Nehemiah Rong
Naga Society is a struggling society for self-determination and freedom. Its past more than fifty years of history is never a pleasant story of peace, fairness, and justice but of bitterness, hatreds, killings, abuses and atrocities and all. Early 1980s and later part of it, the history tell quite an unfortunate story of killings amongst the Nagas. Since then their struggle are confronted with internal and external. As all know external become the Naga-Indo-Mynamar political issue and the internal is the continual bloodbath of various Naga underground factions. As the factional clashes and infightings still continuing, the Naga has got to learn something about, fairness, justice, peace, true revolution, fighting without hating from Dr.King. Here is a humble attempt to draw out some vital lessons that Naga arms group needs to give a thought and thus make a choice.
Born to the family of Mike King Sr. and Alberta Christine On January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia, as a paper boy of Atlanta Journal, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. became the leader of faith, fought for Civil Rights of American Blacks and received Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts towards racial peace and unity on 15 December 1964.
In his famous and most remarkable speech I Have a Dream delivered on 28th August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C. he states thus, But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. As Nagas continue to struggle for Independence, the factional feuds in Naga society have given to much bitterness and hatreds, as such following lines must once again speak to the conscience of its people, Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must ever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. Here one can see and learn that Martin fights for rights and freedom beyond a mere physical freedom but also spiritual one and also to fight without giving way to hating Fighting without Hating from within which leads to peace or Fighting with Hatreds, which leads to continual bloodbath what is your choice today?
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. Here again when come to tribalism motives, leadership dispute or whatever in both underground group and overground group in Naga society they must learn that an individual need not be judged by virtue of tribe, wealth, political background, backwardness or ignorance etc. but by the content of each individual’s character.
Martin says in his another speech Beyond Vietnam--A Time to Break Silence, We still have a choice today: nonviolent coexistence or violent coannihilation. We must move past indecision to action. These words speak to the point where in the past Nagas have witnessed blood bath amongst Nagas brothers since 1980s in their struggle for self-determination. Leaders of Naga underground factions have to make a choice today that is nonviolent coexistence or violent coannihilation amongst themselves.
A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many our past and present policies. A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order and say of war, this way of setting differences is not just. Is our revolution a true revolution of values and if so what do the Nagas have a say on war within? As Naga people needs fairness and justice how as the Nagas revolutionary movement addressing the question of fairness and Justice today? Has there no way to set the differences other than factional feuds?
As the society where one lives has to make many choices individually as a leader and corporately as a people and where truth has been in many ways falsified in many ways by using various means let these lines from Lowell speak to us.
In strife of Truth and Falsehood,
for the good or evil side;
Some great cause, Gods new Messiah offering each the bloom of blight,
And the choice goes by the forever twixt
that darkness and that light.
Though the cause of evil prosper,
yet is truth alone is strong
Though her portions be the scaffold,
and upon the throne be wrong
Yet that scaffold sways the future,
and behind the dim unknown
Standeth God within the shadow,
keeping watch His own.
With these words Martin concluded this speech, And if we will only make the right choice, we will be able to transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of peace. If we will make the right choice, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our world into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. If we will but make the right choice, we will be able to speed up the day, all over America and all over the world, when justice will roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.
Nagaland for Christ, the grand and sacred as it sounds only if, the Naga arms group keeping that in mind could make a right choice for peace amongst themselves then only the peace-thirsty-Nagas can have a chance to have a peace within and undoubtedly even from without in no time. Its upto the Naga underground leaders to a make right choice to pardon and forgive one another in truest Christian Term then to transform their society from factional bloodbath to that unified nation-state in the making. Therefore, at the end the question before the Nagas is what do you choose today?
