By Khaled
First and foremost, a heartfelt sorrow is extended to all the people who have fallen victim to the recent attacks in London. Know that the world is praying for you and your loved ones.
Through every media and social network, we keep hearing the words “attack”, “terrorism”, “extremism”, “radicalization”, “fanaticism”, “mental illness” and “lone-wolf” each and every time an incident or calamity transpires. And rightly so, they need to be called out for what they are. There is no denying that.
Following each incident, the occupier of the highest office of the country where the incident had taken place – as well as other leaders – the following statements are iterated; “With tackling and fighting terrorism and extremism, things have got to change … To the terrorists we say, enough is enough … The people of (whatever the country is) will stand together in solidarity in the face of terrorism and extremism and we will not be divided.”
Yes indeed, enough is enough. Yes indeed, things have got to change. Yes indeed, we will always stand together in solidarity. But what is it that both the governments and people are actually doing to address terrorism, extremism, radicalization, fanaticism, mental illness and lone-wolf attacks?
Well, governments would have you believe that they are fighting terrorism in their backyards to protect the people and citizens of our country … And that is true. Governments are fighting terrorists groups in their backyards. But is it really the right solution when the acts of terror are being carried out by our own people and not someone that is or was thousands of kilometres away? Thinking about this for some time now, I can’t help but think of the following questions;
Q: Is fighting terrorism in foreign countries actually keeping us safe?
A: No.
Q: Is this form of retaliation or action by our governments, actually working?
A: No.
Q: WHY ISN’T IT WORKING? Now this is the most complex question we are currently faced with. This is the question that no one seems to be asking nor pushing for an answer. This is the question that should be asked of our leaders. And we, the international citizens, should be demanding for an immediate answer so that the government can strategize an effective action plan.
The age of the terrorism problem that the world is faced with is almost 100yrs old (start of the 20th Century). Albeit some would disagree and say it’s either ~70yrs old (creation of the Zionist state of Israel) or 30yrs old (Desert Storm 1 – first invasion of Iraq). Whichever age you incline towards, it’s been far too long, one way or the other, to not have the right answer. It’s time for us to question the integrity and effectiveness of the currently implemented method(s) of address. It’s time to seek and demand for an answer because, quite frankly, the problem is worsening as time goes by. If governments remain on the current path, I am afraid to say that we may live the same life portrayed in the movie Mad Max.
If I was asked that one important question, my answer would be: “IT ISN’T WORKING BECAUSE THE ROOT CAUSES HAVEN’T BEEN IDENTIFIED. EVERY PROBLEM MUST BE TREATED AT THE SOURCE.”
Now I don’t claim to have the answer(s) either. I will attempt to identify the root causes; some of which may not resonate with you and that is perfectly fine. I welcome your comments, feedback, clarifications to consolidate all the applicable root causes.
The Root Causes:
Western Government’s Foreign Policies: Western Government’s Foreign Policies have failed miserably. This failure goes way back to the colonization and slavery of Indigenous and African people respectively. Post WWI, the western governments have ripped apart the Ottoman Empire within the Middle East, or specifically The Levant, and placed puppets as dictators. The Saudi Family (Capitalists), Assad (The Baath Party), Mubarak (pro-Zionist), Saddam (Baath Party), Gaddafi (Capitalist and pro-Communism) etc are all puppets placed in positions of power by the western governments. It was the British Government that initiated the Zionist Movement in Palestine (one of the biggest – if not the biggest – terrorist and oppressive organization the world has ever and would ever know).
Both the British and French governments cut up the Middle East and placed different borders around it to segregate and separate the people of The Levant. This is why the country Kurdistan no longer exists. Afghanistan was a peaceful country until Russia and USA fought over the Natural Gas-pipe Corridor rights. Sectarian war between Sunni’s and Shia’s in Iraq never existed until the USA invaded Iraq and placed Maliki in power, who oppressed the minority Sunni’s of Iraq. This was the catalyst and main cause for the uprise of ISI (Islamic State of Iraq), which then became ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and The Levant) when they joined power with the Syrian thug group Shabeeha. ISIL is now known as ISIS.
By the way, Baghdadi (head of ISIS) is one of Syria’s biggest collaborators. He was the head of Shabeeha. With Russia and Iran helping Assad slaughter Syrian people whilst USA invaded Iraq, the sectarian war in Iraq and Syria blew out of proportion. This is a 6yr old war and the only people that are intensely suffering from it are the poor public, followed by you and I. The current western policies are the same 100yr old policies only polished and made to look and sound presentable by current western living standards.
Eastern Government Foreign Policies: The leaders of the Middle East countries are as much to blame, if not more, than the western governments. No patriotism whatsoever. Not one single leader stands up in the face of wrong and tries to make right. Saudi, Qatar, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iran, Palestine, Egypt, Yemen, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Turkey etc are all lead by deceitful, unfaithful, unpatriotic leaders/governments. They are consumed with greed, wealth and lust whilst their people suffer immensely. The recent $420b handover by the Saudi government to USA is $60b more than what’s required to re-build the entire Middle East. Imagine if that amount of money was spent towards the benefit of the Middle East and its people. You give no person a reason to be so angry at anyone. I guarantee you there will not be a single person that would have any sense of animosity or hate towards anyone or any foreign country.
Refugees/Asylum Seekers: The wars in the Middle East are the only reason why there are so many refugees and asylum seekers trying to enter out country (and I don’t mean that in a derogatory sense). These innocent lives are fleeing persecution, which is instigated by the western and eastern governments policies, which I like to refer to as (corporate greed or capitalism). They are fleeing their countries seeking safety and refuge in our countries. To add to the fact that our governments play a major part in displacing these beautiful souls, they also have the hide to treat these people with such disdain and inhumane means. When the youth of our country – who may share the same faith and ethnic background as those refugees – see, hear and read about the inhumane treatment and the condescending rhetoric from our leaders that’s directed towards the refugees, how do you think they will react?
Political Disparagement: Politicians are elected to represent all the people. They aren’t elected to scorn, vilify or denigrate people of ethnic background. Politicians with dangerous views and policies shouldn’t be allowed ‘free-speech’ because their voices and speech couldn’t be further away from free speech. It’s more like sanctioned racism and discrimination. As occupants of a national public platform, they must held responsible for dangerous political demagoguery. This type of behaviour should be banned as the consequences of it creates nothing but a divisive community that’s filled with nothing but hate and resentment. Furthermore, politicians always state “Islamic Extremism” as though the word extremism is only associated with Islam. What about White Supremacy Extremism or Christian Extremism or Zionist Extremism? I agree that we should call it for what it is but we must make sure that there is only standard that we abide by.
Media and Media Presenters: The quality and methods of presenting ‘news’ nowadays is appalling to say the least. There is no checking of the credibility of the story before it is aired. The majority of media outlets seem to work on the same premise. Any person incites hate, or stands by the extreme right (Tawhidi) or has an inclination towards radicalism or if the story has anything to do with sectarian tension, they get more attention and all the air-time than those who promote peace. Think about Justin Trudeau. How many times do we see him on our screens compared to Trump, Hanson, Dutton, Marie Le Pen, Tawhidi or Geert Wilders? Imagine if Trudeau was given the same air-time. Imagine if peaceful people were given equal air-time on the national and international platforms to promote the opposite of racial vilification and hatred. Imagine if people of faith, such as Pope Francis, was given equal time to share his peaceful sentiments around the world. Imagine if our own Mufti was given any air-time for each and every time he condemned terrorism. Furthermore, the media always flags any hideous act as terrorism when the perpetrator is a Muslim. If the perpetrator isn’t Muslim, then the hideous act is labelled as a crime by a mentally ill person or a lone-wolf. Terror is terror … irrespective of who performs it.
Education: Our kids are deprived of proper education. Correct me if I am wrong, but does any school curriculum include subjects such as Race and Culture? I am all for Safe School Education as it teaches our kids tolerance with others irrespective of gender and sexual preferences. So why not incorporate Race and Culture too? Growing up in Lebanon, I was taught American, African, Asian and European cultures. At that young age, with such openness to other races and cultures, I’ve become accustomed and accepting of the vastness of cultures I am surrounded by. I see the difference between us but my education allows me to see through or beyond it. Therefore it makes no difference to me and thus my behaviour and attitude is reciprocated by the others. Our youth are lacking decent education and that stems from our governments not providing the correct funds. Basically, the same politicians that provoke racial vilification are in control of schools funding. Weed out the racist politicians and we may have a good chance at promoting Race and Culture into our curriculum. On the topic of education, the majority of hideous crimes are carried out by our own people; not refugees. Lack of proper education along with the politicians and media personnel finger-pointing against anyone’s ethnic background and faith plays into the hands of criminals trying to radicalise the youth.
Video Games and Movies: Being privy to high-level violence in current video games, such as Grand Theft Auto (GTA), movies and TV series, has desensitized us to crime and crime scenes. The current form of terrorist acts is taken out of the game GTA. Hop in a vehicle, run over the public, stab and shoot and have no regards to life whatsoever. If you sit a 50yr old and a 20yr old together and tell them an awful crime, watch who would have a gross expression on their face. The 50yr old person would be disgusted at the story whilst the 20yr who plays violet games would be thinking “yeah that’s what I do in the game” …
Proper Scripture Teachings: Needless to say that terrorism and extremism are wrong. In fact, any crime is wrong. But there is a sad reality that the majority of these bad actors are home-grown perpetrators. There is a fundamental issue with the quality of clerics being allowed to address the youth. Community and religious leaders need to take a strong stand and have better means of a vetting process to determine who is a learned cleric with the correct religious/scripture understanding and religious jurisprudence credentials before they are allowed to address anyone in any teachings or sermons. This is applicable to all religion and not just Islam.
Like I said, you may not agree with some or any of what I’ve stated here above. This is purely my opinion. I know I didn’t address every root cause but nevertheless it’s a start.
It took us 30yrs to get to this woeful state of affairs. If we implement the right solutions to the above causes, we can and will eradicate racism, extremism and xenophobia within 20 to 30yrs. Alas, until we acknowledge the above root causes along with anything else that you, the reader, can contribute with, we will never be able to eradicate extremism of whatever faith or ideology. And this brings me to my last point: Until we identify and accept all root causes, we will never be able to answer the question: “WHY ISN’T IT WORKING?”
Until then, stay safe, live to love, live to respect, live to accept, live to tolerate and remain faith and colour blind.
Love and Respect,
Khaled.
[interaction id=”591bfb0231e7fd4071763046″]
