Since Sunday May 23 citizens of Kingston, Jamaica neighborhood, Tivoli Gardens, have been waging a fierce struggle against U.S. attempts to extradite a man the governments of Jamaica and U.S. have labeled one of the “world’s most dangerous narcotics kingpins.”
Christopher “Dudus” Coke, 42, is native to this neighborhood which is well known for its level of poverty and violence. He is said to have had control of this area since 1990 amassing a “dictator” like control on the people, trafficking guns, ordering murders, and orchestrating a drug ring that reaches beyond the shores of Jamaica.
However, the people of this neighborhood have a different understanding. “Dudus” has taken on the role that government has forfeited. He has created jobs, paid for school fees, loaned money to the residents, provided financial assistance, sponsored community programs all in an effort to make the suffering of the people a little better.
Because of this understanding, the people, who the media have called “his gang,” have risen up bombing and torching several police stations and have been engaged in fierce gun battles with the Jamaican armed forces.
These disturbances have cast an unappealing eye onto the “One Love” island that has been a playground to benefactors of capitalism.
While tourists and investors enjoy the post colonial slave service of the Africans of Jamaica, held up in the million dollar hotels, Africans have been suffering as a result of the neocolonial corrupt government’s disregard for their well-being.
The African masses have had to fend for themselves, doing what they must to survive and as a result are being attacked by police armed with military style gear and weaponry. This is the Jamaica they don’t show you and one most people aren’t ready to see.
Jamaica, like many other islands of the Caribbean, is the victim of imperialist engines, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
Although Jamaica was granted independence from its colonial master Great Britain in 1962, most of its resources were still controlled by foreign entities. Unemployment doubled, illiteracy was high and 55 percent of land was controlled by private farmers.
In 1972, when People’s National Party (PNP) candidate, Michael Manley was elected Prime Minister, he went about forging new relationships with Cuba and introducing progressive socialist policies intended to promote national ownership and increase self-sufficiency.
Under Manley, Jamaica established minimum wage for all workers, free education at secondary and university level, idle lands were distributed to the peasants, control of pricing on staple products was introduced, paid maternity leave was institutionalized and the voting age was reduced to 18 years old.
These policies afforded Jamaica some breathing room between itself and foreign dominators. However, as a result of an increase in oil prices, Jamaica would soon be within grasp of the empire’s clutches, once again.
In 1974, Jamaica underwent a severe economic crisis when the price of oil rose from $12 to $75 per barrel. The IMF took advantage of the situation presenting a plan geared toward short term development by providing money to take care of some immediate needs of the economy.
The trade off was a “capitalistic model based on free trade…[which] was in fact designed to force Jamaica to turn from industries which it depended on for development.”
(http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~aehaynes/politicssite/INDEX.html; Haynes, Annabelle; “Michael Manley’s foresight on the role of the IMF in Jamaica”)
Under the agreement, free zones were created (areas on Jamaican land that exempted from Jamaican law, taxation, custom duties on import and export and import licensing requirements) where foreign companies like Tommy Hilfiger and Brooks Brothers take full advantage of the lack of barriers.
Although these companies provide jobs to the jobless without needing to adhere to the minimum wage regulations of Jamaica, the people work for slave wages and have been replaced by imported Chinese workers that were brought to the island.
In addition to that, the government had to let down its trade restrictions, opening up its market to foreign imports. Many of these imports undercut the prices of national goods like bananas, potatoes, and dairy, destroying the internal economy.
Most farmers could not compete with foreign goods and as such their livelihood was irreversibly impacted.
Results of this can be seen upon a visit to any store on the island as the shelves are stocked with foreign goods.
Agriculture accounts for only 6 percent of the GDP, which is much lower than most developing countries.
Sugar is still a widely farmed crop, a remnant of the capitalist slave economy that is being exported at a cost set by the terms of this agreement.
To top it all off, the value of the Jamaican dollar was decreased and has never regained its market value; currently the exchange rate is US$1 to JMD$88.
Tourism brings in the most money which accounts for nearly 66 percent of the country’s GDP. School children are groomed to be happy smiling servants re-establishing a slave/master relationship to capitalist imperialism.
The economy of Jamaica is a result of this IMF agreement coupled with a spineless neocolonial government whose only interest is to appease its foreign masters, demonizing the population while distributing wealth to a small minority.
For years the impoverished neighborhoods of Jamaica have been war zones plagued with crime and corruption.
The people of these communities view the police as the enemy because they murder just as maliciously as the so called “criminals.”
In an economy where unemployment has risen and the government has abandoned the people for its own interest, it is no wonder that the Africans of Jamaica have turned to the means available to them to feed their families.
The problem does not originate from the people; instead the problem is the lack of good governance and capitalist greed, which created these objectionable conditions.
Under these current conditions, it is estimated that nearly 20,000 Africans emigrate from Jamaica to neighboring islands and the U.S. every year.
Left with no other alternative than to smile and take it, some would hope that the poor and destitute of the island should suffer in silence.
The people are revolting to protect their friend “Dudus” who has done more to improve their condition than the “officials” and in doing so are taking a stand against the U.S. and the Jamaican government.
This situation surrounding Christopher “Dudus” Cokes is one that we must all pay attention to. Why? Because it is indicative of a struggle that we must all make and make people aware of.
From this point on when you look at news from Jamaica ask yourself what has caused these conditions. The people are fed up and are illustrating the power of the masses.
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America's "Justice" System on the Roll.
Uneducated, Greedy Muslims are Easy Targets
Courtesy: The Daily Gazette (Schenectady, NY) [Copyright]
With thanks to New Trend reader Kwame Madden
June 20, 2010
Trial delayed in new fake terror case
by Carl Strock [by special permission to New Trend]
We are in the middle of another manufactured-terrorism case, this one in Newburgh, and it was going very smoothly until last week, when the presiding federal judge postponed the scheduled trial indefinitely, ordering the government to turn over more evidence that might be helpful to the defense. The defendants are four petty criminals, three black Americans and one Haitian, all of whom converted to Islam in prison and upon their release took to frequenting a mosque in Newburgh.
They were recruited into a fake terrorist plot by the same wretch who a few years ago duped two Albany Muslims into an exchange of checks for cash that could be sold to a jury as money-laundering in support of terrorism.
The FBI is still working him. I had thought such efforts to create terrorists in order to arrest them was an artifact of the Bush administration, which seemed unable to distinguish between real enemies and imaginary, but I was wrong. Here we are with a new, supposedly more enlightened, president and it's still going on.
The wretch is Shahed (or Shaheed) Hussain, a Pakistani who immigrated to this country in the early 1990s and soon began making his living in the Albany area by cheating on drivers license exams for immigrants who knew less English than he did. He was supposed to interpret for them but actually took their tests for them, for substantial fees.
He got caught and faced a string of felonies, to be followed by deportation, when the FBI got hold of him and put him to work in exchange for keeping him out of jail and allowing him to remain in this country. Undoubtedly a great boon to us all.
A miserable liar and cheat who couldn't distinguish truth from falsehood even when he was under oath in the Albany trial of Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain and was trying his best to make a good impression.
In the Newburgh affair, he presented himself in a black Mercedes, and, in a script apparently much favored by the FBI, let on to have a great deal of money, which he was very free with. Also to be a radical jihadist, or at least in league with radical jihadists.
He recruited these disaffected petty drug dealers and misfits with promises of money and cars, according to the FBI's own secret tape recordings, some of which have become public through court filings by the defense.
It took him a year to do it, but he did it. He got them to accompany him to the Air National Guard base at Stewart International Airport and take photographs, supposedly with a view to eventually shooting down airplanes with surface-to-air missiles.
He got them to plant what they thought were explosives at a synagogue and a Jewish community center in the Bronx.
There is no sign they would have done any of this on their own or even imagined doing it. Shahed Hussain, acting not as an informant as the government calls him but as an agent provocateur, coaxed them, urged them and bribed them.
"I told you I can make you $250,000, but you don't want it, brother," he said to his principal recruit, James Cromitie, a 45-year-old native of Brooklyn with 27 arrests on his record, when Cromitie showed reluctance.
At another point he told Cromitie he would pay lookouts $25,000 each, to which Cromitie responded, "If you can assure them that they gonna see that much money, they gonna go for it ; They will do it for the money; they're not even thinking about the cause."
Cromitie dreamed of a new car. "You're getting your car, brother -- the Beamer," Shahed Hussain told him.
A swell way for the government to protect us, no? Bribe some low-life ex-cons to participate in a fake plot and then arrest them on charges of terrorism and conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction. Possible sentence: life in prison.
After which Shahed Hussain will presumably ride off to his next slimy assignment, and the government will bask in glory for having blocked a terrorist attack.
Slimy?
"You should believe me, because I am your brother, I am your true brother," he told Cromitie regarding the promise of a new car. "I love you to death, brother."
Which is pretty much the approach he took when he was pressing money on Mohammed Hossain, owner of a hole-in-the-wall pizza shop on Central Avenue in Albany.
The difference: Back then his nomme de guerre was Malik; in Newburgh it was Maqsood.
I shouldn't be so hard on him, maybe. He's trying to save his skin. It's the FBI that writes the script and puts him to work acting it, and it's U.S. attorneys who prosecute these cases.
How dangerous would this Cromitie character have been in Newburgh without Shahed "Maqsood" Hussain to egg him on?
Apparently not very. The FBI agent running the operation, Robert Fuller (who also ran the celebrated Fort Dix operation), wrote to officials at Stewart Airport alerting them that Cromitie would be out there scouting for a possible attack site but assured them he would pose no danger without Hussain.
It was the revelation of a memo referring to that letter that prompted Judge Colleen McMahon last week to call a halt to the proceedings until the FBI produces all materials that might tend to exculpate the defendants, as the law requires.
She also noted that "the Government has retreated from its original position that the defendants had any connections to any international terrorist organization."
At this point the legal-minded reader might be asking, isn't the inducing of criminal activity forbidden? Isn't it called entrapment, and isn't it grounds for acquittal?
To which your legal correspondent answers, yes, it's forbidden, yes, it's called entrapment, and yes, it's grounds for acquittal -- except in cases of alleged Muslim terrorism, and then all rules are suspended. Not as a matter of law, of course, but as a practical matter.
I know this from the unhappy case of Aref and Hossain in Albany, who were equally induced to do things they would not have done otherwise and which they showed no previous inclination to do -- like launder money, which they didn't even understand -- and yet are now serving 15-year prison terms.
The federal appeals court that reviewed their case dismissed the entrapment argument without rebuttal but just with a wave of the hand.
If a government agent cajoles an ordinary citizen into a robbing a bank who had never robbed a bank before nor shown any inclination to rob a bank, that citizen has a sturdy defense and can expect to be exonerated.
But if a government agent cajoles a Muslim man into participating in a terrorist plot, no matter how far-fetched, and no matter how little inclination the Muslim man had previously shown for such activity, that Muslim man is dead meat.
I wait to see if things turn out any differently in Newburgh. And I also wait to see what Shahed Hussain's next assignment will be.
I hope it's not me. My car is getting run down, and if he offered me a new Beamer, heaven knows what I would do.
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Open Letter from a Patriot
Do not let Israel Push us into a War with Iran
Hamas is the Only Democratically elected Government in the Middle East
President Barack Obama
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear President Obama,
First of all, I would like to say that I helped sponsor your campaign with donations and voted for you in the last campaign. I was thrilled when you were elected. I thought you were your own man and could not be swayed by PAC money or blackmailed by the media.
Then May 31st came about with Israeli terrorist pirating several humanitarian ships with aid to Gaza, an area that is undergoing a terrible genocide. 10 people were murdered including one American and over 30 wounded. This was a horrible atrocity by the biggest terrorist nation in the Middle East now, perhaps the world. However, when you backed down on insisting that Israel stop all its settlement in Palestinian territory, and when you failed to go further than to "...regret the loss of life" when Israel resorted to piracy to stop the ships trying to undo the blockage of Gaza, I must conclude that you are incapable of standing up to the huge Zionist lobby. Your failure to insist on an end to Israel's blockade (by land, sea and air) of Gaza (an acknowledged open-air prison), makes one question whether you are truly on the side of human rights. Your Cairo speech was wonderful but your actions belie your words.
Why has the U.S. (and Israel) designated Hamas as a terrorist organization? What right do you have to do that? If one looks at destruction of life and property as a criterion of terrorism, Israel is by far more terroristic than Hamas. Hamas is actually the only democratically-elected government in the Middle East, Israel is in fact an ethnocracy, a democracy for Jews only.
I urge you not to let Israel (and the neo-cons here in the U.S. ) push us into a war with Iran, as they did in Iraq. I also urge you to side with Iran in its suggestion to make the Middle East a nuclear-free zone, which of course means that Israel gives up its nuclear weapons. It is past time to recognize Israel as the brutal oppressor it is rather than the perpetual victim it likes to make one believe. "What renders Israel's abuses unique throughout the world is the relentless effort to justify that which cannot be justified." Norman Finkelstein.
A patriotic American
Carolyn Johnson
[Florida]
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Hadith Studies by Kaukab Siddique
Perwezi sect's attack on Hadith:
Attempt to Claim that Hadith permits Sex during Menstruation
Libellous Attribution of Translation to Abdul Hameed Siddiqui
A heretical Pakistani group called Tolu-e-Islam, organized by a Pakistani writer named Ghulam Ahmed Pervez, has been making frantic efforts to discredit Hadith. Known for its subservience to western ideas against Islam, Tolu-i-Islam claims that it is serving the true Islam by calling people to concentrate on the Qur'an "only."
One of the books this group published was titled MAQAME HADITH which can be called its magnum opus because it was published in four editions, 1953, 1965, 1975 and 1986 WITHOUT change.
MAQAME HADITH (written in the Urdu language) is packed with baseless attacks on Hadith, quoted out of context and twisted in a variety of ways.
In one of its most vicious attacks, MAQAME HADITH tries to give the impression that the Hadith teaches sexual intercourse during menstruation and thus violates the Qur'an. MAQAME HADITH achieves this "meaning" by translating a key word in the Hadith about menstruation as MUBASHIRAT which in Urdu means sexual intercourse. (See page 202 of MAQAME HADITH under the heading: halate haiz main mubashirat)
The Perwezi sect could not succeed in Pakistan owing to the Islamic resurgence led by Maulana Maudoodi and later by the Jihad movements. Perwezis in Pakistan are residual now and exist largely in minute sections of the westernized ruling class which can easily be led astray owing to their relative ignorance of both the Qur'an and the Hadith.
However, the Perwezis retreated to Canada and started spreading their heresies among Pakistani immigrants and sometimes even among recent converts to Islam.
Earlier on Pakistan Forum and more recently on Wide Minds (two Pakistani discussion groups), a number of Perwezis made the same claim as in MAQAME HADITH, that the Hadith violates the Qur'an by teaching sexual intercourse during menstruation. I pointed out to the readers of these groups that no scholar of HADITH had EVER taught that the Hadith permits sex during menses. As a result I was subjected to incessant abuse by a number of Perwezis on these lists. The attackers tried to make the claim that I was defending Hadith because I am a "Mullah."
However, after the Perwezis were put on the defensive, they came up with the claim that they had finally found a translation of SAHIH MUSLIM which has the Hadith about menstruation which clearly says that the Prophet (pbuh) [nauzoobillah min zalik] did intercourse with his wife during menstruation. They said the TRANSLATION WAS BY ABDUL HAMID SIDDIQUI and was published from India!
They have been transmitting ABDUL HAMID SIDDIQUI's "translation" far and wide and claiming victory against Hadith on that basis.
UNFORTUNATELY FOR THE PERWEZIS, the library of Masjid Jamaat al-Muslimeen has Abdul Hamid Siddiqui's translation of SAHIH MUSLIM. Here is the translation from page 173 of Volume 1:
"(577) ‘Aisha (ra) reported: When anyone amongst us (amongst the wives of the Holy Prophet) menstruated, the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) asked her to tie a waist-wrapper over her (body) and then embraced her."
Not only does Abdul Hamid Siddiqui's translation NOT say anything about doing sexual intercourse, the translator seems to be aware of the attack by the enemies of Islam on this Hadith and he writes this commentary on this hadith: (same page)
"499. This tradition has been the target of worst criticism by the hostile critics of the Hadith. They assert that it contravenes the teaching of the Qur'an (ii.222), in which it has been commanded to keep aloof from women during menstrual period. But these critics little realise that it is the sexual intercourse with the menstruating women which is prohibited. The hadith gives no indication that the Holy Prophet acted against this injunction of the Qur'an. The very wording that he ordered to tie a waist-wrapper on the lower part of her body gives a clear indication that the Holy Prophet did not have sexual intercourse with his wives during this period of menstrual discharge; he simply embraced them. The verb yubashira does not necessarily mean sexual intercourse. It denotes to have contact, to touch (Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon).
Notice also that ABDUL HAMEED SIDDIQUI produced his translation of SAHIH MUSLIM in Pakistan, not India as the Perwezis claim. He wrote it and published it in Pakistan.
The question arises, why did the Perwezis decide to libel Abdul Hameed Siddiqui? Allah knows what is in their minds but we do need to notice that Abdul Hameed Siddiqui's translation of Sahih Muslim into English was a unique event. There are not many (IF ANY) other translations into English.
The Perwezis might have chosen to smear Abdul Hameed Siddiqui because he was an associate of Maulana Maudoodi (ra). G.A. Perwez, the doyen of the Perwezi sect, wrote at length and very viciously and abusively against Maulana Maudoodi. Obviously the disciples of Perwez want to continue their leader's tradition of fabrication.
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Letter
Re: Hadith Studies in June 3 issue of New Trend About Punishment for Rape
Bismillaah. As salaamu 'alaikum. Where will I find the quoted hadiith re: "For instance, the PUNISHMENT for RAPE is given in the Hadith ONLY, not in the Qur'an. Those who take the Qur'an ONLY have made the mistake of trying to apply the rule of 4 witnesses to rape. If that were accepted, most men would get away with rape [and that is happening in some cases, with the victim being punished instead]."
Abdul Ali' [Miami, Florida]
Answer from Br. Kaukab Siddique:
It's in my book LIBERATION of WOMEN THRU ISLAM.
The two Hadith about rape I have translated into English and quoted are from Tirmidhi's Sunan. Tirmidhi's Sunan is one of the six canonical books of Hadith.
See pages 91 and 92 of my book. I have also discussed how the two hadith connect with the Qur'an.
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Letter: Re: Uncouth Behavior in Masjids + Weak Defense of Zahid Bukhari: Al-Qur'an is not Subjective
[From a Muslim Teacher.]
As-Salaam Elekum Brother!
This latest issue of New Trend newsletter (of 6/18/2010) was extremely well-organized and focused on issues.
However, I feel it appropriate to respond with the following comments of a couple of items in it and they are:
(1) Refer article of Asma bint Shameen, "Women and Hijab: Where is your finger pointing?"
(A) No reference (awareness of the writer about this?) of the ayah in the Qur'an regarding use of hijab for older women (If your search contradicts my statement, please do inform me about it).
(B) Regarding the focus of the writer about responses of the Arab women towards her during Umrah when she was 16/17 years old and later (when she had become better informed about the Qur'an/Islam):
Based on my personal experience and observation of decades (of watching these incidents and, more importantly, experiences of others (both of Muslims and non-Muslims towards such negative incidents) and THE EFFECTS of these "harsh" "rude" "inhumane" behavior and attitude of Muslims-- such as the ones that this writer has described at length-- on the "victims" of these (particularly) ARAB men and women ( who seem to have a "belief" that they are gaining "sawaab/ spiritual rewards) when they do this for they are fulfilling a "religious duty" and are "educating" others about Islam). If not "bigotry" and "bias" they display uncouth behavior due to ignorance and lack of knowledge and education of many, many issues needed in this "modern" world such as basic communication skills. They turn their "victims" away from Islam.They never stop for a moment and think about the consequences of their behavior. What, for example, is the punishment" for turning human beings away from Islam since even many believing Muslims have "dropped out" of Islam because of their negative contacts with Muslims in masjids? As an educator I can say with confidence that these acts/behavior/attitudes-- far from educating, informing, reforming others-- (they) achieve just the opposite result/consequence. Besides, it is unnecessary and there are many more positive ways of responding to these situations with gentleness, kindness and good humor.
(2) Regarding letter in support of Zahid Bukhari activities. in "RE: ICNA leader Zaid Bukhari's Love Affair with the U.S. State Department." The writer's statement that the "Qur'an has always been 'subjective'" displays his ignorance of the very nature and use of Language and nature of discourse and of the functioning of the human brain when dealing with language (both oral and written). He assumes that this "subjectivity" as he calls it of the Qur'anic ayat /text makes them "ambiguous." Far from it. The Qur'an reaches the readers depending on the Spiritual level and sincere intentions of the reader AND their worldly experiences and belief systems. No human hand or mind could have achieved this level of comprehensiveness and complexity in Time and Space. It is proof that the Qur'an is a Sublime Revelation.
His statement, "And besides the verses that are ambigous..."-- and his entire third paragraph:: If it confuses any reader, the problem lies within them and they need to look for answers within themselves. Muslims should stop using the Qur'an when fighting their "earthly" arguments among themselves. It is extremely distressing when one notes that this writer is a professor of religion at a U.S. college in Athens, Georgia.
As-Salaam Elekum!
Sofia [New York City]
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Letter: [From ChaCha Kamal in England]
Non-Halal Animal content in some Chocolate Products
O mankind! Eat of that which is lawful and good on the earth, and
follow not the footsteps of Shaitan. Verily, he is to you an open
enemy. – The holy Qur’an, Surah 2, Verse 168.
He has forbidden you only the Maitah (dead animals), and blood, and
the flesh of swine, and that which is slaughtered as a sacrifice for
others than Allah- The holy Qur’an, Surah 2, Verse 173.
Mars, Twix, and other Masterfood Company Chocolate Products have
non-halal animal content (rennet) in them.
Please read the following bbc article; & be careful of not consuming
haraam.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6653175.stm---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kashmiris have been holding Rallies against Indian Occupation for the last 7 Days.
No Coverage in US Media.
June 24, 2010. Srinagar: Another Palestine: Photo shows Kashmiri kid throwing stones at Indian security forces.