Bangladeshi Muslim Writes About Media
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Shoaib Choudhury was editor of the Bangladeshi Magazine Weekly Blitz, and was on his way from Bangladesh to Tel Aviv to give a lecture entitled "The Role of the Media in Establishing Peace," when he was arrested and eventually charged with sedition, a capital offense. Choudhury and others feel that he is being prosecuted for his views. |
An Op-Ed by Choudhury in today’s Jerusalem Post relay some of his thoughts about the media:
Islam does not endorse terrorism, the killing of innocents or even destruction of property. Under normal conditions, Muslims would not do so either. And yet so few Muslims object to what is being done in the name of their religion. Opportunists don an Islamic mask to justify their misdeeds, and our media support them and, thereby, our own impoverishment, ignorance and oppression.
Only a strong countervailing media presence will make for positive change, as our initial efforts in Bangladesh suggest. Our weekly tabloid, Weekly Blitz, is about the only place in the Muslim world where people can read positive things about Israel. …
But our efforts are feeble and tentative compared to the great noise heard day after day from the other media giants. Muslims need to hear more voices of dissent, of reason, of decency. And a democracy like Bangladesh just might offer us a beachhead to join this epic battle.
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