November 27, 2008

RUPTURE

The new Rupture magazine is out. Online as a pdf here

November 26, 2008

Not so fast Muthafuker!

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld complaints about a TV ad for the iPhone 3G which boasted of the gadget's "really fast" performance.

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November 25, 2008

I didn't expect this from The Times

I haven't really got a lot of commentary about pot shots into Pakistan. Its "off my territory" shall I say. I read about it, I read the usual reactions from the usual people. This, from Patrick Mercer stood out-

A death that plays into terrorists' hands

We cannot respect human rights at home and be complicit in the killing of suspects abroad

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has not yet confirmed whether Rauf was the target of the attack. But whether he was or not, this strike raises significant questions about this Government's counter-terrorism policy and I shall be calling for clarification from the Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, about British counter-terrorism operations in these circumstances...


there is more

MUTATE BRITAIN

Fuck Tracy Emin. Fuck Damien Hirst. Fuck Goldsmiths Fine Art. If you want real Brit art visit Mutate Britain on Curtain rd. The quality of this sculpture is just spectacular. I remember Mutoid Waste from Kiings Cross squat parties when rave was all one still. Mutate and Survive!











November 20, 2008

BIT OF ARGY BARGY

STILL FUCKED

ITS ALL A GAME




The Nobel Peace Centre, Oslo, representing perhaps the world's most famous arbiters of peace, and recognising deeds for 'the good of mankind' now stock our game.

We always intended for War on Terror to be a peaceful protest and debate instigator via the medium of family fun (that's not what it says on the box - ed) but even we were surprised and honoured by this latest edition to our stockists page...


We are going to play the War on Terror board game at the weekend. I'm surprised I never heard of it before. A friend of mine got one of the first 40 games sold. I will report back hopefully with photos.

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November 19, 2008

Al Zawahiri calls Obama a house negro

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Zombies, Zeitgeists and Ghoulish movies

It has been inteesting living through "Change". I know exactly why I am optimistic. Because I know myself and the mood swings I am prone to too well. Its fuck all to do with Obama anyway. I have been fairly skint so I've been watching a lot of shit on the net, interspersed with some very useful conversations with real people and some great free gigs so I am not complaining. As I said I am optimistic.

The first thing I'd like to draw your attention to if you haven't caught it yet is Dead Set, The Big Brother zombie film. Its staying on 4catch up for an unusual length of time, they must be proud of it. They should be. I watched it in episodes as it came online, and then convinced some friends to watch it all the way through. During the last few episodes I wondered why I was watching such a gory film as they aren't usually to my taste. The last one put everything into place. The very last scenes properly wrapped up everything the writer wanted to say about the Big Brother concept and its position in the human psyche. I wont spoil it for you, its here for another thirteen days. Highly recomended.

More confusing and disturbing were the films Zeitgeist and Zeitgiest addendum. Confusing and disturbing because for the life of me I didn't know what I made of them at all. I tried watching the first one some time ago and gave up because I thought it was total shit. More friends of mine on facebook got fired up about the second part, so I gave it a go and found it a bit better, which put me in the frame of mind to give part one another chance.

I just don't know. Should I run around screaming? Would it help? I boggled my mind looking through detailed refutations of the claims made in these films. This really isn't my sort of thing. I think I agreed with the overall spirit in which these films were made and I'd love to see a shift in human conciousness away from monetarism. Having said that I wouldn't like to be in a room full of people who were totally sold on this stuff. I don't think I'd have anything useful to add to the conversation.

Apart from that TV wise I'm afraid its been formula TV the whole way for me with Last Man Standing, which I manage to stick to watching once per episode, and Top Gear which I am frighteningly addicted to. I'm not even going to tell you how many times I watched them drive muscle cars to the Boneville Salt flats.

Another movie I saw during "The Change" was How to Loose Friends and Alienate People which totally and utterly alienated me. Think The Devil Wears Prada switched to a male lead character. Don't add ANYTHING. Nothing at all. Thats it. One of the rare films I actually walked out of, How to Loose Friends... was just as bad for exactly the same reasons, but I sat through the whole thing to be polite to the company I was with this time. Utter, utter bollocks film.

Apart from that I have been puking, just the once but it is going to be quite memorable because I was puking in the toilets whilst my band were playing on stage without me. I don't think anyone noticed. When I told the rest of the band afterwards why I was late joining them they all said I should have stayed on stage and puked, securing myself a place in New Cross Folklore.

November 18, 2008

HOPE FOR CHANGE

Coldplay frontman Chris Martin is preparing to retire from music - because he believes rock stars should call it quits before reaching their mid-30s.

Martin is adamant the Yellow hitmakers will step away from the limelight..

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November 16, 2008

More Speculation of More Change?

Speaking at a news conference in the Afghan capital Kabul, Mr Karzai said:

"If I hear from him [Mullah Omar] that he is willing to come to Afghanistan or to negotiate for peace... I, as the president of Afghanistan, will go to any length to provide him [with] protection.

"If I say I want protection for Mullah Omar, then the international community has two choices: remove me, or leave if they disagree. And both are good.

"If I am removed in the cause of peace for Afghanistan by force by them, then I'll be very happy. But if they disagree they can leave. But we are not in that stage yet."


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Speculation or Change?

Transition news from The States:

CHICAGO - PRESIDENT-ELECT Barack Obama plans to tape a weekly address to the country not just for radio listeners, as US presidents have done so for years, but for YouTube viewers as well.

It is the first visible result of a major transition-team effort to make Mr Obama's conversations with the electorate more direct, reported the Miami Herald.

In addition, members and supporters of the White House media upgrade want more input opportunities for the public.

Many of the changes, if adopted, would curb the power of a traditional but often unpopular middleman between presidents and the populace: the mainstream media.

Connecting the White House hearth to the American home, the late president Franklin D. Roosevelt talked to people through the radio in the 1930s, with crackling broadcasts delivered near a crackling fire. John F. Kennedy in the 1960s and Ronald Reagan in the 1980s mastered television.

For President-elect Obama, who built a big part of his campaign on the Internet, it is YouTube.


also

Barack Obama is to pursue an ambitious peace plan in the Middle East involving the recognition of Israel by the Arab world in exchange for its withdrawal to pre-1967 borders, according to sources close to America’s president-elect.

and from the Republicans, getting in on the act too:

" 'Drill, baby, drill,' is not, by itself, an energy policy," Pawlenty said.

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November 15, 2008

MORE SPECULATION

from the Taliban (cheers to Mr Camel)

...The ground realities in Afghanistan and the expectations of the people of America expressed through their votes demand that Obama should shun all policies followed by Bush once and for all. He should respect the rights of the people to independence and observe the norms of human rights. In short, he should set out on a policy that will have a message of peace for the war-stricken world which has been victimized by the arrogance and tyranny of USA.

November 14, 2008

SPECULATION...

...Obama was silent and out of sight in Chicago, one day after quietly meeting with Clinton at his headquarters there. She addressed a transit conference in New York and said emphatically, "I'm not going to speculate or address anything about the president-elect's incoming administration, and I'm going to respect his process."

Obama is also reaching out to Republican Sen. John McCain, hoping to make an ally of the man he defeated for the presidency only last week. Obama meets with McCain on Monday.

Obama has not made his choice for secretary of state and is considering other candidates, said Democratic officials, speaking on a condition of anonymity about deliberations they weren't authorized to discuss...

LOOKING ON THE BRIGHT SIDE...

...Barack Obama is nothing more than a kaafir, who is vehement in violating the rights of Almighty Allah (SWT) in terms of His legislation and hence should be treated with much hostility calibrated according to the Qur'an and Sunnah.

As for those so-called Muslims who view his election as a ‘victory' for Islam and Muslims, it seems as if they have forgotten the very foundations of this Deen which stipulate the necessity of dissociating oneself (Muslim) from the camp of the disbelievers as well as rejecting taghout both of which are central components of Barack Obama and his evil administration....

Anjum Choudhary's full US Election address

GOD- THE TERRORIST IN THE DOCK

A judge has thrown out a case against God - as the Almighty doesn't have an official address and legal papers can't be served.

Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers filed the lawsuit last year seeking a permanent injunction against God who he said made terrorist threats against him and his Omaha constituents.

Additionally, he said God inspired fear and caused "widespread death, destruction and terrorisation of millions upon millions of the Earth's inhabitants".

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November 11, 2008

SONGS OF PRAISE IN JAMAICA



This is great. You'd never get this over here. Brought to you by Digicell. Ian Boyne is a big star in Jamaica. Everyone watches this on Sunday night. Ian takes on the evils of dancehall here

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November 10, 2008

CHANGE?

"I think the answer is going to be, they can be as securely guarded on U.S. soil as anywhere else," Tribe said. "We can't put people in a dungeon forever without processing whether they deserve to be there."

November 08, 2008

VISUALIZATION

Newsweek in the States has some great stuff from journalists on the campain trail of all the candidates who promised not to print until after the elections. From chapter 2 about John McCain:

...McCain lost Michigan to Romney on Jan. 15, largely because Romney pandered to his boyhood home state by promising to bring back jobs long gone. In South Carolina on Jan. 19, McCain was on edge and his wife, Cindy, even more so. This was the place where the dirty tricksters had slimed the McCains in 2000, and Cindy could not shake off a sense of dread. The weather in Charleston was awful—sleeting rain—and McCain seemed caged, cooped up with his friend Lindsey Graham, who was annoying him by trying to "visualize" victory. By 7 p.m., Cindy and Graham were ready to "jump out the window," Graham later recalled...

cheers to Rachel for spotting this

OBAMAVISION

I don't post a lot of thoughts here any more do I.

I enjoyed the elections very much. Viewing the whole of the run offs between Hillary and Obama, Romney, McCain etc through the eyes of my Republican buddies must have given me a cock-eyed view of Obamas chances. I spent my whole time telling them it wouldn't make any difference anyway if Obama did win- but I never expected him to actually do it.

I spent as long as I could stay awake election night in Republicanland which was really good fun. I wasn't too nervous of a McCain win. Its obvious to me McCain isn't Bush. The BBC site kept crashing and I don't have a TV so I kept asking them "Are we winning?" and shouting "Down with the Liberals!" until it looked pretty safe for Obama and I could stay awake no more.

So I had a great day Nov 5th. I had a few people try and spoil it, telling me what I was telling my Repub buddies online for so many months, but I ended the day in a squatted pub with my band improvising around the American National Anthem loud enough to shut them all up.

Obviously we've had Blairs "A New day has dawned has it not" over here, so we probably can't help being a bit cautious but I like hope. Its not even hope for Obama or politics. For me it is hope for the huge amounts of people who have been energised by the process. The "We the people" who are picking up flags for the first time.

It was great to see the first post Obama session of the BBCs Question time just how incensed people are with all our politicians over here. The first person to come with a genuine vision for this country could make a lot of headway very quickly, but I have been saying that since 2003 eh. It was great also to see Dizzie Rascal on Newsnight.





I'd certainly like to see a few more Politicians going rogue eh. Personally I'd like to see McCain involved in some way in the future of America. I think his concession speech was one of the best I have ever seen in US Politics. A real highlight of the whole grimy buisness.

Its been fun. The landscape looks different now. I wish all Amerians best of luck with their country.

UPDATE FROM THE SUN

Mohamed Kamel Mostafa, 27, Hamza Mustafa Kamel, 22, and six other men allegedly targeted Mercedes, BMWs and Range Rovers.

They allegedly used fake documents to dupe dealerships into handing them duplicate keys — then took the cars.

The gang were also said to have used the log books as collateral for loans.

Westminster JPs remanded the brothers in custody

November 07, 2008

HAMZAS SONS

Two sons of hook-handed hate preacher Abu Hamza were last night charged with plotting to steal luxury cars.

Hamza Moustafa Kamel, 22, and Mohammed Kamel Moustafa, 27, will appear in court today with six others.

They also face two charges of conspiring to commit fraud, allegedly related to obtaining duplicate car keys and making false representations to secure a loan.

A fourth charge accuses them of knowingly "facilitating" the acquisition or control of stolen property.

They will appear before City of Westminster magistrates with Mohammed Chiadmi, 30, Abdul Chiadmi, 22, Mosshin Ghailan, 28, Khalid Jebari, 22, Hamza Mrimou, 29, and Ali Amel, 26.

Hamza, 50, was jailed for six years in 2004 for soliciting murder and inciting racial hatred. He faces extradition to the US for allegedly setting up an al-Qaeda training camp.

November 03, 2008

HAD ENOUGH HOT AIR YET

BREEZING IT?

More than a righteous wind by Rachel here. I am not so sure myself but how can the bookies be wrong?

...the bookies have Obama to win solidly, and it is them, not the polls that I trust. Unlike the pollsters, they go bust if they get it wrong. They have got it right for the last 8 elections.

I will be up all night tomorrow, watching and waiting. Hoping that the clean breeze I felt blowing two years ago out of Springfield gathers force and power until it is more than a righteous wind, but a mighty gale sailing this man, and the millions of ordinary men and women whom he has inspired to hope for change, to a safer shore, where the hard, slow work of rebuilding the dream of America can begin...

I've been very much enjoying these elections. I don't really see how either candidate can make a lot of difference. Both have made some pledges to do the right thing. Lets see. I don't believe in politics in the slightest but I can't help liking both these guys. I have a lot of hope. Maybe that is just me.

November 02, 2008

THE MAGICIANS OF THE PHARAOH

OK. Taking it from the top, Anjum Choudhary called me yesterday. He took me by surprise as I don't know him and I was recovering from a pretty good Halloween, but if he hadn't have called I might have been tempted to go to some huge multi rig squat party last night and I'd have missed his event today, or worse still turned up with no sleep in fancy dress on some mad mission so all is well that ends well as they say. I turned up without shoes in Finsbury one friday but luckily a friend pulled me away. I am off too much head battering at the moment. I am sure they would say Allah is decreeing all of this. What did I hear tonight which I didn't hear in two years on the street outside Finsbury? Some stuff about going to the toilet and a story about a bull. Oh and there is a new government policy directed at their main man, Mr Bakri. More of all that in a bit.

I turned up at 2pm stopping off at my favourite place on Brick lane to pick up a singara. There were a lot of people, male and female waiting outside for the place to open. I recognised a coupla people from Mr Waleeds talk the other day. I was looking for familiar faces from Finsbury as there are a few people I am worried about and I'd like to make sure are OK. Its been a long time.

Like in Finsbury I stood back, and stood out racially, culturally and fashionably, not that I was fashionable. Although dressing a bit smarter would probably help me in a lot of situations, and people often tell me to do so I find it a lot easier doing these things being myself from the start. It saves confusion. I don't see any point pretending to be all paly with people or thinking that anyone would view me with anything but suspicion knowing that I am a journalist -of sorts.

Once the seating had been arranged I sat down and read my book. I've borrowed Last Night a DJ Saved My Life from Paula so I read about the early history of hip hop whilst projectors were set up, microphone feed back got sorted etc. I've heard a lot of Muslims joke about how they always turn up late for things, this meeting scheduled for two finally got underway at three o'clock.

I'm not very good at numbers, there were maybe 300? Muslims of which maybe two or three were white faces and a couple of journalists who sood out almost as much as me. I introduced myself to Mr Choudary who sat on the stage in the middle. He started the event talking about Muslim prisoners and a desire to see the black flag of Islam over Downing street. He said that Richard Watson from Newsnight was there, and said that he and the BBC were working for the government and would probably hand their tapes to the Police afterwards. He was quite happy for them to do this, and wanted the Police to be sure of what was going on at his meetings. From first impressions he seems the calmest and most serious Muslim leader I have met so far. He introduced Abu Muaz, Head of the UK Salafi Youth Movement.

Mr Muaz straight away spoke about Muslims living without the Sharriah for 84 years. He said Muslims had forgotten the law and their obligations according to the Koran. He said they had fallen for the western concepts of "I think" and "I believe" and that this was a disease amongst Muslims today. He said that Muslims were calling for communism, socialism and secularism and that a lot of them didn't even know that Islam was itself a social and economic system.

He spoke of a blind Sheik locked up in 1996 who couldn't even speak English. He spoke about Aafia Siddiqui, who had been abducted from Pakistan, raped and tortured in Bagram air base and that a kidney of hers had been removed. He spoke of Abu Qatada, held without charge for years. Now he had been relesed he was tagged and under house arrest for 23 hours a day. He spoke about a Muslim in Leicester who had been pepper sprayed for parking on a double yellow line.

He said that he had to go around with a pocket full of belts to give to kids to stop their trousers falling down. He had spent some time at a big Islamic conference called GPU where 30 or 40 thousand Muslims had gathered. He detailed how he had challenged them. They agreed that a lot of what they were doing was haram but said it was all worth it to get so many Muslims in one place. He said they were confused. They thought they needed to read the Koran for forty years before they understood it and only intended to set about implementing it after that. They read books but they don't struggle. What would Mohammed do if he was alive today?

People practice Islam inside the mosque but outside they are secular. In Saudi Sheiks pass fatwahs which decree that the Saudi army are the mujahadeen, yet their job is to kill Muslims who want to live under Sharriah law. Sheiks in this country decree that it is OK for Muslims to join the army and the Police who suppress Islam. Mohammed said that if you join them, you are them.

He said that he had confronted one of the main organisers of the GPU conference. He had asked him whether Muslims should uphold the law of the Sharriah or the law of the Queen. The guy had said this was a "fikdi(?") question- one he was not qualified to answer. He spoke of a Saudi Sheik (Bin Baz I think) who had decreed that it was OK for 500 thousand US troops to be in Saudi, but in the next breath had said that it was wrong for someone to have a christian maid.

The West pushes freedom but doesn't allow people to defend the freedom of others. The west champions freedom of speech, yet Muslims are jailed for words whilst paedophiles go free. He accused the media of being the "Magicians of the Pharaoh" who would always portray Islam in a negative light, using terms like Terrorist, Fundamentalist and Extremist to describe those who wanted to live under the Shariah.

"What do you expect from a dog? Even if you put the skin of a lion on a dog it is still a dog."

He said that they always invited the media, but they always twist and spin what is said because they are a mouthpiece for the government. The government were now passing instructions to schools to spy on Muslim kids, The NASUWT had approved this and were now informing the Police if a kid drew a picture of a Christmas Cracker.

Mr Choudhary then spoke some more about the labelling of those who belived in Islam as "Exremists" "Radicals" and "Fundamentalists". He said that Newsnight had connected every terrorist plot in this country to Omar Bakri. He said they were blamed for everything for just being Muslims, but all these labels would mean nothing on the day of judgement. He encouraged people to smile in the face of those who would attack them. He spoke of a new government policy, introduced by Jaqui Smith to "Name and shame" extremists and said that the first person on the list was Omar Bakri.

We watched a video detailing the fate of Muslim prisoners in Guantanamo, particularly the youngest prisoner who you have probably seen on the news crying for his mother. His mother said Muslims could help by sending money and by turning up at his court case. The video was paused to introduce Omar Bakri live from Lebanon. This didn't quite work out over the net, so Mr Choudhary phoned him from the stage and put the phone to the microphone.

Mr Bakri spoke against man made law and repression disguised as socialism and caplitalism. He said that people should go back to the Koran and the Sunna which contained the only solutions. He said that Muslims shouldn't obey man made laws and that if anyone ordered them to they should tell them they are a Muslim "Loud and Proud". They should walk, talk, sleep and eat like Muslims. He said that "They" want to silence you and branded the new law of inctement "crazy". He reassured people that names weren't important. Only Mohammed was important. Whatever disbelievers said about them they shouldn't worry.

Mr Choudhary said that they should never stop calling for Shariah law, then he introduced Abu Yahya, Spokesman for the Followers of Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jama'aah who would give a talk about "Defending the Honour of the Muslims".

He was maybe the youngest person on the stage. Mr Yahya said someone had challenged a Muslim (In the Koran? I'm not sure) asking if Mohammed had decreed how to go to the toilet. The guy had countered that Mohammed had told them to wash with their left hand, some wierd shit I couldn't understand about stones (piles? clangnuts? fuck knows) and not to face "kiblah" when taking a dump. That probably shut the guy up. I think he said something about the fossilised remains of kaffirs having shit on their right hands. I'm not too sure.

He critisized Muslims for going to the UN. Mohammed had told them that if they went to the kaffirs with begging bowls in their hands "The fire would touch them". He also critisized Muslims for having selfish western attitudes which led them to look after themselves and their families and not worry about Muslims abroad. He told a parable to illustrate this.

If I have got this right, there were three black bulls and a white bull and a wolf who wanted to eat them. Whilst they stuck together they could see off the wolf. The wolf came to the back bulls and told them that if they stood without the white one at night he couldn't see them. The white bull gave them away. He said that this was the US policy toward Pakistan. The black bulls had a discussion like a lot of western Muslims did about Hamza and Bakri. They were a problem. They ditched the white bull.

The next night the wolf attacked the lone white bull who cried "Where are my brothers?". He equated this with the situation in Palestine. Over the next nights he took his chances with the black bulls and picked them off one by one. Mr Yahya equated this with Afghanistan and Iraq. He said that as the last bull died he realised that he had actually died the day he let his white brother down.

Muslims everywhere say "What has Bakri, Hamza and Quatada got to do with me?". Mohammed told them to stand with the Muslim whether he is an oppressor or oppressed. He spoke of the disease of nationalism amongst Pakistanis and Arabs. No one could call themselves a true Muslim unless they wanted for their brother what they wanted for themselves. Taking Shahada (becoming a Muslim) was totally a political thing. It couldn't be seperated from politics like some Muslims say. Musilms would be tested. He berated Muslims for doing nothing about 17 sisters in British jails.

He spoke of an 18 year old Muslim girl who had been taken from a camel train in a raid and presented as a gift to the King of Grenada who raped her. Some Islamic ruler upon hearing this swore that he wouldn't sleep with his wife whilst this girl remained a prisoner and conquered the whole shit, town by town until he rescued her.

He said that talk of the Taliban not educating women was propaganda. He said that the prophet had told them to take half their deen from his wife Aysha. The Taliban had only closed schools when there was a civil war. People laughed when they said Islams black flag would one day be over Downing street. People laughed at the prophet when he said they would one day conquer Persia too.

Mr Choudhary closed this first half of the meeting by stating his belief that a Covenant of Security existed for them in this country as their life and wealth was protected by our laws, but that they should never stop exposing man made law, and never stop calling for the Shariah which was inevitable. Just before the break Mr Choudhary said that all kaffirs were liars. Even if they spoke truth sometimes they were just kaffir liars who spoke the truth.

I couldn't stay for the second half. I left thinking that if everyone at Finsbury thought this lot were in league with MI-5 they were probably wrong. Its certainly an interesting theory which is no doubt popular with conspiracy heads. Maybe I will get round to asking them, to see what they say. Muslims in the press used to say that Hamza was giving Islam such a bad name that he was probably working for MI-5 himself. I also left wondering what I could do with these guys on film which hasn't already been covered. Maybe I could report what they say without "twisting or spinning" or becoming a "Magician of the Pharaoh". Maybe I could be a "Kaffir liar who spoke the truth." Some ambition eh.

Report what people say?

What- Journalism? Here? ha ha ha ho ho. Seriously?

Naaah.

Boring.

No one would be interested in that.


Islam4UKs own video footage of the event is here


Richard Watson presented some of his work on "The Rise of the British Jihad" and chaired a discussion at the Frontline club a few days ago which you can find online here.

UPDATE:

Islamic radicals make mockery of hate laws in The Evening Standard

Why Hasn’t Anjum Choudhry Been Arrested from Harry's Place

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PERUVIAN SHAMEN FOR OBAMA



via Dan Covan