The almost insoluble task is to let neither the power of others nor our own powerlessness stupefy us. — Theodor Adorno “A Free man” says Spinoza “thinks of death least of all things, and his wisdom is mediation on life and not on death.” Muhammad Ali, the legend who recently bade farewell to this world of coercion and domination was one such majestic soul who unlike the majority of mortal beings who merely savour death tasted life before falling in the eternal womb of Thanatos — “the impossibility of all possibilities.” The man was promoted for his excellence in the field of boxing — certainly a non-negotiable fact. But what was more imposing about his personality was his remarkable passion of subversion that proved instrumental in exposing the myth surrounding the established reality based on hegemonic interests. Following the tradition of great warriors, Ali challenged this “reality” head on. Gracefully, he lived and with dignity he died. This is the privilege of those who choose to suffer to redeem their freedom. Ali belonged to an era when the US had begun its baptism with open violence. It was a historic epoch when both McCarthyism and its antithesis — the power of mass resistance –were in full bloom. From the president to the priest no one was spared. First to go was the outspoken Malcolm X. “The truth of the oppressed” was interred deep in the ground. By then the Rosenberg couple had already been “slain in the unlit pathways.” Meanwhile, shadows of death kept lurking around Martin Luther King Jr. Frequent reference to the tabooed words such as Vietnam and democratic socialism brought his nemesis. He discovered his “infinite hope” eclipsing in “finite disappointment” when a bullet silenced him forever. Robert Kennedy, following the footsteps of his brother John, trod the same gory path. The democratic freedom nailed each and every difference of opinion into its coffin. The Panther party, the symbol of black resistance, was brutally suppressed. Society itself “had only been sick for a long time” hence “death alone became the physician,” according to Nietzsche. Lyndon Johnson took over the presidency as Vietnam was shoved into an ever-spreading inferno that was soon to overwhelm the rest of Indo-China. This was the moment when the melodious voice asking to “give peace a chance” became a thorn in the eye of the hawks who advocated their own version of freedom and (ir)rationality. The countries — there were quite a few then — that refused to follow this pattern of “democratic” domination were declared “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.” It was a moment of acute hegemonic crisis in the US when the new was struggling to be born and the old was dying. Yet for the resuscitation of latter, to overturn history, no stone was left unturned. As the crisis in the dominant class reached at its acme, the workers too had cast away their “false consciousness.” The consciousness of the servitude exposed the hollowness of freedom and democracy that came to identify themselves with totalitarianism and dictatorship. Instead of reconciling the differences the much avowed “emancipated society” even refused to recognise them, and hence it became more coercive and violent. This was the moment when Ali forced his way into history. The embracing of Islam had more to do with recognition of black identity and imminent class struggle rife in that era. Under circumstances such as these the ideals of all religions seeking a promised paradise challenge and transcend the established reality. In these hopeless conditions, hope dawns undisguised. The utopia, the unfulfilled desires, the metaphysical truths that conceive these ideals suddenly attain the potential of getting realised, a possibility turning into a real probability. Working as a midwife, the historical content of these metaphysical propositions transform these “ideals” into historical alternatives. The function of reason begins to find its expression in a new rationality, in the art of living. Yet all historical alternatives that claim truth need to be verified. For this verification the criterion, the challenge remains the same — to prove the existence within the universe of possible experience. In this exercise the universe of the established reality — which is the world of dominant interests and status quo — becomes the inhibiting force. The fault does not rest with these propositions, which are neither unreal nor utopian (as falsely assumed) but with the powers of established reality that hinder their realisation. Hence a new reality, creation of a new universe, free from the shackles of the established power becomes a necessity where metaphysical truths can be experienced and verified. Since the demand for a better life, for freedom withheld by the established reality, grows in the course of history the utopia of a better life having realistic contents not only appears but also gets recognised as both rational and possible. The metaphysical becomes physical and real. The scientific rationality has already made this transformation quite achievable. The process of mechanisation is rapidly declining the need of socially necessary labour by reducing the labour time. Hence, the real opportunity of freedom to the modern human from an alienated and repressive individual labour is no more a mirage. This too shall have a twofold effect. Humanity will not only be liberated from the neurotic necessity of work but from the system based upon exchange value as well. Thenceforth, the energies consumed in over-productivity will be freely utilised for creativity; beautiful will become real. With this qualitative change the world would transform itself into an existing paradise. The need for exchange value-alienated labour will automatically vanish. The metaphysics of religion negating its divinity will become a scientific reality. This metaphysical content of social justice and equality has always been the real spirit of every doctrine that was either betrayed or suppressed by the established reality. Horkheimer while taking up the case of original Christianity succinctly says: “If the words of the founder, his recorded will, his precepts had been put in practice instead of being interpreted by the scholars, neither the unified Christians of the middle ages nor the disunited Christians of the modern period would have had their splendid careers.” Prior to falling victim to expansionism and later the West-backed fundamentalism, this stood true for Islam as well. Historically, a class movement having the most oppressed as its vanguard, it pulverised the mighty expropriators of its era. Malcolm X and Ali carried this ancient version in the world of new realities. “This was awakening of the dead to glorify the new struggle.” Freedom and not free market was the prime concern when Malcolm X stated: “I believe in a religion that believes in freedom. Any time I have to accept a religion that won’t let me fight a battle for my people, I say to hell with that religion.” He elucidates his concept of freedom further by stating these words: “Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you’re a man, you take it.” This is a lesson in subversion. A refusal to subjugate in front of the established reality of McCarthyism, a fascism that never left the shores of America once it was introduced by a pirate (of a possible Portuguese origin) who introduced to the world, syphilis of libidinal and hegemonic origin, both having their own pleasures and lethal outcomes. The demise of Ali is mourned — at least as far as statements are concerned — even by his sworn enemies, especially by the ruling class that abhors his ideals. These elites were the cause of his sufferings, and those who inflict pain cannot appreciate the true nature of the cause for which the sufferer consciously invites these sufferings. He preferred prison over unjust war, pointed to the real enemy, lost his title only to win back the biggest crown woven with love and blissful tears of mankind. Today a Nobel Laureate president who has pushed the world to the brink of nuclear annihilation praises Muhammad Ali as the Greatest… “that ‘he’d handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder into jail’ …how fortunate we all are that The Greatest chose to grace our time.” But can he appreciate the subversive force of his non-conformism for which he had to suffer the whips and scorns of time? Had he been able to do that, Snowden, Manning and Assange would not have found themselves dwelling in the dungeons of isolation and misery. Despite his commitment and sacrifices that he offered for peace, Ali was never considered worthy of this prize, which explains the precondition necessary for its entitlement — conformism to the established reality. For one reason or the other, Sartre probably remains the sole exception who declined to accept it since he too believed in concrete freedom, the one that “consists of the right to have more than one pair of shoes and to eat one’s fill.” History shapes the individual; contrarily, the West is very keen to carve out an individual from the chapters of history awarding him with all the credit of shaping it. A successful person may not be a mirror reflection of any truth since truth has nothing to do with success even when a large chunk of majority believes in it. Both capitalism and fascism were/are successful yet they are not the truth humanity is seeking for its redemption. The success of an isolated individual too is a fantasy. Adorno succinctly states: “Glorification of splendid underdogs is nothing other than glorification of the splendid system that makes them.” Akin to any successful person, Ali too was the product of history. His objective conditions, the stylised barbarity prevailing in his era nurtured the rebel hidden beneath his skin. The objective anxiety found its expression in his aggression. The catharsis made him a great boxer. Despite his greatness, he refused to integrate into a system based on exploitation and expansionism. Hence, he became a prodigal son, a spoiled and unreasonable brat of his era. Yet similar to Socrates, he understood life. For him living under these conditions actually meant “to be sick for very long time,” which was not worthy of a valiant character. “The existence of one solitary ‘unreasonable’ man” says Horkheimer “elucidates the shame of the entire nation. His existence testifies to the relativity of the system of radical self-preservation that has been posited as absolute.” Fortunately, that era was pregnant with these impregnable thoughts that negated conformism to this system. The “unreasonable” people of his ilk were galore. Che Guevara, Tania Tumara, John Lennon, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Janis Joplin to name a few. They might have played the wrong tune, but their symphony had the passion that was vital for change. Today, we scarcely find people who can call freedom with its real name. “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose”, the song of Joplin still remains as vividly true as it was yesterday, but the soft voices that sang these subversive songs are either dead or dying like the rose petals that are heaped on the funeral beds of these rebels. Where are those, history inquires, who refuse to “stupefy by the power of others and their own powerlessness”? Have they all integrated into the system only to be segregated as class individuals? The ripe objective condition is looking for a change. Now it is the responsibility of the subjective factor to come out of its deep slumber to bend the condition in favour of qualitative transformation. Else, the obituary of Muhammad Ali has all the elements to turn itself into the obituary of history that at its most critical juncture refused to turn. The writer is based in Australia and has authored books on socialism and history. He can be reached at saulatnagi@hotmail.com