1) Generally, critics like yourself, argue that the onslaught of globalization and modern economic development has a detrimental effect on traditionally localized and sustainable livelihoods. Could you elaborate on that, especially with respect to the Pakistani context?
A) Its true that globalization and state engineered projects have played havoc with traditional livelihoods. You just need to look at what has happened in Pakistan in the past few decades. Take the case of fisheries for instance. State functionaries in their infinite wisdom implement massive projects in the name of economic development without an iota of understanding about ecosystems and the natural world. For example, there is a common perception that tremendous amount of water is wasted when rivers, fulfilling their natural cycle, flow into the sea. So for the sake of optimally utilizing water they construct massive dams and barrages. The effect this has on marine life is simply devastating as barrages and dams block upstream fish from reaching their spawning areas with the result that there is a gradual decline of fish species. Aside from the ecosystem the people who are most affected by this process are the local fishermen whose very livelihoods are then threatened.
Similarly, you can see the same logic being applied in the destruction of mangroves to reclaim land around the Karachi coastline. Not only are the mangroves essential for sustaining fisheries, they also serve as a natural buffer against coastal storms and tsunamis. The destruction of mangroves has resulted in the near extinction of shallow water fishing which our local fishermen were dependent on. They have now resorted to eating inedible fish as they are compelled to sell their best catch to middlemen. Also, corporate fishing or fishing on an industrial scale is wiping out marine life in the mangroves and around the coastline itself. In some ways this is a trend being witnessed around the world as over 75% of the worlds fisheries have already collapsed and fishermen from North America and Europe to Bangladesh are going out of business. But, coming back to the mangroves, it is also important to look at the experience of Indonesia where the devastation was most severe in areas where mangroves were wiped out. This should serve as a warning to state functionaries in Pakistan. It seems that the core message seems to be lost on them, which is, that you cannot hope to prosper and progress at the expense of the decimation of traditional livelihoods and devastation of the environment.
2) Would it be fair to say then that there is a causal link between ‘development’ and deprivation?
I am generally not in favor of the term development. I think it is extremely misleading. It is an invention and is essentially a nicely packaged version and direct legacy of colonial exploitation. To make matters worse, it is excessively patronizing and undemocratic. Nobody should have the right to tell others to develop. Take the case of adivasis (literally translated as ‘original inhabitants’ or tribal people) in India. At the time of the British they were driven from their ancestral lands and ended up in urban centers as wage labor. Forest dwellers are a classic example. Their way of life, knowledge systems, cultural practices and social networks were completely decimated in the name of progress and conservation. Even at that time such acts legitimized in the name of economic benefits, for the colonizing countries of course. Today the same process is carried out by the World Bank and IMF and their collaborating elites in developing nations, but legitimized by the corporate media in the name of economic development.
I think if you look at the track record you will find that policies carried out in the name of economic development have led to nothing as the overwhelmingly majority has suffered for the benefit of a few. It has violated human dignity and life and destroyed the foundations of sustainable survival.
3) A lot of your work centers on working for the empowerment of women. How do women specifically get affected by a loss of localized livelihoods? How does Shirkatgah work with such women?
There is absolutely no doubt that women are the most severely affected group when livelihoods are under threat. In most cases, women exercise agency over their household’s livelihood. Take the case of agriculture for instance where women predominantly work as farmers. That ownership is mitigated to a great extent once their traditional livelihoods are under threat and they are compelled to work in a different industry, most probably as wage labor. Prior to this loss of ownership, they also suffered from the oppression of their men who lived off the fruits of women’s labor. Now, with the decimation of their traditional livelihood and alienation from their land, they suffer doubly.
In this regard, we in Sirkatgah, work with women to enable them to exercise a greater agency and control over their own and their wider family’s lives. Since we predominantly work in the urban areas, we work with women who have migrated to urban centers in search of a better living. We essentially teach them innovative methods in practicing agriculture within the constraints of an urban space. The aim is to enable women to become independent commercial growers, which in our view is what empowerment is all about. The authorities of course know that economic empowerment is the best way to achieve the overall empowerment of women. But owing to their political considerations, they deliberately neglect to implement measures which could achieve the empowerment of women in the real sense.
4) Lastly, it seems as if there is a general lack of awareness among people regarding such issues. What role do you think can education play in fostering such consciousness? Do you see any space within the contemporary education system for regeneration and change?
Actually, I would say there is a lot of awareness. Someone who has an empty stomach is the most aware of them all. I suppose this has to do with culture too. When you have been under authoritarian rule for so many decades, and you are constantly being beaten down, then people become afraid of losing the little that they have. They will not rebel. Here they ask why people don’t rebel, which is a fair question. Maybe they are short on courage. But how can you explain the inaction and the political apathy of the middle classes? Ordinary people cannot afford to lose the little they have unlike the middle classes. In my opinion, the in-activism of the latter is to a great extent a function of unawareness and depoliticization.
The middle class is unaware because of your educational system, the content of which, in my opinion, is irrelevant. 75% of it is redundant, if not false. It teaches you nothing. It does not equip you to live life or to maintain yourself. Education is not just literacy. It should not just teach you how to communicate. It is also to equip yourself to be able to earn a living, to be able to maintain yourself in a community, to be able to represent yourself in politics. It is important to realize that politics is not just about standing up in elections. It is in fact asserting your right as a citizen in your community. You have an automatic right. Everybody is a taxpayer, even if you don’t submit it to the government. Every time you buy aata (flour), every time you buy oil, you’re paying taxes. And what I want to mention specially is that this is planned ignorance. Since colonization, schools have traditionally been used to indoctrinate certain beliefs that could induce compliance with the agenda of the power managers. I cannot believe that the state does not know what is happening. They just do not want the people to know. But at the same time, they want to give people the impression that they are learning something. So they keep them occupied with rubbish. They’re filling their heads through rote. You learn nothing at your institutions that you can implement practically.
Secondly, there is of course the fact that our present education system creates societal cleavages. For example, the elite benefit from an education system that is vastly superior and distinct from the one meant for the underprivileged. In other words our education system perpetuates a class based society in which groups at the top of the hierarchy are at best unaware of the problems faced by those below.
Lastly, another function of the contemporary education system is to compartmentalize everything into mutually exclusive aspects. For example there are no linkages between what a child studies at school with wider economic, social and environmental issues. Consequently, such children, as tomorrow’s power managers and leaders, are desensitized and unaware of the connection between their actions and the wider consequences on society. We seem to cultivate this desensitization and until that remains the case I don’t see any possibility of the education system effecting any change whatsoever.
5) How do you think the education system can be revamped to make the situation better?
In my opinion, before studying any subject, you have to first see if it is beneficial to the human being. If it is not, then at best, it is impractical. I think that the content of your education should be entirely practical. It should serve a purpose, serve the child, serve the professional, and serve the wider society. As I mentioned before, there is a general lack of sensitization and consciousness because the contemporary education system fails to provide students with a strong foundation. You don’t have a world view; you don’t know how the world operates, how nature operates and how human beings operate. A revamped education system would have to accomplish the exact opposite of that. It should also be able to foster a classless society and create a mass of socially conscientious and sensitive beings.
6) Given this dire situation what in your opinion can concerned individuals do to resist this seemingly relentless march to self-destruction? Is political activism the answer?
Well, it’s certainly one of the answers. In our experience we have realized that generally, politicians are least interested in what we have to say. Nevertheless, as concerned individuals we can try to raise awareness about such issues in all possible forums. It’s important to remember that our ostensibly small actions have the potential to transform the world.
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