Where is it going!!

When South Sudan separated itself from the Republic of Sudan in July 2011 after a
four decade long struggle, South Sudan born 25 year old Mahmoud felt that a revolution which lasted so long does not bring any development to the region. “It was a struggle
for our rights including education and employment, and now we have to
start from scratch as we lost everything in the civil war”.

Zhang and Entzu, who are Media Communication students and hail from
China said they were closely following the Telangana struggle in
Hyderabad. Their only complaint is that their classes are disrupted
and their daily life has been vastly affected. Zhang says, “We do not
know if it was safe to go out at nights with so many outbreaks of
strikes. The cause may be genuine but ends need not always justify the
means,” indicating that common people should not be made scape goats
for political benefits of a few. When reminded about China's affairs
with Tibet, where china had taken control of the region through a
military act, Entzu confronted saying Telangana and Tibet were two
different issues altogether.

32 year old Berhanu who was doing PhD English in Osmania University
said he was unaware of justice being with which side. He added that he
was a kid when he witnessed a civil rights movement in his country and
the memories were still afresh. “As international students, we are
confronting lots of problems especially when epicenter of such a
struggle being OU. Our studies are affected and we are answerable to
our governments as we are here on scholarships,” he added

Ali from Iraq, who pursues PhD in EFLU when reminded of indigenous
peoples' struggle, reminisced his days spent under the authoritarian
Saddam Hussain. “We wanted a political turnaround and hoped for a
change till America came and destroyed everything we had. Our country
is poor now. We could have achieved better status had we planned
everything properly,” he said.

Where as two African youths from Zambia turned hostile when asked what
they felt about the movement here in Telangana. They said, “we have
come here through international scholarships and we do not care about the
things happening around even though it is a disturbance.” Insisting on
a comment from him, he laughs and says, “Probably our country would be
smaller than Telangana”.

Tolotra from Madagascar had a different yet similar story to tell.
“The struggle back home is not a very popular one. The islands
surrounding the mainland have been revolting for autonomous status and
I think it is basically driven by corrupt, power thirsty politicians,”
he recollected.

We have got a lot to learn from history. Yet we are stubborn to make

mistakes and learn, is what my dear friend Anil comments when asked about his responses.