An open letter to the people all over the world

I am a twenty-year-old girl who only used to read about violence, riots, detention camps, discrimination, persecution, genocide, political blame game, the killing of innocent people, has now been hearing and watching all of this all over again.

Seeing people in terror, seeking refuge in bunkers and unaware of what their future holds gives me the same glimpse of the wars I’ve read in historical fiction and my history class. Those wars barely affected me as I always thought that it happened way back when people did not have sources to know what was right and what was wrong. 

The fact that it never affected me made me realise how important History is and how important it is to be taken seriously before it’s too late.

Now when I see the visuals on my screen of humans being stuck in the war situation, I find myself going back to the words of Elie Wiesel the survivor of the Holocaust and the winner of the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize for his book 'Night'. At the end of his book, there is his acceptance speech which he delivered in Oslo on December 10, 1986. 

In his speech he said, a Jewish boy asked his father. "Can this be true? This is the twentieth century, not the middle ages. Who would allow such crimes to be committed? How could the world remain silent?" 

I now ask the same question, "How can the people of all over the world remain silent? How come such a heinous war is taking place? And most importantly how the leaders were so ignorant about such an upcoming historical shift in history? 

Now when I see this I ask myself, how can this be true? We are in the 21st century, educated, more advanced in terms of knowledge and technology then how can we not raise our voice against the oppressor? When did we become so blind and mute? How can we just ignore the inflammatory speech given by the autocrats? When did we get so lost in this news channel labyrinth? How can we not see how many innocent humans have had lost their life? How can we become so oblivious and so insensitive that we don't feel anything?

Let’s ask ourselves when did we become this callous who doesn't feel anything when the life of innocents is at stake? 

In his speech, he later continued, "We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victims. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. 

When man's lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must- at that moment - become the centre of the universe".

Now when I express my concern to people all over the world I want them to take sides. Being neutral is only going to be helpful to the agitator. Our silence will only be beneficial to the one who is the master of destruction. 

We should learn to raise our voices when in need and stand against the wrongdoers. Even if our voice is been called anti-nationalist we should not get back, we should learn to accept what is right and what is wrong. 

Right is only going to be right even if only one supports it but wrong is always going to be wrong even if the whole population supports it.

Ample injustices are going on and people need our help and is beseeching for our attention like malnutrition, racism, casteism, political persuasion done by countries in the name of peace. 

Above all our empathy, what all these humans need is our support and to know that they are not alone, that we are not forgetting them and when their voices are stifled we will lend them our voice. 

We should become the voice of the voiceless and fight back the oppressor to give back the quality of freedom the oppressed deserves. Our voice does not only belongs to us but to the ones who urgently need us.

When humans are persecuted, it is a humiliation on us that we choose to become visionless and by doing this we are not only supporting the tyrant but we are also violating human rights. 

Unless we become the hope of the hopeless we are doing injustice to humankind. And an injustice to our entire existence.

**Wrote this letter way back in 2019, when a major protest was seen in India due to Citizenship Act. Strange how words were written never loses their meaning and this same letter is valid for today's situation we as a human are facing. Changed a few sentences here and there to make it more relevant for today's circumstances. **