This issue was taken by Raj Ramlagun in a posting titled "Au nom de la Gratitude! Il n’y pas lieu d’être pro Modi, mais c’est une question de reconnaissance en toute objectivité."
Why this hypocrisy ? Is it not a reflection of the strains of a multiracial society, of living the daily stress of the “Us v/s Them” mentality ? -typical of the schizophrenic personalities of multiracial communities, perpetually undergoing the stress of the daily dichotomy of “us”- the victim consciousness -against the seemingly culprit “them “.
When we think in such terms, we create a one-dimensional world and we extrapolate it to all our thinking, discussions and issues, be it local or international . We reduce the complexity of the universe down to something we can easily wrap our head around. This has its use, but it leads to false dichotomies of good and bad, us and them, and right and wrong.
Yes it’s true that India is trying to extend its sphere of influence in the Indian Ocean , but so is China, France and …Saudi Arabia.
Why is it that I rarely hear these very people- who are always criticising India about its treatment of minorities - when such ill-treatment happens in other parts of the world - In China or Myanmar for example. Because, China or Myanmar is not part of “them”.
Similarly, there are many of us who condone “Hindutva’, accept India's presence in Agalega, France’s claim over Tromelin or ignore a country's discrimination against minorities …because they are part of “Us”….
Our hopes for human improvement are no longer served by encouraging a recognition of universal human interests but by pitting group against group- Nu ban v/s Zot . Our loyalties are still stuck up to our religious fundamentalism, our caste, our community and ethnicity against what we have identified/classified as "them". That’s the source of our hypocrisy.
If we do away with labels that define our identity, however, and instead understand that different people have different life histories, shaped by different genetic and environmental factors, we are aiming for a more integrated understanding of different people and their realities and evolving to cooperate and changing the boundary of who we include in our tribe from just “us” who are against “them” to simply everyone.
