Founding Editor: Daya Varma (1929-2015)
Editors: Vinod Mubayi (New York) and Raza Mir (New Jersey).
Editorial Board: Ram Puniyani and Irfan Engineer (Mumbai); Pervez Hoodbhoy (Islamabad); Dolores Chew (Montreal); Vamsi Vakulabharanam (Amherst); Ajay Bhardwaj (Vancouver).
Circulation/website: Feroz Mehdi (On behalf of Alternatives, Montreal).
EDITORIAL: DECLINE AND FALL OF DEMOCRACY IN THE WORLD’S OLDEST AND LARGEST “DEMOCRACIES”
Vinod Mubayi
The precipitous decline of routine democratic functioning in both the U.S. and India, exemplified by free and fair elections, adherence to the rule of law, freedom of speech and assembly, freedom of the press, and a viable political opposition allowed to function without harassment, has become a matter of frequent comment in the media in both countries in recent months. Trump’s daily attacks on any and every conceivable opposition have become commonplace, as have the cries of protest from those affected or afflicted by his actions. Here is one from a small NGO: “With the stroke of a pen, Donald Trump issued a Presidential Memorandum instructing the Department of Justice to target the one tool we rely on to organize, resist, and win. It’s an open declaration of war on small-dollar donors, on activists, on our right to resist.” This is eerily similar to the Modi regime’s use of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) a few years ago to attack and drive out of existence several human rights NGOs in India that used to get donations from foreign donors.
Read more…MILITANT CENTRISM IN BANGLADESH AFTER THE UPRISINGS
Nijjor Manush
Despite its ostensibly revolutionary origins, Bangladesh’s student-led party finds itself in questionable company in the new political landscape. What does its trajectory tell us about “post ideological” politics?
Read more…THE MIRAGE OF ‘STABILISED’ CAPITALISM
Prabhat Patnaik
Microfinance, which was supposed to be an antidote to mass poverty within capitalism, has become an instrument of pushing people, including women, deeper into poverty.
Read more…WHAT DO YOU FEAR THE FAR RIGHT WILL DO THAT YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY DONE?
Vijay Prashad
On 12 August, Samar Abu Elouf, who won the 2025 World Press Photo of the Year, posted on her Instagram account that her son’s close friend Sami Shukour had been killed while he ‘went to look for flour to feed himself and his family’.
Read more…TURNING BACK THE CLOCK: THE SPECIAL INTENSIVE REVISION (SIR) THREATENS A CENTURY OF PROGRESS IN ADVANCING VOTING RIGHTS
Sagar
BR Ambedkar rose to speak during the second sitting of the First Round Table Conference’s franchise subcommittee, at St James’s Palace in London on 22 December 1930. Comprising 36 members, including Indian politicians, colonial officers and British legislators, the subcommittee was meant to determine who would be allowed to vote under a new constitution for India.
Read more…M M KALBURGI’S LIFE AND LEGACY IN THE CROSSHAIRS OF HISTORY
Srikar Raghavan
If you happen to be familiar with even some of the Kannada scholar M M Kalburgi’s output – his collected works round out to 27,000 pages and 68 kilograms – it might not surprise you that this piece begins from the 12th century and gets into a fair bit of mediaeval history. These historical times (and the troubles taken to recreate them) form the backdrop against which Kalburgi’s own life unfolded.
Read more…INDIA WAS THE ECONOMIC ALTERNATIVE TO CHINA. TRUMP ENDED THAT
Alex Travelli and Hari Kumar
President Trump’s 50 percent tariffs landed like a declaration of economic war on India, undercutting enormous investments made by American companies to hedge their dependency on China.
Read more…PAKISTAN: AGRICULTURAL LOSS
Dawn Editorial
THE current wave of floods has ravaged vast tracts of farmland across the plains of central Punjab
Read more…THE SUN IS SETTING ON THE MODI-SHAH DUO
Anand K. Sahay
Hegemony ensues when other actors in the system seek to emulate the hegemony-wielder. However, tracing the path of the BJP regime under its current stewards is likely to invite odium instead of bringing approbation to a political party.
Read more…HOW TM KRISHNA TURNED EMPEROR ASHOKA’S ‘ENVIRONMENTAL’ MESSAGES INTO MUSIC
Nayanjot Lahiri & TM Krishna
Historian Nayanjot Lahiri and the musician discuss their collaboration to reimagine Ashoka’s words through a contemporary prism.
Read more…ECHOES OF GHADAR: A DIASPORA’S PIONEERING ROLE IN INDIA’S FREEDOM STRUGGLE
Zafar Iqbal, Ph.D.
The Ghadar Party, founded in 1913 in San Francisco, California, played a trailblazing role in India’s struggle for independence, long before the Indian National Congress formally adopted the goal of complete freedom. Formed primarily by Punjabi immigrants, especially Sikhs, alongside other Indian communities, the Ghadar Party was the first organized movement among the Indian diaspora to advocate for armed revolution against British colonial rule.
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