Gaza, Israel and this world
Have
you seen those horrid videos and images from Gaza? Of wailing mothers and
moaning fathers? Of dazed children with their blood-smeared faces and a badly
shattered leg and arm? Of a nearly-dead, dishevelled young girl in blood-soaked
tatters, head slumped, limp arms dangling, being rushed on a stretcher to a
hospital? Of a thickly swaddled young
boy with both his arms and legs amputated? Of starving men and women, young and
old, holding out bowls begging for food and water? Of children, some newly born and some older,
lined up in coffins in rows and dozens more dying for lack of medical care they
desperately need? Of the city almost turned into a bizarre ghostly wilderness
with the once-upon-a time buildings bombed and strafed to shattered heaps of
brick and concrete? Of innocent people being bombed day in and day out not for
days, not for weeks but for months?
Just
ponder a while and reflect. Is this some imaginary scene in a horror movie
overloaded with blood, gore and violence for effect we are seeing? … A piece of
some dreadful, nightmarish fiction we had once read that now haunts us in our
dreams? Or something real and true actually happening in the God-accursed place
called Gaza in our own lived world?
Worse,
have you also seen the stark silence of the world … of the so-called ‘civilized’
West in particular? Did you hear the utterances of the fumbling, stumbling
Biden, of sly and sleek Macron, of grinning Sunak: clothed in hypocritical
diplomatese to let the savagery, the brutal mass killings of unarmed innocents
go on?
No
sir, it is not a simple question of just Israel vs Palestine; of Jews vs
Muslims; of retaliatory response for the Hamas’ October 7 dastardly actions. It
is instead a sad, sorry comment on the humanity and morality of the 21st
century civilized world. It speaks of the brutal violence that dwells within
us. Of how deeply crass materialism has taken possession of our hearts and
souls. Of how empathy and kindness have been gouged out from our lives and
replaced by hatred, bigotry and jingoistic venom. Wearing our religion on our
sleeves and weaponising it with guns and gaalis, we have become less of humans
and more of Jews, Christians, Muslims and Hindus. The world may have become a ‘global
village’ but we have not learnt how to be the global citizens. Politics of the
world has nose-dived with the Right-wing elements calling the shots and nouveau
Hitlerian leaders taking the propaganda-drunk, brain-washed, radicalised citizenry
for a ride. An attitude of contempt and an arrogant ‘damn them; who cares’ kind
of apathy is the guiding, propelling force for all their perverse actions and
draconian measures to amass more power and heap more misery on the gullible
masses. How else otherwise you explain millions of (saner) common people who
still have their souls and reason intact taking to the streets in so many
countries (no, not vishwaguru India though!) protesting this mass slaughter and
pressing for a humane touch, falling flat before the political ringmasters of
the world?
Is
it the same planet sir, where Gandhiji once walked and held bouquets of peace
to silence bullets of violence?
I
wonder.
This
is the world where monster America atom-bombed a tiny island. Where Hitler
gaschambered thousands upon thousands of ‘Jews’. Where the two World Wars were
fought … and the last - all-destroying one - is waiting to happen. Where the
world leaders flaunt their nuclear weapons with unabashed pride. Where CoP28
becomes a sham while Mother Earth, quite like the wailing Gazan Palestinian ‘mother’,
bemoans her fate and begs for life.
What
a grand transition from Neanderthals to the 21st century ‘suited-booted’
Homo sapiens, sir!
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It is indeed an unfortunate situation where the big powers of the Western world are fueling the war instead of bringing peace n stopping killing of innocent people. Let us hope n pray that good sense prevails before it is too late. Your concern is genuine n legitimate.
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