In 2005 a series of cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad were published in the Danish newspaper the Jyllands-Posten. The imagery of the subsequent events are all burned into our collective memory: violent protestors took to the streets around the world chanting “Death to America” and “Behead those who insult Islam” among other threats of violence, whilst burning embassies and other institutions of Dal-al Harb along their way.
The majority of the world’s publications save for the Western Standard, engaged in self censorship and did not publish these cartoons. Some claimed that it was out of respect for Islam (though many had no qualms about publishing photos of Piss Christ), while others refused to publish it out of concerns for their own safety. An episode of South Park brilliantly skewered the hypocrisy of the situation; a few frames of the prophet Mohammed were censored by Comedy Central while a scene of Jesus Christ defecating was considered acceptable grounds for broadcast.
The fervour of this issue seemed to burn itself out over the next few years, with the brief exception of an incident in 2008 when a number of Danish newspapers reprinted the cartoons in solidarity to protest the threats to freedom. However in 2010 this issue seemed to ignite itself again with another episode of South Park and the subsequent event entitled “Draw Muhammad Day”. The SFU Skeptics club decided to host an iteration of this event on campus, which quickly devolved into a shouting match, which some Muslims on campus such as Nergiz Abi dubbed an exercise in hatred and racism.
Read the rest of this entry »
In the last week of March, the Residence and Housing Association (RHA) had their annual election, to little fanfare. The candidates for the association that bills itself as a “voice for Residence,” an advocate “for the interests of undergraduate student residents,” didn’t even bother to put up any campaign material in Residence, or “get their vote out” in any noticeable fashion.
One could question why the candidates would bother with the political motions, as none of the positions were contested, and not all the positions were filled — an accurate gauge of the level of resident’s disinterest in the association.
The defence that the RHA will take is that they are open to solving the problems of residence, provided that a student makes the effort to approach them with the problem. This modus operandi is inherently flawed, as anyone living within the confines of Residence, including the executive of the RHA, should be well aware of the plethora of problems that plague our domicile. Showers don’t work, bathrooms are mouldy, kitchens are in disarray, and critical building maintenance gets continually pushed back. Maintenance requests to fix these problems are largely ignored, and on the odd occasion they are filled in anything but a timely matter.
Read the rest of this entry »
Machete attacks aren’t a way to settle differences.
Take Back Your School is reporting on a particularly brutal attack by a band of Islamic thugs against Nick Bergamini, the VP-Student Issues at Carleton, and
his Israeli room mate.
From Take Back Your School:
Tonight I went out to the bars downtown. It was a great night with my roommate Mark Klibanov. Around 1:45am, as we were leaving the bar, and we heard the shout of “Zionist” in Arabic. As it stands now, we weren’t sure if the shouts were directed at myself, a known a supporer of Israel, or Mark, an actual Israeli.
Quickly, we both responded that yes we were Zionists. All of a sudden we were surrounded by 10-15 men who began to shout at us in Arabic. We tried to back out and run away. All of a sudden, I was struck in the back of the head. I’m not sure if it was a fist, a rock or a pipe but it left me dazed and bleeding.
We quickly ran back to the bar and stood beside the bouncers. The crowd of anti-Israel thugs dispersed.
*UPDATE* – The police were contacted. The Ottawa Citizen is working on a story, as are a few other mainstream media outlets. Thank you all for your links and support.
*UPDATE* – Nick Bergamini will be a phone-in guest on the Michael Coren Show tomorrow night! (6:00 PM ET, CTS)
The original article is here.
http://takebackyourschool.wordpress.com/2010/04/05/the-cost-of-supporting-israel/
I think immigration reform can argue for itself.
