Successful campaign to keep radical Pakistani magazine alive

A fundraising appeal by the Labour Party Pakistan (LPP) to raise US$4200 to continue publishing the weekly magazine, Mazdoor Juddojehad (Workers' Struggle), has been successful.

A jubilant LPP general-secretary, Farooq Tariq, told Green Left Weekly that, together with the A$500 sent last week from supporters of the Autralian-based Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific, and US$100 from supporters in the US, the fund appeal has gone over target.

Tariq said that the campaign to increase the magazine's circulation was lagging, having reached only 31% of the target of 600 subscriptions. However, he is confident of boosting this.

Tariq said that the fundraising appeal was a first for the LPP, which sponsors the magazine. "For over 10 years, we have not made a formal appeal to our readers and friends; we just asked them to subscribe." While Tariq is disappointed with the numbers of new subscriptions, he says that the campaign has "brought a new life to paper". "Many readers are now reading the weekly campaign update and writing to us", something that he hopes will generate more new subscriptions.

"The magazine will not be closed, due to our friends and readers' support", said Tariq. "Thanks also to Green Left Weekly, which gave us the idea that such a campaign could be done successfully."

From GLW issue 690