The world is going through a difficult time. Over the past decade alone, hundreds of thousands of innocent citizens have perished in Myanmar (formerly Burma), Ethiopia and Sudan. The labels may vary — ethnic cleansing, state-sponsored atrocities or sectarian, identity-based violence — but in the end these are all serious crimes against humanity.
In media coverage, however, they neither attract adequate column inches or minutes in telecast time. When genocides happen on account of internal divisions, the world doesn’t know how to intervene without being seen as meddling in the domestic affairs of a sovereign nation. Closer home, we have seen this happen in Manipur. The state government was clearly favoring one group over the other but very few of us even within the country had the willingness or the knowledge to see through it. After all, when you are sitting in the relatively safer environs of Bombay, Delhi or Madras, you can’t be bothered with what’s happening in godforsaken Manipur.
Dr Feroze Sidhwa: standing
up for the victims
What’s happening in Gaza over the past 20 months defies easy categorization. It is not a matter of internal strife, nor is this a war of equals; and yet, the governments of the countries that truly have a voice have disgraced themselves with the hypocrisy of their positions. The Gaza genocide has been televised daily. The unfortunate Palestinians are being ethnically cleansed and systematically exterminated in front of our eyes. They have endured starvation, humiliation, destruction of their homes, families and livelihoods. Hundreds have died at aid distribution sites. This has gone on for the better part of two years and every human rights organization that stands for more than just its logo has called out Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government for its unforgivable war crimes. This Israeli holocaust of Gaza has become every bit as harrowing and indefensible as the Nazi one of nearly a century earlier and has awakened the conscience of every sane, conscientious citizen across borders and ethnicities.
However, I must note with extreme dissatisfaction that our country’s and our community’s role in speaking up and acknowledging the existence of such atrocities is worse than appalling. In cosying up to the evil and blatantly immoral Zionists, India has missed a historic opportunity to lead from the front as befits its global status. Hedging one’s bets in a time of universal malevolence is a sign of colossal moral weakness, and no excuse will ever redeem lost ground.
This is no longer about Hamas or the October 7, 2023 massacre of Jews by Hamas. This is about the long arc of historical injustices since the Nakba (the destruction of Palestinian society and homeland in 1948 and the permanent displacement of a majority of Palestinian people) which mature nations such as ours, steeped in centuries of culture and civilization, are supposed to take into account. This is about standing up for the victims without the expectation of what tomorrow holds for us in the Middle East.
My sense of disappointment for the community is even greater. We seem utterly bereft of righteous leadership. The community has precious little to show by way of moral guidance except for the magnificent California-based trauma surgeon Dr Feroze Sidhwa, who has gone out of his way to lend unconditional support with two stints in war-ravaged Gaza hospitals, one in which he was just meters away from certain death. Sidhwa is that glorious exception in a mass of ethical mediocrity (see "Blood on our hands,” Parsiana, May 21-June 6, 2024). We have so many men and women of distinction in all walks of life who are otherwise outspoken; from the legal fraternity, industrialists, sports personalities, doctors, musicians, journalists and individuals from the arts, theater, advertising, media and cinema. None of them has spoken out! What does it tell us about the community? If this doesn’t point to the crisis of conscience, it’s time to say goodbye to common human decency altogether.
At a time when dissident Jewish voices have become the biggest headache to Israel’s genocidal aspirations, this silence is not just deafening, but heartbreaking. These voices of resistance need the support of more common citizens and celebrated individuals across the globe.
I wonder what’s holding us back? Is it our ancient baggage with Islam, our irrational love for Zionists, or is it just the fact that we do not want to jeopardize our vacations in the South of France? Perhaps it’s no longer fashionable to live out the reckless non-conformist spirit of the heady 1960s when universal idealism brought the young and old together in an outpouring of love and support for the underdog? Or maybe we just worry too much about what could happen to our children in foreign universities if we were to speak out?
Whatever it may be, it certainly makes us seem lesser as individuals and hopelessly insipid as a community.
VISTASP SAM HODIWALA
Thana
vistasphodiwala@gmail.com