From: unitedhindufront+noreply@googlegroups.com
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2011 17:35:43 +0000
Subject: {UnitedHinduFront} Digest for
unitedhindufront@googlegroups.com - 7 Messages in 7 Topics
To: Digest Recipients <unitedhindufront+digest@googlegroups.com>
=============================================================================
Today's Topic Summary
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Group: unitedhindufront@googlegroups.com
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/unitedhindufront/topics
- Fw: -=Kashmir-Interchange=- International Teleconference on August
13, 2011 [1 Update]
http://groups.google.com/group/unitedhindufront/t/7fe5401cda53340d
- THE MAHATMAS [1 Update]
http://groups.google.com/group/unitedhindufront/t/3dfe72e0dec7eb3d
- KASHMIRA VAHINI ADDRESSES PRESS/MEDIA [1 Update]
http://groups.google.com/group/unitedhindufront/t/862f5b958dd5adc2
- Netaji's driver claims he can't have died in plane crash [1 Update]
http://groups.google.com/group/unitedhindufront/t/343cce9ccc4eee93
- Kashmir Debate by Al Jazeera on Youtube [1 Update]
http://groups.google.com/group/unitedhindufront/t/cec5c3d774478d65
- International Symposium on the Human Rights of Kashmiri
Pandits-1992 [1 Update]
http://groups.google.com/group/unitedhindufront/t/289898f4ed3f245f
- Multiculturalism is for the Birds – II-Radha Rajan-11 August 2011 [1 Update]
http://groups.google.com/group/unitedhindufront/t/c25035c0d329eb96
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Topic: Fw: -=Kashmir-Interchange=- International Teleconference on
August 13, 2011
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/unitedhindufront/t/7fe5401cda53340d
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From: Hari Kaul <hari_kaul@yahoo.com>
Date: Aug 11 05:15PM -0700
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/unitedhindufront/msg/1f3110d93c411f63
Dear respected members of our community
Namaskar
Please read the e-mail from Shehjar Editorial Board. I wonder who
created all this confusion. What is the need of duplication of
International Teleconference when shehjar Editorial Board had already
published the date and time of their International Teleconference on
August 13, 2011. Instead of creating unity we are dividing our
community for our personal gains/ cheap publicity
Please clarify ASAP
Best regards
Hari kaul
Toronto, Canada
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: "Ourkashmir@aol.com" <Ourkashmir@aol.com>
To: kashmir-interchange@googlegroups.com
Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2011 5:21:59 PM
Subject: -=Kashmir-Interchange=- International Teleconference on August 13, 2011
Dear Members,
About Shehjar:
On behalf of Shehjar, I have to say that from its very inception (I would
even say from when it was just a concept), the publication's
purpose has been to uniformly serve the global population of
those interested in Kashmir and in matters regarding Kashmir,
particularly those
showcasing the Kashmiri Hindu Culture native to the place. Shehjar has
found deep and emotional patronage especially within the Kashmiri
Hindu community and our readers span the entire globe. We are
motivated in our
actions by our deep sense of gratitude towards our authors and
readers.
About the International Tele-Conference:
Shehjar is just a publication and not an Acting Authority or Driving
Organization. Our teleconference has the twin objectives of allowing a people
(the Kashmiri Hindu community) who have a story to tell to have an avenue to do
so and we then report that story to the world. The conference that we are
organizing was announced and soon after that we saw another conference
advertised. In our mind, the conferences are not connected nor is there a
conflict. The speakers are also different and our management of the
teleconference will be simple because we have only information assimilation and
dissemination goals. It will then be up to various associations and socially/
politically active organizations to venture further how they deem
fit.
We will be focusing on 2 topics which are:-
1. Role of our (Kashmiri Hindu) USA based community in light of Mr.
G.M. Fai's arrest
2. Articulating and communicating our
(Kashmiri Hindu) stand with uniformity, holding facts and figures. Let us
establish some common ground upon which our individual opinions can
stand.
Some members of the community may then thank some Influential people who
have been standing with the community in its struggles.
Please await final details to be sent within the next 24 hours.
Meanwhile, we can assure you that the speakers will be of stature and their
words will command interest.
Hope that this answers.
Thanks and Warm regards
Arun Koul
EARLIER COMMUNICATION ON THE SUBJECT
Further to our note, we are pleased
to inform you that an American human rights activist
of International repute and Chair and Co-founder of Human Rights Advisory
Council to US Congressman will be one of our guest speakers alongwith
leaders and members representing our community organizations
including KOA. We have received an overwhelming response to our
request and are in the process of finalizing our list of
speakers.
Please mark your
calendars and email us regarding your participation and with your suggestions.
Our email is editor.shehjar@gmail.com.
Saturday, 13st August 2011 from
12.30 P.M to 2.00 P.M U.S.A Eastern Standard Time
9.30 A.M to
11.00 A.M U.S.A Pacific Standard Time
10.00 P.M to 11.30 P.M India
Standard Time
We will discuss possible positions that can be held by the Kashmiri
Hindu Community in view of significant recent events, which are
impacting and changing dialog in and about Kashmir. This teleconference is open
to all members of our worldwide community. Pre-registration with an
email to editor.shehjar@gmail.comis requested and required so that we
can make appropriate
conferencing arrangements. We have invited eminent personalities,
Kashmiri Pandit community leaders and activists who will provide us
with their views and
suggest a future road-map.Indian and International media will be
covering this event.
We are dividing this conference into three
segments of 30 minutes each. Each session will have a Moderator and 3-4 guest
speakers will speak on the topic for about 3 minutes each. For the next 10-15
minutes, they will answer questions from the attendees.
At this stage we have developed the following topics,
specifically concerning the Kashmiri Hindu community:-
1. Role of our USA based community in view of Dr Gulam Nabi Fai's
arrest and a report by the Kashmir interlocutor, Dilip Padgoanker,
being submitted to the Govt of India.
2. Evolution of a contact and communication strategy for
opinion influencers. Convey our deepest gratitude to those who have
been helping
our cause.
3. Articulating and communicating our stand with uniformity,
holding facts and figures. Let us establish some common ground upon which our
individual opinions can stand.
Please wait for
our next announcement that will provide complete
details.
Thanks and Warm
Regards,
Shehjar Editorial
Board
http://www.shehjar.com --
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=============================================================================
Topic: THE MAHATMAS
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/unitedhindufront/t/3dfe72e0dec7eb3d
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---------- 1 of 1 ----------
From: surekha marella <surekhamurali@gmail.com>
Date: Aug 11 07:18AM +0530
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/unitedhindufront/msg/b330eb6458d813
In common parlance a scholar, specially one learned in the Sastras, one who
has read many books and can expound and explain is a pundit. There is also a
special meaning for "Pundit"- one who is unmoved by sorrow, who can look at
all things impartially. Such a man looks at Brahmins, cows and elephants as
well as dogs and dog-eaters with equanimity. Such poise is achieved only on
experiencing in all creation the omnipresence of God. He perceives the
Supreme Lord everywhere, shapes or body as Vishnu, action as Vasudeva, and
'Antaratma' inner self as Narayana. For him, the illusory world vanishes,
and Brahma, the truth, is ever present.
Worldly people, the non-pundits, lament over the death of some people. What
is more, they lament that some others are alive. When one sees in the dead,
and not yet dead the Lord eternal, both kinds of laments disappear, and only
the sense of being remains. This is the state of liberation, birthless and
deathless. This is the true meaning of* "Pundit".*
Courtesy : Mihira
Thank You,
Regards,
Surekha
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Topic: KASHMIRA VAHINI ADDRESSES PRESS/MEDIA
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/unitedhindufront/t/862f5b958dd5adc2
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---------- 1 of 1 ----------
From: KASHMIRA VAAHINI <kashmiravaahini@gmail.com>
Date: Aug 11 08:19PM +0530
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/unitedhindufront/msg/4a24c62324a616c7
***BELOW IS THE VIDEO LINK OF PRESS CONFERENCE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCeEqVSVIVQ
KASHMIRA ** **VAHINI*
* ** ** HQR- JAMMU*
* ** ** Mb: - 9906001813, 9419181244, 0191-2532585*
***** <kashmiravahiniheadquarters@gmail.com>*
* ** ** (2) ** **Kashmiravaahini@gmail.com*
* *
*Ref**: -* KV/Media/73 *DT: -*
11-08-2011
* *
* *
* **PRESS -- NOTE*
* *
* *
*O*n calling over by the Governor Shri N.N.Vohra, a five member delegation
of *Kashmira Vahini *led by its National spokesperson, Dr. Khema Kaul met
him in Srinagar on August 8, 2011 and acquainted him with some of the
pressing problems faced by the displaced community, in particular, the
women.
*1. * The discussions were focused on the erratic and half hearted
implementation of the Prime Minister's Special Employment Package for
Kashmiri Pandit unemployed youth in which the state government has been
found playing false and loose by not withdrawing the undemocratic and
uncalled for terms and conditions attached with the package which could best
be described as nothing short of being draconian, but was also not showing
any inclination in removing the gross anomalies in its implementation.
Besides, the remaining part of the package was kept in abeyance with reasons
to suspect the motivated designs behind it. It was stressed upon that there
was no package for resolving the issue of livelihood of the over aged
unemployed persons of the community.
*2. * The governor was requested to arrange immediate enhancement of
the cash relief to the identified displaced members of the community as
paltry cash assistance of Rs. 1250 per month per head with a maximum of Rs.
5000 could hardly enable a person to keep his or her body and soul together
especially when prices of all commodities are continuously on the rise. The
enhancement of relief to the tune of Rs. 20,000 was demanded in the meeting.
*3. * The delegation conveyed its anxiety and anguish on the
deliberate dithering of the passage of Hindu Temples and Shrines (protection
and preservation) bill in the State Assembly and the figures of the temples
fully destroyed/burnt, those in dilapidated and crumbling state , those
partially or fully encroached, and those where even the land mafia is joined
by a few political workers of some valley based political parties were busy
in grabbing land and other immovable properties of many temples, were
conveyed to the Governor, duly supported by the reports published in news
papers.
*4. ** The Governor was informed in unambiguous terms that no person of
any position whatsoever was having any authority in segregating some temples
of the valley under one or the other pretext for not bringing them under the
umbrella of the proposed legislation as all temples in the valley belonged
to the Kashmiri Hindus*. Protection of the temples, it was reiterated, was
incumbent for protection and perseverance of the religo- cultural and
historical traditions of the community and history shall nor spare those who
created humps in legally protecting these places of worship of thousands of
years.
*5. * The leader of the delegation brought into the notice of the
Governor, a sustained and a well planned design to rechristen the names and
nomenclature of villages, localities, towns, hillocks of the Kashmir valley
and now the ancient city of Srinagar too was not been spared in this
sustained well organized campaign by attempting to rename it as *
Shehar-e-Khas* and surprisingly the Director of Information, a public
servant , was playing a leading role in this uncalled for activity. Such
nefarious programmes were needed to be reversed.
*6. * The other demands and issues included the protection of the
ancient and original Sharda script of the Kashmiri language and for saving
the thousands of years old shrine of the summit fame, the Sharda temple in
Muzzafarabad in Pakistan occupied Kashmir. The delegation requested the
Governor to arrange and facilitate visits of the Hindu devotees to this most
ancient and sacred place of worship.
Earlier the Governor was
presented with a framed photo picture of the goddess Kashmiri Devi giving a
brief description by Dr. Kheema Kaul about the historicity and the religious
relevance and place of the goddess Kashmira Devi. The Governor gave a very
patient hearing to the demands and issues raised by the delegation which
besides Dr. Kaul comprised of Smt. Sudesha Kaul, Smt. Sushma Ji, Smt. Vijay
Saproo and Shri Shibban Khaibri.
Issued to press by:
Menakshi Sidha
=============================================================================
Topic: Netaji's driver claims he can't have died in plane crash
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/unitedhindufront/t/343cce9ccc4eee93
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---------- 1 of 1 ----------
From: "Sandhya Jain " <sandhya206@bol.net.in>
Date: Aug 11 02:18PM +0530
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/unitedhindufront/msg/dc63b871d1d2d27b
Netaji's driver claims he can't have died in plane crash
TNN | Aug 11, 2011, 12.59PM IST
VARANASI: While a number of books were published on Netaji Subhash
Chandra Bose and committee and commissions set up to solve his
mystery, a living witness and close companion of Netaji was never
contacted by anyone.
Nizamuddin, a 107-year-old man who claims to be the driver of Netaji
in Azad Hind Fauj (AHF), lives in Islampura, Bilariyaganj, in Azamgarh
district. He claims to have spent four years with Netaji after joining
the AHF in 1942. The TOI team also visited him sometime back. Recently
the volunteers of a local organisation also went to his place to
honour him.
Nizamuddin was also sure that Netaji was not killed in the plane crash
in 1945. "How can it be possible when I had dropped him by the car on
the banks of Sitangpur river near the boarder of Burma and Thailand
about three-four months after the incident of plane crash?" he
wondered. He has no idea what happened after he dropped Bose on the
riverbank. He said that he insisted to accompany Netaji, but he was
commanded to return with a promise of meeting again in Independent
India.
But, he recalled his meeting with Swami, a close associate of Netaji,
over 10 years ago. Swami was in regular touch with Netaji. According
to the repatriation certificate issued in favour of Nizamuddin, Swami
(full name SV Swami) was the chairman of the Relief and Repatriation
Council, Ex Azad Hind Fauj and Allied Organisation, Rangoon. It was
the only document Nizamuddin has with him that shows his association
with AHF.
In 1969, he returned to India with his family and settled at his
ancestral house in Dhakwa village. Later, he shifted to Islampura.
=============================================================================
Topic: Kashmir Debate by Al Jazeera on Youtube
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/unitedhindufront/t/cec5c3d774478d65
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---------- 1 of 1 ----------
From: Aditya Raj Kaul <kauladityaraj@gmail.com>
Date: Aug 11 12:36PM +0530
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/unitedhindufront/msg/1344a9f9bf57397e
You may see the Al Jazeera show on Kashmir which went live on air this
morning here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyUqH6ioUEw
Also, kindly visit the following Al Jazeera page on Kashmir and put your
honest comments - http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/kashmiri-protest-culture
regards
--
Aditya Raj Kaul
India Editor
The Indian, Australia <http://www.theindian.net.au/>
Blog: http://activistsdiary.blogspot.com/
=============================================================================
Topic: International Symposium on the Human Rights of Kashmiri Pandits-1992
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/unitedhindufront/t/289898f4ed3f245f
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---------- 1 of 1 ----------
From: jeevanzutshi@aol.com
Date: Aug 10 06:54PM -0400
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/unitedhindufront/msg/779424ad0c75cbc4
I am not aware of it Sam. Would you happen to know the name of the
person in Los Angeles?
I should have known if this is true!
Regards,
Jeevan Zutshi
-----Original Message-----
From: Shambhu 'Sam' Rao <sam@samrao.com>
To: JEEVANZUTSHI@aol.com
Cc: kashmir-interchange@googlegroups.com; kpindia@yahoogroups.com;
kpnetworkindia@yahoogroups.co.in; maej_kasheer@googlegroups.com;
kashmiripandit@yahoogroups.co.in;
kashmir-global-network@yahoogroups.com;
Unitedhindufront@googlegroups.com
Sent: Wed, Aug 10, 2011 2:24 pm
Subject: Re: {UnitedHinduFront} International Symposium on the Human
Rights of Kashmiri Pandits-1992
Jeevan
Wasnt this the same year when Ghulam Nabi Fei was received and
welcomed glowingly in Los Angeles by an "activist" Kashmiri Pandit?
SAm Rao
-----Voice of Asian-Indian-Americans----<br>
-----www.indian-american.org-----<br>;
--- On Wed, 8/10/11, JEEVANZUTSHI@aol.com <JEEVANZUTSHI@aol.com> wrote:
From: JEEVANZUTSHI@aol.com <JEEVANZUTSHI@aol.com>
Subject: {UnitedHinduFront} International Symposium on the Human
Rights of Kashmiri Pandits-1992
To: kashmir-interchange@googlegroups.com, kpindia@yahoogroups.com,
kpnetworkindia@yahoogroups.co.in, maej_kasheer@googlegroups.com,
kashmiripandit@yahoogroups.co.in,
kashmir-global-network@yahoogroups.com,
Unitedhindufront@googlegroups.com
Date: Wednesday, August 10, 2011, 12:08 AM
Namaskar!
As promised last month, here are four parts of the first International
Symposium held on Nov. 15, 1992 near Fremont, California.
Various other symposiums convened by me in California or Washington
D.C., will be posted in the future, as they are in the process of
being transferred on to you tube.
What is interesting is to hear the speakers and their thought process
at that time!
I am dedicating this video to Late Shri K.L.Kaul, a genuine KP, a true
leader, who can't be forgotten so quickly by our community.
The political activism started with him in the U.S. and we are
grateful to him for his direction.
Peace be on his soul!
International Symposium on the Human Rights of Kashmiri Pandits
Union City, California
Nov. 15, 1992
Convener: Jeevan Zutshi
You can access them at my channel
http://www.youtube.com/jeevanzutshi
or click on each link below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioNcjR22Zro&feature=channel_video_title
http://www.youtube.com/jeevanzutshi#p/a/u/2/D97DKiV3wdQ
http://www.youtube.com/jeevanzutshi#p/a/u/1/TNUmRt9QgkY
http://www.youtube.com/jeevanzutshi#p/a/u/0/BztPeHTtt3Q
Be well.
Jeevan Zutshi
www.jeevanzutshi.com
--
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Topic: Multiculturalism is for the Birds – II-Radha Rajan-11 August 2011
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/unitedhindufront/t/c25035c0d329eb96
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---------- 1 of 1 ----------
From: "Sandhya Jain " <sandhya206@bol.net.in>
Date: Aug 11 06:58AM +0530
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/unitedhindufront/msg/ea0c8ca1a45d3415
http://www.vijayvaani.com/FrmPublicDisplayArticle.aspx?id=1914
Multiculturalism is for the Birds – II
Radha Rajan
11 August 2011
Monotheism breeds multiculturalism
Immigration to Bretton Woods countries came in two forms – slave
labour which performed hard, physical manual work as skilled labourers
in their factories, and as 'unskilled labour' comprising a major
segment of their service industry; all for the privilege of being
allowed to view from a distance the American (Holy Grail) Dream.
In the second stage, well-camouflaged slave labour was promoted and
elevated to the status of domestic help when bogus Christian
egalitarianism allowed them to live inside the home of the master and
eat off the kitchen table. This labour came into these countries as
doctors, engineers, scientists, educationists, yoga gurus and IT
experts.
Multiculturalism in America and Europe was a necessary virtue when it
was multi-flavoured Christianity - newly-liberated, end-of-segregation
African American, Cuban, Irish, Italian and Latin-American;
multiculturalism as immigration from countries which they had
colonised and impoverished was suffered as token Christian reparation
for war crimes and the crimes of colonization; multiculturalism was
also a show-and-tell virtue when it was docile, self-effacing,
hardworking Hindus and Sikhs who knew their place, were immensely
grateful for being allowed to graze on green pastures, and who,
despite more wealth in the bank than their masters, did not threaten
hostile take-over of the house, bless their Hindu souls.
Multiculturalism began to lose its sheen and virtuous veneer when it
came as Muslims – Indian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani Muslims, African
Muslims and growing numbers of a new wave of Africans fleeing poverty,
hunger and AIDS. The increasing visibility of migrants from Asia –
from India, Pakistan, Vietnam, Japan, Korea, China, Indonesia and Sri
Lanka, and from Africa was altering the racial demography of the white
landscape and multiculturalism was beginning to pinch.
It began to pinch painfully when the new wave of Muslim immigrants,
unlike the Hindus, refused not only to remain confined to the kitchen
and service quarters, but insisted on running amok in the garden and
the living room. Some of them even declared their intent to subjugate
and takeover America and Europe by altering the religious demography
of the American and European landscape and eventually to do unto
Europe and America what they had already done to India in 1947 and
what Europe and America had done to Indonesia, the Soviet Union,
Yugoslavia and Sudan.
All this was unsettling to the White Christian-ness of public spaces
in Europe and America compounded by the imminent danger from
multiculturalism to the pre-eminent position of the White Christian,
ruling supra-elite.
America and Europe were forced to revisit multiculturalism as a
political virtue when Islam's symbols and way of life began to pervade
the two continents. Samuel Huntington had to undertake a massive
exercise to probe the content of being 'American', while Britain and
France, Australia and Canada began to analyse and describe their
national culture and ethos. All of them concluded ridiculously that
the ability to speak English or French, and not permitting Muslim
women to wear the veil, constituted the essence of white culture.
Democracy was thrown in as a component of self-description only to
juxtapose it against what the Generic Church considered was
non-democratic, non-liberal Muslim social and political culture.
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12371994, State
multiculturalism has failed, says David Cameron)
The first important step in Europe towards self-description came in
2002 from Pope John Paul II and the then Cardinal Ratzinger, now
incumbent Pope; in America, around the same time the process of
self-description was marked by Samuel Huntington's Who are We? The
Challenges to America's National Identity (Simon & Schuster, 2004) and
a renewed national debate over whether the Pledge of Allegiance (not
to be confused with the Oath of Allegiance) was mandatory for all
students in American schools.
America's multiculturalism was heaving and churning, threatening to
dislodge the cowboy.
When the fall of the Berlin Wall was engineered by the Generic Church
to coincide with neo-colonialism's globalization, neo-Imperialism
smacked its lips as new frontiers beckoned it and new vistas for
expansion opened up. Greed for new territories to occupy and control
was tempered by the sobering realization that a significant part of
Eastern Europe was Muslim and even if one did not factor
globalization-immigration into Europe, parts of the continent were as
distinctly Muslim as other parts were Christian.
As the European Union was emerging from its chrysalis, the Pope had to
speak up, as others had, to emphasize Europe's Christian-ness before
Multiculturalism was made Europe's defining virtue.
Q: There is a debate over the inclusion of the word 'God' and
references to Europe's Christian past in the preambles of the future
[European] Constitution. Do you think there can be a united Europe
that has turned its back on its Christian past?
A: I am convinced that Europe must not just be something economic [or]
political; rather, it is in need of spiritual foundations.
It is a historical fact that Europe is Christian, and that it has
grown on the foundation of the Christian faith, which continues to be
the foundation of the values for this continent, which in turn has
influenced other continents.
It is imperative to have a foundation of values and, if we ask
ourselves what that foundation is, we realize that, beyond the
confessions, there are no others outside the great values of the
Christian faith. And this is why it is imperative that in the future
Constitution of Europe mention is made of the Christian foundations of
Europe. (Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger from an interview given on 1
December 2002 to a group of journalists at the Catholic University of
St. Anthony, Murcia, Spain)
Europe is a cultural and not a geographical continent. It is united by
its culture which gives it a common identity. The roots which formed
... this continent are those of Christianity. (Josef Ratzinger prior
to his election as Pope Benedict XIV, in an Interview in Le Figaro,
August 2004, putting the case for the exclusion of Turkey on religious
grounds)
Turkey [is] an Asiatic nation, its capital is not in Europe, 95% of
its population is outside Europe. Turkey has a different culture, a
different approach, a different way of life. Letting it in would be
the end of the European Union. (Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, French
President 1974-1981, President of Commission for drafting the EU
Constitution set up in 2002. Widely taken to mean he doesn't want
Turkey to join because it is a majority Muslim country)
Europe's founders, like Adenauer, De Gaspari and Schuman, put their
Christian [Catholic] faith at the centre of their political lives. How
can we underestimate, for example, the fact that in 1951, before
beginning the delicate negotiations which would lead to the adoption
of the Treaty of Paris, they wished to meet in a Benedictine monastery
on the Rhine for meditation and prayer? (Pope John Paul II, 7 November
2003, Audience with members of European Christian Democrat Foundation,
appealing to have Christianity mentioned in the EU Constitution)
- We will be joined to a Europe in which the Catholic religion
will be the dominant faith, and in which the application of the
Catholic Social Doctrine will be the major factor in everyday
political and economic life. (Shirley Williams, British Labour
Minister and later co-founder of Social Democrats)
- Besides turning the Genesis on its head by attributing human
Founders for Europe and besides giving short shrift to geography, the
following ideas emerge unambiguously from these statements –
- The then Pope, the incumbent Pope and important political
leaders in Europe declare firmly that Europe is Christian
- The bare-faced lie that Europe grew on the foundations of Christianity
- That Europe is not a geographic but a cultural entity and
Europe's Founders put their Christian faith at the centre of their
political lives
- The Generic Church will not acknowledge, much less legitimise
any pre-Christian past or roots for Europe
- The incumbent Pope and a former President of France (the
spectre of Algeria was haunting France) do not want Muslim Turkey
within the Christian European Union which would effectively make
Turkey a European country
This is not the only instance when the Church has rejected
multiculturalism on its turf. The Church closed ranks and rejected the
Muslim demand to build a mosque adjacent to the Basilica of
Annunciation in Nazareth. The Basilica of Annunciation is built on the
site where the Church claims Angel Gabriel told Mary she would give
birth to Jesus.
Muslims claim that the site is important to them too, historically,
because it is the final resting place of Shahib-al-Din, nephew of
Saladin who commanded the Jihadi army which defeated the Crusaders in
1187. The Israeli government at first permitted the Muslims to build
the mosque and the marble cornerstone was unveiled with much fanfare
on November 23, 1999.
The Christian world reacted with anger over the Muslim demand and over
the Israeli government's decision to allow the mosque to come up next
to the Basilica. This notwithstanding the fact that Nazareth is
important to both Christians and Muslims; that the site in question is
historically important to both communities; most significantly,
notwithstanding the fact that Muslims today constitute two-thirds of
Nazareth's population.
Considering the lectures on pluralism, freedom of religion and rights
of minorities which the US and the Vatican have given to India's
Hindus, this makes interesting reading –
A special Israeli government committee is debating whether Nazareth
officials should allow Muslims to continue building a mosque alongside
the famous Basilica of the Annunciation.
Israeli officials created the committee in response to a new wave of
international appeals. Israel decided in 1998 to allow the mosque's
construction, despite protests from Nazareth's Christians. The
Vatican, the White House, and an international coalition of Catholic
and Protestant Christian church groups have opposed construction.
Critics have said that the new mosque could physically overwhelm the
adjacent church site and threaten the delicate status quo between
Nazareth's Muslim Arab majority and Christian Arab minority.
The mosque might contain multiple spires that would tower over the
black-coned dome of the basilica, says Dave Parsons, a spokesman for
the International Christian Embassy, one of the groups protesting the
construction.
"It will demean the basilica and force Christians to run a gauntlet
from the main street to the church," Parsons said. "We want the city
authorities to restore the public plaza and establish a buffer zone
against any future encroachment attempts."
(http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2002/march11/27.33.html)
America fares no better than Europe at self-description and dealing
with multiculturalism. Samuel Huntington, like President Kennedy
before him, described the United States of America as a Nation of
Immigrants. For "an anguished, frantic, over-burdened academic
producing scholarly works", the description was a travesty of truth
which condemned Native Americans and African Americans to
non-existence by leaving them outside the pale of this popular
description.
Native Americans were native or indigenous to the continent and Bering
Strait theory notwithstanding cannot be termed immigrants; and the
forcible transportation of Africans to the American continent can
hardly be termed immigration. If we discount from Huntington's
description the blatant falsehood of calling European Christian
genociders, invaders, freebooters, settlers-by-force, slave holders
and slave traders as immigrants, what remains of the American populace
– Germans, Irish, Scandinavians, Latin Americans and Asians - fits the
description. America is a nation of immigrants.
America could not be described in terms of race, ethnicity or
religion. Except for Native Americans who belonged to the soil, the
rest of the populace was not bound to the nation by primordial,
umbilical ties. Huntington and the White House had to confront the
truth that there were powerful "sub-national, dual-national and
transnational" identities which were always simmering at the top of
the people's consciousness.
That people feel a permanent sense of belonging to each other only
when they share a common sense of belonging to the soil is a truth
that is always fudged, swept under the carpet and rejected outright;
but the truth keeps coming back as is the way of truth.
Faced by the sobering truth that there was nothing that could hold the
artificial entity called United States of America together, the ruling
elite was compelled to invent the onion called American Creed. When
Huntington peeled the onion he was forced, like the Pope, to conclude
that America was white Christian!
The 'American Creed' as initially formulated by Thomas Jefferson and
elaborated by many others, is widely viewed as the crucial defining
element of American identity. The Creed, however, was the product of
the distinct Anglo-Protestant culture of the founding settlers of
America in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Key elements of
that culture include the English language; Christianity; religious
commitment; English concepts of the rule of law, the responsibility of
rulers, and the rights of individuals; and dissenting Protestant
values of individualism, the work ethic, and the belief that humans
have the ability and the duty to try to create a heaven on earth, a
"city on a hill." Historically, millions of immigrants were attracted
to America because of this culture and the economic opportunities it
helped to make possible. (Samuel Huntington, Who are We, pp xv-xvi)
Huntington admits –
- American Creed is the essence of American nationalism
- Nationalism is culture
- Culture derives from religion
- American Nationalism is a mixture of Anglo-Protestant
cultural and political values like individualism and the religious
commitment of the individual
- This cultural nationalism, if it finds no favour with
non-Christians as it doesn't, is made attractive with 'economic
opportunities' seasoning
- America, like any other Christian country or society is only
a sum total of individuals
White Christian America, after inventing the binding glue called
American Creed realized that the glue did not always work and its
populace kept looking back wistfully for the nation they had left
behind for the American Dream. The American state needed something
more than the voluntary code of the American Creed to survive; it
crafted the Oath of Allegiance, which immigrants had to take when they
opted for American citizenship; and the Pledge of Allegiance which
adults and school children took every morning around the American
flag.
The Oath of Allegiance is intended to make a new-convert-to-the-faith
of the immigrant – reject all previous fidelity to previous gods,
reject totally your previous gods and worship none but this one true
god.
I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and
abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate,
state, or sovereignty of whom or
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