Left Writing Pakistan’s Elections

11 03 2008

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At the beginning of the new year, just a few days after the tragic assassination of Benazir Bhutto, this column had written about why democracy has been structurally weak in Pakistan and the threat of religious fundamentalism gaining power in Pakistan. This column had argued that the dominance of landed property, the weakness of an independent industrial capitalist class and the merging of the armed forces with the landed ruling class had created conditions where it would be near difficult for democracy to strike roots. It had further argued that this array of conditions made the likelihood of a fascist takeover of power a credible threat in the near future.

It was a gloomy prognosis to say the least and it is with undiluted glee that I have welcomed the resounding defeat of the religious fundamentalists and those political parties which were aligned to military rule. These electoral results have reverberated all over the world and have been seen as the beginning of a new chapter in the political history of Pakistan. It truly is a moment for democrats and progressive forces all over the world to savour when the people of Pakistan, braving the bombs, bullets, sundry threats and inducements of the establishment and of the fundamentalists, comprehensively voted both out. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : India - Pakistan, Marxism and Marxists, Muslims and Islam, Politics, The Post Column, War and Imperialism

The Destruction of Haiti

31 01 2008

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Haiti is today a country broken by poverty, destitution and hopelessness. A country which was once the biggest source of colonial plunder – providing France with £ 11 million out of its total trade of £ 17 million in 1789 – is today the poorest country of the Western Hemisphere, eighty percent of whose population lives below the poverty line. The country, whose slave army repeatedly defeated the mightiest European armies of the 18th and 19th centuries, is today without an army of its own. A land famous for its forests and agricultural produce is today denuded of all its forests and can’t grow enough to feed itself. The Haitian State itself verges on the brink of collapse and cannot survive without the crutches of Aid dollars and the UN military force.

How did the first colony of the modern world to free itself come to this sorry pass? Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : History, Politics, The Post Column, War and Imperialism

The Successful Failure of Haiti’s Revolution

23 01 2008

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As this column recounted last week, Haiti was the first colony of the modern world to win freedom. What is even more astounding is that when Haiti declared independence from France on January 1, 1804, its army – composed of slaves who had been brought from Africa – had defeated the armies of France, Great Britain and Spain in the span of 13 years.

I would argue that Haiti was the completion of the process that began with the American War of Independence about three decades earlier. The American War of Independence was fought on the principle of self-rule and against colonial subjugation. It raised the slogan of “No taxation without Representation” and stated that all countries were equal and one could not subjugate the other. The French Revolution extended this principle of self-rule, which the American War of Independence had established between countries, to the domestic sphere. The French Revolution stated that not only were all countries equal to one another, but all people residing inside the country were also legally equal and free. There could be no political authority on earth that was higher than the citizen. While these revolutions have justly been hailed as the pioneers of our modern regime of rights and freedoms, what is forgotten is that these revolutions remained confined to the white man and did not extend these rights to either the non-whites or to women. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : History, Mobilisation and Movements, Politics, The Post Column, War and Imperialism

The First Revolution of the Third World: Haiti

15 01 2008

“Won’t you help to sing

These songs of freedom…”

Haiti, the western third of the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbeans, is today one of the poorest countries in the world. The State itself is weak, without any army and crumbling infrastructure, Haiti practically lives of the sharp philanthropy of Western Aid agencies. But hidden behind the poverty, destitution and fragile State which presents itself to the contemporary visitor, lies one of the greatest anti-colonial struggles of the third world. When Haiti won independence from France in 1804, it was the first colony of the modern world to win freedom. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : History, Mobilisation and Movements, The Post Column, War and Imperialism

The Tragedy and Heroism of 9/11

5 09 2007

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On the morning of September 11, 1973, a little before 9:00 am, US-manufactured air force planes attacked the presidential palace of the democratically elected president of Chile, Salvador Allende. This was part of the CIA-sponsored coup d’état led by the Chilean general Augusto Pinochet. In the face of a massive attack using tanks, infantry and air force planes, Salvador Allende refused to surrender or run away, defending the presidential palace and Chilean democracy with a gun in his hand. Surrounded and with no chance of defeating the enemy, Allende preferred death rather than be taken prisoner by the usurper generals in the pay of US imperialism. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : History, Marxism and Marxists, Politics, The Post Column, War and Imperialism

Nation: Another Solidarity is Possible

29 08 2007

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Over the past two weeks this column has tried to demonstrate the futility, rather danger, of continuing with the Nation and its “ism” as a political community in today’s world. While some readers may even be willing to accept the logic of this secular heresy, the common response would be, what is the alternative? What political community is possible other than the Nation in today’s world? Would it not be a costly political mistake to attempt a destruction of the Nation when there is no alternative? Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Energy and Environment, Marxism and Marxists, Politics, The Post Column, War and Imperialism

Cultivating Development

21 02 2007

This book is a very critical examination of development aid using the tools of anthropological research on a DFID (British Govt) project in India over a decade or so. This review was published in 2006 in the magazine Down to Earth.

Cultivating Development: An Ethnography of Aid Policy and Practice, David Mosse, Vistaar Publications, New Delhi, 2005, pp. xvii + ii (maps) + 315, Rs. 380, ISBN 81-7829-601-2 (originally published Pluto Press, London, 2005). Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Book Review, War and Imperialism

War and the Media

21 02 2007

This book is a collection of articles by journalists and academicians analysing the role of the media in conflict situations. This review was published in 2005.

War and the Media: Reporting Conflict 24/7, Daya Kishan Thussu, Des Freedman (eds.), Vistaar Publications, New Delhi, 2003, pp. xiii+266. (ISBN: 81-7829-333-1(India-PB)).

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Categories : Book Review, Media, Politics, War and Imperialism

Nepal Maoists, January 2005

11 02 2007

Here are two reports on Nepal from January 2005. The first one is an assessment of the Maoists and the political situation just before the takeover of power by King Gyanendra. The second article is on the discrimination faced by Dalits in Nepal and the political implications of that.

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Categories : Marxism and Marxists, Mobilisation and Movements, Politics, The Hindu reports, War and Imperialism

World Social Forum, Mumbai, January 2004

11 02 2007

The following are my reports from the World Social Forum held in January 2007 in Mumbai published in The Hindu. I was part of the team of journalists from this paper assigned to cover this event.

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Categories : India - Pakistan, Marxism and Marxists, Media, Mobilisation and Movements, Politics, The Hindu reports, War and Imperialism, Wo/Men, Feminism, Gender

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