A Heady Cocktail called Zo Unification

It had been a long time, long before I was born, the drums of unification was first heard in our land. Even today, the sound can still be heard and it is as hollow as was then. And most of you optimistic folks won’t disagree that it don’t sound too pessimistic to say that the drum is too hollow, too dull and too damp to make much noise even today.

In this age of globalization and generalization, when the issues of identity, nationality and other personal lives take the backseat; when humanity are reduced to mere consumers, and when the borders are but a blurred line in their atlas, we, the Zomi, are endangered. Violence makes much noise, but that is not the best option for us or for that matter for anyone. We need more than mere noise, but loud, sensible and intelligent voices that will be heard far and beyond, and we all know that a handful of men don’t make much noise.

What we need right now is a common identity without which there can be no unity. Without unity, there can be no common voices and no common causes. And without all that, all our dreams, our hopes and our fights will mean nothing. Different voices coming from different corner doesn’t make enough noise, but different voices coming from the same platform does make a loud sound. And a common identity is that platform.

Some would argue that we already have had a common generic identity, but I want to assure them that the identity that they talk about is recognized nowhere in this world. When I talk about a common identity, I don’t count the assumptions that you made. By common identity, I mean, an identity that is identifiable with a distinct name, distinct tribe, and a distinct area of inhabitation with the same pattern of life, practice and tradition, and is recognizable as well as legally recognized by the world.

The saddest part is that we already had that ‘common identity’ I talked about and the only thing is we don’t want to adopt it. It is appalling to know that instead of relishing our potentiality to unleash and command unequalled power within the region by being united, we try to swallow each other while some of us still vigorously try to assert their presence within our own community.

Someone once told me our core issue could very well be recognizing the existence of smaller clans, linguistic groups and tribes within the larger ‘Zo’ community, which could lead to stabilization. I beg to differ on some nuances; firstly, that is the very reasons we are fighting each other, secondly ghettoizing on linguistic basis will defeat the very purpose of common identity and it is also dangerous (remember ’97), and thirdly, we are not the Nagas (we are much closer than that).

Clan is something that we cannot throw away, but language is a process that evolve non-stop. There’s no denying that ’97 got 97% to do with linguistic, but one thing that must be noted is that when it comes to communicating with each other, we never caught ourselves in the tower of Babel. And if we stopped ghettoizing and co-existed freely and peacefully, there is a chance that the Babel will fall down on its own. That definitely is better than our numerous dialects die a death of obscurity; after all, it’s not your clan but the dialect that you speak that decides where you belonged.

For us, the Zomi, to start building a common identity will be a mammoth as well as minor task. On the one hand, we shared everything in common for so long that we hardly see our differences and always think of ourselves as brothers and sisters, while on the other hand, we had never been united (in the form of nation or state) and even today, we take our own adopted path with our own adopted identity.

If the Zomi had been united, or at least organized to some extend, the course of history may have been different. If we had been organized with one voice, there possibly is no way that a tribe or linguistic groups that occupied so vast a span of the empire can be ignored by the British at the time of leaving the sub-continent. It only means nobody take notice of us. And taking into consideration the rate at which we consume ourselves in selfish pursuit of personal gains, unification seems to be a far cry.

Within the given situation right now, drumming for unification is like Dahpa’s Jhum. If we are serious about unification, why not start with the basic thing –a common identity. Paite, Zou, Simte, Sukte, Vaiphei, etc. are recognized tribes under the constitution of India, but when it comes to the common name 'Zomi' –no one bothers.

It will not be a mistake to say that the Zomi are not ready for any kind of unification. That simply, is evident from the communities’ unwillingness to discard our respective adopted identity as recognized by the government in favour of the more factually correct generic name of ‘Zomi’. It is a simple case of correcting an error though the legal process may be a long and winding one, but starting that process would only prove our sincerity.

It is time to share what we have in common as a Zomi and the tie that bind us together as our forefather symbolized it by the Hornbill, and stop pointing out our differences. Celebrating our diversity may be a good thing, but it is also one roadblock towards unification. Why don’t we put away the ‘I/me' and start doing something, even if we failed, at least it will give the next generation something to built their case on.

‘97 has brought about an atmosphere of suspicion and it does and will take a long time to built-up the hardly existing trust system between the communities. It may sounds hilarious when President Bush said “I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully”, but I’m not sure if it would be hilarious to says that we, the Zomi, can co-exist peacefully.