Anupam- The Dreamer

Yes, you read it right (or wrong?)- Anti-international! You may have heard of the word “anti-national” several times, as it is often quoted in rhetoric, on news channels, by politicians and super-intellectuals. But, now it is time to think about “anti-international” persons, thoughts and ideologies!

Our identity at the international level, by and large, is determined by the colour of our passports. And why shouldn’t it be? Afterall, the nation-state is the basic level of entity, which separates one group of people from another. Thus, feeling of nationalism is bound to arise in the residents of a particular territory of land, therefore the term “nation”. Everyone loves their nation (I am not talking about the outliers here, so please refrain your urge to quote them), and why shouldn’t they? Because apart from the identity, the resources for living a decent living standard comes from the nation itself. The nation is our “motherland”, so it is but obvious that we love our motherland. But, in the euphoria of loving our nations, there are instances when some persons start hating other nations! So much so, that they start thinking that their nation is the best and the other nations do not have any right to exist! It is at this point that the seed of the problem starts germinating. This gives birth to “Anti-international” thought process and ideology.

Some people think that as a nation, they have the right to exploit other nations and their resources. The rise of colonialism was the offshoot of this very thinking! The plunder of other nation, the loot of their resources, the incessant violation of the human rights of the colony, all were justified in the name of “national interest”. It is like the classical example in the book “Animal Farm” by George Orwell- “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others”. When India was a colony of the Great Britain, we were treated as lesser humans and lesser mortals by the colonizers.

But, after the end of World War-II, this ideology was buried under the ashes, and there was a rise of “internationalism” or “globalism”. This was epitomized in the United Nations Charter, which made an astounding declaration about the human rights of each person, and equality of treatment to all nations, big or small. Every nation had a right to exist and work for the development of their nations. And even the bigger nations were ought to have an extra moral responsibility to develop the smaller and poor nations, so that they can also live a decent life of dignity. So many treaties on Environment , free and fair trade, Montreal Protocol, Kyoto Protocol, Conservation of indigenous culture, MDGs, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were signed which signalled the rise of internationalism. This is not to say that these treaties were perfect, many times it was far from it due to influence of powerful nations, nevertheless it had some shreds of international welfare embedded into it.

However, in the current global scenario, we are again moving away from internationalism. It’s like the phoenix of colonialism has risen again from the ashes and taken the form of “neo-colonialism”. The treaties are rescinded, the funding to global organizations have been cut, there is increasing hate for the migrants from other nations, numerous regional and global wars are being fought, etc. etc. It seems like the gains at the international level are being reversed in the name of promotion of national interest! But, we fail to understand one very important thing- that the nations are part of the whole entity called the globe or earth. The nations are there because of the globe and not vice-versa. The nations have no separate existence of their own, if separated from the globe. So, if the interests of the globe as a whole are subjugated to the interests of the nation-states, then we are hitting axe to our own roots. Can any nation claim to have every damn resource in the world? Can every nation claim to have minerals, oil, water, energy, natural resources of their own? And don’t we need anything from any other nation? IMPOSSIBLE!

We cannot imagine a world where we are not depending on each other for our basic needs, like food water, shelter, clothing, etc. Infact, when we work in the spirit of internationalism, it is a win-win for every nation. And as soon as we prioritize the national interest at the cost of global interest, everyone is going to lose. It is not a win-lose (win for powerful nation and lose for weaker nation). It is- either we all win or we all lose. Take for example, the recent US, Israel and Iran conflict. Can any nation claim that it has not lost something from this war? IMPOSSIBLE!!!! Some have lost less and some have lost more. But, everyone has lost something, in terms of economic loss, loss of nationals’ lives, trade losses, etc.

This rise of anti-internationalism can eventually let the phoenix snowball into a Frankenstein monster which can engulf all of humanity and all of nation-states into it. The earlier we understand that our existence as a nation is deeply intertwined with the global interest, the better it would be for us. The world needs global citizens of humanity. “Vasudhaiv kutumbakam” (वसुधैव कुटुंबकम्) is not just a fancy slogan, rather it is THE very basis of the development. Together we all swim, and together we all sink! The choice is ours….

Till next time….