Jihad, Maoism hop on to the Black Lives Matter bandwagon

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Thousands of miles away from the American streets ravaged by the goons owing allegiance to Black Lives Matter and Antifa, we in India observe such vandalism and pillage as something happening out there—very unfortunate but also something that won’t touch us. Nothing could be farther from the truth. For the depredations of the Left—and the mayhem sponsored and executed by the Left—involve us all.</p>
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What’s happening in the US, and in other Western nations, is not violent protest but a cultural revolution. Of course, not as violent as the original one—carried out in China by Mao Zedong (1966-76) and his thugs that killed up to 2 million people (Encyclopedia Britannica). But it is no less odious and insidious than its Chinese version, for it’s against not US President Donald Trump—whom BLM-types hate rabidly—and the historical figures the protesters abhor but against the very concepts of America, indeed the Western civilization.</p>
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In fact, the movement should be seen as a jihad against civilization per se. Nothing else explains the defacement of the statues of Abraham Lincoln and Mahatma Gandhi—the men who fought against slavery and inequality. Make no mistake about it, BLM and Antifa activists are against civilization as we know it. They are not just righting the wrongs of history; they are agitating against history. They want to smear everything from the past—art, culture, literature, philosophy, religion, et al—and begin anew.</p>
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Begin with a clean slate, so that they—with assistance from the ideologists masquerading as academics—can write every rule of human behavior and define every norm of social conduct, economic policy, and political system. As David Harsanyi wrote in National Review (https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/06/welcome-to-americas-cultural-revolution/), “We’re in the dawn of a high-tech, bloodless Cultural Revolution; one that relies on intimidation, public shaming, and economic ruin to dictate what words and ideas are permissible in the public square.”</p>
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America is suffering that India suffered for decades: intimidation and public shaming of any ideas that were not in consonance with the canons of Leftwing inquisition that dominated public discourse. Any doubts about pandering to the Muslim clergy, for instance, was regarded ‘communal’; any questioning of the dogmas of socialism was dubbed as anti-poor, reactionary, and so on. The rioters and arsonists in the US and the UK have no regard for anything from the past, not even the sensibilities of millions of people.</p>
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Even Christianity and its symbols and portrayals are ‘racist.’ So, on June 22 the far-Left activist Shaun King tweeted: “All murals and stained glass windows of white Jesus, and his European mother, and their white friends should also come down. They are a gross form of white supremacy. Created as tools of oppression. Racist propaganda. They should all come down.” He also wanted the statues of Jesus to be vandalized: “Yes I think the statues of the white European they claim is Jesus should also come down.</p>
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They are a form of white supremacy. Always have been,” King tweeted. “In the Bible, when the family of Jesus wanted to hide, and blend in, guess where they went? EGYPT! Not Demark. Tear them down.” And, after removing all history and religion of the West, what do they want to fill in the blanks with? The ideas and idols of communism—institutionalization of victimhood and glorification of murderers like Assata Shakur.</p>
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Also with Sharia laws wherever possible. With the city council of Minneapolis, under pressure from BLM and Antifa, disbanding its police, Minnesota state Rep. Steve Green recently said that Antifa and Muslim organizations plan to “police Minneapolis under Muslim rule.” It is actually a joint venture between Islamist and Leftist groups, “What you’re looking at, in my humble opinion, is communism moving into Minneapolis and St. Paul.” This sounds familiar. Our intellectuals too provide covering fire to all manner of trouble makers—from secessionists to Islamists.</p>
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The Left-jihad nexus is the axis of evil; BLM is its latest manifestation. It can mutate anytime into Muslim Lives Matter or Dalit Lives Matter. No decent human being would say that Muslim or Dalit lives don’t matter; they matter; all lives matter. That is what we should insist upon.</p>