THE FUTURE OF FREEDOM

The attack on the twin towers and the invasion of Iraq has provoked profound reflections about the nature of politics in our time. Both these books seek to take political thought out of the dated clichés of the 20th century to face the challenges of the 21st. "Democracy" is frequently invoked as a mantra to solve the world's problems. Zakaria shows that this is not the case. Democracy and freedom can sometimes be opposites when they are not combined within a sophisticated social and legal structure. The inhabitants of Hong Kong were without democratic rights and were ruled by a colonial governor, but they had the full personal freedoms of a civilised society. The decolonisation of Africa replaced the enlightened impartial rule of the District Commissioner with the ballot box and a nominally democratic government which then quickly collapsed into corruption, one man rule, civil war, and oppression. The lesson for contemporary Iraq is obvious. Plato had something to say about the inevitability of this process 2300 years ago, but he is not in Zakaria's index. Even in societies with a well entrenched rule of law, democracy may fail. Hitler came to power in the most cultured country in Europe through an impeccably democratic referendum. Democracy is more difficult to install and maintain than we usually care to think. Zakaria is concerned about the degree to which the lobby system corrupts American politics, though he does not mention the most extreme case of the Jewish lobby whereby 1% of the American voters determine US policy in the Middle East to the disadvantage of the West, and probably to the ultimate detriment of Israel. He might also have questioned whether the disproportionate lottery which is a British General Election really entitles Parliament to be regarded as democratic. Palden Jenkins goes deeper. He argues that to avoid looming disaster, our attitudes to politics will have to take a quantum jump to a higher moral and spiritual level. In his view identification with the tribe enable human society to flourish and the arts of mankind to begin, and patriotic loyalty to the state enabled tribes to coalesce and produce civilisation. The crisis of our times demands that we now transcend our national and cultural loyalties and rise to a higher fidelity to the whole of mankind and to the planet. The accelerating technological progress of our times has given us unprecedented prosperity, unprecedented opportunity, and unprecedented danger. The jet plane and the mobile phone brings the whole planet into instant contact. Television means that the very rich and the very poor live next door to each other. Global warming and zooming GDPs are placing strains upon the planet's natural resources. Weapons of mass destruction were once the preserve of super powers kept apart by mutually assured destruction. They are soon to be within the reach of any aggrieved minority. A narrow extremist group of terrorists can achieve immense havoc with the simplest of weapons let alone the use of biological or nuclear technology. The group loyalties of the past will lead the 21st century down the road to hell. We need to cultivate an altruistic concern for the good of all mankind including especially those sections of it that we dislike, despise or fear. Once civilisation depended on patriotism and obedience to the law within our nation or group. That kept the in-group together but led to conflict with other groups. The political morality of tomorrow has to make a quantum jump up to empathy and love. Jenkins is fairly cold eyed about his prescription. He notes that ill informed "do-gooding" can often do more harm than good. Nor can this moral revolution be brought about from above by the command of governments: it can only work from below by individuals deliberately cultivating compassion, and spiritual enlightenment. In this way the whole collective consciousness of mankind will be transformed. It is difficult, it will be slow, and there is no other way. Jenkins , perhaps deliberately, leaves what he means by "spirituality" vague. At minimum it means recognising something higher than the greedy egocentric self; it means a surrender to purposes greater and vaster than our selfish concerns; it means a sense of responsibility for the whole planet and all the life upon it. It emphatically does not mean dogmatic adherence to any divisive creed or religion. This is a very important conclusion. The pursuit of spiritual enlightenment is now seen, not as an esoteric escape route for the few, but as a pragmatic necessity for all , Just as national patriotism and law abiding behaviour were needed to keep society together in the past, in the future global society will need spiritual enlightenment. Jenkins wraps this central message up with much that is either questionable or distracting. It is reasonable to think of nations having a collective consciousness, though whether this is due to collective telepathy, as he thinks, or the effects of the mass media and the education system, is a moot question.. It may be less helpful to imagine that all nations have traumas in their collective unconscious which have to exorcised by collective psychotherapy. Certainly a recital of world history going back to the city states of Sumer is not helpful. However the main conclusion of this book stands as a challenge. Spiritual enlightenment is not minority fad, or an escape from this world. It is a practical necessity for mankind at the beginning of the 21st century. It will be quite as difficult to achieve as Jenkins thinks, and will be probably far more exacting in its disciplines than he seems to imagine. It is certainly as necessary as he declares. The failure to do so may well have the consequences he warns us of. We are fated to live in interesting times.