The monster and the elite

And so it came to pass in the Land of the Pure that sense and sensibility soon became words denoting a film based on a book which no one had read, unless they happened to have been schooled in institutions which desperately hung on to the vestiges of British colonialism. As for the others, left out when privileges were being parceled out to the powerful alone, neither the film nor the book seemed to have much relevance to lives dictated by whatever dregs were handed down to them by a comprador elite.

That is not to say that this elite has acted with much sense or sensibility; had it done so, the body which constitutes the nation would certainly have been politic. Instead, what we have staring us in the face is a monster nurtured on inequity, ignorance, deception and fear. As for the elite itself, the surprise that it now displays when the monster has growled and clawed at its cage, lunging at anything that moves, is surprising indeed. For had this privileged club utilised the facility of reason when there was still time, the monster which now threatens to devour it would have been starved of the lavish meals it has been served up for the past 60 years.

Should it be a surprise that the so-called ‘enlightened intelligentsia’ is unable to gather together scores of people to rally around a rightful cause espousing tolerance and pluralism? Has that intelligentsia been working round the clock for the past six decades preaching its message, in the manner of those who have been able to strike the fear of death in the hearts of a shrinking, in more ways than one, minority? Why is it surprising, at all, that there is hardly any room for personal choice, for the freedom to exercise that choice, for the freedom to express that freedom itself? Have we looked out of our tinted windows recently and seen the writing on the wall, the pallor on the faces of the children we have ignored, the fear in the eyes of the women we have exploited, the anger in the faces of the men we have deprived of meaningful lives and livelihoods? Considering that the powerful have willingly and deliberately created increasing gaps between themselves and the powerless, cushioning themselves while stripping the lives of others to the bone, is it at all surprising that hatred marks the gaze of every passenger on a public bus as it careens along roads where the privileged alone have right of way?

It took the brutal murder of a public figure, flamboyant and defiant, to shake up the elite from its long slumber. This condemnable act, echoed every day in countless acts of violence, has challenged the intelligentsia to come up with strategies to counter the growing tide of obscurantism. And in standing up to this enormous challenge, this elite has turned in upon itself, retreating once again into its cocoon, wringing its hands when issues of social and economic justice are inserted into its agenda by those who do not see the matter of blasphemy and intolerance as delinked from the larger concerns of building a just society. So, in its bid to bring out the ‘masses’, the intelligentsia, once again, does what it has done so efficiently for six decades: leave out the people from the otherwise progressive discourse.

We have left out the people from our imagination for too long. We have thrown Veena Malik to rabid wolves, leaving her alone to defend her choices, condemning her while gawking at her comely body. We have failed to rally in support of the young women threatened with imminent death for making choices of their own. We have gained by the corruption and exploitation, the crass disregard for human life and dignity. We have enjoyed the services of underpaid men and women who will not join us in our rallies. We have failed, and yet we are surprised when the monster in our backyard growls at us for feeding it the same repast for all these lost years.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 27^th, 2011.