Death in Woolwich

A week ago, an off-duty British soldier was killed on the streets of south London. It seems that his Help the Heroes t-shirt was enough to identify him as a soldier.  The attack was not  directed at him for his own sake. He simply represented the British military and the government; the country and values system that was so hated by the two alleged perpetrators of the murderous attack. The soldier’s name was Lee Rigby.

Already much has been written about this event. I think any speculation by me on what might have led men to commit such an act - to believe that is is somehow justified - would add nothing.  Yet one man’s death on the streets of Woolwich has been noted by friends of mine around the world, each with a different perspective.  I have jotted down here their immediate thoughts and reactions spoken to me on hearing the news.  I have not asked their permission, so the comments are not attributable to named people.

The first is from a Muslim living in the Middle East, who studied in London:

“Disenfranchised, radicalised Muslims have other issues. They don’t exist because they follow a certain faith. The scary bit is, anyone can just walk up to someone on the streets of London and behead them in daylight while others watch....that’s the death of humanity;  it’s very sad.” 

A Muslim living and working in south London:

“Sorry to hear about the recent London killing.  I truly condemn such acts; it is horrific. They should hang these ********……  I think it is important that the government finds out these kind of hidden brainwashing institutes and root them out. These kind of people never let us live peacefully in our old country [Pakistan] and not even here.”

A Christian living in Pakistan, facing the risk of persecution, commented:

“And I got news that a UK army man was slaughtered on the road.  Oh my God.  Please make aware your white [English] people. I don't want to see UK become like [Moorish] Spain [in the middle ages]. Don't repeat the history.  You know what they did in Spain. They killed and had Spanish wives.  Today target was an army man; next would be a civilian and then these things may be common; finally a UK Muslim state.  Sharia Law will be imposed.”

Finally, a Muslim human rights lawyer living in the UK:

“What worries me is the silence of some, and conditional condemnation of others. I’m talking about ordinary individuals, not organisations which issue press releases. I am critical of UK foreign policy but we just cannot shape it out of fear of lunatics. We will see from the government shortly a renewed effort to pass ‘Snooper’s Charter’ styled legislation [enabling intelligence agencies and police to see the content of all emails; until recently the proposed legislation had been withdrawn owing to civil liberties concerns.].”