Powerful world leaders from India to US embark on outrageous lies to keep people divided and submissive

By Fr Cedric Prakash sj*
Christmas Season is a time for gift-giving; that New Year’s Day falls bang in the midst of it, adds to the significance of the season. In welcoming and celebrating the first day of 2017, there are eight wonderful gifts, one should give to oneself and to others today and for every day of the year. These are:

Gift of Peace
It is a much-needed and perhaps the best gift we can give ourselves and to each other this Christmas. Real peace is a vibrant, living and tangible one.
It is not the peace of the graveyard, but the peace which ordinary people can experience in the marketplace, in a crowded railway station, in a shopping mall, in a place of worship in a discotheque- yes everywhere where they can rub shoulders with one another and create space for the other, irrelevant of the colour of one’s skin of or one’s ethnicity or religion or caste or class The peace of equality and dignity.
The first message which the angels give to ordinary shepherds whilst heralding the birth of Jesus is “Peace on Earth: to all men and women of goodwill!” Today is the World Day of Peace and we pray for the gift of Peace for all!
Gift of Nonviolence
On this World Day of Peace, Pope Francis has given the world a very relevant theme to reflect and act upon ‘Nonviolence: A Style of Politics for Peace’. In his message he emphatically says that, “violence is not the cure for our broken world.”
Pope Francis also reminds us of icons of nonviolence and peace like Mahatma Gandhi, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, Leymah Gbowee and the thousands of Liberian women – all of them deserving of emulation. It is certainly not easy to be nonviolent in a world that seems to have institutionalised violence. The most prized gifts for little children at Christmas are toy guns and violent video games.
We easily blame ‘terrorists’, conveniently forgetting those who profit in manufacturing and peddling arms and ammunition to every side in a war. We have seen enough of violence in this past year (last night a New Year’s party in Istanbul was attacked killing almost forty revellers), wars and conflicts at every level: countries at war, civil wars and domestic violence. Nonviolence is the gift we need for a meaningful and lasting peace.
Gift of Justice
Much of the conflicts in today's world are because of injustices meted out to particular sections of society. Deprivations, exploitation, human rights violations abound everywhere. We generally don’t seem to care about them –as long as we are not affected! Just a few days ago, a UN Security Council resolution on the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, has been totally disregarded, even as most countries of the world support the Palestinian cause.
Then we have the UN Climate Change Conferences which have resulted in the ‘Paris Agreement’ and which today has been signed by 194 countries. However, in a deplorable U-turn some countries feel that they can no longer be held responsible for the climate changes the world has been subjected to. Human rights defenders, the world over, have become soft targets for the powerful. We need to be united and resolute, wherever we are, in fighting injustices. We need to gift ourselves with a more just world!
Gift of Truth
The so-called ‘powerful leaders’ of our world embark on outrageous lies to keep people divided, submissive and subjugated We experience it happening all the time: from India to the United States! In India, these myths, half-truths and preposterous reasoning have been given a new name ‘fekuisms’. During the time of Hitler, the underlying principle was “repeat a lie a thousand times and it becomes the truth”; something which his propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels mastered to perfection.
The propagation of untruth is today regarded as ‘Goebbelsian’. A large section of the media today is corporatised, bought up or just kotows to the ideology of vested interests. Mahatma Gandhi together with his doctrine of nonviolence (ahimsa) was also adamant on ‘the force of truth’(satyagraha), Truth seekers and whistle-blowers are hounded and done away with. Our world desperately needs to mainstream truth as never before!
Gift of Liberty
Martin Luther King Jr. reminds us that “a piece of freedom is no longer enough for human beings...unlike bread, a slice of liberty does not finish hunger. Freedom is like life. It cannot be had in installments. Freedom is indivisible--we have it all, or we are not free!”. People everywhere continue to be denied their liberty: millions forcibly displaced: child- labourers robbed of their childhood; women dominated and oppressed by patriarchy; higher castes enslaving those below them; the many in prisons without a fair trial; migrant workers tied up in feudal systems- the list is endless!
Then there is ‘fear’ – which grips so many in society today. We label the ‘other’ so easily; we become suspicious of their dress or the language they speak! Liberty is a priceless gift and we need to reflect it in our attitudes, in the way we treat and reach out to others.
Gift of Joy
We celebrate today the feast of Mary Mother of God and we are reminded how Mary kept " all things in her heart”. The sublime joy of Mary, a mother and our Mother, as she looks upon her son Jesus. True joy is something internal and deeply spiritual. There are of course the external manifestations of celebration: as the clock struck twelve last nights, there were fireworks and shouting, the honking of cars and the hooting of trumpets from Tonga to Samoa, over a twenty-two hours’ period.
All were certainly happy to say ‘goodbye’ to one year and ‘welcome’ the other. The fact is that external manifestations of joy however necessary, are short-lived. The world cries for the simple joys of life: the ability to spend time with the poor and the excluded; the orphan and the old; the sick and the lonely. To reach out to another in silent, hidden, unassuming ways. The gentle touch, the warm embrace! We all need to experience that real joy and to share it with others every day of 2017!
Gift of Love
Joy which brings fulfilment, is also love which is tangible. Many in our world today have become pawns to the venom spewed out by our so-called ‘leaders’ who spare no efforts in making their hate and divisive agenda reach every corner of their constituency. They easily discriminate against the vulnerable; use the most derogative language; talk about building walls and have no qualms of conscience in being ready to unleash a nuclear war.
The world urgently needs the soothing balm of love: to touch, to heal, to make whole again. The love that means, compassion and mercy; that demonstrates reconciliation and forgiveness. It is the basic tenet of every major faith of this world. Love, we know, never fails. It is a fool-proof way to negate the blood and the hate that has spilt everywhere. Love indeed is the greatest of gifts-and has to be manifested in deeds!
Gift of Change
Today at the helm of the United Nations we have a new Secretary General, Antonio Guterres; the world looks forward to his stewardship with much expectation. Ban Ki- moon who has just laid down office after ten years, certainly did a great job in the face of many difficulties and hostilities Guterres brings to his office a hands on experience of dealing with refugees and displaced persons as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees for almost ten years, earlier.
The world certainly needs change at every level; but we all need change for the better. It does not matter who we are, what we do or the position and the power we hold- what will ultimately triumph is our belief that we can contribute positively to our world. We need to be the change we want to see- very specially in the small, simple, ordinary things of daily life.
Above all, as we enter the New Year 2017, we need to have the courage to gift ourselves with peace, nonviolence, justice, truth, liberty, joy, love and change and the humility to share it with others!
---
*Advocacy & Communications, Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), MENA Region, Beirut

Comments

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Examples of support to Hindu temples, scriptures, saints by 'Muslim' rulers galore

Siya Ram coin issued by Akbar By Bharat Dogra* At a time when the country as well as the world are passing through very difficult times leading to more urgent need for strengthening national unity for meeting several big challenges ahead, unfortunately disputes relating to religious places have been allowed to raise their ugly head once again. It is well-realized by now by many people that it is not historical facts but narrow considerations of political gain and spreading of fanatic ideas of intolerance which are behind such mischief, but due to the increasing threat of mob violence and patronage available at higher levels to groups spreading intolerance many people are reluctant to openly and fearlessly express their views. Hence there is urgent need for broad-based peace committees with wider social support to spread the message of communal harmony and to appeal against the dangers of spreading false messages regarding places of worship which can ultimate

Gyanvapi case: Use of 'illegal' lawfare to keep the communal pot simmering

By Venkatesh Narayanan, Bobby Ramakant, Manoj Sarang* With a steady drumbeat of bad news for the lives of ordinary citizens -- inflation at a multi-year high , rupee at an all-time low , negative job creation and when all forward indicators as seen by industry leaders point to recessionary clouds on the horizon , what’s a serially-incompetent government to do? Dust out their time-tested-citizen-distraction playbook. The Gyanvapi-Masjid case is all of this -- as a weapon of mass distraction. This zeitgeist of our times is best captured by a recent opinion piece : "The idea is to keep the pot on a perpetual boil, simmering at the top, whirling feverishly beneath. A restless society forever living precariously on the precipice arouses distrst, uneasiness, fear and discomfort, That is a toxic panoply for manufacturing rage, which can then be effortlessly mobilized at short notice. BJP is creating an eco-system of real-time instant delivery of hate-mongers. That is how we are sudde

Targeting mosques, churches: 'Roadmap' for 2025, RSS' centenary year?

416 years old Our Lady of Health Church, Sancoale, Goa By Fr Cedric Prakash SJ* Fascists use manipulative strategies aimed at whipping up sympathy and support from the majority community, to which they normally ‘belong’. They do so in a variety of insidious and subtle ways. In the past few months, they have gone overboard in their efforts to denigrate and demonize minorities in India, particularly Muslims and Christians. They have spewed hate and divisiveness through their venomous speeches; incited people to violence and have effectively used officialdom to further their vested interests. The results are there for all to see: greater polarisation of the majority community in a country which prided itself for its pluralism and diversity. Their meticulously planned agenda is in order to gain absolute power of the country in the 2024 national elections. More so it is also a roadmap towards 2025 when the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) will complete one hundred years of its existence.

Upholding labour rights, Nehruvian scientific temper, Rajni Patel opposed Emergency

By Harsh Thakor* Rajni Patel, who died 40 years ago, whatever his flaws, had one great quality: his human touch to offer selfless service and ability to galvanise or influence human beings from all walks of life. Few people would ever go out of the way to help someone or serve as selflessly without aim of personal gain. Rajni championed Nehruvian secular ideas and scientific temper. As a master in public relations he revealed utmost humility. As a barrister, he never appeared against the trade unions or workers. A Fabien Socialist he opposed liberal capitalism and radical socialism. Unlike most lawyers, he did not succumb to the lure of amassing wealth. Rajni was born in Sirsa, in Gujarat, on the very day Gandhi set foot on Indian soil, on 9th January, 1915. He gained his baptism through one of Gandhi's speeches calling for the boycott of foreign goods, which was the virtual turning point of his life. Rajni toed Gandhi to organise boycott of foreign goods. Rajni was able to cros

This varsity succumbed to extra-academic mobocracy, 'ignored' Hindutva archives

By Shamsul Islam* Open letter to Sharda University vice-chancellor Sub: Discarding a Question on Linkages of Hindutva with Nazism/Fascism is blatant Academic Dishonesty! Dear Professor Sibaram Khara Saheb, Namaskaar! According to your esteemed University’s portal: “The name of University, 'Sharda' is synonymous to 'Goddess of knowledge and learning-Saraswati'. She is identified with 'veena', an Indian musical instrument and the ‘lotus’, where she resides. The lotus in our logo symbolizes the seat of learning that the University is created for. "Variety of colours signify the variety of disciplines the university offers and the overlap between petals creating new colours demonstrate the ethos of collaboration between students and teachers of different programme, nationality, creed and colour working towards creating new knowledge…the University's cherished mission to provide education beyond boundaries and to facilitate the students and faculty to achie

Whither climate goal? Increasing reliance on coal 'likely to worsen' India's power crisis

By Shankar Sharma* Recent news articles, How to shock-proof India’s power sector and Power minister points finger at states for worsening electricity crisis , have highlighted a few current problems for the ongoing power sector issues as in April 2022. However, there is a lot more to it than a few temporary solutions as indicated in the articles. It should also be emphasised that it is techno-economically impossible to completely shock-proof a highly complex and geographically wide-spread vast power network, such as the one in India, which is only getting more and more complex with the passage of each year due to some irrational policies/ practices in the sector. A business-as-usual (BAU) scenario, wherein more and more of conventional technology power plants, including coal power plants, will be added in the near future, will also necessitate the increased complexity in the integrated national grid, and as a result the instances of power shortage/ disruptions can only escalate for

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

A former Modi ally, Prashant Kishor wanted to enter Congress 'on contract, as trader'

By Anand Sahay* The Congress Party and the election campaigns specialist Prashant Kishor, whose company has done strategic communications for a host of political parties across ideology, should both count themselves lucky that they could not reach an agreement for Kishor to join the party. News reports suggest that the Congress rejected Kishor’s terms. This is not wholly unexpected. People join a party because they are attracted to it, and wish to serve it in any capacity that the party may see fit. But that isn’t Kishor at all. He gave the impression of entering into a contract, as a trader might. If news reports are to be believed, he sought freedom to report directly to party chief Sonia Gandhi, and sought untrammeled control over party communications. When such ideas did not find favour, the consultant withdrew. It is clear he has no particular love for the Congress, and its ideas, ideology and politics. In contrast, look at the key personae in G-23. They

Haven't done a good deed, inner soul is cursing me as sinner: Aurangzeb's last 'will'

Counterview Desk The Tomb of Aurangzeb, the last of the strong Mughal emperors, located in Khuldabad, Aurangabad district, Maharashtra, has this epitaph inscribed on it: "Az tila o nuqreh gar saazand gumbad aghniyaa! Bar mazaar e maa ghareebaan gumbad e gardun bas ast" (the rich may well construct domes of gold and silver on their graves. For the poor folks like me, the sky is enough to shelter my grave).

Counterview

Search This Blog