Standing up for Others
Everyone needs someone to rely on and feel safe, whether it's family,
friends or state institutions. The structure of society is intended to make an
individual feel part of a community. However, these very structures are also
known to collapse as society develops polarised interests, or faces war,
disasters or economic crises. It then falls upon individuals or social groups
to ensure protection of the vulnerable and the voiceless.
Pakistan, and especially Karachi, has
a very large number of charitable institutions, generous families and
individuals, who effectively create an informal welfare state, stepping up
where the state fails, by offering free hospitals, free meals, educational
scholarships and micro loans.
There are also those incidental
moments where intervention is needed. Most people will have protected an animal
from cruelty, a child from being beaten, or even tried to resolve a road rage
brawl. It's more complex when large numbers of either oppressors or the
oppressed are involved.
Malik Adnan became a national hero
when he single-handedly tried to prevent a mob from attacking the Sri Lankan
factory manager Priyantha Kumara in Sialkot. But no one stood up to protect a
female Tik Toker from being groped by a crowd of men at Minar-i-Pakistan in
Lahore during August 14th celebrations a few years ago. More recently, a mosque in Jaranwala, Punjab,
opened its doors to the Christian community to offer prayers after their homes
and churches were burnt down by enraged mobs.
What makes some stand up for others,
while others are reluctant to intervene even when they can? Psychologists speak
of the ‘bystander effect’ where people assume someone else will act. ‘Social
loafing’ describes the attempt to hide in a crowd to avoid taking action.
In 1967, psychologists Martin
Seligman and Steven Maier described their theory of “learned helplessness”,
whereby people feel they have little control over the outcome. This is often learned from childhood, when
caregivers do not respond to the child’s needs on a regular basis, causing a
sense of helplessness to continue into adulthood.
Seligman
also coined the term “learned optimism”, which is used to challenge learned
helplessness, and turn a bystander into an “upstander”. In schools, 50 percent
of bullying stops when someone intervenes.
People can prepare by rehearsing possible scenarios they may encounter in
the future. This includes having a moral compass, training oneself to have
presence of mind, and being able to analyse the situation to determine what
action is possible. Studies show that people who act are not different from
those who do not, suggesting that almost everyone is capable of selfless
intervention.
Cinema has become an important medium
to teach empathy, to understand disadvantaged people, to appreciate the
struggles people face in life, or to learn successful ways to support, defend
or champion others.
With the rise of social media, online
petitions encourage more people to raise their voice. The first known petition
was written by workers building pyramids in Ancient Egypt, asking for better
working conditions. Petitions are submitted to governments all over the world.
Pakistan, too, has a petition law that obliges the Senate to respond. The
petitions website Change.org says that, globally, one of its petitions succeeds
every hour. Even when petitions do not succeed, they play a part in raising
awareness.
The South African bishop Desmond Tutu
once said, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the
side of the oppressor.” Inaction sees a
gradual escalation, as we learn at first to stay quiet over small injustices
and, then, over greater ones. As has been said, “Sometimes silence is
violence.”
While many voices are raised today
for political issues, Naeem Sadiq speaks for the dignity of sanitary workers,
Mahera Omar speaks for the zoo elephant Madhubala, and Dr Amjad Saqib provides
microfinancing for those who want to improve their lives.
“Injustice
anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” said Martin Luther King Jr and, as
the Quran says, “Whoever saves a life, it is as though he had saved the lives
of all mankind.”
Durriya Kazi
Karachi
September
10, 2023
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