A peaceful celebration

The fact that we had a peaceful Labor Day celebration is something to celebrate in itself. It is true that our Armed Forces were prepared for any eventuality, but credit must be given to the cause-oriented groups for the way they peacefully conducted their rallies. First of all, we must commend former President Joseph Ejercito Estrada for taking the lead in asking all his followers to conduct their demonstrations peacefully.

Last year’s May Day rally was a disgrace to the nation. Long before sunrise, trucks unloaded rocks in front of Malacañang so that the demonstrators could hurl them at the police. That clearly showed that their purpose was to inflict injury on officials who are charged with enforcing law and order.

We are glad that there were no untoward incidents in the last Labor Day celebration. To start with, May First was a holiday, but the United Nations Educational and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) conducted a seminar on Terrorism and Media. You can just imagine the kind of bad publicity we would have had if violence had broken out in the Palace or anywhere in Metro Manila on that day. The two-day UNESCO seminar on Terrorism and Media was a prelude to the World Press Freedom Day that chose Manila as the venue for this year’s celebration. Our greatest fear was that some terrorist group would try to sabotage the UNESCO Freedom Day celebration. But things turned out for the best. Labor Day was a peaceful celebration and the UNESCO seminar on Terrorism and Media that culminated with the World Press Freedom Day celebration was a very fruitful and successful event.

The world has not been the same since the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center. True the attack took place in New York, but innocent victims from 80 different nations were among the casualties. A confession, they say, is a conclusive piece of evidence. In October 7, 2001, Osama bin Laden was videotaped delivering this statement, "God has blessed a group of vanguard Muslims, the forefront of Islam, to destroy America."

We are happy to note that many Muslim leaders condemn Osama bin Laden. A joint statement given by Canadian office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Canadian Muslim Civil Liberties Association said: ‘Just as he must not be allowed to get away with the terrorist hijackings and cold-blooded murder of September 11. Osama bin Laden must not be allowed to get away with hijacking Islam and the good name of religion generally."

A Muslim scholar from Doha, Qatar, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi said: "Islam, the religion of tolerance, holds the human soul in high esteem and considers the attack against innocent human beings a grave sin… I categorically go against a committed Muslim’s embarking on such attacks. Islam never allows a Muslim to kill the innocent and the helpless."

Finally, we quote these words from Sheikh Abdul-Rahman al-Sudais, who, at the Grand Mosque, Mecca, Saudi Arabia said: "It would be a grave calamity when the followers of this phenomenon (terrorism) use religion as a camouflage, because true Islam stands innocent from all that. Its teachings stand aloft from people who believe in violence as a course of action and sabotage as a method and bloodshed as a way of reform."