The Hindu Business Line : Where the mind is `not halved by a horizon'

Amartya Sen's whips up a `stirring read' in his book Identity and Violence which talks about how people can interact with each other in a great many different ways. And Ram Puniyani's Religion, Power and Violence discusses globalisation and religion in what D. Murali calls a sombre study for the final weekend of this fiscal.

Hello, human beings! Alas, nobody says that. Perhaps, because we are comfortable being seen as members of a group, such as of a profession, an interest, or a religious denomination.

In truth, we usually belong to more than one group. For instance, "The same person can be, without any contradiction, an American citizen, of Caribbean origin, with African ancestry, a Christian, a liberal, a woman, a vegetarian, a long-distance runner, a historian, a schoolteacher, a novelist, a feminist, a heterosexual, a believer in gay and lesbian rights, a theatre lover, an environmental activist, a tennis fan, a jazz musician, and someone who is deeply committed to the view that there are intelligent beings in outer space with whom it is extremely urgent to talk to (preferably in English)," writes Amartya Sen in Identity and Violence, from Penguin (www.penguin.com).

And his message is urgent too: that we can challenge turmoil and brutality by seeing clearly "that we have many distinct affiliations." We can "interact with each other in a great many different ways," instead of straitjacketing ourselves into one or the other identity. For, such a silo-mentality can only lead to "a sharp separation along one single hardened line of impenetrable division," reasons the Nobel Laureate.

His prologue alerts that such a fractured world will be no different from where `ignorant armies clash by night,' as Matthew Arnold portrays in Dover Beach. The preface paints a grimmer picture of `the miniaturisation of people' through `the illusion of a unique and choiceless identity,' be it of religion or culture. We are `inhabitants of a wide world,' not `inmates rigidly incarcerated in little containers,' insists Sen. So, get started by taking head-on `the violence of illusion' in chapter 1, where the author travels back to the 1940s to recollect "the speed with which the broad human beings of January were suddenly transformed into the ruthless Hindus and fierce Muslims of July." Violence is more graphically described in the final chapter, where Sen recounts his `first exposure to murder' at the age of eleven.

Sense of identity cuts both ways: on the one side, "an identity with others in the same social community can make the lives of all go much better in that community," leading to `social capital'; and on the other, it can dangerously exclude many, to make the world `much more flammable'. Does a solution to violence lie in suppressing all varied identities and calling ourselves one? No, because, `that we are not,' reminds Sen.

Though our ability to think may vary due to training and talent, "we can, as adult and competent human beings, question and begin to challenge what has been taught to us if we are given the opportunity to do so," argues the author of `The Argumentative Indian'. He says that choices don't go away just because there are cultural influences; "life is not mere destiny."

A chapter on `globalisation and voice' says that there is more to `antiglobalisation' movement than commonly perceived. The protesters come from all over the world, "not just local inhabitants of Seattle or Melbourne or Genoa or Edinburgh," points out Sen. `Borderless discontent' is a major global phenomenon, he cautions. "It is hard to miss the powerfully inclusive idea of belonging that moves so many people to challenge what they see as unfairness that divides the world population." According to Sen, `antiglobalisation critique' could well be `the most globalised moral movement in the world today'. The concluding chapter wonders why `the cultivation of singularity is so successful'. Sen postulates thus: "The martial art of fostering violence draws on some basic instincts and uses them to crowd out the freedom to think and the possibility of composed reasoning," even as it rations "exactly one identity per human being."

Sen's `possible world' is one that goes beyond `the economics and politics of globalisation'. He visualises that values, ethics, and sense of belonging would shape our conception of the global world. Reminds one of lines from Rabindranath Tagore's Gitanjali: "Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls; ... Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit."

Has such a world come true? "Rabindranath would be shocked by the growth of cultural separatism in India, as elsewhere," rues Sen in `Tagore and His India' (The New York Review), posted on http://nobelprize.org. Tagore's prayer was for a mind without fear. In Sen-speak, such a mind would perhaps be "not halved by a horizon." Stirring read.

Darkened scars, that none can borrow

Before leaving the torn world to patch up on its own, which it won't, catch up with Religion, Power and Violence, edited by Ram Puniyani, from Sage (www.indiasage.com). He is professor in biomedical engineering, at the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, and also secretary of Centre for the Study of Society and Secularism.

"Today, one is witness to the presence of religion in the social space all around," laments Puniyani. What adds to our difficulties is that it is often difficult "to decipher what is being said when religion is being talked about." Of greater influence than the ritualistic, experiential, doctrinal, mythical, and ethical dimensions of religion is the clergy, because "they function as the final authority of the religion." An essay on `globalisation and communalism' by V. Krishna Ananth argues that the real beneficiary of liberalisation has been the middle class, constituting about 10-15 per cent of the population. Disturbingly, "Communal rhetoric appeals to this section more than anywhere else."

Thomas Sebastian says that terrorism and imperialism are `two sides of the same coin'. He warns that the US imperialism has `repeatedly made use of death squads, dirty wars, and terrorist assassinations in its struggle against popular movements'. Imperialist powers are not going to fight terrorism in general, says Sebastian. "They will only fight the terrorism of their rivals... They do not want to end terrorism, but to monopolise it."

Writing on the gender angle, Vibhuti Patel narrates depressing tales of hardship, and witch hunting. For instance, "Fundamentalists perceive female-headed households as an eyesore and make all efforts to persecute, stigmatise, isolate, marginalise, and terrorise deserted, divorced, single and separated women leading an independent, economically self-sufficient life with dependent children or senior citizens." Patel cites a poignant poem by Lara Jesani about the women victims of communal carnage. "Timeless moments, of unending sorrow, darkened scars, that none can borrow... " Sombre study for the final weekend of the current fiscal.

Economics@TheHindu.co.in