Let Things Not Fall Apart

Prof. Bhupa P. Dhamala

An unwelcoming yet compelling sound often reverberates to my ears – “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold/Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,” – the powerful poetic lines that W. B. Yeats penned in his poem “Second Coming” a century ago. These lines spelled out the anxiety of a staunch follower of Christianity. To his utter dismay, the poet saw that the world had lost its order, especially the Christendom that crumbled before his eyes. Things on both sides of the Atlantic fell apart. The Christian Centre could not hold. Uncertainties loomed on the horizon of the western part of the globe.
Despite being anxious about the future of the world the poet was also hopeful about God’s way to men. In the underlying level of the poem the poet meant to restore order with a hope deep down in his heart – his wish being “What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder.” The poet alluded to what the Bible had prophesised – Almighty God would again come down to the earth as saviour to destroy the sinners. Then the world with only virtuous people would resume afresh. It was the hope of a dreamer poet.
But even as one century passed, things still seem to fall apart. The second coming of the God is not likely to happen. Nor is the Saviour likely to come down to the earth in the future as the poet anticipated. Yet people can’t live without hope of some kind.

Political order
Like religious creeds, political creeds also offer promises. But Yeats did not see hope in politics either. His anxiety might have been aggravated by the contemporary political situation where the centre of democracy had crumbled. The powerful nations began to wage war against their rivals. General people were terror-stricken by the Great War, guns hurled bullets at the enemy soldiers, bombs exploded in big cities killing the innocent hearts, men fell to the floor in blood; women and children cried in tears, hope flew away with its fluttering wings in the far-off sky, despair fell on earth with its ugly grin, the centre could not hold, things fell apart into tiny pieces.
A couple of contesting sets of political creeds are prevalent in present day political debate – monarchy or republic, autocracy or democracy. Monarchy has been replaced by republicanism in many nations. But democracy of a real sense has not yet been practiced. The essence of democracy is the rule of law but the rule of might often raises its head leading things to fall apart. Powerless though political creeds seem to maintain the world order, we are nevertheless bound to follow a political creed whether we like it or not.
Apart from the above two, there is one more set of political creeds – capitalism and socialism. Despite Marx’s claim that scientific socialism leading to communism would be the absolute centre to rule in the entire world, the Soviet Union fell apart in less than a century. In other countries also communist regimes have fallen except in China and North Korea. This is not probably because socialism is a bad system but because political actors have failed to behave like a genuine communist as Marx assumed. It indicates that Marxian prophecy does not seem to hold either.
Yet Nepal is a small country which is more influenced by Marxism than any other political creed. Since Nepali Congress loosened its grip on democratic politics in the 1990s, it has not been able to tighten its bolts despite hard efforts. Then the NCP-UML came to limelight practicing the conventional multiparty democratic system. Not being able to gain the majority seats alone, it joined hands with CPN-Maoist Centre which had become popular among the people with ten-year armed struggle. Towards the end of second decade of the 21st century, Nepal Communist Party (NCP), a fragile amalgam of NCP-UML and NCP- Maoist Centre came to power wining almost two-thirds majority seats in parliament. For some time it went well but in no time anarchy was loosed upon the party. The party centre could not hold, things fell apart leading its split into erstwhile components.
Now the two influential leaders of UML are in antagonism after the dissolution of parliament. The cadres have been organised into two rival camps leading to further division. They are interpreting the events to serve their own interests. Their criticisms of each other are not based on norms, values, and principles. For them the party is no longer the centre, their factions are their centres. The whole does not work, the parts seem to hold a sway. The centre does not hold, things have fallen apart. Unlikable as it may seem to many, communists-led government in Nepal is also staggering to fall.

Clarion call
Not in the Christian sense but in political respect, Yeats’s poem is as powerful now as it then was. As a matter of fact, his centre in vision has failed in politics, more so in the case of Nepal. The political actors are running after the power centre. To our utter disappointment, the power centric democracy is hanging overhead. Topical though it seemed at his time, the poet’s expression of anxiety and hope has proved its timeless significance.
If the politics should go in right track, the following things have to be put right: the political ideology should be the center, not the ideologue; the principles should be the centre, not the influential leader; the norms and values should be the centre, not the opportunity for personal benefit; the ethic should be the centre, not the double standard to interpret events. If the former is followed, then the centre can hold. If the latter is practiced, then things fall apart. Now is the time for a clarion call – let things not fall apart ­– but in a different line free from self-interest and with a fresh political vision.

(The author is the chairman of Molung Foundation. bhupadhamala@gmail.com)