Left politics

Source: The News

Friday, January 29, 2010

Harris Khalique

Politics is a dirty business. Electoral politics particularly, in a society like ours which is sharply divided on provincial, tribal, religious and clannish lines. Crudely put, this is for two reasons. One, areas of the Indian subcontinent that became Pakistan share the same legacy with other parts of South Asia which is derived from caste-based Hinduism. Primitive social norms hammered into all of us by tradition and the instinct of association with the same caste, clan or tribe prevail. Two, more than six decades of martial and civilian plutocratic rules in Pakistan have contributed immensely to keep this legacy alive.

Electoral politics largely reflects this system which is a combination of patronage and oppression. However, after struggling with different forms of governance and grappling with the issue of balancing power between different classes and interest groups in a state, humanity per se has reached a consensus of sorts. The consensus is not on any perfect system but a system that is most civil, participatory and workable at this particular stage in our collective history. This system is democracy. It provides us with the agency to begin, expedite and sustain a social change process.
Even for people like us who would want to see a redefinition of the state of Pakistan, legally and constitutionally, and believe that nothing can be improved in the long run unless fundamental structural changes in the economy are introduced, the only viable path left is a democratic struggle. People have to be won over even if we think we have the panacea for all their ills. Self-righteousness of revolutionaries won't provide enough reason for capturing power if the revolutionaries are not popular. How easy it is to spend an evening with like-minded friends, comrades and colleagues who all want to bring change in Pakistan. Or bring educated, enlightened and interesting people from all over the country to a meeting hall and analyse different issues faced by the country and society. Or have a jamboree of left-wing intellectuals and political workers and ponder upon what is happening in Latin America, the crisis of financial markets, slump in world economy and chant slogans from the past and create a common illusion that working and lower-middle classes, smaller nations and nationalities, and disgruntled youth are waiting for us desperately to lead the change process.

But what is difficult is to reach out to people in villages, towns and cities, convince them, involve them, make them in-charge of their own fates, create a popular political force and participate in the electoral process without any substantial financial resources. Last week I remembered the iconic Professor Khwaja Masud. He once said that if a socialist leader is not popular among people, it is not the people's fault but his. This makes our work terribly difficult. In a caste-riddled society where millions are spent on putting up banners, buntings, hoardings and cut-outs by one candidate running for a provincial or national assembly seat, our task becomes monumental. But do we have a choice?

We have to find ways, different strategies and new tactics to reach out to people, have clarity in our thoughts and immense homework on issues that need to be resolved in the spheres of economy, polity and society. Politics of resistance is the first step. The crunch comes when we have to produce an alternative. No one else but a new left is capable of doing that – a left which is both rooted and modern.

The writer is a poet and advises national and international institutions on governance and public policy issues. Email: harris @spopk.org

 

The countdown to the post-Zardari era begins

Source: The Economist

In disrepute

Jan 21st 2010 | LAHORE |

THE Supreme Court of Pakistan has made its intention clear. It wants to turf Asif Zardari from the presidency and compel him to return the wealth that he has allegedly looted and stashed away in Switzerland. In a 287-page judgment released late on January 19th the court explained why it had ruled the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) unconstitutional. The NRO, promulgated by the ousted dictator, Pervez Musharraf, in 2007, cleared Mr Zardari and his wife, the late Benazir Bhutto, of all corruption cases against them. The court’s lengthy arguments pave the way for challenges to Mr Zardari’s right to sit in parliament.

Morality, said the court, cannot be divorced from the constitution. In order to be a member of parliament, a person must be of “good character”. So anyone commonly known to be disreputable can be chucked out even if there is no conviction against him. Mr Zardari ’s reputation, fairly or not, is that of a “Mr 10%”.

For more details: http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displayStory.cfm?story_id=15331107

 

 

Blackwater in Pakistan: Gates Confirms

The Nation Magazine

 

On Thursday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates confirmed that Blackwater is operating in Pakistan. In an interview on Express TV, Gates, who was visiting Islamabad, said, "They [Blackwater and another private security firm, DynCorp] are operating as individual companies here in Pakistan," according to a DoD transcript of the interview. "There are rules concerning the contracting companies. If they're contracting with us or with the State Department here in Pakistan, then there are very clear rules set forth by the State Department and by ourselves."

 

For more details: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100208/scahill

 

New Arrivals

Dear All,

 

This is to inform you that followings books are available our Development Resource Centre (DRC).

 

 

1. Pioneering the Human Development Revolution; an Intellectual Biography of Mahbubul Haq Edited by Khadija Haq and Richard Ponzio with a forword by Amartya Sen Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2008.   2. How to Change the World; Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas by David Bronstein, Oxford University Press & Penguin Books, 2004, 2005.   3. Three Billion New Capitalists; The Great Shift of Wealth and Power to The East by Clyde Prestowitz Basic Books, USA, 2005.   4. Whose Reality Counts ? Putting the First Last by Robert Chambers Intermediate Technology Publications, London, 1997.   5. The End of Poverty: How we can make it Happen in our Lifetime by Jeffrey Sachs Penguin Books, 2005.   6. Globalization and its Discontents by Joseph Stiglitz Allen Lane & Penguin, 2002.   7. Water Wars: Privatization, Pollution and Profit by Vandana Shiva India Research Press, New Delhi, 2002.   8. The Sacred Balance : Rediscovering our Place in Nature by David Suzuki with Amanda McConnell Bantam Books, 1997, 1999.   9. Between Dreams and Realities by Sartaj Aziz Oxford University Press, Pakistan, 2009.

 

Article

FYI,

 

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=220007

 

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\01\21\story_21-1-2010_pg3_3

 

Senate defers bill on women’s rights at workplace

Source: The News

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

 

ISLAMABAD: The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2009, which was moved in the Senate on Tuesday, was deferred as senators from Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islami expressed their reservations, saying it was not sufficient to protect the rights of women at work place.

The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill 2009, which provides for higher punishment for women harassment in the offices, has already been passed unanimously by the National Assembly. Now it requires approval by the Senate before it is sent to the president.

The bill seeks to amend both the Pakistan Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure, "increasing the punishment for the crime to up to three years in prison and a fine of up to Rs 500,000 from up to three years and unspecified fine already provided in the PPC for a vague 'insult (to) the modesty of a woman'.

According to the bill, whosever makes any sound or gesture, utters any word, exhibits any object or demands sexual favour from women at work place would also face the punishment. The bill in the Senate was moved by the Leader of the House Syed Nayyar Hussain Bukhari.

 
The senators belonging to the JI and the JUI-F said that they agreed with the aims and objectives of the bill but had some reservations on the way it would be implemented. Senator Professor Muhammad Ibrahim suggested the bill should not be passed in haste. He said the lacunas in the bill should be removed. "If it is misused, companies will render women jobless and stop further employment of woman workers," he said.

 

Maulana Gul Naseeb of the JUI-F was of the opinion that such an implementation of the bill would promote Western values in an Islamic country like Pakistan. "Instead, we should go for refining the society in accordance with the Islamic values," he said. Giving an example, he said in a European country, a wife could call the police even when her husband was giving her an advice, and he was imprisoned. Maulana Gul Naseeb said the bill should strike a balance.

Trees Dying Twice As Fast As They Did 50 Years Ago

Jan. 14--Climate change is killing our trees. This is an unfortunate irony, because we rely on living trees to remove and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Dead trees do the opposite -- their decomposition releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is the greenhouse gas primarily responsible for global climate change.

 

This tree data comes from a study published recently in the prestigious journal Science. The authors examined records of tree deaths from 76 plots of healthy old-growth temperate forests in the western U.S. and Canada, ranging from British Columbia to Arizona. The scientists reported that trees are falling twice as fast as they were 50 years ago.

 

The study included only trees that died for "no catastrophic" reasons. That is, they were not victims of wildfires or huge outbreaks of pine beetles, but were routine deaths. Overall, more than 58,000 trees were monitored for the study.

 

Little numbers add up to a big number

 

The number of routine deaths were relatively small, said co-author Mark Harmon of Oregon State University in Corvallis, but "a lot of little numbers can add up to a big number."

 

If this trend continues, forests of the future may be composed of younger and thinner trees that store less carbon than the larger trees of today. Such an effect, in addition to increased decomposition, would speed the rate of global warming.

 

Warm temps have changed water dynamics

 

The scientists concluded that the deaths were not due to air pollution such as ozone because many of the trees were in national forests with relatively clean air. The more likely explanation, they wrote, is that the deaths are occurring as a result of climate change. Warming temperatures have changed water dynamics in the West, with more precipitation falling as rain than snow, with earlier snow melts and longer droughts. Trees are getting less water. Also, climate change is giving a boost to tree pathogens that prosper in warmer temperatures.

 

Scientists in tropical forests have not found the same effect. In the tropics, the growth of new trees is keeping pace with the death of old ones.

What can be done?

 

Author Simon Lewis of Leeds University concluded that "systemic long-term monitoring of forests is essential as a warning system to potentially more dramatic changes." Yes, monitoring could be useful.

In addition to that, we can all try to reduce our own carbon production: by eating fewer animal products (see "Livestock and Climate Change" by World watch Institute), by driving less, carpooling, driving fuel-efficient cars, building passive-solar homes, and in general burning fewer fossil fuels. Take the Environmental Footprint quiz and see how to reduce your own carbon footprint. We all have to participate, if we are to reduce global climate change during the short window of opportunity we have over the next few years.

 

For more practical suggestions about how to reduce your carbon footprint, see our book Going Green: A Wise Consumer's Guide to a Shrinking Planet. The book offers strategies regarding diet, housing, transportation, clothing, and other consumer choices that we all make every day. If we all get on board...we can do it. But we have to do it now. The time for waiting for governments to take care of the problem is over. They're paralyzed by the quagmire of politics. Consumers will have to take matters in hand, and soon.

 

Civilian Interlude

Source: The News

Friday, January 15, 2010

Harris Khalique

 

Pakistan oscillates between a military oligarchy and a civilian plutocracy. In the binary world of "either you are with us or you are against us", it is becoming increasingly difficult to hold an objective view and then not get branded either pro-establishment or pro-democracy by the hawks on the one side and apologists on the other. Depends how either party interprets the argument you are propounding and then rejects you for being misdirected, confused, disloyal to the country's interest, or even as pushing a narrow personal agenda. I, however, maintain that two people can't be right at the same time if they are presenting conflicting views but both of them can be wrong at the same time.

 

The mindset of the Pakistani establishment, prevalent in the military and civilian elite and large parts of the middle class alike, finds everything wrong with the incumbent president and wants him removed as soon as possible. Their impatience is evident from the way the media, intelligence agencies and segments within different factions of the PML and other smaller parties are single-mindedly pursuing the agenda of the president's removal from office. Even due credit is not given to the PPP-led coalition government. The NFC Award is a case in point. Although it is not comprehensive in terms of resolving outstanding resource distribution issues among the federating units, some credit must be given to the incumbent government for getting the agreement pulled along. The government has also been successful in creating a near-consensus on the army operation against the anti-state militants in the north-western parts of Pakistan. I am not so sure about the efficacy of the Balochistan package after going through its wishy-washy text but at least an effort is made which must be acknowledged.

 
On the other hand, we have people who have an answer to every question that you raise about the inability of the government to show us the path we need to tread, let alone immediately start being effective in delivering services to the people and ensure their constitutional entitlements. They ask you not to criticise any act of the president or the government because it would be detrimental to the survival of democracy and therefore the survival of the country. You can't talk about rampant corruption because one, terrorism is a bigger issue and two, who else is not corrupt. Undoubtedly, Benazir Bhutto is an undisputed martyr in our political history. But she as well as her opponents ran plutocratic governments in the 1990s. What an irony that those who now shamelessly sing the great socialist poets Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Habib Jalib in public meetings crushed trade unions in their own factories. Unlike different factions of the PML, Benazir's PPP did have a marginal representation of the underclass in its folds. Most voters of the PPP come from different tiers of working people but by design they only get to elect members of the idle rich class. The ANP has only letters in its acronym which may allow it to lay claims on the political past of its predecessor National Awami Party (NAP). The MQM refuses to change its coercive nature and the course of pressurising its constituents, partners and opponents alike even after being in the electoral mainstream for decades.

 

What we now see is a civilian interlude between martial rules. The military must never be allowed to intervene but at the same time, if new representative political forces of people from middle and working classes do not emerge, the idea of a federal democratic Pakistan will remain a distant dream.

The writer is an Islamabad-based poet and rights campaigner. Email: harris@spopk. org

New Arrivals

Dear All,

 

This is to inform you that "Amnesty International Report-Pakistan 1999-2009" and "Pakistan History Timeline 1947-2009" are available Development Resource Centre (DRC).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Arrival

Dear All,

I am Pleasure to inform you that the Title of book “ We are Poor But So Many” Written by “Ella Bhatt”  Published by “Sungi Foundation” the book is about “The Story of Self- Employed Women in India” is available our Development Resource Centre (DRC).

I am also dispatching this book for Regional offices Development Resource Centre (DRC).

 

 

New Arrival

Dear All,

I am Pleasure to inform you that title of book “ We are Poor But So Many” Written by “Ella Bhatt”  Published by “Sungi Foundation” the book is about “The Story of Self- Employed Women in India” is available our Development Resource Centre (DRC).

I am also dispatching this book for Regional offices Development Resource Centre (DRC).