The spirit of 1989, from Tiananmen to Prague (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 1: World History
Prelims level: The spirit of 1989
Mains level: Lesson we learn from the spirit of 1989

Context

• The recent commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the violent suppression of China’s Tiananmen Square protests is a good occasion to look back on the year 1989 and the non-violent movements for democracy which changed our world.
• It is a fact that the non-violent movements in Central and Eastern Europe in 1989 ended the confrontation between East and West and strengthened the possibility of a “new international order” based on the extension of democracy around the globe.
• As a result of the victory of non-violent campaigns in Poland (with the Solidarity movement) and in Czechoslovakia (with the Velvet Revolution), the technique of non-violent transformation of authoritarian and semi-totalitarian regimes into liberal democracies turned into a global cross-cultural phenomenon.
• In other words, the self-empowerment strategies of non-violent civic actors of 1989 had a great impact on those around the globe who believed in a genuine process of democratisation.

Background

• Let us not forget that the past 30 years have witnessed an unprecedented flowering of non-violent experiences.
• In many areas of the world, such as Latin America, North Africa and West Asia, where armed struggle was once seen as the only path to freedom, non-violent campaigns are now considered institutionalised methods of struggle for democratic invention and democratic governance.

Good governance

• One of the important tasks that was set by the non-violent movements of 1989 was the provision of “good governance”.
• For these movements and their leaders like Czechoslovakia’s Václav Havel, the real test of democracy was not only in the peaceful process of transition, but also in the non-violent consolidation of democratic institutions.
• For the advocates of non-violence in 1989, democracy was not just “an institutional arrangement for organising the political society” but a new attitude and approach towards the problem of power.
• For example, from the point of view of a 1989 leader such as Havel, the concept of power should go hand in hand with responsibility.
• As he pointed out, “Politics is an area of human endeavour that places greater stress on moral sensitivity, on the ability to reflect critically on oneself, on genuine responsibility, on taste and tact, on the capacity to empathise with others, on a sense of moderation, on humility.”
• In a Gandhian manner, the spirit of 1989 affirmed that the challenges and difficulties of democratic governance needed to be confronted through self-rule, self-control and the soul force.
• Undoubtedly, for all the non-violent actors of 1989, the twin practices of self-discipline and empathetic service seemed necessary in order to control an unjust and inappropriate power.
• This is actually what was suggested by the student-led democracy movement in China.
• For the Chinese students, the process of democratisation was a way to change the Communist power over society into a power from within it.
• As another leader of the 1989 movements, Adam Michnik, declares, “The real struggle for us is for the citizen to cease to be the property of the state.”

It’s still afloat

• As a matter of fact, it took shape once again in the spirit of young Egyptians and Tunisians who shook Arab history though the tactics of non-violent resistance. Certainly, the spirit of 1989 was non-violence in the making.
• And today, we can find the same spirit of 1989, what we can call a Gandhian moment of history, in Algeria, Sudan, Iran, Indonesia, the U.S. and many other countries around the globe.
• It shows that the dream of 1989 which accompanied the Chinese students of Tiananmen, the workers of Poland and the civic actors of Prague is not over.
• It shows that where non-violence is practised, democracy is honoured.

Conclusion

• Moreover, the spirit of 1989, which took shape in the year of all freedoms, is a reminder that democracy is a system based on trust in human action and the fact that the impossible could become possible.

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1) With reference to Zig-Zag technology, which of the following statements is correct?
(a) It is the technology used in public transportation system to reduce the on-road traffic.
(b) It is the technology employed to reduce carbon emissions in brick kilns.
(c) This is the technology which is used for development of supercomputers.
(d) This technology is employed in stem cell research for development of modified pluripotent cells.

Answer: B
Mains Questions:
Q.1) To what extent the spirit of 1989 is a reminder that where non-violence is practised, democracy is honoured. Critically examine.