Picasso's Protest!

"Head of a weeping woman" A study by Picasso in preparation for "Guernica"

 On 31 st October 445 BC , Ezra read the book of Laws to Israelites in Jerusalem. In 1541 AD , Michael Angelo finished painting "The last judgement" after four years of hard work. In 1815 Humphrey Davy patented his famous safety lamp for miners but in 1922 Mussolini became premier of Italy on this day.  In 1952 first thermonuclear bomb was detonated at Marshall islands  and the day in 1984 did not prove to be  very auspicious either.  

Indira Gandhi was shot dead by her own body guards. Tragic and treacherous as it was, what followed  this murder was cataclysmic ! Reverberations are still felt as they were last week, when K. S. barar was knifed in London. Completely innocent individuals were killed by crazed  mobs in retaliation of Mrs. Gandhi's murder.  Totally unrelated businesses and property was destroyed and set to fire by vandals. It was mindless and senseless violence. What made  it worse was the fact that the mob targeted their own. Individuals they lived with ; individuals they interacted with and did business with on a daily basis . There was no shame , no sense of responsibility and no sense of propriety.

It was also my first brush with riots. My first hand experience.  As the news of violence filtered in through the state controlled media, I got anxious about the safety of several people I knew. One of them was my class mate who lived in seriously affected central Delhi. My home was 20 km. away but I set out on my old bicycle to check on him.  Eventually I reached my friend's home after two hours of cycling and rang the doorbell. I could sense someone looking out of the spyglass in the door but the door would not open. Nothing happened for the next  ten minutes or so, in which I rang the bell a couple more times. Each passing minute made me more anxious and I was sure some great calamity has befallen them.

Eventually my friend opened the door a crack on safety chain. After initial greetings and purpose of my visit was clear to him, he let me in and quickly bolted  the door back from inside. I was glad to see them safe and only  months later as we were wolfing down bread pakora with tea in our canteen he confided that for those ten minutes they were debating if I have come as a friend or a foe.  It really took a huge leap of faith for them  to open the door that day!!

Really !! What were they thinking ? Could I have done any harm to them at all ? I wish the answer was no , I could not have . Not true though ! Their fears were genuine. I could actually have had them all killed  that day or at least bring utmost devastation to their family with the flick of my index finger. For a large part of that 20 km journey to their home I had travelled alongside a murderous crowd. Crowd that was looking for a target - any target. I could have pointed them. That set of crazies did not need any more encouragement than that. They were already put in a violent trance by a vitriol spewing leader type of an individual who was exhorting them in the name of "netaji". Promising money, unlimited booze and complete protection from law ! Those that have lived in East Delhi know who "netaji" was and it was not Subash chandra Bose. Thankfully I kept my sanity that day , otherwise it would have been very easy to be a part of that gang of criminals being egged on by power hungry politics.

Guernica is a small  village in Spain that was bombed by the German and Italian war planes during the Spanish civil war; resulting in devastation and extensive civilian casualties. Much like the drone attacks in FATA . Picasso's protest against it was the famous painting of the same name. Unlike suicide bombing , terrorism and wanton rioting that politicians encourage; this protest has endured the test of time. Sadly Politicians have not changed their spots so far and we the people are as gullible and culpable as ever.

You'll see this again and again as in Satanic Verses case. Very few had read the tome before such a hue and cry was raised against it. People who have declared bounties on the writer's head and who have recently raised the amount higher proudly claim not to have read it yet they want him executed. Book is banned in several countries where dozens of violent incidents and several deaths have  taken place during this time. Similar is the case of The recent "Innocence of Muslims" movie excerpt.I have seen the entire movie and it is certainly an affront to movie making. Yet the way to protest it has been to kill US ambassador in Libya and rioting in several cities in several countries! How mindless can you get? What logic a Pakistani has to burn down his own city and go on violent rampage against his own. All to prove that Islam is a religion of peace! All of which they did when they celebrated "yaum e ishq e rasool"(day of love for prophet), recently. Didn't  someone tell them that they have proved exactly opposite of what they set out to prove? Thank their political leadership that  in order to project their own power they made that imbecile producer of the movie look good and what is worse- right !

Riots are about politics. Normal people do not riot. They indulge only when politics dehumanizes them and denudes them of decency. It orchestrates criminalizing the population and takes their power of thinking away. Having said that an individual must be  responsible for his own conduct. Almost 100 years ago an author ; pen name M.A. Chumapati  (real name is not very clear), wrote a book named "Rangeela Rasool". It was published in 1920's by Mahashya Rajpal of Lahore. The book dealt with a rather personal aspect of the founder of Islam and hence it became controversial. Rajpal , the publisher never revealed the name of the author; although he was taken to court for denigrating a faith. Eventually court acquitted him of all charges although the book was and remains banned to this day.

In answer to this book another book " Muqudus Rasool" was written but that response was not considered quite enough. Politics came into picture and started poisoning minds. A young man Ilm- ud -din became crazed enough to walk up to the publisher Rajpal and stab him to death. It reminds one of the film maker Theo Van Gogh's murder but the story does not end here either! This was a great opportunity for politics to queer the pitch again and squeeze every possible benefit out of this incident . Ilm -ud-din was caught and brought to justice for murder. His defence was led unsuccessfully by none other than Jinnah himself ; the founder of Pakistan.  The murderer received death penalty. The date was 31st October 1929.

 Reportedly a mass hysteria was created and thousands were exhorted from pulpits to attend Ilm -ud- din's  funeral; which they did. Major ideologues like Iqbal and other leaders exhorted his praises to the gathered masses and a common murderer was thus fashioned into a martyr. As soon as Pakistan came into being Ilm-ud-din was declared a gazi (religious martyr) and a mosque inside Mianwali jail; where he was hanged; was named after him. In addition to that several other memorials ,hagiographies, dramas , TV shows, books etc,were officially commissioned. He became a shining beacon for all generations to come.

Story would have ended here but several decades later  another crazed young man named Mumtaz Qadri aimed his gun and shot to death Salman Taseer. Governer of the same province Ilm-ud- din belonged to. Ironically Qadri , a police commando was tasked with protecting Salman's life. In an environment where  Ilm-ud -din is a hero worth emulating how could Qadri  not be influenced by what is right and what is not? He did not want to be left behind.  He wanted to be a hero as well; so he executed the person he was charged to keep safe! As his own will dictated he became a law keeper with no regard for law!  The Lawyers of the high court garlanded him and showered flowers on him for committing murder in keeping with the same upside down criteria of right and wrong ! He is a bigger hero than Ilm-ud-din. It was shocking but I am surprised that  anyone could be surprised by it . The seeds were planted years ago! Ask 14 yr. old Malala Yusufzai. She will tell you if she recovers from the bullet shot point blank in her head ! What kind of beasts do this? Actually it is none other than you and me! We are responsible.

 You reap what you sow and you can never kill an idea by killing a person. The book "Rangeela Rasool ", has survived murder of it's publisher for that last 100 years. That as well as "Satanic Verses" is available online very easily. I saw "innocence of Muslims" online  just because I got curious to see what is it that can generate so much violence? Otherwise I would not have bothered being an audience for it. Remember an idea can only be countered by a better idea! Malala Yusufzai's idea of educating girls is a better idea than the terrorist's idea of burning girl's schools and shooting up kid's. 

 Protest if you have to. Only remember; hardly anyone knows the commanding officer of the Condor Legion, Oberstleutnant Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen, from the Spanish Nationalist Command who actually commanded that terror bombing on Guernica. Everyone on the other hand knows Picasso and his protest " Guernica". It will endure for 1000 years - maybe forever.