In August of this year, two Muslim youth died and about a hundred injured when a program in Mumbai organized to protest anti-Muslim violence in Assam and Myanmar turned violent. This has brought into question the logic of protest. Why do we protest? What issues bring Indian Muslims to the street to protest? and what do we achieve with these protests?
In this series, the logic of protest, TCN will talk to a number of academicians, civil rights advocates, and members of intelligentsia and try to encourage a constructive debate on the issue.
Nasiruddin is a journalist working with Hindi daily Hindustan and runs a blog http://www.genderjihad.in.
Kashif-ul-Huda spoke with Nasiruddin on why Muslims always protest against USA and Israel but not against violence in Syria and Mali, etc.
Nasiruddin: Muslims in general and Indian Muslims in particular have obsession with Israel and the US. They do not see Israel as fascist ideology who undermine the basic of human dignity/sovereignty of Palestinian people. They also do not see US as an imperialist force. Rather they see them as Jews and Christian conspiracy against Islam. So, it is religion, which matters.
What do we achieve with these protests?
Q. Is that the reason that we see no protest when it is intra-Muslim violence such as Libya, Syria, or Mali?
Nasiruddin: Not only that…I do not remember any protest in favor of democratisation process in Arab or elsewhere in the world. So they have nothing to do with intra-Muslim violence such as Libya, Syria, or Mali or Pakistan.
Muslims have to see the aggression of Israel/ US with human rights lens…lens of democratisation of society. Rights based approach is needed.
We saw protest over cartoons/films but not for human rights violations in several Muslim countries. That is why we also do not see any protest over Muslims killing Muslims.
Q. While Muslim protests these foreign conflicts why not similar protest regarding Indian Muslim issues likes terror arrests, reservation, discrimination, etc.?
Nasiruddin: In several countries…I may be politically wrong or I may be over emphasizing, but Indian Muslims do not see democracy/secularism/gender justice/human rights as essential values for living in India. They see them as sahulat (convenience) for them not for others.
However, we have seen some protests over terror arrests, but we hardly find any example of protest over any social issue like reservation for pasmandas (Dalit Muslims). It is also because the so called Muslim leadership mainly consists of upper casts.
It is easy to mobilize in the name of ‘Islam Khatre me hai’ (Islam is under threat).
This is a simple question to ask… What type of governance Muslim wants in India?
Will it be a secular country, a democratic country, will it be based on constitution?
Answers to these questions, give answer to your question. Until and unless one do not value or inculcate democratic values, they do not agitate over issues pertaining to society or on secular issues.
Q. Do you think these protests achieve anything and are there better and effective ways of protesting?
Nasiruddin: Protest is a democratic way to raise voices against injustice… But protest over cartoons/ films do not serve the purpose as it gives bad name to Muslims.
It is very necessary for a protest to create an ideological base and it should have a strong democratic ideological basis.
How many Muslims of the post 1990 generation know about the ideological basis of Israel? Why does US support Israel?
So we must protest, but not only in the name of religion because there are people in Israel & the US who also do not support Israel aggression.
When you see the world with this perspective, your fighting tools are also different.
Muslims were butchered by Hindutva forces in Gujarat. This is a fact. But how are we going to fight with Hindutva? Are we really to fight as Muslims or practitioners of Islam only?
Or we see it as a threat on the very basic idea of India/secularism/plurality… Protest against injustice is necessary. But the method, focus, target and lens of getting justice are most important.
Process of democratisation is very important for Muslims. Muslims across the world, including India, are in a sense of victimhood… and that leads to a tendency which is against democracy, against secularism, against gender justice, etc.
People like Bal Thackeray, or RSS too do the same…