I have not
been able to put together a blog this month and did less last August due to
workload I had to deal with both at work and home. It has been very difficult
to do so despite so many events unfolding before our eyes elsewhere in the
world.
My Legal
Practice Course is taking its toll but hey that is a good thing, I got to do
this time. I cannot continue banking things for later.
What I want
to do in this blog is to just comment on those popular events that have taken
place in this month of September hitting headlines elsewhere in the world.
But before anything else, Big cheers out there
to all Moslems in the world who celebrated their Eid ul fitr marking the end of
fasting in the month of Ramadan. This year too has seen so many forums on the
actual sighting of the moon. Certain quarters believe that the sighting is just
being blindly followed and not evidenced by real sighting of the said moon.
Saudi Arabia is a culprit on this but this has been so for the past decade.
Most parts of the Muslim world follow Saudi Arabia in almost everything
including the sighting of the moon and these resenting groups have been there
all the time. I did ask one cleric regarding this; he said to me that I should
just get over it. I am hoping that there will be a solution to all this.
I begin with
the United Nations, a speech made by Iran President Ahmedinejad, who claimed
that September 11 terrorist attack on the Twin Towers is an American government’s
assault on its people led by former President George W. Bush.
A number of
delegates left the building in protest during the speech as they did not want
to associate themselves with this kind of propaganda. Watching that on a local
news network television, I was left inquisitive, pondered with so many
questions. Most importantly, I wondered as to why some of the delegates remained
seated and never seem to be bothered or taking an offense. As Netanyahu
reiterated in his speech, that he expected all the delegates to have boycotted
the speech and never let the Iranian president finish his speech.
Was he
exercising freedom of speech? To some people including Ahmedinejad himself feel
that way, they think they can do so as of an absolute right although this is
not so. To others, he is a hero who could provoke America and make fun of its
terrible incidents like that of September 11 right there in America. He is a
brave man to sympathizers.
But does this
make the United Nations an organisation that tolerates and encourage the
exercise of freedom of speech on its corridors even if it is offensive in
nature. My understanding is that this should be the case, if every speech and
president was to be boycotted then what sort of an organisation would make the
UN? United Nations knows that some countries are led by mad dogs and there is
nothing they can do to deal with their issues. They can be isolated elsewhere
but they should be given an opportunity of being heard in the United Nations
like anybody else.
Still at the
UN headquarters, the Palestinian bid of an independent state, President Abbas asked the
United Nations to recognise Palestine as a sovereign state. This did not go
down well, United States clearly expressed its position and some analysts
claimed that president Obama was just destroying his historical speech he made
in Cairo a year and half ago on Palestine.
Meanwhile the Israel Prime Minister
urged United Nations to consider the dangers of seeing this bid through. As we
expected the United States to veto, the only remaining question was to see
which side the United Kingdom will take. What I make out of all these is that
the Palestinian approach is that of moving on, and, peace process cannot be
swayed by it.
In the same
month we have seen the former leader of Egypt Hosni Mubarak bedridden to answer
charges of corruption and murder in court. Shocking pictures of once the mighty
leader of a great nation.
In North
Africa, Libya’s Moammar Gadaffi’s regime finally disappeared; the Interim
National Consultative council has moved its capital from Benghazi to Tripoli
showcasing victory. The President received a warm welcome on arrival and
promised to consolidate the broken relationship among the citizens and let
there be peace again. The West has reiterated its support to rebuilding the
country.
While I am sceptical, I would have loved that Gadaffi be allocated
wherever he is and put to task for the atrocities he has caused. If he is left
out there how do we expect the people of Libya to move on while the beast is
still at large?
In Zambia,
the opposition candidate, Michael Sata, claims the hot seat of president in the
General Election last week. To me Sata for the past years to last week has been
considered as an underdog who posed no threat, despite being called King Cobra
for his fire spitting tongue, to the sitting president of the country. Although
his academic and life experience record is not attractive and might not look
eye catching but no one could stop him from accomplishing his mission. Indeed
colleagues at Victoria Station in London, where he used to work as a floor
sweeper would be happy for what he has accomplished.
In Southern
Africa today, most of surrounding countries neighbouring Zambia are either with
a good president or a bad president whose head is sought come the General
Election. As someone might have said that the wind of change is blowing again
over Africa. I just hope this time it will leave behind useful debris than it did
last time, it gave people hope that things were to change for the better and
make the motherland once again a better place to live. But this is not the case
today in Africa, leaders who take a country and
destroy it until you feel like there is no hope of restoring this country…
looting some prefer to call it. Citizens are reduced to beggars with no sense
of hope that tomorrow will be different.
