Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Terrorism is Not a Muslim Monopoly - Fact
"All Muslims may not be terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims." This comment , frequently heard after the Mumbai bomb blasts implies that terrorism is a Muslim specialty, if not a monopoly. The facts are very different.
First, there is nothing new about terrorism. In 1881, anarchists killed the Russian Tsar Alexander II and 21 bystanders. In 1901, anarchists killed US President McKinley as well as King Humbert I of Italy.
World War I started in 1914 when anarchists killed Archduke Ferdinand of Austria. These terrorist attacks were not Muslim. Terrorism is generally defined as the killing of civilians for political reasons.
Going by this definition, the British Raj referred to Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad and many other Indian freedom fighters as terrorists. These were Hindu and Sikh rather than Muslim.
Guerrilla fighters from Mao Zedong to Ho Chi Minh and Fidel Castro killed civilians during their revolutionary campaigns. They too were called terrorists until they triumphed.
Nothing Muslim about them. In Palestine, after World War II, Jewish groups (the Haganah, Irgun and Stern Gang) fought for the creation of a Jewish state, bombing hotels and installations and killing civilians.
The British, who then governed Palestine, rightly called these Jewish groups terrorists. Many of these terrorists later became leaders of independent Israel — Moshe Dayan, Yitzhak Rabin, Menachem Begin, Ariel Sharon.
Ironically, these former terrorists then lambasted terrorism, applying this label only to Arabs fighting for the very same nationhood that the Jews had fought for earlier.
In Germany in 1968-92, the Baader-Meinhoff Gang killed dozens, including the head of Treuhand, the German privatisation agency. In Italy, the Red Brigades kidnapped and killed Aldo Moro, former prime minister.
The Japanese Red Army was an Asian version of this. Japan was also the home of Aum Shinrikyo, a Buddhist cult that tried to kill thousands in the Tokyo metro system using nerve gas in 1995.
Source
First, there is nothing new about terrorism. In 1881, anarchists killed the Russian Tsar Alexander II and 21 bystanders. In 1901, anarchists killed US President McKinley as well as King Humbert I of Italy.
World War I started in 1914 when anarchists killed Archduke Ferdinand of Austria. These terrorist attacks were not Muslim. Terrorism is generally defined as the killing of civilians for political reasons.
Going by this definition, the British Raj referred to Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad and many other Indian freedom fighters as terrorists. These were Hindu and Sikh rather than Muslim.
Guerrilla fighters from Mao Zedong to Ho Chi Minh and Fidel Castro killed civilians during their revolutionary campaigns. They too were called terrorists until they triumphed.
Nothing Muslim about them. In Palestine, after World War II, Jewish groups (the Haganah, Irgun and Stern Gang) fought for the creation of a Jewish state, bombing hotels and installations and killing civilians.
The British, who then governed Palestine, rightly called these Jewish groups terrorists. Many of these terrorists later became leaders of independent Israel — Moshe Dayan, Yitzhak Rabin, Menachem Begin, Ariel Sharon.
Ironically, these former terrorists then lambasted terrorism, applying this label only to Arabs fighting for the very same nationhood that the Jews had fought for earlier.
In Germany in 1968-92, the Baader-Meinhoff Gang killed dozens, including the head of Treuhand, the German privatisation agency. In Italy, the Red Brigades kidnapped and killed Aldo Moro, former prime minister.
The Japanese Red Army was an Asian version of this. Japan was also the home of Aum Shinrikyo, a Buddhist cult that tried to kill thousands in the Tokyo metro system using nerve gas in 1995.
Source
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Who Rules America? An Investment Manager Breaks Down the Economic Top 1%, Says 0.1% Controls Political and Legislative Process
Article Sent in by G. William Domhoff, author of Who Rules America? [3]
This article was written by an investment manager who works with very wealthy clients. I knew him from decades ago, but he recently e-mailed me with some concerns he had about what was happening with the economy. What he had to say was informative enough that I asked if he might fashion what he had told me into a document for the Who Rules America Web site. He agreed to do so, but only on the condition that the document be anonymous, because he does not want to jeopardize his relationships with his clients or other investment professionals.
G. William Domhoff
I sit in an interesting chair in the financial services industry. Our clients largely fall into the top 1%, have a net worth of $5,000,000 or above, and if working make over $300,000 per year. My observations on the sources of their wealth and concerns come from my professional and social activities within this group.
Work by various economists and tax experts make it indisputable that the top 1% controls a widely disproportionate share of the income and wealth in the United States. When does one enter that top 1%? (I’ll use “k” for 1,000 and “M” for 1,000,000 as we usually do when communicating with clients or discussing money; thousands and millions take too much time to say.) Available data isn’t exact. but a family enters the top 1% or so today with somewhere around $300k to $400k in pre-tax income and over $1.2M in net worth. Compared to the average American family with a pre-tax income in the mid-$50k range and net worth around $120k, this probably seems like a lot of money. But, there are big differences within that top 1%, with the wealth distribution highly skewed towards the top 0.1%.
The Lower Half of the Top 1%
The 99th to 99.5th percentiles largely include physicians, attorneys, upper middle management, and small business people who have done well. Everyone’s tax situation is, of course, a little different. On earned income in this group, we can figure somewhere around 25% to 30% of total pre-tax income will go to Federal, State, and Social Security taxes, leaving them with around $250k to $300k post tax. This group makes extensive use of 401-k’s, SEP-IRA’s, Defined Benefit Plans, and other retirement vehicles, which defer taxes until distribution during retirement. Typical would be yearly contributions in the $50k to $100k range, leaving our elite working group with yearly cash flows of $175k to $250k after taxes, or about $15k to $20k per month.
Until recently, most studies just broke out the top 1% as a group. Data on net worth distributions within the top 1% indicate that one enters the top 0.5% with about $1.8M, the top 0.25% with $3.1M, the top 0.10% with $5.5M and the top 0.01% with $24.4M. Wealth distribution is highly skewed towards the top 0.01%, increasing the overall average for this group. The net worth for those in the lower half of the top 1% is usually achieved after decades of education, hard work, saving and investing as a professional or small business person. While an after-tax income of $175k to $250k and net worth in the $1.2M to $1.8M range may seem like a lot of money to most Americans, it doesn’t really buy freedom from financial worry or access to the true corridors of power and money. That doesn’t become frequent until we reach the top 0.1%.
I’ve had many discussions in the last few years with clients with “only” $5M or under in assets, those in the 99th to 99.9th percentiles, as to whether they have enough money to retire or stay retired. That may sound strange to the 99% not in this group but generally accepted “safe” retirement distribution rates for a 30 year period are in the 3-5% range with 4% as the current industry standard. Assuming that the lower end of the top 1% has, say, $1.2M in investment assets, their retirement income will be about $50k per year plus maybe $30k-$40k from Social Security, so let’s say $90k per year pre-tax and $75-$80k post-tax if they wish to plan for 30 years of withdrawals. For those with $1.8M in retirement assets, that rises to around $120-150k pretax per year and around $100k after tax. If someone retires with $5M today, roughly the beginning rung for entry into the top 0.1%, they can reasonably expect an income of $240k pretax and around $190k post tax, including Social Security.
While income and lifestyle are all relative, an after-tax income between $6.6k and $8.3k per month today will hardly buy the fantasy lifestyles that Americans see on TV and would consider “rich”. In many areas in California or the East Coast, this positions one squarely in the hard working upper-middle class, and strict budgeting will be essential. An income of $190k post tax or $15.8k per month will certainly buy a nice lifestyle but is far from rich. And, for those folks who made enough to accumulate this much wealth during their working years, the reduction in income and lifestyle during retirement can be stressful. Plus, watching retirement accounts deplete over time isn’t fun, not to mention the ever-fluctuating value of these accounts and the desire of many to leave a substantial inheritance. Our poor lower half of the top 1% lives well but has some financial worries.
Since the majority of those in this group actually earned their money from professions and smaller businesses, they generally don’t participate in the benefits big money enjoys. Those in the 99th to 99.5th percentile lack access to power. For example, most physicians today are having their incomes reduced by HMO’s, PPO’s and cost controls from Medicare and insurance companies; the legal profession is suffering from excess capacity, declining demand and global outsourcing; successful small businesses struggle with increasing regulation and taxation. I speak daily with these relative winners in the economic hierarchy and many express frustration.
Unlike those in the lower half of the top 1%, those in the top half and, particularly, top 0.1%, can often borrow for almost nothing, keep profits and production overseas, hold personal assets in tax havens, ride out down markets and economies, and influence legislation in the U.S. They have access to the very best in accounting firms, tax and other attorneys, numerous consultants, private wealth managers, a network of other wealthy and powerful friends, lucrative business opportunities, and many other benefits. Most of those in the bottom half of the top 1% lack power and global flexibility and are essentially well-compensated workhorses for the top 0.5%, just like the bottom 99%. In my view, the American dream of striking it rich is merely a well-marketed fantasy that keeps the bottom 99.5% hoping for better and prevents social and political instability. The odds of getting into that top 0.5% are very slim and the door is kept firmly shut by those within it.
The Upper Half of the Top 1%
Membership in this elite group is likely to come from being involved in some aspect of the financial services or banking industry, real estate development involved with those industries, or government contracting. Some hard working and clever physicians and attorneys can acquire as much as $15M-$20M before retirement but they are rare. Those in the top 0.5% have incomes over $500k if working and a net worth over $1.8M if retired. The higher we go up into the top 0.5% the more likely it is that their wealth is in some way tied to the investment industry and borrowed money than from personally selling goods or services or labor as do most in the bottom 99.5%. They are much more likely to have built their net worth from stock options and capital gains in stocks and real estate and private business sales, not from income which is taxed at a much higher rate. These opportunities are largely unavailable to the bottom 99.5%.
Recently, I spoke with a younger client who retired from a major investment bank in her early thirties, net worth around $8M. We can estimate that she had to earn somewhere around twice that, or $14M-$16M, in order to keep $8M after taxes and live well along the way, an impressive accomplishment by such an early age. Since I knew she held a critical view of investment banking, I asked if her colleagues talked about or understood how much damage was created in the broader economy from their activities. Her answer was that no one talks about it in public but almost all understood and were unbelievably cynical, hoping to exit the system when they became rich enough.
Folks in the top 0.1% come from many backgrounds but it’s infrequent to meet one whose wealth wasn’t acquired through direct or indirect participation in the financial and banking industries. One of our clients, net worth in the $60M range, built a small company and was acquired with stock from a multi-national. Stock is often called a “paper” asset. Another client, CEO of a medium-cap tech company, retired with a net worth in the $70M range. The bulk of any CEO’s wealth comes from stock, not income, and incomes are also very high. Last year, the average S&P 500 CEO made $9M in all forms of compensation. One client runs a division of a major international investment bank, net worth in the $30M range and most of the profits from his division flow directly or indirectly from the public sector, the taxpayer. Another client with a net worth in the $10M range is the ex-wife of a managing director of a major investment bank, while another was able to amass $12M after taxes by her early thirties from stock options as a high level programmer in a successful IT company. The picture is clear; entry into the top 0.5% and, particularly, the top 0.1% is usually the result of some association with the financial industry and its creations. I find it questionable as to whether the majority in this group actually adds value or simply diverts value from the US economy and business into its pockets and the pockets of the uber-wealthy who hire them. They are, of course, doing nothing illegal.
I think it’s important to emphasize one of the dangers of wealth concentration: irresponsibility about the wider economic consequences of their actions by those at the top. Wall Street created the investment products that produced gross economic imbalances and the 2008 credit crisis. It wasn’t the hard-working 99.5%. Average people could only destroy themselves financially, not the economic system. There’s plenty of blame to go around, but the collapse was primarily due to the failure of complex mortgage derivatives, CDS credit swaps, cheap Fed money, lax regulation, compromised ratings agencies, government involvement in the mortgage market, the end of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999, and insufficient bank capital. Only Wall Street could put the economy at risk and it had an excellent reason to do so: profit. It made huge profits in the build-up to the credit crisis and huge profits when it sold itself as “too big to fail” and received massive government and Federal Reserve bailouts. Most of the serious economic damage the U.S. is struggling with today was done by the top 0.1% and they benefited greatly from it.
Not surprisingly, Wall Street and the top of corporate America are doing extremely well as of June 2011. For example, in Q1 of 2011, America’s top corporations reported 31% profit growth and a 31% reduction in taxes, the latter due to profit outsourcing to low tax rate countries. Somewhere around 40% of the profits in the S&P 500 come from overseas and stay overseas, with about half of these 500 top corporations having their headquarters in tax havens. If the corporations don’t repatriate their profits, they pay no U.S. taxes. The year 2010 was a record year for compensation on Wall Street, while corporate CEO compensation rose by over 30%, most Americans struggled. In 2010 a dozen major companies, including GE, Verizon, Boeing, Wells Fargo, and Fed Ex paid US tax rates between -0.7% and -9.2%. Production, employment, profits, and taxes have all been outsourced. Major U.S. corporations are currently lobbying to have another “tax-repatriation” window like that in 2004 where they can bring back corporate profits at a 5.25% tax rate versus the usual 35% US corporate tax rate. Ordinary working citizens with the lowest incomes are taxed at 10%.
I could go on and on, but the bottom line is this: A highly complex and largely discrete set of laws and exemptions from laws has been put in place by those in the uppermost reaches of the U.S. financial system. It allows them to protect and increase their wealth and significantly affect the U.S. political and legislative processes. They have real power and real wealth. Ordinary citizens in the bottom 99.9% are largely not aware of these systems, do not understand how they work, are unlikely to participate in them, and have little likelihood of entering the top 0.5%, much less the top 0.1%. Moreover, those at the very top have no incentive whatsoever for revealing or changing the rules. I am not optimistic.
Monday, July 18, 2011
The Corporation Nation Master (2010)
This is an early version of Corporation Nation that has a couple errors.
1) $ amount of pension funds is 26 trillion, not 36 trillion.
2) There are a couple millions that should be billions, or visa versa.
http://www.onedollardvdproject.com now carries the DVD for $2. Give them to friends and family.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
ZERO An Investigation Into 9/11 (FULL documentary)
Please visit http://zero911movie.com/site/ and purchase the whole movie to help support the people who worked hard to produce such an outstanding film. ZERO: An Investigation into 9/11, has one central thesis - that the official version of the events surrounding the attacks on 9/11 can not be true. This brand new feature documentary from Italian production company Telemaco explores the latest scientific evidence and reveals dramatic new witness testimony, which directly conflicts with the US Government's account.
Featuring presentations from intellectual heavy weights; Gore Vidal, and Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo, the film challenges assumptions surrounding the attacks. In the words of the Italian daily newspaper, Il Corriere de da Sera, "What results is a sequence of contradictions, gaps, and omissions of stunning gravity."
The importance of this film can not be overstated. If its thesis is correct, the justification for going to war in Iraq is built on a series of outrageous lies.
On Tuesday 26th February, Europarlementarian Guilietto Chiesa invited his colleagues and the press to attend the screening and debate of the Italian-produced documentary named 'ZERO, an investigation into the events of 9/11'. Object of the screening was to create political awareness of the faulty official investigation into the events by the 9/11 Commission.
Besides Mr Chiesa, the panel consisted of Japanese parlementarian Fujita, Dr David Ray Griffin, film distributor Tim Sparke & the director and producers of the film.
After his opening statements, Mr Chiesa welcomed his guest speakers, including the producers, director and distributor of the documentary. Mr Chiesa pointed out that he was unable to find any distributor in his native country of Italy and was happy to find a company in the UK, led by Mr Tim Sparke, to handle worldwide distribution of this important film. 'It is important to realize,' he emphasized 'that the movie was made thanks to contribution and donations of hundreds of citizens who feel a new investigation is more than warranted.' No less than 450 people worked on this documentary on a voluntary basis. They never received any kind of payment. Their reward is the movie itself, which they feel is an instrument to create awareness and a means to provoke a political debate in Europe. Read the rest on 9/11 Blogger....
http://www.911blogger.com/node/14103
2011 Hilarious NWO Satire [H720p] Death of Bin Laden and other Lies - Connecting the Dots
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Friday, May 13, 2011
My Muslim News: Bin Laden’s theology a radical break with traditional Islam
(CNN) – Osama bin Laden wore the mantle of a religious leader. He looked the part and talked a good game, but his theology was a radical departure from traditional orthodox Islam.
The pitch to join al Qaeda did not start with an invitation to put on a suicide vest but, like other religious splinter groups and cults, took advantage of disenfranchisement and poverty.
Bin Laden had no official religious training but developed his own theology of Islam.
“We don’t know that (bin Laden) was ever exposed to orthodox Islamic teachings,” said Ebrahim Moosa, a professor of religion and Islamic studies at Duke University.
The writing of ideologues in the Muslim Brotherhood influenced bin Laden heavily, Moosa said.
“He takes scriptural imperatives at their face value and believes this is the only instruction and command God has given him – unmediated by history, unmediated by understanding, unmediated by human experience. Now that’s a difference between Muslim orthodoxy and what I would call uber- or hyperscripturalists,” Moosa said.
The vast majority of Islamic scholars and imams say the teaching of the Prophet Mohammed happened in historical context that needs to be understood when reading and interpreting the Quran.
“If the likes of bin Laden, if they had spent one day or maybe one month possibly, in a madrassa (Muslim religious school) and understood how the canonical tradition is interpreted, they would not go onto this kind of destructive path they go on,” Moosa said.
In the entire leadership structure of al Qaeda, “no one has had any sort of formal religious training from any seminary,” said Aftab Malik, a global expert on Muslim affairs at the United Nations Alliance of Civilization. He is researching a Ph.D. on al Qaeda.
“What you had was an engineer and a doctor leading a global jihad against the whole world,” Malik said. “That would never happen in normative Islam. It’s just such an aberration.”
John Esposito, a professor of religion and international affairs at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, said bin Laden “appropriates Islam … to legitimate and mobilize people.”
“If you look at bin Laden’s early statements and arguments, his interview with Peter Bergen on CNN … lots of people would see it as something that would go down very well not just with many Muslims but among many analysts when he talks about longstanding political grievances,” Esposito said.
“What bin Laden ends up doing is saying anyone who disagrees with him, any Muslim, is in fact an apostate,” he said. That includes Muslims who would not join his fight, he said. “It’s a distortion of the traditional teaching, and it just extends the parameters and the consequences in order to legitimate how when you’re fighting on the ground you’re fighting against your own people.”
Malik said, “The key issue is of apostasy,” referring to when a person leaves a faith. “One of the things Osama bin Laden deviates from is calling those people who do not implement Sharia, or God’s law, on the planet as apostates. If they did not implement Sharia, they deserved death. This is a major departure from normative Islam.”
“The second major deviation is the targeting of noncombatants. Even when you read in the Quran there are injunctions for fighting. But before and after the injunctions for fighting are calls for restraint. ‘Do not attack monks, do not attack women, do not attack children.’ And these are numerated heavily in the Hadith, which are uncontested,” Malik said, referring to the sayings of the prophet and his close companions.
My Muslim News: Bin Laden’s theology a radical break with traditional Islam
The pitch to join al Qaeda did not start with an invitation to put on a suicide vest but, like other religious splinter groups and cults, took advantage of disenfranchisement and poverty.
Bin Laden had no official religious training but developed his own theology of Islam.
“We don’t know that (bin Laden) was ever exposed to orthodox Islamic teachings,” said Ebrahim Moosa, a professor of religion and Islamic studies at Duke University.
The writing of ideologues in the Muslim Brotherhood influenced bin Laden heavily, Moosa said.
“He takes scriptural imperatives at their face value and believes this is the only instruction and command God has given him – unmediated by history, unmediated by understanding, unmediated by human experience. Now that’s a difference between Muslim orthodoxy and what I would call uber- or hyperscripturalists,” Moosa said.
The vast majority of Islamic scholars and imams say the teaching of the Prophet Mohammed happened in historical context that needs to be understood when reading and interpreting the Quran.
“If the likes of bin Laden, if they had spent one day or maybe one month possibly, in a madrassa (Muslim religious school) and understood how the canonical tradition is interpreted, they would not go onto this kind of destructive path they go on,” Moosa said.
In the entire leadership structure of al Qaeda, “no one has had any sort of formal religious training from any seminary,” said Aftab Malik, a global expert on Muslim affairs at the United Nations Alliance of Civilization. He is researching a Ph.D. on al Qaeda.
“What you had was an engineer and a doctor leading a global jihad against the whole world,” Malik said. “That would never happen in normative Islam. It’s just such an aberration.”
John Esposito, a professor of religion and international affairs at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, said bin Laden “appropriates Islam … to legitimate and mobilize people.”
“If you look at bin Laden’s early statements and arguments, his interview with Peter Bergen on CNN … lots of people would see it as something that would go down very well not just with many Muslims but among many analysts when he talks about longstanding political grievances,” Esposito said.
“What bin Laden ends up doing is saying anyone who disagrees with him, any Muslim, is in fact an apostate,” he said. That includes Muslims who would not join his fight, he said. “It’s a distortion of the traditional teaching, and it just extends the parameters and the consequences in order to legitimate how when you’re fighting on the ground you’re fighting against your own people.”
Malik said, “The key issue is of apostasy,” referring to when a person leaves a faith. “One of the things Osama bin Laden deviates from is calling those people who do not implement Sharia, or God’s law, on the planet as apostates. If they did not implement Sharia, they deserved death. This is a major departure from normative Islam.”
“The second major deviation is the targeting of noncombatants. Even when you read in the Quran there are injunctions for fighting. But before and after the injunctions for fighting are calls for restraint. ‘Do not attack monks, do not attack women, do not attack children.’ And these are numerated heavily in the Hadith, which are uncontested,” Malik said, referring to the sayings of the prophet and his close companions.
My Muslim News: Bin Laden’s theology a radical break with traditional Islam
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Thursday, April 7, 2011
THE GREAT GULF BETWEEN ZIONISM AND JUDAISM
Paper delivered by G. J. Neuberger a member of Neturei Karta at the Tripoli Conference on Zionism and Racism
Where the Torah tells about the creation of the first human being, the most prominent Jewish commentator, Rashi, explains that the earth from which Adam was formed was not taken from one spot but from various parts of the globe. Thus human dignity does not depend on the place of one's birth nor is it limited to one region. The greatness or worth of a person is not measured by his or her outward appearance. Jews believe that Adam was created in G-d's image and that he is the common ancestor of all mankind. At this stage in human history, there is no room for privileged people who can do with others as they please. Human life is sacred and human rights are not to be denied by those who would subvert them for "national security" or for any other reason. No one knows this better than the Jews, who have been second-class citizens so often and for so long. Zionists, however, may differ. This is understandable because Judaism and Zionism are by no means the same. Indeed they are incompatible and irreconcilable: If one is a good Jew, one cannot be a Zionist; if one is a Zionist, one cannot be a good Jew.
The Treason of Zionism
A conference such as this is long overdue, and I wish to thank those who made it possible to hold it. For over 60 years I have fought Zionism, as did my father before me, and I am therefore quite familiar with it. For those who have been in this fight for only the last ten or twenty years, what I have to say may be surprising or even shocking. Nevertheless these matters must be stated clearly and openly, because unless the disease of Zionism is diagnosed accurately, it cannot be cured. Too long have those opposed to Zionism engaged in daydreaming and wishful thinking. In order to recognize Zionism for what it is, one has to know about Judaism, about Zionism -- the opposite and negation of Judaism, and about Jewish history. In the time allotted to me, I am not going to talk about the actions of the Zionists; they will be adequately dealt with by other speakers. As a Jew, I plan to discuss Zionism, which is rebellion against G-d and treason to the Jewish people.
To begin with, a few definitions: Who is a Jew? A Jew is anyone who has a Jewish mother or who converted to Judaism in conformity with Halacha, Jewish religious law. This definition alone excludes racism. Judaism does not seek converts, but those who do convert are accepted on a basis of equality. Let us see how far this goes. Some of the most eminent and respected rabbis were converts to Judaism. Jewish parents throughout the world bless their children every Sabbath and holiday eve, and they have done it in the same way for millennia. If the children are girls, the blessing is, "May G-d let you be like Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah." Not one of these matriarchs was born a Jewess; they were all converts to Judaism. If the children are boys, the blessing is, "May G-d let you be like Ephraim and Manasseh." The mother of these two was an Egyptian woman who became Jewish and had married Joseph. Moses himself, the greatest Jew who ever lived, married a Midianite woman who became Jewish. Finally, the Tanach, the holy writings of the Jew, contains the book of Ruth. This woman was not only not Jewish by birth, but she came from the Moabites, traditional enemies of the Jewish people. This book describes Ruth's conversion to Judaism and is read annually on the holiday commemorating the giving of the Torah, the "Law," i.e. the Pentateuch. At its very end, the book of Ruth traces the ancestry of King David, the greatest king the Jews ever had, to Ruth, his great-grandmother.
Apart from the Zionists, the only ones who consistently considered the Jews a race were the Nazis. And they only served to prove the stupidity and irrationality of racism. There was no way to prove racially whether a Mrs. Muller or a Mr. Meyer were Jews or Aryans. The only way to decide whether a person was Jewish was to trace the religious affiliation of the parents or grandparents. So much for the this racial nonsense.
Racial pride has been the downfall of those Jews in the past who were blinded by their own narrow-minded chauvinism. This brings us to a second definition. Is there a Jewish people? If so, what is its mission? Let us make this completely clear: The Jewish nation was not born or reconstituted a generation ago by some Zionist politicians. The Jewish nation was born on Mount Sinai when the Jews by their response, "let us do and let us hear," adopted the Torah given to them by G-d for all future generations. `This day you become a people," though valid still today, was spoken thousands of years ago.
According to Jewish tradition, there are seven Noahide laws which apply to all human beings. Then there are the Ten Commandments which form basic standard of morality and conduct for adherents of all monotheistic religions. In addition to these, there are 613 laws obligatory for Jews, and every Jew has to observe those which are applicable to him or her according to Halacha. It is the carrying out of these mitzvoth, "commandments," which constitutes the essence of being Jewish, and therefore of the Jewish people and their covenant with G-d.
In what way are the Jews a "chosen people"? Every Jewish man anywhere and at any time when called to the reading of the Torah says, "Who has chosen us from all the peoples and gave us His Torah." This is the way in which the Jews are chosen. The Jewish people are chosen not for domination over others, not for conquest or warfare, but to serve G-d and thus to serve mankind. "And the hands are the hands of Esau," has been traditionally interpreted to mean that while "the voice is Jacob's," the hands- - symbolizing violence - are Esau's. Thus physical violence is not a tradition or a value of the Jews. The task for which the Jewish people were chosen is not to set an example of military superiority or technical achievements, but to seek perfection in moral behavior and spiritual purity. Of all the crimes of political Zionism, the worst and most basic, and which explains all its other misdeeds, is that from its beginning Zionism has sought to separate the Jewish people from their G-d, to render the divine covenant null and void, and to substitute a "modern" statehood and fraudulent sovereignty for the lofty ideals of the Jewish people.
Hypocrisy and Perversion
One means of misleading many Jews and all too many non-Jews is the Zionist misuse of names and symbols sacred in Judaism. They use the holy name Israel for their Zionist state. They have named their land acquisition fund with a term that traditionally implies the reward for piety, good deeds, and charitable work. They have adopted as a state symbol the menorah (candlebrum). What hypocrisy, what perversion it is to have the Israeli army fight under an emblem, the meaning of which is explained in the Tenach (on the occasion of a previous return to the Holy Land) as, "not with armed force and not with power, but in My spirit says the Lord of Hosts."
The infamous founder of political Zionism, may his name be cursed, who only discovered his own Jewishness because of anti-Semitism displayed at the Dreyfus trial in France, proposed various solutions to what he called the "Jewish problem." At one point he proposed to resettle the Jews in Uganda. At another he proposed to convert them to Catholicism. He finally hit on the idea of a Judenstaat, an exclusive Jewish state. Thus from its very beginning Zionism was a result of Anti-Semitism and indeed is completely compatible with it, because Zionists and anti-Semites had (and have) a common goal: To bring all Jews from their places of domicile to the Zionist state, thus uprooting Jewish communities that had existed for hundreds and even thousands of years. Loyalty to the Zionist state was substituted for loyalty to G-d, and the state was made into the modern "golden calf". Belief in the Torah and fulfillment of religious obligations in Zionist eyes became a private matter and not a duty for every Jew or for the Jewish people. The Zionists made divine law subject to party or parliamentary votes, and they set their own standards of conduct and ethics.
Neither the founder of political Zionism nor any of the prime ministers of the Zionist state believed in the divine origin of the Torah nor even in the existence of G-d. All prime ministers were members of a party that opposed religion in principle and that considered the Bible a document of ancient folklore, devoid of any religious meaning. And yet these same Zionists base their claim to the Holy Land on this same Bible, the divine origin of which they deny. At the same time they conveniently forget the Jewish holiday prayer "and for our sins have we been exiled from our land," and ignore the fact that the present exile of the Jewish people is divinely decreed and that the Jewish people are neither commanded nor permitted to conquer or rule the Holy Land before the coming of the Messiah. The Jewish people do, of course, recognize special spiritual ties to that land they call it Eretz Yisrael. Every morning, afternoon, and evening, and night they mention it and Zion and Jerusalem in their prayers, and indeed a Jew does not sit down to a meal without doing likewise. To the Jew, the very soil of the Holy Land is different from that of any other spot on this globe, and wherever he is he turns his face toward Jerusalem during prayers. To live in the Holy Land or even to be buried there was always considered to be of high merit.
This love of the land and the Jewish longing for a return to it and for the coming of the Messiah have been exploited innumerable times during the past 2,000 years. Zionism has had many precursors and each has been a curse for the Jews. Individuals who proclaimed themselves the Messiah and messianic movements have sprung up from time to time, from the Roman era through the Middle Ages and down to the modern Zionists. Many of these pseudo-Messiahs posed as rabbis or as national leaders, though some of them eventually professed other faiths; many temporarily - some for longer periods - succeeded in misleading Jews, rabbis, and entire Jewish communities. All were in due course exposed and recognized as frauds, and those who had set their hope on them found only disappointment and all too often disaster.
In the early stages of the development of modern Zionism, the Mizrachi was founded, an organization of so-called religious Zionists who tried to combine their faith with political Zionism. This led to constant conflict between the dictates of divine law and the demands of Jewish nationalism. Most of the time, the Mizrachi was outvoted at Zionist congresses and served only to give the Zionist movement a false religious aura. Whenever expediency called for it, these "religious" Zionist fellow-travelers have been used by the Zionist government to underpin national claims with "religious" authority. The National Religious Party in the Zionist state has been well rewarded for giving its stamp of approval to nationalistic measures and enactments, whether these rewards were of financial nature or in the form of cabinet or other government posts. The chauvinism of these religious Zionists frequently exceeded that of other Zionists, and it was always couched in religious terms - a prime example of the abuse of religion. The fraudulence of these "religious" Zionists was demonstrated during the past year when it was revealed that two of their world leaders had committed million-dollar thefts.
A Jewish world organization was founded in 1912 on the German-Polish border with the specific purpose of fighting Zionism. This organization, Agudath Israel, "Union of Israel," was to represent the true Jewish people in the world and to unmask the unwarranted and unjust claims of the Zionists. Rabbis everywhere joined Agudath Israel, as did masses of observant Jews. Anti-Zionist congresses were convened in Vienna and in Marienbad. In countries such as Poland, Agudists were members of parliament. Under Agudah leadership more than 50 years ago, Jews in the Holy Land opposed to Zionism obtained permission from Britain, the mandatory power in Palestine, to declare in writing that they did not wish to be represented by the Zionists or any of their groups, particularly not by the Zionist quasi-governmental organizations such as the Va'ad Leumi, "National Council."
Haganah Assasination
Shortly thereafter, Jacob de Haan, a former distinguished Dutch diplomat who was then leader of Agudath Israel in Palestine, initiated talks with Arab leaders with a view toward the eventual establishments of a state there in which Jews and Arabs would have equal rights. In this way he hoped to forestall the creation of a Zionist state. Despite threats to his life, de Haan, fully aware of the ultimate dangers of a Zionist state, continued his talks and negotiations. On the eve of his departure in 1924 for Britain to meet with authorities there, he was assassinated by the Haganah, the Zionist paramilitary force, in the center of Jerusalem as he came from evening prayers. More than a half a century ago, this devout and visionary Jew gave his life in a fight that he considered paramount, at a time when the world at large was still blind and deaf to the difficulties and problems that a future Zionist state would entail.
Zionist Terrorism
As a result of such terrorism and increasing Zionist pressure, Agudath Israel gradually began to weaken and to compromise. During the Nazi period, it entered indo deals and arrangements with the Zionists, despite the fact that its fundamental aim had been to combat Zionism. After the Zionist state was established, Agudath Israel broke off with its past, participated in the Zionist government on the cabinet level and elected Agudists to the Zionist parliament. Still professing a nominal anti-Zionism, Agudath Israel established a network of "independent" schools in the Holy Land, but today the overwhelming part of the budget of these schools comes from the Zionist government.
In view of these developments, those Jews who wanted to continue the fight against Zionism without any compromise left Agudath Israel and constituted themselves as the Neturei Karta, an Aramaic phrase meaning "Guardians of the City," i.e. the city of Jerusalem. The Neturei Karta in turn became a worldwide movement, known in some places as "Friends of Jerusalem."
The greatest leader of the Neturei Karta was Rabbi Amram Blau, an inspired and dedicated leader whose compassion equaled his courage. He could not keep silent in the face of injustice, immorality, or hypocrisy. He was beloved by Jews and respected by Christians and Muslims. Born in Jerusalem, he never left the Holy Land during his entire life. In his writings he stressed many times that Jews and Arabs had lived in harmony until the advent of political Zionism. Rabbi Blau was imprisoned in Jerusalem, not by the Ottoman authorities, not by the British, and not by the Arabs, but by the Zionists. What was his crime? He defended with vigor and honesty, without regard for his own safety, the holy character of Jerusalem against the "innovations" and encroachments of the Zionists. He fought for the sanctity of the Sabbath and actively opposed the inroads of indecency and immorality made under the Zionist regime.
Unceasingly Rabbi Blau denounced the establishment of a Jewish state before the coming of the Messiah as an act of infamy and blasphemy. Under his leadership, the Neturei Karta declared year after year that they did not recognize the legitimacy of the Zionist state or the validity of its laws.
During the first period of fighting between the Zionist state and the Arabs, the rabbis of the Neturei Karta went toward the combat lines, carrying a white flag, and stated that they wanted no part in this war and that they were absolutely opposed to the creation of a Zionist state. In his last proclamation, Rabbi Blau deplored the actions of the Zionists against the Muslim and Christian Palestinians and the grievous harm done by the Zionists to the Jewish people in endeavoring to change them from "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" to a modern state, devoid of spiritual foundation, based on chauvinism, built on conquest, and relying on military prowess. "The number of your cities constitute your gods," the prophet Jeremiah had thundered to the chauvinist and idolatrous Jewish government of this day. Like it, the Zionists are now establishing a new status quo and expanding their position by founding new settlements in he territories occupied since 1967.
Rabbi Blau in his last statement severely condemned the UN for recognizing and accepting as a member the Zionist state, thus giving the Zionists unprecedented prestige and power. It is high time that the anti-Zionist nations listen to him, heed his plea, and undo this great wrong and correct this fatal error. It is well known that no action was taken concerning the expulsion of the Zionist state because of the fear that financial support for the UN would be withdrawn. Let those states, opposed to Zionism, who have become affluent during the past generation, show that they mean what they say by offering to replace any financial loss the UN may suffer as a consequence, and let the member states vote their conscience without fear and regardless of any intimidation.
There has been times before in Jewish history, as related in the Bible, when the masses were misled and only a minority of Jews clung to the true mission of the Jewish people. One of the first such of the occasions was the worship of the golden calf; today we unfortunately see a repetition of this, with the Zionist state now being the object of worship. Until the appearance and growing influence of political Zionism, Jewish leaders were chosen on the basis of their piety, decency, learning, and their love of justice and mercy. Today only too often so-called Jewish leaders, completely unqualified under Jewish law and traditional concepts, make pronouncements and decisions in the name and on behalf of the Jewish people. This is particularly true in the USA where there is the largest Jewish community in our time. I can never forget the remark of a woman in Oklahoma: "Isn't today's Judaism wonderful! All you have to do is give money."
Even at his death Rabbi Blau refuted the Zionists who had often claimed that the Neturei Karta was nothing but an insignificant sect of a few hundred souls. Yet when Rabbi Blau died in Jerusalem on a Friday morning two years ago, a few hours later no fewer than 22,000 men attended his funeral.
At all times in the past, the misleaders of the Jews have sooner or later fallen by the wayside, and only those who upheld the validity of the Torah and the Talmud (the written and oral law) and of Halachah, and who resisted the demagogues, prevailed. The Neturei Karta follow in this tradition. They continue as a living rebuke to Zionism and speak in our time for the true Jewish people, those who have not been misled by Zionism.
During the Roman conquest of the Holy Land, there were Jews who on the basis of nationalism and racial pride were sure that they could not lose a war. They, like the Zionists of our day, were opposed to any compromise or settlement; there were determined to fight to the end. At that time, however almost 2,000 years ago, the fore most rabbi, Rabbi Yochanan ben Sakkai, chose a different way. The military adventurers prevented him from leaving beleaguered Jerusalem to negotiate with the Romans, so the rabbi had himself carried out in a coffin by his disciples to the Roman headquarters. He said to the Romans that the Jews need neither an army nor weapons and asked for permission to establish a yeshiva, a Jewish religious school, at Yavneh. It was this religious school, and not the militarists or generals of the time, that helped to perpetuate Judaism and the identity of the Jewish people.
It must be stated explicitly that while not all Jews are Zionists, not all Zionists are Jews. The motives of some of these non-Jewish Zionists, e.g. Lord Balfour and General Smuts, are at least open to question. From the beginning of the Zionist movement, some of the most articulate and fervent Zionists have been Christian clergymen, especially "fundamentalists," who hail Zionism as an important "religious" movement and welcome it as a fulfillment of prophecy. They also, and significantly, serve the cause of Zionism.
One of the basic aims of Zionism is aliyah, the immigration to the Zionist state of Jews from all countries. Nevertheless, during the past few years hundreds of thousands of Israelis have outgathered themselves from the Zionist paradise, and American Jews have "voted with their feet" and have chosen not to be ingathered. These Jews recognize that the Zionist state is in fact nothing but a giant ghetto.
Instead of being able to render assistance to Jewish communities in other countries, American Jews have been mobilized to concentrate on helping the Zionist state, making the USA the real and major source of Zionist power and influence. The Zionists, true to the nature of their movement, rely on technical superiority and on a forbidding military deterrent - provided largely by the USA - for their security.
Nothing could be further from the true ideals of the Jewish people. The Jewish people were chosen in the first place "for you are the leas of all nations." As the Psalm says, "they rely on vehicles and horsepower, but we invoke the name of the Eternal, our G-d."
One most vital point deserves mention. A former president of the World Zionist Organization has stated explicitly that a Zionist owes unqualified loyalty to the Zionist state and that, in the case of a conflict, the first loyalty of a Zionist must be to the Zionist state. According to Jewish law, however, a Jew owes allegiance and loyalty to the country of which he is a citizen, and, of course, no faithful Jews owes any loyalty or allegiance to the Zionist state which has been condemned by the foremost rabbis of our age.
It is not my purpose to detail how Zionism should be dealt with. Let me state, however, that isolated or spontaneous acts against individuals or the mere adoption of resolutions in the UN or elsewhere are not effective means of bringing an end to Zionism. Let me state also that the battle against Zionism must be waged first, not on the shores of the Mediterranean, but in Zionism's most powerful bastion the USA.
As an American citizen, I deplore that our government and our politicians have adopted an attitude that is in complete contradiction to the advice of the father of our country George Washington. Instead of shying away from foreign entanglements and permanent alliances with foreign powers, the establishment in Washington has embraced Zionism so wholeheartedly that in the eyes any criticism of the Zionist state and any opposition to political Zionism in the UN by any nation has become a punishable offense. And the American media do not dare to speak out against such an absurdity.
Unfortunately, thus far, each year sees still further gains in influence by American Zionists. This fact has made possible events and developments that were unthinkable even ten years ago. It takes a lot of courage to be opposed to Zionism in the USA today. It also took a lot of courage during the Second World War to be anti-Fascist in Italy or anti-Nazi in Germany. In the long run Zionism is nothing but a passing aberration in the long history of the Jewish people and of the world.
Let us take faith and hope in the certainty that eventually prejudice, hatred, and injustice will disappear, and that the prophecy will come true that all nations of the world will participate in the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, "For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations."
http://www.nkusa.org/AboutUs/Zionism/greatgulf.cfm
G-d fearing Torah Jews of Neturei Karta (Guardians of the Holy City) are demonstrating in Jerusalem/ Mea Shearim against the Zionists and their State which is a big Chillul HaShem - Desecration of the holy Name of G-d! Our holy Torah forbids strictly us Jews to create a Jewish State before coming of Moshiach (Talmud Bavli Kesubot 111a).
Interview with Neturei Karta's Rabbi Felman on day 3 of Viva Palestina USA's convoy to Gaza. He touches on his community's views on Zionism, and what Zionists do to intimidated them. Also touches on the idea of widespread anti-semitism among Arab and Muslim people, which in his experience is a myth. please see http://vivapalestina-us.org
Where the Torah tells about the creation of the first human being, the most prominent Jewish commentator, Rashi, explains that the earth from which Adam was formed was not taken from one spot but from various parts of the globe. Thus human dignity does not depend on the place of one's birth nor is it limited to one region. The greatness or worth of a person is not measured by his or her outward appearance. Jews believe that Adam was created in G-d's image and that he is the common ancestor of all mankind. At this stage in human history, there is no room for privileged people who can do with others as they please. Human life is sacred and human rights are not to be denied by those who would subvert them for "national security" or for any other reason. No one knows this better than the Jews, who have been second-class citizens so often and for so long. Zionists, however, may differ. This is understandable because Judaism and Zionism are by no means the same. Indeed they are incompatible and irreconcilable: If one is a good Jew, one cannot be a Zionist; if one is a Zionist, one cannot be a good Jew.
The Treason of Zionism
A conference such as this is long overdue, and I wish to thank those who made it possible to hold it. For over 60 years I have fought Zionism, as did my father before me, and I am therefore quite familiar with it. For those who have been in this fight for only the last ten or twenty years, what I have to say may be surprising or even shocking. Nevertheless these matters must be stated clearly and openly, because unless the disease of Zionism is diagnosed accurately, it cannot be cured. Too long have those opposed to Zionism engaged in daydreaming and wishful thinking. In order to recognize Zionism for what it is, one has to know about Judaism, about Zionism -- the opposite and negation of Judaism, and about Jewish history. In the time allotted to me, I am not going to talk about the actions of the Zionists; they will be adequately dealt with by other speakers. As a Jew, I plan to discuss Zionism, which is rebellion against G-d and treason to the Jewish people.
To begin with, a few definitions: Who is a Jew? A Jew is anyone who has a Jewish mother or who converted to Judaism in conformity with Halacha, Jewish religious law. This definition alone excludes racism. Judaism does not seek converts, but those who do convert are accepted on a basis of equality. Let us see how far this goes. Some of the most eminent and respected rabbis were converts to Judaism. Jewish parents throughout the world bless their children every Sabbath and holiday eve, and they have done it in the same way for millennia. If the children are girls, the blessing is, "May G-d let you be like Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah." Not one of these matriarchs was born a Jewess; they were all converts to Judaism. If the children are boys, the blessing is, "May G-d let you be like Ephraim and Manasseh." The mother of these two was an Egyptian woman who became Jewish and had married Joseph. Moses himself, the greatest Jew who ever lived, married a Midianite woman who became Jewish. Finally, the Tanach, the holy writings of the Jew, contains the book of Ruth. This woman was not only not Jewish by birth, but she came from the Moabites, traditional enemies of the Jewish people. This book describes Ruth's conversion to Judaism and is read annually on the holiday commemorating the giving of the Torah, the "Law," i.e. the Pentateuch. At its very end, the book of Ruth traces the ancestry of King David, the greatest king the Jews ever had, to Ruth, his great-grandmother.
Apart from the Zionists, the only ones who consistently considered the Jews a race were the Nazis. And they only served to prove the stupidity and irrationality of racism. There was no way to prove racially whether a Mrs. Muller or a Mr. Meyer were Jews or Aryans. The only way to decide whether a person was Jewish was to trace the religious affiliation of the parents or grandparents. So much for the this racial nonsense.
Racial pride has been the downfall of those Jews in the past who were blinded by their own narrow-minded chauvinism. This brings us to a second definition. Is there a Jewish people? If so, what is its mission? Let us make this completely clear: The Jewish nation was not born or reconstituted a generation ago by some Zionist politicians. The Jewish nation was born on Mount Sinai when the Jews by their response, "let us do and let us hear," adopted the Torah given to them by G-d for all future generations. `This day you become a people," though valid still today, was spoken thousands of years ago.
According to Jewish tradition, there are seven Noahide laws which apply to all human beings. Then there are the Ten Commandments which form basic standard of morality and conduct for adherents of all monotheistic religions. In addition to these, there are 613 laws obligatory for Jews, and every Jew has to observe those which are applicable to him or her according to Halacha. It is the carrying out of these mitzvoth, "commandments," which constitutes the essence of being Jewish, and therefore of the Jewish people and their covenant with G-d.
In what way are the Jews a "chosen people"? Every Jewish man anywhere and at any time when called to the reading of the Torah says, "Who has chosen us from all the peoples and gave us His Torah." This is the way in which the Jews are chosen. The Jewish people are chosen not for domination over others, not for conquest or warfare, but to serve G-d and thus to serve mankind. "And the hands are the hands of Esau," has been traditionally interpreted to mean that while "the voice is Jacob's," the hands- - symbolizing violence - are Esau's. Thus physical violence is not a tradition or a value of the Jews. The task for which the Jewish people were chosen is not to set an example of military superiority or technical achievements, but to seek perfection in moral behavior and spiritual purity. Of all the crimes of political Zionism, the worst and most basic, and which explains all its other misdeeds, is that from its beginning Zionism has sought to separate the Jewish people from their G-d, to render the divine covenant null and void, and to substitute a "modern" statehood and fraudulent sovereignty for the lofty ideals of the Jewish people.
Hypocrisy and Perversion
One means of misleading many Jews and all too many non-Jews is the Zionist misuse of names and symbols sacred in Judaism. They use the holy name Israel for their Zionist state. They have named their land acquisition fund with a term that traditionally implies the reward for piety, good deeds, and charitable work. They have adopted as a state symbol the menorah (candlebrum). What hypocrisy, what perversion it is to have the Israeli army fight under an emblem, the meaning of which is explained in the Tenach (on the occasion of a previous return to the Holy Land) as, "not with armed force and not with power, but in My spirit says the Lord of Hosts."
The infamous founder of political Zionism, may his name be cursed, who only discovered his own Jewishness because of anti-Semitism displayed at the Dreyfus trial in France, proposed various solutions to what he called the "Jewish problem." At one point he proposed to resettle the Jews in Uganda. At another he proposed to convert them to Catholicism. He finally hit on the idea of a Judenstaat, an exclusive Jewish state. Thus from its very beginning Zionism was a result of Anti-Semitism and indeed is completely compatible with it, because Zionists and anti-Semites had (and have) a common goal: To bring all Jews from their places of domicile to the Zionist state, thus uprooting Jewish communities that had existed for hundreds and even thousands of years. Loyalty to the Zionist state was substituted for loyalty to G-d, and the state was made into the modern "golden calf". Belief in the Torah and fulfillment of religious obligations in Zionist eyes became a private matter and not a duty for every Jew or for the Jewish people. The Zionists made divine law subject to party or parliamentary votes, and they set their own standards of conduct and ethics.
Neither the founder of political Zionism nor any of the prime ministers of the Zionist state believed in the divine origin of the Torah nor even in the existence of G-d. All prime ministers were members of a party that opposed religion in principle and that considered the Bible a document of ancient folklore, devoid of any religious meaning. And yet these same Zionists base their claim to the Holy Land on this same Bible, the divine origin of which they deny. At the same time they conveniently forget the Jewish holiday prayer "and for our sins have we been exiled from our land," and ignore the fact that the present exile of the Jewish people is divinely decreed and that the Jewish people are neither commanded nor permitted to conquer or rule the Holy Land before the coming of the Messiah. The Jewish people do, of course, recognize special spiritual ties to that land they call it Eretz Yisrael. Every morning, afternoon, and evening, and night they mention it and Zion and Jerusalem in their prayers, and indeed a Jew does not sit down to a meal without doing likewise. To the Jew, the very soil of the Holy Land is different from that of any other spot on this globe, and wherever he is he turns his face toward Jerusalem during prayers. To live in the Holy Land or even to be buried there was always considered to be of high merit.
This love of the land and the Jewish longing for a return to it and for the coming of the Messiah have been exploited innumerable times during the past 2,000 years. Zionism has had many precursors and each has been a curse for the Jews. Individuals who proclaimed themselves the Messiah and messianic movements have sprung up from time to time, from the Roman era through the Middle Ages and down to the modern Zionists. Many of these pseudo-Messiahs posed as rabbis or as national leaders, though some of them eventually professed other faiths; many temporarily - some for longer periods - succeeded in misleading Jews, rabbis, and entire Jewish communities. All were in due course exposed and recognized as frauds, and those who had set their hope on them found only disappointment and all too often disaster.
In the early stages of the development of modern Zionism, the Mizrachi was founded, an organization of so-called religious Zionists who tried to combine their faith with political Zionism. This led to constant conflict between the dictates of divine law and the demands of Jewish nationalism. Most of the time, the Mizrachi was outvoted at Zionist congresses and served only to give the Zionist movement a false religious aura. Whenever expediency called for it, these "religious" Zionist fellow-travelers have been used by the Zionist government to underpin national claims with "religious" authority. The National Religious Party in the Zionist state has been well rewarded for giving its stamp of approval to nationalistic measures and enactments, whether these rewards were of financial nature or in the form of cabinet or other government posts. The chauvinism of these religious Zionists frequently exceeded that of other Zionists, and it was always couched in religious terms - a prime example of the abuse of religion. The fraudulence of these "religious" Zionists was demonstrated during the past year when it was revealed that two of their world leaders had committed million-dollar thefts.
A Jewish world organization was founded in 1912 on the German-Polish border with the specific purpose of fighting Zionism. This organization, Agudath Israel, "Union of Israel," was to represent the true Jewish people in the world and to unmask the unwarranted and unjust claims of the Zionists. Rabbis everywhere joined Agudath Israel, as did masses of observant Jews. Anti-Zionist congresses were convened in Vienna and in Marienbad. In countries such as Poland, Agudists were members of parliament. Under Agudah leadership more than 50 years ago, Jews in the Holy Land opposed to Zionism obtained permission from Britain, the mandatory power in Palestine, to declare in writing that they did not wish to be represented by the Zionists or any of their groups, particularly not by the Zionist quasi-governmental organizations such as the Va'ad Leumi, "National Council."
Haganah Assasination
Shortly thereafter, Jacob de Haan, a former distinguished Dutch diplomat who was then leader of Agudath Israel in Palestine, initiated talks with Arab leaders with a view toward the eventual establishments of a state there in which Jews and Arabs would have equal rights. In this way he hoped to forestall the creation of a Zionist state. Despite threats to his life, de Haan, fully aware of the ultimate dangers of a Zionist state, continued his talks and negotiations. On the eve of his departure in 1924 for Britain to meet with authorities there, he was assassinated by the Haganah, the Zionist paramilitary force, in the center of Jerusalem as he came from evening prayers. More than a half a century ago, this devout and visionary Jew gave his life in a fight that he considered paramount, at a time when the world at large was still blind and deaf to the difficulties and problems that a future Zionist state would entail.
Zionist Terrorism
As a result of such terrorism and increasing Zionist pressure, Agudath Israel gradually began to weaken and to compromise. During the Nazi period, it entered indo deals and arrangements with the Zionists, despite the fact that its fundamental aim had been to combat Zionism. After the Zionist state was established, Agudath Israel broke off with its past, participated in the Zionist government on the cabinet level and elected Agudists to the Zionist parliament. Still professing a nominal anti-Zionism, Agudath Israel established a network of "independent" schools in the Holy Land, but today the overwhelming part of the budget of these schools comes from the Zionist government.
In view of these developments, those Jews who wanted to continue the fight against Zionism without any compromise left Agudath Israel and constituted themselves as the Neturei Karta, an Aramaic phrase meaning "Guardians of the City," i.e. the city of Jerusalem. The Neturei Karta in turn became a worldwide movement, known in some places as "Friends of Jerusalem."
The greatest leader of the Neturei Karta was Rabbi Amram Blau, an inspired and dedicated leader whose compassion equaled his courage. He could not keep silent in the face of injustice, immorality, or hypocrisy. He was beloved by Jews and respected by Christians and Muslims. Born in Jerusalem, he never left the Holy Land during his entire life. In his writings he stressed many times that Jews and Arabs had lived in harmony until the advent of political Zionism. Rabbi Blau was imprisoned in Jerusalem, not by the Ottoman authorities, not by the British, and not by the Arabs, but by the Zionists. What was his crime? He defended with vigor and honesty, without regard for his own safety, the holy character of Jerusalem against the "innovations" and encroachments of the Zionists. He fought for the sanctity of the Sabbath and actively opposed the inroads of indecency and immorality made under the Zionist regime.
Unceasingly Rabbi Blau denounced the establishment of a Jewish state before the coming of the Messiah as an act of infamy and blasphemy. Under his leadership, the Neturei Karta declared year after year that they did not recognize the legitimacy of the Zionist state or the validity of its laws.
During the first period of fighting between the Zionist state and the Arabs, the rabbis of the Neturei Karta went toward the combat lines, carrying a white flag, and stated that they wanted no part in this war and that they were absolutely opposed to the creation of a Zionist state. In his last proclamation, Rabbi Blau deplored the actions of the Zionists against the Muslim and Christian Palestinians and the grievous harm done by the Zionists to the Jewish people in endeavoring to change them from "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" to a modern state, devoid of spiritual foundation, based on chauvinism, built on conquest, and relying on military prowess. "The number of your cities constitute your gods," the prophet Jeremiah had thundered to the chauvinist and idolatrous Jewish government of this day. Like it, the Zionists are now establishing a new status quo and expanding their position by founding new settlements in he territories occupied since 1967.
Rabbi Blau in his last statement severely condemned the UN for recognizing and accepting as a member the Zionist state, thus giving the Zionists unprecedented prestige and power. It is high time that the anti-Zionist nations listen to him, heed his plea, and undo this great wrong and correct this fatal error. It is well known that no action was taken concerning the expulsion of the Zionist state because of the fear that financial support for the UN would be withdrawn. Let those states, opposed to Zionism, who have become affluent during the past generation, show that they mean what they say by offering to replace any financial loss the UN may suffer as a consequence, and let the member states vote their conscience without fear and regardless of any intimidation.
There has been times before in Jewish history, as related in the Bible, when the masses were misled and only a minority of Jews clung to the true mission of the Jewish people. One of the first such of the occasions was the worship of the golden calf; today we unfortunately see a repetition of this, with the Zionist state now being the object of worship. Until the appearance and growing influence of political Zionism, Jewish leaders were chosen on the basis of their piety, decency, learning, and their love of justice and mercy. Today only too often so-called Jewish leaders, completely unqualified under Jewish law and traditional concepts, make pronouncements and decisions in the name and on behalf of the Jewish people. This is particularly true in the USA where there is the largest Jewish community in our time. I can never forget the remark of a woman in Oklahoma: "Isn't today's Judaism wonderful! All you have to do is give money."
Even at his death Rabbi Blau refuted the Zionists who had often claimed that the Neturei Karta was nothing but an insignificant sect of a few hundred souls. Yet when Rabbi Blau died in Jerusalem on a Friday morning two years ago, a few hours later no fewer than 22,000 men attended his funeral.
At all times in the past, the misleaders of the Jews have sooner or later fallen by the wayside, and only those who upheld the validity of the Torah and the Talmud (the written and oral law) and of Halachah, and who resisted the demagogues, prevailed. The Neturei Karta follow in this tradition. They continue as a living rebuke to Zionism and speak in our time for the true Jewish people, those who have not been misled by Zionism.
During the Roman conquest of the Holy Land, there were Jews who on the basis of nationalism and racial pride were sure that they could not lose a war. They, like the Zionists of our day, were opposed to any compromise or settlement; there were determined to fight to the end. At that time, however almost 2,000 years ago, the fore most rabbi, Rabbi Yochanan ben Sakkai, chose a different way. The military adventurers prevented him from leaving beleaguered Jerusalem to negotiate with the Romans, so the rabbi had himself carried out in a coffin by his disciples to the Roman headquarters. He said to the Romans that the Jews need neither an army nor weapons and asked for permission to establish a yeshiva, a Jewish religious school, at Yavneh. It was this religious school, and not the militarists or generals of the time, that helped to perpetuate Judaism and the identity of the Jewish people.
It must be stated explicitly that while not all Jews are Zionists, not all Zionists are Jews. The motives of some of these non-Jewish Zionists, e.g. Lord Balfour and General Smuts, are at least open to question. From the beginning of the Zionist movement, some of the most articulate and fervent Zionists have been Christian clergymen, especially "fundamentalists," who hail Zionism as an important "religious" movement and welcome it as a fulfillment of prophecy. They also, and significantly, serve the cause of Zionism.
One of the basic aims of Zionism is aliyah, the immigration to the Zionist state of Jews from all countries. Nevertheless, during the past few years hundreds of thousands of Israelis have outgathered themselves from the Zionist paradise, and American Jews have "voted with their feet" and have chosen not to be ingathered. These Jews recognize that the Zionist state is in fact nothing but a giant ghetto.
Instead of being able to render assistance to Jewish communities in other countries, American Jews have been mobilized to concentrate on helping the Zionist state, making the USA the real and major source of Zionist power and influence. The Zionists, true to the nature of their movement, rely on technical superiority and on a forbidding military deterrent - provided largely by the USA - for their security.
Nothing could be further from the true ideals of the Jewish people. The Jewish people were chosen in the first place "for you are the leas of all nations." As the Psalm says, "they rely on vehicles and horsepower, but we invoke the name of the Eternal, our G-d."
One most vital point deserves mention. A former president of the World Zionist Organization has stated explicitly that a Zionist owes unqualified loyalty to the Zionist state and that, in the case of a conflict, the first loyalty of a Zionist must be to the Zionist state. According to Jewish law, however, a Jew owes allegiance and loyalty to the country of which he is a citizen, and, of course, no faithful Jews owes any loyalty or allegiance to the Zionist state which has been condemned by the foremost rabbis of our age.
It is not my purpose to detail how Zionism should be dealt with. Let me state, however, that isolated or spontaneous acts against individuals or the mere adoption of resolutions in the UN or elsewhere are not effective means of bringing an end to Zionism. Let me state also that the battle against Zionism must be waged first, not on the shores of the Mediterranean, but in Zionism's most powerful bastion the USA.
As an American citizen, I deplore that our government and our politicians have adopted an attitude that is in complete contradiction to the advice of the father of our country George Washington. Instead of shying away from foreign entanglements and permanent alliances with foreign powers, the establishment in Washington has embraced Zionism so wholeheartedly that in the eyes any criticism of the Zionist state and any opposition to political Zionism in the UN by any nation has become a punishable offense. And the American media do not dare to speak out against such an absurdity.
Unfortunately, thus far, each year sees still further gains in influence by American Zionists. This fact has made possible events and developments that were unthinkable even ten years ago. It takes a lot of courage to be opposed to Zionism in the USA today. It also took a lot of courage during the Second World War to be anti-Fascist in Italy or anti-Nazi in Germany. In the long run Zionism is nothing but a passing aberration in the long history of the Jewish people and of the world.
Let us take faith and hope in the certainty that eventually prejudice, hatred, and injustice will disappear, and that the prophecy will come true that all nations of the world will participate in the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, "For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations."
http://www.nkusa.org/AboutUs/Zionism/greatgulf.cfm
G-d fearing Torah Jews of Neturei Karta (Guardians of the Holy City) are demonstrating in Jerusalem/ Mea Shearim against the Zionists and their State which is a big Chillul HaShem - Desecration of the holy Name of G-d! Our holy Torah forbids strictly us Jews to create a Jewish State before coming of Moshiach (Talmud Bavli Kesubot 111a).
Interview with Neturei Karta's Rabbi Felman on day 3 of Viva Palestina USA's convoy to Gaza. He touches on his community's views on Zionism, and what Zionists do to intimidated them. Also touches on the idea of widespread anti-semitism among Arab and Muslim people, which in his experience is a myth. please see http://vivapalestina-us.org
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
Everything is for the rich people, and the poor people are just hurting
Henrietta Inman, 64, spoke to World Socialist Web Site reporters at the Housing Authority of Harlan, a Housing and Urban Development-subsidized apartment building in downtown Harlan, Kentucky. The apartment building was among the largest buildings in town, and full of hundreds of elderly residents and families.
Henrietta Inman
“Harlan used to be a thriving town,” Henrietta said. “There weren’t as many people, but there was work. All the work that is here for the young people today is low wage. Prices of everything are so high you can’t afford anything.”
Henrietta lives on a Social Security check of $600 a month. Her rent, $198 a month, is figured by the federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) based on her income, and set at just under 30 percent of her monthly allotment—technically under the government’s “housing burdened” threshold for the proportion of income used to pay rent.
“It’s a roof over your head. That’s about all,” she said of the apartment complex. “It was the cheapest place I could find. But it’s not like renting a house or a trailer, where you can have flowers and stuff, it’s not like that. There are six floors and all of them are full. We’re not allowed to have any animals; there is no place to garden, and nothing to do in town now. We sit here and do puzzles,” she said, gesturing to a table full of puzzle pieces and boxes. Several other residents present during the interview nodded in agreement.
Henrietta’s husband was a coal miner working in a union mine in the 1970s and 1980s. Harlan County had been home to some of the most intense and violent labor struggles in the United States during the first half of the 20th Century, earning the county the nickname “Bloody Harlan.”
In the 1970s, workers seeking to unionize their mines were once again met with violence from the hired thugs of the coal operators. In 1973, miners at the Eastover Coal Company’s Brookside Mine and Prep Plant went on strike for union recognition. After a bitter 13-month struggle, during which time a young miner named Lawrence Jones was murdered by company thugs and workers were forced to arm themselves on the picket lines, the miners won a contract.
In the following decades, the betrayals of the United Mine Workers of America and the deregulation of the coal industry facilitated an assault on the living standards of Harlan workers, and the gains won by miners in earlier decades came under attack. Today there are no union mines in Harlan.
“Life was very hard in the 1970s,” she said. At the time of the Brookside strike, “I had four children then, and it was hard. One of my daughters was born in 1970. But I feel it’s a whole lot worse now. There’s no work—just the fast food restaurants. We need factories and industry in here to where the young people coming up will have somewhere to work.
“Our roads are in bad condition,” she added. “They patch them up here and there but we need a lot more done.
City Hall and Revitalization offices in a building previously housing a furniture store, then a movie theater, in downtown Harlan
“Younger people have nothing to do. There are a lot of drug problems here because of that. I worry about the youth. We need something for 12-year-olds and 14-year-olds who are coming up here, because they’re not going to have anything either. It’s not just Harlan. It’s everywhere. Indiana used to be a booming place, too—my dad lived there. It’s gone downhill, too. It’s just really sad. Harlan used to be a beautiful place. I don’t know whether it’s the people they put in office, whatever they vote for in there, or what. I don’t think they represent us.”
The Bank of Harlan, bearing a coal industry sign: “Got Electricity? Thank a Miner”
Henrietta expressed deep concern over the ruthless energy costs imposed by Kentucky Utilities on the poor. Most of the coal bound for KU power plants is extracted from Harlan and surrounding counties. KU and other utility companies in the state are pursuing double-digit rate increases this year. “These high gas prices and oil prices and the electricity—it’s gotten outrageous,” she said. “Poor people have to have their electricity to cook and stuff like that, and the prices are supposed to go up again. It’s really unfair, because they barely make enough to live on, and these big bills are coming at them. Big electric bills, especially in the winter, are impossible.”
Another resident interjected, “What you think about when people’s light bills are $600 a month and they live on a small, low income? What do you think about that?”
Henrietta explained, “When they can’t pay their electric bills, they get cut off. One guy had three children. And he didn’t have money to pay it, and they cut his electric off in the winter.” The advocacy group Community Action, she told the WSWS, “is sent hundreds of thousands of dollars to help poor people, but I don’t know if that money is being used right or not. There are lot of people that, later on in the year when it’s chilly, can’t go over there and get their electric bill paid. Community Action is paid to do a good job on people’s homes to winterize them—but they get the cheapest windows that can be bought, and those windows are not going to hold the cold out. You can just feel the air coming through them. One little old thin piece of glass.
“Poor people have to have something. Everything is for the rich people, and the poor people are just hurting. They’re on their own.
“You know all of this falls back on the president,” Henrietta said. “Why has he not frozen these prices? Because he’s rich, and it doesn’t bother him. He represents the interests of the rich people. And the poor, he could care less about. It just all boils back to him. And now, all this oil is coming up in our water in the Gulf—and they don’t want to stop the oil because they’re going to make money off of that. What’s that doing to our fish and all the wildlife that’s there? They talk on the news about finding four or five turtles a day—and lord only knows how many are really dying. They won’t even say. Why don’t they stop that and protect those little creatures? It’s awful.
“But the very same things are allowed to go on there, and here in the mines, because of money,” she said, noting that the mine operators regularly cut corners on safety. In the early 1980s, she told the WSWS, “When my husband worked in the mines, he had an air quality monitor he wore that was supposed to detect unsafe levels of coal dust, how much of it they breathed a day. Well, he was to cut that off, just supposed to use it so many hours a day.
“He would have gotten fired if he left it on. So he was breathing all that dust, but that machine only showed that he was getting two hours a day. And you know, that’s not right. I think a human’s life is triply worth any amount of money you can get.” Today he suffers from black lung, Henrietta told the WSWS.
“If things get much worse, I don’t think the lord’s going to let there be many more generations. Things are terrible, and it’s getting worse. We need clean rivers, clean water, we need to clean that oil spill. If the people don’t pull together and do something, nothing’s going to be done about it.”
Source - http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jul2010/harl-j22.shtml
Henrietta Inman
“Harlan used to be a thriving town,” Henrietta said. “There weren’t as many people, but there was work. All the work that is here for the young people today is low wage. Prices of everything are so high you can’t afford anything.”
Henrietta lives on a Social Security check of $600 a month. Her rent, $198 a month, is figured by the federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) based on her income, and set at just under 30 percent of her monthly allotment—technically under the government’s “housing burdened” threshold for the proportion of income used to pay rent.
“It’s a roof over your head. That’s about all,” she said of the apartment complex. “It was the cheapest place I could find. But it’s not like renting a house or a trailer, where you can have flowers and stuff, it’s not like that. There are six floors and all of them are full. We’re not allowed to have any animals; there is no place to garden, and nothing to do in town now. We sit here and do puzzles,” she said, gesturing to a table full of puzzle pieces and boxes. Several other residents present during the interview nodded in agreement.
Henrietta’s husband was a coal miner working in a union mine in the 1970s and 1980s. Harlan County had been home to some of the most intense and violent labor struggles in the United States during the first half of the 20th Century, earning the county the nickname “Bloody Harlan.”
In the 1970s, workers seeking to unionize their mines were once again met with violence from the hired thugs of the coal operators. In 1973, miners at the Eastover Coal Company’s Brookside Mine and Prep Plant went on strike for union recognition. After a bitter 13-month struggle, during which time a young miner named Lawrence Jones was murdered by company thugs and workers were forced to arm themselves on the picket lines, the miners won a contract.
In the following decades, the betrayals of the United Mine Workers of America and the deregulation of the coal industry facilitated an assault on the living standards of Harlan workers, and the gains won by miners in earlier decades came under attack. Today there are no union mines in Harlan.
“Life was very hard in the 1970s,” she said. At the time of the Brookside strike, “I had four children then, and it was hard. One of my daughters was born in 1970. But I feel it’s a whole lot worse now. There’s no work—just the fast food restaurants. We need factories and industry in here to where the young people coming up will have somewhere to work.
“Our roads are in bad condition,” she added. “They patch them up here and there but we need a lot more done.
City Hall and Revitalization offices in a building previously housing a furniture store, then a movie theater, in downtown Harlan
“Younger people have nothing to do. There are a lot of drug problems here because of that. I worry about the youth. We need something for 12-year-olds and 14-year-olds who are coming up here, because they’re not going to have anything either. It’s not just Harlan. It’s everywhere. Indiana used to be a booming place, too—my dad lived there. It’s gone downhill, too. It’s just really sad. Harlan used to be a beautiful place. I don’t know whether it’s the people they put in office, whatever they vote for in there, or what. I don’t think they represent us.”
The Bank of Harlan, bearing a coal industry sign: “Got Electricity? Thank a Miner”
Henrietta expressed deep concern over the ruthless energy costs imposed by Kentucky Utilities on the poor. Most of the coal bound for KU power plants is extracted from Harlan and surrounding counties. KU and other utility companies in the state are pursuing double-digit rate increases this year. “These high gas prices and oil prices and the electricity—it’s gotten outrageous,” she said. “Poor people have to have their electricity to cook and stuff like that, and the prices are supposed to go up again. It’s really unfair, because they barely make enough to live on, and these big bills are coming at them. Big electric bills, especially in the winter, are impossible.”
Another resident interjected, “What you think about when people’s light bills are $600 a month and they live on a small, low income? What do you think about that?”
Henrietta explained, “When they can’t pay their electric bills, they get cut off. One guy had three children. And he didn’t have money to pay it, and they cut his electric off in the winter.” The advocacy group Community Action, she told the WSWS, “is sent hundreds of thousands of dollars to help poor people, but I don’t know if that money is being used right or not. There are lot of people that, later on in the year when it’s chilly, can’t go over there and get their electric bill paid. Community Action is paid to do a good job on people’s homes to winterize them—but they get the cheapest windows that can be bought, and those windows are not going to hold the cold out. You can just feel the air coming through them. One little old thin piece of glass.
“Poor people have to have something. Everything is for the rich people, and the poor people are just hurting. They’re on their own.
“You know all of this falls back on the president,” Henrietta said. “Why has he not frozen these prices? Because he’s rich, and it doesn’t bother him. He represents the interests of the rich people. And the poor, he could care less about. It just all boils back to him. And now, all this oil is coming up in our water in the Gulf—and they don’t want to stop the oil because they’re going to make money off of that. What’s that doing to our fish and all the wildlife that’s there? They talk on the news about finding four or five turtles a day—and lord only knows how many are really dying. They won’t even say. Why don’t they stop that and protect those little creatures? It’s awful.
“But the very same things are allowed to go on there, and here in the mines, because of money,” she said, noting that the mine operators regularly cut corners on safety. In the early 1980s, she told the WSWS, “When my husband worked in the mines, he had an air quality monitor he wore that was supposed to detect unsafe levels of coal dust, how much of it they breathed a day. Well, he was to cut that off, just supposed to use it so many hours a day.
“He would have gotten fired if he left it on. So he was breathing all that dust, but that machine only showed that he was getting two hours a day. And you know, that’s not right. I think a human’s life is triply worth any amount of money you can get.” Today he suffers from black lung, Henrietta told the WSWS.
“If things get much worse, I don’t think the lord’s going to let there be many more generations. Things are terrible, and it’s getting worse. We need clean rivers, clean water, we need to clean that oil spill. If the people don’t pull together and do something, nothing’s going to be done about it.”
Source - http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jul2010/harl-j22.shtml
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Jesse Ventura Debates the 9-11 Conspiracy Theory
Former Minnesota Governor, professional wrestler, actor, and author Jesse Ventura visited the Opie and Anthony Show to promote his new book, and the conversation eventually turned
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
My Muslim News: Israeli soldiers Killed 5 Palestinians In Gaza in June”
My Muslim News: Israeli soldiers Killed 5 Palestinians In Gaza in June”: "The al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, based in Gaza, issued a report on the Israeli violations in the Gaza Strip in June and stated that Israeli soldiers continued their attacks and killed five Palestinians in different part of the Gaza Strip.
The attacks targeted the residents and their property, while the soldiers killed five Palestinians in different parts of the Gaza Strip and wounded several other residents.
The center said that the army used excessive and deadly force against unarmed civilians in direct violation to the international law and the Fourth Geneva Conventions."
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The attacks targeted the residents and their property, while the soldiers killed five Palestinians in different parts of the Gaza Strip and wounded several other residents.
The center said that the army used excessive and deadly force against unarmed civilians in direct violation to the international law and the Fourth Geneva Conventions."
Subscribe to My Muslim News by Email
Monday, July 19, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Leaving Catholism for Islam
time comes in everyone’s life, or at least I hope it comes, when they realize that they have to not only believe what they believe in, whatever it may be, but get out there and proclaim it to the world. Luckily, that time came early for me. I am 17, and Islam is the belief that I’m proclaiming.
I was raised Catholic. Not internally as much as externally. I went to Catholic Sunday school, called CCD, but the Catholic view of God never played a major roll in my childhood. It was a Sunday thing. Anyhow, I started to enjoy Mass around 7th grade. It made me feel good to do the right thing. I was always a rather moral person, but I never really studied the fundamentals of Catholicism. I just knew that I felt good worshipping my creator.
I really liked Catholicism, but I always saw it as us (the Catholics) with Jesus worshipping God, not us worshipping God and Jesus as one. I saw Jesus (peace be upon him) as my example on how to be a good follower of and submitter to God’s will, but not as God himself.
Before I was confirmed in 8th grade, in the fall of 1999, I learned a lot about what Catholicism was. The Catholicism of the Church had a lot on viewing Jesus as God in it. Nothing like my “undivided God being worshipped by me with Jesus as an example” train of thought. It was like they just opened up a can of cold, illogical confusion and tried to feed it to me. It didn’t feel right.
I continued with Catholic church, and kept on worshipping. But I talked to many in the church about my feelings that Jesus wasn’t God but more of a Prophet, an example. They told me that I had to accept him as God and as a sacrifice, and so on. I just wasn’t buying it. I tried to buy it but I guess God withhold the sale for my own benefit. There was a better car out there for me. I continued at the church.
Sometime in mid-December of 1999, for no reason that I can recall I started reading up on Islam in encyclopedias. I remember making a list of bolded words in the entry for “Islam” in an old 1964 Grolier World Book that I found in my closet, and studying them. For some reason I was amazed by this faith and that it was all about God and that it was everything that I believed all my life - right here. Previously, I had accepted that there was no faith like I felt inside of me. But I was amazed that I had found this faith. I found out that “my” faith had a name, and millions of other adherents!
Without ever reading a Qur’an or talking to another Muslim, I said shahada (declaring your belief in no god but God) on 31 December 1999. As the months passed, I learned more. I went through many periods of confusion, happiness, doubt and amazement. Islam took me on an enlightening tour of me, everyone else, and God.
The transition was slow. I was still attending Mass five months into my change of faith. Each time I went, I felt more and more distant from the congregation, but closer and closer to Prophet Jesus and God.
During Ramadan 2001, the second time I fasted (the first year, I converted during Ramadan and did not fast), I went to the library during lunch period. It was better than sitting at a table with my friends, because I got work done in the library. I swear my grades went up. Anyways, I started talking to the only other Muslim at my school, John. We talked about Islam a little more each day. He’s an awesome brother and he took me to the mosque on the last Friday of Ramadan. Going was one of the best things I ever made in my life. God really answered my prayers this time. I thought I would be nervous, but I wasn’t at all. It was the most natural thing I ever did in my life. I felt home. I realized something before leaving. As I sat there on the floor, praying to God, I realized that the room was full of others but it was OK. See, at home when someone asks me what I am doing, I never say I am praying. I never admit it to anyone. It is too awkward. But there, at the masjid, I was praying to God in front of a score of other Muslims and I felt perfectly fine. Better than fine! I felt secure and safe. It was the most liberating thing since I accepted God into my heart that cold New Year’s Eve almost two years ago.
Source
I was raised Catholic. Not internally as much as externally. I went to Catholic Sunday school, called CCD, but the Catholic view of God never played a major roll in my childhood. It was a Sunday thing. Anyhow, I started to enjoy Mass around 7th grade. It made me feel good to do the right thing. I was always a rather moral person, but I never really studied the fundamentals of Catholicism. I just knew that I felt good worshipping my creator.
I really liked Catholicism, but I always saw it as us (the Catholics) with Jesus worshipping God, not us worshipping God and Jesus as one. I saw Jesus (peace be upon him) as my example on how to be a good follower of and submitter to God’s will, but not as God himself.
Before I was confirmed in 8th grade, in the fall of 1999, I learned a lot about what Catholicism was. The Catholicism of the Church had a lot on viewing Jesus as God in it. Nothing like my “undivided God being worshipped by me with Jesus as an example” train of thought. It was like they just opened up a can of cold, illogical confusion and tried to feed it to me. It didn’t feel right.
I continued with Catholic church, and kept on worshipping. But I talked to many in the church about my feelings that Jesus wasn’t God but more of a Prophet, an example. They told me that I had to accept him as God and as a sacrifice, and so on. I just wasn’t buying it. I tried to buy it but I guess God withhold the sale for my own benefit. There was a better car out there for me. I continued at the church.
Sometime in mid-December of 1999, for no reason that I can recall I started reading up on Islam in encyclopedias. I remember making a list of bolded words in the entry for “Islam” in an old 1964 Grolier World Book that I found in my closet, and studying them. For some reason I was amazed by this faith and that it was all about God and that it was everything that I believed all my life - right here. Previously, I had accepted that there was no faith like I felt inside of me. But I was amazed that I had found this faith. I found out that “my” faith had a name, and millions of other adherents!
Without ever reading a Qur’an or talking to another Muslim, I said shahada (declaring your belief in no god but God) on 31 December 1999. As the months passed, I learned more. I went through many periods of confusion, happiness, doubt and amazement. Islam took me on an enlightening tour of me, everyone else, and God.
The transition was slow. I was still attending Mass five months into my change of faith. Each time I went, I felt more and more distant from the congregation, but closer and closer to Prophet Jesus and God.
During Ramadan 2001, the second time I fasted (the first year, I converted during Ramadan and did not fast), I went to the library during lunch period. It was better than sitting at a table with my friends, because I got work done in the library. I swear my grades went up. Anyways, I started talking to the only other Muslim at my school, John. We talked about Islam a little more each day. He’s an awesome brother and he took me to the mosque on the last Friday of Ramadan. Going was one of the best things I ever made in my life. God really answered my prayers this time. I thought I would be nervous, but I wasn’t at all. It was the most natural thing I ever did in my life. I felt home. I realized something before leaving. As I sat there on the floor, praying to God, I realized that the room was full of others but it was OK. See, at home when someone asks me what I am doing, I never say I am praying. I never admit it to anyone. It is too awkward. But there, at the masjid, I was praying to God in front of a score of other Muslims and I felt perfectly fine. Better than fine! I felt secure and safe. It was the most liberating thing since I accepted God into my heart that cold New Year’s Eve almost two years ago.
Source
Muslims Must Join the Oppressed
On January 26, 1950, we are going to enter into a life of contradiction. In politics, we will have equality and in social and economic life we will have inequality...We must remove this contradiction at the earliest moment or else those who suffer from inequality will blow up the structure of political democracy which this assembly has so laboriously built up”.
These historic words of Ambedkar in the Constituent Assembly spoke for all the poor of the country and Dalits in particular. What he had said 50 years ago, will hold good as India goes into the second millennium. He had also been prophetic in his assertion that persistent inequality will spell the demise of political democracy itself.
The thoughts of Ambedkar are most relevant today and his analysis of the Indian society needs to be understood by all those who are deeply concerned with the destiny of the people here. He has laid bare the inequities of this society and the theology which has been its driving force. His critique of this theology popularly known as Manuvada, professed by the upper castes of the land, must be known to all who cherish the democratic ethos.
Ambedkar characterised this society driven by caste as graded inequality because caste is an integral part of it. He found this caste-bound society bereft of social conscience and remarked on its moralistic unconcernedness.
Ambedkar’s rhetorical question, “A population which is hide-bound by caste, which flouts equality of status, which is infected by ancient prejudices and is dominated by notions of gradations in life. A population which thinks some are high, that some are low, can it be expected to have the right notions even to discharge bare justice?”
He made a fine distinction between class and caste, terming the former as non-social and the latter as anti-social.
Ambedkar pointed out the devastating impact of caste on the Dalit community, which showed itself in the most obnoxious practice of untouchability. He said, “Dalits - not that they have large property to protect from confiscation. But they have their very persons confiscated. The socio-religious disabilities have dehumanised the untouchable and their interests at stake are the interests of humanity”.
Apartheid of South Africa pales into insignificance beside untouchability and Ambedkar had to caution its practitioners thus, “To observe untouchability is a risk as dangerous as to bear live coals on their tongues”.
That this shameless practice should be prevalent even to this day is a crying shame. Ambedkar described the most sacred book of the Manuvadis as neither a book on religion nor a treatise on philosophy, but a mere justification for war based on the spurious logic which holds killing a body does not amount to killing the soul because the soul is immortal! Hence there is neither regret nor remorse over killing. Source-http://mymuslimnews.blogspot.com/2010/07/muslims-must-join-oppressed.html
These historic words of Ambedkar in the Constituent Assembly spoke for all the poor of the country and Dalits in particular. What he had said 50 years ago, will hold good as India goes into the second millennium. He had also been prophetic in his assertion that persistent inequality will spell the demise of political democracy itself.
The thoughts of Ambedkar are most relevant today and his analysis of the Indian society needs to be understood by all those who are deeply concerned with the destiny of the people here. He has laid bare the inequities of this society and the theology which has been its driving force. His critique of this theology popularly known as Manuvada, professed by the upper castes of the land, must be known to all who cherish the democratic ethos.
Ambedkar characterised this society driven by caste as graded inequality because caste is an integral part of it. He found this caste-bound society bereft of social conscience and remarked on its moralistic unconcernedness.
Ambedkar’s rhetorical question, “A population which is hide-bound by caste, which flouts equality of status, which is infected by ancient prejudices and is dominated by notions of gradations in life. A population which thinks some are high, that some are low, can it be expected to have the right notions even to discharge bare justice?”
He made a fine distinction between class and caste, terming the former as non-social and the latter as anti-social.
Ambedkar pointed out the devastating impact of caste on the Dalit community, which showed itself in the most obnoxious practice of untouchability. He said, “Dalits - not that they have large property to protect from confiscation. But they have their very persons confiscated. The socio-religious disabilities have dehumanised the untouchable and their interests at stake are the interests of humanity”.
Apartheid of South Africa pales into insignificance beside untouchability and Ambedkar had to caution its practitioners thus, “To observe untouchability is a risk as dangerous as to bear live coals on their tongues”.
That this shameless practice should be prevalent even to this day is a crying shame. Ambedkar described the most sacred book of the Manuvadis as neither a book on religion nor a treatise on philosophy, but a mere justification for war based on the spurious logic which holds killing a body does not amount to killing the soul because the soul is immortal! Hence there is neither regret nor remorse over killing. Source-http://mymuslimnews.blogspot.com/2010/07/muslims-must-join-oppressed.html
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Battle against poverty in Bangladesh
It was this vision of change that spurred Muhammad Yunus, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, to set up Grameen Bank in Bangladesh during the 1970s. Yunus had two major drives for his vision of the future: “to make credit a human right so that each individual human being will have the opportunity to take loans and implement his or her ideas so that self exploration becomes possible. And second: that it will lead to a world where nobody has to suffer from poverty – a world completely free from poverty.”
The Bank’s philosophy was simple: to lend out small loans, averaging under $400 per person, to those who had no access to credit facilities, creating growth opportunities for entrepreneurship. To date, the Bank has lent out almost $9 billion in microcredit loans, making a difference to over 8 million of Bangladesh’s poor.
Meeting life’s needs
Emergencies, weddings, funerals, theft or injury are often definitive events for the poor in developing countries. In “The Poor and their Money,” Stuart Rutherford cites several needs such as lifecycle needs, personal emergencies and disasters. These are all events that can devastate a family already mired in poverty and struggling to make a living, like that of Ibu Samsariah from Indonesia.
A canal fisherwoman and oyster gatherer in the village of Ruko, Ibu Samsariah’s husband worked as a mini van driver. Her two sons worked as day labourers when there were jobs to be found. Their four combined incomes allowed them to meet their basic needs until the 2004 tsunami hit the shores of Ruko, sweeping Ibu Samsariah’s husband, their home and all their possessions out to sea. With no husband, no father, no home, no fishing tools and no income, Samsariah struggled to survive.
In 2006 she formed a borrowers group and received a $100 loan from Yayasan Mirtra Dhuafa (YAMIDA). Using this loan, she bought fishing equipment to re-start her business. She found buyers for her oysters at the local market, repaid her loan and is now looking to apply for a larger amount to open her own stall.
Without access to microcredit, Samsariah’s fate would have been far different. With no means to regain a source of income after the tsunami disaster, it seems likely that she would have spent the rest of her life struggling to make ends meet. Now, Samsariah has big plans and dreams; profits from her oyster stall will allow her to hire an assistant to fish and shell the produce, thereby increasing both profit and employment in her small community.
A leg up
Almost by definition, the poor have very little money and therefore little chance of investing in opportunities or of improving their circumstances. Without credit, they are unable to expand their business, improve their housing or buy assets. Kofi Annan, erstwhile leader of the United Nations, believes that “poor people are remarkable reservoirs of energy and knowledge,” and that microcredit is a way to “bring people in from the margins and give them the tools with which to help themselves.”
Small loans can transform the lives of the poor, give them social mobility, secure the future of their children and improve their social standing. In male-dominated societies, the practice of lending money predominantly to women also helps to drive equality and social change.
Charity Kulola, from Kenya, does not dispute the power of microcredit to change lives. Married off at 16 into a polygamous marriage, then expelled for not bearing a son, Charity had no income and no way of supporting herself or her daughters. An initial loan of $64 given by the Yehu Microfinance Trust was used to open a coconut stall in the seaside village of Charareli. As sales took off, Charity took out a second loan, then a third to invest in a retail shop and to diversify her business. Instead of merely being the third wife to a man not of her own choosing, Charity is now a successful entrepreneur, intent on sending her daughters to school so that they can have a better future.
Alleviating poverty
Although micro lending is not the definitive answer to ending poverty, it is an effective tool for breaking the poverty cycle. Micro finance is “not a charity. This is business; business with a social objective, which is to help people get out of poverty” (Muhammad Yunus). Unlike handouts or charity, microcredit helps to empower the poor and encourages them to lift themselves out of poverty.
In rural Haiti, Dieula Calixte worked as a servant, sometimes starving for days when she couldn’t find work. Often ill and unable to hold down a steady job, Dieula applied for a $68 loan from Esperanza International and started her own business selling snacks. Within six months, she had paid off her loan in full and increased her capital to $69. She now earns almost $2 a day and is financing a second loan to expand her business. The income from her work allows Dieula to obtain the medications she requires and puts food on the table each day. She is enthusiastic about the role of microfinance in her community, acknowledging that without the initial loan, she would still be hungry, poor and ill, condemned to the cycle of poverty.
The Bank’s philosophy was simple: to lend out small loans, averaging under $400 per person, to those who had no access to credit facilities, creating growth opportunities for entrepreneurship. To date, the Bank has lent out almost $9 billion in microcredit loans, making a difference to over 8 million of Bangladesh’s poor.
Meeting life’s needs
Emergencies, weddings, funerals, theft or injury are often definitive events for the poor in developing countries. In “The Poor and their Money,” Stuart Rutherford cites several needs such as lifecycle needs, personal emergencies and disasters. These are all events that can devastate a family already mired in poverty and struggling to make a living, like that of Ibu Samsariah from Indonesia.
A canal fisherwoman and oyster gatherer in the village of Ruko, Ibu Samsariah’s husband worked as a mini van driver. Her two sons worked as day labourers when there were jobs to be found. Their four combined incomes allowed them to meet their basic needs until the 2004 tsunami hit the shores of Ruko, sweeping Ibu Samsariah’s husband, their home and all their possessions out to sea. With no husband, no father, no home, no fishing tools and no income, Samsariah struggled to survive.
In 2006 she formed a borrowers group and received a $100 loan from Yayasan Mirtra Dhuafa (YAMIDA). Using this loan, she bought fishing equipment to re-start her business. She found buyers for her oysters at the local market, repaid her loan and is now looking to apply for a larger amount to open her own stall.
Without access to microcredit, Samsariah’s fate would have been far different. With no means to regain a source of income after the tsunami disaster, it seems likely that she would have spent the rest of her life struggling to make ends meet. Now, Samsariah has big plans and dreams; profits from her oyster stall will allow her to hire an assistant to fish and shell the produce, thereby increasing both profit and employment in her small community.
A leg up
Almost by definition, the poor have very little money and therefore little chance of investing in opportunities or of improving their circumstances. Without credit, they are unable to expand their business, improve their housing or buy assets. Kofi Annan, erstwhile leader of the United Nations, believes that “poor people are remarkable reservoirs of energy and knowledge,” and that microcredit is a way to “bring people in from the margins and give them the tools with which to help themselves.”
Small loans can transform the lives of the poor, give them social mobility, secure the future of their children and improve their social standing. In male-dominated societies, the practice of lending money predominantly to women also helps to drive equality and social change.
Charity Kulola, from Kenya, does not dispute the power of microcredit to change lives. Married off at 16 into a polygamous marriage, then expelled for not bearing a son, Charity had no income and no way of supporting herself or her daughters. An initial loan of $64 given by the Yehu Microfinance Trust was used to open a coconut stall in the seaside village of Charareli. As sales took off, Charity took out a second loan, then a third to invest in a retail shop and to diversify her business. Instead of merely being the third wife to a man not of her own choosing, Charity is now a successful entrepreneur, intent on sending her daughters to school so that they can have a better future.
Alleviating poverty
Although micro lending is not the definitive answer to ending poverty, it is an effective tool for breaking the poverty cycle. Micro finance is “not a charity. This is business; business with a social objective, which is to help people get out of poverty” (Muhammad Yunus). Unlike handouts or charity, microcredit helps to empower the poor and encourages them to lift themselves out of poverty.
In rural Haiti, Dieula Calixte worked as a servant, sometimes starving for days when she couldn’t find work. Often ill and unable to hold down a steady job, Dieula applied for a $68 loan from Esperanza International and started her own business selling snacks. Within six months, she had paid off her loan in full and increased her capital to $69. She now earns almost $2 a day and is financing a second loan to expand her business. The income from her work allows Dieula to obtain the medications she requires and puts food on the table each day. She is enthusiastic about the role of microfinance in her community, acknowledging that without the initial loan, she would still be hungry, poor and ill, condemned to the cycle of poverty.
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