Showing posts with label Dilwale. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dilwale. Show all posts

Sunday, January 03, 2016

MLK, Malcolm X, And Assassinations



We know both were super closely watched by the intelligence agencies. Their every move was followed. Their associates were watched. Their phones were tapped. Not only the agencies micro watched, but they also intervened here and there at will. Like, fire that staffer of yours. As in, it was important for them to let MLK know he was being watched. That was psychological warfare designed to unnerve him, to perhaps break his will.

There is a reason why the right to privacy is a basic human right. The right to privacy is essential to a human being’s sense of self. Unless you have a probable cause that you are shadowing a criminal, in which case you get approval from a judge with an intent to persecute, you have no business shadowing a human being. The agencies violating MLK’s right to privacy was gross and racist. America’s heart stopped in the 60s because JFK, MLK, RFK all got killed. It was not assassination. It was heart attack. Why do conservative elements on the political spectrum have ready and entrenched allies in the state apparatus? The state is supposed to stay neutral.

If you violate a human being’s privacy enough, in the organized and thorough ways that an intelligence agency’s resources make possible, at some point they no longer feel like human beings. You could snuff their life and not even feel a thing. It is objectification of the highest order. It is kind of like, those who commit hate crimes first have to dehumanize their objects of interest. I am not sure if the MLK assassination was a hate crime or a genocide. A people’s dream got wiped out just like that. The world had to wait for a BHO. Those were long decades.

It is not hard to kill and not leave a trace. There is no proof. How hard is that to do? Most murders in America (and the world) go unsolved. And these are loner criminals doing the deed, or maybe some organized gangs. Intelligence agencies have way more resources than the mightiest cartels down south. See in the movies how it gets done. There is no trace. There is no way to find out.

I am not pointing fingers. I have no proof. But I am tempted to connect the dots. The intelligence agencies totally, thoroughly violating MLK’s right to privacy was gross beyond words can describe. He was never suspected of any crime, so why was he followed around like he ran a cell for the Al Qaeda? It is not like they were throwing a security blanket around him. The country should have given him bodyguards. The Dalai Lama gets bodyguards in India. And he has no sworn enemy. MLK received death threats like you and I receive phone calls. MLK was let out to pasture. It was deliberate.

MLK’s right to privacy being violated is not like a public figure’s right to privacy being violated. The public figure chooses to go into the public domain. The public figure is not micro shadowed like he/she were a terrorist. There is no agency collecting relentless data and analyzing and making counter moves as if the public figure is a criminal. What MLK deserved was a security blanket provided for by the state, what they call Z grade security in India. Instead he got monkeys tapping on his phone.

The surveillance state can get out of hand. It is like the top Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan got held at an airport in New Jersey for hours because his name showed up on some list. I am sure his last name is on every list! But you just wronged a billion strong nation.

The surveillance state can get out of hand and ordinary people can suffer in scores. Racial profiling can be taken to a whole new level through the surveillance state. No community deserves to be harassed.

There has to be a way for you to get your name off a list if you suspect maybe your name is on some list and erroneously so. Like you have a right to know what your credit history is. You have a right to know if your name has been put on any list. Muslims are the blacks today.

The right to privacy is like the right to free speech, like the right to follow the faith of your choice. If a community is being harassed for being Muslim, that right to follow the faith of one’s choice is being violated, and that’s a no no. The American state impinging on the fundamental rights is the American state doing the bidding of the people it is at war with. Their attack is on values, not on some physical structure. Values are hard to hold, and that is why they have to be held to in a tight embrace.

Friday, June 19, 2015

लव वापसी, घर जिहाद और पहले आप पहले आप

Indian actor Shah Rukh Khan, arrival for press...
Indian actor Shah Rukh Khan, arrival for press conference of "Om Shanti Om" at the Hyatt Hotel, Potsdamer Platz, Berlin (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: Indian actor Shahrukh Khan, arrival f...
English: Indian actor Shahrukh Khan, arrival for press conference of "Om Shanti Om" at the Hyatt Hotel, Potsdamer Platz, Berlin (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
में प्राइड की बात मानता हुँ। गर्व करना चाहिए। लेकिन गर्व vacuum में नहीं होता है। उसके लिए बनाना पड़ता है। एक वर्ल्ड क्लास अर्थतंत्र का निर्माण तो करो पहले। भारत को विश्व शक्ति बनना चाहिए, वो बात और तो और अमरिका भी कहती है ----- क्योंकि उसको अकेले दुनिया भर दौड़ना परता है। भारत विश्व शक्ति बन जाए तो थोड़ा मदत हो जाए, भारत भी इधर उधर दौड़ने लगे।

भारत विश्व शक्ति बनने का तरिका है (१) अर्थतंत्र मजबुत करो (२) लोकतंत्र मजबुत करो। Hindu unity का तरिका है caste system ख़त्म करो। आप भारत के अर्थतंत्र कमजोर करने का काम करो, लोकतंत्र को कमजोर करने का काम करो, Hindu unity पर अटैक करो ---- तो चाहे आप मुँह से जो कहो लेकिन आपका व्यवहार कह रहा है आप भारत को विश्व शक्ति नहीं बनने देना चाहते।

कोइ किससे शादी करेगा -- ये तो उनका प्राइवेट मामला है। शाहरुख़ और गौरी की शादी दुनिया में एक मिशाल है। दुनिया भर में लोग कहते हैं, देखो भारत में हिन्दु और मुस्लिम एक ही घर में। उससे समाज और देश मजबुत होता है। Shahrukh Khan (Bad Shah --- यानि कि नटखट शाह --- badass जो कहते हैं अंग्रेजी में, हिंदी में शायद बिंदास कहते हैं) is a brand ambassador of India.

लव वापसी, घर जिहाद और पहले आप पहले आप। शाहरुख़ ने १०० फिल्में बनाई -- आप ने क्या बनाई?

सब न्युज मैं पढ़ नहीं पाता हुँ --- स्वाभाविक है। जैसे कि beef के बारे में मैंने नहीं पढ़ी है, एक दो हेडलाइंस पढ़ी है। Beef हिन्दु नहीं खाते --- वो समझने की बात है। लेकिन beef तो रिश्वत नहीं की आप कहो खुद भी नहीं खाउंगा और तुझे भी खाने नहीं दुँगा। Freedom of religion is like free speech --- उसके बगैर लोकतंत्र का कल्पना नहीं किया जा सकता। मेरे राज्य में, मेरे देश में beef मत खाओ कहना धार्मिक नहीं संकीर्ण विचारधारा है। वो तो ऐसा हुवा कि आप किसी मुसलमान को कह रहे हो, कुरान मत पढ़ो। इसाई को कह रहे हो, बाइबल मत पढ़ो। वो आप कहने वाले कौन होते हैं?A democracy is, by definition, tolerant. भारतका शक्ति ही भारत का लोकतंत्र है।

कोइ धर्म परिवर्तन करें वो उनकी इच्छा। कोइ मोदीकी आलोचना करें --- उनकी इच्छा --- it is covered by free speech.

जैसे कि दीपिका ने कहा, फैक्ट्री के दुध में मलाइ नहीं होती। बगैर Opposition के लोकतंत्र नहीं होती। Democracy को vibrant Opposition की जरुरत होती है।

आम आदमी पार्टी के लोग जब से आपस में झगड़ रहे हैं तब से मैंने उनके बारेमें कोइ समाचार नहीं पढ़ी ---- लेकिन headlines तो unavoidable है। अगर AAP पर BJP वाले unfair procedural attacks कर रहे हैं तो वो लोकतंत्र के हित में नहीं। और उससे उनको बिहार जैसे जगहों में बेफायदा होगा। क्योंकि लोकतंत्र भारत के लोग समझते हैं।

एक दो रोज पहले एक दो headlines और सामने आए। मीडिया वालों को क्या है कि controversy पैदा करनी होती है --- रोजी रोटी का सवाल है, पेपर बेचना होता है। मैंने देखा सुषमा स्वराज और वसुंधरा सिंधिया पर एक ही पंक्ति में अटैक। तो मैंने न्यूज़ पढ़ा ही नहीं। It was obvious the attack was sexist, and it was coming from inside the party as much as outside. Granted India is a sexist country, but a sexist India can not become a world power.

लोकतंत्र मजबुत करना है तो free speech, freedom of religion, vibrant Opposition, women's empowerment -- सबको celebrate करो।

Granted the BJP is a big tent, and there are all kinds of people in it. There are fringe elements who will say anything. But when the tail starts wagging the dog (as in, mainstream politics), one has to take note.