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Challenges To World Civilization
Challenges To World Civilization
Challenges To World Civilization
World civilization had, from time to time, faced existential challenges in different
periods of history. Natural calamity, famine and disease, warfare decimating cities,
forced migration, etc. brought end to many civilizations. Human race suffered
untold miseries in these catastrophic situations. In some cases civilization was
doomed. In others, it somehow escaped total annihilation.
Resilience and in-born instinct provided human race opportunity to start all over
again. And the cycle continues. In most cases agriculture, trade and commerce,
religious propagation , an innate desire to go beyond known world, facilitated the
much needed communication with another race ;to another land. Cultures were
born. The foundation of each culture, obviously, was knowledge; no matter how
rudimentary it might have been.
For the longest and most part of human existence agrarian society was the bed-rock
of civilization. Many civilizations bloomed and progressed. One civilization even
coexisted with other civilizations. But often they had attempted to overpower one
another, racing through continents. In doing so they exhibited their social and
economic superiority and prowess. Religion and faith also played as the tools for
the game changer. Ultimately the dominant civilization not only prevailed, but had
its way to change everything in its way. A new way of life was adopted and society
moved in a new direction.
The twentieth century witnessed the rise of industrial society. In a hundred year
period of time man established a society so advanced that each invention radically
provided unprecedented speed to the progress of human civilization. What took
many thousand years to accomplish was out of date in just a few decades. At the
same time,the new form of culture, comfort, knowledge, discovery, etc. apparently
made the world smaller.
And further, the communication made it possible to reach the benefits of these
newest civilization to every door step. Unfortunately, however, side by side, new
battle lines of conflict had also surfaced in different parts of the globe. Nature of
the new conflict took the form of trade war, conflict for acquisition of raw material,
fight for mineral wealth ,colonization in recent history and actual warfare.
A huge number of humanity were colonized across Asia and Africa because their
civilization proved ineffective in keeping western aggressive civilization at bay.
The economy, way of life, administration, social and political belief, and the entire
social fabric of Africa and Asia were shattered and torn asunder. The faith practiced
in some of the countries in Asia and in many parts of Africa suffered reversal .
The dawn of western civilization became one of the darkest hours in human history
for rest of the world. These countries although became sovereign states at various
stages, they continue to bear the grievous injuries on their body politic. The
underlying conflict between the western and the eastern civilizations continue to
simmer as of today. Very interestingly, civilizations of the east now staggering to
stand up once again have started to assert its existence through a painful process of
regeneration. This resilience is remarkable in modern history and history of
civilization.
Faith, however, is at the very root of human being. It is so much instinctive and
impulsive that human beings had always been internally driven to seek the
authority running the universe. It is true that when in despair, man surrenders to
supernatural power or, seeks his blessings. But it is universally found that
irrespective of social, cultural, economic and religious settings, man will tend to
devote himself to search for a creator.
A group of Chinese men and women were asked what were they doing, standing in
silence, clasping their hands, facing the high mountain in front of them. They
replied they feel good to do so. They said they feel something inexplicable inner
impulse. In other civilizations, men go to churches, mosques and temples for
prayer. Faith and religion greatly shaped civilization and journey of human race
right from the outset.
On the other hand historian Arnold J.Toyenbee in his A Study of History viewed
that civilizations unfold and proliferate under an existing society and situations. It
provides new direction to the society. According to Toynbee, most civilizations
declined and fell because of moral or religious decline. Historical dialectic brings
in new spiritual insights allowing birth of a new religion and ultimately a new
civilization.
Western countries think and believe western civilization is superior. So the trouble
starts here. They are ready to resort to all types of actions to defend their culture,
including waging war. President George W. Bush declared he will launch crusade
to save their civilization and their way of life. Afghanistan and Iraq were occupied
and destroyed. In the process Libya has also been destroyed; Syria facing total
destruction. Culture got mingled with faith and religion adding fuel to the fire. The
simmering antagonism between Christian and Islamic faith which remained
dormant for centuries and throughout the cold war era, has resurfaced once again.
The cultural divide has brought the Western and Muslim civilization face to face.
Most of the Islamic states of the world today do maintain all types of relations with
the western countries. But because of the western invasion and occupation, the
relationship has been facing a strange equation. On top of that, the idea of war on
terror, which is essentially a western idea, has made these Muslim states
themselves the victims of terrorism. It is undermining their external and internal
security. It appears that the more they cooperate with the West in the fight against
terrorism, the more vulnerable their internal security becomes. Concept of war on
terror has rather become complex; getting more complex day by day.
Now a question might arise whether countries like Turkey and Saudi Arabia which
are on the opposite side of this cultural divide, are less vulnerable from Western
civilization. They are not. It is to be understood that Turkey and Saudi Arabias
support for rebel groups in Syria along the lines followed by the West and taking
of punitive action by Saudi Arabia against another Muslim country Yemen, need
different explanations.
The truth is that the surfacing of centuries old religious and cultural fault lines have
brought the two dominant civilizations of modern times dangerously close to grind
against each other. But this is not the only fear facing our civilization and planet.
Major fault lines have also appeared in the far east, in the horizon of Eastern world
and its culture, around the fringes of South China Sea and inside Europe
encompassing Russia and the Orthodox world.
Since culture moves with people, it also carries with it new ideas and way of life.
This happens because diffusion is another characteristics of culture. In the context
of a developing and deepening cultural conflict between civilizations , there are
flickering hopes that humankind will make a right choice and avert catastrophic
clashes. Thus it is still probable that western Christian culture might pass through a
process of fusion with Islamic and other cultures and a new dynamic civilization
could be born.
How does economics play its role in shaping civilization. For thousands of
centuries economy and civilization progressed at minimal and subsistence rate
primarily being an agrarian civilization. Nevertheless, this process of slow
transformation of society through a period of many centuries was fundamental in
understanding the growth of civilization . Civilization and society tried to be
protective of whatever wealth it produced. And to snatch the prosperity, predator
civilization embarked on invasion and plunder. Apart from agriculture, human
beings took to trading incense and spices. There were movement of peoples and
goods overland and by sea routes east to west, and vice versa across the globe.
Marxism and capitalism were both born in the European continent. But these two
conflicting economic ideals spread to distant continents. Countries like USSR,
China, Cuba, Indo-china, North Korea and several countries in the Latin America
embraced Marxism. Some east European countries, and right in the heart of
Europe, East Germany, under the influence of USSR, became a practicing Marxist
economy. These two ideals divided the world into two distinct camps. Economic
divide soon led to political and military confrontation. The world, at times came
to the brink of nuclear war.
Despite the economic divide and the impending danger of war, there was
worldwide, immense development in commerce, communication and industry. The
role played by an economy in crystalising a culture is very important. In primitive
society people needed food, clothing and shelter as do people in our modern times.
The distinction between then and now lies in the process by which these wants are
met. Now it is function of the economy satisfying the demand through system of
production and marketing.
Historian Arnold J.Toynbee was of the view that while war may actually have
been a child of civilization, but in the long run, war has proved to have been the
proximate cause of the breakdown of every civilization which is known for certain
to have broken down.
Civilization and war are again intimately and strangely related. At any given time
and space in history, a society had put all its resources and manpower to defeat a
competing society and civilization. New arms, art of warfare, new inventions
slowly but continually fuelled war-mongering civilization and triggered new
conflict. The chariot of war moved on annihilating one civilization and at the same
time giving rise to another. As the time rolled on, war became yet more
devastating, resulting in demise and birth of civilization in succession and in circle.
Thus war is so deeply interwoven with civilization that it is virtually impossible to
disentangle it from each other.
Civilisaton has a great stake in peace which remained really elusive during vast
stretches of human history. Idea and hope of a free and peaceful world after the end
of Second World war appeared a possibility. The Indochina war, wars in Africa and
conflict centering Palestine, seriously dashed that hope. The Palestine issue has
serious potentials to spiral out of control and engulf the whole world in a
devastating war. The occupation and destruction of Afghanistan and Iraq,
destruction of Libya and Syria have further receded the hope for peace.
Consequent upon and due to NATO offensive in the middle east and Afghanistan,
groups like ISIS have emerged in the middle east. They are thriving primarily in
this region which is itself under attack or, occupation by NATO, but paradoxically
these extremist groups are perpetrating death and destruction targeting these very
states and their population. The Muslim world as a whole is more of a victim of
these terror groups. Given this situation, world actors, for various reasons, do not
seem to be serious enough to seize the fleeting opportunity to restore real peace in
the world. Nevertheless, despite this scenario, the hope for a tolerant and peaceful
society across the world still pervades minds of a great majority of population in
all continents.
Ethnicity, as a feature of civilization, is basically related to culture and religious
faith. The source of ethnic conflict may be political, social, or economic. The
parties in conflict expressly fight for their ethnic group's position within society.
This final criterion differentiates ethnic conflict from other forms of struggle.
In the thirteenth century, the Mongols and the Tatars occupied Russia .When the
power of the Muslim Tatars was diminished, in the sixteenth century, Ivan the
Terrible razed the Tatar capital. During the Second World War, Stalin deported
hundreds of thousands of Tatar families to Central Asia. Once the Soviet Union
fell, Tatars demanded greater rights and independence. Those demands drew fuel
from the memory of bloodshed on both sides. So it is evident that memories of
animosity between civilizations is carried on throughout its journey in history.
Perhaps the ethnic cleansing in Yugoslavia is most vivid in modern history. The
Serbs not only drove the Bosnians out of their homes but brutally killed many
thousands of them. The indignity brought upon the Bosnian Muslims was of the
worst kind in the history of modern Europe.US was keen to bring a quick end to
the war; but mainly due to the desire of Britain and France to delay the
intervention ,the U.S. took belated action and the war was prolonged. Here is an
example where ethnic conflict assumed the character of a full-fledged civil war.
The most recent ethnic cleansing in Myanmar is forcing large numbers of the
Rohingyas to flee that country. The disproportionate use of force and brutality
perpetrated on the Rohingyas by Myanmar security forces has shocked the whole
world. Study shows that intolerance of the Budhist clerics has been providing fuel
to the conflict. Bertrand Russel in his essay Has Religion Made Useful
Contributions to Civilisation in the book Why I am not a Christian wrote The
Buddha was amiable and enlightened; on his deathbed he laughed at his disciples
for supposing that he was immortal. But the Buddhist priesthood - as it exists, for
example, in Tibet - has been obscurantist, tyrannous, and cruel in the highest
degree. It seems the Buddhist priests in Myanmar are no less. How Myanmar
decides to handle the ethnic divide remains to be seen.
Stuart J.Kaufman in his book Modern Hatreds shows that relating contemporary
war with the hatred of the past between societies and civilization is fundamentally
wrong. But the ground reality is, the century-old animosity between ethnic groups
or between the state and ethnic group will continue to fuel conflict.
Science and technology has vastly influenced and impacted upon civilization. It
has made the world smaller. Information now travels to all and any part of the
globe instantaneously and simultaneously. Civilization has become more diverse
and more adaptable. It has made borders and barriers, to some extent, irrelevant.
Ideas of one civilization can now penetrate another easily. The fruits of science and
technology has made life of human beings more pliant with nature and
environment. The industrial revolution has become the bench-mark and carrier of
modern civilization.
But interestingly, although all the societies have more or less transformed, the
meaning of civilization remains unchanged. This idea of civilization is again
fundamental to its journey and understanding. Man has virtually acquired ability to
destruct all the civilizations from the face of the earth within matter of days. At the
same time man also understands the significance of the rationale to choose how not
to let it happen.
It remains to be seen what will happen to the existing civilizations of the twenty-
first century. Toynbee visualizes two possibilities: they might all merge with
Western civilization, or Western civilization might decay and die. Alternatively, the
fusion of existing civilizations might lead to the emergence of a new, unified,
world civilization.
The future of civilization is rather unpredictable, inasmuch as, it can last for
millions of years. On the contrary, it could be doomed anytime by natural or man-
made catastrophe. The future of humanity and human civilization will depend on
what mechanism human beings institute to reach understanding to co-exist with
other contemporary civilizations, avert conflicts and war, explore common grounds
for cooperation;respect culture and values of one another. Finally, the survival of
civilization will also depend on whether it will remain moral and spiritual.
References:
1.Bertrand Russel: Why I am not a Christian. Watts & Co., for the Rationalist Press
Association Limited, 1927.First published as a pamphlet.