GLOBAL CITIZENS/BLOG

   

PIECES OR PEACE?

^{‘YOU CAN BOMB THE WORLD INTO PIECES BUT YOU BOMB IT INTO PEACE’--  MICHAEL FRANTI}

^{WHEN WE HEAR ABOUT A WAR OR A SITUATION OF UNEASE AND UNREST, ITS USUALLY BETWEEN TWO COUNTRIES. BUT CIVIL WARS-CONFLICTS BETWEEN PEOLE FROM THE SAME COUNTRY OCCUR MORE FREQUENTLY. WHAT CAUSES THESE CONFLICTS, AND HOW DO THEY GET RESOLVED? THERE IS NO EASY ANSWER, BUT WE AS MEDIA STUDENTS AND AS ‘GLOBAL CITIZENS’ CAN LEARN A LOT FROM RECENT CONFLICTS IN THE WORLD TODAY.}

^{THE CIVIL WAR IN SUDAN, AFRICA IS ONE OF THE LONGEST RUNNING WARS. OFFICIALLY, IT BEGAN IN 1983 BUT THE CONFLICT CAN BE TRACED BACK TO 1955, WHEN SOUTHERNERS IN THE GOVERNMENT’S ARMY DEFECTED AND BEGAN TO FIGHT AGAINST THE RULING FORCES IN THE NORTH AND TO TERM IT MORE APPROPRIATELY, WAR OF THE POOR, AGAINST THE POOR.}

^{RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE ‘ARAB WORLD’ CONSISTING OF TUNISIA, EGYPT AND THE ON-GOING LIBYA CRISIS HAVE QUESTIONED THE SO-CALLED ‘LEADERS’ AND THEIR ‘UNCONTROLLED’ POWERS. TODAY, ARABS NO LONGER TRUST THEIR GOVERNMENT’S ABILITIES TO DELIVER BETTER MANAGEMENT OF POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC MATTERS. THE SECOND PHASE OF THE  JASMINE REVOLUTION THAT TOPPLED DESPOTS IN TUNISIA AND EGYPT HAS ENTERED ITS SECOND ROUND. THIS TIME THE REVOLUTION IS MORE UNCERTAIN AND BLOODY.}

^{MUAMMAR ABU MINYAR AL-QADDAFI, MAY BE KNOWN FOR HIS POLITICAL THEATRE AND GLAMOROUS UKRANIAN MATES, BUT HE HAS BEEN RUNNING A REGIME RIDDLED WITH CRONY CAPITALISM, HIGH YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT AND REPRESSION, AND THIS IS WHERE THE ‘TWITTER BUG’ HAS COME INTO PLAY, SO THAT WHATEVER HAPPENED IN EGYPT DOES NOT REMAIN CONFINED TO EGYPT ALONE.}

^{CLOSER HOME, AND BACK TO HISTORY BOOKS, JALLIANWALA BAGH MASSACRE IN AMRITSAR, PUNJAB UNDER THE BRITISH RULE HAS ITS SHARE OF SIMILARITIES TO WHATS HAPPENING AND COULD POSSIBLY HAPPEN IN THE WORLD OVER. THINK IT FOR A SECOND, SCORES AND SCORES OF PEOPLE TRAPPED INSIDE A SMALL SPACE AND SHOT BRUTALLY WITH THE ORDER OF THE PERSON SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR MAINTAINING LAW AND ORDER. IF IT COULD HAPPEN IN PRE-DEMOCRATIC INDIA, SO WHY NOT IN YEMEN? WHY NOT IN LIBYA? WHY NOT IN ALGERIA? WHY NOT IN BAHRAIN? WHY NOT IN IRAQ? AND THAT’S WHY THE CONCEPT OF ‘GLOBAL CITIZEN’ IS GAINING GROUND.}

^{WHO’S A GLOBAL CITIZEN AFTER ALL?}

^{ON PHILOSOPHICAL TERMS, HE’S THE ONE WHO HAS THE FOLLOWING THINKING-“ MY COUNTRY IS THE WORLD, AND MY RELIGION IS TO DO GOOD”. IN DICTIONARY TERMS, IT APPLIES TO THE WHOLE WORLD TO BRING WORLD PEACE WITH THE CONCEPTS OF GLOBALIZATION AND COSMOPOLITANISM. ON MORAL GROUNDS, ITS AN ETHICAL DISPOSITION WHICH CAN GUIDE THE UNDERSTANDING OF INDIVIDUALS OR GROUPS OF PEOPLE AND REMIND THEM OF THEIR RELATIVE RESPONSIBILITIES WITHIN VARIOUS COMMUNITIES.}

^{THIS TERM WAS IRONICALLY USED BY U.S PRESIDENT OBAMA  IN A SPEECH IN BERLIN IN 2008. WHEN TRANSLATED INTO PARTICIPATORY ACTION, GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP ENTAILS A RESPONSIBILITY TO REDUCE INTERNATIONAL INEQUALITY(BOTH SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC) TO REFRAIN FROM ACTION WHICH COMPROMISES AN INDIVIDUAL’S WELL-BEING AND AVOIDING CONTRIBUTING TO ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION. BUT DOES THAT HOLD TRUE FOR THIS SUPER POWER?}

^{THE DO’S OF A GLOBAL CITIZEN:-}

1. ^{FIRST OF ALL, ITS IMPORTANT TO KNOW THAT WE WERE BORN IN THIS WORLD AND AS SUCH ARE NOT ALIENS.}
2. ^{WE HAVE TO ABIDE BY THE LAWS, WHETHER THEY ARE INTERNATIONAL LAWS OR LAWS OF NATURE. WE CAN’T BREAK THEM OR THE RESULTS WILL BE OTHERWISE.}
3. ^{WE MUST ALSO PROTECT OUR COUNTRY-THE WORLD-WE LIVE IN.}
4. ^{WE MUST STAND UP TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION THAT IS TEARING APART OUR LAND AND DEPLETING OUR WATERS.}

^{ROOSEVELT ONCE SAID “ WE HAVE LEARNED TO BE CITIZENS OF THE WORLD, MEMBERS OF THE HUMAN COMMUNITY”.}

^{IF WE ARE CITIZENS OF THE WORLD, ITS IMPERATIVE THAT WE STAND UP AND PROTECT OUR COUNTRY IF ITS BEING THREATENED.}

^{NOW , SPARE A THOUGHT, ON FEBRUARY 27, 2002, SABARMATI EXPRESS, A TRAIN TRAVELLING FROM GODHRA, WAS SET ABLAZE BY ‘MUSLIM EXTREMISTS’. THE S-6 COACH WAS BURNT TO ASHES IN WHICH 58 PEOPLE, MOSTLY WOMEN AND CHILDREN DIED. THIS INCIDENT SPARKED INDIA’S WORST RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE IN A DECADE. BUT WHILE SOME CITIES BURNED WITH MOBS AND RIOTS, OTHERS MANAGED TO AVOID THE VIOLENCE THAT PLAGUED MUSLIM-HINDU RELATIONS FOR CENTURIES. THIS INCIDENT SHEDS SOME LIGHT ON WHY, DURING TIMES OF CONFLICTS, SOME TURN TO VIOLENCE AND OTHERS MAINTAIN THE ‘PEACE’ WHICH ACTUALLY SOUNDS STRANGE IN 21ST CENTURY INDIA UNLESS A CERTAIN ‘MUNNABHAI’ REMINDS US OF IT THROUGH IDEAS AND THOUGHTS OF THE MAHATMA!!}

^{OR TAKE THE ‘NAXALITE MOVEMENT’ WHICH STARTED OF AS A GROUP TO FIGHT AGAINST EXPLOITATION AND MARGINALISATION OF TRIBAL POPULATIONS, INDICATING FAILURE OF GOVERNANCE, BUT NOW HAS BEEN LABELLED AS “THE BIGGEST INTERNAL THREAT” BY THE GOVERNMENT ITSELF.}

^{TODAY, GLOBAL INTERDEPENDENCE IS A REALITY. WHETHER, IT’S THE CLOTHES, WE WEAR, OR THE TECHNOLOGY WE USE, OUR DAILY LIVES ARE AFFECTED BY WHAT PEOPLE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PLANET ARE DOING. ITS IMPORTANT TO KNOW, HOW OUR NEIGHBOURS LIVE, AND WHAT EFFECT WE HAVE ON THEM AND VICE-VERSA.}

^{THUS, ONE HAS TO ACCEPT THE COMPLEXITIES OF GLOBALISATION, FULL OF SURPRISES AND CONTRADICTIONS CERTAINLY HAVING POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE EFFECTS.}