American satirist Sarah Silverman recently sat down with New Yorker’s editor Andy Borowitz and said that Trump was infact a mirror of a section of the American society that believes in the xenophobic, narrow version of American nationalism. A nationalism that hates, excludes and wants to always be ‘Number One.” In what she asked, ” Juvenile Diabetes?” As a Jew, she fears this chest-thumping because at a sub-conscious level, it reminds her of the rise of a similar wave in Germany. She thinks though that Trump’s rise is a good thing because it has brought dormant fault-lines to the surface and what becomes tangible can be fixed as well. In the meanwhile, frothing at the mouth nationalists flock at Trump’s rallies, bay for the blood of his detractors, confuse him with Captain America, justify police killings of black citizens, want to seal their borders, show minorities their place and make America Great Again.
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This brand of majoritarian nationalism sees no shame in its own citizens dying especially if they are black and shot in cold blood on the streets or in corporate greed taking over indigenous natural resources (a journalist is facing jail term for reporting the standoff at Standing Rock where thousands of Native Americans are protesting against the Dakota Access Pipeline slated to carry crude oil through sacred sites and burial grounds) or the persecution of minorities or with the debasement of women but cannot forgive an American NFL player for showing his dissent peacefully by not rising when the national anthem is played. Like a tired Rosa Parks who one day refused to give up her bus seat or to appease racism any more, Colin Kaepernick’s refusal to stand during the anthem has sparked both debate and outrage. Especially because he is reminded again and again that it was THIS country that gave him everything. Except ofcourse the right to protest. Sounds familiar?
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Remember how tolerant we were towards Aamir Khan in the year when rationalists and men of peace like Govind Pansare and MM Kalbhurgi had been murdered? Khan and his wife were targetted by trolls on social media viciously, patriots decided that they would never see his films again and he lost a big endorsement deal. Nope, we are Number One in tolerance levels and they are increasing admirably. That is why we don’t turn a hair when lynchings of dalits and minorities happen and the state repression of tribal rights (the battle for land and forest rights in Bastar is just one example) goes unreported in mainstream media. When farmers kill themselves, hunger spirals, our cities become soul- less steel and concrete jungles, corruption goes unchecked, we do not bay for better governance. These are not our issues. They don’t concern us.
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This year, it will be over 32 years since the Bhopal tragedy and the riots of 1984 but there will not be any justice or closure for the victims but then again these travesties have nothing to do with our idea of nationalism that bristles only at the mention of Fawad Khan and Pakistan.
And yes, let us please target Karan Johar and Ae Dil Hai Mushkil too. After all, he has prior experience of dealing with hooliganism and threats and faced them all admirably during the release of My Name is Khan when the Shiv Sena came after his film only because Shahrukh Khan had rued the absence of a Pakistani player in a Premier League cricket team.
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Will we also now stop listening to Ghulam Ali, Farida Khanam, Mehdi Hassan, Noorjehan, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Saieen Zahoor and Ahmed Sabri (killed recently by extremists for being a Sufi purveyor of peace) and disown ‘Pakistani’ poets like Faiz, Iqbal (who incidentally wrote Saare Jahan Se Accha), Ahmed Faraz whose ghazals Jagjit Singh sang, Josh Malihabadi who till the end of his life could not forget his home in India, Mohsin Naqvi who was killed because he spoke for liberal arts, for peace and wrote gems like Ye Dil Ye Paagal Dil Mera? Let us also dig up the roots of Hindustani classical music and try to separate the skeins of gharanas that know no nationality. There was Bade Ghulam Khan of the Patiala gharana who migrated to Pakistan after Partition but could not emotionally separate from India and was given a bungalow in Bombay to live in whenever he came by. He spent huge amounts of time in Calcutta and would carry back three tins of ghee from the city. We are geographically and politically divided but our music, our cinema, our food, our language, our fears, our issues cannot be divided no matter how many wars we fight and how many surgical strikes we carry out against each other.
Absolutely agree with you Reema maam , arts and artists have no boundaries , it is the selfish and vested interests of the few who dictate their terms, aso they have been elected by us only, but greater tragedy is , that in all this the sacrifice of the ones guarding our frontiers is going vain, how the whole thing of debates and actors has overshadowed the real issues, how things have been diverted to all together different direction, ano courage and valour of our soldiers appears to have been just a usual thing.