|
Marketing Peace and Conflict
We live in a world that tends to be brazenly brand-conscious even while subscribing to grave melancholy, leave alone the trivial matters of cosmetic relevance. From lending reluctant audience to starved children of Sudan to feigning deafness at the heart-splitting cries of Palestinian mothers, the international community appears afflicted with a queer syndrome of degenerated sensibilities; a strange condition where murmur of mosquitoes provokes a seizure while a thousand thunderbolts go unheard at the same time! If it sounds like an over-the-top remark then it is time to point the compass to once out-of-sight Tibetan plateau, that has all of a sudden become the apple of everyone's eye. Although not many longitudes separate Tibet, Kashmir, Myanmar, Nepal, Afghanistan, Palestine and Iraq, the international community likes to speak for Tibetan people only because the endorsement by Richard Gere made their cause more superior and significant.
Only a few dialogues from the great Hollywood actor and the global civil society got enamoured to Tibetan political drama, finding it extremely difficult to ignore the excesses in Lhasa all of a sudden. It was nothing but a marketing miracle that the world woke up to tumult in Tibet with laughable frivolousness as if Chinese gunships had never aimed that way before. Same is true of Angelina Jolie, whose adoption antics brought much wanted attention to screams of starvation from the forgotten deserts of Africa, although there is hunger and destitution elsewhere in the world as well.
The celebrity consciousness in the people world-wide leaves us with little option to go ahead without being promoted or projected. The packaging of human suffering has become so important now that carefully-carved coffins can ensure more crowded funeral ceremonies and more numerous obituaries. The equation is simple. If Palestinian people want to be heard,they have no choice but to rope in Madonna for championing their cause. Same is true about Kashmir and one day if Shahrukh Khan agreed to swear by the peace in Kashmir, only next-moment, Srinagar would become the dream-destination for millions of apprehensive tourists. Needless to say that even under present circumstances,we have no choice but to replace Arundhati Roy with Aishwaria Rai, as finnicky politicians of subcontinent prefer listening to the later. In the same manner, Jackie Chan would make an excellent mentor to muffled voices from Myanmar than anywhere else. But then certain conflict regions may still escape the global radar either because the celebrities do not identify with the cause or because the people somehow do not identify with the celebrities. That is at least true of Afghanistan as the poor nation may not attract any popular icons at all knowing the notoriety it has earned as a fortress of ruthless iconoclasts.
Shah Faisal
Freelance writer
Srinagar Kashmir.
|
1
Tags
You must be logged in to add tags.
|
Writer Profile
Shah Faisal
Shah Faisal
Columnist and Peace Activist
Srinagar Kashmir India.
kingshahfaesal@gmail.com
|
Comments
You must be a TakingITGlobal member to post a comment. Sign up for free or login.
|
|
