Sunday 20 March 2011

A libertarian stance on intervention in Libya

Recently I stumbled on this blog titled: The libertarian case for intervention in Libya

I decided to comment on it and I fancied to blog it, so here it is:


    I wish I can say I couldn't agree more, as I also wish for individual liberty to be unrestricted on anyone and everyone, but if we say its fine for this government to use the money of its own people to enforce or kill a dictator, then this IS government going out of bounds and it being a policeman of the world (Where do we cross the line?). The disagreement of intervention is not based on only that govnt should let people be. This of course is not the case locally where the least of government libertarians would advocate is one that would protect their natural & property rights from those who infringe it.

   I would instead advocate us as restricted free people to use our OWN resources to help deprived individuals as much as we say that charity should not be done by the state, also if we wish to put our lives on the line for another nation, we should be able to do so, without using govnt tactics as theft to fund it.

    Yet I must remind myself and all, that this same state as with the western backed monarchies of the gulf nations has deprived its people by taking their right to arms and self-defence. Also, this coalition government is no libertarian government, is it?  In one of the recent speeches of PM Cameron he used a term that is also used among neo-conservatives and its “Muscular Liberalism” I would reference you to this journal article:  http://bit.ly/dV5nH4

    You point out correctly the role of the state in justice, but I would disagree that the military has a duty to topple dictators, that's not libertarianism, that's neo-conservatism, is it not?

   I am personally a libertarian who thinks that tax payers’ money should be used for the tax payer or else this theft has no use.

   In the end, I would argue the state in itself has no international duties, but the service of its nation without force and coercion, which is not the case today in the UK. If some individuals wish to be of honour and put their life on the line for their fellow man, they have the right to do so, along with whoever wishes to join them and/or fund them, provided they don’t force steal people’s money to fund it. 

Saturday 19 March 2011

"He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the future." - George Orwell

An observation:


   3 examples:


1-  this is a quote from a tweeter @Iyad_elbaghdadi :


"Let's talk a bit about that quote: "Insurrection of thoughts always precedes insurrection of arms." It was said by Wendell Phillips. Phillips () was an abolitionist, calling for an end to slavery in the USA, and for equal rights for Native Americans. He made the case that slavery and oppression are chiefly in the mind of the slave. He won't allow his thoughts to stray too far. Therefore he said that the true end to slavery isn't in legislation or on the battlefield but in the mind of the slave. It starts with men not believing anymore that they're slaves, who believe they're free, who no longer recognize slavery as legitimate.This insurrection of minds, once it has taken hold in a person, is the true revolution  .  The Libyan people no longer believe themselves to be slaves to Gaddafi. They have broken those shackles of mind for good. "
2-  This example is an observation witnessed by a dear friend of mine who is studying a Masters degree on Islam in Britain. He is also on twitter: @Abdulazim


   He spoke of a vicious circle of the medias general view and narrative on young British Muslims. That when you impose an idea that young British Muslims are ticking bombs, that they are susceptible more than their peers to become violent, radical and criminal. Left alone, they will come to a crisis and two choices, either to leave their faith, or to truly become radicalised believing what he is told about himself, because of the media coverage. Then taking  the real Muslims as people who compromised. thus fueling the hate machine and entertainment news media. 


  he also added that this all comes down to: 


a) a lack of religious guidance from scholars
b) a rejection of the violence and imperalism of western states
c) an identity crisis 



3- this is my personal observation of what is happening to the people in Bahrain:


     The government is using all its resources to promote sectarianism, and today I can say from what I have seen, that I know how Nazi Germany can happen:
Control the media, control education, and control all important social institutions. How can you go wrong?.


    with the uprising of a nation of a majority shia populace where they are the oppressed! in the gulf where I am now, the local media wishes me to believe that unarmed civilians, (There is a gun ban in all GCC nations)  who only have old swords and kitchen knives are initiating violence and aggressing against an institution that has an armed and armored task force, another country's army and helicopters in the air to boost. (Just to add on this issue of media, reporters from outlets such as the CNN and BBC were not allowed in Bahrain) .


     The Sunni people in Gulf nations are made to think that their governments are protecting them from the threat of Iranian imperialism...That Collectively all Shia are terrorists who secretly wish the death of all Sunnis, that they would betray their fellow Sunni for a fellow Shia for any reason, that their allegiance is not to their own people, but to Iran and Hezbullah..


. These sentiments are not new, they are generations of hate indoctrination put to work now, from my father to my little brother. God knows if I didn't leave Qatar to the UK I would have still accepted such vile ignorance as fact. The funny thing is, these people who speak with such hate, would sometimes be the ones who commit what they accuse my Shia brothers and sisters of. The media narrative today of Bahrain and the embedded hate, can do nothing to a Shia individual, but make him possibly either confused or angry, and would give great publicity to the few radical elements among the Shia and nothing to a sunni individual, but confirm the lies


   The specific reasons of why sunni and shia would hate each other don't matter, because after I learned of the shia tradition from shia I knew what I was told was but lies. I needed nothing but to learn, which removed the shade of ignorance.


   There is however a more important aspect to all of this, that the govnt used this tactic to remove itself from blame, to make as if shia are up to their antics again, and accused it of promoting the sectarian divide, making the rest love their government more and more for "protecting" them. Hence people praised saudi when it went into Bahrain with its tanks to a different country to "battle" unarmed people.


Has anything I said rang a bell in some other issue, in some other place in a time past possibly?


In this issue in my opinion it comes down to these matters: 

  • It begins with collective judgment: to assign a group of people to have a specific negative aspect to them based on colour, creed, nationality or some type of grouping
  • It comes from a position of power: either in number of in status. 
  • Its for the Ignorant masses that the person or people of power deem to represent. They are meant to believe this so much so, that the people of the group accused of this lie start to doubt themselves and sometimes believe it to be the case. 
  •  the purpose is to propose a set of ideas, or to alienate the particular group, or to propose a set of legislation, all for the consumption of more power either real of imaginary.



Of course this analysis at the end is purely simplistic and it comes from an individual who is no expert on this issue. 


At the end I'd like to propose this article I read recently that speaks close to the issue this blog wished to raise: Politically Incorrect Authoritarianism 


I hope you have found this blog to be of use. 


God Bless ^_^

Saturday 12 March 2011

God Vs Tyranny

The following is a passage from the word of God as I believe it to be, showing the attitude of God toward tyranny and how those who submit to him should act toward those who deny us freedom:


   "(6)But man exceeds all bounds (7)when he thinks he is self-sufficient: (8)all will return to your Lord. (9)Have you seen the man who forbids (10)[Our] servant to pray? (11)Have you seen whether he is rightly guided, (12) or encourages true piety? (13)Have you seen whether he denies the truth and turns away from it? (14)Does he not realize that God sees all? (15)No! If he does not stop, We shall drag him by his forehead (16)his lying, sinful forehead. (17)Let him summon his comrades; (18)We shall summon the guards of Hell. (19)No! Do not obey him: bow down in worship and draw close." [The Clinging Form 96: 6-19] 

Friday 4 March 2011

Words of Wisdom


‘Even though you're not equipped,
keep searching:
equipment isn't necessary on the way to the Lord.
Whoever you see engaged in search,
become her friend and cast your head in front of her,
for choosing to be a neighbor of seekers,
you become one yourself; protected by conquerors,
you will yourself learn to conquer.
If an ant seeks the rank of Solomon,
don't smile contemptuously upon its quest.
Everything you possess of skill, and wealth and handicraft,
wasn't it first merely a thought and a quest?’
- Rumi

Tuesday 1 March 2011

The scriptures of God


God spoke of the previous revelations in the Qur’an, as this Author can not explain such text, it is presented in its translated form:

“We sent to you [Muhammad] the Scripture with the truth, confirming the Scriptures that came before it, and with final authority over them: so judge between them according to what God has sent down. Do not follow their whims, which deviate from the truth that has come to you. We have assigned a law and a path to each of you. If God had so willed, He would have made you one community, but He wanted to test you though which He has given you, so race to do good: you will all return to God and He will make clear to you the matters you differed about” (The Feast 5:48)

“(105) We wrote in the Psalms, as We did in [earlier] Scripture:  ‘My righteous servants will inherit the earth.’(106) There truly is a message in this for the 
servants of God!” (The Prophets 21:05-106)

I hope you find this of interest ^_^