With the U.S. veto held back at last, the U.N. Security Council, responding to a mounting global cry, finally demanded “an immediate ceasefire” in Gaza. True, the council’s demand was only “for the month of Ramadan”. However, the qualification was partially rectified when the council also declared that the step should “lead to a lasting sustainable ceasefire”.
Words will not bring dead children back to life but may at times raise a distant glimmer of hope even when the words are less than categorical. The world’s unhappiness with Israeli contempt for Gazan lives has ultimately been recorded at a recognized level.
This unhappiness was also revealed in Donald Trump’s remarks to the Israel Hayom newspaper. As quoted in the U.K.’s Guardian of March 25, Trump said, addressing Israelis: “You have to finish up your war. Israel has to be very careful, because you’re losing a lot of the world, you’re losing a lot of support.” Coming from Netanyahu’s firm backer, these words are certainly of interest.
The tide of global opinion acknowledged by Trump must continue to roll if the Middle East is to approach even a semblance of justice. I must add that contempt for lives was also shown (again) by ISIS in its murderous attack on the night of March 22 on innocent Russians in a Moscow concert hall.
Who knows where our world is headed? We can also ask a somewhat related question: will this year’s elections in countries like India, the U.S. and the U.K. make any difference?
Coming before the other two, India’s voting will be spread over many weeks, but results should be known by early June. Surveys seem to suggest that Narendra Modi will be prime minister again, for a third five-year term.
Although India continues to be described as the world’s largest democracy, there are Indians today who think that in genuineness their country’s democracy and elections are at present closer to what the world finds in Russia than to what has usually been seen in the U.S. and the U.K.
Virtually every TV channel in India blares propaganda for the ruling party and for Modi. Almost daily, newspapers carry large Modi ads, paid for by the government. Modi’s face is joined to temples, stamped on vaccination cards, and seen on the state’s welfare parcels for the needy. His personal messages reach millions of phones and inboxes. His and the BJP’s huge war chest is stuffed with high-denomination notes.
Since all this and more might not prove sufficient, opposition leaders and candidates may be arrested on election-eve for alleged violations, even as politicians previously accused of corruption emerge smilingly from the ruling party’s washing machine after having defected to it.
There is great speculation on the impact of the latest arrest, that of Arvind Kejriwal, head of the Aam Aadmi Party, or the Ordinary Man’s Party, and chief minister of Delhi. The last-minute seizure of this popular, charismatic, and spirited figure is an interesting Modi gamble.
However, the Indian scene troubles far more than it fascinates. The unease springs from the unconcealed bid to end a 75-year period when, thanks to India’s post-independence leadership and the constitution produced by that leadership, all Indians belonged equally to their nation. What is now being constructed is a religious state where Muslims and Christians must accept Hindu control.
Imposing a tilted uniformity on India’s 1.4 billion will not help our world. Nor will it be easy. Even in the lopsided elections that are on the anvil, we can expect Indians loyal to liberty, equality and humanity to put up fierce and perhaps successful fights in portions of the country.