Climate Of Fear: The Quest For Dignity In A Dehumanized World (2005) - Plot & Excerpts
The Preliminaries:Two Responses post 9/11: "You are either with us and against the terrorists, or you are on the side of the terrorists. We do not require the world's approval since we are divinely guided." - George Bush"The world is now clearly divided into two - the world of the followers of Islam against that of infidels an unbelievers." - Osama bin LadenThe world lives in the Climate of Fear today....No one knows when the terrorist would strike and how effective his/her action would be. Equally true is also the repercussions arising from it....Addressing this issue, the Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka gave some five lectures in 2004 and they are collected together in this slim but powerful volume.How does he address and analyse?He is very systematic and his observations are very revealing and his thoughts are very much backed by logical arguments that are appropriately supported by the real life events.Initially he speaks of the "Changing face of Fear". The world of today faces fear not like the world of earlier years. In earlier days, the fear was elicited mostly by the natural calamities, such as famine, wild fire, earth quakes, etc. The fear caused by the Nature was acceptable and people could live with it.But the present day, the fear has gained a new face. It is the fear that is elicited from being eliminated by a known or unknown but a human being. The fear elicited by a fellow human being who wants to hold one's life in his hold. His/her will decides the life of another. While the first type of fear was acceptable this second type is unacceptable for a normal human being. Why is the difference? Or why one face of fear was acceptable and the other face of fear is unacceptable?The answer to this question lies in the fact of 'Human Dignity'. Man can lose anything and everything but to lose his dignity as a human being is very difficult (nearly impossible). Thus, logically speaking while the threat from Nature is very severe, yet one's humanity is never degraded. But when the threat for life comes from another human being, the human dignity is at stake. Here he introduces the dichotomy of power and dignity. By power, one wants to subdue the other. Power is taking away the freedom from others and replacing it with fear. It is like saying: 'Now, you lot, I have you in my power. At this moment, I, and I alone, know, and am about to decide your fate.' The seeker of power, or the tormentor 'loves for his reward the expression of fear accompanied by an abject surrender of volition.'But then, to lose one's dignity as a human being to another equal being is too difficult a stance to accept. Whereas, for the other it is the quotient of power which is driving him/her. To keep the power to himself he/she will go to any limits. In the present world, there is only one aspiration - to hold power over the other. The recording and telecasting of a beheading of a person , in this case, like any other terrorist act is to demonstrate one's power over the other. People viewing it are reminded of that primitive fear of being in one's submission.An individual can do it or a Community can do it or a Nation can do it or a Quasi-state (terrorist organization) can do it. What everyone seeks is power over the other.How is it fanned or how one's aspiration for power takes hold of an entire community?As a response he speaks of the 'well aimed rhetoric' and the hysteria created as a consequence. Added to it, but most important is one's claim to a particular cause most preferably linked to a religion or an opposing view of a state/ideology. It begins in an insignificant manner and is initially overlooked but then later grows to a real hysteria, a monstrosity. He gives the example of the revolution/unrest in the Europe when Marxism was becoming a popular theory. The rhetoric used most often then was: All private property is a theft. That led to vandalism of many types, such as, students robbing the books from library, goods from the super market, stealing cars of the others etc.The specialty of this rhetoric is that it is monologue in nature. That is, it is not ready for any dialogue or discussion to go deeper into the factuality of such claims. It claims self justification and nothing else. His another example is from the political world in which US accused Saddam's Iraq of having many WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION. That became a rhetoric and every one was supposed to accept it. When France voiced its doubts the French restaurants and French goods in US over night became anathema...Slowly this rhetoric which claims initially I am right and you are wrong turns into I am right and you are dead. The search for power is so strong that it can not tolerate the dissenting voices. "Deviationism - or heresy - is one short cut to death." He gives lot of examples to illustrate his claims and they are very convincing.Where is the point of salvation? Does the gloomy situation have a chance to come to light?There is only one hope. The search for dialogue. Monologue is to be avoided and dialogue is to be encouraged. The future depends on the dialogue between civilizations and in restoring social justice in every nation possible.Final Remark:There are interesting episodes in which Wole Soyinka deals with the issue of terrorism linked to religious fanaticism, Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, US attitude post 9/11, etc.
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