Happy Vaisakhi: Isn't It Now Time To Relegate Dictatorships To The History Books?!

I’ve drafted an update around what we’re doing @AkhandArmour several times over this last month. With what seems like a constant stream of new #COVID-19 causing variants we continue to answer the calling with our #antiviral #masks and #wearables, where possible.

Recently however, just as we were about to exhale a sigh of relief as this latest #coronavirus #omicron wave started to flatten, we look around at #Ukraine unfolding, we look over at #Zelensky having to constantly re-frame messages in order to rally support…& we pause…which words do justice to what we’re witnessing?!

The gargantuan emotional effort required to #shield a nation weighed against the inconceivable position taken by those choosing to not do so. Nation against nation as if they’re entities – but they’re not – they’re 44 million individuals. At the beginning we watched #Zelensky cycle through this curve. Entering into the disaster thinking the world would see people 1st – on both sides he spoke of the unfortunate soldiers as well as his own people.?Then we watched as he was forced to come to terms with the fact that the people were in fact being left to fight for themselves. That a #noflyzone was deemed impossible.?Total abandonment hit and I’ve seen that look before. I know how rare #Zelensky’s behaviour under pressure really is.

?International Women’s Day was our 1st drafted post…as the world was celebrating women, some ‘bloke’ in Russia gave an order to bomb a maternity hospital in #Mariupol.

The grotesque nature of that juxtaposition still stops me in my tracks.

My professional life has been about overview, trends, patterns, undercurrents, pathway efficiencies, eco-systems, Black Swans… in the context of what our world is now experiencing, if ever there were an illustration of the meaning of ‘existential’…this moment would be it…

We’ve had #seismic shifts in #groupthink over the last few years: #metoo , #racism , #pandemic , #climatechange , #mrna , #vaccinations - all systems evolution which demand we accept we are now an irreversibly interconnected, global community.

This week is #vaisakhi – a momentous event in the #sikh calendar.?The anniversary of the creation of the #khalsa shepherded by Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji #gurugobindsinghji during an era where the battle between forced subjugation and freedoms of thought were fought.

The fight was for all freedoms, for equality between man and woman, for rejection of the caste system, for the understanding there is only one #God/#Faith no matter the name given by whatever nation, for the right to believe in your own faith, for the right to live, for the right to serve defend and protect #humanity.?At a time when nations were ruled by Kings [however demented they may have been], he passed the duty of shepherding humanity from himself over to an entity where *no ONE man* had dominion over another.?This was to be the Guru Granth Sahib Ji – a #beacon scripture, written over many years as a coalition between education, intellect, respect and philosophy.?I paraphrase of course but have [hopefully] caught the essence...

I see #vaisakhi as the birth of #democracy within our nation.?I recall this history…I then look over at this momentous battle in #Ukraine taking place between enforced imperialistic subjugation and democracies… and I wonder…didn’t we learn??Haven’t we evolved?

I’ve often wondered why the writings, teachings and philosophies of the #Sikh #gurus were constructed as poetry. Thousands of pages written in the most intricate, mesmerising language…doused in ornate #sanskrit, constructed in #raags (or #ragas) and engineered to be woven together like the drumbeat and heartbeat of the soul…?Poetry educating about equality, respecting other nations, humility under pressure, to never invade, to serve the community whilst retaining a defensive warrior soul…?All written during an era where generations of families were traumatised through these hideous wars, oppression, colonisation and forced conversions over which our forefathers were scalped and children were encased alive behind brick walls whilst parents were forced to watch.

An attempted #genocide to wipe Sikhism off the face of this Earth...??

...Then I look over at the horror playing out in #Mariupol #Bucha at #Zelensky and the intense depth of pain recalled as witnesses relay their experiences…and it hit me…the only way to cope with the grief and terror of the savagery of war will have been through the transcendental state where poetry, music, emotion, hope, spirituality, education and philosophy meet…

The world acknowledges #Zelensky’s leadership and yet people are still being murdered on the streets of #Ukraine…

My father, a civil and structural engineer, a chaplain, a Sikh Chaplain for 30 years within the UK prison system, a man who has prayed over countless souls as they move from this life over to the next, fought to name the local temple he was involved in founding (#Gurudwara) after those children that were buried alive behind those brick walls [they were the children of #SriGuruGobindSingJi]...so no-one ever forgets the sacrifice and suffering at the foundations of the faith - #Zorawar #Fateh were their names.?Ironically, the local community imploded none-the-less over an inability to see beyond the caste based system and intra-cultural differences.?I've seen life-long friends turn into a pack of wolves due to the inability to extrapolate by 5-10-20-30 years.?Extrapolation, projection, foresight is what saves us from catastrophes en route to ‘hindsight’.?Souls lost along the way can never be brought back.?Apathy until we reach hindsight is no way to exist...?

We read this history…we now watch this history repeating within #Ukraine. Same behaviours within a difference circumstance...

How and why are we here again? Didn't we evolve??Are we still unable to project before we reach the end point of ‘hindsight’?

Our world changed in February.?Before February we lived with a tacit assumption: as a democratic nation we ‘knew’ a rules based framework would leap to action if these freedoms were ever under threat.?

The #UnitedNations , #NATO, #G7 , #G20 etc…etc…etceteraaaaa… ?All these respected bodies would kick in to play. If worse moved to worst?? The allies would ride in to face off the invaders…[cue bugle call in the background]. Mass slaughter simply could – not – happen…

Errrrmmm…?then we woke up…

Some sort of apocalyptic nightmarish amalgam of a Game of Thrones-esque, Lord of the Rings, Voldemort, Hunger Games, James Bond, Avengers scenario all rolled in to one.?

Those villains don’t seem so fantastical now eh?!

HOW has ONE *audaciously demented* ageing old bloke been able to invade a country, wreak havoc upon and flatten a free population who were just soaking in the sun whilst sipping their cappuccinos in some breezy cafe?!

One witness in #Mariupol tells the #BBC and #NewYorkTimes of bombs going off every 12 seconds…twelve seconds…relentless apoplectic, unhinged bombardment, thousands of people trapped *for weeks* under a toppled theatre, rape, loot, pillage, banned weapons, slaughter, murder, targeting of humanitarian corridors, chemical weapons, mobile crematoriums, bombardment of nuclear power stations…wow… the list goes on.

In the year 2022 #Ukraine weeps whilst its citizens are murdered.?How did we get here??Have we done enough to counter? How does One negotiate with psychosis???

Why is this only about #NATO v #Russia???

Where are the peace keeping forces we were told of when #Iraq was unfolding?!?!?

How have we not been able to at least protect #airspace over #humanitarian corridors??Why is a #noflyzone over #Mariupol not possible so trapped thousands can be extracted?

What use is #hindsight to the people missing through the mobile #cremation units?

?How have we allowed 44 million people to be terrorised for well over 5 weeks…??

Why couldn’t we go in and rescue the people sheltering in the basement of the #theatre in #Mariupol?!

How have we reached the point where *ONE* bloke and his minions have murdered thousands, have destabilised global financial chains, global supply chains, global energy chains, global food supply chains to upend the way the world operates…?!?!?!?

Drip feeding support into #Ukraine creates drag force for defence – this drag allows opportunity for acclimatisation - where does this lead? What happens when 2 systems diverge for long enough to create a new way of life??What happens when there is an irreversible split between free-thinking democracies and autocratic systems within which subjugation, dehumanisation and coercive control is systemic??Where dehumanisation is embedded into that nation’s psyche?!?Can we not already see the multiple realities playing across the world??We see clustered examples of this dehumanising behaviour playing out in real time across our globe…what happens when those clusters merge and become regions…?

What happens in Taiwan, in Kashmir, in Palestine, in Afghanistan, in Hong Kong, in Syria, in China, in…in…in…how many wars are playing out across our globe currently? How many genocides #uyghurs #rohingya?

It’s time we all caught up…we’re en route to the next ‘eureka hindsight moment’ unfolding in real time…

Why are we still in a point of our evolution where some old bloke in his palace is allowed to subjugate a nation whilst his own family lives in a free-thinking society in some other land far far away??

Who are these men to tell a population they cannot go to school??Who are these men to tell women they cannot own their own passports??Who are these men to tell a population they cannot drive??Who are these men to censor a population’s learning??Who are you to curate my development??Who are you to beat me if I don’t wear what you want me to wear?!?!

It’s the year 2022.?How has this behaviour been allowed to continue across our beautiful one and only planet…?

How many more generations of children are about to grow up hating another nation because of the horrors they have seen?

In 2 or 5 or 10 or 20 years hence, are we going to start sentences with… “in hindsight, if we had #armed Ukraine effectively earlier on in the battle…blah blah blah”…?Do we need to wait for hindsight in 2 years time? Or this just an inability to activate foresight in this present moment??Is this just an abdication of responsibility in this present moment?!

Over these weeks I’ve watched #Zelensky cycle through this understanding.?Instinctively aware of the cataclysmic nature of where the world is right now he has turned out to be everything this moment requires of him.?All of his language has been steeped in defence, protection, morals, integrity, faith and humanity.?Maintained composure under the burden of back breaking pressure – all whilst showing the world the horrors unfolding.?Switching languages, switching perspectives, switching urgencies - it is a masterclass in communication - whilst trying to save 44 million souls.?

An astonishing level of courage – surrounded by a young team who reflect the same.?All of them – in this moment – a masterclass in forward thinking behaviour @lesiavasylenko @klitschko @antongerashenko @kirarudik @oleksiyGoncharenko @DenysShmyhal @mykhailoFedorov to highlight just a few…

What has the #pandemic taught us?: the #virus doesn’t stop at borders to request passport permissions before entry; #coronavirus will continue to evolve into #variants as will our human species; borders are permeable - free thinking can no longer be hidden behind borders - neither can the fall out of nuclear power stations or nuclear weapons…

The prospect of this new vibrant prospering free democracy bordering a subjugated autocracy must have been a very difficult proverbial pill to swallow.

There is only one legitimate battle right now – #climatechange - and this battle requires all of humanity to work together to defeat it.?The #pandemic was a rehearsal.?When the waters rise, they won’t care about ‘borders’…?

How do we end all wars??How do we end subjugation and dehumanisation?

Isn’t it now time for #Autocrats and #dictatorships to be relegated to the history books??The world has outgrown you my friends… #Ukraine @Zelensky and the team of young free thinking leaders are indeed fighting for all of us.

It is time for each and every single human being to stand up for the human population.?

Utopia??Maybe…?but we have to try, no??

Do we have a choice??What will #cataclysmic #climatechange look like?!?Will we sit there in our burning flooded planet and lament upon hindsight?

Perhaps everybody should read up on defensive warrior philosophers like #GuruGobindSinghJi – at a time where #humanity was placed above the #autocrat.?

Happy #Vaisakhi to all that celebrate…