How to Come Out to Your Best Friend

This is an extract from Amitav Ghosh's River of Smoke,  sequel to Sea of Poppies.  Its the earlier part of the nineteenth century.  The opium trade between the British in India and China is close to its demise.  This coming out speech seems to have some of the sensibilities of present times -- superimposed upon characters from older days.  But it serves as  a good template -  and also how to Blackmail your parents.

‘Well Puggly dear, I am old enough now to know that I am not destined to enjoy any of the usual forms of domestic felicity. In all likelihood I will live out my days as a bachelor, and I fear that mine may be a lonely lot unless I succeed in finding a Friend – someone to whom I may be a true and devoted Companion. All the artists I most admire had Friends to sustain them in their endeavours – Botticelli, Michelangelo, Raphael, Caravaggio. In reading about them it has become apparent to me that the lack of a Friend has been a tragic want in my life: without one, I shall never achieve anything of significance. But as you know, Puggly dear, it has never been easy for me to make friends – I am not like other men and people do sometimes tend to think me a little odd. Even when I was a little chokra no one would play with me, not even my brother – oh if only I had a penny for all the times I was beaten by the other boys! I’d be a rich man, I promise you.’

            ‘But Robin, is it not a strange thing to go to Canton in search of friendship?’

            ‘Oh by no means, my dear Puggly! I have it on excellent authority that there is no better place on earth for Friendships than Canton’s foreign enclave: nowhere else is there such a number of incorrigible bachelors. It is no hardship for them, you know, to live in an enclave that is forbidden to women; since there is also a great deal of money to be made in Canton, it is, I believe, a most amenable place for confirmed solitaries like myself. I am told that at certain times of year bachelors flock there like birds to a wintering hole: indeed some of Mr Chinnery’s own friends have told me so. I have often quoted them to him but this only seems to infuriate him – he says that I am exactly the kind of man who is likely to succumb to the temptations of Canton and he can never countenance such a fate for his own flesh and blood. He was so adamant that I despaired of going. Indeed he would never have agreed, I suspect, if I had not threatened to use the only weapon in my quiver: I told him that if he did not use his influence to obtain a chop for me, I would expose him to his genteel friends and reveal everything about his treatment of my mother, my brother and myself. At that he relented and so, Puggly dear, it has all been arranged: I am to spend the season at Markwick’s Hotel in Canton!’

           P. 149-150

SanaSafinaz and the New Colonial Takeover

While SanaSafinaz achieve huge profits, these profits are clearly not equally and fairly distributed to the level of the common laborer – including textile workers, weavers, power loom workers, dyers and cotton pickers. This is why the class divide depicted in the ad (below) is inexcusable and insensitive.  The allegation against SanaSafinaz that the coolies were not told exactly how their image would be put to use amounts to a fraudulent representation which should be investigated. (1) 

Everyone has a right to privacy, and a right to benefit from their own image in, or at least not have others benefit from or exploit it in a manner that they had not consented to and were ignorant about. Had the coolies been provided full disclosure of the nature of their business, they could have bargained in a more informed way.  That choice was never theirs, perhaps, based on stereotypes of class and caste, and social status.

Moreover, the picture is Orientalist. True, all people are brown here. It’s the class and neo-liberal undertones.  The Pakistan railway worker and the Pakistan Railways (PR) have suffered the worst neo-liberal, neo-capitalist, military assault that has reduced the railway worker to desperation and destitution, and destroyed the latter as an institution -- over the last twenty years. The railway worker, aptly, is depicted as a relic of the past.  Most rich people, including the upper class woman in the ad with her LV bag, would travel by air.  Trains are thrown in as backdrop, the coolies as props -- for the sake of nostalgia. The colors and mood invoke a sense of the colonial period.  The fading, exoticized red of their uniform appears as a cynical contrast to the vibrant colors of the lawn worn by women of a class that has long since fled the world of Cantt Station and coolies.  One suit is worth one week’s wages, if not more.  The upper class woman is akin to a (colonial) white woman; her sense of entitlement and arrogance can be inferred from the picture.  She commands servitude from the other, the invisible coolie (blurred in logos) -- the native, the dying working class crushed under colonization’s new form – neo-capitalism.

Watch ad here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLuf7kSfvhg

The history of Pakistan Railways is a study of how a lucrative, national institution was destroyed for private gains at the expense of the people and the labor in this country. It could be labeled the neo-capitalist agenda or military hegemony over the state's vital organs where private greed and profit were prioritized over the welfare of the people, and the preservation of an essential working system. 

PR was a profitable institute in the 70s.  It was systematically destroyed by the creation of the National Logistics Cell (NLC) in 1978 within it.  By moving favorable freight business to NLC and through what appears malicious mismanagement, the PR was run into the ground. (2)  The transaction amounted to moving public assets and revenues into the army’s private hands.  Now the Railways is being broken into four departments each open to parceling out through partial privatization, public-private partnerships, outsourcing of activities etc.  Here was an institution that was actually working.  It was self sustaining and providing revenue to the state and employment to thousands of workers.  It also provided a much needed service to the people who pay more for buses and coaches.  Not only have passengers lost out with the cutting of essential railway services – with  attempts at privatization, the World Banks’s interference and that of the NLC, the infrastructure was destroyed, and funds siphoned away.  Railway workers lost pensions; they are not paid salaries on time and have attempted suicide to bring attention to their condition.  They work under an onerous new contractual system where they pay for their uniforms, and pay Rs. 600 a month to retain their licenses. (3) (4)

What the government military and private interests have done to PR is comparable to the plunder that happens when a conquering army runs through a people and takes everything with it.  Is this what class battle is about?  Those who can, take over, and move resources and means to themselves leaving little for the masses in way of jobs, opportunities, services and social safety nets.

Perhaps, the SanaSafinaz ad represents the cultural hegemony, the conquering class’s narrative over the fading coolies and the poor, like natives getting wiped out in a colonial takeover. I wonder if the next ad will carry the cultural equivalent of black face or Chinaman.  The SS corporation may not have thought about all these implications – which is worse.  It makes them appear wanton and irresponsible that they have not fully understood what it means to depict and represent the working class in a sector that has been destroyed by the an unjust economic system – where coolies have lost livelihoods – and niche businesses like SS have made crores.

 (1) http://tribune.com.pk/story/350906/sana-safinazs-lawn-how-uncoolie/

 (2)http://issuu.com/loungemagazine/docs/review59for_web

 (3)www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-4-62101-Coolies%E2%80%99-livelihood-goes-off-the-rail

 (4) http://www.dawn.com/2011/12/21/2-pr-workers-attempt-suicide-for-salaries.

The Hyper MART Phenomenon

On Sunday at 6 pm, we bravely ventured out to Dolmen Mall, the city's latest mega indoor malls.  It is the sixth of its kind in the Saddar-Defence corridor.  The others include Park Towers, Emerald Towers, Forum, the Atrium,  the under construction Sofitel, a multi-story elite hotel that replaces Mideast Hospital.  


The entrance at Dolmen was crowded.  Karachites were out to make the most of a disappearing holiday. There were about thirty people on the escalator ramp leading up to the shops.  We got on only to realize that there were also about 10 to 12 shopping trolleys being hauled up by a Hyperstar Employee.  Seconds later, there were shrill screams of terror. A wheelchair was stuck at the top of the moving ramp.  No one stopped it.  The number of people on the ramp kept increasing as they ascended.   But the exit from the ramp was blocked by a wheelchair, a group of people, and a string of trolleys.  The security guard stood by or assisted --I couldn't see -- but in a flash, the true nature of our predicament dawned upon me.  We were headed for a massive human squash.  My son was already jammed between our legs and the trolley.  Panic stricken, I asked my partner to pick him up and hold him high so he would not be hurt.


Seconds later, the wheelchair was  pushed off.  People moved.  A disaster was averted.  However, there were many shattered nerves, and a palpable sense of anxiety in the air.  The Hyperstar employee guiltily slid away with his trolleys.  Two middle aged men launched vicious verbal assaults on the guard.  "Button bandh kyun nahin kiya?"  The rudeness was typical of upper and middle class entitlement to displays of anger and superiority.  The guard --gaunt, sheepish -- had no answer.  If not underpaid, he was thoroughly under trained, and probably afraid of being chastised by the bosses, and humiliated.  People dissipated.  The numerous employees at the entrance continued to check and search bags and hustle would be terrorists, but pliant buyers, through metal detectors.


Had this incident resulted in injuries, Hyperstar and Dolmen Mall would be liable to pay damages for negligence.  For one, the Hyperstar employee should not have been on the ramp with a dozen trolleys at peak hour.  He should have used a freight elevator.  Without adequate training, he was put in a position where he could have placed others at risk of personal injury.  Hyper would be vicariously liable.  He was negligent under their watch, and due to their lack of instruction.  


Second, the Dolmen Mall guard should have pressed the emergency stop button.  His negligent response to an emergency situation again represents lack of adequate training by mall owners.  The mall would also be liable for lack of provision of separate transport facilities for shopping trolleys.


Large food retail stores -- Carrefour (French), Makro (Belgian), Metro (German)-- have made a dent in the retail sector in Pakistan.  They comprise about 2% of all Pakistani food retail outlets with an estimated annual turnover of $176 million. USDA Foreign Agricultural Service.(1) 



Families are welcome; but you may get trampled.


The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) paints a chilling picture of our march to the slaughterhouse of hyper consumerism - our profile as ready, willing, available consumers for the foreign large retailer seeking higher profits.  


"The upcoming changes in the Pakistani consumer demographic will create opportunities and challenges for companies.  Pakistan has a population of over 170 million...with a large and growing consumer middle income class estimated at about 25% of the total population....A growing number of young Pakistani professionals generally prefer making monthly food purchases from modern retail stores due to greater variety of products, satellite stores, and to enjoy food services all under one roof, thus providing the opportunity of combining one stop shopping with a family outing."


Larger retailers are here to make money, repatriate profits, appropriate the market from local, traditional retailers, get people to switch from organic food to processed foods.  They are aware of the psychology of a new generation willing to dispose income for plastic, seeking convenience, unperturbed by superfluous packaging.  The stores are not obligated to reinvest in Pakistan.  In the service and infrastructure sectors, the government permits foreign investors 100% repatriation of equity - which serves as a huge economic incentive.(2)


So having larger foreign retailers may seem hip, but its not development for the masses.  It may provide employment, but that fades in comparison to the value they extract and put back in their home countries.


I once asked a Hyperstar employee whether he was paid okay.  He got flustered, and glanced over his shoulder, and this is right after he did "sales talk" with me about Hyperstar's great discounts.  It is doubtful that foreign companies are committed to labor laws; in fact they are here because labor is not effectively unionized or empowered, can be hired cheaply (the cost of one day's groceries for some), and will not bargain in fear of reprisal.  It is doubtful they are committed to the same rigorous standards, as abroad, of reasonable care in the running of their operations.  This was apparent from the negligence on the ramp.  No Hyperstar staff member showed up to inquire about the episode and collect first hand accounts.  I filed a complaint, left my cell number, but did not receive a phone call.  Store attendants were curious in a voyeuristic way, but lacked technical know how on handling complaints.  One sales clerk casually ignored my six year old as she waited to get spinach weighed while catering to grown men who cut the line.  Whatever excellence they are committed to -- was not evident that day -- just their ruthless desire for the money.


A website lists complains the Metro store in Karachi does not allow children under ten years of age with their mother inside the store.(3)  If true, or once true, this violates the right to family life and privacy which would be guaranteed in Europe under human rights and laws protecting children.  But here we are -- oblivious, prostituted without legal cover, dispensable.



But please carry cash, not your children; they may damage our products


Dismally, we are a consumer market to be exploited, but not worthy of legal protections, and sufficiently mistrusted in light of prohibitions and security checks.  (You can not walk around with a coffee cup in the Dolmen mall.)  Tort litigation, consumer and rights awareness is not widespread or even common knowledge in Pakistan.  Without judicial vigilance at the first instance courts, regular people will remain without a remedy against giant foreign retailers who are represented by top notch law firms in tort cases.  Traditional grocery stores risk losing business and becoming defunct. Customer relations of the mohallah type, casual and autonomous, would be likely replaced whole scale by the cold cordiality of hyper chain stores.  I asked the men working in the fish department at Hyperstar if they could sell me edible remains for my cat.  When he looked confounded, a nice lady whispered to me making me feel bag ladyish.  "They probably do not have the permission."  


In lip service to corporate social responsibility, the companies appease the public with tokenist charity, glam events, and support of the arts in the form of, for example, Coke Studio, causing social liberals (read fiscal conservatives) to be giddy over the patronage of the arts and suspend their economic critique - settle for the argument, at least some people have jobs.  Its more than you can do.


While the justice system is not accessible to the common person, it highly favorable to foreign investors.   Under the Protection of Economic Reforms Act, 1992 privatized commercial and industrial enterprises and foreign investments are protected from compulsory taking by the government.  (4)


In certain sectors, the Sindh Investment Board offers incentives to foreign companies - which appear ultra vires ---"availability of affordable labour, skilled work force...an Expatriate Enclave with modern infrastructure and tax incentive package such as exemption of custom duties and Taxes strictly on import of capital equipment." (5)  


Special economic zones (SEZs) such as these should be challenged -- such broad powers exercised by the Board, to impose such status on 2, 000 acres of prime Karachi land (to the detriment of workers) should be subject to judicial and parliamentary scrutiny -- but is it?  Do we have that sort of community mobilization and legal vigilance to push it?


In a mad scramble of a neon nature, we dole out piece by piece what is left of our resources -- providing incentives to companies to explore Thar Coal, build LNG terminals, create hyper marts, SEZs -- at the peril of local indigenous communities in the Thar desert, in the Sindh mahigir population, small stores, and labor.  


In December 2009, the Supreme Court ordered that the federal government acting at Musharaf's behest had no authority to grant leasehold rights to the Army Welfare Trust (AWT) which later sub-leased the land to Makro-Habib Pakistan to build a cash and carry wholesale outlet.  It ordered the retail giant to vacate the 4.9 acres of land within three months.  The plot is an amenity plot and should be used as a playground.(6)  The three months would have expired about March 20, 2010.  Makro still stands.  Surely, they wiggled their way out. 



Hey, wasn't there supposed to be a playground here - like two years ago?


During martial law another financial fiasco was the sale of PTCL  to the Dubai-based Etisalat.  The transaction was fraught with problems and debunks the myth that state owned companies are necessarily less efficient and competent than private ones. (7)


In Pakistan, we suffer the double disability of military business collusion - the ugly marriage of army generals and Citibank executives.  No one to bail us out, but for the lonely suo motu.


Hyper stores are good fun for my kids and me.  Its broad glossy aisles, clean counters, provide an outing, yes, to the Karachi child.  Paradise Store, our local grocery store gives me the feeling we paid an extra thousand for nothing.  Due to lack of legal control, the local small  grocery store can also get away with selling unsafe products, overcharge - they feel not like the fuzzy mom and pop (kiryana) stores, but mini sharks riding inflation.  I do not have the fortitude of character to drag and protect my kids through Delhi Colony - been dragged and suffered through that in my own child hood, got my behind pinched.


Clearly, better options, like the affordable Imtiaz Store (but not quite as cramped or distant) need to be available for the consumer - perhaps even child friendly, cooperative owned grocery stores that provide fair wage employment to its employees, encourage the sale of safe, organic goods and local products rather than overly processed products laced with preservatives.

Ultimately there needs to be an economic rejection of the hypermart phenomenon.  Change is good, but not when it gouges out profit.  Neighborhoods in the US resist encroachments by Walmart; And in one case, in San Jose, unionized grocery workers (ironically) at large chains such as Safeway and Luckys are resisting Walmart.  Walmart, Carrefour, and Tesco are the the three biggest retailers spreading their wings. (8)

Why can't we at least make it hard for them. Trim some feathers.  We can at least not celebrate when Walmart, Ikea, and Starbucks come to Pakistan.  Its would be easy to rile up people saying these stores are somehow unIslamic - but that would be unethical, and would fuel that unnecessary liberal-fundamentalist debate in social media -- that often ignores the economics -- and places social liberals (economic conservatives) in the position of necessarily, but falsely, defending foreign enterprise as modernization when juxtaposed against fundamentalist angst that falsely purports to defend the lower middle class.

Why can't we call out the government on the shameful laws that provide broad and unjust protections to foreign investments and privatization, strengthen the anti privatization movement at the grassroots with more diverse and passionate adherents, especially amongst the youth.

Of course, such campaigns should seek to collaborate and bring together information of illicit land transfers by the military or others to build large retail stores or for agriculture.  There should be a renewed focus on Environmental Impact Assessments.  Direct action and stalling tactics can be used, lawfully, to stop the proliferation of large stores, and bad projects by attending administrative hearings where they present EIA reports as a formality and minor hurdle.  The public could challenge the environmental and social feasibility of projects -- give teeth to the process.


Even if nine out of ten people will tell you this bastard development is inevitable, and you yourself are being hypocritical, cooperatives are a dream -- its Karachi, its Pakistan, change is always in the air.


Articles referred to:


 1) http://www.calwinexport.com/files/The%20Retail%20Food%20Sector%20-%202011_Islamabad_Pakistan_6-23-2011.pdf


2) http://investinpakistan.org/investment-laws.phpit 


3) http://www.boltaconsumer.com/complaints/metro-and-makro-metro-and-metro-must-be-banned

4)http://www.ahmedandqazi.com/actsandregulations/investorprotection/protectionEconomicReformsAct1992.pdf


5) http://www.sbi.gos.pk/international-special-economic-zone.php


6) http://www.transparency.org.pk/news/newsdec09.php


7) http://tribune.com.pk/story/349491/privatisation-of-ptcl-a-lesson-for-policymakers/

8) http://www.marketwatch.com/story/grocery-workers-resist-introduction-of-walmart-grocery-stores-2012-02-08