On August 6, 2010 and August 13, 2010, the Texas-based Operation Save America (OSA) Christian group held protests in front of a Bridgeport, Connecticut mosque, stating that “Islam is a lie,” and that the group sought to protest Muslim mosques throughout the month of Ramadan. The OSA Christian group leader told the Connecticut Post “This is a war in America and we are taking it to the mosques around the country.”
Connecticut: Interfaith Religious Groups Seek Harmony Between Religions - Reverend Kate Heichler (ICSW Web Site) and Rabbi Joshua Hammerman (Temple Beth El Web Site)
At its website, the Interfaith Council of Southwestern Connecticut states:
“Tuesday, August 24th, 2010 6:30 p.m. Interfaith Prayer Vigil in support of Muslim communities in Fairfield County, on the grounds of First Congregational Church, 1 Walton Place, Bedford Street, Stamford. All are welcome to gather peacefully with members of our Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Sikh communities – and people of other religions who choose to join in – to lift voices in prayer for peace, respect and collaborative ministry in the Stamford area and Southwestern Connecticut. For more information contact Kate Heichler (kateheichler@gmail.com) or Mark Lingle (marklingle.pastor@gmail.com).”
At another one of the 9/11 attack sites, the Pentagon in Washington DC, a daily Islamic prayer service has been held in November 2002 by the Office of the Pentagon Chaplain, whose mission is “meeting the spiritual needs of the Pentagon.” Neither of the Pentagon chaplains are Muslim, and according to the AP, the Friday Muslim worship service at the Pentagon is ” run by an imam from a local mosque.”
Mission of Office of Pentagon Chapel (Photo: Pentagon Web Site)
At the Pentagon Interfaith Chapel, it has a stain glass window, inscribed “United in Memory,” designed by a veteran. But the memory of 9/11 is intended to be unifying for the armed forces of all religions, races, and identity groups, rather than a source of division.
Pentagon Chapel Near 9/11 Attack: "United in Memory" as All Religions Worship Together (Photo: Pentagon Web Site)
AP reports: “Muslims pray daily at Pentagon’s 9/11 crash site.” In the AP report, it states that: “Americans are debating bitterly the proposed building of a mosque near New York’s ground zero, but for years Muslims have prayed quietly at the Pentagon only 80 feet from where another hijacked jetliner struck. Pentagon officials say that no one in the military or the families of the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has ever protested. They describe the 100-seat chapel as a peaceful place where some 300 to 400 Pentagon employees come to pray each week. The chapel hosts separate weekly worship services for Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Mormons, Protestants, Catholics and Episcopalians.”
The goal of the Pentagon chaplain office, which runs the chapel, is to ‘provide assistance and support for the religious, spiritual and morale needs of all service members and employees,’ said Army spokesman George Wright. In 2001, hijacked American Airlines flight 77 flew into the west side of the Pentagon, plowing through three of the building’s five office ‘rings’ and killing 184 people. As part of its massive renovation and to honor victims in the attack, the Pentagon opened the chapel in November 2002.”
“The chapel includes no religious symbols, except Catholic holy water at the door; religious accouterments are brought in for various worship services. Wright said that Muslim employees can gather for a daily prayer service Monday through Thursday, and attend a Friday worship service run by an imam from a local mosque. Two in-house Army chaplains run the chapel, neither of which are Muslim. Col. Daniel Minjares is associated with the Church of the Nazarene; his deputy, Lt. Col. Ken Williams, is Southern Baptist. Wright said the chaplains provide religious services for their denomination, but can provide services such as grief and marital counseling to employees of any faith.”
In Green Bay, Wisconsin, the Green Bay City Council met on the evening of August 17, 2010 to approve a decision made July 2010 by the Green Bay planning commission to allow a zoning request that would allow a mosque to be built in Green Bay for the Islamic Society of Green Bay. The Islamic Society has been worshiping in temporary facilities since 2005, and says says that it has run out of space at its current location. WLUK-TV also reported that the new mosque would be associated with the Islamic Society of Wisconsin, with the application listed for the “Church of Islam.”
Green Bay's Arasumus Autry Seeks New Mosque to Replace Outgrown Facility (Photo: WFRV Video Screen Shot)
Green Bay City Council Alderman Voting Against Zoning for Mosque: Guy Zima, Steven Deneys, and Andy Nicholson (left to right) (Photo: Green Bay City Council web site)
The zoning request was to allow the Islamic Society of Green Bay to use a commercial building on Velp Avenue, which had once been a bait and tackle shop, but had been closed and shuttered for the past 5 years. Some city council members also sought to consider the financial implications of loss of commercial tax dollars by allowing the mosque to built in the abandoned facility, which is across the street from a cemetery.
Green Bay: Abandoned Building to Be Purchased to Support New Mosque (Photo: WFRV Video Screen Shot)
The decision to approve the Green Bay planning commission zone recommendation to allow the building of the mosque came after public debate by speakers and by members of the City Council on the zoning request, as well as on Islam.
WFRV News provided a video report on the City Council hearing, where some debated issues about Islam when considering the zoning application for the mosque. WFRV News described the meeting as “at times a tense discussion. Most [City Council] alderman felt that religion had no place in the debate.”
Mosque protester Doug Cayer said about the planned mosque in Green Bay “It disturbs me highly. I don’t understand a lot of the religion, but what I read about and hear about is so against what I stand for – I’m just dead set against this. I have a problem with radical Islam and its connotations in my neighborhood.” The Green Bay Press-Gazette also reported that “Doug Cayer, who said he lives nearby, said he was concerned about Islamic followers turning radical and potentially disrupting the neighborhood.” The Press-Gazette said that Cayer told the City Council: “I don’t want something scary coming to my neighborhood.”
Green Bay Resident Doug Cayer Stated He Didn't Know Much About Islam, But Found It Scary (Photo: WFRV Video Screenshot)
Green Bay City Council Alderman Guy Zima, on the Green Bay Council since 1976, had indicated that he had concerns about sound disturbing others. (The abandoned building is near a cemetery.) WLUK-TV reported that “Guy Zima requested the item be sent back to committee to see if a noise stipulation could be added.”
Green Bay City Council Alderman Guy Zima then stated that concerns involved Islam. WLUK-TV reported that Guy Zima stated: “Everybody’s been hopping on the equality bandwagon, which has been part and parcel of the United States of America since its foundation. But this religion at its depths, I don’t think really has the same interest as the American way of life or its values.”
Green Bay City Council Alderman Guy Zima Opposed Zoning for Mosque Because "Islam has a history of intolerance" (Photo: WFRV Video Screenshot)
The Green Bay Press-Gazette reported on Mr. Zima’s comments: “Alderman Guy Zima raised several issues with the mosque proposal, including his belief that some followers of Islam are intolerant toward other religions. ‘It has been very divisive in other communities,’ Zima said.” WLUK-TV News quoted Guy Zima as stating that Islam “has a history of intolerance.”
At the August 17, 2010 Green Bay City Council hearing, Green Bay City Council Alderman Brian Danzinger condemned comments made by other elected officials on Islam, stating “we are coming dangerously close to comments that are circulating stereotypes, and again propagating the perceptions that really doesn’t exist.”
Green Bay City Council Alderman Brian Danzinger Rejected Comments on Religious Stereotype (Photo: WFRV Video Screenshot)
The Green Bay Press-Gazette reported that City Council Alderman Ned Dorff said that such decisions cannot be made based on religion or fear: “Alderman Ned Dorff, who represents the area, said the city should view the issue strictly as a land-use matter and should not attempt to legislate any particular religious denomination, ‘It’s not a decision we can make based on religion or based on fear,’ Dorff said.”
Green Bay Council Alderman Ned Dorff Says "It's not a decision we can make based on religion or based on fear" (Photo: Facebook)
The Islamic Society of Green Bay told WFRV News “they do not tolerate extremists saying it is against their beliefs.”
On the first anniversary of the mob attack on Gojra, Pakistan, Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)’s Jeffrey Imm issued the following online petition for the people of the world to promote pluralism to the Pakistan people and Pakistan government, stating:
“We support tolerance, freedom, and respect for all religions in Pakistan, including freedom of worship for all Pakistanis without oppression, harassment, attacks, or violence. We stand united for pluralism and united for the universal human rights allowing such freedom of religion, freedom of worship, and freedom of conscience for all people in Pakistan.”
“We call upon the Pakistan government and the people of Pakistan to respect such diversity of religious views and protect such freedoms that are the inherent universal human rights of all people. We stand united in pluralism, with respect and love for our fellow human beings.”
We urge all those who support such pluralism and human rights, dignity in Pakistan to sign our online petition at:
— August 1790 – George Washington: “The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent national gifts. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.”
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— “May the father of all mercies scatter light and not darkness in our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in his own due time and way everlastingly happy.”
United States President George Washington - President: 1789 - 1797
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) invites the public to join us at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Sunday, July 11 at 2 PM to promote our shared support for democracy, freedom, human rights. We also will call for an end to stoning, and we stand in solidarity with Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani.
Join us on July 11, 2010 at 2 PM in Washington DC at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool Steps – in a joint demonstration – not of what we are against, but what we support as all Americans: our democracy, our freedom,our universal human rights. We choose that spot where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood – with his courage of compassion years ago – on the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool Steps, and called out to the American conscience “I have a dream.” We know that realizing such a dream entails the responsibility of standing together – not just for what we oppose – but also for what we believe.
Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool Steps Location for Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) Rally
It is easy to take our freedoms for granted, but the truth remains that there are those in America and around the world who seek to deny such inalienable universal human rights, who seek deny democracy, who seek to deny freedom of religion, and who seek to deny basic human rights and dignity for our fellow human beings with different ethnic backgrounds, genders, and races.
We will also take the opportunity to oppose the barbaric punishment of stoning, and to stand in solidarity with those victims of stoning and those that have been condemned to stoning around the world, including Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani.
We also object to those groups that promote the barbaric punishment of stoning which Hizb ut-Tahrir supports in its public demonstrations. The barbaric practice of stoning is one that all human beings must reject in showing our love and dignity to our fellow human beings.
We urge all to Choose Love, Not Hate — Love Wins.
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July 11 Lincoln Memorial Event Logistics: Our event will be held from 2 to 3 or 3:30 PM ET on Sunday July 11, at the reflecting pool steps in front of the Lincoln Memorial (not the Lincoln Memorial steps). We are recommending that attendees take public transportation via the Washington subway to either the Foggy Bottom metro stop and walk south to the Lincoln Memorial, or the Smithsonian metro stop and walk west along the National Mall and 17th street to Lincoln Memorial (see details below). We have a National Park Service permit for our event.
Important note – the reflecting pool steps where our event will be located is on the east side of the 23rd street that goes between the Lincoln Memorial itself and the reflecting pool in front of it.
The Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC is on the far end of the National Mall and bisects 23rd Street (see PDF of map). It can be reached from Constitution Avenue from Henry Bacon Drive and from Independence Avenue from Henry French Drive. Limited parking may be available on Independence Avenue or Madison Avenue near the National Mall, or at the Jefferson Memorial. However, parking in Washington DC is scarce, and using public transportation is strongly recommended.
DC Subway and Walking Directions
Walking from Foggy Bottom subway stop to Lincoln Memorial
– Map in walking from Foggy Bottom to Lincoln Memorial
* Exit station using main exit
* Walk approx. 7 blocks S on 23rd St NW. (stay on 23rd Street essentially until you get within visual range of Lincoln Memorial)
* Turn right on Lincoln Memorial Circle SW.
* Walk a short distance W on Lincoln Memorial Circle SW.
Walking from Smithsonian subway stop to Lincoln Memorial
* Exit station using 12TH & JEFFERSON (THE MALL) exit
* Walk approx. 2 blocks W on Jefferson Dr SW.
* Turn right on 14th St NW.
* Walk approx. 1 block N on 14th St NW.
– Map in walking from Smithsonian subway to Washington Monument (en route)
* Keep walking past Washington Monument west in the direction of the Lincoln Memorial
* Cross 17th Street going west
* Walk past National World War II Monument west in the direction of the Lincoln Memorial
* Continue to walk down Washington Mall in the direction of the Lincoln Memorial * NOTE: that our rally will be on the side of the reflecting pool nearest the Lincoln Memorial
Lincoln Memorial is part of the National Mall and Memorial Parks. The memorial stands in West Potomac Park, near the convergence of numerous roads from throughout the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. In terms of placement, the memorial occupies a highly symbolic and important position as the western “bookend” of the National Mall, while the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial provides the eastern component at the foot of Capitol Hill, two miles to the east.
Car
Interstate 395 provides access to the Mall from the South. Interstate 495, New York Avenue, Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway, George Washington Memorial Parkway, and the Cabin John Parkway provide access from the North. Interstate 66, U.S. Routes 50 and 29 provide access from the West. U.S. Routes 50, 1, and 4 provide access from the East.
PublicTransportation
There are several Metro train and bus routes from the suburban areas surrounding the city. In addition to Washington, D.C. public transportation, adjacent state and commonwealth transportation authorities offer train service from area cites to the Nation’s Capital. Consult the Public Transportation link for additional details.
Parking
General visitor parking is available along Ohio Drive, SW between the Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson Memorials. Bus parking is available primarily along Ohio Drive, SW near the Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson Memorials and along Ohio Drive, SW in East Potomac Park. See the Maps section for a detailed understanding of these areas.
There is limited handicapped parking at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt and World War II Memorials and near the Washington Monument and the Thomas Jefferson, Lincoln, Korean War Veterans, and Vietnam Veterans Memorials; otherwise, parking is extremely scarce in Washington, D.C.
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.
Martin Luther King, Jr., delivering his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech from the steps of Lincoln Memorial. (photo: National Park Service)
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating “For Whites Only”. We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
But while there may be no official remembrance activities, there are many whose lives and passion for democracy and freedom are living memorials to the July 7 victims, and whose efforts represent a new hope for the United Kingdom in the struggle of ideas.
We have been seeing increasing signs of hope and progress among British Muslims who are taking the lead in supporting secular democracy and human rights as a counter-message to extremists who seek to deny democracy and human rights. While some analysts believe that fighting terrorism can be measured by tactical achievements or failures, Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) believes that solutions will come from a consistent support for democracy and our universal human rights from the public, including British Muslim and pro-human rights groups in the struggle of ideas.
While groups such as Anjem Choudary’s Islam4UK and the Hizb ut-Tahrir United Kingdom groups denounce democracy and equality, and on the other extreme, groups such as the English Defence League and the Stop Islamisation of Europe groups are protesting Muslim houses of worship, there are alternatives from those such as the BMSD and its supporters who provide an example in consistent support of democracy, human rights, and human dignity for rest of the United Kingdom and the world.
We urge others in the United Kingdom to follow the example of groups such as BMSD and choose to consistently be responsible for equality and liberty.
Once again, America finds itself commemorating another Independence Day. We recognize this day as the day when people of the English colonies in America could no longer live under rule of England. We associate American independence with July 4, 1776, and our Declaration of Independence. We remember this as the day that people officially declared themselves not to be British subjects, but to be free Americans.
Americans celebrate the day with picnics, flags, fireworks, and gatherings with family and friends. We live in this moment of freedom and enjoy this day.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”
In the past year in our human rights efforts with Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.), I have had great successes meeting with individuals of every identity group, every political cause, every race, gender, religion, that share our common commitment to such unalienable rights, and share our common commitment to challenging those who would take these away from us in America or anywhere in the world. From Muslim-Americans supporting democracy, women’s rights, and religious freedom to far-left Americans defying religious extremist views, I have found Americans who are truly united in this consensus in every religion, color, gender, and from both the right and the left. Political pundits may find stories of our political polarization to be interesting, but they neglect our greater consensus that we always had on the truths that we find self-evident. Most Americans hold fast to these truths and they believe in equality and liberty.
Many have concerns about groups that wish to do Americans harm and that seek to take our rights away. But we can never fall into the trap of letting our concerns and challenges become hate and fear.
Our independence and human rights mean nothing as long as we are enslaved to hate and fear.
Some believe that we can be enslaved to hate as Americans. A year ago, the press reported an American citizen expressed such views to his European friends that hate was “natural, normal and necessary,” and that “compassionate nations” would “die.” Those were the words of James Von Brunn to his friends, Nazi supporters in Germany, before his June 10, 2009 terrorist attack on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
As long as we are enslaved to hate, we have no independence. As long as hate rules our lives, we will never be free, no matter how we can justify such hatred to people of other identity groups, religions, races, genders, and ethnic groups. Hate destroys all, and it destroys our very freedoms. Hate is un-American.
Some also believe that we can be enslaved to fear as Americans. In an era of mass terrorist attacks, fear has gained more power than ever before in American history. We know that ultimately there is no way to stop the “lone wolf” terrorist with a single bomb, or even a private plane as the terrorist Joseph Stack proved in Austin, Texas. We also know that we have been incredibly lucky to have had few attacks on the U.S. homeland since 9/11.
But we have had more than luck. We have had many dedicated American law enforcement and government individuals giving their lives to ensure Americans’ safety, and there has been a massive network of volunteers who have kept their eyes open for Americans. We also not forget the power of teamwork and trust among Americans. We must not forget that on May 1, Muslims and non-Muslims together helped to notify the police to prevent the Times Square bombing.
As long as we are a UNITED States of America, we are bound by the same common cause of our democracy, our human rights, and our shared survival. We must not allow the power of trust and power of unity to be disintegrated by fear.
As long as we are enslaved to fear, we have no independence. As long as fear rules our lives, we will never be free, no matter how we try to justify such fear of people of other identity groups, religions, races, genders, and ethnic groups. Fear destroys all, and it destroys our very freedoms. Fear is un-American.
America is the land of the free and the home of the brave.
On this Independence Day, let’s remember this and let’s break the chains that enslave many Americans to hate and fear. Declare independence from hate and fear in our lives.
Let’s stand up for such freedom and bravery to the world.
Show the world what it really means to be an American.
Iran Human Rights Activist Maria Rohaly Calls for Freedom for Sakineh Ashtiani and An End to StoningJuly 2, 2010: Washington DC - Activists Protest outside of the Islamic Republic of Iran's Interest Section of the Pakistan Embassy
Outside of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Interest Section of the Pakistan Embassy, human rights activist Maria Rohaly read a protest statement calling for ending of stoning in Iran: “We are gathered here today in response to the plight of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani and her children.” Maria Rohaly stated that her children “have called upon the world for help to save their mother’s life. We in Washington DC tell them that we feel their pain and we know their grief. We want them to know that they are not alone in their sorrow and their anguish. Dear children, your letter has raised a wave of sympathy and compassion, demonstrating that humanity is alive. Today, we loudly declare: 1. First the stoning verdict against Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani should be discarded. Execution is murder by the state. 2. Stoning is the most savage and most merciless form of execution and should be abolished, must be abolished in Iran and worldwide. 3. Third, sexual relationships between adults are private matters and no individuals, no institutions, and especially, no government, has the right to interfere in these matters. 4. Fourth, we strongly condemn the Islamic Republic [of Iran] for its barbaric implementation of stoning, execution, and torture… we call upon all international institutions as well as the United Nations and the European Union to strongly condemn the Islamic Republic and demand that Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani’s stoning verdict be overturned, as well as verdicts of all others that [Iran] plans stoning and executions. 5. We use this opportunity to demand immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners, including Zeinab Jalalian. 6. The Islamic Republic of Iran’s leaders must be prosecuted and punished in an international court on charges of stoning and executions of tens of thousands of people. No to execution, no to stoning, and no to murderous laws.”
Demonstrators protested alongside Wisconsin Avenue and alerted motorists and pedestrians to the stoning threat to Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtianii. Some of the protesters also marched from the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Interest Section of the Pakistan Embassy at 2209 Wisconsin Avenue, Northwest to Dupont Circle to distribute fliers to the public on this issue and urge them to contact their governments on the barbaric acts of stoning that have taken place, and are planned to take place in Iran.
July 2, 2010: Washington DC - Activists Protest outside of the Islamic Republic of Iran's Interest Section of the Pakistan EmbassyJuly 2, 2010: Washington DC - Activists Protest outside of the Islamic Republic of Iran's Interest Section of the Pakistan EmbassyJuly 2, 2010: Washington DC - Activists Protest outside of the Islamic Republic of Iran's Interest Section of the Pakistan EmbassyJuly 2, 2010: Washington DC - Activists Protest outside of the Islamic Republic of Iran's Interest Section of the Pakistan Embassy
An international campaign led by Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani’s children has sought to alert the world to this and call upon the Iranian government to quash her conviction, which was obtained after she was lashed 99 times. Demonstrators also condemned the barbaric practice of stoning and the inequality of women in Iran. According to the Guardian, “Under Iranian sharia law, the sentenced individual is buried up to the neck (or to the waist in the case of men), and those attending the public execution are called upon to throw stones.” CNN, Radio Free Europe/Radio Free Liberty, the Daily Mail, and other media have reported on this story. Mission Free Iran, the Human Rights & Secular Democracy For Iran group, International Committee Against Stoning, and R.E.A.L. have sought to publicize the campaign to stop the stoning of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani.
Friday July 2 at 6pm in front of the Islamic Republic’s Interests Section of the Pakistani Embassy (2209 Wisconsin Ave NW, Wash DC).
The children of Sakine Mohammadi Ashtiani have reached out to the world with a heart-rending appeal: Protest against our mother’s stoning!
Mission Free Iran is organizing Washington DC’s participation in the global protest to respond to the appeal of Sakine’s children and demand a stop to the barbaric execution of Sakine by stoning.
We will meet in front of the Islamic Republic’s Interests Section of the Pakistani Embassy at 6pm on Friday, July 2, 2010 to tell the Islamic Republic that we will not stay silent while one more woman is stoned to death in Iran. We will later walk to DuPont Circle and raise awareness of Sakine’s situation in the community.
Please feel free to bring your own signs with messages protesting the barbaric and criminal stoning act that the Islamic Republic has planned for our sister, Sakine Mohammadi Ashtiani.
* We will demand freedom for Sakine.
* We will demand an end to stoning, and to all executions in Iran.
* We will demand removal of the Islamic Republic from the UN Commission on the Status of Women.
* We will demand that the Islamic Republic be put on trial in international court for its crimes against humanity.
There will be an open mike so that anyone who wishes to speak may express themselves.
“He said his mother was an outspoken critic of the regime and especially Khomeini from day one. She was a teacher and had spoken against the regime and authorities at work. “One day when we were all having lunch, they stormed in and took my mother with them … it all happened so quickly. It didn’t even take two weeks when, one day, they announced in the town ‘come and witness a women being stoned.’ That woman was my mother.”
He said that with fear and in a state of shock, he went and from a distance witnessed his mother being stoned to death… he believes though that his mother was still alive when buried. This man has sent me his indictment against the savage thuggery of this anti-human, fascist regime, to be introduced to an international court.”
– Rescue Sakine Mohammadi Ashtiani, Prosecute Leaders of the Islamic Republic! by Mina Ahadi
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Additional Activism to Challenge Groups Promoting Stoning
On June 29, 2010 in Washington D.C., human rights groups and volunteers picketed the White House sidewalk and Pennsylvania Avenue while Saudi Arabian King Abdullah met with U.S. President Obama.
June 29, 2010: Saudi Arabia King Abdullah and U.S. President Obama Meet
June 29, 2010: Demonstrators Protesting for Women's Rights, Religious Freedom in Saudi Arabia Outside White House
Demonstrators in support of freedom for religious minorities and women in Saudi Arabia represented a broad cross-section of individuals: women, men, Muslims, non-Muslims, Arabs, non-Arabs, white and black Americans. They stood before the White House to urge President Obama to focus on what must be America’s real “common cause” with Saudi Arabia – our shared human rights and human dignity.
June 29, 2010 - Diverse Individuals Unite for Human Rights and Freedom in Saudi Arabia
Demonstrators from the combined supporters of The Institute for Gulf Affairs, IIC, and R.E.A.L. also chanted slogans at the Saudi mission leaders and the White House during the meeting between President Obama and King Abdullah.
One woman demonstrator led a chant for women’s rights, shouting to the Saudi leaders that “women are not property,” and calling for Saudi Arabia to “end gender apartheid in Saudi Arabia.”
Other demonstration chants at the White House including “end religious oppression in Saudi Arabia,” “free Hadi and Nathalie,” and “religious freedom in Saudi Arabia.”
Saudi Mission Outside the White House Gates
Protesters picketed the White House sidewalk with signs and distributed fliers on human rights issues, as Saudi mission leaders were entering the White House gates. One individual entering the White House stopped to take photographs of the demonstrators. The IIC’s Mahdi Husain and R.E.A.L.’s Jeffrey Imm picketed past Saudi mission individuals as they took photographs of the demonstrators.
Muslim Mahdi Husain (Right) of the IIC and Christian Jeffrey Imm (Left) of R.E.A.L. Picket Together for Religious Freedom and Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia -- Standing Publicly and United for Human Rights
The demonstrators also called upon the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to act on victims of religious oppression in that nation. The Institute for Gulf Affair’s Director Ali Al-Ahmed denounced such religious oppression, remarking on Hadi Al-Mutif, the longest serving religious prisoner in Saudi Arabia. Hadi Al-Mutif has been in prison for 17 years for a joking comment as a teenager that was viewed as blasphemous by a Saudi court, and was originally accused of apostasy and sentenced to death, even though Hadi Al-Mutif is a Muslim. Hadi Al-Mutif remains in prison and has alleged physical abuse, and much of his time in prison has been in solitary confinement. The Gulf Institute has been promotinga petition calling for the freedom of Hadi Al-Mutif.
The Gulf Institute Director Ali Al-Ahmed Tells Media of the Religious Oppression and Imprisonment of Hadi Al-Mutif in Saudi Arabia
Muslims for Progressive Values (MPV) DC chapter activist Fatima Thompson Protests for Women's Human Rights - Photo from June 26 Protest Outside Saudi Embassy
At the Tuesday, June 29 protest at the White House, MPV’s Fatima Thompson passed out fliers to the White House visitors, engaging them to become aware of the plight of Nathalie Morin and Hadi Al-Mutif in Saudi Arabia. She urged women to become educated on the women’s rights issues challenging Saudi women in terms of the guardianship program and the challenge to women’s rights in daily life and law in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Nathalie Morin, shown here with her eldest son, Samir (now nearly seven years old), says she has been trying to return to Canada for 2½ years. (Family photo)
While Fatima Thompson was distributing fliers, R.E.A.L.’s Jeffrey Imm also addressed the White House visitors with his portable microphone system from the Pennsylvania Avenue area, while holding up posters with photographs showing the abuse that Nathalie Morin and her children have undergone in Saudi Arabia. R.E.A.L.’s Imm stated, “if a woman was beaten like this, if children were abused like this, in the United States, wouldn’t we call the police? The attack on women’s rights in Saudi Arabia is very much a law enforcement issue – one of enforcing our universal human rights for women’s rights and dignity – consistently around the world.”
In Saudi Arabia: Abuses of Canadian Woman Nathalie Morin and Her Children - Nathalie Morin is Held Against Her Will
After protesting at the White House, the demonstrators then moved to outside the Blair House down the street from the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue for visiting dignitaries to continue to send their message in support of religious freedom and women’s rights to the visiting Saudi mission. Demonstrators saw Saudi King Abdullah and his aides during the protest demonstration outside of Blair House.
June 29, 2010 - Human Rights Activist Demonstrating Outside Blair House
While human rights activists demonstrated on June 29, 2010, Saudi King Abdullah and U.S. President Obama met and told the media of some areas of common interests. The news media reported that the two were finding common grounds on the topic of Middle East peace, as well as frustration with the media. King Abdullah, stated, regarding the media: “May God spare us from all of the bad things they can do to us. (Laughter) And may God — and may God bless us with all the positive things they can do for us and for humanity,” to which President Obama replied “Well, that is an excellent prayer.”
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) stands in support of our unqualified, universal human rights for both women and men, and for the religious freedom, freedom of worship, and freedom of conscience for all. R.E.A.L. stands in support of freedom of the press and freedom of expression. But most importantly, R.E.A.L stands in support of our fellow human beings, and recognizes that all human rights campaigns are missions of mercy, and the most important element to successful human rights is compassion and dignity to all.
R.E.A.L. urges all to Choose Love, Not Hate – Love Wins.
R.E.A.L. urges the press of the world not to be silent about human rights violations and oppression, whether it is found in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in the United States, or anywhere else in the world. R.E.A.L. urges the media and press to continue to be a voice of conscience in reporting the news of the world, no matter how inconvenient the truths of our conscience may be to world leaders.
Without such a compass of our conscience in human rights, all of our freedoms, including our freedom of expression, will remain endangered in too many parts of the world.
We must all be responsible for equality and liberty.
