Rather than focus on the evils of capitalism, the unlikely top billing of the opening night of the festival was devoted to a discussion about building unity between Muslims and the left; the keynote speaker was the controversial Islamic thinker Zafar Bangash, director of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought, who is in the news these days because he is in the midst of a heated battle to open a mosque in Newmarket - not because he wants to see a dictatorship of the proletariat.Desperate for new brothers in arms, Marxism appears to be doing some serious social networking. If this weekend's series of workshops at the festival is any indication, Marxism has a disparate cadre these days: green activists, the anti-war movement, the transgendered, members of First Nations, traditional Islam.
Inclusiveness is the buzzword here, where the members of this hodge-podge gathering can be overheard calling each other brother and sister. Participants call this membership drive "building unity," a much-repeated mantra throughout the opening night. Self-proclaimed Marxist James Clark, who helped organize the event, said that while there are disparate groups in attendance, they can all still rally around a slogan like "Out of Afghanistan and into Kyoto."
More here
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ELSEWHERE
I have put a couple of toty wee posts on my personal blog recently. "Toty wee" is a dismissive Scottish expression -- implying total insignificance. I enjoy Scottish expressions. I was brought up to think highly of Scotland and I still do. I greatly enjoyed my various trips to Scotland and would cheerfully live there except for the climate. Where I live in sub-tropical Brisbane has to be the dream climate. The nearest American analogue is San Diego. And San Diego has more admirals than any place outside Italy (The Italian navy has more admirals than ships). Navy men move about a lot so when an admiral decides where to retire he knows from experience that San Diego is the best.
France shows the way: "For Mr Sarkozy, who wants France to "work more to earn more", it will be straight down to business with the naming of his government on Thursday, to be headed by the socially sensitive senator Francois Fillon as prime minister. Economic and financial ministries are likely to be combined to avoid doubling up of treasury and finance staff. Symbolically, important ministries such as culture and agriculture are tipped to disappear, to be absorbed into more efficient super-ministries. In an interview with Le Monde, MrSarkozy said he was determined to change the country and ensure that only one in every two bureaucrats heading for retirement was replaced from this year."
Sarko's problem: "In my Languedoc village, Christian the local PC [computer] fixer has not hired anyone in 10 years because he says to do so he would have to take a pay cut. To hire anyone in France - who will work no more than 35 hours a week with generous vacations and who becomes immediately very difficult to sack - costs roughly 1,000 pounds a month. Before you have paid them a penny. In the next village over from me in England there is a fellow who does the same job as Christian and 10 years after starting a business in the same way, as a one-man band, has a fleet of vans running around the countryside staffed by eager geeks. The unavoidable question, Nicolas, is what are you going to do about this? I think I know. If you are to cut unemployment, you must stop taxing employers for creating jobs. It is, I think, that simple."
Signs of Intelligent Life in Europe: "Security officials from Europe's largest countries backed a plan Saturday to profile mosques on the continent and identify radical Islamic clerics who raise the threat of homegrown terrorism. The project, to be finished by the fall, will focus on the roles of imams, their training, their ability to speak in the local language and their sources of funding, EU Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Franco Frattini told a news conference after a meeting on terrorism. Italian Interior Minister Guiliano Amato said Europe had extensive experience with the "misuse of mosques, which instead of being places of worship are used for other ends." "This is bringing about a situation that involves all of our countries and involves the possibility of attacks and developing of networks that use one country to prepare an attack in another," Amato said."
Fighting terror with a Law Enforcement Model -- who knew we got stupid again?: "Here we are again with the FBI trying to fit a law enforcement model over a terror war. In New Jersey the FBI admits that they know of 4 other "accomplices" who were seen in the company of the 6 already arrested but that they don't have enough evidence to arrest them. Haven't we been here before? So then are we at war or are we engaged in a massive law enforcement operation against those Muslims who are doing their best to duplicate 9/11's death toll? Did we or did we not learn any lessons from the debacle of having Moussaoui in our hands with the evidence that would have allowed us to stop 9/11? Are we still trying to fit a law enforcement model of operation over a war? Remember we had Moussaoui's laptop computer in hand and that the evidence inside of that laptop would have given us enough to stop 9/11 but oops in a Law Enforcement model you are not allowed to look into that laptop"
Pittsburgh imam ousted over 'death' remarks: "Imam Fouad ElBayly has been asked to step down from his leadership roles at the Islamic Center of Johnstown, based on his comments published by the Tribune-Review. ElBayly, who came to the United States from his native Egypt in 1976, expressed his views on apostasy -- abandoning one's religious belief -- during an interview prior to Dutch feminist Ayaan Hirsi Ali's appearance April 17 at the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown. He indicated that in the eyes of the Islamic community, a sentence of death would be warranted for Hirsi Ali, a Somali refugee, women's rights advocate and atheist who has denounced the Islamic religion, criticized the practice around the world of female genital mutilation and spoken out against her Muslim upbringing. ElBayly, who tried to block Hirsi Ali's campus appearance, said her attacks on the Muslim faith were "poisonous." He did not threaten her, but explained that "all of her lies" warrant a death sentence. "The board and members of the Islamic Center of Johnstown were shocked and regret the comments made by Imam ElBayly regarding the visit of author Ms. Ayaan Hirsi Ali. The statements regarding the Islamic Center's reaction to her visit were incorrect, unfounded and not the views of its members," Dennis J. Stofko, the center's attorney, said in a letter to the Tribune-Review."
Jihadists smash mobile phones and cassettes, order tribesmen to grow beards: "Some 200 gun-toting Islamist militants smashed car cassette players and mobile phone cameras yesterday and ordered tribesmen in a Pakistani region to grow beards, part of a drive to impose Taliban-style values. The militants took up positions beside a road near Khar, the main town of Bajaur tribal region in northwestern Pakistan, and stopped and searched passing vehicles... A government official in Bajaur confirmed the incident but did not say whether authorities planned any action against the militants. Pakistan's lawless tribal belt, bordering Afghanistan, is known as a hotbed of support for the militants and critics say the government's influence there has weakened considerably since the authorities signed peace deals with the militants."
Israel to reward terrorism with more withdrawals: "The evacuation of Gaza was not Israel's last move, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said in an interview with the Egyptian weekly al-Ahram published Saturday morning. "I believe I represent most Israelis and I can confirm that Gaza is not the last move. We are convinced that in order to establish a Palestinian state we must withdraw from additional territories," the minister added.
For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH and EYE ON BRITAIN.
List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here
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"Why should the German be interested in the liberation of the Jew, if the Jew is not interested in the liberation of the German?... We recognize in Judaism, therefore, a general anti-social element of the present time... In the final analysis, the emancipation of the Jews is the emancipation of mankind from Judaism.... Indeed, in North America, the practical domination of Judaism over the Christian world has achieved as its unambiguous and normal expression that the preaching of the Gospel itself and the Christian ministry have become articles of trade... Money is the jealous god of Israel, in face of which no other god may exist". Who said that? Hitler? No. It was Karl Marx. See also here and here.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".
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