23 Facts About Vijay Prashad

Vijay Prashad was born on 1967 and is an Indian-born American, author, journalist, political commentator, and Marxist intellectual.

Vijay Prashad is the executive-director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, editor of LeftWord Books, Chief Correspondent at Globetrotter, and a senior non-resident fellow at Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China.

Ideologically a Marxist, Prashad is well known for his criticisms of capitalism, neocolonialism, American exceptionalism, and Western imperialism, while expressing support for communism and the global south.

Previously, Vijay Prashad has been the George and Martha Kellner Chair in South Asian History and a professor of international studies at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, United States, from 1996 to 2017.

Vijay Prashad is an advisory board member of the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, part of the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, and co-founder of the Forum of Indian Leftists.

Vijay Prashad has provided reporting and political commentary for several publications, including Monthly Review, The Nation, and Salon.

The son of Pran and Soni Prashad, Vijay Prashad was born and raised in Kolkata, India.

Vijay Prashad is the nephew of Marxist Indian politician Brinda Karat.

Vijay Prashad is a fervent proclaimer of democracy, Marxism, socialism, and communism.

Vijay Prashad is an outspoken critic of American hegemony and imperialism.

Vijay Prashad debated historian Juan Cole on the 2011 US-French-NATO military intervention in Libya, which Cole supported.

Vijay Prashad argued that the genuine Libyan rising had been "usurped" by various unsavory characters, including some with CIA connections.

Vijay Prashad offered his analysis of Mother Teresa's missionary work in Calcutta, designating her as a representative of the collective "bourgeois guilt" of Western nations.

Vijay Prashad argued that people like Mother Teresa obscure the tragedies of capitalism.

Vijay Prashad has written extensively about the removal of Evo Morales as President of Bolivia in 2019 and the 2020 Bolivian general election.

Vijay Prashad described Morales' removal as a coup d'etat and said the Organisation of American States had "legitimised" the coup with unsubstantiated conclusions in its preliminary report.

Vijay Prashad said that the government of Jeanine Anez had extended a "welcome mat" to Tesla to establish a factory in Bolivia to manufacture lithium batteries from Bolivia's reserves.

In 2010, as Vijay Prashad was appointed to head the newly formed Trinity Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies at Trinity College, a group of professors wrote a letter protesting the appointment based on "the prominent role he has played in promoting a boycott of Israeli universities and of study abroad in Israel".

The university backed Vijay Prashad and rejected attempts to rescind his appointment.

Alexander Reid Ross and Courtney Dobson, writing in New Lines magazine, said Vijay Prashad has argued that the persecution of Uyghurs in Xinjiang does not constitute a genocide.

Vijay Prashad said he had commented on a YouTube show that he "did not believe there was reliable evidence or investigation to meet the high legal burden of genocide under international law" and that his remarks corresponded with similar statements by figures such as former UN advisor Jeffrey Sachs and the former president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars William Schabas, as well as the US State Department's Office of the Legal Adviser.

Vijay Prashad's writing of protest is always tinged with the beauty of hope.

Vijay Prashad has come under international scrutiny for his association with Neville Roy Singham, who has been accused of funding and promoting pro-Chinese government messaging and causes via a network of organizations.