Only change is constant
EVER since Thomas A. Edison recorded the human voice in 1877, the music industry has gone from strength to strength. But according to Larry Starr, who teaches music history at University of Washington in Seattle, it still grapples with the same old uncertainties after all these years. Who owns the music? What rights pertain to artists? What rights pertain to the companies? It means, and he sums up, that form changes but the issues remain constant.
Superimpose music on politics, and uh, it's an exciting fit for us! In this country, we are dancing to the music of change as signboards go up and down, renaming public buildings. The government appointments are being jiggled to reflect the change in power. There have been many instances of supersession in senior postings to enforce the overriding will of the new government.
The political landscape also has undergone change. It's now dotted with spheres of influence, clear evidence of who runs the country. Members of the ruling party control unions, federations, committees, neighbourhoods, streets, bus depots and tollgates.
So, there have been plenty of changes, but what do they show? Do they show that the constant has changed, or the change has been constant? Two political parties held their national councils last week. Both parties unanimously re-elected their incumbent chairpersons. The national council of one party even went so far as to empower its re-elected boss to fill out 45 positions of its Central Working Committee.
The story of the other political party is even more hilarious. Re-election has stoked the ambition of its chairperson, who now wishes to cling to his post for the rest of his life. If the national councils were aimed to exorcise these parties, they have been more deeply possessed. BNP's national council is likely to follow suit in December. It will also re-elect the sitting chairperson. Is there anybody who wants to bet?
It means, all those changes are beginning to look like a huge constant. Lord Buddha says that when everything changes, nothing remains without change. This is where it goes over the head. Change changes change, and the spinning wheel goes back to where it started. From constant to constant, it's apparent that everything is going to remain the same.
Thus, the small steps of constant aren't formulating the giant leap of change. Then how will this nation make its transition from analogue antiquity to digital demarche? Let us say, the country will be plugged to computers from end to end. Let us say, we are going to have a clockwork country, which will be thoroughly connected. But does it mean all that are walking now are suddenly going to run?
In other words, can the surging tide of change crash over the undertow of constants? The same old retribution, favouritism, extortion, intimidation, corruption and personality cult mean the boat has never left the dock. Even with a cabinet stacked with new talent, it reminds us more of hackneyed hubris than fresh vigour. One of the cabinet members resigned lately, speaking of a deadlock. New players and old game is what he said.
That being what it is, the only change is that the country has changed hands. We have got old wine in new bottle, old scruples in new slogans, and old leaderships in new coronations. The change of hands has failed to change the hands of change.
American novelist Ellen Glasgow has said that the only difference between a rut and a grave is their dimensions. The question is whether our politics is trapped in a rut. If it's going in circles, then is it going anywhere? Has our politics become a stagnant river choked by the debris of contentious past?
Interestingly, our rut has its dimensions, which are equivalent to the combined dimensions of two graves, which belong to two of our greatest leaders. If the country is divided today it's largely because we are divided over them. It's their roles in the Liberation War, their names on signboards, and their influences over people, which have woven together a surface of conflict under which there is a churning cooperation of thriving interests.
Perhaps it's worth undertaking a study as to how these interests flourish while the country roils with contentions. Perhaps this is where lies the secret to the insurmountable puzzle why this country doesn't change in spite of changes. The river flows, the boatman rows, but why doesn't the boat go anywhere?
It's because the boat is still tied to the dock. We are looking for digital solutions to analogue problems. Confined to the past, how can we open the doors to the future? Change can't change anything, if constant holds it back.
It's said that only constant is change. Other way around for us, the only change so far has been one resounding constant.
Mohammad Badrul Ahsan is a columnist for The Daily star.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments