Dear sir, About 81 people were killed in Assam on the Christmas eve in Assam within few hours . They are mostly poor adivasi Christians. State failed to protect people despite intelligence information. Regards Anjuman On 16 Jan 2015 14:37, "ram puniyani" <[email protected]> wrote:
> *Paris: Peshawar and Boko Haram- Religion, Politics and Violence* > > > *Ram Puniyani* > > > > Massacre of hundreds of children in Peshawar by Pakistani Taliban, the > atrocities: murders-kidnappings by Boko Haram, an Islamist group and the > attack on Paris cartoon magazine Charlie Hadbo killing 16, have occurred in > a short span of few months. The popular perception of relationship between > violence and Islam got a further boost. The phrase ‘Islamic Terrorism’, > which was created by US media in the aftermath of 9/11, got a further shot > in the arms. It got a booster dose of unprecedented level. The debates > regarding freedom of expression, sharia laws, education for girls continued > to be in the fore and columns after column either dissociating Islam from > these mindless acts or boosting the perception of Muslims being in the > business of merciless killing of their own kith and other with gay abandon; > dominated the visual and print media (January 2015). > > > > These acts of terror kill the innocent people and Koran- chapter V verse > 32- goes on to say that even if you kill a single innocent person, that’s > like killing the whole humanity with an addition that if you save a single > innocent person that’s like saving the whole humanity. Still the impression > continues that currently most of the dreaded acts of terror are either done > by Muslims belonging to this or that group or faction. Not too long ago we > did witness acts of terror from the like of Andres Behring Brevik(Norway); > the people like Ashin Wirathu (Buddhist Myanmar) were in the news for > related actions. Swami Aseemanand is in jail and had confessed to the acts > of terrorist violence not too long ago. Does one want to underplay the > association of Islam-Muslims and acts of terror? Is one wanting to be in > denial mode as for as violence by some Muslims is concerned? The teachings > of Koran notwithstanding; there are some Muslims who take to the senseless > killings in the most insane and cruel manner; is definitely true. The > question is; are such acts due to Islam or Muslims as such? How does one > understand the association of label of religion with acts of violence and > terror? > > > > At the cost of broad generalizations one can say that most of the prophets > of religions focused on some issue of injustice in the society and called > for peace, non-violence in their own historical context. The society was > either based on pastoral or agricultural mode of production and tribal > society-kingdoms were the main pattern of organization of society. The > religions, which began as the moral edicts had added social and > communitarian functions as well. Clergy became a major component of > religions. The spread of the message of prophets also led to the > institutionalization of religions, which added one more dimension to the > broad umbrella provided by religion as a social phenomenon. These > institutions built around religions became a very significant part of > religions. Those controlling levers of power gradually allied with the > religions’ institutions; and these institutions came to be patronized by > the rulers. In turn the institutionalized religions legitimized the power > of the king, landlord. King was presented as the son of God in different > ways. > > > > The alliance of King-Clergy was best seen in the alliance King-Pope. In > other religions’ contexts it became Nawab-Shahi Imam, Raja-Rajguru for > example. Currently in Pakistan and Myanmar; mostly; the institutions of > religions and dominating army are hands in gloves times and over again. In > our Maharashtra a popular Marathi phrase sums it very well Shetji-Bhatji > (Landlord-Priest). With religions being institutionalized the collaboration > between kings and clergy became the foundation of social system where the > agricultural producers-craftsmen and other laboring masses submitted to the > system created by the power of the king and ideology of the clergy. The > words of Prophets went in to the background. The organization of clergy was > varying, from the most organized in Christianity to the decentralized one > in Hinduism, to Islam where there is no theological justification of > clergy; nevertheless it is very much there. > > > > Here comes the entry of power in the realm of religion. Kingdoms, many a > times took the cover of religion for their goals of power. The kings > expanded or wanted to expand their kingdoms and put this expansion project > to annex other territories in the garb of Crusade, Jihad or Dharmyudh > depending on the religion of the king. > > > > The real use of religion’s identity, label, can be seen during colonial > period. In most South Asian countries, particularly in India, we see that > with the social, economic changes accompanying the introduction of > transport, communication, industries and modern education during colonial > period, there was a rise of new classes in the form of businessmen > industrialists, workers and educated classes in particular. They formed > secular organizations, with secular democratic Indian nationalism as the > goal, like Hindustan Socialist Republican Army (Bhagat Singh), Independent > Labor Party, Scheduled Castes Federation (B.R.Ambedkar) and the overarching > Indian Nationalist Congress (Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Mahatma Gandhi). > In contrast to these rising classes the declining classes of Landlords and > Kings pledged their loyalty to British and went on to form Muslim League > and Hindu Mahasabha and later RSS with the agenda of Hindu nation. In the > Religious nationalist organizations initially only kings-landlords were > there later some educated and upper caste elite and still later sections of > middle class also joined in. Here the communitarian identity of religion > was exploited by declining classes to protect their social-political > interests. When they said ‘my religion in danger’ they meant my political > interests are in danger. They also indulged in ‘Hate other’ propaganda, > leading to communal violence and later to the partition of the country. > Here we see religion being used as a cover, the religious nationalism to > hide their feudal values of caste and gender hierarchy. Similarly the cover > of Buddhism has been used by political tendencies in Srilanka and Myanmar. > > > > > With the coming in of Imperialism, the rise of the US as the global super > power dominated the global scene. Two superpowers USSR and USA were in the > game of ‘Cold War’. US later planned and used Islam to counter Socialist > block. It meticulously used a version of Islam for indoctrination the minds > of youth. These youth were used to fight against the Soviet Russia and > later the same indoctrinated youth came up and are tormenting the parts of > the World. This phase of ‘religion as a cover of political goals’ begins > with the formation of Israel in the aftermath of Second World War, the > eviction of 14 lakh Palestinians away from their home and hearth. In due > course to protect its oil interests the US-Britain nexus overthrew the > democratically elected Mossadegh Government in Iran. This ‘chain of events’ > did lead to coming to power of Ayatollah Khomeini. At this point US media > coined the word ‘Islam the new threat’. They meant that Socialism as the > threat is in decline and Islam is coming up as the new threat to the free > World. In its design to use all methods to crush the socialist block, US > encouraged the Madarassas in Pakistan, where the Wahabbi version of Islam > was introduced as a part of the training module designed in Washington. > This version of Islam had already been the ally of the Saud family, in > whose name Saudi Arabia stands. The Saud family came to use this version of > Islam, Wahabbism to control the oil wealth of the region. US allied with > Saud dynasty and also promoted Wahabbi version in the Madrassas in > Pakistan. This version of Islam saw in every person disagreeing with their > interpretation of Islam, as Kafir and killing the kafirs as Jihad. Jihad > being the path to Jannat after death, jannat waiting with the rich reward > of 72 virgins! > > > > This heady mix of ‘brain washing’ did lead to Mujahedeen being transformed > to Taliban-Al Qaeda and later giving rise to ISIS, the major menace in > today’s world. Tendencies like Boko Haram draw their inspiration and > support from the similar understanding of Islam. Time and again a large > section of leaders of Muslims, many of the maulanas have issued the fatwa’s > that terrorism is against the tenets of Islam, but what sticks in social > awareness is the picture of Taliban or ISIS or Al Qaeda or Boko haram as > the face of Muslims and Islam. No wonder one of the greatest philosophers > of all the times Karl Marx, remarked very aptly that’ Ruling ideas are the > ideas of the ruling class’, that’s the power of media at the service of the > US, at the service of Corporate houses. Today the Islamophobia rules the > streets and in some form or the other the religion which came to give the > message of peace is perceived as the ultimate in prompting and indulging in > violence. > > > > Do we need to factor in the political forces, Kings of the past, the > colonial masters of yesteryears and the ‘oil hungry’ global superpowers, > behind promoting, abusing religions’ identity to understand the dastardly > acts tormenting the humanity? The phrases joining any religion and > terrorism are the biggest insult to the morality of religions to be sure! > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "humanrights movement" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > . > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/humanrights-movement. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "humanrights movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/humanrights-movement. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
