The time has come to examine the concepts of economics and how these have been worked out to the benefit of the developed world. How, unnecessarily, shortages are created? Who creates these shortages and why we are so poodle-like to follow the advice of the Western armchair economist? Economists that believe that scarcity is a natural phenomenon [Club of Rome and before that, the work of Malthus] have been proven wrong.
Physics has been at the center stage of this, through the computer system, where a knowledge-explosion was witnessed and yet, the knowledge posted on the internet, of much value, requires payments that are no longer within the purview of, and within the scope of young aspirants wanting to learn. Knowledge used to be free and books were cheap, till modern concepts took hold of the system and the greed of the players came to the fore.
The question posited was whether it should be allowed free and if not how to mess up the system. The legal system of the West, given as it is to regressive and greedy money-making, finds ever new ways to make the system difficult for the peoples of the Third World. What science achieved, the legal and social system made sure that it remained unavailable to the poor of the Third World.
The unholy alliance between the Economic and Legal system, internationally, allows this. The future of Capitalism may well lie in this simple but complex question. The scarcity factors are not germane anymore. Will the developed minds of the world be less parochial and less assertive, so that the poverty of this world is reduced, or is it that selfish capitalism has finally come to the fore? In doing so, have we not brought in concepts that are against the very spirit of what was once called the dismal science.
It is no longer so. In an era where every regressive act has been furthered by the Group of Eight, the losers are the people and countries of the south. Consider the Intellectual Property Rights and then consider the patenting that has been done of basmati rice, and such other Third world products, to which the developed world has not done anything to change the genetic classification [now hopefully back to where it belongs] and consider the exorbitant time and finances required to meet the legal challenges posed by these and other threats.
The aspect that no one seems to understand is that the legal system creates these threats and then is the beneficiary of them, when this very legal system is in position, charging heavily for the restoration of the rights of the developing countries. The creators of misery are the beneficiary[s] of the very system that they developed. Can it be any better?
What of knowledge? It was available to us as students, but Friedman, Reganism and Thatcherism managed to take it away. The only persons one remembers in that debate, who took a different view, were Tony Benn and Shirley Williams. The so-called intellectuals were not happy and they managed to make education difficult for not only the Third world students and peoples, but their own students. To soften the blows, they suggested that those with less income can, and should apply, for welfare handouts. Who would? Not a single university student from the Third world applied. It was a losing battle. The USA catered for it by suggesting scholarships for the bright students and what that did for us, poorees, was that the best of our students went there.
Morality of the past has been done away by the immorality of the present and the greed of the future. Lawyers, dictators, MNCs and universities have made this unholy alliance. Can anything be done by the Third world? Yes? First things first, get the West-oriented touts out of the system. Should one identify these persons in one's country? Let it be done by each country afflicted by this debate? These people revel in servility and 'Khushamad' [a stronger word than servility].
Examine the foreign investment that the touts of Musharraf were touting all the time? Their concepts of development were interesting. Tell all the lies that one could? Get servile government servants and beneficiaries to do it with you, and for you, and let the devil take the country to hell? Are we not in that hell? Public policy has never been lamented so therefore the time has come to see what can be done? Having determined what is required, look for the how and means to do it, in a manner that is circumspect and in keeping with the ideology of the political, not the dictatorial system.
Pakistan does not have to cling to the scarcity factors of the economy and its search for meaningful interventions must go on. There is no reason to believe that Pakistanis cannot do it. Capitalism, one has always maintained is not a dirty word. It has been made so by the policies of the developed world and their hirelings in the Third world. For eleven long years, the salaries of our staff was paid from the coffers of the West. When that happens, what do you expect-independent action?
As one is writing this on Independence Day, the thought comes to mind, as to how one can be independent of the forces that are keeping us where they want. Difficult but doable? Go to Paula Farrarie and the brilliant Brazilian monk, who made life hell for the Brazilian army and had to be expelled. He could not go missing because he was Catholic and the Pope would have been on the necks of the army. The concept of 'being' established by him, does not require much science, but does require an independence of mind and the courage to face the current mafias that abound in our parts of the world.
The fact is that do you cling to the scarcity factors? Remember, fertiliser for the last crop, fossil fuel and the current crises of sugar and the doomsayer's fantastic projections on when the oil doom is going to strike? We shall all go to hell if we listen to them. Listen to your own gut feeling. Listen to your conscience. Will you come up trumps? Yes and why not? The sweat and blood of our labourers is more perfumed then the most luxurious perfumes of the West.
Imagine what has been done to us by this unwarranted trade of the 'Khepiyas' smugglers that travel by air to Thailand, to other parts of the world to get for you and me, number two spurious stuff, which we sell in the 104 markets that are just in Islamabad. What have we got for the poor farmers? In the entire Punjab, their number has dropped from 650 [1947] to 121 [2008] and are there more losses on the way? Go on, be a tout of the West. When one travelled on the airport expressway, one stood to see the machinery that was brought in to make those roads. The CDA was eulogised by the people that were? Why not were they the beneficiaries of that perverted system?
Temptation is very scary. Try avoiding it? Will you and I fail this country? I do not think so. The heart does not have to be weak and go down to the navel? Life is such that taken by the horns, one can survive and be not taken that way so that one gets trampled. Take your pick-Capitalism to rule us or we rule Capitalism. The road is arduous. The battles have to be lost and won here. The mindset has to be destroyed that is not for the country. Can you be a player and a self-introspective critic of yourself? Are you an angel or Satan? Ask yourself-do not tell anyone.