Utopias and totalitarianism

Any ideology that invokes a romantic and utopian system of governance is a perfect prescription for totalitarianism. Communism and the National Socialism of Hitler proved beyond doubt that utopias are ideology-driven dictatorships where dissent will be treated as a psychic disorder or as a crime. The dissenting individual in these utopias is either sent to the mental asylum or jail or handed over to the death squad.
I recently read Jihad in Islam, English translation of Sayyid Abul Ala Mawdudi's Jihad fi Sabilillah. Late Islamic scholar who founded Jamat-e-Islami (JeI) says in the book that "Islam wishes to do away with all states and governments which are opposed to the ideology and programe of Islam...Islam requires the earth - not just a portion, but the entire planet...because the whole of mankind should benefit from Islam, and its ideology and welfare programmes." In another part of the book, Mawdudi chalks out a way of establishing his idea of an ideal Islamic state in the world: "...if the Muslim Party commands enough resources, it will eliminate un-Islamic governments and establish the power of the Islamic government in their place.'' Before I finished the book, I checked the definition of `imperialism' in the Online Ecycopaedia Britannica. It is defined thus: "The policy, practice, or advocacy of extending the power and dominion of a nation especially by territorial acquisitions or by gaining indirect control over the political or economic life of other areas.''
Mawdudi is not only envisioning a glorious utopian Islamic rule, he is also prescribing an imperialist Islam. What will be the fate of Jews, Christians, Hindus, Baha'is, atheists and others in such a state? I have to ask a JeI leader if I can manage to ask the question.

Assassins

The assassination of former Premier of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto today in a suicide attack has some similiarities with that of our former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi by a suicide bomber. Both assassinations took place during their election campaigns. In both attacks several people were killed. India survived such dastardly killings mainly because the democratic mechanism in the country has been strong enough to set in motion a collective process to stabilise dangerous situations. In the case of Pakistan, it remains to be seen if it can survive the turmoil in the aftermath of the assassination of Ms. Bhutto. I hope that all democratic minded people in Muslim communities across the world should stick their necks out in condemning the nihilistic death cult growing rapidly out of jihadi ideology that has gained acceptance among some segments of Muslims. It may be too early to jump into conclusions about the killing of Ms. Bhutto. But the primary suspect is al Qaeda. Her closeness to the U.S. may be the motive behind the attack.
I am yet to understand the working of the inner psychology of a person who decides to be a suicide killer. It is true, the LTTE used suicide bombers in its terror mission. Palestinian fighters also sent suicide bombers to kill Israeliss. Though both the LTTE and the Palestinian fighters have justified these acts as part of their political struggle, the sucide attacks have only strengthened the resolve of those they are fighting against. Jihadi-based suicide cult is different in the sense that it does not espouse an articulated political cause led by a leadership that their `enemies' can talk to for negotiating a cease fire and find a solution.
Tawfik Hamid, an Egyptian doctor and former member of a jihadi outfit started by Ayman al-Zawahiri, lieutenant of Osama bin Laden, shows certain methods used by terrorist outfits to indoctrinate a new member. A newly initiated convert is first asked to stop critical thinking (al-fiqr kufr) and is filled with fear of hell fire, he says adding that Jihadi bodies then invokes the imagery of an eternal paradise where beautiful women are waiting for you to make love with for eternal sexual pleasure. This is especially attractive for sex-deprived youth, he tells us. Narrating from first hand experience, Tawfik Hamid sheds some light on the psychology of suicide killers.

Modi magic?

Political pundits and commentators say that the re-election of Narendra Modi in Gujarat will have serious implications on political scenario in the country. Being neither a pundit nor a commentator, I can satisfy myself saying that they may be true or utterly wrong. Time alone can decide. What future holds for the country exists only in the realms of imaginations of the people, the pundits and commentator included. For the time being, I am concerned about facts: The BJP has swept the election though with 10 seats less than what it got last time; the Congress has been trounced but it was handed an ambience of illusion of improvement: it has managed to secure two seats more that what it could get last time.
I am not an admirer of the Congress party. In fact, the party's dynastic streak sometimes creates a sense of revulsion in me. But shouldn't we make qualitative distinctions when we take positions on matters that call on us to take positions? Can we compare George Bush with Bin Laden and wrap up our argument by saying that both are equally crazy? I think no. So I would have been happy if the Congress had won the election even with a thin margin. I have no problem with Modi the `governing and vibrant' leader of Gujarat. But the images of Gujarat violence that are still fresh in my mind have chilling effect on me. When some of my friends appear to ardently admire the Modi magic of using communal hatred to harvest electoral crops, I have been left with introspective questions about my own (pathological) fears about fascism of any kind. Maybe Modi is a good man who brings development and prosperity to the people of Gujarat. Carnival of violence in which nearly 2000 Muslims were killed was only an aberration? Slobodan Milosevic could have been equally good and he would have brought prosperity to Serbia if he had not been jailed for war crimes by the International Court of Justice for the trial of war crimes during the Balkan war. He subsequently died in jail. Couldn't have Adolf Hitler made Germany a superpower, an Nazi empire, if the Allies had not bombed that country to defeat?
I still wonder how intelligent people, my friends included, can admire people who spew hatred in the name their religion, community or their set of crazy beliefs. Hatred, I believe, is a device that can divide peoples who live peacefully and harmoniously minding their own business. It can easily turn one set of people against the other. Its tools are deep-rooted prejudices and skills to stoke imaginary (sometimes genuine) fears.
Let us hope that the Modi victory is unlikely to have predicted implications on the country's political scene.

Joan Baez...my favourite singer

I was walking past a music shop in Kozhikode one evening in July 1986 when I heard an enchanting female voice singing a song. I entered the shop and asked the shop assistant who the singer was. It was Joan Baez, he said. I requested him to replay the song once more. He did it for me. It was `Diamonds and Rust'. I bought the cassette which is still with me though I recently got a CD of Baez collection in Bangalore. Joan Baez is my all-time favourite singer.

Srebrenica

Srebrenica is a landscape of death and desolation. Mountains of sorrow surround it, overlooking mass graves of memories of the dead being dug out by the living. Broken skulls and bones buried under heaps of savagery that the war-ravaged scenery cannot hide. The living desperately trying to exhume their memories somebody snatched away from them to be trucked, blindfolded and shot. Trying to create their little landscape of peace and consolation. Someone took away their memories, their sons, their husbands and their brothers. Srebrenica at last is a safe area for them to mourn their haunting memories. No longer their home. It is a place that gunfires macabre images of men and boys being bussed to death, of people fleeing from death’s jaw. Saliha Osmanovic parting from her husband and her son Nermin who she would never see. Zumra Sehomerovic still feeling the trembling of her husband’s hand when he touched her left shoulder before he was separated from her. A mother still searching for her son Samir in vein. Samir waving his hand to her saying goodbye, big tears rolling down his face as they took him away. Hassan Nuhanovic, who lost his parents and brother, trying to make sense of the dimension of hate that took away his memories.
It was a summer of anguish and terror. After the fall of Srebrenica on July 11, 1995. A miniature Holocaust. It was a summer when life withered in that town. Will Srebrenica be the last incident of genocide? Weren’t we told that Holocaust would be the last one? Hope Srebrenica is the last one.

For universal rights...

Having vehemently argued in favour of freedoms, I cannot sit back and pretend that I am completely oblivious to the plight of ethnic Indian community (predominantly Hindus) in Malaysia which has hogged the limelight after a recent massive protests by the community in Kuala Lumpur against discrimination. So I have decided to cut short my rest and jump at yet another subject that calls for a stand upholding, yes, freedoms.
I am not equipped with all the details of the racial fabric of that country except what I have read in newspapers after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi condemned the treatment of ethnic Tamil population in Malayasia much to the discomfiture of the Government of India and the subsequent statement by the Central government expressing its `concern' over the plight of the ethnic Indians.
Malaysia is often projected as a moderate and tolerant Islamic society. But the protest staged by the ethnic Indians exposed that thin veil of moderation and tolerance. The Indians who settled there during the Raj have now started to feel the pinch as Islamisation has been on the mend there over the last few years. Several temples have already been demolished on the ground that they are illegal constructions. A group of British MPs has expressed concern in Parliament over `the stated intention of the government of Malaysia to demolish 79 Hindu temples'. If this kind of discrimination against ethnic minorities who include the Chinese happens in a county, it is a serious matter and cannot be dismissed by resorting to the excuse of national sovereignty. Discriminations and human rights violations should not be allowed to evade from questioning under the cover of national sovereignty. Human rights are universal. We cannot allow Christian rights, Muslim rights, Jewish rights or Hindu rights. National and religious boundaries should vanish when it comes to addressing violation of basic human rights.

Need some respite from anger

I was busy last week getting myself worked up by my seething anger at the way Taslima Nasreen was treated for what she wrote. And by my arguments defending free speech. Now I feel I need some respite from polemics. I need a little fresh air that can perhaps dissipate my anger and anguish so that I can rejuvenate myself for unbundling my personal feelings against future instances of injustice. Perhaps I can afford the luxury of brief period of relaxation before we are all bombarded with stories of more serious attatcks on human dignity, freedom of expression and the right to be irreverent. May be we are still safeguarded against barbarians of all hues trying to break the gates of our cosy little castles of freedom. But when I pause and hearken, I think I can distinguish furtive voices preparing to knock down the walls that we once thought were very strong. May be it is my imagination. May be everything is as beautiful as I want it to be. May be it is a nightmare that just disturbs my sleep. How strongly I wish it is just a case of sleep disorder. So I need some relaxation to get over the problem. Goodbye. Till the urge comes to air my thoughts and feelings.