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South Asia's magnificent obsession

Despite coming from the subcontinent, I belong to the rare species that isn't crazy about cricket.

In a region where cricket is like religion and men like Sachin Tendulkar are worshipped, one could never quite understand the basics of the wretched game, let alone get hooked to it.

Yes, there have been times when one couldn't resist the temptation to join the excitement of an India-Pakistan clash, which is like ages ago. As a teen, it was exhilarating to watch Imran Khan bowl and bat like a dream. And when he wasn't doing that, he would stand there on the field like a rock, the lord of all he surveyed. The majestic Pathan went on to win the world cup for Pakistan. One only wishes he had been as successful in the cesspool of Pakistani politics.

One also often found oneself cheering for the fellow-Hyderabadi, Muhammad Azharuddin, the stylish batsman and one of the great skippers India has had. And yes, like the rest of India, I must confess to being a big fan of the Little Master and the way magician with the willow casts a spell on a billion people.

Notwithstanding these exceptions, I still find it hard to see people spend an entire day glued to their television sets, or worse, skip work to suffer the heat and dust of a South Asian stadium for a cricket match. It's even more vexing when it comes to Test cricket. How can anyone, for God's sake, spend four to five days chasing a ball?

A gift from our colonial masters, cricket has become a magnificent obsession across South Asia — and wherever South Asians have gone. When cricket fever grips the region — which is now like all through the year — you find just about everyone, from stuffy television pundits to man in the street, forever discussing the finer points and nuances of the game.

It's never just a game, especially when India and Pakistan are playing. It becomes a virtual war, a reflection of the many real ones that the twins have fought since they parted ways 64 years ago. Indeed, more than the Indians, it's Pakistanis who go all hyper when they take on the bigger neighbor, turning it into a do-or-die battle and often emerging victorious.

In doing so, Pakistan seems to make up for all the areas in which it can't match the big brother — in sheer size and numbers and in other ways. This is why they've produced some of the fastest bowlers and finest hitters of the ball.

IN the past few years though, Pakistani cricket has been steadily going down the hill, clearly in sync with the general state of affairs in the country. From one leadership crisis to another and from one controversy to the next, the former champs have been going through the worst phase in their history.

That has changed with this World Cup — and how. It's been an absolute treat to watch Shahid Afridi's men take on the mightiest of opponents and take them to pieces. What a comeback it's been for Pakistan. Even for someone like me whose ignorance of the game is infinite, it's been fascinating to see Afridi and company demolish one world-class side after another. From ravaging the gutsy Lankans to savaging the West Indies, this World Cup has been all about Pakistan's thumping march to glory, a team that was nowhere in the reckoning when the whole affair began.

The last two encounters have seen Afridi's boys at their boldest and brightest. Earlier this week, they dismissed the Australians, the reigning world champions, at 176 beating a side that hasn't lost a single match since 1999. Then it was the turn of the West Indies, another legendary team, to be thrashed in a one-sided contest that Pakistan won by 10 wickets in Dhaka. The match against the Caribbean team marking the last lap of the ICC Cup coincided with the Pakistan Day on March 23. The team couldn't have offered a better gift to the folks back home.

I don't know what's in store for Pakistan in days ahead. Meanwhile, all cricket fanatics are desperately hoping and praying to see India and Pakistan in the final battle. If that happens, what a thriller it would be — the ultimate fantasy of the aficionados of the sport. Because of the zero sum game between the neighbors and security situation in Pakistan, the two sides haven't played each other in years, especially in each other's territory.

For now though, it's Pakistani team's stellar performance and how it's being seen back home that is an endless source of fascination for distant observers like me. Given the mess on all fronts, it hasn't been the best of times to be a Pakistani.

Fighting the monsters from the past and repeatedly betrayed by their politicians, coupled with the breakdown of national institutions and constant humiliation and persecution by so-called allies, Pakistanis have been fast losing hope and faith in their future as a nation. I've seen close friends — fiercely proud Pakistanis and proud Muslims — desperately look for their children's future in faraway lands like Canada, America and Australia.

What do you do when your country is daily ravaged by mindless violence and drone attacks and you're accused of being the sponsors of global terror and secret hosts of Osama bin Laden? What do you do when those who should be behind the bars for plundering the nation's coffers have taken over the reins of power?

No wonder cynicism has become the second nature of most Pakistanis today. Open the opinion pages of any Pakistani newspaper or tune in to a television network and you are overwhelmed by the all-pervasive despair and the talk of doom and gloom of all those eggheads. And to think this nation is just 64 years old, not to mention the epic sacrifices offered to earn this promised land!

Amid this deepening sense of desolation and all-round hopelessness comes the brilliant and breathtaking performance of Pakistani cricket squad. With their endless feats on the field, Afridi's boys have lifted the dark blanket of despondency off Pakistan.

Following the stunning victory over Australia, delirious crowds burst out on the streets across Pakistan to rejoice and celebrate like there's no tomorrow. After all, they haven't had much to celebrate in the past many years. Perhaps, never before anywhere in the world has a sport got so entwined and identified with the prestige and well being of a nation.

The game of cricket has become a metaphor for a nation's quest for dignity and journey of self-discovery. By consistently winning on cricket pitches across the region over the past couple of weeks, Pakistan's dangerous eleven have nearly made up for all the failures on other fronts. They have revived and resurrected the fighting spirit of a beleaguered nation, rediscovering its self-belief and self-respect.

AIJAZ ZAKA SYED | ARAB NEWS

Why war is good business

Princess Reem Al Faisal, granddaughter of the legendary Saudi King Faisal bin Abdulaziz, may be an unknown commodity for the world beyond the Middle East. 

But her fame as an artist and photographer par excellence has traveled far beyond the borders of the Saudi kingdom.  The magic of her exquisite black and white images celebrating the stark simplicity of life in Arabia, including the great spiritual journey of the Haj, has to be truly experienced to be believed.

But it wasn’t her amazing skills with her old Contax camera or her ability to see the extraordinary in an ordinary world but her fiery opinion pieces saying it as it is with rare courage and honesty that first got my attention. Like her grandfather, Reem is forever driven by a concern for her people, and the oppressed and voiceless everywhere.

Despite her background, Reem has repeatedly censured the Arab leaders for their failure to confront big powers on continuing injustice and oppression in the region. At the height of Israel’s murderous offensive on Gaza two years ago and during the recent popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, she came up with some of the best and boldest writings in recent times, prodding the sleeping conscience of Arab elites.

Her strong beliefs and convictions come across in everything Reem does. In her passion for photography, in her incisive writings and even in the kind of art, artists and themes she chooses to present and promote at her unique gallery, The Empty Quarter, in the heart of Dubai’s glamorous financial district. Since its inauguration two years ago, the Empty Quarter has covered unusual themes, from violence and identity and cultural issues to the exploitation of the marginalized and dispossessed lot of the region. 

These days the Empty Quarter is hosting another unusual exhibition, The Spectacle of War, for which Reem herself turned up, once again talking about an issue that has been close to her heart:  The exploitation of the Middle East and how it has ended up becoming a battleground for big powers and their little games.

Featuring some of the finest photographers and artists of our time, the Spectacle of War offers a rarely seen perspective on the obscenity of the Iraq war. However, it isn’t just about Uncle Sam’s with-us-or-against-us mission in Mesopotamia. This is the story of a whole civilization and its abuse.

Pointing to the images of Saddam Hussein’s grand, opulent palace, now occupied and trampled by the US Marines with obscene graffiti defacing its walls, Reem says, “they come and just take over everything!”

In her traditional abaya and earnestly explaining each picture to her guests that incidentally include former Pakistan Premier Shaukat Aziz and his wife and Emirati dignitaries, Reem looks more like an activist than a member of a royal family.

But spectacularly nightmarish as the Iraq campaign has been, described as a war by Disney by Paul Rutherford, the author of the Weapons of Mass Persuasion: Marketing the War Against Iraq, it is merely another chapter in the history of business of war. 

Those images, some of them captured from inside the smug safety of an American tank or Humvee, tell the story of centuries of exploitation of the vast region that stretches from North Africa to the Gulf to Central Asia.

While much of the known world has suffered at the hands of colonial powers, the Middle East remains the real big bazaar and virtual laboratory of the global arms industry.  

Of course, one has been familiar with the history of the Middle East and clever, petty games Western colonial powers have played over the past couple of centuries to exploit it in every possible way. Nonetheless, it was a sobering experience to see it all brilliantly illustrated, explaining how the global war machine thrives on the conflict in the Middle East.

Indeed, there’s nothing like a good war for politicians and businessmen. Wars help failed politicians reinvent and empower themselves as they turn their insecurities and delusions of grandeur into a national cause. And for those who make its instruments, nothing beats the war business. The world economy may be tanking and ordinary mortals like you and me may be driven up the wall by spiraling inflation. However, things that go “bang” and kill in ever new ways are on a roll.

The ineffectual angels of the United Nations and big boys who run the whole circus may make a great deal of promoting peace and stability around the world, but no one really wants peace. Certainly not in the Middle East.  Peace is the last thing the arms industry and their friends in high places want in the region, or anywhere else for that matter.

Indeed, the greater the unrest and instability, the better it is for people in the business.

This may be why while the rest of the world has moved on at a mind-boggling pace over the past five or six decades, particularly after World War II, time has stood still for much of the Middle East. The region is stuck in a time warp that is centuries old. The more things change in our part of the world, the more they have remained the same for the Arab world.

This is perhaps why most conflicts since World War II have taken place in the Middle East.  Having drawn its lessons from the Two Great Wars, Europe has managed to avoid major military conflicts and keep the continent safe.  However, war remains a big industry and vital source of revenue for the industry that deals in trillions of dollars.

Only it’s now staged elsewhere — away from the continent and in distant Arabia or Africa and Asia.

This is why the Arab-Israel conflict continues to fester even after seven decades. If the Middle East finds lasting peace, what will happen to all those fancy weapons the US and European war machine has been churning out year on year? Why would you want peace in the Middle East, or for that matter anywhere else on the planet, if you are Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman or even Dick Cheney’s Halliburton that has been making billions by building those military bases all across the Middle East and Central Asia?

And it’s not just the awesome arms and ammo that are an endless source of income for the merchants of death.  Decades after its ostensible exit from the region, the empire continues to control all levers of power and economic interests in the Middle East.  Using an ancient regime of licenses and monopoly, the US, UK, France and others in the West still call the shots by controlling virtually everything, from the oil industry to the supply of essentials like military uniforms and jackboots. No wonder for all their protestations and pretentions to champion freedom and democracy around the world, our colonial masters are cowering in their pants as the tsunami of change sinks one subservient satrap after another.

Change is the last thing the West wants now. Status quo is the name of the game. But who can stop an idea whose time has come? And beware. The current churning doesn’t merely target an old, corrupt order. It also seeks an end to the injustice, exploitation and open loot that the empire has presided over all these years.  

JAHAN URDU

AIJAZ ZAKA SYED | ARAB NEWS

The Arab street has found its voice

How Al Jazeera has defied and demolished the lies and narrative of the empire

The greatest tribute you could ever crave is to get it from your detractors. So when Hillary Clinton admits that "viewership of Al Jazeera is going up in the United States (and around the world) because it's real news," the Qatar-based television network has every reason to celebrate and pat its own back. Speaking before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week, the US secretary of state warned that America is "losing the information war," citing the superior quality of Al Jazeera as one of the reasons for her opinion.

Clinton compared the Middle East-based TV network with the giants of US media outlets saying: "Like it or hate, it (Al Jazeera) is really effective. In fact, viewership of Al Jazeera is going up in the US because it's real news. You may not agree with it, but you feel like you're getting real news around the clock instead of a million commercials and arguments between talking heads and the kind of stuff that we do on our news which, you know, is not particularly informative to us, let alone foreigners."

Hmm. This is what many in alternative media and numerous independent conscience keepers of the world have been saying for years. I mean, the bit about the unwillingness and inability of Western media, especially of those in the US, to see the whole picture and tell the other side of the story.

The US media has been too busy acting as the mouthpiece of the American empire and protecting the interests of the rich and powerful like those big boys of the Wall Street who continue to party Recession or no Recession. In fact, as a friend wrote this week commenting on Clinton's speech, the US newspapers have become newsletters of the US government.

This is why it is gratifying to see the world's most powerful woman work herself up over the growing reach of Al Jazeera and its ability and courage to offer "real news" as it happens - and in the process probably an alternative to the overbearing loudspeakers of the US media.

It's amazing what a critical difference a single voice of sanity, however frail, could make in the Goebbelsian cacophony of lies, half-truths and shameless spin. And what a fantastic journey of sheer courage and chutzpah - and of course loads of hard work and persistence - has it been for Al Jazeera.

It has changed the rules of the game not just in the incredibly dull world of the Middle East media but is forcing the movers and shakers of the world media to watch their step and constantly read and revise their script to keep pace with the change that the Doha-based network has come to represent. Al Jazeera has not just emerged as the real voice of the Arab street, it is pitching itself as a healthy, credible alternative, even if still hopelessly young and green, to the apologists and cheerleaders of the empire. Which has been hard to miss for anyone following the whirlwind of change that has turned the Arab world upside down.

A great deal has been written and said about the role the Internet and social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter have played in sowing the winds of change across the Middle East. Doubtless, the history of popular uprisings in the region - in fact the history of our times - will remain incomplete without the amazing contribution the Net has made. However, Al Jazeera had been there, long before the FB and Twitter arrived in the Middle East, educating, informing and fashioning public opinion across the Arab and Islamic world.

In fact, by faithfully and courageously reporting the dramatic, lightning developments in Tunisia, beaming the action right into millions of homes across the Middle East and around the world minute by minute, it unleashed the tsunami that swept away Egypt's Hosni Mubarak and now threatens many of his fellow travelers.

With its unvarnished and unedited reporting of the ground-shifting developments in Tunisia and Egypt, it created a template of change, a truly democratic and homegrown model, suggesting to the rest of the Muslim world they deserve better. That peaceful change is possible - without the intervention of our manipulative Western friends or the cynical, diabolic extremism as championed by the likes of Osama Bin Laden.

As a student of media and someone who has avidly followed Al Jazeera's breathtaking journey, it's uplifting to see a little known television network, once identified as the mouthpiece of OBL, grow from strength to strength and take on the Goliaths of this world.

In a region where the media have long come to act as the hand maiden of governments and journalism has largely meant publishing and broadcasting of endless comings and goings of royalty, Al Jazeera came as a burst of fresh, life-giving air.

While rest of the pliant, media establishment obsessed over what is known as "protocol news", Al Jazeera, in the words of its boss Wadah Khanfar, looked for "the real actors. We have been guided by a firm belief that the future of the Arab world will be shaped by people from outside the aging elites and debilitated political structures featured so disproportionately by most other news outlets."

It kept its ear to the ground, listening to the drums beating in distance. This is why all those Western wonks and professional pundits failed to see the wave of change spearheaded by the Internet generation of young Arabs, dangerously aware of their democratic rights as well as the hopeless inadequacy of their elites, Al Jazeera saw the Arab revolt coming, as Khanfar so modestly claims.

It has exposed the shenanigans of both the corrupt, authoritarian regimes in the neighborhood and the terrorism and tyranny of big powers. From Palestine to Pakistan and from America to Australia, Al Jazeera has defied and demolished the lies and narrative of the empire. No wonder it constantly finds itself under attack from both brotherly Arab regimes and the bullies of the West.

While the Doha-based network has been repeatedly banned and harassed in numerous Arab countries, its journalists and offices have often found themselves in the line of fire, literally, of the Self-appointed champions of freedom and democracy. Amazingly, despite being funded by the Qatari government, a close ally of Uncle Sam, Al Jazeera has managed to jealously guard and maintain its independence so far. Which is how it should be.

By the way, why can't we have more Al Jazeeras out there? God knows we do need them more than ever. Instead of chasing those billion dollar mirages in the sand, why can't Arabs invest more in the media? Instead of crying all the time about Islamophobia and negative stereotyping of Arabs and Muslims in Western media and popular culture, why don't they do something concrete to address it?

Al Jazeera's success, especially that of Al Jazeera English, proves it's possible to make professionally credible attempts on this front. If a tiny emirate like Qatar can do it, surely big boys like Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey could do it. Even if 5 percent of what many Muslim countries spend on the expensive junk sold by the West as arms was devoted to developing world class media, universities and research institutions, they wouldn't be stuck where they have been. For those who control the media will control the mind.

AIJAZ ZAKA SYED | ARAB NEWS

Arab spring in South Asia?

THE Arab spring continues to wow the world.

If it has the corrupt and powerful everywhere terrified out of their wits, it has also revived the long repressed spirit of the oppressed, far beyond the greater Middle East.

Until the beginning of this year, few in the distant lands of America, India, China and the Far East would have heard of Hosni Mubarak or confidently pick out Tunis on the world map. All that has changed. Forever. The Tunisian-Egyptian burst of hope has not just given birth to a magical season of change across the Arab world, it's inspiring imitation elsewhere.

All this must come as a wake-up call to those asleep at the wheel everywhere. Apparently, what happens and goes around the other side of the globe comes around sooner or later to catch up with your reality wherever you are. So at the height of the Tahrir Square excitement, it was curiously uplifting to hear a fellow Indian demand an "Arab revolution in India" on the BBC Hindi's India Bol (Speak up India) program. At first it sounded rather absurd. An Egypt-style people's revolt in India? Nah!

After all, India is not a rotting, decaying Arab police state where leaders come to stay and rule forever. We are a vibrant and thriving democracy - the world's largest and most colorful. Comparisons with the Middle East are, therefore, odious. But are they really?

The young and restless who drove Ben Ali and Mubarak out of their once impregnable fortresses were not just protesting their long years of absolute power. Those demonstrations were also a call to arms against the corruption and nepotism, against injustice and inequality, and against the abuse of power and misrule that characterized the so-called Arab republics all these years. They were a protest against incompetence, red tape and poverty and against all the missed opportunities that have stultified and sapped the youth and stolen their promise and hope. Sounds familiar?

India is an amazing democracy of which we are justifiably proud. But the ills plaguing stagnant Arab societies have also been gnawing at the vitals of Indian society for so long that we do not even pay attention to them anymore. In fact, this is not just confined to India. It's the same story all over the South Asia.

From India and Pakistan to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, politics is the same all over the subcontinent. Widespread and institutionalized plundering of state resources by politicians is the order of the day. While the rich get richer and our mediocre politicians turn billionaires in office in no time, for ordinary people it's a daily grind, a constant battle to survive the crushing poverty. Dynastic politics is another feature that is common between the Arab republics and South Asia.

Take a look. There are so many Gamal Mubaraks around. In fact, dynastic succession has become so de rigueur in South Asian politics that no eyebrows are raised when the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has to jump through hoops to accommodate the whims and fancies of every son and daughter of ally and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi.

Sonia and Rahul Gandhi are only the smiling - and not so-bad - faces of the dynastic politics. And yes Rahul is yet to take charge. India has seen worse-in Rahul's uncle Sanjay Gandhi. In fact, son rises in every political party in the subcontinent and almost every politician in this Turkish bath is without a stitch on.

Like much of the Arab world, criminal mismanagement of resources, red tape and crony capitalism - or socialism in some cases - have ensured that even as we trumpet our fabled economic progress into the 21st century, much of our population survives on less than $2 a day.

Last year, the Indians - and the world - were shocked when a UN global poverty index devised by the Oxford University discovered there are more poor people in eight Indian states than in the 26 nations of sub-Saharan Africa put together. India ranked 63rd, just after Togo, and before Haiti.

A staggering 410 million people, far more than the population of the United States, in the country seen as one of the two emerging superpowers live in extreme poverty. The economic liberalization of the 1990s and selective prosperity that followed has only deepened the socioeconomic inequalities. No wonder, India is home to a violent Marxist insurgency, biggest in the world, that the New York Times some time back described as being a bigger threat to India's security than international terrorism.

Things are little different in the rest of South Asia. All-pervasive corruption, extreme economic inequalities, a breakdown of institutions and denial of basics like food, water, health care and education etc., have been the bane of the entire region.

While India has been rocked by some of the biggest corruption scandals in history in the past few years, under Mr. Clean Manmohan Singh, of course, with Mr. Ten Percent taking over the reins of the Islamic Republic next door, the culture of sleaze has acquired a new meaning and taken to a new level altogether.

So there's every possibility and compelling need for an Arab spring in South Asia. Especially when like those marching on the Arab street, India and Pakistan are home to a large young population that is getting increasingly impatient for change. The young are not just restless; they are also informed and know their rights. And they know how to use the power of new technology and new social tools to get what they want. Having seen the Net magic in action in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and elsewhere, it wouldn't be long before they decide to take charge of their destiny. Especially when their leaders are so incompetent and clueless.

Given the average age of politicians in our part of the world, is it any wonder they are so hopelessly out of touch with the reality of the 21st century and its young? If anyone watched Manmohan Singh's recent press conference on national TV would know what I am talking about. I felt almost sorry for Singh as he pathetically pottered his way around the carefully chosen questions posed by carefully chosen journalists. Here's a man who is not just resting on his laurels but he has gone to sleep on them.

And it's not just the prime minister. Every political party on the left, right, and center boasts leaders who belong in retirement homes. It's even worse when it comes to regional players. Most political parties have ended up as personal fiefdoms of their leaders. Power is family business and remains in the family.

Karunanidhi, the permanently wheelchair-bound Tamil Nadu CM, cannot move an inch without the help of his family and aides but cling on he must to his chair. Surely, a nation of a billion plus people deserves better. So does Pakistan and so do other nations in the region. This is why, given the bankruptcy of politics in the region, don't be surprised if we see an Arab spring in South Asia soon. Possibilities for a brave new world are endless.

- Aijaz Zaka Syed is a widely published columnist based in the Gulf. Write to him at aijaz.syed@hotmail.com

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