ECONOMIC DEPRIVATION:A cause of Resentment

COLUMN READING:

At the end of the day, the economic conditions define, motivate and explain the actions of people. Economic deprivation, mass poverty and lack of employment opportunities give rise to simmering resentment and bitterness till it boils up to frustration translated into armed rebellions and belligerency.

Coming specifically to the context of our region where illiteracy and poverty are raging high and grind people to the limit, resentment and bitterness against those at the higher stratums of society is understandable; USA epitomizes economic well being and thus rouses envy and bitterness among those who find it hard to make ends meet, not withstanding USA’s selective, expedient Foreign Policy which has antagonized many elements all around the globe. Capitalism, some opine, thrives on the blood and sweat of the poor and the poor attribute their decimated condition to the exploitation by the rich. How they react to this has many alternatives. One wooing and enticing refuge is religion. Almost all religions have strived for equality and when this equity seems to be giving in to inequity and disparity, people would formulate their actions based on an urge to snatch back what they deem to be their due share. Taking up arms is a logical continuation.

Its heart wrenching to see little kids, young boys with poverty stricken backgrounds being used by religious leaders and political manipulators to further their own cause. And when given arms, it is tantamount to giving someone's desperation a license to kill as a cure to his deficiencies and shortcomings. Add to it the garnishing of ideology, be it nationalistic or religious in character, the result is a blind belief that becomes oblivious to others and thrives on the righteousness and sanctity of one's own position and stance.

The Taliban supporters clad in tattered rags, street protestors in Pakistan are mostly those who belong to the economically deprived class fed by ideology and motivated by faith in their respective beliefs. Why most Pakistanis cringe and cower at the prospect of a civil war is the grim fear of losing out on their better off economic conditions. Afghans have nothing to lose and safeguard, as they have nothing but a peculiar 'pride' to uphold. Pakistanis on the other hand have much more to lose and safeguard. The cleavages in the society at the economic level are now clamoring with a force that preludes breakage and destruction.

In an economically uniform society reactions and responses would have been different and much more sedate in their outlook. Among many other reasons, its the economic depreciation of masses into a deprived, neglected lot that is responsible for the simmering seething fire that has now been fanned by the fuel of ideology, religion and a hatred espoused by the debatable thesis of clash of civilizations.

We are living in times where everything is enmeshed into umpteen reasons and moorings. There are no simplistic answers and simplistic solutions would only give rise to offshoots and mutations later on.

The writer is a freelance columnist based in Islamabad.