MUSLIM LIFE IS CHEAP. SADLY. PEACE MARCH IN LONDON TOMORROW. On the 11th September 2001, I watched wide-eyed as 83 of my colleagues found themselves trapped on the top floors of the twin towers. They phoned and emailed begging for help and then went silent, their lives soon lost to the smoke and flames that engulfed the World Trade Center. I was in New York, maybe 2 miles away, watching the events unfold on TV then from West 19th street, where I lived. Our offices-to-be (we were due to move in to the WTC in the summer of 2002), were on the 96th floor of the North Tower. They were reduced to dust. The aftermath of that day was a series of funerals, sedatives, more funerals and the steady deployment of the Bush administrations own onslaught of terror on Americas own citizens. I was aghast at the loss of those I knew but I also felt quit certain that this monstrosity was hardly unprovoked. But on that day, as we watched the towers burn, at around 8h20 AM, I turned to one of my employees: This changes everything. I said, with real hope. I was wrong. This moment of truth, this moment when America and the Western world were given a full-on presentation of the consequences of their treatment of the Eastern, mainly Muslim world, the consequences of a sociopathic pursuit of cheap energetic resources, was soon buried in a vengeful frenzy (Iraq mainly) that probably killed 100 times more Muslims than the terrorist attack on September 11th. Things didnt change. Or at least, they didnt change direction. They just worsened. Abuse of power became more acute and the often destitute peace-loving innocent population of the Middle East (Muslims, generally, again) just paid a higher price for Western hubris. The opportunity that was afforded to us to pause, contemplate and consider a God-loving generous response was lost in the hurricane of mainly home-grown terror that engulfed America. 9/11 and its aftermath were not an isolated data point in history. It was part of a long term pattern where the White European, particularly Anglo-Saxon world (the British Empire initially and the American Empire next) have first assumed unquestioningly that we know better, not just for us, but then, also that we know better for you too. Of course we do, we have nicer houses, clothes, cars. How we built our world that makes all these nice things, and at whose cost, we dont like to talk about too much. With that lead in technology and capital accumulation, we then put in place institutions and foreign policies that ensure that our culture and economic interests prevail, and how could it be otherwise since we have had the military and economic upper hand as far back as Poitiers. We have often reduced the Eastern world to economic and political servitude and then, should violent protest ensue, we inflict punishment that is ungodly in it disproportion. And so it continues. Hamas fires rockets into Israel. Am I right in assessing that these rockets were mainly initially ineffective? I will not belittle the loss of life in Israel and the stifling fear that my Jewish brethren in Israel have had to live in for generations. But what is unfolding now... The IDF, with its Western allies quietly quiescent, responds as the Netanyahu government instructs, and suddenly 600 Palestinians are dead. 100 Palestinian children are dead. In what world do the righteous respond to increased insecurity by killing 100 children? In what world do we start justifying our own crimes by those committed against us? In a world where our Judeo-Christian peace is paramount and where we view the lives of our Muslim sisters and brothers as probably quite worthless. Well, I reject that world. I will not be held hostage to my fears of the men and women whose God bears a different name (but whose resemblance to mine is quite astonishing). I will not kill children so I can feel safe. I will sit, talk and eat with those who think we are enemies. Because the alternative is Hell. Please join me and Paul Stewart on Saturday in marching from the Israeli Embassy to Westminster. Pax, Salaam, Peace. Anthony.
Posted on: Fri, 25 Jul 2014 10:08:54 +0000
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