A century's lament

Anyone desiring a quiet life has done badly to be born in the 20th century.

Leon Trotsky (1879-1940).

WHO was Leon Trotsky? He was one of the tragic figures of the first half of the 20th century. He was Jewish and was a remarkable revolutionary. After the 1917 Russian Revolution, he became Foreign Minister and then Commissioner for War. He created the Red Army. While Lenin had a most powerful brain, Trotsky was intellectually brilliant. After Lenin's death in January 1924, Stalin got rid of him by the end of the decade. He left the Soviet Union and Stalin's agents murdered him in Mexico in 1940. What would he have made of the 21st century?

Although I wanted the 21st century to be postponed, I failed miserably in my attempt. The 21st century has, in 22 months, left no one in doubt that it will be far superior to the 20th century when it comes to violence, murder, war, disease, environment, drugs, terrorism, WMD, the euphemism for Weapons of Mass Destruction, lopsided globalisation, arrogance of power, the spread of AIDS, cruelty to children and so on.

September 11, 2001: Shape of things to come? America changed that day. Our hearts went to the American people and rightly so. It is, however, necessary to remind our American friends of the brutal two days in August 1945, when the world changed. The atom bombs that fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki left hundreds of thousands dead. The invention of WMD, in my judgment, was not a sign of progress. The ancient Chinese invented gunpowder and Alfred Nobel gave us dynamite (and the Nobel Prizes), but the discredit for inventing nuclear, chemical and biological weapons goes to the greatest democracies in the world.

In the 1990s, the engaging and handsome Bill Clinton lectured us on human rights, forgetting the horrendous violations of human rights over the centuries by every single member of the G-8, with the exception of Canada. His successor, George W. Bush, discovered terrorism in September 2001. With all their power, technology, wealth, reach and unspent energy, Osama bin Laden is nowhere to be found. This sinister man (in many ways an American creation) has done something hair-raising he has turned terrorism into an idea, an ideology in an age wherein we all thought that ideology as one understood it had become pass.

Having failed to get bin Laden "dead or alive", Bush and his war-mongering companions (with strange names) are desperately trying to convince and coerce the rest of the world minus the United Kingdom, that Iraq is a threat to the United States and the great American dream will only come true when the lamentable Saddam Hussein is got rid off. It is like saying that the Andaman Islands are a grave threat to India.

The year 1983 saw the complacent Donald Rumsfeld in Baghdad cuddling up to who Mr. Saddam Hussein! Well! Well! Iraq is ruled by a ruthless dictator but Saudi Arabia is under a benign democracy where free elections were held in... never mind.

We cannot forget our immediate neighbour where "flawless" elections (who cares for the European Union observers) were held. And America's stalwart ally is now no longer in the American doghouse. Perhaps Finance Minister Jaswant Singh might ask President Bush how to parley with terrorists. After all, he escorted three hardcore terrorists in his plane to Kandahar. He has also supported the Bush doctrine of pre-emptive strikes. Since when did Finance Ministers hold forth on foreign policy?

Incidentally, where and when did the resolute and ubiquitous Rumsfeld mislay Osama? Or is he to be produced after the November 6 elections in the U.S.? And the 1.2 billion followers of the Prophet Mohammad, what of them? Will they also be suitably dealt with by the Vulcans of Bush?

WE will no doubt survive the Bushes and the Cheneys and the Rices. So let us get real. What will the 21st century do with mega-states? China, India, Russia, Indonesia, Brazil, Nigeria, Egypt? We have to this day been unable to solve the civic and sanitation degradation that the slums of Rio, Sao Paulo, Mexico City, Harlem (Ghetto), Kolkata, Karachi and western China offer the inhabitants whose staple entertainment diet is Hollywood and Bollywood. The mega-states are a reality waiting to explode. We in India have performed a near-miracle run a democracy of one billion people. No precedents in history for such an experiment.

Taking a long-term view, one could say that several mega-states will become ungovernable and that would produce consequences one can foresee but for which there are at the moment no answers. Nonetheless, there is no harm in preparing for this most disagreeable of scenarios. I would not be around. That is being short-sighted and selfish. I have two adorable grandsons What does the future hold for them? Can Gandhi help? Maybe. Alternately, we can console ourselves and turn to the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad:

From darkness lead us to lightFrom death lead us to immortality.

I cannot include `From Untruth lead us to Truth', because the demand goes down by the day. Any cheers for the 21st century? The jury is out and will remain out for how long? No one knows.