Skip to main content

A not-so-small step

Who can forget the horrendous kidnapping and then murder of journalist Daniel Pearl a few years ago now. It again showed terrorism at its very worst.

On the eve of the 5th anniverary of what has now become known as 9/11, it is hard to believe that something like this could come about:

"The father of slain Wall Street journalist Daniel Pearl will share a prize for activism with a Muslim man.

Judea Pearl and Akbar Ahmed are joint recipients of a new $100,000 prize for their campaign against intolerance and terrorism.

The Los Angeles - and Washington - based professors were among five recipients of the newly established Purpose Prize, awarded to Americans age 60 or older who are using their experience and skills to address long-standing social problems.

Pearl, 69, an authority on artificial intelligence at UCLA, became a semi-public figure when his son was kidnapped and brutally murdered by Islamic extremists in Karachi, Pakistan in 2002.

In response to the tragedy, Pearl and his wife Ruth established a foundation in their son’s name to further understanding between East and West through journalism, music and dialogue.

Ahmed, 63, holds the chair in Islamic Studies at American University in Washington. He was born in Karachi and is a former Pakistani ambassador to Great Britain."

Read this article from JTA in the light of all those over-the-top and ignorant statements by George Bush about Islamic fascists, the demonising of Muslims around the world and politicians who still proclaim that they won't talk to those they don't want to, even if they are elected officials. Simply....plain dumb!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Robert Fisk's predictions for the Middle East in 2013

There is no gain-saying that Robert Fisk, fiercely independent and feisty to boot, is the veteran journalist and author covering the Middle East. Who doesn't he know or hasn't he met over the years in reporting from Beirut - where he lives?  In his latest op-ed piece for The Independent he lays out his predictions for the Middle East for 2013. Read the piece in full, here - well worthwhile - but an extract... "Never make predictions in the Middle East. My crystal ball broke long ago. But predicting the region has an honourable pedigree. “An Arab movement, newly-risen, is looming in the distance,” a French traveller to the Gulf and Baghdad wrote in 1883, “and a race hitherto downtrodden will presently claim its due place in the destinies of Islam.” A year earlier, a British diplomat in Jeddah confided that “it is within my knowledge... that the idea of freedom does at present agitate some minds even in Mecca...” So let’s say this for 2013: the “Arab Awakening” (the t

The NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) goes on hold.....because of one non-Treaty member (Israel)

Isn't there something radically wrong here?    Israel, a non-signatory to the NPT has, evidently, been the cause for those countries that are Treaty members, notably Canada, the US and the UK, after 4 weeks of negotiation, effectively blocking off any meaningful progress in ensuring the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.    IPS reports ..... "After nearly four weeks of negotiations, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference ended in a predictable outcome: a text overwhelmingly reflecting the views and interests of the nuclear-armed states and some of their nuclear-dependent allies. “The process to develop the draft Review Conference outcome document was anti-democratic and nontransparent,” Ray Acheson, director, Reaching Critical Will, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), told IPS. “This Review Conference has demonstrated beyond any doubt that continuing to rely on the nuclear-armed states or their nuclear-dependent allies for l

#1 Prize for a bizarre story.....and lying!

No comment called for in this piece from CommonDreams: Another young black man: The strange sad case of 21-year-old Chavis Carter. Police in Jonesboro, Arkansas  stopped  him and two friends, found some marijuana, searched put Carter, then put him handcuffed  behind his back  into their patrol car, where they say he  shot himself  in the head with a gun they failed to find. The FBI is investigating. Police Chief Michael Yates, who stands behind his officers' story,  says in an interview  that the death is "definitely bizarre and defies logic at first glance." You think?