Protectionism, Fascism, Nationalism are cousins

It is feared that world economy is moving to protectionism. This is shown by American fiscal stimulus bill provisions for buy American. I would like to equate this to Fascism or Nationalism and also explain why Nationalism will one day lead to regionalism and casteism and all kind of hate between people.

When you protect American interests you are caring people in one region distressing countries which are exporting to America or the country that is showing protectionism. This is very close to Nationalism that is shown for example fascists in India. This nationalist financial protectionsim is closer to the regionalist financial protectionism shown by MNS - regional nationalist Hindu party in Mumbai. (In Mumbai these parties wanted jobs to be reserved for locals)

This nationalism can easily mutate to the regionalism shown by MNS in Mumbai - Attacking Biharis from the poorer parts of India. Soon you will have one region turned against another, one caste turned against another. Once you detonate the nationalist bomb (hate, fear against a community/nationality), you will never have control over it.

People who support and confuse patriotism with Nationalism should realize that Nationalism can easily mutate into other dangerous cousins that will be very difficult to cure. If you see India now you will realize what will happen when you elect a fascist party like BJP to power. (I always avoided naming the party directly, but I think it is time that people talk about it as that party is not just another party)

America should stay away from protectionism, India should stay away from nationalism and regionalism its side effect.

Indian Taliban show their true color - Karnataka CM comment on Pub culture

Now they are playing to their traditional support base, losers and goondas.
This is same stand as they have when people are burnt in India. Their stand is - you should not burn people, but victims should have behaved well. It is same as telling women are raped because they dress provocatively. You are condoning an act when you criticize the real victim.
Now people who commented that Mumbai attack happened because of the genocide/massacre in Gujarat. If you say that in some way you are condoning the terror attacks. When Mumbai attack happened, I chose not to think about reasons. I did not want to hear the reasons - attacking people is wrong - end of argument.
BJP is not a mainstream party or just another party, it is a party with a hidden agenda and it will always remain that. India does not have a good opposition party, BJP is winning seats just because of that.

 

Modifying the poem
"In India, they came first for the untouchables, And I didn't speak up because I wasn’t an untouchable;
And then they came for the Muslims, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn't a Muslim;
And then they came for the Christians, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Christian;
And then they came for the Biharis, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn't a Bihari;
And they came for pub goers, And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a pub goer;
And then they came for ......
And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up."

Special envoys - Obama's step in the wrong direction

Appointment of special envoys and hawkish Clinton as Secretary of State is a bad move by Obama. World had enough of American arm-twisting diplomacy.

Obama should think of engaging world leaders as equals. As he said in his inauguration speech, the world has changed. You will make enemies if you act like king of the world. You are definitely the most powerful man in the world, be humble. Your inauguration pomp showed the world that you are not what world expected.

Expectation from Obama

I expected much more from Obama. I though he will reduce the pomp in the inauguration, and give a more humane face to the presidency and American diplomacy. There should be strong steps from Obama if he wants world to believe that America is ready to change course from arm twisting the world. But I appreciate when he accepted that the world has changed and America cannot act like it did before.

His first act of halting the Guantanamo Bay trials sends the right messages to the world. Hope this is an example to governments and agencies around the world that these kind of high-handedness does not work. America or other world governments cannot do things based on their economic or military supremacy. Same message for those Indians who wants Pakistan to be attacked and to Israel. (I too felt India should give a reply to Pakistan, but I think it will not solve the problem)

Terrorism and Freedom struggle

How do you differentiate Terrorism and Freedom struggle? How do you judge a people's struggle as terrorism or freedom struggle, without being a hypocrite?

Kashmir militants - Freedom fighters or terrorists. Trying not to be a hypocrite, I cannot judge. I am very sure they have their reasons on why they are freedom fighters and Indian side has reasons on why they are terrorists.

LTTE - India used to support LTTE/Tamil Eeelam movement militarily. India/RAW wanted full control over LTTE, but their leaders had their own mind. Again India played big brother and sent IPKF to Sri Lanka, burning their finger fighting with LTTE. These incidents lead to the unfortunate incident of Rajiv Gandhi assassination. Now, how do you judge whether LTTE is terrorist or freedom fighter? When LTTE was under Indian control it was freedom fighter, but now it is terrorist for India.

Indian freedom struggle - Indians who judge other struggles as terrorism should not forget the Indian freedom struggle from colonialism. Your right is different from somebody else's right. Your terrorist is somebody else's freedom fighter. During colonial times Bhagat Singh was a terrorist for British colonialists, but he was a hero, a freedom fighter for oppressed Indians.

Palestinian struggle - How do you judge whether Hamas/Hezbollah is terrorists and not freedom struggle?

Naxalites in India - How do you brand them as terrorists? They are struggling for a cause they believe in.

From my view, you should have same parameters for your judgment. For me any violent struggle is terrorism, starting now. There are many occasions in which people cannot express their opinion in a peaceful manner, and they are forced to use violence to express themselves. But they are still terrorist, as you cannot judge what is a just cause and what is not.

Gandhiji and definition of terrorism

When I think about these, I understand how great Mahatma Gandhi was. He was a true visionary; he understood that violent struggles does not create good nation, especially in a diverse country like India. It is sad that his non-violent approach and gandhigir is translated to cowardice by the fascists in his own country.

In this world, looking ahead to an age of violence, Gandhiji should be the role model. I believe that the world would have been a better place if Gandhiji was allowed to live some more years. Gandhiji is India's greatest contribution to the world and humanity.

Sri Lankan anti government journalist assassinated

CNN reports the assassination of a Sri Lankan journalist - Lasantha Wickrematunge, who predicted his murder. His article - "And Then They Came For Me." - was published days after his death. As CNN reports these killing of people who oppose government is not uncommon in Sri Lanka. Full article from guardian
The article in which he wrote about his own assassination possibilities, he mentions the "And then they came for me" poem against Nazis. Coincidence that I used the same poem referring to the Indian fascists the day he was assassinated.
Freedom of speech most valuable of all freedom and all other freedom depends on this one. Freedom of speech is important, be it communist-China,Russia, Pakistan, India, or Iran. Freedom of speech is misused by anti government or anti establishment trouble makers. Trouble is you cannot judge what is use and what is misuse. Freedom of speech can work only if that judgment is not made by anybody.
Indian government guarantees freedom of speech and most of the time does not interfere. It is the fascists in India who come in cowardly mobs that steal freedom of speech.

Politics of hate and the Indian Nazis

Accidentally read the Organizer editorial on Pashupathinath incident . In one article they managed to incite Hindus by calling them cowards - the way they put it tolerant mean coward - they showed hate towards Muslims -reference to Bamiyan. Finally they managed to blame the Pashupathinath incident on Christians. They cross boundaries of hate, these nazis.
If you are silent today, you will realise that politics of hate will affect you. Some of you might have realized how it feels to be targeted as a community when Bihari migrants in Mumbai were attacked by another hate-party. It is a disease, a cancer -if you do not stop it now, it will spread all over and cut off your body/country part by part.
The poem given below is interesting. Read Nazi history, Nazis come up by inciting people about how they did not get justice and fair share of the world.
"In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;
And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up."
Translated for India ----
"In India, they came first for the untouchables, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t an untouchable;
And then they came for the Muslims, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn't a Muslim;
And then they came for the Christians, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Christian;
And then they came for the Biharis, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn't a Bihari;
And they came for .................
And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up."

India asks SriLanka to hadover Prabhakaran - Does India want Tamil insurgency ?

It's stupid of India to ask for Prabhakaran. What does it intend to do with Prabhakaran? Hang him and antagonize the Tamil (and Malayalee probably) population? If India catches him in India it is another thing.
Let Srilanka handle the problem and suffer the consequence.

Minimum education for lawmakers - India and Pakistan

In Pakistan only graduates can be member of parliament. Wonder how many Indian parliament members will get disqualified if this law is applied to India.
Graduated member of parliament can understand laws better, but on the other hand graduates do not represent the people of our country. Can only the poor(?) and uneducated MPs represent the poor and uneducated people?.
To clarify, the law for minimum education was brought by Musharaff. Pakistan president is only High School pass, and he is thinking of repealing the amendment for minimum education so that he can become prime minister. Democracy is crazy.

World problems - Creation of American hawkish policies

List major problems faced by world, and you will see how the root of the problem is caused by high-handedness of American arrogant presidents.
Nixon in his arrogance called Indira Gandhi an old witch and supported dictator Yahya Khan. World's greatest democracy, selling packaged democracy to world, supporting a dictators just to oppose communism. Nixon's arrogance reached height in which he sent a Nuclear ship to Bay of bengal. That is when Lion of India, Indira Gandhi decided to pursue nuclear option.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4633263.stm
(Those were the times of pure patriotism, state of politics in India is now worse. I do not feel that patriotism any more. Patriotic line is hijacked by the fascists(BJP and their politics of polarization), that makes me feel that anything patriotic is related to the fascists. )
Henry Kissinger ( Nobel Peace price Winner) is another [expletive] who is to be directly blamed for problems in the world. US presidents thought they can meddle everywhere and that they were powerful. Hope Obama understands that hawkish policies are wrong and reign in Hillary Clinton. And hope world will give America and Obama a second chance.

Henry Kissinger - Crimes against humanity

If Osama bin laden is chased by America, why Henry Kissinger is left to walk free.
He is a nobel peace price winner, but is the direct cause of millions of death in Chile, in Vietnam, in Combodia, and in Timor-leste.
September 11 is not just the day when America was attacked, it was the day when Augusto Pinochet(with America and Kissinger support) came to power overthrowing a democratically elected socialist government.
If Henry Kissinger is to be left free, Osama Bin Laden also should be free.
Let Bush be the last hawkish American President.

 

Obama

Black skin, Muslim father, Christian faith, white mother, Socialist thoughts in a capitalist country - He represents diversity. The suffering of world today is caused by intolerance and fascism. Hope Obama era brings tolerance and peace to the world. I strongly recommend Gandhian ideas for Obama.

Chandrayaan Indian shining again?

Chandrayaan, the indian mission to moon, was a success. I am proud that our scientists could achieve this, but I wonder how this will get translated as Roti, Kapda, Makan to the Indian poor.

The money is spent to make the middle class, scientific community and NRIs proud. But is this expenditure justified to satisfy this small minority?

I would have been proud if India did something different. Not re-inventing a wheel Soviet Union and America did so many years before.

I think India should really shift focus towards the poor and Indian middle class should understand that India can grow only by creating a strong village economy.

Classical Language status for Kannada and Telugu

Congratulations Kannada and Telugu for getting classical language status. Earlier classical language status was given only to Tamil. I think this is a good divide and rule strategy to make the south indian states/languages fight between each other.

Now Malayalam wants a classical language status. I find that ridiculous. A language which is 500 years old and which is an offshoot of Tamil is asking to be named classical language.

In my view classical language is Tamil as it is old and is a language representing all Dravidian languages and was the official language of Tamizhakam.

To make it clear, I am not from Tamizh nadu and do not speak Tamizh.

CPM - confused comrades - N-deal, Nandigram and Taslima

Born in a communist ruled province of India, I am both pulled and pushed by communist ideology and the communist politician respectively.

Recent issues

1. Opposing the nuclear deal - Communist interests should not be above the interest of the nation. Support for communist China should not be blinding. Opposition to capitalist US should not keep us behind.

2. Nandigram - Who is communists standing for? poor, oppressed or the big corporation? How can you oppose the Gujarat carnage and support Nandigram?

3. Taslima Nasreen - You are ready to bend to the Muslim fundamentalist but criticize the Hindu fundamentalist. Taslima Nasreen is given permission to stay anywhere in India, I will expect that she can alteast live in peace in a communist ruled state.

Malaysian Indians and Indian Hypocrisy - another LTTE ?

Indians comments on the internal affairs of Malaysia and it's citizens is pure hypocrisy.

Being an Indian, I know the sentiment when a foreign country comments on the plight of Indian muslims. Our standard reply is not to interfere in our internal affairs or that Indian muslims are well off that Pakistan Muslims.

What about Gujarat carnage or Nandigram. Do you want other countries to comment on them?

I think every country every citizen has a right to comment on what is happening in this world. Be it the condition of Malaysian Indians or the condition of Indian muslims or even Indian dalits. But in these trubulent times, it is wise for us not to create trouble where there is no trouble. Why create trouble in Malaysia by supporting the cause of Malaysian Tamils? Do we want to start another LTTE?

There might be official discrimination of citizens in Malaysia. This is not right, but definitely is their internal affair. India can take a high moral ground after it tackles it Modis, Advanis, and vhp.