The lesson Asia keeps teaching is that political independence does not deliver independence. Vijay Prashad laid out the agenda plainly: “Hands off Asia is more than closing bases; it means allowing the people of Asia to determine their destiny. Hands Off Asia means socialism today”The conference grappled with the interconnected systems of imperial control: military, economic, political and ideological. Left student organisations swept union elections throughout the campuses of Pakistan, demanding free education and championing anti-war politics. The kingdom has historically sat at the heart of the US military architecture in Southeast Asia, hosting some of the most significant economic, military and political infrastructure in the region.