Change without Change
The 21st Century
is a time of swift change. Things which
used to unfold in years can now be compressed
in weeks. This is what Lenin wrote when
he was in exile in Zurich 90 years ago.
But some things haven't changed. Over
and over again, TV and the front pages
of newspapers inflict on the viewer
and reader a two-faceted picture: i.e.,
someone speaking and the audience listening
with sullen and sleepy expressions.
The stale sameness feeds the public's
cynicism that there is change without
change, especially so, when sircari
TV studios are reduced to ego massage
parlors. Whether it's the tsunami in
Indonesia or the bomb blasts in Iraq,
the news will have predictably repetitious
features of the head of state or the
head of government speaking or meeting.
Then, too, over the years, in the Assembles,
the Treasury Benches have been involved
in showering insincere praise on the
temporary inhabitants of power while
the opposition is busy in heaping abuse
on the same, while cutting the cake
for its own `heroes.' It is an excuse
for doing nothing.
Back in the 1930's, the Quaid and Allama
Iqbal took the long view and saw the
big picture. They cautioned the West
about the perils of Palestine. Their
concerns were reflected in the resolutions
of the Lucknow October 1937 Session
of the Muslim League and the historic
Lahore Session of March 1940, which
led to the Pakistan Resolution. Today,
while the conflicts of Palestine, Iraq,
Chechnya, and Kashmir overshadow the
globe, the talk of the town continues
to center around the trivia and the
minutia. While facts have changed, the
mindset has not. In his movie classic,
the Chess Players, Satyajit Ray depicts
the Muslim aristocracy engrossed in
chess play while the social order around
them crumbles and the British continue
to advance and take over.
Apart from chalaaki (machinations) of
external foes and forces, the nalaiqi
(ineptness) of the elites is a key part
of the problem. The malaise typified
by the attraction towards talk and the
repulsion towards action is not confined
to Pakistan but is also particularly
evident in Arabdom. There, highfalutin
rhetoric and resolutions are the response
to Israeli belligerence. Talking is
considered the equivalent of action.
Credit is hugged and discredit shrugged.
The responsibility of hard work is evaded
or delegated with the same alacrity
with which the opportunity to advance
socially is seized. Form trumps substance.
The norm is to be more deferential to
the inanities of the office-bearer than
to be attentive to the words of wisdom
of a non-office-bearer. It also reinforces
a culture where - without striving -
privileges are inherited and fall into
one's lap because of means and genes.
There is a compelling need for a strategic
reappraisal.
The time may be now. Given the monumental
challenges which lie ahead - putting
Pakistan at the crossroads of global
change - and the slow-motion shattering
of the status quo at the beginning of
the 21st Century, the nation can ill-afford
the luxury of business as usual.
