As the world moves into the egalitarianism of the 21st century, the atmosphere in our country remains bleak and uncertain. The continuous chain of sexual violence occurring since last year; starting from Lahore Motorway incident to the recent sexual assault of an innocent girl at Minar-e-Pakistan, is just a glimpse of the social and ethical deterioration of the nation. The desecration of Ranjit Singh’s statue in Lahore was another such event emboldening the raging extremist ideology. The regular occurrence of such acts clearly points towards the impending doom of anarchy upon this nation.
By analyzing the socio-political history of Pakistan one arrives at the following underlying cause of this fundamentalist anarchy: the lack of active participation by the middle class in state affairs. The Middle class is defined as an aggregate of social groups holding an intermediate position between the ruled and the rulers. It has a beneficial stabilizing influence on the society and holds the keys of social progress. This class is endowed with excellent social cognizance and prestige while performing the struggle towards social and economic progress in the country. According to social science, the hallmark of this class is its high educational attainment. It bears neither the explosive fundamentalist tendencies of the lower class, nor the absolutist tendencies of upper class.
There was a time when the political processions, conventions and rallies comprised intellectuals and the learned middle class; but today you see illiterate lower class masses waving party flags and chanting irrational slogans. After the 1970s the middle class has completely detached itself from politics, religion and social philosophy. One finds its members turning a blind eye towards the state’s affairs.
In the past whenever a social, political, religious disparity occurred, ot there was some untoward event, the middle class (educationalists, professors, journalists, lawyers, doctors, members of NGOs and even religious clerics acquainted with modern philosophy) were the first to react, and compelled the authorities to take action and thus maintained an essential check on state affairs. But now except journalists all other sections of the middle class shy away from voicing their opinion on current injustices and incidents. Thus a vacuum has been created.
The upper-middle class and middle-middle class is to be charged with the crime of leaving the state orphaned into the hands of fundamentalists and illiterates. The part of Pakistani society which used to be hand in glove with politics, religion and social philosophy went far away restricting themselves only to nine-to-five office jobs and dining with their families at fine restaurants in the evening.
And who filled the vacuum? Of course the illiterate lower class and fundamentalists. You hear matric fail people spending hours on debates and futile discussions on state affairs. You see ignorant masses passing statements about other religious sects, having not read even a single book. You hear unschooled individuals ranting for hours about a particular political party, after having read only newspapers in the last decade.
“The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty of the bad people but the silence over that by the good people”, said civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr
And what has the electronic and social media done? It strengthened the illiterate lower class even further. It has provided them a platform to share their uncultured, unqualified designs to millions across the country. People who don’t even know how to read and write are sharing videos, applauding one ideology and negating the other. You see, the comments on Facebook are nothing but a heap of uncultured ideas and slur words. Hearing one religious fact somewhere and then using it in every situation and comment without knowing its origin and context.
You are scrolling through the Instagram search and Facebook watch, what does Facebook show you in recommendation: humorous videos that are more into vulgarity than humor. Every obscene video slides into our Facebook recommendations. How? This algorithm is a feast for the illiterate lower class, they just need to keep scrolling and the content keeps coming and doubling the vulgarity.
It is worthwhile to mention that in the early years the middle class carried on its shoulders the burden of changing the nation. Professors at Universities after work hours, had discussion groups with faculty and students, sharing opinions and having thoughtful discussions on state affairs. During that era one would get to read the insightful debates of writers and their enlightened readers in the “Letters to the editor ” sections of newspapers. It was a period when the educated wanted their opinion to be heard and propagated.
Another trait of the middle class used to be its capacity to keep itself pure through rigorous consideration of newcomers. A considerable heed was paid to the youth and those recently moved into the middle class. It was like the passing on of an Olympic flame, the flame of enlightenment in each generation. But today, the outburst of rote learning institutes in every rural and suburban tehsil, have devastated the learned middle class through its unchecked production of uncivilized and uncultured students.
The self-imposed exclusion of the middle class did not happen overnight, rather in a systemic way it was bolstered by the country’s establishment and the elite ruling class, in order to eradicate the very political essence of the middle class. This exclusion campaign started with banning of political activities at educational institutions, and went as far as disallowing political and philosophical conversations in public spaces. DrTaimoor Rehman describes this intellectual cleansing as signs placed in cafes and restaurants, “Yahan Siyasi Guftagu karna mana hai” (Political discussions aren’t allowed here).
In the past, the frequent intellectual standoffs between the right and left ideology kept the beauty of democracy and enlightenment. Nonetheless, the rise of government- backed fundamentalism in the 1980s proved to be the final blow to the middle class’s involvement in state affairs. Despite the grave situation, in the last decade notable middle class individuals like Anwar Maqsood, Pervez Hoodboy, Dr Taimoor Rehman and the late Asma Jahangir tried to kindle and breathe soul into the dormant middle class, but to no avail.
It won’t be wrong to conclude that the upper-middle class and middle-middle class is to be charged with the crime of leaving the state orphaned into the hands of fundamentalists and illiterates. The part of Pakistani society which used to be hand in glove with politics, religion and social philosophy went far away restricting themselves only to nine-to-five office jobs and dining with their families at fine restaurants in the evening.
This grim situation reminds one of Dante, the great Italian poet & philosopher, when he said:
“The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those, who remain neutral in the times of great moral conflict”.
