It is now 2009, and its been eight years since the beginning of this war and God only knows how much longer it will last. How many more people will get killed? Where will this war take the world as a community? There is talk of attacking Pakistan and Iran, which leaves only the Arab league, Africa, and Indonesia as the only Muslim nations that have yet to be dragged into this war. The West has repeatedly said this is only a war on terror and not Islam or Muslims, but for the Muslims, they seem to be the victims of bombing from within (via terrorism) and without.
Indeed, it feels like the Crusades and Holocaust all over again.
And yet, when the young blood is fired up by the death-tolls and injustice that is plagued by the Muslim world, the world doesn't seem to care or at least even realize that its policies are the reason for extremism and fanatical rage against wide-scale oppression. For in truth, no Muslim country has actually declared war on the West for it to be bombing and killing so many of their citizens. When a populace is attacked (such as Afghanistan, Pakistan) or occupied (such as Iraq and Palestine) it generally has a right to fight back as we too would fight back here in the U.S if another country took its front onto our shores while bombing and occupying us. The cause to fight may be legitimate but the methods are absolutely wrong - suicide terrorism or any other form of guerilla-warfare is not an internationally-sanctioned form of resistance. But unfortunately we see so much of this type of resistance in the Muslim world because many of their own rulers and governments are not taking action against their own injustice. Puppet rulers and regimes turn a deaf ear to the needs and demands of their own people so local militias and grass-roots resistance movements, with their limited resources and whatever ill-weaponry they might have, take it upon themselves to go to war to force change.
This severe power imbalance is the real reason behind the phenomenon of terrorism in the 21st century. For we see that America and the Soviet Union followed a policy of deterrence precisely because of their weapons and the fear of wide-spread destruction at the use of them. Power acts as a deterrent to war but at the same time upscales the risks. If two nations at odds with each other had only a pile of stones to hurl at one another the cost of damage is not nearly the same as two nations with nuclear weapons - a powerful opponent always makes us think twice before transgressing against them. And so now that America has taken the stage as the world's leading superpower (since the Cold War,) other nations have taken a backseat to power. This is most pronounced in the Muslim world itself where some of its nations border on tributary relations with the U.S for fear of abandonment, regime-change, or whatever reasons they might have.
The unjust oppression, genocide, and occupation of Palestine is a real problem because Israel is being backed by the world's leading superpowers - constantly violating UN resolutions on this matter. If Israel can amend its policy towards the Palestinians, end their illegal occupation and make reparations then this would be a huge step towards not only regional peace but global as well. If not, America must remove its support of Israel in its wanton destruction of a defenseless population of people and see reality for what it is. For without a doubt, The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a major source and symbol of tyranny and power-abuse within our times, and other such oppressed populations around the world take example from it, and like the Palestinians who literally have nothing to fight back with, take to suicide terrorism and other unholy forms of resistance that are shunned by the international community. These extremists take to fighting their own governments and even their own people, let alone the powers that be. This I contend is due to the power imbalance between the West and the Muslim world (where 95+% of all terrorism and extremist resistance is occurring.) If nations are in-fact being oppressed and/or attacked, they have every right to fight back, but since they do not have the proper means to fight they resort to the desperation tactics we see everyday on the news. So what is the solution? Do we just give them the necessary arms to fight out there battles legitimately or do we work on ending the oppressive policies that subjugate other cultures through education and awareness? I certainly endorse the latter.
Being a nuclear power in a war against a defenseless, 3rd-world refugee camp, Israel must realize that had the tables been turned, it too would fear a Palestinian superpower if all it had was stones and rockets to defend itself against a fictional Palestinian occupation of Israel. But pumping weapons into Palestine is not the answer either, it is ending the occupation, sanctions, and blockade of the Palestinians and allowing them to form their own state - with the right to defend itself, by having a national guard, just as it is Israel's right to do so.
But the world is far from equalizing the imbalance of power among nations and predictably a good portion of the 21st century will continue to see terrorist-resistance movements across the globe unless governments take a serious look at their own policies, make amendments and implement true democracy while improving conditions of the 3rd world rather than exploiting them and avoid taking unnecessary interest in the affairs of other nations. If ever there was a Libertarian principle, and a slogan for freedom and autonomy that must be implemented (instead of being mere catch-phrases,) it would be
"live and let live!"
And so, going back to the time of the 2nd Intifada, I recall my heart feeling heavy with all the sadness death and injustice brings, and I was listening to Tupac's song "They Don't Give a F*@! About Us" and felt like this was the anthem of the Muslim world in our times, especially the people of Palestine and Iraq. Sadly, today, eight years later, this feeling has returned and once again Tupac is playing on my speakers....
"Y'all ain't never just tripped and pictured
And just looked at the whole situation
Cause once you look at it
You know
(Once you really do)
They don't give a fuck about us
They don't give a fuck about us
They don't give a fuck about us
If I choose to ride
Thuggin' till the day I die
Nobody gives a fuck about us
But when I start to rise
A hero in their childrens' eyes
Now they give a fuck about us
[Tupac]
Some say niggaz is hard headed cause we love to trip
Equipped with game so we bang wit this thuggish shit
I see you trying to hide
Hoping that nobody don't notice
You must always remember you're still a member of the hopeless
See ya black like me
So you snap like me
When these devils try to plot
Trap our young black seeds
Look it
Cops are as crooked as the niggas they chasin'
Lookin' for role models
Our father figures is baseless
Some say they expect Illuminati take my body to sleep
Niggas at the party with they shotties
Just as rowdy as me
Before I flee computer chips
I gotta deal wit brothas flippin
I don't see no devils bleedin'
Only black blood drippin
We can change
Whatcha now say?
I'm watchin niggaz work their lives out without pay (huh)
Whatever it takes to switch places wit the bustas on top
I'm bustin' shots make the world stop
They don't give a fuck about us
[Chorus]
And if I choose to ride
Thuggin' till the day I die
(Nobody)
Cause they don't give a fuck about us
But when I start to rise
A hero in they childrens' eyes
Now they give a fuck about us
And if I choose to ride
Thuggin' till the day I die
Nobody gives a fuck about us
But when I start to rise
A hero in they childrens' eyes
Now they give a fuck about us
[EDI]
It's the morning after and now all the laughter is gone
Time to reflect on what you did cause they saying you wrong
I'm sure you had your reasons dawg
I don't doubt you
See the simple fact of the matter is they don't give a fuck about you
Or them five mouths you're forced to feed (uh-huh)
Not including yourself
All you want is what they're perceiving as greed
So as you loaded up that mack and continue to buck em
I was on paper
Thinking they don't give a fuck about us
[Tupac]
I'm seeing it clearer
Hating the picture in the mirror
They claim we inferior
So why the fuck these devils fear ya?
I'm watching my nation die genocide the cause
Expect a blood bath
The aftermath is y'alls
I told ya last album, we need help cause we dying
Give us a chance, help us advance cause we trying
Ignored my whole plea, watching us in disgust
And then they beg when my guns bust
They don't give a fuck about us
[Chorus x2]
Now if I choose to ride
Thuggin' till the day I die
Nobody gives a fuck about us
But when I start to rise
A hero in they childrens' eyes
Now they give a fuck about us
[Kastro]
Now all my homies got love for me
Down to catch a slug for me
Guaranteed to bleed deeply
Now that's love
Shit
Nobody else would give a fuck
If I'm tore down, from the floor down
Six-feet deep in the cut
What the fuck done went wrong
How long will I be mourned?
When I'm gone, same song
Ain't gave a fuck all along
And who am I to blame em?
Just do or die through the rainin'
Since they don't give a fuck
I don't
Fear what I'm saying
[Kadafi]
Now thug niggaz die but multiply in doubles
Wrapped in plastic
Or closed casket for our troubles
Pressed in times
We busted like bubbles
With the police
This nation be sent here to run you
Now look at what this crooked world has come to
I grew up on the other side of perfect, a life of hurtin'
Man I still hustle, so I'm dyin certain
So why spend your time poor and working?
I see no reason
So I stay ballin' season to season
While you stuck thinking that they give a fuck
[Napolean]
You tell me my world is in peace, but nigga your lying
Cause half of my niggas, long gone, buried in the dirt just for trying
Sometimes I think my block is dying
And that it's awful
To wake up to another day, shit ain't change that's awful
I wake up sweatin, dreamin, coughin
Seein' me upside down backwards head twisted
While I'm layin in the coffin
The shit comes around so often
So tell me something
Before I take it out on the world, and get to dumpin'
Nigga I been so through pain go through the struggle
Doin the same thing you did at my age and that's hustlin
On the edge of straight bustin'
Well since you don't give a fuck
and you frontin
I'ma drink my Hennessey like it ain't nothin
[Outro x2]
Now if I choose to ride, thuggin' till the day I die
They don't give a fuck about us
While I'm kickin rhymes, getting to their children's minds
Now they give a fuck about us
They wanna see us die, they kick us every time we try
They don't give a fuck about us
So while I'm getting high, I'm watching as the world goes by
Cause they don't give a fuck about us"
**Courtesy of www.lyricsondemand.com
No comments:
Post a Comment
You are at the toll booth. I want your two cents.