Editorial, WARS, TERROR AND HUMAN RIGHTS, in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 31 December 2015, Vol. 11, Part 2, No. 24 issue

WARS, TERROR AND HUMAN RIGHTS

The great poet (Mahakavi) Sri Sri so ruefully queried: ‘ea deaSa caritra cuucinaa

eamunnadi garvakaaraNam? ఏ దేశచరిత్ర చూచినా ఏమున్నది గర్వకారణం? (What is there to be proud of in any country’s history?’ and affirmatively declared: “narajaati caritra samastam parapeeDaNa paraayanatvam, …parasparaapaharaNoadyoagam, …raNarakta pravaahasiktam,

beebhatsarasa pradhaanam, piSaacagaNa samavaakaaram…, నరజాతిచరిత్ర సమస్తం పరపీడన పరాయణత్వం… పరస్పరాపహరణోద్యోగం … రణరక్తప్రవాహసిక్తం… పిశాచగణసమవాకారం… etc. (the entire history of humankind is but an addiction for oppression, soaked in blood shed in battles, a gory dance of vampires, etc.)” and may be were Sri Sri to live in present times he would have used still stronger impacting words or perhaps got stunned into complete silence by the scale of genocides and atrocities! Sometimes it seems we have learnt nothing from history and perhaps all history is bunkum!? In the name of religions, supposed to inspire and lead people to live in peace, amity, friendship, and worship of some almighty God, the basest cruelties are being perpetrated and one’s heart goes out to a four-year old child strapped with explosives and blown up, or several women, children and old persons killed or injured by some drones pouring hellfire on their habitats; or when scores of people are butchered or literally burnt alive by fundamentalist outfits, suicide bombers, etc. In the context of the UN Human Rights Day 2015 which is “devoted to the launch of a year-long campaign for the 50^thanniversary of the two International Covenants on Human Rights: the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which were adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 16 December 1966 and which set out the civil, political, cultural, economic, and social rights that are the birth right of all human beings” and taking the exhortation of the UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon to “on Human Rights Day, … recommit to guaranteeing the fundamental freedoms and protecting the human rights of all,” at its face value, the essential questions one should put to oneself and to the people, governments and international bodies all over the world are as to how genuinely and how assiduously all of us are trying to fight international terrorism as also to at least stop the pace of such genocides and atrocities, and counter imperialist aggressions committed in the guise of war against terror, for world peace, etc. §§§

Editorial, LEGISLATIVE AUTHORITARIANISM, in 15 December 2015 issue, Vol 11, Pt 2, No 23, of LAW ANIMATED WORLD

LEGISLATIVE AUTHORITARIANISM

is also plaguing our country. It may seem strange, but sadly true – this is because it appears the Judiciary is not intervening in the critical affairs of the country when it must but unjustly and unnecessarily interfering when it shouldn’t. Especially when the interests or powers of superior courts are curbed or threatened, really or seemingly, they are too alert and quick to set aside any overwhelmingly popular measures even – as in the case of striking down the constitutional amendment instituting the much desired and applauded National Judicial Appointment Commission – but when it comes to the real interests of masses reflected in, or to be carried through, the actual working of democratic system, not only outside but also inside the legislatures, the Courts shy away, to say the least. All this judicial non-intervention in the name of ‘separation of powers’, which strangely didn’t come into picture in the above referred case which resulted in perpetuation of an unconstitutional judicial privilege of instituting and continuing a collegium for appointment of Judges and reducing the President of India and the Prime Minister of India to mere figureheads in this crucial matter. The reluctance of the judiciary to intervene in the case of legislative recklessness in the State of Telangana, on the infamous appointment and continuance of a turncoat Telugu Desam (opposition party) MLA as a Minister with the Speaker refusing to declare him disqualified within any reasonable time but perhaps planning to drag the matters till the next General Elections – an obvious fraud on the Constitution – is a glaring example. This is not just the case of a right or wrong concerned with an individual minister but having widespread ramifications, and has already resulted in a situation of a sort of one-party absolutism in the State. We see a queue of opposition MLAs aspiring for posts of pelf and perks before the ruling party – several already joined it – in full confidence that nothing would harm them as long as the ruling party Polit Bureau member is at the helm as Speaker and the Judiciary non-intervening in the name of ‘separation of powers’. The conditions in the other Telugu State of Andhra Pradesh are not any pleasing either, with the opposition parties there treated with absolute contempt. It is really very woeful to have to live and suffer in such a sordid situation.  §§§

Editorial, PARIS TRAGEDY AND ISIS TERRORISM, in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, October Revolution Special issue, 15-30 November 2015, Vol. 11, Part 2, No. 21-22

PARIS TRAGEDY AND ISIS TERRORISM

Reminding the world of the horrific Bombay terror attacks of 26/11, a gruesome massacre of almost the same proportion rocked the French capital on 13/11 this year. Suicide bombers cum militant armed attackers, numbering about 8-10 in all, in different areas of Paris, certainly with covert support of scores/hundreds of other fanatics therein, have killed at least 130 innocent citizens, injured many more and left it as a practical declaration of their Jihad to invade and occupy the West sooner than later. With the official organ Dabiq of the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL; also called ISIS, Daesh etc.) proudly claiming, in its recent issue, this gory act as their work by illustration on the front cover page of  French troopers attending to the terror victims with the tag JUST TERROR, and immediately in the Foreword (perhaps they mean it editorial) announcing it to be their work in revenge for the war unleashed on them by Russia, France and other Western powers, it may be taken as confirmed that it was a deliberate well-designed massacre plan and no wonder if some other rogues states, apart from the Daesh, were covertly involved in it. Some lines from the above Foreword in Dabiq are worth quoting: “Like Russia, it was blinded by hubris, thinking that its geographical distance from the lands of the Khilāfah would protect it from the justice of the mujāhidīn. It also did not grasp that its mockery of the Messenger would not be left unavenged. Thus, the Islamic State dispatched its brave knights to wage war in the homelands of the wicked crusaders, leaving Paris and its residents “shocked and awed.” The eight knights brought Paris down on its knees, after years of French conceit in the face of Islam. A nationwide state of emergency was declared as a result of the actions of eight men armed only with assault rifles and explosive belts.” So it can be safely inferred that there was no question of this having been a false flag operation, by the home state at least, and the tenor of the ‘foreword’ which has no pity or remorse at the death of and injuries to hundreds of innocents, including women and children, exposes the enormous proportions of the menace of fundamentalism and a new barbarianism now being faced by the people the world over. It is to be noted that with such international terrorism running rampant in the world, it would be extremely difficult for the progressive democratic and socialist forces to conduct or consolidate their movements and strive for real, people-friendly socio-economic transformations through militant mass movements and upsurges, since they would be targeted by both the ‘right’ and the misguided ‘left’ in their attempts to do so; as such, without hesitation, they should join in, and where possible even lead, the struggles against such fundamentalist terrorism, at the same time preventing their degeneration to racist or religious bigotry. §§§

Editorial, UNWARRANTED OVERREACH, in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 31 October 2015 issue, Vol. 11, Part 2, No. 20

UNWARRANTED OVERREACH

Certainly it is, to say the least, though there have been even stronger opinions expressed on the same, that in other developed democracies such is unthinkable and could be taken as nothing short of a judicial coup d'état – the decision of the Apex Court striking down the Constitution (99^th Amendment) Act setting up a National Judicial Appointments Commission, passed with voice vote or big majority in both the Houses of the Parliament – there was a general consensus supporting the bill inside and outside the Houses in the entire country, and then ratified by about 16 State Legislatures in the country, on the ground of what is taken by a body of five unelected, non-representative ‘cloistered virtues’ as an onslaught on ‘independence of judiciary’, deserves and needs stringent condemnation by all progressive, democratic people of the country. Because of the general degradation and disgrace to which the other two wings of the State fell in the 1960s and their continuance in such misery, this third wing, especially due to the great contributions of eminent persons like Bhagwati, Krishna Iyer, Chinnappa Reddy, et al, appointed as Judges in the non-Collegium times, has attained an unprecedented preeminence and popularity among the people, which was used step by step to unjustly encroach upon the spheres of the other two wings of the State – striking at the doctrine and system of separation of powers which is yet another basic feature of our Constitution and this lamentable decision is a near climax to such process of degrading democracy. Creating an unheard of collegium system by a weird interpretation of the term 'consultation' in the Constitution to mean tantamount to 'concurrence' paving the way for arbitrary selections of judges by the judiciary, and even dynastic successions, and now restoring it, is acting like an ‘imperium in imperio’ against which our ‘founding fathers’ warned us during the constitution framing. Justice Chelameswar’s lone and sane dissent is to be much appreciated in this dark scenario. The people should widely protest and legislatures should strongly react to reverse this undemocratic measure by introducing a sort of election for or at least ratification of Judges’ appointments by the parliamentary bodies. If inevitable, a new Constituent Assembly may be convened to entirely overhaul or construct anew our constitutional edifice. §§§

Editorial, "The Russians 've Come!", in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 15 October 2015 issue

THE RUSSIANS ‘VE COME!

“Oh, the Russians are coming, coming…” was a constant cry of the British imperialists in the 19^th century in Afghanistan-Iran region; then it became “Oh, Bolsheviks are coming, coming!” in the early 20^th century and finally to “Oh, the Soviets have come, drive them out!” scare by the US-UK axis in the 60s and 70s, which in fact created all the fiasco in the regions now. But now the Russians have come, on their own right and might, to the Middle East; yet, not seen as any oppressors but as real liberators from a most horrific religious fundamentalist terrorist regime in the world, which in fact has been created and aided by the American imperialists and their malevolent allies, though for public consumption these same Frankensteins proclaimed a phony war against their progeny. The relieving effect of Putin’s entry and vigorous attacks in the region to protect their protégé Assad of Syria, as well the persecuted and fast-being-eliminated minority communities therein, is so profound and obvious that even Netanyahu, the belligerent leader of Israel, with constant enmity toward Syria, Hezbollah and Iran, has begun to see the light of the day and cultivate friendship with Russia now. Putin, on his part, seems to have assured Israel that nothing detrimental to its existence and security was intended by him. Also, President Obama has been propagating a supportive agenda of all Muslim terrorist organizations and acting in a way quite uncomfortable to the interests of Israel in the region. And it appears that public opinion in Israel, as also in Europe in general, is heavily in favor of Putin and lauding him as a virtual hero-deliverer. Of course, one also notices the severe embarrassment displayed by Obama and the Western leaders in this context, who are time and again warning that they would take serious steps to counter the Russian invasion in case their allied Muslim terrorist outfits in the region are seriously attacked. But it is well known that the reactionary regime in Turkey is already acting as a proxy to the ISIS, and Putin has seriously warned the Turkish leaders of nemesis in case they continue so. So, one has to wait and watch whether further developments lead to any great war on a worldwide scale, but certainly this editor firmly supports the Russian intervention and desires the total destruction of the imperialist and fundamentalist forces. §§§

Editorial, 'ALL FUNDAMENTALISM DESPICABLE', in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 30 September 2015 issue, Vol. 11: Part 2, No. 18

ALL FUNDAMENTALISM DESPICABLE

Ya, not only bad but utterly despicable and vehemently condemnable. And good or bad, the word ‘fundamentalism’ is used nowadays only in the pejorative sense but not in any positive sense of imbibing the best values in the fundamentals of a religion/system, and so here too it is used in that sense only. If I am sick at some religious fundamentalist beheading an ‘enemy’ and exhibiting that on YouTube even, how can I be enamored by and worshipful towards a ‘goddess’ who not only beheads the ‘enemies’ but even flaunts a necklace of the cut-off heads? Because human sacrifices were not only permitted but also revered in many religious systems in the past and also cannibalism was prevalent in many tribes of the past and in the lore of the past [Bheema drinking the blood of Dusshasana!], can we condone or tolerate such things in the modern times? Obviously NOT! Of course, this would extend to condemning all animal sacrifices in the public too, though to condemn all animal slaughter may be too ahead of the day, since a majority of population, for good or bad, is non-vegetarian. However, it may be pointed out that in these times of scientific, technological revolution non-non-veg substitutes for non-veg foods are also coming out and tomorrow those may be the craze of the day and vanquish all animal killings even. That would be in conformity with non-cruelty and empathy with all living species. Wait, would the censure then extend to vegetarianism too since it is said trees and rocks may revolt saying ‘we too have life’! Frankly, ‘I donno’. Well, halting here, there is nothing wrong in any laws for banning/regulating cow/cattle slaughter in our country as it would be in right consonance with Article 48 of our Constitution. But would it extend to a total beef ban? No, not at present or in foreseeable future, and certainly even if banned, it would not be an offence punishable with death. So there the fundamentalists are again on the wrong and, also, don’t they know that the biggest beef exporters in India are Hindus?! Can anyone say killing and exporting meat of cows/cattle is OK, but killing and eating that here is bad? Then, another question arises as to whether expressing ideas about ‘good’s or ‘bad’s of cow-slaughter, etc. is also blasphemy and fit to be banned. Whether asking if a ‘prophet’ was really a prophet and whether he really hailed from a high caste or whether he was in fact a Hindu or outside the pale of Hinduism should be suppressed? Then, why Prof. Kalburgi was silenced by a roaring gun?     §§§

Editorial, "REFUGEE CRISIS OR ISLAMIC INVASION?", in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 15 September 2015 issue, Vol. 11: Part 2, No. 17

REFUGEE CRISIS OR ISLAMIC INVASION?

is the question posed by the Dutch far-right Party for Freedom leader Geert Wilders with reference to the now-agog ‘Syrian’ Muslim ‘refugee’ crisis transformed into a Long March to European countries. Netherlands is already troubled by the excesses of the asylum accorded/settled Muslim population in that country turning more and more fundamentalist and become a menace to the native population and cultural traditions there. People all over Europe have now come to think that ‘multiculturalism’ has come to play havoc and right extremism is growing everywhere. The danger and harm though are due to the Islamic extremists who are conducting themselves as per the Telugu saying “isunta rammanTea illantaa naadannaTlu - ఇసుంత రమ్మంటే ఇల్లంతా నాదన్నట్లు - (when given, out of compassion, a little space to stay, now claiming that the entire house is theirs)!” The followers of the ‘religion of peace’ are everywhere, especially in the West, conducting themselves so violently and aggressively trying to impose their sharia law that revulsion not only against them but also against the eccentric and blundering social-democrats and other leftists has grown very much there and no wonder if in the near future this would give rise to a series of ‘new crusades’ within Europe. Well, the rich Arab countries like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain or comfortable ones like Iran and the former Soviet central Asian republics are looking after their own ‘security’ and not permitting any refugees, their own Muslim ‘kins’, into their lands. Natasha Fatah, courageous daughter of the intrepid radical Islamic critic Tarek Fatah, has exposed this hypocrisy and selfishness on the CBC News Network. Also most of the refugees seem to be young males, ready to vandalize and use violence everywhere, only about 20% really ‘Syrian’ and perhaps about 10% are ISIS supporters trying to infiltrate into, and then commit gory atrocities. So this Editor feels and advises that not a single such refugee be permitted into Europe, if necessary normal law processes be suspended, armies called out and all these be driven out forcefully; that let all such be accommodated in the thousands of empty [air-conditioned!] tents lying vacant in Saudi Arabia and if necessary let any countries render massive aid through U.N. Agencies. Otherwise, this Editor warns, the situation will go completely out of hand, lead to terrible battles in Europe and outside – deadly blows to all democracies and to world peace.  §§§