https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TfQ1Ub3zsE On the death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, Hindu Mahasabha did something embarrassing and vicious to the democracy and prosperity of the nation: they shot the poster of father of the nation with bullets from point blank range and to make it look more real they applied blood to the image exhibiting the ongoing fascism culture of the nation which[Read More…]
A blast of historic cold temperatures hit the US Midwest, with record lows for both daily high and low temperatures expected Wednesday and Thursday across the region. Wind-chills in parts of northern Minnesota and North Dakota reached negative 60 degrees Fahrenheit (negative 51 Celsius) and even lower. The US Postal Service suspended mail deliveries in ten states Wednesday and Thursday[Read More…]
The United States has steadily escalated its regime change operation in Venezuela, seeking to remove Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro by means of a coup d’état driven by crippling economic sanctions tantamount to a state of war and the continuous threat of outright US military intervention. The aim is to install the US puppet, Juan Guaidó, who in December traveledto the United[Read More…]
A survey of The New York Times archives shows the Times editorial board has supported 10 out of 12 American-backed coups in Latin America On Friday, The New York Times continued its long, predictable tradition of backing U.S. coups in Latin America by publishing an editorial praising Donald Trump’s attempt to overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. This will be the 10th such[Read More…]
The men directed by President Donald Trump to “handle” the situation in Venezuela are not clear-headed diplomats capable of working for peace and democracy. They are war criminals and should be behind bars. The Trump administration is currently working to overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in the name of freedom and democracy. Yet Washington’s efforts will only lead to bloodshed and[Read More…]
It is a time for diplomacy and for restraint, not another intervention that unleashes violence that we surely will come to regret President Trump apparently has decided that intervention in Venezuela’s agonies can help repair an image scarred by the government shutdown debacle. In recent days, he recognized an obscure, right-wing opposition leader when he declared himself acting president. Trump[Read More…]
declaring opposition to his agreement with intervention in the internal affairs of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (República Bolivariana de Venezuela); and urging him to facilitate negotiations between the Venezuelan government and its opponents that will allow Venezuela to continue on its visionary path of genuine peace fostered by social and economic justice. 29 January 2019 The Right Honourable Justin[Read More…]
Christoph Flügge, a senior judge with the UN International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, has resigned from the ICC, after the US threatened judges investigating alleged US war crimes in Afghanistan. Flügge, a German judge, has worked with the ICC and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) since 2008. Recently, he got involved with a preliminary[Read More…]
REVIEW of “From a Shepherd Boy to an Intellectuals–My Memoirs by Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd Sage/Samya/Select. PP 360 by Back in the early 2000s when I was a university student in Delhi, Kancha Ilaiah was all the rage. His book, Why I am not a Hindu, had come out and it was extensively read and widely discussed among the students. The[Read More…]
J&K in the past was predominantly agricultural State. Immediately before 1947, near to 90% of its population lived in villages & depended on agriculture. Under Dogra Rule, “in Kashmir the land [belonged] to the Ruler, the cultivators [were] his servants”. 1 In Jammu, proprietorship in lands was claimed by the Dogra monarchs as hereditary, in Ladakh & Batistan it was[Read More…]
Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination on January 30, 1948, was a culmination of a vicious campaign launched by Hindu communal groups in post-Independence India. It is far too early to dismiss the possibility of a future Hindu State in India. However, the possibility does not appear a strong one. The secular state has far more than an even chance of survival in[Read More…]
On January 24, 2019, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has stated: “Humanity now faces two simultaneous existential threats, either of which would be cause for extreme concern and immediate attention. These major threats—nuclear weapons and climate change—were exacerbated this past year (2018) by the increased use of information warfare to undermine democracy around the world, amplifying risk from these[Read More…]
A few years ago, especially in the 2005-2008 period, many people were concerned that the oil supply would run out. They were concerned about high oil prices and a possible need for rationing. The story was often called “Peak Oil.” Peak Oil theorists have also branched out into providing calculations that might be used to determine which substitutes for fossil fuels[Read More…]
Shah Faesal’s journey from an overwhelming personal tragedy to excellence in his career is both amazing and awe-inspiring. At 19, his father, a government teacher who was very popular locally, was murdered by the hitherto unknown militants because of his refusal to provide them shelter, according to a 2010 newspaper report quoting his mother Mubeena Begum. Such a calamity could’ve[Read More…]
The present Director of the Srinagar Met Office, Sonam Lotus, has made people very much weather conscious by his useful forecasts during last few years!) Sonam Lotus These days’ people have become very conscious of the weather forecasts thanks to Mr. Sonam Lotus, the present Director of the Srinagar Met Office. In earlier times people were not very much[Read More…]
The indictment of right-wing political operative Roger Stone by special counsel and former FBI director Robert Mueller presented no evidence of “collusion” by WikiLeaks and its publisher Julian Assange with either the Trump campaign or Russian intelligence, after more than 17 months of investigation. The indictment of Stone, dated January 24, 2019, is at the same time a damning indictment[Read More…]
The Trump administration’s loose talk of military options is extremely dangerous and should be met with vocal and sustained opposition The Trump administration’s recent moves on Venezuela have so many historical echoes it’s a veritable déjà vu layer cake. The appointment of Elliot Abrams as U.S. Special Envoy to Venezuela last week was the icing on the cake. Abrams is[Read More…]
China has dramatically reduced its trade with Iran in line with US sanctions, raising questions whether Iran will remain committed to an international agreement that puts severe limits on its nuclear endeavours. Reduced Chinese trade also suggests that Iran is likely to face increased obstacles as it seeks to blunt the impact of the harsh US sanctions imposed last year[Read More…]
At the beginning of this month, several Members of the Parliament, activists, former bureaucrats, academics and leaders of farmers’ movements wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister to highlight the chronic underfunding of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). By the end of December, 99 per cent of the central government’s NREGA fund for 2018-19 was exhausted. Within[Read More…]
A proposal sent to the Finance Minister by 60 eminent economists a few weeks ago. The proposal consists of raising the central contribution to social security pensions from the current measly Rs 200 per month to Rs 500 per month, and providing for maternity entitlements of Rs 6,000 per child as prescribed by the National Food Security Act. This modest[Read More…]
American economic sanctions have been the worst crime against humanity since World War Two. America’s economic sanctions have killed more innocent people than all of the nuclear, biological and chemical weapons ever used in the history of mankind. The fact that for America the issue in Venezuela is oil, not democracy, will surprise only those who watch the news and[Read More…]
Forget the hype. Israel’s ‘security technology’ has nothing to do with why some African countries are eager to normalize relations with Israel. What is it that Israel is able to offer in the technology sector to Chad, Mali and others that the United States, the European Union, China, Russia, India, Brazil, South Africa and others cannot? The answer is ‘nil’,[Read More…]
After much anticipation, on January 28, the United States made public its case against the Chinese tech giant, Huawei, and its representatives, including the Chief Financial Officer, Meng Wanzhou.In a display of power, a phalanx of senior officials, including the Acting US Attorney General and the FBI Director, outlined thirteen charges against Huawei and Meng. Meng is in Vancouver, out[Read More…]
The annual Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report is the gold-standard for estimates of private wealth around the world. The latest is Global Wealth Report 2018. It’s at: https://www.credit-suisse.com/media/assets/corporate/docs/publications/research-institute/global-wealth-report-2018-en.pdf Some aspects of this report (as in previous years) raise more questions than answers, but any informed estimations of where things stand economically within the world’s nations and even globally, has to[Read More…]
It is all a rather sorry tale. Molly Russell, another teenager gorged on social media content, sharing and darkly revelling, took her own life in 2017 supposedly after viewing what the BBC described as “disturbing content about suicide on social media.” Causation is presumed, and the platform hosting the content is saddled with blame. Molly’s father was not so much[Read More…]
A question would naturally arise in the minds of curious observers of regional geopolitics that why did Pakistan choose to wage Washington’s proxy war against the erstwhile Soviet Union in Afghanistan during the 1980s? Was it to strengthen its defenses against India, the oft-quoted “strategic depth” military doctrine, or the fear that the former Soviet Union might make further advances[Read More…]
Let’s take stock for a moment, as indeed we should. Seventy-one years ago, Mahatma Gandhi was murdered by Naturam Godse, a member of the RSS. Godse thought that Gandhi was too soft to the Muslim population especially as regards Partition. With three bullets, Godse mowed down one of the greatest people in modern history, more responsible than any other individual[Read More…]
As long as investors continued to plow money into U.S. shale oil companies, the industry seemed unstoppable. But with the flow of those funds all but stopped, has the U.S. shale oil industry entered a death spiral? The bad news coming out of the shale oil fields of America could all be put down to slumping oil prices. That is[Read More…]
It has been said that the laws of physics apply in the economic realm. However, it would be more precise to say that the same basic laws govern all dynamic systems. One of the newer “laws” emerges from chaos theory. Put as simply as possible, it states that in dynamic systems, such as weather patterns or water flow (or human[Read More…]
On January 27th, 2019, the Taliban and the U.S. government each publicly stated acceptance, in principle, of a draft framework for ongoing negotiations that could culminate in a peace deal to end a two-decade war in Afghanistan. As we learn more about the negotiations, it’s important to remember others working toward dialogue and negotiation in Afghanistan. Troublingly, women’s rights leaders[Read More…]
Sometimes meeting an embittered politician, enables one to peep into a domain of politics that otherwise remains obscure. Moreover, on occasions sharing experiences about such meetings helps in analysing the games behind popping up of new characters like mushrooms during rains with alternative narratives for fortifying the ‘hegemonic discourses’ at the time of elections in the State. Moreit also helps[Read More…]
Text and Photos: Andre Vltchek Come to Southeast Asia and enjoy beaches, cheap sex and raunchy massage parlors. Hang around this part of the world in whichever way you like;wearing flip-flops, shorts and t-shirts. You were told that ‘everything is easy here, that things are cheap and people are friendly and happy’. Do what you want, as almost everything is[Read More…]
Last year, twenty thousand peer reviewed studies on ‘climate change’ were published. No single person can keep track of all those – you’d have to read 55 papers every single day. (And, by the way, that huge mass of publications is why climate deniers will always find something to cherry-pick that suits their agenda.) That is why climate assessments are[Read More…]
One of the major voices of the spirit of nonviolence is Romain Rolland. He is the symbol of those who would not let war destroy the cultural bridges between peoples, especially during the 1914-1918 World War. Romain Rolland came from a French family with many generations in the legal profession. However, from his secondary school days on, his interest was[Read More…]
On Saturday, January 26, Reuters reported [1] that Taliban officials said the US negotiators agreed on a draft peace pact setting out the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan within 18 months, potentially ending the United States longest war. Confirming the news, New York Times reported [2] on Monday, January 28, that the US chief negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad stated the[Read More…]
It was a spectacular rally in the pre-historic city of Guwahati on 23 January last that strongly opposed the Indian Union government’s latest initiative to amend the country’s citizenship act in favour of religious asylum seekers from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Organized by All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) along with 30 indigenous groups at the historic Latashil play ground of[Read More…]
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on 2 October 1869: 150 years ago this year. There will be many tributes to Gandhi published in 2019 so I would like to add one of my own. This reflects not just my belief that he gave the world inspiration, ideas and powerful strategies for tackling violence in a wide range of contexts but[Read More…]
The National Call for 2 minutes Silence at 11.00am & 5.17 pm is being held from Kanyakumari to Kashmir and from Kohima to Kutch! The National Initiative to Commemorate the Martyrdom of Mahatma Gandhi is now a People’s Movement! ———————————————————————————————————————————-Mumbai: Silent March from Mani Bhavan to August KrantiMaidan. We will Commemorate, pay homage and stand in Silence for 2 minutes[Read More…]
Today about 4.2 billion people have affordable access to the internet and this number continues to swell. Obviously, exposure to social sites and online video games is increasing with time. And at present, it has already reached to a point where we are compelled to use term ‘addiction’. Among video games, the online multiplayer battle game popularly known as Pub-G[Read More…]
The police in the State of Maharashtra, India, acting at the behest of the BJP Hindutva government at the centre and the State, has named Professor Dr Anand Teltumbde in a totally fabricated FIR (First Information Report) accusing him of involvement with the violence at Bhima Koregaon on January 1, 2018. We demand the immediate withdrawal of the trumped up[Read More…]
Imperialist intervention in Venezuela is being followed by further developments. The imperialists are not having easy days. However, the imperialists and their Venezuelan collaborators are continuing with acts of provocation and belligerency while Nicolas Maduro, the constitutionally elected president of Venezuela, is extending moves for conciliation and peace. Following is the update based on media reports: Maduro’s offer of dialogue[Read More…]
Nazareth: With April’s elections looming, Benjamin Netanyahu has good reason to fear Benny Gantz, his former army chief. Gantz has launched a new party, named Israeli Resilience, just as the net of corruption indictments is closing around the prime minister. Already, at this early stage of campaigning, some 31 per cent of the Israeli public prefer Gantz to head the[Read More…]
Co-Written by Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers Two things stand out about the US coup in Venezuela. First, it is unusually open. Typically, the US tries to hide its coups. Second, the coup is built on a series of obvious falsehoods, yet the bi-partisans in Washington, with a few exceptions, keep repeating them. First, we will correct the falsehoods so[Read More…]
Have those who claim that Nicolas Maduro is a dictator, a usurper and that the 2019-2025 period lacks legitimacy asked themselves this question? Or do they just repeat what they hear? It was the 12 countries gathered in Lima that began to position this opinion matrix. Their communiqué reads: “…the electoral process carried out in Venezuela on May 20, 2018[Read More…]
Abstract As the Earth continues to heat, paleoclimate evidence suggests transient reversals will result in accentuating the temperature polarities, leading to increase in the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events. Pleistocene paleoclimate records indicate interglacial temperature peaks have been are consistentlysucceeded by transient stadial freeze events,such as the Younger Dryas and the 8.5 kyr-old Laurentideice melt, attributed to cold[Read More…]
One of the finest military memoirs of any generation is Defeat Into Victory, British Field Marshal Sir William Slim’s perceptive account of World War II’s torturous Burma campaign, which ended in a resounding victory over Japan. When America’s generals write their memoirs about their never-ending war on terror, they’d do well to choose a different title: Victory Into Defeat. That would certainly be more[Read More…]
DRIP, DRIP, DRIP These are three simple words that represent many aspects of human survival. There is a drip of water that quenches the thirst. There is a teardrop running down the cheek, be it in sorrow or happiness and there is a drip of rain that keeps the ground fertile, green and alive. But then there is the drip[Read More…]
…. ‘Jagmagate thhe jahan Ram key quadam ke nishan Piyaar kee kahkashan leti thi angdayee jahan Mod nafrat ke usee rah guzar mein ayee Dharam kya unka hae, kya zaat hae, yeh janta kaun? Ghar na jalta tau unhe raat mein pehchanta kaun , Ghar jalane ko mera, log jo ghar me ayee , Shakahari hae mere dost tumhara khanjar[Read More…]
Members of Indians Abroad for Pluralist India (IAPI) held a demonstration on Sunday, January 27 at Holland Park in Surrey to show solidarity with Anand Teltumbde, who is facing arrest by the Indian police. Teltumbde is a published author and columnist who has been advocating for the rights of poor and marginalized people. He is known for being a vocal[Read More…]
We, the undersigned students and faculty of the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, condemn the recent attempts by the Pune Police to arrest the teacher, activist and public intellectual. Dr Anand Teltumbde. Dr. Teltumbde has taught at various universities in the country and has published his academic work widely, including in the Economic and Political Weekly. He is also the[Read More…]
2019 Elections are upon us. It is clear that NDA led by Modi is facing an uphill battle. Policies like Demonetisation and haphazard implementation of GST has left Indian economy in shambles. Agrarian distress and curbs on cattle economy are pushing rural population to penury. Constitutional institutions have been compromised and rendered toothless. Federalism is on the brink of collapse[Read More…]
People’s Initiative to Commemorate the Martyrdom of Mahatma Gandhi on the 30th of January for Communal Harmony, Non-Violence & Peace. National Call for 2 Minutes Silence at 11.00am & 5.17pm to pay our respects and Homage to Mahatma Gandhi, is being held from Kanyakumari to Kashmir and from Kutch to Kohima.The National Initiative to Commemorate the Martyrdom of Mahatma Gandhi[Read More…]
This could have been seen as audacious. Instead, it had the smell of a not so well concealed sponsorship, the backing of a meaty foreign hand. Venezuelan opposition leader and President of the National Assembly Juan Guaidó decided to take a quick step in the direction of the presidency. His own counterfeit theory is simple: he is not being a[Read More…]
To: Sri Ram Nath Kovind President of India presidentofindia@rb.nic.in Sri Narendra Modi Prime Minister of India Via: High Commission of India, Ottawa dhc.ottawa@mea.gov.in Re: Appeal to Drop All Charges against Dr. Anand Teltumbde Sir: Dr Anand Teltumbde, an alumnus of the prestigious Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad, Executive Director of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd., Ex-MD & CEO of Petronet India, former[Read More…]
As expected, the announcement of the national awards for 2019 again brought forth a storm of controversy in India. This time it has drawn special attention due to the fiddly criteria used for selection. However, politics of awards is as old as the constitutional history of India. Saffronisation of awards is also a part of this history of ‘give and[Read More…]
Former President Pranab Mukherjee has been awarded Bharat Ratna along with Nana Ji Deshmukh and Bhupen Hazarika. Obviously, many people have heart burn with this as there is a long list of well deserved people who should have been acknowledged by the state. Apart from Bharat Ratna, hundreds of other awards are presented by the government every year as mark[Read More…]
The US-orchestrated regime change operation continued to escalate tensions in Venezuela Friday, pushing the country closer to civil war or an outright US invasion. Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro and Juan Guaidó, a leader of the right-wing Voluntad Popular party and president of the country’s National Assembly, who proclaimed himself the country’s “interim president” Wednesday with immediate backing from Washington, spoke[Read More…]
#GoBackModi is trending once again in twitter. This time it’s happening in a crucial time when Modi is coming to Madurai to lay the foundation for the AIMMS hospital and also to kick start the 2019 Lok Sabha election Campaign. In April 2018, when the Modi government did not follow the Supreme courts orders to form the Cauvery Management Board[Read More…]
Finally, Mayawati, the Chief of the Bahujan Samaj Party(BSP) struck an alliance with Samajwadi Party (SP) and amicably sorted out the sharing of seats for the forthcoming 2019 Lok Sabha Elections. Recently, advice by Ram Das Athawale of Republican Party of India, currently sitting in the lap of Manuwadi, anti-Dalit Party, to Mayawati to join the BJP than the SP[Read More…]
We are shocked and dismayed by the recent appointment of SRP Kalluri to two positions of responsibility — as Inspector General, Anti Corruption Bureau and Economic Offences Wing – of Chhattisgarh state government. SRP Kalluri, in his service tenure, has a track record of engaging in human rights violations accompanied with a brazen impunity that has exemplified him as an[Read More…]
HAARP – the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program – was initiated as an ionospheric research program, established in 1993 in Gakona, Alaska and operated by the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. It was and is funded by the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Navy, the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Its alleged purpose[Read More…]
The problem with India is not just about something as simple as defeating the BJP in 2019 elections. This is definitely a must but the major problem is exemplified by the fact that “where there is no vision the people perish.” To put it more clearly, the RSS, the BJP and its satellites have a vision for the country, a[Read More…]
Indian-Australian connections are particularly noteworthy now with the Indian cricket team finally beating Australia in a Test series in Australia, and vastly more importantly, increasing Indian trade with Australia and substantial Indian immigration to Australia. 26 January is Indian Republic Day that commemorates replacement of colonial British rules by the adoption of the Indian Constitution on 26 January 1950, and[Read More…]
As Putin famously put it, the “breakup of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical tragedy of the century.” http://www.nbcnews.com/id/7632057/ns/world_news/t/putin-soviet-collapse-genuine-tragedy/#.XEtKxlwzY2w . It did indeed, seem as though the breakup of the USSR left the United States, “the last man standing” and thus, the sole hegemon of the world. As expressed by its foreign policy, it believed at that point, it[Read More…]
Well, that didn’t last long. Yesterday Canada’s ambassador to China, John McCallum, presented three arguments concerning Meng Wanzhou, one of the leading executives for Huawei, who was arrested in December in Vancouver airport, at the request of U.S. authorities. Today he recanted, saying he created confusion, misspoke, that his comments are not accurate – yet at the same time he[Read More…]
Our three large food banks in MA are now going full force in in my state, I have never seen anything like it. We have one in the west, one east and one middle. The same event is happening across the USA, Our food banks across the nation are full throttle at present. They are cranking out food as fast[Read More…]
“If we desire a society of peace, then we cannot achieve such a society through violence. If we desire a society without discrimination, then we must not discriminate against anyone in the process of building this society. If we desire a society that is democratic, then democracy must become a means as well as an end”~ Bayard Rustin For people[Read More…]
Professor G.D. Agrawal, formerly of Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and known as Swami Gyan Swaroop Sanand since 2011, died on 11 October, 2018 on the 112th day of his fast, demanding a law for conservation of river Ganga, at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rishikesh. 40 years old Sant Gopal Das inspired by Professor Agrawal also sat on[Read More…]
[Foreword: India has vowed to be a socialist, secular, democratic republic. Sadly, all these values are steadily being eroded in the present political developments. About 20 intellectuals, professionals, activists who are working for the fundamental rights of the poor and marginalized and upholding the above mentioned constitutional values are being labeled ‘urban naxals’ and are being harassed no end either[Read More…]
Maduro endorses dialogue call by Mexico, Uruguay China and Russia extend support to Maduro Regional allies Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua reiterate support Maduro and reject US-led intervention Over 70 Experts call for US to stop interfering in Venezuela On-going imperialist intervention in Venezuela is making situation tense. Imperialism is organizing provocative hostile acts to deteriorate situation in Venezuela. Following update has[Read More…]
The President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, welcomed the initiative taken by Mexico and Uruguay for a national dialogue and reaffirmed his willingness for a dialogue with all political sectors. “I have seen that two Latin American governments have taken an initiative, which seems to me, must be the path. A diplomatic initiative, initiative for dialogue. The[Read More…]
The Supreme Court has today issued notice in a PUCL PIL challenging the constitutional validity of Section 5(2) of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, read with Rule 419-A of the Indian Telegraph Rules, 1951, as well as Section 69 of the Information Technology Act 2000 together with the Information Technology (Procedure for Safeguards for Interception, Monitoring and Decryption of Information)[Read More…]
Co-Written by Badre Alam and Sanjay Kumar The recent press conference which was addressed by jointly the BSP chief Mawawati and the SP president Akhilesh Yadav in the Lucknow on 12th Jan 2019 is to be considered as a historical and futuristic in nature, ahead of the 2019 general election. This alliance tries to put-forward the new phase of radical Dalit-Bahujan[Read More…]
It is new and it is not new, but it is tremendously wicked and deadly – the latest type of coup the US invented and is now applying against Venezuela. Of course, coups and attempted coups are what could be described as the ‘West’s specialties’, and have been utilized by the U.S., U.K. and other imperialist countries against innumerable[Read More…]
University of Delhi is replete with ad-hoc teachers as it presently employs around five thousand teachers who work in the ad-hoc capacity. Year after year, a hire and fire policy is adopted with regard to their employment by the college administration for every academic session. In this process, an ad-hoc teacher often finds himself/herself being turned into a guest teacher.[Read More…]
Misuse of Information Technology The role of the media Throughout history, art was commissioned by rulers to communicate, and exaggerate, their power, glory, absolute rightness etc, to the populace. The pyramids gave visual support to the power of the Pharaoh; portraits of rulers are a traditional form of propaganda supporting monarchies; and palaces were built as symbols of power. Modern[Read More…]
It is a political idiosyncrasy that most political systems avoid: the state, as if suffering a stroke, operating at only partial capacity, incapable of paying certain employees and incapable of fronting certain services. And so it is in the United States, which is facing the longest shut down in its history after the record set under the Clinton Presidency –[Read More…]
The World Economic Forum met this week (January 22-25) for its 48th annual meeting since its inception. It costs $60,000 or Swiss Francs to become a member and another 27,000 to attend. However civil society groups, NGOs, and UN and government officials can attend free. It has been a difficult year: Emmanuel Macron received a standing ovation last year. This[Read More…]
While major contribution to implementation of social welfare schemes is through social volunteers and anganwadis, nurses, teachers, etc .their economic and social condition remains pathetic. Their problems have not been addressed either by governments or other welfare organizations for many years. Devalued The social and economic progress depends upon providing basic services. The teachers, Anganwadi workers, nurses, panchayat secretaries or[Read More…]
Caste is not something that is only related to stratification of a society. It’s related with everything. That we have studied in the history book how the Hindu caste system creates a domination of the Brahman and put the Dalit and backwards on the back foot of the society. This whole phenomenon is related to the Socio-economic aspect. That one[Read More…]
For long they have been calling me to visit. ‘ We cant carry our traditional occupation as it has not given us anything. We want to educate our children so that they too can get some job’, said one of them. Yes, it was an ocassion for me to listen to the voices of the Bahurupiya community in Rajasthan. Yesterday,[Read More…]
-A Skit by MK Adithya The jarring sound of alarm from my old time-piece woke me up at 5am. It was quite late last night by the time I was back home. And our editor told our team we should be ready early to cover people’s responses on Republic Day even before the official ceremony begins. Sleepy, I pulled on[Read More…]
On 23 January 2018, the United States has initiated a coup against President Nicolás Maduro and his Government, by encouraging and fully supporting the “self-proclaimed” opposition leader, Juan Guaido, as interim President. Already days ago he had received the full support of President Trump, and today, in a special televised speech, US Vice-president Mike Pence declared that Venezuela’s Freedom begins[Read More…]
As I approach 75, I’m having a commonplace experience for my age. I live with a brain that’s beginning to dump previously secure memories — names, the contents of books I read long ago (or all too recently), events, whatever. If you’re of a certain age yourself, you know the story. Recently, however, I realized that this experience of loss,[Read More…]
First phase of imperialism’s direct intervention in Venezuela has started. The US has “officially” recognized a self-proclaimed president of Venezuela as the country’s president while the rightists are trying to create chaos on Caracas streets. Guaidó, the self-proclaimed president, have been recognized by Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Paraguay and Peru, the countries collaborating with the US[Read More…]
The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in December 1948. Seventy years later the Delhi High Court for the first time unhesitatingly recognised the 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom as Genocide. Thirty four years after the massacre a bench of justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel finally last month held former[Read More…]
Faced With The Bezos’ Divorce The Left Should Be Saying: “We’re Coming for What’s Ours!” Since it was announced on Twitter that Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos would be getting a divorce the media has been brimming with speculation over the event. Will they go to court? How long will the case take? Was it infidelity? How will this impact Amazon[Read More…]
Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was arrested at Vancouver International airport in December by Canadian authorities at the request of the U.S. government. Canada at first maintained a position of not wanting to make the case “political” and to continue with the extradition process as Canada works with the “rule of law.” Unfortunately for Canada it is an obvious political[Read More…]
Critique of Waldo Frank- TOPICS: Freud, psychoanalysis, modernism. By Waldo Frank, ISSUE: Autumn 1934 Volume 10 # 4,PUBLISHED: March 31, 2010 It was 1928, Freud’s Essay, ‘Dostoevsky and Patricide’ appeared in 1928 as Case Study or Case History, which opened up floodgates of controversies and debates. Freud’s cautious and slightly hesitant identification of Dostoevsky’s mental illness, in all probabilities as[Read More…]
The United States and China are playing Eurasia’s 21st century Great Game from different but equally skewed maps. While the US map appears to be outdated, the Chinese map portrays a reality that is imagined. If the skewed realities of both China and the United States have one thing in common, it is in strategist Parag Khanna’s mind the fact[Read More…]
The Russians are Coming, Again – The First Cold War as Tragedy, the Second as Farce. Jeremy Kuzmarov and John Marciano. Monthly Review Press, New York, 2018. The mainstream media continues to harvest all the disinformation it can concerning the relationship between Trump and Putin and the character of Putin himself, not to mention the overall generalizations about the state[Read More…]
Ever the clear-eyed realist, Lenin knew what the Revolution had failed to achieve. And this knowledge tormented him in the last weeks of his life. Vladimir Lenin in the summer of 1923 There is a photograph of Lenin in a wheelchair, from sometime in the summer of 1923, in which he is flanked on one side by his[Read More…]
Unrest among farmers over delayed and part payment by often take a violent turn, especially, between sugarcane farmers and mill owners.Delay in payment to sugarcane farmers has become a big issue in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, the two highest sugarcane producing states. Sugarcane grows all year round, in addition to also being in demand throughout the year for sugar production[Read More…]
Is primary education in government sponsored schools no more reliable to the parents of urban as well as rural Bengal? Pupils’ strength in government sponsored primary schools is remarkably decreasing. It is evident that primary education in government sponsored schools is absolutely free. A student gets educational materials and allied support along with mid-day meal regularly, while quality of[Read More…]
#Sarcasm #AcheDin # TukdeTukdeGang # KanhaiyaKumar #ShehlaRashid #2002Gujarat #AntiNational #PuducherrykoVanakkam! #Demonetisation#MunnkiBaat This fledgling attempt at writing is a tribute to the flexibility of our language in general and in particular to the words that have been newly minted crisped dried suuned and presented for use for the general consumption of our ever gullible public. Since 16th of May, 2014, our[Read More…]
Lawyers for Julian Assange have filed an urgent application to the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR), based in Washington D.C., to direct the Trump Administration to unseal the charges it has secretly filed against Mr. Assange. Assange’s lawyers are also asking the Commission to compel Ecuador to cease its espionage activities against Mr. Assange, to stop the isolation imposed[Read More…]
It is exactly 20 years today when India witnessed a ghastly crime against humanity. The barbaric face of the religious hatred was witnessed in Manoharpur village of Keonjhar district of Odisha where an Australian Chrisitian Missionary Graham Stains along with his two children, Phillip, 10 and Timothy, 6 were brutally burnt to death when they were sleeping in their vehicle.[Read More…]
To the Zapatista Army for National Liberation: To the CIG Support Networks: To the Networks of Resistance and Rebellion: To the Mexican people: To the peoples of the world: To the media: The peoples, nations, and tribes who make up the National Indigenous Congress and the Indigenous Governing Council proudly salute the 25th anniversary of the armed uprising of the[Read More…]
The issue before us is death. Not only our individual death, which is more imminent for some of us this morning than others, but our collective death. We have begun the sixth great mass extinction, driven by our 150-year binge on fossil fuel. The litany of grim statistics is not unfamiliar to many of you. We are pouring greenhouse gases into[Read More…]
At this time of year, about 2,000 private jets fly into Zurich airport and to various smaller Swiss airports (including the Dübendorf military airbase). Hundreds of helicopter flights move from Zurich to Davos, where the hotel rooms go for as high as US$10,000 a night during the World Economic Forum (WEF). The WEF, which began in 1971, opened this Tuesday[Read More…]
The decision of the Malaysian government not to allow Israelis to enter the country to participate in the World Para Swimming Championships in Sarawak in July-August 2019 is both politically correct and morally right. TunDr. Mahathir Mohamad’s firm stand on this issue has been endorsed by PKR president, Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Deputy Sports Minister, SimHee Kyung. A coalition[Read More…]
It was a symbolically brilliant moment in October last year, when a policeman in Uttar Pradesh hid behind a tree and shouted ‘thain! thain!’ during a live encounter with criminals, after his gun jammed. The policeman’s attempt to replace real bullets with mimicked sound was considered by many as another laughable case of a poorly prepared Indian police force. In[Read More…]
Lately, I have been asked this question on several occasions. “Can our humanity really survive?” “Am I an optimist or a pessimist?” My replies vary, as I don’t think there can ever be one single answer to this most urgent, the most important query. Sometimes my answer gets influenced by location: where I am at that moment, or where I[Read More…]
US President Trump’s announcement of US withdrawal from its illegal and war criminal occupation of Syrian territory has evoked passionate denunciation from Republicans, Democrats and the US military and intelligence Deep State. However there is no such outcry over the Syrian Holocaust and Syrian Genocide inflicted on this formerly peaceful and religiously tolerant land by jihadi psychopaths variously backed by[Read More…]
The ‘State of Palestine’ has officially been handed the Chairmanship of the G-77, the United Nations largest block. This is particularly significant considering the relentless Israeli-American plotting to torpedo Palestinian push for greater international recognition and legitimacy. It is now conclusive that the main mission for former United States Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, was an unmitigated failure. When[Read More…]
In past two Octobers, Professor Prabhat Patnaik made two importantcontributions to theorisation of Fascism and ways to defeat it. One was Published on 17.10.17 in The Telegraph[1], “Finding a way out: The current upsurge of fascism”and the other in last year, “The Left and Opposition Unity: How Fascism Can Be Defeated in 2019” published in The Wire on 9.10.2018[2]. Firstly,[Read More…]
Not so much hunting season as declaratory season in US politics. The US presidential candidates from the Democratic side are making promises spiced with forced excitement in anticipation of the 2020 elections. This early morning of the public holiday of Martin Luther King, Jr., US voters were given a spray of enthusiastic promises by yet another potential candidate for the[Read More…]
Last October, Philip Hammond, the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, in the annual federal budget speech to the UK Parliament, said this: “Austerity is coming to an end, but discipline will remain.” Talk about Orwellian doublespeak. The truth about austerity is that it is a means of social control, or as Hammond put it, discipline. Hammond’s recent comment is completely[Read More…]
The word massacre denotes a form of collective action that destroys the defenceless individuals. In European middle ages, the word has been used in reference to animals. There is a difference between massacre and genocide. Every massacre is not a genocide, a genocide is primarily composed of one or more massacres. There are many categories of massacre like local (face[Read More…]
Four weeks and counting the shutdown continues except the Trump-Congress tit-for-tat is fast approaching kindergarten level. The Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is third in line for the office of President. The Democrats having won back the House she is a Democrat, and Donald Trump just canceled her morale-boosting trip, together with a congressional delegation, to the soldiers[Read More…]
Co-Written by Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers Fifty-two years ago on April 4, 1967, at Riverside Church, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., gave his most important speech ever, “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence.” King’s conscience drove him to take the unpopular position of publicly criticizing the Vietnam War and putting it in the context of the “giant triplets of racism,[Read More…]
Introduction The systematic analysis of human resource, especially its composition, representation, and productivity is an important aspect of the study of any country. The demographic dividend of a youth bulge can be transformed positively especially in economically weak countries by enhancing educational and employment opportunities. These countries can take advantage of their physical strength to intellectual potential. But without due[Read More…]
The true teachers are those who help us think for ourselves –Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan The building blocks of a nation are the citizens of its tomorrow. The way these seeds will sprout will always depend on the way you choose to water them. India’s education sector is one of the largest sunrise sectors in the economic and social development of the[Read More…]
It is rather difficult to begin when you know that within a few days or weeks, one of your close friends could be behind bars under one of the most draconian laws crafted by this Republic. The world knows him as Anand Teltumbde, but for me he has always been Anand. Merely four months ago, we were together in a[Read More…]
Sunday, January 27, 2 pm – Holland Park, Surrey Indians Abroad for Pluralist India calls upon all progressive and democratic forces to join us to protest against growing repression in the world’s so called largest democracy. Ever since the right wing Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in India in 2014, attacks on religious minorities and political[Read More…]
Indian billionaires saw their fortunes swell by Rs. 2,200 crore a day last year, with the top 1 per cent of the country’s richest getting richer by 39 per cent as against just 3 per cent increase in wealth for the bottom-half of the population, an Oxfam study said on Monday. Globally, billionaires’ fortunes rose by 12 per cent or[Read More…]
Halfway through 2018, MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski hurled a mother-to-mother dagger at Ivanka Trump. How, during the very weeks when the headlines were filled with grim news of child separations and suffering at the U.S.-Mexico border, she asked, could the first daughter and presidential adviser be so tone-deaf as to show herself hugging her two-year-old son? Similarly, six months earlier, she had been[Read More…]
Martin Luther King deserves being the only American whose birthday is celebrated with a three day holiday, but not only as the successful US civil rights movement’s leader, but even more for having been martyred confronting the American killing machine at its source, investors in military atrocities, covert violence and predatory finance. Martin Luther King deserves being the only American[Read More…]
When Donald Trump, the current incumbent of The White House, threw his hat into the ring of the US Presidential elections in 2016 we Palestinians who keep a close watch on the politics of Washington held our breath. Not in expectation. Not in awe, but in fear and trepidation. Here is a man who is ignorant. Here is a man[Read More…]
Even as the general elections are round the corner, the Narendra Modi Government makes it a point to use religion and culture as effective tools to sustain itself in power, beyond 2019. This is done in an orchestrated manner deploying strategies of both ‘soft power’ and ‘hard power’ in the domestic, regional and international settings. The latest in a[Read More…]
As Martin Luther King’s birthday is celebrated with a national holiday, his death day disappears down the memory hole. Across the country – in response to the King Holiday and Service Act passed by Congress and signed by Bill Clinton in 1994 – people will be encouraged to make the day one of service.Such service does not include King’s commitment[Read More…]
Introduction by Edward Curtin Today India, a country of nearly 1.4 billion people, nearly a fifth of the world’s population, is a nuclear armed state ruled by leaders who have vociferously rejected the non-violent legacy of Gandhi, the leader of India’s independence movement and the Father of the Nation. When he was assassinated on January 30, 1948, his death sent[Read More…]
The climate data for 2018 is now mostly in, though the ongoing shutdown of the US government has caused some datasets to be delayed. In this article, Carbon Brief explains why last year proved to be so remarkable across the oceans, atmosphere, cryosphere and surface temperature of the planet. A number of records for the Earth’s climate were set in[Read More…]
After the Ayyapa jatara ended on January 14 with the so called ‘Makara Jyothi’ appearing for the devotees at Sabarimala, Pinarayi Vijayan, the chief minister of the Left front government, emerged a skillful social reformer and good administrator. The Narendra Modi government deployed its Kerala wing to push him against a wall by opposing the implementation of the Supreme Court judgment in 2018 lifting the ban[Read More…]
Revolution Club, Chicago: January 18—Last October, a jury found Chicago cop Jason Van Dyke guilty of second degree murder of Laquan McDonald and 16 counts of aggravated battery. Today, a judge handed down a sentence for Van Dyke that is a sickening, brutal beat-down of Black people and an outrage against humanity. For the racist murder of Laquan McDonald, the[Read More…]
If we go back to the history of migration, we find migration is a powerful phenomenon. The migrants were encouraged by the Western world. Mr. Donald Trump`s predecessors also welcomed immigrants from all corners of the world. Their idea behind flexible immigration policies was to support the local economy and infrastructure projects which require a large number of people to[Read More…]
The level of absurdity in US politics has now reached such vertigo inducing levels as to render all manner of things permissible. Contact with the unwashed implies collaboration; discussion with the enemy implies assent. To go to a dinner party with a perceived hostile force in the context of business of diplomacy has become a child’s condemnation of misplaced loyalties. [Read More…]
National Executive Committee Meeting, Nasik (Maharashtra),6 January 2019 Political Resolution The SPI would like to remind the citizens of India that the Indian Constitution is passing through the crisis of a serious threat from the ruling establishment of the country. The present government is not only destroying the basic values of socialism, secularism and democracy embedded in the Constitution, but[Read More…]
Landing at Nagasaki Airport last November, I joined a line of Japanese men, women, and children waiting to disembark from our plane. Most were likely returning home on this holiday weekend or arriving to visit family and friends. I wondered how many of them remembered or thought about the nuclear annihilation of this city 73 years ago — within, that[Read More…]
The environmental crisis is fundamentally a racist crisis; it is also classist crisis, a sexist crisis, and a crisis of capitalism. Environmental activism is meaningless if it does not grapple with issues of injustice and expose the links between environmental devastation, colonial history, and the exploitative relationships of the North and the South. But does this mean that campaigns focused on our[Read More…]
(Rome) In What Is To Be Done of 1902 Lenin opposed revolutionary spontaneity because it “strips away the disciplined nature of the Marxists idea of revolution, leaving it arbitrary and ineffective.” True to himself, Lenin then returned to opposition to spontaneous revolution after WWI during the German Revolution of 1918-19 when in a spontaneous uprising against the post-WWI system Rosa Luxemburg[Read More…]
Angela Ferrao is a cartoonist. https://www.facebook.com/Ferraodesigns
Last Thursday—on January 10—Nicolas Maduro was sworn in for his second term as president of Venezuela. “I tell the people,” Maduro said, “this presidential sash is yours. The power of this sash is yours. It does not belong to the oligarchy or to imperialism. It belongs to the sovereign people of Venezuela.” These two terms—oligarchy and imperialism—define the problems faced[Read More…]
Another US regime change undertaking is about to begin. Meanwhile, the Syrian misadventure will, hopefully, end soon and Bashar Al Assad’s enduring presence in Damascus is Washington’s failure writ large. But that is not stopping the neoconservatives. Washington is beating the war drums again, this time in Latin America. Venezuela, and its Bolivarian socialist revolution has long irked the United[Read More…]
Narendra Modi, the present incumbent to the Prime Minister’s chair, had a little break the other day for an award ceremony. Well, little different from the usual award ceremonies — where the Prime Minister presents awards and gives some pep talk, here Modi himself was presented with the ’First-ever Philip Kotler Award’. Perhaps looking at Modi’s much-publicised workaholic nature (if[Read More…]
Though the trend towards ‘ nuclear’ families where the family unit is mainly parents and children is increasing, there are indications of increase in families which are neither nuclear nor joint. These may be called ‘broken extended ‘ families. Modern trends Over half of India’s households have been recorded as nuclear families since 1990s. Joint families make just 16% of[Read More…]
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (Martin Luther King). Aasifa, 8 years old girl belonging to Gujjar community of Rassana village of Hiranagar Kathua was brutally raped, murdered and was decomposed nearby forests in the month of January 2018. After five days, her body was found in soaked blood and mud, which led to the suspicious that the[Read More…]
Sheikh M Abdullah in his autobiography [“Blazing Chinar” (Gulshan Books (2016) Chapter 30 titled “Mohammad Ali Jinnah & Myself” at pages 220-231] briefly mentions of an interesting criminal case of 1930s that for peculiarity of its facts had attracted attention of the whole of Kashmir. The Chapter does not divulge the full facts of the case which are, however, adumbrated[Read More…]
Co-Written by Robert Stevens and Chris Marsden Theresa May’s government survived a no-confidence vote Wednesday night brought by Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. MPs voted by 325 to 306 with all 314 MPs of her divided Conservative Party voting to keep the government in office. They were joined by the 10 MPs of the Democratic Unionist Party and an independent[Read More…]
January 15th marked what would’ve been Dr. Martin Luther King’s 90th birthday. Most known for his famous “I Have Dream Speech,” King envisioned a future in which deep racial inequalities — including deep economic inequality — was eradicated. He worked tirelessly towards that mission. Over 50 years after his assassination, sensational media stories have focused heavily on the black unemployment[Read More…]
In a shocking incident, a minor boy carried his mother’s body on a bicycle for three-four kilometers after neighbours refuse to help for the funeral over the caste differences. The incident has taken place at Karpabahal village under Lakhanpur Block of Odisha’s Jharsuguda district. According to reports, one Janaki Sinhania (45) died after falling on the ground while she had[Read More…]
It is easy to identify the ongoing and endless violence being inflicted on life on Earth. This ranges from the vast multiplicity of assaults inflicted on our children and the biosphere to the endless wars and other military violence as well as the grotesque exploitation of many peoples living in Africa, Asia and Central/South America. But for a (very incomplete)[Read More…]
Raúl Zibechi is a Uruguayan journalist and one of Latin America’s leading political theorists. He is an international analyst for Brecha newspaper in Uruguay, and a professor at the Multiversidad Franciscana de América Latina. Zibechi has written numerous books on social movements and politics across the Americas, including Territories in Resistance: A Cartography of Latin American Social Movements and Dispersing Power: Social Movements as Anti-State[Read More…]
Co-Written by Raphael Mimoun and Sarah Freeman-Woolpert Last weekend, 50,000 people flooded the streets of France for the first protest of 2019 organized by the yellow vests, or gilets jaunes. This protest is a continuation of a national movement for economic justice that has shaken the country since November. While mainstream French and international media have largely characterized the yellow vests[Read More…]
American capitalism has a hate-love relationship with the nation’s schools. On the “hate” side is a stream of complaints from business leaders and organizations about the many students, particularly in city schools, who fail achievement tests, are high school dropouts or, if they complete high school, do not have the academic qualifications for college and advanced-skills education. Given these educational[Read More…]
The Empire’s European castle of vassals is crumbling. Right in front of our eyes. But Nobody seems to see it. The European Union (EU), the conglomerate of vassals – Trump calls them irrelevant, and he doesn’t care what they think about him, they deserve to be collapsing. They, the ‘vassalic’ EU, a group of 28 countries, some 500 million[Read More…]
This democracy makes possible prosperity without freedom. — Jürgen Habermas Constantly we are collapsing. Constantly we are fixing. — Vaclav Smil I define modernism as any attempt by modern men and women to become subjects as well as objects of modernization, to get a grip on the modern world and make themselves at home in it. — Marshall Berman[Read More…]
The only surface access to Kashmir from the outside world is becoming totally undependable due to the crumbling strata through which it passes From the ancient times Kashmir has been known as a landlocked country situated in the heart of the Himalaya. Mountains have been taken as natural guardians which let the country remain unmolested for a long time. The[Read More…]
Jindal’s thermal power plant poses threat present & future generation of residents Okhla enveloped in a toxic gas chamber as a consequence of use of such hazardous incinerator technology by teh company Crtique of the Public Hearing and Draft Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) sent to DPCC The attached letter signed by the people who came for the protest against illegal[Read More…]
Co-Written by By Robert Stevens and Chris Marsden MPs voted by a massive majority Tuesday evening against Prime Minister Theresa May’s proposed deal with the European Union (EU) on the terms of Britain’s exit from the bloc. May was defeated by a majority of 230, with 432 MPs against the deal and just 202 for in the biggest vote against[Read More…]
Alarm bells went off last September in Washington’s corridors of power when John Bolton’s national security council asked the Pentagon for options for military strikes against Iran. The council’s request was in response to three missiles fired by an Iranian-backed militia that landed in an empty lot close to the US embassy in Baghdad and the firing of rockets by[Read More…]
The game is afoot. Israel, believe it or not, is demanding that seven Arab countries and Iran pay $250 billion as compensation for what it claims was the forceful exodus of Jews from Arab countries during the late 1940s. The events that Israel is citing allegedly occurred at a time when Zionist Jewish militias were actively uprooting nearly one million Palestinian Arabs[Read More…]
On June 29, 2015 the United States Supreme Court argued in Glossip v. Grossthat executions may continue with the use of lethal drug cocktails including the use of midazolam, an extremely painful drug, which in effect, burns to death the condemned by scorching internal organs. The use of midazolam, according to the Court, does not constitute “cruel and unusual punishment” under[Read More…]
It is shocking to learn that Jharkhand Government has decided to reduce the number of weekly eggs in school midday meals from three to two. Earlier, the government allotted Rs 4 per egg. With increase in price of eggs, it has revised the allotment to Rs 6 per egg. But instead of increasing the total budget commensurately with the inflation[Read More…]
I, an IIM-A alumnus, IIT Professor, Executive Director of BPCL, Ex-MD &CEO of Petronet India, Senior Professor and Chair, Big Data Analytics in GIM, author of 26 books, columnist in EPW, writer of innumerable articles, a noted scholar of caste-class and public policy issues, Leading Public Intellectual and Democratic and Educational Rights Activist face imminent threat of arrest as an[Read More…]
“Better to die fighting for freedom then be a prisoner all the days of your life”. – Bob Marley From my birth, I have always learnt that Kashmir is the heaven of the world after it was quoted by Jahangir as “Gar firdaus, ruhe zamin ast, hamin asto, hamin asto, hamin asto”. Later, many British rulers trespassed Kashmir and Maxmillar[Read More…]
The World Bank has added its voice to those warning of a worsening outlook for the global economy this year, amid signs that some major economies could experience a recession. In its Global Economic Prospects report issued last week, entitled “Darkening Skies,” it stated that “storm clouds are brewing for the global economy” and contrasted the situation with that of a year[Read More…]
It’s a messy, though typical picture. US President Donald Trump wants to pull out forces in Syria. When announced in December, jaws drooped and sharp intakes of breath were registered through the Washington establishment. Members of the military industrial complex were none too pleased. The President had seemingly made his case clear: US blood and treasure will not be further[Read More…]
The political history of Tamils who inhabited the island before the arrival of Vijaya in 543 BC, a legendary prince, still to be proved by real and documented evidence, has been tarnished with the record of betrayals, pogroms, genocide and massacres in the hands of successive Sri Lankan Governments since 1948.Numerous articles and books have detailed these events locally[Read More…]
An early morning walk in a poorer working-class neighborhood in North Chennai “Let’s throw caste and religious hatred into the Boghi fire and celebrate Pongal together as Tamilians to attain Equality!” I was part of a group-walk this morning (13/1/2019) in Tondiarpet in North Chennai, thanks to theChennai Photowalk Team(https://chennaiphotowalk.wordpress.com) and the ongoing Chennai Kalai Theru Vizha(Chennai Arts Street Festival).I[Read More…]
A: The United States has dropped bombs on innocent people including children in Iraq. We should do something. B: Yes, you are right. We must pray. A: Over one hundred people died waiting in queues during the implementation of demonitisation. B: Yes. We must pray. A: Thousands of farmers are committing suicide in India. B: How sad ! We must[Read More…]
(Images by- José Fernando Real, Wikimedia commons) Book: Ingram, S, Kent, L. &Mcwilliam, A. (Eds.). (2015). A New Era?: Timor-Leste after the UN. The Australian National University. (Free to downloadfrom https://press.anu.edu.au/publications/series/state-society-and-governance-melanesia/new-era) “A New Era?: Timor-Leste after the UN” is an edited book which looks into the status of a newer country – that of Timor-Leste (East Timor). The book answers[Read More…]
A burgeoning save-the-climate effort called the Green New Deal, explains Vox’s David Roberts, “has thrust climate change into the national conversation, put House Democrats on notice, and created an intense and escalating bandwagon effect. … everyone involved in green politics is talking about the GND. … But WTF is it?” Roberts goes on to give a good summary, but no[Read More…]
It is not a mere coincidence that extreme right wing movements reject the scientific evidence for anthropogenic climate change, which reflects their connections with the fossil fuel corporations from whom they receive funding, as well as a lack of concern for the living world.In the wake of Benito Mussolini’s adoption of “fasces” (a Roman symbol consisting of a bundle of[Read More…]
Co-Written by Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese Support is growing in the United States for a Green New Deal. Though there are competing visions for what that looks like, essentially, a Green New Deal includes a rapid transition to a clean energy economy, a jobs program and a stronger social safety net. We need a Green New Deal for many[Read More…]
The purpose of the series is to provide comprehensive expository and critical surveys of the work of major philosophers. One aim of the series is to dispel the intimidation such readers often feel when faced with the work of a difficult and challenging thinker. Martin Heidegger is now widely recognized alongside Wittgenstein as one of the greatest philosophers of the[Read More…]
In all, Prophet Mohammad married thirteen wives. But he married his first wife Khadija when he was 25 years old and she was 40. All other marriages were contracted after the death of Khadija when Mohammad was 50 years old. Mohammad was 40 years old when he received his first divine revelation and Khadija was the first person to convert[Read More…]
Let me warn you this article is not for kids because kids in India are not supposed to read all these ‘ashlil vichaar’. Are you looking for a post supporting your misogynist thoughts ? Wait! Well, you are at the wrong place because this article will disappoint you. Recently, a Kolkata professor took to social media to teach young boys[Read More…]
New Socialist Initiative (NSI) stands in solidarity with the people of Assam, Tripura and the other North Eastern states in their heroic struggle against the communally motivated Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB). It was only because of the resistance of the people that the government couldn’t table the Bill for voting in the Rajya Sabha after surreptitiously passing it in the[Read More…]
Both the U.S. economy and the global economy have expanded dramatically in the past century, as have life expectancies and material progress. Economists raised in this period of plenty assume that growth is good, necessary even, and should continue forever and ever without end, amen. Growth delivers jobs, returns on investment and higher tax revenues. What’s not to like? We’ve[Read More…]
More than a century ago, George Bernard Shaw in his famous 1906 play The Doctor’s Dilemma has said “all professions are a conspiracy against laity”. Conspiracies are hatched & executed in groups, albeit the idea is often brainchild of a master kingpin of that group who resembles “suspense boss” of the Bollywood movies. Conspiracies are committed on back of the[Read More…]
Harappa! We are all your descendants You shepherded the first civilization You built the first city in the East You domesticated the early animals Goat, sheep, buffalo, dog and donkey. You made the first pot, brick, bronze tools You built the first tank, boat and building. You were God’s Own Man. Brahma came and burnt all your civilization Indra damaged[Read More…]
Like many others in my tribe; opinion writers and columnists, guided by screaming headlines I am also oblivious to the urges and aspirations of our youth. That there is a strong undercurrent in a whole generation of them to use music, arts, literature, theatre and modern mediums like Instagram and YouTube for telling their stories, and articulating their pain and[Read More…]
We appeal to every Indian to:- • Commemorate, pay homage and stand in silence for 2 minutes on the 30th of January at 11.00am and/or 5.17pm. • Organise Sarva Dharma Prarthana, Inter-Faith Prayer meetings. • Take a Pledge for Communal Harmony, Peace and Non-Violence It was on this ominous day, 71 years ago, that Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by a[Read More…]
“The road to hell is paved with good conventions.” (Bert Rolling, The Law of War and National Jurisdiction since 1945). The Global Conventions Betrayed the Humanity The UNO, The Geneva Conventions, The Hague Conventions, The Declaration of Human Rights, The Human Rights Commission and so many other paper-based laws and conventions often are a distraction from the prevalent reality of[Read More…]
“Untouchability is a crime against god and humanity,” said the Mahatma, the father of our nation. And untouchability is a crime in India. But Sabarimala temple in Kerala has been practising gender untouchability long since by imposing selective ban on menstruating women and the quite positive and progressive verdict of Supreme Court on Sept. 28, 2018 put an end to this selective[Read More…]
Is there such a plane of blissful, balanced information, deliberated and debated upon? No. Governments mangle; corporations distort. Interest groups tinker. Wars must be sold; deception must be perpetrated. Inconsistencies must be removed. There will be success, measured in small doses; failure, dispatched in grand servings. The nature of news, hollow as it is, is to fill the next segment[Read More…]
Text and photos: Andre Vltchek There used to be a pair of beautiful swings for children, not far from an old rural temple in Mie Prefecture, where I used to frequently power walk, when searching for inspiration for my novels. Two years ago, I noticed that the swings had gotten rusty, abandoned, and unkempt. Yesterday, I spotted a yellow ribbon,[Read More…]
As the snow lands soft on my face,
The memory suffices.
The gray becomes bearable,
and I find myself satisfied.
The election campaigns in North India would have passed uneventful had Yogi Adityanadh not uttered at Alwar, Rajasthan during the last phase in November 20018, the impulsive feeling that Hanuman was only a Dalit forest dweller and servant of Raja Sri Ram. It was the inner[Read More…]
The quota bill providing 10% reservation for the ‘general’ category of people has been passed by the Rajya Sabha yesterday with opposition parties like Congress, Samajwadi Party, AAP and left parties . The AIDMK walked out of the Parliament so had the stand of DMK as Tamilnadu already have 69% quota. The question is whether this act will not be[Read More…]
Mr. Kotha Prabhakar Reddy, Member Parliament, on 8th January 2019, seek a reply from Government of India, Ministry of Scial Justice and Empowerment to the question (No. 4475) on ‘Reservation for Poor’. Mr. Reddy’s question was : (a) whether the Government is exploring the scope of providing reservation for poor candidates from forward communities for education and employment; (b) if[Read More…]
Isolation is proving to be a reality that comes with old age. Ageing being inevitable, everyone goes through these stages, provided death does not come calling in the meantime. Thus, irrespective of our stature, all of us come to a stage where we need others. Currently, around the globe, senior citizens are being deprived of their rights. They face acute[Read More…]
Imagine a pool of 100 candidates. You have 10 vacancies to appoint them. Now tell them that 9 wil be appointed on merit and 1 will be under reservation, but all 100 are eligible to apply for the 1 reserved seat. Conduct a written test and select 10 who scored most. First 9 gets in the merit list and the[Read More…]
Dr Shah Faesal’s reclaiming a new electoral politics after resigning from civil services in India’s Kashmir neither seems vapid nor promising at the moment.The prominent youth icon shot to fame when he topped the Indian Civil Services (IAS) in 2010. He keeps every body guessing and amid his much talked about resignation from the prestigious civil services a few days[Read More…]
By passing the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 in the Lok Sabha the Narendra Modi government at the Center has taken up another step towards the contempt of the Constitution. The Bill provides that six non-Muslim communities – Hindu, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi – of Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan will be granted citizenship of India in the event of religious[Read More…]
Our Akhila Bharata Sahitya Sammelana is an annually occurring lavish ritual literally like a school annual day celebration. This time it’s being observed in Dharwad. The expenditure for these Sammelanas has been increasing by the crores, year after year. It was 8 crores for the Sammelana held in Mysore last year, 7 plus crores for the one before that in[Read More…]
Many citizens throughout the world have concluded that our Capital Market system is an ecological Negative Zero Sum game driving human civilization toward an “end of time” apocalypse of horrific proportions. XXXXXXXXX With the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution that followed, the economic theory of Adam Smith relating to efficiency of an open and free capital market distribution of goods[Read More…]
Compromise is the essence of democracy for a good reason; it is the glue holding it together. It is how a country can unite after an election; it is when the 51 percent give a little, so the remainder can still feel part of governing; it is when the winning candidate promises to represent all constituents not just those voting[Read More…]
When can I forget losing my mother
Perhaps, only after losing myself
When should a flower merge with the sand
Still watching the plant remain.
The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered contradictory messages in a speech in Cairo on Thursday, January 18. On the one hand, he said Washington will withdraw American troops from Syria in line with Donald Trump’s momentous announcement on December 19, and on the other, he emphasized the US will continue fighting the Islamic State and will also contain[Read More…]
President Nicolas Maduro took the oath of office Thursday morning for a second six-year term under conditions of mounting social unrest within Venezuela and a concerted drive by the US, the European Union and the right-wing governments of Latin America to force him from power. Maduro was sworn in before the Venezuelan Supreme Court and not, as is customary, before[Read More…]
A number of corporate media outlets have begun the year by publishing scurrilous and derisive attacks against WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange. The coverage has the character of a coordinated political campaign, with the most sinister motives. Its aim is to legitimise the stepped-up persecution of Assange by the US and British governments, which are pursuing the journalist and[Read More…]
As the current global oil glut shakes up petro states around the world, oil prices are becoming more volatile than Donald Trump tweets. Neither Canada, now the dumb owner of a marginal 65-year-old pipeline, nor Alberta, a key exporter of bitumen, a cheap refinery feedstock, has paid much attention to this revolution. As a consequence Canada has no strategy to[Read More…]
An interview with Daniel Chavez. What are the commons and what is their political, social and economic relevance? In recent years, many researchers and social activists from very different countries, like myself, have rediscovered the notion of the commons as a key idea to deepen social and environmental justice and democratise both politics and the economy. This reappropriation has meant[Read More…]
I am always delighted to read another piece by Gail Tverberg. Her articles are consistently highly informative, and the information she presents to us is without exception well documented, clear, and concise. Her work flows from and is the extension of that of Donella and Dennis Meadows as expounded in their book The Limits of Growth, which can be downloaded from[Read More…]
PUCL Maharashtra expresses shock and dismay at reports that the BMC and BEST administration have chosen to invoke draconian provisions of the Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Act (MESMA) against striking BEST employees, instead of taking steps to respond to their demands and alleviate their grievances at the earliest. PUCL Maharashtra learns that the BEST administration has issued eviction notices to[Read More…]
Why is she nowadays visiting the militant families and apologizing the people for her past deeds and remarks? Why is she terming the slain militants as martyrs? Is it that she wanted the support of people to repeat her previous activities or the fulfillment of leftover dreams of her father? As the assembly elections of 2019 are around the corner,[Read More…]
Every time I watch anything to do with Israel on American TV, or listen to a radio report somewhere, or read an article in a newspaper or online, I am always confronted with the same slogan. “We must support our closest ally with whom we share values and a way of life. We must do our utmost to enable them[Read More…]
Many women have struggled to come up in the tinsel world of film industry. The #Me Too movement has exposed how domination of male led many women to terminate their careers or compromise and continue in the field. Being a dalit woman makes it all the more difficult to survive. In the face of such uncomfortable conditions, P. K. Rosy[Read More…]
Tens of millions of workers throughout India yesterday joined the second day of a 48-hour national protest strike against the hated pro-investor economic “reforms” of the Hindu supremacist Bharatiya Janatha Party (BJP)-led government. While the capitalist media largely tried to black-out the strike, it was supported by broad sections of the working class, both in the so-called formal and informal[Read More…]
“One also knows from his letters that nothing appeared more sacred to Van Gogh than work.” – John Berger, “Vincent Van Gogh,” Portraits Ever since I was a young boy, I have wondered why people do the kinds of work they do. I sensed early on that the economic system was a labyrinthine trap devised to imprison people in work[Read More…]
Did you know the World Bank is present in Laos? Yes, World Bank is here, but probably too ashame of their criminal nature to show their face. It is easy to find their address if we search for it on internet. It is not so easy to find it without the GPS on, because there’s not a single sign with the[Read More…]
( All characters and incidents, referred in this piece are fictional) The rural India, today is governed by the urban technocratic mindset which is not always very helpful and often dangerous. While we often relate under development to the lack of awareness among the rural communities, the truth is the urban awareness on rural lifestyle and culture is negligible and[Read More…]
Till 2010 Shah Faesal was not a well known figure in Kashmir but after cracking the India’s top most civil service examination held under UPSC (IAS) that too with a top position gave him a good reputation in Kashmir as well as in India and sooner was considered as an inspiration for the youth. Indian politicians and other[Read More…]
(The Doctrine of State cannot override the Doctrine of Human Rights!) Mr Yashwant Sinha former Foreign Minister in an interview on NDTV disclosed that a senior Government Officer had informed him that Delhi is following the “Doctrine of State” in Kashmir. According to him, as part of this doctrine the government is going all out in elimination of any rebellion[Read More…]
Financial markets have been behaving in a very turbulent manner in the last couple of months. The issue, as I see it, is that the world economy is gradually changing from a growth mode to a mode of shrinkage. This is something like a ship changing course, from going in one direction to going in reverse. The system acts as if the[Read More…]
You don’t have to control everything to be in total control. In the modern world this seeming paradox is a systemic reality. In the past, classic totalitarian governments sought to literally control every aspect of biopower. As it turned out, this was a very inefficient and self-defeating way to maintain and increase scientific knowledge and technology, capital accumulation, and total[Read More…]
Newly-inaugurated Brazilian President, Jair Bolsonaro, is set to be the arch-enemy of the environment and of indigenous and disadvantaged communities in his country. He also promises to be a friend of like-minded, far-right leaders the world over. It is, therefore, not surprising to see a special kind of friendship blossoming between Bolsonaro and Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. “We need[Read More…]
Over 180 million workers began a two-day general strike across India yesterday in protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s big business assault on the working class. Tens of thousands of workers defied threats of sacking and pay cut by state governments to join the national walkout. The huge strike, which is continuing today, is a powerful indication of the mass[Read More…]
The entry of two women devotees, Bindu and Kanakadurga, into the sanctum sanctorum of the Sabarimala temple on January 2 led to widespread violence in the state of Kerala. The violence, which erupted during the bandh call issued by the BJP and allied organisations on January 3, saw not just damage of public property but also the loss of a[Read More…]
“Transparency creates trust. At Bayer, we embrace our responsibility to communicate how we assess our products’ safety — and we recognize that people around the world want more information around glyphosate. This month, we published more than 300 study summaries on the safety of glyphosate on our dedicated transparency website. “ Mason is scathing in her response and begins her letter by[Read More…]
Dr. Sheikh Abdul Ahad, a well-known ENT Specialist who passed away recently was truly a noble soul! Kashmir has produced many renowned doctors who have made a name within Kashmir and abroad. I had the good fortune of knowing a few of these doctors personally. Dr. Sheikh Abdul Ahad an ENT (Ear, Nose, Throat) specialist was one among these. I[Read More…]
The living Karl Marx was a dismal failure. He passed most of his life in poverty, dependent on the charity of the capitalist Friedrich Engels. His writings were never sufficiently in demand to earn a living. He had great difficulty in finishing anything, and the bulk of what he wrote he never saw in print. His revolutionary activities ‘came to[Read More…]
Rome: I have wondered if the German Field-Marshal Friedrich Paulus after his defeat and capture by Russians at Stalingrad in February 1943 really changed when as a prisoner of war in Soviet Russia he joined the National Committee For A Free Germany and the anti-Fascist Union of German Officers. Were his words sincere when he broadcast anti-fascist messages to Germany over Radio[Read More…]
… And my life’s cold winter that knew no spring; Of my mind so weary and sick and wild, Of my heart too sad to sing. — Paul Laurence Dunbar The world now has more refugees than at any time since after WW2, more than the population of Britain. They are often[Read More…]
It starts with a presumption, makes its way through a discussion, and becomes a set, moulded stereotype: Africa is the continent of tin pot dictatorships, unstable leaderships, and coups. Latin America, attuned to brigandage and frontier mentalities, is not far behind. Such instances lend themselves to the inevitable opportunity to exploit the exception. Gabon, ruled by the same family without[Read More…]
“The Syrian War had … much to do with clandestine actions of CIA, MI-6, Mossad, Turkish MIT, French DGSE, Saudi GID and others. “would never have occurred without American planning and execution.” (and CBS NBC ABC CNN FOX PBS fake news) “The Syrian War had … much to do with clandestine actions of CIA, MI-6, Mossad, Turkish MIT, French DGSE,[Read More…]
The Jungle Grows Back: America and Our Imperiled World. Robert Kagan. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2018. It is always an interesting ride to read a Robert Kagan book as it is a journey into wonderland where things aren’t really what they seem. His most recent work, The Jungle Grows Back: America and Our Imperiled World, is a mish mash[Read More…]
Anupam Kher’s film ‘Accidental Prime Minister’ has targeted Dr. Manmohan Singh who served for two terms and may be again acceptable for the job if his party regains power. But his tormentor Narendra Modi seems to be out of breath even before his first term is over. Disillusionment with him is so widespread and deep that people of India may[Read More…]
The U.S. military is finally withdrawing (or not) from its base at al-Tanf. You know, the place that the Syrian government long claimed was a training ground for Islamic State (ISIS) fighters; the land corridor just inside Syria, near both the Iraqi and Jordanian borders, that Russia has called a terrorist hotbed (while floating the idea of jointly administering it with the United States); the location of a camp where hundreds of U.S. Marines joined Special[Read More…]
As reported in the media that the BJP led Union Cabinet on Monday 7th Jan 2019 has approved 10 reservations for economically weaker upper castes in the government jobs and education. For giving the reservation, the government has underlined the criterion for deciding economically weaker section, would be based on the size of ‘land holdings’ and the income of the respective[Read More…]
Iranian movies receive widespread critical acclaim and popularity in the global space for its creative richness, honesty and the striking blend with reality. These movies are regarded as some of the finest piece of artistic expressions that has come out from the global visual scape. The achievements and recognition can be attributed to the legendary filmmakers like Abbas Kiarostami, Dariush[Read More…]
Quoting Donald Trump’s National Security Advisor John Bolton, who was recently on a visit to Israel and told reporters in Jerusalem that American forces would remain in Syria until the last remnants of the Islamic State were defeated and Turkey provided guarantees that it would not strike Kurdish forces allied with the United States, fake news have been circulating on[Read More…]
“Now, I know for a fact that American energy dominance is within our grasp as a nation.” Ryan Zinke, U.S. Secretary of the Interior (source) “All Warfare is Based on Deception” Sun Tzu, “The Art of War” Over nearly a half-century, since the time of Richard Nixon, American presidents have proclaimed the need for “energy independence” for the US, without[Read More…]
There may have been a time when the US and Russia were serious geopolitical rivals. That time has long since passed. Now, the two “nations” (elite controlled entities masquerading as a res publica) play the neat, little old game known as Bad Cop/Good Cop. Elite interests, practices, and life styles of both countries have long since converged. Russian elites have[Read More…]
Back in November I wrote an article for Countercurrents about how The People’s Republic of China, a Socialist (as defined by its own constitution) country, has turned on its own citizens because they are Marxists. On the 6th of this month I wrote (https://countercurrents.org/2019/01/06/considerations-on-chandra-muzaffars-the-uighur-question-a-civil-society-solution/) about China’s attempt to “reeducate” the Muslim Uighur minority so that they were no longer religious. [Read More…]
‘Hinduism’s suitability for the modern world lies in many ways in its recognition of non Dogmatism and uncertainty’ Good Hindu Dr. Shashi Tharoor in ‘Why I am Hindu’ pg 287 ‘I am all for women empowerment but the issue is of sanctity. The entry of two women inside the premise of a temple shrine is an unnecessarily deliberate and[Read More…]
10% reservation quota for Upper castes people in the government jobs is ever biggest gimmick of the Modi government after Rs.1.5 million to very citizen of India and 2 crore new jobs per year. Today’s Union Cabinet decision of 10% reservation to Upper castes people and tomorrow a bill-proposal will put up by the Minister in Parliament for bringing constitutional[Read More…]
The decision of the Centre to provide for an additional 10% quota for the economically weaker section among upper caste in jobs and education is a misrepresentation of the idea of representation. Measuring social deprivation by economic standards is a caste-blind approach that usurps the spirit of positive discrimination to the socially and educationally backward caste for decades. The government[Read More…]
To Shri Pinarayi Vijayan Chief Minister of Kerala CC To: President of India, Chief Justice of India, Governor of Kerala Over 200 women’s activists, dalit activists, adivasi activists, human rights groups, social organisations, cultural personalities and well known citizens demand the dismissal of the priests in Sabarimala over violation of constitutional rights and return the shrine to adivasis. Sir, Adv.[Read More…]
“Caste is not a physical object like a wall of bricks or a line of barbed wire which prevents the Hindus from co-mingling and which has, therefore, to be pulled down. Caste is a notion; it is a state of the mind.” When Ambedkar inscribed this line for millions of Dalits of India, he rejected the dictatorial theology and power[Read More…]
They are demanding better wages, better employment opportunities, better social security and democratic rights for the workers while opposing price-rise. They have also declared that they are opposing the “pro-corporate, anti-national and anti-people policies” of the BJP Government by Mr. Modi, which have spelled misery for the workers. These demands are just and we support the same along with their[Read More…]
Co-Written by Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers A truth about movements is, they move. They morph, evolve and move around a country or even around the globe. This occurs over months and often over years. The US Occupy encampment era occurred ten months after the Arab Spring and six months after the Spanish Indignado movement – early versions of occupy.[Read More…]
I am fond of telling my great grand children that when and where I grew up, there were no mobile phones (in fact, we had no phone at all), there were no computers, and for a long time, there wasn’t even a radio because neither my grandparents or I spoke English. I was born in America, but English was my[Read More…]
Barely a week into 2019 I am still trying to figure out what exactly is so ‘new’ about this New Year that is upon us. The balance in my bank account has not changed for the better, nor has my weight, nor the cost of living, while the future all around looks depressingly same as a smog-struck Delhi winter day.[Read More…]
To start writing this essay, I chose a cozy bar / restaurant named Tango, in the city center, where I had the pleasure to be surrounded by French and Canadian journalists eating wonderful western food and drinking very expensive red wine. They were saying incredible Orwellian stuff, plenty of nonsensical true-true they learned in their schools of newspeak journalism, and they were not at all aware[Read More…]
The worm has gotten into Apple, and is feasting with some consistency. Revenue has fallen. Chief executive Tim Cook is cranky. The celebrated front of Apple’s wealth – the iPhone with its range of glittering models – has not done as well as he would have hoped. Dreams of conquering Cathay (or, in modern terms, the Chinese market) have not[Read More…]
The relationship The People’s Republic of China’s to the Muslim Uighur people who live within its borders and are is best understood when it is viewed from more universal contexts. The first of these would be the universal context of the political relationship between states and religion in general. This allows for a classification of such relationships. A second context[Read More…]
Get out your atlas. You will likely need it when you read farther here about the intriguing but little known story in a lesser known part of Alpine Europe: Italy’s northern territory of Alto Adige, better known as South Tyrol. I used an atlas for[Read More…]
“Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness”. ~ Karl Marx. If we stand on the platform that Marx established then we can[Read More…]
Pre-View: When you fail to understand & resolve your own problems, then, those who suffer by your ‘inaction’ will certainly approach others for their resolution. Triple divorce is such a topic that has been over-discussed & talked through in India since decades drawing the attention of the Muslim Personal Law Board (MPLB) & Indian Muslim leaders to find a remedy to stop[Read More…]
India’s Working Class people have a tremendous history of showing their built-up anger and collective bargaining strength time and again through General Strikes. Since the arrival of the disastrous policies of neo-liberalism in 1991, the working class of India have embarked upon a General Strike 17 times. Last time when we struck work in September 2016, an unprecedented 180 million workers took part[Read More…]
Eminent climate scientist Professor James Hansen has published a must-read, 55-page summary of the worsening climate emergency. In short, to correct the Earth’s presently disastrous energy imbalance we must urgently reduce the atmospheric CO2 to 342-373 ppm CO2 from the present disastrous 407 ppm CO2. The cost of extracting 1 ppm of CO2 from the atmosphere is $878-1803 billion but[Read More…]
Text and Photos by Andre Vltchek Syria and Afghanistan. Two terrible wars, two mighty destructions, but two absolutelyopposite outcomes. In Syria, it may be autumn now, but almost the entire country is blossoming again, literally rising from ashes. Two thousand miles east from there, Afghanistan is smashed against its ancient rocks, bleeding and broken. There, it does not really matter[Read More…]
The US will withdraw her troops from Syria. Will they really? – Let’s take Trump at his word, just for argument’s sake. Though in the meantime, RT reports that the withdrawal may be slower than anticipated, to allow Erdogan making his own “strategic arrangements”, while US troops depart. During his flash visit to the US troops in Iraq on Christmas[Read More…]
People voted for Donald Trump under the assumption, Mexico would be paying for your border wall. They why should the people pay now in this bait-and-switch game, when hardly any of their concerns are being addressed? It is a question that has led to a government shutdown in the US. Roads are potholed, bridges crumbling, trains mostly ancient, and the[Read More…]
If we talk to reductionists who are die hard Hindu upper caste and usually upper caste about the Other that is Muslim they come up with some interesting observations that can be summed up in the amusing and alarming sentence ‘all Muslims are potential terrorists as all terrorists are Muslim.’ This is followed by statements that stem from fear like:[Read More…]
Advancement of technology, more than benefiting masses, is becoming dangerous in the hands of miscreants. Increase of smart – phones and computers have spread the use of social media platforms. Instead of using the platforms for messaging information or decent discussion, it is becoming a medium to spew hatred, upload incidents of human rights violations mostly by perpetrators themselves with[Read More…]
Courtesy ANI, Narendra Modi has clarified his position on both the Triple Talaq Bill as well as the Sabarimalatemple entry movement. Though problematic on its face it’s a remarkable effort in defense of the indefensible. While he classified the former as a tool for ensuring equal rights for Muslim women, he ended up contradicting himself when it came to talking[Read More…]
With the recent surge of sheer “ignorance” about what is Brahmanical patriarchy and treating it as a concept that never existed before the discussion that took off on Twitter, it is perhaps important to see where exactly does this ignorance configure in a casteist system. Jaahil, ganwar, dehaati[1]: these were three words that I often heard in my Brahmin upbringing[Read More…]
“I don’t agree with Godard when he says that the cinema is a gun. That is too romantic an expression. You can’t topple a government or a system by making one “Potemkin”. You can’t do that with ten “Potemkins”. All you can do is create an environment in which you can discuss a society that is growing undemocratic, fascistic.” –[Read More…]
Another year has come and gone and the earth’s climate continues to become ever more extreme, violent and unpredictable. Yet every day, everywhere in the world, one hears politicians, industrialists, scientists, academicians, news anchor talking heads and protagonists or naysayers of all colors and shapes misuse the expression of so-called Climate Change to describe what is the actual reality of[Read More…]
![At the 2018 International Summit for Women in the Struggle called by the Zapatistas. The mural reads: “Capitalism converts everything, absolute everything into commodities. For it [capitalism] we women are propaganda, decorations…Down with this capitalist system!” Photo credit: Global Justice Now/Flickr/CC 2.0](https://cdn.countercurrents.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/zaptistas-200x150.jpg "A Spark of Hope: Lessons From the Zapatistas on the 25th Anniversary of Their Uprising 537")
January 1, 2019 marks the 25th anniversary of the Zapatista uprising in Chiapas, Mexico. For those of us who remember that day well, it’s hard to believe it was a quarter century ago. It’s been many years since the Zapatista movement was the darling of the international solidarity scene, and many years since I’ve been back to Chiapas. But in the[Read More…]
To characterize modern day America as a fascist state is at one and the same time both ahistorical and close to the present truth. In order to resolve this apparent contradiction we must understand that modern day fascism displays certain rough, jagged continuities as well as discontinuities with its interwar past. Operationally, fascism was, at least initially, an alliance between[Read More…]
“It is no doubt ironic that the motor car, superstar of the capitalist system, expects to live rent-free” – WOLFGANG ZUCKERMAN. It is true even very rich motorists all over the world do not like to pay for parking. That is bad enough. What is alarming is that in India this insistence on the right to park free, grab public[Read More…]
In the last few months, the International Movement for a Just World (JUST) like so many other civil society groups in various parts of the world has been inundated with videos and articles from different sources alleging cruel persecution and harsh oppression of the Uighur Muslim minority in Xinjiang province in the Western part of China. It is alleged that[Read More…]
On December 17, 2018 two very conflicting signals emanated from the world’s so called largest democracy. While the Delhi High Court pronounced one accused involved in the 1984 Sikh massacre guilty, the other was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. Thousands of Sikhs were murdered all over India following the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi[Read More…]
When orthodox economists first encounter the idea of degrowth, they often jump to the conclusion that the objective is to reduce GDP. And because they see GDP as equivalent to social wealth, this makes them very upset. Nothing could be further from the truth. I reject the fetishization of GDP as an objective in the existing economy, so it would[Read More…]
Jane [Bernie’s wife] and I want to take this opportunity to wish you and yours a very healthy and happy new year. It goes without saying that 2019 will be a pivotal and momentous time for our country and the entire planet. As you know, there is a monumental clash now taking place between two very different political visions. Not[Read More…]
In the time of hopelessness and fear, of dark days; days of hunger, days of despair known as the Depression, a Perseus came to protect the people of America from the Greedy Gorgons and Monied Monsters. He was an aristocrat, coming from one of America’s most ancient and noble families, connected by birth or marriage to eleven presidents, to famous[Read More…]
Kerala still appears to have been languished in a self-imposed prison of hartals in spite of all efforts to terminate the snowballing menace of social disruption and public nuisance caused by its reckless ‘declaration.’ It was only recently that nearly three dozen trade organisations got together to declare that 2019 would be a ‘hartal-free year.’ However, 2019 began with the[Read More…]
People’s Union for Civil Liberties – Chhattisgarh Unit has expressed its displeasure at the appointment of tainted police officials, such as Mr. SPR Kalluri, in key positions by the State Government despite full knowledge of their poor and controversial record at the human rights front. PUCL CG strongly believes that the last fifteen years of BJP rule in the state[Read More…]
The summer of 2018 was intense: deadly wildfires, persistent drought, killer floods and record-breaking heat. Although scientists exercise great care before linking individual weather events to climate change, the rise in global temperatures caused by human activities has been found to increase the severity, likelihood and duration of such conditions. Globally, 2018 is on pace to be the fourth-hottest year on record. Only 2015, 2016[Read More…]
“A historic mistake” is how Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu responded to calls for early elections last November. A few weeks later, he spoke, in exaggerated confidence of the “unanimous” agreement of his right-wing coalition that early elections must be held next April. So why the change of heart? Netanyahu may not be a good leader, but he is certainly a cunning[Read More…]
To understand the phenomenon Gilets Jaunes we may start from some background facts. The background study will show us why this phenomenon is complex.We shall also see how far the opposition of Daniel Cohn-Bendit,one leading person of 1968 rebellion, is correct;and we must see why prof Alain Badiou distanced himself from this movement, because Alain Badiou is one of the[Read More…]
The seven-million American Muslims remained at the receiving end since 9/11/2001 through reconfiguration of US laws, policies and priorities but their plight has taken a new twist under President Donald Trump whose anti-Muslim, anti-immigration policies and rhetoric alarmingly fomented hate crimes against them. The xenophobic rhetoric and anti-Muslim fear-mongering enjoys unprecedented influence with Donald Trump’s most vitriolic anti-Muslim rhetoric as[Read More…]
Kashmir has been continuously ravaged by many outside forces for more than four centuries. While the barbarity and oppression has failed to dampen our unique spirit of survival, it has proved a nemesis for all the oppressors! Dictionary defines nemesis as, “The nemesis of a person or thing is a situation, event or a person which causes them to be[Read More…]
In the recent backdrop of the electoral results, finally the hangover of 2014 elections seem diminishing if not ending. Though it would be a hasty statement to predict the national electoral outcomes based on state electoral results as these elections vary in many aspects. But, once again these electoral outcomes brought the importance of alliance and coalition at the forefront[Read More…]
A Six Hundred Twenty Kilometer long human chain was created yesterday in Kerala against the attempt to communalise the environment in the state particularly related to the issues of Sabarimala which the Hindu organisations have been violently protesting against the Supreme Court order of allowing the women to enter into the temple. That even after 71 years of our independence,[Read More…]
After the historic ‘Women’s Wall’ that challenged Brahmanic Patriarchy two young women entered the Sabarimala temple early morning today. Bindu and Kanaka Durga, both in their early 40s, entered the hilltop shrine around 3.45 am. This is the first entry of women after the Supreme Court ordered the end of a decades-old ban on women of menstrual age entering the[Read More…]
London, New Year’s Eve 2018. It is a very English middle-class trait: the world will end if the price of a certain life style goes up. Certain services will be cut. Access to certain travel destinations might be restricted. (The usual European haunts in France and Spain rendered dearer if not inaccessible.) But there is no denying that the attitude[Read More…]
“Earth is now substantially out of energy balance. The amount of solar energythat Earth absorbs exceeds the energy radiated back to space. The principalmanifestations of this energy imbalance are continued global warming on decadaltime scales and continued increase in ocean heat content” (James Hansen 2018). “The people have no voice since theyhave no information” …“No First World country has ever[Read More…]
To survive the holocaust of planetary proportions that is upon us, one must defend her or get out of the way. I live across a small stream from an ancient rainforest in Wayanad, Kerala. It has a constancy that’s baffling, appearing more or less the same to me, for all the years I’ve been here. The forest sustains. As do[Read More…]
When a child, she ran the mountains with the dogs. The only voice she heard were those of the toothless old woman, The old man, frail as a robin’s bone, dry coughing, dry coughing. No boxes spoke to her, no images existed that were not there and then. Mystery lived in every unopened bud; she shelled okra So its secrets[Read More…]
Co-Written by Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers There will be important opportunities in the next few years to advance the movement for economic, racial and environmental justice as well as peace. This article will focus on three opportunities: the 2020 elections, the decline of US empire and an economic slowdown. The movement is in a stronger position than it has[Read More…]
Traditionally focussed on ultra-conservative Sunni Muslim Islam, Saudi funding in the era of crown prince Mohammed bin Salman has been streamlined and finetuned to ensure that it serves his geopolitical ambitions, primarily stymying the expansion of Iranian influence in the Middle East and North Africa and enhancing the kingdom’s global impact. The effort, however, has so far produced a mixed[Read More…]
More than a decade back, sitting in a newspaper office, a fellow writer Ashraf Sahil suggested the idea of instituting of the ‘private awards’ in Kashmir for literature. Comparing the reports and writings of journalists of Kashmir, works of some writers with the literary works of Barbara Harlow, he suggested instituting of annual awards for best journalists, fiction writers, novelists[Read More…]
The storm of abuse and sheer vitriol that greeted Naseeruddin Shah’s lament over the alarming state of the nation only proves his point. The actor wasn’t even referring to the routine attacks and abuse that India’s Muslims have been facing on a daily basis since the country ushered in the good times under the current order. His comment that[Read More…]
Since the BJP government came into power in 2014, it has initiated and purposed to make legislation on Muslim women mainly around the instant Triple talaq. Just few days back, Bill has been passed in the Lok Sabha where BJP has majority. However, opposition’s parties belonging to the Left, Congress and including Muslims political parties (AIMIM) led by Mr. Asaduddin[Read More…]
What was the first thing I noticed when I took a bus from the border to the capital city Vientiane? Well, the Japanese flag on the bus, showing the great care Japan has for his fellow Asian country once totally destroyed by the terrorist US Empire. At that time they did nothing to counter the US aggression of this defenseless[Read More…]
In many ways it is painful to reflect on the year 2018; a year of vital opportunities lost when so much is at stake. Whether politically, militarily, socially, economically, financially or ecologically, humanity took some giant strides backwards while passing up endless opportunities to make a positive difference in our world. Let me, very briefly, identify some of the more[Read More…]
A month after 1000s walked the roads of the capital city of Thiruvananthapuram in a SORROWFUL MARCH to express their dissent about the upcoming Waste to Energy plant near their homes at Peringamala, Kerala saw 3 more rallying together of people for just and relevant causes. The Kandankali paddy land near Payannur has been in the heat of debate as[Read More…]
About 3-5 million women formed a wall across Kerala to protect to protect Kerala’s renaissance values and for women empowerment. About three million women stood shoulder to shoulder across Kerala and formed 620 KM “wall” from Thiruvananthapuram to the northern district of Kasaragod. They also pledged to protec the renaissance values of Kerala. The wall was organised against the backdrop[Read More…]
“The rich are only defeated when running for their lives.” — C.L.R. James, The Black Jacobins In less than two months, the yellow vests (“gilets jaunes”) movement in France has reshaped the political landscape in Europe. For a seventh straight week, demonstrations continued across the country even after concessions from a cowing President Emmanuel Macron while inspiring a wave of similar gatherings in[Read More…]
But first a summary of my life My ancestors farmed the same blot of land in Switzerland for over 10 century and I spent my whole working life in factories with my fellow workers supplying society’s domestic needs, to assist primary producers, the extractive industries, and manufactures. So, I’m interested in the history of people who sustain societies rather than[Read More…]
Finally, a clear and convincing — and unrefuted — case can now be presented to the public, as to precisely whom the guilty party was, that downed the MH17 Malaysian airliner over Ukraine on 17 July 2014, and why it was done. The complete case, which will be fully documented here, displays unequivocally who needed the MH17 murders (of 298[Read More…]
If you liked 2018, you will probably love 2019. Our national leaders continue to squabble. The scene in Washington often looks like a school yard at recess time. In fact, they have even orchestrated an extended recess. We are now in an indefinite shut-down. Hillary called us “Deplorables”. During his recent trip to Iraq, President Trump called us “Suckers”. Trump[Read More…]
I am not good today. Indeed, I am pitiful, but I am bearing witness in the aftermath as I was taught to do as a little girl and onward in time by Quakers like the members of my Quaker family. So bear with me (double meaning). I had a child in my class. I’m usually very good at[Read More…]
While we every other day listen to boastful claims that the country India is developing fast. It has become very difficult for most of us to accept the brute reality that our people die because of hunger. Yes, death due to[Read More…]
A Report by the FreeSpeechCollective Date of Release: 31 December 2018 Author: Geeta Seshu Editor: Laxmi Murthy Contributors: Ashlin Mathew, Geeta Seshu, Malini Subramaniam, Laxmi Murthy, Shone Satheesh Cover Image: Journalists in the thick of reporting army operations in Srinagar on 8 December 2018, during which a 14-year old militant was killed . Credit: Kamran Yousuf Note: The incidents in[Read More…]
At least 40 immigrants dead in fire at US-Mexico border 
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Take action against K Surendran for insulting Women 
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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 
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Ukraine War – US-China Relations And the Doomsday Clock 
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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 
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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…]
