Statement by family of one of the soldier-killers
The family of Michael Adebolajo, 28, one of the two men who attacked and killed (regimental) drummer Lee Rigby in London some days ago, have released this statement.
I publish it because the murder has provoked, even in Malta, a stream of ‘they will take us over’ racist and Islamophobic comments, which betray the fact that those making them can’t understand one simple thing: that society is varied everywhere.
How do we Maltese feel about having been dismissed for generations as a nation of pimps, drug-dealers, crooks and criminals because of the actions of those few and unrepresentative Maltese whom others came across?
What was our initial fear when John Dalli went down as he did? That it would all start up again. And the whispers did, though nobody would say it outright because, of course, it displays prejudice.
Nothing we can say can undo the events of last week. However, as a family, we wish to share with others our horror at the senseless killing of Lee Rigby, and express our profound shame and distress that this has brought to our family. We send our heartfelt condolence to Lee Rigby’s family and loved ones.
We wish to state openly that we believe that there is no place for violence in the name of religion or politics. We believe that all right thinking members of society share this view wherever they were born and whatever their religion and political beliefs.
We wholeheartedly condemn all those who engage in acts of terror and fully reject any suggestion by them that religion or politics can justify this kind of violence. We unreservedly put our faith in the rule of law and with others fully expect that all the perpetrators will be brought to justice under the law of the land.
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I must admit that my first reaction was disgust at a religion in whose name these men claimed to act.
But when I remember the troubles in Northern Ireland and the Bosnian atrocities committed by Christians, and all this as recently as the 1990s, we are not really any better.
[Daphne – Why ‘we’? You show symptoms of the same ‘us and them’ mindset. I feel absolutely no sense of ‘we’ with the IRA and the Serb perpetrators of genocide. In short, I feel no sense of ‘we’ with anyone else on the basis of Christianity. My sense of ‘we’ is rooted in a similar education and shared values, and nothing else. Because of that, I have a sense of ‘we’ with many people who are neither Christian nor Maltese, and absolutely no sense of we with many people who are both.]
You make the mistake that a lot of people make in calling Islam a religion. Islam is not a religion it is a political ideology and the sooner people wake up to that fact the better.
Islam IS a religion but wherever possible it tries to impose an intolerant fundamentalist confessional state that practises a jihadist murderous terrorism against all “infidels” (e.g. Hindus) and a lucrative reluctant tolerance towards “people of the book” (Christians and Jews).
Two-hundred years ago, racism was literally black and white. People in Malta, care a lot more about politics than they care for religion.
The problem is that in Malta, there’s a section of ‘new modern’ racists which have grown so used to ‘hate’ that they have now taken it to another level so that it’s no longer just black and white.
Whether it is calling insults to someone from a passing car, whether it’s spiting people coming from different classes of society on Facebook, or using racial slurs when talking to friends or family, whether it is the bullying between kids at school, racism/hate is on the increase.
When racism escalates it becomes a “hate crime”, which it is my impression that the problem we have here is “hate” (like you might hate broccoli or fish), not racism.
Call it what you like but nothing will change the fact that we have an increasing abundance of people finding every excuse they can find to hate and unfortunately we will always have these sort of people until stricter laws are introduced which will force the racists to understand that we look at a person and see not their race, class or creed, but that they are human beings.
In Malta, it’s not about racism – it’s about hate.
People here, can’t help seeing different people (by different I mean, different colour of skin, class, calibre) mainly because the mentality of the 80s is still ingrained in their heads and the fact that Malta is an island, this same fact doesn’t help improve the situation either.
Nobody fights for religious purposes here.
‘Religious purposes’ is the excuse, the real aim is power and we would be fools to think that persons in Malta are immune to radicalization.
When acts of terror occur the radicals actually gain ground because of those who are stupid enough to target the ethnicity or religion instead of the radical person/group, just like people targeted AirMalta (a potential larger ‘enemy’) rather than the individual who made the racist comment.
So if the larger group had had radical elements, those elements could have gained ground from the unfair targeting of the whole organization and used that to push other members who felt insulted and indignant to a more radical stance.
Of course this example is used to demonstrate how ridiculous the targeting of AirMalta was and how dangerous it could be to target the whole instead of the one. AirMalta took a stance and made clear its position BUT a group with radical aspirations would find this a perfect way to stoke the fire.
The moral of the story here is please read up, ‘Friction: How Radicalization Happens to Them and Us’ by Mccauley and Moskalenko would be a start.
The prompt dissociation of the family of the murderer of drummer Lee Rigby from his atrocious deed is a very welcome event indeed and a sort of light at the end of a very dark tunnel.
For a frightening glimpse of the opposite side of this murderous jihadi terror you are invited to access the link:
http://www.therightscoop.com/must-watch-judge-jeanines-epic-smackdown-on-the-mother-of-the-boston-jihadi-bombers/
Thank you for sharing this with us, we should publicise this as much as possible.
Dr. Saliba, I think I do not get you. ‘a frightening glimpse’? What is exactly frightening about what Judge Jeanine has said? Or have I misunderstood you?
“Frightening” are the video clips showing the jihadist’s mother vicious, arrogant, ungrateful and hateful sentiments towards a generous United States of America that had granted her, and her family, an asylum that they clearly did not deserve.
Dr. Saliba. I misunderstood you there. My mistake. I agree with you wholeheartedly.
One thing that strikes me in this declaration is that the family condemn the murder, specifically and unconditionally, without even hinting at any justification.
They do not condemn violence “whoever perpetrates it” or “from wherever it comes” which would be ways of diluting the condemnation by suggesting that both sides (murderer and victim) are somehow equally responsible.
It is an honest and straightforward condemnation, so different to the pseudo-denounciation of Labour violence that Joseph Muscat mumbled through gritted teeth when he became Labour leader.
Not quite.
“We wish to state openly that we believe that there is no place for violence in the name of religion or politics.”
This is where they get it wrong. Yes, there certainly is a place for violence in the name of politics. It’s called war.
*facepalm*
There would be a legitimate place for war only in the case of defensive wars against unjust aggression but not for expansionist wars declared by the strong against the weak and against which it would be legitimate to defend oneself.
One mustn’t forget that it was Mintoff’s “sixth point” that violence should be acceptable in certain unidentified political situations. As soon as he gained power he amply demonstrated what those situations were when his followers murdered Raymond Caruana, when they burned down The Times, when they denied the freedom of assembly in Zejtun etc. with total immunity.
Actually it was Carl von Clusewitz who defined war as “a continuation of politics by other means”
I’m just a slightly wary of statements which condemn all forms of violence, because from there to equating the murder of a soldier with the invasion of Iraq is but a small step.
Of course I understand the message of the statement, I heartily welcome it, and I think it was the right thing to do, so I’ll leave it at that.
The West denounces Islamists and fights them with one hand, then helps them overthrow secular regimes with another. Case in point: Syria.
Syria? I thought the argument there was that the West WASN’T doing anything to overthrow the regime.
I think you’re scratching the surface of the news, La.
Here is an article dealing with part of what I’m talking about, and it quotes some of the mainstream reports you’ve been missing.
http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_65677.shtml
As for the ‘whys’ and the ‘wherefores’, you don’t have to think about that for the time being. Just deal with the facts as they develop first.
We need more people like this judge who express the feeling of the American people.
Although this declaration is most welcome, I am afraid that declarations of this sort from Muslim organisations and families have been in very short supply. What I mean is that Western Europe (together with North America), has welcomed all sorts of nationalities (including Maltese). The fundamental mistake over the years, in my view, is that successive European governments did not strive enough to encourage/demand ethnic minorities to assimilate and uphold the values of the West.
In practice it is the opposite that happened in many cases. The societal changes that happened were to accommodate different cultures. But this has evidently not worked when it came to arrivals / new residents with strong religious influences. These new comers to Europe brought with them their cultures and imposed ‘strange’ new ways of life upon the local residents.
The result of this ‘logic’ was that local European communities and the ‘average’ European felt/feels threatened and unprotected. If all this may sound as too much generic, the feed back I get from many foreign European friends, confirms this.
I think that Muslim organisations, as well as influential individuals, in Europe should long have lauded the European freedoms that we are accustomed to, and should have criticized unequivocally religious fanaticism but I think that I would be expecting too much for such to happen.