FROM time immemorial people have been pondering over the meaning of life. Is my life worth living? Have we been wasting our time so far? How many questions are stirred by the state of the world? How many fears and doubts are aroused over the predicament that our country is confronted with?
The questioning is more persistent and anxiety more acute when we approach the defining moment in our history. The existentialists sum up this state of mind in the word ‘angst’, which means anguish. But angst is more than anguish. It is anguish, plus anxiety plus fear. For us the defining moment is here and now.
We all find our answers. Periods like these often entail a crisis which offers both danger and an opportunity. Blessed are those who grasp the opportunity and avoid the danger.
No wonder many Pakistanis are making a determined effort to define the raison d’etre of Pakistani nationhood: what is our past, where do we stand, and where are we heading?
In questioning ourselves about the purpose of our existence, we are influenced in our doubts and convictions by a whole range of objective and subjective factors: the social group we belong to, the social needs we have. And the opportunities open to us.
Our personal quest is defined by our experience, the demands that we make on life, our religious and political views, and above all our sincerity regarding these beliefs. While young people search for principles to live by, the older generation ponders and evaluates.
There is no other problem which besets our mind so much as the future of democracy. By democracy we mean not only political democracy but genuine democracy with economic and cultural dimensions. Undoubtedly, democracy offers everyone a chance to pursue worthy aims in life, and enough sense of purpose and commitment to achieve them. Democracy makes great demands on each one of us. Are we prepared to accept the challenge?
Democracy is not handed to anyone on a platter. The way to democracy is strewn with blood, sweat, tears and toil. It is determined by the development of an individual’s self-awareness, his growth as a democratic personality and his ability to define correctly the substance of his life and his own role within the community. This is not something that a person can suddenly decide. It involves a protracted and often contradictory process. It is particularly true in Pakistan where democracy never had a fair deal, mainly because we have not succeeded in developing and strengthening civil society.
In most general terms, civil society stands for the structures that mediate between the citizen and the state. They include all types of associations and organisations. Modern democracy cannot function without a vigorous and vibrant civil society. Democracy is not merely a set of institutions; such institutions must be supported by tolerance, openness, transparency and empathy as well as forms of behaviour which can neither be decreed nor learnt overnight.
The existence of a well-written democratic constitution and basic respect for democratic culture are no doubt necessary but by no means sufficient unless the basic rules of democracy are internalised both by the politicians and the citizens. Internalising democratic values requires long exposure, awareness and education.
Bourgeois critics of the concept of civil society argue that it is a leftist, collectivist concept — an attempt to introduce something more than a society of individuals. On the other hand, it is clear that no matter what name we give to the web of civic organisations and initiatives, all democratic states depend heavily on such a network of grassroots activities and civic organisations.The only fault of those who uphold the concept of civil society is that they stress the absolutely necessary importance of people’s activities and their organisations at all levels. They believe in participatory democracy in which the initiative comes from the grassroots rather than from the elite at the top. We Pakistanis know what havoc the elite at the top have played with democracy and democratic institutions.
Modern society has become too complex to be ruled from the top. No problem can be really solved unless the people are actively involved in it.
Civility implies tolerance, compromise, the spirit of give and take and willingness on the part of citizens and leaders to accept divergent views. Civil society is a cast of mind — a willingness to live and let live. Islam prepares the ground for such a cast of mind on the basis of two Quranic commandments: “la ikrah fiddin” (there is no compulsion in religion) and “lakum dinakum wa li din” (for you, your religion; for me, mine). If a society lacks tolerance then not only civil society cannot flourish but democracy itself is in serious danger.
Civil society is neither the outright enemy nor the unconditional friend of state power. Civil society is the natural enemy of autocracy, dictatorship and all forms of arbitrary rule. Civil society is essentially a law-based society. It needs to be emphasised that it is no substitute for government. Civil society stands for genuine participatory democracy. The stirrings of a dynamic civil society can easily be felt when the demand for accountability and transparency gains ground, when women form associations for equal rights and when corruption is fearlessly exposed.
The existence of civil society implies a shared sense of identity, by means of at least tacit agreement on the basic issues of Pakistan. In a word, a sense of citizenship with associated rights and responsibilities is part and parcel of civil society: active citizenship underpins civil society. To be a part of the whole is a precondition for the whole to be a sum of its parts.
Where the government through its depredations and failures loses the loyalty of its citizens, citizenship is an early casualty. As legitimacy crumbles, civil society threatens to fragment as well. Shall we catch hold of the defining moment? It is time for each citizen to stand up and be counted.
Courtesy: Daily Dawn, 31/3/2008
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