A group of people pulled down a statue installed in southern Athens. It was their view that the statue – meant to be an angel – looked like Satan (the devil). The protestors threw pain on the 8 mt high sculpture called Phylax, spat at it and also got a Greek priest to sprinkle holy water on it to ‘exorcise’ it. This jarring incident of violent intolerance seems to be of a piece with incidents of intolerance seen around the world.
Ever since the elevated sculpture of a red angel with extended wings was installed in December 2017, some elements had been against it. Recently some black-clad, hooded protestors vandalized the artwork Phylax by Greek artist Kostis Georgiou. A group consisting of religious conservatives, right-wing supporters and some residents tied the statue to a back of a truck and pulled it down. The statue is seriously damaged and the wings are broken. The mayor of the area thought that this was a political act; he asserted that if the statue could be repaired it would be reinstalled.
The sort of conservatism and intolerance to any ideas that one doesn’t agree with is seen to be rising elsewhere as well and is closely associated with the rise of the right-wing ideologies. In Western Europe, there has been a significant increase in the support for right-wing ideology and leaders. Brexit in Britain is a viewed largely as a result of the anti-immigrant alarmism spread by the UK Independence party. Right-wing parties in other European counties such as the Netherlands and France have also called for Brexit like movements. Even Germany, where lingering shame over the rise of Nazism had kept the right wing in check, the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD) is now seen as a force to reckon with.
The win of Donald Trump in the USA in spite of his manifest misogyny, racism and rank ignorance in matters such as of politics, history, economics and international affairs also points to the resurgence of the right.. the attitude that the right is right, no matter how wrong! The incident in Charlottesville where neo-Nazis marched together; which the President made excuses for, is another sign of this almost global trend where privilege seeks to assert and protect itself.
Right-wing politics hold that certain social orders and hierarchies are natural, inevitable and even desirable. This view supports that inequality is the result of natural social differences. The stunning victory for the BJP, a party with the openly religious agenda in the last elections certainly showed us the way India was heading. The rise of the right wing and the continuing support that people give it is visible in the way that the party continues to generate support even so many leaders making inflammatory anti-minority statements, holding regressive views about women and those with different sexual orientation. The support continues despite poor economic decisions such as demonetisation, rising unemployment and rising crime against minorities.
Recently we have seen a marked departure from the tenets of Nehruvian socialism which supports social equality and egalitarianism and a concern for those who are economically and socially underprivileged. Not only have we seen an erosion of Nehruvian values, we have seen a concerted attempt to tarnish the personal and political legacy of India's first Prime Minister, the attempt to malign his character and cast aspersions on his motivations.
There is also the strong perception that the rise of the right-wing in India has seen a marked decline in the country’s liberal values, particularly the youth. There is a markedly conservative mindset displayed by Indian youth in matters relating to women's rights, their clothing choices, inter-caste marriages and so on. The widespread support for banning films or works of art that purportedly hurt religious sentiment is another indicator of the decline of liberal values.
So if the people of Athens pulled down a statue, the examples of vandalism because of supposedly hurt religious/regional/caste or any other sentiments are all around us in India. Vandalizing of art works, blackening of writers’ faces, threatening to cut off heads of filmmakers…we are all witness to these. It is typically the right-wing fringe elements that are found responsible for this. Worryingly the fringe is becoming more and more mainstream.
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