And I rest my case..
Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.
Elie Wiesel, writer, Nobel laureate.
I disagree. In my opinion, neutrality is a must when one can’t discern between the tormentor and the tormented. Nothing works in isolation. No incident is a one-off event. Terrorists don’t step out of a vacuum and neither can you send them there.
But that’s not what I intend to say in this post.
I have stopped watching TV. I have stopped reading any sort of news related to the war or the bombings in Pakistan. Not only is it too depressing, its infuriating. I don’t support any form of violence: not the war, and not the ‘retaliatory’ violence that follows. A lot of people have drawn allusion to the large-scale migration during the Partition and the plight of the IDPs. The following conclusion from Jason Francisco’s review of the anthologies of all the literature on the partition, titled: In the Heat of Fratricide: The Literature of India’s Partition Burning Freshly, sum up my thoughts regarding the futility of debate and discussion:
What political debate will never fully do—and the reason we so badly need the literature—is defeat the urge to lay blame, which keeps animosity alive. Only the literature truly evokes the suffering of the innocent, whose pain is more universal and ultimately a vehicle of more honest reconciliation than political discourse. The literary work on the Partition affirms that the subject of the Partition was first the human being—not the Hindu human being, nor the Muslim, nor the Sikh. In the world of the stories, the experiences of each community distinctly mirror one another, indeed reach out to and clutch at one another. No crime, no despair, no grief in exile belongs uniquely to anyone. On the one hand, then, the stories seem to suggest that secularism puts a fence around the sanctity of life often more effectively than religious devotion—when, that is, secular thinking destroys religious myths of destiny and privilege that justify violence. At the same time they remind us that secular nationalism is not without its own mythology, including justification of foundational violence and violence deemed necessary for national sustenance.Perhaps we emerge from the literature with a mistrust toward group solidarity of an oppositional bent. If so we must emerge at the same time,paradoxically, with a conviction to oppose such mistrust with trust in the goodness of the human life-urge wherever we find it. Indeed, we emerge from the literature as searchers for such trust. If we find it in the solitary dissidence of even a single person, we feel obliged to offer him or her our companionship. And if we find it stitched into whole communities, we come away not necessarily more pious, but inspired. The literature as a whole seeds pathos for the suffering and inhumanity of the Partition, and related instances of cultural chauvinism, but not merely so. It also sprouts a countervailing protest, a voice of justice that must be the surging of our humanity itself—something greater than our bestiality—within us. In this sense the literature does what religious leaders in each community failed to do: to make communities forces for the affirmation of humanity broadly, and to forge nations—if nations are the destinies of cherished traditions—dedicated to human improvement, dedicated precisely to virtuous conduct with those of different faith. If religious politics worked nefariously in favor of partition, it was because an ecumenical religious politics never developed. We are in a different position than the men and
women of August,1947/ Our choices are not limited to exile, death or resignation. If the literature of the Partition can teach that committed people of different faiths serve God far more effectively when they face one another in prayer than when they face their respective temples, we can learn to exercise such a choice.
What I essentially interpret from it, and what I mean to say, no amount of discussions- on TV talk shows, in drawing rooms, on blogs- is going to take away the misery of the people who are suffering. Whether or not I feel this is my war or not does not matter. I don’t wish to enter into argument with anyone who doesn’t agree with me.
oh. i see my status message inspired you! =P
i agree with you that simply speaking about things, does not change them…but it garners sympathy for a cause… i still think we as humans should have enough empathy to speak out when something is wrong…not be indifferent to someone's misery
and on a tangent, i recall reading somewhere about the 3 levels of jihad..spiritual, where you fight yourself, cleanse your spirit and all. verbal, where you vocalize your reservations, and the last is the much popularized physical jihad, i.e. armed combat!
so in effect, activism is verbal jihad! but thats a weak argument, i think being human comes before whatever any religion says. and no religion is not always humane.
abeeerr
June 13, 2009 at 8:43 pm
oh. i see my status message inspired you! =P
i agree with you that simply speaking about things, does not change them…but it garners sympathy for a cause… i still think we as humans should have enough empathy to speak out when something is wrong…not be indifferent to someone's misery
and on a tangent, i recall reading somewhere about the 3 levels of jihad..spiritual, where you fight yourself, cleanse your spirit and all. verbal, where you vocalize your reservations, and the last is the much popularized physical jihad, i.e. armed combat!
so in effect, activism is verbal jihad! but thats a weak argument, i think being human comes before whatever any religion says. and no religion is not always humane.
abeeerr
June 13, 2009 at 8:43 pm
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Anonymous
June 13, 2009 at 10:49 pm
Hi Friends,
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If I find something else I'll inform you.
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Anonymous
June 13, 2009 at 10:49 pm
don't worry, i don't find anything free
anyways, this is why i found blogging bleh! that it doesn't matter what you write about these matters! what your views are in these matters are insignificant because no terrorist, no IDP, no politician…especially politician, is reading this stuff! they're busy doing what they do!
i mean fair enough, vent, analyze, but at the end of the day, it's not gonna make a difference, not for a while..
omarhkhan
June 14, 2009 at 2:38 am
don't worry, i don't find anything free
anyways, this is why i found blogging bleh! that it doesn't matter what you write about these matters! what your views are in these matters are insignificant because no terrorist, no IDP, no politician…especially politician, is reading this stuff! they're busy doing what they do!
i mean fair enough, vent, analyze, but at the end of the day, it's not gonna make a difference, not for a while..
omarhkhan
June 14, 2009 at 2:38 am
Abeer: It depends on the intention na abeer. true, there is verbal jehad, but are the news channels that sit 4 ppl down n then talk utter crap intend to speak up against injustice. most drawing room/dining table discussions on the subject are because of a lack of a better topic or to sound smarter and more informative.
my point is, u cant really talk … Read Moreabout it, coz u cant come close to experiencing what they have. and i speak for both the IDPs and the terrorists. I'm a humanist.We don't know what is going through the minds of thousands of people who are responsible for all this. Read 'In the heat of fratricide', specially the part where he's describing the literary works. it tells you what lead to the gruesome massacre during the Partition.
Read and reflect.
Omar: I agree. It doesn't make a difference. Not much anyway. But its a start. Apart from this topic, I think debate is good, and enough people raise their voices, it makes a difference. Bloggers are very vocal against MQM, which is why MQM has its own IT wing that comments on blogs and defends the party.
Sid
June 14, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Abeer: It depends on the intention na abeer. true, there is verbal jehad, but are the news channels that sit 4 ppl down n then talk utter crap intend to speak up against injustice. most drawing room/dining table discussions on the subject are because of a lack of a better topic or to sound smarter and more informative.
my point is, u cant really talk … Read Moreabout it, coz u cant come close to experiencing what they have. and i speak for both the IDPs and the terrorists. I'm a humanist.We don't know what is going through the minds of thousands of people who are responsible for all this. Read 'In the heat of fratricide', specially the part where he's describing the literary works. it tells you what lead to the gruesome massacre during the Partition.
Read and reflect.
Omar: I agree. It doesn't make a difference. Not much anyway. But its a start. Apart from this topic, I think debate is good, and enough people raise their voices, it makes a difference. Bloggers are very vocal against MQM, which is why MQM has its own IT wing that comments on blogs and defends the party.
Sid
June 14, 2009 at 12:45 pm