COMMUNICATION REVOLUTION: GLOBAL PEACE
PERSPECTIVE[*]
S.M. Paul Khurana,
Vice-Chancellor,
INTRODUCTION
An institution, it is said, is not a place - it is people. When I look at the speakers of the previous olympiads of
mind, I realise what a great institution it is. The experience of speaking from
the same platform from which such eminent personalities spoke, is at once an
honour and an humbling experience. For I am an humble speaker from a great country.
I come from a country which always
believed in the philosophy of "Vasudhaiv
kutumbukam" - the entire world is one family, centuries before the
term "Global Village" was coined. To the liberal, the whole world is
a family. Naturally, the closeness of a family is even more pronounced than
that of a village.
It is not a coincidence that this country with one of the
most potent ancient civilization never ventured on physically conquering the
world like ancient heroes from the west or the far east did. Instead it relied
on ideas to conquer the minds of all mankind and love to conquer the hearts. It
is also not a coincidence that this country is the birthplace of three
religions which teach tolerance and non-violence - Hinduism, Budhism and
Jainism.
Mahatma Gandhi, Father of the nation,
Therefore my message quite simply, is
that for inculcating the feeling of "Global family" and clear
understanding both the reasons and sources of conflict alone can help us attain
Global peace. Naturally all this is possible mainly/easily through
communication without which no community has ever developed or survived.
SOURCES OF CONFLICT
As a scientist when I look at the
problem of human conflicts, I start ab
initio. I look at the evolution of mankind.
Man as we know him today, perhaps was initially nomadic and
started as a caveman living alone. As a lion living in his own domain, the only
conflict he suffered was perhaps physical encroachment on his territory by
other animals or men, with which he could deal physically.
Later, communities developed for
security or economic purposes. These communities had very little hierarchy and
the leader was usually the most aged person, to whom sacrificing ego was easy.
As civilization progressed,
organizations and authorities started to bloom. These entities demanded
surrender of ego to varying extent and led to conflicts.
Ego - the root cause
One of the prime sources of conflict
today is a feeling in sections of people that authorities or organizations are
destroying individuals and communities.
Many great thinkers of modern times
have recognized this. They have said that a lack of self-identity can lead to
passive violence. In other words, without a strong sense of confidence in
knowing who we are, we can end up feeling insecure and even develop an
insecurity complex. As Japanese philosopher Daisaku Ikeda put it, "When
you succumb to a complex, you are likely to see everything about yourself in a
negative light. When something doesn't work out for you, you tend to blame it
on those things which make you feel inferior: 'It's because I'm short' and so
forth." Lacking a solid sense of who we are makes us feel insecure, and
this can cause us to compare ourselves to others and even criticize or judge
others because they are different from us. Mahatma Gandhi was referring to
such judgement and criticism when he
stated that passive violence leads to physical violence.
Indeed, a
lack of self-identity (ego) has been recognized by many philosophers as the
source of passive violence, i.e. judgement, criticism, disrespect and
condemnation. Ultimately these acts of passive violence lead to active violence
like rebellion, guerilla wars and terrorism.
If we recognize thus that
organizations and authorities are the source of feelings that generate
violence, the logical conclusion would be
- do away with them and replace them with "communities".
Mahatma Gandhi also recognized ego as the source of violence
hence emphasized community development over industrial organizations. His ideas of such communities did not spread
after his passing away. It may partly be due to the lack of the charismatic
inspiration that he could have provided. But it was also because technological
development of the world seemed to demand big industrial organizations which
spread consumerism.
Nevertheless, forty years after
Gandhi, technology itself came up with a phenomenon at its cutting edge, which
seems to defy authority and organization. It instead helped develop
'communities'. I am referring to the Internet and the World Wide Web.
While sharing one "global village", the Web
provides enough space for individuals to express their thoughts and feelings
freely. It also allows for "community development" without one's ego
coming in the way or any noticeable sacrifice of ego.
So has the Web provided the proof that such "informal
organizations" - communities - can work in the technological and
industrial environmental also. Though the Web is an industry, can this model be
replicated in other areas of human endeavour including the greatest monolith of
them all - governance?
The last is specially important because as Gandhi
emphasized, the most hated face of organizations is the government. He
recognized misgovernance as an important cause of violence.
Misgovernance
A government organization tends to
amplify the negative aspects of big organizations. On the one hand, it is even
more "faceless" than any industrial or commercial organization. While
you can ultimately reach the "owners" or "occupiers" of a
commercial organization, a democratic government body tends to end at
"you" as the person who chose the government.
On the other hand it is more
rule-bound and hence more likely to make a person interacting with it feel
humiliated. It is more powerful, so the feeling of frustration is absolute-
where no further avenues are available. And it is the ultimate "service
organization" with which everyone has to deal frequently, so the
frustration obviously becomes widespread.
An individual's frustration with
local, state or national organizations is echoed in the nation's conflict of
interest with the so-called world bodies. Because of historic, economic or
political reasons, these bodies appear to be greatly biased towards a large
number of developing nations and consequently to their vast populace.
We have the United Nations whose
fundamental motto is to manage the
world. But it finds itself ineffective in times of crises because of inequality
of power amongst members. It is ironic that instead of removing the inequality
of Security Council, member nations are clamouring for a berth in it. It seems
that while all must be equal in UNO, some
are more equal than the others!
Inequality
Because of centuries of misgovernance,
we are at a stage in this world today where the pre-dominant feature is
inequality - economic, social and political. Ignorance has created mental
barriers which have been exploited by demagogues to an extent that it seems
impossible to remove them. It is sobering to reflect that as late as middle of
the last century, the world was drawn into a global conflict, the route cause
of which was the dogma of racial
superiority.
There are various facets to this
inequality. At the top is inequality of power amongst nations. The ultimate
destructive power known to mankind is nuclear. So every nation seems to covet
it as the ultimate deterrent. Nations that have developed its annihilating
capacity to a great extent, are suddenly coy about its "dirtiness"
and want other nations to abjure its pursuit. The latter nations find the
attitude discriminative. Smaller nations feel nuclear power can augment their
small armies. Added to it is the fact that it is one of the most abundant
sources of energy. So nations feel justified in pursuing its research.
Unfortunately, the paths of "peaceful" and "hostile" use of
nuclear energy are common for a very long stretch. As somebody remarked,
"if sunrays could be turned into missiles, we would have widespread
research in peaceful uses of solar energy".
Within nations and societies there are
inequalities of colour, race, caste and even gender. Hundreds of years after
the end of slavery, prejudices exist against black races and lower castes.
Women are yet to find their rightful place in the modern society even in the
so-called developed world.
Poverty the biggest curse
Though a highly spiritual person who
firmly believed in God, Mahatma Gandhi once said that to a hungry man, even God dare not appear except as a piece of bread.
A poor man, when driven to extremes of compulsion, will have little feeling of
brotherhood or love and much less for law and order. Added to this is the fact
that a vast amount of poverty in this world is a consequence of exploitation
for creation of wealth. So in nations, as in communities, the poor see the
wealthy as the cause of their
poverty. This generates widespread
passive violence which can culminate into physical violence.
What is true of humans is true of nations too. Poor nations
feel they are so because of exploitation - past or present, by rich nations.
And emergence of poor nations as economic power is viewed with suspicion by
historically rich nations as evidenced by their protectionist policies.
THE
PROVERBIAL LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL
While all seems to be lost, a glimmer of hope is seen in
niche of human endeavour which are fast becoming widespread. Information
technology, Communication and Education/Entertainment spheres, collectively
referred to as ICE, have shown how the above sources of conflict can be at
least mitigated, though not can be eradicated. They have also shown how the
concept of "Global family" can be made a reality.
ICE & Communities
The most remarkable phenomenon of the
last decade of the twentieth century has been the exponential growth of the
Internet. From a small network of teams working on a single project, it
expanded to millions of users.
What is more remarkable about this
phenomenon is that the growth was without any effort "sales
promotion" or "publicity". It grew so naturally almost
astronomically, that there were no conflicts concurrent with its growth as is
normally the case.
And yet it is not controlled by any
organisation. Its rules, or rather conventions are defined by its worldwide net
community in which all are equal.
It has made the distinction of nation,
race or even age irrelevant. When a new virus erupts, the top security experts
of
Internet has shown one of the most
inherent strengths of Information Technology . It is populated by elitist
liberal persons to whom intellect is the only unifying force. And with this
force, they are willing to take on the biggest organisations of the world for
freedom and equality as is evident in the "open source" development
of Linux.
I recall reading that a group of three
young professionals led by Mr. Sabeer Bhatia and working in a small room created
the idea of free email on the web and called it hotmail. The idea became so hot that the greatest czar of computer industry Bill
Gates offered to buy hotmail. In the negotiations Mr. Bhatia treated Mr. Gates
as equal and at one stage even spurned his offer.
Internet falls midway between the
Information Technology and Communication. Indeed World Wide Web is fast
becoming the most popular mode of communicating. It is not only the fastest
today but will soon become the cheapest.
Entertainment is another area which
has always been strong on communities. From Gypsies of yore to the films of
today, Entertainment industry knows no bounds. The pervasive television has
made sure that a person whether in the
In 1924, David Wark Griffith, the
father of American Cinema, said, "Hundred years from now, the single thing
which cinema will have helped in a large way to accomplish will be of
eliminating from the face of the civilised world all armed conflict……With the
use of the language of moving pictures, true meaning of brotherhood of man will
have been established throughout the earth".
ICE & Governance
One of the reasons governance leads to frustration is the
corruption inbuilt in most of the government systems. An auxiliary but very
important advantages of computerization
has been reducing the scope for corruption. Internet has added teeth to
this anti-corruption force of Information Technology. Internet and other means
of communication seek to make governance transparent, fast and clean.
This has been appreciated by the general public. Even
illiterate people of my country who have xenophobic fear of computers are full
of praise for the Computerised Railways Reservation System, Land records
available on the net and other such areas of their day to day life which have
been made smoother by IT.
Another indirect but very positive aspect of E-governance is
that any person denied a facility by a computer feels less hostile than another
denied by an officer whom he holds personally responsible for that denial.
ICE & Equality
The field of Information technology
has been traditionally free of prejudices. Pioneered by top level scientists
for whom truth was the only religion and science the only nationality, it
inherited a community that had no time for race, caste, colour or sex. It is
remarkable that while the great democracy of
Internet of course makes this equality
even more pronounced. World Wide Web is a place where people find more unifying
ideas rather than divisive.
Entertainment industry is also a great
unifying force. While politicians of my country are engaged in a tug of war
with their counterparts in
ICE & Poverty Eradication
While industrial revolution provided
mankind with material comforts, information revolution is making his life
richer by providing services that were in the realm of science fiction till
recently. Video-chatting, mobile telephony, distance education and
entertainment on demand are available almost universally.
This revolution has also opened gates
for big employment opportunities. When
Apart from creating new opportunities,
ICE revolution has added another dimension to employment scene. Much of the
unemployment earlier was because of mal-distribution of demand and supply of
manpower. While labour remained free in villages, urban areas had a shortage of
workforce. While
The employer of today can look for the
best option globally and if enough opportunity exists, move the work itself to
that location.
With such options opening up, we are
at the threshold of an era where all employable youth can get suitably employed
and poverty becomes a thing of the past. All this will be achievable through
smooth and hearty communications at all levels of the old & young or poor
& rich alike.
POLICY
RECOMMENDATIONS
Thus we see that the communication revolution, if given the
right direction and thrust, can at least mitigate or partly eradicate the
causes of conflict from our globe. This will, in the long term, do away with
all the violence - passive or active.
I came across an organisation called Victory Over Violence
(VOV) on the net. It is a youth-sponsored initiative to help young people
identify and counteract the root causes of violence in their personal lives and
in their communities. VOV outreach programs began in 1999 as a response to
growing concerns over youth-related violence. VOV was created by youthful
members of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI)-
On going through their sacred pledge, it seemed to me the
culture they are promoting is largely what exists in the ICE community today.
It reads as follows:
"I will value my own life. Recognizing that a lack of
self-identity and hope for the future lie at the root of all violence, I will
reach beyond my limitations. I will
take concrete steps each day to uncover my real potential. I will never give up on my
dreams, even if they seem impossible. I will respect all life. Recognizing that
violence comes in many forms, I will
not isolate myself but will create an environment where others feel comfortable and can be themselves. I will
see beyond superficial differences and reflect on my own behavior. I will
inspire hope in others. With courage, I will resolutely stand up against
violence, be it verbal, physical or passive and teach others through my own
example. I will support others and encourage them to follow their dreams."
The need is to spread the culture of
these "communities" typical to the IT, Communication and Entertainment fields to all arenas of
human activities. The need is to strengthen this culture and save it from
getting lost "in the dreary desert sand of dead habit" as poet
Rabindra Nath Tagore said.
It is true that these latest areas of
human endeavour have all the ingredients for making the world a global family
and rendering the question of peace irrelevant by eradicating the sources of
conflicts. It is because of its elitism, in the best sense of the term, that it
has transcended the common pitfalls of human actions. But it is still beset
with two potential dangers.
One stems from its very nature of
elitism. It is yet to reach the grassroot level.
Therefore, the first policy recommendation that I make today
is that the very community which has shown this glimmer of hope to the world
should concentrate all its efforts towards making these areas truly all
pervasive. Here I take the liberty of quoting from what was stated in this
forum itself on
"Media democracy strives to
ensure everyone's access to electronic media; regardless of the platform,
regardless of the delivery system, regardless of the technology……All people
have the fundamental right to see, to hear, to speak and to access information
regardless of their life circumstances, their political or religious beliefs or
their ability to pay".
The second danger is the threat from
big organisations - government and private. Governments are trying to regulate
these areas and big organisations are trying to stifle free competition. While
I am all praise for the culture of ICE community, it is sad that some of the
biggest software companies are fighting legal battles to ensure a stranglehold
on market and stifle freedom in this field. But here again, the Davids are
cocking a snook to the Goliaths by offering open
source software free to the world.
While quoting David Wark Griffith on
Cinema, Mr, Muzaffar Ali, a noted film-maker from
"Unfortunately, due to
its inherent financial, organisational and legal nature, this medium has been
institutionalised into an industry where such a noble premise(of world
brotherhood) takes a backseat.
And the second policy recommendation would be for all of us
to see that there is lesser regulation than that exists today. And there should
be more freedom than that exists today.
We have also to see that there is more competition and less monopoly. All this
will help us avail the maximum benefits of communication
revolution for ensuring Global Peace.
This august forum can start the
campaign with the symbolic gesture of adopting as its motto " Wider
vision, fairer system, newer ideas for oneness".
And may I give, as a footnote (and
tongue firmly in cheek), an additional or concluding recommendation that "Vasudhaiv kutumbukam" - the whole
world is a family - be made the official motto of UNO!