THE brutal slaying of French journalists attached to the Charlie Hedbo satirical magazine has left the global journalistic community in a spin and it has rightly triggered a renewed focus on religious extremism.

To the Islamic extremists who shot and killed the journalists and security personnel in the tragic massacre, they are heroes who have acted out what Allah and their prophet have commanded them to do. When they die, as we all must, they are convinced that a special place in paradise awaits them where they will be offered gifts fit for only royalty and those who act on the command of their divine deity.

It is just about impossible to exist in the minds of religious extremists even just for the sake of deciphering what it is that moves them to commit murder in the name of their god. It is bad enough that each day many hundreds of millions of people across the globe go down on their knees and pray to their respective deities for love, money, power, good health, revenge, and all manner of desires and get no answer. As far as they are concerned God will answer their prayer when He is ready.

It is also bad enough that some religious extremists become highly offended by graphical depictions of their deities in a satirical magazine, but to go that one dangerous step further to take up arms and ammunition to murder people who have not done them any bodily harm is, to me, worth asking if countries like France should not take a long hard look at some making up their migrant population whose religion have at its core, violence as a ‘valid’ response to matters which affect their sensibilities.

Those who call themselves moderate Muslims have a standard response to matters like the mass murders of the French journalists. Islam is a religion of peace; Islam is tolerant of even those who preach intolerance against it. To me that is plainly not enough. There needs to be a huge groundswell of action of Muslims in the global community loudly condemning the massacre and sending a strong message to those extremists that they are not true Muslims but merely murderers hanging on the coat tails of Islam to seek a free ride to the death and destruction of others.

Christianity, through the Roman Catholic Church, has had its dark days with the Spanish and Portuguese inquisitions when death and torture were seen as routes to God. It is time for those extremists in Islam to make a hurried trip into the modern age, but it appears to me that that is asking for too much.

We do have a small Muslim community in Jamaica. Do they have something to say about this? Can they please wake up from only chanting verses from the Koran and become living, breathing members of the wider religious community in Jamaica who want to live in harmony with each other?

We do not wish to believe that our local community of Muslims do not have a voice. We would like to hear from them as they tell us that religious tolerance is right up there with their reverence for their prophet and Allah. They have a wonderful opportunity to show Jamaica and indeed the world that their religion has no space for murderers like those in France.

Indeed, people of all religious stripes ought to get up and shout that, since religion is here to stay for the long haul, tolerance is not just a virtue but an absolute necessity.

Proven needs to protect minority shareholders in Access Financial

I must confess that it took me completely by surprise this sale of Mayberry shares in Access Financial to Proven Investments. The big shareholders made a killing and they ought to be congratulated.

That is simply the reality of business where a few million worth of shares, wisely bought, can become well over a billion dollars a few years later. The Mayberry directors are now even more empowered to move into other areas of business activity.

Proven now has the largest single block of shares in Access Financial, and one expects that very soon there will be another reshuffling of the Access board. When that happens, I would like to remind the new board that it is the business gained from micro-lending to ‘small people’ that gave Access its strength and made the large shareholders see the bounty that they are now enjoying.

In this process, there is a little matter outstanding – the court action brought by the previous Mayberry-led board against the founder of Access Financial. To me, that action must be carried out to wherever it may end. If it should be brought to a premature conclusion that brings no worthwhile solution it will be seen that the smaller shareholders are simply the ‘small fish’ who will be eaten by the inconsideration of the big fish.

The new board to be named by Proven needs to exercise vigilance in pursuing the court action to its natural end. If one party wins, there will be an amount of $33 million, a part of which will be available to the smaller shareholders. If Marcus James wins, then so it must be. The best shot by all was pursued.

observemark@gmail.com