A better discourse
After that it’s good to be able to read Farrukh Saleem.
Aqsa is dead; she can wear a scarf no more; can go to the school no more. Aqsa can change into jeans no more; she can breathe no more…Honour killing is our export to Canada…Of the 192 member-states of the United Nations almost all honour killings take place in nine overwhelmingly Muslim countries. Denial is not an option…[H]onour killings have taken place in France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Canada. Intriguingly, all these honour killings have taken place in Muslim communities of France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Canada. Denial is not an option.
Soumaya Ghannoushi, meet Farrukh Saleem. Denial is not an option (and neither is obfuscation via ‘discourse’ about binaries and the other and hegemony).
Here’s another fact: Illiteracy and honour killings are correlated. Jacobabad District has a literacy rate of 23 percent, the lowest in Sindh. Jacobabad has the highest rate of crimes of honour; 91 honour killings in 2002…Another fact: Around 2.5 percent of humanity lives in Pakistan. But, nearly 30 percent of all honour killings reported from around the world are reported from Pakistan. Is denial an option? Who will take the honour out of these killings? Who will expose the horror from under the hijab? Who will protect women from the laws of men?
Well, probably not Soumaya Ghannoushi.
OB, you probably didn’t intend this, but your link to Mark Bauerlein on an Anthology of New Criticism also points to Farrukh Saleem’s column.
I’m for universal human rights, and snuffing out anyone for this reason is such a gross violation.
Ellen R. Sheeley, Author
“Reclaiming Honor in Jordan”
Drat! No, I didn’t intend that; thanks, Elliott.
Hey, welcome, Ellen.
Tapdog I cant remember who said it but there is a famous American quote about the bill of rights not being a suicide pact, the building of these sort of schools throughout the western world strikes me as risky at best, how long will it be before they become centres for training the next generation of young facist moslem men?
Yes Richard that quote (origin subject of some uncertainty but Justice Robert H. Jackson is a candidate see http://www.slate.com/id/2060342)helps to bring the problem into focus but of itself offers no comfort (to me at any rate).
Tapdog thanks for that no wonder I wasnt sure of the quotes origin, Jackson does seem the most likely candidate,although it has been ripped of so many times that it hardly matters who said it. You dont think it has any bearing on the isue of these islamic hate schools? I do! there is an ever growing moslem population in the west that is becoming more radical as every day passes, at what point should we say enough?
If perhaps the notional ‘right’ to freedom of speech is treated with unqualified and inalienable protection, we might understandably be viewed as a fair target by any who choose to exploit the situation for their own purposes.
Freedom of speech in truth is highly curtailed by a battery of real life restrictions including an unequivocal prohibition on inciting racially or religiously based incitement to civil disobedience. Put another way, ‘freedom’ does not include permission to break laws.
The disconnect which describes our predicament is that we repeatedly show ourselves, incapable of reconciling the
desirability of freedom with the obligation of responsibility.
Taking broad aim at all religious education advocated by some, is not the answer. Major religions (as distinct from those who claim divine franchise to interepret them) are in sum, strongly civilising in their advocacy of tolerant and harmonious human interaction. (And yes, I know it’s not a particularly fashionable line of thought in these circles)
At issue here are the activities of radicalized extremists the likes of which attach themselves parasitically to many religions. Their distinguishing hallmark is the self righteous fervour which they use to justify their sociopathic behaviour. More often than not this rests at some point upon a specious claim to religious authority.
While we tolerate, shelter and provide sustenance for this kind of toxic behaviour we cultivate the seeds of our own destruction.
I so agree, I see Christianity as positive influence(in general) on western culture, tne problem as I see it is that the west seems to acord islam the same respect that is given to christianity even though its influence is highly negative and is becoming more corrosive every day!The dificulty is what to do about it? all the posible soloutions seem to conflict with our basic values yet if we do nothing evil will triumph. I would be intrested in your opinion of what could be done about this?