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World
The Politics of Food in Venezuela
Co-Written by Ana Felicien, Christina M. Schiavoni & Liccia Romero Few countries and political processes have been subject to such scrutiny, yet so generally misunderstood, as Venezuela and the Bolivarian Revolution.1 This is particularly true today, as the international media paints an image of absolute devastation in the country, wrought by failed policies and government mismanagement. At the same time, the three[Read More…]
India
Two Circles of Growth: Marginalizing the Unorganized Sectors of the Economy
The ruling dispensation in India is facing a crisis of low growth, protests by major sections of the population – farmers, youth and traders – and criticism about non fulfillment of the many promises it has made. It has announced many policies but not only is their implementation tardy, many of them are a continuation of the past policies under[Read More…]
Globalisation
Walmart’s backdoor entry
US retail giant Walmart bought 77 per cent stake in Indian online website Flipkart in a $16 billion deal. India does not allow retail monoplies like Walmart to enter Indian market. Walmart’s acquisition of Flikart is seen as a back door entry which may put thousands of small vendors out of business. Angela Ferrao is an independent editorial cartoonist. https://www.facebook.com/Ferraodesigns
Human Rights
A Reply to Dr. Hiren Gohain
Co-Written by Suraj Gogoi and Parag Jyoti Saikia It is rather unfortunate that we have to share these questions and concerns with you, because you have been an epitome of courage and one who held human dignity above all. Marginalised people of Assam and in civil society respects you for those solidarities that emanated from your pen when they needed[Read More…]
Imperialism
U.S. Is Complicit in Child Slaughter in Yemen
On August 9, a U.S.-supported Saudi airstrike bombed a bus carrying schoolchildren in Sa’ada, a city in northern Yemen. The New York Times reported that the students were on a recreational trip. According to the Sa’ada health department, the attack killed at least forty-three people. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, at least twenty-nine of those[Read More…]
Communal Harmony
Whitewashing India’s Religious Freedom
India has an impeccable history of welcoming the stranger and giving refuge to the oppressed, rejected and the evicted. She has welcomed Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians and the Baha’is. Indeed the very first mosque built outside of Arabia was in India by a Hindu King in the state of Malabar. The Tibetan Buddhist refugees found a home in India; the Ahmadiyya[Read More…]
Climate Change
Six Ways To Deal With Worsening Climate Related Problems
Of course there are many more than the ones that I will share, but here is a good start. 1.) In the US Virgin Islands if you dig downward for water, you get salt water. So you need rain water, especially for drought periods. So my Dad put in a system wherein the water came off of the roof and[Read More…]
Environmental Protection
Why is the Central Government Silent on Swami Gyan Swaroop Sanand’s Fast?
86 years old Swami Gyan Swaroop Sanand is on a fast unto death since 22 June, 2018 in Haridwar demanding a law for conservation of river Ganga but the Central government has not taken a step to convince him to give up his fast. This raises question on the intention of government. It appears that the government is deliberately ignoring[Read More…]
Counter Solutions
Systems Thinking and How It Can Help Build a Sustainable World
In Brief Humanity stands at a precipice. Overpopulation, resource scarcities, degraded ecosystem functioning from pollution and biodiversity loss, and anthropogenic climate change are damaging the life-supporting capacity of the planet. Diminishing returns on fossil fuel energy investments, combined with their dwindling availability and environmental harm, threaten industrial civilization. Many people recognize the need to transition to sustainable, resilient ways of[Read More…]
Resource Crisis
How the World Elites are Going to Betray us: Lessons from Roman History
The more I study the story of the Roman Empire, the more I see the similarities with our world. Of course, history doesn’t always repeat itself, but it is impressive to note how with the start of the collapse of the Western Empire, the Roman elites abandoned the people to build themselves strongholds in safe places. Something similar may be[Read More…]
Alternative Energy
Exponential Growth Towards a Sustainable Future: the Limits of Solar Panel and Wind Turbine Production
Many people, including myself, fear that the great acceleration (1, 2) of our consumption and destruction of resources such as land, biodiversity, soil, minerals, and fossil energy sources, could lead us into a catastrophe. Other people point out the positive side of near-exponential growth in various fields: renewable energy production, “biotechnology and bioinformatics; computational systems; networks and sensors; artificial intelligence; robotics;[Read More…]
Patriarchy
Section 497 of IPC is Archaic
Co-Written by Snehil Kunwar Singh & Bhaskar Kumar A Constitution bench of the Supreme Court (SC) comprising of 5-judges headed by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra is examining the constitutional validity of S.497 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). This 158-year-old criminal provision is said to be archaic which promotes gender inequality and patriarchy. It reads, “Whosoever[Read More…]
Palestine
Mahmoud Abbas: Stop Exploiting Ahed Tamimi for Personal Gain
The father of 11-year-old, Abdul Rahman Nofal contacted me, asking for help. His son was shot in the leg during Gaza’s ‘Great March of Return’ protests. The Strip’s dilapidated health care system could not save the little boy’s leg, as it was later amputated. His father, Yamen, himself a young man from the Buraij Refugee Camp in central Gaza, only wants his[Read More…]
Kashmir
From ceasefire to political crisis-All is not well in Kashmir
Kashmir is a vexed issue of the Asian sub-continent that assumes dynamic dimensions and increases its momentum with the currents of time with a sort of deep permeated growing alienation of the masses and simultaneous floating wave of armed rebellion against the system. It is the problem of multitude and a vendetta which refuses to cow down with the periodic[Read More…]
South Asia
Saudi Arabia and Iran woo incoming Pakistani prime minister
An offer by a Saudi-backed bank to lend financially strapped Pakistan US$4 billion is likely intended to bolster Saudi influence when former international cricket player Imran Khan is sworn in in the coming week as the South Asian country’s next prime minister. The offer was most immediately related to a statement by Asad Umar, Pakistan’s new finance minister-in-waiting, that Pakistan[Read More…]
Annihilate Caste
Celebrate Mandal day with introspection
Today is a historic day and must be celebrated by all those who believe in social justice. On this day in 1990, the then Prime Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh, accepted the recommendations of the Mandal Commission Report in Parliament. The hero of the nation, a man of great integrity in his own personal life, V P Singh became the biggest[Read More…]
Life/Philosophy
Plato’s Theory of Idea or the Form
Plato’s theory of Idea or the Form constitutes the philosophical foundation of Plato’s political theory. The problems variety and the change have been common questions for ancient Greeks, who were trying to discover the uniting element in the variety, i.e. the one in many; and the permanence in the ever changing world. Pre-Socratic Greek philosophy generally addressed to the observation of life and motion[Read More…]
Arts/Literature
BEASTS…!!
Will all the detergents and
Oceans full water of the world
be sufficient to wash away
The stains of sins
That are committed by these beasts..
On women of this country?
Book Review
The Other Hiroshimas: A Review of ‘Napalm: An American Biography’, by Robert M. Neer
Fire-weapons have been used from ancient times. Napalm-like weapons were used by and against the Romans and Greeks. One term used for them was “wildfire”; another was “Greek fire”, as incendiaries were widely used by the Greeks. Some ships were equipped to shoot other vessels with flaming oils emitted from tubes in their bows. Individual soldiers were equipped with flaming[Read More…]
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