Monday, May 9, 2011

State Torture

Few things reveal a nation better than what it censors. Human societies that allow the free expression of ideas do better than those that don’t allow new ideas. The evidence is all around for us to see and judge. The renaissance was the triumph of ideas over church power after a long struggle.

The ignorance and lethargy of the poor are the direct result of the whole economic, social and political domination. It is the failure of elites and policy makers that failed in creating inclusive growth.Hence, the violence emerge from the poor neighborhood or a specific region.

State can't arm people to fight insurgency, it will only lead to legalization of violence with state backing it. The order can't be maintained by violating spirit of law in the first place. Hence, they opt for torture technique to suppress the will of people.

The other strategy to deal with challenges to legitimacy of state is by promoting and reinforcing identity politics within a system of privileges where certain groups and individuals are favored over others. In a word: divide and rule. Best of all discrimination policies used by government !

In democracy, power goes to those who've got money or people. The weak and cynical power holder people are obsessed with their status in society. Abhu Gharib and Guantanmo are prime example of insanity and savagery of the people holding power.An enhanced interrogation techniques” probably have a flawed idea of whether this constitutes torture, because few have felt the pain these methods can cause.

Authoritarian regimes or Deep State are not known for creating space where alternative political leadership grows - for if they do so, they would cease to be authoritarian. The delusional and diseased symbiosis of a person with power.

In short term, the proclamation of reforms, positive changes and greater media freedom turned out to be nothing but empty promises. So there is no major change in the political, moral, psychological, social or economic position of the people. And the game goes on...

No economic system can over-ride the mandate to preserve our life and liberty.  Each country has to find is its own political cohesiveness to carry out very painful and ugly transitions. No country or state is exception of power tussle.There is always inevitable anger  in the people against such misuse of state power which can either spark like revolution or least possibility of reform from inside government.

The media also remain in the frenzy state. The very assumption behind security state is that civilians are expendable, that there is no need to build civilian institutions because they are permanently invaded and the whole world is their enemy. Yet, rarely are the political and economic system that sustain authoritarian groups in the position of power is questioned. That led only to revolution !

2 comments:

  1. Today The media I think is not realizing its role. Though having served its meaning pretty well during some extreme situations it still is running for money. Many a times I have realized that every thing is news is not "news" anyways. Being a journalist myself I really feel bad about it. Media can play a great role in taking our country high in every aspect.
    Also Himanshu I would really like if you can write on a similar theme for Cupid Speaks so that even our readers get to know your thoughts.
    http://cupidspeaks.com/
    Cheers

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  2. @akshita, thanks for coming on the blog here.
    Regarding media, I can only say that rating war has destroying reasoned debate.

    Quack news distort fact, confuses people, engages in the conspiracy theories, and decreases society’s collective ability to make sensible decisions. We badly needs persons with spine who can also think and articulate. That can happen only through backing of management of news channel and papers to produce news rather than propaganda or advertisement of concerned parties.

    I was thinking about your offer to write on Cupid Speaks. I am sorry that I will not be available now much to write on general issues. There are reasons behind it.I am downsizing the writings on my blog to personal level. That will shorten the scope of general awareness that is much intended previously here. Also, I have to grant much of my time in the higher education.

    Thanks for such a generous offer.

    ReplyDelete