Freedom Fighter or Terrorist
....one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.
So I started this post with that quote and my apologies, I am unsure where the quote is originally from. I have heard/read it in many places, but I am unsure of the origin. Also, apologies for the controverisial heading. However, I promise what I am about to write is not really controversial. The thought actually came to me in a strange way. It is by looking at an old leaflet from Wikipedia.
I vaguely member why I was looking up Surya Sen's Wikipedia page. I think it was a bizzare reason. I was talking to someone regarding 'rewards' and then about the fact that I do not have any hair on top of my head. Also the fact, that a group of folks have started calling me 'dada' (which is just a word for 'bro' or elder brother, but quite widely used in the sub-continent, over a variety of situation and age group). Surya Sen, for those who do not know the Indian (and I use the word here in the sense of the sub-continent, pre-independence British Raj undivided India) freedom fighting movement, was a 'revolutionary'. We read about him in school in history classes. He was a school teacher by profession. Therefore 'master' (synonym for teacher in India), and later sort of an universal 'dada'. Together Master da Surya Sen.
Please do not get me wrong. I am not comparing myself with a dead revolutionary who died in 1934. Not at all, just saying, human brain functions in strange ways. For some reason that thought led me to that Wikipedia page. I am glad it did, because, although I read about him before, but I never came across this old pamphlet that is essentially a bounty Rs. 10,000 on his head. Folks, in 1932, that was a substantial amount of money!
What does it say....
For the non-native speakers, let me translate the pamphlet... I am not going to do a word for word translation as that is uncessesary. It basically is an advertisement of Rs. 10,000 bounty on his head. Police was looking for him in relationship to Chittagong armoury raid. That picture was taken in 1924 and the notice was dated 22nd June, 1932. He was balding... and in a way roughly looked like me, only about 100 pounds lighter :) Yeah, yeah, I am trying to loose some weight...
Backgroud
It is difficult for me to give a short summary of the events, as devil is in the details. However, if I at least do not try, I will feel bad. Indian freedom fighting movement had two primary paths: non-violent (led by Gandhi.... and numerous leaders from Indian National Congress.... in general) & violent (led by multiple people, and it is hard to name a single individual). Again apologies for over simplification.... I do not claim to be an authority on the subject. There were overlaps between the two movements, and many leader from one moved to the other movement over the years. Master da was one of the regional leader from the violent revolution. Their vision was to hit the Imperial British Government with force, thereby sending a message of fear and de-stabilize the local infrastructure. To do that there was a need for guns and ammunition. So on 18 April 1930, Master da, led a group of revolutionary to raid the police armoury at Chittagong.
It was a big plan. They wanted to cut off the road, telephone and railway network; and isolate Chattogram (the bengali name) from the rest of the British Raj. You can see, even today from the google map image, Chattogram is fairly isolated. Bay of Bengal to the west, and massive Karnaphuli River to the south and the east. Only two major road, railway system to the north, and two bridges to the south and the east. Even today, if these four main access point can be cut-off, Chattogram can be isolated :) Imagine how it was like in 1930....
Anyways, the plan was good. But the execution was flawed. They did capture the armoury, got the guns, but the failed to capture the ammo....
Without the ammunition, it was an lopsided conflict and the revolutionary group had to escape to the nearby Jallalabad Hills, where they were cornered by the British force and lost the battle. Master da manage to flee, and manage to avoid detection for upward of an year, but evertually got captured and executed.
A Different Angle
Growing up, I was fascinated by the violent sect on the Indian freedom fighting movement. It was glorified of course, and also because of where I am from, and grew up, we are well known in India as a supporter to Subhash Bose, who although was the president of the Indian National Congress at one time, but moved away from the non-violent ways, and was de-facto 'leader' of the revolutionary elements; and of course was extremely popular in un-divided Bengal (perhaps even today).
It was not until much later, when I became an expat myself, and traveled all over the strange war torn parts of the world; I begin to have a different realization. I suddenly remember Khudiram Bose, who essentially lobbed a bomb at an innocent friend of a notorius Chief Magistrate Douglas Kingsford. It was a mistake, as both Chief Magistrate Douglas Kingsford and his friend the daughter and wife of Pringle Kennedy were riding identical horse drawn carraiges. The bomb hit the innocent carriage. Bose was 17.
It was widely glorified when I was in school and possibly still is. Khudiram Bose was widely touted as one of the youngest martyrs of the Indian Independence Movement. When I look back today, from an expat point of view, it feels strikingly different.
I imagine my wife and daughter was taking a ride in a car in some war torn country, and a "child soldier", applies an RPG or an IED by mistake. In stread of hitting the US Marine's family car (which would have been equally devastating for that family), hits my wife's/daughter's car instead. How would I feel then?.... I keep thinking.... it will be a 100% loss for me, even if the statistical possibility of this happening may be much less than 0.001%...
Strange feeling....
Perspective dada, perspective. It's so intriguing how the way we see things changes with time!
Not always tho.. Thats where mass manipulation comes into play.. Most of the history we read today are somehow morphed and doesnt represent the actual past. In those instances , having a different opinion based on a diffrent perspectives is kinda invalid.
You read 1984.... you already know ;)
The credit goes to you dada. Life changing book:)
Yes that is true. Hard to come across the real version of history. But even for the morphed version of history, perspective matters on how we interpret it. Taking dada's example in this post, leaving aside whether the version of history he referred to was the real version or morphed to a certain extent, the way he sees it at a younger age and the way he sees it now are very different. So, perspective ;) But as dada mentioned below, I should get my hands on 1984!
Interpreting a morped version only morphs it more. Nonetheless, perspective is as important as they come. But what matters is judgement.. That is where somebody is either deemed to be a freedom fighter or a terrorist. Now, if a morphed history that clouds your judgment makes you interpret a event from a false angle, warior to betrayer, wheres the point then? Perspective matters, until its manipulated otherwise ;).
Errr.....I see where the misunderstanding happened lol!
When I brought up perspective, I was actually referring to the fact that, dada used to be fascinated by the violent sect as a younger guy. But once he had his own family to worry about, his perspective towards the Khudiram Bose incident changed.
LOL:V i was trying to sound like philosophically woke and all that.You gave up too soon BTW:V
No I didn't give up, you were just saying everything I agree with :v :v Kinda hard to come up with logic against my own thoughts lmao! :v
Edit
You should go for a swim btw!
Let's see if you figure this out :v :v
It is perspective. However as Sakib said below; history is constantly being manipulated, morphed and consumed based on the “flavor of the decade”. If you read Orwell’s 1984, you will see what I mean.
Dada, I wish I had known you or sakib a few years earlier! ;) I'm getting these awesome book suggestions and I don't have the time as I used to have before. But I'll make sure get my hands on this one!
ছুতো খুজে লাভ নেই :v if its this tough to push out a few moments of freedom now, itll only get tougher in the future.. Start now and i guarantee you will regret nothing:)
That I will agree to!
It's kinda difficult though, to read freely with couple of massive PG exams looming over :v
বিপ্লব কে এখন আর কেউ বিকায় নাহ!
স্বাধীন বাংলায় একটা সময় অবধিও বিপ্লব উৎসবের মতন ছিলো! যুদ্ধাপরাধীদের ফাঁসির দাবীতে তৈরি আন্দোলন গনজাগরণের মঞ্চে আমার মতন হাজার হাজার ছেলেমেয়ে শুধু পানি বয়েছে তৃষ্ণা মেটাবার জন্য। শিক্ষাব্যবস্থার করুন দসা ছেলেমেয়েদের মগজে ধুতরা পাতা( বিষপাতা) মিশিয়ে দিয়েছে। এখন বিপ্লব উৎসব নয়, খুব বেজায় জ্বালা এখন সবার বিপ্লব নিয়ে।
ধন্যবাদ দাদা লিখাটি শেয়ার করবার জন্যে!
Biplop dirghojibi hok :) Inquilab Jindabad!
Not only many of us said it. Some of us actually believed it too. To me whether that statement was true or not is irrelevant. But like many things in life, I have found different meaning to that phrase. That swells...
ভারতীয় উপমহাদেশে বিপ্লব থাকুক বেঁচে।
তা হোক মনে, অথবা মাঠে!
It's just like in the movies where the protagonist finds a large cache of weapons with nary a round of ammo in sight. But this story being the real world, the ammo doesn't magically appear when needed. :)
Yeah, remember in the 30s in the subcontinent, ammo is not easy to find. They had some but clearly wasn’t enough...
Why do people make it hard for themselves. Why trying to fight when cops want to search you. Why resist arrest. Let the law takes its course
The title. The same thought came into my head once. Regarding Kashmiri Freedom Fighter or Terrorist, Burhanwani. While local Kashmiris saw him as Freedom Fighter, the rest of India saw him as Terrorist. Like simplylife said in the comments above, its about different perspective.
In my view, Its not justified to punish Innocent people in the name of Freedom.
I really like the extremists like Subash Chandra Bose and Bhagat Singh and think are not credited enough, but after reading this blog I Wonder how they are viewed as per British Literature.
Respect for those fighters including Preetilota..
The thing is dada, only once in a million, revolution takes place without violence.. Revolution and anarchy are different sides of the same coin. At the end of the day, social injustice is a passively aggressive violent act. And its not possible to rid of violence without violent extremities.
"These violent delights have violent ends. And in their triumph die, like fire and powder, Which as they kiss consume. The sweetest honey." -Shakespear.
Yes we are shown that bloodless revolution is unlikely. However what it means exactly in the modern world is something we got to try and understand
The Japanese nobleman asked the gaijin:
- You fought on the side of the Dutch rebels who rebelled against the Spanish crown, their rightful ruler. Who rebelled against his overlord is a criminal! Isn't this a mutiny? Yes or no?
Gaijin replied:
- Yes, but there are extenuating circumstances.
- What can be “extenuating circumstances“, when it comes to a criminal rebellion against your sovereign? - asked the nobleman.
- You are a criminal until you win.
The nobleman looked at him attentively. Then he laughed out loud.
Rebellion, revolution - always has a kind of romanticism. However, any uprising has its own laws. This is the obligatory presence of innocent victims! And another strange trend... revolution always devours its creators.
Terrorism cannot be accepted in any form! It's disgusting
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STOPDo not miss the last post from @hivebuzz:
History is written by the winners and so, the winning party calls their supporters the HERO while points the oppositions as VILLAIN.
And, this is happening from the beginning of civilization. For example, Bir Sreshtho Matiur Rahman is celebrated in Bangladesh with honor while not in Pakistan. To them, he is nothing but a traitor.
That's how thing goes; perspective-as mentioned by @simpliyfylife
Okay this is interesting, @therealwolf is still upvoting his automated votefarm posts from @hivedapps.com, despite the fact that he has done a proposal for funding his site.
Also he is retaliating the downvotes, which I can understand, but kinda weird. Downvoting normal content, because we are downvoting his automated posting stuff? Doesn't make sense to me. 🤷♂
And by the way: where are your downvotes on "other automated posts"?
I.e: https://peakd.com/c/hive-133987/created
Doesn't make sense to me. 🤷♂
As mentioned over there: https://peakd.com/votetrading/@takowi/re-therealwolf-qf0uvn
Suggest me a good downvote trail, I will check it out and might follow it. 👍
Because the proposal isn't paying out yet, it's quite far from being funded right now. I said that I would stop voting on those posts, once it's funded.
Thank you for your comment, I hope I answered a lot over there:
https://peakd.com/votetrading/@takowi/re-therealwolf-qf0uvn
😃
Looks like a very interesting read though I've got a headache so I can't focus on it at the moment, so I have bookmared it and mentioned it in my blog tonight. 😀
When do you stop downvoting johnlambrechts? Hasn’t it been enough?