Birthday Greetings and Islamic Terrorism

[Jacob Matthan]

Hi Shivi (and recipients in a variety of my Groups),

What you have forwarded on "Islamic Terrorism" is especially important.

Before writing a few words about your submission, I must wish our very cosmopolitan mix of classmates and friends - Vikram Kamdar (10th), Viney Sethi (today 11th), Noel Ezekiel and Peter Miovic (13th), Anil Ruia (17th), Meera Nayar (25th), happy birthdays in these emotionally troubled times for all of us.

We are thinking of all of you this month. The departure of Ashok as a victim of terrorism last month has made these thoughts even more important to both Annikki and me.

At the very bottom of my Blog on politics ( "jacob's politics") there is a quote:

'First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist, so I said nothing. Then they came for the Social Democrats, but I was not a Social Democrat, so I did nothing. Then came the trade unionists, but I was not a trade unionist. And then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew, so I did little. Then when they came for me, there was no one left to stand up for me.'
Pastor Martin Niemöller

Religious fundamentalism is a root cause (but not the only one) of much  of today's problems. Zenophobia is another. Racism based on colour is yet another. Nationalism and patriotism are yet others.

I am reminded of a dear wise Sri Lankan friend (Gnani Perinpanayagam), now no more, who when confronted by a skin-head in London who demanded to know what HE (the Sri Lankan) was doing in HIS (he skin-head's) country, retorted:

"What are you doing in MY world?"

For many years, on the Seventh Heaven and my other Blogs I have been especially writing about the secularism we learnt at Cathedral and the religious and ethnic make up of OUR own class and staff:

Hindus, Jews, Christians (Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox Syrians), Muslims (Shiites & Sunnis), Parsis, Sikhs, Sindhis, Tamilians, Keralites, Maharashtrians, Punjabis, Kanadigas, Bengalis, East and West Europeans, Americans, South Americans, etc.

We, in our school, remained oblivious to the deep divisions as we established a veneer of friendships that overran these boundaries.

This has helped me to be able to withstand those prejudices that I have come across and faced in later years. I devoted part of my active working life to work to help those afflicted by the conflicts created because of these divides.

I was heading a specific project in Oulu called "Will you play with me" a phrase used by Oulu children who want to make friends and play with others. Sports needs no language!

I used a variety of sports - basketball, boxing, football, rowing, skiing, swimming, to help integrate foreigners into Oulu and Finnish society, especially refugees from war torn countries.

Unfortunately, the Oulu Administration did not fund this effirt. Despite winning many awards (including be short-listed in the top 8 for the Monte Carlo Daimler-Chrysler Laureus Award in 2001), once I retired there was no one to carry it on!

When a Zambian, a Chinese engineer and I established CHAFF (Chamber for Assistance of Finns and Foreigners) in Oulu in 2004, it was a huge success as we strove to help people regardless. It was just a gathering of people with no chairperson, no membership fees, no managing committees and no funding. No positions or money to be fought over!

From CHAFF many organisations have been born as the O-India Group for Indians in Oulu, the Thai Association of Oulu, etc.

For a person with OUR Cathedral sense of secular morality who has striven to bring harmony amongst such a complex mix of cultures in our small town of 120,000 people and a national population of just 5 million, to face this tragedy of dear Ashok at the hands of terrorists has been especially trying for me (and Annikki). We do know the pain and suffering this has caused all of you, his lifelong friends and his extended family.

Let us, therefore, celebrate the birthdays of this month of our dear friends, by telling them that we love them and we wish them all the very best in the future ahead with all the sincerity we can muster.

At this time, I am also especially heartened that the Maanav Adhikaar Paaritaushik (Human Dignity Award) in memory of Professor M. M. Guptara was given to one dear friend, Dr. John Dayal (in Delhi)  by another dear friend, Professor Prabhu Guptara and his Committee (in Switzerland). Although neither are Cathedralites, both are from my OTHER alma mater, St. Stephen's College, Delhi.

I quote and echo these words:

"Dr Dayal has spent his life in investigating, and then helping individual cases of human rights abuse, as well as struggling against structural human rights abuse aimed at whole groups (such as Dalits, Muslims and Christians), and fighting organised human rights abuse - for example in Vadodara and in Orissa.

"Over several decades, and at the cost of his own health and finances, Dr Dayal has helped people regardless of ethnicity, gender, economic status, religion or any other criterion.  That is something surely worth celebrating," said Professor Prabhu Guptara. Recognising that the award is only a token, the Guptara family deeply appreciates Dr. Dayal's lifetime of exceptional efforts and service to our country."

Regards

Annikki and Jacob

2008/12/13 Vijay Shivdasani <such...@gmail.com>

Makes a great deal of sense?

A German's View on Islam A man, whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War II, owned a number of large industries and estates. When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism. 'Very few people were true Nazis,' he said, 'but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. M y family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.' We are told again and again by 'experts' and 'talking heads' that Islam is the religion of peace, and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the spectra of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam. The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history. It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honor- kill. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals. It is the fanatics who teach their young to kill and to become suicide bombers. The hard quantifiable fact is that the peaceful majority, the 'silent majority,' is cowed and extraneous. Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. China 's huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people. The average Japanese individual prior to World War II was not a warmongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet. And, who can forget Rwanda , which collapsed into butchery. Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were 'peace loving'? History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our posers of reason we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points: Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence. Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don't speak up, because like my friend from Germany , they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun. Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghans,Indians, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late. As for us who watch it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts; the fanatics who threaten our way of life. Lastly, anyone who doubts that the issue is serious and just deletes this email without sending it on, is contributing to the passiveness that allows the problems to expand. So, extend yourself a bit and send this on and on and on! Let us hope that thousands, worldwide, read this and think about it, and send it on - before it's too late. Emanuel Tanay, M ...D.

--
'Life may not be the party we hoped for . .
but while we are here we might as well dance!'

--
Jacob Matthan
Vesaisentie 11 A
90160 Oulu, Finland

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