"Today I believe in the possibility of love; that is why I endeavor to trace its imperfections, its perversions", Frantz Fanon in Black Skin, White Masks.
As for love, we are seeing signs of fatigue in hatred towards Fata in the international community. Accompanying it is the yearning to see the human face of Fata. People want to know whether beneath the gun running image there lies a human face, smiling faces of little kids, school going (longing to have a school at all), men and women living in human relations (like any part of the world), parents wanting to get food for their sons and daughters, women looking forward to see their men alive and stressless, men making it possible to see their families without fear of losing them or themselves. This all is not yet consciously brought to the table by the world around Fata, including the ignocent Pakistanis living out of the troubled region, sharing the national existence, but not feeling the pain of the wretched of this part of the earth as part of the national organism.
This makes the world of non-pashtoons a human denomination ready to know about Fata soon, if not already keen enough to be conscious of this yearning. But here we are faced with another very basic question. What if the world asks to give the real picture of these people? Are we ready, do we have the skills to do it? If yes, how? Who will do it?
We need a story, a truth going out. Who will write the story? It is already there, myriads of them. Who will narrate it and how? This is the question. Everybody could narrate it. But the problem with a story is that it needs to fit the flavor of the audience. The world is literally a stage to put this tiny little place and this small number of people on it. Most of the audience will reject it on the very basis of being too negligible a part of the world, a spot whose existence is not even recognized as a human denomination by the people living within the geographical boundaries of the state, Pakistan. Why should we listen to it? Believe me I have been thorough this in the West, especially Europe. "Why to work on this tiny little spot. The whole country is a mess. Whats special about this part?" I won't go into the answer scheme, because it is a topic within itself.
What it tells it is that the story is not easy to tell. It is difficult. It needs a strategic narration. bringing the human face of Fata to the fore is against the vested interests of the best story telling apparatus at hand, the mass media. What other options do we have to give the right forum to the human story of Fata. There are not many, if we are talking about the world as an audience. We do talk about community media a lot, but if the world is the stage and the whole of it is watching, we need something bigger to tell the story. But it is easier said than done. The mainstream doesn't sell humanity, it sells sensation. But it never admits doing it. It needs a human face. The arguments the mainstream has against the human story of Fata is threefold. One, there is no access to the real story (they can't afford saying there is no story,) secondly, there is no good narration; and thirdly, they are afraid of experiments. They have businesses to run and appetites to feed. In the age of breakneck competition, one can't afford novelties. This is the meekest and most low tuned of all three arguments, never heard so obviously, but it is there.
Now teachnically, all these three arguments could be summarized into three main themes: access to real life situation in Fata, capacity of local journalists (the ones with access), and the editorial policy (financial interest, to be honest.)
How to deal with the issue? How to make the story public? The workable scheme in this regard is to build the capacity of journalists with access to look for the human aspect of the story, their own story, and then narrate it in a manner that could have the possible positive impact on the global audience. Now this issue is directly related to another very important aspect, the market. Being acceptable to the market is one big challenge. Rest assure that even if the former two hurdles are overcome, the mainstream will still not budge an inch. It will still remain apathetic to the humane aspects of life in this region. It needs proof that something could sell. Yes, the mainstream might buy the so called success stories, the profiles of the exception that prove the very opposite in real life. There is need to prove the market value of the stories from Fata. This is more of a public relations job than that of reporting, story telling. It is a strategic component of the whole issue.
Creating a market, proving that the human story could be sold, without losing the financial package, is the job. We need community media to make this happen. Journalists, amateur story tellers (students, anybody with something to tell,) should use the venues of proliferation, community media, to get help in getting their stories to the next level, to the audience that matter; not yet the real audience.
Media follow the news elite. They also have to do a lot of PR, cover whatever an elite says. The elite also has to keep their public face alive, no matter what their personal opinions are. They will always put a nice word for the humane image of Fata. They might not simply do it out of pretension. This might be their first exposure to such stories. If this is well done, more than half the battle is won. The mainstream gets a taste of the human side of the wretched of the earth. Once this image reaches the public through an elitist corridor, the bandwagon starts rolling. People will ask for it. Media will be forced to allocate resources, appoint professionals, change the editorial design, and all that it takes. They smell blood, they go for it. They went for human rights, lawyers' movement, and so many other things; not out of their love for it, but because they smelled profit, they smelled getting an edge over the over.
The children of Fata do have a chance to be heard. It needs a strategy to make their voice heard, their faces seen, their impressions recognized as a testament to being human. Even a humane cause needs a crafty strategist with a soul to make it happen. Humanity is not easy to serve, but it is doable for sure.
