Washington's nasty diplomacy in Pakistan

Washington's nasty diplomacy in Pakistan by GRANT MORGAN and MUHAMMAD UMAR CHAND It is deeply troubling that people inside Pakistan are being labelled as "terrorists" by senior US diplomat John Negroponte. Negroponte has just returned from a top-level mission to Pakistan. His trip was widely interpreted as an attempt to put pressure on the newly-elected government that replaces Washington's former man-in-command, president-general Pervez Musharraf, who rose to power through a military coup. Negroponte is a cold-blooded hatchet man of the US state. During the 1980s, he directed, funded and armed the right-wing death squads that rampaged across Central America to crush grassroots movements. The hands of this state terrorist are stained with the blood of hundreds of thousands of civilians, including Catholic nuns from the United States who were slaughtered in their Central American monastery. Now Negroponte is fronting the US strategy of divide-and-conquer in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Therefore he is bitterly hostile to Pakistan's new government opening peace talks with groups in the country's Northern Tribal Regions that Negroponte labels as "Islamic terrorists". And why? Because these tribal groups oppose the US occupation of Afghanistan and Washington's other crimes against humanity. Yet the US state never had any trouble talking with Musharraf despite him being a military dictator who used state terror to suppress the cause of democracy in his largely Muslim country. Negroponte's double standards expose the imperial agenda of the US state. Diplomats of the Evil Empire are using deceitful propaganda about "Muslim extremism" in a bid to bend unwilling governments to their will and to prevent united resistance to Washington's crusade for global domination. But this crusade is being resisted by the overwhelming majority inside Pakistan and Afghanistan who share not only a common faith and ethnicity, but also a common wish to be free from imperial bullying. Thus not even Musharraf's crackdowns on his own judiciary coupled with a long history of electoral fraud could stop him being dumped at the polls by his own angry citizens early this year. The US state, having lost its main ally in Pakistan, is now casting around for new methods to re-impose control. That's where Negroponte comes in. Having mastered the dirty trade of political de-stabilisation in Central America, he is now attempting to de-stabilise Pakistan's new government by trying to stop peace negotiations with tribal leaders. Washington's un-Christian rejection of the message of Jesus, a promoter of peace in his time, illustrates that their real agenda has nothing to do with religion, but everything to do with power politics. So will peace break out in this turbulent region? No, if the US state can continue to call the shots. Yes, if the wishes of grassroots people can be acted on. The article below, by mainstream journalist Jane Perlez, gives useful and up-to-the-minute background on the unfolding battle for Pakistan. A chill ushers in new diplomatic order in Pakistan by JANE PERLEZ 28 March 2008 ISLAMABAD, Pakistan ‹ If it was not yet clear to Washington that a new political order prevailed here, the three-day visit this week by America¹s chief diplomat dealing with Pakistan should put any doubt to rest. The visit by Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte turned out to be series of indignities and chilly, almost hostile, receptions as he bore the brunt of the full range of complaints that Pakistan is now feel freer to air with the end of military rule by Washington¹s favored ally, President Pervez Musharraf. Faced with a new democratic lineup that is demanding talks, not force, in the fight against terrorism, Mr. Negroponte publicly swallowed a bitter pill at his final news conference on Thursday, acknowledging that there would now be some real differences in strategy between the United States and Pakistan. He was upbraided at an American Embassy residence during a reception in his honor by lawyers furious that the Bush administration had refused to support the restoration of the dismissed judiciary by Mr. Musharraf last year. Mr. Negroponte once told Congress that Mr. Musharraf was an "indispensable" ally, but the diplomat was finally forced to set some distance after months of standing stolidly by his friend. Mr. Musharraf¹s future, he said, would be settled by Pakistan¹s new democratic government. Perhaps the most startling encounter for the 68-year-old career diplomat was the deliberately pointed question by Farrukh Saleem, executive director of the Center for Research and Security Studies, at the reception Wednesday evening. "How is Pakistan different to Honduras?" Mr. Saleem asked, a query clearly intended to tweak Mr. Negroponte about his time as ambassador to Honduras in the 1980s, when he was in charge of the American effort to train and arm a guerrilla force aimed at overthrowing the leftist government in Nicaragua. He was later criticized for meddling in the region and overlooking human rights abuses in pursuit of United States foreign policy goals. The diplomat demurred, according to Mr. Saleem, saying, "You have put me on the spot." Mr. Negroponte had no reply to his next question, either, Mr. Saleem said. "I asked him, 'What do you know about our chief justice that we don't know?' " That question was meant to reflect, Mr. Saleem recounted afterward, that the Bush administration had refused to recognize the illegality of the firing of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, and that many Pakistanis were angered that the United States had signaled it did not favor the reinstatement of Mr. Chaudhry who, it appeared, was too opposed to Mr. Musharraf for Washington's taste. Mr. Negroponte and the Bush administration were tone deaf, Mr. Saleem and others said, to the changes in Pakistan, though the message of the tune seemed inescapable. As they stood on the lawn of a diplomatic residence here in the spring evening, the chairman of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Aitzaz Ahsan, who has led the campaign to restore Mr. Chaudhry, picked up the challenge to Mr. Negroponte. First, Mr. Ahsan said he told the diplomat, the lawyers were miffed that Mr. Negroponte had not included them on his planned round of meetings. When the lawyers asked for an appointment on Tuesday, they were rebuffed by the American Embassy, Mr. Ahsan said. Then, Mr. Ahsan, a graduate of Cambridge and one of Pakistan's most talented orators, gave Mr. Negroponte a 10- to 15-minute discourse on why an independent judiciary was important to fight terrorism. "I told him that the most effective weapon on the war against terror is a people who have enforceable rights ‹ then they have a stake in the system," Mr. Ahsan said of his conversation with Mr. Negroponte. Mr. Ahsan said he argued that an independent judiciary was "a middle ground" between the military and religious fanatics. When Mr. Negroponte countered that the new Parliament had pledged to deal with the question of the restoration of the judges within 30 days, Mr. Ahsan said he retorted: "I said you can't build a Parliament on the debris of the judiciary." In contrast to Mr. Negroponte, a delegation of legislators, led by Rep. John F. Tierney, Democrat of Massachusetts, chairman of the National Security Subcommittee of the House Oversight Committee, visited Mr. Chaudhry at his home on Thursday. They were the first foreigners to see the judge since police barricades were removed Tuesday after four months of house arrest. "He believes the Parliament has a vote in the next 30 days and the judges will go back to work," Mr. Tierney said after talking to Mr. Chaudhry. "That's his position, and they're sticking with it." Although he had little to do with the lawyers or the judiciary, Mr. Negroponte, accustomed to seeing a limited circuit of figures, starting with Mr. Musharraf, had to widen his contact list this time. He met with the leaders of the two main parties in the new coalition government, Nawaz Sharif, and Asif Ali Zardari. They were both in exile for much of Mr. Musharraf¹s rule. He also met with prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, who was an unknown politician until this week, and the speaker of the National Assembly, Dr. Fehmida Mirza. Mr. Zardari and Mr. Sharif have said they want to change the military approach of Mr. Musharraf toward the extremists, and work toward talks. At a news conference in Karachi before leaving, Mr. Negroponte said Washington could work with the new government, but drew the line at negotiations with extremists. "Security measures are obviously necessary when one is dealing with irreconcilable elements who want to destroy our very way of life," he said. "I don't see how you can talk with those kinds of people." There was some hope, however, he said, of working with "reconcilable elements" who "can be persuaded to participate in the democratic political process." In a marked change of tone from the Musharraf era, the new prime minister, Mr. Gilani, said after meeting Mr. Negroponte on Wednesday that Parliament was now the supreme decision-making body. Pakistan supported its long alliance with the United States, but the fight against terrorism would be discussed in the legislature, he said. Mr. Negroponte's visit was generally poorly received. Coming in the week that the government was still being formed ‹ a cabinet has yet to be announced ‹ it was widely interpreted as an act of interference, a last effort to prop up a vastly weakened Mr. Musharraf. One television commentator called the visit "crude diplomacy." Others said Mr. Negroponte did not understand that Mr. Musharraf was a disappearing figure, isolated and with little power. One of his last loyal aides, Attorney General Malik Mohammad Qayyum, resigned Thursday. By the end of his trip, Mr. Negroponte indicated that perhaps Mr. Musharraf's usefulness to Washington had diminished. The future of Mr. Musharraf was up to the Pakistanis. "Any debate or any disposition as regards his status will have to be addressed by the internal Pakistani political process," he said.

Galloway in New Zealand- On Film

Uniting Communities from the base- the RAM election launch

The Resident Action Movement's campaign for Auckland Regional and City Council kicked off on Wednesday night in a Trades Hall auditorium that echoed to rockabilly, swing and passionate poetry, where local environmentalists, anti racists, trade unionists, student leaders and community activists united for a strong campaign against the dominance of corporate led politics.


The evening began with an eloquent speech by well known Chilean poet Esteban, who spoke about the tragic death of his neighbour Folole Muliaga, in a city where profits came before people. Esteban, main organiser for the Latin American Cultural Centre in Onehunga, said he was a supporter of RAM because he agreed of its vision of uniting Aucklands communities from the base. And then he went on to rock out on the bass, to the revolutionary Latin Rockabilly that is Echeverria Y Cia!

Red Chelly

The Belfast Poets Collective treated the audience to their show "Love Poetry, Hate Islamophobia", currently on world tour. When they heard about the attempt by racist fundementalist Christian preachers to demonise New Zealand's Muslim community, they made a sharp detour, to lend their support for RAM's strong anti racist stance. Their show gave thoughtful, radical and sharp lessons from a city where communities have been divided, strengthening the resolve of the audience to stand up and be counted for unity and peace.

Phatbob combined the romantic with the anti corporate-
A favourite Celtic cocktail of RAMs!

Gordon Hewitt exploded in a rage of fire and anger, at the pain caused by military occupation

Uniting the communities from the bass...

Roger Fowler, Co ordinator of the Mangere Community Centre, sang the RAM anthem "Movin On", painting a joyous picture of an Auckland without traffic jams and parking tickets, where frequent fare free busses funded by corporation tax and the money currently wasted on the motorway lobby not only improved life for the people, but helped reduce the pollution causing climate change. Roger is standing for RAM in Mangere.

Robyn Hughes, RAM's Councillor on the Auckland Regional Council, looked forward to being joined by Roger and many other new RAM Councillors after the election. Being only one voice amongst 13 was hard- if the RAM bloc increased in size and influence, so too would the reality of implementing what we were fighting for.


Finally, Grant Morgan, Ram organiser, unveiled RAM's secret weapon in the Battle of the Billboards. Where other tickets such as the CityRats, CityVision and Mike Lee's Repe concentrate on their political brands and egos, RAM's billboards are dedicated to the four main policies they are fighting for- a cut in home rates for Auckland's hard pressed workers, free public transport, a strong stand for diversity, peace and multiculturalism in the face of racist attempts to divide Auckland's communities, and the protection of our public assets from privatisers, such as the Pikes Pt park in Manukau harbour.



Now the Battle of the Billboards begins! If you agree with RAM's policies and want to put a billboard up in your community, please give Joe a phone at 021 1861450, 09 634 3984, or email joe@solidarityunion.com. RAM has no corporate donors like the National and Labour financed tickets- we are made up of grassroots campaigners and community activists sick of an Auckland run for big business. Please join us in the fight!

Big crowds attend Voices of Peace meetings

RAM - Residents Action Movement Media release on Voices of Peace 29 July 2007 Big crowds attend Voices of Peace meetings in Auckland

Last night 800 Aucklanders attended the Voices of Peace meeting at the Auckland Girls Grammar Theatre in Auckland. The theatre was packed out, while scores more had to be turned away. The evening before, a maximum crowd of 450 had packed an Auckland University lecture theatre for the first Voices of Peace meeting. These big crowds heard British MP George Galloway link the global rise of Islamophobia with the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Israeli occupation and Palestine and similar imperial crusades to exploit the resources and peoples of the Middle East and elsewhere. The other speakers were Javed Khan, president of the Federation of Islamic Associations of NZ, Paul Buchanan, an internationally recognised expert on threat assessment, and Grant Morgan, the organiser of RAM - Residents Action Movement. The more than 1,200 people who attended the two Auckland Voices of Peace meetings contrasted sharply with the pathetic 30 who turned out to the Wellington leg of Mosques and Miracles, the race hate touring show fronted by a group of professional Islamophobes from Australia. "The Aussie Islamophobes had hired the Hope Centre in Lower Hutt which easily holds over 200 people. The 30 registrations they received for the Wellington Mosques and Miracles meeting was a major setback to their aim of building a rate hate movement against Muslims in New Zealand," said RAM organiser Grant Morgan. "I have been informed that less than 200 turned up to the Auckland Mosques and Miracles meeting yesterday at the Greenlane Christian Centre. Again, this was way below the calculations of the organisers." "The tiny numbers turning up to hear the Aussie Islamophobes, compared to the over 1,200 Aucklanders attending the two Auckland Voices of Peace meetings, is a heartening sign that the vast majority of Christians and other people in New Zealand want a society built on the principle of social inclusion, not communal conflict," said Grant Morgan. "However, we must not under-estimate the potential threat posed by these Islamophobes who are claiming that every mosque is a 'centre of war' where New Zealand Muslims are plotting to destroy surrounding cities and terrorise, rape and kill non-Muslims. As George Galloway pointed out, when Adolf Hitler started making similar comments about Jews in Germany, he was treated as a 'music hall joke'. We must tackle this threat in New Zealand before the poisonous lies of the Islamophobes infect the body politic." "Last night, at the Voices of Peace meeting, I pledged that RAM would be campaigning around the theme 'We all belong here' in the September council elections. All good people must unite to defend our Muslim sisters and brothers from the race hate lies of the Aussie Islamophobes and their New Zealand cronies," said Grant Morgan. For more information, contact: Grant Morgan Organiser of RAM - Residents Action Movement 021 2544 515 grantmorgan@paradise.net.nz

VOICES OF PEACE

ACTIVIST WORKSHOP

Today there is a Voices of Peace workshop in Auckland where the nature of Islamophobia will be examined by Muslims and non-Muslims and moves made towards forming a broad activist network which will campaign against racism and other social injustices. GEORGE GALLOWAY will give the introduction. 2-5pm, Sunday 29 July. Fickling Convention Centre, 546 Mt Albert Rd, Three Kings. Limit of 250 participants, so those interested are being advised to get there early. Plenty of off street parking. NO DOOR CHARGE. Donations will be accepted.

Race hate speech by Aussie Islamophobe in Wellington

RAM - Residents Action Movement
Media release on Voices of Peace
27 July 2007

Race hate speech by Aussie Islamophobe in Wellington

Glyn Carpenter of Vision Network claims that there are "no Islamophobes" at the Mosques and Miracles conferences in Wellington and Auckland. He attacks organisers of the alternative Voices of Peace meetings for saying otherwise. (See Mr Carpenter's media release below.)

How does Mr Carpenter reconcile his claims with the fact that, at the short public section of the mostly closed-door Mosques and Miracles conference in Wellington on 25 July, Australian extreme right-wing Christian Daniel Shayesteh stated:

• "To be a good radical Muslim you must kill Christians & Jews."

• "Muslims always build mosques on mountainsides... [as] places to retreat when they have destroyed the surrounding cities."

• "Mosques [are their] centre of war... this is the main purpose/activity of every mosque in the world."

• "Muslims tell lies [which are] sanctioned by the Qur'an."

• "The Qur'an says you must terrorise the people who are not Muslim."

• "The Qur'an sanctions the killing of non-Muslims to advance Islam ­ but not the killing of virgins. They are [first] raped and then killed."

• "In Islam your wife is your property, an animal, she must be corrected by beating[s]."

• "Muslims... have sad, angry faces."
  

RAM organiser Grant Morgan, a convenor of the Voices of Peace meetings, posed these questions: "I ask Mr Carpenter: if this is not Islamophobia, then what is it? I say to Mr Carpenter: how can you defend such blatant race hate talk? I ask Mr Carpenter: Why are you defending the Australian extremists like Mr Shayesteh who are now touring New Zealand trying to create a race hate movement in our country?"

"While I am not a Muslim, I have been inside almost all mosques across Greater Auckland. I can assure the people of New Zealand that, contrary to Mr Shayesteh's lurid claims about 'every mosque in the world' being a 'centre of war', there are no caches of AK47's in the storage cupboards or stacks of bomb-making gear in the basements of this region's mosques," said Grant Morgan.

"RAM will be campaigning hard in the looming council elections in Auckland against the Islamophobia that Mr Carpenter is defending," said Grant Morgan. "We will be saying - We ALL belong here. RAM believes that all councillors and all council candidates have a public duty to protect our communities from the sort of race hatred that Mr Shayesteh and other Australian Islamophobes are now trying to spread inside our country."

A full report on the open section of the Wellington Mosques and Miracles conference is below.

Grant Morgan

Organiser of RAM - Residents Action Movement
021 2544 515
grantmorgan@paradise.net.nz

Mosques and Miracles

Hope Centre
Lower Hutt


PUBLIC (OPEN) SESSION ONLY

19:30 hrs Wednesday 25th July 2007

Speakers: Stuart Robinson, Mark Durie, Daniel Shayesteh (keynote speaker ­ Iranian former muslim (radical) political leader...now the Director of the interdenominational organisation 'Exodus from Darkness')

There have been 15 conferences in 5 nations.

Mosques and Miracles: Revealing Islam and God's Grace (book) by Stuart Robinson
Pt 1: What Islam is doing around the world - taking over the world
Pt 2: Why it's happening, what is driving them
Pt 3: What God is doing (supernatural responses) and what "we" can do - "what to say to a Muslim if you happen to find yourself sitting next to one on the train"

Public meeting began with an excited crowd on its feet...mass singing accompanied by loud "rock" band ­ - lots of repetition of praise, hand waving, some in a state of rapture...all this while our Honorary Consul for Israel, with wife and two others, sat quietly bemused...though it was soon evident how delighted Mr Zwartz must have been with the objectives of the "missionary team".

Points from Daniel Shayesteh's talk:

_ Westerners have no experience of Islam and don't understand ­ don't know the facts and TRUTH. Added a story about an Egyptian, Zakariah Botross, who was visited by Jesus in a dream and then by the holy spirit. He is a Coptic Christian and cannot live in the Middle East as converts to Christianity must be killed. He now lives in the States...the FBI told him that one man had come to the US just to find where he lived ­ there is reward for millions of dollars on his head.

_ It is a myth that Christians, Muslims and Jews worship the same God. The God of Christians has a personality...is a personal God. The God of all other religions, particularly Islam, is impersonal. "The Christian God is lovely, he is the best!" and the admiring crowd smiled with knowing delight when Daniel shouted "Jesus is yummy, he's delicious!" Whereas Jesus of the Koran will return and destroy the Cross and Christianity...much tut-tutting followed this.

_ Christians and Jews are unclean - Mr Zwartz and friends did not look concerned - ­ and you must cleanse yourself after touching them or having them in your house...and the cleansing is expensive. Jew and Christian are the worst swearwords in Islamic countries.

_ To be a good radical Muslim you must kill Christians and Jews. Hizbollah was started as an army to take over Israel and kill off Jews...it was to capture Lebanon with Israel as the goal. Then move on the US where there are many Jews.

_ Muslims always build mosques on mountainsides...wherever they are (indicating the surrounding hills) they will search for places in the mountains...they have maps. These are safe havens where they can plan in isolation and places to retreat to when they have destroyed the surrounding cities. This is why they live in caves in the mountains of Afghanistan.

_ There are two main reasons for the establishment of mosques:

1. Centre of War ­ against non-Muslims...non-Muslims are ingenuous and don't realise this is the main purpose/activity of every mosque in the world...the idea of peace is a myth ­ a lie.
2. Build the mosque, own the country ­ when a mosque is built, then in Islam's eyes that country belongs to the Islamic world and not to the non-Muslims who live there. "Is there a mosque here?" A resounding "YES" is the reply as the audience looked around at each other. This is going to be the destiny of your country, they have a plan. Wake up! Then he said he wasn't there to frighten people and promptly mentioned that, as part of his Islamic training in Iran, he had been taught how to cut of the heads of non-Muslims...gasps from the audience.

- Muslims tell lies ­ sanctioned by the Koran...in Islam it is okay to lie in order to further the aims of the religion. Great emphasis placed on lying...theme repeated throughout the talk. The leaders all know the truth, their followers will not. They lie about the true aims of Islam and westerners gullibly believe them ­ because we are so nice.

_ Islamic law is the worst in the world because it is of God and cannot be questioned...in contrast to Communism which is of the people and can be overcome.

_ The Koran says you must terrorise the people who are not Muslim...it is joy in Islam to give pain to your opposition.

_ The Koran sanctions the killing of non-Muslims to advance Islam but not the killing of virgins. They are raped and then killed.

_ Apostasy (conversion from Islam) is punishable by death...much reference to this by example. He elaborated on persecution stating that this was the typical experience of non-Muslims in Muslim countries...some convincing examples from Saudi Arabia. He referred to recent stories from Iran of people killing their own children who had converted...he said they had no choice because Allah teaches that Christians need to be killed. The people have no choice ­ if they do not kill their children, the whole family will suffer humilation and ostracism.

_ Women must be veiled from the age of 7 as they can be married at this age...more horrified gasps from audience. The paedophilic intimation was obvious. He gave examples of old men with wives, as young as 6, and asked the audience to imagine what it would be like. Reference, with quotations from the Koran, about Mohammed's marriage to a 6yr old which was consummated when she was 9.

_ In Islam your wife is your property, an animal, she must be corrected by beating. Jesus said love your wife. Daniel apologised to his wife when he converted and called her "honey".

_ Christianity takes away the uncertainty of one's future...there is security of eternal life, of happiness, of justice. No other religion guarantees salvation in return for simple belief. "Christianity is the best" and "Jesus is nice"... "the people are lovely...the music is lovely too".

_ Muslims are taught to hate and to punish...they have sad, angry faces. He repeated this and finished with a picture of his three smiling daughters and wife and commented on their lovely hair ­ earlier we had seen a photo taken when they were younger in Iran, dressed in black and hair covered...serious faces ­ he said their expressions were due to Islam.

Concluding words from MC:

"That was one man who was trained to hate, kill and destroy. God can work amazing changes in our lives. Once an agent of destruction and death and now an agent of love and life." Made a comparison with Saul becoming Paul after meeting Jesus on the road of Damascus.
Prayers followed, especially for people who stood because they felt particularly moved by the presence of God this night ­ the pastor asked that "God would visit these lives supernaturally tonight". He then asked for pledges to support the mission ­ and asked people to buy the DVD of the night on sale in the foyer. "What will you do to continue this work? I ask you in the presence of God." Emphasis on taking action before it is too late. The mission will continue in many nations...in the UK next year. Muslims need to be saved...pray for them...hug them!

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0707/S00314.htm

No Islamophobes at Mosques and Miracles

Thursday, 26 July 2007, 8:42 am

Press Release: Vision Network of NZ
No Islamophobes at Mosques and Miracles ³Where are the ³Voices of Peace?²

Contrary to statements made by organisers of the ³Voices of Peace² conference, the Mosques and Miracles conference speakers and attendees are anything but Islamophobes.

Glyn Carpenter of Vision Network of New Zealand, who has helped promote the Mosques and Miracles conferences, says ³the conference is essentially a reminder to Christians of the basic teaching to love others. Certainly the speakers are sharing from their considerable experience of Islam, which includes living in Islamic countries, about the diversity within Islam, and issues to be considered.

It is ironic and concerning that organisers of a conference called ³Voices of Peace² would use terms like ³NZ Islamophobes², ³Aussie extremists², and ³far-right Islamophobic idealogues² about this conference.

ENDS

Glyn Carpenter,
National Director
Vision Network of New Zealand

VOICES OF PEACE
AUCKLAND MEETINGS

GEORGE GALLOWAY will be addressing these two meetings:

TOWN MEETING

7.30pm, Saturday 28 July.
Auckland Girls Grammar School Theatre.
16 Howe St (off Karangahape Rd).
The three other speakers are:

• JAVED KHAN, president of Federation of Islamic Associations of NZ.
• PAUL BUCHANAN, international security analyst & director of the Working Group on Alternative Security Perspectives.
• GRANT MORGAN, organiser of RAM - Residents Action Movement.
  

Limit of 800 seats, so those interested are being advised to get there early. NO DOOR CHARGE. Donations will be accepted. Off street car parks available.

UNIVERSITY MEETING

6.30pm, Friday 27 July. [NOTE: Meeting starts a half-hour later than first advertised.]
Library Basement, University of Auckland, Alfred St, central city (opposite Maidment Theatre).
The three other speakers are:

• NIBRAS KARDAMAN, young Muslim woman & representative of the Working Together Group.
• HANNAH SPIERER co-leader of Greens on Campus.
• GRANT MORGAN, organiser of RAM - Residents Action Movement.
  

NO DOOR CHARGE. Donations will be accepted.

Both meetings OPEN TO THE MEDIA.

ACTIVIST WORKSHOPS

There will also be Voices of Peace workshops where the nature of Islamophobia will be examined by Muslims and non-Muslims and moves made towards forming a broad activist network which will campaign against racism and other social injustices. George Galloway will give the introduction.
2-5pm, Sunday 29 July.
Fickling Convention Centre, 546 Mt Albert Rd, Three Kings.
Limit of 250 participants, so those interested are being advised to get there early. Plenty of off street parking. NO DOOR CHARGE. Donations will be accepted.

NZ Islamophobes echo touring Aussie extremists

RAM - Residents Action Movement
Media release on Voices of Peace
25 July 2007

NZ Islamophobes echo
touring Aussie extremists

Voices of Peace public meetings, featuring British MP George Galloway, are being held in Auckland on 27-29 July to counter the first stirrings of organised Islamophobia in New Zealand. These meetings (advertised at bottom) are being hosted by RAM, the Residents Action Movement.

"A group of far right Islamophobic ideologues from Australia, headed by Stuart Robinson and Daniel Shayesteh, have entered New Zealand to wage war against Muslims and their religion," said RAM organiser Grant Morgan.

"These offshore extremists demonise Islam as an 'evil' force of 'violence', alleging that Muslims in New Zealand will 'terrorise' everyone else in a 'holy war' until they either 'submit' to Allah or are 'killed'. Their denunciation of 'multiculturalism' exposes their racist hostility towards not only Muslims, but also other recent immigrants to this country."

"These Australian bigots are speaking at closed-door 'Mosques and Miracles' conferences in Auckland and Wellington between 25-28 July. Their aim is to recruit the leadership core of a racist campaign against New Zealand Muslims and their faith," said Grant Morgan.

This Australian-imported Islamophobia is being echoed by a minority of New Zealand's Christian leaders who are promoting the 'Mosques and Miracles' tour. They include:

• MURRAY DILLNER, director of the New Zealand chapter of Middle East Christian Outreach, an extreme right fundamentalist missionary group. Dillner is a key organiser of the "Mosques and Miracles" tour in this country. He alleges that radical Islam will "take away the freedoms we have in New Zealand and we will no longer have freedom of speech". Many Muslims have immigrated to New Zealand in order to take over the country. He links the "threat" of Islam in New Zealand to the terrorist attacks in America on 11 September 2001. "It's an underlying threat, but it's like the twin towers - they imploded. Islam does the same thing to a society - it makes it implode. The mindset of Islam is to take over the world. They will do it by any means they can." Dillner is calling on the church in New Zealand to "rise up" against Islam. ("Challenge Weekly" 19.3.07 and "The Press" 23.3.07.)
  

• BRUCE QUEDLEY, director of the New Zealand chapter of Open Doors, which is organising the "Mosques and Miracles" conferences in Auckland and Wellington. Quedley said that Islam was often portrayed as a religion of peace, but "realistically that's not what happens". He claims that Christian and Jewish people are compelled to pay a special tax and live as second-class citizens in Islamic society if they wish to live at peace with Muslims. ("Challenge Weekly" 19.3.07 and "The Press" 23.3.07.)
  

• 'CHALLENGE WEEKLY', an ultra-conservative Christian newspaper circulated mainly within New Zealand's right-wing Baptist and fundamentalist churches. Starting in March 2007, when it carried the headline "Conferences to look at 'threat' of Islam in NZ", this paper has uncritically supported the Islamophobic agenda of the "Mosques and Miracles" conferences.
  

• GLYN CARPENTER, national director of Vision Network, a right-wing fundamentalist coalition in New Zealand. After the Baptist church that was hosting the Christchurch "Mosques and Miracles" conference pulled out in reaction to its "intolerant" ideologues, Carpenter stepped into the role of chief New Zealand spokesperson for the Australian extremists. Carpenter has tried to pretty up their image, saying: "It's a pity that media coverage has portrayed the conference as being anti-Islam. It's created unnecessary fears. It's not that." He claimed that "Mosques and Miracles" organisers were not trying to present Islam as "bad". However, he criticised the "element within Islam which is hostile to Western countries and to the Christian faith". ("Challenge Weekly" 19.3.07 and 21.5.07.)
  

Over recent months, Destiny Church leader BRIAN TAMAKI has begun publicly attacking New Zealand Muslims and their faith. While playing no apparent role in the "Mosques and Miracles" conferences, Tamaki's statements reveal a mindset close to that of the Australian Islamophobes. Here are a few of Tamaki's comments:

• Tamaki accused the New Zealand government of promoting a statement on religious diversity which "downplays our Christian heritage and represents our country as religiously neutral in an attempt to placate radical Muslims". ("Challenge Weekly" 21.5.07.)
  

• "We are at a point where Christian-based nations must not be afraid to declare their religious allegiance... This would mean that alternative or foreign religions would not be afforded equal status to the established national religion, therefore restrictions on these religions would need to apply." He warned that New Zealand should learn from Britain and France where large-scale immigration had been permitted and "mosques are allowed to flourish", and this "proliferation of Islam has significantly weakened their sense of national safety". ("NZ Herald" 29.5.07 and "Challenge Weekly" 28.5.07.)
  

• "This nation must have the right to discuss... whether we are going to establish and affirm and accept our religious identity as a country, or whether we are going to walk away and let that be lost, perhaps forever, and to allow foreign religions and foreign beliefs and other philosophies to proliferate into our country and begin to defile the very soil of this land." ("NZ Herald" 30.5.07.)
  

"RAM is organising the Voices of Peace meetings as a positive alternative to the sudden growth of organised racism against Muslims in New Zealand," said Grant Morgan. "RAM supports the values of social inclusion, equal rights for all and world peace. We must win the battle of ideas against the Islamophobes, or else we will end up living in a country where racism has become the dominant ideology."

VOICES OF PEACE
AUCKLAND MEETINGS

GEORGE GALLOWAY will be addressing these two meetings:

TOWN MEETING

7.30pm, Saturday 28 July.
Auckland Girls Grammar School Theatre.
16 Howe St (off Karangahape Rd).
The three other speakers are:

• JAVED KHAN, president of Federation of Islamic Associations of NZ.
• PAUL BUCHANAN, international security analyst & director of the Working Group on Alternative Security Perspectives.
• GRANT MORGAN, organiser of RAM - Residents Action Movement.
  

Limit of 800 seats, so those interested are being advised to get there early. NO DOOR CHARGE. Donations will be accepted. Off street car parks available.

UNIVERSITY MEETING

6.30pm, Friday 27 July. [NOTE: Meeting starts a half-hour later than first advertised.]
Library Basement, University of Auckland, Alfred St, central city (opposite Maidment Theatre).
The three other speakers are:

• NIBRAS KARDAMAN, young Muslim woman & representative of the Working Together Group.
• HANNAH SPIERER co-leader of Greens on Campus.
• GRANT MORGAN, organiser of RAM - Residents Action Movement.
  

NO DOOR CHARGE. Donations will be accepted.

Both meetings OPEN TO THE MEDIA.

ACTIVIST WORKSHOPS

There will also be Voices of Peace workshops where the nature of Islamophobia will be examined by Muslims and non-Muslims and moves made towards forming a broad activist network which will campaign against racism and other social injustices. George Galloway will give the introduction.
2-5pm, Sunday 29 July.
Fickling Convention Centre, 546 Mt Albert Rd, Three Kings.
Limit of 250 participants, so those interested are being advised to get there early. Plenty of off street parking. NO DOOR CHARGE. Donations will be accepted.

Australian extremist in NZ to wage war on Islam

RAM - Residents Action Movement
Media release on Voices of Peace
24 July 2007

Australian extremist in NZ
to wage war on Islam

Anti-war MP GEORGE GALLOWAY was recently suspended for 18 days from the British Parliament by pro-war politicians he has been fighting for decades. In the longest investigation in its history, a Westminster parliamentary committee found that Mr Galloway was innocent of any corruption, contrary to the smears of Tony Blair and George Bush, but suspended him anyway. The 10-person committee of pro-war, anti-Palestinian politicians were upset that "proper respect" was not shown to them as they hounded the one British MP who has all along opposed the unjust and murderous occupation of Iraq.

Mr Galloway has all along linked George Bush's so-called "War on Terror" with the global spread of Islamophobia, saying that Muslims and their faith are being demonised in a bid to legitimise the US state's crusade for oil and power. The British MP shot to world fame in 2005 when he testified before the US Senate and in effect put George Bush and his cronies "on trial" for war crimes.

Mr Galloway will be speaking against Islamophobia in Auckland on 27-29 July at Voices of Peace meetings hosted by RAM, the Residents Action Movement. (Meeting details below.)

"Voices of Peace is being held to counter the first stirrings of organised Islamophobia in New Zealand," said RAM organiser Grant Morgan.

"A group of right-wing Christian extremists from Australia are now in New Zealand to spread a message of hatred towards Muslims and Islam. They claim that Islam is the 'anti-Christ' and that Muslims are 'on the march' to take control of New Zealand. They allege that Muslims will destroy democracy here and force everyone to 'submit' to Islam, or else be enslaved or killed. They call for the 'mother' of all 'spiritual wars' to be waged against 'evil' Islam."

"The purpose of their closed-door 'Mosques and Miracles' conferences in Auckland and Wellington is to incite hundreds of people into forming the core of a racist campaign against New Zealand Muslims and their faith," said Grant Morgan.

One of the main "Mosques and Miracles" speakers is Daniel Shayesteh, an extreme right Christian preacher from Sydney. His ministry in Australia, called "Exodus from Darkness", seeks to convert Muslims to his version of fundamentalist Christianity through a lurid depiction of Islam as the satanic force of darkness.

Shayesteh claims to be a convert from an Islamic revolutionary organisation in Iran. He was elected to Khomeini's government in 1981, but after political disagreements with the Iranian regime he fled to Turkey in 1988. From there he entered Australia with the help of fundamentalist Christians. He taught business at the University of Technology in Sydney for eight years, but was fired after complaints about his extremist Christian harassment of others. He then began a new career: the demonisation of Islam.

In a letter to New Zealand's "Investigate" magazine (July 2007), Shayesteh wrote that he is "speaking out" to people in the West about the "dangers of Islam". Since 2003, he said, "I have been travelling worldwide, including NZ, to spread awareness [about Islam]."

Shayesteh is funded by several extreme right Christian groups, including The Christian & Missionary Alliance (a US-based evangelical coalition which is antagonistic to Islam) and Open Doors (a closed-door organisation which sees Christianity as a "persecuted church"). The New Zealand chapter of Open Doors is organising the "Mosques and Miracles" conferences in Wellington (25-26 July) and Auckland (27-28 July). The phone number of Open Doors is (09) 620 4200.

In New Zealand, Shayesteh is uncritically supported by "Challenge Weekly" newspaper which circulates widely inside right-wing Baptist and fundamentalist churches.

"[The Qur'an] is a book of war, which turns Muslims against the world," alleges Syahesteh on his website. "Jihad is the Arabic word for 'war' against non-Muslims... It's very important for people in the West to understand that Islam is not a religion of peace. Any Muslim who doesn't get involved in Jihad is sinning. That's the doctrine of Islam."

Another Shayesteh quote: "...Muslims want you to accept Islam as your religion; otherwise, they are not going to stop terrorism. To stop fighting against infidels is a sin in Islam."

And another: "Islam is the only religion that decrees the demolishing of other religions even to the cost of killing their followers unless they follow Muhammad."

Shayesteh's website (www.ministryblue.com/exodus) is full of similar quotes. More quotes appear below.

Shayesteh is closely linked to the reverend Fred Nile, national president of Australia's ultra-conservative Christian Democratic Party who was elected to the New South Wales parliament. Nile has advocated a moratorium on Muslim immigration into Australia and a ban on Muslims being elected to the NSW parliament. Shayesteh, on his website, praises Nile for being "a heart for this nation" and for his "support of what I am doing".

"The alliance between Syahesteh and Nile points to the political agenda of the Australian Islamophobes now touring New Zealand," said Grant Morgan. "They aim to incite non-Muslim communities into a war against our own Muslim community. But this is not the sort of New Zealand that the vast majority of our citizens want."

"RAM is organising Voices of Peace as a positive alternative to their racism against Muslims. RAM supports the values of social inclusion, equal rights for all and world peace. We are heartened by the groundswell of support that Voices of Peace is receiving from grassroots people. And we are proud to have such a powerful voice for world peace as George Galloway on our platform," said Grant Morgan.


MORE QUOTES FROM SHAYESTEH'S NEWSLETTERS

• "All my talks were about... the way to combat the threat of Islam..."
  

• "Both the Qura'an and the Sharia commands Muslims to prepare themselves for terrorizing... Christians and non-Muslims."
  

• "Islam is not a peaceful religion... We see that Islam is fighting all nations... It's the holy war of Islam..."
  

• "Muslim ideology is cloaked in violence... The Muslim holy book seeps with violence... Osama bin Laden is the servant of Islam. Islam is the enemy of this country... Osama bin Laden can be changed, but Islam cannot. Osama bin Laden is just a tool in the hand of Islam."
  

• "[Muslims] have to terrorize Christians and Jews by frightening them. By killing them, [Muslims] can take Islam... to the rest of the world."
  

• "Islam does not believe in freedom and democracy... If you criticize Islam and Muhammad, your fingers should be chopped [off] first and then your head."
  

• "It was Jesus who said love your enemy and fight against evil [Islam]... It is impossible to change Islam."
  

• "The Kingdom of Allah on earth would mean the elimination of all other religions. At the top of the list are Judaism and Christianity."
  

• "[Shayesteh] urged people to avoid a passive approach to multiculturalism unless they wanted to see Judeo-Christian and democratic values indiscriminately uprooted from their communities and nation [by Islam]."
  

• "Islam teaches lying, deceiving, etc as legitimate tools for the sake and progress of religion."
  

• "Muslims... will not compromise with the West, but they are delighted if the West chooses to compromise with Islam."
  

• "...Radical Islam... acted as suicide bombers because of their own spiritual imprisonment... Nothing could change the heart of a hostile Muslim except Jesus. If we introduce radical Muslims to Jesus, Jesus will transform them from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light... Their problem is fundamentally spiritual..."
  

VOICES OF PEACE
AUCKLAND MEETINGS

GEORGE GALLOWAY will be addressing these two meetings:

TOWN MEETING

7.30pm, Saturday 28 July.
Auckland Girls Grammar School Theatre.
16 Howe St (off Karangahape Rd).
The three other speakers are:

• JAVED KHAN, president of Federation of Islamic Associations of NZ.
• PAUL BUCHANAN, international security analyst & director of the Working Group on Alternative Security Perspectives.
• GRANT MORGAN, organiser of RAM - Residents Action Movement.
  

Limit of 800 seats, so those interested are being advised to get there early. NO DOOR CHARGE. Donations will be accepted. Off street car parks available.

UNIVERSITY MEETING

6.30pm, Friday 27 July. [NOTE: Meeting starts a half-hour later than first advertised.]
Library Basement, University of Auckland, Alfred St, central city (opposite Maidment Theatre).
The three other speakers are:

• NIBRAS KARDAMAN, young Muslim woman & representative of the Working Together Group.
• HANNAH SPIERER co-leader of Greens on Campus.
• GRANT MORGAN, organiser of RAM - Residents Action Movement.
  

NO DOOR CHARGE. Donations will be accepted.

Both meetings OPEN TO THE MEDIA.

ACTIVIST WORKSHOPS

There will also be Voices of Peace workshops where the nature of Islamophobia will be examined by Muslims and non-Muslims and moves made towards forming a broad activist network which will campaign against racism and other social injustices. George Galloway will give the introduction.
2-5pm, Sunday 29 July.
Fickling Convention Centre, 546 Mt Albert Rd, Three Kings.
Limit of 250 participants, so those interested are being advised to get there early. Plenty of off street parking. NO DOOR CHARGE. Donations will be accepted.

Community leaders support Voices of Peace

RAM - Residents Action Movement
Media release on Voices of Peace
22 July 2007

Community leaders support
Voices of Peace

British MP George Galloway will be speaking against Islamophobia in Auckland on 27-29 July at Voices of Peace meetings hosted by RAM, the Residents Action Movement. (Meeting details below.)

"A group of hard-core, professional Islamophobes from Australia are coming to New Zealand in a few days time to spread a message of hatred towards Muslims and Islam," said RAM organiser Grant Morgan.

"These right-wing Christian extremists claim that Islam is the 'anti-Christ'. They claim that Muslims are 'on the march' to take control of countries like New Zealand. They claim that Muslims will destroy democracy here and force everyone to 'submit' to Islam, or else face being enslaved or killed. They call for the 'mother' of all 'spiritual wars' to be waged against 'evil' Islam."

"These and similar racist claims are the theme of a 400-page book titled 'Mosques and Miracles' which is the ideological framework for their New Zealand conferences of the same name. The lead speaker at these conferences is the book's author, Australian Baptist preacher Stuart Robinson."

"These right-wing Australian bigots are out to poison the minds of fundamentalist Christians at closed-door conferences in Auckland and Wellington. They want to incite hundreds of people into forming the core of a highly political campaign against New Zealand Muslims and their faith," said Grant Morgan.

"Ironically, the organising body of their closed-door conferences is Open Doors, a fundamentalist Christian group operating on both sides of the Tasman as well as in many other countries. The closed-door secrecy of Open Doors highlights their deliberate use of misleading language, such as their fraudulent claims to really 'love' Muslims."

The phone number for Open Doors New Zealand is (09) 620 4200. Their Mosques and Miracles conferences are advertised at www.meco.zuyouth.com

"RAM is organising Voices of Peace as a positive alternative to their racism against Muslims," said Grant Morgan.

"RAM supports the values of social inclusion, equal rights for all and world peace. We are heartened by the groundswell of support that Voices of Peace is receiving from grassroots people and their community leaders."

The broad support for Voices of Peace can be seen in the following statements by community leaders:

EMILY COLGAN
Organiser of the Auckland Council of Christian, Muslim & Jewish Youth.
"The NZ Council of Christian, Muslim & Jewish Youth is highly supportive of any endeavour to encourage religious coexistence. We strongly assert our vision of harmony between faiths through mutual understanding to counter those whose views are divisive and promote ignorance and intolerance. Thus we strongly support the Voices of Peace initiative as a demonstration of hope in a world unnecessarily perceived as being divided between competing religious ideologies."

PAUL G. BUCHANAN
Director of the Working Group on Alternative Security Perspectives.
"New Zealand has more to fear from tsunamis than it does from Islamic terrorism because it has no history of meddling in the affairs of Islamic countries. However, since 9/11 New Zealand has adopted a more hostile policy towards Muslim immigrants and has increased scrutiny of the resident Muslim population. This policy is exactly the type of scapegoating and discrimination that breeds resentment amongst disenchanted elements of targeted communities. By any objective criteria, Islam poses no threat to the Kiwi way of life unless New Zealand authorities and the public continue to ostracise Muslims simply because of who they are."

JAVED KHAN
President of the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand.
"While Muslims in New Zealand generally live in peace with others, Muslims in other countries are not so lucky. I hope that George Galloway will enlighten New Zealand on the plight of Muslims facing a rising tide of Islamophobia. This racism against Muslims is linked to the so-called 'War on Terror', which was never sanctioned by the United Nations. It was simply a ploy of the superpowers to plunder the rich resources of the Middle East. To defeat terror and religious extremism, Muslims, Christians, Jews and all others should practice a 'unity in diversity'. This will surely lead to peace and harmonious co-existence for all humanity. All faiths have a common theme of working for peace as a basic condition for leading lives acceptable to God Almighty. This was the message of all our prophets and seers of all ages."

ROBYN HUGHES
RAM councillor on the Auckland Regional Council.
"New Zealand is a small country, so Kiwis know what it is to be a minority. That's why Kiwis get in behind the All Blacks and Team NZ when they represent our small nation in David and Goliath events. It is this camaraderie that makes us unique as a people. We support those who are doing brave and courageous things. This generosity of spirit extends to standing up for those who are being bullied. We won¹t put up with it. While not a believer, I will defend anyone's right to their religion, so long as they do no harm to others. The Muslims I have met are kind and loving people, unlike religious bigots who spout their hatred of those who do not share their beliefs."

MAAN ALZAHER
Organiser of the Working Together Group within the Muslim community.
"We in New Zealand have been enjoying peace. Let's stand together to defend it and close the door on the messengers of hate. All of us, black and white, Pakeha and Maori, Muslims and non-Muslims, believers and non-believers, should stand shoulder to shoulder to deny the messengers of hate a foothold on our islands. We are the majority, they are the minority. Let our voices of peace be loud."

BRUCE KEELEY
Co-president of the NZ Council of Christians & Muslims.
"The National Statement on Religious Diversity was recently adopted in draft form as a basis for ongoing discussion within our nation. It seeks to provide a framework for the recognition of New Zealand's diverse faith communities and their harmonious interaction with each other and with other groups in society. This positive initiative stands comfortably alongside the work of the Council of Christians & Muslims which promotes mutual understanding and respect between our two faith communities. Voices of Peace provides yet another voice for the building of an inclusive, just and non-discriminatory society in Aotearoa/New Zealand, a vision which CCM thoroughly endorses."

NIBRAS KARDAMAN
Young Muslim woman speaking at Voices of Peace university meeting.
"New Zealand is known as a country that respects the values and cultures of its citizens, irrespective of their origins and background. New Zealanders are not people who tolerate injustice, or acts of hatred and prejudice. Positive race relations and religious acceptance have become important features of this society's attitudes, and Muslims have taken part in building and shaping this country over the last century. People who encourage intolerance, misunderstanding and hate towards Muslims in this country do so from a position of ignorance about Islam. Inclusion, rather than community division or marginalisation, is the New Zealand way. It's the way forward for the future."

JOHN HINCHCLIFF
Vice-chancellor emeritus of AUT University and Auckland City councillor.
"More than ever before, with the huge arsenals of nuclear, bacteriological and chemical weaponry, we must learn to respect and affirm our differences of belief. Every religion seems cursed to have its supply of fanatics. We must embrace those many Muslims who share with so many Christians the ways of love, peace and respect for everyone, regardless of their beliefs or backgrounds. Those self-righteous fanatics among every religion, including Christianity and Islam, who affirm a faith that engenders violence and hatred must be challenged to find the true teachings of their prophets and theologians."

VOICES OF PEACE
AUCKLAND MEETINGS

GEORGE GALLOWAY will be addressing these two meetings:

TOWN MEETING

7.30pm, Saturday 28 July.
Auckland Girls Grammar School Theatre.
16 Howe St (off Karangahape Rd).
The three other speakers are:

• JAVED KHAN, president of Federation of Islamic Associations of NZ.
• PAUL BUCHANAN, international security analyst & director of the Working Group on Alternative Security Perspectives.
• GRANT MORGAN, organiser of RAM - Residents Action Movement.
  

Limit of 800 seats, so those interested are being advised to get there early. NO DOOR CHARGE. Donations will be accepted. Off street car parks available.

UNIVERSITY MEETING

6.30pm, Friday 27 July. [NOTE: Meeting starts a half-hour later than first advertised.]
Venue to be confirmed, but will almost certainly be the Library Basement, University of Auckland, Alfred St, central city.
The three other speakers are:

• NIBRAS KARDAMAN, young Muslim woman & representative of the Working Together Group.
• HANNAH SPIERER co-leader of Greens on Campus.
• GRANT MORGAN, organiser of RAM - Residents Action Movement.
  

NO DOOR CHARGE. Donations will be accepted.

Both meetings OPEN TO THE MEDIA.

ACTIVIST WORKSHOPS

There will also be Voices of Peace workshops where the nature of Islamophobia will be examined by Muslims and non-Muslims and moves made towards forming a broad activist network which will campaign against racism and other social injustices. George Galloway will give the introduction.
2-5pm, Sunday 29 July.
Fickling Convention Centre, 546 Mt Albert Rd, Three Kings.
Limit of 250 participants, so those interested are being advised to get there early. Plenty of off street parking. NO DOOR CHARGE. Donations will be accepted.

Preachers of racist bigotry

RAM ­ Residents Action Movement
Media release on Voices of Peace
15 July 2007

Right-wing Aussie preachers
'stir up racist bigotry' in NZ

Voices of Peace meetings in Auckland on 27-28 July, to be addressed by left-wing British MP George Galloway, will counter the sudden rise of organised Islamophobia in New Zealand. The meetings are being organised by RAM, the Residents Action Movement. (Meeting details below.)

"A prime catalyst for the Voices of Peace meetings is the Mosques & Miracles tour being organised in New Zealand around the same time to spread the message of Islamophobia," said RAM organiser Grant Morgan. "The Mosques & Miracles tour has been inspired by the 400-page book of the same name written by Australian right-wing Baptist pastor Stuart Robinson."

"Mr Robinson's 'Mosques & Miracles' book calls for the 'mother of all 'spiritual wars' to be fought against 'evil' Islam, which represents the 'anti-Christ' and is 'on the march' to destroy our liberties and freedoms by waging war on all non-Muslims until they 'submit' or are enslaved or killed," said Grant Morgan. "Mr Robinson will also be one of the keynote speakers at the Mosques & Miracles conferences. He will be joined by a group of other extreme right evangelical Christian preachers from Australia."

"By shaping their New Zealand conferences around Mr Robinson's Islamophobic book, the Mosques & Miracles ideologues from Australia will be stirring up racist bigotry against other human beings simply because they follow a different faith and often originate from a different part of the planet."

"RAM asks: Why are the Mosques & Miralces meetings closed to the public, except for one short session? If their message was wholesome, why would they try to hide it from scrutiny by the public and the media? Are they attempting to secretly recruit an Islamophobic cadre here in New Zealand as a necessary first step to building a political movement against Muslim immigrants?"

"The vast majority of New Zealanders reject their sectarian message of division and hate between communities in this country. That is why RAM is organising the positive alternative of Voices of Peace. We are aiming for broad unity around the values of social inclusion and equal rights for every religious believer and non-believer," said Grant Morgan.

"Our call will be amplified by having George Galloway on our Voices of Peace platform. Mr Galloway, a British MP who is world famous as an advocate of social justice and world peace, will be showing how the roots of Islamophobia are to be found in the US war in Iraq."


THE QUOTES BELOW from Stuart Robinson's "Mosques & Miracles" book give you a flavour of its feverish anti-Muslim message:

• "[We face] the threat of having all nations becoming Islamic states and governed by Islamic law (shariah)... The Islamic challenge to the church if not Western society... is in all of our cities and neighbourhoods ­ now! Islam and Christianity are on a pathway of confrontation."
  

• "A firm foundation has been laid to achieve the ultimate goal of the Islamisation of the United States... Islam is much more than just another ethnic lobby group. As its influence grows it is bound to have repercussions on the whole American way of life... Such concepts as 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness'... are almost unimaginable within pure Islam... The clash that is likely to occur as Islam increasingly impacts within America is potentially of cataclysmic proportions. In an article entitled 'The New Ideological Enemy', a think tank of the Pentagon considered that a confrontation with Islam was inevitable... The threat to the American way of life does not come from some militarily inferior cluster of far off powers. It comes from within... If the present trend continues it could well be that one day the stars and stripes may be replaced by the crescent moon."
  

• "Until the entire earth and all of its inhabitants are both returned to the rulership of Allah and acknowledged as such by all, then war must be pursued against those who have yet to submit. Peace is impossible... Islam's expansion by means of military conquest is not an occasional event but a... religious obligation."
  

• "No non-Muslim is considered equal to any Muslim."
  

• "On July 9 1935 Winston Churchill warned his countrymen, 'There lies before us a period of strain and peril which I do not think has been equalled ­ no, not even in the Great War [World War I]'... But in England people and their leaders wanted to believe that there would be only peace and prosperity ahead... No less a call should be sounded in our time as Islam organises, finances, equips and implements its strategies around the world. The question is, 'Will we be like the leaders of Europe in the lead up to what became the Holocaust of World War II or will we respond more appropriately while there is yet time?'... We at least [must] acknowledge we are facing an unprecedented challenge of immense proportions."
  

• "What Islam historically and consistently exhibits is certainly not the pattern of the Biblical Kingdom of God on earth. Its origins therefore, are elsewhere... The Quran... makes no categorical condemnation of occult practices... What sort of belief system despises the cross and so vigorously denies the death of Christ?... [Ex-Muslim Christian evangelist] Reza Safa concludes that such could only originate from the anti-Christ..."
  

• "For many years to come, oil from the Middle East will remain an economic jugular for the Western world. If it is closed there would be massive disruption to Western economies... [Extreme right-wing ideologue] Samuel Huntington believes that 'The actions of the oil-rich Muslim states... amount to nothing less than a bold attempt to lay the Christian West under tribute to the Middle East'."
  

• "Islam is on the march and it has reached well within the borders of all Western nations... The spiritual battle has already been joined... Each [person] needs to... reaffirm that we are involved in spiritual warfare and be prepared to enter into it... A spiritual war is being waged... It is the war between good and evil, darkness and light, God and his adversaries. This is the mother of all wars. War is not being fought over one country or one issue but for the hopes and fears of all humanity."
  

More quotes from Stuart Robinson's book, and/or a colour scan of its front cover, are available from RAM organiser Grant Morgan. Email grantmorgan@paradise.net.nz or ring 021 2544 515.

VOICES OF PEACE
UCKLAND MEETINGS

GEORGE GALLOWAY will be addressing these two meetings:

TOWN MEETING
7.30pm, Saturday 28 July.
Auckland Girls Grammar School Theatre.
16 Howe St (off Karangahape Rd).
The three other speakers are:

• JAVED KHAN, president of Federation of Islamic Associations of NZ.
• PAUL BUCHANAN, international security analyst & director of the Working Group on Alternative Security Perspectives at the University of Auckland.
• GRANT MORGAN, organiser of RAM ­ Residents Action Movement.
  

Limit of 800 seats, so those interested are being advised to get there early. NO DOOR CHARGE. Donations will be accepted.

UNIVERSITY MEETING
6pm, Friday 27 July.
University of Auckland.
Venue to be confirmed.
The three other speakers are:

• NIBRAS KARDAMAN, young Muslim woman & representative of the Working Together Group.
• STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE of the campus organising group.
• GRANT MORGAN, organiser of RAM ­ Residents Action Movement.
  

NO DOOR CHARGE. Donations will be accepted.


Both meetings OPEN TO THE MEDIA.

WORKSHOPS
There will also be Voices of Peace workshops where topics touching on Islamophobia can be discussed together by Muslims and non-Muslims. George Galloway will give the introduction.
2-5pm, Sunday 29 July.
Fickling Convention Centre, 546 Mt Albert Rd, Three Kings.
Limit of 250 participants, so those interested are being advised to get there early.

Voices of Peace to counter organised Islamophobia in NZ

RAM ­ Residents Action Movement
Media release on Voices of Peace
12 July 2007

Voices of Peace to counter
organised Islamophobia in NZ

Two huge Voices of Peace meetings will be held in Auckland on 27-28 July to counter the sudden rise of organised Islamophobia in New Zealand. They will be followed by activist workshops. (Meeting details below.)

George Galloway, left-wing British MP & international peace campaigner, will be guest speaker at the Voices of Peace meetings, which are being hosted by RAM, the Residents Action Movement.

"Here in New Zealand we are currently facing the first stirrings of organised Islamophobia, which is a form of racism against Muslims," said RAM organiser Grant Morgan.

"A coalition of extreme right Christians is importing Australian anti-Muslim hard-liners to run Mosques & Miracles conferences in Auckland and Wellington in late July. Over recent months, Destiny Church's bishop Brian Tamaki has made a series of anti-Islamic public statements. Their propaganda about 'evil' and 'foreign' Islam infiltrating our country and undermining our liberties has been uncritically featured by the right-wing Christian newspaper Challenge Weekly which circulates widely inside New Zealand's fundamentalist and Baptist churches. In tandem, Ian Wishart's Investigate magazine has been running long articles on the so-called 'threat' of Muslims in New Zealand."

"We do not want their message of division and hate to poison relations between communities in New Zealand," said Grant Morgan. "We do not want their call for a 'spiritual war' against Islam to escalate into inter-communal conflict. We do not want their sectarian crusade to demonise our Muslim community which has played a positive and peaceful role in this country for over 100 years."

"With the blessing of a broad array of Muslim groups, along with many non-Muslim faith and community leaders, RAM is organising Voices of Peace meetings in Auckland as a positive alternative to Islamophobia. We are uniting against the 'politics of fear' being spread by the preachers of sectarian division. RAM is determined that the values of social inclusion and equal rights for all shall prevail in New Zealand."

"Amnesty International's world report in May 2007 said the 'politics of fear', closely linked to George Bush's 'war on terror' and the US war in Iraq, is fueling Islamophobia and other globalised violations of human rights. RAM agrees with Amnesty International's analysis, and we are doing something positive about it with our Voices of Peace meetings. We are proud to have such a powerful voice as George Galloway standing alongside us," said Grant Morgan.

"Our meetings are open to the public and the media, and there is no door charge."

VOICES OF PEACE
AUCKLAND MEETINGS

GEORGE GALLOWAY will be addressing these two Voices of Peace meetings:

TOWN MEETING
7.30pm, Saturday 28 July.
Auckland Girls Grammar School Theatre.
16 Howe St (off Karangahape Rd).
The three other speakers are:

• JAVED KHAN, president of Federation of Islamic Associations of NZ.
• PAUL BUCHANAN, international security analyst & director of the Working Group on Alternative Security Perspectives at the University of Auckland.
• GRANT MORGAN, organiser of RAM ­ Residents Action Movement.
  

Limit of 800 seats, so those interested are being advised to get there early. NO DOOR CHARGE. Donations will be accepted.

UNIVERSITY MEETING
6pm, Friday 27 July.
University of Auckland.
Venue to be confirmed.
The three other speakers are:

• NIBRAS KARDAMAN, young Muslim woman & representative of the Working Together Group.
• STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE of the campus organising group.
• GRANT MORGAN, organiser of RAM ­ Residents Action Movement.
  

NO DOOR CHARGE. Donations will be accepted.

Both meetings OPEN TO THE MEDIA.

WORKSHOPS
There will also be Voices of Peace workshops where topics touching on Islamophobia can be discussed together by Muslims and non-Muslims. George Galloway will give the introduction.
2-5pm, Sunday 29 July.
Fickling Convention Centre, 546 Mt Albert Rd, Three Kings.
Limit of 250 participants, so those interested are being advised to get there early.

Hamas’s victory in Gaza is a blow to Bush’s plans

by Simon Assaf

The stunning military victory by the Palestinian Hamas movement over the rival Fatah organisation in the Gaza Strip last week was a strike against imperialism in the Middle East.

The US and its allies have described the Islamist group Hamas’s driving out of Fatah from Gaza as a “military coup” aimed at creating a “mini Taliban state”.

It is nothing of the sort. Hamas is the democratically elected Palestinian government. Its victory last week stopped an attempted military takeover sponsored by the US and its Israeli and Egyptian allies.

George Bush rushed to embrace the “Fatah moderates” in “the battle with extremism”.

Yet it is Bush who has worked hardest to strip Fatah of any credibility among the Palestinians by failing to deliver even the smallest concession in return for its recognition of Israel.

The showdown came last week after the attempted assassination of Hamas prime minister Ismail Hanaiya.

Angry Hamas fighters moved to crush what they considered to be the beginning of an Egyptian-inspired coup. Abandoned by its supporters, Fatah crumbled.

Hundreds of its fighters surrendered or walked away from the battle. Others fled across the border into Egypt.

Stunned

The speed of Hamas’s victory stunned the US. Israel and its Arab allies rallied around the Palestinian president, Fatah’s Mahmoud Abbas.

The day after Abbas’s security services were driven out of the Gaza Strip, Bush promised that the Israelis would “ease the siege” of the West Bank to “prove that life under Fatah was better than under Hamas”.

Bush’s comments were followed swiftly by the Israelis promising that they would finally hand over some of the Palestinian tax revenues worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

For Abbas and his Palestinian Authority it was too little too late.

Abbas has announced a new government headed by Salam Fayyad, a US-educated technocrat who was the International Monetary Fund’s representative to Palestine until 2001.

This final humiliation must be painful for the generations of Fatah fighters and their supporters.

Fatah has been transformed from an organisation that fought against Zionism and imperialism into an organisation that polices its own people in their service.

Control

Fatah, first under Yasser Arafat and now under Mahmoud Abbas, agreed to control the Palestinians in return for being allowed to run the virtually powerless Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Despite its concessions, it suffered numerous humiliations from the US and Israel.

The US demanded that Abbas crush any resistance before setting out any details of the “roadmap for peace”. Then in 2005 the Israelis unveiled a new wave of settlements for the West Bank.

Israel has built an Apartheid Wall that snakes across the Occupied Territories.

When the wall is complete it will annex 47 percent of the West Bank, isolating Palestinian communities into ghettoes and closed military zones.

Around 12 percent of Palestinians will be trapped inside the wall’s boundaries, including 200,000 residents of East Jerusalem.

These relentless land grabs have left Palestinians living on 12 percent of their historic homeland.

As the Israelis grabbed more of the West Bank, Israeli settlers abandoned the Gaza Strip in what was widely credited as a victory for resistance.

Buoyed by the Israeli withdrawal, Hamas made its boldest move. In January 2006 it stood in the legislative elections and won because of the deep discontent with Fatah.

The US and its allies organised an international boycott of the Palestinians. Israel laid siege to Gaza and arrested Hamas MPs and ministers.

The US, Israel and their Arab allies in Egypt attempted to crush Hamas as the international boycott punished ordinary Palestinians for their democratic choice of government.

Coup

Far from the boycott and sanctions isolating and weakening Hamas, it gutted Fatah.

With its strategy of isolating Hamas in tatters, Egypt and the US insisted that Abbas stage a coup against the Hamas government.

In April, Israel announced it was transferring a million rounds of ammunition to Palestinian Authority troops, while 500 highly trained Fatah fighters crossed from Egypt into Gaza.

There were growing fears that it was only a matter of time before Fatah launched a coup against Hamas.

Yet, despite the Hamas victory, the Gaza Strip remains isolated and surrounded by hostile forces. Hamas cannot militarily defeat Israel, nor can it shift the Egyptian blockade on its southern border.

Reliant for power and water from Israel, and food and medicine from Egypt, the only way out could be the well trodden path to the Arab rulers.

As Fatah learned before, their support always comes at the price of toning down revolutionary policies.

Israel, humiliated by its defeat by the radical Islamist Hizbollah group in Lebanon last year, is threatening to launch a new war on the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinians are trapped between a hostile Egyptian dictatorship and a hateful Israeli state. There is a huge responsibility on the growing movement in Egypt to topple its dictator, Hosni Mubarak.

That would be a major defeat for imperialism and the beginning of the process that could lead to the liberation of the Palestinian people.

The following should be read alongside this article:

» Fatah’s journey from resistance fighters to tool of Israel and the West