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: FASCISM AT HOME, IMPERIALISM ABROAD; THE FIRST YEAR OF TRUMP’S SECOND TERM
Vinod Mubayi
Trump’s second term as president began a year ago with a domestic policy based on detaining and deporting supposed illegal immigrants. This policy has been carried out in a brutal and fascistic manner by masked agents of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency who wear no identification badges and act in the manner of the Nazi Gestapo. Their assault on immigrants have also ensnared several immigrants who are in the country legally and whose only “crime” was that they exercised their constitutionally protected right of writing an article or participating in an activity that criticized Israel for the genocide in Gaza or US support of Israel. From the initial stated focus on undocumented aliens who had committed alleged criminal acts, goon squads of ICE agents then began attacking and arresting anyone who they believe looked “foreign” or demonstrated opposition to the Trump regime or to the ICE presence in their city or community.
Read more…“LEADERSHIP WOULD LIKE YOUR HELP”: INDIAN BILLIONAIRE TAPPED JEFFREY EPSTEIN BEFORE MODI’S VISITS TO U.S. AND ISRAEL
Meghnad Bose, Fatima Khan, and Biplob Kumar Das
Documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice on Friday reveal previously unreported details about financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s role as a backroom power broker amid the rapid strengthening of India-Israel ties in 2017.
Read more…DOLORES CHEW TO BE HONORED: A TEXT OF AN EMAIL
Dear Dolores:
I am pleased to advise you that the Dr. Hari Sharma Foundation has decided to honour you in recognition of your outstanding contributions to the community through your work as a public educator and a community activist.
Read more…MOBOCRACY OVERTAKES WISDOM
Sandeep Pandey and Mir Shahid Saleem
Shri Vaishno Devi Sangharsh Samiti, a conglomerate of Hindutva groups, has been successful in closing down the MBBS program of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence based in Katra merely because 42 of the 50 students admitted to the program based on their NEET performance happened to be Muslims. Although, the interference of Hindtuva ideology in more subtle forms has been happening in academic institutions since the Modi government came to power but this is by far the most crude example of it.
Read more…REMEMBERING ZAKIA JAFRI
Dr Suresh Khairnar
Zakia Jafri, aged 87, passed away on February 1, 2025. Until her final breath, however, justice eluded her. Zakia Jafri lived in Gulberg Society in the Chamanpura area of central Ahmedabad. The horrific massacre that took place there on February 28, 2002, was not the handiwork of a few agitated individuals. The scale and nature of the violence strongly suggest the involvement—or at least the acquiescence—of powerful forces.
Read more…THE GLOBAL SOUTH NEEDS PRODUCTIVE EMPLOYMENT
Vijay Prashad
On India’s 79th Independence Day, in August 2025, Prime Minister Narendra Modi devoted his speech to Viksit Bharat 2047 (Developed India 2047) and announced a National Manufacturing Mission. The mission, he said, must ‘reduce import dependence and strengthen economic resilience’ in sectors ranging from aerospace to artificial intelligence.
Read more…BUDGET 2026: KARTAVYA WITH DEFERRED RESPONSIBILITIES?
Shirin Akhter
The State’s kartavya is not exhausted by balancing books or reassuring markets. It lies in ensuring that health, education, and welfare are seen as obligations rather than generosity.
Read more…DESTITUTING THE PARTY: THE CRISIS OF THE PAKISTANI LEFT
Sher Ali
The ongoing debate within Pakistan’s Left reveals how thoroughly its dominant frameworks have hardened into habits of thought incapable of grasping contemporary political reality. The recent interventions by Ammar Ali Jan, Syed Azeem and Muhammad Umar Ali, and Ayyaz Mallick seek strategic clarity in the aftermath of the latest confrontation between India and Pakistan, but each relies on conceptual reflexes inherited from an earlier moment.
Read more…PLATFORM FOR CHANGE: A WOMEN-LED UNION GIVES VOICE TO INDIA’S GIG WORKERS
Puja Sen
Seema Singh’s frustrations with her employer were coming to a head in 2020. Two years earlier, she had quit her job at a salon after seeing an advertisement by Urban Company that promised flexibility, autonomy and better pay. Seema liked the idea of working on her own terms—choosing her hours, and earning more per appointment, would potentially allow her more time with her children.
Read more…LAL SALAM: THE MAKING OF BANGLADESH’S LEFTIST POLITICS
Khalilullah
The history of Bangladesh’s leftist politics is a story of unity and division, of shared ideals splintering into competing paths. Despite drawing strength from the same ideological roots, the movement has long been defined by factionalism, shifting strategies, and contested visions for the future.
Read more… Top - Home