If democracy were a house, protest would be the central pillar preventing its collapse. Sit-ins are a form of protest which have become quite popular in Pakistan recently. This particular manifestation of dissent affirms the people’s political engagement. They are not numb yet.
Raging with anger at the many injustices they have to face, they are willing to take to the streets, and stay on the streets to make their voices heard. However, sit-ins pose a dire threat to the very system which advocates their existence. They are a democratic right with the potential to dismantle a democratically elected government. Thus, alternatives to sit-ins must be identified and encouraged.
Since the day Justice Baqar Najfi’s report was made public, the possibility of a sit-in by the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) has been revived. Holding Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif and Provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah responsible for the Model Town massacre, PAT has demanded their resignations. Tahir-ul-Qadri and other members of his party have reiterated this demand on national television, threatening ‘action’ against the government if the resignations are not tendered. In a similar vein, Jamaat-i-Islami Emir Sirajul Haq has warned the government to ensure the merger of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, or their party will also stage a sit-in. However, these sit-ins would not be a novel form of protest.
Over the last seventy years several cities in Pakistan have repeatedly served as sites for sit-ins, uniting people across the nation for various causes. However, recently sit-ins have garnered exponential strength. And this surge in their power is a dangerous development. PTI’s 126 day sit-in, against alleged rigging in 2013’s general elections, laid the foundation for this change. Last year’s Faizabad sit-in finally made it clear how dangerous this form of protest can be.
The Islamist political party Tehreek-e-Labaik set up camp at the Faizabad Interchange in November last year. Contesting changes in the Elections Bill 2017, which had altered the Khatam-e-Nabuwat deceleration’s wording, they demanded that the Provincial Law Minister Zahid Hamid resign. Protests broke out across Pakistan to support Tehreek-e-Labaik’s cause. Within twenty one days, eight protestors lost their lives while over two hundred were injured. Eventually the government succumbed to the protestors. A deal was struck and Mr. Hamid stepped down, setting a dangerous precedent.
Imagine hundreds of PAT workers making their way through Model Town, draped in white shrouds splattered with the colour red armed with water guns. They would leave policemen baffled. The novelty of the procession would instantly make headlines
The violence which accompanies a sit-in is extremely potent. It draws sympathy for a protest from even those who are indifferent to its cause. However, this violence is capable of causing complete anarchy. The protestors at the Faizabad Interchange did not account for even twenty five percent of the population. Yet they were able to topple a piece of the government elected (supposedly) by the entire population. Tomorrow a new sit-in could cause another minister to resign, till hardly any are left behind and the system collapses upon itself. But protest is a key component of democracy which acts as a check and balance against the misuse of power by an elected government. Thus the ability to protest must always be retained by the people. Alternative forms of protest must be exercised instead of emotionally charged sit-ins.
It’s time the citizens of Pakistan used other forms of protest such as the ‘protestival’. An amalgamation of protest and carnival, the protestival consists of mass street processions and demonstrations with protestors dressed to mock their oppressors, thereby temporarily subvert existing power structures. As scholar Graham St John argues, through the protestival ‘a desire to reclaim the future is performed by living the future in the present.’ This mock revolution is short-lived, ending when the procession dwindles away. As a result, the system is shaken without being toppled.
In the past protestival has served as a powerful means of protest across the globe. During 2001 the Tute Bianche pushed through police barricades in Genoa (Italy) wearing foam armour and rubber ducky flotation devices, protesting against the 27th G-8 summit. Their get-up, while protecting them from baton charge, simultaneously made visible police brutality. It mocked the power men in uniform hold over a common man. Similarly, during the Global Day of Action in 2000, the Czech police clad in black was faced with women dressed in outrageous pink dresses holding silver coloured magic wands and feather dusters. These women belonging to the Pink and Silver Bloc were protesting against capitalism. The visual paradox they created rendered the police ineffective, temporarily subverting the everyday power structure.
Now imagine hundreds of PAT workers making their way through Model Town, draped in white shrouds splattered with the colour red armed with waterguns. They would leave policemen baffled. The novelty of the procession would instantly make headlines. The demand for justice would reach the government without jeopardizing democracy. Although sit-ins have always been a double-edged sword, in Pakistan they have amassed lethal strength. Thus it’s time for this sword to stop swinging over our nation’s political arena.
The writer has a master’s in media with a distinction from the London School of Economics. She tweets @mawish_m
Published in Daily Times, January 10th 2018.