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Literary Review
Between militaries and militancies
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Militarism and Women is pertinent for the connection it establishes between seemingly disparate developments which link up to form a grid of oppression and violence. And it is mostly women who are at the receiving end, says AMMU JOSEPH.
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IF the chief minister of Gujarat can claim, as reported, that the monstrous violence he has presided over for two months marks a historic turning point comparable to the celebrated Dandi March, with which his fellow Gujarati, Mahatma Gandhi, launched a non-violent satyagraha in pursuit of freedom from colonial rule, clearly the man can no longer distinguish between war and peace, let alone good and evil.
The ongoing communal crisis in Gujarat is perhaps the latest illustration of the penetration of militarism into our polity, the breadth and depth of militarisation within our society, and the entrapment and victimisation by both of the ordinary people of this country, including women, children and even unborn babies.
If the poignant photograph of a man pleading for mercy with folded hands and tear-filled eyes has become an evocative symbol of the tragedy of Gujarat, another enduring image from the first few days of the violence is of marauding mobs brandishing weapons from a bygone era as they ran amok carrying out their murderous business. If the annual show of military might — equated with national pride — on Republic Day was scaled down this year on account of the build-up on the border, we were amply compensated soon thereafter by this show of militant might — equated by some with national honour — brought home to us, live and in colour, through the television screen.
The relevance and importance of Anuradha M. Chenoy's new book, Militarism and Women in South Asia, becomes clearer with each passing day in the post September 11 era, with October 7, December 13, February 27-28 and March 28-29 serving as momentous milestones in the ominous march of militarisation both globally and locally. Today, even as armed conflict continues in parts of Afghanistan, the armed forces of India and Pakistan confront each other at the border, armed zealots wreak havoc in Gujarat and armed oppression persists in Israel-Palestine.
The focus on South Asia is both fitting and timely as news from various countries in the region highlights the escalation of violence within some of them, threats of violence between others and, thankfully, faint hopes of peace after two decades of civil war in one.
South Asia is among the most conflict-torn and militarised regions in the world, spending a greater proportion of its income on "defence" than any region except West Asia. It is among the poorest regions in the world, ranking abysmally low in human development and scandalously high in human deprivation, but spending only a fraction of the funds required in vital sectors such as healthcare and education. It is also among the most poorly governed regions in the world. The recent nuclearisation of the region has made the situation worse in all respects. Meanwhile, it is widely recognised that women bear the greatest burden of human deprivation in South Asia and that the human costs of poor governance, inadequate investment in social services and social security, as well as increasing violence of various kinds are disproportionately borne by women.
What makes the book particularly pertinent to current events within the country and elsewhere is the link it establishes between seemingly disparate developments, demonstrating that they are all essentially manifestations of the militarisation process, even though they are seldom recognised as such in the traditional discourse on defence, national security and international relations. These include conflicts across as well as within borders, and violations in the public as well as the private spheres. As Chenoy explains, "A study of militarisation demonstrates how gender, class, race, nation, ethnicity, fundamentalism and globalisation intersect and connect up with militarism and each other to form a grid of oppressions that are mutually supportive."
The book comprises six chapters, in addition to a Preface and a Conclusion. The first two provide the theoretical context for the later chapters, which deal with the rise of militarism and the growth of militarisation in the South Asian region, represented by four nations: Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India.
The first chapter, "Understanding Militarism," defines and distinguishes between militarism and militarisation, describes their contemporary manifestations and discusses their effects on society. It also outlines various theories of militarism and explains the political economy of militarism.
While the terms militarism and militarisation are often used interchangeably, the difference between the two lies in the fact that the former signifies an ideology while the latter connotes the material process through which the ideology is put into practice. Militarisation is not simply — or even necessarily — a process whereby the military seeks political domination. It is one that involves the ascendancy of military values and ideals and the consequent influence of these on the structures and conduct of the State, as well as on the social, political and economic life of civil society. Militarisation is not synonymous with military rule or dictatorship; it can develop under civilian leadership. By the same token, the existence of armed forces does not automatically lead to militarisation.
In the same way, not only States but movements opposed to the State can be militarised if they base themselves, their organisations and their ideas on militaristic values and norms. For example, a number of national liberation movements and movements against oppressive regimes use military methods in their struggles. Organisations and political parties in civil society may also have militarised ideologies and use militaristic methods in their functioning.
At the same time, militarism is compatible with a number of oppressive ideologies. As Chenoy points out and we have seen only too well in recent times, "Fundamentalist groups are known to be comfortable with it, communal parties or groups that view the `other' as an enemy often advocate the use of military methods against them... " Under the circumstances, it is hardly surprising that there is an intimate relationship between militarism, militarisation and patriarchy, which has received considerable attention from feminist scholars. Chapter 1 also chronicles feminist critiques of theories of militarism and militarisation, examines the gender-related dimensions and impact of both, and establishes the links between them and violence in society, including domestic violence.
According to feminist scholars, traditional theories of militarism and militarisation are inadequate because they are gender-blind. They point to the importance of analysing the linkages between different categories of violence, oppression and threats to security and understanding that all three are mediated by factors like race, caste, class and gender. Many argue that militarism and patriarchy are inter-dependent, while militarisation and conventional notions of masculinity are intertwined. Some see parallels between sexism and militarism, with the former propounding the notion that men are aggressive by nature and the latter proposing that the social order must be maintained through force.
If patriarchal structures are reinforced by militarisation, the latter props up gender differences, affecting men and women in dissimilar ways. The sexual violence experienced by women in situations of armed conflict, whether between states or communities, is but one example of this reality — most recently witnessed in Gujarat.
Although Chenoy rejects what she calls the essentialist assumption that women are peaceful by nature and highlights the need for more analysis of women's material and ideological contributions to the militarisation process, she acknowledges that women have a special stake in peace and that, as a result, women's movements have been historically involved in struggles against violence of all kinds, at all levels of society. As she puts it, "Women's own battle against violence is also a battle against militarism. Their endeavour is to delegitimise violence in its structural, organised and private forms for peace within and outside the home."
Chapter 2 elaborates on feminist critiques of national security doctrines. According to Chenoy, "Theorists of international relations have generally resisted engagement with gender issues... The rise of feminist theory and its systematic assault on male-dominated paradigms has modified this outlook in recent times, but its core — in the form of national security studies — remains locked in state-centred paradigms."
Attempts by states and institutions dealing with international relations and national security to accommodate "the gender dimension" have seldom gone beyond the admission into their exclusive domain of women who accept approved dogmas, says Chenoy. Feminists cannot be brought into the fold quite so easily because they challenge almost every assumption on which national security doctrines are based. For example, they do not accept that the nation-state is the only or most significant source of political identification or allegiance. They propose that real security has to be less state-centric and more society-centred, and that there can be no security without social and economic justice, political liberty and egalitarian democratisation. As if all that were not heretic enough, they equate domestic, social and public violence, view peace as the absence of violence in both the private and the public spheres, and believe that security includes security within the home.
According to Chenoy, "Feminist scholars and women's movements have embarked on the project of opposing the forces, processes and beliefs that construct militarism, sexism and xenophobia by challenging the idea of militarism in civil society, and questioning the dominant notions of national security and international relations." For an alternative vision of security and conflict resolution, she says, feminist theories and analyses have much more to contribute than has been acknowledged so far.
In this context, Chenoy makes an important contribution to a more gender-aware understanding of militarism and militarisation by not only outlining and elaborating on different streams in feminist critiques of malestream doctrines and dogmas, but also providing her own appraisal of feminist theories and analyses.
The four country-specific chapters that follow are interesting and useful because they provide potted histories of internal and external conflicts in the region, many of which still endure and/or affect both contemporary national politics and regional relationships.
"Militarising India," the last and longest of these, spans the period between the formation of the Indian state and the conflict in Kargil. It covers issues ranging from the early policy of non-alignment to the more recently adopted policy of "nuclear deterrence". It deals with conflicts in different parts of the country, including the north-eastern states, Punjab and Kashmir. And it attempts to examine all of the above through a gender lens, highlighting the impact of these developments on women and their lives, as well as women's interactions with and/or contributions to the process of militarisation within the country.
In common with most attempts to telescope long periods of history and to encapsulate complex issues such as those underlying most conflicts, Chenoy's accounts have their limitations, although they do not constitute major handicaps. For example, the uneven use of detail could make it difficult for readers totally unfamiliar with the history of the region and/or individual nations to follow the course of certain developments.
Another relatively minor problem with the book lies in the organisation of material, which entails some degree of backtracking in pursuit of the whole picture with regard to a particular aspect of the subject. More succinct definitions of militarism and militarisation, and further elaboration of the distinctions and connections between the two, would also benefit the lay reader for whom the connotations of these terms, in this context, are relatively new. Some of these small irritants could perhaps have been eliminated in the editing process.
Clearly none of this detracts from the significance and timeliness of the book, which has the potential to increase public understanding of the processes underlying the pervasive violence as well as poverty, lack of social security and gender-based oppression that currently characterise the South Asian region.
It is sobering to recall that on the day the nation woke up to internal combustion in Gujarat, India's defence budget was hiked by 14.03 per cent to Rs. 65,000 crore (or Rs. 650 billion) for 2002-2003, ostensibly on account of the state of high alert on the Indo-Pak border. And this is a country where approximately 44 per cent of the population continue to live on less than a dollar a day.
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