Some other cartoons by AEL
Again these cartoons may not be politically correct but undeniable they reflect a point of view which apparently is shared by many.
Vision of the AEL
The Arab European League (AEL) is a political and social movement that stands for the Rights of the Arab and Moslem communities in Europe and the Arab causes in general. The AEL stands also for solidarity with all Muslim peoples and communities and all the oppressed peoples of the world. The member of the AEL declares hereby to abide and strive for the following 19 principals and goals:
Towards the Arab Shatat (Diaspora) we declare:
We declare as Arab Shatat (Diaspora) our belonging to the Arab Nation while being worthy and law abiding citizens of Europe. We demand the right to foster our Arab cultural identity while engaging actively as European citizens in the countries of residence, with equal rights and treatment.
We declare that we will promote and restore our Arab language as a spoken lingua franca between our people all across Europe.
We declare that we will establish structural ties between the Arab Diaspora in Europe in order to form one community all across the continent. And we will strengthen the bound between our Diaspora and the Arab Nation.
We declare that we will fight every form of racism and especially Islamophobia.
We will fight all forms of discrimination and specifically in the fields of employment, housing and education.
We declare that we will resist any attempt to breach the freedom of expression, religion, religious practice and any other fundamental human right as mentioned in the universal declaration of human rights.
Towards the Arab world we declare that:
We will be active in advocating all just Arab causes in Europe.
We will work towards balanced and productive Arab-European relations based upon mutual respect and the awareness and recognition of the historical crimes committed by European colonialism against the Arab people.
We are part of the stream of the Arab National Movement that is working towards the goals of freedom, Social justice and Unity in the Arab homeland.
We are an anti-colonial and anti Zionist organization. Therefore we reject colonization and occupation of any Arab territory by any foreign power.
We reject the Zionist project in Palestine and we call for the dismantling of the Zionist entity and the establishing of a united Palestinian democratic state in all historical Palestine. A state where Arabs and Jews can coexist peacefully enjoying equal rights without any discrimination. This includes the return of all Palestinian refugees to their original homes with compensation. Until such a solution is put to practice we will support resistance against the Zionist occupation of Palestine.
We are opposed to all non-democratic regimes or all other regimes that do not guarantee the full scope of human rights as mentioned in the universal declaration of human rights. We believe that freedom can not be fragmented. It is the freedom of society from foreign occupation and colonization. But it is also the freedom of the individual from every other kind of oppression. We will not trade one for the other, nor put one on hold for the other.
We believe that the Unity of the Arab people in one democratic federal state is a necessary translation of the actual objective Unity of the Arab people that is a result of century’s old shared history.
We consider this Arab Unity also to be a process of de-colonization since the current Arab map has been drawn by colonizers and not by sovereign governments. Therefore we reject any project for the Arab region that does not take into consideration its identity and right to unity and freedom.
We also refuse to fragment our Arab identity along the lines of the current Arab states. The Arab federated entities do not need to follow the current colonial divisions but will be determined by the free will of all the Arab people.
Arab unity will grant the needed space for any form of diversity and recognize the right of old and new linguistic minorities to foster their language and culture.
Aramaic-Arabs, Assyrian-Arabs and Amazigh-Arabs especially are to be recognized as protected components of our nation. Rif, Sous and Kabilya can become each a federated Arab province enjoying internal autonomy while being parts of the Arab federal state. The AEL also recognizes the disastrous assimilation and oppression policies that Arab minorities were facing on the hand of the dictatorships; for example the Rif and the Assyrians. Therefore the AEL calls for the restoration of all threaten languages like Rif and Assyrian languages alongside the National Arabic language.
Having said that the Aramaic, Assyrian and Amazigh-Arabs are not separate peoples but have contributed largely to the formation of the Arab nation, which makes them an integral part of the Arab people. Any racist separatist tendency claiming the supremacy and exclusivity of a certain race or ethnicity from any side should be fought.
The Arab State as a secular state will also respect religious diversity and provide all individuals and groups the full freedom to practice their religion. It will also grant its citizens the protection in order to be able of changing religion, or practicing no religion at all without being persecuted or discriminated. The Arab Constitution will refer to Islam as the Religion of the Arab State.
Freedom can be only completed if political freedom and freedom of expression are also going along with social rights and a social economy. Eradicating poverty and preventing the concentration of capital is therefore essential for a free society. Preventing any concentration of power, whether economical or media or any other form of power, is crucial if we are to preserve a free society.
Democracy in all its faces, political as well as economical, is the only acceptable system of government. Democracy grants the sovereignty to the people and all the power to the people. Democracy is not strange to the Arab people and our Arab-Islamic history witnessed many Democratic experiences and movements. Also our Arab philosophy and literature have known many thinkers promoting its values and norms. But above all, it is a necessity in order to unleash the residing civilization power of our people and lead the way towards progress and development.
All actions or activities of the AEL as a movement or of its members will be in service of one or all of these 19 principals. The AEL will struggle for these goals and principals within the logic of empowerment believing that only the strengthening of our community can lead to the realization of its goals. But also out of an emancipation thought that emphasizes the element of responsibility. We have to liberate ourselves, we have to solve our own problems, we have to take our responsibility and lead the way for change.
| Colonial sense of humour | |
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| Solving the female circumcision issue | |
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Some
arguments on the cartoon riot
AEL will keep updating this list of arguments hoping to help people
understand our position1.The issue for us is not about depicting the prophet or any other theological consideration. It’s about stigmatizing a whole population of more than one billion Muslims through portraying their symbol as being a terrorist, megalomaniac, misogynic and a psychopath. This is Racist, xenophobic and calling for hatred against Muslims.
2.We do believe in Freedom of speech but we think that respecting sensitivities and being constructive is also an added value to a democratic society. We are against laws oppressing any form of expression no matter how appalling it is. Nevertheless, we condemn the selective indignation of Europe’s intellectual elite and population. When anti-Muslim stances are made or published this is perceived as freedom of speech and cheered and supported but when other sensitive issues to Europe like the Holocaust, anti-Semitism, homosexuality, sexism and more are touched, Europe’s elite is scandalized.
3.In our cartoon campaign we do not endorse any anti-Semitic, homophobic or sexist stands. All we are trying to do is to confront Europe with its own hypocrisy using sarcasm and cartoons. We will therefore continue our sarcastic campaign in the days to come and we will not be intimidated by the ridiculous law suite that was filed against us in the Netherlands.
4.The reaction of the majority of Muslims to this provocation has been civilized and consisted of economical boycott and free speech. If Europe would boycott the Palestinians because of voting for a certain political party in elections, why are Europeans so surprised that the boycott is used against them? The fact that some mobs turned violent is by no means representative of the majority. The mob is never more than a caricature of the people, it is not the people. Anybody suggesting that Muslims in their majority are violent in their reaction to this issue is Islamophobic.
5.Arabs and Muslims are facing occupation on the hand of the west, oppression on the hand of the dictators often supported by the west and aggressive colonization by the Zionist state of Israel. Adding symbolic offence to factual aggression is responsible for the tension that we are witnessing today. Any attempt to understand the cartoon’s issue out of the current international context is completely missing the point.
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| Hitler goes Dutroux | |
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Freedom of speech
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