Why does media ignore the fact that blacks in Darfur are Muslim?

[Hoping4Change]

I am really disgusted that Muslims around the world can mobilize massive protests about remarks deemed offensive but not show similiar moral outrage about the horrific Muslim on Muslim violence in Darfur which is worsening by the day.

Why aren't Muslim countries sending troops to protect the refugees? And more curiously why doesn't the media refer to people in Darfur as Muslim? Maybe if they did, maybe if the world's media started to refer to the victims of rape, starvation and murder as Muslim, maybe the Muslim world could be shamed into acting. IMHO every headline should read "Arab Muslims continue the rape and slaughter of black Muslims in Darfur".

[Taxloss]

1. Just one of two racial/religious wars in Sudan, BTW.

In the south, there's a Christian secession movement that predates even Darfur.

[Hoping4Change]

5. I am aware of that however at the moment the situation is

at a crisis. The Christians in the south are not in the same dire situation that faces the people in Darfur.

[smirkymonkey]

2. Racism?

Interestingly enough, I live on the Upper West Side of NYC and have noticed many Synogogues hosting rallies and fund raisers for victims in Darfur. Haven't seen any Islamic places of worship doing the same. :shrug:

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Taxloss]

7. .

:puke:

[JI7]

3. i agree, this is one of the biggest examples of the hypocrisy

Bush refuses to call on his arab allies in places like Saudi Arabia to call on the Sudan government to stop the attacks also.

[blue cat]

4. I think that the Muslims

know that Muslims are fighting in Darfur. I don't know why more Muslims aren't outraged by it.

[Hoping4Change]

8. That is why I think the media should be rubbing the fact in their

faces. The CBC has been airing this last week reports from Dafur and its correspondent didn't once mention the fact that the people in the camps are Muslim.

[Rex]

9. Because they agree with Bush on something, no strategic value.

Is their oil in Darfur? :sarcasm:

[Hoping4Change]

13. Good point but maybe they could be shamed into acting if

every headline about Darfur stated that Muslims continue the rape, slaughter, and starve fellow Muslims.

[Rex]

15. I'm beginning to think there is no shame in our 'world leaders'.

That we all really just amount to political capital and nothing more to the ruling class, in any country, under all situations. :(

[Hoping4Change]

28. Yes that may be an understatement.

Still there is a sizeable Muslim population in the West and maybe if they were confronted by headlines everyday about the suffering of Muslims by Muslims and the inaction of Muslims maybe they would be shamed into mobilizing around this issue.

[Telly Savalas]

21. There is oil in Darfur.

[Hoping4Change]

39. I believe that the oil is in the Christian south. The west has arable land

According to Makau Mutua, professor of law and director of the Human Rights Center at the State University of New York at Buffalo, "The Arab north is arid and barren, but the south is arable with vast oil deposits Khartoum covets and badly needs. In the west, in Darfur, Arabs seeking to escape the spreading desert kill and displace Africans for more productive land."

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0714/p09s02-coop.html

[Telly Savalas]

42. Nah. Check this out.

There's not as much drilling because it was more recently discovered, but there is oil in Darfur.

http://www.alertnet.org/thefacts/reliefresources/111885496661.htm

[formernaderite]

10. it may not politically correc to say this but middle eastern

muslims are collectively pretty racist towards blacks regrdless of their religion.

[Hoping4Change]

16. The following African Muslims state this in no uncertain terms.

Back in May a prominent very progressive Canadian Muslim addressed this in the Globe and Mail and he included the following remarks of Africian Muslims.

"Mohamed Haroun, president of the Darfuri Association of Canada. "A lot of us feel that some Muslims, who dominate the community, do not consider us African Muslims as equals. I am afraid there is widespread racism against African Muslims by other Muslims. How many more Darfuri Muslims should die before other Muslims will stand up against the Sudanese government?"

...

El-Farouk Khaki, (immigration lawyer)... agreed that there is widespread internal discrimination within some Muslim societies. "This is racism at its worst. I am an African-Canadian; I can tell you in no uncertain terms that the Darfur crisis has not made news in the traditional Muslim organizations because Darfurians are black. Had they been Bosnian, Kosovar, Arab, Pakistani or Iranian, I can bet you, these grounds would have been full of slogan-chanting Muslims demanding justice. Muslims need to address their internalized racism before they ask others to respect us," said Mr. Khaki, who is secretary-general of the Muslim Canadian Congress.



http://www.muslimcanadiancongress.org/20060503.html

[formernaderite]

33. thanks for posting that....I remember feeling pretty uneasy

with an article about black african muslims in Iraq, apparently there are a few left from slavery days. The Iraqi's name for those people of african descent has never changed it's still simply: Slaves. Pretty jarring from a wester perspective.

[Hoping4Change]

35. Iraquis speak Arabic and the Arabic word for slave is black - "abed".

And here is another very informative article you might find interesting, since it highlights the fact that land occupied by black Muslims is the most arable land and it has oil!


"Race...is the fundamental fault line in Sudan. ... Indeed, since independence from the British in 1956, the demon of Sudan has been race. The Arab north, except for brief periods when token Africans were included in government, has exclusively held political and military power. To protest political exclusion, military repression, enslavement, and economic exploitation, Africans in the south rose against the state several years after independence.

Since 1983, the armed insurrection in the south has drawn a scorched earth response from Khartoum. President Omar Bashir and his fundamentalist Islamic government declared a holy war against African groups in the south - the Dinka, Nuba, and Neur peoples. More than 2 million people have been decimated, millions more have been internally displaced, and hordes have been exiled.

Khartoum's genocidal policy in Darfur and the south is also a grab for resources. The Arab north is arid and barren, but the south is arable with vast oil deposits Khartoum covets and badly needs. In the west, in Darfur, Arabs seeking to escape the spreading desert kill and displace Africans for more productive land. ...



Makau Mutua, professor of law and director of the Human Rights Center at the State University of New York at Buffalo.


http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0714/p09s02-coop.html

[HEyHEY]

11. Because if they called them muslim - the west wouldn't care

[Hoping4Change]

12. This shouldn't be about the West. Muslims who are able to get in a

knot about comments that express doubt about Islam's claim of being peaceful should be able to step up to the plate and put their words into action. Fellow Muslims are being raped, starved and slaughtered by Muslims so who better to implement peace in this situation than Muslims?

[HEyHEY]

24. Hey, you asked, I told

[Hoping4Change]

26. But there is a sizeable Muslim population in the West and maybe

if they were confronted by headlines everyday about the suffering of Muslims by Muslims and the inaction of Muslims maybe they would be shamed into mobilizing around this issue.

[malaise]

14. For the same reason that

the Pakistani dictator is President and the elected President of Venezuela is the dictator. What we see and hear is a complete inversion of reality.

[cali]

22. Wrong.

Flat wrong and dead wrong. It may run counter to your political viewpoints, but iwhat you're doing is absolutely no better than what those who say Chavez is a dictator are doing. The facts are the facts. Those doing the dying and suffering in Darfur and those doing the killing in Darfur, are indeed Muslim. If you have one shred of evidence contradicting that assertion, I'd love to see it.

[malaise]

25. Clearly you missed my point

which is that the media spins reality to confuse. You and I both know that they are all Muslims, but MSM deliberately excludes the truth just as they continue to do re the elected President of Venezuela and the Pakistani dictator..

[cali]

29. My apologies

I did miss your point, and you're absolutely right.

[Hoping4Change]

23. That should be a bumper sticker! However I don't think it applies to

Dafur because I don't see how downplaying the fact the Muslims are committing genocide against other Muslims in any way helps the West.

[treestar]

17. I think somehow this is judging the Muslims by non-Muslims standards?

Charity is one of the five pillars, perhaps that is thought to take care of it? The governments there are not like Western governments. Also, what is going on in the Sudan may be no business of the Iranians, Saudis, etc., as they see it. Their culture is different. It does not have to mean they are evil that they don't see things like we do. Maybe asking them first before condemning them is the way to go.

[Hoping4Change]

19. So why are these governments keep flapping their mouths about

Iraq and Palestine? How do explain the thousands of Muslims who went into Afganistan to fight the Russians, and are now streaming into Iraq and Afganistan to join the various insurgencies?


And puhlease explain how this is charity/

[treestar]

30. It's like condemning them for not eating hot dogs or having

major league baseball teams.

I don't think Americans understand them enough (or even bother to try) before condemning them for not doing what they see is right in American terms.

I did not claim to understand it and that's why I put in question marks. So I see no justice in your claim that I said it was so. In fact, you don't even seem to understand my point. It was that possibly they consider their pillar of charity to be on a personal, one to one scale and possibly therefore don't see mass charity as a factor. Which is just a possibility, not the way it necessarily is.

[Hoping4Change]

31. So am I to understand that you have no qualms with female

genital mutilation because it is okay in another culture?

[treestar]

43. That is uncalled for.

So off the point.

[Hoping4Change]

46. Its not off the point at all. You claim that

"Their culture is different. It does not have to mean they are evil that they don't see things like we do. Maybe asking them first before condemning them is the way to go."

You are saying that culture in and of itself ameliorates the immorality of Muslims remaining silent about the genocide. If this is the case it is clear by now that this "say no evil, hear no evil, see no evil" strategy isn't working.

[genie_weenie]

18. Because Governments of Countries with Islamic Majorities

gain more credit and stay in power longer by blasting Israel and decrying cartoons and messages from the Pope, which they can frame in a Western War on all Muslims.

Sending troops or relief to Darfur would be costly and not get them any advantage.

[Hoping4Change]

20. No argument with that. I just don't understand why the media can't

ram this fact down people's throats. If Western nations got their act togther and sent troops in Sudan's government would be appoletic. If Islamic forces intervened the Sudanese wouldn't have any wiggle room.

[Imajika]

37. Exactly correct...

Well said.

[Moochy]

38. Keep your eye on the birdie

Thats exactly the sad dynamic in many of the dysfuntional undemocratic regimes in the world.

Here too. Use Xenophobia to rally the populace against a foreign enemy so they dont mobilize against the predations of their own domestic political criminals.

[KingFlorez]

Simple, it goes against the perception the right-wing perception

They don't want people to see that a group of Muslims is being oppressed, even if it is by other Muslims. No, they want to make it seem like Muslims are always the troublemakers and not the victims.

[KingFlorez]

27. dupe

[Odin2005]

32. People are foregetting that most Sudanese Arabs are also Blacks.

The transition from "white" North Africans to "black" Sub-Saharan Africans occurs in southern Egypt, Sudanese Arabs are Arabized decendants of the ancient Nubians. The violence against Darfurians is about ethnicity, not race.

Here is a picture of Sudanese Arabs:

[Hoping4Change]

34. Sorry but a picture doesn't cut it, please cite references for your

assertions. According to Makau Mutua, professor of law and director of the Human Rights Center at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

"Race...is the fundamental fault line in Sudan. ... Indeed, since independence from the British in 1956, the demon of Sudan has been race. The Arab north, except for brief periods when token Africans were included in government, has exclusively held political and military power. To protest political exclusion, military repression, enslavement, and economic exploitation, Africans in the south rose against the state several years after independence.

Since 1983, the armed insurrection in the south has drawn a scorched earth response from Khartoum. President Omar Bashir and his fundamentalist Islamic government declared a holy war against African groups in the south - the Dinka, Nuba, and Neur peoples. More than 2 million people have been decimated, millions more have been internally displaced, and hordes have been exiled.

Khartoum's genocidal policy in Darfur and the south is also a grab for resources. The Arab north is arid and barren, but the south is arable with vast oil deposits Khartoum covets and badly needs. In the west, in Darfur, Arabs seeking to escape the spreading desert kill and displace Africans for more productive land. ...

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0714/p09s02-coop.html


Back in May 2006 a prominent very progressive Canadian Muslim, Tarek Fatah addressed this in the Globe and Mail and he included the following remarks of Africian Muslims.

"Mohamed Haroun, president of the Darfuri Association of Canada. "A lot of us feel that some Muslims, who dominate the community, do not consider us African Muslims as equals. I am afraid there is widespread racism against African Muslims by other Muslims. How many more Darfuri Muslims should die before other Muslims will stand up against the Sudanese government?"

...

El-Farouk Khaki, (immigration lawyer)... agreed that there is widespread internal discrimination within some Muslim societies. "This is racism at its worst. I am an African-Canadian; I can tell you in no uncertain terms that the Darfur crisis has not made news in the traditional Muslim organizations because Darfurians are black. Had they been Bosnian, Kosovar, Arab, Pakistani or Iranian, I can bet you, these grounds would have been full of slogan-chanting Muslims demanding justice. Muslims need to address their internalized racism before they ask others to respect us," said Mr. Khaki, who is secretary-general of the Muslim Canadian Congress.



http://www.muslimcanadiancongress.org/20060503.html

[Hoping4Change]

36. "Arab Racism against Black Africans"

"It is true that the population of most North African countries is mixed, but it is not a secret that in these countries there is a gradation of human valuation that corresponds directly to skin color, with the most privileged status being accorded those perceived rightly or wrongly as being of "pure" Arab stock while those with the darkest skin and curliest hair are located on the lowest rung of the social hierarchy.

In fact, Arab racism is deeply embedded in the history of North Africa itself and in the Arabic language. The Arab conquest of North Africa and the subsequent conversion and marginalization of the original Berbers and Moors of North Africa and parts of the Sahel were undergirded by a racist ethos. Till this day, the descendants of the dark-skinned Moors, the Berbers, and other non-Arab peoples are confined to the fringes of North African and North-west African society--in Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Mauritania, etc. The plight of the descendants of blacks (some of whose inhabitation of the Maghrib predated the Arab conquest of the 9th century and others who came to North Africa as slaves, captives, and free migrants) is worse than that of the Berbers. In Morocco, Tunisia, and throughout much of the Arab world, the only ticket to social visibility for blacks is soccer. Becoming a soccer star gives a black person access to coveted corridors of society and enables them to "marry up", racially speaking. This is a sad commentary on the state of race relations in any society. So, while Harik is right that a uniquely complex racial taxonomy is at work in much of the Arab world, this reality hardly detracts from the presence of an unspoken, normalized, and stealthily institutionalized racism which casts black people as the dregs of society who must prove themselves worthy of social recognition and privileges. ...


The case of the Sudan is perhaps the most vivid, poignant, and irrefutable example of Arab racism against black Africans. Let it be noted that until the Janjaweed and their racist and murderous Sudanese government backers gave a bad name to the art of hating, marginalizing, and murdering blacks, Arabs never quite saw the raiding of black villages for slaves and cattle, especially in Southern and Western Sudan, as a crime. ...


Arabs still generally regard the Darfur genocide as a public relations disaster rather than as a barbaric racist war against black people. We have yet to hear unequivocal condemnation of the Sudanese government's racist practices from Arab states. To do that would be hypocritical because some of these states themselves condone the racist practices of mavericks or practice anti-black racism in their own official policies. For instance, black African immigrants are routinely killed, maimed, and their houses and properties destroyed in Ghadaffi's Libya--- the same Ghadaffi who wants to be the leader of a politically united African super-state. Africans have become jaded about Ghadaffi's feeble condemnations of anti-black riots in his country and the ad-hoc and sterile apologies he offers after each tragic episode."


http://www.nigeriavillagesquare1.com/Articles/ebe_ochonu/2005/07/arab-racism-against-black-africans.html

[SoCalDem]

40. Because the "west" doesn't give a crap about African on African violence

Africa as a decimated, depopulated continent (through wars or AIDS) is appealing to the western power-brokers..

The poor people who need to be fed all the time are a liability..

Powerful, rich movers & shakers are patient.. They can afford to wait as the vultures pick the bones of all the dead Africans..

There are areas of Africa where children have no parents because of AIDS.. They are raising themselves..with no schooling or agricultural skills.. Most of them will die,,

The people who want the resources of Africa, will just wait them out.. One more generation just might do it..

If they fight wars agaiinst each other, it just hastens the spread of AIDS and of course the side effect is that people are killed quicker..more "efficiently"..

[Hoping4Change]

41. My question is why Muslims are turning a blind eye when fellow

Muslims are being slaughtered? The Sudanese government has made it clear it doesn't want infidels on its territory. Why aren't Muslim countries doing anything? Why are Muslims themselves not out in the streets demanding an end genocide?

My point is that I think the media should at least shame Muslims into doing something about their fellow Muslims. Muslims are as much to blame as the West for the inaction, if not more.

I am in no way of exonerating the West but what about castigating China who is blocking attempts to sanction Sudan because of their need for oil?

[ComerPerro]

44. You're fishing for a reason to call this "PC", aren't you?

"Ohh, the media is too scared to attack muslims for their hypocrisy"

Screw that shit.

For all you know, Muslims are speaking up. Maybe you just aren't hearing about it.

[Hoping4Change]

45. Progressive Muslims are themselves laying the charge that

Muslims aren't speaking out. Tarek Fatah, host of a weekly TV show on CTS-TV, The Muslim Chronicle, and former communication director of the Muslim Canadian Congress wrote the following opinion piece in the Globe and Mail.

"Why are we Muslims so silent on Darfur?
by Tarek Fatah

The remark by a prominent Muslim refugee-rights activist troubled me greatly: "Zionists abusing this issue," he announced curtly when he said he would not be joining me and hundreds of other people on Sunday at a "Scream for Darfur" rally at Queen's Park in Toronto.

This line of thinking, that Jews have somehow stolen the issue of Darfur's genocide by actively campaigning against it, has been making the rounds in cyberspace and needs a rebuttal.

The fact that more than 200,000 Darfurians, almost all of them Muslims, have been killed in an ongoing genocide; the fact that more than a million Muslim Darfurians are displaced refugees living in squalor and fear, appears not to have registered with the leadership of traditional Muslim organizations and mosques in this country.

One would have expected Muslim organizations to be leading the call for this week's debate on Darfur in Parliament. One expected them this past weekend to stand in solidarity with their fellow Muslims suffering in Sudan, but that did not happen. The city's Muslim elite was conspicuous by its absence."


http://www.muslimcanadiancongress.org/20060503.html