Mick Hartley

Islamophobia revisited

Sarah AB at Harry's Place has a post on Anti-Muslim Bigotry vs. Islamophobia. Basically she's treating the two terms as pretty much interchangeable, and wondering where one shades into the other, and which might be the more appropriate usage. She herself, she makes clear, is quite happy with the term Islamophobia, but is aware that others aren't.

Well...it seems to me that the most important distinction here is altogether missing. The reason people object to the term Islamophobia is because it conflates two separate issues: prejudice against Muslims and criticism of Islam. Prejudice against Muslims - that is, anti-Muslim bigotry - should be condemned. No one should be discriminated against (within reason) because of their beliefs. Criticism of Islam, on the other hand, is entirely acceptable: indeed given Islam's record of misogyny homophobia and intolerance it should be just about obligatory for anyone who thinks of themselves as liberal.

I've been here before:

A fundamental principle of Western thought is the separation between a person and their beliefs. This is not a fundamental principle of Islamic thought. Quite the contrary: born a Muslim, you die a Muslim. The notion that you might change your mind is so alien that the punishment for apostasy - in theory, if not necessarily in practice - is death.

The charge of Islamophobia deliberately obscures that separation between a person and their beliefs. It accepts the Islamic vision of an immutable union of person and religion. We should refuse to accept those terms. A person's ethnic origins may be Pakistani, Arab, Kurd, European, whatever, and to criticise or abuse them for that is racist and unacceptable. Their beliefs, whether in Islam, Scientology, UFOs, or any other ideology, creed or cult, is an entirely different matter, and should be open to criticism, debate, scepticism, up to and including ridicule. That's the way we do it, and that's what we should be defending. Worship who or what you want, wear what you want, think what you want, but don't expect to be spared from being offended by the opinions and beliefs of others. The charge of Islamophobia is, precisely, an attempt to make criticism of Islam illegitimate - and that attempt should be resisted. We should be free to criticise Islam just as we criticise Christianity, socialism, capitalism, or any other system of beliefs.

The fact that the most well-known Islamic apostate, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, is under constant police protection, that Ibn Warraq, author of "Why I am Not a Muslim", has to write under a pseudonym, and that cartoons of Mohammed still attract death threats and Facebook bans, suggests how far we still have to go. The aim should be, at least for those Muslims resident in the West, that they feel as free to abandon the faith of their parents (or not to, of course) as Christians, atheists, and all the rest of us are free now to make our own choices. As long as Islamophobia is accepted as a legitimate term of criticism, we won't start making any progress.

That was written in 2010. Recent events only reinforce the point.

Maryam Namazie is good on this. Ophelia Benson at Butterflies and Wheels also has a couple of recent posts that are well worth reading.

Update: Terry Sanderson of the NSS on the same theme.

She's Alright

Short but oh so sweet - Jackie Wilson shows his gospel roots:

Previously:

A glorious voice, and a great dancer. It's quite a legacy: probably the major influence on both James Brown and Michael Jackson. Maybe Elvis as well, though Wilson was refreshingly honest about the influence sometimes going the other way: "A lot of people have accused Elvis of stealing the black man’s music, when in fact, almost every black solo entertainer copied his stage mannerisms from Elvis.” A tragic end - a heart attack on stage in 1975, at the age of only 41, followed by nine years in a coma before dying in 1984 - by which time he was largely forgotten.

With a later generation of black performers converting to Islam, it's interesting that Jackie Wilson was, according to his Wiki entry, a convert to Judaism.

Also:

Reet Petite, the original, and a great version by South Londoner Si Cranstoun.

Lonely Teardrops, on Dick Clark's American Bandstand.

Higher and Higher, in colour, plus an interesting remix. And Si Cranstoun again, live from Bromley.

City Basin, Islington

...with the Shard in the distance, to the right of one of the Barbican towers:

In the centre St Luke's Old Street, now used by the London Symphony Orchestra, with Hawksmoor's extraordinary obelisk spire.

Christ on Primrose Hill

Apparently the Brazilians are planning to erect a 20-ft replica of Rio's famous Christ the Redeemer statue on top of Primrose Hill at the end of the Olympics this summer, to celebrate the handing over of the Olympic flame from London to Rio.

It was meant to be a secret but news has leaked out, and residents are not best pleased:

Friends of Primrose Hill chairman Malcolm Kafetz told the Camden New Journal: "I do not see why it should go there. It does not represent anything of England or Primrose Hill. Primrose Hill is a place for people to go and enjoy the view."

Indeed. It seems much too bombastic for a place where, traditionally, generations of drunk or stoned Londoners have staggered up in the early hours in the usually forlorn hope of seeing the sun rise over the capital. And poor Friedrich Engels, whose old house at the bottom of the hill would be overlooked by this monstrosity, will be turning in his grave. 

Terry Sanderson, President of the National Secular Society:

The Olympic Games is supposed to unite people of all creeds and cultures through sport. Introducing something as blatantly sectarian as this would completely go against the spirit of the games and be a kind of triumphalist statement about Christianity. It is a very bad idea and must be kicked into touch immediately.

Strong words. More typically British, I think, is the response of local councillor Chris Naylor, who said he wasn't sure a 20ft statue of Christ with his arms outstretched was quite what the area needed.

If they're going to give us a present, the Brazilians, there must be another way: a samba carnival at the Olympic site, perhaps, or a free Gilberto Gil CD to every Londoner. Well, almost anything would be better than this. 

The First Leader

For North Koreans the Great Leader, Kim Il-Sung, was the sole architect of the Greatest Socialist Country. According to NK expert Andrei Lankov though - betraying perhaps just a hint of Russian chauvinism -  the most influential leader in those formative years after the Second World War was in fact a Stalinist apparatchik called Terenti Shtykov:

Few people in the Korea of the late 1940s would recognize his name. For all practical purposes he was the supreme ruler of North Korea in everything but name. It was under his tutelage that Kim Il-sung’s system was born.

He was an archetypical Stalin’s man: a ruthless, cautious, and hard-working autodidact who combined the vestiges of revolutionary idealism with cunning, shrewdness and efficiency....

Shtykov spent most of the war years in Leningrad where he was a political commissar to different “fronts,” that is, groups of armies. By the end of the war he had become colonel general, the highest rank then available for a political officer. 

In summer 1945 he arrived in the Far East where he became a political commissar to the first Far Eastern front, expecting to fight the Japanese in Korea. This appointment essentially determined his fate for the next five years — probably the most important years in his life.

By late 1945 Shtykov had become the undisputed manager of Korean affairs. He enjoyed direct access to Stalin, whom he met a number of times to discuss Korean affairs. Somewhat surprisingly for somebody of his position, Shtykov held a detailed diary which eventually became an important source for students of Korean history (and also a testimony of his own sharp, practical but somewhat cynical mind).

For all practical purposes for the period 1945-1948 he was the Soviet governor of the North. Suffice to say, that even the results of the North Korean elections were drawn up in advance by Shtykov and his fellow Soviet generals, with no Koreans present. The generals decided how many seats should be allocated to each party, and even determined how many women, workers, and farmers should be elected (needless to say, the voters’ wishes miraculously coincided with the calculations of the Soviet generals!).

One should not be so surprised by such excessive attention to detail. This was a time when North Korea was under Soviet control up to the minutest detail. Suffice to say, even the North Korean constitution was edited by Stalin himself and became law of the land only after a lengthy discussion in Moscow, where Shytkov and Stalin sat together looking through the draft of the country’s future supreme law. They approved it, but not completely, since some articles were rewritten by Soviet supervisors. So Shytkov, together with Stalin himself, can be seen as the authors of the North Korean constitution.

He also played a decisive role in the 1946 land reform, arguably the most popular of all the actions ever undertaken by the nascent North Korean regime. The present author is not amused when he reads the writings of South Korean left-wing historians who tend to describe North Korean land reform in great detail and usually attribute it to Kim Il-sung and Korean communists. Soviet military documents, long declassified and published, make a joke of this statement. From beginning to end, the 1946 land reform was planned and prepared by the Soviet military. It is often said that Kim Il-sung “gave the land to the North Korean farmers.” This is factually untrue. It was Shytkov, not Kim Il-sung, who destroyed the established privileges of the landowners of the Northern half of the Korean Peninsula and made the farmers there masters of their land.

With the exception of Japanese colonial politicians, no other foreigner has ever made such an impact on Korea’s destiny as Shytkov. Even though, this role will probably never be recognized by Koreans themselves, largely due to the complexities of Korea’s ideological politics and nationalist worldview. Shytkov was the actual architect of the North Korean state as it emerged in 1945-50. His individual imprint might have been small, since he implemented a fairly standard Soviet policy for that era. Nonetheless, the results of his actions were tremendous.

Shtykov went on to back the North's invasion of the South in 1950; a debacle which led to his fall from power. 

I originally read Shtykov as Shytkov. It's just too tempting. I see Lankov (or his editor) has been unable to resist the temptation either. Despite his best intentions quite a few Shytkov's have crept in there.

On the road to Tottenham

A dull steel-grey day which sees our hero head down to the Lea...

Punished in the name of the people

At the moment I'm unable to access the Daily NK site: my browser, Google Chrome, comes up with a warning message: 

Your computer might catch a virus if you visit this site. Google has found malicious software may be installed onto your computer if you proceed....

Which is a shame, because the Daily NK, with its network of informants within North Korea, is an excellent source for the kind of news that you simply don't get anywhere else. The same thing happened a year or so ago, then stopped after a few weeks as suddenly as it started. I haven't tried a different browser because - well, I assume there's some reason for those warnings, and I'm not about to take the risk. It may be a little over-dramatic to wonder if this is some North Korean-instigated cyber attack, but who knows.

Anyway, here at One Free Korea, without having to go to the Daily NK itself, is one of their latest reports from inside the beast - on the murder of a secret policeman and other officials:

A source in North Hamgyung Province told Daily NK on January 19, “During the mourning period, one official from the provincial NSA, one from the prosecutor’s office and two from the People’s Safety Agency were murdered in Cheongjin.” The source added, “There was a note found lying next to the body of the executed NSA official which said ‘Punished in the name of the people.’”

North Korean authorities have not released the identities of the victims or any information about the case fearing public disturbances, but authorities are said to be using all resources at their disposal to find the people responsible. The Defense Security Command is helping the other three agencies with the investigation, while a report on the murders has been elevated to the Central Party in Pyongyang.

In December 2010, also in Cheongjin, the retired head of the PSA office in the Sunam district died after being attacked on the street by an unknown assailant. This however is the first time that active serving officers have been slain. The likelihood seems to be that the murders were planned by somebody with a political motive rather than a personal grudge.

The source revealed that bureaucrats in North Hamgyung Province are shocked by the incident. “On the outside they’re furious, saying they’re going to track down the person responsible and torture them, but at the same time they don’t seem to know what to do.”

“The fact that privileged officials were killed right under the government’s noses, and while there were special patrols in place for the mourning period, means that the lower down the hierarchy you look bureaucrats are more anxious,” the source said.

The reaction from citizens who are aware of the incident is mostly positive, with some saying ‘they deserved it’, although such encouragement is tempered by concerns that this case will lead to even more stringent controls on the public. There are even rumors spreading that it may have been perpetrated by members of the military, given the bold nature of the crime and the skills required to carry it out.

By members of the military, after all the attention the Supreme Commander's lavished on them? Surely not.

Update: no warnings this morning (Thursday the 26th) when accessing the Daily NK. Here's the original article.

Urbanising

China has just passed the tipping point: there are now more people living in cities than in the countryside.

At Huff Post they celebrate the occasion with a gallery by photographer Eric Perriard, investigating the urbanisation of Seoul.

This is from an earlier portfolio, Spleen, taken when he first returned to his native Korea after an upbringing in France:

[Photo: Eric Perriard]

Eagle Aurora

We're being bombarded with high-energy particles unleashed by the strongest solar storm since 2005, apparently. The good news is, spectacular Northern Lights:

[Photo: Bjørn Jørgensen]

From Astronomy Picture of the Day (via).

"Pictured above is a particularly photogenic auroral corona captured last night above Grotfjord, Norway. To some, this shimmering green glow of recombining atmospheric oxygen might appear as a large eagle....

This round of solar activity is not yet over -- a new and even more powerful solar flare occurred yesterday that might provide more amazing aurora as soon as tonight."

More of Bjorn Jørgensen's Northern Lights photos here.

The Armenian Genocide Law

The French Senate has finally passed the bill that makes it a criminal offence to deny that genocide was committed by Ottoman Turks against Armenians. It now merely awaits the signature of President Sarkozy to become law.

I'm baffled by this. Of course it may be an entirely cynical move to get the votes of France's half-a-million or so citizens of Armenian descent, but even in terms of the most crude realpolitik surely that's outweighed by the damage to relations with Turkey in particular, and the Muslim world in general. So presumably the French must think they're somehow doing the right thing. But in what possible respect is legislation the answer? It's no business of the government to tell people what they should or shouldn't regard as historical truth. It's not what a liberal democracy should be doing - threatening those who dissent from the state's decreed perception of the truth with prosecution and jail. That's almost a defining characteristic of totalitarianism.

There are, as we know, laws against Holocaust denial in many European countries, including France. They're understandable, perhaps, in the face of the concerted efforts of Holocaust deniers, but they're still profoundly misguided. They simply provide ammunition for the likes of the Iranian regime in their belief that the Holocaust is a politically-motivated myth driven by the West's desire to legitimise Zionism and by extension the persecution of Muslims. And now they'll have even more ammunition: further proof that the West is pushing a historically dubious version of history as part of an anti-Muslim agenda. It's not only wrong; it's counter-productive.

It's as though, in the face of complaints that blasphemy laws in the West favoured Christianity against other religions, it was decided to extend blasphemy laws to cover defamation of all religions. It's not the way to go. Just abandon blasphemy laws.

I suppose it'll add some spice to history exams though. Get the wrong answer and you not only fail: you get carted off to jail as well.

The Heart of Islam

Amusing times at CiF. Karen Armstrong is deeply moved by the new British Museum exhibition Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam. At last a chance to challenge those Western prejudices:

The hajj, subject of a new exhibition at the British Museum, shows that a respect for other faiths is central to Muslim tradition.

But, strangely, not all the commenters agree with this happy conclusion...

 

Old Street

 

Moving the UN

North Korea specialises in leaders with extraordinary gifts - who can forget the Dear Leader's 38-under-par round of golf back in 1994? - and now South Korea has its own chance at greatness:

Jaded voters may think it'll take a miracle to change South Korea, but one potential presidential candidate says that's exactly what he can conjure up.

World peace is also on the cards if his fourth attempt to win office is successful, the 62-year-old Huh Kyung Young told Reuters. He claims to have an IQ of 430 and the ability to perform miracle cures.

"I can change 23 chromosomes and 40,000 DNA in the human body. If someone is diagnosed with uterine cancer, I can treat the cancer within 0.1 seconds just by looking into the patient's eyes," Huh said.

The head of the Democratic Republican Party, which is not represented in parliament, said he wants to move the United Nations headquarters from New York to Panmunjom, a village that sits on the world's most militarized border separating North and South Korea which remain technically at war.

Not such a bad idea.

"With the U.N. headquarters located in Korea, there would be no war on the Korean Peninsula. Then, I will unify the world and lead efforts to mediate between the global powers," he said.

Huh, who won 100,000 votes in the 2007 presidential election and placed 7th, was jailed in 2009 for 18 months after the front-runner in this year's presidential race, Park Geun-hye, sued him for defamation after he claimed she would marry him.....

Huh says if elected, he will give newly-married couples 100 million won ($87,300) and hand 700,000 won to each pensioner.

He also plans to launch a fan club to boost his chances in the polls and said he expects to attract a million members.

"Nowadays, I am so popular that I get several phone calls every second from my fans. I am thinking of reporting myself to Guinness World Records as the man who receives the largest number of phone calls in the world," he said.

Clearly he's not short on self-belief:

Like a light from the east, I have appeared for this era, and since I can see the future, I have planned my Internet strategy way back in the past.  With my 430 IQ, I can also control the spiritual domain.

I have also read 35 religious scriptures from several religions, and concluded that they have no value.  The religions have prepared for my coming and I’m the one who will complete them.

Then there's the Michael Jackson connection, and the single...

Cold Bright Lights

At the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival:

[Photo: Sheng Li/Reuters]

"A horse carriage carries tourists through the ice sculptures."

 

 

Steal away

Street artist Stik has updated his door on Pitfield Street, Hoxton:

A spot of meta-textual commentary on art theft, perhaps? Or perhaps not.

Elsewhere, on Whitby Street, a new piece by James Cochran aka Jimmy C:

Previously.