#woolwich attacks

[theamericanbear]

[…] The fact that the US declared the war on terror to be a war without national borders and routinely targets unarmed or unidentified victims has fatally blurred those boundaries. The grisly, intimate killing of Lee Rigby was the absolute antithesis of high technology drone attacks. But both embody the degradation of the human spirit.

There can be no surprise, however, that such attacks take place. It’s not just opponents of the war on terror who predicted from the start that it would fuel terrorism not fight it. The intelligence services on both sides of the Atlantic did the same. The perpetrators of one attack after another, from London 2005 to Boston 2013, say they’re carrying them out in retaliation for the vastly larger scale US and British killing in the Muslim world.

It’s true that all kinds of personal factors and experiences help create the mentality to carry out such attacks. But as Abdul Haqq Baker – head of the south London “counter-radicalisation” outfit Street – puts it, the tipping point that has turned people to violence has been shown again and again to be episodes in the war on terror.

There is already some evidence that torture of one of the Woolwich suspects in Kenya – after which MI5 tried to recruit him – may have been such a catalyst. Azad Ali, a Muslim community activist who has advised the Metropolitan police, says there has been a pattern of official abuse of British Muslim activists in Arab countries, apparently using British-supplied intelligence, who are then pressed to work for the British security services when they return home.

What is indisputable is that there were no jihadist attacks in Britain before 9/11, itself claimed as a response to US support for Arab dictatorships, Israeli occupation and murderous sanctions on Iraq. Wars supposedly fought to keep Britain safe have been shown to do the exact opposite.

Given the bloodshed, torture, mass incarceration and destruction that US-British occupation has inflicted on Afghanistan and Iraq, and the civilian slaughter inflicted in the drone war from Pakistan to Yemen, the only surprise is that there haven’t been more terror attacks.

[explicitcognitions]

Co-existence: to live in peace with another or others, despite differences. Can we truly co-exist? This is a question that has plagued mankind for centuries and one I've found myself discussing with anyone willing to help find the answer.

Last week I was thrust into the public eye after observing the recent murder in Woolwich. My vivid commentary on Twitter [since deleted] seemed to strongly resonate with people. I've lived in Woolwich all my life and I've seen my fair share of violence across the capital, from guns being let off by defiant college students who have had enough of a lifetime of being bullied and victimised by their peers, to knife fights where stomachs have been sliced open and intestines spilled out on to the street. However, I'm no one special, people around the world see these things every day and that's why I wanted to write, because despite this, I still have faith in humanity.

I've been asked why I didn't take money from media organisations in return for spilling the proverbial beans on my version of events. My answer to that is that I'm not driven by money and never will be. What occurred did not happen in secrecy. The events of that day were and are public knowledge. Out of respect for the victim's family I chose not to repeat what I'd already posted online. For me it was morally the right thing to do and I stand by my decision, but when the Guardian hollered at me to write a piece on peaceful coexistence, I couldn't have jumped any quicker at the chance to write on a subject I care about.

Co-existence is and has always been a topic we fail to come to a definitive conclusion about. When approaching this subject, some questions that have come to be the most significant in the quest for peace immediately came to my mind, while perfectly reasonable answers almost simultaneously counteract, and win the argument. Is it down to differences in opinions? Is it our innate human characteristics? Is it due to a global battle for resources? Or is it just a dog-eat-dog world?

My answer to each of those questions is a resounding NO.

To my understanding, all of the world's belief systems ultimately project a message of living in respect of one another in mutual harmony. You don't have to be Plato to understand that purely coexisting is effectively what we're all trying to achieve. Our instinctive nature as civilised human beings is not to be unkind or malicious towards one another but quite the opposite. I bet that regardless of culture, race or background the majority of the world's 7 billion-strong population will agree. So while it probably wasn't the best idea to build our economies to be over-reliant on fossil fuels, it's plausible to assume that advances in technology and infrastructure we depend on today might not have materialised had we not have done so.

Despite the long chain of complex issues that affect our co-existence, the human race is naturally disposed to want to solve the world's problems. Look at advances in healthcare, or our constant wildlife preservation campaigns. Innately, it is human nature to care.

Scientists say breakthroughs in how we harness energy will soon render the fuel issue obsolete, while environmentalists retort that we should prioritise the global water shortage. To all that, I say let it be. We are destined to find a solution, just as we have time and time again. These problems will simply take twice as long to solve if we are in a state of perpetual conflict with one another.

I've seen some crazy things go down growing up in south-east London and it saddens me to think how emotionally numb I've become to accept it as the norm and carry on. Statistics show that the number of violent crimes reported has dropped significantly in the last 10 years and according to these figures it would seem as though conflicts of race, ethnicity or culture are no longer the main predicaments we face.

If that's the case, and although this could be argued against, let's not backpedal in light of recent events. I've seen how the human condition can be both loving and bitterly cruel. Regardless, both my feet remain firmly planted on the positive side of the divide and I'm urging us all to continue on the quest for equality and peace.

Let's not allow the isolated acts of some chip away at the foundations of co-existence we've built across London and the UK. We've come a very long way in learning how to integrate multiple cultures in singular communities. So, in reality coexistence is not such an alien term as we might think it is. Communication is key: let's keep talking, sharing and learning along the road to utopia. We are not blind to the fact that there's a problem and I am not saying we have all the answers, but we are capable of finding the solutions; it's in our human DNA.

Those in power with the ability and responsibility to make immediate changes will do so, but what the masses have is greater access to the truth and a voice. That voice is now loud enough to force change. We are in an age where information can be shared between millions within seconds. Social media gives us an immediate platform to share information. I stand proud in saying I speak from the perspective of the average person: I believe we all carry the same concerns and live for the same joys. Humanity is the only religion.

[artofjournalism]

To demonstrate defiance in the face of this sad violence we must be loving and compassionate to one another. Let’s look beyond our superficial and fleeting differences. The murderers want angry patriots to desecrate mosques and perpetuate violence. How futile their actions seem if we instead leave flowers at each other’s places of worship. Let us reach out in the spirit of love and humanity and connect to one another. Perhaps we will then see what is really behind this conflict, this division, this hatred — and make that our focus

Russell Brand's feature in The Sun calling for calm and non-violence, in light after the Woolwich attacks in England.

Blame this on madness...not Muslims | Russell Brand, The Sun, 26th May 2013.

[qaftsiel]

What has happened is horrific. This was an abhorrent, brutal attack on an innocent man, and my deepest condolences go out to the victim's family and loved ones. Terrorist attacks are frightening, despite our best efforts to remain undaunted; they shake our sense of security in the world and at home whether we like it or not. I just hope people can avoid the far-right trap of fear, irrationality, retaliation, and prejudice that I've seen so many (too many) Americans fall prey to. Attacks like these are insanities, not symptoms or representations of a faith or ethnicity.