By Saswat Pattanayak

Check this one out.

Peter Bouckaert was in hell recently. At least that’s what he said. He was in Nepal.

The violence continues between the Maoists and the ruling class military pets, and most people who have better things to do by dying than to take a side in this case, have fallen prey. This is a sure case for Human Rights Watch. And no wonder they have someone now who is world famous activist. With a Canon camera on hand and interviewers around and mainstream press going agog, we got Bouckaert as the celebrity now.

Rolling Stone, that inimitable magazine of the music lefties, has this week featured Bouckart’s hell journey.

What however is missed from the discussion is that despite the knowledge of active American military support, nothing much is being done to STOP the nonsense.

Making a celebrity out of a genuinely interested globe-trotter and writing stories of the Western discoveries of the shocking third world massacres is easier. What is difficult however, is an insightful understanding of the historical reasons behind the ideology formation of hatred in the Third World. This for the uninitiated, means the roles that the dominant countries of the West have played in colonizing and oppressing the peoples’ spirits and at the same time either directly ruled or aided the military of the installed clown rulers of the lands.
This needs to be followed up with all active steps needed to STOP the genocides by an international body of nations, which needs to be respected in real terms. Not a helpless body of the UN whose general secretary cribs because he is not heard enough. This international body needs to go and bloody well stop the massacres. The tragic deaths of millions of innocent lives is not a matter of celebrity photographer becoming a legend. It’s a call for collective action.

Why does the West pretend that it does not know of the atrocities worldwide? Does the elite group of rulers need a photographer always to report to them and let them exclaim in awe at the courage of the camera?

That simply defies logic. Because all of us knew of Nepal long before RS published the story. Did we just need pictures taken by a white camera?

And what is to be done now? Award ceremonies and self-congratulations, I am sure.

Bouckaert says,

"Whenever I leave a place, it is always difficult to say goodbye. I do not want to tell people, I hope to see you soon, because that means that they will still be in trouble the next time that I come."

It's time, for the world community of rulers to realize that maintaining lives on the planet is not the task of the freewheeling scribes, its the responsibility of the defense departments of the respective countries which regulate arms control rules.

Tags: Saswat, Nepal, Capitalism, Media