In every political order, power does not merely rule; it creates the language through which reality is seen. Authority is sustained not just by force or law, but by the stories a society is taught to believe about itself. Those who control symbols, legitimacy and fear shape the boundaries of what can be said, what can be challenged, and what must remain unquestioned. In such a landscape, politics becomes less about justice and more about permission — to speak, to resist, to exist.
Public life is arranged into visible and invisible hierarchies: some built on institutions, some on history, some on silence. Yet these hierarchies are never fixed; they are constantly rearranged through narrative. A group may hold the instruments of power, yet it presents itself as a victim. Another may lack formal authority, but is portrayed as dangerous simply for questioning the order of things. In this way, power survives not by truth, but by redefinition. Reality is not discovered; it is declared.
The masses, trapped between fear and hope, are invited to believe that defiance is chaos and obedience is stability. Order is presented as a sacred duty, even when that order suffocates the very spirit it claims to protect. Those who ask for accountability are branded as enemies; those who demand rights are accused of threatening unity. Thus, the greatest danger to power is not violence, but consciousness — the moment people realise that what they were taught to accept as destiny was, in fact, design.
Anger, therefore, becomes a political resource. It is guided, shaped, and aimed in carefully chosen directions. People are encouraged to “punch up” at those who can be safely framed as dominant, while the deeper structures that truly govern their lives remain untouched and unnamed. This creates an illusion of resistance, a controlled rebellion that exhausts itself in symbols and slogans while the foundation remains intact.
In such a society, the real struggle is not between parties, classes or regions; it is between illusion and awakening. And history has shown that once people begin to see through illusion, no amount of repression, propaganda or intimidation can permanently restore the dream. Power can silence voices — but it cannot forever silence the idea that a different order is possible.
Abdul Waheed
Karachi
