Fear Full Days
Just today on the news, I saw a government expert in Washington discuss the administrations "options" on Iran. I was left in no doubt that the US would like to "usher" in "democracy" in Iran too. But somehow I don't think true democracy is really what the US has ever wanted. Historical facts oppose that notion. Right from 50's, when the US overthrew a popular President Mossadegh in Iran and installed a dictatorial Shah in his place, to it's current support of Nigeria and Pakistan's military dictatorships and Saudi Arabia's royal family, the US has always favored autocratic regimes which are totally dependent on it for their survival. After all, in such cases there is no risk of the rulers putting the interests of their countrymen before US interests. For all we know, a truly democratic, representative Iranian government may go "We feel threatened by US presence in the Gulf and by Israel. We will develop the bomb for our security and no sanctions you impose on us will deter us. Oh, and by the way, you want Oil? Why don't you get in line?"
But I won't pretend to be naive. I know that every government in the world, however democratic it may be has done deeds it would rather not talk about. For all we know, any government enjoying the power the US does would operate with the same arrogance, disrespect for human life, disregard for the Law and double-speak. What makes the current days so fear full is that the government is using the fear and panic among it's own citizens to openly twist the law and abuse human rights. People are being held without charges, tortured and humiliated. The US public silently accept this as a necessary price to be paid for their security. They are so afraid that they don't mind the government spying on their private and professional lives. All this reminds me of William Shirer's book "The rise and fall of the Third Reich". In it he describes how the German people, in the initial days of the third Reich, did not mind the Nazi Party imposing restrictions on their lives because they were afraid of a Communist takeover and because the party defied the hated Versailles Treaty. Whatever be the circumstances, the ends never justify the means.
It is true that success, more than failure, weakens a man. The Americans who have a powerful military, intelligence and security set-up and who had succeeded (to a very large extent) in protecting their homeland, have been so shocked and awed by just one terrorist act, they have panicked. They should ask us Indians. We have been losing civilian and military lives to Islamic terrorism for the past two decades now. I think that the attacks on the WTC were just the Law of Averages catching up with the US security apparatus. While a review and improvement of the security of the country is a natural response to the disaster, it does not give the US a free ticket to abuse human rights. The citizen of this country must shake off their fear and stand for what is humane and good. Else they one day might find themselves in the same position as a certain Pastor Martin Niemoller, a Nazi sympathizer to begin with but who ended up saying, "First they came for the communists, but I was not a communist, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the socialists and trade unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew, so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me."
But I won't pretend to be naive. I know that every government in the world, however democratic it may be has done deeds it would rather not talk about. For all we know, any government enjoying the power the US does would operate with the same arrogance, disrespect for human life, disregard for the Law and double-speak. What makes the current days so fear full is that the government is using the fear and panic among it's own citizens to openly twist the law and abuse human rights. People are being held without charges, tortured and humiliated. The US public silently accept this as a necessary price to be paid for their security. They are so afraid that they don't mind the government spying on their private and professional lives. All this reminds me of William Shirer's book "The rise and fall of the Third Reich". In it he describes how the German people, in the initial days of the third Reich, did not mind the Nazi Party imposing restrictions on their lives because they were afraid of a Communist takeover and because the party defied the hated Versailles Treaty. Whatever be the circumstances, the ends never justify the means.
It is true that success, more than failure, weakens a man. The Americans who have a powerful military, intelligence and security set-up and who had succeeded (to a very large extent) in protecting their homeland, have been so shocked and awed by just one terrorist act, they have panicked. They should ask us Indians. We have been losing civilian and military lives to Islamic terrorism for the past two decades now. I think that the attacks on the WTC were just the Law of Averages catching up with the US security apparatus. While a review and improvement of the security of the country is a natural response to the disaster, it does not give the US a free ticket to abuse human rights. The citizen of this country must shake off their fear and stand for what is humane and good. Else they one day might find themselves in the same position as a certain Pastor Martin Niemoller, a Nazi sympathizer to begin with but who ended up saying, "First they came for the communists, but I was not a communist, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the socialists and trade unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew, so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me."
posted by Avinash | 9:45 PM
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