Muslims Force Cancellation of Freddie Mercury Event
Zanzibar Muslims forced the cancellation of a Freddie Mercury tribute which was also supposed to serve as an HIV benefit.
ZANZIBAR, Tanzania (AFP) - Organizers of a 60th gala birthday party for the late Zanzibar-born rock star Freddie Mercury, have cancelled the weekend event after outraged Muslims threatened to disrupt it.
Faced with fierce opposition from Islamists, who complained the flamboyant Queen lead singer’s lifestyle was offensive to many on the overwhelmingly Muslim archipelago, organizers said they had no choice but to call it off.
“We have decided to cancel the party after misleading and erroneous information was spread about it,” said organizer Simai Mohamed Saidi, who runs a Freddie Mercury theme restaurant in the capital.
“I urge Muslim groups in the future to seek correct information from us instead of relying on rumors,” he said in an open letter, adding the event was intended to be celebration to honor Mercury, who died of
AIDS in 1991.Saidi also lamented that the cancellation would hurt his intention to use the party to raise money for HIV/AIDS victims on Zanzibar.
Conservative Zanzibari Islamists last week demanded that authorities ban the party and then vowed to stage mass demonstrations if it went ahead, saying it would tarnish the islands’ reputation and culture and promote homosexuality.
Local Zanzibar authorities caved into the Muslim demands.
The authorities, who have long tip-toed between secular constitutional ideals, the demands of a booming tourist industry and the wishes of conservative Muslims, never formally responded to Islamists.
But Zanzibar’s information ministry this week ordered local state-run media not to give the event any coverage.
State-run media caving into the demands of religous extremists? No!
If we had a president who stood firmly against the marriage of church and state and favored reason over religous fundamentalism, we would be in a lot better shape to fight the global war on terrorism than we are now. Unfortunately, George Bush represents a false choice between caving into Muslim extremists around the globe or caving into fundamentalist Christian extremists at home. That false choice makes it impossible for the U.S. to form a rational and effective policy to fight the roots of terrorism.
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