May Day musings

Today the working class will commemorate the 71st May Day since independence. During this time, industrialisation, particularly in the 1960s, produced an exponential growth in the numbers and organised (unionised) strength of the workers. However, from its heyday around 1968 when the working class came out in full force, red flags flying, against the Ayub dictatorship, to the present state of things is a sorry tale of decline and relative powerlessness.
The reasons for this present state of weakness are varied. Repression, curbs on union forming and collective bargaining, outsourcing, contract labour and home-based workers have combined to render the working class movement stagnant. The ritual of the May Day parades and rallies this year will therefore, as in recent years, serve as a stark reminder of the mountain of challenges facing the working class.
At present, because of the factors enumerated above (which may not be an exhaustive list), only about one percent of workers are organised in trade unions in the formal sector, even less in the informal sector. The latter (although credible statistics are hard to come by) has arguably overtaken the former in size, partly because large-scale manufacturing has not seen significant new investment for many years while the growth of small and medium sized enterprises has galloped along and provided some measure of relief to the job market. However, whatever little collective bargaining regimes and rights under the law are available in the formal sector are conspicuous by their absence in the informal sector.
The organised trade union movement has for many years distanced itself, consciously or unconsciously, from political struggle. In societies and states like Pakistan, this is tantamount to the workers fighting with one hand tied behind their backs. The absence of a credible and inspiring countrywide Left movement has added to this outcome.
This state of affairs is not unique to Pakistan. Forget the developing world, even in the developed countries the rights of workers are nowhere as secure as they once were. The end of the Cold War amidst the collapse of the Soviet Union and socialism in Eastern Europe cleared the way for unfettered, globalising capitalism to rule the roost in unprecedented hegemonic fashion (and reorder the geopolitical map of the world to its benefit, eg, in the Middle East). The result, despite the severe economic crisis of 2007-08, is growing inequality within classes, regions and amongst countries. The old wisdom that capitalism inherently cannot do otherwise than engender inequality and social injustice because of the way relations of production and power are structured in the system, has never seemed truer than today.
The working class movement in turn will have to restructure its union ranks to become a voice to reckon with (at present, not much attention is paid by the authorities to their concerns no matter which government is in power), reach out to and work with the nascent Left seeking cooperation and unity within its ranks, and not be shy of intervening in political struggle when needed.
Speaking of the Cold War, the last remnant of that titanic struggle between capitalism and socialism that defined the post-WWII order until 1991 seems poised for peaceful resolution. The historic summit between the leaders of North and South Korea has opened up fresh possibilities of an end to the 'cold war' on the Korean Peninsula that has persisted since 1953. However, much hinges on the outcome of the upcoming summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, possibly in Singapore. The Korean Peninsula was the last left over flashpoint of the Cold War, with shivers running down the spine of the world at the prospect of a threatened nuclear conflict between Pyongyang and Washington. Trump, despite, or even because of, his belligerent statements against North Korea and its leaders in recent months, and his 'celebration' of the breakthrough Korean summit, has the weight of expectation on his shoulders. Let us hope the Korean conundrum is approaching its last act and peace is poised to break out.
Nearer home, the political landscape remains as murky as it has been for more than a year since the Panama circus started. The shape of things to come has, however, revealed itself in outline. The 'nibbling away' at the PML-N leadership and margins that is in progress through the judiciary, backed, it is alleged, by the military establishment, points in the direction of a possible hung parliament, yielding at best a shaky, weak coalition government, with 'independents' holding the balance of power in parliament. This is a return to the favourite recipe of the establishment to have the window dressing of an elected government that is weak enough to permit easy manipulation from behind the scenes. Whether that will be a long lasting construct only time will tell, with the possibility not ruled out that if the general elections are not perceived to be free and fair, instability may result. The first casualty in that case will be the relatively healthy state of the economy as reflected in the Economic Survey and Federal Budget, criticisms, weaknesses and flaws notwithstanding.
The greatest toll of the jihadi proxy war project in the context of Afghanistan has been inflicted on the people of FATA (the staging post for the jihadi proxy war unleashed since 1973), with the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) close behind (having played the role of the rear base of the Afghan jihad from its beginnings till the present day. When the jihadi front split into the so-called 'good' and 'bad' Taliban incrementally after 9/11 and Musharraf's surrender to threats from Washington, the chickens of the proxy war adventure came home to roost. This 'bad' (ie hostile to the Pakistani state) Taliban phenomenon emerged formally after the Lal Masjid siege in Islamabad and its bloody denouement in 2007 in the shape of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Their reckless terrorism, manifested particularly in the Karachi airport attack and the Army Public School (APS) massacre of children and teachers in 2013 and 2014 respectively, finally produced the consensus amongst the civilian and military leadership to unsheathe the big sword against this challenge to the security of the country. Operations Zarb-e-Azb and Radd ul Fassad followed.
These military operations succeeded in clearing FATA of the long standing bases of domestic and foreign jihadis from all over the world, a legacy of the Afghan wars. But the TTP now has retreated in classic guerrilla fashion and based itself in the poorly policed regions straddling the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. From there, with the help of internally located sleeper cells, it continues a low-level terrorist campaign.
The people of FATA and KP have much to complain about. Their woes at the hands of the terrorists on the one hand and the military and security forces on the other have reduced them to grist to be ground to fine powder in this mill. Almost the entire tribal leadership (Malliks) in FATA was killed by the local Taliban. On the other hand, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, daily humiliations at checkposts and elsewhere at the hands of the military and security forces, this menu finally produced the backlash known as the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM). The PTM has by now held huge, successful rallies in Peshawar, Islamabad, Lahore and Swat. They intend to hold one in Karachi on May 12 to commemorate the massacre in the metropolis that ensued when deposed Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Chaudhry travelled to the city as part of the lawyers' movement for the restoration of the judiciary decapitated by Musharraf in 2007.
PTM is essentially a movement of the Pashtun victims of the anti-terrorist war. Being relatively new, and with a young leadership personified by Manzoor Pashteen, PTM has formulated some positions on the basis of conspiracy theory rather than fact. To ascribe, for example, all terrorist actions, including the APS massacre, to the military flies in the face of logic and the facts. For such formulations, the PTM has been dubbed an anti-state movement by some quarters, with the usual allegation of working at the behest of foreign powers thrown in for good measure. Yet the military, with the help of traditional tribal notables, has convened jirgas to discuss with the PTM leaders their "genuine grievances". This is as it should be, with the powers that be being sensitive to the concerns of the populace at large, and the affected populace of war zones in particular. If their demands are met, totally or partially, this may lose the PTM some of the momentum it has acquired of late, but only time will tell.
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