In The News

Muslim-as-Apple-Pie Videos Are Greeted With Skepticism

Jane Perlez October 30, 2002
Four new videos showing American Muslims feeling happy and at home in the US are being pre-screened in Indonesia. The videos, paid for by the US State Department, feature a baker, a teacher, an emergency medic, and the head of the US National Institutes for Health, all offering glowing testimonials to American tolerance and acceptance of Muslims. The spots are intended to be shown in Muslim...

Falungong’s Signals of Defiance of China

Jason Leow July 10, 2002
Using relatively cheap technology, followers of Falungong were able to interrupt the World Cup Finals and the anniversary of the Hong Kong handover broadcast on Chinese state television. Their purpose was to counteract state propaganda that has branded Falungong as an evil cult. While most of the interruptions were in rural China, which often receives TV programs celebrating China’s modernization...

In the U.S. Nowadays, Little Love for France

Emily Eakin July 6, 2002
The US and France have a long history of harboring snide cultural stereotypes, one that scholars trace back as far as 1797. And neither country is averse to verbally bashing the other whenever the two disagree politically. Thus, the spate of anti-Semitic incidents and a rise of anti-Americanism in France as a result of the war in Afghanistan have conspired to re-ignite francophobia in the...

RI's 'Madrasah' Producing Techno-illiterates

Mochtar Buchori July 3, 2002
Mochtar Buchori contrasts the difference between political and cultural madrasas. The political madrasas, which are found mainly in Pakistan and Afghanistan, teach Islamic fundamentalism. However, the cultural madrasas, found in Indonesia with some supported by the government, teach respect for Islam along with a liberal education. Buchori argues that the challenge for Indonesia is to increase...

The War on Terrorism Takes Aim at Crime

James Dao April 7, 2002
The United States has expanded the global war on terrorism to include fighting drug and crime syndicates that operate in countries across Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas. Officials are targeting these networks because evidence shows a complex nexus between crime, drugs, and terrorism. The link between these networks has strengthened since the end of the Cold War, when terrorist...

In Kashmir Sequel, Seeking a New Ending

Celia W. Dugger January 2, 2002
According to New York Times writer Celia W. Dugger, ''confrontations between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, the beautiful Himalayan land, have unfolded like movie sequels with the same discouraging plot line. But recently, the sheer force of events seems to have fast-forwarded the story line between these old enemies and suddenly a different, more hopeful ending seems possible, if...

Yes, This Is About Islam

Salman Rushdie November 2, 2001
In this New York Times op-ed article, controversial novelist Salman Rushdie rejects the official US stance that the war against terrorism is not about Islam. The US dissociates terrorism from Islam to maintain the global coalition against terrorism that necessarily includes Muslim countries. However, Rushdie says, Muslim demonstrations around the world in support of Osama bin Laden and the much...