Mike Ghouse, August 18, 2007
Indeed, as a Muslim, I have written a similar piece and have continued to write urging Muslims to speak out against injustice and the genocide.
I have made this appeal time and again for Muslims and every human on the earth to take time to understand this crisis; nearly half of a million people have been killed and more than 2 million innocent Citizens have been displaced and it is a shame if we sit in silence, and in another note, I wrote that to regain our lost moral grounds, we have to express that we stand for justice.
This disgusting act of apparent silence of Muslims has a additional shameful turn to it - it is the Muslims killing other Muslims and this is where we need to speak out most. We have to condemn this barbarism, first because as Muslims we have to speak out even if it is against our own family members. Justice is the most important element of world peace. If there is an organization doing something about it, please join them, one such group is www.Savedarfur.org
We have to speak out and speak up when there is injustice no matter where and to whom. That is the least we can do. I am glad the Jewish organizations have taken this up and we support them.
The Arab reluctance on the issue is wrong, even if they think Jews are taking advantage of this situation, they should have simply joined the voices of Justice on Darfur. May be this would have been an opportunity for Israel to ponder over its’ own apartheidic policies.
When it comes to majority of Muslims who are not Arabs, they have raised voices against Darfur genocide, they have spoken, but they are not given the voice in the media, that does not mean they have not.
By the way, Savedarfur organization that we support has not listed our organization, despite three follow ups and requests via emails and additional phone calls. I am sure there are plenty of Muslim Organizations who support these efforts out of conviction for Justice, but because either they are Muslim they are not listed to make it appear that there is no Muslim organization and feed the wrong information to the writers around the world. I do not understand if they have other reasons, I have copied the emails to some of my Jewish friends to let them know about this as well.
Mike Ghouse, President
World Muslim Congress
2665 Villa Creek Dr, Suite 206
Dallas, Texas 75234 - USA
www.WorldMuslimCongress.com
www.FoundationforPluralism.com
Down below, I have included a few comments from Jerusalem post for your review
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?apage=2&cid=1186557478093&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
14. Genuine Muslim Moderates
Mike Ghouse - USA
08/19/2007 17:58
There are millions of Muslims who speak out, but their voices are not heard, nor are published. If you bash the Imams, Saudi or Islam, you will get your foot in the door, but that is wrong. In the US Muslims have purged all hate sermons. The experts need to prove it that it is there. http://wisdomofreligion.blogspot.com/2007/06/hate-sermons-from-pulpit.html
15. Moderate Muslim
Mike Ghouse - USA
08/19/2007 19:57
Irwin You can count the number of extremists on CNN and FOX, they repeat the same guys day in and out. Join the Muslim discussion groups and find the truth yourselves, no doubt there are extremists but you'll find out that when some one rears its head more of the moderates are ready to pounce on those few. Y'll find we are developing good checks and balances http://wisdomofreligion.blogspot.com/2007/08/indian-muslims-visiting-israel.html Mike Ghouse
16. no genuine moderates?
Mike Ghouse - USA
08/19/2007 20:00
Ronda, I am surprised at the broad brushing Arabs, there are moderates and extremists every where. Just as the Israeli moderates do not speak up as much, so are the Arab Moderates. If Moderates quite pussy footing in Israel and Palestine, the peace is imminent.
Column in Jerusalem Post on Darfur". http://www.mideastyouth.com/2007/08/17/column-on-jerusalem-post-on-darfur/Author:
RandallJonesComment:
Mike Ghouse you wrote,"By the way, Savedarfur organization that we support has not listed our organization, despite three follow ups and requests via emails and additional phone calls."This is just one of many examples to show that the "Save Darfur" activists are doing this for political reasons rather out of concern for Black Africans. When there was a march held by the “Save Darfur” activists in Washington D.C. in 2006, they had not even invited anyone from Darfur to speak at the event. It was only after complaints were made that they decided to invite people from Darfur to speak. Also some Muslim organization were prevented fro speaking at the demonstration. Then the “Save Darfur” activists go around and complain that Muslims are not doing enough to speak out about the violence in Darfur. Why is attention only paid to the Sudanese refugees in Chad but not those in Egypt? Only when something negative happens, then attention is focused on Egypt. Let’s not forget that Egypt has also taken in Iraqi refugees, (although it is Syria and Jordan that has taken most of the burden of the Iraqi refugees).The people crying the biggest crocodile tears for the people in Darfur are the ones benefiting the most from the deaths of millions of Congolese.By the way, millions of Iraqis have died through two invasions and sanctions. All these deaths are due to U.S. animosity to former puppet/ally Saddam Hussein. Where is the sympathy for the millions of refugees flowing out of Iraq?Why can't George Clooney, Angelina Jolie, Mia Farrow, Steven Spielberg and other celebrities cry some crocodile tears for the Iraqis?The United States had helped Saddam Hussein into power and supported him, strategically and financially, when he was committing his worst atrocities. The Iraqis are scapegoats for U.S. foreign policy.See all comments on this post here:http://www.mideastyouth.com/2007/08/17/column-on-jerusalem-post-on-darfur/#comments
No Shortage of Zionist Moderates
Agree with you Fred, there is no shortage of Moderate Zionists, Neo-cons, Islamists or Hindutvadis. They are hanging out with the hard core ones, and can be easily detached, as they have a sense of seeing other point of view when they are not pressured by the hardcore extremists Zionists, Neocons and Islamists.
This Palestinian stands with Darfur
http://www.mideastyouth.com/2007/08/17/column-on-jerusalem-post-on-darfur/
Column in Jerusalem Post on Darfur
Ray Hanania (Palestine/USA)
August 17th, 2007
This Palestinian stands with Darfur
By Ray Hanania
Jerusalem Post August 15, 2007
One would hope that what is going on in Darfur would bring people together. Instead the tragedy has blurred moralities because it has cast ethnic black Africans as victims of Arab oppression.
Rather than subdue Sudan, the Arab League has stood by doing nothing, except to argue that bringing up the Arab aspect of the conflict is wrong. And why should the Arabs act when the United Nations - where Arab clout is practically non-existent - has done so little?
The UN is characteristically shackled by larger political forces which have stymied plans to create a truly international force over four years of worthless rhetoric.
Although Muslims around the world are quick to champion Muslim rights, even when they are “Muslim wrongs,” there is a cultural hesitancy over Darfur driven by racism; the victims, who are mostly Muslim, are “Abeds” - the Arabic word for “slave,” which, when used in this context, is equivalent to “nigger” in English.
Much of the movement to protect the persecuted black Africans in Darfur from the Sudanese government’s militia allies, including the notoriously brutal Janjaweed, is based in the West, where good causes make for great celebratory music festivals, fabulously huge fundraisers, and news media coverage for headline-addicted Hollywood types.
THE JANJAWEED were unleashed by Sudan’s government to repel a rebellion in Darfur, although the Sudanese claim they have no ties to or control over the Janjaweed. Yet the best that a spokesman for the government of Sudan can do is to blame it all on the Jews. During an interview with a Saudi newspaper, Sudan’s defense minister, Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein, accused “24 Jewish organizations” of “fueling the conflict in Darfur.”
Hussein brushed off what the rest of the world decries as genocide as the result of “friction between farmers and herders and shepherds.”
Sudan’s response sits well with many who would love to distract attention from the atrocities by claiming the negative publicity is being generated by a Jewish conspiracy. The logic goes that Jews are only too happy to help because Darfur refugees are not Palestinians but black Africans oppressed by Israel’s sworn enemies, the Arabs.
EVIDENCE CITED by Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein and other Sudanese officials is that often heading up the do-gooder campaigns such as Save Darfur are an array of Jewish American organizations. Actually, I counted nearly 50 US Jewish groups in the coalition.
Yet overlooked is the presence of many Arab American and Muslim American organizations, too, including the Arab American Institute, Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), Muslim American Society (MAS), American Islamic Congress (AIC), American Islamic Forum, and the American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA).
Not included, however, is the largest Arab grassroots organization, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC).
Many of the 78 Arab American newspapers have run stories that reflect Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein’s line of thinking.
SAVING DARFUR is not a cornerstone of Arab or Muslim American concerns, and I suspect that even the involvement of many of the Arab groups participating in the coalition is related to politics; knowing full well that if they are not part of the effort, the Jews might turn Darfur into one big bash-the-Arabs (and Palestinians) campaign.
But I ask: Is there anyone who just cares about the lives of innocent people? Can’t we just help people without blaming things on “the Jews,” or “the Arabs,” or “the Muslims?”
Sudan is no different than any other country in the world. The rich get richer, living off the enormous profits of the oil industry, while the poor get poorer, struggling to survive with dwindling food and water.
Why should the Arab-Israeli conflict play a role in the Sudan crisis? It may be true that US Jewish organizations are seizing an opportunity to cast the Arabs in a bad light. But on the other hand, why bother when Arabs are already portrayed so negatively in the Western news media?
Even if Jewish leaders may be enjoying the drubbing the Arab reputation is taking in Darfur, are the Sudanese government and Arabs in general saying the Jews started the fight there?
From a Palestinian standpoint, I know it is exactly troubles like these that harm our cause.
But we are undermining our cause if we insist that the world not pay attention to other crises as bad or far worse than our own.
The first people who should be standing up to tell the Sudanese government to stop oppressing innocent people and to disband the Janjaweed are the Arabs, Muslims, and especially the Palestinians.
The writer is an award-winning Palestinian American columnist, author and stand-up comedian. www.hanania.com
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