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Let’s stop dodging reality by Abid Ullah Jan General Musharraf is right in his criticism of the political leaders. So are the political leaders in their condemnation of the General for bulldozing almost everything that hinder his dreams to rule ad infinitum. Both the General and politicians are correct in denouncing religious parties for not showing any ability to govern the country under an agreed model of Islamic state. The helpless public is right in its understanding of the fact that democracy and dictatorship are irrelevant to the US, its Allies and leading capitalist institutions as long as their interests are served. Who then is wrong and where is the problem? How can we make our debate more meaningful, when we know our discussions on referendum or elections are useless because we have to put up with what the General dreams? Since we are perplexed in the present, let’s try to answer the questions beginning at the end. What would we be left with after the General when the systems erected out of expediency would be hurled down out of expediency? We can hardly deny that at the end of his 8-10 year rule — provided he doesn’t resort to one-candidate shame elections, like Hosnie Mubarak — we would face a far greater mess than we faced in August 1988 after the plane crash in Bahawalpur. We have come to the hard part of our saga. So far, hopes were attached to repeated elections and military takeovers, which allowed the public to dodge serious questions of hierarchy and class and race, the inequalities of poverty and plenty, the privileges embedded in the political and bureaucratic order, and above all sustainability of a good governing system. But we can no more hope that another plane crash or a new martial law will make the things any better than before. This may be the moment of testing that history was preparing for us all along. Fifty-five years is a lifetime. If both democracy and dictatorship have failed to give us a viable governing system, what then is the right system? Due to our bitter experience some of us prefer dictatorship and a majority still seem to trust democracy more than Plato did. For Plato, democracy — both in states and in individuals — is something that descends directly into tyranny. A tyrant will stop at nothing to satisfy his passions. There is no bond he will not betray, no custom he will not violate (The Republic, 565e). Imagine the extent of tyranny when a dictator becomes a democrat and democracy becomes a tool to perpetuate dictatorship. The value of democracy in the eyes of its champions is before our eyes. Two years ago, the General had to suffer the humiliation of Bill Clinton wagging his finger at him — a public dressing down of a Third World dictator, unusual even for an American president. Just seven months ago, he was a pariah military dictator who had overthrown the elected government. He was unwelcome in most foreign capitals. After one year in power, the Washington Post considered him “Just a Dictator,” hardly “any better at running the country than his elected predecessors” (editorial Oct. 17, 2000). After two years, the damning judgment of The Economist magazine still stood: "A useless dictator." The September 11 so-labeled “terror attacks” — gradually exposing to be the product of US-Israel conspiracy — turned the tables on the Western love for democracy in Pakistan. And less than six months later, the General has became the toast of the West — the most favored dictator. His talk of referendum, his inflated rhetoric of “either you are with the reformer or else”, is the sign of full American support, which will in the long run, do the Pakistanis and Americans little good. Any model developed out of expediency by a regime, believing in might is right, is bound to fail regardless of the time required to put it in place. Instead of dancing to the false tunes, we need to end both the democratic and dictatorial illusions by challenging the status quo, disrupting the existing military and political contours of power and opening the way for renewal. Let us have a look at the third dimension. The last but realistic hope needs to be pinned on exploring our Deen (note its difference from religion), which can play a vital role in developing a viable governing model. Realization of this hope needs ordinary people who find the will to engage themselves with their surrounding reality and to question the conflict between what they are told and what they see and experience. Francis Fukuyama considers liberal democracy “the end of history,” but we need to begin from where they have declared an end to their journey. The current gloom among Pakistanis is not simply a consequence of the special problems confronting Pakistan; it also feeds upon the difficulties and uncertainties afflicting other sham and so-called established democracies in the West on the one hand and double standards of the West in imposing political and military tyrants on weaker states on the other. Moreover, democratic systems seem to have outlived their utility, because even the Western countries are increasingly confronting many similar challenges, ranging from the required submission to the arrogant capitals to the weakness of political parties and corruption. The idea of one-person-one-vote, that brings down a person of Allama Iqbal’s caliber to the level of a common man, has failed less because of its inherit flaws and more because of the unreliable voting process in which, for instance, less than 23 percent Americans elected Bill Clinton to be the most powerful man in the world. In Pakistan, we are in a better position to tell the world of finding no difference between democracy and dictatorship – both have no political equality for all citizens and both lack multiple mechanisms for accountability of rulers to the ruled. Free democratic elections are not a guarantee to a responsive, good government. Democracy and dictatorships would remain indistinguishable as long as feudal elites and military Generals rule behind the facade of democratic elections and opposition forces are persecuted. Elected governments are no guarantee to serving the nation under the principles of an ideal democracy, which is defined with the abundant use of the word people. One of the greatest dangers to democracy's future is the blithe assumption of its champions that it will continue for want of any coherent ideological alternative. The idea of neutralizing Islam is a direct product of the fear of an ideological alternative to the prevailing democratic tradition rising to power. If democracy is widely seen as malfunctioning, decadent, corrupt, inept, abusive, contemptuous of the real concerns of ordinary citizens, and a tool of Western hegemony, very soon would there be an end to the much vaunted democratic revolution. These are the classic conditions for democratic breakdown, and a new wave of Islamic movements must be considered a real possibility in the coming years. The need is to constructively and collectively consult Islam as a Deen regardless of our political, military or any other background. Let us not ask the dim-witted question of “which Islam,” because we never bothered to ask, which democracy – the Egyptian autocratic democracy; the Turkish Garrison democracy; the Algerian blood-sucking democracy; or the American two party dictatorship. Amos Perlmutter, writing in IHT on January 21, 1992, declared, “Islam and democracy simply aren't compatible.” Let us admit it. But instead of throwing Islam out, let us find a solution to our un-ending problems in Islam. Undoubtedly, it is very difficult, but let us debate and chalk out ways to go about it. Let us not crush Islamic movements in the name of militancy and extremism. Lets help them reach a conclusion and consensus on the core issues for governing Muslim countries according to the principles of Islam. Concluded Extracted from FactPress.com Abid Ullah Jan is a columnist for The Statesman, The Nation, and the Pakistan Observer (Pakistan). He is also sub-editor for the Tribune International (Sydney, Australia), and is the Executive Director of the Integrated Regional Support Programme (IRSP). He can be reached at abidjan2@psh.paknet.com.pk
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