Dear All,

This is to inform you that followings Magazines/Journals are available our
Development Resource Centre.

The Supreme Court Monthly Review
The All Pakistan Legal Decisions
Pakistan journal of Statistics

Regards,

Roohi Bano

Side-Effect(The Eighteenth Brumaire)

Side-effect The Eighteenth Brumaire

Friday, January 30, 2009

By Harris Khalique

The texts from Karl Marx most referred to include The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, written in 1852, published a couple of times during his own life and many more times since his death in different languages. This is where Marx looks at the coup d'etat of Louis Bonaparte in France of December 1851, relates it with his uncle Napoleon Bonaparte's coup of 1799, ten years after the French Revolution, and in his own words the intention of this writing was to show "how the class struggle in France created circumstances and relationships that made it possible for a grotesque mediocrity to play a hero's part." The problem of quoting from Marx is the difficulty of knowing how and where to stop. The sheer beauty and strength of his prose and polemic overpowers the reader. Of historic Marxist writings, a student of politics, history and society or a political worker can enjoy and benefit reading from all luminaries, for they possess an incomparable grip over both, the language they use and the argument they make. But Marx surpasses them all as a prose writer. One who is able to teach us critical thinking by demystifying complicated philosophical thought and economics without solving a single mathematical equation.

 Marxism is no faith. It proposes a philosophical appreciation of human society and its evolution in terms of class struggle, outlines a methodology to transform it in favour of those oppressed for centuries unending and encourages us to struggle in a systematic way for a new world where exploitation of human beings, irrespective of their caste, colour, creed or sex, becomes history. There is no denying the fact that the practical solutions it has offered have not always worked in tandem with the age-old human psyche. Besides, events in the name of people's revolutions have inflicted large-scale human suffering without being able to create what they aspired for. But Marxist attempts at power in different countries have also heralded a change in human consciousness and brought to the fore the ideals of human dignity, egalitarianism and social justice. Besides, there is no better critique of capitalism offered by anyone other than Marxist thinkers. For us in Pakistan, simultaneous battles have to be fought, one for the prosperity of the masses and the other for the creation of a modern, rational and progressive state. In the first chapter of 'The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, Marx says, "Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past. The tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brains of the living. And just as they seem to be occupied with revolutionising themselves and things, creating something that did not exist before, precisely in such epochs of revolutionary crisis they anxiously conjure up the spirits of the past to their service, borrowing from them names, battle slogans, and costumes in order to present this new scene in world history in time-honoured disguise and borrowed language."

The reactionaries are always clear. For them, things are divine and matters of life are predetermined, with every question having an answer in the same or similar situation that has occurred before. The problem with Marxist dogmatists is that they claim to be "scientific" and "rational" and do not accept that they consider their philosophy and the answers their predecessors arrived at as a religion. But in practice that's how they are, basing arguments on the axioms of their favoured theorists rather than tools of Marxism to flog independent thinking. We continuously need to refer to old texts to scope values in case of faith and a framework in case of political ideology. But there is a need for us in Pakistan to understand afresh how the state and society determined by class, culture and beliefs have worked. After learning from history, rational thinking and renewed objectivity, we devise, proclaim and act upon our own indigenous strategy to realise our ideals.

The writer is an Islamabad-based poet and rights campaigner. Email: harris@spopk.org

Side-Effect (Shabana from Swat)

Side-effect

Shabana from Swat   Friday, January 23, 2009   by Harris Khalique   Shabana, the artiste from Swat who used to sing and dance to earn her living and make people merry on weddings and other such occasions, was shot in the head in the notorious bloody square of Mingora on the night of Jan 2 and 3. Happy New Year, Pakistan. She was abducted from her home and taken to the square where such executions are carried out. Swat is ruled by the Taliban and butchering of unarmed civilians, political workers, paramilitary personnel and journalists who advertently or inadvertently flout the rules set by them is a daily occurrence. Schools are blown up and women are not allowed to go out and work. The beautiful valley was once the centre of tourism in Pakistan and employed thousands of people in hospitality industry. Besides, Swat was more tolerant and liberal than many other parts of the country. There was more literacy, education and prosperity. Only last week I tried to speak of possibilities, role models and the potential Pakistanis have as a people. It is becoming increasingly difficult for even an incorrigible optimist like me to stay calm, be sane and still find reasons to hope for a better country to live in. The face of the nation is smeared with the blood of its own innocent sons and daughters. A war is imposed on ordinary Pakhtuns, whether in Swat, tribal areas, Dir, Bajaur or Bannu. The small elite and affluent middle class is moving to Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, the middle class from smaller cities is moving to Peshawar and those with little means are either languishing in IDP camps or have shifted to big and small cities in other provinces for menial jobs and temporary shelter. It is estimated that more than 400,000 are in camps now. The numbers are likely to go up. The poor suffer the most, as in any conflict. It is time for the citizens of Pakistan to demand an immediate end to the suffering of their fellow citizens in Swat and other areas and ask the Pakistani establishment to come off it, for heaven's sake. It is written on the wall that your defence and foreign policies were flawed and you have either not done enough or hoodwinked in the past to control the menace of terrorism. This is eating you up too. Your policies have brought us isolation, disrespect, poverty and suffering in the comity of nations. You cannot pull the wool over our eyes any more. It is time to remove the chip on your shoulder yourself. You wouldn't want others to do it for you. The citizens of Pakistan demand of you to learn from your mistakes and change your policies. We do not want the sovereignty of our country to be put at stake and what you are doing is leading us to that stage. We want to live in a peaceful and prosperous country where all institutions function according to the will of the people.  The citizens of Pakistan also demand that the Americans realise that Islamic fundamentalism in its present form was nurtured by the absence of democratic rule in the Muslim world; the short-sighted and exploitative terms of engagement with Muslim-majority countries employed by the West, which included support to dictatorships, monarchies and oppressive rules; economic injustice meted out to the majority of the population jointly by local elite and Western corporations; and finally the issue of Palestine. The Afghan war of the 1980s provided an opportunity for an alliance to emerge between you and those representing a brooding sentiment of fundamentalism and militant Islam. You thought the sentiment in its militant form would wither away once its support was withdrawn. You were wrong. The only way to resolve this issue now is through strategic handling of militant groups and support for indigenous democratic forces in the Muslim world. This needs extraordinary vision, patience and statesmanship.  Before being killed Shabana asked the men not to slit her throat but shoot her instead. They fulfilled her last wish.   The writer is an Islamabad-based poet and rights campaigner. Email: harris@spopk.org

 

Dear All,
This is to inform you that we have added Quarterly Magazine of South Asian
Journalists & Scholars by Imtiaz Alam titled Mumbai Shouldn't Threaten
South Asia Issue # 23, (January -March 2009) in our Development Resource
Centre (DRC).
Main Contents of the Journal are:

* The Myth of the Media Freedom
* The Prospect of Pak-Afgan Relations
* Stability in Afghanistan and Pakistan
* Ending Chaos in Afghanistan and Pakistan
* Floating Exchange Rate Regime
* Identity, Nationhood and Cinema
* Media in Nepal: Challenges and Opportunities
* Drip Versus Flood Method of Irrigation
* Nepal: Challenges Ahead
2008-Year and Review
* Afginastan in 2008
* Bangladesh in 2008: Return to Democracy
* India in 2008: Economic Slide and Terror Surge
* 2008 Maldives Review
* Nepal Review
* Pakistan 2008

Regards,

Roohi Bano

www.questia.com

Dear All,

 

This is to inform you that Development Resource Centre (DRC) has subscribed a website named www.questia.com . Questia is the largest online library of books and journals, and will prove very use full to those who are continuing their studies and also for conducting research.

 

If anyone (from the SPO family) is interested to know more about it or visit the website than I am available in this regard at SPO National Center. (The questia user name and password will be provided to check/visit the site).

 

Regards,

 

Roohi Bano

   

 

***The Economist-Jan 10th-16th 2009***

Dear All,

 

This is to inform you that we have recently added “The Economist” in our Development Resource Centre (DRC).

 

Regards,

 

Roohi Bano 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Current Affairs Digest January 2009

Dear All,

 

This is to inform you that we have added Monthly Current Affairs Digest in our DRC. This Digest provides an insight of the International Politics Focusing on the Analysis of Important Global Issues.

 

Main Contents of the Digest are:

 

• India/Pakistan : Terrorism: Mayhem in Mumbai, “ Fatwas” & UN Resolution-Real Issue By Dr. Suhrab Aslam Khan
• Kashmir: Making Borders Irrelevant Kashmir By P.R Chari and Hasan Askari Rizvi
• Afghanistan/Pakistan: From Great Game to Grand Bargain Ending Chaos in Afghanistan and  Pakistan By Barnett R. Rubin and Ahmad Rashid
• Pakistan: Pakistan after Musharraf and The 2008 Elections By Larry P. Goodson
• Middle East: Middleman in the Middle East: America’s Flawed Approach to the ‘Peace Process’ By Marian Leighton
• South Korea: South Korea’s Not-So-Sharp Right Turn By David C. Rang
• Pakistan: The Media Take Center Stage By Zafarullah Khan and Brian Stage Joseph
• Essay: Should Democracy be Promoted or Demoted? By Francis Fukuyama and Michael Faul

 

 

Regards,

 

Roohi Bano

 

 

 

 

 

RE: New Arrival

Dear All,

 

This is to inform you that we have recently added “The Economist” in our Development Resource Centre (DRC). Those who are interested in reading are more then welcome to issue the journal.

 

Regards,

 

Roohi Bano 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(PPAF) Roshan Raahaein

Dear All,

 

This is to inform you that Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) will be lunching a new radio series titled “Roshan Raahaein”. The 15 minute radio program in national language (Urdu) is expected to reach the entire pool of PPAF beneficiaries spread all over Pakistan.

 

Roshan Raahaein aims at creating awareness about various program components of PPAF and the benefits they have brought to the down-trodden communities.

 

The radio program also segment in which program listeners will be asked a simple question pertaining to the information disseminate during the program. The answer to the question asked could be sent either to PO Box 2010, Islamabad or emailed media@ppaf.org.pk, who have given correct answer to the question and those who have sent the best suggestions will be announced in upcoming episode of Roshan Raahaein. They will be receive a small gift from PPAF as a token of their participation.

 

The Program will be aired regularly every Saturday starting from January 10, 2009 at 3:30pm from 28 stations of radio Pakistan.

 

Please further disseminate the above information amongst POs.

 

Regards,

 

Roohi Bano