Anti-capitalism rally in Pakistan

[Omar1984]

THE Occupy Lahore: Anti-Capitalist camp opened on Saturday with over 800 people from different social organizations and trade unions across Lahore and Punjab participating in a discussion at the Nasir Bagh camp, organised following the ‘Global Occupy’ movement.

The participants also took out a rally through Anarkali Bazaar, chanting slogans for an end to capitalism and feudalism. They also chanted slogans against military-bureaucratic dominance. They asked the people to participate in the revival of the socialist movement in Pakistan.

The participants included trade union workers, factory workers, journalists, students, Katchi Abadis dwellers, woman rights’ organisations, professionals and the youth.

The camp proceedings began with speeches.

Addressing the convention, Progressive Youth Front member Ammar Jaan announced solidarity with the Global Occupy movement that began from Washington against the global capitalist and financial system and drew links in terms of how it was relevant to Pakistan.

The speakers included MPA Mian Muhammad Rafique, Pakistan Workers Confederation General Secretary Khursheed Ahmed, Workers Party Pakistan President Abid Hassan Minto, Labour Party spokesperson Farooq Tariq, National Trade Union Federation Chairman Muhammad Yusuf Baloch, National Students Federation General Secretary Irfan Chaudhry, Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists Senior Vice President Arshad Yaseen, Punjab Union of Journalists representative Hafiz Abdul Wadood, Pakistan Workers Federation President Safdar Hussain Sindu, Women Workers Help Line President Azra Shad, peasant leader Jamila Begum, Rabia Bajwa. Bringing a lighter shade to the camp, Laal Band sung the poetry of Pakistan’s revolutionary poets, including Habib Jalib and performed a song as token to the Occupy Lahore protest.

Upon returning to the camp, over 50 participants of the rally took part in a consultative general body meeting where a decision was taken to continue the camp on Sunday and invite more movements and youths to share their struggle and formulate a collective strategy.

Ten members of the camp decided to stay overnight at the camp site.

Baloch: Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Liaqat Baloch said the sun of western capitalism and secularism was setting now, like that of communism which crumbled two decades ago. The system based on exploitation won’t find shelter even in Washington, London or Switzerland, since these systems had broken the backbone of poor masses by plundering their wealth and dividing them in different classes, he said this while talking to a delegation of the Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba at Mansoora on Saturday.

Baloch said the oppressed masses had awakened now across the globe to snatch back their rights from the exploitative capitalists.



Anti-capitalism rally

 

[raavan]

capitalism is the most natural solution. we should learn to ccept it and live with it

 

[roadrunner]

if it were the most natural solution it wouldnt always end in failure.

 

[Omar1984]

Quaid-i-Azam's Speech
On the occasion of the Opening Ceremony of
The State Bank of Pakistan on 1st July, 1948.

"Mr. Governor, Directors of State Bank, Ladies and Gentlemen.

The opening of the State Bank of Pakistan symbolises the sovereignty of our State in the financial sphere and I am very glad to be here today to perform the opening ceremony. It was not considered feasible to start a Bank of our own simultaneously with the coming into being of Pakistan in August last year. A good deal of preparatory work must precede the inauguration of an institution responsible for such technical and delicate work as note issue and banking. To allow for this preparation, it was provided, under the Pakistan Monetary System and Reserve Bank Order, 1947, that the Reserve Bank of India should continue to be the currency and banking authority of Pakistan till the 30th September, 1948. Later on it was felt that it would be in the best interests of our State if the Reserve Bank of India were relieved of its functions in Pakistan, as early as possible. The State of transfer of these functions to a Pakistan agency was consequently advanced by three months in agreement with the Government of India and the Reserve Bank. It was at the same time decided to establish a Central Bank of Pakistan in preference to any other agency for managing our currency and banking. This decision left very little time for the small band of trained personnel in this field in Pakistan to complete the preliminaries and they have by their untiring effort and hard work completed their task by the due date which is very creditable to them, and I wish to record a note of our appreciation of their labours.

As you have observed, Mr. Governor in undivided India banking was kept a close preserve of non-Muslims and their migration from Western Pakistan has caused a good deal of dislocation in the economic life of our young State. In order that the wheels of commerce and industry should run smoothly, it is imperative that the vacuum caused by the exodus of non-Muslims should be filled without delay. I am glad to note that schemes for training Pakistan nationals in banking are in hand. I will watch their progress with interest and I am confident that the State Bank will receive the co-operation of all concerned including the banks and Universities in pushing them forward. Banking will provide a new and wide field in which the genius of our young men can find full play. I am sure that they will come forward in large numbers to take advantage of the training facilities which are proposed to be provided. While doing so, they will not only be benefiting themselves but also contributing to the well-being of our State.

I need hardly dilate on the important role that the State Bank will have to play in regulating the economic life of our country. The monetary policy of the bank will have a direct bearing on our trade and commerce, both inside Pakistan as well as with the outside world and it is only to be desired that your policy should encourage maximum production and a free flow of trade. The monetary policy pursued during the war years contributed, in no small measure, to our present day economic problems. The abnormal rise in the cost of living has hit the poorer sections of society including those with fixed incomes very hard indeed and is responsible to a great extent for the prevailing unrest in the country. The policy of the Pakistan Government is to stabilise prices at a level that would be fair to the producer, as well as the consumer. I hope your efforts will be directed in the same direction in order to tackle this crucial problem with success.

I shall watch with keenness the work of your Research Organization in evolving banking practices compatible with Islamic ideas of social and economic life. The economic system of the West has created almost insoluble problems for humanity and to many of us it appears that only a miracle can save it from disaster that is not facing the world. It has failed to do justice between man and man and to eradicate friction from the international field. On the contrary, it was largely responsible for the two world wars in the last half century. The Western world, in spite of its advantages, of mechanization and industrial efficiency is today in a worse mess than ever before in history. The adoption of Western economic theory and practice will not help us in achieving our goal of creating a happy and contended people. We must work our destiny in our own way and present to the world an economic system based on true Islamic concept of equality of manhood and social justice. We will thereby be fulfilling our mission as Muslims and giving to humanity the message of peace which alone can save it and secure the welfare, happiness and prosperity of mankind.

May the Sate Bank of Pakistan prosper and fulfil the high ideals which have been set as its goal.

In the end I thank you, Mr. Governor, for the warm welcome given to me by you and your colleagues, and the distinguished guests who have graced this occasion as a mark of their good wishes and the honour your have done me in inviting me to perform this historic opening ceremony of the State Bank which I feel will develop into one of our greatest national institutions and play its part fully throughout the world."


Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah
1st July, 1948


State Bank of Pakistan


This was Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah's last speech to the nation.

 

[nForce]

if it were the most natural solution it wouldnt always end in failure.

depends upon who is using that solution.It has served US pretty well.Now the Chinese seem to be taking a leaf out of their book

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

depends upon who is using that solution.It has served US pretty well.Now the Chinese seem to be taking a leaf out of their book

Our system is called a "Socialist market economy".

It's capitalism, but implemented slightly differently.

 

[nForce]

Our system is called a "Socialist market economy".

It's capitalism, but implemented slightly differently.

It has served you well so far,don't you agree?

the opening of the market and privatization has served India well too

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

It has served you well so far,don't you agree?

the opening of the market and privatization has served India well too

It's doing alright, might need a few reforms though.

I have no problem with the basic principle of capitalism, only in the way it is implemented. Which could (in most of the world) use a little bit of tweaking, to run more smoothly.

 

[nForce]

It's doing alright, might need a few reforms though.

I have no problem with the basic principle of capitalism, only in the way it is implemented. Which could (in most of the world) use a little bit of tweaking, to run more smoothly.

What tweaking?can you please elaborate?

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

What tweaking?can you please elaborate?

Market economies are different in different countries, due to different implementations.

There is even a big difference between the economies of Hong Kong and the Mainland, even though we are the same country.

The Chinese "Socialist Market economy" is characterized by an enormous public sector, with massive state-owned companies (e.g. ICBC and Sinopec) controlling much of it.

This has led to our system being labelled as "state capitalism" in the West. Clearly, this is very different from the form of capitalism that is implemented in the West or even in HK.

There was an "Ease of doing business" report released a few days ago, with Hong Kong taking the #2 spot in the world. I think the mainland could benefit a lot from making it easier to do business there, and by cutting down red-tape, reducing inefficiencies, and make the system less prone to being influenced by "guanxi" (similar to nepotism). Increasing entrepreneurship and reducing inflation are also good goals to keep in mind when tweaking the economic system.

 

[Omar1984]

Anti-capitalism rally: Taking cue from Occupy Wall Street movement

The left-wing parties chanted anti-capitalist slogans in their rally on Wednesday (top). The protesters were initially stopped from reaching the World Bank’s building. PHOTOS: MUHAMMAD JAVAID


ISLAMABAD:
Although unarmed, peaceful, and relatively few in number, their message and voices were heard loud and clear – they sought social justice, end to global corporate greed and exploitative economic system that have pushed millions of people into abject poverty and are forcing them to take extreme step of taking their life.

The participants of the “Occupy Islamabad” rally, inspired by the anti-globalisation movement gathered at Aabpara Chowk and marched towards World Bank offices in G-5 sector. Holding red flags, dozens of workers of left-wing political parties — Workers Party Pakistan (WPP), Labour Party Pakistan (LPP), Awami Party Pakistan (WPP) – National Student Federation (NSF), trade unions, intellectuals and civil society participated in the rally.

The protesters scuffled with police when they were stopped from reaching the offices of World Bank in the Red Zone to register their protest against what they called its anti-poor policies and to show solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement.

The ‘Occupy Islamabad’ rally faced strong resistance from the police deputed at the checkpoint near NADRA offices.

The protesters told the police that they will not cross the security checkpoint eyeing the World Bank (WB) office hardly hundred feet away. However they reached their intended destination after the confusion was cleared on the intervention of senior police officers and some leaders of the rally. A good number of police officials were stationed at the gate of the WB offices.

“We are the 99 per cent. We are against the capitalist system that has failed to deliver justice to the people,” said Farzana Bari, an academic and women rights’ activist echoing the sentiments of the protesters on Wall Street in New York City, who oppose the extreme concentration of wealth in the hands of the top one per cent of Americans.

Addressing the rally, she said more than 80 per cent of the country’s wealth was in the hands of merely two per cent of its population.

“The people who are producing the wealth are not its owners. The working class is suffering despite all their labour.”

The protesters through a charter of demands which was handed over to the World Bank officials asked them to leave Pakistan alone, so that it could decide its economic and social fate. They chanted slogans against capitalism. One of which was ‘Sarmayadari ka jo yaar hai, ghaddar hai ghaddar hai’ (Whoever sides with capitalism is a traitor).

“We have been speaking against it for decades. Now the world is realising that capitalism had taken the world towards barbarity and there is a need for meaningful alternative that saves the mankind and the natural environment,” said Aasim Sajjad of the Workers’ Party of Pakistan.

He said the Occupy Islamabad was only a small part of the initiative against capitalist system that was launched decades ago by the socialist and leftist parties.

“After the cold war they said socialism had died. We continue to insist it did not. Now the world can see that it has not died. These anti-capitalist rallies and protests are largely inspired by the socialist system,” added Sajjad, a sentiment that many governments around the world are being forced to confront as a result of the Occupy Wall Street sympathy protests, which are all demanding fair distribution of wealth and the realignment of economic policies to create egalitarian systems that provide access to basic rights including health and education.

Then there is also the obvious inspiration from the New York protesters, who, in line with the US Declaration of Independence, are demanding their right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”, which is commonly called the American dream.

Why did they protest in front of the World Bank office and not the stock exchange?

The protestors said that while the Wall Street protests have called attention to the devastation of capitalism in the United States and the first world, capitalism in Pakistan means the devastating impacts of privatisation and restructuring in state enterprises.

Almost all the major World Bank-funded mega water initiatives such as the LBOD and Taunsa Barrage Project had failed, they said.

Nisar Shah of the LPP, Azam Janjua of the Socialist Movement Pakistan, Alia Amirali of the NSF, Ayub Malik of the APP, Abdullah Dayo of the Progressive Youth Forum and numerous trade unionists also spoke at the occasion.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 27th, 2011


Anti-capitalism rally: Taking cue from Occupy Wall Street movement – The Express Tribune

 

[nForce]

What an irony,people in Pakistan protesting on the streets with pictures of Che Guevara on the streets. lol...

 

[ChineseTiger1986]

I think the small business capitalist is not bad at all, but the crony capitalism or the corporatocracy is a major threat to the World.

 

[Mughal1]

Occupy wall Street" arrives in Pakistan

PressTV - "Occupy wall Street" arrives in Pakistan

 

[Omar1984]

Occupy Peshawar: down with capitalism

•Hundreds of protesters inspired by Occupy Wall Street call for the end of discrimination against the working class

PESHAWAR - The global Occupy movement against capitalism which was begun by merely dozens of protesters in New York under the label Occupy Wall Street and spread throughout the world, reached Peshawar on Thursday where hundreds of people launched a movement to “Occupy Peshawar”.

Occupy Peshawar participants held a protest in front of Peshawar Press Club in solidarity with the world movement against capitalism and said all social evils - unemployment, injustice, poverty and the economic crisis - will end after the elimination of capitalism. Leading the protest, Anwar Zeb said, “Capitalism is the system through which all wealth is concentrated in the hands of few families who decide the fate of rest.”

He said, “The Occupy movement has warned capitalist countries that they must bring forth a meaningful alternative – or the peaceful movement will convert into an armed struggle.” He said Pakistan needs to change its system and end capitalism – or those whom the system favours will be washed away by the movement. “We have spoken out against the discriminative capitalist system for decades and now the whole world is speaking against it,” he said. “The Occupy movement is the beginning of the end of capitalism,” he said.

Participants holds red flags, banners and chanting slogans in favour of socialism and social justice and eliminating economic discrepancies. Ordinary citizens, trade union and federation workers, including the All Pakistan Clerk Association, People’s Labour Federation, Small Industry Labourers Union, People’s Rahman Cotton Mill, Charsadda Sugar Mill and the People’s Students Federation activist participated in the protest which gathered under the umbrella of “Ankilabi Jiddojihad” (Revolutionary Struggle).
Peoples’ Youth Federation Provincial Chief Gohar said the time has come to abolish the system which is run by one per cent and impoverishes the ninety nine percent. He said, “We, the 99 percent, stand against the capitalist system that has failed.” He said wealth has been concentrated in a small one percent in the world. All Pakistan Clerk Association (APCA) Aslam Khan said, “The working class is exploited. They produce wealth but receive nothing.”

“A peaceful movement against capitalism has spread around the world within a month because people feel both economic exploitation and social discrimination, both products of the capitalist system,” he said. Speakers said it was time to produce an alternative system where all are equal which protects labourers rather than exploits them.


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