Comments on: Rally against Sharia law, for universal human rights

By: Jeffrey

Jeffrey — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:36:21 +0000

My only question to Communist rally leader Maryam Namazie is when will she also be speaking on the abuses of children and women by Communists? It is a reasonable question for someone supporting “universal human rights.” http://bit.ly/8U3Ssy

By: Gordon Bennet

Gordon Bennet — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:08:38 +0000

At its height, the Roman military system was arguably more advanced than anything seen in Europe until the British army of the 19th century. It swept all before it and proved itself superior to any competing system for over 500 years. Not bad for something they allegedly “stole”.

Complete non sequitur. They could have stolen it from a smaller nation, whom they then vanquished by virtue of superior numbers + the stolen system. Just as a for instance.
I know that it’s very fashionable to drool over the Romans’ alleged civilisation. There are endless TV programmes about it. The truth is that they invented a superior military system, yes, flattened most other nations around the Med and parts north, and proceeded to absorb their innovations in a whole raft of fields. And being the victors, rewrote history (much of what they wrote about the Germanic tribes and the Celts is pure propaganda).

By: Jeffrey

Jeffrey — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:22:42 +0000

Andrew Coates – I have asked Communist leader Maryam Namazie if in a rally on the “universal human rights for women,” if she will also be addressing the horrific oppression and dehumanization of women by Communist authorities. It is a fair question. No answer, however.

Yesterday a defender of women’s rights who testified on November 10 at Washington DC was arrested in Communist China and his wife beaten. Certainly, this too is a human rights issue.
http://bit.ly/1KdSEF

How can we support “universal human rights” if we are only concerned about the reported 1.5B adherents to Islam, but ignore the 1.3B in Communist China alone? I would like to hear Maryam’s answer. A leading supporter of Communism, such as Maryam Namazie, needs to address this issue as well.

By: Sue R

Sue R — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:34:54 +0000

What’s eating you, NB? I’m sorry I ever mentioned the Romans, all I was asking, in a spirit of intellectual curiosity, was where the roots of sharia law may be located. Perhaps, it was God after all, telling them what to write, but maybe, just maybe it was a historical process to do with pre-existing Middle Eastern/Near Eastern legal codes. I’m not blaming anyone. Famous dictum of Marx, ‘Man makes history, but not in circumstances of his own choosing.’. Pointless blaming people for events that happened years ago and cannot be undone. It’s rather childish to take that attitude, if you don’t mind me saying.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:33:59 +0000

“Just for the record, with the exception of Carthage, the Romans did not “wipe out” anyone “totally”.

Erm, excuse me, what about Jerusalem AD 70? Or are you saying that completely sacking a city/country and forcing the few survivors to flee as persona non grata doesn’t constitute “wipe out” “totally”?”

Well OK, point taken, my original use of “anyone” may have been loosely written in haste. But sacking cities was pretty common fare in the ancient world, and the Carthaginians still
stand out as a rival civilization obliterated as a deliberate act of state policy, in a war that the Romans themselves cynically provoked. Even the suppression of the Jewish revolt of AD 70 didn’t come that close to a “Final Solution”.

By: NB

NB — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:22:15 +0000

“I was merely trying to trace the roots of sharia law. … I remember reading that veiling women was a Greek practice, as was not allowing women to attend funerals, I just think it is important for an intellectual understanding of Islam to know where it originated.”

Here are the basics you need to know. It’s hundreds upon hundreds of years old and plenty of its principles are incompatible with enlightenment values. Efforts to trace it back to Europe seem rather pointless and trying to dress this up as an intellectual exercise is disingenuous. All that matters is how it is now.

Oh OK then – our ancestors may be partly to blame. Can we move on now?

By: amie

amie — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:14:49 +0000

Sue R: I had to study Roman Law as part of my (postgraduate) law degree in order to practice law in SA, as SA law was a hybrid of English and Roman Dutch law. As far as I can recall, it had nothing in common with sharia law at all. In some respects it was far more sophisticated than English law. For example in English law there was a primitive need for literal, ritualistic acts in order to legalise contracts, whereas Roman law could conceptualise principles. The residue of this is the annoying and uncecessary encumbrance of the principle of Consideration in contract law in England without which no contract is valid, and still engends a mountain of unecessary case law deciding whether there is Consideration. English jurisprudence cannot conceive how one could have binding contracts without Consideration. Meanwhile in the Roman world, commerce happily flourished based on binding contracts with no need for this “essential element” at all.

By: Greg

Greg — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:07:25 +0000

Just for the record, with the exception of Carthage, the Romans did not “wipe out” anyone “totally”.

Erm, excuse me, what about Jerusalem AD 70? Or are you saying that completely sacking a city/country and forcing the few survivors to flee as persona non grata doesn’t constitute “wipe out” “totally”?

By: Andrew Coates

Andrew Coates — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:28:07 +0000

Have its critics ever read what they say or met members of the Worker Communist Party of Iran before they splutter about their views?

See: http://maryamnamazie.com/articles/artspch.html

This rally is an excellent initiative whsoe ideas are supported by many on the democratic left – centre, middle and ‘far’.

By: Sue R

Sue R — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:58:44 +0000

A quick Google turns up the Law Code of Hammurabi (the first known legal code) and the Cyrus Cylinder (which I have actually seen as it is housed in the British Museum). There was also a wealth of Jewish law, and Armenian law etc etc etc. I wonder if anyone has studied the historico-legal content and context of sharia law?