A phone call from my sister working in the United States , and simultaneously chatting with a friend based in the Netherlands , instructions from my boss over email coupled with a terror attack in Srinagar a couple of days ago have all been revelatory or more accurately validatory. We now live in a networked world where both time and space stand compressed where everything is interconnected. The linkages between people, societies, businesses, markets and states have grown stronger and deeper. This phenomenon and trend has been termed as thick globalism. Many will deem and consider these assertions to be stating the obvious. However, elaborating and dwelling upon these is exigent.
This is especially more poignant and salient for places like Kashmir where only a certain strata of the population are connected to the world. A society connected to the world and the global economy is a society that is more cosmopolitan; not parochial and insular. It is a society that is outward looking and not inward looking. And in this society, dated but emotionally compelling phenomena like nationalism, ethnicity and cultural particularism can potentially lose much of their sting. This does not mean that a society exposed to the world loses or should lose its legacy, tradition, identity and culture. It is to say that the negative and insalubrious aspects or corollaries accruing from latching on to these powerful and compelling abstractions can potentially be ameliorated.
Countries and societies that have embarked on an opening up process have enriched themselves. Consider an example: a walk down the streets of Sydney reveals a mosaic of cultures with people of different colors, shapes and sizes jostling for public space. An aussie Rip
Van Winkle would not recognize contemporary Sydney or Australia. In this schema, people gradually but inexorably tend to see people as people; not as Indians, Arabs or Africans. What can be salubrious than this?
This is not a rhetorical question. It is pregnant with consequences. Much of the contemporary world is defined by ethnic and sectarian conflict wherein peoples and societies are caught in a conflictual spiral and dynamic just because people are viewed from the prism or culture, ethnicity or other attributes that are held to be ‘different’.Forging the kind and type of societies where ethnicity and culture is subsumed under the rubric of humanism may then even constitute the summon bonum of societies and nations. This , to repeat, does not mean that culture and identity lose their salience. To the contrary, it would be a boring world if there were no differences. But these differences should be appreciated and recognized as the diversity that defines the world.
Societies and cultures in the throes of narrow identity and cultural concerns wherein the sole markers of people are their cultural and ethnic or religious attributes are nurseries of conflict. Pakistan is a classic example of this. Coming closer home, what would be the consequences and implications of openness to the world?
These would be stark: the horizons of Kashmiris would expand and they would see themselves and others in a more positive and salubrious light. This would entail a redefinition of Kashmiri nationalism into a more expansive and salutary one. In turn, this would have a positive impact on the politics and political condition of the state. Kashmiris would become more confident and their self definition would be in accord with the mood of the times. This, for one moment, is not meant to imply that the special status accorded to the state of Jammu and Kashmir should be abrogated. This special status is hard won and is the right of Kashmiris.
All it means is that Kashmiris self definition change from a narrow focus to a more broader and expansive one wherein Kashmiris relate to the world in a more salubrious idiom. This will even have political economic consequences: by looking outward Kashmiris can tap into both the broader Indian national market and concomitantly the global economy. This will then bridge gap that makes Kashmiris disconnected from either and makes the dependent on fiscal transfers from the state. The new Kashmiri self will be confident, vibrant and dynamic. The question now is how can this state be arrived at?
The answer lies in the domain of public policy and education. More and more Kashmiris should be encouraged to go overseas especially as students. This should be complemented by fostering people to people contacts within and without Kashmir. This can open their horizons and the new learning and approach and attitudes inculcated overseas can potentially spill over to Kashmiri society. It is upon the new generation of Kashmiris that the future of Kashmir rests and it is this generation that needs to open their minds and explore new vistas and horizons. They will inculcate the local and the global in their selves, and take pride in their ethnicity and blend it with a more cosmopolitan bearing and attitude. This can be an unalloyed good. It is about time that Kashmir and Kashmiris open up to the world. Let all Kashmiris be part of the unfolding story and logic of globalization and globalism.
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