Just Violence by Wahl Rachel

Author:Wahl, Rachel [Wahl, Rachel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780804794718
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Published: 2016-01-15T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 5

Complications of the Local: Violence, Religion, and Culture

Cross-border terrorism cannot be solved with Gandhian methods. A criminal is a person without a soul, and the standard techniques for people with souls cannot be applicable.

—Indian Police Service officer, Delhi

I SPENT ALL DAY AND EVENING with A for our first interview. He lives in the state of Uttar Pradesh, and the train schedule from Delhi that day meant that he would need to be my host for many hours. A servant who lives with him cooked our meals, and our conversation ranged over the course of the day. Forty-eight at the time of our interview, he had been a police officer for thirty years. Although a member of the State Police Force rather than the elite supervisory ranks of the Indian Police Service, he had recently been given specialized training in a research division. He was relieved to no longer be working out in the field, where, he lamented, his desire to serve the public was compromised by political interference. In the evening he drove me to a local temple, where he asked for a blessing on his work and on mine.

As it is to many of the officers I interviewed, religion is important to A. The Hindu swastika was painted prominently over the hood of his police car. A tape in his car radio played religious music, and he was eager to explain to me that the song was dedicated to the worship of the Lord Shiva.

Many assertions have been made about the relationship of the rights framework to Indian religious and cultural traditions. Some scholars suggest that in spite of their diversity, ethical traditions in India tend to focus more on relationships of collective care, reciprocity, and duty than on equal individual rights, and give more attention to specific contexts than to universal moral rules.1 Some scholars draw on this premise to suggest that the human rights framework privileges a Western conception of the good.2 Others emphasize the convergence between Indian traditions and the rights framework, pointing for example to the value placed on all forms of life, compassion, tolerance, and the obligations of the ruler to the ruled in Indian religions.3

Human rights practitioners tend to embrace both views. They often identify religious and cultural beliefs as constraining acceptance of human rights by positioning the latter as emblematic of progress against the bulwarks of “tradition.” But they also see religion and culture as important sources of support for human rights, and religious and cultural leaders as crucial partners in human rights efforts. Local beliefs are often referenced within United Nations documents and discussions as reasons a community may resist social change.4 But they also often assert the universality of human rights values, sourcing them to every religion and culture.5

Indeed, connecting to local religious beliefs is a common way that activists frame and vernacularize human rights.6 Many international organizations prioritize partnering with local religious authorities, and some even define their mission in this way.7 Practitioners and scholars alike typically suggest

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