Nussbaum on India
Jason Kuznicki on May 17th 2007
While Americans have focused on President Bush’s “war on terror,” Iraq, and the Middle East, democracy has been under siege in another part of the world. India — the most populous of all democracies, and a country whose Constitution protects human rights even more comprehensively than our own — has been in crisis. Until the spring of 2004, its parliamentary government was increasingly controlled by right-wing Hindu extremists who condoned and in some cases actively supported violence against minority groups, especially Muslims.
What has been happening in India is a serious threat to the future of democracy in the world. The fact that it has yet to make it onto the radar screen of most Americans is evidence of the way in which terrorism and the war on Iraq have distracted us from events and issues of fundamental significance. If we really want to understand the impact of religious nationalism on democratic values, India currently provides a deeply troubling example, and one without which any understanding of the more general phenomenon is dangerously incomplete. It also provides an example of how democracy can survive the assault of religious extremism.
In May 2004, the voters of India went to the polls in large numbers. Contrary to all predictions, they gave the Hindu right a resounding defeat. Many right-wing political groups and the social organizations allied with them remain extremely powerful, however. The rule of law and democracy has shown impressive strength and resilience, but the future is unclear…
The real “clash of civilizations” is not between “Islam” and “the West,” but instead within virtually all modern nations — between people who are prepared to live on terms of equal respect with others who are different, and those who seek the protection of homogeneity and the domination of a single “pure” religious and ethnic tradition. At a deeper level, as Gandhi claimed, it is a clash within the individual self, between the urge to dominate and defile the other and a willingness to live respectfully on terms of compassion and equality, with all the vulnerability that such a life entails.
Fascinating stuff. I’m tempted to quibble that traditional Hinduism, complete with the caste system, was by no means tolerant. The larger point still stands, of course.
Filed in The Barracks, The Belfry
[...] Today, Mr Kuznicki also points out, things have gotten far more complicated. Fortunately, the MSM is waning and we have a multifarous group of bloggers (here’s a good example) to help us navigate. [...]
[...] Rants and Analysis from an intellectual dilettante. « Is Blogging Dangerous? Nussbaum on Democracy in India May 19th, 2007 This has been getting some attention, which is good because Martha Nussbaum kicksass. She’s one of my favorites. Perhaps a wee bit of a crush, even. [...]
[...] This has been getting some attention, which is good because Martha Nussbaum kicks ass. She’s one of my favorites. Perhaps a wee bit of a crush, even. [...]
Kuznicki( and Nussbaum) completely ignore the fact that India is the single biggest democratic victim of Islamic terror in the world, far surpassing the US with its single 9-11, World trade centre attack. And this terror against India is taking place in the context of a country that is not, unlike the US, propping up authoritarian regimes all over the world, or having a history of interference on far-flung shores.