The Communards’ prized cannon behind the barricades in 1871. | Pierre-Ambroise Richebourg, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons As we mark the 150th anniversary of the French proletariat’s heroic first bid to set up La Commune in Paris, let us examine German playwright Bertolt Brecht’s interpretation of this great event in his play The Days ...
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The night eased its reins in the dark prison As I was tormented by blurred, foggy thoughts, As my heart of steel counted the wounds of the night, The ground started to tremble The moon started to shake Sirens blared and jets flew out Cannon fire lit up the city ...
Read More »I Ask For Silence
Now they can leave me in peace, and grow used to my absence. I am going to close my eyes. I only want five things, five chosen roots. One is an endless love. Two is to see the autumn. I cannot exist without leaves flying and falling to earth. The ...
Read More »A lifeless life
Imagine the mountains with heaving breasts And chiseled limbs Raw and pure the nature’s bride That wild seductress with it’s ancient pride Waiting for you with delphic lores But you and your endless petty chores Chained to concrete and tar Weak, you tiny liliputs Sans mystique of lands afar With ...
Read More »PM Modi’s Untruths Regarding Kerala
The BJP and the Prime Minister himself have been campaigning about how the farmers are protesting across the country and sitting on dharna at the outskirts of Delhi have been misled. In his speech on December 25, the PM spoke about the situation in Kerala. He said ...
Read More »Fahmida Riaz: Life and Work of a Poet
Truth, love, self-respect Fragile playthings, made of clay Crumble in a moment Still, the world is beautiful Sacred—like Mariam Pure—like falsehood (Patthar ki Zuban, Fahmida Riaz) It was a voice of a young poet communicating to the readers in the 1960s in Pakistan, in a patriarchal, class-ridden society under ...
Read More »‘O’ Gracious God bestow the Baloch Nation with persons who are;”.
‘O’ Gracious God bestow the Baloch Nation with persons who are; Sagacious, valiant, magnanimous, compassionate and courageous too Their prudence and sagaciousness be more glorious than the brightest morns Their evergreen wisdom be resplendently dazzling in magnificence and majesty Their minds, thoughts and discernment all free of fetters of obsolete ...
Read More »human rights
“There is often talk of human rights, but it is also necessary to talk of the rights of humanity. Why should some people walk barefoot, so that others can travel in luxurious cars? Why should some live for thirty-five years, so that others can live for seventy years? Why should ...
Read More »Marx’s lieutenant
IT has become relatively commonplace in the past couple of decades to acknowledge the contemporary relevance of Karl Marx’s critiques of capitalism. Towards the very end of his entertaining biography of Friedrich Engels, Tristram Hunt takes it a step further, citing the comparison made by a Chinese scholar, Ching Kwan ...
Read More »Writing Balochistan
Balochistan is a neglected area not only in Pakistan but in Afghanistan and Iran too. Just like so many other nationalities such as Bengalis, Kurds, Pakhtuns, Punjabis, and many others, the Baloch find themselves divided across borders. But that is not our cause of concern here. Our concern is more ...
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