CNSNews, January 10, 2002
UN Urged To Protect Minorities Against Islamist Violence
By Patrick Goodenough, Pacific Rim Bureau Chief
Pacific Rim Bureau (CNSNews.com) - Christians from troubled parts of Indonesia
were among a group of some 100 persecuted people from around the world who
participated in a rally outside United Nations headquarters Wednesday. They urged
the world body to act against what they called "jihad violence" against non-Muslim
minorities and Muslim moderates.
The event, organized by the Illinois-based Coalition for the Defense of Human Rights,
brought together representatives of communities from eight countries in the Middle
East, Asia and Africa. All the participants claim a common status as victims of
Islamic extremism.
The group included Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and moderate and secular Muslims,
as well as women from Islamic societies, said coalition secretary-general Keith
Roderick, an Episcopalian minister.
Among them was a pastor from Indonesia's Central Sulawesi province, who traveled to
New York City to bring the plight of his community to the attention of the international
community, while leaving his family behind, Roderick said by phone from the U.S.
"Pastor Ferdinand Suraeng's wife and children, and his relatives are still in the region.
He's in direct contact with them, directly affected as they're in danger themselves."
The coalition challenges claims that violence in places like Indonesia, Sudan and
Nigeria is "sectarian" - a label Roderick said suggested that the two sides were
equally to blame.
"This is not necessarily sectarian violence, but almost a genocidal conflict," he said.
Roderick stressed that radical Islamists, rather than ordinary Muslims, were
responsible. Muslim women from Afghanistan, who suffered immensely under the
harsh rule of the Taliban, also took part in Wednesday's rally.
Indonesian participants brought with them a list of names of Arab and South Asian
"jihad fighters" allegedly linked to the al-Qaeda network, some of whom had been
involved in recent anti-Christian violence in Central Sulawesi, he said.
Shortly before Christmas, local Christian and Muslim representatives signed a peace
accord aimed at ending the violence in the Indonesian province which has cost around
1,000 lives since mid-2000. The agreement followed a spate of attacks on Christian
villages since November, attacks attributed by Christians to the arrival in the area of
armed militants from Java, Indonesia's main island.
Although tensions have eased, Roderick said, "the pressure is still there."
"Once international attention was drawn to the issue, it was able to subside to a
degree, but it's not resolved by any stretch of the imagination."
The New York rally, held in cold and rainy weather, was addressed by speakers from
Indonesia, Afghanistan, Sudan, Egypt and Nigeria, all claiming persecution in their
countries.
Some pointed to the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, saying they
provided further reason for the international community to pay attention to what was
happening to minorities in predominantly Muslim countries.
Other participants included Guardian Angel leader Curtis Sliwa, Christian clinical
psychologist Roy Vogel and Rabbi Joel Potasnik, a community leader and chaplain to
the New York fire department.
A letter delivered to U.N officials urged secretary-general Kofi Annan and human rights
commissioner Mary Robinson to appoint a special envoy to investigate "the status
and conditions of non-Muslim minorities, women, and humanist, moderate Muslims in
states ruled by Islamic majorities."
The letter decried what it called "the murderous ideology of radical Islamism, which,
by dividing humankind into worthy Muslims and inferior 'infidels' is wreaking havoc
throughout the world."
Countries like Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Iran and Pakistan were accused of subjugating
those considered "infidels" (unbelievers).
The U.N. was urged to condemn "radical jihad-Islamism" as a form of cultural, racial,
religious and ethnic discrimination.
Different backgrounds, common goals
The coalition is an umbrella of organizations representing different communities,
including indigenous Christian minorities in Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Sudan and
elsewhere, as well as other non-Muslim minorities, secular Muslims and women's
groups.
Roderick described it as a "resistance movement, an international civil rights
movement."
"It's not just a human rights issue dealing with legalities and political realities. It really
is a movement of people with a common bond. What they want to do is strengthen
their communities, so they can preserve cultural integrity. Ultimately having a strong
self-identity and a strong community and institutions is the best form of resistance to
the kind of activity perpetrated against them."
What struck him about Wednesday's event, he said, was that it drew together people
of completely different nationalities, religions and cultures.
"But when they met together and talked about the process of islamicization and how
it affected their individual communities, there was a common bond established
because of a shared experience of suffering."
Roderick said in the "melting pot" that is the United States, people from these
threatened communities were able to find each other and work together.
"There are a lot of exiles here. They look for people who can understand what they've
been going through and who understand the language they speak. I feel like a
facilitator of this process, putting people together to share information and resources,"
he said.
"For such a long time these people have not had a substantial voice in what has
happened to them."
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