Read
Why It Happened!
Dime's
Worth of Difference:
Beyond the
Lesser of Two Evils
Order Here!
Today's
Stories
December
2, 2004
Saul
Landau
The Assassination of Danilo Anderson
December
1, 2004
Phillip
Cryan
Associated with Whom? Rightist Bias
in Wire Coverage of Colombia
Dave
Zirin
What's the Matter with "Leon"?:
Budweiser's Racist Commercial
Ghali
Hassan
Iraq's Health Care Under the Occupation:
200 Children Die Every Day
Donna
J. Volatile
Beware Western Nations Threatening "Democracy"
Patrick
Cockburn
How Saddam Tried to Arm the Insurgency
Nick
Meo
Chemical War Over Afghanistan
Mike
Ferner
The Battle of Toledo
Mokhiber
/ Weissman
Shame and Determination on Global AIDS Day: 40 Million and Rising
Kathy
Kelly
Looking the Other Way: the Real Crimes
of the UN in Iraq
November
30, 2004
Jennifer
Van Bergen
The Veil of Secrecy
Toni
Nelson Herrera
Meeting Kurtz: When Art is a Crime
Paul
Craig Roberts
The Bush Delusions: Successful at Incompetence
Patrick
Cockburn
The Insurgency Strikes Back: There Are No Safe Havens in Iraq
Chuck
Munson
WTO Protests Five Years Later: Seattle Weekly Trashes Anti-Globalization
Movement
Adam
Williams
Citizenship Sold: Back to Business in Indiana
Gregory
Elich
A Dangerous Turn in the US Plans for
North Korea
Website
of the Day
Read Lynne Cheney's Lesbian Novel Online!
November
29, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
Blowback in Ukraine: The Hand of
the CIA?
Omar
Barghouti
"The Pianist" of Palestine:
Roadblock Concerto at Gunpoint
Mike
Whitney
The US Media and Fallujah: How to
Market a Siege
Uri
Avnery
The Abu Mazen Style: "Give Me
Some Credit!"
Matt
Vidal
Globalization and Economic Inequality: a Look at the Numbers
Patrick
Cockburn
An Interview with Iraq's Foreign
Minister
Alan
Farago
Sex Change and Salvation: God, Girly Men and Endocrine Disrupters
Justin
Huggler
Bhopal 20 Years Later
Antony
Loewenstein
How Australia Reported Arafat's Death and Legacy
Gary
Leupp
Ukraine: Poll Results Aren't the Real
Issue
Website
of the Day
Mosul: Images from a Kill Zone
November
27 / 28, 2004
Peter
Linebaugh
Torture & Neo-Liberalism with
Sycorax in Iraq
Alexander
Cockburn
What Happened to O'Reilly's Loofa?
Fred
Gardner
Ashcroft v. Raich: Medical Marijuana and the Supreme Court
Kathy
Kelly
What We Can Control
Diane
Christian
The Other Cheek: "Empire Doesn't Analyze, It Acts"
Gary
Leupp
One More Neocon Target: South (Yes, South) Korea
Lenni
Brenner
Equality and Rights of Return: Jefferson Instructs the New York
Times
Ron
Jacobs
Death Squads and Iraq's Elections: the Mysterious Murders of
the AMS Clerics
Joshua
Frank
An Interview with Kevin Zeese on Nader, Kerry and the ABB Crowd
Toni
Solo
The Murder of Danilo Anderson
Saul
Landau
Fallujah, the 21st Century Guernica
JoAnn
Wypijewski
Matthew Shepard Case 6 Years Later: Why Hate Crimes Laws are
No Cure for Homophobia
Justin
Taylor
Empire's Lawless Opportunities
Amos
Harel
The Case of Captain R.
Walter
A. Davis
Tabloid Justice
Stephen
Hendricks
God's Kind of Men
Poets'
Basement
Albert, LaMorticella and Ford
November
26, 2004
Peter
Feng
Gavin Newsom: Man or Machine?
Greg
Moses
It's the White Vote, Stupid
Liaquat
Ali Khan
The Devil's Work: Bush's Minority Appointments
Michael
Mandel / Gail Davidson
Why Bush Should Be Banned from Canada: a Memo to the Ministry
of Immigration
Dave
Lindorff
Nation of Sheep, Turkey of an Election: Urkrainians Show the
Way
Gary
Corseri
When Black Friday Comes...
Paul
Craig Roberts
Whatever Happened to Conservatives?
Website
of the Day
Iraq Pipeline Watch
November
25, 2004
Willliam
Loren Katz
Giving Thanks to Whom?: "Thanks
to God We Sent 600 Heathen Souls to Hell Today"
Mitchel
Cohen
Why I Hate Thanksgiving
Mike
Ferner
An Uncommon Mom
November
24, 2004
Gila
Svirsky
License to Kill: the Example of Violence
is Set by the State
Winslow
T. Wheeler
The
Other Mess in Congress
Christopher
Brauchli
The Company He Keeps: the Syndicate of Tom Delay
Dave
Lindorff
Double Standards on Exit Polls: Hypocrisy Sans Irony
Ron
Jacobs
The Occupation of Iraq is the Root of t he Problem
Ken
Sengupta
Witnesses: War Crimes in Fallujah
Diana
Barahona
The Final Holocaust or Why I Voted for Ralph Nader
John
L. Hess
Safire the Shameless
Jason
Leopold
Did Harvard Hire (Another) War Criminal?
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The Mark of McCain: the Senator Most Likely to Start a Nuclear
War
Map
of the Day
Now and Then: 2004 v. 1860
November
23, 2004
Forrest
Hylton
Bush and Uribe at the Beach
November
22, 2004
Dave
Zirin
Fight Night in the NBA: Selective Outrage
in Detroit
Paul
Craig Roberts
On to Iran: We Won't Get Fooled Again?
Michael
Mandel / Gail Davidson
Why Bush Should be Banned from Canada
Kathie
Helmkamp
Our Son: a Marine Who Won't Kill
Ken
Sengupta
The Triangle of Death: "This is Now the Most Dangerous Place
in Iraq"
Mike
Whitney
Greenspan's Hammer
Roger
Burbach
Why They Hate Bush in Chile
Website
of the Day
Fed Up with Government Lies and Corporate Spin?
November
20 / 21, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
The Poisoned Chalice
Todd
May
Religion, the Election and the Politics of Fear
Abbas
Ahmed Ibrahim
The Horrors of Fallujah: a First-Hand Account
Kevin
Zeese
Mishandling Nader
Landau
/ Hassen
After Arafat
Tom
Barry
The Vulcans Consolidate Power: The Rise of Stephen Hadley
Fred
Gardner
Pot Shots: Ask Dr. Todd
Justin
E.H. Smith
Triumph of the Will: the Sequel
Carl
Estabrook
Where We Are Now
Gary
Leupp
Imperial History-Making vs. Reality-Based Thought: a Dialogue
Dave
Lindorff
Apocalypse Soon
Jenna
Michelle Liut
Plans Colombia and Patriota: Wanton Wastes of Money, Manpower
and Lives
Mickey
Z.
The Granma Moses of Radical Writing: an Interview with William
Blum
Greg
Moses
The Same Old Struggle Against Imperial America
Sharon
Smith
Abortion Rights and the Election: What Now?
Ron
Jacobs
Sandwiches and Car Bombs
Ben
Tripp
Raising d'Etre: Finding Money in Hollywood These Days
Richard
Oxman
Basketbrawl Two Pointer: Iraq Rules!
Gilad
Atzmon
Politics and Jazz
Poets'
Basement
LaMorticella, Albert, Ford, & Anon.
Website
of the Day
Voice of the Forest
Hot Stories
Alexander Cockburn
Behold,
the Head of a Neo-Con!
Subcomandante
Marcos
The
Death Train of the WTO
Norman Finkelstein
Hitchens
as Model Apostate
Steve Niva
Israel's
Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings?
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber
True Lies: the Use of Propaganda
in the Iraq War
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click
Here for More Stories.
|
December 2, 2004
Pleading for
Understanding
The
Murder of Theo Van Gogh and Muslim Migration
By
BEHZAD YAGHMAIAN
On November 2nd, Theo Van Gogh was shot
and fatally stabbed in the streets of Amsterdam.
Van Gogh was a newspaper columnist
and a filmmaker. He was a supporter of Pym Fortuyn, the anti-Muslim
and anti-migrant politician who was murdered by an ethnic Dutch
animal- rights activist. Fortuyn had once said "This is
a full country. I think 16 million Dutchmen are about enough.
The killer was not a Muslim. He was not an immigrant.
Van Gogh,s own murder came
after the television screening of his controversial short film,
"Submission, a film critical of the treatment of women in
Islam. His voice was silenced forever. A twenty-six year old
Dutch-born Muslim of Moroccan origin was arrested.
Like the case of Pym Fortuyn,
Van Gogh,s killer was not an immigrant. One Dutch murdered another.
But the killings are followed by widespread anti-immigrant and
anti-Muslim feelings in the Netherlands and in Europe.
Muslim primary schools were
destroyed by arson. Mosques were firebombed. The Helden Islamic
Mosque Foundation in the southern province of Limburg was set
ablaze. Many Muslim buildings were vandalized or attacked. In
Sinsheim, Germany, a mosque was damaged in an overnight attack
with a Molotov cocktail.
Muslim migrants became suspected
terrorists. Calls were made for stricter migration policy and
harsher antiterrorist laws: the arrest and interrogation of suspected
migrants, Muslims in particular. A member of the Dutch Parliament
said: "It's better to have 10 possibly innocent people temporarily
in jail than one with a bomb on the street."
Muslims migrants, a large community,
became stigmatized and criminalized for the crimes of a handful
of individuals.
A similar reaction to Muslim
migrants occurred after the attack on the World Trade Center.
Immediately after September 11, scores of Muslims were arrested
across the United States. They were detained"many for months"without
any charges having brought against them. In most cases, the families
of the detainees were not informed. The Muslims simply disappeared.
In the United States and elsewhere
stopping illegal migration and combating terrorism coincided.
Muslim migrants became a threat to national security. They faced
collective punishment.
Affected by these developments,
I left New York City on September 1, 2002 on a personal mission,
and a quest, following Muslim . migrants in their search for
a home in the West. I met men and women from Iran, Afghanistan,
Iraq, the Sudan, and Somalia in their epic journey through Turkey,
Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, and other countries in Europe.
They were from different backgrounds.
Some escaped war. Others fled political persecution. Among them
were young boys and girls who lost their family in the bombing
of their homes in Iraq and Afghanistan; they were orphans, Muslim
orphans, searching for a new home. There were women from Iran
and the Sudan who were fleeing religious fundamentalism and their
treatment as second class citizens in their places of birth.
There were young men and women seeking normality, hoping to live
a life like the others in the West, a life free of fundamentalism,
a life free of humiliation, a life free of war.
I met Muslims who crossed the
oceans and snow-covered mountains, navigated rough seas on small
floats and fishing boats, got assaulted by border guards, spent
time in prison and detention camps, and continued their voyage
for a new life, a life they are were deprived of at home. .
We met in different stops on the journey": camps, prisons,
the ghettos and the underworld of Istanbul, the squat homes in
Athens, the tent city in the ports in Greece, the city parks
in Paris, and the woods in nNorthern France. These were Iraqi
Kurds living in temporary homes made of plastic and cardboard,
in the woods near Calais. . In Istanbul, I spent long weeks
and months with mothers traveling with their infants or young
babies, and those who were trapped in safe houses with no money
and jobs, still hoping to cross and make it to a safe place in
Europe.
I photographed teenagers whose
bones were broken by the Greek police when they attempted to
leave the country for Italy, men whose teeth were popped out,
and those whose ribs were broken under the kicks and punches
of the coastguards. And those attacked by the border dogs and
the guards in Bulgaria. They told me tales of violence, beatings,
and death in the hands of the guards.
Like the Irish, the Italian,
and the others who came to America in the turn of the last century
for a new life, the Muslim migrants are leaving their places
of birth for a new home, a place that would embrace them as equals.
They are men and women with dissimilar conditions. But, all have
similar dreams. They long for normality. They hope for a day
they could work with dignity, raise a family, get old, and see
their grandchildren play. But, as they proceed on their journey,
they face new walls.
They are not welcome. The gates
are closed.
Behzad Yaghmaian is the author of the forthcoming book
entitled Embracing the Infidel: The Secret World of Muslim
Migrant (Bantam/Dell random House, 2005). He can be reached
at behzad_yaghmaian@hotmail.com
Weekend Edition
Features for November
27 / 28, 2004
Peter
Linebaugh
Torture & Neo-Liberalism with
Sycorax in Iraq
Alexander
Cockburn
What Happened to O'Reilly's Loofa?
Fred
Gardner
Ashcroft v. Raich: Medical Marijuana and the Supreme Court
Kathy
Kelly
What We Can Control
Diane
Christian
The Other Cheek: "Empire Doesn't Analyze, It Acts"
Gary
Leupp
One More Neocon Target: South (Yes, South) Korea
Lenni
Brenner
Equality and Rights of Return: Jefferson Instructs the New York
Times
Ron
Jacobs
Death Squads and Iraq's Elections: the Mysterious Murders of
the AMS Clerics
Joshua
Frank
An Interview with Kevin Zeese on Nader, Kerry and the ABB Crowd
Toni
Solo
The Murder of Danilo Anderson
Saul
Landau
Fallujah, the 21st Century Guernica
JoAnn
Wypijewski
Matthew Shepard Case 6 Years Later: Why Hate Crimes Laws are
No Cure for Homophobia
Justin
Taylor
Empire's Lawless Opportunities
Amos
Harel
The Case of Captain R.
Walter
A. Davis
Tabloid Justice
Stephen
Hendricks
God's Kind of Men
Poets'
Basement
Albert, LaMorticella and Ford
|