We are not the Taliban

ΙΔΟΥ Η ΔΟΚΟΣ ΕΝ ΤΩ ΟΦΘΑΛΜΩ ΣΟΥ | Behold the beam in thine own eye

-       Matthew 7:4

 

 

Three events.  Three countries.

 

1.   UK, Bristol, July 2020: A sculpture of protestor Jen Reid was placed on a plinth where a statue of Edward Colston once stood. 

2.   Afghanistan, 2001:  The Taliban blow up the 1,500-year old Buddhas of Bamyan.

3.   Turkey, Istanbul, July 2020: President Recep Erdogan converts Hagia Sophia into a mosque. 

 

Someone please explain to me why these three are different. To me, the case is the same – all acts of destructive philistine ignorance.

 

We are all slave traders

 

We must all support the Black Lives Matter movement. We need to stand together against oppression and prejudice. The statue of Jen Reid, called A Surge of Power, was created by artist Marc Quinn to continue the conversation about racism.

 

But what are Jen Reid’s achievements?  Why does she deserve a statue?  Edward Colston was a trader in oils, textiles, wine, cotton, tobacco and metals. He supported schools in Bristol, gave huge amounts to orphanages and ‘poor houses’, and endowed resources to many civic buildings and churches.

 

Yes, he engaged in the slave trade. But then, so do you, when you buy a T-shirt, or a pair of trainers, or a smart-phone, or a gold necklace, or a diamond ring.  We are all slave traders. 

 

“If it’s not too complex, 

Tell me how many Africans died, 

For the baguettes on your Rolex” 

– It Takes More, by Ms. Dynamite. 

 

Regimes that generally put up unwarranted statues, are those of Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot and Mao, who between them killed 120 million people in the Twentieth Century.  And, by the way, Socialism has killed 7 times more people than Fascism.

 

Let’s not re-write history.  Let’s read it, and not go down that path again. 

 

We are not the Taliban

 

The Buddhas of Bamyan were 6th-century monuments carved into the Hazarajat region cliffs in central Afghanistan. Built in 507 CE and 554 CE, the statues represented the Gandhara style of art.

 

To huge international outcry, the statues were blown up in March 2001 by the Taliban, on orders from leader Mullah Mohammed Omar after the government declared that they were idols. 

 

Despite most Afghans being Muslim, they had embraced their past and were appalled by the destruction.  

 

And as for Erdogan

The world-famous Hagia Sophia museum in Istanbul - originally a cathedral - has been turned back into a mosque.

Greece’s Culture Minister Lina Mendoni said it was a "provocation to civilisation. The nationalism of Erdogan takes his country back six centuries. There is no independent justice in Turkey”. 

Built 1,500 years ago as an Orthodox Christian cathedral, Hagia Sophia was converted into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest in 1453.  In 1934 it became a museum and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

 

Finally, there is little difference between Turkey’s Erdogan and Silvio Berlusconi, who led Italy for nine years. Conmen, gangsters and lawbreakers. None of this is libellous.  These are proven judicial facts.

 

The great Italian author Umberto Eco said of Berlusconi, “He was a genius in communications. Even his blunders were calculated to appeal to his target audience – who are middle aged people who watch television. That’s a large enough group for a majority”.  He could be talking of Erdogan also. 

 

Let’s hope that the civilised people of Turkey turn their backs. 

 

James Neophytou