Which subtler way to put the recent display of violent demonstrations in parts of Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan and now northern Nigeria, which was characterised by burning of flags and pictures, and even leading to the killing of people in some cases, over a stupid obnoxious video clip? For me, it is a stark exhibition of dangerous ignorance of the way the world works plus a clear proof of lack of faith in an omnipotent God by the masterminds of the so called protests we were forced to endure. It is time we tell these uncivilised thugs without mincing words that their senseless actions have no place in a modern world where normal ordinary people, regardless of their race, faith, gender or ethnicity, just want peace and prosperity for themselves and their loved ones.
As I write these notes, I am also staring at the footages of the mob that went out in Kano to protest and burn flags and pictures over the weekend; please have a look at those pictures if you can. Without much analysis, two things immediately come to mind. One is that the crowd we see is an organised and coordinated team, not a spontaneous group of angry protesters. The second is that I doubt that those people in the images we saw in the streets of Kano have actually seen the video clip they claim to be protesting about. This ill famed stupid tasteless video is not available in public domain anymore. I had to make a special request and prove I needed it for my studies for me to see it.
Let us not fool ourselves, a clear and reasonable implication of such observations is that there is someone or some people with resources sustaining these actions and guiding these crowds. In the Nigeria of Boko Haram, a person or people with enough resources to inform, convince, mobilise and coordinate others to go to the streets to burn flags and picture in the name of religion and actually doing so should be identified and kept under close scrutiny by those charged with protecting our lives and properties. If any more reason was needed, this is a golden opportunity for our secret service and they should seize it in order to prevent future calamities.
With their actions, those orchestrating these uprisings and the devotees executing on their behest and influence are clearly showing that their understanding of how things work in countries like the USA is shockingly modest and dangerously wrong. In their ignorance, they are equating the action of a faceless individual to that of a government or even a whole country. From their shallow point of view, they seem incapable of understanding that from all available analyses and polls we have today, the people of America and their government have no desire to go to war with more countries or movements. These ignorant flag and picture arson orchestrators that claim to be causing mayhem in the name of a God in which they seem not have complete faith are clearly showing themselves as incapable of understanding that the crux of present American administration’s foreign policy is to put emphasis on negotiation and collaboration rather than confrontation and unilateralism.
If there was a bit more depth to their thoughts they would probably realise that with their actions they are giving validity to those foreign policy hawks who claim there is no point in trying to reason with non-Christians as they are just haters that needed to be isolated, dominated and quashed. If they could think just a little bit more, they might easily realise that if the American people reasoned like them then they would see the people in Kano burning the American flags and in retaliation consider Nigeria an enemy country. Could it be that these people actually want that? Could it be that they want war? Looking at the images of Kano and elsewhere with all those children and woman amongst that mob one cannot but wonder and ask what value do these people place on the lives of their dependents. What kind of injudicious and selfish cynicism are we dealing with here?
A lot is amiss; for the purpose of understanding these irritating and criminal acts, even if we were to grant just for the sake of argument that the orchestrators are mere reckless injurious cynics and that their devotees are fuelled by the belief that they are doing something godly, one must still ask a few questions on how these people conceive their God. Do they really see their God as omniscient, omnipotent and merciful? It is legitimate to doubt these arsonists and especially those supporting and guiding them really have enough faith to believe that their God that sees and knows all, has enough power to deal with someone that insults his commandments and Prophet.
They seem to believe that God and his Prophet need their help to protect themselves from an ugly video clip. They are the faithless ones. Their act is a display of ignorance of faithless believers who want to play God. They should beg for forgiveness of their sins.
