Canada

Free Nazia Quazi
By Katha Pollitt

In most countries, a woman in her mid-20s is legally an adult. And in most countries, foreigners are free to leave when they like. In its flagrant rejection of these two principles, Saudi Arabia is unique, and that is a big problem for 24-year-old Nazia Quazi.

Readers of this site are familiar with the recent formal split in the Canadian branch of the progressive Muslim movement, so to speak. All that went on around that very public falling out had various facets to it and we can--continue to--discuss the more relevant ones (to the rest of us) as we go along. But for now, it was interesting to see what the quality of the statements from each, and especially the new group, would be, as one of the most significant anniversaries on the calendar rolled around. I have to say, neither disappointed.

Here's the part of the Canadian Muslim Union's statement (also posted on this site) that really resonated with me; in places, it has an almost lyrical quality to it (though the full statement is kinda long):

 

By El-Farouk Khaki and Hanadi Loubani for the Canadian Muslim Union

It has been five years since the day of infamy that we all refer to as 9/11. On that day, 19 men in the name of Islam brought death to more than 3000 New Yorkers and terror into our daily lives. The terror of 9/11 did not end there. More terror was unleashed in Bali, Sinai, Amman, Saudi Arabia, Madrid, Mumbai and London. On the fifth anniversary of 9/11, Muslims stand as part of the global community to commemorate the lives lost and pray in recognition of the calamity, pain and suffering it has resulted in for those who lost their loved ones.

9/11 is no longer a mere date. It has entered the history books as the beginning of something new, a new era where “the full wrath of the United States” was unleashed in a "crusade" to "rid the world of evil-doers.” In this post era, 9/11 has become a catalyst and pretext for other forms of terror. Under the banner of a global war on terror, ill-conceived and ill-fated military campaigns, interventions, and occupations in Afghanistan and Iraq have been justified. In the name of joining the global war on terror, states have mobilized dysfunctional and hypocritical definitions of human rights to justify the systematic sacrifice of countless human lives in Palestine, Lebanon, Darfur, Indonesia and Chechnya. In the fight against terrorism, domestic, administrative and legal regulations, embodied in the so-called “Bill C-36,” remodeled after the "USA Patriot Act," has been enacted to erode the very pillars of our Canadian democracy and liberty.

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