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Philosophy POLITICS

Frantz Fanon: The Philosophical Revolutionary

THE current year, 2012, marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Frantz Fanon, one of the indispensable figures of the 20th century and a man of exemplary commitments to revolutionary action and human liberation. A thinker who offered original and lasting insights of great complexity, he was also a physician and a psychiatrist who…

INTERVIEWS POLITICS

Politics of the Oppressed in Pakistan

The formation of the Anjuman-e-Mazareen-e-Punjab (Association of Punjab’s Tenants) in Pakistan signaled the re-carving of political space by Punjab’s peasants. This interview with Asad Farooq, Professor in the Law Department at LUMS, charts the development of Anjuman-e-Mazareen-e-Punjab from its formation to its recent struggles. Asad Farooq is interviewed by Qalandar Memon. QM: Professor Farooq, you have…

A flawed project

yun bhai Nihala, Azaadi tu hai dekhi. Na bhai Prava, ne kha de ne vekhi. Main Jaggu ti sunni assi Ambala ti aaye si. Listen Brother Nihal, have you seen Freedom? No Brother Prava, I haven’t seen it nor eaten it. I heard from Jaggu It has come up to Ambala. —Gurramdas ‘Alam’, A zaadi, 1946.…

ByVijay Prashad

INTERVIEWS POLITICS

On People’s Law Tribunals (saths) and Water Struggles in South Punjab

Asad Farooq (Law Department, LUMS) interviewed by Qalandar Bux Memon on community struggles in Southern Punjab. QM: A set of movements you have been involved with in Punjab is the sath, a form of people’s law. What is a sath and how does it translate? What areas are governed by sath? What is your involvement? Finally, can you explain how the…

A New Humanism

What motivates the desire for Third World solidarity is the shared history of oppression by a common oppressor.In 2009, a few academics, supported by long standing left-wing activists, founded Pakistanis for Palestine, a Lahore based group that aimed to support Palestinians in their struggle for statehood. Critics—which include Pakistanis—of course, wonder why, given Pakistan’s own…

ByQalandar Bux Memon

On The Struggle of Farmer of Dera Sehgal

The road which leads to Dera Sehgal offers a stark contrast between its broken muddy self and the Grand Trunk road which runs perpendicular to it. Barely an hour away from Lahore lies a site of resistance where the humble inhabitants of a few farmlands have taken on a fight to reclaim their lives. The brave…

Aesthetics as First Philosophy: Levinas and the Non-Human

Emmanuel Levinas is usually seen as an ethical and religious philosopher. This reading is understandable to the point of seeming obvious, and certainly matches the philosopher’s own self-interpretation. But on closer scrutiny, the narrowly ethical reception of his thought seems to be one-sided. For Levinas pushes beyond the oppressive totality of beings not just through…

ByGraham Harman

INTERVIEWS POLITICS

Baba Jan: One Year in Jail (an interview)

Interview: Baba Jan Hunzai By: Kiran Nazish. Sub Jail Jutial, Gilgit, G-B. -- BabaJan said he had never imagined torture would bring him so close to death, so many times. And yet not close enough to have him give up on his cause. As he continues to raise voice against the atrocities that the…

Open Letter Demanding the Release of Baba Jan Hunzai

For the past 8 months Baba Jan Hunzai and four fellow activists have languished in various jails of Gilgit. Twice in this period he has been removed from jail and tortured by military and police agents. He and his colleagues have been charged under Pakistan’s Anti-Terrorism Ordinance. Baba Jan, however, is not a terrorist. He is a respected…

Baghdad and the Emergence of the New World Order, 1990 – 2003

“All these developments intend not only to destroy Iraq, but to eliminate the role of the Soviet Union so the United States can control the fate of all humanity.” (Hamid Hammadi, Culture Minister, Iraq, February 1991, in a conversation with Saddam Hussein) On January 1, 2011, Wikileaks published the full cable from the U. S.…

ByVijay Prashad