‘The Revolution Will not be Televised’: Resistance and Governance in Pakistan away from the metropole

Please register in order to particpate:
https://uw-edu-pl.zoom.us/.../tJMrf...

In this talk I argue that governance in Pakistan is uneven and fractured. Caste, class, geographical location, gender and ethnicity all play a role in defining how the state and non-state powers treat subjects. Therefore, it is my contention that there is no such thing as a 'Pakistani' citizen treated by a totality of a field of either bio-politics or governmentality. Rather, governance and, therefore, resistance, takes place differently in different locations. To understand structures of power and resistance, then, we need not look at Pakistan as a field of study but we need to move to local histories and understand how power is experienced by different groups and how it is resisted by them. I will note the different regimes of governance that operate in Pakistan and by noting resistance to these structures point to ways for the transformation of politics in the region.

Qalandar Bux Memon is an activist and teacher based in Lahore, Pakistan. He has worked in solidarity with various movements for the past 15 years - from these he gets his epistemology perspective. He has been involved in the anti-dictatorship movement known as "Lawyers Movement", supported and ran campaigns for the release of political prisoners in Pakistan and was the founder of 'Pakistanis for Palestine', among other solidarity work.
He is editor of Naked Punch Review (www.nakedpunch.com). NP is a interdisciplinary magazine of art, philosophy, politics, and poetry that has featured leading thinkers such as Noam Chomsly, Spivak, Vijay Prasad, Wim Wenders, Mike Leigh, Balibar among many others.
He is also the companion to many cats - 20 at the last count.