"Gülen tops intellectuals list
With all due respect, Mr. Gülen cannot be the top in that list. It looks like Muslims mobilized themselves to occupy the top 10. As if there is a grand intellectual revolution going on in the Islamic world. I was never impressed with his religious thought, he is much more duller than Said Nursi whom Mr. Gülen follows. I never felt any closeness to the promoted idea of tolerance, his followers declare. But of course who can deny the network he creatively built and i am not also scared with it as some secularists are. Whatever the intention was, his educational initiatives worked for good for many poor kids. I believe the most innovative part of Mr. Gülen's movement is the creative use of educational institutions all over the world. His religious thought is a lightly nationalistic and highly Sunni. There is nothing new there. No religious innovation.
But of course, I have to admit, I find it very exciting to see that in the last 2-3 years Mr. Gülen's movement is involved directly in intelligence battles in Turkey. This is at least what the claim is and i find it quite substantive. The Gülen group had always chosen to be behind the scenes and never acted publicly. But things changed and there are rumors that most of the leaked documents (i.e. the coup preparation diaries or generals' phone talks) come thru their channel. One may never prove this, but this is already commen-sense around here. Gülen group now dares to counter-act. I find this as a balancing act in power relations and I look forward to seeing more of leaked documents:)
Turkish cleric Gülen tops intellectuals list
Western readers are likely to learn a few new names by checking out the final results of the Foreign Policy/Prospect poll of the World's Top Public Intellectuals. In an unprecedented development, all of the top 10 are Muslims, some of whom are barely known in the United States. No result was more surprising than our winner-by-a-landslide, Fethullah Gülen.
The Western media has never known quite what to make of this Turkish religious leader, who lives in exile near Philadelphia. He is described alternately as a leading voice for moderation and education in the Muslim world or the second coming of Ayatollah Khomeini. But, as we've learned here at FP, the passion and dedication of of his supporters is impressive, to say the least. After an article on the poll appeared in Turkey's Zaman newspaper, the avalanche of votes for Gülen began...
Foreign Policy rankings and Fethullah Gülen by Muhammed Çetin
Fethullah Gülen, a Turkish Islamic scholar, has come in first on a list of the top 100 living public intellectuals in a survey organized by the British magazine Prospect and Foreign Policy, a US publication.
Gülen ruling and Turkish schools
The Turkish judicial system gave its decision on Fethullah Gülen only two days after we attended the graduation ceremonies at the Turkish schools in Senegal and Mali.Who would most not want Gülen to return?
The sole goal of the bureaucratic elite is to preserve its privileged position and to dominate macro politics. In order to do this, they make (temporary) deals with everyone.
A real acquittal: Gülen case
Fethullah Gülen taught the people of this nation to think big. He showed that many things which in the past could only be accomplished by certain factions of Turkish society could in fact be done by all Turks.Religious leader found not guilty
Fethullah Gülen, the leader of a religious movement alleged to have connections with the government and some newspapers, was acquitted in a final ruling of the General Council of theWhen can Gülen return and how?
The ruling in favor of Fethullah Gülen's acquittal is both a historic decision and an indication of a new era opening in Turkey.Turkish top court approves sect leader's controversial acquittal
The Turkish Supreme Court upheld the acquittal verdict handed down for sect leader Fettullah Gulen. Approval of the verdict also meant the removal of the most critical accusation against the Turkish president in an indictment filed by the country’s top prosecutor, Hurriyet.com.tr reported on Tuesday."
Antoni Gaudí
Born this day in 1852, Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí, whose distinctive style was typified by freedom of form and voluptuous colour and texture, spent much of his career building Barcelona's church of the Holy Family.
| Antoni Gaudí's Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family (Sagrada Família), Barcelona, © Spectrum Colour Library/Heritage-Images |  |
Interview with Foucault’s brother
Rare interview with Denys Foucault (in French). It provides one of the more amusing pictures of Foucault, on a donkey during the occupation. No problem with the hair in this one. (h/t Adresscomptoir). Some excerpts: L’Actualité.– Pourquoi votre frère a-t-il quitté le lycée Henri IV de Poitiers pour Saint-Stanislas? Denys Foucault. – Je sais qu’en classe de troisième, pendant l’annéeNietzsche's anti-democratic liberalism
A Nietzschean politics is less a critique of political events so much as a diagnosis of the forces and tendencies driving them -- and therein lies its liberalism, writes Béla Egyed.Intelligence community dances around climate change
Courtesy of Wired's Noah Schactman, here is National Intelligence Council Chairman Thomas Fingar's testimony about the first ever National Intelligence Assessment on the National Security Implications of Global Climate Change (pdf).
Comments
Gulen more 'intelectual' than Chomsky? You are kidding me....
Posted by: Hans | June 27, 2008 05:41 PM