“Get your knees off
our necks” and “ I can’t breathe”
Author: Dr. K.S.Kang
Another
incident that has gained world wide attention is death of an Afro-American
gentleman George Floyd in police custody in USA . Though he died in police
custody but the action of the white police officer who put his knee on the neck
for nearly nine minutes became the cause of his death. During this agony he
could utter only two sentences “ I can’t breathe” and “Keep your knee of my
neck”. These two sentences have become the icons and symbols of revolt and
rebellion against oppression and exploitation. This incident had triggered
rallies and protest against exploitation of any kind in the world be it based on race, colour, gender, caste,
religion or minority, region or language. There is hardly any part of the world
that is untouched by exploitation of the one or the other kind. In fact in
every age humanity has suffered under the discrimination of the one or the other kind often leading to violence
and riots.
Sometimes administrative set up of
the establishment becomes so insensitive and ruthless that it does not give
heed to the genuine demands of human society in order to lead a reasonable
decent and dignified life. A man does not live by food alone he needs respect,
dignity, affection and friendship that makes his life worth living. Though it
is true that the perfect and true equality in human society is poetry, it is
only an ideal that can be visualized but never achieved. Yet the most basic
rights and amenities of life need to be assured by the establishment to all the
people without any distinction so that every body gets chance of equal
opportunity to lead he life of his choice and to express his views without any
fear even if his views do not toe the official line of the government of the
day. But in today’s societies rich and the powerful people deny even the basic
minimum rights to the poor. They are not even given the option to choose the
way to die leave aside life. In every epoch of human history the resourceful
people ride over the resourceless and poor people in the name of feudalism,
slavery, capitalism, and even in a theocratic state. So the slogan given by
this movement have become the symbols of revolt and rebellion of suffering
humanity against the exploitation of any kind in any part of the world whether
it is from one section of society or from the establishment of the day.
Normally the government expects
every citizen to obey its law and pay taxes and duties honestly. Though it is a
form of legalized loot yet people pay taxes in the hope of getting better life
facilities. But most of the fund collected through taxes is rarely utilized for
public welfare. Most of it is used to strengthen the power of the state by
procuring the latest weapons of mass destruction and strengthening the security
agencies like police and army that can be used to scuttle freedom, including
freedom to express your opinion. And in this process the genuine human demands
of the society like health , education and justice are grossly ignored. Most of
the states use Police and army to silence their opponents both external as well
as internal and sometimes try to silence the voice of protest, truth and
righteousness. When citizens of a country find the environment too stifling
that they have to think twice before uttering even a truth out of the fear that
it may not be liked by the establishment of the day. When governments keep
their knees on the neck of the people too much and too long, with the help of
police and army, they have no option but to say
“ I want to breathe” and “ I
can’t breathe”.
No comments:
Post a Comment