Effing Islamists declare war on music in Mali not to mention start stoning, lopping off hands

[snagglepuss]

Islamist militants are banning music in northern Mali, a chilling proposition for a country where music is akin to mineral wealth


snip

The ban comes in the context of a horrifically literal and gratuitous application of Sharia law in all aspects of daily life. Militiamen are cutting off the hands and feet of thieves or stoning adulterers. Smokers, alcohol drinkers and women who are not properly attired are being publicly whipped. As one well-known Touareg musician from Kidal says: "There's a lack of joy. No one is dancing. There are no parties. Everybody's under this kind of spell. It's strange."



snip

The pickup halted in Kidal, the far-flung Malian desert town that is home to members of the Grammy award-winning band Tinariwen. Seven AK47-toting militiamen got out and marched to the family home of a local musician. He wasn't home, but the message delivered to his sister was chilling: "If you speak to him, tell him that if he ever shows his face in this town again, we'll cut off all the fingers he uses to play his guitar with."

The gang then removed guitars, amplifiers, speakers, microphones and a drum kit from the house, doused them with petrol, and set them ablaze. In northern Mali, religious war has been declared on music.

When a rabble of different Islamist groups took control of the region in April there were fears that its rich culture would suffer. But no one imagined that music would almost cease to exist – not in Mali, a country that has become internationally renowned for its sound.




http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/23/mali-militants-declare-war-music

[Marr]

1. I'm so sick of these medieval lunatics.

They're going to be the end of this species, I just know it. Maybe not this particular flavor, maybe not this century, but I have little doubt that the closing bang will be initiated by stunted minds like these.

[madrchsod]

2. for those who have never heard and why this is important.

&feature=related

and the late...

&feature=related


mali is one the pillars of american blues and rock and roll. and this can all be traced back to arabia.

[nebenaube]

3. Let's invade!

Seriously... End this before it spreads.

[Nye Bevan]

4. Yeah, but the Christians were just as bad in the Crusades.

And the right-wing Christians in the US would do the same stuff if they could.

There, I saved a bunch of people the trouble of posting this.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

8. The Crusades were a long time ago and the West has come a long way since then

Other groups not so much.

[RC]

17. No, we haven't.

Look at our record in the Middle East.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

22. There are gays being stoned to death in the Middle East just for being gay

It is not the western countries doing it.

[Aerows]

46. Just today

there was a story about a gay activist in Queens getting his head bashed in so hard, the family ended up taking him off of life support. Now I don't know if that was motivated by the fact that he is gay, but gay bashing most certainly does happen in the US. There are plenty of churches and pastors that have encouraged it. If you need examples of pastors calling homosexuality a crime worthy of death, you'll have to give me a while to come up with all of them because it seems like every week one of them says something to that effect.

If you need examples of people put to death in the US because they are gay, look no further than Matthew Shepard .

[ProgressiveProfessor]

54. There is a world of difference between criminal activity (Shepard, bashing) & state ordered stonings

And the difference in the level or risk is equally dramatic. Gay bashers go to jail in the US when apprehended, in muslim nations the stone throwers are the state.

I teach firearms classes on the weekends mostly to GLBTs and women. It provides the most effective means for their self defense. As the Pink Pistols say, you can't bash an armed gay.

[RC]

56. We have drones blowing up people just because they are people.

Rescuers show up to bury what's left of the dead or help any survivors and we blow them up too. And we do it all from remote control, so we won't be in harms way. Too bad we can't get close enough before hand to see who it is that we are about to murder.
Quite often, we have no way of knowing who we are blowing up. Just someone's say so that there is a terrorist close by. Never mind the innocent children, women and men actually living there. For innocent people, dead is dead, no matter whether we do it for our ignoble reasons or someone else does it for theirs.
You can not come up with a better way of making the war on terror go on forever. Just don't kill them off faster than they can reproduce.

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. Oh, you poor, pre-emptively oppressed thing, you!

Please, please, won't someone think of the Christians who are waiting to be bullied so that they can muscle in on someone else's thread? They're sitting there, all alone, no-one even bothering to attack them today, so they have to go begging in other stories, just looking for reasons they can play the victim!

[_ed_]

13. Of course - your god is better than their god

.

[left-of-center2012]

25. ... Right-wing Christians in the US would do the same stuff ...

Today the right wing religious nuts want to control women's vaginas ~
tomorrow the world.

[Aerows]

47. There are certainly

plenty of right wing Christians advocating horrible acts.

[riderinthestorm]

5. Disgusting. Recced only so more people can see the story. nt

[cliffordu]

6. They need to be exterminated.

They are psychotic and, I fear, resistant to rehab as pedophiles.

[DollarBillHines]

7. This is just mind-breakingly sad.

Music is Life to the Mali people.

[amborin]

9. At the rate we're going, w/ our American Taliban, we'll have that here soon. n/t

[cali]

12. utter nonsense.

why do people say such patently ridiculous things. We certainly have our own problems and real things to worry about- like losing reproductive rights. We are no in danger of stoning or limbs being chopped off for listening to music. History might teach you a thing or two.

[Nye Bevan]

14. YES. I mean, Christians perpetrated the Crusades, the Salem Witch Trials,

and burnings at the stake in the 16th century. So yes, I expect them to start stoning people to death and chopping off people's hands any day now.

[WinkyDink]

39. You DO know the difference between the 16th Century and the post-Enlightenment?

[leftynyc]

15. Horseshit

And shame on you for minimizing what's happening there by comparing it to our fundies. Ours aren't even in the same universe as these cretins.

[amborin]

19. echoes of Pam Geller?

Why so hot around the collar?

There's plenty of hate speech, threats of violence, and actual violence committed in the U.S. in the name of Christianity.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

23. It can't be from Geller since there is some truth in it

You can get stoned to death for being gay in some muslim countries. Its national law, based on the shariah. That is not happening in the west.

In the middle of the US bible belt, an openly gay couple might have a harder time finding a place to rent but that is not in the same league as stoning them to death just for being gay.

The level of risk is dramatically different. Failure to recognize that is intellectual dishonesty at best.

[amborin]

24. using religious ideology to excuse or justify hate speech and/or violence is what is the issue here

Islamists have no lock on that. Evangelical christians incite anti-gay sentiment here in the U.S., regularly, and gays have been brutally attacked and murdered here, also.

[cali]

26. Yes, our xian fundamentalist pose a real threat, but it's not the same threat.

What is the threat? It's not the execution of LGBT folks, it's the abrogation of their rights. It's not the stoning of women, it's a roll back of reproductive rights. It's important to face the real threat instead of the one you're making up.

[amborin]

30. Understanding ideological diffusion, master framing, electoral empowerment, etc. is admittedly

challenging; check back with me and I'll provide you with a starter reading list.

[left-of-center2012]

27. Evangelical christians incite anti-gay sentiment here in the U.S.

[img][/img]

[ProgressiveProfessor]

33. The risk is no where near the same and you know that

I regularly teach firearms courses to GLBTs and women. They seem to get what you don't....levels of risk.

Yes both are wrong, but in one case it is people acting illegally (discrimination, gay bashing) the other is state supported stoning.

As the Pinks say, you cannot bash an armed gay.

[leftynyc]

34. And you compare hate speech

to cutting off hands and feet? Stoning people? Seriously? And I'm "hot under the collar" because bullshit false equivalence pisses me off. Comparing me to Pam Geller? Welcome to ignore.

[GoneOffShore]

21. They're not in in the same universe except for Terry Jones and

Fred Phelps and Family, and those other fans of theocracy.

I really love the folks who keep saying "It can't happen here. Our crazy fundamentalists can be kept in check."

Yeah, right. We haven't kept them in check for the last 30 years. They're focused on rolling back ANY progressive policy gains made since FDR. They want "The Handmaids Tale" here and now.

So I call bullshit on your "horseshit".

[ProgressiveProfessor]

35. I have never seen those nut cases call for the stoning of gays in the public square

under color of law. However, it is the law of nations whose legal codes are based on the shariah.

So I call malarkey on your calling bullshit on their calling horseshit.

[leftynyc]

37. I'm unaware that the phelps group

has the authority to cut off limbs. Could you link me to that? Or is it just their hateful speech that you consider comparable to this?

[WinkyDink]

38. Get REAL. Stoning? Hand-chopping? Girls denied schooling while having acid thrown in their faces?

[GoneOffShore]

49. You know - when you can't see the forest for the trees......

[billh58]

57. Are you saying

that American fundies don't have a history of lynchings, bombing of black churches, outright murder and torture of minorities, and the murder of doctors who perform abortions. Do you really believe that the American religious fanatics have not committed vile acts of hatred and violence against African Americans, Jews, Islamists, Hindus, American Indians, and Mexicans?

Really? Our "Christian" fundamentalists "aren't even in the same universe as these cretins?"

Without our legal system (which Mali lacks) "our" fundies would make the Taliban and other extremists look like Boy Scouts in comparison given their easy access to guns. Denials and apologies for the Tea-Party, "Christian" Far Right do not make their hate crimes and capacity for violence disappear, or make them any less potentially dangerous.

[cherokeeprogressive]

16. Pure idiocy.

[Codeine]

18. That's a fucking idiotic statement. nt

[amborin]

20. LOL!

My post seems to have triggered some rage

.

[cali]

29. I don't think it's rage but despair over your cultural and historical illiteracy.

[amborin]

31. LOLOL......again, check back w/ me for a starter reading list eom

[hifiguy]

45. You might want to do a little research on

dominionism. There are many dominionists in this country and they are all - surprise - Republican. They advocate a return to "biblical" law, including the death penalty for all gays, stoning adulterers and the like.

Google RJ Rushdooney. They are here and among us, and plotting their ascendancy. Pretending they are not is not a wise thing to do. www.yuricareport.com is a great resource for understanding these barbarians.

[amborin]

51. exactly,

speaking of which, _Roads to Dominion_ discusses the history of the radical right extremists' rise to power

[billh58]

50. And rightfully so.

Last edited Fri Oct 26, 2012, 09:39 PM - Edit history (1)

Those who believe that American fundamentalists don't possess the desire and rage necessary to perform inhumane acts of violence have forgotten the recent past. Slavery, lynchings, church bombings, mob riots over education, and the list goes on. The only thing that keeps them in check today is the much improved American legal system, and instant press coverage, yet they still manage to shoot doctors, burn crosses, and disrupt funerals.

Rage? Where is the rage against our own American Taliban religious fanatics. Thinking that we are better than the people of Mali is dangerous, and for the most part untrue. Human nature is universal -- both the good parts, AND the bad.

And yes, the West should assist places like Mali with countering their religious fanatics and movements like the Taliban -- wherever they exist.

[billh58]

43. Exactly!

The American Taliban Tea-Party extremists are every bit as vicious as these fanatics, but we have better forms of law enforcement to keep them in check. Without that protection, these "American" idiots would openly be shooting doctors at abortion clinics, atheists, people of color, non-Christians, and anyone else who they perceive as un-American.

Mali is a poor country, and for the most part lawless, so these assholes can impose their fanatical religious beliefs on their own countrymen at will. And, for the record, these extremists are NOT representative of the majority of the world's population of Islamists, just as our American fanatical extremists are not representative of the majority of American citizens.

Extremism in any form, and from any religion or nationality, if allowed to fester and grow will always lead to unchecked violence. That is why the American Taliban must be confronted and constrained by all legal means at our disposal.

[RainDog]

10. k&r n/t

[HooptieWagon]

28. Fuckers. Mali music is amazing.

Birthplace of the Harp and Banjo.

[HappyMe]

32. Horrific and sad.

Wow.

[WinkyDink]

36. The people need to hunt down and kill these fanatics---if at all possible.

[jsr]

40. Agreed. They're a threat to humanity.

I hope the locals rise up and run them out of town.

[Initech]

41. Um... fuck them.

[hifiguy]

42. Fundy religion. The greatest threat to the continued survival

of the species. Dress insanity in the garb of some invisible sky wizard and there is no atrocity that cannot be justified. Sick, sick, sick.

[amborin]

52. +10000

[Whovian]

44. I so hate religion. It seems as if we have our own brand of Sharia law coming here.

[leftstreet]

48. Azawad (in Northern Mali) has a lot of uranium n/t

[Bucky]

53. The extremes you have to go to be worse than Republicans

[shanti]

55. no more "festival in the desert"??

http://www.festival-au-desert.org/