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My Invitation to the Oxford Roundtable

My Invitation to the Oxford Roundtable

My invitation to The Oxford Roundtable
Azly Rahman

I received an invitation to be a member/participant of a roundtable on cultural diversity held at Britain’s oldest institution of higher education, Oxford University. I was nominated to be part of the group of selected 40 individuals from the American higher education system who will be discussing issues of race, ethnicity, poverty and religious intolerance in this hundreds of-years-old institution that has produced important Western scientists, philosophers, inventors and religious leaders.

I wish to thank that person/institution that nominated me. Through a series of notes I wish to share my thought on what I learned from the experience. I will also share visual data of what I will manage to capture. Here are some thoughts I will be bringing to the institution that symbolizes the intellectual epicenter of the British Empire.

Culture and transformation

I will be presenting thoughts on the idea of cultural change as it is impacted by globalisation and the rapidisation of technology. “Culture” has become an important debate in an age wherein boundaries continue to shift and peoples began to claim their rights as citizens of the country they are in, and the meaning of democracy is beginning to be understood. Culture, to me is not merely about the house we inhabit or merely the tools we use, but a combination of both and more than this, it is about the way we enrich the sense of humanism we embody.

I am reminded by what the Spanish philosopher Ortega y Gasset said, “Man does not have nature… what he has is history.” This seems to be a notion of humanity worth exploring if our belief about human evolution takes into consideration how human beings take what is available from nature and transform the resources into tools and institutions, and then turn institutions into tools that will transform human beings into classes of people who have the power to turn less powerful others into machines or automatons who have lost their soul to the spirit of the machine.

One can also argue that the origin of domination of human beings over others comes not via the manifestation of “evil within” as theologians would argue, but also a consequence of enabling technologies that speed up the enabling of “evil within”. As in the case of slavery, it is not merely through “evil” that slavery was born but through human being’s control of knowledge and consciousness and the nature of how one defines each other. It is through the technology of “language” and the written and spoken word, and whoever has better control of these will determine the nature and nurturance of slavery. As Marx in his “deterministic way of analysing history” would argue, whoever controls the production of knowledge controls the means of controlling the consciousness of others.

One can also argue that all forms of slavery, whether ancient, modern, or postmodern have been made possible by the “evolution of institutions” that evolve out of “inscriptions”. This means that whoever authors the ideology that creates the Great Pyramids of Gizeh, The Great Wall of China, The Great States of Greece, Rome and London, authors the means of institutionalising people through these institutions. In Malaysia, the institutionalisation of The Great Johor Super Corridor, inscribed in the name of The Iskandar Development Region, is yet another form of postmodern institutionalisation of postmodern slavery mystified in the name of globalisation, free enterprise and liberal democracy, in which the profits will be siphoned out of Johor whereas the locals will become postmodern slaves happily made to believe that they will be producing for the glory of The Kingdom of Johor specifically, and the government of Islam Hadhari in general. The concept of ” hamba sahaya” is taking a semiotic turn.

One can see how much the stock markets of the world whether in London, New York, Tokyo or even Kuala Lumpur — as powerhouse institutions of corporate capitalist domination — continue to allow their players to bet on the lives of others and make the powerless of the world pawns in the precarious and pandemical game of postmodern matrix of global slavery, by the click of the mouse. These are, again, the nature of the rhythm of capitalism in synchrony with the tune of the velocity of money as it races up and down Wall Street. The “bloodsuckers amongst us”, as American profound revolutioner Malcolm X would say, called the capitalists, have been successful in leeching off the world’s poor through the control of language and the design of the architecture of financial power.

Race, ethnicity and capitalism

Is “race and ethnicity” an intellectual invention of capitalism? Is the concept of a plural society a successful leit motif of imperialism — one that masks the oppression of humanity? We need to explore these issues.

The British colonials used it successfully. They kept the Malays, Chinese, Indians, Iban, Kadazan and these people of distinct races apart to be controlled by their respective sultans, kapitans, batins and so forth, let them work in separate economies, and next install the “Residents” with a good grasp of the anthropology of the natives, and next siphon the wealth of these colonies so that the British kings, dukes, earls and whatever class of colonials can enrich their coffers and build beautiful palaces in Westminster drawn from the blood, sweat and tears of the natives.

By “preserving” the ethnicities of the people they oppress, the British blinded the people from looking at the reality of the condition — whether the reality was in Malaya, Burma, China, India, Ghana, Rhodesia or even colonial America.

Race and ethnicity, as I have argued in many of my writings, are construct and definable according to the progress of economic conditions. In America, the debate on race continues to be intense, as the cultural contradiction of capitalist America began to rear its ugly head; a debate that continues to intensify especially after the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.

Capitalism is developing in newer forms, designed in new and improved versions, couched in scientific terms, and made to progress by more sophisticated theories of knowledge and applications of these, continue to mask the nature of human oppression on a global scale.

From Uganda to Malaysia, from Krakow to Kuala Nerang, from Pontianak to Pontian — we see nations, states and principalities being transformed by those who own the means to use “culture, race, and ethnicity” in conspiracy with technologies of domination.

We must, as a nation at risk, begin our debate on these matters — because we are seeing things falling apart before our eyes. The seeds of destruction have germinated.

Dr. Azly Rahman,
Educator & Adjunct Professor;
Foundations of Civilizations, Education, & Politics

14 Replies to “My Invitation to the Oxford Roundtable”

  1. The country is in this cesspit, because the government does not recognize talents or value top brains like Azly , Musa, Din, Farish etc
    If the PM of the day is able to tap all the best Malaysian brains from around the world, give the ministerial positions and pay them RM 100,000 a month if need be, this country will evolve into a First World.
    The what happens? Our mediocre and pea brained leaders will find themselves obsolete and dumped into some rubbish heaps. To maintain the staus quo, they will do whatever they can to keep these top brains from returning home unless they too want to wallow in the cesspool.

  2. Sir Elton John, a professed gay, whose wealth and celebrity status has immuned him from ostracision, sums it up in his song, the “Circle of Life” by the two conflicting messages “some say live and let live, some say eat or be eaten”. Which of the two should be the case?

    The story of mankind is replete with “eat or be eaten” – otherwise known as the law of the jungle of survival of the fittest.

    It is in the primal unconsciousness of man to dominate – the environment, the animals, one another, the moon and the stars to his benefit – wherein lies the roots of all wars, human oppression and inhumanity of man towards man.

    It stems from insatiable greed and the need to achieve, to possess (whether power, wealth, social standing and respect money, knowledge) and to become more than one is; it is an unquenchable desire for perfection which always makes every pleasure already obtained appear incomplete : when the goal is reached, the continuing dissatisfaction is typically explained by the fact that the goal was not quite right or was not good enough and has to be amplified or exchanged for another one better one. Hence we cavort for other’s spouses and girl friends, violate others’ rights by criminal acts, act corruptly, compete for others’ clients and market, commit aggression of others territories as in wars to forage on their resources and assets whether natural or human, institutionalize slavery in the past, devise yet better political systems from feudal monarchy to capitalism, socialism, communism, whatever, go to the moon, Mars and beyond etc.

    It is also the fear and insecurity at the subconscious primal level that others will do the same and dominate us for the same purposes based on the same instinctual drive towards perfection that make us parochial and tribalistic, ring fence and favour our own kind based on lines of race, religion, dialect, social and economic similarities, nationality and citizenship to the exclusion and marginalisation of others.

    So the root cause is the insatiable greed and need to seek perfection, dominate triumph over and do better than and have more than others, most time at the expense and oppression of others and [persecution of those who resist or stand in the way : for nothing and nobody would be allowed to stand in the way of vested interests.

    Nobody knows the cause of this instinctual drive that has driven the evolution of the human species which psychoanalysts call the “Id” or super ego.

    Some theorise that it might be strongly influenced by the underlying memory of the struggle in the birth canal that leads to a feeling of perpetual discomfort and dissatisfaction with the present situation. Others like Freud, whom some consider ‘fraud’, would attribute it to repression of the biological sexual drive by social conventions and rules. Yet others think that humanity is so used to dominating other species in animal kingdom successfully that it seeks to dominate its own kind.

    Whatever the cause of this insatiable desire and impulsion toward further perfection one Indian prince Siddhartha Gautama ( 560-480 B.C.) thought he found the solution in the negation and transcendence of human desire by meditation, proper conduct, rebirths and reincarnation till Nirvana is reached – and in the process spawned a world’s religion in Buddhism.

    Whether or not one believes in Siddhartha Gautama’s teachings, the ultimate solution lies in the inner world, of how to imbue humanity with an entirely different set of values and goals transcendental to this instinct, premised on simple values of what our parents and teachers teach us – honesty, standard of honour, respect of others’ rights, empathy for others plight, generosity for all (‘do unto others what you want other do unto you’ or do not do unto others what you do not want others to do unto you’) – that though have been taught and seemingly inculcated through generations and generations through the eons of time, have someone not taken root, that’s why we still have problems of wars, religious and racial oppression, corruption, wealth of a few at the expense of mass poverty, disenfranchisement, dispossession of the multitudes within our midst today.

    Something must have gone terribly wrong – why simple un-complex traditional values taught and acknowledged by our parents, teachers, indeed everyone, indeed including the United Nations and its various Charters and Conventions on Human Rights, somehow are given but only lip service and better honoured in hypocrisy than actual practice, and cannot be internalised in transcendence of this greed and insatiable need to dominate and get the better of others!

    Is it something wrong with the education system? But even in societies that have better educational systems have not produced better values as actually practiced; even persons highly educated with multiple qualifications have not evinced a better character!

    For these values to take root in triumph of our instinctual drive, we must somehow really feel a deep sense of belonging to our living world, of being included in the awesome family of living beings feel our continuum with the living world and sense of shared destiny with all that live within it. If we but only could, once again, feel a genuine sense of the sacred in the world.

    Dr Azly Rahman, if you could show us the way of how this could be done in the Oxford Roundtable presentation , you should justly be awarded the Nobel Price.

  4. “From Uganda to Malaysia, from Krakow to Kuala Nerang, from Pontianak to Pontian – we see nations, states and principalities being transformed by those who own the means to use “culture, race, and ethnicity” in conspiracy with technologies of domination.”

    Huh?? Why Kuala Nerang? Your high school sweetheart still there kah?

  6. Jeffrey : Is it something wrong with the education system? But even in societies that have better educational systems have not produced better values as actually practiced; even persons highly educated with multiple qualifications have not evinced a better character!

    Nobody is perfect!

  7. “One can also argue that the origin of domination of human beings over others comes not via the manifestation of “evil …”

    Tomorrow is Easter Sunday and it is about the best time to talk about “evil” as any. This is the day when Jesus Christ rose from the dead, his resurrection and his ascent to Heaven.

    Man was made in the image of God. He did not ‘evolve’ as Darwin theorized. Man has been created the way he is today. He ate from the Tree of Knowledge and came to know ‘good’ from ‘evil’. He sinned against God (the original sin)and has been made to suffer the pain of death.

    We know there is God because we know there is a wrong and there is a right. Conscience is God’s presence in Man and evil?

    ‘Evil’ wears a toupee who went berserk in Parliament not too long ago.

  10. Dr Azly, heartiest congratulations on your succesful co-option to the Roundtable. This is a reflection of your expertise and the refreshing viewpoints you can bring to the discussions.

    I must say that in striving to be objective, fair and rational, you have impressed more than just a few people with your decency and humanity. I wish you godspeed and trust you will continue to shine as a beacon even when the odds are so heavily stacked against you.

    Thank you, Sir.

  11. “In Malaysia, the institutionalisation of The Great Johor Super Corridor, inscribed in the name of The Iskandar Development Region, is yet another form of postmodern institutionalisation of postmodern slavery mystified in the name of globalisation, free enterprise and liberal democracy, in which the profits will be siphoned out of Johor whereas the locals will become postmodern slaves happily made to believe that they will be producing…”

    Free enterprise and liberal democracy!? Malaysia is never and can never be associated with anything like free enterprise and liberal democracy.

    Is it possible that you have stayed too long overseas?

  12. Dr Azly, why your title is adjunct professor? where does it rank between lecturer and full professor? is it a real professor title because we don’t see any adjunct professor in Malaysia, or no one uses such title in public. If you cannot get a real professor title, is it because you are a non-bumi of America?

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