Dawn Editorials (with Summary and Vocabulary)
DAWN EDITORIALS
February 16, 2024 (Friday)
Why we fail
Summary
- No shared vision: The recent Pakistani
election lacked a unifying vision for the future, unlike 1970 when people
rejected class/ethnic domination and chose socialism.
- Young voters &
establishment: Many
young voters who oppose the establishment may be disillusioned by rigged
elections and lack a clear path to change.
- Periphery ignored: Issues faced by ethnic
minorities and marginalized regions like Balochistan are often overlooked
in national politics.
- Beyond identity politics: Focusing solely on
individual representation from oppressed groups misses the bigger picture
of economic and social transformation.
- Decolonization & socialism
needed: The
author argues for decolonizing the state and socializing the means of
production for true progress.
- Need for ideological politics: The current political
landscape lacks substantive ideas and debate, hindering meaningful change.
- Future generations at stake: Failing to address these
issues will have negative consequences for future generations.
Article
FEB 8 has come and gone. The post-poll
rigging and smoky backroom deals will carry on for some time. The frenzied [wildly excited or uncontrolled] wheeling and
dealing will then give way to the new (read: old) status quo. Or maybe there
will be even more chaos because a viable power-sharing agreement cannot be
fomented. And then someone in a uniform, or a suitable proxy, will save us in
the name of national security.
Indeed, the more things change, the
more they stay the same. As one of its last gifts, the so-called caretaker
government has approved a 45 per cent hike in gas prices to assure the IMF that
working people will continue to be sacrificed.
Then again, it is reductive [tending to present a subject or problem in a simplified form,
especially one viewed as crude] to say that
nothing has changed. Much has been said about the ‘rebellion’ against the
establishment by mostly young voters who ostensibly don’t have very much hope
in systemic change but are certainly wise enough to disrupt the powers that be
and the so-called ‘greater national interest’.
But this will not stop our
self-proclaimed guardians from doing what they do, and our mainstream
politicians will generally comply. Supporters of the PML-N, PPP, PTI or the
other (smaller) usual suspects can decry [publicly
denounce] their opponents’ nominees for prime, chief or
other ministerial/ governor slots till kingdom come without troubling the
establishment-centric order one bit. No one in this cynical [concerned only with one's own interests and typically disregarding
accepted or appropriate standards in order to achieve them] game
of thrones occupies any moral high ground.
This time, there is no shared vision of
the future.
It is certainly important to
acknowledge that the PTI, and particularly its rank-and-file workers, have
suffered the wrath of the state’s coercive apparatus. And it is the largely
young supporters of the PTI that have turned against the establishment overlords
who, till two years ago, happily patronised Imran Khan and his (then loyal)
lieutenants.
They are right when they say their
mandate is being stolen — both by the Election Commission and the buying of
‘independents’. They are entitled to protest against this blatant [(of bad behavior) done openly and unashamedly]
injustice. But this has all happened before, and it will continue to happen in
the future unless something changes in the way the majority of ordinary
Pakistanis — including tech-savvy young people — think about and then do
politics.
Diehard PTI supporters of Imran Khan —
and those ‘democrats’ and ‘progressives’ who align themselves with the Sharifs,
Bhuttos or any of Pakistan’s other entrenched political families — must
recognise that none of these ‘big men’ (and the handful of women in the power
game) will ever be in the vanguard of an anti-establishment struggle, a task
that can only be accomplished by the mass of this country’s people, if
meaningfully organised.
Among other things, it is essential to
stop treating the peripheries like they are inconsequential. Many of the
pitched online battles that have followed Feb 8 have largely invisibilised the
rigging and subsequent protests in Balochistan, or the murderous attack on
Mohsin Dawar and his party comrades in Waziristan. Why should we be surprised,
then, that young popular leaders like Manzoor Pashteen and Mahrang Baloch
reject parliamentary politics as a manipulated farce that offers no prospect of
change?
What if the increasingly large number
of young people in mainland Pakistan who ostensibly went out to vote against
the establishment made common cause with those who mobilise again state
repression and exploitation of resources in the ethnic peripheries? What if it
became understood that cutting these elements down to political size means an
economic programme to secure basic needs for working people while uniting
against IMF-imposed austerity and domestic (land and other) mafias? What if
those who are now asking for big powers like the US, Gulf kingdoms or China to
take note of the rigging recognised that the establishment will win if foreign
policy remains limited to extracting geostrategic rents from the highest
bidders?
This is the stuff of ideological
politics, and we are admittedly not living through a conjuncture in which
substantive ideas inform political debate and alignments. Which is why this
election is not like 1970. Yes, it can be argued that many people came out to
cast their votes to reject the militarised state apparatus in both cases. But
54 years ago, the working people and youth of this country (including erstwhile
East Pakistan) also rejected class and ethnic domination, and chose socialism.
This time, there is no shared vision of
the future that animates otherwise politicised young people. Hollow identity
politics which equates democracy with an oppressed ethnic group or gender
taking individual office misses the forest for the trees. We need to truly
decolonise the state and socialise the means of production. Without such a
vision politics will be little more than sensation, we will continue to fail,
and future generations will pay.
New
realities
Summary
State Power and Abuse:
- States and powerful actors
within them are increasingly using laws and social media to target
individuals and organizations they deem problematic.
- This
includes suppressing dissent, delegitimizing opponents, and even using
physical force with impunity.
- Examples
are seen in various countries, including Pakistan, India, and the
Philippines.
Impact on Democracy and Justice:
- These tactics undermine
democratic institutions and the rule of law.
- Individuals
face harassment, arrest, and legal troubles based on fabricated charges.
- Social
media amplifies state propaganda and fuels hate speech against targeted
groups.
Challenges and Hope:
- Finding ways to counter these
tactics and protect democracy is crucial.
- Communities
need to organize and support each other in facing state abuse.
- Raising
awareness about this "new reality" is the first step.
- While the
situation is challenging, the author hopes democratic principles can still
prevail.
Article
THE state or powerful institutions or
people within the state using the law to target individuals and social media to
undermine, destabilise and delegitimise individuals, organisations and
institutions they think are working against the interest of the state, the
country or their own, and using brute power to suppress dissent or alternative
points of view with impunity, has become much more common in recent decades and
across a wide variety of settings.
This is witnessed not just in countries
where institutions of democracy and law are weaker; it has been happening in
more advanced countries too. In particular, the US has thrown up plenty of
examples over the last decade or so.
It is true, though, that these
instances are more frequent, blatant and egregious [outstandingly bad; shocking] in countries
with struggling democracies and justice systems. Of course, these activities
undermine democracy and the rule of law and justice even more.
We have seen these activities recently,
and carried out quite openly, in Pakistan. A journalist went ‘missing’ for three
to four months. Everyone ‘knew’ he had been abducted but no one can name the
agencies who took him away. The courts could not get him out, and police
refused to ‘find’ him. When he got back,
there was no inquiry about where he had been, who had taken him and what all
they did to him. His physical condition clearly told us that he had not been
kept in comfortable circumstances, yet, no law-enforcement or judicial
institution tried to step into the space.
Is the descent into fascism inevitable?
One hopes not.
On the larger issue of ‘missing
persons’, everyone knows they are not missing and state agencies have even
acknowledged as much in the case of some. There has been a judicial commission
on ‘missing persons’ for a long time, and cases have been in courts for years.
The relatives of the ‘missing’ have been protesting on the streets and on
social media for years. Yet, there has been no progress.
Every now and then, a judge of a higher
court makes a statement but
nothing comes out of it. It is all a badly acted drama. Nobody believes that
institutions have any intention or power to check the impunity of the state
agencies, but the drama continues. Families continue to be devastated at the
hands of the ‘state’.
Recently, we have also seen the more
blatant use of legal instruments and the law to target individuals. People are
arrested on the basis of trumped-up charges and FIRs so that they stay in
police custody or judicial remand for weeks while they try to get bail or the
fake cases quashed [reject or void, especially by legal
procedure]. But even if they succeed in getting
bail in one case or if the case is thrown out by the courts, the law enforcers
have them arrested under a
different FIR. Sometimes, there are multiple FIRs of the same incident in
different jurisdictions, allowing the police custody of the person and the
ability to move them around.
If the state does not want you to be
free and to move about freely or express your mind, it has plenty of ways even
within the law (though not in accordance with its spirit) to ensure you no
longer have the freedom or ability to enjoy the freedom of movement and
expression guaranteed to every citizen in almost every constitution or
structure of governance.
Then there is the role of social media,
which has made it easier for the government to be able to produce and
disseminate information and/ or propaganda. State machinery can question,
undermine and/ or destroy the reputation of an individual or institution by
producing, reproducing and disseminating information or propaganda easily.
A person or an individual institution,
even large institutions, are not able to counter the kind of firepower that a
state can muster in the creation and dissemination of propaganda. We have seen
many examples of this of late. This can be dangerous. Social media has not only
been used for hate-mongering, it has also been used for inciting hate, even
violence, against individuals and institutions. Again, we have seen many
examples of this.
These things are not happening in
Pakistan alone. India, over recent years, gives plenty of examples of this sort
of egregious state behaviour. Maria Ressa, a
journalist with 40-odd years of experience in the Philippines and the region,
and the recipient of the Nobel peace prize for 2021, has documented it for the
Philippines in her book How to Stand Up to a Dictator (2022).
She was at the receiving end of this
treatment by the state in the Philippines. She has a dozen or so cases against
her, has been arrested numerous
times, her news organisation has borne the brunt of the repression, and all of
this for trying to be a good journalist and report truthfully against the
state.
The social media campaign against her
and her organisation has also made her a target, to the point where she wears a
bullet-proof vest when going out in public and has had to increase security
around herself and her organisation multiple times. The legal fees alone of
fighting the battle with the state almost bankrupted her organisation. But this
is not the only example. There are plenty of other documented cases from many
countries.
What is harder to see is a way forward.
How does democracy and the rule of law and institutions of justice survive this
new reality? Is the descent into fascism inevitable? One hopes not.
The people have to think of new ways of
organising to be able to counter the state’s new tactics. Communities have to
think through how interactions among its members can be structured to ensure
this abuse of the law does not happen — if the state still makes it difficult,
they have to ensure that individuals and institutions have support from others
in the community.
It will take time to figure this one
out. But a keen awareness of the new reality is the first step.
Cultural
change for economy
Summary
Cultural barriers to economic progress in
Pakistan:
- Religion: Low insurance
penetration due to beliefs against it, hindering financial security and
risk management.
- Intolerance of dissent: Stifles intellectual
growth and discourages diverse viewpoints, crucial for innovation.
- Negative attitude towards
wealth: Creates
an environment hostile to wealth creation and discourages
entrepreneurship.
- Acceptance of shortcuts: "Jugaar"
mentality hinders ethical practices and long-term success.
- Low female labor
participation: Restricts
economic potential and contributes to high fertility rates.
Solutions for cultural change:
- Embrace religious moderation: Separate religious
beliefs from economic practices to encourage financial instruments like
insurance.
- Value intellectual humility: Foster open-mindedness
and tolerance of diverse opinions to stimulate innovation.
- Celebrate wealth creation: Recognize the positive
role of legitimate wealth creation in economic development.
- Promote ethical behavior: Discourage
"jugaar" and emphasize ethical conduct for sustainable growth.
- Empower women: Increase female labor
force participation to unlock economic potential.
Overall message:
- Economic transformation
requires cultural change alongside traditional factors like investment and
policy.
- Pakistan
needs to break free from restrictive cultural norms to achieve sustainable
economic progress.
Article
THE topic of Pakistan’s non-ending
economic quagmire [a soft boggy area of land that gives way
underfoot]
elicits [evoke or draw out (a
response, answer, or fact) from someone in reaction to one's own actions or
questions] many proposals, some good, some
reworded, and some repetitive. Rarely, if ever, is there a discussion on
cultural aspects impinging [have an effect or impact,
especially a negative one] on economic outcomes.
I argue that, for the economic transformation
of the country, cultural change is as important as factors like investment,
savings, fiscal policy, etc. Importantly, the argument centres not just on
government and governance — which are the usual targets, for good reason — but
also on society. What follows is a brief description of where and what aspects
need a change.
Let us start with the sensitive topic
of religion. When we talk of the economic performance we would like to emulate,
one inescapable conclusion is that religion takes a back seat in the affairs of
the state and society and has a temperate, minor influence. Pakistan, however,
represents the case of a country and society where faith and extreme attitudes
are deeply woven into the fabric of society, as shown recently in an excellent
survey by Dr Durre-e-Nayab and her team (PIDE Basics Survey).
This leads to several repercussions.
Take the example of the institution of insurance, one of the most effective
instruments devised to lessen risks surrounding our lives. Pakistan’s insurance
penetration rate is hardly 0.91 per cent, lower even among regional peers (in
contrast, 90pc of households in Japan are covered by life insurance), mainly
because the majority consider it to be against their religious beliefs. This,
in turn, leads to spillovers that go far beyond economics. The search for
physical and financial security to counter risks, for example, often leads
individuals into the hands of extractive actors, who use them to get their
illegal deeds done.
Pakistani society and our governments
must give up their ‘let’s kill the rich’ attitude.
Ironically, it’s a form of slavery that
religion prohibits, but the same beliefs are cited as a hindrance to accepting
instruments like insurance or savings accounts. This mental outlook needs to
change.
The second aspect where a cultural
change needs to take root is the acceptance of divergent points of view. Modern
economic growth did not come about merely through erecting cemented structures.
In fact, it was a long, protracted battle of ideas from which theories and
practices of modern growth emerged. That transformation was underpinned by
intellectual humility and tolerance of others’ opinion.
Such humility, unfortunately, is
largely lacking in Pakistan. Across the country, what one usually encounters is
the ‘my way or the highway’ approach. People frequently give opinions as if
they know everything, repulsed by even the slightest impression that they may
be wrong on some issue.
Sadly, this attitude extends to the
economist community of Pakistan (generally speaking), their senseless
grandstanding being based on limited reading and understanding of historical
circumstances, all the while answering to their own inert biases.
Third, Pakistani society and our
governments have to give up their ‘let’s kill the rich’ attitude. There is a
dire need to realise that not every person in Pakistan who has made his/ her
way to riches is a haramkhor. This attitude
is anathema [curse] to wealth creation. There are enough
examples of individuals who have become rich by dint of their hard work,
dedication and industriousness.
Yes, there is ample corruption as well
as leeches who have accumulated wealth through dubious means. But more often
than not, we find that the basis of their accumulation is support from
governance structures (subsidies, fat contracts, lax application of laws that
help them get away, etc.), which in turn perpetuates a culture of impunity,
theft and corruption.
So let’s realise that wealth and wealth
creation by genuine means is something to celebrate rather than scoff at.
Fourth, people need to recognise that
there is no substitute for hard work (physical and mental). Shortcuts (jugaar)
can only take you so far, and are never a good strategy to gain long-term
success and credibility. Examples abound, from ‘professors’ who achieved the
position through plagiarising papers to ‘double shah’-type characters, but a
recent one would do.
Last year, Amazon suspended thousands
of accounts from Pakistan for fraudulent business practices. It never occurred
to the perpetrators that their behaviour would not only shunt them out of the
largest online marketplace, but also severely diminish the chances of other
honest entrepreneurs/ businessmen in Pakistan trying to establish themselves
there. Neither did the government attempt to prosecute them for tarnishing the
country’s already low repute.
Put another way, the attempted jugaar may
have severely dented our access to one of the largest firms in the world
(Amazon’s market cap stands at $1.77 trillion). These kinds of jugaars and
rip-offs are common across the country, in every sphere of life, and are
basically a reflection of a lack of ethical and moral standing upon which a
healthy, trust-enhancing society is built.
No wonder whether it is the life of
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) or the writings of Adam Smith (who wrote Theory of
Moral Sentiments before his magnum opus, Wealth of
Nations), one finds heavy stress on fair, just and ethical dealings in
matters of commerce and the economy.
Last, but not least, Pakistan cannot
hope to have a transformed economy without women being an active part of the
labour force. Its female labour force participation rates are lowest even
amongst regional peers. The participation rates in KP and Balochistan are not
even 12 per cent, with prevalent culture being a huge block. High fertility
rates are one outcome of this low participation.
The points and issues to ponder are
many, but I will end by suggesting that both society and the government need to
realise that economic growth and change is not merely about endless amounts of
cement, steel, brick and mortar.
Nor would merely increasing the Public
Sector Development Programme ensure economic prosperity (an issue to be taken
up later). Breaking the cycle of economic backwardness has to be complemented
by a cultural change that values ethics, morality and emancipation of mind from
the clutches of obscurantism [the
practice of deliberately preventing the facts or full details of something from
becoming known] and mediocrity.
Summary
- Life is full of challenges and
requires hard work:
The Quran says humans are "created in toil," meaning enduring
hardship is part of life.
- Struggle leads to growth: Overcoming challenges builds
strength, character, and success.
- Effort is essential for
achievement: Nothing
worthwhile comes easy; dedication and perseverance are key.
- Examples of successful
struggle: Many
historical figures, prophets, and inventors achieved greatness through
hard work.
- Embrace challenges: Difficulties, like burdens
on birds' wings, can ultimately help us soar.
- Seek guidance and patience: Combine effort with faith
and perseverance for long-lasting success.
Article
EVERY individual, male or female, born
in this material world has to have their share of toil [exhausting physical labor].
According to the Holy Quran, man is created in toil (90:4). Toiling (the
Quranic term being ‘al-kabad’) refers to the fact that a man in this world has
not been created to enjoy and live a life of ease and comfort. Rather, the
world for him is a place of enduring and undergoing toil, labour and hardship,
and no one is immune from this.
We should not forget that our daily
meal is the result of toil. People work day and night to get two square meals a
day. Toiling is even necessary to remain fit, healthy, enjoying a sound sleep
and gaining success. Success is not something that will come without toil, as
it is a prerequisite.
Along with toiling, one needs to be
seeking continuous grace and guidance from Allah, be consistent in one’s
efforts, while not letting go of patience and ethics on the road to success, so
that the fruits may be durable and long-lasting. Though the desire for
immediate and instant success is quite strong in many people, to gain durable
success, quick-fix prescriptions may not work.
There are many examples where people
have achieved massive success by working hard. All scientific inventions and
discoveries are the result of laborious work and toil. Thomas A. Edison
invented the lightbulb after many attempts and failures and is believed to have
said: “I have found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
We should also be ready to get going
again and again with the same spirit, even if we encounter some hurdles. But
working hard, in the correct manner, pays well in the end.
In every society, people are engaged in
toil. They rise early and go to bed late, they work from dawn to dusk, face
problems, undergo hardships and adversities which, in fact, make them strong
and courageous and also open the door to further progress. This is the true
nature of life. Even birds, such as ducks and hens, toil all day in the sun.
But one should be clear that Allah does
not burden a person beyond his or her ability to cope (2:286). A teacher used
to tell an inspiring story to his students. He said, “Initially, when Allah
created birds, they had no wings. They used to crawl on earth. Then, one day,
Allah decided to bestow the birds with wings. He threw wings towards their feet
and commanded them to pick up the same and carry them on their backs. At first,
this seemed difficult for the little creatures but [they] later picked up the
wings and carried them on their backs. What happened then? What they once
considered a hampering weight and burden, enabled them to fly.”
Life is not a bed of roses. Whatever
one dreams of cannot be accomplished without hard work. Though one faces
adversities, these are a ‘tonic’ that works in favour of a person. In other
words, no person is so broken, so oppressed by the burdens of bad health,
poverty and unhappiness that there is no way out of their problem or no way to
bear it in the last resort. This is so because all individuals exist within the
Divine framework of creation. The burdens we carry by necessity or by choice,
instead of weighing us down, actually lift us up. The Holy Quran says “Verily,
with hardship, there is relief (94:5)”.
Life demands constant struggle and one
has to strive for improvement. Today must be better and tomorrow must be even
more so. The success stories of many great people amply prove that struggling
with strong willpower leads them to growth and development.
Moreover, history is a witness to this
fact that every person in his material life has to toil in order to survive and
prosper. Even the prophets and other chosen people considered close to Allah
also have had an appropriate share of toiling in their earthly life. But they
have left a lesson for coming generations demonstrating how to bear it during
their lifetime. The life of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) bears witness to
the fact that he endured every kind of hardship for the sake of his mission.
Similarly, all other great prophets,
like Adam, Nuh, lbrahim, Yaqub, Yousuf, Musa, Ayub and Isa, had their fair
share of trials and tribulations, as recounted in Quranic parables [a simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson],
as well as authentic hadith literature. Some had to face the powerful tyrants
of their time, while others dealt with ill health or separation from their
loved ones. Today, these venerable individuals are examples for humankind.
All these aforementioned examples justify the fact that one must understand the nature of life and continue to toil for durable success, no matter the odds and challenges one is faced with.
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