The general elections in Japan, held on December 16, 2012, led to the victory of the right-wing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), amidst the lowest voter turn-out in Japanese history. The ruling Democratic Party (DPJ) lost 173 seats and is now down to only 57. It only got 22.81 percent in the electoral districts around the country, a reduction of about 25 percent compared to the 47.43 percent it won in 2009. The LDP, on the other hand, got only slightly more votes than last time (43.01 percent compared to 38.68 percent) while it increased its number of seats from 176 to 294.

Bhutto’s legacy is relevant today in Pakistani politics mainly because what the oppressed masses in general see to the left of the rightwing parties and obscurantist outfits is the PPP.

The upheaval that led to the eventual breakup of Pakistan started not on the national question but on the basis of class struggle

نومبر1967ء کی دھندلی صبح پاکستان کے مختلف علاقوں سے تین سوکے قریب افراد ہر طرح کی مشکلات اور سماج کے جمود کا مقابلہ کرتے ہوئے سماجی و معاشی انصاف کی جدوجہد میں لاہور میں اکٹھے ہوئے۔ موسم خزاں کی فضا میں انقلاب کی مہک تھی۔ پارٹی کی تاسیسی دستاویزات غیر مبہم تھیں، ’’پارٹی کے پروگرام کا حتمی مقصد طبقات سے پاک معاشرے کا قیام ہے جو صرف سوشلزم کے ذریعے ہی ممکن ہے‘‘۔ لیکن پی پی پی کو عوامی قوت بنانے والے واقعات کا نکتہ آغاز راولپنڈی میں طلباء کی بغاوت سے ہوا جس نے ملکی تاریخ کے سب سے طاقتور انقلاب کا آغاز کیا۔ ...

The PPP’s present leadership takes its support base for granted. As a tradition, the PPP has prevailed upon the oppressed masses for four decades.

At the moment, the Chinese capitalist class, on the whole, is happy to go along with the status quo. They see no alternative, and are terrified of lifting the lid on the anger of the working class, therefore they seek stability at all costs.

Xi Jinping, relatively unknown in the West, will be China’s President for the next ten years, that is, if he can keep a lid on the simmering pot of anger that China has become. The new Prime Minister is Li Keqiang, apparently the outgoing President’s favoured successor.

The slogans of eliminating feudalism, and for democracy, secularism, human rights, social justice, gender equality, national sovereignty are hardly new

In August and September Japan’s manoeuvres of the disputed islands of Diaoyu provoked some of the largest demonstrations in China since the uprising of Tiananmen Square in 1989. The dispute over the islands is predominantly an imperialist conflict over control of trade routes and oil resources. However, the protests in China went beyond the level of expressing anti-Japanese sentiment. In fact, although the government did attempt to limit them to this, the protests were as much against the regime in Beijing as against Japan’s aggressive manoeuvres.

Young Doctors in Punjab achieved victory on Wednesday 7 November after a struggle that lasted over two years. More than 22,000 young doctors in Punjab were united in their demands for better wages and service structure under the banner of a new organisation called Young Doctors Association (YDA).

We look back at the 1925-27 revolution, which was a heroic attempt of the Chinese workers to follow in the footsteps of the October 1917 Russian Revolution. However, due to its unprepared and irresolute leadership, it went down to a tragic defeat. Failed revolutions are always the greatest of tragedies. However, the only way of really honouring the many victims of the counter-revolution that ensued is to study the revolution and learn from its mistakes.

The ruling of the Supreme Court in the Asghar Khan case [in which a former army chief and a former chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) have been found guilty of rigging the 1990 general elections] has laid bare the burgeoning intrinsic conflicts between and within the most vital institutions of the Pakistani state, the titans, the political executive, military establishment and the judiciary.

In the past two months a handful of tiny Islands off the coast of China have been making headlines across the world. The disputed island chain, known as the Diaoyu in China and the Senkaku in Japan, made international news after Japanese nationalists planted the flag of Japan on its uninhabited shore (with lavish media coverage). The tension escalated when in September the Japanese government nationalised the islands, previously owned by the Kurihara family, sparking off a wave of militant nationalist protest in China. But why are these seemingly irrelevant islands so significant?

The political apathy that prevails amongst the deprived and oppressed masses in Pakistan reflects the deep malaise and despair that has set in society. The mammoth reception that Benazir Bhutto was accorded five years ago on her return from exile to Karachi on 18^th October 2007 that had raised new hope for the masses and the subsequent campaign that has turned into a vigorous movement had sent tremors in the echelons of power.

The reactions of the political elite during the recent caricature of a long march launched and abruptly ended half way by Imran Khan [a right wing populist politician and former Pakistan cricket team captain] were either hysterical or comical. The Jamaat a Islami and other religious outfits that supported it are trying to create an extreme right wing political force at the behest of the sections of the state.