The Theater must always be a safe and special place.The cast of Hamilton was very rude last night to a very good man, Mike Pence. Apologize!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 19, 2016
The first lesson I learned in resistance was to surrender. It was a hard lesson. It was the apocryphal year of 1984 and General Zia ul Haq was our leader. The General had come to power in a military coup in 1977-- deposing an elected and popular Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. In short order, he had hung Bhutto, for conspiracy to commit murder and corruption and had donned the mantle of a populist cleanser of political rot. When in 1979, Soviet Union entered Afghanistan, the General became the conduit for US "resistance".
Reagan toasted Zia in 1982 as the key architect of a peaceful South Asia (Zia, in return, requested "Spread this America, Mr. President"). Zia returned to Pakistan with the full support of United States. In August 1983, Zia revealed a theological argument for his military regime: according to God and his Prophet, as long as there is a Muslim leader pursuing a strategy of bringing an Islamic state into being, there can only be complete obedience to his rule.
In 1983, Pakistan started its resistance against the General. The "Movement for Restoration of Democracy" (MRD) emerged as an umbrella for Marxists, Progressivists, PPP, followers of pirs, provincialists, feminists, atheists-- all assemble only to resist Zia. They blocked highways, took over university campuses, shut-down bazaars and ports. The poets wrote verses that could be chanted. Sufi shrines become the rallying places for mobilizations. Someone stood in front of Zia's motorcade and flashed his privates.
Zia's regime cracked down. The army fired bullets in streets, campuses and bazaars. Thousands disappeared. Student unions were banned. Students vanished. In November 1984, Reagan won 58.8% of the votes cast and swept back into office. Not to be out-done, on 19 December 1984, Zia ul Haq held a referendum with one single question: Did the people of Pakistan support"the Islamic ideology of Pakistan?" Yes, would mean that Zia ul Haq would be elected President for five years, by the way. Well, if you put it that way.
Zia campaigned vigorously for the "referendum". The nationalized Radio and Television illustrated the divinity of military rule, and the rule of the militarily divine. On the 20th of December 1984, he declared victory after receiving 97.7% of 60% votes cast. Lahore surrendered. My uncles, aunts, cousins, neighbors, friends all declared widely and publicly that Zia ul Haq was the "Mard-e Haq" (Man of Truth). No one would speak, in public or private, against the General.
The second lesson I learned in resistance was to remember 1983. In 2007--- after September 2001, after George W. Bush-- resistance came to Pakistan as the "Lawyers Movement" against General Pervez Musharraf. This history is known to the readers of this blog, so I will tell only of the shape resistance took. Like 1983, an umbrella covered the many forms of political differences into a protected space. It was on the street-- the iconic black suits of the advocates of court battling the police. It was in cultural spaces-- galleries, salons, tea shops. It was online-- blogs, email listservs, youtube. It flashed Musharraf-- making him an object of ridicule, of shame. This time I was not too young and easily silenced. This time I learned the way and power of resistance.
The playbook of the Generals of Pakistan may seem incongruous next to that of a democratically elected Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush or Donald J. Trump. Hence, the techniques of surrendering or resistance may seem equally alien. However, do not be too quick to dismiss. Our Pakistani strongmen had much that bolsters Trump's appeal: the love of autocrats and technocrats, the claim to clean up corruption, the mode of 'direct speech' that cuts through 'bullshit', the claim to independence from special interests, the eye for gilded portraits, the male-ness, the love for big building projects and real estate acquisitions.
When I see Trump, I understand him and I understand the ways in which my uncles in Pakistan love him. Trump speaks that language already:Oh the Theater must always be... oh the University must endure... Oh the minorities must be protected. Trump's hierarchies (America First) and promises (Make America Great Again) are easy analogues to Zia ul Haq's "Islam First" or Musharraf's "Make Pakistan Moderate Again".
Against Zia, writers and artists like Anwar Maqsood and Moin Akhtar, used stand-up and prov sketch comedy in venues like the television program “Fifty-fifty” to subvert, to transgress, to document. Being on a National Television and subject to heavy censorship, their sketches had a pre-approved “official” reading and a reading that came clearly as disruptive resistance to the viewers outside. Performance that illustrated “all politics” is performance enabled that dissatisfaction with the “real”.
Against Musharraf, the tactic of satire as resistance was amplified in wildly popular shows like "Begum Nawazish Ali" and "Hum Sab Umeed Say Hain" (We are all Expecting). Jokes carried over instant messaging apps, blogs, and emails poked fun at the self-regard of the dictator. I collected them and promised myself I would write about them one day, and I guess I will one day.
Artists, poets, teachers, writers are the first line of defense against tyranny. They are also the first targets of censorship, condemnation or disappearance-- hence Dhaka University in '68-'71, hence Karachi University in '74-'76, hence Punjab University '83-'85. Against Zia and Musharraf, these were the critical spaces of collaboration-- between students and professors, between poets and reciters, between artists and viewers. I spent a lot of time in living rooms of my professors learning the trade of resistance. I spent a lot of time on street corners complicit in the making of shadow discourses. The classroom, the living room, the street corner were all fed by texts-- our Franz Fanon, our Kishwar Naheed, our Manto.