General

We will not be silent – Denny Cormier

by Denny Cormier, published on his facebook, September 10, 2015.
We cannot be silent. We have to raise our voice. Compassion, mutual understanding, peace, respect, dignity, world citizenship. These are our words against Zionism, racism, Apartheid, oppression.
ProMosaik e.V. 
 

Many of the leaders of resistance movements and revolutionary
movements that we hold in great esteem even years after they have
departed us had one thing in common that comes to mind tonight.


They had an outlook and a vision that transcended race or borders or
nationalism – none of them were perfect men and their vision of the
world often centered on their own people, but they were aware and were
not silent about the great suffering in others places and among other
peoples.


It was America’s Martin Luther King who stood strong and with
compassion for the good people of Viet Nam – just as many other great
visionaries and leaders have stood in solidarity with the Palestinians
and other oppressed peoples.

Whether we live in the U.S. or in
Denmark or in the U.K. or in Gaza, we cannot be silent (no matter how
great our personal suffering).

We are not merely people of a
nation or an ethnic group or a religion, we are citizens of the world
(even those of us without recognized nation status).

In response
to the refugee crisis, Individuals in some European countries are even
choosing not to honor their government attempts to block borders – they
are taking matters into their own hands and welcoming refugees any way
that they can – even into their homes

As the refugee crisis
grows (and I believe that it will grow well beyond what we can possibly
imagine now), we are suddenly witness to an event of great historical
significance I believe. In my own quiet way, I have seen seen this
crisis waiting to explode into reality for some years now… I wish
that it had not come to this, but it has, and it will grow not only in
the next months, but over the next many years.

I have had to rethink my human rights focuses. Perhaps we all do.

Is it enough to focus on our own crisis (or crises) and our own
suffering, to focus on our own national priorities and ethnicity, or are
we part of something much larger?

Is the child of America solely
an American? Is the child of Syria solely a Syrian? Is the child of
Palestine solely a Palestinian? Or are these children also citizens of a
world without borders and without nationality?

And is our deliverance intimately tied up with the deliverance of others?
Some great leaders have said that it is.

It is at such times as now that there could be some external reality to
the often quoted vision that We Are All One – unless, of course, we are
not.