Aspiring to be like the enemy

It is in the nature of things to adopt the behaviour of the very entity that was fought against, even long after the fight is over. By doing so, the very identity of the opponent is kept alive. Many scientists believe that even the moon was once part of the earth. A massive part of the earth was separated from it after a violent collision with Mars. That massive chunk became the moon. It moved to a certain orbit and started encircling the earth, slowing down the spin of the earth to create a 24-hour rotation, where life as we know it has become possible. The moon keeps the earth stable.

Israel was created for the Jews who had run away from the oppression they were facing all around the world, but especially from Adolf Hitler. The Nazis had subjected them to the worst form of religious intolerance, racial discrimination, a horrible campaign of genocide, and so forth. Today, the descendants of those Jews keep Hitler’s policies and his rationalisation of those campaigns alive in Israel against the Palestinian Muslims. The Palestinians are driven away from their land. They are killed with the most sophisticated war machinery by claiming self-defence against teenage kids with stones in their hands. It would make Hitler fringe.

The Indian Hindus and Muslims struggled hard to gain independence from the British rule because there was one set of rules and laws for the British while a completely separate one for the Indians. And then there were divisions created among the various faiths and sects among the Hindus and Muslims to keep the people divided so as to make it simple for the Brits to rule over them.

India gained independence and promised a secular democracy in their new country where religious tolerance, equal citizenship and pluralism would be some of the ideals upon which the country was founded. However, India today is the face of intolerance where people are beaten to death if they sacrifice a cow or cheer over a Pakistani cricketer performing well. India is home to Hindu supremacism, a kind of religious dogma and religious discrimination that keeps the British ideology alive today.

They may have gained independence but they have lost whatever little liberty they ever had. It is now their own government that is in the business of denying the Indian people’s equal rights. The worst part about the Indian government is that this regime, which is known for its religious discrimination and Hindu supremacy, was elected by an overwhelming majority. It is definitely textbook democracy through ballot. And that is why it is also a more dangerous situation than what the Brits did here decades ago because back then there was a sense that all this was wrong and against the wishes of the people. Today, that sense is absent. An overwhelming majority agrees with this.

The United States gained independence from the British and created a country where all white men would have equal rights and religion would not define the country’s identity. Most importantly, through the centuries, America has evolved into a country where people have liberty from their government and have the power to choose their own government.

Those very rights, however, are not accorded to many people around the world, thanks to the direct and indirect role played by the US. America deters democracy abroad. People in many countries cannot vote, and in many places even if there is a ballot, there is no guarantee of a free and fair election. Many countries do not have a free press. In many countries, which I can’t name due to limited space, religious discrimination is the norm. And all of these liberties are absent in various countries particularly because the US prefers a certain leader or a regime, which gives the local rulers a licence to rule as they please, while America looks the other way. I am sure many can relate to this.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 25^th, 2022.

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