Pages

Sunday, March 6, 2011

The Spark of Revolution

Revolution has really become a buzz word. When we utter this “R” word then our grey cells are forced to think about Karl Marx or French revolution. The source of current wave of upheaval in the Arab landscape seems to be a road side vendor. All this started when his vegetable cart was confiscated by the police and the reason cited is he did not have a license to run that business in Tunisia. This deprived him from his only source of income and subsequent persecution by the officialdom made him to self immolate. In a country where most of the people are languishing, the top brass stays unfazed and spends time in the most luxurious resorts. They ensured fruits of all business contracts or the MOU’s signed with other countries reached their kith and kin. seems to be worst of tyrannies. There were times it was thought that revolution is only a thing of the nascent days of industrial revolution or the early half of 20th century, but what we see here is truly an example of dialectism what Karl Marx envisaged, may be a century ago. Most experts say that this is no one’s revolution but the one of a common man, meaning which no body did spearhead this, but the people on their own.  You name any dictator (some may under the garb of presidency) in the Maghreb or in the African continent most of them are perfect realists in its true Hobbesian sense. There will be genocides for money or power and also to establish the supremacy of the two great religions (Islam and Christianity) as is case of Sudan. Though the Tunisians were successful in showing the door to the malevolent dictator who ruled for decades, we need to see whether the other brothers of them would be successful from relieving themselves from the clutches of their arrogant dictators or aristocrats or monarchs.



As I right this already Egypt was successful in its revolution and many country’s leaders in Maghreb are in deep trouble, the case in point is Qadhaffi’s Libya.
The champions of democracy USA and select few European countries are known for their selective application of International principles and laws would definitely make sure that their permanent interests are not affected in the midst as Israel worried on Egypt’s liberation from Mubarak. The indigenous right wing tried to claim their share in the victory as Muslim Brotherhood did in Egypt by they were largely ignored. The revolution out of sheer frustration. Though it is broadly agreed that the law is the supreme command of a sovereign as per Austin, when leaders don’t respond and does not understand the needs of the populace this is deemed to happen. I know we cannot forget Charles Julius Guiteau who assassinated President James Garfield due to the frustration rose from the unemployment in the 19th century in USA. As USA is a liberal  democrat they could meet the challenge through passing legislation there by abolishing the patronage system in the federal services. But the Arab world is different. Highly riddled by the religious fanatics, mass unemployment, and illiteracy are some of the problems to quote. 

Thanks to the liquid gold other wise I cant imagine living in these deserts. The realists who took the reigns of the power are not reasonable at all and continue to be unreasonable. Next to Tunisia and Egypt we have Jordan, Syria, Bahrain, Qatar and don’t forget Libya is waiting to be liberated. All this inspires the mortals of suppressed civilizations/societies to demand better lives and social justice and fundamental rights from their masters. Let this be in the extreme east or Africa or Maghreb.

 Can’t we have a revolution in India to relieve ourselves from the yoke of kleptocracy?

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Killer Seas - On Indian Fishermen Killing


Recently I have watched the movie Hostel in which a bunch of sick people kill their fellow human beings to relieve from stress or as an act of hobby (This is a must watch movie). Killing Tamil fishermen by srilankan navy (as it is alleged) is an act similar to the sick people in Hostel movie. When we talk about genocides of our time we only think about Hitler’s massacre. Being right wing is not wrong, the Sinhalese might have their own reasons why they want to consider Tamils as sub-humans but we are living in a world which is a liberal democrat and we are expected to honor human rights. The British (for that matter even missionaries) played their card by playing the divisive politics to further their own agenda. Between Sinhalese and Tamils we have a strong genetic link as we are from the same part of sub-continent. There is a theory which confirms that Sinhalese only inhabitated Ceylon only 100 years before the Tamils have set their foot so tamils are not aliens in srilanka.Month on Month we have a significant number of people getting killed by the srilankan navy as a result governments(centre and state) in India cries foul and for some time there is a truce and again the killing resumes.

Historically Indian government’s response was really pathetic on instances of this kind. Jayalalitha former CM of TN commented that citizens of such a mighty country like India which has a powerful military are killed by a tiny country like Srilanka is really unacceptable and in these circumstances if the PM does not know what to do he should quit. Her demand is convincing. This time there seems to be sudden interest may be because it is an election time in TN and the centre wants to show that they are defending their country men by sending the foreign secretary to Colombo and taking few series of measures which would project that GOI (government of India) is serious. But no body knows about results of the actions and steps which were taken already when similar incidents happened in the past. It is a matter of envy to any sovereign country when China showed its strong protest with Japan as its citizen was arrested on Diaoyu Island issue. China went on to suspend the export of rare earth. Not surprisingly Srilanka denies its Navy’s involvement in the killing of Indian fishermen and says it has ordered for the enquiry and we hope the report is out before the state elections in TN or at least after the elections. In India especially in TN this is mostly seen as an election issue, which is a black spot on the Indian democracy. When a fisherman of srilankan origin runs in to Indian waters we never kill them but follow the internationally acceptable legal/diplomatic process like deporting to their home land and/or trying them in a court of law which never happens in Srilanka.

India through its mighty soft power should compel this tiny nation to follow these acceptable procedures instead of exhibiting its behavior which is akin to racism. Politicians in TN assert that giving away the Katchatheevu in Palk Strait is an act of foolishness and reclaiming this territory is one great step towards solving the problem of fishermen killing. All rhetoric will sound like babble unless concrete steps are taken to solve this problem.

We can constitute a joint force of both the navies and monitor the troubled waters and identify the root causes. Also appoint a tribunal to try these cases of excursions as this will instill confidence especially to the Indian populace. Above all the governments of centre and state must pursue Srilanka to take effective steps to end this barbarian act of killing people of another sovereign simply because they have unknowingly crossed the international maritime border while fishing.