Satire - "A Footnote in History": Food for Thought

A Footnote in History
Faris Kasim July 17, 2007: Chowk.com

The Victory of Participatory Movements in South Asia
Anonymous
Asian History-101
Term Paper # 2
8 / 14 / 2412

People of the entire South Asia area were divided and oppressed until the end of the twenty-first century. Any real sense of collectiveaction had dissipated with the rise of a social philosophy called materialism, where the consumption of continuously changing material goods became the prime motive of life. Exploitation and competition enforced at the grassroots level destroyed any chances of mobilization amongst the masses.

However, it was during this same period that the resurgence of participatory movements in South America from the early decades of the century spread into the continent of Africa. Gross violence and anarchy prevailed for many years where the old, capitalist elite resisted change in the socio-economic-political structure. The former nations of Algeria, Eithiopia, Congo, and Angola are good examples of the violent opposition to the social transformations, which eventually did take place and became prime models for many countries to follow.

By the last quarter of the 21st century, an entire generation of young men and women had grown up under the fruits of the participatory economic models around the Third World countries. They ‘Internationalists’ as they were later called, became the unofficial vanguards of a global struggle, especially focusing on the densely populated and dis-empowered people of South Asia.

Before the emergence of the CSC (Coalition of the Sub-Continent) in 2110, the region of South Asia was comprised of six different nations. Other than Pakistan*, all six countries remain equal members of the CSC to this day. The strategy employed to defeat the hegemonic capitalist system still enforcing its failed policies was three-fold. The first was to choose and train apolitical community leaders in urban and primarily rural centers of South Asia, who were later responsible for implementing the moral rules of equal and participatory governance. The second plan of action was to keep the growing movements financially stable and safe from national and international pressures. The third strategy was to link and aid the local movements of South Asia with their supporters around the world.

The groundwork for selecting local community leaders was already in place due to the creation of Citizen Community Boards (CCBs) and Community Based Organizations (CBOs) in South Asia. Many Non-governmental Organizations and devolution policies of governments had facilitated the creation of such grassroots collectives, which were immediately put to use by the participatory educators of the ‘Internationalists’. There is no definite record available to identify the first interventions regarding the participatory movement in communities of South Asia. However, many believe that it took place in the leftist governed state of Kerala in India. It was here that the world was surprised to find rural community leaders suddenly claiming allegiance with South American and African policies of decentralization and complete participation in the economic and political realms. The role of community leaders in the social uplift schemes in the Greater Nation of Balochistan, as well as the reactionary activities of grassroots organizations in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh in India and Chittagong in Bangladesh played a significant role of motivating the participatory elements in other parts of South Asia.

Footnote:
*Pakistan: A nation that lasted for 72 years before disintegrating into the Republic of Sindh, Greater Nation of Balochistan, Islamic Republic of Pakhtunistan and the State of Punjab. At the departure of the Imperial British government from India, an England educated lawyer named Mohammad Ali Jinnah was able to create Pakistan by claiming that the Muslims and Hindus of India were two separate nations, under a ‘two-nation theory’. Mr. Jinnah passed away merely 13 months after the ‘Partition’ of India. Pakistan is infamous for the number of years its military governed the nation. Its first coup d’etat took place in 1958 and was followed by successive decades of military rule, interceded with a few years of sham democratic governments.

In the beginning of the 21st century, the center 'Islamabad' was despised by the vast majority of Pakistanis and civil unrest was common in the major cities. Since 1958, the military possessed total control of the country. However, historians are still trying to understand why one of the most well trained and fully equipped army at that time had failed in the face of domestic strife. Various reasons, including the horrible disparity between the rich and poor led to the beginning of separatist movements in all four provinces. The rebellion was spearheaded by the exploited Punjabi working classes, who demanded a greater Punjab with their racial brothers across the border. This was unbearable for the center since Pakistan’s Punjab was the seat of all governments. The elites of the four provinces remained disunited, while the army chiefs deranged by the worsening political situation began massacring thousands of dissidents and allies in an effort to gain control. This enabled racial movements to easily recruit army factions within their 'rebel' forces, since they targeted only the handful of generals plotting a totalitarian regime.

Many believe that Pakistan would have survived if the ruling military-feudal-industrial nexus had amended the wide disparity between them and the masses. Witnessing the rise of popular power in Third World Countries, the average Pakistani first had thoughts of separation only two years before the country's disintegration.