Friday, May 17, 2013

Dearborn Arab International Festival Canceled This Year

It's sad to see the festival canceled, but it's probably in Dearborn's best interest to cancel it. Terry Jones and Ruben Israel were coming to the festival to protest, and some of the attendees don't respond well to protesters. The city has made some important strides over the past few years, mostly due to the persuasive power of lawsuits. However, until the citizens of Dearborn can somehow convince young people not to react violently to constitutionally protected free speech, it's better not to draw a crowd.

Not surprisingly, Niraj Warikoo of the Detroit Free Press is blaming the cancelation on "aggressive" Christian "extremists," and not on the security guards who assaulted us in 2009, or on the police officers who arrested us in 2010 for having a peaceful discussion (and, two days later, took us into custody for distributing Bibles outside of the festival), or on the young Muslims who chased a preacher out of the festival in 2011, or on the young Muslims who viciously attacked Ruben Israel's group in 2012. For the Detroit Free Press, problems at the festival are always caused by Christians, even if the Christians are bleeding after being pelted with rocks. I wonder if Niraj will ever realize that, by refusing to hold Muslims accountable for their actions, he's treating them like children, and engaging in a subtle form of racism (the racism of lowered expectations).

Dearborn--After growing religious tensions between some Christian missionaries and local Muslims, the annual Arab International Festival in Dearborn has been canceled for this year, organizers said Friday.

The announcement left many disappointed that a small number of aggressive extremists could ruin what had become a tradition in the eastern section of Dearborn, which has a significant number of Arab Americans.

The city and organizers were facing increased insurance and liability costs because of the tensions and lawsuits over the festival. Last month, the City of Dearborn had proposed moving the festival to a park instead of the traditional location on Warren Avenue in order to decrease conflict.

But Fay Baydoun, director of the American-Arab Chamber of Commerce, said Friday that it would have been impossible to organize a successful event in time at the new location. Baydoun said she hopes that next year’s festival will “come back better and stronger.” (Continue Reading.)

Be sure to read the comments on Niraj's article, to see how he's managed to convince his readers that a handful of Christian "extremists" caused all of the problems at the festival. I suspect that, if people like Niraj had reported honestly on what was happening at the festival in 2009, the problems would have been addressed and dealt with, and the festival would continue to this day.

26 comments:

Chief Mac said...

So doesn't the world do the same to Israel. Muslims attack and kill innocent civilians and Israel is told not to over-react.

OffendedMan said...

Awesome news. Keep fighting the good fight!

Traeh said...

The security situation with large numbers of Muslims at a public festival where there is proselytizing is so grave that Dearborn cannot handle it. Thus Muslims shut down free societies. But so many people will not learn from this. They will wait till things get much, much worse before abandoning illusions.

But I wonder how the UK manages this sort of thing at Speaker's Corner or whatever it's called...

concernedforusa said...

David,

On May 7, 2013, Sam Shamoun and C.L. participated in two Jesus or Muhammad shows on ABNSAT.com.

We still do not have videos of those two shows. Are you going to post these videos on your website?

Thank you

GreekAsianPanda said...

Unfortunately, it looks like most of the commenters are convinced that this is all Christians' fault. Idiots.

Unknown said...

Speaking of Dearborn I've looked all over the city website and can't find the apology they had to make to Acts 17 anywhere. Can someone point me to it?

Anonymous said...

Describing the problems of Dearborn Muslims with Christians as "growing religious tensions" is like describing the Nazi destruction of Jewish businesses as "conflicts between the private and political sector"

Foolster41 said...

Gazza Sloane , It's here, burred and mislabeled:

http://www.cityofdearborn.org/city-departments/public-information/public-notices

ChrisLA said...

All of this boils down to the Muslim claim of religious superiority and exclusiveness. If all religions enjoy equal rights, Islam loses out. For Muslims, common ground dialogue works only if the dialogue is one way. That is why it is imperative that Christians publicly and intelligently defend their faith wherever Muslims try to gain the upper ground. Read Jude 3-4.

Joe Bradley said...

I found the "apology" on the Dearborn website. It is buried in, what appears to be, a made-up web page specifically designed to host this link (since it is the only link on the, otherwise, blank page). It is NOT entitled as an apology, rather as "Arab Fest 2010". It is not written in html, rather it is an Acrobat file (PDF) that is available for download.

Click here to go to the page.

Unknown said...

"The city and organizers were facing increased insurance and liability costs because of the tensions and lawsuits over the festival."
Sounds more like the city knows it's going to loose again in court and will have to pay up.
Instead of changing their 'ways' and avoid an eventual lawsuit they prefer to cancel the whole event.
The blame is not with the 'protestors' but with the organisers.

simple_truth said...

GreekAsianPanda said...

Unfortunately, it looks like most of the commenters are convinced that this is all Christians' fault. Idiots.

=================

What can you expect from sources that don't give facts and objectivity? This is no different than what our major media outlets do on a regular basis, which explains why a large portion of our citizens are almost always seeing the opposition as the enemy when their enemy is actually those that misreport the so-called news.

As stated already, had the Police done their jobs in the first place, we would most likely not get to this point. Additionally, had Dearborn not tried to violate the rights of Christians initially and made it a point to harass David and others, the issue and the tensions would have had no root with which to grow.

Unknown said...

The violent "extremists" were the Muslims attempting to enforce Shariah law, which forbids any criticism, questioning, or insulting of Islam or Mohammad under penalty of death. Dearborn is STILL under U.S. law, and it is a Constitutionally-protected free speech right to share your faith on a public street, even when there is an Arab Festival in progress. We cannot allow thugs to rule by intimidation and violence to enforce foreign laws on public streets. If Christians want to share their faith with Muslims on a U.S. street, that is legally protected.

Joe Bradley said...

The videos that are linked into the second paragraph demonstrate that which passes for civilization in the Muslim community. Dearborn should be placed under Martial Law and be patrolled by the military just like the Middle East.

Deleting said...

Not surprised they cancelled it.
Wouldn't be surprised of it were cancelled next year too.
Or the year after that.
This is still censorship of Christianity...controlling the opportunities to evangelize Muslims since putting them in prison didn't work and cost too much.

Haecceitas said...

Wouldn't it be a good idea to try to set up some kind of event in some kind of a venue (obviously smaller scale than the Arab Fest due to financial reasons) in Dearborn during the very same days that the Arab Fest was supposed to take place?

It could involve some debates, discussions and presentations on issues involving Christianity and Islam as well as religious freedom, freedom of speech, etc. Since the city says in their apology letter that they "seek to build a bridge and to confirm to the community that members of all
faiths are welcome in Dearborn to peacefully share their views and to engage in religious discussions"
, then surely they couldn't categorically prevent you from organizing such an event in Dearborn? In fact, you could give the city leaders a public invitation to attend it.

And if you'd be able to get people like Robert Spencer or Pamela Geller involved, then that might also help with publicity and funding.

Joe Bradley said...

Haecceitas,

If that could only happen in Dearborn what a lovely world it would be. However, the civil authority in Dearborn is no longer in power. The Imams in the Mosques who must teach the Qur'an are, clearly, the ones in power enforcing their Book Of Hate. It is Sharia, NOT the Constitution which has the force of Law in Dearborn and The population will pay any price to keep it that way.

The Mayor and the folks in City Hall are merely practicing Taquiyya when they make such grandiose statements, probably more to ensure a steady flow of Saudi riyal into their pockets since job loss for those who have always suckled from the public teat can be particularly painful in such a bad economy.

Such an assemblage of personalities would merely give the Islamo-Thugs more Christians and Jews at whom to throw rocks and bottles while the corrupt Dearborn police arrest the victims to shut them up, under the pretense of taking them into protective custody. From a Sharia Law standpoint this makes perfect sense, however, the Constitution requires the victims and their unpopular speech to be protected by the police.

All one has to do is watch the video linked in the article in which one of the rioting Muslims continually tells the black christian preacher "Go home nigger" to realize that Dearborn is too far gone to allow any gathering of any religion other than Islam. In this video, the only thing the corrupt Dearborn police did was to continue to escort the Christian preacher off of the premises.

The only gathering appropriate for Dearborn is the civil and military authority which should enforce marshal law in its streets. Since Dearborn practices a form of government which is contrary to the Constitution, there can be no other way.

_____________________

The Qur'an Explained [Click Here]

Tom ta tum Tom said...

WAIT! WAIT! There's a "top-secret" Islamic refuge where Muslims can have a festival WITHOUT much Christian interference!

The refuge is a CITY! It's a city SO SECRET that none of the lamestream media ever bother to report much about it (maybe once a year). Christians don't openly go there and NO BIBLES are allowed!

So, don't tell ANYONE but Muslims: they can go to this city PERMANENTLY, have their festivals, interact with Camels in ANY WAY THEY CHOOSE and probably never, ever again have to hear about the love of Jesus or be confronted by the Word of God or the "plan of salvation"!!

Wouldn't that be, like, just so "Totally Tafsir"?

al-DHUDE!

And they don't EVER HAVE TO LEAVE this city! [song: "We built this city on chop & (blood) flow-hoh!" (as performed by Ibn-Jheffehrson Ishtarshyp)]

Is it Area 51? No.

Is it Cheyenne Mountain? No.

Is it the used-to-be-secret bunkers in West Virginia? No.

Didn't you guess it yet? Are you ready?

The name of the super secret city without many Christians is:

"MAKKAH"!

AWAY from the decadent Dearbornistan!

AWAY from the loving Christians and their "Jesus Christ"!

Muslims can live in MAKKAH all day, EVERY day - until the "day of judgement" and participate in Arab Festivals - EVEN IF THEY'RE NOT ARABS! (And in MAKKAH, if they're not Arab, they can participate by learning to be SLAVES!!)

So, Muslims: the next Arab Festival in the Super Secret City of Islam is..., whenever you get there!! Don't Wait! Get your travel & festival tickets NOW! And start learning the Arabic for "I came here to be your abd..."

There's plenty of ALLAH in MAKKAH for Muslims from ALL OVER THE WORLD!!

Endless Allah! Endless Arab-ness!
And all the Muslims in the world forever in MAKKAH!!

What could be more Islamic??

KAFIR AND PROUD!!

JoeBoom said...

I thought Jesus said to love? Christian hypocrisy at its best. Your comments are based on fascist and Neo Nazi ideology. You don't represent Christianity. Only your hate and denial. Good luck.

Unknown said...

Muslims have this habit of posing as victims while being openly aggressive. None of anything is their fault. Everything is blamed on the others and everything is to be answered by violence. they should be grateful that the world is not reacting to them in kind, yet.

Foolster41 said...

Joe Boomboots: Who are you talking to?

Joe Bradley said...

Joe BoomBots,

Jesus taught many things, including discernment. It is my opinion that your opinion is baseless and there has been nothing in this thread that would lead a reasonable person to believe that there are any comments that are based on fascist and Neo Nazi ideology. Further, prior to unsubstantiated claims of hypocrisy and fascism, you should make your case. Failure to do this makes you appear to be just another robotic apologist for the "Book Of Hate".
_____________________

The Qur'an Explained [Click Here]

Baron Eddie said...

I read the apology letter and that was a big fat lie

In the letter it says

"the parties seek to build a bridge and to confirm to the community
that members of all faiths are welcome in Dearborn to peacefully share
their views and to engage in religious discussions."

Canceling the festival would build a bridge!

I am certain also it will allow all faiths to share their views!

How lame!

This is Taqqya at its peak ...

Shame to Islam that claims "Deen Al Haq"/religion of truth!

If it was as they claim they should have that festival ...

Lie ... Lie ... Lie ...

Unknown said...

Have any if you even been to Dearborn? It sure sounds like you haven't. Dearborn is a regular American city. I live there and so do many Christians. You people are absolutely nuts. All I can say is wow.

David Wood said...

Have we been to Dearborn? Did you even read the post? I was assaulted in Dearborn, and arrested in Dearborn. That would be hard to do without actually being in the city at some point.

Joe Bradley said...

Mohammed Kassem,

Hopefully you're not a black Christian like the preacher the Muslim mob chased out of the festival in 2011, calling him a "Nigger" with his every step ("Go home Nigger"). Maybe when they get around to chasing you out of the festival you can forgo the racial epithets if you are other than black.

If THIS is your interpretation of a "regular American city", you have never been beyond the city limits of Dearborn.