(Samajweekly) The world needs new ideas and not the rigidities of ideas. It needs pragmatic leaders and not opportunists. Pragmatism should not be considered as opportunism and vice versa. Also important to understand that we live in a complex world and the resolution to this will come through participation and inclusion. Ofcourse, forces of rigidities, profit for few and extreme rights will always be there to further complicate the issues and create new problems but the societies which embrace new ideas and have higher tolerance level as well as inclusive will survive more and live better than those where people can be murdered in the name of Gods or religious texts or where we continue to harp on ‘past wrongs’ and attempt to correct them by removing them. History can teach us good lessons but can not correct the wrongs of the past. We can just learn and create a better future learning from those wrongs.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jascinda Ardern just formed her cabinet after the victory and what an innovative and path breaking it is. Her new foreign Minister is a Maori woman. Maoris are the indigenous people and New Zealand even has a separate Maori Parliament where Maoris decide about their own issues. In total there are five persons from Maori community in the cabinet which is absolutely pathbreaking. It is reported that Maori communities constitute about 16% of the total five million population of the country. Eight of cabinet Ministers are women which reflect Jascinda’s idea of inclusion and importance of women to propagate the social justice ideas. What is more heartening is that inclusion of LGBTQ members in the cabinet and there are three members from this group.
Giving six important ministries which is 30% to the country’s 16% indigenous community is extraordinary to say the least. All the ministries given to the diverse communities is an example of how we can overcome prejudices. You can not really overcome prejudices by lectures but by setting up examples and inclusion.
Jascinda Ardern has shown extraordinary qualities of statesmanship which is lacking at the moment. Like her counterpart in Canada, Justin Trudeau, she has shown how multiculturalism can be a strength to any society and must be celebrated. It is equally important for the political leadership world to be careful of their utterance and reject the hate mongering in any name. I can only say that a secular state is the only guarantee for the rights of the marginalised and minorities anywhere. It is time, people too should just reject the idea of theocratic states which promote one particular religion and make the other villain. For liberal democracy to survive, the precondition would be to have an inclusive society and complete neutrality of the state. However, you can not deny the ‘majority’ influence on the power structure and it will be natural but essential for the both the majorities and minorities to build trust which only grows because of prejudices and false narratives. Wrongs of pasts can be used in different ways. One is by those who continue to harp on hate and divisions and the other who feel shame of the historical wrongs and make honest efforts to bring the minorities and marginalised into their social-cultural and political structure.
One thing is for sure, that the Western world will have superiority over us not because they have a mighty air force or armed forces but because of their robust institutions whether liberalism, tolerance to accept diverse viewpoints, knowledge system, least role of religion in their daily and administrative structure, and secular state apparatus. We lack all these as we have sharp prejudices based on caste, color, gender, food habits, languages and religiosity. As long as they persist, Western world will continue to dominate. This apart, in all our countries, we seriously lack powerful institutions whether it is media, judiciary, independent bureaucracy, independent police and a diverse civil society. Today, our political leadership continues to hammer them. Civil society is now considered as anti national, intellectuals as a threat to the nation, the media has become ruling party propaganda and peddling fake news while the judiciary has virtually become part of the executive. Least said about police as they are used to protect the powerful and humiliate and criminalise the poor, marginalised and minorities.
Whether Newzealand or Finland they might be smaller countries but they provide us with a lot of new ideas which can make us better. Canada is three times bigger than us but in terms of human resources, it is smaller than the combined population of Delhi and Mumbai but these countries continue to show us the way. Their leaders guide us how they celebrate diversity and multiculturalism. It is essential for the immigrants and minorities too to understand that feeling and try to respect and be part of the broader liberal culture. In the name of community identity, many times, the migrants and minorities whether forced or voluntary, live in ghettoised locations and become more ritualistic and conservative. While following your tradition or religious practices is not wrong yet, attempting to look different all the time in the name of your identity will not find acceptance now. Our own failures too are resulting in many countries returning to right wing political groups which is dangerous. Jascinda and Justin Trudeau kind of leaders will only succeed when people with minorities and immigrant background support their policies and join hand with other liberal nationals who believe in multiculturalism but not cultural isolationism as that will only bring religious rights to power in most liberal societies and it will only hurt the cause of immigrants and poor who goes to these countries.
For India and its neighbours , we have to learn the value of secularisation as that only is the guarantee for the melting of diverse groups and their working together. Hatred in the name of religion and ethnicity will only bring destruction and in this war for ‘supremacy’ nobody will be a winner but only losers. Let us understand this and work for a better world.
