This isn’t the first time that the military establishment has been on the receiving end of a public backlash. Will the outcome be different this time? Aasim Sajjad Akhtar There are thousands of charged protesters on the streets of Islamabad, many inside the otherwise impermeable Red Zone. They face baton charges, tear gas shelling, and arrests. Fierce slogans against the …

Making sense of ‘Chinese characteristics’. Is it time for the Pakistani Left to start talking about Chinese ‘imperialism’? by Aasim Sajjad Akhtar Into the third decade of the 21st century, what does it mean to talk of imperialism(s) and empire? Can every unequal relationship of exchange, power and cultural diffusion be considered imperialistic? How do we sift through the complexities …

Translated from the Urdu by Raza Naeem Firstly, congratulations on completing three-quarters of the century of your life. In this three-quarters of a century, you have seen countless ups and downs on a personal, social, national and international level, and also made us able to see and comprehend them. There are several such examples in which parents wrote different types …

Pakistani neoliberalism hasn’t rolled back state intervention in the economy. Building on a predatory tradition that dates back to British colonial rule, it has used state power to enforce the ruthless exploitation of Pakistan’s workers and natural resources.

By Nadia Urbinati The Communist Manifesto, first published on this day in 1848, doesn’t suggest that we should imagine the future. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels tell us that the future is harboured within things themselves, and that is why it is rational to desire it. So it makes no sense to establish a dualism between the present and the …

Why Not Socialism? is an excellent introduction to socialist ideals. The form of presentation is intuitive and even deceptively simple, while the underlying arguments are careful and sophisticated.

The Right has hijacked the vision of a life beyond neoliberal globalization. It’s time for a new progressive internationalism, one that puts solidarity and justice over corporate profits.

By Asim Sajjad Akhtar Imran Khan believed himself to be a virtual messiah who would cleanse Pakistan of ‘corruption’ and fight crusades against the corroding influences of western culture. His cult-like supporters still hold on to this myth but his dissolution of the National Assembly rather than face a no-confidence vote makes clear that he will do anything he can …

News Desk Aijaz Ahmad, a world-renowned Marxist philosopher and political commentator, passed away at his California residence on Tuesday (March 9). He was hospitalised for age-related ailments and had returned home only a few days ago.  Aijaz Ahmad was a literary theorist and in 2017 joined Irvine School of Humanities at California University where he served as a Professor in the Department …

The decisive victory reflects Chileans’ revolt against a threadbare welfare system and a society systematically stacked in the favour of the rich Santiago streets burst into jubilation on the victory of Gabriel Boric as President-elect of Chile on Sunday. Gabriel Boric’s election as president of Chile on Sunday has put winds in the sails of the resurgent Left in Latin …

Covid-19 has shown how much we miss a powerful workers movement.

by Aasim Sajjad Akhtar When Mashal Khan was brutally lynched four years ago, the Tehrik-e-Labbaik-Pakistan (TLP) was still a relatively new and unknown force. As we remember Mashal today, the TLP has dramatically become Pakistan’s most powerful Islamist group, with unmatched mobilizational capacity. TLP activists block roads in various cities of Punjab, Sindh and KP to protest the detention of …

Raza Naeem’s tribute to Pakistan’s best-known Marxist, scholar, author and activist on his birth centenary marked on April 10. Stop all the clocks … let the mourners come.— W.H. Auden by Raza Naeem While the world-renowned Marxist sociologist does not need an introduction here in South Asia, my reflections here will chiefly consist of my memories of my lone meeting …

AWP observes two-day mourning. CPIM, PWA, PMA and others pay homage to the oldest beacon of Left Movement by Herald Special Correspondent TOBA TEK SINGH/Islamabad: Veteran socialist leader and founding member of the Awami Workers Party Chaudhry Fateh Mohammed, the oldest beacon of Left and peasant movement goes out. Draped in the party’s red and white flag, he was laid to …