Wednesday, May 28, 2014

The Christian Brotherhood

While the spotlight is more intense on the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood (Middle East and North and Central Africa) and to a slight less intense level on the activities of the Hindu Brotherhood (India) and the Buddhist Brotherhood (Sri Lanka, Burma, and Thailand), the rise of the Christian Brotherhood is not much commented upon.

"Do you want more or less Moroccans in this city and this country?" [chants of "Less! Less!"] "We'll arrange for that."--Geert Wilders
 
Why is that? Christianity has an image of being de-fanged, but in reality it causes lot of harm such as the fight against the right for a woman to choose (especially in South and Central America). Savita Halappanavar had to die a needless death in first-world Ireland because the Church forbids granting any mercy to the mother of the child. In Uganda and many other places, the right to lead a gay life may now invite a death sentence.


Vladimir Putin can be termed as the foremost "muscular Christian" leader right now and he has pointedly indicated his disapproval of the liberal ways of the West with respect to gay rights and other freedoms. His campaigns to flatten Chechnya and other break-away islamic territories have been enthusiastically backed by Russian nationalists (no surprise) but also the Orthodox Church. 

However, the most surprising and dramatic rise of the Christian Brotherhood has been in the liberal west, where bigotry was stamped out (supposedly) by the excesses of the World Wars (so many flavors of "never again" campaigns). And if Giriraj Singh (people who dont agree with BJP can go to Pakistan) and his makes us nervous, then the pronouncements broadcast by continent-wide Christian Khaaps who won massive victories in the Euro elections over the week end should also cause us to reflect on the choices (preferences) of Europe and Europeans.

At the least they should stop with the morality discourse (for auslanders) and start with restoring order the flow of brotherly love for all brothers, not just Christians, and especially for the Romas (the European Dalits)
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--"Monseigneur Ebola could sort that out in three months," Jean Marie Le Pen, founder of the French far-right National Front party, suggesting this month that the deadly Ebola virus could deal with a growing global population -- and, therefore, Europe's supposed immigration problem. His daughter and current National Front leader, Marine Le Pen, has tried to move away from her father's overt extremism and had to scramble awkwardly to dampen reaction to his latest comments.
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--"Do you want more or less Moroccans in this city and this country?" [chants of "Less! Less!"] "We'll arrange for that."--Geert Wilders, well-coiffed leader of the Netherlands' Freedom Party, a far-right Islamophobic group, addressing a group of supporters at a rally in March. Revulsion at these menacing remarks hurt Wilders, whose party appears to have performed worse than expected in the polls.
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--“And how we can possibly be giving a billion pounds a month, when we are in this sort of debt, to Bongo Bongo Land is completely beyond me,” Godfrey Bloom, a member of the European Parliament (MEP) from the U.K. Independence Party, complaining about Britain's foreign aid commitments last year. The backlash against his comments eventually led to his resignation from UKIP.
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--"The scriptures make it abundantly clear that a Christian nation that abandons its faith and acts contrary to the Gospel (and in naked breach of a coronation oath) will be beset by natural disasters such as storms, disease, pestilence and war," David Silvester, UKIP councilor, writing in a letter to his town's newspaper that floods that ravaged parts of the U.K. in early January were the consequence of the country's acceptance of gay marriage.
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--"This is the government of Bonga Bonga," Mario Borghezio, Italian MEP from the Lega Nord, a right-wing, anti-immigrant party, decrying the appointment of a minister of Congolese descent to the Italian Cabinet last year. "Africa hasn't produced great geniuses as anyone can see from a Mickey Mouse encyclopaedia," he added. Criticism of these remarks forced Borghezio out of his particular far-right bloc in the European Parliament.
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--"What will happen to Europe, a conglomerate of negroes, total chaos," Andreas Molzer, a prominent MEP from Austria's far-right Freedom Party, warning against immigration in an interview with a German newspaper in March. Outrage over the statement compelled Molzer to pull out of his electoral race. His party leader, Hans-Christian Strache, says he himself is not a racist because he "eats kebabs."
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--"At least hands that greet like this did not steal," Nikolaos Michaloliakos, leader of Greece's far-right Golden Dawn, defending the penchant of some of his xenophobic party members to make Nazi salutes. Michaloliakos happens to be in jail right now on charges of being involved in a criminal organization, but his party may win seats in Brussels.
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--"[It is] timely to tally up people of Jewish ancestry who live here, especially in the Hungarian Parliament and the Hungarian government, who, indeed, pose a national security risk to Hungary," Marton Gyongyosi, a senior leader of Jobbik, a far-right Hungarian party with fascist origins, calling for a tally of Jews in the country in 2012. Jobbik, whose members have also violently targeted Hungary's Roma minority, is currently the country's third most powerful political party.
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Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/05/24/8-ridiculous-racist-things-actually-said-by-far-right-eu-politicians/
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regards

1 comment:

  1. "While the spotlight is more intense on the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood (Middle East and North and Central Africa) and to a slight less intense level on the activities of the Hindu Brotherhood (India) and the Buddhist Brotherhood (Sri Lanka, Burma, and Thailand), the rise of the Christian Brotherhood is not much commented upon."

    Actually....there might be a couple of examples here that could be spinned as a rightwing christian type movement/ideology (europe is getting more de-christianized if anything) , but most of the rest are rightwing european ethno-nationalist and racist/anti-immigrant.I actually was not aware that a "buddhist brotherhood" is being commented upon, and would not give it much credence (again seems a more ethno-national thing).

    We will see no anti-conversion laws or persecutions in europe enacted ala hindtuva (or hindu brotherhood) style, or pogroms against non-muslims, if anything non-muslims will thrive (hindu and sikh south asians and buddhist asians actually seemed to be looked on positively in some of these european countries).

    Nice going with the baiting Sid :-)

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