Tuesday, August 30, 2011

A SIDE GLANCE AT OUR WORLD TODAY!


INDIA:
One innocent putting himself through the pangs of hunger and thirst was able to bring legislators to support an anti-corruption that had previously been on the verge of being thrown out.
The victory of this Non-violent protest by Ana Hazare is a huge boost to the practice of peace education. It shows that structural violence can be confronted with non-violent means.

Some people might say the legislators took the decision for political reasons, (to avoid a backlash from their voters who could refuse re-electing them if they are seen as supporting corruption); but the fact that Mr Hazare’s hunger strike brought them to take action to support the social transformation efforts against corruption, is the most important issue in it all!

Ghandi, King, Mandela all used the potent power of non-violent protest in different forms to contribute to the positive transformation of their societies. Mr Hazare’s efforts and the success so far, show that with proper implementation, Non-violence is still a very viable and viable tool in effecting social transformation of realities.

The world is going through a phase where unarmed masses are defeating armies of tyrannical dictators all over the world. Non-violence was, is, and will be a good tool of putting pressure on oppressors.




NIGERIA:
When many people heard of Friday’s suicide bomb attack on the UN office here in Nigeria, they might be tempted to accepted the publicly announced reasons for the attack as being the work of an Islamist radical group that is against Western lifestyle.

Deeper reflection will reveal a more complex myriad of reasons! So many questions beg for answers for everyone, the government, the Boko Haram Sect, and even the general populace.

 Did the Nigerian security agencies have any information on the activities of this group prior to violent attacks in 2009?

 If the security agencies had any information, was any action taken to monitor or curb their activities?

 Were their activities prior to 2009 in any way against the law or tended towards illegality?

 When they took up arms in 2009 and were crushed militarily, and their leader arrested, why was he and other members of the group who had been arrested alive summarily executed by the Police?

 Does the public corruption and misappropriation/mismanagement of public funds by public officials create an atmosphere in which discontent could breed and be seized upon by violent groups like these?

 What effects did the actions the military joint task force deployed into Maiduguri have making the situation worse?

 Is the present composition of the Government Mediation committee fair and credible enough to effectively bring peace?

 Are the ideals promoted by the BOKO HARAM in consonance with the Sunnah of the Holy Prophet?

 Does BOKO HARAM believe peace; in its intrapersonal, interpersonal, global and spiritual forms is the end goal of all our struggles on earth?

 Does BOKO HARAM think violence can lead to peace?

 Do both the Government and BOKO HARAM agree that the only way to stop is to STOP?

 Why don’t the elders in the society stand up to speak to all sides and save our nation from this unnecessary violence?

Are we going to look on as our children grow up being exposed to this violence and thus become malformed personalities with hidden anger embedded in their psyche?

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This work by Ibrahim K. Oyekanmi (mallamibro@gmail.com) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.