Street Fighting Years
Pakistan United Kingdom

Street Fighting Years

by Tariq Ali

Summary

In Street Fighting Years, Tariq Ali recounts his transformation from a young Pakistani student into one of the most prominent radical activists of the 1960s. Moving between London, Paris, Prague, Hanoi, and other centres of political upheaval, Ali offers a personal account of a decade defined by student revolts, anti-war demonstrations, revolutionary movements, and challenges to established political authority.

Through his encounters with figures such as Malcolm X, Bertrand Russell, Che Guevara, and Mick Jagger, Ali captures the energy and contradictions of a generation determined to reshape society. He reflects on the Vietnam War, the suppression of the Prague Spring, the rise of the international protest movement, and the growing opposition to Western imperialism. Blending autobiography with political history, the book explores the hopes, disagreements, and disappointments of activists who believed that collective action could transform the world. It is both a portrait of a turbulent era and a reflection on the personal costs of political commitment.

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Tariq Ali
Tariq Ali

Tariq Ali is a British-Pakistani writer, historian, filmmaker, and political commentator born in Lahore, Pakistan, in 1943. He studied at the University of Punjab before moving to Britain, where he became involved in student activism and political movements during the 1960s. He is a longtime editor of New Left Review and has written extensively on history, politics, imperialism, and international affairs. Ali is the author of numerous nonfiction books, including The Clash of Fundamentalisms and The Duel, as well as plays, screenplays, and novels. Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree is the first novel in his Islam Quintet, a series of historical novels exploring encounters and conflicts between Muslim and Western societies across different periods. His historical fiction frequently revisits overlooked perspectives and challenges dominant narratives about religion, empire, and cultural identity. Through his writing, Ali examines how political power shapes historical memory and how communities struggle to preserve their cultural heritage in the aftermath of conquest.

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Published
2018
Author
Tariq Ali