JERRY GORDON: WARNING! THE OIC WANT TO SILENCE FREE SPEECH AROUND THE GLOBE
http://www.newenglishreview.org/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/38782
Earlier today, we published a review of a new book by Paul Marshall and Nina Shea of the Washington, DC –based Hudson Institute Center for Religious Freedom, Silenced: How Apostasy & Blasphemy Codes are Choking Freedom Worldwide.
The title of our review now appears to be prescient: Warning! The OIC Wants to Silence Free Speech Around the Globe.
Our bottom line review comment about the Marshall Shea volume was:
It is a powerful indictment of the Saudi-based OIC that strives, as the authors say “ostensibly to protect Islam from criticism but also serves the purpose of shielding from criticism those who claim the right to rule in the name of Islam. [It is] intended to demand that Western governments punish all those within their borders who have purportedly insulted Islam.”
In our review we discussed the OIC agenda and the complicity of the EU and the Obama Administration. We noted:
Silenced contains important documentation of the agenda of the OIC and its prominent members – Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan. That agenda, as the title conveys, is to impose Islamic Sharia doctrine on Western freedom of speech.
[. . .]
The OIC’s anti- blasphemy agenda has been presented in the EU, obsessed with multiculturalism until recent declarations of failure by major leaders in the UK, France and Germany. The authors note the adoption in 2008 of new hate speech guidelines by the Council of Europe (CoE):
. . . [would make individuals] subject to prosecution, offending authors, artists, and including those who have directly or indirectly contributed to the circulation of such statement or work of art; publishers, editors, broadcasters, journalists, art dealers, artistic directors or museum managers.
They point out that the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe used operative terms like “gratuitously offensive speech,” “no right to offend” and the new language of “religious freedom of citizens and their religious feelings not to be insulted.”
Prior to finishing the review we had received notice from Elizabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff of Vienna, Austria about an upcoming OSCE Meeting in Vienna on November 10-11th on “The Prevention of Racism, Xenophobia and Hate Crimes through Educational and Awareness-Raising Initiatives.”
We cited Ms. Wolff in our NER book review as one of the brave free thinkers in the EU convicted for criticizing Islam, a religion she learned about first hand from her episodes of living in the Muslim Ummah as the daughter of diplomats and later as a translator. During our interview with her –see here – she provided insights into her background and why she considers free speech imperiled in the EU. She told us how important our First Amendment is in protecting free speech both here and abroad. She learned that through a ‘boring’ middle school civics class in Chicago when her parents were posted there. Her conviction and fines handed down by a Viennese court were the results of a hearing brought by a leftist Austrian news weekly. The court decision was indicative that criticism of Islam is verboten under laws in Ms. Wolff’s Austria.
This evening, we received evidence of how far the OIC agenda of silencing free speech has gone in the EU. We received a forthcoming article from Adam Savit of the Center for Security Policy (CSP) containing the comments of Wolff about the release on October 28th of new guidelines for teachers on Islamophobia produced by the ODIHR, the Council of Europe and UNESCO and the presence of OIC representatives. The CSP is endeavoring, in response to Ms. Wolff’s request, to solicit representatives of US NGOs concerned about these developments in the EU to send representatives to the supplementary OSCE meeting in Vienna on November 10-11thth.
What follows is the CSP release with comments from Wolff of Pax Europa:
On 28 October the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) held a conference in Vienna on “confronting intolerance and discrimination against Muslims in public discourse.” Among the featured speakers was Special Adviser to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretary General Ömür Orhun. The OIC has been persistent in its efforts to combat any free and open debate about Islam and Shariah.
Free speech advocate Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff represented Pax Europa at the conference insisting that:
…criticism of a religion, including Islam, must remain legitimate. This is echoed by the OSCE: “Criticisms of religious practices . . . are legitimate speech.” We believe, however, that while Muslims are not a monolithic group, for those Muslims who accept Islam as an ideology, there are elements of Islamic law that are monolithic, in that all Muslims worldwide, whether they live in Europe, Asia, Africa, or America, consider the Koran and the Hadith (authentic sayings of Mohammed) as the basis of their legal system. Certainly groups like the Muslim Brotherhood profess this! How are groups like Pax Europa to discuss such issues if not allowed to speak to the language and doctrines that define them?
Despite this the OSCE released a 72-page document entitled Guidelines for Educators on Countering Intolerance and Discrimination against Muslims: Addressing Islamophobia through Education co-published by ODIHR, the Council of Europe and UNESCO. It is interesting to note that UNESCO today recognized and admitted “Palestine” as a member state despite the governance of the annihilationist Islamic movement Hamas in Gaza and the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority which continues to incite violence against Jews in media and textbooks.
“The first of its kind, this document addresses the specific characteristics of intolerance against Muslims and provides practical guidance to educators on how to address this issue in the classroom,” said Janez Lenarčič, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).
The OSCE is holding a similar meeting on November 10-11 in Vienna entitled “Prevention of Racism, Xenophobia and Hate Crimes through Educational and Awareness-Raising Initiatives.” Unfortunately due to the dominance at the OSCE of bad actors such as the Turkish organization Council for Justice, Equality and Peace (COJEP), these meetings focus inordinate attention on “Islamophobia” and essentially advocate for enforcing Shariah blasphemy codes on non-Muslim nation-states that infringe upon basic free speech rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Any non-governmental organization (NGO) can register, and your base of operations need not be Europe. The OSCE describes itself as “the world’s largest regional security organization” whose membership includes “56 States from Europe, Central Asia and North America,” including the United States. We encourage all free-speech minded NGO’s to register here for the next conference starting on November 10. The registration deadline is technically tomorrow, but the OSCE regularly allows late registrations.
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