Satya Sagar - Re-imagining Independence
Throughout human history the quest for colonial power by various social, ethnic or national groups has always been met with fierce resistance from those they have sought to conquer and subjugate. While the idea of the ‘nation’ and the shape of the ‘state’ meant to govern it have varied over time and from place to place, the dream of an independent homeland has sparked countless struggles, both heroic and tragic, around the world.
In modern times the dismantling of European colonialism in Asia, Africa and Latin America led to the formation of countless new nation states and membership of the United Nations has grown from a mere 51 countries in 1945 to 193 currently. Today, the Right to Self-Determination is a well-established principle in modern international law, emphatically stating that nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and equality of opportunity have the right to freely choose their sovereignty and international political status with no external compulsion or interference.
Despite all this, it is not the case that all movements for independence or separation from already established nation-states get international recognition or support. There are conflicting definitions and legal criteria for determining which groups may legitimately claim the right to self-determination and while it was easier to support independence of black, brown or yellow people from their white masters it is not the same when it comes to freeing them from colonialists of the same color as the colonized.
Further, the process of recognition of new nations in recent times has been quite arbitrary and entirely dependent on the alignment of global or regional geopolitical forces in favor or against the struggle for independence. For example, why should a Kosovo be privileged over Kashmir or a South Sudan over Tamil Eelam when it comes to the Right to Self-Determination?
While the various movements for national independence grapple with these issues and navigate their way through the rough seas of global realpolitik today another looming challenge they face is to put their political struggle in the context of the rapidly changing nature of the global economy also. So much so that, it is my belief, that all such movements, in order to remain relevant or effective, today need to reflect a little more deeply on the following questions:
a. In the world we live in today is there any nation that is truly ‘independent’ or sovereign? Or is everyone just ‘inter-dependent’ to varying degrees, with the idea of ‘sovereignty’ just a chip for bargaining better terms and conditions in the global marketplace?b. When we still use the terms ‘homeland’, ‘motherland’ or ‘fatherland’ - do we still believe that ‘land’ is the primary basis of a nation and its economy? When corporations have become way larger than entire countries and the global capital flows determine the fate of even powerful nations why should land and territory alone become synonymous with the idea of a nation?c. What does national identity of a nation really mean in today’s world? Are we not all citizens of the entire globe, holding multiple identities and in an increasing number of cases even multiple-citizenship?
Before I go into the themes outlined above I would like to take a quick look at the history of the emergence of the modern nation-state, first in Europe and subsequently in South Asia. The modern nation state is defined as the product of merger of two concepts, namely the ‘nation’, which is a cultural and/or ethnic entity and the ‘state’, which is a political and geopolitical entity with jurisdiction or ‘sovereignty’ over a bounded territory... read more:
