A black and white image of a group of protesters walking side by side with arms interlinked. One protester is carrying a poster that reads "end the alliance".

Tariq Ali at a 1973 demonstration in London against the visit of the Portuguese prime minister Marcelo Caetano. In his new memoir, Ali carries forward the same passion that made him an icon of the political revolutions of the 1960s and 1970s. IMAGO / ZUMA Keystone

Southasia Review of Books podcast #13: Tariq Ali on a life in writing and dissent

In his new memoir, spanning the 1980s and the present, the renowned writer and activist reflects on neoliberalism in the West and turmoil in Southasia, and fiercely critiques the War on Terror and the crimes of Israel

Published on:

09 Dec 2024, 2:26 am

Welcome to the Southasia Review of Books Podcast from Himal Southasian, where we speak to celebrated authors and emerging literary voices from across Southasia. In this episode, Shwetha Srikanthan speaks to the renowned Pakistani-British activist, writer and public intellectual Tariq Ali about his new memoir, You Can’t Please All: Memoirs 1980-2024 (Verso, November 2024).

Through anecdotes and reflections, Ali offers glimpses of the fascinating company he has kept – Edward Said, Satyajit Ray, Hugo Chávez, Benazir Bhutto – as well as moving accounts of his family and how they lived during the early years of Pakistan.

A sharp-eyed eyewitness to a chaotic and confusing world, Ali understands that its problems don’t ever change, they just take different forms. In this memoir, he recounts a life committed to socialist and anti-imperialist activism, to writing and cultural intervention that ushered in a new era of dissent.

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This episode is now available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Youtube.