Piracy and the Threat of the Truth

Written by Karima Hamdan

With the abundance of websites in cyberspace - some self-absorbed, some littered with bad prose and even worse poetry, some full of anger, hate and malice - it is easy to occasionally wonder what the point of it all is. Is anyone reading? Does anyone care? Does any of it really make a difference?

For an independent site like UmmahPulse.com it is sometimes easy to believe that there is no way to compete with the giant media outlets and their own heavily editorialised version of events. In the tightly controlled world of the media the truth disappears down a rabbit hole into its own Alice in Wonderland reality where the "only democracy in the Middle East" can carry out a murderous pirate raid on an international aid ship and get away with it whilst the so-called "free press" is given a free ride on their propaganda machine.

Your Silence is Tacit Approval

Written by Karima Hamdan

The public discourse in the west regarding Islam has a distinct needle-stuck-in-a-groove quality to it. First the niqab, then minarets, then shariah, then the niqab... and so on. More recently, the discourse has become even more repetitious with just one issue being reported over and over again - the niqab.

Unveiling Groupthink

Written by Karima Hamdan

An alien passing by this small blue-green rock orbiting around an isolated yellow star would be quite frankly puzzled if it tapped into some of our recent media.

His (or more accurately "its") puzzlement would be on several levels.

France's Confusion

Written by Muhammad Tahir

To describe France's relationship with religion in general, and its Muslim minority in particular, as "tortured" would be something of an understatement. Since the French revolution, France has sought to portray itself as the vanguard of secular liberation from the tyranny of religion. Despite the revolution being over 210 years old, old habits still die hard: it was only in 2007 that France crossed the threshold of being officially less than 50% Roman Catholic, while at the same time seeing a steady rise in the number of people describing themselves as atheist's (31% in 2007 vs 23% in 1994).

Cameron and the Muslim Vote (Part V)

Written by Husain Al-Qadi

In the previous four articles on the topic of David Cameron and the Muslim vote, I discussed various strands of Neoconservative thinking within the higher echelons of the Tory Party and how this has influenced their anti-Muslim rhetoric. An outburst in Parliament by the Leader of the Party, David Cameron, against some Muslim schools in Britain served as the catalyst for this series, in which I highlighted the party's choreographing of Muslim stigma, uncovered Michael Gove's role as Cameron's ventriloquist, revealed their enmity towards Islam hidden behind anti-radicalism rhetoric and their links to, and aspirations for, the quixotic "Christmas tree activists" at the Quilliam Foundation.

"Divinely" Decreed Deception

Written by Karima Hamdan

With over one billion adherents, a network of centrally controlled churches spanning the earth, coffers groaning with riches collected over two thousand years, a tiny nation state at its heart steeped in the arcane and mysterious, and an (according to Catholic theology) all-powerful, all-knowing, infallible Pope at its head, the Roman Catholic Church can be an impressive sight.

Voting Vagaries - Don't be Hustled at the Hustings

Written by Karima Hamdan

As the landscape of the UK is transformed from barren winter into abundant spring, the political landscape is undergoing its own rapid alteration.

With the clarion call of the General Election, the humble British voter metamorphoses from Oliver Twist, standing in front of the great table, bowl in hand, pleading for more, into Giant Haystacks striding across the countryside ready to mete out an electoral "running elbow drop" on any politician claiming £2,000 of expenses for a duck house.