We usually think of the few and the many in economic terms. One percent of the world has more wealth than 50 percent of the world. The combined wealth of 10 of the richest people is more than the wealth of many countries such as Brazil, Australia, Spain and the Netherlands. Economic disparity is one of the great injustices of capitalism, which set out to make the world prosperous, but has disproportionately benefitted the few.

There are many other examples of the few affecting the many, some positive, some detrimental. The formation of human societies has naturally evolved into informal and formal structures of the few and the many. Parents, tribal leaders, company CEOs, governments, craft guilds, orchestras, educational institutions, armies — in fact, all organisations have a hierarchical structure.

An average teacher will have taught 3,000 young people in his or her career. At the University of Karachi, 700 teachers are responsible for the education of 40,000 students. Studies find 98 percent of students say their teachers changed the course of their lives. A doctor will have seen 60,000 patients, many more in any of Pakistan’s larger government hospitals. The 16 Supreme Court judges of Pakistan adjudicate matters for a population of 220 million and 342 parliamentarians make policies and decisions that will affect their futures.

Creative people are a unique group whose otherness is accepted and they are expected to be a few. They usually work solo and, as Rubén A. Gaztambide-Fernández terms it, are “border crossers”, working from the outside in.

When identified collectively as an art, music or literary movement, their influence becomes more tangible. The number of artists who earn a mention in art history books, the number of music composers, novelists, playwrights and poets from the beginning of documented civilisations is a fraction of the world population, standing today at 7.9 billion people. Yet, these few have defined art, literature and music for centuries.

There are an estimated 300,000 actors across the world, 21 production companies that dominate the film industry, with the U.S. way ahead of any other country; its films remain the most influential, as they have audiences across the globe.

World religions spread with the efforts of small groups — Prophet Jesus had 12 Apostles, who spread his message from Rome to India. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) had the Sahaba and 12 men from Madina paved the way for the hijrat from Makkah.

There are other less visible ways in which a handful of people have enormous influence. There is always speculation about the power of secret societies, about 13 families who rule the world, establishing or removing governments, engineering stock markets and even planning terrorism.

More factual data exists about the dominance of the white male in high-level decision-making posts in the news media, publishing, financial institutions, academia and the United Nations, decisions that impact the whole world.

David Rothkopf writes, “White men have had a great run. From the rise of the Greeks to the birth of Western-based global empires, they have controlled much of the world or sought to. So much of history is a consequence of decisions made by — and at the behest of — the white guys in charge.”

The veto power of five members of the United Nations’ Security Council can overturn the proposals made by any of the 193 member-states. There is no getting away from the few affecting the many, no matter how egalitarian our ideals may be. As journalist Andrew Mullen puts it, “It’s always the same old few who ruin it for the rest of us.”

Erica Chenoweth, a political scientist at Harvard University, has proved that even in revolutions and political uprisings, it is a few who mobilise people. She collected data from 323 violent and nonviolent campaigns. Nonviolent protests were more likely to succeed than violent protests. But more interestingly, she arrived at the 3.5 percent rule: she found there weren’t any campaigns that had failed after they had achieved 3.5 percent participation during a peak event.

In Pakistan 3.5 percent would be about 8 million people; in Karachi that would be about 600,000 people.

Durriya Kazi is a Karachi-based artist. She may be reached at durriyakazi1918@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, EOS, February 6th, 2022