Break the Bias

I attended one workshop a few years back. The trainer asked every one of us to draw a picture of nature. Over 90% of participants had drawn a picture which had two hills, Sun is rising in between those two hills, a river was flowing from those two hills, a tree, few birds were flying, and few had drawn a hut as well. This is a very simple illustration of how our minds are conditioned because our teachers have taught us a similar picture during our early days in school. Once the minds are conditioned, it is difficult to see or think out of it and we develop our biases accordingly. There are so many biases we carry knowingly and unknowingly every day.

When Russia attacked Ukraine a few days back, this picture (probably fake) was widely circulated in social media globally. The subtle message was that Putin is a new Hitler. What comes to our mind when we hear Hitler? A brutal dictator who is responsible of genocide of Jews during 1941 to 1945 (World War II). Do we really ask a question? Was he really dictator or elected Chancellor of Germany? What comes in our mind when we hear Hitler’s holocaust? Genocide of Jews right! Estimated 6 million Jews were killed in the concentration camps and gas chambers. But we hardly hear how many Roma people were killed in Nazi’s holocaust. Estimated 500,000 Roma people were killed in the concentration camps and gas chambers. This was approximately 50% of the total Roma population in Europe at that time. We show our sympathy towards Jews but not towards Roma people. Who are these Roma people? It is a topic of a separate blog. But these unfortunate people who were/are being rejected by Europeans as they are not originally European. Indians do not know that they are of Indian origin and therefore, Indians do not own or care for them. In short, Hitler killed close to 7 million of his own people during World War II. Therefore, he was a brutal dictator we believe or made us to believe.

Let’s see other examples of brutalities in the world. I will give just 2 examples.

The US army sprayed 45 million liters of Agent Orange across Vietnam during the Vietnam war (1964 to 1975). Agent Orange destroys vegetation on spraying. The US sprayed 28 million liters of Napalm for burning vegetation. These chemicals not only killed Vietnamese but killed a large number of wildlife (tiger, elephant, bears, leopard etc) and extinct many species of animal and vegetation. 50% mangroves were destroyed during this war resulting in typhoons and tsunamis for many years. Rice production reduced/destroyed dramatically during American occupation to create artificial famine. Toxic chemicals (Dioxin) entered into the food chain resulted in a high rate of cancer. Thousands of birth defects such as Spina Bifida, cerebral palsy, physical and intellectual disability, missing or deformed limbs were observed up to the next 4 generations of Vietnamese. The US army conducted massive bombardment on North Vietnam to destroy Ho Chi Minh trails and tunnels. Estimated 16 million ton of ammunition were used in the Vietnam war as compared to 2.1 million in WWII in Europe and Asia by the US army. This is 8 times of WWII in a much smaller area! Today Vietnam still has 30 million bomb craters with 3 meter diameter. They are infertile now. Toxic chemicals and bombardment destroyed 4.5 million acres of forest and agricultural land which is almost 5% of the total land of Vietnam. Total 3 million Vietnamese killed with millions wounded in this war. Do you remember who were the US Presidents during 1964 to 1975? Does anyone call them brutal dictators?

Let’s take another example of our own country.

The British started governing India since 1757 (Battle of Plassey) in a small way but controlled the entire Indian subcontinent from 1818. During British rule from 1757 to 1947, there were numerous famine occurred in India. I am just giving a few major one.

1769 to 1770 – The Great Bengal famine: Estimated 2 million people died due to starvation.

1778 to 1784 – Chalisa Famine: It happened in current UP, Punjab, Rajasthan and Kashmir. Estimated 11 million people died due to starvation.

1791 to 1792 – Doji Bara Famine: It happened in current Andhra, Telangana, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan. Estimated 11 million people died due to starvation.

1876 to 1878 – South India Famine: Estimated 5.6 to 9.6 million died due to starvation.

1899 to 1900 – Large Scale Famine: It happened in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. Estimated 1 million people died due to starvation.

1943 – Bengal Famine: 3 million died due to starvation.

One can claim famine is a natural calamity. But, Utsa Patnaik has given the details of these famines, how they were engineered. There is a defined pattern in all these famines.
·         Forceful export of the food grains to England for larger profits. England extracted goods worth trillion dollars during this period.
·         Engineered high inflation deliberately or excess printing of Indian Rupees
·         Reduction of salary of workers and peasants pushed large populations to poverty.
·         Did not allow farmers to cultivate the food grains.
·         No relief work during famine.

Over 40 million Indians died due to starvation from 1769 to 1943. Over 100 million people suffered from malnourishment. The generations of India were less fed over the centuries resulting in an extremely weak Indian population. The effect of these famine and malnourishment can be found on Indians even today. Do you remember who was Prime Minister of the UK in 1943? Do you remember his name? What is his impression in your mind when you see his picture? Do you also know who was his economist friend who advised him to starve Indians?

If you think that Americans and British are more brutal than Germans, then it would be another bias. Brutality of Italian in Libya and Spanish in Latin America will change your perspective of brutality.

We regularly hear in the Indian media that Modi is a Hitler of India. We regularly hear that RSS is a fascist organization or killer of Mahatma Gandhi. No one understands what is fascism but they will call their opponent fascist. These terms are thrown on your face to make you defensive so that common people are not exposed to the truth or to avoid constructive discussion/debate.

The whole topic came into my mind when the “Break the Bias” theme was introduced during the International Women Day celebration this year. Some corporates prominently shown Muslim women in Hijab in the campaign of “Break the Bias”. In fact, they are creating a new narrative/bias to accept Hijab as mainstream culture and not a symbol of women oppression. This is how our minds are conquered, narrative is set, and bias is introduced even under the name of “Break the Bias”!

 
Satish Gundawar

18-Mar-22