How Boko Haram violence is linked to environmental problems

Blessing sits on the floor, knees into chest, in an empty room in Bukakotto village in eastern Nigeria. She's "40 something," but looks 25, and her face is scarred with tribal markings razor cut into her face as a baby. Just the day before, her sister was murdered. She went to her farm to look for firewood, Blessing says through a translator, and she was knifed to death by nomadic cattle herders with machetes. "They hacked her all over."

A pink and white scarf hangs off Blessing’s head, and she arranges and rearranges it as she speaks, looking straight ahead into nothing. "We picked up her corpse and buried it yesterday."

Blessing's sister is another casualty in Nigeria's long-running battle between mostly Christian farmers and mostly Muslim cattle herders over access to land. This increasingly violent clash is playing out alongside the Boko Haram terror campaign that has captivated the world since the group kidnapped more than 300 schoolgirls in April. On the surface, the two conflicts—which have both resulted in thousands of deaths over the past few years—appear unrelated. One is centered around Islamic fundamentalism, the other around grass and water. But look a bit further and you find that both conflicts are deeply tied to a massive ecological crisis that is breeding desperate poverty in the north of the country.

FOR CENTURIES, THE NOMADIC Fulani people drove their cattle east and west across the Sahel, the expanse of land just south of the Sahara desert. With the onset of a string of droughts in the early 20th century, Fulanis began to shift their migratory routes north to south. Land battles between nomadic Muslim cattle herders and Christian farmers were first reported about 60 years ago. The clashes have intensified since the start of another series of droughts beginning in the late 1960s that parched the land up north, driving more farmers and herders south for longer periods of time.

"They come [south] because of the nature of the climate in the north," says Mohammed Husaini, a Fulani herdsman and official with Nigeria's cattle breeder trade association. He's seated on a plastic lawn chair inside his spartan cattle vitamin shop in the eastern Nigerian town of Garaku. Just outside the open front door, a young man chants the Koran into the afternoon heat.

"The period of time that northern Fulani nomads used to spend in the middle of the country used to be December to May," he says. "Now it's December to June or July, and some nomadic Fulanis decide to just stay here." Why? Because, he explains, the grasses up north "don't grow totally" any more.

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/06/nigeria-environment-climate-change-boko-haram

Interesting...
It really shows how deep the issues in Africa run. and how as bad as some of these groups are they are still created by circumstance more than religious or political ideals

Fuck a duck

Now I HAVE heard everything

What's next??

9/11 was a freak natural accident??

Jog on you two clowns

Deep thinking and looking at causes isn't Smellybum's forte, that takes brains, his atrophied years ago.

It reminds me strongly of what we've been talking about in the racism/finances link thread, it really does seem that a lot of the strife in the world is really caused by competition over inadequate resources, and the animosities are sublimated into racism, religious conflict, etc.

Probably because too few people will just admit, "We want to kick those people off that land so it will be ours." Instead they have to say, "Our god can beat up their god, so we're right and they're wrong," or "You know, it's the foreigners causing all the crimes anyway, we should boot them out," etc.

Exactly! If everyone in the UK had a decent place to live, a good, well paid job and enough money to live an enjoyable life, do you think they would care who lived down the road? I don't.

Deep thinking  ::smthg:: 

Good one sassy

I guess the fact that they scream "ALLAHU Akbar" isn't on the list of causes then??

Guess that kind of think isn't deep enough for you

Ben_Reilly wrote:It reminds me strongly of what we've been talking about in the racism/finances link thread, it really does seem that a lot of the strife in the world is really caused by competition over inadequate resources, and the animosities are sublimated into racism, religious conflict, etc.

Probably because too few people will just admit, "We want to kick those people off that land so it will be ours." Instead they have to say, "Our god can beat up their god, so we're right and they're wrong," or "You know, it's the foreigners causing all the crimes anyway, we should boot them out," etc.

Yes, I agree but I can't see the solution to racism and religious conflict in the UK being solved financially.  If only it was that easy

Sassy wrote:Exactly!   If everyone in the UK had a decent place to live, a good, well paid job and enough money to live an enjoyable life, do you think they would care who lived down the road?   I don't.

Bollox

If some Muslim moved in and killed sheep in their backyard you would be ok with it??

How about some nazis who played death metal all day long??

What about if Nigel farage was your neighbour??

Your morals have been shown to be fake and insincere, quill has you summed up

You don't care about the issue at hand you just care about "being right" and your belief that others see you as being right

You're a fake sassy, you don't care about slavery and you're very selective about the company you keep and ultra judgemental about the company you deem not good enough to keep

://?roflmao?/: ://?roflmao?/: ://?roflmao?/: ://?roflmao?/: ://?roflmao?/: 

feelthelove wrote:

Ben_Reilly wrote:It reminds me strongly of what we've been talking about in the racism/finances link thread, it really does seem that a lot of the strife in the world is really caused by competition over inadequate resources, and the animosities are sublimated into racism, religious conflict, etc.

Probably because too few people will just admit, "We want to kick those people off that land so it will be ours." Instead they have to say, "Our god can beat up their god, so we're right and they're wrong," or "You know, it's the foreigners causing all the crimes anyway, we should boot them out," etc.

Yes, I agree but I can't see the solution to racism and religious conflict in the UK being solved financially.  If only it was that easy

Actually Thinking about it, I think Finances Actually has a bigger part to play then we suspect.

Finances have changed the way Aussie view Asia.
Pauline Hanson One Nation Party (Aussie Ukip from the late 90's) is completely gone now and her Big thing was against the Asians (you call Orientals)... now most Aussie have embraced and proud to part of the Broader Asian community. they are valuable members of the local community which no one (maybe Aboriginal   ) wants to kick out now.
Australians are generally positive about multiculturalism because overall it has been profitable for us, even though they were some difficulties at first it really hasn't been to difficult to achieve because ultimately everyone is the same and wants safety, security and for their family to prosper. Improved national finances combined with social equity measures make it so Most people in the country are prosperous and therefore happy.  ::D:: ::D:: ::D::  racism has steady decreased in parallel with our improving financial state... it doesn't really prove anything it could be a case of correlation or causation but interesting none the less.

Aussie politics

Boring

smelly_bandit wrote:Aussie politics

Boring

at least our guys are more interesting in general, how many of your pollies have tried to resurrect dinosaurs or ARE building Titanic 2?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clive_Palmer

In April 2012, he announced that he had signed a memorandum of understanding with CSC Jinling Shipyard to construct a replica of RMS Titanic, the Titanic II.[10] The ship will be built in China and will set sail in late 2016.[11] Palmer also added over 100 animatronic dinosaurs to his resort in Coolum, creating a simulated Jurassic Park.[12][13]

he was the individual that actually put up the money to work out IF Jurassic Park could be possible..... the answer was no    DNA doesn't last that long a few 100,000 years at best.

V

I am firmly snuggled up warm and happy ready to sleep

You may proceed

Be so kind as to talk about the usual really interesting stuff you're so good at

smelly_bandit wrote:Deep thinking  ::smthg:: 

Good one sassy

I guess the fact that they scream "ALLAHU Akbar" isn't on the list of causes then??

Guess that kind of think isn't deep enough for you

We're getting at the reason people shout that, or "Sieg Heil" or whatever. It's not something you can mentally ascend to, so you probably should just go to sleep.

Sure benhamed

You've just removed the reason for Islamic terrorism and violence which is ISLAM and replaced it with something unrelated

If you want to do that then ok

But it works for everything else as well

Homophobia??

Due to the weather

Racism??

Due to global warming

Islamophobia??

Due to pollution

Idiot

smelly_bandit wrote:Sure benhamed

You've just removed the reason for Islamic terrorism and violence which is ISLAM and replaced it with something unrelated

If you want to do that then ok

But it works for everything else as well

Homophobia??

Due to the weather

Racism??

Due to global warming

Islamophobia??

Due to pollution

Idiot

 :aspffftas: 
Everyone knows Global warming is due to racism and pollution is due to homophobia
 ::fishffight::  ::fishffight::  ::fishffight::  ::fishffight::  ::fishffight:: 

Smelly, I will try this once again.

Guy goes to work, has a bad day, comes home and yells at his kids.

What's really going on here? Well, he's frustrated about his work but relatively powerless to do anything about it, so he sublimates his frustration to another target, conveniently less powerful, and takes it out on them.

This is really basic human nature. Whenever people are under duress they seek something to blame, and they often don't blame the real source of their problems.

British guy loses his job to a Romanian. He blames the Romanian rather than the business that is only loyal to higher profits reaped by using lower-paid labor.

Christians and Muslims clash over dwindling natural resources. They blame one another's cultures rather than the fact that their resources are dwindling.

This isn't hard to understand. You almost have to work harder not to understand it, unless you're completely brainless.

So which is it?  ::D:: 

Here's another one

A Christian man grows up never hurting anyone

Later in life he converts to Islam, drive a British off duty soldier over and then cuts his head off in London before saying to the camera "the qur'an makes us do this"

Your view is he is motivated by climate change

His view is he is motivated by Islam

Guess who is wrong Ben??

smelly_bandit wrote:Here's another one

A Christian man grows up never hurting anyone

Later in life he converts to Islam, drive a British off duty soldier over and then cuts his head off in London before saying to the camera "the qur'an makes us do this"

Your view is he is motivated by climate change

His view is he is motivated by Islam

Guess who is wrong Ben??

I honestly don't know why I bother with you ... you need to stop fixating on that tree and look at the forest, ffs!

We're not talking about individual clashes but about their underlying causes. So this is not Rigby vs. his murderer or even Christianity vs. Islam but the clash over resources that has brought the two cultures into conflict in the first place.

When did this clash start? When we started fighting over dwindling fossil fuel resources.

Yes Ben we know you love Muslims

We get the message loud and clear

You're full Of shit, because Muslims have been killing and murdering for centuries long before people even knew what a fossil fuel was

Guess you never heard of the crusades

Now you've found a new novel way to defend them

Ooooooo look climate change is to blame for Muslims killing and raping

Just like every other defence you fuckwits try, this will fall by the wayside

And the best part??

The very people you're trying to protect will be the ones to sabotage your argument

Happens every time

Yes Ben we know you love Muslims

We get the message loud and clear

You're full Of shit, because Muslims have been killing and murdering for centuries long before people even knew what a fossil fuel was

Guess you never heard of the crusades

Now you've found a new novel way to defend them

Ooooooo look climate change is to blame for Muslims killing and raping

Just like every other defence you fuckwits try, this will fall by the wayside

And the best part??

The very people you're trying to protect will be the ones to sabotage your argument

Happens every time and I can't wait to see you humiliated

My, you ain't good on history are you Smellybum:

Quote:

"But when have Christians demonstrated this love to Muslims or Jews? We have gone to them with swords and guns. We have gone to them with racism and hatred. We have gone to them with feelings of cultural superiority and economic domination. We have gone to them with colonialism and exploitation. We have even gone to them with the Gospel cloaked in arguments of superiority. Only a few have ever gone with the message of Calvary...We must do more than carry the message, we must be the message." Reconciliation Walk


About the Crusades and their legacy of hatred:

The mid 7th century to the mid 10th century CE saw the gradual expansion of Islam. Half of the Christian world was conquered by Arab armies; this included countries in which Christianity had been established for centuries, such as Egypt, southern France, southern Italy, Sicily, Spain, Syria, Turkey, etc. 4

By the late 10th century, Europe and the Middle East were divided into Christian and Muslim spheres of influence. Christian pilgrims from Europe regularly visited Muslim-controlled Jerusalem in reasonable safety. Such pilgrimages were very popular. The were believed to be one of the major acts by which a person could reduce their exposure to the tortures of purgatory after their death.

By the middle of the 11th century, Christianity had formally split between the Roman Catholic Church and the Byzantine Empire: The Emperor/Bishop of Constantinople and the Bishop of Rome had mutually excommunicated each other. In 1071, the Turks defeated the latter at the Battle of Manzikert. This left Constantinople exposed to attack from Muslims. Meanwhile, Christians were being ambushed during their pilgrimages to Jerusalem.

Emperor Alexius asked Pope Urban II for assistance. On 1095-NOV-27, the Pope called on Europeans to go on a crusade to liberate Jerusalem from its Muslim rulers. "The first and second wave of Crusaders murdered, raped and plundered their way up the Rhine and down the Danube as they headed for Jerusalem." 1 The "army" was primarily composed of untrained peasants with their families, with a core of trained soldiers. On the way to the Middle East, they decided that only one of their goals was to wrest control of Jerusalem from the Muslims. A secondary task was to rid the world of as many non-Christians as possible - both Muslims and Jews. The Crusaders gave the Jews two choices in their slogan: "Christ-killers, embrace the Cross or die!" 12,000 Jews in the Rhine Valley alone were killed as the first Crusade passed through. Some Jewish writers refer to these events as the "first holocaust." Once the army reached Jerusalem and broke through the city walls, they slaughtered all the inhabitants that they could find (men, women, children, newborns). After locating about 6,000 Jews holed up in the synagogue, they set the building on fire; the Jews were burned alive. The Crusaders found that about 30,000 Muslims had fled to the al Aqsa Mosque. The Muslim were also slaughtered without mercy.

The Roman Catholic church taught that going to war against the "Infidels" was an act of Christian penance. If a believer was killed during a crusade, he would bypass purgatory, and be taken directly to heaven. By eliminating what might be many millennia of torture in Purgatory, many Christians were strongly motivated to volunteer for the crusades. "After pronouncing a solemn vow, each warrior received a cross from the hands of the pope or his legates, and was thenceforth considered a soldier of the Church." 3

These mass killings were repeated during each of the 8 additional crusades until the final, 9th, crusade in 1272 CE. Both Christians and Muslims believed that they were fighting on God's side against Satan; they believed that if they died on the battlefield they would be given preferential treatment in the Christian Heaven or the Muslim Paradise. Battles were fought with a terrible fierceness and a massive loss of life. Over a 200 year period, perhaps 200,000 people were killed. The Muslim warrior Salah a-Din subsequently recaptured Jerusalem from the Christians.

By the end of the crusades, most European Christians believed the unfounded blood-libel myths -- the rumor that Jews engaged in human sacrifice of Christian children. A long series of Christian persecutions of the Jews continued in Europe and Russia into the 20th century. They laid the foundation for the Nazi Holocaust.

The result of centuries of conflict among followers of the three main Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) was a "deep mutual hatred" and mistrust among the three faiths. Memories of these genocides still influence relationships among Jews, Christians and Muslims to the present time.

Among many Jews and Muslims, the term crusade evokes visions of genocide, mass murder, and mass extermination of innocent people. However, among many Christians it has become a positive term, frequently used to refer to mass rallies and campaigns to win converts - as in the Billy Graham Crusades. Out of respect for the victims of the "first holocaust," we recommend that the term be only used to refer to the wars of the Middle Ages.


http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_cru1.htm

The Muslim Game:

Muslims love talking about the Crusades… and Christians love apologizing for them. To hear both parties tell the story, one would believe that Muslims were just peacefully minding their own business in lands that were legitimately Muslim, when Christian armies decided to wage holy war and "kill millions.”

The Truth:

Every part of this myth is a lie. By the rules that Muslims claim for themselves, the Crusades were perfectly justified, and the excesses (though beneath Christian standards) pale in comparison with the historical treatment of conquered populations at the hands of Muslims.

Here are some quick facts…

The first Crusade began in 1095… 460 years after the first Christian city was overrun by Muslim armies, 457 years after Jerusalem was conquered by Muslim armies, 453 years after Egypt was taken by Muslim armies, 443 after Muslims first plundered Italy, 427 years after Muslim armies first laid siege to the Christian capital of Constantinople, 380 years after Spain was conquered by Muslim armies, 363 years after France was first attacked by Muslim armies, 249 years after the capital of the Christian world, Rome itself, was sacked by a Muslim army, and only after centuries of church burnings, killings, enslavement and forced conversions of Christians.

By the time the Crusades finally began, Muslim armies had conquered two-thirds of the Christian world.

Europe had been harassed by Muslims since the first few years following Muhammad’s death. As early as 652, Muhammad’s followers launched raids on the island of Sicily, waging a full-scale occupation 200 years later that lasted almost a century and was punctuated by massacres, such as that at the town of Castrogiovanni, in which 8,000 Christians were put to death. In 1084, ten years before the first crusade, Muslims staged another devastating Sicilian raid, burning churches in Reggio, enslaving monks and raping an abbey of nuns before carrying them into captivity.

In 1095, Byzantine Emperor, Alexius I Comneus began begging the pope in Rome for help in turning back the Muslim armies which were overrunning what is now Turkey, grabbing property as they went and turning churches into mosques. Several hundred thousand Christians had been killed in Anatolia alone in the decades following 1050 by Seljuk invaders interested in 'converting' the survivors to Islam.

Not only were Christians losing their lives in their own lands to the Muslim advance but pilgrims to the Holy Land from other parts of Europe were being harassed, kidnapped, molested, forcibly converted to Islam and occasionally murdered. (Compare this to Islam’s justification for slaughter on the basis of Muslims being denied access to the Meccan pilgrimage in Muhammad’s time).

Renowned scholar Bernard Lewis points out that the Crusades, though "often compared with the Muslim jihad, was a delayed and limited response to the jihad and in part also an imitation.... Forgiveness for sins to those who fought in defence of the holy Church of God and the Christian religion and polity, and eternal life for those fighting the infidel: these ideas... clearly reflect the Muslim notion of jihad."

Lewis goes on to state that, "unlike the jihad, it [the Crusade] was concerned primarily with the defense or reconquest of threatened or lost Christian territory... The Muslim jihad, in contrast, was perceived as unlimited, as a religious obligation that would continue until all the world had either adopted the Muslim faith or submitted to Muslim rule... The object of jihad is to bring the whole world under Islamic law."

The Crusaders only invaded lands that were Christian. They did not attack Saudi Arabia (other than a half-hearted expedition by a minor figure) or sack Mecca, as the Muslims had done (and continued doing) to Italy and Constantinople. Their primary goal was the recapture of Jerusalem and the security of safe passage for pilgrims. The toppling of the Muslim empire was not on the agenda.

The period of Crusader “occupation” (of its own former land) was stretched tenuously over about 170 years, which is less than the Muslim occupation of Sicily and southern Italy alone - to say nothing of Spain and other lands that had never been Islamic before falling victim to Jihad. In fact, the Arab occupation of North Africa and Middle Eastern lands outside of Arabia is almost 1400 years old.

Despite popular depiction, the Crusades were not a titanic battle between Christianity and Islam. Although originally dispatched by papal decree, the "occupiers" quickly became part of the political and economic fabric of the Middle East without much regard for religious differences. Their arrival was largely accepted by the local population as simply another change in authority. Muslim radicals even lamented the fact that many of their co-religionists preferred to live under Frankish (Christian) rule than migrate to Muslim lands.

The Islamic world was split into warring factions, many of which allied themselves with the Frankish princes against each other at one time or another. This even included Saladin, the Kurdish warrior who is credited with eventually ousting the "Crusaders." Contrary to recent propaganda, however, Saladin had little interest in holy war until a rogue Frankish prince began disrupting his trade routes. Both before and after the taking of Jerusalem, his armies spent far more time and resources battling fellow Muslims.

For its part, the Byzantine (Eastern Christian) Empire preferred to have little to do with the Crusader kingdoms and went so far as to sign treaties with their Muslim rivals on occasion.

Another misconception is that the Crusader era was a time of constant war. In fact, very little of this overall period included significant hostilities. In response to Muslim expansion or aggression, there were only about 20 years of actual military campaigning, much of which was spent on organization and travel. (They were from 1098-1099, 1146-1148, 1188-1192, 1201-1204, 1218-1221, 1228-1229, and 1248-1250). By comparison, the Muslim Jihad against the island of Sicily alone lasted 75 grinding years.

Ironically, the Crusades are justified by the Quran itself, which encourages Holy War in order to "drive them out of the places from whence they drove you out" (2:191), even though the aim wasn't to expel Muslims from the Middle East, but more to bring an end to the molestation of pilgrims. Holy war is not justified by New Testament teachings, which is why the Crusades are an anomaly, the brief interruption of centuries of relentless Jihad against Christianity that began long before and continued well after.

The greatest crime of the Crusaders was the sacking of Jerusalem, in which at least 3,000 people were said to have been massacred. This number is dwarfed by the number of Jihad victims, from India to Constantinople, Africa and Narbonne, but Muslims have never apologized for their crimes and never will.

What is called 'sin and excess' by other religions, is what Islam refers to as duty willed by Allah.

://?roflmao?/: ://?roflmao?/: ://?roflmao?/: ://?roflmao?/: ://?roflmao?/: ://?roflmao?/: ://?roflmao?/: 

Having another breakdown Sasquatch??

smelly_bandit wrote:Having another breakdown Sasquatch??

I would hate to be you, you sound like a truly miserable old fuck ...

Ben_Reilly wrote:

smelly_bandit wrote:Having another breakdown Sasquatch??

I would hate to be you, you sound like a truly miserable old fuck ...

It's called being a realist, benhamed

Maybe one day when you are all grown up and learn that life isn't the internet where you can make it up as you go along, your happy-go-lucky lets all be one big happy family world view might change

I doubt it though

Suspected Boko Haram gunmen have reportedly kidnapped 20 women from a nomadic settlement in north-east Nigeria near the town of Chibok, where the Islamic militants abducted nearly 300 girls in April, most of whom are still missing.

Alhaji Tar, a member of one of the vigilante groups set up to resist Boko Haram's attacks, said the men arrived in Garkin Fulani at midday on Thursday and forced the women to enter their vehicles at gunpoint.

The group also kidnapped three young men who tried to stop the abduction, and drove to an unknown location in the remote stretch of Borno state, he said.

News of the latest kidnapping came as the people of Maiduguri buried more than 100 bodies almost a week after a Boko Haram attack. Local leaders said many more victims of the attacks had yet to be found.

Lawan Abba Kaka and John Gulla, from Attagara in Borno state, said nearly 110 people had now been interred after Islamist militants stormed the village and at least three others nearby on Tuesday and Wednesday last week.

Boko Haram, which wants to set up an Islamic state in Nigeria, has increased the number of attacks in recent months, with civilians bearing the brunt of the violence.

Ali Ndume, who represents Borno South in Nigeria's senate, said burials had taken place in nine villages: 42 in Attagara, 24 in Aganjara and 20 in Agapalwa.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/09/boko-haram-kidnap-more-women-near-chibok-nigeria

Boko Haram, which wants to set up an Islamic state in Nigeria,

but apparently ben knows its nothing to do with islam and its global warming to blame

best tell boko haram that ben because they seem to think its Islam they are doing it for, im sure they will so grateful to you for letting them know they have been fighting for the wrong cause all this time

Ben_Reilly wrote:

smelly_bandit wrote:Having another breakdown Sasquatch??

I would hate to be you, you sound like a truly miserable old fuck ...

awwww, come on now Benji.

BigAndy9 wrote:

Ben_Reilly wrote:

smelly_bandit wrote:Having another breakdown Sasquatch??

I would hate to be you, you sound like a truly miserable old fuck ...

awwww, come on now Benji.

Am I wrong? I can't help but read everything he posts in this angry growl. I've never even seen him joke around!

Ben_Reilly wrote:

BigAndy9 wrote:


awwww, come on now Benji.

Am I wrong? I can't help but read everything he posts in this angry growl. I've never even seen him joke around!

you've never seen me joke around???  

i joke around all the time benhumed (see i just made a joke)

its normally private jokes at your expense (see above) that i laugh at behind me screen granted, and of course im normally in stitches reading your posts

have no fear ben, i am in good cheer and nothing you or the rest of your mongrel clan ever say has the power to make me angry

smelly_bandit wrote:

Ben_Reilly wrote:

BigAndy9 wrote:


awwww, come on now Benji.

Am I wrong? I can't help but read everything he posts in this angry growl. I've never even seen him joke around!

you've never seen me joke around???  

i joke around all the time benhumed (see i just made a joke)

its normally private jokes at your expense (see above) that i laugh at behind me screen granted, and of course im normally in stitches reading your posts

have no fear ben, i am in good cheer and nothing you or the rest of your mongrel clan ever say has the power  to make me angry    

Oddly I do Believe it      

well maybe not that odd    your skull is obviously VERY thick