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Almost 178 years ago, German philosopher and economist Karl Marx once famously wrote: ‘religion is the opium of the people’. This oft-quoted remark of his sought to express religion as an institution dependent upon the economic realities of society.
For Marx, religion served as a tool used by oppressors to pacify the oppressed regarding their poor socio-economic conditions; religious zest fed by the rich helps the poor remain poor by promises of rewards in the afterlife instead of today. Consequently, he argued, ‘the abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness’.
As a firm believer in Islam myself, I am compelled to disagree with Marx upon perceiving religion as merely an illusion. But to debate, the existence of God here would be to digress from a vital observation made by the economist still very valid today: religion as a tool pursue economic objectives.
More economically developed western nations still use religion as a tool to ensure the lesser developed eastern nations stay embroiled in conflicts of creed, inflict damage upon themselves, and thereby help them sustain the power dynamics between the occident (west) as superior and orient (east) as inferior. The most blatant example of this manipulative tactic is France’s recent use of blasphemous content to land Pakistan in hot waters.
The European Parliament has passed a resolution for EU authorities to review Pakistan’s GSP+ status in light of the recent violent protests held by TLP against the blasphemous French content. Denouncing the ‘alarming’ increase in laws discriminating towards minorities, it called upon the PTI led government to ‘unequivocally condemn’ such laws. The resolution also expressed grave concern at the prevailing anti-French sentiment in Pakistan.
TLP’s protests, although misdirected, were not without rightful cause. When school teacher Samuel Paty was decapitated in Paris for showing his students blasphemous sketches of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), in retaliation the French government projected the cartoons onto the facade of a building for the public to appreciate. President Macron further endorsed the offensive cartoons by shielding them under the ‘freedom of speech’ umbrella.
The French, who are often seen cozying up to Fascist Hindu PM Modi, with deliberate care, sought to provoke the Muslim community by publicly endorsing the blasphemous cartoons. And this is not the first time France has stirred such a controversy. Blasphemous sketches of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) were also published by French magazine Charlie Hebdo in 2012, drawing stern criticism from Muslim nations across the globe.
Pakistani Muslims have always bravely and rightfully taken a clear stand against anyone who speaks ill of our Holy Prophet (PBUH). Freedom of speech does not entail freedom to disrespect or offend a religious community. And European countries seem to agree with this when free speech concerns Jewish people. Holocaust Denial laws in various European countries make it illegal to question the existence of crimes carried out against humanity i.e. the Jewish genocide. On 29th November 2017, an 89-year-old woman Ursula Haverbeck, dubbed the ‘Nazi Grandma’, was sentenced to 14 months in prison under German law for denying the holocaust. Similarly, on 15th April 2019, far-right French provocateur Alain Soral was sentenced to one year in jail for also denying the holocaust.
Advocators of the holocaust denial laws contend refusing to acknowledge the Jewish massacre is an assault on truth and a threat to democracy by virtue of propagating anti-semitism. If this line of argument is to be accepted, then it too must be accepted that any blasphemous content, insulting Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), is an expression of Islamophobia. Yet no European law penalizes insulting the sentiments of millions of Muslims.
So the Muslim community must not and cannot be silent against the Western hypocrisy. But neither must we become pawns in their grand plans to reign supreme. TLP burning 40 cars, killing 4 policemen and injuring 800 others did nothing but damage Pakistan. We served our head on a platter to the EU and they had a great laugh. The GSP+ status provides us additional trade incentives beneficial for our economy. And without it, we will suffer.
As per business experts, of the total $12 billion textile exports from Pakistan, exports to EU nations account for approximately $6 billion. If the GSP+ facility is removed, the exports could take a plunge leading to a surge in unemployment and more. Yet no sacrifice is too big when it concerns the respect of our Holy Prophet (PBUH); the economy cannot be saved at the cost of sacrificing Islam. Nonetheless, damaging Pakistan will achieve nothing. The French will continue to publish blasphemous cartoons and the biased global perception of Muslims as violent terrorists will be reaffirmed.
Certain segments of our society argue TLP and its likes are the Establishment’s Frankenstein, created to steer political parties in the desired direction and discreetly tackle foreign threats. Perhaps this may be so. However, even apolitical individuals with no past affiliations or soft spots for TLP were seen supporting the party’s violence on social media. We as Muslims are angry. But we must not be manipulated. There are more effective and peaceful means to stand in solidarity against France, such as by boycotting all French products. Let us be players in this global game of politics- not the pawns.
