http://www.unitedstatesaction.com/blog/imm-articles/089.html
 

Jihad Against Freedom of Speech at the United Nations


By Jeffrey Imm


 

The United Nations' Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has no problem with its
members suggesting that the 9/11 attacks were an "inside job" perpetrated by
the United States on itself. The human rights of America's 9/11 victims are
not a priority for UNHRC's Richard
<http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,369122,00.html> Falk, the special
rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, who engages in
9/11 conspiracy propaganda, while working for an organization headquartered
in New York City funded by U.S. tax dollars. This is Richard Falk's
protected freedom of speech.

Denying the role of Jihadists in the 9/11 attacks is apparently perfectly
acceptable freedom of speech for the UNHRC, but criticizing Sharia law is
another story. 

On June
<http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C06%5C19%5Cstory_19-6-2
008_pg7_6> 16, 2008, UNHRC president Doru Romulus Costea announced that
criticism of Sharia law will not be tolerated by the UNHRC, based on the
complaints and pressure by Islamist delegates to the UNHRC. In effect, the
Islamist nations represented at the UNHRC have effected a Jihad against
freedom of speech at the United Nations when it comes to criticizing Sharia
or Islamic supremacist (aka Islamist) theocratic ideologies that threaten
the freedom and lives of innocents around the world. This again demonstrates
the key imperative of control for Islamists - in this case in terms of
controlling ideas, thoughts, and words of an international organization
intended to promote human rights. Outgoing UNHRC Commissioner Louise Arbour
subsequently raised
<http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINL1856437520080618?pageNumber
=1&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true> concerns about debates on Sharia becoming
"taboo" within the United Nations group, stating
<http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINL1856437520080618?pageNumber
=1&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true>  that it "should be, among other things,
the guardian of freedom of expression."

The UNHRC ban on debate regarding Sharia came as a result
<http://www.iheu.org/node/3192>  of a three minute joint statement by the
Association for World Education with the International Humanist and Ethical
Union (IHEU) to the Human Rights Council on women's rights and the impact of
Sharia law. These NGOs sought
<http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20080618%5CACQDJON20
0806181150DOWJONESDJONLINE000683.htm&&mypage=newsheadlines&title=UN%20Rts%20
Head%20Concerned%20At%20Council>  to address international issues of
violence against women, specifically, the stoning of women, "honor killings"
of women, and female genital mutilation, as a result of Sharia law. 

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the Arab
Republic of Egypt vehemently criticized this attempted NGO message,
interrupting it via "16 points of order", for an hour and twenty-five
minutes per the IEHU <http://www.iheu.org/node/3192> . Jihad Watch
<http://www.iheu.org/node/3192>  provides a full transcript
<http://www.iheu.org/node/3192> of the debate. The Egyptian UNHRC delegate
claimed
<http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20080618%5CACQDJON20
0806181150DOWJONESDJONLINE000683.htm&&mypage=newsheadlines&title=UN%20Rts%20
Head%20Concerned%20At%20Council>  that silencing these NGOs was necessary to
ensure "that Islam will not be crucified in this Council," but the fact is
that Islamist forces seek to silence any debate on Sharia at all - anywhere,
any time.
 

Ongoing Efforts to Silence Debate on Sharia

This is not the first time that efforts have been made by such pro-Islamist
Organization
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organization_of_the_Islamic_Conference> of the
Islamic Conference (OIC) member nations to influence the United Nations. In
my article "Jihad,
<http://counterterrorismblog.org/2008/02/islamism_and_un.php> Islamism, and
the United Nations," I addressed the efforts of OIC member nations to reword
a UNHRC resolution on religious freedom so that it would not respect the
right of individuals to change their religion, as this would be in conflict
with Sharia law. The OIC continues
<http://www.oicun.org/articles/83/1/OIC-Statement-on-Islamophobia-29-Februar
y--2008/1.html>  global efforts to influence the United Nations and
worldwide organization to silence any debate on Sharia
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharia#Freedom_of_speech_2>  by painting such
debate as "Islamophobia."

In the war of ideas, the debate over Sharia's influence on Jihad
<http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/07/preventing_the_west_from_under.html>
(or "Islamist
<http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/9/11_Commission_Report/Notes/Part_12>
terrorism" per the 9/11 Commission Report), continues to remain under the
radar for many analysts. Yet in the ongoing
<http://counterterrorismblog.org/2008/06/pakistan_sharia_threat.php> battles
by the Taliban in Pakistan, a primary stated objective of the Taliban is
enforcing  <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7070640.stm> Sharia law
throughout the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, a sentiment that nearly
<http://www.terrorfreetomorrow.org/upimagestft/TFT%20Pakistan%20Poll%20Repor
t.pdf> 75 percent of Pakistanis agree with. (I address this issue in my
article "Pakistan
<http://counterterrorismblog.org/2008/06/pakistan_sharia_threat.php> and the
Growing Threat of a Sharia Mini-State.") 

Two days after this silencing of debate on Sharia at the UNHRC, a man
<http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/06/18/asia/AS-GEN-Pakistan-Blasphemy.ph
p> was sentenced to death for "blasphemy" in Pakistan by a Sharia court.
This is the same Pakistan, whose government seeks to export
<http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C04%5C16%5Cstory_16-4-2
008_pg7_6> the death penalty for "blasphemy"
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blasphemy_law_in_Pakistan>  against Islam on a
global basis, that now has successfully achieved the silencing of debate on
Sharia in the United Nations. Moreover, when the Danish Embassy was attacked
by terrorists in Pakistan recently, the Pakistan ambassador suggested
<http://www.cphpost.dk/get/107528.html>  that this was deserved due to the
"blasphemous" cartoons published in Danish newspapers -- the Pakistan
ambassador to Norway further stated
<http://www.tv2.no/nyhetene/innenriks/article1967041.ece>  to the press that
"blasphemous" cartoons are "an act of terrorism."
 

The challenge of Sharia's impact on Jihad is so completely beyond the
thought processes of counterterrorism analysts that Sharia is not even
mentioned in the latest "terror
<http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2008/04/24/jihadist_b
ooted_from_government_lexicon/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news> lexicon"
publications by the DHS
<http://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/misc/126.pdf>  and NCTC
<http://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/misc/127.pdf>  warning
government officials not to use terms like "jihad," "Islamist," "caliphate,"
"mujahedeen." Yet Sharia is a fundamental component of what western
political scientists call "Islamism" <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamism>
or "political Islam." The 9/11
<http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/9/11_Commission_Report/Notes/Part_12>
Commission Report specifically states that "Islamist terrorism" is based on
"Islamism." 

Nevertheless, as the U.S.
<http://www.upi.com/International_Security/Emerging_Threats/Analysis/2008/05
/06/analysis_us_drops_islam_in_terror_talk/9370/>  and the United
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1577675/Islamist-terrorists-rebrande
d-as-%27criminals%27.html> Kingdom governments seek to end dialogue on
jihad, Islamism, etc., the United
<http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C06%5C19%5Cstory_19-6-2
008_pg7_6> Nations now seeks to end debate on Sharia. The war of ideas seems
to be ending before it is even begun.

News media publications cannot be relied upon to address this vacuum in
ideological debate either. Most refuse to address Islamic supremacist
ideologies, including the impact of Sharia
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharia#Freedom_of_speech_2>  law on human
rights and freedoms. The Wall
<http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007/11/wsj_and_islamist_financing.php>
Street Journal even employs specialists on Sharia law to help promote
Sharia-based financial instruments.


Silence on Supremacist Ideologies Not Consistent With History or Democracy

The gross illogical nature of such an approach is seen by looking at another
form of supremacist political ideology that the United States government,
the United Nations, and other nations have aggressively debated and have
enforced change in their governments and their people to remove.
 

If the issue was a racial supremacist ideology, would such objections exist?

Can one imagine the United Nations refusing to debate "white supremacism"
due to fears of insulting "whites," or refusing to debate "apartheid"?

Can one imagine the U.S. government refusing to use terms such as "white
supremacism" in dealing with fighting the Ku Klux Klan, or in refusing to
consider the influences of white supremacist ideology when guaranteeing
civil rights for all of its citizens, and in creating laws to effectively
ban white supremacist influences in schools, businesses, and public places?

Most of all, in fighting white supremacist terror groups as the Ku Klux
Klan, would the FBI have consulted "non-violent" white supremacists for
ideological guidance? Would the FBI and the federal government have stated
that it could not be involved in the "war of ideas" against white
supremacism?

With the context of history, such questions are obviously absurd. That is
precisely the point regarding the unwillingness to address the challenges of
Islamic supremacist ideologies.

History shows that, in fact, none of this happened, and that the United
Nations, the U.S government, and federal U.S. law enforcement all took
action against such supremacist ideologies and publicly, aggressively,
debated these in a war of ideas that would change the world and the nation.
For the United States, the history of such federal action against such
supremacist ideologies goes back nearly 140 years.

Therefore, such deliberate silence and denial regarding Sharia and Islamic
supremacist ideologies is completely inconsistent with the history of such
organizations and with America's democratic values. I will be addressing
this in more detail in a future article to be entitled "Jihad and
Supremacist Ideologies."

UNHRC president Doru Romulus Costea silenced debate on Sharia due to his
fears of pursuing a "slippery slope" in such discussions. 

Yet it is precisely such a "slippery slope" of denial on Islamic supremacist
ideologies that the world is facing in the debate over Jihad, or in the
words
<http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007/10/bin_laden_sounds_the_call_of_d.php>
of Osama Bin Laden "the greater state of Islam from the ocean to the ocean,
Allah permitting."

On a national and global level, the combination of denial and refusal to
address the impact of Sharia and Islamic supremacist ideologies in providing
an ideological basis for global Jihadist activity is truly a "slippery
slope" for the safety of the entire world.

 

"Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force! Like fire, it
is 

a dangerous servant and a fearful master." -- George Washington

 


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