TROUBLED EASTER

IT IS, one supposes, a sad sign of the times that Christians all over the world are today celebrating Easter while the land where the members of this faith believe Christ was born in peace, preached the good news, died because of it but in the end triumphed in the resurrection, is the scene of so much brutal violence and turmoil.

The day is also sad for people of the Muslim world who must be looking on in horror at what their “holy land” has been reduced to by dictators who torture their fellow man and by warlords of other countries who consider it their duty in the name of freedom to invade, maim and kill both innocent and guilty. The poor people of the Middle East! Easter Sunday is for Christians one of the most important days in their church’s calendar, commemorating as it does the resurrection of Christ. But this can only be for many a troubled Easter caused by a war in Iraq; US threats against Syria already more than a threat in as much as the oil pipe from Iraq to Syria has been cut off by the US forces; sabre-rattling over North Korea’s nuclear weapons arsenal and Israeli military action against the Palestinians in Gaza.

The United States, which led a ‘coalition’ of forces against Iraq, on the yet unproven assumption that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, including chemical weapons, in contravention of a United Nations resolution to rid herself of these weapons, is now accusing Syria of developing chemical weapons. In addition, the US has thrown in for good measure, [to use a cliche] allegations that Syria is harbouring Iraqi leaders, who fled their country during Gulf War II, and is supporting terrorism. Are these signals that the United States, with its warning of possible diplomatic or economic sanctions against Syria, is preparing to broaden its military stamp on the Middle East, as it apparently seeks to promote a new philosophy that allegations justify the action?  Whatever its significance, Easter 2003 is certainly an uncomfortable Easter in the Middle East.  

For the Israelis of course the Christian Easter is a meaningless time so we should not be surprised by its action in Gaza, in which an American peace activist was shot and killed recently. This year’s Lenten Season, leading up to Easter, has been witness to the greatest assembly and unleashing of weapons and bombs in the history of the Middle East and certainly mankind has not before witnessed the extent of the so-called awesome technology that is now used by man against man. And even though the United States-United Kingdom led war on Iraq may be literally ended, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which erupted with the United Nations 1948 partition of Palestine, still appears far from over.

While many Christians in Trinidad and Tobago and several other countries will today reflect on the significance of their belief in the resurrection of Christ, there is no doubt that they as well as their Muslim brothers in the Arab world know that we live in an uneasy time in our world today. In Trinidad and Tobago we are not without our share of unease this Easter, what with the frightening incidence of kidnappings, murders and carnage on the roads. But more than ever perhaps we need at this time to hold fast to the message of hope that is Easter and which speaks of better days to come. With this in mind, we take this opportunity to wish our readers a very happy Easter.