From: dogar@rtsg.mot.com (Haroon H. Dogar)
Subject: Iftikhar Zaman on colonialism
Organization: Motorola Inc., Cellular Infrastructure Group
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1992 17:28:17 GMT

The following is a repost of Iftikhar Zaman's article from
waaay back when. I'm reposting it for the benefit of those
who may have missed it as it is extremely relevant to the
discussions on what is/was best for Pakistan.

Any thoughts?

-hd

Enjoy:

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From: zama@ellis.uchicago.edu (iftikhar uz zaman)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian,soc.culture.pakistan
Subject: We (and the) people...
Date: 8 Apr 91 06:51:01 GMT
Organization: Orientalists Anonymous


	"...And Ye Shall Know Them by the Horns on their Heads"

	There is a memorable quotation from Macaulay when he was
arguing for the export of the English system of education to 
India (from England) in which he said, in effect, that the
goal of the Brits should be to create a class of people in India
who were Indian in blood and skin, but were Englishmen in their
manners, tastes and opinions.  I find that the idea expressed in
this saying of Macaulay's comes back to haunt me time and again:

	Macaulay's speech had won the day and the decision was made to
implement his policies in India.  Consider the possibility that this
project has succeeded.  Consider the possibility that the Brits were
able to create such a class.  Consider the possibility that me and you
are part of this class.

	How *can* we give *serious* consideration to this possibility?
To make clear the problem I see in even considering this possibility,
consider the analogy with brain-washing: you are a POW in the enemy
camp and you know that this particular enemy frequently brain washes
prisoners and then sends them back to their countries in a state that
they "...are Indians(/Pakistanis) in skin and blood but xxx in
manners, tastes and opinions."  How *could* you act to protect yourself?
You might write a note to yourself and attach it to some part of
your body: "Diary entry April 6: I have been captured by the enemy
and they are going to try to get me to change the way I think about
myself and about everything dear to me.  I *must* resist this.
Remember, Iftikhar, when you are released you must realise that your
mind has been tampered with: do not trust your own opinions!"

	Would such a note even do any good?  If I can't trust my
own opinions, whose do I trust?  

	To move back to reality from this hypothetical example: What
kind of checks can I institute on my own thinking so that I will be
alerted in case I have started thinking about myself and my own
people as a colonialist thinks?  Or: *can* I institute such checks?

	The possibility I am trying to raise here stems from the
idea that "orientalists" do not have horns on their heads, and they
don't even have to be "white-skinned," or "foreigners."  Us "natives"
have as much potential to be colonial in our thinking as any
white skinned foreigner does.  In other words, colonialism and
orientalism are descriptive terms for a *way of thinking* they
are *not* terms which describe some *type of human being*.

	As those who feel aggrieved by what the colonial powers
wrought on us/our culture/our traditions etc. we feel *by default*
that there can be no common denominator between "us" and "them."
I am suggesting that this divide is not necessarily there *by
default*.  IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO BE MALICIOUS TO BE A COLONIALIST.
A lot of colonialists *were* very well meaning people.  Many, I
am certain actually felt they were bringing the light to the
"dark continents."  They wanted India, Africa etc. to prosper--
to share in prosperity as they themselves had come to understand
it.  

(I am not saying "all colonialists" were like this: I am saying
that there were at least some like this --> and therefore, the
*concept* of colonialism is not directly and positively related
to ill-intent: and therefore, good intentions are *not* an innoculation
against colonialism/orientalism).

	In the few months I have been on the net I have heard people
in SCI/SCP use many of the terms the Brits used to use for us ("a
dirty people..." "they urinate all over the place" among other
things); and I have seen very well-meaning proposals on how to better
our countries: but they too, have sounded much like the types of
proposals Macaulay might have made....

	(I can already hear people saying: "Just because Brits think
something, or might have thought it, doesn't mean it is wrong.
Evaluate the good in a suggestion on the basis of its objective value,
*not* on the basis of who says it..."  Of course.  I am not debating
the point of whether we *are* actually dirty--or whether we *should*
do various things or not....What I am interested in is only one thing:
looking at myself and trying to decide how much of my thoughts are my
own, and how much having I become a mouthpiece for the continued
domination of our countries by the West: How much Uncle Tom do I have
in me...)

	Finally, I do not think it is a good idea to use this line of
thinking *as an accusation* against someone else.  I think the most
productive use of this type of thought is in examining one's own self.
I believe it is Ghazali who spoke of "sitting doorman (guard) at the
portals of my heart for x number of years..."  This is what I, too, am
suggesting.  I suggest that *all* of us who are here in America, by
virute of the very fact that we were able to make it here should
consider the possibility that *we* are the privileged class; and by
extension, *we* are (part) of the oppressors of the people: that *we*
have stepped in to the Brits shoes.

	Certainly, we may have a more benevolent and well-meaning
attitude towards "the people;" but the relationship we have towards
the people might very well, *in functional terms* be exactly
equivalent to the ones the brits had: we are the rulers who think for
them, who make plans to educate them, who decide whether democracy is
good for them or a parliamentary system or constitutionalism: we
decide that the "mullas" have been leading them astray too long; we
decidee that what they "really" need is vocational schools; we
consider them too uneducated to even be worthy of *consulting* before
we decide what their "real" problems are.  Does this not remind you of
the British?  Is it not as insulting/patronizing/colonial/orientalist?
	
	So, you will ask, what is to be done?  Should we gather
together a panchayat in chakk number 25 to "contribute" to our discussion
of the benefits of a strong center?  

	I think the "what is to be done" stage is crucial.  But before
that I think we need to realize the fact that something *does* need
to be done.  I think all of us "English speaking class" needs to 
give serious consideration to the possibility that we are the new
colonialists; and that we need to monitor our thinking.  Then, I feel
that as we are able to turn the volume down a bit on the IMO's, we
might gain the *capacity* and the *ability* to listen to the vernacular
speaking class whom we rule.  

	In other words, had a benevolent English do-gooder come to you
in 1890 and said "What can I do to help? Our government *has* taken
control here....I have the ear of the important people in government,
is there anything (short of overthrowing the crown) that we could do,
please tell me."  *I* would have told him: "Listen. Watch. Learn to
respect what is good in our traditions.  Be very careful when you
think of major transplants of ideas and methods from your countries.
When you think something will be good for us, don't just go ahead and
do it: ask us.  Treat us as intelligent human beings and not
children..."

	To close: perhaps an essential aspect of colonialism is that
you treat the ruled as children and take the responsibility of thinking
*for* them.  I think many of us have developed this tendency in thinking
about our countries.  Many of the articles on going back to Pakistan remind
one that their authors think of "going back to Pakistan" just as
Kipling thought of the Brits mission in India (cf: his poem "White
Man's Burden to the effect that "send forth the best ye breed, to
pick up the white man's burden..." and enlighten those poor darkies).
Again, I am not disputing the fact that you might very well do good
for the country if you go back...But the way you think...doesn't this
have the odor of British imperialists attitudes?  And isn't that
something you would want to avoid...

						Iftikhar Zaman

(PS This laste distaste of the "colonialist motivation" for going back
to our countires is what motivated me to post the caustic message
about us being in America being good for the country--"ganda khun"
(bad blood) needs to be expelled....Later I regretted, not the
substance or the idea behind the post, but the manner in which I had
expressed it... A belated apology to those I offended.)

Newsgroups: soc.culture.pakistan