Book Review: Civil Society by Michael Edwards

 

In this book the idea of civil society is presented by Michael Edwards. Edwards provides the theoretical and practical importance of civil society. He presents it as a basis for action. Civil society means different things to different people, plays different roles at different times and constitutes both problem and solution. Much deeper action is required in politics, economics and social life if civil society is to be effective vehicle for change.

The principal ingredient in volunteering is enthusiasm not necessarily an activism driven by a particular social vision. Voluntary associations are arenas for personal ambition and power as well as for sacrifice and service (p.44). The author says that avoiding debate is never the sign of a robust civic culture (p. 68).

Associational life that ignores power structures or substitutes for state responsibilities is unlikely to contribute very much. An inclusive and well-articulated associational ecosystem can be the driving force of the good society, but the achievements of the good society are what make possible the independence and level playing field that underpin a democratic associational life (p. 91).

The author says that increase in participation is welcome, since we learn to be citizens not through books or training but through experience and action (p. 102). The author states that in the West voluntary associations are less vulnerable to the whims of aid agencies as their sources of funding diverse (p. 104). Edwards says that civil society helps us to interpret and change the world. It is what we as active citizens make it. Civil society is the force for positive social change.

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Book Review: Friedrich Nietzsche: A Biography by Curtis Cate

 

Friedrich Nietzsche was the son of a Lutheran clergyman with a modest bourgeois background. He disliked Middle-class conformity and favored ‘aristocratic radicalism’. His aphorisms and statements are quite puzzling. They can be better understood within the context of his agitated life. In this biography Cate provides the reader with an interesting account of Nietzsche’s life. It makes it easier for the reader to understand his viewpoints. This includes experiences from his early life, relationships with his family members, time spent at boarding school, education, university teaching, friendships, travels and books.

Nietzsche was fascinated by Arthur Schopenhauer. He did not read Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations, nor read Karl Marx’s works, other than Communist Manifesto. Nietzsche says that the German language gives him no pleasure. What Nietzsche most disliked and despised in any human being- a smug hypocrite. Nietzsche says that ‘I live as though the centuries were nothing, and I pursue my thoughts without thinking of newspapers or the date’ (p. 301). He also condemned romantic affectivity, excessive emotionalism and spiritual hysteria (p. 306).

Nietzsche met a Russian lady named Lou Salome, whom he wanted to marry for two years. Things were not smooth between them. Nietzsche’s sister played a big role in furthering their divide. Nietzsche’s sister Elisabeth discovered that Lou had been showing around a photograph in which Lou herself was seated in a little cart by her two harnessed ‘workhorses’. One of the work horses was Nietzsche and the other one was Paul Ree. Elisabeth got really upset.

Cate quotes Ida Overbeck, who writes about Nietzsche in the following words: ‘He knew how to listen and take in, but he never revealed himself completely or clearly. To hold himself back in concealment was for him a necessity; it was not truly a distrust towards others, rather it was a distrust towards himself and the response he encountered’ (p. 331). Nietzsche himself once wrote that ‘I am only too happy to leave my plans in concealment.’ Nietzsche believed that the value of any civilization or culture depends on the number of geniuses and masterpieces it can produce. He also regarded every kind of involuntarily accepted work as a form of slavery. He disliked businessmen and industrial magnates because of their ‘swaggering self-importance’ and ‘loud-mouthed vulgarity’ (p. 361).

Nietzsche ‘conceived his mission as a thinker to be that of the herald of a new ‘dawn’ in philosophical thinking, the prophet of a new, more honest, less visionary morality, purged and purified of a vast accretion of moral, political, social and metaphysical prejudices and misconceptions which had reduced the vast majority of his contemporaries to a collective condition of sheep-like stupidity’ (p. 400). In Zarathustra’s tenth discourse he writes: ‘If you cannot be the saints of knowledge, at least be its warriors’. On page 409 the author quotes Nietzsche, who says that ‘Man should be educated for warfare, and woman for the relaxation of the warrior: everything else is folly’.

Nietzsche’s work had a lot of symbolism. He used to carry a notebook when he would go for walks. He believes that most original thoughts occurred at night. He rejects moral system because according to him this system rejects the vital need for order of rank, on which all healthy cultures of the past were based. He believes that ‘From Woman comes every mischief in the world’ (p. 532). He also considers Christianity a stupid and anti-intellectual religion.

Nietzsche lost control over his senses. He was taken to Jena. His mother looked after him. When she passed away his sister Elisabeth took the charge. Meta Von Salis agreed to buy a house where Nietzsche was to live for the rest of his life. Throughout his life Nietzsche suffered because of weak eyesight, violent headaches and bouts of nausea. He died on the 25^th of August after a heart attack.

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Book Review: 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism by Ha-Joon Chang

 

Chang says that free market ideology makes us believe that markets will produce the most efficient and just outcome. This is because competitive market processes ensure that individuals are rewarded according to their productivity. The author is not critical of capitalism, in fact he is critical of free-market ideology.

The first argument of the author is that there is no such thing as a free market. Two, companies should not be run in the interest of their owners. Three, most people in rich countries are paid more than they should be. Four, the washing machine has changed the world more than the internet. Five, assume the worst about people and you get the worst. Six, greater macroeconomic stability has not made the world economy more stable. Seven, free-market policies rarely make poor countries rich. Eight, capital has a nationality. Nine, we do not live in a post-industrial age.

Point ten, the United States does not have the highest living standard in the world. Eleven, Africa is not destined for underdevelopment. Twelve, governments can pick winners. Thirteen, making rich people richer does not make the rest of us richer. Fourteen, US managers are over-priced. Fifteen, people in poor countries are more entrepreneurial than people in rich countries. Sixteen, we are not smart enough to leave things to the market. Seventeen, more education in itself is not going to make a country richer. Eighteen, what is good for a large company (such as General Motors) is not necessarily good for the United States. Nineteen, we are living in planned economies. Twenty, equality of opportunity may not be fair. Twenty-one, big government makes people more open to change. Twenty-two, financial markets need to become less, not more efficient. Twenty-three, good economic policies do not require good economists.

Chang stresses that 95 percent of economics is common sense made complicated. In the book he tries to provide solution to the problem in simple plain language. He argues that the fundamental theoretical and empirical assumptions behind free-market economics are highly questionable. The author suggests that free-market capitalism has served humanity very poorly and because of this we should build a new economic system which recognizes the limitations of human rationality, brings out the best in people and stops people from believing that people are always paid what they deserve. Furthermore, Chang views making things (manufacturing) very important. Moreover, he says that striking a balance between finance and ‘real’ activities is important. The seventh point of the author is that the government needs to become bigger and more active. Last but not the least, the eighth point states that the world economic system needs to ‘unfairly’ favor developing countries.

In the concluding paragraph of the book the author says that ‘unless we abandon the principles that have failed us and that are continuing to hold us back, we will meet similar disasters down the road’ (p. 263).

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Book Review: The New Rulers of the World by John Pilger

John Pilger is an Australian investigative journalist and documentary film-maker who lives in London. In this book, Pilger exposes the myth of globalization. He gives a detailed analysis of the events in Indonesia.  He reveals how General Suharto came to power in 1960s due to western agenda which marked start of the imposition of the ‘global economy’ upon Asia.

The author brings to light the nature of modern imperialism. He unveils its secrets and illusions. Pilger states that about a million people died in Indonesia because of the World Bank’s ‘model pupil’. Atrocities of the western powers in Iraq also covered. With that, he also discusses the subjugation of the Aboriginal people in Australia.

Pilgers says that a sophisticated system of plunder has forced more than ninety countries into ‘structural adjustment’ programs since the eighties, widening the divide between rich and poor as never before. According to him this results in a world where an elite of fewer than a billion people controls 80 per cent of humanity’s wealth. The author objects to the West’s claims of furthering development of the poor world. He says that although members of the United Nations have agreed that the rich countries should give a minimum of 0.7 per cent of their Gross National Product in genuine aid to the poor world, Britain gives just 0.34 percent and the United States barely registers, with 0.19 (p. 121).

Pilger believes that ‘when great truths are omitted, myths take their place, and the nature and pattern of great power are never explained to the public’ (p. 128). He criticizes the academic hierarchy by mentioning the politics departments. As per Pilger, in these departments the task of liberal realists is to ensure that western imperialism is intercepted as crises management, rather than the cause of the crises and its escalation. By never recognizing western state terrorism, their complicity is assured. To state this simple truth is deemed unscholarly; better to say nothing (p. 156).

Writing about the Aboriginal population the author states that the life expectancy of the Aborgines is up to twenty-five years shorter than whites, lower than in most countries and matched only in India and Central Africa (p. 165). Pilger’s solution for the Australian tragedy is through justice and political will.

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Book Review: The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love by Bell Hooks

 

Bell Hooks says that militant feminism gave women permission to unleash their rage and hatred at men but it did not allow us to talk about what it meant to love men in patriarchal culture, to know how we could express that love without fear of exploitation and oppression. To simply label men as oppressors and dismiss them meant we never had to give voice to the gaps in our understanding or to talk about maleness in complex ways. She believes that feminist thinking and practice are the only way in which the crises of masculinity can be addressed.

The author writes that ‘we live in a culture where emotionally starved, deprived females are desperately seeking male love.’ She admits that many women cannot hear male pain about love because it sounds like an indictment of female failure. Moreover, she also writes about her own case where she did not want to hear about her partner’s feelings and pain. Moreover, in the book the author says that majority of the patriarchal attitudes are taught by mothers. These attitudes are reinforced in schools and religious institutions.

The author states that dismantling and changing patriarchal culture is the work that men and women must do together (p. 24). Further in the book, the author writes that feminist researchers are often unwilling or reluctant to target practical thinking. She believes that when men embrace feminist thinking and practice, which emphasizes the value of mutual growth and self-actualization in all relationships, their emotional well-being will be enhanced.

The popularization of gangsta rap, spearheaded by white male executives in the music industry, gave a public voice to patriarchy and woman-hating. The author views contemporary books and movies offer clear portraits of the evils of patriarchy without offering any direction for change. In her view until there is creation of a popular culture that affirms and celebrates masculinity without upholding patriarchy, there will be no change in the way masses of males think about the nature of their identity.

Further in the book, the author writes that it is possible to critique patriarchy without hating men. Without citing any figures, the author states that working women are far more likely than other women to be irritable. She states that ‘women want to be recognized, seen, and cared about by the men in our lives.’ She further stresses that love cannot exist with domination.

In the concluding chapter the author writes that those of us who love men do not want to continue our journey without them. We need them beside us because we love them. She believes that a culture of healing that empowers males to change is in the making. Healing does not take place in isolation. Men who love and men who long to love know this. She stresses that women should stand by them, with open hearts and open arms (p. 188).

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Book Review: Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics by Joseph S. Nye, Jr.

 

Power is the ability to influence the behavior of others to get the outcomes one wants. This can be done through coerce by threats, induce them with payments or through attraction and co-option. Soft power is the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion or payments. When you can get others to admire your ideals and to want what you want, you do not have to spend as much on sticks and carrots to move them in your direction. The U.S government spends four hundred times more on hard power than on soft power.

Soft power involves agenda setting, attraction and co-opt. Government policies at home and abroad are another potential source of soft power. For example, in the 1950s racial segregation at home undercut American soft power in Africa. Much of American soft power has been produced by Hollywood, Harvard, Microsoft, and Michael Jordan. It is true that firms, universities, foundations, churches, and other nongovernmental groups develop soft power of their own that may reinforce or be at odds with official foreign policy goals. Credibility is an important source of soft power.

The author categorizes power into three types. This includes military power, economic power and soft power. He further stresses that soft power is not a constant, but something that varies by time and space. Stating culture as a source of soft power, the author quotes Secretary of State Colin Power saying that ‘I can think of no more valuable asset to our country than the friendship of future world leaders who have been educated here.’ He further argues that hard power created the stand-off of military containment, but soft power eroded the Soviet system from within.

Regarding the soft power of NGOs, the author says that the information revolution has greatly enhanced it. NGOs and network organizations have soft-power resources and do not hesitate to use them. The early efforts of soft-power resources can be observed in France. In the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century France promoted its culture. One example is the creation of Alliance Francaise in 1883 for the promotion of French language and literature. In Britain BBC was founded in 1922 which later broadcasted in all major European languages. As far as the United States is concerned VOA broadcasts in 53 languages to an estimated audience pf 91 million people (p. 104).

The author mentions three dimensions of public diplomacy. First is daily communication which involves explaining the context of domestic and foreign policy decisions. Second, is strategic communication in which a set of simple themes is developed, much like what occurs in a political or advertising campaign. Third is the development of lasting relationships with key individuals over many years through scholarships, exchanges, training, seminars, conferences, and access to media channels.

The author believes that the United States cannot meet the new threat identified in the national security strategy without the cooperation of other countries. He creates a need for learning how to better combine hard and soft power to meet new challenges. He wants the budget of public diplomacy to be doubled. In the concluding paragraph of the last chapter the author stresses that ‘America’s success will depend upon our developing a deeper understanding of the role of soft power and developing a better balance of hard and soft power in our foreign policy. That will be smart power. We have done it before; we can do it again.’

Ney emphasizes that soft power will help America deal with critical global issues that require multilateral cooperation.

 

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Book Review: One-Dimensional Man by Herbert Marcuse

 

In 1940s there were two tendencies within the history of Critical Theory. First, the philosophical-cultural analysis of the trends of Western civilization developed by Horkheimer and Adorno in Dialectic of Enlightenment. Second, the more practical-political development of Critical Theory as a theory of social change proposed by Marcuse and Neumann. For them, Critical Theory would be developed as a theory of social change that would connect philosophy, social theory, and radical politics- precisely the project of 1930s Critical Theory that Horkheimer and Adorno were abandoning in the early 1940s in their turn toward philosophical and cultural criticism divorced from social theory and radical politics.  Horkheimer and Adorno had neglected the theory of social change. It is exactly what Marcuse and Neumann were focusing on.

One-Dimensional Man was first published in 1964. It critiques the new modes of domination and social control. As capitalism and technology developed, advanced industrial society demanded increasing accommodation to the economic and social apparatus and submission to increasing domination and administration. Marcuse writes that independence of thought, autonomy, and the right to political opposition are being deprived of their basic critical function in a society. According to him, political power asserts itself through its power over the machine process and over the technical organization of the apparatus.

He distinguishes between true and false needs.  According to him, the need to relax, to have fun, to behave and consume in accordance with the advertisements, to love and hate what others love and hate, belong to this category of false needs. The distinguishing feature of advanced industrial society is its effective suffocation of those needs which demand liberation- liberation also from that which is tolerable and rewarding and comfortable- while it sustains and absolves the destructive power and repressive function of the affluent society.

The means of mass transportation and communication, the commodities of lodging, food, and clothing, the irresistible output of the entertainment and information industry carry with them prescribed attitudes and habits, certain intellectual and emotional reactions which bind the consumers more or less pleasantly to the producers and, through the latter, to the whole. The products indoctrinate and manipulate. They promote a false consciousness. The indoctrination becomes a way of life. Thus, emerges a pattern of one-dimensional thought and behavior.

Technology rationality reveals its political character as it becomes the great vehicle of better domination, creating a truly totalitarian universe in which society and nature, mind and body are kept in a state of permanent mobilization for the defense of this universe (p.20).  

Just as people know or feel that advertisements and political platforms must not be necessarily true or right, and yet hear and read them and even let themselves be guided by them, so they accept the traditional values and make them part of their mental equipment. Domination has its own aesthetics, and democratic domination has its democratic aesthetics. It is good that almost everyone can now have the fine arts at his fingertips, by just turning a knob on his set, or by just stepping into his drugstore. In this diffusion, however, they become cogs in a culture-machine which remakes their content.

The rulers of the world are losing their metaphysical features. Their appearance on television, at press conferences, in parliament, and at public hearings is hardly suitable for drama beyond that of the advertisement, while the consequences of their actions surpass the scope of the drama (p.74). Free election of masters does not abolish the masters of the slaves (p.10).

The established societies themselves are changing, or have already changed the basic institutions in the direction of increased planning. In Marcuse’s view the power of reason and freedom are declining in the late industrial society. With the increasing concentration and effectiveness of economic, political, and cultural controls, the opposition in all these fields has been pacified, coordinated, or liquidated. One-dimensional man means conforming to existing thought and behavior and lacking a critical dimension and a dimension of potentialities that transcend the existing society. ‘’One-dimensional man’’ has lost, or is losing, individuality, freedom, and the ability to dissent and to control one’s own destiny.

Marcuse was one of the first theorists to analyze consumer society through analyzing how consumerism, advertising, mass culture, and ideology integrate individuals into and stabilize the capitalist system. One-dimensional man does not know it’s true needs because its needs are not its own- they are administered, superimposed, and heteronomous; it is not able to resist domination, nor to act autonomously, for it identifies with public behavior and imitates an submits to the powers that be. Lacking the power of authentic self-activity, one dimensional man submits to increasingly total domination (xxviii).

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Book Review: Bhopal Connections Vignettes of Royal Rule by Shaharyar Muhammed Khan

 

Khan, the grandson of the last ruling Nawab of Bhopal writes about the dramatic events, characters, scandals, social practices, culture and history of Bhopal. Specific attention has been given to the four successive women rulers of Bhopal. Some of the social customs are shown through the lens of foreigners including Badcock, and Marjorie Memsahib. The first part of the book covers the history of Bhopal and the second part covers the contemporary anecdotes.

The Bhopal state was founded by Dost Muhammad Khan, an Orakzai Pashtun soldier in the Mughal army. As a result of the Anglo-Bhopal treaty Bhopal became a state in 1818. Bhopal was ruled by four begums from 1819 to 1926. Bhopal had a French connection. Before Nadir Shah attacked India in 1739, the French people had moved their estate. At Shergarh, the Bourbons built a housing colony church, school and a small fortress. They mainly married into the Indian Christian community. Still in Bhopal there is presence of the French people.

Bhopal was very loyal to the British. The mutiny of August 1857 had reached the princely state of Bhopal as it was one of the most loyal supporters of the British. The ruler at that time was Sikander Begum. According to the author, once she slapped the British Political Agent Lancelot Wilkinson in public, when he touched her ear-ring. The Rani of Jhansi challenged her (Sikander Begum) because she was a British loyalist. She accepted the challenge threating her by firearms. By December 1857 the Rani of Jhansi was killed in battle. Sikander Begum took control over the state. The British recognized the services of Sikander Begum.

The author of the book states the Sikander Begum went to the famous Jama Masjid in Delhi. This masjid was converted by the British as a stable for their horses. Sikander ordered the closure of the stable and gave a large sum for the renovation of the mosque. In Bhopal the ruling elite sought permission from the British regarding matters of marriage.

In 1911, Sultan Jahan Begum, the fourth Begum of Bhopal embarked on a journey to Europe. She attended the coronation of King George V. She also visited Paris and the embarked in a train towards Istanbul. She was disappointed to see that women were wearing high heels and frocks. The Turk Sultan wanted to confer an award on her, but the British did not approve of this. The Begum was very disappointed.

The second half of the book covers interesting stories about Maimoona, the Prince of Wales’ Tiger Hunt, Badcock, Marjorie Memsahib, The Cricket Match and Maan Saab (the second Begum of Junagadh). The author of the book mentions Badcock as the royal butler who served for twenty-three years. He first served the Begum of Bhopal in 1925. The Begum was there to plead the succession of her surviving son, Hamidullah Khan.

In 1921 the Prince of Wales reached India. He visited Bhopal for hunting tigers. For the hunting guests, it was said that back then the tigers were drugged and hunted. The hunters remained unaware of this. In some cases, circus tigers were also used to please the guests.

The story of Mubarak who leaves for London to sell a necklace is very interesting (p.120). Mubarak meets a lady in London. She accompanies him to India. The stories of Nawab of Junagadh and his wife shows their opulent lifestyle and their treatment of subordinates. Once the Nawab ordered his minions to throw a young Pathan tennis coach to the hungry lions, as he developed a crush on the Nawab’s flirtatious daughter.

Maan Saab, the abandoned wife of the Nawab needed the company of men. She collected a few gigolos from the feudal gentry of Bhopal. When Bano, a maid of Maan Saab urinated in her bathroom, Maan Saab gave her a thorough beating. She was in a hurry so she ordered Allah Rakhi to teach her a lesson. She was so brutally tortured that she passed away. Maan Saab was arrested and served sixteen months in prison.

The author tries to recreate life and times of the rulers of Bhopal. Some of the interesting points in the book include the women rulers, loyalty to the British, French connections, tiger hunts and the meeting between the ruler of Bhopal and the Ottoman Sultan.

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Book Review: My Life's Journey: The Early Years (1966-1988) by Altaf Hussain

 

Originally this book was published in Urdu as Safa-e-Zindagi. It was based on lengthy interview of Altaf Hussain, better known as Altaf bhai. In the foreword of the book Matthew A. Cook says that the Urdu speaking population which migrated to Pakistan includes population form Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan and Bombay. He also says that most Mohajirs were not elites. They were artisans such as shoemakers, carpet weavers from Agra. Or metal workers from Moradabad and lock-makers from Aligarh.

He further says that most provincial refugee rehabilitation ministers were Sindhis rather than Mohajirs. The civil and police control was by the Punjabis and the Pakhtuns controlled the building and transportation sectors. Altaf Hussain writes about his childhood, mentioning the time when Ayub Khan won from Fatima Jinnah. Ayub’s son Gohar Ayub decided to celebrate his father’s victory in Karachi. On that very day Altaf and his mother were in rickshaw and were informed by the Rickshaw driver to get out of the vehicle as Pakhtuns were on the rampage.

Writing about his activism during student days, he mentions mobilizing students for B. Pharmacy admissions. They were initially denied admissions because by the time their result came out the admissions had closed. But finally, after constant struggle they succeeded in getting admissions.

The author says that Mohajir civil servants were sacked during Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan and Bhutto’s time. After his association with PNA he realized that the Mohajirs were considered third class citizens and no respect was shown for their lives. On 11 June 1978, the All-Pakistan Mohajir Students’ Organization (APMSO) was formed. It faced string resistance from Islami Jamiat-e-Taluba. Finances were a serious issue for the newly founded organization and Altaf donated the income he earned from tuitions. Altaf Hussain says: ‘I can never forget that 50 cc motorbike of mine which proved to be more faithful than many humans.’ Furthermore, he says that when he was building up the organization, he would often be hungry with other fellows. To satisfy their stomachs they would each have a samosa followed by several glasses of water.  

In 1984, Mohajir Quami Movement (MQM) was launched. It faced serious opposition. He was jailed three times. He was tortured and later the beatings resulted in kidney problems. Altaf Hussain says that he subordinated all his desires and interest to his mission MQM. He further states that his family had a very positive attitude that provided courage to him. Altaf stresses on the relation between class and politics. He says MQM is a friend of the poor, whether they are from Punjab, Sindh, NWFP or Baluchistan.

This autobiographical account covers the period from 1966 to 1988. This book provides a story of Altaf Hussian- how an individual rose to become Altaf bhai.

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Book Review: Iqbal by Francesco D'Adamo, Ann Leonori (Translator)

Iqbal is a fictional account about a person named Iqbal Masih who wanted to liberate bonded laborers in Pakistan. The narrator of this book is Fatima, a girl who was inspired by Iqbal’s courage and determination.

As a sign of resistance Iqbal cut his master’s carpet with a knife. His master Hussain Khan punishes him. There are also other children who were taken away from their families and enslaved by Hussain Khan. Once Iqbal tries to escape, but the local policemen brings him back to Khan, after taking bribe. For his rebellion he is severely punished by his master. After that incident he tries to escape again. This time he is successful. He contacts the Bonded Labor Liberation Front of Pakistan and helps in the liberation of other kids enslaved by Hussain Khan.

Iqbal had sown the seeds of hope in all the children. Sadly, he was murdered on Easter Sunday in 1995 in Muridke, a village near Lahore. This novel gives us an insight into Iqbal’s struggle. After reading this book, I wonder how many other Iqbals are still working and enslaved by the carpet mafia.

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