Fear of offending minorities keeps the West shamefully quiet, Islam and the West, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and the West

Fear of offending minorities keeps the West shamefully quiet

By Naomi Lakritz, Calgary Herald

July 31, 2009

In June, I got a cell phone and used it on a trip to British Columbia to talk to a man who's unrelated to me. To think that this might upset my two brothers who then might start plotting to kill me for it is laughable-- in the safe confines of western society. Fadia Najjar, who lived in Gaza, got a cell phone too and it cost her life. Her father, Jawdat, turned himself in to police last week, the day after Fadia was beaten over the head with an iron chain and punched and kicked for 40 minutes before dying of a fractured skull. Jawdat had been furious about his daughter owning a cell phone and believed she had used it to talk to a man unrelated to the family, according to police reports obtained by two human rights groups, Mezan and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), and cited in the Jerusalem Post. Three of her brothers are suspected of being complicit in her killing.

According to figures released by the United Nations, Fadia is one of 5,000 women who will die this year in so-called honour killings. The Jerusalem Post notes she is the 10th woman to lose her life in 2009 in honour killings in Palestinian areas and in Arab communities within Israel.

After writing about honour killings on Wednesday, I received a number of e-mails from people who object to the term and want to lump these incidents in the category of domestic abuse, to avoid casting the faintest shadow of aspersion on a non-western culture.

http://newageislam.com/fear-of-offending-minorities-keeps-the-west-shamefully-quiet/islam-and-the-west/d/1610

Canadian Muslims must lose muzzle, condemn honour killings, Islam and Human Rights, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and Human Rights

Canadian Muslims must lose muzzle, condemn honour killings

Naomi Lakritz, Calgary Herald

Published: Friday, November 21, 2008

Campbell praised the wealthy, Swiss-born religious leader's philanthropic work through his Aga Khan Development Network, which works in 29 countries, including Afghanistan.

"For decades now you have partnered with Canadians to build a new infrastructure of hope that's based on education and pluralism, on health, on creating for individuals the sense of themselves, the promise that they have and the possibility that exists in the world in which they live," Campbell said.

Canada's great strength is its diversity, said Campbell, a theme the Aga Khan built on in his brief address.

Canada not only sheltered Ismailis who escaped persecution in countries such as Uganda in the 1970s, he said, but allowed them to prosper so that some could return home, bringing Canadian values with them.

"You have given them the wherewithal to return to their countries in due course and bring back to Africa, bring back to Asia ... the pluralism, the values of Canada, the knowledge society that you have created here in Canada," the Aga Khan said.

He said he sometimes jokes that more and more Ismaili leaders around the world are Canadian.

"You don't have a colonialist history but you are colonialising the Aga Khan Development Network," he said.

One of the unique traits Canadian Ismailis bring back is an ability to promote knowledge needed to become globally competitive in a way that does not threaten traditional societies in many developing countries, he said.

http://newageislam.com/canadian-muslims-must-lose-muzzle,-condemn-honour-killings/islam-and-human-rights/d/1017