“WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A MARXIST?”

The Hari Sharma Memorial Lecture series was instituted by the Dr. Hari Sharma Foundation for South Asian Advancement in memory of Hari Sharma, who left his estate to the Foundation when he passed away in 2010. The purpose of the series is to present scholars and writers who have made a significant contribution to the struggle for emancipation in South Asia. The first lecture in this series was presented by Jan Myrdal, one of the most prominent Swedish writers, a life-long Marxist, and for many years a friend of Hari Sharma. Myrdal wrote his first book on India, India Waits, after his visit to the “disturbed areas” of Andhra as a guest of C.P. Reddy in 1980. He visited Dandakaranya in 2010 at the invitation of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and wrote about his conversation with the leadership of the party in Red Star over India: Impressions, Reflections and Discussions When the Wretched of the Earth Are Rising (Kolkata, 2012). Following his speaking tour after the book's release in Kolkata, Myrdal was banned from visiting India by the Government of India.

The 2012 Hari Sharma Memorial Lecture was held at the Vancouver Public Library in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, on 17 November 2012. (Note: Hari Sharma was a longtime member of the editorial board of Critical Asian Studies.)