In the context of research into the relationship between secularism and multiculturalism in contemporary India, this paper points to their specific interrelatedness and the distinctive Indian ...approach to secularism through the idea of a principled distance as a way to adjust to religious pluralism that has a close affinity with multiculturalism. Contrary to opinions that secularism is alien to the Indian civilisation, by a selection of instances through Indian history, the paper illustrates the broader meaning of “Indian” religious and secular thinking and also points to the significance of interaction among various religious cultures and subcultures, particularly between Hinduism and Islam/Sufism. However, the paper focuses on the analysis of Indian constitutional secularism and legally warranted multiculturalism. Debates on multiculturalism follow two distinct directions: the first examines multiculturalism as a state policy in the form of federalisation of its political system, whereas the second is concerned with the meaning of multiculturalism and its implications for the issues of individual and group rights, culture, religion, and secularism. It also touches upon the influence of the British colonial rule on the shaping of interreligious relations in independent India. The last section questions the ascendancy of Hindu nationalism, particularly in view of the rise to power of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2014, its appropriation of the new “idea” of India, especially the Hindu nationalist narrative, which endangers India’s official ideology of secularism, as well as the position of the minorities, in particular of the Muslim minority.The article is divided into seven sections. The Introduction outlines, in general, the main distinction between secularism and multiculturalism and their relationship, referring to the two principal approaches to secularism: (1) neutrality between different religions, and (2) prohibition of religious associations in state activities. Indian secularism tends to emphasise neutrality in particular rather than prohibition in general.The second section, Traces of the Indian Secular Thought through History, examines the view, particularly pervasive among Hindutva supporters, that secularism is alien to the Indian civilisation from the perspectives of history and philosophy, which both provide evidence that “the constituents of secularism which make up the concept are not alien to Indian thought” (Thapar, 2013: 4). In this context, the most evoked name in connection with religious tolerance is that of Ashoka Maurya, who in his edicts called not only for the co-existence of all religious sects but also for equal respect for those who represented them. Many centuries later, Moghul Emperor Akbar supported dialogue across adherents of different religions, including atheists. He laid the formal foundations of a secular legal structure and religious neutrality of the state. The paper here also points to the significance of interaction among various religious cultures and subcultures, the more so between Hinduism and Islam/Sufism. It focuses on extending the meaning of “Indian” religion in the sense that it includes multiple religions, such as Brahmanism, Buddhism, Jainism, Bhakti, Shakta, Islam/ Sufism, Guru-Pir tradition, which, but for Brahmanism, challenge orthodoxy by giving greater weight to social ethics rather than to prescriptive religious texts.The third section, Multiculturalism in Indian Context, refers to the Indian legally warranted multiculturalism and relating debates followed by two distinct directions. The first examines multiculturalism as a state policy in the form of federalisation of its political system; a process which involves the political accommodation of ethnic identities, which remains the most effective method of management and resolution of conflicts. The second direction is concerned with the meaning of multiculturalism and its implications for the issues of individual and group rights, culture, religion, secularism. According to Rajeev Bhargava (1999: 35, 2007), cultural particularity might undermine the “common foundation for a viable society”, and might also lessen individual freedom, thus invalidating the values of liberal democracy. From there follows the question of constitutional protection of personal laws of religious communities, which is, in a way, in collision with the primary secular identity, that of a citizen (Thapar, 2010, 2013).The fourth section, Characteristics of Indian Secularism, analyses in some detail the Articles of the Indian Constitution concerned with the basic understanding of secularism, i.e., that religion must be separated from the state “for the sake of religious liberty and equality of citizenship.” The analysis indicates that, while some Articles (Indian Constitution, Articles 25–26) depart from the mainstream western secularism, others are close to the Western liberal leanings, like those stipulating that the state will have no official religion (constitutional amendment 42) or that no religious instruction will be allowed in educational institutions maintained wholly out of state funds, as well as that no person attending any educational institution receiving financial aid from state funds shall be required to take part in compulsory attendance at religious instruction or worship (Articles 27–28/1/). But, more specifically, the idea of a principled distance from religious pluralism points to India’s highly contextual, thus distinctively Indian, version of secularism.The fifth section, The Question of Indian Identity, argues that, with the inauguration of democracy in India, multiculturalism was adopted as a policy of recognising and respecting diversity, guaranteeing the protection and rights of minorities and positive discrimination for the historically marginalised, and emphasising intergroup equality, while leaving the issue of intragroup equality somewhat aside.In the last section, Challenges of Hindu Nationalistic Ideology, the author points to some manifestations of the current ascendency of Hindu nationalism, particularly resulting from the Bharatiya Janata Party coming to power in 2014, such as the increasing identification of state leaders with Hindu cultural symbols and, at the same time, decreasing official support for the public festivals of minorities, Mus lims and Christians in the first place. According to Hindu nationalists, most Muslims and Christians are converts from Hinduism and should therefore recognise the precedence of the Hindu culture in India. Anti-Muslim prejudice in India stems not from the ideas of their racial or cultural differences but, above all, from questioning their loyalty to India. Here emerges the question of the “secular nationalism” of the Congress Party as opposed to the “Hindu nationalism” of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which insists on Hinduism as the essential token of the Indian national identity, implying cultural and political pre-eminence of Hindus in India.The Conclusion summarises some of the main points regarding the relationship between secularism and multiculturalism in the Indian context, indicating that despite the present challenges that Hindu nationalism poses to both, “…the Indian experience suggests that some form of moderate secularism will continue to remain necessary as a state framework to check the advance of religious majoritarianism” (Bajpai, 2017: 224). The author assumes that the article offers some constructive avenues for future studies on secularism and multiculturalism, which should not only provide further insights into the Indian case but also enhance the understanding of the varieties of secular trajectories worldwide, as well as their implications for democracy.
U osnovi buddhizam je učenje o oslobođenju – od neznanja, patnje i ponovnog rađanja. Znanje „o istinskoj zbilji stvari“ smatra se bitnim u ostvarenju ove slobode. Ovdje, buddhistička ateistička ...priroda, njegova teorija o nepostojanju sopstva, esencije (anattā-vada)192, zakon prolaznosti i uvjetovanog nastajanja (pațicca-samuppādo) te otkriće relativnosti približava buddhizam znanosti, dok je metodologija buddhizma – etika i meditacija – odnosno njegova na praksi utemeljena nereligijska bit jedan od značajnih izvora u razumijevanju ljudske subjektivnosti. Upravo u ovim temeljnim učenjima buddhizam ostaje i danas jednako suvremen i pristupačan, i na ovaj aspekt njegova naslijeđa pokušat ćemo barem u naznakama ukazati.
Buddhism is essentially a teaching about liberation – from suffering, ignorance and rebirth. Knowledge of ‘the way things really are’ is considered to be vital in bringing about this emancipation. ...Therein, Buddhist atheistic nature, theory about non-existence of the self, of the essence (anattā-vada), the law of impermanence and dependent origination (pațica-samuppādo ), its discovery of relativity brings it close to science, while the methodology of Buddhism – ethics and meditation – that is, its practice-based non-religious essence is one of the great resources in developing understanding of human subjectivity. Precisely in these essential teachings, Buddhism remains equally modern and accessible today, and at this aspect of its legacy we will try to point out, though fragmentarily.
Buddhism is essentially a teaching about liberation – from suffering, ignorance and rebirth. Knowledge of ‘the way things really are’ is considered to be vital in bringing about this emancipation. ...Therein, Buddhist atheistic nature, theory about non-existence of the self, of the essence (anattā-vada), the law of impermanence and dependent origination (pațica-samuppādo ), its discovery of relativity brings it close to science, while the methodology of Buddhism – ethics and meditation – that is, its practice-based non-religious essence is one of the great resources in developing understanding of human subjectivity. Precisely in these essential teachings, Buddhism remains equally modern and accessible today, and at this aspect of its legacy we will try to point out, though fragmentarily.
Knjiga Migration, Mobilität, Geschlecht urednica Meike Penkwitt i Antonie Ingelfinger (Budrich UniPress Ltd., Leverkusen − Opladen, 2011, 380 str.) predstavlja tematski raznorodnu raspravu o ...aspektima migracija, prije svega iz migrantske perspektive, u čemu je osobita vrijednost ove studije, uključujući postkolonijalne teorije i njihovu primjenu kroz slike i teme obrađene u knjizi. Propituje se, kako i naslov kaže, bliska povezanost pojma »migracija« s pojmovima »mobilnost« i »rod«, jer migracija već sama po sebi uključuje kretanje, mobilnost. Ipak, između migracije i mobilnosti postoji kompleksna veza, kako uvodno napominje urednica Ingelfinger. Naime mobilnost migranata nije bez ograničenja. Iz odnosa prema izbjeglicama, posebice iz sjevernoafričkih zemalja, jasno je da se zajednica europskih država, za čije je građane pojam mobilnosti središnja, poglavito pozitivna kategorija njihove radne i životne zbilje, brani od mobilnosti stanovnika izvan europskoga kontinenta kako bi zaštitila privilegije vlastitih ljudi. Da je migracija i rodno determinirani proces, upućuju analize biografija migranata/ migrantica i njihovih specifičnih situacija u zemljama imigracije. No kako pokazuje složena interakcija između društva primitka i migranata, kategorija »roda«, ističe Ingelfinger, obuhvaća i druge diferencirajuće kategorije poput rase/etničnosti, klase i seksualnosti, koje upravo u kontekstu migracija postaju značajne.
ABSTRACT IN ENGLISH: In the context of research into the influence of tradition and the modern on (re)shaping new/old (ethno-religious, linguistic, caste and other) identities in contemporary India, ...the specific nature of the Indian situation is examined as well as India's approach to definition and protection of minority rights, based, on the one hand, on the idea of liberal democracy, and on the other, conditioned by its socio-historical heritage. In other words, socio-cultural pluralism in India, founded on the constitutional concept of secularism, has imposed the necessity of adopting a policy that will systematically promote the social and economic interests of the marginalised, and thus minority categories of society, whether their marginality stems from their numbers or their social, economical and/or educational status. Therefore, the Constitution, apart from providing for the protection of the rights and interests of religious, linguistic and/or cultural minorities, also includes protection of the interests of 'scheduled castes and scheduled tribes' and other historically underprivileged groups in the population, so that in the Indian context one can speak of two separate groups of minorities. In the paper minority issues are placed within the framework of socio-political reality, which is marked, on the one hand, by the heritage of traditional and exceptionally complex pluralistic structure, and on the other, by the idea of building a political community on the principles of liberal democracy, egalitarian values, secularism and cultural pluralism. Attention is also drawn to those aspects of minority rights which, particularly in more recent times, have led to conflicts between the majority community and the minority communities (for example, on the question of the personal laws of religious minorities, the policy of compensatory discrimination, the special rights of Kashmir, and other); the issue of protection of individual rights within the minority communities (the rights of women, for example) in relation to minorities' collective rights are also considered. // ABSTRACT IN FRENCH: Dans le contexte de la recherche sur les influences de la tradition et de la modernité sur la (re)création de nouvelles/anciennes identités (ethno-religieuses, linguistiques, identités de caste et autres) en Inde contemporaine, la présente étude traite de la spécificité de la situation indienne ainsi que de l'approche de la définition et de la protection des droits minoritaires, d'une part fondée sur l'idée de la démocratie libérale, et, d'autre part, conditionnée par l'héritage socioculturel. Plus précisément, le pluralisme socioculturel indien, fondé sur le concept constitutionnel du sécularisme, a imposé la nécessité d'adopter une politique qui promeut systématiquement les intérêts sociaux et économiques des catégories marginalisées - donc minoritaires - de la société, que leur marginalité soit attribuable à leur nombre ou à leur position sociale, économique ou éducative. Aussi la constitution, outre la protection des droits et des intérêts des minorités religieuses, linguistiques et/ou culturelles, comprend-elle la protection des intérêts des « castes et tribus répertoriées » (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes), ainsi que d'autres groupes de population historiquement défavorisés, de sorte que l'on peut parler, dans le contexte indien, de deux groupes minoritaires distincts. La présente étude place la problématique des minorités dans le cadre de la réalité sociopolitique, marquée d'un côté par l'héritage de la structure pluraliste traditionnelle et extrêmement complexe, et, de l'autre, par l'idée de la création d'une communauté politique qui reposerait sur les principes de la démocratie libérale et sur les valeurs d'égalitarisme, de sécularisme et de pluralisme culturel. On aborde également les aspects des droits minoritaires qui, surtout de nos jours, mènent au conflit entre la communauté majoritaire et les communautés minoritaires (tels que, par exemple, la question des droits individuels des minorités religieuses, de la politique de discrimination positive, des droits spéciaux du Cachemire, etc.), touchant à la fois à la question de la protection des intérêts des droits individuels au sein des communautés minoritaires (tels que, par exemple, les droits des femmes) par rapport aux droits collectifs des communautés minoritaires. Reprinted by permission of the Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies, Zagreb
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