24 February, 2006

Analysing The Muslim Response To Controversy

The American University in Dubai's Islamic Awareness Club has organised a lecture by Dr. Abdelrahman Thakir discussing the Muslim reaction to the Danish controversy.

Lecture Title: 'Why do we act and react the way we do'
Date: Saturday, 25th of Feb. 2006
Venue: Auditorium of the American University in Dubai
Time: Doors open at 6:30 pm.

Entry free. All are welcome.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello,

My name is Roheet Shah, and I am an intern with the American Islamic Congress, and its project, HAMSA (Hands Across the Mideast Support Alliance) based out of Boston. I came across your e-mail address through reading your blog, and I greatly admired what you had to say. I am writing today to ask for help in regards to a project I am working on in Civil Rights in the Middle East.

One of the projects I am working on is the promotion of an essay contest on Civil Rights in the Middle East. The contest has two parts: one for Middle Eastern youth (25 and younger) and one for American youth (25 and younger). To participate, all one has to do is write a brief essay (600-2,000 words) addressing one of the questions below. Winners - selected by a group of celebrity judges, including Gloria Steinem, Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim, and Norman Hill - will receive a $2,000 prize, with other prizes for top essays. For more information on the contest, please visit: http://www.hamsaweb.com/essay-contest.php

Specifically, I would first like to encourage you to enter the contest (if you are eligible), and secondly, I would like to ask for your help in publicizing the essay contest, either by posting about it in your blog, or telling your friends and colleagues about it.

If you would like to post about the contest in your blog, we have pre-made promotional materials available at: www.hamsaweb.org/promo

Also, for you convenience, I have included a short announcement about the essay contest below this post.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions, and thank you in advance,

--Roheet Shah
Program Intern
American Islamic Congress (www.aicognress.org)
roheet@aicongress.org

====================

I write to inform you about a new essay contest launched by the American Islamic Congress on civil rights in the Middle East. Anyone under the age of 26 can enter, and finalists can win up to $2,000 in cash prizes.

The "Dream Deferred Essay Contest" (see http://www.hamsaweb.org ) challenges young Americans and young Middle Easterners to express constructive ideas for individual rights in the world's least-free region.

Judges for the essay contest include Gloria Steinem (founder of Ms. Magazine), the Cato Institute's Tom Palmer, Azar Nafisi (author of Reading Lolita in Tehran), as well as noted Middle Eastern bloggers Ammar Abdulhamid of Syria and Mahmoud Al-Yousif from Bahrain.

We are hoping to awaken young Americans to the reform efforts of indigenous Middle Eastern progressives and to engage them in this discussion. Several hundred Americans have already submitted essays, but we would like to reach out to students on campus so you can enter before our deadline, on March 31st, 2006.

We hope you consider submitting an essay, and please feel free contact me at roheet@aicongress.org with any questions or concerns.

Thank you,

--Roheet Shah

roheet@aicongress.org

Anonymous said...

sounds more like a project that's funded by the US Congress... just like this and this

Anonymous said...

Rightly said by anonymous.

This project looks quite seedy - just like the 'collaborations' the US had for starting its wars in Afghanistan (oil pipeline involved) and Iraq (world's top quality crude reserves).

Here are the questions this suspicious "American Islamic Congress" wants addressed in its essays - looks more like "How can we help you throw off your governments so that we can come in and install our puppets under the sad excuse of "democracy":

If you live the Middle East...

1. Why are individual rights important?

2. How are non-violent campaigns for civil rights making Middle Eastern societies more open?

3. What is your "dream deferred" - a vision of your society with civil rights for all people?

If you live in America...

1. Why should Americans help civil rights reformers in the Middle East?

2. How can you as an individual support the struggle for civil rights in the Middle East?

3. What might the future look like if Americans partner effectively with Middle Eastern reformers?

All this seems like another version of "the white man's burden".

Anonymous said...

ok. completely off-topic here.

well i'd love to attend the AUD talk but too late for me. i'd already be in shj by then.

Tim Newman said...

This project looks quite seedy - just like the 'collaborations' the US had for starting its wars in Afghanistan (oil pipeline involved)...

You know, this came as a suprise to me, as I work in the oil and gas industry and have a keen interest in Central Asia. So when I first heard that the US invaded Afghanistan in order to build a pipeline, I started looking for some evidence. And you know what? I didn't find any. So I asked the chap who first brought the claim to my attention to produce some, and do you know what? He didn't! And every subsequent person who has made this claim has singularly failed to provide a shred of evidence that a pipeline ever featured in the war plans of the US. Maybe you can be the first?

Anonymous said...

Tim:

The US is the world's bad guy. That's all the evidence you need. So don't go around asking people for evidence, substantiation etc., whenever someone starts railing off wild accusations against the US. Is anything wrong anwhere in the world? The US, and particularly President Push, is responsible. Never mind Roheet Shah. We've just proved the US Congress is behind this whole thing.

Anonymous said...

Go to Google. Type these words in the search box:
unocal karzai afghanistan pipeline

Press 'Enter'.

35,000 references. READ a few.

Also see:

"Afghan gas pipeline nears reality"
http://abcnews.go.com/International/CSM/story?id=1619370

"India to join Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan gas pipeline"
http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=356719

When you stand before God, if you believe in one, don't say I didn't know. Say, I didn't care.

John B. Chilton said...

Is there something wrong with FDI? By a private company? That was nearly sold to the Chinese?

Tim Newman said...

Erm, I don't mean to be pedantic, but the links you have provided point to a pipeline being built by a consortium of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Where does the US fit into all this? It seems mighty strange to me that the US invaded Afghanistan so that Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and Pakistan can build a pipeline.

And if you dig out the original source of that Unocal pipeline and read it yourself, rather than the 35,000 Google returns (which, incidentally, must represent the most flexible interpretation of the word "evidence" in history), then you will realise how ridiculous your claim sounds.

John B. Chilton said...

Hmm. Who is this standing here? Tim? No. John B? No. Oh it's anonymous! Who are you again? Should credence be given to an anonymous lacking even a web persona, let alone html skills?

Farrukh Naeem said...

Excuse the interruption, gentlemen. I'd only take a minute.

For the 'anonymous' (25 February, 2006 14:19 ) who wanted to attend the lecture but couldn't and for John, I hope to be posting the report on my blog soon.

The way things are shaping up in this comments section, hmmmm... what can I say *shrug*

Anonymous said...

Tn and jbc:

So who needs a persona? Just pay attention to the gems that roll off their worthy tongues. Did you know the US is the world's biggest aid donor, for example? So what's wrong with that?

"Ulterior Motives...didja not know....how naive..."

They just can't win.

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