Defying violent intimidation. Indonesia could easily do without Playboy, but it could do without violent intimidation also. From the Telegraph, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:
The publishers of Indonesia's version of Playboy magazine defied militant Islamists yesterday by producing their second issue.The first edition in April sparked mob violence and the glossy magazine's offices were stoned. Its editors have now moved to the majority-Hindu island of Bali, where they have produced a 100,000-copy second issue.
Although Indonesia's Muslim majority is largely moderate, there is a trend towards the imposition of sharia law.Playboy's publishers said they were producing the magazine to defend democracy and freedom of expression against fear and intolerance.
An editorial called for "the absence of a monopoly set of values and views in our beloved country".
The magazine is tamer than its western version. Pictures of scantily clad models replace nudity.
But news stands in Jakarta did not display copies openly. "We sell them more discreetly," said one vendor.
"...Although Indonesia's Muslim majority is largely moderate, there is a trend towards the imposition of sharia law..."
Hahaha!
A "trend??" Like a new fashion??? Kind of cute, this view!
My heart bleeds for Indonesia!
Over the last 40 years Indonesia has gone from bad to worse, much much worse! When does the Friday afternoon "head-foot & hand-chopping" and stoning/flogging begin?
The creeping takeover of Islamo-fascism.... disgusting!!!
Does the source, Hugh Hefner, care? Hefner has often touted himself as a force for cultural change and openness. Let's see him defend those values he claims to believe in. Or will those Saudi princes who visit his Playboy Mansion grotto have a dampening effect on him?
It is not a great magazine, but that does not mean that such reactions to it should be tolerated. The incredible violence of Islam toward anything it disagrees with is the most damning aspect of that faith. Can one disagree with something without recourse to threats or actual physical violence? Tha is a question that Islam's adherents need to answer.
I agree with "Worry". Disagreement should be possible without intimidation and violence.
Islamic Hardliners are threatening, of course...
Also check out this video: For the virgins heaven isn´t quite what they expected.
OT but would be interesting to hear everyone's take:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3261323,00.html
Middle East in heart of Brussels
Ynet reporter roams streets of Muslim quarter in Belgium city. EU representative: There are positive sides to flow of immigrants. Moroccan immigrant says 'It is a shame that al-Quds is occupied and we cannot reach it, and pray in it. Maybe one day we will have the opportunity to come and visit you'
Roee Nahmias
The invitation was heartwarming: "You are invited to Friday's prayers. Some 4,000-5,000 worshipers will be in Brussels' main mosque, including myself. I will wait for you."
The inviter: None else than a Moroccan waiter, Hassan, who works in central Brussels. Monuments scattered across the city bear witness to the rich Christian history of the European capital and made it all the more interesting to attend Friday's prayers.
The way to the Muslim quarter is a few underground stops away from the buildings housing the European Union headquarters.
The intention was to attend Friday's prayers at the Al-Khalil Mosque, chat with worshipers and learn about the large Muslim population in the city.
Nothing could prepare he who is not familiar with Brussels' secrets to what takes place above the ground.
The minute I rose above ground, the feeling of the rich and splendid Christian culture disappears and a quarter of Muslim immigrants appeared.
For a moment it was difficult to distinguish head-covered women and Christian men.
Many shop signs announce market their merchandise in Arabic and unwelcoming looks meet a stream of tourists who popped up from nowhere.
A merchant who's on the lookout for those seeking to photograph the Arabic sign of his ship signals unequivocally that its best for us to leave immediately, and certainly to not take pictures.
Others looked with gleaming eyes.
"It is scary here, don't be crazy!" they said. Inquires for directions to the mosque were unanswered and we were forced to leave.
EU representatives who live close to the quarter are aware of the problem's consequences, but they don't have a solution.
"Despite it all, the number of foreign workers will only rise over the next 20-30 years," an EU representative told Ynet.
"Europeans have a psychological problem. They refuse to do black jobs like cleaning, and see themselves as too good to do this kind of work. Some, because of good welfare systems, prefer to stay unemployed and not to work in these fields, which allow the influx of immigrants."
What are the implications of the situation?
"The situation has many circumstances. A small example: Spain witnessed a large number of Muslim immigrants over the last decade and in a small town in Catalonia Muslims made up a third of inhabitants. Two years ago the community asked for permission to build a Mosque. The local council refused to grant permission and in return a local cultural center was turned into a mosque. When the community knew, a big storm took place. But there are positive sides to the flow of immigrants. For example, a community of Moroccan immigrants working in the energy field in Belgium, formed a union and invested in electricity projects in Moroccan villages, with encouragement from the European Union."
Hassan, the Moroccan waiter, is an example of the influx of immigrants. He immigrated to Belgium with his father years ago when he was 30. The father returned home, and Hassan visits him every summer.
For the rest of the year, it is reasonable to assume that he doesn't feel great loneliness: There is a considerable number of Moroccan waiters in the street where Hassan works, and in a shop nearby we chatted with other Moroccan about the quality of Israeli fruit produce exported to Europe.
"These are good fruit because they are from the Holy Land. It is a shame that al-Quds (Jerusalem) is occupied and we cannot reach it, and pray in it. Maybe one day we will have the opportunity to come and visit you," a Moroccan said.
The head-scarf which caused a public debate in France, is more common in Belgium. Hijab-clad women could be seen on almost every street but the situations are different: Some hug their teenage friends wearing tight clothes, other walk conservatively and meticulously, and there were even some who begged for money with their children in fast-food restaurants.
(06.11.06, 22:17)
Heads will roll (literally!).
So they are in Bali now? And they think Bali is safer?
Homosexuality was and is widely practised in Islamic countries. To please the homosexuals among his followers he promised them pre-pubescent boys in Paradise. So after committing plunder, loot, rape and murder in this life, the followers of Islam get "rewarded" by untouched virginal youths who are fresh like pearls.
The relevant verses from the Koran are:
Koran 52:24
Round about them will serve, to them, boys (handsome) as pearls well-guarded.
Koran 56:17
Round about them will serve boys of perpetual freshness.
Koran 76:19
And round about them will serve boys of perpetual freshness: if thou seest them, thou wouldst think them scattered pearls.
O the joy of sodomy!
So now be sodomites, you Arabs.
Turn not away from it--
therein is wondrous pleasure.
Take some coy lad with kiss-curls
twisting on his temple
and ride as he stands like some gazelle
standing to her mate.
A lad whom all can see girt with sword
and belt not like your whore who has
to go veiled.
Make for smooth-faced boys and do your
very best to mount them, for women are
the mounts of the devils
"Playboy's publishers said they were producing the magazine to defend democracy and freedom of expression against fear and intolerance."--from the article.
No, they aren't. They are defending their business. Other people are defending freedom of expression, such as it is, in Indonesia. The police provide security, the Hindu culture (most prevalent in Bali) is sufficiently tolerant to allow this sort of thing, and those politicians who've not allowed Indonesia (as yet) to be more extensively Islamized than it already is, are to thank for what remains of freedom of expression in Indonesia. If Playboy wants to defend freedom of expression, they should include some articles that are critical of Islam. That's the test.
"If Playboy wants to defend freedom of expression, they should include some articles that are critical of Islam. That's the test."
The pictures are already implicitly, and graphically, critical of Islam.
It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good, in Indonesia. In the aftermath of earthquakes like that of the 27th May on Java a close eye has to be kept on the situation as the local authorities are perfectly capable of exploiting any disater to divert aid away from any local members of the Christian minority who have been affected. These situations also provide an opportunity to prevent the repair or rebuilding of damaged churches or declaring them unsafe for use.
And I'll bet the indonesian Playboy's centerfold is really a scantily-clad female orangutan!