A Moment of Silence

Re: # 34

OzerK....

Y`know man, ye are like a munchkin, stirring up trouble everywhere ye goeth.Don`t draw me into this sordid stuff on a saturday.This day is reserved for my sacred pursuits of boozing and getting laid, which i single handedly pursue through to the end.Other days i would debate endlessly with you.I MEANT middle-eastern muslims ONLY.

Indian muslims form the second largest grouping of muslims in the islamic world , yet they have not stooped low to conquer.They have class.IM`s may have other peeves, but not one has been involved with terrorism either outside or in Jammu and Kashmir.Our mullah`s traipse through the world without let or hindrance.I know many innocent muslims died too on 9/11.These terrorist bastards will sacrifice anybody for their nefarious ends.

I gotta go, and i hope your weekend is all good.Cheers.

Re: # 1

Cayenne wrote ``If the middle east muslims believe in their causes there are other means to pursue them.Not by formenting terrorism.Screw them all.``

Do you mean all the Muslims Cayenne ?

Cut the crap, Ozer.I was `there`, i have scars to remind me for the rest of my life.Part of the reason i`m `here` is my search to find what makes people like the terrorists who struck that day `tick`, so to speak.Those people were terrorists and whoever is associated even accidentally will bear the burden of suffering by retaliatory forces.What we give out we get.What comes around goes around.I have no sympathy for the Afghans, Iraqis and all those in the middle east/pakistan part of the muslim world who are allowed,either by apathy or hatred by the general population, to forment terrorism on others.If the middle east muslims believe in their causes there are other means to pursue them.Not by formenting terrorism.Screw them all.

Re: # 2

Beejay wisecracks `` And where were you, O great, great knight
When Saddam’s thumb crushed rank and file``

Beejay by making the above comment are you legitimising the attrocities that are ravaging Iraqi civilians under US soldiers post-Saddam ? Seems so to me....and are you saying that what happened in Abu Ghraib is any better than Saddam`s regime ?

Why paint blood a sickly shade of pink ?

Dear Ozer,

Let me wipe (or perhaps mop) those tears! But wait – let me go get my buckets first! This one is so highly “inspiring”! If you don’t believe me, just read below!

BeeJay
(Benign Janitor)
- - - -

Ozer, Ozer, we love you so!
O how we wish, you’d NEVER go!
(And if you go, we cry boo-hoo!)
((Psst!) Doctor Lok Raj especially so)
(Who likes not count, but loves mango!)
So sweet thy tongue – behold and lo
If only were it forked not so!
Ozer, Ozer, we love you so!

[Why not also have 10 years of silence for the decade long embargo on Babylon. A once Blessed Baghdad now pregnant with torture and killing….]
And where were you, O great, great knight
When Saddam’s thumb crushed rank and file
For sure, O sir, yes you Ozer
Now THAT was just internal stuff
You see we judge situations so!

[Why not mourn for the dead victims of Kashmir?
The wail of a valley. A valley where too many tears turn to blood….]
O how you break my heart, so sweet
Now ask Abdul to hold acid
Acid on face of sweet, sweet lass
Hark, Ozer only saves HIS ass!

[If you want a moment of silence
Then take it from the echo of my voice….]
And how that voice is never done
A thousand words, when much is one!

[A million and a half years of silence for the million and-a-half Iraqi people….]
Silence, silence golden indeed
Sweet Ozer, prove your word in DEED!

Re: # 3

Patwari

The subect-matter might seem ``stale`` to you but everyday Muslim civilians bear the brunt of 9/11. At the workplace. In social gatherings. At school. In airport terminals. And the shopping list is ceaseless....

So I would challenge your assumption Patwari by stating that 9/11 is very topical and will remain so as the wheels of time turn.

I am not against the sentiment of the poem feeling but after so many years go by after 9/11 this seem so outdated.

(Enter the Lion)

Lion (L): Sniff, sniff…

L: (Ears perked up) [….tigers from Oslo]

L: (Disappointed) Oh, only paper tigers!

L: (Ears perked up) [….hundreds bite…]

L: (Disappointed) Oh, only dust!

L: (Ears perked up) […. hunters with hungry intent.]

L: (Disappointed) Oh, only diplomats!

L: (Ears perked up) […Bones buried in it.]

L: (Disappointed) Oh, only devastation!

L: (Ears perked up) […Keep on slaying]

L: (Animated) Bravo! ROAR!!! ROAR!!! (Bounds off)

(Exit the lion)

Ozer

You are normally the ``voice of moderation`` but here you have gone down the slippery slope of conservatism. You are talking about the plight of people around the world and cozily pointing the finger at the ``West``. That is too easy a route to tread, and you, like many others before you have this irritating habit of blaming the West and Uncle Sam for everything.

Be more rational and pragmatic in your reasoning, stop resorting to melodrama, one-sidedness and crocodile tear-jerking. Eastern regimes are no more benevolent. Rulers, wherever they may be are guilty of similar attrocities. Your geographical anachronisms are stale and dated. Your political short-sightedness is vapid.

what a waste of time

Re: # 7

Scout

Honor killings in Pakistan are shameful while patriarchs are fleeing, assassins are brandishing their venom through age-old Hudood Ordinances introduced during Zia`s epoch. Police constables and law enforcers with greased palms turn deaf dumb and blind to the nauseating reality. Masi Mai is merely one instructive case in point.

As for female infanticide in India, the Atharva Veda postulates: ``The birth of a girl, grant elsewhere; here, grant a boy`` The repugnancy and travesty of female infanticide is rooted in the Vedic period. Moments of gender discrimination are evidenced in the writings of Manu. The prevalent and prostituted philosophy in most societies, of Eastern or Western persuasion, is that the female is under the custody of males

From womb to tomb.

In patrilineal-ravaged societies like South Asia archaic traditions from time immemorial coupled with a staggering demand for dowry exacerbates the perpetuation of infanticide.

The malevolent attitude vis-a-vis women is especially rampant in Tamil Nadu and Bihar. In Rajasthan, mostly amongst the Rajputs who enjoy a majority there, daughters of life are seen as a

Burden of nature.

ozer,

you failed to include moments of silence for the shias killed by sunnis in pakistan, female infanticide in india, and honor killings in pakistan, and i don`t know if you mention the thousands of people killed by saddam, maybe you did, the whole `poetry` thing was a bit too much.

although i can understand your anguish and sentiments, kulsumbeig does have a point about political myopia

and i also think it`s offensive to put a time to silence, `moment of silence` vs. `lifetime of silence`

what are you trying to say? four thousand innocent people killed for nothing on a tuesday morning just deserve a moment because they are non-muslim?

this whole `moment of silence,` `month of silence,` `lifetime of silence`
you go against your claim that every human life is precious by attributing specific lengths of `silences`

Ozer

An evocative, powerful and thought-provoking poem. A clearly well-researched piece....it seems you are quite interested by Latin America. I guess space was a constraint for you. You overlooked one important part of the globe: South East Asia. Your poem could have made a brief mention highlighting the plight of the people in South East Asia, like the dictatorial military junta in Burma, what Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge did in Campbodia, Indonesia`s treatment of East Timor, Thaksin`s regime in Thailand and Lee Kwan Yu`s heavy-handedness in Singapore.

Nonetheless this poem is one of the best I have read thus far.......here you are truly at your best. Dont be phased by all these cyber-junkies who don`t cut you any slack. A lot of whom love to rumour-monger about you. You are a talented poet....keep on writing. Keep up the spirit.

Re: # 10

AV KRISHNA

You hit the nail on the metaphorical head. Foolhardy would be the souls who dismiss the fact that violence is waged against Hindus and Sikhs who are gruellingly massacred in Jammu & Kashmir and elsewhere. 700,000 Kashmiri Pandits in refugee camps without evenhandedness, unfortunately any type of ehtnic, class, religion and caste-based grandstanding inflates the ego away from truism and justice. Underneath this shady veneer lies political ambition and ill-fated nationalism.

Society needs more Arundhati Roy`s, martyrs en route to greater things. Planned shows of consciousness by political heavyweights never cuts the mustard. And lip-service gesturing is the satire we breath-

Day in. Day out.

All ethnicities, classes, castes and religions have a part to play in these toxic acts of violence. Gujarat is a case in point. I remember that India Today reported that A group of outsiders from the far-right extremist leaning Deobandi Tableeghi Muslim sect sieged the mosques in Godhra and deliberately inflamed passions and inflated theological egos. 500 cows were slaughtered illegally in Bharuch in February. Many plots are conveniently foiled by the media. This is the essence of my poem.

The question AV krishna is why are these apparent facts, such as the Godhra massacre and other anti-Sikh anti-Hindu anti-Muslim anti-Buddhist communal conflagrations not debated in the media ?

How about an `appropriate` amount of silence for Hindus killed over the ages across the world by Islamic and Christian fundamentalists?