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Recent Columns.

8 Mar 2024

Nationalism Distorts Feminism in Israel Just as It Did in the US

Israeli feminist groups showed courage standing up to Netanyahu on March 8, 2023. Where is that energy now that Gaza is starving?

21 Feb 2024

Why Brené Brown’s Gospel of Vulnerability Fails the World’s Most Vulnerable

Rafia Zakaria on the CEO Whisperer’s Recent Failure in Addressing the Genocide in Gaza:
“Vulnerability is not weakness, it is our greatest measure of courage.” * “Stressed is being in the weeds, overwhelmed is being blown.” * “Disappointment is unmet expectations.” *
These are the sort of catchy aphorisms you will find in the pages of self-help guru and corporate leadership trainer Brené Brown’s most recent book...

14 Feb 2024

Crass consumerism or love?

THERE was a time when Valentine’s Day and its attendant celebration of love and sweethearts was an event when everyone who was single had to suffer. This is no longer the case.

7 Feb 2024

‘Liberal’ without gender equality

EVER SINCE Israel began its offensive in Gaza, Israeli propaganda has produced social media content that shows the female soldiers of the Israeli Defence Forces as models of liberated womanhood. Photos of Israeli women parading with their weapons often on tanks and other military vehicles are proliferating as Israel wants to show how they fight side by side with the men.

30 Jan 2024

How the Unjust Assault on the UNRWA Undermines Liberal Humanitarianism

The decision by Western powers to defund the aid agency in Gaza further imperils civilians, while undermining the credibility of key global institutions.

24 Jan 2024

Transforming slums

The issue of Dharavi, which provides a place to live and work for a million people, continues to fester.

5 Jan 2024

Is this it for humans?

IT has been estimated that 99.9 per cent of all species on our planet died out. One of the things that Charles Darwin said about human beings or Homo sapiens is that we are very much part of the natural world. This means that like all other species on the planet, Homo sapiens will one day also die out. At some point, our population will reach its peak and from there onwards, it will begin to fall. It just so happens that all those reading this article happen to be alive at a moment when humans may be about to reach their maximum numbers.

28 Dec 2023

I Never Belonged in Indiana

I grew up in Karachi, Pakistan, but have lived in Indiana for more than 20 years. I have gotten degrees and awards here; I have given birth here; I have fallen in love here and argued cases in court here. And yet I still struggle to reconcile the inner reality of my mind with the physical reality around my body.

15 Nov 2023

The underground arena

CONCERNS have grown further with the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) reaching the Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza. According to reports from those who are inside the hospital compound, armoured personnel vehicles or tanks have surrounded the premises and armed personnel were not permitting anyone out or into the medical facility.

1 Nov 2023

Intertwined struggles

Crucial to the new protests has been a translation of the Palestinian cause into a language that Americans understand.

4 Oct 2023

Life on the brink

IN June of this year, the Pakistani government had issued two tenders to buy LNG on the international market but didn’t receive any bids.

8 Sept 2023

Mucked Up

Burning Man becomes a hot, muddy mess.

25 Aug 2023

Lock him up

In Pakistan, political prosecution is an everyday tactic.
HE IS BEING WATCHED, even when he uses the toilet. Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan is currently being held in a small dark room in...

23 Aug 2023

A split world

Aid makes countries like Pakistan dependent for as long as Western countries make it impossible for them to compete fairly in the global market.

16 Aug 2023

Stepping over a dying man

The work of Sherpa guides who often go up ahead of the climbers has historically been erased even from the records of mountain climbing.

28 Jul 2023

Passports and Power

The passports that have brought more opportunity for their kids and grandkids have defeated their own dreams of returning to a happy home. They cannot...

26 Jul 2023

The fires in Europe

The rescue missions being undertaken for wealthy tourists show what can be done when there is true intention for life to be saved.

19 Jul 2023

Moon and power

Indian and South Asian engineers' qualifications stand equal to their Western counterparts in complex missions.

16 Jul 2023

In a war-torn and forgotten country, there is little anyone can do for Afghan women

A new generation of Afghan women, who have spent their lives under US occupation and now under Taliban oppression, is starved of hope for a better future.

14 Jul 2023

The Dutiful Wife

Written in lipstick on his back are the words “1 fat Englishman. I fuck anything.” The words are the handiwork of his then wife Hilly, who had learned that her...

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