11 dead in French satirical magazine shooting

[Syt]

http://news.yahoo.com/hungary-pm-orban-says-immigration-threat-must-stopped-083257199.html

Hungary PM Orban says immigration a threat, must be stopped

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Immigration to Europe should be largely halted, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said late on Sunday, demanding a robust EU response to last week's killings in France.

Orban was speaking after attending a mass rally in Paris to pay tribute to 17 people killed in attacks launched by a trio of Islamist extremists, who were born in France to immigrant families.

The deadly attacks look certain to bolster anti-immigration movements around Europe, and Orban, who has called for migration curbs in the past, said it was time for Brussels to get tough.

"We should not look at economic immigration as if it had any use, because it only brings trouble and threats to European people," he told state television. "Therefore, immigration must be stopped. That's the Hungarian stance."

The only exception, he said, should be for people claiming political asylum.

"Hungary will not become a target destination for immigrants," he said. "We will not allow it, at least as long as I am prime minister and as long as this government is in power."

Orban's right-wing government was elected for a second consecutive term last year. The prime minister said minorities living in Hungary, which has a population of some 10 million, posed no particular problem.

"We do not want to see a significant minority among ourselves that has different cultural characteristics and background. We would like to keep Hungary as Hungary," he added.

According to the national statistics office (KSH), some 350,000 Hungarians live and worked abroad, most of them in Germany, Britain and Austria.

[Martinus]

Whatever the reason many newspapers decided not to reprint the cartoons, I am quite glad "Gazeta Wyborcza" did in this weekend issue cover story.

For those not familiar, "Gazeta Wyborcza" (literally, "Election Gazette") started as a Solidarity-movement newspaper during the first free elections of 1989. They have since parted ways with more right wing and Catholic part of the movement, and generally represent "respectable/mainstream" center-left stance but very pro-atlanticist and quite pro-Israel. The common monicker given to it by the Polish right wing/Catholics is the "Kosher Gazette", alluding to the fact that its long time editor in chief (and now honorary editor in chief), an oppositionist intellectual, Adam Michnik (who was a good friend of Vaclav Havel) has Jewish roots.

[Martinus]

They did seem to spare no sacred cows, by the way. The cover with the rabbi has him saying "Give us Palestine and we will cut the number [of Holocaust victims] from 6 to 5 million." 

[Martinus]

By the way, the policeman is not the only Muslim good guy in the story:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/10/lassana-bathily_n_6448500.html

Some of the comments under the article, made apparently by Americans, suggest that if it was the same situation in America, he would have been shot by the cops. Agree/disagree? 

[Razgovory]

Europeans are freer to show nudity.  However, actual political messages are restricted.  For instance in France you can't incite hatred against gays, which I'm sure you'll agree is an important component to freedom of speech.

At the risk of breaking my rule of not responding to you, isn't that exactly what I just said? 

You broke that rule two pages ago.

[Eddie Teach]

Martinus is too much of a rebel to follow his own rules. 

[Razgovory]

I gave him a week before he'd stop ignoring me, it took a weekend.

[Admiral Yi]

By the way, the policeman is not the only Muslim good guy in the story:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/10/lassana-bathily_n_6448500.html

Some of the comments under the article, made apparently by Americans, suggest that if it was the same situation in America, he would have been shot by the cops. Agree/disagree? 

Ridiculous.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Ah Jahjah, the Hezbollah-member, rabblerouser and general good-for-nothing

[Razgovory]

Huh.  The guy is apparently an agnostic.  Guess that's not good enough.

[Razgovory]

They did seem to spare no sacred cows, by the way. The cover with the rabbi has him saying "Give us Palestine and we will cut the number [of Holocaust victims] from 6 to 5 million." 

Yeah, that's a real knee slapper.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Huh.  The guy is apparently an agnostic.  Guess that's not good enough.

you wouldn't say it from the stuff he writes in our press.

[Martinus]

Abou Jahjah is a Social democrat and moderate Muslim, although he later revealed that he is rather a Muslim by culture and agnostic on faith.[4] He is an opponent of assimilation. He wants immigrants to be treated as full citizens who can keep their own culture, rather than being treated as guests. He was compared to the American human rights activist Malcolm X, who was also a Muslim and also opposed assimilation and the melting pot model of integration. He sees the integration of Armenians in Lebanon as the ideal model. He has said that, "America's race laws are more advanced than here. I have relatives in Detroit and they are Arab-Americans but they feel American. I don't feel European. Europe needs to make its concept of citizenship inclusive to all cultures and religions.

Arab European League[edit]

In 2000 Abou Jahjah founded the Arab European League in Antwerp, a city with a large Muslim population. He was a candidate for the AEL in the Belgian parliamentary elections in 2003. The AEL did not win any seats but the list received 17604 votes.[5] Early in 2006 Abou Jahjah announced that he will no longer be leading the AEL nor holding a leadership position.[citation needed].

Sabra and Shatila[edit]

Main article: Sabra_and_Shatila_massacre § Belgian_court_proceedings

In 2001, Abou Jahjah founded the Sabra and Shatila committee, which brought a lawsuit against former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for his alleged role in massacres in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps during the Israel-Lebanon war in the early 1980s.[6]

9/11[edit]

He said of Arab reaction to the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks that "Most of us ... felt that day something that can not be described as joy, or as happiness, but rather as that sweet revenge feeling. We all had – except that small minority- a "what goes around comes around'" attitude", but he continued that "Now, almost two months after the eleventh of September, we see things clear(er). It is terrible how criminals can cause by their acts the misery for so many people, people of their own kind and people of their alleged enemy. How violence will breed violence that will breed more violence".[7]

Controversies[edit]

Arrest[edit]

Abou Jahjah was arrested and detained for several days in 2002 after he allegedly organized riots and called for violence. The riots broke out in Borgerhout, a district of Antwerp, after a 27-year old Belgian-Moroccan was shot by his Flemish neighbor. He was acquitted from all charges on October 21, 2008. A police officer who was watching him the night of the riots said that Abou Jahjah is innocent and that the evidence against him was fabricated.[8] His arrest sparked sharp debates and dominated Belgian politics for months. He gained a lot of support among Belgian intellectuals and academics and was considered as a political prisoner. 300 personalities signed a petition demanding a more moderate approach by the government in dealing with the AEL and the issue of immigration and discrimination in the country. The case became a famous example of demonization of political activists and violation of the separation of powers. The Abou Jahjah affaire is still taught as a case study in some law schools in Belgium and Holland.

Theo van Gogh[edit]

In the Netherlands, Abou Jahjah had a row with the late film director Theo van Gogh, who was known for his opposition to Islam. After van Gogh, who was supposed to be the moderator of a debate between him and Boris Dietrich, insulted Abou Jahjah by calling him "de pooier van de profeet" ("the prophet's pimp") in front of an audience of 1000 people, Abou Jahjah left the room and refused to continue considering that a moderator should be neutral and not insult the guests. His opponent that day Boris Dietrich declared his sympathy to his position and his dismay to the behavior of Van Gogh.[9]

2006 Israel-Lebanon war[edit]

In July 2006 he announced that he would be going to Lebanon to help in whatever way he can defending his country against the attack by Israeli forces.[10] In response, Vlaams Belang leader Filip Dewinter called on the Belgian government to revoke Abou Jahjah's citizenship.[citation needed]

He wrote a book on the Israel-Lebanon war called "Diary Brussels Beirut".[11]

Return to Lebanon[edit]

Since 2007 Abou Jahjah settled in Lebanon and focused on his management career as a CEO of a large BPO company. He continued visiting Europe regularly to speak at meetings and media shows. The VRT, the Belgian-Flemish state television was even accused of sympathising with him and promoting him after it became known that the TV station paid his airplane ticket and hotel costs to attend the famous Belgian talk show Phara.[12] He is considered an authority on issues of immigration, and the Arab world. After the Arab spring, that Abou Jahjah supports adamantly, he gained intellectual credit in the West as someone who has always defended the opinion that revolution is inevitable in the Arab world. In 2008 a group of Flemish students videotaped an interview with him in which he was speaking in details about revolution in Egypt and elsewhere and expected it to happen within 5 years. Parts of the video were later shown on Belgian Television.[13] The dominating opinion in Belgium and Holland is that Abou Jahjah and his AEL were a chance to build a better understanding between communities, and that chance was missed. Many argue today that it would have been much easier and more productive to dialogue with a democrat like Abou Jahjah instead of the religious groups that appeared after he left Europe. This opinion has been outed by many people including former rivals, like former prime minister Verhofstad, the man who decreed his arrest.[14]

Popular Culture[edit]

During the year of 2002 Abou Jahjah was the most mentioned name in the Belgian Media, exceeding reference of the prime minister and the king.[15] He became a household name in Belgium and in the Netherlands, and this was reflected in hundreds of caricatures and satires. He was played by the Comedian Paul Groot in the Dutch comedy show Kopspijkers.[16] He was also a main character in the best selling novel Los of writer Tom Nagels who was later filmed in a movie directed by Jan Verheyen.[17] The name "Abou Jahjah" also was used as a protest slogan by Antwerp dock workers during a strike in clashes with the Police. It was also sang by supporters of football club RSC Anderlecht in its clashes with rivals Royal Antwerp, as a tool to provoke the Antwerp supporters. The supporters of Feyenoord Rotterdam were also using flags of the AEL to provoke the supporters of Ajax Amsterdam who use Israeli flags.

Debating skills[edit]

Abou Jahjah was called by Roderiek van Grieken of the Dutch debating institute a "perfect pure talent" in debating.[18] Also as a solo speaker, Abou Jahjah drew very large crowds and could galvanize them to his causes. The renowned linguist Professor C. Delantsheer wrote a chapter on Abou Jahjah's rhetoric in a book published by Cambridge university in 2007.[19] He had also presented a paper on the power of metaphors in the discourse of Abou Jahjah and presented it to an academical congress in Sweden.[20]

Return to Belgium[edit]

In September 2013 Abou Jahjah returned to Belgium due to the dire security situation in Lebanon. He declared that for the time being he was choosing the security of his children over all other considerations. Upon his return, several opinion makers wrote articles welcoming him back. He declared that he will be founding a new movement that will seek to defend equal rights and social justice. From January 2014 he became a weekly columnist at the prestigious newspaper "De Standaard". Soon after he was chosen as the 4th most influential Belgian of foreign origin by the Magazine "Knack" Only preceded by Prime minister Di Rupo, Meyrem Almaci and Vincent Kompany.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyab_Abou_Jahjah

[mongers]

[Martinus]

Stuff like this makes me like the French. Like Poles, they are obnoxious on a daily basis, but if there is one thing they know how to do, it's revolutions.

Brits are the complete opposite - relatively friendly and well-meaning, but can't for the life of them orchestrate a proper uprising.