Taking Back the Swastika

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I remember seeing this symbol repeated across the walls of a Hindu temple in India; it was a beautiful temple somewhere between Delhi and Agra and as far away from a European context as it could be; but I still remember the feeling of my blood going cold on seeing such a proliferation of swastikas...

I really don’t believe that this particular symbol can or should be ‘rehabilitated’ or re-appropriated in order to try neutralize it; it functions now, quite rightly, as a reminder of all that is obscene in extremist politics and in human nature (under the so-called optimum conditions for its ‘calling-forth’).

Perhaps symbolism works much more deeply on the psyche than a word; in many cases a word once used derogatively can be taken back and reintroduced as an empowering affirmation of positive control; an ancient symbol like the swastika - it would take more than one generation to forget (as they say)...but to attempt to consign its historical European usage to oblivion simply because it means something else in another context...would not bode well for the direction Europe would be heading in if that were to be considered/happen...

I'm a Jain. Our symbol of the Universal Man has a swastika in it. This symbol has been on my laptop's desktop for years. One day I was sitting with my computer on the floor in a building waiting for the food pantry to open. A woman came, sat next to me, and proceeded to talk about her day, etc. When she glanced at my desktop she recoiled in horror.

I told her it was the Jain symbol. She told me I should be ashamed of myself and get rid of it. I told her I'm well aware of the swastika's misappropriation by the Nazis, but it's my religion and we've been using the symbol for thousands of years. Angry, she got up and walked away.

I'm well aware, and cognizant of the fact that, she won't be the only one offended by the Jain symbol, so sometimes, when I'm in public places like a library, I leave a webpage open to obscure my desktop. Some people, after all, could respond to it with much more angry force than the woman at the food bank did.

You have certainly given me something to think about here. I understand the woman’s initial reaction...it is a symbol that has something of a force-field of misappropriated energy about it for anyone who isn’t used to seeing it in its original context. I am wondering why she pursued her path of anger when you explained its relevance to your religion. I would have thought that her being so sensitive to exposure to this symbol, she would’ve extended the same sensitivity to you and your religious beliefs. Perhaps she was embarrassed by her ignorance of its history; perhaps she’s a ‘rent-a-row’ type; there does seem to be a prevailing attitude of extreme stances out there whereby people don’t seem to want to learn from a differing opinion/interpretation/history and it doesn’t bode well for any paradigm shift in perception of this symbol. Alas I’m guilty of being pessimistic of it ever being ‘taken back’ too as long as the far-right can get their hands on it (but now I’m thinking it’s people like me who are contributing to its political ‘toxicity’ by not pushing for its restoration as a purely religious symbol and therefore handing the far-right a potent ‘Nazi-only’ symbol on a plate! Hmm...).