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Prez Obama's
Nobel speech & the Sikh cause
WSN Network
 OSLO:
Last week when President Barack Obama was in Oslo, receiving the
Nobel Peace Prize on Thursday and candidly acknowledging the
controversy over the choice of a wartime president for the award, he
also used the opportunity to acknowledge those who have dug in their
heels, suffered the apathy and atrocities of cruel regimes but have
remained steadfast in their opposition to tyranny and apathetic
nation states and governments.
The Sikh
community warmly welcomed President Obama's move to recognize such
fighters for freedom and justice, and hopes that he will indeed find
time and need to recognize the fight of the Sikh Nation to make its
case before the world and bring to the fore the way the entrenched
brahamanical powers in India are tying up with the capital-driven
liberalized economy to keep a stranglehold on power and deny to the
minorities the space and freedom to nurture their own fate.
It was
heartening to note that the President reiterated that the United
States would always stand on the side of those who sought freedom.
It was pleasant to hear him say that "we will bear witness to the
quiet dignity of reformers like Aung Sang Suu Kyi; to the bravery of
Zimbabweans who cast their ballots in the face of beatings; to the
hundreds of thousands who have marched silently through the streets
of Iran" and we hope that some day the president will hail the Sikh
community for its steadfast refusal to kowtow to powers that be and
leave aside its claim that it is possible to carve its own identity
and decide its own destiny.
The Sikh
community also welcomes President Barack Obama's call for tough
action against countries that broke international laws, such as
sanctions that "exact a real price" but at the same time takes this
opportunity to remind him that India continues to be a country that
has not signed the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) or the
CTBT and thus must be denied a place in the Security Council.
Just as Iran and
North Korea, which are in nuclear stand-offs with the West, could
not be allowed to "game the system," similarly India cannot be
allowed to game the system by claiming that its own race for nuclear
weapons be sanctified merely because it can raise the bogey of
threat from Pakistan or China.
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 The
Sikh community also welcomes President Barack Obama's call for
tough action against countries that broke international laws,
such as sanctions that "exact a real price" but at the same time
takes this opportunity to remind him that India continues to be
a country that has not signed the Nuclear Non-proliferation
Treaty (NPT) or the CTBT and thus must be denied a place in the
Security Council. |
While President
Obama praised Aung Sang Suu Kyi, it would not escape his notice that
New Delhi has been having a rather cosy relationship with the
Burmese military junta.
"It is telling
that the leaders of these governments fear the aspirations of their
own people more than the power of any other nation. And it is the
responsibility of all free people and free nations to make clear to
these movements that hope and history are on their side." Clearly,
President Obama's words will gladden the hearts of all those Sikhs
who have nurtured a dream to break the shackles of an oppressive
existence.
President Obama
was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize that speaks to our highest
aspirations -- that for all the cruelty and hardship of our world,
we are not mere prisoners of fate. Our actions matter, and can bend
history in the direction of justice.
It was a
sagacious president Obama when he said that while a soldier's
courage and sacrifice is full of glory, expressing devotion to
country, to cause and to comrades in arms, war itself is never
glorious, and we must never trumpet it as such.
But it was even
more sagacious of him to concede that there will be times when the
use of force is not only necessary but morally justified. "Inaction
tears at our conscience and can lead to more costly intervention
later," he said, adding that "the belief that peace is desirable is
rarely enough to achieve it. Peace requires responsibility. Peace
entails sacrifice."
16
December 2009
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