Organizing Against Religious Extremism in Pakistan
On August 16th, a mob attacked 22 churches, 50 Christian homes and even a Christian graveyard in the Pakistani city of Jarranwala in response to accusation of “blasphemy” (sources: AlJazeera, Reuters). As a response, many South Asian and Muslim community members joined a protest in Raleigh, North Carolina, to condemn the attack against the Christian community in Pakistan. We drew connections between inequality and rise in violence in Pakistan and other parts of the world. Participants resolved to continue organizing against extremism and violence at home and abroad. We look forward to continuing to organize for social justice with you all!
Check out an article and pictures by Rohingya refugee organizer, Arafat Islam, on the protest against anti-Christian violence in Pakistan.
Peoples Unite Against Religious Extremism
by Arafat Islam
We all gathered up in Downtown Raleigh, and we were protesting on the sidewalk about the violence against the Christians being killed by Muslims in Pakistan and other forms of violence around the world. We held signs in order to spread messages about standing up to violences and defending your rights. Everyone’s voice has power to do something, even a single person’s voice could be very powerful. A single person standing up and participating could lead to more people wanting to participate and standing up as well. We are basically speaking out about the violences that has happened in Pakistan and we should stand up about what has or is happening in our community. If all the good people are silent we are going to be oppressed so let’s all speak out and become the voices of those who are voiceless and are afraid to speak up. If we help them and give them the strength and the confidence to speak up then they will not stay silent. Every country, every human and every community has their own problems and violence going on but that doesn’t make us different from other countries. But if we all stand up and speak up then we could see some positive changes in the world. If we organize a small group to protest and speak out about the violence and oppression that are happening around the world we could attract more people who want to speak out about their stories and problems in their country. We could help one another by speaking up and we should never stay alone because staying alone and not speaking up will not stop anything but increase more problems. We need to teach the children while they are still young and give them the strength, confidence, and courage to speak up about any crimes and problems. And this is not very different from what has and is happening in my country of Burma to the Muslim/Rohingya population. My people have been suffering from this similar oppression for a very long time which has led to many deaths and problems. What’s going on in our country is not right at all, this is wrong. And I have seen how other people are dealing with these kinds of problems as well so I want to help everyone I can and give them the confidence and courage to speak up for their own rights.
