News

A combination of 50 human rights groups have officially presented a letter to President Kikwete asking him not to sign into law the newly passed Statistics and Cybercrime Bills. The activists expressed sad concern for Parliament passing these bills without removing articles that contradict the current Mother Law and violates Human Rights at large.

They called upon the President not to sign the bills into law, since the move would shed a negative impact on the open government initiative efforts. (The Citizen, Tuesday April 14, 2015)

Comment

This measure of human rightists could be seen by any enlightened thinker as some sort of naivety at the same time plainly exposes them to well-entrenched culture of selectivity in their mission.

The human rightists sense of narrow-mindedness can be vividly noticed from the fact that before questioning the validity of these particular bills, which with undeniable fact saddens and are unacceptable to any sane individual, in principle they should have questioned the very foundation of capitalist ideology, its democratic system by which the concept of human rights emanated forth.

This current scenario is expected and inevitable due to the intrinsic nature of capitalism which views everything at the angle of benefit even if it exposed itself to lying and double standards. Their main goal is to protect and safeguard ruling elites, their families, cronies and the wealthy. No matter by so doing they violate and contradict their own laws and ideals that they claim to uphold.

Again and surprisingly, while these human right organizations are protesting and urging the president not to assent to the Statistics and Cybercrime bills, why are they not questioning the role of the president's assent in the law making process? Is this the real concept of Separation of Power as advocated in Human Rights? Do these three institutions: executive, legislative, and judiciary, each function independently?

In terms of selectivity, it is pathetic to these activists that when Muslim scholars or Muslim activists face inflictions and sufferings such as tortures, abuse and humiliation in the hands of law enforcement institutions or when their religious matters being intervened by the state, they just remained tight-lipped and in a disregardful manner, and none among them dare to raise voice and protest on those particular humiliations and oppressions against Muslims.

The invalidity of these bills is one among many scenarios that clearly express the invalidity of the whole package of the capitalist ideology and its democratic system. Time is up for these activists, intellectuals, opinion makers, and general public at large to ponder and think deeply the deception of this ideology, then throw away their empty slogans, then instead strive for an alternate ideology which is none but Islam.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Masoud Msellem
Deputy Representative of Hizb ut Tahrir in East Africa

Headlines:

• Let's Face Reality, Greece is Bankrupt: Marc Faber
• Christianity on Course to be Minority Religion in UK
• In France, Lessons in Secularism to Confront Radical Islam

Details:

Let's Face Reality, Greece is Bankrupt: Marc Faber

Greece is bankrupt and should default, well-known investor Marc Faber told CNBC Friday, arguing that a "geopolitical game of chess" was being played out in the region. The comments by Faber, the editor of the "Gloom, Boom & Doom Report," came at a time of heightened tensions between Greece and its international creditors. The organizations overseeing the country's two international bailouts -- worth a combined 240 billion euros ($259 billion) -- have said the country will not receive a last tranche of aid, worth 7.2 billion euros, until it makes far-reaching reforms. But Faber, a bearish investor known as "Dr. Doom," said the country's fiscal situation was unsalvageable. "Even if Greece grows at 10 percent per annum for the next ten years, it will not be able to pay its debts back," he told CNBC. "It's bankrupt. We better face the reality and not kick the can the can down the road. Greece should default." Faber said that while Greece could leave the euro zone and adopt a parallel currency, there that geopolitics were coming in to play and there was no appetite in Europe to let the country exit from the single currency bloc. "I personally think it's not so much of an economic issue as a political issue," he told CNBC Europe's "Squawk Box." "Europe, and in particular NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization military alliance), and the U.S. do not want Greece to leave (the euro zone) because if they do, other people are going to knock on Greece's door -- like the Russians or the Chinese maybe. It's very much a geopolitical game of chess that's being played." Greece and its creditors disagree on which reforms should be implemented, however, and as such the much-needed aid remains under lock and key. This has prompted speculation that the country could soon run out of money and default on its forthcoming debt repayments to the IMF and ECB, which could, in turn, result in the country leaving the euro zone. [Source: CNBC].

Since 2008, the European Union (EU) has been a political failure, as the union is unable to show unity in economic policies required to stabilize the EU. With Greece on the verge of exiting the union the question arises, which country will follow Greece and end the EU experiment.

Christianity on Course to be Minority Religion in UK

Christians will be a minority in the UK by the middle of this century amid surging growth in atheism and Islam, an authoritative new study charting the future of the world's religions predicts. According to projections by the US-based Pew Research Centre, the proportion of the British population identifying themselves as Christian will reduce by almost a third by 2050 to stand at just 45.4 per cent, compared with almost two thirds in 2010. The number of Muslims in Britain is predicted to more than double to 11.3 per cent, or one in nine of the total population during that time. But the reports predicts that biggest change in the religious make-up of Britain in the next three and a half decades will be a major expansion in the number of non-religious people. They would account for just under 39 per cent, challenging Christians as the biggest faith community in the UK. The predictions mirror analysis from the most recent UK census which saw the number of children growing up as Muslims in the UK almost double in a decade while the number of people describing themselves as non-religious also jumped dramatically. If the projections, which are based on official population figures, birth rates and immigration estimates from around the world, are borne out, it could amount to the most significant religious realignment in Britain since the arrival of Christianity. It would mean that by 2050 Britain would have the third largest Muslim community, as a share of the population, in Europe, overtaking France, Germany, Belgium and a handful of other countries. [Source Daily Telegraph]

It does not matter how much the British government dislikes Islam and works towards undermining it, Islam will prevail. Allah (swt) says:

((هُوَ الَّذِي أَرْسَلَ رَسُولَهُ بِالْهُدَى وَدِينِ الْحَقِّ لِيُظْهِرَهُ عَلَى الدِّينِ كُلِّهِ وَلَوْ كَرِهَ الْمُشْرِكُونَ))

"It is He who has sent His Messenger with guidance and the religion of truth to manifest it over all religion, although they who associate others with Allah dislike it." [TMQ: at-Tawba: 33]

In France, Lessons in Secularism to Confront Radical Islam

The French government wants to send imams to classes in secularism and religious freedom as a measure to prevent home-grown extremism. Elizabeth Bryant reports from Lyon on a program that is paving the way. All are enrolled in a program on secularism and religious freedom that is jointly run by two Lyon Universities and the city's Grand Mosque. They're the unlikely foot soldiers of a national campaign for greater religious tolerance and to help shape a moderate, Western-oriented "Islam a la Francaise." The drive has taken on new urgency since January's terrorist attacks in Paris and the departure of hundreds of French youths to join jihadist movements in the Middle East. The Socialist government has responded with a raft of new measures to fight home-grown extremism. Among them: plans to enroll hundreds of imams and other key Muslim figures in civics training programs - and to make them mandatory for chaplains working in prisons and the military. But Lyon's program has broader ambitions, as it reaches out to include government officials in the training. "If things are going to change, they need to change in all directions," says Michel Younes, co-director of the initiative at Lyon's Catholic University. "That means not only training imams about secularity, but also civil servants - because the subject of religion in public spaces has almost become a taboo." "Living together has to be more than an idea," he adds. "It's being able to be together, think together, exchange ideas together." France has always had an uneasy relationship with Islam, the country's second biggest religion. Clashes over issues like wearing headscarves in public schools - now banned - to Halal butchering practices and religious burial grounds have deepened divisions and misunderstandings between the state and the five million-strong Muslim community. [Source: Deutsche Welle]

For several years now, the French government is trying to change Islam into version of Islam that is acceptable to the authorities. However, it does not matter how hard the government tries, the French public's interest in Islam is at an all-time high. That must be worrying for the authorities.

Regime Seeks Only the Pleasure of Colonialist Masters in War and Peace

Prime Minis¬ter Nawaz Sharif tried on 13 April to soothe frayed nerves by reassuring Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies over a parliamentary resolution that had called for neutrality in the Yemen conflict. In a short statement made in the evening, the prime minister reiterated his commitment to security of Saudi Arabia, calling it a strategic ally, but without committing to any military engagement in the Gulf region. Mr Sharif, who stood in front of the cameras while some of his ministers and advisers were lined up behind him to provide moral support or endorsement, said, "Pakistan does not abandon friends and strategic partners, especially at a time when their security is under threat."

The people of Pakistan know well that the regime will only act or abstain upon American commands. Or it will act secretly to fulfil the American plan, hiding as much as it can from the people. Pakistan has been plagued by colonialist agents which have exploited Pakistan's immense resources for colonialists ends. So when America ordered the agent rulers to fight its superpower competitor Russia during the time of the Soviet Occupation of Afghanistan, the rulers exploited the Ummah's love for Jihad and Martyrdom and fully supported the mujahideen. When America itself occupied Afghanistan, the agent rulers were mobilized to curb the Ummah's love for Jihad and Martyrdom and fight the mujahideen. Now America needs to consolidate its position in a restless Middle East again it is the one that is deciding Pakistan's role, whether openly military role, or covertly military role or political negotiator.

Islam and the Ummah do not enter the calculation of the agents. They only care for their masters, the colonialists. It is high time that they were removed and replaced by a sincere leadership, implementing Islam as a Khilafah "Caliphate" state.

Regime Created Electricity Crisis Through Privatization

With electricity shortfall rising to 33 per cent, power sector managers are left with no choice but to violate the prime minister's directive of restricting loadshedding in urban areas to six hours. According to sources in the National Transmission and Dispatch Company, power generation stood at 9,000MW against a demand of 13,500MW on Monday. With around 1,500MW going to the ‘exempted feeders', the managers had to increase loadshedding hours in urban centres; otherwise rural areas would have literally gone without power. The suffering of the Muslims under this rotten system of Kufr is endless. As temperatures rise, people suffer particularly at night when they try to sleep. The worst is for those who have succumbed to dehydration or aliments effecting breathing, who sweat or choke through long hot and humid nights. Hospitals are bursting with such cases in these days.

The regime itself is wholly responsible for this crisis and its suffering. It and the puppet regimes proceeding it has consistently privatized the electricity sector, from generation to distribution. Despite installed capacity being greater than the demand, private companies are unable to operate at full capacity as they must secure profits in the face of rising fuel prices, large taxation and huge debt that the government owes them as part of a huge circular debt.

Islam alone can end this misery. It does not leave energy to the hands of private companies who must operate on a profit basis. Islam stipulates that electricity is a public property whose benefit is for the Ummah. The Khilafah "Caliphate" state will supervise the power sector upon its impending return soon inshaaAllah. Any profit is ploughed back into looking after the Ummah's affairs, including increasing efficiency of units and preventing line distribution loss. May Allah (swt) answer the dua of the oppressed soon and end the criminal regime and restore Islam as a complete way of life, a second Khilafah "Caliphate" Rashida on the methodology of RasulAllah (saw).

Regime Fails to Cut the Head of the Snake of Bloodshed in Pakistan

During a trip to Balochistan on 15 April 2015, where he visited Frontier Corps headquarters and met Balo¬chistan Governor Mohammad Khan Achakzai, Chief Minister Abdul Malik Baloch and Commander Southern Com¬mand Lt Gen Mohammad Naseer Khan Janjua and discussed the security situation with them, General Raheel Sharif said, "We will unearth terrorists, abettors, sympathisers and financiers. None will find place in the country to hide. We will go to any length to restore the writ of the state." "The army chief warned foreign states, intelligence agencies against trying to destabilise Pakistan," the military spokesman Maj Gen Asim Bajwa quoted the army chief as saying.

It is well-known to the Muslims in general and the armed forces in particular that America and India are working to organize and support the acts of violence against our armed forces and our citizens of different ethnicities, schools of thoughts and religions. However, what is clear from the beginning of the National Action Plan, is that the regime has done nothing to cut the head of the snake of these brutal acts. The regime has done nothing about the diplomatic missions of the hostile foreigners which are used as bases to meet and groom agents. In fact the Indian High Commission in Islamabad remains fully operational and the US Embassy is undergoing a huge expansion such that it will be the world's second largest US embassy in the world, second only to the US embassy in Iraq, which is a country under occupation! As for the American private military and intelligence, the Raymond Davis, network its operatives remain free to live and work throughout Pakistan.
Only the Khilafah "Caliphate" will secure Pakistan by acting decisively to eradicate the head of the snake in Pakistan, closing all hostile foreign diplomatic missions and expelling all hostile operatives.

Regime Proceeds Further Along American Plan for Yemen

The government said on 16 April 2015 it had assured Saudi Arabia of its support in enforcing the United Nations Security Council's arms embargo on Houthi militia and forces loyal to former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh, which could entail a role for the Pakistan Navy. The commitment was conveyed to the Saudi leadership by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif who visited the kingdom on 15 April as special envoy of the prime minister, along with Adviser on Foreign Affairs and National Security Sartaj Aziz, Chief of General Staff Lt Gen Ashfaq Nadeem and Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry. Speaking to Dawn on the background, a key government figure said a separate announcement would be made by the government about committing its naval vessels for the purpose. UNSC resolution provides Islamabad an opportunity to contribute to action against Yemeni rebels "We are looking at how many ships can be spared," he said, adding that two Pakistan Navy vessels were already in the region conducting anti-piracy operations as part of the Combined Task Force 151.

Thus the regime has created two pretexts for military intervention, one is protection of Saudi Arabia and the second is enforcement of the UN embargo. This is exactly according to the American plan. America has supported the Houthis through its proxy Iran but later realized that the Houthis found themselves in a shambles. They had extended themselves across Yemen, but were unable to either successfully dominate or to return to their stronghold in the north. America therefore decided to save them through limited military action, by which she seeks to hit two birds with one stone: to show them as victims, after the people had begun to see them as aggressors; and to create the atmosphere for emergency negotiations, to come thereby to a compromise solution. This is America's well-trodden path, with respect to what she is unable to take alone.

For too long have the Muslims seen the regimes slumber when Muslims need their help in Kashmir, Palestine and other places, but awaken and become active when the colonialists need help. InshaaAllah the Khilafah "Caliphate" will end this treachery decisively soon.

Why Doesn't Hizb ut Tahrir Build Institutions or Engage in Jihad?

Many Muslim ideologues and activists have criticized Hizb ut Tahrir for its adopting of a politico-intellectual methodology of change in contradistinction to movements which have adopted a more institutional approach and/or insurrectionist armed methods. What they fail to understand is: (1) the nature of the Prophet method (2) the nature of tughyan i.e. [political] tyranny and (3) the power-mechanisms of the hegemonic world-system. To better understand the Party's methodology, it is important to understand that it is based on an Islamic anti-systemic and decolonial methodology, as we will explain below:

The Nature of the Prophetic Methodology

The Prophetic methodology is based on the formation of a critical consciousness which eviscerates all temporal entities (be it men, systems, ideas, etc.) from falsely acquired properties of Absoluteness. It is, in other words, based on the first axiom of La ilaha ila Allah: the critical process of negation. It goes without saying, that these Absolute properties are not intrinsic to temporal entities but rather they are falsely acquired through a false consciousness and sedimented practices (the religion of the forefathers, institutions i.e. the systemization of social relations and ideas, and so forth). In short, idol-formation is an intellectual process and thus idol-deconstruction requires a counter-intellectual process. Bullets cannot deconstruct an ‘idea' - only ideas can subvert other ideas.

The Nature of Tughyan

Coercion and material subordination, if not complemented with a false consciousness which attributes god-like attributes to the coercer, is not tugyan but rather one form of oppression. Meaning that, if the oppressed recognize that the oppressor is indeed an illegitimate oppressor - that oppressor is not a taghout/false-god. Furthermore, from a Qur'anic perspective, the origins of tughyan and its concomitant forms of material and/or ideological subordination is not the product of the taghi's material capabilities but rather it is a product of the taghi's transgression of the Islamic tareeqah, more specifically, the limits of rulership in Islam. It begins with epistemic hubris i.e. the taghi's claim to be the ultimate referent of knowledge, legitimacy and or power. It is, once again, an intellectual process. Power has multiple forms, the most insidious of which is epistemic-tyranny:

((كَلَّا إِنَّ الْإِنسَانَ لَيَطْغَى * أَن رَّآهُ اسْتَغْنَى))

"No! [But] indeed, man transgresses because he sees himself self-sufficient" [Surat al ‘Alaq: 6-7]

The Nature of the Capitalist World-System

The colonial hegemon - the United States - cannot rely solely on its military and economic mechanisms of power. These forms of "hard power" are only disciplinary mechanisms which are used when the colonized question the colonizers "rationality" and the prevailing neo-liberal and Westphalian logic (that of the nation-state). The fundamental source of the colonizers power is: identity construction i.e. consciousness formation - a process through which the colonized's political horizons are limited by the prevailing ideology and through which we construct our identity strictly in relation to the colonial center (this has often been referred to as Coloniality as opposed to mere Colonization).

How is this form of subordination and master/slave dialect preserved? Bertrand Badie, in his seminal text ‘The Imported State: the Westernization of the World Order' explains that colonization is a two-way process: it is both exported (by the colonial center) and imported by the colonized elites. In short, our subordination is inextricably linked to the "ideological state apparatus" - i.e. the modernizing secular nation-state. Accordingly, we must engage in an ideological struggle (as-sira' al-fikri) against the ideology underlying the "ideological state apparatus" and a political confrontation (al-kifah as-siyassi) against the importing elite. Both ideological struggle (as-sira' al-fikri) and political confrontation (al-kifah as-siyassi) are central to the methodology of Hizb ut Tahrir.

Methodologies which reduce ‘action' to that of armed insurrections and institution-building are inadequate in that they do not recognize the necessity of intellectual liberation and concomitant institutional transformation (as opposed to institutional-building - and thus not anti-systemic) and institutional transformation must be preceded by a de-centering of the hegemonic narratives which legitimize the Jahili institutions. Furthermore, the Party does not infer its methodology from the episteme of the colonizer (as is the case with reformist "Islamist") nor has it developed its methodology in reaction to the materiality of the colonizer (as is the case with the Salafi Jihadi method) - but rather, it draws on an alternative episteme: revelation. It is for this reason, that the founder of Hizb ut Tahrir, Imam Taqi ad-Din an-Nabahani aptly named the Party: the Liberation Party.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Ali Harfouch