Our mission is to Build Bridges – to promote Peace and Dialogue through Proactive Interactions at individual and organizational levels — and to provide Answers to questions about Islam and American Muslims.

Why MuslimChannels.tv? While cable and dish are swamped with religious channels, Muslims in the United States have unequal opportunity for access. Not for economical, content quality, or viewership concerns, rather because of politics of fear and media monopoly. This shortage in Islamic content and educational TV programming must be addressed in order to build bridges not only with non-Muslims, but also with new Muslims, and help in the education of young Muslims. MuslimChannels.tv hopes to facilitate a pathway by offering free online access to a network of Live TV Stations and Video Channels, utilizing public access to broadband connection, and acceptable online display quality in full screen mode.”

See what they have to offer: MuslimChannels.tv

I hadn’t realized the effect of media on even very young children until I recently overheard my four-year-old grandson telling his seven-year-old sister that he liked Obama. The six-year-old yelled back that she liked Hillary.

Unfortunately, Muslims in America have a unique relationship with the news media.
To begin with, Islam and the Muslims have never enjoyed a balanced portrayal in the West due to centuries of competition between the world’s two largest religions, and to the Middle East conflict that began in 1948. Now, it seems the events of 9/11 have given a free hand to the media to pick on Muslims, who have become the number-one minority group demonized in the public square, in books, in print and broadcast media, on movie screens, and increasingly on the Internet with the explosive proliferation of single-focus sites where hate-speech runs unchecked.”

To read the rest of the article, go to Engage Minnesota and read it there.

All of the following information has been taken from the the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

To read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in more than 336 languages click on this sentence.

Education

“Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory.Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit…. Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among … racial or religious groups….”

–Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 26

“The States Parties … recognize the right of everyone to education…. Education shall enable all persons to participate effectively in a free society, promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among … racial, ethnic or religious groups…. Primary education shall be compulsory and available free to all… Secondary education … including technical and vocational secondary education, shall be made generally available and accessible to all…. Higher education shall be made equally accessible to all….”

–International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Article 13

The People’s Movement for Human Rights Education notes that “the human right to education is inextricably linked to other fundamental human rights — rights that are universal, indivisible, interconnected and interdependent including:

Health

1. Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
2. Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection. 1. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.
   

   Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 25

1. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.

2. The steps to be taken by the States Parties to the present Covenant to achieve the full realization of this right shall include those necessary for:

(a) The provision for the reduction of the stillbirth-rate and of infant mortality and for the healthy development of the child;

(b) The improvement of all aspects of environmental and industrial hygiene;

(c) The prevention, treatment and control of epidemic, endemic, occupational and other diseases;

(d) The creation of conditions which would assure to all medical service and medical attention in the event of sickness.

–International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Article 12

June, 10 from the Twin Cities Daily Planet By Justin Schell

“Last Friday night, over 80 attended the seventh annual Somali Education Night, an event founded by Mahamoud Wardere and held at the Somali Education Center in Minneapolis. The Somali Education Center offers not only afterschool programs for students in grades K-12, but also adult education and summer programs. Wardere said that the event was organized because he wanted to help Somalis get a better understanding of how to access a good education.

The focus this year was specifically on higher education, to have “students exposed to the university,” according to Wardere—who has worked as a teacher at Washburn High School, is a formal mayoral candidate, and has worked as a representative for Norm Coleman’s St. Paul office.”

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