Taking back space

AN anti-MAGA America First family. That’s how an American friend recently described his family’s politics: vehemently anti-Trump and opposed to his ‘Make America Great Again’ exclusionist rhetoric, but still pro-US and committed to defending its leading place in the world. This friend’s family represents a growing trend among the Western world — the uptick in nationalism among left-leaning liberals ready to reclaim their governments and countries from the far-right political movements that continue to threaten Western democracy.
Recent electoral results in countries such as the UK, France, Poland and Spain reflect this trend at the macro level. But it’s apparent in the details too. For example, the New Yorker recently published gushing coverage of the Sammies, an annual awards ceremony organised by the Partnership for Public Service, to recognise exceptional federal government employees. Taking a cue from the ceremony, the article lavished praise on US government workers, celebrated their ordinary heroism, and highlighted the many visible and invisible ways in which they contribute to American society. The un-ironic tone of the article was notable, a sign that American nationalism is becoming palatable beyond the confines of Trump rallies and white supremacist gatherings.
Pakistan is not immune to this global trend. We have seen our own amazing efforts to reclaim space from far-right — religious-nationalist or violent extremist — movements. The most recent was the civil society gathering in Umerkot to protest against extremism and police complicity in the murder of a doctor accused of blasphemy.
All Pakistan’s recent grassroots movements have been engaged in acts of reclamation. The PTM pushed back against the conflation of the Pakhtun identity with the threat from extremist and militant groups such as the TTP. It demanded that young Pakhtuns be granted their basic rights in a democratic system — freedom of movement, due process, dignity, safety.
The BYC is similarly reclaiming space from the militant violence of groups such as the BLA, and demanding fair treatment for the Baloch, including justice for the innumerable extrajudicial killings and an end to future disappearances and torture. They are also demanding that development be inclusive, and that the state deploy a less extractive mentality to CPEC and natural resources in the province, with more local involvement and wider sharing of economic benefits.
Here the trend of reclaiming space diverges in Pakistan as compared to the West where reclamation is a process of reclaiming the democratic process, government workings, the flag, the state — nothing less than national identity. In Pakistan, however, the effort to reclaim democratic norms is posited as anti-state — the best summary of Pakistan’s predicament.
This is no fault of the grassroots movements themselves; elites that dominate our state and its institutions have framed these movements as threats to elite privileges rather than celebrate them as a chance to reclaim Pakistan from the violence rooted in sectarian or ethnic divisiveness.
How does a country recover from this? The state should change its narrative, support these groups and engage with their demands. But social and political structures in Pakistan are too compromised: in Umerkot, the law enforcers were the lawbreakers, and public trust in the state is so weak that if the PTM or BYC worked alongside the government or military the movements would be derailed with concerns about infiltration and co-option.
The media could help shift the narrative by highlighting the positive aspects of state functioning, to remind us that reclamation is still possible. But again, the media has been so long censored and co-opted, that if a journalist praised a civil servant or public office, cries of ‘lifafa’ would resound.
So what’s the answer? In the short term, collective action at the grassroots level may be the only way forward — small gatherings of locals, including representation from local groups (social movements, religious groups, marginalised communities, etc), district- or provincial-level state and judicial representatives, and the media, to identify common goals, rebuild trust, consider resource-sharing agreements, and agree on ‘red lines’ — for example, around what religious rhetoric is permitted in mosques.
But in the long term, Pakistan will have to accept that the national fabric is in tatters, and the only way to sew the pieces back together will be through a formal, sustained truth and reconciliation process. Sadly, there is a long wait for a leadership with the courage to initiate such a process — unless we decide to give more political space to the organic grassroots movements that are seeking to reclaim a Pakistan we can all believe in.
The writer is a political and integrity risk analyst.
X*: @humayusuf*
Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2024