democracy

Tommie Smith and John Carlos were African American athletes. They had won the gold and bronze medals respectively in 200 meters race. They received their medals, wearing black socks and no shoes to represent Black poverty. The two men standing with clenched fists upraised and heads bowed, while the American national anthem was played. With this gesture, they tried to draw international attention to racial discrimination in the United States. The black-gloved and raised clenched fists were meant to symbolize ‘Black Power’. The silver medallist, white Australian athlete, Peter Norman, wore a human rights badge on his shirt during the ceremony to show his support to the two Americans.///By birth: We all experience social differences based on accident of birth in our everyday lives. We belong to a community simply because we were born into it. People around us are male or female, they are tall and short, have different kinds of complexions, or have different physical abilities or disabilities. Ii. By Choice: Some of the differences are based on our choices. For example, some people are atheists. They do not believe in God or any religion. Some people choose to follow a religion other than the one in which they were born. Most of us choose what to study, which occupation to take up and which games or cultural activities to take part. All these lead to formation of social groups that are based on our choices. ///Social division takes place when some social difference overlaps with other differences. The difference between the Blacks and Whites becomes a social division in the US because the Blacks tend to be poor, homeless and are discriminated. In our country, Dalits tend to be poor and landless. They often face discrimination and injustice. Situations of this kind produce social divisions, when one kind of social difference becomes more important than the other and people start feeling that they belong to different communities. Iii. If social differences cross cut one another, it is difficult to differentiate one group of people against the other. It means that, groups that share a common interest on one issue are likely to be in different sides on a different issue. Iv. In Northern Ireland, class and religion overlap with each other. If you are Catholic, you are also more likely to be poor, and you may have suffered a history of discrimination. V. In the Netherlands, class and religion tend to cut across each other. Catholics and Protestants are about equally likely to be poor or rich. The result is that Catholics and Protestants have had conflicts in Northern Ireland, while they do not do so in the Netherlands. Vi. Overlapping social differences create possibilities of deep social divisions and tensions. Crosscutting social differences are easier to accommodate.

Democracy involves competition among various political parties. Their competition tends to divide any society. If they start competing in terms of some existing social divisions, it can make social divisions into political divisions and lead to conflict, violence or even disintegration of a country. Ii. Hundreds of civilians, militants and security forces were killed in the fight between Unionists and Nationalists and between the security forces of the UK and the Nationalists. It was only in 1998, that the UK government and the Nationalists reached a peace treaty after which the nationalists suspended their armed struggle. Iii. Political competition along religious and ethnic lines led to the disintegration of Yugoslavia into six independent countries. Iv. In a democracy it is only natural that political parties would talk about social divisions, make different promises to different communities, look after due representation of various communities and make policies to redress the grievances of the disadvantaged communities. V. Social divisions affect voting in most countries. People from one community tend to prefer some party to others. In many countries, there are parties that focus only on one community.///. First of all the outcome depends on how people perceive their identities. If people see their identities in singular and exclusive terms, it becomes very difficult to accommodate. As long as people in Northern Ireland saw themselves as only Catholic or Protestant, their differences were difficult to reconcile. Most people in our country see their identity themselves as Indian as well as belonging to a state or a language group or a social or religious community. Ii. Second, it depends on how political leaders raise the demands of any community. It is easier to accommodate demands that are within the constitutional framework and are not at the cost of another community. The demand for ‘only Sinhala’ was at the cost of the interest and identity of the Tamil community in Sri Lanka. In Yugoslavia, the leaders of different ethnic communities presented their demands in such a way that these could not be accommodated within a single country. Iii. Third, it depends on the how the government reacts to demands of different groups. If the rulers of Belgium and Sri Lanka, are willing to share the power and accommodate the reasonable demands of minority community, social divisions become less threatening for the country. But if they try to suppress such a demand in the name of national unity, the end result is often quite the opposite. Such attempts at forced integration often sow the seeds of disintegration.