A question of Answers: There is room for dissent - Bhikhu Parekh

There is a conspicuous split in British Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour Party over the war now being waged against Iraq by the United States, Britain, Australia and other members of the coalition.

One of the prominent dissidents on the war is Lord Bhikhu Parekh, professor of political theory at the London School of Economics and a Labour member of the House of Lords.

In a letter to the whip of the Labour Party in the House of Lords on March 20, Parekh with another fellow academic, Professor the Lord Morgan of Aberdyfil, wrote: "We detest and condemn the Saddam regime and its catalogue of atrocities against its own people, to which successive British and U.S. governments for years not only turned a blind eye, but tendered their active support.

"However, we consider the decision to join the U.S. government in a pre-emptive strike to be wholly unacceptable."

Parekh was in New Delhi last weekend, where he delievered the D.T. Lakdawala lecture titled, "Re-Imagining India" on March 28, where he critiqued the Hindutva and secular models of the country.
In an interview with Gulf News at the Indian International Centre on Saturday evening, Parekh talked about the war and its effect on Muslims and Hindus living in Britain, and his views on Prime Minister Blair.

Excerpts from the interview:

Are Asians, and Muslims in particular, facing problems in Britain, after 9/11?
Though Asians have come under suspicion, it was the Muslims in particular who had faced hostilitity.

Is the liberal democratic model under test, where ethnic and religious minorities are not welcome?
Britain has passed the test. In the first Gulf war, as well as in this war, the government has accepted the fact that there are Muslims who do not accept a war against a Muslim country, and it had declared that they should not be harassed.

What do the Asians feel about the war this time round?
Let me say that among the Asians, the positions of the Muslims and Hindus are different. There are three kinds of Muslim reponses to this war. The first category is those of supporting the war. Among them are Shias, Kurds and Iraqi exiles who have been vicitimised by the Saddam regime.

There is the second category of those who are opposed to the war because it is seen as an unjust war against a Muslim country. And then there is a third segment of Muslims who are neutral about the war because of the conflicting views posed by the two other groups.

Similarly, there are Hindus who support the war because they feel that India has been a victim of terorrism, and that the problem needs to be sorted out. But there is an equally strong Hindu segment which is opposed to the war because it believes that if this war is allowed, it could mean that even India could be attacked without any provocation.

Do you think that in this war, there is space for dissidents in the liberal democracies of the West?
I would say that there is space for dissidents in Britain. Remember, that 139 Labour members of parliament went against the war. The Liberal Democratic Party is completely opposed to the war. It is the Conservative Party which is supporting the Blair government.

My colleague, Lord Morgan of Aberdyfil and I sent a letter to the office of the whip in the House of Lords, stating our opposition to the war. The same cannot be said of the United States. There, friends in the universities and corporations told me that if they expressed their position against the war, they were dubbed as "traitors".

What about the Western media? Is it really liberal in its stand on the war?
Again, I would say that in Britain the situation is different from the U.S. In Britain, The Guardian and The Independent are opposed to the war. The Times is occupying a middle ground. It wants the war to get over quickly. It is only The Daily Telegraph that supports the war. In the U.S., the media response is more homogenous.

Are you close to Prime Minister Blair? What do you think of his position on the war?
I do not know Prime Minister Blair personally. But I think he is a good man whose intellect I respect. But his position on the war is wrong. It is based on false assumptions. It was hoped that there Shias would rise against Saddam, which did not happen.

It was assumed that Iraqis would welcome the Allied forces. It was not there. I think it was wrong for Blair to have moved close to U.S. President George W. Bush. He should have kept his distance.

Are you disillusioned with Blair's ideology of "New Labour"?
No. I am not. I still believe in the ideas of New Labour, with its basis in a multi-cultural Britain.

Is liberal democracy a universal model, which can be exported?
It is not. Liberal democracy as it has evolved in Britain is culture-specific. I would say that democracy is universal, which is acceptable to people in the Middle East. But liberalism with its faith in the individual and in secularism may not be acceptable in the same way.