Month: July 2009

China cracks down on Muslim Uighers

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update a few hours later:  Violence escalates with 156 dead now.

We have our Muslim Somalis demonstrating at meatpacking plants while China has it Uighers rampaging at toy factories—seems no matter where you are it’s hard for such divergent cultures to work side by side especially when one group appears to be taking jobs from the other ethnic group.  Same old story whether its here or in China.  Isn’t diversity so beautiful?

From the Times On Line:

Police fought to restore order last night after thousands of members of China’s Muslim Uighur minority rampaged through city streets, burning vehicles and blocking traffic.

At least three people were killed in a rare outburst of violence in Urumqi, the capital of China’s restive westernmost region of Xinjiang, where many Uighurs chafe at Beijing’s rule and the limits imposed on their religion and cultural traditions.

Witnesses said that up to 3,000 rioters went on the rampage, smashing buses and overturning police barricades during several hours of violence.

Thousands of police and anti-riot troops later swept through the city, using teargas and water hoses to disperse crowds. “Now the whole city is on lockdown,” one witness said. The violence flared days after reports of ethnic clashes between Han Chinese and Uighur workers at a toy factory in the southern Guangdong province in which two Uighurs were killed and 188 wounded.

In the late-night brawl at the Early Light toy factory in Shaoguan city, a group of Han Chinese fought with Uighurs who had been recruited to the factory recently. A rumour that Uighur workers had raped two Han Chinese girls brought swift and violent retaliations from the Chinese workers.

Police have now arrested a Han Chinese for rumour-mongering after he was found to have made up the rape report in a fit of anger after losing his job at the plant.

We have heard much about the Uighers at RRW because 17 of them were scheduled to be released from Guantanamo Bay and resettled in the US.  Obama got the message that this would be a risky political move and has shuttled them off elsewhere defying the Chinese who wanted their terrorists back.  Our Uigher archive is here.

Refugee soccer teams: a good idea?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Here is a story from Baltimore about a group of Iraqi boys forming a soccer team, but with no one to compete against.   The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is going to help start an all-refugee league.   I don’t know if that’s a good idea or not. 

Read the article in the Baltimore Sun.  Note that at least one boy had a tough transition to America when he was beaten up on the way to school, but says he is happy now to be in Baltimore.

Six months later, Mazen was mugged behind Patterson High. He says he was walking to the bus stop with his brother and three friends when five boys, all fellow students, came upon them. Without a word, one punched Mazen in the nose, knocking him to the ground. Then they kicked Mazen in the face. He, his friends and their parents wonder if he was targeted because of his nationality.

School officials were concerned enough to ask the Mayor’s Office of International and Immigrant Affairs for a meeting, said its director, Renee Samuels. Meanwhile, Mazen and Marwan switched to a new school, as did Rawan. Today Mazen says he’s fully recovered and happy to be in Baltimore.

The boys are happy playing soccer and happy that  the IRC is starting a league.

The Tigers would be charter members of an all-refugee league. The plan was to find boys (and girls) to play on teams representing groups with sizable numbers in Baltimore, including Nepali, Burmese and Meskhetian Turks from the former Soviet Union.

Some details would have to be worked out, such as how often the teams would play. And if the IRC couldn’t find $300 per team for uniforms, it agreed to help with fundraisers.

I really don’t know the answer to my question. My first thought is that such an initiative further separates immigrants by nationality and keeps them from being part of their communities, just as those Ethnic Community Based Organizations (ECBOs) do that I have written so critically about, here.   The IRC is a big promoter of ECBO’s.  Note that this group of boys uses Arabic to communicate on their team. 

I have a son who is an immigrant and a good soccer player and he was able to find highly competitive American teams on which to participate, and I think it was good for him and for his teammates.   Also, I don’t know if this is accurate that everyone plays baseball in Baltimore.  Maryland is a big soccer state and although we live in western Maryland we traveled to the Baltimore area to play.

Readers, what do you think?

Somalis taunt gay man: How would Obama’s Hate Crime law handle this one?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Yesterday, I told you that the dynamic duo, Obama and Holder, are pushing a federal Hate Crime bill, S. 909, that is working its way through Congress without groups that should be concerned fighting back.

So, when I saw this story at Jihad Watch from Friday, it brought up more questions for me.   The story is that a gang of Somali youths taunted a white gay man leaving a parade in Minneapolis recently.  Here is the gist of the story originally taken from a film posted on The Advocate.  Watch the tape, it’s pretty clear that the Black  Muslim Somali immigrant (former refugee) youths are harrassing this guy and reports are that the youths threw rocks at him as well.  The homosexual man is trying to stay cheerful and he says, I’m not scared.  I would have been, I thought it was pretty intimidating.

Approximately 15 youths physically and verbally taunted a gay man as he was leaving Twin Cities Pride in Minneapolis on Saturday, in an incident captured on video.

The Somali youths asked the man if he was gay, and when he responded yes, the young people yelled “I hate gay people” and reportedly threw rocks at the man, whose name is not known.

On the video various youths can be heard saying “I hate gay people” repeatedly, along with “Gay is not the way” and “F*** gay people. They can go f*** each other.”…

Be sure to go to the Jihad Watch post and read the interesting comments.

So here is my question.  We have in this case two protected classes.  On the one hand the gay white guy and on the other black Muslim immigrants.   The way I understand the Obama/Holder bill (and granted my understanding is sketchy), hate crimes can only be perpetrated against protected classes by people who leftists think are the majority (you know, like white Christians) and that everyone knows are filled with hate.  How about if one protected class is perpetrating a so-called hate crime against another protected class? You know Islam promotes hatred of gays.*   If these youths had done violence to this white gay guy, could they have been prosecuted on a federal hate crime charge?  

I can just see it now.  The Justice Department will have to have a ranking of sorts with one protected group being higher or lower than another to sort out crimes perpetrated by one member of one protected group against a differant protected group.   Let’s see does a white homosexual Christian male immigrant rank higher or lower on the scale then say a black Muslim American woman should one commit a crime against the other?  Say for instance, he beats her up.  If he ranks higher on the sympathy scale it wouldn’t be a hate crime.  Or, if she shoots him but ranks lower on the sympathy scale, she would be perpetrating a hate crime.   Do you see where I’m going with this?  Answers anyone?  (Note in my theoretical cases there are no white Christian American males anywhere in sight.)

So to recap, or to ask my question again, in our story from Jihad Watch, if the Somali Muslim youths beat up the gay guy, under Obama/Holder are they committing a hate crime?   Or, if in frustration to the taunting the homosexual guy turns around and beats up the Somali kids, is he committing a hate crime against black immigrants?

* We have written on several occasions about homosexuals being persecuted in Muslim countries.  In Iran gays are hung if discovered, and we told you about gay Iraqis suffering persecution and getting into the US as a result.  By not demanding Muslims discard some aspects of their religion and culture when they come to the US, are we asking for more problems like the one we see here with the homosexual man being harrassed by Somalis?

To new readers:    

The US State Department has admitted over 80,000 Somali refugees to the US in the last 25 years and then last year had to suspend family reunification because widespread immigration fraud was revealed through DNA testing.

 

Update:  More information here thanks to Janet Levy who sent this article from World Net Daily.   I don’t know for sure, but reading this leads me to believe that homosexuals may be on the top of the sympathy scale and therefore the Muslim Somali youths could be in deep trouble.   Homosexuality seems to trump religion.   I wonder why CAIR is backing this bill?  They probably figure that further down the Justice Department’s sympathy scale Muslims will trump Christians any day of the week.

Hate Crimes bill is sending all chickens for cover

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

That is pretty much the gist of the excellent discussion going on at VDARE on S.909 the so-called Hate Crimes bill being pushed by the Obama Administration.  Frankly, I haven’t time to do the topic justice today, but I wanted to get the information out to you because it is moving very fast.

I was especially appalled to see that our MD Senator, Ben Cardin, is one of those helping Obama and Eric Holder shove this down our throats.  Cardin would like federal thought police to override the states’ law enforcement function.    Please read the coverage at VDARE  (lots of links to help you understand this free speech  issue) and contact your Washington representatives, that is, if you can find them.  Reports are that many are off on international junkets.

I have a question.  If this goes through and people with a white European heritage become a minority in a few decades as is predicted, will those folks then become the protected minority?   Actually, here is a better question, if a white Christian was attacked by someone professing to hate Christians (you know, say a Muslim) does the law also apply?   Just wondering.

Further thoughts July 5th:   Will Obama/Holder have a ‘hate scale’ to rank groups that hate, here?

Israel swamped with asylum-seeking Africans, government takes responsibility from UNHCR

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I don’t know exactly what the significance of this is, and the article doesn’t fully explain it, but apparently the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had a role in determining refugee and asylee status in Israel and as of July 2nd, the government of Israel has taken on that role.

From Human Rights Tribune:

The Israeli Interior Ministry is taking over the process of Refugee Status Determination (RSD) from the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) on 2 July.

I can only guess that Israel wants a more determinitive role in the process as the country is flooded by mostly Africans seeking asylum.  I am guessing they are mostly Muslim Africans.

Some 15,000 mainly African asylum-seekers in Israel have put the regulatory, security and welfare response under strain, according to the Interior Ministry and UNHCR.

Israel does not have a refugee law, despite being a signatory to the 1951 refugee Convention.

However, regulations can allow asylum-seekers to work, and grant temporary protection and non-refoulement (a commitment not to force people back to where they came from).

About 200-300 asylum-seekers arrive each month, mainly overland from Egypt, according to the Immigration Authority and NGOs.

The UNHCR local office reports 14,766 asylum-seekers in Israel, while the Refugee Rights Forum (RRF – eight NGOs active in promoting the rights of refugees and asylum-seekers in Israel) suggests a number over 17,000.

Although Israel has been very good to refugees, it looks like there are some questioning Israel’s motivation.

UNHCR’s Tall said: “We must recognize the positive steps of the government of Israel regarding asylum-seekers. The ’open’ border allowing asylum-seekers to enter and the fact that the government of Israel allows them to stay are, in fact, positive measures that must be noted.”

Yaccov Ganot, head of the Immigration Authority, however told local media his aim was to reduce the number of “infiltrators”, by enhancing residential restrictions and making greater use of detention.

Egypt on the other hand shoots illegal aliens.

Nearly all asylum-seekers come from Egypt at night. Israel’s southern border is over 230km long and porous; only a low fence separates the two states.

Asylum-seekers pay Bedouin guides hundreds of US dollars to get them to the frontier where they risk getting shot at by Egyptian border guards.

In recent years hundreds have been wounded and detained while attempting to cross the border, and several have been deported to their countries of birth, according to UNHCR and NGOs in Cairo.

Others have been shot dead. In November 2008, Human Rights Watch (HRW) alleged 33 deaths of asylum-seekers at the hands of Egyptian soldiers.

Whatever happens this is Israel’s business and I sure hope that no one gets the idea to follow Malta (Tea party) Molly’s move of transforming Israel’s asylum-seeking aliens into refugees for the United States as she did in Malta.