As the public goes into collective amnesia, ably helped by those who control the daily narrative, we become silent enablers of the advancing fascist era. There is actually no neutral stand in extraordinary times like these.
JAMESMON PC OFM
Lest, We Forget...
hey are still there at the border, protesting on our behalf. The public narrative is being cleverly managed by the compromised media, so that we forget at the end even the reason for the farmers’ protest in the first place. This public amnesia is a curse that we are collectively responsible for. This weakness of the nature of public memory is gleefully celebrated by most of the mainstream media. This is the undoing of a great nation called India.
Clowning in Delhi
There is a book called Clowning in Rome, by Henry J. M. Nouwen. In an introductory note to the book, he writes: “The clowns are not the center
of events. They appear between the great acts, fumble and fall and make us smile again after the tensions created by the heroes we came to admire. The clowns don’t have it together—they are awkward, out of balance and left-handed, but—they are on our side. The clowns remind us with a tear and a smile that we are sharing the same human weakness. The longer I was
in Rome, the more I enjoyed the clowns, those peripheral people who by their humble, saintly lives evoke a smile and awaken hope, even
in a city terrorized by kidnapping and street violence.” Our farmers somehow resemble the clowns. They almost look like fighting a losing war. For many they are stupid, wasting their time. Who would consider holding a protest days and months long, in freezing cold and rain and even losing lives in the process. But that is exactly what they are doing. They are holding a mirror to us who partake in the produce of their labour and they like clowns have been going through the grind of farming. Their battle has been long and many have committed suicide for reasons we are familiar with.
Naming and Shaming
One of the deterrents that is used traditionally against criminals world over is the act of naming and shaming. But imagine the opposite! What happens when this act is used against the victim rather than the criminal. It could be done by a particular regime or law enforcement. You may
remember what the Lucknow administration chose to do in the recent past to remove forthwith the controversial ‘name and shame’ hoardings of those arrested during protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. So the law enforcement that has the responsibility to protect the well being and rights of the victim rather than the criminal, now act on orders from above, who themselves are the creators and perpetrators of such monstrous laws like the CAA and ultimately the victims get named and shamed on hoardings in public spaces.
The farmers from the very beginning have been victims of naming and shaming. Instead of supporting their stand and struggle, some of the central ministers and media have been trying to discredit them, calling them names like terrorists, Pakistanis, Khalistanis, andolanjeeviand so on and so forth. The victims get named and shamed here while the foreign media from elsewhere have been reporting and supporting the farmers’ movement and to a great extent, helping their cause. It is anyone’s guess why the Indian media behave so!
Farmers’ Wisdom
We are a generation that lacks the ability to wait. And our new found lifestyle is catered
to by instant remedies and gratification. But nature and those who are close to nature have
a different wisdom to offer. The present leader of the farmers’ protestRakeshTikait reveals
this wisdom in his own way! “A farmer sows seeds at the beginning of a farming season with a great deal of hope and then waits for several months before s/he can harvest. A full-grown crop sometimes gets destroyed because of a natural disaster at the time of harvest. However, the farmer does not lose hope. S/he will sow seeds again for the next crop” They are ready for a long haul. While we get impatient and seek for an instant or fast catharsis, life has a different pace and tempo. The farmers’ approach to life and their farming wisdom are seen in the way they organise and sustain their protest. Their efforts are being highly lauded by international communities. Though they are not protesting, sitting on our shoulders or in our compound, we get irritated and restless because we want fast resolution. That is our problem, and not theirs!
Reading the Signs of the Time
Going with the signs, it looks like an Indian version of the fourth Reich is looming large ominously on the Indian horizon. After the defeat of the third Reich dreamed by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler of (un)happy memory, many nations have been toying with the prospect of a fourth Reich, where an aggressive, totalitarian, Nazi like establishment is envisioned. We have just witnessed the collapse of such a dream in the recent fall of the Trump administration. It was a misfired adventure, greatly because the media there has some spine.
The Indian situation is different. If we observe closely, there is something cooking and it is becoming more and more obvious that an Indian fourth Reich is a possibility.
The BBC had recently reported that India’s status as a democratic secular nation has taken a beating. India’s long standing claims as a free country has changed to “partly free”, according to an annual report on global political rights and liberties.
Since 2014 the freedom indicators have been on a constant decline. Civil liberties in India have been sliding downward as found by the Freedom House in its report Democracy under Siege. This fall from grace is quite a serious thing when we look at it against the parameters of what creates a fascist regime. Politics mixed with religion and hate is nothing but a cauldron of ethnic warfare and genocide! The venomous “we–they” orientation had proved devastating in the past and we are witnessing it today on a daily basis.
Silent Enablers
As the public goes to collective amnesia,
ably helped by those who control the daily narrative, we become silent enablers of the advancing fascist era. There is actually no neutral stand in extraordinary times like these. One is either against it or for it. History and future generations will judge us for our stand. The former PM Sri. Manmohan Singh once
said, “History will be kinder to me than the contemporary media.” Will history find us on the right side in retrospect? Will it be kind to us too?
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