For Ali, the gloves are finally off

Sonny Liston, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Joe Bugner and Leon Spinks figure in the history books because they had one thing in common — they were all defeated by Muhammad Ali as he rose through the annals of boxing history to become the greatest ever. Sometimes living in the shadows of great men — or getting knocked out by their punch — is the shortest way to fame.

But Ali never took the short way. Today as the world mourns him, it does so not because Ali knocked out the titans of his age, but because he defined traits that have been admired through the ages — defiance, resilience, perseverance and a lust for life even when life is beating you down with ungloved fists. Ali was not just a boxer, he was a phenomenon.

It’s always tempting to deify great people after their passing, and many fall for this temptation with relish. Towering individuals who exuded courage and displayed depth often end up being presented as cardboard figures when their fans and followers project their single dimensional admiration and fascination on to them. This may yet happen with the legacy of Ali, but perhaps his eventful life and colourful personality may make the process harder. His conversion from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali, his stand against the draft for the Vietnam war, the stripping away of his title and his subsequent vindication in the court and in the ring, followed by a string of historic bouts and a series of marriages — Ali reveled in thumbing his nose at the system, and at the world at large.

The generation that missed Ali’s fighting years may not have the same emotional connection to his legacy as those who remember being part of the global hysteria that surrounded Ali’s fights. For these young men and women across the world, and in Pakistan, Ali’s death and the ensuing accolades, obituaries and sharing of clips on the social media may provide an opportunity to peek into an extraordinary life of an extraordinary man.



But would Ali’s life still resonate in modern day Pakistan beyond the usual eulogies. No it won’t because in the age of instant communication and images, Ali had faded away into the background. No it won’t because the 20th century’s first truly global sports icon missed the global communication revolution because of Parkinson’s disease. No it won’t because the sport that he defined and popularised across the world in the 1960s and 1970s today finds traction in popular imagination through the Rocky film series (and in Pakistan through the British-Pakistani boxer Amir Khan).

But in some ways Ali’s life should find resonance here for those of us who know what to look for and where to look for it.

Defiance of conventional wisdom, defiance of accepted norms, defiance of exploitative rules and of discrimination based on race, ethnicity, gender and religion — such defiance defined him — and should us too. The system that bore down on him, in many ways bears down on us.

Is not our political system democratic in process and less so in practice? Does it not allow you the citizen to vote freely but not get elected? Are the barriers to entry into elected office not impossibly high for those who do not have the credentials like family name, party connections, money and a traditional seat (exceptions notwithstanding)? Is the system then not weighed against you, perhaps even rigged against you while all the time posing to be crafted for you and you alone?

Is not our legal system held hostage by the legal community for its own privileges? Should our justice system not be defined as ‘by the lawyers and judges, of the lawyers and judges, for the lawyers and judges?’ Does this incestuous relationship between the Bar and the Bench not exclude the litigants when it comes to prioritising the dispensing of justice? Does it not make you wonder why the most obvious of judicial reforms are not instituted despite tall claims and hypocritical self-righteous nauseating rhetoric from custodians of the law?

Is not our social system edificed on suffocating traditions that revel in discriminations of all kinds at the expense of the vast majority of citizens? Has the State not perpetuated these revolting traditions instead of ref ming them away through a combination of legislation, awareness and enforcement of law? Is it not true that if there is indeed any equaliser in this day and age it is not the system, but transnational forces of change like technology, information, awareness and exposure to global practices that show us how truly decadent many of our discriminatory norms and traditions are?

So then we arrive at an old question revived yet again by the passing of the Great Ali: Can individuals defying the all-powerful system trigger change or do they merely pave the way for the system to grow more powerful, adapt and reinforce itself? In other words, do agents of change actually become the change or do they merely symbolise a powerful yearning for change?

These are heavy questions, and intellectuals have grappled with them through generations. In the larger historical canvas, Muhammad Ali was merely a fast-talking, fast-punching boxer who fired the imagination of the world through his antics inside the ring and outside of it. In the pantheon of larger-than-life figures he will have a place, but clearly not among the titans. His passing away will figure prominently across the planet for a 24-hour news cycle, and perhaps a few articles and an odd book and a documentary in the near future. In this demand-driven global market, there are many others competing for space in the modern media and Ali’s legacy will surely fight a losing bout.

But that’s not the point. The traits that transformed him from a small-time boxer into a global icon are the same ones that have characterised the success stories of men and women in all ages and in all nations.  So as we celebrate the life of the greatest sportsman of the 20th century, we may allow ourselves a moment to cherish all those who fight the system in the belief that good men and women can truly make a difference in the lives of people and nations.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 5^th, 2016.

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