WHERE THE WORLD HAS BECOME A SINGLE NEST
(यत्र विश्वम् भवति एक नीडम्)
Provincialism must give way to nationalism even as the latter paves the way for internationalism en route to the integrated global civilisation where separation into interest zones ceases and humanity as a whole is catered to in the common bid for survival as a species against the challenges thrown by environmental imperatives and other pernicious legacies of the primitive past of man. So long as the whole of humanity is not viewed as one family and given a like treatment, we cannot vaunt of progress and modernity and must, in all sincerity, admit it to be camouflaged medieval monstrosity, strengthened further in its malefic reach by the advances of modern science which the powers wielding them use to their rapacious advantage.
Humanity is slowly evolving into higher conceptions of collective cooperative living through the spread of education and access to information on a global scale. Geopolitical boundaries notwithstanding, borders are becoming blurred in the minds of millions of men in an age of cultural associations through the internet and the progressive urge of successive generations for greater global interaction as is exemplified by the underlying spirit of the United Nations and the Olympic Movement. This trend of globalisation is not a fad and has come to stay as a fundamental feature of future human evolution when the interests of one nation may no more be separated from the interests of the rest of the world. Provincialism must, thus, go into the waste-bin of history and pave the way for broader international understanding whereby a new order of global governance be made possible for the best utilisation of the earth's resources for the maximum benefit to humanity as a whole.
Nationalism was a step forward from the days of monarchical absolutist reign and feudalism as its handmaid. Popular revolutions replaced monarchs across the world as vast populations came under the sovereign control and care of the people's government. But nationalism led to two world wars and subsequently divided the world into opposed political ideologies which threatened to annihilate humanity in a cataclysmic third world war. The hot wars were replaced by the Cold War which has also ended subsequent to the fall of communism the world over. But the conflict of national interests continues as new regimes and heads of State replace old ones to freshen past agendas that had seemingly been given up as dead and gone. Add to that the fangs of neocolonialism of the western powers sinking deep into the exposed flesh of less developed lands across the globe and you have the picture complete of what nationalism even today means for all its tall talk of regional development.
The human gene is selfish, so said Sir Richard Dawkins. And it is here that civilisation comes in as the deathblow to such selfishness that is ingrained in our biological system. The flesh may resist, the mind may revolt against any such change but the spirit surely must triumph over the inertia of the past and bring forth revolutionary transformation in attitude and attribute thereof so that our concerns are no more limited to personal health and happiness but embrace the whole of humanity within their ambit. This, although, seemingly inconceivable today, is achievable, nonetheless, through the dissemination of the right kind of education to the whole of humanity. And here the internet steps in to bring home the message of hope for all where boundaries will be broken, borders obliterated in the passage of ideas and cultures will fuse to generate a common humanity that shall thrive at last as a family without scripture or prophet or messiah dictating divisions in this oceanic swell that shall sweep all distinctions away.
Written by Sugata Bose
(यत्र विश्वम् भवति एक नीडम्)
Provincialism must give way to nationalism even as the latter paves the way for internationalism en route to the integrated global civilisation where separation into interest zones ceases and humanity as a whole is catered to in the common bid for survival as a species against the challenges thrown by environmental imperatives and other pernicious legacies of the primitive past of man. So long as the whole of humanity is not viewed as one family and given a like treatment, we cannot vaunt of progress and modernity and must, in all sincerity, admit it to be camouflaged medieval monstrosity, strengthened further in its malefic reach by the advances of modern science which the powers wielding them use to their rapacious advantage.
Humanity is slowly evolving into higher conceptions of collective cooperative living through the spread of education and access to information on a global scale. Geopolitical boundaries notwithstanding, borders are becoming blurred in the minds of millions of men in an age of cultural associations through the internet and the progressive urge of successive generations for greater global interaction as is exemplified by the underlying spirit of the United Nations and the Olympic Movement. This trend of globalisation is not a fad and has come to stay as a fundamental feature of future human evolution when the interests of one nation may no more be separated from the interests of the rest of the world. Provincialism must, thus, go into the waste-bin of history and pave the way for broader international understanding whereby a new order of global governance be made possible for the best utilisation of the earth's resources for the maximum benefit to humanity as a whole.
Nationalism was a step forward from the days of monarchical absolutist reign and feudalism as its handmaid. Popular revolutions replaced monarchs across the world as vast populations came under the sovereign control and care of the people's government. But nationalism led to two world wars and subsequently divided the world into opposed political ideologies which threatened to annihilate humanity in a cataclysmic third world war. The hot wars were replaced by the Cold War which has also ended subsequent to the fall of communism the world over. But the conflict of national interests continues as new regimes and heads of State replace old ones to freshen past agendas that had seemingly been given up as dead and gone. Add to that the fangs of neocolonialism of the western powers sinking deep into the exposed flesh of less developed lands across the globe and you have the picture complete of what nationalism even today means for all its tall talk of regional development.
The human gene is selfish, so said Sir Richard Dawkins. And it is here that civilisation comes in as the deathblow to such selfishness that is ingrained in our biological system. The flesh may resist, the mind may revolt against any such change but the spirit surely must triumph over the inertia of the past and bring forth revolutionary transformation in attitude and attribute thereof so that our concerns are no more limited to personal health and happiness but embrace the whole of humanity within their ambit. This, although, seemingly inconceivable today, is achievable, nonetheless, through the dissemination of the right kind of education to the whole of humanity. And here the internet steps in to bring home the message of hope for all where boundaries will be broken, borders obliterated in the passage of ideas and cultures will fuse to generate a common humanity that shall thrive at last as a family without scripture or prophet or messiah dictating divisions in this oceanic swell that shall sweep all distinctions away.
Written by Sugata Bose
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