(MENAFN- EIN Presswire) We protest in front of the French Consulate in San Francisco to uphold the teachings of our Prophet and to support the minorities in their fight for Justice.
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, USA, October 30, 2020 / EINPresswire.com / -- The past week the world has witnessed heavy handed approach of the French government after the killing of a teacher. Just prior to the killing the French President was drumming up hatred against Islam and once again this teacher chose to publish the infamous cartoons of Prophet Muhammad. Since then France has taken the opportunity to arrest a large number of Muslims, closing down of many mosques and dragging and entire Muslim minority in a so-called crackdown on Islamism. No organizations or no one has connection to this crime, yet all pay the price.
As Muslims we unquestionably condemn the killing of the teacher even though he openly and aggressively violated the sanctity of the person of Prophet Muhammad, in the name of free speech. No one who claims to be a Muslim should take it upon himself to carry out vigilante justice. This is inconsistent with the teachings of Islam. The perpetrator of this crime should be brought to justice and given the same due process as any French citizen.
If a few individuals with Muslim-sounding names tragically go mental or simply cannot process all this hatred thrown at them and decide to harm or kill some people, they need to be dealt with in accordance with the law and with due process. But what in more alarming is that after this incident the French government unleashed war against Islam. The French President called Islam a religion in "crisis" all over the world and explicitly condoned the caricatures designed to denigrate Prophet Muhammad.
France has close to six million Muslims (close to 10% of its population) – the largest in any Western country. Many of them were brought into France during the colonial era, thus there are fifth and sixth generation French Muslims today - who are fully integrated into the French society. But have been forced to live in ghettoes as the French have always segregated against the Muslims. With this new trend of far-right White Supremacy going upward, the world is witnessing hatred, racism, Islamophobic bigotry and heavy-handed aggression against a helpless minority in France. Conspiracy theories that Muslims will take over France have become mainstream. The bulk of the French population is now being fed the lie by both the power of the government and the power of the media.
The same France who claims champions of free speech have tortured and killed millions in North and Central Africa when they carried out their right of free speech and the freedom to choose their path forward. Countries like Algeria, Chad, Niger, Morocco, and Tunisia are some examples of their hostility and clamping down of free speech for many decades. The French and other colonial powers exploited Africa and other nations to build their own countries with the blood and sweat of innocent men, women and children taking away every human dignity from them. Now they want to preach to the world about freedom of speech. Such double standards in the name of justice is nothing short of hypocrisy. Over the past twenty years, France has implemented numerous laws designed to limit and punish the free exercise of religion, especially among Muslims.
What is in crisis is the political system with nefarious double standards used by countries such as France to rally cheap votes. The crisis is that the far-right is able to come to power, pass draconian laws to harass and intimidate minorities. People who aren't qualified to be elected win landslide victories because of their messages of hate and the positioning of themselves as Messiah-figures against the made-up threat of 'the other'. The crisis is that there are over one billion people are in extreme poverty and rich nations choose to turn a blind eye. The crisis is that war is constantly waged against helpless people after exploiting them of their natural resources and then turn and blame them for their "backwardness". The crisis is not Islam but the making it a scape-goat by Mr. Macron and attempting to distract French citizens from his government's dismantling of public services, rising unemployment, poor economy, ineffective response to the COVID-19 pandemic and failed policies. The crisis is the abyss of man and how low he can go when he has lost his soul.
And so we protest today in front of the French Consulate in San Francisco.
Syed Husaini
ICNA Council for Social Justice
+1 972-696-9052
email us here
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