Have you heard of the civilizing mission? Did you read JS Mill’s assertion that England is one of the most moral nations and that the British colonization of India was the most humane act ever committed by humanity? Have you read Empire by Niall Ferguson, which enumerates the nine benefits British colonization gave to India? Iraq’s invasion and occupation in 2003 was also motivated by very noble motives. It protected the oppressed people of Iraq and their neighbours from Saddam’s evil. The other admirable objective was to teach Iraqis about democracy. Similar to this, the NATO coalition launched an attack on Afghanistan to protect Afghan citizens and the rest of the world from international terrorism, whose epicentre the country had become. These discourses of the powerfuls were challenged and very convincingly contested and disproved not only by activists and scholars but also by realities as they emerged. Because of this, they are transient and short-lived. That is why there is no discussion of weapons of mass destruction, now. However, why do power centres constantly require and produce such sham but apparently noble looking discourses?
We are grateful to Michele Foucault for revealing this reality and illuminating the workings of imperial hegemony by describing the discourses required to defend and explain the oppression. A discourse is an assertion of cognitive or linguistic authority to direct the minds and actions of imperial subjects. To bolster the unlawful claim of power, the power centres particularly utilize academics, religious leaders, and journalists. The Foucauldian axiom power is everywhere demonstrates the encompassing and over-arching mental tendrils of discourse that exert far beyond the coercive actors. The discourse has greater coercive power than a tyrant, for that matter. A regime of truth is established by the discourse. This method develops a set of beliefs which guide the imperial subject to comprehend and interpret social realities. The discourses are produced by the power centres with accompanying regimes of truths that serve primarily as tools of mental control and subjugation. Examples of some discourses produced by the world power centres include the WMD in Iraq, the elimination of international terrorism from Afghanistan, the teaching of civilization to Indians, the promotion of democracy in Syria, Libya, and Yemen, and the protection of the populace in nations where an unwelcome government is in power, such as Iran.
Power always has a hierarchical structure; without one, it cannot exist or be established. As a result, regional power centers will inevitably be created by global ones, resulting in the creation of hierarchical structures. The functions, mechanisms, and goals of regional power centres to establish authority and hegemonies remain similar though they may vary in size.
Pakistan is similar to the rest of the world in that it has power centres, which makes efforts to exert control, feels indispensable and essential, and uses discourses to persuade the populace of the importance of their existence. It is impossible to distinguish global and regional power centres in aims and operations. Every local power centre has a unique history, relevant to their time and space, of developing a variety of discourses to assert and increase control. They are concise, to the point, and specific to their objectives. They may say less but they feels like much more. Their emotional impact carries more weight than their logical content. We can better understand the Pakistani power centres’ depth, breadth, and emotional prowess if we examine the key discourses they have so far produced.
Three constant and consistent discourses are spread by Pakistan’s power centres through a variety of outlets, including the media, newspapers, and even textbooks. Usually, these discourses are transmitted through journalists and religious experts, whether or not they are aware of the intended objectives behind these discourses.
Pakistan was founded on Islam. Pakistan will be the birthplace of the pure Islam. Pakistan’s creation was a divine design, and it will be intent on defending it (albeit the Pakistan founded in 1947 lost one arm in 1971). No one would need me to remind them of the myths and stories that have been constructed to maintain this discourse. A few examples of political gimmicks arose from this discourse are Objective Resolution, Tehreek-e-Nizam-e-Mustafa, Zia’s Islami Nizam to the latest Riasat-e-Medina.
Second, Pakistan is surrounded by challenges and enemies that require a robust and well-equipped army with cutting-edge war machinery to deal with. Without a robust army, the country could end up like Libya, Yemen, or Syria. The existence of this army in inevitable to reassure the re-emergence of Islam and to protect the country, that is why its status should be beyond any question or doubt.
Third, all politicians (save one) are inept, corruptible, and in general traitors. Do you require any proof? No, everyone believes in the absence of any concrete evidence.
That is the force of a discourse: it is believed in the absence of facts and arguments. Because they contain emotive vigour, they can be used to cause a stir, a movement to be launched, mass agitation to be organized, and unrest to be easily created. Consider the dynamics and operation of Toheen’s rather lesser and secondary discourse. It is operating now on autopilot. Anyone can be killed at any time during a randomly organized protest. When apprehended, the culprits, generally semi-literate, always claim that they were simply carried away without knowing or thinking about the facts. Many instances, ideological and political theories, and the politico-religious stances we have been led to believe can be explained by a brief reflection on the discourses created by Pakistani power centres. A political discussion without taking these discourses into account would be inconclusive, futile and fruitless.
The writer is a clinical psychologist, he lives and works in Ireland and can be contacted at akhtaralisyed@gmail.com
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