Solomon has a riveting account of the American Anti-Slavery Group's reaction to Kofi Annan's Harvard speech and honorary degree, including these indelible words from the indefatigable and fearless Charles Jacobs:
Kofi Annan is the top diplomat in the world, but today we need less diplomacy and more truth.The truth is, Kofi Annan does not need to come to Harvard tomorrow, he needs to go to Sudan. He needs to be with the African Muslims in Darfur who are being slaughtered and dispossessed and starved to death. He needs to go to the South where Khartoum's militia has forced 100,000 Shilluks off their land. He needs to go to the North, and he needs to tell Khartoum to free the slaves.
There are tens of thousands of slaves like Francis Bok, still serving their masters in Sudan. Kofi Annan needs to tell the truth: For a decade Khartoum wages what it calls...what they call a Jihad against Christians and tribalists in the South.
Kofi Annan never once said that the war was a Jihad. It's not diplomatic to say...but it's the truth.
Two million people died because of this war. Tens of thousands were enslaved. Arab militias storm African villages, kill the men and capture the women and children like Francis Bok.
Kofi Annan needs to tell the world about Jihad slaves. It's not diplomatic...but it's the truth.
I'm a member of Iabolish.com which is an anti-slavery group. If you truly oppose Islam, then you will join this group. There are 27 million slaves in the world, many in Islamic countries, such as the Sudan. Please help to free them.
Ah, Chief Monkey Cloud. Nothing to do with the Japanese TV series of the '70s, just a cruel twist of fate (or is it :-) that in Hebrew Kofi is a Monkey and Anan is a cloud.
There is a story on Jihadwatch.org about Boston Police who are now going to search people on the metro as already happens in France. It appeared a few days ago.After the item there is an amazing posting about Kofi Annan at Harvard where the writer compares the people -- blacks especially --demonstrating against Annan at the same time as he was being honored at Harvard. It was a tour de force in every sense.
14th June is World Apostacy Day. Celebrate it, and please think of all those courageous apostates who live in fear from their ex-religion.
The UN Charter enshrines the Kantian hopes of the WWII Western Allies and chastened neutrals (the ones Hitler occupied) that a concert of free republics (constitutional monarchies count as "crowned republics", perhaps) would ensure world peace. Unfortunately, at its inception it also made room for totalitarian socialism (the USSR--with 3 votes in the General Assembly) and radical authoritarian nationalism (Chinag's China).
However, since the 1960's, the UN has been dominated by dictatorships, many with no cultural heritage capable of honoring the UN's initial Kantian vision. But the rules of the game say you can't mention such things as long as a state is a member of the club in good standing. Hence, the human rights commission can be chaired by the likes of China, Syria, Cuba, Sudan, or Libya. Whoever heads the UNO, therefore, is stuck with what its members are.
Further, diplomats are people whose jobs demand that they be their governments' mouthpieces 25 hours a day and 8 days a week. It's the name of the game and nature of the beast.
Charles Jacobs should concentrate on raising awareness of present-day slavery issues with countries inclined to listen (USA, UK, Canada, a number of other European, African, and Far Eastern states--possibly even Gambia and Senegal among Muslim-majority countries). These can then work together to form their own bloc in the UNO--especially when some of its members might hold the organization's purse strings.
By the way, Sharon, does Apostasy Day also honor those of us who apostasized from scientific "atheism"?
Atheism is not a religion. So how can one be an apostate from religion.
Ignore the previous post.
Kepha:This is what I should have said.
Atheism is not a religion, so how can one be an apostate from atheism?
Sharon: Atheism is not a religion, so how can one be an apostate from atheism?
Apostasy is "standing away from" in Greek.
Also, I have yet to listen to any "aheist" for any period of time without walking away thinking that I have heard some created thing (science, state, me, liberty, power, etc.) made into a god.