When it is windy and blisteringly cold in Toronto you don't want to go out in the open for anything. Ensconced in the cozy recesses of your condo, apartment or lodge you are more than satisfied to relish afternoon coffee thankfully.

The afternoon of 20^th April, however, was different. Many conscientious Torontonians braved the chilly weather and headed towards Dandas Square downtown to protest against Saudi aggression against Yemen.

They did not come in millions though, they came for new millennium; an era free from coercion and war.

The antiwar event was jointly organized by 'Canadianpeace.org' and 'nowar.ca.' People came on a short notice which showed their concern over human rights violation of Yemenites; that too by a country that claims to be the natural leader of Islamic nation.

The participants were vocal in condemning Saudi aerial strikes on Yemen declared them  as violation of Yemen's territorial sovereignty. Further, the killings of innocent people as a result of constant bombing and the terror that always ensues in the wake of such strikes conscripts Saudi Arabia in nations that use terror as a mean to realize political goals.

Saudis are doing this in the name of restoring democracy in Yemen. They are purportedly helped in this task by nations which don't have democracy at home. Dictators, exploiters, tyrants, autocrats and persecutors of people at home are joining hands to bring democracy and rule of law to Yemenis.

 Houthis,in fact, are done with Saudi involvement in their country. Earlier for decades the Kingdom helped Ali Abdullah Salah continue with his autocratic and tyrannical rule to the detriment of country's progress and development. In face of resilient opposition to his rule, Saudis go him replaced by Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi

That did not satisfy the revolutionaries who want a nationalist government based on the true principles of justice and fair play. They continued to oppose the sham government under the suzerainty of Saudi Arab and finally got Mansur run towards his erstwhile masters.

It was a political problem which Saudi Arabia, with the fire power beefed up by 60 billion dollars deal with the US, did not want to solve though dialogue and other political means.

A Saudi national at the meeting, name withheld due to security reasons, painted a very gloomy picture of religious minorities living in the Kingdom.

According to him Saudi establishment is handicapped by the religious philosophy it follows. Violence is intrinsic in that mindset. This is the belief system that produces extremist outfits such as ISIL, Taliban, Daash etc. Wahhabism does not believe in the coexistence; it produces marauding mercenaries shouting Allah o Akbar and killing in the name of Islam.

General consensus among the participants was that Wahhabism backed by Saudi establishment  had done more disservice to Islam than one could expect from its detractors in other faiths.

Information

  This is a report on the antiwar event which was jointly organized by 'Canadianpeace.org' and 'nowar.ca'  against Saudi aggression on Yemen. People came on a short notice which showed their concern over human rights violation of Yemenites; that too by a country that claims to be the natural leader of Islamic nation.

Published on April 24, 2015