A Challenging Question - What Would I Do?

The debate that's taking place following Pauline Hanson's first senate speech prompted me to share this. 

On my fight back from KL last week, I watched the movie/documentary on the life of Malala Yousafzai. What an inspiring young women she is. How fortunate she is to have her father  Ziauddin in her life. Ziauddin Yousafzai has been a champion for women’s rights all his life. As a teacher, he insisted (and encouraged others) that girls be allowed to attend the school. I particularly like this quote of his, "Education is not simply to learn to read and write. It's emancipation. It makes you free." I believe that as well.

There were several points both Malala and Ziauddin made in the documentary that made me think. It made me question. I wonder what I would do if I were ever faced with the choice; speak out, fight or flee. Hopefully I will never have to test myself and find out. 

It also highlighted that it’s all too easy for people like Pauline Hanson living in a country like Australia to throw broad arrows at Muslims. Hanson’s claim she is talking about radical Islamists doesn’t stack up. A quick read of her senate first speech highlights her references to  “Muslims” 19 times. In pointing this out, I am not stupid and I don’t dismiss the real concern over radicals. But, radicals take many forms. Islamist radicals being just one. Albeit, the one that solicits the most coverage and comment. 

Back to Malala’s story. 

When the Taliban first came to their valley (SWAT) many people welcomed them with open arms. The Taliban spoke to the issues that people struggled with. Ziauddin’s was dismayed. As an educated man he knew what the Taliban were all about. 

It wasn’t too long before the Taliban completely took over and began to murder people. When Ziauddin received death threats for speaking out he still refused to give up his activities to educate children. Or to stop warning his friends against cooperating with the Taliban.  Even after his friends were murdered, he would not be silenced.

I can see a similarity between why the villagers from Malala’s village and other villages initially responded positively to the Taliban and why certain people gravitate to Pauline Hanson. They are voices for those who feel they are not being heard. Or, their needs are not being met. Before anyone erupts I am not putting Hanson in the same bucket as the Taliban. I’m merely pointing out that those who purport to be speaking for ‘us’ are not always our friends. There is usually a reason why they do it. We are yet to discover what Pauline Hanson’s agenda is. I have my suspicions but will keep that to myself for the time being. 

In the case of the Taliban they spoke to the villagers about their commitment to living by the teachings of Quran. To the villagers this spoke of freedom, forgiveness and equality. The women in particular craved freedom. The villagers believed in the true teachings of Islam where women have rights. But hundreds of years of cultural suppression had taken a toll. Malala made an interesting comment about culture and her mother. When living in Pakistan, Malala's mother covered her face in public. Malala said it had nothing to do with religion. That was the culture. Now the family lives in the west Malala's mother simply wears a Hijab.

As Malala's father had warned, things changed quickly for the people of Malala's village. By the time the villagers understood what the Taliban were about, (that they were terrorists, radicals) it was too late. 

Ziauddin had been preaching the importance of education for years. Malala as a young girl was equally passionate sharing her fathers views.  They understood that lack of education keeps people in poverty. They also understood that ignorance due to the lack of education meant people didn’t reason or question as they should. This leaves people vulnerable to manipulation. They were seeing this manifest all too graphically in their own village. 

I've heard it said many times that terrorists like the Taliban, ISIS, and their ilk have a common mission to keep people uneducated. People are easier to control that way. The Taliban summarily burnt down schools and banned children from attending schools. It started with girls being banned but soon extended to boys. ISIS banned formal education. Instead they brainwash kids with their ideologically bastardised radical form of Islam. In Malala's village (as in many others), the Taliban not only destroyed schools, they destroyed videos and they confiscated and burnt TV's. When you think about it, that’s similar to the Nazi's in burning books. History repeats. 

Some brave souls fought back, but they were soon silenced. The Taliban read the names of the dissenters out over loud hailers. The Taliban would then come to their homes and take the dissenters away and kill them. Their dead bodies dumped in the streets had the desired effect of instilling fear into the villagers. Speak up and die or be silent and live. Its a very tough decision.

There was one piece in the movie where a BBC journalist asked school girls if they were willing to write a daily blog about their life. One young student volunteered. When her  father found out he forbid her from doing it. The father was terrified his daughter would be discovered and killed by the Taliban. I can understand the fathers reaction. As it transpired, Malala ended up blogging for the BBC. Championing the education of girls.  

Malala's father Ziauddin was one who would not be silenced. As you would expect the time came when his name was read-out. The family were forced to flee. But that didn’t silence either Malala or her father. They continued to speak out and champion education and rights. 

Power and control; silencing by fear. The displays of dead and mutilated bodies is a pretty powerful deterrent. The fear of death. Thankfully, people like Malala and her father refused to cave in.

Malala's father put it succinctly when he said of self appointed Islamic extremists. It has nothing to do with Islam. He went on to say "they are not about religion, they are about the radical ideology of power and control.”  It's frightening when you consider how easy it is to trap people. But I guess desperation drives that.  And in the west it's often isolation and marginalisation. We can scoff. Many do. But I believe those who are closer to the problem than I am.

We know what treatment Malala received for speaking out. She wasn't the only girl wounded on the bus that day. But she was the main target. She was critically injured. Who knows why she survived and has gone to lead a productive life against all odds. I like to think it was her destiny, her mission in life. If that is true she is most certainly fulfilling it. Her bravery and her courage is astounding. Her conviction so much stronger. Her father equally so. These are exceptional people. There are many like them, who battle day in day out against the extremism, violence and suppression. We should support them. Not attack them.

It's easy for us who live in the safety and security of the west to sit in judgement. But as I stated in the beginning, I wonder what I would do, given the same circumstances. Would I be as brave as Malala and her father. Would I stand up and fight or would I be silenced through fear.

When people like Pauline Hanson attack Muslims, she is attacking people like Malala and her father. She is attacking people like the poor villagers of SWAT who were manipulated by radicals. When she demands an end to Muslim immigration, she doesn’t differentiate between the manipulators and the manipulated. The good or the bad Muslim's as she so quaintly put it in her senate speech. Hanson’s approach is, just ban everyone. Her justification being; terrorism, take-over and inability to live with western values. 

Sadiq Khan, Lord Mayor of London made a very relevant statement in an address in Chicago this week. He raised the point about playing into the hands of extremists when he said, "We play straight into the hands of those who seek to divide us, of extremists and terrorists around the world, when we imply that it is not possible to hold Western values and to be a Muslim.”

He is right. Thousands and thousands if not millions of Muslims already do live very happily with Western values and laws. Thousands in our own country do. 

It would serve Ms Hanson well to heed that advice. By all means we need to talk about peoples fears and concerns. They are real. What we don’t need to do is tar everyone with the same brush. Or as we say 'gild the lily' as Ms Hanson did in her speech to the Senate. Plucking numbers out of the air with no fact supporting it. That just makes people more fearful.

Perhaps Ms Hanson (who is not well educated or indeed articulate) just struggles to convey her message. If that's the case, she needs help before she causes more damage. Because the message she is currently spreading is dangerous despite her claims. It detracts from real and honest debate.

Thankfully I don't have to risk my life like Malala and her father Ziauddin. I don't have to flee my birthplace to be safe. But I do have voice and a pen. I will continue to speak out about all types of radicals and that includes people like Ms Hanson. I wonder what her response would be if Malala and her family applied to migrate to Australia. I think I will write to her and ask her.

I’ve attached a link to Sadiq Khan’s address below. I think it's well worth a listen. 

Social Integration - Challenge of Our Age