The Hindu Business Line : Democracy makes all the difference to economies

China's growth is faster than India's but will this necessarily translate into better development, asks Guy Sorman in The Year of the Rooster. For an escape from massacred markets, go back in time to witness `the clash of ancient civilisations' in Rome and Jerusalem, or savour Grecian philosophy in Ancient Greek Philosophy: Thales to Gorgias.

"When China awakens, the world will tremble." With this quote of Napoleon Bonaparte opens The Year of the Rooster, by Guy Sorman (www.atfullcircle.com). "The world will tremble because the myth of China is far more potent than her reality," he writes. Fears are fed on fantasies, while the reality on the ground is far less awesome, promises Sorman.

The book is based on the author's interactions with `free spirited Chinese', `from January 2005 to January 2006, the Year of the Rooster, according to the Chinese calendar'. He listens to `the voice of the common man in China' to know what 95 per cent of the Chinese population thinks. Sorman's findings can be disturbing: "The Chinese people do not like the Communist Party and the vast majority wish for a less corrupt, more equitable regime. An infinitesimal number of people have benefited from economic development; for most Chinese, the feeling of deep seated injustice is far greater than the hope for a better tomorrow."

In chapter 1, you'd meet `the dissenters' such as Wei Jingsheng, who claims `he can feel the pulse of the people better than any journalist or diplomat in Beijing'. Wei is of the view that for too long, `communist leaders have twisted tradition and Confucianism to suit their own ends'. The teachings of Confucius can be interpreted in any way one wants. They can be used to oppress the people or guarantee their rights, he explains. Another `dissenter' is Liu Di, a student in her twenties, whose cyber nom de plume is `stainless steel mouse'. Sorman narrates: "She translates into Chinese texts of dissident writers from the former communist Europe... The security department had deemed her to be dangerously subversive."

Calling democrats dissidents is `reductionist', says Sorman. "These `dissidents' are not marginal but speak for the entire Chinese nation." To the author, these are `extraordinary men and women', who spread the message of democracy, `are the pride of China, perhaps its future'.

In a chapter titled `Wild Grass', Yan, a journalist fighting the censors, offers `a novel explanation for the corruption' in the country: That the Chinese leaders, who are the only ones who know what is really happening in the country, have come to the conclusion that the days of the party are numbered, and so are trying to get rich as quickly as possible. "They now own entire Chinese localities in San Francisco, Hawaii and Vancouver."

One learns that there are two newspapers in China: one for public consumption and the other for party cadres. In the former goes a rosy picture with `dynamism, vitality and enthusiasm' as key words, `orchestrated by the Propaganda Department', thus: "Every ten days it sends a note to news editors with a list of subjects to be taken up, the manner in which they are to be dealt with as well as a list of subjects that are taboo. It also contains the names of heroes to be lauded, both past and present. This note is usually displayed prominently in newspaper offices." The other version, the `internal reference publication', has stories on `peasant uprisings, workers' revolts, assaults on cadres and policemen, factory managers killed by workers, Falun Gong demonstrations in the US, Chinese banks on the verge of bankruptcy, ecological disasters and imminent epidemics'.

Democracy makes all the difference, declares Sorman, in a section that compares India with China. "The Indian peasant has some hope of getting electricity, roads, schools and dispensaries in his village. Villagers in China have no such hopes. The Indians vote, the Chinese don't." Yet another major difference the author highlights is the preference in India towards decentralised activities such as the service sector and IT (information technology), while China has a predilection for industry.

"China's growth is faster than India's but will this necessarily translate into better development?" asks Sorman. "A poor person in India with the same income as a poor person in China may be richer in fact because he still has his religion and traditions. One has preserved what the other has been deprived of."

A book to roost with.

Law as a scholarly form

Let us shift our attention from economies at odds to `the clash of ancient civilisations' that Martin Goodman writes about in Rome & Jerusalem (www.landmarkonthenet.com). Travel backwards, therefore, by nearly two thousand years, to find out why, in 70th era of the Christian Era, `the great city of Jerusalem, one of the most magnificent and renowned of its day, and, for Jews, the centre of all their aspirations, both religious and national, was devastated by Roman forces after a terrible siege'. Gory descriptions follow, and if you would prefer an escape, the `lifestyles' chapter can offer respite with its narration of the many pleasures that Romans indulged in.

There were `less expensive' pleasures too. "For the erudite, there was the cerebral pleasure of hearing readings... Public readings of new works were popular occasions in certain elite circles." Also, amateur singing and dancing were a common feature of `the everyday life of ordinary Romans of all classes'.

Life was far different in the land of the Jews. "Public spectacle was centred around the Temple, rather than entertainments in theatre or circus. Intellectual debate took place between religious enthusiasts rather than orators and philosophers. And the rhythms of the city followed the Temple calendar, the whole populace hushed at rest each Sunday... "

Both Romans and Jews had a fascination for laws, notes a chapter on `government'. Laws were a scholarly form, with `jurists elaborating ever more complex scenarios'. Such as this snatch would show: "If the tailor had left over thread sufficient to sew with or a piece of cloth three fingerbreadths square, these belong to the householder." Sounds like the tax law?

Rhetoric to persuade others of anything

It is natural to get philosophical at the end of a day that saw the Sensex tank more than 600 points. So, here is Ancient Greek Philosophy: Thales to Gorgias, by Vijay Tankha (www.pearsoned.co.in). The book starts with Thales of Miletus, who is said to have taught the Egyptians how to measure the height of the pyramids, and ends with Gorgias, the master of rhetoric.

"Socrates gets Gorgias to admit that the kind of persuasion that rhetoric deals with has little to do with teaching or instruction (and thereby with truth) but simply with getting people to believe in whatever it is the rhetor wants them to," writes Tankha. Gorgias considered rhetoric to be `a great power and therefore of immense benefit to the one who has such a skill, for he can persuade others of anything'. For: "There is no subject on which the rhetorician could not speak more persuasively than a member of any other profession whatsoever, before a multitude. So great, so strange, is the power of this art."

Aristotle would define rhetoric as `the faculty of discovering the possible means of persuasion'. While medicine deals with health and sickness, and geometry with number, rhetoric `appears to be able to discover the means of persuasion in reference to any given subject'.

Lot of rhetoric is around. `Iran deplores British rhetoric,' says www.presstv.ir. `More apocalyptic rhetoric from Ahmadinejad,' opines www.judeoscope.ca. `When the roads are full, empty rhetoric's no help,' frets www.theglobeandmail.com. Financial Times speaks of `protectionist rhetoric' that has shocked the European Union's competition commissioner, and UN Observer works on `closing the gap between rhetoric and reality'.

Also, there is ample rhetoric to explain why the index fell the way it did.

Interesting reads, even as interest rate gyrations promise to wreak havoc on the charts.

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