BU for sometime has featured many blogs on the obvious tension which continues to grip the world caused perhaps by the clash of the two dominant religions – Islam and Christianity. Our concern as a small island which is significantly dependant on tourism is the looming impact current tensions may have on our tourist industry.
On Christmas day we had the attempt by a Nigerian who attempted to explode a North Western flight as it was about to land in Detroit, USA. Today (27 December 2009) the world again tensed-up when a North Western flight from Amsterdam to Detroit alerted the authorities of a possible danger and emergency action was triggered as a result.
Our regional leaders need to anticipate that in a post-911 era the world will have to live in Code Orange mode edging to Red and global travel will become increasingly challenging. How will the security weary tourist react to security measures which are becoming more and more cumbersome? The video above exposes the challenge Western governments now face in battling a growing threat by people who are sympathetic to the Islamic view. While the focus of past terrorists incidents have been located in the USA and parts of Europe, the footprint of the threat is expanding. It is not BU’s intention to stereotype one group of people but the obvious reality cannot be ignored in the aftermath of recent events.
Unfortunately this part of the world our media is reluctant to tackle issues which touches race and religion because of the sensitive nature of it all. At some point our leaders in this region, media et al will have to assess the impact of the unravelling issue of growing tensions between Islam and the rest of the world.
Of interest to the BU family is the following comment posted to an earlier blog which was posted to represent the Islam religion in a non-stereotypical view.
IS ISLAM A RELIGION OF CONQUEST?
Islam differs from other religious. Muslims should read and study Al-Qur’an because through this holy book people can learn about different things, and especially in the field of science. Al-Qur’an also organize human life in a variety of problems. Both Muslims and non-Muslims would not know much about Islam before they were studying in earnest Al-Qur’an and Prophet Muhammad’s (SAW) behavior. Islamic ordered peace among mankind. Islam never teaches to do the act of terror or suicide to kill others. Those who conduct terror in the name of Islam, none other than the people who used to political interest, not the interest of Islam. For example Saudia Arabian businessman Osama Bin Laden is C.I.A. lackey, also Al-Qaeda is a terrorist organization funded by C.I.A.
Islam is not a conqueror. It is unfortunate that Western societies now always equate Islam with terrorism. And instead of Western countries who did the conquest and terrorism in Muslim countries. Obvious example is the attack of NATO forces led by the United States to Iraq and Afghanistan.These countries occupied by NATO’s troops, their people oppressed, plundered state wealth-out, not up there, beside tortured they also raped Muslim women are not helpless. Even the people of Iraq and Afghanistan everyday have been killed. What for they occupied those countries? DEMOCRACY ? NO!! They are LIAR and KILLERS!!! The number of Muslims who were killed by NATO forces increased and not counted. Are they not act as CONQUERORS OR TERRORISTS ? According to the West, they are terrorist! If they are brown and Muslim, they are TERRORISTS !!. If they are white and Jewish, then they are FREEDOM FIGHTERS. If they fight against enemy of Washington, of course they are Mujahidin. How could I have been that ignorant???
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The Caribbean represents small nations and although we are often described as a zone of peace; that can easily change influenced by external events or some catastrophic terrorist event within the region. The time has come for our Fourth Estate and others from civil society to educated our people. The objective hopefully to galvanize a new thinking which is required to reposition Barbados to protect our society.
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.