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
Monday 8 January 2007
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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