Tariq Ali talk at Sydney Opera House
Sunday the 6th of September was Father’s Day in Australia and I had an opportunity to listen to Tariq Ali. He was on ABC’s Q and A just a few days ago, I was impressed by his ideas and style when he commented upon the current asylum situation.
Sydney has an event called the Festival of Dangerous Ideas that invites speakers to talk on diverse topics. It is a ticketed event that runs to packed houses at the Sydney Opera House.
The Twilight of Democracy was the title of Tariq’s talk. It was at the Concert Hall, packed with people of all ages, and there seemed to be more women than men. The brilliance of his ideas conveyed in a style of narration which I felt had the intonation of a storyteller, in a voice that could keep one enrapt for hours.
He is outspoken.
History will remember this century and Tariq is clear about the reasons. The world he says, having been just 15 years into the century has seen more turmoil than it did in the fifty odd years preceding it. While the world wonders about the rise of China, which he says will rightly be the highlight of the century, the fall of the United States is neither eminent nor will it be because of the rise of China. He alluded to the various global crises, including the current surge of asylum seekers caused by the wonton greediness of the democratic world.
He separated the popular notion that democracy and capitalism go hand in hand. The rise of China proves the opposite. China and before them the USSR, abandoned the idea of a socialist state in setting up a capitalistic society. He says the knowledge of socialist ideas and revolution built their capitalism.
Tariq dwelt on the idea of ‘Extreme Centre’ (also a title of one of his books). He explained that parties come to power in democracies to replace their opponents in the next elections. Nothing changes as the cycle of corruption continues. People vote, but they are unable to change the system and have little choice. The ideas of a democracy evolved from classed societies such as the Greek city states, where slaves and women had no rights, and a mix of events in history where the subjects could depose a King. He argues that the very foundation of democracy is flawed, as invariably a class of elites form a senate. Even when the US had a black president, it really didn’t change a thing, as confusion exists between democracy and identity politics. He suggests that democracy is a fading idea, unless the people have the power to make changes through constitutional means as is possible in certain countries.
He mentioned that while the few beheadings by the ISIS shocked the world, because it was publicised, it is a lesser evil compared to the drone attacks by the US on civilian population where scores die, and which people don’t see or know about.
Likewise, the power of the Jewish lobby in the US is so strong that no one criticises Israel in the US, even while Israelis do so in their own country!
Alluding to Australia, he went to say that countries built on migrants themselves object to asylum seekers and have ridiculous immigration controls and treat asylum seekers as enemies. He said Australia was a land just grabbed from the rightful owners, the aborigines, much the same way as the creation of Israel was with a notion that it is no one’s land and therefore theirs!
Tariq’s talk was with some questions he answered, the most important one is about fearing China. He felt there really is no reason to fear the rise of China as the US was still with the most powerful military resources and China has no intention of conquering the world but defend themselves.
My Father’s Day gift from my son was Tariq’s book: The Duel: Pakistan On the Flight Path of American Power which gave me an opportunity to meet him to sign it. I did tell him that I like Carnatic music and Pakistani writers (for distinct reasons). My love for Kushwanth Singh’s style of writings may have led me to read other writers of Pakistani State Politics such as Fatima Bhutto and Shuja Nawaz. Tariq softly mentioned Fatima’s book.
Even though I cannot put a finger on a connection to my likings, they have a story to tell!
