Dear All
1. I have not read the texts of Naomi Klein and Milton Friedman being referred to in this group - but I would tend to weigh in on the side of Joe and Peter - by this I mean that, I find Eddie's
characterization of the character of western liberal democracies underpinned by the more general economic and globally expansionist post Marxian philosophy characterized by the "smoke screen antics" of the Chicago school - as being a bit less finely nuanced than I find Eddie's
views in general.
An analysis, or for that matter a criticism, of periods of history and its dominant players - must be nuanced in my opinion - if they are to be useful for coming generations and not just talk that can be disregarded by those who hold power in particular societies at particular epochs in history.
This in my opinion holds true for all ages and is a condition of humanity that we must avoid over simplifying in our quest for easy recourse to criticism and analysis of swathes of human thought and achievements.
Post Marxian Chicago school inspired neo liberalism - the core ideology of western democracies that have collectively ganged up as federations to play the role of global policemen - as the basis of the dominant economic conglomerates of US and EU must also be seen in this light. This is my opinion and I think that this kind of view - allows for more nuances of real politik - to be seen clearly in the light of liberal western democracy as a post Marxian ideology that is packaged into a product fit for export around the world.
2. With regard to the Myanmar crisis, I note the extreme reluctance in supporting an obvious revolution from the bottom - of the same policy architects of Indian foreign policy - who get together in Washington and criticize Indian parliamentarians as a group of headless chickens and yet cry themselves hoarse in saying that India must not let go of the historic opportunity to come out of its nuclear pariah status holding the coat tails of the US president who is himself now on his way out from White House as well as the pages of history.
Indian foreign ministry is supposedly weighing up the strategic losses and gains of supporting an obviously brutal military junta on its extreme eastern borders - the issues of Myanmar's natural gas reserves and Chinese real politik in the Bay of Bengal have been often commented on.
However, I would like to step back a bit and see in the reluctance of Indian democracy that is pallying up with Washington corridors of power - a certain unanimity of interest in supporting military dictatorships in critical parts of the world. Is this not the quintessence of the Chicago school economic doctrines, now emerging as a starkly Indian response to the unrest on its eastern borders ?
It is time we now begin asking ourselves the question, what is it really that now separates New Delhi from Washington, apart from the climate ?
Saturday, 29 September 2007
Thursday, 5 April 2007
Romas of Europe as Earliest Indian Immigrants
I recently had the ocassion to look up the etymology of the word for God. In the course of my explorations I came across some startling finds. I wish to share the same with you.
I was startled to discover, that the Romas of Europe, the much maligned, neglected and unintegrated, outsiders of the neo liberal, selectively expansionist, European welfare state, use a term called "Devel" or "Del" for God, as a central term in the faith of the Roma people.
Now this set alarm bells ringing in my mind.
In Hindi and Sanskrit, we use the term called devta for the gods. I have often been intrigued by the familiar looking dresses of people standing by the wayside on roads of many European cities.
Some of them playing music, some selling old magazines, some selling brass as gold rings.
A couple of times when I could condescend to go and talk to some of them, they would always greet me with a hearty hug and smile when they came to know I was from India.
So, in a sense, I, the epitome of sophisticated, cultured, upper class, well bred, university educated Indian, out to make my mark on cynical Englishmen, would be taken aback by this profoundly non european, informal way of greeting, on the streets, of european cities.
But somehow, I never made any mental connection, and indeed, like an Indian Brahmin, would have felt thoroughly ashamed if anyone had used the term New Roma for me.
But nowI realize my foolishness as the more I study, the more my ignorance ofthe phenomenon called life, glitters brilliantly.
These poor and discarded Romas, the scourge of the Social Services departments and paid social workers of West European countries, knew I was an Indian, and they happened to be just the only ones in Europe, genuinely happy, to see an Indian on the roads of Europe.
Amazing stuff.
So as a consequence of these linguistic adventures, I had the ocassion to study about the Romas of Europe, I was amazed to read, "a further mystery is the exact region within India which may have been the original territory occupied by the Romas before their emigration, to different parts of Europe."
Then it all clicked. Oh my God, I thought in perfect sounding academic English, taught to me by Methodist Christians, or as the Romas would say, "mo, mro, or my"devla. What a world we live in.
I was startled to discover, that the Romas of Europe, the much maligned, neglected and unintegrated, outsiders of the neo liberal, selectively expansionist, European welfare state, use a term called "Devel" or "Del" for God, as a central term in the faith of the Roma people.
Now this set alarm bells ringing in my mind.
In Hindi and Sanskrit, we use the term called devta for the gods. I have often been intrigued by the familiar looking dresses of people standing by the wayside on roads of many European cities.
Some of them playing music, some selling old magazines, some selling brass as gold rings.
A couple of times when I could condescend to go and talk to some of them, they would always greet me with a hearty hug and smile when they came to know I was from India.
So, in a sense, I, the epitome of sophisticated, cultured, upper class, well bred, university educated Indian, out to make my mark on cynical Englishmen, would be taken aback by this profoundly non european, informal way of greeting, on the streets, of european cities.
But somehow, I never made any mental connection, and indeed, like an Indian Brahmin, would have felt thoroughly ashamed if anyone had used the term New Roma for me.
But nowI realize my foolishness as the more I study, the more my ignorance ofthe phenomenon called life, glitters brilliantly.
These poor and discarded Romas, the scourge of the Social Services departments and paid social workers of West European countries, knew I was an Indian, and they happened to be just the only ones in Europe, genuinely happy, to see an Indian on the roads of Europe.
Amazing stuff.
So as a consequence of these linguistic adventures, I had the ocassion to study about the Romas of Europe, I was amazed to read, "a further mystery is the exact region within India which may have been the original territory occupied by the Romas before their emigration, to different parts of Europe."
Then it all clicked. Oh my God, I thought in perfect sounding academic English, taught to me by Methodist Christians, or as the Romas would say, "mo, mro, or my"devla. What a world we live in.
Monday, 12 March 2007
Indian Community and Civil Nuclear Treaty
The Indian American community in United States, has begun to influence some internal nuances of American politics and legislation, and does not see itself now, as merely confined to the Motel Patels or as quiet, unobtrusive and discreet attendees at Presidential campaign fund raising dinners.
The chief Indo-US civil nuclear deal negotiator, on US side, has been talking of the role played by this community, in influencing the American Congress, to back legislation, at facilitating a global strategic relationship with India.
In American foreign policy parlance, this is called, "engagement with a rising power".
He termed it the "coming out party of the Indian-American community in United States."
US Under Secretary of state for Political Affairs, Nicholas Burns, has been talking to the Indian Foreign Secretary ShivShankar Menon on sealing up the treaty by early 2008, so that then India can supposedly go ahead with negotiations with IAEA regarding many issues concerning an inspection of nuclear plants regime.
From the perspective of :
1. Global warming / irreversible climate change, 2. Indian energy choices, 3. Policy planning, 4. Public debate on crucial energy choices,
one does find the secrecy about the 123 Agreement in line with the way the Indian Political Establishment and Indian Science and Technology Establishment ( IPE, ISTE ) usually operates. Singing one tune in Mumbai and Delhi and yet another in Washington and Geneva. They just do not consider the Indian public, worthy of any inputs into the debate. This is in stark contrast to the news we keep hearing from Washington circles.
Patriotism is assumed to be the line taken by the Indian nuclear establishment and its desire to retain some control over nuclear bombs, reprocessing technology, end use verification of reprocessed fuel, and attempt to cap India's strategic nuclear program. It is amazing that the Indian Science and Technology Establishment, is raising the issue of "strategic nuclear program" , but is totally silent on the issue of global warming and Indian contribution to it.
In Geneva and Washington, these high flying Indian IAS bureaucrats, compare the car ownership ratios of rural Indians with Americans, to deflect attention from incompetence of coherent environment and energy policy.
American nuclear industry for its part, is of course lobbying for retaining some control over critical parts, for which India and specialist procurement bureaucrats, will be major buyers ( and critically dependent) in years to come, and will have to keep everyone in good humour.
No wonder, the contribution of Indian American community in US, in fostering US - Indian friendship, is being much appreciated by American diplomats.
The chief Indo-US civil nuclear deal negotiator, on US side, has been talking of the role played by this community, in influencing the American Congress, to back legislation, at facilitating a global strategic relationship with India.
In American foreign policy parlance, this is called, "engagement with a rising power".
He termed it the "coming out party of the Indian-American community in United States."
US Under Secretary of state for Political Affairs, Nicholas Burns, has been talking to the Indian Foreign Secretary ShivShankar Menon on sealing up the treaty by early 2008, so that then India can supposedly go ahead with negotiations with IAEA regarding many issues concerning an inspection of nuclear plants regime.
From the perspective of :
1. Global warming / irreversible climate change, 2. Indian energy choices, 3. Policy planning, 4. Public debate on crucial energy choices,
one does find the secrecy about the 123 Agreement in line with the way the Indian Political Establishment and Indian Science and Technology Establishment ( IPE, ISTE ) usually operates. Singing one tune in Mumbai and Delhi and yet another in Washington and Geneva. They just do not consider the Indian public, worthy of any inputs into the debate. This is in stark contrast to the news we keep hearing from Washington circles.
Patriotism is assumed to be the line taken by the Indian nuclear establishment and its desire to retain some control over nuclear bombs, reprocessing technology, end use verification of reprocessed fuel, and attempt to cap India's strategic nuclear program. It is amazing that the Indian Science and Technology Establishment, is raising the issue of "strategic nuclear program" , but is totally silent on the issue of global warming and Indian contribution to it.
In Geneva and Washington, these high flying Indian IAS bureaucrats, compare the car ownership ratios of rural Indians with Americans, to deflect attention from incompetence of coherent environment and energy policy.
American nuclear industry for its part, is of course lobbying for retaining some control over critical parts, for which India and specialist procurement bureaucrats, will be major buyers ( and critically dependent) in years to come, and will have to keep everyone in good humour.
No wonder, the contribution of Indian American community in US, in fostering US - Indian friendship, is being much appreciated by American diplomats.
Monday, 5 March 2007
Global Warming and Human Rights
It is very interesting that Sheila Watt-Cloutier, an Inuit born inside the Canadian Arctic, has spoken of the issue of global warming and climate change as a human rights issue.
Indigenous people of the coldest parts of the earth have now joined debate as Inuit people are beginning to use power guzzling Air conditioners for the first time, running out of snow bricks for their houses and facing life threatening conditions when they fall through melting snow while hunting for food.
One cannot but see her case as a human rights issue for indigenous people especially vulnerable because their traditional habitats are low lying areas of the world.
This also is coming, at a time when the North American public, is exploring ways and means of "limiting the destructive impact of American foreign policy" in some resources rich parts of the earth, especially the Middle East, faced with a situation of rising global concern against a unipolar world.
The American public just does not seem to be biting, and ready to accept the charitable arguments of fostering democracy, rule of law and healthy civilizational principles, in the Middle East and is waking upto the reality of its power in a unipolar world.
The lady who is a lawyer by profession, has stated, "By protecting the rights of those living sustainably in the Amazon Basin, or the rights of the Inuit hunter on the snow and ice, this commission will also be preserving the world's environmental early-warning system ", in her arguments in front of Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States in Washington.
Very interesting stuff.
One can only hope that the Indian Political Elite and Indian Science and Technology Establishment, (IPE, ISTE ), which has been so keen and active on the issue of civil nuclear cooperation with US and the Nuclear suppliers Group, will take note and begin to fashion its arguments in this light.
Indigenous people of the coldest parts of the earth have now joined debate as Inuit people are beginning to use power guzzling Air conditioners for the first time, running out of snow bricks for their houses and facing life threatening conditions when they fall through melting snow while hunting for food.
One cannot but see her case as a human rights issue for indigenous people especially vulnerable because their traditional habitats are low lying areas of the world.
This also is coming, at a time when the North American public, is exploring ways and means of "limiting the destructive impact of American foreign policy" in some resources rich parts of the earth, especially the Middle East, faced with a situation of rising global concern against a unipolar world.
The American public just does not seem to be biting, and ready to accept the charitable arguments of fostering democracy, rule of law and healthy civilizational principles, in the Middle East and is waking upto the reality of its power in a unipolar world.
The lady who is a lawyer by profession, has stated, "By protecting the rights of those living sustainably in the Amazon Basin, or the rights of the Inuit hunter on the snow and ice, this commission will also be preserving the world's environmental early-warning system ", in her arguments in front of Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States in Washington.
Very interesting stuff.
One can only hope that the Indian Political Elite and Indian Science and Technology Establishment, (IPE, ISTE ), which has been so keen and active on the issue of civil nuclear cooperation with US and the Nuclear suppliers Group, will take note and begin to fashion its arguments in this light.
Wednesday, 21 February 2007
Dharampal Net Resources
Dharampal Net Resources
Dear Friends and Associates of Shri Dharampal,Today (19th February) is the date of birth of Shri. Dharampal. Since his demise there have been many discussions on how to take his work forward.
We at Samanvaya have done what we know best, put together the material that we have in our collection in the form of a website.
We are happy to announce the new website www.dharampal.net which will be an online repository of Dharampalji's website. Among its features, it contains a downloadable version of some of his publications, a collection of unpublished archival compilations, his note on possible future work based on them, related initiatives, life sketch, etc.
Currently the site is hosted in the Samanvaya website. Some of the features are not currently available or fully ready yet. This we will have ready in very soon.
We have provided a few snippets of the material in the website at the end of this mail. It is our hope that this Endeavour will be found useful by not just his friends, but, also those who want to embark on a journey of a discovery of India anew.
We welcome your comments and participation. We wish to thank many friends of Dharampalji for their voluntary interest and association in this effort, without their guidance this effort would not have been possible.
Warm regards,
Ramasubramanian
Chief, Samanvaya
chief@samanvaya.com
mob : 9444957781
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Samanvaya - Knowledge Services for Development Sectorwww.samanvaya.com
Please Note: Samanvaya New Office Address from 1st March 2007:
Samanvaya, 2nd Floor, Old No. 94, New No. 179,
Royapettah High Road,Mylapore,
Chennai - 600004
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Dharampal.Net --- Some of the current information include:
Work Ahead : It may be worth mentioning that, these researches and studies were taken up by Dharampal in his individual capacity, also because he was not considered a scholar or a historian and did not even have a University degree. It may be mentioned that a question about his not having a degree was raised in the Bihar legislature during 1973.
Archival material : "...The extent to which it has been carried throughout all the irrigated region of the Madras Presidency is truly extraordinary.
An imperfect record of the number of tanks in 14 districts shows them to amount to no less than, 43,000 in repair, and 10,000 out of repair, or 53,000 in all.
It would be a moderate estimate of the length of embankment for each to fix it at half a mile; and the number of masonry works, in sluices of irrigation, waste weirs, & e., would probably be not over-rated at an average of 6.
These data, only assumed to give some definite idea of the extent of the system, would give close upon 30,000 miles of embankments (sufficient " to put a girdle round the globe" not less than 6 feet thick) and 3,00,000 separate masonry works. The whole of this gigantic machinery of irrigation is of purely native origin ..."
India 1947 - 64 : Events and their background - "When I first read President Roosevelt’s advice on India to the British in August 1942 (India: The Transfer of Power, vol 3), I took his statement to imply that the British should "act in such a way that India stays in the western orbit", quite literally.
It was only years later that I understood that Roosevelt was not thinking in terms of his preference for the West or the USSR, but rather that they, he and the British, "should try to think of some arrangement by which India found its place in the European and American, i.e., western orbit, rather than the Asiatic."
Quite naturally, Roosevelt and his friends, could not conceive an India, run according to the ideas of Mahatma Gandhi.
Relevance of Dharampal :... His interest in history or his work on the archives has been according to him, only an incidental outcome of his quest for understanding the reasons why the nation was in the state he found it in.
Perhaps that is why he never sought company among ‘historians’ and always seemed to befriend politicians, activists and such kind. His quest for understanding why things were so was obviously attached with the corollary why can’t things change from this situation...
Dear Friends and Associates of Shri Dharampal,Today (19th February) is the date of birth of Shri. Dharampal. Since his demise there have been many discussions on how to take his work forward.
We at Samanvaya have done what we know best, put together the material that we have in our collection in the form of a website.
We are happy to announce the new website www.dharampal.net which will be an online repository of Dharampalji's website. Among its features, it contains a downloadable version of some of his publications, a collection of unpublished archival compilations, his note on possible future work based on them, related initiatives, life sketch, etc.
Currently the site is hosted in the Samanvaya website. Some of the features are not currently available or fully ready yet. This we will have ready in very soon.
We have provided a few snippets of the material in the website at the end of this mail. It is our hope that this Endeavour will be found useful by not just his friends, but, also those who want to embark on a journey of a discovery of India anew.
We welcome your comments and participation. We wish to thank many friends of Dharampalji for their voluntary interest and association in this effort, without their guidance this effort would not have been possible.
Warm regards,
Ramasubramanian
Chief, Samanvaya
chief@samanvaya.com
mob : 9444957781
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Samanvaya - Knowledge Services for Development Sectorwww.samanvaya.com
Please Note: Samanvaya New Office Address from 1st March 2007:
Samanvaya, 2nd Floor, Old No. 94, New No. 179,
Royapettah High Road,Mylapore,
Chennai - 600004
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Dharampal.Net --- Some of the current information include:
Work Ahead : It may be worth mentioning that, these researches and studies were taken up by Dharampal in his individual capacity, also because he was not considered a scholar or a historian and did not even have a University degree. It may be mentioned that a question about his not having a degree was raised in the Bihar legislature during 1973.
Archival material : "...The extent to which it has been carried throughout all the irrigated region of the Madras Presidency is truly extraordinary.
An imperfect record of the number of tanks in 14 districts shows them to amount to no less than, 43,000 in repair, and 10,000 out of repair, or 53,000 in all.
It would be a moderate estimate of the length of embankment for each to fix it at half a mile; and the number of masonry works, in sluices of irrigation, waste weirs, & e., would probably be not over-rated at an average of 6.
These data, only assumed to give some definite idea of the extent of the system, would give close upon 30,000 miles of embankments (sufficient " to put a girdle round the globe" not less than 6 feet thick) and 3,00,000 separate masonry works. The whole of this gigantic machinery of irrigation is of purely native origin ..."
India 1947 - 64 : Events and their background - "When I first read President Roosevelt’s advice on India to the British in August 1942 (India: The Transfer of Power, vol 3), I took his statement to imply that the British should "act in such a way that India stays in the western orbit", quite literally.
It was only years later that I understood that Roosevelt was not thinking in terms of his preference for the West or the USSR, but rather that they, he and the British, "should try to think of some arrangement by which India found its place in the European and American, i.e., western orbit, rather than the Asiatic."
Quite naturally, Roosevelt and his friends, could not conceive an India, run according to the ideas of Mahatma Gandhi.
Relevance of Dharampal :... His interest in history or his work on the archives has been according to him, only an incidental outcome of his quest for understanding the reasons why the nation was in the state he found it in.
Perhaps that is why he never sought company among ‘historians’ and always seemed to befriend politicians, activists and such kind. His quest for understanding why things were so was obviously attached with the corollary why can’t things change from this situation...
Friday, 2 February 2007
Global Warming and Indian Science Establishment
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Global Warming has today released its report in Paris. Some 500 of the top environment and climate change world scientists have gathered in Paris in a bid to focus attention on the issue of irreversible global warming, climate change and the rise of sea levels across the world. This conference is a reminder that the world of today is very intricately inter related and actions in one part of the world cannot escape global attention.
There is no home, sweet home, or gharonda in the globalized world of today. I quote from a poem of the metaphysical poet John Donne in Meditation XVII - "No man is an island, entire of itself...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."
European countries are certainly spearheading the effort to raise awareness on climate change issues on a global level. Maybe they do have their agendas as well. So be it.
At the same time it seems this present report is now finding ways to confront and engage India, its political elite, and its development policies, with the issue of global warming.
Indian diplomats and scientists in their learned erudition are publicly taking the view that for India, development and poverty alleviation is the primary issue, global climate change comes lower down in the hierarchy of priorities.
They articulate that those who are so concerned about climate change must foot the bill for global warming and enable yet some more transfer of technology in terms of energy generation and waste recycling.
Aware of this rhetorical stance of Indian officials, European countries are gearing up to put increasing pressure on India, because of the widespread recognition, that no efforts on global change will proceed successfully forward without getting India on board. Just as WTO will not proceed without India on board.
I personally think, Indian scientists are capable of more creative responses rather than reacting in terms of pro or anti India - US civil nuclear agreement. Indian scientific establishment is now faced with a choice of whether to ignore global warming and ride on its economic juggernaut, or to get its act together on asking the fundamental questions of science and the larger Indian society.
I think the creative response of Indian scientists, who have long preferred to act from behind positions of bureaucratic power, rather than in full public scrutiny, will be an important indicator of whether as a people we are still "coping" or are actually capable of creativity.
No more is this issue going to be an argument to be played out by the scientific advisers in Delhi and leading science and technology institutes. For the first time, with the global focus on global warming and the size of India's energy bill, Indian scientific establishment will have to ask deeper questions about itself and its creativity.
There is no home, sweet home, or gharonda in the globalized world of today. I quote from a poem of the metaphysical poet John Donne in Meditation XVII - "No man is an island, entire of itself...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."
European countries are certainly spearheading the effort to raise awareness on climate change issues on a global level. Maybe they do have their agendas as well. So be it.
At the same time it seems this present report is now finding ways to confront and engage India, its political elite, and its development policies, with the issue of global warming.
Indian diplomats and scientists in their learned erudition are publicly taking the view that for India, development and poverty alleviation is the primary issue, global climate change comes lower down in the hierarchy of priorities.
They articulate that those who are so concerned about climate change must foot the bill for global warming and enable yet some more transfer of technology in terms of energy generation and waste recycling.
Aware of this rhetorical stance of Indian officials, European countries are gearing up to put increasing pressure on India, because of the widespread recognition, that no efforts on global change will proceed successfully forward without getting India on board. Just as WTO will not proceed without India on board.
I personally think, Indian scientists are capable of more creative responses rather than reacting in terms of pro or anti India - US civil nuclear agreement. Indian scientific establishment is now faced with a choice of whether to ignore global warming and ride on its economic juggernaut, or to get its act together on asking the fundamental questions of science and the larger Indian society.
I think the creative response of Indian scientists, who have long preferred to act from behind positions of bureaucratic power, rather than in full public scrutiny, will be an important indicator of whether as a people we are still "coping" or are actually capable of creativity.
No more is this issue going to be an argument to be played out by the scientific advisers in Delhi and leading science and technology institutes. For the first time, with the global focus on global warming and the size of India's energy bill, Indian scientific establishment will have to ask deeper questions about itself and its creativity.
Thursday, 1 February 2007
Fencing In Space - Colonization Agendas
Further to my raising the issue of knowledge ownership as being an issue - who creates knowledge, who owns knowledge - and the issue of the agenda of patenting knowledge in the private domain, what I refer to as " Marketing of the Patenting Business " as per the needs of European countries, I recently came across a very respected science popularization magazine, offering a ride to space for interested people as a marketing prize to generate in people, the idea that space needs to be colonized.
They have appropriately started a new website called http://www.winatriptospace.com/ and are trying to tell everyone that if you get the wonderful prize of being able to look down at the earth from outer space, you will have broken the shackles of issues like Iraq and Afghanistan. Interestingly, they are terming the venture as "colonization" of space. Somehow the association of creativity with colonization, whether of non western world or the oil rich Middle East, or now of the outer space, is intrinsic to western thought. Fences can now be posted in yet more terrains., as the non Westerners still try to emerge from the coping mentality.
Shifting the goalposts is also what it is sometimes called. By the time, the elite in non Western societies are able to understand the extreme vacuousness of many Western ideas related to colonization, the goalposts have shifted, and knowledge has been patented.
But that a reputed magazine like New Scientist is also pushing this dream of colonizable space and trying to generate marketing buzz around the idea of an hour in space as an astronaut, the issues of public funding priorities of scientific ventures will get pushed into the background. Eternal creativity of the Western mind !!! And yes of course, the whole thing is wrapped in the " marketing of the patenting business and patenting agenda".
But yes, they also carry an interview of Jimmy Wales, who founded Wikipedia and ask him about the future of knowledge in the public domain - or as we would call it - "lokvidya". Do have a look if you get the time. Interesting stuff for knowledge dialoguers. Jimbo talks of how he found the " ideas of Open Source software " extremely exciting and how he went about this enterprise called Wikipedia.
They have appropriately started a new website called http://www.winatriptospace.com/ and are trying to tell everyone that if you get the wonderful prize of being able to look down at the earth from outer space, you will have broken the shackles of issues like Iraq and Afghanistan. Interestingly, they are terming the venture as "colonization" of space. Somehow the association of creativity with colonization, whether of non western world or the oil rich Middle East, or now of the outer space, is intrinsic to western thought. Fences can now be posted in yet more terrains., as the non Westerners still try to emerge from the coping mentality.
Shifting the goalposts is also what it is sometimes called. By the time, the elite in non Western societies are able to understand the extreme vacuousness of many Western ideas related to colonization, the goalposts have shifted, and knowledge has been patented.
But that a reputed magazine like New Scientist is also pushing this dream of colonizable space and trying to generate marketing buzz around the idea of an hour in space as an astronaut, the issues of public funding priorities of scientific ventures will get pushed into the background. Eternal creativity of the Western mind !!! And yes of course, the whole thing is wrapped in the " marketing of the patenting business and patenting agenda".
But yes, they also carry an interview of Jimmy Wales, who founded Wikipedia and ask him about the future of knowledge in the public domain - or as we would call it - "lokvidya". Do have a look if you get the time. Interesting stuff for knowledge dialoguers. Jimbo talks of how he found the " ideas of Open Source software " extremely exciting and how he went about this enterprise called Wikipedia.
Monday, 8 January 2007
Neo Western Liberalism
With his decisive criticism of the way Saddam Hussein was executed, the possible future British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, has set out the expanding contours of neo Western and progressive liberalism. In my opinion, this is a significant milestone in Western political thought, and how it approaches the sectarian divides, in resource rich parts of the non Western world, even as the American public, begins to feel the fatigue of American desire to foster Western definitions of democracy in oil rich countries.
I quote from a recent speech given by Bill Clinton at a Labor Party Conference in Manchester, where he was stressing the need for Labor Party to be a party of change. In the august gathering of cynical and career politicians, ( and who may well be voted out in the next British elections, refreshing optimism from an ex US President to a party and Prime Minister that may itself become ex )- Clinton made a plea for political openness in a world that seems to enjoy its own self misery of a walled up existence, what I call "living inside the fence".
He used a South African concept called “ubuntu”. -
Ubuntu in Zulu means, - “I am because you are”
I quote from Ed Howker, writing in The First Post
- Ubuntu derives from Bantu, a southern African language, and relates to a Zulu concept - umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu - which means "a person is only a person through other people".
Clinton said "If one was the most beautiful, most intelligent, most wealthy, most powerful person and then found... that we were alone on the planet, it wouldn't amount to a hill of beans."
Desmond Tutu's definition: "A person with ubuntu is open and available to others... and doesn't feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished." To read this significant post in the first post see :
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/index.php?menuID=2&subID=961
I quote from a recent speech given by Bill Clinton at a Labor Party Conference in Manchester, where he was stressing the need for Labor Party to be a party of change. In the august gathering of cynical and career politicians, ( and who may well be voted out in the next British elections, refreshing optimism from an ex US President to a party and Prime Minister that may itself become ex )- Clinton made a plea for political openness in a world that seems to enjoy its own self misery of a walled up existence, what I call "living inside the fence".
He used a South African concept called “ubuntu”. -
Ubuntu in Zulu means, - “I am because you are”
I quote from Ed Howker, writing in The First Post
- Ubuntu derives from Bantu, a southern African language, and relates to a Zulu concept - umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu - which means "a person is only a person through other people".
Clinton said "If one was the most beautiful, most intelligent, most wealthy, most powerful person and then found... that we were alone on the planet, it wouldn't amount to a hill of beans."
Desmond Tutu's definition: "A person with ubuntu is open and available to others... and doesn't feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished." To read this significant post in the first post see :
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/index.php?menuID=2&subID=961
Sunday, 7 January 2007
Coping and Non Western Societies
The waking moments of non Western society and of its representative polity can be best characterized by the concept of "coping".
It is this civilizational response, to having to choose between being on the inside of the fences or outside of the fences, erected by post Industrialization Western thought, that has often made the so called Eastern societies, look profoundly inwards looking, escapist and in fact, non dynamic and non creative.
In politics, the Gandhian form of confronting, and rejecting this way of looking at life, as being either inside or outside the fences, erected by the Western man in his waking moments, was a major rebuttal of this choice.
In his initial characterization of the ability of the new, post Green Revolution Farmer's Movement in India, in being able to grasp the opportunities, thrown up by a modern and globalizing world, Sharad Joshi used a concept called the "Bharat - India divide". India for him was the set of institutions and agricultural surplus appropriation mechanisms, that the British had set up, as part of a global colonization agenda and then left for the new set of brown sahibs to take over and operate.
Now Sharad Joshi himself was very clear, that the strength of Bharat to organize itself, to decisively take control of agricultural surplus, could not come from the peasant and rural population - what he called Bharat. Joshi was often very dismissive of the revivalist tendencies among some historians and political thinkers, who sought to derive inspiration from pre British Indian society.
He was firm that leadership had to come from among the brown sahibs and that the peasants, kheduts, Jats, Hindutva elements or religious, caste based polarizations could never broaden their appeal sufficiently, to wrest control of agricultural surplus mechanisms that were controlled by India from Delhi, and efficiently erected by the British.
He often used to say that it is not the dhoti kurta clad farmer who would be able to lead India but the cotton jeans wearing, urban educated, passionate representative of India, who would be able to unleash the creativity of the Indian peasantry. He was absolutely convinced that it would not be possible for a Tikait and his ilk, to wrest control over Delhi.
This did prove to be the case.
Dharampal Ji, when asked about the so called brown sahibs, the Westernized elite that governs India from New Delhi and the state capitals, figuratively, from "inside the fences" said - " Those who have become Westernised - the Western type of commodities may be used by a very large number of people, but those whose minds have been Westernised - I think are not more than half a per cent of us.
Probably less, basically not more than half a million people - the officer class in the European sense of the term, which could mean scholars, administrators, army personnel, high dignitaries, managers of industry, etc.
And those who are completely lost, among these half a million wouldn't be very many, maybe a few thousand or so - the rest I think can be brought back by a movement backed by spirit and courage and hope.
Such a movement however has to be of much greater dimensions and inner energy than even the freedom movement under Mahatma Gandhi."
It is this civilizational response, to having to choose between being on the inside of the fences or outside of the fences, erected by post Industrialization Western thought, that has often made the so called Eastern societies, look profoundly inwards looking, escapist and in fact, non dynamic and non creative.
In politics, the Gandhian form of confronting, and rejecting this way of looking at life, as being either inside or outside the fences, erected by the Western man in his waking moments, was a major rebuttal of this choice.
In his initial characterization of the ability of the new, post Green Revolution Farmer's Movement in India, in being able to grasp the opportunities, thrown up by a modern and globalizing world, Sharad Joshi used a concept called the "Bharat - India divide". India for him was the set of institutions and agricultural surplus appropriation mechanisms, that the British had set up, as part of a global colonization agenda and then left for the new set of brown sahibs to take over and operate.
Now Sharad Joshi himself was very clear, that the strength of Bharat to organize itself, to decisively take control of agricultural surplus, could not come from the peasant and rural population - what he called Bharat. Joshi was often very dismissive of the revivalist tendencies among some historians and political thinkers, who sought to derive inspiration from pre British Indian society.
He was firm that leadership had to come from among the brown sahibs and that the peasants, kheduts, Jats, Hindutva elements or religious, caste based polarizations could never broaden their appeal sufficiently, to wrest control of agricultural surplus mechanisms that were controlled by India from Delhi, and efficiently erected by the British.
He often used to say that it is not the dhoti kurta clad farmer who would be able to lead India but the cotton jeans wearing, urban educated, passionate representative of India, who would be able to unleash the creativity of the Indian peasantry. He was absolutely convinced that it would not be possible for a Tikait and his ilk, to wrest control over Delhi.
This did prove to be the case.
Dharampal Ji, when asked about the so called brown sahibs, the Westernized elite that governs India from New Delhi and the state capitals, figuratively, from "inside the fences" said - " Those who have become Westernised - the Western type of commodities may be used by a very large number of people, but those whose minds have been Westernised - I think are not more than half a per cent of us.
Probably less, basically not more than half a million people - the officer class in the European sense of the term, which could mean scholars, administrators, army personnel, high dignitaries, managers of industry, etc.
And those who are completely lost, among these half a million wouldn't be very many, maybe a few thousand or so - the rest I think can be brought back by a movement backed by spirit and courage and hope.
Such a movement however has to be of much greater dimensions and inner energy than even the freedom movement under Mahatma Gandhi."
Friday, 5 January 2007
Fencing And Western Thought
As part of an attempt to define an anthropological ontology of Western thought, one certainly needs to consider Dharampal's work.
In thought processes, post Industrial Revolution Western civilization, centred in Europe and this is where we certainly need to focus on. I think the Islamic world's obsession with American foreign policy, is no more than a historical diversion, as far as anthropological ontology of Western thought is concerned.
Here I will try to discuss the concept of fences and fencing.
While fencing in the literal sense means "to erect a fence, using materials such as wires, stakes, and rails, to create a barrier or enclosure", a fence itself is often described as - "an enclosure, a barrier, a wall, a weir, a boundary line, a defense against perceived threats".
Thus characterizing the bulk of the achievements of post Industrial Western civilization, may at first glance, seem extremely sweeping, generalist, exaggerated, uncharitable and indeed, un Christian. However, bear with me for a while.
My intention is not to dole out historical kudos or abuses, but to understand from the perspective of a non Westerner, the sum achievements of post industrial Western civilization to reducing the sufferings of men and women, in the West as well as in the non Western world.
Prima facie, having an appreciative eye for the material prosperity of the Western and developed world, one may not have many qualms about giving the bouquet to Western society for their achievements in ridding common sufferings in the Western parts of the world, underpinned by a largely liberal form of governance.
But how has the Western thinker fared with regard to the non Western world.
The Western man, in all his waking moments, can be seen as, - in the process of - "erecting fences" in real literal as well as metaphorical senses.
This to me, is what constitutes a defining characteristic, of the compulsive dynamism of Western thought. Crtitical thought comes much later and derives from this initial, fencing syndrome, that is at the core of Western thought and thinking about world, society and self.
In thought processes, post Industrial Revolution Western civilization, centred in Europe and this is where we certainly need to focus on. I think the Islamic world's obsession with American foreign policy, is no more than a historical diversion, as far as anthropological ontology of Western thought is concerned.
Here I will try to discuss the concept of fences and fencing.
While fencing in the literal sense means "to erect a fence, using materials such as wires, stakes, and rails, to create a barrier or enclosure", a fence itself is often described as - "an enclosure, a barrier, a wall, a weir, a boundary line, a defense against perceived threats".
Thus characterizing the bulk of the achievements of post Industrial Western civilization, may at first glance, seem extremely sweeping, generalist, exaggerated, uncharitable and indeed, un Christian. However, bear with me for a while.
My intention is not to dole out historical kudos or abuses, but to understand from the perspective of a non Westerner, the sum achievements of post industrial Western civilization to reducing the sufferings of men and women, in the West as well as in the non Western world.
Prima facie, having an appreciative eye for the material prosperity of the Western and developed world, one may not have many qualms about giving the bouquet to Western society for their achievements in ridding common sufferings in the Western parts of the world, underpinned by a largely liberal form of governance.
But how has the Western thinker fared with regard to the non Western world.
The Western man, in all his waking moments, can be seen as, - in the process of - "erecting fences" in real literal as well as metaphorical senses.
This to me, is what constitutes a defining characteristic, of the compulsive dynamism of Western thought. Crtitical thought comes much later and derives from this initial, fencing syndrome, that is at the core of Western thought and thinking about world, society and self.
Third World Child - First World Adult
Shri Dharampal, the great Indian historian who extensively researched, the deeper motivations of British East India Company, when they were busy making the various Indian chieftians, fight amongst themselves, in an attempt to peg their own forts in Kolkata, Madras, Mumbai, used to say - "The tendency of the western nations is that they will try to eliminate those that do not live up to the standard which they define as civilisation, this is the rule and it is considered correct."
Dharampal was more interested in the thought processes, mental attitudes, and fundemental compulsions of these early European migrants from Europe to all the other parts of the world. Understanding this basis of Dharampal's thought and extensive work, is important to understanding his significance as a seminal thinker.
Dharampal unearthed and negotiated, the mental roots of colonialism, and conversely, the desire to colonize, rather than, the often well understood, at least in Marxian neo colonialism debates, individual and corporate motives like wealth accumulation, religious proselytization and need for personal adventures that characterized the initial wave of European seekers of Indian spice, - the wealth seekers, missionaries and adventurists.
The profusion of literature on the alienation, plunder and decimation of local populations, wrought by this wave of European migrants, is a matter best left for professional historians.
Recently a gentleman was amused at the negligence of non Western populations, in ever wondering, how such massive droves of European migrants, were never ever required to have legal visas to enter, plunder, acquire or govern, entire countries and continents.
I too wonder sometimes, as to what really is the essential difference between the post -Industrialization, Western world view, and the so called, essentially non Western world views.
Rudyard Kipling , of course wrote very well in The Ballad of East and West -
"Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat;
But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,
When two strong men stand face to face, tho’ they come from the ends of the earth"
If I had to explain this to a Third World student, taking his first lessons in Western liberalism, as a political creed, and the realities of globalization of today, and that too in a few sentences, - a Third World student, whose only driving and societally reinforced ambition from childhood, has been to somehow escape poverty, and other restrictions on his individual potential, and enter the hallowed portals of European, American or Australian universities, for advancement of his own life and that of his families and countries - I would really need to use a visual metaphor.
This visual metaphor, is of course still distant, and far off. As a replacement, I think it can be eloquently expressed in two concepts or syndromes - "Us and Them" and the other syndrome being - the "Fencing and Coping" approach to the world. These first words of these two pair of words, (Us and Fencing), two world views, are quintessentially European, in fact, they define and are defined by Europeans, mutually, in various intricate forms.
On the contrary, the other two, (Them and Coping) define non Western populations and conditions.
Fencing and Coping is a more action oriented, political, direct, and policy related metaphor, while Us and Them, is more integral and fundamental, in the sense that it is difficult to see in the actions of Western thinkers and politicians, but is nevertheless fundamental in a philosophical anthropology and examination of of Western thought processes, driving motivations, that have determined the state of present day world, leaving no part of the earth untouched.
Keep watching this blog to find out what some of the contemporary non Western thinkers, who have been deeply inspired by the writings of Shri Dharampal, are thinking, in fields as diverse as history, philosophy, food policy, politics and the global agenda for change.
Dharampal was more interested in the thought processes, mental attitudes, and fundemental compulsions of these early European migrants from Europe to all the other parts of the world. Understanding this basis of Dharampal's thought and extensive work, is important to understanding his significance as a seminal thinker.
Dharampal unearthed and negotiated, the mental roots of colonialism, and conversely, the desire to colonize, rather than, the often well understood, at least in Marxian neo colonialism debates, individual and corporate motives like wealth accumulation, religious proselytization and need for personal adventures that characterized the initial wave of European seekers of Indian spice, - the wealth seekers, missionaries and adventurists.
The profusion of literature on the alienation, plunder and decimation of local populations, wrought by this wave of European migrants, is a matter best left for professional historians.
Recently a gentleman was amused at the negligence of non Western populations, in ever wondering, how such massive droves of European migrants, were never ever required to have legal visas to enter, plunder, acquire or govern, entire countries and continents.
I too wonder sometimes, as to what really is the essential difference between the post -Industrialization, Western world view, and the so called, essentially non Western world views.
Rudyard Kipling , of course wrote very well in The Ballad of East and West -
"Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat;
But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,
When two strong men stand face to face, tho’ they come from the ends of the earth"
If I had to explain this to a Third World student, taking his first lessons in Western liberalism, as a political creed, and the realities of globalization of today, and that too in a few sentences, - a Third World student, whose only driving and societally reinforced ambition from childhood, has been to somehow escape poverty, and other restrictions on his individual potential, and enter the hallowed portals of European, American or Australian universities, for advancement of his own life and that of his families and countries - I would really need to use a visual metaphor.
This visual metaphor, is of course still distant, and far off. As a replacement, I think it can be eloquently expressed in two concepts or syndromes - "Us and Them" and the other syndrome being - the "Fencing and Coping" approach to the world. These first words of these two pair of words, (Us and Fencing), two world views, are quintessentially European, in fact, they define and are defined by Europeans, mutually, in various intricate forms.
On the contrary, the other two, (Them and Coping) define non Western populations and conditions.
Fencing and Coping is a more action oriented, political, direct, and policy related metaphor, while Us and Them, is more integral and fundamental, in the sense that it is difficult to see in the actions of Western thinkers and politicians, but is nevertheless fundamental in a philosophical anthropology and examination of of Western thought processes, driving motivations, that have determined the state of present day world, leaving no part of the earth untouched.
Keep watching this blog to find out what some of the contemporary non Western thinkers, who have been deeply inspired by the writings of Shri Dharampal, are thinking, in fields as diverse as history, philosophy, food policy, politics and the global agenda for change.
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