You can imagine how shocked I was when, as a human-rights decision maker, (1) I first learned of the existence of a transnational cabal which was eroding human rights around the globe. I was relying on human-rights reports from countries ruled by a cabal?
And how further shocked I was when I learned that this same cabal had a plan for world domination that was in play since the mid-1970s. (2) In other words, the combined force of government, military and – it became clear – religion were bent on enslaving the survivors of a nuclear Third World War while the cabal that started it waited out the nuclear winter underground or off-planet.
So, believe me, I know that human-rights abuses happen everywhere on this planet, not just in one corner of the world and not just with one group.
That having been said, we often forget that the protection of basic freedoms comes at the price of restricting the behavior of those who violate them. In our case today, the price of our freedom has been the restriction of the behavior of the cabal.
Many people of a more refined nature shy away from the thought that some people’s behavior may need to be curtailed if the freedom of those who don’t commit crimes and abuses is to be protected. They don’t like to think of restricting the behavior of anyone.
I appreciate their sentiments, but now we have a situation in which the fate of women is at issue at the hands of men who don’t care what harm they do. What has come to be called Taharrush must be stopped. The human rights of women demand the curtailment of the attacks of the proponents of Taharrush.
httpss://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8IiLGyzMQI
What is Taharrush? “Taharrush gamea” means “collective harassment.” It follows an influx of refugees from the Middle East to Europe. Gangs of recent migrants are assaulting, groping, stripping, and raping young women. Says one blog:
“The ‘rape game’ Taharrush is about a large group of Arab men surrounding their victim, usually a Western woman or a woman wearing Western-style clothing, and then the women are subjected to sexual abuse.
“They surround the victim in circles. The men in the inner circle are the ones who physically abuse the woman, the next circle are the spectators, while the mission of the third circle is to distract and divert attention from what’s going on.” (3)
It has never, ever been accepted in the human-rights field, that a person’s culture or religion can be used to excuse or cover up human-rights abuses. Nothing excuses stoning, genital mutilation, or honor killings. Allah would never order it nor would Mohammed. Neither Allah nor Mohammed would condone Taharrush. And neither should we, even by our indifferent refusal to “get involved.”
Nothing – not sympathy for the plight of refugees, not fear of being judged Islamophobic, not fear that some immature and irresponsible Muslims will harm us for opposing them, not confusion as to how we should respond – can free us from needing to set our faces against this kind of behavior and supporting the enforcement of laws against it.
I do set my face against this kind of behavior and I ask you to join me. I have absolute certainty that responsible and mature Muslims do not accept these actions. And I am not Islamophobic.
If anything, every September 11, I’ve asked people to apologize to Muslims for falsely accusing them of having brought down the World Trade Center when it was the American government and its allies who did so. (4) I’ve always been a voice for unity among the religions of the world and especially between other religions and Islam. (5)
Wherever the gangs of young men hale from, their behavior must be stopped.
That includes devising new laws to deal with new situations. Never before have gangs roamed cities in Europe doing this kind of thing.
httpss://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ezQsorZocY
Are these folks to be deported? In refugee law, one does not repatriate a refugee to the country where he or she stands a chance of being tortured, imprisoned or in other ways abused.
I don’t think repatriation is the answer. I cannot think of a country that would want to receive people who menace women. The answer may involve some form of incarceration. The safety of women demands it.
This now makes the campaign of some folks in Australia to legalize rape make a little more sense. That campaign as well simply shows the brutishness of some people. It has no chance of succeeding in the energies that now prevail.
But Taharrush is applied brutality – not just talk, but behavior. It’s happening now and must be contained and defeated.
How Europe will face and overcome this assault on their womenfolk is not yet known. But that that mountain needs to be climbed is indisputable. Whether it requires the interim organization of citizens’ watch committees, escort services for women, or something else, the work needs to be done and it needs to be done right away.
I look upon this situation as the greatest test that democracy and human rights have faced in recent times, short of war and genocide. But just because the challenge is great does not mean we can afford not to take it up.
We must take it up. Taharrush must be stopped and it must be stopped now.
Footnotes
(1) Refugee adjudicator with the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada.
(2) Watch Dr. Carol Rosin describe it for the Disclosure Project:
httpss://youtu.be/7ALLUuvsVkM
(3) “German police: It’s an Arab rape game called Taharrush, and now it has come to Europe,” SPEISA, at https://speisa.com/modules/articles/index.php/item.2374/german-police-it-s-an-arab-rape-game-called-taharrush-and-now-it-has-come-to-europe.html.
(4)
- Apology to World Islam
- To Muslims of America, I Apologize
- This 9/11, It’s Time to Apologize to Muslims
- This 9/11, Vindicate the American Muslim Community
- Another 9/11 Comes and Goes. When Will We Apologize to the Islamic World?
- The Situation of Muslims in Western Countries
- “Ground Zero Mosque” and 9/11
(5)
- Religious Reunification
- The Golden Rule in All Religions
- The Perennial Philosophy
- Christianity and Hinduism are One
- An Integrated, Direct and Unitive Spirituality – Part 1/7
- An Integrated, Direct and Unitive Spirituality – Part 2/7
- An Integrated, Direct and Unitive Spirituality – Part 3/7
- An Integrated, Direct and Unitive Spirituality – Part 4/7
- An Integrated, Direct and Unitive Spirituality – Part 5/7
- An Integrated, Direct and Unitive Spirituality – Part 6/7
- An Integrated, Direct and Unitive Spirituality – Part 7/7