The turbulent and often violent events in North Africa and the Middle East and the death of Al Qaeda’s leader, Bin Laden have evoked responses in Barbados that range from the opaque and timorous to predictable anti-American diatribes. It is as though the global struggle of our age has nothing to do with us except in a very tangential way because we are hosts to the citizens of countries that Al Qaeda declared war upon. We seem to be caught up in the day to day activities of that war without reflecting on the objectives of Al Qaeda to establish a global Caliphate where the rule of Sharia law would be supreme. In essence it would be the establishment of a totalitarian form of government where dissent would be a heresy and ruthlessly suppressed.
While the United States and the EU are the prime battlegrounds for Al Qaeda we cannot forget the attacks in Bali nor be unaware of the fact that Al Qaeda’s objectives are inimical to our way of life, our culture and the religious beliefs of the vast majority of Barbadians. We are a most tolerant society that believes in freedom of religion, freedom of expression and a participatory democracy where we have the right to choose our political leaders. We resist the imposition of a totalitarian or dictatorial form of government with every fibre of our being and we should have the strength of character and courage of our convictions to say so.
Bin Laden and his followers wage total war on men, women and children who oppose their view and stand in the way of their objectives. His death and the death or capture of his lieutenants is welcomed by those who value freedom of choice and champion universal human rights for all people.
Similarly, as individuals demonstrate to bring about change in their system of government and to expand the opportunity for personal freedom in the Arab World and beyond we should condemn the brutal use of military might to slaughter the civilian population. By their actions Gadhafi and his sons have placed themselves beyond the bounds of civilized behavior and if they become the casualties of war so be it.
In the middle of the last century many Barbadians fought against a monstrous tyranny in that great global conflict to defeat the Third Reich and the Japanese Empire. Some of them never returned and others survived to champion an independent Barbados and to engage in the development of a modern democracy that has been a shining example of a successful small independent nation. I do not believe that the Rt. Excellent Errol Barrow would be silent in the face of the tyranny of the 21st century were he here to witness it. Certainly his record in the Royal Air force during WWII speaks of his courage and determination to see an end of Adolf Hitler and his odious regime. I am sure that he would now share in the satisfaction that I have that Bin Laden like Hitler is no longer with us.
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