#buddhasofbamiyan

History repeats itself, including the good, bad and ugly. This oft repeated line comes from Spanish-American author George Santayana’s famous quote - “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. Studying history is necessary to avoid repeating past mistakes.” Applying the Santayana-test, was the anger among Muslims over the alleged ‘blasphemous” depiction of Prophet Mohammed in cartoons in January 2015 by French news weekly ‘Charlie Hedbo’ a repetition of history? The media house paid a bloody price for professing right to free speech, albeit in a questionable and hurtful manner for the Muslim religious sentiments. Two Islamic radical brothers barged into its office and gunned down 12 members of its staff. Five years later, a teacher did not learn the lesson. He showed the same cartoons to his students, may be in routine exercise of precious right to free speech or in defiance to the intolerance that is sweeping the world in various forms, mostly religious. The teacher was taught a lesson, his last. A Muslim young man decapitated him. The killing did not evoke anger among the followers of Islam, but resurfacing of the cartoons rekindled it in Islamic countries. This anger spread like wildfire. It also found a voice in pockets of India. Is this a repetition of history”? Someone, who had taken historical wrongs on his stride, had said “today’s events are tomorrow’s history”. Read the full article