A guy in his mid twenties comes out of his car, and fails to pay his toll tax upon entrance into Islamabad. His excuse? Civil disobedience! Thanks to the recent events, we now have excuse as citizens of Pakistan to put a cause to our tax evasion. The video has gone viral, and with it, the bashing of Nawaz Sharif (and his corruption). Never have I felt so hopeless, than I have now in the youth of Pakistan. What does that young man, or his accompanied friends, one of which talks about paying their driver (chauffeur), know about Mahatma Gandhi's civil disobedience? Unthankfully, they will now be contributing towards a crumbling system which is only going to get worse. They are the youth of Slackistan.
Imran Khan has a support of English speaking, computer educated, higher middle class youth. They do not understand the concerns of the Pakistanis who work as chauffeurs, as waiters, as garbage collectors, or as farmers. For them, like Imran Khan, settling scores might just be the most important thing for the country right now. We are talking of a country where 17.2% of the country lives below extreme poverty line, while more than 60% of the country lives under $2 a day. Then how does the youth of Pakistan is so concerned about unfair elections? Pakistan is one of the only countries in the world where Polio has not been fully eradicated. It is also a country where Baluchistan, a major land-mass of the country, is crying for its independence. With all the signs of a crumbling state, should a revolution be only about re-elections?
In my view, Imran Khan, or any other leader, cannot call their cause a revolution. A revolution, in its true sense is a revolution to up turn, and over throw the influence of the bourgeoisie. Just as Nawaz Sharif is, the youth of slackistan is also a bourgeoisie. Power is a very strange word, and it is that power which does not let Nawaz leave his seat. It is the same power, that the youth of slackistan has over their maids, drivers, and the lower class, which will never in turn for a revolution for the poor. It is the same power the army has, which takes most of the budget in for defense, in a country where lack of clean drinking water is still a challenge of the 21st century. As Imran Khan leads his revolution into the parliament, with him he takes a huge crowd of Slackistanis who would rather update their Facebook statuses than actually understand the consequences of their actions on a highly indebted government and its poor majority.
Written by Fahad Sher Hussain
