In reality, the present praxis of governance is being imposed from above by structures that have acquired global proportions with the intention of creating forced dependence and inculcating an economics of desperation, which lies in the roots of injustices. While development has supposedly brought substantial improvements in health care, housing, education and general well being of life, it has more often than not, given legitimacy to the acquirement and control of struggling peoples’ resources, inevitably increasing poverty and suffering, ironically under the guise of eliminating them.
Political structures no longer correspond to the economic base, a society where its productive forces are hampered with political ones in which the structures support centralized authority and decentralized bodies of production. The consumerist culture is oppressive to the human spirit and it has let loose a force which constructs human societies on traditions that resist new ideas, thereby inculcating conformity to the hegemonizing and homogenizing forces of consumerism. The ability for critical perspective is stripped away by assimilation and aspirations of people are suppressed.
The pursuit and struggle for power has destroyed the ethos and values of a shared humanity. Most people know what is right; they have long known what has been wrong as well and what needs to be done, but they very often chose to suppress the truth and appease the status quo. Inevitably, by mixing falsehood with truth it creates a more destructive lie which strengthens the “conspiracy of silence” perpetuating the historical and continuing injustice of people. The conspiracy of silence is responsible for making tolerable what is intolerable and sapping away the will to struggle for an alternative order of things.
While confronting the notion that they have been turned into objects of history, struggling peoples are often torn between nostalgia for an innocent past and the yearnings for a fulfilling future. Historical realities cannot be reconstituted just by changing the language to suit the convenience and interest of the status quo and therefore the myth that the right of a people with a history over those allegedly without one needs to be challenged and defeated.
Therefore, the structures of domination must be critically challenged, interrogated and defeated to allow the initiation of a more humane system that upholds structures of partnership and respect. Nagas must get on a path to reclaim its rightful and dignified existence in history and to resist internal and external forces that attempts to deny Nagas as free and equal peoples.
Nagas cannot remove their difficulties by closing their eyes to the challenges; neither will they be removed by merely waiting to see what happens; nor will they be removed by a policy of appeasement. It is imperative for Nagas to reclaim their wisdom and knowledge system which perceives self-realization and understanding that sweeps away the myths and uncovers the dust that hides their splendor and to critically develop again a dynamic outlook and spirit.
