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Marx and the Asiatic Mode of Production – II

Rashed Rahman

Marx and Engels say: “History does nothing, it possesses no immense wealth”, it “wages no battles. It is man, real living man that does all that, that possesses and fights; ‘history’ is not a person apart, using man as a means for its own particular aims; history is nothing but the activity of man pursuing his aims.”

On Bearing Witness

Samer Attar, M.D.

Why should we bear witness to others’ suffering, knowing that it may scar our minds or stain our conscience? In part, it’s because when we meet someone in distress or read in the news about victims of a bomb, a flood, or an illness, they’re all us.

How long can China play the “rare earths card”?

Arnaud Bertrand

This is probably the most important geopolitical question in the world right now: for how long can China play the “rare earths card”?

Journalists Face Arrest, Torture; Journalists in Exile at Risk of Forced Return

Afghanistan: Taliban Tramples Media Freedom

The Taliban have gutted Afghanistan’s media since taking control of the country in August 2021, Human Rights Watch (HRW) says. They have subjected the remaining news outlets to surveillance and censorship, and punished journalists and other media workers for any perceived criticism.

Seven Theses on the Gen Z Uprisings in the Global South

Vijay Prashad

Gen Z-led uprisings across the Global South point to long-term socioeconomic and environmental crises caused by neoliberalism.

Israel after Fordow

Susan Watkins

In a matter of months, Israel has struck at four states, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Iran, exploiting its present aerial supremacy over the region.

“A Land of Slaves Shall Never Be Mine”

Saulat Nagi

The US flunkies – for some, its poodles – gathered in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, not to deliberate but to endorse their master’s voice.

From Marx to Mao – And After: IV

The ‘Four Modernisations’

Ray Nunes

The Coup d’Etat

Mao’s faith in Hua Kuo-feng turned out to be premature. Less than a month after his death, in conjunction with a group of so-called ‘moderates’, Hua, who had become Party and State Chairman and also Chairman of the Military Affairs Commission, organised a coup d’etat and arrested Mao’s lieutenants in the Cultural Revolution (CR): his wife Chiang Ching; Chang Chun-chiao; Wang Hung-wen, and Yao Wen-yuan, declaring them to be a ‘Gang of Four’ who had plotted to overthrow Mao’s policies – even though they were the foremost advocates of them – and to seize power for themselves.

Pakistan Here and Now: The Language of the Heart – V

The Significance of Hope

Navid Shahzad

Lyrical as Hikmet’s poetry is, it can be just as chilling in its matter of fact narration of the brutality that human beings are capable of:

Marx and the Asiatic Mode of Production

Rashed Rahman

Karl Marx has not always been well served by his followers. Recall his famous riposte to some of his dogmatic French partisans: “If these are Marxists, I am not a Marxist!” The profundity of his ideas, particularly their dialectical complexity, has very often been oversimplified, distorted, applied out of context and mangled beyond recognition by his ardent disciples.