Bombs are...in Bombay
Over the week, as emails and messages have poured in from loved ones and concerned advisors about the bombings in Bombay, the feeling has been a strange but familiar one. It could be described as a hybrid I suppose; ribbons of fortune tied to strands of guilt and frustration. I tend feel this way when a “newsworthy” tragedy rears its unpleasant head, wherever I may be. This is no different. I’m privileged enough to have remarkable experiences in far away lands but a home that registers pretty damn safe in relative terms. Lucky enough to avoid tripping my way into the wrong place at the wrong time – most of the time. And aware enough to know that the majority of suffering is rarely covered on the nightly news or in the morning Post.
In the days after 3 bombs exploded in the bustling metropolis of Mumbai killing dozens and injuring scores, news reports abound. The Wall Street Journal asks, “Will the Mumbai attacks be politicized?” Really WSJ, is that your headline? I’m disappointed. Could these attacks be viewed any other way? Would the mainstream media be calling them “terrorist” attacks if there was not a political agenda – by attackers, politicians and media conglomerates alike? Is there even a question that bombs detonated in any global neighborhood be attached to politics? Bombs are politics.
BBC asks a more appropriate question, “Why does Bombay bleed again and again?” I might argue that Bombay is not bleeding, people are. But I digress into semantics and it is certainly a catchy headline. And more, this well written article intrigues my propensity for debate. Anchored in the history of deadly attacks in Bombay since 1993, the article cites 700 corpses and questions the capacity of the Indian government to protect its citizenry. My thoughts wander to a recent story reported by a community journalist covering the city in Maharashtra. A heart-wrenching story about the destruction of thousands of homes in Bombay slums with hundreds of communities still on the docket for demolition in upcoming months. Potentially hundreds of thousands of people have no recourse in a government sponsored “slum-free” scheme that will leave them homeless and starving. A government unable – or perhaps unwilling - to protect its citizenry indeed. If Bombay is bleeding, slums are festering wounds. And they need treatment with care, not dirty Band-Aids. But I’m hard pressed to find a recent and comprehensive story about the prolonged death of so many slum dwellers in Bombay. But, do we find anything quite as newsworthy as deadly explosions? Bombs are entertainment.
Indian newspapers are running the editorials that we would expect. Essentially asking the question that is shocking to no one: Has the dreaded Pakistan struck again? I find this sentiment alarming at best. Why is it that we – governments and humans – go to such great lengths to find the enemy in other governments and humans but rarely blame systems, structures and institutions that create them? Is it because we need the ability to watch the demise of the enemy on the nightly news or read it with our morning coffee, as if it is proof somehow? We can be fairly certain that whomever ignited those bombs in Bombay this week had a keen eye on the media coverage. All the blood and guts and rubble in the street are a battle won for the culprits. And something tells me that the Indian government will respond with some good old-fashioned broadcasted battle winning of its own. But in the end, no one will win the “war.” Not the “terrorists” nor the “state.” It only takes a peek across the pond or the tracks at Iraq and Afghanistan to see the truth in that. But as long as economy and ideology are propped up by detonations, what more can we expect? Bombs are excuses.
So, as U.S. media and the Obama administration encourage India to strengthen its counter-terrorism and intelligence efforts, I can’t help but sigh. What a waste of time. What a waste of money. What a waste of airwaves. What a waste of human rights. What a waste of manpower. What a waste of better ideas. What a waste of life.
Bombs are a waste of resources.
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