Manipal, India —
Given the many allegations that he endured, as well as the fall in stage
appearances in the past few years, pop star Michael Jackson may have been
surprised by the emotion caused by his death. Admirers in every continent gave
voice to their feelings, making it impossible for traducers to attempt one
final stab at Jackson’s reputation.
The legacy of
the singer includes a geopolitical factor; he provided the proof that while
prejudice may exist on the surface, deeper inside each person is the
recognition of a common humanity. He represented the need for unity in a world
where communications and travel have melted boundaries.
Many, if not
most, of Jackson's mourners were of European ethnicity, the group that has led
the world for close to six centuries, till the middle of the last century. This
success has created resentment in some other groups, of which pronounced
manifestations can be seen in leaders such as Zimbabwean President Robert
Mugabe and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. The first has bankrupted his
country by launching a war that is in significant ways racial; the other seems
to be following the same path, though hopefully will reconsider before his
country becomes another Zimbabwe.
Both leaders
have made an error common in post-colonial societies, which is to ascribe all
current ills to the single factor of external rule, avoiding internal factors
that may have contributed to social disintegration even before colonization or
even facilitated the original takeover of the nation.
The hatred and
negativism of a Mugabe or a Chavez need to be countered by other lives that
demonstrate the ability of people across the planet to work together. Jackson
has been faulted for, apparently, wanting a tan less deep than those of his
parents, and this was used to label him as an individual who looked down on his
origins. This charge was absurd, as shown by the affectionate relationship that
the singer had with his family, and with the fact that the team around him
reflected diversity rather than a monochrome quality.
Michael Jackson
did not hate those with a lesser tan. His geopolitical legacy was to help
create and exemplify a truth, convenient for the world, that prejudice in any
form has the potential to retard progress overall.
India’s
independence leader Mahatma Gandhi – for all his quirky "solutions"
to India's problems and the zigzags he imposed on the Congress Party in its
battle against British rule – never allowed hate to enter his mind or his
tactics. Some of his most devoted followers were of an ethnicity different from
himself, including his South African Jewish secretary Sonja Schlesin, Christian
missionary C.F. Andrews and British devotee Madeleine Slade.
It was not
simply his renown in India that gave the colonial authorities pause in dealing
with the Mahatma, but the admiration that came from such eminent people as
Romain Rolland and even Albert Einstein. During his stays in London, in the
poorer parts of the city, he won the affectionate attention of the local people
– which could serve as a lesson to the practitioners of hatred such as Robert
Mugabe.
The fact that
the very influential segment in British political life that wanted to hold on
to India in perpetuity lost to those pushing for independence for an ancient
people was due to the far greater numbers of the latter. Ultimately, the
British diehards were seen as tiresomely out of date by their own colleagues,
who presided over the dismantling of the greatest empire the world has ever
witnessed – a process that in the case of the British Empire was almost
entirely peaceful.
Should there be
ugly custody battles over the two delightful Jackson children – although
hopefully these may be avoided and the children remain in the care of those who
have looked after them for so long – even this will not sully the Michael
Jackson legacy, which is to demonstrate a worldview in which hatred of the
"other" is replaced with love.
The history of
humankind has shown the dangers of sectarian logic and assertions of dominance
related to either nationality or religion. In a world where climate changes
caused by centuries of neglect must be reversed in order to sustain – and not
simply to exploit – the planet, there is a growing awareness of the need for
united action.
Vestiges of past
attitudes may remain, but the universal nature of the grief that has followed
Michael Jackson's death has shown that the psyche of the human race is healthy
enough not to be overpowered by those who seek to freeze into eternity past
attitudes, and carry such poisons forward into the present.
-(Professor M.D. Nalapat is vice-chair of the Manipal Advanced
Research Group, UNESCO Peace Chair, and professor of geopolitics at Manipal
University. ©Copyright M.D. Nalapat.)
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