SMILE Pravah held its third movie screening at IITD on Saturday, i.e. 31st October. War and Peace was screened which is a documentary by Anand Patwardhan on global peace activism in the face of nuclearisation, militarism and war.
The film is framed by the murder of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948, an act whose poignancy remains undiminished more than half a century later and goes onto to portray tumultuous years in India, Pakistan, Japan and the USA following nuclear tests. It explores the humanitarian angle showing the dangerous affects of toxic wastes and also the politics involved behind the arms race and rapid nuclearisation.
A discussion followed the screening in which several issues were discussed and some very though provoking points came forward
- It was discussed as to whether there is anything such as peaceful nuclear energy use. Most were of the view that nuclear energy was an essential energy source for the future and so they believed that there was a need to enforce stricter regulations for the usage of nuclear power.
- Someone pointed out that the change in our ideology from non-violence and tolerance (of the Gandhanian and Nehruvian era) to our present ideology of rapid militarisation was due to our need to be a part of the global world order and become a power to reckon with.
- Someone raised the point that power and position cloud our idealism and thinking and that our virtues change as we climb the ladder in politics.
- There was a discussion on whether India should make use of nuclear power in the future and there were points on either side but most were of the view that India required it as a source of energy and also for nuclear weapons in the face of a rapidly increasing threat from its neighbourhood. Someone pointed out that there were other cleaner and safer alternative sources of energy and also that the lust for better weapons would always continue and this mentality could lead self-destruction.
- Some were left perplexed as to why the government wasn’t ensuring the safe disposal of radioactive wastes from nuclear plants and how they could be so indifferent and ignorant towards the plight of the people.
Hence, the discussion ended and people were left thinking about the complexity and the various dimensions of the issue. We hope to continue our association with IITD with more such events.
Keep :)ing......
SMILER’s
Posted in:
IIT Delhi,
war and peace
on
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
at
at
3:49 PM
The concept of superiority amongst nations through the means of acquiring Nuclear power is something that defies logic. Acquiring Nuclear power and then signing treaties as to not use it, is something that will not lead to any solution whatsoever.