Pope’s new Encyclical speaks to India and its multicultural society
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – There is much for India in this Encyclical. Although the Holy Father is speaking to the Whole World, it appears that in parts he seems to have placed his finger on the challenges facing the rapidly growing economy of India. His call for full human development, which he borrows from Paul VI should serve as a warning bell for Indians that what matters is not only material progress but progress of the whole human person.
The Holy Father has touched on almost all modern day challenges and problems—the financial crisis, economic inequality, poverty, corruption, workers’ rights, unbalanced development, war, violence—all of which touch India.
Also of great importance is the call for the protection of worker rights and the need for social welfare spending, something our governments would do well to keep in mind, especially when we talk of aam admi, the common man.
Indeed the Holy Father’s concerns regarding the right to food and drinking water are in a certain sense reflected in the recent budget proposed by India’s Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. Charity in fact has to be the main fuel for everyone's action, whether NGO, Church or government.
Section No 26 of the Encyclical on cultures is also very important for a multicultural country like India. What we need is real inter-cultural dialogue where every individual and his culture is respected, a dialogue that is based on “a deep-seated knowledge of the specific identity of the various dialogue partners.
Globalisation is a big risk to indigenous cultures in India, it is true that globalisation has many positive effects, but it also is great leveller and the levelling of cultures is never a good thing.
India faces a peculiar problem. On the one hand, many of our peoples tend to insist and affirm their identity, unfortunately at times going to the extremes like the "sons of the soil" theory or protests and manifestations like in the case of the Tamil cause. On the other hand, there is a slow gnawing at our cultures and cultures because of globalisation. This is undermining our ethical values and our traditional family systems.
This is where we can speak about a dialogue that starts from the identity of partners. A society must learn not to simply ape but assimilate values that will do it good in the long run.
What often appears as superficial like the way we dress, what we eat, what we read and what appears in our movies and is telecast on our televisions are only symptoms of changes that are slowly occurring within our society. Indeed what initially appears to be superficial slowly becomes endemic.
It is important to note that there is nothing wrong in a positive globalisation; positive globalisation gives indigenous cultures a platform, which is a form of respect and identity. Indigenous cultures are now able to market their cultures all over the world. Just think that a book on Bhutan written by the former prime minister of Australia who is now the Australian ambassador to the Holy See is actually showcasing the culture of Bhutan, something which would have been very difficult without globalisation.
In today's world, cultures are in continuous dialogue. Very often the dialogue is not even voluntary because it is forced by an invading culture. How our indigenous cultures respond is very important.
This invasion is becoming powerful today because of the means in which it is taking place. TV series, publicity, and imported ideas are good if they enrich our cultures, but if indigenous societies are not careful, their cultures can be washed away by the tsunamis of so-called modernisation.
Globalisation may have raised standards of living all over the world, but does that mean that it has spread happiness?
(Nirmala Carvalho contributed to this article)
.png)
