by Morak Babajide-Alabi
These past weeks witnessed so many events like no other week in recent times. While one or two of the events brought a few smiles to our faces, some called out our reasoning abilities so as to reorder a few priorities around the world.
EBOLA IN FOCUS
For once, in recent times, the Ebola scourge in West Africa was pushed from the forefront of the news. Not that it disappeared altogether though. However, rather than what was obtained in previous weeks whereby we were regaled with pictures and videos of dying Africans, we got a bright side to it. Last week, the Band-Aid 30, led by Bob Geldof, released the remake of the single, “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” to help raise money for the treatment of the disease.
It is indeed a charitable gesture as we all know the “world” is struggling to get the money together to fight this modern-day disease that is ravaging the western part of Africa, with over 10,000 people reportedly infected. Within minutes of its release, over one million pounds was raised from the sales and also had a number one spot on the UK music chart.
According to Geldof, he was inspired to do a remake by the call from the United Nations that more still needed to be done across the board to fight this deadly disease. Where are the promises of aids and donations from the “world leaders”? Should we not be grateful to Sir Geldof? He has always been at the forefront of campaigns against deadly diseases. His legendary role in the 1984 making of the track to fight AIDS is still unmatched. Well done. We hope the money raised will go down to where it is really needed.
‘RUN, HIDE AND TELL’
Yes, that the new anti-terror initiative in the United Kingdom. As the members of the inquiry into the killing of Drummer Lee Rugby were dotting the I’s and crossing the t’s, Home Secretary Theressa May announced to the world that UK terrorism threat is at the level of the 9/11 in the United States. We all sighed. “Hell, no, not again”. Hence, instinctively after the news, the next “tube” journey was with “caution”. You play detective and scan the “tube” for any commuter with a “dodgy” rucksack or a bearded fellow reading a book or magazine that has the word “bomb” in it.
But, seriously, everybody is concerned, most especially with the activities of a few Britons going to fight alongside extremists in Syria and Iraq. These deluded and “carefree” Muslim Britons are dusting up their passports and buying £20 tickets to fly to Turkey on “religious missions.” To Theresa May, these are also big concerns. Since becoming Home Secretary in 2010, she revealed that over 40 terrorist plots have been prevented by security operatives including an attack on the stock exchange in London. In the same period, 753 people were arrested for terrorist-related activities, 212 charged and 148 convicted with 138 behind bars and 13 deported. You wonder who are these evil people. If, however, you see one, remember, Run, Hide and Tell. Do not do it the other way round, please.
FACEBOOK FAILED US
Do you ever know Facebook could have prevented the death of Drummer Lee Rigby? Yes. If only the social media site had alerted Mi5 that one of the demented Michaels had boasted online months earlier on that he would kill a serving soldier. The inquiry into the killing believed if Facebook had reported this to Mi5, the two British citizens born of Nigerian parents would not have been able to carry the threat on innocent Lee. Do I hear you ask, “Is Facebook not more interested in making money than national security?”
RECKLESS’ DECISION PAID OFF
When Mark Reckless decided to walk away from his old friends in the Conservative Party, not few of them hid their “disgust” for his decision to join the United Kingdom Independent Party (UKIP). They openly castigated him and called him names. He, on the other hand, did not behave recklessly. He kept his cool as he campaigned for the by-election into Rochester and Strood’s constituency which became vacant as a result of his stepping down as MP on his defection.
Not minding the jeers from his former party, Reckless put the past behind him. This paid off. He was announced the winner of the election penultimate Friday, thereby putting the noses of his former friends in the mud. Congratulations Mark. I hope one day you will one day come over to Nigeria and teach the political defectors how it is done.
US BLACK TEEN KILLER COP HAS NO CASE
Is it not surprising that the police officer who shot the black unarmed teen Michael Brown in Fergusson, Missouri on August 9 will not be prosecuted, according to the jury? Cop Darren Wilson has no case to answer. The parents of Brown are outraged. So also is the black community. They are demanding for justice and calling the grand jury process as “unfair and broken”.
There have been protests in the city denouncing the jury decision. This brings back to memory the riots that followed the killing of Michael Brown in August. Despite the presence of over National Guard officers, there is still no peace in Fergusson. Looting, arson, and riots continue. You ask yourself, will there ever be peace until Brown and his family get justice?
One good we should take out of all these is the fact that black Americans are now more vociferous on police (mis)treatment. The anger against the policing system in the country is understandable, as it is believed that the system is a “set up against the blacks”.
You are bound to agree with this. The blacks are sad, angry and have no confidence in the system that treats them as “statistics” rather than human beings. One of the protesters was quoted by a newspaper as lamenting, “the system wasn’t made to protect us (blacks), (so) to get justice, the people themselves must be justice”. With this in mind, you can understand why the protests in Fergusson are going on. It is because the black population is fed up with the system that has treated it so unfairly. These are not feelings. These are realities.
Published in the Diaspora Matters column of Sunday Vanguard of November 30, 2018.
