International

Afghan women and girls are defying Taliban efforts to render them silent and invisible. They are out on the streets, braving Taliban whips and tasers and bullets, protesting the moves to roll-back their freedoms and rights.

The recent protests in Iran highlight once again how global warming and capitalism induced climate change can increasingly result in an increasingly volatile global political order. Droughts have resulted in exacerbation of political conflicts in places as far flung as the western United States, Syria, and Central Asia among other places in recent times .

At the Afghan Solidarity demonstration organised in Delhi on August 23 (demonstrations were observed at Bangalore, Kolkata, Budge-Budge and Bishnupur in South 24 Parganas, Udaipur and Jaipur), several Afghan women students joined in. Holding a large Afghan flag and placards that said “Burqa is a cage” and “No to Taliban Rule”, these women were eager to speak about their experiences. One young woman student recited a poem she had written in Farsi. Another young woman Sadaf addressed the Indian activists’ gathering to say “Nobody chooses to be a refugee.

(Excerpt from a statement dated 20 August 2021)

Lebanon has been in the grip of a major economic crisis for more than a year. This has led to inflation of more than 700%, the currency losing 95% of its value, chronic shortages of essentials including food, medicine, fuel and even essential public services like healthcare. How did this happen? How did Lebanon go from being one of the most prosperous countries in West Asia, to one of with such immense crisis? The answer as usual lies with neoliberalism in particular and capitalism in general.

In Their Struggle for Freedom and Democracy

Against Imperialist Interference and Oppressive Taliban Rule

(A statement and call for solidarity actions signed by democratic groups across India)

The US ended its two decade long occupation with what amounts to a transfer of power to the Taliban. What are the implications of these developments, and what are our obligations as Indian citizens towards the Afghan people in this time of crisis and transition?  

Bangladesh’s economic growth has been branded a miracle in South Asia, growing from one of the poorest countries in the world to one of the fastest developing economies comparable to the ‘Asian Tigers’. Recently the per-capita income of Bangladesh surpassed that of India. Much of this growth has been driven by export in garments. However much of the working class has been deprived off the benefits of its own labour as the recent factory fire in Narayanganj demonstrated.

The arrest of former President Jacob Zuma on the charges of corruption has resulted in a wave of violence and unrest in South Africa. What is even more concerning is the fact that the violence has resulted in increased ethnic tensions in a country where apartheid was ended less than 30 years ago. This has led to divisions regarding the fundamental cause of the violence as well as what responses should be given to it.

As the two decades of imperialist war waged by the US on Afghanistan come to a close, millions of Afghans were confronted with a tragic Eid ul-Adha with a bloody ongoing war between the Taliban forces and the Government of Afghanistan and its allied groups. While the end of imperialism should have been cause for celebration and jubilation, most Afghans seem to believe that the US withdrawal has been facilitated by a back-channel understanding between the Taliban and the US administration.