This week, The Students’ Herald is recalling two tragic events from our country’s history. The first event is the military coup led by General Ziaul Haq against the government of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. The second event is the demise of Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah, sister of the founder of this country, and a staunch defender of democracy. Continue reading “Editor’s Note: Past Resistance Paves Way for the Future”
Maryam Mirza
There is a strange melancholy in reminiscing about Zia ul Haq’s era. Strange because I, as a mind and body, have not lived through it – yet the historical memory of the dictatorial regime remains omnipresent in almost every facet of the Pakistani experience – including the country’s artistic evolution. Despite massive wide scale suppression of resistant voices, the amount of literary, intellectual and artistic work that has recorded rebellion and censorship during the Zia era is unparalleled to another period in Pakistan’s history. Despite state active efforts to shun critical speech, it was through the words of brave and revolutionary writers that today the modern citizen recognises his governance as a crucial turning point in the country’s politics and social life. Continue reading “‘To Remain Silent is to Die’: Poetry as Resistance during the Zia Era”
This edition of The Students’ Herald is a continuation of the campaign led by students on issues facing higher education in Pakistan. There are multiple facets of this struggle which have all been amplified in the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Continue reading “Editor’s Note: Viva La Resistance!”
Munir Uddin
The outbreak of this pandemic initially brought all activities of the world, be they economic, political or educational, to standstill, at least for some time. Having realized the reality of living with it for a long time, new ways to run the affair of the world have been adopted, which is appreciable. In the face of this pandemic all educational institutions were shut down and lockdown was imposed to contain it from spreading. Students were hard hit by this pandemic and subsequent lockdown. Many university students — from peripheral areas of interior Sindh, erstwhile FATA, Balochistan and KPK — who were residing in hostels, had to leave for their homes. Continue reading “Resistance in the pandemic”
Many people know Martin Luther King as having led the march against racism, but hardly any are aware that he was organizing a march against poverty, for socialist policies to redistribute wealth, writes Fatima Shahzad Continue reading “Black Lives Matter and Resistance”
Mashal Khan left his legacy of resistance within us, writes Shireen Rizvi Continue reading “Carrying the Torch of Resistance”
Salman Sikandar, Aminah Chaudhry
Recently, a video of some young people dancing on a mehendi went viral and drew criticism on social media. Many people were offended, not because they objected to the dance moves, but because the song used for the dancing – Bella Ciao – was completely out of place with the context. Continue reading “Stop Appropriating Songs of Resistance”
