Asia

YFIS National convention was held on Sunday November 10, 2002 at Lahore. Fifty seven delegates from Karachi, Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad, Hyderabad, Rahim Yar Khan, Sadiqabad, Quetta, Jand, Taxila, Wah, Rawapindi, Kashmir, Bahawalpur, Qasur and many other parts of the country had come to attend this convention. The morale was high. The mood of the comrades was enthusiastic. This convention will definitely help in melting the ice and will prove a turning point in building the mass forces of YFIS in Pakistan and henceforth, in the Indian Sub-continent.

As US imperialism prepares to go to war against Iraq, Jonathan Clyne looks back at the Vietnam War. He shows quite clearly the level of radicalisation that had developed among both the US soldiers fighting in Vietnam and the mass opposition that had developed back home among US workers and youth. As he says, "It was the American working class, those in uniform and those without, that more than anything else put an end to the war."

On October 12, two bombs ripped through a packed discotheque in Bali, killing more than 200 people and injuring some 300. Most of those who died were young people, many of them Australians. Marxists condemn this act of senseless killing. However, the declarations of Bush and Blair are full of the most disgusting hypocrisy. They are taking cynical advantage of the grief and anger at the latest terrorist atrocity for the purpose of drumming up support for their plans for war.

This article deals with the background and the consequences of the recent Bali blast from an Indonesian perspective. In a future article the author will deal with the economic situation in Indonesia, developments in the class struggle and the perspectives for the left.

The first general elections in Pakistan since General Musharraf seized power in a bloodless coup in 1998 will solve nothing for Pakistan’s workers and peasants. As could be expected, the party created by the outgoing military dictator “won” the elections. In spite of the rigging however the result is still a hung Parliament, with no party gaining an outright majority. Instability therefore reigns in Pakistan. The light at the end of the tunnel, however, is there, with the election of a Marxist MP, as reported in our previous report.

Even before all the votes had been counted the leader of the Pakistan People’s Party, Benazir Bhutto accused the Pakistani regime of vote-rigging. However, this is not just a ritual claim of a bitter leader forced into exile by accusations of corruption. Even the EU observers have had to admit that, "Regrettably... the Pakistan authorities engaged in a course of action which resulted in serious flaws in the electoral process." This was particularly blatant in the case of Sialkot-5, one hundred kilometres north of Lahore. Here Ghulam Abbas was denied victory because of his role on the left of the PPP.

The ideas of genuine Marxism have been vindicated with the election of Manzoor Ahmed to the Pakistani Parliament in yesterday's elections. During this election campaign many thousands of workers came into contact with the ideas of Marxism for the first time. On one of Manzoor's election posters the main slogan was "Irreconcilable Struggle Until Socialist Revolution". So no one can have any doubt what the people of Kasur were voting for! When the result was announced in the early hours of the morning huge numbers of Manzoor's supporters came out spontaneously to celebrate his victory.

The masses of Pakistan are bracing themselves for yet another election under another military dictatorship. They do so amid fears of vote rigging, manipulation and fabrication of the results on the part of the regime which is attempting to get its civilian toadies into positions of power within the so-called new democratic set-up. Lal Khan, editor of the Asian Marxist Review looks at the perspectives for the coming period.

This is an article from the current Asian Marxist Review on the Loya Jirga, an ancient pre-feudal tradition that is being resurrected by the imperialists to give an illusion of democracy in Afghanistan and to justify their aggression and the rule of their puppets.

Sadaf Zahra looks at the terrible situation in Pakistan where rapes and killings are done in the name of family honour, and are rarely investigated by the police. In areas where tribal customs still prevail, it is not uncommon for public punishment to be inflicted on women as a form of retaliation against their families. Such a case occurred recently in the village of Meerwala where a woman was subjected to gang-rape under the decision of a tribal council.

The US and coalition forces have been chasing their own shadows for the last few months in Afghanistan without achieving any tangible results. Increasingly frustrated, the US forces are lashing out in all directions, in the vain hope of killing "the enemy". So far the only people killed have been civilians and US allies.

On Sunday, June 30, the PTUDC Karachi arranged a public meeting at the PMA house in the centre of Karachi, the industrial hub of Pakistan. More than 70 trade unionists from all the major industries attended the meeting, to celebrate the release of the striking civil secretariat workers in Quetta. Strike leader Hameed Khan who had travelled from Quetta to Karachi for the meeting received a standing ovation and thanked everyone who supported the PTUDC campaign, in Pakistan and internationally.

On Sunday, June 30, the PTUDC Karachi arranged a public meeting at the PMA house in the centre of Karachi, the industrial hub of Pakistan. More than 70 trade unionists from all the major industries attended the meeting, to celebrate the release of the striking civil secretariat workers in Quetta. Strike leader Hameed Khan who had travelled from Quetta to Karachi for the meeting received a standing ovation and thanked everyone who supported the PTUDC campaign, in Pakistan and internationally.