Farewell 2020, Welcome 2021!!

2020!!

Like every other years that passed by, 2020 also arrived to our expectations, dreams, aspirations and desires. A year in which one more step towards these would be taken; a year in which some more sense of fulfilment would be added.

And then Corona happened. Man made disasters are not new to mankind. We have had quite a handful before. The earlier human catastrophes engineered innovation in medical response. Corona engineered geopolitics!! Even as the world gathered its best medical brains and scientists to evolve a medical response, Corona pushed America and its allies close to a war - in trade, in diplomacy, in military alliances and in diplomatic maneuvers.

Even countries like India, who had generally been cautious in upping the ante went out to revitalize QUAD; Japan shed its defence policy to re-shape its Self Defence Forces (SDF) for offensive roles, and down South in Australia vociferous calls were made for international investigation. China went into hyper drive and sent its forces into Ladakh against India, pushed its fences across the borders with Nepal and Bhutan; the dormant CPEC showed renewed vigour to the extent that the Baluch went up in arms!!

Europe, Africa and South America became cautious about Chinese imports; America expelled scientists with Chinese funding even from Harvard and WHO was rattled with allegations of colluding with China. Hong Kong and BREXIT were relegated to the 'other news'; Think Tanks all over the world took up China as the single point object of analysis and economies around the world scrambled down in fear and panic.

All just because one more pandemic infested mankind? No, because Corona is different. Virus or no virus, Corona engineered geopolitics.

As we roll into 2021, the world is yet to come to terms with Corona. Yes, vaccines have been announced, countries for a change are stockpiling medicines and we will overcome this too. But the geopolitical aftermath that Corona set rolling will take a long time to overcome. Our options to do so will not be new, but they will be hard.

We will need sanity across the spectrum of political leadership; we will need a lot less war mongering by the media and arms lobby; we will need to respect international law regime and believe that in abiding by it our guarantee for a safer world depends.

Countries that propel their self interest by any means at their disposal and countries that delight in being or aspire to be dominant powers in world or regional stage need for once to stop and think. Countries that voice solidarity for a free world but sell weapons and technology to friends and foes alike must desist. Countries that have the economic means should step forward to provide for countries that do not have the economic muscle to acquire vaccinations.

Children who have lost their schooling due to Corona must be technologically assisted to continue education; farmers, small business and daily wagers whose sustenance is threatened must be provided for. Millions stranded away from near and dear ones due to pandemic conditions must be facilitated to feel safe and wanted, if not re-united, with their loved ones.

At no other time of earlier pandemics we needed these more - peace and humanity.

If Corona has proved to be different, then it is for us to prove that humans are different too. 

Let's hope that our inherent belief in our own goodness prevails!! So grant us God.           

Christmas is the time for love

Christmas is in the air. In about a couple of hours choirs will fill the air with the name of God, the King of Kings and the Savior who came to help us show the way. Yes, Christ the King is born.

Christmas is the time for love, sacrifice, family and faith.

Christmas is also the time for us to look inside and find our own "Christ" in our hearts. It is a time to contemplate the shortfalls in our thinking, of the numerous ways in which we have taken others for granted or even exploited them, of the times when we have abdicated being our selves for mere material gains. It is a time to atone by redeeming our faith in the Lord and seeking His strength to be our selves.

When He taught from the Mount, He said:

• Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

• Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

• Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

• Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

• Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

• Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

• Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

• Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

• Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

• Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

• Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

• Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

• Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

• Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Christ taught us to see the light of God in our hearts and therefore shine forth the light on to all of humanity. Today, in every corner of the world we have raging wars, famines and calamities that are consuming lives. Not all these man made calamities are based on ideologies or matters of principle; even those that are, are driven by market forces from behind the scenes channeling private profit into select pockets. Human lives have no value in such scheme of things for common people are considered expendable for profit. We see men of same religion fighting to destroy each other; we see women and children being ravaged and orphaned; we see 'human rights' being the victim of every such violence. The irony is six billion peoples merely watch while few hundred thousands run the puppet show that profits their private treasuries.

Can this chaos come to an end? Not entirely, perhaps. But if each of us believe that the cause of God is to uphold humanity, then things can change for those whose blood is filling the streets.

For once, let us pray and pray sincerely, giving wings to our soul so as to reach His ears:

Grant us Lord that we can change what we can, in howsoever minute the way it may be; 

Grant us that we are as loving of men of any faith, as we do of our own; 

Grant us that we can seek and relieve the pain of another so that You may hold my hand in my pain. 

Grant us the will to love and by your grace, Love unconditionally.

Amen.   

Learning from Rwanda....

Twenty years ago, it started n Rwanda and the mayhem that played out over 100 days continues to shock the conscience of humanity. BBC recently showcased a program that highlighted the pain that Rwanda lived through and how the country has managed to heal the wounds and set its course on re-building its life. See: www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-26875506‎

In the twenty years that have gone by, Africa has shed much blood - Somalia, Sudan, Egypt, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and now Nigeria. There is plenty of debate that vested interests abroad would like to keep Africa this way because, if Africa lives in peace, the potential of its people would surpass any other region in the world. So, helping Africa to remain divided in the name of tribes, religion and region helps to keep it down. It also makes good business sense because the fighting will help other countries sell huge amount of weapons to Africa. Impoverished nations will spend whatever little they have on arms, letting their people rot in poverty and in the process remain oppressed and divided. I do not know whether I should be writing like this in RG. But as we watch the horrors unleashed by Boko Haram in Nigeria by bombing bus stations and kidnapping school children, it is difficult to maintain an academic nonchalance.

Centuries of brutal colonial exploitation perhaps has given a wrong lesson in sovereignty to many countries in Africa. The leaders in these troubled countries perhaps think that colonial style exploitation and subjugation of people is the meaning of governance. A quarter century ago, there was an apt description of the politics of the elite in South Asia by Ponna Wignaraja and Akmal Hussain:

"The ruling regimes, unable to find a fundamental solution to the problem of poverty and inequality, unable to provide a political framework and an intellectual vision within which the diversities of culture, language and religion can enrich rather than undermine society, tend to show a knee-jerk reaction to the crisis. The knee-jerk reaction consists of seeking an external bogey and, on the basis of this fear, seeking to mobilise and unite their own people". This seems so relevant even today in Africa as well.

Multicultural, multi-ethnic societies coming together as one national identity must learn to accept each other first as equal citizens before working out a power sharing formula for governing the nation. Until this principle of accommodation is recognised as fundamental to building a national identity, there would be no peace in any society home to diverse communities.

There is a time to Pray!

LWe all have faced those little moments in life when things do not look bright and the world around seems to spin out of control. This is one such moment in our history as humans, when we find a huge tract of humanity from Tunisia to Iraq seem to be in turmoil. The agitations that are spreading across these nations are an apparent calling of their conscience to bring home governments that would help them achieve their aspirations that have remained suppressed for decades. The economic disparity that seems to have widened between the haves and have-nots, growing unemployment and lack of responsive governance in countries of this region seems to have added fuel to the fire.

There is a huge lesson in store for every country in the world in the happenings of the Middle East. People today are not as tolerant to misrule as they were in the last century. People want good and responsive governance that would help them achieve their rightful aspirations. In other words, people want to control their destinies! The time has come for democracy everywhere and to uphold the rule of law!

Let us pray that these aspirations come true. Let us pray that democratic values find themselves embedded in all countries and that peoples everywhere get to enjoy their rights (as well as fulfill their duties) and live harmonious lives! Let us pray that violence and bloodshed are not the paths that the world takes to anymore and let peace prevail across continents!