Re: When a belief system rips apart a country! (what should its citizens do?)
(I disagree that it was only African American voters who "forced" the US govt to boycott apartheid South Africa. It was white people also who effected that movement. Back in the 1800's the anti-slavery movement was led by white people of conscience, because black people did not have the power to do so.)
I think the strongest motivators in Pakistani culture are family, the desire to be esteemed well by others, within the family as well as by people outside the family, and to have a secure life and afterlife.
Influence is most infuriating tho those who don't have any. What is more powerful in Pakistani society: rishwat or safaarish?
I think it is safaarish, because it is simply networking at the lower levels and power-sharing at higher levels. It's who you know. Rishwat is about what you have and what you can buy (or whom you can buy, too, I suppose). It's certainly flashier, but safaarish is at every level of Pakistani life.
I think we need to use safaarish for good.