'Equality
for All' but do
we really believe in
it?
Aasha
Mehreen Amin
.........................................................
A COMMON scene on the street is a
traffic policeman hitting a rickshawpuller
with a wooden stick for some traffic
violation and then piercing the rickshaw
wheel with a sharp nail. The emaciated
rickshaw puller cries out in pain
as he is hit, begs for forgiveness
and very often slips whatever few
Takas he can spare into the policeman's
hand. Finally with a tirade of (unprintable)
abuses, the haughty traffic policeman
lets him off. Now suppose right then
a shiny massive car carrying the owner
an industrialist-turned-big government
official or an army officer passes
by swerving past a long line of smaller
private cars, almost scraping them,
only to come up first in the queue.
The traffic policeman, far from admonishing
the errant driver of the big shot's
car, will actually click his heels
and give a smart salute, perhaps even
stop all the cars from either side
to let the VIP through.
These
examples clearly indicate the cult
of hierarchy in our society and how
it determines the 'value' of an individual.
A rickshaw puller's value is close
to zero, a traffic policeman's is
higher because of his ability to exploit
his position while that of a government
official, say a minister, is way up
and can reach unbelievable heights
depending on how much power and wealth
he can wield. A person's value in
society has nothing, therefore, to
do with how good a human being he
is or how hard he works but how much
he can take advantage of others and
what he owns. We just cannot help
being sycophants of wealth and power
just as we cannot help becoming indifferent
and insensitive when we are being
sucked up to. A rickshaw puller deserves
so much respect for the back-breaking
work he does each day and for his
sheer will to survive but how many
of us are capable of giving him that
dignity, the dignity of honest labour?
One
may rationalize that the traffic policeman
is semi-educated and part of a corrupt
system. But let's take the apparently
educated, much better off person who
automatically addresses a rickshaw
puller or any other person of lesser
means with 'tumi' or 'tui' and yet
will haggle with him even for two
measly Takas over the fare.
This
sense of superiority of a better off
person is accentuated at home where
there are fewer eyes to see the real
faces of the privileged. In many households
the Bibi shaheb does not think twice
about slapping the maid for something
as trivial as not answering when she
was called or forgetting to bring
in Her Highness's morning tea on time.
The children are allowed to abuse
their nanny, make her take off their
shoes even if they are old enough
to do it themselves. The little boy
domestic help often called pichchi
will be called from the furthest end
of the house just for turning on the
fan or getting a glass of water. So
while they are constantly being benefited
and pampered by these faceless individuals,
the privileged are firm in their belief
that they are the ones doing 'these
ingrates' a favour. The caste system
in Bangladeshi society is alive and
kicking, not officially of course.
In spite of an overwhelming show of
being a Muslim majority, we just cannot
digest the 'all men (meaning human
beings) are equal' idea as advocated
by Islam. How can the bua who cleans
my bathroom be equal to me with my
education, family background or affluence?
This is probably where we can begin
to unravel the mystery of why there
is a huge gap between the rich and
the poor in this country and anywhere
else in the world for that matter.
It is because the better off believe
they are somehow 'better' and more
valuable than their less privileged
counterparts. But the truth is that
one's position in society has a lot
to do with opportunities or the lack
of them.
Now
some of us have had the 'opportunity'
to go to school and some even to university,
some of us have had the sheer luck
of being born into wealth and fame.
But this could have been true even
for the decrepit beggar annoyingly
tapping on the window for a few coins
or the little girl who sells flowers
to buy her one meal a day.
So
in effect, I am no better than my
bua; it's more likely that it is she
who is far superior to me because
of her generous, more sacrificing
nature. If it is religion that must
guide us we must remind ourselves
that almost every religion, more so
Islam, urges people to share their
wealth, to look after the poor and
helpless. In our society we mostly
exploit the poor, enjoy the fruits
of their labour (think clean house,
care for our children, huge multi-storied
buildings wonder who made those?)
and then gloat on our success which
would not have been possible without
them.
What's
more, just as rich countries try their
best to keep the poorer ones poor
so they can reap the benefits of being
looked up to, the affluent and powerful
of our society too, want to maintain
the status quo. Of course we believe
in social justice in public that is.
In private we bristle when the maid
wears good clothes or looks too presentable.
We pay her just enough to survive,
not more. We cannot allow her to be
educated, what will happen to us when
she finds a better job? So it is in
the interest of the better off to
marginally help the poor but not enough
so that they can get out of their
poverty. We need their poverty to
retain our privileged status.
Of
course there are exceptions among
us who sincerely want a more just,
egalitarian society, who have sacrificed
their hard-earned wealth to make the
lives of lesser privileged people
better. But these individuals are
a minority and it seems an endangered
one at that. We may cringe every time
we are referred to as one of the poorest
nations in the globe. But it is really
up to us to change such a label. We
have the power to create more opportunities
for people to eat better, live better,
to be educated. We have the ability
to fight malnutrition, infant mortality
and homelessness by sharing our wealth,
by giving a little of ourselves. We
have the power but do we have the
heart?
.........................................................
The author is Magazine Editor of Star
Weekend Magazine
