Hindus in Hindu Rashtra book - my impressions
manianviews
Sunday, October 13, 2024
Hindus in Hindu Rashtra book - my impressions
Hindus in Hindu Rashtra book - my impressions
Sunday, September 15, 2024
The importance of being Gandhi
Why Gandhi is important?
Here I have tried to summarize some points which are uniquely Gandhian. These are the reasons why I admire Gandhi the most among the political leaders past and present. I had Gandhi on my WhatsApp DP some time ago. I remember someone asked, Why Gandhi ? I came up with some reasoning for that and seemingly he was not impressed. So then I thought of writing down some of the aspects of Gandhi which I consider his unique contribution to humanity as a whole.
Ahimsa and violence
First time in history a major struggle was launched based on Non violent methods which eventually succeeded. It paved the way for using the method for resolving conflicts. Until then violence was the only option. Gandhi proved and gave another highly successful, viable and less destructive for humanity to follow. It is not that the method will always work. It may not. But it is an option to explore in bigger and even smaller disputes between groups.
End cannot justify means
For any group or groups of people or societies basic understanding is the end or reaching ultimate goal any means is acceptable. But not for Gandhi. For him means to the end is equally important. If should just and fair. Otherwise he wouldn't employ the method to achieve the objective. In modern day politics this idealistic or holistic view is the goal to reach though it is yet to be fruitified in reality.
Always leave room for dialogue
Another important Gandhiji's idea which is to be adopted is the openness for dialogues always. He would never break negotiations at any point. He would try to wind up discussions on a positive note or atleast would ensure continuation of negotiations at another point of time. If this is applied even in family discussions that will do a world of good for the families. This will certainly result in avoiding Confrontation and conflicts within groups/family.
Incremental growth
Gandhi never believed in instant successes. In his scheme of things he would go for incremental growth. So in his movements he wouldn't hesitate a moment to retain whatever little bit of progress which comes along. After realizing limited achievement of his goal, he would start going for further development. For people who lead big or small movements or agitations for any purpose this approach can be a major guide.
To be continued....
Saturday, September 14, 2024
கொடைமடம் - நாவல் வாசிப்பு
Friday, August 30, 2024
Spectrum of left - part 4 / The differences
Communist Manifesto calls for abolition of system of marriages in Society. It says marriage is the root cause of accumulation of wealth by people. So, if you abolish marriages it is easier for establishment of Egalitarian society. Whether suddenly or gradual, it is not clear. Soviet union under Stalin tried this experiment by running a campaign to discourage marriages. They advocated officially for free relationships. It was a complete disaster for women and children. It was discarded after some years.
Exploitation of common people in the name of collective welfare
In a capitalist set up workers are exploited by individual owners or corporates. In a Collectivist Communist idea the same exploitative conditions may be imposed by the state in the name of development of country. Whether they will be paid adequately depend on the leadership and circumstances. So there is every possibility of continuation of exploitation albeit in a different form.
Conspiracy theorists
As I have seen from the behavior of typical communists
and from what I learnt from communist literature, they have this tendency to call anything which does not come within the ambit of their thinking domain, as conspiracy hatched by bourgeois class. That may be spiritual or any development due to advancement in technology.
End justifying the means?
For a communist " end will always justify the means ". It doesn't matter what are the means adopted towards realizing the objective. Annihilation or total destruction theory was born out of this somewhat primitive idea. A modern civilised group cannot agree to this preposition
which tends glorify violence.
Instant solutions rather than incremental ones
Communists are for the total transformation of society
with the help of proletariat revolution and dictatorship which follows it. I think, internationally the experiences in several countries tell catrostrophic consequences due to hasty implemententation of these ideas. So in those places, had these ideas been executed having some sort of incremen4al or step by step there could be likelihood of long lasting successes.
To conclude I might add that communist ideas are a mixed bag. There are good and bad things. But it was a game changer in the lives of common folks of the world. I am writing separately in another part why I am saying so.
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Thursday, August 29, 2024
Spectrum of left Part 3 - Gandhi and Marx debate
Gandhi and Karl Marx - A New Perspective - Akeel Pilgrami essay
It is a known fact that both Gandhi and Karl Marx are seen as poles apart. Marxist scholars and Gandhians meet nowhere according to common understanding. There are those who are adamant that there can be no convergence point between these two.
However, there are points where both these agree in certain areas in the opinion of Philosopher and Columbia University professor Akeel Bilgramy. Although superficially there are no similarities, Akeel Pilgramy tries to establish similarities through certain interpretations.
Left-wing scholars in India and around the world have harsh criticisms of Gandhi on the one side and they also insist that serious, original left leanings should be dug out of his writings and actions to bring forth more debates.
Pilgramy says that Gandhi had no understanding of class, like many other philosophers, thinks that Gandhi's flow of thought is not uniform. He thinks that he is a person who gives opinions according to the political needs of the time and later thinks deeply and says the same thing in a slightly different way. He notes that while the historian Irban Habib was the first leftist to record Gandhi in a historically positive light,this author notes that he was the first to attempt philosophically positive interpretations of Gandhi from a leftist perspective.
Pilgamy's New Modern Commentary on Gandhi, "Gandhi as a Philosopher", argues that both Marx and Gandhi share epistemological worlds and how capitalism separates people from nature and leads them down the path of destruction. He explains that they agree on the phenomenon of alienation.
In his 1909 book, Hind Swaraj, Gandhi states that India is in a position similar to that of Britain in the 'pre-modern' era and that India does not need to follow the same capitalist path that Britain took from that point to the post-modern era. In the book Gandhi advocates against the capitalist modern age and tries to prevent India from taking that path.
When Karl Marx talks about the revolutionary changes taking place in Russia and also about countries like India, the journey towards revolutionary economic changes through the capitalist path is similar to countries like Britain. He says it is not necessary for countries like India to follow the same path of revolution.
Liberal mantras - Liberty and equality
New modern world ideas such as individual freedom and equality are conflicting ideas. Pilgramy reminds us that neither Gandhi nor Marx considered them as primary goals. Marx clearly rejects the concept of freedom and equality as bourgeois ideas. In his writings, Gandhi himself passes over these important liberal ideas without giving them any importance. Both reject the two concepts of liberty and equality because of their contradictory nature, Akeel Pilgramy explains this in his paper released on the subject. He also argues that unalienated life is the right way to go. Thus he is saying that the ideas of freedom and equality have not only become outdated, and also says that the work of formulating ideas to improve human society from a new perspective should be done. Gandhi's objection was that the focus of left-wing thought was on the economic structure of capitalism that continued after colonial rule not on other important social issues.
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Tuesday, August 13, 2024
Spectrum of left - part 2/ Artificial intelligence and the Left
Artificial intelligence and the Left
Recently I attended LIC employees Association's divisional level conference at Thanjavur. In the conference an interesting topic was raised by Kalapiran, a State level office bearer of Tamil nadu progressive writers association. in his address to the delegates session of the conference he was talking about artificial intelligence popularly known as AI. Surprisingly for a declared leftist and a communist sympathizer he spoke somewhat positively on the development.
Some people are of the opinion that communists always oppose any new development and they will be highlighting only the negative consequences of such new development . They always fail to see the possibilities of positive outcomes.
I remember asking Dr Thomas Issac in another state level conference, one of CPM party's economic idealogues, about the impact of AI on the labour and employment in the country. At that time he replied that he was yet to study the matter fully to give a suitable reply to the question.
As for the speech by our Kalapiran, to me it was a welcome development to see a leftist talking positively about the fourth and possibly fifth stage of Industrial revolution. I think, it is high time the left intellectuals and other like minded people to formulate a plan of action safeguarding the interests of people at large. They must think of forcing the governments and big corporate leaders not to utilize the next stage of technological progress to just fill their coffers maximizing the profits. They must look for ways to share excess wealth created with common people by generating more jobs. All stakeholders must sit together sooner rather than later to have a workable solution to this huge impending crisis.
Yuval Noah Harari views on AI
In his book Homo Sapiens, historian and Yuval Noah Harari identities AI as one of the global issues confronted by humans. The reason he gives is that the AI will take away many jobs and this is going to result in massive unemployment crisis in the world. Unless the issue is tackled globally, finding a solution will be very difficult, he says.
Impact of industrial revolutions on the common people
On the face of it, it may seem that Industrial revolutions helped the ' powers that be 'in a big way. But the fact is science and technology driven Industrial revolutions facilitated all kinds of developments for mankind especially common people who were non entities upto then. The revolutions brought positive developments to humanity which never would have materialized without revolutions. This is the perception at the macro level. Some sections of people or groups might have got severely affected due to these technogy upgradations in human history.
Hence there is a real possibility that fourth and fifth phase of Industrial revolutions will bring more positive benefits than negative if only they are planned in a systemic manner. No one is in a position to stop developments in science. The wise will think of tackling these for the overall benefit of humanity. The activists who are positive among the left movement should work in this direction. The areas of education, health, agriculture can be revolutionized with the use of AI. The better availability of knowledge on these areas can be made at all levels and in every nook and corner of the world. As for the impact on employments , they must be discussed politically to find a solution with minimal impact for common people..
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Sunday, August 11, 2024
Spectrum of Left - Part 1 / Time to retrieve left from orthodoxy
Hindus in Hindu Rashtra book - my impressions
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