Monday, January 12, 2009
A Reflection
When the caricature of prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) wearing a bomb on his turban emerged, and Muslims worldwide protested in rage against it, I don't seem to remember Malaysians doing much about it. I don't even recall demonstrations being held. I guess that's why a quarter finals contestant of the ESU public speaking competition 2006 when asked about a current situation that could be described as 'a storm in a teacup', of all the things he could say...he chose to answer - my very 1st statement in this post. His words were deeply etched in my mind, when he said he felt that Muslims everywhere were making a big deal over a small thing. He stated, they should follow Malaysian Muslims' example. And by that he meant, keeping our cool and not taking part in any ill-mannered, vulgar protests ( he thought he was giving us a compliment i suppose). I don't entirely blame him. What did we do to defend our beloved prophet then? We by ourselves helped create the wrong image to non-Muslims by not saying much about the issue.
Then again, I do remember messages being forwarded though, all encouraging people to boycott Danish products. Malaysians I noticed, are not used to going all out in the open. We aren't really accustomed to join protests or hold petitions. Creating awareness by spreading messages seemed to be the more popular method. At that point of time, I didn't think boycotting was a solution. I didn't really feel everyone would cooperate to give much of an effect to their economy. I never even really give a thought about it.
Today however, I can see people are finally speaking up. Palestine has always been an issue very near to our hearts but not very much until recently when war struck in Gaza, leaving so many lifeless; adding to the suffering of our brothers & sisters. I realize more and more people are taking notice, trying to do something to help or still thinking of doing something but not knowing how to or what is there to do. Demonstrations are being held all over the world including in our country and everyday, people exchange opinions, post new articles regarding the very issue. Donations in the form of medical aid is being sent by our very own MERCY. There are many ways in which we could help, prayers being at the top of my list.
A few days ago when I watched al-Jazeera, it was announced that the U.S is resolute on backing up Israel. I thought it was just unimaginable that only 5 out of their hundreds would actually vote against it! Just goes to prove that the Jews are very much in control in America. That's when I just hated the U.S and everything that has to do with it. I just wish Malaysia would stop sending students to study there. Stop travelling to the U.S. Stop using their currency at all. Boycotting suddenly seemed the thing to do. This time, I acknowledge the idea that it could actually help a lot especially when there are more determined people around. Back then, one of the reasons behind my non-obligation to boycott was possibly the lack of substitutes. 2years later - man, what a lame excuse!How pessimistic and ignorant was I? These days...I really think it can be done, once everyone realizes that when we're spending on these brands, we're really helping to strengthen the Israeli army; we're supporting the baby killers, the butcher of children and all the damage that they're doing in the middle east.
Just bear this in mind : God will one day question us on what we have done to help our religion. Our people. Our Muslim relatives. How will we answer then?
I sure want to be saying something.
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Good post Deelz!
ReplyDeleteI originally thought,also,that methods proposed to go against Israel and America,were not impactful enough,hence would not breed the fruits of success.I did not adpot any of those methods.
However,now I think the issue whether a method is going to breed success or not is secondary,what is important is that we,within our many limitations,at least put some efforts into stopping their crimes against Muslims.
Victory is God's.And He will give it to us based on our efforts.
Hi adila,
ReplyDeleteJust a thought.. Im not saying it is wrong or right to boycott American and Israeli products. The fact is, nearly 90% of all the products we consume and use in our daily lives are somehow linked to the israelis in some ways. For example this google based blogspot is under a corporation that is founded by a jewish person. Try googling Sergey Brin. The founder of Facebook itself (Mark Zuckerberg) is a jew. They contribute millions of dollars to the israeli government trough adds and applications posted on facebook and the google adds that you click and by the number of usage of googles search engine. A number of other internet corporations are either founded by jews or are linked by jews. Basically the internet is nearly owned by jews. SO my first suggestion on boycotting is to boycott the internet if possible especially google, yahoo and facebook for starters.
Technologies that come from the israelis and provide large sums of money to their governments are unescapable. The microchips that power our own computers right now are all from Jewish scientist and made, marketed and mass produced by a jewish linked company such as AMD and intel. Why dont we boycott computers as a whole unless there's a muslim country or a nation not linked to Israel or America has the ability to produce these microchips.
So how can we stop supporting them?
My suggestion is mainly to substitute everything that comes from them with something of our own. To do this, knowledge is most important. How to get this knowledge? It is all up to you. Our government for instance are thinking that we should learn from one of the best nations in technology, which are currently either the US, the european countries (which are mostly affiliated or somehow has links with Israel) or the eastern asian countries such as korea and japan. So i hope this point answers your question on the justification for the sending of students to the US by our government.
The ability to do this is not out of reach but it is just a matter of time.
Another point that i want to add is that, it is quite bad for us to just despise a whole nation when the ones that are contributing are just a few (a powerful few). Theres a research made by a christian journalist on the data being shown by the media in the US. 90% of american citizens do not know what their government are doing outside the country. They know the Iraqi war because there are soldiers of the US army involved. If no armies are involved or the ones involved are just a few, they wouldn't know. The Iraqi war for instance is only considered bad because the parents of the people in the military think that there are a lot of deaths on their side. Not due to the fact that the war in itself was not justified in any ways.The fact that the US government is supplying 15 million dollars per day to Israel is also unknown amongst the citizens because these kinds of data are being suppressed by the government and a few other influential people living here. Most americans dont know how bad the situation is getting in the middle east because of this. I can go on and on on this matter if you want me to, but the main thing is:
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER.
nowadays, sadly, the most knowledgeable people are either ignorant or are jews or are just misguided.
The question of whether to boycott or not. And if we were to boycott, what best way is there..what would give such an impact, would it work and is it even possible...
ReplyDeleteI went from a person who never believed in the prospects of boycotting before to now, a believer in the very idea. I realize many a people do use a lot of American/Israel products; they practically revolve around us in our everyday lives. But I believe for now, it's best to do as much as we can, as far as we can hope to. Most people are willing to give up those brands that are proven to help fund the Israeli army and kill more and more Palestinians...and that's a start. Some brands like Intel, may seem unavoidable. Your suggestions about the networks like google, fb and such..may just fall into the same category. That would be an even bigger sacrifice for most people...and I'm not so sure how it can be done since many depend on them. Of course, we can find substitutes for anything if we really want to, but my point is really...there are people even doubting the very idea of boycotting, which even though I am disappointed of, it kills me even more when people diss those who make it an obligation to boycott. If we can't even get them to boycott the smaller things, I feel it'll be even harder for the bigger things...and the internet is a big step. For those who already have a mindset to boycott, they may give it a try especially if it's really proven that whatever they're using and doing currently (like using the fb) is really contributing to the killing of more innocent lives despite the fact that the owner is Jewish. Like when u said we can't exactly generalise that all Americans are supporting the war on Gaza, some people feel not all Jews are bad. I guess maybe some Americans aren't aware... but my concern is really, are they really unaware or are they just ignorant? There are still people who think Malaysia is in the middle of the woods or sth.and I blame them for their ignorance. If any of them just so much as make an effort to find out about what's really happening, what leaders they actually have as their Govn, then that's fine by me. Because in the end, if one searches for the truth, it's Allah's choice to enlighten him or her. If they don't look for it then, we can help them do that. But in the end it's about their willingness to handle the truth.
Even so, I agree that knowledge Is power. And amongst the many ways of how we can help with this situation, apart from boycotting is gaining more knowledge. So that one day we will have the power to say sth sbout the matter. So that we don't have to find anymore substitutes coz we have our own products. So we could carry on with our daily lives without having to worry whether what we use is assisting anyone in creating hell on earth. But for now, I feel we should just do all we can NOW. And insyaAllah, make it an on-going process. Hopefully, we can double our efforts in the future, or maybe more than that.