By Ted Belman
Free speech is under attack everywhere. Hardly a week goes by without another defeat of its defenders. We are saddened, if not outraged, by the recent court decision against Rachel Ehrefield. And now the following takes the cake.
Defaming Islam
by Baron Bodissey, Gates of ViennaNo to the UN!According to CNS news, the UN General Assembly has passed a resolution against the “defamation of religions”, especially Islam.
I’ve never felt a particular need to defame Islam, since Islam is perfectly capable of defaming itself.
But this, of course, is hate speech, not to mention racism and xenophobia, and is thus defamatory in its own right. Once the UN gets its way, I won’t be able to say it anymore.
The anti-religious defamation resolution was introduced by the OIC as a corrective to the Islamophobia revealed by the Mohammed cartoon crisis in Denmark. It has been kicking around the UN in committee for a couple of years, and generally flew under the radar until it was passed by the General Assembly this week without attracting any undue attention.
There’s almost no information about it on the web, and it’s very difficult to find the exact text of the resolution as passed. As far as I can tell, this Word document is the current version, even though it dates from the end of 2006. I’ll reproduce it at the bottom of this post so that readers and fellow bloggers can have an HTML version to refer to. If anyone finds a different and more current version of it, please let me know.
The UN resolution dovetails perfectly with the Framework Decision and the European Parliament resolution on combating the rise of extremism in Europe. The UN is Sauron to the EU’s Saruman, but both organizations are working the same evil magic and reading from the same book of spells. Similar American versions of this mischief have been floated in Congress since the Democrats took over.
What makes the UN resolution different from the EU’s initiatives — and what probably caused some European countries to vote against it — is that the UN version mentions Islam as a specially protected religion. No other religion is specified in it. The United Nations now makes it official: Islam has been elevated above other religions, and has effectively become the established religion at the UN.
The Islamic countries of the OIC are well-versed in human rights jargon, and have used it to great effect in this resolution. The text asserts that “respect for cultural, ethnic, religious and linguistic diversity, as well as dialogue among and within civilizations, is essential for peace, understanding and friendship among individuals and people of the different cultures and nations of the world”, and wants “to promote greater harmony and tolerance in all societies”.
But the wording leaves no doubt about which religion and culture it intends to protect. The resolution.
* Opposes “the introduction and enforcement of laws that specifically discriminate against and target Muslims”;
* Points out “the increasing trend in recent years of statements attacking religions, Islam and Muslims in particular, especially in human rights forums”;
* Asserts that “Islam is frequently and wrongly associated with human rights violations and terrorism”; and
* “Stresses the need to effectively combat defamation of all religions, Islam and Muslims in particular, especially in human rights forums”.The camel’s nose under the UN human rights tent is the concept of “racism and xenophobia” as a violation of human rights. Conflating the fear of Islam with racism and/or xenophobia is a well-established technique for placing criticism of Islam out of bounds. Such logic is fundamentally flawed — Nigerian Christians are, after all, the same race and nationality as the Muslims who burn their churches, but any mention or criticism of such an issue will be forbidden under the UN’s guidelines.
Simply collecting and publishing data on atrocities committed in the name of Islam will become “hate speech” once the would-be despots at the UN and the EU have their way.
A bomb explosion in Varanasi that kills hundreds of Hindus will be a “tragedy”.Any newspaper report stating that Muslims are claiming responsibility for the deed will be a crime.
Wake up! It’s a brave new world out there.
Visit the original article for the links it provides.
