Penn Faculty for Justice in Palestine | Announcement statement of Palestinian solidarity chapter formation

"The movement for justice in Palestine has become crucial to the defense of academic freedom."

This appeared in yesterday's Daily Pennsylvanian:

"We write to announce the formation of Penn Faculty for Justice in Palestine (PFJP), a collective of those who support the teaching and research mission of the University, including faculty, lecturers, staff, and graduate employees. We have constituted ourselves in solidarity with the ongoing and ever-urgent struggles of Palestinians resisting occupation, warfare, and displacement. 

"The Israeli occupation of Palestine is one of the great moral and political issues of our time. At this moment, Palestinian life in Gaza is in dire crisis; the sheer scale of destruction demands an ethical response from all educators and concerned citizens. University trustees and administrators, under extreme pressure from private donors and right-wing federal legislators, are now subjecting teachers and students who are members of different Palestine solidarity movements to surveillance and, in some cases, to criminalization. Thus, for educators, the movement for justice in Palestine has become crucial to the defense of academic freedom, the preservation of open expression, and the integrity of scholarly inquiry and research in our universities. PFJP insists on the necessity of shared campus governance, in which administrators work with faculty, students, and staff to reject Islamophobic, anti-Arab, antisemitic, and other racist attacks and harassment by organizations both on and off campus. 

"Most recently, President Liz Magill, in response to hostile and uninformed questions from partisan members of Congress, resigned from her position after having failed to deny that there had been calls for “the genocide of Jewish people” on our campus. Nowhere did this happen. Rather than reject, or correct, the deliberate misreading of key events and terms, the President then pledged to “clarify and evaluate” acceptable speech on our campus, which indicates that our Open Expression guidelines will be rewritten. PFJP will join AAUP-Penn to defend our rights to unfettered scholarly research, debate, and critical thought and expression. We will also defend the right of our colleagues and students to protest and advocate for the non-violent principles enunciated by the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI). 

"We condemn all acts of terror and genocide. We decry any and all antisemitic actions as we do all threats directed against Palestinian students, faculty, and staff on our campus. For this reason, we are troubled by the one-sided rhetoric used in official University statements (many of which have since been deleted from Penn’s website) about campus life in the wake of the crisis in Palestine/Israel. Rather than work with faculty who have expertise on these issues, administrators have issued statements decrying antisemitic acts on our campus while ignoring the harassment of Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students. Further, the University has paid little attention to violent threats directed at colleagues who have expressed solidarity with Palestinian life. Instead, the University has publicly aligned itself with the Anti-Defamation League and with the controversial definition of antisemitism issued by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). The University has refused to condemn the racist hate speech directed against faculty, staff, and students who are calling for justice for Palestine and an end to the catastrophic killing of tens of thousands of civilians. Administrative actions and inaction have served to exacerbate tensions on campus and enable the targeted harassment of anti-Zionist voices. PFJP will work to counter such tensions, and to inform, to counsel, and to bridge campus divides. 

"We have witnessed the Penn administration deny permission to a progressive Jewish student group, Penn Chavurah, to screen a documentary film critical of Zionism, Israelism, made by two Jewish filmmakers. It is a testament to the strength and commitment of our students that they screened the film and conducted a long, civil discussion after the viewing. The refusal of official permission to screen the film led to the resignation of the faculty director of the Middle East Center, who had agreed to sponsor the event. In this and other instances, such as the five-week Freedom School sit-in, our students are shouldering the work that should be central to the educational mission of our university. PFJP supports such activities and will develop similar educational initiatives. 

"PFJP is also deeply concerned about the inequality that structures the Penn administration’s formation of two separate task forces, one to investigate antisemitism, the other to investigate “the interconnectedness of antisemitism and other forms of hate, including Islamophobia.” In its insistence on seeing antisemitism and Islamophobia as discrete types of racism, the former more worthy of investigation than the latter, the University administration has not only ignored the long history that regards them as intertwined but has also further entrenched a false dichotomy between religions. In addition, this dichotomy ignores discrimination against Palestinians, Arabs, and other allies who are neither Muslim nor Jewish. More so, in numerous public statements, the University administration has inappropriately conflated opposition to Zionism with antisemitism. This is a scholarly and political error, and PFJP will work to counter its effects, especially in the context of suppressing speech and dissent during a time of war, mass killing, and displacement. 

"We refuse the false premise — and red herring — that the conflict is principally religious in nature (Jewish, Muslim, or non-Muslim), although religious and cultural differences undoubtedly play a critical role. Rather, the issues remain largely political (a matter of state violence, colonialism, anti-Palestinian racism, and genocide). Critiques of state policy and militarism, U.S., Israeli, or otherwise are not only valid but also imperative in this moment of humanitarian crisis. 

"PFJP pledges to join and support the work of Palestinian solidarity groups at Penn, in Philadelphia, and across the nation. We welcome the formation of the Penn Alumni for Palestine (PA4P), a collective of Penn graduates committed to supporting free speech on Penn’s campus and protecting students, faculty, and staff who are advocating for freedom and justice for Palestine. We applaud and support their campaign denouncing the recent “delegation” of Penn faculty’s visit to Israel. We join them in their urgent call to the Penn administration to clarify the nature of the delegation and its affiliation with the University. PFJP is committed to working in solidarity and close collaboration with PA4P’s efforts to advocate for Palestinian voices and those in solidarity with Palestinians on Penn’s campus and to demand broader, more informed, and equitable perspectives on Palestine. 

"Together, we call on all Penn faculty to uphold academic responsibility in their actions and decisions. We call on this administration or any future administration and the Board of Trustees to uphold the principles of academic freedom for all in our community. In the absence of institutional support, we will work to ensure the safety of all members of our campus community who stand in solidarity with movements for Palestinian justice. We will advocate for colleagues who fear discriminatory actions when they exercise their right to open expression as they speak for justice in Palestine. In doing so, we will renew our community and strengthen our commitment to the exchange of ideas and scholarship, which we understand to be the foundation of the University."

Penn Faculty for Justice in Palestine is a collective of faculty and teaching staff that has formed as part of a growing campus movement of over 80 Palestinian solidarity chapters nationally. Their email is pennfjp@proton.me. 

Without Free Speech, Today Is Just a Monday

A message from FIRE for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday:

Today, the vast majority of Americans agree with Martin Luther King Jr. that we should be judged not by the color of our skin but by the content of our character. So it’s easy to forget just how radical King’s ideas were in his time.

Unpopular ideas are often hated, as are the people who voice them. In 1966, Americans were nearly twice as likely to have a negative opinion of King. But many ideas deemed radical in the past become common sense in the future.

Free speech is the engine of that change. As King said in his famous "Mountaintop" speech:



King’s activism was a catalyst for significant shifts in American society — none of which would have happened without his First Amendment right to speak or the American people’s right to listen. That’s why, no matter what we might think of someone’s ideas today, we must defend the right to express them.

Today, FIRE continues to defend the rights of college professors to teach King’s words. But creating a culture of free speech takes more than legal advocacy. It takes tolerance for other views, intellectual humility, and principles over partisanship. 
 

If you don't support free speech for all, you don't support free speech at all.

Sadly, one response to King’s speech was violence, and it was an act of violence that claimed his life. This is a stark reminder of how transgressive his message was to many and the dangers of not respecting the right of others to express themselves. But those who sought to silence King only amplified his ideas, proving that they couldn’t combat his message of unity and equal rights with a better one.

In honor of King’s legacy, we salute free speech: the tool of radicals everywhere, and the right that makes change possible.

FIRE

Remembering David Bowie

 

 

 

 

“I saw David many times [..] and it was always great.”

Today would be rock star David Bowie’s 77th birthday, and Philadelphia will be holding a week-long celebration. What follows is one fan’s remembrance of him.

 

“Journalist Michael Kaplan interviewed former teenage groupie Lori Mattix, also known as Lori Maddox or Lori Lightning, for Thrillist about her relationship with David Bowie and other rock stars. She told him:

 

“'What I remember most about the E Club was Bowie. I met him when he was doing the Spiders from Mars tour. I had not yet turned 15 and he wanted to take me to his hotel room. I was still a virgin and terrified. He had hair the color of carrots, no eyebrows, and the whitest skin imaginable. I grabbed on to [DJ and club co-owner] Rodney Bingenheimer and said I was with him. So we all just hung out and talked. I had probably kissed boys by that point, but I wasn’t ready for David Bowie. Next time Bowie was in town, though, maybe five months later, I got a call at home from his bodyguard, a huge black guy named Stuey. He told me that David wanted to take me to dinner.

 

“'Obviously, I had no homework that night. Fuck homework. I wasn't spending a lot of time at school anyway. I said that I would like to go but that I wanted to bring my friend Sable. She was dying to fuck Bowie. I figured that she would sleep with him while I got to hang out and have fun. At the time, Sable and her sister Coral were both dating Iggy Pop, spending time at the home of Tony DeFries [then-manager of David Bowie and Iggy] up in Laurel Canyon. People there were so high all the time − Quaaludes, heroin, whatever. In the limo ride to the Rainbow, Sable said, If you touch David, I will kill you. I didn't think she was kidding.

 

"'We sat at this corner table in a private room. Stuey rolled enormous blunts. John Lennon and Yoko Ono stopped by to say hello. We were drinking cocktails and looking at menus when some crazy guy dove over the table and said to David, You flaming fucking faggot. Kill Bowie! Next thing you know, Stuey's got the guy pinned down and we're being escorted out a side door and back into the limo. Danny's Song was playing on the radio and Sable started singing to David: We ain't got honey, but I'm so in love with your money... He laughed so hard. He thought it was hilarious. We got to the Beverly Hilton and all went up to Bowie's enormous suite. I found myself more and more fascinated by him. He was beautiful and clever and poised. I was incredibly turned on. Bowie excused himself and left us in this big living room with white shag carpeting and floor-to-ceiling windows. Stuey brought out Champagne and hash.

 

"'We were getting stoned when, all of a sudden, the bedroom door opens and there is Bowie in this fucking beautiful red and orange and yellow kimono. He focused his famously two-colored eyes on me and said, Lori, darling, can you come with me? Sable looked like she wanted to murder me. He walked me through his bedroom and into the bathroom, where he dropped his kimono. He got into the tub, already filled with water, and asked me to wash him. Of course I did. Then he escorted me into the bedroom, gently took off my clothes, and de-virginized me.

 

"'Two hours later, I went to check on Sable. She was all fucked up in the living room, walking around, fogging up windows and writing, I want to fuck David. I told him what she was doing and that I felt so bad. Bowie said, Well, darling, bring her in. That night I lost my virginity and had my first threesome. The next morning, there was banging on the door and it was fucking [Bowie's wife] Angie. I was terrified of her. David said not to worry about it. They were already at the point where they had separate rooms. She probably knew he'd be in there with girls... or boys. He was totally bisexual. I saw David many times after that, for the next 10 years, and it was always great.’

 

“Kaplan: 'Still, you were a 15-year-old kid and he was an adult man with a lot of experience, and power, and drugs. You don’t see any problem with that now?'

 

“'I was an innocent girl, but the way it happened was so beautiful. I remember him looking like God and having me over a table. Who wouldn't want to lose their virginity to David Bowie?'

 

“Kaplan: 'But did it ever feel like there was something unusual about it?’

 

“’No. You need to understand that my life has never been normal. I have always been special. I always felt like the universe was taking care of me. [...]'

 

“Kaplan: 'Still, a lot of people would have a hard time with an underage girl having sex with rock stars.'

 

“'But you need to understand that I didn't think of myself as underage. I was a model. I was in love. That time of my life was so much fun. It was a period in which everything seemed possible. There was no AIDS and the potential consequences seemed to be light. Nobody was afraid of winding up on YouTube or TMZ. Now people are terrified. You can't even walk out your door without being photographed. It has become a different world. [...]

“'For me, now, I'm in the fashion business and look back very fondly on those years. I was really special. I knew it the night after I lost my virginity to David Bowie, when I went to see his concert at Long Beach Arena. It was still the Spiders from Mars tour, and, literally, the night that he became a star. But he had the spotlight shined on Lee Childers [Bowie's publicist], Sable, and I, sitting in the audience. That's when he thanked me for being there. Who cares what people said about me? I feel like I was very present. I saw the greatest music ever. I got to hang out with some of the most amazing, most beautiful, most charismatic men in the world. I went to concerts in limos with police escorts. Am I going to regret this? No.'”

 

Source: Source: Michael Kaplan: “I Lost My Virginity to David Bowie: Confessions of a '70s Groupie.” Thrillist, 11 March 2015

 

Excerpted in Positive Memories by T. Rivas.

Standing Together Gets Started on New Academic Year

The Israeli peace and justice group Standing Together is jumping into action on its campus organizing now that the academic year has belatedly started. They sent out this message about it:

Happy New Year! The start of 2024 marks the opening of the academic year in universities and colleges in Israel - finally!
 

The academic year was supposed to begin in October but was delayed until this week due to the high number of students who were drafted into the reserves. For many people in Israel, university is the first place that Jews and Palestinians meet each other. This means that the campus is a great opportunity to build new partnerships with one another, and it can also be a hotbed for racism and discrimination against Palestinian students. Since the war broke out, there have been several cases of racism, discrimination, and violence on campus against Palestinian students. Despite the academic year being postponed, Standing Together’s student chapters have been working hard to organize and mobilize students across fourteen academic institutions towards solidarity and partnership on campus in the wake of increased hostility. 

SUPPORT OUR STUDENT CHAPTERS

JOIN FRIENDS OF STANDING TOGETHER

Our mission over the past few years is to grow progressive politics on campus, mobilizing students around a range of social justice issues. So far we have seen a lot of growth, and this coming year we plan to expand our reach even further. In addition to campaigns for improving student dorm conditions, access to public transportation, and participation in student unions, next week the Tel Aviv University student chapter will be the first to organize a sit-in demonstration against racism and discrimination on campus. Student chapters across the country have also been hanging signs around campus promoting Arab-Jewish solidarity.    These are incredibly difficult times for everyone, and our ability to foster solidarity in shared spaces is crucial in order to advance peace, equality, and social justice in Israel.

SUPPORT STANDING TOGETHER

Become a Card-Carrying Member!

 

A message from Nico Perrino with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression:

In recent years, FIRE has been accused — incorrectly — of being a conservative organization. We’ve defended conservative students from censorship on college campuses, and we reject the idea that “hate speech” is equivalent to violence. So those who don’t understand free speech sometimes lump us in with the right.

But now the pendulum is swinging in the other direction.

Some conservatives now see “woke” as the new boogeyman. In response, some Republican-controlled states, like Florida and Texas, are trying to ban ideas they don’t like. Naturally, a number of conservatives are calling us left-wing because we’re against their censorship.

Here’s what FIRE is actually all about: the defense of free speech for everyone. No exceptions. 

One day we defended pro-life students, whose funding the University of North Carolina threatened to pull. The next day, we fought for pro-choice activists in South Carolina, where the legislature tried to ban speech about abortion.

We don’t care about politics, and that’s something partisans will never understand.

But if both the left and right abandon free speech, what are true free speech defenders supposed to do? 

It’s simple: band together. 

For just $25 annually, you can be a card-carrying member of FIRE. Not only does membership grant you exclusive perks, but your donation will also help us defend our clients’ free speech rights in the court of law, spread the word about why free speech must be protected in the court of public opinion, and put pressure on those trying to silence views they don’t like. 

As a member of FIRE, you’ll be among the principled few who defend free speech without fear or favor, who fight for the rights of everyone — even their political opponents — to express themselves.

Our cause can be a lonely one, but we will never betray our commitment to the First Amendment.

Are you with us?

Bombing the Library

Okay, I confess: that was a baity title. I have not in fact bombed any libraries, nor do I plan to. But I did drop a couple truth bombs into a library censorship debate the other night.

Organized by Braver Angels, it posed, "Resolved: Don’t ban or censor books at schools or public libraries for patrons sixth grade and older." By the time I got my turn to speak, about fifteen minutes before the scheduled conclusion, many people had spoken on either side, yet not one had been willing to question the assumption that young people "can't handle" sexual information to the same degree as adults. I corrected that omission.

After noting that my adolescent experience with a political cult had given me a particular interest in the practice of milieu control, of which I consider library censorship to be a form, I recounted the fact that at the age of ten I had read the Chester Himes sex farce Pinktoes, and that it had done me no harm whatsoever. I observed that this had been over half a century ago, and that if I were going to be traumatized it should have happened by now, so I'm not holding my breath.

I concluded by pointing out that a study of adolescent boys who'd looked at pornography found that the only negative effect they experienced was anxiety about what their parents would think.

Unfortunately, just moments afterward my phone died, so I don't know whether anyone reacted to my remarks. But I believe a video will be made available, probably within the next few weeks.

Standing Together Webinar This Sunday!

The binational Israeli peace and justice organization Standing Together is holding a webinar this Sunday, 12/17/23, to inform supporters about their organizing efforts. As the invitation states:

After over two months of war, death, and destruction, where do we go from here? Join us on Sunday December 17th (1pm EST / 8pm Jerusalem) for a webinar, where you'll meet members of Standing Together to hear about the work we're doing on the ground to build an alternative of peace, equality and justice from within Israeli society. If you have already registered for our webinar, we ask you to register again on the following link to receive a reminder and the event's link automatically from the event's platform.

REGISTER TO OUR WEBINAR HERE

We are entering a new phase, past the immediate emergency reaction to the war, and toward preparing for the day after. When this war ends, another war will begin within Israeli society - a war over what kind of society we will be and what future we are headed towards. Our future depends on what kind of political partnership we can lead as Palestinians and Jews in Israel, and we are building one that is based on solidarity, equality, mutual recognition and justice. Our role moving forward is to strengthen and expand this partnership and model for a future society from the ground up, through developing new leadership across the country, organizing and mobilizing Palestinians and Jews around these ideas, and expanding our support base within Israeli society. This is no easy feat - we are up against powerful extremists who benefit from increasing division and fear in Israeli society.

Social media training session for students in Jerusalem.

We are focusing on increasing our training sessions across the country, where we provide people with tools to organize their communities towards political action, solidarity, and social justice. In addition, we have begun to organize communications and social media training with groups in various cities discussing how best to spread political messages and shift public opinion. As a social movement, we believe that the best way to build a social movement around shared ideas is not to speak down to people from a moral high ground, but rather to meet the public where it’s at and address the common interests of the society. These training sessions answer the growing demand of people searching for more effective ways to communicate ideas and influence public opinion by taking an in-depth look at how to communicate ideas in a way that addresses people’s common interests and increases support - rather than isolating people who may initially disagree.

Bush Didn't Want You Even Knowing This Letter Existed

George W. Bush kept the vast majority of Americans -- including me -- from even knowing about Osama bin Laden's 2002 "letter to America." Now, thanks to TikTok, we can all read it. In this video Glenn Greenwald talks about why it was censored and what we can learn from it.

It shouldn't need saying that one doesn't have to subscribe to bin Laden's religious-totalitarian ideology to appreciate the context for 9/11 that this document would have provided but was deliberately withheld from us by our own government.

Another point: Bin Laden exploits our government's propaganda to justify 9/11 by saying that we're a self-proclaimed free people and therefore are responsible for the actions of the government we elect. But a genuinely free choice can only be an informed choice, and the censorship of this letter is only one of countless examples of how our government, with the active collaboration of our media, has prevented our political choices from actually being informed.

https://fstube.net/w/d4NyadGji9wWRxu3zi4K3x

Below is the full text as presented by Newsweek:

 

November 24, 2002

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, 

"Permission to fight (against disbelievers) is given to those (believers) who are fought against, because they have been wronged and surely, Allah is Able to give them (believers) victory." [Quran 22:39] 

"Those who believe, fight in the Cause of Allah, and those who disbelieve, fight in the cause of Taghut (anything worshipped other than Allah e.g. Satan). So fight you against the friends of Satan; ever feeble is indeed the plot of Satan."[Quran 4:76] 

Some American writers have published articles under the title 'On what basis are we fighting?' These articles have generated a number of responses, some of which adhered to the truth and were based on Islamic Law, and others which have not. Here we wanted to outline the truth -- as an explanation and warning -- hoping for Allah's reward, seeking success and support from Him.

While seeking Allah's help, we form our reply based on two questions directed at the Americans:

(Q1) Why are we fighting and opposing you?

Q2) What are we calling you to, and what do we want from you?


As for the first question: Why are we fighting and opposing you? The answer is very simple:

(1) Because you attacked us and continue to attack us.

a) You attacked us in Palestine: 

(i) Palestine, which has sunk under military occupation for more than 80 years. The British handed over Palestine, with your help and your support, to the Jews, who have occupied it for more than 50 years; years overflowing with oppression, tyranny, crimes, killing, expulsion, destruction and devastation. The creation and continuation of Israel is one of the greatest crimes, and you are the leaders of its criminals. And of course there is no need to explain and prove the degree of American support for Israel. The creation of Israel is a crime which must be erased. Each and every person whose hands have become polluted in the contribution towards this crime must pay its price, and pay for it heavily.

(ii) It brings us both laughter and tears to see that you have not yet tired of repeating your fabricated lies that the Jews have a historical right to Palestine, as it was promised to them in the Torah. Anyone who disputes with them on this alleged fact is accused of anti-semitism. This is one of the most fallacious, widely-circulated fabrications in history. The people of Palestine are pure Arabs and original Semites. It is the Muslims who are the inheritors of Moses (peace be upon him) and the inheritors of the real Torah that has not been changed. Muslims believe in all of the Prophets, including Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon them all. If the followers of Moses have been promised a right to Palestine in the Torah, then the Muslims are the most worthy nation of this.

When the Muslims conquered Palestine and drove out the Romans, Palestine and Jerusalem returned to Islam, the religion of all the Prophets peace be upon them. Therefore, the call to a historical right to Palestine cannot be raised against the Islamic Ummah that believes in all the Prophets of Allah (peace and blessings be upon them) -- and we make no distinction between them.

(iii) The blood pouring out of Palestine must be equally revenged. You must know that the Palestinians do not cry alone; their women are not widowed alone; their sons are not orphaned alone.

(b) You attacked us in Somalia; you supported the Russian atrocities against us in Chechnya, the Indian oppression against us in Kashmir, and the Jewish aggression against us in Lebanon.

(c) Under your supervision, consent and orders, the governments of our countries which act as your agents, attack us on a daily basis;

(i) These governments prevent our people from establishing the Islamic Shariah, using violence and lies to do so.

(ii) These governments give us a taste of humiliation, and place us in a large prison of fear and subdual.

(iii) These governments steal our Ummah's wealth and sell them to you at a paltry price.

(iv) These governments have surrendered to the Jews, and handed them most of Palestine, acknowledging the existence of their state over the dismembered limbs of their own people.

(v) The removal of these governments is an obligation upon us, and a necessary step to free the Ummah, to make the Shariah the supreme law and to regain Palestine. And our fight against these governments is not separate from our fight against you.

(d) You steal our wealth and oil at paltry prices because of your international influence and military threats. This theft is indeed the biggest theft ever witnessed by mankind in the history of the world.

(e) Your forces occupy our countries; you spread your military bases throughout them; you corrupt our lands, and you besiege our sanctities, to protect the security of the Jews and to ensure the continuity of your pillage of our treasures.

(f) You have starved the Muslims of Iraq, where children die every day. It is a wonder that more than 1.5 million Iraqi children have died as a result of your sanctions, and you did not show concern. Yet when 3000 of your people died, the entire world rises and has not yet sat down.

(g) You have supported the Jews in their idea that Jerusalem is their eternal capital, and agreed to move your embassy there. With your help and under your protection, the Israelis are planning to destroy the Al-Aqsa mosque. Under the protection of your weapons, Sharon entered the Al- Aqsa mosque, to pollute it as a preparation to capture and destroy it.

(2) These tragedies and calamities are only a few examples of your oppression and aggression against us. It is commanded by our religion and intellect that the oppressed have a right to return the aggression. Do not await anything from us but Jihad, resistance and revenge. Is it in any way rational to expect that after America has attacked us for more than half a century, that we will then leave her to live in security and peace?!!

(3) You may then dispute that all the above does not justify aggression against civilians, for crimes they did not commit and offenses in which they did not partake:

(a) This argument contradicts your continuous repetition that America is the land of freedom, and its leaders in this world. Therefore, the American people are the ones who choose their government by way of their own free will; a choice which stems from their agreement to its policies. Thus the American people have chosen, consented to, and affirmed their support for the Israeli oppression of the Palestinians, the occupation and usurpation of their land, and its continuous killing, torture, punishment and expulsion of the Palestinians. The American people have the ability and choice to refuse the policies of their Government and even to change it if they want.

(b) The American people are the ones who pay the taxes which fund the planes that bomb us in Afghanistan, the tanks that strike and destroy our homes in Palestine, the armies which occupy our lands in the Arabian Gulf, and the fleets which ensure the blockade of Iraq. These tax dollars are given to Israel for it to continue to attack us and penetrate our lands. So the American people are the ones who fund the attacks against us, and they are the ones who oversee the expenditure of these monies in the way they wish, through their elected candidates.

(c) Also the American army is part of the American people. It is these very same people who are shamelessly helping the Jews fight against us.

(d) The American people are the ones who employ both their men and their women in the American Forces which attack us.

(e) This is why the American people cannot be innocent of all the crimes committed by the Americans and Jews against us.

(f) Allah, the Almighty, legislated the permission and the option to take revenge. Thus, if we are attacked, then we have the right to attack back. Whoever has destroyed our villages and towns, then we have the right to destroy their villages and towns. Whoever has stolen or wealth, then we have the right to destroy their economy. And whoever has killed our civilians, then we have the right to kill theirs.

The American Government and press still refuses to answer the question:

Why did they attack us in New York and Washington?

If Sharon is a man of peace in the eyes of Bush, then we are also men of peace!!! America does not understand the language of manners and principles, so we are addressing it using the language it understands.

(Q2) As for the second question that we want to answer: What are we calling you to, and what do we want from you?

(1) The first thing that we are calling you to is Islam.

(a) The religion of the Unification of God; of freedom from associating partners with Him, and rejection of this; of complete love of Him, the Exalted; of complete submission to His Laws; and of the discarding of all the opinions, orders, theories and religions which contradict with the religion He sent down to His Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Islam is the religion of all the prophets, and makes no distinction between them -- peace be upon them all.

It is to this religion that we call you; the seal of all the previous religions. It is the religion of Unification of God, sincerity, the best of manners, righteousness, mercy, honor, purity, and piety. It is the religion of showing kindness to others, establishing justice between them, granting them their rights, and defending the oppressed and the persecuted. It is the religion of enjoining the good and forbidding the evil with the hand, tongue and heart. It is the religion of Jihad in the way of Allah so that Allah's Word and religion reign Supreme. And it is the religion of unity and agreement on the obedience to Allah, and total equality between all people, without regarding their color, sex, or language.

b) It is the religion whose book -- the Quran -- will remain preserved and unchanged, after the other Divine books and messages have been changed. The Quran is the miracle until the Day of Judgment. Allah has challenged anyone to bring a book like the Quran or even ten verses like it.

(2) The second thing we call you to, is to stop your oppression, lies, immorality and debauchery that has spread among you.

(a) We call you to be a people of manners, principles, honor, and purity; to reject the immoral acts of fornication, homosexuality, intoxicants, gambling, and trading with interest.

We call you to all of this that you may be freed from that which you have become caught up in; that you may be freed from the deceptive lies that you are a great nation, that your leaders spread amongst you to conceal from you the despicable state to which you have reached.

(b) It is saddening to tell you that you are the worst civilization witnessed by the history of mankind:

(i) You are the nation who, rather than ruling by the Shariah of Allah in its Constitution and Laws, choose to invent your own laws as you will and desire. You separate religion from your policies, contradicting the pure nature which affirms Absolute Authority to the lord and your Creator. You flee from the embarrassing question posed to you: How is it possible for Allah the Almighty to create His creation, grant them power over all the creatures and land, grant them all the amenities of life, and then deny them that which they are most in need of: knowledge of the laws which govern their lives?

(ii) You are the nation that permits Usury, which has been forbidden by all the religions. Yet you build your economy and investments on Usury. As a result of this, in all its different forms and guises, the Jews have taken control of your economy, through which they have then taken control of your media, and now control all aspects of your life making you their servants and achieving their aims at your expense; precisely what Benjamin Franklin warned you against.

(iii) You are a nation that permits the production, trading and usage of intoxicants. You also permit drugs, and only forbid the trade of them, even though your nation is the largest consumer of them.

(iv) You are a nation that permits acts of immorality, and you consider them to be pillars of personal freedom. You have continued to sink down this abyss from level to level until incest has spread amongst you, in the face of which neither your sense of honour nor your laws object.

Who can forget your President Clinton's immoral acts committed in the official Oval Office? After that you did not even bring him to account, other than that he 'made a mistake,' after which everything passed with no punishment. Is there a worse kind of event for which your name will go down in history and remembered by nations?

(v) You are a nation that permits gambling in its all forms. The companies practice this as well, resulting in the investments becoming active and the criminals becoming rich.

(vi) You are a nation that exploits women like consumer products or advertising tools calling upon customers to purchase them. You use women to serve passengers, visitors, and strangers to increase your profit margins. You then rant that you support the liberation of women.

(vii) You are a nation that practices the trade of sex in all its forms, directly and indirectly. Giant corporations and establishments are established on this, under the name of art, entertainment, tourism and freedom, and other deceptive names you attribute to it.

(viii) and because of all this, you have been described in history as a nation that spreads diseases that were unknown to man in the past. Go ahead and boast to the nations of man, that you brought them AIDS as a Satanic American Invention.

(ix) You have destroyed nature with your industrial waste and gases more than any other nation in history. Despite this, you refuse to sign the Kyoto agreement so that you can secure the profit of your greedy companies and industries.

(x) Your law is the law of the rich and wealthy people, who hold sway in their political parties, and fund their election campaigns with their gifts. Behind them stand the Jews, who control your policies, media and economy.

(xi) That which you are singled out for in the history of mankind, is that you have used your force to destroy mankind more than any other nation in history; not to defend principles and values, but to hasten to secure your interests and profits. You who dropped a nuclear bomb on Japan, even though Japan was ready to negotiate an end to the war. How many acts of oppression, tyranny and injustice have you carried out, O callers to freedom?

(xii) Let us not forget one of your major characteristics: your duality in both manners and values; your hypocrisy in manners and principles. All manners, principles and values have two scales: one for you and one for the others.

(a) The freedom and democracy that you call to is for yourselves and for white race only; as for the rest of the world, you impose upon them your monstrous, destructive policies and Governments, which you call the 'American friends.' Yet you prevent them from establishing democracies. When the Islamic party in Algeria wanted to practice democracy and they won the election, you unleashed your agents in the Algerian army onto them, and to attack them with tanks and guns, to imprison them and torture them -- a new lesson from the 'American book of democracy'!!!

(b) Your policy on prohibiting and forcibly removing weapons of mass destruction to ensure world peace: it only applies to those countries which you do not permit to possess such weapons. As for the countries you consent to, such as Israel, then they are allowed to keep and use such weapons to defend their security. Anyone else who you suspect might be manufacturing or keeping these kinds of weapons, you call them criminals and you take military action against them.

(c) You are the last ones to respect the resolutions and policies of International Law, yet you claim to want to selectively punish anyone else who does the same. Israel has for more than 50 years been pushing UN resolutions and rules against the wall with the full support of America.

(d) As for the war criminals which you censure and form criminal courts for -- you shamelessly ask that your own are granted immunity!! However, history will not forget the war crimes that you committed against the Muslims and the rest of the world; those you have killed in Japan, Afghanistan, Somalia, Lebanon and Iraq will remain a shame that you will never be able to escape. It will suffice to remind you of your latest war crimes in Afghanistan, in which densely populated innocent civilian villages were destroyed, bombs were dropped on mosques causing the roof of the mosque to come crashing down on the heads of the Muslims praying inside. You are the ones who broke the agreement with the Mujahideen when they left Qunduz, bombing them in Jangi fort, and killing more than 1,000 of your prisoners through suffocation and thirst. Allah alone knows how many people have died by torture at the hands of you and your agents. Your planes remain in the Afghan skies, looking for anyone remotely suspicious.

(e) You have claimed to be the vanguards of Human Rights, and your Ministry of Foreign affairs issues annual reports containing statistics of those countries that violate any Human Rights. However, all these things vanished when the Mujahideen hit you, and you then implemented the methods of the same documented governments that you used to curse. In America, you captured thousands of Muslims and Arabs, took them into custody with neither reason, court trial, nor even disclosing their names. You issued newer, harsher laws.

What happens in Guantanamo is a historical embarrassment to America and its values, and it screams into your faces -- you hypocrites, "What is the value of your signature on any agreement or treaty?"

(3) What we call you to thirdly is to take an honest stance with yourselves -- and I doubt you will do so to discover that you are a nation without principles or manners, and that the values and principles to you are something which you merely demand from others, not that which yourself must adhere to.

(4) We also advise you to stop supporting Israel, and to end your support of the Indians in Kashmir, the Russians against the Chechens and to also cease supporting the Manila Government against the Muslims in Southern Philippines.

(5) We also advise you to pack your luggage and get out of our lands. We desire for your goodness, guidance, and righteousness, so do not force us to send you back as cargo in coffins.

(6) Sixthly, we call upon you to end your support of the corrupt leaders in our countries. Do not interfere in our politics and method of education. Leave us alone, or else expect us in New York and Washington.

(7) We also call you to deal with us and interact with us on the basis of mutual interests and benefits, rather than the policies of sub dual, theft and occupation, and not to continue your policy of supporting the Jews because this will result in more disasters for you.

If you fail to respond to all these conditions, then prepare for fight with the Islamic Nation. The Nation of Monotheism, that puts complete trust on Allah and fears none other than Him. The Nation which is addressed by its Quran with the words: "Do you fear them? Allah has more right that you should fear Him if you are believers. Fight against them so that Allah will punish them by your hands and disgrace them and give you victory over them and heal the breasts of believing people. And remove the anger of their (believers') hearts. Allah accepts the repentance of whom He wills. Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise." [Quran9:13-1]

The Nation of honor and respect: "But honour, power and glory belong to Allah, and to His Messenger (Muhammad -- peace be upon him) and to the believers." [Quran 63:8]

"So do not become weak (against your enemy), nor be sad, and you will be superior (in victory) if you are indeed (true) believers" [Quran 3:139]

The Nation of Martyrdom; the Nation that desires death more than you desire life:

"Think not of those who are killed in the way of Allah as dead. Nay, they are alive with their Lord, and they are being provided for. They rejoice in what Allah has bestowed upon them from His bounty and rejoice for the sake of those who have not yet joined them, but are left behind (not yet martyred) that on them no fear shall come, nor shall they grieve. They rejoice in a grace and a bounty from Allah, and that Allah will not waste the reward of the believers." [Quran 3:169-171]

The Nation of victory and success that Allah has promised: "It is He Who has sent His Messenger (Muhammad peace be upon him) with guidance and the religion of truth (Islam), to make it victorious over all other religions even though the Polytheists hate it." [Quran 61:9]

"Allah has decreed that "Verily it is I and My Messengers who shall be victorious,

All-Powerful, All-Mighty." [Quran 58:21]

The Islamic Nation that was able to dismiss and destroy the previous evil Empires like yourself; the Nation that rejects your attacks, wishes to remove your evils, and is prepared to fight you. You are well aware that the Islamic Nation, from the very core of its soul, despises your haughtiness and arrogance.

If the Americans refuse to listen to our advice and the goodness, guidance and righteousness that we call them to, then be aware that you will lose this Crusade Bush began, just like the other previous Crusades in which you were humiliated by the hands of the Mujahideen, fleeing to your home in great silence and disgrace. If the Americans do not respond, then their fate will be that of the Soviets who fled from Afghanistan to deal with their military defeat, political breakup, ideological downfall, and economic bankruptcy.

This is our message to the Americans, as an answer to theirs. Do they now know why we fight them and over which form of ignorance, by the permission of Allah, we shall be victorious?

Young Voters Stand Up for Open Primaries in Pennsylvania

An announcement from Open Primaries:

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Americans are rejecting the Democratic and Republican Parties and going independent, and young voters are leading the way. 61% of 18 to 24-year-olds identify as independents – a 50% increase since 1998.

Students for Ballot PA, a group of students from 16 different PA colleges is becoming a powerful voice in the effort to open primaries to all voters. Recently, over 60 students from colleges and universities across PA rallied at the state capitol calling for an end to closed elections.

The open primaries movement has never seen a group of young people organizing with this level of enthusiasm. And the momentum in PA is building. 2 bills were JUST PASSED by the PA House State Government Committee– the first time open primary legislation has gotten through an Assembly committee!

On Thursday November 16th at 3pm ET, we’ll welcome key leaders from Students for Ballot PA for our next Virtual Discussion- Young Voters Stand Up for Open Primaries- with special guests: Students for Ballot PA members: Harry Hou (Swarthmore College), Danika Grieser (Swarthmore College), Andrew Cadwallader (Haverford College), Brenna Wrubel (Carnegie Mellon University), Joshua Summers (University of Pittsburgh) and Jojo Dawaldi (Penn State University).

We’ll discuss the campaign, their perspective on the growing independence of younger voters, and how they’ve been so successful at inspiring their peers to join the cause.

REGISTER FOR THE DISCUSSION HERE.

A Love Story for Halloween

 

It sounds more like a story for Valentine's Day, but it was on this date in 1913 that the influential historians Ariel (1898-1981) and Will Durant (1885-1981) were married. Their remarkable love story began on the first day Ariel (born Chaya Kaufman) walked into his classroom and they were married a year later.

Learn more about their story in the video linked below.

https://fstube.net/w/dVk6LVyxy3ooNKUWLC15xq

Milo's 39th: The Tragedy of a Grifter

Today is the 39th birthday of Milo Yiannopoulos, a social influencer whose trajectory is significant in the recent evolution of US politics. From NewgonWiki: 

"Milo Yiannopoulos (born Milo Hanrahan, 18 October 1984) is a British media influencer (banned Twitter account @Nero) and online alt-lite personality known for his role in #Gamergate, ridiculing of feminism and 'regressive' leftism, and further controversies surrounding his views on pederasty. Prior to the adverse publicity, his career peaked in the lead-up to Donald Trump's election as US President -- with his contributions as editor of Breitbart News being almost entirely limited to American alternative-right politics, prior to the MAGA movement's takeover by social conservatives.

"In February 2017, a social media controversy took place concerning video clips in which Yiannopoulos said that sexual relationships between 13-year-old boys and adult men and women can be 'perfectly consensual' and positive experiences for the boys. Yiannopoulos subsequently resigned from his position at Breitbart, his invitation to speak before the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) was revoked, and a contract to publish his autobiography with Simon & Schuster was cancelled.

"Milo's cancelling was a symbolic moment in the neutralization of any remaining cultural libertarianism in the alt-lite and MAGA movement, which has since mainstreamed itself as a new moral majority  -- for example, enabling 'groomer' rhetoric and campaigns against queer literature."

Milo's controversial statements were based on his own experience: "There are certainly people who are capable of giving consent at a younger age, I certainly consider myself to be one of them, people who are sexually active younger."

It's sad that Milo turned out to be a grifter who lacked the integrity even to defend the truth of his own youthful experiences when this started to lose him followers. For me it's poignant since, when I had barely heard of him, it was he who, by writing about its funding crisis due to ideological censorship, resurrected Cassie Jaye's  The Red Pill, an impartial documentary about the men's human rights movement made in the same fly-on-the-wall style as her previous features, Daddy I Do and The Right to Love, which unlike TRP were praised by feminists and progressives generally because they conformed to their ideological expectations.

Sources: https://www.newgon.net/wiki/Milo_Yiannopoulos

https://heavy.com/news/2017/02/milo-yiannopolous-pedophilia-transcript-pederasty-video-full-sex-boys-men-catholic-priest-cpac-quotes/