Rodney King was the unfortunate star of what may arguably be the most famous piece of amateur video ever shot, the beating of a black man by 4 white police officers outraged the country, and when the officers were tried by an all-white, middle class jury and found not guilty, the city of LA saw the riot of the century.
But Rodney King is not alone, nor is police brutality only the domain of LA or the US. as you read this, young men around the world are arrested, tortured or killed with impunity. In the Punjab, the director of the police, KPS Gill has declared a personal war on Sikhs that he disagrees with and although his brutal actions are well documented he manages to maintain his position and apparently looks toward the Office of governor when his enforced retirement becomes official later this year.
The Rodney King case became a cause celebre for civil libertarians and civil rights activists across the U.S. When it became evident that his treatment was condoned by the police administration, the chief ultimately lost his job.
This is not the case in China, Peru or the Punjab where police, politicians and paramilitary conspire to deny people their rights and where officers are often rewarded for their heinous acts.
Last year, Amnesty International investigated LA to see if there appeared to be a system of reprisals against minority suspects. They were shown every courtesy in the openness that characterizes most dealings in U.S. politics. Conversely, India has constantly denied Amnesty access to arcas such as Kashmir and the Punjab. Why? Is the country afraid of the truth or that the hideous crimes they hide would instigate riots like the ones at Ayodhya last December or more recently at So pore where security forces are accused of participating in the burning and looting of civilian homes and shops.
The Punjab is a police state. If there is to be “Peace in the Valley’ those responsible must somehow be brought to justice. The question remains, can there be any justice in India or will K.P.S.Gill and his ilk be the exception where currently they are the rule.
India pleads for U.S. aid, for IMF loans and for non-residents to invest. Yet while it wages a civil war against its minorities in Kashmir and the Punjab one must question its claim of democracy.
Democracy is a belief that allows each individual to have value and where laws are set up to protect the minority from a majority. It forms the basis for U.S. political culture.
Majority Rule, believing that might makes right and it is the inherent tendency of the majority to protect itself, and it’s way of life, regardless of the human expense, characterizes India’s political culture.
It is not hard to see why the remains of British colonialism, based as it was on exploitation of the native or indigenous people fathered India’s politics. Rebellion against British oppression, taxation and exploitation gave rise to the form of government the U.S. enjoys.
Admittedly the U.S. has many failings in its history, slavery, and the colonialism evidenced in South America and the South Pacific, and giving women the vote only after great and often violent debates are just a few of the “black eyes” that mark US political history. Yet, even with these flaws there is a constant striving to correct these ills and allow people the opportunity to rise above what is their perceived social class.
No doubt, racism, bigotry and fear have frequently stood in the way of the ability of a minority to make progress in the U.S. But the U.S. as a capitalist country, for the most part, values hard work and talent regardless of the color or the sex of the person. So it is very possible to rise above one’s birth class and climb the ladder of success.
Christianity, although not a state religion is a pillar of the U.S. government “in God we trust” is on the currency and “one nation under God’ is a phrase in the Piedge of allegiance Christianity, for its part gives great value to the poor, and humble and has in many ways influenced the constitutional regard for the individual, especially the underclass and dispossessed.
The converse is Hinduism, the religion of the Indian ruling class which is elitist at its heart, based as it is on Brahmins at the top and untouchables at the bottom and whose system doesn’t allow for any upward mobility. This is India’s State religion. Any claim of Indian secularism is laughable as long as the Brahmins rule, for in that system all others will always be “outcastes.”
Article extracted from this publication >> April 23, 1993
