A Fatal accident

We have gone sick following a path of unquestioned faith, trammeled culture and artificial boundaries. We are working in the wrong direction. We are still trying to solve the problem politically. It was a good system, I would say, a thousand years back. All over our country this system is collapsing. Caste-ism has been tearing us apart for years.  Casteism can be defined as the fatal accident of birth. The roots of this problem lie way back in our history. It was initially a social structure which categorized the population according to the work done in a Pagan society. Gradually these structure were incorporated to fundamentalist ideologies which categorized the population as per caste.This system thrives in Power Vacuum and our ignorance. The revised constitution which banned untouchablity did not create the social revolution it meant to initiate.  For centuries, caste dictated almost every aspect of Hindu religious and social life, with each group occupying a specific place in this complex hierarchy. 

Anyone who dares to challenge this is accused! “You’re a dreamer. A Utopian. A damn communist” This Rigid structure was followed for decades without much resistance. The oppressed were so unaware of their rights and their delusion was manipulated by the clergy and the so called “Upper Caste”. Their lack of political voice kept the oppressor in power. What’s more sickening is when the state acts as the enforcing arm of the fundamentalist culture. Different political parties which call themselves as “liberal and progressive” have tried and failed to irradicate this system for decades. Gandhi who considered untouchablity merely as a flaw in the system of Hinduism is considered “Father of our nation”. Nobody noticed the fact that he was cowardly and a part of the problem. The last resort for the deconstruction of this social structure is a resistance from within a system. It is technically impossible to liberate a person who is not aware of the chains around his neck.They will live and die inside this social structures unless they wake up. So the first step is to enlighten the so called “Lower Caste” with secular and rational ideologies. An enlightenment about individualism always leads to a cultural revolution. An enlightened individual will be less prone to manipulation from culture illusion. In the past few decades our country has witnessed a lot of resistance against this social structure which even included violence against the government and clergy. What do all these occurrences have in common? It signifies a rejection to archaic values. The society is trying to cure itself through an archaic revival. We had eradicated this system once (during the Mughal Era) and if we did that once we can do it again.We simply have to turn our back against a culture which we had no role in making. How did we get to this point where half of our people are living in isolation and the other half is living under the chains of culture and religion. How can we call ourselves united and secular when our country is divided in too many fronts?

Together we must eliminate social elitism. We must declare Earth as a common heritage of all the world’s people. I’m not denying the existence of God, but I am denying the dictatorship of religion on our individualism. The Dalits have lost their homes, their jobs, their confidence and their hope in the elect, which is a good thing I would say because now they are open to new ideas. There is nothing as powerful and self transforming as an idea. A storm is coming and there may be no blood spilled. The authorities are equipped with unimaginable Power, Politics don’t trigger change anymore because our society is desensitized and afraid to stand up. The problem with all the anti caste moments in India is that none aims at the structure itself. We try to mend the broken system based on ancient ideals. We are too scared to address the elephant in the room. We are too scared to question the ones who are hiding behind the doors of fundamentalist religion and culture , because we may be called unholy, a naxalite or an Anti National.  We should stand up and shout the blasphemous truth. Many of our cultural databases such as the Manusmrithi is responsible for most of the crimes against the lower caste. The dying caste system was shocked back to life by the Right Wing politicians. If we are not going to stand up and take a stand against this today, tomorrow we may be dragged outside our house because we may have opposing views. We put a rover on Mars but fail to treat our citizens as humans. We can reverse this oppressive phenomenon. We are mortal finite beings. We need to take responsibility for ourself and stop waiting for revival from higher deities. Having invented the Gods, we can turn into them. We can make a mark in history, we can reverse this whole filthy inhuman system that treats human beings like dirt.

Any identity between maternity and crematorium is delusional.  We should be who we are without needing to interpret ourself to ‘yourself’ or others.  Man is a little germ that revolves around a fireball. If you think about this fact there would literally be no discrimination in our society. These artificial construct of delusion of your false self has strengthened the ground of the clergy and the corrupt state. Trying to reverse this social system by political means is not possible anymore because the whole system is biased. The only way to take out the system is by substituting the ancient ideologies with rational and secular ones. We were all born into cultures we had no role in creating and we are forced to pass it on to our offspring. The fact that we are so delusional about the chains is what keeps the oppressor going. We are so unaware of every horrible thing done to us. They took our right to self explore and be ourself. They keep pushing and molding us into their archaic cultures and values. And they will keep doing this till we, you and I, finally wake up.

-Akhil George

The Democratic Holocaust

Erdogan is destroying the secular democracy the Turks once defended. A Sectarian Government headed by a dictator which can’t protect its borders or an authoritarian but secular coup? These are the only two options available.The coup unlike represented by the western media, stood for liberal and secular ideals. The uprising rose out of the fierce oppression of Erdogan. The western media manipulates its viewers and represents the sectarian fascist government as the protector of democratic freedom. The government which has put a ban on all public sphere activities is seen as the protector of democracy. The government propagates that the ‘coup’ was orchestrated by the exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen. This is very unlikely because they were the ones who declared Turkey secular. Erdogan has reignited a civil war with Kurdish rebels in south-east Turkey, and the arrests of so many senior officers, including the most senior general in that region, will logically hamper the Turkish state’s ability to stamp out Kurdish dissent.
Erdogan is destroying the very democracy he claims to have saved. He declared a state of emergency for the next three months and is an advocate of the death penalty.The state of emergency gives Erdogan the power to pass laws and suspend civil rights without going through the tortuous business of winning parliamentary approval. There is a government backed purging happening in Turkey even now. Failed coups typically do turn into successful purge Around 6,000 military personnels have been arrested; thousands more policemen, prosecutors and judges have been suspended. So have academics, teachers and civil servants. These men had little to do with the coup. His government is using this opportunity to structurally manipulate the democracy to an autocratic machine. He is using the aborted coup to wage an indiscriminate crackdown on his opposition. The government targeted  the Association of Judges, Prosecutars, and a secular group that criticized a recent judicial law drafted by Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted AK Party. As a cheerleader to the overthrow of Syria’s president, Bashhar, he has turned a blind eye to the spread of militants and radical Islam through Turkey.
Erdogan authorized the closure of 1,229 charities and foundations, 1,043 private schools, 35 medical institutions, 19 trade unions, and 15 universities. He claims that these institutions were under the self exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen. Over the past week Turkish authorities have aggressively tortured people in the Turkish judiciary, education system, military, and police departments, targeting secularists. In his decree, Erdogan extended the questioning period to a maximum of 30 days from the initial four days the period in which some suspects can be detained. Now the government has immense power to arrest anyone and everyone without a valid reason and keep them locked up for a month. The only other country which followed this means of questioning is Nazi Germany. The sheer volume of opposition, clergy, teachers lawyers and Prosecutars affected, and the fact that the purge extends far beyond the accused suggest that the crackdown is being used not just to capture those directly involved in the coup, but also to sideline anyone who represents any kind of threat to Erdoğans autocratic rule. The Coup just gave him a blank cheque to disregard the rule of law. The fact that he narrowly escaped death is open to interpretation. His plane was locked on by two F16s but surprisingly both didn’t fire. This gives a clear base to all the conspiracies. The only individual who has benefitted by this failed coup attempt is Erdogan. Now that his fascist dictatorship is acknowledged as democracy around the world, it gives him more power and influence on his people. He is amending the law to make sure that no other party except his will ever be in power.

Is a dictatorship hidden under the skin of democracy really better than a military coup?

You decide.

-Akhil George

The New Red Sea?

​Nothing sells papers like a good conflict. The latest all-out brawl to capture media attention on a global scale is the dispute over China’s “Nine Dash Line”. With almost all the south East Asian nations (and the decidedly non-southeast Asian nation of USA) engaging in military and diplomatic manoeuvres, tensions are on the rise in the region.

The beginnings of the conflict can be traced back through years.

In 2009, the Pentagon reported “increasingly aggressive acts” being engaged in by the Chinese navy. A few days later, a US ship sailing off the coast of the island of Hainan was shadowed by vessels from China. The American sailors attempted to drive them away by blasting them with firehoses but the Chinese retaliated by stripping down to their undies. In what may be the understatement of the century, the Pentagon called this a “bizarre incident”.

Conflict with the Philippines began in 2012 when a Chinese vessel engaged in a standoff with a Philippine warship off the coast of Scarborough Shoal. Though the standoff was eventually dispersed, the divide caused by it was not.

The facts are, parts of the sea fall under the territorial waters of multiple countries like Vietnam, Taiwan, Philippines etc. China on the other hand, claims historical rights to the entire region on the basis of certain “archaeological finds”. Coincidentally all the countries involved in the dispute have their own archaeological finds that prove their claims. In the midst of all this is the role of the US. If one were to believe the reports of mainstream media, the South China Sea is building into an imminent war zone with China and the US engaging in a new Cold War; the nine dash line being the new Cuban embargo.

This theory has massive failings. For one thing, in its present financial situation, the US cannot afford a war with China. With the ever-present threat of the IS, the American army cannot split focus and deal with a War on China along with the War on Terror. Also China would have no wish to engage in a pointless war with its trade partners; especially while it is slowly gathering strength through diplomatic alliances with other South Asian nations.

So what is the ground reality here?

The South China Sea or; as the Philippines calls it, the West Philippine Sea is rich in natural reserves including… you guessed it: oil. 

This more or less explains America’s avid interest in the matter as well as why China is willing to risk International sanctions to claim the territory. The move is not that different from when Russia planted a flag under the North Pole to stake a claim to the Arctic.

In January 2013, Philippines declared that it would seek justice under the UN-sanctioned convention on the Laws of the Sea. This is what eventually led to the recent verdict by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. China however rejected the jurisdiction of the court and refused to even defend itself.

However in point of fact, the PCA is not a body that works under the UN. It is an organiser of tribunals working under the provisions of the Hague Peace Conference. Unlike, say the International Court of Justice, the PCA has only advisory powers and cannot directly enforce its rulings. It can tell countries that what they are doing is wrong but it depends on the inherent goodness of a civilised nation and its willingness to keep its oath to the Hague Peace Conference to ensure that they stop doing the said offense. It does not account for a situation where a country simply refuses to comply.

So it all comes down to the fact that the PCA has no power to enforce its verdict. It depends on the involved parties’ willingness to abide by the rules. With China practically telling the Court to piss off, we’re given one more example of why the honour system never works.

To get a better idea of this issue, we talked to a few people from the region. No one from China was available for comment because, let’s face it, it’s China.

A university student from the Philippines had this to say: “This may be biased but I think China should give it up. I mean it’s been decided by the tribunal already. And no matter how hard they resist, they can’t deny the fact that it’s really ours. Though our gov’t plans on a joint exploration to “prevent war”, PH media is practically celebrating the victory.”

A slightly differing view was provided by an Australian student: “What I’ve seen here is that the Philippines have initiated the tribunals unilaterally which essentially means that only the Philippines have consented to the Tribunal with China refusing to acknowledge any foreign rulings as per Chinese State and Foreign Policy. Essentially speaking, the whole tribunal was pointless seeing as it cannot be enforced by any other country upon China…however, the majority of China’s allies and trade partners are pushing China to accept the ruling and this includes the US and Australia.”

A high school student from the Philippines summed up the issue like this: “Why now would they want to claim it if it was really theirs? It could just be some excuse they made up because the oceans surrounding them are not as abundant as ours. The government did their absolute best to claim this territory of ours with evidences… after winning the territory over, they said they didn’t want to start a war, but their actions really prove otherwise with all the celebrating and all. The media hasn’t been the slightest helpful in trying to make peace with China, because of their silly comics and memes that boasts the defeat of China. People today are very difficult to control, so making them act properly in terms of political affairs are far from happening since Filipinos do tend to get too ecstatic when they have great successes over other countries. Which is understandable too because the Philippines has been seen as a negative country at times. But either way, it is really not how the citizens should act. I think the tension between the two countries should be a priority, since it might affect the lives of OFWs that are in China. And because of the economical strain this might put the Philippines in, since that means one less of a trading partner.”

Indeed China is the Philippines’ third largest trading partner and it cannot afford to engage in an all-out conflict with it, a fact Beijing knows very well. The issue is practically still at square one with China declaring sovereignty of the entire sea but being unable to enforce said supremacy without risking international trade sanctions and the other countries refusing to give up their rights while being unable to sever ties with China.

The stand-off continues…

Change We Need

By Saransh Gokhale

This was something I wrote about when I was in school, but back then it was just for the sake of submissions. But in the time that has passed since then, with the experiences I gained in it, I feel like touching on this topic again.
Change is, in the true sense, the only ‘Constant’, which levels everything, everybody, everywhere. It is impossible to avoid change, but imperative to influence it. So what change do we need right now?
First comes the change we need on the global scale. We need to stop the environment’s devastation, which is already beyond repair, before it devastates us. Polar caps are melting, climate change is wrecking havoc in all parts of the world, and death tolls related to weather is touching millions annually. What are we doing to stop this, to revert this? Frankly speaking, too little- compared to the catastrophic effects we’ll soon face. While the Earth keeps heating up, we are still busy debating whether renewable energies are necessary. The snail-pace with which we’re effecting change is not going to save us- drastic times call for drastic measures and, we need them, fast.

The other major global crisis we’re facing is terrorism. Every day, hundreds of innocents are killed by radicals. Such terrorists deserve no mercy. They deserve no ‘Human rights’, because their inhuman acts deprive them of ANY rights. Every terrorist should be severely dealt with, instead of spending millions on keeping them safe and alive in prisons. Change is vital here too, before the terrorists get their hands on some nukes and bomb us down. They need to get the message loud and clear, that if they’re bad, we’re worse.
Next comes the national scale. We need to reform our democracy. Sure, it’s the largest democracy in the world, but is it REALLY a democracy anymore? Is it really a people’s rule, or is it being ruled by politicians who either aren’t interested in speaking out, or who dare not speak out. Take the example of a chief of a prominent cultural group, who recently dared to speak out about the need to review reservation, but was criticized for saying so during the Bihar elections. I mean, are the people so gullible that the freebies they get from their quotas are more important for them than the core values of democracy such as equality and social and national development? We need our people to behave like citizens of a true democratic nation- a nation where people don’t just have power, but also have responsibilities. We need to think about our national good, and not about petty divisions such as caste. Think for a while, or longer, are the reservations really PROMOTING equality or DESTROYING it? Isn’t reservation actually promoting discrimination by discriminating between various castes and tribes, when they aren’t even valid anymore? We, as the educated citizens of our nation, need to think about this.
Lastly, comes change at an individual level. This is the most important change which has to take place. No change can take place if we don’t change individually. We need to change our priorities. Earth before India, India before state- simple. We need to change the role that religion plays in our life. Instead of letting religion divide people, as is the case now, we need to turn things around and let the concept of peace, which is common to all religions, unite us.  “What do we want?” This question should always rule our mind. Being collectively selfish in this way is necessary, because it will foster brotherhood and unity, which will lead to prosperity.
“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.

Barack Obama”
Now, this was a new endeavor for me, and for that I’d like to thank Proffensive, who inspired me to join their blog. Please do share all your reviews in the comments. Thank you

1857- An Alternative Approach

The year is 1857. India is 90 years away from awakening to “life and freedom”. The nation is revolting. What began as a fight for religion has turned into a full-fledged war for independence. 82-year-old Bahadur Shah Zafar has been declared the Emperor of India. And against all odds, the rebels have managed to shake the very foundation of British Raj in India.
These are facts that every Indian student grows up reading in history textbooks, often followed by the section, “Reasons for Failure of Revolt”. Fate was unkind to the Brave men and women who participated in the revolt and the blood that they shed went in vain. But the very nature of history encourages the learner to ask the age-old question… What if?
What if the revolt hadn’t been unsuccessful? What if the British had left India in 1857? What if Bahadur Shah Zafar had become the ruler of India? What if India had redeemed her pledge long years before she made her tryst with destiny? It’s unlikely that I, or anyone else for that matter would be able to give a perfectly accurate answer to these questions, but today, when one reaps the fruits of democracy, one can’t help but wonder if these fruits would have tasted quite the same if the revolt had achieved its goals.
The India that gained independence in 1947 was led by a Prime Minister with a vision and his ministry which consisted of great, learned men who knew exactly what was right for the new-born nation. But, in a scenario where the nation was divided into provinces, with each province having a Dynasty of rulers of its own, a strong centralised leadership can hardly be expected. Especially when the commonly recognised “Emperor” was an old man on the verge of death, with no youthful exuberance left in him. With the idea of a nation-state being a long drawn out process, which had only just begun, and the formation of the Indian National Congress still a good 28 years away, it is only fair to believe that democracy at the time was out of the question. So monarchy it is! But who then would succeed Bahadur Shah Zafar? Maybe the 18th Mughal emperor! But if history has taught us anything, it is that Monarchs have a tendency to be oppressive. So then the baton of oppression would only change hands from the British to the Monarch. Well.. as long as it’s not a foreign power doing the oppressing, some might argue.
Fast forward to 1915, when a lawyer from Porbandar, Gujarat returns home after spending many years fighting against the oppression of Indians in South Africa. Mind you the India he returns to is nothing like the India portrayed by Richard Attenborough. It is ruled by a Mughal emperor and not by the British. And since the Indian Civil Service was never established, A.O. Hume never got the chance to create the Indian National Congress. The Bombay that Gandhi returned to had no ‘Gateway of India’, for King George V never visited India. The Jana Gana Mana had never been composed, and it’s maker never won a Nobel Prize. Jawaharlal Nehru was a name unheard of and Mohd Ali Jinnah was just yet another lawyer. Gandhi, of course, still received a hero’s welcome for his achievements in South Africa. Whether or not the plight of the Indians under the Monarch would have driven Gandhi the way it did under the British, one can only speculate. Maybe he’d have formed a Congress of his own, with young Nehru and Patel as his close associates. Maybe he would have started a Nepal-like revolution in India to overthrow the Monarch. It has to be noted that many of his symbolisms, such as the charkha would have lost its significance in the absence of the British. But who knows, maybe this time, Gandhi would have actually won a Nobel Prize!
The abolition of Sati in 1829 led to large levels of discontentment amongst the orthodox Hindus in India. But after independence, the constitution makers guaranteed that the evil practice remained abolished. But with a largely orthodox Hindu population, and weak leadership at the centre, it was only a matter of time before sati was reinstated into the system. And so it goes with many other social evils. It’s in times like these that one truly understands the need for a constitution.
No talk on the freedom struggle of India is complete without a mention of Subhash Chandra Bose and his Azad Hind Fauj. An India, free from British rule, never would have felt the need for the creation of an army to oppose the imperialists in a world war. This would mean no direct involvement by any Indian in favour of Hitler and the Axis powers. What it also means is that Subhash Chandra Bose would have been an ordinary man, dying, in all probability, a very ordinary death. The greatest mystery in the history of modern India, ceases to exist. What now would the media obsess over!
The word ‘independence’ in India, cannot be used independently from the word ‘partition’. Even today, when one hears of independence, one is reminded, instantly, of the horrors of partition. All of this misery and bloodshed could have been avoided if India had attained independence in 1857. Pakistan would still have been an integral part of India, thus allowing us to avoid the wars of 1965, 1971 and the Kargil war. It would also mean, a larger political boundary for India, with greater cultural diversity from both the Northwest and the eastern parts of India. Even from a sports lover’s point of view, it would have been glorious. Imagine a cricket team with Indian batsmen and Pakistani bowlers playing together!
The idea of a successful revolt seems to have a fair share of both perks and flaws. On the one hand, we would have been freed from what was otherwise another century of oppression. The economy wouldn’t decline to irreparable lows. And the soul of the nation wouldn’t have taken as long as it did, to find utterance. On the other hand, the large amounts of tourism revenue that the government earns out of British architecture and monuments that were built in the early 20th century, is definitely worth being thankful for. Hotels, such as the Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai continue to be a source of pride for Indians even today. Also, the freedom struggle gave the youngsters of this nation many great heroes to look up to. Even today, on reading about the Gandhian freedom struggle, each one of us is filled with a sense of patriotism, which the revolt of 1857 failed to achieve, because of the selfish nature of the struggle. After all, the likes of Nehru fighting for India is always more likely to generate patriotism than the likes of Rani Laxmi Bai fighting for Jhansi!
It would be foolish to believe that had India obtained independence in 1857, we would still be living in a monarchy. Over the years, many nations across the globe have managed to revolutionise their political systems, including some of the neighbouring nations of India like Nepal and Myanmar. It would have been just a matter of time before India achieved democracy in every sense of the word.
Over the years, methods of looking into alternative history have faced staunch criticism for its very apparent inaccuracies. But man’s fascination towards history goes beyond what mere facts and figures can convey and his curiosity towards the subject will only ensure that he ponders, not just on what was, but also on what could have been. At the end of the day, we are all just admirers of this great subject, looking to expand our horizons!

-Aadarsh Vasudevan