Tariq Ramadan: Condemn Absolutely

To Condemn Absolutely
Thursday 7 July 2005, by Tariq RAMADAN

... and to do exactly the opposite of what they want

The news about the attacks in London are a new shock. Our condemnation is, once again, absolute. The authors of such acts are criminals and we cannot accept or listen to their probable justifications in the name of an ideology, a religion or a political cause. With a strong and audible voice, we must express our condemnation and our commitment to struggle against such odious acts through prevention, education and a just and not discriminatory implementation of the necessary security measures.

The day after the festivities following the choice of London as the city welcoming the Olympic Games in 2012, these attacks take even a more abominable character. It would be naïve to think that this is happening at random as the attacks in Madrid, perpetrated few days before the elections, were not a coincidence. At the very time of joy and happiness that unite and get together the Londoners , the goal is to maintain fear, to spread suspicion and to create fractures between the citizens of the British society in particular and of Europe in general. The objective is to break confidence, to oppose sides and to prevent us from succeeding while facing the challenge of “living together” in free and pluralistic societies.

To the perpetrators of such horrifying attacks first, but also to the proponents of the ideology of fear, to those who will try to exploit these acts to propagate racisms, xenophobia, judeophobia, christianophobia, islamophobia or any kind of stigmatisation or exclusion; to all these people, with no exception, we must be able to respond together. After having condemned the attacks, we must do, on the ground, exactly the opposite of what they want us to do: we must promote education, mutual knowledge, a “living together” based on common values. We must prove that if we are united to struggle against terror and violence, we also are committed together to struggle for universal values, for the respect of life and diversity, for democracy, for freedom, for justice.

When they want to spread doubt and suspicion, we must be committed together to build spaces of mutual respect and trust. This is our responsibility as citizens strongly determined to struggle against the horrors perpetrated by the authors of these attacks in order to promote our society’s common values and future. We must intellectually and socially do exactly the opposite of what the authors of these attacks want us to do emotionally. While the terror could paralyse us and close our minds, it is urgent that our critical conscience measures the stakes and helps us to act together and to open our minds.

At this very moment, we want to convey our deep and sincere condolences to all the victims’ families.