Ramadan, Islam and Iraq

by Eoin Thu Oct 20, 2005 10:08

Brilliant work Robbie! Great to hear Nuria's voice again. Where is she these days?

Reminds me of that time on the Late Late Show when she put Pat Kenny and his islamist extremist guests to shame (to be fair to the islamists, Pat Kenny was more clueless about their culture and religion than they were of the West).

by RobbieS Thu Oct 20, 2005 11:16

For those who don't know, Nuria is very active in her opposition to the war on Iraq, and Ireland's complicity in that war.

The US military decided to mark the first day of Ramadan this year with Operation River Gate, which unleashed 2,500 marines on three towns in the Euphrates valley in Iraq. Pentagon sources claim that more than 3,000 'insurgents' were killed in the first two days alone of the attack.

Thanks for the good words Eoin; that's the first feedback I've had on the mp3s.

All feedback welcome, including ideas, criticisms etc.

by RobbieS Thu Oct 20, 2005 11:26

As far as I know, Nuria is currently living in Galway.

by Mark C - Teacher Thu Oct 20, 2005 11:58

Yes, well done. A very professional interviewer and a very eloquent interviewee.

by Eoin Thu Oct 20, 2005 12:02

You get around... didn't I see you in a video at the St. Patrick's Day Ploughshares trial? Hmmm (I think he's a cop! hahaha)

Seriously though - that was a great interview. I just played it for a friend here at work, Ahmed, who's quite religious too and open and articulate like Nuria. He said you sound like you're from Pakistan Robbie! :-)

By the way, a week or two ago I wrote to RTE asking them to change some text on their Would You Believe website - the page about Nuria and Islam.

I haven't had any response yet. Here's what I wrote them:

Dear Would You Believe Producer,

I found an article on your website about Nuria Mustafa and Islam is, well, poorly worded to put it nicely. Perhaps you would consider editing the page entitled "Nuria's Story" at http://www.rte.ie/tv/wouldyoubelieve/2003-2711/thisweek.html

For starters, I'm sure you'll agree that inflammatory statements like this one -- "Islam is the most feared and despised religion in the West today." -- have no place on a website of documentaries about spirituality and understanding.

Please let me know if you decide to make any changes to the webpage.

Kind regards,
Eoin

by joe Thu Oct 20, 2005 12:03

While the violence in Iraq is terrible, the Ramadan-thing should be put to bed.
Muslims do not lesson their violence towards themselves or anyone else during Ramadan. Look at any recent conflict which involved Muslim participants, e.g. Iran-Iraq war.

by RobbieS Fri Oct 21, 2005 05:26

No surprise at the shoddiness of audience interface, hwatever about the sensationalist, cringe-inducing languageon the website.

RTÉ aren't accountable. Nor will they allow their programmes (paid for by all of us) to be received in a net archive such as indy's. Proprietory control and profit-making out of citizens' resources is a tradition there, but that probably deserves a separate article. May they stay slow in responding: their loss is our (everybody's) gain.

I'm sure Wexford can trace its origins to the Indus Vally civilizations as much as anything else :-).

Joe, the point about Operation River Gate was to illustrate as a sort of relief, or context, the extra significance that the beginning of Ramadan might have had for many Iraqi Muslims this year.

by Eoin Fri Oct 21, 2005 16:45

I dunno whether it had anything to do with me posting the message above, but they got back to me this morning. They're gonna remove the sentence which I quoted, which they agreed was "extreme".

Regarding RTE content, Indymedia and Ramadan... back in 2001 when the American was emptying plane-loads of cluster bombs on Afghanistan, I caught the 9 o'clock news on RTE one night and saw a US flag sort of draped over the RTE news graphics -- the way Fox News do it. The news story was about Afghanistan, and I think the graphic overlay also included a Pentagon slogan like "war on terrorism" or something like that.

The following morning I phoned one of RTE radio's talk shows to complain. I said that when RTE showed Russian bombs destroying buildings and lives in Chechenia they had forgot to include the Russian flag and "war on terrorism".

When I contacted the archives/rights department some months later to get a copy for a media studies project in DCU, I was told that the graphics were their own copyright and that I didn't have permission to use them even for educational purposes. In those days the RealVideo on their website was so low quality that, though I found an example online, I couldn't use it - it was a blur.

by eeekkkk Fri Oct 21, 2005 19:43

it's who you know
- simple as that