Banjarmasin - Subhanallah.....Approximately 10.000 Muslims from various circles and regions in South Kalimantan (Tanjung, Amuntai, Barabai, Kandangan, Rantau, Martapura, Pelaihari, Batulicin, Marabahan, Banjarbaru, and Banjarmasin) enthusiastically called for the establishment of the Caliphate. The speakers' speech and the clerics' testimony accompanied by the wasp of the bedug intensified the call for establishing sharia through Islamic Caliphate.
The spirit of the Conference of Rajab 1432 H organized by Hizbut Tahrir South Kalimantan was represented by yells and shouts Allahuakbar! Khilafah "Caliphate"! Khilafah "Caliphate"! Khilafah "Caliphate"!, also the wave of the liwa and the Rayah. That was the atmosphere that occurred from morning until the blazing sun at the Stadium 17 Mei Banjarmasin. That is the spirit of the people who attend in the conference.
The Chairman of Hizbut Tahrir South Kalimantan, Baihaki al-Munawar in opening speech mentioned that Muslims had triumphed and led the world civilization before caliphate abolished by imperialist Britain 28 Rajab 1342 or March 3rd 1924. Quoting Will Durrant in the story of civilization, the chairman reminded that caliphate had been provided security to all human being in the limit of overwhelming. It means that Caliphate system can guarantee its people live in the prosperity. In contrast, the Muslims live now in impoverished and torn apart in 57 countries. In addition of that, The conference themed "Prosperous Living In the shade of caliphate", according the chairman, is inviting the people to unite in the vision, determination, and step for the establishment of Islamic Caliphate.
Accordingly, Harits Abu Ulya, the chairman of Politic department (Lajnah Siyasiyah) HTI who came from Jakarta, in his oration delivered Hizb ut-Tahrir was founded to fight for the establishment of the Khilafah "Caliphate". Hizbut Tahrir Islamic political party regard the absence is the biggest problem for Muslims. It is 90 years (calendar hijriyah - ed) Muslims live without the Caliphate. Meanwhile the caliphate is an obligation.
Harits Abu Ulya stressed the Muslims in wherever he is to take the role for the establishment of the caliphate. Caliphate is the highest deed for every Muslim today. "If not give now when to give the support? "he said.
KH. Abdul Wahab Syahrani, S. Ag, MM Boarding School caretaker Ibnu Mas'ud Putra Jarau South Hulu Sungai, stated about the necessity of the rule of sharia and the caliphate, "what we should do now is fight for it by following the struggle of the Prophet Muhammad. We must not be afraid of the Americans, we only fear God Almighty in this struggle. "
The conference was also enlivened by theatrical performance by the Islamic youth drawing the condition without a caliphate state. An important message conveyed in this theatrical is how important the rule of the caliphate in uniting the whole potential of the Islamic Ummah to achieve glory and prosperity, as well as eliminate colonialism.
This Conference organized by Hizbut Tahrir South Kalimantan is the first of a series of Rajab Conferences organized by Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia during the month of June. The conference, taking the momentum of events that occurred in the month of Rajab will be held in all major cities of Indonesia from tip to tip of eastern, Jayapura and western, Banda Aceh, and its peak on 29 June in Jakarta Stadium Lebak Bulus. [AkhidY)

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Another day, another visit by a western politician to Tahrir Square in Cairo, and another announcement from London, Washington, Paris or Brussels about some help for the Arab uprisings - be it help for political, economic, civil society or the furthering of ‘democracy'. As people attempt to dismantle the tyrannical political structures that have ruled Egypt, Tunisia and other countries for over 30 years, the western powers, whose initial response was confusion as they saw their allies under genuine threat from the streets, are now determined to dictate the course and outcome of these ongoing uprisings.
In their joint article in the Times newspaper (23rd May 2011) Barack Obama and David Cameron said "we will stand with those who want to bring light into dark, support those who seek freedom in place of repression, aid those laying the building blocks of democracy". Just as they supported Mubarak, Ben Ali, and Gadaffi only a few months ago, they now see a historic opportunity, not for the people to achieve real change and a genuine liberation from western interference, but to mould the region's future just as they did its recent past. An attempt to mould it for the interests of western governments not the interests of the people of the region.

To achieve this, the model held up to the Arab uprisings is Eastern Europe where American soft power and diplomacy helped to reshape the socio-political scene after communism. Like in Eastern Europe, the West aims to transform the people's revolution into a Western revolution by engineering a new set of domesticated and western-friendly elites. This involves co-opting old friends as well as seeking to contain the new forces produced by the revolution such as some youth movements, as well as some groups which were long marginalised by the West, including some so called ‘Islamists'.
As Obama said recently: "We must ... reach the people who will shape the future - particularly young people ... [and] provide assistance to civil society, including those that may not be officially sanctioned." So he has doubled the budget for "protecting civil society groups" from $1.5m to $3.4m.
The recipients are not only the usual Western friendly elements or secularists, but also activists who spearheaded the protest movements, and mainstream Islamists. Programmes aimed at youth leaders include the Leaders for Democracy Arabic project, sponsored by the US state department's Middle East partnership initiative. A number of Arab activists were invited to an event hosted by the Project on Middle East Democracy in Washington last month - one of many recent seminars. Meetings have taken place recently between high-ranking US officials and the Muslim Brotherhood, while the deputy chairman of Tunisia's Islamist Ennahda party has recently returned from a visit to Washington to "discuss democratic transition".

The UK government is not far behind the US in similar endeavours. Indeed, it has long had more open channels of communication with some Islamist groups in Tunisia, Egypt and across the Muslim world believing that dialogue was essential in order to influence these groups - even during the Mubarak era.
The aim is that these disparate groups are stripped of any of their fixed positions and turned into true pragmatists, integrated into the existing western-led international order. For the Islamists, several think tanks have stressed that engaging them in the parliamentary political game is a good way of containing their influence since that means that they will operate within parameters delineated for them, and compromise on their Islamic stances as a result of the give and take of negotiations in a parliament where they do not enjoy a majority. Even if they enjoy a majority, the constant raising of the threat of "extremism" puts pressure on them to row back from Islamic stances and being seen as "extremists".
In addition to political integration and containment, economic containment is being pursued through free markets and trade partnerships in the name of economic reform. A few days ago in France, G8 leaders promised $20bn of loans and aid to Tunisia and Egypt over the next two years and suggested more will be available if the countries continue on the path to democracy. Plans "to modernise" the Tunisian and Egyptian economies are already being drafted by the World Bank, IMF and European Bank for Reconstruction and Develoipment (EBRD). As usual, investment and aid are conditional on adoption of the neoliberal economic model in the name of liberalisation and on making the regions economies even more dependent on US and European markets rather than being more integrated with others in the region and playing to their own strengths.
These attempts to hijack the uprisings face some obstacles though they may succeed in co-opting some personalities and organisations. Unlike in Eastern Europe where people looked to the West - especially the US - as saviours from communism, people in Tunis, Cairo, and Sana'a see the West as the backers of the oppressive regimes that ruled over them. Whatever Obama and Cameron's rhetoric about human rights and democracy, they see Western countries which are the staunchest allies of Israel, are waging war on Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan and continue to back the Al-Saud family and other tyrants and despots in the region.
The many dangers to these blessed uprisings are clear as long as people lack a new, distinct and comprehensive political vision that has independence from western economic, political and military control as one of its central pillars. Only the Islamic political vision - the Khilafah "Caliphate" - offers that alternative. Spreading awareness and conviction about it becomes a huge responsibility in order to save these uprisings so they achieve real change for the people of the region.

Taji Mustafa
UK Media Representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir

 Titles:

• Food prices to double by 2030, Oxfam warns
• Gaddafi to be told to stand down or face Apache attack
• British Think-Tank: Saudi, US Blunders Increasing Iran's Might, Clout
• US put pressure on Saudi Arabia to let women drive, leaked cables reveal
• Pakistani military 'bows to US pressure' on Taliban

News Details: 

Food prices to double by 2030, Oxfam warns
The average price of staple foods will more than double in the next 20 years, leading to an unprecedented reversal in human development, Oxfam has warned.The world's poorest people, who spend up to 80% of their income of food, will be hit hardest according to the charity. It said the world is entering an era of permanent food crisis, which is likely to be accompanied by political unrest and will require radical reform of the international food system.Research to be published on Wednesday forecasts international prices of staples such as maize could rise by as much as 180% by 2030, with half of that rise due to the impacts of climate change.After decades of steady decline in the number of hungry people around the world, the numbers are rapidly increasing as demand outpaces food production. The average growth rate in agricultural yields has almost halved since 1990 and is set to decline to a fraction of 1% in the next decade.A devastating combination of factors - climate change, depleting natural resources, a global scramble for land and water, the rush to turn food into biofuels, a growing global population, and changing diets - have created the conditions for an increase in deep poverty."We are sleepwalking towards an age of avoidable crisis," Oxfam's chief executive, Barbara Stocking, said. "One in seven people on the planet go hungry every day despite the fact that the world is capable of feeding everyone. The food system must be overhauled." The Oxfam report followed warnings from the UN last week that food prices are likely to hit new highs in the next few weeks, triggering unrest in developing countries. The average global price of cereals jumped by 71% to a new record in the year to April last month.

Gaddafi to be told to stand down or face Apache attack
According to the UK's Guardian newspaper if South African president Jacob Zuma's peace mission fails, Nato will deliver its heaviest blow to Libyan leader's forces. Nato has only one question as it prepares to unleash Apache helicopters against the forces of Muammar Gaddafi this week, and Captain Ali Mohammed, one of the defenders of the besieged rebel city of Misrata, can supply the answer.British Apaches, together with French Tiger attack helicopters, will launch surgical strikes on Gaddafi's forces besieging Misrata. They have the ability to destroy individual gun positions in the town of Zlitan, west of Misrata, with less risk to the civilian population kept there as human shields.But there is a problem. This kind of war takes time, and time is the commodity Nato does not have as critics complain it has extended the original United Nations no-fly zone mandate into what is regime change in all but name.The big question is whether the defenders will crumble under the onslaught, or fight with the same tenacity shown by their rebel enemy in Misrata. "If you use Apaches, it is sure they will run away," said Mohammed. "There is a big difference between Gaddafi's men and ourselves. I am defending my home, my family, my city. But Gaddafi's forces do not believe in what they are doing."Given enough time, the Apaches can take out gun positions one by one, but time is not on Nato's side. Many members, notably Germany and Turkey, were reluctant partners from the start and at the United Nations China and Russia have complained that the western alliance did not consult over the extension of a mandate designed to protect civilians into what is a full-scale war. Nato needs victory quickly by breaking the will of Gaddafi's troops.

Members of Hizb ut-Tahrir delivered public speeches after Jummah prayers 5-27-2011 outside various mosques in Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet where they said Islam is the only correct ideology for society. The current Awami-BNP rulers have rejected Islam as the basis in ruling and have instead adopted the so-called ideologies of the founding fathers of their parties, what they term ‘Mujibism' and ‘Ziaism'.

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