How can you define a conundrum? It’s either a confusing and difficult problem or a question that can be asked purely for amusement. Well, how about both?
I am sure we’ve all heard about the recent attack on Paris, killing at least 129 people. There are several attacks, in the form of explosions, moving from Stade de France to Central France within the same night. My heart feels for those who had lost their loved ones in the unfortunate series of events. As the saying goes in Ireland, “Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal.”
However, I would refrain from commenting any further regarding the subject as the conundrum is not about the attacks or the people/organization behind it. What puzzles me the most is how the world at large, the people, the masses, the medias, the government, the great nations, the so called human activists are rather choosy on what is important or whose lives matter enough to give their attention to.
May I gently remind you beloved readers, that one night in Paris, is just like any other ordinary night in Palestine and Syria? According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA), the amount of casualties recorded in Palestine-Israeli conflict last year is roughly 2,220 Palestinians killed, of whom 1,492 are civilians (299 of them are women and 551 of them are children). What about the ones that are off the grid and not recorded? There could be thousands more that are not included in the statistics. Don’t their lives matter too?
Let’s talk about Syrian Civil War, a conflict that started roughly after the Arab Springs protests in the year 2011. Up until October 2015, the total death count for Syrians are estimated roughly between 250,000 to 340,000 of whom 30,000 of them are innocent children[1]. The civil war of Syria affects everyone, regardless of what faction they belong to. It was so devastating that it caused over 7.6 million people to be internally displaced and another 4 million to flee for their lives, risking the seas and harsh conditions of the weather, stripping themselves with nothing but refugee as their new identity.[2] Imagine, the feeling sleeping comfortably in your cozy bed in one night, and waking up in a cold refugee camp in the next morning. Tell me because I can’t seem to comprehend; what made them not newsworthy?
What about the attack in Beirut, Lebanon? Roughly 40 people were killed and much like the one in Paris, they were killed randomly in a bustling city area while going on their daily lives like usual. What made the monuments around the world lit up with the tri-colours of the flag of France while no one seemed to bat an eye for Lebanon? How come France matters enough for it to have its own “show your support by changing your display picture in Facebook with France flag”? Why Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and those other countries that goes unnoticed are never going to be newsworthy to the rest of the world? Why wouldn’t Facebook do the same thing for these countries I’ve listed?
If people like Obama are the champs of the human rights, then all lives should matter. Ironically enough in United States, there’s a movement called “Black Lives Matter” calling for freedom and justice for all black people. The reason behind the movement is that black people were killed by the law enforcement officers, which mostly left unjustified. Then we have groups like Sisters in Islam (SiS) trying to convince Obama through twitter to help us with our human rights issue. Funny but true. (Please find a better platform to appeal your case SiS.)
I don’t intend to compare between incidents because losing someone is devastating regardless of who you are or where you’re from.
My point of this article is that ALL LIVES MATTER. Why do the human rights champions keep choosing which one to highlight and dedicate their whole waking moment to and which one to dust off into the bin and left forgotten? Oh I know the answer to this puzzle long before I wrote this article and I believe that you know it too.
Just in case you didn’t get the answer to this conundrum yet; it’s because we are Muslims and just like the black people, we don’t matter to them.
[1] Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
[2] United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Muhammad Akmal Abdul Ghani
I-Peguam Activist
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official views of, and should not be attributed to, Isma or Ismaweb.
