Remember, remember, the fifth of November, gunpowder treason and plot."V for Vendetta" is an excellent movie.
I see no reason why the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, 'twas his intent to blow up the King and the Parliament.
Three score barrels of powder below,
Poor old England to overthrow:
By God's providence he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, make the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!
Hip hip hoorah!
A penny loaf to feed the Pope.
A farthing o' cheese to choke him.
A pint of beer to rinse it down.
A faggot of sticks to burn him.
Burn him in a tub of tar.
Burn him like a blazing star.
Burn his body from his head.
Then we'll say ol' Pope is dead.
Hip hip hoorah! Hip hip hoorah!
Apart from the brilliant acting, direction, cinematography and everything else which made it such a treat to watch, it had a very, very strong message ...
"People should not be afraid of their governments ... The governments should be afraid of their people ..."
PS: The following blog contains references to the movies "V for Vendetta" and "Rang De Basanti" ... Though the references might be obvious to the plot of the movie, it may turn out to be spoilers for the majority of the people who haven't seen the movies.
So, if you do intend to watch the movies, I must sadly ask you to skip this post ... else, please carry on ...
Though, we as Indians cannot relate to the movie a lot, I think most of the americans will be able to ...
Michael Ironside who does voice acting for Sam Fisher - an NSA agent in the game "Splinter Cell" says that there are only two primary emotions that every animal understands : more so human beings - "Love and Fear"
What America is going through or went through (atleast from what we hear or see here) corresponds in some way the Britain in the movie "V for Vendetta" is going through ...
I remember - after the 9/11 attacks, people were petrified beyond belief ...
In the movie, "V", which is an analogy to the Guy Fawkes incident, V (Hugo Weaving) successfully bombs the parliament building (without killing innocent people).
Though actually blowing up a building does not solve much of a purpose practically, it does bring hope and faith to the people and shows the government that people are not to be taken for granted.
According to him (V), its not the act of destroying a building, but the ideology behind it and what it (the building) stands for that you are destroying.
Strength through unity! Unity through faith!
Anyways, the problem with the government in the movie was that it was bullying its people and using fear as a method of controlling them.
That got me thinking whether a similar scheme of things would work for our country ...
The problem with India is that its not bullying its people in a way that blowing up a building (parliament maybe?) would solve .
The problems that India faces (from its government) is mainly of corruption and apathy and having incompetent fools who don't know what they are supposed to do.
Unlike the U.S, there is no restriction on the number of times someone can come to power, so the main agenda of the politicians is to please the majority voter bank before the elections so that they can be elected again.
A prime example is the government trying to impose another 27% reservations for the OBC (Other Backward Classes) (taking the total reservations to 49.5%) in the Education sector. The main reason for doing this, as blatantly mentioned by many of the politicians is to please a section of the society.
Thanks to the election commission, this matter has been halted for the time being and now the government is giving thought whether the move would be politically feasible for them.
In such a scenario ... another movie comes to mind which I recently caught - "Rang De Basanti".
In the movie, some college students go and assasinate the defence minister of the country because he was corrupt.
Again, the movie was brilliantly made and a treat to the eyes.
In the movie, after they have knocked off the defence minister (which is a relatively easy thing to do) - and not get caught, the government puts the assasination blame on terrorists (India has plenty of them to pass the blame around) and work of Pakistan's ISI.
However, our protagonists go to a radio station and broadcast saying that it was them and not some terrorists who knocked off the minister - also giving complete reasons as to why they did it. This is the best part of the movie and apparently brings the government down to its knees.
However, unfortunately, these unarmed students are gunned down by the special task force with orders from higher authorities that there should be no survivors left.
Again, though going and knocking off corrupt politicians one by one may seem to some - an excellent method to rid the country of idiots, it will take a very long time and is not at all feasible. (because India has just so many politicians ... we are the largest democracy in the world)
Besides, you also run the risk of getting killed soon...
This actually got me thinking and being the conspiracy theorist that I am ... what if ... just what if ... the Parliament Attacks on Dec 13, 2001 were not actually done by millitants, but a couple of kids who just wanted to change something ...
(some sort of a Rang De Basanti meets V for Vendetta)
But the bottom line is ... change by the constitutional means ... going to vote, electing a new government, etc etc ... takes a very long time ...
We need a V ;)
Remember, remember, the fifth of November, gunpowder treason and plot. I see no reason why the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot.
8 comments:
In the blog , u wrote :
Anyways, the problem with the government in the movie was that it was bullying its people and using fear as a method of controlling them
Let me clarify , that the government was not "bullying " people,but it was creating circumstances globally, such that it created fear amongst people, which made the people believe that they ( people) need the government to protect them .
Anyways, about ur Dec 13 issue,nice thought. It might - .01 % chance - be that the attacks were done by a couple of kids, but then just think if the next day headlines on Dec 14th would have been - " Parliament attcacked by a bunch of college kids " .
FOA , that would have brought shame on us that we cant protect our own Parliament. Plus , even we indians would have lost hope on our security, which would lead to more complex actions , like ppl. buying guns, weapons etc etc .
Hmm ...
You make a pertinent point ...
The Government would never disclose if it were just a bunch of college students or similar people ...
But sometimes I feel, its just better to be brutally honest and let people deal with the facts ...
But incase the terrorists were infact students, the government would hide the fact from people - not so much for security reasons as you said, but to keep from the public that common citizens would take such a drastic step indicating that something was terribly wrong with the governance of the country.
A single violent act can draw attention to itself and also to an issue for some amount of time, but it does not take it beyond. What we need is a systemic change and that can only come from the bottom upwards, and it takes time. There are no quick fixes for situations such as these. There has to be a vision, a plan to implement it , and finally motivated implementers who've bought into this vision.
I haven't seen either of the two movies you mention, but the issues are relevant for any individual in any given country.
Well, ahem, obviously, basic Qualification for a Politician is now that the IQ should be somewhere near the 60-70 mark:) So, mandating that minimum IQ for politicians is 125 would reduce this. But, then, such a law would entice a really big Protest from all Politicians:D But then, even if those laws come into effect, I suppose IQ Tests answers would come out 2 days before the exam:D
even with a shaved head, ms portman still looks stunning :)..
Update !
Dude, you must be a Mystic: In fact, I heard in the news today that some students have actually tried to march to the Prime Minister's Residence in protest of the Reservations.
FREAK
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