Date
Author
Петр ИСКЕНДЕРОВ; Борис КАЙМАКОВ
Source
Preserved copy
Translated material
Fiery anniversary
The memory of 9/11 splits American society
Commemorative celebrations on the next anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 took place in the United States without major incidents, but did not reduce tensions in relations with the Muslim world. While relatives and friends of those killed at the hands of terrorists lit candles and prayed, passions were in full swing in Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries. Participants in mass demonstrations branded the United States with shame for the intention of a number of American clergy to mark the sad anniversary by publicly burning the Koran. There were casualties in Afghanistan - in Logar province, security forces opened fire on demonstrators and shot dead at least two Afghans.And although organized acts of desecration of the holy book of Islam were avoided in the United States, a spontaneous bonfire still blazed in Tennessee, where two pastors celebrated the ninth anniversary by burning the Koran on their front lawn. And the intention of the New York authorities to build a 13-story Islamic cultural center, already nicknamed the “Obama Mosque,” on the site of the World Trade Center blown up by terrorists, continues to split American society.
As a result of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, almost 3 thousand people died. The vast majority of them (2,752 people) were victims of the collapse of the two New York World Trade Center towers, which were hit by planes flown by suicide bombers. The names of the victims of this tragedy were traditionally read out by the organizers of the memorial ceremony in nearby Zuccotti Park in Manhattan. “We returned to this sacred place to join our hearts with the names of those we have loved and lost,” said New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “No public tragedy has hurt our city so deeply,” he emphasized. “No other place is so filled with our compassion, our love and our solidarity.”
However, the area where the Twin Towers stood became more than just a place of remembrance this year. For the first time in the last nine years, the funeral celebrations were marked by serious intensity of passions. After the end of official events, spontaneous demonstrations took place in various areas of New York both in support of the construction of an Islamic cultural center and with a demand to cancel the project, which had already been approved in early August by the city commission. The vast majority of Americans do not doubt that al-Qaeda was responsible for the September 11 attacks, and therefore the idea of building an Islamic site in a sacred place for them seems blasphemous. Their opponents, following US President Barack Obama, called for “religious tolerance” and anxiously awaited reports of acts of burning the Koran.
A similar initiative was made back in August by Terry Jones, pastor of a Protestant church in Gainesville (Florida). He even called for September 11 to be turned into an “international day of burning the Koran.” In recent days, President Obama, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Attorney General Eric Holder, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, commander of US and NATO troops in Afghanistan David Patraeus, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and the Pope have addressed the pastor and his associates in recent days with a demand to refrain from provocative actions. Benedict XVI and many other figures. Barack Obama said in a September 10 address to the nation that footage of a Christian cleric publicly burning the Koran would be "the most effective recruiting tool for the terrorist group al-Qaeda imaginable." He stressed that the United States is “not at war with Islam”: “We are at war with terrorist organizations that distort Islam or claim to be under the banner of Islam to justify their destructive actions.”
“Anti-Islamic sentiments are dangerous,” Nina Mamedova, head of the Iranian sector at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, confirmed in an interview with Vremya Novostei. - After all, Muslims not only make up a significant part of the world population, but are also steadily increasing their economic and military potential. In this regard, Muslim countries have grown particularly rapidly in the last decade.” “The fact that the 9/11 attacks are being blamed solely on Muslims simply because they are Muslims is causing them resentment and protest. And the roots of all this should be sought in the political structure of the world, in relations between the United States and the states of the Islamic world,” the expert believes. According to her, “hopes were pinned on Barack Obama to stabilize relations with the Islamic world, and there is some progress.” Our interlocutor says: “Obama himself to some extent belongs to the Islamic world and understands that the mentality of Muslim peoples must be taken into account. However, doubts remain that US policy towards Islamic countries is undergoing positive changes.”
Pastor Jones at the last moment abandoned his dangerous intention, saying that he expected goodwill from the initiators of the construction of an Islamic cultural center in New York. However, it was not without desecration of the Koran. In Tennessee, two pastors, Danny Allen and Bob Old, publicly burned at least two copies of the book, declaring Islam a false religion. In New York, there was also a case of burning several pages torn from the Koran.
“The events of September 11 show that developed countries must seek consensus in relations with the Islamic world,” Nina Mamedova is convinced. According to her, “a biased critical attitude towards all Muslims is unacceptable for Russian Muslims.” “On this basis, reasons arise for extremist opposition movements, taking into account the existing uneven economic development of the regions in Russia,” the expert believes.