To March or not to March, other ways to make your voice heard
Awab Alvi
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To March or not to March, other ways to make your voice heard
or http://cli.gs/S9uYAT
By Zermeen Amira posted on Teeth Maestro http://teeth.com.pk/blog
This post is inspired by the likes of Muhammad Ali Jinnah who never broke the law and never went to prison while engaging in independence movement and the struggle for Pakistan. The post is also inspired by our tradition that says that if you see a wrong, the least thing one could do is to feel bad about it in ones heart, the next best thing is to say it loud that this is wrong and the most superior thing would be to do something practical to stop the unjust act.
Having said that I am appalled at the lack of ingenuity, resourcefulness and creativity of our political parties both PPP
and PML included in mobilizing popular support. Take the example of
Lahore, at every nook and corner people are talking about the unjust
acts of government in Islamabad. Other moms talk about it incessantly
when I go to pick up my kid from school. Even the kids in my fifth
graders class are talking about it! Yet a major majority of these moms,
their husbands, their brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts etc would not be
part of the Long March even if they support it whole heartedly. So
should we declare all of these folks coward, non-patriotic, chickens or
whatever? Absolutely not! Refer to the first paragraph, it is fully
recognized that different people have different tolerance levels of how
strongly they feel about something and what they are willing to do
about it, ranging from feeling bad about an unjust act to actually
trying to stop it with legal but physical means; physically
participating in the Long March in this case.
That begs the question; can this energy be tapped by those leaders who
feel that injustice has been done to them and to their country?
Absolutely, however all mainstream parties suffer form not having deep
roots in the populace and instead further their street cause through
‘jiyalas’ and the recipients of ‘patronage politics’. I wonder if they
really believe in the strength of the united voice of the awam? Since
the political parties haven’t been smart enough to figure out what they
need to do to tap into the abundant energy, here are my top ten list of
things a peaceful citizen can do to make his/her opinion heard. Some of
these don’t even violate the section 144.
- Start wearing an arm band colored either black or green protesting the high handedness of the government in Islamabad. Do this at work and while being outside.
- Fly a black or green flag on your house indicating your support for democratic process. Perhaps put the picture of the scale on the flag to further emphasize your cause. What a scene would it be if you had tens of thousands of these flags flying in every city of Pakistan!
- Roll down your windows when driving your car, play patriotic songs while pumping up the volume to the loudest. I don’t believe it violates section 144.
- Same as 3 above but this time download or buy a CD of songs with poetry of Aitezaz Ahsan, Habib Jalib plus other variations on popular songs celebrating the cause of justice. Play it full volume with your windows down at intersections when driving. Keep extra copies with you and if someone at the next traffic light asks for one, give it to them.
- This one is for braver ones. Same as 4 above, but this time put a small 12 volt amplifier driven loudspeaker on the roof of your car (put a towel underneath the loud speaker so not to scratch your paint and tie loudspeaker with string). Loudspeaker, the amplifier and the whole rig can be had for a few thousand rupees from the likes of Hall Road in Lahore and equivalent places in Karachi/Rawalpindi. Such arrangements are widely used in rural mosques and this technology is simple to use. Just imagine only tens of such cars blaring the right kind of music on 15th or 16th on the streets in each of Lahore, Karachi, Rawalpindi, Gujrat, Jehlum and every small or big town in Pakistan. This one is inspired by Nasira Iqbal’s car in the previous year’s march in which I participated.
- Get green balloons and if you can get them painted with the picture of a scale. Coordinate with your neighbors and possibly with organizations/parties working towards Long March and release 100 or so of these from each house on the morning of 16th at 10 AM or the time of Dharna in Islamabad. If you can convince 1,000 households to do this (totally doable), you will have one lakh ballons in the sky the morning of 16th in each major city. What a spectacle!
- Start on-line petitions, send faxes to presidency, launch an SMS campaign. Don’t use any foul language. Be polite and make your point, it has a greater chance of making an impact and getting forwarded via SMS.
- 16th most probably will be announced as a holiday, children will probably not go to schools. Facepaint your kids with Pakistani flags, with the slogans you like. Go to the park in your local community; enjoy the outdoor while making a point.
- Basant is officially on in Lahore on the 15th. Fly green kites with the picture of a scale emblazoned on it. On your roof top, play patriotic music while enjoying Basant with your family and friends.
- I am running out of ideas, this one you will have to think for yourself.
Some of what is described above has the secondary benefits of
educating your next generation to be politically conscious; some of
these kids may get inspired to become the honest, down to earth leaders
that we so dearly yearn for. Wouldn’t it be beautiful when you will
have to explain to your little one why you are wearing a black arm band?
So come on folks. If you believe in this cause but fear baton charges and tear gas like I do, let’s at least do a few things to make our voice heard. At the least it will give support and heart to more brave amongst us who feel marginalized and the perception that we don’t care will be neutralized. All good starts from a small act of kindness. This may just start a revolution of conscious and true mass participatory politics. Let’s not feel paralyzed, talk endless about the gravity of our situation but not do anything about it. Please do our part if you believe in this effort. Likewise if you believe the other side of the story, by all means express yourself. Let’s make democracy beautiful and play as much of our part as we can bear, being couch potato watching TV and feeling bad doesn’t count for much.
Pakistan Zindabad. Long Live Pakistan even after I and many of my future generations have long departed the face of this earth.
Awab Alvi
Blog: http://teeth.com.pk/blog
Twitter: http://twitter.com/DrAwab