Empires Unite?
Based on Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
Empires were always made of two major chunks of society: the conquerors and the conquered. The author beautifully depicts how these two sections would slowly gel together. Both losing a few parts of their original identity and creating a new one in the process.
A few of the conquered even joined hands with their rulers. The use of Indian soldiers in the Anglo-Afghan war is a great example.
Being a citizen of India, an ex-colony of the British gives me a little into the same. I have personally heard my fellow Indians talk about how it might have been a good thing for us in the long run.
In a previous blog, we discussed how money might have brought us closer as a global community:
Let’s continue the trend and look for similar effects of imperialism.
Us vs Them
As mentioned in the article above, humans have an appetite for classification like no other species on the planet.
Living in a land of diverse cultures, religions, languages and beliefs gives the citizens of India a unique experience in this regard. We experience divisions every minute and yet aspire to stay united.
We hear arguments about how the British might have really helped us in this regard. After all, they gave us a common language to communicate within the nation and abroad.
The establishment of the Indian Railways was no small feat either. It connected people across the subcontinent, giving different sections of the Indian culture a chance to assimilate.
Similar parallels can be drawn from other colonies and ex-colonies of the world.
A Common Enemy?
The colonisers however, did not intend to keep their colonies united. The division of our nation into India, Pakistan and Bangladesh is an epitome of that “divide and rule” ideology.
The oppression of the colonists on the other hand has given the people a common enemy to fight throughout history. This generally resulted into unification of different parts of society to revolt against their rulers.
This unity in turn lead to exemplary changes like abolishing the apartheid law in South Africa in the early 1990s and the decolonisation of Egypt in 1956.
The Responsible Conquerers
The rulers of these conquering nations often declared it as their responsibility to lead not only their own subjects but also the members of the subjugated nations.
Sometimes even calling it their holy duty to bring those lost souls back to the path of righteousness and God.
The concepts of crusades by the Christian nations of the west and jihads by the Arabic warriors in the medieval times were prime examples. Talks of bringing peace and God to a region through war has been a huge part of human history.
In modern times though, reasons like economic upliftment and protection from hostile neighbours are more common.
Educating the Barbarians
Historically, education was highly useful for cultural assimilation. As a result, it has held a special place in the hearts of imperialists.
Books have the capacity to bend minds and imbibe young souls with the values of the empire. Students tend to absorb not only the contents of their books but also the agenda subtly placed in them.
Louis Althusser, a French Marxist philosopher called this system of schooling as an ideological state apparatus.
Empires used basic education as a tool to create a class of people better able to serve them. They were the interpreters of their imperial rulers. Not only spreading the language further, but also their culture, alienating their own values in the process.
Conclusion
While an Israeli historian might consider writing a book that depicts imperialism and colonialism in a positive light, a citizen of an ex-colony still finds it hard.
While the empires created a world where there are fewer differences among people, they still ended up eradicating lots of native cultures.
From the native Americans to the aboriginal Australians and the displaced Zoroastrians, imperialism has had a lot of collateral damage.
And this damage is significant even if you’re looking at the bigger picture from a long distance.
