“International Community”: What an intriguing Idea!!

Radha D'souza

16/04/2002

The “International Community” is an intriguing animal. It has never been more intriguing than at present. Looking back, the first seeds of that concept were sown by my grandmother when I was a child. In her “worldview”, which was a view that was not suffixed by any “ism”, not even “Hinduism” or “Buddhism”, let alone “Marxism”, “liberalism” or “egalitarianism”, the idea of any “International Community” was deeply embedded in her spiritual beliefs about Life and Creation. Creation was to her, a source of constant wonder about the world. Thus ‘Vasudeva Kutumbam’ or the Family of Vasudeva was a spiritual concept that did not have any institutions or laws or rules of governance. Indeed, in her conception it could not, because once it had any of those things, it ceased to be a spiritual concept and became one of the “worldly” matters that we negotiate in our everyday lives. Vasudeva Kutumbam was something that people had to arrive at through a process of ‘self realization’ that involved renunciation of power and possessions, which in her ‘worldview’ were the key to the troubles in the world. Having sowed those seeds, my grandmother left me to this world. I have since tried to integrate the profoundness of those feelings with the intellectual prowess of ‘Western’ education.

The “International Community” wants Slobodan Milosevic tried for war crimes in the former Yugoslavia. Ariel Sharon was accused of war crimes for the Shaatila massacres decades ago, and he is allowed another massacre in Jenin. I can hear a chorus of protests saying: ‘that is about the Bush administration, the “International Community” cannot be reduced to the misadventures of a set of megalomaniacs in power’. I look above the Jordan River and see people of one of the oldest human civilizations being slowly starved to death. Iraqi children, in their hundreds of thousands, either dead, or dying of hunger and malnutrition because of economic sanctions. The “International Community” believes that is because Saddam Hussein is an evil man. Of course the “International Community” is not against the Iraqi people, indeed a generation of children need to be decimated for the ‘greater common good’ that will come from deposing Saddam Hussein. If the Bush administration cannot be reduced to the “International Community” how come, the Iraqi people can be reduced to Saddam Hussein?

I would like to believe that this is because of some terrible times we are living through. An aberration that will pass somehow. I realize now, I have always struggled with the intriguing deeds of the “International Community”. When I was in school, I remember the elders in our home house talk about the millions of communists massacred in Indonesia. As a child not very adept at reading, I was more interested in the pictures in newspapers. Two pictures in the Times of India side by side remain etched in my memory for some reason. One was of mangled bodies on the streets of Jakarta and the other was of Ford Jr. posing for press photographers. My grandmother’s stories about the Family of Vasudeva and the pictures did not match. Perhaps the seeds of the sense of intrigue were sown then.

Some years ago I came to live in New Zealand, the Land of the White Clouds, a country with a high rating in the UN’s list of countries for best human rights record. It was my first experience of life in a “developed” world. I came with the firm belief that the “International Community” cannot be reduced to politicians, governments and policy makers. If anything, I wanted to believe they were far from being representative of the “International Community”. About that time, there was a public function organized to celebrate 50 years of the United Nations. The Human Rights Commissioner who presided over the function lauded “ 50 years of peace”. As speaker after speaker applauded the “50 years of peace”, I scratched my memory to remember one single year when there was “peace” in the past 50 years. From the occupation of Palestine, Congo, Vietnam, Angola, Chile, India, Pakistan, the list is long. It dawned on me then, that I had not learned the English language well enough to appreciate the true meaning of the “International Community”. When Europeans kill Europeans it is called “War”, when Europeans kill non-Europeans, it is called ‘crusades’, ‘progress’, ‘upholding freedom’, ‘bringing democracy’ and ‘defending human rights’. Some years later, a Maori politician in New Zealand created a public furore when she used the word ‘holocaust’ in relation to the colonization of her people. Evidently, the word ‘holocaust’ can be used only when Europeans kill Europeans. Unfortunately our English teachers did not teach us that. Now, my sense of intrigue about the “International Community” is compounded by the added confusion about language. Just as well, my grandmother did not speak English.

My grandmother’s ‘Family of Vasudeva’ tried to insulate the sense of wonder and mystic about Life and Creation from power, possessions and politics of the world so that it remained a source of inspiration and humanity. The “International Community” that I live in, elevates the laws and institutions that entrench power, possessions and politics to spiritual heights, and reduces humanity to a game that must be played by a set of rules.