In recent years the word development has become common place, a catch word, all too often carelessly tossed around. It often means different things to different people, and sadly, it has become nothing more than a pacifying political tool. In the Naga context the word development too is used so frequently that it has lost its true meaning. Ironically, ordinary people – the general public – are reeling underneath the myth perpetuated by the different expectations and definitions of development. When the concept of development is hijacked to suit a political agenda, humans are often removed from the process. This begs the question whether people really do matter in policymaking.
Almost 50 years ago, in 1973, a German-born British economist EF Schumacher wrote a collection of essays titled: Small Is Beautiful: A Study of Economics As If People Mattered. Schumacher asserts that in order for genuine development to be possible, first the illusion that “development and universal prosperity is the strongest foundation of peace” needs to be removed. Demystifying the proposition that development and prosperity are the strongest foundation of peace is critical because the powers that be have crafted this captivating false premise.
Such a proposition is fatalistic in the sense that it is designed to prolong suffering and it suggests that: First, that universal prosperity is possible, Second, that its attainment is possible on the basis of the materialist philosophy to “enrich yourself,” and Third, that this is the road to peace. Schumacher goes to say that the “foundation of peace cannot be laid by universal prosperity in the modern sense because such prosperity if attainable at all, is attainable only by cultivating such drives of human nature as greed and envy, which destroys human intelligence, happiness, serenity and thereby the peacefulness of human.”
Given the dominant culture’s fascination with the rich and famous, it is important to point out that the rich often claim to have been more ‘peaceful’ than the poor. Yet, it is argued that the rich have never felt secure amidst the poor, and that their aggressiveness towards the other stem from this fear. Furthermore, it is argued that the rich treasure peace more highly than the poor. Yet this is conditioned by their need to feel secure, in authority and in control. This is a contradiction because the rich depend on making exceedingly large demands on limited resources which inevitably puts them on an unavoidable collision – not primarily with the poor, but with the other rich.
Schumacher adds, “the hope that the pursuit of goodness and virtue can be postponed until we have attained universal prosperity and that by the single-minded pursuit of wealth, without bothering our heads about spiritual and moral questions, we could establish peace on earth is an unrealistic, unscientific and irrational hope.” In the final analysis, can one say that it is the rich that go to war? This critical question needs to be addressed. Is it not the poor, the marginalized, the exploited, the oppressed that have lost everything but their humanity? The argument that the road to peace is to follow the road to riches only concludes that the road to riches is not peace, but war.
Development is first of all about liberating people from all that holds them back from living a fully human life with dignity, justice and freedom. Ultimately development and education are about transformation – a process that involves spiritual and political growth. Development begins with empowering people by providing an inclusive democratic space where they can participate and take ownership of their lives and future by deciding what is best for them and evolving systems, structures, policies and processes that best represents their values, worldviews and aspirations. Clearly, the values of self-determination facilitate a people’s growth to become makers of their own culture and their destinies.
In conditions of armed conflict, like the Naga political situation, educational initiatives are critical for development which would contribute to the process of regaining humanity and dignity. Such educational initiatives need to engage with oppressive systems, institutionalized structural violence, and decolonize the existing colonial mindset. New critical assessments and critical thinking will give birth to an emerging new critical consciousness. At a time when Nagas are devoid of economic prosperity and progress, Schumacher seems to be telling us that, “the solution lies in us. We are our own impetus for progress. Progress lies not first in the teaching of how to make or build or the knowledge of simple facts, but in how to live.”
