In the backdrop of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of the police, Trevor Noah, in an episode of The Daily Show, spoke about racism and skewed social contracts.
Social contract encapsulates trust, respect, responsibility, and equality. These then translate into roles and their acceptance which finally influences social interaction and the administering of society. This term can explain much of what is happening today.
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Consider the responses of UK, the US and Sweden to the SARS-CoV2 crisis. In the former two countries, the unfolding tragedy is a consequence of Johnson and Trump dishonouring the time-honoured contract for leadership in democratic nations – protecting people. But by choosing to focus on the economy and their image they put people in harm’s way. While in Sweden, the country’s chief epidemiologist and the architect of their response to the crisis relied on the solidness of the social contract in society and put the onus of containing the virus on people. He acknowledged it to be a wrong strategy.
These are extreme examples of the role of such compacts in the functioning of societies. Most official and unofficial social contracts are legacies of what was drawn up by ancient victors to establish and maintain their hegemony. Violence, religion, passage of laws, establishment of institutions, and the creation and sharing of narratives normalised, and ensured adherence to it. Over time these transmogrified into conscious and unconscious beliefs and practices that remain to this day.
In the US, outdated social contracts influence personal, political, and institutional behaviour; and for many inform their white American identity. Attempts to extricate society from such attitudes and behaviour are met with hostility. The murder of George Floyd and mass shootings are results of the normalisation of such contracts.
The reaction to the murder of George Floyd is a response to the relentless and normalised coercive racism – subtle or otherwise – that persists. It begins before the delivery room; continues in the education system; then in the access to jobs, loans and social infrastructure; in social micro-aggressions and unconscious bias; in interactions with police and legal system, and in the political disenfranchisement of Blacks – most recently seen in the US Senate primaries held in Georgia.
The bigotry and the blight these internalised social contracts spread have been monetised and leveraged to access power. Everyone from the weapons and prison industry to social media sites profit from such prejudices. Evangelicals promote these biases with narrow interpretations of the Bible. Corporations and religions play an expanding role in American politics in this Trumpian epoch. Trump has relied on this new partnership to tighten his grip on America. The St Johns’ photo-op debacle and his threat to use the military against Americans is the most egregious example to date.
India provides a ready reckoner on social contracts too. The much-touted easy relationship between the ancient and modern is nothing but the manifestation of old contracts being practised, and reimagined, and new contracts being established.The caste system is a bigoted social contract that continues to oppress no matter the education or economic status of the victim and perpetrator. In this democratic republic, deeply entrenched feudal customs provide roles to descendants of royalty. They have re-invented themselves as politicians and power brokers – subjects are now voters while constituencies operate as modern-day kingdoms. Elected officials and the police – anyone wielding any form of power – who take an oath to defend the Constitution demand the irreproachability once accorded to monarchs and feudal lords.
Contrary to the secularism enshrined in the Constitution – a contract all Indians must abide by, statements and actions of ruling BJP government led by Narendra Modi, and their supporters, suggest Indian Muslims are inimical to the country. Their stab at passing the CAA was to rewrite the contract between the State and her people. Right-wing ideology now frames the dialogue between the government, democratic institutions, and people. Demands for leadership accountability are labelled anti-national. The media’s role has mutated into that of a govt lapdog.
Modi has unilaterally reformulated his role as PM. Modi wants to be perceived as a courageous and emphatic leader making bold decisions to singlehandedly change India’s fortunes, in lieu of which he demands unquestioning fealty. Thus, there was hardly any outrage to the humanitarian disaster caused by his SARS-CoV2 containment plan and more recently to his explanation of the Galwan episode.
Social contracts between people and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) are being influenced by what Hong Kongers believe is a third party. The Chinese government in collusion with some HK administrator’s is reframing the One-Nation-Two-Systems contract which recognises the current identity of Hong Kongers. The most recent instances being the passage of a law to criminalise disrespect of the Chinese national anthem and the national security law. The reformulation is diluting the identity of the SAR by also changing the quality of interaction between Hong Kong institutions and Hong Kongers. For example, Hong Kong police were respected for their impartiality and hesitance to use force. This is no longer the case. Wuwei is squeezing out the myriad social contracts that gave this SAR its distinct identity.
From Spartacus to freedom movements to the suffragettes to the protests in Hong Kong to the anti-CAA protests in India and now to Black Life Matters the demand has been similar – equality and respect. One can measure a society’s progress by the number of abrogated prejudicial social contracts that remain in practice. The ethos behind the Black Lives Matter protests provides an opportunity to introduce a new measure – the number of justly drawn social contracts that promote respect and equality while punishing bigoted entrenched social norms.
(Samir Nazareth is an author and writes on socio-economic and environmental issues)
