The poet John Donne wrote, “No man is an island.” People inevitably form communities — through a family, a neighbourhood or a profession. Community is the yardstick for individuals, depending on whether they feel part of it or alienated from it.

Early communities were important for the very survival of humans, as there was safety in numbers. While one group went hunting, the others protected the home. This rudimentary social structure still remains the norm in isolated communities.

As civilisations grew, professional communities developed for farmers, craft guilds, religious institutions, warriors, and the rulers and the ruled. Unlike social units defined by geography, nationality or class, a community implies common interests and a shared purpose and is built on mutual trust.

Urbanisation and migration created opportunities for new communities. While some, such as the Irish Americans, maintain ethnic cultural links even after many generations, urban communities are more likely to reflect common interests. These may be professionals or those who have a passion for sports, music, art, cinema, poetry, book reading, trainspotting, quilting or cuisine. Academics and technical specialists meet at conferences to share best practices and new research. Members of one family may belong to different communities.

People have naturally always formed communities based on shared interests and mutual trust in one geographic space. The internet has not only expanded the idea of communities but also made us witnesses to groups that seek to exclude

Informal communities include neighbourhood watches, home-based gatherings for ‘committee’ banking or religious ‘dars’ lectures. The shops on a street look out for each other’s interests, especially in Pakistan, where single product markets are the norm, such as for clothing, jewellery, wood and metal work. Factory workers or employees form unions to demand better facilities or salaries.

Artists, who often find themselves outsiders in society, find freedom in artist colonies such as Barbizon in France, which welcomed Impressionists and post-Impressionists. The Songzhuang Art Colony in the eastern suburbs of Beijing became the centre for avant-garde art in China and is home to more than 2,000 artists. The Kathputli community in New Delhi is home to about 20,000 painters and performers.

Many villages across Pakistan engage collectively in specialised crafts, producing wood or metal work products, ceramics or textiles. In urban centres, there are communities of truck and bus decorators or movie poster artists. There is even an artists’ community in Karachi Jail. Arts Councils, private spaces such as The Second Floor (T2F), and literature and theatre festivals are havens for urbanites who share a love of the arts and intellectual exchange.

The internet has completely changed the scope of communities, which can now connect across the world. WELL (Whole Earth ‘Lectronic Link) was founded in 1985 and is considered one of the first virtual communities that created a platform intended to connect everyone on the planet.

Social networks have inspired newer technologies, such as Web 2, allowing user-generated content, and Web 3 or blockchain technology, to do away with centralised platforms altogether. Internet technologies enable a real community, where everyone has a voice and, rather than physically going to a community, the community comes to one’s device. Participants may not know each other in real life but can share their opinions and achievements, find inspiration and learn resilience.

However, communities don’t only bring people together. They can also exclude people and unjustly divide society. They can become instruments of control, such as political lobbies and insider pressure groups, or secret societies that owe unquestioning allegiance to fellow members.

Business communities can cooperate to further economic self-interest. Housing areas can divide the rich and the poor, or become racially or culturally exclusive. The upper echelons of society often live in what has come to be known since the ’70s as “La La Land”, detached from the harsh realities of life.

In times of crises, whether natural disasters, war or political turmoil, communities step out of their comfort zone to open up and share resources and expertise, and develop empathy for others. With a world in perpetual crisis, and the internet that makes us all witnesses to the suffering of others, there is no longer room for exclusive societies.

Hilf al-Fudul [League of the Virtuous] was established by the family of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in 590 AD to establish justice for all through collective action, for both “the protected neighbour and the unprotected stranger.”

One of the most powerful symbols of complete equality across races and class is the ihram, an unstitched white body wrap, essential for all performing Hajj, which erases distinctions between pauper and prince, and sends a message that all humanity is a single community.

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

Published in Dawn, EOS, July 21st, 2024