LIBERALISM as a school of thought emerged after World War I, but its roots can be traced back to the era of Enlight- enment. John Locke advocated the principles of justice, equality, peace and cooperation as the core values of liberalism. However, there is a significant gap between theoretical liberalism and its implementation in the real world.

History shows that blacks are often deprived of their fundamental rights, thus creating a system that only benefits the whites.

The term ‘racial liberalism’, in fact, describes this phenomenon where sele-ctive races are given equal rights and justice, while the non-white races are marginalised. Charles Mills called it ‘white ignorance’.

Another renowned scholar, Haro Karkour, argued that liberalism, while advocating secularism and rationalism, failed to address the innate needs of humans, such as the struggle for power and exertion of dominance, which resulted in the rise of extreme nationalism and violence in the 20th century, as seen in the case of Nazi Germany.

Cem Boke highlighted the gaps in the liberal school of thought and how it had to prioritise state sovereignty. Liberalism, which claims to uphold human rights, considers intervention justified when preventing atrocities, genocide and ethnic cleansing.

However, such was not the case in Rwanda in the 1990s, or during the recent Israeli genocide in Gaza. Despite its ideals, liberalism has failed to address the critical issue of human rights in practical terms.

Dua Akhtar
Karachi

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2025