In his well-known
book, The Clash of Civilizations and the
Remaking of World Order, Samuel P. Huntington implied that peace was an
impossible dream. “People are always
tempted to divide people into us and them,” he wrote. For example, let us assume that the Saffron
Brigade succeeds in creating a Hindutva India after the present face-off with Pakistan is surmounted. Let us imagine an India where everyone abides
by the principles of Hindutva. Will it
be a peaceful nation? Huntington would
say that we would soon start dividing ourselves into us and them, us being the
dominant sections and them being the marginalised sections. That’s how human nature is. There is no escape from clashes.
Huntington has
evidences from history to substantiate his argument. “World War I was the ‘war to end wars’ and to
make the world safe for democracy,” he writes. What actually happened, however? Communism and fascism with their various
versions of dictatorship. Not democracy
as dreamt by those who waged the world war.
Franklin
Roosevelt argued that World War II would “end the system of unilateral action,
the exclusive alliances, the balances of power, and all other expedients that
have been tried for centuries – and have always failed.” The UNO that followed was supposed to be “a
universal organization” of “peace-loving Nations” and the beginning of
permanent peace in the world. What the
world actually got were ethnic conflicts, new patterns of alliances among
nations, resurgence of neo-communist and neo-fascist movements, intensification
of religious fundamentalism, and a lot of genocide in many countries including
India.
People have
always loved divisiveness. The desire
to be one up on the neighbour is an inborn instinct in us. This desire has always created divisions
among people. Scholars used to divide
the world into the Orient and the Occident.
For the Jews there were the gentiles.
For the Muslims, Dar al-Islam and Dar al-Harb. “And when you pray, don't babble on and on as
people of other religions do,” said Jesus who thereby made a distinction
between his followers and the rest.
Peace is an
illusion, concludes Huntington. Whatever we achieve, we will continue to create
divisions and distinctions. No wonder
almost all the countries in the world are at war with somebody or the other
even now just as you are reading these lines.
Peace may be a
distant possibility. Mankind has to
raise its consciousness level.
Huntington’s thesis was in fact an answer to his former student Francis
Fukuyama’s book, The End of History and
the Last Man, in which the author dreamt
of a world that has evolved ideologically
to a level at which there will be no more clashes because it will have
universalised the Western liberal democracy as the final form of government.
Fukuyama’s was
a dream. A dream about an ideological
evolution. A dream about democracy and
liberalism. A dream about individual
freedom. Freedom from religions and
their gurus, from fundamentalisms, parochialisms, and clashes.
If I were
living in the Indo-Pak border, I would fly on the wings of Fukuyama’s dream
leaving the debris of my home down on the ground for soldiers and terrorists to
stand on and blow their horny trumpets.
But I am more fortunate and I share the realism of Huntington who was
actually Fukuyama’s teacher.
Indeed, ours is a highly divided society :-(
ReplyDeleteDivide and multiply - that's our genetic code 😑
DeleteA highly intellectual post from Sir. I am in complete agreement with you. Although one flower makes no garland, can't we at least aim at the utopian dream of Fukuyama because as they say - some goals are so worthy that it's glorious even to fail ?
ReplyDeleteI am also a dreamer occasionally ☺
DeletePeople in general like to stay within comfort zone. We feel safe with like minded people. Many successful nations are highly homogeneous. Look at Japan, Germany, Switzerland, France, Scandinavian countries. India is working on a very difficult experiment with so much heterogeneity. The fact that majority Hindu populated nation adopted secularism after bitter division of partition may indicate something about the majority community. Finally, as much it is correct about your fear of Hindutwa majority, I think you should fear equally or more if the the opposite becomes true. Because unlike worst Hindutwavadi, many religions believe in prosetelysation.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.simplypsychology.org/social-identity-theory.html
DeleteSir,
ReplyDeleteI need some glossary for the terms... please provide links next time.
As far as the theme is concerned, there is pathetically a gene present in us to belong to some group. I have realised it especially during some crisis situation.
Dear madam,
DeleteI don't think Huntington's book is available online. Nor is Fukuyama's.
The prophecy of Einstein that he did not know how World War 3 would be fought but, World War 4 with sticks and stones is surely soon to be proved a reality.
ReplyDeleteYes, I too feel that the world is teetering on the edge of a disastrous war.
Delete