Pied Piper? Our children are no rats!

Relationship between Imran Khan and his young political constituency has repeatedly been compared to the Pied Piper

The relationship between Imran Khan and his largely young political constituency has repeatedly been characterised with reference to the Pied Piper. This superficial characterisation implies that like the children in the story, these young men and women are merely passive, unthinking followers, puppets being taken for a ride. It suggests somehow, that they are not genuine political actors and, inadvertently perhaps, delegitimises their efforts to take control of their destinies and map their futures.



While a healthy democracy needs analysts and commentators to scrutinise and challenge the manoeuvres of political leaders and aspiring office holders, we must also take care not to obscure the legitimate political aspirations of millions in the process. We must not lose sight of the whole story.

The parable of the Pied Piper is familiar to us all. An itinerant musician rolls into a town, which is infested by rats. He strikes a solemn bargain with the community that if he frees it from this pestilence, it will reward him with a specified sum. He then proceeds to do as he promised, but the community reneges on its end of the bargain. The Piper returns to the town and as before he plays some sweet music, but this time, it is not rats that follow him, it is the town’s children.

The underlying political message of the parable is that, where a community strikes a collective bargain and then refuses to honour it, the consequences are borne by its children. In a wider sense, when a generation refuses to live up to its social obligations — its social contract — then, its young will suffer. The parable is essentially a warning: that you create both the physical and moral future for your young through the choices you make; and should you choose to create a world where communal obligations are not recognised or honoured, then eventually, you will lose your young. Your society is not fit for purpose.

It is undeniable that, we, the current generation of older Pakistanis, have collectively failed our young. We have bequeathed them a deeply uncertain and volatile future, where the only seeming certainty is that tomorrow is likely to bring something worse.

Let us briefly examine their inheritance: a crippled economy; grotesque levels of poverty; immense income inequalities; mass illiteracy; a dysfunctional state apparatus; an unresponsive, unaccountable political elite; an incompetent, brutal police force; an inept and farcical judiciary; rampant criminality; a raging militancy; increasing intolerance and bigotry; endemic violence against women and girls; escalating ethnic strife; systemic oppression of minorities; chronic levels of drug addiction; an inability to cope with repeated natural disasters as well as general environmental degradation.

Now let us be generous, and excuse ourselves the material uncertainty that is our gift and their lot. Because I do no doubt that the young can overcome material challenges through their energy, vigour and enterprise.

What then is inexcusable? This, I believe, is the moral uncertainty with which we have infused the heart of our society. We have presented our young men and women with a society permeated by and saturated with moral compromise. We ask of them to navigate a corrupt, unjust and downright cruel social order, where it is virtually impossible to live one’s life untainted by compromising basic norms of decency and morality: a society where the social contract has all but ceased to exist. This is a crime of such magnitude and depth that it cannot be contained by legal provision or adjudicated in a human court of law. It is the stuff of fairy tales and fables.

So, as the dharna approaches what appears to be its transitional phase with its ultimate direction still a matter of speculation, I believe this is an appropriate time to step back a little from all of the rhetoric and take stock of its underlying political themes. And ask ourselves, what is the story here, what is the bigger picture?

This, simply stated, is a generational shift in the political landscape of Pakistan. In these young men and women, we are witness to the political awakening of a generation not only refusing to play by the ‘rules’ of the current order, but rejecting it outright. They know, as we know, that the status quo is riddled with injustice. It stinks. Yet it is they, not us, calling for reform. We dismiss this call as naive, even pointless, perhaps because we gave in to cynicism and resignation long long ago. We would have them settle, like we did, for promises of roads and bridges and shiny new buildings. But they will not let us forget that these cannot be built on rotten foundations. Only rot is piled on top of rot.

So, I believe that in examining the PTI phenomenon, and in particular, the role of Imran Khan, we must turn the parable on its head. What if the young people of the town that reneged on its obligations decide that they want to change the corrupt community that their parents created and seek to fulfil the bargain anew? What if they decide that they will make the decisions that their parents failed to make and set up a community that will honour its bargains? Where then do they go? To whom do they turn?

This brings us to back to the Piper. I believe Imran Khan is incorrectly identified as the Piper. The audience of young men and women that gathers daily in small numbers physically, but present in droves via social media and other media outlets, these are the Pipers. They are willing and rational political actors, turning their backs on what they consider to be the older, decadent and ultimately incapable stock of contemporary political figures. And as far as these young people are concerned, Imran Khan is the only game in town.

He is simply the figure in whom the young have consciously and actively decided to locate their political aspirations for a better future. A future radically different from and morally superior to the one we would currently have them inherit. They are playing the tune and he has responded by giving a political shape to their hopeful clarion call. Other political leaders and their parties, if they want to remain relevant to this future, will also do well to heed this call.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 31^st, 2014.

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