The Science of Development

[pir_Rokhan]

by Pir Rokhan
Development is an organic process. If we segregate the legs and hands from the rest of the body then neither hands nor legs grow. Hence the secret of life lies in a system. Those factors which contribute to the disruption of a system are also responsible for the disintegration of life. Society is also like an organic whole so it is not possible to segregate various sections of a society and expect development. The growth of a society has the same relationship with its institutions as body has with its different parts.

The departmentalization of a society into various sections is a natural proces. The existence of govt, administration, justice, industry, trade, commerce, finance, law, defence, education etc is but a natural means of growth in a society. The key to the growth and development of a society is the balanced relationship between the production , its distribution and their organic relationship with the society.

If the bond between the creative trends and productive initiatives gets broken and there is no fresh blood provided to the body of a societal organism then what comes out of it is called corruption, disintegration and chaos. Segregating one institution of a society from others results in the destruction of that institution. For example if the infrastructure of a rural area is developed without focusing on the means of production then what really happens is that the roads give access of imported vehicles to the rural areas, the electricity facilitates the use of western imported electronic products and imported agricultural machinery finds a new market in the rural areas. Hence it is necessary to let a society grow in a natural way by strengthening the urban rural relationship in which rural areas acts a source of raw material and labor supply to the industries and factories of urban areas so that indigenous industry is established and consequently society grows in natural way without being exploited by foreign corporations. With the import of such products the liabilities of a country increases pushing the country into a quagmire of foreign debts. Consequently to return the loans the country loses its resources and hence gets poorer and less sovereign.

Development is a science. A nation which does not comply with its laws gets stagnant, exploited and destroyed. The leading capitalist countries of the world that have monopolized development science are labeling resource less nations to be unfit for development. Most African nations have been declared incapable for development. The countries and nations who are losing control of their financial institutions are being declared incompetent for development by global capital. Those who are not in a bargaining position are also being declared as incompetent. A nation can become competent for Development by the following methods:
Economic patriotism, Indigenous planning of science, industry and technology, Increasing Intellectual property, Social discipline, Resistance against imperialist planning, and defending your industries, abilities, productive capabilities and markets against the ruthless forces of monopolies. It is criminal negligence to show weakness in the global capital market but it is a crime to accept this weakness and not strive to acquire more capital to fight against the cruel forces of global economic domination of the wealthier nations.

[Inspired from: A.Ali]

[Dust]

pir_Rokhan,

What you have addressed is an idea of how to achieve development. The main problem is in your premise:

Development is an organic process. If we segregate the legs and hands from the rest of the body then neither hands nor legs grow. Hence the secret of life lies in a system.

The greatest factor in Afghanistan's incapability to "development" is its incapability to separate church from state. The institution of religion should be and must be segregated, otherwise, you will always be back to square one. It will prevent development, no matter how hard all sincere efforts are exerted.

One of the reasons why underdevelopment happens is the fact that corrupt leaders have their ways of keeping their own people weak. One of the ways is using religion to disallow for the advancement of bright minds by injecting the fear of social taboos.

In order for any society to develop is to have educate people who know secularism. No other way. So, if you are saying that we should not "segregate" anything, then I would have to say that I don't agree with you. Religion is a dangerous institution if it is allowed to meddle in the politics of the state.

[Dust]

Please don't think that I am against religion. I am not. But I don't find it practical to have religion run the day-to-day business of the state. Religious scholars are that: "religious scholars." They do not have specialization in anything else. If they do, they would know exactly what I am talking about and would agree that the two should be separated.

[pir_Rokhan]

pir_Rokhan,

What you have addressed is an idea of how to achieve development. The main problem is in your premise:

Dust

What you have quoted was the first part of the premise to emphasise the importance of interdepedence of various walks of collective life [politico-economic aspects] not a philosophical generalisation. The second part of my premise proves it when I categorically said that:

The departmentalization of a society into various sections is a natural proces. The existence of govt, administration, justice, industry, trade, commerce, finance, law, defence, education etc is but a natural means of growth in a society. The key to the growth and development of a society is the balanced relationship between the production , its distribution and their organic relationship with the society.

Religion is mainly a private affair [between a person and God] based on certain dogmas,creeds ,rituals ,customs,traditions and morals having some points of intersection with Afghan / Pakhtun culture and hence should be respected. However it neither can nor should interfere into the collective politico-economic affairs of the state which are more related to the means of capital production and its distribution and hence determine whether a nation is qualified to pass the litmus test for development or not.

In short the whole idea of development is in reference to the collective [politico-economic] aspects of social life and religion being more an individualistic affair has least to do with science of development and hence is beyond the scope of the discussion.

[Dust]

How could the second part of your premise be correct when Afghanistan's day-to-day affairs runs on social taboos?

Just for your information, it is a given that everything within a system has to work collectively in order for the economy to flourish. However, the most important reasons for why the collective effort is not being exerted have to be found, otherwise, it will hamper development efforts.

The US and NATO forces have pumped tons of money in Afghanistan. The reason why it is not yielding results is the mentality of our people. That mentality is deeply routed in our archaic culture and the fact that we get manipulated by means of religion. This must be segregated.

[pir_Rokhan]

Dust
I do not agree with your judgment. Afghanistan has progressed to a good extent during the past few years though this progress is not sufficient as this is a post war interim period for the war ravaged country. Your concern ,however , is valid in the south of Afghanistan but as you know it is an open secret that the insurgency over there is sponsored by Pakistan.

Having said that I agree with the concern that religion has been exploited for political purposes especially during the US-Russian war fought on Afghan soil.

It is also a fact that Afghanistan was a power to reckon with before that war which proves that Afghans are an enterprising nation but were used for imperialist designs with the help of religion which has been their weakness. Moreover their monarchs in the past are to blame as they did not give a clear scientific vision to the nation so they could accept the challenges of the modern scientific age.

[Dust]

Afghanistan has progressed in the past few years only because of the presence of Western forces. Otherwise, we would still be killing each other. Moreover, the reason why progress is slow in Afghanistan, despite the presence of the Western forces, is because of our culture and religion. We have a love-hate relationship with the presence of Western forces. We love them for they are pumping tons of money; however, we hate them because we are afraid of losing our religion, our culture. This has enabled corrupt people to use this as propaganda whenever and wherever they see fit to their advantage.

Hence, we are caught in our own dilemma to the point that we don't know what to do. We want progress but we are not sure at what cost. As such, it has kept the speed of progress at a frustrating slow speed.

Note that progress is hampered because taboos are being used against our people, by our own people, because our people are struggling for power. If the Western force were not present in Afghanistan, we would still be under the occupation of the Taliban and would not know any modern aspect of managing development--the ideas you mentioned in your OP.

If we go back into history, you would notice that our country has never built anything for itself. Our infrastructure has always been built by foreigners, whether they were German, French, American, Russian, etc.

If Western forces leave today, your idea would not work, for your idea is essentially the formula for progress that other nations have used. But the advantage they had was that they understood the value of secularism in the hierarchy with a touch of understanding the needs of their people and understanding the social taboos due to culture or religion. Afghanistan has never had this. The reason why we can even ponder about 'development,' is because we have been given hope by non-Muslims and non-Afghans. Notice the irony.

Moreover, Afghanistan was never a power in post-industrial revolution era. NEVER. We were always used as ponds in the chess game of super-powers. Our courage has been a double edge sword against our own people.

The only way for our people to progress is to understand the value of a pluralistic society and be content even if we have a female Hazara as our leader. But the only way for this to happen is if we segregate the mosque from the state, our culture from the state.

Hence, segregation is very essential. You can't allow a cancerous arm to affect the rest of the healthy body. Amputation might be the only way to preserve the longevity of the rest of the body.

[pir_Rokhan]

There are no two opinions on the segregation of state and clergy. Without limiting religion to the private and personal affairs, progress is not possible.
My analysis about progress of Afghanistan is as follows:

Progress is infact the output of free inquiry. Unless you can inquire things and their nature freely you cannot discover new phenomena or invent new things or develop new technology.

Free inquiry requires the absence of fear. If you are afraid to ask a question or question anything which is being asked then you cannot think freely. Similarly social, religious or political pressures also confine and restrain free thinking. Hence a free environment is necessary to think freely and to explore the nature of life and universe.

Believing is a type of assumption. When theologicians argue that religion open new vistas of thought by "believing" in the things unseen they might be partially correct as there is no harm to assume something and proceed with the assumption. However they are not correct when they say you should not reject the assumption [belief] if it is not verifiable or falsifiable.

The repercussions of refusing to reject non verifiable or falsifiable assumptions have been devastating. Despite the fact that Afghans have been free in the political sense since their political consciousness came into existence, they were always under the influence of clergy and their restrictions and constraints who were not fond of modern science or may be were not exposed to scientific discoveries. The clergy discouraged any free inquiry into any phenomenon which could have implications on their self conceived dogmas or creeds or vested interests.

It is concluded therefore that the first step to progress is to think freely and even if one has to believe in a certain concept of life and universe, it should be by choice and not by chance. That way the society will not only have tolerance on socio-political level but also will encourage free thinking and criticism which will open new vistas of probability for the discovery of new ideas, sciences, techniques and methodologies.

How less is it realized that the essence of progress, development and prosperity is not just learning science but CREATING science. It is not just the use of technology but CREATING technology by which our society can move forward to a more technologically advanced level. It is not just sufficient to earn one’s living by honest means but also CREATING NEW MODES OF EARNING WHICH WILL SUSTAIN OUR SOCIETY.

WE NEED FOOD TO SURVIVE BIOLOGICALLY BUT WE NEED CREATIVITY TO SURVIVE TECHNOLOGICALLY. IF WE JUST USE TECHNOLOGY AND DO NOT CREATE IT THEN WE WILL JUST REDUCE TO BECOMING A CONSUMER SOCIETY AND BECOME A PARASITE. THE BASIC WEAPON FOR THE SURVIVAL OF A STATE IS HER ABILITY TO CREATE TECHNIQUES, TECHNOLOGY, METHODOLOGIES AND SCIENCES TO ACHIEVE A RESPECTABLE STATUS IN THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY.