07 July 2006

One year ago today four suicide bombers took the lives of 52 people in London. They may believed it was some sort of blow a blow for justice against the evils, real or perceived, committed by Britain against fellow Muslims but it was murder, simply muder. The bombers made no attempt to strike against the machinery of state. They chose instead to destroy the lives of ordinary Londoners. As Mayor Ken Livingstone put it:

“I want to say one thing specifically to the world today. This was not a terrorist attack against the mighty and the powerful. It was not aimed at Presidents or Prime Ministers. It was aimed at ordinary, working-class Londoners, black and white, Muslim and Christian, Hindu and Jew, young and old. It was an indiscriminate attempt to slaughter, irrespective of any considerations for age, for class, for religion, or whatever.

That isn’t an ideology, it isn’t even a perverted faith - it is just an indiscriminate attempt at mass murder and we know what the objective is. They seek to divide Londoners. They seek to turn Londoners against each other Londoners will not be divided by this cowardly attack. They will stand together in solidarity alongside those who have been injured and those who have been bereaved.”

Ken Livingstone’s analysis was utterly correct. It was an evil act commited by deluded people. Nothing can justify what the bombers did one year ago

The BBC still maintains a list of the dead along with brief biographies. Here is just one of them:


Gladys Wundowa

The death of Gladys Wundowa, 50, prompted a visit from the president of her native Ghana at her family home in Chadwell Heath, Essex. The mother-of-two died from injuries sustained on the number 30 bus in Tavistock Square. President John Kufuor, on his way back to Ghana from an official visit to Jamaica, shared his condolences with her husband, Emmanuel, their 16-year-old daughter Azuma, son Zakari, 14, and other relatives and friends.

On 7 July, Mrs Wundowa, who had lived in London for 18 years, finished her cleaning job in the department of civil and environmental engineering at University College London at 0900 BST and was heading towards Hackney on the bus, for a meeting to do with her housing management course.

Her husband, an architect who was working as a security guard, watched the news on television and became concerned when his wife failed to arrive home. After three days of searching, the family received confirmation that she was dead. One year on, Mr Wundowa said the sense of loss was greater than ever. The couple had made plans to move back to Ghana and live in a house they were in the process of building. "She never had a problem with anyone. She would give her last dime to make you comfortable. And cheerful, always smiling." Mrs Wundowa also volunteered at a charity which helped African immigrants to settle in London, and she was heavily involved in Downs Baptist Church in Hackney. She was buried in her home village in Ghana, where 2,000 mourners attended her funeral.

14 comments:

Bob said...

My thoughts as well as those of the world are with you today. May the light overcome the darkness.

MC Fanon said...

It's good to see you folks in England having bounced back a year after. Terrorism needs to be ended because like you said, it's completely indiscriminate. Liberal, conservative, black, white, they don't care.

Agnes said...

Too many praised it last year. And for many it is still a taboo.

jams o donnell said...

Here's hoping light alwys over comes darkness fraser.

Dave, it is true, the bombers killed and amimed them all, christian, atheist, jew, ,muslim, hindu. A video released of one of teh bombers yesterday showed that he had the temerity to justify his act because these people voted for the government. An utterly specious argument in my view

jams o donnell said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
jams o donnell said...

On both points very true Red. Too many people we knew in Further Left thought 7/7 was a laudable thing. In particular Pocho, who described it as Britain getting a a little justice, the sick bastard. Several others would ahve concurred and they can go to hell.

Garth said...

I don't know what those guys thought they were doing, but all they achieved for themselves is to become murderers. I do know that if one of my friends or family had died there, I would be fucking angry - not just at the idiots that carried it out but at Blair and Bin Laden, Bush and Cheyney and the rest of those megalomaniacs (left right black white shaken all about) who run this show.

Agnes said...

Unhfortunately they achieved something else too: dividing the whole world. Making immigration damned difficult, for one. Among other things.

littlebitofsonshine said...

It is sad when any human is killed i think .To even think any death or harm is good to me cant be of light but even people who have become dark in sight from the past can learn to see light or i pray so.To me to kill blindly is even worse to destroy lives and people who did nothing but then im sure many who are dieing in warn torn countrys say why are thay allowed to kill none military .But war is cold and i wish there where no wars .

jams o donnell said...

Ultimately so Pisces. The ones who bring the worst to people are our leaders. On the other hand it does not excuse the bombers. Like Bali and Madrid they chose soft targets, so they achieved nothing and only a madman would consider their action glorious

jams o donnell said...

It has Red, no doubt.

jams o donnell said...

No good came out of 7/7 Sonshine but mercifully not a lot of bad either. London is a huge city and most Londoners shrugged it off in the end. It has not changed the way we live, love or work.

As for war in general, the worst consideration is that around 4 in 5 who die are civilians. Millions of senseless deaths have happened since 1945 and the way things are looking, millions more will die. I have this fear the human race will wake uip and see sense only when it has leaped into the abyss and it is too late

elasticwaistbandlady said...

I'm speechless at the callousness of pocho. Terrorism like this only serves to strengthen the resolve of a Nation. People won't be antagonized forever without eventually rising up and kicking ass.

jams o donnell said...

callous does not begin to describe my feelings towards that attitude