Scott Morrison, the current prime minister of Australia has received a lot of flack for his comments on January 26th being a holiday. It was the day on which the British landed in Australia. For the aboriginals or the natives of the land it looks like the celebration of colonization and reminds them of the oppression. But Mr Morrison spoke just like Mr Trump after Charlottesville when he said that there were fine people on both sides. Both of them did it based on their electoral calculations. But the way they portray it is like “This is the status quo”. It is true that Natives of Australia and America have been reduced to negligible percentages of the population. Just like Persians/Parsis can no longer call Iran their home or Mesopotamia whose ancestors cannot call Iraq their home anymore. The status quo is that both countries are now Arab states. The natives are not welcome anymore.
But strangely, the same people who talk about status quo when things change talk about taking America back from immigrants. The same argument was the reason English voted for Brexit. The overwhelming feeling of we are being marginalized in our own country is causing all this hostility. If they want things back to the way they were, where do we stop? Do we go back to 19th century? 18th? how about 3000 BC? Even if you manage to build a time machine to travel back in time, you ought to set the date you want to go back to?
Mount Rushmore is a very recognizable monument, built in the honor of colonists by the colonists. Americans may have had a war with the British and gained Independence. But unlike most of the British colonial empire, it was Europeans fighting Europeans. In the 1800’s, Black hills region where this monument was later built was granted the the Lakota people, a native American tribe. But later it was taken back and they built a monstrosity on the sacred lands of the Natives. There is still a legal dispute going on with the tribe demanding the entire land be returned to them and also reparations be paid in billions. Why not go back to 1800s and give the land back to them?
This is not new to America. In 1490, Jeruselam had 150 Jewish families. Most of them were driven out of their land by Arab invaders, just like the Parsis and Mesopotamian s. The UK, supported by US, carved out the Arab occupied territory to create a home for Jews and thousands were transported back to their ancient homeland in ships. Not sure why they did not do the same favor for the Parsis who took refuge in India. They have to apply the same standards to every one. Right? Nope, they do it only when it serves them.
One of the bloodiest event in post Independence India was the demolition of Babri Masjid. The Hindus argue that the Birth place of their beloved god should instead have a temple. It took decades to solve the problem but in 2020, finally the temple construction started. This scenario is a little similar to the Jews wish to return to Zion but is also very different in another way. Even now, 80% of the Indians are Hindus. The British managed to take a lot from India. But they couldn’t take Indians out of India. As per 2020 census, Native Americans constitute less than 2% of the US population, i.e 5 million compared to 96 million. The construction of the temple has sparked a wide spread condemnation from many western countries as rise of right wing nationalism. But they are comparing apples and oranges here. Indian government was trying to erase the monuments that remind the oppression of the Mughals who preceded the British in looting India. They are trying to wind back the clock and return the the way things were in the past.
Its just stupid to have the photo of Mount Rushmore on the Lonely plant USA edition. So, they put the grand canyon.
But what did they do with the Indian version? By the way, the Taj mahal is also in a way a symbol of oppression. This is just hypocrisy. They should have the same standards for all Lonely planets. They should have the same standards for entire planet. They should have the same standards for every person on this lonely planet.
The main objection to the argument is again would be Status quo and hurting the sentiments of the Minorities. So, USA and Australia are hurting the sentiments of minorities by keeping the Status quo but India is India is doing it by changing it. Weird right. You might take me to a Right wing activist. Trust me, I am not. I am just looking for logic in all this mess. So, everyone should just calm down and decide. Do they want to change the status quo or keep it. If they want to change it, how long do we go back?
Its funny that the same argument written by an American would be called a left- wing argument. Just like the side of road we drive on may be the political definitions of Right and Left are also reversed here.
Donald Trump was the revenge of Conservative America for Barack Obama. They will no doubt be plotting another revenge for Kamala Harris. They should just accept the fact that the history is repeating itself and the new immigrants are taking over the old immigrants. To borrow their words, that is the status quo now. The only difference is that it is happening in a more civilized way with far less bloodshed. It they don’t agree with it, they should wind back their clocks, demolish all the monuments they built, give back the country to the Native Americans, get on the ships to England and home their ancestors accept them as at least refugees.
Random thoughts of a confused primate 