Adieu, Amma!
My Amma (Malayalam word for Mother) passed away...
Environment
Featured Stories
![Rescuers and relatives sit in front of collapsed buildings after recent flooding caused by Mediterranean storm Daniel, in Derna, Libya, Monday, Sept. 18, 2023. [AP Photo/Muhammad J. Elalwany]](https://cdn.countercurrents.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Libya-Flood-4-480x330.webp "After protests in flood-hit Derna, Libyan officials order journalists to leave 9")
India
Why the Central Government Should Rush Special Aid Package for Himachal Pradesh
On September 18 the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu made an announcement in the State Legislative Assembly that his government will be announcing a special aid package for all people who have suffered serious harm in the recent spate of landslides, floods and excessive rain. He said that the state had not yet received the expected help[Read More…]
World
![Rescuers and relatives sit in front of collapsed buildings after recent flooding caused by Mediterranean storm Daniel, in Derna, Libya, Monday, Sept. 18, 2023. [AP Photo/Muhammad J. Elalwany]](https://cdn.countercurrents.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Libya-Flood-4-300x200.webp "After protests in flood-hit Derna, Libyan officials order journalists to leave 36")
After protests in flood-hit Derna, Libyan officials order journalists to leave
Protests erupted in Derna on Monday, as anger exploded among workers in the city against authorities who failed to take critical measures to protect it from flooding. When Storm Daniel hit the region, Derna’s poorly maintained dams burst, and a massive wall of water descended on the city, killing an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 people. The response to the protests[Read More…]
Globalisation
Tossing Neoliberalism into the Dumpster
It’s official, according to a speech by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, the United States is jumping off the neoliberal globalization bandwagon (a root cause of domestic extremism) and it couldn’t come soon enough as institutions of government are sucking up more and more angry exhaust fumes from constituents, as well as encountering a world trade map with China bullying[Read More…]
Human Rights
Stop State Repression Against Protesters Against Bauxite Mining in Odisha
“The rule of law does not do away with the unequal distribution of wealth and power, but reinforces that inequality with the authority of law. It allocates wealth and poverty in such complicated and indirect ways as to leave the victims bewildered.” – Howard Zinn Since the first week of August, in Raygada, Kalahandi and Koraput districts, there has been[Read More…]
Imperialism
“The Greatest Fighting Force in Human History” – The Perpetual Wars You Aren’t Supposed to Notice
In his message to the troops prior to the July 4th weekend, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin offered high praise indeed. “We have the greatest fighting force in human history,” he tweeted, connecting that claim to the U.S. having patriots of all colors, creeds, and backgrounds “who bravely volunteer to defend our country and our values.” As a retired Air[Read More…]
Communal Harmony
Freedom Movement Re-Emphasized the Heritage of Communal Harmony
It is an undeniable fact of Indian history that all those leaders of the freedom movement who received the greatest support and affection of people were those who had very firm faith in communal harmony. For Jawaharlal Nehru inter-faith harmony was a matter of the deepest commitment and a firm base for the progress of the country. Badshah Khan[Read More…]
Climate Change
More Butterflies, Fewer Billionaires — Unrigging the Global Economy
Welcome to the New Green Colonialism- One Last Shot at Reducing Global Inequality and Saving the Planet In a fit of madness or just plain desperation, you’ve enrolled in a get-rich-quick scheme. All you have to do is sell some products, sign up some friends, make some phone calls. Follow that simple formula and you’ll soon be pulling in tens[Read More…]
Environmental Protection
Why Healthy Forests Mean Fewer Pandemics
As scientists continue to research the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic, one fact has become clear: Deforestation is linked to emerging diseases. When humans destroy forests to create land for human use, whether it’s for farming, mining, logging, infrastructure development, or urban expansion, biodiversity is diminished. And as some species go extinct, the ones that remain and even flourish in degraded[Read More…]
Counter Solutions
Veganic Farming: How My Tiny Plot Produced 5,000 Pounds of Food Without Using Manure
Is it possible to grow food without exploiting animals in gardening/homesteading and farming systems? Even if we do not keep domesticated animals, isn’t it necessary to at least use animal manure? The veganic way of growing shows us that not only is it possible to grow fruits, vegetables, and herbs without manure but it is also productive, ecologically sustainable, and[Read More…]
Resource Crisis
The Project of Capital and the Project of the Proletariat in a time of World Crisis
ABSTRACT This is a response to the two sets of articles written by Sajai Jose on the Fourth Industrial Revolution and on the world’s and India’s hunger crisis. It is in two parts. In the first part it lays the historical background of the response of capital in the face of periodic crises it faces and people’s response to it.[Read More…]
Patriarchy
The Escalating Prevalence of Child Marriage and its Significance for Jharkhand: An Urgent Call for Action
Abstract Child marriage is a grave violation of human rights that continues to persist, despite laws and regulations against it. Shockingly, one out of every five girls worldwide is either formally married or in an informal union before they turn 18. In the least developed countries, this number nearly doubles, with 36 percent of girls being married before the age[Read More…]
Palestine
Humiliation vs. Self-Respect: The Untold Story of the Abuse of Palestinian Women in Hebron
The humiliation of Palestinian women by Israeli soldiers in the occupied city of Al-Khalil (Hebron) on July 10 was not the first such episode. Sadly, it will not be the last. Indeed, the stripping of five women in front of their children, parading them naked around their family home and then stealing their jewelry by an Israeli military unit, was[Read More…]
South Asia
The recent surge in insults and harassment of the Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus in Bangladesh, a sign of a nation collapsing, morally?
While the Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus has many admirers, he is no stranger to insults either, especially inside Bangladesh. Yunus has been a target of insults and harassment for a while and, more prominently and visibly since 2009 though in recent times, the pattern of these insults has undergone an important change – the sources of insults have moved[Read More…]
Annihilate Caste
Ramasamy Naicker Periyar’s Uttar Pradesh connection
According to available details, EV Ramasamy Naikar Periyar came to Uttar Pradesh in 1944, 1959 and 1968. In 1944 and 1959, he came to Lucknow to address the Sammelan of Backward and Untouchables of Uttar Pradesh. No details of his 1944 program are available. Regarding his arrival in Lucknow in 1959, a picture of Dr. Chhedi Lal Sathi, the then[Read More…]
Life/Philosophy
N.D.Mahanor, The Poet Who Taught Us to See Culture in Agriculture
Celebrated Marathi poet N.D. Mahanor, who passed away last month, lived all his life as a farmer in a small village Palaskheda, five km from the famous Ajanta caves in Aurangabad district. What created and sustained his interest in poetry in this isolation ? We forget that at least some of our rural life has a very vibrant cultural life,[Read More…]
Arts/Literature
Toronto International Film Festival Starts on 7th
There’s a whiff of winter wind all over Canada. And it’s the time the school year begins. The most sought-after summer starts moving into the rearview mirror of the year. The Toronto International Film Festival, otherwise known as the Festival of the Festivals due to its worldwide participation and strength, is a few days away from happening. It enters the[Read More…]
Book Review
The Bicycle-Selected Writings on Bicycle
These essays and stories about the bicycle have been written since 2017. There are ten essays and two short stories. The essays are divided in two groups – Shorter essays and longer ones. The shorter ones mainly promote the bicycle and praise them whereas the longer ones take up the politics involved in the bicycle debate. Among the short stories,[Read More…]
COVID Response Watch
Shadow of Covid lingers over the erstwhile Kingdom of Cooch Behar
The princely state of Cooch Behar merged with the Dominion of India on August 8, 1949 and became a part of the State of West Bengal on January 1, 1950. To go to Cooch Behar, one has to cross Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts, which were also once part of other neighbouring hill kingdoms and annexed by the British. During my[Read More…]
