Diamanda Morissey/Michael Galas/Chechnyan Bardot

[fascistprincess]

Well, I have been waiting a long time for this. About 10 years. I am going to see Diamanda Galas. I really do want to talk with her. We also got tickets to go see Morrisey. I have also never seen him and am excited for that. What will I wear? I have to look quite good for both, yes? I am going to be interviewing Mortis for a magazine. For any

Comments

[fascistprincess]

I think that even if there were no Arabs involved it is still very relevant to the Arab world seeing that we have already witnessed how the Chechnyan fighters have been labeled as terrorists in American media. I do not really use the word terrorist as my own label because of its recent ambiguity, so I am not saying they are this, or are not. I am just saying that there is this melting pot of who is a "terrorist," and Chechnyan fighters have been included in this very diverse group, as well as any Arab fighting for anything regardless of how different the idealogy may be. Yes, it is tragic. And to be honest with you many of us have no idea what exactly has been happening in Chechnya for the past decade because Russia declared the war over at one point; that is, until reporters went down there and filmed the massive amount of Russia's army, tanks in the cities, planes, you name it still fighting. We barely had any coverage leaking to any of us. And we still do not hear anything on mainstream media of what is happening inside Chechnya. Of course, were I to go there I would be afraid to come back to the United States because it is labeled as "Al-Qaeda" training ground. It is a very central focus for many Islamic charities because Chechnya is really just a battleground and little relief has come their way. Many of the Islamic charities cannot help because of the stopping of all money going there because it is labeled as funding "terror." But, yes, there are many Arabs very concerned with the issue to the point of going there and fighting. I do understand your comment, though, and I think it is just another reason that it should be a concern in Arab news. I do not have Al-Jazeera on my TV so I cannot back her statement. It does seem wierd to me that they would not discuss it; the fact there are Arab fighters show that is an Arab issue, you are right.

[lilchiva]

My friend Sol is of the opinion this is happening more and more with Al-Jazeera because they are under increasing pressure to seem less radical. In short they are being co-opted by more commercial interests. He is way more hep to all that than I as he is quite active here in the Arab and Islamic communities (obviously there is a large amount of overlap).
At least online this is not the case.
http://www.aljazeera.com/
http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/web_search/search_results.asp
http://www.aj-review.com/middle_east_full_story.asp?service_ID=3229
http://www.aj-review.com/middle_east_full_story.asp?service_ID=3384