Awake, My Generation

By: David Buhril

The decades of numb existence should not end in ignorant silence. We are the precursor to a newly awakened generation. We have arrived. Have we? In a land where justice sits in a distance, it cost decades for an awakening. Some born in the times where they were nursed and greeted by blood in their eyes. Some were born into the culture of silence, an alienation rendering dialogue impossible. Some adopted that culture. It seems easier to be silent. Some were born when the blood started oozing. Some were born when it was just bloody. Decades after decades the bloody chain was not broken. That silences the voices. The ghost of silence trampled the brothers. There was fear. Suspicion. Doubts. They subdued us. That state was burdened with regrets. Like the return to the “state of nature.” We wonder with expectations. Waited with a prayer. Waited for that magical deliverance. But as it has to be, the change should surface from within. From within you and me. We realised and learnt from that subjugated state.

Change has not been consistent. The driving force burning in various individuals and groups have waxed and waned and waxed again. That’s what we have seen in Manipur. When the chance for peace and peaceful co-existence arrive, the pendulum goes haywire, even at the point at which it had been when it moved to meet the inexorable demand for speedy decisions and courageous action. Economy was depressed with displacement and killings, at times threatened by communal and ethnic tensions. That was the height of the celebration of Vanity Fair. And we poor mortals exhibit and exercise to triumph in that Vanity Fair.

We need to wake with the consciousness that expresses and resist. The language should take a digressive turn that actually negates the “Am I my brother’s keeper?” attitude. The quest should explore the collective necessity in the face of the entangled bruise of independence. What are humane remains to be realised and fulfilled. We cannot allow our generation to slipped off the ground we are to keep firm. We cannot be silent too.

The concept of generation within sociology has until recently been a marginal area of interest. However, various demographic, cultural and intellectual developments have re-awakened an interest in generations. The sociological literature has generally conceptualised generations as “nationally bounded entities.” However, the sociology of generations in Manipur should develop the concept of collective generations with an awakening that touch the marginalized corner of the land our people are living. The late nineteenth and early twentieth century was the era of international generations, united through print media. The mid-twentieth century saw the emergence of transnational generations, facilitated by new broadcast communications. We too are engaged in generations in the making rather than an historical generation.

The question still is how long can silence be silent? Victims victimising victims. That’s what we have been doing as we ride the vicious unmerry round. In some insecure compartments, our brothers and sisters are still maimed and killed by landmines. Somewhere daughters and sisters were raped and molested. Families were displaced to seek refuge outside their hearth and home. Our lives fulfil the terror in a militarised state. Besides, there is a rampant corruption. No honesty or democracy. Politicians cornering our share of rights and privilege. Triggers ever ready to get burst. It never fails to burst. How long can we carry on like unrepresented peoples? Or are we unrepresentable? The issues that should have been gnawing us day and night are actually lying untouched and ignored. Today it may be my turn to suffer, but you are not standing far enough. The spill-over never leaves anyone free. Everyone is to be blamed for the mess. The Church is silent. The youth organisations, students’ organisations, leaders, politicians, the government, you and me and everyone are silent as if in collusion to the wrong and sin. The issuance of a strong condemnation or protest is seen as the end. But we still have what it needs to change the course of the mess we are living with today. But only if we will. If we all speak out against what is unjust and wrong, the silent voices would have a tremendous influence on any perpetrators and injustice. We see, yet we are blind. We touch, yet we did not feel. But how long?
There is an ongoing discussion about the role of the Pope and the Church during the Holocaust. The Pope was fully informed about the extermination process, but deliberately refused to protest or even to condemn the Nazi atrocities. In Italy, where the Church opened its door to the persecuted Jews, the Pope did little to warn the Jews about the impeding danger. There is no doubt that the Vatican and the Pope knew beforehand about the impending deportation of the Italian Jews. There is evidence that the German Ambassador to Rome Mollhausen alerted the Vatican about the impending deportation. They believed that a strong stand by the Vatican, could forestall the deportations, but the Pope did not act. He was silent. If he utter, it would have been different. He would have saved the spill of thousand drops of blood. The sin of silence would be the biggest.

I understand that there is a certain element of being overwhelmed by the variety of problems we are facing, which is a sort of activism-fatigue. But, though this is our reality, we cannot turn our backs any longer. There are things we can do. We need to galvanize ourselves around the issues and bring it to the forefront of our consciousness. This can be done by speaking against the ills and evils that is destroying lives and humanity. We need to build coalitions with individuals and institutions to build a critical mass of people supporting a resolution to put and end to all sorts of injustice trampling us. Forget those small bags of identity and what not. The efforts should be grass rooted.

We ought to represent that challenge. Silence is a big betrayal. The danger, if there is any, won’t free anyone, not even one who is good in keeping silent. If silence could solve, more than six million Jews would have been saved. We could also have saved a lot. David Ben Gurion’s statement is worth pondering. He said: “What have you done to us, you freedom-loving peoples, guardians of justice, defenders of the high principles of democracy and of the brotherhood of man? What have you allowed to be perpetrated against a defenseless people while you stood aside and let it bleed to death, without offering help or succour, without calling on the fiends to stop, in the language of retribution which alone they would understand…”

The growing consciousness ought to bridge the gap in the process of stirring the awakening. Shifting the consciousness to the realisation of oneness should remain the driving force. However, this growing consciousness has also to negotiate the arms movements that are sprucing up. Armed force was once used to prevent revolution in modern Europe. However as it spread, it came to determine the affairs and fates of all the European nations. The strength of this tendency to overtake our society also stands on a thin line. When the demand is for a political and economic transformation in which education assumed a principal role, the growing consciousness should engage dialogue and discussion to walk the desired goal. When many emerging nations are seeking development, society like ours negotiating revolution of all sorts ought to develop educational programs which are inextricably linked to larger societal goals and are conceived of as moral in nature.

The awakened generation shoulders immense responsibility that goes beyond the mere concern for the individual. The quest for the collective good should represent the interest of the new actors. The reality will have to be realised by establishing a ground where the grassroots’ people could avail an option for survival as well as prosperity. If that access is not established, the awakened generation will continue to remain vulnerable. The spill-over should reach the lowest rungs for empowerment. That will further make generations empowered.