Meant to be satirical


Newsweek must be very clueless. They have a story about the “Islamic Human Rights Commission” and its “Islamophobia” awards in which they treat the “Islamic Human Rights Commission” as a genuine human rights organization.

The chair of an Islamic human rights group has defended its decision to give the staff of satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo an award for Islamophobia.

The London-based Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) held its annual Islamophobia Awards, which are voted for by members of the British Muslim community, on Saturday.

What are “members of the British Muslim community”? How are they different from British Muslims? What’s the membership process?

Anyway that appears to be wrong – it appears that anyone can vote just by clicking a button on the IHRC website. It looks as if a kuffar like me could vote.

Charlie Hebdo was given the dubious honour of international Islamophobe of the year. In January this year, 12 people were killed after Islamist gunmen stormed the magazine’s offices in Paris. Brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi claimed that the attack was in retaliation for the magazine publishing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, which many Muslims find extremely offensive. After the massacre, the remaining staff published a special ‘survivor’s edition’ which featured a weeping Muhammad holding a ‘Je suis Charlie’ sign on the cover under the words ‘Tout est pardonné’ (All is forgiven). The magazine often publishes cartoons that mock a range of religious and political figures.

Massoud Shadjareh, who has been chair of the IHRC since 2011, says the award was not an endorsement of the attacks but was meant to be satirical.

Don’t be so gullible, Newsweek. IHRC is a bunch of Islamist shit-stirrers.

Shadjareh says it would be double standards to see the IHRC as condoning theCharlie Hebdo attacks, which he calls “barbaric”. He points out that the publication of the cartoons led to injuries and deaths in protest marches across the Islamic world, including in Pakistan and Niger, yet the magazine was absolved of any responsibility.

“You cannot have one side responsible and one side not responsible,” he says.

Fake analogy. Fakest of fake.

Maajid Nawaz, co-founder of the anti-radicalisation thinktank the Quilliam Foundation, was given the UK Islamophobe of the year award. Shadjareh says that Nawaz adopts many Islamophobic positions and received an overwhelming majority of votes.

No one from the Quilliam Foundation was available for comment.

The Islamophobe awards have been running in their current format since 2011. Shadjareh believes they are an effective, tongue-in-cheek way of doing away with Muslim stereotypes.

“One of the reasons [for the awards] is to challenge the stereotyping that Muslims have no sense of humour, they are always angry, to show that we also can use humour and satire to address serious issues of our time.”

The awards have been praised by figures including former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams and Peter Oborne, former chief political correspondent at the Daily Telegraph. They also include positive categories for individuals and groups who have worked to combat anti-Muslim prejudice. This year’s winners include the community of Cold Lake in Canada, who replaced anti-Muslim graffiti on the local mosque with messages of support.

Do your fucking homework, Newsweek.

Comments

  1. themadtapper says

    “You cannot have one side responsible and one side not responsible,” he says.

    The hell you can’t. Not every conflict or altercation is in shades of gray.

    Shadjareh believes they are an effective, tongue-in-cheek way of doing away with Muslim stereotypes.

    Seems to me like they’re doing a fine job of REINFORCING Muslim stereotypes.

  2. RJW says

    Ophelia,

    “Do your fucking homework, Newsweek”

    Agreed, however I’d include all journalists in that admonition, perhaps we need a ‘Useful Idiot’ award, or ‘Dhimmi of the Week’.

  3. Pierce R. Butler says

    Note also that the 47 Senators’ letter to Iran attempting to sabotage Obama’s nuclear negotiations was a lighthearted jest.

    “The administration has no sense of humor,” one aide complained…

    Me neither, some days.

    And Terry Pratchett is dead, too. We’re running out of funny, fast.

  4. RJW says

    @3 Pearce R Butler,

    Very sad news indeed, Pratchett’s novels are LOL funny and very witty.
    No more stories about the adventures of Sam Vimes, ‘Nobby’ Nobbs (who has a certificate to prove that he’s human) and the beautiful, but rather scary Sgt. Angua.

    Sigh, and Vale, Terry.

  5. Morgan says

    themadtapper @1:

    The hell you can’t. Not every conflict or altercation is in shades of gray.

    That was my first reaction too, but I think what they’re saying is that, in the two different situations (Charlie Hebdo published cartoons, there were deaths in riots and protests; Charlie Hebdo employees were murdered, the IHRC gives them a “satirical” “award”) you can’t say Charlie Hebdo didn’t have responsibility in the first case but the IHRC does in the second. Not quite the same thing, but I agree with Ophelia that the analogy is terrible.

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