They just don't seem to get it

Over the last couple of days there have been a few protesters hanging around the convention centre. Their protest? Well it is not quite clear.

One group was against the concept of Islam or at least militant Islam. They had taken a misquote from the current Turkish Prime Minister in 1997 on moderate islam or the lack of it (the prime minister was arrested for this and subsequently recanted the statement before embarking in mainstream politics) and had 'intelligently' printed out posters that had been used by the UDC in Switzerland in their campaign to stop the building of mosque minarets. So they were walking around the convention centre waving posters showing muslim women in black niqabs overseeing the land of switzerland, painted with minarets in the shape of missiles. So you go up to the individual and try and engage him in conversation. Obviously the reason he is doing this is to spark some sort of response. You would think that right? Here's the thing, it hasn't been thought out very well since the moment that you try and engage in some polite conversation like 'so what are you protesting about?'or 'what do you know about islam?' , there is suddenly an air of resistance and confrontation. 'Well Islam is a fundamentalist religion and we have to expose this' comes the reply. The aptitude for dialogue and understanding suddenly thins out and when you ask 'what do you think this conference is about?', you are met with blank stares.

This was the same reaction I got when I approached a group of people protesting outside the conference centre about how 'Religion had failed and the only answer was with Salvation through Jesus Christ' or the group that was protesting 'how religion had failed and atheism was the only way' or the group that was trying to sell Bhagvad Gitas as Hinduism was the only way. You ask them all 'why do you think this conference is taking place?' and you are met with the same clueless expressions. Obviously they have come with a preconceived notion of what the parliament is about.

in fact another blog mentioned how in a similar conference in Johannesburg, two groups that were protesting ended up speaking together. So what they were protesting about and against, ended up bringing them together.

They dont seem to get the parliament. it is not about propagation of one's own faith and encouraging people to convert, but it is about enhancing one's understanding as well as improving your perceptions.

if these people had actually spent more time trying to attend the sessions than try and convince people of how bad the session was, they would have come to the conclusion that this type of conversation is in demand.

Amjad Saleem