TOI (6/1/98)
Nuclear Neo-racism
Ending Technological Apartheid
By M D NALAPAT
AFTER 500 years of domination over the earth, the Caucasian races
are finding it difficult to adjust to a universe in which the lesser
breeds challenge their supremacy. The first blow was struck in 1947
by India, which forced out the British through non-cooperation and a
no-tax campaign. Finally, the colonisers had to accept the inevitability
of withdrawal in an environment in which fewer and fewer local
quislings obeyed their orders. Indian independence from British rule
ignited a firestorm against European colonisers, which led to their
withdrawal from most colonies by the 1960s. Today, only a handful
of entities such as Diego Garcia and the Falklands remain under
western suzerainty.
However, of the four white supremacist immigrant countries, only
one has thus far come under a genuinely multi- racial administration.
This is South Africa, where Nelson Mandela's emergence has
ensured a fairer share in both power and wealth for
hitherto-colonised races. The other three countries still retain
administrations dominated by Caucasians; moreover, they have put in
place immigration regimes that prevent a sufficient inflow of citizens
from Asia, Africa and Latin America. These countries are Canada,
Australia and New Zealand. Just as South Africa once was, they need
to be the target of an international campaign to ensure that their racial
mix more correctly reflects international reality.
Turning Point
It is not a coincidence that it is the Australians, New Zealanders and
the Canadians who served as the shock troops for the caucasian
races recently when 'low-caste' India matched 'high-caste'
technology, and had the gall publicly to demonstrate it on May 11 and
again on May 13. The rhetoric used by these three countries brought
back memories of a century ago, when the intellectual progenitors of
the Axworthys and the Downers were inventing justifications for the
continued exploitation of the 'lesser' breeds.
Sadly for such individuals as Jamie Rubin, who made disparaging
remarks about Indian leaders, the world has changed somewhat since
the first half of this century. If India's accession to freedom on
August 15, 1947, marked a turning point in international relations,
then so did the two rounds of tests in May this year. Pokhran-II
showed that a country that had been starved of access to
sophisticated technology by the US and other western powers, could
by its own efforts catch up to them. Unlike the ''Pakistani'' bomb --
which is a China-created device and whose detonation was intended
to help persuade India to retrace its path of technological
advancement -- the Indian nuclear and missile programme is
indigenous. Not accidentally, ''international opinion'' (which is how
the BBC describes the US-UK perspective) tacitly condoned the
decades of Sino-Pakistan collaboration, while continuously striving to
force India to ''cap, roll back and destroy'' its nuclear and missile
programme.
Racial Tolerance
Should a genuine non-proliferation treaty get negotiated -- one that
blocks transfer of strategic technology between borders -- India can
be expected to sign up. However, it cannot accept any slowdown in
its drive to become a technological superpower. The more the United
States, the United Kingdom and other countries try and impose an
international caste system that puts India in the role of Ekalavya, the
greater will be New Delhi's motivation to challenge the policy of
technological apartheid. In this, Beijing can soon be expected to
become an ally, as also the fiercely nationalistic post-Yeltsin Russia
that is waiting to be born. The Gulf and even Pakistan can in course
of time be expected to sign up, as can the peoples of countries that
were former colonies. Within South America -- notably in Mexico
and Brazil -- there is a new pride in indigenous culture.
This is the strategic alternative in the event of the caucasian powers
attempting to destroy the Indian economy -- and with that the
country's unity -- through sanctions. However, there is no doubt that
this is a less attractive alternative than a strategic alliance with the
democracies of the western world. Western society today is very
different from what it was during the colonial era. Extensive travel
and generous immigration policies in much of Europe and the United
States have resulted in a change in societal attitudes. Despite the
skinheads, the dominant mood in major western countries such as
Britain, France and Germany is racial tolerance.
Even during the struggle against colonial oppression, many of the
most active participants were themselves caucasians. Annie Besant,
Madeleine Slade and others come to mind. Today, that liberal trend is
slowly elbowing out the racists, though in some sections of the
media, attitudes of caste superiority remain strong. Media
commentators, however, are not half as offensive as Robin Cook or
Madeleine Albright, both of whom evidently believe themselves to be
schoolteachers ordering around a cowed set of truant children.
Thanks to such ''diplomats'', the western world may forfeit as an ally
a country that is the Mother Civilisation of the West's cultural
inheritance.
Far-reaching Results
However, there is an Indian saying that there can be true friendship
only between equals. If President Clinton truly feels that nuclear
weapons are an abomination in the emerging century, he should
initiate steps to follow his own advice to India, and unilaterally
destroy the US strategic arsenal. It is ludicrous to hear the president
of the world's most weaponised country preach abstinence, just as it
is to hear the BBC fulminate against ''immoral'' India, when they have
yet to mention that Britain (who perhaps faces a strategic threat from
France) is a nuclear- weapon state, and therefore as culpable. Should
the western powers continue their current tirade against this country,
then New Delhi cannot be blamed for turning away from cooperation
with them to a policy that returns to its anti-colonial roots. The
events of the coming years will have incalculable consequences on
the future international balance of power, for they will determine the
strategic direction taken by an India that will inevitably take its pride
of place in the international order. |
