Religion, politics and working class

After the murder of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, many questions have since been raised about the future of country and possible take over by religious extremist forces. Lot of material has appeared both in the local English media and international press about the rising tide of religious extremism and collapse of liberal and secular voice. Some articles even gave the impression that whole country is in the grip of religious bigotry and the entire liberal and secular voices have been silenced. This impression is wrong and somehow an exaggeration of the prevailing situation.

There is no doubt that religious extremist forces have gone on the offensive on the issue of blasphemy laws and liberals are on the receiving end. But it will be a mistake to draw the conclusion from the present religious onslaught those religious political parties enjoys the massive support in the masses. This would be a simplistic and one-sided analysis of the present situation. The situation is much more complex and contradictory than what most of the western commentators and experts thinks. The same religious parties, who are organizing large rallies and protest demonstrations in some parts of the country, were routed in the last general elections held in February 2008. These parties got less than three percent (3%) seats in the parliament and less than 5% popular votes. The matter of fact is that religious parties are better organised and have better trained cadres compare to the liberal and secular parties of the country. It is also important to note that majority of the participants in these rallies come from religious schools where nearly 2 million students are studying the religious syllabus.

There is no doubt that generally Pakistani society has become less tolerant and progressive in last three decades thanks to the politics of deceit, hypocrisy and religious bigotry. But it will be wrong to assume that overwhelming majority of Pakistani masses support religious extremism and its ideology. We need to differentiate the religious sentiments of the ordinary people and support for religious extremism in general. We also need to consider the fact that nearly 96% population is Muslim and majority of them have been kept illiterate and backward by the reactionary and rotten ruling classes. The ruling classes have played with the religious emotions of the masses and used religion as a tool to justify their cruel and repressive rule over the years.

The Pakistani state has mixed the general religious believes and politics to the extent that it becomes impossible to separate the both on some occasions. The use of religion by the state to gain the political mileage has made it easier for the religious parties and clerics to exploit the religious emotions of masses. That is what happening at the moment. The religious clerics and parties have simply made the debate on the misuse of the blasphemy laws into the issue of protecting the honour and dignity of the Holly Prophet (PBUH). The religious hawks in the media help the religious extremist forces to create this perception. They used this very sensitive religious issue to make political gains.

The question arise here that how many people have been killed in last few weeks just on the ground that they pointed out the misuse of blasphemy laws and proposed the changes in these laws. The present wave of religious fever in some sections of society is a temporary phenomenon and will not last long. But it does not mean that the phenomenon of religious extremism will disappear. It will also be wrong to dismiss the dangers it poses to the working class and society in general. The rising tide of religious extremism also poses serious dangers for the organised trade union movement and Left forces in the country. We have to accept the reality of the situation that religious extremist forces does exist and will continue to exist until the system is not going to be changed that create such reactionary forces.

Capitalist and feudal system is responsible for the conditions in which such forces flourish. Pakistani ruling classes have failed to separate the state from religion and establish a secular state in last 64 years. They also failed to complete the tasks of national democratic revolution (bourgeoisie revolution) in the country. They failed to abolish feudalism and tribalism and solve the agrarian question. The Stalinist and Moist left pin hopes with one section or the other of the ruling classes to accomplish the tasks of national democratic revolution as being the progressive wing of the capitalist class. It never happened because no such progressive wing ever exists.

And what’s obvious is that our liberal intelligentsia is floundering. Both the substance and strategy of their campaign detaches the defense of these rights from demands that speak directly to popular grievances. And it is understandable why: many of the leading advocates come from either the earnest bourgeoisie which had come to the fore during the lawyers’ movement, or from the PPP and its sympathizers—groups that have been, as a rule, consistent cheerleaders of war and neoliberal restructuring.

In fact, their plight recalls Marx’s verdict on the Prussian bourgeoisie, after their betrayal of the revolution of March 1848. “Without faith in itself, without faith in the people, grumbling at those above, frightened of those below, egotistical towards both and aware of its egoism; revolutionary with regard to the conservatives and conservative with regard to the revolutionaries… Haggling over its own demands, without initiative, without faith in itself, without faith in the people, without a historic mission.”

After all, the sad fact is that, even while the blasphemy laws remain a barometer of the cruelty of life in Pakistan today, they don’t figure in the everyday injustices faced by the vast majority, who remain centrally preoccupied by hunger, poverty, and war. The number of cases registered in the last three decades is in the hundreds—less than the number of Pakistani children that die, daily, from malnutrition-related causes.

Again, this is not to suggest that these laws are unworthy of our urgent attention. But it is to argue that the task of making their repeal central to people’s understanding of progress is precisely that – a task. Progressives find themselves in a political context that requires them to make the case, as organizers and not just as commentators, that freeing the State from the grasp of religious bigotry is an important step in the struggle to transform the society on socialist lines. Progressive society can not be building on the basis of rotten capitalist system as many liberals and progressives believe. The struggle to emancipate the society from the clutches of religious bigotry is not a separate struggle but integral part of the struggle to emancipate the working class and poor of the country from the shackles of capitalist exploitation and repression.

We will never win popular confidence without participating in, if not leading, struggles against the cruelty of everyday life in our country—for livable wages, decent housing, jobs, land rights, meaningful and decent education, healthcare, public transport etc. Pakistani masses wanted to live like humans and demanding better living conditions. The so-called liberal and secular ruling parties and ruling classes have failed to deliver to the working masses and poor. This has created a political vacuum which religious right is trying to fill with religious slogans. This is indeed an ideological offensive from the religious right and so-called liberal and secular leaders and parties have no answer to counter this onslaught. The reason is simple. These parties and leaders have no ideology, vision, strategy, programme and manifesto to launch the counter offensive. They also lack the courage and determination to take up the challenge. In this situation, these leaders and parties find it easy to appease the religious forces to calm them down. The parties like PPP, PML-N, MQM and ANP are more concerned to maintain their vote banks and thus afraid to confront the religious right. All these parties support one religious party or sect or the other to get their votes in the elections. The religious right knows this and exploits the weakness of these parties and leaders to their advantage. The longer the movement is led by those who deem these demands premature, impractical, or downright threatening, the more likely the average Pakistani is to dismiss the campaign as political theatre.

It is undeniable that the burden is formidable. But it is no less true that this changes very little about what must be done, and how.

What religious right want?

The ongoing movement of the religious right has raised some important questions that need to be answered.

First, what is the real agenda behind this movement? It seems that main purpose of this movement is to gain the ground that religious right has lost in last few years. The suicide attacks and bombing carried out by Taliban and their supporters against the innocent women, children and general public in the main cities have proved counter-productive. Overwhelming majority of the masses is against these acts of barbarism and tactics used by Taliban and Al-Qaeda linked extremist groups. Many religious parties and groups directly and indirectly support Taliban and other extremist groups. The results of last general elections and by-elections held in last two years clearly shows that the religious right had lost considerable support in the masses. All the surveys conducted by the foreign and local organisations before the beginning of the present right wing onslaught confirmed this trend in the society. Jamat-e-Islami (JI), the main fundamentalist party in the country contested two by-elections in 2010 in Lahore and Rawalpindi constituencies and lost significant votes. Traditionally JI used to get at least 5000to 10000 votes in both constituencies but only got 2200 and 3700 votes respectively, which was less than one percent of the polled votes. Now these religious parties using the issue of Blasphemy laws to make the political gains.

Second, The right wing fundamentalist section of the establishment wants to use this opportunity to form an alliance of the religious parties to campaign around the issues concerning them. This alliance will be converted into an electoral alliance on the pattern of MMA (an alliance of main religious parties) which contested the 2002 general elections and won considerable seats and vote. It is generally believed that intelligence agencies were behind this alliance on the behest of General Musharaf’s military regime. The same people wanted to repeat the drama of 2002 elections in the next elections to manipulate the politics inside and outside the parliament. But it will be difficult for the religious forces to repeat the electoral success of 2002 in the next general elections.

Third, the present campaign is being used to bring together the rival religious parties belonging to the different sects. There was bitter divide among the religious forces before eruption of this movement. The religious parties belonging to the Braelvi sect were organising the protest demonstrations and large rallies against the attacks on the most respected shrines in Lahore and Karachi. No one ever imagined that any body could attack the shrines of most respected Muslim Saints. The Braelvis alleged that Deobandi armed religious groups and Taliban are behind these attacks. All the religious parties belonging to Braelvi sect formed an alliance called Sunni Ittehad Council (Sunni alliance council). They openly allege that some Deobandi religious schools are involved in the religious militancy and should be closed down. They also organise anti Taliban rallies and demonstrations in different cities. The situation was very tense between these sects and there was the possibility of clashes and killings. These tensions are not entirely over yet, even though eased up a bit because of blasphemy issue.

Fourth, the Blasphemy issue is also being used to divert the attention of the working masses and poor of the country from the real issues faced by them in every day life. The acute energy shortage, skyrocketing prices, unemployment, increased poverty and hunger and crippling public services are the real issues faced by the masses. There is growing anger and desperation among the masses. The massive protest demonstrations, rallies and blocked of railway lines and main roads for hours by the angry people in many cities in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwah provinces against the long hours of loadsheding of power and natural gas send the shock waves in the ruling class. The ruling class is frightened from a prospect of a mass movement on these issues, which might get out of control and pose serious threats to the status quo. Even the religious right is very careful in their mobilization. So far, they have organised big rallies and processions only in Karachi and not a single call of national demonstrations has been issued. They are also afraid from a mass movement that might start on the religious issues with dominant religious colour but turned into a mass movement of masses against the corrupt and rotten elite and repressive state machine. Once the economic and social issues came to the forefront of the movement, the religious right will be pushed aside and loose control of the movement. The government is happy that religious right has successfully diverted the attention of the masses and provided a breathing space to the government.

Fifth, The religious forces wanted to maintain its superiority over the parliament to make or amend any Islamic law. They also wanted to continue the practice of accepting their interpretation of Islam and laws on the religious and social issues. They wanted to kill any debate on such issues inside and outside the parliament. Various right wing political parties and extremist groups have succeeded in their malicious agenda of rendering the elected parliament ineffective by not allowing it to debate major political and social issues confronted the country. The hate mongers on the other hand have been allowed to talk freely whatever their perception about Islam is and as to how and under what laws they want the people of Pakistan to reel under. The religious right wanted to keep their tight control over the religious issues, which they established during the General Zia’s military regime.

Last and the most important factor is that the mainstream religious political parties are under immense pressure from Al-Qaeda linked groups and other developments that are taking place in these religious parties. Pakistani and international media and intellectuals are just discussing and analyzing the increased tensions between religious extremist forces and liberalism. But tensions are also developing within the religious right and extremist forces. Al-Qaeda’s second in command Aimanul Zawahri has written a long article that is being distributed among the religious groups, in which he declared the Pakistani constitution unIslamic and asked the Muslims in Pakistan not to accept this constitution. He also said in his article that all the religious leaders who signed this constitution made a mistake. This decree from Al-Qaeda top gun has put three main religious political parties in a difficult position. JI, JUI-F and JUP leaders signed the consensus constitution in 1973. New extremist groups and hard liners within these parties are posing new challenges to the leadership. Religious political parties are standing at the crossroads on the ideological front. New discussions are taking place and formation of new and more hard-line groups is taking place.

The mainstream religious political parties are part of electoral politics and also integral part of power politics. Religious leaders have become part of the ruling class since 1977 and enjoying all the perks and privileges of the ruling elite. Their declared aim is to bring Islamic revolution through the democratic means. Now the groups like Taliban and Al-Qaeda with their increased influence and ideology started to challenge the credibility and integrity of these leaders and parties. New groups are campaigning against the democracy, elections and constitution as being unIslamic. They are arguing that only way to establish an Islamic state is armed struggle. Many hard liners have already split away from JI and JUI-F and joined the Taliban. Some people have also been expelled from JI and JUI-F for spreading the Al-Qaeda and Taliban ideology in these parties. These leaders and parties have launched the movement to save the honour and integrity of Holy Prophet (PBUH) to prove their credentials as being the true leaders of the religious right. On the one hand these leaders are putting pressure on the liberal sections of the ruling class and on the other hand they are struggling for their own survival within the religious right.

Middle class and religious right

Some liberal intellectuals and commentators are painting the picture that majority of the educated and professional middle class people is the supporter of the religious right and religious extremism is deep rooted in this class. Before we draw any conclusion in this regard, it is important to analyze the middle classes in Pakistan. Traditionally middle classes in Pakistan consists of traders, landed rural petty bourgeoisie, professionals like doctors, engineers, professors, lawyers and managers, and civil and military bureaucrats. The middle classes are not as stable in Pakistan as they are in advance industrialized countries. Every economic boom creates artificial layer of middle class that disappears with every economic crisis. Every economic boom enable some lower middle class and advance layers of working class people to enjoy relatively high living standards for few years and than the crisis through them back to their original position. Even lower layers of middle class fall back to the working class.   The economic situation changes very quickly and thus changes the position of middle layers.

Traders are the most conservative and religious section of the middle class, which is also the largest section of middle class. Traders are conservative both politically and socially. Their political affiliations differ from province to province and area to area. For instance, majority of traders in Punjab supports the PML-N in the elections and only a small minority supports the religious parties in the elections. In Karachi, MQM and Jamat-e-Islami (JI) gets major chunk of trader’s votes. PPP and pro-establishment landlords enjoys the support in rural Sindh and small towns.  In Baluchistan, Baluch and Pashtun nationalist parties and fundamentalist JUI-F get the most of votes. In Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa, ANP, JUI-F, JI, PPP and PML-N get the votes from traders.

Traders provide the much-needed financial support to the religious political parties and some sections of traders even generously supply money to religious extremist groups. Jihadi groups also collect major share of money from traders. Historically, traders back almost every reactionary movement launched on the religious issues and oppose every progressive movement. The upper layers are connected with ruling class as their class interests force them to become allies of the bourgeoisie. The middle and lower layers are the close allies of the religious right.  They are at the forefront of the ongoing religious movement. General Zia-ul-Haq’s military dictatorship provided political patronage to the traders and strengthens them. Traders were allowed to organise their associations and elect their leadership without any disruption throughout period of that dictatorship. On the other hand, trade unions and progressive parties were attacked and subject to the worst kind of repression and torture. Large number of traders not only share the world view of the religious right but also follows the strict moral and social code imposed by religious clerics. The interesting fact is that being one of the most religious section of the society, traders miss no opportunity to maximise their profits. They even use human tragedies like floods and earthquakes to earn super profits. When it comes to the profit taking and earn money than they forget all the teaching of Islam and morality.

Landed rural petty bourgeoisie is not as religious as the traders but holds conservative view. This layer of middle class is more stable as it hold large and medium size land holding. This layer also produces professionals and military and civilian bureaucrats. This layer mainly supports two main political parties, PPP and PML-N and holds no particular political ideology. This layer is famous to change political loyalties within no times. This is one of the most opportunist layer of middle class.    In feudal dominated areas, this layer is ally of the feudal lords and in central Punjab it is closely linked with bourgeoisie and military establishment.

Educated professional urban middle class is the layer that often related with religious extremism. There is no doubt that in recent years, this layer has inclined more towards religion than the past. In the 1950s, 60s and early 70s, this layer was considered more liberal and progressive compare to the other layers and sections of the middle class. The students belonging to this layer dominated the progressive students’ movement in that era. National Student Federation (NSF) was the largest student organisation in the country, which was a left student organisation. Thousands of the college and university students used to join NSF every year. Majority of them was coming from this middle class layer. After the collapse of left and student movement in the 1980s and the rise of jihadi culture and religious right, the situation however changed. This layer produced brilliant writers, poets and intellectuals, which was part of the working class movement. NSF cadres played important role in the development of the trade union movement that flourish in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In the absence of the left as alternate force at the political arena paved the way for the religious fundamentalist organisations like JI to make in roads at the campuses. In recent years, small minority of the educated professional middle class layer has joined few militant organisations. But it will be wrong to draw the conclusion that whole layers have embrace the ideas of religious extremism. Once the working class started to move and enters into the political arena, big section of this layer can be won to the ideas of Socialism.

Role of the Working class

The other missing link in the analysis of western commentators and Pakistani liberal intelligentsia is the role of working class. No body from these experts ever mentions the existence of a powerful working class. According to the official figures, out of 170 million population, 49 million is working class. If the workers in the informal economy and rural women workers in agriculture includes in it than the numbers went up to 69 million. That is nearly 40% of the population. The middle class is around 34 million.

Not only the numbers but also the traditions and history of the working class is important to keep in the mind when discussing the future course of the country. The intervention of the working class in the future events can bring the qualitative change in the situation. The role of the working class is decisive to decide the future of the country. Working class has the power and potential to challenge and stop the march of the reactionary forces.

It is true that at the moment the working class is watching the events as mere spectator. It is also true that trade union movement is week and isolated. Working class in general is not involved in the political process because there is no party who represents their interests.

But this situation will not last forever. Working class will be compelled to take part in the politics as happened in 1960s when working class appeared on the scene like a thunderstorm. No body thought that working class could take on the powerful military dictatorship of General Ayub Khan and defeat it. The working class did it in 1968-69. The working class also takes on the religious right and defeated it in the first general elections in 1970. A little before the first general elections in 1970, More than 100 leading religious leaders, clerics and spiritual leaders issued the decree that any one voting for the political parties carrying the banner of socialism will cease to be a Muslim and if he or she is married than his or her marriage will be annulled. The working masses ignored this decree and voted overwhelmingly in favour of PPP in West Pakistan (now Pakistan) and Awami League in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). The religious right was routed in the elections. It was the political mistakes made by founder leader of PPP Z.A.Bhutto in the middle of 1970s that gave new life to the religious right.

The religious right can not take power in Pakistan and make it a theocratic state until either the majority of the working class people embrace the ideas of religious extremism or working class crushed to a thumping defeat. Neither has happened so far. The overwhelming majority of the working class has not yet supported the ideas of religious right. As soon as class struggles started to take place and class-consciousness and radicalization started to develop, the whole scenario will start to change.