This would have been the time of year for brisk sales at the agricultural markets in Vidarbha. But farmers here are being forced to incur terrible losses – by accepting lower prices, losing their perishable produce, or due to a fear of depositing cash payments in old notes in banks where they owe loan repayments Bandu Ghormade had no choice[Read More…]
For over 10 years now Eritrea, a small country in East Africa, has been winning the Malaria War without vaccines, though much work remains to be done. Since 2005 I have been monitoring the reduction in Malaria mortality here in Eritrea and have seen a consistant reduction of between 70-80%, something almost unknown in Africa and the rest of the[Read More…]
The underbelly of America’s story of empire, greed and expansion, at the constant expense of Indians, Mexicans, former Black slaves and poor whites, is the same ol’, same ol’ constant in 2016 as it was at its birth in 1776 or at any point in-between then and now. To put it more succinctly, America’s real story is an ugly tale[Read More…]
On a visit to Barcelona last week, I learned a great deal about the City’s pioneering role in developing “the city as a commons.” I also learned that crystallizing a new commons paradigm – even in a city committed to cooperatives and open digital networks – comes with many gnarly complexities. The Barcelona city government is led by former housing[Read More…]
The dust has settled on the Presidential election. Peoples and governments everywhere have accepted the reality that a controversial personality has been elected to the highest political office in the world.There is muted hope, indeed rejoicing, among those American citizens who have hitherto felt woefully disenfranchised, that their concerns will soon be addressed. Millions, however, are fearful their country will[Read More…]
“The educator himself has to be educated”– Marx, Theses on Feuerbach. There is no confusion and hesitation is saying that established left parties have arrived to a deadlock with a lurking ideological stagnation. From CPI, CPM to CPI Maoist there is very much a visible political-ideological deadlock. CPI has become a non-relevant party who abandoned Marxist politics decades ago. Similarly,[Read More…]
News broke on 31st October 2016 that eight inmates of Bhopal Central Prison had escaped in the middle of the previous night. All these inmates were alleged to be members of the banned Students’ Islamic Movement of India. The inmates were all under-trials and were held in the terror cell of the B wing of the high security jail. By[Read More…]
“If You Can’t Dazzle Them With Brilliance, Baffle Them With Bull.” WC Fields “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.”-Rahm Emanuel,Former White House Chief of Staff in the Obama administration. Naomi Klein in her bestselling book ‘The Shock[Read More…]
After successfully convincing the naïve among the Indian electorate in 2014 that he would usher in “Acche Din”, the campaigner-in-chief is now in phase 2 of his grand project. As he would like to remind the nation time and again, the blow was struck on November “8th at 8 pm”. The much-hyped sudden demonetization of Rs.500 and Rs.1000 currency notes[Read More…]
Update Nov. 28: North Dakota Gov. Dalrymple late Monday issued an immediate order for the removal of thousands of water protectors camped at #OcetiSakowin, which is on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers land. This came less than a day after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced that it “has no plans for forcible removal.… Those who remain will be considered unauthorized[Read More…]
What is happening in the Arctic will not stay in the Arctic. In an ominous (though not hopeless) report published Friday, researchers warn that as many as 19 various ‘tipping points’ could be triggered by the increasingly warm temperatures in the world’s northern polar region. The Arctic Resilience Report, produced under the auspices of the Arctic Council by an international[Read More…]
The Great Barrier Reef suffered through the worst coral die-off in recorded history this year, scientists found, with unusually warm ocean water and record-setting bleaching eventskilling a stunning 90 percent of all coral in the worst-hit area. Those were the conclusions of a study published Monday by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies. “One of the worst-hit areas[Read More…]
Nazareth: Israeli legislation ostensibly intended to tackle noise pollution from Muslim houses of worship has, paradoxically, served chiefly to provoke a cacophony of indignation across much of the Middle East. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared his support this month for the so-called “muezzin bill”, claiming it was urgently needed to stop the dawn call to prayer from mosques ruining[Read More…]
Many news-reports indicate that President-Elect Donald Trump’s Israel policy is in accord with that of his Orthodox Jewish son-in-law Jared Kushner, who allegedly allies himself with Israel’s Jewish Home Party, which favors Israel’s absorbing both the West Bank and the Gaza strip and imposing upon Palestinians the full rule by Israel’s government, regardless whether they accept it or not. The[Read More…]
When India ushered in neoliberal economic reforms during the early 1990s, the promise was job creation, inclusive growth and prosperity for all. But, some 25 years later, what we have seen is almost 400,000 farmers committing suicide, one of the greatest levels of inequality out of all ‘emerging’ economies, a trend towards jobless ‘growth’, an accelerating and massive illegal outflow[Read More…]
In the debates that deal with energy and fossil fuels, it is rather common to read or hear statements such as “oil will last for 50 years at the current rate of production.” You can also hear that “we still have one thousand years of coal” (Donald Trump stated exactly that during the US presidential campaign of 2016). When these[Read More…]
“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God” (from “The Sermon on the Mount”) [Interviewer’s Note: A man who has published more than 150 books and 1500 articles on peace and related issues; the founder of TRANSCEND: A Peace, Development and Environment Network; a man who has worked as a mediator with the U.N.[Read More…]
There is increasing recognition of the fact that ‘ethnic cleansing’ of the Rohingyas, — A GENOCIDE — is taking place in Rakhine, Myanmar. A number of groups and individuals are coming to terms with this grim reality especially after the “evidence of a new reign of terror and wholesale destruction of communities exercised by the Myanmar state against the Rohingya[Read More…]
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has now cleared the name of Lt. General Qamar Javed Bajwa as the new chief of the army staff who is set to replace the Army chief Raheel Sharif whose three year term is to end on the 29th of this month. The appointment thus rests to all the speculations about the selection of new[Read More…]
Many years ago, Fidel declared: “Men do not shape destiny. Destiny produces the man for the hour.” It did; destiny shaped them all, los Barbudos, and threw them right into the center of the whirlpool of world history. As they fought for the freedom of Cuba, of Latin America and the entire oppressed world, they actually managed to defy[Read More…]
Reactions were generally predictable to the passing of Fidel Castro. Britain’s Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, spoke of Castro as that “huge figure of modern history, national independence and 20th century socialism” (BBC, Nov 26). The stage was set by his record in establishing formidable health and education systems, while forging a “record of international solidarity abroad.” The socialist vanguard could[Read More…]
Fidel Castro can never die. Today he departed the physical plane but he will live on forever. His intellectual prowess and wisdom were extraordinary among mortals. His legacy and influence is global and monumental. This humble man, from a smallCaribbean country, can truly be said to have changed the world. One of his greatest contributions to humanity is the example[Read More…]
” Success ke piche mat bhago…excellence…excellence ka picha karo…success jhak maarke tumhare pass ayegi..” – Amir Khan, 3 Idiots. At a time when catastrophic events are happening around us, be it the jaw-dropping victory of Donald Trump or the ongoing chaos in India after the demonetization episode, why did I stumble upon this ‘success-excellence’ thought now? With the refugee[Read More…]
These days prime minister is becoming‘’emotional’ on every issue and he feel that people are after him for waging a ‘war’ against high and mighty. We do not know what does that mean but I am sure the latest demonetization has shown that this war seems to be against India’s poor as high and might friends of the prime[Read More…]
Floral tributes to Mahatma Jyotirao Phule on his 126th Death Anniversary Mahatma JyotiraoPhule the father of social revolution in Modern India. Among other things, he was the Originator of the protective policy of reservations Progenitor of the concept of right to compulsory primary education Founder of the first-ever schools and libraries for Sudras, Atisudras and women. First leader to unite[Read More…]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE0zoAoREdM&feature=youtu.be Video by Aabha Joshi, Neethu Saji and Kritika The patience of the common people is running out. Despite standing in queues outside banks, day after day, people are unable to find change, resulting in a huge crisis in their everyday sustenance. On one hand, the food intake in the houses have gone down and on the other hand, huge[Read More…]
Fidel, dear comrade, red salute. You embodied humanity’s struggle for a free, dignified life, a life free from exploitation, a life full of love and with flowering of humane living. You are alive in our struggle. You are alive in humanity’s struggle against all forms of exploitation, against all forms of bondage, all forms of indignity. Your stand made you[Read More…]
For the life of me I cannot understand the reasoning behind demonetisation. I think the hidden underlying motivation is as that the only people India’s politicians are willing to attack are the poorest. Hindutva fascism is the system of turning the 90% into miserable wrecks through #demonetisation in order that the 1% super rich and the 9% who use[Read More…]
Statement of the Central Committee of Communist Ghadar Party of India, 20 November, 2016 Since the midnight of 8-9 November, all 500 and 1000 rupee notes issued by the Reserve Bank have been declared illegal. Announcing the demonetization decision on 8th November, Prime Minister Narendra Modi exhorted our people “…in this fight against corruption, black money, fake notes and terrorism,[Read More…]
Fidel Castro, the Comandante is no more.The leader of the Cuban revolution and former president of Cuba who led the island nation through a half-century blockade imposed by US, died on the night of 25th November, 2016 in Havana, Cuba, aged 90. Born in 1926 to a prominent landowner in Holguín Province, Cuba, Castro went on to lead Cuba’s revolutionary[Read More…]
A speech by Fidel Castro Ruz delivered at the conclusion of his trial for his leadership role in the July 26, 1953 attack on the Moncada Barracks, Santiago de Cuba Honorable Judges: Never has a lawyer had to practice his profession under such difficult conditions; never has such a number of overwhelming irregularities been committed against an accused man. In[Read More…]
Politics can be a deliciously self-defeating field. For the US-Australian alliance, one born out of desperate insecurity on the part of Canberra, a dramatic change in the White House was always going to cause a shudder. A Clinton presidency was presumed to be inevitable and, on taking place, a no-fuss affair, one which was to continue President Barack Obama’s “pivot”[Read More…]
American democracy is in deep crisis. As with every election cycle, electoral politics this year failed to provide true therapy for the pathology of the corporate state. There is no diagnosis of unfettered profit-driven capitalism or treatment for the heart failure of the ruling class, which has no ability to feel for the poor and working people. Whether it is[Read More…]
Co-Written by Helena Norberg-Hodge and Rupert Read The election of Donald Trump was a rude awakening from which many people in the US have still not recovered. Their shock is similar to that felt by UK progressives, Greens, and those on the Left following the Brexit referendum. In both cases, the visceral reaction was heightened by the barely-disguised racist and[Read More…]
“It is a gross prejudice to think that the future will always know more than the past. Every generation is born totally ignorant, and just as we are only one failed harvest away from starvation, we are also only one failed generational transfer of knowledge away from darkest ignorance. Although it is true that today many people know many things[Read More…]
A nascent group in Karachi rises to take control of their city; raising their voice through protest, community projects and action. “It was Good Friday and I had some spare time that evening. I was toying with the idea of creating a Facebook group to tackle community issues. I strongly felt that unless we the citizens applied pressure on the[Read More…]
Another violent clash between Dakota Access Pipeline protesters and police late Sunday night led to approximately 300 injuries among the protesters, 26 of whom required professional medical attention. Some of the cases include a woman with a serious eye injury after being shot in the face by a rubber bullet, a tribe elder who lost consciousness and was revived on[Read More…]
Revolutionary greetings to Fidel Castro who passed away today. You opened a blazing path, showed revolutionary courage and defiance to imperialism. Your legacy will survive for ages to come. Hope will be reborn whenever your name is remembered. A life well lived. Countercurrents.org salutes Fidel Castro. With Fidel’s passing a prominent voice of reason is gone, much needed in these[Read More…]
Turkey’s Prime Minister and armed forces both accused the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad Thursday of conducting an airstrike on Turkish troops in the vicinity of al-Bab in the country’s north, resulting in three casualties. The incident threatens to escalate already sharp tensions between Ankara and Damascus into all-out war, posing the very real risk of direct clashes between the[Read More…]
Each year on November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women is commemorated. A commemoration in essence is an opportunity to reflect on the challenges, prove that progress can be made and celebrate victories. It is also a reminder of the obligations and the responsibility we all must own at both the private and the public[Read More…]
The Indian women farmer, almost never publicly acknowledged, reviled by superstition and patriarchy, and increasingly troubled by entrenched social and cultural mores and taboos bears the real burden of farm labour. Nearly 98 million Indian women have agricultural jobs, but around 63% of them, or 61.6 million women, are agricultural labourers, dependent on the farms of others, according to 2011[Read More…]
Cash has undoubtedly proven a curse, irrespective of its color, for those who have been queuing up at the bank counters following the currency demonetisation. The unprecedented cash crunch has made many wonder if going cashless is the better way forward? It may indeed be but despite the proliferation of alternate payment mechanisms – plastic currency and electronic cash transfer[Read More…]
As part of our aim to embed critical thinking and peace, Aaghaz-e-Dosti through interview series – “Voices for Peace” features inspiring peace personalities who have worked significantly for Indo-Pak Peace. We start this series with Ms. Kia Scherr, an inspiring Peace Personality. She is known to the world as the 26/11 (Mumbai attack of 2008) victims’ family member who forgave[Read More…]
Mumbai, 24th November 2016: Today a protest rally was held from Piperoad Masjid to Kalina campus of Mumbai university as a mark of protest against the attack on JNU student Najeeb Ahmed and his disappearance. Najeeb was badly thrashed by ABVP goons in his hostel on 14thn October and since the next day he has been missing. It has been[Read More…]
A critical turn is needed in discussions of blockchain — the tech that underpins the virtual currency bitcoin – especially with respect to it as a phenomenon of the so-called fourth industrial age.1 Many have been swept-up in (if not duped by) the swell of excitement around a technological architecture which appeared, at first sight, to puncture the power and[Read More…]
“…commemorating resistance and rebellion also means ratifying our decision to continue to live, constructing hope for a future that is only possible upon the ruins of capitalism. … This is the time of dignified rebellion, the time to construct a new nation by and for everyone, to strengthen power below and to the anticapitalist left…” – National Indigenous Congress, Zapatista[Read More…]
This is the week of the Thanksgiving holiday in the US. For many in our increasingly unequal society it is not a happy holiday. Triangulation has been the byword for President Obama’s party — a kind of centrism embraced by Democrats who did the work of the Republicans in the economic sphere while adopting a left-leaning social agenda. The author[Read More…]
After India’s Independence the people of Kashmir were promised that a plebiscite would be held so that the Kashmiris could decide their future. There is a United Nations resolution to the effect but it stands unimplemented. The struggle of Kashmiris for right to self determination has resulted in killing of over a hundred thousand people since the 1989[Read More…]
Fake news as reality; the inability to navigate the waters in which it swims; a weakness in succumbing to material best treated with a huge pinch of salt. That, we are told, is the new condition of the global information environment. Laura Sydell of National Public Radio’s All Things Considered furnished readers with one such example: “FBI Agent Suspected In[Read More…]
More than a billion people in the world are employed in agriculture, and in India, one out of four people are farmers or agricultural workers. Farm output contributes $325 billion. ( about 15 per cent) to India’s $2-trillion economy. Small farmers—who constitute 85 percent of farmers globally—make up one of the largest constituencies among the world’s poor .Small and[Read More…]
During a conversation with a longtime acquaintance of mine about 25 years back, he made an unguarded remark that had made a deep negative impression on me. He started as a trader, was enormously successful and was then morphing in to an industrialist. He said, “You know, most of these babus and technocrats are like easy @#$&. For a price,[Read More…]
An argument which has been put forward in the recent ‘Demonetisation’ issue is its relationship with Terrorism. It has been pointed out that ‘funds’ either from outside or otherwise find their way into the terrorist groups. Fake currency or notes in denominations of Rs. 500 and 1,000 sustain and fund the terrorist activities. Hence the belief expressed is that Demonetisation[Read More…]
A couple of weeks ago, as I stood before climate scientists, advocates, and world policy leaders at the COP22 in Morocco, I felt the increased importance of my message as climate denier Donald Trump was voted into office. My perspective as a young Native woman living on the Navajo reservation and studying both renewable energy engineering and Diné studies had[Read More…]
Eleven days ago, when Matt Musselwhite pulled into an encampment at Cannon Ball, North Dakota, in a 5-ton flatbed truck, he had no idea how he would unload the three tiny houses he had just hauled 1,500 miles from southwestern Oregon. Almost immediately volunteers emerged from the throngs of mostly Native Americans. Within hours, teams of 10 people were starting[Read More…]
Fear and trepidation are slowly building up, as US President-elect, Donald Trump, is fortifying his transitional team with people capable of bringing about a nightmare scenario, not only for Americans but for the rest of the world, as well. For Palestinians, however, the signs are even more ominous. From former New York mayor, Rudy Giuliani, to Republican leader Newt[Read More…]
Israel’s leaders and their right-wing Jewish allies in the United States have no problem stomaching anti-Semitism so long as the anti-Semite supports Zionism. But if an anti-Semite can be a Zionist then anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism are not the same. In February, the Israeli prime minister praised the British government for introducing new guidelines prohibiting publicly funded bodies from boycotting[Read More…]
Large numbers of Ahwazi activists have reportedly been arrested in the latest coordinated series of raids on homes by Iranian regime intelligence agents in recent days, with the regime’s thugs transferring those detained to unknown locations. Sources told Ahwazna website that in one of the recent incidents, regime agents raided the home of an activist identified as 22-year-old Mohammed Sari[Read More…]
The 4th Assessment Report of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change released in 2007, unambiguously states that climate change is not gender-neutral and women experience it differently than men.News reportsabound of exacerbated effects of climate change on women in the poorer and vulnerable parts of the world. It is a well-documented fact that globally women constitute the majority of the[Read More…]
NAPM condemns state and ‘expert’ apathy on deaths of hundreds of adivasi children in Malkangiri: Demands immediate medical relief and justice Apex Court must intervene urgently: State must declare medical emergency 23rd Nov, 2016: The National Alliance of People’s Movements is extremely pained and concerned about the rising number of deaths of adivasi children in the tribal district of Malkangiri,[Read More…]
One of the more subtle manifestations of the intimate link between (unconscious) human emotions and behaviour is illustrated by the simple concept of choice and how this is so often reduced to a dichotomy between two bad options. In such circumstances, most people choose whatever they consider to be ‘the lesser evil’. But how often are there only two options,[Read More…]
Dialogue among all the “Stakeholders” is the present refrain but one could ask who the real “Stakeholders” are and what stakes they have? The “Burhan Uprising” has shaken not only people in the sub-continent but across the world. It is for the first time in the recent history of the Kashmir’s Movement for the right of self-determination that the people[Read More…]
In a note sent to me few days ago, a retired captain of Indian army wrote that soldiers are not enemies of each other. They just follow instructions and take war as task. He also shared his own experience wherein during his posting at Hussainiwala Indo-Pak border and on Nathula Indo-China border, he used to enjoy and exchange greetings with[Read More…]
A week before Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetisation on November 8 , Varda Balayya, a 42-year-old farmer from Dharmaram village of Siddipet district in Telangana, was about to sell an acre of his farmland. The plot is located next to the highway connecting Siddipet and Ramayampet. His corn crop was destroyed due to unseasonal rains in October. The interest[Read More…]
Mr. President I am writing to you on this sad day of Thanksgiving in response to the despicable, un-American conduct of Governor Jack Dalrymple of North Dakota, North Dakota’s state police, the United States representatives for the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, North Dakota’s National Guard, your administration and you personally, as well, sir for what all is[Read More…]
While it was all but obscured in the course of the US presidential excitement, negotiators at the climate change conference in Marrakech were busy attempting to hammer out the means to implement the Paris Climate Agreement. The long and confusing shadow cast over the negotiations was considerable. Donald Trump has made no bones about climate change as a plot conjured[Read More…]
Normal is coming unhinged. For the past eight years it has been possible for most people (at least in the relatively privileged classes) to believe that society is sound, that the system, though creaky, basically works, and that the progressive deterioration of everything from ecology to economy is a temporary deviation from the evolutionary imperative of progress. A Clinton presidency[Read More…]
Another UN climate summit is over and despite the prevalent rhetoric of hope, the gap between the 1,5 or 2 degree target agreed in Paris last year and the real commitments to achieve this target is nowhere near to closing. Worse, this gap hasn’t even been a focus of this year’s UN climate talks in Marrakesh although time is running:[Read More…]
Jay Wright Forrester (1918-2016) may have been the source of inspiration for Hari Seldon, a fictional character in Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series. In Asimov’s novels, Seldon develops “pyschohistoric equations” that allow him to predict the impending collapse of the Galactic Empire. In the real world, Forrester developed “system dynamics equations” that allowed him to predict the impending collapse of the[Read More…]
With the unexpected triumph of Donald Trump, what’s in store for U.S. climate and energy policies? Answering that question is hard since Trump has never run a public institution and thus has no track record. His most cited comment about global warming — that it was a Chinese hoax invented to destroy American jobs — came in November 2012 from[Read More…]
A year ago, it appeared that the once-promising and environmentally risky prospects for exploitation of new shipping routes through the Arctic Ocean were waning because of low oil prices, high insurance costs, and dangerous ice conditions that persist even though climate change is rapidly melting away sea ice. Only 17 vessels sailed through Canada’s Northwest Passage in 2014, due in[Read More…]
The degree of resignation spotlighted below is something that activists must pay attention to; there’s a clear need to change gears in reaching out to citizens. The Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (2015) demonstrated that a mere 52 percent of registered U.S. voters felt that alterations in the earth’s climate were mainly a function of human activity. That should[Read More…]
Recently Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Climate change has placed on its web site the review report on assessment of food and environmental safety of Genetically modified mustard seeking public comments. Genetically modified mustard hybrid developed by a team of scientists from Delhi University, the first GM[Read More…]
New Delhi, 22 November 2016: We, twenty-five citizens of India, representing people’s movements, women’s organisations, trade unions, human rights organisations, youth organisations and individuals who are journalists, writers and filmmakers, from the states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Jammu& Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur,Nagaland, Odisha and Tamil Nadu, visited Kashmir from 11 to 20 November 2016 with the objective of[Read More…]
The US-directed offensive to recapture the northern Iraqi city of Mosul and surrounding towns and villages from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has entered its fifth week. The assault involves an increasingly antagonistic collection of armed forces, including some 30,000 Iraqi Army troops, 15,000 peshmerga soldiers of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), thousands of anti-ISIS Sunni Arab[Read More…]
Only citizens can vote in the US Presidential elections, yet the impact is global. The world is suddenly in disarray, in panic. A man notorious for his bigoted rhetoric, a man who believes in American exceptionalism, who wants to build the walls and to ‘restore order’, has been elected the 45th President of the mightiest nation on Earth. Hiscountryis[Read More…]
Statutory Warning : – This is a fictitious retelling of a real life event. The arguments presented through various characters have taken place in real life only the circumstances & places have been changed. Before you read this: It is crucial to understand that this piece was written during the initial days of Demonetization, when almost every Well-to-do Indian was[Read More…]
Law enforcement unleashed percussion grenades, rubber bullets, tear gas, and water cannons in sub-freezing temperatures on peaceful water protectors battling the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota late Sunday. An activist’s drone captured the onslaught: Drone footage showing water cannons being used on water protectors At the end of the clip, they try to shoot drone w/ water cannon#NoDAPL[Read More…]
Recently, Muslim mob attacks on Hindu houses and temples in Nasirnagar (Brahmanbaria) and elsewhere in Goplaganj, Chittagong, and Sunamganj districts in Bangladesh have drawn wide media attention, within and outside the country. I can’t agree more with Daily Star’s editorial (Nov 2) that Government inaction would only embolden the bigots; and that: “any mix of politics and faith cannot[Read More…]
The idea A project to interlink Indian rivers was formally declared in 2002. It was envisaged as a grand scheme to link 37 major Indian rivers by 30 link canals (14 Himalayan and 16 peninsular) with a total length of 14,900-km. [Map given above]. The interlinking of rivers (ILR) project, it had a first-estimate cost of Rs.5,60,000 crores (Rs.5.6 trillion).[Read More…]
My relatives in Maine are deplorables. I cannot write on their behalf. I can write in their defense. They live in towns and villages that have been ravaged by deindustrialization. The bank in Mechanic Falls, where my grandparents lived, is boarded up, along with nearly every downtown store. The paper mill closed decades ago. There is a strip club in[Read More…]
The presidency of Donald Trump is going to be a slap in the face of American workers that will wake us up to the reality of social class. Big T’s pedal-to-the-metal policies will show us clearly that we are one class, the ruling elite are another class, and our interests are diametrically opposed. Our declining standard of living is essential[Read More…]
Shortly after Hillary Clinton’s crushing defeat, the media came up with another spin: Zuckerberg and Facebook were held responsible for her debacle! What crap! Facebook apparently carried “fake news”. Didn’t the media invent and promote precisely this kind of “news” to bounce Hillary over the last hurdle? It’s convenient for media whores to blame everybody except themselves and Hillary’s corrupt[Read More…]
Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and caldron bubble. — Macbeth Mass protest demonstrations have been taking place across the United States after dangerous right wing billionaire Donald J. Trump unexpectedly defeated Hillary R. Clinton in the U.S. election Nov. 8. She was the first woman candidate of a major party to run for the presidency in the[Read More…]
When the dust settled on the Nov. 8 election, we learned that a completely unpredictable, egomaniacal, narcissistic buffoon would inherit the White House and the vast powers that go along with it. This deeply offended many people who see Donald Trump’s racist and misogynistic rhetoric as “unpresidential.” Liberal New York Times columnist Charles Blow summed up this view: “I respect[Read More…]
Edited Transcripts of speeches Professor Francis A. Boyle gave in Hawaii August 20 and August 21, 2016 Townhall Meeting with the Nation of Hawaii at Waimanalo Saturday August 20, 2016 Bumpy [Kanahele] asked me to speak at the [Iolani] Palace tomorrow and I said I would, no problem there. But I said, how about if I come out a day[Read More…]
It all has a hurried sense to it. With the offshore detention system running into troubles, the Australian government has had to find ways to get rid of the human residents it has promised never to settle in the country. This highly dubious policy, far more than anything Donald Trump could ever wish for, entrenches a further wall of imperviousness[Read More…]
US President-elect Donald Trump continued over the weekend to assemble the makings of the most right-wing and militarist administration in U.S. history, while taking steps to ensure that he retains personal control over his multi-billion-dollar business empire. On Sunday, Trump met with retired Marine General James N. Mattis, responsible for U.S. war crimes in the Iraqi city of Fallujah. Mattis[Read More…]
In an interview published Friday, President Barack Obama told Der Spiegeland German public broadcaster ARD that he would not pardon Edward Snowden before leaving office in January. The former National Security Agency contractor remains in exile for exposing the illegal surveillance operations of the NSA and other U.S. spying agencies, which target countless millions of people in the U.S. and[Read More…]
Even as the rest of the population continues to stagger and reel under the blow that demonetization has delivered to them, almost all Dalits and Adivasis in the country have been hit enormously in varying degrees, with the hardest HIT being the rural ones, reducing them to a worse state than they already were in, struggling to survive for want of[Read More…]
There is so much similarity and commonality among people, voters, left, right, social, center, liberal, or not politically interested. Almost everyone has had enough of the establishment, of the selfishness of greed, of the failure of the elite. The degradation of society, spiritual values and decency. Similarities: Hard work, work longer, without getting anywhere. The gap between rich and poor[Read More…]
Rational, fair-minded, and progressive people are caught in a vise; more so after the US elections. People used to activism are out on the streets, raising money, writing letters, and speaking openly. Those who are upset and worried but unused to both civic engagement and activism are either in hand-wringing mode or are back to business as usual. This is[Read More…]
National Fishworkers’ Forum & National Alliance of People’s Movements will join hands to fight the destructive port & corridor based development model · Two-day national consultation on ‘Sagarmala’, concludes in Delhi · NDA Government is trying to fool the coastal people by unviable projects · Sagarmala will effectively promote real estate projects · Joint actions planned by people’s movements in[Read More…]
Worldwide millions of women have traditional responsibilities as food growers, water and fuel gatherers, and care-givers. In South Asia, women make up make up 43% of the agriculture workforce in developing countries and account for around 66% of the world’s subsistence livestock keepers. Women secure clean water for drinking and cooking; they are familiar with non-timber forest products (medicinal plants[Read More…]
The money crisis is more painful because of is suddenness. But the government has been causing hardships to citizens for years through various ways. One is the anti-people policy on transport. The pain is spread over a long time and we do not feel it so intensely. The government has inflicted motorization on the country without any safeguards to vulnerable[Read More…]
In Chikalthana village, on the edge of and merging with Aurangabad town in Maharashtra, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream of a cashless economy seems to have been realised. Nobody has any cash. Not the banks, nor the ATMs and certainly not the people queuing up in and around them in despair. Even the policemen sitting in the vans outside bank[Read More…]
Kashmir is a land where everyone across the globe savors its picturesque beauty; Where everyone relishes its wazwan; where everyone craves to come again and again; where everybody bask in the glory of its different seasons. And same is the case with its own people; they too enjoy everything associated with their land except the illegal occupation. Now this paradise[Read More…]
Since July situation in the Kashmir valley has been turbulent and is showing almost no signs of coming back to what we call normalcy. Now in November, even after four months of terrible agony, an eerie calm is prevailing which is by no means an indication of peace. After the demise of Burhan Wani, Kashmir witnessed a Tsunami of great[Read More…]
As each precious day goes by, the intensity of the confrontation grows ever more feverish and grave between the peaceful, weaponless Sioux and their allies now pitted against the imposing military forces of North Dakota & the United States Government who take their orders from Corporate America & Wall Street. As you read these words, the scandalous abuse by the[Read More…]
My first book was an alternative history of World War II called Saving Private Power: The Hidden History of the “Good War.” The jam-packed release party took place in July 2000 at the old Brecht Forum. I gave a kick-ass (if I say so myself) one-hour presentation — without notes. Afterwards, during the Q&A, I was asked what I would’ve[Read More…]
Since Donald Trump’s victory in the most bizarre US presidential election in memory, pundits, Rightists, “democrats” and even Barack Obama himself have called upon people to support ideas and results that go against their own feelings, ethics, and desires. This, apparently, is what “Democracy” is all about. Ironically, it is the Right now that is lecturing us the need to[Read More…]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaIKBcBbjbc&feature=youtu.be Video by Aabha Joshi, Neethu Saji and Kritika As the large population of the country is standing in long queues, an old woman of 75 years of age describes her current situation while waiting for her turn outside KYS bank, branch Govandi in Mumbai. She has been waiting for her chance since morning and this video was shot at[Read More…]
Putting the cacophonous debate on the merits and demerits of demonetisation of Rs 500 and 1000 currency notes aside, there is no doubt over it having hit the farmers all set to go for Rabi crops sowing hardest. Almost entirely dependent upon cash transactions for everything from buying seeds to fertilisers, the move has ended up turning their earnings into[Read More…]
While much has been written and said about the demonetisation move by the government, the question of its legality has received scant attention. The issue however is not the desirability or the economic viability of the decision and the undoubted public and national interest it serves. The goal of eliminating black money from circulation is undoubtedly in public interest. While[Read More…]
https://youtu.be/uj2edB3U5SA Video byAabha Joshi, NeethuSaji and Kritika Nine days has passed since Modi government has declared a ‘war’ against ‘black money’ by demonetizing Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 currency notes, claiming lives of almost 55 people. As the days pass by, the queues do not seem to get any shorter and the lives of the common people seem to have[Read More…]
Never before has a decision of the Government shown negative effect on people so early as the current move to demonetize. A narrative has been built on its supposed benefits. The decision has been hailed by the supporters as a master stroke, a surgical strike which will end the reign of Black Money and establish the supremacy of White Money.[Read More…]
Tubeless tyres are a great discovery; a marvel of sorts. They claim you can run for fifty odd kilometres even after the tyre is punctured! I had other reasons to enjoy the boon of the tubeless tyre. A month back air pressure in one of the tyre of my sedan went low. On my way to work I stopped at[Read More…]
The election of Donald J. Trump on Tuesday, November 8 terrified many who consider themselves notionally progressive or traditional republicans. It also terrified free trade ideologues, and those who believe that opening borders to boundless consumer goods and services eradicates poverty. There are few better exponents of this idea on trade than Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, whose insistence that[Read More…]
Demonetization is the new polarisation strategy deployed by the Modi Government, which has succeeded in killing many birds (and people) with a stone. This new policy is not only mindless but also evil right from its conception to execution. Much has been already said & in cases proved by various sources as to how the Demonetization is actually a witless,[Read More…]
An artist’s drawing of the American body politic in 2016 might picture furrowed brow, hand-wringing, hunched shoulders. Anxiety abounds, when not overridden by anger. Our extreme polarization is political, economic, social—but individuals feel it on a personal level. Small wonder if we seek relief in the hope that the social fracturing might be healed by one candidate or another. Certainly,[Read More…]
Don’t get too close, Omar Abu Khater warned. We were picking our way cautiously through the rubble of demolished farms and buildings on a recent afternoon in the al-Faraheen neighborhood of the town of Abasan al-Kabira in the southern Gaza Strip, east of Khan Younis. His caution was warranted. Just 100 meters away loomed a concrete wall, part of the[Read More…]
Climate change is viewed by many as a classic case of ‘tragedy of the commons’ i.e. anything used commonly and freely by people is not cared for by anyone. ‘Commons’ are usually natural resources such as air, land, water, forests, and fish. Thus, they are not anybody’s private property. The most cited example of this ‘tragedy’ is that of overgrazing[Read More…]
Everybody knows that the dice are loaded. Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed. Everybody knows that the war is over. Everybody knows the good guys lost. Everybody knows the fight was fixed: the poor stay poor, the rich get rich. That’s how it goes. Everybody knows. Leonard Cohen Everybody knows that the elected party governing India wants to decimate all[Read More…]
According to a shocking report circulated widely on social media and Iranian news websites, a prominent Ahwazi martial arts champion has offered to sell one of his kidneys due to poverty and unemployment. Adnan Amiri, who has won kickboxing trophies both in Iran itself and competing for the country internationally, said that he feels driven to the desperate measure since[Read More…]
Science has it’s roots established as old as Islamic civilization. The institutes of scientific dissemination had been established first by muslim dominated nations as is evident from history & historical monuments. The Islamic theology lays claim to the world’s oldest continually operational university. The University of Qarawiyyin was founded in Fes Morocco in 859 AD at the beginning of an[Read More…]
The poor women of India who save money in currencies for a rainy day, or from irresponsible husbands have been hit hard by Narendra Modi’s decision to withdraw Rs 1000, and Rs 500 notes from circulation. Here is a video of an old woman who saved some money in the now withdrawn denominations trying to flush out ‘black money’ from[Read More…]
Optimists are hoping for a Trump makeover. They cling to his brief victory remarks suggesting that he wants to be the “president of all the people.” In his 60 Minutes interview following the election Trump said that the protestors were out in the streets because “they do not know me.” They recall his statement some months ago that he had[Read More…]
It is based on a cesspool of corruption that is most probably responsible for more death and disease than the combined efforts of the tobacco companies ever were. It is sheer criminality that hides behind corporate public relations, media misrepresentations and the subversion of respectable-sounding agencies which masquerade as public institutions. The ‘agrochemicals-agritech industry’ should not be regarded as some kind of faceless concept because[Read More…]
Public Meeting: November 18, 4-7pm Constitution Club (Speaker Hall), New Delhi At the stroke of midnight on November 8, 86% of the value of Indian currency which was in circulation in the country ceased to be legal tender. Many different adjectives are used to qualify that action – surgical strike, master stroke, third freedom (after freedom from British and license[Read More…]
30 people from various left organisations, who organised a protest in Banglore against the demonetisation of the Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 currency notes, have been arrested a few hours ago. A joint protest was called by CPI (ML) Liberation, AICCTU, New Socialist Alternative/ Peoples’ Solidarity Concerns, Street Hawkers Association and Karnataka Tamil Makkal Aaikyam for ‘Occupy RBI’ a movement[Read More…]
The abrupt demonetisation of 500 and 1000 rupee notes by the Narendra Modi regime is a drastic move that is staggering in its scale, ambition and repurcussions. The only other figures in modern history one can think of, devious or stupid enough to attempt something similar, are the likes of Marcos, Suharto, Idi Amin and Pol Pot. For all its[Read More…]
On October 9, I was in the Nevada desert with Catholic Workers from around the world for an action of prayer and nonviolent resistance at what is now called the Nevada National Security Site, the test site where between 1951 and 1992, nine hundred and twenty-eight documented atmospheric and underground nuclear tests occurred. Since the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and[Read More…]
Goodwill of late nineties has been replaced by the worst form of repression reminiscent of the Scorched Earth policies of retreating armies in the Second World War! The decade of the nineties of the last century witnessed the most violent period in the recent history of Kashmir. It was the decade of the armed uprising. There was violence all around.[Read More…]
Now, falling in line with political expediency is being pushed as ‘patriotism’, so it appears from RSS spokesman Ram Madhav’s statement ‘patience of people queuing up outside ATMs and banks is a test of their patriotism. Whereas, one supposes that the criminality that led to the death of 30 people so far should be excused in the name of ‘nationalism’![Read More…]
This Episode is about the Koli fisherwomen of Mumbai who are bearing the brunt of this sudden demonetization. They are highly disillusioned by the government who comes begging to them for votes, but ends up protecting the rich. But when the poor needs the government, why don’t they listen?
U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky), who voted against Obama’s TPP and virtually every other Obama sell-out to the international corporations which control the U.S. federal government, publicly warned the Republican President-Elect Donald Trump, on Tuesday November 15th, that John Bolton, whom many allege is being seriously considered for a high position in a Trump Administration such as Secretary of State,[Read More…]
This has been the first presidential election in living memory where it was difficult to cast a vote. As the voting numbers show, many stayed away. Better the devil you know … goes the adage. The choice between ‘crooked’ Hillary and, well, the Donald … He who thumbed his nose at the establishment, was labeled a neo-Nazi, was shunned by[Read More…]
A brutal anti-Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) military operation continues behind the smoke screen as electronic and print media has been barred from reporting the extra-judicial killings by the paramilitary forces in Karachi and elsewhere in the volatile Sindh province. Tellingly on Wednesday (11/9), the Chief of Army Staff, General Raheel Sharif, presided over a “security meeting” of military officials to[Read More…]
India is confronted with a situation that has acquired, unfortunately, political primacy in a gender equality discourse. The religion of Islam bestowed upon equal rights for men and women devoid of any distinction including right to divorce. The utopian union of the husband and wife is a perennial pre-requisite for conjugal covertures in all civilized societies. Invariably, all religions advocate[Read More…]
There are many myths and facts, claims and allegations, in the air about – recently announced – demonetization scheme, under which the government of the day at the centre has banned all series of old notes of 500 and 1000 Rupees. My teenaged child & his friend’s arguments and inquisitiveness led me to probe documents on RBI’s websites and some[Read More…]
The National Hawker Federation (NHF) expresses its strong disagreement with the ways in which the Government of India has addressed the evil of corruption in the country. While we do feel as a collective of more than 1176 unions and associations of street vendors of this country, that black money and the corruption raj should end and rule of law[Read More…]
India saw a late evening announcement on the 8th of November, 2016; by Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi, declaring ‘five hundred rupee and thousand rupee currency notes presently in use will no longer be legal tender from midnight tonight, that is 8th November 2016.’ India is world’s 3rd biggest economy and Asia’s second biggest, in purchasing power (2015) at $7.98[Read More…]
We, the undersigned, support all efforts to stop corruption, stamp out black money and counterfeit currency, and act against funding that helps creates unrest in the country be it through terrorism or creating divisions and hatred among people. However, the decision to demonetize Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes is misconceived and will not address the problem of black money[Read More…]
44 years ago this ExPat fled to Canada in search of emotional, spiritual and political solace following the election of Richard Milhous Nixon as America’s 37th President. The shocking election of Donald Trump, eight Presidents later, has once more thrust into conscious memory the many reasons why this writer chose Canada as the closest, most logical place of safety away[Read More…]
Since the results of the latest Presidential elections were announced, I am longing for silence, while the overwhelming cacophony of deafening noises is assaulting my ears, and in fact all my senses. Suddenly everyone around me wants to speak, to shout, and to declare. Lately, peoplewho are surrounding me, as well as those who are far away from me are[Read More…]
As I was growing up, I was always reassured by the sound of the ‘Muadhin’ making the call for prayer in our refugee camp’s main mosque in Gaza. Whenever I heard the call very early in the morning, announcing in a melodic voice that the time for the ‘Fajr’ (dawn) prayer was upon us, I knew it was safe to[Read More…]
Nazareth: While the United States presidential election bitterly divided the American public, most Israelis were sanguine about the race. Both candidates – Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton – were keen to end eight years of icy mistrust between Barack Obama, the outgoing president, and Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli prime minister should – at least on paper – be happier with[Read More…]
“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it’s time to reform (or pause & reflect). ~ Mark Twain once remarked. Soon after hearing about the death of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani a sea of people filled up all the streets and corners of the valley. On the road that oddly bisects my village I witnessed[Read More…]
A fruit seller accounts the result of demonetization on her, who is one among the 93% of the unorganized sector of the Indian working class. She tells how despite working each day from morning till the night, she has been unable to make 50 rupees a day
Dire Straits’ famous song has some very politically incorrect lyrics but the refrain, ‘Money for nothing and the chicks for free’ sums up the situation of black marketeers and owners before the demonetization and the name of the songsters – Dire Straits – sums up their situation in India today. But what are the implications of demonetization? We have seen[Read More…]
Young unemployed people of Ahwaz have protested against widespread poverty and disenfranchisement during President Hassan Rouhani’s recent visit to oil facilities in Howeyzeh, west of Ahwaz, on 13th November. The demonstrators, who came from the neighboring villages around the giant oil facilities, held up banners with slogans denouncing the heinous practices of confiscation of agricultural lands for the benefit of[Read More…]
At least we have some clarity. The mystifications and rationalizations are evaporating. If nothing else, the election of Donald Trump illuminates many of the deep structural problems that we need to face squarely. While most post-election commentary is focused on Trump and the political realignment in Washington, I think the bigger stories are the tectonic shifts in the neoliberal political[Read More…]
Since the UN climate meeting in 1997 in Kyoto, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) eagerly took on the responsibility to reduce shipping’s GHG emissions. The Paris Agreement further kept the IMO in control of maritime GHG emissions, rather than incorporating them into state obligations. Now, we see a continual let down by the IMO going into the UNFCCC COP22 discussions[Read More…]
Many Americans are frightened by the idea of Donald Trump as the country’s new pilot-in-chief, fearing he’ll crash the airliner of state (including climate and environmental policies) into a mountain or the ground. Clinton, they argued, for all her flaws, knows how to fly this thing called a country using the federal government and at least won’t end up crashing[Read More…]
Global temperature goes from heat record to heat record, yet the sun is at its dimmest for half a century. For a while, 2010 was the hottest year on record globally. But then it got overtopped by 2014. And 2014 was beaten again by 2015. And now 2016 is so warm that it is certain to be once again a[Read More…]
Climate change is already affecting life on Earth, despite a global temperature increase of just 1°C, according to a new study published in the journal Science on Friday. Nearly every ecosystem on the planet is being altered, and plants and animals are being so affected that scientists may soon be forced to intervene to create “human-assisted evolution,” the study, titled[Read More…]
In an age where many pundits and pollsters ought to be put out to an ignoble pasture, predictions and astrology gazing on the US election continues. While he did have a better sense of this election than most, actually predicting the result, Michael Moore has decided to essentially ignore it except in the negative. On MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Moore took[Read More…]
The explosive difference between a flag honoring in a pre-game show of proud and comfortable patriotism with young Americans smartly saluting, and the flag in a flash back to 2011 and a small African nation’s brave and desperate show of patriotism in the face of its destruction was described at the Nuremberg Trials. Seek truth! November 13, 2016, as this[Read More…]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CpwW77R9UQ&feature=youtu.be Video by Aabha Joshi, Neethu Saji and Kritika As the Modi government, in a bold step, by demonetizing 500 rupee and 1000 rupee currency notes has promised to recover ‘black money’ and combat ‘terrorism’, the horrors of this move have shaken the entire country, especially the most vulnerable section of the society who earn their living through daily wages[Read More…]
Demonestisation affected people. Things were said and written in ‘for ‘and ‘against’ of it. Prime Minister announced it, made a sensation and havoc among public and went to Japan. His picture sitting in bullet train, one of the fastest speed trains, was tweeted while his country persons were made peoples’ rail before bank’s ATMs, to experience one of the slowest[Read More…]
Arctic News June 10, 2014 “There are such massive methane reserves below the Arctic Ocean floor, that they represent around 100 times the amount that is required to cause a Permian style major extinction event, should the subsea Arctic methane be released in a short period of time into the atmosphere….The energy necessary to produce these Arctic methane release rates[Read More…]
Armed men in jackboots, some masked and toting assault rifles, stand mockingly, defiantly, heavily on the mound of graves – a sacred indigenous burial ground. A site non-natives can understand as similar to Arlington National Cemetery. How US nationalists would feel if the situation were reversed, and people were occupying or plowing up Arlington to bury a pipeline that will[Read More…]
As efforts to oppose the Dakota Access Pipeline grow, communities across the country are hearing from activists on their return from North Dakota and sending off fresh teams to lend support. The author believes that part of the support for the Standing Rock protests is a dawning consciousness that Native people have something important to teach us about living[Read More…]
In late 2012, Peter Turchin, a professor at the University of Connecticut made a startling claim. Based on an analysis of revolutionary upheavals across history, he found that there were 3 social conditions in place shortly before all major outbreaks of social violence: an increase in the elite population; a decrease in the living standards of the masses; and huge[Read More…]
Gradual formation of nation states exploded into empires – Ottoman, Russian, Austrian-Hungarian, British, French, and the short lived Nazi Germany. Two world wars imploded these empires and allowed the strongest of the surviving international powers to control potential adversaries by a simplified mechanism of divide and subdue, which has many paths – partition, tribal separation, exacerbating civil conflicts, and[Read More…]
Pink and Akira, two recent Bollywood hit films, depict an ugly reality of the police in India. It seems much has not changed in country for the last ten years since the Supreme Court in Prakash Singh case ordered in September 2006 that the police must be made functionally autonomous and accountable by enacting new police laws. After 1947, Indian[Read More…]
The 10 November (2016) verdict of Supreme Court declaring the Punjab Act of 2004 as unconstitutional and reviving its earlier decree for expeditious completion of Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal has ripped open the old wounds which had brewed a decade long trouble in Punjab in 1980s entailing a spree of blood spilling. Not only the latest verdict affirms the centralization[Read More…]
“The manufactured, yet reluctant certainty & the unrelenting desire of there being yet another day to live keeps us tormenting more than the threat of the so called Indian ‘security forces’ hounding us like sniffer dogs”, my uncle grumbled, gazing toward me holding a face that seemed bloodless & a heart that kept beating with preternatural sounds. We had been[Read More…]
Demonetization of bank notes in the country has brought problems to multitudes of the people. The arguments being offered by the NDA government suggest that it is one of the greatest achievements and even the associated members and the TV channels of the party in power are projecting the thesis that government has moved into a new generation of economic[Read More…]
Less than 12 hours after Donald Trump walked onto a New York City stage as the newly elected president, the stock price for Energy Transfer Equity shot up 15 percent. Among that company’s holdings is Energy Transfer Partners, operator of the controversial Dakota Access pipeline. Protesters near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation continue to fight completion of the $3.8 billion[Read More…]
The 2016 election and the rise of both Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump can be explained by growing inequality and the nature of populist movements. Understanding this creates potential for serious radical change. The architects of our economy — both Republicans and Democrats — shouldn’t be surprised that there is backlash after decades of shifting most of our economy’s income[Read More…]
Nassar al-Adeeni has vivid memories of how an uprising began in Syria more than five years ago. At least 15 children were captured and tortured in Deraa, the city where he lived, after graffiti critical of the Damascus government was found on a school wall. The authorities’ “barbaric deeds were the main factors behind how the uprising spread quickly,” Nassar[Read More…]
The global socioeconomic system of capitalism, is forcing us to work harder to surpass previous consumption and population numbers until we have devoured everything that maintains life, ending up with a polluted, lifeless, and a scorched planet. Civilisation’s present and ultimate mode, capitalism is the system that can only lead us to our annihilation. This isn’t any individual’s, or any[Read More…]
“Outspoken, outrageous and absolutely indifferent to others’ opinions, Janet Reno was truly one of a kind.” Paul Anderson She was the first woman to hold the job of US Attorney General, and on getting that position, held it for the duration of the Clinton administration, the longest tenure than any in the previous 150 years. Unfortunately for her, Janet[Read More…]
A young Ahwazi Arab student was critically injured on Friday when he was brutally assaulted by Iranian regime municipal officers while selling flowers in order to help feed his family. According to Ahwazi human rights activists, the student, identified as Alireza Sawari, was selling flowers and plants at the entrance to the Behesht Abad cemetery when municipal officials arrived and[Read More…]
Gandhinagar, 13 November, 2016: This turned out to be quite a travesty of Mahatma Gandhi and his teachings in the land of his birth. This was in Gandhinagar, the capital of Gujarat . The occasion was the inauguration of an official government of India conference on urban transport on November 8 but the inauguration proved to be a well-planned[Read More…]
Press Release By Democratic Students Organization Punjabi University, Patiala is considered one of the premier institutions of higher education in Punjab but when it comes to developing or fostering a just, equal, and gender-friendly environment, its patriarchal character comes to the fore. This report tends to deal with the struggle led by Democratic Students Organization against hostel curfews and other associated[Read More…]
What follows are some excerpts from the late David Fleming’s ‘Lean Logic: A Dictionary for the Future and How to Survive It’ (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2016). The excerpts have been chosen by the book’s editor, Shaun Chamberlin. Extensive references are given in the dictionary itself, but are omitted here. LOCALISATION. Localisation stands, at best, at the limits of practical possibility,[Read More…]
In July 1941, Albert Einstein, ten months a US citizen, wrote Eleanor Roosevelt asking her, as First Lady, to raise with the president the matter of lifting bureaucratic hurdles so that Jewish refugees threatened by Hitler’s final solution could be granted entry into the U.S. “I know of no-one else to whom to turn for help,” he wrote. But the U.S. government[Read More…]
“Direct action is necessary for democracy to work, bold moves walking a fine edge, going over the line at times. But talk about ‘revolution’ in the U.S. is premature, to say the least. The thing is, if one wants democracy to function, there must be leadership which is trustworthy. People are either too cynical to embrace that notion, or they[Read More…]
The Obama administration faced reality on Friday when they recognized the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) would not be ratified by this Congress. The TPP is dead. How did people power win?
Billionaire US president-elect Donald Trump belongs to the richest 0.1% of Americans but has been elected by an anti-science, neoliberal electoral continuum from the desperate White poor to the homicidally greedy rich. Trump is an explicit climate change denier and promises a neoliberal agenda of $1 trillion annually in tax-cuts disproportionately favouring the rich in an environmentally disastrous Business As[Read More…]
Universally, Trump was depicted as an anti-establishment candidate. Washington and Wall Street hated him, and the media were deployed to vilify him endlessly. If they could not discredit Trump enough, surely they would steal the election from him. Some even suggested Trump would be assassinated. Acting the part, Trump charged repeatedly that the election was rigged, and he was[Read More…]
Current US President elect denounced the “death and destruction” brought down on the the Middle East under the outgoing Democratic administration Obama and Sec. of State Hillary. If the wholesale and genocidal destruction of 3 wealthy Arab oil nations is now a discredited activity by US President-elect Donald Trump how the hell can Americans who are veterans of bringing about[Read More…]
Vidya Bhushan Rawat In Conversation with Chakma MK from CHT, Bangladesh Chakma MK is a Human Rights activist working with indigenous people in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh since 1980s. He has been working with Human Rights organizations on the issue of Indigenous People. He has spoken at various national and international forums on the issue of[Read More…]
San Francisco: Donald Trump, even without raising a single pen, or signing a single legal document, has already had a profound affect on activism in the United States. Much of this has taken form among the student body of various schools, a brushfire reaction of fury that has seen empty classrooms and vacated schools. Walkouts have taken place over two[Read More…]
So-called liberals and leftists in the US and around the world, are now wailing and gnashing their teeth in reaction to Hillary Clinton’s crushing defeat. They are, however, the first to blame for the outcome of the US presidential elections. Their candidate, Hillary Clinton, was the embodiment of a totally corrupt political system. She is a hypocrite par excellence, talking[Read More…]
The case of genetically modified (GM) mustard in India has reached the Supreme Court. The government has said it will bow to the court’s eventual ruling. That ruling could green-light GM mustard as first commercial GM food crop. If this goes ahead, there will be wide-ranging implications for Indian food and agriculture. Environmentalist Aruna Rodrigues has petitioned India’s Supreme Court, seeking a moratorium on[Read More…]
Like millions of voters and minorities, the upset victory of Donald Trump on Tuesday night was not a pleasant situation for the seven-million-strong American Muslim Community that was at the receiving end during the 2016 controversial presidential election campaign. Hence, an urgent question for the American Muslims is how they will be treated by the forthcoming administration of Donald Trump.[Read More…]
Brushing away the extreme claims and rhetoric of much election analysis, there are some observations which deserve attention. These unfortunately mostly provide hard lessons and not a lot of encouragement for people who hold to principles of democracy, enlightenment, and progressivity. The election demonstrated perhaps better than ever, and better than has been generally been recognized, that American is, indeed,[Read More…]
It’s the morning after Trump’s election. I watched the election until about 2 am, Eastern time, so I knew he was going to win. Already early this morning, my friend, Karen, has called to talk—she’s an African American with a 22-year old son, and she’s scared: and this is not someone who scares easily. My daughter messaged me from The[Read More…]
Shuttle and excessive diplomacy of western world especially the ‘Tuesday Group’s activities deteriorated 2006-2007 political situation in Bangladesh. Additionally, it was possible to declare the State of Emergency by Army Chief Lt. General Moeen U. Ahmed with the help of Military Secretary to the President (MSP) Major General Aminul Katim using the letter of UN Resident coordinator in Dhaka Renata Lok Dessallien, which[Read More…]
The transformation of women’s roles is the last great impediment to universal progress. Indian women haven’t always had much by way of social agency or power whereby they could formulate strategic choices, and control resources and decisions that affect important life outcomes. This , however, hasn’t stopped them from elbowing past certain patriarchal structures to powerful effect. The introduction of[Read More…]
The People’s Union of Civil Liberties strongly condemns the action of the Chhattisgarh police in registering an FIR (Cr. No. 27/2016 PS Tongpal dated 5.11.2016) against DU Professor Nandini Sundar, JNU Professor Archana Prasad (also of AIDWA), Vineet Tiwari of the Joshi-Adhikar Institute and of the CPI, and Sanjay Parate of the CPI(M), villagers Mangla of Soutenar Namapara and Manju[Read More…]
Press release by Campaign for Peace and Justice in Chhattisgarh (CPJC) and Women against Sexual Violence and State Repression (WSS) Giving a whole new turn to the on-going attacks on activists, local leaders and journalists in Bastar, Chhattisgarh Police has now filed an FIR against Nandini Sundar (Professor of Sociology, DU), Archana Prasad (JNU Professor), Vineet Tiwari (Joshi Adhikar Institute[Read More…]
On the eve of the U.S. Presidential election this writer’s article, DAPL Uprising Against Dakota Access Pipeline Ignored By Clinton and Trump was posted online by the Countercurrents.org The gist of that article was a message to the American electorate that the choice in the election wasn’t just between the evil of two political lessers but that other highly-principled candidates[Read More…]
The announcement of withdrawal of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 notes is being described as a masterstroke, a surgical strike on the Black money holders and one tough decision in Indian economic history which will change the world. It is being said that this will put an end to Black money and hit the backbone of terror. The logic that[Read More…]
Right wing political groups throughout the world are celebrating Trump’s victory but rather prematurely. The traditional conservatives and liberals are sufficiently delusional to believe that they are somehow far removed from Trump-style authoritarian politics when in fact they laid the groundwork for Trump to succeed. Meanwhile, some traditional conservative political leaders around the world are wondering if right wing populism[Read More…]
On a day that most people expected not to see, we can say few things with certainty. One of them is that Hillary Clinton would have been a disastrous president for those supporting the Palestinian struggle for their rights. Her failed campaign pitched her as the natural successor to President Barack Obama, the Democrat who just unconditionally handed Israel the[Read More…]
The Fatah movement is involved in a massive tug-of-war that will ultimately define its future. Though the conflict is between current Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, and once Gaza strongman, Mohammed Dahlan, is in no way motivated by ending the Israeli Occupation, their war will likely determine the future political landscape of Palestine. The issue cannot be taken lightly,[Read More…]
That’s my first entry here in my list of a baker’s dozen. The other “sides” to my personal joy are listed below (in no special order). Keep in mind, if you will, that I’m one of the most radical souls on earth, with many decades of having my head bashed in at the barricades (in the name of leftist causes) under my belt. I belt out what’s below now because of the highly unproductive commentary coming out of alternative media outlets and from mainstream sources freaking out about Trump’s downsides. I’m fully aware of his horrid downsides.
Whew! Finally, the charade is over. Donald Trump is now the President of the United States of America. What does that mean? It means that Simpsons prediction came true: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2146815/the-simpsons-correctly-predicted-a-donald-trump-presidency-16-years-ago-in-episode-set-in-the-near-future/ So now you know who to refer to for accurate predictions about the future. Goodbye Tarot cards, et al. In 1995 I recall reading a survey which concluded that America[Read More…]
We the Undersigned, strongly condemn the absurd charges of‘criminal conspiracy and murder’ against highly respected academics and social activists by the Chhattisgarh police in the case of murder of Shamnath Baghel by unknown persons on 4th November. None of the following named in the FIR – Dr Nandini Sundar, Head of the Department of Sociology, Delhi University; Dr Archana Prasad,[Read More…]
Elections come and go but when “The Don”, Barack Obama, meets with his inner circle of Capos every Tuesday morning its breakfast with drones as in the Murder Incorporated assassination program. Think about it, every Tuesday morning in the White House this breakfast club decides who they are going to blow to smithereens that week, with fresh fruit and cappuccinos[Read More…]
The PUCL strongly condemns the decision of the Government of India to nominate active politician and Vice President of the BJP, Sh. Avinash Rai Khanna, as the member of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), for a post that has been kept vacant by the Government for the last two years. This decision is another sinister attempt by the present[Read More…]
Haider Ali and Tipu Sultan were indeed the great rulers of Southern India. They perform their best efforts for the expansion, consolidation and development of the state of Mysore. Haider Ali played a pivotal role in the expansion of the Mysore State while Tipu Sultan thoroughly modernized the state. Haider Ali was a great warrior, while Tipu Sultan was a[Read More…]
Despite being the country with the second largest agricultural land in the world, hardly two fifth or forty percent of the agricultural land is irrigated. Also, even though the country boasts of being the highest producer of many major agro commodities in the world, it suffers from low productivity. The naked and cruel truth is that agriculture remains its Achilles’[Read More…]
He is one and half year older than Independence of our country. Independence had also brought partition of India. He is from other side of divided India. Of course, he and his family have lots of stories to tell about partition but these never turned into stories of ‘hate for other community’. At last, he became messenger of Aman i.e.[Read More…]
At the outset, I offer my apologies to the readers for selecting a title to this article which may taste sour and bitter to their literary taste buds or be repugnant to their aesthetic sense. But please do carry on with reading to know why I chose this title. This article is about arrest of Khurram Parvez, the human[Read More…]
The uprising which resulted after the killing of Burhan Wani has entered into the fifth month. Everything continues to be virtuallyat a standstill. The massive and spontaneous uprising throughout the valley has sent a clear message to the world that everything is not alright in Kashmir as claimed by some ultra-nationalists in India. In the meantime, the two neighbouring countries[Read More…]
The high decibel announcement of “ demonetization “ by Prime Minister Modi went all round in India sounding like a prescription of panacea to black money problem terming it as “ beginning of end “ of Black money in India. The cyber brigade of Sanghi started working 24 hours to handle this to project its eminence,while banks are burning mid[Read More…]
I watched Donald Trump’s presidential victory speech. He spoke a lot about unity, the potential of ordinary, marginalised people and about making the US great again. He spoke about rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure, creating jobs and about finding common ground with other nations. He can be quite charismatic and, taken at face value, quite convincing. His victory was, to a[Read More…]
The earth has been shifting under our feet for a while, but all liberals want to do is desperately cling to the status quo like a life-raft. Middle-class Britons are still hyperventiliating about Brexit, and now middle-class America is trembling at the prospect of Donald Trump in the White House. And, of course, middle-class Americans are blaming everyone but themselves.[Read More…]
The results of the US elections were not so surprising for me: after all, I live in a country where politics has been dominated by a financial tycoon, Silvio Berlusconi, for more than 20 years. Berlusconi and Trump share many characteristics, but the most curious one is that they are rich and that the poor vote for them. Why is[Read More…]
By sabotaging Bernie Sander’s primary campaign, the Democratic National Committee seems to have committed suicide and destroyed the Democratic party. USA’s mass media were also responsible for the stolen primary, and for Trump’s election to the US Presidency. Bernie was the people’s choice, and he would easily have defeated Donald Trump. Americans suffering from economic hardship would have been[Read More…]
At the stroke of midnight November 9, 2016, Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi imposed an undeclared economic emergency on India. With a stroke of pen he wiped out Rs 15 lakh crores in cash from the system. What prompted this drastic step? What will be the fall out of the action for Indian economy is a billion dollar question.
The 2016 U.S. Presidential Election has all but come and gone and the predictable outcome has been limited to a choice between the evil of two lesser candidates, but it needn’t have been or still could be. There actually are/were highly-principled candidates who ran for the presidency but, for all intents and purposes, they remained virtually unknown if not totally[Read More…]
The chugging train of fear continues to drone away on the eve of what has been considered one of the most important elections in generations. Mind you, this was the sort of stuff spouted during the campaigns of 2008, when a disgusted electorate washed a mouth contaminated by George W. Bush’s years with Barack Obama’s honeyed promises. Eight years after[Read More…]
“It is the weight, not numbers of experience that is to be regarded.” — Isaac Newton In the opening paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson derived the right to revolution from the God-given or inalienable rights of the social atom, man, and his derivation seems to parallel the one in which Isaac Newton, a century earlier, had derived the[Read More…]
I won’t be wrong if I comment that our Indian Jails have been a haven or a temporary home to many of the guilty, under trials and also to those, against whom the system has failed to prove the charges thereby spending their years of sorrow within the confines of darkness and doom. When prison population goes beyond its authorized[Read More…]
In the midst of rising tensions between the U.S. and Russia, a small delegation of peace activists travels to Moscow and St. Petersburg to learn from Russian people about their perspective on war and international relations. The hardships suffered by ordinary Russians as a result of U.S.-imposed economic sanctions, and the failure of U.S. media to report on this,[Read More…]
But for media management, election 2016 would be a playing out in public of indecision within the ruling rich 1/10th of 1%, whether to switch to less profitable investing to build up USA, or continue wildly enriching themselves in wars & investing in higher profit rendering low wage 3rd world nations, at the same time helping these nations, led by[Read More…]
IN ACTIVISM — acting out as a concerned citizen seeking movement in solidarity (to make this a better world, to encourage a sense of family among all the creatures on this earth) — kindness must now rear its beautiful head. Treating one and all as kin.
I do have the tendency to implode at the slightest transgression; be it a speeding car or someone littering the street. My wife calls me an angry old man. Fair enough. But what really startles me during seasonal festivities or in our everyday life in India is the profound disregard for the community. The convivial celebrators perturb me but and[Read More…]
During December 2016, the world’s first Generation-III pressusrized water reactor (PWR)at Kudamkulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) in India will be shut down for its second refueling. The 1000 MW WWER reactor, a joint venture of Russia’s Rosatom and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) was grid connected three years ago. About 56 used (spent) fuel assemblies will be[Read More…]
Report of a fact-finding team which visited Central University of Haryana, Mahendergarh on 20th October 2016 . Team members: Anirban Kar, Deepak Gupta, Jitender Dhankhar, Sachin N, Sameeksha Khandelwal and Saroj Giri On 21st September 2016, students and teachers of English and Foreign Languages department at Central University of Haryana (CUH), Mahendergarh, performed a play based on Mahasweta Devi’s short[Read More…]
The U.S. political charade is nearing its finale with the most hated presidential candidates in history rushing to the finish line. At this point, the contest of the greater of two evils has escalated. An allegation of Trump raping a 13-year-old girl has come forward, while the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of private email servers was reopened, along[Read More…]
On Sunday, just two days before the US presidential election, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-armed faction comprised largely of ethnic Kurdish militia, called a press conference to announce that it had begun “a major battle” to retake Raqqa from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Raqqa, a city of some 200,000 in central Syria, is often[Read More…]
US air strikes are common in the Afghanistan where these are used to eliminate the suspected Taliban cadres. These are supported by the Afghan government though several politicians including the former President Hamid Karzai opposes such attacks. US in a similar such strikes killed more than 30 civilians on Thursday who were innocents and it is assumed had no relations[Read More…]
At the outset please let me clarify that I am an Indian, I love my nation and I stand up straight and attentive every time the national anthem is played. Having said this, I have interest in history and love to read anything and everything that helps me decipher the past because in words of Churchill, the more backward we[Read More…]
Indian PM Narendra Modi will visit Japan from 10-12 November, 2016. Civil society organisations of Japan have launched this petition to oppose the India-Japan Nuclear Agreement which the two governments are supposed to finalise during this visit. More than 1900 people have signed it already. Please sign and share widely To the Honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi, We are women[Read More…]
The Human Rights Forum (HRF) and the Ganatantrik Adhikar Suraksha Sanghatan (GASS) demand that Greyhounds police personnel responsible for the killing of 27 Maoists and at least four civilians on the early morning of October 24, 2016 in the forest abutting Ramaguda village of Andrapalli panchayat in the “cut-off” area of Malkangiri district in Odisha be booked under relevant penal sections of the law including 302 IPC (murder) and the SC, ST (Prevention of Atrocities Act) and prosecuted.
San Francisco: Coming into San Francisco, and a note of spellbinding terror can be sensed. Donald Trump haunts the political landscape with a menace that has become a caricature of terror before the fact. Even conservative bodies like the Hoover Institute run comments of angst such as those of one of its senior fellows, Victor Davis Hanson. For Hanson, Trump offers[Read More…]
Once upon a time, when choosing a new president, a factor for many voters was the perennial question: “Whose finger do you want on the nuclear button?” Of all the responsibilities of America’s top executive, none may be more momentous than deciding whether, and under what circumstances, to activate the “nuclear codes” — the secret alphanumeric messages that would inform[Read More…]
“A howling wilderness” was what General Jacob Smith ordered his troops to make of Samar, Philippines. He was taking revenge for the ambush of fifty-four soldiers by Filipino revolutionaries in September 1901. After the invaders killed most of the island’s inhabitants, three bells from the Balangiga Church were looted as war trophies; two are still displayed at Warren Air[Read More…]
As human beings, we are naturally social and creative. The inherent curiosity that drives us to innovate is ultimately a testament to the creative impetus that resides within all of us. And the richness and flexibility of human behavior, including our capacity for cooperation and adaptation, further allow us to envisage and create a world that far outstrips the[Read More…]
It has been more than 20 years since the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts – termed as post-Independent India’s most revolutionary exercise in democratic decentralization and devolution of power – were passed by the Parliament, mandating one-third seats in all local governments be reserved for women. The biggest significance of women’s reservation was that it unlocked the power, talent[Read More…]
The fact that the Madhya Pradesh state government has shed even the pretence of fair-trial, a cornerstone of the rule of law, has emerged as the only uncontested truth four days after the incredulous police encounter that resulted in the killing of 8 under-trial jail escapees. The circumstances of the reported jailbreak from the supposedly highest security prison in the[Read More…]
Is this the turning point for the Dakota Access Pipeline? Word spread through the camp on Friday of a discussion between the Army Corps of Engineers and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe that could mean a breakthrough. “This proves that our prayers are really strong from the Oceti Sakowin camp,” Tom Goldtooth, executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network told[Read More…]
I thought the Muslims were the only anti nationals in this country. But I was mistaken. Earlier, thousands of people including even women and children who were questioning Koodankulam nuclear plant were declared as anti nationals. They are not the only ones outside the community of Muslims. Over 11,000 NGOs in India are restricted from FCRA, while the Prime Minister[Read More…]
The PUCL strongly condemns the decision of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to punish Hindi news channel, NDTV India, for revealing “strategically – sensitive” information while covering the Pathankot attack in January, 2016 by ordering that the Channel close down telecast for a day between 9-10th November, 2016. The decision is reminiscent of the Emergency period when the media[Read More…]
Hillary Clinton’s fears concerning her rival candidate appear to be justified. At present she seems to be the most likely future president, and there is good reason for asking the question – Is Mrs. Clinton throwing stones in a glass house when she viciously attacks Donald Trump? Her efforts as Secretary of State are among the most warmongering in America’s modern history. Should she become president, it seems highly unlikely that we would ever see the dawn of world peace.
An American evolutionary biologist and historian of science, Stephen J. Gould, wrote the following in his essay titled “Kropotkin Was No Crackpot”: “More generally, I like to apply a somewhat cynical rule of thumb in judging arguments about nature that also have overt social implications: When such claims imbue nature with just those properties that make us feel good or[Read More…]
“Eat Dust! Eat Dust!”, chanted the villagers who had gathered in the Public Hearing by the Environment ministry on the environmental impact of a mining lease which was due to be extended. As they chanted, they tossed fistfuls of the crushed red earth in the air. They were enraged by the attitude of the governmental officials who were there to[Read More…]
Recognition of womens’ dignity, health, education, work, and political inclusion are some of the prerequisite actions for gender equality, however, despite of such acceptance, women either at work or domestic life face mental, physical and emotional harassment by working colleagues, life partners and blood relations. Even the worst is that all this shameful is conceived and dealt as normal routine[Read More…]
Before one can dream of independence, one has to deserve to be independent and that can happen only when one is honest and sincere about the goal as well as the movement leading to it in the first instance! The present mass uprising in Kashmir has crossed 100 days and is still going on. Everything has been virtually at a[Read More…]
Today is 6th November, the day we commemorate in memory of victims of Jammu massacre 1947 , many of whom even didn’t know their fault to go to grave. A people which had faithfully obeyed & served the whole clan of Hindu Dogra rulers for almost a century, fell to the evil plans & contrived machinations of the same very[Read More…]
In the aftermath of Allahabad High Court judgement that nullified her election as a MP from Raebareli and in the midst of on growing students’ unrest, also known as Bihar or JP movement, Mrs Indira Gandhi imposed emergency on 25th June 1975 under . Fundamental rights were suspended; political opponents and dissenting intellectuals were jailed, press censored. The pervasive[Read More…]
In an unprecedented draconian action Government of India has imposed one day ban, November 9, on the NDTV India for not following the rule 6(1)(p) of cable TV Network Rules 1994, for showing the coverage of the Pathankot attack which has compromised the security and sovereignty of the country. This is a naked violation of freedom of press and freedom[Read More…]
In order for carbon storage even in tropical forests to be beneficial, it must remain stored essentially permanently (for many hundreds to thousands of years). No one can guarantee that future climate change, disease, and/or land use change won’t cause release of this forest carbon back into the atmosphere, which would bring us back to the starting point, before any forest carbon storage efforts were even attempted.
The power above the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the U.S. Attorney General, and, above that person, the U.S. President. That’s whom the FBI actually serves — not the U.S. public. This is the reason why the FBI is having such internal tensions and dissensions over the investigation of Hillary Clinton: Not only is she the current President’s[Read More…]
In response to UNESCO resolutions adopted in October that were highly critical of Israel’s protection of sacred and cultural Islamic heritage sites in Jerusalem, there is again a fiery confrontation between Israel and this UN organ whose actions have so often touched the raw nerves of Western political sensibilities. The main UNESCO resolution ‘deeply deplores’ Israel’s failure to stop a[Read More…]
The paradox is easy to spot. Running water is Nepal’s strongest asset at the moment, not only for investors in hydroelectric power plants, but also for communities that still lack electricity. Nevertheless, a steady stream of disputes has arisen between local populations, the government, and an increasing number of hydro plants that are meant to create electrical currents out of[Read More…]
Renewable energy capacity is growing more rapidly than expected, says the International Energy Agency (IEA), overtaking coal for the first time. The IEA also says it has “significantly increased” its forecasts for the growth of renewable capacity over the next five years. Yet its forecasts continue to show future growth slowing down. Carbon Brief looks at the latest IEA renewable[Read More…]
Parliamentary supremacy in British law and politics is akin to the fetish of the union in the United States. Challenge it at your peril; question it to your misfortune. The point was tested, with rumbling consequences, by the May government in its latest Brexit stumble dealing with Britain’s painful and at times confused response to exiting the European Union. The[Read More…]
On Monday the 31st of October 2016 the Madhya Pradesh police assassinated eight alleged associates of the Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) after an alleged escape from prison near Bhopal. This was not coincidentally a day when the Prime Minister Narendra Modi was hyping Hindu nationalism on Diwali, the Hindu festival that celebrates the return of the mythic god[Read More…]
The events in Kandhamal in 2008 shook the entire country. The large number of tribal and Dalit Christians in this remote district of the then Orissa (now Odisha) state were subjected to months, even years of displacement, dispossession , death for a few and ‘forced conversion’ for those who remained, by the saffron forces which termed it ‘ghar wapsi’ or[Read More…]
The festive season in India begins with Nag Panchami. Ganesh Chaturthi follows. A few weeks later come the ten-day festivities of Dussehra, culminating in Ram Leela where effigies of Ravana are burnt in public functions in towns and cities across north India. Finally, there is Diwali, the festival of lights. Almost all Indian festivals – from the ever popular Diwali[Read More…]
The ban on NDTV India is one more effort by the Government in crushing independent reporting. At a time when there is serious attempt being made to make the media either to toe the government line or face harassment, the attempt is only to make the media toe the line of the government. It is a definite attempt at placing[Read More…]
Global warming is on track to top 3° Celsius, the United Nations warned this week, because today’s climate pledges are “not nearly enough” to prevent dangerous levels of warming. That’s according the latest annual “Emissions GapReport” (pdf) from the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), which concluded that pledges to cut emissions will result in a global temperature rise of 3.4ºC[Read More…]
“The thing that makes you exceptional, if you are at all, is inevitably that which must also make you lonely.” — Lorraine Hansberry “One of the problems with activists is that they’re afraid of being lonely, and they don’t get that the road they have to go down doesn’t allow for moving four abreast.” — James Baldwin “Direct action is[Read More…]
“The hidden hand of the market will never work without a hidden fist. McDonald’s cannot flourish without McDonnell Douglas…. And the hidden fist that keeps the world safe for Silicon Valley’s technologies to flourish is called the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps.” — from The Lexus and the Olive Tree At the bottom of Public Servants or Corporate Security? An[Read More…]
You say “European cultural institutions”, and what should come immediately to mind are lavish concerts, avant-garde art exhibitions, high quality language courses and benevolent scholarships for talented cash-strapped local students. It is all so noble, so civilized! Or, is it really? Think twice! I wrote my short novel, “Aurora”, after studying the activities of various Western ‘cultural institutions’, in[Read More…]
To see the planet whole;
To know our place upon it;
To nurture and restore it;
To abide in moderation,
With compassionate humility;
That the arts might consecrate us—
I voted.
In a few days the election, and what to many Americans is a political nightmare, will be over. But will it? Who can imagine Trump graciously disappearing from the scene if he loses, or for that matter Hillary. He is likely to parlay his greater celebrity into a new enterprise, and she into another run with the same political[Read More…]
Another major state election has come up in the Hindi heartland of the country. The last time we had one, namely in Bihar exactly one year back, we finally ended up happy because social consciousness prevailed in the minds of the people of Bihar rather then religious consciousness. Issues of Ram Mandir, Love Jihad, Ghar wapasi, Beef ban, Pro-Pakistani accusations[Read More…]
It would not be surprising to say that Arnab Goswami was the trend setter in Indian media industry. He represented a media version with seeds of fascist political culture that was to emerge in India. He was a cross breed of economic and political right. The political culture was to be extremely suppressive of political dissent, rule out any intellectual[Read More…]
Police descended on water protectors in North Dakota on Wednesday, as images on social media showed a dramatic standoff along a creek that borders a construction site for the long-opposed Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). Jordan Chariton, a political reporter with The Young Turks network, posted this video dispatch after covering events just east of the main camp, where Standing Rock[Read More…]
The camp is a hive of activity, people splitting firewood, erecting a giant geodesic dome, patrolling on horseback, cooking food over wood heated stoves. At the same time, the camp is struggling to recover from trauma resulting from last Thursday’s action by a multi-state armored police force. Elders who went out to pray were hit with rubber bullets, bean bag[Read More…]
In Myanmar government has decided to arm and train the non Muslim local people in order to enhance the security in the Rakhine State where the ethnic problems between the Rohingya Muslims and Buddhist residents prevail. The move is being treated as to crush the Rohingya Muslims who have been denied any substantial rights within the state and the ethnic[Read More…]
Last July, the Palestinian Authority took the unexpected, although belated step of seeking Arab backing in suing Britain over the Balfour Declaration. That ‘declaration’ was the first ever explicit commitment made by Britain, and the West in general, to establish a Jewish homeland atop an existing Palestinian homeland. It is too early to tell whether the Arab League would[Read More…]
Ahwazi environmental activists are reporting an acceleratingenvironmental catastrophe in the once verdant Hor al Azim marshlands in Ahwaz near the Iraqi border with Iran. Thelatest reports reveal that Iranian authorities recently excavated large areas of land in the marshlands, covering these in thick plastic sheeting to use as open pits for the storage of millions of barrels of oil.[Read More…]
It’s absurd! It’s preposterous to suggest that around 40 per cent of Bangladeshis favour suicide terrorism. Yet this is what some American think tanks and “expert analysts” have recently come up with in their reports, to the detriment of Bangladesh’s reputation. Muslims in Bangladesh – around 90 per cent of the population – are peaceful, liberal, devotional, and even[Read More…]
“I make videos, that’s my tool, I believe this is one of the significant ways to raise the voice of the voiceless,” the man behind a remarkable work on recording, editing and publishing the stories of the victims of suppressed society across Asia, has started narrating. Amila Sampath, a young journalist hailed from the southern part of Sri Lanka[Read More…]
The reality of the ground situation in Kashmir cannot be hidden by using some activities as barometers of Political Normalcy. Kashmir has been facing a perennial situation of political uncertainty right from 1947. Various activities projected as normalcy have always failed to hide the ground reality which has a habit of bursting out off and on. After the dethroning of[Read More…]
New Delhi: Asian Centre for Human Rights released its 290 page report, “The State of the PC&PNDT Act: India’s losing battle against female foeticide”, the first ever comprehensive study on the status of implementation of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC&PNDT) Act, 1994. The report is available at: http://www.stopfemaleinfanticide.org/files/TheStateofthePCPNDTAct2016.pdf The key findings of the report, “The State of the PC&PNDT Act: India’s[Read More…]
Can there be a collective search for paradigms and pathways towards a world that is sustainable, equitable and just? How can such frameworks and visions build on an existing heritage of ideas and worldviews and cultures, and on past or new grassroots practice? How can they be fundamentally different from today’s dominant economic and political system, which has brought[Read More…]
Veteran Subedar Ram Kishan Grewal, aged 70 years, unhappy at government not providing OROP to Veterans, committed suicide in Delhi on November 2, 2016, by consuming poison. OROP has been the focus of intense agitation over many months at Jantar Mantar in 2015, and government has prevaricated and dodged the core issue, with PM Narendra Modi, RM Manohar Parrikar[Read More…]
Even as ‘facts’ come in flying thick and fast in this ‘developing story’, as a film-maker I cannot but help analyze the script/ screenplay/ dialogues offered so far by the cops, the Chief Minister and assorted BJP spokespersons on TV. Firstly, let me acquaint you with a basic premise: Cinema works on the basis of “willing suspension of disbelief”. Audiences[Read More…]
Nazareth: Israel has just emerged from its extended, three-week high holidays, a period that in recent years has been marked by extremist religious Jews making provocative visits to the al-Aqsa mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem. Many go to pray, in violation of Israel’s international obligations. Most belong to groups that seek the mosque’s destruction and replacement with a[Read More…]
“… [B]ecause Robin Hood was a pirate, we want to take the power from the powerful to give to the people.” Birgitta Jónsdóttir, New York Times, Oct 31, 2016 Getting transparency advocates into parliament and assemblies has proven to be a great challenge in modern politics. Iceland has led on that point, giving the world political punditry much to discuss[Read More…]
On Thursday, scores of law enforcement officers from seven different states showed up with riot gear, armored vehicles, and military weaponry to clear away Standing Rock’s newest camp, the “1851 Treaty Camp.” The camp stands directly in the path of the Dakota Access pipeline. Tipis and sweat lodges were destroyed. Vehicles were set ablaze. More than 140 protesters were arrested.[Read More…]
As the hottest year on record draws to a close, countries will gather in Morocco from the 7th to 18th of November for the 22nd Conference of the Parties (COP22). Under a new Executive Secretary, negotiators will attempt to chart the way forwards towards meeting the objectives of the Convention and implementing the Paris Agreement. The Paris Agreement passed the[Read More…]
It’s high time to amplify the emotional and spiritual perspective of the Native Voice as it might speak to the American Voter about the woeful Indian treaty history of the United States, and all the doubletalk of its former Presidents and the next one about to be elected. What lies behind the reasons why various disparate issues in American culture[Read More…]
November 8th 2016 will finally draw the curtains on the biggest political show on earth. No matter who wins, the loser is already declared – the American Democracy! The two party system has made sure that not just this election but every election is in their favor. We have heard about the banks being too big to fail, the Wall[Read More…]
“There is a new kind of secessionist movement taking place in India. Shall we call it New Secessionism? It’s an inversion of Old Secessionism. It’s when people who are actually part of a whole different economy, a whole different country, a whole different planet, pretend they’re part of this one. It is the kind of secession in which a relatively small[Read More…]
Most interesting watching the progress of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the EU through the various opaque backroom ministrations this past week. NAFTA first As the progeny of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA, 1994) it serves to refer to a bit of history. Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney very recently on CBC said that[Read More…]
If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman -Margaret Thatcher If we want to bring a truly transformative gender revolution, we must remember that all women, regardless of their marital status, need access to education, good jobs, and support for domestic duties. Although transforming long-held laws, beliefs and practices may be difficult,[Read More…]
Iraqi government troops entered the eastern outskirts of Mosul Monday, as the US-backed offensive launched October 17 to recapture the country’s second largest city from the Islamic State began its third week. But the advances of Iraqi government soldiers, Peshmerga fighters and Sunni and Shia militias could not conceal the fact that growing sectarian tensions are threatening to vastly intensify[Read More…]
Who will be the winners and the losers in the coming U.S. presidential election? Trump or Clinton, Clinton or Trump? The mainstream media is consumed with personality politics. Who could hold their nerve in a time of crisis? Whose integrity is purer (or less damaged)? If you were forced to choose, who would you trust your house keys with? It’s[Read More…]
PUCL expresses its strongest sense of outrage and condemnation for the killing of about 39 members of the CPI (Maoist) party and other Adivasis near Balimela reservoir in Malkangiri district of Odisha close to the Odisha – AP border on 24th October, 2016. Though the police claim that the killings were a result of a sudden encounter and resultant fire-fight,[Read More…]
We, the undersigned, are dismayed over the ongoing crisis in Kashmir. We have watched in horror and shock the repetitive cycle of state aggression leading to violence, deteriorating state of civil liberties, violation of fundamental rights and ever escalating loss of human life and dignity in Kashmir.[Read More…]
“In terms of prize money, the Melbourne Cup is worth more than the Grand National or any race in America, and it is far more popular in terms of national identity.” Richard Waterhouse, ABC Radio, Nov 3, 2015. An inspection of the hungry, jostling crowds gathering at the gates of the Flemington Race Course, Melbourne, gives a false sense of[Read More…]
Violation of Indian laws, Basel Convention by two end-of-life ships namely, Maersk Georgia and Maersk Wyoming and the recent report of DanWatch (October, 2016 about the conditions at Alang beach, Bhavnagar, Gujarat. Maersk is the world’s biggest ship owning company based in Denmark. The report emerged out of the collaborative investigation by DanWatch, the daily newspaper Politiken and broadcaster TV 2
Maersk has sent two ships to be recycled at a shipyard in India considered by experts to be dangerous. Cancer, mutilation and death caused by a lack of protective equipment threaten employees, according to occupational safety experts that have reviewed Danwatch’s documentation. Maersk concedes that there are problems. Right now, the two nearly 300-metre long container ships Maersk Georgia and[Read More…]
A mother is a school. Empower her and you empower a great nation. -Hafez Ibrahim, Egyptian poet The real tragedy of the poor, particularly the women among them, is that their voice is unheard in forums, even at those which are exclusively devoted to their problems. As the Madagasy proverb goes, “poverty won’t allow him to lift his head, dignity[Read More…]
At least 40 immigrants dead in fire at US-Mexico border 
Contemporary Anti-Semitism – A Jewish View from Germany 
In memory of 40th Anniversary of Military Dictatorship in Argentina 
Poor work conditions, non-compliance with Constitutional provisions seriously impact adolescent girls in workforce 
Take action against K Surendran for insulting Women 
Calculated Exoneration: Command Responsibility and War Crimes in Afghanistan 
DOJ Called Upon to Investigate Environmental Activists Abuses 
The World’s Coffee Shops Have Emerged as Plant Milk’s Front Line 
Lara Sheehi’s ordeal, like Steven Salaita’s, is not quite over 
“Facing Clear Evidence of Peril” in a Country of Lies 
The case of Kashmir: A Gandhian Resolution 
Non-Availability of Badly Needed Funds for Dalit Students Increases Their Difficulties 
A bureaucrat-turned- minister in a mess 
Hundreds Of Thousands Of Workers’ 24-Hour Mega Transport Strike Halts Germany 
Oldest Interfaith Organization in America Calls for Children to Have More Rights Than Guns 
What’s the Best Way Out from the War in Ukraine? 
How Indigenous Land Management Practices Are a Blueprint for Climate-Resilient Agriculture 
In memory of Hugo Chavez on 10th death Anniversary 
Xi’s ‘Chilling’ Remarks: A Multipolar World Offers Challenges and Opportunities to the Middle East and Africa 
Ukraine War – US-China Relations And the Doomsday Clock 
Anti-Rahul Defamation Card Has Its Limitations! 
Questions We Should Ask to Understand Real Impact of Poverty Reduction and Welfare Schemes 
Punjab: Democracy Under Siege? 
Declaration excessive dividends by the Board of HZL may not be in compliance with Section 123 of the Companies Act 
Men, masculinities, and gender equality 
EU Warns After Russia Plans To Place Tactical Nuclear Weapon In Belarus 
A Hazardous Decision: Supplying Ukraine with Depleted Uranium Shells 
Media and the March to War 
The Basic Issue is not of Taking Sides in Superpower Rivalry, it is of Durable Peace to Save Earth’s Life 
The Pentagon’s Budget from Hell 
“…I want poetry to be detonated like a bomb!” -Nathalie Quintane 
Bundelkhand Must Choose its Priorities Carefully 
Citizenship: Beyond the Forked Vision 
Caste-wise census is necessary for balanced development 
Tribal woman murdered after rape in Rohtas and strong protest demanding punishment of culprits 
Why Avoiding Catastrophic War is the Biggest Priority Today 
Labor in market, and the mainstream economics 
Serbia Shall Never Forget NATO Aggression, Vows Serb President 
Kerala’s New Public Health Bill 2023: Subservient to Market Forces rather than Deliberative Democracy 
The Piracy of Development – The 3-Ds: Dispossession, Displacement, Destitution 
Our beloved K.P.Sasi is no more. Filmmaker, cartoonist, writer, mentor, friend and above all tireless activist championing the cause of every underdog, Sasi breathed his last, mid-afternoon this Christmas day – after battling a medical condition for months. I remember the last time I met him, almost exactly a month before he passed away, at the ayurvedic healing center in[Read More…]
