The Hollow Men

Readers with an interest in finding out more about the Organization of
Islamic Conference (OIC) can follow this

link sent by a reader, TD. I suppose many of their resolutions have to be
taken with a grain of salt as the political statements they are. However, it
does give a sense of where the OIC is coming form and what sort of world it
desires. It is definitely not the value neutral One World that the Western Left
so ardently desires. There are 168 points in the OIC declaration, from a conference held in June, 2004. Here are some of them.

9. The Conference commended with pride the resistance of the valiant
Palestinian people and their legitimate leadership headed by gallant President
Yasser Arafat against Israeli aggression. It called for an immediate end to
the siege imposed on the Palestinian people and President Yasser Arafat so
that they can move freely in and out of the Palestinian territories. It
condemned recent Israeli threats on President Arafat�s life and reaffirmed its
continued political, financial and moral support for the Palestinian people so
that they can regain their inalienable national rights, including the right of
return, self-determination and an independent Palestinian State with
Al-Quds Sharif as its capital.

27. The Conference expressed firm support for the rightful cause of the
Muslim Turkish Cypriots ...

29. The Conference reaffirmed its support to the people of Jammu and
Kashmir for their legitimate right to self-determination, in accordance with
the relevant UN resolutions and the aspirations of the Kashmiri people. It
called for respect of the human rights of the Kashmiri people and the ending
of their continuous violations. It urged India to end human rights violations
against the Kashmiri people and allow international human rights organisations
to verify the condition of human rights in Indian-held Kashmir.

54. The Conference urged the Republic of the Philippines to complete Phase
II of the Peace Agreement concluded in 1996 between the Republic of the
Philippines and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), and to continue to
implement the Comprehensive Plan for the Development of the Muslim Autonomous
Region in Southern Philippines in order to restore stability and peace in the
region. It also called on it to cooperate with international and regional
organizations that provide assistance for the development of the region.

62. The Conference expressed deep concern over repeated and erroneous
attempts to associate Islam with human rights violations, and over the use of
television, the radio and the press to propagate such misconceptions. It
called for an end to the unjustified campaigns of some non-governmental
organizations against a number of Member States, which demand the abolition of
Sharia laws and penalties in the name of human rights protection. It affirmed
the right of States to uphold their religious, social and cultural
idiosyncrasies, which are legacies that help enrich common universal concepts
of human rights. It urged that the universality of human rights must not be
used as a pretext to interfere in the internal affairs of States and flout
their national sovereignty. The Conference also condemned the decision of the
European Union to denounce stoning as a penalty and what it calls inhumane
punishments meted out by some Member States in compliance with Islamic Sharia.

107. The Conference reaffirmed the need to boost the Supreme Council for
Education and Culture in the West, which is an Islamic cultural strategy. It
called on OIC Member States to provide financial and moral support to the
Council through ISESCO.

108. The Conference requested the Secretary General to conduct an in-depth
study in coordination with Member States so as to safeguard Islamic culture
and heritage from the adverse effects of globalization.

137. The Conference commended the IRCICA�s efforts to safeguard the
cultural heritage and Islamic identity of Muslim communities in Non-OIC Member
States and called on it to continue such efforts. It requested Member States
and Islamic institutions and personalities to provide it with the support
needed to attain such a noble goal.

Al-Quds Sharif, by the way, is the city once known as Jerusalem. It is also
the name of a

medal awarded to people who have performed exemplary service to the
Palestinian cause. Although people may choose one point of view over another;
prefer to call a city Al-Quds Sharif or Jerusalem according to their
inclination, it seems self-evident that there are sides to choose from. Not to
put too fine a point on it, the OIC has chosen a side; their side to be exact
and they are perfectly entitled to do it. What is at issue is whether people in
the West are also free to choose their "side" or whether this has been
permanently proscribed as a kind of bigotry or ethnocentrism; a form of hate
speech or forbidden thinking. The Global War on Terror may be not so much about
freeing the Middle East as about liberating ourselves. Allah spoke to his
Prophet and sent forth his flame; but the West has forgotten all, even its very
name.

And did those feet in ancient time

Walk upon England's mountains green?

And was the holy Lamb of God

On England's pleasant pastures seen?

And did the Countenance Divine

Shine forth upon our clouded hills?

And was Jerusalem builded here

Among these dark Satanic mills?

Bring me my bow of burning gold!

Bring me my arrows of desire!

Bring me my spear! O clouds unfold!

Bring me my chariot of fire!

I will not cease from mental fight,

Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand

Till we have built Jerusalem

In England's green and pleasant land.

--

William Blake

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Best of the Comments

"St Augustine defines virtue as ordo amoris, the ordinate condition of the
affections in which every object is accorded that kind of degree of love which
is appropriate to it. Aristotle says that the aim of education is to make the
pupil like and dislike what he ought. When the age for reflective thought comes,
the pupil who has been thus trained in 'ordinate affections' or 'just
sentiments' will easily find the first principles in Ethics; but to the corrupt
man they will never be visible at all and he can make no progress in that
science. Plato before him had said the same."

MDBritt