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The Liberal Conundrum

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The 20th Century World Order was shaped by some powerful Ideologies and doctrines. Liberalism came to the fore, especially after World War 2. Dr John Locke (1632-1704), an English physician and philosopher is credited with creating ‘ liberalism as a distinct line of thinking based on the social contract that each man has a natural right to life and liberty and that Government must not violate these rights.’ Another guiding motive was to push back against religious zealots who sought to impose their fanatical religious views by force and violence. To the 1950s, when liberal ideas caught the popular imagination and liberalism was ‘hailed as the endpoint of mankind’s ideological innovation.’ Just a few decades later the committed proponents of liberalism find themselves besieged by resurgent religious orthodoxy, growing conservatism, and nationalistic fervor. How does a movement with many achievements to its credit find itself in this quandary?

The answer lies in how other potent and contemporary ideologies triumphed, faltered, and failed. Communism. ‘The God that Failed.’ The Utopian Marxist philosophy of ‘from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs’ missed out on a fundamental factor of HUMAN NATURE AND BEHAVIOUR. ‘Power Corrupts. Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely.’ The famous Maoist quote, ’Power flows from the barrel of a gun’ hit the bulls-eye as to what Marxism morphed into in actual execution. Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, and the Dear Leaders of North Korea, were all brutal dictators. Around the same period, Fascism raised its ugly head.  Hitler, Mussolini, and Franco were the poster boys. Need anything more to be said!!! In sum, ‘a government ruled by a despot or tyrant, controlling the lives of people in which people are not allowed to disagree, let alone protest.’  People who yearn for Strongmen Regimes- as democracy does not seem to be working- should learn from history.

Unbridled capitalism as epitomized by the USA has created huge wealth inequalities with just 1% of the population controlling the economy and thereby the levers of power. Around 30% of Americans have to grind 2 shifts a day just to put food on the table and send their children to school. Human Nature is at play again. Captured in the famous line from the film ‘Wall Street’- ‘Greed is Good.’

Liberalism’s heady decades rolled out voting rights for all adult citizens, abolition of capital punishment in many countries, reproductive rights for women, worker protection laws, and freedom to practice religions…major reforms that deserve to be lauded. The real focus was on the need to expand civil rights. They advocated and fought for gender equality, racial equality, and marriage equality to good effect and purpose. The struggles even transcended into a global social movement for civil rights. Public Order and Well-being not only for one group but for all and for the Greater Good.  The ground realities soon revealed the fault lines. For example, the fondly espoused Melting Pot theory of Multiculturalism ‘assumes that diverse cultural, ethnic and immigrant groups will tend to melt together, subordinating if not abandoning individual cultures and becoming fully assimilated into the predominant society.’ France- the cradle of liberal thought- has banned the Abaya, a loose-fitting tunic for Muslim women, for girls in middle and senior schools. All Muslim clerics have to attend orientation trainings re. The French language, values, and culture. Denmark has changed its policy from seeking integration of asylum seekers to using all measures to return them. Goal of Zero Asylum Seekers. Recently it has sent back 800 Syrian refugees stating that Latatia province in the western part of Syria was safe to return. The major reason for the narrow Brexit victory was the social media posts and videos of hordes of immigrants from Africa, Asia, and the Arab world taking over the UK. Straight out of the pages of Samuel P Huntington’s seminal book, ‘The Clash of Civilisations.’

Liberals sought and established a constitutional order that prized individual freedoms such as freedom of speech and freedom of association; an independent judiciary as a separate pillar of government and even public trial by jury; abolition of autocratic privileges; universal suffrage and universal access to education. However, anything good, even virtuous, taken to the extreme becomes counter-productive. We have a Great Religion being brazenly defiled in Sweden and Denmark under the guise of freedom of expression. The ex-drama teacher and current Canadian PM is silent when a Canadian citizen (& Khalistani terrorist) threatens to blow up an Air India plane on the 19th of November 2023. He had earlier dismissed Khalistani marches celebrating the assassination of the late Indian PM Mrs Indira Gandhi as ‘mere freedom of expression.’ This one-time hero of the liberal movement is becoming an embarrassment to them by crossing the line that should not be crossed. Yeah, we know that he cannot upset his vote bank and his coalition partner.

In the Southern States of the US, blacks are still thrown into jail on the smallest charges or pretexts. As convicted felons, they are not eligible to vote. The Second Amendment of the US Constitution allows adult Americans to buy assault weapons across the counter in order to protect themselves. Is this still the Wild West or a modern, civilized democracy? Innocent lives lost in the perennial mass shootings don’t seem to matter. Earlier this year, an anti-abortion, ultra-conservative bench of SCOTUS (US Supreme Court) overturned the Roe vs Wade judgment making abortion illegal in many US States. The powerful Evangelical lobby, backed by the Republican party, had its way.

The establishment of global organizations like the League of Nations after World War 1 and the United Nations after World War 2 is touted as real accomplishments of the liberal order. WHO, UNESCO, IMF, World Bank… are international institutions created by the liberal mind. It’s true that economic liberalism has had a beneficial impact on developing nations. ‘Unrestricted capital flowing in and out of the country boosting economic growth, efficiency and employment.’ However, for many decades the World Bank and the IMF were used as tools by the USA to drive nations into debt, exploit their natural resources, and use their land for military bases. The $1.3 trillion Belt and Road initiative by China is traveling down the same road.  Sticking to China, the Director General of WHO cut a sorry figure doing PR for the Chinese Government to cover up its inept handling of the pandemic and that the COVID-19 virus had leaked from the Wuhan lab. The United Nations has proved totally impotent in mediating the Russia-Ukraine war or the Israeli- Hamas conflict. Going back, there are many historians who cite the League of Nations as one of the causes for the rise of Hitler and World War 2.

Staying with economic liberalism,’ it opposes government intervention in the economy when it leads to inefficient outcomes. It is supportive of a strong State that protects the right to property and enforces contracts. It may also support government intervention to resolve market failures.’ Back to the Caveat any policy taken to excess becomes counter-productive. The systematic deregulation of corporations, banks, and the markets which started under President Reagan in the 1980’s led to the economic meltdown of 2008 which had lasting global consequences. Millions lost their jobs, savings, and pensions. The US and European Governments stepped in to bail out the ‘Too Big to Fail’ companies whose CXOs walked away with fat bonuses. It’s interesting that neo-modern liberalism now supports government regulation of private industry and opposes corporate monopolies.

Many of the liberal bastions have now come under the scanner. Harvard University, which has received $ 1 billion from the Chinese in gifts over the last decade, is now quietly deferring to the Dragon. The BBC, with its biased track record, got into controversy for refusing to call the barbaric Hamas killings of innocent Israelis as a terror attack. It could have objectively done so and also condemned the concerted bombings from Israel which have killed Palestinian civilians in large numbers. The New York Times gets $ 2000 a piece hyper critical Op-eds written by a small group of Indian journalists and intellectuals who have lost their star status and special privileges under the Modi Government.

The Unipolar world with the USA & its Western Allies and the international institutions helped the growth of the Liberal Order.  Ironically, the rise of Communist China as the ‘Factory to the World’ was also facilitated by the Western liberal ecosystem.  The rise of nationalism in many countries across the world has been a setback for this doctrine. Modern nation-states prize their sovereignty and national identity. You just have to tune into the YouTube videos of many African leaders who are calling out the double standards of liberal Western Europe. India also is putting its national interests and national security first as it navigates a turbulent geo-political landscape.

The Constitution of India, drafted by Dr Ambedkar, is a unique, inspiring document with many liberal values and principles embedded. It has kept evolving with the times through Parliamentary Laws and  Supreme Court judgments. Unlike Canada or Scandinavia, hate speech is punishable by law in India under several sections of the Indian Penal Code. There is no liberal attitude to stoking violence or social disharmony, be it on the omnipresent social media.  The recent reservation of one-third of seats in the Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies for women has taken gender equality and the values of democracy to the highest levels. That this bill was first tabled in the Lok Sabha in 1996 is heart-warming. The Supreme Court recently refused to legalize same-sex marriage and left it for the Parliament to decide. In the comity of nations, India remains in the vanguard for positive progress in several ways. But there are also many complexities and challenges looming ahead. In the context of economic liberalism just to tick box 3 major catalysts for financial inclusivity- the Aadhaar Card introduced in 2009 now has 1.3 billion Indians with digital ID; the Jana Dhan Yojana ( 2014) led to the opening of 400 million new banks accounts for the underprivileged; the UPI Apps ( 2016) and the smart-phone digital revolution which has turned a fragmented, cash-driven, inefficient economy into a formal, organized and high productivity economy.

In India, the liberal challenge is more associated with liberal identity. The majority of our self-professed liberals are aligned with the Left ideology or have associations with the Grand Old Congress Party. Political leaders, media persons, academics, or celebrities from the entertainment industry, their selective narrative and selective outrage has compromised their credibility and undermined their influence. For instance, our Comrades, who pose as human rights activists, are silent about the cruel persecution of a million Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang province of China. In 2006, India Today, deemed to be a liberal magazine publication and news channel, presented the Youth Icon Award to Yasin Malik, a Kashmiri terrorist. In a Hard Talk interview with the BBC in 2002, he had laughingly admitted to killing a judge, unarmed Indian Airforce personnel, and some innocent bystanders.  The liberal brigade was out there cheering in full force as the trophy was presented by a Harvard-educated industrialist. In the near future, the Supreme Court will decide whether Malik gets the death sentence or life imprisonment. The 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, as the world acknowledged, was masterminded by the Pakistani ISI and handled from Karachi. Not apparently to the knowledge of 2 self-proclaimed liberals, Congress leader Digvijay Singh and intellectual filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt.  Just 2 years after the attack they were on stage with the infamous Dr Zakir Naik to release the book, ‘26/11- A RSS Conspiracy.’ Another self-styled liberal Vidhu Vinod Chopra released a film ‘Shikara- The Untold Story of Kashmiri Pandits’. As he belongs to Kashmiri lineage there were hopes that the film would expose the brutal, forced exodus of half a million Kashmiri Pandits from their ancestral homeland in the early 90’s. No show. It was reduced to an inter-faith love story and the persecutions and atrocities were simply glossed over. It remained An Untold Story.

Likewise, the ‘Aman Ki Aasha’ (Peace with Pakistan) bleeding hearts should get a reality check done. Our friendly neighbor has launched 4 wars against India and innumerable terror strikes not only in Kashmir but across the country. Pakistan is run by the Army and the ISI. Even today their school textbooks call India ‘the enemy’ and Hindus as kafirs. So-called liberals in their naivety should not undermine national security. That Peace works for the Greater Good is a No-Brainer. But the most liberal way of putting it is that’ it takes two to tango.’ Remember what happened after the ‘Hindi-Chini bhai bhai’ bonhomie in the late 1950s. The Himalayan Blunder was exemplified by the disastrous 1962 India-China war.

The Liberal Conundrum. For India and the World, this Ideology can have a profound impact if liberal thought is mixed with liberal doses of pragmatism.  Looking at the larger picture. Understanding which lines not to cross. Evaluating the results as they happen on the ground.

Too Much of a Good Thing?!

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Photo by Дмитрий Хрусталев-Григорьев on Unsplash

How can something basically good turn bad if tested to its limits and beyond? That sounds like an oxymoron.  5 decades ago our respected teacher Mr. Joseph had this to say to his class, “Even a virtue if taken to the extreme becomes a vice. A balance has to be kept.” This insightful remark has stayed with me and I have experienced and followed the counter-productive effects he spoke about then- in more idealistic times.

Working hard and sincerely is a virtue. But in today’s boot-camp culture, this has been stretched to a toxic dimension. Workaholics are sick people and should not be regarded otherwise. But we have hard taskmaster bosses proudly referring to ‘he is always the last to leave office’ or ‘ she attends to emails or calls even on Saturday evenings.’ Employees are now referred to as a Cost to the Company and from whom every ounce of productivity has to be squeezed out. However, it remains a simple truism that a healthier work environment leads to much better results. Work-Life balance matters. Quality time with family and friends and for hobbies and interests is an integral and essential part of life.

One with the same is the perennial review meetings to start and end the day and carried forward into the weekend.  One may ask, where is the time and space to get down to actual work? Effective monitoring is a good management trait but this excess version becomes micro-management. It leads to huge pressure down the line, builds up frustration levels, and ends up in high attrition rates. Meetings properly scheduled and offering updates and solutions, interactions, and motivation are most welcome. Else, ‘meetings are where you waste hours and keep minutes.’

Honesty is a much-lauded virtue and is said to be the best policy. But it has to be refined as per the context; bluntness or plain-speak, even if factual, can backfire. The messaging has to be right. Giving a person ‘a dressing down’ in a Teams meeting is not going to work as a wake-up call. It will only breed resentment as a public humiliation. Scolding, however, justified, at home or offices don’t have to be outbursts. And what’s the harm of a small white lie to save a situation or to avoid hurting someone’s feelings.

Social media has glamorized fitness to unheard-of levels. The six-pack of Salman Bhai fills the big screen; the supreme fitness and stamina of footballer Cristiano Ronaldo over the last 10 years has won him his legion of fans; the Yo-Yo test was first introduced to Indian cricket during Virat Kohl’s fitness-focused captaincy. Kohli personifies physical fitness and has set a sterling example for the Indian cricket team to follow. But these are top-level sportsmen and the average person is not cast in the same mold and is not required to withstand the arduous physical rigors. Grueling gym sessions are not called for. So we have the tragic deaths of Kannada film star Puneeth Rajkumar, comedian Raju Srivastava, and TV actor Siddhanth Surryavanshi soon after or whilst working out at gyms. To aspire and work out for fitness is a good thing. But a brisk 1-hour walk or 45 mins of cycling or weekend swimming sessions or a 5 K run is all that is required to be in fine fettle. Push it beyond and the average body starts complaining.

The desire to win is another much-celebrated mantra through documentaries, management studies, or Success Gurus. Competitiveness is fine as it defines progress and we look forward to the next batch of leaders and innovators taking the baton forward. But there is a line that should not be crossed. ‘Win at Any Cost’ or ‘Win by Any Means’ should not be the driving principle. Because here is where the overdose kicks in. So we have a drug-powered Lance Armstrong with 7 Tour de France titles and the doped Ben Johnson breaking the 100 & 200 meters records at the 1988 Olympic Games. The German car manufacturer Volkswagen cheated its way through a rigged emission check system to get a bigger share of the US market and become the no 1 car manufacturer in the world.

Social media and the IoT of things have connected the world as never before and the benefits have been humungous. From reconnecting on WhatsApp groups to instant news updates, and digital payments to access to a plethora of products and services. But anything done in excess has a definite downside. The over-addiction to technology has undermined human interaction and activity. It’s now common to see a family of four at a restaurant having a minimum conversation with all busy on their own mobiles. So much time is being spent online that millions of youngsters are missing out on the small joys of playing football or cricket on the playfield or just chilling out with friends. Whilst the practice of Happy Birthdays and Festive Greetings has expanded exponentially the joy of actually talking to a friend has gone missing.

Such is the charm and fascination with Artificial Intelligence and Bots that some of the corporate CXOs I have met would like human involvement at work to be totally eradicated. Lesser costs, absolute efficiency, and no headaches of managing people. Nary a thought for millions without work as the ‘Driverless’ vehicles hit the roads.

Let’s move to the Left and Right Ideologies. Karl Marx Utopian vision of an all-powerful, benevolent State attracted intellectuals, leaders, and comrades in droves. Adam Smith’s treatise ‘The Wealth of Nations’ seminally influenced Capitalist fervor and thought.  It’s been a hundred years since the Russian Revolution which brought the communist doctrine center stage. Over the same period, the USA has evolved into the bastion of capitalism. Two resounding ideas and ideals have dominated the last 100 years. Both have faltered visibly because of excesses in implementation, no checks and balances, and a poor understanding of human nature. Power Corrupts. Two quotes that have come to epitomize these ideologies are- Power flows from the barrel of a gun- Mao and Greed is Good-Gordon Gekko, a character in the movie Wall Street. Communist countries have been characterized by lackadaisical economic progress and brutal dictatorial regimes. The USA has a blemished report card with high-income inequalities and an insidious nexus between Wall Street and the Capitol. Yes, Castro’s Cuba has done well on the healthcare and education front and nations like France, Canada, and the UK have tried to temper out the free market excesses with subsidized health-care, education, and pension plans. But the Left cannot pretend to be human-rights activists and the US is the symbol of the scars and excesses of capitalism.  A balanced approach for the Greater Good has been starkly missing. Ironically, it’s worth noting that China’s rapid economic growth is due to State Capitalism facilitated all the way by the authoritarian CCP (Chinese Communist Party).

Powerful dogmas, philosophies, Ideas, and concepts are successful and relevant within the bounds of reason and good sense. Nationalism escalating into a hyper-aggressive version as in China & Russia is alarming; All religions have to be respected but Faiths controlling public policy and administration is disturbing; wealth creation is good but rising inequalities is destabilizing- despite being a mixed economy just 1% of India’s population controls 40% of the nation’s wealth; subsidies are meant to be supportive welfare measures for the short or medium term.  Reckless subsidies and populist freebies may win a couple of elections but will haunt the nation and its people for years to come. Sri Lanka is in a self-inflicted, acute crisis and, totally dependent on bilateral & international loans to survive. It’s worth adding that protecting an individual’s rights and freedoms is the hallmark of democracy; stretching it as a right to bear arms (the Second Amendment) in the USA is having deadly repercussions with tragically regular mass shootings.

The sense of balance is all-important. Ancient Indian scriptures refer to the ecological balance between humankind and Nature and the Environment. Ayurveda (the traditional Indian system of health and longevity) prescribes how to achieve balance in body and mind.  In the same vein, let’s delve into the ancient Chinese philosophy of Yin & Yang.” Yin, Chinese for the Female, and the Moon also represent darkness, passivity, absorption, and the Earth.  Yang (the Sun and Male) represents light, activity, and the heavens. The balance of yin and yang was seen to influence health and order within an individual, society, and the entire universe.”

First World Hypocrisy

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Photo by Tristan Sparks on https://www.flickr.com/photos/friendly-fire/252169955/

The First World refers to the USA and its Western Allies opposed to the Soviet Union after WW2. Nations characterised by democracy, prosperity, stability and progress. Over the last 7 decades this bloc has called the shots and controlled the narrative. Developing and Third World countries like India have tacitly accepted their superiority, condescending attitude and sermons without question. As an emerging power now, it is high time we shed our colonial mind-set and see the world in starkly real terms.

The game-changing ideas and policies, innovations and inventions from these western countries are richly acknowledged and warmly celebrated. But it is time to show the mirror to capture the less known darker side also. This blog has been triggered by the American debacle in Afghanistan. Recommend that you please take it with A Fistful of Salt.

Geopolitics. Think about the chaotic retreat of the US from Afghanistan after 20 years of occupation. Leaving almost 40 million Afghans (half of them female) to the mercy of a cruel and regressive regime which harks back to the medieval ages. Leaving a huge cache of deadly weapons and armaments for their ready use. Ironically, the Taliban was created by the US and their partner Pakistan to oust the Soviet troops from Afghanistan. Mission accomplished in 1989. The land of the free and the brave sponsoring and promoting a terror outfit.  The monster comes back to drive them out in 2021. During these 20 years almost $3 trillion was spent with only a miniscule going to build hospitals, schools and much needed infrastructure.  Funds were splurged on state of the art weaponry and equipment- cheered on by the domestic military-industrial complex.  With generous cutbacks going to the defence contractors and their political patrons.

This super-power also exited Vietnam in ignominy in 1974. After dropping more bombs on Vietnam and Cambodia than in the entire second world war. Napalm was deployed to execute the scorched earth policy. Rivers were poisoned to kill civilians and livestock.  History is generally written by the winners. Here the loser cleverly covered up all the war crimes and misadventures.

Turn the clock back to the late 1930’s when Hitler’s Nazis started the most devastating war in human history-WW II. Italy, Spain played willing accomplices and second fiddle to the Fuhrer. Those long, dark, destructive days and the brutal genocide of 6 million Jews have been well documented. The War ended with the Americans dropping atomic bombs- Little Boy and Fat Man- on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.

All the hotspots in recent times have had the signature of the US and its Allies. That there were no WMD’s (Weapons of Mass Destruction) did not deter the old firm of Bush & Blair from toppling Saddam in Iraq with their eyes on the oil-fields.  Syria, Lebanon, Libya and the cursed land of Yemen- the tentacles go back to this Western bloc.  This is not to absolve Russia and the regional powers like Saudi Arabia and Iran who are equally complicit. But the First World nations have left these countries to a worse state and fate than when they first invaded. The geo-political chessboard has been played for ideology, hegemony, natural resources, trade routes and military bases. The Iron Curtain fell in 1989 but today the world is still a very divided and troubled place. The First World has not been the civilising influence it credits itself to be.

Colonial powers. UK, France, Spain, Portugal with vassal states across the world. The dream of an Empire has been a recurrent human theme throughout history. But the driving force was to exploit natural resources and wealth and cheap labour in the colonies and boast of a global footprint. “The Sun never sets on the British Empire.’ The plundering of minerals and crops, cruelty towards the native population and determined efforts to uproot local cultures and traditions are not even foot notes in the history books we read. It has all been white-washed.

Slave trade epitomises how the US, UK and other European empires manned their farms and mines and mansions. Even today statues of glorified and knighted slave merchants dot the United Kingdom. Some of the founding fathers of the US of A owned hundreds of slaves. Slaves were officially traded as cargo and even insured. Claims were paid for the goods lost at sea.  But the colonisers with their rich history are quick to lecture other nations on human rights. Smells of hypocrisy, right!!

Let’s turn back the page to August 1947 and the India-Pakistan independence story. PM Attlee announced in the House of Commons that the transfer of power would happen before June 1948. But Lord Mountbatten, wanted to have it done asap. The 3323 km border line was drawn by Radcliffe, a British lawyer, who had never been to the sub-continent and had no clue about the demography. The mammoth and complex task was completed by him and his team within 2 months in the cool environs of Shimla. IMAGINE!!! It does not take hindsight to see that the additional months would have been very valuable in communicating and planning for the inevitable cross-migration of 12-15 million people. Instead a million died in the panic and violence that erupted. The last Viceroy couldn’t care less. Nor did his political masters at the Whitehall.

The USA is deeply polarised country today. The Trump fan base of 30% voters are largely an alienated tribe who are at odds with their increasingly multicultural land. The main reason why the Brexiteers won was because Russian social media manipulators scared enough of the populace through images of immigrants flooding into their nation, from the hotspots of the Middle East, Africa and Asia.  France, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands (the cradle of liberalism) are sounding the bugle of a clash of civilisations and enacting restrictive laws and social measures. But all these happenings have not been a wake-up call for India and other developing nations . We continue with our mongrel behaviour of constantly putting ourselves down and lapping whatever criticism these elite western nations and their proxies throw at us.

The beacons of democracy. On the 6th Jan 2021 the US Capitol was attacked by an angry, vicious mob goaded on by President Trump who had lost the election and could not take it. This would have been sneered at as” a banana republic episode” in a third world country. But in the US of A the TV pundits kept sagely saying that ‘this is not who we are’ and the Trumpians even dismissed the rampaging crowd as tourists at the Capitol. The Caribbean island of Puerto Rico has been a territory of the United States since 1898 and its current President is Joe Biden. But Puerto Ricans remain second class citizens and have no representation and voting rights in the US Congress.  Again, with the most funded and militarised police force in the world in place, automatic guns are available and sold over-the –counter across the nation as a fundamental right to defend oneself.

Across continents, the patronising First World has propped up and supported despots, brutal dictators and puppet rulers. From the Shah of Iran, Libya’s Gaddafi, the Pakistani Generals, Marcos of the Philippines and so on and on. Else, a coup was orchestrated as the one to remove Allende in Chile. The UK grappled with the Irish problem for 70 years. For nearly 25 of those it was a violent cauldron of bomb attacks and guerrilla warfare- ruthlessly dealt with by the British forces. But hey, shrug, shrug. This was an internal matter of the United Kingdom and the English could deal with it.

The fault-lines of racism are now very evident in the fractured societies of the US and Europe. But these have been glossed over for decades as the developing world has been lectured on how to be civilised people. The lid has always been kept on the rape and murder of thousands of indigenous people in Canada. But now corpses of hundreds of native children have been recovered from many Catholic school sites. How many news channels carried this tragic story which played over from the 1890’s to the late 1970’s?!! PM Trudeau merely called for the Pope to apologise. Of course, the State had no role to play. News reports from France state that more than 300000 children have been abused over the last few decades by priests of the Catholic Church. The powerful Church protected its clergy from the law and order arms of the State. On the other side of the world in Australia the aborigines got a taste of hell in their own land as the white settlers discovered their paradise.

Yes, the Industrial Revolution took off in England and the technological one in the Silicon Valley. The world has benefitted in many, many ways. But not in the humane way. Many big brands in the west sourced their material and parts through sweat shops in the poorer countries.  Cheap and exploitative labour was the way to big profit margins.  Why, even in North America today, Amazon runs boot-camps with the workers having little time to pee. “Show me the Money,”  is the corporate war cry. As a whistleblower has recently revealed, Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook allowed disturbing messages and images to trend on their platforms as it made them astronomical profits. So what, if it inflamed some racial hatred and divisions or drove more suicides or even put democracy at risk. A lot of good has been done by the charitable Gates foundation. But the halo of the ultimate billionaire do-gooder has paled off. Bill Gates batted to protect the turf of big pharma at the height of Covid. Disparaging suggestions for low-cost generic vaccines to help the world battling the pandemic. And his curious association with the late sex trafficker and power broker Epstein. Presumably to help him get the Nobel Peace Prize.

In the movie ‘Wall Street’ Gordon Gekko says the famous lines, “Greed is good.” Sure. The top 1% of the US rich pay tax at a lower rate than any other segment of the society. In the rush to cover-up the origins of Covid 19 were many top scientists from Europe and the USA.  The stakes were too high. Billions of dollars for the Gain of Function research which possibly led to the leak at the Wuhan Lab in China. The 2008 US financial meltdown featured a lot of Gordon Gekko characters. Banks, Insurers, Wall Street Finance companies, housing corporates, credit rating agencies and big name audit firms all collaborating and looking the other way as the sub-prime and derivatives  fuelled crises unravelled. “Too big to fail” and the Government bailed them out. Deregulation of the financial markets from the Reagan years and lack of oversight caused the global crises. And the CXO’s walked away with fat bonuses as millions across the globe lost their jobs and pensions and savings.

The Volkswagen emission cheating scandal represented an ethical breakdown and would have shut-down a lesser Company. The German Government stepped in to bail out this auto-giant which was poised at becoming the largest in the world. High-level talks with the Americans, some big penalties and back to business as usual. What also came out was the European Union’s somewhat lax attitude in applying emission norms to vehicle manufacturers on the Continent.

Let’s come to the Panama Papers and its latest edition called the Pandora Papers. Most of the attractive tax-havens are in the West. Of course, the scenic Switzerland heads the list which has South Dakota in the US, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Lichtenstein… It’s not only the Colombian and Mexican drug lords or Russian oligarchs or the Arab Sheikhs or super-rich Indians stashing away their money through shell companies. The First World had long earned this rite of passage. It is also not surprising that the UK is a preferred destination for financial scamsters. Perhaps, the tough extradition laws appeal to these criminal fugitives. And  staying with Colombia and Mexico which are derided for their Narcos cartels. Guess which are the most lucrative markets for the drug peddlers??

We can go on and on. The corruption at the highest levels of FIFA. The systematic doping on the Tour de France. Match fixing in football at the Serie A in Italy. These are all malaises associated with ‘those other countries.’

Human nature is what it is. Power and greed corrupts and no nation or peoples are immune to it. India is a work in progress. A huge and complex nation. We have a surfeit of venal politicians and problems of poverty, un-employment, education and public health. Community and regional divides and the scourges of corruption, and casteism.  But we are only 75 years old as a nation and progress is also being made. The young generation will signal the tipping point through its confidence and aspirations.

However, to really discover its own identity India will have to work to protect and serve its interests. That is Realpolitik. Absorb good initiatives and ideas and learn from the failures and blunders. There are positive takeaways from countries in Asia, Africa, Oceania, Middle East and South America. As an emerging power, strive to be a more responsible force both domestically and on the global stage.

The bottom-line is that ideas and philosophies and policies are revisited and revamped or fine-tuned or discarded when actually challenged by ground realities. The world is changing and the struggles and evolution of each nation needs more empathy and a better understanding. The only path towards achieving the Greater Good on the planet.

What the ISMS!!!

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Photo by Jack Hunter on Unsplash

Let’s take a look at the Ideologies and Doctrines which have dominated discourses and radically shaped the world- geopolitically, economically, culture-wise- over the last 100 years. Whilst science and technology, IOT and social media have made today’s world a different place, in many ways we are stuck with the same ‘Isms’ albeit in variant forms. What the ‘ Isms’. Time to revisit these long-held and almost sacrosanct beliefs. Review how they have stood the test of time and actually fared in practice. Are they still effective and relevant or past their shelf-life.

I post this blog as a student and an observer. Recommend that you take it with A Fistful of Salt.

Capitalism, we have been told, is about free markets with limited government intervention. Defined by the profit motive of entrepreneurs and corporates, freedom of consumers to choose goods and services, fair competition(?),  flexible labour markets (!!), robust finance sector and free trade. The Capital of this ‘Ism’ is the USA. It has been said that if Wall Street sneezes the rest of the world catches a cold. The $ is the global and petro currency. From Europe to Japan to China and Saudi Arabia trillions of dollars have been invested in US Treasury bonds, real estates and the US stock market. Silicon Valley rules the roost in the IT of things. A galaxy of American brands shine over the world. At $ 22 trillion the US economy accounts for 25% of the world’s GDP. The wealthiest, most powerful nation in history. A roaring success, right???

Not quite. Almost 40% of the US population live in poverty. Another 10% hold on to 2 jobs to put food on the table and send the kids to school. The proportion of middle class (the weather bell index) has fallen below 50% over the last 5 decades. Real Income remains stagnant at the 1989 levels. More than 20% of the adults are illiterate. College grads carry a staggering burden of $ 1.3 trillion debt. Amongst developed nations the USA ranks a poor 15th in healthcare and services. Yet, yet … in 2020 the richest 400 Americans paid tax at a lower rate than any other section of the society.  Unbridled, deregulated capitalism was unleashed by the economist Milton Friedman and President Ronald Reagan. (Curiously around the same time the movie ‘Wall Street’ was released with the Gordon Gekko character saying, “Greed is Good.”) This led to the meltdown of 2008. The US government bailed out the ‘Too Big to Fail’ firms ($ 700 billion program) and their CXO’s walked away with fat salaries and bonuses. Sadly as millions across the USA and the world lost their jobs, pensions and homes. The corrupt nexus between Capitol Hill, the White House, Wall Street, the media houses and the Ivy League experts is out there for all to see.  As is the plight of a worker who does not even get the time to pee as he sweats to keep the line moving. Did I say minimum government intervention, earlier on. It is the irony of ironies that the Biden administration has got a $ 1.9 trillion relief bill passed to help out millions of ordinary Americans caught up in the Covid crises. The Federal administration as the Saviour. What the ISM!!!

The Russian Revolution of 1917 led by Lenin brought the Communist Manifesto into practice and it shook up the world. The doctrine quickly took over Eastern Europe, parts of Asia, spread to Africa and Latin America with Cuba becoming a flag bearer and a flash point. The footprint grew rapidly. A Communist State became a state that was administered by a single party-guided by the Marxist/Leninist/Maoist philosophy.

The captivating charm of this philosophy lay in its egalitarian, humane and idealistic welfare promises. A better socio-economic order. Remember the oft quoted definition of Communism, “a theory or a system where all property is owned by the State, where each person contributes according to their ability and gets according to their needs.” Intellectuals, academics and activists in Europe were swept away by the fervour. A few decades later the bearded guerrilla Che Guevera was romanticised around the world with his face adorning T shirts and jackets. As Chairman Mao had said, “Power flows from the barrel of a gun.” PM Nehru was a great admirer of the Soviet Union and the Stalinist 5 year plans. As the years rolled by, many in India- politicians, bureaucrats, professors, economists, writers and activists bought into the Vodka fuelled narrative. The hangover still lingers on. Only today the General Secretary of our communist parties sits in Delhi whilst the Chairman sits in Beijing.  West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura have had leftist governments with multiple tenures.

How did the Utopian ideal work on the ground. China’s stupendous economic growth over the last 40 years has been driven by a mutant Ideology. China and Russia still remain dominant military and nuclear powers. But after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has struggled with its economy which is heavily dependent on oil, natural gas and minerals. An embarrassing fall for a country which till 1989 was the other super-power. East European nations- earlier a part of the Iron Curtain- are still struggling to play catch-up with their Western neighbours. The case of the 2 Germany’s is stark and glaring. Even after nearly 4 decades of re-unification and an infusion-aid of $ 2 trillion, East Germany has twice the rate of unemployment and lags behind in wages to the extent of 20%-40%. The meltdown of the oil rich Venezuela is another example of the collapse of the command economy model. Castro’s Cuba has done well in health-care and education. As is the case with the Indian state of Kerala and esp. on the literacy front. The Naxalbaris of the late 60’s with their violent protests did augur in substantial land reforms in West Bengal. The State became a communist bastion for 3 decades. Today the Naxal movement has degenerated into domestic terrorism funded and armed by China and Pakistan. On the side, they have evolved into a Mafia group deep into an extortion and protection racket and illegal trading.

The only Communist wickets left standing are China, Cuba, Vietnam and North Korea. Vietnam’s economy is picking up pages from the Chinese model. North Korea is the worst embodiment of the communist practice- a Hermit Kingdom run by a cruel dictator, a wannabe nuclear power with millions living in poverty and misery. The really dark side of communism is not as freely discussed as it should be. Probably because so-called intellectuals and left leaning activists still control the narrative in India and many other parts of the world. Millions and millions have been brutally killed by the likes of Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot in Cambodia and the Dear Leaders in North Korea. Surprisingly, these mass murderers continue to be deified and have their portraits in Parliament Halls, Public offices and even Universities.

Let the final word rest with George Orwell’s classic ‘Animal Farm’ – the best unravelling of the Communist culture and state of mind. What starts of as the Utopian ideal of creating a paradise of progress, justice and equality where all are happy and free but fatally ignores the human weaknesses for power, control and greed. Alas, the revolution against tyranny leads to totalitarianism, just as terrible.

Deng Xiao Ping who followed Mao jettisoned the Great Leader’s Ideology. Sacrilege! His oft quoted mantra- “Black Cat. White Cat. What does it matter what colour the cat is so long as it catches mice.” Just 40 years later, China is the second largest economy in the world at GDP $15 trillion. In purchasing power parity (PPP) it has overtaken the USA. State Capitalism. The factory to the world. The capital of off-shoring.  Leveraging cheap labour to power the world’s largest brands and plants. Benefitting from and eating into the tech transfer. Transforming this huge country into the world’s largest market. But it continues to be governed with an iron fist by a single party with a strong man at the head. The cutting to size of Jack Ma of Alibaba fame shows who’s the Boss. This is Bian ti, the Chinese variant of capitalism. Ironically this rapid, exponential growth has rolled out because of the authoritarian regime. The Comrades have bulldozed their agenda through, lands and communities cleared overnight to set up factories and for infrastructure projects. No courts, no opposition, no activism.

This massive economic surge has propelled more than 30% Chinese into the middle-class., majorly in urban areas. Basic health-care insurance covers have been provided to all citizens.  Mandatory school education from the age of 6-15 years has also been a game changer.

But there is much that is hidden. The yuan is a tightly managed currency and the Communist Government manoeuvres to keep it low. Off late, there have been rumblings in the US and Europe about the theft of patents and IP rights. The Chinese have stolen everything from the formulae for drugs, technology for mobiles and blueprint for heavy equipment. The reason for joint ventures with a not so subtle aim to access state of the art Western and Japanese technology. And there is the controversial issue of large scale dumping- selling its oversupply in overseas and Indian markets, depressing prices and hurting indigenous manufacturing. There are many many secrets behind the Great Wall- forced labour from rural areas on construction sites, sweat -shop factory hubs and the origins of the Wuhan virus. The Comrades and Capitalists have much in common- Greed and a lust for power. Human nature being what it is. With Big Brother watching, corruption is rampant.

Europe is deemed to be the cradle of liberal thought and practice with England and France claiming to be at the vanguard of the movement. Liberalism can be broadly defined as a socio-economic and political philosophy which promotes democracy, civil rights and individual liberties and free enterprise. A liberal being a person with an open-mind -receptive to opinions, ideas and lifestyles different from one’s own. The report card has been impressive on the whole-voting rights for adult population, gender equality, marriage equality, racial equality, environmental justice, minimum wages and stipulated work conditions, labour unions and constitutionally limited and democratically elected governments.  Positive Progress.  But any thought, however virtuous and taken to the extreme can be counterproductive. Look at France today. Unregulated freedom of expression has sparked an outrage amongst millions of Muslim faithful around the world. On the other hand French liberals have reset themselves into the belief that these communities should espouse the values and culture of the country they are living in and integrate themselves into the mainstream to the extent possible. Now these are being implemented through laws. Across the continent also there are many European leaders and peoples who now believe that their way of life is being undermined and challenged by these migrants- The Other. Attitudes are hardening and suspicions are rising. Is this ‘The Clash of Civilisations’ as predicted by Samuel Huntington..

Also genuine liberal thought is on the wane. Reaching out to understand where the other is coming from is a rare occurrence. Objective and reasonable opinions and analysis based on sound research is no longer the norm. Self -proclaimed liberals and activists are often aligned to a political party or ideology or an NGO or a think tank with an agenda of its own.  Why are our progressive intellectuals silent on the mass persecution of Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang province of China.!!??  The basic premise of an open mind-set has long been jettisoned.  Even once trusted institutions like the BBC and The New York Times have lost a lot of credibility. The latter, for example, provides a platform and $money to discredited Indian journalists to vent their opinion and bias. No fact-checking. No one like Mark Tully (the famous BBC correspondent in Delhi) to deep-dive and ascertain the real situation. India and the world need the conscience-keepers and the sane and reasonable voices more than ever. May their tribe increase. However, liberalism has to reboot itself to be an effective influence and to resonate across borders.

For the concept of secularism, let us turn again to a French philosopher and sociologist Jean Bauberot and the French word ‘laicite’ with its anti-clerical roots.  It refers basically to the separation of State from religious institutions. No domination of the political sphere by any religious community or entity . Neutral State in an Open Society. In  increasingly plural and diverse nations Secularism seeks to maximise harmony and minimise conflict. Another exploration of the term brings out 3 core principles-institutional separation, freedom of conscience and belief and no discrimination on the grounds of religion. “These conditions allow for the competing concepts of the good life to be pursued in society.”

In practice, this philosophy ran into a lot of hurdles. The clarion call for Religion to be entirely excluded from the public square and manifest solely as a private matter remained a non-starter. Human nature being what it is and the power of religion being what it is. For centuries, the State and the Faith had fed off each other and used each other to consolidate their powers. It is to Dr Ambedkar’s credit that he realised the impracticality of introducing the word ‘secular’ in the Indian constitution. Mrs Gandhi added it in the year 1976 for political reasons and political capital. Taking a leaf from the playbook of our colonial masters, our GOP (Grand Old Party) mastered the art of Divide and Rule, Vote Bank politics and selective appeasement on regional or religious grounds. All political parties play the same psuedo secular card today. An idealistic and progressive Idea  remains unrecognisable – hijacked and manipulated beyond measure. In the Indian context we have to reclaim the soul and spirit of our secularism-Genuine tolerance for all religions rather than separation from the temporal – with a secure place for even non-believers.

At the global level also, Secularism has been resisted and derided. It is seen by many as a maligned Western concept. When the burkhas and veils were banned in many European nations the International Humanist and Ethical Union of the Middle East protested that this was not their secularism. The powerful Evangelical lobby in the USA supported the venal Trump to move the needle on their agenda- Anti abortion and anti LGBTQ. Even a much debated issue like Mercy Killing remains on hold because of the overlap of Religion and Public Policy. It took Independent India seven decades to ban a practice like the Triple Talaq, which had already been rejected by many Islamic countries. The issue is complex and sensitive. It is not helped by the fact that many religions have themselves fragmented into different denominations and there is even discrimination and hostility amongst some. As the churning in Europe demonstrates it is difficult to get all sides on board to agree to a common definition of Secularism for the Greater Good.

Another ‘ISM’ in currency is Internationalism- a political movement that advocates greater economic and political cooperation amongst nations of the world. It is meant to promote peace and security, economic stability and humanitarism. Organisations like the United Nations, World Bank, ASEAN, OECD, WTO, WHO, UNICEF are the tangible results of this thought. Single nation states cannot resolve systemic global issues like climate change, nuclear disarmament, cyber terrorism, global tax avoidance, pandemic and the catastrophe risk. These agencies have stepped in with varying degrees of success. For instance, climate change has been addressed through the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Accords. The latter had 195 signatories- a possible tipping point to take on this crisis. However the terms are not enforceable on the nation states and any progress is subject to the focus/ whims of the large and powerful signatories. President Trump withdrew the USA from the Paris Agreement and also the World Health Organisation. Likewise, the World Trade Organisation has to a large extent stabilised global trade through agreed upon terms which are fair and remove inequities amongst trading partners. It has also played a significant role in the reduction of trade protectionist policies. But the large scale dumping from China continues to disrupt other markets. The World Bank has helped nations recover after the global recession of 2008. Peace keeping forces have played a stellar role in controlling hostilities in war zones. The International Red Cross has gallantly stepped in during the Ebola pandemic and in providing humanitarian aid in war ravaged countries. The positives are many. International sports events like the Olympics and the football World Cup have connected countries like never before as have cultural exchanges like music, movies and cuisine.

The downside is also stark. The world is a more troubled place and new blocs are forming. There are many hotspots and prolonged localised wars. Yemen and Syria are truly cursed lands. The scourge of terrorism continues unabated. North Korea continues to be a nuclear rogue whilst the Iran deal may be back on the table. COVID 19 has again demonstrated as to how the rich countries call the shots. They have pre- booked and stocked the major supplies of vaccines and left the rest of the world to their own fate. The pandemic crisis has been gravely compounded by the WHO chief playing PR for the Chinese and playing down the gravity of the virus.

Colonialism did not die with the British Empire. The USA stepped in with its subtle model – leveraging on its 800 military bases across the globe, its industrial might and its control over the international finance agencies. China takes the baton forward in a refined form. The Belt and Road initiative is one with its expansionist dream of a great Chinese Empire. Pakistan and Sri Lanka and some East European and African countries will soon be reduced to debt-ridden vassal states. China will have unfettered access to raw materials, minerals, trade routes and markets. As British historian Mark Mazower aptly observes in his book ‘Governing the World’, “Internationalism was first and foremost a Euro-American project.  It was a gift the West promised to give the Rest but like all Gifts created its inadequacies and dependencies.” National Interests and ambitions of these dominant powers plus geo-politics will determine what the future of the global order will be. They guard the same with intense zeal. How else does one explain that India as the world’s largest democracy with a 1.3 billion population and the 6th largest economy in the world does not have a permanent seat at the UN Security Council.

And so we wait for the next great experiment which will enamour the world.  Hope it has Humanity at its core. Where basics like food, shelter, health, education, public utilities, law and order will co-exist with entrepreneurship and innovation, aspirations and wealth creation. Where quality of life will also factor in the Happiness Index. The signs are out there with Canada seriously debating about Universal Basic Income and New Zealand raising its minimum hourly wages and taxing its 2% super-rich at 39%. Hopefully, they will bridge the gap between theory and practice by factoring in human nature. And hark back to another Deng Xiao Ping mantra “Of crossing the river by touching the stones.”  Meaning gradual implementation of the reforms or models to know which policies produce favourable outcomes and which do not before they can be implemented across.