Hind Swaraj : In The Context of Globalization |
Dr. Chandrajeet Kaur
Decalogues
- a very moving and important series of ten films by the legendary Polish
filmmaker, Krzysztof Kieslowskie, begins with the heart-rending story of a
rationalist father, who believes that the universe is structured according
to strict scientific principles and that every human action and reaction can
be quantified into measurable units. He tries to train his philosophically
inclined nine-year-old son in accordance with his ideal of a
precision-driven universe, and attempts to give logical answers to the boy’s
questions regarding the nature of life and death. The Computer, in the film
becomes the ultimate God, who can provide answers to all questions if the
accurate data is fed into it. At the end of the film, the father is
devastated by the sudden and inexplicable death of this boy, which is the
result of a gross miscalculation on the part of the Computer, into which all
the relevant data had been fed. The film, thus, end with a big question mark
on what Mahatma Gandhi, in his 1909 book ‘Hind Swaraj’ called ‘modern
civilisation’.
First, a brief introduction to this little
book, which is so basic to Gandhian Thought and Ideology today. Written
frantically in just fifteen days on board ship from London to South Africa
in 1909, when he was returning from a failed mission to placate the
extremists of the freedom movement in England, Hind Swaraj was also the
result of his successful experiment with satyagraha in the context of the
situation in South Africa. Its avowed aim, in Gandhiji’s own words was ‘a
condemnation of modern civilisation’.
In an age that has made such remarkable
progress in science and technology most of his ideas seem anachronistic and
outdated. In the present scenario of globalisation in which the world has
shrunk to a global village, where information is available at the click of a
mouse, in which revolutionary changes have taken place in medicine,
astronomy, physics, it might shock the uninitiated reader that Hind Swaraj
advocates the abolition of all that is associated with ‘progress’, and
singles out railways, doctors and lawyers as particularly harmful to the
rightful development of the human race. He defines true civilisation as
‘sabhayata’ or good conduct - ‘that mode of conduct, which points out to man
the path of duty. Performance of duty and observance of morality are
convertible terms. To observe morality is to obtain mastery over our mind
and passions.’ On the other hand Western or modern civilisation is harmful
because ‘people living in it make bodily welfare the object of living.’
There are four specific counts on which Hind Swaraj critiques modern
civilisation:
Globalisation, which has become almost a
synonym for modern civilisation is a process that is deeply connected with
scientific and technological development. In the resurgent capitalistic
ideology that has re-emerged from the fall of communist regimes all over the
world, the idea of ‘socialism’ itself has been suspect even in India. The
advantages of globalisation seem to be so obvious that it is only recently
that it has been open to criticism. Any basic definition of the term is in
fact a valorization of it:
‘Globalisation symbolizes a world in motion
providing people with resources to new ways of being human in the fast
changing world…[it] ceaselessly cuts across national boundaries; it involves
flows of goods, capital, people, information, ideas, images and risks across
national borders, combined with the emergence of social networks and
political institutions’ [Jognand and Michael, 2006:1]. It has also been
defined by Stanley Hall as ‘integrating and connecting cultures and
communities in new space-time combinations’, [Hall, 1996:619].
But, along with its much acclaimed advantages,
the process of globalisation is also a very exclusivising one: the global
village it has in its present ethos entails ‘growing unemployment due to
inability of smaller industries to compete with the international industrial
firms, loss of livelihood for traditional artisans and craftsmen, migration
of people from their original environment for livelihood [Jognand and
Michael, 2006:5]. As Nash says ‘multiple corporations have consolidated and
extended an already existing post-colonial division of labour, since they
mainly operate from the developed world and take advantage of cheap labour
and resources in the under-developed parts of the globe’ [Nash, 2000: 49].
Hind Swaraj, as early as 1909 had sounded a warning on this aspect of modern
civilisation. – that the spread of western civilisation was responsible for
the impoverishment of the colonised nations and that a western hegemony
could be established even in a country with such a rich cultural heritage as
India:
‘Indeed, our gods even are made in Germany.
What need, then, to speak of matches, pins and glassware? What did India do
before these articles were introduced? Precisely the same should be done
today’[HS] ‘They wish to convert the whole world into a vast market for
their goods’.
The civilisation that we have adopted has
helped us to ‘build better houses, wear long trousers, carry revolvers,
plough vast tract by means of steam engines and can amass great wealth.
..Press buttons for various amenities.
…Formerly, men worked in the open air only as
much as they liked. Now thousands of workmen meet together and for the same
of maintenance work in factories or mines. …They are obliged to work, at
the risk of their lives, at most dangerous occupations, for the sake of
millionaires. …Formerly, men were made slaves under physical compulsion.
Now they are enslaved by temptation of money and of the luxuries that money
can buy.[HS].
It is in this context that Gandhiji calls for
a halt to the growth of mills and the spread of railways in Hind Swaraj. He
believes that railways have increased the risk of famines and starvation
among the native population because goods are sold in markets that give the
highest rates. This raises the very important question of local requirements
versus the global market. Just as global markets are destroying local
enterprise, the locomotive ability of the human race is destroying the
humanitarian spirit because it does not look after the needs of the local
population. Similarly, the rise of mills in the early part of the 20th
century destroyed the handicrafts of India and led to the impoverishment of
the local artisans. This is a phenomenon that has got a further impetus
because of the opening up of foreign markets, and more so the opening up of
the Indian consumer markets to foreign goods. The fact that lamps and
crackers for festivals like Diwali are available at very cheap rates in our
country today show that our own labour force lies impoverished. It is in
this context that the idea of swadeshi, which is so central to Gandhian
thought, assumes special significance in a globalised world. The charkha,
which once symbolised the mass participation of the poorest of the poor in
the freedom struggle, can today be recast as the image of the rights of the
local populations as against the onslaught of global economic policies. This
is how Gandhian ideology is constantly revived and reinvented.
Modern medicine is another aspect of modern
civilisation that comes under fire in Hind Swaraj. Doctors, who seem
essential to the comfortable life today, are seen as pure evil in the
Gandhian world view: His attack on doctors is three pronged - They take care
of just the body and try to cure the body of diseases. This makes human
society more negligent of its life style. It seems prophetic that Gandhiji
could put his finger on the pulse of the problem at such an early stage.
Today, it is being increasingly acknowledged that most of the diseases that
are rampant are related to life style and to unhealthy food habits. Since
most painkillers are available over the shelf, and can even be ordered on
the net, we ignore the need to maintain a healthy life style because cure is
so easily available. Prevention is better than Cure,’ a very modern mantra
is what Gandhiji has emphasised in his attack on doctors. Doctors, says
Gandhiji, weaken the spirit by pampering the body. Next, animal vivisection
is an accepted medical practice in western civilisation that we have
adopted, even though no religion sanctions such cruelty; and with the
awakening of the consciousness of animal rights and the need to allow
animals to live with dignity and not make them pawns in the constant
experimentation for more effective pain alleviators for human beings have
become central issues in a world that has recognised the need to provide a
space for all the inhabitants of the earth to maintain the ecological
balance of the planet. That is why alternative systems of medicine are
becoming more acceptable and popular today – and Ayurveda and Yoga are
coming back to us in a big way, even though they are making a comeback
through the West itself. |