Gates of Vienna News Feed 2/28/2010

Colonel Moammar Qadafi, the Man of Many Spellings, has declared a jihad against Switzerland. The ostensible reason is the Swiss minaret ban, but one suspects that Col. Ghaddafi is still nursing a grudge for his son’s arrest in Geneva back in 2008 for abusing the domestic staff of a hotel. In any case, the EU is backing Switzerland to the hilt, and I’ll bet that has Khadaffi quaking in his Bedouin boots.

In other news, Greece must refinance some of its sovereign debt by May, or face grave difficulties, but Germany is balking at buying any more Greek bonds.

Thanks to AP, Barry Rubin, C. Cantoni, Dazed & Confused, DT, ICLA, Insubria, JD, Sean O’Brian, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

To see the headlines and the articles, open the full news post.

[This post is a stub — nothing further here!]

Submission to a Totalitarian Thought-System

In the years leading up to the Second World War, the government and cultural elites of the Netherlands gradually turned into pliant — or at least passive — accomplices of the Nazi regime in Germany. Some of their submissive behavior can be attributed to German pressure, but much of it was pre-emptive, anticipating the dire consequences of not appeasing the Third Reich.

The parallels with today’s dhimmification of Holland are striking. Our Flemish correspondent VH has translated two articles on the topic and supplemented them with his own notes.

First, from De Volkskrant:

“An offense deserving punishment”

In the thirties the Nazis agitated strongly against critical coverage of the Third Reich. Dutch media and government did not keep their backs straight, and engaged in censorship.

by Peter Giesen

In 1936 Peter van Reen in the Social Democrat newspaper “Het Volk” published a cartoon which depicted Adolf Hitler as a murderer. Not too bold a stance, as it seems. Still, chief editor Johan Frederik Ankersmit had to appear in court. “Defamation of a befriended head of state,” Justice ruled. Only in the last instance did the Supreme Court set Ankersmit free.

“The authorities did not lie awake over the revolting caricatures of Jews in the NSB press, parroted from the Stürmer-artist Julius Streicher. On May 5, 1938, the court sentenced the writer Maurits Dekker to a fine of 100 guilders, subsidiary to 50 days in jail. He had called the befriended head of state ‘hysterical’ in a brochure entitled: ‘Hitler, an attempt at an explanation’, Lisette Lewin added about this affair in “The clandestine book”.

As radical Muslims today put Western media under pressure, Nazi Germany continued to urge for a “balanced” coverage of the Third Reich. The Dutch government in those days was [also] sensitive to such pressure. Journalists and publishers were sued; the radio was heavily censored.

Curiously enough, the neutrality policy meant that Adolf Hitler was a “befriended head of state,” and had to be treated with all courtesy and respect. The Germans themselves also took pains to see to that. They followed the Dutch media closely and protested severely when the reporting was critical or “non-neutral”. As result, in the thirties an anxious attitude prevailed concerning the Nazis. On the radio especially expressions and statements that were regarded hostile towards Germany were heavily censored. But the media also employed self-censorship. […] Thus the Netherlands in the thirties evolved into a frightened country where the subject of Hitler (and National Socialism) was approached with great caution. For the Germans above all must not be provoked. ^[1]

The Nazis could also make use of domestic supporters. On December 1, 1935, the Dutch National Socialist party (NSB) disrupted the performance of the play “The Executioner” of the Swedish author Pär Lagerkvist, which they regarded as a dissolute defamation of the Third Reich. In the Amsterdam City Theater fighting broke out between police, NSB members and other visitors. Startled, the mayors of the Hague, Utrecht, Haarlem and Enschede decided to ban the theatre play in their municipality. The minister of Internal Affairs De Wilde, said: “wise decision demands that the play no longer is allowed to be performed”. However, the mayor of Amsterdam did not want to yield to political violence. Director August Defresne and leading actor Albert Dalsum though, threw in the towel.^[2]

Sometimes the German authorities put the Dutch press directly under pressure. In 1935 Germany began an action against the Dutch journalist of Jewish descent Marcus Blankenstein, who in newspaper the NRC wrote authoritative and fierce anti-Nazi foreign critique. First the paper was hit by an advertising boycott of the German-spa and holiday resorts that cost the paper tens of thousands of dollars in the middle of the economic crisis. Subsequently two important Rotterdam businessmen, the SHV CEO Van Beunigen and the banker Van de Mandele, complained at the chief editors that the articles of Van Blankenstein threatened to disrupt good trade relations with Germany. Not long after, Van Blankenstein was dismissed.^[3] […] Following the resignation of Van Blankenstein, the NRC tightened down to a less fierce tone, as Van Vree concludes.

As international tensions increased, the Dutch authorities became more and more cautious. In September 1938 the Munich Conference convened, where England and France allowed Hitler to annex the Czech Sudetenland, hoping this would satisfy his insatiable appetite for territorial expansion. Two radio talks about Czechoslovakia were banned, although they contained not a word of criticism of Germany. The Czechs, however, were abundantly praised, which by Germany might be regarded as criticism.

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In October, W. Vos-Vrijman wanted to give a lecture on racial hatred, in which she did not mention Germany, but talked only of a “nation” that “is guided by principles based on these inferior motives”. This lecture was also banned. In November followed the Kristallnacht, in which eight thousand Jewish shops were destroyed, hundreds of synagogues set on fire, and thirty-five Jews were killed. In the Netherlands there was great outrage, but the government simply increased censorship.

Germany was in no way to be provoked, especially now that it was in such an so irritable mood. Therefore the reports about Kristallnacht were largely confined to the matter-of-fact news reports of the ANP. Only the workers’ radio broadcaster had a radio report from the eyewitness Piet Bakker, but he also had to moderate his tone. In his report, “old people that in the neighboring country are now persecuted until bleeding”, was changed to “old people that now have to flee their homes”.

Many of these censorship measures came about under pressure of Eelco van Kleffens, who was in the Radio Broadcasting Control Commission (ROCC) on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Some interventions even went too far for the chairman of the committee, the future PM Gerbrandy: “Should indeed every word be weighed now on a golden scale because Germany is simply hyper-delicate?” The answer was yes, Van Kleffens found. In 1934 he himself had witnessed with horror in Germany how fast the country had become subject to a brutal dictatorship. As a member of the ROCC, however, he demanded extreme prudence.

Moreover, the broadcasting associations generally responded with understanding to the instructions from the ROCC. The security of the Netherlands was considered more important than freedom of expression. “To say what you think” was not worth a war. […] In the Netherlands, most media were affiliated with political and philosophical organizations. Journalists sought a higher purpose than making a good newspaper or radio broadcast. Out of idealism and loyalty to the to the respected pillar, they swallowed the orders from above. “In subordination lies in our courage,” as the Social Democratic journalist Winkler once said.^[4]

Befriended head of State

Also curious was the action against the publisher Rob Leopold, who was brought to court in March 1940 (two months before the invasion of the Netherlands). His offense: he had published the Dutch translation of “Gespräche mit Hitler,” (“Conversations with Hitler”), translated by the Dutch writer Menno ter Braak. Germany held the Dutch government accountable for it and on March 8, 1940 the police in The Hague and Leiden confiscated all books of this writer. In the book, the German ex-Nazi Hermann Rauschning sketched a damaging picture of the German dictator. The prosecutor in The Hague however, considered a number of passages of the book “intentionally insulting, at the very least insulting, to the head of a befriended state, the German Reich, Adolf Hitler”.

In the contemporary view it is surprising that the Dutch authorities acted so harshly against writers, journalists, radio producers, theater producers, and comedians who strongly criticized Hitler. But freedom of expression was in those days still far from being sacred. In 1934 the Dutch government tightened censorship, especially with regard to the radio, then a new medium to which a dangerous influence was ascribed. The VARA [the Social Democrats’ broadcaster] was taken on especially vociferously. In 1934 the broadcaster had to give up one day of airtime after it had held five minutes of silence after the execution of Marinus van der Lubbe, the Dutchman who was convicted of setting fire to the Reichstag in Berlin. “It would not have taken much for the government to ban the broadcaster all together,” Huub Wijfjes says, a historian who did a graduate study of the radio in the thirties, “Radio under Restriction”.

The thirties were a period of great economic crisis and international tension. Unlike other countries, democracy in the Netherlands was never really seriously in danger. Yet many thought that the Netherlands needed an authoritarian hand. The “Anti-Revolutionary” (Christian Democrat) leader Colijn^[5] was the strong man; his government did not refrain from intervening in the media.

The Government was particularly sensitive in terms of religion. Even quotations of Spinoza, the 17th century philosopher who was critical about religion, were not allowed to be broadcast. In 1937 the radio license of the anarchist “Freethinkers Radio Association” was withdrawn due to “blasphemy,” to the satisfaction of Parliament. A spokesman of the small Christian-Socialist CDU said that “an association whose action is directed at the destruction of religion does not deserve the right to be heard on the radio”.

Criticism Nazi Germany also had to be handled carefully. Thus, the recitation of poems by the famous German anti-Nazis Tucholsky and von Ossietzky was prohibited. “The Dutch government was afraid,” says historian Wijfjes. “In Germany many were killed in fights between Socialist, Communist, and National Socialist fighting squads. PM Colijn was afraid the violence might spread to the Netherlands. “

The Netherlands was also afraid of economic damage, but the biggest fear was about the preservation of neutrality. The militarily impotent Netherlands escaped the First World War by remaining neutral. When in the late thirties the tension was continuously increasing, it seemed to be the best option to remain neutral again to stay out of sight. “Germany was also a real military threat, right at the eastern border. In this situation the Dutch government did not want to do anything that might offend Germany, or would even provide them with an excuse to invade,” says Wijfjes.

Although many critical stories about Nazi Germany appeared in the Dutch press, it regularly gave in to the threat from the east. Is there anything to learn from this rather sad history? “The circumstances obviously differ greatly. But what you always see is that media content still gives in. With the VARA (Workers’ Radio Association) Socialist battle songs gave way to Louis Davids, who sang the song “De Kleine Man” [“The Petit Bourgeois”] in a much more subtle way.”

While toning-down does not immediately have to be disastrous, the thirties do show how dangerous it is to yield to intimidation. Through a combination of threats, censorship, and self censorship, the Dutch public was insufficiently informed, according to Wijfjes: “In the thirties, the existence of concentration camps was generally known. Still, you read and heard relatively little about it. The Berlin correspondent of the newspaper NRC, Noorderwier, also wrote confidential analyses for the Dutch government. Those were much sharper and much more critical.”

Lucas Hartong wrote on a similar subject in July 2008 on HetVrijeVolk.com (quotes):

History seems to repeat itself

What interests me in this point is that history seems to repeat itself. I welcome the statement by the prosecution that Geert Wilders will not be prosecuted for his statements [this was written halfway through 2008], but the rustle around it I don’t like in any way. It too much sounds as “Formally … but …” and that’s a very scary development. Moreover, neither a state nor the law can be neutral in this particular matter, as shown from history. A government must by all possible means oppose a totalitarian system that threatens the security and sovereignty of a country and its citizens. The OM should have gone much further in its statement and not only acquitted Wilders, but also should have punished those who had filed the complaints.

The analogy between the resistance to the Nazi ideology and the current resistance against the Islamic ideology is clear. Both are totalitarian thought-systems and both clearly indicate that there are only two options for dissent: “conversion or death”. Any form of analysis, criticism, or attack on Islam is punished with the instantly familiar word “discrimination” and “phobia”; it is same as “insulting a befriended system”.

Meanwhile, according to CDA (Christian Democrats), an imam may comfortably open its next party congress. The PvdA (Socialists) lets dissident deputies who oppose the ventilated position on Islam and the abolition of the separation of mosque and state, quietly leave. Do not dare to comment on that “befriended system”. Lawyers know how to find you, imams know to declare a fatwa on you, and action-committees know how to boycott your company. Don’t comment on the befriended head of state Allah and his prophet. Who has ears to hear the signs of the times, let him hear.

Notes:

Quotes: Peter Giesen, “Land of Cowards? A history of fear in the Netherlands” (“Land van lafaards?”; Inmerc B.V., 2007): [1] p.92; [2] p.94; [3] p.94; [4] pp.95, 96

[5] The pre-WWII prime minister (1933-39) Hendrik Colijn (ARP /now CDA) had after the occupation of the Rhineland in March 1936 spoke on the radio: “I therefore urge listeners, when they later find their resting places (beds), to just quietly go to sleep, as they would do on other nights. There is no reason at all to be worried.” In the beginning of the occupation in 1940 he indicated he sooner would choose the (Fascist and anti-Semitic) National Front than the (Socialist/Christian Democrat and later also anti-Semitic) Nederlandsche Unie. He further stated that according to him democracy had just about ended and (thus) “something should be done”.

Quote from “The Clandestine Book”: Lydia Winkel: “Het clandestiene boek 1940-1945”; Amsterdam, Van Gennip, 1983.

Mohawk the Model

The article below is not brand new, but it’s the first I’ve heard of the issue. And I must say, my sympathies lie with the indigenous people in this case.

This story is the type to warm the cruel cockles of a conservative’s heart, because it puts the liberal mind into brain-freeze:

Native Canadians do it, so it must be good. But wait! It’s ethnic cleansing — yow! What can we do? I know — we’ll rename it “preservation of indigenous ethnic heritage”. There. That’ll fix it! Now it’s OK.

You’ll notice that the Indians of the Kahnawake reserve are being strict about their renewal project: they want to get rid of the half-breeds along with the outlanders. Time to purify the blood! The Mohawk chief says, “This isn’t about ethnic cleansing. It’s about self-preservation.”

Indeed it is. So why are the Mohawks in Quebec permitted to practice it, while the Serbs in Bosnia are not?

How about Norwegians in Norway? The Dutch in Holland? The Austrians in Austria? And the English might begin by cleansing Whitehall of all those Scottish interlopers.

Here’s the story from The Winnipeg Free Press:

Mohawk Chief Says Eviction of Non-Natives From Community Not Ethnic Cleansing

MONTREAL — The Mohawk grand chief of the Kahnawake reserve south of Montreal doesn’t like hearing comments that describe the upcoming eviction non-natives from his community as “ethnic cleansing.”

As many as 26 residents considered “non-native” are being forced from the reserve, receiving eviction notices informing them they have 10 days to leave.

Grand Chief Mike Delisle says it’s always been clear that Mohawks living on the reserve must leave the territory if they marry outside the community.

“People out in the exterior Canadian society should educate themselves before they formulate their own opinion,” he said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

“ This isn’t about ethnic cleansing. It’s about self-preservation.”

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The community declared a moratorium on mixed marriages in 1981 and after consultations, a Mohawk membership law was formalized in 1984 and then updated with 2004.

Delisle says the band council is just asking people to abide by the law.

“We’re not looking to be anything like what is being described as the Third Reich or any part of Nazi government,” Delisle said Thursday. “We’re not killing people.”

He’s right about that. Ethnic cleansing is not genocide. Genocide establishes killing as a goal, but during an ethnic cleansing, death is an occasional side effect, not the main task at hand. When two groups hate each other, and one decides to drive the other from its territory, killings occasionally result. But they are a by-product, and not the primary process.

He added that while the law has been in place for the past six years, the issue was only raised by community members at a public forum 18 months ago and it took that long to get a consensus on a course of action.

“Some people have (obeyed the law) and some people have chosen not to and this has created the problem that we are addressing right now,” Delisle said.

Tracey Deer, publisher of The Eastern Door, the local paper and website, says everyone agrees native land is for native people, but the issue is dividing the Mohawk community.

“Everybody’s angry on both sides,” the 31-year-old woman said in an interview.

“They say it’s about time and ‘get these white people out of here’ and then there are people who say we can’t do this and the tension is building.”

Some questions for our Canadian readers: Can they do it? What will the HRCs say about it? Does Quebec have different rules about such matters than the rest of Canada?

Deer, who is married to a Mohawk, says she can’t see how the community will become stronger by splitting up people who are in romantic relationships — some for as long as ten years.

“These people are happy, they are in love and we’re saying ‘No! you can’t,” she said. “This is wrong.”

Deer says young people growing up in the Mohawk community are forced to make tough choices.

“It’s a horrible burden to grow up knowing you have to choose possibly between love with a fellow human being or my community, where my family, my culture and my home is.” she said.

Delisle argues that the contentious issue of the eviction of non-natives is not new, noting that it has come up in the past — in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.

He also points to an online poll that suggests more than 60 per cent of the community supports the actions being taken.

Delisle says the band council is not heartless and is willing to negotiate with those who cannot leave within the 10-day eviction period.

But he hints there may be more evictions among the population of 8,000 in the future.

“There are other diverse issues that are going to come up with families that have been here for a long time,” he said.

“This is the beginning of where we’re going to go, I’m not sure where it’s going to end.”

Sandra Schurman, 44, has lived in Kahnawake all her life, and even though she’s recognized by the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs as a status Indian, she is not in the Mohawk membership registry.

She was rejected for membership because she did not meet the 2004 law that requires a person to have at least four Mohawk great grandparents.

Schurman, whose 67-year-old mother married a white man, was rejected because elders ruled only three-and-a-half of her four grandparents are native.

Her mother and father, who’s 73, are still living on the reserve.

Schurman may be the next in line to be evicted, but she doesn’t see it happening.

“If they try to evict me they’re going to have to evict every half-breed in Kahnawake and the town would be half empty,” she said.

Schurman said there are at least a couple of hundred of people on the reserve with Mohawk mothers and non-native fathers.

“I’m waiting for all this unfairness to someday be over with,” she said.

“I was raised here, my family is here. I have no other home and as far as I’m concerned I’m a Mohawk and nobody is going to tell me what I’m not.”

As long as different ethnic groups live closely commingled and unassimilated, the tensions leading towards drastic solutions will always be there. Ethnic cleansing is the kinder, gentler alternative to genocide.

The above options are only necessary because of the foolish and/or malign immigration policies practiced by our governments. The matter of Indian tribes in North America is a special case, but what about the Moroccans in Rotterdam? The Arabs in Dearborn? The Somalis just about anywhere?

The policy failures that produced these catastrophes-in-waiting occurred within living memory.

We’re circling the drain now as far as immigration is concerned. Options more pleasant than “ethnic cleansing” are rapidly being foreclosed, if indeed they still remain open.


Hat tip: EscapeVelocity.

Gates of Vienna News Feed 2/27/2010

The big news of the day was the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck early this morning just off the coast of Chile. The death toll is now over 200, but the tsunamis that spread across the Pacific basin were not as large as had been feared, generally varying between three and seven feet.

In other news, according to a CNN poll, fully 56% of the American public view the federal government as a danger to their individual liberties.

Additionally, 61% of Americans think the Pope is Catholic, and 67% say that ursines defecate in arboreal environments.

OK, so I made those last two up. But still…

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Gaia, Insubria, JD, McR, Sean O’Brian, Srdja Trifkovic, Steen, TB, TV, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

To see the headlines and the articles, open the full news post.

[This post is a stub — nothing further here!]

The Concrete Nature of the Religion of Peace

As many of you know, the stark brutality of some of the finer aspects of Sharia law has such a profound effect on me that I no longer post about it as I once did. The suffering of all those Muslim women (and men) is simply more than I can bear. I thought I might become inured to it eventually, but that didn’t happen. Instead, I became more sensitized, to the point that I can’t even read about the sadism and torture anymore.

Today an email came from Ole, a reader of Gates of Vienna, with a link to the video below. It is a fourth year exercise by a student from the Bezalel Academy of the Arts in Jerusalem.

This video solves the problem in some ways. Perhaps others who share my aversion and are forced to turn away from the stark barbarism of this primitive legal code will now be able to examine it a little. And perhaps there will be further videos of this nature:


You can view the translation of this particular sharia law here.

[Post ends here]

The Martyrs of Cordoba

A post from one of our Spanish readers, El Cid.

He says:

I truly believe that the questioning and discussing of Islam, as the brave Geert Wilders and the Motoons have done, is the key to victory.

The Martyrs can teach a lesson, too: how the truth sets us free.

The story of the Martyrs of Cordoba : a Triumph of Christian Resistance to Islam in Medieval Spain

When a monk named Isaac left his monastery in the year 851 AD and took the long road that led to the Roman bridge into Cordoba, he was preparing a public declaration of Christian faith. It would be an amazing defiance, one which would shake the landscape of Andalusia and help to alter the future of Spain. Isaac knew it would shock the Muslim authorities and that he would be punished for what he was about to do. He was never to know the true magnitude of his act or the far-reaching consequences of his words.

As he entered the Emir’s mighty palace, and went past the entrance of the harems (filled with captured Spanish women and slaves taken in the perpetual Jihad of the Christian north) the palace guards greeted him and let him pass. They had known him in his other life as grand secretary of the Caliph (katib adh-dhimam), the highest position held by any Christian. No one that day could have guessed this Spanish aristocrat was preparing himself to confront - in elegant court Arabic - the head of Andalusia’s revered Islamic judges. For this man that we know of only as Isaac, it would be the first time in his life that he would state his Christian beliefs publicly.


Isaac understood the Koran and Malikite jurisprudence as well as the legal discrimination of the Dhimma; he knew full well what to expect as a result of his Credo. There would follow a trial and swift death. Facing the assembled representatives of the Emir of Cordoba, he gathered his words, speaking calmly as he broke the most important commandment for survival as an infidel under Muslim rule: silence about your beliefs so as not to offend Muslims.

That encounter between infidel and master was the first chapter of the Martyrs of Cordoba. It proved to be merely the opening salvo of resistance. The subsequent struggle of wills between the subdued Christians of Spain and their Muslin conquerors launched ten years of trouble for the Muslims authorities of Spain. It also set the persecuted Europeans of the Iberian peninsula on the road to freedom. In spite of the renewed repression from the agents of the Emir, Andalusia would see a mass exodus of vast numbers of Christians. Escaping to the forested mountains of Asturias in the north, they deprived the Emir of his yearly revenue from the jizya, the life blood of the growing Muslim power in Andalucía.
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This story has resonance even today; it offers an answer to the present assault on the West from Muslims who still demand submission and silence, with not one utterance of criticism permitted towards Islam, Muslims, or their Koran.

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After an absence of three years from the luxuries of the Emir’s court and living in retirement as a humble monk, Isaac had requested to speak with the Islamic qadi (judge) about the Koran. Upon seeing his old servant, the qadi perhaps expected him to recite the shahadah, as many others had done before him in order to recover their jobs and to prosper as muwallads (new Muslims) in the strengthening world of Arab Spain.

Instead of reciting “there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet”, Isaac calmly declared in the language of the Koran his belief in the divinity of the Christian God and openly criticized Muhammad as a flawed man. By this declaration and criticism, Isaac had gone beyond the limits of the much vaunted convivencia. He was quickly condemned and beheaded; his headless body was suspended upside down on the edge of the river, near the bridge he had passed just the day before.

Thus ended the life of a Spanish Visigoth aristocrat who exposed the hypocrisy of the convivencia, a flawed peace which contained many limits and intolerance by Muslims toward the people of the book.

It is hard for modern day sensibilities to understand this dramatic choice by a man of privilege who would give up a comfortable life filled with Oriental luxuries. It may have been that in considering the future of his children, Isaac’s focus was on the altered cultural landscape of his beloved country. Although relatively peaceful and prosperous at the moment it was slowly being transformed by a rising alien culture. Church towers and their bells were being replaced by the call to prayer of the minarets; Christians were becoming a minority in their own land.

Apologists for Islam and promoters of the myth of the convivencia extol the Dhimma, the Islamic law that they claim allowed Christians to practice their faith in peace. This was far-sighted tolerance, they say. In reality Muslims demonstrated their prowess in dominating and co-opting conquered peoples. One must ask what kind of peace can a people under religious and legal bondage expect? Of what value is a tolerance which hinges on the moods of the masters? How free are those who live within the limits of a self-imposed submissiveness because of their fear of the ever-present Muslim sword? Such thinking is an illusion, a balm for those who are too weak to acquire real peace and security, the security which comes from raising your sword in righteous self-defense. True independence and its reward of freedom can only come through victory over these “masters”.

As the news of Isaac’s execution spread through Cordoba, the Emir’s men quickly took down his body and after cremation cast his ashes into the Guadalquivir. The name for this river still exists on Spain’s modern maps. It originates in the Arabic (al-wadi al kabir (الوادي الكبير) , reminding resentful Muslims that they were once masters in this land but are no more.

Eight new martyrs would come forth in the five days following Isaac’s execution. They declared their faith and died for their actions. This behavior baffled the Muslims and the people of city were perplexed as they tried to come to grips with what would become a growing phenomenon.

The Arab reaction was swift. The Emir ordered the arrest and detention of church leaders in cities across Andalusia. In the words of Eulogies, a lay person who would write down the details as they unfolded (and would later become a martyr himself), “the Muslims were dumbfounded with fear as a result of these events and thought the doom of their republic and the ruin of their kingdom to be at hand.” Though the truth was not quite as drastic as Eulogies said, and the Caliphate of Cordoba would not fall any time soon, from this moment forward the Emirs and qadis in the Arab-built palace, in a city founded by Claudius Merciless and known to the Romans as Corduba, would always be on the defensive.

In the second year of this continuing rebellion, word spread to all of Andalusia’s cities and to the free Kingdoms of the far north. What had begun as a seemingly suicidal act would evolve into military rebellions in Toledo and all the outlying cities which still had a Christian majority.

Even though the Emir would unleash his fierce Berber troops to quash the new resistance, he would never quite command the same level of tyrannical control as his ancestors had experienced in the years just after the Conquest. The steady flouting of the Emir’s authority was undeterred by ever more severe punishments. Year in and year out, more people would come forward openly declaring their faith and speaking the truth about Islam’s most perfect man, a man who knew no limits and used every method of conquest to subdue unbelievers.

This man whom Muslims considered their rôle model was beyond criticism. Yet now he was being openly criticized by the lowliest Spanish priest and peasant. In spite of ever-increasing repression the Muslims were unable to stop these manifestations of pacific resistance. Unlike an earlier wave of victims in Roman times, these martyrs sought out their masters. They openly confronted immutable Islam with the truths and beliefs that they had been forbidden to utter since the surrender of their ancestors in 711.

Bought by the terrible price of their deaths - forty-eight souls in total - the oppressed now wielded a mighty psychological weapon that the Emir was helpless to defeat or even to stop. Soon word would spread to much of Christian Europe. Resistance stiffened and small defeats of Muslim military power began along the bloody Muslim-Christian frontier.

This was not a shot heard ‘round the world; none of the Martyrs used violence. Instead their defiant stance of open opposition, much like the great figures of peaceful resistance from Gandhi to Martin Luther King, Jr., served as an example to others. These ultimate sacrifices would inspire future armies to fight until the last Moorish banner was taken down from al-Qal’at al-Hamra, the Red Fortress in Granada, some six hundred years in the future.

But it all began with the martyrs of Cordoba.

A Rosetta Stone for Col. West: Part One

It’s been more than two years since our first Rosetta Stone effort, and our “production line” has improved quite a bit in the meantime. More people have volunteered to translate, and Vlad Tepes has taken it upon himself to subtitle any video that requires it.

Our latest project has been to subtitle LTC (ret.) Allen West’s superb speech in as many languages as our volunteers care to undertake. As of right now, the languages in hand or in the pipeline are French, Albanian, Italian, Dutch, German, Danish, and Arabic. All the others are up for grabs, so if you want to try your hand at translating into your language, please email me at unspiek (at) chromatism.net, and I’ll send you a time-stamped English-language transcript in a text file. We’ll see how many different languages we can manage to subtitle.

Col. West gave his speech on February 19, 2010, at the launch of the Freedom Defense Initiative, which was organized by Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer.

We’ll start off our subtitled versions with French and Albanian. Many thanks to Gandalf and Ilia Toli, Ph.D. for the translations, and to Vlad for the subtitling. A full transcript in each language is below the jump.

French translation by Gandalf:


Albanian translation by Ilia Toli, Ph.D.:

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French translation by Gandalf:

00:00.02		Merci.
00:04.07		Merci beaucoup...
00:08.11		Pamela merci pour cette présentation et Robert, c'est extraordinaire
00:12.12		d'être ici avec vous aujourd'hui, et je voudrais tous vous dire une chose:
00:16.17		si la vérité est aujourd'hui devenue un appel à la haine passible de prison, alors, vous pouvez m'enfermer,
00:20.20		parce que je n'ai pas l'intention de me taire.
00:24.27
00:28.32		Un des principes clefs des conservateurs est la sécurité nationale.
00:32.34		Et le fait que nous soyons ici, à discuter de ce problème,
00:36.38		est une des choses que le peuple américain attend des leaders conservateurs,
00:40.41		c'est qu'ils assurent sa protection. Et si nous ne nous levons pas...
00:44.46		aujourd'hui dans cette convention, et que nous n'affirmons pas qui nous sommes,
00:48.49		et que nous comprenons la situation, le problème, alors le peuple américain se détournera...
00:52.51		de nous. Les responsables conservateurs que vous voyez ici...
00:56.57		ce week-end, savent ce qu'il faut faire pour vous protéger.
01:00.59		Laissez-moi expliquer quelques points. Je suis resté assis et j'ai écouté.
01:04.60		Et je suis fatigué et dégoûté des gens qui parlent de la " guerre au terrorisme ". La guerre contre le terrorisme...
01:08.64		n'existe pas. Pendant la deuxième guerre mondiale, de quoi auraient eu l'air
01:12.67		les Etats Unis s'ils avaient prétendu être en guerre avec la Blitzkrieg?
01:16.69		Ou avec les attaques kamikaze? Une nation ne rentre pas...
01:20.72		en guerre contre une tactique. De la même manière,
01:24.74		quand vous voyez les décideurs de niveau stratégique ici...
01:28.79		à Washington D.C. aller à la télévision et raconter...
01:32.84		à quel point c'est fantastique de lancer des "attaques par drones",
01:36.85		vous vous rappelez de ce qui se passait à l'époque du Vietnam,
01:40.89		quand Lindon Johnson autorisait les bombardements depuis...
01:44.92		la Maison Blanche. Ce n'est pas ce qu'est sensé faire...
01:48.93		un décideur de niveau stratégique. Ce n'est pas de la stratégie.
01:52.97		Une nation entre en guerre contre une idéologie,
01:56.98		et c'est ce dont nous avons parlé aujourd'hui.
02:01.02		Nous avons parlé du fait que nous sommes confrontés à quelque chose qui est...
02:05.05		une idéologie politique théocratique et totalitaire
02:09.06		et qui est nommée "islam".
02:13.09
02:17.12
02:21.16		Ce n'est pas à propos des musulmans.
02:25.18		C'est la même chose qu'avec l'Allemagne nazie: tous les...
02:29.20		Allemands n'étaient pas nazis. De même que quand j'étais...
02:33.24		en Iraq en 2003, tous les Iraquiens n'étaient pas membres du...
02:37.26		parti Baas. Ce dont je parle ici
02:41.30		est d'une idéologie qui existe depuis l'an 622,
02:45.33		depuis le 7ème siècle, ça a commencé avec ce qui est appelé
02:49.34		"le raid de Naklah", après que Mahomet ait commencé l'Hégire en quittant la Mecque pour...
02:53.38		Médine, ça a été violent depuis lors. C'est entré en confrontation avec la civilisation occidentale,
02:57.41		et c'est juste un autre chapitre dans le long livre...
03:01.42		qu'ils écrivent pour conquérir chacun de nous.
03:05.46		Et c'est maintenant à nous, comme nos ancêtres eurent à le faire, de nous lever et de repousser l'ennemi.
03:09.47		Nous devons maintenant nous lever et repousser l'ennemi, aujourd'hui.
03:13.51
03:17.55
03:21.56		Vous avez entendu Stephen [Coughlin] (ancien officier du renseignement) parler de l'abrogation. Vous devez comprendre des choses telles que...
03:25.66		le traité de Hudaibiyah, où ils (les musulmans) s'assoient pour discuter et vous berner...
03:29.68		en signant une trêve pour reprendre des forces. C'est ainsi que dans les années 627, 628...
03:33.72		Mahomet réussit à conquérir la Mecque.
03:37.75		C'est exactement la même chose qui arrive aujourd'hui.
03:41.75		Il faut se rappeler ce que fit Mahomet. Quand il écrivit des lettres...
03:45.80		à Khorso, l'empereur perse, quand il écrivit des lettres à Héraclius,
03:49.82		l'empereur byzantin qui disaient : " Vous avez trois choix. Vous vous convertissez,
03:53.88		vous vous soumettez ou nous venons vous dértuire. Eh bien, devinez quoi ?
03:57.92		En 1992, Osama Ben Laden fit exactement la même chose.
04:01.94		Il envoya une lettre aux Etats Unis. Un peu plus tard...
04:05.98		en 2005 ou 2006, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad fit exactement la même chose.
04:10.01		Il envoya une lettre au peuple américain et au président Bush. Nous sommes déjà...
04:14.02		en état de guerre, et si nous n'avons pas le type de chefs qui peuvent comprendre ça,
04:18.05		qui peuvent étudier cet ennemi, cet adversaire,
04:22.07		nous sommes sur la voie de la défaite, ici même, dans ce grand pays.
04:26.12		Nous devons comprende cela. Tout le monde ici vous l'a dit...
04:30.14		la Charia est incompatible avec ce que nous sommes
04:34.16		dans la civilisation occidentale, avec qui et ce que nous sommes pour...
04:38.19		les Etats Unis d'Amérique. Ce n'est pas une question de liberté.
04:42.21		Ce n'est pas une question de protection des droits de l'homme ou des droits des femmes...
04:46.26		C'est à propos de ce que dit l'islam: le mot signifie "soumission ".
04:50.29		Et je ne sais pas pour vous, mais en ce qui me concerne,
04:54.30		je ne serai pas un dhimmi. Je ne vivrai jamais sous une...
04:58.34		autre idéologie que ce qui est écrit dans la...
05:02.35		Constitution des Etats Unis d'Amérique.
05:06.41
05:10.44
05:14.47
05:18.54		Merci.
05:22.57		Nous devons comprendre...
05:26.58		que nous devons reprendre l'initiative dans ce combat.
05:30.63		De la même manière que nos jeunes soldats qui sont engagés avec de telles restrictions dans leurs règles...
05:34.66		d'engagement qu'ils ne peuvent reprendre l'initiative à l'ennemi.
05:38.73		On a vu à Marjan dans la province du Helmand, des talibans sortir,
05:42.74		poser leurs armes pour venir narguer nos soldats et repartir indemnes pour reprendre le combat.
05:46.76		Ce genre de chose n'arriverait jamais si j'étais commandant en chef.
05:50.80
05:54.83
05:58.88		Et de la même manière, nous devons développer des règles stratégiques...
06:02.92		d'engagement. Parce que nos...
06:06.92		droits constitutionnels ne devraient pas êtres applicables à...
06:10.96		des combattants ennemis définis comme illégaux par la convention de Genève.
06:14.99
06:19.00		Nous ne pouvons plus permettre à l'ennemi...
06:23.05		de venir utiliser cette nouvelle tactique de "guerre légale" que la majorité des gens...
06:27.07		ici présents connait, c'est comme ça qu'ils essayent de vous réduire...
06:31.12		au silence. Nous devons réagir,
06:35.14		ne pas les laisser utiliser nos lois ainsi. Et par le diable,
06:39.16		si un homme de loi ose poursuivre un citoyen américain pour lui...
06:43.17		interdire de s'exprimer librement, alors il n'est plus mon frère.
06:47.20		Qu'il remballe ses affaire et fiche le camp de ce pays!
06:51.26
06:55.30
06:59.33		Si nous continuons ainsi...
07:03.39		dans cette atmosphère politiquement correcte de multiculturalisme...
07:07.43		c'est n'importe quoi, on s'empêche...
07:11.44		nous même de prendre le droit de faire ce qu'il faut pour arranger les choses.
07:15.47		On voit ce qui s'est passé au Soudan. On voit ce qui se passe en Autriche.
07:19.53		On sait ce qui se passe en Hollande avec Geert Wilders. On sait ce qui arrive au Dannemark.
07:23.57		On appelle ça une analyse de risque...
07:27.59		il n'y a rien de mal à faire cela. Et vous tous ici...
07:31.61		dans les médias, arrêtez d'appeler cela de la stigmatisation. C'est identifier...
07:35.65		son ennemi et ce qu'il est en train de faire, et prendre des mesures pour l'éliminer.
07:39.67		Quand j'avais un commandement en Iraq, je savais que c'était des jeunes à moto tout terrain qui sortaient des sous-bois...
07:43.75		poser des bombes et nous attaquer. Je n'allais pas chasser...
07:47.78		des femmes en burquas au milieu de la nuit dans leurs maisons.
07:51.80		C'est ça une analyse de risque. Arrêtez d'être politiquement corrects, arrêtez de leurs permettre de venir...
07:55.84		dans notre pays.
07:59.86		Si vous ne comprenez pas...
08:03.94		que la réalité de votre ennemi...
08:07.98		doit devenir la vôtre, vous pouvez continuer à nier...
08:12.01		la réalité. Quand j'ai lu ce qu'avais fait le Major Hassan lors de son attaque...
08:16.07		à Fort Hood, j'ai été atterré. Et quand le Dimanche à la TV...
08:20.10		le General Casey, Chef d'Etat Major des armées dit
08:24.11		qu'il était plus inquiet des conséquences sur une atteinte au principe de diversité que par la perte...
08:28.16		de treize soldats à Fort Hood, je me suis rendu compte que nous avions un problème...
08:32.19		avec les dirigeants de ces Etats Unis là.
08:36.25
08:40.28		Nous devons accepter leur réalité.
08:44.30		Et la solution est tellement simple. Nous devons...
08:48.36		avoir le bon type de dirigeants dans ce pays. Parce que c'est de cela qu'il s'agit.
08:52.38		Nous avons besoin de mettre en place le bon type de dirigeants en Europe.
08:56.39		Le type de dirigeants qui n'a pas peur.
09:00.46		Membres des medias: arrêtez d'attaquer les juifs et les chrétiens.
09:04.46		Arretez d'avoir peur de cet ennemi. Montrez le même type...
09:08.52		d'agressivité que vous montrez à l'encontre des Américains...
09:12.55		mais contre eux. Parce que laissez-moi vous dire une chose: dans trente ou quarante ans,
09:16.56		si c'est eux qui gagnent, et qu'ils ont le contrôle de ce pays...
09:20.60		il n'y aura plus de médias libres. Il n'y aura plus de liberté d'expression.
09:24.63		Et vous savez quoi? Vous aurez été complices de cela,
09:28.70		parce que vous aurez été trop lâches pour faire front.
09:32.73
09:36.76
09:40.82		Maintenant,
09:44.84		le temps est arrivé où nous avons besoin de leaders avec des principes pour les Etats Unis,
09:48.85		Car, pour reprendre une phrase d'Elisabeth:
09:52.88		quand la tolérance devient une rue à sens unique,
09:56.91		cela mêne au suicide culturel.
10:00.95		Quand je pourrai aller en Arabie Saoudite avec ma bible...
10:04.97		à la main, avec ma croix autour du cou, aller dans une église,
10:08.98		à la Mecque, alors à cette époque ça ira.
10:13.03		Mais en attendant ce jour,
10:17.05		nous devons comprendre,
10:21.11		les buts et les objectifs que l'islam poursuit.
10:25.14		Nous devons être fiers de qui nous sommes.
10:29.15		Nous ne pouvons plus avoir des dirigeants qui vont devant l'assemblée générale Turque,
10:33.22		et dire que l'Amérique n'est pas une nation judéo-chrétienne.
10:37.24		Nous ne pouvons plus avoir des dirigeants qui vont devant...
10:41.26		une université du Caire, et s'excusent au nom des Etats Unis.
10:45.30		Ce n'est pas cela la fierté américaine.
10:49.31		Nous ne pouvons plus avoir des dirigeants...
10:53.36		à qui quand on demande: "comment définissez-vous la victoire ?", sont incapable de répondre.
10:57.39		Laissez moi vous dire: voici comment je définis la victoire,...
11:01.40		Exactement de la même manière que Ronald Reagan quand on lui demandait à propos du communisme :
11:05.44		" On gagne, ils perdent ". Que Dieu vous bénisse...
11:09.47		merci.
11:13.53
11:17.57

Albanian translation by Ilia Toli, Ph.D.:

00:00.02		Falemnderit.
00:04.07		Falemnderit shume…
00:08.11		dhe falemnderit Pamela per kete prezantim dhe Robert, sa mire…
00:12.12		qe jam ketu me ju te gjithe sot, dua t’ju them nje gje juve te gjitheve: nese…
00:16.17		e verteta eshte bere fjalim urrejtje-nxites, mire, ju me burgosni po deshet,
00:20.20		se s’e kam ndermend ta mbyll gojen.
00:24.27
00:28.32		Nje nga parimet baze konservative eshte siguria kombetare.
00:32.34		Dhe fakti qe jemi ketu, dhe qe po flasim rreth kesaj ceshtjeje, kjo eshte…
00:36.38		nje nga gjerat qe populli amerikan pret prej udheheqesve parimore konservative…
00:40.41		te bejne, dmth t’i mbroje. Dhe nese s’do qendrojme te palekundur…
00:44.46		ne kete konference te madhe qe kemi sot, dhe po jua them se do jemi te palekundur,
00:48.49		dhe ne e kuptojme kete situate, kete ceshtje, populli amerikan do largohej…
00:52.51		prej nesh. Duhet te veme para pergjegjesise udheheqesit konservative qe shohim ketu…
00:56.57		kete fundjave, te bejne c’duhet per t’ju mbrojtur.
01:00.59		Le te shpjegoj disa gjera. Se kam qene i ulur ne fund duke degjuar.
01:04.60		Jam i lodhur teper nga njerezit qe thone “lufte kunder terrorit”. S’egziston dicka e quajtur lufte…
01:08.64		kunder terrorit. Ne Luften e Dyte Boterore, sa te zgjuar do kishim qene,
01:12.67		nese Shtetet e Bashkuara te Amerikes do thoshin qe jemi ne lufte me Blitzkrieg-un (luften rrufe).
01:16.69		Ose nese ishin ne lufte me kamikazet. Nje komb s’shkon…
01:20.72		ne lufte kunder nje taktike. Njelloj,
01:24.74		Kur rri verdalle dhe sheh udheheqesit tane stratege ketu…
01:28.79		ne Washington D.C. qe shkojne ne spektaklet e te dieles dhe flasin mbi…
01:32.84		sa gje e madhe eshte qe ne po drejtojme “sulmet me aeroplane pa pilote”,
01:36.85		te vete mendja tek c’ndodhi ne Vietnam,
01:40.89		kur presidenti Xhonson miratonte bombardimet ketu ne…
01:44.92		Shtepine e Bardhe, kjo s’eshte detyra e strategut…
01:48.93		Kjo s’eshte perspektive strategjike,
01:52.97		nje komb shkon ne lufte kunder nje ideologjie,
01:56.98		dhe mbi kete po flasim sot.
02:01.02		Po flasim rreth faktit qe jemi kunder dickaje qe eshte totalitare…
02:05.05		ideologji politike teokratike qe…
02:09.06		quhet “islam”.
02:13.09
02:17.12
02:21.16		S’eshte fjala per myslimanet.
02:25.18		Eshte e njejta gje si ne Gjermanine Naziste: jo cdo…
02:29.20		gjerman ishte nazist. E njejta gje si kur isha ne…
02:33.24		Irak me 2003, jo cdo irakian ishte anetar i…
02:37.26		partise Baath (partia e Sadamit). Po flas rreth
02:41.30		nje ideologjie qe ka egzistuar qe prej vitit 622 te eres sone,
02:45.33		qe prej shekullit te 7te, filloi me nj gje te quajtur
02:49.34		Plackitja e Naklah, qe ishte pasi Muhameti beri Hixhren duke lene Meken per te shkuar ne…
02:53.38		Medine. Ka qene gjithmone e dhunshme prej atehere. Ka sfiduar Qyteterimin Perendimor,
02:57.41		dhe ky eshte thjesht nje kapitull tjeter ne librin e gjate…
03:01.42		qe ata po shkruajne per te pushtuar secilin prej nesh.
03:05.46		Dhe tani eshte koha jone, njesoj si baballaret tane u bene balle, dhe mbrapsh keta armiq,
03:09.47		ne duhet t’u bejme balle ketyre armiqve sot.
03:13.51
03:17.55
03:21.56		E keni degjuar [oficer ushtarak te sherbimeve sekrete ne pension] Stephen [Coughlin] te flase per “shfuqizim”. Keni nevoje te kuptoni gjera te tilla si…
03:25.66		Marreveshja e Hudaibiyah, ku ata do ulen dhe d’ju mashtrojne…
03:29.68		duke ju mbajtur paqesore qe te behen te forte, keshtu e beri rreth vitit 627,
03:33.72		Muhameti, qe pastaj mundi te shkonte,
03:37.75		dhe te pushtonte Meken befasisht. Saktesisht e njejta gje po ndodh tani.
03:41.75		Duhet te kuptoni traditat e Muhametit. Kur i shkroi letra…
03:45.80		perandorit persian Chosroes, kur i shkroi letra Heraklit, …
03:49.82		perandorit bizantin, qe thoshin, “Keni 3 zgjedhje. Behuni myslimane,
03:53.88		nenshtrohuni, ose do vijme t’ju pushtojme”. Merre me mend?
03:57.92		Me 1992 Ozama Bin Laden beri saktesisht te njejten gje.
04:01.94		Ai i dergoi nje leter Shteteve te Bashkuara te Amerikes. Me vone, rreth…
04:05.98		2005 o 2006, Mahmoud Ahmadinexhadi beri saktesisht te njejten gje.
04:10.01		I dergoi nje leter popullit amerikan dhe presidentit Bush. Jemi tashme…
04:14.02		ne lufte te deklaruar, dhe po s’patem udheheqes qe mund ta kuptojne kete,
04:18.05		qe e studiojne kete armik, kete kundershtar,
04:22.07		jemi ne rrugen e humbjes tani ne kete moment ne kete vend madheshtor.
04:26.12		Duhet ta kuptojme kete. Cdonjeri ketu eshte ndalur dhe ju ka thene…
04:30.14		ligji i sharias eshte i papajtueshem me cfare ne jemi
04:34.16		ne Qyteterimin Perendimor, dhe perfundimisht kush jemi ne dhe per c’parime luftojme…
04:38.19		ne Shtetet e Bashkuara te Amerikes. S’behet fjale per lirine. S’behet fjale…
04:42.21		per lirine. S’behet fjale per mbrojtjen e te drejtave te grave…
04:46.26		Behet fjale per cfare islami thote: fjala dmth ‘nenshtrim’.
04:50.29		Dhe s’e di per ju te gjithe ketu. Une s’do jetoj…
04:54.30		si dhimmi (jomyslimanet nen pushtetin mysliman). Nuk do jetoj nen varesine e ndonje…
04:58.34		tjeter tipi ideologjie pervec asaj qe eshte shkruar ne…
05:02.35		Kushtetuten e ketyre Shtetevete te madherishme te Bashkuara te Amerikes.
05:06.41
05:10.44
05:14.47
05:18.54		Falemnderit.
05:22.57		Ne duhet ta kuptojme…
05:26.58		qe ne duhet te fitojme prape iniciativen ne kete lufte.
05:30.63		Ne te njejten menyre si ushtaret tane te rinj qe tani pergatiten nen keta rregulla ngushtues te…
05:34.66		luftimit qe i pengojne ata te marrin iniciativen te paret kunde armikut.
05:38.73		Sapo e pate ne Marjan ne krahinene e Helmand-it, ku talibanet dalin jashte dhe…
05:42.74		hedhin armet dhe ikin dhe tallen me ushtaret tane dhe ikin te luftojne prape.
05:46.76		Kjo s’mund te ndodhte nen komanden time, po te isha une komandanti dhe shefi.
05:50.80
05:54.83
05:58.88		Dhe njesoj: ne kemi nevoje te zhvillojme tipin e duhur te…
06:02.92		rregullave te luftes ne nivelin stratejik. Se te…
06:06.92		drejtat tona kushtetuese s’mund t’u jepen luftetareve…
06:10.96		armiq te paligjshem, sic parashikohet nga Konventa e Gjeneves.
06:14.99
06:19.00		Ne s’mund ta lejojme ete armik me gjate te…
06:23.05		vije ne SHBA dhe te perdore kete taktike te re te ‘lufte ligjore’ qe shumica e njerezve…
06:27.07		qe jane sot ketu e di, keshtu ata mundohen t’ju bejne ju…
06:31.12		ta mbyllni gojen. Ne duhet t’i ndjekim ata,…
06:35.14		duke mos i lejuar ata te erdorin sistemin tone ligjor, dhe do isha i mallkuar,…
06:39.16		cdo avokat qe do perndjeke nj qytetar te Shteteve te Bashkuara per t’i…
06:43.17		hequr lirine e shtypit, ata s’jane vellezerit dhe motrat e mia.
06:47.20		Ata duhet te bejne valixhet dhe te largohen nga ky vend.
06:51.26
06:55.30
06:59.33		Po te vazhdojme…
07:03.39		ne kete atmosfere multikulturalizmi politikisht korrekt…
07:07.43		qe rron me steroide, ne po…
07:11.44		paralizojme veten tone prej marrjes se veprimeve te duhura.
07:15.47		Po e shohim c’po ndodh ne Sudan. Po e shohim c’po ndodh ne Austri.
07:19.53		E dime mbi Geert Wilders-in ne Hollande. E dime c’po ndodh ne Danimarke.
07:23.57		ne e quajme kete Analize e Tendencave…
07:27.59		S’ka asgjete keqe ne te. Dhe perte jithe ju ketu…
07:31.61		ne media, mjaft me ta quajtur prolizim. Behet fjale mbi…
07:35.65		identifikimin e armikut, dhe se c’po bejne ata, dhe t’i ndjekim ata.
07:39.67		Kur isha komandanne Irak, e dija qe djem te rinj ne bicikleta ne rruge dheu po dilnin prej…
07:43.75		shpellave per te vene mina per sulmuar. S’do shkoja te ndiqja…
07:47.78		gra nen ferexhe ne mes te nates, ne shtepite e tyre.
07:51.80		Quhet Analize e tendencave. Ndal se qei politikisht korrekt, ndal se lejuari ata te vijne ne vendin…
07:55.84		tone
07:59.86		Nese s’e kuptoni…
08:03.94		qe realiteti i armikut tuaj…
08:07.98		duhet te behet realiteti juaj, ne mund te vazhdojme ne kete gjendje…
08:12.01		mohimi. Kur e lexova sulmin ne Fort Hood duke u bazuar ne cfare Major…
08:16.07		Hasan beri, isha absolutisht i tmerruar. Kur rrija dhe shikoja…
08:20.10		shfaqjen e se Dieles, kur Gjeneral Casey, Shefi i Stafit te Ushtise tha,
08:24.11		ai ishte aq me i shqetesuar per divesitetin te mos ishte viktime sesa per humbjen…
08:28.16		e 13 ushtareve ne Fort Hood Teksas, kemi probeme…
08:32.19		ne udheheqjen e Shteteve te Bashkuara te Amerikes.
08:36.25
08:40.28		Ne duhet te pranojme realitetin e tyre.
08:44.30		Dhe rruga qe na pret eshte kaq e thjeshte. Duhet te…
08:48.36		kemi tipin e duhur te udheheqjes ne kete vend. Se keshtu eshte puna.
08:52.38		Duhet te kemi udheheqjen e duhur ne Evrope
08:56.39		Duhet te kemi udheheqjen e duhur qe nuk do kete frike.
09:00.46		Anetare te mediave: ndal sulmeve ndaj cifuteve dhe kristianeve.
09:04.46		Ndal frikes prej ketij armiku. Tregoni te njejtin lloj…
09:08.52		vrulli qe doni kunder bashkeqytetareve amerikane…
09:12.55		kunder tyre. Se le t’ju them dicka: 30 a 40 vjet me vone,
09:16.56		nese kane sukses, ata do kontrollojne kete vend…
09:20.60		s’do kete me media te lira. S’do kete liri fjale. S’do kete me liri…
09:24.63		shprehjeje. Dhe merre me mend? Ju do keni qene kolaboracionist ne kete,…
09:28.70		se ju jeni shume burracake te merrni qendrim.
09:32.73
09:36.76
09:40.82		Tani,
09:44.84		tani eshte koha per udheheqje parimore ne Shtetet e Bashkuara te Amerikes,
09:48.85		Se, sic e thote citati qe Elisabeth ka marre…
09:52.88		prej meje: kur toleranca behet rruge me nje drejtim,
09:56.91		kjo shpie ne vetevrasje kulturore.
10:00.95		Kur te jem i afte te fluturoj drejt Arabise Saudite me biblen time…
10:04.97		ne dore, me kryqin tim ne qafe, te shkoj ne Meke,
10:08.98		dhe te shkoj ne nje kishe, atehere merre me mend? Jemi ne rregull.
10:13.03		Por deri ne ate pike,
10:17.05		duhet te kuptojme,
10:21.11		synimet qe islami i ka vene vetes…
10:25.14		perpara. Ne duhet te jemi krenare per veten tone.
10:29.15		S’mund te kemi nje udheheqje qe do qendroje perballe parlamentit turk,
10:33.22		dhe thote qe Amerika s’eshte nje komb judeo-kristian.
10:37.24		S’mund te kemi nje udheheqje, qe shkon e rri, perballe…
10:41.26		nje universiteti ne Kajro, Egjipt, dhe kerkon falje per Shtetet e Bashkuara…
10:45.30		te Amerikes. Kjo s’ka te beje me krenarine amerikane .
10:49.31		S’mund te kemi nje udheheqje qe kur e pyet…
10:53.36		‘Si e perkufizon fitoren?’, dhe ata s’munden.
10:57.39		Po ua tregoj une: une e perkufizoj fitoren keshtu,…
11:01.40		njesoj si Ronald Reagan-i e beri kur e pyeten per komunizmin,
11:05.44		‘Ne fitojme, ata humbasin’. Zoti ju bekofte te gjitheve…
11:09.47		falemnderit.
11:13.53
11:17.57

Islam’s Golden Age: An Archaeological Nonentity

John J. O’Neill’s latest guest-essay concerns the lack of any substantive evidence for a “golden age” of Islam.


Islam’s Golden Age: An Archaeological Nonentity
by John J. O’Neill

In my recently published Holy Warriors: Islam and the Demise of Classical Civilization, I have argued in detail that Islam, far from being a force for enlightenment in the so-called Dark Age, was actually responsible for the destruction of the literate and urban civilization that we now call Classical; and that, if anything, it was Islam that caused Europe’s descent into backwardness during the Middle Ages. In the same place I have argued in detail that the Islamic Golden Age of the late seventh to the mid-tenth centuries, during which the world of Islam is supposed to have basked in the light of science and learning, is a complete myth, and that no such epoch ever existed. The evidence for this is archaeological.

Until the nineteenth and twentieth centuries scholars were compelled to rely entirely on written sources for their knowledge of the ancient and medieval worlds. The competent historian of course always had the critical faculty with which to differentiate between fact and fable, between propaganda and honest reporting. There was also, from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a more sophisticated form of textual criticism. Yet no matter how discerning the scholar, in the end all he had to work with was the written word. But this all began to change in the nineteenth century. From then on, scholars had something independent with which to check the claims of the chroniclers and annalists of old: the science of archaeology.

By the mid-twentieth century, archaeologists had begun to put together a fairly comprehensive picture of the archaeology of Europe and the Near East. Indeed, several areas of the Near East, such as Egypt, Palestine and Iraq, were and remain among the most thoroughly excavated regions of the earth.

Medievalists had of course been very interested in throwing light on the somewhat romantic though apparently fabulously wealthy and cultured Islamic world of the seventh, eighth and ninth centuries. Strange and wonderful tales were told of this epoch, though all agreed it was an age of high civilization. Indeed, the seventh to tenth centuries, as we saw, were regarded as the Islamic Golden Age. This was the age of the Omayyad and Abbasid Caliphs; the romantic epoch of Scheherazade and Harun Al-Rashid, the fabulously opulent Caliph of Baghdad, who is said to have donned the disguise of a commoner and wandered by night through the dimly-lit streets of the metropolis — a city of reputedly a million people. This epoch, and this alone, is said to have marked the age of Islam’s cultural ascendancy. Consider the following description from an English historian of eighth-tenth century Cordoba, typical of the genre: “In Spain … the foundation of Umayyad power ushers in an era of unequalled splendour, which reaches its height in the early part of the tenth century. The great university of Cordova is thronged with students … while the city itself excites the wonder of visitors from Germany and France. The banks of the Guadalquivir are covered with luxurious villas, and born of the ruler’s caprice rises the famous Palace of the Flower, a fantastic city of delights.” (H. St. L. B. Moss, The Birth of the Middle Ages; 395-814 (Oxford University Press, 1935) p. 172) All are agreed that in later years, from the eleventh century onwards, the Islamic world began to fall rapidly behind the West.

On the word of the written histories, then, archaeologists expected to find, from Spain to eastern Iran, a flourishing and vibrant culture; an Islamic world of enormous cities endowed with all the wealth of antiquity and the plunder gathered in the Muslim wars of conquest. They hoped to find palaces, public baths, universities and mosques; all richly decorated with marble, ceramic and carved stone.

In fact, they found nothing of the sort.
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The archaeological non-appearance of the Islamic Golden Age is surely one of the most remarkable discoveries to come to light in the past century. It has not achieved the sensational headlines we might expect, for the simple reason that a non-discovery is of much less interest to the public than a discovery. Then again, as archaeologists searched in vain through site after site, they imagined they had just been unlucky; that with the next day’s dig the fabulous palaces and baths would be uncovered. And this has been the pattern now for a hundred years.. In fact, the entire Islamic world is a virtual blank for roughly three centuries. Normally, we find one or two finds attributed to the seventh century, then nothing for three centuries, then a resumption of archaeological material in the mid- or late-tenth century. Take for example Egypt. Egypt was the largest and most populous Islamic country during the Early Middle Ages. The Muslim conquest of the country occurred in 638 or 639, and we should expect the invaders to have begun, almost immediately, using the wealth of the land to begin building numerous and splendid places of worship — but apparently they didn’t. Only two mosques in the whole of Egypt, both in Cairo, are said to date from before the eleventh century: the Amr ibn al-As, AD 641 and the Ahmad ibn Tulun, AD 878. However, the latter building has many features found only in mosques of the eleventh century, so its date of 878 is controversial. Thus, in Egypt, we have a single place of worship, the mosque of Amr ibn al-As, dating from three years after the Muslim conquest, then nothing for another three-and-a-half centuries. Why, in an enormous country with up to perhaps five million inhabitants, should the Muslims wait over 300 years before building themselves places of worship?

And it is the same throughout the Islamic world. No matter where we go, from Spain to Iran, there is virtually nothing between circa 650 and 950. Spain, as we have seen, is supposed to have witnessed a flowering of Islamic culture and civilization in the two centuries after the Arab conquest of 711; and the city of Cordoba is said to have grown to a sophisticated metropolis of half-a-million people or more.. We recall the description of a flourishing and vastly opulent metropolis painted by the writer quoted above. Yet the same author admitted that “Little remains of the architecture of this period.” Little indeed! As a matter of fact, the only Muslim structure in the whole of Spain dating from before the eleventh century is the so-called Mosque of Cordoba; yet even this, strictly-speaking, is not an Islamic construction: It was originally the Visigothic Cathedral of Saint Vincent, which was converted, supposedly in the days of Abd er-Rahman I, to a mosque. Yet the Islamic features that exist could equally belong to the time of Abd er-Rahman III (latter tenth century) whom we know did conversion work on the Cathedral, adding a minaret and a new façade. (Louis Bertrand, The History of Spain (2nd ed. London, 1945) p. 54) Most of the Islamic features in the building actually come after Abd er-Rahman III, and there is no secure way of dating anything in it to the eighth century.

The poverty of visible Islamic remains is normally explained by the proposition that the Christians destroyed the Muslim monuments after the city’s re-conquest. But this solution is inherently suspect. Granted the Christians might have destroyed all the mosques — though even that seems unlikely — but they certainly would not have destroyed opulent palaces, baths, fortifications, etc. Yet none of these — none at least ascribed to the eighth to early tenth centuries — has survived. And even assuming that such a universal and pointless destruction did take place, we have to assume that at least under the ground we would find an abundance of Arab foundations, as well as artifacts, tools, pottery etc. Indeed, in a city of half a million people, as Cordoba of the eight, ninth and tenth centuries is said to have been, the archaeologist would expect to find a superabundance of such things. They should be popping out of the ground with almost every shovel-full of dirt.

Now Cordoba has been extensively excavated over the past seventy years or so, often specifically to search for Arab/Moorish remains. What then has been found?

According to the prestigious Oxford Archaeological Guide, the city has revealed, after exhaustive excavations: (a) The south-western portion of the city wall, which was “presumably” of the ninth century; (b) A small bath-complex, of the 9th/10th century; and (c) A “part” of the Umayyad (8th/9th century) mosque. (The Oxford Archaeological Guide (Collins, 1998) pp. 73, 119, 120) This is all that can be discovered from two-and-a-half centuries of the history of a city of supposedly half a million people. And the rest of Spain, which has been investigated with equal vigor, can deliver little else. A couple of settlements here and a few fragments of pottery there, usually of doubtful date and often described as “presumably” ninth century or such like.

The sheer poverty of these remains can only be properly understood if we compare them to other well-attested archeological eras. Thus for example any single century of Imperial Rome’s history has produced not thousands, but literally millions of archeological finds, ranging from amphitheatres and temples down to pieces of pottery and objets d’art. That almost three centuries of Islamic history — three centuries of a supposedly Golden Age of opulence and prosperity — can produce virtually nothing from the Atlantic coasts of Morocco to the borders of India is an utterly astonishing fact; a fact which leads inexorably to a single conclusion: namely that the Islamic Golden Age of the eighth, ninth and early tenth centuries is a myth. And the elusive nature of all material from these three centuries, in every part of the Islamic world, makes us wonder whether the rise of Islam has been somehow misdated: For the first real mark left (in archaeological terms) by Islam in Spain is dated to the mid-tenth century, to the time of Abd er-Rahman III, whose life bears many striking comparisons with his namesake and supposed ancestor Abd er-Rahman I, of the eighth century. Again, there are strange and striking parallels between the major events of Islamic history of the seventh and eighth centuries on the one hand and of the tenth and eleventh centuries on the other. Thus for example the Christian Reconquista in Spain is supposed to have commenced around 720, with the great victory of Don Pelayo at Covadonga; but the real Reconquista began three hundred years later with the victories of Sancho of Navarre around 1020. Similarly, the Islamic invasion of northern India supposedly commenced around 710-720 with the victories of Muhammad bin Qasim, though the “real” Islamic conquest of the region began with the victories of Mahmud of Ghazni, roughly between 1010 and 1020.

What then does all this mean?

The lack of Muslim archaeology from before the tenth and eleventh centuries (with the exception of two or three monuments such as the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem and the Amr ibn al-As mosque in Cairo, usually of the mid-seventh century), would indicate that the rise of Islam has been misdated, and that some form of error has crept into the chronology. But error or not, the fact that virtually nothing from before the mid-tenth century has been found means that Islam was not a flourishing, opulent and cultured civilization whilst Europe was mired in the Dark Ages. By the late tenth century Europe was experiencing her own “renaissance”, with a flowering of art and architecture, much of it strongly reminiscent of the Late Classical work of the Merovingian and Visigothic period.


Holy Warriors: Islam and the Demise of Classical Civilization, is published by Felibri Publications. For information, see the Felibri website.

Previous posts by John J. O’Neill:

2009		Oct		6		Islam and the Dark Age of Byzantium
		Nov		10		How Muslim Piracy Changed the World
		Dec		2		Islam and the Rise of Violent Anti-Semitism
2010		Jan		11		How Islam Breathed New Life into Slavery and the Slave Trade In Europe
		Feb		20		The Crusades: A Response to Islamic Aggression