A
Few Good Reasons To Remember Pablo Neruda Today
By Jawed Naqvi
11 June, 2006
The Dawn
There
was a time when Indian poets and writers would be engaged with Indian
issues as closely as they were involved with the rest of the world.
The heart-rending cry against capitalism of Majaaz in his poem "Sarmaayadaari"
of the 1930s had a universality that Iqbal had earlier leaned on to
berate imperialism. On the face of it, it may appear that Iqbal was
hostile to the West. However, his concerns were really riveted to the
exploitation of the weak and the poor. For example, he says:
"Europe's hordes, with
flame and fire
Desolate the world entire;
O architect of yonder realms,
To rebuild the world arise!
Out of leaden sleep
Out of slumber deep
Arise!
Out of slumber deep,
Arise!" Zabur-i-Ajam (Persian Psalms)
In the Urdu-Hindi tradition
of poetry and prose writing, as with other Indian languages, there was
concern for practically every raging issue of the time regardless of
which corner of the world the subject belonged to. From the massacre
of Vietnam (Sardar Jaafri, Niaz Haider) to the plight of the Palestinians
(Faiz) to Apartheid and Fascism, every thing was up for scrutiny and
comment. It may sound sadly absurd today, but there was a time when
popular sentiment in the newly-freed colonies of South Asia was one
of suspicion of the British Commonwealth. It was thus that Majrooh Sultanpuri
declared Pandit Nehru an agent of imperialism, all because Nehru thought
it was a good idea to take India into the Commonwealth. Majrooh's poem
became a popular refrain for many an Indian street-fighter. "Commonwealth
ka daas hai Nehru; maar lo saathi, jaane na paaye!" the poet thundered.
Majrooh was a leading member
of the left-dominated Progressive Writers Association apart from being
a popular song writer for movies. He also wrote a moving tribute to
the people of Pakistan who were at that time locked in a grim battle
with Ayub Khan's martial law. In powerful words that echoed the 16th
Century sufi poet Kabir, Majrooh enthused masses across the border thus:
"Jalaa ke mishal-i-
jaa'n, hum junoo'n sifaat chaley!
Jo ghar ko aag lagaae hamaare saath chaley!!
Sutoon-i-daar par rakhte
chalo saro'n ke chiraagh!
Jahaa'n talak ye sitam ki siyaah raat chale!!"
Somehow, today when a dozen
or more citizens are killed in Karachi or elsewhere in Pakistan and
thousands others are braving the scorching heat to battle dictatorial
laws on the nation's streets, there doesn't seem to be a memorable line
or verse from anybody in India that we have heard of, be it against
Pakistan's current military rule or about MQM's self-destructive violence
against fellow Pakistanis. Similarly, Iraq has been raped, and continues
to bleed to a painful death. Let us know if there is a verse or a poem
that was missed on this tragedy from a known writer or poet in South
Asia. Therefore, clearly there was once an open fellowship between South
Asians, more so between Indians and Pakistanis in their difficult times
in the past. Ayub Khan's reign of terror triggered a wave of solidarity
in India for fellow Pakistanis who fought him. That empathy is somehow
missing today.
There could be several reasons
for this change, but one that comes to mind is the utter confusion in
the opposition's ranks in Pakistan about their aims and objectives.
And given the nature of the dominant media in both countries, there
is a tendency not to explain the rush for democracy in Pakistan and
the apparent obsession, of practically everyone who is opposed to Gen
Musharraf, with free and fair elections. A question that is seldom asked:
Is there an anti-imperialist edge to the public outcry against Gen Musharraf's
regime or is there a critique of the neo-con economic policies being
pursued by his government. There is a genuine fear that everyone in
Pakistan, barring obviously the mullahs, ironically enough, is ready
to do genuflection before the most powerful military power regardless
of the fact that it is playing havoc in Iraq and Afghanistan. Is there
a critique of America's shadow over Pakistan from within the ranks of
say the PPP or the Nawaz Sharif group? It doesn't seem so. And it was
certainly not the case when these groups were in power during their
brief tenures. The picture in Pakistan was perhaps clearer in the battle
against Ayub Khan, a factor in the more vocal support that came from
ideologically driven corners around the world, and certainly so from
India of that period, for those who fought him.
But India too has chosen
to go down the tube. There was a time when this country's word counted
among the Third World nations. India was a major leader when it advocated
non-alignment, not as a namby-pamby idea for passive aloofness but for
an active opposition to big power exploits everywhere in the world.
Sixteen years ago India abandoned all that and took a sharp turn to
the right. It hasn't worked to our advantage. Last week, the Indian
prime minister returned empty-handed and apparently annoyed from a G-8
summit in Germany. And though Dr Manmohan Singh blamed the format of
the summit for his 'irritation' which didn't accord him a proper forum
to discuss India's perspectives, there was a hint in the Indian Express
that he may not go to another G-8 meeting if things don't improve.Well,
the prime minister should have taken a stroll out of the secure precincts
of the summit venue and met with the protestors who had different ideas
on a variety of issues discussed or not discussed inside. They too were
deprived of a platform to be heard by the super-rich nations. Dr Singh
would have found an immediate affinity and perhaps even an audience
among the angry Europeans, because despite India's recent efforts to
abandon the left-liberal corner, its soul remains in the grip of its
old humane ideals. There was a time when Pablo Neruda came to Delhi
to discuss with Pandit Nehru proposals for a World Peace Congress, euphemism
for solidarity against American hegemony.
If Dr Singh looked around
in the crowd he would find that Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez are their
idols, not any current European leader. He would find that the war on
terror which he supports with such sincerity, rings hollow with people
across the world. As it did on another Sept 11, (not in 2001 but in
1973) when President Nixon ordered the CIA to overthrow Salvador Allende's
government in Chile. Neruda applauds himself as a terrorist bard in
this pamphlet he wrote as a moving poem at that time. And it's well
worth noting for those, in India and Pakistan as elsewhere, who are
locked in a major disagreement with the policies of George W. Bush or
his protégés, that very little has changed in the world
since Neruda wrote the following lines in a collection of poems called:
"A call for the destruction of Nixon and praise for Chilean revolution."
"Because I love my country
I claim you, essential brother,
old Walt Whitman with your gray hands.
so that, with your special
help
line by line, we will tear out the roots
and destroy the bloodthirsty President Nixon.
There can be no happy man
on earth,
no one can work well on this planet
while that nose continues to breathe in Washington.
Asking the old bard to confer
with me
I assume the duties of a poet
armed with a terrorist's sonnet
because I must carry out
with no regrets
this sentence, never before witnessed,
of shooting a criminal under siege,
who in spite of his trips
to the moon
has killed so many here on earth
that the paper flies up and the pen is unsheathed
to set down the name of this
villain
who practises genocide from the White House."
How many poets or intellectuals
or for that matter politicians in India or Pakistan are willing to arm
themselves with the "terrorist's sonnet"? Let's look for them.
Neruda's 103rd birthday falls on July 12, a good time as any to redeem
an old pledge.
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