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(1/10) If you are a progressive, you *must* see the need for a truce with some class enemies - to challenge even more oppressive forces. If Bhagat Singh got this at 23 awaiting death, you have no excuse for supporting colonial Babus with childish talk of "feudalz", "dynastiez"
(2/10) If you think that the most dangerous problem for Pakistan's dev+progress is a few politicians who are sometimes accused of having a hand in the cookie jar -by people who sit next to the cookie jar with a loaded gun- then you're not being "pure". You're being dumb+slavish
(3/10) The classic socialist strategy for dealing with big oppressors (eg a colonial state like Britain/France, a brutal invader like Germany/Japan or a right-wing regime like Franco or Pinochet) is to make whatever alliances are necessary.
It's called the Popular Front
It's called the Popular Front
(4/10) If you fail to make a coalition, the big oppressor will pick you off at convenience.
Are your coalition partners going to be ideal? Never. That's why you keep the possibility of critiquing them. You maintain your *own* org structures, your own publications, your own line
Are your coalition partners going to be ideal? Never. That's why you keep the possibility of critiquing them. You maintain your *own* org structures, your own publications, your own line
(5/10) Your coalition partners will rarely be consistent. They have different class interests from you (they are capitalists, smaller shopkeepers, etc). They're afraid of rocking the boat beyond a point & they're more afraid than you are of state repression (more to lose)
(6/10) That's where organized, principled progressive politics comes in. As shepherds of a Popular Front, you keep wolves away & strays in line, as best you can. And you keep the big picture (& big oppressor) in focus. You are driven by a goal beyond your allies' imagination
(7/10) The problem with dynasties is that sometimes, due to arbitrary/lawless dictatorial rule by the state apparatus (created by the Brits), the people fall back on familiar political families/brands. You can find a very early example for this, in Ayub's era
(8/10) Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah came out to oppose Ayub's regime & progressives supported her. Her legitimacy came through her relationship to Mr Jinnah - which you could say is "dynastic"
Ayub Khan's mil regime accused her of everything thrown at opposition leaders today. See:
Ayub Khan's mil regime accused her of everything thrown at opposition leaders today. See:
(9/10) Ayub's cronies would put a lantern around the neck of a female dog & parade it around– the lantern being Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah's electoral symbol.
If this is what the Men of Always did to the best Bloody Civs, what hope do we today have of getting respect as citizens?
If this is what the Men of Always did to the best Bloody Civs, what hope do we today have of getting respect as citizens?
(10/10) So take responsibility for your history. Read what happened in the 20th-C: here, in pre-WW2 Europe & the Global South. Find out who the Men of Always are in your country. Stand for yourself, not this or that politician. Don't hate yourself & accept a dictatorship of Babus
