Daily Times

“In an age of cultural repression and societal dissolution, a revolution in miniature is fomented by the act of having an original thought. This is the only way to take a perusal of the bigger picture” — Phil Rock Stroh.
We hear much today of words like ‘justice’, ‘rights’ and ‘equality’ but sadly that is often exactly what they are — words that to many societies remain abstractions, failing to pass into the realities they allude and aspire to. A society that untiringly advocates these ideals but falls short on delivery is a society in a state of permanent tension, for there is implicit in this hypocrisy a subterranean conflict smouldering beneath everyday life. This is highly suggestive that the values under discussion are nothing more than rhetoric. They have either yet to be integrated with the ‘established reality’ — the prevailing system — or else realise the hidden message of resistance against domination that the ‘reality’ itself has refused to assimilate them. Modern society based on alienated labour waxes lyrical about these values but their assimilation is conditioned upon the invalidation of their ‘subversive’ force, the destructive content, the truth hidden in them.
Such is the case when a certain group of zealots cry ‘threat’ to the integrity of ‘religion’ and no one feels the tension, not to say anxiety, more than one who is feeling the effect of it daily. From these cries one is inclined to conclude not only the inefficacy of an outmoded ‘tradition’ to confront the ever refreshing logic of human consciousness but its redundancy and the inevitability of its eclipse by history. In other words, proof that religion has been invalidated for good.
Let me make my point clear: it is quite evident that ‘religion’ is breathing its last. Its historical role of developing the working class is now over; what keeps it potent today are only the forces of coercion: zealots working hand-in-glove with a legal fraternity that in turn is enmeshed with the ruling class. Celebrated German revolutionary George Buchner put it thus: “A ‘law’ that turns the great mass of citizens into beast-like slaves in order to satisfy the unnatural requirements of an insignificant and degenerate minority…sustained by brute force through the military and by the mindless cunning of its spies, this law is violence, constantly and brutally perpetrated against justice and common sense.” Oscar Wilde was even more succinct, “The terror of society, which is the basis of morals, the terror of God, which is the secret of religion, are the two things that govern us.”
The anarchy inherent in capitalism is equally to blame. Among the masses it creates an uncertainty that proves most congenial for its malignant growth. In our case, financed by Saudi-Qatri petro-dollars, it has spawned al Qaeda, as diabolical as its dialectical enemy, which has turned Syria, Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan into formidable laboratories of terror. World wars, civil strife and bloodletting sprees are its favourite pastimes, while all the time plundering natural resources.
So we can see that ‘religion’ and capitalism have become the tools of oppression — what Sigmund Freud might interpret as a nation’s ‘guilt’. As usual, Freud’s remark deserves some unpacking. Freud finds an intimate relationship between national progress and guilt. He says that as civilisation progresses the guilt feeling is ever ‘intensified’, ever reinforced. At the base of this is a lack of resolution of the Oedipus complex that in turn enhances aggression. Every impulse of aggression we omit to gratify, he says, is taken over by the super-ego and heightens its aggressiveness, and, in the cases of both religion and national progress, the denial of the pleasure principle adds fuel to the rage. Each of these institutions/ideologies thrives on scarcity and uncertainty.
The ideal is subjugation of sensuousness. Consequently, sexually starved, mentally repressed and psychologically crippled human beings emerge who have nothing to return to society except their obsessions and neuroses. Not only an individual but a society that creates such a disabled, neurotic person casts itself into the inferno of sado-masochism; and those ruling in person or by proxy, such as politicians, bureaucrats and theologians, remain no exceptions. In fact, they are afflicted by this malady the most.
What sort of character structure do they tend to adopt? An obstinate and authoritarian one. They are bereft of love, lacking in spontaneous reactions and scared of life, since life is unpredictable. Paradoxically they excel in submissiveness and cowardice, since to rule the vulnerable and to be ruled by the powerful is the irrevocable part of their psyche. Hence they find their refuge in a ‘higher power’ that can dictate to and through them. In other words, they offer the ‘satisfaction’ of constant submission. The sadistic character is usually xenophobic and neophobic. What is new arouses fear, suspicion and dislike because (in this case) a spontaneous, alive and non-routinised response would be required.
Once again, credit must go to Freud who detected the flaws in these personalities with his usual perspicacity. Without his concept of the anal libido, which has its source in the developmental stage of anal erogeneity, it is impossible to understand these characters. Children love to control their faeces, Freud suggested, since through this they derive their pre-genital libidinal pleasure. At this point, the role of parents becomes of paramount importance: too stern a behaviour turns the child into an anal-retentive personality, too unscrupulous an attitude develops anal-expulsive traits. Hence the person having an anally retentive character manifests stubbornness, orderliness and parsimony. Through their compulsive cleanliness they may turn themselves away from the world, which they consider filthy. According to Eric Fromm, such a character’s highest values are order and security. The anal-hoarding (retentive) character has only one way to feel safe in his relatedness to the world: by possessing and controlling it, since he is incapable of relating himself by love and productivity. The anal-hoarding character has a close relationship to sadism.
And what is sadism? “The transformation of impotence into the experience of omnipotence; it is the religion of psychical cripples…Sadism has essentially no practical aim; it is not ‘trivial’ but ‘devotional’” (Fromm again). Fascism has developed devotional status on par only with sadism. Its adherents coerce the people into connivance and subservience. It persuades, through metaphysical illusions and real forces, everyone to accept its mirages and fictions as the only realities. Its disciples become fanatically obsessive and parsimonious.
Its flipside (the anally-expulsive type) tends to become messy. In the case of religious zealots and the intelligence agencies of Pakistan, one can find both types existing side-by-side though sadism remains their primary objective. Their simplicity is farcical. To attain financial gain their lust knows no limits. Their sadism has made them omnipotent, bringing a world of fortune to their feet. They have turned the status of ‘God’ from the first cause of this universe to the proprietor of this galaxy. Hence they have found a plausible reason to accumulate wealth for their own enrichment.
Which objective conditions give birth to this psychosis? A society based on an exploitative system where human existence is objectified and wasted in alienated labour, an ideal Petri dish for the cultivation of these pathogens.
And where might we find such a society? Sadly in Pakistan (and elsewhere), which of late has been terribly afflicted by the religious pathogens of such a perfect case of this anal syndrome. All the state’s pillars, including the fifth column (the Taliban) supported and led by the middle class are deeply entrenched in it. They are stubborn, orderly and parsimonious, and all others are infidels and blasphemers. Every thought has to justify itself by its usefulness to these pious groups, another typical trademark of a feudal mindset.
Liberation from this oppression is possible only through a working class movement. A society free of exploitation is the only assurance of the liberation of humankind where freedom from economy and liberation of sensuousness through its reconciliation with reason will be a real possibility. “[Only] in a genuinely humane civilisation, the human existence will be play rather than toil, and man will live in display rather than need” (Herbert Marcuse). If not, the syndrome will persist and the misery will continue.

The writer is based in Australia and has authored books on socialism and history. He can be reached at saulatnagi@hotmail.com