Chicago's Gay Games should be Games dedicated to anti Fascism
Why not drop the Disney-Style commercialism --mixed with more then a little Mardi Gras style hedonism-- from Chicago's Gay Games, and instead dedicate them to war on the New Totalitarianism,
MANIFESTO: Together facing the new totalitarianismThe people who signed this Manifesto have risked their lives by signing.
After having overcome fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism, the world now faces a new totalitarian global threat: Islamism.
We, writers, journalists, intellectuals, call for resistance to religious totalitarianism and for the promotion of freedom, equal opportunity and secular values for all.
The recent events, which occurred after the publication of drawings of Muhammed in European newspapers, have revealed the necessity of the struggle for these universal values. This struggle will not be won by arms, but in the ideological field. It is not a clash of civilisations nor an antagonism of West and East that we are witnessing, but a global struggle that confronts democrats and theocrats.
Like all totalitarianisms, Islamism is nurtured by fears and frustrations. The hate preachers bet on these feelings in order to form battalions destined to impose a liberticidal and unegalitarian world. But we clearly and firmly state: nothing, not even despair, justifies the choice of obscurantism, totalitarianism and hatred. Islamism is a reactionary ideology which kills equality, freedom and secularism wherever it is present. Its success can only lead to a world of domination: man's domination of woman, the Islamists' domination of all the others. To counter this, we must assure universal rights to oppressed or discriminated people.
We reject cultural relativism, which consists in accepting that men and women of Muslim culture should be deprived of the right to equality, freedom and secular values in the name of respect for cultures and traditions. We refuse to renounce our critical spirit out of fear of being accused of "Islamophobia", an unfortunate concept which confuses criticism of Islam as a religion with stigmatisation of its believers.
We plead for the universality of freedom of expression, so that a critical spirit may be exercised on all continents, against all abuses and all dogmas.
We appeal to democrats and free spirits of all countries that our century should be one of Enlightenment, not of obscurantism.
12 signatures
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Chahla Chafiq
Caroline Fourest
Bernard-Henri Lévy
Irshad Manji
Mehdi Mozaffari
Maryam Namazie
Taslima Nasreen
Salman Rushdie
Antoine Sfeir
Philippe Val
Ibn Warraq
We should forget our gay party and profits from it and realize there is a war going on and we're all targets.
Maybe the Gay Activists will find a better reception in McHenry if they acknowledged the war and proclaimed we're all in it together.
Update: Eric Zorn linked Al Jeezera's reporting on the Manifesto.
One of his commenters noted Rushdie was the only signer he recognized. Many of the signers are Islamic liberals and dissidents we in Chicago or the US don't know much about. We owe them our attention. Here's Nick Cohen writing on Maryam Nazim from Iran. And her is something on Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
Update 3-7-06: Belmont Club writs on the Manifesto and has brief bios on the signers.
cross posted at Bill Baar's West Side
19 comments:
Hmm. So gays (and straights, since the Gay Games are open to all) who like sports are, ipso facto, "Gay Activists," and somehow the responsibility to oppose Islamism falls to them.
Ridiculous. Why should the Gay Games have to be politicized when other sports are off the hook? Why aren't you going after Major League Baseball for not being sufficiently anti-Islamist enough?
And if you want to politicize a sporting event, wouldn't the recently concluded, extremely prominent Olympic Games be a better target for this activism? (By the way, isn't the universality of the Olympic movement and its vision of a world competing in peace on the playing field instead of warring on the battlefield itself a repudiation of fascist "values"?)
Do you know a single gay person (I mean, in a meaningful way, not just some token of an acquaintance)? I can't believe you would make such sweeping conclusions about gays and lesbians if you did.
Yes, I have gay friends.
I lived in Oak Park and belonged to the Unitarian Universaist Church there, and now in Geneva.
Many of the Gays I know are also some of the most culturally conservative people I know. They wouldn't be caught dead at the Gay Pride Parade. Not for fear of being outted --they're out, at work and community, in committed partnerships-- but they just don't like the overt sexuality at these events.
Much like the folks in McHenry.
Gays are a particular target of Radical Islam.
A special responsiblity has fallen on them. They should accept it.
Gays are also a particular target of conservative Republicans.
I don't know how anyone in Illinios can say Gays are a Target of Republicans when we have Gov Blagojevich in a fog on how to react to these lines,
'These false Jews promote the filth of Hollywood that is seeding the American people... It's the wicked Jews, the false Jews, that are promoting Lesbianism, homosexuality. It's wicked Jews, false Jews, that make it a crime for you to preach the word of God, then they call you homophobic!'
Quoted from and ADL press release posted on Gidwitz's site.
I believe that the Illinois Republican party recruited a dude by the name of Alan Keys. I believe that he had a few choice comments on record about gays before coming to our great state. I’m pretty sure that he made a few afterwards.
The Illinois Republicans searched nation wide for this guy.
Would you consider him a hate monger, Bill?
Maybe I’m wrong, was he the gay loving Republican that ran against Obama?
I sort of agree Larry... but then why should Gay Activists bother the people in McHenry or folks in traditional churches who prefer traditional marriages and heterosexual clergy?
What's happening in the Middle East is an existential threat. To Gays and many others...
The threat her in America is someone may disapprove of your life style...
but more often then not, they'll also defend to the death your right to be different.
There is a diffence...
"Why not drop the Disney-Style commercialism --mixed with more then a little Mardi Gras style hedonism-- from Chicago's Gay Games, and instead dedicate them to war on the New Totalitarianism"
But why stop there?
Why not drop the Disney-Style commercialism -- mixed with more then a little Mardi Gras style hedonism -- from homecoming celebrations, and instead dedicate them to war on the New Totalitarianism.
Why not drop the Disney-Style commercialism -- mixed with more then a little Mardi Gras style hedonism -- from Lollapalooza, and instead dedicate them to war on the New Totalitarianism.
Why not drop the Disney-Style commercialism -- mixed with more then a little Mardi Gras style hedonism -- from the Taste of Chicago, and instead dedicate them to war on the New Totalitarianism.
Why not drop the Disney-Style commercialism -- mixed with more then a little Mardi Gras style hedonism -- from St. Patrick's Day, and instead dedicate it to war on the New Totalitarianism.
Why not drop the Disney-Style commercialism -- mixed with more then a little Mardi Gras style hedonism -- from the State Fair, and instead dedicate them to war on the New Totalitarianism.
Why not drop the Disney-Style commercialism -- mixed with more then a little Mardi Gras style hedonism -- from your birthday parties, and instead dedicate them to war on the New Totalitarianism.
Eternal War for Eternal Peace!
Stand strong with Bill Baar, Illinoize!
I don't know what Lollapalooza is.
I don't celebrate my birthday. (That happens at a certain age.)
Students in ROTC should wear their uniforms at homecoming. I'd like to see the ROTC back at schools. A little disappointed one of Harvard's reasons for kicking it out was Don't Ask Don't Tell.
St Pat's day is one of our more Political Holidays in Chicago. You can bet the Teamsters will have someting going on about the Teheran Bus Drivers strike.
The Illinois National Guard had a display at the State Fair two years ago. That was the last one I was at. I talked to some folks who had returned from Iraq there and thanked them for their service.
Don't stand with me or Illinoize, but I'd like to think we in Illinois will stand with the people of Iraq.
Here's what I had to say to the Grinnell College Alum Mag once, and what I repeated after the bombing of the Golden Mosque. I quoted Harry Hopkins (Grinnell College 1912) word's to Winston Churchill in 1940; well before the US committed to war against Hitler,
Few dramatists could match the poignant scene when Britain stood alone against the Nazi power that dominated a conquered or fawningly neutral Europe. Roosevelt sent his envoy Harry Hopkins to Churchill. At dinner Hopkins quoted from the Book of Ruth: "Whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people and their God my God," softly adding, "Even to the end." --From Meachem's Franklin and Winston
With them until the end... is what I hope we tell Iraqis.
There are lots of gays and lesbians who support the war on terror. Fundamentalist Islamic groups have a history of public executions of gays and lesbians.
The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, American Veterans of Equal Rights and the Log Cabin Republicans have been petitioning Congress and fighting in the courtrooms to overturn Don't Ask, Don't Tell. This policy costs the US taxpayer millions of dollars a year. In addition, 9,500 service members have been fired between 1994 and 2003 for being homosexual, including key areas like Arabic translation after 9/11.
I hardly think that an Olympic style event, one that is supposed to be based on peace and goodwill, is the proper place to political statement.
Even if the Gay Games committee agreed to hold a salute to the military with a marching band and everything, do you REALLY think that the good people of McHenry would change their minds and brave all that additional traffic?
Even if the Gay Games committee agreed to hold a salute to the military with a marching band and everything, do you REALLY think that the good people of McHenry would change their minds and brave all that additional traffic?
Worth asking.
Even if the Gay Games committee agreed to hold a salute to the military with a marching band and everything, do you REALLY think that the good people of McHenry would change their minds and brave all that additional traffic?
Why would a celebration of militarism and a reminder of how much blood and treasure we've wasted in a war of choice make us change our minds and brave that additional traffic? I would hope that would harden our resolve. Maybe not.
I don't get what the gays, gay games, Islamic terror, and facism how they are all connected.
anon 9:57 AM
EXACTLY!
The Games site tells us,
In 1982, Dr. Tom Waddell, a 1968 Olympic decathlete, founded the Games primarily to showcase LGBT sports, describing it as "an experiment in global unity; an experiment in education; a vehicle for change." Since that time nearly 50,000 individuals of different races, genders, sexual orientations, national origin, physical and athletic abilities, health statuses, ages, religious and socio-economic backgrounds have come together from around the world in the spirit of Participation, Inclusion and Personal Best. For 25 years, these values have helped to foster an international LGBT sports movement that builds bridges across borders, eradicates stereotypes, and truly changes the world.
The Iranian Gov just hung a gay teenager. The gov policy is to eradicate Gays, along with Jews, other social undesirables....
...it's another change in the world the Gay Games should consider adding to the their list.
Signing the Manifesto and making it part of their mission would be a start.
Here you go. From Ayann Hirsi Ali's website. Makes IFI look pretty tame. Gay Games should worry a lot less about acceptance and whole lot more about Gays getting deported home to places where they're only excuted for their acts,
Dutch Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk has announced that she wants to resume the repatriation of gay and lesbian asylum-seekers from Iran. The extradition of homosexuals to Iran was stopped last year after the hanging of two Iranian homosexuals. However, Ms Verdonk says that she has since learned that the two were in fact executed for robbery, kidnapping and the rape of a minor.
The immigration minister also defended her decision by saying that no-one is executed in Iran because of their homosexuality, but only for engaging in homosexual acts. She has promised to consult parliament before the policy change is implemented.
Bill, say how much you know about the signers of this letter. How many of them do you think would support a "war" on Islamist totalitarianism?
For years, I've known the work of two: Bernard-Henri Lévy, Salman Rushdie. Neither is any closer to the U.S. right's wars than to the Islamists'. I can't claim to know what company they keep.
It's the height of incredulity to use this letter as a buttress for right-wing campaigns that poison the promise of democracy with anti-Islamic intolerance and ignorance. And to say "gay activists" need to participate in a war lead by people who would turn on them next? That's too extreme. I don't believe you meant it this way, Bill. Maybe got caught up in the hype around the letter. Can you answer, how familiar are you with the letter signers?
More familiar than I am with you anonymous....
...judge the manifesto on it's merits.
They see a ...global struggle that confronts democrats and theocrats.
If the Gay Games want to change the world, it they want to join the stuggle... this seems like the goal to struggle and sacrifice towards.
If George Bush would happen to agree, well, why should that matter?
Right now, given Blagojevich's ambivilance on Hollywood Jews spreading filth and homosexuality, don't you agree George Bush is a Jew, a Homosexuals, anyone who values universal human rights... best hope?
We watch a Government advocate extermination of Isreal, of Jews, of Homosexuals... and Gay Activists in Illinois worry about Tom Roeser...
it's nuts... just nuts.
very loose connection
how does Tom Roeser fit in
He's one of the bogeymen for a lot of the activists.
Post a Comment