Khaled Ahmed: Pakistan sees its face in the mirror and doesn’t like what it sees

By Dilip -

Stalin fought against fascism but then created an ideological state, which was not much different from Hitler’s Germany. Pakistan is like Caliban. It sees its face in the mirror and doesn’t like what it sees. Pratap Bhanu Mehta recently (Simply Vishwas) wrote: “Politics of belief (vishwas) is different from one based on fact and interest. It has an underlying cultural nihilism.” In Pakistan, it has an association with “ideology” serving as the foundation of the Islamic State. The word “ideologie” came into use during the French Revolution and postulated a sure and encyclopaedic form of knowledge upon which social engineering could be based. 

Ideology came on the scene as a champion of Enlightenment and rival of religion, but it soon acquired the status of a dogma. The principal voice of the ideologues and author of Elements d’Ideologie, Antoine Destutt de Tracy (1754-1836), spoke frankly of “regulating society”. Most ideologues possess a kind of certitude, not just that utopia can be built but that it is destined to be built. Nothing promotes aggression more than certitude. Yet, a fatalistic trust in the tide of history and the ideological frame of mind go together. However, history cannot be left alone to unfold - the “passionate intensity” (W B Yeats) of ideology craves movement and deeds. It has been said that “ideology is the transformation of ideas into social levers”. During the month of fasting this year, “ideology” and its “certitude” once again threaten Pakistan with violence. Mehta’s “vishwas” may be linked to “certitude” and consequent aggression”….

https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/pakistan-islamic-utopia-ideology-clerics-khaled-ahmed-6592546/

Alexandre Koyré The Political Function of the Modern Lie

The Crises of Party Culture: by Yang Guang

China’s Brave Underground Journal - Remembrance

Book Review: Inside the Stalin Archives, by Johnathan Brent (2009) // Books from "Annals of Communism Series", Yale University Press

Alec Luhn - Gulag grave hunter unearths uncomfortable truths in Russia

Book review - Linda Grant on Vasily Grossman’s Life and Fate

A Final Warning by George Orwell

Oxford University's Contemporary South Asian Studies Programme comments on Venkat Dhulipala

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