FROM ARMADA TO HARMAD...
its a word that comes from the Spanish Armada of the 16th century.Remember the "black legend" of Spanish cruelty?Spain was in the 16th Century, the most powerful nation on earth. It controlled one of the greatest empires. Holland, Italy, Austria were in its control. The empire crossed the Atlantic Ocean and stretched on to the Americas.British were among its arch enemies.The Spaniards were depicted as a people " inherently barbaric, corrupt and intolerant; lovers of Cruelties and Bloodshed"."Tyranny is as natural to a Spanish as laughter is to a man", said a French text in 1597.
Though modern historians question this depiction as contemporary propaganda,but thats another question. Some modern writers, like Gregory Cerio, point out that painting the Spanish as Cruel and Avaricious became an integral portion of the patriotic duties of pamphleteers of London, Frankfort and France.At some point the political power of Spain became intimately associated with the religious power of the Pope. When Charles V became the the King of Spain in 1517, he was also Holy Roman Emperor.As the anointed defender of Christianity, Charles V saw it as his duty to purify Europe from what he perceived as heresies.He launched a bloody counterreformation war against Germany & defeated the Schmalkadic League of Protestant princes, at Mühlberg in 1548. Holland became in 1568 the other party in a war that lasted 80 years. In the same vein, Spain launched an attack against England. This venture resulted in the disastrous defeat of its armada in 1588.Cromwell had described Spain as the "Head of the Papal interest, the head of the antichristian interest that is so describe in the Scripture".it was a war of religion...a war between colonial powers...
The word "Harmad" of course has come into Bangla as a colonial hangover.We had nothing to do with the war between the Tudor State and Spain...basically two colonial powers fighting in the name of religion and empire.At the time, Bengal had the honour of witnessing someone as great as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu,an epitome of harmony and love...no trace of the British or Spanish either!!!
in fact soon after the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, a group of London merchants presented a petition to Queen Elizabeth I for permission to sail to the Indian Ocean.The permission was granted.REST IS HISTORY that probably does not need to be told to ANY INDIAN...whether we know about the Armada or the Bengali-filtered version "HARMAD".
you will be wondering what that has to do with my recent middle name???:)
well...sometime in the recent past,around 1997-98 one famous bengali journalist and a vanguard of the right wing media,lt Barun Sengupta used this word to describe the CPIM supporters fighting in the villages for their basic rights when they were evicted or their homes were burnt down...it took those people 2 and 1/2yrs to be able to return back to their homes with their families...Keshpur, Garbeta...
But it was a very interesting coinage.From 2007 after Nandigram seize by the Bhoomi Uchhed Protirodh Committee, Trinamool and its allied intellectuals took up this word to describe the thousands of CPIM supporters and their families evicted from their homes and living in refugee camps in Khejuri.Other media followed suit...till even children living in refugee camps were being called by their neighbors as Harmad(this is my personal experience).Maoists started killing CPIM supporters and writing on the posters strewn around them that they were "Harmads"...
They were all Harmads???
I saw resistance rising like a flame among these ppl...the anger...the "We Had Enough" fire which is leading them to turn against the Maoists with tangi, bows and arrows, daang(stick)...and media,politicians,intellectuals again coming up with this word to describe them- HARMADS.If these ppl r Harmads...so Am I.If fighting for ur right to live...ur right to breath...ur right to protect ur children make u a HARMAD,so AM I.
Historians will continue defining redefining history...pamphleteers will keep writing pamhplets...i do not know who the spanish armada was...all i know is,if these people I meet in Medinipur, Bankura, Puruliya, are termed as Harmads...i want to be by their side and say...am one of you.
Why am I a Harmad... ~ Anindita Harmad Sarbadhikari
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