Katie Hopkins, ever the self-publicist, has done it again. In the desire to play to an audience that is distrustful of Muslims and who may never have taken the time to get to know Muslims, Hopkins has once again, pushed the boundaries in packaging Muslims as being deviant.

Hopkins states:

“Muslim men raping white women is consistent with the teaching of Islam. Revoke their citizenship and deport the bastards. Asian my arse.”

The tweet infers that Muslims (note that she makes no distinction between Muslims), rape white women and that it is a religious directive of sorts. The text is clear on the following. That Islam teaches Muslim men to rape white women. On this point, there is no wiggle room on the tweet. It is clear.

Taking this point alone, the statement does not stand up and if we were to use the same logic, it could be said that Christian men were raping Muslim women in Bosnia in line with the teaching of the Christian church. Not only would such a statement by inflammatory, it would also be wrong. Whilst it could be strongly argued that the Church in Serbia sanctioned the brutal war against Croatia and Bosnia and in some instances, specific churches and priests sanctioned the use of brutal violence and sexual violence against Muslims in Bosnia, suggesting that Christianity drove such a lust for rape against Muslim women in Bosnia would be incendiary and deeply inflammatory. Yet, you can see the support for such rhetoric that is out there on social media which is deeply troubling and worrying.

Hopkins also plays to the ‘impulsive’, ‘uncontrollable’, and ‘sexually predatory’ tropes that were associated with the Black man who was enslaved in plantations and which has been a constant in the framing of men from non-white communities. Native Americans were also framed in this way, Jews were framed in this way in Germany in the 1930’s and young African Caribbean men were and continue to be framed in this way since they arrived in our country in the 1950’s.

So there is nothing different here, yet it must also be acknowledged that the activities in Rotherham, Rochdale and Oxford need to be looked at in light of the perpetrators and we must stand front and centre with the victims who suffered the most brutal abuse and worst still, being denied justice for so many years. It is telling that Hopkins chooses not to stand on this point but to punch buttons around all Muslims being potential rapists.

Muslim men raping white women is consistent with the teaching of Islam. Revoke their citizenship and deport the bastards. Asian my arse.

— Katie Hopkins (@KTHopkins) February 26, 2016

We would also like to add that we will be writing to the Metropolitan Police Service today on this material. This is not a one-off and there are a series of tweets that have been made before that are deeply troubling. Furthermore, we will be writing to Twitter to take action in relation to accounts that promote such wide sweeping bigoted statements and which are more about playing to an audience, than remembering about the victims of such abuse who deserve our support.

The post Katie Hopkins Suggests that Islam Teaches Muslim Men to Rape White Women appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Katie Hopkins, ever the self-publicist, has done it again. In the desire to play to an audience that is distrustful of Muslims and who may never have taken the time to get to know Muslims, Hopkins has once again, pushed the boundaries in packaging Muslims as being deviant.

Hopkins states:

“Muslim men raping white women is consistent with the teaching of Islam. Revoke their citizenship and deport the bastards. Asian my arse.”

The tweet infers that Muslims (note that she makes no distinction between Muslims), rape white women and that it is a religious directive of sorts. The text is clear on the following. That Islam teaches Muslim men to rape white women. On this point, there is no wiggle room on the tweet. It is clear.

Taking this point alone, the statement does not stand up and if we were to use the same logic, it could be said that Christian men were raping Muslim women in Bosnia in line with the teaching of the Christian church. Not only would such a statement by inflammatory, it would also be wrong. Whilst it could be strongly argued that the Church in Serbia sanctioned the brutal war against Croatia and Bosnia and in some instances, specific churches and priests sanctioned the use of brutal violence and sexual violence against Muslims in Bosnia, suggesting that Christianity drove such a lust for rape against Muslim women in Bosnia would be incendiary and deeply inflammatory. Yet, you can see the support for such rhetoric that is out there on social media which is deeply troubling and worrying.

Hopkins also plays to the ‘impulsive’, ‘uncontrollable’, and ‘sexually predatory’ tropes that were associated with the Black man who was enslaved in plantations and which has been a constant in the framing of men from non-white communities. Native Americans were also framed in this way, Jews were framed in this way in Germany in the 1930’s and young African Caribbean men were and continue to be framed in this way since they arrived in our country in the 1950’s.

So there is nothing different here, yet it must also be acknowledged that the activities in Rotherham, Rochdale and Oxford need to be looked at in light of the perpetrators and we must stand front and centre with the victims who suffered the most brutal abuse and worst still, being denied justice for so many years. It is telling that Hopkins chooses not to stand on this point but to punch buttons around all Muslims being potential rapists.

Muslim men raping white women is consistent with the teaching of Islam. Revoke their citizenship and deport the bastards. Asian my arse.

— Katie Hopkins (@KTHopkins) February 26, 2016

We would also like to add that we will be writing to the Metropolitan Police Service today on this material. This is not a one-off and there are a series of tweets that have been made before that are deeply troubling. Furthermore, we will be writing to Twitter to take action in relation to accounts that promote such wide sweeping bigoted statements and which are more about playing to an audience, than remembering about the victims of such abuse who deserve our support.

The post Katie Hopkins Suggests that Islam Teaches Muslim Men to Rape White Women appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Katie Hopkins, ever the self-publicist, has done it again. In the desire to play to an audience that is distrustful of Muslims and who may never have taken the time to get to know Muslims, Hopkins has once again, pushed the boundaries in packaging Muslims as being deviant.

Hopkins states:

“Muslim men raping white women is consistent with the teaching of Islam. Revoke their citizenship and deport the bastards. Asian my arse.”

The tweet infers that Muslims (note that she makes no distinction between Muslims), rape white women and that it is a religious directive of sorts. The text is clear on the following. That Islam teaches Muslim men to rape white women. On this point, there is no wiggle room on the tweet. It is clear.

Taking this point alone, the statement does not stand up and if we were to use the same logic, it could be said that Christian men were raping Muslim women in Bosnia in line with the teaching of the Christian church. Not only would such a statement by inflammatory, it would also be wrong. Whilst it could be strongly argued that the Church in Serbia sanctioned the brutal war against Croatia and Bosnia and in some instances, specific churches and priests sanctioned the use of brutal violence and sexual violence against Muslims in Bosnia, suggesting that Christianity drove such a lust for rape against Muslim women in Bosnia would be incendiary and deeply inflammatory. Yet, you can see the support for such rhetoric that is out there on social media which is deeply troubling and worrying.

Hopkins also plays to the ‘impulsive’, ‘uncontrollable’, and ‘sexually predatory’ tropes that were associated with the Black man who was enslaved in plantations and which has been a constant in the framing of men from non-white communities. Native Americans were also framed in this way, Jews were framed in this way in Germany in the 1930’s and young African Caribbean men were and continue to be framed in this way since they arrived in our country in the 1950’s.

So there is nothing different here, yet it must also be acknowledged that the activities in Rotherham, Rochdale and Oxford need to be looked at in light of the perpetrators and we must stand front and centre with the victims who suffered the most brutal abuse and worst still, being denied justice for so many years. It is telling that Hopkins chooses not to stand on this point but to punch buttons around all Muslims being potential rapists.

Muslim men raping white women is consistent with the teaching of Islam. Revoke their citizenship and deport the bastards. Asian my arse.

— Katie Hopkins (@KTHopkins) February 26, 2016

We would also like to add that we will be writing to the Metropolitan Police Service today on this material. This is not a one-off and there are a series of tweets that have been made before that are deeply troubling. Furthermore, we will be writing to Twitter to take action in relation to accounts that promote such wide sweeping bigoted statements and which are more about playing to an audience, than remembering about the victims of such abuse who deserve our support.

The post Katie Hopkins Suggests that Islam Teaches Muslim Men to Rape White Women appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Katie Hopkins, ever the self-publicist, has done it again. In the desire to play to an audience that is distrustful of Muslims and who may never have taken the time to get to know Muslims, Hopkins has once again, pushed the boundaries in packaging Muslims as being deviant.

Hopkins states:

“Muslim men raping white women is consistent with the teaching of Islam. Revoke their citizenship and deport the bastards. Asian my arse.”

The tweet infers that Muslims (note that she makes no distinction between Muslims), rape white women and that it is a religious directive of sorts. The text is clear on the following. That Islam teaches Muslim men to rape white women. On this point, there is no wiggle room on the tweet. It is clear.

Taking this point alone, the statement does not stand up and if we were to use the same logic, it could be said that Christian men were raping Muslim women in Bosnia in line with the teaching of the Christian church. Not only would such a statement by inflammatory, it would also be wrong. Whilst it could be strongly argued that the Church in Serbia sanctioned the brutal war against Croatia and Bosnia and in some instances, specific churches and priests sanctioned the use of brutal violence and sexual violence against Muslims in Bosnia, suggesting that Christianity drove such a lust for rape against Muslim women in Bosnia would be incendiary and deeply inflammatory. Yet, you can see the support for such rhetoric that is out there on social media which is deeply troubling and worrying.

Hopkins also plays to the ‘impulsive’, ‘uncontrollable’, and ‘sexually predatory’ tropes that were associated with the Black man who was enslaved in plantations and which has been a constant in the framing of men from non-white communities. Native Americans were also framed in this way, Jews were framed in this way in Germany in the 1930’s and young African Caribbean men were and continue to be framed in this way since they arrived in our country in the 1950’s.

So there is nothing different here, yet it must also be acknowledged that the activities in Rotherham, Rochdale and Oxford need to be looked at in light of the perpetrators and we must stand front and centre with the victims who suffered the most brutal abuse and worst still, being denied justice for so many years. It is telling that Hopkins chooses not to stand on this point but to punch buttons around all Muslims being potential rapists.

Muslim men raping white women is consistent with the teaching of Islam. Revoke their citizenship and deport the bastards. Asian my arse.

— Katie Hopkins (@KTHopkins) February 26, 2016

We would also like to add that we will be writing to the Metropolitan Police Service today on this material. This is not a one-off and there are a series of tweets that have been made before that are deeply troubling. Furthermore, we will be writing to Twitter to take action in relation to accounts that promote such wide sweeping bigoted statements and which are more about playing to an audience, than remembering about the victims of such abuse who deserve our support.

The post Katie Hopkins Suggests that Islam Teaches Muslim Men to Rape White Women appeared first on TELL MAMA.

“When crimes begin to pile up they become invisible. When sufferings become unendurable the cries are no longer heard. The cries, too, fall like rain in summer,” wrote the German poet Bertolt Brecht in 1935.

This Saturday marks twenty years since the genocide in Srebrenica, denial of this genocide continues to poison the debate and efforts of reconciliation. The failure to prevent this genocide falls upon parts of Europe, the United States and United Nations.

As of this year, 8,372 graves bear the names of the murdered Bosnian Muslims. Forensic experts continue to find human remains. Radovan Karadžic and General Ratko Mladic await verdicts in trials for directing genocide.

Dutch forces shoulder much of the blame. For example, peacekeepers forced thousands of Muslim families out of their compound after pressure from Mladic’s troops.

Last year, the Hague ordered the Netherlands to compensate the families of over 300 men murdered in the genocide.

Dutch troops were so eager to leave, that outside of one exception, ignored signals of the looming offensive. They failed to report ‘troop movements, new reinforcements coming into the area, and large amounts of fuel being sent to the enclave’.

A recent Observer article claimed the UN provided 30,000 litres of petrol. Serb forces used it to transport individuals to kill sites and plough the dead into mass graves.

Declassified US cables revealed that the CIA ‘watched’ the killing fields from satellite planes. Even with that knowledge, western negotiators did not raise it Serb leaders.

The Srebrenica offensive began at 3am on July 6 1995, to the sounds of heavy shelling. In the days ahead, Dutch troops refused requests to fight on behalf of the Bosnian army. They also blocked local defence forces from accessing their weapons stored in UN buildings. Soon the Dutch forces were overrun on one observation post.

On July 9, NATO jets flew overhead but the UN opted for a ground approach. At that time, an EU effort to get Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic to recognise Bosnia and Herzegovina prevented bombings. It took until July 11 for the UN to call in full air support. The long awaited air strike destroyed a single tank. A UN official later acknowledged the ‘meager’ response.

In 1995, Human Rights Watch published a far-reaching report into Srebrenica and the UN’s failings. It included Dutch forces destroying video evidence of human rights abuses.

To understand the sentiments that drove genocide requires a brief history lesson. Sections of Serb society still lionise Draža Mihajlović, leader of the ultra-nationalist Chetnik movement during World War II. Chetniks carried out a series of atrocities against Muslims in the Drina valley. Fueled by utopian visions of an ‘ethnically-pure Greater Serbia’ they ‘cleansed’ areas by purging them of Muslims and Croats.

Convicted war criminal Mitar Vasiljevic returned to a hero’s welcome in Visegrad in 2010. The parade in the small town included music and a procession of cars. Vasiljevic’s hat bore the Chetniks emblem. On a political level, laws sought to rehabilitate some Chetnik criminals.

Many of the murderers in other parts of the country borrowed the Chetnik look: wild beards, fur hats, and skull-and-crossbone flags. A latent anti-Muslim sentiment transplanted into a different era.

The rewriting of histories, of lies, and omissions happened in the education system.

Sexual violence was also common during the Srebrenica genocide. An estimated 20,000-50,000 women experienced rape or other forms of sexual violence. Impregnated women found themselves in camps until they could no longer seek abortions.

Bakira Hasečić, a rape survivor created the Association of Women Victims of War. Her, and other survivors, are sometimes shunned in society, the perpetrators are not. Injustice is not found in genocide denial alone; but in the injustice that robs individuals of their victimhood – to reconcile and take ownership of it.

Mothers buried their sons and husbands in fragments, limbs, and skulls. Others are not so lucky; some still search for the dead, denied the chance to learn where the murdered rest. How does a person mourn when grief feels as enduring as the dawn?

A member of “Srebrenica Mothers,” an umbrella organisation, of roughly 200 women preserves the memories of the murdered. At a recent Armed Forces Muslim Forum event, the testimony of one mother captured this enduring grief. She spoke of the complicity of individuals who joke and demean her suffering. Of individuals who deny genocide and locations of mass graves.

On a geopolitical level, Russia vetoed a UN resolution to recognise the genocide. The resolution said that “acceptance of the tragic events at Srebrenica as genocide is a prerequisite for reconciliation”.

Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin described the resolution as ‘divisive’. Angola, China, Nigeria and Venezuela also abstained. If a permanent member casts a negative vote on a resolution, it fails.

Saturday will bring quiet moments of reflective mourning. But beyond that, the battle for a collective truth that recognises genocide continues.

The post Genocide denial still haunts the Srebrenica debate appeared first on Religious Reader.