Swiped from the BBC (as usual)...
Hindus opposing EU swastika ban
 The Nazis hijacked the symbol from its Hindu origins |
Hindus in Europe have joined forces against a German proposal to ban the display of the swastika across the European Union, a Hindu leader said. Ramesh Kallidai of the Hindu Forum of Britain said the swastika had been a symbol of peace for thousands of years before the Nazis adopted it.
He said a ban on the symbol would discriminate against Hindus.
Germany, holder of the EU presidency, wants to make Holocaust denial and the display of Nazi symbols a crime.
Mr Kallidai said his organisation was writing to European lawmakers to highlight the issue.
 |  The swastika has been around for 5,000 years as a symbol of peace,  |
Hindu groups in Holland, Belgium and Italy were also involved in the campaign, he said.
"The swastika has been around for 5,000 years as a symbol of peace," he said. "This is exactly the opposite of how it was used by Hitler."
He said that while the Nazi implications of the symbol should be condemned, people should respect the Hindu use of the swastika.
"Just because Hitler misused the symbol, abused it and used it to propagate a reign of terror and racism and discrimination, it does not mean that its peaceful use should be banned."
The group said banning the swastika was equivalent to banning the cross simply because the Ku Klux Klan had used burning crosses.
The swastika is already banned in Germany. A previous attempt to ban it across the EU in early 2005 failed after objections from several governments, including the British.
Germany took over the six-month EU presidency on 1 January.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I remember watching an old
Shaw Bros. Kung Fu movie back in the seventies and seeing a
Manji (what most would call a swatstika, but turned the other way, I think) in stone, on a wall at
Shaolin Temple, and thinking, "Oh! I didn't know the Nazis got to China, too." Didn't know then what I know now. I've also seen the symbol on Chinese comicbook art and on the foreheads of characters who were supposed to be monks (Kinda like Charlie Manson during one of his probation hearings).
The point here is that this symbol doesn't belong to the Nazis and those who sympathize with them. Personally, I'd like to see this image and what it really stands for embraced by the mainstream. This isn't like the "N" word (profanity), nor like the confederate flag, which I believe symbolizes treason. It isn't about taking something negative and making it positive, but recognizing that it was positive to begin with. The Germans (as well as others in Europe) believe they can fight fascism with fascism, and they are wrong.
Doesn't mean it should be scrawled on peoples grave markers, on Synagogues, or anything like that, though. Just to make myself clear.
Labels: bullshit, civil rights, Fascism, hypocrisy, politics, World Affairs
# posted by Edshugeo The GodMoor : 10:34 PM
