PAKISTAN: New left bookshop opened by Tariq Ali

Farooq Tariq, Lahore

The "Good Books" left bookshop was opened by well-known radical writer Tariq Ali on April 2. The opening of the joint venture of two radical publishers — Jamhoori Publications and Jeddojuhd Publications Lahore — was attended by more than 100 intellectuals, writers, poets and political activists.

Among those who spoke were Dr. Mubashar Hassan and S.M. Masood, federal ministers under the Benazir Bhutto government; writer Asghar Nadeem Syed; and retired Major Aftab Ahmed, who was jailed under the Zia ul Haq dictatorship.

Ali told the audience that after 9/11, the space for alternative views in the mainstream media has been reduced to zero, so books are a good tool to spread ideas. "Books help us to understand the real situation", Ali said, adding that this was why he wrote his book Clash of Fundamentalisms, which has been translated into Urdu, the main language spoken in Pakistan.

Ali congratulated the Labour Party Pakistan for helping to establish the new left-wing bookshop and said it will become a meeting point for students, youth and activists.

Good Books is located at 14 Mozang Road, Lahore.

[Farooq Tariq is the general secretary of the Labour Party Pakistan.]

From Green Left Weekly, April 12, 2006.

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From GLW issue 664