Here goes by another election which will be discussed till the next one comes, no remedy – no vision. The people did speak through the ballot, but they do not matter, simply because a pathway out of the chaos is not present – not even conceived. The powerful have prevailed yet again, but their authority continues to dilute. As Weber puts it, authority depends on belief. Though the ballot cannot bestow governmental power, it gives a glimpse of another dimension of power, Truth.
As pointed out by Haugaard, Truth and truth are not identical. The latter, with a lowercase t, is a truth claim constructed socially. The former, with an uppercase T, has a transcendental claim and is analogous to sacred. The Truth is interweaved with Practical Consciousness. In an attempt to find a middle way between “free action” and “deterministic structure”, Giddens came up with his Theory of Structuration. Practical Consciousness, according to Giddens, is based on mutual knowledge and is different from discursive knowledge. The social actors are not fully aware of it, but it produces social practices. In other words, it is the everyday knowledge that is immanent, immediate, tangible, and useful.
The Truth is based on mutual knowledge and is often imposed by the status quo, but it is not inherently subservient. Building on the Truth created by the colonial masters, the ruling elite of Pakistan made their own post-partition. From Muhammad Bin Qasim being the first Pakistani and India being the perennial enemy to strategic depth and national security mumbo jumbo, the Pakistani Truth didn’t spare anything from religion to anthropology. It negated common sense, denied indigenous nations and cultures, fostered hate and intolerance, and celebrated ignorance. This Truth gave power to the ruling elite, but failure and embarrassment were always around the corner. For a while it was effective but never stable, it had to change.
The Truth is evolving – becoming less subservient and more defiant. We have reached a stage where the official and actual count of the innocuous ballots and the final position of the toothless political fan clubs do not matter. If anything, the February election was a testimony to the evolving Truth. A particular party or a person appears to be the pilot but in fact, this Truth is bigger than all the actors involved. It is resistance in itself, unwilling to accept the age-old tactics of coercion and manipulation, but with its characteristic confusion and short-sightedness.
To the evolving Truth, the response of the powerful has been as expected – philistine and despotic. Use the police and barge into homes. Use the courts and come up with clumsy verdicts. The commercial self-proclaimed around-the-clock analysts would bicker at length over their version of truth (lowercase t) but they and their truth are not required, just an exercise in futility. Here’s the deal, the mutual knowledge just cannot be denied.
None of those contesting the election, directly or indirectly, can solve Pakistan’s problems – this is mutual knowledge. There was not a manifesto and not even an expectation of one. Even the ballot was cast for a defeat, with little to no hope but with burning frustration. The Truth, nevertheless, found its way. Large parts of Pakistan are de facto no-go areas; borders are blazing and the economy is dead; courts are inept and the State powers unbridled; people are utterly despondent – this is mutual knowledge, this is Truth. No amount of manipulation and propped-up narratives can negate it.
This emerging Truth will continue to manifest itself in the socio-political sphere with Generation Z and Alpha as its frontline soldiers. The rotten and timid Truth of the Old Guard is no longer adequate. This does not mean that the new Truth will be better than the old one, to make it better will need perseverance, grit, and acumen. The economy must be liberal, and the menace of State control must be resisted; the intermixing of statecraft and religion must stop; draconian laws and powers must be abolished; the country must be returned to its people. An uncluttered, egalitarian, and rational Truth is needed. Nothing else will be stable, nothing else will work.
Pakistan’s Chronic Chaos - Invisiblites
[Shiraz Gulraiz is the Founding Editor of Invisiblites. He holds a Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin.]