Vijay Prashad

Last updated

Vijay Prashad
UNCTAD Public Symposium 2013 - Plenary II (9200112948) (cropped).jpg
Prashad in 2010
Born
Kolkata, India
Education
Relatives Brinda Karat (aunt)
Website thetricontinental.org

Vijay Prashad, (born 1967), is an Indian historian, author, journalist, political commentator, and Marxist intellectual. [1] [2] He is the executive-director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, editor of LeftWord Books, Chief Correspondent at Globetrotter, [3] and a senior non-resident fellow at Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China. [4] Ideologically a Marxist, Prashad is well known for his criticisms of capitalism, neocolonialism, American exceptionalism, and Western imperialism, while expressing support for communism and the global south. [5] [6] [7]

Contents

Previously, Prashad has been the George and Martha Kellner Chair in South Asian History and a professor of international studies at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, United States, from 1996 to 2017. Presently, he is an advisory board member of the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, part of the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, [8] [9] and co-founder of the Forum of Indian Leftists (FOIL). [1] [10]

Prashad has provided reporting and political commentary for several publications, including Monthly Review , [11] The Nation , [12] and Salon . [13]

Early life and background

The son of Pran and Soni Prashad, [14] Vijay Prashad was born and raised in Kolkata, India. [15] He attended The Doon School as a child. [16] In the United States, he received a BA from Pomona College in 1989 as well as earning a PhD at the University of Chicago in 1994—writing a dissertation under the supervision of Bernard S. Cohn. [17] [18] [19] He is the nephew of Marxist Indian politician Brinda Karat. [20] Prashad identifies as queer. [21]

Political views

Vijay Prashad is a fervent proclaimer of democracy, Marxism, socialism, and communism. [1] [2] [22]

Criticism of capitalism is a recurrent theme throughout all of his work; one summary of such criticisms can be found in his 2002 book Fat Cats and Running Dogs. In addition, criticisms of imperialism, colonialism, neocolonialism and other such topics are regular themes.[ citation needed ]

Prashad's political views are paired with frequent calls for people to become activists, struggle, join movements, protest, organise in political parties, form trade unions and other such related activities. [23]

Elsewhere, he has stated that American leftists, specifically, are not as effective as they could be in situations where they win influence through community organising, such as in local governments, because they often do not appreciate ideas originating from other parts of the world. He also calls on leftists, in general, to have a long-term view of social struggle rather than a focus on short-term results; this short-term focus often results from an economic system where companies are incentivised to demonstrate quarterly profits. [24]

U.S. foreign policy

Prashad is an outspoken critic of American hegemony and imperialism. [25] [ unreliable source? ] [26] He debated historian Juan Cole on the 2011 US-French-NATO military intervention in Libya. Cole was for it, Prashad against. [27] Prashad argued that the genuine Libyan rising had been "usurped" by various unsavory characters, including some with CIA connections. [28] Prashad wrote the 2012 book Arab Spring, Libyan Winter, released through AK Press, on the topic. [29] [30]

Mother Teresa and Western charity

Prashad offered his analysis of Mother Teresa's missionary work in Calcutta, designating her as a representative of the collective "bourgeois guilt" of Western nations. [31] He argued that people like Mother Teresa obscure the tragedies of capitalism. For instance, "During the night of December 2–3, 1984, the Bhopal disaster poisoned thousands of people". He states that the Bhopal disaster, which was caused by Union Carbide, was the most flagrant example of a transnational corporation's disregard for human life in defence of its own profit. In 1983, Union Carbide's sales came to US$9 billion and its assets totalled US$10bn. Part of this profit came from a tendency to shirk any responsibility towards safety standards, not just in India, but also in their West Virginia plant. After the disaster, Mother Teresa flew into Bhopal and, escorted in two government cars, she offered Bhopal's victims small aluminium medals of St. Mary. "This could have been an accident," she told the survivors, "it's like a fire (that) could break out anywhere. That is why it is important to forgive. Forgiveness offers us a clean heart and people will be a hundred times better after it." Pope John Paul II joined Mother Teresa with his analysis that Bhopal was a "sad event" which resulted from "man's efforts to make progress." [32] [33] [ improper synthesis? ]

In the same article he also commented on Mother Teresa's alleged links with Charles Keating and Michele Duvalier (wife of Haitian dictator Baby Doc Duvalier). Denouncing the "cruel rule of capital" he also offered the view that the communists of Calcutta were the "real nameless Mother Teresas who conduct the necessary work towards socialism, for the elimination of poverty forever." [34]

Resignation of Evo Morales

Prashad has written extensively about the removal of Evo Morales as President of Bolivia in 2019 and the 2020 Bolivian general election. [35] He described Morales' removal as a coup d'état and said the Organisation of American States had "legitimised" the coup with unsubstantiated conclusions in its preliminary report. [35] In March 2020, he wrote that Morales' removal from office was the result of his government's "socialist policy toward Bolivia's resources" which required that returns from mining resources such as lithium "be properly shared with the Bolivian people". He said that the government of Jeanine Áñez had extended a "welcome mat" to Tesla to establish a factory in Bolivia to manufacture lithium batteries from Bolivia's reserves. [35]

Israel-Palestine conflict

In 2010, as Prashad was appointed to head the newly formed Trinity Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies at Trinity College, a group of professors wrote a letter protesting the appointment based on "the prominent role he has played in promoting a boycott of Israeli universities and of study abroad in Israel". [36] After initially refusing to meet with them, Trinity President James Jones eventually met with representatives from Jewish organisations, including the Connecticut Jewish federation, the Anti-Defamation League, and the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford on 14 September 2010. One participant reported a "veiled threat" to have Jewish donors "weigh in". The university backed Prashad and rejected attempts to rescind his appointment. [9]

Appraisal

The historian Paul Buhle writes, "Vijay Prashad is a literary phenomenon." [37]

The writer Amitava Kumar notes, "Prashad is our own Frantz Fanon. His writing of protest is always tinged with the beauty of hope." [38]

Criticism

Prashad has come under international scrutiny for his association with Neville Roy Singham, who has been accused of funding and promoting pro-Chinese government messaging and causes via a network of organizations (including the Prashad-associated Tricontinental Institute, NewsClick, The People's Forum, BreakThrough News, and Globetrotter). [39] [40] Prashad has responded to the criticism, deeming it “scurrilous” and characterizing it as an attempt “to conjure a conspiracy from something that is no secret at all” as well as a pretended “scoop based on public statements that I – and others – have made. The [critics] … uncovered no conspiracy and had no scoop, only innuendo." [41]

Notable works

As author

As editor

Articles

Interviews

Talks

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Noam Chomsky</span> American linguist and activist (born 1928)

Avram Noam Chomsky is an American professor and public intellectual known for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a major figure in analytic philosophy and one of the founders of the field of cognitive science. He is a laureate professor of linguistics at the University of Arizona and an institute professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Among the most cited living authors, Chomsky has written more than 150 books on topics such as linguistics, war, and politics. In addition to his work in linguistics, since the 1960s Chomsky has been an influential voice on the American left as a consistent critic of U.S. foreign policy, contemporary capitalism, and corporate influence on political institutions and the media.

"Rogue state" is a term applied by some international theorists to states that they consider threatening to the world's peace. These states meet certain criteria, such as being ruled by authoritarian or totalitarian governments that severely restrict human rights, sponsoring terrorism, or seeking to proliferate weapons of mass destruction. The term is used most by the United States ; in his speech at the United Nations (UN) in 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated this phrase. U.S. politicians have used the term to describe countries such as Iran, Syria, North Korea, Afghanistan, Cuba and Venezuela. The term has been applied by other countries as well.

<i>Hegemony or Survival</i> Book by Noam Chomsky

Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance is a book about the United States and its foreign policy written by American political activist and linguist Noam Chomsky. It was first published in the United States in November 2003 by Metropolitan Books and then in the United Kingdom by Penguin Books. It was republished by Haymarket Books in January 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fourth International Posadist</span> Trotskyist faction founded 1962 by J. Posadas

The Fourth International Posadist is a Trotskyist international organisation. It was founded in 1962 by J. Posadas, who had been the leader of the Latin America Bureau of the Fourth International in the 1950s, and of the Fourth International's section in Argentina. Between their split from the International Secretariat of the Fourth International in 1962 and Posadas' death in 1981, Posadists developed a strain of communism that included several fringe ideas, which brought them into conflict with more mainstream left-wing groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Parenti</span> American academic (born 1933)

Michael John Parenti is an American political scientist, academic historian and cultural critic who writes on scholarly and popular subjects. He has taught at universities as well as run for political office. Parenti is well known for his Marxist writings and lectures, and is an intellectual of the American Left.

Polyculturalism is an ideological approach to the consequences of intercultural engagements within a geographical area which emphasises similarities between, and the enduring interconnectedness of, groups which self-identify as distinct, thus blurring the boundaries which may be perceived by members of those groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Felipe Quispe</span> Bolivian historian, politician, and trade unionist (1942–2021)

Felipe Quispe Huanca "Mallku", was a Bolivian historian and political leader. He headed the Pachakuti Indigenous Movement (MIP) and was general secretary of the United Union Confederation of Working Peasants of Bolivia (CSUTCB).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raghu Rai</span> Documentary photographer

Raghu Rai is an Indian photographer and photojournalist. He was a protégé of Henri Cartier-Bresson, who nominated Rai, then a young photojournalist, to join Magnum Photos in 1977.

"American-born confused desi" (ABCD) is an informal term used to refer to South Asian Americans, particularly of Indian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi origin, born or raised in the United States, in contrast to those who were born overseas and later settled in the US.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Political positions of Noam Chomsky</span> Views of the linguist on organized society

Noam Chomsky is an intellectual, political activist, and critic of the foreign policy of the United States and other governments. Noam Chomsky describes himself as an anarcho-syndicalist and libertarian socialist, and is considered to be a key intellectual figure within the left wing of politics of the United States.

The League Against Imperialism and Colonial Oppression was a transnational anti-imperialist organisation in the interwar period. It has also been referred to as the League of Oppressed People, and the World Anti-Imperialist League, or simply and confusingly under the misnomer Anti-Imperialist League.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States and state terrorism</span> Terrorism allegations against the U.S.

Several scholars have accused the United States of involvement in state terrorism. They have written about the US and other liberal democracies' use of state terrorism, particularly in relation to the Cold War. According to them, state terrorism is used to protect the interest of capitalist elites, and the U.S. organized a neo-colonial system of client states, co-operating with regional elites to rule through terror.

James Petras is a retired Bartle Professor (Emeritus) of Sociology at Binghamton University in Binghamton, New York and adjunct professor at Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada who has published on political issues with particular focus on Latin America and the Middle East, imperialism, globalization, and leftist social movements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anti-Zionism</span> Opposition to Zionism

Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the modern State of Israel, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the region of Palestine—a region partly coinciding with the biblical Land of Israel—was flawed or unjust in some way.

The Forum of Indian Leftists (FOIL), or the Forum of Inquilabi Leftists, is a group of left-wing activists of Indian background. The organization describes itself as "a clearinghouse for radical Indian activists in the United States, Canada and England." Its purpose is described by its founders as "some place for us to share information, offer support, and encourage each other to write in the open media on issues pertaining to Indians overseas and India itself, and help build projects that make our radical politics more material."

This is a list of writings published by the American writer Noam Chomsky.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Left-wing populism</span> Political ideology that combines left-wing politics and populist rhetoric and themes

Left-wing populism, also called social populism, is a political ideology that combines left-wing politics with populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric often includes elements of anti-elitism, opposition to the Establishment, and speaking for the "common people". Recurring themes for left-wing populists include economic democracy, social justice, and skepticism of globalization. Socialist theory plays a lesser role than in traditional left-wing ideologies.

LeftWord Books is a New Delhi–based publisher that seeks to reflect the views of the Left in India and South Asia. Its Managing Director is Prakash Karat, the former General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M). The Chief Editor is Vijay Prashad and the Managing Editor is the actor-publisher Sudhanva Deshpande.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Brooks (political commentator)</span> American talk show host (1983–2020)

Michael Jamal Brooks was an American talk show host, writer, left-wing political commentator, and comedian. While co-hosting The Majority Report with Sam Seder, he launched The Michael Brooks Show in August 2017 and provided commentary for media outlets, making regular appearances on shows such as The Young Turks. Brooks contributed to various publications, including HuffPost, The Washington Post, Al Jazeera, openDemocracy, and Jacobin. His book Against the Web: A Cosmopolitan Answer to the New Right was published by Zero Books in April 2020.

<i>The Withdrawal</i> 2022 book by Noam Chomsky and Vijay Prashad

The Withdrawal: Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan and the Fragility of U.S. Power is a 2022 non-fiction book written by Noam Chomsky and Vijay Prashad and is based on a conversation between them in 2021.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "ZNet - Junevijayint". ZNetwork . 16 April 2013. Archived from the original on 16 April 2013. Retrieved 24 November 2017.[ permanent dead link ]
  2. 1 2 "I came to Marxism against my self-interest. Born into affluence, I was raised in an revolutionary city (Calcutta, India)" Left history, Volumes 11–12, pp 61, Department of History, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, 2006
  3. ↑ Prashad, Vijay. "Vijay Prashad, Author at Globetrotter Media". Globetrotter Media. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
  4. ↑ Prashad, Vijay (21 January 2022). "Morocco Drives a War in Western Sahara for Its Phosphates". NewsClick . Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  5. ↑ Prashad, Vijay (23 November 2022). Vijay Prashad - Imperialism suffocates humanity like a Boa Constrictor (Video). Inis Oirr: Left Bloc Ireland – via YouTube.
  6. ↑ Prashad, Vijay (22 May 2023). Vijay Prashad: Why Does India Remain Entrapped by the UK? (Video). Wave Media – via YouTube.
  7. ↑ Chomsky, Noam; Prashad, Vijay (28 August 2022). Noam Chomsky & Vijay Prashad: American Exceptionalism is Imperial Policy (Video). Jacobin – via YouTube.
  8. ↑ "Advisory Board - US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel". US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. 3 February 2009. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  9. 1 2 Guttman, Nathan (26 August 2014). "Anti-Israel Professor Returns to Trinity College — Will Controversy Come Back Too?". The Forward . Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  10. ↑ Mathew, Biju; Prashad, Vijay (25 March 2001). "Hindutva For a Few Dollars a Day". People's Democracy . Vol. 12. Archived from the original on 28 August 2008. Retrieved 28 August 2008.
  11. ↑ "Monthly Review | Vijay Prashad". Monthly Review . Retrieved 29 June 2023.
  12. ↑ "Vijay Prashad". The Nation . 2 April 2010. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
  13. ↑ "Vijay Prashad's Articles at Salon.com". Salon.com . Retrieved 29 June 2023.
  14. ↑ Prashad, Vijay (31 May 2013). "My Japanese parents: Remembering what Japan meant to those who dreamt of transforming India after Independence". Himal Southasian . Retrieved 20 November 2024.
  15. ↑ Prashad, Vijay (13 July 2020). "Columnist Vijay Prashad: Coronavirus and the virus of debt". Daily Hampshire Gazette . Archived from the original on 13 July 2020. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
  16. ↑ Traub, Alex (19 July 2016). "A nuanced gaze on West Asia". The Telegraph .
  17. ↑ "2011 Indian-American Achiever Awards" (PDF). GOPIO-Connecticut. Global Organization of People of Indian Origin. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 May 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  18. ↑ "Vijay Prashad Video - Book Interviews". OVGuide . Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  19. ↑ Prashad, Vijay (1994). Revolting labor: The making of the Balmiki community. (Volumes I and II) (PhD). University of Chicago. p. v.
  20. ↑ "Who is Brinda Karat? All you need to know about CPI (M) leader who blocked bulldozer amid demolition drive in Jahangirpuri". The Free Press Journal . 20 April 2022. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
  21. ↑ Prashad, Vijay [@vijayprashad] (5 May 2024). "Almost thirty years ago - 'queer, radical, and 100% South Asian' (largely due to the climate after the nuclear tests in Pokhran, Rajasthan). That was my slogan then, mouth full of paan and head full of Marxism" (Tweet). Retrieved 20 November 2024– via Twitter.
  22. ↑ Prashad, Vijay (18 September 2021). What's the Left to Do in a World on Fire?. YouTube. China and the Left: A Socialist Forum (conference). Retrieved 28 June 2023.
  23. ↑ Prashad, Vijay (17 March 2009). "The Dragons, Their Dragoons". The Nation. Archived from the original on 13 November 2019. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  24. ↑ Against the Grain – October 18, 2004 (Podcast). KPFA. 18 October 2004. Retrieved 28 November 2018
  25. ↑ "Vijay Prashad has come to be known for his expert critical analysis of US imperialism and war", Chopping Through the Foundations of Racism With Vijay Prashad, Joel Wendland, 8 August 2003, Friction Magazine
  26. ↑ Prashad, Vijay (16 August 2003). "Casual Imperialism". Global Policy Forum . People's Weekly World. Archived from the original on 10 June 2009. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  27. ↑ "A Debate on U.S. Military Intervention in Libya: Juan Cole v. Vijay Prashad". Democracy Now! . 29 March 2011. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  28. ↑ "Professor: In Libya, A Civil War, Not Uprising". All Things Considered . NPR. 2 April 2011. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  29. ↑ "Vijay Prashad: Arab Spring Libyan Winter - Part I". YouTube . 18 July 2012. Archived from the original on 12 December 2021. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  30. ↑ "Vijay Prashad: Arab Spring Libyan Winter - Part II". YouTube. 18 July 2012. Archived from the original on 12 December 2021. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  31. ↑ White Women in Racialized Spaces: Imaginative Transformation and Ethical Action in Literature, Samina Najmi, Rajini Srikanth, Mother Teresa as the Mirror of Bourgeois Guilt - Chapter 4, pp 67, Published by SUNY Press, 2002, ISBN   0-7914-5477-0, ISBN   978-0-7914-5477-0
  32. ↑ Hazarika, Sanjoy (12 December 1984). "MOTHER TERESA CARRIES HER MESSAGE TO BHOPAL". New York Times.
  33. ↑ "POPE REMEMBERS BHOPAL DEAD". Chicago Tribune. 7 February 1986. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
  34. ↑ Prashad, Vijay (September 1997). "Mother Teresa: A Communist View". Political Affairs . Vol. 40. Archived from the original on 24 July 2008 – via Australian Marxist Review.
  35. 1 2 3 Prashad, Vijay; Bejarano, Alejandro (11 March 2020). "Elon Musk is South America's neo-conquistador". Salon. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  36. ↑ Prashad, Vijay. "Understanding the boycott of Israel's universities" Washington Post , 24 January 2014
  37. ↑ Buhle, Paul (1 January 2014). "Prashad at Large". Monthly Review . 65 (8): 58. doi:10.14452/MR-065-08-2014-01_5 . Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  38. ↑ Rana, Aziz (18 March 2014). "Break the Silence: An Interview with Vijay Prashad". Asian American Writers' Workshop . Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  39. ↑ Hvistendahl, Mara; Fahrenthold, David A.; Chutel, Lynsey; Jhaveri, Ishaan (5 August 2023). "A Global Web of Chinese Propaganda Leads to a U.S. Tech Mogul". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 16 May 2024.
  40. ↑ Ross, Alexander Reid; Dobson, Courtney (18 January 2022). "The Big Business of Uyghur Genocide Denial". New Lines Magazine. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
  41. ↑ Prashad, Vijay (2 July 2022). "Genocide Denier? Not Me, Pal. Try the White House Instead". CounterPunch . Retrieved 18 July 2024. The reference is specifically to the New Lines piece.
  42. ↑ Prashad, Vijay. "Reality Asserts Itself - Vijay Prashad". The Real News Network . Archived from the original on 19 June 2017.
  43. ↑ Hedges, Thomas; Prashad, Vijay (23 February 2015). "What Was Missing from Obama's Anti-Terrorism Speech". The Real News Network. Archived from the original on 19 June 2016.
External videos
Nuvola apps kaboodle.svg Vijay Prashad - Hybrid Wars and US Imperialism on YouTube
Nuvola apps kaboodle.svg The Chris Hedges Report: Struggle makes us human on YouTube
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.