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24 Jamada al-Awwal 1436- March 15, 2015




Jamaat al-Muslimeen and Code Pink Protested outside the AIPAC Convention in Washington, DC.

Among the slogans chanted:

Zionism is Racism.
Israel is an Apartheid State.
Spend here, not in Israel

[Via Sis. Nadrat.]




An Israeli Pope?:

Hundreds of mosques have been damaged or demolished in Syria by the Alawites of Assad.

More than ONE HUNDRED MOSQUES have been destroyed in Palestine by the Zionist Jews.

The Pope was silent. Now an attack on a church in Pakistan has stirred him up.. What kind of god does the Pope worship? His office is calling for military action against Muslims.

All places of worship should be sacred.

By the way, all 225 Assyrian Christians detained in Syria have been released. Does he know?




What happened in Tikrit, Iraq: Resistance which has no equal. Scroll all the way down.

In Syria, the Islamics are advancing on TelTamer in the north east and Latakia in the west. Is it a surprise that Kerry is openly calling for talks with Assad while the Islamics are in the suburbs of Damascus?

Look at our comment on FoX Tv's one hour long attack on the Islamics. Sissi is their favorite. Look at the goodies the Egyptian tyrant is getting. Scroll to end.




Outreach

 Outreach

New Trend's Humble Web Site Still doing Well

Hits only in the month of February [Thank you Br. Rich!]
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11900

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425





Spotlights and Guidance

 Imam Badi Ali

Imam Badi Ali

How to Work within the Community and the New Generation of Muslims.
  1. Nine year old Osama heard young people back biting. He told them not to speak ill of others. They told him it is none of your business.

  2. If you find someone doing good or behaving well, praise them.

  3. Teaching a mule to sing is a waste of time and effort.

  4. Always surround yourself with good people.

  5. Fix the ladder before using it. Make sure it is firmly in place.

  6. A hotel is a dangerous place from which preach to the world. More and more we find newsmen and others telling us all kinds of things about nations from the confines of a hotel.

  7. Remind people of their life objective: to WORSHIP Allah. With that clear, people will not pay attention to obstacles and side roads.

  8. A good leader is one who makes problems interesting and their solutions challenging.

  9. A good leader is one who brings people together as a team and brings out their energy and skills.

  10. In my experience, you have to be fired up and get others fired up to achieve the Ummah's objectives.


[Imam Badi Ali is a Palestinian American and leads a large Muslim community in North Carolina.]




Research & Analysis

 Research

by Dr. Kaukab Siddique [Pennsylvania]
Is It True That Hadith Were Not Written in the time of the Prophet, pbuh?
Were Qur'an and Hadith transmitted by same people or different ones?


Question from Sis. N. in Detroit


I am originally from Iran, moving to real Islam, Qur'an and Hadith. I read a good book by Fazlur Rahman (Chicago University) but it confused me on some points. He writes, Hadith was written in third century after the Prophet. New Trend's web site says follow Qur'an and Hadith. I am confused please explain why Hadith was not written in time of the Prophet ?

ANSWER by Kaukab Siddique:

Dr. Fazlur Rahman was inflced by Christian missionaries and Jewish orientalists. He tried to confuse the Muslims of Pakistan, with the support of the military government, but was defeated and fled to America where he was immediately given a senior position at Chicago University to teach Islam.

Both the Qur'an and the Hadith were written down in the time of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). The Qur'an is the word of Allah revealed to Muhammad (peace be on him). The Hadith is the commentary, explanation, implementation of the Qur'an by Muhammad (pbuh). Both are interlinked and essential to each other. No authentic Islamic scholar has ever tried to say that Hadith is not necessary or was written later.

The people who wrote down the Qur'an, on bits and pieces of materials, were the SAHABA or companions of the Prophet (pbuh). Paper and printing were not available at that time. So, people could not go around with printed and bound copies of the Qur'an. Even the collation and putting together of the Qur'an was done by the SAHABA so that the Qur'an became a BOOK between two covers after the Prophet (pbuh) passed away. This great work was done under the supervision of Abu Bakr, Umar, Osman and Ali (may Allah be pleased with them all) who were the first four rightly guided Caliphs of Islam.

The same SAHABA also wrote and transmitted the Hadith and made sure that nothing was falsely attributed to the Prophet (pbuh).

The QUR'AN was also MEMORIZED by the Sahaba. In fact few of them had it in writing but many of them knew it from memory. The cross checking of memory with writing was carried out to make sure that the Qur'an as revealed to the Prophet, pbuh, was transmitted to future generations.

The HADITH was also memorized by the SAHABA and transmitted to future generations. Any scholar of Hadith had to MEMORIZE the HADITH from the written collections of the Sahaba and then RECITE IT FROM MEMORY to his/her teacher. Thus an accurate record of the Prophet's, pbuh, life and teachings was enshrined in the scholarship of the Muslim world.

In the era after the SAHABA various kinds of sects arose which tried to disseminate their own versions of the Qur'an. Some of them claimed that Hazrat Ali (r.a.) had received suras of the Qur'an from the Prophet, pbuh, which no one else had. The scholars of the line of Ali (r.a.) and Fatima (r.a.), such as Imam Jafar and Imam Baqir, were able to repudiate these claims because they had the Qur'an both by memory and in writing.

Similarly attempts were made to invent "Hadith." This was a very serious effort by Kings and emperors who wanted religion to justify their tyranny and to creatre a "tame Islam." The problem was aggravated by the fact that various SAHABA had migrated to various cities, and after they passed away, various people could claim that they had heard Hadith from them.

It was in that context that great scholars like Imam Bukhari stepped forward to ENSURE that fabrications did not enter the corpus of Hadith. I think that these scholars were a bit too strict and as a result they sometimes designated as "weak" even those Hadith which were authentic but which would not pass the test of extremely severe scrutiny.

Imam Bukhari and other imams are the ones Dr. Fazlur Rahman was abusing when he claimed that Hadith was written in the third century after the Prophet. Fazlur Rahman really was quite ignorant of Hadith and hence recklessly fell into the trap set for him by Christian missionaries and Jewish orientalists.

WAS HADITH WRITTEN in the TIME OF THE PROPHET (pbuh)? Yes, the evidence is overwhelming. Here is one sample from a prominent companion of the Prophet, pbuh, Abdullah ibn Umru ibn al-Aas. It is authenticated by two distinct and separate compilers of Hadith, Abu Dawud in his Sunan (chapter kitabut al-ilm) and Darimi in his Musnad (chapter on Rukhs fi kitabut al-ilm):

"Whatever I heard from the messenger of Allah, peace be on him, I would write it down so as to be able to memorize it. Then some in the Quraish (tribe) said to me: You write down whatever you hear though the messenger of Allah is a human being and speaks both in anger and in joy. On hearing that I stopped writing and then I mentioned this to the messenger of Allah. He pointed with his finger to his mouth and said: Write on! By Him in whose Hand is my being, no word comes out of this mouth but the Truth."

Abdullah ibn Umru (r.a.) collected the Hadith he had written in the presence of the Prophet (pbuh) in a book titled Al-Sadiqa. Abdullah said: "There are two things I love in life: Al-Sadiqa and al-Wahat." He explained: "Al-Sadiqa is that manuscript which I heard and wrote from the messenger of Allah and Wahat is that land which (my father) Umru ibn al-Aas donated to the cause of Allah and which I take care of." [Darimi's Sunan.]

The compendium Tahzeeb al-Tahzeeb tells us that on the death of Abdullah, r.a, the manuscript of Al-Sadiqa was secured by his grandson Shuaib bin Muhammad and then transmitted to the next generation by his son also named Umru. THE HADITH WRITTEN BY Abdullah, r.a., DIRECTLY FROM THE PROPHET, pbuh, AND AT HIS COMMAND, are to be found in the collections of Hadith which we have under this chain of narration:

"From Umru son of Shuaib from his father from his grandfather." As Hadith is a very strict discipline, some classical scholars wanted to classify the collection as Mursal because they thought the grandson should have SAT DOWN IN FRONT OF THE GRANDFATHER AND RECITED THE WHOLE COLLECTION TO HIM FROM MEMORY! However, some of the greatest scholars of Hadith, like Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, accept the authenticity of Al-Sadiqa.

What makes Al-Sadiqa's authenticity irrefutable is that it was also transmitted by OTHER STUDENTS of Abdullah (r.a.) who had nothing to do with his grandson.

So, don't let anyone tell you that Hadith was not written in the time of the Prophet, pbuh.

FINALLY, spend a couple of months in trying to understand this verse of the Qur'an. It will help you to understand why the Hadith is essential and ALWAYS goes with the Qur'an:

"The Prophet is closer to the believers than their own selves, and his wives are their mothers. [33:6 ]




Our America

 Our America

Houston, Texas

Love of the Prophet Muhsammad, pbuh, and Faithfulness to him.
Peaceful Ways of Rebutting the Abuse.


 Imam Ali Siddiqui

Imam Ali Siddiqui spoke on 3/15 at the Masjid Ghouse Azam, FM 1960, Houston, TX just after Sunday School and Zuhr prayer to a group of students, teachers, and parents. He spoke on the subject of "Love of the Prophet and Faithfulness to him."

Quoting from Quran, surah al-Ahzab verse 6: the Prophet is closer to the believers than themselves and his wives are their mothers. Then he asked them to pinch themselves with right hand on the left arm. Then he asked them if it hurts? Then he told them thst Rasool Allah (pbuh) is closer than before you feel the pain. Then he challenged them, if they are also closer to Prophet (pbuh)?

Reciting At-Tahyeyat he told them it is a dialogue between Rasool Allah(saw) and Allah where Allah greets Muhammad (saw) and Rasool Allah accepted it: "as Salaamu Alaina", salaam on us inclucive of all believers of present and future." In other words, Rasool Allah included us in a very special and important moment in his mission and life: A meeting with Allah. This dialogue is part if our daily Salat, a reminder of this meeting and a reminder of care for us by Rasool Allah. Now the challenge is for us: "What is the nature of our love for Prophet Muhammad (saw)? he asked. He spoke about 25 minutes and left with a suggestion:

Next time if anyone from the shiateen publish a book to dishonor him, or make a cartoon to ridicule him, drown out this hate with a public demonstration of our love for him by sending Darood and Salaam on him. He concluded with singing a short Salawat on him.

The audience were very attentative and touched by the presentation. They all gathered around him shaking his hand and appreciating his talk.
[SAW is short for salAllahu alaihi wassalam --- editor]




Jamaat al-Muslimeen Activity in Washington, DC:
Document to 175 Muslims after Juma' The Best Yet.


March 13: At the biggest Islamic Center in Washington, DC, on Massachusetts Ave., an 8 page document was given to 175 Muslims. This center attracts a great variety of nationalities because embassies from around the world are within a 3 mile radius. Only a few bureaucrats in suit and tie, seemingly from Egypt, refused the document. These were the main articles given out:
  1. Mass media and Muslims by Imam Badi Ali

  2. &
  3. Musings on the Chapel Hill Murders by Asqfish

  4. &
  5. &
  6. Lynne Stewart ceremony & sorrow for Ahmed Abdel Sattar in New York by Sis. Nadrat Siddique

  7. Jamaate Islami Pakistan women led by Dr. Durdana mobilizing against westernization.

  8. Pakistani Madressas resisting Unconstitutional Steps.


Greetings exchanged with Iranian brothers praying on the sidewalk.




Washington, DC

IS Recruiting Young People: 17 Year Old Arrested
From wire services

March 4: Over the past year, the militant group ISIS has made a strategy of recruiting westerners. U.S. law enforcement officials have made efforts to thwart that system - and they've had their hands full lately.

The Washington Post reported Wednesday federal officials took a 17-year-old Virginia high school student into custody over the weekend who they believe helped recruit another older person to join ISIS.

The Post says: "The teen helped arrange the man's travel, in part by using online contacts that led to the Islamic State overseas."

On the same day, federal agents also indicted a 21-year-old California man who was arrested last year for attempting to use a fraudulent passport to travel overseas and join the militant group.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Monday roughly 180 Americans have left the U.S. and traveled to Syria to fight alongside ISIS - only about 40 have come back.

"Probably one of the most sophisticated groups we've seen," Counterterrorism expert Clarke Jones said.

ISIS has relied heavily on social media to attract new recruits, especially young people. But at least one of those social media networks is fighting back.

Twitter reportedly recently suspended more than 2,000 accounts related to ISIS, as the company does not allow its users to post violent threats.

ISIS responded to that crackdown Monday. The group threatened to wage a "real war" on the social media giant.




Ferguson, Missouri

Questioning the Vigil for Police + Why Zionist Suspicions of Black People?
by Sis. Aisha [New York City]

New York City - Saturday (3/7/15), Two Black men, one of them lighter-skinned with a "Middle Eastern" beard, were caught on synagogue security cameras taking pictures of each other in front of a synagogue. At a second synagogue, they asked to come in during prayer time saying that they had never seen a Jewish prayer being made. The two men were asked to leave in both instances.

Zionist Jew Assemblyman Dov Hikind was contacted and has asked (probably demanded) the NYPD get involved and question these men. Although they have done nothing criminal, because of the Middle Eastern appearance and the fact that they were taking pictures, this has made the White Jews anxious. It was noted that the men drove away in a blue Honda with Delaware license plates.

By Monday (3/9/15), the police stated that no criminal charges would be filed against the two men. The suspects were identified and it was discovered that they were from Connecticut. They were meeting friends in Brooklyn and had time to spare. It was during this time that they decided to walk around while taking pictures. The men spoke to police voluntarily and it was determined that they had no ties to any terror groups.

These Flatbush Brooklyn Jews are very unfriendly towards Blacks/Latinos. They have a shomrim security patrol that is notorious for beating up Black youth just for walking in their neighborhoods.

(courtesy of CBS New York)

The Coloreds Show Solidarity With Killer Cops

On Thursday, two Ferguson, Missouri officers were shot in what many are calling an ambush. As expected from the Black Community, unfortunately, there was a show of unity with the very group responsible for all of the chaos, nationwide. The family of Michael Brown, the 18 year old murdered by Ferguson officer Dorren Wilson, and 50 protesters against police crimes held a prayer vigil for the two injured officers. Michael Brown's Family stated that violence against police will not be tolerated.

I understand that The Brown Family has lost a son but, this movement is bigger than they are. Now, reports are saying that the two officers hot may not have been the intended targets and that it may have been the protesters themselves at Thursday's rally. But, if the police were shot in retaliation for Michael Brown's murder, it would not just be for his murder but for the countless murders and acquittals or no indictments of murderous cops! Any directive being uttered from the Brown's family mouth is coming from that boot licking, shifty-eyed attorney, Sharpton-appointee Crump, who has done absolutely nothing to help the Brown Family's cause. Crump, like other Black attorneys, is looking for a payday for when he initiates a lawsuit against Ferguson, Missouri for the wrongful death of Michael Brown.

These lapdogs are told to quiet the masses and they use their clients to help them do it!

The police department have no respect for non-White communities. They are the gatekeepers for White Supremacy and have proved each and every time. The history of law enforcement began, sometime ago, with the capture and return of runaway slaves. The term "cracker" was used by Blacks in southern states, such as Georgia, because White men would often patrol rural areas cracking bullwhips while looking for runaway slaves. Many of these members of law enforcement were Irishmen. The Irish were White indentured servants and were sold along with African slaves.

If you've noticed, many police officers are poor whites who have the least and so being White means everything to them and they have never had a problem oppressing those non-Whites who are more educated or wealthier. In their minds, their whiteness makes them superior, regardless. This is why officers or state troopers are more likely to stop a Black driver of an expensive car to remind the Black bourgeoisie that White power trumps Black success worldwide.

This is why I don't understand ANY prayer vigil being held for cops who are shot. I am not callous, just observant with a good memory. These cops only feel their own pain. Blacks who cross picket lines to show solidarity with the enemy do not understand White Supremacy and how it works. Then, again, what is their point of reference directing them to behave in this fashion? When Muslims do this, they can easily be called out as having left the fold of Islam, according to the Holy Qur'an. Any progressive movement against oppression in this country has to be carried out by people who see Allah (God) as the true Reckoner and who are unapologetic in their efforts to stop these murderous cops!

(Source Yahoo! News)




Newport Beach, California

The 'Jewish Soap' Fable

by Mark Weber

http://www.ihr.org/leaflets/soap.shtml

One of the most lurid and slanderous Holocaust claims is the story that the Germans manufactured soap from the bodies of their victims. Although a similar charge during the First World War was exposed as a hoax almost immediately afterwards, it was nevertheless revived and widely believed during the Second. More important, this accusation was "proved" at the main Nuremberg trial of 1945-1946, and has been authoritatively endorsed by numerous historians in the decades since. In recent years, though, as part of a broad retreat from the most obviously untenable aspects of the "orthodox" extermination story, Holocaust historians have grudgingly conceded that the human soap tale is a wartime propaganda lie

[Mark Weber is a long time friend of New Trend. This astounding article on established Zionist propaganda is typical of his research.]




 Freedom

Boston

A warrior retires: Non-Muslim Political Prisoners Suffered Much before Muslims Became the Targets
African-American, Native Americans, Puerto Ricans Suffered US "Justice"

by Sis. Karin Friedemann

 Sis Karin

On Friday March 13, 2015 former Black Panther and political prisoner Kazi Toure celebrated his 65th birthday in a cozy gathering at First Church in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. He looked very sharp wearing a silky black jacket with a red Chinese dragon on the back and a leather top hat over his long dreadlocks. Many young children of activists were in attendance at the event, as well as some old timers related to the struggle for liberation including Jimmy Barrett. The walls were covered with posters of liberation icons like Ramona Africa.
Sis. Karin in Boston

The gathering began with an African celebration called a "libation." A young woman poured water from a glass into a dish below, while mentioning the names of ancestors and role models whose spiritual energy they wanted to invite into this gathering. People around the room also invoked names such as Harriet Tubman and Leonard Peltier. This set the mood for a very meaningful evening.

The first speaker was Eddie Cortez, a Puerto Rican former political prisoner who spent many years in the penitentiary for "seditious conspiracy." He spoke about Oscar Lopez Rivera, the longest serving Puerto Rican political prisoner, who has served 35 years. Obama freed the Cuban 5. Why won't he free Oscar Lopez Rivera? On December 14, 2014, for the first time, the Puerto Rican governor came to visit Rivera in Terre Haute. But nothing further has happened. No US Congress has ever addressed the issue of Puerto Rico as a Commonwealth vs. as a free country, even though every Puerto Rican church and political party supports freedom.

He mentioned Leonard Peltier, who has served 36 years, Sundiata Acoli, who has been in prison for 40 years, and Jaan Laaman, Kazi Toure's co-defendant. In 1979 he and Kazi Toure helped to organize the Amandla Festival of Unity to support an end to apartheid in Southern Africa, which featured musician Bob Marley. Laaman was sentenced to 53 years in 1984 for bombing government buildings.

"How much punishment is enough?" Cortez asked. He then told a cute story about how prisoners managed to smuggle in birthday cakes by organizing a group to distract the guards.

"We need to change the face of America," he said. "We need our own system, not socialism or communism. What we need is creativity in the face of oppression."

Next, Palestinian activist Dr. Lana Habash spoke about the need for clarity against Zionist hasbara within current political activist movements. "It's not complicated, it's just wrong."

She spoke about Amer Jibran, who was very active locally in Boston against Zionism against US wars of aggression. He led a high profile confrontation against the yearly Israeli Independence Day celebration, which used to draw 10,000 people. He was deported in 2004 but remained politically active in Jordan. In 2014 the Mukhabarat, Jordanian intelligence, used ropes to enter his home and kidnap him. He was held for two months without charge. Then in August 2014 the Jordanian State Security Court charged him with a list of terror offenses related to Hezbollah, which basically amounted to speech and were based on forced confessions.

"Amer's writings were never against Jordan but against Israel and US wars," Lana said. "We must reject definitions of terrorism. The political prisoner is our oxygen. They represent who we are, who we must be, and the task ahead. We must carry on the struggles they went to prison for."

Next spoke Ray Levasseure, another of Kazi's co-defendants. He said he met Kazi when our country was at war with South America and there was the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. Both of them were "packing," he said. They meant serious business. He said he was surprised to be here today, especially looking at 65 in the rear view mirror. He was underground sometime already when Kazi started getting his feet wet. He spent 20 years in ADX prison for activities related to the United Freedom Front (UFF). 13 of those years were spent in solitary.

Governor Deval Patrick denounced UMass for letting Ray give a talk. The police lobbied against him and prevented his speech about Black Panther Party related political prisoners in America.

Born of French-Canadian immigrants, Ray was imprisoned for an anti-apartheid bombing of a South African office in New York City. Nobody was hurt because that was not the intention. He noted that the government is more concerned about property destruction against military installations than they are about bloodshed.

Ray mentioned Tom Manning, another of their co-defendants, who is still in prison for bombing US military installations for UFF. He also knew Oscar Lopez Riveras from prison. Tom is having a lot of medical problems and as a result cannot walk. Medical problems are devastating to anyone, but when experienced in the Supermax segregation unit, the suffering is incomparable. Tom has had many surgeries. He needs to use a walker but could not do so because of problems with his shoulders. Dr. Lana Habash led a campaign for him to get shoulder replacement surgery, which happened 2 months ago. He is now in the early steps of rehab. If all heals well, he will be out of his wheelchair and onto crutches for the first time in six years. Tom suffered many brutal beatings in prison. Ray talked about how important it is to send a letter, make a phone call, especially for professionals like Dr. Habash to step in and do something.

He mentioned a long-time prisoner, who has been forgotten. He just needed a couple magazine subscriptions. He is now serving time with Imam Jamil al-Amin. Ray met him during his pre-trial detention decades ago. They were given one hour a day out of their cages to walk up and down the tier. The prisoners began to befriend each other. It was an amazing time because so many revolutionary movements were going on. During these tier walks, Ray met members of the Irish Republican Army, Palestinian and Mexican groups, Puerto Rican, Black Panthers, etc. Kazi has told me similar prison friendship stories.

There are so many disparate groups, each with their own little defense committee. Everybody knows about Mumia but they don't know about Kojo Bomani or Grayling Brown. Inside of the prison, these political prisoners bonded and watched each others' back, but on the street supporters can't get along because of too many different agendas. Filiberto, who was murdered by the FBI in his home in Puerto Rico, issued a call for a conference for all political prisoners but Freedom Now collapsed and the Jericho Movement has not achieved what Filiberto had in mind. We need to work for a larger sense of unity, Ray concluded.

Musical entertainment from a rapper called Optimist then ensued, with a band called Foundation Movement.




Silver Spring, Maryland

President Obama---Selma-and the Meaning of America

[Greatly respected friend of New Trend, leading African American intellectual ,questions the establishment's Optimism--- Editor NT]

By Dr. Wilmer J. Leon, III

"In one afternoon fifty years ago, so much of our turbulent history - the stain of slavery and anguish of civil war; the yoke of segregation and tyranny of Jim Crow; the death of four little girls in Birmingham, and the dream of a Baptist preacher - met on this bridge. It was not a clash of armies, but a clash of wills; a contest to determine the meaning of America." President Barack Obama - March 7, 2015

On March 7, President Obama stood in Selma, AL at the foot of the Edmund Pettis Bridge to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the events of "Bloody Sunday" where over 600 civil rights protesters were attacked by Alabama State Troopers and local police. Some, such as Congressman John Lewis (D-GA) were beaten within inches of their lives.

"Bloody Sunday" was just another historical example of American terrorism perpetrated by whites or European Americans against African Americans. Forty-six years earlier African Americans were targets of terror during the "Bloody" or "Red Summer of 1919". In 1921 African Americans in the Greenwood District in Tulsa, OK were victims of European American terror as whites over reacted to a false claim that an African American young man assaulted a white woman. This is the meaning of America.

As with any historical analysis, context is very important. It's no coincidence that "Bloody Sunday" took place on the Edmund Pettis Bridge. Sheriff Jim Clarke was carrying on the bigoted legacy of his predecessors. Who was Edmund Pettis? Pettis was a staunch racist. He was a lieutenant in the Alabama Volunteers. After the Mexican-American War he moved to California where he participated in paramilitary violence against Yukis and other Native Americans. He later became a General in the Confederate Army (1861-1865) and after the Civil War he became the Grand Dragon of the Alabama Ku Klux Klan. He also served as U.S. Senator from Alabama (1897-1907).

President Obama was correct in saying, "It was not a clash of armies, but a clash of wills; a contest to determine the meaning of America." It was a clash of wills...between those Americans who subscribed to the racist tenets of the U.S. Constitution such as the three-fifths compromise, the fugitive slave provision and continuation of the importation of slaves into America until 1808 versus those Americans who believed in liberty and justice for all. Between those Americans who supported a U.S. Supreme Court that sanctioned American racism with decisions such as Dred Scott v. Sanford and Plessy v. Ferguson versus those Americans who only wanted to and continue to fight for equal access and an equal opportunity to purse the American Dream. This historical context forces one to ask, what is the meaning of America? How is it that one group of Americans, those of white or European decent, can continue to subjugate other groups of Americans?

President Obama continued, "And because of men and women like John Lewis...Diane Nash... and so many more, the idea of a just America, a fair America, an inclusive America, a generous America - that idea ultimately triumphed." How so? Many of the marchers in 1965 were savagely beaten by those who were sworn to "protect and serve". All they wanted then and continue to fight for today are the rights guaranteed to every American citizen.

The 1965 Voting Rights Act has been gutted. I'm not sure how the idea of a fair and inclusive America triumphed when the first African American president is disrespected at every turn by members of Congress who have sworn to uphold and protect the Constitution. America was not fair and inclusive then and it is not fair and inclusive now.

President Obama continued, "What happened in Ferguson may not be unique, but it's no longer endemic, or sanctioned by law and custom; and before the Civil Rights Movement, it most surely was." - It is endemic, it is regularly found. Today, young African American men like Patrick Dorismond, Sean Bell, Amadou Diallo, John Crawford III and Victor White III are not in streets being bitten by police dogs; they are in the streets being shot down by the police like dogs. These extrajudicial actions are sanctioned by law and custom as the judicial system fails to indict the police officers who kill them and Americans have become too accustomed to it. True, it's not sanctioned by law but that matters not if their killers are not indicted and held accountable for their actions.

Again, President Obama, "We do a disservice to the cause of justice by intimating that bias and discrimination are immutable, or that racial division is inherent to America." American history proves that it is. We do a greater disservice to the cause of justice by acting as though racial division is not inherent to America. The artificial construct of race was created by whites in America and as referenced earlier in this piece has been ingrained into America's culture. Racism was written into the American Constitution. It is as American as cherry pie.

Obama went on to state, "If you think nothing's changed in the past fifty years, ask somebody who lived through the Selma or Chicago or L.A. of the Fifties. Ask the female CEO who once might have been assigned to the secretarial pool if nothing's changed. Ask your gay friend if it's easier to be out and proud in America now than it was thirty years ago." Yes, there has been change, for some but the movement was about improving the circumstance of the collective not the individual. Three things to consider, first, yes, other oppressed groups such as women and the gay community have benefitted from the Civil Rights Movement and that's a wonderful thing. But Selma was not about women's rights or gay rights. It was about civil and voting rights for Black people. Period, full stop, end of sentence.

Second, many of the same people who were poor in Selma in 1965 are poor in Selma today and there are more of them. Go to Watts or South Central, L.A. or the Southside of Chicago - those people are still poor and struggling. According to the Washington Post the black-white economic gap hasn't budged in 50 years. "Even as racial barriers have been toppled and the nation has grown wealthier and better educated...the economic disparities separating blacks and whites remain as wide as they were when marchers assembled on the Mall in 1963."

Here's the third thing, ask the female CEO about her success or ask individual African Americans and you will find many stories of achievement? The struggle has always been about, the collective not the individual - the masses are still struggling. For example, per the Washington Post, the black unemployment rate has consistently been twice as high as the white unemployment rate for 50 years. The gap in household income between blacks and whites hasn't narrowed in the last 50 years. In fact, the wealth disparity between whites and blacks grew even wider during the Great Recession. Also, the black poverty rate is no longer declining. Black children are far more likely than whites to live in areas of concentrated poverty.

As we celebrate Selma 50 years hence, remember the words of Langston Hughes, "There's never been equality for me, Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free." Touting the achievements of the individual at the expense of the collective is neo-liberal fantasy.

Dr. Wilmer Leon is the Producer/ Host of the Sirius/XM Satellite radio channel 126 call-in talk radio program "Inside the Issues with Wilmer Leon" Go to www.wilmerleon.com or email:wjl3us@yahoo.com. www.twitter.com/drwleon and Dr. Leon's Prescription at Facebook.com © 2015 InfoWave Communications, LLC




Pakistan:Environment

[Jamaat al-Muslimeen placed Nestle on its boycott list owing to its big support for Israel --- NT editor]

Poisoning The Well? Nestlé Accused Of Exploiting Water Supplies For Bottled Brands

A new documentary film takes food giant Nestlé to task for its water bottling practices. Critics say the multinational is busy extracting ground water for its bottled brands and leaving locals, often in poor corners of the world, with the dirty remains.

 villagers of Sindh Pakistan

 Tages-Anzeiger

In the villages of Sindh, Pakistan, obtaining clean local water is a precious achievement.
ZURICH

filthy water. Who's to blame? He says it's bottled water-maker Nestlé, which dug a deep well that is depriving locals of potable water. "The water is not only very dirty, but the water level sank from 100 to 300 to 400 feet," Dilwan says.

The testimony is a key moment in the new documentary film "Bottled Life" by Swiss filmmaker Urs Schnell and journalist Res Gehriger. The film opens in Swiss theaters on Jan. 26. The village councilor interviewed in the film says Nestlé refused the village's request for clean water to be piped in.

The notoriously bad drinking water in Pakistan and elsewhere is the reason for the success of the Pure Life brand. A good 10 years ago, the Swiss food company began adding minerals to ground water and bottling it. Today, Pure Life Purified Water Enhanced With Minerals is the largest water brand in the world - "a jewel in our portfolio," according to John Harris, head of Nestlé Waters.

In response to questions put to it by Tages Anzeiger, Nestlé communicated in writing that it had built two water filtering facilities that were providing over 10,000 people in Pakistan's Sheikhupura with clean drinking water. Construction of a further facility was planned for 2012. The company said they had also built two schools in Sheikhupura.

Nestlé is not the only company to create a huge business with big profit potential by bottling ground water -- Danone and Coca-Cola do it too. However, the way Nestlé goes about it, as depicted in the film, is in stark contrast to the image the company seeks to project. Nestlé likes to see itself as a global problem solver out not only for profits but to "create shared values." In 2007, when Schnell and Gehriger began working on the movie,

Nestlé spokesman Francois-Xavier Perroud called it "the wrong film at the wrong time." Several times between 2007 and 2009 the company denined requests for interviews with company managers. It also refused to allow visits to bottling facilities.

The company's present spokesperson, Melanie Kohli, told the Tages Anzeiger that Nestlé had reached the conclusion that the project would reflect a one-sided and unfair view of company activity and those who worked for Nestlé. " Consequently

we declined to work with the filmmakers. Our carefully considered decision was the right one at the time."

Tracking the company's record, from Ethiopia to Nigeria

Undeterred, journalist Gehriger visited a refugee camp in Ethiopia where, in 2003, Nestlé had installed a water treatment facility for $750,000. Two years later, the company pulled out. Since then the facility has not been functioning properly, and water shortages have returned.

In Lagos, Nigeria, Gehriger discovered that families have to spend up to half their household budget on water in canisters, and that only those who can afford it drink Pure Life. Then there are the communities in the U.S. state of Maine who are fighting Nestlé because it pumps ground water and spring water in huge quantities - which it can do legally: whoever owns land can pump as much water as they like.

Nestlé pumps several million cubic meters annually and transports the water in tanker trucks to bottling plants. "They're using our water to make profits, a litre doesn't even cost them a cent," one woman complains. "They're selling the water we use to flush toilets and wash our hands as expensive spring water," says another. But since Nestlé brings the communities tax dollars, officials welcome the company, which is supported by an armada of lawyers and PR people.

Read the original story in German :
tagesAnzeiger.ch/wirtschaft/unternehmen-und-konjunktur/Dokufilm-uebt-massiv-Kritik-an-Nestle/story/31103319

Translated into English :
Translate.Google.com/translate?sl=de&tl=en&js=y&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tagesanzeiger.ch%2Fwirtschaft%2Funternehmen-und-konjunktur%2FDokufilm-uebt-massiv-Kritik-an-Nestle%2Fstory%2F31103319




War News

 War News

Iraq

Heroic Defense of Tikrit by 500 Islamic Fighters Against 30,000 Iraqi troops, Shi'ite Militias and Iranian forces. Diversionary Attack on Ramadi.

Second week of the massive assault on Tikrit: March 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15.

Out of the 500 ISIS mujahideen who began the defense of Tikrit, only about 150 are still there. The remaining 350 who were defending the outlying villages have been withdrawn. Only a score were killed. The number of 150 is from American sources [reported by Reuters].

Since March 12, the Shi'ite armada led by an Iranian general has not been able to advance at all. An Iraqi military source gave this reason:

"The military source said the insurgents still held the presidential complex and at least three other districts in the center of Tikrit, holding up further army advances with snipers and bombs." [Reuters] The source added that ISIS has blown up a bridge which led from north to south.

BBC has stopped giving news of the Tirkrit because it's the same thing every day: The Shi'ites cannot advance.

Several thousand Shi'ite troops have been killed. [As AFP reported, published in New Trend of March 8, entire convoys filled with the bodies of Shiite troops have been returning from the battlefield.]

This great defensive victory for the mujahideen has ruined the reputation of the Iranian general Suleimani who was leading the attack and was sure of victory.

The Iraqi air force has been active in bombing ISIS but was ineffective when the fighting became very close.

The US air force has been more effective as its bombing raids around Baiji blocked fresh Islamic reinforcements from being brought in.

Meanwhile ISIS has launched diversionary attacks on that part of Ramadi which still is under Shi'ite military occupation.

In the villages around Tikrit, Shi'ite militias have burned the homes of the population. This is the city of the Iraqi hero President Saddam Hussain.




Syria

Mujahideen of IS advancing to Tel Tamer: Fighters of al-Nusra in Latakia:

Assad & US bombing heavily

March 15. Islamic State [IS] forces are steadily advancing towards Tel Tamer in north east Hasakeh province on the Turkish border.

Unable to stop the advance, the Communist YPG group appealed to the US to bomb the IS forces. Today the bombing began but results are not clear.

Marxists from Europe are flocking to YPG areas in northern Syria to fight IS. One of them, a 19 year old woman from Germany killed defending Tel Tamer and her funeral was held in Germany today.

Al-Nusra and allied Islamic groups are advancing in Latakia province and northern Aleppo province. In a successful ambush in Latakia countryside, they killed a commander of Bashar al-Assad's forces and 7 of his troops.

Assad's air force is busy bombing the suburbs of Damascus, specially Douma, Ghouta and Jobir. The civilian casualties are heavy with first reports indicating 22 killed and more than 100 injured. The dead include 6 women and 3 children.

Assad's helicopters again dropped barrel bombs on villages held by Islamic opposition outside the cities of Hama and Homs inflicting a few casualties in each attack, almost all civilians.

[Source Syrian Obersrvatory for Human Rights.]




Media: Fox TV's one hour Attack on ISIS
Guess who is Fox Hero?


Did you see this hour long program on FOX against ISIS? It is one thing to disagree, criticize and condemn but this is total fabrication. Mass killings, slavery, rape, you name it. But wait a minute, no one has cell phones or cameras there? NOT ONE PHOTO of the "atrocities." Are Americans that gullible?

And guess who is FOX's hero? General Sissi, the mass murderer of Egypt, the one who killed 1500 unarmed demonstrators, injured 25000 and arrested 20,000. And this was not even a war. So FOX interviews General Sissi and guess what: he wants to unite all the tyrants, dictators and kings against ISIS.

The Copts fought for him and stood by him and 21 of them were killed by ISIS in Libya. Sissi's jets then bombed the city near where this happened and killed 50 civilians.




Egypt

Investors pledge billions to Egyptian junta at Sharm el-Sheikh conference
By Alex Lantier
14 March 2015 [World Socialist web site]
[With thanks to Sis. Aamira in Philadelphia.]

Global investors and political officials gathered yesterday in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh for the opening of a three-day Egypt Economic Development Conference, pledging to invest billions of dollars in the bloody military junta of General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Hundreds of top officials and CEOs attended, including US Secretary of State John Kerry, Italian Premier Matteo Renzi, and Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng.

The conference amounted to a political endorsement by finance capital of the Sisi junta's bloody repression of the working class, whose demands for bread and equality drove a revolutionary upsurge that toppled US-backed Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak in 2011. It exposed the reality behind the claims of US and world imperialism to be carrying out wars and interventions in the Middle East, Africa, Ukraine and elsewhere in behalf of "human rights" and "democracy."

The event followed by less than a week the first execution in Egypt of the nearly 1,400 Islamists condemned to death in summary trials held last year by the Sisi regime.

In his opening address to the conference, Sisi boasted that Egypt had a long-term economic development strategy based on free market economics and private investment. "Egypt has been and will always be the first line of defense against the dangers faced by the region," he said. "You will find Egypt, as well as the entire region, safe and secure."

With Washington leading military interventions against Islamist forces across the region, notably in Iraq and Syria against the Islamic State (ISIS), Sisi promoted the Egyptian army as an anti-Islamist force, having ousted Egypt's Islamist president, Mohamed Mursi, in a bloody coup in 2013.

"The stability of Egyptian society is stability for the region as a whole. Egypt is a model of tolerant morals, a country that denounces extremism and violence," he declared.

As officials and media commentators hailed Sisi for returning "stability" to Egypt, the Persian Gulf sheikdoms of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates pledged to invest $12.5 billion. Transnational corporations, including British Petroleum, General Electric and Alsthom, lined up for lucrative energy and industrial contracts, including the development of the giant West Nile Delta (WND) gas field, the construction of gas-fired power plants in Suez City, and an extension of the Cairo subway.

BP called the project a "vote of confidence in Egypt's investment climate and economic potential."

Major international banks and corporations are creating jobs in Egypt only because they assume that ongoing political terror will guarantee low wages and high profits. Egypt's "investment climate," praised by BP, is one in which workers' protests for back wages or wage increases are brutally attacked by security forces, which have detained and tortured tens of thousands of prisoners and shot thousands of peaceful protesters in the streets of Cairo.

Hundreds of strikes and workers' protests under the Sisi junta last year culminated in the shooting of seven workers and jailing of eight last September, when police broke up a protest demanding back wages at the Abod textile factory in Alexandria. Workers' protests continue, however, amid deafening silence in international media.

On Thursday, AP reporters spoke to Tarek Tabl, a 52-year-old construction engineer leading one of a series of workers' protests outside government offices in Cairo, shortly before police attacked and dispersed the protest.

Workers at Tabl's firm are demanding back wages that have not been paid for five months. "This is only going to escalate," he said. "I'd rather kill myself than go home and face my kids."

Tabl criticized investments that went to privatize the construction firm where he works, leading to mass layoffs. "This is the type of investment that is producing only unemployment and chaos," he declared.

What attracts investors to Egypt are the super-profits that can be drawn from a work force facing relentless repression in an economy where monthly wages can be as low as 1,000 to 1,700 Egyptian pounds ($131 to $220).

"This part of the world is blessed with a stunning amount of commercial potential," Kerry said at an American Chamber of Commerce event Friday morning before traveling to Sharm el-Sheikh. He said US firms, which invested $2 billion in the Sisi junta last year, stood ready to help the Egyptian economy.

Kerry met with Sisi, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordan's King Abdullah for discussions on the regional political situation before speaking at the Sharm el-Sheikh conference. There, he praised the role played by Egypt in the "war on terror," which includes the bombing of Islamist forces that have taken control of portions of Libya since the NATO-led war in 2011 that toppled Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's regime.

The calculations involved in the conference were perhaps most bluntly laid out by Italian Prime Minister Renzi, who said he viewed both Sisi's war on Islamism and the prevention of a new revolutionary upsurge of the Egyptian workers as key strategic interests of European imperialism.

"Your war is our war, and your stability is our stability," Renzi told Sisi at the Sharm-el-Sheikh conference. "The issue is not about Egypt or the region only, but also about Italy and the rest of the world."

Renzi's comments point to the class conflicts that are developing under the surface not only in Egypt, but internationally. He is well aware of explosive opposition in the Italian and European working class to the European Union's austerity policies, which similarly aim to impose free market policies and poverty wages on workers. Renzi is bluntly warning that a new revolutionary uprising in Egypt could spread not only throughout the Middle East, but also to the United States and Europe.

A further indication of the social physiognomy of transnational corporate elites is provided by the investment law passed by the Sisi junta earlier this month. It is designed primarily to give investors immunity from prosecution for various types of criminal behavior.

Its signature measure is a provision preventing corporate executives from going to jail for criminal behavior by their corporations. The initial stages of the Egyptian revolution in 2011 saw widespread demands by workers for the prosecution of criminal behavior by corporate executives and leading officials at state-owned enterprises.

"We cannot keep prosecuting company CEOs in cases where the company is accused of wrongdoing and sending them to jail," Mohamed El-Sewedy, the head of the Federation of Egyptian Industries, told Ahram Online. He added that he was satisfied with the final draft of the law.

The law also sets up a single General Authority for Investment (GAFI), which will act as a rubber stamp for investment projects. Investors can require the government to process an application to liquidate their investments, should they decide to leave Egypt, in 120 days.

The law also establishes new, looser regulations for real estate sales, following court rulings upholding challenges to the legality of several high-profile land deals.

The conference at Sharm el-Sheikh is a warning not only to the Egyptian, but also to the international working class. The issues of social equality and the struggle against class oppression that led to the revolutionary uprising against Mubarak in 2011 were posed in Egypt, but they could not be resolved within the borders of one country. Workers in Egypt and around the world, including in the wealthiest countries, face the same challenge: progressive social change can come only through a revolutionary struggle of the working class for socialism.

Capitalism has reached a social and political dead end, offering nothing but escalating wars and attacks on the living standards of the masses. The easy embrace of the Sisi junta by Western officials is a warning that the military methods for suppressing internal opposition employed by Sisi are being prepared not only in Egypt, but internationally—including in Europe and America.


2015-03-16 Mon 20:22:12 ct

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