Daily Times

A wise tale, attributed to a Native American elder went like this: “Inside of me, there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog, all of the time.” When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, “The one I feed the most.” Sadly, the mean dog within us marches, well-fed, on bigotry, narrow-mindedness, avarice, and hatred. Few regions of the world are immune from his effects. He adds to the dehumanisation, pain, and suffering of defenseless and dispossessed people.

Take for instance the injudicious decision by US President Trump to unilaterally recognise disputed Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The pronouncement solidifies the principle that might is right in international affairs.* It rewards the longstanding Zionist mission to colonise the land by force, at the expense of its non-Jewish inhabitants. It condemns the Palestinians to a fate similar to the Native Americans in the US. Luke 6:45 says, “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart, for the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”

Despite the divisive founding of the state of Israel in 1948, one could appreciate the hardiness of the Jewish people to inhabit and secure a new land so soon after experiencing the horrors of the Holocaust. But the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has ground on for decades and, with the damaging presence of the Israeli occupation, the Jewish state bears responsibility for a country that has built walls and ghettos, and treating Palestinians with a mixture of hubris and racism.

It is standard practice for Israeli soldiers to break the bones of Palestinian children throwing stones and to hold them in custody in inhuman conditions. The conflict involves a 21st century army against mostly unarmed people. It reminds us of the heroic Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto during World War Two, except this time the Jewish soldiers are the Nazis. Moreover, the policies of successive Israeli governments, in spite of the country’s vibrant educational, cultural, and religious contributions have tainted the secular, humanist and pluralist traditions in Jewish history, and the sense that Jews, by and large, stood on the side of justice.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has ground on for decades With the damaging presence of the Israeli occupation, the Jewish state bears responsibility forthe construction of walls and ghettos, and the treatment of Palestinians with a mixture of hubris and racism

While Israel can take some pride in its exclusive Jewish democracy, most of the Muslim world remains under the clutches of royal dynasties, oligarchies, ruthless clerics, and strongmen. These rulers restrict political opposition and individual freedoms. Authoritarian structures have impeded social and political development in Muslim countries. In a kind of indigenous colonisation, authoritarianism expresses itself politically through patriarchal monarchies and dictatorships, economically in feudalistic landholding systems, militarily with elitist structures and religiously with the Islamic clergy. Militant Islam thrives in these conditions.

Regrettably, ‘reformist’ Islamist movements are not inclusive or democratic. They insist upon the supremacy of Islamic law over all aspects of political life. They argue that power lies with the sovereign of the universe, not with the person chosen by the votes of the people. British political philosopher Roger Scruton said: “Islam has never incorporated itself as a legal person or a subject institution, a fact that has had enormous political repercussions. Like the Communist Party in its Leninist construction, Islam aims to control the state without being a subject of the state.”

On India, a recent New York Times editorial on communal relations said: “Anti-Muslim rhetoric and unprovoked physical attacks on Muslims have risen alarmingly under the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party, and Hindu hard-liners speak more and more boldly of an India where Muslim citizens are, if not hated enemies, mere guests who live at the sufferance of Hindus.” Prime Minister Modi won the last election on the twin pillars of economic prosperity and Indian (read Hindu) nationalism. He has proven to be a strong and decisive leader, undertaking difficult economic and structural reforms. Hopefully, these reforms won’t de-stabilise India’s stable, secular and multi-cultural democracy. We can all learn from India’s first leader, the inclusive and secular Nehru, who said: “By education, I am an Englishman, by views an internationalist, by culture a Muslim and a Hindu only by accident of birth.” Nehru would have been horrified by the use of pellet guns on unarmed protesters in his native Kashmir.

In conclusion, in a world dominated by power politics it is easy to forget that humanity is one big family. We must collectively display a stronger commitment, as a matter of enlightened self-interest, to peace, untrammeled civil and personal liberties. We should acknowledge the right of every people, nation or ethnic group to dignity and self-determination. We ought to recognise that democratic impulses exist in all people regardless of religion. On the other hand, authoritarian and elitist structures weaken inclusiveness and diversity thereby threatening humanity.

I wish a happy and safe holiday season to readers.

The writer can be reached at shgcci@gmail.com

Published in Daily Times, December 23^rd 2017.