Ever since Samuel P Huntington's work "The Clash of Civilizations" hit book racks, the usually disinterested members of society have woken up to a new reality. This perception of reality unfortunately is cynical and furthers the stereotype that difference is bad and that people from different cultures and religions cannot co-exist in harmony. Nothing can be farther from the truth. Countries like India have flourished because of their tolerance and respect for difference and therefore have become cauldrons of true and meaningful multiculturalism. Occasional aggravations happen but they are usually provoked and are the handiwork of anti social elements. Ever since 9/11 members of a particular religion are more under the scanner with the attitude that every member of that religious community is a potential anti social element. Needless to say these stereotypes will drive wedges between people. Elizabeth Potter of http://myfellowamerican.us/ has once in the past requested that I put out a link on this blog so that those who believe in social harmony can see what they are doing to further communal amity. Now yet again Elizabeth Potter has written to me requesting that I post her URL here (which I have now done) so that people who visit my blog can also go to see their site which highlights the work that they are doing.
Here are some caveats from my side.
1. I do not know Elizabeth Potter or anyone else associated with her and the website. I only put out the link since what they say is broadly consistent with my thinking.
2. I am not endorsing http://myfellowamerican.us/ in any way. I request readers who visit that side to form their opinions on the basis of what they see on the site and/or by talking to the people behind it. I have nothing to do with this, since I am a person in India and what happens in America is known only through news and that is insufficient for me to form any opinions.
3. I am not responsible if anything that you read there hurts or offends you. In such instances please engage in inter locution with those who run this site.
R u like a spokesperson for this particular community ? Don't understand why you need to be an apologist.
ReplyDeleteI am not a spokesperson for any community. When anyone asks you to help them out and if it is something that is not obnoxious I do it. I am also not apologising for anyone or anything. The caveats at the end of the post should tell you that. But really, thanks for the comment.
ReplyDeleteNot a clash of civilizations you say? The fact is not that people cannot co-exist in harmony, it's just that they don't particularly feel either way about it and cop out with the excuse of apathy, which if you want to believe is co-existence, then that's up to you. Tolerance is a good enough ideal to espouse but not many personally would be tolerant if they come face to face with something they don't know if it comes too close to threaten their closely guarded narrow worldview. Living as an ethnic and religious minority in first, India, and now in the United States, you become aware of how much you can talk about before making people uncomfortable about your being 'different'.
ReplyDeleteI am someone who believes (and passionately at that) that harmony can be achieved in different ways. You can also understand harmony as the absence of disharmony and to me an apathetic individual who will live and let live is a better one than the one who will want to make the different "other" heel and think like he does. Which is the story of wars, whatever be the grounds on which they may have been fought. Narrow world views and rubbish like God is on my side are the ones that have made the world dreadful place and because it is like that, we do not have to accept it the way it is.
ReplyDeleteI agree that absence of disharmony is good. I merely object to the "we're all a happy family and co-exist together and love it" tone to your post. It's sadly not as good as that.
ReplyDeleteAnd this: "Countries like India have flourished because of their tolerance and respect for difference and therefore have become cauldrons of true and meaningful multiculturalism." Really? If people can be at each other's throats at a little instigation from the antisocial elements mentioned in your post, how multicultural and tolerant are they really? You sit in the middle of the Telangana vs. Andhra war and talk of tolerance and co-existence. Really. I'm amazed. You have much more faith / hope in humanity than I do, and for the sake of the world, I hope you're right, I really do.
As I see it though, it's a surface tolerance that's stripped off in the face of just a little scratching beneath the surface. Sadly, I've seen people I know, friends and family, talk in a sick and twisted way about the 'other' in terms of religious, cultural and ethnic differences. I have seen petty politics for getting a job, transfer, a seat in a college, where religion and ethnicity play a role. Always. It's an everyday occurrence in India. I'd say India has flourished despite the narrow and limited mindset of her people, not because of a presence of tolerance or respect for difference.
A little caveat from my side too: I apologize if this seems like an attack on you or something. It's not meant to be. I respect your thinking and have been following your blog for a long time now. I just feel passionately about this and I don't like that you're glossing over a problem. If you don't point out the inadequacies, we will never get better.
I am not being argumentative, but I feel compelled to defend what I am saying. I request you to re-read my post, nowhere have I made it appear as if "we are all a happy family and co-exist together and love it". In fact the reason why I have given the heading that I did is to demonstrate that the world need not be clash of civilizations. I am afraid that I am absolutely right in believing that India has been a cauldron of true and meaningful multiculturalism. If you take the age of the civilization, the number of religions and cultures that it hosts, the aberrations to which I have alluded and to which you allude are negligible in numbers. I tell my Hindutva defending friends that Hinduism is under no threat from Islam. If that was so it would have vanished during the many centuries of Islamic rule in India. Similarly, it is not under threat from Christianity either. If that were the case, Hinduism and Islam would have vanished during British Imperialism. Let me also assure of the Telangana vs. Andhra war, as you call it. I can assure you that it is a game that politicians play in order to apportion the pie that is Hyderabad. The politician is not bothered about the rest of Telangana, or Andhra or Rayalaseema. For him, they can go to hell. People will talk of each other in a twisted a way. Within families people talk of their family members in a twisted fashion. That is because conflict is inimical to society. The question is how you chose to see conflict. Do you see it as something bad and potentially irresolute or do you see it as a thing that can change things positively? I subscribe to the second and if you believe that I am being unreasonably hopeful, so be it. I fully understand that everybody has a right to their opinion which need not be inferior or superior to mine. You don't need to apologize for anything. I am putting my thoughts out in the public domain in order to interact with others, not to preach. I very much welcome this discussion that I am having with you. If you've seen some of my old posts, I have said the way forward for the world is through discursive and deliberative democracy. I did not say the idly, I believe in it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with most of what you say in the latest comment. I agree India has a rich and varied history and we seem to have come a long way. But you have to admit these past few years have not been good for communal and religious harmony. Where is that tolerance and respect for difference you talk about today?
ReplyDeleteAlso agree with the Andhra vs. Telangana issue in its being politically based. But wherever it comes from, it affects everyday people. People who are ready to discriminate against their longtime neighbours, coworkers and friends on the drop of a hat based on their ethnicity or the place where they come from. It's just sad.
What I don't agree with is your claim that conflict can change things for the better. I have yet to see that. I just see discrimination and hate and injustice and intolerance in the speech and behaviour of most Indians. Show me how you see it changing things for the better.
I will only say another thing in response to what you have said. The world is becoming more and more intolerant and claims such as the Clash of Civilizations are gaining currency only because most people are quite happy to listen to the rubbish that politicians and war mongers quietly circulate among communities. The levels of intolerance will come down drastically if we extricate ourselves from the moment (which is defined by the relentless propaganda that we face)and look back at history without anger. We will then find that the enemy, the other, is more a construct of the imaginary than reality and then we could see that we are all not all that different. This is not to say that you are wrong, it is only to say, let us look at the other as not dissimilar. I continue to be fascinated by the pacifism of Jesus Christ that brought down the Roman Empire or the pacifism of the Mahatma which brought down the curtains on the British Empire in India. I see the lesson of meet hate with love in their acts (after all the latter studied the Sermon on the Mount by the former and fell in love with the idea of offering the other cheek when you have been slapped on one). I will quote Mark Knopfler from his song Brothers in Arms
ReplyDelete"There are so many different worlds, so many different Suns,
We have just one world, but we live in different ones".
I will end this with a couple of more lines from the same song.
"Now the Sun has gone to hell, and the moon's riding high,
let me bid you farewell, cause every man has to die,
But it written in the starlight, and every line in your palm,
We are fools to make war on our brothers in arms".
I am resolute that I do not have to believe the haters and the war mongers. Nothing can prove to me that that line of thinking is correct and hope is wrong. For we destroy ourselves when we destroy the other since the other is actually us. If I am living in a fool's paradise, then just indulge me.
Ah, well. That was simply beautiful in the fierce hope that you lay bare. Going to indulge you. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for that. Let me just quote a couple of lines from Roger Waters.
ReplyDelete"Strangers passing in the street, by chance do separate glances meet,
I am you and all I see is me".
I really appreciate your engaging in discussion with me. So thanks for that and also for indulging me :)
It was a pleasure, Sir. :)
ReplyDeleteWow, now you have knighted me!!!:) Would it be presumptuous to ask about you? If that is offensive or inappropriate, I apologize in advance.
ReplyDeleteNot knighted, exactly. :) I studied under you in OUCW 1998-2001, so merely referring to you as I did back then.
ReplyDeleteNo, it's not offensive or inappropriate to ask. I'm not sure if you remember me, but this is Arshia Anwer from the 2001 batch of B.A. - Comm, Pol Sci, Psy. :)
Of course, I remember you. We are even connected on LinkedIn. Thanks again for engaging in this discussion.
ReplyDeleteAh yes, we are. :)
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome. I enjoyed it too.