Version imprimableAs many of you will know, to run a leftist organization in Pakistan is as challenging a task as any in the world. This is a country that has long been a ’frontline state’ of imperialism, run by a venal elite including a praetorian army, and overwhelmed by a brand of right-wing religious militancy that has eroded an already fragile social fabric.
The AWP represents an attempt to bring together the best traditions of left politics in the 20th century with a new generation of activists politicized by the anti-globalization and anti-war movements of the early 21st century.
Within Pakistan too, a number of popular working-class movements have erupted over the past few years to give impetus to a left revival, including the anti-dictatorship movement against General Musharraf’s regime in 2007.
We write to you on the eve of our second congress, which is scheduled to take place in Karachi on 15-16 October 2016. We expect a gathering of four hundred delegates from all federating units; Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Siraiki Wasaib, FATA, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir. We also expect to have representation from overseas.
The congress will be an opportunity for party members to deliberate on ideological questions, develop party strategy for the future and elect a new federal committee, which is the party’s apex decision-making body.
Our plan is to undertake a ’train march’ from Peshawar to Karachi, via Lahore a 24 hours journey, as part of the build-up to the congress. This will allow the party’s message to be disseminated at each railway station in the country, a regular occurrence during the heyday of the Pakistani left in the late 1960s and early 1970s. We then expect to paint the country’s largest city (Karachi) red once we all congregate there!
We have booked three coaches of Awam Express that will start from Peshawer on 13th October; to reach Karachi on 14th October evening, all the delegates and observers will travel together on this train from Khaiber Pukhtoonkhwa, Punjab and Saraki Waseeb. The return is booked on Khaiber Mail train on 16th October 2016 from Karachi. There will be public addresses on each railway station on the way to Karachi and red flags will be hosted on the train.
We are a membership-based organization and generally bear the burden of all our activities. For the congress too party members will dig deep into their pockets, but as volunteer activists, it is not possible for us to meet all the expenses of the congress on our own.
We are therefore requesting all well-wishers to help us raise funds so as to continue the party-building process that we set into motion in November 2012.
We hope to raise Rs. 25 lakhs (US$22,000) and every penny counts.
In contributing to the cause, you will be part of the left rebuilding process in a country whose long-suffering working people, oppressed nationalities, women and religious minorities can only be extricated from their chains by a coherent and organised left-wing political party. The AWP is that party.
Please deposit your donations to the following account, or send a cross cheque in the name of Awami Workers Party
Account holder: Awami Workers Party
Bank name: Bank of Khyber
Account number: 01726002,
Branch code 0114,
Bank address: Bank of Khaiber Davis Road Lahore
IBAN: PK19 KHYB 0114000001726002
We need
Total budget; 2,500,000
We have raised 2,023,900
of which this is paid 1,289,900
This is still to be paid 734,000
so this is still to be raised; 476,100
