Pakistan: Souls devoured without measure

Yet another excruciating wound inflicted. Insult heaped upon the injuries of the brutalised masses. It is the further exacerbation of the misery of the impoverished souls of this tragic land. The people already suffering from the ethos of this bestial capitalism in terminal decay are groaning with the pain of these policies of ‘reforms’.

The blatant price hike of petroleum products along with the agonising dearness of every basic need on February 1st is perhaps a Valentine’s gift, emanating ‘love’ from the rulers for their subjects. The indifference and callousness of the elite towards society is insidiously contemptuous.

And still the incumbent “leaders” of the party of the people have the cheek to defend this cruelty. The hypocritical criticism of the right-wing opposition parties and the allies in the coalition is nauseating. Apart from cheap political point scoring, they have no real trepidation for the oppressed that have to face the brunt of this economic terrorism. They do not have a clue about any policy or an economic system that can retrieve society from such grievous lesions that it has to suffer in the continuation of this merciless system.

Marx once remarked: “Capitalism comes on the stage of history dripping blood from every pore.” With the passage of time Pakistani capitalism has rotted into such harrowing conditions that human life has become, in Lenin’s words, “a horror without an end”.

The main justification of the political oligarchy comprising the present regime and its so-called opposition is the crisis of the world economy and the spiralling prices of oil in the international market. Hence they are absolved. What an easy escape! How convenient! Treachery and deceit can often take vulgar manifestations. Yes, capitalism on a world scale is going through its worst crisis in recent history. But it was not the making of the workers and the youth of the exploited classes. It was the product of the insatiable lust of profits of the rich.

Capitalism’s essence is to constantly raise the rate of profit. The tendency of the fall in the rate of profit triggers crises not just in the economy but has ramifications in politics, diplomacy and in the shape of wars, insurgencies and bloody social and national conflicts. But in this severest of crises the capitalists make even more profits. In this prevalent crisis when millions, if not billions, have been plunged into the abyss of absolute poverty, the profits of the 500 largest corporations soared by 81 percent in the fiscal year 2010-11. Just the US magnates made profits of $ 10.8 trillion that equals 74 percent of the GDP of the world’s largest economy. But it is the oil conglomerates that are the main beneficiaries when the oil prices shoot up, not only through speculation but by orchestrating wars, potential conflicts and tensions between states. The Anglo-Dutch energy giant, Shell, declared its profits in 2011 were $ 30.9 billion, up from $20.47 billion in 2010, an increase of 54 percent. The same is the case with other monopolies.

Funds are allocated to buy off politicians, bureaucrats and the media. These mercenaries lobby to incite belligerency and conflicts. The same is the modus operandi of the bosses of the military-industrial complex. Exorbitant profits are extracted through armed conflicts and economic exploitation, the inevitable consequence of which is the devastation of the human race. A similar network of crooks and profiteers operates on a more illicit basis in Pakistan, from agriculture to the energy sector.

If a society cannot be protected from the avalanche of world oil price hikes then what is the relevance of the national state or the flaunted sovereignty of the ‘nation’? If the rulers are incapable of curbing inflation and relieving the pain of the people, then what are they in power for? If they blame the economic system, then they should break with the system and fight to overthrow it. After all, that is the real ‘politics of the people’. But that they will never do, come what may. The fortunes of the political and the military elite are the products of this system of plunder and oppression.

What is the meaning of democracy? Is this rule of the people to devour the very people it is supposed to represent? This monstrosity of the unravelling spiral of deprivation and misery, worsening by the hour with these price hikes, is not the destiny of the working people. The ruling classes and their ‘concubines’ in the media call this system ‘democracy’.

Hundreds of children die every day due to hunger, thousands perish in poverty. Millions more are grappling in atrocious conditions to sustain their existence. But the harsh reality is that things are not going to improve for the vast majority of the masses in this system. The situation will only continue to deteriorate.

The only option for the present and the next rulers in this system is to be more and more indifferent, fabricating non-issues to distract the people in controversies and conflicts of the various sections of the ruling classes and the institutions of their state. Once the masses rise, they will join up in no time. But with water, energy, health, education, sanitation and other basic needs of life diminishing rapidly and becoming out of reach with runaway inflation, it becomes more and more difficult to even maintain the subhuman existence of the masses. It is already starting to become a question of survival.

The bizarre slogan of “democracy is the best revenge” has produced a regime that has only struck at the toiling masses with a vengeance. The masses are becoming aware that this moneyed democracy has only taken its revenge from them. They were deluded by their leaders that their dream of prosperity would come true with ‘democracy’. The leaders plundered billions; the people are left to rot. Their endurance has been stretched to the extreme. They have endured, fought and defeated military dictatorships only to find that the civilian replacements further desecrated their conditions of life. This vicious cycle of different forms of bourgeois rule cannot go on forever. The judicial delusions, the scare-mongering of dictatorship, the facade of democracy, the conjurations of the mullahs, the leeching aid of imperialism and the sanctity of the state are being rapidly exposed as instruments of their subjugation, misery and exploitation.

The lagging mass consciousness is fast catching up with the economic and social realities. This is very dangerous for the ruling classes. Sooner rather than later the masses will reach the conclusion that for their emancipation they have to break with the system. An upheaval on a class basis will transform the whole situation and challenge the system. Revolution will be on the streets.

The writer is the editor of Asian Marxist Review and International Secretary of Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign. He can be reached at ptudc@hotmail.com

[This article was originally published in the Pakistani Daily Times]