Such events don’t take place in a vacuum but within the context of a well-orchestrated and sophisticated campaign
ISLAMABAD: When the Black Plague ravaged Europe in the middle of the 14th century, killing one-third of the continent’s population, rumours emerged that the Jewish people were poisoning wells to spread the disease. About 600 years later, Hitler’s Nazi Party characterised typhus, an infectious disease caused by flea bites, as the Jewish plague. Through this idea he introduced delousing baths which later became gas chambers in which millions of Jews were killed.
The current viral pandemic has replaced the Jews with the Muslims as the world’s most scapegoated religious minority. This clearly demonstrates how anti-Semitism and Islamophobia remain inextricably tied. Modi’s fascist government has continuously blamed Muslims for deliberately spreading the virus in India because of which many of his followers believe that Muslims are the reason for the emergence of this newfound virus.
Such events don’t take place in a vacuum but within the context of a well-orchestrated and sophisticated campaign. In the case of India, international organisations need to step up and stop this humanitarian crisis before it’s too late.
Sehrish Khan
Published in The Express Tribune, May 13th, 2020.
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