Today marks the beginning of a two- day general strike in which the working class of the whole of India will rise with one voice to declare their dissatisfaction at the horrible conditions being imposed upon them by the crisis of capitalism. This unprecedented action should not be seen as a one off event or as simply a demonstration. Rather, it is indicative of the pressure that has been building up within Indian society over the last period and is symptomatic of the on-going fight within the trade unions to force the leadership to come up with a fighting solution to the problems which are faced by the workers on a day to day basis.

On December 16, 2012 Jyoti Singh Panday along with a male friend boarded a bus in South Delhi. When Jyoti and her friend boarded the bus, they expected to be transported to their destination. They could not have known of the horror that was awaiting them. The victim, Jyoti, was gang raped and brutally tortured by a group of six men in the bus. Jyoti and her friend were then thrown out of the moving bus and she was taken to hospital in a critical condition. She was later flown to Singapore for better treatment but unfortunately she died there on December 29.

Coca Cola International is one of the most famous monopolies in the world’s beverage sector. The company has expanded its network of business to all parts of world. The company earns more profits than the total GDP of many so-called “third world countries”. However, these huge profits are based on the exploitation of workers. In order to enhance their rate of profit, the management of Coca Cola uses anti-labour measures and the forces of repression to attack the rights of the workers.

The Express Tribune on 23 January published a long interview with IMT sympathiser and musician Jawad Ahmed who recently released a song in honour of the victims of the Karachi fire in September last year. You can read the article in the epaper editionor on the website of the Tribune.

The grotesque, remorseless and relentless slaughter of the Shiite Hazaras in Baluchistan is yet another grim episode that lays bare the escalating conflagration in the region, the extreme complexity of the national question and the sectarian strife that is prevalent. This was an act of barbarity that is the outcome of a rotten state and a system that has failed miserably to bring any peace, prosperity or stability to the region. Rather, there is mounting evidence that sections of the state are involved in perpetuating this catastrophe. The Hazaras have been systematically targeted and killed for almost a decade now. None of the perpetrators have been arrested or prosecuted. The

Islamabad has been witnessing “anti-corruption” protests led by Tahir ul Qadri recently returned from his long residence in Canada. He leads a reactionary movement that is actually being fomented by a section of the Pakistani ruling elite. Here we publish a comment on this phenomenon by Lal Khan that was first published in the Pakistan Daily Times.

The general elections in Japan, held on December 16, 2012, led to the victory of the right-wing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), amidst the lowest voter turn-out in Japanese history. The ruling Democratic Party (DPJ) lost 173 seats and is now down to only 57. It only got 22.81 percent in the electoral districts around the country, a reduction of about 25 percent compared to the 47.43 percent it won in 2009. The LDP, on the other hand, got only slightly more votes than last time (43.01 percent compared to 38.68 percent) while it increased its number of seats from 176 to 294.

Bhutto’s legacy is relevant today in Pakistani politics mainly because what the oppressed masses in general see to the left of the rightwing parties and obscurantist outfits is the PPP.

The upheaval that led to the eventual breakup of Pakistan started not on the national question but on the basis of class struggle

نومبر1967ء کی دھندلی صبح پاکستان کے مختلف علاقوں سے تین سوکے قریب افراد ہر طرح کی مشکلات اور سماج کے جمود کا مقابلہ کرتے ہوئے سماجی و معاشی انصاف کی جدوجہد میں لاہور میں اکٹھے ہوئے۔ موسم خزاں کی فضا میں انقلاب کی مہک تھی۔ پارٹی کی تاسیسی دستاویزات غیر مبہم تھیں، ’’پارٹی کے پروگرام کا حتمی مقصد طبقات سے پاک معاشرے کا قیام ہے جو صرف سوشلزم کے ذریعے ہی ممکن ہے‘‘۔ لیکن پی پی پی کو عوامی قوت بنانے والے واقعات کا نکتہ آغاز راولپنڈی میں طلباء کی بغاوت سے ہوا جس نے ملکی تاریخ کے سب سے طاقتور انقلاب کا آغاز کیا۔ ...

The PPP’s present leadership takes its support base for granted. As a tradition, the PPP has prevailed upon the oppressed masses for four decades.

At the moment, the Chinese capitalist class, on the whole, is happy to go along with the status quo. They see no alternative, and are terrified of lifting the lid on the anger of the working class, therefore they seek stability at all costs.

Xi Jinping, relatively unknown in the West, will be China’s President for the next ten years, that is, if he can keep a lid on the simmering pot of anger that China has become. The new Prime Minister is Li Keqiang, apparently the outgoing President’s favoured successor.

The slogans of eliminating feudalism, and for democracy, secularism, human rights, social justice, gender equality, national sovereignty are hardly new

In August and September Japan’s manoeuvres of the disputed islands of Diaoyu provoked some of the largest demonstrations in China since the uprising of Tiananmen Square in 1989. The dispute over the islands is predominantly an imperialist conflict over control of trade routes and oil resources. However, the protests in China went beyond the level of expressing anti-Japanese sentiment. In fact, although the government did attempt to limit them to this, the protests were as much against the regime in Beijing as against Japan’s aggressive manoeuvres.