Rock, Reaction and Revolution

Photo by  Ahmed Abu Hameeda  on  Unsplash In the long history of Palestine, there was a time when the resistance was not shaped by guns but by pens, ideas, and voices. Some poets, writers, diplomats, and intellectuals gave the Palestinian struggle for freedom its cultural strength and political vision. They wrote words so that the whole world could feel the pain of a Palestinian and understand what it is like to be in an occupied land. In the 1970s, Israel systematically targeted and assassinated several of these intellectuals. The aim was to silence the brains of resistance and leave the movement without its most powerful voices. Five of the most prominent among them were Wael Zwaiter, Ghassan Kanafani, Kamal Nasser, Ezzedine Kalak, and Naim Khader. Each was killed far from the land they belonged to, yet each left a legacy that no bullet or bomb could erase. Let’s talk about these freedom fighters. 1. Ghassan Kanafani — Ghassan Kanafani via  Palestine Po...

Album Cover art featuring Bird on Money (1981) by Jean-Michel Basquiat/©RCA Records April 2020. I remember that morning clearly. I didn’t get out of bed. I wasn’t sad, just… blank. Everything felt heavy. Everything felt suspended, fragile. A pandemic had devoured the world. And in that strange stillness, two things were new. I had just started talking to someone who would later become the first love of my life, and that same day, The Strokes released their new album, The New Abnormal. Before that, I didn’t even like The Strokes. I tried listening to them back in 2017 and couldn’t connect. Maybe I was too young. But in 2019, I heard Bad Decisions, and it got stuck in my head for weeks. It was catchy, a little nostalgic, and a little sad. That song made me curious about what was coming next, so I waited for the album. And that morning, for some reason, I decided to give it a try. The opening track, The Adults Are Talking, cracked me open. That opening riff, Julian’s voice… an...

President of Burkina Faso . Burkina Faso’s Captain Ibrahim Traoré has emerged as one of Africa’s most consequential and controversial figures since seizing power in a 2022 coup. Amidst the mounting insecurity and frustration over the failure of the pro-Western governments, Traore gained public support to topple the government in 2022. Traoré’s rise evokes memories of another revolutionary figure, Thomas Sankara, the legendary “African Che Guevara” who led Burkina Faso from 1983 to 1987 before falling victim to a France-backed assassination. Traoré’s rhetoric, his youthful energy, and his determination to forge a new path for his nation resonate with Sankara’s revolutionary spirit. Like the majority of African nations, Burkina Faso is threatened and exploited by France, the USA, and their Western allies; the country is subject to Islamist insurgencies. But as Sankara tried forty years ago, will he use extreme socialist policies to change Burkina Faso from the inside out, or will he just...

 When we talk about genocides, we mostly talk about the Rwandan, Cambodian, or Bosnian genocide. But the case of Timor-Leste is lost and forgotten. One of the horrific crimes of the 20th century happened in Timor-Leste by the dictator Suharto and the Indonesian occupation of the small island country of Timor-Leste. Buried in the Cold War archives, the East Timor Massacre's blood-soaked chapter rarely makes it to global headlines. This is a tragic tale of colonial hangovers, military occupation, and shameless complicity by Western powers. A Colonial Legacy: From Portugal to Indonesia —  The island of Timor was divided into two parts in the 16th century. Portugal took the eastern part, while the Dutch took the western part. After Indonesia gained independence from the Netherlands in 1949, the western part became a part of Indonesia, while the eastern part remained a neglected Portuguese colony till 1975. East Timor declared its independence on November 28, 1975, but it didn’t la...

Capitalism, as the dominant economic system of our time, shapes not just how we work and consume but also how we perceive happiness, success, and the meaning of life. It is a kind of system where happiness is equated with wealth, where happiness is something to be purchased rather than experienced. The system thrives by making us believe that financial success and constant work are the only paths to fulfilment, leaving us with little time and energy to truly live. In this article, I would try to explore how capitalism distorts our perception of life, why materialistic needs overshadow true happiness, and how we can reclaim the time and true priorities. Wealth over well-being. —  Under capitalism, happiness is commodified. Advertisements, social media, and corporate culture sell us the idea that happiness comes from the next purchase—a new phone, a luxury car, branded clothes. This traps us in a cycle of discontentment. When we acquire something, the system immediately presents us with ...

Lt. Lyudmila Pavlichenko We recently celebrated International Women’s Day on 8th March. The theme of 2025 was "Accelerate Action" , emphasising the urgency of advancing gender equality. It is being predicted that at the current pace, achieving full gender parity could extend to the year 2158.  The year was 1941. Lyudmila Pavlichenko was 25 years old and studying history at Kiev University when Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa and the Wehrmacht began its invasion of the Soviet Union. Instead of hiding or fleeing, she volunteered for the Red Army, not as a nurse (which was how the other countries were recruiting women), but as a sniper. She became one of 2000 female snipers in the Red Army. Here, let me remind you, the Soviet Union was the only country during World War II to recruit women in the army. During training, she outshot every man in her unit. The army soon realised that they weren’t dealing with an ordinary recruit.  Career at the Red Army— Pa...

Once upon a time, Germany swore to itself "Nie wieder" (Never Again). Yet here we are in 2025, after 92 years, a far right neo-Nazi party is winning the local body elections for the first time since 1933. Founded in 2013, Alternative Für Deutschland (AfD) is a neo-nazi party. It is no longer a far-right populist party; it has invoked Nazi sentiments, with some of its leaders openly glorifying Germany's history in WWII, while the cadres have been caught displaying Nazi symbols and shouting Nazi slogans. Their policies target migrants, LGBTQ+ communities, communists, and other political opponents dismantling the democratic institutions under the guise of nationalism.  With elections around the corner, the possibility of Nazi successors crawling back to power isn’t just a German problem; it’s a global one because the manifesto of AfD could start a chain reaction across Europe and beyond. So, let’s dissect why the AfD is a threat, why Germans (and the world) should be worried...