Plus

Plus

Broken, but unbowed
In the wake of 7/7 adopted Londoner Afdhel Aziz makes a passionate plea for moderates to speak out
It's been ten days since we woke up to the news about our fellow Londoners, cut down in the blast of terrorist bombs, on the Underground we use every day, on the buses that are as much a part of our city as red phone boxes or "bobbies" (policemen) on the beat.

I remember that day. The city was eerily quiet, except for the occasional siren; the streets were filled with people walking calmly, talking on their mobile phones, as they tried to get home on foot. It would be difficult to find a better illustration of the "stiff upper lip" that is said to define the British.

Like many in this city, I'm an adopted Londoner. I've lived in this city for 10 years now and it truly has the best that the world has to offer. I treasure the freedom and open-mindedness here. I relish the diversity and tolerance that allows me to buy a bagel from a Jewish bakery in Brick Lane, then have a curry next door at the Bangladeshi restaurant. I love the fact that you can dance to Caribbean rhythms in Notting Hill or watch Tim Henman mount a valiant challenge (again) at Wimbledon. I am proud of the fact that just minutes from my front door, hundreds of thousands of people gathered to demonstrate solidarity for the people of Africa.

It is the broad spectrum of people, living together, side by side, shoulder to shoulder that makes this city truly great. Like Baghdad or Jerusalem, it is built on wave upon wave of immigrants who create new and ambitious communities and cultures that feed the soul of this metropolis.

We knew this would happen. There was a sense of inevitability to the events that took place in our city. We watched as the events unfolded in New York on September 11, 2001, the bombings in Madrid. For me personally, growing up in Sri Lanka, I knew only too well the impact of terrorist bombs. We knew that it was only a matter of time before the terrorists would come to our city.

Some commentators have said it is the price that we must pay for supporting the US in its "war on terror", for British Prime Minister Tony Blair acting as United States President George W. Bush's lapdog and joining him in pushing his neo-conservative agenda. To quote Malcolm X, the chickens have come home to roost.

But here's the rub. Even if you are someone (like myself) who felt that they were lied to and manipulated into supporting a war over non-existent weapons of mass destruction; even if you (like myself) took part in the anti-war demonstrations against this abuse of power; you can still abhor and despise these ruthless terrorists who chose to end the lives of ordinary people, people like you and me. You can still be a Muslim (like myself) and want them to be hunted down and punished in strange and brutal ways. Because they don't stand for Islam. They never have and never will.

Here's the core of this conflict; it's not between Muslims and the West. It's between fundamentalists and moderates. And unless moderate Muslims (like myself) stand up and condemn what these people do, supposedly in the name of my religion, nothing is going to change.

As someone once said: "Islamic extremism is to Islam as the Klu Klux Klan is to Christianity." A virulent mutation. An unwelcome and unholy prostitution.
A tenth of London’s eight million citizens are Muslims. There were Muslims killed deep in the tunnels below the city by the explosions. There were Muslims working for London Underground, bravely helping people get to safety.
There were Muslim doctors and nurses treating the victims at hospitals around the city. And it is Muslim mosques and schools that are now being targeted for arson and attacks as senseless as the bombings themselves.

It is young Muslim men and women who are now the subject of racist abuse on the streets of Britain. Fortunately, the incidents are small and isolated, mainly by the same ultra-nationalist hatemongers who have always been looking to stir up trouble ; Britain’s tolerance and intelligence prevent it being more than that. But it is still happening.

So the news that Britain’s Muslim councils are considering issuing a fatwa on the terrorists is welcomed by all. Let’s see what happens when the tables are turned. Let’s see how they fare when they are excommunicated by the societies they have hidden in for so long. And let this be a warning to not just those directly involved in terror, but those who feed the flames. Let this be a warning to those Imams preaching violence at the Friday ‘kothuba’ (sermon).
Let this be a warning to those teachers whispering hate in the madrasas. Moderate Muslims need to be aware where their charitable donations go; they need to be attuned to what people are saying in their names. For to paraphrase Edmund Burke, ‘all that is essential for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing.’

Here’s another thing I remember about that day – or 7/7 as it is now being called. Just six hours after the blasts I was walking in Hyde Park, reflecting on what had happened. What gave me the greatest hope was seeing thousands of people, families with kids, in the sunshine, eating ice creams and sitting on the grass. That is the biggest victory we can hope for – the victory of normal people being able to do normal things.

The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, spoke for us all, when he said to these terrorists: "Nothing you do, however many of us you kill, will stop that life ... where freedom is strong and people can live in harmony ... whatever you do, however many you kill, you will fail."

This is London. This is a city that is no stranger to violence – from the Blitz of World War II to the IRA bombings in the 70’s and 80’s. We can take it.
This is London. We have learnt the vocabulary of grief. We know what comes next – the memorial services, the tributes to bravery, the scars left on this city. It is all part of the price of democracy and tolerance, of being a civilised and diverse nation. It’s a price that we are willing to pay.

This is London. People have lived here for tens of thousands of years in harmony and tolerance. It's going to take more than this to bring us down. You are going to have to get through people like me, for generations and generations, before you even come close to succeeding. And we will prevail. We will overcome.

Back to Plus