Unification of Land in Naga Context

October 28, 2017 699 Views No Comment

Peoples Sovereignty – The Future:

The absolutism of State Sovereignty which dominated international politics for the last 400 years has been critically interrogated by the forces of global events that unfolded since 1991. The idea of State and Territorial Sovereignty no longer remains in an unchallenged position, both in theory and practice. Foucault adds that the end of sovereignty is circular in the sense that the end of [State] sovereignty is the exercise of [Peoples] sovereignty.[37]

It is now very real to say that Sovereignty lies with the people alone. Indeed, Peoples’ Sovereignty empowers people to reclaim and define for itself the self-determining capacities required for the realization of a peoples dignity. Peoples Sovereignty in effect implies that they have ownership over their land, their resources, their economies and their lives; which provide an alternative vision of the world. It involves the active transformation of both humans and structures till they are able to enter into right relationship with one another, hence revealing the natural link between Peoples’ sovereignty and the principle of interdependence. Therefore, for Peoples’ Sovereignty to exist and to translate itself as an existential reality in the global order, it is imperative for peoples’ movements to begin articulating and defining in concrete terms alternative models of State structures, power relations, modes of governance and just patterns of human relationship. This paradigm shift is a condition required for the realization of humanity.

The Nagas through critical reflection must place itself in practical realities that weigh external and internal factors. The Naga Movement in pursuing its aspirations should be sure of what it is required to do and that while pursuing its desire to determine its own destiny must uphold its natural and historical rights; allowing it to drive them to universal reasoning. Mere sloganeering, unrealistic perceptions and the tendency to uphold organizations and not ideas of a cause disables us from engaging constructively with modern day challenges and thus endangering the movement to a disease that some define as “Exhausted Nationalism.”

The Naga Peoplehood did not originate out of any other Nation or State; it lay with the people through their villages and political communities. Hence, Sovereignty should be understood and recognized as originating internally from the Naga people itself. The common historical tradition, cultural homogeneity, contiguous territory, the common desire and the expressed will of the Nagas to exist as a people striving to determine its own course of future establishes the basic foundation of Naga Sovereignty. The declaration of Naga independence and the Naga Voluntary Plebiscite are all manifestations of the expressed will of the people in exercising their sovereign rights. The present peace process between the two entities at the highest level having unconditional political talks further establishes the fact that the sovereign will of the Nagas has received de facto recognition and legitimacy from an external political entity. The conclusions that we draw from this conceptual reasoning reveals that sovereignty lies with the Naga people.

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