The ‘Why Tribe’
This tech savvy tribe is increasingly demanding to know why certain things are happening in Pakistan.
The writer is author of The Gun Tree: One Woman’s War (Oxford University Press, 2001) and lives in Bhurban
Silence used to be the golden rule for the inhabitants of the various societal levels above the excruciatingly painful line of recognised poverty and, for the vast majority, this constipated silence persists yet, for the daring few — these are growing in number — demanding both answers and then action is becoming more commonplace.
Egged on by global interaction via social networking sites, this tech savvy tribe is increasingly demanding to know why certain things are happening in Pakistan, why this is allowed and — the biggest ‘why’ of all — does nothing change … except for the worse?
Why, for example, does it cost the exorbitant amount of Rs27,000 per month simply for basic — there are other charges too — education in a certain private school system in Islamabad when, the very same school, charges only Rs7,000 for the identical privilege in another part of the country; Why has YouTube, widely used as an educational as well as an entertainment service, not been restored when Iran, perceived as a ‘stricter’ country than Pakistan, reintroduced it; Why does the basic cost of essential services, electricity, gas, cell phone and landline use, continue to soar whilst services decline or disappear altogether and why, oh why, is the population at large being forced, often unknowingly, to pay through the nose for chemically contaminated food and so on and so forth?
‘The Why Tribe’ is small as it currently is, now taking as much as it can, financial constraints being a never ending problem, into its own hands and — as is a basic human right — it, along with everyone else in this seriously benighted country, wants to exercise its right to a decent standard of living and the majority of the members are not averse to helping less enlightened ‘others’ to follow suit but it goes without saying, bureaucracy loves nothing more than to get in the way — especially so if ‘they’ feel they are missing out on a potentially lucrative source of ‘undercover’ income.
Take the matter of food and water/drink, these being basic necessities of existence: With just approximately 40 per cent of the population now able to afford adequate sustenance — this percentage is shrinking rapidly as prices rise, wages remain static and unemployment soars — expensive, imported products, some of which are actually banned in their countries of origin, are, thanks to blanket advertising campaigns, replacing less toxic, lower cost, indigenous products which, in turn, as demands for home produced items drop, cause layoffs, add to unemployment and, at the end of the day, to poverty. Plus, as a direct result of the toxic imported food/drink items, there is an increase in ill health, doctors fees and often spurious prescription medicine intake which, all in all, is an extremely vicious cycle indeed.
Realising the inherent dangers of this, ‘The Why Tribe’ has had no option but to take the production of ‘pure’ food in to its own hands: Those lucky enough to have even a tiny patch of land are hard at work cultivating organic vegetables, raising organic chickens for meat and eggs: Those without land are growing whatever they can on roof tops, on balconies and even — incredible as this may sound — in bathrooms. So desperate are they to be able to eat chemical free food in the hope of staying as healthy as possible in this poisonously polluted environment about which, unsurprisingly, consecutive governments have done absolutely nothing at all and, profit being exactly that, nor are they liable too. It is up to ‘The Why Tribe’ to take the lead and, as soon as possible for its members, stand for election themselves and what a clean achievement that would be!
Published in The Express Tribune, October 2nd, 2013.
Egged on by global interaction via social networking sites, this tech savvy tribe is increasingly demanding to know why certain things are happening in Pakistan, why this is allowed and — the biggest ‘why’ of all — does nothing change … except for the worse?
Why, for example, does it cost the exorbitant amount of Rs27,000 per month simply for basic — there are other charges too — education in a certain private school system in Islamabad when, the very same school, charges only Rs7,000 for the identical privilege in another part of the country; Why has YouTube, widely used as an educational as well as an entertainment service, not been restored when Iran, perceived as a ‘stricter’ country than Pakistan, reintroduced it; Why does the basic cost of essential services, electricity, gas, cell phone and landline use, continue to soar whilst services decline or disappear altogether and why, oh why, is the population at large being forced, often unknowingly, to pay through the nose for chemically contaminated food and so on and so forth?
‘The Why Tribe’ is small as it currently is, now taking as much as it can, financial constraints being a never ending problem, into its own hands and — as is a basic human right — it, along with everyone else in this seriously benighted country, wants to exercise its right to a decent standard of living and the majority of the members are not averse to helping less enlightened ‘others’ to follow suit but it goes without saying, bureaucracy loves nothing more than to get in the way — especially so if ‘they’ feel they are missing out on a potentially lucrative source of ‘undercover’ income.
Take the matter of food and water/drink, these being basic necessities of existence: With just approximately 40 per cent of the population now able to afford adequate sustenance — this percentage is shrinking rapidly as prices rise, wages remain static and unemployment soars — expensive, imported products, some of which are actually banned in their countries of origin, are, thanks to blanket advertising campaigns, replacing less toxic, lower cost, indigenous products which, in turn, as demands for home produced items drop, cause layoffs, add to unemployment and, at the end of the day, to poverty. Plus, as a direct result of the toxic imported food/drink items, there is an increase in ill health, doctors fees and often spurious prescription medicine intake which, all in all, is an extremely vicious cycle indeed.
Realising the inherent dangers of this, ‘The Why Tribe’ has had no option but to take the production of ‘pure’ food in to its own hands: Those lucky enough to have even a tiny patch of land are hard at work cultivating organic vegetables, raising organic chickens for meat and eggs: Those without land are growing whatever they can on roof tops, on balconies and even — incredible as this may sound — in bathrooms. So desperate are they to be able to eat chemical free food in the hope of staying as healthy as possible in this poisonously polluted environment about which, unsurprisingly, consecutive governments have done absolutely nothing at all and, profit being exactly that, nor are they liable too. It is up to ‘The Why Tribe’ to take the lead and, as soon as possible for its members, stand for election themselves and what a clean achievement that would be!
Published in The Express Tribune, October 2nd, 2013.