Dani
Senior Member
- Dec 23, 2009
- 108
- 3
Walianza kwao siku nyingi sana.
Mnamo mwaka 1943 Mahakama Kuu ya Marekani iliwapa Mashahidi wa Yehova uhuru wa kukataa kusalute bendera na kutoshiriki wimbo wa taifa (nadhani hapo hata wewe, mzee wa "miaka ya 60" hukuwepo).
11 August 1986 Mahakama Kuu ya India, iliamua kuwapa Mashahidi wa Yehova uhuru wa kukataa kuimba wimbo wa taifa ingawa walikuwa "extreme minority", na asilimia kubwa walipatikana jimbo la Kerala - mmoja wa majimbo mengi.
Namquote Supreme Judge O. Chinnappa Reddy na Justice M. M. Dutt wa India: "We are satisfied, in the present case, that the expulsion of the three children from the school for the reason that because of their conscientiously held religious faith, they do not join the singing of the national anthem in the morning assembly though they do stand up respectfully when the anthem is sung, is a violation of their fundamental right ‘to freedom of conscience and freely to profess, practice and propagate religion.'"
01 March 1993, huko Philippines, Supreme Court yao iliuphold haki ya Mashahidi wa Yehova kukataa kusalute bendera la Phillipines na kuimba wimbo wa taifa. Hivyo waalimu wa shule za serikali au za private walikatazwa kuwafukuza wanafunzi kwa sababu hizo.
The same for Mexico, Liberia, Paraguay, Haiti, Cuba... Mashahidi wa Yehova wanakataa kuimba wimbo wa taifa ulimwenguni kote siyo TZ peke yake!
Kumbuka, asilimia kubwa ya serikali duniani wahaoni kukataa kuimba wimbo wa taifa kuwa uhalifu, wala hakuna sheria inayomlazimisha mtu kuimba. Serikali ya Nyerere, kama serikali yeyote ya kisocialist, ilihitaji conformity, hivyo haikuwapenda Mashahidi wa Yehova kwa sababu walikataa kujihusisha kwenye siasa.
Peter G. Forster, Senior Lecturer, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Hull, England anaandika kwenye kitabu chake "Race and Ethnicity in East Africa":
"Relations between religion and the state can be particularly problematic in Africa, and recent events in Tanzania and Malawi confirm this. The first post-independence governments of both countries expected religious values to support state ideology more or less uncritically, in return for religious freedom."
Mashahidi wa Yehova ni "non-conformist" kwenye mambo ya siasa kama historia yao inavyoonyesha. Hitler na Stalin waliwachukia sana Mashahidi wa Yehova na kufunga maelfu yao gerezani na kwenye labor camps. Huko Ujerumani walifungwa kwenye concentration camps wakibandikiwa pembe-tatu ya zambarau kwenye uniform/nguo zao kama "kitambulisho" chao (wayahudi walibandikiwa nyota ya njano) kwa sababu ya kukataa kumsalute "Heil Hitler" na kukataa kujiandikisha kwenda vitani kwa kutii maandiko kama Isaya 2:4 na Mathayo 26:52. Madictator wengine wengi wenye kutamani "umoja" wamejaribu kuwatiisha Mashahidi wa Yehova na kushindwa.
Baada ya kufukuzwa wakarudishwa kwa sababu serikali za Tanzania na Malawi ziligundua kuwa walifanya makosa na wataonekana kuwa mmoja wa "oppressive regimes". In fact miaka ya 1970, Nyerere, licha ya kurisk mahusiano mabaya kati ya TZ na Malawi, aliwapa hifadhi Mashahidi wa Yehova waliokimbia Malawi kwa sababu ya siasa ya kibabe ya Kamuzu Banda.
