Killer tsunami

International community’s response is encouraging. Most heartening is the wonderful work done by the masjid and the local Jamaat in Cuddalore, a severely hit town in Tamil Nadu. There are hardly any Muslim fishermen in Cuddalore and there have been no Muslim casualties. Yet within minutes of tsunami striking, Mohammed Younus, president of the United Islamic Jamaati, summoned his flock to cope with the horrendous calamity. Within half-an-hour, his men left their shops and homes for the beaches picking up and rushing the injured to hospitals. By evening, about 3,000 Muslim men were tending to over 10,000 Hindus and Christians in makeshift camps in the local schools. There are about 20,000 men under the Jamaat, and the huge community kitchens that it had been using for its frequent community feasts were immediately turned into relief kitchens. A few hundred of the survivors were invited to stay in the masjid where they still stay. Many more are in the Jamaat’s school and dozens occupy its office building. Then there was the incredible spectacle of Muslims carrying bodies on their own shoulders and cremating them in order to ensure that the dead ‘‘should not feel offended in death’’. When contacted by the media and others, Younus’ simple response was ‘‘Isme kya badi bath hai?’’

Such noble deeds should be appropriately recognised and commended because they redeem our faith in humanity and reinforce the innate spirit of common brotherhood amongst us which no fundamentalist of any creed can vanquish. Insha Allah.

Irrational censorship

History of the books which have been banned at different times, some of which are now regarded as classics, demonstrates the absurdity of censorship under the heads of obscenity and immorality. Standards of morality and decency in the same society vary from time to time and there is no uniform test of community standards of acceptance. Sin, as Pascal reminds us, is geographical. Judges have valiantly tried to define obscenity but without success. The pragmatic judicial verdict in the words of Justice Stevens is that ‘‘I cannot define obscenity but recognise it when I see it.’’ Obviously obscenity, like beauty, lies in the eyes or whatever of the beholder.

One would expect that in the USA, where the First Amendment is more venerated than the Ten Commandments, arbitrary censorship would be past history. But the banning itch has surfaced virulently. The State of Texas has recently banned Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty Four and Peter Pan following objections from parents. The reason given was inappropriate sexual content, whatever that means. Some books have been banned because they touched on topics deemed unsuitable for children, such as The Upstairs Room and the Autobiography of Johanna Reiss who survived the Nazi holocaust by hiding.

More alarming are the recent federal ban on publishing works by dissident writers in countries under sanction unless they first obtain US government approval. Violations carry severe penalties. Unconstitutionality is writ large on the face. It is shocking that the US which has served as a megaphone for dissidents from other countries should now ban books by them. The ridiculous justification offered by spokeswoman Molly Millerwise is that ‘‘these are countries that pose serious threats to the US, to our economy and security, and our well-being around the globe.’’ Paranoia about perceived threats and terrorism has not spared literary works. Goldsmith was right: ‘‘Logicians have ill-defined as rational the human mind.’’

For the new year

The year 2004 has ended; 2005 has commenced. Three cancerous Cs: Corruption, Criminalisation and Communalism still flourish and are destroying the moral and social fabric of our nation. I know about the futility of making resolutions. Yet, let our New Year resolution be to exterminate these three Cs and usher in an era of tolerance, decency and integrity.