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Briefing Document on the Government's Anti-Terror Proposals
. [email protected] . PO Box 273, Forest Gate, London E7 . 07956210332*07905 891299*07786776665 * 07958174451 protect our rights a briefing document on the governments anti- ..........terrorism proposals A joint analysis from UK’s leading civil society organisations . CONTENTS 1. Summary 2. Briefing 3. Text of Statement by the Prime Minister 4. Breakdown of Govt Proposals 5. Joint Statement To Protect Our Rights 6. Supporting Organisations 2 SUMMARY The UK’s counter-terrorism legislation is among the most developed in the world. There is no evidence that the wide-ranging powers, already in place, are in anyway inadequate to investigate and prosecute those involved in any way in the incidents that have recently occurred. Daily reporting of the progress of police investigations suggest that conventional police investigations are piecing together an extensive breadth and range of evidence. There are no suggestions by the police that they have been thwarted in any relevant investigation by any lack of legal powers. The greatest threat to our security comes not from an inability to counter terrorism but the government’s refusal to conduct an honest debate on the causes of the attacks against London in July 2005. In place of that debate, Tony Blair has turned the spotlight on Britain’s Muslim communities. British tolerance has fertilised terrorism, he suggests. Multiculturalism and human rights are to be the scapegoats. In the context of an ill advised and counter productive “war on terror”, these proposals pave the way for an equally misguided “war on Islamic extremism”. There can be no doubt that the measures they envisage – restrictions on free speech, freedom of association and freedom of conscience - coupled with the simplistic and inflammatory portrayal of Islam as a “dangerous” religion, will further alienate and marginalise the very communities in which the government professes to be combating radicalisation. -
Politics, Terrorism, and the Sunni Divide
Foreign Policy Research Institute E-Notes A Catalyst for Ideas Distributed via Fax & Email and Posted at www.fpri.org September 2009 POLITICS, TERRORISM, AND THE SUNNI DIVIDE By Samuel Helfont This E-Note is based on Mr. Helfont’s forthcoming monograph, The Sunni Divide: Understanding Politics and Terrorism in the Arab Middle East, a product of FPRI’s Center on Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Homeland Security. Wahhabism and the Muslim Brotherhood are two distinct forms of Sunni Islamism. They have separate histories and separate worldviews. In reality they are not even the same type of movement. Their origins were largely unrelated. Their historic missions have been completely different, as are their current goals and means of achieving those goals. Unfortunately, these differences too often are overshadowed by a false Sunni-Shia dichotomy that tends to lump all Sunni Islamists together. But learning the differences between Sunni Islamists is critical to understanding politics and terrorism in the Arab Middle East. One could even argue that the most important division shaping Arab politics is not between Sunnis and Shias but between the Wahhabis and the Brotherhood. Before delving into current issues, however, it is first necessary to define differences between Wahhabism and the Muslim Brotherhood. Wahhabism stems from the theological teachings of Muhammad ibn abd al-Wahhab, the eighteenth century reformer. Abd al- Wahhab was one of several “revivalist” thinkers to emerge from that century. The mission of these revivalists was to purify and thereby revitalize Islam. They carried the banner of reform but unlike modern reformers, they wanted to transform Islam on traditionally Islamic grounds. -
Chapter 4 the Right-Wing Media Enablers of Anti-Islam Propaganda
Chapter 4 The right-wing media enablers of anti-Islam propaganda Spreading anti-Muslim hate in America depends on a well-developed right-wing media echo chamber to amplify a few marginal voices. The think tank misinforma- tion experts and grassroots and religious-right organizations profiled in this report boast a symbiotic relationship with a loosely aligned, ideologically-akin group of right-wing blogs, magazines, radio stations, newspapers, and television news shows to spread their anti-Islam messages and myths. The media outlets, in turn, give members of this network the exposure needed to amplify their message, reach larger audiences, drive fundraising numbers, and grow their membership base. Some well-established conservative media outlets are a key part of this echo cham- ber, mixing coverage of alarmist threats posed by the mere existence of Muslims in America with other news stories. Chief among the media partners are the Fox News empire,1 the influential conservative magazine National Review and its website,2 a host of right-wing radio hosts, The Washington Times newspaper and website,3 and the Christian Broadcasting Network and website.4 They tout Frank Gaffney, David Yerushalmi, Daniel Pipes, Robert Spencer, Steven Emerson, and others as experts, and invite supposedly moderate Muslim and Arabs to endorse bigoted views. In so doing, these media organizations amplify harm- ful, anti-Muslim views to wide audiences. (See box on page 86) In this chapter we profile some of the right-wing media enablers, beginning with the websites, then hate radio, then the television outlets. The websites A network of right-wing websites and blogs are frequently the primary movers of anti-Muslim messages and myths. -
Andy Kim Touted Himself As President Obama's “Point Man”
HIT: Andy Kim touted himself as President Obama’s “point man” on Iraq issues at the White House. While working for the Obama administration, he attended meetings with terrorists including one of the leaders responsible for an attack at the US Embassy in Baghdad, and a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood. BACKUP: Kim joined the State Department in 2009 as an Iraq expert: • Kim joined the State Department in 2009 as an Iraq expert. “Kim joined the Obama administration in September 2009 as an Iraq expert at the State Department. In 2011, he spent five months in Kabul in a civilian role advising two commanders of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, first Gen. David H. Petraeus and then Gen. John Allen.” (Salvador Rizzo, “Obama adviser running for Congress claims he also worked for Bush,” Washington Post, 9/10/18) Kim was the Iraq Director on Obama’s National Security Council from 2013 until leaving the administration in August 2015: • Kim was the Iraq Director on Obama’s National Security Council from 2013 until leaving the administration in August 2015. “Kim was director for Iraq issues at the Pentagon for five months in 2013 and then was Iraq director on Obama’s National Security Council for two years until leaving the administration in August 2015.” (Salvador Rizzo, “Obama adviser running for Congress claims he also worked for Bush,” Washington Post, 9/10/18) Kim was Obama’s “point man” on Iraq issues while serving in the National Security Council, a credential he has boasted about on the campaign trail: • The Flat Hat: “Kim served at the White House between 2013 and 2015 as Director of Iraq, where he was responsible for managing the crisis response across the Administration and developing strategy.” (Emily Martell, “Andrew Kim Discusses ISIS, Future Of Conflict In Iraq,” The Flat Hat, 11/10/16) • Kim noted he was the Obama Administration’s point man in 2014 as ISIS was gaining ground in Iraq. -
Framing of Islam in the Early Cold War Era of Racialized Empire-Building
THE LESSER-EVILS PARADIGM FOR IMAGINING ISLAM: U.S. EXECUTIVE BRANCH (RE)FRAMING OF ISLAM IN THE EARLY COLD WAR ERA OF RACIALIZED EMPIRE-BUILDING by Sydney Porter Pasquinelli BA, Wayne State University, 2009 MA, Wake Forest University, 2011 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Rhetoric & Communication University of Pittsburgh 2018 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH KENNETH P. DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS & SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Sydney Porter Pasquinelli It was defended on October 27, 2017 and approved by Paul Elliot Johnson Deepa Kumar John Lyne Shanara Rose Reid-Brinkley Dissertation Director: Gordon Roger Mitchell ii Copyright © by Sydney Porter Pasquinelli 2018 iii THE LESSER-EVILS PARADIGM FOR IMAGINING ISLAM: U.S. EXECUTIVE BRANCH (RE)FRAMING OF ISLAM IN THE EARLY COLD WAR ERA OF RACIALIZED EMPIRE-BUILDING Sydney Porter Pasquinelli, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2018 Rhetorical criticism of declassified United States executive branch intelligence documents produced by the Truman and Eisenhower administrations (1945-1961) illuminates how US agents (re)imagined Islam in this crucial yet understudied era of racialized empire-building. Two case studies help unravel characteristics of this dominant discourse: The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s attempt to delegitimize the Nation of Islam by characterizing its leadership and doctrine as violent, racist, and unorthodox; and the Central Intelligence Agency and State Department’s simultaneous effort to validate Islam and Islamism in the Middle East by positing them as ideological forces against communism and Arab Nationalism. Interactional and interdisciplinary consideration of archived rhetorical artifacts uncovers how motives to expand US empire, quell anti-imperial and anti-racist resistance, and advance early Cold War objectives encouraged executive agents to reframe Islam. -
Gulf July 2016
Gulf July 2016 Boycott is over? Participative trends in Gulf’s Muslim Brotherhood In the Arab Gulf region, contemporary although different trends in government-opposition dialectic have been surfacing. Broadly looking at state-society relations, Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain are representative case-studies to identify and compare paths of political moderation or exclusion in an age of regional instability. All these countries will held parliamentary elections by two years. In Kuwait, candidates belonging to the Islamic Constitutional Movement (ICM, also known as al-Harakat al-Dusturia al-Islamiya, HADAS) will run for the 2017 parliamentary elections. The Muslim Brotherhood- linked movement (even though no more formally affiliated with the international Brotherhood organization) boycotted last elections in 2012 and 2013 to criticize the electoral law, as many Salafi groups did as well. In Jordan, the Muslim Brotherhood has been experiencing a “crisis of political identity” still unsolved and it often opted in the past for the electoral boycott, as occurred in 2010 and 2013. Notwithstanding rising intra-Ikhwan fragmentation, all the parties who claim for the Muslim Brotherhood’s legacy (the Islamic Action Front proceeding from the original movement funded in 1942, the Society registered in 2015 and the reformist initiative Zamzam) will take part to the legislative elections scheduled the 20th of September, although limited change is expected from the consultation. In Bahrain, the main Shia political society, al-Wefaq, was dissolved on July 2016 by an administrative judicial act, under the accusation of “violating the law” (with regard to the new amendments to the Political Societies Law, banning the mix of politics and religion) and “favouring terrorism”. -
'Political Islam', and the Muslim Brotherhood Review
House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee ‘Political Islam’, and the Muslim Brotherhood Review Sixth Report of Session 2016–17 Report, together with formal minutes relating to the report Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 1 November 2016 HC 118 Published on 7 November 2016 by authority of the House of Commons The Foreign Affairs Committee The Foreign Affairs Committee is appointed by the House of Commons to examine the expenditure, administration, and policy of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and its associated public bodies. Current membership Crispin Blunt MP (Conservative, Reigate) (Chair) Mr John Baron MP (Conservative, Basildon and Billericay) Ann Clwyd MP (Labour, Cynon Valley) Mike Gapes MP (Labour (Co-op), Ilford South) Stephen Gethins MP (Scottish National Party, North East Fife) Mr Mark Hendrick MP (Labour (Co-op), Preston) Adam Holloway MP (Conservative, Gravesham) Daniel Kawczynski MP (Conservative, Shrewsbury and Atcham) Ian Murray MP (Labour, Edinburgh South) Andrew Rosindell MP (Conservative, Romford) Nadhim Zahawi MP (Conservative, Stratford-on-Avon) The following member was also a member of the Committee during this inquiry: Yasmin Qureshi MP (Labour, Bolton South East) Powers The Committee is one of the departmental select committees, the powers of which are set out in House of Commons Standing Orders, principally in SO No 152. These are available on the internet via www.parliament.uk. Publication Committee reports are published on the Committee’s website at www.parliament.uk/facom and in print by Order of the House. Evidence relating to this report is published on the inquiry page of the Committee’s website. -
Israel's Response to Terrorism
Effective solidarity among states has become a prerequisite for ultimately succeeding in the war of the West against jihadist terrorism. A cohesive military strategy is needed for the West, the Arab states that are threatened, and Israel. It stands to reason that, just as all three face similar threats, the JERUSALEM models developed in Israel for dealing with terror merit attention in Europe and beyond. BERLIN Amb. Dore Gold President, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs ISRAEL’S RESPONSE TO TERRORISM FROM LESSONS LESSONS FROM ISRAEL’S RESPONSE TO TERRORISM FIAMMA NIRENSTEIN (ED.) AMB. DORE GOLD | BRIG.-GEN. (RES.) YOSSI KUPERWASSER AMB. ALAN BAKER | PROF. ASA KASHER | AMB. FREDDY EYTAN Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs DR. IRWIN MANSDORF | DAN DIKER | JENNIFER ROSKIES Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs LESSONS FROM ISRAEL’S RESPONSE TO TERRORISM Fiamma Nirenstein (ed.) Amb. Dore Gold | Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser Amb. Alan Baker | Prof. Asa Kasher | Amb. Freddy Eytan Dr. Irwin Mansdorf | Dan Diker | Jennifer Roskies Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs Read this book online: http://jcpa.org/lessons-israels-response-terrorism/ Cover photo: AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner, AP Photo/Michael Kappeler © 2017 Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs 13 Tel Hai St., Jerusalem, 92107 Israel Email: [email protected] Tel: 972-2-561-9281 | Fax: 972-2-561-9112 Jerusalem Center Websites: www.jcpa.org (English) | www.jcpa.org.il (Hebrew) www.jcpa-lecape.org (French) | www.jer-zentrum.org (German) www.dailyalert.org The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization. ISBN: 978-965-218-136-7 Contents Executive Summary 5 Is the Terror against Europe Different from the Terror against Israel? Amb. -
Title: Never Forget: Ground Zero, Park51, and Constitutive Rhetorics
Title: Never Forget: Ground Zero, Park51, and Constitutive Rhetorics Author: Tamara Issak Issue: 3 Publication Date: November 2020 Stable URL: http://constell8cr.com/issue-3/never-forget-ground-zero-park51-and-constitutive-rh etorics/ constellations a cultural rhetorics publishing space Never Forget: Ground Zero, Park51, and Constitutive Rhetorics Tamara Issak, St. John’s University Introduction It was the summer of 2010 when the story of Park51 exploded in the news. Day after day, media coverage focused on the proposal to create a center for Muslim and interfaith worship and recreational activities in Lower Manhattan. The space envisioned for Park51 was a vacant department store which was damaged on September 11, 2001. Eventually, it was sold to Sharif El-Gamal, a Manhattan realtor and developer, in July of 2009. El-Gamal intended to use this space to build a community center open to the general public, which would feature a performing arts center, swimming pool, fitness center, basketball court, an auditorium, a childcare center, and many other amenities along with a Muslim prayer space/mosque. Despite the approval for construction by a Manhattan community board, the site became a battleground and the project was hotly debated. It has been over ten years since the uproar over Park51, and it is important to revisit the event as it has continued significance and impact today. The main argument against the construction of the community center and mosque was its proximity to Ground Zero. Opponents to Park51 argued that the construction of a mosque so close to Ground Zero was offensive and insensitive because the 9/11 attackers were associated with Islam (see fig. -
The Muslim Brotherhood Fol- Lowing the “25 Janu- Ary Revolution”
Maria Dolores Algora Weber CEU San Pablo University THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD FOL- LOWING THE “25 JANU- ARY REVOLUTION”: FROM THE IDEALS OF THE PAST TO THE POLITICAL CHAL- LENGES OF THE PRESENT In the framework of the Arab Spring, as the wave of social mobilisation of 2011 has come to be known, the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt marked the beginning of a process which has deeply transformed the re- ality of many countries in the Arab World. In Egypt, the events that took place in Tahrir Square not only put an end to President Mubarak's dic- tatorship, but also paved the way for new political actors, among which the Muslim Brotherhood has played a key role. During the subsequent transition, the Brotherhood gained control of the National Assembly and positioned their leader, Mohamed Mursi, as the new President. The present debate is focused on the true democratic vocation of this move- ment and its relationship with the other social forces inside Egypt and beyond. This article intends to address these issues. To that end, it begins with an explanation as to the ideological and political evolution of the Muslim Brotherhood and its internal changes brought about by the end of the previous regime, closing with an analysis of its transnational influ- ence and the possible international aftermaths. Islam, Islamism, Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt, Arab Spring 181 INTRODUCTION n 2011, a wave of social mobilisations took place in various Arab countries and which came to be known as the “Arab Spring”. This name is undoubtedly an at- tempt to draw a comparison between the historic process that unfolded in Europe Iin the mid-nineteenth century and the events that have taken place in the Arab World. -
The Islamist : Why I Joined Radical Islam in Britain, What I Saw Inside and Why I Left Pdf, Epub, Ebook
THE ISLAMIST : WHY I JOINED RADICAL ISLAM IN BRITAIN, WHAT I SAW INSIDE AND WHY I LEFT PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Ed Husain | 304 pages | 09 Apr 2008 | Penguin Books Ltd | 9780141030432 | English | London, United Kingdom The Islamist : Why I Joined Radical Islam in Britain, What I Saw Inside and Why I Left PDF Book For permissions please e-mail: journals. He is not Arab. Friends who disappear to training camps later become key figures in al-Qaeda. Syria is full of surprises. Under the Olive Tree. He found an antidote to extremism by digging deeper into Islamic spirituality itself. Democracy, or people's rule, is anathema to fundamentalist Muslims since only Allah should govern and the Koran contains Allah's words and will. Whatever it is, that mind-set needs to be opened up and explored and rejected. Joining and Leaving the Muslim Brotherhood in the West , you recall how you first become interested in the movement. He describes his journey towards fanaticism as gradual, first coming across Islamism in the school textbook Islam: Beliefs and Teachings by Ghulam Sarwar, which says: 'Religion and politics are one and the same in Islam. It fascinated me. The first part focuses on how each individual joined the Brotherhood, with particular attention both to the recruitment methods employed by the organization and the psychological impulses that drove the individual to join. Not all agree, however, on the exact details of the complete code, or at least who should be in charge, and factional infighting results. His travels in Turkey and Syria - that member of "the axis of evil" - were more redemptive than a million demands for assimilation. -
The UK's Experience in Counter-Radicalization
APRIL 2008 . VOL 1 . ISSUE 5 The UK’s Experience in published in October 2005, denied having “neo-con” links and supporting that Salafist ideologies played any role government anti-terrorism policies.4 Counter-Radicalization in the July 7 bombings and blamed Rafiq admitted that he was unprepared British foreign policy, the Israeli- for the hostility—or effectiveness—of By James Brandon Palestinian conflict and “Islamophobia” these Islamist attacks: for the attacks.1 They recommended in late april, a new British Muslim that the government tackle Islamic The Islamists are highly-organized, group called the Quilliam Foundation, extremism by altering foreign policy motivated and well-funded. The th named after Abdullah Quilliam, a 19 and increasing the teaching of Islam in relationships they’ve made with century British convert to Islam, will be schools. Haras Rafiq, a Sufi member of people in government over the last launched with the specific aim of tackling the consultations, said of the meetings: 20 years are very strong. Anyone “Islamic extremism” in the United “It was as if they had decided what their who wants to go into this space Kingdom. Being composed entirely findings were before they had begun; needs to be thick-skinned; you of former members of Hizb al-Tahrir people were just going through the have to realize that people will lie (HT, often spelled Hizb ut-Tahrir), the motions.”2 about you; they will do anything global group that wants to re-create to discredit you. Above all, the the caliphate and which has acted as Sufi Muslim Council attacks are personal—that’s the a “conveyor belt” for several British As a direct result of witnessing the way these guys like it.