#AllLivesMatter or #BlackLivesMatter

Historically from the colonial times racial prejudice has been prevalent in America be it against African who were bought into the country as slaves or Native Americans (Red Indians). These people have been subjected immense discrimination in hands of the white colonial people and there was no law protecting them from abuse including death in case of the Red Indians. We keep talking of the atrocities conducted by Nazi Germans against Jews in the name of cleansing the earth of non-Aryans but little is being said of British or American for their similar stand that of the white supremacy. American used to hero worship the white supremacy hate group Ku Klux Klan whose main targets were African Americans and their action was glorified. First Klan was formed in 1865 and it withered in 1871, second clan was from 1915 to 1944 and they were Anti-Immigration, Anti-Semitism, Anti-Catholicism, Anti-Communism and so forth and the third Klan formed in 1946 to present times who advocate Neo Nazism, Neo Fascism, Anti Islam, Anti LGBT, Anti-Immigration. In other word there are group of Americans that still believe in White Supremacy.

The ugly face of the White Supremacy reared its head with the death of George Floyd an African American at Minneapolis happened on 25^th May 2020, when a white Police officer knelt on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds while he was being handcuffed behind his back. He was being arrested on suspicion of passing counterfeit $20 bill and this took place in front of so many shoppers who filmed the incident  and the social media was set ablaze by these video posted by them. An unarmed black American killed by a white Police office is just a right catalyst to ignite the community protest and that’s what happened in Minneapolis America on 26^th May.. Initially very peaceful but then the protest turned violent with police precinct being burnt down and shops being looted. Protests started all over the country and the world as well and anyone who wanted 2 seconds of fame have started posting on the social media stories of racism and of the movement Black lives Matter with a hashtag #Blacklivesmatter

 Though the racial prejudice is still a norm in America impacting all colored people be it African Americans or Indians or Native Indian and people from the Far East life goes on as usual till such time some incident occurs and then the fuse blows. Suddenly protests breaks out all over the country turning violent leading to damages and looting of properties …venting of the pent up frustrations of trampled people all in the name of #Blacklivesmatter protests.

Close at the heels of this incident in America there was an Incident in India involving a pregnant Elephant that had a horrifying death due to eating a pineapple filled with country fire cracker. This news of the death of pregnant elephant has been in circulation in wild life group but it garnered massive support of the news media the moment few celebrities made a hue and cry on the social media and the hashtag #AllLivesMatter made a splash with almost everyone using it to get their two minutes fame.

Well the use of fruit filled with country firecracker, snares, poison and electric fences are being used by farmers along the fringes of forest to protect their crops against the raiding wild animals such as Elephants, Deer Boars and so many of them have been killed by this gruesome method and there has been no uproar at all.. if all lives matter then what about life of the animal killed in these circumstances is the question I ask them???. During the same time as the death of the pregnant elephant one other bull elephant died as a similar fruit laden with country burst in its jaw and there has been no news of it at all. Why is there a partiality in such deaths???

Similarly  #Blacklivesmatter, so many blacks have been killed by fellow black and nothing happens but one incident of a white man killing a black person which is quite minuscule whole country erupts to protests, riots and looting endangering peaceful population.

Be it people of any color or any animal, their lives do matter and it is quite important that we humans race do not discriminate fellow human on the basis of color, creed, religion, country, state and physical appearances. Also we all should ensure that the animals are also not wantonly killed.

During these times the world is already reeling under the grip of Covid19 pandemic and additional problems of racial riots are not required. In my opinion all the hysteria being churned on social media is  by persons wanting to become famous of having been under spot light or involved in actions against racism or animal killing to garner their two minutes of fame. So what do you think?? Do let me know your thoughts

So much protests here.....Is it good ????

We from India have seen so many protests during our life time and have got used to the same but then protests in Oman is something new and I can vouch that no one expected this to happen in years to come. But then it happened and in fact the early glimpse of these were during late January 2011 in the Ministry area and also in Oman Air at Seeb airport  and these both were termed as one off instance. The protest gathered momentum after the incident at Sohar and after that it has been free for all and at any time. The latest one was by Shell petrol and today it is back to normal.  Government has given in to most demands by the protesters and now it is the turn of the Omani’s working in the private sector to organize the protests so that their demand are met. Most demands by them are quite legitimate such as increments on regular basis, taking on responsibilities… hope it is with accountability !! and so forth.

Some demands such as lesser working hours(similar to Government employees working timing)  and 5 days a week does not gel with private sector companies since they need to work 6 days a week to ensure they meet the bottom line. So also the construction and contracting industry since the time lines for the project are pretty tight and the same can be achieved only if they work minimum of 6 days for 10 hours. All over the world the average working hours per week is considered as 48 hours and if this criteria is followed then I suppose the daily work timings will be roughly nine and half hour without considering the lunch break in the event of 5 day week scenario which seems to be inevitable ….. this does put in lots of tensions on the expat workers who have to work the entire office hours and also work on Thursdays as usual without getting any benefits.

Now you must be wondering as to why an expat has to work on Thursdays without benefits while everyone else are enjoying their week end…. Well it is because he has a Damocles sword hanging over his head all the time and he would not like his boss to label him .. not a hard worker ( well most Indian companies I know say that people who really work hard are the ones who put in long hours of working ) A wrong sense of judging a person’s capabilities.

Beyond a point these protests would be meaningless and ignored like it is being done in India and the very reason would get diluted and nobody is going to care....  Is that what you want !!!!!