Showing posts with label immigrant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label immigrant. Show all posts

Wednesday 18 November 2015

Trump brand of migrant demonization #2

English: The Ethnic composition of Muslims in ...
English: The Ethnic composition of Muslims in the United States, according to the United States Department of State based on the publication of Being Muslim in America as of March 2009 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The so called Christian American politicians John Kasich, Bobby Jindal, Rick Scott,
Rick Snyder, John Kasich, but also democrat Maggie Hassan have made declarations to refuse refugees, to see the South rising up to keep brown-skinned people out instead of in, not because they are overwhelmed by the refugee influx and find resources stretched to the limit.

These governors’ objections to the Obama administration’s resettlement plans revolve around the belief that Syrian refugees, the majority of whom are Muslim, have not been properly “vetted.”  So some of them could be ISIS operatives trying to sneak into America to launch terrorist attacks and weaken the country. (Ridiculously some wants American citizens to believe the black president is also a 'Hussein' Obama Islamic mole.) 

Many Americans do not seem to know or to believe that most of the plotters and attackers involved in the Paris slaughter were (so called) Muslims of French and Belgium origin. They did not come from an influx of people who tried to escape just the sort of violence which struck Paris last weekend.

Also the faith issue seems to have deeper wounds, because it is a matter of frustrated boys who did not find a place in our society but also not in the present Muslim communities. Whatever radicalisation they underwent has deeper roots in the societies of France and Belgium, where most of them lived. Will this have to mean that America is also going to stop any Belgian or Frenchman entering Belgium? Or are they prepared to stop anyone with a passport from a European country from coming into the United States of America?

The pope may look at those American politicians who try to create division between people who want to worship God. They want to let the Americans believe that all refugees are Muslim, which they are not, and that they are all extremists and dangerous for our society, which is not true. 

On Thursday September 24 in a historic address to Congress the pope had already called to open the hearts to new generations of immigrants.

Pope Francis’s passionate call for
 “as many young people as possible [to] inherit and dwell in a land which has inspired so many people to dream”
comes amid a fierce national debate over how to handle an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants in the US.

“In recent centuries, millions of people came to this land to pursue their dream of building a future in freedom,”
Francis told hundreds of lawmakers, cabinet members and supreme court justices in a packed joint session of Congress. It was the first time in history a pope had addressed the legislative body.
“We, the people of this continent, are not fearful of foreigners, because most of us were once foreigners,”
 added Francis, who was born in Argentina to Italian parents.
 “I say this to you as the son of immigrants, knowing that so many of you are also descended from immigrants.”
What is also so contradictory is that most of those complaining about emigrating people to the United States are children of descendants from people who also emigrated from their country to look for better pastures. they too were people looking for a nicer place to stay. But often they were not fleeing such horror as those immigrants and refugees of war zones are today.

Perhaps it is good to remember those words spoken by the pope wo months ago:
“We must not be taken aback by their numbers, but rather view them as persons, seeing their faces and listening to their stories, trying to respond as best we can to their situation,” he said.
“To respond in a way which is always humane, just and fraternal,”
 added Francis.
 “We need to avoid a common temptation nowadays: to discard whatever proves troublesome. Let us remember the Golden Rule: ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’”
Speaking during Sunday Mass, November 15, the Pope expressing his
 "deep sorrow for the terrorist attacks that bloodied France late on Friday, causing many casualties."
condemned the Paris terror attacks, calling it "blasphemy" to use the name of God to justify "violence and hatred."
"We wonder how can it come to the heart of man to conceive and carry out of such horrible events",
 he said.
"The road of violence and hatred does not resolve humanity's problems. And using the name of God to justify this road is blasphemy."
Reading from Sunday's scripture, the Pope spoke of Jesus' preaching on the end of the world containing
"apocalyptic elements, like war, famine, and cosmic catastrophes."
Although he acknowledged these signs, he highlighted that they are not the most important things. Rather,
 "our final goal is the meeting with the resurrected Lord."
Rather than focusing on when or how the end will come, Francis compelled his audience to
 "live in the present."
For him we all should have the same goal, to meet the returned Messiah, who is a bringer of peace.
"This is our goal: this meeting. We do not expect a time or a place, but we encounter a person: Jesus."
At the end of the world, Francis said,
"Jesus' triumph will be the triumph of the cross, the demonstration that the sacrifice of oneself out of love for one's neighbour, in imitation of Christ, is the only victorious power and the only stable point in the midst of the upheavals and tragedies of the world."
This time imams in France and Belgium came out to tell the public those people are not real Muslims. They also wanted to warn their Muslim brothers that the violent reaction France took will not solve the problem but if some Muslims in turn would like to go to Syria they better think twice.  It is good that the public could see and hear the open public warning for the members of their community in France and Belgium that joining the jihadist group will only drag them to their death,
"to hellfire, because suicide and slaughter are not permitted in Islam."
Based from information shared by the French interior ministry, French nationals comprise the biggest number of European jihadis in Iraq and Syria with at least 570 of them fighting for ISIS.

Abdalali Mamoun, an imam at a southern Paris mosque, was one of 20 Muslim clerics who came to lay flowers near the Bataclan theatre where four terrorists wearing explosive vests killed more than 80 people during a rock concert. He urged young French Muslims to stay away from ISIS.
Another imam
Yasser Laouti, spokesman for the Collective Against Islamophobia in France, said
"As French citizens, and as human beings, we have been wounded by this attack."
and made it clear that those terrorists were not afraid to kill Christians, Muslims and Jews indiscriminately.

However, the French Muslim leaders said that although they sympathise with the families of the terror attack victims, they do not support the French airstrikes in the ISIS capital of Raqqa, in Syria.
"I saw that yesterday, after what happened, Francois Hollande decided to bomb Raqqa,"
 human rights activist Samia Hathroubi said.
 "Do we really think that bombing a city of 200,000 people will help us combat terrorism in our own country?"
also Belgian imams expressed their concern for such actions which could bring more oil unto the fire.

On the different television channels everywhere comes up the same story of people who live here in our own regions but did not feel at their place because they seemed to be a stranger here but also in the land of their ancestors. Several have problems that though they are born in Belgium or in France they are still considered Moroccan, Turk, Tunisian, but never accepted as Belgian or French, though they often speak the dialects of the region where they live at.

The youngsters still do feel discrimination and often are a victim of poverty, political and economic marginalisation. This are some of the reasons why so many young Belgian and French Muslims are joining ISIS.

Americans like others should recognise that Muslim leaders throughout the world strongly condemned the terrorist attacks in Paris.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani sent a message of condolences to Hollande on Saturday, informing him Iran was offering its thoughts and prayers to the French people. Iran and its allies, Hezbollah and the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, have been fighting ISIS.

Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo also condemned the violence that took place in Paris, as he called for international cooperation against terrorism, according to the Jakarta Post. Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world.

The leaders of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar and Egypt also denounced the attacks just hours after the attacks late Friday.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organisation in the United States, also joined in the condemnation, saying:
"These savage and despicable attacks on civilians, whether they occur in Paris, Beirut or any other city, are outrageous and without justification."
In YouTube video that became viral, one Moroccan Muslim named Wafi Abdouss blasted the ISIS terrorists, saying
 "these so-called jihadists only represent themselves."


*
Please do read also:
Cowardly governors give ISIS a propaganda victory: Refusing refugees is a moral outrage & a strategic blunder

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Preceding article: Trump brand of migrant demonization

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Additional reading
  1. Brussels-born Salah Abdeslam key suspect Paris terrorist attacks
  2. Refugee crisis, terrorist attacks and created fear
  3. Are people willing to take the responsibility for others
  4. If Europe fails on the question of refugees, then it won’t be the Europe we wished for
  5. State of Europe 2015 – Addressing Europe’s crises
  6. Schengen area and Freedom for Europeans being put to the test as never before
  7. The New gulf of migration and seed for far right parties
  8. Asylum seekers crisis and Europe’s paralysis
  9. Can We Pay The Price To Free Humanity?
  10. What we don’t say about the refugee crisis?
  11. Human tragedy need to be addressed at source
  12. Poster: Please help the refugees
  13. Real progress leaves nobody behind
  14. Swallowed in the Sea but belonging to earth
  15. The natural beauties of life
  16. How to make sustainable, green habits second nature
  17. Vatican meeting of mayors talking about global warming, human trafficking and modern-day slavery
  18. Republican member of Congress from Arizona to boycott pope’s address over climate change
  19. Vatican against Opponents of immigration 
  20. Welfare state and Poverty in Flanders #12 Conclusion

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Tuesday 17 November 2015

Trump brand of migrant demonization #1

'We were once foreigners': pope attacks Trump brand of migrant demonization 

The fourth of five children of Frederick C. and Mary MacLeod Trump for sure did not fall on his mouth.  As an energetic, assertive child, he was sent to the New York Military Academy at age 13 by  his parents hoping the discipline of the school would channel his energy in a positive manner. 

Perhaps it was there that he learned to shout at others in an impolite way. Convinced of the economic opportunity in the city, Trump became involved in large building projects in Manhattan, that would offer opportunities for earning high profits, utilizing attractive architectural design, and winning public recognition. In business he has been very successful.

Donald Trump's two marriages failed and when we do hear him talking about women this does not surprise us. though it surprises us how he gained popularity, though this might be because of his outspoken nature. the Americans finding not enough politicians are saying what they think could find a good partner in Donald Trump.

In September a Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 49% of Likely U.S. Voters say they want the government to allow no refugees from Syria and other Middle Eastern countries into the United States. Another 20% only support President Obama’s initial proposal of allowing 10,000 refugees to resettle in the States. Just 22% agree with the administration's decision to allow in even more refugees, including seven percent (7%) who favour resettling 100,000 or more in the country which was so loved in the previous centuries by Europeans looking for a better future.

The children of those many migrants now seem to have a problem with others which try to do the same as their grandparents or their ancestors from Europe. 

From 2004 "the Donald," Trump stared in his own reality television show, which I never have seen, but wonder if he talks and treat the others the same way as he did at the Republican debates.
But his rude behaviour against people of his own republican party does not seem to bring him the hoped popularity, because after some months of shouting and calling names he never succeeded to bring real answers for the issues brought forward. The joker or the clown can not bring some new tricks and the public now has seen it all.

Trump's performance during the October debate had "taken its toll" on his poll numbers. The Washington Post said that the reality-television star's "slide in the polls was beginning to look real."
Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson has climbed into a virtual tie with real-estate magnate Donald Trump, according to a new poll.

carson and trump
Republican presidential candidates Ben Carson, left, and Donald Trump talk before the start of the CNN Republican presidential debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum on September 16, 2015, in Simi Valley, California.
Trump naturally has his answer ready concerning those polls and calling them absurd, dishonest reporting and
 "Because the polls speak for themselves. I'm up. Check out Zogby. Check out Reuters — the Reuters — what do they call that? The Reuters average. Even The Huffington Post. Check all of them."
In September Trump lashed out at The New York Times for suggesting that the relatively small crowd size at an event was an indicator that the real-estate mogul may be struggling to expand his base of support.

Good news for him, after a week in which he hosted Saturday Night Live and stood center-stage at a Republican debate, Donald Trump is surging among Republicans likely to cast votes in the party’s presidential primary.
According to the five-day rolling Reuters/Ipsos presidential poll, Trump has leapt some 17 percentage points among likely Republican voters since Nov. 6, when he was essentially tied with Ben Carson at about 25 percent. Trump now captures 42 percent of those voters while Carson has fallen off slightly. 

Maybe this might be because Trump has opened the cupboard of popular issues, making use of an always working strategic, bringing fear to the American citizens.  

The Republican establishment has long expected the outspoken billionaire to fade, and he has yet to give it the satisfaction. Trump has consistently held more than 25 percent of the support among all Republicans in the Reuters/Ipsos rolling poll for more than two months. 

59 percent of Hispanic Americans have a “very unfavorable” opinion of the real estate tycoon heading into 2016. Thirty-two percent of Hispanics polled view retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson favorably, while 37 percent have not heard of him.

Trump has repeatedly vowed he is winning the Hispanic vote next year despite his harsh rhetoric on border security and illegal immigration.
Critics frequently argue his message on illegal immigrants, particularly Hispanics, is derogatory.
He has nonetheless made sharply curbing illegal immigration and building up border defences central parts of his campaign message.




As thousands travel from Mexico and Central America to the US, Trump uses the ongoing European migration crisis to fight against all who dare to set their hopes on entering the United States and wanting to live and work there.

He even is not ashamed to give totally unrealistic or untrue figures.

For Trump when politicians talk about “immigration reform” they mean: amnesty, cheap labour and open borders. According to him the Schumer-Rubio immigration bill was nothing more than a give away to the corporate patrons who run both parties. 

For him
 A nation without borders is not a nation.
He also present immigrants as criminals with no other means than to profit from the American citizens.
For him
the Mexican government has taken the United States to the cleaners. They are responsible for this problem, and they must help pay to clean it up.
He also warns for the Syrian refugees which could lead America in a Islamisation. he would not mind allowing more European immigration and a legal status to those graduating from U.S. colleges, but for sure they may not be Muslim or have roots in the Middle East.

Trump knocked former Florida governor Jeb Bush, calling him "weak on immigration." Trump specifically mentioned a view Bush espoused in a 2014 Fox News interview that immigrants cross the U.S.-Mexico border as an "act of love."
"We need strong borders. We need a wall,"
 Trump said, addressing his solutions to the immigration issue.
 "The king of building buildings, the king of building walls--none of them can build them like Donald Trump." {CBS News on 2015 Conservative Political Action Conf. , Feb 27, 2015}
Trump is opposed to new people coming in. He says
 “We have to take care of the people who are here.”
With the terrible Islamic State terrorist attack in Paris, immigration and our open border with Mexico just became the No. 1 issue in America. All the presidential candidates are now playing on Trump’s home turf. Trump is in command of the most important issue in America.

The billionaire wants to "deport millions of illegal aliens" which puts him in the drivers seat to get what he really wants.
He now points out at the French president who closed the boarders after the attacks.
Even a Socialist just proved how important it is to control your borders. It’s how you keep your citizens safe from terror. It’s literally the difference between life and death.
For him walls work.
Ask Israel. After they built their wall, terrorist attacks were stopped cold in their tracks. If America wants to keep Islamic State out of America, we must seal and control our border.
Many Americans hear the Republican and conservative Christmas bells ringing having created a strong defensive wall, singing
Under Trump the days of America being stupid are over.
 Wayne Allyn Root, known as “the Capitalist Evangelist” writes
It’s a new dawn in America under Trump. You can’t break into our home and then expect us to pay your bills. You can work, you won’t be deported, you’re in. That’s the American Dream. Welfare is not the American Dream. You can never collect welfare, food stamps, housing allowances, aid to dependent children, or all the hundreds of other entitlements available to citizens. You get a work permit, but you’ll never be a citizen. That’s the deal under Trump. Take it, or leave. {Islamic State Terrorist Attack Proves Donald Trump was Right About Border and Immigration}
At Saturday night’s Democratic debate, criticizing the GOP candidate’s stance on immigration presidential candidate Martin O’ Malley called Donald Trump an
“immigrant-bashing carnival barker”
The former Maryland governor noted that net immigration from Mexico last year was zero, after drawing a distinction between border security and a comprehensive immigration policy.
“We’ve actually been focusing on border security to the exclusion of talking about comprehensive immigration reform,”
 said O’ Malley.

As he has in the past, Trump referenced President Eisenhower’s program from the 1950s, fatuously insisting that it must be “nice” since everybody “liked Ike,” even as he assiduously avoided calling the plan by its name: “Operation Wetback.”

Here’s Trump’s exact quote from the debate:
Let me just tell you that Dwight Eisenhower, good president, great president, people liked him. “I like Ike,” right? The expression. “I like Ike.” Moved a 1.5 million illegal immigrants out of this country, moved them just beyond the border. They came back.
Moved them again beyond the border, they came back. Didn’t like it. Moved them way south. They never came back.
(Laughter)
Dwight Eisenhower. You don’t get nicer. You don’t get friendlier. They moved a 1.5 million out. We have no choice. We have no choice.
The hearty laughter at that reprehensible tale certainly confirms those poll findings. He sounds as though he speaking of animals not human beings. And it would cruel to do that to animals. {The GOP’s totalitarian nightmare: Donald Trump’s immigration plan is insane—and insanely popular}


> Please read also: Donald Trump on Immigration 2000 Reform Primary Challenger for President
> More and more Republicans support Trump's draconian—and downright inhumane—deportation proposal
> Operation Wetback, the 1950s immigration policy Donald Trump loves, explained

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Continues: Trump brand of migrant demonization #2

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Additional reading
  1. Brussels-born Salah Abdeslam key suspect Paris terrorist attacks
  2. Refugee crisis, terrorist attacks and created fear
  3. Are people willing to take the responsibility for others
  4. If Europe fails on the question of refugees, then it won’t be the Europe we wished for
  5. State of Europe 2015 – Addressing Europe’s crises
  6. Schengen area and Freedom for Europeans being put to the test as never before
  7. The New gulf of migration and seed for far right parties
  8. Asylum seekers crisis and Europe’s paralysis
  9. Can We Pay The Price To Free Humanity?
  10. What we don’t say about the refugee crisis?
  11. Human tragedy need to be addressed at source
  12. Poster: Please help the refugees
  13. Real progress leaves nobody behind
  14. Swallowed in the Sea but belonging to earth
  15. The natural beauties of life
  16. How to make sustainable, green habits second nature
  17. Vatican meeting of mayors talking about global warming, human trafficking and modern-day slavery
  18. Republican member of Congress from Arizona to boycott pope’s address over climate change
  19. Vatican against Opponents of immigration 
  20. Welfare state and Poverty in Flanders #12 Conclusion

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Wednesday 27 November 2013

Pope Francis says Catholics must become evangelisers

Pope Francis I who becomes more and more popular because of his own simple attitude has issued his first apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel), following the synod of bishops on the new evangelisation in October 2012.
emblem of the Papacy: Triple tiara and keys Fr...
The Gospel in itself is a bringer of Good News and tells us the story of how Jesus brought the Word of God to the people and instructed his followers to do likewise, evangelising all over the world.
“The Joy of the Gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus,” the Pope wrote, inviting Christians to “a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ.” said the Pontiff to a number of people in St Peter’s Square on Sunday.
Those who call themselves Christians should know that they have to follow their leader of whom they got their name: Jeshua the Christ. Jesus Christ gave his followers commandments and his instructions focused on the love of his Father, the Only One God and on his Father His commandments.
In the evangelisation we should give an emphasis on God’s saving love before proclaiming doctrines and follow the “way of beauty,” the Pope said. Patience and “respectful and compassionate listening” are also a key part of evangelisation, he added.
“The Gospel tells us to correct others and to help them to grow on the basis of a recognition of the objective evil of their actions, but without making judgments about their responsibility and culpability… our personal experience of being accompanied and assisted, and of openness to those who accompany us, will teach us to be patient and compassionate with others, and to find the right way to gain their trust, their openness and their readiness to grow,”
Pope Francis leads a mass at St Peter's basilica
Pope Francis also explained a “profound connection between evangelisation and human advancement,” saying that the
 “Gospel is not merely about our personal relationship with God”
 and that religion cannot be “restricted to the private sphere,” but is concerned with society, since
 “all Christians … are called to show concern for the building of a better world.”
As he correctly said "all Christians" which includes the protestants, trinitarian and non-trinitarian Christians
Naturally the 48,000-word document covers a wide range of Catholic issues including abortion, the role of the papacy in the 21st century and the question of women priests.
Many may look at the decline of priests or pastors, but for the Catholic church father the issue of women priests was “not open to discussion”.
Matters which are connected with our encountering other people, to talk to and about, area also written about in the document, including the global economy, the plight of the poor and the relationship between science and religion. He also discussed ecumenical and interreligious dialogue, making specific reference to Islam.
“In order to sustain dialogue with Islam, suitable training is essential for all involved, not only so that they can be solidly and joyfully grounded in their own identity, but so that they can also acknowledge the values of others, appreciate the concerns underlying their demands and shed light on shared beliefs,” the Pope said.
“We Christians should embrace with affection and respect Muslim immigrants to our countries in the same way that we hope and ask to be received and respected in countries of Islamic tradition. I ask and I humbly entreat those countries to grant Christians freedom to worship and to practice their faith, in light of the freedom which followers of Islam enjoy in Western countries! Faced with disconcerting episodes of violent fundamentalism, our respect for true followers of Islam should lead us to avoid hateful generalisations, for authentic Islam and the proper reading of the Koran are opposed to every form of violence.”
Not only the Catholic Church can learn from this apostolic exhortation. It should be  “a challenge to everyone, without exception.”
The joy of the Gospel, the exhortation’s very title, should embrace all Christians. By all our actions we should convince others of the truth of that Gospel.
The pope said.
“It presents a vision for the pattern of life of the Church present throughout the world, for parish life, for the work of the preacher, for the catechist, for the bishop, for the business person and the politician and for the ministry of the Pope himself.
It contains a radical look at the crisis of poverty in our world and at the role of economics. 
It offers a new light on the Church’s social teaching and calls for dialogue between faith, reason and science, with our fellow Christians, with the Jewish community, with other religions and with society, especially in the context of religious freedom.
This dialogue about faith, reason and science was already started by the Christadelphians in "Stepping Toes", with articles like:

Our world may have developed into the 21st century, but that does not have to mean that science has conquered religion and made it not necessary any more.

Contrary to his previous encyclical writing Lumen Fidei, released in July, essentially based on the work of his predecessor, Benedict XVI, this Evangelii Gaudium is very much his own work.
Apostolic exhortations are often based on deliberations of synods of bishops, and although this one takes into account the October 2012 synod on the new evangelisation, last June, Pope Francis informed the ordinary council of the Synod of Bishops, which is normally responsible for helping draft post-synodal apostolic exhortations, he would not be working from their draft.
Instead, the Pope said, he planned to write an “exhortation on evangelisation in general and refer to the synod”, in order to “take everything from the synod but put it in a wider framework”.
For the full text of Evangelii Gaudium go here.
For key quotes from the Pope’s document, go here.

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Wednesday 15 December 2010

Citizens to take an oath of loyalty to Israel

The Israel Democracy Institute’s latest Democracy Index reports that 54 percent of Israelis favour requiring citizens to take an oath of loyalty to Israel as a “Jewish and democratic state” as a condition for being allowed to vote. This bad idea should be opposed on principled and pragmatic grounds alike.




Of the approximately 7.23 million Israelis in 2009, about 76% were counted as Jewish, though some of those are not considered Jewish under Orthodox Jewish law. Since 1989, nearly a million immigrants from the former Soviet Union have arrived in Israel, making this the largest wave of immigration since independence. In addition, an estimated 105,000 members of the Ethiopian Jewish community have immigrated to Israel, 14,000 of them during the dramatic May 1991 Operation Solomon airlift. 32.9% of Israelis were born outside of Israel.
Story here. . .