Ukraine Burning: Peaceful Protests, Riot Police and Democracy

A demonstrator waves the Ukrainian flag as the riot continues.

Ukraine is boiling in the midst of anti-government protest and a river of blood flows at the Maidan Square where the Ukrainians are protesting against the government with clashes between them escalating. The Ukrainians are calling for peaceful protests but alleging that the government is using violent means to curb the protest. At this stage it would be a good idea to look at what has led to such a crisis in Ukraine.

An Orthodox priest prays between the police and anti-government lines.

President Viktor Yanukovych of Ukraine, who belongs to the Party of Region, had been promising the citizens that he was eager to sign an Association Agreement with the European Union that would create closer economic and political ties between the EU and Ukraine. Ukrainians were eagerly looking forward to the signing of this treaty. But Russia was not too happy with the prospect of Ukraine allying with the EU as Russia wanted it to join its own union. Thus, Russia started applying economic sanctions on Ukraine. Ukraine depend heavily on Russia for its supply of natural gas and oil and feared an escalation of prices. On 21^st November, 2013, President Yanukovych suspended talks with the EU over the agreement and signed a treaty with Russia by which Russia promised to buy a substantial amount of government bonds and subsidize oil and gas prices.

A banner mocking Russian President Vladimir Putin at the protesters' camp in central Kiev.

Tens and thousands of protesters, mostly students and middle class people, poured into the Maidan Square, which had been the center for the Orange Revolution in 2004 that had kicked Yanukovych from his then post as Prime Minister, to protest against the government’s decision not to sign the agreement with the European Union. President Yanukovych responded by passing ananti-protest legislation that prohibited the use of loud speakers, among other stricter measures, without prior police permission. Protests erupted anew in response to this legislation and the protesters started demanding a change in the political power structure of the government as they felt that a lot of power was vested in the hands of the President.

Protesters hurl Molotov Cocktails at the police, who responded with stun grenades and rubber bullets.

Riot police throwing petrol bombs or Molotov Cocktails at protesters.

Medics evacuate an injured.

As anti-government protests swelled and people started putting pressure on the government with the Opposition joining in, the President responded by ordering riot police to crackdown on the peaceful protestors at the Maidan Square. (This might have been President Yanukovych’s revenge for his ousting from power via the Orange Revolution in 2004 that had also started at the same place, the Maidan Square) This led to bloody clashes between the protestors and the authorities. Many have been killed and thousands injured with the government deploying truncheons, tear gas, stun grenades, and rubber bullets (some allege that live ammunition has also been used) to combat the protestors. But instead of subduing the protestors and their democratic zeal, this has only strengthened their resolve to seek a change in the government and the power structure of their country. Even though the Ukrainian government, including Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, resigned on 28^th January, 2014, President Yanukovych still is in power and his authoritarian power was amply demonstrated when in February, a few days back, he ordered crackdowns on the peaceful protestors leaving many dead and hundreds injured. The protestors did respond to the crackdowns by retaliating, throwing bricks and bottles at the police and the riot police. Protestors are now calling for everyone to be peaceful in their protest despite the actions of the government.

Smoke rises over the centre of Kiev as opposition supporters set fire to tyres.

Heavily armoured protesters shield themselves from police fire amid flaming barricades.

As Ukraine burns, we the citizens of the world look on; we, who call ourselves liberal and espouse democracy, just speak of high ideals while innocent people are dying and being injured in trying to live these ideals. Where are those that were so eager to give democracy to the people of Iraq and Afghanistan? What are they doing now when the people of Ukraining are fighting for democracy and human rights? Are the democratic rights and freedoms of the Ukrainian people not so important because they lack economic value? It is easier to fight when your own tail is on fire but it is the mark of humanity when you fight for the rights of others. This is the time for action and be inspired by the zeal and ideals of the Ukrainian people – this is the time to act.

Anti-government protesters gesture at a barricade.

[Photographs: The Telegraph]

The Tibetan Crisis

With the Syrian crisis and other conflicts raging around the world the attention of the world leaders, the world media and the people in general has been diverted to the refugee situation in these areas. But these conflict torn regions are not the only ones whose inhabitants have to suffer the tragedy of being driven out of their homeland and become refugees. Attention nowadays seems to have been diverted from a major crisis situation that has led to most of the people from that land becoming refugees in others vis the Tibetan crisis.

The Tibetan crisis has been successfully suppressed by the Chinese government from making the media splash that other conflicts seem to have, while being far more disastrous than quite a few others. China, using its military might has been trying to eradicate the centuries old culture, tradition, religion and language of the Tibetan community. Not being just satisfied with the occupation of Tibet, China is doing everything in its power to consume the Tibetan tradition with its state-driven policies. The Chinese military occupation and state-sponsored terror in the region has forced most of the Tibetans to move out of Tibet and seek refuge in other countries, mainly in India.

In India, the Tibetan community, under the leadership of the Dalai Lama, its religious leader, has created the Tibetan Government in Exile with its headquarters in Dharmashala. Here the Tibetan refugees have endeavoured to protect and sustain their centuries old traditions, religion and language. But their condition as refugees is not something to be proud of. Tibetan refugee camps are spread across many cities in India and the condition of these camps is dismal. The squalid living conditions, the poor sanitation and he lack of social and cultural integration into the local community is a major problem that the Tibetans have to face in their everyday life. There is hardly any effort from the government to help them integrate or to provide schemes for their economic development. Tibetans have been engaged in menial labour in the cities and their condition is deteriorating over the years.

With so much international effort being put into combating problems faced by refugees around the world, it is time that the international community pay more attention to the refugee situation in Tibet. China has so far been able to divert attention from Tibet but it is time that this changed. The Tibetan refugees  have been suffering for too long and it is time we, as the people of the world, as global citizens, did something about it. 

Origins of the Hijab / Turban

      Walking down the roads of Berlin you come across people from all over the world and listen to so many different languages. One of the things among these that you will notice is Turkish women wearing the hijab. I have always just noticed that and walked on without another thought. But recently I have been wondering why is it that certain societies have taken to turbans and hijabs while others have not. I tried to search around in the internet trying to find an answer to my question but came up with only with the different types of head-dresses in existence (and extinct) some of which I had never heard of before. So I put my grey cells into action and came up with a very satisfactory explanation for this phenomena.

     According to my theory, head-dresses, especially the turban and hijab are closely associated with the traditional geographical location of the society or community. If you take a closer look at the geographical origins of people who wear turbans and hijabs, you will notice that they almost always originate from arid regions of the planet. It is people from Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Saharan and sub-saharan Africa, Punjab, and such other arid places who have taken to these kinds of head-dresses.

     Coming from an arid region where the availability of water is limited, if not scarce, bathing too often is a luxury they could not afford. The region being arid also meant that there was always dust and sand being blown about by the wind. In such an environment keeping long hair open would only make them dirty, thus requiring frequent washing. To reduce the necessity for frequent baths in a region with limited water supply, it was a very natural move to cover one's hair. Since women generally have longer hair than men, it becomes more necessary for them to keep their hair covered in such conditions. The covering of the hair, thus originated as a response to the environment, which has, over the years been assimilated into the culture of the people originating from these arid areas. Over years, the turban and hijab became a part of the identity of the respective communities and societies.

     I will refrain from providing empirical data sets and statistics, as I believe they just complicate and narrow our perception of the issue at hand, and it is the broader picture that we need to keep in mind. I am not saying that my theory has no holes in it, just that I have not been able to notice any so far. I would be really glad to know your opinion regarding this and whether you have any alternative theories to suggest.

[Photos: courtesy the internet]

Namaste: A Greeting Gone Wrong

Namaste everyone,

When you travel in the western world and tell people that you come from India or when you meet someone who has got some introduction into yoga, they often say 'Namaste' at the end of the conversation just like they would say 'goodbye'. I have tried to ignore it for a very long time but now I have decided to put an end to this misconception about the term and its use.

Namaste, which is also called Namaskar or Namaskaram, is a greating performed when you are meeting someone, or written at the beginning of a letter while addressing the person.  The spoken word is always accompanied by the folding of the palms. You always say 'Namaste' when you meet a person but you do not need to say it at the end - just a simple 'goodbye' with the folded-palm gesture is sufficient.

Through the use of this term you show respect to the better nature of the person concerned or to the divine spirit inside him. Hindu philosophy believes that every human being has a divine spirit inside them, and 'namaste' is the term with which we show respect or bow to that spirit. Mostly younger people say it first to an older person while a host says it first when meeting a guest.

The folding of the palms is done by joining the palms together with fingers pointing upwards, placed in front of your chest. This always accompanies a 'Namaste'. A simple folding of palms without the spoken word also means 'Namaste' but just saying the word 'Namaste' without the folded palms means nothing at all. So most people in the Indian culture say 'namaste' when they meet each other and just fold their palms and say a 'goodbye' when they part. This folding of palms also shows respect for the other person and the higher you place your palms from your chest, the more respect you are trying to show. Thus, many a times while praying to god you put your palms together above your head as high as you can go, to show respect and devotion.

People I meet here who do not know the Indian culture so well shakes my hand and says a 'hello' and at the end of the conversation says a 'namaste' or they write 'namaste' at the end of their email. I do appreciate their effort at trying to know the Indian culture and using it in their daily life - as I believe that 'namaste' is a very beautiful thing to say to a person whom you meet - but this consistent wrong usage does sometimes bother me.

So I request everyone out there who want to use this term, use this term in the right way, the way it is meant to be used - as a greeting when you meet and not only when you say a 'goodbye'.

P.S.: It is surprising that when I searched Google for images related to 'Namaste' most of the images are of women greeting and rarely did I come across the image of a man greeting. Obviously both men and women greet and say 'Namaste' in the same fashion, but somehow there is a lack of images of men greeting on Google. The feminists out there might have something to say about that.

[Image courtsey: Google search]

The Barings Bank: The British Economy at Play

[Not many people are interested in going into the depths of economic issues as they are always shrouded in terrifying terminologies and a maze of numbers. But I have attempted to take a very important issue out of this confusion and put it in simple terms so that it is abundantly clear what goes on behind the scenes.]

Nick Leeson in his heydays.

In 1995 one of the biggest banking houses of Britain, the Barings House collapsed due to the reckless activities of a single ‘Rogue Trader’, Nick Leeson. This spectacular collapse has been blamed on several factors – the lack of a proper hierarchy of command and control, a lack of proper risk management systems, greed on the part of Nick Leeson and the officials at Barings, and on the ignorance of the upper management about the securities market. Even though all these factors influenced what was to become the most catastrophic collapse of a financial institution in Britain in the twentieth century, to understand the collapse it is necessary to understand the economic condition of Britain during the first half of the 1990s, as it was the prevailing economic conditions that influenced decisions being taken at the Barings Bank and at the National level that would ultimately lead to the collapse.

The Barings Bank, which was the oldest merchant bank in Britain and boasted as its clients, the Queen, had an office in Singapore called the Baring Securities (Singapore) Limited (BSS) that was trading on the SIMEX (today’s Singapore Exchange). Nick Leeson, who was working in the back office in the Barings Bank was made the general manager of BSS and was also given responsibility of the back office in 1992. He passed the necessary exams and also became the head trader in the Singapore branch. He began to carry out unauthorized speculations in the futures “linked to the Nikkei 225 and Japanese government bonds (JGB) as well as options on the Nikkei”. The Barings Bank did not allow its traders to invest its own capital in the market but rather to invest its customers’ capital at their behest. Nick Leeson began to speculate in the market using the capital of the bank using an anonymous client as an excuse. All the losses he incurred was hidden in the error account 88888. By the end of 1993 the account was losing 23 million pounds and by the end of 1994 this had increased to 208 million pounds. With his control over the back office he was able to subvert the losses and show only profits which made him a star trader of the Barings Bank. As his losses in the 88888 account mounted, he asked more and more money from the London office, which was provided to him without much questions. The disaster came to the notice of the Barings management only on the 23^rd of February 1995, when Nick Leeson went on the run and did not come to office – the error account now showed a loss of 875 million pounds. By the end of February the Barings Bank had been declared bankrupt and sold off to the Dutch company, ING, for the value of one pound. Nick Leeson was arrested for fraud and imprisoned. 

It is beyond doubt that it was the speculations of Nick Leeson that caused the collapse, it is what allowed him to do so that has interested us. Official investigations and academic research into this collapse of the Barings Bank have brought to light many reasons behind this. It has been pointed out that there was an absence of proper checks and balances in the workings of the bank that allowed Leeson to trade and manage the accounts in the back office at the same time. Also, there was a lot of ambiguity in the command structure that made it unclear who Leeson had to report to. Since there was more than one person who was responsible for parts of his duties, he was able to play one against the other to his advantage. The greed of the management has also been regarded as a factor behind allowing Leeson to continue trading even while asking for huge sums of money to be transferred from London. He was showing huge profits to the company, based on which the employees were getting their bonuses – no one seemed to have any reason to question this unbelievable profits, putting them down to Leeson’s better knowledge of the securities trade and his ability as a trader.

The above mentioned reasons were definitely responsible for the collapse of the oldest bank in Britain but I believe that we have looked at this issue from a very narrow perspective, focusing only on the circumstances of the bank. To understand the reason behind why the bank reacted to Nick Leeson and his trading in such a way, it is necessary to take a much broader look. We need to look at the British economy at that time.

The beginning of the 1990s saw a severe recession in Britain and a steady rise in inflation from 1993 to 1995. Added to this was the humiliating exit of the pound from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1992 that made matters worse. The positive outlook that had prevailed over the last decade seemed to have come to an end. There was also large scale unemployment. The Bank of England was still under the government and was charged with controlling inflation. In this economic turmoil the profits that the Barings Bank was making through Nick Leeson’s trading in Singapore came as a blessing. The high profitability of the investment of the bank in the growing markets of the East provided a beacon of hope. The Bank of England also refrained from intervening into the financial matters of the bank and gave the managers an open field. Being the only sector making such huge rofits during 1993-1994, no one questioned the authenticity of the presented profits or the risks involved. The management also became complacent and let matters stand as they were.

Investigations and research into the collapse of the Barings Bank have not at all regarded the economic environment of Britain during this time. There is a need to understand how the economic climate of a nation influences business decisions across organizations – in this case, how it influenced the Bank of England’s and the Barings Bank’s management decisions that allowed them to be so complacent. There was definitely a lack of financial risk management mechanisms, management control and human ego and greed involved in the financial fraud that led to the collapse of the bank, but it would be an error to omit looking at the influence that the British economy had on the decisions taken by the management of the organizations. Such a broader perspective, coupled with the narrower perspectives will help us understand the issue in a more holistic way, and may even provide us ways to better understand economic decision making.

[Image source: http://www.deadgoodbooks.co.uk/index.php/on-this-day-in-history-march-2nd-1995-rogue-trader-nick-leeson-arrested-for-fraud/ and http://www.arbitrarytweets.com/nick-leeson/]

Valentine's Day: A Glimpse of History

People all over the world celebrate Valentine’s Day on the 14^th of February, but few people ask why we do so. Most of my friends are unaware of the story behind this centuries-old ritual, but they are so eagerly looking forward to enjoying it. This is just an attempt  to put the day into perspective, especially for those conservative people in society who look upon the day with suspicion and disgust.

Valentine’s Day or St Valentine’s Day is celebrated to commemorate the death of St Valentine. It is not very clear who Saint Valentine actually was. There are about three Valentines who were martyred and mystery shrouds the fact as to who among these three is honoured by the celebration of Valentine’s Day. Valentine of Rome, a priest in Rome, was martyred in AD 269; Valentine of Terni was the bishop of Interamna (modern Terni) and is said to have been martyred during the persecution under Emperor Aurelian; and there is also a mention of a Valentine who was martyred on the 14^th of February in Africa. None of the biographies of these men mention any romantic element about any of these Valentines, but by the 14^th century Valentine’s Day was associated with romance and the distinction between the three Valentines had been completely lost.

Several legends abound as to the origins of Valentine’s Day. The most popular legend refers to a 3^rd century Christian priest in Rome named Valentine. During the reign of Emperor Claudius II of Rome, marriage among young people was outlawed as the emperor came to believe that single men made better soldiers than married ones. But Valentine went on performing secret marriages among young couples. When the emperor came to learn of this, he put Valentine to death – somewhere around AD 269. Another legend talks of Valentine being put to death trying to assist Christians in escaping Roman prisons where they were tortured. Legend also has it that Valentine sent the first Valentine’s Day greeting while he was imprisoned to – most probably – the daughter of the jailer, who visited him every day in the prison, and with whom he had fallen in love. It is also said that this girl had been blind and Valentine cured her of her blindness. It is said that this greeting was signed, “From your Valentine”, a phrase that is still very alive.

But the celebration of the month of February as a month of romance has a much deeper root in the rituals of pre-Christian Rome. Many believe that the celebration of Valentine’s Day can be traced back to the celebrations of Lupercalia in Rome. Lupercalia was celebrated around the 13-15 February and was essentially a fertility cult dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome.

An order of the Roman priests, called the Luperci, gathered on that day at a secret cave that was believed to have been the cave in which infant Romulus and Remus were cared for by a she-wolf or lupa, and sacrificed a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification. The goat’s hide would be then stripped into strips and dipped in the sacrificial blood. The priests would then take to the streets, gently slapping women and crop fields with the strips as it was believed that the touch would make them more fertile. Legend has it that on that day, all the young women of the city placed their names in a big urn, from which the city’s bachelors drew a name and became paired with the woman for the year. This often ended in marriage.

Lupercalia prevailed during the early part of Christianity, but it was deemed “un-Christian” and outlawed during the 5^th century, when Pope Gelasius I declared the 14^th of February as St Valentine’s Day in AD 496. Valentine’s Day became associated with love much later, and at the time was believed by many in France and England to be the beginning of the mating season for birds. On the other hand, Valentine’s Day greetings were popular during the Middle Ages, but the first written greetings that we have today is a poem from 1415, written by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt. It is said that Valentine’s Day first became associated with Romantic love during the time of Geoffrey Chaucer when the tradition of courtly love flourished. A verse by Chaucer refers to the day and he is often seen as the first person who associated romantic love with Valentine’s Day. The day has been deleted from the General Roman Calendar of Saints in 1969 by Pope Paul VI, but many churches continue to celebrate the day.

Valentine’s Day began to be popular in Great Britain around the 17^th century, and by the 18^th century it became a common practice for friends and lovers to exchange tokens of affection (called valentine) and hand-written notes. By the beginning of the 20^th century, due to the improvement in printing technology, cheap postal rates and social prohibition on direct expression of one’s feelings, printed cards began to be popular. In America, hand-written greetings became popular during the early 18^th century, but it was Esther A. Howland, known as the “Mother of the Valentine”, who made printed cards popular during the 1840s. At present, the Greeting Card Association claims that an estimated 1 billion Valentine’s Day cards are sold every year, with women buying 85% of those.

Another piece of information that I came across in Wikipedia is that “the modern cliché Valentine's Day poem can be found in the collection of English nursery rhymes Gammer Gurton's Garland (1784):

The rose is red, the violet's blue
The honey's sweet, and so are you
Thou are my love and I am thine
I drew thee to my Valentine
The lot was cast and then I drew
And Fortune said it shou'd be you.”

Courtsey: The Internet, especially Wikipedia.

NEED HELP! NEED A GOOD SAMARITAN!

A visually-challenged friend of mine has been diagnosed with Leukemia. The treatment for Leukemia includes Chemotherapy and/or Bone Marrow transplant. Both these processes are extremely expensive for a person coming from a lower middle class background. The estimated cost of the treatment varies from hospital to hospital but is around the sum of Rs 20 Lakhs. He is at present undergoing preliminary treatment at CMCH Vellore.

Is there anyone out there who would be willing to sponsor the treatment of my friend? Is there anyone out there who knows of someone else who can sponsor the treatment? Does anyone know of any organization that sponsors such treatment? My friend needs help and I request you all, on his behalf, to come forward and help him. If there is anyone willing to help or knows people or organizations that can help, please get in touch with me as soon as possible.

The Refugee Syndrome

My grandparents came to the present West Bengal from what is now Bangladesh during the 1940s, just before the holocaust of partition. Thereafter, till 1982, various other relatives have slowly come over and settled down in West Bengal, mostly around Calcutta. Various families have fared differently. Some have become richer, and some have been driven to the brink of starvation. Since childhood I have been listening to the conversations of the family elders and others who had come over as refugees. From my experience, I have come to the conclusion that there is a pattern in the fortune of the refugees. There are obviously exceptions and this hypotheses cannot be applicable to other refugee communities at this moment.

The people who have prospered after coming to West Bengal are generally those who had nothing when they were in East Bengal or who lost everything in the partition. The ones who could not fare well were generally from well-to-do families in East Bengal or those who could save something from the partition. The people who had nothing or lost everything had nothing to lose in the new land. They did not discriminate between dignified or undignified labour and took up whatever employment came their way and whatever opportunity were afforded them to make some money to subsist. Their zeal to survive at all cost saw them work day and night and change their fortunes over a span of a decade.

People coming from a well-to-do family did not take up just any unemployment as they did not have to worry about subsistence and social status was still higher on their priority list. They gave up opportunities and most of them slowly began sinking into poverty unlike the other group.

Obviously there are exceptions to this generalization but the majority follows this trend. This could also be true for refugees elsewhere but without thorough knowledge about those communities and their background no generalization can be applied. In the absence of any other compelling reason, I believe that it is the force of physical survival and social status that determined the future of the people who migrated to West Bengal from East Bengal.

I am always open to new ideas and would appreciate inputs and suggestions. I am reading more on this subject as of now and shall modify my hypotheses as and when necessary.

1943

Not many people of today are familiar with the Bengal Famine of 1943. We do not study it in the standard history text books in school. But this famine, during the Second World War, was a devastating one that took its toll on the people of Bengal. My grandmother was then just a little girl living in Calcutta, but the images from 1943 are still vivid in her memory.

Our house in Calcutta was built in the year 1897 by my ancestors in Ballygunj. It is a double storied and a stout house that almost juts onto the road, or rather I should say that the road was built close to our house. With this layout, the balcony on the first floor has a very strategic location – you can pour water on the heads of people on the road (that is exactly what we do during Holi).

1943 was an important year in the history of Calcutta. Most of the well-to-do Bengalis living in Calcutta had left the city for fear of Japanese bombing but some had stayed behind, including my grandmother’s family. It was also the year of the famine. Thousands of starving people swamped the streets of Calcutta in search for food.

The first memory of 1943 that my grandmother has is of enemy-plane-warning sirens going off at all hours of the day. All the windows had to be covered with paint or cloth or paper so that no light escaped from the houses at night. Vehicles were not allowed to ply with their headlights on and could only use a headlight-shade with the permission of the authorities. She still remembers standing at the balcony and watching the two black plumes of smoke spiraling up from the Calcutta docks after it was bombed by the Japanese.

And then she talks about the famine. She remembers the announcement made by the authorities one early morning requesting people not to throw away the starch after boiling rice as it would be given to the people as food was short. She still remembers the people flocking through the road in front of our house – people wearing nothing but loincloth and with their ribs showing and children with bloated bellies trailing behind. They carried earthen utensils and stood in front of the houses with their utensils outstretched. People poured starch into them and the people fought over it. These starved and half naked people used to stand below our balcony and my great grandmother and my great grandaunt used to pour starch into their bowls from the balcony.

These are the memories that my grandmother has of 1943. These are the memories that still haunt her.

'Egypt is Free'

Mubarak has quit. The dictator is no more. In a strange turn of events President Hosni Mubarak has stepped down after making a firm stand that he would not step down till his term ends in September. Egyptians are jubilant. They had marched on to the Presidential palace and surrounded government buildings, and lo and behold, Mubarak flees with his family to a Red Sea resort. So the people have triumphed. What next?

This is the question in everyone’s mind and academics and scholars all over the world are sweating over “what-ifs”. The enthusiasm of the Egyptian people has reached a fever pitch. Their belief in themselves and their ability to bring change is soaring high. Whoever now comes to power needs to take this into consideration. Maybe after a year or two or even earlier than that the people of Egypt might go back to their stance of accepting without protest whatever is meted out to them in the name of politics by those in power; but not in the next few months. This is a new chapter in Egyptian history. No one can say what will happen the next moment. I believe there is no point in losing one’s sleep over what will happen if Islamic fundamentalists take over power. What if they do? They won’t be having any worse influence on international politics compared to the dismally flawed US policies in the Middle-East. If we can give the US all the scope to exercise its idiotic (I need a stronger word here) foreign policies that has had disastrous effect on the international political arena; I believe that we should give the Egyptians a chance to prove themselves. At least they have earned it.

Egypt Rising

Everyone is talking about Egypt these days. I thought it was so obvious why people should be so concerned over the protestations in Egypt. It dawned on me very recently that the importance of the events in Egypt was not so obvious to most when my brother asked me why I was “wasting” my time reading about a couple of people shouting slogans in some other country. That is when I decided to pen down my thoughts in a reasonable manner for all to understand.

So what exactly is happening in Egypt? Well, to put it lamely, most Egyptians do not like their president, Hosni Mubarak, anymore and wants him to quit but the fellow will not quit. That is what all the raucous is all about. On a more serious note, Mubarak has been literally ruling Egypt since 1981. He used to be an air force officer and became trusted associates of both Nasser and Sadat, who were in power before him. He has survived six attempts on his life and has been ruling like a dictator ever since 1981. The government under him is corrupt and no attempts at reform have been made. The economy of Egypt has not crashed but wealth has been concentrated in very few hands with the number of poor and unemployed rising every year. Mubarak, in the spirit of a true dictator, did not allow any criticism or opposition. The Muslim Brotherhood, one of the main oppositions, was also banned. But matters became critical after allegations that a recent election in Egypt had been rigged by Mubarak. The frustration of the people burst forth this January, having been influenced by the events in Tunisia (where protestors forced their president, Ben Ali, to quit office). Events in Tunisia had a domino effect and protests erupted in Cairo and other cities of Egypt, aided by the media. The army refused to get involved and the protestors are still shouting slogans to force Mubarak to quit office. We are still waiting to see what happens next.

So what? How does this matter to anyone other than those Egyptians? Well, for one, the events in Tunisia have started off a domino effect with protests erupting against dictators and kings in various countries of the Middle East, like Jordan and Yemen. If Egypt falls tomorrow under the pressure of the common people, the rest will follow soon, bringing a change to the area which is regarded as the centre of Islam and accused of being the heartland of terrorism.

Egypt has been a major leader of the Arab world. With a fascinating history, it has a tradition of pursuing an independent policy as opposed to the other Arab countries who try to emulate Saudi Arabia. Interestingly, Egypt was the first country to proclaim a parallel Caliphate that challenged the authority of the Caliph in Baghdad. It was also in the forefront when it came to reducing the violence in the region by negotiating a peace treaty with Israel in Camp David. It also showed its grit by successfully opposing the military takeover of the Suez Canal by Britain and France. Many Arab countries look up to Egypt for inspiration.

Many scholars argue that Mubarak is responsible for the stability of Egypt. While other Arab countries have floundered, the economy and society of Egypt has remained stable under his ruthless regime. So, these scholars are scared that without Mubarak to hold everyone together, Egypt will decline into a chaos which will be exploited by the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, which will try to create a Koranic-regime as opposed to the secular regime of Mubarak. This might be true but there are other possibilities we need to look at.

The protests in Egypt is spontaneous and being led by the common people and the civil society activists and not any religious fundamentalist leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood. They may be instigating protests at some places but as a whole the agitation is largely leaderless. This shows the frustration the common man feels and how far they can go. They are desperate. If they are able to successfully oust Mubarak, they will be hungry for something better. Any attempt at reigning them by the fundamentalist policies of the Muslim Brotherhood would result in renewed protests, much more vigorous than at present. The onset of democracy in Egypt will also inspire people in other Arab countries to aspire for it. There will be a domino effect. But if the people lose today, the dictatorial and princely regimes in the region will clamp down on the common people much more tightly than before.

The Egyptian people have come a long way to think of consequences now. They just need to stand their ground and see that their demands are met. Viva La Revolution!!! Viva La Egypt!!! Change is at hand…

Armenian Genocide

The Armenian Genocide is not a very common topic of study for students of History in India. We learn about the Holocaust, the Partition riots and the Sikh riots. The Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923 occupies as important a place in the annals of history as the Holocaust of World War II. I shall try to summarise it here in a few words. The images have been carefully chosen as most of the images of the genocide are too gross. If anyone is interested in seeing them they are available on the net. If you need further information do mail me.

The Armenians were a part of the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the 20th century. They were Christians and an ethnic minority. They inhabited the border region between the Ottoman Empire and Russia. The Armenians had an inferior social position but a dominant economic position.

In 1913, the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) took over the control of the Empire. This group, called the Ittihadis, were led by the triumvirate - Enver, Minister of War; Talaat, Minister of Interior; and Jemal, Minister of Navy. This new group saw the Armenians standing in the way of the creation of a Pan-Turkish Empire. They also wanted to destroy the Armenians hold over the economy. The presence of the Armenians on the borders with Russia was also creating suspicion.

The start of World War I gave the Ittihadis the perfect cover to carry out their goal of eliminating the Armenians. All able bodied Armenians were enlisted into the army or sent to labour camps. Here they were separated and murdered. After this, the government embarked on a huge project of deportation. With all able bodied men eliminated, the Armenians had little choice but to accept deportations to far away places. On the way they were ambushed by groups formed by outlaws, specially recruited by the government for the purpose. The state took over all the movable and immovable property of the Armenians. All those who escaped the ambush were made to march to different far off camps. They were refused food and water. The massacre and death that ensued from all these was enormous and painful.

Charges were brought against the Ittihadis after the end of World War I but due to political reasons many remained at large. The Armenians formed a special group that hunted down the perpetrators of the genocide. Many scholars refer to the Armenian Genocide as the first Holocaust. Even today, the Turkish government refuse to apologize for the genocide, and the event has more or less been avoided.