I am with terrorism
If it is able to free a people
From tyrants and tyranny
If it is able to save man from the cruelty of man
To return the lemon, the olive tree,
And the bird to the South of Lebanon
And the smile back to Golan
---
I’m With Terrorism, Nizar Qabbani, April 15, 1997.
As thousands trudge their way back to the rubbles they once called ‘home’ and the sky is no more littered with the bomber jets, the difference is hardly appreciated. The difference between ‘defenders’ and ‘aggressors’; between ‘terrorism’ and ‘freedom struggle’.
History has its own milestones. Milestones that change vision. Milestones that blur vision. September 11, 2001 re-defined terrorism. Suddenly, ‘Terrorism’ became a homogenous, all pervasive phenomenon that can describe any violent (or even non-violent!) struggle of a people against some established authority. And more remarkably, it’s so simple to qualify for a terrorist tag, just be a black sheep in Uncle Sam’s global village!
Let’s come to the point. As the
Oxford Advanced Learner’s dictionary puts it, terrorism is ‘the use of violent action in order to achieve political aims or to force a government to act’. So, I believe the history of every colonized country that sought freedom from the clutches of its masters must be drenched with the blood of thousands of terrorists! Can you contend the fact that Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad, and all the martyrs of our freedom struggle had used violent action in order to achieve political aims (freedom) or to force a government (British) to act (give up the rule over India)? In today’s free India, I hope you will think twice before you use this dirty word to describe these great heroes.
Actually, almost always, what you say depends heavily on where you stand. If you were a British in the early 20th Century India, you would have called Bhagat Singh a terrorist. If you were a gentle Arab fellaheen living in today’s Palestine, you would have revered an unnamed Hamas suicide bomber as a martyr.
Though the history of human civilization is reddened with wars and conflicts, it can’t be denied the quintessential spirit of mankind stands for peace, progress and prosperity. And almost all the giant leaps in the sphere of art, culture, science, industry and philosophy have been attained in peace, rather than in war. The trouble arises when one group or individual starts dominating another, reducing the latter to a mere source of prosperity for the former; subjugating them in all respects, exploiting their natural resources, crippling their economy, ransacking their political structure, humiliating their cultural values, and above all, hurting their dignity as human beings. That can happen when one country invades or colonizes another; that can happen when a section of the people is exploited and neglected such blatantly that it can hardly recognize the rest as its brethren.
When you must snatch what you have been deprived of, what you look upon as your right, you fight and you revolt. And when the might of your subjugator tries to crush you, you pounce back the way you can make him feel the heat- plant bombs in your ruler’s office, assassinate them in their morning walks. From guerilla warfare to ‘Terrorism’, this is what has happened every where. This is what is happening everywhere.
So, who decides what’s right and what’s wrong? Who decides what’s democracy and what’s tyranny? What’s freedom struggle and what’s terrorism? Every reasonable man knows the answer. From the utterly undemocratic UN to the leech-like World Bank, it’s the US hegemony that decides which government should survive and which one should go. When Saddam should rise and when should he be felled. When Taliban should befriended and when should they be bombed. With the ministers marching left and right, our emperor is always active in his mission to establish lasting ‘peace’ in this planet. The arms he needs to sell are just necessary evils!
There is nothing strange with an Imperialist force or a Zionist country doing what it’s meant to do. What concerns us and needs to be prevented in the recent zeal to emulate the Israel model. Forgetting the fact that today every nook and corner of Israel lives in a threat that is the fruit of the tree sown by its own rulers; there are many calling for bombing across POK. The roots of terrorism go deeper than any bunker-blaster can reach. It thrives on neglect, exploitation and hatred. From Nagaland to Mizoram, it’s the
story of utter disregard of the Indian state for the culture, economy and dignity of the people of the region. In the forests of Dandakaranya or the hills of Chikmagalur, it’s the people taking up arms against the exploitative landlords, money-lenders - the de-facto state. When has the true voice of the Kashmir valley ever been heard? In this age of Global war on terror, we tend to forget the local reasons for a boy of 14 to take up arms. The riots that are planned to purge communities. The discriminations (both active and passive) that result in impoverishment of a section. The progress, the modernization that a community was never made to see.
There are people who benefit from terror. And from the war on terror. There are fanatics like Laden and his Al-Qaeda linchpins who take this as holy Jihad. And they mix it up all with the freedom fighters of Palestine, the devastated people of Afghanistan, the bleeding Iraqis.
The poverty of Bangladesh, the abysmal state of education and progress of Muslims in India and other developing or under-developed countries is the actual bomb that needs to be defused.
You can bomb a generation. Butcher it. But how can you avoid the wrath of the next? Israel can not. Will it now be India’s turn? The decision is for you to take.
