Monthly Archives: February 2020

Islamic Speculative Theology: From Classic To Modern OpEd – Eurasia Review

Posted: February 2, 2020 at 6:45 pm

Abu Hamid Muhammad Al-Ghazali in one of his famous works Al-Iqtisad Fil Ittiqad elucidated at length the role of systematic theology in Islamic scholasticism. He maintained that theologians were responsible for responding to religious innovations, combatting the insidious heresies, and presenting the creedal formulations of Islam in a philosophic idiom. To this end, Ghazali himself contributed his masterpiece Tahafa-tul-Falasafa. An expert of Ghazali, Frank Griffel in his book Ghazalis Philosophical Theology held that the Tahafat of Ghazali was a work of systematic theology couched in a philosophical idiom with an aim to defend the creedal formulation(s) of Islam.

Three centurieslater, Ibn-e-Khaldun in his famous Muqaddimah argued that theology as an independent stream of thought had outlived its utility. He held that philosophical reasoning and illuminative epistemologyhad replaced the role of theology in developing rational Islamic discourse. In agreement with the assessment of Ibn-e-Khaldun, Halverson in his book Theology and Creed in Sunni Islam proceeded further and held that theology as a creative discipline had already died by 12th century and was replaced by a series of doctrinaire creedal formulations. Did Islamic speculative theology cease to continue as a thriving intellectual force by 12th century?

The answer to this intriguing question lies in the origins of theology as an independent strand of rigorous scholarship. Muslim scholars after their encounter with the Hellenic philosophical literature, Judeo-Christian religious corpus, and the Iranian gnostic illumination felt the urge to explain their religious rituals, norms, and doctrines in a scholarly language in line with the contemporary systems of epistemology. Their attempt at elucidating the religious doctrinal system of Islam in an idiom of contemporary epistemologies led to a wide range of disagreements and paved the way for the crystallization of guilds. These guilds came into being and transformed into different independent schools by late 9th century. The emergence of theology as a stream of organized scholarly tradition can be attributed to the intellectually vibrant environment of intellectual exchange between Islam and other civilizations.

These schools or guilds of theology based their argumentative reasoning on different epistemologies. On the far right were the Hanbalites. They held that the only source of Truth was the repository of the scriptural text and the Prophetic normative practice. Closer to them were the Asharites and the Maturidites. They maintained that reason could also be invoked in the formulation of religious discourse. Even though the Quran and normative practice of the Prophet were the main sources for the guidance, the exercise of reason could only be granted as an accessory toolkit. Reason was always subservient to the tradition, according to them. On the far left were the Mutazilites. Contrary to the Hanbalites, Asharites, and Maturidites, Mutazilites postulated that the sole exercise of reason was enough for the systemization of religious doctrinal system. They held that only reason as an epistemological tool could be used in order to ascertain the validity of the Truth.

The Mutazilites laid down the foundations of rationalism in Islam, according to Abdul Karem Soroush. Central to their intellectual outlook was the exercise of reason. They maintained that tradition should be interpreted against the yardstick of rational tools. The Mutazilites eclectically summoned into use the Greek syllogism, Alexandrian sapiential disciplines, and Syriac noetic rationalism to demonstrate that a fortified Islamic edifice of rational sciences could be erected on the foundations of rationalism. The school of Mutazilites was rooted firmly in the rational grounds and was committed to the cause of rational interpretation of Islam. Islam was a rational religion with its own sense of philosophy and world-view, according to the school of Mutazilites.

Unfortunately, the school of Mutazilites lost its constituency and ceased to exist by 11th century. Even worse, the Asharites and Maturidites lost their earlier rigor and absorbed the illuminative gnosticism. Philosophy as a creative strand of intellectual inquiry soon after Ibn-e-Tufayl and Ibn-e-Rushd had already died out. Islamic theology after 12th century expressed itself either in traditionalist idiom by producing formulaic tracts on creed or in theosophic treatises geared towards spiritual illumination, Dr Fazlur Rehman reflected in his work Islam and Modernity.

In sum, Islamic theology was a rigorous exercise of reason and intellect for three centuries in the writings of Mutazilites. This particular form of theology rooted firmly in reason and sapiential systems of knowledge was characterized as speculative theology for it explored new intellectual horizons. On the contrary, the theology that came into being after the 12th century was called dialectical theology for it was nothing but a regurgitation of creeds, doctrines, and theosophic disclosures articulated in unoriginal tracts either for the defense of religion or for spiritual illumination.

This dialectical theology dominated the intellectual landscape of Islamic scholasticism for more than five centuries. Even scholars as eminent as Ibn-e- Taymiyah, Ibn-e-Qayyim, Shatibi, and Ibn-e-Khaldun were the exponents of dialectical theology. The great Iranian scholars like Mir Fendereski, Mulla Sadra, and Baqir al-Majlisi were also of the same opinion. The first scholar to have revived reason in Islamic theology was Shah Wali-ullah in the 18th century. His magnum opus The Conclusive Argument from God was the first liberal attempt at erecting the edifice of Islamic theology on rationalist grounds, Charles Kurzman argued in Liberal Islam. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan continued in the footsteps of Shah Wali-ullah and granted more room for the exercise of reason.

But it was the Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam by Allama Muhammad Iqbal that gave a definitive shape to Modern Islamic Speculative Theology. Iqbal in this classic work employed the epistemology of reason to elucidate the rationale of Islamic principles. Like the Mutazilites of medieval times, Iqbal used the modern philosophical reasoning of the West to construct a modernist interpretation of Islam. The intuitive theosophy, normative traditionalism, and gnostic illumination were subservient to reason, according to Iqbalian interpretive system of thought.

Bringing into use his innovative model(s) of reasoning, Iqbal reinterpreted the classic concepts of Ijtihad, Ijma, ahya, and Islah with an aim to invest them with modern notions of progression, continuity, and authenticity. This analytic framework, reminiscent of Mutazilite school, established a firm foundation for the school of rationalism as an epistemological source to revive and thrive. Reason, in this reconceptualization of theology and formulation of scholasticism, is not only a source, but the main source of exploratory endeavours. Hence, Iqbal in his quest for the rediscovery of innovative models of reasoning transformed the dialectical theology bereft of any creative impulse into speculative theology that was once the telltale feature of classic Islamic theology in its heydays.

In philosophical parlance, this speculative theology is a modern manifestation of medieval Mutazilism. Is Iqbal the founder of Neo-mutazilism in Islam? On perusing the Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, one gets convinced that the emergence of Neo-Mutazilism is attributable to the intellectual oeuvre of Allama Muhammad Iqbal.

*Rehan Khan is a prospective candidate for the Ph.D. program at NYU.

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Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-Year Rivalry That Unraveled Culture, Religion, and Collective Memory in the Middle East, by Kim Ghattas:…

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Exegesis, the critical interpretation of scripture, is not an Islamic tradition, and for Orthodox Muslims like Shaheen, the Quran is the uncreated, eternal, inviolate word of God. Nasr, meanwhile, was the author of books titled Critique of Islamic Discourse and Rationalism in Exegesis: A Study of the Problem of Metaphor in the Writing of the Mutazilah.

The socially timid, bespectacled scholar was a freethinker who challenged the orthodox tradition in Islam and argued that the Quran had to be understood both metaphorically and in its historical context. He was a man of his time, eager to help his fellow Muslims apply the teachings of the Quran to the modern world. To do that, he believed that the human dimension of the Quran needs to be reconsidered. So although the Quran was indeed the word of God, Nasrs argument was that it had been revealed to the prophet Muhammad through the use of a language, a local dialect even, rooted in a specific context: the Arabic language of the Arabian Peninsula of the seventh century. If the word of God had not been embodied in human language, how could anyone understand it?

Nasr was not starting from scratch: he was building on a great inheritance that went back to the eighth century. His masters thesis had been about the Mutazilah, the rationalist Islamic movement drawing on Greek philosophy that had first stirred a big debate between reason and dogma barely two hundred years after the founding of Islam.

The Mutazilah first emerged in the eighth century, in Basra, in todays southern Iraq. They believed that while Gods speech was uncreated and revealed to the prophet, the writing of the Quran was an earthly phenomenon: words, ink, paper. Furthermore, the writing had happened well after the revelation and the death of the prophet. The Mutazilah applied reason to the study of the holy book and believed in free will. Their movement reflected the times they were living in the Abbasid era was the golden age of Islam, the time of science and philosophy, of Abu Nuwass libertine poetry about love and wine, the thousand and one days and nights of Scheherazade, and the Abbasid caliph Haroun al Rashid. Baghdads famed library, the House of Wisdom, became the repository of world knowledge, overflowing with original and translated works. At the same time in Baghdad, also under the Abbasid caliphate, was Ahmad ibn Hanbal, founder of the Hanbali school of jurisprudence: resolutely orthodox, literalist, and opposed to the Mutazilah doctrine, which had become state doctrine. His opposition landed him in jail, and his following surged. Hanbalis believed Muslims had lost their way, and as the Abbasid caliphate weakened, the followers of Ibn Hanbal became more organized, leading the fight against rationalism and anything that could distract from the purest form of the original faith, including music. They set up in fact a kind of Sunni inquisition.

[ Return to the review of Black Wave. ]

As the four major schools of jurisprudence slowly crystallized, orthodoxy also settled in. Some Sunni religious leaders believed most major religious matters had been settled and began to restrict the gates of ijtihad, independent reasoning, to give precedence to emulation. Reading, understanding, and explaining the Quran would have to rely on the body of knowledge accumulated up until thenthe Mutazilah period was over. Hanbalism would later soar and spread to Persia and the area around Palestine, where Ibn Taymiyyah was one of its stars, before declining again during the Ottoman era, under the weight of its own rigidity and intolerance. Its geographical influence would slowly be reduced to the austere interior of the Arabian Peninsula, the arid plateau of Najd, home of the first Saudi kingdomwhere Muhammad ibn Abdelwahhab took it to another level.

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Brexit: Britain slips its moorings – The National

Posted: at 6:45 pm

The United Kingdoms departure from the European Union is like a boat setting out to sea.

First, the rope is slung off the mooring. Next, the vessel manoeuvres through the harbour, its progress delayed by engine failure, a mutinous crew, and other boats getting in the way. The sky darkens. Is sailing still wise? The captain says yes and after a final tack, the boat rounds the breakwater, leaving safety behind and confronting the open ocean.

Why use a nautical metaphor for Brexit? Because the UK is an island, and sometimes geography can help explain politics.

The UK has always thought itself to be apart from Europe, despite its formal union over the past fifty years and its shared history for the last thousand. Its sense of difference of solipsism, even is wittily expressed in an apocryphal old newspaper headline: Fog in Channel: Continent cut off.

But why does the UK feel separate?

The limitations of any island are set by the sea, but the sea also presents possibilities. It washes through national mythology and, more prosaically, defines its economy. Britain is a trading nation, in which mercantile interests have often subordinated manufacturing. The French thinker Alexis de Tocqueville linked the sea to economic liberalism. After all, island nations have an interest in free exchange and open markets. (Abu Dhabi, the island emirate, has long been a trading hub too, with a character molded as much by saltwater as by sand). It is logical that free trade theory was first developed in Britain. Risk is the raison detre of the City of London.

The sea has also bred a peculiarly liberal political tradition in Britain. For much of history, Britain has had a bigger navy than army. Water, not land, underwrote its security. Britain hasnt been ransacked by a foreign force since the Norman conquest of 1066. Britains kings and queens have rarely kept large standing armies capable of imposing absolute domestic control. A state with these characteristics is usually likely to be less centralised and more plural than one whose troops menace its streets.

Economic and political liberalism are not uniquely British. But they are entrenched sensibilities, and they derive at least in part from the curious psychology of living on a small rock in a big ocean.

That same psychology translates into an intellectual tradition predicated on doubt. Unlike much of the earths landmass, the sea is contingent, fickle, unknowable. If you depend on the sea then, to a certain extent, you forfeit power and comprehension. The people on its shores must take the world with a pinch of salt.

Consider the "empiricism" of David Hume, Britains most luminous philosopher. Hume argued that we know for certain only that which we can ourselves see, hear or touch. Until the sun rises tomorrow, I cannot be sure that it will. If someone claims something that you cannot experience yourself, then you shouldnt necessarily believe them.

The general effect of this skeptical thinking is to weaken the basis for absolute authority. If nothing can be known for sure, and if knowledge is ultimately a matter of common sense or guesswork, then anyone asserting an absolutist vision whether of destiny, revolution, or progress is suspect.

For example, the French Revolution provoked revulsion in Britain. Edmund Burke, the Anglo-Irish polemicist and arch-critic of the revolution, wrote that the destruction of the "ancien regime" by fire and sword was dangerous not just because of its output in blood, but because it reflected an unjustified faith in universal principles.

Burkes view - that it is better to trust the independent thought of ordinary people than the fever-dreams of visionaries - was influential. Subsequent British thinkers, from John Stuart Mill to Isaiah Berlin, and from George Orwell to JG Ballard, have preached the perils of totalitarianism. Britain arguably has a heightened immunity to ideology and demagogues.

So how might this explain Brexit?

The European Union was conceived to establish permanent peace in Europe. It has a providential narrative and reflects a spirit of planning and design of grand, lasting solutions which on some level challenges Britains more piecemeal approach to social organisation. And it has been driven, among others, by France and Germany.

Unlike Britains sceptics and empiricists, the greatest French and German thinkers believe that reason can illuminate timeless truths. The rationalism of Descartes holds that logic alone can supply a full understanding of the universe. Germanys most outstanding figures Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Immanuel Kant, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche also, in different ways, sought perfect certainty: in metaphysics, history, law or morality. These thinkers offered systematic accounts of who man really is, deep down, and what he must do to become himself.

To some in Britain, the EU resembles this sort of enterprise and that is what makes it so troubling. The EUs pursuit of harmony is its original sin. On this analysis, Britain has a freewheeling personality, while the EU yearns after order. Britain cherishes open markets and minimal government, while the EU erects "dirigiste" institutions. Britain views man as fallible, the EU sees him as perfectible.

This perceived dichotomy is, of course, false.

First, for all its regulations, the chief purpose and effect of the EU is to enable trade. The EU is the worlds biggest single market and its precepts of free movement in people, goods and services are cosmopolitan by any standard.

Second, if the EU is supposed to represent a steady march towards utopia, then it is doing badly. Most steps towards greater integration are resisted or even reversed, and many members (including the UK) benefit from significant opt-outs. EU rules sometimes seem to be honoured more in the breach than in the observance.

Finally, Britain is not as much of a breezy outlier as it thinks. Other European states (notably the Netherlands and Denmark) have similar liberal traditions, while Britains own commitment to the doctrine of laissez-faire has never been entirely pure. Moreover, the discourse behind Brexit has sometimes displayed the very dogmatism which its votaries purport to oppose. The "us vs them" narrative is flawed.

But it is nonetheless unsurprising that the first country to decisively reject the EU is the UK, the rain-swept island off its north-west coast. Britains sense of difference, inspired by its specific place in the world, has led, eventually, to its departure from the European harbour.

The country must now embrace the future alone, charting its own course on the open ocean. How well it does remains to be seen. But one thing is clear: to succeed, Britain will need to catch a fair wind and reach deep into its seafaring soul.

Sam Williams is a writer in Abu Dhabi

Updated: January 30, 2020 07:05 PM

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Iran: 21-year-old Christian convert who criticized regime’s oppression of believers arrested, missing – The Christian Post

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By Leah MarieAnn Klett, Christian Post Reporter | Thursday, January 30, 2020 Iranian flag waving with cityscape on background in Tehran, Iran | Getty images/stock photo

A 21-year-old Christian convert in Iran known for highlighting the plight of persecuted believers and criticizing the countrys repressive government remains missing nearly three weeks after her arrest.

The website Article 18 reports that Fatemeh Mohammadi, also known as Mary, was among those arrested on Jan. 12 near Azadi Square. At the time of her arrest, protests were taking place in response to the Iranian governments admission of guilt in the downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane hit by two missiles.

Mohammadi was apprehended by police and transported to an unknown location. Nearly three weeks after her arrest no one has heard from the young woman.

On the day of her arrest, she published a series of tweets in which she said the Iranian people were facing soft repression, exposed only to news that the regime wanted them to read.

In her tweets, she used hashtags that, when translated, mean hard-pressed and suppression is the norm."

She added that tackling soft repression is even harder than tackling the hard repression," accusing the government of institutionalizing false beliefs through selective coverage of the news," and lies that are bigger and more repetitive make them more believable.

The Christian activist was previously arrested three other times and spent six months in prison on charges of "membership in proselytizing groups," "Christian activity," and "acting against national security through propaganda against the regime."

Just before her arrest, she was kicked out of the university she was attending for no given reason. A week later, she was arrested again.

It appears that my religious beliefs and having a prior conviction [because of Christian activities] on security-related charges, as well as my human rights activism, are the reasons for banning me from further education, she told Article 18 at the time.

The denial of basic and fundamental rights, such as the right to education, certainly can act as a pressure mechanism and is used as a lever to apply pressure on religious minorities and human rights activists in the hope that individuals will halt their activities and abandon their beliefs. Depriving me of my education is certainly intended to exert pressure upon me, and silence me.

Persecution watchdog groupOpen Doors notes that Mohammadi also boldly spoke about believers rights, including the cruel treatment she received in prison, and ran a campaign petitioning for all Christians, including converts, to be given the right to worship in a church.

When asked whether she feared for her safety, she responded that she was ready to return to prison to fight for the rights of Christians in Iran.

Earlier this year, she wrote an open letter to Irans Minister of Intelligence, accusing him of violating the Iranian Constitution by targeting Christians. In it, she questioned why Christians are prevented from talking about their beliefs with their peers, while Muslims can freely engage in propaganda at schools, universities, mosques and shrines.

Iran is ranked No. 9 on Open Doors'2020 World Watch Listof worst countries to live as a Christian.

Iranian society is governed by Islamic law, which means the rights of and professional possibilities for Christians are heavily restricted, Open Doors notes. Christians are forbidden from sharing their faith with non-Christians in Iran, and it is illegal to produce Christian literature.

According to the charity, over the 2020 World Watch List reporting period, there were at least 169 arrests of Christians, 114 of them made in one single week at the end of 2018.

Many Iranian believers (especially converts) have been prosecuted and sentenced to long terms in jail. Others are still awaiting trial. Their families face public humiliation during this time, Open Doors reports.

Last week, acourt in Iran sentenced a 65-year-old convert to Christianity to three years in prison for insulting Islamic sacred beliefs even as he is yet to be tried in the court for two other charges.

In December, Irans Revolutionary Courtsentencednine Christians to a combined total of 45 years in prison for converting to Christianity. The converts were arrested in January and February 2019.

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Trapped and Voiceless: The Palestinians Depicted in Trump’s Plan – Common Dreams

Posted: at 6:43 pm

Donald Trump's "Middle East plan" has fully adopted the Israeli agenda and ignores the fundamental problem that has continued for more than 70 years.

Palestinians are not striving to improve the conditions of their imprisonment, we want the return of our refugees and the end of the occupation.

As it is, Palestinians are trapped, with very little freedom of movement and no voice to tell our side of the story. That is not going to change with this "deal", especially when the international community turns a blind eye to the reality on the ground for ordinary people.

I feel the isolation that Palestinians are subjected to most painfully when I travel. What I love most about travelling is the freedom of movement; being able to get in a car, listen to music and just set off.

But, more than 70 years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights stipulated the right to freedom of movement, this is not something most Palestinians can contemplate.

People around the world, who may not even know they have this defined right, exercise it on a daily basis. But for those living in the Palestinian territoriesessentially a detention camp surrounded by fences, walls and military towersto try is to risk your life.

In Gaza and the West Bank, a person's ability to travel is conditional upon obtaining a permit from the Israeli government and then going on a waiting list administered by Gaza'sMinistry of the Interior. As a result, the vast majority of Gazans have not left the Strip since the Israeli blockade began in 2007. The decision to travel is usually made only in cases of extreme need, such as for urgent medical treatment.

A few months ago, I received an invitation from NOVACT, the International Institute for Nonviolent Action, which is based in Spain, to take part in a speaking tour, in conjunction with a number of other civil organisations, about the situation in Gaza. I was asked to give talks in Belgium, Germany, Spain, the Czech Republic, Italy, Finland, the Netherlands, France and Slovenia. This invitation was the reason I was granted a Schengen visa and as soon as I got it, I registered my name on the travel waiting list in Gaza.

I waited for two months.

The conversations I had with my European colleagues during this time perfectly summed up the differences in our experiences and expectations.

They needed to schedule my activities.

"On what day?" they would ask.

"I cannot say," I would reply. "It is not in my control."

"Ok, so in which week?" they would respond.

"I don't know that, either," I would tell them. "Plans can only be made when I have actually left Gaza."

"So in which month will that be?"

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"Maybe in December, maybe January. When I am able to travel, I will let you know."

When I eventually got permission to travel, the experience was one of joy tinged with sorrow that others from my country could not enjoy this simple right.

On the road from Germany to the Czech Republic, and later from the Czech Republic to Austria, I saw no borders to tell me that I was entering a new country. The only thing that informed me was the welcome message I received from my telecom provider on my mobile phone.

I could pass through European airports without registration, waiting lists or lengthy interrogations; I could disembark from a plane and head to the exit gate without being stopped by a security officer. It was a shock.

Dozens of activists I met in Europe told me they had visited Palestine. The thought that they had roamed our cities, learned about our culture, tasted our food and felt the warmth of our sun, always made me feel good. "Did you visit Gaza?" I would ask them. "No, only the West Bank," they would invariably reply, "Israel would not give us permission to visit Gaza."

Not only are Gazans locked in, but others are locked out. And this isolation is killing us and our story. When people do not know us, when they do not see our reality, the chances of them standing in solidarity with us are diminished.

During my tour of Europe, I saw first-hand what it means when Palestinians in Gaza cannot tell their story. I was repeatedly asked by people who knew nothing of the long history of Jews being an important part of the fabric of Arab society, why Arabs were so hostile to Jews.

I was probed about the role of Hamas inthe Great March of Return -peaceful Friday protests by Palestiniansand whether this was the reason the Israeli army had used excessive force against the demonstrators. I replied that, according to the OCHA, 213 Palestinians had been killed since the demonstrations began in March 2018 and more than 36,000 injured, many of whom have been left with permanent disabilities. In contrast, no Israelis had died.

I was asked why we did not just make peace with the Israelis. But peace is not something the victims of occupation, displacement and oppression can initiate, I replied.

Now, as Trump's new Middle East plan silences the voices of Palestinians, our stories, our realities, more than ever, Europe has a decision to make.

The EU has for years expressed its "deep concerns" over Israel's targeted killings and illegal settlements.But pro-Palestinian activists increasingly face censure and restrictions in European countries.

Last May, Germany passed a symbolic resolution designating the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement as anti-Semiticeven though the movement's demands are based on international law and the methods it uses are peaceful.

In December, the French parliament passed a resolution that labelled anti-Zionism a form of anti-Semitism.

Europe today faces a real test: Will it value the principles of freedom of opinion, expression and movement and the international law that underpins theseor will it help in the continued silencing and stifling of Palestinians?

If Europe and the international community get behind Trump's Middle East plana plan in which the Palestinians have no saythe answer will be clear.

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Dori: Forget the teachers union, now Seattle has a drug users union – MyNorthwest.com

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This poster was seen in the U District. (Dori Monson Show)

Did you hear about Seattles latest group to unionize? A listener sent me a picture of a flier from an alley off of the Ave in the University District a flier for a drug users union.

This group celebrates drug use in fact, they have formed a subculture that is all about drug use. The flier says, Urban Survivors Union Proud To Be a Drug User, Seattles Drug User Union.

We are a union that is, first and foremost, for and by drug users. Our first mission is to unite as drug users, because we are the only ones who understand the oppression we face. Join our family and together we can change the laws to better protect our community!

Then it talks about how they meet the first Thursday of every month at the U District Needle Exchange.

Dori: We only look through the lens of whats best for the heroin addict

I have one big question what other laws do drug users need changed?

Marijuana is legal in this state. King County allows personal possession amounts of hard drugs. We all know that drug crimes are rarely being prosecuted by our county prosecutor. That, along with the citys de-policing, led to the downtown Seattle shooting because of all the open drug use, drug dealing, the gangs that control the drug dealing, and the violence that comes with the gangs.

The drug users union already has the mayor, Seattle City Council, city attorney, and county prosecutor working for the policies it favors. Our leadership wants as many drug users as possible. There was just a study this week stating that the county needs up to $1 billion extra each year to fight homelessness.

Trust me, it benefits local government financially to have all the despair and broken lives that come with drug use. You see, the more broken lives there are, the more government has to step in and fix them by raising taxes.

At least, they tell us they want to fix lives, but its really just about expanding government and collecting more of your money. You have to work and save to get a place to live, but government wants you to also provide affordable housing for the drug vagrants who have come flocking to our area.

The drug users union is pushing for changing the laws but I dont know how the laws could possibly be any friendlier toward them.

Listen to the Dori Monson Show weekday afternoons from 12-3 p.m. on KIRO Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

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Congressional Votes | Week of Jan. 24, 2020 – St. Augustine Record

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Here's a look at how area members of Congress voted over the previous week.

Here's a look at how area members of Congress voted over the previous week.

Along with this week's roll call votes, the House also passed the Supporting Veterans in STEM Careers Act (S. 153), to promote veteran involvement in STEM education, computer science, and scientific research; the Global Hope Act (H.R. 5338), to authorize the Secretary of State to pursue public-private partnerships, innovative financing mechanisms, research partnerships, and coordination with international and multilateral organizations to address childhood cancer globally; a bill (H. Res. 752), supporting the rights of the people of Iran to free expression and condemning the Iranian regime for its crackdown on legitimate protests; and the Keeping Girls in School Act (H.R. 2153), to support empowerment, economic security, and educational opportunities for adolescent girls around the world.

There were no key votes in the Senate this week.

House Vote 1:

HOLOCAUST EDUCATION PROGRAMS: House has passed the Never Again Education Act (H.R. 943), sponsored by Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, D-N.Y., to require the Education Department to award grants for Holocaust education programs at public schools. Maloney said: "Our children are not born with hate in their hearts, and it is up to us to make sure that they never learn it." The vote, on Jan. 27, was 393 yeas to 5 nays.

YEAS: Rutherford R-FL (4th), Waltz R-FL (6th)

House Vote 2:

SUICIDE RESEARCH: The House has passed the Advancing Research to Prevent Suicide Act (H.R. 4704), sponsored by Rep. Ben McAdams, D-Utah, to require the National Science Foundation to issue grants to colleges and universities for funding research that aims to prevent suicide. McAdams said the grants "will contribute to the foundational research that we need to give our mental health professionals the tools to save lives." The vote, on Jan. 27, was 385 yeas to 8 nays.

YEAS: Rutherford R-FL (4th), Waltz R-FL (6th)

House Vote 3:

TIBETAN POLICY: The House has passed the Tibetan Policy and Support Act (H.R. 4331), sponsored by Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Mass., to change a variety of elements of U.S. policy on Tibet and its relationship to China, with the general goals of advancing human rights, religious freedom, and economic development for Tibetans. McGovern called the bill an "important step to strengthen U.S. policy in support of the Tibetan people" in the face of oppression by China's government. The vote, on Jan. 28, was 392 yeas to 22 nays.

YEAS: Rutherford R-FL (4th), Waltz R-FL (6th)

House Vote 4:

CONSUMER CREDIT REPORTS: The House has passed the Comprehensive CREDIT Act (H.R. 3621), sponsored by Rep. Ayanna Presley, D-Mass. Bill measures include a ban on consumer credit reports including information about delinquent or defaulted private education loans taken out by borrowers who meet a standard for loan repayment, restrictions on employee credit checks by employers, and other changes to the formation and use of consumer credit reports. Presley said the measures were needed to "ensure a more equitable and transparent credit reporting system for all." A bill opponent, Rep. Patrick T. McHenry, R-N.C., said the changes "will destroy the accuracy and completeness of consumer credit files. This will lead to a weaker financial system." The vote, on Jan. 29, was 221 yeas to 189 nays.

NAYS: Rutherford R-FL (4th), Waltz R-FL (6th)

House Vote 5:

REGULATING FENTANYL ANALOGUES: The House has passed the Temporary Reauthorization and Study of the Emergency Scheduling of Fentanyl Analogues Act (S. 3201), sponsored by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. The bill would extend until May 2021 the Drug Enforcement Agency's temporary scheduling order regulating fentanyl-like substances as schedule I drugs. A supporter, Rep. Ann M. Kuster, D-N.H., said the extension would give the federal government "the opportunity to better understand the full range of implications that come with classwide scheduling of these substances" that are a large threat to public health. The vote, on Jan. 29, was 320 yeas to 88 nays.

YEAS: Rutherford R-FL (4th), Waltz R-FL (6th)

House Vote 6:

CONFLICT WITH IRAN: The House has passed an amendment sponsored by Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., to the Merchant Mariners of World War II Congressional Gold Medal Act (H.R. 550), that would bar spending on military force against Iran in the absence of declaration of war by Congress or specific legal authorization from Congress. Khanna said the amendment sought to avoid a repetition of the unending and very costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. An opponent, Rep. Michael T. McCaul, R-Texas, said it "takes legitimate options off the table for the executive branch. In doing so, it shows America divided in the face of mounting Iranian threats, making our nation less safe." The vote, on Jan. 30, was 228 yeas to 175 nays.

NAYS: Rutherford R-FL (4th), Waltz R-FL (6th)

House Vote 7:

REPEALING IRAQ WAR AUTHORIZATION: The House has passed an amendment sponsored by Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., to the Merchant Mariners of World War II Congressional Gold Medal Act (H.R. 550), that would repeal the 2002 law that authorized the war with Iraq. Lee called the 2002 authorization outdated and unnecessary, and said "not only is it not needed for any current counterterrorism operations, but repealing it would have absolutely no impact on the administration's ongoing military operations." An amendment opponent, Rep. Michael T. McCaul, R-Texas, said repealing the 2002 authorization without a new authorization for counterterrorism actions "endangers not only the United States' national security, but our coalition partners, most notably, Iraq." The vote, on Jan. 30, was 236 yeas to 166 nays.

NAYS: Rutherford R-FL (4th), Waltz R-FL (6th)

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Congressional Votes | Week of Jan. 24, 2020 - St. Augustine Record

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Berry Tramel: Flair describes the life and times of the late Laker superstar Kobe Bryant – Oklahoman.com

Posted: at 6:43 pm

Kobe was a mesmerizing figure. Even the league itself was transfixed and aware of the financial bonanza he provided. Long before the NBA showed its cards and declined to take a stand on Chinese government oppression, in hopes of keeping Chinese money flowing, the NBA stuck by Kobe when he was charged with rape after a 2003 incident in Eagle, Colorado.

The accuser eventually declined to cooperate with authorities, Kobe settled out of court, his reputation took only a momentary hit and the NBA continued to reap the jackpot of having Kobe as the leagues most riveting player.

Even at age 37, Kobes flair didnt waver. His final season, 2015-16, was a farewell tour around the league, and he scored 60 points in his final game, April 13, 2016.

Kobes enchantment continued upon NBA retirement. He stayed above the basketball fray to which so many former superstars succumb. He turned a $6 million sports-drink investment to a $200 million windfall. His production company won an Academy Award for a basketball short film.

That explains Kobe Bryant best. A prom date with a Hollywood starlet before he ever got to the Lakers; an Oscar after he left the Lakers. And all kinds of basketball largess in between.

Kobe was great with the media oh man, what a world it would be if Westbrook had taken his press conference tips from Kobe and from all reports great with fans.

He had a great smile and a warm personality and didnt make enemies, except on the court. Kobe was both accessible and untouchable; he put himself in vulnerable positions but remained Teflon.

He is the embodiment of the star-driven nature of the basketball league that made him famous, and now hes gone, at age 41, a life lived with flair.

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Berry Tramel: Flair describes the life and times of the late Laker superstar Kobe Bryant - Oklahoman.com

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As long as Palestine remains oppressed, the world is devoid of justice – Daily Sabah

Posted: at 6:43 pm

The Islamic world experienced a short respite during World War II and the Cold War; however, today's chaotic global scene has once again reverted the region's conditions to the pre-World War I environment.

Currently, the struggle for independence and freedom for Muslim countries around the world has once again emerged, leading to region-wide regression. Iranian hostility topped with general anxiety worldwide have led countries like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt to partner with Israel. Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have requested U.S. support due to the regional problems.

Recently, U.S. President Donald Trump announced the so-called Middle East peace plan, which he coined the "Deal of the Century," alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Statements by Trump regarding the current state and future of Palestine reflected a typical Trump style. In other words, they were unstable and far from reality.

The plan projects Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel. In addition, Palestine is given four years to meet certain conditions to become a conditional independent state. In other words, Trump's plan is to make Jerusalem the undivided capital of Israel. This one-sided, unrealistic so-called Middle East peace plan has delighted the Israeli government and outraged Palestinians.

This attitude of the U.S. also risked the possibility of peace between Israel and Palestine and thus became the determinant of the deadlock in Palestine. Trump has threatened the people of the region directly and the people of the world indirectly by saying this plan is the last opportunity for Palestinians and that if it is not accepted, it will have consequences, without mentioning the political framework that has no benefits for Palestinians.

Palestine is located in a geographical region open to all scenarios, and Israel's claim on Jerusalem is not new. Divided by the U.N. in 1947, followed by Israel declaring its independence as a state a year later, Palestine has since tried to work with Washington to protect its future. As the Israeli territory on the map grew over the years, the Palestinian region on the map became smaller and smaller.

Since the 1950s, Palestine's cause has been on the minds of Arab rulers, who motivated their people with the image of Palestine. However, Arab rulers have betrayed the Palestinians' plight, though Arabs still hold Palestine close to their hearts.

Israel and the U.S., portraying themselves as the protectors of democracy and human rights, are trying to occupy the region in line with their own interests on the grounds that they will protect Palestine and the Palestinian people, and they constantly apply tyranny to the people of the region.

On the other hand, the Palestinian people continue to struggle against the pressure and sanctions. Palestine's struggle is an example to the world.

Turkey, which has supported Palestinians strong stand against the statements of the U.S. and has staunchly stood behind the Palestinian people during their struggle for independence, has also been a target of Israel's attacks and reactions.

In this regard, Palestine and Turkey are similar and understand each other very well. Turkey has refused to remain silent regarding Israel's aggression and has declared it will never allow the legitimization of Israel's persecution and occupation. Turkey continues to proudly support the Palestinian people today and has not hesitated to announce its support to the world. In the end, Ankara knows peace will only be achieved by ending the invasive policies in the Middle East. Therefore, Turkey's support is very important for Palestinians.

The world has continuously faced war and oppression, and these pressures continue to increase. The world has now become a place of persecution and injustice, a trend that needs to be reversed immediately.

In this sense, Palestine is the world's womb and Trump's Palestine declaration is not acceptable because it simply promotes occupation.

In the end, as long as Palestine remains oppressed, there is no justice in the world.

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As long as Palestine remains oppressed, the world is devoid of justice - Daily Sabah

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Remember the Influence of Socialism on Martin Luther King Jr’s Legacy – Common Dreams

Posted: at 6:43 pm

King believed humanity could achieve a "higher synthesis" that rose above the social relations of capitalism and communism.

"Black self-determination was seen by the ruling class as a great communist conspiracy."

The annual celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday is politically meaningless because it is defined by the very power structure that assassinated both his physical life and his radical legacy. To this day, King is remembered by most Americans as the "I Have a Dream" figure who sought peaceful coexistence with a racist power structure also known as the United States government. This narrative has not only benefited the ruling class and the privileges of white Americans but also the Black misleadership class which utilizes King's sanitized legacy as a cover of legitimacy for their political service to the bourgeoisie. It should come as no surprise, then, that the historical moment from which King's work arose has also been distorted by the U.S. ruling class. While publications such as Teen Vogueand public intellectuals likeCornel Westhave brought attention to King's anti-war and anti-capitalist history, fewer have analyzed the importance of socialism in shaping the trajectory of King's politics.

King did not identify as a socialist in Marxian terms. By the end of his life, King was criticizing the triple evils of militarism, racism, and materialism. However, he didn't see the communist movement led by the Soviet Union as the answer to Black America's ills. Instead, King retained a moral and spiritual commitment to equality. He believed humanity could achieve a"higher synthesis"that rose above the social relations of capitalism and communism. The police occupation of poor Black communities at home and the U.S. military occupation of Vietnam abroad compelled King to demand an end to U.S. militarism and to organize the Poor People's Campaign for economic justice.

"The Black misleadership class utilizes King's sanitized legacy as a cover of legitimacy for their political service to the bourgeoisie."

While King didn't embrace communism, his politics were profoundly influenced by the struggle for socialism, domestically and abroad. Most bourgeois historians of the so-called "Civil Rights" era leave out the pesky fact that a war between socialism and capitalism was occurring simultaneously with the Black struggle against Jim Crow white supremacy in the U.S. mainland. Martin Luther King Jr. visited Ghana to celebrate the African nation's independence from Britain in 1957 and met with itsopenly socialist leader, Kwame Nkrumah.National liberation movements throughout Africa and the Third World were receiving aid from the Soviet Union and China to win independence. On the opposite side, the U.S. was engaged in an all-out war on the socialists wherever they resided. This war began with the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1918 and included the use of a two nuclear bombs during World War II, themurder of millions in a military invasion of Korea, and the open threat to drop another nuclear bomb on China for its assistance to socialist resistance on the Korean Peninsula.

The U.S. ruling class was extremely concerned that the Black struggle to overturn Jim Crow in the U.S. mainland would seek alliances with the socialist, largely non-white movement abroad. This led King and the rest of the Black movement to become targets in the U.S. government's anti-communist crusade. Black self-determination was seen by the ruling class as a great communist conspiracy that threatened to bring the socialist politics of the Soviet Union to the U.S.' doorstep. Paul Robeson, W.E.B. Du Bois, Claudia Jones, and several other Black intellectuals and organizers wereblacklisted as agents of Moscowand terrorized by the state for their refusal to align with the predations of American capitalism. The ruling class was so concerned about the influence of anti-colonial and socialist movements abroad that theState Department hired Jazz artists such as Louis Armstrongto travel to newly independent nations on the African continent to promote the U.S.' so-called commitment to racial equality.

"King and the rest of the Black movement became targets in the U.S. government's anti-communist crusade."

COINTELPRO's counterinsurgency warfare against communists and revolutionaries of all kinds really intensified at height of the Cold War in the 1950s, not in the 1960s and 1970s as commonly assumed. U.S. imperialism had every right to fear the influence of socialism. The Soviet Union, China, and Cuba all espoused internationalism as a critical aspect of their socialist projects. Paul Robeson famously remarked that he felt no racial prejudice duringhis trip to the Soviet Union.China provided asylum to Black activistRobert Williams in 1966.A real possibility existed for socialist countries and the Black liberation movement to develop internationalist relationships, much to the chagrin of the American Empire.

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Contrary to the assumptions of former FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover, Black revolutionaries were not attracted to socialism because they were dupes of Moscow orculturally programmed to seek a "Black messiah."The world socialist movement not only demonstrated to Black Americans and all oppressed peoples that white capitalist rule could be successfully overthrown but also that a new and more favorable system could replace it. Conditions for workers and peasants in the socialist bloc greatly improved under the direction of a planned economy. In China, for example, a peasant class which was largely landless, illiterate, and prone to premature death prior to 1949saw immense gainsin public health, land ownership, and gender equality after the revolution overthrew the rule of the landlord class and its foreign sponsors. As scholarsRobin Kelly and Betty Eschexplain, the world socialist movement resided in the non-white world and provided Black revolutionaries a successful model for asserting self-determination in the belly of the imperial beast.

"A real possibility existed for socialist countries and the Black liberation movement to develop internationalist relationships."

We don't hear much about socialism when the period of Martin Luther King's political life is discussed in the United States. Yet it is clear that the world socialist movement made a deep impact on King's political trajectory. The genocidal U.S. war in Vietnam, which was largely a war to suppress a socialist revolution, led King to make the following remarks in his speech,Beyond Vietnam:

"These are revolutionary times. All over the globe men are revolting against old systems of exploitation and oppression, and out of the wombs of a frail world new systems of justice and equality are being born. The shirtless and barefoot people of the land are rising up as never before. 'The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light.' We in the West must support these revolutions."

Martin Luther King's anti-war stance is an example of how socialism was a radicalizing force in the Black political movement and vice versa. Vietnamese revolutionary and first elected president Ho Chi Minh wrotean essay about the lynching of Black Americansin 1924 during his travels to the United States. Chairman Mao Tse-Tung of China wrote a statement of support to Black Americaafter King's assassination.The Black struggle for self-determination was as inspirational to the world socialist movement as the world socialist movement was to the Black left.

Many believe that the U.S. government assassinated King because of his decision to oppose the U.S. war on socialist Vietnam abroad. King spent over a decade under close surveillance by the FBI and other intelligence agenciesbeginning in 1955.A civil court in 1998 ruled that various U.S. government agencies were involved in King's murder. The role of the U.S. government in King's murder has been suppressed with the same ferocity that the role socialism in the political life of Dr. King has been erased from the U.S. ruling class' version of "Black History."

"The Black struggle for self-determination was as inspirational to the world socialist movement as the world socialist movement was to the Black left."

The collapse of the Soviet Union and the weakening of the socialist bloc beginning in the 1990s left Black Americans and other oppressed peoples with few allies around the world. Even worse, two generations of neoliberal decay and the development of a Black misleadership class in the United States moved politics in the U.S. markedly to the right over the same period. The decline of socialism around the world coincided with the expansion of endless war, mass incarceration, and austerity. These policies disproportionately targeted Black lives and in many ways were designed to destroy them. The sanitization of King's legacy has always been meant to reinforce the policy of annihilation that U.S. imperialism has set forth for Black America and the world's oppressed peoples at large.

Still, the so-called "liberal left" imagination is more concerned with anti-communism in the form of Russiagate than with the concerns of Black life. The United States' capitalist empire has no room for King's real legacy, as its treatment of Bernie Sanders makes clear. Sanders' economic agenda most closely resembles King's class politics by the end of his life. The Lords of Capital are fully committed to suppressing Sanders with the understanding that if the word "socialism" continues to gain popularity, then more people, especially Black people, may be inclined to explore and emulate King's radical legacy. To combat the opportunism of the lords of capital and their minions in the political class, we must popularize King's radical legacy and revive the politics of socialism and internationalism which animated it. As Fred Hampton famously said, "Socialism is the people. If you are afraid of socialism, then you are afraid of yourself."

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Remember the Influence of Socialism on Martin Luther King Jr's Legacy - Common Dreams

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