Weddings and structural violence
IN the second year after the migration of the new Muslim nation from the Makah to Madina, the Holy Prophet (PBUH) married off his beloved daughter to one of the finest among the companions; Hazrat Ali Ibn-e-Talib (RA).
The wedding ceremony was a simple and modest event, where the groom had to sell his battle armour to afford the Waleema.
In striking contrast to the simplicity and frugality exhibited by these timeless examples from human history, the people continue to be mesmerized by fancy wedding ceremonies of the self proclaimed rich and elite. On the other side of things, the poor spend all their resources on attempts of trying not to appear poor. We are extremely confused between the concepts of wedding and marriage.
All our focus is on the wedding ceremonies, which drain the young couple of much needed resources that they could have used for more productive and long-term efforts. On the other pole of the discussion lies the concept of “Structural Violence”. The term was coined by Norwegian sociologist Johan Galtung, in his 1969 article “Violence, Peace and Peace Research”. The idea of structural violence has much more magnitude and coverage, in comparison to physical violence.
It is defined as “a form of violence wherein some social structure or social institution may harm people by preventing them from meeting their basic needs”. The media finds other forms of violence more attractive; probably because of them being easier to sell. We are attracted to stories of rape, homicide and land grabbing, while we continue to ignore our deepest wounds.
It is shameful that in a country with one of the highest infant and maternal mortality rates in the world, where a majority if forced to drink unsafe drinking water, where the nation is facing an existential crisis in terms of intellect; the rich and influential have the audacity to flaunt their bought beauty, their unrealistically huge accumulation of wealth and their hypocrisy by advocating for the poor.
We view them smiling into cameras on social media, while in reality they are laughing at us for working to make them richer and more powerful, while they smile, look beautiful and enjoy the life that we have paid for. At the end of the day it is the recognition from the mob, the powerful crave. Let’s deny them this pleasure.
—The writer is Assistant Professor Public Health, Islamabad Medical and Dental College.
