A battle of ideas

Hate speech and mob justice has become so common in Pakistan that we often question ourselves in bewilderment about what went wrong with us.

One answer that usually comes across is the absence of an intellectual debate in society, the sheer lack of exposure among young people to narratives that are based on reasoning, and the introduction to big ideas that are beyond our day-to-day concerns. Years ago, scholar Sibte Hassan wrote in his book about Pakistan’s battle with ideas. Those alignments are still the same; it is the resourcefulness and the accessibility of the people of the religious right-wing across the country, that keeps dragging us back to divisiveness and the dark ages.

Amid this doom and gloom, the idea of holding literary festivals has given birth to dialogue and discourse in many cities of the country. Hyderabad, Sindh’s second-largest city with a population of over two million and four major universities, has been lucky to have consecutive literary festivals. Last month, a week-long literary gathering, ‘Ayaz Melo’, was held in the city by a writer’s café called Khanabadosh. The event celebrated and analysed the life, poetry, prose and the political era of the greatest 20th century Sindhi poet, Shaikh Ayaz. And this month, the three-day Hyderabad Literature Festival (HLF) was held for the third year in a row.

This year’s HLF was a real literary treat. It was more diverse in terms of the participants who came from across the country as well as the sessions that were held in both Sindhi and Urdu. The themes of the discussions included critiques on mystic thoughts and their origins and varying influences; the roots of the Sufi movement in the Subcontinent and how it travelled from other parts of the world – mainly the Middle East and Central Asia – to our region; and some myths associated with it.

Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy’s well-attended session on how new galaxies are being formed and that it is likely that humans would go and live on Jupiter, the next close planet, was fascinating for many young people. Many asked questions about the future of Earth, climate change and the politically motivated disbelief in it. A number of television anchors and analysts spoke during various sessions and addressed pertinent questions. The youth had a chance to interact with them and learnt a great deal of new ideas.

Our small cities have been abandoned as most of the educated people have moved to big cities for better career options and quality education for their children. The big cities are eating away the quality human resource, including writers and intellectuals, of small cities. This brain drain is unlikely to stop. So literature festivals bring all those writers back to towns like Hyderabad.

A much-needed change that these festivals have brought along with them is the culture of debate, discussion and conversations about books. This has promoted reading habits in society and taught us to treasure written words. It is this fundamental change of values that we need in our society. Power is not everything. Success is not about becoming powerful or rich enough to have the maximum ability to consume. Instead, it is valuing books and literature that challenge power that makes us better human beings and helps build a society that values ideas and people who produce such powerful narratives of justice and equality.

Without developing and strengthening the culture of debate and promoting reading habits, we will not be able to establish an educated and stable society. A ordinary person experiences the highhandedness and utility of power every day instead of gaining access to various ideas about being on the right path, upholding the truth and building a society that cares for fellow human beings.

Our economic structures are extractive and exploitative in nature and only build an innate urge for competitiveness. Aren’t people tired of this endless race? We are increasingly becoming a society that worships power and material wealth. This can only be corrected through the right kind of education that goes beyond textbooks or curriculum and can be found in the works of rebellious poets, short story writers and researchers.

Another feature of the literature festival was a separate stage for the youth where they could hold sessions on themes of their interest – they were the speakers as well as the managers. It was heartening to see several young speakers pitching in their ideas and defending their positions. These are the people that society needs to invest in and give a space to. Once they enjoy the freedom to speak and question and the responsibility to be answerable, they will be able to question and build a tolerant society in the long run.

Some activists from Thar tried to disrupt a session on the socioeconomic impact of the Thar coal project. They protested and boycotted one session claiming the organisers were not giving them the space to represent their point of view. This was a bit puzzling since the panel on the subject comprised learned experts, including prominent economist Dr Qaiser Bengali, writer and researcher Naseer Memon and activist Ali Mardaan Rahojo, who also represents a civil society group named ‘Sindh Vision’. The speakers highlighted measures that could protect the interests of the local communities, including Thar’s religious groups. Some of the protesters raised absurd questions regarding the relevance of the Thar coal project to a literary festival. How could they forget that literature is about humans, society, development and the challenges of under-development. It was disturbing to see a mob approach to register a protest.

It is because of this very attitude that we need more literary festivals to promote a culture of disagreements . We need to debate with tolerance and not misdirect our energies towards the efforts that aim to empower and enlighten us. With these kinds of tensions prevailing in society, and some people’s obsession with monopoly over truth, it seems that we still have a long way to go.

Email: mush.rajpar@gmail.com

Twitter: @MushRajpar