Students have the capacity to spark a political upheaval within the working class, but to advance effectively, the leading role of the latter is essential. Although the working class did eventually join the movement to some degree, their involvement has largely been as a mass rather than as a class and an organized political force.
The roots of religious fundamentalism with all its forms, formations and faces in South Asia should be looked for in the historic evolution of these societies under colonialism, imperialism and subsequently the independent rule of a lackey bourgeoisie. With the uneven and combined pattern of development, the noxious amalgamation of impoverishment, religious prejudices and superstitions of the foregone times, partial modernity, socio-cultural remnants of feudalism and tribalism, finance capital and black money has only complicated the evolution of these countries.
Two out of three major wars between India and Pakistan were fought over Jammu Kashmir. Even the rise of BJP and the black reaction of saffron movement in India is, to a considerable extent, due to the dispute over Jammu Kashmir. On the other hand, it also has served as a breeding house for Islamic fundamentalism in Pakistan. But as the great Marxist theoretician Dr. Lal Khan had predicted years ago, the role of Jammu Kashmir in the region seems to be dialectically turning into its opposite.
While spiraling electricity prices proved the trigger for ongoing protests, the other key demand is to restore the subsidy on wheat prices. Erosion of the subsidy over time has resulted in the doubling of the price of bread since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Widespread flooding driven by devastating monsoons has affected 33 million in Pakistan—some 15 percent of the population. It includes some 650,000 pregnant women who are in dire need of care in flood-hit areas.
The causes of the crisis are clear. Sri Lanka’s economy is unstable and prone to global shocks, with its high dependence upon international loans, and focus on foreign currency-generating export industries.
Hundreds of people streamed into the palace and quickly made themselves at home—diving into his pool, drinking his whisky, working out in his gym and cooking in his kitchen, marveling at the luxuries enjoyed by the man who oversaw the collapse of the country’s finances.
It is no exaggeration to say that the almost four years of PTI’s stint in power was one of the darkest periods of this country, which only drove society backwards—and in the absence of a mass revolutionary upsurge, its reactionary political, social, and cultural ramifications will continue to haunt Pakistan.
By constantly repeating the claim of an alleged American conspiracy to oust him, Khan has successfully retained his base to some extent. It is possible that the no confidence motion was not orchestrated by the Americans, but it served their interests.
The U.S.’ longest war in history—spanning four presidential terms, two Republican and two Democratic—finally ended on August 30th, having accomplished none of its goals and leaving Afghanistan’s population of nearly 40 million people, if anything, worse off than when it began.
The fact is that over twenty years, the US has failed to build anything that might redeem its mission. The brilliantly lit Green Zone was always surrounded by a darkness that the Zoners could not fathom.
If Biden were correct in saying the US war objective in Afghanistan had been met, there would be no justification (nor is there) for bombing the Taliban as they retake power in the country.
The civil disobedience movement has gone underground and forms of self-defense are spreading throughout the country, not just in peripheral areas populated by ethnic minorities.
An inoculation push, plagued with limited supplies and red tape, makes doses available to those who can pay for them. In a country with a struggling economy, most can’t.
Ever since the beginning of the pandemic, the right-wing BJP government, instead of fighting the virus with emergency health measures, has been manipulating the pandemic as a divisive tool for its communal politics.
