What? Spewing the Venom of Hatred Here?
It isn't as though one doesn't expect it will not be done in Canada by malcontents, by racists, by ideological fanatics, by religious zealots, but these events generally take place in private arenas, subtly and covertly. Mostly preaching their hatred to the converted, to the confused, to the envious and the ignorant, to those for whom the greater society is a failed experiment in humanity.All is not always as it seems. The religious channel out of Toronto, Vision TV, has defended its programming, denying that it gave a green light to a lecture by a known radical, a Muslim fundamentalist, a vociferously-vibrant anti-Semite. This multi-faith broadcaster has entree to some 7.8 million Canadian homes. Its purpose and presence in Canada is to air programmes to enlighten the faithful and the curious.
It sees nothing amiss in having permitted the broadcast of a lecture by a Pakistani Muslim fundamentalist whose vitriolic views and racist ramblings are well known to a sensitive audience. This Islamic preacher from Pakistan, Israr Ahmad, pronounced in his hour-long talk that "Jihad in the way of Allah, for the cause of Allah, can be pursued either with your financial resources or your bodily strength when you go to fight the enemy in the battlefield.
"So jihad, the highest form, is fighting in the cause of Allah." Nothing whatever for the ears of the pious identifying jihad as an internal struggle for understanding of the ways of Islam, to become a better Muslim. This is militant jihad of which this man spoke. A direct encouragement to pious action on the battlefield in the name of Allah. In the spirit of Islamist extremists who, while in the process of attacking a perceived enemy target, or blowing themselves up, shout inspirationally "Allah Akbar!".
This man has fervent followers in Canada, including one Qayyum Abdul Jamal, arrested last year for his role in a plot to detonate truck bombs in Toronto. This preacher, Israr Ahmad, was the inspiration for this Muslim-Canadian terrorist; his teacher and mentor, according to the wife of Mr. Jamal. Mr. Ahmad claims that Jews control the world through a secret conspiracy involving financial institutions.
And while Vision TV's code of ethics prohibit it from broadcasting programmes that glorify violence or essentially provoke or abet or encourage domestic or international religious or political conflicts, it denies that it has been complicit in doing just that in enabling this hate-monger to spout his viciously polemical views.
Mark Prasuhn, Vision TV's chief operating officer and vice-president of programming sees nothing wrong in Israr Ahmad's on-air discussion: "He is saying that Muslims have a duty to propagate their faith", claimed he. Encouraging Muslims to engage in jihad as a sign of respect to the Koran is disingenuously unambiguous. The statements go well beyond inference, straight in the direction of outright encouragement to violence.
This is something that Canada, with all its vaunted freedoms, including freedom of expression, can do very well without. A shame and a pox on Vision TV, or at the very least, its spokesperson, Mr. Prasuhn.
posted by Pieface @ Friday, July 20, 2007
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