Co-Written by Ayaz Nabi Malik/Khan Mudasir Death is more universal than life, everyone dies but not everyone lives”. (Andrew Sachs) There used to be a word sending chills down the spine of people from early times, but as the world progressed the word continuously lost its pain and sooner it became the norm of town. In the journey of[Read More…]
(Gaza Fights for Freedom. Abby Martin, Empire Files). A story that is not presented in mainstream media is that of the suffering and punishment of the people of Gaza at the whim of the Israeli military in the open-air prison that is their home. In “Gaza Fights For Freedom” Abby Martin of The Empire Files has created a documentary that[Read More…]
Construction of Communalism in Colonial North India, Gyanendra Pandey, Delhi, oxford university Press, 1992, pp297, Price: Rs 100.10 The present epoch of Indian history is marked by its ‘decolonization’ through World Bank-IMF sponsored ‘developmental’ economic policies of ‘liberalization- privatization-globalization’ on the one hand and rising tides of communalism on the other. The communal historiography , claiming ‘hinduttva’ to be synonymous[Read More…]
For nearly a century, the U.S. regime has made it its goal to terrorise (defenceless) nations it deemed geopolitically unfriendly to its imperialist dictates. It is a well-financed and deliberate campaign of unprovoked aggression, heinous war crimes and wanton destruction to dominate the world. Without effective deterrence, every nation is at the mercy of U.S. barbarism. What is terrorism? The[Read More…]
Anti-China poison is spreading through (anti-) social media, with a role of pro-US lobbies, based on false info. See below realities: A report in THE PRINT, edited by Shekhar Gupta, dated 11th February, 2020 said : India is all set to dispatch emergency supplies of medical protective equipment such as masks, gloves, face shields, head and boot covers to coronavirus-hit[Read More…]
“It was poverty that forced me to leave my village, and here I am … I still have no money,” said Sanjay Choudhary, a construction worker in Nagpur, after he undertook an arduous journey to return back to his native village in Garhwa district in Jharkhand, covering a distance of 400 km. As millions of migrant workers tread home, with[Read More…]
The most recent data indicate a decrease in the number of coronavirus infections in Italy. That means we could get out of the epidemic in the coming months. But why do we expect this trend? It is explained in the field of Science called “epidemiology” that studies how epidemics spread. The first epidemiology studies date back to 1927, when two[Read More…]
Before I found myself “sheltering in place,” this article was to be about women’s actions around the world to mark March 8th, International Women’s Day. From Pakistan to Chile, women in their millions filled the streets, demanding that we be able to control our bodies and our lives. Women came out in Iraq and Kyrgyzstan, Turkey and Peru, the Philippines and Malaysia. In some[Read More…]
To Smt Nirmala Sitharaman Union Finance Minister Dear Smt Sitharaman, Kindly refer to my letter dated 23-3-2020 on the subject. Recently, you announced several relief measures to counter the spread of COVID19. In particular, you had announced that an insurance cover of Rs 50 lakh per person would be provided to frontline health workers – sanitation staff, paramedics and nurses, ASHA[Read More…]
Co-Written by Jitamanyu Sahoo & Syed Mujtaba Hussain Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is expanding rapidly and had been detected in more than 190 countries globally. The absence of precise epidemiological and clinical data at the on-set of the out-break have upset the public health decision-making taken by several countries. At the time when health system runs on data, from disease[Read More…]
The whole world has come to a pretty pass because of COVID 19 pandemic. The so-called super power countries like China, America, Italy etc. have surrendered. They are not able to control and contain this miniscule virus. This virus has already done lot of damage to the human and economic capital of the world. The[Read More…]
In view of some Asian countries slowing down the spread of the coronavirus, officially Covid-19, pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) experts have warned: No country should let its guard down. “Let me be clear. The epidemic is far from over in Asia and the Pacific,” said Takeshi Kasai, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific. Takeshi Kasai was talking[Read More…]
The coronavirus pandemic is influencing the entire human world. The pandemic’s impact and the changes it will bring are searched. After the crisis is over, there will be many changes. The longer the pandemic lasts, the more people may embrace new aspects of lifestyle. The global oil industry has been hit hard. Oil prices have crushed. Long-term viability of many[Read More…]
We cannot allow a little, invisible virus to defeat or define us as humanity Amid this deepening darkness of all-round doom and gloom, there is a ray of hope at last. The raging global pandemic of Coronavirus has killed all chances of US President Donald Trump being re-elected, exults Swaminathan A Aiyer. No matter how well he handles the virus,[Read More…]
As draconian lockdowns, punitive regimes and surveillance become the norm of the coronavirus world, Sweden has treaded more softly in the field. This is certainly in contrast to its Scandinavian cousins, Denmark and Norway. The rudiments of a life uninterrupted generally remain in place. Cafes, restaurants and shops, for the most part, remain open and stocked. As do gyms and[Read More…]
The Western mass media is extremely busy frightening its own citizens and the entire world with statements like: “A leaked government document has suggested up to 500,000 people could die from coronavirus if the disease is able to infect up to 80 per cent of the country.” That’s what The Independent wrote on 26 February 2020. And that horrifying number of[Read More…]
Last night, the above picture image with a hopeful message, I sent to my older brother, on his birthday. Of course, there was also a personal message where I wished him well. I got his reply this morning where he said, “Thank you! Stay safe and stay calm. This is a challenging time for all. Best, Sjbhai” Time in the[Read More…]
Co-Written by Badre Alam Khan & Dastgir Khan Currently, most of the countries are passing through the critical phase because we are confronting huge risks and challenges from the lethal disease coronavirus (medically known as Covid-19, which initially started from China, city of Wuhan), has now spread out at the global level. As a result, several thousand people have died[Read More…]
We look for a shelter to stay A transportation to move us back Food to eat and water to drink As any humans of this world We receive mass spray of disinfectants on our bodies And chemical spray on our individual bodies Reducing us to mere pests and insects in this world When we merely expected a more humane[Read More…]
Dear Dad, I am glad you did not live to see these. You died. Died before you saw them collapse by the roadside. Gandhi called them his friend. And so did you. Why did God not have mercy on them? Why is it they have no food? No water, no shoes? Why is it they[Read More…]
Shame on YOU. Ok, one need not be a financial genius or economist to know that in 2008-09 Uncle Sam gave away the store to the failing Wall Street banks and investment corporations. We paid for it, you and me working stiff taxpayers, to the tune of well over one trillion US dollars. What did the so called ‘ bailout[Read More…]
We the abandoned people of this world Out there walking miles to our villages With none in your cities to protect us During these times of lockdown We built your houses We constructed your offices We built your shopping malls We produced in your factories We built your cities from the scratch We served your needs in your[Read More…]
With more and more people staying home due to covid-19 causing concern for entirely different problem like ” domestic violence”. WHO refers domestic violence as a violence ,abuse and intimidation between people who are currently or have previously been in an intimate relationship . The perpetrator uses violence to control and dominate the other person. This causes fear , physical[Read More…]
The word “Leadership” has been diluted to the point of being water-logged; so I hesitated to write this article lest anyone compare what is needed now to the scenarios that usually impel the term to be used. Business-speak is the culprit here, the cause of the dilution. We use the term to describe any decision-making that leads to profit or[Read More…]
Co-Written by Aniket Sachan & Sakshi Agarwal “Good health and Good Sense are great blessings and health begins when we are aware of the disease.” The vulnerable state of human civilisation can be seen from more than 35,016 deaths and 7,39,369 people infected with the disease (as on March 30, 2020, 13:35 GMT).[1] World Health Organization have declared Covid-19 as[Read More…]
India is currently facing a crisis which can escalate into a bigger catastrophe than COVID-19 and the consequences can be heart wrenching as we are already witnessing across the country. The exodus of the migrant population is of an unprecedented kind, triggered by the reckless and callous decisions taken by a senseless government at[Read More…]
Is it funny that every time Man thinks that he has it all figured out, Nature (or fate if you like to call it) just jolts him back to reality? Like Will E Coyote and his spanking new latest invention from ACME Corporation, it just falls flat and blows right on his face again and again, and Roadrunner always goes[Read More…]
Nazareth: Benny Gantz, the former Israeli general turned party leader, agreed late last week to join his rival Benjamin Netanyahu in an “emergency government” to deal with the coronavirus epidemic. Two weeks ago he had won a wafer-thin majority vote in the parliament that gave him first shot at trying to put together a coalition government. Instead he has conceded[Read More…]
Manual scavenging is constantly on news often not so much for diverse reasons, but typically due to the primitive barbaric practice of selectively forcing the employed workforce, who are exclusively from the lowest social categories, into sewer underworlds to de-clog and to offer freedom to the choked sewers by the uninterrupted passage of sewerage. The menace of manual scavenging is[Read More…]
One of the most stupid platitudes, an old adage, that I have ever heard is “Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” With a sarcastic tone of voice in my head, I think, “Yeah, right.” My friend Jatin lost both of his children through separate ways. The saying is certainly not applicable to him and what about me? Well, I[Read More…]
Let’s cure Corona. How? It’s pretty simple. Let’s enforce police forces on the streets, and inflict brutality on public. No questions asked. No answers looked for. Attack the Corona virus with thunder strikes of lathis. Who cares why the man has come out? Beat more men like them to death or at-least scar their bodies for life. Anyway, they are[Read More…]
According to Johns Hopkins University on Sunday, there are more than 721,000 coronavirus cases and 33,900 deaths worldwide. The U.S. now leads the world with more than 120,000 confirmed cases while the U.S. coronavirus deaths surge past 2,000. Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday that the U.S. could experience more than 100,000 deaths and millions of infections. Italy Coronavirus deaths in[Read More…]
There has been a hurried spate of cancellations and suspensions of elections across the globe because of the risk posed by COVID-19. The trend is unsurprising. In the age of post-democratic process, suspending the procedure should only induce a cough of recognition. But it is troubling for those who take the ceremonial aspect of these things seriously. Such tendencies have[Read More…]
My dad was born in 1917. Somehow, he survived the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-1919, but an outbreak of whooping cough in 1923 claimed his baby sister, Clementina. One of my dad’s first memories was seeing his sister’s tiny white casket. Another sister was permanently marked by scarlet fever. In 1923, my dad was hit by a car and spent two weeks in a[Read More…]
The crisis emerging out of the threat from Coronavirus is herculean. Several civil society actors in Odisha have risen to the occasion in different ways to intervene on behalf of the poor and the destitute. On March 25, this reporter found some homeless people starving in Bhubaneswar, the capital city of Odisha due to the lockdown and shared their plight[Read More…]
This situation implies that the global economy is staring at a depression. In brief, the situation is worse than a war since demand has collapsed. The spread of Covid19 has rapidly spun out of control the world over and needs to be tackled urgently. Though the problem is global there are national specificities that require nuanced approaches. There are[Read More…]
The ugly head of racism is out in open air amidst COVID-19 pandemic. The racism against Chinese people and propaganda against the achievements of the Chinese revolution spreads like coronavirus. The anti-Chinese media coverage also replicates the history of anti-communist propaganda and campaign against the Soviet Union from the days of its inception to fall. The anti-Soviet propaganda continues to[Read More…]
Notes from an Apocalypse: A Personal Journey to the End of the World and Back is a thoughtful, engaging book that ends in failure. But Mark O’Connell shouldn’t take that assessment too personally. His book fails in the way that his culture—the modern, cosmopolitan, left/liberal, individualist culture—routinely fails in the face of multiple, cascading ecological crises. That said, I’m still[Read More…]
Why do we Balk at Paying for Digital Content? Some years ago, I wrote a piece called Paying for nothing is Paying for Something in Countercurrents.org. The premise of the article was simple: The aversion for paying for digital content is short-sighted and ultimately very damaging to the overall quality of content produced, to journalism (especially investigative journalism), and to[Read More…]
Co-Written by Prashastika Sharma and Neeraj K On March 22nd at 5 pm, India witnessed a spectacular event applauding doctors, frontline workers and other essential service delivery personnel. It was nothing we have witnessed before in the name of unity and gratitude in contemporary India. Noteworthy, it was requested by the Prime Minister. We have been now put under a national[Read More…]
During his daily coronavirus press update on March 26, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau cautioned Canadians about what he called “a text scam.” He was referring to a message that many Canadians had begun to receive on their cell phones within hours of the government announcing financial assistance to people affected by COVID-19 in terms of loss of employment or[Read More…]
They did not see the thousands of migrant labourers streaming out of Delhi because none of them got the promised food packet. They were hungry, many confessed, and had no drinking water either to last the long journey home. There was outrage and helplessness voiced by civil society. There was also anger at the indifference and incompetence of the Government.[Read More…]
The small bird who has just learnt to fly Flapping her wings with joy and confidence Moving across the wind in the sky With the earth and her people under her feet The little bird who flies in the sky Does not feel that she owns the sky. The young fish who has just come out of the egg[Read More…]
My History teacher used to tell us, “If France sneezes, the whole of Europe catches cold”, but we are not at that anymore. I wish we were, but we are not. We are far more interconnected, far more intertwined and a lot more interdependent. In fact, the global world has taught us that if any one region sneezes, the whole[Read More…]
Migrant Workers’ woes: Please address the nation to assuage their fear, Dear Prime Minister To Shri Narendra Modi Honourabe Prime Minister of India Respected Modi Jee, You have received accolades from the World Health Organisation, the opposition party leaders and from several other quarters for your statesman-like approach in dealing with the emergency situation arising out of the threat from[Read More…]
The covid-19 has claimed countless lives all the world over, and we, in this small part of the world, have not yet taken the threat as serious as it should be. Past few days were horrible. People, from different places of kashmir, tested positive for the coronavirus, giving one the premonition of some dreadful situation in the valley. In this[Read More…]
To Confirm Community Spread Of COVID-19 Infection, Test 100,000 Indians Randomly Across The Country: Total Cost Rupees 500 Millions The scientific and epidemiological way to know if COVID-19 – 60 days after the first case being detected in India – has spread in the community is to test around 100,000 Indians uniformly across the country. This random testing should cover[Read More…]
Classical economics helped kill millions in the British Empire’s famines; following economic orthodoxy today could be just as deadly I’m writing this at 585,000 worldwide active cases, 26,000 deaths, and with only China and South Korea seemingly under some sort of control (using a social metric tool, Worldometer). The stimulus package announced by the US government is at $2 trillion,[Read More…]
Fabrizio Verde of L’Antidiplomatico interviews Andre Vltchek [During this exchange, both men are “locked up”. Verde in Naples, Vltchek in Santiago de Chile] * FV: How will be the world after the Covid-19? AV: Totally different and I’d like to believe, much better. But before it gets better, millions of people will lose their lives, and perhaps hundreds of[Read More…]
To Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Director General WHO Dear Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, I am writing this letter as a concerned senior citizen from India, at the manner in which COVID19 is sweeping across the planet, raising questions about the global community’s ability to contain the spread of the virus. It is ironic that the country which hosts WHO should[Read More…]
The COVID-19 Pandemic now is the most dramatic modern historical wake-up call and reminder that whether the threat is to the continued survival of Humanity, the Earth or Life itself, an unprecedented massive political-economical-financial-environmental-societal sea change must occur to the entire structure of modern human civilization that continues to cause an escalating collapse of the human world’s protective borders to:[Read More…]
The lights have gone out in the streets, how will I walk back home alone? It’s a lonely bus, should I travel in that or just wait for some more time? These are the kind of thoughts which have made home in the minds of the women in our country. These thoughts have just grasped the inner soul of every[Read More…]
With five reported deaths case of COVID-19, the question of tackling countrymen from the probable havoc. It’s a crucial question for Bangladesh as the country has, after all, no logistics to combat it. Bangladesh, which was liberated from Pakistan in 1970, is now claiming to touch the layer of the richest countries by 2041, although I see queues of shoppers[Read More…]
Life as we have hitherto known and cherished, is likely under a whole lot of pressure. Remember it was only 2-3 weeks back, we would casually stroll into our fav coffee joint and have our coffee cup refilled, or go into the grocery store or a walking trail without worrying about the physical proximity to others. In fact, we actively[Read More…]
( Please note the article was written on March16, 2020, before the government and RBI announced some reliefs, many of them for specified periods. It can not be anticipated for how long the pandemic and the crisis would continue. Still the comment is relevant given India’s ground realities, well known leakages, pilferage of relief funds etc.) Share market going[Read More…]
Some of the accounts that my parents shared with me were surprising to me when I was a child. I didn’t doubt their narratives, but they did seem odd to me as a youngster. The first was about children coming to their summer resort and bringing food allocation booklets. Then my folks would pool the books all together to get[Read More…]
The Sri Lankan state which co-sponsored United Nations Human Rights Council Resolutions 30/1 in September 2015 failed to bring transitional justice or progress on substantial issues but bought time and space, now after so many Resolutions and delays unilaterally withdrew from the co-sponsorship. Lack of political will is shown by both the consensus path Wikramasinghe-Sirisena regime and current confrontational path[Read More…]
Jan Adhikar Manch, an alliance of working class organizations, trade unions and individuals, based in Odisha expresses deep concern while bringing to light the manner in which it is business as usual for the Odisha government as it issues notices exempting mining corporations and steel corporations from measures taken to observe the lockdown in the country in the face of[Read More…]
The number of officially confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States is now greater than 102,000, while the number of deaths caused by COVID-19 has surpassed 1,600. This includes more than 16,500 new cases yesterday, the most anywhere in the world, along with nearly 300 new deaths. The country alone now accounts for more than one-sixth of all coronavirus cases[Read More…]
23 Mar 2020 – A civilization or culture is defined as a set of customs, traditions, ethics, values, language, music, dance, gastronomy, clothing, religion, and social and political organization of a people, ethnic group, tribe, or nation. British scholars of the 19th century classified the peoples and races as Civilized, Barbarians and Savages, based on their respective “evolutions.” Such classification[Read More…]
This is an urgent appeal for assistance to migrant workers who are unable to reach their homes due to the current lockdown – free food, medical care and sanitation at the very least. The sudden imposition of a 21-day all-India lockdown on 24 March 2020, at just 4 hours’ notice, has led to horrific consequences for many. This decision, taken[Read More…]
The carnage or to put it more precisely the anti Muslim violence in Delhi (February-March 2020) has shaken us all. Analysts are burning midnight oil yet again to understand the deeper causative factors of the same. One of the neglected aspects of analysis of communal violence has been the one related to prevalent factor of Caste in Indian society. Caste[Read More…]
While adding a bit of dark humor to the pandemic, Mumtaz, a painter by profession said “The virus won’t do anything but the name seems scary”. I replied with a quote of Shakespeare “What’s in a name?” It is beyond doubt that the threat is real and has led to world lockdown, ruination of world markets and disruption of normal[Read More…]
Ever since the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, announced national lock down on March 24, 2020 to fight Covid–19 and declared that “Social Distancing” is the only solution to save India from the Corona Pandemic, all Chief Ministers are also using the same coinage in India. We must use ‘Disease Distancing’ not Social Distancing because India is a country of social[Read More…]
“To expose another human being to serious illness, and to the threat of losing their life, is grotesque and quite unnecessary. This is not justice, it is a barbaric decision.” Kristinn Hrafnsson, editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks, March 26, 2020 Social distancing is not a word that seems to have reached certain parts of the British legal system. Granted, it is an[Read More…]
We see clearly what is near to us There is a remarkable contrast in the way that governments around the world have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic and the way that they have responded to the climate emergency. The pandemic, which indeed represents an extremely grave danger to humanity, has produced a masive global response. Borders have been closed, airlines[Read More…]
My favorite parts of being in a a rehabilitation place were fivefold: First, I loved helping hurt others. What a blast it was after learning to walk again at the facility. One of my acts included helping a man, Robert, whose short term memory was deficient. So I wrote instructions and phone numbers for him to find his car, his[Read More…]
Take careful notice – as of March 2020, the United States is operating as a more than strict Democratic Socialist system. The government is regulating aspects of American life — economic, social, and medical. The Federal Reserve is printing money and making it available to financial and commercial industries and the public. Americans are being told what to do, what[Read More…]
As more and more people die of COVID-19, WhatsApp is busy knitting conspiracy theories looking for traces of biological warfare amid this Coronavirus Crisis. Good old right started it, with tales of ‘Communist’ China synthesizing Corona to suppress Hong Kong uprising but as it overtook the western ‘free world’, songs of trade wars unleashing this deadly virus entered our whatsapp[Read More…]
In the time of COVID-19, there is a dire need of differentiating between education and literacy. A well-established misconception in our society is that the two terms are considered synonymous and thus interchangeable. Literacy is just the art of reading and writing whereas education is the systematic process of facilitating learning which caters to the overall development of an individual.[Read More…]
As India and the world face a completely unprecedented crisis due to the spread of COVID-19 virus, the first and immediate response must be health and treatment facilities, physical distancing, relief and basic needs packages to workers, basic need services, and other such measures that both reduce the risk of spread as also provide economic and survival security to those[Read More…]
It is hard to remember that just a few weeks ago; our country was in motion, a moving anarchy that is how many westerners call India. There were protests all over the country over citizenship issue CAA, NPR and NCR. There was communal riot in Delhi where Hindus killed Muslims and vise-versa. Human divided themselves into religion and gunned for[Read More…]
The United States is rapidly becoming the epicenter of the global coronavirus pandemic. The number of cases in the country rocketed past both those in Italy and China. The US now has the largest number of officially recorded cases of COVID-19, 85,594, and the largest number of new cases in a 24-hour period, more than 17,000. The death toll in[Read More…]
K.P Sasi is a film maker, cartoonist and writer. SIGN UP FOR COUNTERCURRENTS DAILY NEWS LETTER
The United States has become the new center of the global coronavirus pandemic, with over 86,000 cases, more than China or Italy. More than a thousand Americans have already died, but this is surely only the very beginning of this deadly collision between the U.S.’s uniquely inadequate public healthcare system and a real pandemic. On the other hand, China and South Korea, which both have universal public health systems that cover the bulk of their people’s healthcare needs, have already turned the tide on Covid-19[Read More…]
To Smt Nirmala Sitharaman Union Finance Minister Dear Smt Sitharaman, I have suggested several measures to be taken by the government to counter the spread of COVID19 and the relief to be provided to the vulnerable sections of the population affected by the lockdowns imposed initially by the States and the nationwide lockdown announced later on the 24th by the[Read More…]
The way the month-long political impasse in Madhya Pradesh concluded with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Shivraj Singh Chouhan taking oath as the 4th term chief minister, points out to a deeper concern of people’s mandate of democracy as role of BJP as a opposition party seemed to be dubious in breaking other parties to obtain a legislative majority regardless[Read More…]
Kofi Annan, the former Secretary General of the United Nations, has said ,”Globalisation is a universal truth, to criticise the globalisation means to criticise the nature”. The society we live in is modern, the 21st century society. It is the society which is civilized, educated, developed, techno savvy and globalised society. The man has done a tremendous job in each[Read More…]
Coronavirus cases surpassed 530,000 worldwide, with more than 24,000 deaths while the U.S. now leads the world with more than 85,500 confirmed coronavirus, officially COVID-19, cases, overtaking China and Italy. There have been more than 1,288 deaths in the U.S. At least 122,000 people around the world have recovered. Among the recovered in Italy was an 86-year-old woman who was released[Read More…]
Yad ihasti tad anyatra, yan nehasti na tat kavcit. ‘Whatever is here might be elsewhere, but what is not here could ever be found’.—The Mahabharata, 1.56.33, from Meera Nanda’s The God Market: How Globalisation is Making India More Hindu, Random House 2009. It was the fag end of the 1st decade of the 21st century when the historian Rink Shenkman wrote his marvellous book, Just how[Read More…]
Co-Written by Vijay Prashad & Subin Dennis K.K. Shailaja is the health minister in the Left Democratic Front government in Kerala, the state in the southwest of India that has a population of 35 million people. On January 25, 2020, she convened a high-level meeting to discuss the outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China. What had particularly worried her is[Read More…]
Americans are facing “A Spring Unlike Any Before.” So warned a front-page headline in the March 13th New York Times. That headline, however hyperbolic, was all too apt. The coming of spring has always promised relief from the discomforts of winter. Yet, far too often, it also brings its own calamities and afflictions. According to the poet T.S. Eliot, “April is the[Read More…]
The violence of this disease was such that the sick communicated it to the healthy who came near them, just as a fire catches anything dry or oily near it. And it even went further. To speak to or go near the sick brought infection and a common death to the living; and moreover, to touch the clothes or anything[Read More…]
Steady media reports on the rising number of the novel Coronavirus infections and its human toll have contributed to a global psychology of fear where entire populations are succumbing their free will to those in positions of authority, elected and otherwise. But while we try to keep ourselves safe during this pandemic, a deadlier and more destructive virus creeping in[Read More…]
COVID-19 (Coronavirus disease) is novel in many ways. It has affected 155 countries till date with ever-changing case numbers (283,00 worldwide) and mortality rate pegged at 1 percent with inter-country variations. This rapid rate of spread occurred in barely 3-4 months with first case suspected to have reported in China in November 2019. The world has witnessed the extraordinary containment[Read More…]
We are all house arrested now because of Coronavirus for our own safety. We do not know how to live like this. In India and in many countries during lock down period people do not know how to spend time at home and use it for personal and community benefit. The famous American astronaut Scott Kelly who spent one year[Read More…]
As the Global Economy Comes Apart, Societies May, Too As of March 2020, the entire world is affected by an evil with which it is incapable of dealing effectively and regarding whose duration no one can make any serious predictions. The economic repercussions of the novel coronavirus pandemic must not be understood as an ordinary problem that macroeconomics can solve[Read More…]
Where the virus may potentially claim the lives of hundreds of thousands or even millions of people, global heating above 4oC is bound to claim the lives of billions, yet most governments hardly listen to the science By the 25 March 2020 more than 4% of Covid-19 patients, nearly 19,000 people, tragically died worldwide, with more to come, and each[Read More…]
Human history as cultural history We need to reform our teaching of history so that the emphasis will be placed on the gradual growth of human culture and knowledge, a growth to which all nations and ethnic groups have contributed. A new freely downloadable book I would like to announce the publication of a book which presents an historical anthology[Read More…]
The entire human world is fighting to defeat a demon today. It’s coronademic – coronavirus pandemic. The fight demands a globally concerted, unified effort. Venezuela should not be left lurching in the pandemic-wilderness even if one of its original sins is to resisting imperialism. But, the Bolivarian Republic is being obstructed in its fight against the pandemic. Imperialism is carrying[Read More…]
India is passing through the second stage of the most serious health crisis in its recent history. How we respond to it as a society is crucial to mitigating the effect of COVID 19 virus on our individual health. Democracy is ultimately a system of social relationships, of everyone with everybody else that respects the twin principles of equality and[Read More…]
URGENT SUGGESTIONS TO THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA WITH REGARD TO SUPPORT TO FARMERS, THEIR LIVELIHOODS AS WELL AS TO ENSURE UNINTERRUPTED FOOD SUPPLY CHAINS To: Shri Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India; Shri N S Tomar, Minister for Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare; Smt Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister; Shri Amit Shah, Home Minister; Dr Ramesh Chand, Member Agriculture, NITI Aayog Dear[Read More…]
When I read the news that the four men who were found guilty of the horrific rape crime in Delhi in 2012 were hanged to death in a Delhi prison, I wondered whether these legal killings make any sense when human being are being killed in thousands all over the world by the Corona virus. Shortly after these hangings, came[Read More…]
With right-wing politicians, like Hungarian premier, Viktor Orbán, not slow to blame ‘foreigners’ for the coronavirus crisis, the looming world downturn could provide new opportunities for the far right to develop. The continuing murderous activity in Europe and further afield, largely by small right-wing groups and even individuals – ‘lone wolves’ – has drawn increased attention of writers and commentators[Read More…]
The World Health Organization Director General said on March 25, 2020: Now is the time for solidarity in the face of this threat to all of humanity. He said the coronavirus, officially COVID-19, pandemic has accelerated over the last two weeks and while coronavirus is a threat to people everywhere, what is most worrying is the danger the virus poses[Read More…]
Co-Written by Stan Cox and Priti Gulati Cox An embroidery work illustrating the early course of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States—more images of which are posted here at the Sidewalk Museum of Congress—follows the exponential growth in number of confirmed cases. The cumulative number rose very slowly through February, reached 100 on March 2, then leaped to 1,000[Read More…]
You can almost smell the fear-laden sweat oozing from the pores of television broadcasts and social media posts as it finally dawns on our political and media establishments what the coronavirus actually means. And I am not talking about the threat posed to our health. A worldview that has crowded out all other thinking for nearly two generations is coming[Read More…]
Letter to the Prime Minister To Shri Narendra Modiji Prime Minister Dear Shri Modiji, You have rightly announced a nationwide lockdown, invoking powers under the National Disaster Management Act and asked the citizens of the country not to stir out of their houses and maintain “social distancing”, which is the only way to fight the scourge of COVID19.[Read More…]
Faizan Mustafa in his recent piece, appeared in The Indian Express, March 21, 2020 titled, “Let us be frank on Secularism” argues that some kind of Hindu Rashtra (which will bring out values like liberalism, modernity, equality and cultural freedom) would help to bring out ‘peace’ and protect the rights of minority communities including Indian Muslims. For him, this[Read More…]
It was only a matter of time before the anti-Muslim sentiment in India turned violent. A country that has historically prided itself on its diversity and tolerance, and for being ‘the largest democracy in the world’ has, in recent years, exhibited the exact opposite qualities – chauvinism, racism, religious intolerance, and, at times, extreme violence. The latest round of violence[Read More…]
It has been more than three months since the protest against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is happening across the country. The protest has achieved its reach across the national boundaries. Jamia Millia Islamia has been the flag bearer ever since it has started, soon universities across the world joined this protest; firstly against the brutalities unleashed by Delhi Police on[Read More…]
The recent explosion of COVID-19 cases in the South East Asian region has contributed to the globally growing pandemic that has impacted our global social order and may have many dramatic unforeseen consequences to come It has exposed the fragility of our dynamic inter-connected systems, the lack of adequate response from world leaders in an aggressively deteriorating situation, and perhaps[Read More…]
Humans have always been the masterminds of what doesn’t belong to humankind just to satisfy innate desires of being superior to the other. Wars have been created not to dismantle other nations, but to showcase their superiority. The subsequent development of science has led to the invention of modern weapons for better warfare. It rose from picking up guns and[Read More…]
Countries have started hoarding food, threatening global trade while Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest man, is seeking money from public for his staff’s relief fund. The richest man has faced backlash. A Bloomberg report said on March 25, 2020: Some governments are moving to secure domestic food supplies during the conoravirus pandemic. Kazakhstan, one of the world’s biggest shippers of[Read More…]
Being a 90s kid was way different than being a kid of today; I mean when I see my 4-year old niece, I feel like how the definition of fun and games have evolved and changed over the years for kids – we used to be the ones playing in the mud, climbing trees, fighting for our turns on the[Read More…]
Jharkhand, like most of India, has woken up late to the COVID-19 pandemic and is yet to provide adequate social security to the people. Although no COVID-19 case has been officially reported in Jharkhand so far, this may be a myth since the state has only one testing centre where only a few dozen samples have been tested, according to[Read More…]
On Tuesday Mar 24, prime minister Narendra Modi announced a 21-day total lockdown across India to “break the chain” of the coronavirus spread. The lockdown kind of a feeling has been slowly sinking in for most Indians. Many people sensed the oncoming bad times and stocked up on all manner of goods they could lay their hands on, emptying grocery[Read More…]
The legacy of the coronavirus pandemic, at least in so far as responses are concerned, is thickening by the day. Behavioural changes are being urged, language is rapidly evolving (spot the “covidiot” amongst you) and the policy of health surveillance is being pushed. Another field where the virus has triggered interest is the very idea of incarceration. Prison may be[Read More…]
A strong unquestionable faith drives a small segment of people within every religious group. Facts don’t matter to them, and now, they are challenging the ban on gatherings to minimize the spread of Corona. Is there a religious group out there that is devoid of defiant people? A few examples are listed here below; please note that a majority of[Read More…]
Co-Written by Mohd. Asif Shah & Ayaz Nabi Malik Ideally human being was created as the crown of creation with dignity, bestowing him with the unique qualities of reason, emotion, sanity, morality and capacity to sift between right and wrong. This superiority was basically meant[Read More…]
The other morning, walking at the edge of a local park, I caught sight of a beautiful red cardinal, the first bird I ever saw some 63 years ago. Actually, to make that sentence accurate, I should probably have put either “first” or “ever saw” in quotation marks. After all, I was already 12 years old and, even as a city[Read More…]
I’ve been requested to write a second part about the basic principles and benefits of an Islamic economy and answer some questions. The first part The Global Casino Economy has been published on https://orientalreview.org/2020/03/11/the-global-casino-economy/ The principles of the Islamic economy are based on 5 basic essentials viz Fixed Zakat- collection and distribution- for the needy, destitute and the poor Muslim[Read More…]
House of Mirrors – Justin Trudeau’s Foreign Policy. Yves Engler. RED Publishing, Saskatoon/BlackRose Books, Montreal. 2020. Some book covers are better than others, and that of Yves Engler’s House of Mirrors is beautifully expressive of the contents of his latest work. It shows a very friendly faced and happy smiling Justin Trudeau in an iconic pose that says it all:[Read More…]
More than 10,000 people have been killed by coronavirus across the European continent. The gruesome milestone has been reached just five weeks after the first death was recorded on the continent, in France, on February 15. With yesterday’s 1,414 new deaths, the total for the entire continent reached 10,220 deaths from 192,663 cases. Among the European Union’s 27 countries, 9,720[Read More…]
Appeal for Emergency Measures to Deal with COVID 19 Crisis- Letter sent to Central and State Governments from concerned citizens Dear Sir/Ma’am, The COVID 19 pandemic continues to be a serious public health issue and will possibly have a devastating impact on the lives and livelihoods of crores of people. As in most cases, those likely to be affected the[Read More…]
The 2009 swine flu pandemic caused by a new strain of H1N1 virus infected as many as 1.4 billion people across the globe and killed between 151,700 and 575,400 people, during eight months according to the US Centre for Disease Control. The newly emerged coronavirus disease of 2019 (Covid-19) caused by SARS-Cov-2 virus is nowhere near that, at least as[Read More…]
The President of India Ram Nath Kovind has written an article on coronavirus reminding us that we are merely biological organisms, dependent on other organisms for survival and that humankind’s craving to control nature and exploit all its resources for profit can be wiped out in a stroke by a miniscule organism. Further he reminds us that our ancestors used[Read More…]
The War Against Coronavirus is being successfully waged in countries. Thousands of scientists in countries are working round-the-clock while drugs are being tested at different levels including clinical test by Chinese and Russian scientists. China is lifting travel restrictions on Hubei Province on Wednesday, as China’s fight against coronavirus, officially designated Covid-19, and is yielding positive results. Even constraints on[Read More…]
Co-Written by Dr. P.S. Sahni & Shobha Aggarwal As the coronavirus pandemic unfolds globally shrill voices are being raised – even by the well intentioned – to ensure that vaccine against COVID-19 gets to be available as fast as possible. A vaccine even if developed is likely to take a long time. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said it[Read More…]
In Chinese the word ‘crisis’ apparently is spelt with two characters. The one suggests danger and the other opportunity. Such understanding of a crisis has never looked more meaningful than in the present. The current situation has driven everyone to set all priorities aside and concentrate only on the one adversary. As someone rightly said, the present situation is worse[Read More…]
Covid -19 has shaken the globalized world in a manner that it never knew before. Having taken its birth in Wuhan, China its first attack focused on air conditioned travel life. The patient data of India so far shows that all those first phase Covid-19 positive persons were those who traveled by long hour air crafts. The second line attack[Read More…]
While humans stand on the brink of precipitating our own extinction, with the prospects of now averting this remote – see ‘Human Extinction Now Imminent and Inevitable? A Report on the State of Planet Earth’ – virtually everyone remains unaware of the critical nature of our plight. Moreover, the ongoing human death toll from the activities that are generating this[Read More…]
Text and Photos: Andre Vltchek Imagine that you are in Hong Kong, in a city where “you are actually not supposed to be”, in the first place. You are ready to go home, to South America. But just two days before your departure, via Seoul and Amsterdam, your first Sky Team carrier, Korean Air, unceremoniously decides to cancel all flights[Read More…]
The Middle East region, battered by wars and adjoining humanitarian crises that have left millions of people stateless, hungry and diseased, is in urgent need for peace, security and reconstruction. Thanks to the US, Russian, French, Israeli and other weapons manufacturers, however, it is now the dumping ground for military hardware, an ominous sign for the years ahead. Data released[Read More…]
First, this information at the link below in its second half conforms to the “secret” information that my nephew knows. His is from US government sources that indicate that half of Americans will likely get the virus. Second, his father is writing an exam for tomorrow for some of his approximately 120 students. He is concerned that the remote viewing[Read More…]
My college is closed, classes are off and examinations have been deferred. We need to go in only if and when there is a need. It is not a holiday as I keep telling all my students, it is a shutdown, done for the sake of social distancing and isolation. It is difficult convincing all about the seriousness of it[Read More…]
It’s a fair question: could a culinary offering be seen as “mystic”? I did consider the question utilizing all dimensions then active in my mind when naming the within recipe “Mystic Mash”. So here’s why, as an adjective “mystic” connotes “feeling”, something inherently born in consciousness. As a sceptic person, I am loathe to accept “food” is devoid of consciousness.[Read More…]
As the novel coronavirus spreads, a double crisis looms over India: a health crisis and an economic crisis. In terms of casualties, the health crisis is still very confined (seven deaths in a country where eight million people die every year), but the numbers are growing fast. Meanwhile, the economic crisis is hitting with full force, throwing millions out of[Read More…]
Just a few days after the outbreak and spread of COVID-19 in China, it became clear that the world economy will be badly hit due to this epidemic. Nearly three months since, it has also become clear that the downside impact on the economy will be far-reaching. The long-standing trade war between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald[Read More…]
The coronavirus pandemic surged across Europe this weekend, with more than 2,600 deaths, the majority of them in Italy, followed by Spain, France, Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. The weekend toll by itself nearly equaled the entire three-month death toll in China, where the epidemic began. On Sunday alone there were 1,287 deaths and 17,303 new cases, with Italy,[Read More…]
U.S. Private Sector Job Quality Index estimates that some 37 million domestic jobs are vulnerable to layoffs. Hardest hit would be limited- and full-service restaurants, with some 9 million jobs at risk of layoffs in the near term. Fields such as education have some 3.2 million jobs at risk, while general stores have 2.8 million, according to the report. The[Read More…]
To Smt Nirmala Sitharaman Union Finance Minister Dear Smt Sitharaman, Kindly refer to my letter dated 20-3-2020 addressed to the Prime Minister on the ongoing fight against COVID19. I have enclosed a copy of that letter for your reference. The campaign against COVID19 is assuming urgency in view of the rapidly increasing rate at which the States have been[Read More…]
We are a group of retired civil servants belonging to the All-India and Central Services from all over India. As a group, we do not subscribe to any particular political ideology but rather, focus upon issues that have a bearing upon the Indian Constitution. We have been holding Conclaves and writing Open Letters on matters of concern since we came[Read More…]
No passport, no pan card, no driving license, no ration card, no voter’s id, no aadhar card, no records on parents, but Carona has become an Indian citizen. Let us clap for the arrival of this internationally acclaimed personality. Because, there are no proper health facilities, economic conditions or rehabilitation packages. It is the sheer inactivity and lack of investment[Read More…]
The country is in a lock down now. The fact is it should have happened earlier but better late than never. The prime minister’s call for the Janata Curfew was nothing but a preparation for the full lock down. It is good that people responded to it. Actually, this is a good way to impose things in the name of[Read More…]
From the womb of the Earth, She rose — Fiery, like the volcanic core, unfolding each limb. soaring, phoenix like, from the ash left behind out of the gore the rotting Core of the Death Sun. Cremation smoke. From the womb of the Earth She rose — Death crept. Silenced factory smoke. She strode[Read More…]
As each of my husband’s Navy submarine deployments came to an end, local spouses would e-mail me about the ship’s uncertain date of return. They were attempting to sell tickets to a raffle in which the winner would be the first to kiss her returning sailor. When the time came, journalists would hover to capture the image as hundreds[Read More…]
Never discount the importance of venality in international relations. While pandemics should provide the glue for a unified front in response – we keep being told of fighting this horrendous “invisible enemy” – it’s business as usual in other respects. The United States, with a disparate, confused medical system that risks being overwhelmed, remains committed against that other country floundering[Read More…]
In August 2018, the Pune Police implicated Prof. Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha with other human right activists and lawyers in the now-infamous fabricated Elgar Parishad case. The police presented concocted theories since day one and these theories have not an iota of truth in them. Although the judiciary granted interim protection to Prof. Anand and Gautam, the supreme court[Read More…]
AIFRTE Statement on Supreme Court’s rejection of anticipatory bail to Prof. Anand Teltumbde AIFRTE is shocked, outraged and deeply disappointed by the Supreme Court’s rejection of anticipatory bail to its Presidium member Prof. Anand Teltumbde, an IIM-Ahmedabad alumnus, IIT Professor, and currently Senior Professor and Chair, Big Data Analytics at Goa Institute of Management (GIM). Prof Teltumbde is also a[Read More…]
The crime report released by the National Crime Bureau (NCRB) last year” Crime in India – 2018” has been released with a delay of about one year in which crime and atrocity figures against Scheduled Castes have been released along with other crimes. With these figures, on the one hand, the rate of crime / oppression against these sections in[Read More…]
Since the Corona crisis is grave, the government’s decision to stop train services throughout the country till March 31 cannot be faulted. But this has grave implications for the poor. They are going to be stranded and worse, many will lose their livelihood as they cannot reach their work places. Train services had been hit in 1974 during a prolonged[Read More…]
The ramping coronavirus pandemic is questioning capitalism as at least a billion people around the world are confined in homes. Millions of workers have already lost jobs. A bleak future waits for them. Governments are struggling to face the situation. The United States, considered the most powerful, the most resourceful, the wisest and the smartest state, is actually in a[Read More…]
China is slowing down the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. A Beijing datelined AFP said a few days ago: China reported on Tuesday just one new domestic coronavirus infection but found 20 more cases imported from abroad, with more regions imposing quarantines on foreign arrivals in a bid to stem the disease being brought in from overseas. The single case[Read More…]
As coronavirus sweeps across the globe, governments are stepping up surveillance of their citizens. Some countries are collecting anonymized data to study movement of people more generally, while others are providing detailed information about individuals’ movements. Governments across the world are galvanizing every surveillance tool at their disposal to help stem the spread of the novel coronavirus. Countries have been[Read More…]
More African countries have closed their borders as the coronavirus’ local spread threatened to turn the continent of 1.3 billion people into an alarming new front for the pandemic. Africa is seeing an “extremely rapid evolution,” the World Health Organization’s (WHO) regional chief, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, told reporters. Thirty-six of Africa’s 54 countries now have cases, with the total over[Read More…]
Bella Ciao! Bella Ciao! A song which traces its origins to the struggles of working women (rice-weeders) in 19th-century Northern Italy, and which later became an anthem of anti-fascist struggles there, recently made a comeback on the streets of Rome. Well, there was no mass gathering, obviously, but you could hear people’s voices sing not only Bella Ciao from windows and balconies but many[Read More…]
Coronaviruses are a group of related viruses which cause disease in mammals and birds. The SARS-CoV-2 virus causes Covid-19, which is highly contagious and spreads very fast, but is not yet proven as a bigger killer than SARS and MERS, which belong to the same group. The Covid-19 pandemic has so far caused about 11,000 deaths worldwide. Without trivializing[Read More…]
The world is in the grip of a COVID-19 pandemic that is now impacting relatively poor countries in Africa and South Asia. Rich island continent Australia (population 25 million) has only about 1,000 cases so far and has achieved this through tough travel bans, selective testing, contact tracing, case isolation, quarantine and public education. However there is a big debate[Read More…]
In anticipation of the post-COVID-19 world, bold statements are being made on how we will, as a race, be wiser, even kinder; cautious, and reflective. If history is ever a lesson on anything, such statements are bound to be the fatuous utterances of a moment, soon forgotten. What is left, instead, are the policy legacies, the detritus of bad decisions[Read More…]
Good morning fellas! I’m just sick and disturbed by what I am seeing in my country. People have gone more mad after the outbreak of the coronavirus. Some are organizing hawans, others are busy in namaz. The leader tells us to beat drums, the religious fanatics suggests us to drink gomutra (cow urine) and cow dung for it has the[Read More…]
“I am surprised as to how Justice Ranjan Gogoi, who once exhibited such courage of conviction to uphold the independence of the judiciary, has compromised the noble principles on the independence and impartiality of the judiciary,” said Retired Justice Kurian Thomas. He was reacting to the appointment of recently retired Supreme Court Chief Justice to the Rajya Sabha by the[Read More…]
It was a nice sunny, but chilly afternoon on Saturday, March 15. A perfect day for a rally at Surrey’s Holland Park. The Coalition Against Bigotry (CAB) had organized a demonstration in protest against the recent appearance of racist flyers close to the Guru Nanak Sikh Temple, in Surrey-Delta, where Sikh immigrant Nirmal Singh Gill was murdered by white supremacists[Read More…]
Certain phases in one’s life remain etched in indelible colours for the simple reason that they are a combination of “the firsts”. For me my 20s were when so many “firsts” happened – the first time I met someone from Delhi who wore a safari suit in pastel colours, the first time I got a corduroy jeans as gift, the[Read More…]
Italy, Spain, Belgium and the UK all recorded their largest death tolls in the global coronavirus pandemic in a single day, Friday. In Italy, which now has the highest number of deaths in the world, a further 627 people perished taking the total to 4,032 fatalities. Another 5,986 new infections were announced in the locked-down country. Some 47,021 people have[Read More…]
Number of cases per million inhabitants in various EU countries, compared to the level (10/million) China enacted its block, to date the most effective strategy to fight the infection. With 21.6 cases/million inhabitants, for instance, France is recommending people to… wash their hands. We should do more. 1)Italy is the world’s 9th largest economy (not for much longer). 2) It[Read More…]
The coronavirus pandemic is battering lives and wreaking havoc in world economy at the same time. This world wide health and economic crisis reveal the inherent structural fault lines within neoliberal economic system dominated by global corporations. The fault lines are further exacerbated by the amoral market led states that protect interests of big businesses and pharmaceutical corporations. The incoherent,[Read More…]
As the coronavirus (COVID-19) spreads, a double crisis looms over Jharkhand: a health crisis and an economic crisis. Already, unemployed migrant workers are returning en masse from different states, including some (e.g. Maharashtra) with many coronavirus cases. Food vendors are losing business, and more occupations are likely to be hit as economic activity slows down. As more and more people[Read More…]
Epistemology involves the philosophical analysis of the nature of knowledge and how it informs the ontology of the concepts like truth and belief or how beliefs are formed, internalized and justified. Notwithstanding the fact that it is happening, however, the whole process of formation and internalization of these beliefs is almost imperceptible. Since the history of the becoming of beliefs[Read More…]
It was perhaps the twentieth day of the lockdown. I had lost count of dates and days, sitting in my small ten by twelve feet study, like my ancestors the pit dwellers, I had no idea about the world outside. Dead landlines and lifeless cell phones had gathered dust as thick as scum on the stinking pond in the heart[Read More…]
Today, March 18, is a red letter day for the working class and all true friends of the workers in the country and throughout the world. For, on this day, one hundred forty-seven years ago, in the municipality of Paris, in France, the Parisian workers garnered a historic greatest achievement. Their proletarian revolution triumphed and established the first working class[Read More…]
In the last few years, banks have begun foisting hefty charges on customers on all the banking transactions. While some of the charges existed before but the new charges have been introduced on very basic everyday’s transactions. At present most banks even have charge on maintaining minimum balance, cash deposits and withdrawals at their branches and ATM’s, balance inquiry, SMS[Read More…]
According to the experts, the health hazard inflicted on people by long-standing air pollution is likely to impact the fatality rate emerging from Covid-19 infections. Polluted air is known to cause respiratory diseases and is responsible for at least 8m early deaths annually. This means that Covid-19, which spreads through respiratory droplets is expected to have a more serious impact[Read More…]
Hoarding as moral aberration and ethical breach: the term has recently become the subject of scorn in coronavirus chatter. In terms of mental disorders, it is “characterized by persistent difficulty discarding or parting with possessions”, though the Coronavirus Hoarder is a breed that adds urgent bulk acquisition to the shopping equation. If you part with it, take advantage of making[Read More…]
(Dedicated to Kai Coggin) W. H. Auden’s poem “In Memory of W. B. Yeats” is often quoted to dismiss the importance of poetry as a form of social justice. The current fashion among poets is that poetry can revolutionize social inequalities, make positive changes, build empathy for marginalized groups, and convey information about causes important to the poet. For[Read More…]
MODINAMA: ISSUES THAT DID NOT MATTER By Subhash Gatade Leftword Books, 2019, pp. 128 , Rs.195.00 HINDUTVA: EXPLORING THE IDEA OF HINDU NATIONALISM By Jyotirmaya Sharma Context, 2019, pp. 190, Rs.313.95 M.S. GOLWALKAR, THE RSS AND INDIA By Jyotirmaya Sharma Context, 2019, pp. 94, Rs.299.00 DECODING THE RSS: ITS TRADITIONS AND POLITICS By Raosaheb Kasbe Leftword Books, 2019, pp.174, Rs.250.00[Read More…]
Co-Written by Punsara Amarasinghe And Eshan Jayawardane At this moment the world has indeed been witnessing a plague which looms before humanity as an unmitigated disaster beyond continents, races, religions and all the other so-called social and economic boundaries including the global North-South division. The deplorable conditions in Europe currently portray a nightmare where the congenial lifestyle of Europeans has[Read More…]
Corona Virus (COVID-19) pandemic has already sent shivers in the belly of many governments, even though it is yet to unfold its full sway in many parts of the world. The countries with weaker public health infrastructure and poorer human development index are more concerned as it needs humungous resources to prevent the spread of the virus. Further such pandemic[Read More…]
Impunity in Indian context differs from region to region and from group to group. When witches were hunted tried and condemned to be burnt at the stake there was no avoidance in the western countries. In New England the people believed that the devil lived just off the clearing in the forest. In Delhi they are burning Bharatvasi who are[Read More…]
The multi-award winning South Korean movie Parasite is a feast of stunning surprises and irresistibly eloquent symbolism.From the very title and its ambiguity to the hierarchy of three families inhabiting a layered architectural splendor, metaphor is everywhere. Look at the three families and their visibilities, spatial agency and even smells. Parasite is inevitably about the politics of space, its ownership[Read More…]
Millions of workers throughout the world are being thrown out of work due to the coronavirus pandemic, creating the conditions for an unprecedented economic and social crisis. The International Labor Organization (ILO) has warned that 25 million workers could join the ranks of the unemployed over the next several months. By comparison, the 2008-09 global financial crisis increased global unemployment[Read More…]
The economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic will be unprecedented, according to Ray Dalio, the head of one of the world’s largest hedge funds. Ray Dalio says global corporate losses from the pandemic will amount to $12 trillion. Dalio told CNBC: “What is happening has not happened in our lifetime before … What we have is a crisis. There will[Read More…]
Doctors and medical workers across the U.S. raise the alarm about the coronavirus’s risk to prison populations. Thousands of medics have signed an open letter calling upon the immigration authorities to release individuals and families from detention. The letter, which at the time of writing had been signed by more than 3,000 people, is addressed to the director of the[Read More…]
We cannot be absolutely sure if the “Janta Curfew” (People’s Curfew) advocated by PM Narendra Modi in his speech to the nation about the corona-virus is in earnest (for the good of the people!) or a foretaste of the kind of curfewing that the citizens have to get used to if the corona pandemic continues. Or if it is some[Read More…]
On March 15, Chandrashekhar Azad announced the formation of a new political party called Azad Samaj Party (ASP) which is welcome as in a democracy every citizen has the right to form his own party. But no announcement has been made about the agenda or politics of this party yet. Prima facie, so far, there has been a belief among[Read More…]
A stranger in a strange land, Bushra Punjabi reflects on the condition of being away from home and at home within the confines of memory. In such a mode, she reflects on what it means to be Kashmiri in an uncertain present, between an imposing past and an impending future. In this quagmire of time, the writer and sociology researcher[Read More…]
The running coronavirus pandemic is hitting the U.S. and Europe. At first, it was service industries including hotels, restaurants and tourism. Now, the manufacturing sector is taking the hit. There are shutdowns of heavy industry, unprecedented since the World War II. A Bloomberg report said: Automakers in the U.S. and Europe are idling plants. China, Japan and South Korea have[Read More…]
Vehicle drivers are familiar with crucial highway signs saying “WRONG WAY GO BACK”. A detailed analysis shows that global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in all key economic sectors of energy production and non-energy production are increasing whereas the worsening Climate Emergency demands urgently decreasing GHG emissions and ultimately net zero GHG emissions ASAP. The world is driving headlong in the[Read More…]
Last October, a group of eight Apache attack and CH-47 Chinook helicopters carrying U.S. commandos roared out of an airfield in Iraq. They raced through Turkish airspace and across the Syrian border, coming in low as they approached a village just north of Idlib Province where Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, his bodyguards, and some of his children were spending the[Read More…]
Dear Folks– [This message is going out to students in my Purdue Northwest University(PNW) courses this semester] I hope each of you are safe and well. I want to say hello and touch base with each of you. I am sharing some very serious information below. Please read. I do this to get your attention, but not to cause you[Read More…]
Friday, March 20 marks the twentieth anniversary of the killings of 36 Sikhs in Indian-occupied Kashmir under mysterious circumstances. It happened close to then US President Bill Clinton’s visit to India. The massacre took place in the Chittisinghpura village of Kashmir. The assailants wore Indian army uniforms, lined up the Sikhs from the village, and shot them to death. Kashmir[Read More…]
Dear Baba, Since you left us, nothing has much changed except that we could not celebrate Bebo’s birthday last year. I forgot to tell you about the postponement of marriage of your nephew because he was arrested and sent to jail outside Kashmir. Since then, he has been shifted from court to prison to unknown places which we are unable[Read More…]
Walking across the muddy road at the end of the Irongmara bazaar area (near Assam University), we reached a village, around 1 km from the bazaar. This was the time to witness the lives of a Scheduled Castes community residing in that area. These people settled in the village during British rule in India when tea plantation was first set[Read More…]
Supply shocks from China have caused a fall in production and decline in demand, leading to fears of recession. Stock markets globally have declined since the big drop this ‘Manic Monday’. They are reacting to the expected slowdown in the world economy due to the rapid spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus to more than 100 countries. Crude oil prices[Read More…]
Mainland China has had no new local coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours – the first time since the outbreak began in December. However, China is still struggling to contain imported cases of the disease. Notably, the purported epicenter of the epidemic – Wuhan, in Hubei province – recorded no new locally transmitted infections. The same was true across[Read More…]
China and Cuba have stepped in with practical measures at international level amidst the near-collapse health care situation in a number of capitalist countries in the face of coronavirus pandemic. China sending million masks & gloves to France China is shipping one million surgical masks and gloves to France as the EU member struggles to contain the coronavirus, with Europe[Read More…]
Although there is no preventive vaccine or specific treatment, at this time, for the new coronavirus SARS COV-2, which causes COVID-19, the Cuban pharmaceutical industry guarantees the production of proven, high efficacy medications, including recombinant human interferon alpha 2b, in addition to another group of drugs that are included in protocols for treating patients with this disease and the complications[Read More…]
US struggles to fill requests for protective gear A Salem, Oregon, March 18, 2020 datelined Associated Press report by Andrew Selsky said: The U.S. government is rushing protective equipment to states, packing dozens of flights and hundreds of trucks with supplies for medical workers who will be on the front lines of the coronavirus fight. But the pandemic has exposed[Read More…]
During the first few decades of the feminist movement, it was assumed that women as a social group, as a political constituency could organise themselves as a unified entity in order for them to give voice to their demands. Underlying this assumption was the belief that women’s oppression was a more or less universal fact and so there was a[Read More…]
Puta Bhatta Jataka. The Buddha himself had narrated this story to a married couple. He had waited for them ‘like a hunter on the trail’ in his monastery cell in Jetvana, wishing to teach the husband a few lessons in gender equity. I read the Buddha’s skeletal story of his past birth enough times to know every word of it.[Read More…]
If a disease can teach wisdom beyond our understanding of how precarious and precious life is, the coronavirus has offered two lessons. The first is that in a globalised world our lives are so intertwined that the idea of viewing ourselves as islands – whether as individuals, communities, nations, or a uniquely privileged species – should be understood as evidence[Read More…]
The rush to elevate self-isolation to Olympian heights as a way to combat the spread of COVID-19 has gotten to the celebrities. Sports figures are proudly tweeting and taking pictures from hotel rooms (Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton being a case in point). Comics are doing their shows from home. Thespians are extolling the merits of such isolation and the[Read More…]
In a surprising move, Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, announced on February 29 that he will be re-opening his country’s border to Europe, thus allowing tens of thousands of mostly Syrian refugees into Greece and other European countries. Expectedly, over 100,000 people rushed to the Ipsala border point in the Edirne province separating Turkey from Greece, hoping to make it[Read More…]
In yet another tone-deaf ejaculation of mind-blowing idiocy, member of the tech elite Hadi Partovi declared that recession could be good for Seattle. Read it here, faithfully reported by Geekwire. I mean you can’t make this stuff up. Think of the number of levels on which this statement is asinine. “Wait,” you say, “Let’s hear what he really meant by[Read More…]
I make no bones about it- this piece is a plea for help. I’m lucky; so far I’m fine. So the help is not for me. It’s for an institution that I believe in- Haymarket Books. Haymarket is one of the few publishers left that puts out a stream of books on progressive matters, espouses progressive values, and gives “unpublishable”[Read More…]
Statement by MRSD on Supreme Court’s rejection of pre-arrest bail plea of Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha in the Bhima Koregaon violence case Mumbai Rises to Save Democracy (MRSD) is deeply disappointed with the Supreme Court’s rejection of the plea by Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha seeking anticipatory bail in the cases registered against them in relation to the violence[Read More…]
The Telangana State (TS) Legislative Assembly, by way of a resolution passed on March 16, Monday, has opposed the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Population Register (NPR), and National Register of Citizens (NRC), asserting these formed part of concerted attempts to tinker with the inclusive and non-religious nature of citizenship. The resolution urged the Central government to amend Citizenship (Amendment)[Read More…]
Epidemiologist William Hanage was more than perplexed by the plan. “When I heard about Britain’s ‘herd immunity’ coronavirus plan,” he reflected in The Guardian, “I thought it was satire.” Much public policy, foolishly considered and expertly bungled, tends to succumb to satire; having Prime Minister Boris Johnson leading the show provides an even better chance of that happening. Herd immunity,[Read More…]
Co written by Bipasha Saikia and Bishaldeep Kakati According to Food and Agricultural Organization, every year one-third of the food produced across the globe goes to waste. The staggering amount is a huge concern for humanity, especially when seen alongside the fact that an equally staggering 820 million go hungry every day. Why does this happen? While many may perceive[Read More…]
Co-Written by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J S Davies While the world is consumed with the terrifying coronavirus pandemic, on March 19 the Trump administration will be marking the 17th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq by ramping up the conflict there. After an Iran-aligned militia allegedly struck a U.S. base near Baghdad on March 11, the U.S. military[Read More…]
U.S. sanctions against Iran, cruelly strengthened in March of 2018, continue a collective punishment of extremely vulnerable people. Presently, the U.S. “maximum pressure” policyseverely undermines Iranian efforts to cope with the ravages of COVID-19, causing hardship and tragedy while contributing to the global spread of the pandemic.On March 12, 2020, Iran’s Foreign Minister Jawad Zarif urged member states of the[Read More…]
Every month, it seems, brings a new act in the Trump administration’s war on the media. In January, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo exploded at National Public Radio reporter Mary Louise Kelly when he didn’t like questions she asked — and then banned a colleague of hers from the plane on which he was leaving for a trip to Europe and Asia.[Read More…]
With stock markets crashing and economies grinding to a halt as the world struggles to get a grip on the Coronavirus, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman could not have chosen a worse time to wreak havoc on energy markets by launching a price and production war against Russia. Saudi Arabia’s oil spat with Russia throws a spanner into the[Read More…]
Title: Silence between the Notes – Anthology of Partition Poetry Selected, edited and introduced by Aftab Husain and Sarita Jenamani Despite being more than seven decades old, Partition continues to be raw and unflinching. Endless books and movies have tried to capture its pain and enigma and yet there seems to be so much more that needs to be told[Read More…]
Expatriates returning from Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon wait to be retested in a Kuwaiti health ministry containment and screening zone for COVID-19 in Kuwait City on March 16, 2020. In Massachusetts, USA, bars and restaurants are closed except for takeout, schools are closed starting on this Tuesday. They will all be shut for at least three weeks and no gatherings[Read More…]
A month ago, if someone had said ‘social distancing’, I would have really thought they were talking about the Indian caste system with its perverse idea of untouchability. ‘Lockdown’ till recently would have evoked images of a very entertaining style of wrestling where all matches take place inside a steel cage. And ‘flattening the curve’ would obviously be an attempt to trim[Read More…]
More than 1000 WOMEN FROM ACROSS INDIA Write to State Chief Ministers, saying – “NPR presents a Clear Danger to Women, De-link NPR from Census house listing” Given that the updation of the National Population Register (NPR) is scheduled to begin from April 1, 2020 along with house listing for the Census of India 2021, prominent women rights activists, including[Read More…]
To Shri Narendra Modiji Prime Minister Dear Shri Modiji, I compliment your government, especially Dr Harsh Vardhan, the Health Minister and Dr S. Jaishankar, the External Affairs Minister for the commendable effort they have put in to stem the tide of Corona Virus within the country and for airlifting hundreds of stranded Indians from Wuhan, Naples, Teheran and so on. This[Read More…]
History does not forget & forgive those who make it. Making of history does not mean always doing right. It equally means doing wrong. Those who did wrong are never forgiven by those who suffer by their wrong. Similarly, those who did right are never forgotten by those who benefit from their right. Wrong or right may be a decision[Read More…]
It threatened to disappear under the viral haze of COVID-19, but February 29 saw representatives from the US and Taliban, loftily acknowledged as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, sign the “Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan”. After two decades of conflict, the agreement sets in motion the process that should see American troops leave Afghanistan within 14 months. Initially, 8,600[Read More…]
The U.S. is insulting the Chinese media. It is affecting both countries. My colleagues in Beijing believe, correctly, that Washington should have tried to increase communication, not to bring it to a halt. Twist what is happening; reverse facts. That is what the Western media does when “dealing with” China, Russia, Iran or several “unfriendly” Latin American countries. It is[Read More…]
As the Supreme Court allows the government to incarcerate and silence two more voices Gautam Nawlakha and Anand Teltumbde that dared to speak out against its excesses Gautam Nawlakha one of the alleged “urban naxals” sends out a message…….. I thank Justices Arun Mishra and MR Shah of the Supreme Court for giving me three weeks to surrender before the[Read More…]
Coronaviruses (CoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). COVID-19 is a new strain that was discovered in 2019 and has not been previously identified in humans. These are zoonotic, meaning they are transmitted between animals[Read More…]
India with a population of 1,210,193,422 as accounted by the1st March 2011 population census. India is a colourful canvas portraying a unique assimilation of ethnic groups displaying varied cultures and religions. In fact this uniqueness ethnicity of the country is a factor that makes it different from other nations. However the vastness of India’s nationalism , accounting to a plethora[Read More…]
“I am a Zionist. You don’t have to be a Jew to be a Zionist,” current Democratic Presidential candidate, Joe Biden, said in April 2007, soon before he was chosen to be Barack Obama’s running mate in the 2008 elections. Biden is, of course, correct, because Zionism is a political movement that is rooted in 20th century nationalism and fascism.[Read More…]
Some people meet their maker after receiving a worldly commendation for every good they do. However, some meet their end without coming into public notice although they also contribute to society considerably. Truth be told, popularity is meaningless to great men. From a spiritual point of view, neither popularity elevates anyone’s status nor does concealment diminish it. But when a[Read More…]
Circle in the Darkness – Memoir of a World Watcher. Diana Johnstone. Clarity Press, Atlanta Georgia. 2020. Diana Johnstone has done a masterful job of writing her autobiography, Circle in the Darkness, that provides many details of her life, her early influences, and the various stages of her career throughout the second half of the Twentieth Century and the first[Read More…]
With COVID-19 virus declared as a pandemic, spreading across countries including South Asia, people are being advised to live in isolation. Claiming more than 6500 deaths worldwide and more than 1.67 lakh confirmed cases and counting, the novel virus has affected every sector and thus demands coordinated action. In the wake of this medical emergency, it is the wit of[Read More…]
The first quarter of 2020 has seen the Trump administration escalate its rhetoric against Venezuela. At the State of the Union, President Trump promised to “smash” and destroy the Venezuelan government. This was followed by a renewed threat of a naval blockade on the country, which is an act of war under U.S. and international law. Then the State Department[Read More…]
During these tragic and anxiety-filled times, we are witnessed extremes in human behavior. Extremes. On the one hand, we have the fundamental decency of medical professionals and first responders who are sanctifying their oath by selfless action; indeed many have perished through the acts of aiding others and warning the world about an impending disaster. In the United States, once[Read More…]
German lawmakers and government officials voiced outrage at reporting Sunday that the Trump administration is seeking to secure exclusive rights to a potential coronavirus vaccine being developed by the German firm CureVac as the pandemic spreads and takes lives across the globe. The German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, citing an anonymous German government official, reported Sunday that the Trump administration offered CureVac $1 billion to[Read More…]
To Shri C K Mishra Secretary Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MEFCC) Govt of India Dear Shri Mishra, It is reported widely that your Ministry is thinking of relaxing the environment impact appraisal norms for bulk drug units. I sincerely hope that these reports are incorrect. From what I have observed over the last decade or so, in[Read More…]
Since signing of the U.S-Taliban deal, some revealing reports are coming out. A Washington, March 11, 2020 datelined AFP report, “Taliban fought IS with ‘limited’ U.S. military support, U.S. general reveals”, said: “The Taliban has shown that it can fight and defeat Islamic State group jihadists in Afghanistan, a top U.S. general said Tuesday, revealing for the first time that[Read More…]
The biggest democratic movement in modern Iraq is waning, but the movement is going on. Activists of the Tahrir Square in Baghdad are struggling to keep alive the movement. Security forces have killed nearly 700 protesters and wounded about 30,000 since the protests began in October. Media reports including a report by the news agency AP said: “At the once bustling[Read More…]
There was public alarm following enactment of CAA-2019. The 2003 Rules [Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003] may not have been examined in detail had CAA-2019 not been enacted with the intention of countrywide NPR-NRC. Now the 2003 Rules stand exposed as providing definite possibilities for malafide/ targeted use in the NPR-NRC process.[Read More…]
The urgent need for a vaccine Public health experts say that if the COVID-19 epidemic is not successfully contained, it could become a global pandemic, perhaps spreading to 80% of the world’s population. With a 1% mortality rate, this would mean that 70 million people would die of the disease. With a 2% mortality rate, the total number of[Read More…]
Japanese Magnolia in full bloom On Sunday morning, I hardly noticed that the Japanese Magnolia outside my study room window is in full bloom as it is mid-March. Every year, in late winter, some of the area trees do flower before leaves start to come. That is the first sign to remind us that spring is upon us. There is[Read More…]
As I write this, I am sitting at my workstation at home, a cup of hot green tea in hand, like any other day. But that is where ‘like any other day’ ends. My husband is working from home, no longer out on his weekly tour. The kids are no longer at school. We are watchful of every sneeze, alarmed[Read More…]
Chelsea Manning’s release last Thursday by order of Virginia District Court judge Anthony Trenga had an air of oddness to it. “The court finds Ms. Manning’s appearance before the Grand Jury is no longer needed, in light of which her detention no longer serves any coercive purpose.” Her detention had never served any coercive purpose as such – she remained[Read More…]
The world was calm now. And silent. Only the birds chirped tweeted sang cawed. Only the animals barked mewed mooed growled. Only the river gurgled. Only the sky thundered. Only the fires crackled. Two covid-19 teenage viuses walked around the city assessing the damage. On Route vers l’ouest, they found mansions with cars parked in front and little gardens.[Read More…]
In the Time of Covid-19 and runaway Global Warming, interest in science is no longer considered either passé or purely the realm of so-called nerds. Enhanced by the existence of high production-value television programs on science and a newfound love of celebrity scientists, interest in science is certainly on the rise. Of course, the counter-forces are powerful. An administration and[Read More…]
In recent news, several significant events were simultaneously happening across the world. Here are just a few of the seemingly most relevant ones. Many Californian beach goers are using the wrong sort of sunscreen. They should be using the zinc oxide type. Yet there are just so many people at the beaches in that state with around forty million people[Read More…]
Connections will be strained in the coming weeks—some of them interpersonal and local, some economic and global. It’s up to us to nourish the connections that are most essential, while finding backups for those that can no longer be relied on. The COVID-19 pandemic offers intriguing insights into how networked our modern world has become, and how we’ve traded resilience[Read More…]
In India most of the people who are being tested for coronavirus infection are those who have a travel history or who have been in contact with a coronavirus positive family member or others who have developed symptoms after being in contact with a suspected infected person. Hence the number of coronavirus positive cases are getting projected as low. To[Read More…]
The response to the Corona virus epidemic in India seems to be taking the same trajectory of HIV/AIDS control in which fear, stigmatisation of victims and confusion was the rule in the initial years. One message I just got in whatsaap says someone found a vaccine for Corona infection. Some other message talks about discovery of some combination drugs[Read More…]
Frankly and in summary: recently The United States of America has crossed several lines, committing atrocities, in many parts of the world. In the past, no country could get away with this; such situations would inevitably lead to war. Presently, war is “avoided” only because the world is too frightened of Washington and its mafia-style deeds. Countries on all continents[Read More…]
As the human onslaught against life on Earth accelerates, no part of the biosphere is left pristine. The simple act of consuming more than we actually need drives the world’s governments and corporations to endlessly destroy more and more of the Earth to extract the resources necessary to satisfy our insatiable desires. In fact, an initiative of the World Economic[Read More…]
Late President JR Jayewardene of Sri Lanka after allowing and being complicit in the massacres of Tamils in the 1977, 1983 pogroms and justifying them as a normal reaction of Sinhalese to take revenge on innocent Tamils, hurriedly passed the 6th amendment to the constitution in August 1983 to stifle the voice of Tamils. The amendment’s important sections are under:- Article. 157“No[Read More…]
In the wake of Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) UN High Commissioner, Michele Bachelet, has filed an intervention in the Supreme Court petition challenging the constitutionality of the Citizenship Amendment Act, as she is critical of CAA. Responding to her, India’s Foreign Minister S. Jai Shanker strongly rebutted her criticism, saying that the body (UNHCR) has been wrong and is blind[Read More…]
Today, we remember Kanshiram Saheb on his 87th birthday. His followers, admirers, friends and many others will be remembering him but it is a fact that his presence is being missed desperately particularly by the Bahujan movement which is facing extreme political crisis in the absence of growing expectations of the masses and failure of the political parties particularly those[Read More…]
Delhi Violence claimed more than 50 lives. Hindus and Muslims both faced wrath of extremists of both sides. Fuelled by many objectionable statements and gripped under politics of left and right, secular and communal and even patriotic and seditious, this violence brought a clear fact that no hands are sane and every political group and individual seeking opportunity. This has[Read More…]
I see a lot of peace building efforts in North East Delhi which was the hub of the recent riots. If these peace building measures happened before the riots the riots would not have happened! Too late too little! We have to be proactive. We should not wait for something untoward to happen to engage in peace building activities. The[Read More…]
The World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday issued a plea for $675 million a month to fight the global coronavirus pandemic. This came as confirmed cases of COVID-19 surpassed 145,000, including upwards of 7,700 new cases in Italy, Iran, Spain, Germany and France alone. At least 93 countries reported at least one new case and at least 442 deaths were reported[Read More…]
“Though this be madness yet there is method in it.” Hamlet, William Shakespeare. The saffron brigade’s ever-readiness to stigmatise people holding differing opinions and dissenting voices reached a new low recently. Perhaps it was the saddest day in post-independence India when a Karnataka BJP legislator hurled abuses of being a ‘Pak agent’ and ‘fake freedom-fighter at 102-year-old freedom fighter, H[Read More…]
“Anything we say in advance of a pandemic happening is alarmist; anything we say afterwards is inadequate.” Michael Leavitt, US Health and Human Services Secretary, March 30, 2006 A crew of gathered customers were busying themselves this Friday evening at the BWS (Beer, Wine and Spirits for the uninitiated) along Elizabeth Street in Melbourne, sporting shirts heavy with sponsorship. Some[Read More…]
Let’s be clear: The Coronavirus pandemic is not a joking matter at all. People are dying. People are being released from work and are left in economic desperation. Crisis capitalism has created “entrepreneurs” out of criminals and miscreants, exploiting peoples’ legitimate need for information, supplies, and silver-bullet cures. And the worst is likely still to come. Still, humor is an[Read More…]
I was only introduced to the term ‘Chilestinians’ last February at a conference in Istanbul, during a presentation by the Director of the Palestinian Federation of Chile, Anuar Majluf. When Majluf referred to the well-rooted Palestinian community in Chile, who number between 450,000 and half a million, using that unfamiliar and peculiar phrase, I smiled. Others did, too. It is[Read More…]
STATEMENT BY WOMEN’S GROUPS & INDIVIDUALS HELP CITIZENS SEEK JUSTICE. TAKE ACTION AGAINST THE REAL PERPETRATORS. HELP CITIZENS COME TOGETHER AGAIN. HELP HEAL THIS COUNTRY. *Delhi struggles to recover from the terrible violence in the north east which hit some of the poorest people in our country – tailors, scrap dealers, carpenters, and daily wagers. Scared and displaced Muslims, who[Read More…]
Religions are part of human lives with people having affiliations to different and particular religions. They are an integral part of human lives and preach the same message of peace and brotherhood. Islam is also one of the monotheistic and major religion in the world having an enormous following of 1.8 billion Muslims in the world. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) is[Read More…]
Grade 10 and 12 students at L.A. Matheson School in Surrey joined the campaign for the release of Delhi University Professor G.N. Saibaba on Thursday, March 12. Wheelchair-bound Saibaba, who is ninety percent disabled below the waist, is being incarcerated under inhumane conditions in India. This is despite the continued deterioration of his health because of 19 ailments. March 7[Read More…]
Co-Written by Ariel Gold and Medea Benjamin The COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic is far from the first proof of how intertwined we are as a global community. The climate crisis and the refugee crisis have long been glaring examples that the wars or CO2 emissions on one continent risk the lives and well-being of people on another continent. What coronavirus is[Read More…]
There is something profoundly offensive about this declaration and, worse, there is something profoundly insufferable about the sentiments and beliefs behind it. First of all, it is a matter of extreme white privilege to be able to “Vote Blue No Matter Who!” What this says is that anyone that appears on the ballot as the Presidential challenger to Donald Trump[Read More…]
Prepared by Dr Ravindra Khaiwal & Dr Suman Mor SIGN UP FOR COUNTERCURRENTS DAILY NEWS LETTER
There was a moment, a few weeks ago, when I was scared. Truly scared. The Italian Right had started mounting a hate campaign that exploited the coronavirus threat. The gist of the campaign was that the coronavirus was a threat brought to Italy by those filthy Chinese, known for their disgusting eating habits. And the African immigrants were doing the[Read More…]
My friend of fifteen years, Dr. John James , was in the fire zone of Australia. He wrote: The first two months of this year has given us a taste of what is to come From the Climate Science page “February 2020, on global average, was the second warmest February since the reliable measurements began in 1880, at 1.54⁰C relative to[Read More…]
On September 14, 2018 Perumalla Pranay, a Dalit young man of 24 was hacked to death in Miryalaguda, Telanaga in front of his pregnant wife Amrutha. Amrutha belongs to Arya Vaishy family and got married to him in defiance of her father, Maruthirao. Amrutha is about 25 now and only daughter of her rich parents. Her father has massive property that he enmassed trough real estate business and other means. According the police who[Read More…]
The U.S. carried out airstrikes on Thursday against Iran-backed militia sites in Iraq, according to the U.S. Defense Department. The strikes have been made one day after the U.S. assessed an Iranian-backed group was responsible for a rocket attack on a base where coalition forces are located, killing two American service members and one British service member. A U.S. defense[Read More…]
Iran has asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for emergency funding to help it fight the coronavirus outbreak that has hit the country hard, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Thursday. The escalating coronavirus outbreak in the Islamic Republic, the worst affected country in the Middle East, has killed 429 people and infected 10,075. It has damaged the country’s[Read More…]
Co-Written by Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers Alexandria – Today, March 12, prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia ended the grand jury of Julian Assange and Wikileaks in which Chelsea Manning refused to testify. As a result, US District Court Judge Anthony Trenga ordered the immediate release of Chelsea Manning. HUGE NEWS: Chelsea Manning @xychelsea has been ordered FREE after a[Read More…]
Since we are the only major industrialized nation to have but two political parties with any clout, the corporate masters can control everything… and they do! You have the DemonCrats and of course the RepugnantCans, neither the ‘ Party of FDR’ or ‘ The Party of Lincoln’. Sadly, these two heavyweights ( heavy with plenty of billionaire money behind[Read More…]
The devastating effects of neoliberal economic schemes have laid the foundation for rebellion against this very system. Neoliberalism, understood as unrestricted free market economics can be traced to the sixteenth-century European colonization of the “new world” and its later manifestation in imperialism and neo-imperialism. This strategy has also fueled the industrial revolution until it met its fate with the Great[Read More…]
…to highlight our interconnected need for renewable energy, a fairer economic system and the abolition of war. An annual youth peace conference organized by the Afghan Peace Volunteers last year. BEYOND HEALTHCARE Hakim spent two years in Quetta before moving to Afghanistan’s Bamiyan province as a medical specialist with an international NGO. But as he visited and lived in remote[Read More…]
Unemployment is currently a global issue. Almost every country is facing this challenge and India is no exception. In the state of Jammu and Kashmir, the graph of unemployment is showing exponential growth. According to recent studies published by few reliable portals, above 1.5 lakh educated youths in Jammu and Kashmir are hankering for Jobs. It is undeniable fact that[Read More…]
In the early 2000s, genetically modified (GM) Bt insecticidal cotton was being heavily promoted in India on the basis that it would cut pesticide use dramatically, boost yields and contribute to the financial well-being of farmers. Private sector Bt cotton hybrids now cover over 90% of the area under cotton. Supporters of Bt cotton have wasted little time in claiming that[Read More…]
Whether you’re invested in the stock market or not, you’ve likely noticed that it’s been on a roller coaster lately. The White House and most of the D.C. Beltway crowd tend to equate the performance of the stock market with that of the broader economy. To President Trump’s extreme chagrin, $3.18 trillion in stock market value vaporized during the last week of[Read More…]
The human body is a compound, well-developed machine consisting of many parts, each for a specific vital function. Among these parts, the Kidney constitutes a ‘life-sustaining organ’. Kidneys, two in number are bean-shaped organs located against back muscles in the upper abdominal area. Kidneys have an important role in our physiology. In addition to cleaning blood, kidneys maintain salt and[Read More…]
Lawyers for the courageous whistleblower Chelsea Manning have confirmed that the 32-year-old was rushed to a hospital on Wednesday after an attempted suicide while incarcerated in a federal detention center in Alexandria, Virginia. Manning has been subjected to solitary confinement and punitive daily fines for one year as of today, for refusing a subpoena to testify in a secret grand[Read More…]
A new freely downloadable book I would like to announce the publication of a book, which discusses the most serious dangers which the world faces today. The book may be freely downloaded and circulated from the following link: http://eacpe.org/app/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Linked-Dangers-to-Civilization-John-Scales-Avery.pdf Contrasting rates of change Cultural evolution depends on the non-genetic storage, transmission, diffusion and utilization of information. The development of human[Read More…]
The International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC), UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) have issued new guidance to help protect children and schools from transmission of the COVID-19 virus. The guidance provides critical considerations and practical checklists to keep schools safe. It also advises national and local authorities on how to adapt and implement emergency plans for educational[Read More…]
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that the spread of Covid-19 around the world has reached the stage where it can be described as a pandemic. “Pandemic is not a word to use lightly or carelessly. It is a word that, if misused, can cause unreasonable fear, or unjustified acceptance that the fight is over, leading to unnecessary suffering[Read More…]
Despite its limitations, Indian Democracy has been a successful experiment in a country which was driven by challenges of its times. Unlike many newly liberated countries, where military dictatorships or theocratic bent regimes had taken over, Indian democracy allowed for parliamentary democracy with multi-party system to prevail. While India was still driven by parochial caste, race and religious identities, dominance[Read More…]
Nadiya Mushtaq Mir hailing from Kralpora area of district Budgam , educated from Kashmir University where she pursued masters in economics as well as a degree in fashion designing has become Kashmir’s first female calligrapher. Speaking about her art (calligraphy) and designing she said since childhood she was very keen and interested in this art and make sure it will[Read More…]
The Democratic presidential nomination race is a fascinating case study in how power works – not least, because the Democratic party leaders are visibly contriving to impose one candidate, Joe Biden, as the party’s nominee, even as it becomes clear that he is no longer mentally equipped to run a local table tennis club let alone the world’s most powerful[Read More…]
Co-Written by Medea Benjamin and Ariel Gold This week, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MBS), Saudi Arabia’s 34-year-old de facto ruler, was on a tear. He arrested members of his own royal family and initiated an oil price war with Russia that has sent the price of oil—and the world’s stock markets—plummeting. Behind the headlines, however, another critical event will[Read More…]
We are being told to wash our hands (for 20 seconds!) and self-isolate if sick. But what if you cannot do either of those things? One billion people live in slums or informal settlements where water for basic needs is in short supply – let alone 20 seconds worth – and where space is constrained and rooms are often shared.[Read More…]
Yesterday, the Iranian health authorities announced that another 54 people had died from the coronavirus in the previous 24 hours. This, the highest toll in a single day since the start of the outbreak, brings the total number of deaths to nearly 300. Another 881 new cases have been confirmed, increasing the total infection count to 8,042. At least 23[Read More…]
It was predicted, warned against and is happening. Universities fattened by the Chinese student market are now in a state of financial shock, cutting losses, trimming courses and doing what over managed institutions do best: remove working productive staff while preserving the gouty managerial class. COVID-19 was but a catalyst for something that was already deep seated, a doomsday scenario[Read More…]
Of course, the worst pandemic of the 21st century is out and about us. Italy is now in a ‘lockdown’ state and throughout most of the world people are in a panic mode. And why not? Viruses like this Corona Virus can kill. Yet, in the world of politics there have been, for a long time now, those two other[Read More…]
In an era where agreements have been abandoned as “bad”, to use that favourite word of US President Donald Trump, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons continues to feature on the books of diplomacy. But age seems to be wearying it and decoding sober readings from hype-filled tat has been a testing task. United Nations Secretary General António[Read More…]
[A Note from the Author: The monograph appearing below was penned about six months back and has since been carried by a journal, New Approach, in its, just published, (undated) special issue: J&K: Faultlines and Way Ahead. It is edited by SekharBasu Roy. The other contributors, understandably including three from Pakistan and one of Syrian origin, are: Lt. Gen.(Rtd.) Sanjay[Read More…]
Following in the footsteps of Seattle City council, which unanimously passed a motion against the discriminatory citizenship law adopted by India, a councillor in New Westminster made a similar move on Monday, March 9. Chuck Puchmayr, who is vocal on social justice and human rights, tabled a motion calling for the scrapping of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) amidst a[Read More…]
Odisha is the first state to present a climate budget. However it is not the same as a gender budget or a nutrition budget. It’s a esseantailly a perspective paper. It gives a perspective on budgetary components relating to climate change.Climate-resilient budgeting requires resource alignment to these components, which is missing now. The next step therefore is, the related schemes[Read More…]
This year Azadpur fruit Mandi Delhi has not witnessed the hustle of Kashmiri apple growers as it used to. After the tidy harvest apple growers from Kashmir valley flung to Delhi in December- January mainly for two reasons(a) to check the statements( Watake) and (b) to renew the contract/advances. Apple growers of valley have been doing business with AzadpurMandi(Asia’s largest[Read More…]
At the helm of massive protests against CAA-NRC, indiscriminate slapping of charges against protestors criminalizes the democratic foundation of protest. This rampant haze of identifying the ‘criminal’ protestor brings about questions- and demands a deeper reflection over the vilification campaign run by the sensationalist media. The liberal model of democracy in India has revealed its fissures and cracks time and[Read More…]
no one bothered till the Karuna virus caught the police chanting the Hindu god’s name and chasing Muhammedans along with the mobs. the virus had its miraculous debut in Shaheen Bagh when one by one the policemen stopped in their tracks and lowered the batons. the ones demolishing the Masjids stopped work and came down as if nothing ever happened.[Read More…]
Afghanistan, a classic case of imperialist intervention, was having two presidents only days ago. Years ago, almost the same scene was on the stage of that political theater – two claims for the single chair of president. That was in 2014. The players were the same – Ghani and Abdullah. Later, a compromise was reached. Tomorrow will also find a[Read More…]
Bizarrely enough, the spate of phone calls from recruiters began a couple of years ago. The first ones came from the Army, next the Marines, and then other branches of the military. I’m decades past enlistment age. I’ve been publicly antiwar for most of that time and come from a family that was last involved with a military when my[Read More…]
Fear is spreading centering coronavirus. In the UK, supermarkets have rationed food and other items because of panic buying. Cities in the U.S. have found shop shelves empty, as there was panic buying. News agencies including Reuters have already posted news and photos on those developments in the U.S. and UK. But to be fearless is the first task to[Read More…]
Stock markets are bearing the burden of oil slump and coronavirus fear. Stock markets across the world tumbled on Monday, and the fall in global oil prices after the OPEC+ deal collapsed. European markets fell by as much as 11.17 per cent during the course of the day’s trading. Last week the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said[Read More…]
On January 3, 2020, the U.S. military, following President Trump’s orders, killed Major General Qassim Suleimani, respected leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Groups’ Qud Force. I never understood the morality of foreign policy, but I’m getting the hang of it, thanks to the little-known pocket manual “The U.S. Holy Code Book of Double Standard Morality.” According to U.S. Code,[Read More…]
As we approach the middle of March 2020 with Super Tuesday behind us, the moderate candidacy of Joe Biden has gained momentum, notching ten victories. The recent spat of moderate candidates dropping out (Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Bloomberg, Steyer) alongside Elizabeth Warren’s decision to stay in for Super Tuesday (and dropping out right after) boosted Biden into the lead in delegate count,[Read More…]
Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty, and persistence.Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts..!!! Today I’m writing about my struggle and challenges which I have faced in my life. This scholar turned executive[Read More…]
The Prime Minister had declared from the Ram Lila ground before the Delhi elections that there are no detention centres in the country in the context of nation wide anti-Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens protests. But there were media reports of temporary detention centres being run in various jails of Assam and a permanent one being constructed[Read More…]
With cases reported from over 100 countries, corona virus disease of 2019 (covid-19) is a pandemic now. The disease is caused by the virus called SARS-Cov-2, which is thought to have jumped from the flying mammal bats, sold at the illegal wildlife market inside the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei Province in South Central China.[Read More…]
Merely two weeks after Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, declared that the PA will suspend all ‘security coordination’ with Israel, Palestinian security forces in the West Bank killed unarmed teenager, Salah Zakareneh. Zakareneh is not the first and, sadly, will not be the last Palestinian to be killed by the PA security forces, which in recent years have dramatically increased[Read More…]
For this country of our fathers and forefathers who laid down their lives to unshackle it and rebuilt it with their sweat and blood India of their hopes and dreams the land we kiss, whose dust adorns our foreheads We fight for the Constitution collective conscience of wise men and women who wanted to ensure that each one of us[Read More…]
Capitalism gathered together resources, labor, and capital to start an industrial revolution that brought prosperity and elevated standards of living to much of the earth’s inhabitants. Once in motion it generated additional capital that gathered more labor and more resources in a perpetual cycle of increased production that constantly benefitted populations. The achievements did not occur smoothly, they sputtered from[Read More…]
Communication is the essence of human life without which life is dull and devoid of order, particularly in the current hyper globalised world. The world of today is altogether in contradiction to the times of the previous ages. Technology has taken the global order by a major revolutionary storm and made the[Read More…]
Women around the world observed the International Women’s Day – March 8 – with marches and strike. Police in countries obstructed the marches and clashed with the marching women. In countries, goons and conservatives attacked women marching in celebration of the day. With its origins in the labor and socialist movements of the 20th century, the day now recognized by[Read More…]
As the coronavirus spreads, so does its likely political fallout. For authoritarians and autocrats, the fallout is likely to be a mixed bag. Some will benefit from invasive tracing and monitoring of those affected by the virus that is likely to boost the evolution towards a Big Brother and surveillance state as well as nationalist economic policies propagated by populists[Read More…]
For the last two and half months, India has witnessed massive rallies & protests against NPR NRC & CAA. There has been at least one protest in Pune, every single day since the day the Delhi Police attacked Jamia students upto mid-February. Besides those protests, scores of public meetings, street-corner meetings and door to door campaigns have been carried out[Read More…]
A significant proportion of coal production in India is credited to Jharia mines in Jharkhand state in the east of the country. For the communities in Jharia, coking coal is an essential part of their life. But the excessive extraction is essentially for serving coal as an ingredient in steel production. After the US and China, India is currently the[Read More…]
Why examine the 2003 Citizenship Rules? During the tenure of Vajpayee’s BJP-led NDA-1 government, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, by Notification G.S.R.937(E) on 10.12.2003. Its infirmities – discussed here – were not rectified/amended/changed by Manmohan Singh’s two successive Congress-led UPA governments (2004-2014), or by Modi’s first[Read More…]
Beautiful Melbourne (capital of Victoria), that vies with Vancouver and Vienna for being the most liveable city in the world, is threatened with a fiscally, morally and environmentally perverse $16 billion super-highway North East Link (NEL) project that is set to carve a swathe through its beautiful , tree-rich City of Banyule (aka Heidelberg), the former home of the famed[Read More…]
The entire world has observed the combination of Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) as a factor for breeding a huge number of stateless people in the world or even may create ‘largest statelessness crisis’ in the world. In response to CAA and NRC, the Indian academics, liberals and secular people remained inefficient to challenge the[Read More…]
It was a coup and the unraveling of events now in 2020 Delhi and in Gujarat genocide of 2002 has striking resemblances. The inductive and deductive process of reasoning shows who the real terrorists are. Three neighbours who lived together cheek by jowl went to lodge a complaint with the police in Delhi in the aftermathof Trumps departure. Rahis[Read More…]
They say ‘history repeats itself first as a tragedy and then as a farce’. In case of India, communal violence not only keeps repeating itself, the pattern of the tragedy keeps changing every next time. Some features of the violence are constant, but they are under the wraps mostly. The same can be said about the Delhi violence (February 2020).[Read More…]
I live in a stable neighborhood. It has single family homes, one multiple family home and two homes for two families as far as I know. Many of the homes date to the 1800’s. One neighbor loaned his second family space to a financially poor mother and her child who had fled an abusive man in anther town, the child’s[Read More…]
Last time when I was travelling for a seminar, I was surprised at the kind of crowd in Bangalore airport. It was usual for people to stand waiting in at least 5 queues before you reach your seat. At the security, as usual I also had to place my hand bag, mobile phone, laptop and other things. These days they[Read More…]
We live in a world in extreme crisis. By the estimates of the Global Footprint Network, the human species currently consumes at a rate 1.7 times what Earth’s regenerative systems can sustain. Yet billions of people face a daily struggle for survival that strips them of happiness and fulfillment of their human potential. A growing concentration of financial wealth puts ever[Read More…]
Five years ago, the Commission on a Global Health Risk Framework for the Future, an independent panel of distinguished scientists, issued a landmark report warning that over the next century, the world would inevitably experience at least one pandemic. The report identified a 20 percent chance that the world would go through as many as four or more pandemics in this time-frame.[Read More…]
Clara Zetkin, one of the daughters of the working classes, is as bright as ever in the annals of working people’s struggles for rights – rights to life and dignity. Clara, an epitome of proletarian struggle, steadfastness and courage, always stood for the proletarian people, and never confused the women question with a bourgeois worldview. Clara (July 5, 1857-June 20,[Read More…]
a muslim with his eyes blinded was recognized by the direction his face lay turned towards the qibla1 bloodstains whispering war on his cheeks like line breaks of a romantic ballad poem his last prayer very carefully spoken as he was heaving, breathing being dragged from the arms of his kohl-eyed lover, before they made her a corpse, her unarmed[Read More…]
It seemed an unlikely prospect. The International Criminal Court has tended to find itself accused of chasing up the inhumane rogues of Africa rather than those from any other continent. It has also been accused of having an overly burdensome machinery and lethargy more caught up with procedure than substance. Critics fearing a behemoth snatching soldiers from the armed forces[Read More…]
No surprise is here in this set of images. It’s the economy and the scale issue. Around 7.8 humans are now alive of which many look for work vs.2 or 2,5 billion when I was born. And the number of humans keep rising by 200,000 more every day past birth and death rates equaling out. So the ravaging of[Read More…]
Sri Lanka’s unilateral withdrawal from Resolution 30/1 is a clear rejection of human rights and accountability and displays total disregard for UN, UNHRC, UNHRC Core Group, UN Member States and the International Community. UN High Commissioner said: “I move to our update on Sri Lanka,HRC/43/19, assessing the progress made in implementing Human Rights Council resolution 30/1. I regret that the new[Read More…]
The stories of Yes Bank’s troubles, close on the heels of the crisis in DHFL, come as traumatic reminders to many of us. Add to this the cases against Nirav Modi and the involvement of the public sector bank PNB, and the issues with ICICI bank (its top management once again) – and it is hard not think of[Read More…]
“I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved”. (BR. Ambedkar) In the remembrance of the International Women’s Day, Sarojini Naidu Centre for women’s studies, Jamia Millia Islamia has organized 6th Sarojini Naidu annual memorial lecture on the theme of “Creation and Dissemination of Feminist Knowledge” on 3rd March 2020 at Jamia,[Read More…]
Any narrative of Delhi Riots ’20 just communal is dangerous for all but some are keen to say so ever The jackals after sheep herd people of riot hit zones committed helping each other to survive at their best and many did great they were all good samaritans Then why are some so keen to call it fight of communities[Read More…]
25 years after the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action set out a clear path on how to achieve gender equality, the world has witnessed remarkable progress. However, the Report of the UN Secretary-General on the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action points out that violence against women and girls remains pervasive. And, this is not just a gender gap[Read More…]
On 12th December Constitutional Amendment Act (CAA) was notified and immediately after notification, student protests began in Jamia, AMU and JNU. Students were subjected to brutal treatment by Delhi and UP police, resulting in women support coming in their favour from 15th December as a mass dharna at Shaheen Bagh, a completely unknown area for non-Delhi residents till then. Rather[Read More…]
Since the boost to AAP in national politics initially came from winning 4 parliamentary seats from Punjab during the 2014 General Election while everywhere else in the country most AAP candidates had lost their deposits, it appeared very reasonable to assume that the AAP victory in Delhi Assembly Elections in February will raise hopes of revitalised AAP again becoming a[Read More…]
The book comprising of seven chapters gives a comprehensive but shuddery description of how during the intervening night of 23rd and 24th Feb. 1991 the district Kupwara’s twin villages, Kunan and Poshpora witnessed a midnight army operation which resulted the brutal torture of men and mass rape of women. It goes on to trace the roots and background of the[Read More…]
Today, it rained in Delhi. Tonight, the rains would wash the stains Of blood on the streets filled with pain. The earth would absorb the red And little green grass would spread Over this patch which filled the anguish Of ribbons of peace of millions of others. A storm will emerge tomorrow The big trees may collapse with that storm[Read More…]
Global warming is not waiting around for the signatories to the Paris climate accord ‘15 to go to net zero emissions 2030/50. Sorry, those bold plans are way too little way too late. Already, across the board, the planet is on a hot streak that defies all projections. It’s starting to look downright scary! Listen… when Helsinki has no snow[Read More…]
Human history as cultural history We need to reform our teaching of history so that the emphasis will be placed on the gradual growth of human culture and knowledge, a growth to which all nations and ethnic groups have contributed. A new freely downloadable book I would like to announce the publication of a book, which tells the story of[Read More…]
‘Super Tuesday’ in the 2020 presidential election season is over and Senator Bernie Sanders’s time as the unlikely frontrunner for the Democratic nomination may have stopped just as quick as it began. Despite an unprecedented smear campaign coordinated by the party leadership and corporate media against him, the self-described “democratic socialist” not only managed to single-handedly de-stigmatize the latter as[Read More…]
Zhou En Lai was a man like any other; with hopes and dreams; failures and successes. In his heart beat the throb of humanity for a better world; under strain it tilted to temptation; in death-bed it mourned mistakes and milestones alike. On this, 122nd anniversary of his birth; it might behoove us to look into a little known side[Read More…]
You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time. The saying resembles a logical syllogism in structure, but it isn’t. Taking it apart in thirds, it’s doesn’t follow that “you can fool all the people some of the time” because it’s[Read More…]
“If you educate a man, you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman, you educate a whole nation: – Dr James Emman Kwegyir Aggrey International women’s day is to be celebrated on 8-March this year with a theme of “Generations Equality’’ across the world. It is a worldwide event that celebrates the concernments and achievements of women all over the world.[Read More…]
Marginalised? Who said we are marginalised? We are humans walking side by side. Women, Men and Children Dalits, Tribals and the Abused — Who said we are different? Who said that Woman is born of Man’s rib? Who said caste is by God writ? Who said women cannot enter temples or mosques? Who said Menstruation[Read More…]
Two leading Malayalam news channels, Asianet News and Media One and are banned from airing for 48 hours from 7.30 PM this night on account of their reporting on Delhi riots. The Ministry of information and broadcasting claimed that these two channels violated the model code of conduct in airing the news. Both orders were signed by Amit Katoch. Ironically[Read More…]
The ABF House stands on a corner, halfway up Sveavägen, in the centre of Stockholm. Across the street is the party headquarters of the Social Democrats. Two doors along, the Grand cinema where Olof Palme spent the evening in February 1986 that would end with his assassination. The last of the three great Social Democratic prime ministers whose rule stretched[Read More…]
The sultan of Turkey has come to his realization: “Operation Spring Shield”, the sultan’s adventure in the Idlib, Syria, is harmful. Within days of embarking on the adventure – intrusion in the territory of Syria – he has made a “glorious” retreat. His March 5 Moscow meeting, “uneasy, but productive talks”, has prompted the realization. Since the mid-night of March 6,[Read More…]
In these rapidly changing times, we need to change our behavior in many ways My students doing the “Earth sign” or the “Gaia Sign” while floating in space. It is a gesture of greeting symbolizing respect for our mother Earth It might be a good idea to resurrect this kind of greeting in the times of the coronavirus. Humans[Read More…]
Katie Hill, then a Democratic Party candidate from California’s 25th Congressional district, in 2018. Former congresswoman,Katie Hill, a Democrat from California may have been down but not gone. In the eyes of the world, her political career had ended as a first-time junior congresswoman in the fall of 2019, just after ten months of taking oath of office. A promising[Read More…]
The Asia Pacific region is home to more than half of the global population and many low-income countries. While the region is witnessing rapid economic growth, gender inequalities persist and sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services are far from being available to all. In the lead up to this year’s International Women’s Day and the forthcoming 10th Asia Pacific Conference[Read More…]
World Health Organization (WHO) officials have warned that some countries are not taking the coronavirus crisis seriously enough, as outbreaks surged across Europe and in the U.S. where medical workers sounded warnings over a “disturbing” lack of hospital preparedness. The epidemic has wreaked havoc on international business, tourism, sports events and schools, with almost 300 million students sent home worldwide.[Read More…]
Date of Visit: 29th February 2020 Team: Ashutosh, Harjot, Harshita, Nasir and Rahul Brief Overview of the Situation in Khureji Khas Since the 14thof January 2020, Khureji Khas in North East Delhi has witnessed peaceful protests against the divisive Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Registry of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR). The people of the locality, especially[Read More…]
I have tried to provide a warning to others about their staying away from psychopaths. Of course, it is impossible in some circumstances, such as my sister and my knowing four of them while growing up. (Imagine a brother trying to have sex with you since you were thirteen years old. Imagine him continuing this behavior when you are old,)[Read More…]
Thousands of people, from across Jharkhand, gathered at Raj Bhawan (Ranchi) today to demand that the Hemant Soren government rejects NPR and stops all NPR-related activities. Many people’s organisations (partial list attached) participated in this dharna, convened by Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha. Jharkhand’s main communities – hindus, muslims, christians, dalits, adivasis and others – were all well represented. Participants also included[Read More…]
The world’s tropical forests are no longer carbon sinks because of human activity, and these forests now emit more carbon than these are able to absorb from the atmosphere as a result of the dual effects of deforestation and land degradation, finds a new study. The study tracking 300,000 trees over a period of 30 years finds: The ability of[Read More…]
The Eastern Mediterranean has become a flash-point for the meshing of geopolitics, the struggle for regional hegemony, battles for control of resources, religious soft power rivalry, and blatant interference in the politics of others. The complex and dangerous juxtaposition of multiple conflicting interests broadens the focus beyond Russia, when it comes to meddling in elections, to include countries like Turkey,[Read More…]
Today, worldwide people/citizens have lost the spaces of freedom of expression. The dissent or a slight deviation of an individual from ‘largely accepted discourse’ which has ‘liberal’ labels are seen as an expression of either ‘conservatism’ or often abused term ‘extremism’. The liberal framework normalises its own conservatism/extremism through one way dialogues of preachers who denounce ‘other’ discourses which challenges[Read More…]
Fears of imminent apocalypse tend to be midwives to absurdity. The stockpiling fever that has gripped various populaces in response to the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has taken various forms. “Pandemic pantries” are becoming the norm, suggesting that hoarding in the crisis tends to be a precursor to petty crime. In the United Sates, the price of hand sanitizers has[Read More…]
Dear Mr. Shringla: I write this open letter to question you most respectfully why you told a seminar in Dhaka on 2nd March that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) passed by Indian parliament last year was misunderstood by many, also in Bangladesh. Although I can’t disagree with you more that: “This is a proactive legislation that has been undertaken on[Read More…]
The Palestinian plight has had significant attention, and that attention has not resolved the situation. Does the solution lie elsewhere? Is the solution with the international community, in its becoming more alert tothe disastrous effects of Israel’s actions on the entire world—antagonistic behavior to the Muslim community that has contributed to global terrorism, continuous wars that have produced Middle East[Read More…]
What if the Coronavirus reaches the besieged Gaza Strip? While the question carries great urgency for all Palestinians living under Israel’s military occupation, the Gaza situation is particularly complex and extremely worrying. Nearly 50 countries have already reported cases of COVID-19 disease, one of several epidemics that are caused by the Coronavirus. If developed countries, such as Italy and South[Read More…]
Watch out, I recommend, for narassistic psychopaths in your life. Often they are kleptomaniacs, who do everything to destroy others and gain something for themselves. I should know since my mother’s side of the family has included males with this dreadful affliction since the 1600’s. Indeed, my sister and I, unbeknown to each other, started investigating this disease at the[Read More…]
Call her for once,call her by her name, Another birth you may not born, To call her once again!! Hope and despair goes hand in hand, Whom you choose,’tis your decision.. Step forward,if you hold a broad chest, Don’t allow despair to play the rest! It’s tough though,as void and ego don’t let you do, Remember that ,Miracle does not[Read More…]
Beneath a pile of charred rubble sodden with splattered blood hanging on precariously to the half rotten dead in the drain killed in the name of God now a bait of murderous mob for the unsuspecting who come looking for their own I am Delhi ravaged by my kith, shamed by my kin I bewail my destiny marked with massacre[Read More…]
Hindutva fascism is no more an imaginary political depiction of reactionary and right-wing Narendra Modi led BJP/RSS government in India.These reactionary forces are the original anti nationals of India. Any serious analysis of forward march of Hindutva fascism in India needs to understand Indian social and economic conditions where caste, tribe, gender and class interact within a Brahmanical order both[Read More…]
Within 50 years, a third of all plant and animal species could be caught up in a mass extinction, as a consequence of climate change driven by ever-rising temperatures. What is new about this warning is the method, the precision, the timetable and the identification of a cause. And – entirely felicitously – support for the prediction is backed by a series[Read More…]
by Robert T. Walker, Aline A. Carrara, Cynthia S. Simmons, & Maira Irigaray Brazil’s divisive President Jair Bolsonaro has taken another step in his bold plans to develop the Amazon rainforest. A bill he is sponsoring, now before Congress, would allow transportation infrastructure to be built on indigenous territory. Such lands cover 386,000 square miles of the Brazilian Amazon – one-fifth of the[Read More…]
As the coronavirus outbreak continues to spread across the world, there are increasing questions being raised about the measures – or more accurately, the lack of measures – the BJP led government is taking to protect the population. Less than a month later, the virus has killed at least 3,000 people, sickening over 90,000 in total, and is all but[Read More…]
An open letter to Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland Minister Freeland, an open letter regarding ‘there’s nothing inconsistent about the federal government’s commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions while promoting a thriving oil and gas sector on the Prairies’. Climate change is a suite of potential dangers. Canadian governments have agreed in international treaties going back three decades to try[Read More…]
The members of Surrey-based Punjabi Press Club of BC (PPCBC) have unanimously condemned recent attacks on journalists in the national capital of India. In a monthly meeting of the club held on Tuesday, March 3, it was resolved to denounce the assault on journalists in Delhi during anti-Muslim violence engineered by supporters of the ruling right wing Hindu nationalist Bhartiya[Read More…]
International Women’s Day special I was born and brought in a happy family in New Delhi. I had a twin sister and a younger brother. Both my parents were working. I graduated from Hindu College, Delhi University in 1977 and went to Peoples’ Friendship University in Moscow (erstwhile USSR) for an integrated course in Geology. Finally, back home again, I[Read More…]
Sitting in the movie halls watching Joker and later Parasite in the order of release, these two seemingly different Oscar winning movies bring forth differing and varied emotions. While with Joker, you are taken through an intense microcosm view of individual agony of personal and structural violence and desperately begs your allegiance and sympathy towards the anti- hero,[Read More…]
As coronavirus fears spread, a world-renowned virologist has explained when Covid-2019 will fade away and, whether medical masks are of any use. Around the world, public anxiety grows, with people embarking on panic buying and even fighting for medical masks. But for initiated professionals, the Covid-2019 is just one of many epidemics that come and go without inflicting devastating losses[Read More…]
The U.S. state and local public health offices are scrambling to respond to the coronavirus outbreak. They are doing so against a backdrop of years-long budget cuts, leaving them without the trained employees or updated equipment to adequately address the virus’ growing threat, former public health officials say. A USA Today report said: “In the last 15 years, public health, the country’s[Read More…]
The spread of COVID-19, popularly known as Coronavirus, is taking strange turns. The coronavirus crisis in China is improving while it is spreading in other countries including the U.S. The worldwide death toll, up to March 2, 2020, topped 3,000, and the number of cases tops nearly 90,000 in about 80 countries. However, world health officials sought to reassure the[Read More…]
At a time when Delhi was burning in the fire of communal riots sparked by the provocative speeches of leaders of his own party as evident from video reports, it was ironical that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should have invited President Trump to visit, of all places, Sabarmati, the ashram where Gandhi prayed for peace and non-violence – the very[Read More…]
This ‘Veer’ is a divisive figure within the RSS-BJP, tough for even the Sangh parivar to paper over. The Savarkar Sahitya Sammelan, which was organised with much fanfare in the national capital, proved to be rather a tame affair. With the talk of Savarkar being posthumously honoured with the Bharat Ratna in the air, the two-day gathering was considered important.[Read More…]
The State run universities in India have created a major crisis in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Bharatiya Janatha Party (BJP) rule and their ideological apparatus. On the one hand the present right wing regime which believes in traditional Vernadharma parmapara centered education cannot accept the present reservation system, which they opposed from the days of Ambedkar-Gandhi Poona Pact. Even[Read More…]
Chennai March 3, 2020: In wake of discretion of mosques and killing of ‘Imam’ at the recent riots in Delhi, some Muslims in ‘Vaniyambadi,’ a town about 200 km from Chennai, organized a ‘Visit My Masjid’ programme at Masjid-e-Khaderpet on Sunday March 1, 2020. This was done to strengthen inter-faith relations and build a constituency of peace and communal harmony[Read More…]
Reviled strongmen of one era are often the celebrated ones of others. Citizens otherwise tormented find that replacements are poor, in some cases even crueller, than the original artefact. Such strongmen also serve as ideal alibis for rehabilitation: Look at who we have come to bury! Fittingly, Egypt’s late Hosni Mubarak was given that most traditional of rehabilitative occasions, a[Read More…]
“An anti-Semite used to be a person who disliked Jews. Now it is a person who Jews dislike.” – HajoMeyer, Jewish German-born Dutch physicist and Auschwitz survivor. “Antisemitism is a trick we always use.” – ShulamitAloni, Jewish Israeli, former Israeli Minister of Education, longtime member of the Israeli parliament. On Sunday, February 23 before a match at Yeshiva University, two[Read More…]
Yesterday, March 2nd, was the birthday of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui. People may be forgiven (should they be?) for forgetting about Aafia since these seventeen birthdays of hers have gone by with her incarcerated, humiliated, tortured, and God knows what in one American gulag to another. But these seem to be ‘minor’ details right now. In the brouhaha surrounding the US-Taliban[Read More…]
Aaj Woh Kashmir Hai Mehkoom-O-Faqeer Kal Jise Ahl-E-Nazar Kehte Thay Iran-E-Sagheer (Today that land of Kashmir, under the heels of the enemy, has become weak, helpless and poor Once known among the wise as Little Iran) — Allama Muhammad Iqbal, poet and philosopher of Kashmiri origin, “The Poet who Introduced Language of Resistance in Kashmir,” New Frame, July 11, 2019[Read More…]
In one respect Donald Trump seems less autocratic than Narendra Modi. Just as Modi and his administration have sought to completely redesign the area around Parliament in Delhi, Donald Trump wants to “make federal buildings beautiful again” by mandating a return to “the classical architectural style”, according to a draft executive order. But there is one essential difference. Trump’s order[Read More…]
Following in the footsteps of Seattle City council, which unanimously passed a motion against the discriminatory citizenship law adopted by India, a councillor in New Westminster is going to make a similar move next week. On Sunday evening, Chuck Puchmayr, who is vocal on social justice and human rights, told a rally held against India’s Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and[Read More…]
Introduction The Notification issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on October 7, 2019, as per Modi government’s directive with a view to “Deepening Digital Payments” across the country is of far-reaching consequences. The Notification contains the essential guidelines fora “pilot project” to convert one selected district in every state of India into fully digital or “cashless” in all[Read More…]
It was a very popular narrative that CAA-NRC-NPR has no relationship with religion. So-called liberals, seculars, intellectuals popularised the idea that it will affect only the poor people. The SCs, STs and Backward Classes will be mostly affected. Since it will not affect the majority, so is it going to be acceptable in course of time? Are we heading to[Read More…]
The burnt articles inside the Kalapani masjid in Salbari sub-division under Gobardhan P.S in Baksa district on Monday morning. BAKSA,Assam: Unidentified miscreants burnt Islamic religious literature, including 11 copies of the Quran and 3 copies of Hadith (record of the traditions or sayings of the Prophet Muhammad,) and some other religious articles at Kalapani masjid in Salbari sub-division under Gobardhan[Read More…]
Over last few months we have witnessed a reawakening of the democratic ethos led by Muslim women all across the country. These near-uninterrupted protests against the passage of the discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and it’s bigoted twins, the NPR and NRC, have clearly not gone down well with the BJP government, and many attempts have been made at demonising[Read More…]
Government’s inflexible and resolute NPR-NRC initiative is causing country-wide unrest, testing the credibility of statements made by top politicians. With the date for starting NPR registration being April 1, 2020, some issues need to be addressed and understood. NPR & NRC are connected The Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 (CAA-2019) passed on 10.12.2019 caused a public uproar because of fears that[Read More…]
It must have been music to China ears, battling with Coronavirus rising number of deaths in its Wuhan province , when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced from Pakistan alongside Pakistan PM Imran Khan that Turkey is ready to join CPEC (https://www.dawn.com/news/1534435/turkey-ready-to-work-on-cpec-projects-says-president-erdogan-alongside-pm-imran), China’s most ambitious project slated to change the ‘business of world’ for the next century. If China is head of[Read More…]
A new MIT study has found no evidence of fraud in Bolivia’s 2019 election, despite allegations of serious irregularities by the Organization of American States (OAS), which led to the ousting of Evo Morales in a military coup. John Curiel and Jack R. Williams examined the OAS’s report and published their findings in the Washington Post on February 27,[Read More…]
Ever since the present regime in India betrayed the people of Kashmir through Presidential proclamation of August 5-6, 2019 – and whose constitutionality is being reluctantly and belatedly tested by the Supreme Court of India – Nanak’s quote is being rendered more and more apt day by day. In one fell blow the assurance of plebiscite to Kashmiris was shelved.[Read More…]
Top 10 Goals in the Communist Manifesto, Accomplished in America So says a report, in recent years, By Joe Jarvis (May 05, 2018) in thedailybell.com. Notwithstanding its anti-communist venom, lies and sarcasm, besides its own interpretations, the interesting if not curious report, extracts of which are given below, is worth noting. How profound is the perceived influence of the Manifesto,[Read More…]
Russia is pushing back the Turkish Army in Idlib. As the Turks broke through the Syrian Arab Army’s (SAA) defence the latter called for air assistance from Russia. The fighters came and victory was the SAA’s. With that all uncertainty is gone. Russia will keep its promise of maintaining the integrity of the Syrian state, even when an “ally” is[Read More…]
The conservatives swept the parliamentary elections held on February 21, 2020, in Iran. The election was for the eleventh parliament (Majles) since the 1979 Iranian revolution. The conservatives (or “Principlists”) obtained about two-thirds of the seats, which will give themthe control of the Majles to challenge the so-called “moderates” who want friendly relations with the West. This election,like the ones[Read More…]
Hold on to your helmets! It’s true the White House is reporting that its proposed new Pentagon budget is only $740.5 billion, a relatively small increase from the previous year’s staggering number. In reality, however, when you also include war and security costs buried in the budgets of other agencies, the actual national security figure comes in at more than $1.2 trillion,[Read More…]
I know information about several neighbors. Here in a small nutshell are three of them. Neighbor one supports himself by selling and laying down pesticides. It is a subject about which he knows job-wise. He also knows that he is dispensing poisons that contaminate the air, soil and water supply. Indeed when spraying, he wears protective gear that makes him[Read More…]
We live in a world where strong visuals fill our brains through screens that surround us at all times. As such it becomes impossible to prevent the inception of an idea that may or may not have the potential to influence our psyche. In most cases visuals do leave a profound impact on how we perceive the world. These visuals[Read More…]
In George Orwell’s prescient, dystopian and frightening novel “1984”, Big Brother declared that (A) war is peace, (B) slavery is freedom, (C) ignorance is strength, and (D) 2 plus 2 does not equal 4. Scientists and other humanitarian truth-tellers are alarmed as ostensible democracies as well as authoritarian states head towards this ultimate in comprehensive, state-imposed and blatant falsehood. My[Read More…]
It is 7:00 AM in Houston February 27th, the sun is bright and the breeze is cold. As I sit in the patio like I do every day, I go through hundreds of messages and news clips on my phone. Images of blood soaked body of a young bearded Muslim man being thrashed and tossed mercilessly by a group of[Read More…]
Moralising the way diseases and viruses are transferred is a very human, and particularly nasty trait. “We don’t need this kind of riff-raff on our shores,” screamed The New York Times in 1892 in response to Russian Jewish immigrants arriving at Ellis Island by boat. (The occupants hosted lice which, in turn, led to typhus.) Italian immigrants in the United[Read More…]
While most of the developing countries of the world have rejected and scrapped the infamous sedition laws,but India being the largest democracy has yet not taken any appropriate steps to discontinue this draconian law which pollutes the modern democracy.United Kingdom has itself abolished its own law on sedition almost a decade ago. Today India is facing the misuse of this[Read More…]
It is five o clock in mid spring.. And the hymns of Azaan comes into my ears, Where do the God’s Abode,I don’t know, Neither it is my wish to know about .. I walk by my own, towards the clock tower , Drizzles wet me, still I wish to get a cool shower.. It seemed I had been locked[Read More…]
Over seven billion is the current global population. Total death toll by coronavirus is roughly 3,500 over the past 2 months. For the sake of simplicity, I have reduced the world population from 7.7 billion to 7 billion; and doubled the coronavirus fatalities number to 7,000. So if we divide 7000 by 7 billion, we get this: 0.000001%. Even that[Read More…]
There has been a discussion on China’s socialism, with criticisms from not only the Right wings but also the Left. The latter question, for instance, in terms of the principles of the Communist Manifesto. In this section, we seek to discuss some aspects in that context. But before that, let both the camps see this data : BPL population in[Read More…]
