Shah Rukn e Alam
The current hike in prices were predicated on anti-poor measures, taken by an elite that refuses to reduce its own consumption. The government must cut the billions in subsidies that it gives to businesses in the form of SROs, or reduce the ever increasing exemptions and privileges of the military and bureaucracy. Why mainstream parties apparently claiming to champion democracy and anti-imperialism, refused to offer any alternative to IMF imposed cuts and conditions. PTI’s recent electoral success had everything to do with the failure of PDM to genuinely empower the people. IMF’s undemocratically imposed conditionalities consistently targeted health, education and public spending but left the ballooning military budget intact. IMF was the true face of US imperialism. The endless cuts to the civilian budget and the ever increasing military budget were the legacy of dozens of IMF programs. The goal he said was to leave the country open for capitalists to plunder its resources, and destroy any capacity for working class people to escape their exploitation. It was time for people to rally around a genuine anti-imperialist alternative because things are set to continue getting worse. United Democratic Front was such an attempt by progressives across the country to unite in the face of exploitation and ecological catastrophe.
It was essential for ordinary people to understand that elite consumption of imported goods directly made their lives worse. To make progress, it was necessary to understand that the national economy was stuck in a cycle because elites expect the IMF to bail them out at the expense of inflation that hurts the working class. Every bureaucratic perk, increase in military budget, every unnecessary import was made at the expense of the working class. Young people were set to face an economic and ecological breakdown. And that the only way to fight was a spiritual and political revolution. It was necessary to recognise our choices as part of an interconnected whole and that it was to organise, join progressive causes and build an organisation that could seize back control over the state’s economic policy.
The current rise in prices had forced families to make brutal choices, rising prices had made it incredibly difficult for Katchi Abadi residents to travel. Taxi drivers a Rickshaw in particular were losing their livelihoods. Policies forced families to choose between meals and paying for their children’s education. Families were being forced to make brutal choices and the state seemed completely unconcerned. Given the fact that Pakistan would not fix it balance of payments crisis any time soon working class people were likely to face a continuous decline in their standard of living while rich elites responsible for this behaviour would continue to consume as if nothing had happened. It was necessary for the people rebuild the power of the masses.
The current price hikes were part and parcel of capitalistic system that no party could escape. The role of the Pakistani state historically acted as a tool of colonial interests that sought to suppress its own people. No party neither PTI nor any of the other mainstream parties could resolve this inherent crisis, because they were elite led populist parties with no program. The price hikes were making the lives of ordinary people more and more miserable and the only way out was for the masses to unite and overpower our entrenched elites.
The price hikes have huge impact on women, especially working class women, who were finding it harder and harder to get by on their budgets. Economic downturns like these increased domestic violence and made life incredibly difficult for women.
The crises of the Pakistani state were having a devastating impact on its peripheries. Kashmir, GB, Waseb and other peripheries had long been treated like a bargaining chip but the state never invested there, instead treating them like another source to plunder resources.
The current cuts to the education budget would mean huge fee increases for students. This would force government universities like his to privatize. Meaning that many students, especially working class students would lose access to education. Students, were already facing the intense squeeze in their budgets due to soaring petrol prices. It would intensify pressure on students who were facing an uncertain future in a world with low paying jobs, fee hikes and declining education standards. It was essential that students organise alongside working class people and put pressure on the government because their collective future was at stake.
