Kazi Najib Ashraf: free speech in the time of war

We stare and gaze with awe and disbelief, of sheer limitation of our existence and minuteness on the global theatre. The drama and tableau where we’ve acted as spectators and extras are now able to watch another act, another play being unfolded on a global scale where the perpetrators have dared to venture into the forbidden land. The antagonist, the same villain when he had ventured into our backyard was hailed by some as a liberator while the civilized world branded him with caution. After all he was among the gang of five who could turn the destinies of nations upside down.

A nod could define the difference between life and death for millions of insignificant others in my part of the world. And now, he dares breach the walls of the forbidden territories. In the Middle East, we are tired of the noise, of being branded as war mongers and wild, ready to tear the fabric of all morality. We are tired, unable to breathe anymore, the charred bodies and smoke of decimated cities and lives have blocked all our abilities. We feel trapped by our geopolitical situation and the curse of natural resources. The civilized world craves the liquid black gold and the elements, disregarding the presence of breathing beings who call these places their home.

We are tired of looking at another war being unfolded as the civilized world has completed the democratic experiment in our region and moved on to teach the virtues of human rights to another nation. Free speech, a taboo, a dream for so many of us here but who is listening anyway. Do we feel relieved that the toys of war aren’t visiting another one of our neighbours and rather it has moved elsewhere? There is nothing left to destroy in our backyards, maybe a few strategic sites that still serve as outposts of the civilized and international community. Otherwise, we have been razed to the ground both morally and physically.

The strategic global balance is in a tectonic shift with the old order giving way to a new one. The falling empire promises the obliteration of its allies and friends alike. Like a mighty tree falling in a jungle taking smaller ones on its way down. This is the time for the people of the world to wake up and create a new voice, the sounds of propaganda, of Orwellian conspiracies should be subdued by the shouts of reason.