Since Ahmad al-Sharaa came to power in Syria, the Damascus government has been given carte blanche to use maximum force against any threat to its continued rule, writes VIJAY PRASHAD

ONE hundred years ago today, on November 15 1922, an Indian freedom fighter and communist was elected to the British Parliament as the Battersea Trades Council and Labour Party MP.
Shapurji Saklatvala was a member of India’s industrially wealthy Tata family, yet he bridged class and cultural barriers with his powerful commitment to the revolutionary cause.
Much of what Saklatvala spoke about a century ago still has relevance. He was forthright in support of the many, among the international working class, and not the world’s elite few. He opposed capitalism, imperialism, colonialism, racism and monarchism.



