Our Republic Is In Crisis: What Went Wrong With The Roman Republic*

The features of the decadent Roman Republican PolityÊ

Features marking the polity in the Republic of India of these years

1

The Corruption galore amongst the wielders of the governmental powers.
Ê "The supremacy of Rome in the world was now indisputable, but it had been won at a ruinous cost for the majority of the Roman people. The long wars and the resulting conquests caused money to flow into the Roman treasury, and Roman officials were able to enrich themselves at the expense of the conquered provinces."

Things are happening in public life which wereÊ neverÊ anticipated before. There are several glaring instances of misuse of power by men in authority and position. This is a phenomenon of which the Courts are bound to take judicial notice."This Court cannot be oblivious to the fact that there has been a steady decline of public standards or public morals and public morale.Ê It is necessary to cleanse public life in this country, along with or even before cleaning the physical atmosphere. The pollution in our values and standards is an equally graveÊÊÊÊÊ menace as the pollution of the environment. Where such situations cry out, the Court should not and cannot remain mute and dumb." Ê "One, it suggests that corruptionÊ is a way of life in India and two, that there is one law for the citizens and another for the rich and powerful who hold or have held political office."

"É.the country's economy may "increasingly be dynamic, but our moral universe seems to be shrinking. Graft and greed are on the rise. The principles on which Independent India was founded, for which a generation of great leaders fought and sacrificed their all, are in danger of being negated."' "Gaining inappropriately from a range of sectors, cattle fodder to civil aviation, corruption knows no limits. Its width and depth cut across party lines." "The scams have a symbiotic relationship with the black economy. The number of scams is growing and so is the size of the black economy, which has reached a mind-boggling level of 50 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product, that is, it annually generates Rs.33Ê lakh crore in black income. While the 1980s saw eight major scams, in the period between 1991 and 1996 there were 26 and during 2005-08, there were around 150É. It is suspected that many have their hands in the till. Included here are Prime Ministers, Chief Ministers, Ministers, top industrialists, military personnel, judges, bureaucrats, policemen, and professionals and so onÉ. Underlying this vast illegality is a 'Triad' involving the corrupt business class, the political class and the executive. Since the mid-1980s, the criminal has also entered this Triad, leading to growing criminalization". 'In July 2008 The Washington Post reported that nearly a fourth of the 540 Indian Parliament members faced criminal charges, "including human trafficking, immigration rackets, embezzlement , rape and even murder"' In recent years a number of serious scamsÊ have disturbed us. Things have become much worse now than what they were in 1980s when our Supreme Court considered it appropriate to make the above quoted observation. In 2010, the Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index 'India was ranked 87th out of 178 countries'.

Corruptions haveÊ much increased, and have become chronic in our country. If you cry against this evil, mighty Satanic forces emerge to destroy suchÊ initiatives. Such thingsÊ have led to the present gloom. NowÊ persons have emerged to justify 'corruptions' How 'development' and 'morality' can go apart can be illustrated with reference to the justification of 'corruption' in Korea even in this phase of its great economic growth. It is publicly argued there: "Organized corruption thus quietly served a purpose that open public administration could not." We are not far behind. Their number is increasing fast who consider "corruption" justified and "greed" good.. These so-called intelligent people amass their gains on tiny islands, or in the digitally numbered bank faults in secrecy jurisdictions. They would never think that such islands are close to be sucked inside the waters; and such numbers are likely to get lost someway. 'Mystery', thy name is 'Man'!

2

The triumph of Consumerism and hedonism.

"The city of Rome reflected the new prosperity in the many public buildings that sprang up; the gardens and villas of the rich, filled with sculpture from the cities of Asia and Greece; the reading of Greek books and the sending of Roman youths to Athens to receive a Greek education; and the many fine roads spreading in all directions from the city."

In the present-day plutocracy created by New Capitalism of our day, life is struggle in which, we, like Sisyphus, keep pushing a stone uphill, knowing that when we stop for a momentary respite "it will roll back down again." Billionaires increase; paupers increase, inequality is growing,ÊÊ Massive propaganda by vested interests have promoted luxury and consumerism in a country in which ' a third of the world's poor' live, and where 'around 700,000 Indians die each year from diarrhoea'.Ê The growing hedonistic culture has led the rich to callousness, and they have no sense of fraternity with the rest.Ê The number of starvation deaths can go down substantially if even this growing graze to look beautiful abates, if this ugly fashion of hair colouringÊ goes, and the sale of the hair color refreshers goes down. And all this is happening in a countryÊ of which half Êof childrenÊ are underweight calling to mind the pathetic conditions of Sub-Saharan Africa.

3

The triumph of the plutocratic oligarchy and the plight of common citizenry

"One of the most noticeable features of the time was the increased wealth of the richer classes. This wealth came from the conquered provinces. Most of the Roman governors looked upon provinces as legitimate prey. The unfortunate inhabitants were shamelessly taxed, bribes were accepted without scruple, and a provincial's hope of justice generally depended upon his ability to pay for it. From 73 B.C. to 7I a man named Verres was governor of Sicily, and his exactions during these three years are said to have desolated the island more than the war between Rome and Carthage for its possession." 'Éyet the age which witnessed these dazzling feats of arms was one of the most unhappy and uncomfortable in Roman history. . It was marked, indeed by a great advance in wealth and luxury, by the growth of huge private fortunesÉ'

Noam Chomsky, one of the greatest amongst the American intellectuals, says in his Hegemony and Survival (at p. 133-133): "India É.is governed by a proto-fascist party that is handing the country's resources to foreign multinationals while preaching an ultra nationalist line for domesticÊ purposesÉIndia has a wonderful software industry and sectors of great wealth----uninterestingly, also hundreds of millions of people living under some of the worst conditions in the world, where the plight of women is not very different from life under the Taliban."Ê "In nutshell, the root of money power in Indian politics is essentially its non-representative nature and this is deliberate. It is not that politics needs big money but that money needs to control politics.Ê Black money is a result of a basic contradiction in our system and the elite wish to control the political process for their continued charmed existence." "Whilst our economy is growing atÊ 9 per cent and the much craftyÊ crony capitalism is working for the elite and the corporationsÊ producing the largest number of poor in the world with hundreds of millions earning less than $1 per day and theÊ billionairesÊ moreÊ than the number Japan (whenÊ a per capita income in Japan isÊ $36,000 'beingÊ roughly 60 times India's figure of $600.'). The pathetic conundrumÊ in the 6th decade of Independent India is clear if these facts are turned into metaphors:"
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4

The plight of the Roman farmers.
(a) "But the condition of the Roman farmers was lamentable in the extreme. Military service in Africa and Spain had torn them away from their small holdings, and when they returned it was to find that the holdings of their neighbours had been gradually absorbed by the large estates of wealthy landowners, worked by slaves."

(b) "The returned soldiers could not hope to compete with these and it was only a matter of time before their estates were also absorbed and they themselves obliged to drift into the capital, where living was cheap, where candidates for office were ready to buy votes, and where were the distractions of the theatre and the circus.."

(c ) "Another circumstance that helped to reduce so many of the Roman people to a swarm of state-fed paupers Ð for the state also gave doles --- was the fact thatÊ with the expansion of the Roman Empire great corn ships sailed up the Tiber from Sicily, Sardinia, and the Nile country."

(d) "The result was that the produce of the small farmers was undersold in the Roman market, and they themselves were forced to sell their lands, and flock into the capital."

"Dr. Vandana Shiva, Director, Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology has called the suicides of more than 40,000 farmers a genocide. This genocide is a result of deliberate policy imposed by the WTO and the World Bank, implemented by the Government, which is designed to destroy small farmers and transform Indian agriculture into large scale corporate industrial farming. The suicides are a result of debt and debt is a result of a rising cost of production and falling prices, both linked to free trade and trade liberalization policies in agriculture. Sonia Gandhi, the Congress President has cautioned the Prime Minister to not rush head long into Free Trade Agreements in the context of farmers suicides." (http://www.navdanya.org/news/06may08.htm) Our government may break new grounds for resources by granting lands to the corporate zamindars, by granting right to exploit our resources by conferring licenses and franchises to corporations to rule the country. If water resources are exhausted, riverbeds can be leased or auctioned. When all these are exhausted, human beings, now fast becoming commodities can be sold in international market. After all, under the WTO regime it is the Market which rules. India's Constitution, it is possible to argue, stands repealed to the extent it conflicts with the commands of Market, and the WTO.

5

The Corruption at the highest judicial level
"As chief judge he (Verres)ÊÊ sold all his decisions, and he plundered the farmers of their crops, keeping the proceeds for himself. He was fond of art, and as he journeyed through the island he stole pictures, statues, vases, and any other objects of value which appealed to him from both private houses and temples. He crucified on the beach a trader who resisted his demands, so as to discourage similar conduct in others. Asked if he did not fear judgement when he returned to Rome, he replied that he intended to use two-thirds of his wealth to bribe the lawyers and judges, and that the third which remained would be quite sufficient to make him rich for life." Ê

Never had we heard so much being said by so many against the integrity of the judges. It is no solace for us that the Judges of the United States are no better, or even the great British Judiciary has been bitten by the vice of our Time. Even the judges are not seen to appreciate that when serious allegations are made by persons, not subjecting themselves to credible investigation can have only one result: the charges made would stand amplyÊ proved in public mind.Ê

6

Reforms by Tiberius and Grachhus, and the morbid response of the ungrateful Roman citizenry. The Plight of those who work for public weal.

(i) 'Tiberius and Grachhus, Êrealizing how the real strength of Rome was being sapped and undermined, endeavoured to improve the situation by limiting the amount of land which any one could hold (in accordance with the Lex Licinia of 367 B.C.) and redistribution what was left over among the poorer citizens, as property which could not be alienated and for which they paid a nominal rent to the state.'
(ii)Ê 'In his desire that the poorer classes should reap the benefits of empireÊ [Caius Grachhus ]Ê set up great cornÊ depots in Rome, where they could purchase corn at an exceptionally low price.'

(iii) 'He also proposed to pay the citizensÊ for their share in government, a schemeÊ that worked well under Pericles. But Rome was not Athens.'
"When Tiberius became tribune in I33 B.C. he tried to rouse the Romans to a sense of their position: 'The beasts which roam over Italy', he declared, 'have each his den, his resting-place; they who fought for Italy have only light and air as their share in it É called masters of the world, you have not really a clod to call your own.'
But the work of Tiberius and his brother Caius ended in failure: senatorial authority was too strong; the Roman mob was little better then canaille utterly demoralized and unprincipled; it was easy to work upon their ignorant prejudices; and at the end of his year of office in I33 B.C. Tiberius Gracchus was murdered by them, while eleven years later his brother Caius experienced the same fateÉÉ. His unselfish soul never dreamed that those who shouted for their own freedom would deny liberty to othersÉÉ"

"It was during the struggle for independence that itÊ had been realized that political independence without social and economic freedom was not enough. The cultivators of land should acquire ownership rights. The Congress Agrarian Reforms Committee had prepared a blue print of the abolition of intermediaries of all kinds." "The Planning Commission notedÊ the existence of impediments of the pre-independence agrarian system and realized that their removal was necessary to bring about changes in the agrarian structure to realize the constitutional objective of a just social order." "The Constitution (Twenty-fifth Amendment) Act, 1971 inserted a new Article 31C in the Constitution to protect legislations enacted to give effect to directive principles contained in Article 39(b) and (c) against a challenge on the ground of alleged inconsistency with fundamental rights guaranteedÉ.The Supreme Court from beginning till today has upheld the validity of agrarian reform legislation against all kinds of attack."
ÊBut we have forgotten all those ideas and ideals. Who remembers Art 51A of our Constitution:Ê "to cherish and follow the noble ideals which inspired ourÊ national struggle for freedom". TheÊÊ Zamindari system (we may call it 'corporate zamindari') is back.Ê The Special Economic Zones, and other venturesÊ in the Special Economic ZonesÊ are negation of our constitutional commitments. Farmers are dying in thousands: how many of them are dead is a matter for speculation for our Stock-Market ruled Government. Our people have forgotten their commitments to the great cause, perhaps believing as the decadent Romans had once felt: "no point in steadfast adherence to a cause, when no cause is important or has a chance of stable victoryÉ The man, whose virtue has no source except a purely terrestrial prudence will, in such a world, become an adventurer if he has the courage, and, if not, will seek obscurity as a timid time-server."

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The greatest irony of history is thatÊ the 'great beast', the demos, could be easily befooled. "The only result of paying the citizens of Rome was to turn them into the most shameless species of paupers, ready to support Gracchus when he gave them what they wanted, but quite as ready to go against him when a fellow tribune named Drusus, put up to it by the Senate, outbid him in the Comitia with wild promises which he never intended to fulfil."

The political realities in our world's some of the greatest so-called democracies reveal themselves the political morality of the wielders of political power. Harold Pinter has aptly said: " É. the majority of politicians, on the evidence available to us, are interested not in truth but in power and in the maintenance of that power." Here, in our country the cleavage between practice and precepts is so shockingly wide that a candid reflection on the situation becomes difficult.
[ But Indian genius deserves to be understood well. The common Americans might have appeared " great beast. " to Alexander Hamilton , the commonÊ people ofÊ our countryÊ have insight, critical sense, and competenceÊ to see through games.. ]

9

During the declining years of the Roman Republic the popular representative institutions lost vigour, creativity and assertiveness. The Senate of the Republic even persuaded to appoint Caesar the dictator. After the battle of Pharsalus, it had a short melodramatic existence but ever bleeding fast to death.

The Executive government thinks its Treaty-making power is not under our Constitution's discipline. It could enter into the WTO Treaty without Parliament's approval.Ê Our Parliament could not inhibit the Executive assigning legislative powers to the WTO.Ê Our Constitution does not permit assignment or outsourcing of legislative or judicial powers.Ê The Indian citizens do not vote for the WTO .

10

The republican democracy was dead. "Roman was thus an aristocratic republic." ÊÊ Carthage was 'the great commercial republic.'

Our democracy is critically ill. "Indian democracy appears to be tottering. Corruption chargesÊ have been leveled against chief ministers and prime ministers. With no one owning responsibility,Ê democracy isÊ taking a beatingÉ. " 'The foundations of the Constitutions have been shaken by the folly of the people, the corruption of our politicians and the negligence of the elite" Ê "India, the republic, is now on sale. Participating in the auction is a group of powerful individuals, corporate houses, lobbyists, bureaucrats and journalists." Under the present-day neoliberal paradigm, powerful vested interests have transformed the present-day republics into oligarchic republics. We see with what nakedness the corporate oligarchy calls shots even in our own country.Ê

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11

Decline ofÊ Senate
"More important was a decline in morale, a loss of heart, evidentÊ even in the Senate, the body which should have led the Commonwealth in the civic virtues of honour and independence, courage and patriotism. No contrast can be more tragic than the picture which Levy paints of the Roman Senate in the daysÊ of its glory during the Punic Wars, and the image of the same assembly abasing itself in servile adulation before the somber Tiberius, which Tacitus presents to his readers."

Decline of Parliament
I would set forth my reflections on our Parliament at work in the next Chapter.