A manifesto [that is apparently the term used by the signatories] signed by leading European intellectuals and writers including Bernard Henri Levy and Rushdie has been issued in Paris. It attacks Islamism which it defines as “reactionary ideology which kills equality, freedom and secularism.”
It declares that "After having overcome fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism, the world now faces a new global threat: Islamism."
Their concerns were aroused by the violent reaction to the Danish cartoons Many Europeans, as exemplified by these intellectuals, see the violent reaction to the cartoons as exemplifying the threat to Europe from adherents to Islamism who, the intellectuals believe, lack fidelity to democratic values.
Not all Muslims share these views, but the signatories worry about those who do. It should be noted that the signatories included a number of self-professed Muslim moderates who worry that their religion is being hijacked by extremists.
While this has not gotten great press, it may well be the beginning of a trend among moderate Muslims who are less afraid to speak out. Maybe the completely out of proportion reaction to the cartoons and the fact that there is has been a far greater outcry about the violence of the reactions than about the cartoons themselves, have given the moderates a feeling that this is a moment that must be seized.
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http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/03/04/auschwitz.photographer.ap/index.html
Maybe Irving can deny this man's confession as a lie and Jew plot.
Thank you for publicizing this. I have been talking it up on various sites and in e-mails because of the importance I feel it has. I have also written a letter to the NYTIMES criticizing their mention of it in the addenda to the arts page, next to the daily tv ratings One thing I have done repeatedly, and will do here, is to list the signatories and suggest people google them and find out more about the ones they are unfamiliar with.
The list:
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Chahla Chafiq
Caroline Fourest
Bernard-Henri Lévy
Irshad Manji
Mehdi Mozaffari
Maryam Namazie
Taslima Nasreen
Salman Rushdie
Antoine Sfeir
Philippe Val
Ibn Warraq
These men and women must be admired for their courage and their unequivocal refusal to accept the fear that tip toes upon the thinnest of moral and ethical ice: appeasement and it's brother, moral relativism.
This refusal to bow to totalitarian barbarism is welcome. As an American I am ashamed that the United States media and government seem to be ignoring the very dangerous reality of religious fascism from both within and outside our borders.
Has a fatwa been issued yet from the keepers of the One True Path?
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