The World after 9/11

Mushtaq Lasharie

By New Worker

correspondent

THE ELEVENTH anniversary of the 9/11 attacks was marked by a wave of anti-American anger throughout the Muslim world following reports of the production of a film in California that portrayed the prophet Mohammed as a drunken pervert.

            The world we live in has certainly changed since 2001 and the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. Whether we can all work together to make it a better place for future generations was the topic for a discussion organised by the Third World Solidarity movement in Portcullis House, the modern Parliamentary annex, in London last week.

            It was chaired by Mushtaq Lasharie, a retired Labour activist, and the panel included the Pakistan High Commissioner, the Afghan ambassador, a Tory and a Labour MP, the writer Mark Seddon and Prof Manuel Hassassian, the Palestinian ambassador to London.

            Mushtaq Lasharie spoke about the impact of 9/11 on the Pakistani community in Britain and the perceptions of that community on the street and in the media in the anti-Islamic climate that followed the Al Qaeda attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon.

            The two MPs and the international diplomats all spoke in general terms of the need for understanding, moderation and consensus in world affairs and the restoration of the central role of the United Nations in conflict-resolution.

            But it was left to the Palestinian representative to point out that the central problem in the Middle East was the denial of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian Arabs and that was due to the intransigence of Israel and its mentor, the United States.

            Third World Solidarity was established in April 1986 in London by a group of political activists and intellectuals. The main object of this movement is to work for peace and tolerance, helping to resolve conflicts through negotiations and diplomatic means.

            Third World Solidarity is against any aggression, whether community based or state represented. It believes that without peace and tolerance to the Third World, improvements or progress in education, health and poverty will be stifled and impossible or at least very difficult to achieve.

            The campaign also works for improving the Human Rights situation around the globe. To achieve these goals Third World Solidarity organises conferences and seminars against aggression, sanctions and violations of human rights.