DOES OCCUPY WALL STREET KNOW ITS FLAG LOOKS LIKE A JIHADIST BANNER?
Occupy Wall Street will be marking the one year anniversary of the movement on Monday, September 17th, with a series of direct actions and protest marches across lower Manhattan. It‘s anybody’s guess whether they will really do what they say they’re going to this time, but there are some disconcerting early signs.
I took a stroll through their General Assembly the Saturday before #S17, as they call it (using the twitter hashtag as a catch-all for the event) and saw the usual gathering of leftists, oddballs, and assorted Marxist wanna-be revolutionaries.
But something unusual caught my eye: take a look at the latest addition to the Occupy propaganda arsenal:
(photo credit: Buck Sexton)
I saw a few of these black “Occupy” flags emblazoned with white writing in Washington Square Park. Below, you can see the “Occupy” flag held above the tactical General Assembly. Many of the facilitators (leaders) were familiar to me from last year, and this General Assembly was clearly a who’s who of the Occupy Movement in NYC.
(photo credit: Buck Sexton)
To be fair, there have been black flags present in the Occupy movement before, and they were used by anarchist movements way back in the late 19th century. But these were different.
I have seen entirely black flags carried by members of the “Black Bloc” (a tactic, not a group, as those who employ it often point out) in the Occupy movement. And a large “A” with a circle around it is well-known as the anarchist’s calling card of choice.
But black flags with white writing?
It resembles a Jihadist flag.
Given the amount of preparation for the #S17 anniversary of the OWS Movement, one would expect Occupiers to have some understanding of the imagery they use and how it will be viewed by the rest of the world.
While only hundreds may show up tomorrow, there are likely to be many reporters covering all the events. And I think some Americans may have the same reaction to the Occupy flag I did when it beams across their television screen.
Last week, Americans suffered through the horror of an assassinated U.S. Ambassador, with three other Americans killed at his side. These Americans were working for the consulate of a country that had been saved from threatened genocide and liberated from a tyrant by U.S. and NATO efforts.
(AFP/Getty Images)
Mere hours before those atrocities, a rampaging mob in Egypt attacked the U.S. Embassy in Cairo on the eleven year anniversary of 9/11. The rioters tore down and desecrated the American flag before raising up the black banner of Jihad (example above). Images of the Islamist black banners shot across the world in minutes.
(Mohammed Abu Zaid, AP )
You can see several of the Jihadist flags– including the Al Qaeda specific variant– in the photo at right, taken at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo. On top of the wall is the Al Qaeda version. You can see the more ornate script of the “Shahada,” which is an inscription often found on general use Islamist/Jihadist flags, at bottom right. The script contains the Islamic profession of faith, “there is no God but God, and Muhammad is his prophet.”
A bit of background: the black flag of the Islamist is taken from the “Black Banners of Khurasan,“ which are words found in a hadith about an Islamic army rising up from what is the roughly called the ”stans” area (Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, parts of Pakistan) and conquering their enemies in a sort of end of days scenario.
Defenders of Occupy Wall Street would no doubt claim that these similarities– white writing on a black background– are not an endorsement of Islamism and have nothing to do with Al Qaeda. Even if we take that as wholly true, it seems rather irresponsible and offensive to be marching around lower Manhattan with flags that could evoke the horrific events in North Africa from last week– not to mention even a vague similarity to Al Qaeda’s emblem.
It is also bears reminding that Solidarity with Cairo and Tahrir square has been a hallmark of the Occupy Wall Street movement in the past. I sat and listened to Occupy speakers a year ago proclaim that the revolution sweeping the Arab Spring would soon come to America. It obviously hasn’t happened yet, but the Occupiers themselves drew the comparisons to Mid-East revolutions then.
Black Bloc on May Day (photo credit: Buck Sexton)
We also know that a number of protestors in Cairo donned Guy Fawkes masks in what can only be described as an act of solidarity with the Occupy movement during their assault on the Embassy.
Occupy is a political movement, not a sports team. The choice of black symbols and imagery all has a purpose and context.
For a movement that has made “wealth inequality” its central theme, one would think that a nice baby blue flag with “spread the wealth” or “free love” on it would be a much more appropriate than what is–at best– an ominous anarchist flag that is perhaps evocative of a pirate’s Jolly Roger.
But of course, bringing the system down and “revolution” have always been part of the Occupiers’ stated goals, no matter how disconnected they are from reality. A black flag does well to represent such destructive ends.
Occupiers won’t get any closer to revolution by marching around Manhattan on #S17, but their decisions about imagery tell us they are either tone deaf to events in the world, or are willing to express subtle solidarity with radical, violent elements with which the United States remains at war.
After today’s #s17 events, perhaps we will have a better sense of which it is.
source: http://www.theblaze.com
Nearly 150 arrested at Occupy protest on one-year anniversary
John Makely / NBC News
An arrest on Wall Street as Occupy protesters circulate through the financial district trying to disrupt business on Sept. 17.
By Miranda Leitsinger, NBC News
NEW YORK, Updated at 4:00 p.m. ET -- Looking to reignite their movement on its one-year anniversary, several hundred Occupy Wall Street activists protested in lower Manhattan Monday, staging a sit-in near the iconic New York Stock Exchange and swarming through the streets in costumes and toting American flags and signs.
Police said 146 protesters were arrested, mostly for disorderly conduct. Earlier Monday, protester Michael Aaron said some religious leaders and dozens of others were arrested after sitting down in the street and on the sidewalk, blocking the thoroughfares.
"We're just at year one. We have a really big mountain to climb. But we're hoping to get the power back to the people," said Kim Fraczek, 37, who wore an Obama mask. She was with a man, Erik McGregor, 44, who had on a Romney one. They said they were aiming to show the two were controlled by money.
"In our bipartisan system, when the two candidates for presidency are doing everything to kneel down to the corporations and banks and turn against the people, it doesn't matter who you vote for, because the war machine will continue," said Fraczek, a handbag and jewelry designer.
The early morning protests and marches were marked by festive cheer, with demonstrators throwing confetti and glitter, carrying balloons and singing "happy birthday." But some protesters also reflected a more somber tone on the anniversary of the day when they set up a nearly two-month camp in nearby Zuccotti Park to protest against income inequality, corporate greed and money in politics.
But Morsi also announced he would meet with the Egypt’s judges group on Monday, laying the possibility for concessions.
By Kevin Murphy
KANSAS CITY, Kan., May 25 (Reuters) - Republican Kansas Governor Sam Brownback signed a bill aimed at keeping state courts and agencies from using Islamic or other non-U.S. laws when making decisions, his office said on Friday, drawing criticism from a national Muslim group.
The law has been dubbed the "sharia bill" because critics say it targets the Islamic legal code. Sharia, or Islamic law, covers all aspects of Muslim life, including religious obligations and financial dealings. Opponents of state bans say they could nullify wills or legal contracts between Muslims.
Supporters said the law will reassure foreigners in Kansas that state laws and the U.S. Constitution would protect them. Opponents said it singled out Muslims for ridicule and was unnecessary because American laws prevail on U.S. soil.
Sherriene Jones-Sontag, a spokeswoman for the governor, said in an e-mail that the bill "makes it clear that Kansas courts will rely exclusively on the laws of our state and our nation when deciding cases and will not consider the laws of foreign jurisdictions."
Legislators supporting the bill said there were many cases around the country where judges or state agencies cited sharia law in deciding cases, especially involving divorce-related custody and property matters where Islamic code differs from U.S. law.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington denounced the Kansas law and said it is considering legal action.
About 20 states have considered similar legislation but the Kansas law is the only one signed in recent weeks, council spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said.
"It's unfortunate the governor chose to pander to the growing Islam-phobia in our society that has led to introduction of similar unconstitutional and un-American legislation in dozens of state legislatures," Hooper said.
Hooper said legislators have often referred to sharia law in supporting such legislation, but he said they take the word out of the bill to stave off legal challenges. The Kansas bill does not mention sharia.
Federal courts struck down an Oklahoma law voters approved in 2010 that barred state judges from considering sharia law in making decisions. The court called the law discriminatory. (Editing by Greg McCune and Stacey Joyce)
Scrubbing the Internet and gagging clerics will not eradicate the anger felt by Muslims when they witness the outcome of US and American wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere on their TV screens. That anger is justifiable; the way that a few — like the 7/7 London transport bombers, the Boston bombers and the two men who boasted about carving up a British soldier — unleash their fury on innocents, who have no say over their government’s actions, is cowardly and abhorrent. Moreover, they’re no warriors for Islam when the faith explicitly states that killing one innocent is akin to slaying all of humanity.
Leaders of Muslim communities in the UK have loudly condemned the barbaric incident but law-abiding British Muslims are suffering a backlash from right-wing groups, such as the British National Party (BNP) and the English Defense League (EDL), which have organized marches to ignite Islamophobic sentiment. The leader of the BNP says mass immigration is to be blamed and the perpetrators should be shot again and wrapped in pigskin. The EDL announced the movement is “at war” with Islamic extremism. British Muslims are being targeted by balaclava-wearing Nazi-leaning fascists. In recent days, mosques have come under attack or daubed with racist graffiti. Muslims are being spat at or threatened in the streets; women’s head scarves are being pulled off their heads by passersby. In short, Muslims in Britain are living in fear through no fault of their own.
However, British authorities don’t have clean hands either. The real scandal is that one of the perpetrators Michael Adebolajo, the son of Nigerian Christian immigrants, was known to UK anti-terror units three years prior to the attack after his arrest in Kenya when he was suspected of participating in an Al-Qaeda inspired plot. Upon his return to the UK, his family and friends say MI5 pressured him to infiltrate extremist groups and spy on Muslim scholars, which he allegedly refused to do. Likewise the dead Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarvaev was added to a CIA watch list following a tip-off from Moscow, 18 months before his home-made bomb exploded at the marathon’s finishing line.
History confirms that both the UK and the US have on occasion worked closely with Islamists and jihadists since the 1950s on the basis of as long as they’re “our terrorists” they’re good fellows. There are numerous examples dating back to the era of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser who swayed toward the Soviet Union.
In his memoir “The Game of Nations: The Amorality of Power Politics,” US intelligence veteran Col. W. Patrick Lang describes how the CIA sought to undermine Nasser’s popularity and nationalist spirit by seeking out “a religious spellbinder” on the lines of Egypt’s answer to Billy Graham. The CIA’s man in Cairo, Miles Copeland, came across the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and worked with the organization to topple the Egyptian leader, albeit unsuccessfully. Robert Baer writes in his book “Sleeping with the Devil” that the CIA funneled support to the MB because of “the Brotherhood’s commendable ability to overthrow Nasser.”
It won’t be news to you that the CIA was instrumental in the coup that rid Iran of its democratically-elected Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh and worked to overthrow the Shah. But you may not realize that the CIA and Britain’s MI6 actively promoted the Ayatollah Khomeini to the extent that prior to his return from exile in France, the Iranians dubbed the BBC “The Ayatollah BBC.”
Fast forwarding to the Soviet occupation in Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda’s main training base “Bayt Al-Ansar” was founded with the assistance of the CIA chief in Peshawar at a time when the US manipulated religious belief to attract anti-Soviet jihadists to fight against communism. Under the umbrella of NSDD 166, the US took part in the radicalization of Afghan schoolchildren, encouraging them to join the anti-Soviet resistance with textbooks promoting jihad and featuring violent images.
Michel Chossudovsky, a Canadian professor and author, wrote, “Advertisements paid for from CIA funds, were placed in newspapers and newsletters around the world offering inducements and motivations to join the Jihad.” “Under the Reagan administration, US foreign policy evolved toward the unconditional support and endorsement of the Islamic “freedom fighters,” he writes, adding, “In today’s world, the ‘freedom fighters’ are labeled “Islamic terrorists.”
The CIA has also supported “freedom fighters” considered terrorists in Russia. Author John Laughland wrote that “the leading group which pleads the Chechan cause is the American Committee for Peace in Chechnya” with “the list of the self-styled “distinguished Americans” who are its members is a roll call of the most prominent neoconservatives who so enthusiastically support the “war on terror.”
Award-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh describes in the New Yorker under the heading “Our men in Iran” how US “Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) conducted training, beginning in 2005, for members of the Mujahideen-e-Khalq, a dissident Iranian group known in the West as the M.E.K.” which has been linked to the assassination of six American citizens and is listed by the State Department as a terrorist organization. Hersh alleges that members of the M.E.K. trained in Nevada but that program ended when Obama took office.
Some of the most explosive revelations come from former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds. In her book “Classified Woman” published last year, she accuses US government officials of collaborating with Al-Qaeda. During interviews she asserted that Al-Qaeda chief Ayman Al-Zawahri regularly met with US intelligence officials between 1997 and 2001. Sunday Times journalists wishing to remain anonymous allege a four-part series on this topic, scheduled to run in 2008, was dropped under pressure from “interest groups” associated with the US State Department.
It’s clear to me that the Islamic faith has been used and abused by Western intelligence agencies to suit their nation’s geopolitical agendas, nations that are almost as much to blame for terrorism acts, carried out by young and impressionable dupes, as those who light the fuse. Politicians, diplomats and spooks, who helped give birth to this Frankensteinian monster we call terrorism, can hardly complain when the creature turns on its master to wreak death and destruction wherever it goes.