Erdogan in Louisville

by Stephen Lendman

On Friday, boxing great, anti-war/civil rights activist Muhammad Ali was laid to rest in Louisville, KY, his hometown.

Thousands of mourners lined the streets of a 19-mile processional in his honor - to say farewell, rest in peace, throwing flowers at his hearse as it passed.

A public funeral and private burial followed. Notable figures paid their respects. His wife Lonnie said "(i)f Muhammad didn't like the rules, he rewrote them. His religion, his beliefs were his to fashion, no matter what the costs."

His daughter Rasheda Ali-Walsh said "(d)addy's looking at us now right, and saying 'I told you I was the greatest.' "

The solemnity of the occasion was no place for Turkish despot Recep Tayyip Erdogan - intruding where he didn't belong. Ali's spirit, humanity, core beliefs and activism ran counter to his ruthless rule.

He supports ISIS and other terrorist groups, continues slaughtering Turkish, Syrian and Iraqi Kurds, wages war on freedom, along with committing other major internal and regional human rights abuses.

Scheduled to attend Ali's Friday funeral, he cut short his visit and left - reportedly for being denied permission to speak publicly, refusing his request to allow a piece of sacred cloth placed on Ali's coffin, and not allowing Turkey's top cleric to read from the Koran.

Reports indicated his bodyguards quarreled with US secret service agents over where they'd be positioned as Erdogan entered his car.

Funeral organizers said his name was removed from the scheduled speaker list because of insufficient time. He never should have been included in the first place or granted permission to desecrate the solemnity of Louisville's farewell by his presence.

Ali was ideologically world's apart from his rage for war and scorn for fundamental human and civil rights.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

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