Trump’s only true skill is the con; his only fundamental belief is that the United States is the birthright of straight, white, Christian men, and his only real, authentic pleasure is in cruelty. It is that cruelty, and the delight it brings them, that binds his most ardent supporters to him, in shared scorn for those they hate and fear: immigrants, black voters, feminists, and treasonous white men who empathize with any of those who would steal their birthright. The president’s ability to execute that cruelty through word and deed makes them euphoric. It makes them feel good, it makes them feel proud, it makes them feel happy, it makes them feel united. And as long as he makes them feel that way, they will let him get away with anything, no matter what it costs them.That was back in October 2018.
Since then, tRump has only amplified his cruelty, and his loyal officials are eager and energetic to implement cruelty. If they can't, well, either he fires them via tweets or they quit.
In many ways, the cruelty is all about the core question of who gets to be an American. To him and his base, non-whites don't pass the test. The brief 50-year easing of the racist immigration laws is being rewritten, rapidly.
I often remark to white anti-tRump Americans, if we get into such conversations, that at least they have only country to worry about. I follow the events in the old country, too, and get doubly depressed.
Back in India, mOdi and his toadies, who constitute a much more overwhelming percentage of the population than tRump and his base do, are charging full-steam ahead with their efforts to classify who is a real Indian.
No, this is not about Kashmir.
In about two weeks, "as many as 4 million people may soon be excluded from Indian citizenship." Four million. Almost the population of Oregon!
Why?
This all stems from the “National Register of Citizens" (NRC), a log that is supposed to contain the names of all Indian citizens in Assam. The list, based on the 1951 census, was created to determine who were Indian citizens and who were migrants from neighboring East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). The government is now seeking to update it, deciding that all those who can prove they were Indian residents before midnight on March 24, 1971 — just before Bangladesh declared independence from Pakistan — will be considered citizens, as will their descendants. Those who cannot are to be excluded from the register, detained and, if unable to prove citizenship before a “foreigners tribunal,” subject to deportation.
The cruelty!
It comes hard on the heels of a surge of virulent nationalism, including the use of the term “termites” in reference to immigrants from Bangladesh, leading to concerns that it will be used as a tool for persecution.
Like how tRump refers to rats and rodents.
The situation is worsening:
Devastating stories are already emerging of those entangled in the process, including reports of suicides due to exclusion from the list. Men, women and children are already in detention centers, with little hope of emerging unscathed from this legal maze. They face the prospect of indefinite detention and could even end up stateless, with no place to be deported to, given Bangladesh’s position that this is an internal Indian matter.
What's happening in Assam could be extended to the rest of the country too:
After Assam, the BJP has promised a citizenship test for all of India’s 1.3 billion residents – part of a plan to make India a Hindu rashtra, nation. The number of Indian Muslims is almost equal the population of Brazil, the sixth most populous country in the world. A nationwide citizenship test would be an unimaginable tragedy, and would plunge India into chaos.Why all this cruelty?
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| Caption at the source: The BJP has promised a citizenship test for all of India’s 1.3 billion residents – a part of the plan to make India a Hindu nation’ Muslim men queuing to check the National Register of Citizens in 2018. |
2 comments:
I am unable to comprehend why this government would go about disenfranchising these poor people. The opinion leaders from the Hindu Upper Castes are adamant that India be "cleansed". Good friends of mine advocate a total population exchange. In this day and age how can people talk like this?
"In this day and age how can people talk like this?"
Here's how I see it ... I have never believed that crisis builds character. Instead, one's character is revealed during a crisis.
It is something similar here.
A demagogue running for election is not unusual in a democracy--the beauty of democracy is that anybody can stand up and declare they want to lead the country. Whether a candidate wins or loses depends on the voters. Just as a crisis brings out one's character, I suppose a demagogue brings out one's deepest beliefs that were there all along--we just didn't know that deep down even some of our friends and relatives are such awful human beings!
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