in recovering Russia and the Balkan Peninsula, and in advancing further into the Islamic lands, chasing their former rulers whence they had come. For this phase of European counterattack, a new term was invented: imperialism. When the peoples of Asia and Africa invaded Europe, this was not imperialism. When Europe attacked Asia and Africa, it was.
This European counterattack began a new phase which brought the European attack into the very heart of the Middle East. In our own time, we have seen the end of the resulting domination.
Osama bin Laden, in some very interesting proclamations and declarations, has this to say about the war in Afghanistan which, you will remember, led to the defeat and retreat of the Red Army and the collapse of the Soviet Union. We tend to see that as a Western victory, more specifically an American victory, in the Cold War against the Soviets. For Osama bin Laden, it was nothing of the kind. It is a Muslim victory in a jihad. If one looks at what happened in Afghanistan and what followed, this is, I think one must say, a not implausible interpretation.
As Osama bin Laden saw it, Islam had reached the ultimate humiliation in this long struggle after World War I, when the last of the great Muslim empires–the Ottoman Empire–was broken up and most of its territories divided between the victorious allies; when the caliphate was suppressed and abolished, and the last caliph driven into exile. This seemed to be the lowest point in Muslim history. From there they went upwards.
In his perception, the millennial struggle between the true believers and the unbelievers had gone through successive phases, in which the latter were led by the various imperial European powers that had succeeded the Romans in the leadership of the world of the infidels–the Christian Byzantine Empire, the Holy Roman Empire, the British and French and Russian empires. In this final phase, he says, the world of the infidels was divided and disputed between two rival superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. In his perception, the Muslims have met, defeated, and destroyed the more dangerous and the more deadly of the two infidel superpowers. Dealing with the soft, pampered and effeminate Americans would be an easy matter.

I chose that exerpt, but it is by no means the most important passage.
Now, a personal note to a particular segment of the readership here:
My logfiles inform me that a large number of media and those involved formally in Canadian politics visit this site. I am fully aware that some of you have perceptions of SDA best described as “sneering dismissiveness”.
I don’t really care about that.
What I do care about is that you read the link from beginning to end.
And that in the future, as you are preparing to direct that well practiced sneer and cleverly worded dismissiveness towards those policy makers with whom you have ideological differences – policy makers, who in many cases, have long understood the grave challenges facing the “secular values” that you so loudly purport to defend – that you first think long, and think hard, about just whose interests you are preparing to undermine.

Here is another more recent example of multiculturalism. On October 8, 2002–I insist on giving the date because you may want to look it up–the then French prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, who I am told is a staunch Roman Catholic, was making a speech in the French National Assembly and talking about the situation in Iraq. Speaking of Saddam Hussein, he remarked that one of Saddam Hussein’s heroes was his compatriot Saladin, who came from the same Iraqi town of Tikrit. In case the members of the Assembly were not aware of Saladin’s identity, M. Raffarin explained to them that it was he who was able “to defeat the Crusaders and liberate Jerusalem.” Yes. When a French prime minister describes Saladin’s capture of Jerusalem from the largely French Crusaders as an act of liberation, this would seem to indicate a rather extreme case of realignment of loyalties.
I was told this, and I didn’t believe it. So I checked it in the parliamentary record. When M. Raffarin used the word “liberate,” a member–the name was not given–called out, “Libérer?” He just went straight on. That was the only interruption, and as far as I was aware there was no comment afterwards.

I’ll be back tomorrow.

h/t reader “Daniel”.

In response to Iranian anger over the depiction of Persians in the movie version of the battle of Thermopylae, Jules Crittenden floats alternate plot scenerios to help “extoll the virtues of Iranian culture and its achievements.”

“Chadorezade” … a clever Persian girl figures out how to beguile a blood-thirsty misogynist Persian mullah who likes to bed virgins and execute them.

In the same spirit of cultural generosity, my own movie title suggestions:
“Brokeback Fatwa”
“Ahmednegeddon”
“Throw Israel From The Train”
“Indiana Jones & IN THE NAME OF ALLAH WE SHALL AVENGE THE LAST CRUSADE. Peace be upon you.”
Comments are open for your own creative efforts.
Related – Aparently, not all Persian cultural customs are equally embraced.
Update John Hawkins’ commentors at Right Wing News are now in on the fun.

“The Hitchhikers Guide To Smuggling Arms Into Iraq”

Update 2 – Honourable Mentions in the comments;

“Katushka-Rocket Man”
“Last Tango in Tehran”
“Dances with 72 Virgins”
“Honey, I Blew up the Kids”
“The Cursed Sound of Western Music”
“An Infidel Named Desire”
“Blazing Sandals”
“Full Metal Sucide Vest”
“4 beheadings and a funeral.”
“The Burka Monologues”
“Laser Guided Missile Fight at the Tehran Corral.”
“101 Damnations”
“The CAIR Bitch Project”
“Planet of the Apes and Pigs”
“Romancing the Stoning”

(From RWN, where the topic has so far generated over 425 comments)

“Citizen Caned”
“Beheadin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo”
“Eyes Wired Shut”
“It’s a Wonderful Strife”
“One jew over the cookoo’s nest”
” Close Encounter Of The Kurd Kind”
“The Devil Wears Burqa”
“Fission:Impossible”
“Seventy Two Brides for Severed Brothers”
“Jewmanji”

And there’s lots more where that came from.

“I must tell my brothers and sisters that finding a cure (vaccination) for an epidemic before its outbreak is not allowed in Sharia…

An interesting post, with interesting comments.
(link fixed)

And hijabs on the pitch are out:

Soccer’s legislators have ruled that no player can wear a head scarf on the field.
The International Football Association Board was asked at its annual meeting Saturday to adjudicate on a decision to ban an 11-year-old Ottawa Muslim girl from playing in a tournament near Montreal last weekend because she was wearing a head scarf.
“If you play football there’s a set of laws and rules, and law four outlines the basic equipment,” said Brian Barwick, chief executive of the English Football Association, which is one of the IFAB members.
“It’s absolutely right to be sensitive to people’s thoughts and philosophies, but equally there has to be a set of laws that are adhered to, and we favour law four being adhered to.”
Law four lists the items a player is entitled to wear and head scarves are not mentioned.

Hissy fits may now resume in earnest.

Of Islam.

It’s no longer the Scotland of his youth;

This week beginning of February 2007 I am finally able to sell up, I will be out of here by May. I have learned a lot, I have lived with the Muslims, I have learned that they have no desire to integrate into European culture or the European value system, I have learned that they have no interest in UK culture or anything else, they have Islam. Islam consumes them, it owns them, and it is them. That is what they are they are Muslim, a Muslim is loyal to Islam, Islam is a theocratic ideology, its goal is the spread of Allah’s will, this task is the task of all Muslims. Muslims engage with us the “Kuffar” Not because they want to, but because they have to, if they did not have to they wouldn’t.
I have met kind and courteous Muslims, I believe there are many types of people in this world, but Islam cancels this out, it homogenises whole nations, it takes away individual reason and liberty, I see this first hand in the eyes of uneducated Pakistani women who have been brought to Glasgow from the far off mountains of Kashmir. I also see it in the eyes of second and third generation Muslims, who just don’t like the West, they live in a world which is ultimately incompatible with European values, they seek solace in a religion which blew out of the desert 1400 yrs ago, they seek solace in Mosques paid for with Wahabist oil dollars, the Muslims are at war with themselves, they want the lifestyle of the West, but they just don’t like us! And I have decided that I can’t like Islam, like many like-minded people I see it as an unmitigated threat to the values Europe should hold dear.
Now that Tony Blair is about to vacate office, people ask him what he believes his legacy will be. It will not be Iraq, it will be the beginning of a process of the Islamisation of the UK, Balkan Britain is upon us, I have seen it first hand, I have lived a small version of it, and when Britain finally appears out of its economic boom, and there is pressure on jobs, and services, the real effects of Multicultural polarisation will appear. Shattered unconnected communities in competition with each other but with no common value system or identity, unable to join together to achieve a common goal.

Melbourne Herald Sun; A SUSPECTED Islamic militant shot dead a female provincial minister at a political meeting in central Pakistan today because she was not wearing Muslim clothing, officials said.

Pakistani Times;

The 36-year old Zilla Huma Usman, the wife of Dr. Muhammad Usman Haider, was born on September 16, 1971.
She obtained the degree of LL.B. in 1997 and M.A. (Political Science) in 1998 from University of the Punjab, Lahore.
She was elected as Member Provincial Assembly of Punjab in General Elections 2002 against reserved women seat.
She worked as Parliamentary Secretary for Planning and Development from August 5, 2003 to November 30, 2006. She was working as Minister for Social Welfare since December 1, 2006.

This is hilarious;

AND KILL THAT TV PROGRAM ALL MY CHILDREN BECAUSE I HATE ALL THE CHARACTERS BECAUSE NONE OF THEM ARE MUSLIMS, AND KILL ALL THE BLACKS BECAUSE I DON’T REALLY UNDERSTAND THEIR MUSIC, AND KILL ALL THE CHINESE BECAUSE I JUST HEARD THAT THEY ARE BUDDHISTS, AND I DON’T KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS, BUT THEY’RE NOT MUSLIMS, SO KILL THEM, AND KILL ALL THE HINDUS, BECAUSE THEIR FOOD TASTES WAY BETTER THAN IRANIAN FOOD AND ITS HUMILIATING, AND KILL THAT GREASY LITTLE DWEEB NASRALLAH, BECAUSE WE GAVE HIM ALL THAT MONEY AND HE LOST 1/3 OF HIS HEZBLLAH ARMY IN 3 WEEKS JUST SHOOTING FIRECRACKERS AT ISRAEL, AND HE CAN’T EVEN START A CIVIL WAR IN LEBANON, AND MY GRANDMOTHER COULD START A CIVIL WAR IN LEBANON…

That’s just part of it. At the moment, the only thing standing between commentor “DemocracyRules” and eternal internet fame is a broken caps lock.

Jules Crittenden;

Now, the audience is Europe’s Muslims, hence the plan to abduct and
behead British Muslims. Europe has been teetering on the brink of open ethnic warfare for some time, with brief outbursts in France. The al-Qaeda leadership isolated in their Waziri caves and dodging Hellfire missiles in Anbar apparently have just figured out that they can influence this situation. They’ve also figured out this blowing up planes thing isn’t working out for them.

The principal of an Islamic school has admitted that it uses textbooks which describe Jews as “apes” and Christians as “pigs” and has refused to withdraw them.
Dr Sumaya Alyusuf confirmed that the offending books exist after former teacher Colin Cook, 57, alleged that children as young as five are taught from racist materials at the King Fahd Academy in Acton.
In an interview on BBC2’s Newsnight, Dr Alyusuf was asked by Jeremy Paxman whether she recognised the books.
She said: “Yes, I do recognise these books, of course. We have these books in our school. These books have good chapters that can be used by the teachers. It depends on the objectives the teacher wants to achieve.”

An internal memo to University of Toronto staff, regarding Israeli Apartheid Week:

To: Principals, Deans, Academic Directors & Chairs
From: Vivek Goel, Vice-President & Provost
Date: February 6, 2007
Re: Upcoming Controversial Events On Campus
As been our custom over the last few years, I am writing to alert you to the fact that over the coming weeks and months, there are likely to be a number of student group events and activities which some members of the University community may find controversial.
The essential purpose of the University is to engage in the pursuit of truth, the advancement of learning and the dissemination of knowledge. To achieve this end, all members of the University of Toronto are afforded full freedom of speech and expression, and freedom of assembly. That means members may comment on any issue or idea, and also have the right to criticize the University and society at large.
Discourse and debate have long been recognized as means by which significant contributions have been made to social and political change and the advancement of human rights. To enable the free exchange of ideas and views, the university’s core values include tolerance, mutual respect and civility. More specifically, the University believes that all members of its community have the right to study, teach, work, live and debate in an environment that is inclusive, free of discrimination and harassment on the basis of individual attributes such as religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity.
As a corollary, the University deplores any abuse of the rights of freedom of speech and assembly that shuts down the voices of others or intimidates identifiable individuals and groups. The administration acknowledges that some forms of expression fall short of the legal limits on hate speech, but nonetheless are harmful to identifiable members of our community. The University recognizes that harmful speech is a destructive force on our campuses and, though not prohibited by law, is repugnant to the administration.
In its efforts to deal with harmful speech, the administration will reach out to those individuals and/or communities who are affected by harmful speech or who as a result, collectively, fear for their safety. Those who engage in harmful speech will be warned about the damaging nature of their words and tactics, and urged to advance provocative opinions in a manner that stimulates the widest range of dialogue and debate in a spirit consistent with full freedom of expression in an academic setting.
Events with a high likelihood for harmful speech will be monitored closely for possible violations of University policies and agreements, and repeated violations may result in loss of access to services in the University community. Complaints about alleged violations of policy and law will be investigated promptly by the administration.
Our specific practices in this area have been documented in several previous memoranda to principals, deans, academic directors and chairs:
PDAD&C #79, 2005-06 – Freedom of Speech and Events Organized by Campus Organizations:
http://www.provost.utoronto.ca/English/79—Freedom-of-Speech-and-Events-Organized-by-Campus-Organizations.html
PDAD&C #46, 2004-05 – Freedom of Speech and Campus Activities:
http://www.provost.utoronto.ca/English/46—Freedom-of-Speech-and-Campus-Activities.html
PDAD&C #48, 2004-05 – Statement on Events Organized by the Arab Students’ Collective:
http://www.provost.utoronto.ca/English/PDADC48-Statement-on-events-organized-by-Arab-Students–Collective.html
The University’s attention to these matters is coordinated through the office of the Deputy Provost & Vice-Provost, Students. If you have any questions or concerns related to freedom of speech and campus activities, please contact Jim Delaney, Associate Director & Senior Policy Advisor, Student Affairs at 416-978-4027 or jim.delaney@utoronto.ca.
Please distribute this memorandum widely.

Do universities teach anymore?