Syed Shozab Raza

How do contemporary revolutionaries forge common goals in the context of fragmented and dispersed forms of capitalism? This question is currently being asked by scholars who track the disabling effects of the collapse of capital-labor as the primary axis of exploitation and mobilization, and seek to reconcile claims for recognition of difference with calls for unity. It is also being asked by Maoist revolutionaries in South Punjab, Pakistan, who are actively analyzing the fractured forms of agrarian capitalism that have taken hold in their region, and devising modes of articulation to forge a unified revolutionary project across differences of class, patrilineage and gender. My project investigates the categories these revolutionaries use to make sense of the political-economic relations of their region, their concepts of revolution, and their mobilization strategies. I will explore the theorizing, analysis, and praxis of these revolutionaries in their own terms, and make it available for comparative reflection by scholars and activists in other parts of the globe who are increasingly rejecting the dictum that ‘there is no alternative’ to capitalism as we know it.