I want to begin by saying that today I am truly proud that my nation, India, is still a democracy and that we the people of India are people with courage and the willingness to stand up for each other. Frankly, going by our recent history and the rapid polarization of our society and proliferation of hate speech and hate politics, I never thought I would see the day when Hindus, Sikhs and Christians would stand shoulder to shoulder with their Muslim brothers and sisters to protect them and their rights. Truly it is said that injustice can’t be removed until those who are not affected by it are willing to stand up against it. Injustice to one is injustice to all. The people of India have demonstrated that they are willing to stand against injustice even when it doesn’t affect some of them directly. The biggest and most powerful message in all this is that it is our youth, students in our universities who have taken the lead and shown us the way to go. This message is primarily addressed to them, to students, to youth, to the millennials and their children. Because the future is theirs. They inherited the world that we, my generation, created. They are the victims of our follies, greed, shortsightedness and ignorance. But all power to them, they decided to take their future in their own hands and break the vicious cycle that we bequeathed to them. They did what we (at least I) never dreamt that they would do. The best that we can do is to stand with them, so that when history is written it will at least be said that we tried to clean the mess we made.
The first thing to understand is that this CAA+NRC is the best thing that could have happened to India at this stage. We had become a rapidly polarized, fascist, extremist society with the voices of the ‘silent’ majority conspicuous by their silence while the strident and raucous screech of hate speech was echoing off the walls of our collective conscience. Then came the law; CAA and the threat of NRC to disenfranchise those who are already dehumanized and demonized. Liberals felt bad about this. But the problem with all Liberals anywhere is that they have no clear cause; no point of focus for their energy, intellect and emotion. They are just a bunch of ‘nice people’. That is no good because in today’s politics and especially in hate politics which feeds fascism, they are rendered totally ineffective. CAA+NRC gave them a focus, a rallying point, a goal to achieve. It suddenly made speaking out worthwhile. And we are seeing the result.
If you study the South African freedom struggle you will see that it is only when Apartheid became law with all its draconian elements that the struggle started. Whites have always discriminated against people of color from the time Allahﷻ gave color to some and took it away from others. But how many ‘freedom’ struggles do you see against that? Except when there are laws created to legitimize and legalize the crime that is Apartheid. That is what has happened today. The BJP/RSS gave us, the People of India, a goal. And that goal is to abolish this and all such laws, to abolish hatred, to abolish all those who preach hatred. Never lose sight of that. Never allow anyone to divide you ever again, or you will sink back into the cesspit and your oppressors will rule the roost. Remember, that they will never make the same mistake again. This is your chance. This is your only chance. This is your last chance before the abyss of darkness.
This is like a staring
match. Whoever blinks or looks away first, loses. If you never tried a staring
match, try it. You will see that as time passes it gets more and more tough. Your
eyes start to water, then burn and it is so easy to look away or blink. But
remember that it is also getting tougher for the other person. So, you don’t
have to be the toughest in the world. You just have to be tougher than your
opponent. In this case, only if civil society is relentless and opposition
parties join in will something happen. Force the hands of the opposition
parties. You voted for them. This is collection time. Don’t let any sit on the
fence. They must choose between you or the BJP. Meet their leaders. Demand that
they meet you. No games. Let them declare that they are against CAA+NRC. Many
opposition leaders have done so. Force those who have not done so yet, to do so
right away. Don’t rest and don’t let them rest until they declare that they
will not implement the NRC in their states. These are YOUR states. Not THEIR
states. They and all our politicians must be made to realize that they are
elected representatives of the people, who remain where they are at the whim of
the people. They are not hereditary monarchs, though they like to act like
that. Remind them.
The rulers have initiated
the NPR which is the first step. They will implement NRC at an appropriate time
later. Make no mistake about that.
Another very important
thing: Get the police who are trying to break up the peaceful protests,
violently, to understand that you are fighting for them also. When they beat
you, they are beating the only friends they have in the land. Tell them (let
your posters say that and say this in your speeches; address them directly)
that when the NRC is implemented, it is their families, brothers and sisters
and uncles and aunts who will also have to stand in line and if they have no
papers, they will also go to detention camps. Just because someone in their
family is a cop, won’t save them.
Final important thing and
maybe the most important: Keep repeating the fact that the people who this NRC
will harm the most are the Hindu majority. It is their tax money which will be
(is being) used to build the camps. It is their taxes which will feed the
detainees forever, because they can’t be deported anywhere. The disruption to
the economy and the loss of jobs, investment, production, services and peace
that is happening is harming them the most because they are the majority. The myth
of a Muslim Mukt India where every Hindu will be a king is rubbish. Total
nonsense which is taking the lives and livelihoods of Hindus and Muslims alike.
Emphasize this.The most critical thing to do is to
keep the protests going for the next four years and ensure that hate mongers
lose the general election. Meanwhile they’ll up the stakes and become more
draconian and tighten the screws to try to break all resistance. No mercy will
be shown because they want to make an example of whoever resists to discourage
and break the spirit of others. Your main challenge will be to convince the wealthy
that they’re in a life-threatening situation and need to invest in their own
safety. They need to change their lifestyles and need to spend on funding the
fight for freedom instead of their holidays, weddings and gana parties. That’s
the biggest challenge.
Don’t look to your elders for leadership. They’re the reason you’re in this mess. They have no clue what to do. All our traditional leaders have failed. They’re a part of the cancer. You need new leaders who are untainted by the diseases of deliberate ignorance, cowardice, selfishness, corruption and greed. There may be exceptions among your elders, but exceptions prove the rule. So, don’t waste your time with them. If you follow them, they’ll squander your lives, and energy to save their own skins. You’ll get nothing from them that can be of any use to you.
Your great strength is that
you are alone, unencumbered, unfettered. Rejoice, chart your own path, make
mistakes, fall, but get up. Always get up. Alternatively, look to your elders,
get infected with their fatal diseases, pick up their baggage, struggle for
their ends, and die a futile death, knowing in your last moments that you did
it to yourselves. You had a chance, but you blew it away. Your choice. Learn to
stand on your own feet. Learn to think. Curse your own stupidity about not
reading, especially history, not reflecting or thinking, being addicted to social
media and being more interested in cricket and football than in your own
future. That’s why your future is a football for others. You and your
generation are not innocent either. You’re fools but not evil. So, wake up
before it’s too late.
The critical thing is to
keep the students on the street long enough to make a difference. It’s a battle
of attrition in which the one who can take the loss wins. It’s that simple to
define. It will be brutal. No quarter will be given. Don’t fool yourself into
thinking that it will be easy or quick. It won’t. You’ve seen nothing yet. But
if there’s consistency and perseverance, you students will win. That also I
have no doubt about.
Get
students across the world enrolled into your cause. Let there be demonstrations
in global universities; not once but every week. They live in countries where
they can protest without fear. Tell them to let their voices resound across
national boundaries and wake up dead consciences. Let questions be asked in
Parliaments and Assemblies across the world. Let cases be filed in the
International Court of Justice. Let voices be raised in the United Nations. Let
international media raise their voice. Let Heads of State who like to talk
about justice summon the Indian Ambassadors in their countries and ask them
what is going on. Put pressure on Indians abroad to stand up for justice. It is
international pressure that won freedom from apartheid in South Africa. CAA+NRC
is Apartheid. NPR is the first step towards it.
Let
people everywhere understand that these steps to create a fascist, apartheid
state based on Hindu supremacy calls for crucial funds to be spent in useless
exercises to divide, discriminate against and oppress people instead of on
education, production, creating employment opportunities and well-being. That
is what the world must know and realize. Remind them that a nation which is
embroiled in controversy and turmoil is a dead duck for investment and
development. A nation which is spending money on building concentration camps
instead of homes for the homeless is not a safe place to invest. Nobody cares
about justice. Everybody cares about money. So, speak to them in the language
they understand.
The time has come to face
the brutal facts but never to lose hope. Take charge of your lives. The one who
controls the narrative, wins the debate. Never give up your
ethics and values. You must never do what the others do or act or speak in the
way they do. They must not drive your narrative. They must not direct your
behavior. They’re not your teachers. Think of any great revolution and try to
name ten people who participated in it. I bet you, you can’t. But you and I
know that it succeeded because there were a lot more than ten people involved.
What happened to them? What did they gain? How did they continue to work even
though many or most never saw success? It succeeded because they were the
foundation stones. Without them it would have failed. If every stone wants to
be on the façade there will be no building.
The
question is, ‘Do you want the building, or do you want to be on the façade?’
Get ready to go into the
ground like the stones in the foundation for the building to be built over you.
Nobody will know you lived except the One who created you. And that’s enough.
Or get ready to spend the
rest of your lives as slaves. The future is yours, not ours. Make of it
whatever you wish, because you are going to live in it. You and your children.
“So, what is our goal? To change their
attitude, or to convince them that they need to change it themselves?”
“That is challenging, difficult, will
take sweat and tears……….do I really want to even try it?”
“Ah!
We are now at the root of the problem and it is: Do I want to change my own
attitude?”
Attitude is at the root of everything. Attitude decides whether we will succeed or fail. Whether when in difficulty, even that which seems to be life threatening, if we will survive or perish. Attitude decides if when hit by life (or by someone) we stay down or get up. And how many times we get up. And what the result of getting up every time we fall, will be. Attitude, not wealth, dictates happiness. If you don’t believe me, watch slum children leaping into pools of rainwater after the first rains. Do they look happy? Then go and watch your children, who will most likely be complaining about the rain. And ask yourself, “Who has more wealth?” I know that is a dumb question, but then to decide to remain dumb is an attitude issue. To decide to remain blind, even though we have eyes is an attitude issue. To witness a crime in progress and to decide to take a video to post on Instagram, instead of taking action to prevent the crime or to help the victim, is a matter of attitude. Cherophobia (the fear of being ‘too happy’ because you feel that if you allow yourself to feel happy, then disaster will strike), is a matter of attitude. Satisfaction, gratitude, ambition, courage, compassion are all attitudes. So also, are their opposites. And each one has an impact on our life.
(As
Agara – A – is the first letter of the alphabet, so also God is before all
creation)
In
the same way, attitude comes before all situations and circumstances and
decides how they will affect us. Incidentally, another A-word; affect. Let me
tell you some stories to illustrate what I mean.
It
was 1987 and I was doing a course at XLRI, Jamshedpur. One evening my friends
decided to show me the sights around Jamshedpur. As we drove in the Hindustan
Ambassador car, which was provided for us, the road suddenly deteriorated. My
friend announced, “This is where Jamshedpur ends, and Bihar begins.” We
continued onwards, headed towards Dimna lake and bird sanctuary. This is a lake
made by Tata Steel and provides drinking water to Jamshedpur. On the way we
stopped at a traffic light. The road was a patchwork of potholes joined
together by bits of tarmac to prove that once upon a time when the world was
young, it had been surfaced with bitumen. As I was contemplating life and its
trials, a young boy came coasting down the slope on his bicycle a bit oblivious
to his situation and hit a pothole, bounced out of it and yelled, ‘Wah! Kya
khadda hai!’ (Wow! What a pothole!). Today I am writing this on July 13, 2019,
32 years later, but the incident is fresh in my memory. I remind myself that
nothing changed for that kid or for me. The road, the potholes, the
responsibility of the government, the use of taxes, you name it, everything
remained the same. Yet that kid decided to be happy. So, when he hit a pothole,
he appreciated the pothole instead of complaining. A matter of attitude.
In
my view the best thing about attitude is that it is entirely in my control. Nobody
can give it to me or take it from me or change it for me or do anything at all
with my attitude. I, and only I, can have whatever attitude I want to. So only
I, can decide if I want to be sad, glad, bad, mad or whatever. That means that
until I want to change it, nobody can help me and if I want to change it,
nobody can stop me. That is power.
In
1978, soon after I finished graduation with a BA in history, political science
and Urdu literature, I boarded a flight for Guyana where my father was on a
one-year assignment, with the Guyana Mining Enterprise hospital in Linden. It
was a long flight and a long story. I flew from Hyderabad to Bombay to London
to New York to Miami to Georgetown which took more than 24 hours. I flew in a SE
210 Caravelle, Boeing 707, McDonnell Douglas DC-10, and Boeing 707 once again.
I flew on Indian Airlines, British Airways, Pan Am (Pan American World
Airways), Delta and BWIA. And at the end of it all, more than 24 hours after I
left Hyderabad, I arrived literally at the other end of the world, without my
baggage. My baggage apparently had other travel plans and I have no idea which
country it was destined for. But for me that meant that not only did I get to
lose all my worldly possessions but also the proof of my education, my degree
certificate, which I had kept in my checked-in baggage for safety.
Guyana memories
I should have been devastated. I wasn’t. It took
me about ten minutes to come to terms with the fact that I was walking with all
my worldly assets, the shirt on my back. I found this was a very liberating
idea. In Guyana I got a job, lived and worked in a small mining town in the
middle of the rainforest. My experience of the five years that I spent there
was far from negative. It was one of the most enjoyable and rewarding periods
of my life during which I made lifelong friendships, had many unique experiences,
and learnt a huge amount about human relations and conflict management which
has stood me in good stead throughout my career, now many decades later. I will
talk about those days in context in the articles and podcasts that will come
later but want to say that all this happened because of the way I approached
the challenge.
For one thing, I didn’t see it as a ‘challenge =
difficulty’, at all. I saw it as the possibility to have great fun and great
learning, each day filled with new possibilities. I was in a new country,
totally new (alien!!) culture, food, climate, language, working with people who
were completely different from me in every way, living in a part of the world
that I had never been in and which was as different from my life in Hyderabad as
to make it seem like I was on another planet. Yet it turned out to be one of
the best periods of my life which I recall very fondly today, more than forty
years later. The reason was attitude.
Attitude therefore is how you choose to see what
you are faced with. You can choose to appreciate the good in it and enjoy it
and to see the difficulties as you look at weights in the gym; something that
is tough to lift but can only benefit you if you do. Who makes that choice?
You.
Back home in India, I worked in the plantation
industry for ten years, managing tea, and rubber plantations with coffee,
cardamom, coconut and vanilla thrown in, before striking out into the field of
leadership consulting. During my last three years in the company, I was posted
as Manager of the company’s operations in Kanyakumari District in Tamilnadu.
That comprised of two rubber estates, two factories and a higher secondary
school. The challenge there was the labor force, which was highly militant,
unionized, communist union (CITU – Marxist) and a history of tension between
the management and union. To spice up my life I had an immediate task of
introducing Controlled Upward Tapping (CUT) in rubber. This involved the
tappers using special tapping knives to tap upwards instead of the normal
downward tap. This put a strain on their shoulders and initially it could be
uncomfortable, even painful, until they got used to it. The standard response
to this was to refuse to do it. That led to tensions and some ugly situations
before I got there, including an Assistant Manager having been grievously
assaulted. My challenge was to get the workers to accept this method of
tapping, which meant that I had to convert their dislike and resistance to
liking. To change their attitude from resistance to acceptance.
I spoke to another company in Kerala who were
using this technique and had good results. I requested their management to
allow me to send my tappers to visit them to see their tapping, meet their
tappers and talk to them about the technique. I wanted them to do this freely
without any supervision, so I didn’t go with them. I sent them in a bus and
arranged for them to have a nice sumptuous meal with their hosts and to be
given CUT knives as a take-away gift (for which we paid). I told them to go and
see the work, ask any questions that they wanted to ask their compatriots and
satisfy themselves that this method was a good method for them to earn more
income as well as something which would not be difficult to do after they had
gotten used to the new angle of tapping. All this was treated with suspicion to
begin with, given the history of management labor relations, but I expected
that and didn’t react to it. However, the prospect of a company paid holiday
was tempting and unique and so they went. After that, as they say, the rest is
history. They returned enthusiastic about trying out the new technique and when
they saw that as promised, their yield was better resulting in better earning,
there was nothing more for me to do.
What I had been able to do was to get them tuned
into the channel that everyone listens to; WiiFM (What’s in it For Me). That is
the key to attitude change. Get people to see what’s in the change for them.
Help them to see how they will benefit. Naturally they must really benefit. It
is not a PR exercise. If there is really no benefit, then you will lose
credibility big time if you try to sell it. But it happens often that people
don’t see the benefit until you can show it to them. Once they see how they
will gain by changing their attitude, it happens easily enough. The challenge
is for us to show it to them.
What is essential for the one wanting to bring
about attitude change is to put himself into the shoes of the other and see their
world through their eyes. I had a very interesting experience in this context.
I was doing a series of coaching skills workshops for senior management at
ICRISAT in Hyderabad. This required helping people understand the fact that you
can never coach anyone effectively if you don’t see their world through their
eyes. In other words, you need to put yourself in their shoes. To illustrate
this, I took off my shoes and said to the Deputy Director General, the most
senior manager who was sitting right in front, “Please get into my shoes.”
He got up very reluctantly and started to take his
shoes off. I stopped him when he had taken one shoe off. I asked him, “What are
you doing?”
He looked surprised and replied rather testily,
“Taking off my shoes.”
I asked, “Why?”
He looked really exasperated and said, “How else
can I get into your shoes?” Then it suddenly dawned on him and he almost
yelled, “Wah! What an insight!! I can never get into your shoes until I take my
own shoes off. Wah! Sahab Wah!”
It is often as simple as that. The lesson is
simple but very powerful.
If we want to change people’s attitudes, we need
to first change our own. We must own up that we need to see their world as they
see and feel it. We must empathize and understand. Then we need to show them
how they will benefit from the change. Only then will it happen.
In terms of formal leadership roles, one of the
biggest challenges of the commanding officer is to influence positively the
attitude of those under his/her command. Many try to use authority. All that
they get is outward compliance. Just because someone answers, “Yessah!” with a
salute doesn’t mean that he/she truly accepts what you ordered them to do or
that they will do it when they are not supervised. We are all aware of the
theory, “It is the arm that salutes, not the heart.” That is why I say, “Values
can’t be legislated (commanded). They must be inculcated.” And that is the
reason attitude is critical. Attitude is what you do because of who you are.
Not because of your job, rank or training but because of the truth of your
being. That is why attitude inspires far more than any passionate speech or any
order from on-high. People don’t care what you say, until they see what you do.
Attitude is what Dr. Kafeel of Gorakhpur had, when
though he was not even on duty, he decided to take charge when he was informed
that the government hospital where he worked had run out of oxygen and the
lives of children who needed oxygen, were at stake. He spent his own funds to
buy oxygen and managed to save the lives of over 200 of them. In organizational
life, we have many stories to tell of people who decided to take ownership of
the situation and in the absence of orders and sometimes even in contravention
of them, they did the right thing. Many paid a price for it, but their stand
inspires us to this day. The thing to remember is that even if they had succumbed
to pressure, they would have paid a price. A price which in real terms, would
have been far higher. There is no such thing as a free choice. Every choice has
a price tag. We are free to choose between price tags. That is the reason why
we need to record and preserve such stories, because they are real, involve
real people like us and are beacons of guidance and proof of concept that IT
CAN BE DONE.
What are
the attitudes that are critical for us to have? They are three.
Courage: Courage is the first. Courage is the willingness to stand up against
opposing danger or force. The greater the opposing force, greater the courage
needed. Courage is physical but even more importantly it is moral. Moral
courage comes before physical courage and is often its motive force. Moral courage
is called upon far more often than physical courage in our lives because the
pressure on us is from those who have higher authority, direct or indirect.
They don’t necessarily threaten our life or safety, but they threaten our
careers. Yet we must have the courage to stand up to their threats, open or
implied.
But stand up on what basis? On the basis of truth.
In the words of Martin Luther King Jr., “When the truth must be spoken, silence is culpable.”
Truth: Truth is the unshakable belief that truth comes first and over and above anyone else. The duty of every citizen is to uphold the truth in his/her own life. For this, we are accountable and answerable to society. And though society may not have the tools and structures to demand this accountability in a formal manner, it does enforce it very powerfully by giving or withholding respect and moral authority. Moral authority is the reward for moral courage. Without moral authority you may get rank, but you will never have power. Rank is bestowed. Power is earned. The Establishment bestows rank. People give you power. Without power, the badge of rank is costume jewelry.
Compassion: The ability to see
yourself in the suffering of others. In the words ascribed to Benjamin
Disraeli,1st
Earl of Beaconsfield, who twice served as Prime Minister of the
United Kingdom, “There but
for the Grace of God, goes Disraeli.” He reportedly said that on looking at a
homeless man in rags. It is not known what he did thereafter, but the statement
shows that he saw himself, at least momentarily, in the other less fortunate
man. Compassion is not only to see but to do something about that, to alleviate
the suffering, lift the oppression and deliver the justice being denied to the
other. Compassion, above anything else, differentiates us as humans in the best
possible terms. Compassion means that we stand against oppression even when it
doesn’t affect us personally. Compassion means that we go out of our way, take
the pain and the trouble and if necessary, pay the price to fight for the
rights of others. Compassion is a fundamental value, a core strength and a key
resource, without which we simply can’t function effectively and honorably.
Compassion is the result of courage and commitment to the truth. Compassion
wins hearts, inspires cooperation, builds a reputation, enhances influence and
is the best protection.
This is the value of these three, interlinked
attitudes: courage based on truth, tempered with compassion. Truth gives
courage its backbone and compassion ensures that it is applied in a way that is
caring, respectful and kind.
Finally, I must reiterate that attitudes can’t be
legislated. They must be inculcated. We can’t simply order people, “You must be
courageous. You must be truthful. You must be compassionate.” We must show them
how, by demonstrating courage, truthfulness and compassion ourselves in our
everyday actions. We must remember that people listen with their eyes. They
don’t care what we say, until they see what we do.
June 17, 2019…the saddest day in recent memory.
The day when Dr. Mohamed Morsi, the first democratically elected President of
Egypt, died in a Kangaroo Court defending himself against ridiculous trumped up
charges. He was not granted a public funeral, a mark of the fear that even the
dead body of a man of truth, inspires in the cowardly hearts of those who
manage to kill him. That is because humans can be killed but what they stood
for, lives on and continues to inspire others, long after they are gone. May
Allahﷻ grant
this pious man the best of rewards in Jannah. May the Qur’an become his Hafiz
in the Aakhira, as he was its Hafiz in this life. His death
underlines the fact that what is important is not whether we live or die,
because everyone dies. What is important is how we die and what we die for.
Morsi left his mark in history. I was in Egypt in 2014 and wrote this piece. https://yawarbaig.com/wherearetheleaders/if-i-were-president-of-egypt/
All humans make mistakes and all mistakes are
opportunities to learn from. That is their only use. When we learn from them,
we don’t make the same mistakes again. When we don’t, we are destined to make
the same mistakes over and over until we learn. ‘Nations (people) that don’t
learn from history are condemned to repeat it.’ Morsi was human and I am sure
if he were alive, he would have been very happy to analyze what happened and
what should be done differently the next time around.
This is my attempt at trying to learn some lessons
from history. Let me warn you in advance that if any analysis is to make
meaning or prove useful, it must be divorced from emotion. I know that many of
my readers, indeed I myself, can think of many excuses for what Morsi did and
explain each action away by seeking refuge behind ‘good intentions’,
‘commitment to Islam’, ‘personal piety of Morsi’ and so on. That would be
totally counterproductive. The issue here is not how the supporters of Morsi
see his decisions or the actions of his party, but how others did and do. It
was that which brought about the tragic events leading to the reinstatement of
dictatorship and the death of Morsi and hundreds of his followers. Surely, that
is a sacrifice which should be enough for us to ask some tough questions and
face some unpleasant facts.
Let us see how things were when Morsi and his
party won the election in Egypt. Egypt is an African country but since its
conquest by Amr ibn Al A’as ® and Abu Ubaida ® in the time of Omar ibn Al
Khattab ®, it has been Arab. Arabic became its language and over the centuries
it was the seat of several powerful Muslim Empires, including the Mamluks who
in the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260 defeated the army of Hulegu Khan, the
grandson of Genghis Khan. The first time that a Mongol army had been defeated
by anyone. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ain_Jalut
In more recent times, thanks to its size,
population, education, the Arab film industry, Al Azhar University and the
global fame in recitation of the Qur’an, Egypt is the leader of the Arab world.
Though it is an African country, it is more than likely that anyone who is asked
to list the top three most significant countries in Africa and the Arab world,
will list Egypt in the Arab world and not in Africa. So, what happens in Egypt
has repercussions in the world in general but very particularly and powerfully
in the Arab world. Egypt, apart from this is the only country in the Arab world
which is not a hereditary monarchy and has had elected leaders, even if all of
them, excluding Morsi were elected in sham elections and were really dictators.
Yet they were never called ‘King’ or any of its variations and were always
‘President’. This is another reason why Egypt is important because it is a
major departure from the norm of rulers and the ruled, in the region. When the
so-called Arab Spring happened in Egypt, with the fall of the reigning dictator
Hosni Mubarak and the election of Dr. Mohamed Morsi, it was a watershed. It was
a marker in history that a new era was about to be ushered in.
The popularity of Morsi and his party was
unquestioned. The symbolism of people in Tahrir Square, the energy they
displayed, Muslims praying, with Christians standing around them guarding them
from any would-be mischief makers, myriad images on TV, social media and print
media of the events leading to the final removal of Mubarak and the swearing-in
of Morsi, all signaled that the destiny, not only of Egypt, but of the Arab
world, was about to change. Very heady stuff or very alarming stuff, depending
on who was watching. All went well in the beginning. Morsi was welcomed at
home. He met the Coptic Pope and assured him that his government would
safeguard the interest of the Christian minority; which though a minority, is
very significant and powerful in Egypt and has international support. He was
invited by King Abdulla bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia to visit and was
accorded full honors as Head of State and promised to help him with financial
aid. The fact that he was a Hafiz of the Qur’an was mentioned with almost every
mention of him as a person. His humility, piety, clean politics, innocence even,
was the talk of the town, as it were. He was welcomed and applauded in all Arab
countries and practically everywhere else.
Back home however, expectations were high; in
keeping with domestic problems, the chief of them being employment. No matter
who the President may be, people need jobs and food on the table. The burden
that popularly elected leaders get to bear is to deal with high, most of the
time unreasonably high, expectations of those who elected them. Part of the
reason is the election campaigns themselves where leaders must promise to pave
the streets with gold, in order to win elections. Nobody in today’s world will
vote for a leader who speaks the truth and says, ‘After you elect me, you will
still have to go to work and work very hard to feed your family. I will promise
you a clean government, law and order, safety and security, an education system
that will create skilled people over the years, a working medical and
health care system and clean and safe cities. But you are responsible for
yourselves and your families and you must pay taxes to enable the government to
give you all of what I promised you.’ That is perhaps the best speech, which
though totally truthful, is guaranteed never to get you elected. So, leaders
promise to put not merely bread, but Biryani or Lahm Mandi on every table for
every meal at the expense of the state. I am saying this figuratively but the
idea in any election campaign is to make the alternative to status quo look so
attractive that people will be inspired to do whatever it takes to bring in the
new regime. This is the system followed all over the world with its
consequences clearly visible to anyone who chooses to see. Most choose not to.
Ditto Egypt.
Wikipedia has this to say about the events of the
time:
As president, Morsi issued a temporary
constitutional declaration in November 2012 that in effect granted him
unlimited powers and the power
to legislate without judicial oversight or review of his
acts as a pre-emptive move against the expected dissolution of the second
constituent assembly by the Mubarak-era judges. The new
constitution that was then hastily finalized by
the Islamist-dominated constitutional assembly, presented to the
president, and scheduled for a referendum before the Supreme
Constitutional Court could rule on the constitutionality of the assembly,
was described by independent press agencies not aligned with the regime as an
“Islamist coup”. These issues, along with complaints of
prosecutions of journalists and attacks on nonviolent demonstrators, led to the 2012 protests. As
part of a compromise, Morsi rescinded the decrees. In the
referendum on the new constitution, it was approved by approximately two-thirds
of voters.
On 30 June 2013, protests erupted across Egypt, in
which protesters called for the president’s resignation. In response to
the events, Morsi was given a 48-hour ultimatum by Egypt’s military to
meet their demands and to resolve political differences, or else they would
intervene by “implementing their own road map” for the country. He
was unseated on 3 July by a military coup council consisting of
Defense Minister Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, opposition leader Mohamed
ElBaradei, the Grand Imam of Al Azhar Ahmed el-Tayeb, and Coptic
Pope Tawadros II. The military suspended the constitution and appointed
the President of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt, Adly Mansour, as
the interim president. The Muslim Brotherhood protested against
the military coup, but the pro-Morsi protests were crushed in the August
2013 Rabaa massacre in which at least 817 civilians were
killed. Opposition leader ElBaradei quit in protest at the massacre.
In simple terms what are we seeing here (what did
the people see)?
Someone
who promised to be democratic, showing that inside the façade lives a dictator
who didn’t take long to have himself declared, “granted him unlimited powers
and the power to legislate without judicial oversight or
review of his acts”. {Public perception: Alarm, chagrin, rage!!! Did
we go through all this to get another Mubarak?}
And
then he does something that no leader must EVER do. He, “As part of a
compromise, Morsi rescinded the decrees.” {Opposition’s reaction: Ah!Gotcha!! He is weak. Bring
him down. Get rid of him. We respect strength. Nothing else.} The rest is
history.
Sisi took over; arrested Morsi, slaughtered
protestors and the Arab Spring turned into a wet squib.
Morsi (and his party and government) made four
cardinal mistakes, which proved suicidal.
Instead
of focusing on economic development, they got bogged down in ideology. Various
statements were made, including by Morsi himself, praising democratic elections
and thereby directly and indirectly criticizing (Arab) monarchies.
Instead
of focusing on building on the goodwill of the minority Christian and Jewish
population and bringing them all together on one Egyptian identity, Morsi and
his party raised the boogie of the Shari’ah and played right into the hands of
their opposition as well as raising the alarm with others. The attempt at
trying to get ‘unlimited powers and to legislate without judicial oversight’
were grist to the mill; a Godsend for anyone planning to bring Morsi and his
party down. The tragedy is that the only people who seem to have been blind to
this was Morsi & Co.
Instead
of focusing on internal issues of employment, hunger, health care, education
and others, it appeared that there was more focus on external issues, be it the
condition of Palestinians or giving aid to disaster affected people in
Indonesia. This coming from a country which almost literally was living off aid
from America and other Arab countries.
Perhaps
the most lethal of them; imagining that personal piety and incorruptibility is
a substitute for political sagacity and wisdom.
It bears to note that Sisi was Morsi’s Army
Commander, reporting to him as the President and at least in the beginning, at
his command and mercy, even to retain his job. Yet Morsi failed to control, let
alone neutralize him. Morsi’s death is tragic. But not surprising. His fate was
sealed when he displayed weakness.
What could he and his party have done? Here’s my
two-cents worth as a rank outsider who by virtue of that, perhaps has a clearer
view than those involved. Objectivity and perspective are a function of distance.
Homework. What seems to be clear is that the entire turn of
events, winning the election, overwhelming support of all people including
those normally opposed, culminating in being able to form a government, came as
a big surprise to Morsi and his party. I don’t believe they really believed
that they could win. So, they were not prepared to move from their position of
at best being in opposition, to being the ruling party. Their reactions seem to
me to be just that, reactions, and therefore unplanned. They were acting in the
moment without a clear (or any) view of why they were doing what they were
doing or what the likely consequences of that may turn out to be. Everything seems
to have been a surprise; some pleasant and some shocking. Clearly for all
aspiring leaders, homework is critical to success. The Shadow Cabinet in the
British Parliament is a brilliant example of preparation. Nothing like
simulation to understand the complexity of leadership and how to prepare for
it. But then, only those who expect to win, prepare for it. And sadly, those
who don’t prepare, squander the gains.
Celebrating
is for others. Keep your head
squarely on your shoulders and forget about celebrating. Let others do it. You,
the leader, must understand that when the celebration is over, it is you to
whom everyone is going to look for the future. So, what do you have to show
them? Can you deliver on what you promised? If yes, then when? If no, then what
is your plan to mitigate the inevitable disappointment? Once again it comes
down to preparation, anticipation and the ability to deliver on your promises. People
expect a change in status quo. That is what they voted for. They didn’t vote
for everything to be the same except the name of the leader. No matter how
‘unreasonable’ that may seem to you, the leader, that is what people expect and
you must give it to them. Maybe not everything, but enough to keep their hopes
high. If you don’t, then the disappointment after an unexpected victory is
proportionate to the joy.
Focus. For any leader, even more for the head of a major
nation like Egypt, there are a million demands on his attention; a million
causes all clamoring for him to deal with them. Focus in the art of ignoring
fluff. What is fluff in this case? It is everything that didn’t get you
elected. Other countries didn’t get you elected, neither did their rulers.
Neither did anything except the hopes of your own people. So, deal with them
before you do anything else. People elected Morsi not only because they loved
him (many didn’t) but because he represented a change from the horrible
dictatorship of Mubarak. If that change is not clearly visible, then it raises
anxiety. By definition, that anxiety will be disproportionate especially with
those who were perhaps anxious in the first place and elected Morsi because
they had no alternative. That means the Christians and Liberals. They need
reassurance. Constant reassurance that their decision was not wrong and that
they picked the right leader who will deliver on his promises and safeguard
their interests.
In such situations, people’s patience, tolerance
and the willingness to take pain, are always in very short supply. In Morsi and
his party’s case, they bore the burden of the negative image of Islam and his
party which was created by the global Islamophobia industry that all Muslims
are the target of, but at a much higher level. Fears arising out of that, no
matter how illogical they may have seemed to Morsi and his supporters, had to
be allayed. Perception is reality, even when it is erroneous. You can’t run
away from it. You must face it and lay it to rest through your visible actions.
As they say about justice, “Not only must it be done, but it must appear to be
done.” This holds true even more in this situation. Solution? Communicate,
communicate, communicate. Morsi didn’t. On the other hand, his government’s
actions fanned the flames and enhanced those fears. The resultant protests and
all that followed was certainly not unexpected, except to those who refused to
see the writing on the wall.
Economic Development. Generate employment. Infrastructure projects,
service projects, education and tourism. I have mentioned these in detail in my
other article quoted above so won’t repeat that here. But basically, give
people something to think about other than politics. Get them off the street
and out of the tea shops and into the workplace where they can earn some money.
This was all doable provided there had been a focus on it. Apart from the aid
from other countries, I have mentioned in my article different ways in which a
government can access funds and resources to generate employment and boost the
economy. Egypt is a resource rich country with a highly capable population. To
make it economically strong is not a difficult task. What has drained is
decades of dictatorship and the corruption that generates. A democratically
elected, clean government was just what the doctor ordered for Egypt. Sadly, it
never took off.
Act with decisiveness. A wrong decision pushed through does less damage
than a right decision that you are tentative and hesitant in implementing.
Morsi’s hardest task was to deal with a military that has gotten used to
ruling. Like Pakistan, where the army runs the show behind the scenes and
political leaders dance to their tune. This was probably the hardest task that
Morsi had; a legacy not to his liking or of his creation, but his
responsibility, nevertheless. What should he have done? I don’t think any
elaboration is necessary. The supremacy of civilian rule needed to be
established and institutionalized in a hostile environment. That needed a level
of wisdom, diplomacy and ruthlessness, which Morsi was not capable of. Like
major life saving surgery, it would have been painful and messy but needed to
be done with decisiveness and speed. That didn’t happen. Maybe Morsi was too
decent a human being for that. Whatever be the reason, the result was the
resurrection of dictatorship.
All that remains is to mourn the passing of a good
man and of the chance of a change of destiny for Egypt. May his memory be
honored, and may others learn lessons so that what he wanted to achieve may one
day be achieved by others. For men die. Not ideas or dreams. Dreams live on in
the hearts of people, to one day emerge and usher in a world that others, like
Morsi died for.
“So, how
did things get so bad?” I am sure you must have heard, asked or thought about
this yourself. So have I. Many times, over the years whenever I saw a
badly-behaved child being fed with the help of an iPad, a spaced-out teenager
who seems lost in his electronic world where Facebook friends are more real to
her than real human ones or when I read reports of rapes and murders being
filmed on smart phones by stupid people. And my instant reaction is, “It was
not like this 40 years ago. What went wrong?” And there would rest the case;
until the next episode. This is 2019 and so when I say, ‘40 years’ we are
talking about two generations; that is the 1980’s. It is not to say that
everything was hunky-dory until 1980 and suddenly in 1981 it all collapsed. But
it is a live demo of the truth of the ‘Boiled Frog Syndrome’.
For the
uninitiated, this has nothing to do with cuisine, but with gradual social
change which suddenly becomes starkly visible, having been unperceived for a
long time before that. The parable is that if you put a frog into a pot of hot
water, it will jump out. But if you put the frog into a pot of water at room
temperature and allow it to get comfortable in it; then you light a fire under
the pot and gradually heat the water, the frog doesn’t register that the water
is getting hotter. It continues to feel comfortable in the water which is
getting hotter and hotter until it reaches a point when it does register that
things are not the same but by then it is too late, and the frog gets boiled.
That is what happens to people and to societies. That is what I believe has
happened to us in India.
Let me do
a flashback to the time that I was growing up, which was in the 60’s and 70’s.
We (me Muslim) lived in a multi-religious society, as we do now, but with a big
difference. Nobody had TV’s or smart phones (we didn’t even have stupid
phones), so our social life was with our friends. We played football and
cricket; yes, really! I mean in the maidan (open field) near our house. We went
to their homes and they came to ours. We participated in their festivals; not
the religious ceremonies, but the fun and games, eats and sweets. And they did
the same with ours. We knew them and their culture and religion, respected it,
understood their boundaries and adhered to them, took an interest in their
culture and they did the same with ours. We spoke about all this because there
was no football or cricket to speak of
and as far as I can recall, (cricket was a 5-day Test Match – a test of
patience for everyone), politics was a given (Panditji was alive after all) and
so there was hardly any discussion about that. We needed people and they needed
us. So, we appreciated each other.
We lived
in joint families, referred to our elders by our relationship with them or an honorific
in keeping with their age. So, it was Dadaji, Amma, Baba, Mataji, Dadiji,
Chachi, Chacha and so on. Hardly anyone was ‘Uncle’ or ‘Aunty’. There were some
but not too many. It was the job of all elders to discipline us, teach us, tell
us stories, guide us in our religious or cultural norms, customs and practices
and when they were doing that, if any of our friends was around, they would get
the benefit of this teaching, no matter which religion they came from. They
listened with respect and so did we. Our culture was distinct from that of
others, but I don’t remember anyone in my family ever referring to the culture
of others in any even remotely derogatory term. I don’t believe that my family
or elders were unique. They were ordinary people of the time. We learnt our
cultural norms, manners, taboos, customs and practices from our environment and
those around us and since we lived in joint families, there were plenty of
those. It didn’t matter that Dad was away at work, Mom was always home and even
if she went anywhere, one or both grandparents, an uncle or aunt or two were
always around to ensure that we ate, slept, were safe, studied, went out and
played and when it was time, prayed. Mom and Dad didn’t need to do these things
exclusively.
We never
ate out because it was considered uncultured to eat in a restaurant. People
asked you, ‘Don’t you have a home?’ If you took a friend out to a restaurant it
meant that he was not close to you or that you didn’t really respect him.
Otherwise you would have brought him home. It was normal to eat at each other’s
homes, no matter that in some cases the food laws are very different and rigid.
But Brahmins, Marwaris, Kayasth and Reddy friends all ate regularly at our place.
When those we knew to be particular about their food laws were coming, strictly
vegetarian food would be cooked. Those that ate meat at our house did that because
they wished to. Nobody forced of even suggested it to them. Once again, this
was not unique. This was the norm. I recall dropping in at the home of my good
friend from school, Gurcharan Singh. I said, “Sat Sri Akal” to his mother
(Mummy), Dad (Dadji), Grandmother (Mataji) and “Hi” to his sister and brothers
and him. They all said, “Come and eat”, as they were having lunch. His mother
said, with a big smile on her face, “Aaloo paratha bana hai. Tujhe pasand hai
na!” because she knew how much I loved it. As I sat down, Guru’s father pointed
to a covered dish and said, “Usay utthay rakh do.” (Put that there; signing to
the sideboard); meaning, take that dish away from the table. Guru jokingly
said, “Dadji koi problem nahin hai. Yawar yahan kha lega.” His father was
distinctly not amused. He said, “Khana hai tho kahin aur ja kar khaye. Ithey
nahin.” (If he wants to eat, let him go and eat somewhere else. Not here.) What
they were talking about was pork vindaloo. I would not have eaten it anyway,
but for them it was not a joking matter. We respected each other’s traditions
and unless someone volunteered to break his own tradition, it was not broken
for him. Some Muslims went to their Hindu and Christian friends to drink
alcohol, but nobody forced them to do it. If they chose to do it, that was
their choice, just as it was the choice of vegetarian Hindus to eat meat in
their Muslim friend’s homes, if they wished. Needless to say, many Hindus are
not vegetarian and eat meat and fish.
Manners
were a very big thing. You never addressed an elder by name. Or even as Mr.
So-and-so. You either called him Uncle So-and-so or just Uncle. Same thing for
the Aunties. If a boy whistled at a girl, anyone older around would simply
thrash him right then and there. You asked permission, said ‘please’ and ‘thank
you’. The role models you looked up to or who were mentioned to you were people
who were known for their honesty, integrity, hard work, compassion; always for
their values. What people owned was not the subject of discussion firstly
because most people owned similar things, drove similar cars (if they drove a
car at all) and lived in similar houses. The differences were not major and it
was considered crass and highly uncivilized to mention money or the price of
anything. If someone asked you how you were, you replied, “Very well
Uncle/Aunty. Thank you.” You didn’t say, “I’m good”, because that is first of
all, not the right answer because the person was not asking about your moral
condition but your physical well-being and secondly because we thought it was
their job to tell us if we were good or bad. Not ours to announce.
Money was
in short supply though we never wanted for anything. We wore each other’s
handed down clothes. We wore shoes until they became holey. Our clothes were
hand-made to measure because that was the cheapest option. Readymade clothes
were expensive and jeans you only saw in pictures. Pocket money was unheard of.
You got money for the bus fare to school and that was it. Whatever else you
needed had to have a reason behind it, and “I want it” was not a reason. We
lived in bungalows on large plots of land because our parents had inherited
them from their parents. We didn’t go on holidays and looked very enviously at
those very few who went to Ooty for two weeks every summer so that they could
return to Hyderabad’s heat and appreciate it better. But then, at that time you
wore a sweater from November to February and the swimming pool (Public Swimming
Pool in Fateh Maidan – does it even exist anymore – where Jeelani Pairak was
the coach) only opened its doors in the middle of March because it was too cold
to swim before that.
There
were all of four career choices, medicine, engineering (mechanical or civil),
Civil Service or Army. You picked one or if you didn’t, it was thrust upon you
for all kinds of reasons out of your control and then you studied for the
exams. When you got 80% you got presents and gave a party. If you got 90%
people thought that you had cheated. Life was simple, uncomplicated and moved
on at its own pace.
Then came
the 80’s. TV came on the scene with its soaps, serials and news. The world
suddenly opened. Education changed. Multiple disciplines became available to
study leading to hitherto unheard-of career options. The Middle East opened up
for jobs, so did America and Canada. Young people left to make their fortunes.
In some cases, the wives and children remained behind. In most other cases, it
was only the elderly parents who saw off their children at the airport to
return to empty houses and loneliness. All in the name of money. Thanks to
repatriation of funds and the effect of the TV, suddenly money was easy and
material things, appliances, clothes, cars, motorcycles, all became affordable.
Rapidly these became not only nice to have but grounds for competition with
neighbors, friends and strangers. Suddenly we discovered that our neighbor’s
name was Jones and we had to compete with them (Keeping up with the Joneses).
The 80’s
sound like ancient history today in 2019 going on the magic number 2020. What
do we have today? Hatred. We hate each other and that sells, that gets you
elected, that gets you followers, it is chic, it is fashionable, and it works. It
is most preferable to hate Muslims, but anyone else will also do, if there are
no Muslims around. As long as you hate. That is the only thing that counts. So,
our world has shrunk. We meet people like ourselves, who talk like we do, eat what
we eat, like what we like and dislike what we dislike. We hate the same people and
in each other’s rhetoric, we find solace.
We live in our echo chamber and that has become our world. There are those
among us who were born in this echo chamber. They don’t know anything else. But
there are those who were born and lived in a world that was very different from
this one. A world where there were no echo chambers, like there were no mobile
phones, laptops, social media and even television. A world that was real. Today
in our echo chamber, we sometimes ask ourselves this question, “What happened
to that world?” Then we correct ourselves and ask, “What did we do to it?”
“Er! Ahem!! Excuse me, you may not have noticed but something is happening. My neighbor has imported a man-eating tiger to eat her mother-in-law.
She wants her MIL to become a MEAL.” (Ugh! Bad pun – or whatever).
“What after the tiger has finished the offending mother-in-law?”
“Well, my neighbor hasn’t thought about it that far. Maybe she thinks the tiger will conveniently disappear into the woodwork.”
“I don’t think so. It is a man-eating tiger. Not a mother-in-law eating tiger. I don’t think it cares about who it eats as long as it is human. Then it will be your neighbor herself, then her family and then you and me.”
“Er! Ahem!! I am not sure it is a good idea to say these things.”
“50 Muslims killed at Friday prayers in #NewZealandShooting by far-right fanatics”, say the headlines. Why do they call them ‘far-right’? They are far-far-wrong. It is not semantics. ‘Right’ has a nice ring to it. Right is just, justifiable, correct, accurate, fair and good. Killing 50 worshipers is none of these things. And then the man livestreams the killing. Let us begin by calling the animal by its correct name which is ‘fascism’. Not far-right, but fascism. Remember what happens when you don’t name the disease. Six million Jews died to teach us a lesson. Millions of Germans, otherwise ‘good’ people I suppose, remained silent and watched it happen. These Jews were not killed by rampaging hordes of barbarians. They were clinically murdered by scientists who developed ever more efficient ways to do it. Just like the man in New Zealand who not only killed innocent people but livestreamed his actions.
Social media platforms which don’t get tired of telling you how state-of-the-art their technology is and how it can catch and identify every message, allowed the video of cold-blooded murder, to travel all over the world, unremarked for many hours after it happened and until someone protested about it. When someone can livestream murder of worshippers at prayer you know depravity has sunk to its lowest level. As I said, something is happening.
What is that something?
That something is the rapid normalization of hate. Hate has suddenly been legitimized and given pride of place. I lived and worked in America and among the things I taught there is the Equal Employment Opportunity Act. The Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972 is the act which gives the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) authority to sue in federal courts when it finds reasonable cause to believe that there has been employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Yet today none other than the President of America himself, mocks, condemns and expresses hatred against Americans and others on all these bases. And apparently that is acceptable. The truth is that hatred has been stoked and nurtured at every level and it is international. That is what we must accept if we want a cure.
Just to recollect; the gunman who killed worshipers in Quebec, Anders Breivik in Norway, Donald Trump’s brazen anti-Muslim rhetoric, Boris Johnson’s vilification of Muslim women, Tommy Robinson, Katie Hopkins, Jayda Fransen, Paul Golding are all given prime time slots on mainstream media and allowed millions of followers on social media. In India, the rise of fascist views has grown in tandem with extremist Hindu groups supporting Trump and attacking Muslims. This is tacitly supported by a total lack of action against the criminals thereby encouraging them to do more. Israel routinely shoots Palestinian men, women and children. No comments. Communist China imprisons, rapes and tortures over a million Uighur Muslims in the name of fighting extremism. Allegedly peace-loving Buddhists of Myanmar, led by the infamous Aung San Suu Kyi, slaughter and dispossess their Rohingya Muslim citizens with impunity. The list is endless, but this will suffice for what I need to say.
Killing and abusing Muslims has always been justified and easily explained. Just as killing Jews was accepted and justified all through Medieval times. The reality is that there were no Syrian or Iraqi or Libyan or Palestinian refugees until America and its allies created them. Most refugees today are escaping the hell that has been created in their homelands by wars and strife foisted on them by nations seeking resources, selling arms and seeking exploitation. In the same breath as demanding peace, Western nations manufacture and sell weapons of mass destruction to the vilest dictators on the planet or use them in their own personal pursuit of commerce and diplomacy through the barrel of a gun. The comment I heard which is ‘stand-up comedy standard’, is what one of the ‘leaders’ said about a sale of F-16’s, ‘It was not meant to be used in combat.’ Well, what else do you use it for? To take your girlfriend to the movies? I recall a poster when JFK was assassinated. It had a picture of a gun in a square frame and the caption, “This is made for one thing only.” At least someone then, spoke the truth.
The point I want to make is not for those individuals, leaders or groups perpetrating these crimes. I am speaking to the vast majority; people who remain silent even though they are well aware of what is happening. That is why I began with my man-eating tiger analogy. Hatred is a man-eater far more voracious than any poor tiger. Hatred is fire and it burns anything in its path. Hatred is fire and the result is always ash. It doesn’t matter why the fire was lit. Whether it was lit as an act of worship or to cook food or keep warm or anything else. It can do only one thing, burn. And the result is always ash. I ask you, is this what you want to bequeath to the world? To your own children?
Some very heartwarming and encouraging reactions to the horrific incident in New Zealand. Overwhelming support from local communities for the victims and their families. Spontaneous outpouring of love and kindness and courage. Thousands of calls to the mosques where people were killed. An unprecedented clear statement of courage by the Prime Minister who called it an ‘Unprecedented premeditated terrorist act.’ I must admit that I was waiting for the usual, ‘stressed out man with personal problems’, definition that is usually used for all white male terrorists. But God Bless her, she said it like it is. Similar statements by the Head of New Zealand Police which is doing an amazing job of bringing the perpetrators to book. No police force in the world can be expected to anticipate and prevent every crime. But every police force in the world can and must investigate crime when it happens and prosecute the criminal and aid the victim. When that is not done, the police are as culpable as the criminal, if not more.
What I want to say to you is this. Get out of denial. There is a change happening in the world and it is the same the world over. Fascism is gaining roots and is being nourished by those who benefit from it. But even more by your silence. Fascism and cowardice are a lethal combination and you will be the casualty. You think your silence and hiding in your hole will save you? It won’t. On the contrary that is what allows fascism to grow ever stronger until the bell tolls for you one day. Pastor Neimoller’s words are, perhaps even more relevant today. “First they came …” is a poem written by the German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984). It is about the cowardice of German intellectuals following the Nazis’ rise to power and subsequent incremental purging of their chosen targets, group after group.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum quotes the following text as one of the many poetic versions of the speech:
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
Yes, it is wonderful when we see good reactions from people after a horrific incident happens. But what we need even more is proactive action. Proactive action by all of us. We need to stand up and speak out. We need to get out of our safe little nests and speak out against those who seek to use hatred to divide us so that they can benefit. We must speak out against all hatred, no matter who it is directed against. Antisemitism is as wrong as Islamophobia or any other form of hatred. Not less or more. But equal. This means it must be condemned equally. Those who seek to promote it must be rejected, lambasted and castigated. Whoever they may be. Without exception.
We must send the snakes of hatred, racism, fascism back into their holes. We must recognize the obscenity of hate speech and be ashamed of it. It is time to speak up. We must show our support for justice, compassion, mutual respect and human dignity at the ballot boxes. We must hold the media accountable for fanning the flames of hatred and for giving hate speakers and xenophobia mongers, public platforms from which to propagate their venomous ideologies. The easiest and most powerful way to bring media to heel is to switch off your TV, cancel your advertisement or subscription for the press. You have the right to choose. Nobody can force you to choose against your will. So, choose. Choose life, dignity, peace, prosperity and economic development. Remember that not one of those will come from killing people, spreading hatred, or supporting fascist agendas of self-serving leaders.
For how long the denial? We are going back towards fascism. It’s the Muslims today but really it is all of us. If we don’t fight it, it will consume us and then we’ll have only ourselves to blame. Islamophobia is Xenophobia, is fascism, is racism; the blatant hijacking of society by a few because the majority are too lazy to speak up and stand for what they know to be right. I don’t want to be among them. I will speak and I will stand up. Even if I am alone. Especially if I am alone.
If you don’t want to burn, help to put out the fire. It is as simple as that.
