Near death experiences compel us to re-evaluate our priorities in life. The global economic recession was one such scenario where economists were forced to re-visit the fundamentals of economics. The global economy has been a victim of hit and run, where the crisis has not only blatantly exposed flaws in economic fundamentals, but has also revealed the inherent weakness of the human mind to treat economic paradigms as universal truths. Economic paradigms are formulated with the knowledge of the known, not the unknown.
Global economies have forged this destructive path to oblivion themselves, and the trust of people has been severely compromised. With socio-economic disparities on the rise, and protests being waged in almost a 1,000 cities, the world can no longer afford to ignore calls for a new just social order. The dominant paradigms of mainstream economics have now been challenged as the world is now being slapped across the face with its own arrogance. The debt crisis is threatening the existence of the EU, raising questions on America’s ability to maintain its hegemony in this increasingly complex, globalised society and marginalising the needs of humanity at large.
Economists now find themselves on very shaky grounds that are shaking the very foundations of a social order that was deemed infallible. The future of capitalism is being challenged as the financial tsunami that has hit the western world is now on the brink of washing it away. In these modern times, where socio-economic inequality and rising unemployment are forcing people out of their homes, the threat of an Arab Spring to sweep through Europe and parts of America seems to be a glaring reality. This, then, compels one to re-visit the free market fundamentalism based system in order to transform it into a more human centric one, where the focus is on re-distributing income and wealth to evolve a more egalitarian society based on the principles of equity.
In this context, let us evaluate the curious case of Pakistan. It is often argued, that Pakistan is resistant to change. We are comfortable to sit in our cosy cocoons allowing our mind to dwell in pleasantries of the past. 30th October, a Sunday, was a good day to do just that. So what are the odds of finding more than a 100,000 people in Manto park attending a political rally which promises to change the status quo. Only last week, I said that we are a dead nation. We died when we failed to raise our voice against the social inequality that compelled a Pakistani to burn himself alive outside the parliament. However, Imran Khan’s political campaign at Minar e Pakistan has forced me to revisit my pessimism. The clamour for a just, egalitarian society has now hit a new crescendo. I do not have any political affiliations and have my reservations about Imran Khan. However, Sunday’s political rally by the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf was without a doubt a glaring statement by tens of thousands of people. That gathering was not about PTI, it was not even about Imran Khan or his speech, but a statement of the people – they are no longer victims of their fate. They have decided to become agents of change.
And so, on Sunday everything else paled in comparison as I analysed the global economic scenario in a local context. The proletariat defied the gods, they defied the powers to be, and defied reason and logic. They want equality, they want justice and they want an equitable social order like the proletariat across the globe. This reality forces us to wonder if these winds of change will mark the end of traditional capitalism. Just like the fall of the Berlin Wall in that fateful November of ‘89, are we moving towards the demise of capitalism? So, for all Imran haters, and all Imran supporters, Mr Khan is simply a cog in this machine and this time unlike common perception, the people are the agents of change. A reconciliation of humanity centric approach in a free market system is required. Can Khan do it? I don’t know. But he certainly has stirred the common sentiment that promises to take charge to redefine the fundamentals of an unjust and morally depraved society.
The writer is News Editor, Pakistan Today