Recently, a rare moment of optimism and hope was to be had following an announcement on social media about the nomination of our celebrated organisation PeaceNiche / The Second Floor (T2F) for The Human Rights Tulip annual award.
This award is given by Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs for “courageous human rights defenders who promote and support human rights in innovative ways.”
T2F has a rather cult following in Karachi’s subculture. Founded by Sabeen Mahmud, who was assassinated five months ago, a café, cultural space, community centre, performance area, as well as an art gallery, T2F rightly deserved the endorsement for its nomination; which came from leading opinion-makers across the social spectrum, from journalists and activists to philanthropists, politicians and educationists.
They were unanimous in their support for T2F, which seeks to promote the voice of the unheard; the marginalised who are often mere statistics and footnotes in our society.
The significant award money of 100,000 euros naturally merits a strong competition between equally commendable and worthy individuals/organisations, one of which was the eventual winner of the first round, Phyoe Phyoe Aung from Myanmar/Burma.
Phyoe is a 26-year-old student, currently in prison for seeking reforms to Myanmar's national education law that has put a ban on student unions; a noble endeavour by the brave Phyoe Phyoe Aung who has – like Sabeen Mahmud – personally sacrificed much for her principles. The Burmese student was still in her teens when she was jailed for the first time for almost four years by the then military junta.
Ironically, earlier this year, she was once again locked up; only this time her persecutors are the democratically-elected members of Myanmar.
May the country of Aung San Suu Kyi honour another of her courageous daughter Phyoe Phyoe Aung.
However, in my opinion, T2F’s is a broader more dauntless mission i.e. to put a halt to the ever-shrinking space for an inclusive narrative – a narrative that is less reactionary and more pro-active in seeking to provide a “platform for dialogue as a counterweight to the extremism and religious-based violence in the city of Karachi, Pakistan.”
The growing extremism has threatened the very foundations of society and T2F is among the few remaining ‘oases of free thought’ in this theatre of absurdity.
See here: Remembering Sabeen: 'She received a bullet attached to a letter' – and kept going
Our South Asian culture respects and celebrates its heroes. What could have been a better way to pay homage to one of our finest citizens than by voting in multitudes for her life’s work?
Yet, it was not to be.
Which then begs the question that, with a message superior to that of the eventual winner in a country with a population three times larger than that of Myanmar and a comparable Internet connectivity, how did this online competition turn out to be a one-sided affair?
Even Afghanistan’s human rights activist Azizullah Royesh outvoted T2F in the first round. Really? Afghanistan and online voting?
Source: www.humanrightstulip.nl/rankingFrom over one hundred thousand votes polled, T2F received around 5 per cent of the total votes, whereas the winner from Myanmar received nearly one-third of the votes. This is in spite of the endorsements from leading opinion-makers having a combined following of over a million social media users.
I think this in itself merits introspection on whether these champions of Liberté, Égalité and Fraternité are absolved from – advertently or inadvertently – shaping a conservative narrative (since their endorsement for an organisation advocating social change failed to create a ripple)?
And for the rest of us, the question is: How did our support for an organisation, challenging the forces of bigotry and jingoism for our own children’s future, be reduced to a few thousand show of hands?
Was this debacle due to a disorganised campaign that failed to gain traction, or was it because the message itself did not find currency in our increasingly conservative society?
Regretfully, it may well be the latter, given the steady erosion of public space at the hands of puritanical elements that are bent on purging voices of dissent that do not conform to their particular narrative.
Read on: Sabeen, what do I teach our children now?
This highlights the sorry state of affairs in our society, insulated from the proud traditions of tolerance and compassion of our elders – the valiant generation of the yore, which was way ahead of the curve in the entire Arab/Muslim world for jealously guarding the humanist values during the proud ARD and MRD movements of 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
Pakistan is facing an existential crisis. This would require deconstruction and reconstruction of our social fabric to remedy the growing terrorism and religious conservatism, civil-military imbalance, role of media as an irresponsible fourth pillar of the state, draconian policies against citizens who disagree with the state’s narrative, the fate of millions of IDPs, an impasse on the constitutional integration of Gilgit-Baltistan and Fata and the postponement of the population census for a just and equitable division of resources among the federating units.
These unresolved issues point towards a perennial tug of war between conservative forces and the voices of reason – the very issue that Sabeen vis-à-vis PeaceNiche/T2F sought to highlight.
Can we honestly say the same about our life’s work?