A nation is a collective community based on different class systems, regions, religions, and races, and it must face economic and social discrimination from each other based on the class system. Who will bridge the gap between the rich and the poor while both are part of the same nation? When are the poor oppressed, and the state institutions and their constituents do not listen to anyone? We also need to think about the reality of how much freedom we have gained as a nation. The lives of the poor and helpless have not changed even after the freedom from colonial rule. Then what kind of liberation do we often refer to?
All the social media platforms that give voice to the marginalized, the oppressed and the poor strengthen their resistance. Social media has successfully created a virtual space where different voices and their freedom of expression on national issues have been made possible.
We are accustomed to weighing things in just two ways. On one side, there are forces of goodness, and on the other side are evil. Something is totally right; then, suddenly, something becomes totally wrong. But we also know that life is much more complex in its essence and there is more to life that cannot be put in just two boxes. We need to understand the views of others and find the truth by comparing different points of view on both sides. Social media enables us to provide a space that is neither white nor black. For example, mainstream media in Pakistan has its own objectives and is driven by political logic. However, social media is not bound by such political logic and can promote voices that cannot be so easily given access to.
Thus, social media not only provides a platform for these voices but also provides a place where they can be compared to public statements and where diverse opinions can be presented. These are the voices that have resisted imperialist forces in the past, the imperial system that has now been replaced by state institutions. The inability of mainstream culture to create political space for muffled voices is directly related to our historical and political landscape.
There are many ethnicities in Pakistan that have different cultural and linguistic identities. Cultural, ethnic, and linguistic facts are considered contradictory from the dominant national perspective. Ideas are not products made in factories; they should be created naturally by the voice of the people, and theory emerges from practice, and it cannot be an officially created brand. Diverse voices of people having different narratives are based on their lived experiences and are also true to the spirit of the nation. The concept of a nation is made up of ordinary people, not statesmen alone.
A nation is made not just by a handful of rulers. We are all a nation. The voices of the masses must be included in the national narrative rather than being oppressed by the national narrative. Thanks to social media, it is impossible to ignore the voices of resistance that are trying to find a place in society to foster a democratic environment.
- Role of Social Media in Un-silencing Muffled Voices - 14/03/2024