Dear Friend,
There is a commonality of authoritarian regimes across the globe. These regimes follow a common conservative cult called ‘nation first’. This ‘nation first’ reactionary political and economic dogma derives its philosophical lineages from social and religious conservative thoughts, that in essence argues to protect, promote and glorify moral traditions of the past. The conservatives and authoritarian ideologues argue that the values of the past can provide solutions to the present predicaments of the society. The knowledge of the past is more valuable for the present. The past glories and successes are the life and blood of contemporary authoritarian states and governments.
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Regimes Without Reason and Conscience
by Bhabani Shankar Nayak
There is a commonality of authoritarian regimes across the globe. These regimes follow a common conservative cult called ‘nation first’. This ‘nation first’ reactionary political and economic dogma derives its philosophical lineages from social and religious conservative thoughts, that in essence argues to protect, promote and glorify moral traditions of the past. The conservatives and authoritarian ideologues argue that the values of the past can provide solutions to the present predicaments of the society. The knowledge of the past is more valuable for the present. The past glories and successes are the life and blood of contemporary authoritarian
states and governments.
The world is silently witnessing the erosion of democratic, progressive, secular and liberal cultures of governance. The contemporary governments are becoming more authoritarian and threaten the multicultural mosaic of societies around the world. The governing and non-governing elites falsely argue that democracy breeds inefficiency and creates functional barrier to the animal spirit of profit making and entrepreneurial activities. The majority of people are conspicuously silent. The pandemic has taken away the limited space for resistance to the on-going authoritarian ordeals. From Washington and Westminster to Beijing, Brussels, and New Delhi, the authoritarian cultures define the operational character of the governments. These Machiavellian authoritarian regimes are not only against freedom and democracy but also spread bigotry. The silent coup of reactionary forces is accelerated by rewriting of history, imposition of neoliberal economic policies, removal of all institutional and legal barriers to the lynch mob of market forces. The governments are not bystanders but active facilitators of authoritarian regimes as a dominant reality in society, politics and economy.
There is a commonality of authoritarian regimes across the globe. These regimes follow a common conservative cult called ‘nation first’. This ‘nation first’ reactionary political and economic dogma derives its philosophical lineages from social and religious conservative thoughts, that in essence argues to protect, promote and glorify moral traditions of the past. The conservatives and authoritarian ideologues argue that the values of the past can provide solutions to the present predicaments of the society. The knowledge of the past is more valuable for the present. The past glories and successes are the life and blood of contemporary authoritarian states and governments. The conservative ideals are opposed to change and prefer to maintain status quo. Edmund Burke as a philosopher is the patron saint of conservative philosophy for last three centuries. His philosophy continues to provide political justification to authoritarian and conservative regimes of today. Burke was opposed to the idea of any form of revolutionary change in the society as it destroys the traditional fabrics of good society. Such an ideological framework is a deliberate strategy to avoid accountability and supress citizenship rights and liberties. There is relentless attack on democratic and multicultural cultural ethos in politics; often led by governments with conformist outlooks devoid of conscience and compassion.
The contemporary conservative politics is a reaction against the aggrandisement of neoliberal capitalism, which consolidated wealth in the hands of few and marginalised the masses. The capitalist classes have formed an alliance with the conservative forces to further consolidate their power and wealth. The government formed out of such an alliance does not represent the interests of the marginalised masses. As a result, the world is confronting miseries amidst plenty. The forward march of reactionary and authoritarian governments across the globe is based on the politics of maintaining social, cultural and religious order of the past in the name of national, ethnic and religious glory based on conquest and dominance of minorities and working-class population. Such irrational, illogical and authoritarian outlooks define conservative philosophical praxis.
The conservative governments use the state power to implement their authoritarian agenda of governance devoid of conscience and compassion. These forces are not only hostile to critical public opinion but also supress any form of dissent within a democratic culture. Democracy dies its natural death without the voices of dissent and debates. The idea of mass obedience to authority is central to authoritarian governance model practiced by conservative governments across the world. The authoritarian regimes and their ideology of mass obedience kills the innate conscience and compassion within human beings. The idea of dominance, hierarchy and subjugation becomes the organising principles of authoritarian states and governments under which majority of people suffer. As a result, the banality of authoritarian evil becomes normal and natural in the society, which produces totalitarian leaders without conscience and compassion. Such leaders use every opportunity to lead and dominate the masses by using state power. The governments become hostage to such leaders and their ideological cult. The compassion and conscience tend to restrict individuals in the misuse of power but the authoritarian cult leaders do not have any such restrictions in use and abuse of power. The authoritarian leaders are revengeful, manipulative, unsympathetic and untrustworthy. These social and psychological characters are products of conservative and capitalist societies. From Americas, Africas to Europe and Asia, the world is witnessing such characteristics in leaders ruling these continents.
The pandemic fuelled economic crisis is ravaging the world but the governments are mute spectators in USA, UK, India, Brazil, Iran, Mexico and many other countries. The leaders and the governments in these countries show little compassion and conscience in discharging their democratic responsibilities for their citizens. The global health crisis has revealed that these authoritarian regimes promote the propaganda of ‘nation first’ but in reality, these leaders betray the very people elect them to power. These governments and leadership stand with the capitalist class to further consolidate their wealth even during the global health and economic crises. The political and economic profiles of authoritarian governments show that these right-wing regimes are really without any form of human or animal conscience. The right-wing regimes and their leaders are motivated by fear and use it to rule the massed by spreading prejudice. The aggressiveness in authoritarian leaders is a product of fear; the source of the desire to dominate with medieval mindset. These leaders use fake news and misleading information to manipulate and control the masses.
Why do people vote leaders and regimes without reason and conscience? Why do people support dictatorships? Why do people support their own subjugation? The Stockholm syndrome, political ignorance, illiteracy, poverty and love for strong leaders etc are some of the silly reasons based on superficial analysis. The alternative to such a right wing, reactionary and authoritarian shift in society, politics and economy needs dispassionate analysis on the causes of such a transformation. It is impossible to fight authoritarian regimes without understanding the foundations of their support and reasons behind the causes of its growth. The capitalist delusions and growth of anti-politics culture of entitlement led to the rise of authoritarian regimes with the help of reactionary religious and market forces. In spite of flagrant erosion of democratic space and deepening of crises, the popularity of authoritarian regimes and their leaders did not decline. It is a serious cause of concern while reimagining alternatives. Foxy electoral strategies are not enough for radical social and political transformations to defeat authoritarian psychopaths. The survival of democratic, liberal, progressive and multicultural values depends on radical alternatives produced in impending people’s struggles. People’s struggles are incubators of ideas and inventories of alternatives. There is no other sustainable alternative to struggles based on compassion and conscience.
Bhabani Shankar Nayak, Coventry University, UK
Macaulay Putras And The New Education Policy: Shudras/Dalits/Adivasis Must Be Vigilant
by Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd
New visions are flashing in the thick of darkness of Hindutva diabolism all around. Now the hope is in understanding Macaulay with a mirror before him.
Legal Education under NEP 2020: Big Promises with Little Substance
by Tanaya Thakur
The draft policy ignores all other aspects of law and tends to over-emphasize on culture, tradition, and mythology. The usage of the term ‘has to fall back upon culture and traditions’ cannot be ignored. The present government has on multiple occasions expressed the desire for reviving the Vedic traditions and the party in power has on multiple occasions spoken about creating a
Hindu nationalism. In this background, the talk of culture, tradition and mythology, while discussing legal education raises alarm.
Human Rights Defenders: Palestinian Eyewitness Testimony of the Execution of Abdul Fattah al-Sharif by Israeli Soldier, Elor Azaria
by Dr Ramzy Baroud
On March 24, 2016, Israeli army medic, Elor Azaria, killed al-Sharif in cold blood in Hebron. The Israeli army later claimed that al-Sharif, and another Palestinian, tried to stab an Israeli soldier. The murder was rightly dubbed ‘extrajudicial execution’ by human rights organizations. Under international pressure, Israel tried Azaria in court, sentencing him to eighteen months’ imprisonment, but eventually released him fourteen months later, to be received as a hero by many Israeli politicians, his family and ordinary people.
As illegal Jewish settlers increase their attacks on Palestinian civilians in the occupied city of Al Khalil (Hebron), the people of the Palestinian city continue to mount a campaign of popular resistance.
One of the channels of resistance is Human Rights Defenders, “a grass-roots, non-partisan Palestinian organization, working to support nonviolent popular resistance through popular direct action and documentation of human rights violations committed by the Occupation.”
To understand the situation in Hebron better, I spoke to Badee Dwaik, head of ‘Human Rights Defenders’, Raghad Neiroukh, a journalist, and Flora Thomas, a British solidarity activist.
The conversation included another member of HRD, Imad Abu Shamsiyah, the courageous activist who filmed the murder of Palestinian young man, Abdul Fattah al-Sharif.
On March 24, 2016, Israeli army medic, Elor Azaria, killed al-Sharif in cold blood in Hebron. The Israeli army later claimed that al-Sharif, and another Palestinian, tried to stab an Israeli soldier.
The murder was rightly dubbed ‘extrajudicial execution’ by human rights organizations. Under international pressure, Israel tried Azaria in court, sentencing him to eighteen months’ imprisonment, but eventually released him fourteen months later, to be received as a hero by many Israeli politicians, his family and ordinary people.
I asked Abu Shamsiyah about the events that took place on that day, when he had personally witnessed and filmed the execution of the Palestinian young man.
“It was about 8 o’clock in the morning and I was having coffee with my wife. I heard the sound of shooting outside, very close to my house,” Abu Shamsiyah began.
“I immediately went out to see what was going on, and my wife followed me. She brought the camera with her.
“I found out that a person was lying in the street. He was wearing a black t-shirt and trousers.”
“I saw that there was also another person on the ground. I moved my camera to capture him on film and noticed that he was bleeding from his face.”
“I observed a few Israeli soldiers approaching one of the people on the ground; they were very close to me.”
“I realized that Abdul Fattah al-Sharif was a Palestinian only when I saw an Israeli soldier kicking him.”
“When the Israeli soldier kicked him, al-Sharif moved both of his legs and his hands; and I captured this with my camera.”
“At that moment, my wife started shouting, saying: ‘Haram, haram,’ and tried to help the wounded young man.”
“When the soldiers heard her screams, they noticed our presence in the street. So they forced us to leave the street; they chased us away.”
“I went home but I began to think of another way to continue filming. I climbed on to the roof of a neighbor’s house and resumed filming the execution.”
“I saw an Israeli ambulance arriving in the area, but it didn’t go towards al-Sharif; instead, it went towards the other person who was still lying on the ground. Only then, I realized that the other person was, in fact, an Israeli soldier.”
“So I zoomed in the camera to capture a better image of the soldier, who (looked as if) slightly injured. The ambulance gave him first aid and treated him, while they denied any treatment to al-Sharif and the other wounded Palestinian.”
“They carried the Israeli soldier into the ambulance; I zoomed in again, and he was already standing; as I said before, he was (clearly) only slightly injured.”
“The ambulance began to turn around to leave the area. It was then that I heard the sound of one of the soldiers loading his gun. He got closer and closer to where al-Sharif was (still lying down). When he was about one meter away, he pointed the gun at al-Sharif’s head.”
“Al-Sharif did not pose any threat to the soldier, whose name was revealed later in the media to be Elor Azaria. It was Azaria who shot the wounded Palestinian in the head.”
“I was still filming, and one of the Jewish settlers, who noticed me, told the soldiers about me. One of the soldiers turned towards me and ordered me to leave the area, but I was already leaving because I had filmed the entire scene.”
“I immediately went to the ‘Human Rights Defenders’, where I uploaded the video and many people watched it.”
“Israeli soldiers kill Palestinians in cold blood, while accusing Palestinians of trying to stab soldiers.”
Following the incident and, throughout Azaria’s trial, Abu Shamsiyah and his family experienced much harassment by the Israeli army for revealing the truth that Israel wishes to keep hidden: the brutality of its soldiers, and the intrinsic relationship between the occupation army and the illegal Jewish settlers.
Speaking to Abu Shamsiyah four years after the tragic death of al-Sharif, the Palestinian activist remains steadfast in his belief that the ongoing Israeli human rights violations must be exposed. His voice conveys determination, not hesitation nor fear.
‘Human Rights Defenders’, like many other Palestinian groups, continues to channel and guide the popular resistance of the Palestinian people in Hebron and many towns and villages across Palestine. They are a testament to the resolve of Palestinian society – brave, steadfast and unbroken.
Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of five books. His latest is “These Chains Will Be Broken: Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons” (Clarity Press, Atlanta). Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA), Istanbul Zaim University (IZU). His website is www.ramzybaroud.net
Remembering Kamlabai
by Vidyarthy Chatterjee
Not everyone with a family is destined to enjoy all the fruits that the family has to offer. Let us take the case of Kamlabai Raghunath Gokhale, or simply Kamlabai, who was a Marathi actress in the early decades of the twentieth century and the first woman to act in films in India
Statement by students in solidarity with Prof Hany Babu
by Press Release
A statement signed by more than 300 students of Prof Hany Babu
Oppose and condemn the arbitrary, vindictive arrest of Prof. Hany Babu
by Press Release
Janhastakshep takes the serious note of, opposes and condemns the arbitrary and vindictive act of the government of India of arresting Prof. Hany Babu a popular teacher of
Delhi University, latest in the process of arresting the academicians, litterateurs and intellectuals to stifle the voices of dissent and create an atmosphere of terror in the country
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