3rd world - 4th dimension
by Sohail Moughal
8 Spetember 2006
I was born in the "3rd
world", and spent a good part of my life in the 3rd world. So you can say
that I am a byproduct of the 3rd world and therefore I think I can safely call
it as my world. Its only after watching the 1st world in the media and traveling
through various shapes of it for short intervals and then living there for a
few years I managed to realize the differences and illusions about both. One
born and raised in one world, it becomes difficult to understand the other world
completely. Personally I do believe that when I was sent to this universe, I
became a citizen of this universe, and why a few of us wont agree with me is
beyond my comprehension.
The UN Human Development Index is a quantitative index of development, a comparative
measure of poverty, literacy, education, life expectancy, childbirth, and other
factors for countries worldwide. It is a standard means of measuring well-being
of a nation, or type of world it belongs to 1st or 3rd or the 4th. The index
was developed in 1990 by the Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq, and has been
used since 1993 by the United Nations Development Programme in its annual Human
Development Report. The formula for calculating HDI is derived from LE: Life
expectancy, ALR: Adult literacy rate, CGER: Combined gross enrolment ratio,
and GDPpc: GNP per capita at PPP in USD. Its worth mentioning that Pakistan
has an HDI of approx 0.5 and Canada has an HDI of 0.95. Canada and Norway have
been countries with the highest HDI since 1994. Central African countries like
Chad and Sudan have been the lowest, with an HDI of around 0.3.
The term 3rd world, was first coined by a French Demographer Alfred Sauvy to
list nations that did not align themselves with the American West or the Soviet
Bloc during the cold war. The term is considered out of date now and many consider
it derogatory. More politically correct terms are Global South, less wealthy
nations, developing countries, least developed countries and the Majority World.
When the term 3rd world became a regular term it began to seem that there ought
to be a 1st world and a 2nd world too. Eventually, it became common practice
to refer to nations within the Western European and United States' sphere of
influence (e.g., the NATO countries) as the First World. Besides North America
(USA and Canada) and Western Europe, the First World also included other industrialized
capitalist countries such as Japan and some of the former British colonies,
particularly Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. In modern usage, after
the end of the Cold War, the term First World has come to denote the 'developed'
Industrialized-Capitalistic nations that in 2000 had a higher GDP per capita
than $15,000.
After World War II, people began to speak of the NATO countries and Warsaw Pact
countries as two major blocs, the"Western bloc" and the "Eastern
bloc". When people of the United States were called the 1st world by others,
the Americans started calling the people of the nations within the Soviet Union's
sphere of influence (e.g. the Warsaw Pact countries) as the Second World. Its
funny how the 3rd world gave birth to the 1st and the 2nd world. The 3rd world
was most sensible in not joining the cold war. Today the 3rd world has a totally
different meaning.
Some people like Richard Bangs and Manuel Castells have used 4th world to collectively
describe notably marginalised or oppressed groups, in particular indigenous
peoples, like first nations in the Americas or the aborigines in Australia.
It is also sometimes used to denote the world's poorest countries, also called
least developed countries. Richard Bangs said that the 4th world is that free-spirited
territory where time has no weight, the true religion is exploration, and the
inhabitants are rogues, nomads, and pioneers. Its worth mentioning here that
many native american cultures believe that the present form of the world is
the 5th world. Some call the future world after death to be the 6th world. Their
beliefs center around a cyclical understanding of time. They live in the first
world and are called the fourth world but they believe that they and everyone
else is living in the fifth world. The end of one world is the start of the
next. How true...
Enough of all the statistical and historical differences and illusions. I wanted
to say something else and got carried away. We in the third world speak very
loudly and dont care much about other person's right to speak. We dont normally
listen to what is being said. We will be gathering our own thoughts and start
speaking even if you are not finished. Even George Washigton didnt mention of
cutting others in their speech, but he did say, "Speak not when you should
Hold your Peace". Whatever that means. He also said, "At Play and
at Fire its Good manners to Give Place to the last Commer, and affect not to
Speak Louder than Ordinary." In my world every one wants to hide everything
from everyone else, and still poking our noses in other people's business remains
our favorite pastime. We also like to ask very personal questions from total
strangers. While I was working as an expatriate, a guy came to my office for
a business meeting, who I was meeting for the first time in my life. While leaving
he asked me if I lived in that country with my family or alone. When I told
him, I wasnt married, he without any hesitation asked me why I wasnt married.
His second comment was even more flabbergasting, which was something like did
I like women from his country as he could set me up with someone. And, he just
couldnt help speaking at a very high pitch with no concern for our surroundings.
To some speaking loudly maybe synonymous to speaking confidently. People walking
on the street, visitors in a hospital, passersby outside an active class room,
people chatting with a friend on a cell phone in the middle of a busy shopping
mall or people dining in a restaurant dont need to display their confidence
to others.
In the 3rd world, we think we are all Schumachers and Rossis, the small city
street is a NASCAR track and we are about to win Daytona 500. I call them fire
marshalls, when I see them. They are going to put out the fire somewhere. We
dont have autobahns in the third world but we also dont have speed limits. People
dont drive in lanes. Well, Car racers dont drive in lanes too. A person could
be driving for hours on the dividing line between two lanes and not feel anything.
Why do they draw those lines. These lines can become a huge problem for people
who come from other countries and want to stick to their lane, when everyone
else does not feel like doing it. Expert driving means stealing the right of
way whenever possible. Using left right indicator lights or looking in rear
view or side view mirrors, or doing a shoulder check is considered clumsy. Once
I was driving a work colleague home and every time I did a shoulder check, he
looked in the same direction too. Later he told me how disturbing it was for
him, while sitting in the car with me. Most of the 3rd world countries have
roundabouts as opposed to traffic lights on the intersections. Making U-Turns
and left right turns from three lanes away from the edge means expert driving,
because we manage to do that without slowing down to a reasonable speed. How
to negotiate on a roundabout, even our city planners do not know. Once a Police
car honked at me from behind and the policeman yelled something very loudly
of course from inside his car. I had stopped before entering a roundabout at
a stop sign. I thought he was in a hurry or on a mission but he didnt have his
sirens on. So I stayed put. The roundabout was choked but he thought I had stopped
because I didnt know how to drive. He stopped me the moment we passed the roundabout
and checked my drivers license. He said something very loudly again and thank
God he didnt give me a ticket. How hard would it have been to fight that traffic
ticket. Just imagine...
Oh parking is a nightmare. We have more cars, more scooters, plenty of donkey
carts, because we have more population and a lot of undeveloped space but we
dont construct parking lots. A huge shopping mall on a busy street with no consideration
for customer parking - what were they thinking. Many times, there is plenty
of parking on the road side but it is normally a few footsteps away from the
main gate of the shopping centre. So whoever parks first is the one who gets
out last. LIFO and FILO is common practice. Everyone else comes and double parks,
making it easier to enter the shopping centre quickly and leaving before anyone
else could. Sometimes it seems they want to bring their cars right uo to the
cash counter. But double parking is not considered bad too. The person who has
been blocked quite calmly waits for the blocker to return and they both shake
hands, one of them says sorry, discuss their shopped materials, and they both
leave as if nothing happened. People who show impatience in such situations
are considered unethical. Being inconsiderate is normal and nobody considers
it to be a reason for having a bad start of the day. Traffic Police on the other
hand is very understanding too. I have seen a number of times, a traffic guy
vigorously waving at the creeping traffic to go faster, through the narrow space
created by a double parked car. Parking on the side walk, on the divider or
on the grass are common scenes. The most amusing thing is when everyone else
parallel parks and a few of us park at an angle sticking our posteriors out
in the traffic. We are either trying to discourage people from blocking us or
sometimes the spot was not big enough for our car and it cant be our mistake
if the traffic gets blocked.
In the middle of a traffic jam, everyone is honking. The traffic moves for a
few feet and stops, and someone has his foot on the break and hand on the horn
in sync. Once a huge truck was behind me and everytime I stopped, he honked.
I ignored for a couple of times, but that became very annoying when he kept
doing it for 15 minutes or so. Imagine being stuck in traffic and someone honking
at you continuously. So I did what I had to do. I should him the victory sign
with only one finger. He came out instantly and started yelling at me. I didnt
know the language he was speaking, so I asked my friend to reply to him. My
friend was quite surprised to know what I had done. He told me that its considered
a very bad thing here. I told them that honking aimlessly is not a very good
thing either. My friend and the truck driver looked at me as if I was the biggest
liar in the world. Honking is probably the most acceptable norm in the 3rd world.
You hear it in the the morning, in the middle of the night, on the street, inside
the parking garage to call the wife, asking a friend to come out of the house,
greeting a friend driving on the other side of the road, you honk when you are
happy, when you are sad, or when you are pissed. When a friend gets married
the cavalcade honks continuously for the entire evening. Overtaking a car or
crossing a small street intersection needs honking too. And if you honk while
someone is breaking the traffic rules in front of you and endangering his, yours
or someone else's life, you are considered an outcast who does not understand
the rules of driving.
And the traffic signs make little sense too. First of all, most of the traffic
signs have flyers glued to them. They are considered an ideal place for being
noticed. Imagine missing an exit or not finding it at all after having done
a few loops, just because the exit sign had something glued to it. I have missed
a few appointments this way. I know everyone thinks I was supposed to memorise
the exit, even if I was just visiting for a few days. An arrow pointing towards
the heavens means you are not allowed to turn left but you can turn right. I
thought traffic signs were prohibitive and not suggestive. Dont honk, dont turn
right, dont enter, dont park etc. Go straight only, and turn right if you want
to, but dont turn left, all that being said with an arrow pointing towards the
heavens. I was new to this concept and I made the terrible mistake of turning
left. Someone behind me made a U-Turn and a lady made a left turn too, soon
afterwards. The traffic policeman stopped me only, gave me an obnoxiously swollen
ticket. When I pointed at the lady doing the same mistake as I, he thought I
was being smart and increased the amount on the ticket, adding another offense
of driving while talking on the cell phone. Everyone else was driving with a
cell phone in the city. I could see it right there. He could see it too. I was
not talking on the cell phone, but I also did not know that such a rule existed
in the country. Women are allowed to break all the already non practiced and
non implemented traffic rules. A friend of mine used to drink in one of the
dry countries. Everytime he wanted to bring a bottle of wine to a friends party,
he had to bring his wife along. Where did he buy it from is another story. No
one would ever dare stopping his car and checking for alcohol or even for drunk
driving if his wife or a woman was driving or even sitting in the passengers
seat.
In the 3rd world, there is always a huge 3 squared world. The 3 squared world
is the lower class that struggles day and night to get a few pieces of bread
on the dinner table. Then there is the Super 1st world in the 3rd world. These
people are richer than some of the richest people in the 1st word. They own
ranches and farms and villas and vacation properties in the 1st world and shopping
malls and a few square miles of land and shares in the gas fields, oil wells,
coal mines or militia and armed forces in the 3rd world. There is also a very
minimal middle class. The upper class employs the middle class to make more
money. The middle class employees the lower class to do petty jobs around homes
to look like 1st class. Employing a chef, a driver, a maid, a cleaning women
and a watchman in an upper class or even an upper middle class household is
quite affordable. People in the lower class have very high egos and they find
their respect and honor in trivial things that are not of any significance to
the people of the 1st world or the upper class in the 3rd world.
Sex is a bad thing in many worlds even though all humans have an instinct to
like sex. Sex before marriage is considered the worst. Sometimes I wonder if
these widely acceptable ancient laws were made because of the human dependency
on food. More sex made more children and demand for more food. Food was scarce
in those times. I guess that's why sex is not such a big taboo in the first
world. No one dies of hunger in the first world. Women are a symbol of ego and
extreme respect in a third world family, but women who are not from the family
are all items of desire. Women dress to be noticed in the first world. Place
where I come from a majority of women dress to be able to go un-noticed. A noticeable
women walking on the street can be ogled, commented on in all inappropriate
ways, blocked in her path, chased to her home, to show the courage and manhood
and sometimes to show male persistency. Women on the other hand stay victimized
to avoid a scene or a bad name that it might bring to them. A friend told me
that during her childhood, her older neighbor use to black mail her and jump
the roof from his house to get to her window. She was scared of asking for help
or making her parents aware of it. She said no one would have blamed the guy
and everyone would have thought her to be a bitch. Every man wants a virgin
wife. Men have no problems spilling their seeds here and there, but the to-be-wife
is not allowed to do that. Many cultures exhibit the red bed sheets to prove
to friends, and to the world that the wife was a virgin. Some times parents
sit outside the room, waiting for the husband to come out and confirm the royal
flush on the bed sheet. Women can loose their virginity in many different ways
in addition to sleeping with a man. But no one is willing to give that benefit
of doubt to a woman. I would suggest all women should go and loose their virginity
as soon as they get mature in hospitals as a matter of principle. If she is
not a virgin, it proves that she has been bad and as it has become obvious from
the white bed sheet, men have the right to defame her, no matter what they have
been doing themselves. Men dont have the burden of making the bedsheets colorful.
Also divorce is the biggest curse for a women. Even her own parents dont want
the daughter to get a divorce no matter how her husband treats her. Its not
the daughters happiness they are looking for. They are just worried for their
own ego. No one wants to marry a divorced woman. A woman, once divorced stands
very remote chances of remarrying in the third world.
It all depends on who we are in the social setup, who my uncle is, how much
harm can I inflict with my authority or how big my favour bank is - from trivial
things like double parking, entering a concert, harassing women or speaking
manners to more important things like getting employment, acquiring contracts
or permits for land or business. We can even get away with murder or even rape
by knowing the right people. We can be the gods and do whatever we feel like
to others, even if no one wants to worship us. I think at some stage all humans
want to be gods in their own little ways.
Queues are an unknown phenomena in my world. Airline offices are pretty well
mannered as compared to the government offices. But when it comes to lining
up for our turn, it really does not matter where we are. I once wanted to buy
a book from a stall in a book fair. There were two ladies in front of me. I
was waiting for them to finish, when this guy barged in, leaned over the counter
to buy whatever he had in his hand. The ladies left totally ignoring him. The
stall owner entertained this guy ignoring me too. I moved up and while the stall
owner was talking to this man, started talking too. They both looked at me and
thats all I wanted, "Is he your brother in law or what". I asked.
The rest was pretty obvious. There is no concept of sharing the available common
space. Person sitting next to you in a car or a bus or an airplane will have
used half of your leg room, an elbow almost pinched in your side and no qualms
about it. The same person would be continuously touching your knee, ribs and
shoulders by virtue of their mere existence, and wont even notice that you are
trying hard to adjust to the new conditions. We like to stand on the street
corners all night long to discuss the neighbors, to smoke hashish or coke, to
drink alcohol or to pee on peoples garbage. We just cant do these things inside
our homes, because they are disallowed. By while doing it outside, we keep an
eye on the happenings in our street too. Who came, who left, who dropped who
and who picked up who, is important information and needs to be publicized and
shared every night.
There are many more things associated with our world. Men dont like to visit
kitchens. We have our dinners very late. We like to eat deep fried spicy foods
with no consideration for healthy diets. Kids are not put to bed till past midnight.
We are never toilet trained. We dont leave our toilets in usable state if needed
by others. We show up late for our appointments. Sometimes we dont show up at
all for our appointments without being sorry in advance. Roads are bad. Side
walks exist but we like to walk in the middle of the street. Pedestrians dont
have the right of way even at the zebra crossings. The customer service sucks
everywhere. Cell phones are more important than all the things. Owning a car
is the biggest dream. Owning a car and a cell phone is the best thing that can
ever happen. Driving a car while talking on the cell phone is a status symbol.
Transit systems are non existent. Using public transportation is considered
a disgrace. Petty display of power or money even if they dont exist is common
practice. People drive cars with infants sitting in their laps. We can cheat
in our exams in public schools. We have bad teeth. We have bad breath. We dont
worry much about body odor. Standard of living and quality of life mean nothing.
Our lifestyle revolves around making money and saving it till death embraces
us. We all smoke. We dont smoke, we eat cigarettes. We can smoke in the house,
in a restaurant, in a car, in a bus, around children, in a hospital, there are
no restrictions, legal or ethical. The emergency services dont exist. An odd
looking vehicle claiming to be an ambulance or a police car can be making all
the noise to show emergency and no one bothers. I asked some one to let the
ambulance go and he said its not necessary. He thought the driver was misusing
the siren to beat the traffic. My friend was not sure though. Garbage collection
is totally privatized. Independent groups knock at the doors to collect garbage
for a daily allowance. Sometimes these independent groups go out of business
without telling other independent groups. People wait for a day or two, no one
knocks, they put it outside on the curb, no one comes, it starts stinking, no
one cares. Some people show some responsibility and bring their garbage themselves
to the nearby river, beach, or the ocean. The garbage flies all over the city,
the beach, the lakes and no one notices. Lots of stray dogs and cats roam around
and people like to throw a rock at them once in a while to bring some humor
in their lives. We laugh at others misery, even if we are subjected to the same.
There is no acceptable level of respect for the right to live or speak or privacy.
There are a lot of beggars on the streets. We dont have tow trucks, when a car
stalls, people call their friends and relatives or a mechanic who they knew
personally. The friend comes with a car, a piece of string, chain, nylon, rags,
tyres, whatever comes to mind and shows the value of friendship by pulling the
stalled car, putting everyone else's life on the road in jeopardy. Prices are
not fixed and haggling is sometimes appreciated even by the seller.
We have almost no natural resources compared to our populations. Even the resources
we have - we do not know how to use them to our advantage. It has been proved
that population resource is the biggest resource a nation can have and can be
use to maintain a steady growth. 1st world countries started increasing their
populations long ago to help themselves. They called them diversity principle
and skilled worker classes and professional immigrants etc. While we were draining
our economies, they were draining us of our brains. They could make a million
cars but could not make a million consumers. So they decided to bring consumers
from other countries. Some third world countries may have resources like the
petroleum and gas and diamonds; but they still dont know how to jump to the
higher category of development. Some of them can take advantage of tourism but
they never manage to attract tourists. We maintain a plethora of political parties
and maintain instability and confusion. The party in power never knows what's
best for the nation and the party out of power never helps. Our armies are stronger
than richer than any other department in the infrastructure. We are always labeled
as warring nations as opposed to nations at peace and on the road to development.
We take pride in our wars and consider peace as a shameful phenomena.
Faith has a lot of strength
in my world. We can not say no to what the preacher says. Religion is used to
control people, or to black mail politicians. Culture rules too. We live as
hostages in a social mixture of rules set out by the culture or the religion
without any thought for logic or harmony. Family relations is another tool for
blackmailing others. The family honor is forced on children against their wills.
Children are made to choose professions, marry others or live a lifestyle as
selected by the family elders. Respect for elders can not be challenged, no
matter how illogical or inconsiderate their demands are. We are generally simple
people and it is very easy to fool us. We normally make very simple childlike
schemes to get what we want. Sometimes these schemes are too simple and are
not worth a consideration by other smarter people. And as a result we get away
with what we schemed for. But not all try to get what they want. It is easy
to gather a mob and that's the only way we find effective to get rid of our
frustrations in many cases. Our rulers dont ask us what we might want or accept,
they just impose on us whatever they like or consider better for us. Policies
are made to satisfy a rulers personal goals with no consideration for the country's
future or the betterment of the masses. Politicians are beyond the law and they
will change or create a policy when they require a personal benefit.
But despite the horrible picture I have painted, happiness prevails side by
side with the chaos. Existence of chaos develops a system that runs the society
maintaining the chaotic system. Despite all the traffic violations, people dont
die. Every day seems like a miracle because I managed to live through it. Despite
all the garbage flying on the streets, and poor drinking water conditions, people
live. Lower life expectancy in the 3rd world creates lesser problems for the
3rd world economy as compared to higher life expectancy rates in the 1st world
economies. Someone did a study once and said people were comparatively happier
in the 3rd world than in the 1st. People dont retire in the 3rd world. They
just die at a short age while working. In the 1st world the retirement age is
becoming longer. Sometimes I ask myself, are we all made to live for more than
sixty years. Maybe God made our bodies with a certain life span in mind, and
it cant be good for us to fiddle with these limits. You cant expect a Neon car
to last more than five years, if the manufacturer expected you to buy a newer
model after four. Happiness is a relative and an extremely abstract feeling.
We humans find happiness in a multitude of ways. Having a good job that pays
the mortgage, allows to lease a luxury car, clears the bills at the end of the
month, affords children's fees in a private school, creates a good credit history
with a lending company, lets us buy a good lawn mower and a BBQ and allows a
vacation once in a year makes some of us happy in the 1st world. Breaking the
traffic rules, meeting with a friend on the street corner, chatting with him
all thru the night while keeping an eye on the happenings of our street, honking
at a passing woman, or giving birth to a dozen children even though we can not
afford to raise them, makes us happy in the third world.
We all dream of living in the 1st world. The 1st world seems to have an answer
to all our problems. Many move, immigrate, swim, float or drown. We face the
humiliation of degrading our selves in front of our own eyes. We leave our children
and wives behind. Some of us leave our old parents behind. Some leave their
cultures, priorities and ethics behind. Many leave their chauffers, house maids
and chefs behind. We work as pizza delivery guys, we mop floors in 711s and
flip burgers in McDonalds. We dont have the ability to colonize the 1st world
but we are considered as a threat all the time. We educate ourselves as doctors
in the 3rd world and end up selling wrist watches, charity tickets and children's
toys door to door. We graduate as engineers and start working as helpers with
roofers or garbage collection companies, security squads, cab companies or telemarketers.
There is nothing wrong with doing an odd high risk job, but no one wants to
do it willingly. And many fall for the easy money and start trafficking drugs
and humans and children. Some of us become victims of trafficking. We start
weakening our third worlds and strengthening the 1st world even more and still
face the fear of staying third rate citizens. We experience tremendous discrimination
based on our religions, casts, regions, sects, color, and factions in our home
country but exploit this basic human extinct in the first world to gain concessions.
We hardly get any better than we were, but we still move and struggle. We all
have different reasons when we move. Some of us want the money or luxury, and
others want the lifestyle. Some like the social facilities and some just like
to stand in the queue. Some dont want to be harassed or blackmailed and some
run away from the corruption. Some of us even end up being what a friend of
mine used to call, the success stories. Some become a part of the system and
some learn how to abuse the system. People like Einstein, Rubenstein, Kissinger,
Garcia, Strauss, Medelaine Albright, Gloria Estefan and Anthony Quinn all moved.
People moved from China to build the Trans Canadian Railway. People are still
moving - will keep on moving. Not long ago, people used to dream of moving to
Alexandria , Persipolis, Baghdad, Delhi, Samarkand, Constantinople, Rome and
Athens. Now they dream of moving to New York, California, London, Dubai, Vancouver,
Sydney and Tokyo. Who knows some day people would want to move to Darfor, Palestine,
Kashmir, Shanghai, Dushanbe, Sofia and Calcutta. And why a few of us wont agree
with me is beyond my comprehension.