Politics through Literature: Genesis, Storm, knowledge and Business, Perception & Reality

Politics through Literature

Genesis, Storm, Knowledge and Business 

Perception & Reality

In Britannica language is defined as a system of conventional spoken, manual, or written symbols by means of which human beings, as members of a social group and participants in its culture, express themselves. The functions of language include communication, the expression of identity, play, imaginative expression, and emotional release. The epic manifestation of a language is its literature,  imaginative works of poetry and prose distinguished by the intentions of their authors but policy makers and founders of modern Nation State phenomenon decided to use rather misuse that greatest human endeavour in the State Craft. It all together changed the dynamics of language & literature from creativity to sponsorship, from communication to propaganda, from social coherence to interventions. Largely it is post 18th century world in which language & literature became part of problem rather part of solution. 

It is Fara Zia latest joint piece of writing about Khyal festival Some thoughts on a festival which open a window in my mind to share my stray thoughts regarding latest festival drama being launched formally in the post Cold War era as a smart but attractive weapon. I will not mention here the book A Journey by Tony Blair in which he recorded post Cold War anxieties of the Empire in 1990s but I will mention Kevin Parker who said "when Edinburgh International Book Festival entered the fray in 1983, it was still one of only three UK literary festivals. The now global Hay Literary Festival franchise didn't hang up its shingle until 1988. Since then the rise and rise of literary festivals has been unrelenting." Kevin smartly tried to link it with a literature festival of 1949 dedicated to books and authors but failed amicably. 

Although the campaign got prominence globally in post 9/11 world yet it is still English Festival rather Literary Festival. Kevin give details of countries other then UK who joined the ride already included Canada, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Israel, Africa, Iran, India, China, Pakistan etc along with list of companies and Banks yet he avoid mentioning International Aid donors. Interestingly, Russia is not in the list. In South Asia the project was launched from JAIPUR in 2006. In a decade India is celebrating more then 60  'lit fests' , more then one in a week, par year. In the first half of 20th century Indians were recruiting Army men but for the first half of 21st century preferences of recruitment have been changed. So it is a transformation from Sword Arm to Soft Arm but in order to boast Indian nationalism sponsored decided to call Jaipur Festival "World's Largest Free Literary Festival". In Pakistan the Idea came into being in 2010 with Karachi Literary Festival who want to see Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Delhi and London as a united whole as mentioned smartly on the banner quotation. There was not a single separate session about the biggest Pakistani language Punjabi nor about the biggest language of the province Sindhi so what to talk about Pasto, Brahvi and Balochs. Now we have Literature festivals in Islamabad and Lhore too. Khyaal is another divergence of this derive. 

we living in the Punjab have a proverb "sat din ty 8 melay" (8 festivals in a week) so we are found of festivals and that is why Kevin rightly said "The annual Lahore Literary Festival in Pakistan now attracts over 50,000 visitors". But will these Lit Fests for all people? is still a big question. Unlike UK Literary Festivals they have more strong ties with big businesses/donors/sponsors rather then diverse literary scene in the country particularly with indigenous authors, artists, literary organizations and the publishers. Due to heavy presence of big businesses and Donors participant intellectuals restrained to question their commitment with literature. Use of English language from the stage is a common mantra in all such festivals which bifurcates Pandats and the Shudras well. You cannot find traditional literary groups like Punjabi Adbi Sangat, Halqa Arbab e Zoaq, Progressive writers Association nor popular writers of native languages in it. Their volunteers comes from elite education schools which is an additional attraction for the audience. They are not dependent on the State in organizing these festivals, a common thing in out of UK literary festivals.