Rashid Rana, 'Red Carpet' (detail)
Haiti, and now Pakistan. Once again, a disaster wrought by nature. Another illustration for what the state should have done. Another case for international hand-wringing. And yet again, the humanity, the history, the daily lives of ordinary people, swept away, out of sight.
Most of us turn away from Pakistan now. Donor fatigue. Terrorists. Failed state. Corruption. The only reason for the international community to help: step in, or the radicals take over.
Once again, the media heaps cliché upon overworked cliché, brilliantly deconstructed here:
I cannot tell you anything that can change your mind. He is poor. He is easily bought by Wahabi or Opium money. He works hard for his meager food. He will swallow whole the dialectic of revolution or of Khilafa. He is traditional in his outlook, in his customs. He is a fundamentalist and a sectarian. He spent some time in the Gulf doing labor. He was indoctrinated with Wahabi ideology. He can recite Bulleh Shah or listen to the Heer for days. He what? He is a human being with a past, a present, a culture, a society, a vision of the good life, a sense of community, a method of belonging, a routine of daily practices, a collection of stories for his children, a corpus of songs for his friends, a set of possessions, a love for radio or tv, a daily grind and an early night. He is waiting to attack us in New York.
‘A past, a present, a culture, a society’. Watch this space for some images, a few words, testimony.