From the Ruins of Empire

Title: From the Ruins of Empire – The Revolt Against the West and the Remaking of Asia

Author: Pankaj Mishra

Publisher: Allen Lane, 2012 (First)

ISBN: 9781846144783

Pages: 356

Asia is the cradle of all civilizations and religions now extant in the world. Europe was groping in barbaric darkness while culture had its finest flowers lolling in the gardens of Asia. This state of affairs continued till the fifteenth century when Europe at last caught up with Renaissance and overtook it two centuries later with Enlightenment. Industrial Revolution and the multifaceted devices science had invented helped the Europeans expand into Asia in search of colonies. Steeped in a culture that was stagnant for many millennia, Asia was humbled and European hegemony ruled over her. Asians watched their masters and responded in various ways to challenge them. A few imitated them, while many others wanted to go back to the fundamentals of their culture and religion. The first copied the concepts of modern society like national states, capitalism, socialism, rule of law and secularism, while the latter fell back on fundamentalism, which is mocking the foundations of the world order now. Pankaj Mishra tells about the pioneering intellectuals who guided the so-called Asian remaking that revolted against the West and put Asian countries on the path of progress after decolonization. The author principally writes for the Guardian, the New York Times and other leading journals. He lives in London and Shimla.

Originality and individuality had departed from the social and political mores of Asia from the mid-nineteenth century. The great continent had become the battleground of major European powers in their quest to carve up ever lucrative slices of the territorial pie with abundant raw materials and cheap labour. All the major upheavals in Asian history from 1850 till present are succinctly summed up by the author, which include the Indian Mutiny, Anglo-Afghan wars, Ottoman modernization, Turkish and Arab nationalism, the Russo-Japanese War, the Chinese Revolution, the First World War, the Paris Peace Conference, Japanese militarism, decolonization, postcolonial nationalism and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism. All these factors that decided the present shape of Asia are inextricably linked in some way or the other to western ideals. It was surprising at first to watch Europe subdue Asia as individually the Europeans are no more brave, innovative or sensitive or loyal than Asians. However, the social institutions that guided the Europeans were modern and full of energy. As members of corporate groups, churches, or governments and as efficient users of scientific knowledge, the Europeans mustered more power than the wealthiest empires of Asia (p.40).

Most Asians, as well as the book’s author assume an unappreciative perspective on Europe’s surging ahead after the Enlightenment. This did not come about in a day or two. Innovations and interdependent entities like efficient taxation, codified laws, conscript armies, and capital-raising joint-stock companies moulded its development. While Europe was perfecting these mechanisms with which they set out to subjugate the world, Asia was blissfully immersed in despotism and blindly following traditional wisdom. European subordination of Asia was not merely economic, political or military. It was also intellectual, moral and spiritual, which left its victims resentful but also envious of their conquerors.

Mishra tells his narrative based on the lives of Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, Liang Qichao and Rabindranath Tagore. All three tried to follow the West in the beginning, but quickly diverted their trajectory as soon as they detected the grave inner conflicts behind the facade of Western civilization. Al-Afghani fell out with the monarchs of Iran, Egypt and Turkey, even though he entered their services with the promise of radical new thinking. Communism also exerted its appeal on rising Asian intellectuals like Lian Qichao of China. One thing is to be clearly kept in mind here. Communism was yet one more Western ideology imported to Asia, like democracy, imperialism and nationalism. Qichao’s original view was that socialism had its roots in the terrible class inequalities and conflicts created by the laissez-faire policies followed in Western Europe after the Industrial Revolution. China, or any other Asian country, had experienced no such polarization or clashes. It was patriotism, not communism which had prompted Ho Chi Minh to believe in Lenin. Perhaps that’s the reason why communism enjoyed a more lasting presence in Asia. Even long after the overthrow of Stalinist regimes in Eastern Europe, Chinese Communist Party is still going strong. Tagore, the celebrated Indian poet of global renown, believed that Western civilization, built upon the cult of money and power was inherently destructive and needed to be tempered by the spiritual wisdom of the East.

Asians discovered the chinks in Europe’s armour of superiority during and after the First World War. The war was bloody and exacted a heavy toll from the combatants. This fratricidal warfare among European states goaded the Asian intelligentsia into recognizing the pitfalls associated with blindly following the West. The Great Depression and the Second World War put the final nail in the coffin of colonialism. At this point, Islamic and other Asian countries parted their ways. Every nation dived into their cultural traditions when they faced a superior rival in the form of European imperialism which couldn’t be defeated in a conventional way. Countries like India and China extracted new hope and aspirations from the rich mines of those countries’ social treasure accumulated over the ages. But Islam was different. It is not just a religion, but a whole way of life that negates local differences and enhances blind devotion to a set of beliefs that reward obedience rather than skepticism. Countries like Iran and Turkey had a fertile past, but the disillusioned intelligentsia turned towards pan-Islamism as the key to unlock their winning streak once again. This had disastrous consequences. Not only did the strategy failed to produce a stable result (with a few exceptions like the Iranian theocratic state), it turned towards violent extremism that proved to be a scourge of the entire world. On the home front too, Israel emerged as a challenge to Arab self-pride. As terrorism was strictly dealt with elsewhere, the militants turned upon their own brothers. Now, Muslims are perhaps the largest victim of Islamic terror.

Mishra handles Europe and its ideals with a tinge of hostility and resigned acceptance. The demoralizing facets of colonialism are obviously exaggerated while the real civilizing mission goes unnoticed. Asian intellectuals used European capitals as their base for obtaining and dissipating knowledge. Jamal al-Din al-Afghani operated out of Paris and London in his intellectual career. The British readily tolerated him though he was preaching against their influence in the Muslim world. Tagore had a sizeable following in Britain. This was actually one of the drawbacks arraigned against European liberalism – that they allowed the lofty ideals of enlightened toleration in their own homeland, but denied it in the colonies. The book unfairly ascribes racial prejudices to most Western leaders before and during the World Wars. British Prime Minister Lloyd George might indeed have used the term ‘nigger’, or Australian Premier Billy Hughes might have uttered ‘cannibalism’, but such words were used in common parlance in those times. We should not judge the past in the glow of enlightenment of a future era. The book is provided with a good index, an extensive section on Notes and a commendable bibliography.

The book is recommended.

Rating: 3 Star