Islamic filmmakers Achernar and Noreagaa have put out on the Web a huge 50-part compilation called the Wakeup Project explaining Jihadism to the English-speaking world. While some of their claims are too abstruse to be testable, many aren't. And most of these claims are false.
Historical Falsehoods
Muslims World
The first such claim is that the Antichrist (in Arabic, Dajjal) has ruled, and is going to rule, the world through Western countries, with England ruling from 900AD to 1900AD; America from 1917 to 2000; then Israel for the next 23 years. Anyone with historical knowledge knows this to be false. England was a feudal backwater that, with the exception of its conquest of France under Henry V, barely ruled itself until Queen Elizabeth, who came into power in 16th century. Until then, the major powers in the world were China, which controlled half the world's GDP while Europe was in the Dark Ages; the Muslim lands around Baghdad; and the Mongol Empire, which controlled half the world's landmass and population for over a century. The Songhai and Mali empires of Africa, the Moghul Empire of India, the Moore Civilization of Northern Africa, the Muslim caliphates, and the Mesoamerican civilizations, all had accomplishments that exceeded those of Medieval England. These things are not mentioned much in Western history classes, as these were not proud times in white man's history. But those who study world history know this to be the case.
England was in fact the greatest power in the world for three centuries from 1600 to 1900; but even then it was not alone. Spain, France, and to a lesser extent Germany, Russia, United States, Ottoman Empire, Netherlands, Belgium, and Portugal, all controlled large parts of the world at the time. These three centuries could be called European centuries, but the previous seven hundred years were neither English nor European. To claim that England ruled the world from 900AD to 1900AD is absurd.
Muslims World
The claim that America ruled the world from 1917 to 2000 is more accurate, but that is not saying much. The 20th century has in fact been called American century; but once again that is not the full story. The two great powers of 20th century were United States and Soviet Union. Germany and Japan also aspired to be great powers, but they were defeated militarily; after which they became major economic, but not military or political, powers. The claim of the film is that Israel will rule the world for the next 23 years. That comes across as unlikely; but if a tiny nation like Israel, that is faced with the kind of hatred with which it is faced, can not only survive as a nation but exercise a major voice in world affairs, then that is a great accomplishment on the part of Israeli people and one for which they deserve respect.
In its invective against Zionism, the film shows a picture of a book called "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion." This book is a well-known Russian forgery. There is no such thing as "the Elders of Zion" or their "protocols," and the practices that are described in this book have absolutely no relation to actual practices of any Jewish denomination. That these filmmakers would use such an obvious and well-known fraud shows them that they are conmen, and that they also think that their audience is stupid enough to fall for their con. Neither of these bode well for their treatment of their audience.
Another fraudulent claim is that the current Pope is a Nazi - bolstered by a picture of the Pope as a child with a swastika on his arm. Should I state the obvious: That the fact the Pope was a child in Germany at the time that Germany was Nazi says nothing about his current convictions or about who he presently is? The Nazi Germany was a totalitarian country, and the choice people had was either be Nazi or be dead. The only thing he can be accused of is being born in the wrong place at the wrong time. That he was Nazi, as a child, in a place where people had no other choice but to be Nazi, does not mean that he is a Nazi now, 65 years down the road.
Islamic Conspiracy Theories
A central claim of the film is that a monolithic Satanic elite has been running the world for centuries and is doing the same now. I ask this: What is the status of the relationships between an elite called the Texas Oil and an elite called the National Endowment for the Arts? For that matter, what was the status of the relationships between government elites and corporate elites - between Wall Street and Congressional Democrats - between CIA and American media - between Republican Party and American academia? What is the status of the relationships between Iranian students and Iranian Guardian Council - between Hindu Brahmins and Hindu Socialists - between Taliban and the United Arab Emirates commercial interests - between Tobacco Industry and the National Institutes of Health? At any time in the history of the world, there is any number of powerful groups and powerful individuals who have different and frequently competing or hostile beliefs, values and interests; as well as any number of ambitious or angry groups and individuals who seek to either become part of these groups, supplant them, destroy them, or exist alongside of them. The elites have different purposes and different aims, and the only thing that they have in common is that they got where they are by being effective at something. Beyond that, they are as different from one another as New York is from Kandahar.
Another claim is that the Hollywood stars are puppets - and not just anyone's puppets, but the puppets of powerful Satanic interests. There are two things that the filmmakers fail to understand about Hollywood. One is that it is a capitalist industry, and capitalist industries produce what sells. The movies about gangsters and drug dealers sell, and that's why they are on the market. For that matter, we also find on the market such religious films as Apostle, Fallen, Devil's Advocate, Passion and Apocalypto. For that matter, we also find on the market children's films such as Bambi, Beauty and the Beast, Transformers, Bratz and Cars. For that matter, we also find on the market Charlie Chaplin movies, Disney classics, and films such as Chinatown, Titanic, and Schindler's List. As any industry, Hollywood produces what sells; and what sells in market economy depends on the demand and what composes the demand.
They also fail to understand this: that Hollywood has many voices in it, and they too are different and have different agendas. So that when Madonna - who is in no way a puppet, who writes her own songs, who makes her own show, and who has always defied both convention and prediction to constantly re-invent herself, going from celebrating consumerism as "Material Girl" in 1980s to rejecting 1980s consumerism and everything that it was about in her 1999 mystical album ("You're so concerned with how much you get, you waste your time with hate and regret, you're frozen when your heart's not open") - metamorphs herself into a dog in her video, or appears as an occult priestess at a concert, what is presented is not the values of Hollywood, but the values of Madonna. The values of Madonna differ from the values of Alec Baldwin, whose values differ from the values of Angelina Jolie, whose values differ from those of Eminem, whose values differ from those of Elton John, whose values differ from the values of Britney Spears, whose values differ from those of Mel Gibson, whose values differ from those of Spike Lee or Francis Ford Coppolla or Steven Spielberg. This is an inevitable result of the fact that it is an entity that is not homogeneous, but has many people in it who believe different things.
The film is right to state that much great art gets lost in Hollywood, and that there is not presently music being produced in Hollywood that compares with the work of Bob Marley. This is likewise due to market. As I've found out from a magnificent rock band called Persephone's Bees, the Hollywood music industry works in genres, and music that is truly creative is not easy to pigeonhole. For that reason there is such a thing as alternative music market and independent ("indie") music market, and some of the work that is found in these markets is indeed great art.
Showing the murder of Malcolm X, the filmmakers state, "This is what happens to truth in the world." It bears stating that the exact same thing happened to American liberal leaders John and Robert Kennedy; to American atheist leader Madalyn Murray O'Hair; to civil rights and liberation leaders Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Patrice Lumumba; to Yitzhak Rabin, Anwar Sedat and Benazir Bhutto. Of these, only the last two were Muslim; and both were moderate Muslims who were murdered by Muslim militants. Malcolm X, as an assassinated leader, was in this regard one out of many, and in disagreement with most on just about everything that counts.
The film continues to portray Malcolm X as "one of the most powerful and most honest leaders of all time." This demonstrates just what the filmmakers define as honest and powerful. As Martin Luther King said, there is nothing more dangerous than honest ignorance and sincere stupidity. As far as great historic leaders go, Malcolm X is not even on the list. He does not begin to compare to Jefferson, Washington, Churchill, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Simon Bolivar, Kwame Nkruma, or even Lenin and Mao. Martin Luther King was the real "powerful honest" American civil rights leader whose nonviolent resistance gave black people the moral authority that was needed to change the American laws and society in their favor. Malcolm X, on the other hand, wanted violent struggle against the white man. That the filmmakers would identify blind, stupid, self-defeating violence with honesty and power says more about their character and their values than it does about anything else.
It was in fact this - blind, stupid, self-defeating violence - that became the worst blight of American black communities in the decades that followed. Not only did this practice result in rape, pillage and murder of millions of black Americans by other black Americans and the black neighborhoods becoming blighted to the point that no business or educational institution would go there, but it severely undermined the moral authority that American black people had gained through the nonviolent civil rights struggle. The black neighborhoods turning into a gangster's paradise not only ruined life for black people, but also formed much of the basis for latter-day racism on the part of people inside and outside America. This ruinous legacy, unfortunately, has much to do with advocates of violence, both against the white man and in itself.
Another claim in the film is that the Freemasons are a satanic cult, and that America as the world's first Masonic country has been using covert tactics, from magic to psychological manipulation, to turn people toward the Masonic way of thinking in order to control the world. This claim is wed with the claim that Zionism is also Satanic and allied with Freemasonry. This reminds me of the "Kike-Masonic Conspiracy" nonsense that the hooligan types in Russia were shouting about. Covert persuasion, and different forms of mystical practices, have been used through all of history, by all kinds of entities. If the Freemasons are using mysticism, they are in that one group among myriads. As for use of psychology, it is standard marketing and political fare and has been so for decades all over the world.
A large part of the film goes on to relate different structures around the world to have been created for the sake of harvesting energy for purposes good or ill. It then claims that octagones and domes are good; that obelisks such as Washington Monument and pyramids such as the decorations on U.S. Dollar are evil; and that the street plan of Washington, DC shows an inverted pentagram - the symbol of Lucifer. The claim is that all these structures have been created to serve Satan. I am reminded of a poetry reading in DC that I attended. Someone started the reading by referring to Washington Monument as "a giant while penis symbolizing the white man screwing the world." I responded with, "As one of the few white people here, I would like to make clear that the penis on the Washington Mall is not mine." Octagons, domes good? Obelisks, pyramids evil? What about structures that are not found either in Islamic or Western architecture? What about pagodas, stupas, monasteries and homes carved into mountains, Japanese gardens, Golden Temple of Armitsar, Kremlin, the Forbidden City of Bejing, Boroboddur, the structures of Machu Picchu? To claim such things without proof is irresponsible propaganda, which most of the movie shows itself to be.
The film shows the outside and the inside of a major new shopping center in Dubai and claims its Egyptian-style decorations to be an attempt to resurrect the religion of ancient Egypt. More likely, it is simply a tourist draw. Since many of the people who go to Dubai to do shopping there are from the West, it is good business sense that they get a taste there of ancient Egypt. And if anyone who was affiliated with the project actually had it in mind to recreate some achievements of Egyptian civilization, then that may be called conscience. Egypt was a major civilization before it became Muslim; and if some people in Middle East are interested in recreating some of Egypt's achievements, then that is to their credit.
There is a claim in the movie that since the construction of Burj Dubai - by far the world's tallest building - the city of Dubai has been covered in mist, in which it has not been covered previously. The movie claims that no meteorologist has explained this, but that it is explained metaphysically as Burj Dubai being Satanic. Apparently the meteorologists asked have not been particularly competent. The building is so tall, that its tallest portions reach much colder air that is found at its heights close to a kilometer above the ground. The cold then goes down the building to cool the air at the bottom of the building, reducing its ability to carry water and resulting in humidity settling down as mist.
Metaphysical Blunders
The movie talks about different metaphysical ideas, such as that the checkered floor is the symbol of intersection of dimensions, and that every time there is a checkered floor, then that is its meaning. The claim in all cases is that application of any metaphysical ideas, whether done deliberately or not deliberately, is done to serve the Satan - in the same way as, for example, many Western Christians accuse Wiccans of worshiping Satan when Wiccans do not even believe that there is such a being as Satan, less worship the same. One would expect to hear this from people who believe that all of the world - both nature and man - is of the Satan, and that all its knowledge and accomplishment is meant to serve Satan. But what one really is hearing in all these cases is the Mosque or the Church appropriating the credit for all that exists in nature and all that humanity has accomplished while it has created none of these things, has destroyed it wherever it found it, and viciously resisted it in the areas of its domination whenever it attempted to come to being.
Intersection of dimensions evil? What next: The coordinate system evil? Calculus evil? Physics evil? Chemistry? Biology? It is by having beliefs such as these that Muslims ensured the ignorance of the people who have the misfortune of living under their rule and the complete lack of accomplishment by Muslims in mathematics, science, technology and related pursuits. And this reflects a degradation not only in those people but in Islam itself. The Muslims of Middle Ages were masterful in mathematics and architecture; but aggressively ignorant attitudes such as this prevent the same mastery from being achieved by the Muslims of today. And that hurts mostly the Muslims, especially ones such as are in Dubai, who have the courage and intellect to accept and apply mathematics and science and who, for that, are treated to slander and demonization.
The film then goes through music videos, concerts, and cartoons to show the supposed Satanic symbolism contained in them. Given that the filmmakers would interpret anything - a checkered floor, an obelisk, shopping mall decorations, the map of DC or the eye on the US dollar - as Satanic, these claims are to be expected considering the source. The filmmakers are suffering from paranoia and confirmatory bias. There are many ways to interpret a checkered floor or an obelisk, and it does not have to have anything to do with Ra or Dajjal. So that while they interpret Madonna's video of the song Frozen, which she wrote when she started studying New Age, as being an attempt on the part of the Satan to steal people's souls, the words such as the song lyrics "If I could melt your heart we'd never be apart, give yourself to me" - that they claim to be evidence of Satan attempting to take people over - are nothing that we do not see in men wooing women or in women wooing men. And while there are many interests that use film as their means of communication or advertisement, to claim Hollywood to be a monolithic Satanic cult is ridiculous.
Then there is the claim that the Gospel story of Jesus was modified to reflect the story of Horus, which led people through Christianity to worship Egyptian sun-god Ra. Since the symbol of Ra is a single eye, the film then claims that Dajjal - which the Quran refers to as being one-eyed - is in fact this Egyptian god. It then shows photos of different drawings of the One Eye on churches and cathedrals, as well as on the US dollar, and claims that all these are manifestations of the one-eyed Antichrist. The further claim is that all people complicit in any of this are in fact following Satan, and that Freemasons, as the people who built the cathedrals and churches of Europe, have duped people into doing the same.
While most readers will see this as being ridiculous, it merits a deeper response for those who may be thinking that it is not. First of all, the symbol on the dollar is not Ra; it is the all-seeing eye. Since the eye is the symbol of seeing, it should not be surprising that it would be found on religious architecture to symbolize that God is watching, that God knows, and that the people cannot avoid this. Secondly, many practices within Christianity are in fact borrowed from other religions of the time. Easter is borrowed from Babylonian goddess Ishtar, who was the goddess of resurrection and whose symbols were a rabbit and an egg. Christmas was put into the place of the Roman holiday Saturnalia. The Christmas tree was a pagan symbol of resurrection. The film says nothing about these practices; meaning that it does not know and cannot comment in an informed and intelligent way.
The Great Satan Theory
Much of the movie has references to a film called Zeitgeist, which makes a case that 9-11 was an inside job and that there is a group of bankers who have been controlling the world behind the scenes. One does not need a conspiracy theory to see how bankers would be in a position to exercise covert political influence. As the providers of capital, they have much leverage over the production process; and the money that they accrue also gives them power that they can wield as they choose. The dynamics of the banking profession itself allows for a strong possibility of bankers wielding unelected authority from behind the scenes, in the same way as say the dynamics of CIA - as a secretive organization possessing very advanced knowledge - also allows for the possibility of CIA wielding such power or with getting away with actions that would be unacceptable if they were openly scrutinized. Logically, there are many people and organizations that wield power from behind the scenes, and one does not need to resort to conspiracy theories to understand that.
With jihadism however, we are seeing anything that is wrong in the West - or anything that anyone says to be wrong with the West, whether or not it be true - being used to advance the Great Satan theory. One major strategy of the Islamists is infiltrating all groups and people who have a problem with the system and subverting them toward jihad. And what these groups and people don't know but should know is that the system that the Islamists want to force on them is far more brutal, far more oppressive, and far more terrible than anything that they are living with. Even if such conspiracy theories were true, being ruled by bankers is better than being ruled by the Taliban, and I am sure that people who have had the experience of both would be able to corroborate that.
The movie refers to an alleged fraud by British media in fabricating signs carried by Muslim demonstrants to read hateful slogans. That claim is not unlikely - the British media, it may be remembered, fabricated in 1990s a racket of accusing Pagans of practicing "Satanic Ritual Abuse" of children - an accusation that was debunked, but that is still held by many in the back of their minds. And what the British media don't understand is that they do not need to use fraud in order to paint Islamists as villains. All it really needs to do is expose the history of Islam, from being founded by a pedophilic tyrant who at age 84 bedded a 9-year-old, to its extermination of 150 million people during its spread through Middle East, to the barbaric practices of present-day Muslims such as throwing sulphuric acid into girls' faces for going to school or not wearing burqa, giving a girl 200 lashes for riding in a car with a friend, and torturing and assassinating political and religious leaders who preach democracy, tolerance and moderation.
There is a claim in the movie that Islam is the world's fastest growing religion, and that most new converts are women. Among male converts, the most in America are found in its prisons. These are people who are already violent, lawless, and have a grudge against the system; which means that they will come out of the prisons not only Muslims, but militant Muslims, and will upon the end of their sentence take jihad to America's streets. And that, is far more dangerous to America than any number of sociopaths or drug pushers. A severe internal threat to America's security is being created at taxpayer expense, and American people deserve to know about it.
Islamist Threat
While the thrust of aggressive Islam is anti-American, this is no reason for Europe, Russia, Asia and Latin America to think that they are not under threat. The goal of Islamism is world domination, and that not only means USA; it means everyone. When Cortez landed in Mexico, the neighbors of Aztecs, who saw Aztecs as being barbaric aggressors, collaborated with Cortez to bring down the Aztec city-state Tenochtitlan. They did not realize that Cortez did not only want to enslave the Aztecs, but also to enslave them. The jihadists may not be as aggressively anti-European as they are anti-American, but if they had their way, the whole world would be living by sharia. This is not only a threat against America. This is a threat against everyone, and on this matter it is fitting that Europeans, Americans, Russians, Asians and everyone else who is not jihadist put aside their differences and work together to protect the world from this menace.
The movie presents Muslim men as being loving fathers who enjoy providing for their families. Question 1: How good providers are the world's poorest people, a vast portion of whom - from Pashtuns to Somalis - are Muslim? Question 2: How loving are the men who murder their daughters for getting raped, throw sulfur in their wives' faces for arguing with them, and send their children to blow up marketplaces? Being raised by an Islamist father - or being married to an Islamist husband - is a nightmare that I would not wish upon my worst enemies. One would have better life as a sewer child in Rio or a slum child in India than being raised by the Taliban.
The movie ends with a scene in which a Muslim Imam refers to Zionists as murderers and rapists and is telling a crowd that he was going to make war on Zionists. It bears stating that the Islam was spread through Middle East through rape, murder and pillage, and that approximately 150 million people from Morocco to Pakistan were slaughtered by Bedouin invaders. Nothing that Zionists have ever done begins to compare to this atrocity. Israel deserves honor for having resisted this menace for this long while being surrounded by it on every side. The attitudes shown in this film make a strong case for the Western countries - including Israel - to keep a good stockpile of nuclear weapons. We are dealing with people who will lie, con, murder anyone and then claim themselves the warriors for Allah; and with such people there is no compromise.
The Islamists believe that destruction of Israel and Freemasonry is the will of Allah. From what Quran states, Allah is all-powerful and can do anything he wants to, at any time, without consulting anyone or needing anyone's help. If it was the will of Allah to destroy Israel, or United States, or Western Europe, then Allah would have been easily able to do that himself and without needing any mere mortals to help him. That he has not done that, means either that this is not the will of Allah or that Allah either does not exist or is not what the Quran states him to be.
In claiming their selfish political purposes to be the will of Allah, the Islamists are insulting the god that they worship. From what Quran says about Allah's character, these people are not going anywhere near heaven if they insist on using Allah like that. If there is such a thing as Allah, the people pulling this trick will find themselves in the same place as the people they hate, with the people they hate having the upper hand on them, and without Allah there to protect them or the Taliban there to publicly whip, hang or throw acid into the faces of all the "infidels" with whom they'll get to share such a place.
Response
The Middle East had great civilizations - Egypt, Persia, Phoenicians, Mesopotamia, Byzantine Empire - before the arrival of Islam. And as the worst in the Middle East are attempting to forcibly convert the world to the practice of sharia, I think it is time for a bit of reciprocity. I think it is time that the people of the West, the East, the North and the South help the people of Middle East recover the better identity that they had as part of these great civilizations before their forced conversion by marauding hooligans, as well as to create a new identity for themselves - as what they themselves may choose to become, away from oppression and brutality by the ideological descendants of those who forced this atrocity on their countries.
The makers of the film claim that they have studied many things, including major religions. As someone who has likewise studied many things, including religions but as much science and history, I can say with full clarity that we are dealing here with a totalitarian cult that will not tolerate anything except itself and will destroy anyone who has any disagreement with it, no matter how minor or how honest it may be. That these totalitarians, who give a pedophilic tyrant the full authority over the lives of a billion people and want to force the same upon the rest of the world, would claim themselves to have God's truth and all else to be serving the Satan, shows them to practice a Big Lie as massive as that of Hitler, that is just as aiming at taking over the world and would not stop at anything to do so. It is time that not only the West, but the rest of the world, see the threat that is posed by them and address it effectively before it is too late.
Jihadist Propaganda - Achernar and Noreagaa, Debunked
