AnnouncementRemembering Zion (continued)
Modern Models
More recent models to a greater or lesser extent follow the Jewish pattern. One example is displayed in the case of the Irish diaspora. Colonised by an invader and ousted from their lands, destitute through famine, many of Ireland's children were forced to scatter and seek new opportunities in newly developing lands such as North America and Australia. Even in their new homes they were subject to various degrees of persecution and discrimination. In response, these hardy people developed an even stronger sense of community and consolidation of interests for their common protection. The links between diaspora and the homeland were sustained over the years by a combination of group solidarity, by continuing infusion of new blood through immigration, by the strength of a religious faith and by the unflagging memories of a life that was "in the old country" before the intruders came. Memories maintained by culture, legends and myths, of places and celebrations as hallowed as time. Small wonder then that the fight for a free united Ireland received such, financial, material and moral support from the overseas diaspora. Small wonder now that a resurgent, economically vibrant Ireland relies so much on a return of skills, technology and investment from her now affluent children in the distant lands to which they had been banished.
The Cuban diaspora offers up a still different example of how those in exile might relate to the homeland. The Socialist revolution resulted in dispossession, emigration and in some cases, exile of sections of the Cuban society unwilling to support the new social, economic and political regime. Settling principally in South Florida and Venezuela, these transplanted Cuban nationals continue to maintain vibrant communities nurtured on a strong antipathy to the Cuban government. Having grown in numbers and economic influence, and living in concentrations, they have managed to exert considerable political influence on State and Federal government policy in relation to their interest at home and to the government in their homeland. Unable to reclaim their former privilege and heritage they continue to forment rebellion, invasion and confrontation as a prelude to the overthrow of the government and a return from exile.
One further case deserves mentioning. The period of British colonial expansion, consolidation and exploitation, especially following the abolition of slavery, required large infusion of cheap labor to work the plantations now deserted by the slaves. One such source was the Indian peninsular which contributed numbers of indentured workers to the Caribbean as well as to other plantation colonies of South-east Asia, Southern and East Africa.. In recent years, many of these affected areas have themselves been subjected to re-migrations to beckoning metropolises of North America and Europe. Today, East Indian racial communities overseas (Non-Resident Indians), many of them having accumulated substantial economic resources in their new "hostlands" are being actively wooed by the Government of India. Their potential for providing the means of short-circuiting the "developmental gap" between the developing Indian society and the developed economies has been recognized, and is being co-opted. Their skills, knowledge, experience, exposure, investment potential all are powerful additions to the required development assets. Their networks and voting numbers in the "hostlands" provide vehicles for publicizing and promoting their homeland's national interests in the various metropolitan centres.
Noticeably, the ability to call upon these communities for support relies on predominant factors of ethnic and cultural affiliations to areas of the motherland, if not to the concept of India as presently constituted. Religious connections and the practice of looking to the homeland for spouses have contributed to maintaining the links. Tensions with the neighboring state of Pakistan, internal frictions surrounding Kashmir, pride over India's nuclear technological achievements, among others, foster a continuing allegiance. Today, the Indian government actively seeks to expand and reinforce those relationships by encouraging second and third generation diaspora to visit the home country, and it provides scholarships to children of the diaspora in order to further develop these relationships.