A vow of unity (1/3)

April 8, 2023

When does partisanship turn into tribalism? I raise this question in the context of a judge’s ruling yesterday reversing the FDA’s approval of the drug mifepristone, and potentially ending access to pharmaceutical abortions for women in America. It seems like just another escalation in American politics. Republicans and Democrats are constantly butting heads, insulting and provoking the other, and just generally contributing to a culture of pervasive negativity.

As I was reading the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, I came across something that he wrote for April 8, 1919, that I thought was inspired by a similar frustration. The Vow of Hindu-Muslim Unity was published in an illegal newspaper as part of the civil disobedience campaign after the April 6, 1919 hartal. This national day of fasting had brought together both communities – they had been marching side by side in Delhi when the police opened fire and killed about a dozen people.

In Bombay, at a huge mass meeting, a vow of Hindu-Muslim unity was proposed. Gandhi cautioned against hastily making a vow, but encouraged the wish that all would act “as children to the same mother.” Unity was possible, but each side would have to make changes in their attitudes and actions.

The diversity of Indian religions reminds me of the political system in America. The minor religions of India; Jains, Sikhs, Christians, and Buddhists are roughly analogous to the minor parties of America; Green, Libertarian, Socialist, Forward, etc. The system is dominated by two 800-pound gorillas, jockeying for position and dominance. Just as America has red states and blue states, India had many provinces that were dominated by one religion or the other. That division would ultimately end up in the 1947 Partition of India; today, members of Congress call for a national divorce to split up the red states and blue states.

The analogy is imperfect, but Gandhi’s messages of how to strive for harmony are just as relevant today as they were a century ago. I’ll look more at in the next post.

For today’s discussion question, I’ll simply repeat the opening sentence: When does partisanship turn into tribalism?