Neo-Colonialism Discourse in Hanif’s Red Birds: An Analysis

By
Zahid Ali (163071)

Article submitted in partial fulfilment of presentation in “Science Fiction and Fantasy”

BS ENGLISH
IN
LANGUAGE & LITERATURE

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
Govt. Postgraduate College Bahawalnagar

Month, 2020
September, 2020

1
Recommendations

Muhammad Ijaz
Head of Department
________________

Akhtar Nawaz
Instructor
_________

Month, 2020

2
 Neo-Colonialism Discourse in Hanif’s Red Birds

Table of Contents

i. Abstract
ii. Introduction
iii. Related works
iv. Literary Review
v. Research Proposal
vi. Theoretical framework
vii. Red Birds
viii. Discussion and analysis
ix. Textual References

x. Conclusion

xi. References

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 Abstract

This article explores British Pakistani writer Mohammed Hanif's novel Red Birds (2018) as

an innovative, satiric account of US neo-imperialist war strategies (the so-called "Revolution

in Military Affairs). And I am going to analyze Red Birds by Muhammad Hanif. Here I am

applying Neocolonialism theory and some famous theorist of this is Fanon, Levi A.

Nwachukwu and Tsenay Serequeberhan (the use of economic, political, cultural, or other

pressures to control or influence other countries, especially former dependencies). The main

concept of textual analysis is (First they bomb us from the skies, then they work hard to cure

our stress page 67). My topic is relevant according to this theory.

Key Words Capitalism, Globalization, Cultural, Imperialism, Politics, and Post-colonial.

Introduction

Mohammed Hanif (born November 1964) is a British Pakistani writer and journalist who

writes a monthly opinion piece in The New York Times.

Hanif is the author of the critically acclaimed book A Case of Exploding Mangoes, which

was long-listed for the Booker Prize, shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award, and won

the Commonwealth Prize for Best Book. His second book, Our Lady of Alice Bhatti, won

the Wellcome Book Prize.

Round improvement of the newly liberated countries, Mohammed Hanif's Red Birds is a

wonder, portraying the interlinked destinies of adversaries in a left-out war-scape – and the

complicity of our personal included lives in faraway clashes" – Pankaj Mishra, Guardian,

Summer Reading 2018 Red Birds is a brilliant, unsparing analyze of struggle and of

America's job in the decimation of the Middle East. It joins current day and antiquated antic

customs in a thrilling manner" stated with the aid of Dina Nayeri. (Muhammad Hanif).

4
Mohammed Hanif's Red Birds is a wonder, portraying the inserted destinies of adversaries in

a left-out war-scape – and the complicity of our very own covered lives in far off clashes" –

(Pankaj Mishra), Guardian, Summer Reading 2018. Both realistic and misleadingly

otherworldly … Irreverent, distil with wealthy scorn for the manner with the aid of which

western effect has defiled the world … a compelling parody that advises us that all of us –

displaced people, upset moms, silly pilots, beneficent information labourers, canines and

phantoms – has a want to despise, and be adored" stated by, (Ben East, Observer). "A

contemptuous, anarchic, comic, savage and compassionate ride, as no one however Hanif

may want to compose it" – (Kamila Shamsie) The most sensible disaster I've perused in

years" (Hanif Kureishi). An abnormal, harsh parody, with many roars with laughter minutes,

and the trade kick back like (Alka Seltzer).

Be that as it may, there is likewise a lot to drag at the spirit in one extra modern-day fiction

which takes a gander at the current situation of the planet and sees rage, frenzy and bitterness

all around" (Jane Graham, Big Issue). It combines modern and ancient farcical traditions in a

thrilling way (Dina Nayeri). His new novel, Red Birds, controls at first into the extra

impervious waters of parodying the Westerners who have swarmed all over his kingdom for

the reason that 9/11. It is described, to a confined extent, using a careworn American pilot

known as Ellie, who crash-arrives in the barren region shut to the outcast camp he was once

headed to bomb. Ellie's practice has made him cynical (Shameer Rashim. A savagely surreal

satire of the US foreign policy (Justine Jordan), Hanif spins Momo and his household into an

odd finale, the account breaking down in a disease of phantoms and residue and wildness.

A Case of Exploding Mangoes (2008) is a comedian novel by way of the Pakistani author

Muhammad Hanif essentially based on the airplane crash that killed General Muhammad

Ziaul-Haq that was once the former President of Pakistan. And this e-book received the Best

First Book Award in 2009 in the Commonwealth Book Prize.

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Our woman of Alice Bhatti (2011) is a superb story of bold and outstanding and is not likely

places, set in the streets of downtown Karachi. Alice Bhatti is the heroine of Muhammad

Hanif's effective 2d novel, is a low-caste Catholic nurse in a run-down Karachi hospital.

Red Birds is about an American pilot crash lands in the desert, mentally unprepared for any

state of affairs and that can't be resolved with the After Eight minutes in his survival kit.

Hallucinating palm timber and dehydrating is no longer Major Ellie's concept of an excellent

some other marital spat lower back home.

Related Works

Catch-22

Catch-22 is a satirical hostilities novel by way of American writer Joseph Heller. He started

writing it in 1953; the novel used to be first posted in 1961. Often mentioned as one of the

most tremendous novels of the twentieth century, the novel is set at some stage in World War

II, from 1939 to 1945.

The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner is the first novel by way of Afghan-American writer Khalid Hosseini

Published in 2003. The story is set in opposition to putting of careworn events, from the fall

of Afghanistan's monarchy via the Soviet army involvement, the emigration of refugees to

Pakistan and the United States, and the upward jostle of the Taliban regime.

The Blind Man's Garden

The Blind Man's Garden through Nadeem Aslam is the story of the fighting in Afghanistan as

seen by way of a cultured, middle-class household in Pakistan. The story takes region in

Pakistan and Afghanistan proper after 9/11, when emotions, rumours, the want for solutions

had been high.

Home Fire

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Home Fire (2017) by Kamila Shamsie Home Fire revolves around two families in London

who have opposing views on how to wrestle with their Muslim identity. The members of one

pray, cover their heads, are cautious, and distance themselves from radical elements. The

other disowns the religion entirely, brands it regressive and misogynist, breaks old family ties

and assimilates with white, powerful people. But the two families, different as they are, have

an old neighbourhood connection that is reignited as their grown-up children meet in a

chance encounter.

Literature Review

Muhammad Hanif, and after completing his latest entry entitled Red Birds (2018), will

always be my favourite Asian writer for all time fiction. His prose is like your face as much

as it can be found, and his satire is a process of sharpening with a razor. Many later readers of

literature consider Mohsin Hamid to be the best Pakistani writer in the English language, but

Hamid's storytelling skills are at least half that of Hanif, in my opinion.

The name Red Birds is derived from the folklore theory that when a person is killed, the last

drop of his blood turns him into a red bird. The novel also incorporates this philosophy into

practical examples.

What I liked most about this book is the talent used in the illustration of the three main

characters. There is an American pilot named Major Eli who landed in the area in the

accident which was sent by the army for the bombing. The second is Moot, and as the name

suggests, he is an engraver who has his intelligent mind and is probably the most real

character I have ever found in the form of a novel. Last but not least, Momo is a young

immigrant who dreams of becoming a successful businessman. Most of this yarn is made

from the three points of view of the three persons.

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Supporting characters are also cleverly built. There is a relief worker by the name of Lady

Flower Body, Eli's boss is Colonel Slater, and Momo's inactive family is not limited to

himself as it includes his father Aziz, Mother Aziz, and Bro Ali.

Each line bears the signature of Hanif's trademark intellect. The explanations are black. And

although the narrative is mostly humorous, there is no lack of realism in the story. Post-war

issues are a major topic of discussion in this book, and the author has researched it in depth.

We see the double-edged sword of war: the people who were hired to accelerate it, and the

poor victims who lose everything, even those who live innocently.

Plato's reference to "only the dead have seen the end of the war" can be used as a one-sided

definition of the novel.

Red birds are not without their flaws. Although the beginning and middle parts are

exceptionally well written, the novel loses consistency in the last half. The conclusion,

though emotionally written, is soon to be reversed. If it is longer than the 283 pages of the

hardcover version, it may have room for expansion. It ended as if the story had suddenly

come to a stop sign and decided not to continue. Muhammad Hanif, and after completing his

latest entry entitled Red Birds (2018), will always be my favourite Asian writer for all time

fiction. His prose is like your face as much as it can be found, and his satire is a process of

sharpening with a razor. Many later readers of literature consider Mohsin Hamid to be the

best Pakistani writer in the English language, but Hamid's storytelling skills are at least half

that of Hanif, in my opinion.

The name Red Birds is derived from the folklore theory that when a person is killed, the last

drop of his blood turns him into a red bird. The novel also incorporates this philosophy into

practical examples.

What I liked most about this book is the talent used in the illustration of the three main

characters. There is an American pilot named Major Eli who landed in the area in the

8
accident which was sent by the army for the bombing. The second is Moot, and as the name

suggests, he is an engraver who has his intelligent mind and is probably the most real

character I have ever found in the form of a novel. Last but not least, Momo is a young

immigrant who dreams of becoming a successful businessman. Most of this yarn is made

from the three points of view of the three persons.

Supporting characters are also cleverly built. There is a relief worker by the name of Lady

Flower Body, Elli's boss is Colonel Slater, and Momo's inactive family is not limited to

himself as it includes his father Aziz, Mother Aziz, and Bro Ali.

Each line bears the signature of Hanif's trademark intellect. The explanations are black. And

although the narrative is mostly humorous, there is no lack of realism in the story. Post-war

issues are a major topic of discussion in this book, and the author has researched it in depth.

We see the double-edged sword of war: the people who were hired to accelerate it, and the

poor victims who lose everything, even those who live innocently.

Plato's reference to "only the dead have seen the end of the war" can be used as a one-sided

definition of the novel.

Red birds are not without their flaws. Although the beginning and middle parts are

exceptionally well written, the novel loses consistency in the last half. The conclusion,

though emotionally written, is soon to be reversed. If it is longer than the 283 pages of the

hardcover version, it may have room for expansion. It ended as if the story had suddenly

come to a stop sign and decided not to continue.

Research Proposal

It is the bleakest, most mournful book by an author celebrated for his barbed tongue and high

silliness. A former fighter pilot with the Pakistani Army and longtime BBC correspondent,

Hanif made his name with his Joseph Heller-influenced burlesques about the horrors and

hypocrisies of war. "A Case of Exploding Mangoes" (2008), shortlisted for the Man Booker

9
Prize, lampooned the former Pakistani president Gen. Muhammad Zia ul-Haq, lavishing upon

him, among other humiliations, a spectacular case of anal worms. In "Our Lady of Alice

Bhatti" (2012), Hanif excoriated violence against women — "a sport older than cricket but

just as popular" — but with slapstick instead of sanctimony. (Hanif is also a contributing

opinion writer for The Times.

With "Red Birds," he explores the entanglement of aid agencies and the war machine. Ellie is

taken in by the refugee camp he intended to bomb, in an unnamed country. He becomes the

casual captive of a teenager named Momo, who hopes to use him to recover his brother, Ali,

who has gone missing — perhaps sold to the Americans. The moral centre of the book is

Momo's very depressed and philosophical dog, Mutt, who has a broken leg, a brain-fried

from near-fatal electrocution and the ability to sense the ghosts circling the camp.

Hanif's writing has always been anchored in Pakistan and a very Punjabi sense of humour.

Here it floats free, leached of colour and all local detail. For the first time, he plays with a

parable — and what an exciting departure it might have been.

Instead, we get an alarmingly sloppy and choppy ghost story. The Americans sound

incongruously British. There are welters of pronoun confusion, and the pacing is all wrong.

There's a bog of exposition to wade through at the beginning, and when Ellie and Momo

finally meet, the story picks up for a page only to shudder to a halt. These characters don't

speak to one another; instead, in rotating monologues, they soliloquize, each making the same

point repeatedly: Ellie reflects on the endlessness of the forever wars, Momo dreams of

money, Mutt philosophizes. When a moment of climax arrives (the only real plot point) and

the characters storm an abandoned hangar, rather than escalation or revelation, we get chaos,

a supernatural flurry of action. This isn't a spoiler. Trust that I have no idea what happens —

flapping wings and much shouting were all I could register.

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Criminally — for such a savagely funny writer — the jokes don't land. The worst lines

belong to the benighted Mutt, who ought to have suffered enough: "Paw on my heart," he is

forced to say. "Woof off." Gladly.

The Hanif I remember comes to life in his social critiques. "If I didn't bomb someplace, how

would she save that place?" Ellie says of an American development worker at the camp.

"Make them orphans, and then adopt them, that is how the world goes." These electric

observations are all too infrequent, however, and they can't enliven a narration that always

returns to characters parroting their few key points.

What's gone wrong here? When a writer this conspicuously talented makes so many

elementary, inexplicable errors — and, more seriously, when he jettisons his style, his moves

— something is happening, something that merits not censures but a closer look. A painful

transformation is afoot.

Wrestling with the novel, I began to feel I was reading less a document about trauma than a

document of trauma. The story is weirdly repetitive. Characters reintroduce themselves to us

every time they appear, unnecessarily reminding us of their particulars. The narration is

listless until it turns furious and then it collapses, lost and weary. The book behaves like a

grieving person.

From the first page, there's an intimation that the novel is animated, in part, by private

sorrow. In 2013, Hanif wrote a nonfiction book about the enforced disappearances in the

Pakistani province of Balochistan, "The Baloch Who Is Not Missing Anymore and Others

Who Are," published by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. In 2015, his friend, the

human rights activist Sabeen Mahmud, held an event on the disappearances at her community

space in Karachi. She was killed on her way home. "I don't think I or any of my colleagues

have recovered from that shot," Hanif has said. Mahmud supplies one of the epigraphs to

11
"Red Birds" — a little like asking the audience to silence their phones, presumably before the

gathering that night.

Hanif made his name writing some of the boldest satire of his generation. What happens

when satire begins to seem like a statement of impotence when it loses its power to shame?

What lies beyond it? And what happens to a writer when he recognizes the limitations of his

favourite form? This novel isn't riddled with mere flaws but heartbreak.

"I think the novel is set in a war-torn, devastated, half-forgotten place," Hanif said in a recent

interview. "That place is my head."

I want to explain is that Neocolonialism is a product of social construction in the Western

World, and have now been spread to other nations such as China. When speaking of social

construction, it is to say that people have constructed ideas about how the world works. These

ideas come from a learned discourse through history and a solid affiliation with a particular

identity that allows one to justify actions. Due to the experience of those who have held

colonies, and more importantly the recent colonial history in most low-income nations, it

does not seem unnatural for developed nations to involve themselves economically in the

developing ones. The inability for low-income nations to develop is in denial by those who

are involved in them, usually veiled by the mentality that they are helping. By uncovering

this myth and describing the construction of this attitude I will be able to show audiences that

it is a constructed mentality in both parties (developed and developing) that these blockades

to development have derived from. This is what is considered a "social fact", which is to say

that the construction of this phenomena is completely social and therefore can be changed.

The opposite of a social fact would be a "brute fact", such as the existence of lightning which

cannot be denied or changed. It is important to stress that the construction of neocolonialism

is not based around the Dependency Theory, but instead assumes that developed nations have

a socially constructed force upon them to depend economically on developed nations. In turn,

12
developed nations have a socially constructed force to continue their involvement in these

nations. Next, I want to explain how this is damaging the potential of the developing nations.

My main focus will be on unwise economic deals made between those who are involved in

the low-income nations and those nations themselves. There are several mechanisms in which

neocolonialism operates: multinational corporations, foreign aid (often becomes self-

perpetuating), intelligence agencies, militaries, tax-exempt foundations, corrupt leadership,

and psychological dilemmas. What is causing these deals to be accepted by the developing

nation and why is the involved nation allowing these deals to be made? How much of a role

do the leaders play within this phenomenon, and if they do, what is their role? Why do

leaders take these deals without considering the benefit of their nation? The final section of

my research will attempt to look at the sub-state actors (those who are carrying through the

deals under the header of their home-nations) and attempt to create a new "improvement

deal" in which the developing nation would exchange a resource (i.e. Uranium) for something

with monetary worth, but is not currency, and will enhance the potential for the growth of

both nations. Examples would include school organisations, hospitals, legal buildings, and

the like. Something also to consider is to allow the people of the developing nation to

construct these building and the subsequent infrastructure to allow the money to go back into

the economy of that nation. Often, as aforementioned, the Tier 1 countries are the only ones

eligible for construction bids which would recycle the money that they paid the nation (either

in foreign aid or through a multinational) back into their own country. I think there is a

potential idea for "recycled improvement" in which the money that is made from tuition,

hospital bills, and legal workings could be recycled back into the program thus producing one

of the same (a second schoolhouse once the first is "perfected" and a profit is continuously

being made.) Though this would have to be a department of government I believe if it were to

work properly. I believe that continuous involvement in nations with corrupt leaders or

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making unfair business trades is continuing to keep the nation at a lower level of

enhancement. I believe we can continue to trade and help develop the nation at the same time.

I disagree with what is called "Dependency Theory" in which low-income nations are

dependent on the foreign aid of industrial nations. The theory of constructivism would say

that both nations, industrial and low income, have created the ideas that keep them one

dependent upon the other. Those ideas can be changed through a different discourse, and

therefore a changed identity. I will show what is now being done by using statistics to see

how much money is getting to the people of these low-income nations currently. Dissecting

the multinational corporation and following the life of foreign aid will allow me to show how

little money is put into the developing nation. Using historical analysis to dissect the social

construction of the behaviour currently held, as aforementioned. I could use SPSS to measure

the growth of neighbouring nations or nations who have a similar history to see where major

changes were made. I can also use the Human Development Index to define developing

nations. Lastly, I will be using case studies such as the China-Ghana Uranium deal and the

USA‟s land-lease program. My units of analysis would be the nation-state for the first two

parts of my research. The third part will have to switch to sub-state actors, multinational

corporations, and foreign aid life. My dependent variable is the depletion of resources in

developing nations and my independent is economic imperialism. The advantages of my

dependent variable is that I can use qualitative and quantitative research to show that it can be

a first step in the right direction to have an equal resource option. A disadvantage is that it is

going to be difficult to determine the sub-state actors involved and how to get them to switch

to improvement programs. The advantage of my independent variable is the ability to assess

the danger in continuing the economic involvement in low-income nations that lead to the

block on their development. The disadvantage is that many of the involved nations will refuse

to blame themselves. The validity of my argument is simple. If resources are worth

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commodity and resources are taken from the nation, then the nation has no commodity. This

is a hypothetical syllogism and is crucial to understanding the magnitude of this social

injustice. My methodology is to use historical analysis to examine past and present ideas

towards economic imperialism, in the attempt to learn how to change the discourse of these

ideas. Also, we can use statistics to give a representation of the lack of fairness involved in

economic trade.

Theoretical framework

Neocolonialism

Neocolonialism is the exercise of the usage of capitalism, globalization, cultural imperialism,

and conditional resource to have an impact on creating united states as a substitute of the

preceding colonial techniques of direct army manage (imperialism or oblique manage

(hegemony). Neocolonialism differs from well-known globalization and improvement

resource in that it usually outcomes in a relationship of dependence, subservience, or

economic responsibility closer to the neocolonialist nation.

Kwame Nkrumah is the most prominent author on neocolonialism and he indeed coined the

phrase. Nkrumah1 argues that no new colonies could be created in today's world. There are

colonies still present, however, but no new ones. He says that instead of colonialism, high-

income nations still have a hand-dipped in old colonies economically. He called this

Imperialism and insists that neocolonialism is the last stage of imperialism. Nkrumah says

that the State that is being neo colonized is an independent country with sovereignty but its

economic system, and thus is public policy decision making, is directed from an external

source which they may be dependent upon financially. Thomas Gladwin2 is also favourable

to this definition of neocolonialism. He discusses the different ways in which these unfair

economic deals can take place. The examples that he uses in his book include the life of

foreign aid and profit recycling of multi-national corporations. Certain conditions do apply

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when foreign aid is handed out to other nations. Some of the stipulations include making the

country giving the financial aid the only one eligible for contracting deals or other bids within

the country receiving the aid. From his other example, multi-national corporations are setting

themselves up in these low-income nations but the profits they make there do not go back

into their host country but are recycled into their home country instead. This leaves no room

for the corporation to bring growth to the low-income nation In yet another article written by

Margaret Hanson and James Hentz, the topic of the World Bank and the International

Monetary Fund are brought up. As it turns out, there are very strict rules about the money that

is loaned out of these institutions into low-income nations and it's restricted their ability to

use the money for something useful such as schools or hospitals, something they need badly.

Lastly, to explain neocolonialism, John Suckling and Colin Stoneman4 wrote an article about

overspecializing. This is another way in which low-income nations are held down but

external forces. Some nations, in their colonial days, were told to overspecialize in a certain

good for sale in the colonizing country. The example used in the article is that of Cuba who

overspecialized in sugar for Spain and later the United States. In effect of these techniques,

low-income nations never learned to produce anything else, were held back from

industrializing, and definitely from training their people to do little more than produce a

specific good. It is simply to see how Neocolonialism is detrimental to the societies of low-

income nations and restricted their ability to grow or industrialize. With so many loopholes,

rules, regulations, and stipulations it is no wonder that these nations have become stuck in

third world status. The dependency of these nations works in the way of a cycle and this

research hopes to distinguish ways in which this can be changed. The greatest hope is to find

solutions that are sustainable to the African continent. On aspect to consider when thinking

about how the behaviour of Neocolonialism has been constructed is to think about how

something like overspecialization was created. Low-income nations were to produce cheap

16
commodities to their imperial power when they were colonies. This is no longer the case but

many nations are continuing to produce one particular commodity because it is what they

were trained to do. It is extremely hard to get out of this. As Stone man and Suckling5 state in

their article, these nations have been thrown into a market of Transnational Corporations

(TNCS) which have ridiculous rules for these nation's markets. One example is to continue

the pursuit of comparative advantage, where a nation specializes in one good. However, this

forces low-income nations to compete with other poor countries instead of growing every

poor nation's economy. Secondly, they enforce a "respect for property rights" which allows

the TNCS to extract profit from the company doing business because they have a hand in the

country's economy. The third example used in this article is the tendency of the elite within

the low-income nation to become somewhat of an internal bourgeoisie which makes deals

with the TNCS and foreign traders and owners which benefits themselves but not the country.

We see this mostly in corruption of leadership. Hentz and Hanson6 explain in an article

geared towards understanding neocolonialism from the low-income nation side (why would

they make irresponsible deals) shine some light on the construction of both sides.

Governments develop ownership of bad policies because of an external force influencing the

nation. Just as in America, elections are very important to policy changes. However, also like

in America, certain candidates work with industrialized nations to enforce policies that

already exist or change them to what is wanted but the external nation. This constructs

elections within the low-income nations and creates a pattern that is difficult to get out of

when a dependency is becoming a constant idea among country leaders. Lastly, we must keep

in mind a point of historical analysis. Gladwin7 discusses in his book titled "Slaves of the

White Myth" that almost all 3rd world nations have a period of colonial rule in their recent

history. Once the nations were "independent" they were still under the economic rule. Just as

a teenager leaves home, they still need help from their parents every once and a while.

17
Without making the case that these nations need the industrialized ones, low-income nations

went to sovereign nations without any instructions or knowledge on how to become

economically independent. This is probably what those high-income nations wanted. Gladwin

talks about the Atlantic Charter which the USA pressured colonized places to strive for

independence, but behind that was a motivation to dip their hands into the economy of

Europe's colonies. Economic power replaced force and the mechanism of conquest. With

multinational corporations, foreign aid, and indoctrination of entrepreneurs, there is still

much-constructed dependence on wealthy countries to help developing nations.

Understanding the Construction of neocolonialism opens the path for a change in discourse

and making a difference in this locked dependency on wealthy nations. These low-income

nations can grow and the potential to be strong and independent countries. There needs to be

a change in the economic system on how to deal with these nations to construct future

generations coming out of these countries to be healthy world players. Stone man and

Suckling8 say there are three main ways to escape Neocolonialism. The first is to have a

strong central government with free and fair elections, and then the country must reduce its

export dependence, and last make foreign capital decisions for them rather than by some

external force. The authors also include the implications of escaping which include the rapid

economic growth and capital accumulation that may occur, they will have to increase

government expenditure and cope with the costs of rapid urbanization and provisions of

social income in education, health, and welfare. Jean-Paul Sartre9 has a list of problems that

are keeping the low-income nations from becoming more dependent. These problems are

listed as economic, social, psychological, and political. The economic problems include a

great example of how to feed 9 million people without the help of others. The social problem

is concerned with getting more schools and doctors in the nation. Psychological problems

have to do with the inferiority complex that was discussed earlier in this review and how to

18
relieve the dependence on wealthy nations. Lastly, the political problem is a curious but

strong point. If, perhaps, the country decides to change itself away from dependency and it

hits a hard spot where the country becomes stagnant, who is going to vote when they are

starving? It is questioned is wealthy nations can still help out low-income nations with these

hardships without increasing or bringing back the dependency that was once had over them.

Keep in mind that the dependency shown to these nations does not hurt them. Raymond

Crist10 suggests that more subsidies need to be given to local farmers because it will feed to

the local population, create jobs for local owners, and make food cheaper to get. Instead, he

recognizes the subsidies given to farmers with larger plots of land to produce food for export

rather than local feeding. This is backwards, says Crest, because when the population is

starving, why focus on exports? Phillip G. Altbach11 wrote about the horrible education in

low-income nations and prefers that we focus on the education of people within these poor

countries. He does not give any instructions on how to perform this important task but calls

on other researchers to do this. There is an obvious recognition of the immediate change

needed between the relations of poor and wealthy nations.

In an easy context, neocolonialism is a category identify for all policies, infrastructures and

dealers actively contributing to society, which is a roundabout way serve to supply continuity

to the practices recognized to the colonial era. The essence of neocolonialism is that whilst

the nation seems to be impartial and have whole manipulate over its dealings, it is infecting

managed with the aid of outsider financial and political influence. In the technology of

fifteenth to 20th-century colonialism, the exercise was once discovered in the world.

Colonialism is putting up colonies in growing international locations through electricity and

afterwards exploiting them for their benefits. For example, even after reaching independence,

many nations are going through neo-colonization which bog down their growth. The most

important hassle is no longer whether or not the colonized USA ought to pay the mortgage or

19
not, however misuse of power. For example, American nations use its nuclear weapons on

the bad nations destructing mankind and the entire us of an altogether.

Levi A. Nwachukwu

Neo‐colonialism was born on the praxis of colonialism. In its operation, it is, in a sense, a

replacement word for imperialism. It has become a term that is used to describe the post-

relationship of imperial powers to their former colonies. Following the quilt of World War

two Colonial powers started to re-assess the political and monetary reason for persevering

with to hold their colonies. In 1965, Hasting Banda from Malawi, Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya

and Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana. They grew to become the president of their unbiased

nations. The conferees at the congress referred to as upon the colonial powers to provide their

colonies political independence. The irony of the Imperial Powers battles a hostility of

colonies' wish to stop colonialism. But quickly after they realized that their former masters

nevertheless had a hegemonic relationship with them, despite their being independent. In

1965, Nkrumah, who grew to become Ghana's first president, coined the phrase neo-

colonialism to describe the impact of former imperial international locations on the ex-

colonies in the areas of the economy, language, culture, and political philosophy. It is no

longer completely correct to solely these European international locations who hegemonies

many components of the world and constructed empires as their countrywide policy. In the

Contemporary context, effective international locations which did no longer always personal

empires take part in neo-colonial practices in non-developed nations. Business, corporations,

and army complexes have at the same time influenced the dynamics of establishments in the

underdeveloped world. Excluding the have an effect on China in the economic system of

African colonies, one should rightly describe neo-colonialism as a structure of

"Westernization" of the underdeveloped world.

Tsenay Serequeberhan

20
In his article," Philosophy and Post-Colonial Africa", He explicates the nature of

neocolonialism in Africa in a manner that displays how Europe propagates its coverage of

socio-economic and political dominance in post-colonial Africa. For him, neocolonialism in

Africa is that which internally replicates in a disguised manner what was once carried out at

some point of the colonial period. This disguised form constitutes the nature of the European

neocolonial subjugation as it issues the politics of economic, cultural, and scientific

subordinate of Africa states. (Serequeberhan1998). The technique and praxis of

neocolonialism lie in its guise to revel in leaders of the impartial colonies to take delivery of

developmental aids and assist via which the imperial powers proceed to penetrate and

manage their ex-colonies. Technology and scientific assistance, the ex-colonies masters

impose their hegemonic political and cultural manipulate in the structure of neocolonialism

(Serequeberhan 998, 13).

He stated,

"Today, in the last decade of the twentieth century, the United States is the dominant

superpower and the harbinger of a new 'new world order' dominated by the West (i.e.,

NATO). Paraphrasing Lenin and Nkrumah, one could describe this 'new world order' as the

latest, if not the highest, stage of neocolonialism in which the United States, under the guise

of the United Nations, rules the world, and smart bombs enforce 'international law'.

In such a situation, the leaders of the reputedly impartial African states turn out to be minions

to the whims and caprices of the ex-colonial lords or their multinational firms in phrases of

the administration of the affairs of the new states. Within a neocolonial situation, therefore,

the imperialists generally keep theirs have an impact on in as many sectors of the former of

an impartial country and extra of a neo-colony. To this end, in political, economics, religious,

and even education, the kingdom appears up to its imperialists, as an alternative than

enhancing upon its personal indigenous culture and practices. Through neocolonialism, the

21
greater technological know-how increases international locations make sure their

involvement with low earnings nations, such that this relationship virtually annihilates the

doable for the improvement of the smaller states and contribute to the capital achieve of the

technologically superior states.

Afghanistan:

If we apply this theory in our current period or present days, at that point we have numerous

models such as America's command over Afghanistan, India's authority over Kashmir and

Australia's power over Netherland. If we talk about America's authority over Afghanistan, we

come to realize that America is controlling over Afghanistan through his arrangements,

through Afghanistan's Leader, through his monetarily, strategically, instructive, through

World Bank (IMF) and the power of his weapons. Remotely, The US wants to show that we

need harmony in Afghanistan; he wants to demonstrate his delicate picture to the world by

spending his money or resources in Afghanistan, yet to put it plainly, The US Needs to

possess in Afghanistan until the end of time.

Red Birds

When I started this book what am I reading about? It's a very funny thing I considered mutt to

be a character of a younger boy and I came to know the name of a dog when I reached page

number 82. The book has a very light tone and would give you laughing time if you are good

at understanding jokes and also an intellectual person. When I reached to mid-section of it, I

had expected fights, wars and destruction but it stayed light throughout. There is a character

named Eddie who is an American air force pilot and is sent on a mission to destroy land

occupying by militants somewhere near the desert. During his journey, his plane got crash

and he lost in the desert. He managed to survive eight days and afterwards by luck escaped

the desert and reached the refugee camp. There are ghost and superstitious elements around

them. I had confusion in mind so I read an article about it and could understand that it based

22
on irony and comics and deals with post-war economics (capitalist movement after world war

2 where the economy of the world started booming abruptly as people got loans for business

but poor and rural people were neglected). After reading this book your understanding of war

based issues and consequences get better. While reading you get mixed feelings of sadness

and happiness at once. There are other characters like father dear, mother dear, lady flower

body, catch Momo bro Ali; all of them are strongly connected in story. Hanger, the areas

headquarter of US army which was abandoned after the bombing is the main focus in the

story and also red birds.

Discussion and analysis

Towards the end of Muhammad Hanif's novel, The Red Birds, an American fighter pilot,

stranded in an unknown desert country, provides a vicious argument for war. "If I don't evict,

who will take refuge? ... If I don't destroy the cities, how will you find a way to set up refugee

camps? Where will the sympathy of the whole world go?"

Such lines are part of the atmosphere of dark comic war novels, which need bitter rhetoric

like horror stories that need to be floorboards. This is a tool that Hanif, who left the Pakistan

Air Force Academy to pursue a writing career, is well known and often used. As a result,

"Red Birds" is a genre novel with high-pitched, high-pitched humour. But Hanif pursues his

stories beyond mere irony and has included satire, ghost stories, and funny hands in his

criticism of US military intervention.

Caustic fighter pilot Ellie, whose plane was on a mission to destroy a refugee camp, was

described as "the site of some of the worst human waste." After more than a week of hiking

in the desert, he discovered that the refugee camp was not as great as he had been warned.

The Muslim family that took Ella worked with the Americans who were occupying a nearby

hangar. And the eldest son of this family who went with the Americans is Ali. Although Ali's

parents are mourning his loss and betrayal, his younger brother, Momo, 15, is determined to

23
make the most of his mischief and become an American-style mogul. They are equipped with

copies of Fortune and Cosmo to guide them through Western culture, and the MBA School is

not like that: their ideas include "scorpion racing circuit" and "falcons for moral hunting".

In the early days of the novel, the narrative changes between Elle, Momo, and Momo's dog

Mutt, whose subtle consciousness may have come from a power line through wrongdoing.

Momo Eli can be approached Monday to Monday when it comes to sardonic observations,

especially when it comes to foreign aid workers. ("First they bomb us from the sky, and then

they work hard to relieve our stress.") Don't be so observant, but there is a lack of human

weakness, which is why they can see both rhetoric and Momo's nonsense. Considering the

economic stability of Momo's schemes, he lamented, "This is not the way to distribute wealth

in post-war economies." Nice dog.

And Mutt sees something else: the red birds in the title of this novel, died in battle. "When

someone dies in a raid or shooting, or when someone's throat is cut, the last drop of their

blood turns into a small red bird and flies away," Matt observed, no such magic or evidence.

"The brains of Moat are underfoot like Momo is no sure? The most important thing for Hanif

is how many people are deprived of birds. In this conflict, not all human beings seem to be

able to see each other." Each is shaped by greed, poverty, loss, military orders, in ways that

blink at the human suffering around them.

Hanif's bravery in such ceramic storytelling has achieved it more often, almost in a reflexive

way, than in Joseph Heller. His first film in 2008, "A Mango Explosion Case", used the

suspicious death of former Pakistani President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq to mock the Pakistan

Army. Her 2011 follow-up, "Our Lady of Alice Bhatti," did much for the country's social and

gender norms. But Hanif thinks that the only point about a novel like "Catch-22" is how the

novelist can address the war. Think of the fact that World War II fiction first emerged as

controversial pieces of realism, such as Naked and Dead, before embracing the "catch" style

24
of humour. This was followed by "rainbow of gravity", such as light bulbs and provocative,

ridiculous moves like talking to everyone.

Textual References

I have to admit that Bro Ali departure like this was a blow we are still recovering from. I was

forced to require on the responsibility of running the household; drying Mother Dear's tears,

pressing Father Dear's pants. I'm not getting to school either. And if I'm not gonna go to high

school, then the school is goanna remain shut. Buffaloes needed their shelter back, now they

have it. (page18).

Here we will see then how neocolonialism effects on education first they snatch their

education forced them through some ways through many politicians and their money then

they provide them bags and books. First, they force them to require their household

responsibility then they spend the money on them only to show their soft image to the world.

They bomb us because they assume we are related to bad Arabs. We steal from them because

that's all we can do. They take our boys because they think that's all we have. And to lure the

boys they sent out their tallest soldiers, their shiniest vehicles (page 65).

This is the real picture of America which Muhammad Hanif wanted to point out in his novel

Red Birds. This text is that the voices of the parents who have loosed their children. They

steal their children's because they think that they're a tourist. If they're boys then they trained

them and use them only for their profit, if these are a girl then they raped them and kill them.

They put the boys in their own military Army. And through their speeches they become

successful. They use them as they're their vehicles. As such Muhammad Hanif says through

his novel. There were boys before him who went and never come back (72 pages).

Ellie has been meted out to a similar plight except for the sources of his are career and marital

discord. War is his escape from a wife. The vainness is exhibiting remarkable feat of past

bombing missions irks him, 'I feel that after all those near-death experiences, after all the

25
sacrifices I have made for the country, I am being treated like an unwanted hitchhiker' (page

89).

Here we can see a comparison of Ellie thinking before coming into the desert and thinking

after meeting camp people. He thinks that all of my efforts and scarifies are nothing for them.

They used me and other soldiers just for their purpose. Our life's our scarified our efforts are

nothing near them. They killed the camp people because they have a common doubt that they

can damage their country. They used the soldiers as such as they are their remote controller.

Its bite sickening following remains described as evil. We are entrepreneurs, not evil. Why is

he investigating this? Is he weird touching our feelings yet their feelings? (page148).

I wonder if there is especial medical for pilots who went out on a mission and found

themselves lost in the desert. People only talk about being lost in the desert in Sunday school,

or in air force folklore. They put GPS chips in pets and migratory birds now; I mean who the

hell gets lost these days? And how can someone flying around in a 65-million-dollar machine

get lost?

Say hi to Major Elle. (6)

They bomb us because they assume we are related to bad Arabs. We steal from them because

that's all we can do. They take our boys because they think that's all we have. And to lure the

boys they sent out their tallest soldiers, their shiniest vehicles (page 65)…First, they bomb us

from the skies, then they work hard to cure our stress (page 67)… I try to imagine a world

where people read a book by a writer about a place where the writer has never been and then

decide to go there to study young minds. We live in that world. Not much different from the

white men (and women, but mostly men) who flew halfway around the world to bomb us

because they believe even if we are not bad Arabs we must be up to something. (page70)

Ellie's notions about the essentialities of war lead one to contemplate over the pinnacles

Hanif's sarcasm has reached, where he dares to make Ellie justify the dastardliness of wars, If

26
I didn't bomb someplace, how would she save that place? If I didn't rain fire from the skies,

who would need her to douse that fire on the ground? Why would you need somebody to

throw blankets on burning babies if there were no burning babies? If I didn't take out home

who would provide shelter? If I didn't take out home who would need shelter? If I didn't

obliterate cities, how would you get to set up refugee camps? Where would the entire world's

empathy go? Who would host exhibitions in the picture galleries of Berlin, who would have

fundraising balls in Lyndon? Where would all the students on their gap years go? …You

don't hold candlelight vigils for those dying of old age and neglect. You need fireworks to

ignite human imagination.' (page201).

Conclusion

Neocolonialism is a cooperation between the western financial institutions, political and

military institutions. The western global financial institutions are based on a system of

exploitation and debt enslavement of developing countries infiltrating these nations through

elite individuals and powerful businesses. The elites of the neocolonized nations benefit

while the nations are deprived. If they cannot control and impose by finance or politics, then

the military is the last option. Through the cooperation and coordination of western financial

institutions, the political establishment and military industries they control and influence the

world's GDP, create a market for western products, create shareholder wealth largely based in

the west such as powerful corporations, businesses and even private banks, reduce national

debt and trade deficits of western countries, increase geopolitical power, export culture,

increase currency value and manage the liquidity of finance and market. Examples of these

achievements are seen in the cold war, countless sanctions, coups, sabotage, espionage, civil

war by western intelligence services and wars against Muslim countries in the Middle East,

Africa and Latin America.

27
Muslims must not forget how European colonialism has wiped Islamic existence from South

East Asia, Africa and Arabia. When the British ruled, for example, current Malaysia and

Singapore, Muslims were put at the bottom of social class with no opportunities to rise in the

administration and economy. Also, Muslim society demographics were changed by forced

immigration by the British. We Muslims did not accept what was done to us by colonialism

whether in Malaya, Africa, Arabia, still same colonialism going on. West hasn't changed a

bit. We will not forget. We will not forgive them.

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