“
If origin defines race, then we are all Africans – we are all black.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (We Are All Black: A Treatise on Racism (Humanism Series))
“
All major religious traditions accept that suffering and death are simply part of life. The deep radicalism of humanitarian action is its belief that people are not made to suffer.
”
”
David Rieff (A Bed for the Night: Humanitarianism in Crisis)
“
Sentiments that glorify humanity know no racial distinction.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (We Are All Black: A Treatise on Racism (Humanism Series))
“
Funny thing about those Middle Ages, said Joseph. "They just keep coming back. Mortals keep thinking they're in Modern Times, you know, they get all this neat technology and pass all these humanitarian laws, and then something happens: there's an economic crisis, or science makes some discovery people can't deal with. And boom, people go right back to burning Jews and selling pieces of the true Cross. Don't you ever make the mistake of thinking that mortals want to live in a golden age. They hate thinking.
”
”
Kage Baker
“
In the biological sense, race does not exist.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (We Are All Black: A Treatise on Racism (Humanism Series))
“
At the moment, don't buy my books, help the people of Ukraine instead.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar
“
When the invader stomps on innocent lives, not choosing a side is a consent to oppression.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (The Gentalist: There's No Social Work, Only Family Work)
“
Ask us for water, we won't let you go unfed, but do not mistake our gentleness as fear. If you so much as lay a finger on our home, we'll defend it with our blood, sweat 'n tears.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (The Gentalist: There's No Social Work, Only Family Work)
“
One person's sacrifice makes millions wake up from their sleep of indifference.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Mad About Humans: World Maker's Almanac)
“
Awake and Arise my sisters and brothers to slogan for all of humankind. We are the light and we are the might that's needed during this ominous tide.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Mad About Humans: World Maker's Almanac)
“
A God out there and values out there, if they existed, would be utterly useless and unintelligible to us. There is nothing to be gained by nostalgia for the old objectivism, which was in any case used only to justify arrogance, tyranny, and cruelty. People [forget] ... how utterly hateful the old pre-humanitarianism world was.
”
”
Don Cupitt (Crisis of Moral Authority)
“
Funny thing about those Middle Ages,” said Joseph. “They just keep coming back. Mortals keep thinking they’re in Modern Times, you know, they get all this neat technology and pass all these humanitarian laws, and then something happens: there’s an economic crisis, or science makes some discovery people can’t deal with. And boom, people go right back to burning Jews and selling pieces of the true Cross. Don’t you ever make the mistake of thinking that mortals want to live in a golden age. They hate thinking.
”
”
Kage Baker (In the Garden of Iden: The First Company Novel (The Company Book 1))
“
Pray less, help more.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (The Gentalist: There's No Social Work, Only Family Work)
“
Even the most stubborn darkness fades away in front of one tiny flame.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (When Call The People: My World My Responsibility)
“
Be a glass of water and quench the thirst of others.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Citizens of Peace: Beyond the Savagery of Sovereignty)
“
The biggest threats to humankind today are climate change, fake news, anti-intellectualism and Donald Trump.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar
“
Facebook is not just injurious to health, it's now a full-on humanitarian crisis.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Handcrafted Humanity: 100 Sonnets For A Blunderful World)
“
An entire planet pretending to be uncomfortable with the humanitarian crisis while engrossed in distractions on their mobile screens. Humanity ignoring their inevitable existential crisis.
”
”
Gayendra Abeywardane (Crocodile Chamber)
“
The world must work unitedly on every humanitarian crisis of chaos, uncertainty and fear to preserve the human rights, integrity, freedoms and cultural heritage with utmost care and sensitivity.
”
”
Amit Ray (World Peace: The Voice of a Mountain Bird)
“
Stop calling it war, for war implies faults on both sides. It's an invasion, where the state of Russia is the aggressor and the people of Ukraine are the victim. And stop saying that your prayers are with the Ukrainian people, for prayers may give you comfort, but it does nothing to alleviate their suffering. Shred all hypocritical advocacy of human rights and be involved in a meaningful way that actually helps the victims of Russian imperialism.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar
“
The increased incidence of abductions represents a major challenge within the ongoing humanitarian crises. The kidnapped archbishops have suffered terribly, and their families have suffered immensely not knowing what has become of them.
”
”
Widad Akreyi
“
They turned on the television and saw some news story about another goddamn humanitarian crisis, another goddamn civil war in some godforsaken place, and saw images of wounded people or starving children and felt a bright, bitter anger at the children for invading and ruining the only moments of relaxation and "me time" the neighbors had all day. The neighbors would get a little indignant here, about how their own lives were hard too, and yet nobody heard them complaining about it. everyone had problems - why couldn't they just quietly deal with them? On their own? With a bit of self-respect? Why did they have to get everyone else involved? It's not like the neighbors could do anything. It's not like civil wars were their fault.
”
”
Nathan Hill (The Nix)
“
Democracy is people-approved dictatorship,
Military is people-approved genocide.
Atom bombs are people-approved armageddon,
In conscience-court all guilty of homicide.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Tum Dunya Tek Millet: Greatest Country on Earth is Earth)
“
It is character that should be the sole measure of judgement in the society of thinking humanity, and nothing short of that would do.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (We Are All Black: A Treatise on Racism (Humanism Series))
“
The enemy of love is not hate. It is indifference. The enemy of love is turning away from those in need. The enemy of love is doing nothing when you can help your fellow man.
”
”
Gulwali Passarlay (The Lightless Sky: A Twelve-Year-Old Refugee's Harrowing Escape from Afghanistan and His Extraordinary Journey Across Half the World)
“
Some make bombs for domination,
Some make bombs for survival.
Either way someone pushes a button,
Innocents wind up dead as collateral.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Esperanza Impossible: 100 Sonnets of Ethics, Engineering & Existence)
“
A refugee saved is a world saved.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (The Gentalist: There's No Social Work, Only Family Work)
“
The only way to be truly happy is to be the gateway to somebody's happiness.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (When Call The People: My World My Responsibility)
“
A heart that bleeds for others is the only human heart, all others are mere animal hearts.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (I Vicdansaadet Speaking: No Rest Till The World is Lifted)
“
The world is my home and it’s under my protection.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (When Call The People: My World My Responsibility)
“
When someone commits an injustice in front of you,
Ask them 3 times nicely to make amends.
If they still carry on like prehistoric pricks,
It's time for you to take charge as their parents.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Amantes Assemble: 100 Sonnets of Servant Sultans)
“
The most important lesson to take from all this is that there is no way to confront the climate crisis as a technocratic problem, in isolation. It must be seen in the context of austerity and privatization, of colonialism and militarism, and of the various systems of othering needed to sustain them all. The connections and intersections between them are glaring, and yet so often, resistance to them is highly compartmentalized. The anti-austerity people rarely talk about climate change; the climate change people rarely talk about war or occupation. Too many of us fail to make the connection between the guns that take black lives on the streets of US cities and in police custody and the much larger forces that annihilate so many black lives on arid land and in precarious boats around the world. Overcoming these disconnections, strengthening the threads tying together our various issues and movements, is, I would argue, the most pressing task of anyone concerned with social and economic justice. It is the only way to build a counterpower sufficiently robust to win against the forces protecting the highly profitable but increasingly untenable status quo.
”
”
Naomi Klein (On Fire: The Case for the Green New Deal)
“
Facebook Sonnet
Facebook is not just injurious to health,
It's now a full-on humanitarian crisis.
If you think it's just a harmless bad habit,
You're fanning the flames of social necrosis.
Social media ought to make people social,
Not make pavlov's dogs out of humanity.
Yet all that facebook actually does today,
Is drive society towards clinical insanity.
Social media is not necessarily bad,
So long as it doesn't feed on our stability.
Yet facebook has devised the perfect algorithm,
To learn, pump and monetize human instability.
Facebook is the definition of what AI must be not.
Algorithm without humanity is mental holocaust.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Handcrafted Humanity: 100 Sonnets For A Blunderful World)
“
We are not an advanced species – not when millions of our sisters and brothers still go hungry - not when countless of our siblings still don't have a roof over their head - not when many still spend every second of their life in fear of being bombed to death. And to change this, we need sacrifice - sacrifice of bravehearts - sacrifice of young lions and bold tigresses - sacrifice of boiling blood.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Citizens of Peace: Beyond the Savagery of Sovereignty)
“
You may come or not to walk beside me, I won't stand still in silence while the oceans burn and the sun turns dark - I will either right the wrongs or perish in the attempt - and even if I burn to ashes in trying to humanize my surroundings, those ashes of mine will still smoke inclusion, equality and humaneness - I am not born a human to crawl as an indifferent vermin, I am born a human to embrace death for the values, the principles, the virtues that ought to be the foundation of human civilization - I am sleepless and I will stay sleepless till all the children of earth can sleep in peace with a full stomach and a happy heart, without worrying about guns and bombs, without worrying about prejudice and phobia, without worrying about discrimination and deportation - I will stay sleepless till the whole world becomes a family, not in theory, not in philosophy, not in argument, not even in futuristic vision, but in reality and practice.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Sleepless for Society)
“
Be Unrealistic (The Sonnet)
Be unrealistic and work for a world,
That the society considers nonsense.
Once upon a time taming fire was unreal,
Then arose a bunch of brave sentience.
Today's madness is tomorrow's sanity,
If we’re mad enough to stand solo on guard.
Today's sacrifice is tomorrow's civilization,
If we can give all without hoping reward.
If only one person dies for the cause,
A hundred people realize their humanity.
I may die today in the line of duty,
But the struggle continues through eternity.
So let us be brave and go beyond reality.
Let us be accountable and do the necessary.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Gente Mente Adelante: Prejudice Conquered is World Conquered)
“
Although the US State Department has not officially designated the MB [Muslin Brotherhood] as a terrorist organization, Egypt did so in 2013; and in 2015, a British government review “concluded that membership of or links to it should be considered a possible indicator of extremism.” However, in 2003 the FBI uncovered the MB’s multifaceted plan to dominate America through immigration, intimidation, education, community centers, mosques, political legitimacy, and establishing ‘interfaith dialogue’ centers in our universities and colleges. A document confiscated by the FBI outlines a twelve-point strategy to establish an Islamic government on earth that is brought about by a flexible, long-term ‘cultural invasion’ of the West. Their own plans teach us that ‘the intrusion of Islam will erupt in multiple locations using mulciple means’. But near the top of this strategy is immigration. To be more specific, the first major point in their strategy states; ‘To expand the Muslin presence by birth rate, immigration and refusal to assimilate.’ This strategy transformed Indonesia from a Buddhist and Hindu country to the largest Muslin-dominated country in the world. As Europe has discovered, open borders for refugees may be viewed as a compassionate response to a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, but it has long-term risks and consequences.
”
”
Erwin W. Lutzer (The Church in Babylon: Heeding the Call to Be a Light in the Darkness)
“
I Am Ukraine (The Sonnet)
Peace doesn't come through prayers,
Peace comes through responsible action.
When the invader stomps on innocent lives,
Not choosing a side is a consent to oppression.
Ask us for water, we won't let you go unfed,
But do not mistake our gentleness as fear.
If you so much as lay a finger on our home,
We'll defend it with our blood, sweat 'n tears.
We ain't no coward to selfishly seek security,
When our land is being ransacked by raccoons.
When the lives of our loved ones are at stake,
We'll break but never bend to oligarchical buffoons.
The love of our families is what keeps us breathing.
To preserve their smiles, we shall happily die fighting.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (The Gentalist: There's No Social Work, Only Family Work)
“
Unspoken Truths (The Sonnet)
Democracy is people-approved dictatorship,
Military is people-approved genocide.
Atom bombs are people-approved armageddon,
In conscience-court all guilty of homicide.
There is no time left, for there never was time,
Time begins with the beginning of civilization.
And civilization is something we are yet to find,
Hence, there is no question of clock progression.
Nationalist chimps sell war in the name of security,
Stoneage civilians rush to bulk-buy graveyard plots.
Merchant of murder, you, yell about peacekeeping,
While you feast on nationalism like wet little cods!
When cavemen take pride in their national glory of death,
Sanctuary becomes asylum for the lunatic walking dead!
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Tum Dunya Tek Millet: Greatest Country on Earth is Earth)
“
Transhumanism is Terrorism (The Sonnet)
Intelligence comes easy, accountability not so much,
Yet intelligence is complex, accountability is simple.
Technology comes easy, transformation not so much,
Yet technology is complicated, transformation is simple.
In olden days there were just nutters of fundamentalism,
Today there are nutters of nationalism and transhumanism.
Some are obsessed with land, others with digital avatars,
While humanity battles age-old crises like starvationism.
When too much logic, coldness and pomposity set in,
Common sense humanity goes out of the window.
Once upon a time religion was the opium of all people,
Today transhumanism and singularity are opium of the shallow.
To replace the sky god with a computer god isn't advancement.
Real advancement is when nobody suffers from scarcity of sustenance.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Amantes Assemble: 100 Sonnets of Servant Sultans)
“
There are too many people working to better the lives of those who already have more than they need, yet those who are in need of real help spend each day with no hope or help to speak of - why my friend - why - they are waiting for you - they are wailing for you - don't you hear them - don't you hear their tears dropping on the lifeless soil beneath their feet! You worry about philosophical questions like, if a tree falls in a forest and nobody is there to hear it, does it make a sound - yet you pay no attention to real questions of life and death that actually require your intervention more than any philosophical question in the world! Why - I ask you again - why - why is it that philosophy, technology and argumentation have more grip over your psyche than the actual troubles of the people! Don't answer me - just think - think and when you have thought enough, shred all shallow philosophical pomp and rush right away to the helpless, the forgotten, the destitute as the real, practical answer to their life.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (When Veins Ignite: Either Integration or Degradation)
“
With indifference people are continuously breeding a society full of disparity – they are constantly aiding the creation of more inequality. We are constantly making way for a world where some parents give their kids x-box to soothe them, for their birthday, and many more parents are forced to use leftover cardboard boxes as cradle for their babies because they don't even have a roof over their head. This is our so called civilization - this is our so called modern humanity - shame on us - shame on us as a species - shame on us as civilized beings - shame on us as thinking and breathing individuals of conscience. No more - no more - we must break this disparity - and we must do it right now - and we are not going to do it by fighting over whose ideology is the best - we are going to do it only by taking actual responsibility of our society - by taking actual responsibility of the world - we are going to do it by acting as a living cure for those disparities, by using our own resources as means to erase those gaps however we can. Only with action born from our heart can we end disparity, not with talks of argument and inaction of complacency.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (The Shape of A Human: Our America Their America)
“
What the science in this book ultimately teaches is that there is no meaning. There’s no answer to “Why?” beyond “This happened because of what came just before, which happened because of what came just before that.” There is nothing but an empty, indifferent universe in which, occasionally, atoms come together temporarily to form things we each call Me. A whole field of psychology explores terror management theory, trying to make sense of the hodgepodge of coping mechanisms we resort to when facing the inevitability and unpredictability of death. As we know, those responses cover the range of humans at our best and worst—becoming closer to your intimates, identifying more with your cultural values (whether humanitarian or fascist in nature), making the world a better place, deciding to live well as the best revenge. And by now, in our age of existential crisis, the terror we feel when shadowed by death has a kid sibling in our terror when shadowed by meaninglessness. Shadowed by our being biological machines wobbling on top of turtles that go all the way down. We are not captains of our ships; our ships never had captains.[2] Fuck. That really blows.
”
”
Robert M. Sapolsky (Determined: A Science of Life without Free Will)
“
A few years back, I had a long session with a psychiatrist who was conducting a study on post-traumatic stress disorder and its effects on reporters working in war zones. At one point, he asked me: “How many bodies have you seen in your lifetime?” Without thinking for too long, I replied: “I’m not sure exactly. I've seen quite a few mass graves in Africa and Bosnia, and I saw a well crammed full of corpses in East Timor, oh and then there was Rwanda and Goma...” After a short pause, he said to me calmly: “Do you think that's a normal response to that question?”
He was right. It wasn't a normal response. Over the course of their lifetime, most people see the bodies of their parents, maybe their grandparents at a push. Nobody else would have responded to that question like I did. Apart from my fellow war reporters, of course.
When I met Marco Lupis nearly twenty years ago, in September 1999, we were stood watching (fighting the natural urge to divert our gaze) as pale, maggot-ridden corpses, decomposed beyond recognition, were being dragged out of the well in East Timor. Naked bodies shorn of all dignity.
When Marco wrote to ask me to write the foreword to this book and relive the experiences we shared together in Dili, I agreed without giving it a second thought because I understood that he too was struggling for normal responses. That he was hoping he would find some by writing this book. While reading it, I could see that Marco shares my obsession with understanding the world, my compulsion to recount the horrors I have seen and witnessed, and my need to overcome them and leave them behind. He wants to bring sense to the apparently senseless.
Books like this are important. Books written by people who have done jobs like ours. It's not just about conveying - be it in the papers, on TV or on the radio - the atrocities committed by the very worst of humankind as they are happening; it’s about ensuring these atrocities are never forgotten. Because all too often, unforgivably, the people responsible go unpunished. And the thing they rely on most for their impunity is that, with the passing of time, people simply forget. There is a steady flow of information as we are bombarded every day with news of the latest massacre, terrorist attack or humanitarian crisis. The things that moved or outraged us yesterday are soon forgotten, washed away by today's tidal wave of fresh events. Instead they become a part of history, and as such should not be forgotten so quickly.
When I read Marco's book, I discovered that the people who murdered our colleague Sander Thoenes in Dili, while he was simply doing his job like the rest of us, are still at large to this day. I read the thoughts and hopes of Ingrid Betancourt just twenty-four hours before she was abducted and taken to the depths of the Colombian jungle, where she would remain captive for six long years. I read that we know little or nothing about those responsible for the Cambodian genocide, whose millions of victims remain to this day without peace or justice.
I learned these things because the written word cannot be destroyed. A written account of abuse, terror, violence or murder can be used to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice, even though this can be an extremely drawn-out process during and after times of war. It still torments me, for example, that so many Bosnian women who were raped have never got justice and every day face the prospect of their assailants passing them on the street.
But if I follow in Marco's footsteps and write down the things I have witnessed in a book, people will no longer be able to plead ignorance.
That is why we need books like this one.
”
”
Janine Di Giovanni
“
The difference between a dictator and a true leader, is in intention. Given enough resources anybody can manipulate the minds of the masses and become their chosen authority, for the masses rarely look past the veil of the candidate's charm. And this is more evident today than ever, as a psychologically unfit misogynistic bully has swayed his way into the oval office with nothing but charm and charisma. So, basically we live in a society where a bully can become the authority of a great nation, the history of which is filled with true leaders who were the forerunners of humanitarian glory and real progress - these leaders were not simply the leaders of a country, or a party, but they were and still remain in the heart of the civilized humans as the leaders of humanity. They were the torch-bearers of egalitarianism and their light spread across the globe and touched countless lives with the warmth of humaneness. They lived among the masses but they didn't let the prejudices of the masses become their own, let alone infect the masses with more prejudices, unlike today's so-called leadership in America. They made America truly a great nation, by turning it into a symbol of liberty and acceptance, and today that very greatness is at stake, as the primitive evils of prejudices and discriminations have once again begun to creep into its backbone, through the words and actions of its very so-called leader. This is not a threat to democracy, for democracy itself at our current evolutionary stage, is a threat to our progress, rather it is a threat to the heritage of every single act of kindness, reasoning and acceptance ever committed in the history of humanity. The masses are existentially allowed to talk nonsense and advocate prejudices, but when an authority of the masses begins to talk nonsense and advocate prejudice and bigotry, it is an existential crisis for not just those masses but all humans around the world, with implications of catastrophic proportions. A leader is to take away prejudices from the psychological edifice of a country - a leader is to uplift a country, that is, a people, while warming their minds with the gentle flames of love, acceptance and reasoning. In fact, that's the only kind of true leadership there is, rest are just uncivilized tribalism that brings along more and more conflicts in the heart of the people within a country as well as outside of it.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Build Bridges not Walls: In the name of Americana)
“
Representing the apogee of human rights and humanitarian sentiments among post-war U.S. presidents, Carter also rebuffed Iranian demands for an apology from the U.S. for installing the Shah in power since 1953 and the subsequent decades of the S.A.V.A.K. torture that continued well into this ‘soft’ Democrat’s administration: ‘I don’t think we have anything to apologize for,’ assured Henry Kissinger. Ruminating about the United States of Amnesia, Carter’s principal White House aide for Iran throughout the crisis, Mr. Gary Sick, admitted that from the standpoint of U.S. policy-makers ‘anything that happened more than a quarter century before—even an event of singular importance—assumes the pale and distant appearance of ancient history. In Washington, by 1978, the events of 1953 had all the relevance of a pressed flower.’ Barely over a year before the Iranian people toppled this modernizing despot, Carter toasted the Shah’s Iran as ‘an island of stability,’ which he called a ‘great tribute to the respect, admiration and love of your people for you’. A defiant George H.W. Bush announced, after the U.S. shot down a large Iranian airliner filled with 290 civilians, ‘I will never apologize for the United States of America. I don’t care what the facts are.’25
”
”
Dan Kovalik (The Plot to Attack Iran: How the CIA and the Deep State Have Conspired to Vilify Iran)
“
Bin Laden was not invited to dinner, nor was the humanitarian crisis in Libya, nor were the Tea Party Republicans. We had kids, and kids needed room to speak and grow.
”
”
Michelle Obama (Becoming)
“
By April 23, 2014, thirty-four cases and six deaths from Ebola in Liberia were recorded. By mid-June, 16 more people died. At the time it was thought to be malaria but when seven more people died the following month tests showed that was the Ebola virus. The primary reason for the spreading of the Ebola virus was the direct contact from one person to the next and the ingesting of bush meat. Soon doctors and nurses also became infected. On July 2, 2014, the head surgeon of Redemption Hospital was treated at the JFK Medical Center in Monrovia, where he died from the disease. His death was followed by four nurses at Phebe Hospital in Bong County. At about the same time two U.S. health care workers, Dr. Kent Brantly and a nurse were also infected with the disease. However, they were medically evacuated from Liberia to the United States for treatment where they made a full recovery. Another doctor from Uganda was not so lucky and died from the disease. Arik Air suspended all flights between Nigeria and Liberia and checkpoints were set up at all the ports and border crossings.
In August of 2014, the impoverished slum area of West Point was cordoned off. Riots ensued as protesters turned violent. The looting of a clinic of its supplies, including blood-stained bed sheets and mattresses caused the military to shoot into the crowds.
Still more patients became infected, causing a shortage of staff and logistics. By September there had been a total of 3,458 cases of which there were 1,830 deaths according to the World Health Organization. Hospitals and clinics could no longer handle this crisis and patients who were treated outside died before they could get help. There were cases where the bodies were just dumped into the Mesurado River. The Ivory Coast out of compassion, opened carefully restricted humanitarian routes and resumed the previously suspended flights to Liberia.
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf the president of Libera sent a letter to President Barack Obama concerning the outbreak of Ebola that was on the verge of overrunning her country. The message was desperate, “I am being honest with you when I say that at this rate, we will never break the transmission chain and the virus will overwhelm us.” Having been a former finance minister and World Bank official, Johnson Sirleaf was not one for histrionics however she recognized the pandemic as extremely dangerous.
The United States responded to her request and American troops came in and opened a new 60-bed clinic in the Sierra Leone town of Kenema, but by then the outbreak was described as being out of control. Still not understanding the dangerous contagious aspects of this epidemic at least eight Liberian soldiers died after contracting the disease from a single female camp follower.
In spite of being a relatively poor country, Cuba is one of the most committed in deploying doctors to crisis zones. It sent more than 460 Cuban doctors and nurses to West Africa. In October Germany sent medical supplies and later that month a hundred additional U.S. troops arrived in Liberia, bringing the total to 565 to assist in the fight against the deadly disease. To understand the severity of the disease, a supply order was placed on October 15th for a 6 month supply of 80,000 body bags and 1 million protective suits. At that time it was reported that 223 health care workers had been infected with Ebola, and 103 of them had died in Liberia.
Fear of the disease also slowed down the functioning of the Liberian government. President Sirleaf, had in an emergency announcement informed absent government ministers and civil service leaders to return to their duties. She fired 10 government officials, including deputy ministers in the central government who failed to return to work.
”
”
Hank Bracker
“
My earliest memory of the famine and the humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia included the reports of the drought and crop failure.
”
”
Byron Conner (The Face of Hunger: Reflections on a Famine in Ethiopia)
“
In the Horn of Africa, a famine had created a terrible humanitarian crisis. Millions of people were starving. There were images of potbellied children with shrunken limbs and dazed eyes. The Islamist extremist group, Al-Shabab, had banned international food relief efforts in the areas of Somalia they controlled. For some reason, Scorpion couldn’t take his eyes off the images of the starving children. Later that afternoon, he boarded the Alitalia flight to Rome. It was a short flight, just over an hour. By the time he landed at Fiumicino airport, he knew what he was going to do.
”
”
Andrew Kaplan (Scorpion Winter (Scorpion, #3))
“
To the wounded stranger I am ointment, but to the inhuman vermin I am volcano.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (High Voltage Habib: Gospel of Undoctrination)
“
My mission is to flood the world with humanitarians by the thousands.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Corazon Calamidad: Obedient to None, Oppressive to None)
“
Every sapiens is atom bomb,
Every sapiens is a power plant.
Reckless mind is mayhem machine,
Hateless mind is lightland.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Amor Apocalypse: Canım Sana İhtiyacım)
“
Those who got no balls need the nuclear football. Nuclear reactor aquí! If it goes off, there is no remuneration, only annihilation - annihilation del degradation, annihilation del discrimination, annihilation del dehumanization. Who am I? Yo soy corazón calamidad.
Every heart that turns into a brakeless bulldozer in the face of inhumanity, is corazón calamidad. Every heart that turns into an unpluggable volcano in the face of bigoted barbarism, is corazón calamidad. Every heart that calls every other heart their family, and stands prepared to fight the almighty god if necessary, is corazón calamidad.
So I ask you - who are you?
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Mucize Misafir Merhaba: The Peace Testament)
“
Until the citizens become the lords and ladies of planet earth, hypocrites will keep desecrating humanity as dickhead demigods.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Amantes Assemble: 100 Sonnets of Servant Sultans)
“
Fever is not actually a sign of sickness, it is a sign that your body is fighting infection. Likewise, revolution is not a sign of disorder, it is a sign that the society is fighting the infection of inhumanity.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Mucize Misafir Merhaba: The Peace Testament)
“
Policy is to be guided by peace not purse, World is to be run by love not wallet.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Amor Apocalypse: Canım Sana İhtiyacım)
“
Revolution comes from the backbone of a person, not the barrel of a gun.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Amantes Assemble: 100 Sonnets of Servant Sultans)
“
Whenever inhumanity goes overboard wreaking havoc, the human bulldozer will rise to cleanse every epoch.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (High Voltage Habib: Gospel of Undoctrination)
“
Peace happens when we happen.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Mücadele Muhabbet: Gospel of An Unarmed Soldier)
“
If the anti-vaxxers are conspiracy nuts, which they sure are, so are the politicians, who keep dumping billions and billions of dollars in defense contracts out of sheer primitive insecurity instead of working to organize peace.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Şehit Sevda Society: Even in Death I Shall Live)
“
The remedy for all malice in the world is sacrifice.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (The Gentalist: There's No Social Work, Only Family Work)
“
Sonnet Krantistani
To hell with fear,
To hell with insecurity!
Stand up with conviction,
To hell with serenity!
Enough with pretend revolution,
Enough with jungly aum shanti!
For once in your life grow up o soldier,
Breaking all biases become krantistani.
Your footsteps will strike terror in terrorists,
Your voice will give chills to the divisionists.
Turn your existence into a beacon of help,
Possess this world with acts of love and uplift.
Killing terrorists and tyrants don't end inhumanity.
Oust them all, then irrigate the soil with solidarity.
(Krantistani: Citizen of Revolution, Aum Shanti: Archaic Peace Chant)
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Either Reformist or Terrorist: If You Are Terror I Am Your Grandfather)
“
The world has a ridiculously short attention span. It cannot stick to any one cause for more than a few days. They forgot about Palestine, they forgot about Afghanistan, they forgot about Jallianwala Bagh, and they’ll soon forget about Ukraine as well. The world forgets, but the suffering of the people continues.
Don't be that world my friend, be a better world, a civilized and responsible world, only then we'll be able to prevent another Palestine crisis, another Afghanistan crisis, another Ukraine crisis, otherwise these events will keep recurring until everybody is six feet under.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (The Gentalist: There's No Social Work, Only Family Work)
“
Losing oneself in prayer won't do, losing oneself in meditation won’t do, if we must be lost, let us lose ourselves in resuscitating this dying world of ours with our sweat and blood. People think meditation will solve everything. And to some extent, even I thought this way when I was a teenager. But the fact of the matter is, it won't.
It’s not bad mark you, but contrary to popular belief, it’s not the key to all the problems of society.
We need ten percent meditation, ninety percent revolution. Better yet, we need a life where meditation is revolution, revolution is meditation. It is this simple. Make justice your meditation, make equity your meditation, make love your meditation, and you won't need any of the traditional meditation.
The greatest meditation is revolution for assimilation. La mayor meditación es la revolución para la asimilación. Justicia es mi meditación - igualdad es mi meditación - humanidad es mi meditación.
Society needs your active involvement, not your pretend involvement. I'll say it to you plainly. If you don’t wanna get involved, that's perfectly fine, but don't pretend that you are doing great service to the world by praying and meditating isolated from the actual troubles of society.
Prayer as means of self-sustenance is okay, but it mustn't be glorified beyond that point. Worse than non-involvement is pretend involvement. Either get involved or don't, there's no praying. Either serve or don't, there's no praying. Either lift or don't, there's no praying.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (The Gentalist: There's No Social Work, Only Family Work)
“
When the tyrant slaps you once, slap them back twice, like a concerned parent, and say, no more.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Either Reformist or Terrorist: If You Are Terror I Am Your Grandfather)
“
When your family is in danger, you don't ponder, should I intervene - you just jump - that's what love does to a person. Only such love will save the world, not law. When the civilians of the world feel such love for the world as they feel for their family, the world leaders will have nothing left to do but direct traffic.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Either Reformist or Terrorist: If You Are Terror I Am Your Grandfather)
“
Politicians don't cause war, citizens do.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Handcrafted Humanity: 100 Sonnets For A Blunderful World)
“
Peace is not a statement, peace is existence.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Mücadele Muhabbet: Gospel of An Unarmed Soldier)
“
WAR can mean one of two things - "We Are Rage" or "We Are Reform". What will you choose?
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Mücadele Muhabbet: Gospel of An Unarmed Soldier)
“
If you want to move to a country where there is no human rights issue, you'd have to move to a different planet. No country is perfect, it doesn't have to be. As long as there are citizens who value progress over propaganda, and rights over ritual, there is hope for the country yet.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Tum Dunya Tek Millet: Greatest Country on Earth is Earth)
“
Imagine if, instead of the humanitarian silo, we could conceive of an approach that could support refugees' autonomy and dignity while simultaneously empowering them to contribute to host communities and the eventual reconstruction of their country of origin.
”
”
Alexander Betts (Refuge: Transforming a Broken Refugee System)
“
You are the illusion,
you are the truth.
When evil hangs heavy,
you gotta blow your fuse.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Himalayan Sonneteer: 100 Sonnets of Unsubmission)
“
Humanitarianism may be appropriate during an emergency phase but beyond that it is counter-productive.
”
”
Alexander Betts (Refuge: Transforming a Broken Refugee System)
“
Sonnet 1178
Five little rich tourists sink in a sub,
Wallets open without limit on a search-n-rescue op.
A 1000 migrants die each year tryna cross the sea,
Borders tighten in sheer fear with no show of mercy.
People are only worth saving
if their savings is super healthy.
50 Shades would be a Hitchcock film
if the sicko had no money.
Empathy is a far cry, life is never the issue.
While next-door-neighbor cries of hunger,
Netflix wets more tissue.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Visvavictor: Kanima Akiyor Kainat)
“
Five little rich tourists sink in a sub,
Wallets open without limit on a search-n-rescue op.
A 1000 migrants die each year tryna cross the sea,
Borders tighten in sheer fear with no show of mercy.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Visvavictor: Kanima Akiyor Kainat)
“
Ukraine is worth aiding, but not Afghanistan,
Tourists are worth saving, but not refugees.
Loss of any life is indeed a moment of tragedy,
Then why this double-standard and hypocrisy!
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Visvavictor: Kanima Akiyor Kainat)
“
Himalayan Sonneteer Sonnet 56
Seni seviyorum be insan!
It's okay if you don't get a word I say.
You won't remember the words anyway,
It's the sentiment that makes the way.
There is a bridge from my heart to yours,
But you won't fathom it with all the words.
Oneness is a bridge revealed in silence,
Can you hear the pitter-patter of teardrops!
If you can't hear the teardrops of a warzone,
All your philosophies are basically useless.
If we can't light up the forgotten corners,
What's the point in discovering photoelectric effect!
What's the point of all these fancy words and doohickeys,
If human emotion sinks to the bottom of our priorities!
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Himalayan Sonneteer: 100 Sonnets of Unsubmission)
“
Development' means many things to many people but it can be broadly understood as an approach that attempts to enhance long-term human welfare, whereas 'humanitarianism' is simply about the short-term alleviation of suffering. The humanitarian toolbox offers food, clothing, and shelter; it focuses exclusively on refugees and their vulnerabilities. The development toolbox offers employment, enterprise, education, healthcare, infrastructure, and governance; it focuses on both refugees and host communities, and it builds upon the capacities of both rather than just addressing vulnerabilities.
”
”
Alexander Betts (Refuge: Transforming a Broken Refugee System)
“
Climate Activists have turned into Climate Karens.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Rowdy Scientist: Handbook of Humanitarian Science)
“
Climate Activists (not all) have turned into Climate Karens, which has done nothing for the climate crisis, but has only added one more crisis to the list. BLM activists don't go about abusing white people, Pride activists don't go about harassing straight people, and yet, that's precisely what has become the norm in climate protests. Vandalism isn't activism, you morons! If you want to help the climate, help the green energy industry become mainstream.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Rowdy Scientist: Handbook of Humanitarian Science)
“
Climate Activists have turned into Climate Karens, which has done nothing for the climate crisis, but has only added one more crisis to the list.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Rowdy Scientist: Handbook of Humanitarian Science)
“
99 percent of the world's warzones are the legacy of white, western imperialism. Until you get your head around this simple fact, your views, your opinion, your advocacy, all are worthless to the peace struggles of these "westsploited" nations.
In the modern age no other country has wrecked more nations than America. Like father, like son - first it was England, then it's its rebellious runaway child America. That's why China is such an enemy in the westwashed narrative of the world - because when one nation has somewhat maintained an autocratic control over the planet since the 1800s (under the banner of "Manifest Destiny"), it would never want that control be undermined by another budding power - particularly when that power is far superior in infrastructure. Sure, the state of China tries to influence every move of its people, that's the first unwritten rule in the handbook of "democracy" - but Uncle Sam has been manipulating the moves of every single state for over two hundred years. Now tell me, which state should you be more cautious of?
No country is free from human rights violation, but America's share in global transgressions is right at the very top. America is the top exporter of humanitarian crisis in the world, and as such, US is the least qualified nation to be the moral guardian on anything.
It doesn't matter whether you are white, colored or martian - denial never solves nothing. To treat a disease we must first acknowledge the disease. And what is the disease? Is it white people - is it whiteness? No - whiteness is not the disease, but white imperialism is. And how do you treat this disease? You gotta strip yourself of all the privileges of skin, and make yourself one with the world - you gotta denounce the privilege of your whiteness and embrace the responsibility of your humanness. Only then, shall there be peace in the world - only then, shall there be integration - only then, shall there be a civilized world to begin with.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Tum Dunya Tek Millet: Greatest Country on Earth is Earth)
“
The entire world is Afghanistan, you never felt it because either you are white or privileged.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Tum Dunya Tek Millet: Greatest Country on Earth is Earth)
“
The current system for refugees who remain in their region of origin is a disaster. It is premised upon an almost exclusively 'humanitarian' response. A system designed for the emergency phase - to offer an immediate lifeline - ends up enduring year after year, sometimes decade after decade. External provision of food, clothing, and shelter is absolutely essential in the aftermath of having to run for your life. But over time, if it is provided as a substitute for access to jobs, education, and other opportunities, humanitarian aid soon undermines human dignity and autonomy.
”
”
Alexander Betts (Refuge: Transforming a Broken Refugee System)
“
The humanitarian silo model is increasingly out of touch. It fails against almost any metric. It doesn't help refugees, undermining their autonomy and dignity. It doesn't help host governments, transforming potential contributors into a disempowered and alienated generation in their midst. It doesn't help the international community, leaving people indefinitely dependent upon aid, less capable of ultimately rebulding their countries of origin, and with onward movement as their only viable rout to opportunity.
”
”
Alexander Betts (Refuge: Transforming a Broken Refugee System)
“
Wanna study geopolitics? First, take off your westwashed glasses - second, take off your westwashed shoes - third, scrub off your westwashed skin. In a world where the west has caused more humanitarian crises than Naskar has written books, you shall understand nothing till you decolonize your mind, no matter which hemisphere you are born in.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Tum Dunya Tek Millet: Greatest Country on Earth is Earth)
“
Hand raised to shield is human,
Hand raised to slay is animal.
Voice raised in justice is human,
Voice raised in hate is animal.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Amor Apocalypse: Canım Sana İhtiyacım)
“
Freedom is a tiny word that goes a long way,
It is a realm where there is no you and me.
My freedom is incomplete till another is free,
Till all of us are free, none of us are free.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Amor Apocalypse: Canım Sana İhtiyacım)
“
From Karbala to Kurukshetra, from Jerusalem to Chanakkale, light of truth has never submitted to the howling audacity of divisive animality - then why should you? Remember, there is a karbala in each of you, there is a kurukshetra in each of you, there is a jerusalem and chanakkale in each of you. And till you accept defeat out of your own free will, not a force in the world can dampen the daring advances of love and reason.
So, get up - get out - and get lost!
Wanna lead the world? First learn about the world - get so lost in the struggles of each and every people of planet earth, that you forget where you came from altogether - get so lost in the struggles of the people of earth, that for the first time in life you start to breathe as a whole human being - get so lost, that for the first time you see the light of dawn not as a puny slave to puny borders, but as the civilized maker of a civilized world.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Tum Dunya Tek Millet: Greatest Country on Earth is Earth)
“
Wanna lead the world? First learn about the world - get so lost in the struggles of each and every people of planet earth, that you forget where you came from altogether - get so lost in the struggles of the people of earth, that for the first time in life you start to breathe as a whole human being - get so lost, that for the first time you see the light of dawn not as a puny slave to puny borders, but as the civilized maker of a civilized world.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Tum Dunya Tek Millet: Greatest Country on Earth is Earth)
“
Centurion Sermon (Sonnet 1005)
Peace is an act of ceasefire,
Peace is an act of disarmament.
If you don't get this simple fact,
You need lessons on common sense.
Beer is no bravery,
Guns ain't no gallantry,
Dump your bazookas in museum,
Smell the roses with some coffee.
Dump your scripture, pick up a sport,
You'll learn a lot about honor and camaraderie.
Dump your constitution, pick up gardening,
You'll learn plenty about preserving life 'n liberty.
Nationalism is the greatest threat to peace.
Fundamentalism is the greatest threat to harmony.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (The Centurion Sermon: Mental Por El Mundo)
“
Dendrons of Dynamite,
Axons of Asphalt,
Corazón de Kevlar -
That's how we move the world,
That's how we emerge as humanizer.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Yarasistan: My Wounds, My Crown)
“
The world seems like a wonderful place,
When you don't know what's going on in it.
Witnessing the darkness yet choosing to smile,
That's what defines the illuminating spirit.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Esperanza Impossible: 100 Sonnets of Ethics, Engineering & Existence)
“
Nationalism is the greatest threat to peace.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Yarasistan: My Wounds, My Crown)
“
policymakers and humanitarian practitioners often lack a basic understanding of how markets operate to coordinate activities and generate mutually beneficial outcomes to improve human welfare. In many cases, the result of this ignorance is that interventions intended to help people in the wake of crises actually end up hurting those most in need. One example of this is price-gouging laws intended to protect those already suffering from being exploited by sellers who charge a supposed “unconscionable” or “obscene” price. While the rhetoric of these laws is politically appealing, in reality they reduce the amount of goods and services available to those who are most in need because the inability to charge a higher price provides a disincentive for entrepreneurs to adapt and redirect goods to the crisis-stricken area.
”
”
Christopher J. Coyne (Doing Bad by Doing Good: Why Humanitarian Action Fails)
“
Wield your will like a time-space instrument, Jump-start the world with your photons of conscience.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Yarasistan: My Wounds, My Crown)
“
So many people, including relief workers, talk these days about 'mere' charity, 'mere' humanitarianism. As if coping with a dishonourable world honourably, and a cruel world with kindness, were not honour enough.
”
”
David Rieff (A Bed for the Night: Humanitarianism in Crisis)
“
When liberty is branded terrorism,
And terrorism is declared self defense,
Ceasefire is vetoed as taboo,
Geopolitics is fancy talk for arms race.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Bulletproof Backbone: Injustice Not Allowed on My Watch)
“
When faced by an international conflict, forget diplomacy, forget statecraft, forget strategies and policies and ask yourself, what would a human do in this situation, not a politician, not a bureaucrat, not a law enforcement official, but a human? The tree of diplomacy only grows thorns of war, not fruits of peace.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Hurricane Humans: Give me accountability, I'll give you peace)