Norman Rockwell (American, 1894-1978). Freedom to Worship, 1943RE: The Arab Gdansk by Roger Cohen
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/opinion/18iht-edcohen18.html?ref=opinion
Dear Editor,
Fostering the rise of extreme Islamism, Cohen foolishly advocates endorsing political Islam with the caveat that "Islamist parties must commit to democracy rather than exploit democracy for despotic ends."
Martin Luther King Jr. led America towards becoming a more real democracy with his own personal volunteer service to the civil rights movement. No one was forced to fund his speeches or pay his expenses.
Cohen gives no warning about the unfairness, much less the dangers, of forcing all citizens to fund and thus empower an 'elected' religion and institutionalized bigotry.
Furthermore, the responsibility of government has certainly not curbed the "seductive illusion" of political Judaism: "The Israeli Government has ignored the international community's repeated calls for a complete cessation of settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, which are illegal under international humanitarian law and constitute a major obstruction to the efforts to resume the peace process towards achievement of a comprehensive, just and lasting settlement of the question of Palestine." Alarmed by Surging Construction Activity, Palestinian Rights Committee Supports Call for Israel to Choose between Peace, Settlements
Source: United Nations General Assembly
Arabs and Muslims (and Jews (and Christians)) deserve our best advice: Religion should be a personal private matter.
Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
"Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world."Eleanor Roosevelt
Universal human rights are often expressed and guaranteed by law, in the forms of treaties, customary international law , general principles and other sources of international law. International human rights law lays down obligations of Governments to act in certain ways or to refrain from certain acts, in order to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms of individuals or groups.
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