The Terrible Silence of Peace

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The Terrible Silence of Peace

Omair

“The earthy and cold hand of death

Lies on my tongue” (1 Hen. IV 5.4.84)

What has happened in Mumbai is tragic. Mass murder of unsuspecting victims, a life of grief and fear for those left behind who feel powerless, and scars upon the memories of those whose beloved Amchi Mumbai has been ruthlessly defiled.What has happened in Mumbai is tragic. Mass murder of unsuspecting victims, a life of grief and fear for those left behind who feel powerless, and scars upon the memories of those whose beloved Amchi Mumbai has been ruthlessly defiled.But the worst of it is captured by the master of tragedy Shakespeare as quoted above: the silence that comes after, when the hand of death binds our tongues. What silence, angry Pakistanis point out to me, as they deal with the blame (and the very real possibility) of collusion from within their own ranks. And voices like mine get drowned in the flurry of impassioned political discussions about political alliances, internal power contests, cross-border terrorist linkages, etc. etc.

The silence is the silence of the human players involved in the staging of this tragedy. Our humane reactions of shock and sympathy are suppressed as our thinking comes to be governed by the dehumanizing descriptions of political analysis: the victims who died become an amorphous number representing the human ‘cost’, the perpetrators become an amorphous mass of ‘terrorists’. Our imaginations are handicapped from understanding the individuals who have little grasp of power contests and identity politics that shape political forces larger than themselves, their lives caught up by the undercurrents that are always there, even when the State is in ’peace’.

Anyone who has thought about it knows that violence is always simmering below the surface. Peace is an empty concept, a simplistic and utopian idealization that only offers psychic numbing. Peace involves the silencing of uncomfortable questions that threaten the sense of security we like to enjoy in the absence of actual war. We need to ask how ordinary life becomes meaningless for those who pick up arms for their Gods and their visions. We need to ask how violence becomes impersonalized as these individuals kill not humanity but ‘the enemy’. We need to question the power hierarchies, which not only clash with opposing hierarchies but are also unstable from within. We need to question the political, militaristic notions of ‘order’ and ’security’, which are not only oppressive and exploitative, but self-defeating as they rely on an imagined enemy and perpetuate war. We need to stop craving for victory and surrender, surrender the illusions of grandeur and peace.[i]We can only hope for change. Patriarchy, capitalism, and the militaristic State have come undone in modernity. They are not working, not even for those in power. In this world of our own making, we all are victims.

Omair is a new entry into the blogosphere, but even then he is already being noticed by every one. Born and raised a Muslim in Lahore, Omair is a free thinker against organized religion and social hierarchies. He calls himself a radical feminist and a social anarchist, and is a fierce critic of ideologies, which he calls dehumanizing. Religious fundamentalism, nationalism, capitalism and Stalinism are a few of the things he loves to criticize. He is much inspired by existentialism, and the questions of being and meaning are areas of basic interest for Omair.

We are happy that Omair is contributing for PTH. (Shaheryar Ali)

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[i] See pg.29-35 from James Hillman’s “A Terrible Love of War” for more on ‘psychic numbing’ and how victory becomes the real-world meaning of peace

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Tags: India, Mumbai, peace