We live in a time when venality and corrupt power politics are the norm in Nagaland. They are fast eroding the basic tenets of democratic principles and self governance. Consequently, the institutions of justice, laws and procedures, and fundamental due processes have been pushed aside. This, in turn, has created a culture of systemic corruption, power and impunity, which is now ruling over Nagaland and its people.
Albert Einstein observed that we can never solve problems at the same level of thinking that created them. Hence, in oppressive situations, the ‘idea’ is the most potent weapon in the hands of the people. The ‘idea’ occupies a central place and pivotal role in social movements and revolutions.
The role of the ‘idea’ is to nurture, nourish and evoke a new consciousness, and provide a new vision that is different from the present order. The ‘ideas’ of justice, freedom, liberty, equality, accountability, transparency, compassion and a corrupt-free society becomes the glue that unites people together. The ‘idea’ sows the seed for a new vision and it becomes the rationale to criticize the powers that be. All this while simultaneously energizing and mobilizing the people.
It is perhaps for this very reason that civil rights activist Medgar Evers observed: “You can kill a man, but you can’t kill an idea.” But, the powers that be are relentless and keep trying and trying to do so. In Nagaland we have witnessed how the powers that be have water cannoned, imprisoned, coerced and threatened people. But, in the end, they certainly have not killed the ‘idea.’
The ‘idea’ in the hands of the people needs to be more than just a weapon. It needs to give new hope.
Walter Brueggemann, a leading scholar of the Old Testament, stated that, “Hope is the refusal to accept the reading of reality which is the majority opinion.” And this, he said, one does with great political and existential risk. The idea of hope, he asserted, is to announce that the present, to which we have all been co-opted and domesticated into, is now called into question.
In Nagaland, the ‘idea’ of justice and a corrupt-free society still needs a substantial amount of nurturing before one can claim that it truly has become a weapon in the hands of the people. The ‘idea’ needs to be cultivated and mobilized into a vision that gives new hope. This requires a qualitative amount of truth-telling and building trust with the people. Unless this is done, the campaign against corruption remains selective in its approach and exclusive in its function.
The proposed “mother of all rallies” on August 25 called by the ACAUT is an opportune time to collectively express public outrage against the present state of affairs. It is also a time to reflect on both its approach and function. This presents an instance to cultivate the ‘idea’ of an alternative vision with a new hope.
Could August 25 be the day when one leaves behind the old ways of confronting corruption through RTIs and sweeping Press Statements and truly become a people’s movement? Will it be the day it commits itself to getting down to addressing issues and ground realities?
The campaign needs to be characterized by radical criticism to constructively engage with the dominant crisis of corruption in Nagaland.
We know that an ‘idea’ cannot be killed. But we need to ask ourselves whether we have tactfully nurtured the ‘idea’ to initiate a new history of hope.
