Karl Marx and Adam Smith, both in their contrasting ways, had surmised that economics – the science related to money and its distribution – was the primary motivating factor in shaping the behaviour of an individual or a society.
Dr. Sigmund Freud had, with a degree of great finality, concluded that ‘Libido’ – the powerhouse of biological urges – determined the character of both – the individual and the society.
Not denying the importance of both these ‘factors’ in the shaping of a particular society or civilization, Bertrand Russel in his concise and precise treatise on ‘POWER’ arrived at the conclusion that ‘the hunger above the belt’ and ‘the hunger below the belt’ did matter, but mattered only till these hungers remained ungratified. “Once a person’s belly is filled he doesn’t think of food,” he wrote. “And once his or her libido is satisfied, all interest is diverted to other matters.”
“It is ultimately Power (and the urge for it) that really matters,” Russel went on to surmise conclusively.
Human knowledge has been advancing continuously over the centuries, and one theory has been overrunning the other in an unhindered process of advancement. What has never changed is the fundamental character of man. And this fundamental character revolves around what Karl Max and Adam Smith said – also what Dr. Freud argued in favour of – but more conclusively around what Russel sought to prove in his famous treatise on Power.
And it is to regulate human behaviour in these areas that the Almighty God sent His prophets on the earth. Every thing that is black or white in human civilization – every act that is identified, either as ‘Vice’ or as Virtue’ – either ‘Good’ or “Bad” will always be found linked with these three words – Money, Sex and Power. No mortal human has ever enjoyed immunity from these fundamental motivations of behaviour. In fact all greatness associated with man is directly proportionate to his or her ability and strength to regulate his or her behaviour in these three areas, in the direction prescribed by God through His Divine Commandments. Immunity from folly has been the exclusive privilege of the Messengers of God. It is ‘Power’ that happens to be the subject of this column of mine. Power that one wants to enjoy in one’s home. One’s family. One’s street. Neighbourhood. Office. Factory. Workplace. Town. District. Province. Country. As far as one’s reach goes… Not long ago I read in some article published in a foreign journal that despite the sensational and decisive rise of democracy in the last century, the globe is still overwhelmingly inhabited by the people who continue to suffer a humiliating second-grade citizenship status under the tyrannical and despotic rule of those who happen to control the armed forces of their countries. In the list of such countries it was painful to find the name of Pakistan too.
Let us concede that General Pervez Musharrf never was the kind of despot most of the less fortunate countries in the non-democratic world have suffered. His predecessors in Pakistan had been far more despotic. But then why?
Why should Pakistan remain condemned to stay in the list of the countries where POWER is not drawn from the will of the people, but from the bayonets of the soldiers, the batons of the police and the willingness of the lesser power-seekers to kill their conscience in the service of His Majesty so as to qualify for receiving higher royal favours?
Why don’t we deserve to upgrade our citizenship – so as to come at par with those societies in which corruption, lust for power and ‘disregard for all law and justice’ do not sit in judgement to condemn those who defy them?
What do we have to do to qualify to enjoy the status of the respected citizens of a modern state?
How many more times would we have to go through the shame of witnessing helplessly, the best amongst us being paraded before our shocked eyes, as ‘living reminders’ of the consequences of trying to match the Power of the State with the Power of Law and Justice.
(This Column was first published on 06-12-2007)
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