We Sweden

May the Almighty shower His blessings on us all.

http://www.thelocal.se/24678/20100129/

If anything this is nothing less than testimony to Sweden’s great humanitarian generosity and tolerance by providing a home for those who have fled persecution and intolerance, violence, poverty and lack of democracy and opportunity in their places of origin.

 All this contributes to the notion of Sweden being a great Nation – and of Sweden having been a great Immigrant Nation – and there too there is a point of Saturation

Undoubtedly, this demographic reality will be a contributing factor to the outcome of the September elections and political parties, not least of all the Sweden Democrats, will be pandering to various sections of the Swedish electorate, to capture their votes.

The current reality is compounded by further recent developments such as

http://www.thelocal.se/search.php?keywordSearch=Sabuni&type=news

http://www.thelocal.se/search.php?keywordSearch=Muslims&type=news

not to mention the on-going debates and changes in European attitudes towards  e.g. the Burka  - especially in France – and as we see,  both Fredrik Reinfeldt whose position is in my opinion more definitive and liberal – and Mona Sahlin who ( like Obama) appears to be still shooting from both sides of her mouth and would also like to win as many Muslim and Muslim sympathisers’ votes as possible, both of them, ( Reinfeldt and Sahlin)  without jeopardising their respective party’s popularity by alienating Swedish opinion which could be less liberal than the freedom that Muslim women’s  Muslim religious fashion demands  not about underwear but  about public / private externals such as hijab and Burka  - to conceal women’s other beautiful body parts which  according to Islam were not meant to be viewed by unauthorised people, in public spaces and places.

Here are a few common perspectives about the burka in non-Muslim lands (dar al-Harb)

http://www.google.com/search?rawq=the+burka&q=site%3Awww.israpundit.com+the+burka

 As to the germane  question of how to reduce the unusually high unemployment figures among immigrants, including highly qualified professional ones, Ivan Daza puts some of the available statistics to good use and if only the Swedish government of today and tomorrow could incline their ears to what he says  they could then take further steps to put in place  policies that could be implemented as solution to the problems that have to be solved, failing which there will  be some inevitable  and quite predictable consequences such as the time bomb that  Lady Nyamko Sabuni says is already ticking  – because as  psychologists, we all know that  violence is always  if not mostly, preceded by frustration….

 The first paragraph of the very first response to the Local’s article reads:

“The third largest population is from Iraq. Over 100,000 Iraqi’s are now in Sweden. We must find productive uses for their talents as soon as possible.”

http://www.thelocal.se/24678/20100129/

I think that Ivan Daza who has been working on behalf of enlightenment for some time now, in this article that I quote through this link throws considerable light on the possible solutions to the problem of how to use the enormous human capital of the foreigner/ immigrant in Sweden and for his many efforts in this regard, in my humble opinion he deserves at least a box of chocolates:

 http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=sv&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fentrepreneursthlm.nu%2Fblogg&sl=sv&tl=en

Ivan Daza:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Ivan+Daza

My only reservation about  the article which is perfect in the original Swedish  is that the automated translation is far from perfect, but  his intended  meanings are clear enough and will have to do , if I’m to quote him  through this link.

There are also considerations about the kinds of steps that are being taken in Britain for example, to cope with even greater diversity than what we have in Sweden  – taking into consideration the great differences of course, between We Sweden and Great Britain which under Queen Victoria could boast of an Empire on which the sun never set – an empire which has now been replaced by a Commonwealth  which accounts for a good number of  the UK’s immigrant population which is more easily absorbed into British mainstream  because first of all there is much less of a language problem  ( the Commonwealth is co-extensive with the varieties of the English Language)  – and furthermore, the UK , like the Netherlands  has been used to dealing with immigrants  for a very long time.

 First of all there is this common background shared by much of Europe: the fear of Eurabia, a demographic nightmare for the Judeo- Christian & secular axis of humanity

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=Eurabia

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&rlz=1R2GGLL_enSE351&q=Eurabia

But the UK and Sweden have one feature in common (not that I am about to suggest any equivalence between the BNP and Sweden Democrats, except that they both appear to be – realistically or not, anti- Immigration, and not without cause or reason, and both seem to be hovering above 6% popularity in their respectively great democracies.

 British National Party:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=BNP

Sweden Democrats.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=Sweden+Democrats

In the meantime the Swedish ministry of Integration and Equality could be taking a closer look at how Britain for example is approaching a not vastly dissimilar problem:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&rlz=1R2GGLL_enSE351&q=UK+%3A+Race+Equality+schemes

and

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&rlz=1R2GGLL_enSE351&q=UK+%3A+Jobcentre+%3A+Race+Equality+schemes

May the Almighty bless us all….

In conclusion I should just like to add that the most beautiful (futuristically speaking) vision in the post-multiculturalism debate is the book by the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth’s, the most excellent Chief Rabbi Lord Sir Jonathan Sacks.  It’s highly recommended reading for everyone who is interested in the future of the multi-ethnic diversity of our European countries: “The Home We Build Together “by Jonathan Sacks

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&rlz=1R2GGLL_enSE351&q=Jonathan+Sacks%3A+The+Home+We+Build+Together

May the Almighty open all hearts  and shower His blessings on us all.

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And “actions speak louder than words”:

http://boards.ign.com/teh_vestibule/b5296/188612506/r188613660/

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Final clarity about that item which occupied so much space in the Swedish media, especially here at the Local where many mouths were foaming with indignation.

Well, here’s an update that lays to rest any mis-understandings.

 From this time onwards I think that  the most important items on the national calendar are surely the historic Royal Wedding of Princess Victoria and Daniel –  which will transform Stockholm into the centre of World Gravity – and Gaiety – for a while – ( and with some style)  as the nation and well-wishers here and from around the world celebrate the great occasion.

 After that the nation will be gearing up and getting ready for the final round leading to THE DAY OF JUDGMENT, on 15^th September when the nation goes to the Polls.

I guess that we’ll be mostly focused on these two items, in the coming months, weeks, days….

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http://www.sweden.gov.se/sb/d/12653/a/138061

http://www.thelocal.se/24360/20100113/

Even as our most generous nation rallies to the call to save life and alleviate suffering, I can think of no better words to encourage all of us, than what I’ve just read, here:

http://meaningfullife.com/oped/2010/1.14.10$VaeiraCOLON_Haiti.php

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http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&rlz=1R2GGLL_enSE351&q=Du+Gamla+Du+Fria

It’s our world – the world of climate change . Regime change is another combination of that word CHANGE, with another word.

 What will Sweden do?

 What can Sweden do?

Sweden Democrats may have more pressing concerns, but I know that they would, if they could.

Others will say – ta det lugnt – why worry (be happy?) what concern is it of yours? We’ll cross that hurdle when we get to it.

Worried, since Curtis Mayfield sang “(Don’t Worry) If There’s a Hell Below, We’re All Going to Go …”

This is my reaction not as a result of “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer”, but as a result of first reading this little piece of newz:

http://www.israpundit.com/2008/?p=19620#respond

 So, after Jimmy Carter

 came Barack Hussein, the Mighty Bama:

 What will you DO?

 ”I’ll do everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Everything,” said he.

 Cf:  Bruce Almighty, tagline: How would you handle the most awesome responsibility in the universe?

 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0315327/

 ”I’ll do everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Everything,” said Obama before he became the Mighty Bama to the AIPAC:

 http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=Obama+and+AIPAC

 http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/990201.html

 They say that the way to hell can be paved with good intentions:

 “He got a sweet gift of gab, he got a harmonious tongue,

 He knows every song of love that ever has been sung.

 Good intentions can be evil,

Both hands can be full of grease.

 You know that sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace.”

Even before he became president some of the Hawks predicted that Barack Hussein Obama would prove to be more like Jimmy Carter than like Saddam Hussein – vis-à-vis Iran.

http://www.google.com/search?rawq=Obama+like+Carter&q=site%3Awww.israpundit.com+Obama+like+Carter

My deepest worry is that if Jimmy Carter can be decorated as “The Father Of the Islamic Revolution of 1979 In Iran” what can prevent Barack Hussein the Mighty Bama who just received the Nobel Prize for Peace, from being decorated as “The Godfather of the Iran’s Islamic Nuclear Bomb” – at a later date?

 Then it could be too late for beautiful Sweden and the rest of the world to be a safer place.

These are genuine concerns for all who are worried that time may be running out, all who believe that prevention is better than cure, and that “a stitch in time saves nine”, all who believe that too much dilly-dallying and Uncle Tom foolery can result in the Mullahs smiling one day as they also raise their bomb and say, ” Yes, we can!”

http://israelinsider.ning.com/main/search/search?q=Obama

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Re -

 http://groups.google.com/group/usaafricadialogue/browse_thread/thread/5312d43336c183f1?hl=en

Now imagine if  Umar Farouk Abdalmuttalab had been Swedish – or a Swedish citizen like Mehdi Muhammad Ghezali or Oussama Kassir .  But Nigeria is not Sweden…

 To just take up a single strand from this your most perspicacious article:

“Coming as it were from the metropolis, the list travels the familiar pathway in which the powerful or strong seeks to not only affirm its authority but constantly seeks to deny the weak all opportunities to self-define. Unlike the Bush administration during which the world was told of the existence of the axis of evil (Iran, Iraq and North Korea), now the world has woken up to another reality- a reality which only the United States is capable of appropriating- of the existence of over ten countries in which “terrorism” is planted and nurtured in order to be unleashed against the world. The world, we must keep in mind, is the West; the West, we must never forget, is the United States of America.”

 Repeat a lie enough times and it will begin to metamorphose into being “the Truth”, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, the truth which will set you free and make Uncle Sam happy.

 That’s what happened with the myth of Saddam’s “Weapons of Mass Destruction” which have now all disappeared from sight. In its prime time, that truth was being backed by this kind of document:

 http://www.c-span.org/Content/PDF/Britdossier.pdf

http://www.c-span.org/Resources/International.aspx

 Brian Eno’s introductory essay  in “What Have You changed Your Mind About? “ published by Edge Foundation in 2009, voices exactly the same concern.

 http://edge.org/

Brian Eno

What have you changed your mind about?

 He takes up the question raised in your paragraph above, in more general terms – as the very reason for the existence of that book:

 “There is now an almost total disconnection between the validity of a story and its media success: if  it’s a good enough – or convenient enough- story, it will echo eternally around the media universe. We lack any publicly accepted way of saying; “This is demonstrably wrong.” And as a result there is no disincentive to unconstrained spinning, trafficking in poor information, and downright lying. The result is a diminishing accountability at almost every level of public discourse and a burgeoning industry of professional Swiftboaters.

There used to be a regular program on BBC radio, during the 1980s. It was only five minutes long, but in that five minutes the makers sought to examine  a  modern myth to see whether it held up to scrutiny. During those Reagan/ Thatcher years, a popular way of attacking the conspicuously successful (and inconveniently socialistic ) Swedish social system was to knowingly point out that they had the world’s highest suicide rate  – as though the price of all that official altruism was widespread cultural despondency. Actually it turned out that the Swedes didn’t have an exceptionally high suicide rate  – the country was ranked  somewhere in the thirties, below France, Spain, Japan,  Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark and Germany, and just  one place  above the United States – but it was too good  a story  to drop , and to this day, you’ll still hear it..

 I suppose it doesn’t really matter if people continue to think the Swedes are killing themselves at record-breaking rates, or if  people believe that “The Da Vinci Code”  is a true story( as I was confidently assured by a New York policeman),  or if they think that Eskimos have four hundred words for snow, but it really does matter if they believe that Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9/11, or that global warming is an anticapitalist plot, or that Senator Kerry  was a coward during his Vietnam service.  These things matter because they have direct real-world consequences, and in a media-soaked universe they point out the Achilles’ heel of democracy. Democracy was intended to flourish by engaging the intelligence of the wider population – on the assumption that people might, on average, be able to assess what is in their best interests.  But if the information upon which they make their assessments is of poor quality, how can that work?”

In other words Dr Oladosu A. Afis, we are in trouble. We are all in trouble – and none of us – no one of us wants to be  perceived of as being a terrorist  or a potential terrorist, which is what we must assume is the way that they see us/ look upon us  – when we line up to face the airport scanner in our spotlessly clean underwear, conscious that what must be must be, at the airport

 “Where are you from Sir?”

 - Nigeria

 “Could you kindly step over here?”

   Ignominy. The very thought of it. Wants to see whether or not you’ve got some explosives stashed up your gnash.

 “Madam, (in hijab and Burka) could you step over here please?”

  And even if you’re called Kofi or Kwame, it’s not going to help that much – at the airport they’ll probably think you’re lying; we all look like Nigerians anyway – and today one Nigerian represents all Nigerians – in fact all black men potentially from the terrorist nation.

  That’s one reason why we should PROTEST.

  Once it was part of the colourful graffiti and scrawled in men’s’ toilets too “All Africans have aids”

 And now we are all potential terrorists.

  Nigeria has a very vibrant media, second to none in Africa…. But what impact does that media have in the West – and how is it handling this question of our Nigeria’s collective terrorist image ?

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I just stumbled on this -

http://www.thelocal.se/blogs/subbacultcha/

and since I take it so personal, I’ d like to contribute a suggestion  or two – first  there and then here  ( just in case)

Shabba Kalltcha,

Yu small town hick

In yer oversize sombrero

As yu say, this is OUR STOCKHOLMO  this is not Mexico    

Or the only other rhythm yu have in yer upright soul:

Marty Robbins singing about falling in love in downtown El Paso,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgI5DMVegIk

So

Hold it right there.

Where?

Here:

As you were saying,

So riveted to your wooden church pews, you catch the spirit and all start bouncing or dancing like ye never did before – on the Church floor?

I remain unconvinced by this kind of proselytizing – what’s the gate fee?

 Looka here ama coming from Africa – you hear ( like Dr Alban,” straight out di jungle” where you

“Hear the music and feel the beat

On every corner and every street”

http://www.lyricsty.com/lyrics/h/harry_belafonte/global_carnival.html

 My question is where in Stockholm  do you experience something like this increase in the missing sunshine & the Vitamin D:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=Dr.+Sakis+%28+Congo&aq=f&gl=SE&hl=sv

Sure, there’s a place in Philadelphia where the Gospel  joint begins to rock, and roll  and spin

There is also such a place in Stockholmo – there are even such places within

But Filadelphiakyrkan ain’t where it’s at  mate….

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You might not like what I say:

Svartskalle is going crazy. Svart Kalle’s hair is turning grey

(It could happen here in Sweden

or even in the Garden of Eden)

 And you might be even wondering, “WHO is svartskalle?”

 Find out if you want to, be prepared or cool out, put out.

 As I wrote to a landsman (Swenglish)

 Some thinking had better not be done too loudly.

Could be private thinking, silently, quietly musing

not publicly amusing…

 Prior to Christmas Day last year, it seems that anyone (well, almost anyone) could get through customs and body scanners etc. with a bomb in his underpants ( or maybe, possibly, in her knickers):

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=knickers

 Here I’m thinking aloud, loudly, publicly, crazy, “black & LOUD” but not unlawfully or illegally or in a logically disorderly manner, something that YOU cannot do for ME.  And ringing in my ears is the late Osho saying: “EVERYBODY should get divorced – without exception!”

Every   body?

That includes you and me…..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ocbZhRQS9I

 “A question in your nerves is lit

Yet you know there is no answer fit to satisfy

Insure you not to quit

To keep it in your mind and not fergit

That it is not he or she or them or it

That you belong to.”

(Dr. Dylan/ Mr Zimmerman: It’s alright Ma)

 “A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy?”

(Mr Relativity/ Dr Einstein)

 I guess that question is this:

 Why not have all nations (the whole world) ON THE TERRORIST LIST?

 Herein lies the anwer:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&rlz=1R2GGLL_enSE351&q=Chomsky+%3A+What+we+say+goes

A repeat of the question : Why not have all nations (the whole world) ON THE TERRORIST LIST?

 Why not all nations  nations  – that is with the sole exception of our Sweden -  because it’s true  when we say that we have  not been to war for over two hundred years now and we all must admit that WE SWEDEN are the most peaceful nation on planet earth  –  in fact I just read this this peaceful Sabbath morning , after saying my prayer,  an article jointly authored by  our  able Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Hon. Carl Bildt ( former Prime Minister of Sweden)  and  Anders Fogh Rasmussen, secretary general of NATO ( former Prime Minister of Denmark  – and this is what happens when these two great Scandinavian neighbours put their ears to the ground to listen to what’s going down  and then put their heads together:

 http://www.sweden.gov.se/sb/d/12570/a/137627

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/07/AR2010010703243.html

 There is this specious argument that I’ve heard from my Yoruba Professor from Ondo when I explain to him why Cuba should not have nuclear missiles pointing at the United States of America:

Post-traumatic stress:

He says that “All men being equal before the law, if the US and Israel have nuclear weapons, I swear before God and man, Iran should also be entitled to have their fair share of nuclear weapons and by their own efforts too, to satisfy the needs that Israel and the other members of the Nuclear weapons non-proliferation club also enjoy. “

 Extending this argument, through several stages which you shall have to work out for yourself in order to arrive at the same sane conclusion, it’s not only Nigeria that should be put on the list of 14 nations suspected of being prone to terrorism against the United States: based on sound logic alone, every nation should be on that list, including the United States. Every person flying into and out of the United States is or could be a potential terrorist (nuclear, chemical, biological, ideological) but secret terrorist nonetheless.

Through a glass darkly, the pieces begin to fit together, like toto and bobo:

http://www.google.com/search?q=PETN&rls=com.microsoft:en-GB:IE-ContextMenu&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7ADFA_sv

US Scanners Went Unused at Nigeria Airport

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/12/31/world/AP-AF-Airliner-Attack-Lagos-Airport.html

Our Nigerian Brother Umar:

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/a/umar_farouk_abdulmutallab/index.html?inline=nyt-per

Reuben Abati on the matter (limited fallout:” He bought his ticket in Ghana. Cash. He only passed through Nigeria for 27 minutes.”

http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/editorial_opinion/article02/indexn2_html?pdate=080110&ptitle=Mutallab%20and%20beyond

 “Reuben Abati, a columnist at Nigeria’s Guardian newspaper, highlighted a different risk factor — a culture of graft and …

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Opinion/5506716-184/Wanted:_Airports_that_work__.csp

 Mutallab : a most unlikely terrorist or suicide bomber

http://www.modernghana.com/news/256635/1/mutallab-the-nigerian-agent-of-al-qaeda-by-reuben-.html

 Umar and the Obama administration

http://allafrica.com/stories/201001070918.html

Obama says that it’s his responsibility

 Rove has other ideas:

 http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/rove-says-obamas-handling-nigerian-a

 The tragedy is that if you only concentrate on me, someone else could so easily do it and then it could be “an inside job”:

http://groups.google.com/group/usaafricadialogue/browse_thread/thread/75aab979c95689a0?hl=en

This was an inside job:

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Afghanistan-Al-Qaeda-Suicide-Bomber-Appears-With-Taliban-Commander-In-Video-Mocks-CIA-And-US/Article/201001215517767?lpos=World_News_First_Home_Article_Teaser_Region_4&lid=ARTICLE_15517767_Afghanistan_Al-Qaeda_Suicide_Bomber_Appears_With_Taliban_Commander_In_Video%2C_Mocks_CIA_And_US

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 The Swedish saying is that you cannot say “si” without saying “so” and still on my hobby horse (so it seems doesn’t it) about Sweden Democrats on the political horizon – and the whole question of islamophobia (often hand in glove with xenophobia) I did say that  Islam is on the march (but not like the Salvation Army) and that “Islam hath come in dignity – and some will say glory – with its message of peace and goodwill to all men in these wintery lands”  and then early this afternoon at 1300 GMT  on the BBC – this was news item numero uno, at the very top of the world news agenda  – Islam in focus again  – this time not about a Delta Airways plane hovering over Detroit and waiting to be blown to pieces  up in the air, but  some more rumpus of course  this time  at the heart of another Scandinavian country in which is set that famous soliloquy, “ To be or not to be”: This time  the story almost arrived at Act 3 Scene 3 – but for the timely intervention of the Danish Police (May G-d bless and protect them) :

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8437433.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8437652.stm

What is  even more significant about this incident is that  the present Secretary–General of NATO  Mr Anders Fogh Rasmussen was then Prime minister of Denmark when the whole hullabaloo began to blow about the Muhammad Cartoons -  and like Carl Bildt – and Fredrik Reinfeldt  he resisted  – in the name of press freedom,  the same kinds of pressure that were brought to bear on him by Islamists – as was brought to bear  on our Prime Minister and our Foreign Minster about that Israeli Organ harvesting debacle which has since somewhat fizzed out and seems to have partially resolved itself  through some admissions by some Israeli forensic authority and to our utter amazement  – and embarrassment – the only  face-saving aspect being that organs and body parts of both dead Israelis and dead Palestinians and others were plundered without the consent of their survivor families and that this medical practice was stopped at the end of the tumultuous nineties.

The message that goes home here – is that this is the message that has to be driven home even in the name of diversity, multiculturalism, religious plurality : that  the citizens of whether Sweden or Denmark, have to abide by the life- saving  laws of the country in which they  live.

Should such a series of incidents occur in Sweden, should it be any wonder that this would only emphasise and bring to light, the misgivings of all those  – and this is not limited to Sweden Democrats – all those who  are wary of people in Rome, not doing as the Romans……

As Hamza Yusuf (Mark Hanson) expressed it so succinctly “Respect the rules of the House or get out.” I’m sure that Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam) himself would agree with that today, as I heard him express the same in London many years ago. Both of those gentle men agree that you take your shoes off when entering the mosque.

 To that end I should like to quote Bhikhu Parekh (an English Baron), some of whose in-depth views seem to be just and therefore so persuasive and even appropriate when applied to the We Sweden situation.  His interviewer observed that for example when there was a debate in France, about  the rights of Muslim schoolgirls to wear Hijab, “ if the school is a public space and the public space is secular, then what is seen as a religious symbol has no place there”. However, Lord Parekh does not agree with that:

“If you are a religious person who feels profoundly guided by certain absolute commitments, when you enter public life you are going to be drawing inspiration from those fundamental beliefs. If you tell these people: no appeal to God at all, no appeal to anything religious at all, you castrate them. You undermine not just the very basis of their beliefs but the very language in terms of which they think and talk. You are doing them an injustice. You are treating them unequally, because you have certain discursive privileges which you deny them. Given my commitment to multiculturalism, you are also denying yourself the opportunity of a dialogue with a different point of view, which for all you know may nurture certain sensibilities.”

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&rlz=1R2GGLL_enSE351&q=Bhikhu+Parekh

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&rlz=1R2GGLL_enSE351&q=Bhikhu+Parekh%3A+Multiculturalism

In a 2007 interview, he said

“We happen to have certain institutions which bind us together and to which rightly or wrongly we have decided to subscribe. We have a Parliamentary democracy, the rule of Law and so on. These are public institutions, they hold us together and symbolise our society. What we ask is that people accept their legitimacy. Change them, fight with them, fine. But start by accepting that these are legitimate institutions of authority.

In this society, we also happen to have certain conventions. You don’t walk around naked. You don’t keep your garden hedge too tall, because if you do people will get upset and it will affect the value of the property next door.”

 Leaves you thinking, Oh the Englishman and his garden…

Some basic terms that sometimes crop up in the national discussion and that I’m struggling to get more familiar with :

Multiculturalism

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&rlz=1R2GGLL_enSE351&q=Multiculturalism

Pluralism

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&rlz=1R2GGLL_enSE351&q=Pluralism

Equality

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&rlz=1R2GGLL_enSE351&q=Equality

Assimilation, Integration, Diversity, Diversity Management, Race, Racism,

Ethical Relativism

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&rlz=1R2GGLL_enSE351&q=Ethical+Relativism

Cultural Chauvinism….

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&rlz=1R2GGLL_enSE351&q=Cultural+Chauvinism

Finally, with reference to the much maligned Islam, Bishop Krister Stendahl’s views could be wholly applicable:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krister_Stendahl

“Stendahl is credited with creating Stendahl’s three rules of religious understanding, which he presented in a 1985 press conference in Stockholm, Sweden, in response to vocal opposition to the building of a temple there by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His rules are as follows:

 (1) When you are trying to understand another religion, you should ask the adherents of that religion and not its enemies.

 (2) Don’t compare your best to their worst.

 (3) Leave room for “holy envy.” (By this Stendahl meant that you should be willing to recognize elements in the other religious tradition or faith that you admire and wish could, in some way, be reflected in your own religious tradition or faith.)”

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Here’s an interesting discussion on Minarets:

http://www.israpundit.com/2008/?p=19405#respond

Over here, let’s look at it squarely in the eye:

The Sweden Democrat mind-set is all for keeping Sweden Swedish – religiously and culturally speaking, in the name of old blue eyes and natural blonde hair. The demographic nightmare is conjured up – rather prematurely – and so too their uncontrollable worries about uncontrolled immigration – for their’s too is the belief that prevention is better than cure.

Why are they worried?

 It could be a minor election issue.

 Suddenly one realises that Islam hath come in dignity – and some will say glory – with its message of peace and goodwill to all men in these wintery lands (even as some minorities complain to the Almighty that such climates could not have been created for human habitation – at least not in the Garden of Eden – we’re still here nonetheless and still praying for climate change for the better, not for the worse. To that end, we have to help the Almighty, and Muslims are known to be the ones who pray more than anyone and everyone else: A Muslim prays five times a day, and in praying in large numbers (more than the mere two or three gathered together in the name of the Lord) we could all be joining voices together to pray for a better day, couldn’t we?

 Couldn’t we?

 Although you don’t see many mosques  because there are not that many, yet, the more mosques that you see,  set  against the wintry Swedish landscape, the more gradually the reality must be dawning on you  dear Sweden Democrat,  that Islam is not here to go away.

 This too, even as USA, NATO and other Christly European nations are trying to pound democracy and regime change into the Taliban and Mau Mau of Afghanistan.  Perhaps in the final analysis they would like to replace/ exchange Islam with Christianity? Idol worship? Atheism? I’m sure that people of the invading armies, are by now praying even more fervently that it (regime change) should take place peacefully in Iran so that they won’t have to die doing military service there.

 Hence the flood of refugees from those lands – except for the Shia and the Kurds, more dead than alive during the time of Saddam: Military action has invariably led to the flood of blood and suffering. The flood of blood and suffering leads to the flood of refugees and that too leads to more mosques to serve as praying centres. NB:  a mosque by definition must have a minaret to be worthy of the name.

 Consciousness of Islam could be awakened by the mere presence of the minaret standing out against the skyline – in the same way that the church spires do – and I have yet not seen anything as magnificent a Cathedral as the one in Cologne – I stood like John Keats’ naughty boy, outside that Cologne Cathedral, I just stood in my shoes, and wondered:

 http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&rlz=1R2GGLL_enSE351&q=A+SONG+ABOUT+MYSELF+by+John+Keats

 There are as yet no such magnificent mosque structures in Sweden – nor is there any town planning legislation to thwart such efforts of the faithful whose needs are gradually augmenting and  who feel that they  too should like to see magnificent structures as in Rome and would also like to take refuge in Article 18, to accomplish this:

http://www0.un.org/en/documents/udhr/

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