In "When in Rome..." in the New York Sun, Rachel Ehrenfeld tells a story of official indifference and dhimmitude:
Tariq Ramadan, who is barred from the U.S., is invited to speak at a conference on May 4-5, 2006, sponsored by the American Embassy in Rome, on "Immigration and Integration: Islam in Europe and Islam in the U.S." The conference is organized by the Centro Studi Americani in Rome, which according to the Web site of its affiliate, John Cabot University, is "one of the major American institutions in Europe." The American Ambassador, Ronald P. Spogli, is scheduled to open the conference.Ramadan, a Swiss citizen and grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Hasan al-Banna, had his visa revoked by the Department of Homeland Security on July 28,2004. The visa was revoked under the Immigration and Nationality Act, amid press speculation that the revocation stemmed from the section barring entry to persons with a "position of prominence within any country to endorse or espouse terrorist activity," or who have "potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States."
While no specifics were detailed for this revocation, apparently his activities, lectures and writings in support of the Islamist agenda were the cause for this decision. According to a Spanish judge, Balatasar Garzon, Ramadan had "routine contacts" with Ahmed Brahim, an Algerian believed to be the financial chief of Al Qaeda and the financier of the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.
In 1995, during a series of terrorist attacks in Paris perpetrated by the Algerian Armed Islamist Movement, or AIM, the French interior minister, Jean Louis Debre, forbade Ramadan to enter France because of his connections to that terrorist group.
Read it all.
"The conference [to which Tariq Ramadan has been invited] is organized by the Centro Studi Americani in Rome, which according to the Web site of its affiliate, John Cabot University, is "one of the major American institutions in Europe."
This is ridiculous. Neither the Centro di Studi Americani nor John Cabot University are "major institutions" of anything. They are hotbeds of mediocrity, a place to get a job if you speak English and want to stay in Rome, or if you are the not-tremendously-gifted child of diplomats or businessmen in Europe. There are places like John Cabot "University" all over the damn place. Fine. But let's not be silly. A good deal could be said about them, and perhaps later more will be.
As I recall, Tariq Ramadan was declared persona non grata in Italy as well as the US because of his connection to a plot to murder Magdi Alam for publishing less than flattering things about the religion of peace in the Italian press. Has his status changed, or are we going to read of Ramadan being "uninvited" shortly?
Waterdragon - so far as I am aware, Tariq Ramadan is not actually banished from Italian territory, and as a Swiss citizen it would be difficult to do so. (There is an open-borders agreement between Switzerland and the EU.) He is, however, not welcome, thanks to the determined reminders of Magdi Allam, whose post as deputy chief editor of CORRIERE DELLA SERA gives him a formidable bully pulpit to affect exactly the classes most often friendly to Ilslam, the "enlightened" upper middle classes. It is as if, say, Robert were deputy editor-in-chief and chief Middle Eastern expert for the New York Times. And I am grateful for this, for in this case not even the most rabid Europe-hating Yankee mad dog on this site won't be able to blame any European cheese-eatin' surrender monkeys; it was all done purely among manly, weapons-bearing Americans. (Sorry, but I am beginning to get a bit cheesed off with the nonsense I keep finding here.)
This is encouraging news -
A group of left-wing journalists in the UK has announced it is "increasingly out of tune with the dominant anti-war discourse" on the left.
The group also says:
http://www.newstatesman.com/200604170006
Maybe the ice is starting to break and more leftists will defect from the orthodoxy.
When will it be the other way around, or at least equal? Can I invite a hard core Christian fanatic (an oxy-moron) to a saudi embassy in France and talk about equity on immigration and integration to a middle eastern country? I don't think so. Not that I would want to live in a sand box. But the point is...
T. Ramadan: With only 19% of Americans approving of Islam in their country it is probable that Islam is on its way OUT in the USA.
Islam is welcome to return to where it came from--HELL.
Tariq Ramadan is a sneaky little bastard. I'm glad we have enough sense to bar him from the United States. He's now Oxford's gift to the world.
_______________
http://www.danielpipes.org/comments/16527
Submitted by Shammai Fishman, Aug 27, 2004 at 04:08
Dear Dr. Pipes,
My comment on this article is that you only come
up with circumstantial evidence and do not refer to
Tariq's ideology and works.
Some provocative ideas of Tariq Ramadan:
*He uses the term Dar al-Shahada when referring to
non-Islamic lands. One of the meanings of Shahada is
martyrdom.
*He published an article inciting against "Jewish
intellectuals" in France last November.
*He views Muslims in Europe not as a minority but as
an "ethical majority".
*He encourages people to read the works of his grandfather Hasan al-Bana who called for jihad and sets the foundations for Islamic ideoligist though until today.
Please read my article about his ideology:
http://www.e-prism.org/images/tariqfinal291203.doc
You also might like to read an interview with Tariq Ramadan http://www.islamonline.net/Arabic/Daawa/2003/09/article05.shtml
http://www.cair-net.org/asp/article.asp?id=1178&page=NR
Sincerely yours,
Shammai Fishman
Hebrew University - Graduate Student
Department of Arabic Language and Literature
This morning's news:
Straw offers Hamas financial lifeline
I am so angry. This vile man is now seeking every way possible to finance Hamas - to collude with evil. I wish he could be made to personally gather up the body parts left after one of their bombings.
I went to Grammar school with people like Straw. He's a weakling, a time server,a yes man,a boot licker. A traitor and an appeaser. Should be put in the stocks and publicly humiliated, along with his fellow poodles in the cabinet.
Islam: Just Say No.
My only response to the Conference's topic:
"Islam in Europe and Islam in the U.S."
Why invite in your sworn enemies?
Are we are as dumb as birds who hatch cuckoo's eggs?
To paraphrase Cato the Elder on Carthage:
Imperialistic Islam must be destroyed!