History: Its Lessons & the Price for Their Disregard – 2
By Mohammad Ashraf Chaudhry
Pittsburg, CA
“If men could learn from history, what lessons it might teach us! But passion and party blind our eyes, and the light which experience gives us is a lantern on the stern which shines only on the waves behind.” - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Another great undeniable lesson of history, according to Professor Rufus is, “Great nations rise and fall because of human decisions, not anonymous social or economic forces.” A true statesman stands on the bedrock of principles, possesses a moral compass, and is blessed with the ability to build consensus to achieve a vision, while a power-hungry politician is just obsessed with the desire to rule and stay in power.” A people that compromise on this lesson of history suffer inevitably. The United States of America prospered because of its original leadership that set the tone and standard to be followed by the leaders of its next generations. As a group the Founding Fathers met the definition of true statesmen, establishing the country on sound principles, basing it on an absolute sense of moral values with a vision of prosperity and security for the citizens of the future.
Whenever it tried to by-pass this lesson, it embroiled itself in trouble. The current case being its invasion of Iraq and involvement in Afghanistan. It ignored the golden words of its Founding Father, George Washington, and his warning, or even the warning of John Quincy Adam to Americans, when both told them, “Not to go abroad to slay dragons they do not understand in the name of spreading democracy” , which later came to be derided in such terms as “The Policy of Isolationism”. America ignored the lesson of history of the Russian debacle of 80’ in Afghanistan. It could have served as an eye-opener.
But power has its own magical attraction. Lord Action was not wrong when he warned, “All power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely… or that or that… much of the history is the justification of the actions of such murderers as Alexander the Great… nationalism which the West people thought to be progress, would lead to ethnic cleansing.”
Bosnia, and Rwanda offer two recent examples. The rise of provincialism and regionalism in India and Pakistan, and in other parts of the world, are not good signs. Another big lesson of history is that it is during the periods of prosperity and abundance that wars get waged. The American Civil War, the two World Wars, the Vietnam and the Korean wars, the wars fought by the Romans, by Napoleon, and even by the current powers-to-be in the Middle East, all have had their genesis in ideological differences or were motivated by the lust to grab land in times when technology, industry and science had begun to bring economic prosperity to people. Natural disasters or famines were not the cause of those big conflicts.
From Herodotus to St. Augustine to Edward Gibbon, all believed that human nature does not change. Under similar circumstances people would produce similar events and would act in the same manner. Greed, lust for power, jealousy and the desire to dominate others on one hand, and empathy and love for freedom on the other hand will always keep vying with each other. Hence the lessons of history are eternal. it was held that the lessons or laws of history relating to the rise and fall of nations and empires are forever like the laws of nature. They may get ignored, but they can never be wrong. And they are valid for all times.
They also held that it was the moral duty of every historian to pass a moral judgment, and not to stay neutral. The modern historians, however, dispute these assertions of Gibbon. In their view, history is not a proper or reliable guide to the present or to the future. They rather warn the historians to be careful in pronouncing any historical judgments because, according to them, no universal set of moral values exists. This modern view is in line with what Machiavelli –an Italian historian and philosopher of the 16 th century, had said, “Nations are not bound by any moral structures, and that a nation exists only to serve itself”. This separated morality and virtue from justice, and tied it to freedom and human rights. This also started the era of what we call “Real-politik” (political realism, based on power, authority, implying politics that are coercive, amoral or result-oriented , having nothing to do with values and morals) in Europe in the 19 th and 20 th century, till it became an integral part of all politics. Currently, it is not incumbent on the politicians to be moral and virtuous; what is required of them is that they should be worldly-smart. Leadership in Pakistan presents a good example of “Real-politik”.
Americans select their President by putting him under a micro-scope, and by making him pass through the eye of a needle. After his selection, they expect from him to deliver, and deliver soon. American Founding Fathers hated kingship in any form and manifestation; but they centered in the office of the President the power and authority of all the Caesers, Kings, and Princes combined. Taking the Athenian model of Pericles’ rule, they believed that Athens prospered as long as its main leader, Pericles led them. Thucydides also believed that a democracy functions well as long as it has a single, most outstanding leader to whom people can look for moral authority. This demanded from its leaders to be role models in every respect - in vision, in morality, in rising up to the challenges that confront the people, in keeping people together, in making historical decisions on time and in the best interest of the people. American leadership in all ages, with a few exceptions, acted upon this principle. China in principle and spirit acts upon this dictum as it values order and authority over political and individual freedoms.
In the bandwagon of Independence, leadership in India and Pakistan in 1947 did not consist of the current brand of trite politicians, but it consisted of statesmen of giant stature, people who possessed sterling qualities of leadership and character, people who had vision and foresight, like the Founding Fathers of America. From Gandhi to Nehru to Patel to Quaid-i-Azam, they all spent years in jail (the Quaid being an exception) for the noble principles that they extolled, and for which they had lived for. They did not rot in jails for maintaining illegal accounts in the Swiss Banks. What once used to be termed as something shameful and hate-worthy, is counted as a mantra of virtue, a rationale for being a leader in the current brand of leadership in Pakistan.
Pakistan’s president, Mr. Zardari, the other day was heard saying, “Though I spent nine years in jail, but I did not come out though I had the keys of the jail with me because of my love for the Jilias.” Interesting. Jail for him was a five-star hotel, and he was not in jail for a noble cause. Nelson Mandela, on the contrary, spent 27 years in jail, often remained confined to a prison cell, bore the pangs of separation from his dear ones… heard the news of his son, Makgatho leaving school without graduation, daughter Miki undergoing divorce, wife Winnie suffering outside, and he being so helpless and not able to do anything for them.
Often he was forced to do manual work like separating lime from hard stones, and then breaking the big stones into gravels, etc. Suffering for a noble cause brought him unprecedented recognition. It came while he was still in jail. In 1964, students at the University College in London elected him as their students’ union president; the Leeds University did the same next year and named a nuclear particle discovered by scientists of the same university as Mandela particle in his honor, India in 1979 awarded him with the highest civic award, the Nehru Award, and named a street after him in Bombay; and the university of Lesotho bestowed on him an honorary degree of doctorate.
These recognitions came because Mandela had stood on the bedrock of principles. He led the nation to freedom, freed it from apartheid, and put it on the road to progress by teaching them the path of reconciliation and not of revenge and hatred. And he also did not preserve the job of Presidency for himself or for his sons or wife. India comparatively did better, but Pakistan became a show-case of corruption and mis-governance just because of the lack of integrity and character in its leadership.
Lastly, history also teaches us that nations fall when a visible decline in the morality of people begins to show and people begin to love violence and terrorism. The main cause of the fall of the Romans was their love for violence. Edward Gibbon attributed their fall on to the extinction of political liberty in people. He said that without political freedom the Roman Empire became an empty shell, held together not by any feelings of patriotism but by prosperity. Once that prosperity fizzled out, the numerous ethnic groups that had constituted it also began to disintegrate and began fighting among themselves.
The Muslims in Southern Spain in 950 AD when Europe was mired in poverty, ignorance and superstition initiated the period of the Golden Age. What marked this Age and rule was the presence of a remarkable spirit of tolerance and cooperation among the three great monotheistic religions: Islam, Judaism and Christianity. The Cordoba University rang with voices in Arabic, Hebrew and Latin, sharing their knowledge of al-Jibra, medicine, law and literature. Just two individuals, two energetic leaders with remarkable vision and foresight, namely, Abd Al-Rahman III (912-961) and Al-Hakam II (961-976) , were behind this Golden Age.
Then came the Civil Wars which splintered Al-Andalus into several kingdoms. Then came the Berbers from North Africa with their brand of stricter Islam - the Taliban type - who were less sophisticated than the Arab-based Ummayyads. Then came another wave of even stricter Islam that brought in power the Almohads. The best minds fled, religious persecution became rampant, a period of suffocation and intolerance began, and a general atmosphere of violence and intolerance prevailed, and the glory days of Cordoba vanished. Finally, in 1236 , the Christians came and decimated the Muslims. History did not fail; it were the Muslims who had brought their own destruction upon themselves. A similar thing happened to the Mughals in India. Though in a minority, they ruled over vast Hindu India so long as they remained inclusive, tolerant, benign and respectful to the culture and religions of the majority. One Aurangzeb was enough to sow the seeds of destruction of this most powerful empire.
What the Romans during the time of their fall began practicing in the art of violence can be matched only by what is happening in Pakistan these days. The level of violence and the relish of it has reached such a level of lunacy that even the crowd would ask for it as a form of entertainment. John Donne, the famous English poet, once prepared a list of the acts of violence of the Romans. He says, “In one month thirty thousand men died in gladiatorial shows”. One, Mr. Frazer says that at one time people would offer themselves for execution to amuse the public for five Minae (about fifty pounds), the money to be paid to their heirs. He says the market was so competitive that the candidates would offer to be beaten to death rather than beheaded, since that was slower, more powerful and so more spectacular. The hungry lions became the most revered animals because the stoical early Christians began reading the message of martyrdom when thrown in front of them, and in many cases, began feeling grateful to them, for providing them honor. An unwilling lion was often provoked to do the job. The people of Pakistan are having all this for free on a daily basis.
The sole Founding Father of Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam, visualized this country to be a land where Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and Muslims would cease to be so in the sense that they would be equal citizens of Pakistan, and would be called Pakistanis. Now ethnic cleansing in the name of Islam and violence as a Mongolian tactic for striking maximum fear in the people is rampant. The country of Islam has reached such a level of morbidity that not even a girl of two years is safe from being raped and thrown out in the street. According to a recent PEW Forum survey on Religion and Public Life, published in the Economist of august 18, 2012, 96% people pray five times in Pakistan; 96% fast during the month of Ramadan, and 89% pay Zakat, and yet no child, no girl or boy and no woman can claim to be safe from molestation; target killing on the average of 12 per day in the main city of Karachi is going on; the headquarters of the three armed forces have been targeted; Shia Muslims, Ahmedis and Christians and Hindus are getting decimated in a most calculated manner.
Alcohol drinks in Pakistan “Can be ordered to the door quicker than pizza,” says Sadaqat Ali who runs Willing Ways, a chain of clinics to treat alcoholics. Pakistan has become a land of drunkards, rapists, terrorists, murderers, religious fanatics, intriguers and a nation of perhaps the most corrupt people.
History does not alter its course; nor do its lessons go wrong. Leaders that lack character will produce the kind of people that we have in Pakistan. It happened so in the past; and it will keep happening in the future too, it does not matter, whether one looks at the scene from a religious point of view or from a historical angle. The results would always be the same.
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