Speaking of which

Also see:

The Free World Should thank Hezbollah

islamic principles takes righteous people a long way

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JE23Ak03.html

History in the making for Hezbollah
By Sami Moubayed

DAMASCUS - British statesman Sir Winston Churchill once said, “History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.” On another occasion, he said, “Although prepared for martyrdom, I preferred that it be postponed.”

These two quotes came to my mind, as I imagined Hasan Nasrallah, the secretary general of Hezbollah, seated somewhere in Beirut, watching his allies and opponents hammer out a deal in Doha - to his favor - on Wednesday.

He must have been a very happy man because all of the Doha resolutions were almost tailor-made to Nasrallah’s liking. Nasrallah finally got what he had been asking for, mainly a greater say for the opposition in the Lebanese government, and the ability to veto any resolution that runs against the interests of Hezbollah.

True, no early parliamentary elections are going to happen (as Hezbollah had requested) to oust the parliamentary majority of Saad al-Hariri, but the entire issue of Hezbollah and its arms was glossed over at the Doha meeting.

A fighter who often said that he seeks martyrdom in his war with Israel, Nasrallah, like Churchill, would certainly prefer that it be postponed. He needs time to enjoy the fruits of victory taken by Hezbollah in Qatar. He might be idolized by millions of Arabs, seen as a war hero and a charismatic, honest and inspiring leader. He might be hated beyond imagination by his opponents, seen as a terrorist and an Iranian stooge. But setting emotions aside - they don’t really count in politics - the man has in every sense of the word proven his intention, and succeeded, in writing history; his way.

When Israel withdrew from South Lebanon in 2000, his opponents argued Nasrallah was finished. The young leader had legitimized himself for nearly 10 years as a freedom fighter, someone who was needed to combat the Israeli occupation. Now that Lebanon was free, theoretically, what was the use for Nasrallah or the arms of Hezbollah? He could not continue to hold arms, fight the Israelis, and appeal to his constituency now that the Israelis had left Lebanon.

Yet, he survived. When Syrian president Hafez al-Assad died in June 2000, the same argument resurfaced, saying that an emerging Syria might be unable to fulfill its promises to Hezbollah. He also survived. In 2004, the United Nations passed Resolution 1559, calling for the disarmament of Hezbollah. One year later, voices echoed throughout the international community, calling on Nasrallah to lay down his arms.

The young Lebanese leader, people reckoned, would be unable to stand up to the United States, France and the UN. Four years down the road, Resolution 1559 is history when it comes to implementing the part about the arms of Hezbollah. The same fire was used against him in 2005, when former premier Rafik al-Hariri was killed and then again in 2006, when Israel launched its major war on Lebanon, with the intention of crushing Hezbollah. The war ended, and Resolution 1701 was passed, pushing Hezbollah away from its battlefield on the Israeli border. Even then, Nasrallah survived.

Eighteen months ago, Nasrallah ordered his supporters into downtown Beirut, in an open-ended demonstration aimed at bringing down the cabinet of the Saudi-backed Prime Minister Fouad al-Siniora. The Hezbollah leader had engaged in a war of words with the pro-Western Lebanese government of Beirut, accusing them of conspiring with the Americans and the Israelis, during the summer war of 2006.

Among other things he blamed them for Resolution 1559, and said that they had called on Israel to extend its war, so that it could rid them of Hezbollah. Later in November 2006, the Shi’ite ministers representing Hezbollah and its sister party Amal, resigned from the Siniora cabinet. Nasrallah argued that this cabinet was unconstitutional because the Shi’ites were no longer in it.

The Saudi and American backed March 14 Coalition, however, refused to bend under pressure and held on to Siniora. This was a proxy war between the US and Saudi Arabia on one side, and Iran and Syria on the other. The Americans would simply not let Iran get the upper hand. Observers claimed that this time, Nasrallah had bit off more than he could chew.

Eighteen months passed, and no solution came about. Nasrallah still refused to back down - insisting that Siniora was no longer the prime minister of Lebanon - and blocked any negotiations regarding the arms of Hezbollah. The party would only disarm, he argued, once the Israeli-occupied Sheeba Farms were liberated.

Last week the confrontation turned violent, as armed Hezbollah fighters clashed with those funded by and loyal to parliamentary majority leader Hariri. The violence erupted after the Lebanese government tried to dismantle Hezbollah’s security network, claiming that it was illegal, and dismissed the commander of security at Beirut airport, who is loyal to Hezbollah. This was an attack on the arms of Hezbollah, Nasrallah claimed, adding that in resistance, communication and security systems are no less valuable than bombs and missiles. “We will cut the arm of whomever tries to disarm Hezbollah,” were the words of an angry Nasrallah. “Arms will be used to protect arms,” he added, discarding an earlier promise he had made never to use Hezbollah weapons internally.

His men took their queue from there, stormed entire neighborhoods loyal to Hariri, and disarmed the Hariri bloc. Once in full control (within the short period of six hours) they called on the Lebanese Army to march in and take over. The Hariri-led March 14 Coalition cried foul play, and so did Saudi Arabia, claiming that Hezbollah had launched a coup and occupied Beirut. Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal drew parallels between Israel’s invasion of the Lebanese capital in 1982 and the 2008 offensive of Hezbollah, claiming that Nasrallah was another Ariel Sharon.

Everybody thought that by using his arms internally, Nasrallah had fired his last bullet. Some wrote of an upcoming civil war between Sunnis and Shi’ites. Others speculated that it would be now easier for the international community and the Lebanese state to push through with an argument against Hezbollah arms, now that they had been used internally. This was the mistake of a lifetime, many said, for Nasrallah.

Under heavy lobbying from the Arab League, the US, France and Gulf heavyweights like Qatar, all parties boarded a plane and headed to Doha, leaving behind 82 dead civilians in Beirut. Residents of the Lebanese capital saw them off with big signs saying, “If you don’t agree, don’t come back.”

The attendees of the Doha Conference included Christian leader Michel Aoun and parliament speaker Nabih Berri (two allies of Hezbollah), pro-US figures like Samir Gagegea and Walid Jumblatt, independents like the veteran journalist and member of parliament Ghassan Tweini, along with Hariri, and Siniora.

The only missing participant was Nasrallah, who could not make the trip to Qatar, for security reasons. For five days the assembled leaders met under Qatari auspices (at one point supervised directly by Sheikh Hamad, the emir of Qatar). They consulted around the clock with the Americans, the French, the Saudis, the Syrians and the Iranians. They finally came out with an agreement on May 21 that seemed to make everybody happy.

The Doha agreement states that:

* 1. All parties involved will meet by Sunday to elect a president for Lebanon. The presidential seat has been vacant since November 2007 and although all parties agreed on bringing current army commander Michel Suleiman to office, nobody seemed to know how to do that through parliament. General Suleiman, coined pro-Syrian and pro-Hezbollah, was never a favorite for March 14, nor for ex-army commander Michel Aoun, who also, had his eyes set on the vacant seat at Baabda Palace.

Last November 2007, Aoun was talked into a compromise; if he could not make it as king, then he would have to settle for the status of kingmaker. The Syrians backed Suleiman’s election, since they were always suspicious of Aoun, who had been anti-Syrian during his long exile in Paris, during the heyday of Syrian hegemony in Lebanon.

* 2. A new 30-man cabinet will be created within the next week by someone from the March 14 Coalition. No early parliamentary elections will take place, and the Hariri bloc will continue to dominate parliament until 2009. Meaning they remain in control of the post of prime minister. Siniora, who described the deal as a “great achievement in the history of the Arab nation”, will step down and be replaced by one of two options, either Hariri himself, or the pro-Hariri member of parliament Mohammad al-Safadi.

But the new cabinet will have 16 seats for the Hariri majority, 11 for the Hezbollah-led opposition, and three seats to be appointed by the president. Since Suleiman is on good terms with Hezbollah, this means that the three seats appointed by him, will more or less, be allied to the 11 held by the Hezbollah-led opposition. That brings the total number of seats of the anti-Hariri team to 14. They can have veto power over any legislation passed by the Hariri team.

This will be used if the Hariri team tries to pass any decrees related to the International Tribunal, passed under Chapter Seven of the UN charter, related to the murder of Rafik Hariri. This new cabinet will place an immediate problem for the US, which supported Siniora and will extend unconditional support for whomever the new March 14 prime minister will be.

But how will they deal with 11 ministers in the new government, who are loyal to or members of Hezbollah? Will they ignore them - acting as if they do not exist - as they did with Hamas in Palestine? Or will they swallow their big words and see them as a stabilizing factor, as they did with the Sadrists who were cabinet ministers under Nuri al-Maliki in Iraq.

* 3. All parties pledge not to resign from the government or hinder its work. This was made to secure that Hezbollah will not walk out on the government, as it did with Siniora in November 2006.

4. Lebanon will adopt a 1960 electoral law for the parliamentary elections of 2009, with amendments in the Beirut district.

* 5. All parties pledge to refrain from using arms in order to resolve political conflict.

* 6. Security remains strictly monopolized by the state, and there can be no state-within-a state in Lebanon.

* 7. To show their goodwill, the Hezbollah-led opposition will tear down the tents that they had set up in downtown Beirut (the heart of the Hariri kingdom) bringing life back to the commercial district of the Lebanese capital.

Who wins now in Beirut politics? By virtue of avoiding another civil war, all sides win, topped with the Lebanese people. Certainly, Hezbollah came out victorious. So did the Syrians and Iran. The Syrians in particular seemed to be on cloud nine, since shortly after the agreement was announced in Doha another declaration came out, this time from Damascus, Tel Aviv and Ankara, saying that indirect talks had started between Syria and Israel, under auspices of the Turks.

The only side that might not be too happy with what happened in Doha is Saudi Arabia. The deal was brokered by the Qataris and not them, although they had been the ones to supervise the deal at Taif, which led to en end to civil war in 1990.

The Syrians, whom they had tried to sideline in Beirut and empower March 14, certainly proved that they still had a lot of weight in Lebanon, although they had been out of Lebanon - militarily - since 2005. Saudi Arabia’s proxies were defeated militarily in the street confrontations last week, and politically in Doha. After all, despite all the macho talk, they finally bent and accepted the demands of the Hezbollah-led opposition. Hezbollah and its friends were actually given the veto power they had long wanted, kept their arms, and secured a president for Lebanon who was not a member of the March 14 coalition.

Nasrallah is writing history, just like Churchill but perhaps with a different pen and in a different handwriting.

Sami Moubayed is a Syrian political analyst.

(Copyright 2008 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.)

Khalifatul Masih: Ameerul Momineen, Swinging the Guillotine, Deleting the False Beliefs

History, Hip-Hop, The Black Athlete: Old School Versus New School

“HISTORY, HIP-HOP, THE BLACK ATHLETE: OLD SCHOOL VERSUS NEW SCHOOL”

By Fahim A. Knight

This article has been in the making since the Grand Jury indictment of Michael Vick, the former quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons and his ultimate conviction for being involved in an illegal interstate dog fighting conspiracy. This writer desired to weigh-in on the Vick’s issue when the controversy first ensued back in July 2007, but could never quite figure out which approach or direction would be appropriate in evaluating and assessing the entire Vick scenario. Thus, was Vick’s conviction a matter of racism and/or was his offense that aloof from the law and his conviction was a matter of justice and nothing else. Mike Vick was one of the premier football players and quarterbacks in the National Football League having a net worth perhaps over 200 million dollars, but his high profile athletic career came to an abrupt end upon receiving an active Federal Prison Sentence for illegal dog fighting and obstruction of justice. Vick and I do have something in common, we share an attorney. I consider one of Vick’s lead attorneys a friend, Attorney James D. “Butch” Williams who practices law in Durham, NC and at some point, I know he and I will perhaps have an in depth discussion relative to Vick.

But on January 27, 2008, this writer received a quite interesting email from a comrade and friend named Kenny the moderator of KENNY’S SIDESHOW http://kennysideshow.blogspot.com/2008/05/so ; Kenny is doing big time work on his site and this writer am encouraging my KEEPING IT REAL think tank audience to visit Kenny’s site and share in his informative and provocative blog postings. Kenny who is Caucasian posed these set of questions to me relative to African-Americans and at the time this writer had no response to Kenny’s set of questions. This article is only a partial response to Kenny’s questions and is far from being a complete response. Kenny stated, “Here’s another suggestion for an article. I often stumble in my words on this subject and need more definitive dialog.”

Kenny goes on to state, “I think the elite forces that try to control our world had and still have an agenda to repress the African American community regarding the creation of the welfare state. Round them up in public housing (concentration camps), give them a little money, destroy the family structure through the planned infiltration of drugs (CIA involved?) abortions, sterilizations etc. , put a liquor/beer store on the corner but no decent food store, put as many as possible in prison, destroy self esteem, create a subculture through music and movies that promotes all of this and even export it to the white community to speed up the decline throughout the entire culture, use agent provocateurs (paid by the FBI, etc. ) to perpetuate the black-white conflict. One could go on and on. I hope you understand what I’m getting at. There’s a deeper history to this than what our kids are taught in school and what the media says and it needs to be told in detail.”

Michael Vick, the former Virginia Tech standout and the former Atlanta Falcons standout of the National Football League. He is the beneficiary of those African American quarterbacks that had gone before him such as: James Harris, Warren Moon, Doug Williams, Joe Gilliam, Vince Evans, Rodney Peete, Marlin Briscoe, Charlie “Choo Choo” Brackins, Andre Ware, John Walton, Willie Thrower, George Taliaferro, etc., thus, most of these black signal callers were ridiculed and malign by the white mass mediums and by racist fans. The Quarterback position was designated for white players and historically black quarterbacks supposedly did not have the intellectual quality or the leadership skills to guide a football team. These racist views dominated professional football perhaps until James Harris, a pocket passer that was drafted out of Grambling State University, a historical black college in 1969 by the Buffalo Bills and later would make his mark with the Los Angles Rams from 1973-1976.

Harris performances with the Rams proved that black quarterbacks had the intellectual I.Q. to lead and manage a team. The National Football League teams that did draft black quarterbacks were quick to transform them into tailbacks, wide receivers or defensive backs, as opposed to allowing them to play and compete for the coveted quarterback position, which oftentimes was giving to a less intelligent and less athletic white player. National Football League like all professional sports was shaped by racism and discrimination (why do not behind the lines ESPN do an investigative story on racism and black quarterback from an historical perspective?).

This writer sought of grew-up watching and admiring Joe “Jefferson Street” Gilliam a flashy black quarterback out of Tennessee State University (TSU) and I think at that time TSU was playing in the African American– South Western Athletic Conference (SWAC). Gilliam was drafted in 1972 by the Pittsburgh Steelers and I was in my teens, but I can vividly recall his flair and his on field charisma (he wore white cleats, white towel, risk bands, etc.) and I use to try to imitate his athletic skills and personality. Thus, looking back on my admiration for “Jefferson Street” perhaps my adoration for him stemmed from the fact that I was black and had I experienced the death of Civil Rights Leader Martin Luther King, Jr., and the 1968 rebellions in the city of Newark, New Jersey and I can recalled the United States National Guards patrolling, as well as, witnessing the social, political and economic infrastructure collapse in Newark. The death of Martin Luther King, Jr., left a void and we were looking for another positive black image to fulfill this sense of emptiness created by King’s assassination.

Thus, in the early 1970’s it was refreshing for me to see and identify with a black quarterback image like “Jefferson Street” Gilliam and for a brief while in 1972 he became the starting quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers due the NFL players strike and Terry Bradshaw being injured. Also my high school back then was named South Side School, but when I attended black people had fought to rename it Malcolm X Shabazz High School, it was coincidental and ironic that my high schools colors were black and gold, the same as the Pittsburgh Steelers. My childhood hero “Jefferson Street” would eventually succumb to drugs and alcohol and prior to his death in 2000 had many brushes with the law. He never recuperated from being benched after leading the Steelers to a 4-1-1 record and that same year Terry Bradshaw led the Steelers to a Super Bowl victory. This writer thinks Jefferson believed he had earned the right to lead the Steelers and that the politics of race had entered into him being benched.

This writer also during the early to mid 70’s was following the career of a great athletic alumnus of my high school named Willie Morris who was a wide receiver and was recruited by the University of Pittsburgh Panthers and played with Tony Dorsett during that National Champion season. This writer’s political perspective was not well defined during this time period although; he had heard the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, at Muhammad’s Temple of Islam number 25 in Newark, New Jersey. This writer has always admired Jim Brown the NFL football Hall of Fame running back who has always stood out as being much more than an athlete, he was intelligent, defiant, strong willed, opinionated and yes tremendously talented as a running back with Cleveland Browns. I was too young to have followed Jim Brown’s football career on the field, but his political disposition resonated with me. I have always viewed him as a no nonsense black man that stood on high principles.

Then of course, there was the west coast sociologist Harry Edwards a black intellectual and academician that challenged white supremacy on all levels. This writer read about the 1968 Olympic Games held in Mexico City, where Tommy Smith and John Carlos stood at the medal ceremony and raised their fist covered by a black glove in support and solidarity of the Black Power Movement of the 1960’s as a symbol of protest. I also read about at this same Olympic Games gold medalist boxer George Foremen (former heavy weight champion of the world) grab the American flag to demonstrate his patriotism.

This writer read about in 1969, how Curt Flood challenged Major League Baseball free agency and reserve clause and took his case to the United States Supreme Court (although he lost in this decision) which today’s baseball players and all professional athletes are the beneficiaries and recipients of Flood’s activism as it pertains to players right to free agency. This writer also grew up watching and loving Muhammad Ali, a boxer by profession and a social activist by conviction. He went into the boxing ring as Cassius Clay out of Louisville, Kentucky and in the early 1960’s was introduced to the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad where he evolved into Muhammad Ali and the Islamic religion forever altered Ali’s life. He became a social icon and 1967 took a revolutionary stance against U.S aggression and the fighting in the Vietnam War and because of his conscientious objector stance he was ridiculed and condemn by a large segment of white America as being unpatriotic and un-American. (Reference: Edna and Art Rust, Jr.: Art Rust Illustrated History of the Black Athlete).

Athletes have always been viewed by the white elite as tools of entertainment and not as independent thinkers capable of making off the playing field decisions contrary to their dictates. Muhammad Ali was articulate and politically inspired who used his high profile athletic image as a former gold medalist and heavy weight champion of the world to challenge the United States Foreign Policy in Southeast Asia during the 1960’s. Ali was truly a different type of athlete. Ali was convicted in 1967 of refusing draft induction into the United States Arm Forces and sentenced to five years imprisonment, but the United Supreme Court eventually overturned this conviction. Ali’s dissent and defiance became somewhat of a symbol of what the black athlete could be, if they were armed with the proper information and knowledge.

Perhaps the culture and the social, economic and political environment dictates human behavior to a greater extent and influence the circumference and diameter of our thinking. The Hip Hop Culture has been a culture inspired by an art form—mainly Rap Music and the question always arise, does the art formulate independently of the dominant culture or does art becomes a voice of expression relative to conciliatory or contradictory interpretation. Frantz Fanon authored of two monumental books titled, “Black Skin, White Mask” and “The Wretched of the Earth” he stated that essentially each generation has the choice to honor and continue our history and struggle or betray it. Some years ago I was in a debate with Jamil Abdullah AL-Amin (formerly H. Rapp Brown), the former Black Panther Party member and Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, chairman. Al-Amin said to me brother “Culture is necessary, but it is not sufficient” it took me over twenty years to truly understand what AL-Amin meant; that was perhaps in 1989. (Reference: Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin: Revolution by the Book).

Damien Ty Jackson in his book titled, “The Hip Hop Tree: Seeds, Essays and Thoughts” stated, “No forms of culture expression unfold in a vacuum. Instead, they are informed and shape by a combination of interacting social forces that surround and precede them. Clearly, this is the case with Hip-Hop whose seeds were sown long ago in a faraway land most African-Americans still acknowledge as ‘home’. As with blues, jazz, gospel and R&B, the influences of our African origins are still with us in the form of beats, rhythms, chants, dance, oral traditions, and other musical innovations and tendencies.” (Reference: Damien Ty Jackson: The Hip Hop Tree: Seeds, Essays and Thoughts).

The study of history develops the springs and motives of human actions. History serves as much more than the studying of dates and events, but as a bridging of one generational experience to another, which is physically and psychological passed on historically and in a peoples DNA. History instills inspiration, motivation, and self-esteem into a people; moreover, it connects a people to their contributions made toward civilization and human advancement. This is the discipline that builds the will of a people and encourages them to go forward. African people living in America had a brilliant and glorious history before and after Chattel Slavery (1555-1865). (Reference: John G. Jackson: The Study of African Civilization).

Those that control institutions recognize that they must forever hide the true past of African people in order to keep them sleep to the knowledge of self. History is like a trumpet, when it is sound, the asleep must rise. African Americans were put to sleep during the period of Chattel Slavery; denied the right to read and write which to pursue an intellectual exchange of ideas and denied the God given right to acquire the knowledge of self. The slave masters deprived African people of the opportunity to develop a true value system—folkway, mores, cultural system, etc. The study of our history is one way to correct this deplorable mental state of amnesia that African Americans are presently experiencing. We not only lost our historical memory but was disposed of our intellectual faculties, to even find our home which is Africa. We are silently crying out for Zion—this lost home that has been forsaking by 30—million black people in America and hundreds of millions located throughout the diaspora. (Reference: Del Jones: The Black Holocaust: Global Genocide).

The Holy Bible in Psalms 137 gives us the true meaning of a people being disconnected from their homeland and there are none more fitting this scripture than the black man and woman of America, it stated: “By the rivers in Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it even to the foundation thereof. O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall be that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.”

A crime took place, which was one of the greatest criminal acts ever committed against a people and it does not matter how the descendents of the perpetrators (Spain, Portugal, Great Britain, United States, Belgium, Germany, France, etc.) seeks to disguise their denial, we the descendents are the living testimony and the victims of this heinous criminal act. We were robbed of the knowledge of self and to continue to identify with the perpetrators history and culture is insanity. This is evident by the surnames (slave master’s names we continue to carry) McCrae, Smith, Johnson, Jones, Brown, Baldwin, Richards, etc., are not indigenous African names, but they belong to another man’s culture. How can we, African Americans claim to be free and have never divorced themselves from the slave master’s names? (Reference: Hugh Thomas: The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade; 1440-1870).

It is not the norm to find a Korean or Chinese wearing the names “Greg Fatback”, “Larry Hamhock”, “Darius Shorten bread”, etc., because these alien names do not reflect their East Asian culture and heritage. History asked the six basic questions of who, what, where, when, how and why; moreover we have traditionally responded to the above questions with Eurocentric answers. Non-traditional scholars such as Dr. Josef Ben A. A. Johannon, Drusilla Dunjee Houston, Cheik Anta Diop, John G. Jackson, Asa Hilliard, George G. M. James, etc., have worked to redefine history, by rescuing African history from misconceptions, half-truths and outright lies.

History builds patriotism and nationalism by instilling pride and self-worth in a people that is reflected of past accomplishments which should be past down culturally, in which to always remind a people of their obligation to make every generation aware of their glorious past and use it to inspire the born and unborn generations to aspire to create new history. We as African Americans should work to retain the best national and international attorneys in the world and plead our slavery case within the international courts. The African Holocaust involved numerous criminal acts ranging from kidnap, rape, murder, assault, conspiracy. (Reference: John Henrik Clarke: Christopher Columbus and the African Holocaust).

LL Cool J in his book titled, “I Make My Own Rules” stated, “. . . Being African American in the United States, which is a strange paradox. We’re of African descent but don’t learn enough about what African is. And, because of certain racist sectors, we’re not always 100 percent accepted as Americans. Our people have been forced-fed an American culture and taught to hate themselves. But inside them African culture is brewing, because it’s never been fully realized. . . . Other groups in America—the Italians, the Jews, the Asians, the Irish—know where they came from and what their culture is about. And it makes it easier for them to embrace America on their own terms. It’s not an either/or situation. Too many black people are struggling to fit an African key into an American lock. I just doesn’t fit sometimes. We’ve got to learn to embrace our culture before we can be confident—and accepted—as Americans and make that key fit. Not all African history is great—Africans participated in the slave trade. But a lot of it is great. And we have to be real about that too.” (Reference: LL Cool J: I Make My Own Rules).

This present day generation had to rely on Pop Culture images from the Hip-Hop Culture as their leaders who were more commercialized and manufactured—products of studio images and who were for the most part actors and many of them lacked the social conviction that my Old School generation came to admire in their leaders. These new voices appeared to be more of the problem than the solution. However this writer can recall the Hip-Hop group Public Enemy (PE), in which some of its members were inspired by the Nation of Islam’s leaders Minister Louis Farrakhan and Minister Khallid Abdul Muhammad and it was reflected in their lyrics, a social militancy, possessing a combination of Black Islamic nationalism and Black Power themes, consistent with the ideology of the Black Panther Party model type—–stage image (with the paramilitary uniforms reflective of both the Fruit of Islam and the Black Panther Party of Self-Defense) of the 1960s and 1970s that were worn by its charismatic leaders Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale and, Eldridge Cleaver.

Public Enemy was actually a throwback type group that had borrowed the social rhythms of the Last Poets and the likes of Gill Scott Heron. Public Enemy had captivated young African -Americans imagination with meaningful lyrics possessing messages of personal and community empowerment. They introduced Minister Malcolm X (1925-1965) to a generation of Hip-Hoppers who knew, little too nothing about the slain martyr Civil Rights leader that taught a militant and radical political message that perhaps resonated with these young Hip-Hopper’s fathers and mothers two to three decades ago. PE was using their large stage to educate young African-Americans beyond the message and lyrics of selling dope, killing, sex and raunchy language that denigrated women and glamorized criminal behavior.

These young poets were actually wearing two hats—Entertainers and Social Activist simultaneously. They were more of the latter than the former—they were in harmony with the social, political and economic plight of the African-American community. Michael Eric Dyson in his book titled, “Between God and Gangsta Rap” Stated, “Public Enemy is hands down, the most influential and important group in the history of hip-hop. By roughly stitching together contrapuntal noise and prophetic rabble-rousing, the avant-garde group quickly became rap’s conscience. The contrast personalities of PE’s duo—straight-man and heavy-duty lyricist Chuck D and trickster sidekick Flavor Flav—play off of one another to great effect. PE’s work. Into toto has confronted, and times embodied, most of the conflicts faced by young blacks over the last decade. Racist white media and sellout bourgeoisie. Black-Jewish relations and the woes of interracial relations. The narrowness of black radio and the betrayal of blacks by dope dealers.” (Reference: Michael Eric Dyson: Between God and Gangsta Rap).

Lerone Bennett once stated, “He who controls images, controls minds, he who control minds has no fear bodies.” PE was positively altering minds and used their music as a moral, ethical, political, and spiritual tool, etc., that focused on liberation; not senseless violence and glamorized “gansterism;” where middle class Hip-Hop artists are rapping and singing about living in public housing and being involved in drive-by shootings and rapping about gang affiliation and gangbanging. But a deeper look into some of these “wanna-be” Hip-Hop artists backgrounds, you will find that many of them were raised in suburban upscale communities, attended private schools, raised in two parents homes and lived an incubated bourgeoisie life style.

Russell Simmons, better known as the CEO of Hip-Hop (Def Jam Records, Phat Farm, and Def Comedy Jam), is perhaps one of the most brilliant minds that helped to bring Rap and Hip-Hop to the era of transcending the mom and pop enterprise; moreover, to a billion dollar entertainment industry. Thus, in his book titled, “Do You: 12 Laws to Access The Power in You to Achieve Happiness and Success stated, “That’s how Hip-Hop started—poor kids with nothing, rhyming about having everything. But over the years it’s evolved to the point where that artistic attitude has transformed into a very successful business model. No one can argue that Hip-Hop hasn’t created a new way of doing business in the country. It’s proven that a bunch of kids who didn’t go to business school, who don’t have MBAs, and who don’t speak ‘proper’ English can still make a lot of money. Despite their apparent lack of sophistication and training, they can still create thriving businesses, companies that leave the rest of corporate America playing catch-up.” (Reference: Russell Simmons: Do You: 12 Laws to Access The Power in You to Achieve Happiness and Success).

Some would argue that these young music entrepreneurs are only capitalizing off the market trend—-they are saying and singing what sells—-sadly our culture has digressed to sex and violence, which has become extremely marketable and profitable in the United States and around the world. Moreover, those that control the music industry, the POWERS THAT-BE had decided that there wouldn’t be a long standing platform for the social lyrics like the type PE sang and advocated because to much of a positive agenda was negatively impacting big business—drug culture, tobacco sells, alcohol, etc. The dealers of death in the black community could not allow this type message to take root amongst the poor and oppressed because it was bad for legal and illegal business.

PE and one of its lead artist Professor Griff who was probably a registered Muslim in the Nation of Islam and if not, was definitely a committed sympathizer to the politico-theological teachings of its controversial leader Minister Louis Farrakhan. Professor Griff probably was the information guru of PE, the real mindset behind the on stage intellect and social presences. Minister Farrakhan in 1985 spoke to over 35, 000 black people at Madison Square in New York City amidst heavy opposition from the Zionist Jews and Mayor Edward Koch. Thus, after the Jesse Jackson 1984 run for the office of president of the United States, which Jackson was forced to repudiate Farrakhan for making allege anti-Semitic remarks, in the same manner presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama is being forced to repudiate his minister, Jeremiah Wright for making allege anti-American remarks. History is cyclical. Minister Farrakhan in the mid-1980s became the preeminent black leader and voice of black America and furthered solidified that rank with his garnishing over 1.5 million black men to Washington D.C at the Million Man March. (Reference: Cornel West and Michael Lerner: Jews and Blacks: Let the Healing Begin).

Chuck D in his book titled, “Fight the Power: Rap, Race and Reality stated, “By that time we had already done, ‘Bring the Noise’, and ‘Don’t Believe the Hype.’ My initial goal of working with the SW1, especially those heavily oriented in the Nation{of Islam}, was to use my lyrics to help clean up the bullshit hype that had come out about Minister Louis Farrakhan that started after the New York Post article. I felt through popular music and entertainment I could help bring his name into a positive light and have white kids singing a song with Farrakhan’s name in it, and we could change the whole complexion of how he was being looked at. Minister Farrakhan was gaining so much momentum in 1984 that when the Post came out with that bullshit story about ‘Farrakhan Says Hitler Was a Great Man’—when, as suggested buried in the text of the article, he actually described how Hitler’s greatness was used for wicked purpose—their wicked reporting turned the whole Nation movement back. When ‘Bring the Noise’ came out and said, ‘Farrakhan’s a prophet I think you ought to listen to,’ and ‘Don’t Believe the Hype’, said, ‘A follower of Farrakhan, don’t tell that you understand, until you hear the man,’ we actually had white listeners wanting to get into the mind-set of Minister Farrakhan and look at his words for themselves and discover that he wasn’t what they heard he was.” (Reference: Chuck D: Fight the Power: Rap, Race and Reality).

The Anti Defamation League (ADL) and the Jewish Defense League (JDL) had labeled the Nation of Islam and Minister Farrakhan as being anti-Semitic. Moreover, Public Enemy was viewed by the Jews (not all Jews, but those of the Zionist persuasion) as representing the voice and public image of the Nation of Islam whom they had falsely labeled as being anti-Semitic. They worked to separate PE from the Nation of Islam by using some words Professor Griff had spoken, which they played sound bites accusing the embattled Rap artist of anti-Semitism. PE never recovered to their former glory after the anti-Semitism allegations and eventually Chuck-D was forced to repudiate his friend and comrade Professor Griff. (Reference: Chuck D: Fight the Power: Rap, Race and Reality).

This writer must admit on the subject of Rap music and hip-hop I am way over my head, but I knew PE was special and we probably have not had a hip-hop group with the kind of social lyrical implications since PE. It is difficult today to see former PE star Flavor Flav “buffoning” and clowning and being reactionary to what he represented in the 1980s. Black men between the ages of 16-25 are being murdered (black on black homicides) at an alarming rate. The music continues to glamorize guns and drugs. Where are the positive images? Marcus Garvey, Fannie Lou Hamer, Noble Drew Ali, Elijah Muhammad, Bishop Mc Neil Turner, Martin Luther King, Jr. Queen Mother Moore, Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Huey P. Newton, Harriet Tubman, WEB Dubois, Booker T. Washington, Martin Delaney, Kwame Ture, etc. (Reference: William P. Benjamin: African Americans in the Criminal Justice System).

No positive images creates disillusionment and this is why a black high profile celebrity athlete like a Mike Vick that had just signed over 130 million dollar contract with the Atlanta Falcons and by way of some poor decisions suffered the same fate of most black men that have gotten entangled in the criminal justice and judicial system—prison; perhaps Vick believed the hype being sang and the thug life ethos that is over dramatized in the Rap Music and the Hip-Hop Culture. The blame can not be totally placed on these young African-Americans, if the truth be told, we failed them, and they were our responsibility to be intellectually nurtured and guided on the right path. The National Urban League gives an annual report each year of the state of black America and Tavis Smiley host The State of the Black Union with all his corporate funding holds a symposium every year where he galvanized some of the best and brilliant black intellectuals in America—to do what? Talk about the problem. The problem has been well defined since 1865, but we are short on solutions.

Black youth are left to choose between a concept of East Coast Rap (personified in the late Biggie Smalls—The Notorious B.I.G) and West Coast (personified by the late Tupac Shakur) as ideological metaphors for internal destruction. While the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and Tavis Smiley continues to have huge conferences in big convention hotels and black America continues to suffer. Know wonder our Hip-Hop artists have to reinvent images because of our negligence to do so. Mariam Jones, a five time gold medalist winner and Michael Vick an NFL All Star Quarterback are both in custody under the United States Bureau of Prisons. They both were let down by a society that failed them and this is not to overlook personal responsibility. (Reference: Michael Eric Dyson: Holler If You Hear Me: Searching for Tupac Shakur).

Maybe is mere nostalgic on my part, but, I truly missed PE—-the revolutionary lyrics and those images of defiance—-the message was clear and meaningful. This writer knows and understands that art can not be defined by the lens and vision of one person and/or a group of persons; it has no definition boundaries, art means different things to different people. I first heard the Sugar Hill Gang and Grand Master Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, Kurtis Blow, Run DMC in the late 1970s early 80s. I can vividly recall people calling WBLS radio station in New York City requesting that they play Sugar Hill Gang single “Rapper’s Delight” over and over again. The legendary Frankie Crocker was behind the mic, doing his thing. This “new” music was refreshing and the beat and rhythm did something for the soul.

Jay-Z is a Hip-Hop mogul that has made huge sums of money and is revered as a Hip-Hop icon, but he (Snoop Dogg, P. Diddy, 50 Cent, Reverend Run, etc.) is far from being the social presences of KRS-ONE and PE, but that is not to say the likes of Mos Def, Common, Talib Kweli, etc, hasn’t embraced that social and political calling. There was something happening internally in the late 1980s and early 1990s when these young artists were sampling Minister Malcolm X and Huey P. Newton speeches, this type of political education heighten the social awareness and it took Hip-Hop to another level, a level we have yet to duplicate. There have been other artists such as Wu Tang Clan, OutKast, Nas, Erykah Badu, etc., that may have come under the influence of the teachings of the Original Five Percent Nation—-called the Gods and Earth’s.

This group evolved from the Nation of Islam, which its founder in 1964 Clarence 13 X Smith was member of Temple Number 7 in New York City under Minister Malcolm X. The Gods and Earth’s teaching has resonated amongst some Hip-Hop artists—–they pull from the “Supreme Mathematics” Lessons and “Student Enrollment” lessons that were taught by the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad. They understand divine numerology, Islam, mystic philosophy, high science—–they teach on the 120 degrees multiplied times 3, you then have the 360 degrees; thus, complete knowledge is liken to a circle. Many Hip-Hop artists have embraced the Five Percent Philosophy and for those who know what they are listen to can easily detect its message coded in Rap lyrics. (Reference: Malachi Z. York: The Problem Book: In the Name of Allah).

Hip-Hop and Rap have truly transcended cultures, race, ethnicity, nationality, etc., it is a universal language spoken across the globe. Moreover, after the Don Imus debacle; where he verbally insulted, the predominantly African-Americans Rutgers University women’s basketball team by referring to them as “nappy headed whores”. Thereafter, a debate pursued about the language the Hip-Hop artists themselves were using that was equally degrading to African-American women. I believe the NAACP went on a silly crusade to bury the “N” word and has not offered any real solutions to black suffering and misery. Russell Simmons of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network has also been doing yeoman’s work with Hip-Hop artists as far as encouraging them to work toward cleaning Hip-Hop music up. He has teamed up with Minister Benjamin F. Muhammad (formerly known as Reverend Benjamin Chavis) and has been engaged in positive dialog with Hip-Hop artists around the country.

My comrade brother Paul Scott, the moderator of NO WARNING SHOTS FIRED blog site http://nowarningshotsfired.blogspot.com/ is without doubt, a much more verse Hip-Hop historian and Rap musicologist than I. This writer encourages his audience to view Brother Scott’s blog because he has been analyzing Hip-Hop music for over a decade and has a serious inside perspective.

Fahim A. Knight Chief Researcher for KEEPING IT REAL THINK TANK located in Durham, NC; our mission is to inform African Americans and all people of good will of the pending dangers that lie ahead; as well as decode the symbolisms and reinterpret the hidden meanings behind those who operate as invisible forces, but covertly rules the world. We are of the belief that an enlighten world will be better prepared to throw off the shackles of ignorance and not be willing participants for the slaughter. Our MOTTO is speaking truth to power. Fahim A. Knight can be reached at fahimknight@yahoo.com.

Stay Awake Until We Meet Again,
Fahim A. Knight

Has anybody stopped to think about why we have to be such losers in America without useful public transport? I mean consider the bogusness of the situation… Our trains move at like 40 mph, stop all the time, mess up all the time, use too much fuel, cost too much, and basically are useless while Europe and many parts of Asia have kick ass systems that work really well?

I’m guessing it’s the same reason the gov’t stopped paying Prius owners and all that and why we have such shitty research on alternative sources of energy…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maglev_(transport)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JR-Maglev

http://www.bornrich.org/entry/japan-plans-45-billion-maglev-train-the-worlds-fastest

http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/east/12/03/japan.maglev.ap

Quick question: what is the most iconic symbol of modern Japan?

If you guessed the shinkansen (???) or bullet train, you’re sadly wrong!

Although for years these sleek and sexy high-speed trains have been smashing rail speed records, they’re only two decades or so away from being totally obsolete.

This week, the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) announced that it plans to construct the world’s fastest train, a second-generation maglev train that will run from Tokyo to central Japan.

With an estimated cost of 5.1 trillion yen (44.7 billion dollars), the project is expected to be completed by the 2025 financial year.

According to a company spokesperson: “It will be the fastest train ever - if it beats the one in Shanghai - with a velocity of about 500 kilometers (310 miles) per hour, travelling a distance of 290 kilometers (180 miles).”

Awesome.

The Shanghai maglev train, which was launched in 2002, is currently the fastest train in the world. Running from Pudong airport to the financial district, Shanghai’s maglev train travels at 430 kilometers (267 miles) per hour over a distance of 30.5 kilometers (18 miles).

So what exactly are maglev trains you ask? Good question.

A maglev, or magnetically levitating train, is a form of rail transportation that suspends, guides and propels carts using electromagnetic force.

Compared to traditional wheeled mass transit systems, maglev trains in theory have the potential to reach speeds upwards of 900 kilometers (600 miles) per hour, which is equivalent to jet aircraft.

To date, the only commercial maglev train in operation is the Shanghai line, though the Japanese have been experimentally testing maglev trains for years.

In 2003, a maglev train operated by JR Central reached speeds of 581 kilometers (361 miles) per hour, which is a smidgen faster than the French TGV, which is the fastest conventional train in the world.

At the time of the press release, JR Central did not actually confirm the exact extent of the new maglev line, though it’s likely to run from Tokyo to Nagoya, and perhaps as far as Osaka.

Although the Japanese are keen on reclaiming rail speed records from the French and Chinese, the pressure is on, especially since a series of other maglev projects are being planned around the world.

In the southern state of Bavaria in Germany, the government recently announced that it intends to build a maglev train line by 2014 that will connect Munich with its airport.

And in China, the government recently announced that it intends to extend their Shanghai maglev train to the city of Hangzhou, which is 170 kilometers (105 miles) away.

And even in the United States, the government has been considering a number of commercial maglev services to alleviate traffic congestion, such as a line between Washington and Baltimore.

Given the severity of the energy crisis and the increasing unliklihood that our days of driving SUVs are going to last forever, the future of maglev trains is indeed a promising one.

** All images sourced from the Wikipedia Commons project **

Thanks to Jnoubiyeh

Re-igniting Lebanon’s Internal Fire

By D. Elias Akleh

Reports about the latest Lebanese conflict talked only about the symptoms of the conflict and ignored its root causes. The Lebanese political infrastructure was deliberately formed, since its independence in 1943, to set up the country for perpetual political conflicts. One also needs to consider the global and regional political dynamics to understand the Lebanese dilemma.

Lebanon was original part of Greater Syria encompassing Syria, Lebanon, Cilicia and Iskandarun Province of Turkey, historical Palestine, Sinai of Egypt, Cyprus, Iraq, Kuwait, and Ahwaz Khuzestan of Iran. After the Great Arab Revolution during WWI and the emancipation of the Arab World from the Ottoman Empire, the British broke their promises to Sherif Hussein ibn Ali to establish a single unified Arab State. They were afraid that such an Arab State with vast areas of land including oil could become a major global power. So they and the French divided the land according to Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916. Thus Arab land was divided into smaller chunks under the British and French mandates, and Lebanon was separated from Greater Syria and became a French protectorate.

Arab nations continued their struggle for freedom, and the Lebanese gained their independence in 1943. Yet, due to the lingering French political influence on the country, the Lebanese ethnic groups were still not completely in agreement, and thus a Lebanese confessional system of government, known as National Pact, was established. This form of government is allegedly meant to distribute political and institutional power proportionally among ethnic communities according to its demographic composition. The Pact’s real goal was to plant the seeds of division between the Lebanese factions to keep them divided, weak, and under the mercy of foreign interference.

According to the National Pact the President of the Republic will always be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister will always be a Sunni Muslim, the President of the National Assembly will always be a Shi’a, the deputy speaker of the Parliament will always be Greek Orthodox Christian, and the Parliament members will always be in a ratio of 6:5 in favor of Christians to Muslims.

The Pact did not, or intentionally was set up not to, take into consideration the different birth growth between the different groups, where the Muslim birth growth exceeds the Christian birth growth. Also the group holding the most political power, the Christians in this case, would have the opportunity to use government institutions to bolster its power and even to oppress rival groups. Such abuse of power had caused grief among Muslims, which led to modification of the ratio in the Parliament to 50:50 according to the Taif Agreement of 1990 reducing the power of the Maronite Christian president.

Lebanon flourished greatly and was considered the Paris of the Middle East. Yet this did not last long. In 1948 after the establishment of the state of Israel on Palestinian land the Israelis evacuated about 100 thousands of Galilee Palestinians and transferred them to Lebanon. In 1967 Israel occupied the rest of Palestine creating a second wave of Palestinian refugees, some of whom went to Lebanon. Feeling invincible, the Israeli army crossed the Jordan River to invade Jordan but was defeated by the Jordanian army with the help of PLO fighters in Al-Karameh battle in March 1968. To weaken the Palestinian/Jordanian alliance Israel and its American CIA support incited political conflict between the Jordanian King and the PLO. It seemed a deal was struck by which the Jordanian army, armed with Israeli-delivered Uzi machine guns, raided the PLO camps and booted the fighters out of the country during what is known as the Black September of 1970.

The PLO moved to Lebanon, buttressed its bases to avoid its Jordanian-like fate, and continued their struggle against the Israeli occupation. One more time Israel used the same trick to incite conflict between the PLO and the Lebanese. Israel used the Phalanges and the South Lebanon Army as its proxy army to inflame the Lebanese Civil War. The Arab League summit of 1976 in Riyadh proposed sending an Arab Deterrent Force under the leadership of Syria to disentangle the combatant sides. The small forces from other Arab countries soon withdrew leaving about 40 thousand Syrian troops to do the job.

Israel, on its part, invaded north Lebanon several times, and in 1982 reached the southern suburbs of Beirut. International forces intervened to stop the fighting and allowed the PLO to leave Lebanon heading to Tunis. Israel, though, did not withdraw from Lebanon and thus was faced with Lebanese freedom fighters spear-headed by Hezbollah. Eventually Israel was forced to retreat in 2000. Hezbollah became Israel’s number one enemy especially after Palestinian freedom fighters started following Hezbollah’s example in fighting the Israelis.

Rafiq Al-Hariri, a Lebanese self-made billionaire and a business tycoon, who made his wealth in Saudi Arabia, returned to Lebanon, and invested his wealth and loans from the World Bank to rebuild Beirut and make it a world financial center. Al-Hariri served as the Prime Minister of Lebanon from 1992 to 1998 and again from 2000 until his resignation in October 2004. He worked closely with the Syrian government, and refused to hand over members of Hezbollah, who were accused by the US of being terrorists. Protecting Israel the Bush administration had declared Hezbollah a terrorist group for their fight against the illegal Israeli occupation of Sheba’a Farms; parts of Lebanon. During his 2001 BBC interview Al-Hariri stated that Hezbollah were protecting Lebanon against Israeli occupation, and called for implementation of all United Nations Resolutions against Israel. According to Bush’s statement of “You are either with us or with the terrorist”, Al-Hariri was viewed as obstacle to American/Israeli expansions, which would set an example to the rest of the Arab leaders. Such an example had to violently disappear to send an intimidating message to the others. Through the use of the most advanced electronic equipment to disable Al-Hariri’s sophisticated motorcade alarm system and the use of explosives equivalent to around 1000 kg of TNT, Al-Hariri’s strongly armored motorcade was blown to smithereens. Syria was blamed for the assassination, although there was no evidence at all for such accusation, and was pressured to pull out its forces from Lebanon.

After the American invasion of Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanese Hezbollah, and Palestinian Hamas were viewed as the remaining threats to Israel. The Bush administration directed Israel to attack southern Lebanon to destroy Hezbollah after sending an Israeli patrol through Lebanese border as a provocation to be attacked by Hezbollah. The attack and the capture of two Israeli soldiers were used as justification for Israel’s July 2006 war against Lebanon. Despite all the Israeli bombing using illegal rich uranium and cluster bombs, the American pressure to continue the fight, the American arms aerial bridge to Israel, and the accusations of Egypt and Saudi Arabia against Hezbollah, Israel was defeated by Hezbollah. The Israeli Winograd Commission, set up to investigate the causes of the Israeli defeat, pointed also to the incorrect intelligence about Hezbollah’s strength and positions that were supplied by some Lebanese party leaders of March 14th Alliance, who were opposed to the increasing national and political popularity of Hezbollah. These leaders include Saad Al-Hariri, leader of the Future Movement, Walid Jumblatt, the leader of the Progressive Socialist Party, and the Israeli paid and operative war criminal Samir Geagea, leader of the right wing Lebanese Forces.

Defeating the so-called undefeatable Israeli army, a feat all the Arab armies combined could not accomplish, Hezbollah demanded a change in the Lebanese political structure that will give it a say in the affairs of the country. This victory angered Israel and the American administration. It angered the French, who wanted to get back to its old protectorate, Lebanon, and to play a role in the war on terror so that its military industries can flourish. Hezbollah’s victory had angered the Arab leaders most of all, for it highlighted their lack of political will and their loyalties to foreign countries rather than to their people. All of these were afraid that Hezbollah would become an example for the Arab nations to rise up against their corrupt leaderships and to defeat Israel.

Divide in order to conquer policy that had been used to split Palestinians into Hamas and Fatah combatant rivals has also been used to split Lebanese into Western backed anti-Syrian pro-government loyalists led by the March 14th Alliance vs government oppositional parties led mainly by Hezbollah, and to create Lebanon’s political crisis. The Western media tried to portray the crisis as Sunni vs Shi’a religious conflict even though there are Sunni, Shi’a and Christians on both sides. Hezbollah was accused of being a tool in the hands of Syria and Iran, whose goal is to return Syrian rule to Lebanon and to give Iran free access to the Mediterranean shores. It was also accused of arming and training Iraqi insurgents.

The Al-Manar Newspaper exposed an American/Israeli/French/Saudi plan to discredit and to weaken Hezbollah by inciting civil confrontation in Lebanon, and then sending international peace keeping troops under the justification of protecting foreigners. The paper had also reported that Israel has been training Lebanese militia loyal to Saad Al-Hariri, Walid Jumblatt, and Samir Geagea. American weapons, bought by Saudi money, have been smuggled through Lebanon’s Al-Hariri international airport to these militias. Israel had lately completed new war games in preparation for another war against Hezbollah anticipated during this summer.

Aware of the danger, Hezbollah had avoided civil confrontation through political process and dialogue with the Siniora government and with the Secretary General of the Arab League, Amr Mousa. But when Siniora’s government was directed to issue orders to dismantle Hezbollah’s installed cameras in the airport to monitor the smuggling of weapons into Lebanon, and its updated pre-2000 ground communication systems, Hezbollah considered the orders a declaration of war and a threat to all Lebanon. It considered the orders as an attempt to sever its leadership from its military groups; a service to Israeli enemy. Al-Hariri’s Future Party militia attempted to ignite a civil war by throwing stones and shooting at civilians, but Hezbollah fighters swiftly and unexpectedly were able to occupy their headquarters, seized cache of weapons, ammunition, and alcohol, and turned them to the Lebanese army. They also surrounded Al-Hariri’s and Jumblatt’s homes causing the government to rescind its orders. One more time, Hezbollah had proved to be the real savior of Lebanon.

-Dr. Elias Akleh is an Arab writer of Palestinian descent, born in the town of Beit-Jala. Currently he lives in the US. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com.

Widespread Arab Stances Support Hezbollah

Hanan Awarekeh

Sixty Jordanian figures comprising heads of parties and syndicates, intellectuals and military veterans relayed a letter on Monday to Hezbollah General Secretary Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah in his capacity as the leader of the Arab Resistance, former President Emile Lahoud and the Head of the Free Patriotic Movement MP General Michel Aoun, in which they stressed their support for the resistance against the Zio-American project in the region.

In their letter, the Jordanian figures refused to put the ongoing battle in Lebanon in the framework of a sectarian, religious or regional conflict since the real battle is for forming the Arab World and the Arab nation. The letter also stressed that the armed resistance is the strategic weapon in the hand of the whole Arab nation against the Zionist – U.S piracy and hypocrisy, confirming that Sayyed Nasrallah was chosen by the Arab people as their leader.

Stressing they fully understand what is taking place in Lebanon, the Jordanian figures said that they are honoured to voice out their position that they are part and parcel of the resistance led by Hezbollah and Sayyed Nasrallah against the Zionist – U.S scheme.

In a phone call to Al-Manar Channel, Secretary General of the International Union for Muslim Scholars, Dr. Mohamad Salim al-Awwa said that the major problem is the possibility of Sunni – Shiite sedition and its unbearable consequences. Dr. Awwa praised Sayyed Nasrallah’s stance that “Sunni-Shiite sedition was behind us.” He stressed no one has the right to attack the resistance’s weapons whether it was its communications network or arms, given that the resistance is the sole Arab army that defeated the Zionist enemy twice. Dr. Awwa added that any attempt to assail this weapon or remove it “exposes a misunderstanding to the region and the nature of the conflict between us and the Zionist enemy.”

Sayyed Nasrallah’s call upon the Islamic World to be understanding, was echoed by a large number of Islamic scholars and figures who expressed their sympathy with the resistance and its conduct in Lebanon, especially after the U.S – Israeli hand assailed, through the unconstitutional government of Fouad Saniora, the weapon that liberated the country in 2000 and defeated Israel in the July war in 2006.

Muslim Brotherhood supreme leader in Egypt, Mohammed Mahdi Akef, said that the Lebanese resistance is the only group that determines what is good for the country in facing the Zionist – U.S plot that is penetrating deeply into Lebanon. Akef stressed that the resistance’s image stands unshaken, and even if it changes it would be for the better.

Islamic Labour Front’s stance in Jordan also stressed on supporting the resistance and the importance of preserving it to protect Lebanon and the opposition project in the region that proved to be the best way to confront the Zio – U.S hegemony project.

The head of the National Reform Movement in Algeria, Mohamed Boulahia said that the image of Hezbollah would never change because it is a resistant party working Zionist – U.S. schemes in the region.

For his part, al-Nahda Movement Chairman in Algeria, Fateh Rabie, said that Hezbollah represents the depth of the Lebanese resistance, adding that the party was not dragged into sectarian sedition or provocations though it has the military power to control all the country.

Israel on Alert; Downplays Fears of War with Hezbollah

Hanan Awarekeh

Israeli occupation security officials are playing down concerns of an imminent direct conflict with Hezbollah, Army Radio reported on Monday.

Israel has raised its intelligence alert after clashes erupted in Beirut and Mount Lebanon between Lebanese national opposition supporters on one hand and the authority’s militias (Saad Hariri’s Militiamen and Walid Jumblatt’s) on the other, in which the opposition’s supporters could take control on most of these areas and handing their security to the Lebanese Army.

On Sunday, Israel’s Vice Premier Haim Ramon told cabinet members that Lebanon must be viewed as a “Hezbollah state,” after what he claimed that the group seized control over the western part of the Lebanese capital over the weekend.

“Lebanon has no government. It is a fiction, there is only Hezbollah,” Ramon said during the weekly cabinet meeting. “Hezbollah is directly responsible for everything that happens [in Lebanon], and the organization completely controls the state.”

Later in the cabinet meeting, Minister Ami Ayalon called for an emergency meeting of the political-security cabinet to discuss the ongoing crisis in Lebanon and Gaza.

Ayalon said that “the critical situation in the north” and the impending lull in the fighting in Gaza require a special session.

Minister of Religious Services Yitzhak Cohen (Shas) said that “Israel must immediately ask the [United Nations] Security Council to hold renewed discussions over resolution 1701.” The minister was referring to the resolution that stopped the Israeli actions against Lebanon during the 34-day between in 2006, maintaining a fragile cease-fire.

According to Cohen “the Lebanese army proved to be a doormat, stepped on by Hezbollah.”

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that Israel was following the violence in Lebanon closely, but would refrain from intervening. Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai told Army Radio Sunday that Israel was prepared for the possibility that the situation in Lebanon will deteriorate into another civil war.

Vilnai also said the current fighting could end with a Hezbollah takeover of the government. “We need to keep our eyes peeled and be especially sensitive regarding all that is happening there,” Vilnai told Army Radio.

“We shouldn’t get involved. We need to watch and should follow this very closely even when we are dealing with other fronts,” he said, referring to continued fighting against the Hamas resistance group in the Gaza Strip. Hamas has controlled Gaza since last June.[/b]

Cabinet Minister Meir Sheetrit said Israel should not yet take any action, but warned that things could change if Hezbollah takes over Lebanon. “I think it’s very dangerous, the [possible] situation in which Iran is in fact sitting on our border, and controlling Lebanon,” Sheetrit said. “It’s really dangerous in the long term because now its plain to everyone that … Hezbollah is just the long arm of Iran and that’s the way we should relate to it.”

For the time being, Jerusalem has decided not to issue any official comment on the confrontations between Hezbollah and the Beirut government. But various officials have expressed concern over the escalation and the possible implications for Israel’s northern border.

Meanwhile Sunday, a Lebanese security official reported that Israel Air Force warplanes violated Lebanon’s airspace and flew over the southern part of the country. “More than four Israeli jets flew over areas near the port city of Tyre,” the official said.

IAF jets regularly overfly Lebanon in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701. The United Nations has called on Israel to stop doing so. The organization says the overflights undermine the credibility of UNIFIL stationed in southern Lebanon to observe a fragile ceasefire in the area.

Galloway, who’s renowned for opposing the war on Iraq and defending the rights of the Palestinians, said in an interview with Al-Ghad daily that “Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah and Hezbollah are protecting Lebanon and its sovereignty” adding that “without them Lebanon would have been another country; an occupied one.” “Some are propagating that Nasrallah is Iran’s ally, I think they are misguiding the people on the truth that some Arab leaders are backing the US and imperialist powers”, Galloway said.

“I see Hezbollah’s secretary general as a unique pattern. He is truthful, and I believe that what happened in Lebanon came as a result of the government’s decision to disarm Hezbollah without making consultations, what prompted them to protect themselves”, he added.

The outspoken British MP continues by saying that “Hezbollah doesn’t want to take control of Lebanon, although they can, but they know the Lebanese structure and diversity”.

“I find odd how some Arab leaders are concerned about Iranian control of the region, especially after the Iranians helped US-UK occupation forces and facilitated their entrance into Iraq,” Galloway said.

“Arabs want to discuss Hezbollah’s occupation of the Hamra street in Beirut, just because they are unable to discuss Israel’s occupation of Palestine and the US occupation of Iraq.,” he added.

Galloway concluded that there’s no government in Lebanon. “The Government is the powerful body that is capable of controlling a certain domain, but unfortunately, Saniora’s government is incapable of spreading its control on the street outside the government’s headquarters.”

an excerpt:

The Last Interview
Malcolm X, Al-Muslimoon Staff (from the Malcolm X Museum)
Taken from Al-Muslimoon Magazine, February, 1965

note - This set of responses to written questions from the Arabic-language monthly Al-Muslimoon, published by the Islamic Center in Geneva, Switzerland, is the last record of Malcolm’s thinking. He wrote most of the responses the night of the fire-bombing of his home and wrote the last two as he sat in a Manhattan hotel the night before his death.

AL-MUSLIMOON: Is it true that even after your breakaway from Elijah Muhammad you still hold the Black color as a main base and dogma for your drive under the banner of liberation in the United States? How could a man of your spirit, intellect, and worldwide outlook fail to see in Islam its main characteristic, from its earliest days, as a message that confirms beyond doubt the ethnological oneness and quality of all races, thus striking at the very root of the monstrosity of racial discrimination? . . . . . . .

MALCOLM X: As a Black American I do feel that my first responsibility is to my twenty-two million fellow Black Americans who suffer the same indignities because of their color as I do. I don’t believe my own personal problem is ever solved until the problem is solved for all twenty-two million of us.

Much to my dismay, until now, the Muslim world has seemed to ignore the problem of the Black American, and most Muslims who come here from the Muslim world have concentrated more effort in trying to convert white Americans than Black Americans.

There are two groups of Muslims in America: (1) those who were born in the Muslim world and migrated here, and were already Muslims when they arrived here. lf these total over 200,000, they have not succeeded in converting 1,000 Americans to Islam. (2) American-born persons who have been converted to Islam are 98 percent Black Americans. Up to now it has been only the Black American who has shown interest even in Sunni Islam.

If a student of agriculture has sense enough to concentrate his farming efforts on the most fertile area of his farm, I should think the Muslim world would realize that the most fertile area for Islam in the West is the Black American. This in no way implies discrimination or racialism, but rather shows that we are intelligent enough to plant the good seed of Islam where it will grow best; later on we can “doctor up” or fertilize the less fertile areas, but only after our crop is already well planted in the heart and mind of these Black Americans who already show great signs of receptiveness. Was it not Bilal, the Black Ethiopian, who was [one of] the first to receive the seed of Islam from the Prophet himself in Arabia 1,400 years ago?

http://www.malcolm-x.org/docs/int_almus.htm

On his return from the extraordinary West African visit of the Khilafat Centenary Year Huzur gave a discourse on this very special visit in the Friday Sermon today.

Huzur said everyone is aware that he has recently been on a visit to three West African countries. The main programmes of his visit, the Jalsa proceedings etc. would have been watched by many on MTA and they would have thus witnessed the profusion of Allah’s grace – in accordance with His promise - on the Community of the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace). Huzur said much of his visit is detailed in reports but as the majority of people do not read Al Fazl (Urdu newspaper, which is publishing the reports) and also because a lot of people have expressed the wish that Huzur would relate incidents of his visit he would recount those aspects which perhaps the camera does not capture and which are of the emotional nature.

Huzur said this was his first visit of the Khilafat Centenary and people had prepared for it with great excitement. The keenness and fervour of some was of astonishing level. Allah has granted the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) people with such love, sincerity and piety. People who give precedence to faith over worldly matters, whose nationality and race is different but who have such incredible love for the Khalifa of the time that it is overwhelming. Huzur said this was promised to the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) and was indeed destined to happen for Allah had promised the Messiah (on whom be peace) that He would give him honour and renown that would reach the ends of the earth and He would generate his love in hearts. Huzur said the world is witness to the fact that this promise was fulfilled with great glory during this African visit. There is nothing concealed, nothing exaggerated, the camera captured the images and the world saw that the people of Africa have great love for the Messiah and when they raise the slogan of ‘Ghulam Ahmad ki Jai’ (long live Ghulam Ahmad) in their specific manner the Divine promise of honour and renown is seen fulfilled with a unique glory. Huzur said certainly no human effort can inculcate so much love, nor can worldly greed bring about such delight on faces and such love in eyes. These people do not have any worldly wealth but they are laden with the wealth of Iman (belief) and no amount of worldly wealth can buy their love for the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace). The love that they have for the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him), the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) and subsequently for Khilafat is unique. It is our God Who has infused the love of Khilafat in Ahmadis because of the love they have for the Messiah (on whom be peace) and African Ahmadis are becoming a model of this.

Huzur said it was their first Jalsa on such a huge scale. Indeed the world saw the grand spectacle on Friday. A friend from Ivory Coast said he had never seen such a gathering after Hajj. Huzur said during the Friday sermon as he looked on he wondered if the MTA team were showing it properly. However, Alhamdolillah, Huzur said the MTA young men who had travelled from UK displayed great expertise in this, may Allah reward them.

Huzur said one of the qualities he noticed of people at Jalsa at Ghana was the patience they exhibited listening to the proceedings despite the heat. Not just this Huzur said, at the time of Tahajjud and Fajr, the ground would be just as full. He said when he went for Fajr on Saturday morning he was astonished to find the crowd looked even bigger than at Friday Prayers. Huzur said his residence was at a distance of 6 kilo meters and the car would crawl on the way there due to people thronging around; women carrying little children, radiating love, urging the children to say salaam to Huzur. Such are the men and women of Ghana, Huzur said, who also safeguard their Salat and these indeed are the people to whom Allah has promised eternal Khilafat. Huzur said in Ghana the Langar was operated by women. He said when he went to have a look at the Langar the slogans raised were so passionately loud and fervent that Huzur deemed it best not to inspect the whole Langar lest in their passion and zeal the ladies overlooked that they had stoves and hot food around them. Huzur said the Khuddam too rendered their duty extremely well. Huzur said he watched them resolute on duty in pouring rain.

Huzur said in Benin the Ameer and Missionary-in-charge insisted that Huzur inaugurated the large mosque of Port Novo that he had laid the foundation stone of during his last visit. Their Jalsa also scheduled. Huzur said it is a new Jama’at in Benin and most of them are new converts. When Huzur crossed the border into Benin a governmental minister came to receive Huzur. Huzur said he was there mostly to meet with the Ahmadis who raised fervent, passionate slogans. Huzur said the next day was the last day of the Jalsa and was attended by 22,000 people who had travelled great distances. May Allah increase their love and sincerity. Huzur said such visits also provide opportunities for Tabligh. Huzur said an MNA took bai’at although Huzur told him to think it over but he said he was prepared, so the bai’at went ahead. A friend of an Ahmadi came to visit him and remarked that the visit of ‘your Khalifa’ is a visit of extraordinary blessings. Huzur said a special lady envoy of the President of the country came to see Huzur at the mission house. After Huzur had left she re-visited and asked if Huzur had been pleased with the visit. She also remarked that she had never attended such a Jummah in her life (earlier she had attended the Friday Prayers led by Huzur) and said that she had never heard anyone explain the Holy Qur’an (as Huzur had). Huzur said she is very close to accepting Ahmadiyyat and it is hoped that she will take her bai’at.

In Nigeria, although it was not planned Huzur was requested to unveil a plaque for a mosque near the border. Huzur agreed. Huzur said Nigeria is no less [in their zeal and sincerity]. Huzur said when they reached the site Huzur was relieved he had decided to come because the entire Jama’at stood waiting, certain that Huzur would come. They all wanted to have a handshake with Huzur which was not possible. Women wished to see Huzur from nearby. In the crowd, Huzur said, a member of his entourage said to a woman to step aside. Huzur recalled most amusingly that the woman was livid at this and retorted who did he think he was to come in between her and the Khalifa of the time! Huzur said it was entirely possible that she could have picked up the person and thrown him aside. Huzur said Nigerian women are very strong.

Once inside the mosque Huzur said when he asked for silence they all sat down. When Huzur told them that he did not have a plan to stop there but had come for them they raised such a passionate slogan that it felt the roof of the mosque would blow up. Huzur said the Jalsa site was at a distance of 1,200 kilo metres. En route Huzur said he witnessed the same sincerity, the same passion; women running alongside Huzur’s car with little children in their arms, drawing the children’s attention to Huzur, connecting them to Khilafat.

At the Jalsa people had also come from neighbouring Chad and Niger. Huzur said he met many governmental officials here and raised further awareness about the Jama’at. Relating about a local king Huzur said he has opened a girls school in the memory of his mother and requested Huzur to lay the foundation stone. Other traditional kings and government officials were present at the ceremony. The king openly expressed his affiliation with the Jama’at and with Huzur. Huzur prayed that may Allah open up his heart further and may he come into the fold of the Community of the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) and may Allah gather all pious souls on the hand of the Messiah of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him).

Huzur said in 1940 following a situation that had developed in Nigeria Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih II (may Allah be pleased with him) had told a group within the Nigerian Jama’at to either be obedient or be excluded. During this visit of Huzur the media asked Huzur about this group and Huzur said they had made no difference to the Jama’at at all. Huzur said those people now seem to realise their mistake. An Imam and an elder from them came to see Huzur and Huzur told them that the situation is quite clear and evident now and that they should stop being obstinate and come and join. Huzur said apparently they seemed to pay heed. Let us hope Allah opens their hearts.

Huzur said he would say to the missionaries there, in fact the missionaries around the world to raise the standard in terms of their connection with Allah and to inculcate this in their families as well; to display more sincerity, especially those who are in Africa. The earlier missionaries had made tremendous sacrifices and had set great models; everyone should try and attain the high standards they set. Huzur said the world is watching all this on MTA and we need to turn to Allah more than before. A lot of prayers are needed although it is Allah’s promise that He will make us triumphant but we should also increase in our sincerity and turn to Him more than before. May Allah so enable everyone and may He show us greater destinations of progress and advancement.