State's might and polyphonic voices
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: February 17, 2014 -
For a long time, Manipur has witnessed polyphonic voices against the silence or the indifference of the ruling dispensation on issues of public interests.
While observers have pigeon-holed these protests into categories for the convenience of “everyday banal consumption” or purely academic purpose, few have made attempts to understand the relationship the State has with individuals.
It should be noted that what has now been understood as civil society emerged when individuals were supposed to come together and constitute a common platform under the empowering and protective rights guaranteed by a modern liberal State.
Though, there are nuanced explanations to the creation of the public space, the State has always found spatial and temporal legitimization of its overarching power.
Those who have manned the structure consider themselves the final custodian of a democratic order as if this was the only order in existence.
The effective use or rather the utilization of the energies of what have now been considered civil society organizations found prominence in an era of popular anti-establishment movements in the recent past. This is despite the fact that the concept is as old as the advent of modern nation state.
A closer scrutiny of the phenomenon and its continuity shows that there has been great ideological divide within the change in momentum of any given mass social and political movements.
In a region like the Northeast, the failure of the State to cleanse itself from shades of authoritarianism ran against the tide of popular discontent.
This has been amply manifested in the fatigue the citizens seem to have experienced in numerous protests, shut-downs and strikes that have almost become everyday norm.
Whether or not these tactics help in actually achieving the set objectives, one sees unending contradictions within each of the movements, be it social, political or economic.
There are also many who offer counter narratives to such understanding.
However, one should be clear that the only way to forge ahead is to look back and see if the quantum of the energies spent on launching movements can well compensate the lost of rational democratic principles while the State continues to reinforce its might.
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