Latest news from Pakistan's social justice movements

After 20 years, occupation has failed Afghanistan – but our struggle for freedom continues

Commentary [Il Manifesto]. The only way to save Afghanistan is solidarity of the progressive, democratic and secular forces. If we want an independent, democratic and prosperous Afghanistan in which men and women have equal rights based on democracy, people need strong solidarity to be free from fundamentalists and any foreign interventions.
Twenty years after the US launched their invasion and war, the people of my long-suffering country are right back where we started. After trillions of (...)

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Pakistan: New evictions?

THE poor of Machhar Colony should prepare for another disaster. On Sept 25, the federal government announced its grand initiative — the Karachi Coastal Comprehensive Development Zone — which is directly linked to CPEC investments and apparently set to attract Chinese investment of $3.5 billion.
Spread over 640 hectares (1,581 acres) of prime coastal territory, the proposed development is meant to upgrade port facilities, create a new fisheries port and have connecting links with Manora and (...)

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Pakistan: Abusing trans people

“WHAT happened at Minar-i-Pakistan on Aug 14 to the cis woman [non-trans woman] is what happens to us routinely, and in a much more violent manner, but remains hidden from society's view,” said Sophia-Layla Afsar, a trans woman, who worked as a corporate lawyer for 10 years till it became suffocating to continue in the transphobic office culture.
The abuse, almost always by men who are their intimate partners, can range from searing with cigarette butts, slapping, chopping off hair, rape, (...)

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Exclusive interview : Solidarity Party of Afghanistan's Selay Ghaffar speaks about the struggle against the Taliban

Two days before the fall of Kabul to the Taliban, I was gearing up to interview one of the Afghanistan's most prominent women's activists. I have long admired Selay Ghaffar for her role in not only promoting gender equality and social justice policies, but also for her resolute opposition to the United States and NATO occupation of her country, which was often justified using humanitarian pretexts.
Photo : Selay Ghaffar, spokesperson for the Solidarity Party of Afghanistan.
As spokesperson (...)

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Pakistan: Thousands demand basic facilities in Gwadar, Turbat

GWADAR: Thousands of people from different areas of Gwadar and Turbat on Thursday staged a protest demonstration against non-availability of basic amenities and shortage of drinking water, health, education facilities and increasing unem­ployment in Gwadar and other areas of Makran division.
Seneral sec­retary of Jamaat-i-Islami's Balochistan chapter Maulana Hidayat-ur-Rehman Baloch led the protest procession in Gwadar. It later turned into a big public meeting at Shuhada Jewani Chowk. (...)

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Pakistan: On dissent, building transversal solidarity and nurturing the will of the people: A conversation with Ammar Ali Jan

In this new episode of The Polis Project Podcast Series, Francesca Recchia discusses with Dr Ammar Ali Jan the current waves of protest in Pakistan, the increased criminalization of dissent and the inadequacy of the State responses to the demands of change coming from different sections of society.
THE POLIS PROJECT · On dissent, building transversal solidarity and nurturing the will of the people
Dr Ammar Ali Jan is a historian. He is also a political activist of the Haqooq-e-Khalq (...)

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Pakistan: The return of ideology

The past two weeks have witnessed the emergence of a debate in Pakistan long deemed dead by pundits across the political spectrum. The debate centres on the possibility (or impossibility) of an alternative to capitalism, a system whose logic has appeared ‘natural' and beyond reproach for over three decades.
These discussions have emerged with particular intensity after the Students Solidarity March, which brought thousands of young people onto the streets across the country. The debate in (...)

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Pakistan: The political worker: in the winter of despair

Historically, the struggle for civilian supremacy, and upholding of constitutional principles, has provided our political theatre with a sense of purpose, with political workers and leaders making all kinds of sacrifices for the cause.
And, often, they have suffered a sense of despair and helplessness when abrupt decisions by political parties supported individual whims over institutional reform, casting a paralyzing impact on political activists as they witnessed the replacement of (...)

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La trajectoire des femmes confrontées au fondamentalisme religieux au Pakistan

Capire a parlé avec Bushra Khaliq, de la Marche Mondiale des Femmes, sur les luttes des femmes d'Asie du Sud pour les droits et la liberté.
Au Pakistan, la culture et la vie quotidienne sont dominées par la religion. À partir de 1977, il y a eu lieu l'islamisation, qui a conduit à la formation de la République islamique du Pakistan. La Constitution et les lois ont été alignées sur le Coran et la charia. Ainsi, la religion va bien au-delà d'une question personnelle ou politique : c'est l'idéologie de (...)

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A History of Women Challenging Religious Fundamentalism in Pakistan

Capire talked to Bushra Khaliq, from the World March of Women, about women's struggles in South Asia for their rights and liberty.
In Pakistan, the culture and the daily life are dominated by religion. Since 1977 an islamization took place, forming the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The Constitution and laws became aligned with the Koran and Sharia . Therefore religion is much more than a personal-political matter: it is the ideology of the state and its institutions, laws which poses many (...)

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Afghanistan – Don't Look Away: A Crisis for the Whole of Humanity

The defeat of the U.S. and the seizure of power by the Taliban mark a real turning point. This reveals both imperialism and fundamentalism as obstacles to human emancipation at a time when Afghan women are leading the resistance. Not the Same as the Fall of Saigon
The sudden collapse of the U.S.-supported Afghan government has left the ultra-fundamentalist Taliban in charge of the entire country, at least for now. For twenty years, the U.S. occupation propped up a nominally democratic but (...)

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