Saturday, June 3, 2017

On what ground Democratic Nations can justify atrocities upon own citizens?



Was the 'nasty and brutish 'Hobbesian’ nature of man a result of the antagonistic, and even predatory features of the old States? The advanced findings at the high-energy physics level experiments ( that at sub-atomic particle level) reveal that there is no 'in-itself' state in nature, but every state is a response to other characters or entities in the vicinity.
If we go by the lessons learnt from the above finding from the bottom reality of physical world, we should concede, that the original human nature alleged by Thomas Hobbes might not have been the actual fact about human nature, but it had emerged as man's natural response to his given socio-political atmosphere.
That would straight-away mean that modern day phenomena of organized and individual rebellions against the state, or simply against the objects of the authority of the state, is nothing but the natural, negative response of man towards his hostile socio-political environment.
By nature, man is not nasty and brutish, but fiercely conscious and mindful of the independent nature of his self. He might internalize and obey the rational compulsions and norms about living together in a sustainable society, but he will never, repeat never, concede willingly to live under any enforced servitude, submission, or any kind of subdued manner of living permanently.
Hobbesian approach to citizens under State was appropriate and probably even legitimate under the old, 3rd party ( 3rd party in the sense, ruler belonged to a different class by birth, or by tradition) ruling regimes, like that under Kings, or Feudal Lords. Our age is the age of democracy, wherein the class of people is in-charge of the realm country rule, or in other words, a few with the mandate of the people, agree to manage the issues of living together in enlightened communities. In such an open and transparent governmental system, if cops or citizens close to the Government rat-hunt ordinary citizens will be abhorrent acts! If it happens, it should mean, either the base People’s governmental system is defective and fake, or the act was totally incompatible with the well evident norms and values of a 'governmental system of equal men'!
The black teens in the Ferguson incident in America (2014) were allegedly fleeing after stealing cigarillo from a local store. Cop Michael got crime information, and he met the culprits on a street corner. Cop says the black teen, who was 6'4" tall, weighing 132 Kg could not be physically overpowered, therefore he has done what every man under threat primordially used to do; shooting repeatedly from his service revolver, killing his victim in a rat-hunting act! He later put forth his version candidly;
" I have done what I was paid for... my duty"
No rational mind could refute his version and criticize him as he was under the obligation of the State laws, together with the routine norm of his specialized profession, that requires capturing of the criminals who pose a threat to the state and the society. If a cop gets killed, or even injured in an encounter with criminals, he put the sovereignty of the state to risk, as well the police force to great shame!
So, what causes such acts of serious human-rights violations are not the impulsive acts of Police, army or other security agencies of the state, but the very attitude of modern states towards the citizens' class. If the old authoritarian regimes of the past had never hesitated to act this way, now modern states also do not act differently. Despite the emergence of democracy, the myths and values around the ruling State have not transformed at all!
Another similar US incident had also surfaced in the media during the same period. (2014) Juries freed the cop from charges of killing a black man by the prohibited 'choke-hold' act. Predators in the jungle usually adopt the same technique to kill their prey, to choke them to death! Here again, the cop pleaded that his act was unintentional. He was probably right too.
The shooting of the 2 fishermen by the Italians Marines at the coastal area of Southern India was big news few years ago (2013) The Marines took the fishermen for pirates, so they shot their threat to life instantly, using the state provided weapons. Such Power-acts of modern states are rampant in every corner of the world every day, putting modern states a real threat to the lives and property of people! The very system that emerged to deliver people from the menace of the Power-states has turned the very enemy of the individual sovereignty of citizens! He has no real voice, and even if massive voices are raised, it has no standing before the old myth that, democratic or totalitarian, a State without unlimited power is not a State at all!
Such a non-compromising position about the State makes the idea of democracy, the governmental system of equal men, a laughable joke! It is the most serious self-deception of our age. Can't our enlightened age seek to reinvent the ‘peoples own system of government’ with new values, new myths, and new norms, so that the great ideal gets to be truly open, compassionate and citizen-oriented governmental system? (see blog: http://anewtheoryondemocraticestablishment.blogspot.in/ for further reading )
The lady human-rights activist Irom Sharmila from the Indian State of Manipur was in hunger-strike against the 'Armed Forces Special Power Act' from 2000,( 14 years) an archaic ordinance from colonial days that permits the state to arrest and even shoot any person, anytime. Government force-fed her for the last 14 years, to avert her hunger-death! ( She abandoned her fasting in 2016, fought an election, failed, and now leading a secluded, incognito life!)
There are innumerable human-rights bodies, national and international in the contemporary world, but every agency does only a Red-Cross act, without seriously questioning the incompatibility of such rights violations under a governmental system of equal men. These agencies, including the UN-led one, exist parallel to the ever growing incidents of rights violations by modern states, making the protests against violations a regular ritual.
When State acts like a single individual with demonic characteristics, citizens could only simply 'react' in an appropriate manner, subjective to his level of understanding while dealing with the state, as well as to his fellow beings.
In a recent ( December last week,2014) article by Martin Chulov appeared in the Indian magazine 'The week', one Abu Ahmed, an IS Jihadist he had interviewed said:
'IS wouldn't have emerged if the US hadn't attacked Iraq, and detained and kept a large number of suspects in prisons'.
Al Bagdadi, the current alleged IS leader, was a co-prisoner with the said Abu Ahmed in one of the Iraqi detaining center. The prison life enabled these men to connect each other regularly, and give rise to IS !
Serious reforms are needed for the ways, values, and myths with which modern states have to form themselves and to represent and treat people and mankind in general.
( for further reading on the subject, see link: http://humanrightsanddemocracy.blogspot.in/)



Author: Abraham J.Palakudy

He is a seeker and researcher in fields like Mind, Faculty of Reason, Human Liberty, State vs.citizen relation, Spirituality etc.

E.Mail contact: ajoseph1@rediffmail.com
Twitter: Voice of Philosophy@jopan1

His profile and other blogs:https://www.blogger.com/profile/14249415589712707293

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