Friday, April 18, 2014

how V for Vendetta may play itself out in India's case

Sharing a post by a friend:

"Good evening, India

Allow me first to apologise for this interruption.

I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of everyday routine—the security of the familiar, the tranquility of repetition. I enjoy them as much as any bloke. But in the spirit of commemoration, thereby those important events of the past usually associated with someone's death or the end of some awful bloody struggle are celebrated with a nice holiday, I thought we could mark this April the 8th, a day that was never remembered, by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat. There are, of course, those who do not want us to speak. I suspect even now, orders are being shouted into videophones, and men with Guns & Trishuls will soon be on their way.

Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance, oppression, sexism & xenophobia. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission.

How did this happen? Who's to blame?

Well, certainly, there are those who are more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable. But again, truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War, terror, disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you, and in your panic you turned to the now supreme dictator, Narendra Modi. He promised you order, he promised you development, he promised you peace, and all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent.

Last night, I sought to end that silence. Last night, I destroyed the studios of Prannoy Roy's NDTV & Rajat Sharma's India TV to remind this country of what it has forgotten. About a hundred years ago, a great citizen wished to embed the 8th of April forever in our memory. His hope was to remind the world that fairness, justice, and freedom are more than words—they are perspectives. So if you've seen nothing, if the crimes of this government remain unknown to you, then I would suggest that you allow the 8th of April to pass unmarked.

But if you see what I see, if you feel as I feel, and if you would seek as I seek, then I ask you to stand beside me one year from tonight, outside the gates of Parliament, and together we shall give them an 8th of April that shall never, ever be forgot."

P.S. Why did I use the 8th of April and not 5th of Novemeber? Who needs Guy Fawkes.

On 8th of April 1929, Bhagat Singh The Real Hero of INDIA along with his comrade Batukeshwar Dutt entered the Indian parliament house and threw two bombs into the Central Legislative Assembly chamber from its public gallery while it was in session. The smoke from the bomb filled the Assembly and if they had chosen then they probably could have escaped in the confusion; instead they stayed, shouting slogans of Inquilab Zindabad! ("Down with Imperialism!") and showered leaflets. The two men were arrested and subsequently moved through a series of jails leading to Bhagat being charged for murdering Saunders (Assistant Superintendent of Police of Lahore in 1929) and Chanan Singh and was finally hanged for it by the British on 23rd of March, 1931.


Here's the clip from the movie having this speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKvvOFIHs4k

And now for how we could turn this all around : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK2WJd5bXFg

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