Monday, November 8, 2010

Parallel Tracks to Censorship

This table is intended to show the similarities between the current draft resolutions on Elimination of all forms of intolerance and of discrimination based on religion or belief, combating defamation of religions and the 2009 draft protocol to ICERD.

    These documents equate racism & opposition to Islam, conflate the right of free expression with an imaginary right to be shielded from criticism and subordinate it to that fiction. The resolutions are not enforcible; they only lend immoral support to local blasphemy laws which are used to persecute minorities. The protocol, if passed, signed and ratified, will have the force of law as part of ICERD.

    These are three parallel tracks condemning criticism of Islam; one of them will criminalize it.  The United Nations, driven by the OIC, are trying to make criticism of Islam a criminal offense.  In essence, anything that offends Muslims will become illegal. Reliance of the Traveller, Book o, Chapter 8.7 lists twenty forbidden acts and attitudes which entail apostasy subjecting the perpetrator to the death penalty. Jews & Christians living as dhimmis under Islamic domination are subject to the same provision, by reference in o11.10 -5- or mentions something impermissible about Allah, the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), or Islam.

o8.7: Acts that Entail Leaving Islam

(O: Among the things that entail apostasy from Islam (may Allah protect us from them) are:

-1- to prostrate to an idol, whether sarcastically, out of mere contrariness, or in actual conviction, like that of someone who believes the Creator to be something that has originated in time. Like idols in this respect are the sun or moon, and like prostration is bowing to other than Allah, if one intends reverence towards it like the reverence due to Allah;

-2- to intend to commit unbelief, even if in the future. And like this intention is hesitating whether to do so or not: one thereby immediately commits unbelief;

-3- to speak words that imply unbelief such as ``Allah is the third of three,'' or ``I am Allah''-unless one's tongue has run away with one, or one is quoting another, or is one of the friends of Allah Most High (wali, def: w33) in a spiritually intoxicated state of total oblivion (A: friend of Allah or not, someone totally oblivious is as if insane, and is not held legally responsible (dis: k13.1(O:) ) ), for these latter do not entail unbelief;

-4- to revile Allah or His messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace);

-5- to deny the existence of Allah, His beginingless eternality, His endless eternality, or to deny any of His attributes which the consensus of Muslims ascribes to Him (dis: v1);

-6- to be sarcastic about Allah's name, His command, His interdiction, His promise, or His threat;

-7- to deny any verse of the Koran or anything which by scholarly consensus (def: b7) belongs to it, or to add a verse that does belong to it;

-8- to mockingly say, ``I don't know what faith is'';

-9- to reply to someone who says, ``There is no power or strength save through Allah''; ``Your saying `There's no power or strength, etc,' won't save you from hunger'';

-10- for a tyrant, after an oppressed person says, ``This is through the decree of Allah,'' to reply, ``I act without the decree of Allah'';

-11- to say that a Muslim is an unbeliever (kafir) (dis: w47) in words that are uninterpretable as merely meaning he is an ingrate towards Allah for divinely given blessings (n: in Arabic, also ``kafir'');

-12- when someone asks to be taught the Testification of Faith (Ar. Shahada, the words, ``La ilaha ill Allahu Muhammadun rasulu Llah'' (There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah) ), and a Muslim refuses to teach him it;

-13- to describe a Muslim or someone who wants to become a Muslim in terms of unbelief (kufr);

-14- to deny the obligatory character of something which by the consensus of Muslims (ijma`, def: B7) is part of Islam, when it is well known as such, like the prayer (salat) or even one rak'a from one of the five obligatory prayers, if there is no excuse (def: u2.4);

-15- to hold that any of Allah's messengers or prophets are liars, or to deny their being sent;

(n: `Ala' al-din' Abidin adds the following:

-16- to revile the religion of Islam;

-17- to believe that things in themselves or by their own nature have any causal influence independent of the will of Allah;

-18- to deny the existence of angels or jinn (def: w22), or the heavens;

-19- to be sarcastic about any ruling of the Sacred Law;

-20- or to deny that Allah intended the Prophet's message (Allah bless him and give him peace) to be the religion followed by the entire world (dis: w4.3-4) (al-Hadiyya al-`Ala'iyya (y4), 423-24). )

There are others, for the subject is nearly limitless. May Allah Most High save us and all Muslims from it.)

Muslims demand that those laws be enforced so that revealing the fact that terrorism is an intrinsic sacrament of Islam or that Muhammad was a pedophile, plunderer and terrorist will be a criminal offense punishable by fine and imprisonment.

    The United States officially rejects the concept of defamation of religions, yet it is a sponsor of A/C.3/65/L.32, which substitutes negative stereotyping with essentially the same denotation.  Note the "deep concern" expressed about negative stereotyping & association with terrorism. 

concept
A/C.3/65/L.32 A/C.3/65/L.46  Draft Protocol
Conflation
Also emphasizes that freedom of religion or belief and freedom of
expression are interdependent, interrelated and mutually reinforcing, and stresses
further the role these rights can play in the fight against all forms of intolerance and
of discrimination based on religion or belief;
Reaffirming that all human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and
interrelated,
In this connection, both special report urged the Committee on Human Rights to consider adopting additional rules on the interrelations between freedom of expression, freedom of religion and non-discrimination, particularly in the form 'a general comment on Article 20.
incitement
Condemns any advocacy of religious hatred that constitutes incitement to
discrimination, hostility or violence, whether it involves the use of print, audiovisual
or electronic media or any other means;
Reaffirms the obligation of all States to enact the legislation necessary to
prohibit the advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement
to discrimination, hostility or violence, and encourages States, in their follow-up to
the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and
Related Intolerance, to include aspects relating to national or ethnic, religious and
linguistic minorities in their national plans of action and in this context to take
forms of multiple discrimination against minorities fully into account;
The fundamental characteristic common to all events to discredit certain religions and insult people or groups who have religion in common, commonly called "defamation of religions" and that all phobias and religious discrimination is incitement to racial hatred For religious and address the issue of defamation of religions in a universal manner, it is essential to reduce this discussion to the international instruments on human rights. In particular, provisions relating to incitement to national hatred, racial or religious are already part of the main international instruments of which the vast majority of countries are signatories. This anchoring of defamation of religions in specific legal provisions is likely to confirm that no incitement to racial hatred and religious standard is already integrated in the vast majority of national laws in all regions.
terrorism
Also emphasizes that no religion should be equated with terrorism, as this
may have adverse consequences on the enjoyment of the right to freedom of religion
or belief of all members of the religious communities concerned;
Expresses deep concern, in this respect, that Islam is frequently and
wrongly associated with human rights violations and terrorism;

symbols
To exert the utmost efforts, in accordance with their national legislation
and in conformity with international human rights law, to ensure that religious
places, sites, shrines and symbols are fully respected and protected in a
non-discriminatory way, and to take additional measures in cases where they are
vulnerable to desecration and destruction and to bring to justice individuals
responsible for committing acts of desecration or destruction;
Calls upon all States to exert the utmost efforts, in accordance with their
national legislation and in conformity with international human rights and
humanitarian law, to ensure that religious places, sites, shrines and symbols and
venerated personalities are fully respected and protected, and to take additional
measures in cases where they are vulnerable to desecration or destruction;

respect
To take all necessary and appropriate action, in conformity with
international standards of human rights, to combat hatred, discrimination,
intolerance and acts of violence, intimidation and coercion motivated by intolerance
based on religion or belief, as well as incitement to hostility and violence, with
particular regard to members of religious minorities in all parts of the world, and to
reflect on such incidents with a view to formulating effective measures to promote
respect for freedom of religion or belief;
Also urges all States to take all possible measures to promote tolerance
and respect for all religions and beliefs and the understanding of their value systems
and to complement legal systems with intellectual and moral strategies to combat
religious hatred and intolerance;

stereotyping
&
Defamation
Expressing deep concern at all forms of discrimination and intolerance,
including prejudices against persons and derogatory stereotyping of persons, based
on religion or belief,
Expresses deep concern at the negative stereotyping of religions and
manifestations of intolerance and discrimination in matters of religion or belief still
evident in the world;
-----------------
Stressing that defamation of religions is a serious affront to human dignity
leading to the illicit restriction of the freedom of religion of their adherents and
incitement to religious hatred and violence,
 The participants sought to identify gaps and weaknesses regarding additional issues include: the multiple or aggravated forms of racial discrimination, ethnic cleansing, genocide, religious intolerance and defamation of religious symbols, racial discrimination in the private domain, incitement to racial hatred and dissemination of hate speech and xenophobic and stereotypical images in the media and information technologies, including the Internet. "[14]

Political Parties
Expressing serious concern at the increase in racist violence and xenophobic
ideas in many parts of the world, in political circles, in the sphere of public opinion
and in society at large, as a result, inter alia, of the resurgence of activities of
political parties and associations established on the basis of racist, xenophobic and
ideological superiority platforms and charters, and the persistent use of those
platforms and charters to promote or incite racist ideologies,
Noting that in some countries, intolerance towards followers of certain religions is encouraged, openly or implicitly, by some parties and political leaders, including not only extremist parties, but also some traditional parties ,

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