The Mentally Sick

“Westerners thinking that ‘we’ had given ‘them’ progress and modernization? Hadn’t we provided them with order and a kind of stability that they haven’t been able since to provide for themselves.” This is what the West believed and still believes, that the former colonies shouldn’t have been left to themselves and it was their burden to recolonize them in another way, hence the birth of Imperialism. This is very aptly discussed in the book, Culture and Imperialism, by Edward Said, that colonialists have time and again referred to the “foolish”-ness to leave these countries and should reinvade them.

What we fail to realize is that the West, earlier was predominantly referred to were the European countries that had colonies all over the world mainly Asia and Africa. The tradition that T. S. Eliot so boastfully talked about in his essays was the tradition of Europe, the tradition that was deep set in its Christian ideology. But in today’s world and the new paradigms and the shift that has been created, it seems that the European countries may not have as much of an influence as US has now all over the world.

Edward Said writes in his book, Culture and Imperialism that the ‘relationship between the Occident and the Orient is a relationship of power, of domination..’ and he has rightly put so as we see today that the global south is dominated by these Western powers, mainly that of the U.S. The former colonies have certain issues and the West looks down upon them and want to take a role of a mediator or that of a master who wants these states to behave in certain ways and these countries are dying to gain favor from them. The recent show of extravagance and flamboyance by the Arab world to the President of U.S., Donald Trump and the way the gifts were given to him and the way they tried to please him, showed as if they were actually trying to win favor of the master to get some things from him. The shamelessness of these countries was quite evident and seemed as if the ruled really have no dignity when it comes to pleasing ones’ masters.

As J.C.Young mentions in his book, An Introduction to Post Colonialism, that the governments of the countries of the global south, when try to steer away from the Western influence, they are met by ‘military interventions’ by the West as it happened in Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq etc. The current example is that of Palestine. The case of Palestine goes way ahead of all the ‘soft’ policies of the West. The West or the countries that have so far succumbed to the secularism, have failed to give anything but religiosity to the whole settler colonialism of Israel. The genocide of Gaza can not be described by anything religious and secular. One of the journalist I used to read when I was in college, who was brought up in the Western culture and believed that the values of East are not up to the mark of the West in terms of human rights, and freedom of speech and freedom in general, said the wall fell on him and he doesn’t want to be associated with those values any more, as these values were just on paper, when it came to Palestine, all those values turned out to be trash.

After years and years of studies of Colonialism, Neocolonialism, Post-colonialism, Settler-colonialism, we have come to the conclusion that the so-called ‘global-south’ was never a problem. The disease lies in the West and the U.S. and their Israeli friends. The disease of controlling, taking over a land, and ruling over the global south. The people, who didn’t fear them and stood their ground, resisting, were made to starve for months and then were put in cages to make lines and stand in que to get morsels of food. People, with their kids dying of hunger, were desperate and these colonists and savages and animals made them do something so heinous and insane that it will be written down in history that the tyrants were mere animals and sadists and took pleasure in hunting babies, sniping them, letting them rot in the hospital NICU beds, starving them to death and drawing their loved ones to such desperations.

The humanity? What is it ? What traits one should have to be called humans? DO we need to redefine it? Above anything and everything, one has to be clear in his mind and his head that the humanity, the values, and the doctrine shouldn’t come from the West and the U.S. no matter how prestigious their outlook is, no matter how many prestigious universities they have, no matter what! The lowest low is evident and when we think there can’t be another low to which the humanity of these people could sink to, they take it as a challenge and show us a new low, and the sadist and most sick side to them. These people need therapies and should be admitted to mental asylums rather than be seated in the posts of command!

The World ANEW

Last week was the series of a rollercoaster of emotions, where when we resorted to the digital media, and social media, the misinformation and the disinformation, led us into total chaos. The X, the channels, Facebook, etc. was filled with rumors and false reporting. The way everyone used to say that the dynamics and the architecture of warfare has been changed drastically, we saw it all happening within the span of one week. Though we have been seeing what is happening in Ghazza for more than a year, but when we actually were caught in the similar situation, we understood what it was like to be the victim of such news propaganda. Not only that, the new horizons that opened up concerning the whole Air defense system, that came under play during these past days, was something that I would never have predicted in my life.

When I used to think about the modern day settler colonial mindset of the Israelis and the Zionists, I used to go back to the whole tradition where the superiority complex of the European part of the world used to come under play. The French colonist advocate, Jules Harmand, believed that it was their superiority (mechanical, economical, military and MORAL) that gives us the right to rule over these native people of the land. In the wake of the Palestinian genocide in Ghazza, the Western claim of superiority over the global East, just went into tatters. Piers Morgan or others, asks the natives to come on their show and then keep saying that they have a moral superiority over the Arabs and the Muslims because the West still believes in the same principles. Imagine Piers saying that Pakistanis only export ‘terrorism’ on TV while India was the one carrying out terrorist activities in Pakistan. When children die, these people side with genocide because that is the ‘moral high ground’ that they have possessed for the past three hundred to four hundred years where the rest is the white man’s burden and it doesn’t matter if the people of color die. BUT something interesting happened when India tried to do the same to Pakistan these past few days.

When the first attack happened in Bahawalpur in Pakistan, my daughter became distressed, as all of us have only seen what war looks like in Palestine, the only reference point we have. The whole world sided with India, as they sided with Netanyahu, and did not say a word when innocent civilians died in Pakistan and then claiming that they did not intend to target any civilians but the terrorists in Pakistan, whilst killing children here. Interestingly, when Pakistan downed six jets, the whole world came running to the South asking to de-escalate the situation. The world, the leaders of the world, do not care about people dying. Do you know what they care about?? THE STOCKS OF RAFALE!!! Not only that the geopolitical shift from the Eurocentric world to China, and this war established that shift in the most unapologetic way that the whole world is now concerned with it. Countries like Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine, became the testing ground of the weapons of Russia, NATO, US and the likes and they were uncontested as they bombed the hell out of the innocent civilians and did not fight anyone head on. When Pakistan, and India came face to face, mostly they didn’t bother as they knew that India has more weaponry, more technology, massive artillery and a huge army, and Pakistan is tiny compared to it. The hegemony of the whole power block that was being created by the West in the global south or say South Asia by making India their side chick, was shaken when they realized that there might be another power emerging here that they did not consider to be anything. I am talking about China here, which seemed to have been nowhere in the equation and it silently became the center now of the global South.

War is not the same when two nations are fully equipped with modern day technology and weaponry. War becomes something else. The media becomes a tool of war, as many people had rightly put, the war now will be fought in the cyber space. And we saw that happening, war was being fought on cyber space. But what was more interesting to see was how war was fought in the air space. The jets that didn’t cross international borders, the radar jammers, the communication jammers, the airborne radar jets, the air to air missiles, the ability to see the jets on the radars and hitting them without them knowing. With China and Turkey, both providing satellite data to Pakistan (Alhamdolillah), we achieved what would have been impossible. The days of conventional war suddenly shifted to something big, something we could never imagine happening in our lifetime. We saw history being written right in front of our eyes.

The lessons to be learned from the past few days are many but I would like to stick to three; the first and the foremost and the most important lesson is to be equipped with the best of technology, best of weapons as per the Hadith of Prophet Muhammad (saw). The importance of having at least one satellite in space and have that power to see what your enemy is able to. The world would not have bat an eye if all of Pakistan was nuked because it’s a Muslim country and we have seen that in Ghazza, they became concerned because a non-Muslim state was seeing a rebuttal. Secondly, as the Quran says, to verify the news that is brought to you before you act upon it. The recent disinformation and misinformation, do not give in to the hype, keep calm, do not react impulsively, and do not make rash decisions. Thirdly, remembrance of Allah. Muslim ummah should never forget that in the midst of calamity, remembrance of Allah is what keeps us from falling into despair, from having a weak heart and losing a battle. Remember, Palestinians are not losing any battle but they have conquered what we can never; the fear of death and destruction!

Weltanschauung

The structuralist poetics described the weltanschauung or the world view one has structured around the language that we speak growing up, in other words, our mother tongue. People like us, who grew up in the post colonial era, where English was and still continue to be of more importance than the language of our ancestors, our world view seems to be distorted, torn between three things; our tradition, our culture and that of our colonial masters. As they say, the gap that is left by the colonial armies, is filled with the language of the colonial masters and those gaps later empower everything as language is ten times more stronger than the physical armies as one can resist those armies and those power with more aggression and throw them out, but once language is embedded in the minds of the opressed, they become better slaves, even after the armies leave, the psychological remnants of the culture and language never let them be free of those masters and that inferiority complex that they had embedded within the minds of the slaves that they created.

In the post modern world, where structures have crumbled, where there seems to be no center whatsoever anywhere, where the moral values, and moral compasses have no grounding or no anchor and it shifts like sand dunes with winds or move around in the ocean with the waves and currents, one wonders where will we find some kind of structure to give meaning to all the madness that is going on around the world. The recent events of colonial settler’s genocidal war on Ghazza and later bombing of the most poor country in the world i.e. Yemen, has put a question mark on every single idea that has been floating around the world for so many years about the moral superiority of the global north. The movies like Avengers, Batman, Superman, all of them white, saving the world and rescuing the opressed people all around the world, seem to have crumbled as soon as the confict started. The idea of free speech, democracy, having opinions, everything that West used to justify it’s illegal bombing of Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria etc. all became invalid. The colonial, imperial powers came out as nothing but a facade that blew up like a balloon and there is nothing left of them to admire anymore.

The question now arises, what will be the world view or the weltanshuaang that we should look at. The language, that has enslaved us for so long, is breaking into small pieces, and we being more aware of the shackles that we knew were there but we never consciously tried to break free of them as we are now trying, struggling to. The world around, be it the north or the global south, nothing has answers to the questions that are being raised in this era. Where is the moral grounding? Where do we anchor the ship of values? The global north, which they made us believe that they have all the best universities, colleges, institutions, crumbled and shattered as people were fired, sacked, slandered for speaking up for a ceasfire. Imagine being called out for asking to stop the killing of innocent civilians and children. Imagine asking to not to target hospitals and being called a terrorists. The question now arises, if you have all the knowledge, all the technology in the world, but no moral values, would you create a human or a monster?!

About the other side of the picture. What is the world view or the weltanshauung of the other side of the conflict. What kind of worldview do these opressed people have? What understanding of the world do these people in Ghazza have to be so resilient, to be so patient in the time of such catastrophe, devastation and destruction.
‘Everything from Allah is beautiful’, were the words of the man who stood on the rubble of his home and his burnt shop smiling.
Such a simple sentence and such a beautiful and deep answer that people like me and you can’t fathom. The worldview that this simple man had is beyond any professor, intellectual that sits in the University of Oxford or Harvard. The weltanshauung that is metaphysical and transcends beyond the realm of the Western culture, langue and discourse. What makes his weltanshaaung so different from everyone we see around us. Living in the MiddleEast for most of my life, the comfortable lifestyle I had, I could never see things the way he is. This is not the story or words of just one man, but an entire population, who I never saw complaining amidst the destruction and devastation. The words, the attitude is the same that we have read about the Sahaba, the companions of the Prophet (SAW). It seems that they have internalized the word of Allah in such a way that they see life, death, destruction, and loss in an entire different way than we do. They seem like a different people, people who are connected to some kind of sabr that comes with endurance and huzn and love of Allah, Quran and the Prophet Muhamad (SAW).

Since the waltenshaaung has shifted with the crisis, it seems the strive to find a new moral ground or anchor has been created too. Once we know that the world, and specially the colonial, Western world has nothing to offer in this regard, where do we shift our focus too. The facade has fallen, the veil has been lifted, the ugliness of the colonial Western world, that has no moral grounding and loves killing children and innocent civilians, we know now, that the moral grounds have to come from the beautiful people, who have the worldview that is not tainted by the hypocrisy of the West and its influence like ours have. The tradition, the Book and the tradition of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW), is the beacon of light, is the anchor of the moral compass and the grounding of the very foundation of our values as humans and not some farce that change every few years to suit some powerful people ans countries.

Phalasteen

Yesterday, I was talking to my brother and was asking him if he has written something regarding the current issue. He replied that he hasn’t, and continued to say that what is there to write?! Today, as Isat down to write something, my heart skipped a beat, my chest felt contracted as if my heart is constricted and there is not place for it to beat. And I felt his words weighing heavy on my chest and I sit here, and I’m thinking, my words are just mere words.. no one reads my blog anyway, but still, what will my words do?! When there is need for an active combat, words are worthless. I sit here and feel as if my existence is worthless for not being able to do anything for my brothers and sisters in Ghazza or Phalasteen. As I sit here with my blood boiling, I wish I were able to do more even if it is hurling one stone at the occupying forces.

I can’t wrap my head around the fact that how can one think it is okay to bomb hospitals, residential areas , mosques and churches. How can all these people say it is okay to annihilate a whole area where 2.1 million people live where 50% of them are children? How can you not allow food, water, medicine and electricity to hospitals, and innocent civillians. This is not new. People don’t even know that Israel has time and again, even before October 7th, has bombed schools, hospitals and civillian population. They have time and again used tanks and bombs and white phosphorus over civillian population not just in Gaza but even in the West Bank. I had written on Gaza and Palestine over and over again in the past 10 years of my blogging era, and Israel has always breached international laws, and has committed war crimes time and again without any remorse. They think they have a right to exist and in this right, they will trample over other people’s right to exist. The existence of the ‘other’ is a threat to mine. It’s ironic that the people, who came as refugees to Palestine, took over the land, houses and the rights of the people who already were living there by killing them, by driving them out of their houses and bombing them with support from USA and British.

The Israeli minister said, that their babies do not have a right to exist only our babies have. The US presidential candidate said, kill them all. The Israeli minister said that they are dogs. Their language is the same as Winston Churchill when he said that they were right in killing blacks of Australia, Red Indians of US, browns of the subcontinent, claiming whites being a superior race and ‘others’ are animals and do not have a right to exist.

The West hs always been like this. But Oh Ummah! Oh Leaders, Kings, Prime Ministers of the Muslim World… Where art thou?! Where is the united army of 40 countries? Where is Raheel Shareef? Where is Khalid tank? Ghauri missile? Where is the ISI? Where is Asim Muneer? Do we not have any duty in the current state of affairs?!Oh my heart!!! How will I face my Lord on the Day of Judgement when I know that this was not a time to write but a time to fight…

Modern Day Colonialism

The first ever department of English was established in the colony of the subcontinent. And do you wonder why? To make us into better slaves. And if you still cannot understand what it means, you can just listen to Rishi Sunak, the PM of UK. He is of an Indian descent and India was a British colony up until 78 years ago. When you look at him, stating his stance on the ceasefire, his refusal to consider the ceasefire and letting humanitarian aid into Gaza, you understand that he still has that mentality of a people that were colonized years ago and still can’t break out of this colonial mindset where you cannot steer away from what your “master” wants.

The colonials have always believed that the whites are a superior race and everyone else is touched by the devil and are cannibals. Everyone else is less human and are animals and have to be treated as such. One would have thought that this is the twenty first century and human beings will not be judged by the colour of their skin or the country they are born in or the religion they follow. It turns out that you are wrong! Even when there are millions of immigrants in the European countries and US and Canada, Muslims are not equal human beings and will never be treated as one. The people of colour will always be the people of colour. The constant repetition from the Israeli Ministers, calling Palestinians, as ‘human animals’ doesn’t come as a shock. This has always been the case with the colonizers, oppressors and occupiers. The Western Media, who claims to be the upholder of human rights and free speech, is not disgusted, or shows any remorse into supporting the idea that ,’Yes! They can say that to the people of Palestine, as they are not “white skinned, blue eyed, Europeans”. There is no backlash as such from the so called human right activists that how can one human life be less worthy as compared to a fair-skinned European.

The language, the lexicon that has been used in the news by the anchor persons or the interviewers or the leaders of the world shape the way they want people to think about a certain situation and the events. There are always sides. The right and the wrong side. What these small ‘slip of tongues’, deliberate use of certain words and the words that construe a certain image in the minds of the masses, do is sometimes completely change the way a person might be thinking. Let’s start with a context, when 9/11 happened, Bush, on the TV called war on Afghanistan, ‘ a crusade!’ This word ‘crusade’ have a religious context and this is exactly what they tried to implant in the minds of people. The kind of phrases that followed were, ‘whether you are “with us” or “against us” driving people into thinking that there is only one way to handle this situation and that be to wipe out a country where “others” live, who in turn are a threat to our existence. The constant need for asking the Muslims to condemn what happened on 7th October has become a crucial part of how the media starts their day but the same people are not saying a word of condemnation on the killings of 7000+ innocent civilians, because these innocent Palestinian civilians are “the others” and not “humans” and are “lesser beings”. They have started calling it a war between Israel and Gaza. What hypocrisy is this?? Israel, having ‘weapons of mass destruction’, the best intelligence agency, sophisticated and trained army, against innocent civilians without water, food supply, electricity and medicine… There is NO COMPARISON!

I don’t personally think that it’s colonialism. This is pure ethnic cleansing as the US minister said that they will turn Gaza into “parking lot”. Time and again the Israeli minister has said that we will “kill” everyone of them. The Israeli Minister saying on TV that drive them out into the Sinai Desert. The Israelis chanting in Jerusalem that ‘ there are no schools in Gaza, we have killed all the children’. This is not colonialism, this is a GENOCIDE! This is their mindset, this is their aim. The so-called flagbearers of peace, are all murderers. The journalists sided with the oppressors. The news channels aided the massacre of innocent children, unborn babies in the wombs of their mother, the mothers, the fathers, and the innocent people just because they lived on the “other side”!