Page:Ossendowski - The Fire of Desert Folk.djvu/161

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
THE ISLAMIC FLAME
145

when, free and independent, they will be left to the fate of exposure to tribal quarrels, dynastic intrigues, epidemics and hunger without the necessary strength, science, system or technical means to combat them. The colored man does not recognize the fact that absolute liberty today would spell degeneration and death for him, and for Islam the end of its unity—consequently, catastrophe. These nations are blind to the example of China and Russia, who have lost their morals and the guiding and regulating power of faith and are now waiting for the help that is expected from somewhere and about which every one is vaguely dreaming, giving little thought to what may be its source, its basis and its imposed conditions.

However, such is the story of something over a billion colored men with Soviet Russia as their self-appointed leader, a striking phenomenon which every Occidental nation ought to take seriously into account, pondering upon and preparing its defense against an extreme expression of this attitude. I feel that, if the statesmen of Europe would in sober earnestness examine this common problem, a single plan and a single moral front could be elaborated and approved—a general policy which would bring peace to Europe, would calm and sober the colored races, would paralyze the propaganda of Soviet Russia and would offer the best chance of ushering in a general peace on earth, where for centuries the so-called civilized nations have followed mistaken and, as experience has proved, dangerous paths.

Although I have a strong and real sympathy for "the subjugated," I have also my native feeling for Western