A new political party essentially left is about to be announced in Pakistan. Among its main figures is Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Junior, the grandson of possibly the central leader of the best known left in the country.
They are expected to join others who share their idealistic perspective, western and politically not proven. But can such a party find success in a country where history has not been kind to the left, and, in a turn of irony, has it often also turned against the extreme right?
At this time, the world is, of course, in an orbit to the right. Donald Trump of the United States leads this group of right -wing leaders, but the same trend can be seen through stripes in Europe and Asia, including India.
There are leftist governments grouped in South America and the Labor-Left Labor Party in Australia, as well as those that share the same ideologies in other parts of the world that are doing everything possible to move forward to give people more rights, their own voice and economic development.
Some, like Lula da Silva, who has returned in Brazil, are successful in a limited degree. Others are going less good or moving quickly on their chosen path.
One question that we must ask and answer honestly is why the left has constantly failed in Pakistan despite the urgent need for leftist policies that deal with the difficult situation of landless peasants, peasants with small holdings, workers, women, women and so many other groups of private people.
We should, almost 78 years after the partition, not to face a situation in which people in Lyari fight to obtain a can of water and other people in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa live consistently precarious lives, as illustrated by recent floods that swept the houses and led to the settlements built throughout the Monday of flotos. This should not be acceptable in the 21st century.
There are multiple reasons for the failures of Pakistan’s left. The PPP, which was proposed as an essentially central match on the left, although it also spoke in a strong voice of panislamism, was overcome by those who separated from the central principle of the founders who created this party, which still survives, but without much that can be called a leftist agenda.
However, it is still considered by many Pakistaníes to place its roots more to the left than other groups. Perhaps the most successful leftist party in recent years, the National Awami party, has suffered for the literal murder of its main leadership, including members of the Bilour family and threats to other leaders, which makes it impossible to organize demonstrations or fulfill components without the constant fear of death that cross the door in the form of a bomb, a weapon or a suicide veil.
The right, and mainly the TTP, has managed to drive for what was left of the left -wing tradition centered on KP, established by Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and his followers. There are also other reasons why the left has failed to increase.
The campaign against the left under Ayub Khan and then other dictatorships was a reason for the collapse of the main leftist parties and also their publications, viewed mainly in the 1950s. The prohibitions were placed in the Communist Party in 1954. The left never recovered. His newspapers, magazines and pamphlets, some as Progressive Papers Ltd, who brought to light the Times of Pakistan and Imroze, never returned.
We also see too many internal struggles between the leftist parties, which still survive. Small differences on precise ideologies cut the greatest division between the Chinese and Soviet ideals of these groups and keep them separate. But the problem is deeper than that. The left parties have not been able to raise more than one tiny percentage of the national or provincial vote.
This despite the considerable volume of work that some have carried out in specific areas, such as in Kot Lakhpat in Lahore. Of course, there are other examples.
The issue of religion and misunderstandings in this regard can be a reason why people do not vote for left -oriented groups. But the problem is much more complex than that. A truly charismatic leftist leader like Thomas Sankara from Burkina Faso, Hugo Chávez from Venezuela, Ho Chi Minh and others from Vietnam are the type of leaders who can bring together divided groups and convince people that their future rise in social and economic elevation, as well as education and health in a country, which are still one of the least educated in the world and their less 50% It is 50% of children. Mainly due to poor health coverage and even poorer nutrient intake. This also affects your mental well -being.
Surely we do not want a country that continues to survive the way you are doing today. It is also a fact that change is possible and could get quite fast in a country that has a lot of young people and people with immense potential. These people need vocational training together with the education of Sounder and some help to begin the poverty and misery it possesses. There is no romance in poverty, despite its representation in classical fiction and other writings.
This is what any new party will need to persuade people, since it begins to aim at what seems impossible. The fact that Nepal and Sri Lanka in the region have governments with some left -wing credentials should give some hope to the leaders of the left of Pakistan.
But it is also true that they will need to find a way to obtain massive support and bring enough numbers to give them at least some voice in Parliament and provincial assemblies. This will take time, but it is a task that is certainly worth making an effort to achieve for all Pakistan people.
Discharge of responsibility: The views expressed in this piece are that of writer and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of PakGazette.TV.
The writer is an independent columnist and former newspaper editor. You can reach it in: [email protected]
Originally published in the news
