GENOCIDE, DEMOCRACY AND DEVELOPMENT UNDER FOCUS
By Pjj Antony, Pjjantony@Gmail.Com
Arab News
Fe b 17 2010
Saudi Arabia
Democracy as a form of government has been praised and criticized with
equal passion and fervor by the common people and intellectuals alike.
The concepts behind democracy vary so much that a universally
acceptable format is non-existent.
However, it is to be noted to its credit that no government on our
planet is complete without an element of democracy in one form or other
at some level of governance. Be it a republic, monarchy, theocracy or
military dictatorship. Such is the panoramic versatility of democracy.
In her latest book "Listening to Grasshoppers — Field Notes on
Democracy", Arundhathi Roy passionately criticizes the way democracy
is practiced by its most ardent supporters among contemporary states
and questions its very credibility as the most acceptable form of
government.
She doesn’t condemn it but argues for the need to go beyond democracy
in search of a better form of government by the people and for the
people. It certainly makes for interesting reading. Her arguments find
fuel from issues related to the rights of minorities, refugees, people
displaced in the name of development, protection of environment etc.
Nearly a dozen essays included in this book were written by the
author in response to sociopolitical developments and were published
previously. But in-depth analysis and the author’s ability to touch the
very roots of controversial issues as well as her gifted capability to
present her argument amidst the backdrop of fundamental human concerns
make the book very much contemporary, relevant and widely appealing.
Roy is no ivory tower dweller. She is direct, transparent and forceful
and moors her writing boldly on her convictions. Her concern for
the underprivileged minorities and willingness to fight on their
side is well known. "Listening to Grasshoppers" is mainly about
the victimization of Indian Muslims, Dalits and Adivasis (Hindu low
castes) and people driven away from their habitat to make way for
mammoth dam projects.
According to Roy, a kind of perverted consensus exists within Indian
democracy that tolerates these injustices. She cites it as examples
of democracy facilitating fascism from within, nullifying its very
essence and spirit.
The book is certainly engaging but disturbing and provocative at
the same time with its threadbare observations about the vulnerable
underbelly of Indian democracy. It keeps on thinking the unthinkable
and speaking the unspeakable and questions the credentials celebrated
within Indian democracy. The author even ridicules democracy by
intentionally misspelling it as ‘demon-cracy’.
She pulls the reader from his comfort zone to face uncomfortable truths
from recent history. She dwells on the past to give an insight into
the unfolding world of democracy and development.
The ninth chapter, titled "Listening to Grasshoppers: Genocide,
Denial and Celebration" is a commemorative lecture Roy delivered in
Istanbul on assassinated newspaper editor Hrant Dink. This particular
chapter is the crux of her presentation. She shocks her readers while
she traces the undesirable but historical connection between genocide
and development. The history of genocide is as old as man himself. An
aggressive majority targeting a minority, blaming them for social and
economical ills and eventually forming a consensus to annihilate the
minority, is an oft-repeated scenario from human history.
In 1915 Ottoman Turks successfully targeted the Armenian minority,
killing nearly one and a half million in Anatolia. White Americans
targeted the original natives and systematically murdered 90 percent
of the Red Indian population. One method was the distribution of
blankets infected with small pox. America’s second biggest holocaust
took place when thirty million Africans were kidnapped and transported
to the US to be sold as slaves. Half of them died in the dirty dark
gallows of ships from starvation and diseases.
In October 1904 the German general Adolf Lebrecht ordered the genocide
of southwest Africa’s entire Herero tribe. They were driven into the
desert and cut off from food and water, eventually perishing.
Germany exterminated six million Jews during the Nazi regime. The
genocide of the Gypsies throughout Europe went unnoticed because they
were too soft and vulnerable. The British killed the entire Tasmanian
people of Australia. Massacres in Rwanda, Congo, Afghanistan and Iraq
are also recent examples of genocide. The same can be said about the
Indian state-supported 2002 mass murder of Muslims in Gujarat and
the killing of Christians in Orissa in 2007.
Narendra Modi, the brains behind the Gujarat massacre and elected
provincial chief executive is now being praised as an icon of
development. He has become the darling of the corporate India.
Everything, however heinous it is, can be pardoned in the name of
development. The core of Roy’s argument is the alarmingly strengthening
connection between genocide and development in the interests of a
corporate mafia.
Roy feels that the next target will be the Dalits and tribal people
(low caste Hindus) from the mineral rich provinces of southeast India.
Telugana, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkand, Utharanchal, Orissa, among
others, are the most economically backward regions with sizable lower
caste populations.
They are disillusioned with mainstream political parties including
the institutional communist parties and are being mobilized under the
Maoist umbrella. One quarter of India is already under the control
of these resistance groups.
Corporate India is impatient to evict these poor people from their
mineral-rich land to harvest profits. Premier Manmohan Singh, Narendra
Modi and Communist Party secretary Prakash Karatt has already opined
publicly that these lower caste resistance groups are the single
largest threat to India’s unity and progress. The country is getting
ready for another genocide, which has already started thanks to right
wing militias such as the Salwa Judum, armed by the state and aided
by upper caste Hindus.
Genocides have a common pattern. Victims are initially marginalized and
later targeted for annihilation after the majority forms a consensus
to justify the genocide. In other words a kind of democratic process
underpins genocide.
Another common factor is the economical interests of the genocide
masterminds. In the post-modern era old empires have been replaced
with corporate giants. The drama goes on. Democracy is turning into
a dictatorship of the majority. Is there a way out? Is there life
after democracy? Shouldn’t we look for something more democratic than
democracy itself? Roy passionately raises these questions.
The book is certainly worth reading. However I find it strange to
find the author leaving the question of nationalism untouched. Does
she too consider it as a holy cow? If we analyze the origin and
development of democracy it is easy to observe that the encroachment
of nationalism into the concept of democracy has created oppression
against the minority, paving the way for eventual marginalization
and probable extermination.
The very concept of nationalism tends to be chauvinistic and fascist in
practice. Along with democracy, nationalism too needs some fundamental
revamping.