- SLAVERY
- >>African Holocaust
- >>Slavery in America
- >>Arab Slave Trade
- >>Jewish Slave Trade
- >>Slavery Revolts
- >>Modern Slavery
- >>Mental Slavery
- CULTURE
- >>Culture Complex
- >>Rites of Passage
- >>African Agency
- >>Language & Africa
- >>Music and Dance
- IDENTITY
- >>African Race
- >>Educating a Child
- ANCIENT AFRICA
- >>African Kingdoms
- PAN-AFRICA
- >>Development Paradigms
- >>African Cinema
- >>War and Religion
- >>Art of Revolution

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- African Kings and Queens
- African Marriage
- Facts About Africa
- War and Religion
- Garvey Economics
- Abolition and Wilberforce
- Black Panther Critique
- Jews and Slavery
- Gay Rights
- Failure Of African Leadership
- Capitalism or Socialism?
- Female Genital Mutilation
- Failure to Engage
- Libya Invasion
- Dubois: Souls of Black folk
- Slavery in America
- Amilcar Cabral
- Agency and Africa
- Mis-Education of the Child
- African Revolt
- The Flag of African Cinema
- The Politics of Liberation
- White Supremacy
- The Horrors of 500 Years
- Africa and the Rise of Islam
- Why Kwanza
- Ptahhotep Ancient Egypt
- Seen But Never Heard
- African Classical Music
- South Africa: 10 Years On
- Music and Dance in Religion
- White Abolition of Slavery
- A Threat to Black Studies
- Art of Revolution
- African Influence in Barbados
- Origins of Voodoo
- Black Out White Wash
- Ethiopian Slave Trade
Until lions tell their tale, the story of the hunt will always glorify the hunter
– African Proverb
Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will
– Frederick Douglass
The most pathetic thing is for a slave who doesn't know that he is a slave
– Malcolm X
Every man is rich in excuses to safeguard his prejudices, his instincts, and his opinions.
– Ancient Egypt
Cowardice asks the question: is it safe? Expediency asks the question: is it political? Vanity asks the question: is it popular? But conscience asks the question: is it right.
– Dr. Martin L. King, Jr
What kind of world do we live in when the views of the oppressed are expressed at the convenience of their oppressors?
– 'Alik Shahadah
We are not Africans because we are born in Africa, we are Africans because Africa is born in us.
– Chester Higgins Jr.
Leave no brother or sister behind the enemy line of poverty.
– Harriet Tubman

If we stand tall it is because we stand on the shoulders of many ancestors.
– African Proverb
If we do not stop oppression when it is a seed, it will be very hard to stop when it is a tree.
– ' Alik Shahadah
If the future doesn't come toward you, you have to go fetch it
– Zulu Proverb
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Religion is the source of so much conflict" rushes us directly into the long standing logical fallacy of "doing away with religion," hence the rise of the state as a higher form of human policy management. Richard Dawkins, the most celebrated atheist, constantly pushes this agenda of humanity commuting religion:
Someone should explain to Dawkins that without "religion" and its influence he might be writing his next atheist book on the wall of a cave while chewing semi-cooked meat and playing with deer bones for toys. Without the religious proclamations of "In the name of God" America is busy making war everywhere on God's green Earth.
Secularism replaces God with an anthropocentric moral argument divorced from the reality that Religion played and plays a critical role in the formation of civilizations and thus is a central aspect of our very humanity.
We see a mirror of these ethics in the Hammurabi code, and even in other more recent native African faiths.
There is also no denying the role of religion in brainwashing people to either make them more passive (better slaves) or more aggressive (Siege of Jerusalem 1099). Religion was one of the tools of conquest in Africa. The likes of David Livingstone summed it up in his 3C's: Christianity, Commerce, and Civilization. But what is assigned to "religion" is more an issue of notions of European cultural supremacy. So Europeans were therefore really successful in brainwashing the people with an image of a White God, because of their message of the cultural supremacy of the white race. And contrary to popular belief the "religious" mission was not used in the conquest of much of India, Arabia, and Islamic Africa. Therefore it could not have been the principle agent for brainwashing people to accepting colonial domination. It makes no sense to discuss "religion" in the exclusive context of mind control; what about notions of race? Politics (esp.), media, Books, educational system, music and sports are they not also systems of control, why isolate religion? Every civilization has systems of control to reduce dissent and formulate harmony (good and bad) to focus human energy on serving the national interest-- again this can be good and bad. The point is control is in all things and part and parcel of all advanced human societies.
And outside of these "religious" formations we have even more of how people are brainwashed into not uniting because of what is perceived as political allegiances and especially ethnic allegiances, (or even allegiance to a football team)[2]— we must deal with the root, the general ignorance that allows people to be manipulated in these ways. Because most will agree that those who control power use religion in a scapegoat capacity. But religion like a bomb is a tool, it can be used to blow up a building or put a man in orbit. Any system, whether we call it religion, politics, ideological, can be hijacked for any objective the power-broker desires—good or bad.
But even after Saladin retook the city he deliberately invited back the Ethiopian monks and exempted them from taxation—not to mention the numerous acts of tolerance and humanity he showed even his enemies. We also see a similar level of tolerance in Andalusia (Islamic Spain) ruled by African Moors and Arabs, which was destroyed in 1492 by the Spanish inquisition. Again Jews, Muslims and Christians built an era that ushered in a Renaissance in Europe. And under this peaceful co-existence Judaism experience its "Golden age" with Maimonides (موسى بن ميمون); one of Judaism greatest scholars. This is an era pre-Geneva convention, pre-UN human rights, yet so-called non-secular configurations of governance were able to amicable foster a climate of tolerance and co-existence. It would therefore be safe to say that the history of religious tolerance is far greater than intolerance—especially outside of Europe. The news that makes history is when things fall apart, giving the illusion of perpetual sectarian conflict.
It is impossible to deal with religion and violence and completely deny the violence within the very text of both the Qur'an and especially the Bible. Raymuns Schwager found 600 passages of explicit violence in the Old Testament, along with 1000 descriptive verses of "God's own violence", and 100 passages where God commands murder (even of innocent non-combatants). It would not be an exaggeration to say far from being a book of love the Old Testament is a book of violence and warfare. [1] And the Qur'an is also fully of blatant violence against the enemies of Islam. There is no denying the similar bias where "On the side of God" and what we see in the Western war language. But the primary argument is not the defense of "religion" as some begin always warm and loving institution. But moreover to dispel the myth that religion is unique or more given to violence. Because despite all the so-called violence in the Bible, it is not why the Crusaders invaded Muslim controlled lands.
THE NEW g-D
Political scientist, Juan Linz noted that secularization had created a void which could be filled by a total ideology, making totalitarianism possible and Roger Griffin has characterized fascism as a type of anti-religious political religion. Such political religions vie with conventional, actual religions, and try to replace or eradicate them. God of the church verse god of capitalism is different spiritually, but from a social-economic standpoint, are direct competitors. According to a biographer of Mussolini, "Initially, fascism was fiercely anti-Catholic" — the Church being a competitor for dominion over the people's hearts.
The passport for conquering Africa may have shifted , but not the objective: a richer Western world - a poorer Africa. This new god has even more efficient systems of creating new slaves and new clients. And as markets changed with politics the old best-seller (religion) started to become a hindrance to the expansion of globalized markets. But because of ways in which people see different configurations of power, there has been a failure to see that democracy is the fastest growing “religion”, far quicker to gain converts over diverse populations than any other ideology in history.
Religion would not have allowed such flexibility in justifying neocolonialism. Religion would have struggled to invent a system to make the entire world a Theater of War. But under the banner of democracy US foreign policy is justified to jump across people’s borders and take at will. But what has Democracy achieved in the USA? (See External Link) Listen to the language "IMMINENT THREAT" Washington is telling the World that their victims are "A threat to world peace" "American Foreign policy keeps the world safe" Someone must have torn out a few pages from their history book. How many times can the old pick up line work and leadning nations to war for someone else's property? I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.—Smedley D. Butler
There is a direct inheritance of methodologies between the witch hunts that burned people at the stake in the Middle Ages into Salem America right into the 50’s with McCarthy’s Second Red Scare: Continued today in more sophisticated ways by the patriot act. The villain has gone from Witch, to Communist to Islamist: The configurations of power have gone from Church to State one casting out demons the other casting out communism and so-called terrorist. Witch-hunts have a peculiar benefit for the accuser even in Africa, as in Salem America, they often leave the accusers with the property of the so-called witches. In the witch hunt to create a “safer world” free from terrorism/Islam it results in the political expansion of Western interest in the globe.
If you look at any conflict; Nigeria, Somalia, Palestine, or even Darfur, we can choose to identify the agent of the conflict as religious difference. However, very few in Nigeria are killing anyone because of a spiritual disagreement over a verse in the Qur'an. In Nigeria, for example, the North is relatively barren; education and infrastructure are also suffering compared to the South. There is also what is perceived as a Europeanized colonized mentality, which is more pronounced in the Southern territories that have a greater history of Western acquiesce. And this is very similar to the issues between what is now Northern and Southern Sudan, although it is articulated through an Arab supremacy lens: Divided loyalties between Arabization and Europeanization create far more animosity than Islam versus Christianity.
So an attack often has in religious characteristics; attacking a church for example. But deep within the belly of the problem is always some idea of inequity or entitlement.
So powerful are these myth or religion and conflict it forces itself upon conflicts void of religious issues. So the mere utterance of Darfur is assumed to have in religious elements despite all the evidence and detail that says both groups are Islamic. Still it is shaped as somehow a religious conflict and again the natural the demon is Islam.
Where and when did the victims of persecution become the villains?—on TV. In Vietnam, in the conquest of America from the natives Americans, in Iraq, in every Western conflict the victims were categorized into "worthy" and "unworthy" depending upon Western interest in the conflict (Manufacturing Consent, Chomsky).
For Europeans self-interest is an innate and unconscious act which requires no conspiracy theories or plotting to align and work in unison. The only people who do not behave like this are people so mentally oppressed they do as Malcolm suggest and worry about their master’s house first. Orwell wrote that:
Now in South Africa, where there is no issue of “being in power too long” people see democracy as the highest human achievement, despite the fact that the majority are poor and uneducated. So the power of the media can make you believe dirt is more valuable than gold. Your people can be starving, despondent, uneducated, violent, but as long as your democracy rotates puppets every 5 years and supports globalization then nothing else matters. So with all the joys of hindsight, why would Western media and its henchmen in African skin treated and trusted as the gospel on African affairs? Even if the facts are true, i.e. war in Congo, genocide in Sudan, the objective of how that information is used is not in the interest of Africans. The West also cannot make up their mind, so if they want to report on rising fuel prices in Nigeria they must still somehow insert into the story links to Al-Qaeda™ and Islamic militants. Fiscally and politically, Al-Qaeda™ is the best thing for US foreign policy, it is a check they can cash in a million times without exhausting its reserves. Every Psychologist will tell you the more you repeat something—true or false, it becomes “truer” with every repetition. Until the reader accepts the information and the natural mental barriers of interrogation are destroyed: The mind no longer says “Wait a minute now, that doesn’t make sense.”
And this is beyond argument evident in how two actions are written about depending on the parties involved. If a man who happens to be Muslim goes on a killing spree it is "Muslim fanatic goes mad, "if a Christian does it, it is simple "Man goes mad." So likewise every conflict in Africa needs to be packaged into little bundles of "heart of darkness"—reassuring the cultural supremacy of European people over African people. It is then easy to continue to say "those savages over there." If Boko Haram (like the rebels in Libya) were pro-Western, the reports would be radically different, you would not hear the term "menace", "extremist", "Islamist". You would hear how just their cause was, how oppressive the government was, how the government was "killing the people" you would hear a lot more about their rights to self-determination. And all the evidence of this pattern of giving support or giving condemnation is in the history books; in Eastern Timor, in Afghanistan during the Cold War.
It is almost like you have a civil war, or any conflict and there seems to be a special category when the violence is put under the banner of "Islam." War is the most ugly aspect of human culture, it has no equal, it is the most base form of disagreement. But all over this world people clash and you get the exact same consequences as seen in so-called sectarian conflict, yet Western media and their apes in Africa want to isolate it into religion. "They are burning, looting and raping in Mali"; to add to the story of Al-Qaeda in the area. But ask "Are not all civil wars/conflicts like this?" People fleeing to the borders happens regardless of if Al-Qeada is behind it or if America is behind it, so why the emphasis on "natural" aspects of warfare as if religion is the reason for that peculiarity? In every conflict you get lotting and rape, things get burnt, people get killed, this is what war means-- and hence why some struggle so hard to avoid anything resembling violence. in the 1960's America hatched out the term "dirty war"-- all war is dirty. But the warmongering West are dictating the terms of engagement to give them a strategic advantage. How can the Palestinians fight Israel 1:1 when one group has homemade bombs and the other group has state-of-the-art weaponry? All violent conflicts engage the same ugly tactics to achieve their end. The USA is a master of this, but because they are even better masters of propaganda they are able to spin their actions and allow different definitions for the very same actions. The media has a few favorite words, one of them is extremist. However, the reason for the "extremism" is never explained-- but carries so much vitriol in it you don't need anything else. But what about White Supremacy, is that not extreme from the point-of-view of the African? What about US imperialism is that not extremist? So Western mis-education is very extreme for us Africans. So restoring our center cannot be extremist. And what the world has done to us as a people is make even wearing our African clothes "Radical," It has made the Muslim who wants to be ruled by a Islamic system-- as opposed to a Western one-- Extremist. Extremist is a relative term it holds no value other than political propaganda. TRUTH IS OUT THERE
With regard to Nigeria the West is fully aware, above a certain intellectual readership level, that religion is not a key factor in the conflict:
Sectarian conflict erupted also in 1967, when three primarily Igbo eastern states seceded under the name Republic of Biafra, sparking a bloody three-year civil war. The attempt to break away ultimately failed, and Nigeria reintegrated the Igbo majority region in 1970. So this is the history of nationhood, why is religion painted all over it because the North is pro-Sharia. The objectives are no different, the idea of entitlement to govern their own affairs because of a perceived inequity in the current political formation.
But regardless of how much information is presented, the dead heads of this world will always go with the most emotional opinion which makes their rants hotter to the uninformed masses. Fingering religion in Africa is a far more compact sound bite than going into the ins and outs of inequity and entitlement. In absence of religious disagreement Somalia has not seen peace in decades. In absence of religious tension Rwanda was the worse ethnic crisis by African hands. In the absence of religion Ethiopia and Eritrea are bitter. In absences of religion, Congo is a human rights disaster. If places like Somalia tell us anything it is that sameness is not a solution to conflict in Africa. Even before there were Sunni and Shia, Islam, just like Christianity, was plagued with conflict—despite being ideologically “monolithic” and in its infancy. And it is the same for all ideologies—political, social or religious. Religious agreement has rarely secured peace, while we have all the evidence of who unified some communities has b despite having diverse communities; Tanzania being one. And Ethiopia is proving to be another. RELIGIOUS TERRORIST – SHARIA STATE
Don’t let power configurations confuse or blur the issue, anyone using force of war on innocent non-combatant people is a terrorist. Why is this obvious opinion not common knowledge because this word “terrorism” is used by the person writing the newspaper to define the forces they are fighting against—like the barbarian in Greek writings. You cannot resign a person’s motives or arguments to nonsense, irrational and crazy without deeper interrogation of their arguments. What is more terrifying than being chained and put on a European ship and taken away into 300 years of night? What is more terrifying that being a Palestinian family being bombed by an Israeli tank? Is that not terrorism? What about the threat of invasion the West holds over the heads of the entire developing world if they fail to conform and submit to their power dominance? Why is terrorism always linked today to something “religious”?
Anwar Al-Awlaki was killed by the USA (his own people) on Yemeni soil by a cowardly drone for his message of global resistance to their hegemony. Obama claimed he didnt need due process, but what about Anwars 16 year old son who was also killed? [1] We can look at his words and removed the religious overtones and see there are no different to any other revolutionary. Certainly Che said the same thing, Malcolm X said the same thing, Ho Chi Ming said the same thing, every revolutionary in history used the same rhetoric. And US war language has in even more hostility (see video clip) so from a neutral perspective why is Bush, Obama, Cheney, Condi, Powell considered the "good guys"? America has not only the power to broadcast their violent rhetoric they have the power to back it up with the military.[1] And the world is in terror wondering about the consequences of their words. How many people died because of Bush? How many people died because of Anwar? What was his real crime? One American critic of the War on Terror Paul Craig Roberts wrote Awlaki gave "sermons critical of Washington's indiscriminate assaults on Muslim peoples" who "told Muslims that they did not have to passively accept American aggression". He called the assassination by Obama "The Day America Died" as the US lacked evidence either Awlaki were real threats or Al-Qaeda® operatives. For the open minded person isn't that what Obama is doing when he and every American president speaks about the patriotic duty of every America to wage war in the name of the American flag? Let us be honest, America has an air tight campaign of hegemony.[11] It first neutralizes you with the media, it then demonizes any ideological forms of rebellion by labelling such ideas as Islamist, it then has the right to war, but no one has the right to defend, it has the right to nuclear weapons but no one else can use them. The right to take your oil, the right to force you to trade, the right to cross your borders at will, and the right to make propaganda films to justify all of the above.
How many non-combatant Westerners have these "terrorist" killed in post 9/11 - now?So what is Obama "defending" his nation against? He is really defending his nation's imperialist interest: And slipping people's names (even his own citizen's names) on an unchallengeable HIT LIST. It can be argued that most "terrorist" are defensive or reactionary to Western foreign policy. In a simple analysis the best way to stop terrorism is to leave them alone. No terrorist has ever made plans to attack Switzerland or Barbados. Terrorist do not actually want to "take over the world", but American politicians do. One group is housed within the framework of "religion" the other "political" blurring the obvious similarities from view. Most Islamic terrorist are not even religious people, they however are always political people. Do we really believe the Palestine fighting for a liberated Palestine are praying 5 times a day and fighting for Islamic rule? And even if they want that, isn't it a basic human right of self-determination? Why would Islamic people with a complete "superior" system of governance want to be ruled with a European capitalist incubator called democracy? And the paradigm applies beyond religion, why would Africans with their own systems need to import improper Western failures to govern any aspect of their life? The motives for terrorism always come back to entitlement and especially inequity. As Cabral said no one is fighting for the ideas in your head. So-called terrorist are people who have been denied a forum for redress their grievances and in that vacuum, overwhelmed by inequity they take extreme methods. To break the yoke of apartheid terrorism was a vital tool, to end the evils of slavery terrorism was used to weaken the viability of enslavement. Terrorism is neither here nor there in the true language of human conflict—only a methodology of conflict; defined in an out of reality by Western self-interest.
Like it or not, sharia is just another political system. So why should we be afraid because Northern Nigerians and Somalis want it? Two systems that should make us run for the hills are “freemarket” and “neo-liberal globalization” but the advocates of these systems happen to own the media machine. If the people see merit in its configurations and power to govern then that is their business. A few years ago, before America allies disrupted the Islamic Courts (ICU) the so-called terrorist tried to close down the Khat mono-crop agriculture which is destroying Somalia. But even that progressive act was denounced as a "destructive" by Western news. But the Islamic Courts mission is : To bring social justice and combat iniquity thus after capturing Mogadishu it brought Sharia law back to Somalia and re instituted the constitution. Replacing the word "Islam" with "democracy" what is the difference from a purely political point of view?
Can you imagine how hard it would be for news groups and American foreign policy to come back every day with a new "terrorist" cell made up of 2-4 people? People would get confused. So create one big ugly boogie man and give that entity a simple name that American can brand. IN THE NAME OF GOD?
When he published his book in 1896, "The Jewish State", he declared that the cure for anti-Semitism was the establishment of a Jewish state. As he saw it, the best place to establish this state was in Palestine. God was used only as a means to and end, and the hotter the fire of anti-Semitism the stronger the argument for the establishment of a Jewish state. But Palestinian people have not been known for any crimes against their Jewish neighbors until the 1920s when Eastern European and Russian Ashkenazi Jews started to descend on Palestine with the idea that that they were going to return to their "ancient roots"; something which was all part of the planned national mythology since Eastern European Jews and Russians never had any roots in the Levant.
Religious designations are sometimes used out of sheer convenience, as well as opportunism motives, for cultural and historical differences between combatants, giving the often misleading impression that the conflict is primarily about religious differences. For example, there is a common perception of the conflict in Northern Ireland is a religious conflict, as one side (Nationalists) was predominantly composed of Catholics and the other (Unionists) of Protestants. So in characterizing or naming the belligerents we can see how Catholic versus Protestant comes into vogue. However, the more fundamental cause in fact ethnic or nationalistic rather than religious in nature. Since the native Irish were mostly Catholic and the later British-sponsored immigrants were mainly Protestant, the terms become shorthand for the two cultures, but it highly inaccurate to describe the conflict as a religious one.
Historians such as Jonathan Kirsch have made links between the European inquisitions, for example, and Stalin's persecutions in the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, McCarthy blacklists, and other secular events as being the same type of phenomenon as the Spanish inquisition—the difference is exclusively a self-serving point-of-view. Others, like Robert Pape, a political scientist who specializes in suicide terrorism, have made a case for secular motivations and reasons as being foundations of most suicide attacks that are often times labeled as "religious"
This comes as bad news to the Zionist run Jihad-watch campaign that profits from demonizing Islam. Every suicide attack brings further proof and justification for their “them” against those “evil Muslims” cause. As stated before it is far easier to deal with religion as the cause than US foreign policy or even better neo-liberal globalization. How would Jihad watch look if they said these people are fighting against Western imperialism—no – it is far easier to say “religious nuts”—which then justifies imperialism. So when they invaded Iraq they were not fight soldiers defending their homes, but radical Islam. The invasion of Afghanistan and Somali was not people fighting for their land and resources but a bunch of Al-Qaeda friends. But this is nothing new, the so-called myth of the savage Red man was created by the propagandist. It worked so well that the observer never asked what was the White man doing coming all the way from Europe in someone else’s country and killing them for fighting for their land. These Native Americans were “crazy” for doing so. MALI (coming soon) Captain Amadou Haya Sanogo A US trained traitor of Mali. Because it works the words Al-Qaeda and Islamistist are in the news feed again.The US trained agent Sanogo [More]
While it is hard to expect the South to put up with the Northern contempt and domination it is still a muted victory for Southern Sudan who will now be targeted by Western agendas and imperialism because of the pressure from under-development. Some analysts keep fingering Islam vs. Christianity as the root of the conflict. However, the state authorities say more than 600 people from the Nuer community were killed, 200 children abducted, and as many as 25,000 cows were stolen. The attackers - from the Murle ethnic group - were responding to a recent assault by Nuer fighters in which an estimated 400 Murle were killed—not the first time (see 1991 Bor Massacre). But this is also happening everywhere especially the Jonglei state. No so-called "Arabs" no "Islam" and most of all no religion to blame this time. The Brown (Islamic Arab) v Black (African) is just a tidy way for simple minds to understand a complex mess. For western designs, religion and race is a just convenient package for greedy pockets. Who wants to be bored with the reality of a South complicity in Europeanization and a North complicit in Arabization - too complex a story to fit in a CNN headline, too texty to fit in a Tweet. Who wants to deal with that ugly human personality of greed which lives and breaks out whenever opportunity and notions of entitlement rise up? And if your car is not starting and you think it is the battery, after replacing the battery and the care still doesn't start you should rule out that factor. With religion and without religion the region is a hot bed for conflict. Religion was never a dominant factor more over ethnic difference. And in absence of the Arabized master, new masters arise to fill those boots. Fixing Sudan means understanding issues beyond the party-line. EUROPE The thirty Year war in Europe on the side of the Lutheran Sweden and the last of the Thirty Years War was essentially a battle between Habsburgs and the Bourbons, the two great Catholics dynasties of Europe. Many other factors override religion in these examples. John Bossy describes the shift from religious to secular as “migration of the holy from the church to the state. The state became the new religion with all the properties, all the loyalties but none of the limitations of the so-called church. In the late 1500’s- 1600’s Catholic churches and Protestant churches worked together to kill a third group, the Anabaptists. On the surface, this is a story of two warring churches, banding together in light of the extreme depravity of this third movement—the Anabaptists. The world has become so accustom to this narrative that it is used as irrefutable evidence of the myth of religion and violence in human societies: A myth which justifies the utter separation of church and state. But reality shows that the Anabaptists were not being killed by the Protestant or Catholic churches as such, because churches "as such" simply did not exist. Anabaptists were being killed by princes of provinces, which were either Protestant or Catholic provinces. Is this religious violence or secular? No such distinctions can be made. But in the case of motivation, the distinction is clearer. Anabaptists were being killed not over exegetical or theological issues as such, but for what was seen as treason. Historical Africa Returning to Africa we see the Battle of Somb between Muslim Marabout and Serer people, clearly one side was Islamic and the other side was adherence to the Serer religion. But that does not mean the clash was over religion. Both groups were engaging in warfare in the interest of nation building and defence. The war would have gone ahead had the Muslim army been Jewish or even a rival religious group that was able to amass power. The Muslim-Christian wars of Ethiopia again expressed themselves along religious lines but they were also nation issues which were more in the foreground that the specific of religion. A Good CIA Asset gone Bad See Also Al Qaeda, THE "SPECTER" OF AL QAEDA IN AFRICA:
If we collated every report on Al-Qaeda® they would probably the largest military organization, after NATO, on the planet. They just seem to be everywhere (according to US state department). While it takes Santa Claus 1 day to get around the world Al-Qaeda is doing it in a few hours. To the educated observer of world events it should be strange that anytime you hear of so-called "Terrorism" it has links to Al-Qaeda®? With all the US "intelligence" floating around and with satellites in space imaging every human movement Al-Qaeda® per Western reports is a logistical impossibility. How do they communicate (Facebook, Blackjack, Twiitter, Morse Code), how do they travel(United Airlines or Private Charters), where do they bank (Barclays or Citibank)? What the world needs to know is that there is not much difference between Al-Qaeda®, Santa Claus and the Tooth fairy. All are largely figments of Western imagination. One rooted in fear, and the others in consumerism. And the same way Santa Claus gets around the world in just one day, every terrorist event on planet Earth is via the omnipresent agency of Al-Qaeda® and their ominous "Network of Terror."™ Al-Qaeda® is the face of evil for public convenience. Bin Ladin couldn't plan a birthday party, let alone any mass terrorist plot. It is clear from everything he is known to have said he lacked the intelligence and the resources to carry off anything but minor skirmishes. Some of his writings are tantamount to utter fantasies, devoid of logistic and the cold air of reality.
Two Dreams—Bush dreamed people would believe 9/11 was caused by Bin Ladin, and Bin Ladin dreamed he could have done it. Can you imagine how hard it would be for news groups and American foreign policy to come back every day with a new "terrorist" cell made up of 2-4 untrained ineffective people? People would get confused. So create one big ugly boogie man and give that entity a simple name that American can brand. Like the Gulf of Tonkin incident America is again at war with its imaginary foes.
IN NUMBERS - THE CAUSE OF WARThere is absolutely no evidence in any record anywhere that shows so-called Wars in the name of God constitutes a major motive for wars—even when we factor in wars which have in religious overtones as “religious wars” still they are a substantial minority. And the table below only factors in warfare, it doesn't include the genocide and the Holocaust caused by people like Cortes, and Columbus who might have used the cloak of "religion" but like their descendents in the West today, killed entire nations for their resources. Despite Columbus causing the death far more than 6 Million he is a hero and his "Columbus day" celebrated by the victims of that Holocaust. [1]
* Wikipedia statistics PROBLEM AND SOLUTION (AFRICA)
This is why slavery was so successful because regardless of what was happening on the coast Africans refused to put the difference aside and deal with a social dilemma—a Holocaust in which we still see the aftermath. This is why today in the Congo despite the horrors that Leopold brought, Africans celebrate him as the “bringer of civilization” , one person in Botswana said “When you walk into a village with a white person it is like walking with god”, another the “the good thing about slavery was I found Jesus.” The root of the problem is lack of consciousness and hence lack of agency. With or without Christianity you will find this mental condition all over Africa: In the villages in Benin and the mountains of Tanzania. Because Islam is generally non-White Muslim communities have a lower degree of White worship. Some have the false beliefs that only the Abrahamic faiths bring religious tensions to the region. This is categorically disproven by the volume of conflicts which have always occurred without Abrahamic faiths: "Foreignness" is not a factor in the ferocity of the conflict. But because Abrahamic religions have greater ability to form larger cross-ethnic communities by that mere are more visible in terms of demographic. But that is a demographic issue i.e. if most people are Christian then there is a higher chance of a Christian person being involved in a conflict by mere numbers. And because Christianity is organized and defined it becomes easier in a lazy characterization to identity with the Christian identity. What is painted as a religious problem is really an educational problem. Africans know less about each other than we realize. In this vacuum of information fear and distrust is fostered fanned on by self-serving leaders, opportunistic businessmen, irresponsible religious advocates, and idealistic nationalist. The uneducated non-worldly mind is easy prey to the cry of “religion”. Regardless of if it is the therapeutic calls of the Jesus priority jump up and down churches in South Africa and Nigeria, or the intolerance of so-called radical Islam in Somalia. The commonality in all these cases is intolerance and ignorance. Jesus is the priority and not Pan-Africanism therefore allowing ways to facilitate the exploitation of Africa as every issue is sorted out by “waiting for Jesus.” Intelligence and common sense is replaced by blind devotion or blind denial. And it is understandable that all human beings have used “divinity” to understand and process a complex world into simple discrete units of “good” versus “evil.” The challenge is how we save people from the Jesus dilemma especially found in evangelical aspects of Christianity. How do we save the Ethiopian from being so blinded by the Orthodox Church political power struggle with Muslims in Ethiopia that they see greater brotherhood. But the good news in places like Ethiopia is the government in the last 10 years has taken sincere steps to remedy this problem. Ethiopians have always forged a strong nationalist spirit, which has caused it to defend its borders against colonialism. In Ethiopia today both religions are given public space and the national TV regularly showcases educational programs. What happens is people are starting to see “we are not that different after all”. Every Christian in Ethiopia knows what Eid is about, and every Muslim understands Timket. The same is equally true for Tanzania and now South Africa (which has no history of religious conflict). To solve the race issue we do not sweep it under the carpet our stick our fingers in our ears and hum. We also do not deny race exist or advocate for its annulation as a solution. No, we engage it and deal with it as it is. Religion is part and parcel of Africa—has been from day dot—it will continue to be an aspect of humanity which can only be resolved with comprehension and tolerance.If we are looking to understand the pathology of conflict, in a bid to resolve it, we will fail if looking for the solutions in the wrong box. The doctor cannot be effective at curing cancer if he is misdiagnosing cancer as the common cold. Failure to understand addiction in any form makes solving it impossible. Hence why so much is invested in understanding the social and psychological aspects of addiction. In the old days of medicine a headache was cured by drilling holes in people’s heads. Bacterial diseases were believed to be demon possession. It is clear that misidentifying human conflict creates greater instability as the tools of resolution are servicing wrong areas. Someone might identify religion over agency and natural human power lust as the problem in Africa. After 200 years invested in this theory they will come to the realization that in the void of “religion” wars, strife, conflict still go on with equal ferocity: So misdiagnosis is a death sentence. Another path would be to deals with the roots of inequity and entitlement and create sustainable ways of dealing with human conflict. If we are looking for reasons to disunite and satisfy populous rhetoric we can follow the path of every demigod that came to power. It is far easier to gain readership by inflaming the sensitive aspects in our society. Responsibility is the mark of maturity and it is with caution that the inflammatory subject of religion should be observed. Attacking anything sacred to any people is an act of inhumanity and disrespect to another human. While we should be critical of inherent dangers in the rise of commercialized Christianity or so-called elements of extremist Islam, or even regressive habits of indigenous faiths—we must always in the interest of unity speak balance and truth. Being African in the Pan-African set-up must mean more than black skin pigment. And if Africanity does not inform morality, responsibility and tolerance then it serves no function in advancing the Motherland. 1. http://www.pewforum.org/executive-summary-islam-and-christianity-in-sub-saharan-africa.aspx 2. Ali ibn Abi Talib (1984). Nahj al-Balagha (Peak of Eloquence), compiled by ash-Sharif ar-Radi. Alhoda UK. ISBN 0940368439. 8. Alioune Sarr, Histoire du Sine-Saloum. Introduction, bibliographie et Notes par Charles Becker, BIFAN, Tome 46, Serie B, n° 3-4, 1986–1987. pp 37-39 9.250th Anniversary Issue of The Harrisonian p.24 by way of A History of Harrison College A study of an elite educational institution in a colonial polity, by Ralph A Jemmott, 2006, Glebe Land,St. George, Barbados
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