What can Somalia learn from Lebanon?

Somalia and Lebanon no doubt share the same features. Both are Muslim countries, both were former colonial nations, and both faced civil war. Well Somalia still goes through it today. The curse of civil war has been lifted from Lebanon, for now. Today Lebanon is a nation trying to heal its wounds it suffered in the devastating 16 year civil war. Lebanon has established a political system, security and openness. There is room for debate on how open and secure Lebanon is, but I believe it is better than the dark times it faced during the civil war. Today I search Somalia on Google news to discover nothing but awful news. “A suicide bomber kills soldiers in Somalia”, “Ethiopian Troops to leave Somalia” and so on.

Attending Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Wall Street a movement some say was inspired by the Arab revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt.  I got a chance to witness firsthand the so called occupy movement, when I was in New York for the weekend. Occupy Wall Street has inspired many others in different states to follow in the same path. I had few images in my mind about the protest, as seen in news outlets throughout the U.S. I was expecting hundreds of people, but to my disappointment there were about half that figure. No surprise the cold would keep some out, and the threats of arrest as well. Zuccotti Park was essentially clean, no tents and the peoples library which had some thousands of books had only a dozen left.    

The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America

On July 22, a man planted a bomb in an Oslo government building that killed eight people. A few hours after the explosion, he shot and killed 68 people, mostly teenagers, at a Labor Party youth camp on Norway’s Utoya Island.

By midday, pundits were speculating as to who had perpetrated the greatest massacre in Norwegian history since World War II. Numerous mainstream media outlets, includingThe New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic, speculated about an Al Qaeda connection and a “jihadist” motivation behind the attacks. But by the next morning it was clear that the attacker was a 32-year-old, white, blond-haired and blue-eyed Norwegian named Anders Breivik. He was not a Muslim, but rather a self-described Christian conservative.

A video for thought

I was sent a superb video by a individual at My fellow American.

In the Video you can hear right wing pastors talking about Islam in a

negative way. One voice I can clearly pick out is Pastor John Hagee,

evangelical christian. In the light of the deadly Norway terror attack,

which I might remind you was blamed on Muslims by many in the main

stream media. I must say it is rhetoric like this that that shapes individuals

Americans minds, and even the the individual who committed acts of violence

in his own country, and on his own fellow citizens.