NYC Muslim Parade 2016 "One Umma , For God and Country"

The 31st Annual Muslim Day Parade (Sept. 25, 2016)

"One Umma - For God and Country.”

Nine years ago I first covered this annual Muslim "parade with no audience"
('cause anyone interested is IN the parade).

Even so , "Takbir's" and "Allahu Akbar's" would ring through the air.

Block after block. Down Madison Ave

Madison Avenue -from 38th to 26th St-

Starting around 2011, five years ago, a Turkish Muslim Day Street Festival
was held just a few blocks west of the of the "26th annual Muslim Day Parade"
(at the same time as the Muzzie Parade)  Was this as a mistake of timing?
Or a reason for the diminishing parade.

Turkish Days Street-Fest (Taste the Turkish Hospitality)
by celebrating the Great Seljuq Empire

Perhaps it was a red-flag denoting trouble amongst the Muslim factions.

(see Facebook nudge below, "We intend to bring 10,000...) Did NOT happen.

 This year's press conference stressed how difficult it is to be a Muslim - American, maybe they were trying to explain the missing groups. (Fear? Intimidation?)

VIDEO of press conference

Those who came out to celebrate were mostly Indonesian Muslims. I've noticed that the Indonesian women are often the ones in niqabs - not just hijabs.

                                 Some marched against abuse. (Hoping to end Sharia abuse?)

Will the Turk-undertaker, Erhan Yildirim, a respected Community Co-ordinator for the NYPD (seen on his phone below) educate the NYPD to fight (or to ignore) Sharia abuse? They'll probably learn that abuse is the problem, not Islam.

The Puerto Rican Muslim above,  wearing the "fakestinian" scarf, did a lot of talking with the press. Wonder if he would have been so chatty if asked about Sharia vs American Law.

OR is that not a POLITE question?)

Missing were the many colorful multi-ethnic costumes and hijabs BUT, these two  new participants on the sidelines, were peaceful protestors with a serious message.

The woman on the left said her father, a NYC fireman, died in the Twin Towers

As for the many Indonesian groups, they added lots of color by  carrying (and wearing)
an abundance of American flags along with their "Peace for All/Justice for All" signs.
With so few Muslim schools and masjids marching,
this intimate parade was spread out, with huge gaps between groups.


(see my parade VIDEO for the distaff marchers)

There were children .....            AND       hijabs and niqabs ...

(Lots of niqabs)

LOTS of American flags marching for "One Umma - God and Country"

And an abundance of  "Peace Roses"  for the people 'watching' on the sidelines.

 Such a beautiful child. With a Peace Rose and Old Glory....

But, FIRST, BEFORE the parade kicked-off, there was the zuhr prayer - at 1 pm

With the women kneeling behind the men...

Madison Avenue, once again, converted into a very public masjid. (see VIDEO next)

Then we marched, lead by the NYPD Marching Band (No mounted color guard this year)

Lots of NYC Muslim officers  carried  banners for each group. One NYPD banner seemed WAY too religious. (What if that had been a BIBLE instead of a Quran?)

The parade marshals I'd seen before, except for this year's Grand Marshal, Khazir Khan.

Khan is the Pakistani Muslim-American father of
United States Army Capt. Humayun Khan, killed in Iraq in 2004.

Khan walked with celeb, Russell Simmons and Imam Shamsi Ali. However, the  politicians did NOT march down Madison Ave.  They joined up at the END of the parade - for photo ops . Like David Weprin (NY State Assemblyman). Wonder why he didn't march. 

Many of the usual political faces were missing: Linda Sarsour (running for office soon, I hear), Debbie Almontaser, Rabbi Michael Feinberg and his Leftie Jewish associates. Councilman Jackson (a Muslim revert) and Marxist loving, Charles Barron.

10,000 in attendance? Not as they marched. (Or prayed)

.

       Nor when they assembled to hear the speakers at the end of the parade (26th St to 25th St )

(BTW- New this year- the merchant booths were in a  short  block going  east on 26th St)

Found an interesting article about  Imam Shamsi Ali? Ali is an Indonesian Muslim who, in 2o11,  was"fired" from the the Islamic Cultural Center on 96th Street . Did the parade shrink because of Ali and a religious conflict on how to be a (moderate) Muslim-American?

Shamsi Ali: The rise and fall of a New York imam

"An imam once regarded as one of New York's leading religious figures had a sudden fall from grace. So what does the story of one man's attempt to adapt Islam to modern America tell us, asks Sune Engel Rasmussen.

Before the controversy that cut him down, Shamsi Ali was the leading figure of moderate Islam in New York, for Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

For a decade, the biggest mosque in New York, the Islamic Cultural Center on 96th Street in East Harlem, was his stage. Here, the diminutive Indonesian with a brusque demeanour praised democracy and vigorously condemned extremism, to thousands of worshippers. Outside the mosque, he taught the FBI and congressmen in Washington about inter-religious co-existence.

He befriended presidents too. In the days after 11 September 2001, the city of New York picked him to represent the Muslim community on President George W Bush's interfaith visit to Ground Zero. Another president, Bill Clinton, wrote the foreword to the new memoir, Sons Of Abraham, that Ali co-authored with a Jewish rabbi he counts among his close friends.

Although many of his conservative peers interpret the Koran to prohibit the use of music, Ali listens to rap and hangs out with hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons. He even shrugs, disinterested, at cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

In short, Shamsi Ali is the Muslim that liberal America wants. But he is not the leader all New York's Muslims want. Ali is a divisive figure in New York's Islamic community, and two years ago, the same mosque that gave him a platform to grow influential and popular, suddenly pulled the rug from under him."

 "How to be a Muslim- American"...  Who is winning? ... (Who is losing?).... Can we tell?

As usual, there were a couple of non-Muslim factions marching. About 6 people from a multi-faith group of Christians and Jews (Expecting Miracles) With two familiar hard-core lefties who always march for "fakestine".

Since it's considered unseemly to conflate Islam (the Religion of "Peace") with anything negative ...  They (and the press) "negate the negative" with  lots of dawah; community and inter-faith outreach with the ubiquitous memes like:  "Muslim-Americans want PEACE." They support "God and Country."

The news coverage of the 2016 parade focused on "One Umma, For God and Country.... and a Desire to Show Dedication to God and U.S."  (As did a couple of speakers) Guess there's nothing like a Live Rap duet video (from Muslim Day Parade Facebook page) to say "I am a Muslim-American". [This leads to a time coded excerpted transcript of live feed)

Imam Shamsi Ali said it was important to show "there’s no contradiction between being a good American and a good Muslim at a time when some people are conflating the actions of terrorists with Islam. “Inherently American values and Islamic values are in line,” he said. “It is about democracy, it is about freedom, it is about religious tolerance, it is about working together with all people. Justice for all.”

Zaki Abdul from East Harlem said he [came out] to show what a large gathering of Muslims looks like. “Muslims generally are people of peace, those people who are really subscribed to Islam according to Islam,” he said. “People should see that.”

Found this twitter post/picture of Khizr Khan speaking ....

Rama Issa ‏@ramitcha1 1

"

Be part of interfaith activities, be part of the community and be part of the solution" Khizr Khan, Grand Marshal at the Muslim Day Parade

And from Pamela Geller, who is very much a PART of the solution." 

The coming year is a momentous one. It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good if the forces of evil have their way in the coming Presidential election. The order of the world, the future of freedom hangs in the balance. The choice could not be more stark or vastly different. Statism vs. individualism. Freedom vs. slavery. Civilization vs. savagery."

The facts - the truth- ignored - denied.

Those Anti-Muslim Hate Crimes 'Soaring to Their Highest Levels' Since 2001. Debunking the media hype.

"It’s been ten days since Eric Lichtblau published his piece about the “under-reporting” of attacks on Muslims. How many attacks on Muslims by non-Muslims in this country have there been in that time? None. And how many attacks on non-Muslims by Muslims have there been in the same time?

And as for under-reporting on a monumental scale, it is only thanks to a leak that we all learned, a few days ago, that in one year the FBI had 7,712 “terrorist encounters.” None of them were reported to the American public until now."

And more - from Facebook :

"Islam is not a religion but an ideology which incites hate, violence, intolerance and terror. Islamists are terminators. You cannot bargain with them. You cannot reason with them. They do not feel pity or remorse, or fear. And they absolutely will not stop, ever, until all the infidels are dead or have submitted to Islam. The only language the Islamists understand is the language of force."

The TRUTH ..... it's a terrible thing to waste!

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My four Flickr slide shows (click picture to access)

Part 2 - The Prayers

Part 3 - The Parade

Part 4 - The end of the Parade 

  


[Pictures and videos are property of Pamela Hall, except where indicated]
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International "Go Topless Day", Womens' Equality & ISLAM (are they compatible)

 

 

         [For video links above - click box]

This is an expose on a movement. An organization. (a religion?) Go-Topless Day hosted by the Raelians. August 26, 2016.

This is not my usual posting, with lots of visuals, instead I've done my best to make this as inoffensive as possible, with links to my uncensored pics and vids at the end of this article.

FIRST some Q and A

Q: Why post this at all?

A: There's a cultural phenom to be witnessed.

A disintegration of propriety that appears generation after generation. The arrogance of youth, perhaps.

 Q. Is it?

A: Not from the aggregate ages at Columbus Circle. There were many representatives of the older but  not necessarily "wiser" who happily bared their chests (breasts)

Q: What was most obviously achieved by this glut of female public nudity? Were our minds set-free?

A: Not likely. Oogling Males (some even managed selfies). The mad crush of cameras (male and female) It felt so prurient aka salacious, voyeuristic and lewd (don't 'cha think?)

 Q: Go-Topless Day. Is this representative of our 'better selves", this bridging of the generation gaps, to which our 21st Century society- our western culture - should aspire?

A: Due to the ages on display- I think not. Their bare-breasted elders grasping at their long-lost youth at Go-Topless Day. For the others, it was a New Wave awakening. A day when they become the willing Fools and Tools of the Raelian Movement. A conglomerate of foolish exhibitionism; unsightly and laughably irrelevant.

 ARE THEIR LAWS regarding public nudity (aka decency) that protect the right to female public nudity (State by State)? Are there any "public decency" bills that resurface on occasion?

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topfreedom

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indecent_exposure

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/08/24/434315957/topless-in-new-york-the-legal-case-that-makes-going-top-free-legal-ish

Found one Bill in CA at BillTrack50

So, onward to the WHO, WHAT and WHY of this event.

First, why here? This is NYC where Going Topless is LEGAL! Times Square has become a repository for many industrious exhibitionists. Desnudas-the Naked Grandma & Cowgirl - the Zucotti Park "Occupy Wall Street"(pre-school "teacher"). I have come across these different examples of New York's legal public nudity and photographed them all. At first I thought they were breaking public decency laws. NOPE. And the TOURISTS seem to LOVE it. (Especially the adolescent boys) SO, what's the point?

 The Go Topless Movement claims they speak for women worldwide who have not yet gained the LEGAL right to "FREE their Breasts and to FREE their Minds."  Glad we cleared that up.

 

Some might ask, "WHAT is the Raelian topless movement?"

Or, since they challenge Christianity and the morés of the West, "WHY no mention of ISLAM?" As they urged the prudes-of-the-west to 'strip off your bras', "What of the 52 Muslim countries?"

Would such public nudity be allowed in any of these Muslim countries?

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“If you take uncovered meat and put it on the street, on the pavement, in a garden, in a park or in the backyard, without a cover and the cats eat it, is it the fault of the cat or the uncovered meat?” the Grand Mufti of Australia said. “The uncovered meat is the problem.”

The Grand Mufti wasn’t discussing cats or meat. He was talking about gang rapes by fourteen Muslim men. "If she was in her room, in her home, in her hijab, no problem would have occurred,” he said.

Islamists [...] encourage Muslim men to carry out assaults on non-Muslim women who don’t comply with Islamic law." - Daniel Greenfield

 

The Raelians are the organization hosting Go-Topless Day. In the video below, we hear from a Raelian French dude [Claude Vorlihon (a.k.a. Rael)].


Rael says, "following what was an extraterrestrial encounter in December 1973, he formed the Raëlian Movement and changed his name to Raël (allegedly meaning "messenger of the elohim")... he claims (to have had) an encounter with a being called Yahweh in 1973.^[5" 

He (they) believe something akin to Scientology - the alien "colonizing earth" meme.


And somehow this has all lead the Raelians  to the "FREE THE BREASTS - FREE THE MIND".

In other videos at Rael TV,  Rael  explains teaches that much of world's ills can be repaired by NOT treating women's breasts as sex objects.


So, by making public FEMALE bare-breasted nudity LEGAL we will put an end to the oogling of the male animal who, when catching even a glimpse of the naked female breast, often just has to oogle.

Once female nudity is universally permitted society will reach some higher plateau and NO OOGLING will prevail. [I've got some swampland for sale if you buy-in to this theory]

Back to Go-Topless Day 2016 (NYC). The bare-breasted female protestors were SAFELY within the police barricades, where an equally odd assortment of males were mixing with the women (of all ages and sizes). A crowd-crush of leering and oogling surrounded them. Not anyone's proudest moments, perhaps. BUT, we are told this was day was one small step in releasing women from the bonds of Western-CHRISTIAN shaming.

 About those male participants who went bare-chested (though I found couple who preferred bras), many were elderly males - probably gay- and in many different bare-chested modes. 

                                   Diversity ruled.

The seemingly straight men I saw were either the photographers OR on the sidewalk side of the barricades. They were surrounded by many, many Asians (male & female). 

Across 58th street there were a few Latino and Arab types.

  I saw a few (probably straight) males who managed to slip into the press area (some to take selfies), but they were be ferreted out (no press creds) and made to exit back to the SAFE side of the barricades.

Everyone had their cameras held high. No gawking allowed unless there was a barricade to keep them at bay.



As for the distaff participants, there was also much diversity. The pretty women. Young thin. Thinking this ridiculous parade to be an enlightened moment in their lives: Okay. Sure. The mistakes of youth.(And, yes, with so many police at hand, no one was getting hurt.)

But, for the larger-brested and much older ladies, "Put your shirt on" could have been asked of more than just a few ....

+++ Is this really a U.S. Constitutional moment? +++

The Raelian Movement (rael.org)  claims that denying FEMALE public nudity is against the Constitution. (No example was giving of where this is written).

They also claim to be 64,000 strong, this Raelian "religion". Founded by Frenchman Claude Vorlihon (a.k.a. Rael), they believe humans were created 25,000 years ago by aliens using genetic engineering and that genetic engineering holds the key to eternal life.

SO, these bare-breasted women and the Raelian Revelations, that's all we need for a happy life. Who would've thought that the pursuit of happiness could be so "simple".

Women of the World, Rise up! FREE your Breasts. FREE your MINDS! The rest of us should 'take heed, 'cause they're probably coming to a college near you, REAL soon.

Au revoir!

++ An addendum++

http://rael.org
http://gotopless.org

A bit more on the Raelian Movement and a snippet from the NY Post report on the Topless march:

"In honor of Women's Equality Day the GO TOPLESS PRIDE PARADE 2016 (in its ninth year) was held worldwide.

For all those willing to bring their diversity and unique twist to a Topless Rights Parade for Gender Equality in the Big Apple !!

Vorlihon (their fearless leader) claims that aliens... commissioned him to prepare humans for the second coming of their extraterrestrial creators by teaching a message of sexual freedom and eternal life through science... and he encourages women to go even further, to take charge of this planet!"

When I arrived, I knew nothing about the Raelian Sponsorship but, I knew something (or someone) was connected, as I saw this disturbing symbol on t-shirts and necklaces walking amongst the parade participants.

"The current official symbol of the Raelian Movement is a hexagram intertwined with a right-facing swastika."

"This is a symbol that Rael saw on the Elohim spaceship. As a point of note, a very similar symbol can be seen on some copies of the Tibetan Book of the Dead, where a swastika sits inside two overlapping triangles. Starting around 1991, this symbol was often replaced by a variant star and swirl symbol as a public relations move, particularly toward Israel.

However, the Raelian Movement has now readopted the original version as their official symbol. Raelians argue that the banning of the swastika because of its Nazi connections would be like banning the Christian cross because the Klu Klux Klan used to burn them as symbols of their own hate."

As the parade marched down Broadway (to 48th), and then across to the UN, I made another observation: I think THESE are Bernie's People. Sure, some will vote for "Hilda", but this 'ain't her people" (or The Donald's).

A cross-section of what's gone deeply wrong with our culture.

Gullible Leftards lead by the French Raelians, who offer Eternal Life compliments of Alien Geneticists.

PLEASE RUN ! Don't walk to the ballot box on Nov 8. G-d save us all from these cultural absurdities. Our future depends on it.

---

 The NY Post captured a fatuous comment from one of the nubile participants:

" While the publicly naked female nipple has been legal in New York since 1992, the Go Topless Parade is intended to honor “women’s equal rights to go topless in public.

...those who opted to doff their tops — many taking part in the rally noted the crowds were mostly made of up gawking men and creeps with cameras.

“We’re not here for everyone’s entertainment, we’re not here to get our pictures taken. We’re here to show that this is normal and that it’s legal to have your top off in New York City as a woman,” said visibly upset lab tech Elyse Scarpino, a 26-year-old from New Jersey.

“I thought it was gonna be a little more progressive and less men just ogling at you.”

“I don’t see any respect here, I just see people pointing their—” Scarpino was interrupted mid-sentence by another man trying to shove his camera toward her breasts." - NY Post

Links to my uncensored Flickr Slideshow  (sign into Flickr for complete slide show) and You Tube video

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