Saswat Pattanayak
Hi Saswat,
Your inclusion of female Buddha quote, "... the Tibetans used to endure living conditions worse than slaves. Before being incorporated into Communist China, Tibetans did not even have slightest of medical care and they were largely considered as illiterate serfs. ..." can be compared to Neo-Imperialist think tank which believes colonisation of India by Britishers was good for the development of India. Doesn't this reek of "Holier than thou" approach...
Will it be agreeable on colonisation of Iraq by America under the guise of liberating it from religious and ethnic fundamentalisim.
I could not continue on the article beyond this
Sanjay,
I could not read your comment beyond your conclusions either.
Nowhere did I say British rule was good for India or American invasion was good for Iraq. Quite the contrary, in fact. Your equating a communist rule with a colonial rule is part of your misgivings on general world history. I am sorry about that.
Saswat
Hi Saswat,
My point was external rule (Colonial or Communist) through subjugation.
I am also a by product of Indian education system and my (mis)givings on general world history is unavoidable. I am open to learn more of factual/alternate world history.
Dear Sanjay,
Thank you for your comment.
"Indian" education system has also produced many a great critical thinkers from Debi Prasad Chattopadhyaya to Vijay Prashad and I am proud of such a heritage. And in contrast, one of the bestselling books on history (mis)givings is published right here in the US called "Lies My Teachers Told Me".
If you are genuinely open to learning more of alternate world history, the primary step is to avoid the trap of nationalistic quintessence or of a cultural purity. A notion of a nation is a privileged tool in the hands of the ruling class. Once you understand this, you will not be clubbing together both colonialism and communism within the same bracket.
As an world economic system, capitalism- with an aim to consolidate private capital and monopoly- perpetuates colonialism (Indian subcontinent or Iraq today) or in the Sartrean sense, a neocolonialism (Algeria after France). In contrast, communism- with an aim to eliminate private capital in the hands of few- combats colonialism or in the recent manifestations, the imperialistic tendencies.
A perfect addition to your critical readings will be Howard Zinn's "People's History of the United States", or closer home, Irfan Habib's edited series on "A People's History of India". These books do address history from the working peoples' perspectives than from elite ruling classes'.
As regards, "external" rule, before I touch upon that subject, let me clarify that there is nothing which is essentially "internal" unless it serves the purpose of the landowning ruling class. Although it is true that a Communistic presence has always been indigenous (even in Afghanistan with Dr Najibullah or anywhere else with their uniquely varying leaderships), and capitalistic intention (such as McDonald's or Pepsi-cola) has always been expansionistic, I would still advocate for eliminating the issue of national boundaries only if the goal of such "influence" is for betterment of the working poor of the whole world.
Since you are asking these genuine questions with an intent to address global "problems" (and not merely rejoice at everything as going perfectly well in progression), I must congratulate you on doing so. What remains to be done is to put down a philosophy that you think has the capability of ensuring that in our world of the billionaires, we can strive towards redistributing the wealth and natural resources so as to eradicate the obvious crisis we face today.
When we envisage to do the same in a "systematic" and planned manner, we rely on one philosophy or the other or create one of our own. I have chosen my side after much careful analysis of the theoretical grounds. Although on the pragmatic side there are more odds, there is no denying the fact that the hope must be allowed to prevail. The goal is for the people to take back their lands from the corporate profiteers. Its the only way. There is no time for merely philosophizing, or arguing as though there are doubts left in this world of the wretched. We just need to be more equipped. In our minds to be more empowered with critical knowledge and organizational acumen.
Hi Saswat. I wonder if read Zizek's critique of the Tibetian protests. I enjoyed reading your blog and would be interested in seeking some sort of collaboration.
Do get in touch.
There are many foreign nationals including Henry Kisenger cultivated by Chinese to propagate their propaganda, myth and Chinese communism.
There is no doubt that either guy is Han Chinese posing as Indian or Indian communist on Chinese propaganda pay roll.
Saswat thanks you for commenting!
