On 7/24/07, Ajay <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > WE ARE THE VIOLENCE > > peace- loving Indians have been killed more Indians these past decades > than terrorists and insurgents > > http://www.tehelka.com/story_main33.asp?filename=op280707the_tehelka_view.asp > > One of the most undeserving badges we insist on pinning on ourselves is > that we are a peace-loving people. A nation of the loftiest apostles of > non-violence. Buddha and Mahavira of Bihar, Gandhi of Gujarat. Any > coincidence that on contemporary ratings the two also happen to be among the > bloodiest states in the country? Any coincidence that the peace-loving > Indian -- office-goer, shopkeeper, housewife, student, layabout -- has > killed more other Indians these past decades than terror and insurgency put > together? In Delhi and Bombay, in Ahmedabad and Baroda, and in a whole lot > of other bloodied datelines, people like us have willingly turned manic and > killed people like us. It's appropriate to blame those who exhort us to such > mania -- the Bhagats and Modis and Thackerays -- but it's easy to do that > too. We forget we did the killing; they only bid us to. Is it right to > suspect violence is a repressed rage within most of us? Is it unfair to say > Indians are quite the opposite of a peace-loving people, that they take > criminally quick resort to violence? A car nudges a motorcycle in a busy > Delhi thoroughfare. There's an argument. It hasn't even exhausted itself > when people are after each other's lives. Reinforcements are called as blood > spirals to the head and spurts mayhem. A man is bludgeoned to death on the > street with baseball bats. As a final act, a concrete flowerpot is smashed > on his head. Someone cuts off the fingers of a little girl for snipping a > few leaves of spinach. An entire family is done to death mid-village, > mid-afternoon for demanding its rightful share of land. Father and son are > stripped and dragged through lane and bylane for not honouring someone's > notion of a caste hierarchy. All of this tells us a small thing about > ourselves and a big thing. Small Thing: the State and civil society have a > long way to go. Where was the beat cop when five goons were beating life out > of a man on Delhi's high streets? Where were the people? Big Thing: for all > our claims to high culture and civilisation, we remain opaque and unlearning > about ourselves as a people easily seduced to barbarity. Which is why we > take little cognisance of our sins, which is why we don't remind or remedy. > > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > "Ours is a battle not for wealth or for power. > It is a battle for freedom. It is a battle for the reclamation of human > personality." > - Dr BR Ambedkar > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > >
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