Tuesday, January 18, 2005
"Fundos" Arising ? (The Taliban Amongst Us)
“Moth Smoke” by Mohsin Hamid
“Kartography” by Kamila Shamsie
Pastor Martin Niemöller
It was Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid's “Moth Smoke” (2001) in which I first came across the term “Fundos“ for radical Muslim groups in Pakistan. Succint; it has a bite to it. Educated, young Pakistanis used it in a derogatory fashion. The locale is Lahore, and the novel is about a young man, Daru Shezad, as he spirals down from being a banker to prison, caught between addiction to hash, his love for his friend's wife, and his dwindling finances. Everpresent, the political situation and pervasive shadow of the Mullahs. The author was living in the United States when it was published. I am not aware whether the book caused an outcry in Pakistan.
Four years later the "Fundos" are still very much in evidence in Pakistan as well as other Islamic nations. In India, radical Hindu groups are far from being a spent force. Despite failure of government authorities in some parts of the country to protect Muslims during communal riots, India’s Constitution is an example of secularism at its best. It is not in imminent danger. Bangladesh, on the east, is another country where the Mullahs hold sway.
Western Europe has so far remained largely above the mess. As the demographics change it might not be able to stay inviolate. Signs of trouble have surfaced there and in the United Kingdom.
Here, in America, Christian Fundamentalists have gained political muscle. The framers of our Constitution created a magnificent charter. Organized efforts are currently underway to destroy the barrier between Church and State.
Regardless of the religion they follow, the Fundamentalists have common traits. Intolerance for others and in the infallibility of the scriptures.
Footnote: Jan 17,2005 An inquiry commission appointed by the Indian Government has declared that the infamous train fire at Godhra, Gujarat, in which 59 Hindu passengers died in 2002, was accidental, not set by Muslims. There were reports of Muslims fire bombing the train, and that caused a deadly wave of communal violence. More than a thousand Muslims were killed.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4180885.stm
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“Kartography” (2002) by Kamila Shamsie
Another book by an author who hailed from Pakistan. It, too, has a political background----one cannot write about modern Pakistan without touching on politics---the lawlessness and much more. The city is Karachi. Kamila Shamsie masterfully spun a story about a nation that split in two after a bloody civil war and a family secret that loomed over two young lovers. Eloquent, evocative, Ms. Shamsie’s book (not her first) is extraordinary and deserves much more attention than it has received. A great novel.
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“First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist, so I said nothing. Then they came for the Social Democrats, but I was not a Social Democrat, so I did nothing. Then came the trade unionists, but I was not a trade unionist. And then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew, so I did little. Then when they came for me, there was no one left to stand up for me.“
----Pastor Martin Niemöller
There are different variations but my research about Pastor Niemöller lead me to this as the original one. Also, some sources mistakenly attribute the quotation to the prominent Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer who was hanged by the Nazis in 1945. Martin Niemöller was a Protestant pastor. He survived Hitler‘s concentration camps and was released by Allied Forces at the end of WW II.
“Kartography” by Kamila Shamsie
Pastor Martin Niemöller
It was Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid's “Moth Smoke” (2001) in which I first came across the term “Fundos“ for radical Muslim groups in Pakistan. Succint; it has a bite to it. Educated, young Pakistanis used it in a derogatory fashion. The locale is Lahore, and the novel is about a young man, Daru Shezad, as he spirals down from being a banker to prison, caught between addiction to hash, his love for his friend's wife, and his dwindling finances. Everpresent, the political situation and pervasive shadow of the Mullahs. The author was living in the United States when it was published. I am not aware whether the book caused an outcry in Pakistan.
Four years later the "Fundos" are still very much in evidence in Pakistan as well as other Islamic nations. In India, radical Hindu groups are far from being a spent force. Despite failure of government authorities in some parts of the country to protect Muslims during communal riots, India’s Constitution is an example of secularism at its best. It is not in imminent danger. Bangladesh, on the east, is another country where the Mullahs hold sway.
Western Europe has so far remained largely above the mess. As the demographics change it might not be able to stay inviolate. Signs of trouble have surfaced there and in the United Kingdom.
Here, in America, Christian Fundamentalists have gained political muscle. The framers of our Constitution created a magnificent charter. Organized efforts are currently underway to destroy the barrier between Church and State.
Regardless of the religion they follow, the Fundamentalists have common traits. Intolerance for others and in the infallibility of the scriptures.
Footnote: Jan 17,2005 An inquiry commission appointed by the Indian Government has declared that the infamous train fire at Godhra, Gujarat, in which 59 Hindu passengers died in 2002, was accidental, not set by Muslims. There were reports of Muslims fire bombing the train, and that caused a deadly wave of communal violence. More than a thousand Muslims were killed.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4180885.stm
*****************
“Kartography” (2002) by Kamila Shamsie
Another book by an author who hailed from Pakistan. It, too, has a political background----one cannot write about modern Pakistan without touching on politics---the lawlessness and much more. The city is Karachi. Kamila Shamsie masterfully spun a story about a nation that split in two after a bloody civil war and a family secret that loomed over two young lovers. Eloquent, evocative, Ms. Shamsie’s book (not her first) is extraordinary and deserves much more attention than it has received. A great novel.
******************
“First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist, so I said nothing. Then they came for the Social Democrats, but I was not a Social Democrat, so I did nothing. Then came the trade unionists, but I was not a trade unionist. And then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew, so I did little. Then when they came for me, there was no one left to stand up for me.“
----Pastor Martin Niemöller
There are different variations but my research about Pastor Niemöller lead me to this as the original one. Also, some sources mistakenly attribute the quotation to the prominent Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer who was hanged by the Nazis in 1945. Martin Niemöller was a Protestant pastor. He survived Hitler‘s concentration camps and was released by Allied Forces at the end of WW II.
