Project Summary
The International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES) – Colombo submits this request to the UNDP Regional Office for a grant of USD 50 000 for a project on ‘horizontal inequality, violent conflict and social justice in South Asia’.
The project, succinctly, will use the specific lens of film and literature to provide a deeper understanding of how horizontal inequalities are manifested, perceived and experienced in South Asia; when, why and how they become causes of violent conflict; and how social justice and peace are pursued and either found or eluded by the involved parties. It will thus provide a revealing insight into these issues in the public domain through the perspective of the performing and literary arts. The insights of this project, synthesised in a short public policy paper, will be of great use to policy makers at national, regional and international level, by complementing the more technical economic and econometric information on which policy making on Horizontal Inequality and Millennium Development Goal is based. Given the prevalence of socially conscious film making, writing and the great popularity and wide reach of such media among the populations both rural and urban across South Asia, this project provides a crucial but under-examined means to understand and better address horizontal inequality and conflict, which could serve to design more context appropriate policies and measures to pursue social justice and the Millennium Development Goals in individual South Asian countries and the region as a whole.
The project will support the findings of United Nations Development Programs own past work that has on the one hand examined the harmful effect of inequality on conflict and on Millennium Development Goals (Human Development Report 2005) as also the issue of cultural liberty and diversity and the important challenge of inclusion within democracies (Human Development Report 2004, Human Development Report 2002).
Horizontal Inequalities and Violent Conflict
Over the last decade, a growing body of knowledge and evidence has emerged that confirms that horizontal inequalities, that is inequalities in terms of resources, power, access or opportunities between groups in society based on their ethnicity, race, religion, language, caste or other such distinguishing feature is a major factor causing violent conflict. When such groups experience or perceive themselves to be discriminated against, marginalized and excluded from political economic social or cultural power or opportunities and find no political or legal channel to seek redress for their grievances the potential for such grievances to be mobilized or manipulated towards violent conflict is high.
UNDP has pioneered this research, as have eminent economists like Frances Stewart in her Development and Security, Working Paper 3, Centre for Research on Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity in May 2004 and International Policy Levers, Policy Context Paper 1, Centre for Research on Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity Dec 2003. In UNDP’s 2005 Human Development Report, it was strongly argued that inequality matters for a variety of social political and economic reasons such as social justice and morality, putting the poor first, growth and efficiency, political legitimacy and public policy goals. It is when such grievances related to marginalization and exclusion are not addressed effectively through public policy that violent conflict emerges, often due to the absence of other non violent means to achieve social justice and inclusion. Horizontal Inequality and social injustice have underpinned directly or indirectly the vast variety of conflicts on all continents, such as El Salvador, Guatemala, South Africa, to name but few.
South Asia with its deep cleavages of social injustice and Horizontal Inequalitys between ethnic religious and caste groups has experienced innumerable violent conflicts, some of which have been resolved, some frozen, and some still simmering. While such conflicts in South Asia take on an ethnic, religious or ideological garb, at their root lie horizontal inequality and the denial to these groups of the basic services outlined in the MDGs. The conflict in Nepal is deeply related to social injustice related to the exclusion of the majority Buddhists and the political and economic domination of high caste Hindus. The Tamil conflict in Sri Lanka erupted after the exclusive education and language policies favoring the majority language Sinhala adopted by the government, but was preceded by a conflict in the south that centered on the experience of social exclusion of the Sinhala peasantry and the perceived economic and social domination of educated Tamils. The exclusive rule of Pashtuns and marginalization of other ethnic groups has been a persistent cause of conflict in Afghanistan which is being exacerbated again today by the Pashtuns perception of marginalization in the current political dispensation. The many separatist movements and conflicts - including the macro conflict between Hindus and Muslims that has subsisted since colonial days - across the larger countries of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have similar roots.
In South Asian countries, deepening economic inequities have accompanied recent spurts of growth - powered by the booming Indian economy - and make the region prone to more rather than less violent conflict in the near future. Indeed in some countries like Sri Lanka notable economic growth has accompanied the 25 year conflict, while in India economic growth has accompanied growing income inequality.
Horizontal Inequalities and Millennium Development Goals
Horizontal inequalities are thus a major factor responsible for some of the violent conflicts that have riven South Asian countries from independence to the present day. They are also a major reason why South Asia fails to make adequate progress towards the Millennium Development Goals adopted by the UN and all member states in 2000. Policies that explicitly or implicitly exclude certain social groups from access to education, healthcare, water and sanitation both retard the country’s overall MDG targets but also create conflict potential amongst the groups so excluded. In a region of the world that remains highly susceptible to chronic hunger and where income precarity and extreme poverty persist, groups that are marginalized and excluded in this way by deliberate policies or tacit or inadvertent practices of exclusion are the most vulnerable, poor and susceptible to hunger.
South Asia is known for its very low levels of gender equality and health of women and children, and high degree of gender bias including the practice of female foeticide. The situation of maternal health and infant mortality is significantly worse for women and children in socially excluded groups who face the double burden of being women and belonging to socially marginalized groups with lower access to healthcare and other basic services. This frustrates the goal of reducing child mortality and improving maternal health amongst and renders the achievement of gender equity and women’s empowerment much more elusive.
This issue has been closely studied by UNP. In the HDR 2005 it is explained how for example, health inequalities can affect MDGs as deep inequalities are holding back progress in many areas especially in South Asia. Social progress can start to lag behind economic growth performance. If Millennium development goal targets are not met the deepening inequalities can slow down progress towards other health goals.
Public Policy, Public Portrayal and Perception
It is of great importance to policy makers and development actors to understand how such inequities are experienced and perceived by the public by local populations and what their conflict potential is. Public policy needs to be guided by public perception both to prevent and to resolve conflict.
Effective public policy should seek to understand these cleavages in society before they become violent and pursue policies of social justice through distributive measures that favor equity and inclusion and undo the effects of exclusion and marginalization. Such policies require as their knowledge base not just economic, econometric and socio-political analysis but a deep understanding of the perception and experience of such marginalized groups. It needs to understand how the claims for inclusion and social justice are played out in public imagination, how the resultant conflicts are experienced by individuals and groups in society. It is also instructive to learn how these groups themselves envisage just outcomes and means to end conflict and restore or introduce social justice. This project aims to provide such understanding using a particular and uniquely effective lens: that of film and literature.
UNDP is already deeply aware of the importance of cultural agency. UNDP HDR 2004 explored the importance of cultural liberty as a vital part of human development because being able to choose one’s identity without losing the respect of others or being excluded from other choices is important in leading a full life. People often want the freedom to practice their religion openly, speak their language or to celebrate their ethnic or religious heritage without fear or ridicule or punishment. People want the freedom to participate in society without having to slip off their chosen cultural moorings. (2004)
The South Asian sub continent has a particularly rich culture of film, and literature. Furthermore these media have a very wide reach that cut across socially stratified groups and appeal to the wide public. Film and literature in all countries of South Asia have addressed all these issues in their own way and provided vivid portrayals of the experiences of different social groups and of the conflicts precipitated by inequality. They have also upon occasion provided innovative solutions - imagined or real – to these conflicts, and demonstrated evocatively the public thirst for social justice. These media explore not only ongoing conflict but also past conflict and ways to deal with past injustice. Coming to terms with the past has always been an important part of conflict resolution. Uncovering the true sequence of events and underlying causes, forgiving one’s enemy, judging the deeds of the perpetrators, redressing social inequalities, discrimination and finally building a just, inclusive, prosperous and peaceful society are some of the most important aspects of dealing with a violent past. The objective of transitional justice is to promote peace, while redressing past violations and fostering national reconciliation at an individual as well as a national level. Despite numerous efforts in this field, 50% of civil armed conflicts face a relapse. Neither marginalization nor punishment is an answer to a sustainable peace. The only way to achieve a just peace is through integration and inclusiveness. These issues are often played out evocatively in film, and literature.
It is for this reason that this project seeks to explore and understand these issues through film, and media, focusing on some of the more influential and telling works and artists in each medium.
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