Raising Awareness in India
Raising Awareness Where the Intellectuals are
The plight of the Yezidis rocks JNU campus in India
Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is a name synonymous with leftist intellectualism in India. It is also where pseudo-secularism finds its intellectual legitimacy. Pseudo-secularism thrives on keeping people ignorant about the perils of fanatical Islam and give it an intellectual patronage to keep people blissfully unaware. In more simple words , keep people from knowing the truth and prevent the freedom loving people from uniting against the horrific persecutions by fanatical Islam worldover which is presenting itself as an organized religio-political setup. The common pattern and the goal of this regio-political setup is to isolate ancient communities, make them vulnerable and wipe them off.
Thus a talk by the Yezidi delegation, comprising of three women leaders from US and Sweden (Gulie, Layla and Mavi) and Mirza Ismail (Chairman of Yezidi Human Rights International ) from Canada, lasting for 3 and half hours (9:30 pm to 1 am in the morning ) , being attended by 150 students at Koyna Mess at JNU , was a historic event to say the least. The Yezidi delegation , was articulate, had powerful speakers and people listed intently to the Yezidi plight inspite of the chilling cold. They empathized with the Yezidis and the Yezidi crisis, something that many had no clue before. They realized the gravity of what fanatical Islam presents to the world and how ugly the world can turn into if it is not addressed right way. They realized for the first time that slavery which the humankind tried hard to remove through the efforts of people like Abraham Lincon, Martin Luther King Junior, Prabhuapada, Bhakti Tirtha Swami and Nelson Madela is being systematically undone by ISIS, starting with women being sold as sex-slaves and rape being used as a weapon of war
It was a meeting that addressed future leaders of the government, decision makers of the future and future politicians. What could have otherwise been dubbed communal if it had been speakers from India , became possible through the voice of young Yezidi leaders , taking up the cause of the community, and has the potential to change the world view of many of the intellectuals of tomorrow in India. Many of these young Yezidi leaders have lost near and dear ones, relatives and friends and it thus became a re-visit of their personal journey, Tales of a journey they had not read in story books, but one they had lived themselves. From the start of the crisis in August 2014, Hindu and Yezidi activists have worked as family to attract the world attention to the cause. They jointly organized the rally at Washington DC, hosted major fundraisers in Chicago, Houston and California. Jewish activists have also joined them in these efforts, as one ancient community trying to help another, and took the lead to organize canvassing efforts for their cause. Other freedom loving communities worldwide like the Zoroastrians have also joined hands. Hindu Spiritual leader His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shanker personally visited Lalish , the holiest place of the Yezidis, met the supreme spiritual leader of the Yezidis Baba Shek and helped to deliver 120 tonnes of supplies. All this was to keep the Yezidis alive in the Shingal (Sinjar) mountains using US army helicopters and through his organization IAHV , till the grip of ISIS was released. Till date 10,000 Yezidi men have been killed in the 74th genocide. 7000 Yezidi women and children have been sold in the market as sex slaves by ISIS and 5,00,000 (half a million) Yezidis are still refugees in Iraq.
Some Islamic fanatics had tried to create a raucus to disrupt the event. One can only salute the spirit of these brave young women who refused to give in to these distractions. The event organized by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the largest student body in India, in just one day’s notice was a stupendous success and a Yezidi-Hindu Intellectual Form is in the offing. ABVP has vowed to extend all possible support to the Yezidis. The Yezidis have the oldest calender in the middle east, which is 6764 yrs old, and believe in Reincarnation just like any other Dharmic faith. Being a distinct religion surrounded by hostile neighbors has caused 74 genocides in the last 1400 yrs and have resulted in the Yezidi population dwindling from 23 million to less than 1 million. The present delegation of the Yezidi leaders is the largest global delegation to visit anywhere ever and has representatives from US, Canada, Sweden , France, Armenia , Iraq and India. Yezidi Nationalists led by the Yezidi National Union and the Yezidi Human Rights Organization International is being prominently represented in the delegation.
The Foreign Minister of India, Sushma Swaraj ji met the present delegation for over 45 minutes and promised all possible help. The present Government in India led by Narendra Modi is taking steps to connect to all communities globally who share the same values, gender equality, belief in mutual respect and equality of humankind, and is trying to stand with them to realize the concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam – the whole world is one family and protect the fundamental human values from being wiped out by ideologies like ISIS. Values that generations have given their lives for.
