DIVISIONS among people of different areas, colours and races have been the basis of the material progress of many nations. For instance, the colonizing West dominated and enslaved many people, their lands and resources for its use and exploitation and in this way, thrived at the cost of the marginalized others. Many a war has also been fought to subdue and undermine a group of people thought inferior or not equal to the required standards of being equals. This proves that socio-political divides were created, strengthened and implemented to gain socio-political supremacy targets intentionally. This also generated a spirit of competition and high ambitions, but all resulted in the death and destruction of people and property. One of the offshoots of the former decades is the worst forms and shapes of racialism which humanity is suffering tremendously.
Even after the loud claims of equality from the championship of humanity, the divides at various levels have not only persisted but have also cried out their validity and have harmed human peace of mind. For example, take the case of knowledge. The third world receives only that much knowledge that is allowed to reach it or is given access to. Consequently, even in this age of information technology, only half of the people rule the rooster. The same is the case with the consumption of sources available to the world. Only a small percentage of the people is able to enjoy health and nutrition benefits while the large majority are content with the leftovers. There are educational and financial divides as well. The educational system of most of the postcolonial countries reflects a clear educational divide because the modes of education practiced in the advanced societies of the world are different at almost every level.
Countries like Pakistan are still running their educational requirements on the systems established during colonial times and it has not evolved even after the passage of half a century. This divide is most deadly because the coming generations are prepared through this system and, worst of all, the system is producing still colonized minds which would not lead their nations independently to ensure the freedom of their nation and would continue to toe the lines of the colonized system. The research quality and quantity are also suffering from the same divide. There is an academic gate keeping policy in exercise that delimits the process of research and the quality of research. Only that research is termed as validated when it toes the lines and patterns established by the richer nations of the world. Systems of hermeneutics, research methodologies and research philosophies are designed and approved by industrially advanced nations and so the world of research experiences a divide of severe kind in this regard.
But these divides have already been around and have always existed and the best way forward for the people in the disadvantaged position is to take it as a challenge and must be worked upon and calculated and attempted for improvement in their production modes and become a need for the so far highly resourced people. For example, a country like Pakistan, rich in fertilized land and fresh water, must work hard and modernize its mode of agriculture so that it may be a need of the world. Instead of remaining a consumer society, Pakistan must strive for a productive society. The divides are to exist and persist and the only solution is to employ and exploit the source of food production and preservation. Similar practices should be taken up in the case of academics, research and education by following the models of the Japanese and Chinese who have succeeded in establishing an equality-based society. They have also faced the challenges of the socio-political divides but took it as a challenge in their attempt to overpower it and redesign the life of their nation. They have converted the weakness imposed on them into favourable success through hard work, dedication and sincerity.
Polarization and socio-political divide among the people and society hinder material and mental progress and hamper the development of a sane and sage society. Although diversity in harmony is the tool for happiness, yet is not achieved normally, especially in post-colonial societies where a “divide and rule” syndrome to control the people has existed. Socio-political divides unfold the educational, financial and moral divide but the socio-political divide is itself the most dangerous one. Pakistan has been experiencing this situation for a very long time and now it is in its worst form causing unrest, uncertainty and lawlessness everywhere. All this calls for an immediate redressal. Such divisions could be justified in the last century on racial, religious and political grounds but today, humanity has reached such a level, where food, hunger, pollution and health and survival is the issue. In such a precarious age of humanity, collective and concerted efforts are needed instead of divisions. This must be vigorously asserted and exercised within the nation.
—The writer is a Professor of English at Emerson University, Multan, and has a vast international exposure.
Email: [email protected]
views expressed are writer’s own.
