On Australianness:An Ode to a Lost Bosom

Time to Excoriate the Lucky Country Myth: An Ode to a Lost Bosom The public commentary on Australia's explicit apology to its Aborigines-an interesting admixture of exuberance , mania and dollops of sobriety-perhaps warrants a revisit of the lucky country myth:one that has offered a beguilingly facile interprtetation of Australia's evolution into a self assured nationhood.These reactions - perhaps natural and inevitable for nations which reach plenitude-have brought into focus the varying perspecives that the denizens of contemporary Australia hold of their collective self.All in all a salutary and sanguine condition which nonetheless carries some cautionary overtones too.Cautionary because of the redactive nature of the commentary that plays down some very signifiant aspects of Australian history and ,of course ,in the process playing up of the miseries that visited Australias wounded civilization, its Aborigines.The media commentary in some senses is ahistorical and redective though.And the sociological and anthropological insights it offers into the nature of the Aboriginal condition do not appear to be very germane.One can excuse the reductivesness on account of being written as columns.The larger point(s), however, that this enthusing commentary and reaction raises go right to heart of contemprorary Australia: a nation that has attained plenitude and is on the cusp of a higher destiny and pedestal.One which defies the crude caricature and stereotype of it being a 'lucky country' and one which offers a testimony to the genius of its people(s).Now these sets of assertions need to be put into a perspective by setting forth a very brief overview of Australian history.This detour may enable us to gain a better handle on the true nature of Australian historys' victims ,survivors and pioneers and in the process, hopefully , chart or point to the future that awaits it. First ,a a note on the nature of the self exculpatory apology or the intense emphasis on it.A word of caution is called for here:exuberant or manic urges towards , for want of a better word, self loathing and holding the collective unconscious of a generation culpable in 'crimes' committed by either default or design by preceding generation is a tad rich.That is to say, it is unhealthy.Simply.The self acclaimed diagnosticians of the Australian condition should deem not it to be the balm that creates healthy amnesia.I have in mind here the stigma and embarassment that many Australians carry as part of their unfortunate legacy.It, counterintuitively may create self loathing individual or personalities.It may not be as crude as the Ned Kelly or the Bush Ranger iconography but nonetheless is not a healthy antidote.Now let us return to the overview of Australia's history and the apology.The rubric under which it(apology) has been offered is too broad and reductive:it implicates , I repeat generations of , for wanr of a better word settlers who , partly on account of the wretched and abominable conditions, they found themselves in and partly out of fear of the unknown and the 'strange' may have rendered the existence of a peoples difficult and untenable.Lest I be misunderstood here, this assertion is by no means intended to exonerate.Neither is it not meant to demean or discount the sufferings of a culture or peoples who continue to bear the brunt of the past or history.The larger point is to accord credit where it is due and apportion blame where needed or required in due measure Australia's history and success in forging a polity that could be righlty called the envy of the world testifies to its hard and well earned nationhood. Its existence as nation and state or state nation is , as perhaps we all know is owed to the very harsh dialectic that defined the conditions of its 'transported' peoples-the , if one may borrow an expression and invert it , the Wretched of the Earth.That is, peoples who , initially ,on account of their social and economic position in a class riven society, and, later 'political crimes' were pushed onto a territory that could best be described , crudely, as a 'hell hole'.Dante's inferno , in fact ,may be more apposite and germane here.The journey to this inferno was no by no means a first class one.One need not go into vivid detail here.Now rendering a penal colony , though a painful and involuted process, into an entity that could be called a nation at a later point in time can be nothing but a tribute to these experimented upon 'refuse' of class riven and snotty pre colonial Britain.The aim here is not to whitewash crimes or attrocities but to put, briefly ,the historical journey or trajectory of Australia into a sober perspective. These entrepreneurs -doughty and fiesty- forged a country out of nothing amid the most difficult circumstances and conditions , to repeat myself here.So much so that one is strained to find parallels(if any) in the modern epoch of such an exercize in nation building.Australia, for instance, does not appear to have had either the advantage of a sophisticated elite that could will a nation into being or 'imagine ' it.Or enjoy a geopolitical vantage point or interest ,which played such a crucial role in the forging of most other nations .Neither was it the crucible or arena where overhwhelming religious energy (and zeal)of warring Christian sects or denominations denoued or panned out and by default led to an entity that could claim nationhood.It(Australia) thus is what it is : a nation forged out of a penal colony through a dialectic and painful process of trial and error.The brief nature of this essay does not lend itself to laying out examples or instances of these processes. One may in the interests of brevity posit that the theme that emerges out of this Australian odyssey is that of forging a habitable milieu over a period of time, which in turn morphed into into a nation or state or state and nation depending on ones point of view of the penal colony.And that serendipity had no room in project Australia.An ancillary but more remaarkable theme that may be called Australianness that emerges from Australia's history is an innate ability-with spasms of periodic angst and vituperation against the'outsider and the strange and the exotic '-to constanty redefine and reinvent itself: a gift that very few nations or societies are blessed with. This process, to say the least, has been painful.Innumerable victims were exacted in or through this painful transition into a normal society and polity.The tolls were both psychological and physical-the ones who survived were a scarred people who could not escape easily the traumas that transportaion and the subsequent travails entailed.And what jarred with for the fruits of the penal colony were the strigmas and taboos associated in their Australianness-a stigmatizing terms pregnant with taboo' s.The doughty Australians nonetheless excoriated ,to an extent, these stigmas and went about forging a polity and nation that accorded them a history that, howsoever, scarred , and a destiny, they could call their own.The continuation of this remarkable and unusual journey towards self determination and self discovery continues and is the real genius of Australia and its peoples.The apology to aboriginals is but a continuation on this theme at one level and a panning out or the birth pangs of Australias new collective self. Now let us turn to the apology.Or more accurately the commentary on the apology or the recieved opinion.First, the sociological and anthropological insights that this commentary offers into the nature of the Aboriginal condition does not appear to be very germane..The aboriginals have been referred to as either custodians of the land that the 'settlers' found or inhabtitants of the land and the transported peoples as colonizers and settlers.The truth may lie somewhat in the middle.That is to say, that this rubric or umbrella of clubbing together aboriginals, 'settler's and or 'colonials' and the dichotomizing them neatly may not hold.The blighted 'scum' and their tormentors- the soldiers or and the sailors were never a monolithic group.(Eminent and distinguished historians hold that even the benighted conditions of the place where they landed did not suffice to hold them together as a group).Hence is rendered the colonial theory or calculated or pre meditated genocide theory rather spurious). Now let us examine the claims put forth on behalf of the aborigines.The claim that Aboriginals did refer to or deem themselves as custodians of the land dos not lent itlsef to sober examination.They are -with due respect to their cultural legacy and rights-inherent wanderers.A settled life is inimical to them-the unsalubrious effects of exposure to western diet, for instance, may be a good example of this.Their tribal mores and ways of life render them if they can be classified as tribes more or less a sub culture that may be happy or content within a space accorded to them by the broader society.Ths does not imply marginalization or exclusion but rather an acceptance of a different way or life.Call it cultural relativism if you.In fact, this mey be better for thier wounded pride that the alternative:tokenism and symbolism.Historically their encounter with the 'white race' has been rife with conflict and an inability to understand the premises that undergird the broader host society rendering them in the process ope to abuse and exploitation.Now this condition may be obviated, if I venture into the domain of offering suggestions and pointers by offering these people a space-cultural and political- of thier own-under the umbrella or rubric of the broader polity and society.Then , of course, the onus also or may largely fall on them to prove themselves a rightful and prideful and dignified members of the Australian firmament.The alternatives -paternalism and symbolism -may render the apology either infructous(by default) or in a trenchant counterdenouing pathos , a parody. Now this potential that I have identified may or may not come to pass.It is contingent.It however carries larger lessons or implications for Australia's polity and society.First and foremost, and more broadly,in terms of what it reflects ,the obvious:the flexibility and self confidence of contemporary Australia.Second, and perhaps more importanty the putative revision of liberal theory adn pracice , which is premised , roughly speaking on individual rights with a focus on the individual.It appears that given the nature of the world we inhabit and the inability of political systems in place on advanced democracies to protect or deal with minortites have been found wanting.Hence a review.More specifially, in terms of Australia, it appears to be chosen , so to speak, to be at the forefront of this new expermiment.This reading may or may nor imply over analysis.However there does appear to be merit to this.And barring some hiccups and teething problems , the price of which may have been hard for some individuals , Australia, to say at the risk of understatement appears to be doing well.It is a remarkable nation and state that has forged a polity, society and economy that can onky be the envy of the world.The evolving outlook of its deniizens especially the younger people and those inhabiting its metros is remarkable for its sophistication.(I am of course dicounting or ignoring here the bigots and ignorami.These people do not have a monopoly over Australia:they are everyhwere). The gelling together or convergence of all these elements is what may be called Ausrtralia's soft power.That is ,roughly speaking the power to attract on account of values , polity and society.(Nothing save or but Australia can squander its soft power).This, by implication, is its security policy both on the domestic as well as the international front.However there exists an inherent danger:Australia on account of , to use a cliched term, 'entanglements abroad' which have domestic implications in terms of ugly or recourse to a Kafkaesque state posture may render its soft power a tad rough on its edges.It is upto Australians and the projection of their collective self through the mediating tenor of their values and polity to ensure security, prosperity and happiness for all Australians.A corollary to this makes us us return to the concluding theme of contemporary Australian nationhood rendered poigant by or for which the lightning rod has been the apology: first it suggests that the work of nations is never complete.Renewal and redefintion define or are the hallmarks of nations that be.Last but not the least, it(apology) may be a prelude to a wider ad broader schism or split from the 'mother'country.This may be the real and long lasting message or the implicit , explicit as well as comprehensive break from some imprisoning paradigms.The land down under has evolved and charted its own path.Now is the time to be a real nation and state in its own right.A bold and beautiful destiny awaits.

The Crisis of Global Capitalism

Does it represent the need for a drastic repair of capitalism?
Wajahat Qazi A common denominator or theme underpins the lynching of a Gurgaon based executive of an MNC, the politicized protest against the takeover of land by the flagship Indian corporate brand, TATA, in the erstwhile bastion of Indian communism, West Bengal, the urban rural divide in China obfuscated and obscured by 'Chinese nationalism', or closer to the 'developed world', the neighbourhood- suburban divide, the fallout of the financial meltdown- a function of, at the risk of oversimplification, the breakdown between the risk return trade-off, the 'bail out', policy prescriptions under debate , foreclosures and of course other consequences.
This theme-identified and articulated by the eminent Dr. Kissinger - a testimony to his prescience and sagacity even though tinged with a degree of cynicism- at the tail end of the tumultuous decade (the nineties): an interlude that may be best described as an unearned holiday from history-stares us in the face: the marginalization of the dispossessed and the excluded from the 'gale' of 'free market' capitalism. This sweeping overview is of course open to questions and criticism. However, it raises a set of salient and germane questions that can be ignored only at the risk of disaster. Is the crisis (or meltdown) and its manifestations long festering, the tip of an iceberg? Does it represent or reflect the need for a drastic repair of capitalism? Was the seventies (early) induced 'retreat of the state' an aberrant interlude? Is the state (and the government) staging a comeback? Are we back to square one? Or full circle? Or are we witnessing a gale of 'creative destruction' the market nor correcting but purging itself of excesses? That is, notional finance? Is the current phase a prelude to the formation or crystallization of a hybrid identity or in other words the regulatory state? Or more broadly, is globalization or its nature itself undergoing a review? Are we witnessing the morphing of globalization into what the Economist has called globality? And if so, what are the implications and consequences? Answers to these sets of questions are beyond the scope of this article. However, I may or would like to tease out broad contours that may (hopefully) offer some amateur insights into the unfolding 'order'. First it would appear, if I may use the formulation (or coinage) of the best and brightest minds in finance, Professor Robert Schiller, the hype and hoopla surrounding the demise of the state and the 'triumph' of free market capitalism, and a new paradigm of development was an extended bout of irrational exuberance and that we are witnessing a correction of the disease. The salubrious aspect of this 'correction' appears the nature of globalization -as a process- sullied and defined by a certain paradigm appears to be undergoing a review on account of the pent up notional excesses. Hitherto the benefits of the economic aspects of globalization have been reaped or creamed off by the elite of countries opening up to the world or integrating into the global economy-be it India, China, the blighted Middle East, or even parts of Europe. (Trickle down economics , it may be germane to point out here, is a mere gloss or to use a metaphor or slur, lip stick on a pig , to justify or put a positive spin on the uneven distribution of wealth that opening up has involved or entailed). This, stripped of its essence may mean that regardless of the market fundamentalist view of globalization may have meant vulgar promotion of the market as the panacea to all ills , the state is needed and that the 'mini crises' identified in this article reflect to the tenacity and resilience of the state. I hasten to position myself on the middle, so to speak. That is to say, I am neither a market fundamentalist nor a die-hard fan of the state. Hence the nature of my view and perhaps a natural bias toward what I intuit is appearing on the horizon: a regulatory state. That is, roughly speaking, the kind of a state that is neither inhospitable to the market nor does it allow free rein. This, in turn ,means that the globalization paradigm forced upon the throats of governments and states regardless of its flawed nature, paradoxically, should not (and in fact cannot be) be jettisoned. And that a renewed thrust on shaping the process and rendering it more humane or responsive to the needs of its most important constituency, the people is warranted. This, more specifically may mean, redesigning the architecture of global governance-reform of the Bretton Woods institutions, the United Nations, and involving or redesigning the nature of public private partnerships, where a multitude of stakeholders become partners to the developmental process. And of course, last but not the least, the continued involvement of the wounded hegemon in the affairs of the world. This obviously has implications for the nature and form of world order. A hands off involvement, apparently or evidently, oxymoronic, may be the best we may hope from the sole superpower. Or in other words, the kind that has been identified by some scholars as 'loose multipolarity' or even better by the historian of historians (contenporary), Niall Ferguson, as apolarity. A combination of these or a concerted attempt to bring these conditions to pass, incidentally or paradoxically, again with the assistance of the United States may bring about a semblance of world order where the entire world becomes a stakeholder in forging a better, prosperous and peaceful world. Or in other worlds globalization morphs into globality: a world order not defined by a 'race to the bottom' but by meritocracy and the kind of competition where nationality, nationalism and ideology becomes infructous.

India's Electoral Verdict and Implications for Muslims and the Dispute over Kashmir

The humungous and back breaking exercise of conducting elections in the world’s largest democracy is over along both expected and unexpected lines: the election of the UPA conglomerate to the citadels of power in India. This paradox cannot be explained away by either the clichéd and hackneyed, ‘anti –incumbency’ factor nor by conventional explanations. As far as the eye can see, it would appear that the Indian electorate has voted for stability. The implication being that stability can only be accorded by either the Congress party and its allies. This may be construed as a vote for secularism or whatever secularism means in India or in the Indian context. This means that India may be reverting to a kind of polity where the instability that characterized it in the late eighties and nineties may be over and that some kind of modus vivendi between the regional parties and the Congress party may be in the offing.(On the level of political economy , it(electoral victory) means or is a clear cut victory for a more liberal economy where the thrust may be on third generation economic reforms).Now the question is what would this mean for India’s largest minority-Muslims- and the dispute over Kashmir? (The formers’- hitherto ,held to be a vote bank -need to establish or include themselves in the power structure has never been more exigent and the latters’ meandering toward an ill defined endgame needs begs a solution that is a win- win proposition for all sides or parties). Given that the vote appears to be for a stable polity and India touts itself as a diverse country with a large chunk of its population as Muslim, it becomes imperative for policy makers and powers that be in the current Indian political firmament to review its approach toward Muslims if for nothing but stability. Or more specifically reach out to Muslims and include them in both the political and power structure as genuine and equal partners.(Cynical vote bank politics and the politics of tokenism and posturing has, I daresay contributed to the alienation of Muslims in India continuation of this approach is a sure shot guarantee or recipe for wider and broader alienation..).One way of bringing this to fruition is to accord Muslims voice in the decision making processes and perhaps revisit the democracy theme in India and render it into a participatory democracy .Admittedly a task that is humungous, it would nonetheless contribute to ameliorating the Muslim condition in India. Now let me dwell on the theme of the dispute over Kashmir and the implications of the putative Congress led coalition’s victory and government formation. It appears that the so called peace process got caught in the prelude to elections in India and as a status quo power, India holding the ace or trump cards, could afford to be complacent given the Kafkaesque dramas or odysseys Pakistan has gotten itself into. This is a dangerous sign or portent. Why? It, returning to a theme in my columns, implies the triumph of power politics over genuine conflict resolution. So what can or should be done? I would posit that the hiatus induced by the elections in India be overcome and a genuine effort to resolve the conflict be employed or taken recourse to. This would or appears to be possible or in the realm of possibility given the mandate given by the people to the putative government. The specific contours of the policy could be the inverse of obverse of what appears to the current one: watch with perhaps unconcealed glee over Pakistan’s slide or degeneracy into a an almost failed state , at one level, and gloat over the disarray of the politics of separatism in Kashmir , induced by the attritive capabilities of the Indian state.Now returning to my favorite subject or theme,history, I would posit that these are the ingredients of either prolonging a conflict situation or , counterintuitively, watch over the slide of latent conflict into over conflict.(History is testament to this..).The question now is what can be done to, at one level , achieve plenitude and closure to the dispute over Kashmir and at another level bring the ‘peace dividend’ to South Asia , at large. No easy answers lend themselves. However, in the interests of peace and amity in the region, it may fall on the regions’ natural hegemon, India to reach out to Pakistan and ameliorate its strategic and conceptual concerns and follow it up by reaching out sincerely to a cross section of political and public spectrum in Kashmir. This may be buttressed by a new conflict resolution paradigm instead of the run of the mill kind: play political games or mere posturing to either facilitate or bring about the intervention of the United States or render it aloof from South Asian politics. The conflict resolution model or paradigm I have in mind is the European Union paradigm where the policy of gradualism among other things brought to rest or closure the kind of conflicts that bore an eerie parallel with the dispute over Kashmir. The auguries are present. Let us all make haste slowly and work toward a resolution that redounds to the benefit of all parties.

Af-Pak and its Discontents

The contours of the Obama administrations’-labelled Af-Pak- foreign policy posture toward South Asia are becoming increasingly clear: put exogenous pressure on Pakistan to change both the nature and conception of this state nation and de link India from the equation. The Taliban-good or bad- appear in this respect, appear to be a mere bogey or an inflated threat. That is to say, the alliance between the United States and the Pakistan has now whittled into a game of attrition where the Taliban appears to be, first lulled into an expanding mode and then the full force of the state applied to them-all for the accolades from the superpower and aid monies.(This, of course, is speculation).Now the question is: what is the efficacy or import of the nature of this exercise? The obvious answer that strikes the mind is the short termism and the politics of expediency inherent in this approach .The corollary or implication is that the embattled state nation-Pakistan is increasingly become an arena for or of Kafkaesque drama’s where the difference between perpetrators of violence and victims is becoming blurred. This, by no means, is a model of a healthy or salubrious state of affairs. From a macro perspective, the expectations of the Muslim world(s), of which Pakistan is an important (albeit weak(ened) component are once again belied and the concomitant anti Americanism is once again on the rise. (This is more important and salient in Pakistan). The major expectation was that a course correction by the US toward the Muslim world(s) would be vigorous public diplomacy and an approach that has been termed as soft power. That is, the power to attract by explaining or highlighting those aspects of the United States that could be appealing. However what appears to be the dominant paradigm of US’ policy is the inverse: employment of hard power to ‘, to use a crude metaphor, ‘beat the shit out of its alleged adversaries’. Now this approach, history and the sordid saga of Sep 11 has demonstrated is pregnant with danger and portentous of rather insalubrious relations between the west and the Islamic worlds.(The formulation or the thesis of the Clash of Civilizations looks increasingly ominous…).This state of affairs necessarily means anti Americanism of the variety that the Obama administration was meant to obviate and raises more questions than answers. The dominant question that strikes the mind is: what is the US’ real agenda? Is it hegemony in the region?Is islam the foil against which the US is determining or defining itself? Or is the United States, de noveau, a victim of ignorance-the kind that determined its posture toward its Muslim clients? Why is the United States aiming to change the nature of the Pakistani state through pressure of the carrots and sticks approach? Or more broadly, returning to the theme of a civilization conflict is the US at the forerunner of the clash of civilizations thesis? The answers to these salient questions have to be rather speculative given the mystique and the obfuscations that define the superpowers’ relationship with Pakistan and Pakistan’s response to it. I would postulate that the US is , first, a victim of ignorance and, second its internal political dynamic appears to warrant hard-line or tough posturing. This approach, to repeat myself ignores the lessons of history and is expedient at best and specious at worst. And its success is ultimately contingent on state society relations in Pakistan where public opinion may not be the determinant of the polity. As such, it(approach) can be upheld only through the coercive apparatus of the state and in disregard of the wishes of the people. So the question is or morphs into:what can be done or what approach is suitable for the region as a whole. I would posit that the US review its working assumptions toward Pakistan and offer it the prospects of genuine partnership or alliance and that this be comprehensive and exhaustive. Or more specifically, clear cut benefits of a more salubrious polity be demonstrated to Pakistan. And second, the US review its posture in the wider or broader Middle East and let the region undertake its own charted path to the kind of modernity that is in sync with the regions’ ethos. Third, should be a clear cut public diplomacy that puts the fears generated by the ‘clash of civilizations thesis to rest. These ‘recipes’ acquire salience and poignancy given the current state of affairs in the muslim world(s).And thus the alternatives are too doleful to countenance for both the Islamic world(s) and the west. A retreat into a kind of self hood that is reactive instead of being proactive would guarantee that the Muslim worlds remain mired in problems, to an extent , of our own making and anti westernism becomes the idiom in which relations with the west are articulated. This state of affairs would them lend automatic credence to the civilizational conflict or clash and it would become a self fulfilling prophecy- a condition no one needs or wants. The corollary would be what may be called ‘collateral damage’ to the contemporary wave of globalization and give short shrift to a more benign world order. To return to the core thrust of this piece, it is high time that course correction be undertaken by all parties involved and some degree of equilibrium be restores to the South Asian region , in particular and the world at large.