By a member of the Indian team.
Spanish musician Pablo Casals’ words feel like they were written just for me. Right now, I’m feeling pretty down about the state of the world.
One reason for my morose mood is the likely third term of the Modi government in India, (where I live and work). Modi has felt the need to revert again, during this election campaign, to that age-old strategy – blaming the minority. In a recent campaign speech, he referred to Muslims as ‘infiltrators’[1]. Statements like this cause many of our Muslim friends to feel increasingly alienated in their own country. What might life look like for them, under a third Modi term? [Ed: Since writing, Narendra Modi has been re-elected as Prime Minister with a reduced majority.]
Even scarier to me is the prospect of a second Trump term. The implications for the people of Ukraine and Gaza, not to mention climate change and the notion of democracy itself, is likely to be dire under a second Trump term.
These two leaders, together with Putin in Russia, Orban in Hungary, and numerous others, reflect the general global trend towards more populist (appealing to the whims and fears of the majority), authoritarian[2] (centralising power in the hands of a few), and even fascist (active demonising and persecuting of minorities) regimes, all of which is very bad news for the poor and minorities.
And then, there’s climate change. A majority of IPCC climate scientists predict that we won’t be able to hold temperature rise to 2.5°C.[3] It’s currently 1.2°C above pre-industrial levels, and already heatwaves, floods and other ‘natural’ disasters are killing tens of thousands each year. Here, in north India, temperatures have already hit 43 degrees this summer, and it will only get hotter in the coming years. The Guardian writes, “Many of the scientists envisage a “semi-dystopian” future, with famines, conflicts and mass migration, driven by heatwaves, wildfires, floods and storms of an intensity and frequency far beyond those that have already struck.”
These are some of the big picture reasons for me to be depressed. The small picture doesn’t cheer me either. Shivani, one of the young women we’ve assisted to get treatment from a government hospital, has just been diagnosed with TB – for the fourth time. If she survives, she’ll go through life with severely hampered breathing. Meanwhile, Ram Devi, a local woman recovering from recent surgery for cancer, is now facing the prospect of her tiny hut being demolished in coming days – to make way for a flyover.
As has been the case throughout history, now too, it is the poor and minorities who will suffer most, whether it be under an authoritarian regime, or under climate change.
And to top off the assault on my feelings, the local transformer was overloaded recently, leaving us to cope with 40°C temperatures without power (and therefore without a fan). That’s not fun. I’ve had very broken sleep for several days now.
It was a mix of shocking, and heartening therefore, to read Jesus’ words the other day; “Do not let your hearts be troubled – trust God, and also in me” (John 14:1). In the face of the terrible situations in the world, and my local sweaty misery, how do Jesus’ words make sense? In John, and also in the Beatitudes in Matthew and Luke, “Blessed are those who are poor, mourn, are persecuted etc.…”, Jesus seems to offer the poor, and those working with them[4], the alluring hope that, despite the dire situation now, it will actually be OK in the end. It’s true that Jesus doesn’t promise to make everything better now – the Modis, Trumps and Putins will persist, as will TB and slum demolitions – but I do genuinely take some hope from the notion that it will be OK in the end. It helps me to keep going, and to take the next step! Meanwhile, I hope and pray the power comes back on!
[1]Why Narendra Modi Called India’s Muslims ‘Infiltrators’ – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
[2]The Economist Democracy Index – Wikipedia
[3]World’s top climate scientists expect global heating to blast past 1.5C target | Climate crisis | The Guardian
[4]My reading of the Beatitudes is that Beatitudes #1, 2 & 3 offer comfort to those who are directly poor/persecuted, while #5-#8 offer hope to those of us working with those folk.
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