Illustration by Abro

In times of dictatorship, it is customary to accuse an individual for damaging, harming and destabilising the society, while ignoring those who support, collaborate and cooperate with him to usurp power, consolidate political authority and implement his agenda.

Take Adolf Hitler for example: he is accused of genocide of the Jews, setting up concentration camps, torture, imprisonment, execution of his opponents and implementation of the purification of the Arian race. But truth be told, Hitler was a product of his time, where racist ideology, anti-Semitism, and intense German nationalism and patriotism were prevalent.

It was a time when European nations dominated the world and its resources. European intellectuals as well as common people believed in the ideology of supremacy of the white race. Arthur de Gobineau (d.1882) too wrote a book, In Equality of the Races, which became a Bible for the believers of racism. In Germany, the idea of purity of the Teutonic race that belonged to the Arians was popular. Houston Stewart Chamberlain (d.1927), the author of The Foundation of Nineteenth Century and the champion of racism, was an old man, sitting on a wheel chair, when he met Hitler in 1927 (who was not yet in power but had become a popular leader of the Nazi Party). Chamberlain warmly grabbed Hitler’s hand and told him that in him he had found a person who could establish the purity and supremacy of Arian race, therefore, he could now die in peace and tranquillity.

In every age and in every country, the people of every nation have always supported a dictator. — Ludwig Von Mises

Anti-Jewish feelings were not new in Europe but were deeply rooted not only in Germany but in other European countries too. Philosophers and thinkers derided the presence of Jewish people in German society as pollutants who could damage the qualities of the German race. The concept of the German state was repeatedly strengthened by historians, philosophers and thinkers. According to Hegel, the state was the only institution through which a society could fulfil its freedom. He believed that the German state had the blessings of God and through it Germany would achieve greatness. Under this political, social and philosophical milieu, Hitler assumed power in 1933 democratically, but gradually he demolished all democratic institutions and became a dictator.

However, he was not alone. He had supporters, who helped him in transforming society on the basis of Nazi ideology. He was very popular among the masses. Whenever he addressed the crowd, people hysterically raised slogans in his favour and express their support to his cause. When the Nazi party was organised, youth, women, children and workers demonstrated in the cities with Nazi banners, singing patriotic songs; one could see nationalist emotions reflecting from their faces and their love for ‘Fuhrer’.

Most intellectuals and professors, who did not agree with the Nazi ideology, left Germany for other European countries and the US. Some intellectuals like Martin Heideggar (d.1976) and Carl Schmitt (d.1985) supported the Nazi Ideology. Therefore, when Hitler and his party followed the policy of Nazification and took Germany to World War II, German society paid a heavy price for it. The dictatorship, the Nazi ideology and the dream to rule over Europe came to an end after Germany’s defeat in the war. However, Hitler was not alone responsible for the disaster that befell Germany, his comrades and associates were equally responsible.

In Pakistan, it is also customary to accuse General Ziaul Haq of transforming and turning Pakistan from bad to worse, but he was not singlehandedly responsible for implementing the policy of Islamisation and the Ideology of Pakistan. He inherited the process of Islamisation from 1949, when the Objectives Resolution was passed, which was further promoted by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto after making Islam, the state religion.

Gen Zia completed those projects which were initiated by the PPP government. Moreover, he was not alone but fully supported by political parties, politicians, intellectuals and the ulema.

Gen Zia is accused of damaging and harming the society but those who cooperated with him are spared the accusations. The politicians who were in his majlis-i-shoora joined other political parties after the fall of Zia and became the champion of democracy.

Therefore to judge and assess a dictatorship correctly, it is important to judge all those parties, groups and institutions, who were the part and parcel of the system and they should not be exonerated but condemned along with the dictator who caused an irreparable loss to the society.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, July 12th, 2015

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