Adjective to terrorism

Enough has been written about the Mumbai blasts and I do not want to write yet another ceremonial condemnation. This piece is not about the Mumbai blasts.

Many muslims are uncomfortable with the term 'Islamic Terrorism'. In this blog itself, I had a visitor who objected to my using this term.

Some schools say terrorism has no language, religion or nationality. This school suits our secular media and the politicos. They say that terrorists who kill in the name of religion do not understand the religious teachings and hence the religion itself cannot be blamed for the deeds of a few misled youth. The term 'Jihad' means totally different and the extremists misunderstand this word.

Here's what I feel. I refute the claim made by our politicos and media. Terrorism indeed has a religion when the religion itself is used as the cause for their actions. And it is especially applicable for the Al-Ummas, Al-Quedas and various outfits. They use religion and religious teachings to justify every one of their actions. And more often than not, they are correct. When Taliban banned music in Afghanistan, people raised their eyebrows. I myself was surprised and questions whether Islam is against music. Later, I read a few essays that elaborately discussed some aspects of Islam that indeed banned using musical instruments. Bernard Lewis, a noted historian and an expert on Middle East, quotes that in an Islamic society, non-muslims should be made to pay a special tax. Precisely what Aurangzeb, the Mogul emperor did to Hindus. Though these clauses can be interpreted differently, one can't deny that what Taliban or Aurangzeb did also was one form of interpretation.
Ditto with the term Jihad.

These terrorists use Islam as the means and cause for their fight. Those whom they fight against are called 'Kafirs', the unbelievers. And they claim that, when they succeed, they will install a 'pure' islamic society. That's what happened in Afghanistan, in Iran, Bangaladesh, and currently, in Somalia. Even the extremists in
Kahsmir often 'instruct' their women to wear veil, or pass a fatwa or two.

I feel the Islamic society cannot go on deny the fact that these terrorists come from 'elsewhere'. A mere scoff at the term 'Islamic Terrorism' is not going to solve problems when every one of their community breeds organisations such as Al Jihad, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi or Jaish-e-Mohammed. I'm particularly curious about the last name. The entire Islamic community erupted in anger when Prophet Mohammed was depicted in a cartoon. But the same Prophet's name is being used to kill innocent people and I haven't heard the Islamic community object to that.

The moderates within the community must direct their anger at the small group of people who ruin their reputation. Any modern and reforming government in an Islamic nation gets booted out. The moderates and the majority must ask questions. They must ask why no Islamic country could show successful democracy, does not have a home-grown terrorist outfit or is not secular. When Nepal could turn secular when democracy is enforced, when the Federal Government in US can use 'Happy Holidays' instead of 'Merry Christmas' (much to many ridicule), why is it difficult for a single Islamic Nation to become or remain secular. Even the Secular Republic of Pakistan has turned an Islamic Republic.

In a magazine, post-Mumbai blasts, a muslim said that he struggles to overcome the look of suspicion when people see his beard or the rozen expression that engulfs when they hear his name. The moderates have a resposibility towards this gentleman.

And a billion other innocent Moselmans the world over.

Whither Outsourcing?



Few days ago, a colleague sent me a link on how outsourcing has affected Americans, and during our coffee break, lamented that not all is well with outsourcing and many Americans are losing their jobs and suffering. I later went to the site and read through some of those angry outbursts. Before I go into my reaction to this, I want to present some of them.

I am ABC customer (sic). I can't believe I am calling in to India for my financial info. A Third World country people where the law is a joke have my bank account numbers, social security, etc. I can't believe it. Somebody could rip me off there and then I will be powerless to prosecute. Unreal. On top of that, the bank screwed up and I asked for a refund of the bank fee and the Indian customer rep started bargaining with me. This is not a Bombay bazaar, dude.

Another cries hoarse about the jobs going to India:

The trend is that when a position is open-posted, XYZ Management (the VP level) routinely sends the work to India, bypassing qualified individuals in the United States, for cheap overseas labor - which is inferior in ever way to the US workforce.

This is something at the activist level:

Write to Congress, your state Senator, the President and ask them why companies are allowed to import cheap labor on L1/H1 Visa's when there is an American needing that job. Ask Why American workers are being forced to train their cheaper replacement and then laid-off.

And finally, of course, my personal favourite:

I'm beyond the concern for privacy, I'm concerned that my American culture is being diluted into global mush. I don't want my ATM to ask me for a language preference, I live in the freakin' USA!


Now over to me. Five years back, when India signed GAAT, a treaty to accede to World Bank's reform programs, thousands thronged the streets and protested against selling western products in India. They feared that the US products will kill Indian industries. But the pundits of New Economy laughed and said that's the result of globalisation, which leads to consolidation.

When Kentucky Fried Chicken was launched in Bangalore (I was there), many Kannada activists gheroed the outlet and shouted slogans. They said KFCs policy of making genetically modified chickens will not only kill the local poultry industry, it will also lead to health hazards. KFC scoffed at these allegations. A few days later, some angry protesters broke into KFC and destroyed some of their equipment. The media portrayed this as narrow-minded reaction.

Similar protests happened for the launch of Coca Cola too. Those who opposed to Coke coming in, said Coke and McDonalds are an epitome of what we call 'American Culture' and Coke's entry will spoil the 'Indian Culture'. An RSS spokesperson even said, 'Why do you want to drink Coke. What's wrong with nimbu pani'?

Actually you don't have to always drink nimbu pani. Thumbs Up was a very good cola drink available before. But there was another claim. Pepsi opened employment opportunities and over 10,000 people were employed by Pepsi. Perhaps equal number by Coke too.

What many forgot was another fact that Thumbs Up was not the only cola drink available. There were local cola brands like Kali Mark, Bovonto, Campa Cola, and believe me, a brand called Mappillai Vinayaka (Vinayak The Groom). Thumbs Up was brought by Coca Cola. Some of these local operators later turned into becoming bottling units for Pepsi or Coke. But many brands died a slow death, resulting in loss of jobs, especially in the rural areas. A private study estimated that close to five lakh people lost jobs due to Pepsi and Coke's entry into India.

Many people in the US asked why people the middle east hate them. There are many reasons. But surely, one of them could be because Americans enforce their lifestyle and culture onto Arabs they don't like it.

Of many complaints I have read about, this 'cultural erosion' is one of the strongest emanating from the middle east. But the west dismisses it saying they are actually 'helping' the people world-over lead a better peaceful lives.

My contention is not about whether the US culture is rich enough or not. I feel that they do have a great culture and I personally like their focus on freedom and human rights, at least for the American people. But trouble arises when they laugh at the rest of the world and their culture and their people. Outsourcing and the retaliation from this Web site is a classic example that people all over the world regardless of their religion, race and economic status, are just same. When their own survival is in danger, they bring culture, nationalism, race, self-reliance and everything else into the argument.

The people who were part of this site have called Indians as cheap, third-world people, thieves, and inferior. While I can understand their frustration, I raise my eyebrows when they can't understand our frustrations on Coke and Globalisation.

I know that this site is just a small and a very minority voice that is not going to impact much. America has gone too far into the Outsourcing jungle and it's impossible to go back. But this site reminds me that those crying hoarse in the middle east, those Kannada activists and the left, after all, did have a point.

Finally, I told my colleague, that when East Indian Company imported cotton from England and sold it in India. They did this to support the cotton weavers back there. In order to do that, they forced Indian cotton industry to shut shops. This resulted in the infamous Cotton Famine, due to which 10,000 people in Bengal alone died. Now the jobs are coming to east from west.

Perhaps life has come a full circle.

War by terror

Sri Lankan refugees in Rameshwaram, the coastal village of Tamil Nadu

In a recent interview with NDTV, Anton Balasingam, the chief strategist of LTTE, termed the assasination of Rajiv Gandhi as a 'great tragedy' and asked Indian people (read government) to be 'magnonimous' enough to put it aside and move on.

He, however, did not mention about Padmanabha, Siri Saba Rathinam, Amirthalingam, and various other fellow Tamil leaders whom the LTTE has brutally killed in order to gain dominance over the ethnic conflict.

The questioner too, did not ask if LTTE will magnonimously put aside the Sinhalese atrocities on Tamils and go for peace in the region.

The questions and answers aside, the war in the region has broke off once again. Tamil Nadu started receiving the refugees in hundreds, which shall soon multiply into thousands. In them, we will also receive a lot of tigers who will intrude into the peaceful life of coastal Tamil Nadu, stealing drugs and fuel and boat engines. The refugees will lead a worse than a prisoner's life in those make-shift camps that will remain 'make-shift' forever. They can't even complain about the inhuman conditions in these camps because the authorities will tell them to be that they are alive.

In the midst of all this, the bloodthirsty Prabhakaran will continue to consolidate his dominance over the northern region by exercising his iron will and running a parallel government. The tigers will continue to collect 'taxes' from the Tamils and the same Tamils will be put to hardships by the Sinhalese authorities for acceeding to tigers' demands.

A few days before, the deputy chief of Army was brutally killed in a suicide operation and it featured in the sixth page in the newspaper. I, who doesn't watch TV, missed the news. As far the ethnic conflic goes, it appears like everybody, including the Sinhalese administration has resigned to the presence of LTTE and their continued atrocities. To the extent that the gruesome murder of the deputy chief of army isn't important or shocking anymore.

The Indian government, having adopted its non-interference policy since Rajiv Gandhi's assassination, is continuing to turn away from the ground reality. Barring some rabble rouse from the so-called LTTE supporters, Tamil Nadu too has become impervious to the developments at the down south.

Jaffna Tamils, the direct victims of the conflict, turned out to be the worst sufferers. Careers lost, assets devastated, societies ravaged, families torn away and survival at stake, they throng the coastal borders of Tamil Nadu in the hope that the link of the language will rescue them.

Somebody's mother is lost. For some, the father is in Australia, mother in London, brother joined the extremists and sister's whereabouts unknown. He reminisces his huge ancestral house back in Jaffna, its imposing facade adjacent to a historic cathedral. He talks absently about the huge gathering, after their Christmas mass, thronging to his house for tea. Suddenly his eyes wide open, he rues that the cathedral was destroyed in one of the bombings. And he doesn't know what became of the house.

For the authorities, he is mere statistics. For LTTE, he is the excuse for their fight. For media, he is no longer a news.

While talking to a friend, an ardent admirer of LTTE, I said the end of LTTE will be the only hope available for such people. 'What kind of a Tamil are you?', He retorted.

'A responsible one', I said.