Stephen Lendman

America prides itself on religious freedom, the Constitution's First Amendment stating:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

In fact, those rights are selectively enforced, and consistently denied at the whim of administrations, Congress and courts, including equal respect for all religions - more than ever post-9/11 under Bush and Obama, agents of privilege, not Constitutionally protected freedoms. A sad testimony to a rhetorical, not real democracy, Muslim Americans especially victimized, vilified, and persecuted for their faith, ethnicity, prominence, activism, and charity - innocent men and women bogusly called terrorists, used for political advantage.

More than any other ethnic/religious group, Western discourse especially wrongs and unfairly portrays Muslim/Arabs stereotypically as culturally inferior, dirty, lecherous, untrustworthy, religiously fanatical, and violent.

In his book, "Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People," Jack Shaheen explained how they've been defamed and used as fair game throughout decades of cinematic history (from silent films to recent ones) to foster prejudicial attitudes, and reinforce notions of Western values, high-mindedness, and moral superiority.

Worse still are slanderous media commentaries about dangerous gun-toting terrorists, vital for authorities to arrest and imprison, never mind the rule of law, right or wrong, or whether those accused are guilty or innocent. It's no surprise when new suspects are named, media reports automatically convicting them in the court of public opinion, poisoning it by stereotypical characterizations and baseless charges, invariably against Muslims, and by implication their faith.

No wonder politicians and extremist Christian fundamentalist ministers rage over Muslim "terrorists" and a proposed New York Islamic cultural center two blocks from Ground Zero, threatening a public 9/11 Koran burning in protest - cancelled, then suspended, now re-cancelled, so stay tuned, the outrageous media frenzy may encourage it ahead, as well as attacks around the country against mosques, perhaps with Muslims inside praying, authorities turning a blind eye about people they despise, pretending, like Obama, they care.

Antoine Lerougetel & Peter Schwarztp://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/sep2010/roma-s16.shtml">WSWS

[Stop this state persecution of Roma!]

The French government’s policy of mass expulsions of Roma has led to a sharp conflict between Brussels and Paris.

In a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, EU commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Viviane Reding accused the French government of “discrimination on the basis of ethnic origin or race” and of calling into question “the common values and laws of our European Union”. She described the French policy as a “disgrace”.

The statement by Reding, a Christian Democrat from Luxembourg, was unusual both in its tone and its content. She accused two French ministers, Eric Besson (immigration) and Pierre Lellouche (European affairs), of having lied to her and implicitly compared the actions of the French government with those of the fascists during the Second World War.

“I personally have been appalled by a situation which gave the impression that people are being removed from a Member State of the European Union just because they belong to a certain ethnic minority”, she said. “This is a situation I had thought Europe would not have to witness again after the Second World War.”

Later she stressed:

“Let me be very clear: Discrimination on the basis of ethnic origin or race has no place in Europe. It is incompatible with the values on which the European Union is founded. National authorities who discriminate ethnic groups in the application of EU law are also violating the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which all Member States, including France, have signed up to.”

It was her personal conviction, Reading concluded, “that the Commission will have no choice but to initiate infringement action against France”.

Peter Eyre
Peter Eyre's Space

"Finally we come to the fact that if these rebellious activists are known to both the US and Israel and are indeed enemies of the state, one would expect that once they set foot back in the US or Israel they would be arrested, detained and interrogated. However, this is not the case, they frequently are released, well ahead of any of the others arrested, and are free to come and go anytime they wish. I am sure you would agree that this appears rather suspicious don’t you think?"

Don’t you find it incredible that three Jewish hitchhikers would be trekking in a predominant Muslim country? I guess many would say that is really taking a risk based on the current feelings between the two.

It is a known fact that UC Berkely is the breeding ground for the US CIA and the Israel Mossad secret service with very strong connections to the military in research and development.

Just think of the attraction whereby young cash strapped students, finding life difficult to survive, are approached by the secret service to carrying out covert operations for them in return for having their education paid for.

I have met many of these people with links to UC Berkely…..many of them were Jewish and many of them just so happened to be freelance journalist and photographers and yet from my observation had little if any expertise in the field.

The quality of their camera work was sub standard and they always appeared to be profiling you rather than showing an interest in what was actually going on.

Robin Ramsay
The Dossier

[This is an adaptation and massive compression of the pamphlet The Clandestine Caucus written and published by Robin Ramsay in 1996. In that the sources for most of the claims contained in this talk are to be found.]

Dirty tricks and covert operations

In the official theory of British politics the state in general and the intelligence services in particular have no role. This is what I think of as the Disney version of politics; and this is the one that is still largely taught in British universities and regurgitated by the mass media. In the Disney version, the state is neutral. Interests in society align with political parties; and the parties contest elections. The election winners form governments whose policies are then implemented by the state. This was the view, for example, of Ron Hayward, the General Secretary of the Labour Party. In 1974 Hayward was informed by a private security company that the Labour Party's headquarters were bugged. 'Nonsense,' said Hayward. 'We don't have Watergate politics in Britain.' Hayward simply didn't know. In 1974 hardly anybody outside Whitehall did.

But we do have 'Watergate politics' and have had them since the cold war. By Watergate politics I mean, loosely, dirty tricks and covert operations. (Obviously they did exist to some extent before the war, but I'm concentrating on the post-45 period.) With hindsight, post cold war, it was inevitable that the major working class party of the second most important member of NATO would be of interest to the intelligence services of several countries Britain, the US and the Soviet bloc.