The primacy of the individual, and thus individual liberty, is a social construct. It is neither self-evident nor is it historically inevitable.
It has to be fought for, gained and preserved at every moment. It is a task for every generation.
Many of us born in the second half of the 20th century comfortably believed that arc of liberty will only expand. We took liberal democracy for granted. We were wrong.
At Manthan Samvaad a couple of years ago, I talked about what we could do to preserve and promote liberty.
What I tell my children https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eMV6kKMTVvg
@nitin History shows us that we go through a constant cycle of severe hate followed by peace. Why can't we break out of the cycle would be that in times of peace the liberal voice becomes too fractured allowing hate to rise.
We are now in the hate part of cycle and need organise our fractured voices. How fast do we turn the cycle would be on how fast we can organise against the single notion leaving behind our differences.
@nitin I believe that when women oppose or demean liberalism or secularism, its primarily because they haven't actually read their "Books".. had they done so; they would have sided with Liberals..
A counter acting force to this "realisation" are the privileges that Hinduism bestows on the few, who also happen to be relatively rich and powerful.. For many of them, Hindutva is about retaining /regaining those privileges..
Liberalism/Secularism requires/leads to disowning of such previleges.
Nitin Pai
Sai Vishal
menonrajesht
Iconoclast | غیر عقائد