Never Again

In 1945, the war between the Allies and the Nazis ended. In the aftermath
of that vicious bloodshed, the world discovered evidence of the brutality
of the Nazis, and the West was shamed beyond imagination for not stopping
the slaughter of innocents. 'Never again' was the scream of those who
stood idly by while they knew of the crimes going on in their Europe. For
them, not too long before, the Jews and others did not fit their
definition of a human being, and did not deserve life as a right.

Three years later, a pogrom similar to the Nazi massacres occured in the
Arab world. Its name inspires shame upon the Arabs who were unable to stop it and
other situations like it from occuring, as well as inspiring guilt upon
European Jewish refugees.

Those who had been judged 'not fully human' now judged others in the same
vile fashion.

The place was called Deir Yassin.

More than 4 decades later, and after many more massacres, such as the
Sabra and Chatila massacres by the
Phalangist militia, another genocide took place on European soil. This
time, it was not the Jews of Europe that were targeted. It was the
Bosnian Muslims. A people, who were as European as any other from that
continent, but who did not live up to the Serbian definition of the word
'human'. Their only crime; to have a Muslim name.

One of the co-ordinators of that genocide was the Serbian President,
Slobodan Milosevic. While he waded in the blood of innocent human beings,
the world stood by and invited him with respect whenever he wanted to
discuss 'peace'. The Arab and Muslim states of the world, while calling
for 'Islamic unity' in their own countries, failed to answer the call to
help their co-religionists, the Bosnians. While they were dying in their
droves, the Bosnian Serb militias were armed to the teeth, and no-one
managed to pluck up the courage to help them, until the 1995 massacres at
Srebrenica, where thousands of Bosnian Muslim men were liquidated.

Strange, that while the spectre of 'Islamic fundamentalism' is forever
clad in evil, the horror of what could equally be described as 'Christian
fundamentalism' is not even mentioned in the same sentence as
Christianity, although Serb Orthodox priests were reported to have cheered
their congregation on in 'removing' the 'infidels' from the Serbian
nation.

And once again from the outside world, the calls for 'never again'. The
world was shocked at the deaths of the Bosnians. What was most shocking of
all is that the slaughter could have been stopped years earlier; the world
was watching in full view of the carnage. But for some reason, the
Bosnians seemed to be less human, until the de- humanisation process came
almost to a climax.

There is little doubt in the minds of the Bosnians that had their names
not been Mehmet and Fatima, and rather Mary and Petar, they would have had
help much earlier. And that many more thousands Bosnians would be alive
today.

Many calls for 'never again'. All unheeded. The genocides continued. And
they continue today.

A century and a half ago, a Montenegrin prince and Christian monk called
Petar Petrovic-Njegos wrote this poem, swearing by the creed of a certain
Milos Oblilic in it, regarding Christianity and Islam:

''So tear down the minarets and mosques, and kindle the Serbian yule logs,
and let us pain our Easter eggs. Observe the two fast honestly, And as
for the remainder, do as you like. I swear to you by the creed of Milos
Oblilic and by the trusty weapons that I carry, our faiths will be
submerged in blood. The better of the two will rise redeemed. The 'Id
can never live in peace with Christmas Day.''

Petrovic-Njegos obviously never heard of many centuries of tolerance in
Arab lands between Muslims, Christians and Jews, but racists rarely need a
reason to be racist.

Milos Oblilic was a Serbian knight, who supposedly killed Sultan Murad,
the Ottoman leader, at the Battle of Kosovo.

Today, at the same place where he inspired such hatred against his
European compatriots, but centuries on, another genocide is going on.
Another Nazi-like operation, which has been carried out for the last 9
months, in full view of the world. And yet again, the victims are
innocents, whose only crime seems to be that they are not Christian. Of
course, the fact they are Muslim in background seems only to add to their
'inhumanity'.

Kosovo is overwhelmingly populated by Albanian Muslims, and again,
Milosevic's ignored NATO's warnings that the world would not tolerate
another Bosnia.

There are now over 300,000 Albanian refugees, many hiding in fields as the
winter snows approach. 300 Albanian villages have been torched by Serbian
armed forces. And again, the Arabs, who claim that all Muslims are their
brothers and sisters, are nowhere to be found.

And there is more to come. Perhaps even worse than that which has passed.

''Never again'', perhaps?

On the 16th October, a day before the deadline for Milosevic to leave
Kosovo, NATO backed down and gave Milosevic a ten day extension.

How many people will die in those ten days in their sleep? How many more
refugees will be created? How many innocent women and children will be
found dead from slow torturous deaths? How long will the label of
sub-human be applied upon people like these?

Never again indeed........