Profile of the Religious Right

(Profile of the Religious Right by Eqbal Ahmad, published March 7, 1999)

IN two earlier essays I had argued one, that all religio-political movements are products of the shift from the agrarian/pastoral to the capitalist/industrial mode of production and the many forms of dislocations that it entails and two, that the religious tradition they invoke is more imagined than real, outcome of political opportunism and contemporary compulsions rather than of a return to sources and fundamentals.

Given their shared roots, the so-called ‘fundamentalist’ movements bear remarkable similarities which are outlined in the following paragraphs:

Religion in Politics

(Religion in Politics by Eqbal Ahmad, published DAWN, January 31, 1999)

A DECADE ago I spent a couple of hours with Morarji Desai, a well known politician and one-term prime minister of India. I was researching the campaign by Hindu religious parties to build a shrine to Lord Rama on the spot where then stood the 16th century Babri mosque. They claimed that the site was the birthplace of Rama, an avatar who lived, according to traditional Hindu belief, sometime in the years 3000BC.

Roots of Religious Right

( I present here, an article by late Dr. Eqbal Ahmad, published in daily DAWN (24 January, 1999). Ten years later and we are still in a dire need to understand the mess we have got around us.)

THEY belong to differing, often contrasting religious systems – Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Yet their ideas and behaviour patterns bear remarkable similarities. In India they have burned down churches and destroyed a historic mosque. In Palestine they describe themselves as ‘pioneers’, desecrate mosques and churches, and with state support dispossess the Muslim and Christian inhabitants of the ancient land. In Algeria they are engaged in savage warfare with a praetorian government. In Serbia, they attempted genocide and ran rape camps. In Pakistan, they have hit Christians, Ahmedis and Shi’a Muslims and also each other.

In “Praise” of War

Just as one starts appreciating the beauty and significance/insignificance (as per one’s opinion) of life in this distant corner of the universe, one comes across another painful reality. That mankind harbours a hidden drive towards annihilation and extinction in a conflict with the existence of this beautiful gift or occurrence (again as per one’s perspective)

It is amazing to see how people behave in the time of crisis. There are times when a nation needs its privileged and semi-privileged to behave sensibly and out of concern for those who may not have any voice other than a display of their plight. Being a petty-bourgeoisie myself, I sometimes feel ashamed when I look around and find myself unable to see anything other than paranoia and hysteria characterized by ridiculous jingoism.

It is perhaps one of the easiest things in the world to declare pacifists as cowards and traitors. It is also one of the most absurd. The notion of bravery held by the warmongers only makes one laugh. How much courage does one need to cheer up a standing army on one’s side of the border? Perhaps it is a real hard task for the bourgeoisie and petty bourgeoisie of this region to sit in front of their continuously widening TV Screens and cheer the advance of soldiers and flights of jets. The same fighter jets that these nations have procured from their imperialist allies; planes that have been assembled by the same military industrial complex that produces those that bomb wedding ceremonies in Afghanistan and Iraq. One may not be certain of the whole population but certainly on my side of the border, the war mongering spiritual sons and daughters of Maududi, sitting inside and outside Mansura, require an extreme amount of courage to realize the fact that their prized F prefixed toys are purchased from the same United States of America, they (just claim to) hate the most. It takes even much more courage to acknowledge the irony that the country they claim to defend through war (and through US supplied planes) is the one their spiritual father contested to be created in the first place.

But why should one deny the thrill of those moving dots on the large screens that will come straight out of Hollywood thrillers and will be erected by our beloved news channels to keep us informed of movements and latest advances. The in-house animators at these news syndicates will remain busy recreating the air combats. One must remain assured that even in those animations, the enemy planes will only crash at rural mud houses rather than the sweet homes where these animations will be eagerly watched. Not to mention the polls that will be created by these channels to select the best air combat. Perhaps our channels will learn something from CNN and its coverage of latest US Presidential Elections. They can beam in their Hamid Mirs and Talat Hussains from the front lines. What a lovely scene it will be to watch their holograms reporting live, wearing those helmets and camouflaged jackets.

That is how we are going to solve our problems. By ordering the forces created by sucking blood of the wretched of this region to put a show for the ever privileged of this land.