Philosophers and thinkers can be grouped into two categories: those who defend and support existing institutions and traditions; and those who oppose them as irrelevant to the times and damaging for the society.

Conservatives defend old traditions because they want to preserve the existing order and protect the society from trouble. On the other hand, the progressive point of view is that traditions and values should be changed according to the needs of time. Modernists believe that change is continuous, that everything is in motion and should be reconstructed when it begins to lose its utility and relevance.

Traditional Indian intellectuals lauded the caste system. According to them, it protected the basic social structure of the Indian society for thousands of years; preventing class struggle and sustaining social cohesion. But many societies continued to change their social and political structure where rebel intellectuals played an important role in rebuilding new institutions that were relevant to the times they lived in. In doing so, they often paid a heavy price.

As these rebel intellectuals challenged the conservative tradition, society at large boycotted them and, in some cases, they were charged with treason, put on trial and punished. Take for instance the case of Galileo (d.1642) who was punished for his views. He was placed under house-arrest and banned from writing anything in the future.

When Descartes (d.1650) felt threatened in his native France, he took refuge in Holland where he felt relatively free; although Spinoza (d.1677) was condemned in the same country by the Jewish community because of his ‘heretical’ ideas.

In France, Voltaire (d.1778) was exiled from Paris for defending religious minorities and speaking out against the Church. When he dropped his family name ‘Arouet’ and adopted ‘Voltaire’ instead, a noble criticised him and asked him the reason for the change. Voltaire’s reply was that he wanted to abandon a disgraceful aristocratic name for a respectable identity. The enraged noble ordered his men to beat Voltaire and imprison him in the Bastille. He was released on the condition that he would leave Paris. So Voltaire went to England for a few years.

If they had threats to their life in their homeland or when they were exiled, the European rebel intellectuals could take refuge in other European countries. When Karl Marx (d.1883) was exiled by the Prussian government, he went to Paris, from where he was again exiled on the request of the Prussian government. He then went to Belgium and finally settled in England. Emile Zola (d.1902) took refuge in England when he found himself in danger in France during the Dreyfus affair, which divided France deeply between the reactionary army and church and the more liberal commercial society.

After wandering from one city and country to another, Voltaire finally bought an estate on the border of Geneva and France. When the Catholic authorities harassed him, he would move to the portion of his estate which was in Geneva. If the Protestant authorities of Geneva wanted to take some action against him, he would conveniently shift to the French part of his estate. However, he was so popular that people visited him from all over Europe.

Most rebel intellectuals lived in abject poverty, enduring the worst hardships of life. Rousseau (d.1778) suffered because of his religious views and his house was stoned by an angry mob. He lived alone and simply, copying music for a livelihood.

It is understandable that society condemns intellectuals who question their traditions and views them as rebels and punishes them. Although Voltaire and Rousseau were condemned by the authorities of their time, they were later honoured during the French Revolution. Their dead bodies were buried in the pantheon built by the revolutionary government to honour them as heroes.

Rousseau’s political ideas were recognised and inculcated in nearly all constitutions drafted by the revolutionaries. Marx, who lived a life of loneliness and poverty, lies buried in the Highgate cemetery in north London. One can always find fresh flowers on his grave, a tribute from people who still remember him and visit his grave from all over the world.

Throughout history, rebel intellectuals played a vital role in bringing about change and transformation by giving consciousness to the people and inspiring them to raise their voice and get rid of dogmatic traditions.

Perhaps the roots of conservative institutions and traditions are so deep in Pakistan that there are no rebel intellectuals to challenge the dogma. Or maybe the intellectuals are not ready to endure hardships, nor suffer the wrath of angry mobs. In their absence, our society remains stagnant and in the vice-like grip of outdated values and beliefs.