by K. Ashraf
Pakistan does not need a revolution. What Pakistan needs is Democratic Socialism.
The magic phrase about any successful system is: Confidence. The confidence in a system comes from equitability, justice and sustainability. Rest of it is just detail, the details of the system, the way the implementers of the system implement it.
Every Tom, Harry, Dick is calling for a revolution in Pakistan. Some condors of the current system are even calling for a bloody revolution which kills hundreds of thousands of people. The others are asking people to take over everything they can get their hands on.
The first kind of revolution is being propagated by Mian Shahbaz Sharif of PML N the other kind of revolution is being propagated by Mr. Altaf Hussain. One can imagine what kind of revolution it will be if it is led by either of them.
First, a revolution needs a revolutionary party and leadership to bring revolution in a country. Pakistan does not have both. Therefore, there is a remote possibility that revolution will ever take place in Pakistan.
The elk of people who are talking about revolution in their dreams are far off from the social, cultural, and political realities of Pakistan. They even do not understand the nature of the current economic system in the country. However, what they talk about in their sleeps is nothing but the symptoms of the economic disaster the country is facing.
For example, the corruption which everyone from TV show hosts, commentators, analysts and some of the politicians talk about is not the disease in itself. It is a symptom of a larger economic problem. Similarly, poverty is not a disease in itself, but it is a symptom of a larger economic problem. Growing violence in the society is not a disease in itself, but it is a symptom of a larger economic problem. Same is the case with other challenges Pakistani society is facing for a while now.
The bottom line of all these problems is a larger economic problem. What is that larger economic problem?
The current economic system does not enjoy the confidence of the people who live under this system. Anyone who thinks, the ruling elite have confidence in this system, he is sure seriously mistaken.
Today, Pakistan’s ruling elite is the most corrupt in the whole world. Why is it so? It is so because they do not have the confidence in the system. If they had confidence in Pakistan’s economic system they won’t commit corruption and stash away money and put in foreign bank accounts. They do it because they know this system can collapse anytime and they can lose every thing they have.
Poverty is growing at exponential rate in Pakistan. With natural calamities the growth rate of poverty has sharpened to dangerous levels. Sixty, seventy percent Pakistanis are living in red economic zones. From the red economic zone, I mean, the worst possible economic conditions.
Revolution is not the answer. Revolution is not the answer, because there are no revolutionaries in Pakistan. Those who would lead revolution in the name of revolution would not be any different than the current breed of rulers we have in Pakistan. They will be rather worse as they won’t have any clear vision of a workable system for Pakistani society.
Here we will not talk about the Soviet, Chinese or Cuban revolutions. They have had their own social, cultural, political and economic problems. Pakistanis do not need to go through all that to create a credible social, cultural, political and economic system.
What Pakistan needs is Democratic Socialism. From Democratic Socialism, I mean a system which brings required changes in Pakistan’s social, cultural, political and economic systems through concerted social, cultural, political and economic activism.
Pakistan needs to lead itself at fast pace to reform its social, cultural, political and economic systems to build confidence, widespread justice, create equitability and sustainability in the system for every citizen of Pakistan.
Is it doable? Yes, it is doable and achievable? Who will do it? The current leadership, I doubt they have the ability or they understand the nitty-gritty of what Pakistan needs.
It is easy to write an article in a language that could only be understand by just 0.5% of the masses rather you should go out of the streets and suffer what hundreds of thousands do. You are advised to leave your lavishly cool room and office and go around the slums and small ‘goths’ (villages). Do not take meals for a whole day, fetch water from a well or from a public tap after queuing for hours. Send your sisters and daughters to factories where they get hardly 5000 rupees after after 12 hours daily torturing labor. Then write such an article.
i was one of the tom, dick and harry you talk about up there till recently. You are right, it’s not a revolution that we need. a revolution in fact would bring more bad news and be a disaster for this already war-torn country. I believe we need an evolution in the sense of reforms and a change in your character. or in the form of democratic socialism perhaps.
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