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Silence of the Lambs
by Farida Sellami
In French
Algeria is dying. Its children are being slaughtered
by fanatics who want to impose their beliefs. They have chosen
a terrifying God, but deep down they know they're in the wrong.
They don't respect human life anymore. They don't do it because
"it's written" (in a holy book), because it's NOT, but
simply because they are power hungry bloody
monsters.
Members of the governing body close a complacent eye because
they're still thirsty for material things. Money is their only
goal, and as long as they keep the power, they're able to pile
up as much of it as possible.
The people are lethargic. They look at murder almost with
indifference. France, who exploited Algeria for 130 years, closed
its doors in order not to hear the screams of those being slaughtered.
An entire population is being annihilated, and the rest of the
world keeps ignoring the genocide perpetrated beyond their borders.
Yesterday I learned about the violent death of a young 16
year-old girl* who did not obey the given orders: she went to
school without wearing the "hijab." She was taken from
her classroom, pulled by her hair to the middle of the school
yard, and had her throat slit in public. Not one person intervened
to protect her. Are the Algerians so terrorized that they do nothing
to stop these atrocities or are they insensitive?
I prayed God, the merciful God that my parents taught me
to love, to wake up the Algerians, at least those who still have
in them some respect for human life, and not let the cowards who
distorted the true meaning of Islam and highjacked God's commandments
(i.e. You Shall Not Kill) in order to carry on their atrocities
without any feeling of a culpability complex. Killing for them
is now a fact of life. They don't have any conscience. They are
no longer Humans, and keep on stampeding those who have fought
for freedom.
The Christian world should not close its eyes under the
pretense that the ones being assassinated are not theirs. They
are Human Beings. It has happened in Germany when the Jewish people
was assassinated, and the world intervened only after 6 millions
Jews perished in concentration camps. Should we wait until this
number is reached in Algeria before stopping the massacre?
* It should be noted that not all sympathizers or supporters
of Islamist groups sympathize with armed groups, especially those
involved with the massacres of civilians. The FIS, itself, has
condemned the killings, and its armed wing, the AIS, has insisted
that in the past (it has recognized a cease fire since 1997),
it has only targeted the government. FIS members and sympathizers
themselves have been a target of the armed groups (GIA), per their
own admission.
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