The Cordoba Update 2/2017
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The bi-weekly CORDOBA UPDATE is the product of continuous monitoring work, carried out by the Cordoba Foundation of Geneva team. By analysing and reporting on key events and trends in the Foundation’s areas of interest, we aim to draw readers’ attention to pertinent developments in North Africa, the Sahel, West Asia and Europe, which are not always covered in ‘mainstream’ media. In addition to sharing news from these four regions, the Cordoba Update is an opportunity for the Foundation to provide regular updates on its publications, events and other developments. In line with the programmes and projects funded by partners of the Cordoba Foundation of Geneva, updates and information are included under the following themes:
For questions and/or feedback regarding the content and form of the Cordoba Update, please contact Sarah Franck: sarah.franck@cordoue.ch Le CORDOBA UPDATE est un bimensuel qui présente le travail continu de suivi réalisé par l’équipe de la Fondation Cordoue de Genève. Par l’analyse des événements et tendances qui concernent les domaines d’intérêt de la Fondation, nous visons à attirer l’attention de nos lecteurs sur les développements pertinents en Afrique du Nord, dans le Sahel, en Asie de l’Ouest et en Europe, une actualité qui n’est pas toujours couverte dans les médias dits ‘traditionnels’. Outre le partage de l’actualité de ces quatre régions, le « Cordoba Update » est un moyen pour la Fondation de fournir des mises à jour régulières sur ses publications, événements et autres développements. En accord avec les programmes et projets financés par les partenaires de la Fondation Cordoue de Genève, les mises à jour et informations concernent les thèmes suivants :
Pour des questions et / ou des commentaires concernant le contenu et la forme du Cordoba Update, veuillez contacter Sarah Franck : sarah.franck@cordoue.ch |
ISLAMIST-SECULAR RELATIONS / RELATIONS ENTRE SÉCULIERS ET ISLAMISTES
No contribution on this topic
TRANSITION AND POLITICAL PARTICIPATION / TRANSITION ET PARTICIPATION POLITIQUE
Egypt: 25.01.17 – 04.02.2017: Egypt: High corruption ranking & luxury cars for parliament members
Transparency International has released its latest rankings of corruption around the world and, as ever, there is little to cheer about in the Middle East, with five of the world’s ten most corrupt countries coming from the region. Egypt has been singled out as a country that is riddled with corruption. It is ranked 108 out of 176 countries. Its level of corruption remains high and the report pointed out that there is no incentive to tackle the issue in Cairo.
Partners for Transparency, an Egyptian non-governmental organization, has recorded 968 incidents of corruption in Egypt in 2016. According to the 2016 Corruption Logbook report, “there was plenty of political discourse on combating corruption, but no legislative development with concrete feasibility to combat corruption was forthcoming.” The report includes a presentation and analysis of legislative and procedural developments related to combating corruption, as well as incidents of corruption and their distribution by sector and geography. The report said that the Ministry of Interior had 62 incidents of corruption, followed by the Ministry of Education with 58 incidents, then the Ministry of Investment with 32 incidents, and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology with 31 incidents.
On Tuesday 31 January 2017, Egypt’s parliament was forced to respond to accusations that it had misspent an estimated EGP 18 million in public funds in one month. In a question directed to Parliament Speaker, MP Anwar Al-Sadat asked “why EGP 18 million of parliament’s 2015/2016 budget had been allocated to three cars?” At the exchange rate prevailing at the time the cars were ordered, this amounted to US$ 680’000 per car, and due to massive currency devaluation this could now represent an even higher amount in Egyptian Pounds. He added, “It comes at a time when the Egyptian state is suffering from a chronic hard currency shortage and is heavily borrowing from abroad under difficult terms.” Al-Sadat wondered “how ordinary citizens will view the state’s calls for austerity and economic reform measures when parliament is squandering money on luxury items with apparent indifference to public opinion.” Parliament’s secretariat-general responded to Al-Sadat by issuing a statement on Monday in which it said the MPs’ accusations “are completely groundless.”
Links for more information:
http://www.transparency.org/news/feature/corruption_perceptions_index_2016
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20170126
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/News/19560
http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2017/01/30/613456
Egypt: 24.01.17 – 03.02.17: Unprecedented form of punishment for political prisoners in Egypt
Ahmad Maher and Mohamed Adel have been released from Egyptian prison in January after spending over 3 years in solitary confinement. Yet for the next three years, they will be forced to spend every night locked up in a police station for 12 hours, in what human-rights advocates and attorneys say amounts to an unprecedented form of punishment for political prisoners. They have to turn themselves in to their local police stations every evening at 6 pm and are only released at 6 am the following morning. Maher and Adel are founding members of the April 6 Youth Movement, a grassroots opposition group at the forefront of the 2011 uprising that forced Hosni Mubarak out of office after 30 years in power. In December 2013, they, along with another 6th April movement founder Ahmed Douma, were sentenced to three years in jail on charges of violating Egypt’s protest law, a draconian piece of legislation that has been used to lock up thousands of dissidents. Douma is serving a life sentence in another case, where he has been sentenced to 25 years in prison and fined EGP 17 million for involvement in the December 2011 cabinet clashes.
Meanwhile, Egypt is using a law that was repealed 89 years ago to prosecute Irish citizen Ibrahim Halawa and 493 others on charges that could carry the death penalty, according to human rights organizations. “Egypt’s 1914 Assembly Law has been cited by the authorities as a key part of the legal basis for the ongoing trial of 494 people, who face the death penalty on charges relating to protests,” a statement by the Cairo Institute for Human Rights said on Wednesday 1 February 2017. “They include Ibrahim Halawa, from Dublin, who was a juvenile at the time of his arrest,” the statement said, adding “Ibrahim and his co-defendants have reported being regularly tortured in pre-trial detention.” Egypt was still under British occupation, which started in 1882, when the law was passed. However, a report by the Cairo Institute for Human Rights published this week found that the law was “incontrovertibly repealed” in 1928.
Egypt’s mass trials have resulted in thousands of death sentences being handed down since former defense minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi toppled Egypt’s first democratically-elected president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. The trials have been condemned by the international community.
Links for more information:
https://www.thenation.com/article/trump-is-just-fine-with-harsh-repression-in-egypt
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/256633/Egypt/Politics-/April–Movement
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/egypt-frees-ahmed-maher-founder-april-6-movement
http://www.cihrs.org/?p=19448&lang=en
http://www.cihrs.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Towards
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/egypt-uses-law-repealed-89-years-ago
Bahrain, 30.01.17 – 05.02.17: Protests Ahead of Trial of Sheikh Isa Qassim and Growing Tensions
Numerous protestors demonstrated in Bahrain on 30 January, ahead of the trial of Sheikh Isa Qassim, who stands accused of illegally raising funds, money-laundering, and “carrying out transactions to conceal the sources of funds and make them appear legitimate.” Demonstrators are reported to have staged sit-ins in support of the cleric, notably in his home village of Diraz.
According to reports, Sheikh Qassim did not appear in court during the brief session on 30 January, which took place under tight security in the capital, Manama. The New Arab has reported that the next session of this trial is scheduled for 12 February.
Sheikh Qassim was stripped of Bahraini nationality in June 2016, after being accused of abusing his position as a cleric to “serve foreign interests and promote… sectarianism and violence.” Demonstrations against this decision took place in numerous locations across Bahrain, and drew criticism from outside the country as well (see Cordoba Update 13/2016).
The demonstrations against Sheikh Qassim’s trial have come at a time of increasing violence in Bahrain. On 5 February, sources reported a bomb blast in the capital, which damaged a number of cars but left no casualties, in an event that has been described as a terrorist attack by Bahraini government sources. This explosion comes one week after the assassination of an off-duty police officer in Manama, which was also called a politically-motivated attack.
Links for more information:
http://www.bna.bh/portal/en/news/768274
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2017/1/30/thousands-of-bahrainis-protest-dissident
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2017/1/30/clashes-in-bahrain-as-anti-government
http://www.cordoue.ch/component/k2/item/441-the-cordoba-update-13-2016
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20170205-bomb-blast-rocks-bahraini-capital-no-injuries
Iraq, 25-30.01.17: New Interior and Defence Ministers, Unifying Iraq’s Political Factions, and Resisting the Devolution of Power
On 30 January, the Iraqi Parliament approved the appointment of a new Interior Minister: Qassem al-Aaraji, member of the parliament’s security and defence committee, and Defence Minister: Erfan al-Hayyali, training and operations director at the Iraqi Army’s Counter-Terrorism Force. Both ministerial positions have been vacant since 2016, following a political crisis between the main political blocs in Baghdad, and in the face the considerable security issues posed by the so-called Islamic State. One MP reported that the latest appointments are symptomatic of the ongoing political struggle between blocs in the Iraqi Government, and indicative that Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is seeking to check the power of his influential predecessor, Nouri al-Maliki. Three Iraqi ministerial posts remain vacant: Trade Minister, Industry and Minerals Minister, and Finance Minister.
Despite the ongoing political struggles in Baghdad, the central government aims to demonstrate that it is working towards the long-term interests of the population, particularly in the “post-Islamic State” era. One such government-sponsored effort is the so-called “Historic Settlement,” an initiative built on areas of common ground for Shia and Sunni political blocs. The project is being directed by the leader of Iraq’s Islamic Supreme Council, Ammar al-Hakim, and envisions the partnership of the United Nations Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) and the King of Jordan, among others. However, according to reports, there is widespread skepticism about this initiative, with some seeing it as primarily concerned with consolidating political power. In some quarters, “the ambiguity of clauses concerning sectarian rule, power sharing, wealth redistribution, terrorism and corruption has resulted in fierce disapproval of al-Hakim’s plans.” As part of the initial terms of the “Historical Settlement,” the so-called Islamic State group and former Baath Party figures would be excluded from the negotiating table, however according to Middle East Eye, the Jordanian government was instrumental in overturning this precondition and has insisted on the inclusion of Baath figures in national talks.
Groups outside the Iraqi political establishment have analysed that the settlement has a state-imposed solution with little real legitimacy. Sheikh Muthanna al-Dhari, the General Secretary of the Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars, said: “we have observed developments and, as we predicted, nothing has come to fruition,” adding that the initiative lacks approval even from parties that form the ruling government coalition. According to al-Dhari, “the claim itself, that the ‘historic settlement’ was launched by the alliance, is misleading. The plan was hatched and pushed for by the Hakim branch, but in absence of consent from other branches.”
Other observers have questioned whether Iraq’s central government is capable of ensuring conciliation of divided sectors of the country’s society, following many years of corruption, mismanagement and negligence of its responsibilities towards the general population. This has led many political actors in Iraq to argue for greater devolution of power in favour of the provinces, in the interest of granting provincial governments greater control of security and finances. Many actors and observers have argued that “giving the provinces more power will speed up development and reconstruction,” a crucial issue, particularly in areas that have been sorely affected by the long conflict. While speaking at a government conference, Salahaddin’s governor, Ahmad Abdullah al-Jibouri, said: “our city needs reconstruction projects and quickly… but the fact that the power [to start them] is all in Baghdad means that this is not happening. Our council has decided to start using the powers granted to it by Law 21 [on decentralisation] anyway, and to move away from the dominance of the ministries and federal departments as much as possible.”
Decentralisation was first legislated in Iraq in 2008 and has undergone numerous amendments since then. Prime Minister al-Abadi declared his support for decentralised power when he came to office in 2014, and promised to enact political devolution to the provinces within one year. However, this move is consistently resisted by some quarters of the government, who prefer to maintain power in the current system. Commentators have noted that this reticence to spread power and national wealth throughout the country could also be motivated by a fear of the growing political power of the Popular Mobilisation Units, armed militias which have gained significant social support in some areas, for their role in fighting the Islamic State group. Concern has been growing over the potential success of political parties linked to these militias in the September 2017 municipal elections, and Baghdad’s politicians may be unwilling to place more power into the hands of these armed groups, at a time when the central government is, itself, disunited.
Links for more information:
http://www.iraqinews.com/baghdad-politics/parliament-approves-appointments
http://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/57d49c05-0450-4b7d-be31-bdac341dae82/Abadi-fills
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/not-so-historic-settlement-iraq-s-post-vision-runs-trouble
http://nnciq.com/news/2261/هذا-ما-يريده-التحالف-الوطني–بالتسوية-الوطنية-
http://www.niqash.org/en/articles/politics/5528/Plan-To-Decentralize-Iraqi-Govt
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/politics/2017/2/4/العراق-تنافس-على-جمهور-الحشد-الشعبي-يربك-التحالفات-السياسية
Tunisia, 14-25.01.17: Six Years on, the Revolution is Still Underway
Tunisia’s labour union UGTT elected Noureddine Taboubi secretary general of its executive bureau during its 23rd congress, held on 22-25 January. Observers expect more continuity than change in the union’s policy given that most of the members of the outgoing leadership have been re-elected. Besides, Taboubi is considered a somewhat neutral figure within the UGTT, and someone who has kept equal distance in regard to the different political groups. Until his election as secretary general last week, Taboubi was in charge of internal regulatory matters of the union. In that capacity, he has built a knowledge of the internal mechanisms of the union, its middle ranking leaders and grassroots base. The 23rd congress was also a time to review the founding documents of the labour union; among the elements introduced to the reference documents was opposition to any forms of normalisation with Zionism. Sami Tahri, a member of the outgoing bureau, told the media that the issue was the subject of heated debate during the national dialogue and the drafting of the constitution, with some political and civil society actors in favour of including it in the constitution and others against it. In the end, the 2014 constitution made no mention of the issue. Thus, the UGTT decided to include it in its own documents. The other amendment brought about by the 23rd congress was making mandatory the election of women in all of the union’s structures, starting from the next congress, in five years. Some observers think that it is high time the UGTT made more bold democratisation reforms within its structures, as well as disengaging further from the political quarrels among political parties, especially Islamists and secularists. It is true that the UGTT enjoys wide sympathy among Tunisians, given its role in the nationalist movement leading to independence, as well as its post-independence role, but the union’s role during the 2013-2014 political crisis brought it some criticisms. Since the election of Beji Caid Esebssi the outgoing leader Hocine el-Abbassi has doubled efforts to disengage from the PF-Ennahdha political debates, and focus more on the workers’ economic and social demands, but the union remains an effective tool in the leftist political actors’ toolkit. For the Tunisian labour union to protect its image as an independent civil society actor, some Tunisian observers think that the Popular Front and other leftist political parties should cease hiding behind the union (justified during the authoritarian rule of Bourguiba and Ben Ali) and build their legitimacy and basis on their own.
Links for more information:
http://www.jeuneafrique.com/mag/398194/politique/tunisie-lugtt-opte-continuite
http://www.leconomistemaghrebin.com/2017/02/04/lugtt-dhier-daujourdhui/
http://www.letemps.com.tn/article/101540/les-nouveaux
RELATIONS BETWEEN COMMUNITIES OF DIFFERENT ETHNIC, CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS AFFILIATIONS /
RELATIONS ENTRE COMMUNAUTÉS DE DIFFÉRENTES AFFILIATIONS ETHNIQUES, CULTURELLES ET RELIGIEUSES
Liban, 30.01.17: Les manifestants de You Stink jugés à la cour militaire
14 manifestants du mouvement populaire You Stink qui avait protesté face à l’incapacité du gouvernement à résoudre la crise des déchets en été et automne 2015 ont été appelés à se présenter devant la cour militaire le 30 janvier dernier pour y être jugés. Cette actualité met en lumière une pratique largement répandue au Liban : le jugement de civils par des cours militaires. En effet, la large définition du domaine de compétence de ces cours, répondant du Ministère de la défense, leur donne le droit de juger les civils s’étant heurtés aux forces de sécurité.
C’est dans ce contexte de révolte et de frustration parmi la société civile et les organisations de défense des droits de l’homme que Human Rights Watch (HRW) a sorti son dernier rapport : « It’s Not the Right Place for Us », The Trial of Civilians by Military Courts in Lebanon. Ce rapport dénonce la pratique de la torture, même sur les enfants, et l’utilisation de confessions obtenues sous la torture. HRW ainsi que d’autres ONGs de défense des droits de l’homme accusent les cours militaires d’être des outils d’intimidation ou de vengeance pour des raisons politiques ou pour faire taire toute dissidence.
Les procédures devant les cours militaires restent très opaques, alors que les journalistes et les défenseurs des droits de l’homme doivent demander une permission particulière pour assister aux procès. Les juges de ces cours sont désignés par le Ministre de la défense et n’ont pas besoin d’avoir eu quelque formation en droit que ce soit.
En ce qui concerne le procès des 14 manifestants de You Stink, HRW n’a reçu aucune réponse à sa demande d’assister au jugement. Au bout de cinq heures d’attente, les manifestants ont vu leur cas être ajourné au 20 mars prochain.
Les organisations de défense des droits de l’homme demandent que les civils soient référés à des cours civiles et que les cours militaires soient ouvertes aux observateurs publics.
Liens pour plus d’informations :
https://www.hrw.org/report/2017/01/26/its-not-right-place-us/trial-civilians-military-courts-lebanon
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/lebanons-protesters-arrested-civilian-rallies-tried-military-courts
http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/trial-lebanon-s-corrupt-justice-system
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/military-trial-14-lebanese-demonstrators-postponed-amid-protests
Europe, 07.02.2017 : Le désespoir des réfugiés oubliés
La situation des réfugiés en Europe est de plus en plus critique notamment en raison des conditions climatiques de ces derniers mois mais également en raison du flou résultant de la mise en place de l’accord Union européenne (UE) – Turquie, mars 2016.
Les témoignages des réfugiés du camp de Moria en Grèce (île de Lesbos), devenu, suite à l’accord du 20 mars 2016 un camp de détention, sont glaçants. Les réfugiés vivent dans des conditions ne respectant pas leur dignité et leurs droits fondamentaux. Nombreux sont ceux qui attentent à leur vie et parfois de manière répétée. Cela témoigne du désespoir d’individus, fuyant des pays en guerre et livrés à eux-mêmes alors que selon les législations internationales relatives au respect de la dignité humaine et aux réfugiés, ils devraient être pris en charge et soutenus, socialement, économiquement et psychologiquement. Interrogée par Middle East Eye, Louise Rolland Gosselin de l’ONG Médecin Sans Frontières (MSF) explique que, malgré la mise en place de l’accord, le flot de réfugiés ne s’est pas tari à Lesbos, au contraire la population sur l’île tend à augmenter alors que les conditions sanitaires et de prise en charge sont désastreuses. La plupart des individus n’ont en effet pas de quoi se chauffer et n’ont rien à faire dans ce camp de détention, ils sont alors pour beaucoup en proie à la dépression. Les tentatives de suicide sont de plus en plus fréquentes et des intoxications dues aux monoxydes de carbone, conséquence du chauffage des tentes de manière non appropriée, ont causé la mort de plusieurs individus dont un Egyptien de 22 ans, un Syrien de 26 ans et un Pakistanais de 20 ans.
La Grèce n’est pas le seul pays où la situation des réfugiés s’est dégradée ces derniers mois. Les pays des Balkans, dont la Serbie et la Hongrie, sont également concernés. Les autorités serbes sont en effet accusées par certaines organisations humanitaires dont The Belgrade Center for Human Rights, de repousser les réfugiés vers la Bulgarie et la Macédoine, alors que les températures sont glaciales et que ces personnes n’ont nulle part où aller. Le cas d’une famille syrienne ayant été abandonnée dans la forêt par la police serbe alors qu’il ne faisait que -11°C et qu’ils devaient normalement être conduits au camp de réfugiés de Bosilgrad à la frontière bulgare, a été dénoncé par de nombreuses ONG. Dans ce contexte très préoccupant le Haut-Commissariat pour les Réfugiés de l’ONU (UNHCR) tente de collaborer avec les autorités serbes afin de redonner un toit aux réfugiés. Des réfugiés qui par centaines dorment dans les rues ou dans des entrepôts enfumés derrière la gare de Belgrade, en proie aux fumées toxiques et sujets aux engelures alors que les températures sont glaciales. De nombreux morts par hypothermie ont été signalés par MSF notamment à la frontière entre la Serbie et la Bulgarie. Stéphane Mossaing, chef de mission MSF en Serbie tire la sonnette d’alarme : « on ne peut pas tout simplement s’asseoir et mettre à jour les statistiques des morts ». Enfin, c’est dans ce climat que le ministre des Affaires étrangères hongrois, Janos Lazar, a déclaré dans la presse que la Hongrie envisageait d’introduire une détention généralisée des demandeurs d’asile. Selon ce dernier, “grâce à cette mesure, personne ne pourrait se déplacer librement dans le pays, personne ne pourrait quitter le pays ou les zones de transit”, une détention qui durerait jusqu’à la finalisation de la demande d’asile.
L’UE, qui a fait le choix en 2015 de laisser les pays des Balkans gérer la situation par eux-mêmes, est aujourd’hui fortement critiquée. Le 25 octobre 2015, Jean-Claude Junker avait déclaré la mise en place d’un plan d’action en 17 points « pour faire face à l’actuelle situation d’urgence dans les pays qui bordent la route migratoire des Balkans occidentaux ». Ce plan prévoyait de répondre par des mesures opérationnelles à trois principaux défis, à savoir fournir un abri, assurer la gestion des flux migratoires de manière conjointe, et assurer la gestion des frontières. A ce jour, les pays des Balkans n’ont rempli qu’à peine 10% de leurs engagements. Dans leur article intitulé Réfugiés, l’Europe tire le rideau, publié en avril 2016 dans Le Monde Diplomatique, Jean-Arnault Dérens, rédacteur en chef du site Le Courrier des Balkans et Simon Rico, journaliste, avaient annoncé que la fermeture du corridor humanitaire que représentait la route des Balkans signifiait “la fin d’un espoir” pour les réfugiés. Le temps semble leur avoir donné raison.
Liens pour plus d’informations :
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/despair-greek-refugee-camp-after-spate-deaths
http://www.lemonde.fr/europe/portfolio/2017/02/02/la-serbie-impasse-de-l-union-europeenne
https://www.rtbf.be/info/monde/detail_la-hongrie-reflechit-a-une-detention-generalisee
http://www.tdg.ch/monde/calvaire-migrants-coinces-froid/story/29896976
http://www.unhcr.org/fr/news/stories/2017/1/588a24a5a/refugies-migrants-desesperes
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/serbia-accused-mass-illegal-deportations-refugees
http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2016/04/DERENS/55187
http://ec.europa.eu/news/2015/10/20151025_fr.htm
VIOLENT EXTREMISM AND THE WAR ON TERROR / EXTRÉMISME VIOLENT ET LA GUERRE CONTRE LA TERREUR
U.S.A., 03.02.17: U.S to declare the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization
U.S. Republican Senator Ted Cruz, Texas, has proposed a bill to call for declaring the Brotherhood a terror organization. “It is time to call this enemy by its name and speak with clarity and moral authority,” Cruz said in a statement introducing the bill. Writer and activist Michael Merryman-Lotze wrote that, “if this bill passes and the Muslim Brotherhood is declared a terrorist organization, that determination will be a political act, not an act based on the advice, review, and findings of the U.S. officials responsible for making these decisions within the State Department and Security Services.” He added “this will mean that politicians can declare any group they do not like terrorists for ideological reasons (not that this isn’t already the case to a certain extent). The impact of such a move is terrifying. Members of these groups will be subject to assassination and imprisonment. Other countries will use this as an excuse for political repression and military action. People will be tortured, killed, and disappeared.”
According to Abdullah Al-Arian, assistant professor of history at Georgetown University, Qatar, “previous attempts to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization were largely limited to the most vociferously anti-Muslim voices in Washington. The bulk of the policymaking community understood the legal and political implications that come with such a label and the constraints it would place on American diplomacy in the Arab world. Based on some early indications the Trump administration appears wholly unconcerned with such questions. In fact, the designation represents a cornerstone of its intent to pursue a scorched earth policy toward opposition movements in the Middle East.”
For Corey Robin, a professor of political science at Brooklyn College and the Cuny Graduate Center, “most terrible things that the United States has done have almost never happened through an assault on American institutions; they’ve always happened through American institutions and practices. These are the elements of the American polity that have offered especially potent tools and instruments of intimidation and coercion: federalism, the separation of powers, social pluralism and the rule of law.” He added, “all the elements of the American experience that liberals and conservatives have so cherished as bulwarks of American freedom have also been sources and instruments of political fear. In all the cases I looked at, coercion, intimidation, repression and violence were leveraged through these mechanisms, not in spite of them.”
Nathan J. Brown, a professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, and Michele Dunne, Director of Middle East Program, Carnegie Middle East Center, wrote, “The bill starkly declares the Muslim Brotherhood to be a terrorist organization, but it does not define what the Brotherhood is. Nor is a definition easy. There is no single thing called the Muslim Brotherhood, but instead a number of organizations, movements, parties, associations, and informal groups that take some inspiration, sometimes direct and sometimes remote, from the original movement founded in Egypt in 1928 and the core texts its founder produced.
Links for more information:
http://mondoweiss.net/2017/02/legislation-intimidate-introduced/
https://www.cruz.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=2953
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/02/muslim-brotherhood-trump-terror-list
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/02/american-institutions
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/02/03/calls-mount-for-trump-administration
http://carnegie-mec.org/diwan/67771
U.S.A, 04.02.17: Bannon: We’re at the very beginning stages of a very brutal and bloody conflict
In a documentary-style movie outlined 10 years ago, Stephen K. Bannon, Trump’s campaign chief and now Counselor to the President, envisioned radical Muslims taking over the country and remaking it into the “Islamic States of America.” The eight-page draft, written in 2007 during Bannon’s stint as a Hollywood filmmaker, proposes a three-part movie that would trace “the culture of intolerance” behind sharia law, examine the “Fifth Column” made up of “Islamic front groups” and identify the American enablers paving “the road to this unique hell on earth.” The film proposal includes as possible on-air experts two analysts who went on to advise Trump, although their names are misspelled in the document: Walid Phares, a Lebanese-born Maronite Christian who has warned that jihadists are posing as civil rights advocates, and Heritage Foundation security expert James Jay Carafano, who has defended Trump’s executive order.
The emergence of this script has drawn new attention to Bannon’s past statements about Islam, and to his view that “the Judeo-Christian west” is engaged in a “global war” against “jihadist Islamic fascism.” The script for the film, Destroying the Great Satan, which was never produced, opens with a fantasy scene of the US Capitol adorned with a star-and-crescent flag and broadcasting the Muslim call to prayer, according to a script obtained by the Washington Post. The film imagines a “fundamental clash of civilizations” between the west and “supremacist” Islam, the Post reported.
Here is a selection from the script published by the Post, and previous statements Bannon has made about Islam.
“The road to the establishment of an Islamic Republic in the United States starts slowly and subtly with the loss of the will to win. The road to this unique hell on earth is paved with the best intentions from our major institutions. This political/ accommodation/ appeasement approach is not simply a function of any one individual’s actions but lies at the heart of our most important cultural and political institutions.”
“We’re at the very beginning stages of a very brutal and bloody conflict, of which if the people in this room, and people in the church, do not bind together and really form what I feel is an aspect of the church militant, to really be able to not just stand with our beliefs against but to fight for our beliefs this new barbarity that’s starting, uh that we will literally eradicate everything we’ve been bequeathed over the last 2,000 and 2,500 years.”
Links for more information:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bannon-film-outline-warned-us-could-turn-into-islamic-states
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/steve-bannons-islamophobic-film
The views and perspectives contained in the Weekly Update are from individual contributors and external sources, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or position of the Cordoba Foundation of Geneva. The links are neither intended as an endorsement of particular publications nor the only source for the updates, but to connect to information in the public domain, for those interested in background or further details.
