I have been slow to react to the Charlie Hebdo assassinations. Firstly it is a tragic loss of life. Whenever unarmed civilians are murdered violently it diminishes our humanity. Moreover it is a sad indictment that we live in a world where ideas and expressions are enough to make some people turn to murder. Europe has a long and complicated relationship with Islam and more generally with those in the South. Europe colonised the planet, committing gross human rights violations to the scale of full on genocide in some cases (over centuries, not in isolated blips). Today, millions of Moslems from the South live in Europe. They were brought to Europe to do menial labour when Europe needed them. In some cases their skin colour is darker than Europeans and they live with the constant presence of discrimination, intolerance and disrespect. This impacts not just on people of Middle Eastern decent but on Africans in particular. Then there is the issue of religion, tolerance, freedom of speech and of expression. All major religions that I know of have been hijacked at some point or other for political ends, and crimes have been committed in their name. Whether ancient Buddhist wars in South Asia, battles between Hinduism and Buddhism, the extreme violence of Christians against Jews and Pagans, or the latter day crimes of Apartheid, and religiously clouded violence and power in Western Asian countries (often between sects of the same religion). It is all ugly. It is all a violation of fundamental religious values and principles. All religions start with the premise of peaceful co-existence, forgiveness and humility, submission to higher values and restraint of the violent nature of humans. The crowing atheist voices blame religion, and turn their attention from the historic facts that the great atheist political systems in Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union and China committed some of the most egregious human rights violations and environmental destruction of the 20th century. Where does this take us? Ideas are not the enemy. Respect for human life, human dignity, and the diversity of our beliefs and values remain the foundations for peaceful co-existence. Making fun of other peoples religions may be a constitutional right in some countries, but is it constructive and contributes to human dignity, well-being and righting the wrongs of the past? Where religion is miss- used to cause harm, destroy life and wreak havoc, we know it is not authentic and speaks to the human egocentrism rather than the veneration of divine wisdom and the life-force with which we are blessed. As we cope with violence, whether in Palestine, Kurdistan, Khayelitsha or Paris - we need to return to our common human values and continually invest in our relationships with each other, upholding the principles of universal human rights, human dignity and challenge those who seek to pervert our cultures and belief systems for violent and degrading ends. I greatly appreciate Banksys image. You can break the pencil, but that just gives you two pencils. Our energy should flow not into the breaking of others but into honouring them, sharing with them, and learning to live well with each other.
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 08:50:53 +0000
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