By RUWAN MUNASINGHE “The structuring of the LSSP leadership … showed itself best during the August 1953 Hartal (general strike). The LSSP leadership appeared as a really revolutionary team at the head of insurgent masses, fighting in the streets simultaneously for immediate material gains for the impoverished masses and for the socialist overthrow of the…
By RUAN MUNASINGHE On May 22, thousands of protesters in the town and district of Thoothukudi (also known by its British name, Tuticorin), in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, expressed their anguish as victims of pollution from the area’s copper smelter. Police and paramilitary fired into the crowd, killing 13 and injuring many more.…
By FAROOQ TARIK This is a very urgent call for solidarity signatures. Baba Jan, a dedicated activist from Gilgit-Balistan, north of Pakistan, is appealing against a life sentence. His final review petition will be heard by the Supreme Court May 25, 2017. To have an effect, this international call has to be sent Monday 22,…
By AHMED KHAN On Feb. 9, several students at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi organized a protest in support of the self-determination of the people of Kashmir and the memory of Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri who was controversially convicted on charges of terrorism and hanged in 2013. Shortly before the event, students from…
By U. KHAN YUSUFZAI At the time of this writing, the United States has been at war in Afghanistan for 13 years and in Iraq for 11 years. The United States has been engaged in a global drone bombing campaign since 2001 in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, and Libya. The Arab Spring has opened up a…
By MICHAEL SCHREIBER PHILADELPHIA—Federal judges in a Jan. 13 appeals court hearing have indicated that they are favorable to the premises of a suit against the New York City Police Department (NYPD) for its surveillance of Muslims in New Jersey. The suit, Hassan v. City of New York, had been dismissed by a federal district…
By GAETANA CALDWELL-SMITH “The Last Days of Vietnam,” a documentary film produced and directed by Rory Kennedy. Director Rory Kennedy, daughter of environmental activist Robert F. Kennedy, has created a riveting and heartwarming, yet heartbreaking, full-length documentary film, “The Last Days of Vietnam,” which takes place in South Vietnam from 1973 to 1975, the last…
By CHRISTINE MARIE March 8 was declared International Women’s Day by the Socialist International in 1910. On this day, we can gain inspiration for the battles ahead through a look at the dramatic entrance of working women into history. Socialists traditionally discuss the magnificent strike of 20,000 shirtwaist workers in New York City that was…
BY JEFF MACKLER Afghan women’s rights and antiwar fighter Malalai Joya toured the U.S. for three weeks in October on behalf of the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) and the Los Angeles-based Afghan Women’s Mission. Joya’s national tour included 10 cities: New York, Boston, Amherst, Albany, Chicago, Madison, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego.…
By GAETANA CALDWELL-SMITH “Dirty Wars,” a documentary film, written by Jeremy Scahill and directed by Rick Rowley. The documentary film “Dirty Wars” should sicken, anger, and depress you. Investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill, who wrote the film, has done his job. Seems that the United States presidential administration has allowed the CIA to work jointly with…
By FAROOQ TARIQ A right-wing wave swept Pakistan in the May 11 general elections. At the federal level, the conservative Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) will form the government, having won 35% of the vote. Former Pakistani cricket captain Imran Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek Insaaf, came second with 19% of the vote and surprised many. The…
By USMAN KHAN YUSUFZAI The modern history of the two extremisms in Pakistan, Islamic and neoliberal, is rooted in the interactions between Pakistan and the United States. It was in 1979 that the relationship between the United States and Pakistan shifted dramatically; prior to that, American support to Pakistan was mostly based around countering Soviet…
By DANIEL XAVIER (Updated Oct. 15) Tens of thousands of people rallied in Karachi, Pakistan, on Oct. 14 to show support for Malala Yousufzai, a young feminist and socialist activist who was shot by the Taliban. The following day, Malala arrived at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, in Birmingham, England, where she was airlifted for further treatment.…
By USMAN KHAN YUSUFZAI On the evening of Sept. 11, a massive fire engulfed the Ali Enterprises garment factory in Karachi, killing at least 258 workers in the worst industrial accident in Pakistan’s history. All but one exit to the factory and all the windows were locked, trapping many workers inside. Several hours earlier, in…
The statement below was approved by the Political Committee of Socialist Action-US The world economic crisis has sparked the beginnings of a fightback against poverty and austerity enforced by the pro-capitalist regime of Nursultan Nazarbayev. Nazarbayev, the former Communist Party head of Kazakhstan when it was a Soviet Republic, has presided over a repressive capitalist-restorationist…
THE AMERICAN WAR MOVES TO PAKISTANBy Tariq Ali The decision to make public a presidential order of last July authorizing American strikes inside Pakistan without seeking the approval of the Pakistani government ends a long debate within, and on the periphery of, the Bush administration. Senator Barack Obama, aware of this ongoing debate during his…
[by Gerry Foley] The assassination of Benazir Bhutto is the subject of all sorts of speculation, even over the basic facts of her death. On the latter the explanations range from the claim that she hit her head on a knob (the story of the Musharif government) to she was zapped by a high-tech laser…
By GERRY FOLEY The threat of war between India and Pakistan is a “blowback” for the U.S. rulers on a far greater scale than that of bin Laden and the Afghan Islamists turning to bite the hand that fed them. It could threaten a slaughter bigger than anything seen since World War II. India’s pretext…
By MICHAEL SCHREIBER The following article is based on a Nov. 27 talk the author gave, sponsored by the New York City branch of Socialist Action. The U.S. government’s efforts to overthrow the Taliban-as well as to capture or assassinate Osama bin Laden-did not begin following the Sept. 11 attack, or even with George…
By GERRY FOLEY The collapse of the Taliban regime, now completed with the fall of Kandahar on Dec. 7, came as a surprise to the Western governments and media, despite the preceding claims by U.S. officials of the effectiveness of their military campaign. The New York Times felt compelled to run a special article…
BY CHRIS BUCKLEY Below are excerpts from a statement by a Christian Aid Program officer. I have just returned from Afghanistan, and cannot avoid a growing feeling of dread at what may be about to befall the people I have left there. The bellicose statements being issued by America and her allies about revenge…
Tragedy Must Not Be Turned Into War! No U.S. Bombing Anywhere! Stop U.S. Intervention! End Racist Attacks on Arab and Muslim Communities! Defend Civil Liberties and Civil Rights for All! The following statement was issued by the Socialist Action Political Committee on Sept. 17. The government that spends trillions on war, has sent more troops…
By Gerry Foley As we go to press, the world is waiting for a U.S. military attack on Afghanistan. It is clear that the American rulers’ objective is to demonstrate their capacity for destruction and their ruthlessness, and to score some general political points based on that. U.S. government spokespersons are increasingly having to…
By GERRY FOLEY For the last two months, in its coverage of Indonesian developments the capitalist press has focused on an obscure tug of war between President Abdul Rahman Wahid (“Gus Dur”), elected as a representative of the “democratic” movement, and the parliament, which continues to be dominated by former supporters of the fallen military…
In the context of a politically explosive situation and great political pressures created by a looming defeat of government forces in their war against Tamil rebels, a coalition of left parties, including the Nava Sama Samaja Party (NSSP), the Sri Lankan section of the Fourth International, led a demonstration May 25 of 3000 people against…
