February 05, 2004
Into the Mountain
Into the Mountain: hostaged by Abu Sayyef
by Jose Torres, Jr
This is a good book that is primarily about this priest and a bunch of school kids and teachers who get kidnapped by the terrorist group Abu Sayyef in the Philippines.
But, it's not just about that. The author enjoys going back and forth through time and gives a lot of background. This gives us a taste of the bigger picture.
For some, Abu Sayyef might be consider just a bunch of punk bandits whose purpose is mainly to make money from extortion and kidnapping. But then, on another level, you could consider them a natural response to religious oppression.
This book busted a whole lot of misconceptions for me. And supported others.
It showed slices of the conflict between Muslims and Christians in the island of Basilan in the Philippines. But, that it is also just a small part of the conflict between Muslims and Christians throughout history and the world.
A lot of people get abused, hurt, raped, killed, tortured, kidnapped, oppressed, martyred in this book. But in the end, I guess there is hope for peace.