September 15th, 2001
“Here” is 11th September 2001. The only ‘Super’ power in the world, the United States of America has been dealt a blow in a Murmasthhaana, a vital spot. For the first time in history New York and Washington have experienced direct, physical assault. The attackers converted aircraft owned by United States of America Airlines into firebomb assault weapons to target and destroy life and property.
As we write some eighteen kamikaze type terrorists of West Asian? origin gave up their own lives to destroy five thousand civilians and defense personnel and buildings which were symbols and constituted the heart of the USA.
An unprecedented sense of insecurity pervades the American psyche. The insularity of being a continent apart lying across the oceans from the rest of the world has been breached. The USA has been found vulnerable to attack from a determined enemy with the necessary sophistication and skills. As yet the enemy has no face and has infiltrated and attacked from within. The strategy and tactics of retaliation and reprisal have yet to be worked out. Threats are unlikely to be effective as the perpetrators of the 11th September atrocity are not mercenaries or terrorists but people inspired by a Faith.
In a world fractured by nation race and religion it is easy to dismiss the episode as being of concern only to the USA. The world has to consider that the USA of the 21st century is rather more than a mere ‘nation’ state. In it today (especially California where this is being written) the races religions and peoples of the world mix and mingle as if to defy the myth of the Tower of Babel. The TV telecasts in Spanish and Chinese besides English and the white face is rare in offices and shopping areas. The USA has become the most desired destination for all humanity who wish to be in the society of the future and an attack on it should elicit a universal response.
A positive response from outside will further strengthen the international elements in the USA and weaken its jingoist sectarian elements who “dot-bust” or hate Jews or Muslims or Browns and Blacks. To help humanity to come together in this hour of the USA’s distress 11th September can be declared Martyr’s Day for the world.
On this day each year all the martyrs the world has known can be remembered and honoured. An annual reminder may help educate and sensitize mankind. The aim would be to eschew hatred and violence to avoid repetition of the blunders committed over the millennia which constitute human history.
The great martyrs of history were victims of betrayal by their own people. Socrates was condemned to death by his fellow Athenian Greeks, Jesus by the Jews. Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King were shot and killed by Americans. Gandhi had three bullets pumped into his bare chest by Nathuram Vinayak Godse who believed he was serving the cause of Hinduism by the killing of a 78 year old man.