Full version of Taimur Rahman's interview that appeared in The Hindu- Coimbatore, today

Pakistani fusion music band Laal has catapulted to fame with their uplifting music and poetic lyrics. Pheroze L. Vincent interviews Taimur Rahman, the music composer of the band. A former teacher at the Lahore School of Economics and the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Taimur used to play the guitar in classes to entertain and teach. Infact, Shahram Azhar, the lead vocalist of the band, was his student at LUMS. Taimur is also famous in Pakistani theatre as a producer, director and actor.

The band became popular after their video Maine Usse Yeh Kaha (I told him so) which was based on a poem by Habib Jalib. Taimur’s cousin and Laal’s flutist Haider Rahman has trained under Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia and Akmal Qadri.

The Laal brigade fan club has chapters in many cities of Pakistan. Laal wears their communist leanings on their sleeves and have successfully exploited the appeal of poetry to most Pakistanis. "Arguably, we are the most politicized youth out there, something that was lacking in the 1990s," says Taimur, who is currently doing his PhD on the class structure of Pakistan from the School of Oriental and African Studies, London.

Q1: A communist at the LUMS. Isn’t it surprising?
Its not surprising. Its shocking!First, given the preponderance of reactionary organizations like the Jamiat in public universities, sometimes the space for open debate is more open in such private universities. Second, LUMS now has a liberal arts undergraduate program. And what is a liberal arts program if it does not include at least some understanding of Marxism.

Q2: The Lawyers movement is over; Zardari continues in power, Pakistanis plagued by terror and the army’s decisive action in Swat has theirpopularity in the country at an all time high. What lies ahead forPakistani communists?
The three main political forces of oppression in Pakistan are imperialism, fundamentalism and military dictatorship. It is a very complex situation where reactionary forces are pitted against other reactionary forces. And progressive forces are relatively weak. Nonetheless, by taking advantage of the contradictions between reactionaries, we hope to widen the political space for democracy. Its a form of Gramscian positional class war. At the moment, we are pushing against religious fundamentalism but if the military were to attempt to take power again, we would oppose them tooth and nail.

Q3: A lot of underground music, in Pakistan, happened after Gen. Musharraf’s “enlightened moderation.” Will the grudging admiration for the military among urban youth prove as a stumbling block in mobilising them?
It was a stumbling block but not an insurmountable one. As time has shown, urban middle class mobilization forced Musharraf to resign. I think the liberals that admired Musharraf were relatively few in number. By and large, people have come to recognize that the political forces in play in Pakistan are unable and/or unwililng to address the structural changes that we need to make Pakistan into a representative and prosperous state.

Q4: Could you tell us something about the Laal brigade? What are its aims and activities?
The Laal brigade is a broad organization of young leftist fans of Laal. Its principle objective is to study revolutionary thought in order to consolidate an organization that can bring about revolutionary change in Pakistan. Students from other cities have been inviting us to form Laal brigades in their cities but so far we have been too busy to organize to the full extent of its popularity. We hope to make that up this Autumn.

Q5: Your music is largely popular among urban English speaking youth.What are the revolutionary prospects for them, despite their class character?
Is it largely popular among English speaking youth? I'm not entirely sure about that. Album sales indicate a much broader mainly urban audience. But the English speaking fans are able to reach us through facebook and the internet. Hence, I can understand why such an impression is created. Actually our music originally became popular among the workers of Lahore in industrial areas. And we are very mindful that progressive poetry must reach the people and not become the exclusive preserve of an elite intelligentsia. To accomplish this further we are thinking of organizing a tour across Pakistani towns and villages. The notion that workers and peasants cannot appreciate poetry and music is far off the mark in the context of Pakistan. Poetry and music have a popular appeal in Pakistan, arguably beyond any other form of art.

Q6: Your party, the Communist Mazdoor Kisan Party (CMKP) has fraternalties with the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM)? How What is theCMKP's view of the agitations against the CPI (M) in Nandigram, Singur and Lalgarh in West Bengal?
I can follow these events from a distance. Hence, I do not claim to have a clear grasp of the entire situation. However, I would like to add that we have seen that reactionary classes also have the ability of organizing trade unions and peasant organizations in order to defend feudal or capitalist interests. Take for instance the trade union "Solidarity" in Poland. It was ostensibly a workers organization but it restored the most naked form of capitalism seen in the former Soviet Union. Similarly, anything that is organized under the hegemony of reactionary political forces (such as the Trinamool Congress) will objectively bring about results that are anti-working class (whatever the subjective desires of misplaced individuals that support such a movement).

Q7: The CPI (M)’s campaign album last general elections didn’t attractmuch of an audience? Many leftists in the country feel that your songscan make a huge difference in articulating the policy of the IndianLeft Front to the people? Have you ever considered cross border collaboration?
We are all honoured to hear that leftists in India would hold our work in such high esteem. We are internationalists and would like to collaborate with oppressed and working class movements of all countries. Our message to all leftists in South Asia is that we consider our music to be the product of, and a contribution to, our common struggle.In fact, when we recorded our first single, Aamir Khan's studio was quite interested in taking one of our songs and using it in one of their films about peasants and suicides. As a matter of fact, we even read the script and were working on further collaboration. But then we got too busy with recording our album and the democratic movement in Pakistan.Aside from the glitter of the film world, what really interests us is to be able to perform and connect with the people of South Asia as a whole. To share with them and to work for peace and friendship in South Asia.

Q8: Will the current agitations in Indian Jammu and Kashmir be used byreactionaries to whip up bellicose patriotism and an aura of emergency?
Isn't it always? But it won't work because at the moment, we Pakistani's have too much on our plate to deal with domestically. With suicide bombers rampaging through our cities, I think we need to focus on getting our own house in order at the moment.

Q9: How is London? How are youth and South Asians in Europe receivingyour music?
To be honest, I'm dying to finish my Phd and get back to my homeland to do more work and build a revolutionary movement. Although I've spent many years out of Pakistan for my higher education, I've never enjoyed being away from my country and my people. Being in London is like being in self-imposed exile.Nonetheless, London was where we were based when we recorded our first single. But so far we have not had the opportunity to perform in London (with the exception of raising slogans and singing in demonstrations). Expats normally download pirated versions of our album from the net. Hence, it is difficult to keep track of album sales and popularity in those terms. But when the album was first released I would get tons of emails a day asking me how people could get copies of our album in France, Britain, Canada, US, Spain, and even Germany. Moreover, GEO's network is massive. Hence, I suspect that we have a number of fans in other countries that we can and should connect with in the near future.

Q10: South Asians in general and Indians in particular have been underracist attacks in Australia and elsewhere? Most of the attackers arebelieved to be from the economically weaker sections of the whitecommunity. As a socialist, a teacher and as someone who has been inthe UK for his education, how do you view this situation? Can musicbuild bridges?
Pardon the cliche, but doesn't the recent international grieving over the death of the King of Pop Michael Jackson prove just that?There is racism that we South Asians face and there is also the racism that we South Asians mete out to each other. Both have to be countered to bring about the solidarity of all oppressed peoples against the multi-billionaire ruling elite of the world today. A ruling elite that feeds off the suffering of millions of people. Enough we say! Oppressed people's of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains!

An Open Letter to The Hindu

A friend asked me to look at the last page of the Hindu today (July 4th, 2009). At a first look, it appeared as though there were a lot of advertisements on the page. After a closer observation, I found out that I was not far from the truth. The lead article “Visiting the Vavuniya IDP camps: an uplifting experience” is nothing short of an advertisement for the Lankan government. The article flows like a good corporate ad - the (non-existent) virtues of the Lankan state have been overstated while its miserable failures have been understated.

I’ve been associated with the media enough to know how the Hindu functions, what are its holy cows, and its perception of “ethics.” I understand ‘Manufacturing Consent’ well enough to know how your dependence on being in the good books of the government and the corporates influences your paper’s stance. But what I don’t understand is your paper’s belief that your reader will accept your stories as gospel truth - this reflects in the quality of quite some your articles which are ideal cases of pamphleteering. And today’s article by Mr N. Ram takes the Oscar.

I fail to understand how a visit to any refugee camp can be an ‘uplifting experience,’ as Mr. Ram describes it. Every refugee is a tale of tragedy, a product of unfavourable circumstances beyond her/his control. And in Sri Lanka, they are products of an ethnic war, the roots of which lie in decades of state sponsored discrimination against the Tamils. Do you seriously think that all of your readers would fall for those pictures of all smiles and no tears? Do you think that we would believe that the Tamils would be happy in camps set up by a government that massacred their people by the thousands to apprehend a handful of so-called “terrorists”?

Never would the Hindu publish a story that is even mildly in praise of Israel. Never would the Hindu miss an opportunity to highlight the plight of the Palestinians. But different standards for genuine movements in India, Sri Lanka and China. But then, you have no interests worthy of concern in Israel. The Israeli govt doesn’t give your journalists free access like Sri Lanka or China. You don’t ruffle feathers in the Indian govt by adopting a pro-Palestinian stance but you might lose your precious government ads by being pro-Tamil or even mildly supportive of those brave tribals of Lal Garh. And let us not forget the Sri Lanka Ratna conferred on your Editor-in-chief by the Lankan state. Thus, the mistakes of the Lankan govt and the misery of the Tamil people - they don’t exist for the Hindu.

You try to portray a picture of being an “ethical” newspaper but your selective morality stands exposed in your coverage of people’s movements in and around India. You are no where near radical - you want to play it safe, be on the good side of the establishment. And your leftist stance? A farce, that will dropped at the first instance of trouble. I am willing to bet that if the Maoists target your interests tomorrow, you will sing paeans to the Salwa Judum. Even pro-right media orgs are better than you. At least they are honest about their stance.

PS I know that this letter will not be published. Truth hurts, and a paper like yours that lives in a world of constructed falsehoods wouldn’t want to face it. This exercise was to let you know that your readers are not fooled by your stories. That there are quite some who know the Hindu for what it is - a pro-establishment, bordering on the reactionary newspaper. There are others who are willing to wage an ideological war against such forces of reaction - through written letters, e-mails and blogs. Of course, we do not have a media mafia to back us, only the truth. And our conscience which we haven’t sold for some Ratna.

I wrote this letter as a response to the article "Visiting the Vavuniya IDP camps: an uplifting experience," by N. Ram in the Hindu, Saturday, July 4th, 2009. A reliable contact within the Hindu told me that it was highly unlikely that my letter would get published. It was expected. My intention was to get the point across to the paper that there is resistance to their propoganda.