MAZITO YA ANDREW CHENGE YAIBUKA SECRETARIATI YA MAADILI YA VIONGOZI WA UMMA

Mazito ya Chenge yaibuka

      

Na Ibrahim Yamola, Mwananchi
Alhamisi,Februari 26,  2015  saa 9:13 AM

KWA UFUPI

Mbunge huyo wa Bariadi Magharibi aliibua mvutano wa kisheria akipinga kujadiliwa.

Dar es Salaam. Mbunge wa Bariadi Magharibi (CCM), Andrew Chenge ameibuliwa tuhuma nzito kwenye Baraza la Sekretarieti ya Maadili ya Viongozi wa Umma baada ya kudaiwa kuwa aliishawishi kampuni ya Independent Power Solution Limited (IPTL) kuingia mkataba na Tanesco na baadaye kuwa mshauri wa kampuni hiyo binafsi iliyomuingizia Sh1.6 bilioni zinazohusishwa na sakata la Akaunti ya Tegeta Escrow.

Hata hivyo, Chenge, ambaye ni mhitimu wa Shahada ya Umahiri wa Sheria kwenye Chuo Kikuu cha Harvard cha Marekani, aliwasilisha amri ya zuio ya Mahakama Kuu inayokataza chombo chochote cha Serikali kujadili sakata la escrow hadi hapo shauri lililopo mahakamani litakapotolewa uamuzi, jambo lililozua mjadala wa kisheria na kusababisha mwenyekiti wa Baraza la Sekretarieti ya Maadili, Jaji Hamisi Msumi, kuahirisha hadi leo.

Chenge ni mmoja wa watu kadhaa wanaotarajiwa kuhojiwa na kamati hiyo kutokana na kuhusishwa na kashfa ya uchotwaji wa zaidi ya Sh306 bilioni kutoka kwenye Akaunti ya Tegeta Escrow iliyofunguliwa Benki Kuu kwa makubaliano kati ya Tanesco (shirika la umeme la umma) na IPTL baada ya pande hizo mbili kutofautiana kuhusu tozo za malipo ya umeme unaozalishwa na kampuni hiyo binafsi.

Mwingine ni mbunge wa Muleba Kusini (CCM), Anna Tibaijuka, aliyekuwa Waziri wa Ardhi, Nyumba na Maendeleo ya Makazi na ambaye pia aliingiziwa kwenye akaunti yake Sh1.6 bilioni zinazohusishwa na akaunti hiyo ya escrow.

Wote wawili waliingiziwa fedha hizo na James Rugemarila, mkurugenzi wa VIP Engineering iliyokuwa ikimiliki asilimia 30 ya hisa za kampuni ya IPTL.

Tuhuma dhidi ya Chenge

Tangu sakata la escrow lianze, haikuwahi kuelezwa kuhusika kwa Chenge kwenye sakata hilo.

Lakini jana, akisoma hati ya malalamiko dhidi ya mbunge huyo wa Bariadi, mwanasheria wa Sekretarieti ya Maadili, Hassan Mayunga alisema mlalamikiwa, akiwa Mwanasheria Mkuu wa Serikali (AG) mwaka 1995, aliishauri Serikali kuingia mkataba wa miaka 20 na IPTL wa kuongeza uzalishaji wa umme.

“Mlalamikiwa baada ya kustaafu wadhifa wa AG, Desemba 24 mwaka 2005, mwaka 2006 aliingia mkataba wa kuwa mshauri mwelekezi wa kampuni ya VIP Engineering and Marketing Limited iliyokuwa inamiliki asilimia 30 ya hisa za IPTL,” alisema Mayunga akikariri hati hiyo ya malalamiko.

“Kitendo cha mlalamikiwa kuingia mkataba na VIP Engineering and Marketing Limited iliyokuwa na asilimia 30 ya hisa kwenye kampuni ya IPTL ni ukiukwaji wa fungu la 6 (j) la Sheria ya Maadili ya Viongozi wa Umma ambalo linamzuia kiongozi wa umma kujinufaisha na utumishi wake uliopita kwa kutumia taarifa alizozipata alipokuwa anatekeleza majukumu yake kwa manufaa binafsi.

“Kitendo cha mlalamikiwa kuendelea kuwa mshauri mwelekezi wa kampuni ya VIP Engineering and Marketing Limited akiwa na wadhifa wa ubunge ni ukiukwaji wa fungu la 6(e) la Sheria ya Maadili ya Viongozi wa Umma ambalo linamzuia kiongozi wa umma kujiingiza katika mgongano wa maslahi.”

Mwanasheria huyo aliendelea kusema kuwa mkataba ambao mlalamikiwa aliingia na kampuni ya VIP Engineering and Marketing Limited ulimpatia manufaa ya kifedha ya Sh1.617 bilioni kinyume na fungu la 12(1)(e) la Sheria ya maadili ya viongozi wa umma. Aliongeza kuwa mlalamikiwa hakutamka maslahi aliyokuwa nayo katika mkataba wa Tanesco na IPTL kinyume na fungu 14 la sheria ya Maadili.

Aliongeza kuwa mlalamikiwa hakutamka madeni yake aliyokuwa anaidai kampuni ya VIP Engineering and Marketing Limited kwa Kamishna wa Maadili kinyume na matakwa ya fungu la 9(6)(b) la sheria hiyo.

“Malalamiko dhidi ya Chenge yanawasilishwa mbele ya Baraza la maadili lenye mamlaka ya kisheria ya kufanya uchunguzi wa kina na kumtaka mlalamikiwa kutoa maelezo bayana kuhusu mwenendo wake kabla ya hatua nyingine kuchukuliwa kwa mujibu wa sheria,” aliongeza.

Baada ya kusoma tuhuma hizo, Chenge alitoa amri hiyo ya zuio la Mahakama Kuu ambayo pia iliwasilishwa kwenye Bunge la Jamhuri ya Muungano kulizuia kujadili ripoti ya Kamati ya Bunge ya Hesabu za Serikali (PAC) kuhusu sakata hilo la escrow, lakini ikagonga mwamba baada ya wabunge na spika kulinda muhimili wao.

“Kwa kuwa amri hii ya mahakama nilikuwa sijaipata na ninyi (wanasheria wa sekretarieti) mlikuwa mmeipata mapema ngoja nikaisome na wenzangu,” alisema Jaji Msumi ambaye alikuwa akisaidiana na wajumbe wawili, Selina Wambura na Hilda Gondwe.

“Kama kweli mahakama imezuia vyombo vyote, suala hapa ni kuangalia amri hiyo. Tupeni muda tukaangalie na kesho (leo) tutatoa uamuzi kama tutaendelea au la.”

Mvutano ulivyokuwa

Kabla ya kuahirisha shauri hilo ulizuka mvutano mkubwa wa kisheria kuhusu amri hiyo ya zuio la mahakama.

“Suala hili ninavyofahamu mimi liko mbele ya Mahakama Kuu, hivyo tusubiri uamuzi wa mahakama kwani amri ya mahakama ilizuia vyombo vyote vya Serikali na hiki (Baraza la Maadili) ni chombo cha serikali. Mwenyekiti, mimi nataka kupata mwongozo wa suala hili, tukiendelea bila kupata mwongozo na mimi kama mwanasheria litanisumbua sana,” alisema Chenge ambaye alikuwa Mwanasheria wa Serikali kati ya mwaka 1972 na 1973.

Lakini Mayunga alisimama na kusema: “Mheshimiwa mwenyekiti, hii amri ya mahakama ambayo mlalamikaji (Chenge) ameitoa hapa, si Sekretarieti ya Maadili ya Viongozi wa Umma inayohusika kama mlalamikiwa alivyotaja.

“Tuhuma ambazo zimeletwa hapa ni tuhuma za uvunjifu wa maadili ya viongozi wa umma na wala siyo suala lililoonyeshwa katika hii amri... ni tofauti kabisa.”

Mayunga, katika kujenga hoja, alisoma Katiba ya Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania ya mwaka 1977 Ibara 132 (1) ya inayosema kuwa “kutakuwa na Sekretarieti ya Maadili ya Viongozi wa Umma ambayo itakuwa na mamlaka ya kuchunguza tabia na mwenendo wa kiongozi wa umma yeyote kwa madhumuni ya kuhakikisha kwamba masharti ya Sheria ya Maadili ya Viongozi wa Umma yanazingatiwa ipasavyo”.

Pia alisoma fungu la 18 (2) (c) la sheria hiyo linaloipa Sekretarieti ya Maadili mamlaka ya kuchunguza tuhuma yoyote ya kuvunjwa kwa Sheria ya Maadili ya Viongozi wa Umma na viongozi wote wa umma, wanaopaswa kuwajibika chini ya sheria hiyo.

Kutokana na sheria hii, Sekretarieti haizuiwi kuendelea na shauri hili. Madai dhidi ya mlalamikiwa ni ya jinai na rushwa. Hapa tunajikita katika maadili wala sisi hatuzungumzii escrow, hapa ni maadili kuwa amepokea fedha kutoka VIP Engineering,” alisema Mayunga

Jaji Msumi alisema hati hiyo aliipitia haraka haraka na akahoji kama ina amri inayozuia suala hilo kujadiliwa.

Chenge alijibu, “mheshimiwa mwenyekiti, hoja ambayo nimeileta mbele yako ni zuio la mahakama. Kueleza kwamba chombo hiki kiko juu ya mahakama bila...”

Kabla ya kumalizia sentensi hiyo alisimama mwanasheria wa Sekretarieti hiyo, Filotheus Manula na kusema: “Kauli anayoisema mlalamikakiwa kuwa chombo hiki kiko juu ya mahakama siyo sahihi. awali Mayunga alishaelezea. Katiba na Sheria ya Maadili na iko wazi.”

Lakini Chenge akasema: “Ni vizuri vijana wakajifunza... amri hii ya mahakama siyo maoni yangu, hivyo ni vyema ikaheshimika. Itanisumbua mimi, mamlaka ya chombo hiki isitishwe siyo kwamba haina mamlaka, mnaweza kuendelea sawa, lakini hili ni ombi langu.

“Utawala wa sheria ni bora ukaheshimiwa na masuala ya siasa tuache tukapige siasa majukwaani.”

Mayunga alisimama na kusema: “Mheshimiwa mwenyekiti ukiruhusu hiki anachokisema au uhalisia wa kuzuia kinachoendelea, siyo sahihi.”

Chenge alijibu, “mheshimiwa mwenyekiti amri ya mahakama ni (inahusu) taarifa ya ukaguzi wa miamala ya akaunti ya Tegeta Escrow ya (Mdhibiti na Mkaguzi Mkuu wa Hesabu za Serikali) CAG, na malalamiko yanayoletwa dhidi yangu ndiyo ambayo yamezuiwa... mimi ninachoomba ni ufafanuzi au mwongozo kwa hili.”

Lakini Manula alipinga akisema: “Penal Code (Sheria ya Kanuni ya Adhabu) haitumiki hapa. Mlalamikiwa ndiye aliyekuwa AG, alisimamia kuitunga... madai, jinai na rushwa, lakini hapa tunajadili maadili na siyo escrow.”

Chenge, aliyekuwa amesimama wakati wote, aliendelea na msimamo wake wa kuomba mwongozo, hali iliyomfanya mwanasheria mwingine wa sekretarieti hiyo, Getiruda Cyriacus kusimama na kunukuu fungu la 18 (4) la sheria hiyo linalosema sekretarieti itakuwa na mamlaka ya kuanzisha na kufanya uchunguzi wowote kuhusu ukiukwaji wa maadili yaliyotajwa katika sheria hiyo.

Vituko vya Chenge

Chenge aliingia kwenye viwanja vya Ukumbi wa Karimjee saa 3:02 asubuhi akiwa katika gari aina ya Toyota Land Cruizer akiongea na simu na aliposhuka, aliwaambia waandishi wa habari waliokuwa wakimpiga picha akisema: “Nendeni mkauze magazeti na sura ya Chenge.”

Alipotaka kuingia ukumbini, aliambiwa asubiri kwenye viti, lakini aligoma na badala yake alishuka chini na kuanza kuzungumza na simu huku akizungukazunguka takribani dakika 10 kabla ya kutakiwa kuingia ukumbini saa 3:13 asubuhi.

Mara baada ya Jaji Hamis kuahirisha baraza hilo saa 3:55, waandishi walianza tena kumpiga picha na kama kawaida alisema: “Nendeni mkaandike mnavyoona... mnataka na mgongo muupige picha?”

Waandishi kutoka vyombo mbalimbali vya habari walipotaka kufanya naye mahojiano ya suala hilo alijibu, “siwezi kuzungumzia chochote kuhusu yaliyopo katika maadili” na kupanda gari, kisha akaondoka

UKAWA YAIBUKA NA HOJA NANE KURA YA MAONI TANZANIA

Na Fidelis Butahe, Mwananchi 

Alhamisi, Februari 26,  2015  saa 9:1 AM

Kazi  ya uandikishaji wapigakura ambayo ni muhimu katika mchakato wa Kura ya Maoni ya kupitisha au kukataa Katiba Inayopendekezwa, imekuwa na changamoto nyingi kutokana na kutumia teknolojia ya ‘Biometric Voters Registration’ [BVR] ambayo hukusanya taarifa za mpigakura, ikiwa ni pamoja na alama za vidole.

Dar es Salaam. Umoja wa Katiba ya Wananchi (Ukawa) umetaja mambo nane yatakayosababisha Kura ya Maoni isipigwe Aprili 30, 2015  kama ilivyotangazwa na Rais Jakaya Kikwete, licha ya kazi ya kuandikisha wananchi kwenye Daftari la Wapigakura kuendelea mkoani Njombe.

Kazi hiyo ya uandikishaji wapigakura ambayo ni muhimu katika mchakato wa Kura ya Maoni ya kupitisha au kukataa Katiba Inayopendekezwa, imekuwa na changamoto nyingi kutokana na kutumia teknolojia ya ‘Biometric Voters Registration  [BVR] ambayo hukusanya taarifa za mpigakura, ikiwa ni pamoja na alama za vidole.

Ukawa, ambayo inaundwa na vyama vya NCCR-Mageuzi, Chadema, CUF na NLD, pia imetaka fedha ambazo zimetengwa na Serikali kwa ajili ya Kura ya Maoni, kupelekwa kwenye uboreshaji wa Daftari la Wapigakura kwa maelezo kuwa uboreshaji unaondelea mkoani Njombe unakabiliwa na changamoto nyingi na kutaka kura ya Maoni kuahirishwa hadi baada ya Uchaguzi Mkuu wa Oktoba mwaka huu.

Kauli hiyo imekuja siku tatu baada ya Tume ya Taifa ya Uchaguzi (Nec) kuanza kuandikisha wakazi wa mji mdogo wa Makambako, ambapo kwa kasoro hizo wakazi wake wamelazimika kuiomba Nec kuongeza maofisa na vitendea kazi ili kuwezesha shughuli hiyo kukamilika ndani ya muda uliopangwa.

Viongozi wa Ukawa, Freeman Mbowe (Chadema), Profesa Ibrahim Lipumba (CUF), Dk Emmanuel Makaidi (NLD) na Mosena Nyambabe (NCCR-Mageuzi), walitoa kauli hiyo jana wakati wakizungumza na waandishi wa habari jijini Dar es Salaam, wakisisitiza kuwa Serikali inalazimisha mambo isiyoyaweza.

Akitaja sababu hizo, Profesa Lipumba alisema: “Kwanza, Nec haina watumishi wa kufanya kazi ya uandikishaji. Mshauri mwelekezi kutoka Marekani aliishauri tume kuwa inahitaji kuwa na watumishi 10,000 ili kufanikisha uandikishaji nchi nzima na wapewe mafunzo ya kina ya kutumia mashine hizo.”

Alisema watumishi waliopo Makambako ni wachache na wamepewa mafunzo ya siku moja tu, kabla ya kuanza kwa uandikishaji, na wengi wao hawajui kutumia kompyuta wala kamera ambazo ndiyo zinazotumika kuchukua taarifa muhimu.

Alitaja sababu ya pili kuwa ni Nec kukabiliwa na uhaba wa fedha kwa maelezo kuwa ilipewa jukumu la kuboresha Daftari la Wapigakura bila kutengewa fedha za kutosha za kununulia vifaa, kuajiri na kuwapa mafunzo wafanyakazi husika sambamba na kutoa elimu kwa wananchi.

“Tatu, Tume haisemi ukweli juu ya suala zima la uandikishaji. Wamesema watakamilisha kazi Aprili 28 na 30 itafanyika Kura ya Maoni. Nchi ina watu milioni 24 wenye haki ya kupiga kura na haiwezekani wakaandikishwa kwa muda uliobaki,” alisema.

Alisema sababu ya nne ni mashine za BVR kuwa na kasoro nyingi, ikiwamo ya kutotambua alama za vidole gumba vya wananchi ambao wanafanya kazi ngumu, hivyo vidole vyao kuwa na sugu ambao wengi wao ni wakulima, wafugaji na wachimbaji wa madini.

“Sababu ya tano, ni Nec kupuuza ushauri wa mshauri mwelekezi ambaye aliitahadharisha tume hiyo kwamba haiwezekani kutumia mfumo wa BVR kukamilisha kazi kwa wakati kutokana na changamoto zinazoikabili tume hiyo, ikiwamo ya ukosefu wa fedha, uchache wa watumishi, ” alisema.

Akizungumza na Mwananchi mapema wiki hii, mwenyekiti wa Nec, Jaji Damian Lubuva alisema ushauri wa mtaalamu huyo ni wa siku nyingi na kwamba alitaka utumike mfumo wa zamani, lakini tume yake imekataa.

Mchumi huyo, Lipumba alitaja sababu ya sita kuwa ni Nec kutoweza kuandikisha wapigakura wote katika jimbo moja kwa siku saba na kueleza kuwa ni aibu kwa tume hiyo kusema kuwa imeandikisha wapigakura 3,014 katika vituo 55, sawa na wapigakura 54 tu kwa siku kwa kila kituo.

“Sababu ya saba. Ili kuandikisha wananchi milioni 24 wenye haki ya kupiga kura, itahitajika wastani wa siku 55 kila mashine kuandikisha kwenye vituo nchi nzima, tena mashine zisiharibike. Kwa sasa Nec wana mashine 250 tu na nyingine 7,750 hazijulikani zitafika lini,” alisema.

Alitaja sababu ya nane kuwa ni Nec kutotoa taarifa za kutosha kwa wadau wote kuhusu teknolojia ya BVR, kutotoa taarifa ya nchi nzima ya vituo vya kuandikishia wapiga kura vilivyopo kila kata, mpaka sasa hakuna mwananchi anayejua.

Profesa Lipumba alisema kama hali ikiendelea hivyo, Ukawa watafungua kesi mahakamani kutaka kusitishwa kwa kura ya maoni kwa sababu Nec haijatoa elimu kwa wananchi, kukiukwa kwa Sheria ya Kura ya Maoni.

“Taifa litaingia katika mgogoro mkubwa wa kisiasa kama uandikishaji wapigakura hautafanyika kwa ufanisi kabla ya kipindi cha kampeni ya Uchaguzi Mkuu. Tunaitaka Nec ikae na wadau wa Tehama ili kueleza matatizo ya BVR na jinsi ya kutoka hapa tulipo,” alisema.

Akizungumzia kuhusu muda mfupi kabla ya tarehe ya Kura ya Maoni mapema wiki hii, Jaji Lubuva alisema wanachoangalia sasa ni kazi ya uandikishaji wapigakura na kwamba kama itashindikana, wataeleza.

Tayari mchakato huo umekumbwa na utata kutokana na wadau kusema kuwa Sheria ya Kura ya Maoni imekiukwa baada ya Rais Kikwete kutangaza tarehe ya kupiga kura. Wanaeleza kuwa Sheria hiyo inaipa Nec mamlaka ya kutangaza siku ya kupiga kura, wakati Rais anatakiwa atangaze kipindi cha Kura ya Maoni.

Mbowe

Akizungumza mashine hizo Mbowe alisema kwa taarifa walizonazo, Makambako kuna mashine 82 na siyo 250 kama Nec inavyodai na kwamba zilizobaki zinatumika kufundishia watumishi wa tume hiyo watakaotumiwa kwenye mikoa mingine.”

“Tuna taarifa pia kuwa hawa jamaa wanashinikiza Kura ya Maoni ipigwe Aprili 30, 2015 na Katiba ianze kutumika kabla ya Uchaguzi Mkuu, tayari wameanza kubadili baadhi ya sheria.”

Mbowe alisema Rais Kikwete asilazimishe kupatikana kwa Katiba mpya ili aondoke katika utawala wake akiiacha nchi ikiwa na amani kama ilivyo sasa.

Kwa upande wake Dk Makaidi alisema tatizo ni Rais Kikwete kutaka Katiba Mpya ipatikane kabla hajaondoka madarakani ilia ache sifa kwa watanzania, jambo ambalo alisema litasababisha machafuko nchini.

ELECTRICITY CUSTOMERS INCREASE BY THOSANDS IN 2015 IN TANZANIA

250,000 new customers in Tanesco action plan

Published on Monday, 23 February 2015 07:26

Written by ROSE ATHUMANI

TANESCO Managing Director, Mr Felchesmi Mramba.

THE Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO) plans to connect 250,000 new customers with electricity this year, promising better and improved services to the public.

In an exclusive with the ‘Daily News’, the utility firm’s Managing Director, Mr Felchesmi Mramba, has told the ‘Daily News’ that its customer base has been increasing from 700,000 in 2011 to 1.4 million in 2014.

He attributed the increase to better and improved services and Strategies that has been put in place by the Ministry of Energy and Minerals and the state-run utility company.

He added that the increase was also due to reduction of connectivity charges and more efforts in the Rural Energy Agency (REA), which has seen more connected to electricity in rural areas.

Mr Mramba promised the public of more improved services from a number of restructuring exercises going on within the utility firm, which will be reflected in the services that will be provided.

He said this year will bring remarkable changes as a number of big natural gas pipeline projects in Kinyerezi come to completion, stressing that electricity woes will be a thing of the past for the public and the country’s economy will grow at a faster rate.

The Kinyerezi projects include Kinyerezi I; a 150MW plant project, which is a dual fuel and gas plant. This means that if it is completed before natural gas starts flowing, the government might start by using fuel.

The Kinyerezi II, a 240MW combined cycle project, Kinyerezi 3, which is a joint project with China’s Shanghai Electricity Power Company, which will have 60 per cent, while TANESCO will have 40 per cent of the share.

There is also Kinyerezi IV, another joint venture with a Chinese company that will enable generation of 330MW, while other projects are in Mtwara, which include a 400-600MW project, a joint venture with a US company, Symbion.

Meanwhile the firm is holding talks with development partners to release over 150 US million dollars that were withheld pending the Escrow Tegeta scandal.

“I cannot say when they will release the funds; but we are in talks with the development partners and are hopeful that they will release the funds, which will go a long way towards solving challenges that TANESCO is facing,” Mr Mramba explained.

Copyright © 2015 DailyNews Online Edition. All Rights Reserved. Designed by Richard Kazimoto

SOME OF THE MOST FAMOUS QUOTES OF MALCOLM X SPEECHES

Posted  here on  23/2/2015 

1.Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.

 

2. Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it.
 
3.There is no better than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to     improve your performance the next time.
 
4. A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything.
 
5. I'm for truth, no matter who tells it. I'm for justice, no matter who it's for or against.
 
6. If you're not ready to die for it, put the word 'freedom' out of your vocabulary.
 
7. If you have no critics you'll likely have no success.
 
8. In all our deeds, the proper value and respect for time determines success or failure.

9. The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses. 

10. You're not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who says it.

MALCOLM X's PUBLIC SPEAKING POWER

Revisited on his 50th Assassination Anniversary Year 21/2/2015.

Malcolm X's Public Speaking Power 

By.  Gwen  Thompkins

February 21, 2015 8:04 PM ET

Malcolm X addresses a rally in Harlem in New York City on June 29, 1963.

AP

From what people remember, he fell like a tree. Malcolm X — all 6 feet, 4 inches of him — had taken a shotgun blast to the chest and a grouping of smaller-caliber bullets to the torso while onstage at the Audubon Ballroom in Washington Heights on Feb. 21, 1965. After a ghastly moment of stasis, he careened backward. His head hit the floor with a crack.

A detail that witnesses often omit, in part because it seems more of an afterthought given the circumstances, is that Malcolm X never got to say what he'd gone to the Audubon Ballroom to say.

He'd arrived, by all accounts, grumpy — critical, irritable, hectoring. The week before, his Long Island home had been firebombed. The Nation of Islam, which owned the house, promptly evicted him from the cinders and, way down in the winter of 1965, his family was homeless. What's more, Malcolm X, like the mythical Cassandra, sensed that death was near. He believed that his former brothers in the Nation were plotting to kill him. In the meantime, Malcolm X's nascent organizations, called Muslim Mosque Incorporated and the Organization of Afro-American Unity, were too young to survive without him. And to add a rancid cherry to this rotten parfait, his guest speaker at the Audubon Ballroom had canceled.

The best part of Malcolm X's day was probably going to be that speech. He was one of the all-time great public speakers. And while Malcolm X may have had a natural leaning toward dramatic interpretation, for him public speaking was a learned skill. At the age of 21, he was a middle school dropout and prison inmate who, "didn't know a verb from a house." Three months shy of his 40th birthday, he was an international media presence, a voracious reader, tough debater (Howitzer-like) and a leading proponent of black nationalism.

One of the many compelling features of The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley is that he doesn't make public speaking look easy. That's because public speaking isn't easy. And after nearly 50 years of debate over Malcolm X's political views, religious convictions, racial attitudes, gender biases and historical accuracy, this seems a good time to praise his autobiography for its tutorial on oratory.

With a mix of self-deprecating humor, straight talk and withering criticism of, well, everyone — Malcolm X conveys that public speech should not be attempted until the speaker has something to say. It's a fundamental truth that many of us forget. Oratory is born of knowledge and as Malcolm X says, "You couldn't have gotten me out of books with a wedge." When books were scarce, he provided his own reportage — speaking authoritatively about how African-Americans and people of color worldwide were faring based on his own travels and observations. The multitude of books on those topics came well after his trips to the Middle East, Africa and Europe.

Malcolm X debates at London's Oxford Union at Oxford University in 1964, defending the proposition that "extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice."

Haley writes that Malcolm X often resisted overstating his professional achievements. But in the autobiography, our hero comes close to boasting about his talent for debate. "I have always loved verbal battle, and challenge," Malcolm X says. The reader can almost imagine him licking his lips. He revels in past skirmishes. But the reader also can count on Malcolm X to admit when he was on the ropes. He says of one opponent, "He got me so mad, I couldn't see straight."

Often, Malcolm X kept a mean-spirited remark in his back pocket, some emergency kryptonite of a personal nature that he could use to crush an opponent in the eyes of the audience. Biographer Manning Marable describes a Malcolm X who wasn't above loud-capping his opponents, insulting them, or undermining their authority based on whom they married, befriended or quoted. Otherwise, his manners were impeccable.

But Malcolm X also enjoyed a fair fight. His 1963 debate with friend James Baldwin is a good example. Based solely on the audio, Baldwin won. But on videotape, Malcolm X's intensity and wit steal the show. As he says in the autobiography, "Anyone who has ever heard me on radio or television programs knows that my technique is non-stop, until what I want to get said is said."

In his 1963 book, The Negro Protest, Kenneth Clark, a psychology professor and public television interviewer, made this criticism of Malcolm X's technique: "One certainly does not get the impression of spontaneity. On the contrary, one has the feeling that Minister Malcolm has anticipated every question and is prepared with the appropriate answer." To Clark's way of thinking, Malcolm X had stumbled into a pitfall of oratory. He was perhaps too studied at times — his responses impassioned, but rote.

The only sure way to exit the ghetto of predictability in public speaking is a seismic change in worldview, which is something that Malcolm X reportedly experienced. A 1964 pilgrimage to Macca seemed to change his fundamental understanding of race relations, religion and the world at large. As a result, opinions that were once fixed, became more nuanced, surprising his closest allies.

Near the end of his autobiography, Malcolm X admonishes his readers to be more flexible, saying, "Children have a lesson adults should learn, to not be ashamed of failing, but to get up and try again. Most of us adults are so afraid, so cautious, so 'safe' and therefore so shrinking and rigid ... that it is why so many humans fail."
Had Malcolm X lived to make his remarks at the Audubon Ballroom, there's no telling what he might have said. Haley writes that he'd decided to talk about the need for black people to stop fighting one another, an idea that fit within his growing allegiance to both black nationalism and Pan-Africanism.

Given the acrimony between Malcolm X and his adversaries, however, the death threats, the fire bombing, the eviction and the irreparable break from the Nation of Islam, a peace-loving speech might have flopped. But the 400 people in the audience (save the assassins) were there because they were curious to hear what Malcolm had to say. That number included his wife and their four little girls, who as daughter Atallah Shabazz later said had started the day excited, "to get dressed and go see Daddy."

Which brings us to the ultimate lesson of public speaking: The speaker is never as important as the audience. It's for the benefit of the audience that the speaker labors to make his or her ideas known. Malcolm X died in midday, in mid-life, and perhaps most importantly, in mid-sentence. His killers robbed the audience of the ideas it had come to hear. Fortunately, the autobiography fills in some of what went missing. The last lines are powerful:

"And if I can die having brought any light, having exposed any meaningful truth that will help to destroy the racist cancer that is malignant in the body of America — then all of the credit is due to Allah. Only the mistakes have been mine."

Gwen Thompkins is host of the program Music Inside Out with Gwen Thompkins on member station WWNO in New Orleans and teaches public speaking at Tulane University in New Orleans.

DR. CAPTAIN RASHED ALGHAFRI MAKES ADVANCES ON DNA RESEARCH

From THE GULF TODAY of  22/2/2015

Scientific breakthrough
The list of Emirati [EMIRATES] scientists with breakthrough inventions has grown longer as one youthful scholar has made a mark in the field of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), who came up with a tool that has made it precisely clear to identify a sexual offender without confusing him with his relatives. Previously, when samples were taken, the results could zero in on the suspect but it would remain difficult to differentiate the offender from his biological kinship such as son or brothers. “The previous research depended on Y-chromosome Short Tandem Repeat (Y-STRs). Now, our tool does away with any confusion or mixture and saves us from the necessity to dwell on the female victim’s sample,” explains the 28-year old Dubai-born, Dr Capt. Rashed Alghafri, who solely developed the DNA tool marker. His alma mater, the University of Central Lancashire (uclan) in the United Kingdom (UK), where he did his PhD, was swift to work with the UK’s Intellectual Property Rights body to patent the coveted tool. His invention has won him accolades from the country leadership and security personnel. During the 43rd National Day celebrations last December, he was among the 43 Emirati pioneers in various fields who were honoured by the Vice President, Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The scientist was awarded for inventing the “world’s first male genetic print for forensic use.”  Other scientists honoured on the same occasion included professor Ali Al Naqbi, for inventing the first artificial liver from hollow fibre in the world; Dr Habiba Al Saffar, the first Emirati woman to invent genome mapping for prevention and early detection of diabetes; Dr Hawa Al Mansouri, the first Emirati woman to invent a catheter through a vein for intensive heart surgeries, Ahmad Al Harithi, the first Emirati to invent genetically engineered algae for industrial uses and Mohammad Mattar Al Shamsi, the first Emirati international robotic expert. In this month alone, Dr Rashed has been honoured, separately, by the Deputy Chairman of Dubai Police and Public Security, Lt Gen. Dhahi Khalfan Tamim and the Commander of Dubai Police, Maj. Gen. Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina. General Dhahi commented on the young scientist: “His findings have taken us many steps forward in nailing offenders, especially those engaged in sex-related crimes. Rashed is an excellent example of a creative Emirati youth, in both his studies and professional conduct.” He was spotted early on, from his days in Dubai secondary school to being enlisted in the police force at the age of 17, in 2004. General Dhahi, the then Commander of Dubai Police, sent him to Australia where he obtained a bachelors degree in Forensic Analytical Chemistry at Flinders University of South Australia. “Again, in 2009, the Dubai Police sent me for an MSc in DNA Profiling, which I studied at Bond University in Australia, and further to the uclan in the UK for a PhD in 2011,” he says, seated in his office at the Criminal Investigations Department, where he holds the office of the DNA and Biology Expert in the Department of Forensic Sciences and Criminology. “All the credit goes to the Crown Prince of Dubai, Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid, who met my sponsorship. I also thank the General Dhahi Khalfan, General Al Mazeina and my colleagues who offered me a conducive environment.” Whereas his parents, Hamdan Nassar Al Ghafri are his “world and idol figures.” Dr Rashed’s dissertation findings are in a tome of eight chapters titled, “Development, Validation and Application of a Nouveau Multiplex Assay RM-Yplex: Amplifying 13 Rapidly Mutating Y Chromosome Short Tandem Repeat Regions.’ “They have been discussed in the prestigious forensic DNA journal, Forensic Science International Genetics,” he says. Global forensic labs rush for tool Gen. Dhahi Khalfan says that a number of scientific establishments are coming to the police and reports indicate to Rashed’s university, uclan, requesting to share the knowledge to buttress their forensic databases. He mentions establishments from the Netherlands, China, Malaysia, Italy, Switzerland, and South Korea. “Officials from the Czech Republic have been here,” Dr Rashed says. “Since we have patented this tool, we are now thinking of commercialising. This is being organised by the UK’s IPR and hopefully, it will soon be sold for any buyer to access.” He adds that there are several indicators for the significance of the findings, among them is the number of visits and downloads made on the Researchgate portal where scholars upload their academic research and studies. “The website shows you a weekly report, and, for a year since I uploaded my research work, I have gotten not less than four people viewing my paper per week.” To him, there are still many forensic challenges to seek solutions for in all forensic laboratories. “I am focusing on issues and offering strategies that will help to save the expenses we and other labs are incurring. Hopefully, we shall develop tools to solve, if not all the cases, I would say most of them.”

50 YEARS ANNIVERSARY OF THE ASSASINATION OF MALCOLM X

 Welcome to the link below of a  documentary prepared by CNN  on the   Witnessing of the Assassination of  Nation of Islam's
 MALCOLM   X  IN THE  U.S.A.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcWciYxStD4&sns=fb
It is the full CNN document which aired on 21/2/2015, the exact date he was assassinated in 1965.

PRIVATE SECTOR LEADING EMPLOYER IN TANZANIA

Ridhiwani Wema

 

The country’s formal private sector has been named as the leading employer, according to the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Youth Development.

 

The Ministry’s spokesperson, Ridhiwani Wema said in Dar es Salaam yesterday that the achievement is due to the government’s efforts to create better environment for investors and the private sector activities in the country.

 

According to Wema, within a period of between October and December last year the private sector created a total of 38,083 employment opportunities which is equivalent to 93.5 per cent compared to 2, 65 (6.5 per cent) attained by the government.

 

He added that in the half year period (July – December, 2014), a total of 173,787 job opportunities have been created by the private sector through investments in various sectors.

 

He mentioned some of the sectors that contributed much in creating jobs through investments as, construction (107,527), 34,184 through the Tanzania Investments Center (TIC) and 342 through the communication sector.

 

He explained that a major progress has been achieved by the government to improve the country’s investment environment including the review of the Employment Policy, 2008, The Employment and Labour Relations Act No. 6 of 2004,  The Labour Institutions Act and the new Law on Foreigners Employment.

 

He added that Labour statistics are important in planning, implementing, and to measure the effectiveness of government policy in economic aspects as well as measuring economic status of the country.

“Labour market data are the indicators for the clear picture of country’s economic development,” he argued.

 

Wema called upon recruiters to cooperate with the ministry in the process of collecting information concerning labour market which is crucial to know labour situation in order for the government to take appropriate measures.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL's IMPRESSION OF UGANDA WAY BACK IN 1908

On Mon, Feb 16, 2015 at 7:11 AM, Kato Kintu <katokintuw@gmail.com> wrote:

In his book titled “My African Journey” that published in 1908, Winston Churchill precisely stated as follows:

♞ “The kingdom of Uganda is a fair tale. Uganda is a native State. Two days after I arrived at Entebbe the Governor took me over to Kampala. The distance between the ancient and administrative capital is about twenty four miles..The road from Entebbe to Kampala passes through delicious country. "

♞ But I have forgotten that we have been passing through Kampala road, and now we are almost in sight of the city. It was not until the shadows began to lengthen that we visited the Kabaka on the Royal Hill. He received us in his Parliament House. "

♞ "The Kabaka can write a good letter in English. In this large and beautifully constructed grass building about seventy chiefs and Baganda notables were assembled. The Kabaka sat on his throne and his subjects grouped themselves around and before him. The Kabaka gave us a tea inside his house. It is a comfortable European building, quite small and modest, but nicely furnished, and adorned with familiar English prints and portraits of Queen Victoria and King Edward."

♞ "Surrounded by officers of the State, the King of Uganda presides over the meetings of his council and Parliament, or worships in the huge thatched cathedral which has been reared on Namirembe Hill."

♞"The manners of the Baganda are ceremonious to a degree. They well deserve Sir Harry Johnstone's description of them as the “Japanese of Africa." If you say “Good morning” to a stranger on an English road, it is as like as not that his surprise will thrown him into a posture of self-defence; but when two Baganda meet they begin to salute each other as soon as they come within earshot."

♞"If you wish to make a Baganda perfectly happy, all you need to do is to say, “way wally,” (Webale?) which means a sort of supremely earnest “well done.” The moment this talismanic expression has left your lips, the native to whom it is addressed will probably fall on his knees, and clasping his hands together, will sway them from side to side, as if he were playing a concertina, while all the time his face beams with the most benignant and compulsive smile, and he purss, “A—o, a—o, a—o,” as much as to say, “My cup of joy is overflowing.” It is not in accordance with our ideas that man should kneel to man, and one feels uncomfortable to see it done. Yet it should not be thought that the action, as performed by the Baganda, involves or implies any servility. It is their good manners— and meant to be no more. Nor, once you are used to it, do they seem to lose all in dignity. Only they win their heart. "

♞"Three separate influences, each of them powerful and benevolent, exercise control over the mass of the Baganda nation. First the imperial authority; secondly the native Government; and thirdly the missionary enterprise. "

♞"For a new station in an almost unknown land, Entebbe certainly presents many remarkable evidence of progress. The slopes of the lake shore are covered with pretty villas, each standing in its luxuriant garden. There is an excellent golf course, and a very bright pleasant society."

♞" Finally, there is a reason of a different character which ought to impose a final bar on a return of the Imperial Government to the native city. Uganda is a native state. Much of our success in dealing with its population arises from the fact that we work through and by the native Government."

♞"But what an obligation, what a sacred duty imposed upon Great Britain to enter the lists in person and to shield this trustful, docile, intelligent Baganda race from dangers, which, whatever their cause, have synchronising with our arrival in the midst! I have described how Kampala lies under the leaves of the plantain groves about the slopes of many hills. Each hill has its special purpose and occupants. "

SOURCE: Winston Spencer Churchill (1908) “My African Journey,” London: Hodder & Stoughton.

TURKISH PRESENT RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN DECRIES ISOLATION FROM SPEAKING HIS MIND -

SPEAKING HIS MIND ISOLATES HIM FROM THE WORLD?  IT DOES NOT MATTER, SO LONG AS TURKISH PEOPLE SUPPORT  HIM  -  A VERY WISE POLICY INDEED !!! 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has for the first time confessed that he feels politically 'isolated' from the world and suggested that other leaders “envy him “for “speaking his mind,” local news reports said.

Speaking to a group of journalists after a tour of Latin America, Erdogan said being “outspoken” when it comes to discussing regional issues made him “a target for criticism,” the Turkish Cihan News agency reported Monday 16/2/2015.

 

But that does not matter as far as Turkish people keep up their support, Erdogan implied.

“I don't care about being alone in the eyes of the world. What matters is how the people view me. We saw [how people see him] during the presidential election that people sided with me. And there's no isolation when you consider other countries' people as well.

 

“Maybe there is an isolation on the level of leaders, but it's nothing other than envy,” Erdogan said, in remarks published in several Turkish dailies on Sunday.

 

The Turkish president provided his relationship with U.S. President Barack Obama as an example of political isolation. He recalled how his relationship with Obama “was good in the beginning” but then things changed.

“I had very good relations with Obama when he first came to power. We were even hosted at the White House as a family. We had one-on-one meetings. After all these talks, we see that things started to develop in a different way, which I could not understand,” said Erdogan.

 

Recently, Erdogan openly criticized Obama for not speaking up in the wake of a shooting that killed three Muslim students last week in North Carolina, U.S.A.

When asked if his remarks were too critical of Obama, Erdogan replied: “I don't know whether you find my statement harsh or soft. But this is unacceptable. We wouldn't remain silent if such an incident happened in our country. This is a requirement for a strategic partnership.”

 

In the same vain, Erdogan also brought up the situation in Egypt, wondering why the world “is not speaking out against” Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

 

Erdogan constantly blasts the West for supporting Sisi, who came to power after leading the army to overthrow Islamist President Mohammad Mursi.

 

Turkey is known to be a supporter of the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group in Egypt, which Mursi hails from.

 

Erdogan has incessantly condemned the ouster of Mursi, saying it was a “coup” orchestrated by Sisi.

“When you speak out about these issues you are left alone, but not in the eyes of the people,” Erdogan said.

Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/variety/2015/02/17/Erodgan-speaks-on-Turkey-s-isolation-says-he-is-unconcerned-.html
 

NEW EDUCATION POLICY FOR TANZANIA: FREE BASIC EDUCATION, BASIC EDUCATION COMPULSORY

By Nelson Kessy, 
THE GUARDIAN, TANZANIA. 

14th February 2015

Free basic education, from primary to O-Level ,Single textbook for every subject for all schools, Basic education now compulsory

President Jakaya Mrisho  Kikwete has  officially launched the New Education Policy of 2014 on 13th February, 2015, overhauling the education system, where basic education will now run from Standard One to Form Four and all schools shift to using a single textbook for each subject.

According to the policy, basic education shall be fee free, with single textbooks for all schools and shall provide quality education recognised across the region and the world.

 The government will collaborate with education stakeholders to modernize curricula at all levels and make sure that it meets education requirements, provide equipment, materials and tools needed for teaching and facilitating advancement of science and technology.

Launching the new policy yesterday at a city primary school in a high density suburb in Dar es Salaam, President Jakaya Kikwete said that education is the provision of service and not a business. 

“The policy also emphasises one textbook when teaching and facilitating in all schools in the country, instead of using many textbooks as we are using now. There will be only one textbook for all schools,” the president intoned.

“We can’t operate our schools with many textbooks whereby each school is using its preferred textbook. We need to have only one textbook for each subject that will be used by all schools in the country,” he declared.  

 He said that since education is a service and not a business, all private schools need to have affordable school fees on the basis of ‘unit per course’ and analyse its operation as well, instead of saying that our school fees is fixed at five million or six millions.

“We can’t only increase school fees amounts without knowing the services offered by the schools if they are related to the mentioned fees,” Kikwete said.

“The government planned for a long time about changing its education policy because it is difficult to reach development if your education system is not good,” the president affirmed, maintaining that there is no country in the world which has solved all education challenges, he said there are challenges which our neighboring countries face but we don’t face.

The next big thing the government is planning to do is to increase teachers’ allowances and improving their housing conditions.

Earlier, Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner Said Meck Sadiki stated that the region has tried to accomplish the president’s directive of constructing laboratories, with 231 laboratories constructed in city secondary schools.

“Currently we have 412 secondary school laboratories and we are hoping that with these labs our students will acquire competitive education,” Sadiki told the gathering.

For his part, the Minister for Education and Vocational Training, Dr Shukuru Kawambwa stated that the new education policy seeks to provide economic, technological and social change in the country’s education sector. 

The policy was planned for a long time and it has outlined major areas that need more emphasis in collaboration with education stakeholders so as to improve education system in the country, the minister said.

 Meanwhile, education stakeholders have expressed concern that the new education system is not good compared to what exists. 

 Susan Lyimo, a legislator (Special Seats-CHADEMA) said that the policy is not competent because the government failed to prioritize teachers’ requirements.

“If curricula are developed by people who are not teachers, then given to a teacher who has not been properly trained on how to apply such curriculum, they will do as they wish since they were not involved,” she said. 

 Along in the same lines, NCCR –Mageuzi chairman James Mbatia said that there are many problems with the education system including, books, curriculum, stakeholders and leadership.

“To be sincere the policy which is said to be new it is out of date because it was surveyed for 2006 education requirements. The demands of 2006 are not the same as today’s demands,” he pointed out.   

 Christowaja Mtinda (Special Seats-CHADEMA) said that education has been mixed with a lot of other matters compared to what was the case in previous years.

 “Earlier, the Tanzania Institute of Education (TIE) said the curricular was not involving teachers as the main stakeholders in curriculum development. Due to that teachers are not familiar with the curricula so what they normally do is to teach what they know,” she said.

“We need to have one textbook that will be used with all schools according to class level…and others could be used as reference,” she said.

On October 26,  2014, the Tanzania Association of Managers and Owners of Non-Government Schools and Colleges (Tamongsco) expressed concern over the government’s decision to release a new education policy, saying it is an outdated document.

They argued that stakeholders started working on the policy back in 2006 when a countrywide survey was conducted and was submitted to the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training in 2009.

 Tamongsco Secretary General Benjamin Nkonya said if launched this year, the policy might not meet current needs.

“It will be outdated because the demands of education in 2006 are quite different from those of today,” he had emphasized.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

10 of the Worst Terror Attacks by Extreme Christians and Far-Right White Men

Most of the terrorist activity in the U.S. in recent years has come not from Muslims, but from radical Christianists, white supremacists and far-right militia groups.

By Alex Henderson / AlterNet

July 24, 2014

From Fox News to the Weekly Standard, neoconservatives have tried to paint terrorism as a largely or exclusively Islamic phenomenon. Their message of Islamophobia has been repeated many times since the George W. Bush era: Islam is inherently violent, Christianity is inherently peaceful, and there is no such thing as a Christian terrorist or a white male terrorist. But the facts don’t bear that out. Far-right white male radicals and extreme Christianists are every bit as capable of acts of terrorism as radical Islamists, and to pretend that such terrorists don’t exist does the public a huge disservice. Dzhokhar Anzorovich Tsarnaev and the late Tamerlan Anzorovich Tsarnaev (the Chechen brothers suspected in the Boston Marathon bombing of April 15, 2013) are both considered white and appear to have been motivated in part by radical Islam. And many terrorist attacks in the United States have been carried out by people who were neither Muslims nor dark-skinned.

When white males of the far right carry out violent attacks, neocons and Republicans typically describe them as lone-wolf extremists rather than people who are part of terrorist networks or well-organized terrorist movements. Yet many of the terrorist attacks in the United States have been carried out by people who had long histories of networking with other terrorists. In fact, most of the terrorist activity occurring in the United States in recent years has not come from Muslims, but from a combination of radical Christianists, white supremacists and far-right militia groups.

Below are 10 of the worst examples of non-Islamic terrorism that have occurred in the United States in the last 30 years.

1. Wisconsin Sikh Temple massacre, Aug. 5, 2012. The virulent, neocon-fueled Islamophobia that has plagued post-9/11 America has not only posed a threat to Muslims, it has had deadly consequences for people of other faiths, including Sikhs. Sikhs are not Muslims; the traditional Sikh attire, including their turbans, is different from traditional Sunni, Shiite or Sufi attire. But to a racist, a bearded Sikh looks like a Muslim. Only four days after 9/11, Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Sikh immigrant from India who owned a gas station in Mesa, Arizona, was murdered by Frank Silva Roque, a racist who obviously mistook him for a Muslim.
But Sodhi’s murder was not the last example of anti-Sikh violence in post-9/11 America. On Aug. 5, 2012, white supremacist Wade Michael Page used a semiautomatic weapon to murder six people during an attack on a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. Page’s connection to the white supremacist movement was well-documented: he had been a member of the neo-Nazi rock bands End Empathy and Definite Hate. Attorney General Eric Holder described the attack as “an act of terrorism, an act of hatred.” It was good to see the nation’s top cop acknowledge that terrorist acts can, in fact, involve white males murdering people of color.

2. The murder of Dr. George Tiller, May 31, 2009. Imagine that a physician had been the victim of an attempted assassination by an Islamic jihadist in 1993, and received numerous death threats from al-Qaeda after that, before being murdered by an al-Qaeda member. Neocons, Fox News and the Christian Right would have had a field day. A physician was the victim of a terrorist killing that day, but neither the terrorist nor the people who inflamed the terrorist were Muslims. Dr. George Tiller, who was shot and killed by anti-abortion terrorist Scott Roeder on May 31, 2009, was a victim of Christian Right terrorism, not al-Qaeda.

Tiller had a long history of being targeted for violence by Christian Right terrorists. In 1986, his clinic was firebombed. Then, in 1993, Tiller was shot five times by female Christian Right terrorist Shelly Shannon (now serving time in a federal prison) but survived that attack. Given that Tiller had been the victim of an attempted murder and received countless death threats after that, Fox News would have done well to avoid fanning the flames of unrest. Instead, Bill O’Reilly repeatedly referred to him as “Tiller the baby killer." When Roeder murdered Tiller, O’Reilly condemned the attack but did so in a way that was lukewarm at best.

Keith Olbermann called O’Reilly out and denounced him as a “facilitator for domestic terrorism” and a “blindly irresponsible man.” And Crazy for God author Frank Schaffer, who was formerly a figure on the Christian Right but has since become critical of that movement, asserted that the Christian Right’s extreme anti-abortion rhetoric “helped create the climate that made this murder likely to happen.” Neocon Ann Coulter, meanwhile, viewed Tiller’s murder as a source of comic relief, telling O’Reilly, “I don't really like to think of it as a murder. It was terminating Tiller in the 203rd trimester.” The Republican/neocon double standard when it comes to terrorism is obvious. At Fox News and AM neocon talk radio, Islamic terrorism is a source of nonstop fear-mongering, while Christian Right terrorism gets a pass.

4. The murder of Dr. John Britton, July 29, 1994. To hear the Christian Right tell it, there is no such thing as Christian terrorism. Tell that to the victims of the Army of God, a loose network of radical Christianists with a long history of terrorist attacks on abortion providers. One Christian Right terrorist with ties to the Army of God was Paul Jennings Hill, who was executed by lethal injection on Sept. 3, 2003 for the murders of abortion doctor John Britton and his bodyguard James Barrett. Hill shot both of them in cold blood and expressed no remorse whatsoever; he insisted he was doing’s God’s work and has been exalted as a martyr by the Army of God.

5. The Centennial Olympic Park bombing, July 27, 1996. Paul Jennings Hill is hardly the only Christian terrorist who has been praised by the Army of God; that organization has also praised Eric Rudolph, who is serving life without parole for a long list of terrorist attacks committed in the name of Christianity. Rudolph is best known for carrying out the Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta during the 1996 Summer Olympics—a blast that killed spectator Alice Hawthorne and wounded 111 others. Hawthorne wasn’t the only person Rudolph murdered: his bombing of an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama in 1998 caused the death of Robert Sanderson (a Birmingham police officer and part-time security guard) and caused nurse Emily Lyons to lose an eye.

Rudolph’s other acts of Christian terrorism include bombing the Otherwise Lounge (a lesbian bar in Atlanta) in 1997 and an abortion clinic in an Atlanta suburb in 1997. Rudolph was no lone wolf: he was part of a terrorist movement that encouraged his violence. And the Army of God continues to exalt Rudolph as a brave Christian who is doing God’s work.

6. The murder of Barnett Slepian by James Charles Kopp, Oct. 23, 1998. Like Paul Jennings Hill, Eric Rudolph and Scott Roeder, James Charles Kopp is a radical Christian terrorist who has been exalted as a hero by the Army of God. On Oct. 23, 1998 Kopp fired a single shot into the Amherst, NY home of Barnett Slepian (a doctor who performed abortions), mortally wounding him. Slepian died an hour later. Kopp later claimed he only meant to wound Slepian, not kill him. But Judge Michael D'Amico of Erin County, NY said that the killing was clearly premeditated and sentenced Kopp to 25 years to life. Kopp is a suspect in other anti-abortion terrorist attacks, including the non-fatal shootings of three doctors in Canada, though it appears unlikely that Kopp will be extradited to Canada to face any charges.

7. Planned Parenthood bombing, Brookline, Massachusetts, 1994. Seldom has the term “Christian terrorist” been used in connection with John C. Salvi on AM talk radio or at Fox News, but it’s a term that easily applies to him. In 1994, the radical anti-abortionist and Army of God member attacked a Planned Parenthood clinic in Brookline, Massachusetts, shooting and killing receptionists Shannon Lowney and Lee Ann Nichols and wounding several others. Salvi was found dead in his prison cell in 1996, and his death was ruled a suicide. The Army of God has exalted Salvi as a Christian martyr and described Lowney and Nichols not as victims of domestic terrorism, but as infidels who got what they deserved. The Rev. Donald Spitz, a Christianist and Army of God supporter who is so extreme that even the radical anti-abortion group Operation Rescue disassociated itself from him, has praised Salvi as well.

8. Suicide attack on IRS building in Austin, Texas, Feb. 18, 2010. When Joseph Stack flew a plane into the Echelon office complex (where an IRS office was located), Fox News’ coverage of the incident was calm and matter-of-fact. Republican Rep. Steve King of Iowa seemed to find the attack amusing and joked that it could have been avoided if the federal government had followed his advice and abolished the IRS. Nonetheless, there were two fatalities: Stack and IRS employee Vernon Hunter. Stack left behind a rambling suicide note outlining his reasons for the attack, which included a disdain for the IRS as well as total disgust with health insurance companies and bank bailouts. Some of the most insightful coverage of the incident came from Noam Chomsky, who said that while Stack had some legitimate grievances—millions of Americans shared his outrage over bank bailouts and the practices of health insurance companies—the way he expressed them was absolutely wrong.

9. The murder of Alan Berg, June 18, 1984. One of the most absurd claims some Republicans have made about white supremacists is that they are liberals and progressives. That claim is especially ludicrous in light of the terrorist killing of liberal Denver-based talk show host Alan Berg, a critic of white supremacists who was killed with an automatic weapon on June 18, 1984. The killing was linked to members of the Order, a white supremacist group that had marked Berg for death. Order members David Lane (a former Ku Klux Klan member who had also been active in the Aryan Nations) and Bruce Pierce were both convicted in federal court on charges of racketeering, conspiracy and violating Berg’s civil rights and given what amounted to life sentences.

Robert Matthews, who founded the Order, got that name from a fictional group in white supremacist William Luther Pierce’s anti-Semitic 1978 novel, The Turner Diaries—a book Timothy McVeigh was quite fond of. The novel’s fictional account of the destruction of a government building has been described as the inspiration for the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995.

10. Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing, April 19, 1995. Neocons and Republicans grow angry and uncomfortable whenever Timothy McVeigh is cited as an example of a non-Islamic terrorist. Pointing out that a non-Muslim white male carried out an attack as vicious and deadly as the Oklahoma City bombing doesn’t fit into their narrative that only Muslims and people of color are capable of carrying out terrorist attacks. Neocons will claim that bringing up McVeigh’s name during a discussion of terrorism is a “red herring” that distracts us from fighting radical Islamists, but that downplays the cruel, destructive nature of the attack.

Prior to the al-Qaeda attacks of 9/11, the Oklahoma City bombing McVeigh orchestrated was the most deadly terrorist attack in U.S. history: 168 people were killed and more than 600 were injured. When McVeigh used a rented truck filled with explosives to blow up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, his goal was to kill as many people as possible. McVeigh was motivated by an extreme hatred for the U.S. government and saw the attack as revenge for the Ruby Ridge incident of 1992 and the Waco Siege in 1993. He had white supremacist leanings as well (when he was in the U.S. Army, McVeigh was reprimanded for wearing a “white power” T-shirt he had bought at a KKK demonstration). McVeigh was executed on June 11, 2001. He should have served life without parole instead, as a living reminder of the type of viciousness the extreme right is capable of.

Alex Henderson's work has appeared in the L.A. Weekly, Billboard, Spin, Creem, the Pasadena Weekly and many other publications. Follow him on Twitter @alexvhenderson.

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Non-Muslims Carried Out More than 90% of All Terrorist Attacks in America

Non-Muslims Carried Out More than 90% of All Terrorist Attacks in America

By Washington's Blog

Global Research, January 24, 2015

Washington's Blog and Global Research 1 May 2013

Region: USA

Theme: 9/11 & 'War on Terrorism', Politics and Religion

 

  

This article was first published May 1, 2013.

Terrorism Is a Real Threat … But the Threat to the U.S. from Muslim Terrorists Has Been Exaggerated

An FBI report shows that only a small percentage of terrorist attacks carried out on U.S. soil between 1980 and 2005 were perpetrated by Muslims.

Princeton University’s Loon Watch compiled the following chart from the FBI’s data:

Terrorist Attacks on U.S. Soil by Group, From 1980 to 2005, According to FBI Database

According to this data, there were more Jewish acts of terrorism within the United States than Islamic (7% vs 6%).  These radical Jews committed acts of terrorism in the name of their religion.  These were not terrorists who happened to be Jews; rather, they were extremist Jews who committed acts of terrorism based on their religious passions, just like Al-Qaeda and company.

(Loon Watch also notes that less than 1% of terror attacks in Europe were carried out by Muslims.)

U.S. News and World Report noted in February of this year:

Of the more than 300 American deaths from political violence and mass shootings since 9/11, only 33 have come at the hands of Muslim-Americans, according to the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security. The Muslim-American suspects or perpetrators in these or other attempted attacks fit no demographic profile—only 51 of more than 200 are of Arabic ethnicity. In 2012, all but one of the nine Muslim-American terrorism plots uncovered were halted in early stages. That one, an attempted bombing of a Social Security office in Arizona, caused no casualties.

Wired reported the same month:

Since 9/11, [Charles Kurzman, Professor of Sociology at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, writing for the Triangle Center on Terrorism and National Security] and his team tallies, 33 Americans have died as a result of terrorism launched by their Muslim neighbors. During that period, 180,000 Americans were murdered for reasons unrelated to terrorism. In just the past year, the mass shootings that have captivated America’s attention killed 66 Americans, “twice as many fatalities as from Muslim-American terrorism in all 11 years since 9/11,” notes Kurzman’s team.

Law enforcement, including “informants and undercover agents,” were involved in “almost all of the Muslim-American terrorism plots uncovered in 2012,” the Triangle team finds. That’s in keeping with the FBI’s recent practice of using undercover or double agents to encourage would-be terrorists to act on their violent desires and arresting them when they do — a practice critics say comes perilously close to entrapment. A difference in 2012 observed by Triangle: with the exception of the Arizona attack, all the alleged plots involving U.S. Muslims were “discovered and disrupted at an early stage,” while in the past three years, law enforcement often observed the incubating terror initiatives “after weapons or explosives had already been gathered.”

The sample of Muslim Americans turning to terror is “vanishingly small,” Kurzman tells Danger Room. Measuring the U.S. Muslim population is a famously inexact science, since census data don’t track religion, but rather “country of origin,” which researchers attempt to use as a proxy. There are somewhere between 1.7 million and seven million American Muslims, by most estimates, and Kurzman says he operates off a model that presumes the lower end, a bit over 2 million. That’s less a rate of involvement in terrorism of less than 10 per million, down from a 2003 high of 40 per million, as detailed in the chart above.

Yet the scrutiny by law enforcement and homeland security on American Muslims has not similarly abated. The FBI tracks “geomaps” of areas where Muslims live and work, regardless of their involvement in any crime. The Patriot Act and other post-9/11 restrictions on government surveillance remain in place. The Department of Homeland Security just celebrated its 10th anniversary. In 2011, President Obama ordered the entire federal national-security apparatus to get rid of counterterrorism training material that instructed agents to focus on Islam itself, rather than specific terrorist groups.

Kurzman doesn’t deny that law enforcement plays a role in disrupting and deterring homegrown U.S. Muslim terrorism. His research holds it out as a possible explanation for the decline. But he remains surprised by the disconnect between the scale of the terrorism problem and the scale — and expense — of the government’s response.

“Until public opinion starts to recognize the scale of the problem has been lower than we feared, my sense is that public officials are not going to change their policies,” Kurzman says. “Counterterrorism policies have involved surveillance — not just of Muslim-Americans, but of all Americans, and the fear of terrorism has justified intrusions on American privacy and civil liberties all over the internet and other aspects of our lives. I think the implications here are not just for how we treat a religious minority in the U.S., but also how we treat the rights & liberties of everyone.”

We agree. And so do most Americans. Indeed – as we’ve previously documented – you’re more likely to die from brain-eating parasites, alcoholism, obesity, medical errors, risky sexual behavior or just about anything other than terrorism.

Kurzman told the Young Turks in February that Islamic terrorism “doesn’t even count for 1 percent” of the 180,000 murders in the US since 9/11.

While the Boston marathon bombings were horrific, a top terrorism expert says that the Boston attack was more like Columbine than 9/11, and that the bombers are “murderers not terrorists”.  The overwhelming majority of mass shootings were by non-Muslims.  (This is true in Europe, as well as in the U.S.)

However you classify them – murder or terrorism – the Boston bombings occurred after all of the statistical analysis set forth above. Moreover, different groups have different agendas about how to classify the perpetrators  (For example, liberal Mother Jones and conservative Breitbart disagree on how many of the perpetrators of terror attacks can  properly be classified as right wing extremists.)

So we decided to look at the most current statistics for ourselves, to do an objective numerical count not driven by any agenda.

Specifically, we reviewed all of the terrorist attacks on U.S. soil as documented by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START). (2012). Global Terrorism Database, as retrieved from http://www.start.umd.edu/gtd.

The START Global Terrorism Database spans from 1970 through 2012 (and will be updated from year-to-year), and – as of this writing – includes 104,000 terrorist incidents.  As such, it is the most comprehensive open-source database open to the public.

We counted up the number of terrorist attacks carried out by Muslims.  We excluded attacks by groups which are obviously not Muslims, such as the Ku Klux Klan, Medellin Drug Cartel, Irish Republican Army, Anti-Castro Group, Mormon extremists, Vietnamese Organization to Exterminate Communists and Restore the Nation, Jewish Defense League, May 19 Communist Order, Chicano Liberation Front, Jewish Armed Resistance, American Indian Movement, Gay Liberation Front, Aryan Nation, Jewish Action Movement, National Front for the Liberation of Cuba, or Fourth Reich Skinheads.

We counted attacks by Al Qaeda, the Taliban, Black American Moslems, or anyone who even remotely sounded Muslim … for example anyone from Palestine, Lebanon or any other Arab or Muslim country, or any name including anything sounding remotely Arabic or Indonesian (like “Al” anything or “Jamaat” anything).

If we weren’t sure what the person’s affiliation was, we looked up the name of the group to determine whether it could in any way be connected to Muslims.

Based on our review of the approximately 2,400 terrorist attacks on U.S. soil contained within the START database, we determined that approximately 60 were carried out by Muslims.

In other words, approximately 2.5% of all terrorist attacks on U.S. soil between 1970 and 2012 were carried out by Muslims.*  This is a tiny proportion of all attacks.

(We determined that approximately 118 of the terror attacks – or 4.9% – were carried out by Jewish groups such as Jewish Armed Resistance, the Jewish Defense League, Jewish Action Movement, United Jewish Underground and Thunder of Zion. This is almost twice the percentage of Islamic attacks within the United States.  If we look at worldwide attacks – instead of just attacks on U.S. soil – Sunni Muslims are the main perpetrators of terrorism.  However: 1. Muslims are also the main victims of terror attacks worldwide; and 2. the U.S. backs the most radical types of Sunnis over more moderate Muslims and Arab secularists.)

Moreover, another study undertaken by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism – called ”Profiles of Perpetrators of Terrorism in the United States” – found:

Between 1970 and 2011, 32 percent of the perpetrator groups were motivated by ethnonationalist/separatist agendas, 28 percent were motivated by single issues, such as animal rights or opposition to war, and seven percent were motivated by religious beliefs. In addition, 11 percent of the perpetrator groups were classified as extreme right-wing, and 22 percent were categorized as extreme left-wing.

Preliminary findings from PPT-US data between 1970 and 2011 also illustrate a distinct shift in the dominant ideologies of these terrorist groups over time, with the proportion of emerging ethnonationalist/separatist terrorist groups declining and the proportion of religious terrorist groups increasing. However, while terrorist groups with religious ideologies represent 40 percent of all emergent groups from 2000-2011 (two out of five), they only account for seven percent of groups over time.

Similarly, a third study by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism Religion found that religion alone is not a key factor in determining which terrorists want to use weapons of mass destruction:

The available empirical data show that there is not a significant relationship between terrorist organizations’ pursuit of CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear) weapons and the mere possession of a religious ideology, according to a new quantitative study by START researchers Victor Asal, Gary Ackerman and Karl Rethemeyer.

Therefore, Muslims are not more likely than other groups to want to use WMDs.

* The Boston marathon bombing was not included in this analysis, as START has not yet updated its database to include 2013 terrorist attacks.  3 people died in the Boston attack.  While tragic, we are confident that non-Musliims killed more than 3 during this same period.

We are not experts in terrorism analysis.  We would therefore defer to people like Kurzman on the exact number.  However, every quantitative analysis of terrorism in the U.S. we have read shows that the percent of terror attacks carried out by Muslims is far less than 10%.

Postscript: State-sponsored terrorism is beyond the scope of this discussion, and was not included in our statistical analysis.  Specifically, the following arguments are beyond the scope of this discussion, as we are focusing solely on non-state terrorism:

• Arguments by  University of Michigan Professor Juan Cole that deaths from 20th century wars could be labeled Christian terrorism

• Arguments that our recent use of torture and double tap drone strikes are terrorism

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