Eldon-Online

You Can't Turn Your Back ...

I tell you, those Latin speakers knew a thing or two didn't they? Tempus Fugit! Two words that despite their literal English translation covers a whole multitude of situations concisely. I mean, instead of writing "where the hell did the last two weeks go?" you would of course get my drift but I could get around it, incorrectly of course but hopefully understandably, just by saying tempus fugit.

So, in the two weeks since my last Blog I have been in Dubai, Bangkok, Hong Kong and Istanbul and back to Hong Kong. It's just as well that my Egyptian colleagues came down to Dubai oaths occasion! To the seasoned business traveller, that shouldn't sound like much, but despite the time spent sitting on planes - and we can talk about the value of video conferencing on another occasion - preparing for meetings, reading voluminous Board Papers, Committee Papers, finding you've lost your internet connection, discovering another company that has nothing to do with your current business is in need of additional time - and already I'm exhausted just writing this far.

But ... this isn't the issue here and I'm off track already - twice. I was going to write about the Middle East situation today, but then while I was away there was a constant run of bad news. Prominent amongst it the awful atrocity that was Manchester, but good people do not for one minute think that is the end of it. I have said it before in these columns - "coming to a city near you", and while I fervently hope not, this is something we are going to have to deal with and solve. And I do mean solve, because it's not going to go away on its own, so we can suddenly wake up one morning and say - "great, it's over, we have won the battle!"  

My time in the Middle East covering 50 years (in January 2018) fills me with hope and despair all at the same time. 

The vast majority of Middle Easterners I know, out of which an equally vast majority are followers of Islam in whatever particular sub-group, are highly decent people who are as appalled by these atrocities as any normal person should be. Whatever the propaganda coming out of the terrorist groups says, Islam is supposed to be for peace. For an acceptance of the beliefs of others, be they Christian or Jew or Hindu. It doesn't matter what you are, and it shouldn't matter.

But after yet another attack - and forget all this "lone wolf" stuff, it is mostly a well-planned attack by a cell - it gives the anti-Islamists another stick with which to beat a largely innocent population. I am not an apologist for Islam. I respect their right to their beliefs, as we should respect the beliefs of everyone, and no one should think they have a duty to bully or force others to bend to an alternative belief.

I do confess to being puzzled though. Almost all of the atrocities being perpetrated at present are being carried out by members of one religion. The adherents to that religion, within their local communities are quick to condemn the actions of the few. If I was cynical of course (and I do admit to being generally of that persuasion), I would say it was in the community's interest to show disgust and act in solidarity with the people around them or they may themselves become targets of a vicious right wing and ultra nationalistic element that sadly is growing up in many places around the world.

But that is not the cause of my confusion. It comes from a concern that we never hear a strong outpouring of outrage for these incidents from people who, I imagine, could make a difference. Where are the leaders in the Arab world who are condemning these acts of terror? Where are the loud voices of reason from the religious leaders in Islam that would be heard? It hurts to even suggest this, but it is almost as if by their silence they are not too bothered by it all.

It is all being compounded of course by conditions in certain parts of Arabia. As someone from Libya has just said - "we are hungry and have no money - what do you expect is going to happen?" Unemployment amongst the young in a number of Middle Eastern countries is on the rise. Fertile ground for those "terrorist recruiters" who need to boost their forces. Also, they are being funded from somewhere and somehow.

I raise this with my Arab friends and colleagues - and they are as mystified as I am. Do they speak up themselves? Yes of course they do, although their voices are unlikely to reach the world stage. This needs real leadership to make a difference and real leaders to step up; this is not going to go away by just turning your back ...

 

Oh! What a Night.

You had to be there, right? I know it will not have impressed everyone and, guess what, there were some logistical problems. The media who will have been hunting for the bad rather than the good, will have found plenty of glitches; the handful of protestors will have found loopholes even if they were never seen. It was horribly hot - and I thought it might be better to watch it on television. But I was wrong. Courtesy of some wonderful people who invited me to join them I was there, and I was in awe.

The opening ceremony of the the XXIXth Olympiad in Beijing was everything this observer could have imagined - and plenty of things that could not have been imagined. Whether or not Steven Spielberg was ever going to provide some technical assistance, I am glad he didn't. They managed just fine without him. And whoever must have been watching from the London Olympic Committee should have been chewing their nails by the end, wondering how they were going to top that - and they haven't seen the closing yet!

From the opening drum beats to the final lighting of the flame, this was a triumphant procession of China's contributions to the world over a 5,000 year time span - done subtly and spectacularly in an entrancing programme. The entrance of the athletes from the huge continents to representatives from the tiniest of nations, all putting sport where it belongs on this occasion, above the politics that seem to have been never far from the surface with these particular games. Athletes with smiles as wide as the stadium, happy to be there and part of an event that for many will be their chance of a lifetime, their dream. The cheers that erupted from the whole stadium to welcome the arrival of the team from Chinese Taipei must have warmed the hearts of those who seek closer cooperation between the two places, as much as the cheers for the Iraq team must have made President Bush wonder if his hearing was properly attuned - but these were cheers, I think, for the fact that through tragedy and adversity the Iraqis had managed to send a team at all - nothing more sinister than that. And for China of course, and rightly, the loudest cheers as they were led around the stadium by Yao Ming accompanied by a nine year old boy from Sichuan who had helped rescue some of his classmates when the earthquake struck last May. A poignant and appropriate tribute representing many heroes of that disaster, recognised and unrecognised. 

This was a night when animosity and politics should have been forgotten. A night which belonged to the organisers of what some might claim was a contender for the title of the greatest show on earth. A night which belonged to the volunteers and participants whose years of dedication to the spectacle will be a long memory for them, but a night that above all celebrated the global village of athleticism where to even take part, will be a tribute to the determination and dedication of many.

And yes, if you were able to,  you had to be there!