Post by ananyomukherjee on Aug 3, 2012 16:21:16 GMT -5
toanewdawn.blogspot.in/2012/08/if-you-lie-lie-big-part-one-sidhartha.html
If you tell a lie, lie big (PART ONE )- Sidhartha Samtani
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.''-Joseph Goebbels.
This was the prescription used by Third Reich to legalise war and commit genocide. It seems in recent past that Indian Government has aptly taken this as a commandment for its own purpose to commit crimes against indigenous people in Central India.
On June 30th Indian security forces declared that they had their biggest success against the Maoists killing 19 of them including two leaders. But unpleasant truth began to emerge as the bodies of teenagers and women clad in saree (very unlikely of deadly Maoist guerrilla cadre) were recovered. The Home Minister, Police and Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh maintained that all were Maoists even two teenage school toppers. Human Rights groups revealed that 17 of them were innocent villagers who had nothing to do with Maoists. Obviously this revelation remained hidden from media headlines.
Later on P. Chidambaram declared that he is sorry if any innocent person who was not linked with Maoists or helping them have died in the firing. The government then tried to pacify the villagers by sending aid but it was refused. This is only the tip of the iceberg such incidents have happened in the past and will continue in future as lies are repeated which has to keep up with the growth of India’s booming economy.
Mr. Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujrat and Mr. Chidambaram, home minister,Govt. of India must have been very inspired by the pep talks of Her Goebbels
We are always told honesty is the best policy, but it’s just the opposite when it comes to reality. From childhood we have seen ads of soft drinks promoting them as elixir of life even when most of them were found to have pesticides above legal limits. “Crime does pay” as one can see that 150 newly elected Members of Parliament who were “democratically elected” in 2009 have criminal records an increase from 2004 which had 128 and along with it the number of crorepatis (millionaires) have increased from 154 to 300 (nearly double). Now it becomes clear how the economic boom is so compatible with rise in crimes.
Such is the representation in our democracy where majority of people earn less than a dollar a day. It’s not always about crimes and dishonesty sometimes a good drama is required to hide the bitter truth. Recently the nation witnessed a never seen before drama surrounding the election of the 13th president of India. Every now and then parties were changing their loyalty hoodwinking each other. All forms of media were abuzz with Presidential elections, while issues of inflation, poverty, price hike and malnourishment were pushed to the sidelines.
Recently caught Maoist leader Arnab Dam (left)alias Bikram has made it to the news. Though Bhuta Baskey alias Sidu Soren (right),the most popular leader of People's committee against police atrocity, Lalgarh never made it and was killed by the armed forces in his sleep. Perhaps the high educational qualification and birth identity of Arnab has helped the media to format an entertaining story to feed the urban middle class whereas Sidu's murder remained undressed as he was from one of the most downtrodden and marginalized sections of the society.
While the circus continues, news appears on the sidelines that create a bit of flutter in media and the middle class. The news is about a Maoist leader Arnab Dam, alias Bikram, who is arrested from Bengal. It’s not such a big deal as it is happening since the start of anti Maoist operations all over India. But this young Maoist leader is somewhat different, he is a dropout from IIT Kharagpur one of the premier institutes in India. Some unanswered questions began to emerge. How can a person reject such a lucrative career and go to the jungles? What made him take arms against the State? Many condemned him and most remained confused.
Birsa Munda (1875-1900): the tribal leader known as the terror for the British imperialists & their puppet Indians, was imprisoned and then killed by the British with the help of his fellow Indians
Let us go back in history before condemning or interrogating him, away from the glamour of Indian Premier League and Bollywood movies in Central India where a young tribal leader, Birsa Munda is made immortal in songs and folklore. As the German Missionaries were trying to gain foothold in tribal dominated areas of India in the second half of the 19th century by preaching Christianity, young Birsa posed a direct threat to them asking them about the credibility of their conception of Heaven as he can see only oppression of his fellow tribals by landlords and moneylenders.
He created his own religion and started organising his fellow men against the British and a new class of landlords who were dispossessing indigenous people from their land in Chhotanagpur Plateau region. His followers were known as Birsaites and they refused to pay taxes imposed on them. Soon he became face of rebellion and the “greatest internal security threat” under British ruled India. He was soon arrested and died in Ranchi jail at a very young age of 25.
One might think that India has come up a long way and today it is developing and everyone is a getting a fair share of the pie. But one must be reminded those 30 years back in the very same place where Birsa Munda rose against the British, a retired army man named Gangaram Kalundia from Ho tribe community was murdered. It was not the Maoists who murdered him, it was the police. He was bayoneted in a police van and his body was dragged across the village for speaking for the rights of his people. He fought in 1965 and 71 war and then voluntarily retired and returned to his village in Chaibasa in present day Jharkhand to find that due to Kuju Dam project funded by World Bank 110 villages will be submerged. He organised his people to protest against displacement and was murdered by the police on 4th of April 1982.
The situation remains the same from the days of British rule. Nothing has changed except the repression is growing and becoming unbearable. The list of such incidents is endless and painful to go through. What does the presidential election mean to these tribal people in Chaibasa? Where is the Indian Constitution to protect sons of the soil? These questions will remain unanswered as the answers are pretty obvious. One can see why Birsaites became a thorn to the British dominance and now why Maoists are termed as the greatest internal security threat – obstacles to the path of development which leaves out most of India. Maybe it is for doubling the number of millionaires in the parliament.
Soni Sori: still to be heard by the self-proclaimed ''socially aware democratic '' people of India
Fascism is not only measured by how many it kills but how it terrorizes, how it lies and how it can legalize its repressive methods against any form of dissent. Even when India had the first woman President Pratibha Patil (who spent millions of taxpayers’ money for foreign trips) violence against women committed by police forces fell into deaf ears. One such incident was that of Soni Sori, a school teacher. She was arrested by the police from Delhi for helping Maoists (though there was no concrete evidence against her) and was tortured on the orders Superintendent of Police of Dantewara, Ankit Garg. A medical examination in Kolkata revealed stones in her vagina and rectum and annular tears in her spine. The outcome was that Ankit Garg got bravery medal on Republic day for his gallant contributions in anti Maoist operations while Soni Sori is languishing in jail as a very “dangerous Naxalite” prisoner. Perhaps, brave people are those who can commit atrocities beyond imagination ( as we all know Obama got the Nobel Peace Prize although he ordered highest number of drone attacks on foreign soil than any other US president till date, which has killed scores of children and women in Afghanistan and Pakistan). Even the iron lady of Manipur, Irom Sharmila who is force fed and is fasting for more than 10 years protesting against Malom massacre and Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) failed to evoke any response in the conscious mind of corporate media.
Where is the justice and rule of law? In a country where thousands of children die every day due to malnourishment 75 lakh crores is swindled away in scams and corruption for the past 2 decades this is excluding the 2G spectrum scam and the commonwealth scandal. Most Indians will have a hard time evaluating how many zeros are there. The truth is one fails to see this as a structural violence which is unleashed in a very different and indirect way and is inherent to this system.
Our problem is not civil disobedience the real problem lies in the fact that we are obedient to those who are in power. Though we are taught to question everything but we hardly do. We don’t want to face the ire of the state and pretend not to see and turn ourselves away from reality. Perhaps, Arnab Dam couldn’t turn his head and walked away from corporate boardrooms into remotest of places giving up his studies in IIT. This is not about endorsing his political views it is about identifying the problem the hypocrisy behind the advertised democracy which exists only for the few.
Daily picture in the valley : Kashmiri women mourning after police killed Zahid Farroq(16), a student
The problem lies in the fact that we believe in too many absurdities that creates a false illusion of freedom. We believe that making Kashmir the most densely militarized zone in the world will restore democracy in the region, even as over 14000 people are killed in police custody in a decade we believe justice prevails, we elect members of parliament having criminal records hoping they would do good for the country. Thus we become a part of the structural violence which we ourselves promote. Our belief in absurdities is so strong that when truth stares us in the face we reject it as lies and propaganda by non state actors. We fail to see that not only is the state armed to the teeth with modern weaponry and equipments of modern warfare it is also equipped with Draconian laws such as POTA (Prevention Of Terrorism Act), UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act) and AFSPA. These have been used time and again to terrorize the population.
In 2002 Gujarat riots where several thousand Muslims were killed by Saffron terrorists, 287 people were charged under POTA (Prevention Of Terrorism Act). Amongst them 286 were Muslims and 1 was a Sikh. Such is the essence of Indian democracy. George Orwell aptly observed “In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act”. In India it is a “Maoist” act, (perhaps it’s because the State associates revolution with Maoists) as those who have stood up and spoke against the corrupt practices and exposed the lies have been systematically targeted and branded as Maoist.
One of the many advertisements by Indian govt. to increase voting percentage: one can easily identify the class of the youths with happy faces
Saving the brand of ''democracy'' is what we see before every election with photographs of joyful faces and in marked fingures of 77% people who are living with a daily income of 20 rupees ; we see it in Sachins Tendulkar or Amitabh Bachan's genernous suggestion, enough to picturize abstaining from giving vote as a social crime; i bet the philosophy of advertisement is applied very efficiently out here i.e. Whenever a company has to launch a product or has to reverse the trend of its falling rate of demand !
From buying a body spray enough to ''seduce women'' or buying a car capable to belittle others cars and upto the process of creating consensus to prove the triumph of ''largest democracy'' – its a adworld then! We do subsribe them; those big lies have finally become truth after all these days, isn't it ?
So now, let's sit back and enjoy the spectacle of our glorious armed forces advancing upon common people, while sipping on some fizzy drink and think about what we are going to buy from the mall tomorrow. After all, yeh dil mange more! (We need more).
Perhaps its the time to swallow the greatest advertisement feed of all time by Indian democracy company limited.- Satyamev jayate (let the truth prevail )
Hail Goebbels.
(continue.. )
If you tell a lie, lie big (PART ONE )- Sidhartha Samtani
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.''-Joseph Goebbels.
This was the prescription used by Third Reich to legalise war and commit genocide. It seems in recent past that Indian Government has aptly taken this as a commandment for its own purpose to commit crimes against indigenous people in Central India.
On June 30th Indian security forces declared that they had their biggest success against the Maoists killing 19 of them including two leaders. But unpleasant truth began to emerge as the bodies of teenagers and women clad in saree (very unlikely of deadly Maoist guerrilla cadre) were recovered. The Home Minister, Police and Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh maintained that all were Maoists even two teenage school toppers. Human Rights groups revealed that 17 of them were innocent villagers who had nothing to do with Maoists. Obviously this revelation remained hidden from media headlines.
Later on P. Chidambaram declared that he is sorry if any innocent person who was not linked with Maoists or helping them have died in the firing. The government then tried to pacify the villagers by sending aid but it was refused. This is only the tip of the iceberg such incidents have happened in the past and will continue in future as lies are repeated which has to keep up with the growth of India’s booming economy.
Mr. Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujrat and Mr. Chidambaram, home minister,Govt. of India must have been very inspired by the pep talks of Her Goebbels
We are always told honesty is the best policy, but it’s just the opposite when it comes to reality. From childhood we have seen ads of soft drinks promoting them as elixir of life even when most of them were found to have pesticides above legal limits. “Crime does pay” as one can see that 150 newly elected Members of Parliament who were “democratically elected” in 2009 have criminal records an increase from 2004 which had 128 and along with it the number of crorepatis (millionaires) have increased from 154 to 300 (nearly double). Now it becomes clear how the economic boom is so compatible with rise in crimes.
Such is the representation in our democracy where majority of people earn less than a dollar a day. It’s not always about crimes and dishonesty sometimes a good drama is required to hide the bitter truth. Recently the nation witnessed a never seen before drama surrounding the election of the 13th president of India. Every now and then parties were changing their loyalty hoodwinking each other. All forms of media were abuzz with Presidential elections, while issues of inflation, poverty, price hike and malnourishment were pushed to the sidelines.
Recently caught Maoist leader Arnab Dam (left)alias Bikram has made it to the news. Though Bhuta Baskey alias Sidu Soren (right),the most popular leader of People's committee against police atrocity, Lalgarh never made it and was killed by the armed forces in his sleep. Perhaps the high educational qualification and birth identity of Arnab has helped the media to format an entertaining story to feed the urban middle class whereas Sidu's murder remained undressed as he was from one of the most downtrodden and marginalized sections of the society.
While the circus continues, news appears on the sidelines that create a bit of flutter in media and the middle class. The news is about a Maoist leader Arnab Dam, alias Bikram, who is arrested from Bengal. It’s not such a big deal as it is happening since the start of anti Maoist operations all over India. But this young Maoist leader is somewhat different, he is a dropout from IIT Kharagpur one of the premier institutes in India. Some unanswered questions began to emerge. How can a person reject such a lucrative career and go to the jungles? What made him take arms against the State? Many condemned him and most remained confused.
Birsa Munda (1875-1900): the tribal leader known as the terror for the British imperialists & their puppet Indians, was imprisoned and then killed by the British with the help of his fellow Indians
Let us go back in history before condemning or interrogating him, away from the glamour of Indian Premier League and Bollywood movies in Central India where a young tribal leader, Birsa Munda is made immortal in songs and folklore. As the German Missionaries were trying to gain foothold in tribal dominated areas of India in the second half of the 19th century by preaching Christianity, young Birsa posed a direct threat to them asking them about the credibility of their conception of Heaven as he can see only oppression of his fellow tribals by landlords and moneylenders.
He created his own religion and started organising his fellow men against the British and a new class of landlords who were dispossessing indigenous people from their land in Chhotanagpur Plateau region. His followers were known as Birsaites and they refused to pay taxes imposed on them. Soon he became face of rebellion and the “greatest internal security threat” under British ruled India. He was soon arrested and died in Ranchi jail at a very young age of 25.
One might think that India has come up a long way and today it is developing and everyone is a getting a fair share of the pie. But one must be reminded those 30 years back in the very same place where Birsa Munda rose against the British, a retired army man named Gangaram Kalundia from Ho tribe community was murdered. It was not the Maoists who murdered him, it was the police. He was bayoneted in a police van and his body was dragged across the village for speaking for the rights of his people. He fought in 1965 and 71 war and then voluntarily retired and returned to his village in Chaibasa in present day Jharkhand to find that due to Kuju Dam project funded by World Bank 110 villages will be submerged. He organised his people to protest against displacement and was murdered by the police on 4th of April 1982.
The situation remains the same from the days of British rule. Nothing has changed except the repression is growing and becoming unbearable. The list of such incidents is endless and painful to go through. What does the presidential election mean to these tribal people in Chaibasa? Where is the Indian Constitution to protect sons of the soil? These questions will remain unanswered as the answers are pretty obvious. One can see why Birsaites became a thorn to the British dominance and now why Maoists are termed as the greatest internal security threat – obstacles to the path of development which leaves out most of India. Maybe it is for doubling the number of millionaires in the parliament.
Soni Sori: still to be heard by the self-proclaimed ''socially aware democratic '' people of India
Fascism is not only measured by how many it kills but how it terrorizes, how it lies and how it can legalize its repressive methods against any form of dissent. Even when India had the first woman President Pratibha Patil (who spent millions of taxpayers’ money for foreign trips) violence against women committed by police forces fell into deaf ears. One such incident was that of Soni Sori, a school teacher. She was arrested by the police from Delhi for helping Maoists (though there was no concrete evidence against her) and was tortured on the orders Superintendent of Police of Dantewara, Ankit Garg. A medical examination in Kolkata revealed stones in her vagina and rectum and annular tears in her spine. The outcome was that Ankit Garg got bravery medal on Republic day for his gallant contributions in anti Maoist operations while Soni Sori is languishing in jail as a very “dangerous Naxalite” prisoner. Perhaps, brave people are those who can commit atrocities beyond imagination ( as we all know Obama got the Nobel Peace Prize although he ordered highest number of drone attacks on foreign soil than any other US president till date, which has killed scores of children and women in Afghanistan and Pakistan). Even the iron lady of Manipur, Irom Sharmila who is force fed and is fasting for more than 10 years protesting against Malom massacre and Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) failed to evoke any response in the conscious mind of corporate media.
Where is the justice and rule of law? In a country where thousands of children die every day due to malnourishment 75 lakh crores is swindled away in scams and corruption for the past 2 decades this is excluding the 2G spectrum scam and the commonwealth scandal. Most Indians will have a hard time evaluating how many zeros are there. The truth is one fails to see this as a structural violence which is unleashed in a very different and indirect way and is inherent to this system.
Our problem is not civil disobedience the real problem lies in the fact that we are obedient to those who are in power. Though we are taught to question everything but we hardly do. We don’t want to face the ire of the state and pretend not to see and turn ourselves away from reality. Perhaps, Arnab Dam couldn’t turn his head and walked away from corporate boardrooms into remotest of places giving up his studies in IIT. This is not about endorsing his political views it is about identifying the problem the hypocrisy behind the advertised democracy which exists only for the few.
Daily picture in the valley : Kashmiri women mourning after police killed Zahid Farroq(16), a student
The problem lies in the fact that we believe in too many absurdities that creates a false illusion of freedom. We believe that making Kashmir the most densely militarized zone in the world will restore democracy in the region, even as over 14000 people are killed in police custody in a decade we believe justice prevails, we elect members of parliament having criminal records hoping they would do good for the country. Thus we become a part of the structural violence which we ourselves promote. Our belief in absurdities is so strong that when truth stares us in the face we reject it as lies and propaganda by non state actors. We fail to see that not only is the state armed to the teeth with modern weaponry and equipments of modern warfare it is also equipped with Draconian laws such as POTA (Prevention Of Terrorism Act), UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act) and AFSPA. These have been used time and again to terrorize the population.
In 2002 Gujarat riots where several thousand Muslims were killed by Saffron terrorists, 287 people were charged under POTA (Prevention Of Terrorism Act). Amongst them 286 were Muslims and 1 was a Sikh. Such is the essence of Indian democracy. George Orwell aptly observed “In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act”. In India it is a “Maoist” act, (perhaps it’s because the State associates revolution with Maoists) as those who have stood up and spoke against the corrupt practices and exposed the lies have been systematically targeted and branded as Maoist.
One of the many advertisements by Indian govt. to increase voting percentage: one can easily identify the class of the youths with happy faces
Saving the brand of ''democracy'' is what we see before every election with photographs of joyful faces and in marked fingures of 77% people who are living with a daily income of 20 rupees ; we see it in Sachins Tendulkar or Amitabh Bachan's genernous suggestion, enough to picturize abstaining from giving vote as a social crime; i bet the philosophy of advertisement is applied very efficiently out here i.e. Whenever a company has to launch a product or has to reverse the trend of its falling rate of demand !
From buying a body spray enough to ''seduce women'' or buying a car capable to belittle others cars and upto the process of creating consensus to prove the triumph of ''largest democracy'' – its a adworld then! We do subsribe them; those big lies have finally become truth after all these days, isn't it ?
So now, let's sit back and enjoy the spectacle of our glorious armed forces advancing upon common people, while sipping on some fizzy drink and think about what we are going to buy from the mall tomorrow. After all, yeh dil mange more! (We need more).
Perhaps its the time to swallow the greatest advertisement feed of all time by Indian democracy company limited.- Satyamev jayate (let the truth prevail )
Hail Goebbels.
(continue.. )