India is surrounded by neighbors with problems - big ones. As usual there are two sets of people - powerful and powerless. The powerful get greedy and forget that "with power always comes responsibility" (quote by Uncle Ben of Spiderman). They pick on the powerless. Encouraged by their dirty/easy success, they push the powerless to a corner.
In China, the powerless (Tibetian theocracy) dealt oppression with Gandhian non-violence. Whether they had any other choice is left for the historians to dissect. But Gandhian non-violence makes some basic assumptions - the oppressor has a conscience, the oppressor cares for his image in international politics. Attaining moral high ground was in itself the greatest weapon. for the oppressed. Unfortunately in this case, neither assumptions hold. Result: total failure.
In Srilanka, the powerless (Lankan Tamil) cornered themselves in the north and carved their own territory and exercised their God given right to equality. In guise of exercising their right, they violated the the Lankan right of national sovereignty. Perhaps, this was situation for which Gandhian non-violence was a tailor made solution. A democratically elected government was there. There was tamil representation in the electoral process. Yet, things got out of hand. There powerless we quite resourceful too... and hence became powerful in their own back yard. There started a new problem with in the bigger problem. The LTTE (the new powerful) estranged themselves from the common tamilian (still powerless). There are two powerful groups fighting against each other while the real powerless suffers. Result: total failure.
In Pakistan, the 3 groups of people are the cunning, the stupid and the intelligent. The cunning are running the government (and hence powerful) and intelligent are all in jail (physically or ideologically). Those who are neither counted as cunning nor as intelligent form the biggest group - the stupid who are stupid enough to repeatedly vote the cunning (either this one or that one) into power. They (the stupid - technically oppressed) have chosen the path of indifference to deal with their problems. They don't care if their own go hungry as long as they can see Indians in trouble. The rogues (the cunning) have managed to evoke such strong emotions among the stupid. Result: laughable failure
In most of Africa, there is very less differentiating the oppressor and the oppressed. In the grand scheme of things (world wide), they are both oppressed. The rest of world (developed world) is looting the continent of its resources with out it even realizing it. Immediate annihilation of perceived enemy tops the agenda of every warlord - leading to frequent violence, stagnant development. If every body involved just step back about 200 years and find reasons for their present state - they would all unite against the common enemy. The industrial world. Instead, their solutions (or even approach towards it) have always been short sighted and shows evidence of tunnel vision. Result: Pitiable failure
Putting that in perspective... in India, we have all sorts of problems - small ones. But none of those problems have grown out of proportion. We have all the makings of a colossal screw up. Yet, we do not fail. We are one of the success stories of recent times. One reason I can think of for this failure to fail is the lack of conviction. Indian rogues lack the conviction to do substantial evil and thank GOD (everybody's) for that.
In China, the powerless (Tibetian theocracy) dealt oppression with Gandhian non-violence. Whether they had any other choice is left for the historians to dissect. But Gandhian non-violence makes some basic assumptions - the oppressor has a conscience, the oppressor cares for his image in international politics. Attaining moral high ground was in itself the greatest weapon. for the oppressed. Unfortunately in this case, neither assumptions hold. Result: total failure.
In Srilanka, the powerless (Lankan Tamil) cornered themselves in the north and carved their own territory and exercised their God given right to equality. In guise of exercising their right, they violated the the Lankan right of national sovereignty. Perhaps, this was situation for which Gandhian non-violence was a tailor made solution. A democratically elected government was there. There was tamil representation in the electoral process. Yet, things got out of hand. There powerless we quite resourceful too... and hence became powerful in their own back yard. There started a new problem with in the bigger problem. The LTTE (the new powerful) estranged themselves from the common tamilian (still powerless). There are two powerful groups fighting against each other while the real powerless suffers. Result: total failure.
In Pakistan, the 3 groups of people are the cunning, the stupid and the intelligent. The cunning are running the government (and hence powerful) and intelligent are all in jail (physically or ideologically). Those who are neither counted as cunning nor as intelligent form the biggest group - the stupid who are stupid enough to repeatedly vote the cunning (either this one or that one) into power. They (the stupid - technically oppressed) have chosen the path of indifference to deal with their problems. They don't care if their own go hungry as long as they can see Indians in trouble. The rogues (the cunning) have managed to evoke such strong emotions among the stupid. Result: laughable failure
In most of Africa, there is very less differentiating the oppressor and the oppressed. In the grand scheme of things (world wide), they are both oppressed. The rest of world (developed world) is looting the continent of its resources with out it even realizing it. Immediate annihilation of perceived enemy tops the agenda of every warlord - leading to frequent violence, stagnant development. If every body involved just step back about 200 years and find reasons for their present state - they would all unite against the common enemy. The industrial world. Instead, their solutions (or even approach towards it) have always been short sighted and shows evidence of tunnel vision. Result: Pitiable failure
Putting that in perspective... in India, we have all sorts of problems - small ones. But none of those problems have grown out of proportion. We have all the makings of a colossal screw up. Yet, we do not fail. We are one of the success stories of recent times. One reason I can think of for this failure to fail is the lack of conviction. Indian rogues lack the conviction to do substantial evil and thank GOD (everybody's) for that.
