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Islamism: A Manifesto

oldreliable67

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Several prominent writers and journalists have written a manifesto calling for resistance to what they term "a new totalitarian global threat: Islamism...

Together facing the new totalitarianism

After having overcome fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism, the world now faces a new totalitarian global threat: Islamism.

We, writers, journalists, intellectuals, call for resistance to religious totalitarianism and for the promotion of freedom, equal opportunity and secular values for all.

The recent events, which occurred after the publication of drawings of Muhammed in European newspapers, have revealed the necessity of the struggle for these universal values. This struggle will not be won by arms, but in the ideological field. It is not a clash of civilisations nor an antagonism of West and East that we are witnessing, but a global struggle that confronts democrats and theocrats.

Like all totalitarianisms, Islamism is nurtured by fears and frustrations. The hate preachers bet on these feelings in order to form battalions destined to impose a liberticidal and unegalitarian world. But we clearly and firmly state: nothing, not even despair, justifies the choice of obscurantism, totalitarianism and hatred. Islamism is a reactionary ideology which kills equality, freedom and secularism wherever it is present. Its success can only lead to a world of domination: man’s domination of woman, the Islamists’ domination of all the others. To counter this, we must assure universal rights to oppressed or discriminated people.

We reject « cultural relativism », which consists in accepting that men and women of Muslim culture should be deprived of the right to equality, freedom and secular values in the name of respect for cultures and traditions. We refuse to renounce our critical spirit out of fear of being accused of "Islamophobia", an unfortunate concept which confuses criticism of Islam as a religion with stigmatisation of its believers.

We plead for the universality of freedom of expression, so that a critical spirit may be exercised on all continents, against all abuses and all dogmas.

We appeal to democrats and free spirits of all countries that our century should be one of Enlightenment, not of obscurantism.

12 signatures

Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Chahla Chafiq
Caroline Fourest
Bernard-Henri Lévy
Irshad Manji
Mehdi Mozaffari
Maryam Namazie
Taslima Nasreen
Salman Rushdie
Antoine Sfeir
Philippe Val
Ibn Warraq

Source.

You can refer to the link for the credentials of each of the signatories.

The reactions of others in the form of comments to various blogs are also linked there, some of which are quite interesting...

One blog poster's reaction to the Manifesto: "I think we’ll be seeing people die in the coming days. You know, from "reactions"…."

On the other hand, another comment was deragotory: "What a bunch of overblown, self-important, pretentious, indulgent rubbish. The people protesting those ridiculous, offensive cartoons aren’t all Islamists, folks — they’re mainly ordinary Muslims who were freaking pissed off that Jyllands Posten published the cartoons."

What do you think???
 
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oldreliable67 said:
On the other hand, another comment was deragotory: "What a bunch of overblown, self-important, pretentious, indulgent rubbish. The people protesting those ridiculous, offensive cartoons aren’t all Islamists, folks — they’re mainly ordinary Muslims who were freaking pissed off that Jyllands Posten published the cartoons."

Whoever wrote that comment is very misinformed. If that were true, we could expect to see Christians and Jews "protest" in such a manner every time their religious sensibilities were offended. But we don't.
 
oldreliable67 said:
Several prominent writers and journalists have written a manifesto calling for resistance to what they term "a new totalitarian global threat: Islamism...


Suffice it to say that if you replaced all the references (in this and in general) to Islam with Christianity, there'd be a LOT more people calling for 'resistance'.
 
Bernard-Henri Lévy

IIRC, I just read about this fella this morning re the resistance in Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion. IIRc, he was involved with a radio Free Kabul or some such. I've been reading about the first five years of Soviet occupation, a book by Amstutz.
 
Goobieman said:
Suffice it to say that if you replaced all the references (in this and in general) to Islam with Christianity, there'd be a LOT more people calling for 'resistance'.

Have to confess that I don't quite understand your point...would you elaborate a bit on exactly what you're getting at????
 
oldreliable67 said:
Have to confess that I don't quite understand your point...would you elaborate a bit on exactly what you're getting at????

Certain people are willing to overlook Muslim exremism, in the name of "tolerance".

These same people are quick to condemn 'acts of Christian extremism' that pale in comparison to the acts committed by the Muslms.

Imagine, the reaction to the Pope calling for a holy war against (x).
 
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Goobieman said:
Suffice it to say that if you replaced all the references (in this and in general) to Islam with Christianity, there'd be a LOT more people calling for 'resistance'.
If you'll note, it's discussing Islamism, not Islam. Islam is the religion. Islamism is the (quasi)political movement. Huge difference.

I'm not sure what the exact analogues are for the other main Abrahamanic religions are.
 
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Simon W. Moon said:
Bernard-Henri Lévy

IIRC, I just read about this fella this morning re the resistance in Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion. IIRc, he was involved with a radio Free Kabul or some such. I've been reading about the first five years of Soviet occupation, a book by Amstutz.

BHL is a really interesting guy. His book on Daniel Pearl (Who Killed Daniel Pearl?) was quite thought provoking, though it fell short of really proving his main conjecture - that Pearl was killed mainly because of his knowledge of the connections between the Pakistani secret service, al Qaeda and Pakistani nuclear scientists.
 
Simon W. Moon said:
Iff you'll note, it's discussing Islamism, not Islam. Islam is the religion. Islamism is the (quasi)political movement. Huge difference.

I'm not sure what the exact analogues are for the other main Abrahamanic religions are.

Whatever.

Change the my post to read Islamism and Christianism.

The point remains the same.
 
Goobieman said:
Whatever.

Change the my post to read Islamism and Christianism.

The point remains the same.
What's Christianism?
 
Goobieman said:
Certain people are willing to overlook Muslim exremism, in the name of "tolerance".

These same people are quick to condemn 'acts of Christian extremism' that pale in comparison to the acts committed by the Muslms.

Imagine, the reaction to the Pope calling for a holy war against (x).

Ah, got it! Thanks for the added; sorry to be so obtuse.
 
Simon W. Moon said:
What's Christianism?

It's a made-up word, just like Islamism.

Whatever meaning you assign to Islamism, apply it to Christianity rather than Islam.
 
Goobieman said:
It's a made-up word, just like Islamism.

Whatever meaning you assign to Islamism, apply it to Christianity rather than Islam.
So, hypothetically, if something were called Christianism, it would have more people opposed to it than Islamism, arguably the focus of the US's GWoT, does now?

And this explains why Christian Reconstructionism is not only a focus of US fopreign policy, but a target of governements worldwide just like Islamism, only more so?

I call bullshit.
 
Simon W. Moon said:
So, hypothetically, if something were called Christianism, it would have more people opposed to it than Islamism, arguably the focus of the US's GWoT, does now?

And this explains why Christian Reconstructionism is not only a focus of US fopreign policy, but a target of governements worldwide just like Islamism, only more so?

I call bullshit.

Call bullshit all you want. Doesn't mean much to me.

Fact of the matter is, there ARE people that give actions driven by Islamic extremisn a pass while at the same time jump all over far less severe actions taken by far less extreme Christians.
 
Goobieman said:
Call bullshit all you want. Doesn't mean much to me.

Fact of the matter is, there ARE people that give actions driven by Islamic extremisn a pass while at the same time jump all over far less severe actions taken by far less extreme Christians.

You're absolutely right. Not the least of which is the American media, which won't publish newsworthy cartoons out of "respect for Islam" (read: fear), while they have no problem publishing anti-Christian cartoons all the time.

To some people, it's always the fault of the stronger party no matter what the circumstances. In the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, they reflexively blame Israel because it's stronger. In tensions between the US/EU, they reflexively blame the US because it's stronger. In tensions between the Western world and the Islamic world, all problems must be the fault of the West because it's stronger, etc.
 
I think part of the problem is that people think of islam as being almost synonomous with the middle east. The middle east is a very turbulent region, with high levels of poverty, and a lot of government corruption. area's like that are going to have a lot of violence, and religion is an easy excuse for it.

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISLAM

Commonly cited estimates of the Muslim population today range between 900 million and 1.4 billion people (cf. Adherents.com); estimates of Islam by country based on U.S. State Department figures yield a total of 1.48 billion, while the Muslim delegation at the United Nations quoted 1.2 billion as the global Muslim population in September 2005.

Only 18% of Muslims live in the Arab world; 20% are found in Sub-Saharan Africa, about 30% in the South Asian region of Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, and the world's largest single Muslim community (within the bounds of one nation) is in Indonesia. There are also significant Muslim populations in China, Europe, Central Asia, and Russia.

as someone else pointed out somewhere, if the violent extremist muslims made up even 1% of the worlds muslims, we'd be in deep trouble already.
 
Goobieman said,

“Fact of the matter is, there ARE people that give actions driven by Islamic extremisn a pass while at the same time jump all over far less severe actions taken by far less extreme Christians.”

That is so true. You know there are those in America who just bash Christians unmercifially, and they are quick to give Islam a free pass.

I bet they have read neither the Bible or the Koran.

Was not Muhammed himself a warrior? Yes. Does his life and his battles sound peaceful? No Does the Koran not endorse the militant conversion of people? Yes, the very concepts of Islam require submission to the will of Allah but also demands that adherents do anything within their power to bring ALL other people into submission to Islam. What is the ultimate goal of Islam, the one taught by Muhammed? Worldwide domination. I quote Muhammed, “If you find an infidel who will submit and pay alms to Allah, let him go in peace. If not, KILL him.” Muhammed also stated that “If you find Christians and Jews and you feel compassion towards them, remember Allah sees you and he will hold you accountable for such thoughts.”

Look at what Muslim nations have vowed. That they will never rest until they have conquered Israel. What is the saying they so commonly use? "We won’t rest until we have driven every Jew into the sea." Well according to Muhammed the end of the world will not come until the Muslims kill all the Jews in one great battle.

They say Christianity is so inclusive......Where did Jesus ever say, force anyone to believe Me.....go out and kill those who reject me? Where did he says this? If man has done this, killed people into submission of the faith, it was because of sin, not because that is what Jesus said to do. You have free will. But it doesn’t change the facts of what the Koran actually says. Take the salvation issue…..

Muslims believe salvation comes only through Allah, Christians believe it comes through Jesus. Only those who obey Allah and Mohammed his prophet can enter into Heaven:

"If anyone desires a religion other than Islam (Submission to Allah), Never will it be accepted of him; and in the Hereafter he will be in the ranks of those who have lost ." (Koran 3:85; cp. 5:10; 25:68)
Funny how the media and those who just hate Christians, portray Christianity as being unfair….about who gets into heaven….then they turn around and say how peaceful and fair Islam is.

According to Freedom House, which tracks persecution worldwide, about 160,000 Christians are killed every year for their faith. (Michael Harmon, “Persecution of Christians Is Growing-in Sweden and Canada,” Press Herald, 30 July 2004.) Why do we never hear about this?
 
doughgirl said:
According to Freedom House, which tracks persecution worldwide, about 160,000 Christians are killed every year for their faith.

Really? Wow I had no idea it was that many.

doughgirl said:
Why do we never hear about this?

That's a very good question. The American press spent more time covering the disappearance of some drunken white girl in Aruba than it did on the full-scale genocide of Christians in Darfur.
 
"The American press spent more time covering the disappearance of some drunken white girl in Aruba than it did on the full-scale genocide of Christians in Darfur."

Well I wouldnt put it quite that way....no one knows if she was drunk, and even if she was, she did not deserve to be killed.


Nevertheless the press does not cover crimes against Christians, especially those who are doing missionary work abroad.

There is a war against Christianity all over the world.
 
Winston S. Churchill III maintains that Islamic fundamentalism is as destructive as the malevolent "isms" of the 20th century: Nazism, Communism and Facism. In a speech on Feb. 10 at the John Locke Foundation's anniversary dinner, the grandson of Winston Churchill urged the West to stay the course in the fight against extremist Islam.

Churchill is, of course, well-known for his gift of prescience and, specifically, for being the first to warn of the menace of Hitler and Nazism as early as 1932, and of the Soviet threat in his famous Iron Curtain speech in 1946 in Fulton, Mo. But how many know that he also warned the world of the dangers of Islamic fundamentalism?

In a speech to the House of Commons on June 14, 1921 (!!!), Churchill said:

"A large number of [Saudi Arabia’s King] Bin Saud’s followers belong to the Wahabi sect, a form of Mohammedanism which bears, roughly speaking, the same relationship to orthodox Islam as the most militant form of Calvinism would have borne to Rome in the fiercest times of [Europe’s] religious wars.

The Wahabis profess a life of exceeding austerity, and what they practice themselves they rigorously enforce on others. They hold it as an article of duty, as well as of faith, to kill all who do not share their opinions and to make slaves of their wives and children. Women have been put to death in Wahabi villages for simply appearing in the streets.

It is a penal offence to wear a silk garment. Men have been killed for smoking a cigarette and, as for the crime of alcohol, the most energetic supporter of the temperance cause in this country falls far behind them. Austere, intolerant, well-armed, and blood-thirsty, in their own regions the Wahabis are a distinct factor which must be taken into account, and they have been, and still are, very dangerous to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina…"


In his address, Churchill III went on to say...

"In Churchill’s day, of course, the viciousness and cruelty of the Wahabis was confined to the Saudi Arabia peninsula, and their atrocities were directed exclusively against their fellow Muslims, whom they held to be heretics for not adhering to the Wahabi creed — but not anymore.

Today the combination of the oil wealth of Saudi Arabia and the supine weakness of the Saudi royal family which — as the price for not having their own behavior subjected to scrutiny and public criticism by these austere, extremist clerics — has bank-rolled the Wahabi fundamentalist movement, and given these fanatical zealots a global reach to their vicious creed of hatred and extremism.

The consequence has been that the Wahabis have been able to export their exceptionally intolerant brand of Islamic fundamentalism from Mauritania and Morocco on Africa’s Atlantic shores, through more than two dozen countries including Bosnia, Chechnya, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Middle East, to as far afield as the Philippines and East Timor in the Pacific. This is the stark challenge that today confronts the Western world and I fear it will be with us, not just for a matter of years, but perhaps even for generations."


Source.

My reason for posting this is the historical perspective that gives to the current situation. We need to realize that the challenge facing us is not of recent origin; indeed, it has been a long time in the making. These are deep-rooted beliefs, intolerant beliefs, with the goal of nothing more and nothing less of re-establishing the Muslim Caliphate.

Iraq is only the centerpiece. The war is truly global.
 
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