Nigeria bleeds once again

"First the shooting that created panic and then when people scrambled out of their homes, they were slit with machetes.  The helpless, the children and the old men, who could not run were slaughtered with no mercy", thus goes the chilling retrospective of the recent spate of violence in Nigeria. The attack happened before dawn on Sunday morning when gangs of men descended on several communities, centred on the village of Dogo-Nahawa, and attacked people with machetes. 

Nigeria suffered deadly riots in 2001, 2008 and 2010. This recent slaughter has left more than 200 people dead and many hundreds displaced from their homes and dear ones. A March 9 statement from the Vatican press office emphasizes that although the conflict in northern Nigerian villages pitted Muslims against Christians and it should be seen "not as a religious but a social confrontation." Archbishop John Onaiyekan of Abuja, Nigeria, explained to a Vatican Radio audience that it was "a classic conflict between herdsmen and farmers." The archbishop said that Christian leaders "continue to work to promote good relations between Christians and Muslims."

Nigeria could be a statistician's worst night mare or a resourceful delight. Two-thirds of Nigeria's 130 million people live in abject poverty.  Like any other struggling country, Nigeria too has two faces, one of affluence and the other of abject poverty. One in seven Africans live in Nigeria.. One thousand people live in the Olusosun trash dump. A fire there in April destroyed over 300 dwellings. Nigeria is the eighth largest oil producer in the world, and the most productive nation in Africa.  

With a legacy of British colonialism, the words of the Archbishop just put the whole situation in perspective.  To live in a multicultural and multireligious ambience is adding to the stress levels of all individuals. When every religion tries to wrest dominance from the other, the basic principles of humanity and co-existence are dumped; Nigeria proves that she does not form part of the exception. The recent introduction of Sharia in certain states has opened up the polarity, minorities feel threatened, the majority considers it their right to threaten the minority.  The classic confrontation between the settlers and herdsmen is setting the tone for   fresh war cries. When religion becomes the convenient and potent weapon in the hands of power crazy political leaders, all hell breaks lose.  Reports suggest that over 300 churches have been destroyed in the past three years.  Rebuilding churches, even though takes time is within reach, rebuilding the faith, harmony and peaceful co-existence in no piece of cake. 

Who can bring back peace to Nigeria? War, slaughter and racial divides can only mash up the beautiful picture of Nigeria. In the bargain, Nigeria will be known only by her violence, which unfortunately is not true. Peace and prosperity is the result of the collective human will as demonstrated by many nations, armed by tolerance and education. Together with all those aching hearts in Nigeria, I too join my cupped hands in prayer for all those who are suffering. Let peace envelope your wonderful country, my lovely good friends, Sheena, Regina, John, Valentine, Paul, Lawrence, Hillary, Solomon and many more whom I do not know by names. "We pray for peace, for good government and for truth. And we pray also that people may realise that the only way to survive in this country is to recognise one another as brothers and citizens of the same nation" Archbishop John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan

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Historic Women’s quota Bill

A  wait for fourteen long years, Smritis taken for a ride and after long hours of standoff and acrimony, the Rajya Sabha has finally voted in favour  of the Women.  Is it mere coincidence that the first citizen of the country happens to be a woman and the leader of the ruling party also happens to be a lady.  Whatever; it is part of history now.  The determination of the government to push the bill through hours of indecision definitely needs a round of applause.  Just to think that the bill was introduced in the house 14 years ago points to the hypocrisy of our political system.

What makes the politicians averse to the bill is interesting to speculate and delineate.  Loss of 33% seats, increased voice of the women, less chances of corruption, name it and all of these and more are going to be reasons of interest.  When the bill becomes a historic and great step in the empowerment of women in the words of the PM, doesn't these echo the words when man first landed on moon.? A sure and significant step indeed towards the emanicipation of women, who have to play a central part in the making of the nation.

That different parties are crying foul and resorting to threatening tactics is not new in the political scenario of India.  All the cubes have  fallen in place as the Govt does have a majority in both houses and the bill will certainly sail through when it is presented in the Lok Sabha too.  After a deadlock of 14 years if it does not get through this time, it is going to be the darkest chapter in the history of India's parliamentary democracy.  Bulldozing through male bastions, the bill has found favour with all the women, gauging from the spontaneous reactions pouring out from all quarters.  Although it may not change the lives of millions of ordinary women, they stand to gain in the long process.  33% reservation in the local governing council seats in the towns and villages is definitely going to be remarkable. 

It is not the Congressmen who have the last laugh.  The bluffs and theatrics of the opposition party, the ruckus over the bill, everything has been thrown out of the window to secure a brighter future for the country. After Monday's fiasco, Mrs Sonia Gandhi is reported to have thrown all her political will -power and clout behind the bill, a bill she must have carried close to her heart. A political dream won't be that distant for many women in India. Let the horizons be even more brighter for all the women in India. Truly a wonderful gift on the International womens' day.

The Hurt Locker

"The rush of battle is often a potent and lethal addiction, for war is a drug". Kathryn Bigelow's brilliant movie opens up with this seemingly innocent statement.  Well, quite a lot of critics have weaved interesting theories about the dynamics and the purpose of war, the gender and  race stereotyping, stuff like that.  Scores of pages have been already dedicated about the merits of the movie, which is also the frontrunner  for the Oscars already bagging multiple nominations. Ironically Kathryn's ex-husband is also in the fray with the other  planet Pandora movie 'Avatar'

Yes it was an exciting movie, edge of the seat stuff, set in an urban war zone. The central character is  essentially a maverick, with no regard for his life; performing with precision the most dangerous job in the world, defusing bombs in  a combat zone.  The portrayal is intense, the war zone is just a backdrop, the editing is slick, the action is not exaggerated but it rivets you to the screen.  The enemy is not carefully delineated, neither the politics of the war becomes a burning issue. There is not much of a character development, as the the opening spoiler tells you the whole story, the adrenalin rush of the central character, Staff Sergeant William James, who is at his best when he does what he likes best, defusing bombs.  Real time war veterans have lashed out at the inaccuracies of  the movie, the highly improbable scenario of the elite bomb squads defusing bombs at will and the other numerous glitches in this nerve wringer.  But this is a movie and at its best opens the eyes of the movie-goer to the fact that his comfort zone is guaranteed by lives that are sacrifised  on a daily basis with not even one sane reason.

War does not do anyone anyone any favour.  Well not to preach, I definitely liked a few dialogues, especially from the scene at home when Staff Sergeant William James  speaks to his son "You love playing with that. You love playing with all your stuffed animals. You love your Mommy, your Daddy. You love your pajamas. You love everything, don't ya? Yea. But you know what, buddy? As you get older... some of the things you love might not seem so special anymore. Like your Jack-in-a-Box. Maybe you'll realize it's just a piece of tin and a stuffed animal. And then you forget the few things you really love. And by the time you get to my age, maybe it's only one or two things. With me, I think it's one."   For the central character, he had forgotten to love everything else, unfortunately, his only love is the war.  A hard core war lover, he returns time and again to satisfy his urge: peace literally offers him nothing. 

The Kodak theatre might present these incredible actors and film makers with golden statutes.  Just like another war movie, it always raises the same question for the umpteenth time, Why does one  go to war? Why do we have no qualms to blow up people? Why do people offer to be suicide bombers to annihilate their own race? The anguish is spread in the words of Sergeant Sanborn: "Another two inches, shrapnel zings by; slices my throat- I bleed out like a pig in the sand.  I mean my parents- they care- but they don't count, man. Who else? I don't even have a son."   When will humanity realize the folly of war ?

" A day without us"

When the blue Sunday sky was draped with yellow balloons, the 'piazza's were filled with hundreds of people chanting and singing for equal rights, Italy was witnessing the first organised nation wide protest by the immigrants of this country. ' A day without us' was the slogan and it was a brave attempt by the foreign born workers to highlight their immense contribution to ticking of Italy.  Marches and demonstrations were staged in sixty odd cities.  Yellow was the visible colour, stiched as shirts, worn as armbands, the colour in itself was a non political statement in the land of the Azzurris.

Naples had the biggest shout, some 20,000 weaved through the city centre chanting "We are the citizens of tomorrow!  We are paying for your pensions."  People of all colours, countries, jobs, legal, illegal; all joined the protests.  Along with them were quite a lot of Italians who wore their heart out on their sleeves sensing the enormous contribution of the immigrant workers.  The Roman demonstrators were more explicit when they set shop on the world's wonder Colosseum and had hand written banners draped on the structure. One read " Look out, here comes the illegal aliens; nannies, caregivers and labourers."

Over 4.8 million immigrants live in Italy, double the number of 2001.  Numerically they make up 7.1% of the population and 8 % of the labour force, numbers that you have to reckon with. 67% of them are legally employed, i.e, nearly two of three immigrants. Caritas, the Catholic charity network recounts that immigrants produce  upwards of  10% of Italy's GDP and contribute over 10.2 billion euros worth of income tax revenue. Italy's agricultural farms, domestic and  service sectors, industry and  building initiatives depend heavily on the foreign born labour and they have become an indispensable force to the economic and social life of the country.  Accept it or not, this is the reality.  But of late the economic and immigration drives of the government has created quite a lot of bad blood and stalemate.

Illegal immigrants on their part have not contributed to the solution of asylum of immigrants.  The policies of the government have been widely criticised and considered as an affront to the basic humanitarian considerations.  Violent demonstrations by immigrants, just like the one that happened in Milan last month has also not helped the cause of the immigrants.  But nothing much has changed for the immigrants.  Working for a pittance  under harsh living conditions, harassed and bullied by the  police, scoffed and sneered on account of skin and culture, they have shouldered many a storm and in turn become the pillars of the prestigious Italian  food export and many industries.

Incidents of immigrants being booked and rounded up to be jailed and deported are quite common.  Although street vendors are banned by law, lots of immigrants take up to selling merchandise, counterfeit and original.  When the heavens open up, they are ready with umbrellas, selling them for astronomical figures.  When the cold snap augurs in a bitter day, beautiful shawls hang from their hands. 'Cometh the hour and cometh the man', the twist is that they always sell with a single eye, the other eye is always spared for the plain clothes Caribinieri who waits to pounce on them.

This rainy day had presented another day of selling umbrellas.  The bus was not crowded and the frail looking street vendor was at the rear end of the bus. He must have been praying to the rain gods.  Suddenly the ticket inspectors block the three doors.  The man makes a futile attempt to exit.  The young ticket inspector has already found his prey, his instincts tell him that he has hit the bull's eye.  While the greeting 'Signore, signori, biglietti per favore' (Ladies and gentlemen, tickets please) escapes his mouth, he has a firm hand around the hapless old man.  This is not going to be easy.  His eyes are bright.  The old man has no ticket.  He opens his torn purse, the search is futile, there is no sign of a ticket, even if he had one it should have been con-validated at the start of the journey.  The next question is about the document. Fortunately he has his stay permit.  But the ordeal continues.  The examiner leaves the other passengers, he has his catch, perhaps another successful day at office.  While the interrogation continues, the doors open again.  I think of yesterday's yellow balloons and the  slogan, 'A day without us.'

Chile shaken up, but will find her feet soon.

Chile, the ribbon shaped coastal nation, is on the radar.  Sitting atop a volatile fault line, she was violently shaken, a 8.8 magnitude earthquake that is recorded to be the worst to hit the nation.  Analysts point out that it was 500 times stronger than the earthquake that hit Haiti last month.  The worst case scenario is pretty much the same. An earthquake rumbles angrily without warning, buildings crumble, telecommunications no longer communicate, hundreds are trapped under debris, people die by three and four figures, devastating tsunamis hit the shores, early warning systems help people to escape the fury of the ocean waves etc.  But what surprises many is that despite such a destructive earthquake, Chile has found its feet soon enough.  While more than 200,000 Haitians lost their lives, the official death toll in Chile comes up to hundreds. The telecommunication lines that were severed are partially functioning in a few hours.

Not that Haiti has been relegated to history in the wake of the new earthquake, but a study of both countries and their approaches to disasters reveal that Chile was better prepared than Haiti.  Her government had already streamlined regulations to construct the new buildings with rigorous anti earthquake codes, reinforced with materials and architectural designs so that the buildings bent and swayed during the tremors.  First hand journalistic accounts from Haiti reveal the appalling building standards of Haitians.  Perhaps they do have pressing demands that allow corruption run deep into the system.  Building rules were non-existent or given scant respect.  When the island nation was mapped by Google before the earthquake it presented a gorgeous hideaway island.  The post earthquake  maps, had pictures of a nations decimated as if by a single stroke.  While estimates put Haiti's resurrection to happen in another decade or so, Chile will emerge stronger and faster, with an attitude more positive.  While UNO has asked for aid to help the people of Chile, it would not allow any other nation to set up shop in its soil.

While our solidarity should be extended to both the nations, the lessons learnt must inspire all nations, specially developing and earthquake prone nations to adopt technologies and regulations that can save people instead of being sandwiched by their own dream houses. Our prayers and good wishes to all Chileans.  My heart goes out to my Colombian friend Fr German Bustamente, who spent many years in Chile as a priest before we became friends.  Chile, you are in our hearts and minds.