New Trend Magazine (www.newtrendmag.org)

[Biggest Islamic web site in the U.S.]
P.O. Box 356, Kingsville, MD 21087.
Phone: 410-435-5000.

Disclaimer: Views expressed are not necessarily shared by editorial committee.
Responses (positive or negative) up to 250 words are welcome.
Names will be withheld on request.
----------------------------------------------------------
Montreal Perspectives

By Jalaluddin S. Hussain

Azores Declaration - A slap on the UN face!

The Azores Declaration of the three leaders - George Bush, Anthony Blair and Asnar - March 17, 2003, can be considered a feat of "arrogance par excellence". In his press conference Uncle Sam came out in true colors and implied that UN was irrelevant. His declaration in other words declared: "either you are with us or you all arel enemy of the American people".

Most probably days after New Trend readers read this column, thousands and thousands of the innocent Iraqi children, women and old people will have been killed, thanks to "precision" bombs and missiles! Is there someone out there to stop Uncle Same and Uncle (Union) Jack from unnecessary death and destruction. Shameless are also those heads of Muslim countries like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait and Qatar who have made the aggression of Iraq, at the hands of USA/UK governments possible!

The mother of all demonstrations: 200,000 people and counting!

On March 16, this writer also participated in the well-organized and mammoth demonstration , which started from the corner of Guy Street and Rene Levesque on the West side of downtown Montreal to St. Denis and Rene Levesque on the East side. This sea of demonstrators according to a modest estimate of police authorities was not less than 200,000! The Montreal downtown area has never witnessed such a huge but orderly demonstrate in decades. The repeated chant of the demonstrators , which comprised of young and old alike, was : "No war in Iraq" "Give peace a chance".

MONTREAL: CITY OF ACTIVISTS
Montreal is becoming a city of activists and organized demonstrations. Since the last more than six months, inspite of the cold and bitter weather, record number of people have come out on the streets and expressed their extreme anger against the high-handed policies of the United States of America - the sole super-power of the world. On March 15, 2003 there were in fact two demonstrations - the first one mentioned above and the other one was on the 7th International Day against police brutality, which originated from the McKenzie King Park in the Cote Des Neiges area, in downtown Montreal This latter demonstration was organized by the Indigenous Solidarity Movement (ISM), Coalition opposed to police brutality and Quebec public Interest Research Group.

Dick Cheney mischief: "No Muslims= No Terrorists"

A few weeks ago, Dick Cheney, Vice President of the United States of America, spoke at a conference, during which flagrantly anti-Muslim propaganda was being sold. For example, stickers were distributed with the message "No Muslims = No Terrorists" Again, the word Islam in the sticker, had a symbol of swastika instead of "s". It may be mentioned that McGill campus has also its share of paranoid actions, bordering on racism and hatred, as a consequence of 11 September WTC tragedy. For example, as a direct consequence of a prevalent anti-Muslim hatred, a hijab-wearing obstetrician gynecologist resident was attacked by a male and a Muslim student’s car was spray-painted: "Arab, go home" Again, during the Fall semester, the McGill Daily, an otherwise respected student newspaper, published an offensive article establishing a link between McGill Muslim Students’ Axssociation and Al-Qaeda.

Screening of "Muhammad: legacy of a Prophet"

In order to sensitize the McGill community to Islam a famous PBS documentry entitled: Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet was sreened. Operating out of a secular framework the film screening was intended to promote tolerance of the religious convictions held by a significant proportion ( 1.2 billion) of world’s population who find themselves target of heightened racial profiling. By presenting Islam in a contemporary and historical context, the intention of this screening was to make a modest attempt to reverse the spread of Islamophobia, fueled largely by ignorance. This screening event at the McGill campus was endorsed by: McGill Chaplaincy Service, QPIRG-McGill, McGill Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement, McGill Students Association, First People’s House, Social Awareness Club and McGill Arab Student s Association. Inspite of the inclement weather on that day more than 50 students showed up to watch the documentary
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

2003-03-19 Wed 06:27ct