We understand war through the sound of bullets and the sight of dead bodies of soldiers. If someone asks the people of the border areas, many facets of the war will be revealed, beyond media coverage, official reports, and hyped-up patriotism. War can sometimes take the form of a flash flood or that of a drought. These are not wars[Read More…]
By the way, the Indian police, created by the British and operating under the Police Act of the same time, remains in the news and discussion everyday for its brutality, autocracy and anti-law activities. But recently it came up in the context of the police brutal murder of George Floyd in the US and in India in the context of[Read More…]
To Shri Neerabh Kumar Prasad Spl CS (Environment & Forests) Govt of AP Dear Shri Prasad, I write this close on the heels of my letter dated 29-6-2020 about one more ghastly gas leak accident, this time, in the infamous Pharmacity of Parawada in Visakhapatnam district. The accident took place at the Pharmacity unit of Sainor Life Sciences Pvt Ltd[Read More…]
Kancha Ilaiaha Shepherd’s first book, Why I am not Hindu, published in 1996′ made waves both in India and abroad. Having read that book and his subsequent books, Post Hindu India and Turning the Pot and Tilling the Land, I quickly started reading his just released Autobiography, From a Shepherd Boy to an Intellectual–My Memoirs. Unlike other autobiographies, which normally tend to[Read More…]
The Kafkaesque Imperium has taken yet another absurd step towards mean absurdity with another superseding indictment against Julian Assange. This move by the US Department of Justice seems to have surprised those involved in his extradition proceedings. Mark Summers QC, one of the members of the Assange legal team, did not conceal his astonishment at the call over hearing at[Read More…]
Introduction: Socopolitical Polarization and Capital Concentration amid Pandemics Shortly after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic erupted on 11 March 2020, there were optimistic scenarios that there would be global solidarity, and society could become more human-centered instead of capital-centered. Whereas some feared greater tendency toward authoritarianism and a public reaction against it, the mainstream politicians, media and[Read More…]
Let me start with a real life incident of a Woman in the contemporay India.She has a habit of excessive reading from history,political science,literature and all that subjects that help her in evolution to a ‘true human being’.With the emergent field of Dalit studies she has started to read about ‘Dalit paradigms’ and learning about the instances helped her analyse[Read More…]
In 1963, Satyajit Ray directed Mahanagar, commonly considered to be his first ‘Calcutta film’. True, there is a little of the ‘Big City’ in Apur Sansar (1959). Equally true, Parash Pathar (1958) is about an elderly Calcutta clerk who comes into a sudden fortune, only to lose it in no time. But Parash Pathar is a fantasy film, can perhaps[Read More…]
In 1922, Sir John Maffrey, head of the British Empire’s North West Frontier Province, put this nonchalant query to his superiors about civilian deaths during bombings: “What are the rules for this kind of cricket?” The equally callous response was: “International law does not apply against savage tribes who do not conform to codes of ‘civilized’ warfare. It is the[Read More…]
Jewish supremacy is a characteristic of the Zionist Jewish state of Israel. Some Israeli human rights activists deny this fact. Some know it but avoid discussing it for fear of being attacked as anti-Jewish. It is safer for critics of Israel to address the other characteristics of the Zionist state — its settler-colonial origins, its apartheid as enshrined in law, or the[Read More…]
COVID-19 outbreaks are now reaching far beyond the meatpacking industry. Migrant farmworkers in fruit orchards and vegetable fields, long the targets of intense exploitation, are seeing their health put in even greater jeopardy as they’re pushed to feed an increasingly voracious supply chain in pandemic-time. With the pandemic rolling on unchecked, the fragility of the entire U.S. food system and[Read More…]
COVID-19, and before Covid everything else, has raised a question that is now percolating, and even reverberating. And then came a white knee crushing a Black neck. A dream so long deferred suddenly exploded in city after city. What’s next? From the social distancing, what? From the fumes and flames, what? From the bodies in morgues and the ashes littering[Read More…]
For more than few decades, India has seen workers migrating from state to state looking for job opportunities and livelihood. Covid -19 pandemic has scathed migrant labour to a great extent with less than Rs.100 in hand in span of 50 days. We have heard of trudging in snow, but not trudging on railway tracks and highways in conglomeration of[Read More…]
As the Covid-19 pandemic rages in Honduras, the healthcare infrastructure is increasingly coming under stress. Due to decades of privatization in the health sector, the role of the Ministry of Health and the Honduran Institute of Social Security (IHSS) has drastically diminished. Almost 9 out of 10 people in Honduras are not covered by any type of health insurance and 1.5 million[Read More…]
Arctic temperatures are soaring to new records… and staying there, ever since May of this year. Truth be known, the Arctic’s been heating up for years. Siberia recently hit 105°F. That’s not normal. It’s 30°F hotter than normal. Farther south, the Amazon rainforest is hit with a drought every 5 years like clockwork, not regular run of the mill droughts[Read More…]
As we mark 200 days of the absolutely unjust arrest of the mass leader of KMSS-Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti, Akhil Gogoi on draconian charges, National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) demands his immediate release and withdrawal of all ill-conceived charges foisted against him. We also demand the release of young leaders Bittu Sonowal, Dhaijya Konwar and Manas Konwar associated with[Read More…]
Emergency—June 25, 1975. On this day India had its tryst with declared emergency, the formal authoritarian rule through a suspension of democracy. Compared to that sudden transformation, ever since 2014, after the Narendra Modi-led NDA ascended to power, it has been an undeclared authoritarian rule that hollowed out democracy at all levels. The damage to democratic system has been so[Read More…]
At the very outset we at ABVA would like to make a simple point that the LGBTQIA community – which constitutes about 7 to 8% of the population as per the Supreme Court Johar judgement of 2018 – has tasted a measure of freedom and identity only in the last few years starting from NALSA judgment of 2014 whereby the[Read More…]
This pandemic has put a question mark on our plans, sureties, certainties and securities. I distinctly remember hurriedly booking my tickets and packing for the next day to rush home (I was certain just for a week or 10 days) as the panic over Covid-19 started to increase, it was 19th March, 2020. After I reached home leaving most of[Read More…]
NAPM Strongly Condemns the Custodial Torture, Sexual Violence and Subsequent Death of Jayaraj and Bennicks at the Hands of the Thoothukudi Police 29th June: National Alliance for People’s Movements (NAPM) is shell-shocked at the incomprehensible physical, mental and sexual violence inflicted by the Santhankulam police on two Thoothukudi residents, Jayaraj and Bennicks, that led to their painful death in custody.[Read More…]
Demand Rs 600 as daily wages and strict implementation of locally planned works Today, workers in over sixty districts across eleven states of the country observed “NREGA Adhikar Diwas” by submitting a memorandum to the Prime Minister to demand an increase in the annual guarantee of work to 200 days per person, revision of the daily wage rate to Rs[Read More…]
Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna (PMJDY) was launched in August 2014 by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the aim of providing banking facilities to the poor and to increase financial inclusion in the country. It aimed to open at least one basic banking account for every household and provide access to financial services such as savings and deposit accounts,[Read More…]
This plague, an obscure and largely-forgotten Camus spoke to me about another plague, in a Mumbai apartment. I was taken aback. Two plagues and venues varied collide in a single instant and frame, but retain their individual flavours and contours and a common dread and stench felt universally by the master race, made vulnerable, again, by a tiny virus, of[Read More…]
Rage can be that most trendy of things, and social media rage has become modish. If you dislike something, scream it in a certain number of characters and post it on every network you subscribe to. You might even feel good about it. When the pot is taken off the boil, the matter goes away. Things cool till other ingredients[Read More…]
Following India’s bloodiest clash with imperialist China in 45 years, there seems to be no dearth of jingoistic postures from saffron centres, even as Chinese intrusion in to India’s territory is becoming self-evident now. As part of this, a hectic campaign is in full swing for an economic retaliation against China mainly by boycotting Chinese products. For instance, the pro-RSS[Read More…]
Where were we one hundred years ago? Mankind was out of caves long ago and Asia was learning lessons from colonials about drawing boundaries. Colonialism was still an accepted way of life — it was twenty-five years before a nuclear bomb condemned fascist aspirations in history. Historically, India was in the middle of the Non-cooperation and Khilafat movements. USA was[Read More…]
Pandemics present us with unprecedented crisis situations. Extraordinary situations demand extraordinary measures and many a time this is used to undermine democratic institutions and values. The Covid crisis is nothing different. This unprecedented crisis period has given certain political leaders across the world an opportunity to clamp down on many aspects of democracy – the most crucial ones being transparency[Read More…]
Kandari Hoonshiar by Kazi Nazrul Islam Unscalable mounts, impassable deserts, turbulent seas These you must conquer in freedom’s quest in the dead of night Sailors, beware! The surf rises in disquiet, the boat heaves, the boatman loses track The sails have ripped, who will steer the course, who has the himmat? Who here is young and brave, come[Read More…]
Co-Written by Atul and Sandeep Pandey British left India in August 1947 but left many of their draconian laws here as a colonial legacy. Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code 1860, i.e., the law of sedition is one such law. British Government of India had inserted it in the penal code in the late 19th century to curb anti-colonial[Read More…]
In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Washington has initiated its largest spending binge in history. In the process, you might assume that the unparalleled spread of the disease would have led to a little rethinking when it came to all the trillions of dollars Congress has given the Pentagon in these years that have in no way made us safer from, or[Read More…]
Why impose punishment before the facts have been fully assembled? Why have the chief and the mayor created a termination document amped up with hyperbole? Unfortunately, the answer is that this termination is a cowardly political act. — Attorney of former Louisville Metro Police Detective Brett Hankison, WDRB, June 25. A cowardly political act has been done indeed. Not toward[Read More…]
“Everyone knows that there are bar dancers in cities like Mumbai and Bangalore but no one cares. Government is concerned about street vendors, auto drivers, labourers. We are also like them, our families and children depend on us. How do we survive”, said Mini (name changed) a woman from Rajnat community of Rajasthan. India’s strict lockdown measures to fight covid19[Read More…]
Lying about world history is one of the main weapons of the Western imperialists, through which they are managing to maintain their control of the world. European and North American countries are inventing and spreading a twisted narrative about almost all essential historic events, be they colonialism, crusades, or genocides committed by the Western expansionism in all corners of the[Read More…]
There’s a particular kind of sadness and fury in my gut as a member of a military family after hearing the news that Commander in Chief, Donald Trump either did not know or did not respond to intelligence that Putin’s Russia paid bounties to the Taliban for killing American soldiers in Afghanistan. Here’s what it means if you have a[Read More…]
The All India Catholic Union has demanded a judicial enquiry by a High Court Judge into the brutal custodial torture of a father and son of the Nadar Christian community in Sathankulam town near Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu. The town police have been complicit in other custodial deaths in recent months, apart from fomenting a caste clashes. The enquiry must[Read More…]
What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode? –Langston Hughes Langston Hughes[Read More…]
Scenes of sorrow spread across the US. Football teams apologize. Cops march with demonstrators. Democratic Party politicians call for “structural change” in police departments. Delmar Blvd. at Sgt. Mike King Dr. Image by David Doonan. Some of these are sincere. Others are crocodile tears shed in hopes that people will be pacified with assurances that turn out to be vague[Read More…]
“Diplomacy is the velvet glove that cloaks the fist of power.” ― Robin Hobb Like its economy India’s foreign policy is going through a catastrophic phase. The country finds itself engaged in skirmishes and cartographic battle on its entire northern front. The spectacle that Modi created in the arena of foreign policy; his masculine nationalism and making partner in the[Read More…]
This is part-2 of an article on India-China face-off, after the violent clash of June 15 night. Read Part1, published on June 27,2020 with this title: Blaming PM Modi Now for “Surrender to China” is Nothing but Competing in Jingoism. Now it’s BJP Vs Congress War of words on China that tops headlines, exposed Part-1. That focused on the hypocritical,[Read More…]
On Tuesday the Delhi High Court granted bail to anti-CAA activist and Jamia Millia Islamia research scholar Safoora Zargar. The mainstream media – particularly Hindi newspapers – downplays the bail story. This is in sharp contrast to the wider coverage the media gave to other stories than her bail. For example, the media widely covered the stories when she was[Read More…]
I have known this information for some time. M. L. King’s top threesome topics in interest were racism, war and materialism — I.e., excessive consumerism. I am rightfully proud of my support of King. Here’s the scoop: Jewish parents made a deal with a NYC bus company to bus people to the Selma March by exchanging Green Stamp booklets for[Read More…]
Letter to the Prime Minister To Shri Narendra Modiji Prime Minister of India Dear Shri Modiji, I refer to my letters dated 9-4-2020 & 5-5-2020 (enclosed) on the modalities of creating the PM CARES Fund (hereafter referred as PMCARES) and the need to ensure utmost transparency in its utilisation. I understand that the Trustees of PMCARES under your stewardship have[Read More…]
In 1989 an incident happened in the prosperous suburbs of North Tehran that inspired the making of a movie. The movie took exactly 40 days to shoot, edit and then release and had no functioning script. It may be the most amazing movie you will ever see, (if you have not seen it already) and could be the best 97[Read More…]
I have been thinking since many days how to put this piece together. There is so much that I can say about the future India that I would want to see. Howsoever I try to organize it, so much would still be left out. So in the end I thought to just put out my heart on paper – the[Read More…]
The father-son duo arrested and then murdered in the judicial police custody in Tuticorin is a horrific reminder of unaccountability and brutality of the policing system in India. So far the some of them have been suspended and one officer is transferred but that will never resolve the crisis as police in India has been used and misused by the[Read More…]
Though the Supreme Court refused to entertain on June 3 a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) for renaming India as ‘Bharat’ or ‘Hindustan’, it does not put an end to the longstanding Hindutva agenda on this issue. The Supreme Court decision was purely on technical/legal grounds namely that ‘Bharat’ as one of the names of the country is already stated in[Read More…]
The condition of migrant workers in the present time aptly implies the violation of human rights in India. All existing organisations at both end (mother state and work place) should, therefore, raise the issue. Through this update, the Ganatantrik Adhikar Surakhya Sangathan, Odisha appeals all like-minded organisations and individuals to attempt for protecting their rights. On 24th June, 47 girls[Read More…]
Part I:“Linking People to Reforms” Buying Freedom on the Free Market Obscured by the mythology of pursuing economic and political autonomy, Ukraine plays the latest role in a long, unfolding process of western corporate, political and military interests establishing the “territorial integrity” not of independent Eastern European states, but of “NATO’s border” under the monolithic control of the United States. Ukraine[Read More…]
A new freely downloadable book I would like to announce the publication of a book, which discusses the excessive weight that our total human population and economy has imposed on the global environment. The book may be freely downloaded and circulated from the following link: http://eacpe.org/app/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Malthus-Revisited-by-John-Scales-Avery.pdf Malthus’ “Essay on The Principle of Population” T.R. Malthus’ {\em Essay on The Principle[Read More…]
The travesty of Shukri Abdi’s death is a tragedy of globalization; racialized, exploitative, inimical and finally untenable. It does not ‘provide the goods’ either for the Southern refugees who stream into cities seeking shelter from poverty, famine, fratricide and war; nor for the Northern citizens who bear the daily brunt of austerity which serves as a subsidy to the stockbrokers[Read More…]
The virus spreading Covid-19 worldwide jumped from non-human animals to people — as have most new diseases, from AIDS to SARS to Ebola. We may not know the precise origin of this particular coronavirus, but we understand the factors behind its spread to humans. And we’ve seen the devastation a tiny, mysterious, rapidly spreading virus can wreak on people in a globalized[Read More…]
GENEVA (26 June 2020) – UN experts* today called on India to immediately release human rights defenders who have been arrested for protesting against changes to the nation’s citizenship laws. “These defenders, many of them students, appear to have been arrested simply because they exercised their right to denounce and protest against the CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act), and their arrest[Read More…]
Municipal authorities mercilessly chopping grass in parks in Mumbai and elsewhere are doing a distinct disservice to the city, to Nature and to people who love to walk on grass which is not only fun but also immensely beneficial to health. Mr Praveen Pardeshi, the former municipal commissioner of Mumbai, had a good understanding of these issues. Thick grass is[Read More…]
This is part-1 of an article on India-China face-off, after the violent clash of June 15 night. This focuses on the hypocritical,mutual blame game to deceive people and incite jingoism, presently targeting China. Now it’s BJP Vs Congress War of words on China that tops headlines. But both maintain relations, fairly long and deep, not only with China, but China[Read More…]
Co-Written by by Simran Kaur, Vasundhra Kaul, Varsha Sharma and Sandeep Pandey While the entire world faced the threat of the coronavirus, India was witness to a peculiar phenomenon. Hundreds of migrant workers poured into the streets, despite explicit warnings -and passionate appeals- by the Prime Minister to stay indoors. India saw numerous deaths during this time, many of which[Read More…]
Learning Lessons from the End of the Confederacy, Nazi Germany, and Saddam’s Iraq Let’s assume that Donald Trump loses the election in November. Yes, that’s a mighty big assumption, despite all the polls currently favoring the Democrats. If the economy begins to recover and the first wave of Covid-19 subsides (without a second wave striking), Donald Trump’s reelection prospects could[Read More…]
At a time of renewed social struggles for the rights of historically marginalized groups, an indigenous campaign in Chile this week received some positive news. On Wednesday (24 June), the National Congress approved a bill calling for the Selk’nam people to be listed among the indigenous ethnic groups formally recognized by the State. This is the result of collective efforts[Read More…]
You know, nations commit sins just as individuals do. Sometimes there is a marriage between individuals and nations that sin as one. This is the case of my dear country, the place of my birth and actually the only country I ever lived in. Being a baby boomer that is a lot of decades to sample the sins of empire…[Read More…]
When I heard the news of a 46-year old African-American man being choked to death by a US law enforcement officer on 25th May, 2020 in Minnesota, one month back, I was curious to know how grave a crime the man had committed that he was punished so brutally. A little research into social media posts and news reports revealed[Read More…]
45 years prior to today, on June 26th 1975, the country awoke to a declaration of Internal Emergency. Arguably one of the darkest days in the country’s history post 1947, Emergency Rule imposed by the then central government led by Indira Gandhi’s faction of the Indian National Congress (INC) was characterised by a near complete suspension of basic democratic rights[Read More…]
They say a parent or a carer is the hardest job you will love. It is absolutely the most important and challenging leadership role. All grown up children, whether it be daughters or sons are truly anxious today. We cannot blame them. When we were of their age, we were either starting University or doing part time jobs and was[Read More…]
I’m not a footballer, nor a cricketer. And also not a fan, who is mad for football, but I like it. I used to watch football matches on the television screen while I was a schoolchild. I enjoyed local and the world cup football matches at that time. Bangladesh’s first division football player Belal Hossain’s magical playoffs with the football[Read More…]
The PM CARES fund was established by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 28. The idea was to have a dedicated, national fund with the primary objective of dealing with any kind of emergency or distress situation like the COVID-19 pandemic. It also intended to provide relief to the affected, a public charitable trust under the name of ‘Prime Minister’s[Read More…]
Very few people actually enjoy elbowing their way into a crowded bus or train, but this seems to be like a faraway nightmare. Paradoxically, it’s one we’re sorry we won’t be able to get into again in the near future. Perhaps we look back with nostalgia at how we used to queue for hours to get a foot in the[Read More…]
Super cyclone Amphan has recently left trails of devastation in the southwestern part of Bangladesh, and in parts of the neighboring in Indian state of West Bengal. The death toll, according to EcoWatch (May 22, 2020), was at least 84. The UN’s office in Bangladesh estimated that 10 million people were affected and 500,000 people may have lost their homes.[Read More…]
On reading the enduring horrific daily news coming out of Palestine/Israel relating to the ongoing Jewish-state Nakba, I invariably feel a strong desire to discuss what is often the elephant in the room. It’s an issue constantly on the minds of Israelis and Palestinians alike, while at the same time being difficult to discuss frankly and directly in polite society.[Read More…]
Title: Suralakshmi Villa Author: Aruna Chakravarti Publisher: Pan Macmillan, 2020 Suralakshmi Villa (2020) is a novel based on a short story in a previous collection of short stories by Aruna Chakravarti. In the afterword to the novel, the author explains how the novel came about: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, on whose fiction Chakravarti had done her Ph.D thesis many years ago, commented[Read More…]
Even today the attempt is to whitewash Manusmriti, not shun it. But all is not lost as the ripples of Black Lives Matter have reached Indian shores. It was 1927, the second phase of the historic Mahad Satyagrah was on, and Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar led thousands of people in burning the Manusmriti, an act he compared with the French Revolution[Read More…]
It is to pay tribute to the Artists and Painters who Lived through the Painful Horrendous span of Human History and raised their Heads above to protest and stop the rollout to Wars, Hatred and Holocaust. The occasion is Centenary Year of Modern Art being declared as ‘Degenerate Art’ by NAZIS. It is the first half of 20th century, from[Read More…]
Two large blobs of dust blown off of Africa’s Sahara Desert – which some experts say could be the biggest and most intense Saharan plume in 50 years – are on their way to North America, driven by the same high-pressure system that pushes hurricanes across the same route. The largest is already over the Gulf of Mexico and parts[Read More…]
In Minneapolis, US an African American, George Floyd lost his life as the white policeman, Derek Chauvin, caught hold of him and put his knee on his neck. This is a technique developed by Israel police. For nine long minutes the knee of the while policeman was on the neck of George, who kept shouting, I can’t breathe. Following this[Read More…]
A recent attack on two Additional District Judges near Dibiyapur in district Auraiya in daylight by some unidentified attackers in the state of Uttar Pradesh reminds me of Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria- a Colombian drug lord and a founder and sole leader of the Medellin Cartel. Pablo was a powerful drug lord who enjoyed close relationships not only with[Read More…]
I met Tony Joseph, the author of Early Indians – the History of Our Ancestors and Where We Came From[1], first in Jaipur Literature Festival in 2019 and next at Mathrubhoomi Literature Festival in January, 2020 at Thivanthapuram. I had a lengthy discussion about his understanding of goats, buffalos, cows and so on, caste and race relations in ancient India[Read More…]
The time for manufacturing of weapons of war has passed as a viable industry for our nation, despite the way some of our political leadership clings to economies of the past.—Lisa Savage, U.S. Senate candidate in Maine On Thursday, June 25th, President Trump’s re-election efforts took him to the “battleground” state of Wisconsin, where he toured the Fincantieri Marinette Marine[Read More…]
When it comes to the touchy, violent matter of Kosovar affairs, history keeps company with the devils of nationalism and vengeance. Serbia remains scornful of the aspirations of the territory, whose legitimacy it does not recognise; Kosovo remains spiteful of Serbia’s continued interest, and attempts, at any given turn, to frustrate their neighbour’s effort at European integration. Blood tinged memories[Read More…]
If I were to be asked ‘What is the most pressing problem faced by the world today?’ I would not say Covid-19. Not terrorism or nuclear proliferation either. No, not even the Hollywood’s favorite end-of-the-world events: alien invasions, zombie apocalypse etc. It is the problem regarding which we are most inadvertent: the irreversible damage we are causing to this delicate[Read More…]
In practice, India has been neither secular nor socialist. It has always functioned as an upper-caste Hindu state. Arundhati Roy The Constitution of India is based on the premise of secularism and unbiased principles. But the question is: Are these secular principles practiced in true sense of the term in our country at present? The obvious answer that echoes from[Read More…]
The decision of the centre for privatize commercial extraction of Coal may not be beneficial for Odisha having 25 percent of the Coal reserve of the country. The plan to increase in mining activities is not being accompanying with rise in fair royalty rate and its share of state and locals. There has been persistent suffering of people in coal[Read More…]
25th June, 2020 marks the 45th year of the Declaration of the infamous Emergency Declaration of Indira Gandhi. It is a day remembered as the day in 1975, when the Indian Government waged a war on its own people, suspending the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Indian Constitution and turning India into an authoritarian country. 25th June is also the[Read More…]
Bhubaneswar, 25th June, 2020: On the eve of Anti-Emergency Day (25th June, 2020) a Mass Protest Against Undeclared Emergency by Modi-BJP Regime was organized today at Bhubanewar, Odisha & also condemned the Declared Emergency (1975-1977) by Indira- Congress Regime. The Major Demands was Immediate Release of all Political Prisoners, Withdraw all False and Fabricated Cases Against Political, Social and Human[Read More…]
The CPI (ML – Liberation) office in Varanasi was raided at midnight without the search warrant, a couple of days ago. The process of the arrest under the draconian law UAPA of human rights activists and intellectuals beginning with the arrest of 90% handicapped, Delhi University Professor GN Saibaba is going on unabated since the last few of years.[Read More…]
Over the past 20 years, like clockwork, severe droughts have hit the Amazon every five years with regularity 2005, 2010, 2015. Of course, droughts have hit the Amazon rainforest throughout paleoclimate history, but this time it’s different. The frequency and severity is off the charts. Recent data is starting to show 2020 as another dire year. “The old paradigm was[Read More…]
With no surprises, the lockdown is a hard time for everyone around the globe. From last 3 months only unhappiness has been distributed by this pandemic. Leading to stress and depression among people, women are suffering more. A gender gap in mental health already existed before but it has now widened to a large extent. Studies show, the fall in[Read More…]
Sightings Sighting 1: Jamlo Madkam[1], a 12-year-old Adivasi girl starts to walk home to Chattisgarh from the chilli fields of Telangana. She walks 140 kilometres in three days and finally collapses exhaustion, dehydration and muscle fatigue, 60 km from her home. Sighting 2: News headlines begin to report about women giving birth on the road and continuing the long march[Read More…]
India’s migrant labor plight and crisis came to the fore, in most tragic forms, during recent period thanks to the Corona virus disease. We should not forget that the problem was always there, and Covid-19 exposed the callousness of the system as never before. Labor wanted to back home at any cost, walking hundreds of kilometers, with kith and[Read More…]
On June 24, 2020, an Arab News report from Riyadh said: The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday welcomed Saudi Arabia’s decision to greatly limit the number of Hajj pilgrims this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Kingdom said just 1,000 people, who are already living in Saudi Arabia, would be able to perform the pilgrimage. Last year almost[Read More…]
RSS is a Hindutva gurukul (university) which specializes in training cadres in speaking lies and manufacturing history. As a latest proof, we find on the 45th anniversary of the Emergency, an ideologue of RSS, Ram Madhav, a prominent graduate of the above gurukul, to claim that Indian democracy survives due to “leaders in the government who fought for that very[Read More…]
Many among us, more so in the western world, smug with the scientific breakthroughs of recent years, predict the unbelievable for the human race. Yuval Noah Hariri is a Professor of History at the Hebrew University in Israel. In his best-selling ‘Homo deus – A Brief History of Tomorrow’, Hariri goes to the extent of predicting that humans with ‘mastery over[Read More…]
President Donald Trump’s former National Security Advisor John Bolton would have been confident. His indulgent The Room Where it Happened: A White House Memoir pitted him against the administration in a not infrequent battle over material that is published by former officials recounting their giddy days in high office. On June 17, the US government filed a civil suit seeking[Read More…]
A Passage to India demolishes the racism that sustains imperialism; the novel exemplifies the power of literature to catalyse social progress Exploitation has a long history. Nations subjugate other nations and enslave peoples. Exploitation imposes psychological costs. Not just on the exploited. On the exploiters, too. How do exploiters handle these psychological costs, in order to keep exploiting? From Romans[Read More…]
The painful truth is that the Palestinian Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas has already ceased to exist as a political body that holds much sway or relevance, either to the Palestinian people or to Abbas’ former benefactors, namely the Israeli and the American governments. So, when the Palestinian Authority Prime Minister, Mohammed Shtayyeh, announced on June 9, that the Palestinian[Read More…]
The deregulation of international capital flows (financial liberalisation) has effectively turned the planet into a free-for-all bonanza for the world’s richest capitalists. Under the post-World-War Two Bretton Woods monetary regime, nations put restrictions on the flow of capital. Domestic firms and banks could not freely borrow from banks elsewhere or from international capital markets, without seeking permission, and they could[Read More…]
There is a general tendency to name anyone questioning the activities of the armed forces engaged in war with an enemy nation as anti-national. This labelling also extends to the reporting of commission and omission of the armed forces operating against native Indian combatants in conflict zones such as Jammu & Kashmir, North-East and Central Indian States. This tendency has[Read More…]
25 June 2020 marks the 45th anniversary of the infamous Emergency imposed on India. On this day, we call upon all Indian citizens to launch a peaceful, non-violent nationwide movement to fight against the Super Emergency the country is being subjected to today. The Indian state is today far more powerful and dehumanized than it has ever been, fascist ideology[Read More…]
“Swasthya seva hamara adhikar Ise degi hamari Sarkar” The spread of Corona Virus in India and the subsequent misery of the Migrant population has exposed the underbelly of dismal healthcare in our country. There is a daily outcry of shortage of hospital beds, doctors, nurses, ICU’S, absence of functioning rural healthcare centres, etc. It is a great pity that while[Read More…]
After the announcement of strict lockdown by PM Modi from 24th March 2020, Public Universities, Colleges, and Schools had been completely closed down and supposed to follow the guidelines and advisory issued by Central governments that led to the suspension of classroom teaching in India. Meanwhile, universities and colleges teachers have got instructions from concerned authorities to take online[Read More…]
Chennai June 24 – A Muslim group in Tamil Nadu is actively involved in conducting proper funeral rites of dead bodies mostly of Corona victims belonging to different faiths. The volunteers of Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam (TMMK), a Muslim non-governmental organization have performed the last rights of about 139 dead bodies belonging to different religions commencing from March 25,[Read More…]
Stop Corporate Loot in Eco-Sensitive & V Schedule Adivasi Areas of Central & Eastern India Objections by 3 State Governments & People’s Movements must be considered by PM Urgent Rethink Needed on Anti-Climate ‘Coal-Centered’ Energy Economy! 24th June, 2020: National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) condemns the diabolical design of the current regime, led by the Prime Minister to ‘virtually[Read More…]
At a Quaker Meeting some years ago, a speaker stood up and explained the original meaning of turn the other cheek, which Jesus espoused. The meaning transformed over time to something like forgive and forget or look the other way. Quakers generally don’t lie and certainly someone would have to be mentally ill in some way to share this information,[Read More…]
In the midst of isolation crisis, when all educational institutions have been stirred to online teaching and up-scaled teachers’ digital skills through school-based training interventions, few states like Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh had placed a restriction on online classes for primary school-going children. Online learning, no doubt is by far the most compelling alternative in the times of Covid-19[Read More…]
The continuing coronavirus pandemic has laid bare the economic and political problems of the United States and Europe, which are becoming increasingly hard to ignore. Dozens of experts from various countries attending the “COVID-19 Global Challenges” international summit, held by public organizations of India, Germany, Britain, Russia and Serbia on June 15-19, discussed the challenges that the world has faced[Read More…]
Many of our daily life events are governed by dichotomies. The world is witnessing a reorientation and reconsideration of such dichotomies and even several assumptions regarding human existence and outlook. This is not just in terms of moral aspects like honest or dishonest, love and hate, good and bad, right and wrong etc. In the backdrop of the pandemic, the[Read More…]
When Coronavirus hit China worst and then moved to Europe and the US India still had less number of Covid-19 cases and deaths due to Coronavirus. However, India had an early lockdown along with most of the worst hit countries and even after a month of lockdown India’s total number Covid-19 cases remained around 100000. That was very impressive figure[Read More…]
Recently, the news about the sad demise of renowned Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput at his residence in Bandra apartment in Mumbai on June 14 staggered the whole country and the Bollywood fraternity en masse. Prima facie report revealed the anoxic strangulation by hanging himself to death. Following the news, there were many speculations that would have forced him to[Read More…]
As we commemorate suspension of democracy during emergency in 1975, it is disturbing to note that police are on spree to arrest and detain people and send them to jail as arbitrarily as then. Police knock at the door of journalists and social activists ; one can be charged for airing views on television, or posting comments on social media.[Read More…]
Countering the selective blockade of the website sikhsiyasat.net in Punjab and India, the Sikh Siyasat management has filed complaints to 5 Internet Service providers who are illegally and unlawfully blocking the site. Throughout Punjab and India, sikhsiyasat.net is not accessible to users who use BSNL FTTH, BSNL Cellular, Jio 4G & Jio Fibre, Airtel and Connect Broadband as their networks.[Read More…]
Two young Christian missionaries were abused and assaulted by a mob and taken to the police station in a village named Belgarisin Dhanbad, a district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. The attack which took place on the 22nd of June happened at the new coal mine colony in Baliapur CD Block. Speaking to Persecution Relief, Br. Arul Jothi- Founder[Read More…]
Co-Written by György Széll and Thomas Klikauer Free image download from: https://pixabay.com/de After each crisis we ask ourselves, can we learn from it? We will ask this question again after the major effects of the on-going Covid-19 pandemic will be over. Perhaps, one might like to look back into the history of pandemics. Every human being on earth has about[Read More…]
During the Chinese revolution, progressive forces of the world lent every possible support to it. At that time, it was widely believed that most of the Chinese people consumed opium and were always in a stupor. Additionally the country’s economy lay totally shattered. It was said that the people in China went to the market with a bag full of[Read More…]
After a long battle, Kashmiri Muslim girl, Safoora Zargar has been granted bail by the Delhi High court on the Humanitarian ground.Zargar was arrested on 10th of April and has been charged under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for her alleged role in the North East Delhi that broke out in the month of February. She is 23 week pregnant[Read More…]
My maternal grandfather’s family name is Floyd. His mother was a Cherokee woman and Grandfather Floyd’s cousin was from the Choctaw nation. The cousin was considered the Robin Hood of the American Great Depression and was immortalized in song by Woody Guthrie as Pretty Boy Floyd the Outlaw. I do not know if there is a blood link between Grandpa’s[Read More…]
Kashmir has always been in grip of one or another kind of crisis. The dark clouds of uncertainty loom over the echoing mountains from last several decades. The prolonged conflict has transformed the beautiful valley into a devastating dystopia, forcing the whole community to fight a life and death battle against the threat of extinction from the tyrant tides of[Read More…]
Dr Goldy M George is Consulting Editor of Forward Press magazine. He is also founder of Dalit Mukti Morcha, Chhattishgarh. An alumani of Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, Goldy has been active in anti caste struggles and try to bring together Ambedkarite and left forces. He has written extensively on resource rights issues particularly the forest rights of the[Read More…]
It is said that COVID does not differentiate. Yet, people on the margin have been differently impacted by COVID. Street vendors are one such vulnerable group. With lockdown, streets wore a deserted look. Street livelihood vanished all of a sudden. Street vendors, generally outlawed and operating with meagre capital and various kinds of livelihood insecurities and restrictive and punitive regulatory[Read More…]
Vijay a migrant worker to Lucknow from Sitapur district earns his livelihood by engaging himself into small-scale carpentry work. His small workshop is situated in our surroundings. This vicinity made him well acquainted with our family circle. Around a month ago he hurriedly rushed to our place to inquire about me, “bhaiya kanha hain ?” On getting[Read More…]
In the midst of the worldwide COVID Pandemic, responsible individuals and families are protecting themselves and each other by wearing protective masks so they won’t infect family members, friends or anyone else with whom they may come in contact. But there also are many more individuals and whole families who don’t care a whit about protecting themselves, their families[Read More…]
In the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, Americans are finally — or is it once again? — confronting the racism that afflicts this country and extends into just about every corner of our national life. Something fundamental just might be happening. Yet to state the obvious, we’ve been here before. Mass protests in response to racial inequality and discrimination,[Read More…]
There’s the pandemic you know about all too well. It is taking a heavy toll on lives and livelihoods. Then, there’s the shadow pandemic, which is rapidly unraveling the limited but precious progress the world has made toward gender equality in the past few decades. This shadow pandemic can be seen in the rolling background of this progress with the[Read More…]
One of the most fascinating writers about morality is Lawrence Kohlberg. I have read lots of his writings. He initially divided up morality into six stages. Some people are stuck on the lower levels or mid levels of his scale. What can be very interesting Is to look at yourself and others who you fairly well know and find out[Read More…]
Co-Written by Medea Benjamin and Ariel Gold Joe Biden wants you to believe that he is opposed to Israel’s likely annexation of parts of the West Bank that Netanyahu plans to carry out in July. “I do not support annexation,” he said during a call with American Jewish donors on June 16. But only a month ago, Biden senior foreign[Read More…]
Nazareth: An Israeli diplomat filed a complaint last week with police after he was pulled to the ground in Jerusalem by four security guards, who knelt on his neck for five minutes as he cried out: “I can’t breathe.” There are obvious echoes of the treatment of George Floyd, an African-American killed by police in Minneapolis last month. His death[Read More…]
The Peoples’ Union for Civil Liberties condemns the attempt at criminalizing the writings of journalist Supriya Sharma, Executive Editor of the Scroll, the most recent victim of state attack on the media. The article, “In Varanasi village adopted by Prime Minister Modi, people went hungry during the lockdown” was published on June 5th, 2020. Among the people it reported on[Read More…]
A spectre is, right now, haunting the world. The spectre of a pandemic – COVID-19. COVID-191,2,3 is a viral disease – both infectious and potentially fatal, belonging to the SARS family, caused by a zoonotic – i.e. transmitted from animals to humans, virus. It, mainly, affects the human respiratory system. While old infectious diseases – including cholera, typhoid, small pox,[Read More…]
General Bikram Singh took a ‘journalism’ class for an anchor who blamed army for the Chinese incursion. After the government complete foreign policy failure, the anchors as usual are on rampage against all those who are asking questions to the government. General Singh advised media to be careful of blaming everyone else whose approach is different than those in the[Read More…]
Nationalism, a modern political narration, flourished across the globe in different nature of colour, cuisine, creed, culture, race , religion, region, and language etc. This ‘ism’ mobilised mass to cripple the imperialism on the one side and built a new road to majoritarian polities on the other. The very idea of Indian nationalism evolved as a struggle against British colonial[Read More…]
As social, economic and political Darwinism dominates the intellectual debates and discourses to naturalise and normalise capitalist exploitation and inequalities, survival of the fittest is becoming the new normal. The best human qualities based on love, peace, sympathies, empathies and coexistence are becoming the signs of human weakness in the rat race success and survival. In this process, human beings[Read More…]
Using the coronavirus to score political points has only made the global health crisis worse, claimed the World Health Organization’s (WHO) director-general. Some observers have interpreted the WHO chief’s claim as a broadside against U.S. President Donald Trump. The politicization of the pandemic has “exacerbated” the effects of the disease, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during an online conference on Monday,[Read More…]
If questioning Narendra Modi Government by the opposition parties about the “sensitive” border dispute with China amounts to “demoralizing” the nation and its soldiers, is the ruling BJP ready to apply the same yardstick to its ideologue Deendayal Upadhyaya who slammed the Jawaharlal Nehru regime during the Sino-India conflict? In the late 1950s when India-China relations were fast deteriorating,[Read More…]
There are several factors which play an important role in determining the relationship between banks and their customers. One of the most important amongst them is what services banks provide and how they deliver it to their customers which can facilitate the best to their financial needs. Banks were nationalised with the objective of making banking available to everyone, especially[Read More…]
While the Covid 19 situation in India continues to get grim with each passing day, the country is also witnessing the rise of unchecked executive power of the Center that has resulted in the incarceration of a student activist named Safoora Zargar who is five weeks pregnant. The memories of the Delhi riots that took place in the last week[Read More…]
The massive financial downturn caused by the COVID-19 infection around the world is not new news today. Renowned economists have already written numerous articles on the impact of the financial crisis on society in the future. Many studies by researchers have previously been published. Researchers, considering various industries and service sectors, have concluded how many thousands or millions of rupees[Read More…]
We have witnessed multiple debates on social media over the suicide of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput in the last few days. The Bollywood ‘fraternity’ reacted instantly after his demise. No wonder- their views are categorically distinct from one another. A group of celebrity suddenly poured their sympathy for Sushant by concerning mental health. Few other celebrities are pointing towards[Read More…]
At 69, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has no sympathy & compassion for the elderly population of India. In the pandemic of Coronavirus, there is a turbulence in the life of elderly people in India. More than 85 percent lower-income group elderly people living in remote villages of India are not in a position to afford expensive sanitizers and masks. Studies[Read More…]
Taranidhi Regmi, 37, of Morang, lives in Kathmandu and runs Sunbarshi bookstore in Dhapasi and delivers literary books to about 90 bookstores across the country within two or three days of its publication. When Covid-19 started to linger a month ago, he posted a photo of himself milking a cow in his home on his Facebook page. During this time,[Read More…]
To fight against the commercial mining of coal in Jharkhand, we have to recall how the battle against bauxite mining by mighty Corporate Vedanta was fought and won by the tribal community in the Niyamgiri mountains in Orissa. The news of the Supreme Court approving the Posco and Vedanta Projects in Orissa came as a thunder-blow to all the movements[Read More…]
India is a plural country with many religions. While the majority religion is Hinduism, Islam and Christianity are the major religious minorities. While Freedom movement accorded them equal status as religions, the communal forces regard these as religions of alien religions. Lately there are various attempts to coopt them in the umbrella of Hinduism. The statements of communal forces are[Read More…]
Members and supporters of Indians Abroad for Pluralist India (IAPI) held a rally for D.S. Bindra outside the Indian passport and visa application center in Surrey on the afternoon of Sunday, June 21. An advocate and activist, Bindra has been named in a charge sheet filed by Delhi police against individuals accused of inciting violent protests against India’s discriminatory Citizenship[Read More…]
25th June 2020 will mark the 45th anniversary of the Emergency. On this day we appeal to everyone interested in preserving Indian democracy and upholding the Indian Constitution to participate in the following campaign: Take a selfie holding a poster saying `Resist Super Emergency’ along with any of the following slogans in English or any other language of your[Read More…]
Never before this year 2020 has the world-famous Doomsday Clock registered only “100 seconds-to-midnight.” According to the Science & Security Board, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, since WWII, the world has never been so perilous. Alas, it’s been a long journey (73 yrs) all the way up to 100 seconds to midnight versus the original 1947 setting of seven minutes[Read More…]
With the demise of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh, suddenly whole India has started talking about mental health. There are several poems, stories, and messages which are circulated on social media regarding mental health. I am asking to all fellow citizens that do we need news on famous suicide to talk about mental health? Can’t we talk about mental health in[Read More…]
To observe a day of protest against the Super Emergency on 25 June 2020 https://marupakkamonlinefilmscreening.blogspot.com will conduct a one-day online film festival. They will be screening 1) “Ammi” – Dir: Sunil Kumar 90 min; Hindi with Eng subtitles; 2018 This is one woman’s two-year fight for justice. Battered by the police, having been told by the myriad government agencies who[Read More…]
Bhubaneswar, June 22, 2020 : On June 9, 2020, I got a video message on a social media group about a group of guest workers in Kerala. They were from Kalahandi district of Odisha. Though unlettered most of them, they had a video recording of their situation and shared in the social media along with the contact details. The[Read More…]
A look at remedies available for policy disapproval Law making always happens to be the foremost responsibility of an elected government depending upon obtaining a majority mark in parliament. In India, with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government reaching beyond 100 seats in the Rajya Sabha after the recent victory of 11 seats, the waiting list of[Read More…]
Co-Written by Dr Bhabani Shankar Nayak and Dr Gopabandhu Das The pandemic of Coronavirus has exposed all limitations of free market economies and anomalies in capitalist global economy. The world economy is in shambles. The unprecedented restrictive and unavoidable lockdown measures by governments across the world has led to the loss of livelihoods, growth of unemployment, economic stagnation and crisis.[Read More…]
Mao Zedong, first president of the People’s Republic of China, had designs on “reclaiming” territories to the west of China, by placing the “Chinese hand” over the region. Tibet was likened to the palm of the hand, and the fingers were Ladakh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim and NEFA (now Arunachal Pradesh), spanning across the whole Himalayan range. Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim and[Read More…]
Amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Trump administration has made numerous reckless decisions to combat the virus, demonstrating a deadly incompetence. Indeed, what even minimal intelligent preparedness in the richest country on the plane, up to eighty percent of the more than one hundred thousand deaths from the virus in the US so far could have been prevented. Assigning Peter[Read More…]
The uproar over the recent murder of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man, by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old White Minneapolis police officer, has assumed centre-stage in the United States and other parts of the world, prodding countries to introspect and cleanse their own tainted societies. It is an opportune moment for us Indians to reflect too. The twin scourges[Read More…]
The modern nation-state system came into existence after the Treaty of Westphalia was signed in the year 1648. It shaped and influenced the formation of nation-states in the world for the next few centuries. Territoriality and sovereignty have been the two outstanding features of the nation-state system. The idea of Territoriality has been understood as human beings being organized into[Read More…]
A teenaged Dalit boy was shot dead at his home in Uttar Pradesh’s Domkhera village in Amroha district at a time when the Black Lives Matter movement was shaking the whole world. He was shot dead allegedly by youths from an upper caste community for visiting a temple in the village, according to media reports. Such killing of Dalits in[Read More…]
Recently, Amulya Leona got bail from a Magistrate court after session court had denied her bail however, later, Magistrate court accepted the bail on the basis that Police didn’t file chargesheet within due time and during this she spent around four months in jail. Saroofa Jargar, a youth activist in Delhi has been picked up from her home for her[Read More…]
As we trudge along amidst a global pandemic, surrounded by stories of doom, despair, and death, it is no easy feat to stay upbeat. Big words are floating in the virtual world, Everybody has something to say. A much public piece of sad news has shaken us, Particularly since the times are so grey. There are self-determined labels,[Read More…]
Labour “reforms” – India goes back in time Given the COVID-19 situation, though not with the same enthusiasm, nevertheless the entire world celebrated workers May Day recently. Ironically, here in India in the same month of May, antithetical to the ideal of May Day the major states of India moved to destroy the hard-won gains of the working class. The states ruled by BJP have amended[Read More…]
`Under UAPA, the process itself is the punishment !’ Gautam Navlakha had stated these words before his arrest. Gautam Navlakha knew very well what his arrest under the draconian law UAPA meant for him. The process can go on without any trial. Human rights defenders like him have actively campaigned in India for the repeal of this draconian law. But[Read More…]
Sadly, what is sauce for the goose is not always sauce for the gander In dealing with the issues of national or international implications, it makes sense for the governments to calibrate official responses with an eye on the strengths and weaknesses of the adversary. However, it’s important to distinguish that sort of an approach from the one where responses[Read More…]
Axone (‘akhuni’- a fermented soy bean dish), which revolves around the quirky premise of misadventures with cooking a ‘smelly’ and ‘tasty’ delicacy and has an unusual cast, majority of being the residents of northeastern states hold promises to a niche audience. ‘Northeasterners’ or people belonging to the northeastern region of India rejoiced to finally see a film that did not[Read More…]
Amjad Farid Sabri (23 December 1970 – 22 June 2016) Today is the 4th anniversary of the shooting death of Amjad Farid Sabri. He was a majestic and highly revered Pakistani Sufi singer and famous qawwal. Sabri came from a storied family of musicians, a “proponent of the Sufi Muslim tradition.” His musical family is recognized as the “legendary Sabri brothers,”[Read More…]
To hell with tyranny! Thou shalt not muzzle me!! I was born to be free!!! Now, here’s the thing… I am not a lizard. I am not a fish. I am a great ape. Since our creation every human being was born to not be completely free and independent. Anyone who raised an infant without regulations and prevention would not have that[Read More…]
Co-Written by Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers The system-wide challenges the United States faces with policing are entrenched and deeply rooted. When the historical and current practices of police are examined, it is evident police have been designed to uphold the status quo including racial injustice and class inequality. Whenever political movements develop to respond to racial and class unfairness,[Read More…]
The fight against racist killer cops helps all workers For decades over 1,000 people a year have been murdered by the police and almost never has a cop been fired or put on trial for murder. During the last 40 years we have had both Black and White presidents, and the killings go on. We have had Black and White,[Read More…]
Recently, in this Black Lives Matter protest moment, my five-year-old son looked at me and asked, “Mommy, where did all the brown people go? Did the police here shoot them?” We’d just moved to the outskirts of a more affluent rural town from a city where my son and three-and-a-half-year-old daughter mixed daily with black, Latino, and Asian American kids[Read More…]
Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (“DOER”) will finalize by July 15 regulations doubling the size of MA SMART solar photovoltaic program from 1,600 to 3,200 megawatts (MW). On the surface this is a reasonable, if limited, step forward. But like most things, the devil and long-term consequences are in the details. Unless changed by DOER, or the legislature, the latest[Read More…]
Are people with mental health issues ready to open up and are people ready to listen without judgements? Sitting at lunch, swiping through social media and suddenly receiving the grave news of Sushant Singh Rajput dying of suicide, left me in utter shock. I remember discarding the news as fake and checking at least 10 websites before letting it sink[Read More…]
White Supremacist’s Burning of Tulsa’s Greenwood District in 1921 Tulsa Race Riot Massacre. As the world watched with President Donald Trump the spontaneous reactions of so much racism, police brutality, social protests, burning and looting spread throughout the streets of America and the world over the murder of George Floyd, the world overheard Trump declare, “These Aren’t My Voters!” (http://msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-has-privately-dismissed-protestors-saying-those-arent-my-voters-report/ar-BB15pGLa)[Read More…]
Siliguri is the gateway of North East India and a multi- cultural society with people of multi-ethnic background coexisting peacefully together. Siliguri is a fast growing economic center in West Bengal. It is third largest agglomeration after Kolkata and Asansol and is the largest and faster growing city in North East after Guwahati. Siliguri is famous for three ‘Ts’, Tea,[Read More…]
The picture above was published 68 years ago in London on the front-page of the Daily Worker in 1952, (28th of April). It shows a British Royal Marine holding the severed heads of a young woman and man who were accused of supporting the Malayan Communist Party. Take some time to look at it. It is freely available on the[Read More…]
An Israeli flag flies over the illegally annexed city of Jerusalem from a Jewish settlement. Establishing settlements has been the method through which Israel has Judaized Jerusalem and parts of the West Bank. (DAVID SILVERMAN/Getty Images) Today we are experiencing in the American public space an electric historic occurrence. We are, as a society, finally passing vocal moral judgment on[Read More…]
Harsh Mander, distinguished former civil servant and a human rights activist, and founder of Karawan-e Mohabbat, of which I too am a member, has been mentioned in the charge sheet that the police have filed in their case against those protesting at Shaheen Bagh and other places against the Citizenships Act amendments. I find this mention of Harsh Mander in[Read More…]
I’ll be frank. I use to enjoy playing in certain kinds of sports games, but I don’t like watching sports on tv or in videos. Indeed, I don’t like personally attending sporting events to watch them. Doing so bores me too much, although I do have friends who do like to do so. So I am glad that they get[Read More…]
For the last few days the criticism of the Indian mainstream media — particularly the Hindi media — has been oscillating between China and the opposition parties. While earlier the media narrative trained guns at China for killing 20 Indian soldiers, the later narrative — synchronizing with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s refusal of the Chinese incursion into the Indian side[Read More…]
Had Urdu been the spoken language of Europe or America, it is quite evident that the revolutionary verse of the famous Urdu poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz would have become the rallying point of the recent protests that have been taking place in most of the big cities after the gruesome killing of George Floyd. The unarmed Black man was killed[Read More…]
“Freedom only for the supporters of the government, only for the members of one party – however numerous they may be – is no freedom at all. Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently. Not because of any fanatical concept of ‘justice’ but because all that is instructive, wholesome and purifying in political freedom depends[Read More…]
My rendezvous with ‘Walking over Water’ created a fresh gush of energy outpouring inside. Here Joshy unfolds a tale about something which has no story in the conventional sense. He weaves the tapestry in the frame of a fictional game of visual discourse. The vivacity of his film and its internal design of image and sound stimulate a sense of[Read More…]
One slogan that echoed more in the sky of Indian freedom movement was self-reliance India or Swadeshi Bharat. Many groups and individuals were interpreting this nationalist slogan on many ways. But what the common people had the feeling that this was call for Self-reliance, in real terms, the change of mode of production from feudalism to a democratic redistribution of[Read More…]
To unpack the personality of Professor Mohi-ud-Din Hajini, the multifarious man, is intractable for a mediocre like me. What to call the man who was larger-than- life and was made of sterner stuff? He was many in one. A genuine Philosopher, a genius Islamic scholar, a real revivalist, an honest translator, an appealing educationist, a great teacher, a staunch[Read More…]
Human civilization is confronting illness in a way unprecedented in the recent past. Brings back the image of the little girl Sita in Ritwit Ghatak’s movie Subarnarekha, who was singing in an abandoned air-strip, and all of a sudden, Kali the mother-destroyer appeared before her. The frightened little girl realized that it is only a poor man wearing the mask[Read More…]
Christian women and children were dragged through a village by a raging mob of over 40 religious fanatics on the 19th of June 2020. This act of religious racism took place in Charabari, a village in the district of North 24 Paraganas in West Bengal, India. Pr.T. A.Paul, the President of Berachah Faith Mission told Persecution Relief that the mob[Read More…]
Child psychologists generally believe that parenting style adopted is primarily responsible for the behavior of children. It also affects the performance of the child in everything worth mentioning throughout his life. There has been an intense debate going on regarding the adoption of parenting styles for children’s all-round development. There are diverse opinions about any specific style to be followed[Read More…]
For months, this has been a story that I want to share with young readers in Hong Kong. Now it seems to be the really appropriate time when the ideological battle between the West and China is raging, and as a result of it, Hong Kong and the entire world is suffering. I want to say that none of it[Read More…]
Co-Written by Atul and Sandeep Pandey The COVID 19 lockdown in India has witnessed an unfathomable scale of internal migration, displacement, tragedies, and human sufferings not seen since the time of partition 70 years ago. The haphazard manner in which the government implemented the lockdown resulted in absolute chaos when crores were forced by cruel circumstances to go back to[Read More…]
President Trump has taken credit for popularizing Juneteenth in an interview with the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Thursday (June 19, 2020), stating that no one had ever heard of the June 19 holiday before he scheduled a political rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on that day, claiming, “I did something good: I made Juneteenth very famous.” President Trump is[Read More…]
Father’s Day is a great tradition to celebrate and honor the father. However, it is also a stressful day for many people. I feel the joy and the pain of both groups, here are some thoughts about each group. First of all, my heart goes out to those who did not have a good relationship between father and children.[Read More…]
Risk communication has been considered as an inevitable part of the Public Health Program which has the capacity of addressing public health issues if implemented judicially. Effectiveness has been widely accepted by the public health professionals during the vigilance & outbreak response of severe acute respiratory syndrome(SARS-CoV-2), Middle East respiratory syndrome(MERS) and Ebola in different parts of the world. Public[Read More…]
Almost all sections of people have suffered due to lockdown. Only a few elite upper classes and rich have not suffered much. The migrant workers, street vendors and petty business persons had to endure lot of hardship. Similarly, disabled have also bore the brunt of suffering due to lockdown. The disabled constitute a small percentage of the whole population and[Read More…]
Wajahat Rafiq is a Mumbai Based Filmmaker, born in Kashmir groomed his career in Bollywood industry as an actor and flim maker.. In an interview with Ubaid Bhat, Wajahat highlighted his journey of being a filmmaker though he started his carrier as an actor .. As you belong to non Bollywood background how did you chose it as a carrier[Read More…]
Mikhail Bakunin, Russian revolutionist once stated “Political freedom without economic equality is a pretence, a fraud, a lie ;and workers want no lying “. There are heated discussions and debates on perspectives of DR B. R Ambedkar on Indian caste system and constitutional positive discrimination to protect minorities from age old perverted societal caste practices. Perhaps, discussions on his view[Read More…]
At this crucial juncture, when all the nations of the world are facing, perhaps, the severest challenge to combat the deadly novelCoronavirus, a new look into the 6th International Yoga Day, being observed on 21st June 2020, is demanded. The world has witnessed a death toll of 4,42,770 and has afflicted more than 81,92,261 in just seventy days. While United[Read More…]
An unprovoked attack by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China led to the death of twenty Indian soldiers in the Galwan valley in Eastern Ladakh on June 15. This led to a nationwide furore and the opposition leaders accused the government for remaining silent on the ongoing border crisis with China for over a month. It all started with[Read More…]
Anjana Hareesh (21), a queer-identified student from Kasargode district in Kerala, took her own life on 13th May 2020 while she was in Goa during the COVID 19 lockdown. According to the postmortem report, this was a case of suicide. We strongly condemn the purposeful and vengeful manufacturing of false narratives meant to criminalize Anjana’s life and her death, as[Read More…]
He was the apple of the eye for whom ever met him. It was only after we lost him that every one realised what that usage meant “apple of the eye”. To his mother, K was the baby boy who never ever grew up though he was 6 feet tall and had a striding gait. To his sister, he was[Read More…]
Bishnu Prasad Rava is known as a Cultural Icon, one of the triumvirates of Assam along with Jyoti Prasad Agarwala and Phani Sharma, whose death and birth anniversary is celebrated across the state in glittering events. His thousands of bust and life-size statues can be seen in school and college yards, inside university campuses, and office premises. Auditoriums and parks[Read More…]
To what standpoint have you raised the happiness of man? Has there ever been an age which has counted so many victims to humanity as the present? Has there ever been an age in which immorality and egotism have been greater or more dominant than in this one? The tree is known by its fruits. Mad men! With your imaginary[Read More…]
Again, they cheered, and again, the Schadenfreude chorus sounded off key. It was another atrocious week for US President Donald Trump, whose efforts to prevent the publication of his former national security adviser’s memoir seemed more than a touch childish. For one, John Bolton is hardly the administration’s most sympathetic figure. When he was admitted to the inner circle, it[Read More…]
More people have now died during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States than American soldiers died on the battlefields of World War I. The acknowledged death toll of U.S. soldiers in the “Great War” is 116,516. As of this writing, 119,112 have died from a coronavirus infection in the U.S. World War I is over. The COVID-19 pandemic marches[Read More…]
This poem was originally written on request and publicly recited by then Seattle Mayor, Norm Rice (a Black American) for the reopening of Key Arena and the Founders’ Fountain at the Seattle Center on 28 October 1995. At that time, what the poem expresses was an aspiration shared by the Mayor and me. Norm Rice did not make a speech[Read More…]
Hardly anyone — Jewish or otherwise — believes that the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) genuinely cares about the welfare of Christian, Muslim, and other non-Jewish minorities in the Middle East. After all, contrary to its claim to be a civil/human rights champion and “secure … fair treatment for all,” the ADL is essentially a political organization. So when it launched its[Read More…]
Reminder: The U.S. military that fought against fascist white supremacy (“Antifa,” if you will) during the Second World War was segregated. *** Army Chief of Staff General George S. Marshall bellowed during the “good” war: “Quit catering to the negroes’ desire for a proportionate share of combat units. Put them where they will best serve the war effort.” This usually meant[Read More…]
The title of John Bolton’s revenge insinuates highly explosive internal affairs by a guy who’s, besides the Chief of Staff, the most important person besides the President in the White House. John Bolton was President Donald Trump’s Adviser for National Security from 8 April 2018 until 10 September 2019, where Trump fired him. The question arises why Trump took Bolton[Read More…]
Statue of the founder of Zionism Theodor Herzl, unveiled in 2012 at the Mikveh Israel synagogue in Tel Aviv. It is called “Herzl meets Emperor Wilhelm II” Medium has just introduced Momentum, a Medium blog about the fight against anti-Black racism. Medium’s announcement says, Momentum is a blog that captures and reflects the moment we find ourselves in, one where rampant[Read More…]
On the evening of 15th June news began coming in of a commanding officer and two Indian soldiers having died in some remote area of Ladakh, in what appeared the most barbaric way. But, there was more to come. By midnight the ferocious, cave age encounter with stones, batons filled with nails and rods began emerging and the news of[Read More…]
Being un-employed is nothing less than a social stigma in contemporary times. This you can realise only if you are someone who is un-employed or has experienced the same. The modern society has been constructed in such a manner that there exists no existence for the un-employed youth. The community recognizes you only if you[Read More…]
The house of a Christian family was found ransacked in Hadgadwa, a village in the district of Latehar, which features in the Indian state of Jharkhand. Chhatru Munda and ChintamaniDevi returned home to their village, only to find the asbestos sheets which served as a roof, taken off their house and used by a family that lived nearby. With the[Read More…]
Current domestic developments in the Empire’s political-sphere are a re-exposure of an old fact – failure of the centuries-old bourgeois “republic”. The propagandists of the Empire engage all their skills to hide the fact, and sermonize to other countries: democracy, equal opportunity, rights. But, today, anyone from any peripheral country can ask: what about Minneapolis and the following developments, dear?[Read More…]
The government of Odisha says that about 5 lakhs of migrant workers have returned to Odisha (The Samaj 6th June). Near about 57.2 lakh of migrant workers have reached Uttar Pradesh and Bihar by train and 14 lakh of migrant workers to Madhya Pradesh (Source: Judgment declared on 9th June by the Supreme Court). What is the future of those[Read More…]
“If any event ever shook the collective conscience of the nation, the travails of Migrants labourers did” – Justice Madan B. Lokur ® After showing an unflinching and unquestionable trust on India’s ‘Executive’ and negating all Public Interest litigations, Supreme Court of India on 26th May 2020 – took sou motu cognizance of the problems of migrants’ labourers and poor.[Read More…]
The Central Government through its Finance Minister announced on 16th of May opening the mining sector to private parties both Indian and foreign and allowing the selling of the product in open market. In fact Jharkhand Government is already counting the incoming revenue of Rs. 2,500 crores from auction of 22 coal blocs and employment of 50,000 workmen. Jharkhand is[Read More…]
The World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 on June 17, 2020 informed: The world has now recorded more than 8 million cases of COVID-19. In the first two months, 85,000 cases were reported. But in the past two months 6 million cases have been reported. There have been more[Read More…]
A web of relationships between Turkey, Russia, Iran, and China have to a significant degree shaped Middle Eastern and North African geopolitics. The fragility of those relationships, however, begs the question whether fluidity in regional geopolitics rather than paradigm shifts is, at least for now, the name of the game. Fraught with multiple powder kegs that could blow up at[Read More…]
India was constructing some activities along its side of line of actual control in the Galvan valley and this Galvan Valley there was no real dispute on this. It was for long considered to be part of Indian territory. There was no such real dispute on the Galvan valley. But for the first time in more than four and[Read More…]
Co-Written by Gary Frase and Sandeep Pandey In United States and India today dark, demonic spirits seem to be gaining power. The murder of George Floyd by a policeman on 25 May, 2020, in Minneapolis has ignited an explosion of pent up anger over wide-spread racism and hatred that has for too long led to lynching of black people with[Read More…]
The decision by the Trump administration to sanction members of the International Criminal Court defies logic, in so far as there is any logic to sanctions. As a policy tool, such tools are supposedly designed to target specific members of a regime that has fallen into bad ways. In practice, they act as instruments of collective punishment. When used economically,[Read More…]
The Center for Pluralism and the supporting organizations welcome the Press Release by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) and the Annual report released by the U.S. Department of the State (DOS) in June 2020. The USCIRF made a recommendation to the DOS about the gross violations of religious freedoms in India and listed India as a[Read More…]
For almost a decade, I have been covering “Color Revolutions” in virtually all parts of the world. While making a film for TeleSur, I was facing Egyptian tanks, risking my life under sniper fire, getting roughed-up in the middle of clashes of the supporters of al-Sisi and Morsi. Together with Syrian commanders, I was also facing the terrorists in Idlib;[Read More…]
The world is facing its deepest crisis after the world wars. The legitimacy of Westphalian international systems and their post-war reincarnations are falling apart. The political parties are losing the public trust and people question their legitimacy. The states and governments are becoming hostage and facilitators of neoliberal capitalism, where people live in an environment of unfreedom and market oligarchs[Read More…]
In a country where the culture of arranged and forced marriage is the norm, marrying for love is an exception, and divorce or choosing to remain single is associated with social stigma; it can be argued that a financially empowered woman is better positioned to reverse these traditional social dynamics and bring about social change in the right direction. However,[Read More…]
As the brouhaha over the murder of George Floyd, a middle-aged African American, by Derek Chauvin, a white Minneapolis police officer, assumes centre-stage in the United States and around the world prodding countries to introspect and refurbish their social-structures; it makes sense to us Indians to look for what it has in store for India. The two scourges which culminated[Read More…]
Co-Written by Abhay Singh, Divyansh Prakash, Isha Garg, Jeevan Joseph, Ram Karthikeyan, Stuti Khandelwal The first traces of SARS-CoV-2 virus (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) were discovered in November, 2019 in Wuhan, China. Since then, the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has transformed from a local disease into a global pandemic. While countries across the world, rich and poor, are[Read More…]
With only one round of voting, Canada lost its bid to secure a Security Council (UNSC) seat at the UN today . (Wednesday, June 17, 2020). The result is what many domestic critics had hoped for, but in both foreign policy and domestic affairs it changes little – obviously, Canada remains off the UNSC and will continue with its usual[Read More…]
Let me rant for a moment. I don’t do it often, maybe ever. I’m not Donald Trump. Though I’m only two years older than him, I don’t even know how to tweet and that tells you everything you really need to know about Tom Engelhardt in a world clearly passing me by. Still, after years in which America’s streets were[Read More…]
Since the first case of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was diagnosed in December 2019 in Hubei province of China, it has swept across the world and galvanized global action. This has brought unprecedented efforts to institute the practice of physical distancing called in most cases “social distancing” in countries all over the world, resulting in changes in[Read More…]
The theme for this year’s Environment Day was ‘Time for Nature’. The global community chose to celebrate biodiversity in 2020 for its innumerous contributions. Primarily, biodiversity is relevant for food, water, timber, medicine, intrinsic value, religious beliefs, tourism, and life-supporting system. However, in this pandemic era, it has got even more to offer. Before discussing the impacts of COVID-19 on[Read More…]
Just a few days back, the chargesheet was filed by the Delhi police against a well-known Human Right activist and committed Gandhian Harsh Mander along with other activists. The Delhi police alleged that Mander had incited violence (mainly to those people who were protesting against anti-constitutional Act like CAA). As a result, Delhi riots took place in the month of February 2020,[Read More…]
[Inspired by renowned artist of Bengal Benimadhab’s artwork of Kali (woodcut litho print) which I received as a gift during the book launch of our anthology ‘Muffled Moans Unleashed’, done in collaboration with Green Tara Social Initiative, Kolkata, India.] The Kali in my being, a calcified truth of light overpowered by savage darkness. The Kali in my soul, a perpetual[Read More…]
Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899-1976) The Caste Hooligans – Part II – ( Jaater Naame Bajjati Shob ) Blinded even in daylight, do you see not How every moment of every day, this caste insanity In the grinding stone of its crushing mill Is pounding every one of you to pulp? The weight of your caste insanity is killing[Read More…]
Each war Each boundary dispute Multiplies human culture By zero It proclaims the helplessness Of literature and spiritual thoughts It answers the question why Buddhists like Lao Tzu Have forsaken the human world And withdrawn into icy silence There is no right or wrong side in War There is no war like one for justice Since war is the[Read More…]
The hounding of highly respected and eminent television journalist Vinod Dua by members of the ruling party is reminiscent of the days of Emergency from half a century ago when all independent voices were suppressed. Using multiple FIRs filed by ruling party members the Indian police has been intimidating and threatening to arrest Dua and others who have dared to[Read More…]
Kerala must lead by example in environmental & forest governance: Protect Western Ghats, Chalakudy River & Adivasi Livelihoods National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) calls upon the Govt. of Kerala to immediately withdraw its ‘revived’ proposal to construct the ecologically destructive Athirappilly Hydro Electric Project (HEP) in the heart of the Western Ghats. We take strong exception to the recent[Read More…]
Remembering the science and activism of Richard Levins in the time of corona The resurgence of infectious disease is but one manifestation of a more general crisis: the eco-social distress syndrome—the pervasive multilevel crisis of dysfunctional relations within our species and between it and the rest of nature…It is both a generic crisis of the human species and a specific[Read More…]
Health is one of the basic human rights of a human being. But this has always been undermined by the governments everywhere in the world, even though the UN has proclaimed–Health is a right. Some of the States have incorporated it in their constitution but it stands as a customary one. Majority of the countries don’t guarantee that none of[Read More…]
Co-authors: Er.M. Sree Rama, Dr M. Bapuji, M. Vijay kumar, M. Krishna Mohan Latest Situation of Covid-19 Mumbai alone, on June 17, reported 1,359 new Covid-19 positive cases and 77 deaths, taking the total number of coronavirus positive patients to 61,501 and the death toll 3,242, said Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. Maharashtra reported 3,307 new cases, and the total number of[Read More…]
During the early days of the coronavirus lockdowns, in some quarters there was a certain degree of optimism around. Although millions of people were suffering, the hope was that the Covid-19 crisis would shine light on societal and economic systems across the world, exposing some of the deep-rooted flaws of capitalism. There was a belief that people working together with their respective[Read More…]
The central government today initiated the auction of 41 coal blocks, including 20 of Jharkhand, for commercial mining. It again exposes the crony capitalism of the government. Ironically, the move, touted as an atmanirbhar initiative, takes away all ownership rights of the land owners and Gram Sabhas and opens up natural resources for more corporate plunder. It is deeply worrying[Read More…]
Indians are about 1 in 6 of the world’s people and how the World faces the existential threats of nuclear weapons and climate change, in addition to over-population, biodiversity loss and resource depletion, will impact India and vice versa. India needs to urgently stop population growth, biodiversity loss and loss of arable land. While the Developed World must embark on[Read More…]
U.S. President Donald Trump thought it would be “cool” to invade Venezuela but was persuaded not to by “Soviet-style propaganda” from Moscow, claims Trump’s former U.S. national security adviser John Bolton in book excerpts leaked to the press. Trump said invading Venezuela would be “cool” and described the Latin American country as “really part of the United States,” according to[Read More…]
It has long been said that countries in Southeast Asia take a dim view of the fourth estate. Various legal measures have been deployed against those irritable scribblers over the years: old, colonial-era security legislation; defamation suits; traditional forms of lengthy detention without charge. Such states have mastered the supreme sensibility of their colonial forebears: Maintain the appearance of propriety;[Read More…]
We know things are not going well in regards to India’s relationship with China. On 5th/6th May, China captured around sixty square kilometre of Indian territory in the Galwan Valley in Ladakh, which is strategically important to all the three countries in the region, China, India, and Pakistan. On 14th/15th June, around twenty Indian soldiers, including a colonel, were literally[Read More…]
(In response to Haseeb Drabu’s column published in GK dated 11-06-2020 ) Since few months, Shri Haseeb Drabu’s columns are carried by GK under a caption “posts for posterity” in its edit-pages. One is always within one’s right of thinking & asking, how much the opinions of a columnist, or a writer, howsoever big or small, he may be, hold[Read More…]
I met my dear friend Maryam in the spring of 1980. We studied at the same US University in Rhode Island. She was a couple of years older than me as she was doing her Masters in Sociology and Community Development. The very first conversation I had with her was on a Friday afternoon as all the foreign students were[Read More…]
What I can’t do is change my skin color for y’all… Just like when I go to work everyday, it’s a choice… no matter what happens in that day, good or bad, I chose it. When I was born I didn’t choose that. I didn’t choose to be the color I am, but I’m proud of who I am and[Read More…]
The great British rock group The Kinks, stars of the 60s ‘ British Invasion’ , outdid themselves in 1979 with ‘ Low Budget’. Check out these lyrics: Cheap is small and not too steep But best of all cheap is cheap Circumstance has forced my hand To be a cut price person in a low budget land Times are hard[Read More…]
The killing of Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta in a Wendy’s parking lot by Officer Garrett Rolfe is a reflection not only of racism, but also the transformation of police from protector to predator, and the criminalization of social problems like DWI. Officer Garrett Rolfe was a reputed “expert” in detecting drunk driving. “Failing” sobriety test automatically leads to arrest, slapping[Read More…]
Introduction Hidden Figures is an American biographical film based on the role of female Afro-American scientists in space missions to NASA in the second half of twentieth century. The[Read More…]
The banning of deadly police practices by many American states and cities following the murder of an African American man, George Floyd, at the hands of Minneapolis police officers is, once more, shedding light on US-Israeli collaboration in the fields of security and crowd-control. From California to New York, and from Washington State to Minneapolis, all forms of neck restraints[Read More…]
Darren Sammy has revealed he faced racism in India at a time when the world is battling racism. India needs to join this fight. Darren Sammy, the famous all-rounder from West Indies, is a legend. He has led his country team and is the only captain to have won two T20 World Cups, in 2012 and 2016. His achievements in[Read More…]
We’re all mindful about the tragedy which has taken place recently, yes I’m talking about Sushant Singh Rajput’s suicide, I thought even I should talk about the importance of mental well-being here. The news has stunned all of us since at some place or the other we were associated with him even despite the fact that it was through web-based[Read More…]
Flunked out of the shramik special, dignity of labour wails! It breathed its last when a toddler tugged at the corpse of his (or her) dead mother at the railway platform. It died when a 20 something was found dead not before four days, in the toilet of a shramik special. It has died a thousand deaths ever since the [Read More…]
A civilization reveals itself as fruitful by its ability to incite others to imitate it: when it no longer dazzles them it is reduced to a mere collection of odds and ends and vestiges of former worldly greatness. The successive attempts of Napoleon and Hitler to create a world empire failed, as the United States of North[Read More…]
“Movement” politics is how the people flex their power, while electoral politics under the corporate duopoly is the domain of the moneyed classes. — Glen Ford, Black Agenda Report While it’s myth that after the stock market crash of 1929, brokers pitched themselves off of tall buildings in Lower[Read More…]
” I am what time, circumstance, history have made of me, certainly; but I am also much more than that, So are we all” – James Baldwin. With the sad news, which broke on a Sunday afternoon, the pictures of Sushant Singh Rajput were trending all across the media outlets and social media platforms. People from different walks of life[Read More…]
Over 44 million U.S. citizens lost jobs as authorities introduced lockdown measures aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus, officially COVID-19, disease. The U.S. is finding a decline in the jobless rate. Lines in front of Food Banks are increasing. The U.S. Federal Reserve forecast on employment and the overall economic situation, which is said to be the most[Read More…]
The death of 20 soldiers on the Indo Chinese border at the LAC during the ‘de-escalation’ of the forces is shocking to say the least. The incident is reported to be of 15-16th June night and as per reports not a single bullet was fired. The government did not say anything except that during the day the army made a[Read More…]
The World Health Organization (WHO) first announced COVID-19 as a world health crisis in January 2020. Since the virus was first diagnosed in Wuhan, China, it has been actively discovered in over 190 countries.[1] In early March, the point of convergence of infections transferred from China to Europe, especially Italy and Spain, but by April 2020, the virus was all[Read More…]
Co-Written by Sanket Nayak and Abhimanyu Hazarika Recent coverage of events outside the national and financial capitals reopens the debate of improving regional disparities in news Three natural tragedies have hit eastern parts of India over the last few weeks, each of a major scale. The latest of them being the oilfield blowout, now turned into a raging fire,[Read More…]
Things along the Indian-Chinese border in the Himalayas have rarely lacked interest, notably along the secretive, heavily patrolled 3,488 km Line of Actual Control. Neither China nor India have ever quite sorted out their differences on that front, plagued by territorial claims over unclearly demarcated boundaries. The administration of Narendra Modi might well have wooed global governments, but China’s Xi[Read More…]
Death of George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks due to the excessive force exhibited by the policemen raises two crucial constitutional points in the context of liberty as enshrined in the fifth amendment of the American Constitution. The preamble of United Nations constitution begins with the words, ‘we the people’. However till the 24th amendment the racial discrimination was not prohibited[Read More…]
A storm has risen in America and Europe. Under the influence of that storm, we, in India, are experiencing a gentle breeze. An African-American man named George Floyd had been a victim of racism in the United States, and the storm of protest is due to his death in police custody. In India, people on social media are once again[Read More…]
Dalit and Bahujan lives, safety, and dignity continue to expendable in Uttar Pradesh (U.P). It is the ideological and geopolitical heartland of the ‘Hindu Rashtra’ model of the political nation-state, and the suppression and relentless alienation of Dalits and Muslims is central to its machinations. U.P was the state with the highest recorded atrocities against Dalits according to NCRB data[Read More…]
In a text message, mobile phone operator Robi asked me, other users as well, to stay with it saying that the government has imposed 15 per cent taxes on talks. National Democratic Front’ president Dr MA Karim and general secretary Brigadier General (retired) M Jahangir Hussain in a joint statement rejecting the national budget for the fiscal year 2020-2021, saying[Read More…]
White Supremacist’s Burning of Tulsa’s Greenwood District in 1921 Tulsa Race Riot Massacre. As the world watched with President Donald Trump the spontaneous reactions of so much racism, police brutality, social protests, burning and looting spread throughout the streets of America and the world over the murder of George Floyd, the world overheard Trump declare, “These Aren’t My Voters!” (http://msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-has-privately-dismissed-protestors-saying-those-arent-my-voters-report/ar-BB15pGLa)[Read More…]
Co-Written by Medea Benjamin and Leonardo Flores Credit: Cubacooperation A team of 85 Cuban doctors and nurses arrived in Peru on June 3 to help the Andean nation tackle the coronavirus pandemic. That same day, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced another tightening of the sanctions screws. This time he targeted seven Cuban entities, including Fincimex, one of the principal[Read More…]
Three Indian soldiers were killed during a “violent face-off” with Chinese troops along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh. The incident occurred during a “deescalation process” underway in the Galwan Valley in the disputed Aksai Chin-Ladakh area, where a large troop build up has reportedly been taking place for weeks now on both sides of the border, before[Read More…]
Freedom, one of the most mischievous concepts, covers much and many: individual, society, country, class, philosophy, political science, jurisprudence, teacher, student, education-boss, artist, author, singer, worker, capitalist, economic, political, ecological, cultural, ideological, conscience, thought, expression, association, press, plunder, exploit, appropriate, expropriate, dominate, protest, resist, revolt, overthrow domination. In cases, opposing positions arise. The positions clash regularly, and invariably. With varied[Read More…]
“I’m a trained engineer, so I’m conditioned to come up with a right answer to a difficult question, but when it comes to art, there is no definite answer because it’s so subjective.” Talented young actor Sushant Singh Rajput is now no more with us. The boy from Patna who left a career in Engineering to pursue acting, will[Read More…]
Bill to recognize TAR (Tibet) as an ‘independent country’ introduced in US House of Representatives on May 19, 2020. “There has been pressure on India by USA …to come down heavily on China… US pressure regarding Taiwan, Tibet…ThePrint, 13 May, 2020. World should give recognition to Taiwan and Tibet -Comment in wionews.com, May 20, 2020. “Join anti-China global platform… Revise[Read More…]
Jets from Turkey carried out cross-border airstrikes on Monday targeting the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the Turkish Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, announced Turkish authorities. A source in the area told Kurdistan 24 the Turkish fighter jets launched the attack at midnight, targeting several locations in the Shingal (Sinjar) district, and several locations close to the Makhmour refugee camp, which[Read More…]
Dear Baiju, Wonder where you are…but somewhere inside the minds of some of your friends we know that you are there walking your gentle and quick steps like the swift barking deer in the dense undergrowth of the cool evergreens of Vazhachal along the Chalakkudy River close to your family – your mother, wife and 3 children you gifted to [Read More…]
India is now being seen as a hotbed of hatred, nescience, Hindutva Fascism, Islamophobia and deep rooted Anti-Muslim pogroms. Having the history of crimes against Muslims right from it’s existence- the largest minority in the country, the recent past has witnessed a record high upheaval in the dissemination of Hate propaganda and Islamophobia egged on by the ruling party itself.[Read More…]
On 30 May 2020, Iyad Hallaq, a 32 year old autistic man, was killed by Israeli Police. This poem is an encapsulation and remembrance of Iyad Hallaq’s agonizing death. In the subdued sighs of oppression I always remember you. In the craggy crevices of colonialism, I find your helpless heart pulsating in pain. From the blood beplastered barrel of gun,[Read More…]
When the superseding indictment was returned by a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia against Julian Assange on May 23, 2019, there was one glaring omission. It was an achievement, it might even be said the achievement, that gave the WikiLeaks publisher and the organisation justified notoriety. Collateral Murder, as the leaked video came to be called,[Read More…]
Israeli soldier executing the kidnapping of several Nahalin villagers southeast of Bethlehem in the West Bank, including Mohammad Afif Fannoun, on June 12, 2020 When you visualize it, as I try to, what does Israel’s forthcoming annexation of parts of the West Bank look like to you? I mean, what images do you expect to see when Israel makes its declaration,[Read More…]
Last week several articles were published in the Swiss, Canadian and US press informing that Nestlé S.A. was considering to sell all its bottled water brands in the US and Canada. As written in this article : https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nestle-sharpens-water-focus-on-international-premium-mineral-and-functional-brands-while-exploring-strategic-options-for-parts-of-north-american-business-301074652.html “Nestlé S.A.’s Board of Directors today approved a new strategic direction for its Water business. The company will sharpen its focus on[Read More…]
It came like a Force of Nature; a Super Cyclone with an eye 30 kilometers wide and bearing winds that peaked at 230 kms per hour and constituted the 2nd strongest ever storm to emerge from the Bay of Bengal. The sustained energy carved its way through North Eastern Kolkata for nearly 8 hours and it felt like the city[Read More…]
Bharat Gandhi alias Vishwatma is author of number of books including ‘Rediscovering Democracy.’ His booklet ‘Bring Votership, Remove Poverty,’ has been published seven times. He is the leader of Voters Party International and originally belongs to Janupur, Uttar Pradesh. He is known for advocating a monthly votership or pension of around Rs. 6,000 per month (according to 2016 rates) for[Read More…]
{As a preface to this column, this writer has been an adherent of the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda. Thus, I believe wholeheartedly in the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, and that he was truly ‘ Anointed with the Christ spirit’.} This Sunday morning I decided to drive to the beach and take a walk along the shore. Using our very[Read More…]
‘You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations.’ Letter from Birmingham Jail written by Martin Luther King Jr, in 1963 on the margins of a newspaper in an Alabama Jail was an answer to some ‘white’ clergymen who[Read More…]
On the edge of annihilation, a tiny virus rimmed by an aging sun draws on the sap of bread earned by man The conquistador of Nature, the hunter, the seeker — all have stopped The seller sadly winds his words in a lonely home Television sets blare old shows Man depressed into unrest slowly crawls towards the rim[Read More…]
A mob of religious extremists severely assaulted a Christian Pastor and his wife in a village named Pinjore in the Panchkula district in Haryana, India. On the 14th of June, a Christian family living in Pinjore requested Pastor Tomy Joseph and his wife, Veena to visit them. Within 5 minutes after reaching the home of the believer, a mob of[Read More…]
Bangalore With Migrants is a coalition of volunteers and organisations who have come together to respond to the crises around migrants resulting from the announcement of the lockdown. Since March we have been working to help the migrants meet their basic needs of food and shelter, and also to travel back to their home if they wish to do so.[Read More…]
The shape of carbonate sands. (a) 3D scans of the 18 Heron particles using a Hirox RH2000 microscope equipped with MXB2016Z. (b) Estimation of the projected area of the particles by considering the particles as different geometric shapes (squares, circles, rectangles, or ellipses). Source: Scientific Reports The method of accounting sand is important for understanding the way reefs, atolls and[Read More…]
We all have been there – one news or the other. Whether they are the seemingly beneficial WhatsApp messages shared by our concerned relatives in the family group or thought-provoking news headlines of the articles shared in Facebook. Fake news has now been an imminent part of social media and websites. Along with using fact checking websites and apps (like[Read More…]
A Man Forced to Die with His Face Pressed to the Ground May Yet Shift the Earth Under Your Feet They were relegated to the protest equivalent of a ghetto. Their assigned route shunted them to the far fringes of the city. Their demonstration was destined for an ignominious demise far from any main thoroughfare, out of sight of most[Read More…]
Co-Written by Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers The current uprising against police violence and racism is just beginning. It is rapidly shifting public consciousness on issues of policing, violence against Black people and others, and systemic racism. The movement is deepening and becoming broader as well as putting forward solutions and making demands. The confluence of crises including recent police violence,[Read More…]
Donald Trump claims to be the law-and-order president of the United States. There does not seem much sign of this as the stitching of the Republic gets undone. Protestors have been given a considerable roughing up across several states; police forces are in retreat before proposals of defunding while protocols for arrests are being changed. Police chiefs are resigning and,[Read More…]
“…history is potent enough to deliver, on time, in the medium to long run, most of the possible scenarios, and to eventually bury the bad guy.” Nassim Nicolas Taleb, Fooled by Randomness This essay assumes a personal and historical tone during time of global unrest. It is my response to the murder of George Floyd and seeks to re-imagine what could[Read More…]
Just a few days back on 11th June 2020, PM Modi has addressed 95th annual plenary session of Indian Chamber of Commerce, (ICC) via video conference in Kolkata. While addressing the members of the ICC, he stressed the need for building a Self-reliance economy in India including in the case of Kolkata in the post-COVID-19 world. Our Prime Minister[Read More…]
Well, in education, peace is a state where teacher, teaching, taught, structure and infrastructure becomes one. The ultimate goal of teaching is to promote learning that is why education means enabling the mind to find out the ultimate truth, which emancipates us from the bondage of dust and which gives us wealth not of things but of inner light,[Read More…]
Datta Sonawane, 57, who was the President of the Indian Airports Employees Union expired on 13th June 2020 of Covid 19 at the ESI Hospital at Kandivli, Mumbai. Datta was a contract worker at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport at Mumbai in its trolley department. He joined work at the airport in the year 1993, And by 1994 he and[Read More…]
In the First Biennial Update Report to the UNFCCC, the Government of India projected that India’s primary energy use would go from 397 Mtoe in 2006-07 to 1823 Mtoe in 2030. GDP would grow at the rate of 9%. Primary energy supply including gathered noncommercial fuels such as fuelwood and dung would grow at 5.8% per year. Commercial energy supply[Read More…]
The profession of journalism in the conflict zone is very challenging, difficult and risky. There is a very thin line which determines balance of the loyalty, bias and narrative of a journalist in support or against the conflicting sides of the conflict. This is the fundamental reason that a lot of journalists lost their lives in the conflict regions or[Read More…]
Demands for accountability and sweeping reforms mounted Saturday after Atlanta police shot and killed Rayshard Brooks, a 27-year-old black man, Friday night amid a wave of global protests against police violence and systemic racism sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis late last month. In a message to Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms on Saturday, the Georgia NAACP tweeted that[Read More…]
With India Nepal relations entering a deep freeze, a section of Indian media, particularly Hindi, has turned ultra-nationalist, uncritically toeing the establishment’s line. Ever since Nepal opposed India laying a road on the border and claiming Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh, and Kalapani as parts of its territory, the media has failed to analyse the situation critically. Instead of taking the matter[Read More…]
Europe is progressively being sucked into the Middle East and North Africa’s myriad conflicts. As if wars on its doorstep in Libya and Syria were not enough, UAE support for an Eastern Mediterranean pipeline that could hurt Qatar economically — combined with Greek, Cypriot and French opposition to Turkish moves — leaves Europe with few, if any, options but to[Read More…]
Putting your destiny into the hands of a drug company is much like seeking reassurances from an opportunistic pimp. The returns are bound to mixed, dressed up in deceptive language. The promises, however, are always remarkable. The back-breaking pace in finding a vaccine for COVID-19 is something that is bringing out the pimps of industry, notably those in Big Pharma.[Read More…]
The COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected the functioning of colleges and schools all over the world since March. However, these educational institutions are expected to be re-opened after August 2020. But these campuses are needed to take measures to prevent students getting affected by the pandemic. Several countries have successfully combated the challenges brought by the pandemic. Taiwan is one[Read More…]
The woe of the victim families of the Gujarat riots of 2002 continues unabated. Even 18 years after that horrendous communal program the victims are living in utter neglect. Close to two lakh people were displaced in the 2002 Gujarat riots. These people remained displaced for more than a year then some Muslim relief organizations, along with a few local[Read More…]
A Church building was set ablaze by unknown miscreants in the dead of the night on the 13th of June 2020 in Chengalpattu,district in Tamil Nadu. Pastor Ramesh Jebrajwho who is blind from birth leads the ‘Church of True Peace’ in Chengalpattu said that the Church was burnt to such an extent that the acoustic drum kit, 40 new mats[Read More…]
At my teens from Sunday church I wandered in old small town looking birds listening old band near traditional coffin workshop where many variety coffins stacked When grown up as a student Study of funerals were my interest as it was rituals and traditions show the drama of true life on earth our real live theater Witnessed looked heard read[Read More…]
In America, there were huge protests over the murder of black man, George Floyd, by a white police personnel of Minneapolis Police Department which made a discomfiting observation because its root cause lies in two nefarious practices: racism and police brutality. The combination which killed George Floyd. Racism refers to superiority of one race over another while police brutality is[Read More…]
The University College , Thiruvananthapuram, is one of the oldest and prestigious Institutions of Higher Education in India, established in the year 1866 to impart English Education to the common folk of the erstwhile Travancore by H H Sri Ayilyam Thirunal Ramavarma Maharaja. The then Principal of the College was John Ross, a scholar of great repute. Having reached sequicententinnial [Read More…]
For nearly a half a century — almost as long as the United Nations has been in existence — the General Assembly has recognized the need to establish such a court to prosecute and punish persons responsible for crimes such as genocide. Many thought that the horrors of the Second World War — the camps, the cruelty, the exterminations,[Read More…]
The Bernie Sanders candidacy is over but has left wide-ranging downstream effects. These include a resurgence of class consciousness and realisation of the necessity of a class analysis in frontal politics. Can the aborted candidacy of Bernie Sanders in the 2020 U.S. presidential election be looked at as merely a thrust to his party’s attenuating working class support base? Isn’t[Read More…]
On 1 June, 2020, Devika, a Dalit child of fourteen from Kerala committed suicide by burning herself alive for want of a functioning television set on which to continue her studies. And now she is a name, a picture, and a tragic spectacle, like so many that appear and vanish on the mobile phones, flatscreens, and laptops of the upper[Read More…]
The world wide covid19 outbreak has once again exposed the hopelessness of Western capitalist economies. While the socialist one prioritizes public health and social welfare, the other seeks profit even in the time of pandemic. The magnitude of the repercussions of this greed for profit is yet to be understood. Why is there such a drastic difference in responding to[Read More…]
On 24th March, 2020, the Prime Minister of India has declared the nationwide lockdown due to global widespread of Covid 19. As a result, the entire businesses, works, and economy have shut down leading to enormous losses of jobs and livelihood. Consequently thousands of daily wage labours from different states (mainly big urban cities) have started migrating back to their[Read More…]
On 24 March 2020, the Prime Minister of India ordered a nationwide lockdown for 21 days, suddenly limiting the movement of 1.3 billion Indians as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 pandemic. Millions of urban migrant workers lost their livelihoods and were trapped thousands of miles away from their native villages. Due to the lockdown, more than 350 deaths were[Read More…]
According to the 213th Law Commission Report, there are more than 4 Million bounced cheque cases pending in various courts in India and new bounced cheque cases are piling up every day. It is predicted that such cases will add to the kitty in the pandemic of Coronavirus. Confederation of All India Traders(CAIT) took up this matter with the Indian Finance Minister[Read More…]
America has two lessons for India right now, one for the government and one for the people – 1) The government should not ally with a falling power (America) against a rising power (China), notwithstanding India’s racist outlook towards the Chinese and its disgustingly servile love for the white of colour. 2) Protests can and must happen despite coronavirus. In[Read More…]
We need to find a way Homo sapiens can live in a symbiotic relationship with Nature that allows both our species and all other organic and inorganic matter on this planet to recycle and renew. Academia throughout the world can make the difference by collective global action forcing those in government country by country to understand what it will take[Read More…]
I can’t breath Allow me to breath Not just because I want to live But because I have every right to live Stop me from taking breath Just because I belong to a different colour Colour does not make me any lesser of a person Who cannot have even a liberty to breath My forefathers have fought Just[Read More…]
It is easy to forget how explicitly racist British society was within living memory. I’m not talking about unconscious prejudice, or social media tropes. I’m talking about openly celebrating racism in the public space, about major companies making racism integral to their brand, a selling-point. Roberston’s, Britain’s leading jam maker, made their orange marmalade sweeter to generations of (white) British[Read More…]
Co-Written by Punsara Amarasinghe & Nalaka Jayasena While writing an article to the famous Foreign Affairs, American polymath Joseph Nye jubilantly remarked that the COVID 19 will not make any power shift in the world order and his position connotes that the US hegemony which has been fortified as the sole power since the collapse of the USSR is likely[Read More…]
Modi represents contradictory character of Hindutva politics to hide its fascist character. The political history of so-called Hindu nationalism is neither consistency nor chaos. But it is a methodological contradiction in shaping the power of national and international capital in India with the help of state power. The people of India have been beguiled by the claim of Modi’s consistent[Read More…]
Conduct Impartial Inquiry into Questionable Obstruction of Public Pathways by Provincial Armed Constabulary National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) expresses solidarity with the ongoing people’s struggle against alleged arbitrary obstruction of public pathway by the Provincial Armed Force (PAC) of Uttar Pradesh Govt. in Sitapur District. We also express outrage at the fact that instead of taking action against the[Read More…]
Co-Written by Abhay Jain and Sandeep Pandey Unable to resolve its border disputes with Pakistan and China, India has now managed to create a dispute with Nepal in the process of building a road to Kailash Mansarovar in Tibet through areas which are claimed by Nepal. History has taught us that such disputes will require disproportionate attention and resources and[Read More…]
America’s pundits and politicians have largely concluded that a new Cold War with China — a period of intense hostility and competition falling just short of armed combat — has started. “Rift Threatens U.S. Cold War Against China,” as a New York Times headline put it on May 15th, citing recent clashes over trade, technology, and responsibility for the spread of Covid-19. Beijing’s decision[Read More…]
“The best way to make children good is to make them happy.” (Oscar Wilde) The above quoted line by a famous poet and author Oscar Wilde is very true, as children are the future of the world. However, in present world there is growing concern about the children, who instead of being in schools or at play[Read More…]
In the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir,the worthy Commissioner Secretary Education, Dr Asgar Hassan Samoon, has tweeted yesterday that the local teachers/ lecturers may volunteer themselves for the community schooling in their Mohallas/ Villages with parental support and strict adherence to the SOPs and precautions. The teaching community mostly in the valley showed the tremendous response to the tweet[Read More…]
The brutal killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis has thrust the issue of police brutality on the consciousness of the whole world. There have been expressions of protests throughout the world, including in places like Syria and Greece. Police brutality has a long history in the United States. In southern, cotton-producing US, a lot of the early policing was linked[Read More…]
Alarm bells are ringing and heard from various quarters about the direction of Sri Lanka being piloted by the military machine of Rajapakahe’s clan led by the military mindset President Gotabaya Rajapakshe who has a penchant to in tolerate criticism and opposition from any source and not hesitating to eliminate them by any means. President Gotabaya was not involved in[Read More…]
The recent three major legislations by central Govt. on agriculture produce marketing is going to impact the small producers in agriculture sector of India. Already there has been change in other sectors such as mining, industry and business to invite more FDI and facilitate the free play of private companies. The Essential commodities Act 1956 amendment removed Cereals, pulses, oil[Read More…]
Invisible millions In urban life, the hard physical, often demeaning and life-threatening work (cleaning out sewage manholes/drains or handling stinking garbage) is done by the lowest paid workers. These occupations are vital for urban life. For example, if urban garbage (thousands of tonnes per day in a big city) is not cleared regularly, life becomes unbearable and lays urbanites open[Read More…]
While I am following closely various discussions on Western mass media and social media, simultaneously engaging in several direct exchanges, one overwhelming leitmotif that I see is clearly emerging: “What is happening in the United States (and the UK, France and other parts of Western Empire) is not really about the race. Let us protest peacefully, let us not allow[Read More…]
Malcolm X made some comments on December 1 1963, less than two weeks after the murder of JFK. It was instantly misrepresented by the mainstream media ( as they always seem to do, when dealing with any sort of perceived radical thinking) and he was terribly vilified. In a subsequent one on one interview, Malcolm explained his statement this way:[Read More…]
With the outbreak of COVID-19, educational institutions had to change their mode of teaching. Though virtual teaching is not something new, but doing it on a daily basis has made it a new normal. Educational institutions started an online mode of teaching to recommence the studies. Now when teachers and students get ready in the morning, it is to gear[Read More…]
CO-Written by Surabhi Agarwal, Shobha Shukla, Bobby Ramakant and Sandeep Pandey It is becoming increasingly obvious that the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic over the last 3 months has failed on almost every front. Not only has the government been unsuccessful in containing the exponential spread of the disease but has through its actions given rise to one of[Read More…]
June 5th 2020 dawned clear and bright, rain-washed and hauntingly beautiful in their tribal hamlet of Sambarkodu in Attapady region of Palakkad , Kerala. Appu and his friends were all prepared to participate in the outdoor activities being planned today by the elders including their mothers and aunts. Amidst the lockdown that had taken away their freedom and lightness of[Read More…]
The number of infections apart – 298283 till date –, glaring still is the monumental tragedy affecting the working class. Migrant workers got battered; Muslims scapegoated; slum dwellers damned for not maintaining social distancing norms. The Union Home Ministry abdicated its responsibility of getting the workers safely to their home states right at the commencement of lockdown I. The Union[Read More…]
The State’s knee for 8 minutes and 46 seconds on a Black man’s neck. That’s what it took BLACK LIVES MATTER America to take to the young but deadly pandemic streets like there was no tomorrow. And it’s been the same since. Michael Cruse… killed a man before for running a stop sign… He was fired from the police department…[Read More…]
With the return of troops from front lines and end of confrontation at LAC, with statement from China that ‘Positive Consensus’ with India over border dispute, it is evident that diplomatic relations, though primarily were appeared weak, but seem to be on track again, however this episode also has given an insight to both sides that hope exists in strengthening[Read More…]
‘Sense of Belongingness “ to the society he or she is living in is one key ingredient in a life of a civilian. This often tweaked with extreme dimensions. The perversion of “ sense of belongingness “ by ruling class leads to consider no sharing of collective interests but impose an intense and selfish interest on entire society. This causes[Read More…]
Malappuram, Kerala’s lone Muslim-majority district, made history recently. The 5,000 mosques in the district would remain closed indefinitely. Logic behind this decision is simple. As the state is witnessing spike in Coronavirus infection recently, it was found more prudent to keep the doors closed for devotees. (https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/mosques-unite-to-stay-closed/cid/1779566?ref=search-page) Panakkad Sayyed Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal, a leading Islamic Scholar and Malappuram district[Read More…]
When I heard that the Atlas Cycle Company was closed, I really felt sad. It is one of our very good companies and it had an international reputation. I hope its crisis is temporary and it will reopen soon. I think it should lead to introspection about our country, our government’s policies and the attitude of the Indian middle classes[Read More…]
Co-authored by K Rajasekharan Nayar, Anant Kumar, Arathi P Rao, and Lekha D. Bhat When unknown entities affect humans, they become unsteady especially during crucial times. This leads to ambiguous decision-making with respect to a number of key issues and factors. What happened when COVID-19 struck the world in the form of a pandemic is not different. A number of[Read More…]
The Karnataka government led by a senior RSS whole-timer, B.S. Yediyurappa is going to honour Hindutva icon, VD Savarkar by naming two of the newly built major flyovers in Bangalore and Mangalore after him. There was a huge uproar against this decision of the RSS-BJP government as many pro-Kannada organisations with opposition parties and liberal-secular organizations questioned the logic to[Read More…]
This 28th May 2020, Savarkar was in the news yet again. While the opposition parties in Karnatka opposed the naming of Yelahanka flyover in the name of Savarkar, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi while paying tribute to him said that Savarkar inspired many to join freedom struggle. The opposition to Just close to an year before, the Maharashtra BJP, while[Read More…]
It’s the sort of thing that ruffled the image of a composed and tranquil existence. In some countries, doing away with political leaders is a periodic affair, deemed necessary to clean the stables. But in Sweden, change is barely discernible, stability nigh guaranteed and institutions revered. “It’s in the tradition of Sweden to put itself forth as a moral role[Read More…]
Though I personally never had a chance to meet Safoora Zargar, Devangana Kalita or Natasha Narwal, I feel this thought might have come across their minds, even in the feeblest possible way. Jamia student, Safoora, who is 21 weeks pregnant, has been denied bail and shifted to Tihar jail. A would-be mother has been sentenced to share a crowded jail[Read More…]
Racism can be understood as a belief that one race is superior or inferior to other. It is not a yesterday’s thing rather it holds its long roots since ages which is still being witnessed in modern era. In USA again there occurred an heinous act which led to the shame on the entire world’s humane behaviour. On monday, 25[Read More…]
In this crucial moment, all of us who desire change should begin to think very carefully about a unified message and a coherent, organizing principle in the fight against endemic racism and police brutality in this country. I believe the message should be simple, yet radical: a complete abolition of the police in this nation. There are many reasons for[Read More…]
Erkin Oncan interviews Andre Vltchek EO: How do you evaluate the George Floyd protests? Do these actions lead to a positive permanent change in the country? Is there a possibility like that? AV: George Floyd’s death was the last drop, at least for many. The country has exploded. Or more precisely, many of those who were, for years and decades[Read More…]
A 32-year-old man with the mental age of an 8-year-old child was executed by Israeli soldiers on May 30, while crouching behind his teacher near his special needs school in the Old City of Jerusalem. The cold-blooded murder of Iyad al-Hallaq might not have received much attention if it were not for the fact that it took place five days[Read More…]
![The ruins of a mosque in the forcibly depopulated Palestinain village of Hittin, located a few kilometers west of Tiberias [Photo credit: Jehad Abu Rayya]](https://cdn.countercurrents.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/palestine-mosque-200x150.jpg "Don’t call me Ishmael; don’t call me Israel — call me one democratic state! 736")
“Who excavates Muslim Palestinian graves and mosques in [Palestine’s] depopulated towns and why?”, asks Haifa-based Palestinian advocate Jehad Abu-Rayya. “Recently,” he goes on, “these desecrations have been on the increase — In the village of Beit Jibreen, in the village of Al-Lajjun, in the village of Amwas, in the village of Al-Ghabisiya, village of Hittin — and these are only a few of such[Read More…]
The Coronavirus pandemic has forced the world into an uncharted territory, where businesses suffer with unpredictability, and people look at the future with hopeless abyss. The fragile global, national and local systems are becoming more fragile, in which risks and crisis causing esoteric turmoil in human lives. The crisis is proliferating in every step of human lives, institutions, and networks.[Read More…]
Nazareth: In the near-two decades since the International Criminal Court was set up to try the worst violations of international human rights law, it has faced harsh criticism for its highly selective approach to the question of who should be put on trial. Created in 2002, the court, it was imagined, would act as a deterrent against the erosion of[Read More…]
The Staunch FighterFor The Communist Revolutionary Cause The UCCRI(ML) condoles the passing away of Comrade Gananath Patro, a prominent Communist Revolutionary leader hailing from the State of Odisha. He breathed his last at 4.50 pm on Saturday 6th June 2020 at his home in Rourkela, Odisha. With advancing age and suffering from various ailments he was bedridden for the last[Read More…]
The mainstream print media never tires of speaking up in favour of Public Interest Litigation (PIL). However in a recent article ‘The Rise and Fall of The PIL’ by Mr. Harish Salve (The Times of India, 05.06.2020) the author has been critical of PILs but in a selective way. As certain points raised by him cannot be left uncontested and[Read More…]
For the last eighteen years Countercurrents.org has emerged as truly as the voice of the diverse set of activists working on human rights, freedom of expression, climate change, nationality questions, caste and race questions, gender discourse. It has emerged as the voice of the oppressed and all those denied rights. It emerged as a true alternative media. The force behind[Read More…]
Romi Mahajan: Jaideep, you have written several stories about the abject condition of migrant workers in India, being set adrift by the government. Can you give us a sense of what is going on? JH: Simply put, people are wanting to go home. Millions were stranded, unemployed, without food or money, unable to stay back at the places they migrated[Read More…]
25 June 2020 will mark the 45th anniversary of the infamous Emergency imposed on India. On this day, we call upon all Indian citizens to launch a peaceful, non-violent nationwide movement to fight against the SUPER EMERGENCY the country is being subjected to today. This can only be done through upholding the Indian Constitution, contributions to nation building, organizing resistance to[Read More…]
At last another tyrant is going to face trial at The International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of carrying out genocide, mass murder and crimes against humanity upon a large ethnic group. Omar Al-Bashir, ex-dictator of Sudan who was ousted by a popular uprising in 2019 will be extradited to the Hague, the headquarter of the ICC. It has recently[Read More…]
I grew up with the idea that we all are little distressed of what we are, where we live and what life does to us. Yet, since childhood, either I tried to settle this conundrum with the ancient sayings of finding satisfaction in what I have, or accepting something like “this is what God has had for you”. The meanings[Read More…]
On this day, June 9th, 1967, Israel’s sea and air forces knowingly attacked the USS Liberty in international waters off of the coast of Egypt’s Gaza Strip in an undeclared Act of War that killed 34 U.S. Navy serviceman, while seriously injuring over 174 other American sailors. Following the attack, the captain and entire crew of the USS Liberty, then[Read More…]
Be wary what you protest about. The modern moral constabulary are out, and they are assisted by their Silicon Valley friends in the Social Media club. Should you dare take a stand on anything, especially in a dramatic way, you will be found out and eviscerated on the altar of hypocrisy. The latest round of huffing and strutting on moral[Read More…]
Co-Written by Morgan Palumbo & Jessica Draper It was a bare-knuckle brawl of the first order. It took place in Washington, D.C., and it resulted in a KO. The winners? Lobbyists and the defense industry. The losers? Us. And odds on, you didn’t even know that it happened. Few Americans did, which is why it’s worth telling the story of[Read More…]
Winter is the cruelest season of all the season. Cruel like a tyrant or an oppressor. It kills what is green, deforms what is beautiful and dethrones the pleasurable seasons. No mercy it shows to the old, kids, women and men-all are tortured by its harshness, barbarianism and its ruthlessness. Tyranny knows no gender,[Read More…]
In recent times, a surge in a wave of protest shook the United States of America against the killing of George-Floyd, an African-American citizen, by the US police. The democrats from all over the world have sympathised with this protest. At about the same time Phanidhar Borah died in Jajori in Nagaon district of Assam as a result of[Read More…]
United Nations defines child labour as work, which deprives children of their childhood, their dignity, and potential, and that is harmful to their physical and mental health. It refers to the work that interferes with the schooling of the children and becomes a drag on their overall development. Child labour started with the onset of the Industrial Revolution in Britain in the[Read More…]
“I’ve been thinking about the patience Of ordinary things, how clothes Wait respectfully in closets And soap dries quietly in the dish, And towels drink the wet From the skin of the back. And the lovely repetition of stairs. And what is more generous than a window?” – Pat Schneider We take ordinary things and ordinary days for granted. Like[Read More…]
Co-Written by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J S Davies On June 1, President Trump threatened to deploy active-duty U.S. military forces against peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters in cities across America. Trump and state governors eventually deployed at least 17,000 National Guard troops across the country. In the nation’s capital, Trump deployed nine Blackhawk assault helicopters, thousands of National Guard[Read More…]
Ever since the racist right-wing government of Jeanine Anez has assumed power, Bolivia is continuously experiencing politico-economic tumult. Recently, seven legislators of the Movement towards Socialism (MAS) filed a complaint against the Ministers of Government and Defense, Arturo Murillo and Luis Fernando López, for misconduct in the purchase of riot gear equipments. As per the complaint, the post-coup Bolivian government unfavorably cancelled[Read More…]
14- year-old Romina Ashrafi was beheaded by her father in the name of family “honor” How can a young girl’s murder at the hands of her father be a story of love and honor? When a young daughter is brutally decapitated by her father in the name of family “honor,” does it paint a glorifying picture? Of course not. It[Read More…]
What if I were to tell you about a virtually ignored state of emergency, a lethal pandemic of which the exact numbers will never be fully known? I’m pretty sure you’d have a few guesses as to what I mean… but I’m also pretty sure those guesses would be inaccurate. *** There are some very predictable reactions whenever a person of color is[Read More…]
This is part-3 of a Report on the subject. Now that military delegations of a higher level held talks on June 6 and, as reported in Part-2, published on June 8, “agreed to peacefully resolve the situation in the border areas”, the issues involved may be understood in an objective and cool manner.This part also deals with a “strategic policy[Read More…]
I have spent considerable time going over the video of Nishant Varma and pondering over its contents, since superficially, it seems insidious and insurrectionary, calling for the dislodging of an established Govt, in the manner of Jay Prakash Narain’s call just prior to the imposition of emergency in 1975. He was arrested for it. After due deliberations, I have[Read More…]
Amid a nationwide Coronavirus Pandemic induced lockdown, a massive strike by locusts threatens crops in western and northern India. India is experiencing the worst locusts attack in 30 years. Over the last few days, swarms of desert locust have reached the urban areas of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. They invaded India via Pakistan, leaving a trail of destruction in[Read More…]
The killing of a pregnant elephant has caused national outrage. The elephant had strayed into a village in Palakkad, Kerala, and is said to have been fed a fruit stuffed with firecrackers, which exploded in its mouth. It is impossible to comprehend the tremendous suffering of the elephant, who died a painful death. It is also learnt that people in[Read More…]
In written Chinese, the word “crisis” is represented by two characters. One of these, taken alone, means “danger”. The other, by itself, means “opportunity”. A crisis nearly always leads to great change. There is a danger that this will be a change for the worse. But there also is the opportunity to change society for the better – to reform[Read More…]
Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale (centre) and other militant fighters led an insurgency inside the Golden Temple complex, demanding an autonomous Sikh state. In the infamous Operation Blue Star of June 1984, the Indian army killed Bhindranwale and cleared the complex. Many remember him as the first martyr of the Khalistan movement. Image: Merepix This year, Punjabis will hold a referendum (known as[Read More…]
Home Minister Amit shah’s high claim in his first virtual rally about Bihar being shifted from lantern to l.e.d has posed a serious question of credibility and demands a very distinct analysis. Apart from the previously unresolved and pending issues like Education and Health systems, crime and corruption rate, poor infrastructure and incessant poverty the state is currently facing some[Read More…]
India, a plural society is undergoing the pangs of communalization at a rapid pace. In this process the religious minorities are targeted and subjected to violence, which is overtly justified. This communalisation did begin with the British introduced communal historiography, has a long journey and now any incident or tragedy is given a communal turn with ease as the communal[Read More…]
“I’ve been saying for the last several years … American policing is at a crossroads.” Mike Cutone, former Massachusetts officer, June 5, 2020 If you can envisage the commencement of a police force as a band of auxiliaries to keep slaves in check, capture escapees and sow much terror, it becomes that much clearer. Such men were not stewards to[Read More…]
I am not trying to be cute and play with words. That title is meant to convey what it says, so let me explain. The people who own the United States and their allies around the world have a plan. It is so simple that it is extremely devious. Their plan has been in operation for many years. It has[Read More…]
In Gary Pomerantz’s recent book on Bob Cousy, ” The Last Pass”, he relates a story about the Boston Celtics All Star as to race relations. This was from 1950, when most of our nation was even more segregated than we (still) are now. Cousy was a rookie that year and roomed with the team’s only black player, Chuck Cooper.[Read More…]
Beginning in December 1951, Ernesto “Che” Guevara took a nine-month break from medical school to travel by motorcycle through Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia, and Venezuela. One of his goals was gaining practical experience with leprosy. On the night of his twenty-fourth birthday, Che was at La Colonia de San Pablo in Peru swimming across the river to join the lepers.[Read More…]
In Jakarta, doctors are dying, while common people do not know which data to believe, anymore. It appears that even some government officials do not trust government statistics. People in the slums are attacking ambulances, preventing patients infected with COVID-19 from being taken to hospitals. The novel coronavirus is a stigma. Tests are resisted, death certificates falsified. Social distancing, even[Read More…]
For those of you who don’t know the meaning of those alphabet letters, here you go: lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgender, queer, alternative sexually. Now, I will add that there are lots of lesbian seagulls. So don’t imagine for a moment please that we are alone in alternative sexual behavior. I read a factual article on the topic. One of my[Read More…]
American Leaders to Rethink of Human Rights, Dignity and Global Peaceful Co-existence George Floyd was killed by a police force that should have protected his life, human dignity and oxygen breathing natural lifelines from the encroachment of extremism and brutality. His cry “I can’t Breathe” is echoed throughout the globe whether someone knows George or not – a natural sense[Read More…]
The infamous Novel Coronavirus usually attacks one’s respiratory system. The limbs feel heavy as the oxygen doesn’t reaches the lungs. One can’t breathe & body loses all consciousness in a span of few minutes. 2589 people died worldwide on May 25 this way but one black man, George Floyd, died with a similar modus operandi but not by the virus.[Read More…]
Caste is not entirely the same as Race, yet Casteism and Racism remain blood brothers. They are both systems of structured oppression which date back centuries. While Racism surfaced back as a white knee crushing a black neck that belonged to a man called George Floyd who lost his life minutes after, clearly a case of murder in broad daylight,[Read More…]
“I am a millennial. We invented social media. So I should be really good at this” – when Emma from the popular web series starts narrating her tale, it sets my mind on fire. Infact millennials are the early adopters of social media and have embraced these platforms widely as a main form of communication. It was during my bachelors that Whatsapp started[Read More…]
A FABLE FOR TODAY Five year old twin brothers Udit and Sooraj loved hearing stories, in any form and length – real life stories, fairy tales, animal and wild ones with songs and action…Knowing this, their grandmother who was a primary school teacher set up a small space in their city home where children of their age could gather and[Read More…]
Post corona India will be more poverty-ridden. Poverty will expand the scope of inequality as we have seen how inequality exists between Ambanis, Adani and other monopoly capitalists on the one hand and the 250 million migrant workers who walked thousands of miles without food, with children and old women dying and suffering on the national high ways on the[Read More…]
On May 30th, Saturday, People from the United States of America, Canada, United Kingdom, Japan and India made a video statement to demand the immediate release of Dr. Anand Teltumbde and 10 other human rights activists who have been arrested in fabricated cases by the RSS/BJP. It attracted a good number of people within 2 days of the announcement. Mrs[Read More…]
When Super Cyclone Amphan hit West Bengal on May 20 this year, it devastated large parts of the state, including the capital city Kolkata, killing dozens, destroying thousands of homes and depriving lakhs of people of their livelihoods. Coming on top of the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic the cyclone created a double disaster for West Bengal. However, the state is now[Read More…]
Co-Written by Bikash Sarma & Shruti Sharma Rousseau in Solitude. National Endowment for the Humanities. neh.gov. Catherine Malabou’s recent reflections on the ‘psychic space’ under the lockdown makes one wonder about the socio-spatio-temporal nature of the very quarantined state as well as of quarantining oneself within it. The quarantine – that we have been dwelling in now for sometime –[Read More…]
“We hope to have a vaccine ready for testing in about two years” was a bold, hopeful and overoptimistic statement made in April 1984 by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Margaret Heckler about an HIV vaccine, based on a conversation she had with the virus’s co-discoverer, Robert Gallo. After three and a half decades of incessant struggle by scientific[Read More…]
“Most people who are killed by American cops are white. Black people are disproportionately killed, but they are not alone. It’s white working class life expectancy that is falling because of drugs, and drink, and suicide, and the depths of despair. Connecting this moment—this broad, chaotic, polarizing, rebellious moment that is taking place in the US—connecting it[Read More…]
From their front porches, regular citizens watched a cordon of cops sweep down their peaceful street in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Rankled at being filmed, the cops exceeded their authority and demanded that people go inside their houses. When some of them didn’t obey quickly enough, the order — one heard so many times in the streets of Iraqi cities and in[Read More…]
The 8 minutes 46 seconds murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis cops has prompted huge “Black Lives Matter” demonstrations in the US and thence in the UK, Western Europe and Australia (where 434 Indigenous Australian have died in police custody since 1991). Largely deleted by Mainstream media is Apartheid Israeli killing of 10,000 of its Palestinian Subjects since 2000, and[Read More…]
Co-Written by Ramzy Baroud & Romana Rubeo Wafaa Aludaini is a witness to many of Gaza’s recent tragedies and also never-ending resistance. She experienced the violent Israeli occupation, the subsequent blockade on the impoverished Strip, and several wars that resulted in the death and wounding of tens of thousands of Palestinians. But none of Israel’s wars impacted Aludaini’s life as[Read More…]
To reach the hearts and minds of Americans, the Zionist Israeli Left is manipulating the Black Lives Matter movement. The slogans and images of protestors coming out of Tel Aviv continue to hoodwink the world with a sudden and self-serving concern for Palestinian lives. Two slogans are circulating among the Zionist Israeli Left: ‘Jewish and democratic’ and ‘Palestine Lives Matter’.[Read More…]
The first case of Covid- 19 was reported in India on 30th January 2020. On 24th March 2020 Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared nationwide lockdown as a measure to contain the spread of the novel corona virus. It had a wide reaching impact on the educational system of the country as all the schools and educational institutions were shut down[Read More…]
Identitarian politics has always been a topic overladen with mixed and inchoate views. Some perceive it as a positive phenomenon and others comprehend it as atavistic and socially detrimental. Its positivity lies in the fact that it can embolden a particular marginalized community to initiate minority politics or indigenist politics like the one occurring in Latin America which possesses transformative[Read More…]
“I could not count the times during the average day when something would come up that I needed to tell him. This impulse did not end with his death. What ended was the possibility of response.” (Joan Didion) From their initial pairing in 1927, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy made up one of the 20th century’s most beloved comedy duos. Upon[Read More…]
This is part-2 of a Report on the subject, briefly covering talks held and touching on some significant issues involved. Part-1 was published on June 5 : Flood of Misinformation on the eve of India China Talks.Indian media in all languages is carrying on a jingoistic propaganda on China’s intrusions into Indian borders, almost all along the LAC, it was[Read More…]