* Fahmida Riaz in her novel Qila-e-Faramoshi
* has written the story of a man named Mazdak
* who used to be a priest in the erstwhile Persian empire
* This man is considered to be the first socialist leader in history
* because when famine hit the 6th century Persia,
* he tried to organize the labourers and farmers
* who were losing their lives and livestock in big numbers
* due to lack of food
* On the other hand, loads of grain was stored
* with the rich and at the temples for the priests
* So Mazdak tells an ailing workman at one point:
* “This system is based on injustice;
* the city has enough grain for us all,
* we should break into their storages and seize it”
* The workman says, “Yes, we have decided to steal some tonight”
* Mazdak, who is a priest as well, says it’d be sin to steal
* The workman asks him what other option did they have
* Mazdak says: “Don’t steal in the darkness of the night,
* take what’s yours in the light of the day”
* So what’s the difference between stealing
* and demanding something?
* In both cases, you’re taking from a usurper what’s already yours
* The difference is that of the legitimacy
* When you steal, you lose your legitimacy
* Which means that you can be killed
* in an operation whenever required
* The rich and powerful today also don’t want you to have legitimacy
* They would never want their opponent to have
* a legitimate claim against them
* This is why untiring efforts are being made
* to get Taliban a share in power structure of post-America Afghanistan
* But Arman Loni is murdered
* Even those trying to attend his funeral are stopped
