[blockquote style=”3″] Few parts of this article have been first published in Elephant Journal. [/blockquote]
“Hatred is the coward’s revenge for being intimidated” – George Bernard Shaw
I found the aforementioned words by Bernard Shaw in the quotes section of a book and I don’t really know the context behind them. Maybe that is the reason I don’t agree with him. Yet, reading these words reminds me of all the possible scenarios in which hatred could exist. It could be directed towards our own self or towards our external environment. However, the most important form of hatred which I have seen and experienced while growing up in Pakistan is hatred due to oppression.
Everyone in the world— regardless of what country they hail from — can understand the discomfort brought about by oppression. For some, oppression may come from within the family while others may experience it from authoritarian regimes, imposed ideologies and doctrines, or gender-based inequalities. The fact is, everyone in the world is affected by oppression even if it has not targeted them directly.
I write these words for all my people who have experienced this oppression and the hatred it triggers—a hatred which stems from prolonged anger for being denied your freedom to be a human. In my country, there are people who are still going strong despite the oppression. It’s not that they cannot afford to leave and settle down somewhere else, where their beliefs, sexual orientations and lifestyles would be acceptable and they won’t be oppressed anymore. Neither are they staying just because they don’t feel the oppression or are not angered by the circumstances. They do get furious and feel suffocated. It is this feeling that gives them the courage to stand up and declare that enough is enough, that motivates them to hold candlelight vigils and start social media movements to defend others who are oppressed. They are the ones who stand on the busy streets of metropolises, holding handmade charts, defending the rights of others, shouting out uncomfortable truths. They are the ones being accused of being foreign agents, while all they want to see is peace.
This ode is for these brave people of my country. Although I am aware that this oppression is not limited just to my land– the situation is the similar in every part of the world where human freedom is not valued, where doctrines and ideologies weigh more than human lives, where the purpose of life is revenge, a cycle which never ends.
It’s high time that we devote our time to each other, learn about each other, and find ways to reach out. The least we can do is to gain awareness and seek truth. Let us salute the brave souls who challenge oppression every day and stand in solidarity with them. If not us, then who? If not now, then when?