I was introduced to politics at a very young age. Both my parents were very engaged with the movement against the dictatorship in the 1980s. Some of my earliest memories are of WAF (Women action Forum) and MRD (Movement for the Restoration of Democracy) protests. Moreover, my parents’ friends were all various leftist and progressive intellectuals. Hence, since I grew up in a politicised atmosphere it was only natural that in my late teens I got involved in political activism.

In 1998, after returning from college in the USA, where ironically I turned towards Marxism, I joined the Mazdoor Kissan Party. For about four years I understudied working class and peasant leaders like Ghulam Nabi Kalu and Latif Chaudhry. I also developed a lifelong friendship with Irfan Ali. Hence, the first decade of my political experience was in learning grassroots politics from workers themselves.

Very soon we were propelled into the Lawyers’ Movement. This provided the opportunity to platform our ideas through music. Laal came into being and my music and politics merged into each other. It has given me the opportunity to travel to every nook and corner of Pakistan to play music to workers and peasants.

In 1998, after returning from college in the USA, where ironically I turned towards Marxism, I joined the Mazdoor Kissan Party. For about four years, I studied working class and peasant leaders like Ghulam Nabi Kalu and Latif Chaudhry. I also developed a lifelong friendship with Irfan Ali. 

The other aspect of activism has been my public academic engagement. When I returned from college in ’98, I became a university teacher. But I always felt that my academic work was restricted to the elite. I wanted to reach out to those who could not afford a college education. So a few years ago I began to organise online lectures on philosophy, history and politics. I have produced over 300 public lectures that have proven to be surprisingly popular. As I enter my midlife, I am known less as a rock star and more as a publicly engaged academic. This brings me an enormous sense of self-satisfaction and pride because for me politics, art, and education were always part of a whole. A whole that connects us, defines us, and binds us to one another. I am still filled with an umeed e sahar as I see that the contradictions of capitalism have forced the Left out of its defeatism and back into its role as the gadfly of society. The future is bright. The future is red.

The writer is a Pakistani academic, musician and socialist political activist. He is the general secretary of the Mazdoor Kissan Party of Pakistan