A rush and a push and the land that we stand on is ours…

Photo by Shabazz Bajwa

... it has been before, so why can't it be now?

Photo by Shabazz Bajwa

 

Kulyana Estate, Okara District, April 6

About 7,000 peasants converged on a village in Kulyana Estate to commemorate the April 6, 2009, martyrdom of peasants Mohammed Amir, Baba Amir and Mohammad Abbas, killed by armed thugs working for their landlords — who happen to be the Pakistani military. Despite these and 13 other slayings, the tenant farmers of the Okara military farms, organised by Anjuman Muzareen Punjab (AMP) have since July 2000 resisted an unlawful new leasing arrangement designed to impoverish them and force them from their land. The peasants have been winning control over their land and water but the struggle for legal title continues. 

This struggle has been notable for the unity between Muslim and Christian peasants and the high degree of participation by women.

Press report of April 6 commemoration: http://tribune.com.pk/story/360957/rights-to-land-remembering-kulyana/

Background information to the struggle can be found at the AMP's English-language website: http://www.anjumanmuzareen.org.pk/

New charges in Faisalabad 6 case

Faisalabad, April 3

Photo by Mian Abdul Qayyum

L to R: Rana Riaz Ahmed, Akbar Ali Kamboh and Fazal Elahi outside Faisalabad court house, April 3.

Dark Satanic Mills

Faisalabad, April 2

Faisalabad is described as the “Manchester of Pakistan”. This is not a reference to a groovy indie music scene but to a textile industry. Pakistan is today the world's second biggest textile exporter after China. The factories are like something Engels described in Manchester when he wrote The Condition of the Working Class in England a century and a half ago, complete with child labour (for example the worker on the left in the photo below). The factory owners are not unchallenged, however, the Labour Qaumi Movement (LQM) offering an inspiring example of worker's self-organisation in all 14 sectors of Faisalabad. (More on the LQM later.)

More photos of various factories in the Gulum Mohamed Abad sector of Faisalabad:

Dude with a monkey

Lahore, April 1, 2012

Load shedding in Lahore

Lahore, March 31
Flying into Lahore a couple of nights ago, I thought that I was flying over several neighbouring towns, until the passenger sitting next to me pointed out that what I was actually seeing was the effects of load shedding, the system of power rationing whereby at any particular time only some neighbourhoods will have electricity.
Failure to maintain infrastructure, and privatisation, are the cause.

Davis Road, Lahore

March 31, 2012