Pak Tea House

By Ishtiaq Ahmed

In a debate article in the Dawn of April 30, 2008, Haider Nizamani seeks to dispel the widely held view that feudalism exists in Pakistan. He asserts that feudalism never existed in South Asia. To consider honour killings and exploitation of peasants by mighty landlords as indicative of feudalism he finds untenable because according to him, by 1999, 88 percent of cultivated land in Pakistan was in farm sizes below 12.5 acres. Just over half the total farms were less than five acres in size. “This would hardly be the hallmark of a feudal society,” he asserts.

This economistic argument is a legitimate one, but too narrow, mechanical and formalistic, because it presupposes that if the economic base changes cultural and ideological changes follow suit. In reality there is never a perfect fit between a mode of production and cultural and ideological forms, otherwise the thoroughly capitalised economies of the Middle East would have no place for tribal norms and behaviour patterns. Marx was acutely aware of the far more complex relationship between the economic base and the superstructure. He famously observed that Christian theology remained the reigning ideology much after classical feudalism had disintegrated and dissolved.

Classical feudalism emerged in Western Europe when the old city-based high cultures of the Greeks and the Romans disintegrated and the locus of social activity moved into local units headed by tiered nobility, which controlled their serfs through a range of economic and extra-economic coercions. The feudal vassals, in turn, rendered services to the superior lords, and that chain of services finally connected to the king, who was named as the “first among the lords.” He claimed a tribute or levy from the lesser nobles, who also provided him with soldiers.

The above description is, of course, an ideal one in the tradition of Max Weber. In reality no two feudalisms anywhere in Europe were the same, except in the essential sense of an agrarian economy providing much of the surplus, as well as the soldiers upon which the ruling classes built their leisured lifestyle.

Christian theology justified social hierarchy, and people knew their place in society – the rule was that the superiors were chosen by God and obeying them was a duty and obligation. (more…)

“Over six million children are out of school in Pakistan. This puts Pakistan as the country with the third highest number of out-of-school children in the world, according to UNESCO’s EFA Global Report 2008. Less than 60% of the total adult population in Pakistan, along with India and Bangladesh, can read and write with understanding.

There are many factors that hamper quality education in Pakistan, including crowded classrooms, poor school infrastructure, inadequate learning environments, shortage of teachers and even greater shortage of trained teachers. On a more positive note, the report finds that Pakistan is among 36 countries where the survival rate (not enrolment rate) of girls to the last grade of primary school is higher than boys.”

Full story here.

Picture above by Raza Rumi

How could we claim to be a democratic country where academics, ostensibly a sacred profession if one were to follow our own rhetoric, are mauled for speaking up?? I am posting a press release from the citizen’s group, People’s Resistance that gives a detailed account of the rotten incident.

KARACHI, April 1: The People’s Resistance, a coalition of pro-democracy individuals and organisations, strongly condemns and demands immediate inquiry into the manhandling and beating up of Dr Riaz Ahmed, Assistant Professor of Applied Chemistry at Karachi University by Pakistan Rangers. (more…)

temporal

Dummy Online is hosted by a clean-cut, metrosexual, chikkoo. Dr.2. He is reputed to have bought a second doctorate from a mail order university for $250.

Why he did that will be examined in another post.

Dr. 2 fancies himself a lot. He jerks off looking at himself, it has been reported. (more…)

Courtesy BBC edition Thursday, 24 January, 2008:

فوج اور سول بیوروکریسی اس طبقۂ خواص کے مفاد کی حفاظت کرتے ہیں۔

صدر پرویز مشرف نے برسلز میں کہا ہے کہ یورپی ممالک کو احساس کرنا چاہیے کہ پاکستان میں مغربح طرز کی جمہوریت نہیں آ سکتی۔ صدر صاحب کے ہمدرد دانشوروں کا خیال ہے کہ ملک میں جہالت اور جاگیرداری نظام کی وجہ سے لوگ اپنا ووٹ آزادانہ طور پر نہیں دے سکتے اس لیے ملک کے لیے گائیڈڈ ڈیموکریسی یا رہنما جمہوریت کا اصول بہتر ہے۔ آخر کو دیکھیں کہ برسوں سے انتخابات ہو رہے ہیں لیکن جمہوریت آنے کا نام ہی نہیں لے رہی۔

ایک طرف فوج اور بیوروکریسی کی طاقت ہے تو دوسری طرف سیاسی جماعتیں اور ان کے لیڈر جو عوام کو استعمال کرنا تو جانتے ہیں لیکن ان کا طاقت کا اصل سرچشمہ بنانے کو تیار نہیں۔ آخر پاکستان کا کیا مرض ہے ۔ کیا یہاں بیوروکریسی طاقت ور ہے یا فوج نے سیاسی جماعتوں کو پنپنے نہیں دیا یا سیاست دان نااہل ہیں۔

بہت پڑھے لکھے لوگوں نے بے بہت کچھ لکھا ہے لیکن سب سے اچھا جواب پاکستان کے ایک بہت بڑے ماہرِ سیاسیات حمزہ علوی نے دیا ہے۔ کاش کہ وہ آج کل کے حالات کا تجزیہ کرنے کے لیے زندہ ہوتے۔ علوی کے مطابق پاکستان کا بحران ہے ایک ضرورت سے زیادہ ترقی یافتہ ریاست کا مسئلہ۔

اس کا مطلب یہ ہے کہ ایک طرف تو بہت طاقتور سول اور فوجی بیوروکریسی ہے جس کے پاس ادارے کی طاقت ہے۔ دوسری طرف کمزور سیاسی ادارے ہیں۔ پاکستان نو آبادیاتی نظام کے بعد کی ایک ریاست ہے جہاں انگریزوں نے صرف ان اداروں کو طاقتور کیا جن کو وہ اپنے لیے استعمال کر سکتے تھے۔

لیکن پھر اس کا اثر انڈیا پر کیوں نہیں پڑا۔ آخر کو وہاں بھی تو ان ہی اداروں کو مضبوط کیا گیا ہوگا۔

(more…)

temporal

Dil say jo baat nikalti hay, asar rakhti hay
Par nahiN, taaqat e parwaaz magar rakhti hay

Words that emanate from the heart carry (more) weight
Without wings, they can fly (great) distances – Iqbal

The large majority of those who live in the west have difficulty in understanding what it is to think with the mind of the heart. Voltaire perhaps came closest:

Meditation is the dissolution of thoughts in Eternal awareness or Pure consciousness without objectification, knowing without thinking, merging finitude in infinity.

(more…)

Commodification of Education

by Aasem Bakhshi

It is impossible to be a middle class Pakistani and not to have confronted the tough question of choosing the ‘Right Profession’. The truth of the matter is that most Pakistanis end up ’studying’, what they don’t desire to ‘understand’. (more…)