PCDP has been active in organising conversations open to the public around the process of decoloniality.
The first, in October of 2022, was in collaboration with RCDF, a foundation based in the Netherlands. This was online in the form of a documentary and discussion and featured the practice of academics including Pakeezah Zaidi, Zeb Bilal Tariq and Asya Seemab, alongside practitioners like Mehr F. Husain, Noorjehan Bilgrami, and Mehwish Abid.
The second took place on December 17 2022 at the State Bank Museum in Karachi featuring Dr. Nauman Naqvi, Mr. Kaleemullah Lashari, and Dr. Asma Ibrahim to name a few.
A third was scheduled for Lahore February 18, 2023 at the Lahore Museum.
Esteemed speakers included Kamran Lashari, Dr. Arfa Sayeda Zehra, Ammar Ali Jan, Salman Asif, Dr Javaria Farooqui, Ustad Bashir Ahmed, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Dr Shabnam Syed Khan. Guests included Shaan Shahid, Risham Syed and Rafay Ahmad Alam amongst many others.
Decolonial approaches explore our positionality and perspective on the doctrine of discrimination. The construction of this narrative is based upon the principles of othering: civilisations, racial groups, religious differences are examples.
The process of colonisation has involved the creation of a subaltern: a lesser being/culture who is controlled by the colonisers. It does not end simply by the exit of the coloniser. It requires concerted effort to realign our ways of thinking and behaviour in a postcolonial space. These conversations are long overdue in Pakistan.
The mission is to forge new attitudes that are relevant for an independent Pakistan, 75 years after partition. Towards achieving this we want to engage the bulging youth population that has seemed to avoid attachments to historical narratives.
The path of holding informal conversations with practitioners of this line of engagement is a conduit for youth engagement and awareness.
A fourth conversation to convene the South Asia chapter is on the cards tentatively mid-September, involving participants from India, Bangladesh, Iran and Afghanistan.
Secondly, we want the collective to forge a South Asian wing, with partnerships between similar groups in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Iran, Afghanistan and Nepal to learn how they are tackling similar questions.
So the aim is two-pronged: to engage our current population in Pakistan with history and culture, and simultaneously learn from neighbouring countries by forming a partnership of enhancement towards decolonial practices.