Crossroads of Change
Today we may live many lives rolled into one - we may hold
multiple jobs, may have changed professions along the way. Half of a family may
live in a village and the other half in a city, or families are spread between countries
and continents. The world itself has undergone changes and transformations over
centuries. Some theorise that civilisations have a 500-year span.
In his Muqaddimah (1377), Ibn Khaldun developed a cyclical
theory of the rise and fall of civilisations. Sovereign powers come into
existence, gain strength and then lose their power, to be replaced by another
sovereign power. Developing a civilization depends on two concepts: Umran
(agreeing to cooperate to make a prosperous society} and Asabiyya (
bonding of people with dignity and pride). When these qualities become weak in
a society, leaders become tyrannical to maintain power and turn on their own
people, leading to decline and dissolution.
One can propose that our current social construct began in
the 15th century with what has come to be known as the Age of
Discoveries. Europe was seen as a
backward region with savage and wild people. 400 years of contact with the Arab
world during the crusades and after, changed everything. They heard of faraway lands,
were introduced to the philosophy and sciences of the Greeks, the Romans, the
Chinese and the Indians and of course the Muslims, and a wealthy and elegant
material culture and thriving trade.
By the 15th Century, Portuguese and Spanish
adventurers were setting off in ship after ship armed with maps and compasses
to navigate the world. It was in the course of trying to find an alternate
trade route to India and the East that led Columbus to head west arriving at
the edges of the Americas. Transatlantic trade was born that eventually gave
prominence and prosperity to Western Europe.
If at first, motivated by the spirit of adventure and trade,
it soon became about power and subjugation to ensure a steady supply of mineral
resources, exotic agricultural produce, and enslaved or low waged labour. The
world has been compelled to follow Western economic philosophy, political
systems, science and technology and cultural values to enable the perpetuation
of this exploitation, creating an unwieldy behemoth of global capitalism
whereby a few countries become rich at the cost of the many. This is the world
we still inhabit, but with increasing discomfort – a discomfort articulated by
the exploited nations as platforms of communication become universal.
Some are more defiant like many African nations, that are
rejecting the continued exploitation of their mineral resources by their past
colonisers, and like many other nations are calling out western nations for their
‘regime change’ policies and assassinations of those who do not acquiesce, and the
cycle of aid and debt that keeps them poor, and unable to progress. Others remain
shackled to maintaining ties with the powerful countries, while their
population wants greater autonomy.
Snakes shed their skin to make way for new growth. The snake
struggles to release itself from its old skin which has become rigid and
constricting. This renewal has become
symbolic of transformation and rebirth. The world today appears to also be
struggling to shed the old ways and make way for a new way of being. Change is
not the turning of a page, but a complex process whose signs can already be
seen.
The 21st century seems to be ushering in an era
of disclosures: Wikileaks, the disclosure of offshore accounts, the unveiling
of the blatant support to Israel by its allies as genocide is unleashed in Palestine,
revelations about powerbrokers like BlackRock and many other backstories
including the conspiracies to manipulate politics in Pakistan. All this has
been enabled by breaking through the controlled access to information and
communication with the power of social media.
The swell of an impending sea change is felt by many as
ideas, once new and energetic have become tired and self-destructive. Are we at
a crossroads of radical change or are we so indoctrinated that we are unable to
develop our own umran and asabiyya, left to merely fill old wine
in new bottles?
Durriya Kazi
March 25, 2024
Karachi
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