During my first year at university, a senior student invited me to attend a meeting of a student organization. It was a meeting of a small group of students discussing communist revolutions around the world and the future of a revolution in India. It took some time for me to understand the student group was a small far-left organization that was active in the universities at that time.
Leftist ideologies always attracted me during my childhood. As children growing up in the state of Kerala in India, which commanded big support for left parties, we used to read a lot of magazines coming from the Soviet Union at that time. They painted happy lives of the people in Soviet Republics. If that was not enough, full-page advertisements with the pictures of North Korean leader Kim Il Sung used to appear in the newspapers. Naturally, I was sympathetic to the student organization with left-leaning ideologies. However, my priority was to focus on my studies and finding employment.
With the passage of time, I learned more about Marxism and other communist ideologies. The life of the poor in different parts of the world and their exploitation by the rich concerned me. Now, nearly 40 years after listening to a few proponents of Chinese model communism, I find myself having done a full swing from left to right. I think it was caused by COVID.
Initially, when COVID started to spread, I was also worried about the seriousness. When I found mainstream media singing the same tune, I was convinced that the virus from Wuhan is coming to kill us all.
The tipping point was when governments all over the world started distributing vaccines as the only solution for the virus. For me, it was unacceptable because I have long nurtured and nourished my health through natural practices and a healthy lifestyle. As a result, what grew in me was a suspicion towards governments, political parties, professional organizations, and mainstream media.
As I started listening to dissenting voices, I found more and more media outlets and organizations that confronted the official versions. That is when I decided to attend the world freedom march on Jan. 22 in Brisbane, Queensland.
What I saw was an atmosphere of open talk, mutual respect, and a collective resolve to fight the efforts of politicians and their donor organizations. It was amazing to see how people are willing to come forward and participate in protest marches without support from politicians or media or donors.
I think it is time for a change.
The world before World War II was controlled by colonial masters who treated colonies as their private property.
The post-WWII world saw the rise of arms businesses that bartered arms for human lives. Then came financialization and tech corporations, which will also give way, proving the saying that only change is permanent.
If communism is not respected in the 21st century, it is because of its failure to change with the times. Instead, political parties that are chartered to look after the workers of the world are now hand in glove with the rich corporations to control the world. What we need now is a free world that respects choices, identities, and rights. Not governments that sell one-size-fits-all global solutions.
Jose Puttanani
Queensland, Australia
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