I'm not sure how many Americans keep up with international news, I know its not a huge percentage, but even the ones who do, I wonder if you guys have heard of a holiday which was invented this year on Friday, September 21, 2012 in Pakistan. Its called "ishq-e-Rasool" day, which literally means "love for the Prophet" day. Naturally, since Pakistan is a nation which comprises of 97% Muslims, they would be talking about the Prophet Muhammad. This was done in response to a satirical movie about Muslims created in Hollywood, which portrayed the Prophet Muhammad in a very derogatory way, inflaming Muslims all over the world, many of which took to the streets to protest. This part is easy to understand, its simple cause and effect. What happened during the protests, however, defies all logic. Some movie theaters in Pakistan were set ablaze, property was vandalized, and people were killed.
It was truly a dark and sad day for Pakistan, and for all of humanity, knowing that these acts of mayhem were perpetrated by those who took to the streets to protest something which they deemed as unjust. What a sad irony it is that those who seek justice end up being unjust in their pursuit of justice.
On that day, I drove all over Defence and Clifton, not such a good idea looking at it in retrospect, but I actually got to see a lot of the protests starting off firsthand. Its interesting, I've been to many protests all over the United States for various civil rights issues, and I never knew the protest culture could be so different in another place. In the United States, when I've gone for protests, its usually one venue, starting at a definite time, and everyone who wants to protest only congregates in that area. Here, I saw about 5 different mobs protesting, each with their own speakers and audiences in different parts of town.
On Saturday morning I ventured out to take care of a few errands, which I couldn't do the day before because the entire city was shut down. So, I headed out, and it was as if the craziness that gripped the city the day before hadn't even happened. Everything was running as if its business as usual.
On Sunday, there was a series of peace rallies all over Pakistan, branded as "Project Clean For Peace," organized by Transparency International and Go Green Pakistan. The aim of this activity was to clean up a certain part of town affected by the protests, and beautify it in the name of peace. This event started with a single tweet from an individual activist, and resulted in a nationwide campaign. Even after all that I had seen and heard about on Friday, seeing people like this come together gave me a glimmer of hope. Even in a country that has been plagued by violence, ignorance, and corruption, there are still people out there who are striving to make Pakistan into a better place. They have many obstacles in their path to achieving this, and its a matter of them versus feudal lords, corrupt politicians, corrupt infrastructure, criminals, crooked politicians, and religious extremists.
As grim as that may seem, I still believe this place can become better, and it will. Every greedy man wants what the other has, and therefore collective greed is ultimately self defeating. Virtuous people want for others what they want for themselves, and therefore collective virtue is self sustaining. If all the individuals within this country who are concerned and dedicated to making Pakistan into a better place come together, then these other guys don't stand a chance.
I echo the sentiment. People should protest if they feel strongly but to destroy your own infrastructure like this? to have people die?
ReplyDeleteWhat is your take about the minister putting a bounty on film makers head?
I think there's as much purpose to putting a bounty on this guy's head as there is in banning YouTube in Pakistan- NONE whatsoever. If someone is screaming for attention and you want to punish them, what do you do? You ignore them. If you think about it, the film maker's social circle probably comprises of like-minded people, and having a bounty on your head for producing a film like this most definitely will add to your fame, especially among your friends. This bounty accomplished the same thing that the protests did, they made the film maker and his cohorts happy because now they can point to the Muslim world and say "see we told you they were like this," while they sit back and laugh at how an instigator is commended while those who were incited are vilified.
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