04-Jun-2011, 10:40 AM
In a recent article, veteran Israeli public intellectual Uri Avnery offers this historical insight:
That many of those setting the agenda of public discourse in India are 'primitive' (enthusiasm for capital punishment) and 'hardier' (able to pull off hunger-strikes) is obvious. Is the growing power of quasi-religious demagogues from the countryside in Indian politics while pampered beneficiaries of of liberalization look on, also an instance of the same phenomenon?
Quote:The takeover of a civilized country by hardier border fighters is by no means extraordinary. On the contrary, it is a frequent historical phenomenon. The historian Arnold Toynbee provided a long list.
Germany was for a long time dominated by the Ostmark (“Eastern marches”), which became Austria. The culturally advanced German heartland fell under the sway of the more primitive but hardier Prussians, whose homeland was not a part of Germany at all. The Russian Empire was formed by Moscow, originally a primitive town on the fringes.
The rule seems to be that when the people of a civilized country become spoiled by culture and riches, a hardier, less pampered, and more primitive race on the fringes takes over, as Greece was taken over by the Romans, and Rome by the barbarians.
That many of those setting the agenda of public discourse in India are 'primitive' (enthusiasm for capital punishment) and 'hardier' (able to pull off hunger-strikes) is obvious. Is the growing power of quasi-religious demagogues from the countryside in Indian politics while pampered beneficiaries of of liberalization look on, also an instance of the same phenomenon?