Spain’s Euro victory a triumph over bad politics

Leading up to Euro 2008, Spain manager Luis Aragones made a tough decision. He chose not to bring Raul back into the team. Despite the fact that Raul is the golden boy of Spanish football. Despite the fact that Raul is the heart and soul of Real Madrid, the club which represents the ruling position Spanish Spaniards have over Spain.

Now what do I mean by Spanish Spaniards? I mean Spanish citizens whose native language is Spanish. This excludes the Catalans, the Basques and the Galicians, three ethnicities who unhappily find themselves part of the Spanish country against their will. These communities are often like taxpaying colonies of Spanish Spain. Leaders from Spanish Spain have the greatest influence over the country’s fate by virtue of their numerical superiority. Spanish monocultural nationalism has taken root, where the Catalan, Basque and Galician cultures are marginalized in favour of a national, “Spanish”, culture.

Naturally these minorities don’t like it. The Basques, whose language is totally unrelated to any European language, have a separatist movement going. The Catalans are less radical due to the importance of their capital Barcelona as an economic hub. But the Catalan national consciousness has been preserved independently of the Spanish national consciousness.

                    Demonstrators with the Catalan national flag

One of the great symbols of Spanish monocultural nationalism is Real Madrid Football Club. General Franco, the enfant terrible of Spanish politics known for his Spanish nationalism and marginalization of minority cultures, was president of Real Madrid in the 60s. Madrid-based newspaper Marca is a mouthpiece for Spanish monocultural nationalism and also of Real Madrid Football Club. Real Madrid always gets a hostile reception when travelling to the Basque country to play teams from that region, because the “colonial masters are here and they deserve our treatment.”

Raul is Mr Real Madrid. And therefore Mr Spain. He has carefully cultivated an image as a Spanish monocultural nationalist, and therefore having a divine right to be in the Real Madrid and Spain teams. He is the darling of the Madrid media, particularly the infamous Marca. He followed in the footsteps of another Spanish monocultural nationalist, Fernando Hierro, who was also Mr Real Madrid and Mr Spain. Inevitably, both Hierro and Raul were captain of Spain.

The Spanish national team has always had a Catalan “faction” and a Basque “faction”, players belonging to these communities who have done well enough to get into the national team. Examples include Catalans Cesc Fabregas and Carles Puyol, and Basque Xabi Alonso. The average Catalan or Basque player plays for Spain because it is the only national team they can play for. There are some extraordinarily principled players like Barcelona’s Catalan defender Oleguer who simply refuse to play for the national team, but they are exceptions. Any Spanish national selection has an inevitable component of Catalans and Basques.

Players like Hierro and Raul come with their inextricable baggage of Spanish nationalism, Real Madrid, General Franco and Marca. To compound the problem, these Spanish nationalistic players are usually captain, and the dominant presence in the dressing room. You cross them, and it’s hasta la vista (Spanish for “so long, bye bye”). Such players never see eye to eye with the Catalan faction and the Basque faction. Catalans and Basques are often perceived as not being committed enough to the national cause, so Raul and Co are usually harsh on them. Catalan and Basque players quietly curse the privileged position enjoyed by players of Raul’s ilk, and slowly build up resentment.

This atmosphere of mutual distrust is one of the main reasons for Spain’s underachievement in World Cups and European Championships. The team has always been a collection of exceptional individuals and king-sized egos, and have never won the World Cup. They had only one European Championship victory (achieved in 1964) to their name.

That was until now. Luis Aragones, the 69 year-old grand man of Spanish football, decided to take a stand against bad politics. He decided that there was no place for Raul in the Spain team. He was villified by the Madrid-based media. He was almost hounded out by the press, and even announced prior to Euro 2008 that he would be leaving after the tournament and taking over at Turkish club Fenerbahce. The only thing that could save his reputation was victory in Euro 2008.

Aragones promptly delivered it. With a swashbuckling style of football that everyone else envied, Spain stormed to the Euro 2008 title. There was a sudden unity about the team, epitomised by Catalans Fabregas and Puyol making immense contributions to the cause. Another Catalan, Xavi, was even named Player of the Tournament. There was no disruptive influence in the dressing room. Everyone played for the country. Everyone celebrated victory regardless of whether they were Catalans, Basques or, for want of a better term, Spanish Spaniards.

Sergio Ramos, the Spanish Spaniard from Andalucia, celebrated Spain’s Euro 2008 victory by draping the flag of Andalucia round himself. The blogosphere was filled with comments about the wisdom of such a move. Some mentioned the calamity that would have ensued if anyone had flown the Catalan or Basque flag instead. Headlines like “Xabi Alonso the Basque separatist” or “Fabregas the national traitor” would have appeared on, where else, Marca.

                   
                Sergio Ramos (centre) with the Andalucian flag

An interesting moment occurred when the sole Basque in the team, Xabi Alonso, received the Spanish flag which was being passed around among the players. He looked distinctly uncomfortable and passed it on quickly. As I told you earlier, Basques and Catalans play for Spain because it’s the only national team they can play for. But to their credit, they have conducted themselves very well and made mammoth contributions to the cause.

To put things into perspective was one Marcos Senna, a man born halfway across the world in Brazil, who took up Spanish citizenship in his twenties, made his debut for the national team at 30, and became the heartbeat of Spain’s victorious Euro 2008 team. Seeing him in Spanish colours celebrating jubilantly, you cannot but wonder if the Spanish-Catalan-Basque divide has been blown out of proportion by bad politics.

No such bad politics here. Aragones has weeded out disruptive elements and led the nation to glory. The Madrid press who villified Aragones for his decisions have now gone strangely silent. And Senor Raul, hasta la vista.

Where every prospect pleases and only man is vile

In 1956, Singapore’s budding leader Lee Kuan Yew visited Ceylon. He was impressed with the country, and noted that it was far ahead of Singapore in many respects. He decided he wanted to make Singapore another Ceylon.

That same year, Solomon Bandaranaike was elected President of Ceylon. His election promise was to make Sinhala the sole national language and Buddhism the sole national religion. After being elected by the Sinhala Buddhist majority, he was true to his word.

Without any warning, Sinhala replaced English as the language of education and business. Tamils, Muslims and Burghers who had their entire education in English realized they were no longer economically useful. Hindus, Muslims and Christians realized their religion had no place in the national framework. Sinhala Buddhist monocultural nationalism had taken root in Ceylon. The implosion had begun.

Sinhala Buddhist politicians justified their monocultural nationalism by quoting the Mahavamsa, a glorious epic of high culture which includes the tale of a woman copulating with a lion and giving rise to the founder of the Sinhala race, who was later kicked out of his homeland for intolerable acts of violence, and accidentally landed in Lanka (no, I’m not pulling your leg!) Politicians interpreted the Mahavamsa as per their whims and fancies to claim that the island of Sri Lanka was gifted to the Sinhala Buddhists, and they were the rightful ruling race. The Sinhala symbol - the sinha, or lion - found a place in the national flag, representing the divine right the Sinhala people had over the island.

                     Flag of Sri Lanka with the Sinhala lion

The national framework of Sri Lanka completely ignored the fact that northern Sri Lanka had been Tamil territory for its entire recorded history. A combination of political rhetoric, cultural marginalization, and - most importantly - economic disenfranchisement, meant that the Tamils were second class citizens. In later years, things became worse with outright ethnic cleansing of Tamils. Murders and rapes of Tamils became common, as did damage to Tamil businesses and institutions. The Sencholai Massacre, Jaffna Public Library Destruction and Black July 1983 were some of the many horrifying incidents.

        Destruction of Tamil businesses during Black July 1983

It was a matter of time before the chickens (or in this case, tigers) came home to roost. In 1970, an unknown Tamil man burnt a public bus. It was the first act of violence against the Sri Lankan state. In 1972, the same man founded an organization to rise up against the government. In 1975, the same man assassinated a Tamil mayor of Jaffna who had aligned himself with the Sinhala government. The unknown man was no longer unknown. Today everyone knows who is that man, and which is the organization he founded.

With the Tamils taking up arms to fight for their rights, it was no longer a one dimensional matter of a tyrannical state persecuting a minority community. The backlash had begun. For every massacre perpetrated in the Tamil fortresses of Jaffna and Trincomalee, the backlash was felt in the Sinhalese heartlands of Colombo and Kandy. With a lion and a tiger locked in unceasing conflict tearing each other apart, the entire jungle has suffered and become a mass grave. Millions of lives have been stunted by death, disability, displacement and despair.

In the meantime, Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew chose not to go down a path of monocultural nationalism. He gave equal rights to every language and every religion, and enshrined a culture of absolute meritocracy. The outcome was a prosperous, progressive and harmonious country.

The same Lee Kuan Yew now mentions wistfully that he saw a promising country, Ceylon, go to waste. He comments on the irony that a country whose ancient name Serendib gave us the word serendipity is now the epitome of pain, sorrow, despair and hopelessness. Serendib is one of the most naturally gifted countries in the world. Its beaches and harbours are among the best. Tea, crabs and other natural resources give it immense economic potential. The legendary religious sites of Anuradhapura, Kandy, Jaffna and Trincomalee are potentially great tourist spots. And as an English-speaking country, it’s not hard to imagine the outsourcing boom spilling over here.

All these went to waste because of the decisions of a few men at a critical juncture of the country’s history. As P G Wodehouse used to describe houses which looked beautiful but were ruined by the wrong people, Sri Lanka is a country where every prospect pleases and only man is vile. The damage looks irreversible now. Too much water - and blood - has flowed under the bridge.

The man who saw forever

 

Sir Arthur C. Clarke

On March 19th 2008, Sir Arthur C. Clarke passed away in his adopted home of Colombo, Sri Lanka. The nonagenarian left behind a stupendous legacy. He was at once an author, inventor, futurist, visionary, mathematician, pilot, radar specialist, nature lover, scuba diver and underwater explorer. To categorize him as any single one of these would be an injustice to his myriad talents.

As a science fiction writer, he was par excellence. He made his name dealing with space adventures and alien civilisations. His fertile imagination, grounded in an unshakeable knowledge of astrophysics, put him in a league of his own. With a penchant for the cosmic, a vast repertoire of knowledge, and an ability to see things before they became visible, Clarke was quite simply a visionary. He was the man who saw forever.

Arthur Charles Clarke was born in Somerset, England, in 1917. He had the same humble beginning of any astrophysicist: stargazing. The young Clarke showed an avid interest in American science fiction magazines, which whetted his appetite.

Unable to afford a university education, Clarke joined the Royal Air Force after his secondary education. He served in several capacities, such as Radar Specialist, Pilot Officer, Flying Officer and Flight Lieutenant. After the Second World War, he earned a first class degree in physics and mathematics from King’s College, London. He served in the British Interplanetary Society.

Clarke started writing to scientific magazines such as Wireless World. In 1948, he wrote a short story called “The Sentinel” for a BBC competition. The story was rejected, but went on to be a turning point in Clarke’s career. It introduced a mystic and cosmic element to Clarke’s work, an element which would define him forever. He wrote his first novel, Prelude To Space, in 1951, and there was no turning back. He later wrote over 30 novels and 20 non-fiction books.

He wrote The Fountains of Paradise, portraying a space elevator leading from earth to a space station. Rendezvous With Rama depicted an alien spaceship mistaken for an asteroid and named after the Hindu god Rama. The Sands of Mars described a human colony on Mars, where colonists adopt numerous scientifically believable techniques to make the planet inhabitable. Dolphin Island was inspired by his adventures as an underwater explorer. The Hammer of God depicted a religious sect attempting to convert humans into terabytes of computer information.

He is most famous for his 1968 novel, 2001: A Space Odyssey, about an ancient and unseen alien race performing evolutionary experiments with humanity. The aliens use devices with the appearance of large crystal monoliths to investigate faraway worlds, and if possible, encourage intelligent life there. It revolves around Captain Bowman, who is drawn into one of those monoliths and turned into an immortal “star child”, charged with the task of coming back to earth and catalysing evolution. The novel was simultaneously made into a movie by director Stanley Kubrick. Clarke followed 2001: A Space Odyssey with three sequels.

His contributions were more than just literary. His vision proved to be the catalyst for two important technological breakthroughs of the 20th century. He was the first to suggest that geostationary satellites could be ideal telecommunications relays facilitating near-instantaneous transmissions. He conceived this in 1945, and saw his dream bear fruit barely 20 years later. His prediction that man would set foot on the moon by 2000 was a driving force motivating NASA to realize the vision as early as 1969.

He was human though, and some of his predictions went off the mark. He cheekily predicted that humans would use apes as household servants by the end of the 20th century. He also warned us that the apes will form unions and create a ruckus!

Compared to Clarke’s other achievements, his formulation of the Three Laws of Prediction may seem a little trivial. But they are noteworthy for their sheer wit.

1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.

2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.

3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

He later formulated a fourth one:

4. For every expert there is an equal and opposite expert.

In 2007, Clarke completed 90 orbits around the sun. He was now in a wheelchair, but his mind continued to reach the farthest outposts of the universe. He marked his 90th birthday by speaking to his followers through a Youtube video. He expressed three birthday wishes: For ET to call, for mankind to quit his addiction to oil, and for lasting peace in Sri Lanka. He could not resist making more predictions. He declared this the beginning of the golden age of space travel. He predicted that thousands of space tourists will travel to the moon and beyond within the next 30 years.

In 2001: A Space Odyssey, Captain Bowman attains the status of an immortal star child, and is sent back to earth to inspire evolutionary leaps. That may well describe Arthur C. Clarke himself. Evolutionary catalyst, immortal star child.

Virtually another life

Over the last couple of years, I’ve heard murmurs about the virtual world called Second Life. I had pushed it to the recesses of my mind, thinking it’s just another game. What did not help was the similarity the name ‘Second Life’ had with the name of the game ‘Half Life’. I felt it was one among the crowd.

Then I heard something that aroused my curiosity. Second Life has its own economy. Now, economy is a big word. Your run-of-the-mill games don’t have economies. For the first time, I sensed that this was something different. I finally became curious enough to find out more, and what I found out was beyond my wildest expectations.

First of all, Second Life is not a game. It’s a virtual world, with an economy and real estate of its own. You are known as a resident. You own houses, cars, clothes and accesories. You socialise. You form communities with people who share your tastes. Here’s the icing on the cake: You can make real money in this virtual world. Yes, real money.

Whatever you can do in your first life, you can do in this second life. It’s virtually another life. You acquire a representation of yourself, called an avatar. Through your avatar, you live in this virtual world. You buy land, develop it into prime real estate, and sell to other avatars. You make cars and sell them. You design clothes and sell them. You can even make music and sell it. The currency here is Linden Dollars, which can be converted to US Dollars anytime you wish. This is how you make real money.

It seems counter-intuitive. Why would anyone want to buy a virtual house or a virtual car? Believe it or not, it makes business sense.

Let’s say I buy a house for 5000 Linden Dollars, and I rent it out to another resident for 12 months, for 500 Linden Dollars a month. At the end of the year, I’ll make a profit of 1000 Linden Dollars, convert it to US Dollars, and have real cash.

But why would another resident want to rent my virtual house? Because just like in our first life, we need a home in our second life. We need a virtual home as a base, and go about our virtual business. Another resident can rent my house, paying 6000 Linden Dollars to me over a year. The same resident can make music and sell it in Second Life. If he earns more than 6000 Linden Dollars a year, he makes a profit and converts it into real, hard cash.

So what’s in it for Linden Labs, the San Francisco company which created Second Life and runs it? They make money primarily by leasing “land” to residents (who use it for their virtual business purposes by creating houses, shops, and even virtual tourist attractions with the land).

Linden Labs have another source of income. Brands who want a slice of the pie. A company or advertising agency can buy an “island” for a one-time fee and a monthly rate. General Motors and Nissan have started selling virtual cars in Second Life. Coke has created Coke Studios, where avatars mix songs and play their mixes to other residents. Nike and Adidas sell digital and real-life versions of their products. Financial institution Wells Fargo built Stagecoach Island in Second Life, and calls it the world’s first virtual-reality financial literacy game. Starwood Hotels raised awareness of its new brand of hotels (called Aloft Hotels) by building virtual hotels in Second Life. Sun Microsystems held a pavilion showcasing its products. Pop artist Ben Folds promoted a new album with two virtual appearances.

Now that is something!

Coke’s “island” in Second Life

Sun Microsystems pavilion in Second Life

But there’s one thing I simply do not understand. There are red light areas in Second Life! Come on, surely we know certain things cannot be simulated!

You know it’s truly a complete world when there is terrorism in it! There is an organization known as the Second Life Liberation Army (SLLA) modeled on real-life separatist organizations such as the Palestine Liberation Army (PLA) and the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). The SLLA stages attacks on virtual stores. The SLLA says it’s fighting for stock in Linden Labs, and voting rights for avatars.

The Second Life Liberation Army attacks a Reebok store!

Second Life is probably the most successful instance of a virtual world dominating people’s consciousness to such an extent that almost every real-life phenomenon is replicated there. There are other virtual worlds like Entropia Universe, which I hear are not bad either. Maybe the virtual world is no longer an amusing curiosity but a serious world with real opportunities.

Let the games begin (on second thoughts, is it really a game?)

Understanding glocalisation

It’s often debated whether globalisation destroys indigenous cultures. We hear outcries about worldwide McDonaldization. But we have not yet understood a phenomenon called glocalisation, where people have global and local perspectives at the same time. Glocalised folks zoom in and out. They have tremendous global awareness and insightful local knowledge.

The first thing that comes to mind is HSBC, the bank which calls itself “The world’s local bank”. They also say, never underestimate the importance of local knowledge. They show their awareness of local sports in several countries by sponsoring English Rugby League side Telford Raiders, American Ice Hockey club Buffalo Sabres and Mexico’s Pachua Football Club. They sponsor the Great Canadian Geography Challenge and the Celebration of Light, an annual musical fireworks competition in Vancouver.

The next thing that comes to mind is the Friends of the Earth International (FOEI), an international network of environmental organizations in 70 countries. FOEI founder David Brower coined the slogan, “Think globally, act locally”.

The slogan “Think globally, act locally” in Sofia, Bulgaria

FOEI campaigns against the creation of genetically modified organisms,  industries that exacerbate global warming, and conversion of forests to agricultural areas. To do so, they need to act with insightful local knowledge, and marry it with a global perspective. In their own words, “Our international positions are informed and strengthened by our work with communities, and our alliances with indigenous peoples, farmers’ movements, trade unions, human rights groups and others”. Looks like they walk the talk when it comes to thinking globally and acting locally!

There’s a pertinent need for management consultants to understand and interpret localised phenomena. For instance, management consultants advising corporations on microfinance need a detailed understanding of institutions like Banco Caja Social Colombia (BCSC), a leading microfinance institution in Latin America. Bangladesh’s Grameen Bank has become another favourite microfinance case study.

Inquisitive visitors at a Grameen Bank meeting in Bangladesh

The entertainment industry is another arena where glocalisation is the name of the game. Analysts of Indian cinema have recently observed a glocal phenomenon among the Indian diaspora, particularly those in the USA. They all want to watch movies in their mother tongues. According to this article, India’s Reliance Entertainment has started making films in several Indian languages to reach out to this diaspora.

President of Reliance Entertainment, Rajesh Sawhney, says, “We have observed that as people start earning more, entertainment actually goes local, rather than turning towards the global English language…..Indians staying in overseas markets want their children to learn their native language and cinema is the best way”. The word glocalisation could succintly describe what he’s talking about.

If glocalisation is correctly understood and promoted, there is no need to fear that globalisation will destroy local cultures. The global village is actually glocal.

How Lexus broke the mould

In the 80s, Toyota had a problem. It wanted to break into the luxury car market. But it had a status as a maker of mass cars. Toyota Corona, Corolla, Camry, Vios and Crown were all mass cars. They could not just launch a Toyota some-thing-else as a sub-brand, and expect it to break into the luxury car niche.

What they needed was a standalone brand, whose attributes were independent of those of Toyota. They embarked on a top-secret project named F1. They took on the world’s best luxury car makers at their own game. They observed the Mercedes closely and designed the Lexus. The proportions, angles and curves of the Lexus closely followed the Mercedes. A string of awards proved that Lexus was high on quality, on par with Mercedes. We say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but Mercedes was not flattered when Lexus captured a sizeable share of the market!

Toyota and its long-term advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi went into overdrive (spot the pun) to market Lexus. Lexus had its own persona and its own corporate mission statement. It had its own slogan, “The Relentless Pursuit of Perfection”, which was later changed to “The Passionate Pursuit of Perfection”. An image consulting firm was hired to develop a list of 219 prospective names. Five top candidates were chosen, including Alexis. Alexis became Lexus.

A marketing pitch demonstrating the smooth driving experience offered by Lexus

Lexus has grown to be the top-selling luxury car in the United States, and the fourth largest luxury car brand in the world. It competes with other luxury brands like Jaguar, Audi, BMW, Mercedes and Porsche. It is not considered as being under the Toyota umbrella the same way as Toyota Crown or Toyota Camry. Toyota is the parent company which takes the back seat (another pun) and lets their standalone cash cow do the trick.

Lexus reminds me of regional economies which perform better than the countries they belong to. Kenichi Ohmae wrote a memorable book called “The End of the Nation State: The Rise of Regional Economies”. He spoke of regional economies within countries, which operate with significant autonomy from the national economy. To quote him, “nation states have already lost their role as meaningful units of participation in the global economy of today’s borderless world…..It makes even less sense today to speak of Italy or Russia or China as a single economic unit.”

Examples he cited include Penang in Malaysia, Catalonia in Spain, and Baden-Wurttemberg in Germany. I would add two further examples to strengthen his case: The Rhone-Alpes region of France and the Lombardy region of Italy. These two along with Catalonia and Baden-Wurttemberg constitute The Four Motors of Europe, four highly industrialized regions in Europe with high potential for economic growth.

Such regional economies are standalone brands like Lexus. They have brand attributes independent of the country they belong to, just like Lexus took a detour from Toyota brand attributes. Countries with consistently high growth rates across the entire nation are like Mercedes or BMW. But countries with uneven growth rates are like Toyota, and fast-growing regional economies within these countries are like Lexus. These regional economies can grow at rates higher that the national average, and compete with fast-growing countries. Toyota may not be able to compete with Mercedes or BMW, but Lexus can.

Trans-national minorities

If you are French, German, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Thai or Turkish, you belong to a nation-state. You belong to a country which has been united for its entire history. You share the same language and culture as your countrymen.

But not all nationalities are like yours. In a world where new nationalities are carved up and old nationalities evolve, a common phenomenon is the trans-national minority. A community with a shared culture, a separate language, an independent history and a collective consciousness, but without a country to show for it. Sometimes, these trans-national minorities peacefully remain part of a larger country, and sometimes, they instigate bloody wars of separatism.

The Basques are a case in point. They are Europeans alright, but their language is unrelated to other European languages, much to the surprise of sociolinguists. Their territory spans southwestern France and northeastern Spain. They are a peaceful part of France, but in Spain, it’s a different story altogether.

The Spaniards under the “leadership” of General Franco waged a bloody war to annex the Basque country into Spain. He imported the latest German fighter planes and bombed the Basque country. This was depicted by Pablo Picasso in his famous painting Guernica. The Basque country fell to Franco, but they have never been happy since. Even today, the Basque separatists are fighting for an independent homeland in the north of Spain.

Picasso’s Guernica depicted the violent annexation of the Basque country

The Basques are not the only trans-national minority in Spain. The Catalans are similar. Their native region is Catalonia in eastern Spain, and they speak Catalan. They know Spanish due to its administrative and business importance, but they have a strong identity as a Catalan nation. Catalonia is disproportionately successful economically. Therefore, they tolerate the linguistic and cultural domination of the Spaniards, and do not aspire for secession.

The Galicians of northern Spain are another trans-national minority. They are known to favour secession, but they don’t get the publicity the Basque separatists get, probably because fewer instances of violence are associated with them.

Over to the Middle East, the Kurds are a prominent trans-national minority, with territories in Turkey, Iraq and Iran. They have received publicity as one of the communities persecuted by Saddam Hussein. They have always been looking to separate from Iraq, and recently, there are nascent murmurs of separatism in Turkey too. There is a significant Kurdish diaspora in Europe and North America. Google’s Director of Sales, Omid Kordestani, is a Kurd as his name suggests.

The Kurdish region, with territories in Turkey, Iraq and Iran

The Pashtuns (also known as Pathans) are a trans-national minority whose native region lies in southern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan. They have a significant presence in the cities of Peshawar and Karachi. There is a Pashtun diaspora all over the world, particularly India and the USA. There is a subculture of Pashtun nationalism in Pakistan, but this does not have popular support, as Pashtuns have integrated well into Pakistani society and have high representation in the government, military and business.

The Indian subcontinent is a hotbed of trans-national minorities. The Punjabis of India and Pakistan have a shared culture and history, and were divided only by religion during the time of the partition. Ditto for the Bengalis of eastern India who share their roots with the neighbouring Bangladeshis.

The Tamils are a trans-national minority of southern India and northern Sri Lanka. There are 65 million Tamils native to Tamil Nadu province in India, 3 million Tamils native to northern and eastern Sri Lanka, and a significant diaspora all over the world.

Unofficial flag of Tamils, with the words, “All towns are our own, all people are our kin”

At the time of India’s independence, there were murmurs of separatism in Tamil Nadu, especially when Hindi was imposed as the sole official language of India. Riots erupted in Tamil Nadu opposing the imposition of Hindi. This caused an amendment to the Indian Constitution, giving official language status to 22 languages. This also caused the reorganization of Indian states along linguistic lines, to give each linguistic community a state with some degree of autonomy. This appeased the separatist sentiments of Tamils.

Indian Tamils today are contented due to the industrialization and urbanization of Tamil Nadu, and the success of the province in many industries like textiles, automobiles and healthcare. Tamils still complain about the cultural domination of the Hindi-speaking North, but this has not manifested itself into separatist tendencies, simply because Tamils don’t face economic problems. There is little support for separatism in Tamil Nadu today.

It was an entirely different story for the Tamils in Sri Lanka. At the time of independence, there were only 2 million Tamils in Sri Lanka, among whom 1 million were Indian Tamils who were denied Sri Lankan citizenship. The 1 million Sri Lankan Tamils had neither numerical strength nor a large geographical area. So when Sinhalese, the language of the majority Sinhalese community, was made the sole official language of the country, the Tamils could not prevent it through their protests.

Sinhalese became the language of education and business. The English-educated Tamils were disenfranchised. The better-educated Tamils with skillsets left the country, and contributed to the success of countries like Singapore. The remaining Tamils protested peacefully for decades, such as tarring the Sinhalese signboards (an echo of their brethren in India who tarred Hindi signboards). But over the decades, hostility slowly escalated, gradually adopting the form of violence. Four Tamil militant groups emerged, and fought with each other for the right to represent Tamils. After a Darwinian struggle, the LTTE emerged as the last group standing.

Some well-publicised instances of violence brewed hatred between the two communities, escalating the conflict. The ambush and killing of 12 Sri Lankan Army soldiers by the LTTE was a watershed event. It heralded the infamous events of July 1983 (known as Black July). Furious Sinhalese civilians killed Tamil civilians (hundreds of them if you believe the Sinhalese, thousands of them if you believe the Tamils). Tamil localities in several Sri Lankan cities were burnt. Tamil-owned businesses and factories were destroyed. The economic loss to Sri Lanka was estimated at US$ 300 million.

Destruction of Tamil-owned homes and businesses during Black July

Black July was the straw that broke the camel’s back. The direct outcome was a bloody civil war that has claimed 70,000 lives in the past 25 years. Sri Lanka was arguably the most promising country in South Asia in the middle of the 20th century, with the right size and natural resources. But today it’s surviving on the aid of numerous countries, and grappling with a terrible human rights record. Singapore’s leader Lee Kuan Yew has remarked, “It is sad that the country whose ancient name Serendip has given the English language the word ’serendipity’ is now the epitome of conflict, pain, sorrow and hopelessness”.

Trans-national minorities need to be handled with sensitivity. An important first step is to acknowledge their right to be different. Attempts at assimilating them into a supposed “national” culture have always resulted in communal tensions. Trans-national minorities need to retain their identity, and at the same time become part of a beautiful whole. Countries with trans-national minorities should preserve the culture of those trans-national minorities, adding to the richness of a pluralistic national culture. The mosaic is always more attractive than the melting pot.

Destructive creativity - The MIA way

MIA

In 2005, a wave hit the music scene. She was MIA. With her alluring tropical looks, devilish creativity and multi-genre music, she made a mark, and became one of the fastest rising British music stars.

Behind her is a story of suffering. Born Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam in a London hospital to Sri Lankan Tamil parents, she moved to her native Jaffna at a very early age. Within a few years, terror engulfed the tear-shaped island nation. Lanka burned, just as it did in the epic Ramayana. Death, destruction, carnage, all before the little girl’s big brown eyes.

With her father staying back to play an instrumental role in his people’s fight for independence, Maya fled back to London with her mother, elder sister and younger brother. They probably expected a smooth life.

Alas, it was not to be. They settled in the underpriveleged London suburb of Hounslow, grappled with poverty, and struggled to make ends meet. They were stigmatized as “Pakis”, a derogatory reference to South Asians in Britain. With her name, Mathangi Arulpragasam, being unpronouncable to some, she was referred to as “The Thing”, certainly not a nice name to be called when you are growing up.

There were Bend-It-Like-Beckham moments when Maya rebelled against her conservative South Asian parents. When Wimbledon Football Club shocked the football world by beating mighty Liverpool in the 1989 FA Cup Final, Maya dyed her hair in Wimbledon colours of blue and gold, much to the chagrin of her mother, who promptly ordered her out of the house. Her mother wanted her to learn the classical dance Bharatanatyam like many other Tamil girls, but she lost interest in it after a couple of weeks. Probably she found it too orderly!

The suffering she faced in her native Sri Lanka and continued to face in her adopted Britain gave her a tigerish resilience, and laid the foundation for her creative growth. She wrote music based on the conflict in her homeland, but rather than make it a tearjerker, she put a lighthearted spin on it. In 2005, her first single, Galang, hit the charts. She uttered the words “Galang alang alang”, a frivolous reference to the sound of gunshots and bomb blasts. The video had imagery of army tanks and fighter planes, all drawn in a deliberately amateurish manner. There was an image of a tiger running back and forth, a reference to the Tamil Tigers separatist movement. In her own words, the formula was to take something grave and serious, and make it look as if it was absolutely nothing at all. A daring stance, but it worked.

Galang made it to the top of the charts. Maya became a rising star, and accumulated fans across Europe and the Americas. Later that year, her first album released. She named it Arular, after her father. After Arular raked in the money, Maya worked on her second album, Kala, this time named after her mother. Kala had elements of Tamil music, including a piece borrowed from Tamil cinema’s legendary composer Ilaiyaraja. Kala was released in 2007 and became another chartbuster.

Maya’s fans say she is more than music. She symbolizes the fire of rebellion, which makes youngsters, particularly American youngsters, lap her up. She cuts across genres and makes it impossible to categorise her. In songs like Sunshowers and Bucky Down Gun, she appeals to the international community to notice the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka. She sometimes chirps for the cause of other war-torn countries like Sudan. In Paper Planes, she mocks the perceived distrust immigrants face in Britain, calling herself a maker of fake visas for illegal immigrants, who “makes ‘em all day, and can get one for you in a second if you wait”. In Bird Flu, she showed Tamil folk music in its unapologetic rawness, and picturised it in an equally raw village in the southern Indian province of Tamil Nadu. In Ten Dollars, she referred to her past of poverty, muttering the ironic words, “What can I get for ten dollars, anything I want!”

As she herself once said, nothing like her has come before her.

The lion roars in the right places

Were they talking about Singapore when they coined the phrase “Being in the right place at the right time”? The daredevil little nation has succeeded brilliantly by sourcing for and capitalising on opportunities. With Wall Street financial giants reeling in the aftermath of the subprime crisis, Singapore’s state-linked investment firm Temasek Holdings has taken a 4.4 billion US Dollar stake in Merrill Lynch. A few months back, Singapore Airlines purchased the first A380 plane and launched its first flight. Named after the lion and dubbed the Lion City, Singapore certainly roars in the right places at the right times!

When Hong Kong businessmen in the early 90s feared a downturn due to the imminent return to China in 1997, Singapore made itself a conducive destination for those businessmen. When the Chinese were attacked in Indonesia during the economic downturn in the late 90s, Singapore attracted them. Singapore has started to show a keen interest in the Islamic banking sector. An F1 track will be unveiled in the country later this year. The Integrated Resorts are coming. In a nutshell, Singapore is happening.

The reason for Singapore’s nimbleness is the inherent insecurity of a small city-state with no natural resources. It makes Singapore an opportunist par excellence in the international scene. Grandpa Lee may not like me saying this, but maybe we Singaporeans should thank our lucky stars for not having any natural resources. It rules out the possibility that we would ever become complacent fat cats.

Is Facebook overrated?

When we think social networking, we first think of Facebook. Over the past year or two, Facebook has stormed ahead of MySpace, Ringo, Friendster and the like. Studies are being conducted on Facebook’s ability to connect people, collect opinions and even influence high-level decisions. A Facebook group which collected opinions on Canadian labour rulings actually catalysed the amendment of a few laws. Even for the current American Presidential Election, Facebook groups are one of the means of assessing public opinion.

But as a person who uses Facebook frequently, I’m compelled to believe that Facebook is overrated. I have had better experiences in Google’s social networking product, Orkut, which is surprisingly lesser known. Comparing Facebook with Orkut, I find Facebook lacking in certain respects.

Firstly, Facebook profiles are overexposed to anyone who chances upon it. A person’s every activity on every group is made visible in the profile. It becomes less conducive for Facebook users to express their opinions in the confines of a Facebook group. Another unpleasant by-product is that whenever we log on to Facebook, we are confronted with irrelevant information about our friends joining groups, making new friends and posting in forums.

Secondly, Facebook has groups, Orkut has communities. A group is something you are slotted into, a community is something you choose to belong to. From that angle, Orkut is more personal. The discussion forums in Orkut communities create a feeling of home. The Wall and discussion threads of Facebook are more disconcerting in appearance. The Wall looks a poor cousin to Orkut’s scrapping mechanism.

Thirdly, Facebook positions itself as a site for people who already know each other. Orkut calls itself a site where we make new friends. Orkut is more suited to building new connections. In Facebook, it is not possible to view somebody’s profile unless you become friends with that person. If you click on a person’s name expecting to see his/her profile, you may get an unpleasant surprise because you will be redirected to a group, wall or discussion thread instead.

Perhaps the one major advantage Facebook has over Orkut is the immensely large number of applications which Facebook users build. There are FoodFight applications where we throw a figurative cheese pizza, pig’s head or egg prata at our Facebook friends. There are “Which fruit are you?”, “Which actor are you?”, “Which Heroes character are you?” kind of applications which ask for a bunch of questions from you and then tell you which fruit, actor or character suits you the most. There are Facebook versions of conquest games where we form allies with some friends and play against other friends.

But I would consider publicity as the most important factor in popularising Facebook ahead of Orkut. The Google guys don’t believe in overt publicity, and it has suited them so far, as Gmail, GTalk and initially Google itself became a rage mostly on word-of-mouth. But with Orkut currently confined mostly to Indians and Brazilians, it’s time for the Google guys to rethink their strategy to conquer new markets.