Please Introduce yourself!
I am Sumaiya Tanim, an undergraduate student in my final year majoring in Mass Communication & Journalism at University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. I have been working towards realization of SDGs in my community since 2014 and found my call in realizing SDG 16; Building just, peaceful and inclusive societies. I have recently started working for raising awareness against ‘Hate Speech’ as a member of Young Peace Builders’ Forum initiated by Commonwealth Youth Peace Ambassadors Network Bangladesh.
‘Travel Far, Learn Positive, Preach Happiness & Go Global’- these are the core values that I live on. ISC with its root as a youth platform for international peace initiative; ISC64 is everything I believe in- Exploring the land of sunrise and its glorious culture, getting to know the views and ideas of youth leaders from across the globe for a better world and taking all these positive vibes and spreading it wherever I go in life. Therefore, I decided to apply and here I am, excited to join the ISC64!
What is your Table Topic?
What do you think about your table topic so far and what is the goal of your table?
I am in table 5 and the topic is ‘The Global Rise of Religious Violence’.
Firstly, from the perspective of my country Bangladesh, violent act in the name of religion is happening time and again. Bangladesh has long been attributed for its peaceful social structure based on cultural diversity and communal harmony maintaining interfaith bond. But since the last few years there has been an alarming rise in events of violent extremism due to differences in religious view erupting the long attributed peaceful society of communal harmony including killing of 41 bloggers with secular view, murder of foreigners from different faith and terrorist attacks on public gathering since 2012.
All these religious violence came as a rude awakening that this is the case not only in Bangladesh but also globally. It is one of the root causes of the recent global anarchy and turmoil; The 9/11 tragedy, 2002 Bali bombings, 2004 Madrid train bombings, Beslan school siege, 2005 London bombings, 2006 Mumbai bombings, 2008 Mumbai attack, 2011 Norway attacks, Peshawar school massacre, Charlie Hebdo shooting, November 2015 Paris attacks, 2016 Brussels bombings, Orlando nightclub shooting, 2016 Nice attack- the list of violence in the name of religion continues to increase.
Terrorists involved in these attacks shamelessly claimed themselves as ‘So pious that it is their responsibility to fight (read Kill) for establishing Creator’s rule’ and thus these extreme measures harming and taking lives of innocent people. And exactly this is why we need to address the multi-dimensional issue of ‘Religious Violence’, its root, cause and catalyst, response and prevention and most importantly a SOLUTION.
Gaining and enhancing my knowledge about ‘Religion & Religious Violence’ through the thoughts and views of youth leaders on this table topic would help me to contribute ideas on how to respond and prevent religious violence in my country and the global community.
