Pakistan Heading For Bloody Revolution

January 6, 2008

By Muhammad Khurshid

The rulers of Pakistan have still been enjoying their lives. There is no report that they have felt any pain, but the poor masses have been facing a very difficult situation. If the situation remains the same there is possibility that the country may face a bloody revolution. Actually this is the aim of terrorists to create bloody revolution on the pattern of Iran. Who are terrorists? I do not know who are these people. But they are in Pakistan and are busy round the clock preparing ground for a bloody revolution.

It is reported that President Pervez Musharraf has directed the caretaker government in Islamabad to ensure security in the country during the month of Muharram when Pakistan has traditionally gone on institutional alert. Sectarian violence, always a threat during Muharram, spiked towards the end of the 1990s and played havoc with the Musharraf interregnum.

Starting in 2003, Pakistan’s anti-Shia trend was internationalised and Iraq beat it on the number of deaths recorded. Today Pakistan is engulfed in what may be called anti-Musharraf violence. There is an offensive from the people against the state, which they no longer identify as their friend, and there is responsive violence from the state trying to curb civil society protest.

There is also the violence of Talibanisation and Al Qaeda. The first is attempting to transform society and prepare it for a universal Islamic caliphate, the second is attempting to eliminate what it believes are “servants” of America’s anti-Islamic imperialism. There was a time when Pakistan’s establishment was actively involved in supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan and thus being a partisan in the internal conflict there by pitting the Pushtun majority against the rest. Today, the state seems to have decided to change course and contain the spreading influence of Talibanisation, but most observers fear that important pockets within the establishment are still following the Taliban agenda. This thinking is not willing to separate the violence of Al Qaeda from that of the state under President Musharraf.

The ambivalence in the understanding of violence in Pakistan was best reflected in the attitude of the late PPP chairperson Ms Benazir Bhutto who warned the nation against the “leftovers” of the General Zia’s Islamisation period who were ensconced within the state institutions. There was a reason why she thought that there was “cooperation” between the state and Al Qaeda. She had been targeted by Al Qaeda during the 1980s and later on too, when Osama bin Laden is said to have spent money on politicians who would eliminate her politically from the national scene. So she had reason to believe that upon her entry into Pakistan these “embedded” elements would try to get rid of her.

Yet there was a second prong to her policy vis-à-vis security in Pakistan. She was the only mainstream Pakistani leader to speak against the threat of Al Qaeda. She spoke out in circumstances when most leaders were looking to getting votes from a population that refuses to focus on the Al Qaeda threat. No one wants to be heard commenting on Al Qaeda in public. The media too is more effectively concentrated on the revival of democratic institutions and President Musharraf’s increasingly unconvincing strategy to stay in power. Ironically, President Musharraf and Ms Bhutto became the only two leaders to “verbalise” against Al Qaeda.

It is not surprising that Ms Bhutto’s assassination has persuaded the public that the state, and not Al Qaeda, has actually committed the murder. We are therefore in a very tricky situation -- the state is supposed to provide security to a people who actually suspect it of killing its leaders. The accusations against the “agencies” began in the 1990s and are still flying thick in the country. The opposition government in the NWFP never tired of pointing the finger at the agencies when incidents of violence occurred within the state’s jurisdiction. That is why, in the run-up to the elections in 2008, the opposition parties are all crying foul about the interference of the agencies in the rigging of the polls. Violence emanating from this sense of grievance has unfolded in the country, during which the institutions charged with the preservation of security have actually fled the scene of violence.

It is in these circumstances of state-people confrontation that third parties are most willingly intervening to cause conflict. The month of Muharram is just the time when a well-planted bomb, or a Sunni suicide-bomber promised Paradise in return for a Shia death, can trigger an all-out war. This happened in 2003 and 2004 in Balochistan and Karachi; it has happened in the Northern Areas, and at the time of writing, it is going on in the Kurram Agency. Such is the past jurisprudence of the sectarian violence in Pakistan that both sides end up accusing the state and its “agencies” of killing them. In the decade of the 2000, the trend to accuse the United States for sectarian violence has gained strength, thus indirectly absolving Al Qaeda, and its subservient jihadi militias of yore, of any complicity.

This could be the most difficult season of public security in Pakistan. The grief over the death of Ms Bhutto has not died down, and any high-visibility presence of the state agencies could instigate violence instead of preventing it.

In the past, the common man came under a lot of pressure from the decline of minimal public utilities even as the government was able to achieve growth rates. Now there is a lack of hope commensurate with the government’s failure to effectively counter the threats it said it would eliminate. Thus, state security has been undermined by a lack of trust as never before.

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. I.U. has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is I.U endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)


The Nazis, Fascists and Communists were political parties before they became enemies of liberty and mass murderers.

The Unconscious Revolution Has Begun...

No reason we cannot find a way to build on that and bring consciousness to it.

Can we spell, Solidarity?

If we can and are smart about how we go about it, we can smash the ugly, vile snake of sociopathic corporatism, perhaps for a century or two. Of course it will always come around again, as long as unchecked greed, fearful and conscious-less people exist.

We like to think of ourselves as compassionate people. But of this I am sure: One cannot truly be compassionate with the poor unless one is willing to share their situation to a meaningful degree. Simply writing a check, while very helpful, does not a revolution make.

Published on Tuesday, August 21, 2007 by The Huffington Post

Smashing Capitalism

by Barbara Ehrenreich

Somewhere in the Hamptons a high-roller is cursing his cleaning lady and shaking his fists at the lawn guys. The American poor, who are usually tactful enough to remain invisible to the multi-millionaire class, suddenly leaped onto the scene and started smashing the global financial system. Incredibly enough, this may be the first case in history in which the downtrodden manage to bring down an unfair economic system without going to the trouble of a revolution.

(It is a revolution, or at least the first recent spark. It is however, non-violent, so far. It might not be for much longer if the conscious revolutionaries do not find a way to effectively, stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters, as poverty is coming our way as well. Count on it.)

First they stopped paying their mortgages, a move in which they were joined by many financially stretched middle class folks, though the poor definitely led the way. All right, these were trick mortgages, many of them designed to be unaffordable within two years of signing the contract. There were “NINJA” loans, for example, awarded to people with “no income, no job or assets.” Conservative columnist Niall Fergusen laments the low levels of “economic literacy” that allowed people to be exploited by sub-prime loans. Why didn’t these low-income folks get lawyers to go over the fine print? And don’t they have personal financial advisors anyway?

Then, in a diabolically clever move, the poor - a category which now roughly coincides with the working class — stopped shopping. Both Wal-Mart and Home Depot announced disappointing second quarter performances, plunging the market into another Arctic-style meltdown. H. Lee Scott, CEO of the low-wage Wal-Mart empire, admitted with admirable sensitivity, that “it’s no secret that many customers are running out of money at the end of the month.”

I wish I could report that the current attack on capitalism represents a deliberate strategy on the part of the poor, that there have been secret meetings in break rooms and parking lots around the country, where cell leaders issued instructions like, “You, Vinny — don’t make any mortgage payment this month. And Caroline, forget that back-to-school shopping, OK?” But all the evidence suggests that the current crisis is something the high-rollers brought down on themselves.

When, for example, the largest private employer in America, which is Wal-Mart, starts experiencing a shortage of customers, it needs to take a long, hard look in the mirror. About a century ago, Henry Ford realized that his company would only prosper if his own workers earned enough to buy Fords. Wal-Mart, on the other hand, never seemed to figure out that its cruelly low wages would eventually curtail its own growth, even at the company’s famously discounted prices.

The sad truth is that people earning Wal-Mart-level wages tend to favor the fashions available at the Salvation Army. Nor do they have much use for Wal-Mart’s other departments, such as Electronics, Lawn and Garden, and Pharmacy.

It gets worse though. While with one hand the high-rollers, H. Lee Scott among them, squeezed the American worker’s wages, the other hand was reaching out with the tempting offer of credit. In fact, easy credit became the American substitute for decent wages. Once you worked for your money, but now you were supposed to pay for it. Once you could count on earning enough to save for a home. Now you’ll never earn that much, but, as the lenders were saying — heh, heh — do we have a mortgage for you!

Pay day loans, rent-to-buy furniture and exorbitant credit card interest rates for the poor were just the beginning. In its May 21st cover story on “The Poverty Business,” BusinessWeek documented the stampede, in the just the last few years, to lend money to the people who could least afford to pay the interest: Buy your dream home! Refinance your house! Take on a car loan even if your credit rating sucks! Financiamos a Todos! Somehow, no one bothered to figure out where the poor were going to get the money to pay for all the money they were being offered.

Personally, I prefer my revolutions to be a little more pro-active. There should be marches and rallies, banners and sit-ins, possibly a nice color theme like red or orange. Certainly, there should be a vision of what you intend to replace the bad old system with — European-style social democracy, Latin American-style socialism, or how about just American capitalism with some regulation thrown in?

Global capitalism will survive the current credit crisis; already, the government has rushed in to soothe the feverish markets. But in the long term, a system that depends on extracting every last cent from the poor cannot hope for a healthy prognosis. Who would have thought that foreclosures in Stockton and Cleveland would roil the markets of London and Shanghai? The poor have risen up and spoken; only it sounds less like a shout of protest than a low, strangled, cry of pain.

Barbara Ehrenreich, the author of Nickel and Dimed (Owl), is the winner of the 2004 Puffin/Nation Prize.

© 2007 HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. I.U. has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is I.U endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)

The Nazis, Fascists and Communists were political parties before they became enemies of liberty and mass murderers.

REVOLUTION, just as Thomas Jefferson suggested.

What If Bush's Supreme Court Blocks Congressional Oversight by Hearing and Subpoena? by Rob Kall Page 1 of 1 page(s) http://www.opednews.com

It's very likely that Bush or his surrogate has already discussed strategy with the Supreme Court Whores who put him in office and who are now tearing apart the constitution, precedent after precedent.

If they've already had those conversation-- and why shouldn't we make that assumption?-- the American people must face some very unpleasant realities.

The supposed Judicial branch of the USA has been, possibly irreparably, corrupted.

There is no ultimate recourse for justice in America.

The USA has been taken over and is no longer subject to democratic law.

Corrupt, partisan, illegal activities are no longer subject to legal attack.

It is very likely that there are many, many layers of corruption and illegal actions that will never be uncovered.


That said, the congress and the people of the US will have a serious decision to make.

If the SCOTUS blocks congressional oversight of Bush, t will be clear that the Supreme court of the US is no longer operating under good faith or integrity. The congress and the people of the US must do all they can to remedy this situation, including supreme court justices.

It is essential that the congress plan for the worst exigencies and develop strategies to handle them.

If Bush and his administration are protected by the SCOTUS from being held accountable by his Supreme Court, America will be face a situation like never before.

It will take courage and creativity, bravery and audacity, sacrifice and heroism that true patriots know.

We better be ready for it. I fear for the worst. Congress better get much tougher, sooner, or it will be too late.

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. I.U. has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is I.U endorsed or sponsored by the originator.

The Nazis, Fascists and Communists were political parties before they became enemies of liberty and mass murderers.