Eyes wide shut!
I have grown wary of the simplistic ways in which the well educated urban youth looks at the recent terror attack and current political/economic issues and the naïve quick fix solutions they suggest. The biggest argument against anyone like me who questions these simplistic, at times even irrational/illogical theories is, ‘if not this then what’s your answer’? As if questioning the rational makes it binding to provide answers!
Well, I feel that answers are there but to understand and appreciate ‘my sort’ of answers one should be at least willing to analyze, debate and understand the root cause of any issue. Without addressing it, suggesting simple, superficial (mostly jingoistic) solutions does nothing but only makes one ‘feel good’(it’s a different story that most of the times that’s all people aim at)
What is even more disturbing is the sympathetic considerations and even explicit support that certain morally, intellectually and ethically flawed political actions are getting these days. Some examples of really dangerous interpretations are, people’s opinion that India must follow the US example to combat terror, or Raj Thakrey’s point is valid but the means (use of force) are inappropriate, or that Hindu terrorism is a justified aftermath of Islamic terrorism, or thinking that draconian anti-terror laws will help combat terror better, the really naïve ones are about giving better education and changing people’s thinking and getting rid of corrupt politicians!
What is seen to be absolutely lacking today, is logical and open minded scrutiny of any policy/political decision and analyzing how it impacts the society (by society I mean everybody who is a part of it and not just the urban middle class).
Let me address some common myths and underlying real reasons.
Myth No. 1 - India should follow US example and take strict military action against terrorist camps in Pakistan
Evaluating effectiveness of any past strategy/policy is extremely important before accepting or promoting it. America’s war on terror has been far from being effective against terrorism and though some may conclude that because of this so called war on terror, there have been no more attacks on US. Even though the later is true, but US war on terror has made the whole world a lot more unsafe than before, and that is a serious problem. Also another important aspect (which is again easily overlooked) is how much harm has US caused to Al-queda or bin laden or the actual terrorist camps? Post 9/11 it launched into a full blown war against Afghanistan in retaliation against the militant group, which the US itself had fostered when it was at odds with the Soviet Union in the late 80s and early 90s. Whatever may be the reason, Afghanistan today is a country with the largest number of widows and orphans and the terrorist outfits just moved their camps to Pakistan1
We also need to understand any country (other than Pakistan itself) does not have the moral/political right to bomb any territory (even if its occupied by terrorist) within its boundary. It will surely result in deaths of lot more civilians than the terrorists and only deepen the mutual hatred giving further support to terrorist campaigns. Instead, it is far wiser to let Pakistan handle its own mess. Also the world (read US for all practical purposes) should stop giving legitimacy to Pakistan army. Why did Rice have to meet Pak army chief? Is it a common procedure in other states? Is it not that by doing this act, US acknowledges the army’s hold giving it political legitimacy? To do this on one side and ask Pak government to act tough against terrorism on the other is of course in line with usual US hypocrisy.
Myth No 2: Corruption is root cause of all internal mess we have
The problem with this myth is when people say this they imagine corruption of traffic hawaldar and police and govt offices not understanding how a system that is based on corrupt practices is exploitative. Also people imagine politicians as some independent entities (much like hindi films) who operate in isolation with the system and society. They cannot understand in fact, they will be very angry if you point out legal and illegal corruption of corporations and other private people who actually maintain corrupt politicians in office. As corporations are the leading barons of India shining saying anything against them is criminal and of course anti-development! The poor governance that results out of vested interests that large corporates have is incomprehensible to these people, you are not even allowed to bring it up!
Myth no 3: Because of poverty people fall prey to terrorist traps and give them information in exchange for petty returns
This argument does not explain involvement of educated professionals in masterminding and carrying out so many of the recent terrorist operations. What about similar religious propaganda spread by RSS, Bajrang Dal and the likes? Their recruits are in fact high caste well educated and mostly urban middle class or higher-middle class youth. The worse part is these organizations even have the state at their disposal which results in Gujarat like pogroms. How do we address this issue with the above argument?
Myth no 4: We need tougher anti-terror laws
While there could be a strong case, specially in the light of recent Mumbai attacks to strengthen our intelligence network and disaster management systems but the move should be towards increased transparency and accountability and not reduced. One example of failed tough laws that merits consideration is India’s handling of northeast and Kashmir issues. There have been really tough laws, especially in case of northeast and constant military presence in both regions but situation has never improved. It only worsened. Also one should understand that state repression can be much worse (example emergency/ Gujarat pogrom) than an independent isolated group’s terrorism. Hence there should always be enough checks and balances on state power and we should demand more transparent laws, laws that empower people not the state.
These are just a few examples from the current issues and the list can go on and on…The point I want to highlight is that lack of public awareness and understanding of politics is fatal for any society and specially a democracy which thrives upon public participation and debate. If we take naive views like globalization is good, population is bad, terrorism is only Islamic etc, real issues never come up and the politics underneath is not understood. The worst part is, such ignorance gives legitimacy to morally, economically and legally flawed political decisions.
22 December, 2008
16 December, 2008
Shoes off to Bush!
The Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes towards Bush has suddenly become the icon of Iraqi feelings towards US occupation and rightly so...People from US and west may call it an uncivilized display of emotions but who decides what's civilized?? In Iraqi culture hitting someone with a shoe is a strong insult. It means the person is as low as the dirt underneath the sole of a shoe. If that's what the journalist feels about Bush, he communicated it in best possible way and in line with his culture!
No amount of harsh words, insults, contempt (and shoes) can be enough to represent Iraqi people's anger towards a false and greedy war that promised people freedom (oil excluded) at intolerable human cost...
I can sympathize with the journalist’s anger and anguish and I’m even impressed with his courage and presence of mind. I am sure there must be lot of people(specially journalists) around the who world would have felt ‘oh why didn’t I think of this’
The only saving grace for Bush would be to have the courage to say that the journalist, while exercising his freedom of expression acted as per what he felt was right. And though his behavior may not be ‘civilized’ as per western standards, there was nothing criminal about it and hence let him free. But knowing america's propensity to hypocrisy and changing definitions of freedom and democracy, that's a remote possibility...
Also it makes one wonder about how much has really changed in Iraq for anyone who does not agree with the administration???
The Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes towards Bush has suddenly become the icon of Iraqi feelings towards US occupation and rightly so...People from US and west may call it an uncivilized display of emotions but who decides what's civilized?? In Iraqi culture hitting someone with a shoe is a strong insult. It means the person is as low as the dirt underneath the sole of a shoe. If that's what the journalist feels about Bush, he communicated it in best possible way and in line with his culture!
No amount of harsh words, insults, contempt (and shoes) can be enough to represent Iraqi people's anger towards a false and greedy war that promised people freedom (oil excluded) at intolerable human cost...
I can sympathize with the journalist’s anger and anguish and I’m even impressed with his courage and presence of mind. I am sure there must be lot of people(specially journalists) around the who world would have felt ‘oh why didn’t I think of this’
The only saving grace for Bush would be to have the courage to say that the journalist, while exercising his freedom of expression acted as per what he felt was right. And though his behavior may not be ‘civilized’ as per western standards, there was nothing criminal about it and hence let him free. But knowing america's propensity to hypocrisy and changing definitions of freedom and democracy, that's a remote possibility...
Also it makes one wonder about how much has really changed in Iraq for anyone who does not agree with the administration???
05 December, 2008
Terror truth...
Too much has been said and written about the Mumbai terror attack but I just failed to grasp what was so different about 'terror' this time? The only answer I could find was that this time the rich and the famous suffered...Death is a tragic reality for everybody but the current incident just proved that though all deaths are tragic, some are more tragic!
The media was so busy covering Taj, trident and the Nariman house events that they almost forgot that there were ‘terror attacks’ and people died at CST or some government run hospital, but that really doesn't sound like a big news, does it?? What was even more disgusting was the way the entire terror attack was used by the media as mega marketing even, talking about exclusive coverage!! Now how gratifying can one feel to know that some XYZ channel is ‘exclusively’ covering a national tragedy for him/her!
The TV was totally hopeless, too much of information very little analysis and absolute lack of substance... Not that the print media was any better but they were at least better in terms of drawing conclusions or asking the sensible questions….The TV just wanted to portray the politicians as the culprits!
Politicians being corrupt was fine till blasts happened at some mediocre old stations and bazaars frequented, by the poor whose death did n't really come across as ‘9/11’ in India! India was continuing to shine, investigations were taking there usual time, even the constitution seemed all right and everything was going quite smoothly. But guess what, the terrorists too realized that they were not being heard at all...
So they did what any intelligent strategist would do, change the target! That's how I guess they must have decided to attack 5-star hotels and foreign nationals! To their credit, they at least figured out what will ensure adequate attention... In fact they too must have got more than what they expected, after all when before did the page3 crowd (read Simi Garewal, Rahul Bose, Sharmila Tagore anyone and everyone from show business) talk about national security and terrorism! These people are trying to link tax paying with security! Does it mean if I pay my taxes, the government should have a preference in protecting me against someone who pays less tax?? Never mind the fact that taxes are evaded mostly by the rich and not the poor, but the argument itself is so disgusting….
The solutions offered are preposterous to say the least...It is simply made out to be the fault of some or all corrupt politicians! But what makes a corrupt politician so important? Who creates a corrupt politician, who benefits out of a corrupt system; it’s in whose interest to have inefficient and corrupt government bodies??
No body is asking these questions…No body is talking about general governance (or lack of it) issues, no body is talking about holding all political parties responsible for not being able to function in national interest even at crisis times, the list can go on and on….
To me, much of this outcry, about corrupt and inefficient politicians is just an over hyped reaction well used by the media to carry on the terror attack mania...These people are not saying anything new or different or even specific for that matter...Things will easily cool down once this anger dies down. The media will figure out some other 'happening' event to keep people (who care to watch) busy with their ‘exclusive’ coverage...
The major impact of this terror attack was, that for the first time, the urban rich and influential are scared of ‘their’ security and the middle class which aspires to be a part of this higher class shares their anxiety while trying to portray corrupt politician as the root cause of this whole issue...But the truth is that it is in the best interest of these same rich and influential people and established corporations to have corrupt and inefficient politicians in government offices! So at least they (corrupt politicians) are not going to go anywhere anytime soon...For the poor, well life was never safe or secure even in absence of terror attacks so the struggle for existence continues...
The truth is that the terrorist have figured out whose death will matter and the urban rich have just proved their strategy to be right!
Too much has been said and written about the Mumbai terror attack but I just failed to grasp what was so different about 'terror' this time? The only answer I could find was that this time the rich and the famous suffered...Death is a tragic reality for everybody but the current incident just proved that though all deaths are tragic, some are more tragic!
The media was so busy covering Taj, trident and the Nariman house events that they almost forgot that there were ‘terror attacks’ and people died at CST or some government run hospital, but that really doesn't sound like a big news, does it?? What was even more disgusting was the way the entire terror attack was used by the media as mega marketing even, talking about exclusive coverage!! Now how gratifying can one feel to know that some XYZ channel is ‘exclusively’ covering a national tragedy for him/her!
The TV was totally hopeless, too much of information very little analysis and absolute lack of substance... Not that the print media was any better but they were at least better in terms of drawing conclusions or asking the sensible questions….The TV just wanted to portray the politicians as the culprits!
Politicians being corrupt was fine till blasts happened at some mediocre old stations and bazaars frequented, by the poor whose death did n't really come across as ‘9/11’ in India! India was continuing to shine, investigations were taking there usual time, even the constitution seemed all right and everything was going quite smoothly. But guess what, the terrorists too realized that they were not being heard at all...
So they did what any intelligent strategist would do, change the target! That's how I guess they must have decided to attack 5-star hotels and foreign nationals! To their credit, they at least figured out what will ensure adequate attention... In fact they too must have got more than what they expected, after all when before did the page3 crowd (read Simi Garewal, Rahul Bose, Sharmila Tagore anyone and everyone from show business) talk about national security and terrorism! These people are trying to link tax paying with security! Does it mean if I pay my taxes, the government should have a preference in protecting me against someone who pays less tax?? Never mind the fact that taxes are evaded mostly by the rich and not the poor, but the argument itself is so disgusting….
The solutions offered are preposterous to say the least...It is simply made out to be the fault of some or all corrupt politicians! But what makes a corrupt politician so important? Who creates a corrupt politician, who benefits out of a corrupt system; it’s in whose interest to have inefficient and corrupt government bodies??
No body is asking these questions…No body is talking about general governance (or lack of it) issues, no body is talking about holding all political parties responsible for not being able to function in national interest even at crisis times, the list can go on and on….
To me, much of this outcry, about corrupt and inefficient politicians is just an over hyped reaction well used by the media to carry on the terror attack mania...These people are not saying anything new or different or even specific for that matter...Things will easily cool down once this anger dies down. The media will figure out some other 'happening' event to keep people (who care to watch) busy with their ‘exclusive’ coverage...
The major impact of this terror attack was, that for the first time, the urban rich and influential are scared of ‘their’ security and the middle class which aspires to be a part of this higher class shares their anxiety while trying to portray corrupt politician as the root cause of this whole issue...But the truth is that it is in the best interest of these same rich and influential people and established corporations to have corrupt and inefficient politicians in government offices! So at least they (corrupt politicians) are not going to go anywhere anytime soon...For the poor, well life was never safe or secure even in absence of terror attacks so the struggle for existence continues...
The truth is that the terrorist have figured out whose death will matter and the urban rich have just proved their strategy to be right!
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