Counterview

By A Representative   Over 200 delegates from people’s movements, trade unions, farmers’ organisations, political parties, student movements and civil society organisations gathered in New Delhi on 21–22 August for the People’s BRICS Summit , formally titled the Public Dialogue Forum: Global South Cooperation & Alternatives. The two-day event, featuring deliberations across 10 workshops, culminated in a resolution calling on BRICS nations to move beyond rhetoric and deliver concrete, time-bound action on the demands of working people across the Global South.

By Kumar Krishnan*  The question of Tibet has once again entered international discourse, raising difficult questions about human rights, religious freedom, cultural identity, language, and the relationship between political power and the rights of indigenous communities. On 20 August 2026, the Kashag and the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile jointly organised a solidarity prayer service and peace march to mark the 49th day since the death of Lobga Rangzen, a Tibetan activist who died after self-immolating on 2 July in front of the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

By Raqif Makhdoomi*  There is a growing perception in parts of Kashmir that a return of the Congress to power at the Centre would necessarily mean a return to political normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir. That expectation deserves to be examined against the historical record. This is not an argument that the Congress and the BJP are identical. They are different political formations, with different ideologies, political traditions and approaches. But Kashmir's experience with successive governments in New Delhi also shows that the region's political grievances cannot be understood simply through the lens of today's party politics.

By Julian Bokser   Javier Milei’s government recently suffered a double defeat. The first occurred in the streets, with massive protests against his plan to liberalize land purchases by foreigners. The second took place in the halls of the Argentine Congress, where he failed to secure enough votes to pass the bill as presented. Both defeats point to the same thing: a power project that is beginning to show the limits of its strength. The bill that the ruling party sought to impose, under the name ‘Law on the Inviolability of Private Property,’ was neither an isolated initiative nor a simple regulatory adjustment. 

By Dae-Han Song   Trump offered to scale down the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise (carried out annually by the US Forces in Korea (USFK) and Republic of Korea (ROK) military). In Trumpian style, the decision was framed as everything all at once: punishment against South Korea for its tepid response on Iran; and as a conciliatory gesture to North Korea. And, the decision, in Trumpian fashion, fell flat on its face. Rather than feeling the pressure, the Lee Administration embraced the decision. Rather than embracing the decision as a conciliatory gesture, North Korea rejected it . So, what happened?

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak*  Nestled in the county of Cambridgeshire, the historic city of Cambridge is bisected by the River Cam and defined by its eponymous university. Yet beneath the dreaming spires and academic prestige lies a starkly divided municipality in eastern England — Cambridge is one of the most economically unequal cities in Britain. The railway line, a casual traveller's marker, serves as a brutal socioeconomic scar, demarcating the impoverished north and east from the affluent enclaves that lie opposite. This entrenched class divide, far from being a modern anomaly, has long nurtured a vibrant, albeit fragmented, communist movement in the city that persists in various guises to this day.