Eqbal Ahmad: Confronting Empire

Contents

“Dawn of Freedom” by Faiz Ahmed Faiz
Map of South Asia
Biographical Sketch of Eqbal Ahmad
Introduction by David Barsamian
Foreword by Edward W. Said
Chapter 1 Think Critically and Take Risks
Chapter 2 Distorted HistoriesNotes
Chapter 3 Do Not Accept the Safe Haven
Selected Bibliography of Eqbal Ahmad’s Writing
Index

Reviews

“Eqbal Ahmad, perhaps the shrewdest and most original anti-imperialist analyst of Asia and Africa…[was] a man of enormous charisma and incorruptible ideals…. He had an almost instinctive attraction to movements of the oppressed and the persecuted…[and] a formidable knowledge of history. Arabs, for example, learned more from him about the failures of Arab nationalism than from anyone else.… Ahmad was that rare thing, an intellectual unintimidated by power or authority.”-Edward W. Said, author of Culture and Imperialism, eulogizing Ahmad in The Nation and The Guardian

“[Eqbal Ahmad] was a shining example of what a true internationalist should be.… Eqbal was at home in the history of all the world’s great civilizations. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of states past and present, and he knew that states had a rightful role to play. But he also knew that states existed to serve peoplenot the other way aroundand he had little to do with governments, except as a thorn in their side. To friends, colleagues, and students, however, he gave unstintingly of himself and his time.… His example and his memory will inspire many to carry on his work.”-Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations

“A very dedicated and honorable activist, Eqbal was right in the middle of everything.… He was a student of revolution and imperialism and a very good one.”-Noam Chomsky, MIT

“Eqbal Ahmad was unique in combining compassion for the dispossessed-en masse and one by one; the intellectual capacity to analyze cultural, political, and economic issues on a transnational level; and an ability to raise his always eloquent voice on behalf of constructive and original solutions.”-Victory Navasky, Publisher and Editorial Director, The Nation

“Fighting words, wise words, from one of the most powerful activist intellectuals of ou