South Asia on Fire...

As I have said before, I am not a Marxist, but do now identify as a progressive. But it has to be said. The last time Mumbai had a tragedy like this, it was the Pakistani Left that came out with the sanest statement I could find. And now they seem to have done it again:

CMKP Strongly Condemns the Terrorist Violence in Mumbai
CMKP strongly condemns the barbaric and heinous acts of planned murder and destruction carried out by terrorists in Mumbai India. We express our sincerest condolence with all the people who fell victim to this savage crime.

We also salute the entire Indian Left that is doing its utmost to reign in reprisals by Hindu fundamentalist forces against the Muslims of India.

Read the rest at: http://reddiarypk.wordpress.com/2008/11/29/cmkp-condems-mumbai-attacks/

The other thing worth reading, I think, is Sandip Roy's piece, "Guns and bombs in booming India", in Salon over the weekend. It is very, very trenchant and could have been written--should have been written--about a lot of what's happening in Pakistan--or off the coast of Somalia today. In a globalized world, the issue of who is at the table and who feels left out and aggrieved is now globalized. This is not to diminish or dismiss the role of ideologies, nationalist jingoism, or political manipulation--of which there has been much in all the comments, news, and reaction about the Mumbai tragedy (a lot of people are making a lot of noise about Pakistan being a big factor in the story--but where are the people that know Pakistan first hand and can discuss it on the talk shows, amongst the experts and on NPR, one wonders). But as Sandip puts it:

I don't know who the young man in the Versace t-shirt was. But I can't shake his image – a gunman in five-star Mumbai.

He might be an Islamic militant from Pakistan or Britain. He might be a frustrated small city boy shut out of the IT economy. He might be a village boy who trained in a terror camp somewhere.

Whatever his motive, his message was loud and clear.

Pay attention to me, he and his young partners said to booming India.

And then these mysterious young men pulled the trigger.

Boom.

Sandip says "India"; I'd say we all need to listen to that message.

Marxism in the 21st Century...

Folks will know I follow Marxism. As I have said elsewhere, "on the theoretical side, Marxism (not Lenin's version, and not Mao's version...) has very important tools, analyses, and insights to offer. It's very important to say that one should constantly be looking at different ways to analyse an issue (social, political, business-related, "professional", ... every type)--it's the only way to come to a more complete picture. The real world is most often a many-splendoured thing, with multiple layers, dimensions and dynamics at play. And in this regard, a Marxist analysis is a very important tool for looking at things from the view point of, specifically, what class dynamics are at play, and what economic dynamics are at play." Folks of faith are free to tune out when them commies get to opinion and matters of religion ;).

This is why the following caught my eye:

Communist Party of Cuba Approves
Investigation into Socialism of the 21st Century

Heinz Dieterich

Rebelión
July 7, 2007

Translation by EQUIPO DE SERVICIOS DE
TRADUCTORES E INTERPRETES (ESTI).

Recently, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) decided that among its research priorities in the social sciences and humanities for the period 2007-2010 would be included “Socialism of the 21st Century.” This is good news – since its becoming a reality would reinsert the Cuban Revolution into one of the most important theoretical debates concerning humanity’s future.
More at http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=53240

It will be interesting to see what thoughts, conclusions, insights, etc. they come up with. If you get any news of this or other such developments, please do drop me a line, or leave a comment on this site.

Technorati tags applicable to this post: Marxism in the 21st Century - Muslims and Marxism

On Marxism and the Thinking Muslim

We all carry the derived knowledge of our backgrounds, experiences, etc. And Marxism, or even the very idea of being Progressive (or tharaqqi-pasandh) has often been seen as absolute anathema for those of us who have come up in a Muslim context. (Notice I don't say "Islamic"; because for me that is a theological judgement.)

In the discusion about what's happening in Karachi and Pakistan right now, ARR, the keeper of the Rabita Zone (the word means "connection", "link", etc.), sent me this article yesterday:

Pakistan, A Country at War with Itself (en Espanol here)

commenting that he found it:

Interesting, however when you put the words "Marxist Viewpoint" it tends to put me off - given my strong bias against Marxists / Communists for "free Markets", "Adam Smiths invisible hand theory" is indeed the way to go. Regardless of how nations may try to use to their respective advantage.

My response to him was that I used to have that reaction, too. And I still do in terms of Marxist groups and governments. But on the theoretical side, Marxism (not Lenin's version, and not Mao's version...) has very important tools, analyses, and insights to offer. It's very important to say that one should constantly be looking at different ways to analyse an issue (social, political, business-related, "professional", ... every type)--it's the only way to come to a more complete picture. The real world is most often a many-splendoured thing, with multiple layers, dimensions and dynamics at play. And in this regard, a Marxist analysis is a very important tool for looking at things from the view point of, specifically, what class dynamics are at play, and what economic dynamics are at play. When they get to opinion and matters of religion, you are free to tune out ;).

Technorati tags applicable to this post: Marxism and Muslims - Pakistan - Karachi

Pakistani Left: Launch Movement against Terrorist Activities in the Name of Islam

For a while now, I have meaning to discuss what seems to be a nascent revivification of the Left in Pakistan. Over the last year or so, I have seen several pictures of Press Conferences with two of the leading lights of the Pakistani Left, the poet Ahmed Faraz and Abid Hasan Minto, the veteran Marxist leader visible in each. I might be mixing up vague memories, but there was a press conference about a joint movement by six Left parties; a press conference about the "military action" (I don't remember exactly whether the phrase "civil war" was used) in Balochistan; I think one about the Iraq War and then one about the military action in Waziristan...or maybe I am exaggerating; but not by much.

Then, a day or two ago, via Munir Saami Saahab and Tarek Fatah (themselves veterans of the Left in Pakistan, and now lights in the Progressive constellation up to the North of us in Canada), I got the statement below and knew I had to share it with everyone. For people not familiar with the Pakistani political and activist scene, please mark the names signed at the bottom--people who are familiar with that area of activity will already know the names:

"We Condemn the Heinous Crime in Mumbai"

The bomb blasts on local trains and at railway stations in Mumbai, in which over 160 people have been killed and many more are on the verge of dying, are perhaps the most shocking of all such killings that have occurred in the subcontinent of late. The reason is that this massacre has targeted thousands of office and factory going men and women returning home to be with their children and parents after a whole day?s hard work. Those who committed this great crime cannot even be called animals because animals do not commit such crimes. Only human beings do.

It is time for the governments of Pakistan and India to re-assess their priorities and be on a state of high alert. As long as they fail to resolve their mostly man-made disputes and allow free and unfettered people-to-people interaction between the two countries, all sorts of extremists and terrorists would find it easy to indulge in and get away with such insane barbarities. What has happened in Mumbai is indicative of a widening of the dimensions of terrorist outreach. It calls for united effort by not only the governments of Pakistan and India but the people at large to identify and wipe out this cancer that is spreading far and wide at a frightening pace.

Pakistan needs to take stern measures to put down all kinds of demonstrations and displays of religious extremism in the country, which directly or indirectly encourages terrorist activities in the name of religion and undermines the peace process between Pakistan and India.

Similarly, India needs to curb the activities of religious fanatics using the umbrella of India?s pluralist democratic political system, to spawn communal conflicts and derail the peace process. In order to avert a possible collapse of the peace process as a result of such tragic incidents, it is necessary that the two governments put their heads together and take immediate steps to create a relaxed political atmosphere in the subcontinent by removing all outlandish restrictions on the movement of people between the two countries, thus making it impossible for the terrorists to operate.

We would also ask all the sane, secular forces among the Muslims of the world to rise above their petty sectarian positions and help launch an international movement against terrorist activities in the name of Islam.

We extend our heartfelt condolences to the members of the families who have lost their near and dear ones in the bomb blasts and assure them that we will strive, along with those in Pakistan and India and the world who abhor religious extremism and terrorism, to fight this evil till it is eliminated for good.

M.B.Naqvi, Senior Columnist & Founder Member PIPFPD
Dr. A.H.Nayyar, President, Pakistan Peace Coalition
Karamat Ali, Director PILER
Muhammad Tahseen, South Asia Partnership-Pakistan
Ms. Ayesha Yahqub, Takhleeq Foundation
B.M.Kutty , Secretary, Pakistan Peace Coalition
Dr. Aly Ercelan, Economist
Ms. Sheen Farrukh, Journalist
Ms. Sheema Kermani, Director, Tehreek-e-Niswan

Notice the statement does not talk about "reforming Islam", or about "bringing liberal or progressive values to Muslims". This is just a bunch of citizens living within Muslim community who think, very naturally, that Muslims should work against Terrorism in the name of Islam.

There is much talk nowadays about looking for voices from the Muslim world that are not right wing or, whatever the word now means, fundamentalist. And great excitement on finding the stray one. Expatriates often talk about trying to create examples within the community that are not corrupt and which work for the uplift of the masses. The question that crosses my mind is this: Which organization or organizations in the Pakistani diaspora, or the wider South Asian diaspora, especially in the US, would put its signature to such a statement? Who's going to live up to their progressive ideals and actually reach back and work as equals with the folks "on the ground", so to speak?

[Acknowledgements: I'd like to thank Maroof Syed and Prof. Adil Najam in help locating the picture above, which was finally located on the on the Islamabad Metroblog. I already mentioned Munir Saami Saahab (founder and moving spirit behind Writers' Forum, the list on which I received the statement above) and Tarek Fatah.]

Technorati tags applicable to this post: Left - Muslim Left - Pakistan - Progressive Muslims