Organised violence or organised mob violence is invariably done in the name of ideals, causes and dreams by institutions or certain groups of people. The problem with human mind is twofold. Firstly, it inherits a streak of violence from the times humans spent in primeval forests where aggression was a tool of survival. Secondly, development of humans as conscious beings with a sense of the past, the present and the future makes it imperative for human mind to rationalise or justify what is done or is intended to be done.

Rationalization or justification may be weak at the knees or unable to stand the scrutiny but it has to be there for what is traditionally called the comfort of conscience. It’s actually the requirement of conscious human mind; it has to have reasons for allowing to be done what is done in human domain. In the primeval times, violence was done for bare physical survival but now at a higher stage of human development, it’s done for something higher and exalted, a grand project designed either to revive an imagined past or to build an imagined future which would prove panacea for all the perceived ills besetting the present. In our part of the world, which is still primitive in many an aspect, it is usually a desperate effort to see the past, lying dead on the hallowed ground of some sacred myth, resuscitated as the future.

Correlation of an ideal – set in the process of actualizing – with violence is direct; the bigger the ideal the greater the violence. An intrinsic limitation of an ideal, however sacred it may be, is that it’s not for all. In case it’s for all, there would be no need to use force to materialise it. History shows us that an absolutely universal ideal has been an impossibility as it is against the law that operates in the natural phenomena and socialised human life where diversity not only rules but also is condition of very existence. Imagine what would be left of the natural world that surrounds us if divested of its diversity! Will we be able to exist at all? So is the case with our social world. The world of social life is rich and enriching because it’s not uniform, not a single colour spectrum.

Uniformity is the eventual goal despite its being incompatible with the movement of history and development of society. It’s desired in the belief that with its invisible magic wand it will eliminate conflicts and contradictions, which supposedly cause strife and act as impediments in the way of realisation of what is ultimate, seamless and frictionless unity. Such a revered but naïve supposition smugly ignores the fact that process of life is sustained by change triggered by contradictions. It becomes impossible to understand development, social and material, without the help of dialectics.

In simple words, development is an outcome of changes that result from material and social forces, which come into conflict driven by their concrete /material needs. Great minds like Lord Buddha, Heraclitus, Rumi, Hegel and Marx discovered and employed in their specific ways principles of dialectics to understand history and society with remarkable success. When you accept the concept of dialectics, you by implication accept the fact that a phenomenon may have multiple causes.

In the way of thinking opposed to this, one finds ubiquitous presence of notion of a single cause for explanation and analysis of phenomenon however complex it might be. Such a simplistic and reductionist approach is not designed to discover the truth of the matter involved but to appeal to the lowest common denominator with a view to mobilise certain social forces in support of pre-conceived agenda. Recent history provides the evidence if evidence is needed at all. Twentieth century Nazi German leadership in the aftermath of WWI found the cause of ills and sufferings of its society in the so-called Jewish machinations deliberately ignoring the ground reality that the Jews were a tiny minority at the mercy of overwhelming German majority. It was the most simplistic diagnosis, which necessitated prognosis that presented the Jewish community as the mortal threat. The solution or notoriously known ‘the final solution’ offered was the extermination all the Jews wherever they were found.

In the more recent history, we see certain ideologically inspired Muslim groups indulging in no holds barred policy of violence with the professed aim of restoring early pristine Muslim society by eliminating all those who support the model of contemporary society. Apparently poised against the West, they, in reality, intend to crush all the rational and democratic forces in Muslim societies that want modern polity. In a similar way, the Taliban in Afghanistan with their primitive simplicity believe that sole cause of Afghanistan’s sufferings is its turning away from the pristine Islam, not the primitive and tribal conditions that create suffering as a result of lack of development. So anyone standing in the way of achieving the ideal is to be eliminated.

In Pakistan and India, we witness the unfolding of a similar process. There are a large number of violent religious and ideological organisations supported by the powerful quarters, which want uniformity by eliminating all the diverse manifestations of the historically diverse society. These organisations in Pakistan aren’t ready even to tolerate different religious strands even in their Pakistani Muslim society. They are committed to use any means, mostly violent ones, to impose their version of faith on the entire society. Present day India is no different as it reels from the faith-inspired violence unleashed against the religious minorities. There is eerily uncanny similarity found between what Pakistani and Indian groups do to their perceived opponents. Recently, for example, we saw images of rampaging agitators of a violent religious organisation relentlessly torturing some policemen to shout their trademark slogan in a rally. And this they did to their Muslim brothers. There are scores of videos doing rounds on social media in which we see Hindu violent extremists torturing the non-Hindus, mostly Muslims, and forcing them to shout their trademark slogan. Such groups are dissimulators. What they want is power. And power can only be achieved by presenting the ideals of Islamic society and Hindu Rashtra.

Objectives aren’t realisable without use of violence. But a society built with violence will inevitably be violent. Humans, however, are essentially rational and humane for being human. So the society suited to our real needs has to be rational and humane. In other words, it has to be bereft of violence. In order to be bereft of violence, we have to be free of hidebound grand ideals. — soofi01@hotmail.com

Published in Dawn, November 8th, 2021