Do you feel annoyed with this poster children, men, women trend? Creating cults around personalities? I think its a manifestation of consumerist culture, where everything is to be commodified to sell.
Someone at work asked me if Malala made her speech in English. I said yes... and they said, "Phir to pakki agent hai (It means she's definitely a foreign agent)." Followed by, "Khud salay kitnay maartay hein, isko kyon charha rahai hein? (The assholes murder so many every day, why are they turning her into a star)"
*Sigh*
Why are things so complicated? I don't see right in most of the things, and the whole idea of being 'used' is fucked. But does Malala send drones? Does she kill or threaten innocent children or adults? Is she blowing up girls or boys schools? The answer to all of these questions is... NO, she did not do any of those, the Taliban did. Was she attacked? Yes. Would she have survived if not taken outside Pakistan? No, at least probably not.
You can have a problem with the politics of the situation. The involvement of Pakistan Army, that is responsible for a lot of problems we currently face due to their farce of 'strategic depth'. But saying that a minor, aged 16 is part of some huge global conspiracy, plot and is an agent is doing it a bit too brown sire.
On the other hand, the basic premise that these Brits or Americans or NATO give two hoots about all this except creating more drama in our lives is what gets to me too. We already have enough shit to deal with. I dislike, actually hate the postcolonial sense of selective tribal morality. None of which is a comment on the kid herself. But people who use her, who have dismissed deaths of non-whites, those who actually fostered extremism for their bloody imperialist agendas. And idiots who bought, buy and will continue to buy these bullshit cries of Western humanitarianism conducted in the name of a Mafioso like agency, United Nations.
Which is perhaps what makes me crazy. I cannot find it in me to be loyal to a lesser evil. And neither can I find it in me to not condemn people who condone this loyalty to the lesser evil. If you want to support lesser evils, better to cherry pick the 'goods' from 'everyone'. Difficult, but less twisted morally. And 'non-tribal' as well.
Someone at work asked me if Malala made her speech in English. I said yes... and they said, "Phir to pakki agent hai (It means she's definitely a foreign agent)." Followed by, "Khud salay kitnay maartay hein, isko kyon charha rahai hein? (The assholes murder so many every day, why are they turning her into a star)"
*Sigh*
Why are things so complicated? I don't see right in most of the things, and the whole idea of being 'used' is fucked. But does Malala send drones? Does she kill or threaten innocent children or adults? Is she blowing up girls or boys schools? The answer to all of these questions is... NO, she did not do any of those, the Taliban did. Was she attacked? Yes. Would she have survived if not taken outside Pakistan? No, at least probably not.
You can have a problem with the politics of the situation. The involvement of Pakistan Army, that is responsible for a lot of problems we currently face due to their farce of 'strategic depth'. But saying that a minor, aged 16 is part of some huge global conspiracy, plot and is an agent is doing it a bit too brown sire.
On the other hand, the basic premise that these Brits or Americans or NATO give two hoots about all this except creating more drama in our lives is what gets to me too. We already have enough shit to deal with. I dislike, actually hate the postcolonial sense of selective tribal morality. None of which is a comment on the kid herself. But people who use her, who have dismissed deaths of non-whites, those who actually fostered extremism for their bloody imperialist agendas. And idiots who bought, buy and will continue to buy these bullshit cries of Western humanitarianism conducted in the name of a Mafioso like agency, United Nations.
Which is perhaps what makes me crazy. I cannot find it in me to be loyal to a lesser evil. And neither can I find it in me to not condemn people who condone this loyalty to the lesser evil. If you want to support lesser evils, better to cherry pick the 'goods' from 'everyone'. Difficult, but less twisted morally. And 'non-tribal' as well.
The same happened during Mukhtaran Mai's case. In the absence of important statistics, and the biggest human rights organisational scam in Pakistan, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), there is no authentic data to give us an idea of what actually happens on the ground. HRCP makes stats using news clippings, and being associated with the media, I know how much of the news is censored and/or unreported/under-reported even. In reality, we do not know what creating poster personalities actually does on the ground. Except that some rich 'aunty' in some DHA is able to generate a lot of funds for her NGO. Oh, and one must remember, there are above 30,000 registered NGOs in Sindh. Remember terms like 'agenda', 'aid', 'donors'. It is all linked, and agendas keep changing, depending what the political requirements are of those who change the geography of the world every few decades.
Grassroots are not empowered, and it is systemic, since we have a hierarchical system, where empowerment for any segment of the society means less power for the privileged.
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