The latest crisis in Palestine cannot be set aside as another passing episode in Israel’s forever war against the Palestinian people. We are now witnessing shocks within Israel behind the Green Line, something that Israel had hitherto been able to contain. In the process, it pretended, along with much of the western world, that it is the “longest-lived democracy in[Read More…]
Losses on both sides were profound — U.S. secretary of state Antony Blinken, May 25 press conference with Israel’s prime minister Netanyahu in Israel, AlJazeera. (All of the following li(n)es were uttered during the same press conference.) Yes. Losses were profound. But not on both sides. On one side, among Palestinians, of whom 253 were killed, including 66 children, and[Read More…]
Spark of Resistance ignited by dalit agricultural labourers led by Zameen Prapti Sangharsh Commitee shimmers at a crescendo to engulf many a village in Punjab to score heroic victories The flag of the Zameen Prapti Sangharsh Commitee in recent weeks is heroically fluttering in many villages of Punjab in Sangrur-Patiala region after the implementation of the land distribution of the[Read More…]
At the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Colombia, Canada, remains of 215 children were found buried. Some of the children were as young as three years old when they died, the First Nation said. Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation hired a specialist in ground-penetrating radar to carry out the work and believes the deaths of the children are undocumented. Chief Rosanne[Read More…]
To Shri Narendra D Modi Prime Minister Dear Shri Modiji, I enclose here copies of my letter dated 26-2-2021 addressed to your office and my letter dated 28-2-2021 addressed to the Finance Minister, expressing my concerns about the proposed divestment of government stake in Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) in favour of a foreign company, POSCO and another private company,[Read More…]
The ceasefire on May 21 has, for now, brought the Israeli war on Gaza to an end. However, this ceasefire is not permanent and constant Israeli provocations anywhere in Palestine could reignite the bloody cycle all over again. Moreover, the Israeli siege on Gaza remains in place, as well as the Israeli military occupation and the rooted system of apartheid[Read More…]
The problems Pakistan has faced over time. Here they are in brief: 1-The population explosion. 2-Education and health care. 3-Unemployment. 4-Water and Electricity. 5-Public works. 6-Discrimination against ‘other’ sects, non-Muslims, ethnicities. 7-Fully 75% of the budget goes to Defense’ and interest on loans. 8-Early Blunders. 9-The Genesis of the Evil Quad. -Population Explosion-Again from 35 million to 220 million in[Read More…]
As the smoke clouds over Gaza and Jerusalem slowly recede, the world nervously watches how long the newly brokered peace would sustain in the conflict-prone region. Though the Egypt brokered ceasefire has brought an end to the current conflict, the triumphant cries by both Hamas and Israel can hardly be heard as conciliatory notes. As their city lay in ruins,[Read More…]
The debate has intensified on whether nearly 2 million trees which are threatened by the Ken Betwa Link project in Bundelkhand region can be saved. In order to consider options, let us first remember that the Central Empowered Committee of the Supreme Court of India had presented a strong critique of several aspects of this very expensive project, now[Read More…]
“ As long as river-sand was being used only for construction needs of village there was no problem at all in this use. Problems arose when sand started being mined from here to meet the massive needs of big cities.” We were sitting in a group meeting under a tree in Bundelkhand region. The subject was to prepare a memorandum[Read More…]
This month marks seven years of Modi in power. Narendra Modi first got elected as Prime Minister of India in May 2014. His right wing Hindu nationalist BJP has turned what has otherwise been known as the “world’s largest democracy” into an intolerant Hindu theocracy. Attacks on religious minorities, particularly Muslims and political dissidents, have grown under him since then.[Read More…]
Two historical things have happened recently which have been passed off as non entity because it hurt the business interest of the powerful nations. The UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution to form an International inquiry commission to investigate, ‘ “grave human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem” including violation of International laws and treaties,[Read More…]
Global Classroom is a novel and innovative way to gain international experience, virtually, from wherever you are! When talking about Global Classroom we mean a unique class consisting of students from two or more different countries. Even while students in a virtual classroom are divided by physical space, they are connected by being involved in the identical practical activities, learning[Read More…]
Probably; this is for the first time, in the literary or for that matter, in the cultural history of India, that a fourteen-line poem has created, so much stir, that people are calling it, a volcano. I call the poem volcano, because very often volcanoes erupt without any history and without any prior symptoms as at the time of[Read More…]
The most widespread mining in India relates to mining and quarrying of various kinds of stone aimed at supplying stone to construction sector. Since this is widely scattered in the country and is frequently in the informal sector, complete and reliable records are difficult to obtain but clearly it is very widespread and despite some legal restrictions placed from time[Read More…]
It is widely agreed that any family should face the challenge of difficult times by first of all curbing all wasteful expenditure. This also applies to nations, or at least all nations who choose to act wisely. India is currently passing through very difficult economic times. Hence, acting wisely, it is important to explore all possibilities of curbing all wasteful[Read More…]
Bundelkhand region in Central India is spread over a vast area of 13 districts included in two states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. In recent decades this region has increasingly been in news during to serious drought situations and water scarcity. A study some years back by a leading voluntary organization Vigyan Shiksha Kendra pointed out that it is[Read More…]
Humankind is in an ugly period of suffering in the bloody hands of imbecilic investors in war, who own the American government and media and who cannot stop themselves from planning war, even terminal nuclear war, since they know that wars make money. Their funded elected politicians and media praise war on Memorial Day. On Memorial Day, be[Read More…]
In the wake of U.S. and NATO troops withdrawal, foreign missions in Kabul are preparing for evacuation. Media reports said: The U.S. Defense Department and the State Department are drawing up plans for the possible evacuation of Afghans whose lives are in danger because of their work for the U.S. government, the U.S. military’s top officer said. Army Gen. Mark[Read More…]
In January earlier this year we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the debut of the legendary Dennis Lillee in 1971, paying against England at home.. In my time no cricketer took determination or never say die spirit to such a crescendo as fast bowler Dennis Lillee.Nor was anyone as much an epitome of perfection in the art of fast bowling[Read More…]
India’s caste system is the major obstacle for betterment of the socio-economic condition of the downtrodden. The lowest in the rung of caste hierarchy, the victims of caste oppression are addressed as dalits or Scheduled Castes (SC). There are others who are also on the lower scale of hierarchy, the tribal (ST) and other backward castes (OBC). For centuries the[Read More…]
READ THE ORIGINAL TEXT OF THE MERCY PETITIONS OF VEER [BRAVE] SAVARKAR. MYTH Savarkarites argue, “There are no evidences to prove that Savarkar collaborated with the British for his release from jail. In fact, his appeal for release was a ruse. He was well aware of the political developments outside and wanted to be part of it. So he kept[Read More…]
India is hardly in a position to assert on the Afghan chessboard… The bottom line is that New Delhi is highly unlikely to do anything that may undermine the US strategy in Afghanistan, which, incidentally, also has an “Indo-Pacific” dimension to it… New Delhi selectively intensifies its engagement with those world capitals that share its concerns over China’s rise and[Read More…]
Click on the image for a larger version Graphic artist: Madhushree Data: B.Sivaraman GET COUNTERCURRENTS DAILY NEWSLETTER STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX
The U.N. Human Right Council has passed a resolution aimed to intensify scrutiny of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, after the U.N. rights chief said Israeli forces may have committed war crimes in their war with Hamas. The 11-day conflict killed at least 248 in Gaza, including 66 children and 39 women. In Israel, 12 people also died, including two children,[Read More…]
What we are witnessing in Bengal today reminds us of the saying: `It takes two to tango’, implying that in a dispute it is not one alone, but the other is also responsible. During the electoral campaign in the state, the Trinamul Congress (TMC) chief minister Mamata Banerjee coined the slogan: ‘Khela Hobey’ (It will be a game). Her rival[Read More…]
When the New York Times recently claimed that the official Covid-19 figures in India grossly understate the true scale of the pandemic in the country the Indian government went ballistic. Based on an analysis, in consultation with over a dozen experts, the NYT put the death toll due to Covid-19 in India at over 5 times the official numbers – making it[Read More…]
In a scene in the Dark Knight, Batman asks Joker: “Then why do you want to kill me?” , to which Joker laughs and says, “I don’t want to kill you…what would I do without you? You complete me”. The Batman-Joker equation is toxically symbiotic. One completes the other, though they hate each other profoundly. They are the forever reciprocal[Read More…]
“Net Zero by 2050” is the rallying cry of scientists and policymakers throughout the world. However, that epithet echoes past decades of climate change/global warming mitigation plans, one after another, all failures. The world’s continuing failure to come to grips with the dilemma led three notable climate scientists, deeply involved at the highest levels, to publicly ridicule past and future[Read More…]
China, since its emergence in 1949, worries many. Today, it worries too many. Mr. Joe Biden, the US president, is also worried with China. “We’re kind of at a place where the rest of the world is beginning to look to China,” Biden said. “The most devastating comment made after I was elected – it wasn’t so much about me[Read More…]
IMAGE: Lakshadweep Administrator Praful K Patel, right, with Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi. Photograph: Kind courtesy @prafulkpatel/Twitter Praful K Patel , a hardcore RSS man, was appointed as the Administrator of the Union Territory of Lakshadweep, where 99 per cent inhabitants are Muslims, in December 2020. He was allegedly given the task of “communalizing the island as soon as possible.”[Read More…]
To Shri Narendra D Modi Prime Minister Subject:- Transparency in governance- Recent instances of extending the tenure of senior civil servants run counter to norms of good governance Dear Shri Modi, The website of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) rightly emphasises the need for transparency in governance in the following words. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi firmly believes that transparency and[Read More…]
Written by Dr Saru Gupta and Dr Leenus Tafline A ferocious second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on cities and towns of India, bringing the country’s crippled healthcare system to its knees. The unexpected surge in cases has underscored the importance of vaccinations, but amidst vaccine skepticism and inadequacy, people are perplexed about the costs. Moreover, the[Read More…]
After Mamata Banerjee’s win in the elections in Bengal, a spate of celebratory articles has appeared all over the liberal media saying such things like Bengal rejects communal politics, rejects politics of hate, rejects Hindutva, etc. On the basis of the election, Shoaib Danyal shows his on-ground journalistic skills by discovering that ‘Bengal is, as famously described by political scientist[Read More…]
In this part, we analyse the allocations made in the Budget for education and health, from a people’s perspective. Budget and Education Education is fundamental to human as well as societal development. Which is why in all developed countries, governments have taken the responsibility of providing Free, Equitable and Good Quality school education to All their children (the private sector[Read More…]
Without any doubt the most significant issue in the world today is that the basic life-nurturing conditions of our once beautiful and bountiful planet are being threatened in extremely serious and unprecedented ways. This threat has at least three aspects. Firstly around a dozen very serious environmental problems, perhaps led by but certainly not confined to climate change , often[Read More…]
The cycle continues. Israel initiated further repression through the expulsion of four families in Sheik Jarrah and storming the Al Aqsa mosque during Ramadan, as if nearly 75 years of the most sustained, brutal state oppression in modern history wasn’t enough. In turn, Hamas threatened retaliation for Sheik Jarrah and Israeli police storming the mosque, but Israel did not relent.[Read More…]
In her 2020 text Marxism and Intersectionality: Race, Gender, Class and Sexuality under Contemporary Capitalism, Ashley J. Bohrer sets out to demystify the erroneous conception that the traditions of Marxism and Intersectionality are incompatible. In finding that in academia the interactions between these two traditions have been “grounded more in caricature than in close reading,” Bohrer sets out to expose and[Read More…]
Without doubt Naseeruddin Shah is one of the greatest actors ever to have set foot on Bollywood silver screen, arguably close to the very best. This year we celebrate his 70th birthday. There were many more attractive or charismatic actors but few surpassed the ability of Naseeruddin Shah to meld into a character in such depth, or give it as[Read More…]
Afghan conundrum is mutating The commencement of the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan by the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation has got off to a flying start. So far there has been no hiccup. One significant landmark has been the vacation of the big American base at Kandahar, southern Afghanistan. There is some poignancy here. A recent despatch[Read More…]
The PM Cares (Prime Minister Citizens Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations) Fund, set up in March 2020 ostensibly to deal with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, is being widely publicized. Even private banks can now collect funds for PM Cares, and many of them have been reminding their customers that they are now authorized to collect such funds.[Read More…]
A group of people that has learnt to endure any suppression because of their confinements to be able to resist it resides in the islands of Lakshadweep. Their life experiences and limitations had moulded them into fascinating beings, cultivating an atmosphere of acceptance and compassion in their hearts. Their resistance comes not from absolute power, but utter powerlessness. The momentum[Read More…]
An acclaimed columnist wrote recently in one of his social media posts , “ I love to buy books written by our children . It gives me unique inner satisfaction .May Allah protect our children.” One such young boy is Aazib Manzoor who has come out with around three hundred page debut novel titled “The Sentiment in my Stone”. One[Read More…]
In a world when Covid-19 has brought humanity to its knees and exposed the haughty posturing of many nation-states the lesson of its interconnectedness are still not being learnt. Despite some positive developments that give hope, there is much that should weigh heavily on the conscience of the human race. Impending systemic collapse, the crash of global economy and widespread[Read More…]
The Kerala Model of Development (KMD) is often the object of much admiration in development debates in India , and for good reason. A state which has been in the forefront of literacy and educational achievements, in libraries and promotion of literature obviously deserves a lot of credit. A state which achieves much lower child and infant mortality rate, based[Read More…]
On May 26 farmers in India observed the completion of six months of their protest dharna (sit-in) at Delhi borders. This was observed as a protest day against the union ( central) government, symbolized by waving of black flags, as the government has all through refused to accept their main demand of taking back three highly controversial farm laws of[Read More…]
One cyclone coming soon after another and that too in pandemic times need not and should not lead to a sense of helplessness. The country has the capacity to overcome bigger challenges, and this has been revealed several times in the middle of great difficulties. In a more specific context, frontline coastal states like Odisha and West Bengal have shown[Read More…]
Written by Bela Bhatia and Jean Drèze Mass protests against the proliferation of CRPF camps have been happening all over Bastar during the last two years, without attracting much media coverage. It is only because of the death of three protestors in police firing on 17 May 2021 that the Silger protest came to light. Silger is a small adivasi[Read More…]
Written by Abhay Jain and Sandeep Pandey As Covid consumes human life in a very conspicuous way we are confronted with additional problem of disposing off human corpses. Cremation grounds are lit with continuous pyres, graveyards are running out of land and now Ganga has become a mass grave potentially polluting its water. In India, one estimate reveals that funeral[Read More…]
The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response was never likely to hand down a rosy report with gobbets of praise. Organised by the World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus last May, the panel’s gloomy assessment was grim: the COVID-19 pandemic could have been avoided. Almost nothing in the main report could be seen as remarkable in these jaded[Read More…]
Legendary freedom fighter and Civil Rights activist Harohalli Srinivasaiah Doreswamy popularly known as HS Doreswamy breathed his last yesterday. The 103 year-old Gandhian, who kept the ‘conscience of Karnataka till his very last breath, and was the tallest public intellectual, who appeased none and spared none‘ would be remembered for his enthusiasm for public causes till he remained alive Born[Read More…]
Bio contamination from labs is a serious concern that can have social, economic, political and environmental implications. Sometimes, irreversible ecological contamination is a given consequence. Health Canada reports that world-wide until 1999 over 5,000 cases of accidental laboratory infections and 190 deaths[1] have been recorded. These reports are the tip of the iceberg and point to the clear dangers and[Read More…]
The ‘Palestinian Revolt of 2021’ will go down in history as one of the most influential events that irreversibly shaped collective thinking in and around Palestine. Only two other events can be compared with what has just transpired in Palestine: the revolt of 1936 and the First Intifada of 1987. The general strike and rebellion of 1936-39 were momentous because[Read More…]
Take the time, please, and read the enclosed lyrics of the Animals ‘s 1960s hit song ‘ Sky Pilot’. It tells more than this writer could ever hope to express. It was written during the height of the Vietnam War, which wasn’t our war at all. It was a civil war between the Vietnamese people, which became one of our[Read More…]
President Biden’s April 24 statement acknowledging the Armenian Genocide (1915–1923+) carried out by Turkey was welcome but flawed. Indeed, “Turkey” appears nowhere in the document. Moreover, the State Department swiftly undermined Biden’s virtuous-sounding words. American acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide isn’t even new. The U.S. House has passed several resolutions on the Genocide. And a nearly unanimous Congress did[Read More…]
PUCL feels a deep sense of loss over the sad demise of Prof. Dinesh Mohan on 21st May. Prof. Dinesh Mohan’s passing away marks the loss of a multifaceted personality: an outstanding academician, a visionary thinker, pioneer in the field of traffic studies and sustainable infrastructure development and a staunch champion of human rights. Prof. Dinesh Mohan was a member[Read More…]
This year’s birth anniversary of Lord Buddha coincides with six months of the ongoing farmers’ agitation in India. On May 26, when the Indian farmers observed black day to make the deaf government hear their demands, the prime minister of the country was lecturing the people on the philosophy of Buddhism. The farmers in India have been struggling for the[Read More…]
There could hardly have been a better celebration of six months of the Delhi farmers protest at Tikri border in Delhi completed today, with the flag of liberation shimmering at a crescendo, on the call for a bandh of Samyukti Kisan Morcha.An impact of an inferno or intensity of coal burning in a furnace was displayed at Tikri border by[Read More…]
Taking a critical view of the Centre’s present Covid-19 vaccination policy, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on May 22 Saturday requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to halt supply of vaccines to private hospitals. In a two-page letter to Modi, Reddy requested that the entire available stock of Covid-19 vaccine to be made available only to the[Read More…]
Raju did indulge in dirty and divisive politics, but being rich and powerful, in the high profile case, he managed to get bail that is denied to many others, due to “timidity”… There is a huge debate in media including TV, print and social media platforms about achievement of bail order to Member of Parliament from Andhra Pradesh, Raghurama Krishnam[Read More…]
His Excellency The Governor of Kerala Kerala Raj Bhavan Vellayambalam Thiruvananthapuram Sub: AN APPEAL FOR THE PEOPLE OF U.T OF LAKSHADWEEP Sir, We are a group of concerned citizens living in Thiruvananthapuram who have been shocked since a few days with news about the happenings in the U.T of Lakshadweep that will affect the life and livelihood of[Read More…]
Dalits in West Bengal have opened the eyes of all political parties to the core constituency of Dalit vote as a political determiner in the Indian electoral game. It has now descended late on the political parties across the hue, that it was Dalits in Bengal who ensured Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s entry into the Constituent Assembly, when Sardar Patel was[Read More…]
No way! I wont leave without her seeing me one last time! But they said she will not be coming, But why, I wanted to ask. I wanted to scream. And what about him? My best pal. Will he too not come? There are whispers that he won’t come either. Come on! They are kidding me. He will come. I[Read More…]
An estimated $150 billion of stolen money has been smuggled out of Iraq in corrupt deals since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Iraqi President Barham Salih said Sunday. CNN and The New Arab reports said: “Of the close to a thousand billion dollars made from oil since 2003, an estimated $150 billion of stolen money has been smuggled[Read More…]
A new freely downloadable book I would like to announce the publication of a book which discusses the duty of scientists and engineers to try to prevent the catastrophes that currently threaten human society and the biosphere. The book may be freely downloaded and circulated from the following link: http://eacpe.org/app/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/The-Social-Responsibility-Of-Scientists-by-John-Scales-Avery.pdf Three major threats to human society Science and technology have[Read More…]
The Australian ABC (the taxpayer-funded Australian equivalent of the UK BBC) has recently aired a former US ambassador to Apartheid Israel and the UN rejecting all present Palestine-Israel peace proposals as too hard, and his foreshadowing of a total expulsion of all the Occupied Palestinians from Palestine in coming years. No dissent was offered by the ABC nor any Help[Read More…]
“Capitalism is often interpreted as a religion. However, if religion is understood in terms of Religare, as something that binds, then capitalism is anything but a religion because it lacks any force to assemble, to create community…And what is essential to religion is contemplative rest, but this is the antithesis of Capital. Capital never rests. It is in its nature[Read More…]
The Pandemic’s End in View When I first started writing the following reflections, the country was all but trapped in the dreaded clutches of the pandemic. In the midst of what then appeared as an unstoppable plague utterly mismanaged by an inept, feckless, brazenly unprincipled administration, the lockdown put all of us in the position of terrified witnesses to a[Read More…]
Civil Society from India seeks global support towards systemic changes in India and rest of the world committed to public health, social equity and justice in the times of COVID-19 As the country delegations gather to discuss the agenda prepared by the World Health Organization’s Executive Board at the 74th World Health Assembly (WHA), we, concerned citizens of India belonging[Read More…]
CDRO SUPPORTS FARMERS CALL TO OBSERVE BLACK DAY ON 26th MAY CDRO stands in solidarity with the Samyukta Kisan Morcha’s call for observing 26th May 2021 as a Black Day. The second half of 2020 saw protests against the Farm Bills passed by the BJP-led government. It is now well-known that the central government had refused to pay due attention[Read More…]
Sunderlal Bahuguna , the famous environmentalist of India who passed away on May 21 recently at the age of 94, is being widely remembered for his great contributions to protecting forests and rivers as well contributions to human welfare at several levels. However it is well to also remember at this juncture that for close to seven decades Vimla, his[Read More…]
Disturbing reports have been appearing from several parts of the country of rivers ravaged by sand-mining mafias to the extent that the very survival of some of the smaller rivers serious harmed in this way has been threatened. Much of this mining is clearly illegal and controlled by powerful local mafias who do not hesitate to confront and even attack[Read More…]
K. P Sasi is a film-maker, cartoonist, writer and an activist GET COUNTERCURRENTS DAILY NEWSLETTER STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX
![The Al Jalaa Tower housing Al Jazeera and The Associated Press offices collapses after being hit by Israeli missile in Gaza City [Mohammed Salem/Reuters]](https://cdn.countercurrents.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/International-Media-House-Gaza-200x150.jpg "Israel’s Colonial Savagery 140")
On May 24, 2021, Israel’s security apparatus launched a wave of mass arrests against the country’s Palestinian citizens as part of a violent attack on the anti-Zionist resistance movement. These arrests took place as part of a “law and order” campaign i.e. a mission of terrorization wherein thousands of police officers kick into doors, brutalize families and kidnap Palestinians. In[Read More…]
Written by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies The world is reeling in horror at the latest Israeli massacre of hundreds of men, women and children in Gaza. Much of the world is also shocked by the role of the United States in this crisis, as it keeps providing Israel with weapons to kill Palestinian civilians, in violation of[Read More…]
When it comes to trade in the tools of death and destruction, no one tops the United States of America. In April of this year, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) published its annual analysis of trends in global arms sales and the winner — as always — was the U.S. of A. Between 2016 and 2020, this country accounted for[Read More…]
In spite of 54 years since the epic naxalbari uprising and formation of the CPI (ML) the movement is hardly moving in the direction to re-organise the party. A series of conflicting and opportunist trends and theoretical weaknesses are crippling the development of an organised movement. This is disheartening when fascism of the Hindutva variety has reached a height as[Read More…]
Written by Saheli Chowdhury and Stephen Lalla Venezuelan businessman and diplomatic envoy Alex Saab, held in the African island nation of Cape Verde and facing extradition to the United States, is a victim of political persecution and his case is comparable to that of Julian Assange or Chelsea Manning. Saab, who had engaged in brokering deals that would evade the[Read More…]
Written by Anandi Pandey and Sandeep Pandey Without consulting anybody from the Arab population, which outnumbered the Jews by about ten times, the British made public their intent to create a national home for Jewish people in Palestine on 2 November, 1917 through the Balfour declaration. Then on 29 November 1947 the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution recommending[Read More…]
To the credit of the Government of India and the State Government of Uttarakhand, they have been prompt and generous in their homage to the great environmentalist Sunderlal Bahuguna who passed away recently. However, will they also honor his vision for the Himalayan region for which he devoted his life? His vision was based on his interactions with thousands of[Read More…]
In the modern era no actress has gone into the skin of a character in such magnitude of depth or given as much justice to a role as Shabana Azmi.,who turned 70 last year. She may not have embezzled the beauty of an Aishwarya Rai or Madhuri Dixit ,of the liveliness or joie de vivre of Kajol or Sridevi.However none[Read More…]
“The public opinion in the US has also been steadily becoming favourable to the Palestinians…But although Americans are warming to the Palestinians, they still favour Israel by wide margins…Western politicians obviously believe that the Palestinians should accept apartheid quietly, and should have the good grace silently to wither away… “Even if the Israeli military objective is realised, it can only[Read More…]
While the ongoing pandemic has brought so much distress there is just one positive possibility also that this may lead to long-delayed bio-safety reform as the neglected but extremely significant issue of bio-lab safety has started receiving more attention now, both at the level of experts as well as common, safety conscious citizens. We should clinch this opportunity to introduce[Read More…]
Mr Ram Kishan Yadav or Ramdev is a product of grand Hindutva package that work through raising ‘cultural’ issues. He reached Indian houses and outside through Yoga. As we wait for miracles in India, Ramdev came as a ‘miracle’ man. All those who dont want to put their bodies to trouble felt that Ramdev’s miracles are boon for them. The[Read More…]
With the outbreak of Covid 19, one of the earliest claims for its treatment came from Baba Ramdev. Baba Ramdev is the leading Baba who is also close to the ruling dispensation. He began becoming popular with his Yoga exercises and later took up the manufacture of medicines etc. including cow products. He has come to stand in the row[Read More…]
Praful Khoda Patel, a BJP leader who formerly served as Home Minister under Narendra Modi during the latter’s term as Gujarat Chief Minister, has had a controversial track record ever since he was appointed the Administrator of Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu in 2016. Allegations against him include an attempt to influence Kannan Gopinathan,[Read More…]
Here is something that can be said with great confidence. It is racist – antisemitic, if you prefer – to hold Jews, individually or collectively, accountable for Israel’s crimes. Jews are not responsible for Israel’s war crimes, even if the Israeli state presumes to implicate Jews in its crimes by falsely declaring it represents all Jews in the world. Very[Read More…]
Corona pandemic is spreading and intensifying in India, in this year. Last year, despite fears, people did not feel the problem as much as now. In March, 2020, lockdown was justified citing the dismal health infrastructure in India. With images of individuals falling in the streets of China, Spain and Italy haunting, there was an expectation that situation in India[Read More…]
We are still in the middle of recovering from Cyclone Tauktae on the western side of our long coast, even the rescue effort is still continuing at the time of writing, and now we have to also prepare for meeting the challenge of Cyclone Yaas on the eastern side. This is just one reflection, a dramatic one, of the wider[Read More…]
The importance of cooperative federalism has been widely recognized in India in the interests of justice, democracy and national integration. Unfortunately, however, in recent times not all has been well in the context of the principles and the spirit of cooperative federalism being followed at the level of the union government, and it is certainly very much in the larger[Read More…]
Activists wrote to the Chief Minister of Odisha to intervene immediately To, The Chief Minister Bhubaneswar, Odisha Subject: In the matter of immediate intervention into the issue of spread of Covid among Dongrias in Niyamgiri and Bondas in Malkangiri Hon’ble Mr Chief Minister, It is with great concern we write to you about the recent surge of Covid +ve cases[Read More…]
Our old generation has already discovered the power of storytelling in a practical sense – they have observed how compelling a well-constructed narrative can be. However, recent scientific research shows how stories change our attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. An interesting and emotionally moving film or novel will project ourselves into stories or we might identify with a specific character. We[Read More…]
With singer-songwriter Bob Dylan turning 80 on May 24, it seemed like an appropriate time to reflect on the artist’s enduring relevance. Writing furiously at his typewriter, cigarette in his mouth and the legendary Joan Baez by his side or in the background, a prolific young Dylan tapped into the spirit of a burgeoning counter-culture with his folk-inspired work. Performed[Read More…]
Given the more than 60 Democratic and Republican votes lined up, the Senate is poised to move forward with a new bill that would change the way the military handles sexual assault and other felony crimes by service members. Sponsored by Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Joni Ernst (R-IA), the new law would assign decision-making on sexual-assault cases and a host of other[Read More…]
Over 85 per cent of those who died of Covid-19 had some other underlying health condition and were very old. The risk from the virus to the young and healthy is not great, and vaccination of the whole population could set off other health crises, over 25 Swedish doctors have warned in a joint, open letter. In the age group[Read More…]
Diasporic communities are marked by the constant renegotiation of their identities, pertaining to how they represent themselves in the hostland, correlated with how they are represented in their homeland. The identification of the Indian diaspora with a singular Indian identity is ridden with complexities. Furthermore, given the translocal and transnational articulation of community identities in the age of globalisation, the[Read More…]
Jason Stanley in the book titled ‘How fascism works: The politics of us and them’ describes fascist politics as characterized by ten aspects. The different headings under which it is discussed include: The mythic past, propaganda, anti-intellectual, unreality, hierarchy, victimhood, law and order, sexual anxiety, sodom and gomorrah and arbeit macht frei. The mythic past: Fascist politics seeks to build[Read More…]
“India gets booted out, by Iran, of Farzad-B gas field in Persian Gulf… India’s ONGC Videsh Ltd had discovered it way back in 2008.” India began to identify itself with the countries of the anti-Iran regional front that the former US President Donald Trump was sponsoring, involving Israel, Saudi Arabia and the UAE…and with Washington’s so-called Indo-Pacific strategy against China.[Read More…]
The year 1984 saw two major catastrophes in the world’s so called largest democracy; first a brutal massacre of one single community, and then the biggest industrial disaster of its time, thus turning George Orwell’s imaginative year of totalitarianism into reality. In the first week of November, 1984 thousands of Sikhs were slaughtered across India after the assassination of then-Prime[Read More…]
On May 19th, the Indian Express carried an Op-Ed by Dr. Thomas Isaac, who was Kerala’s Finance Minister in the previous Cabinet, where he presents what may be understood as the core of the Nava Keralam or New Kerala Model: “Kerala is on a course to create an economy that ensures high growth and equity.” On the ground, it is[Read More…]
One major outcome of the current conflict in Gaza, West Bank and Jerusalem will be the emergence of Hamas as the charioteer of the Palestinian resistance movement against Israel. The Hamas’ ascendance poses a predicament for a number of countries who would have a sense of involvement with the Palestinian cause. India falls in that category. A policy adjustment becomes necessary.[Read More…]
Allahabad: “Theek hai yaar. Koi baat nahin![i] Don’t worry. I will make some alternative arrangement”. Nihal Mishra was putting on a brave, courteous face while getting blunt refusals from three of his friends in Delhi, whom he had requested for a place to stay. He was going to Delhi to get his wife admitted at the All India Institute of[Read More…]
“However good a Constitution may be, it is sure to turn out bad because those who are called to work it, happen to be a bad lot. However bad a Constitution may be, it may turn out to be good if those who are called to work it, happen to be a good lot “ “A serious complaint is made[Read More…]
From the beginning of the COVID time it was apparent, that the only sustainable check would be vaccine induced protection. Unfortunately the GOI bungled big time, as demonstrated in the following timeline of events. No orders were placed with any of the companies who had demonstrable results in Phase 1 & 2 trials by August ’20. Instead the ICMR partnered[Read More…]
There is a very wide supply-demand gap, from a market perspective… Even if we secure necessary stocks of vaccine in near future, its cost and affordability will be real challenges. We have a wonderful government which strangely thinks only SII and BB would produce and ignore several PSU and private vaccine makers in India. ‘Vasudhaivaka Kutumbakam’ is yet another Sanskrit[Read More…]
UN Road Safety Week Ends On Sunday May 23 The Road Safety Week ( May 17-23 ) ends on Sunday and this is a good time to reflect on the enormous prospects that exist for reducing road-accident related distress worldwide. Nearly 1.35 million people ( 13.5 lakh) die in a typical year worldwide in road traffic accidents while around[Read More…]
India is the middle of implementing its Ahmedabad-Mumbai Bullet Train Project which is the first bullet train project for India. It has been delayed due to land-acquisition problems and may miss the projected deadline for completion in 2023. Many farmers and others are not keen to part with their land for a project which does not appear to be in[Read More…]
Written by Harshavardhan Purandare and Sandeep Pandey India has been advertised as ‘the country with a great future’ ever since we globalised in the ‘90s, but now this narrative of the future has become empty rhetoric to hide our weaknesses. At present, we paint a pathetic picture of ourselves. As Covid 19 second wave reaches the marginalised sections of our[Read More…]
India is not a fully-fledged fascist state or on the verge of turning into one like Hitler’s Germany, but proto-fascist. Even if turning into a fascist state it will have it’ s unique characteristics AUTOCRATIC NATURE OF INDIAN STATE A strongly concurring debate today is on the emergence of fascism in India as a full fledged phenomena or semi-fascist or[Read More…]
Too often, simple histories are being manipulated so that the truth is expelled from the dominant narrative. There are many cases, where the voices of the weak are silenced and falsehood is established. Truth is being ignored and frequently even criminalized. Speakers of truth are being discriminated and persecuted. Such is the situation of the Palestinians, and indeed the Arabs[Read More…]
On my first day as a professor of critical writing in a ‘premier’ university, I decided to conduct an experiment in the classroom. I walked in and told the students that ‘today’s class will focus on critical thinking because one logically and chronologically has to think critically first and only then proceed to write critically.’ Saying that, I wrote ‘cultural[Read More…]
“It’s only after you have stepped outside your comfort zone that you begin to change, grow and transform” (Roy T. Bennett). Every single individual on the face of earth who claims any lineage or belonging to the Homo sapiens lives and sustains in one or the other society. For the consistent growth and development of society, almost every individual strives[Read More…]
The tough and totally strange situation that we are being pushed into because of the pandemic makes one rethink and reassess a lot of things and feelings we have been taking for granted. The most important being freedom of movement, the ease at which we gather and share life’s simple moments, the intensity with which we argue and disagree face[Read More…]
One of the greatest, and relatively easier, potential of reducing human distress which has not been tapped properly adequately relates to the potential of reducing human distress related to all accidents. Of course here our reference is not just to road accidents ( or all transport related accidents) but also to all other workplace ( occupational and domestic accidents[Read More…]
In Mark Wortman’s impressive historical account of the lead-up to WW2 here in America, 1941 , Fighting the Shadow War, one becomes amazed at what went on then. We can still have debates as to whether the US should have gotten into the European conflict or not before December 7th, 1941. Obviously, once the Japanese attacked our naval base at[Read More…]
Self-defence, blood lust, ethnic cleansing, disproportionate response, mowing the lawn, genocide, death from the sky. Whatever way you wish to describe the unparalleled violence unleashed on Gaza is up to you. I describe it as shooting or in this case bombing Palestinians in a barrel. Let’s have a brief resume of what’s happened. The district of Sheikh Jarrah is in[Read More…]
The current situation of Israeli house demolitions in Sheikh Jarrah is highlighting the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their indigenous lands in order to protect the demographic dominance of the Israeli Jewish population. The system well under way and being strengthened each year is that of apartheid. Historical moments In pre World War I Europe, the various empires were[Read More…]
In the time of aggressive neo-liberal Hindutva led by the RSS-BJP in the leadership of the Hindutva poster boy Modi poses serious political threats to the regional identity and caste based political parties and constitutional democracy. In current time, the Shudra and Ati-Shudras political parties like SP, BSP, RJD and others have failed to make any socio-cultural and political agenda[Read More…]
Moumita Alam’s debut poetry collection The Musings of the Dark is a powerful poetic assertion of dissent. Dissent against what? Against state sponsored violence against Kashmiris, violence against anti-CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) protesters at Shaheen Bagh, violence against migrant labourers, daily labourers during Covid 19 pandemic. She also voices her dissent against structural violence of casteism, fascism, violence against women[Read More…]
COVID-19 Pandemic Deserves Critical Thinking and Human Unity We are living in a connect world of virtual reality – people in one part of the globe cannot be separated by resurgent COVID pandemic and continued insanity of violent political conflicts – man fighting man due to perpetuated ignorance, greed, economic and intellectual exploitation and political domination – an unending irresistible[Read More…]
The National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, India, keeping in view the large number of deaths and reports in the media about the mismanagement /mishandling of Covid-19 affected dead bodies today issued an Advisory to the Centre and States for protecting the dignity and the rights of the dead. This is the second as part of 2.0 series of Advisories that[Read More…]
They demanded: Stop Central Vista project, give free doses to all “What numbs our senses daily is not just the cries of the citizenry for medical assistance and the death toll in its thousands but the manifestly casual attitude of your government to the magnitude of the crisis and its implications for the mental and physical health of the community[Read More…]
On May 21 India , and humanity, lost three distinguished persons who had made great contributions in their own chosen fields. Dinesh Mohan contributed greatly to biomedical engineering and transport planning.Rajkumar Keswani was a famous journalist. And we hardly need to introduce Bahuguna as one of the most distinguished environmentalists of our times. Very different areas of work, you may[Read More…]
A white head-scarf, a white flowing beard, a faint smile and an impish twinkle in the eyes – Sunderlal Bahuguna’s was one of the more recognizable public faces in the country and certainly the most amidst the ecologists and environmentalist across the world. He breathed his last today (21 May 2021) at 1205 hrs at the All India Institute of[Read More…]
Colombia witnessed a series of mass protests at the end of April following a call for a national strike in the city of Cali. Still ongoing, the protests have many causes: an apparent “tax reform” that was going to transfer even more wealth to the 1 percent in Colombia; the failure of the most recent peace accords; and the inability of Colombia’s[Read More…]
There has increasing concern in recent times of robot weapons becoming more of a real-life threat, and a very serious one at that. So it was only a matter of time before we would hear of a horrible robot weapon being used in real battlefield. This appears to have happened last year in Libya with the appearance of what[Read More…]
Close to the Global Accessibility Awareness Day, the officials of the Surrey-Delta Sikh temple came together to help out a youth whose lower limbs had stopped working. After becoming disabled below the waist following an accident, international student Amritpal Singh was dependent on fellow students. The members of Guru Nanak Singh Gurdwara, which continues to provide free food to the[Read More…]
Like the mythical Phoenix, Chernobyl rises from the ashes. A recent… “Surge in fission reactions in an inaccessible chamber within the complex” is alarming scientists that monitor the ruins of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. (Source: Nuclear Reactions at Chernobyl are Spiking in an Inaccessible Chamber, NewScientist, May 11, 2021). It is known that this significant renewal of[Read More…]
At least nine persons have become new billionaires since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, thanks to the excessive profits pharmaceutical corporations with monopolies on COVID vaccines are making, said the People’s Vaccine Alliance (PVA), a group advocating turning vaccine receipts into a global public good. Between them, the nine new billionaires, have a combined net wealth of $19.3 billion,[Read More…]
Sunderlal Bahuguna is no more. The veteran environmentalist and chipko movement leader passed away today ( May 21) around noon at a hospital in Rishikesh, where he had been admitted about 2 weeks ago following Covid-type symptoms. Born in a village along the bank of the Ganges river in Tehri Garhwal ( presently a district of Uttarakhand) , as a[Read More…]
I was very sad to hear of the death this morning of Dinesh Mohan, noted expert on road safety, in St Stephen’s hospital in Delhi. It is a big loss to the international campaign for road safety, he was a consultant to many countries and currently the U.N. is observing a road safety week. He did pioneering research on road[Read More…]
The strong action by the Himachal Pradesh High Court, particularly the Chief Justice L. Narayana Swamy and Justice Anoop Chitkara has raised expectations that at long last there will be better care of life-giving trees and the decisions taken by these judges will become a trend-setter for further judicial as well as government actions for giving much more attention to[Read More…]
Creative visualization uses imagination, mental images, and the power of thoughts to make objectives come true. Used properly, it can improve and attain richness. It is a power that can alter one’s circumstances, and attract money, possessions, people and love into your life. Creative visualization uses the powers of the human mind, and it is the power behind every triumph.[Read More…]
Photo taken on May 9, 2021 shows the books of students who were killed in a car bomb attack in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan. (Photo by Rahmatullah Alizadah/Xinhua). Over 80 people were killed in successive explosions outside a girls’ high school in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, most of the victims were girl students. US withdrawal from Afghanistan must be[Read More…]
The latest US stand on the solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict is a mockery of reality. They want to convince the world that they have tried their best to solve the problem but have failed. Now it is up to the Palestinians and the Israelis to find out a solution. That is what Israel wants. It is actually an Israeli[Read More…]
Overestimating tax revenue and budgetary outlay There was always some discrepancy between budget estimates (BE), revised estimates (RE) and actuals (A)[1] over the years—as is to be expected—but such differences were relatively minor. Over the last few years, the Modi Government has indulged in dressing up of the budget figures, because of which these differences have become so vast that[Read More…]
A ceasefire ending 11 days of intense violence in Gaza was announced late Thursday, taking effect in the early hours of Friday. Israeli airstrikes and Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza continued in the hours after the ceasefire was announced and before the time it was due to take effect. But after the clock counted down to ceasefire time, celebrations erupted from Gaza[Read More…]
The Light is Beginning to Shine from Jerusalem yet again! Celebrations have broken out across Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, across all of historic Palestine. Clearly after the 11-day war, the Palestinian Resistance has emerged stronger, with more widespread & greater global support. The struggle of the Palestinian people to safeguard the neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah from ethnic[Read More…]
Africa’s role model, Eritrea, located on the Red Sea will mark 30 years of independence this coming Monday, May 24. When a rag tag band of afro coiffed Eritrean rebels drove captured Ethiopian tanks into the streets of our capital Asmara thirty years ago it marked the first successful armed struggle for national liberation on the continent. Others had fought[Read More…]
Pain mixed with hope; defiance in the face of unimaginable odds; celebrities show solidarity with Palestine; large protests held in solidarity with Palestinians around the world; Palestinians strike across all of occupied Palestine from the river to the sea; intifada everywhere; a sea change in public perceptions of Palestine and Israel, so much so that NPR this morning called Hamas[Read More…]
Letter to President Biden and his cabinet about Israel and Palestine conflict Letter to President Joseph Biden Vice-President Kamala Harris Secretary of State Tony Blinken Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer Senator Minority leader Mitch McConnel Congressional Majority leader Nancy Pelosi Congressional Minority leader Kevin McCarthy It is time we work for the security of Israel and Justice to the Palestinians.[Read More…]
The second outbreak of corona catastrophe in our country is leading to the most tragic consequences. According to official statistics, 4.5 lakh new cases are diagnosed daily and about 4,000 deaths occur per day. All deaths cannot be graded as inevitable. The disease is not as deadly as it appears. These deaths are caused by the failure of our system[Read More…]
To the Kerala Government which assumed power on 20.05.2021 In 2018 when Kerala was struck by the worst ever flood of the century, beyond and above the tragedy and catastrophic consequences were raised many questions and suggestions about how this small State should be rebuilt. In 2021 a month ago before we queued up before the polling booths the same[Read More…]
Roads have a very important role in Himalayan region and , adding together the state and union budgets, the budgetary allocations are also significant. However there are costly distortions in planning for roads. On the one hand we see an escalating craze for over-constructed highways and on the other hand we have a glaring shortage of essential roads in some[Read More…]
The prevailing perception about Bihari women in a sub-urban/ rural setting reduces the different dimensions of their persona into fossilised gender identities like ‘left-behind women’. In other words, they are mostly considered as the passive recipient of exploitative patriarchal actions in a traditional, patriarchal society of Bihar. However, a closer look at the society of Bihar would suggest that the[Read More…]
In its deadly attacks in densely populated Gaza, the Israeli Defense Force is employing a technique they call “roof knocking.” First drones fire small missiles without warheads on a residential building, intended only to shake the building before armed missiles destroy it minutes later. The IDF calls these “warning shots” and they are often preceded by telephone calls to some[Read More…]
Thanks to its very name — renewable energy — we can picture a time in the not-too-distant future when our need for non-renewable fuels like oil, natural gas, and coal will vanish. Indeed, the Biden administration has announced a breakthrough target of 2035 for fully eliminating U.S. reliance on those non-renewable fuels for the generation of electricity. That would be accomplished by[Read More…]
The Saudi-Iranian contacts that began last month in secrecy have gained gravitas. Significantly, this is an exclusively regional initiative. The Saudi-Iranian drive to normalise ties is motivated primarily by the two sides’ deep distrust of American intentions. Blinken sounded unhappy and somewhat irritated. His words reflect the reality that the US is a mere passive bystander while the two Gulf[Read More…]
Stan Swamy, 84-year old Adivasi rights activist from Jharkhand, was arrested by NIA under UAPA in the Bhima Koregaon case on the 8th of October 2020 and has been lodged in Taloja jail, near Mumbai, Maharashtra. He has spent his entire life fighting for Adivasi rights and the rights of the underprivileged. Stan Swamy is a Parkinson’s disease patient with[Read More…]
Eminent economist Jean Dreze recently stated in an interview to PTI that India might be heading towards a serious livelihood crisis as the situation seems to be worse this time for the working class amid the COVID crisis and local restrictions by states already add up to something close to a nationwide lockdown. A related aspect is that in terms[Read More…]
Though India is one of the worst hit covid affected countries in the world, the plight and plea of political prisoners under trial gets no attention from the state or central governments. So many people including students, activists, journalists, academicians, and political leaders are still behind the bars many of whom are tested Covid postive while some others got serious[Read More…]
Israeli warplanes and artillery attacks killed several more Palestinians in Gaza and destroyed more than a dozen residential buildings late Tuesday and Wednesday. A journalist, child and woman were among those who died as a result of Israeli strikes, according to Al Mezan, a human rights group in Gaza. The slain journalist, Yousif Abu Hussein, may have been deliberately targeted,[Read More…]
Everyone likes birds. What wild creature is more accessible to our eyes and ears ,as close to us and everyone in the world as universal as birds David Attenborough A healthy planet and rich biodiversity are essential for our health and wellbeing. The emergence of COVID -19 has underscored the fact that when we destroy biodiversity, we destroy the system[Read More…]
Rejoinder and reflections by comrades on ‘Fractured Freedom and Interviews of Comrade Kobad Ghandy In recent days I received a rebuttal from Comrades who read my critique of Kobad Ghandy book ‘Fractured Freedom”.I may not completely endorse their viewpoint but I respect their sound clarity from a Marxist Leninist perspective. I also admired Kobad Ghandy’s brilliant refutation of the criticism[Read More…]
Speaking to farmers on May 14, 2021 Prime Minister Modi called the corona virus, an ‘adrashya dushman”, meaning an invisible enemy. He continued with the war symbolism when he added that preparations are being undertaken on war footing to confront the virus and that the three services — air force, navy and army are fully committed to combating it. The[Read More…]
There has been a social explosion of the Colombian people against poverty and repression. President Duque’s ‘tax reform’ package was the last straw that broke their patience. The biggest upsurge of sustained popular protest since the 1970s has brought the country to an absolutely pivotal moment: Colombia’s future hangs in the balance. In this article we look at why Duque[Read More…]
At the beginning of this year, I wrote an article for Counterpunch arguing that UFO sightings were a new kind of quasi-religion based on the cultural peculiarities of modern post-war America: technologism, managerism, a decline in traditional religions, cold war “after-glow”, and last but not least a pervasive sense of loss of control over one’s destiny and increasing alienation from society and[Read More…]
Palestinian protests over the war criminal eviction of Palestinian families from the culturally significant Shaikh Jarrah part of Occupied East Jerusalem led to Israeli soldiers violating the Al Aqsa Mosque compound (the third most holy site in Islam) on Friday 7 May 2021, a highly significant day for Muslims in the week marking the end of Ramadan. In response to[Read More…]
Palestine is considered sacred to all three religions that trace their roots to (Prophet) Abraham; Judaism, Christianity and Islam. For the Jews, this is the place where the temple of (Prophet) Solomon stood, for the Christians this is the place where the Messiah, Jesus Christ was born, preached and was crucified. For the Muslims this is the place from where[Read More…]
Here we go again with yet another deadly and devastating Israeli military attack on Gaza that has captured the world’s attention. However, this current crisis is notably different in scope from the numerous previous major Israeli war crimes against Gaza. This time there was already ongoing Palestinian resistance to Israeli provocations and violence in occupied East Jerusalem including the egregious[Read More…]
Those who fear the end of democracy take no heed to a fundamental cause of the threat – Israel. President Biden has an opportunity to separate the Democratic Party from the worldwide chauvinists, who believe in their superiority and that might makes right. Followers of Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer found guilty of murdering George Floyd, are chauvinists. No[Read More…]
In April, the Indian government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Microsoft, allowing its local partner CropData to leverage a master database of farmers. The MoU seems to be part of the AgriStack policy initiative, which involves the roll out of ‘disruptive’ technologies and digital databases in the agricultural sector. Based on press reports and government statements, Microsoft would[Read More…]
Several reports have been appearing from time to time which indicate increasing distress and problems in many remote Himalayan villages. To some extent this is a reflection of increasing problems related to climate change and ecological ruin in the greater part of the Himalayan-Hindukush region, but in addition there are the added problems of living in more remote areas and[Read More…]
Written by Dr. Aadil M. Nanda and Dr. Rafi Ramzan Dar Gone are the days when our educated youth were viewed as a potential human resource waiting to be tapped. In the days of yore, they were role models for guiding the nature of social change in terms of their capability to socialize society in its moral, cultural and intellectual dimensions. Nowadays, educational[Read More…]
Resounding victories for leftist and independent candidates saw rightwing politicians crash to dismal electoral defeats alongside those with links to Chile’s transition to democracy. Communist party members in Santiago celebrated victories in the constitutional assembly elections. The Chilean voters this weekend elected a progressive slate of delegates to the constituent assembly tasked with rewriting the country’s right-wing constitution, which was[Read More…]
This article seeks to draw attention to one aspect of African sovereignty that does not get adequate coverage. Admittedly, many are aware of illicit financial outflows that cripple development or the fact that Africa has been a net creditor to the global financial system even though the countries within are debt ridden. This article will draw the lines between the[Read More…]
Recurrent waves of pandemic has undoubtedly challenged the tenacity of public health system of India, over stretching the meaning of community health workers and bringing them to forefront of discourse. Where 66% of India is still rural, struggling to have one allopathic doctor in a population of 10, 926 people as against the recommendation of WHO to have 1 in[Read More…]
The architect of our constitution felt that it is workable, flexible and strong enough to hold the country together both in peace and war time. If in recent times we have Covid-warriors and Covid war-rooms that mean we are indeed at war. The Preamble indicates the basic structure of the Indian constitution which cannot be changed in any case or[Read More…]
In recent years, the Hindutva politics has caused long term damage to India and Indians. The so called 56-inch macho PM, the propaganda master manufactures and survives all political crisis including the current mismanagement of the Coronavirus pandemic in India. In spite of deaths and destitutions, the social, cultural, economic and religious base of Hindutva is intact. There are only[Read More…]
1) Palestine was colonized and replaced by a colonial settler state called “Israel”. The ideas was simply to take a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-religious country and transform it to a “Jewish state.” The core of this project (Zionism) is ethnic cleansing which started under British Rule (to fulfil the illegal Balfour declaration) and continued and accelerated under more direct Zionism control[Read More…]
From 6th May 2021 while Hamas, a radical Palestinian group has launched missiles on Israelis on the issue related to Al Aqsa mosque, the Israel has launched close to a full scale attack on Palestinians. In this conflict the causalities and destruction has been more on Palestinian side, death of nearly 200 people including 60 children, while on Israeli side[Read More…]
Illegal migrants living inside India is a worrying, long-standing reality dating back to the 1950s. This is so especially in several border states. Over decades, successive governments of different political persuasions at centre have amended the Citizenship legislation several times, but have only complicated, not helped to resolve if not solve, the issue. Together, the centre and states have failed[Read More…]
India’s political culture is deeply disappointing and depressing. Even those who wish to counter the BJP and Hindutva suffer from the same mind set and sometimes worse. After ‘building’ a brand, we sideline some to create our own monopolies. A few days back, Kerala lost one of its greatest left leaders K K Gauri Amma who should have been the[Read More…]
“I said we would exact a very heavy price from Hamas and other terror groups, and we are doing so and will continue to do so with great force,” Netanyahu said in a fiery video address. Israel’s PM Netanyahu is a war criminal and should be held accountable for war crimes throughout his PM-ship of Israel, according to the 1945 /[Read More…]
From the outset, some clarification regarding the language used to depict the ongoing violence in occupied Palestine, and also throughout Israel. This is not a ‘conflict’. Neither is it a ‘dispute’ nor ‘sectarian violence’ nor even a war in the traditional sense. It is not a conflict, because Israel is an occupying power and the Palestinian people are an occupied[Read More…]
There seems no end to the Zionist carnage in Gaza. On May 16, 2021, the US blocked for the third time within a week a statement at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) condemning Israeli violence against Palestinians and urging a ceasefire in Gaza. The blocked statement by the US was introduced by Norway, Tunisia, and China after an emergency Security[Read More…]
The death of the distinguished poet, writer, and teacher, Sankha Ghosh removes a huge, near-silent presence from the literary, intellectual, and moral landscape of Bengal. Sankha babu leaves behind a legacy of truth-telling to the very faces of wayward powers-that-be, which at least some of his students and admirers are likely to look up to with pride and joy for[Read More…]
Javed Miandad exuded none of the gentlemanly spirit so much part of the game on the cricket field or gave the game it’s due respect in terms of grace or sportsmanship .He stood amongst cricket’s most controversial and outspoken characters. However few batsmen or cricketers took combative spirit or defiance to such a magnitude, to ressurect a team from the[Read More…]
The U.S. military is operating a 60,000-troop strong secret army without any Congressional oversight, spending at least $900 million on the program annually, claimed a Newsweek report. The Newsweek report cited the results of a two-year investigation. The magazine’s report, said to be based on dozens of Freedom of Information Act requests, the analysis of 1,600 resumes and job postings,[Read More…]
Is President Biden afflicted with the political equivalent of a split personality? His first several months in office suggest just that possibility. On the home front, the president’s inclination is clearly to Go Big. When it comes to America’s role in the world, however, Biden largely hews to pre-Trumpian precedent. So far at least, the administration’s overarching foreign-policy theme is[Read More…]
Democracy is all about access to resources, rights, participation in decisions, freedom and the ability to pursue choice. Democracy the world over has been under threat, in recent times. In fact, in India, increasingly dilution of democratic processes can be traced to chronology of globalisation of Indian economy. There is a perspective wherein globalisation is aligned with the democracy. Globalisation[Read More…]
In the strategic planning for various forms of weapons and warfare an important place may be assigned to those weapons or agents and forms of warfare which can inflict very heavy damage on the perceived enemy in such a way that the identity of the attacker may be completely hidden or else at least is not revealed clearly.[Read More…]
Human rights groups are calling for an urgent investigation by the International Criminal Court as Israel’s merciless pounding of Gaza enters its second week. More than 200 Palestinians in the Strip have been killed since last Monday, including 60 children and 34 women, according to Al Mezan, a human rights group based in the territory. Three of the women were pregnant when[Read More…]
Israel’s Defense Minister expressed gratitude to the U.S. for blocking a UN resolution calling for a ceasefire for the third time in a row. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in the western part of Gaza, according to the Jerusalem Post, while local reports suggested that an office for Palestinian Prisoners’ Affairs was targeted, as well as agricultural lands. A recent[Read More…]
On 8th May, Israeli occupation forces attacked the Palestinian protestors outside the old city, a day after they stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque and injured about 200 Palestinians. According to the reports, 90 people have been grievously injured so far. Israeli police used bullet and stun grenades to inflict violence on the protestors, made several arrests and destroyed solidarity tents. The[Read More…]
My talk at the International Festival of Whistleblowing, Dissent and Accountability on May 8. Transcript below. https://video.emergeheart.info/videos/watch/0e680370-0f59-4110-aaca-d0d0c228f47f?start=0s I wanted to use this opportunity to talk about my experiences over the past two decades working with new technology as an independent freelance journalist, one who abandoned – or maybe more accurately, was abandoned by – what we usually call the “mainstream”[Read More…]
Due to the Covid lockdown in 2020, though the number of road traffic accidents declined yet deaths did not decline in the same proportion because people drive at higher speeds which continued to result in fatal accidents. Every year, more than 1.3 million people die in road traffic crashes – that’s one person every 24 seconds. Excessive speed is[Read More…]
A clean, technology driven dystopia. A representation of our techno future. These were the introductory descriptions to a piece by science fiction author William Gibson on Singapore for Wired in 1993. “Imagine an Asian version of Zurich operating as an offshore capsule at the foot of Malaysia; an affluent microcosm whose citizens inhabit something that feels like well, Disneyland. Disneyland[Read More…]
Health expert Srinath Reddy on India’s unpreparedness for the second wave, the danger of variant B.1.617, and waiving patents on life-saving medicines India’s second Covid-19 wave has been particularly vicious. On Monday, 366,161 new infections and 3,754 deaths were reported by the health ministry. We’ve seen hospitals run out of oxygen and beds, morgues and crematoria overflow, and bodies washed[Read More…]
In recent decades the serious risks of genetically engineered crops, foods, animals and mosquitoes have been widely discussed and thanks to the rich contribution by several senior scientists and groups of scientists also to this debate these hazards are now recognized quite widely. It is time now to give equal attention to the very high risks of genetically engineered viruses[Read More…]
During the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, deaths of teachers got a huge media attention especially at the intersecting period of April-May 2021. The deaths of several hundred school teachers in Uttar Pradesh and the demise of professors at considerable rate in universities especially in Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and Delhi University (DU) highlighted in both print and are[Read More…]
Allahabad: The recent images of bloating human bodies floating on the Ganga, with crows and dogs picking on the carcasses have shocked the nation and made headlines around the world. Reports of burial of hundreds of dead bodies in riverside sand outside towns in Uttar Pradesh like Unnao and Kanpur have also surfaced. It is clear that most of these[Read More…]
Nomadland raises critical concerns about the economy, lifestyle and perceptions of happiness In Nomadland, the analogy of a motor home is that of a lifeboat. The economy is Titanic, unstoppably sinking thanks to the wreckage. The sinking could be slow, too slow to notice or acknowledge, but it’s inevitable. When Bob Wells, the charismatic vandweller and minimalist who plays himself[Read More…]
Palestinian casualties of Israeli bombs that according to Mr. Netanyahu, targeted the “terrorists” in Gaza Like most Israeli/Palestinian clashes of the past, recent clash was also triggered and fomented by the Israelis. Al Jazeera reports that “Anger has been growing over the forced expulsion of Palestinian families [by the Israelis] from the occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, who[Read More…]
Written by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies The U.S. corporate media usually report on Israeli military assaults in occupied Palestine as if the United States is an innocent neutral party to the conflict. In fact, large majorities of Americans have told pollsters for decades that they want the United States to be neutral in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But[Read More…]
It is the duty of all patriotic citizens to protect the international reputation of their country. For the greater part of its post-independence period India has experienced a reasonably good reputation in terms of democracy and human rights. There were always some problems, things were never perfect, there were ups and downs, but on the whole there was a reasonably[Read More…]
Israel in the early hours of Sunday night obliterated multiple generations of families when it bombed their homes in Gaza. Around 1 am, Israeli warplanes launched a savage bombing campaign lasting at least an hour, firing 50 missiles at the area surrounding al-Wihda street in Gaza City. Without warning, the bombs hit residential buildings, bringing them down on top of[Read More…]
Oxygen ‘audit’ and rationing is taking lives; anesthesiologists say planning adequate buffer stocks is the only way A string of recent directives, from the central government to states, and from states to government and private hospitals are emphasising on oxygen audits and rationing to ‘prevent wastage,’ as a strategy to ease the oxygen crisis in the country in treatment of[Read More…]
Debjeet Sarangi, a leading development and environment activist based in Odisha, breathed his last on May 15 at a Bhubaneswar hospital. He was only 53 at the time of his untimely death. In a relatively short time, Debjeet had made very important contributions relating to justice, environment protection and evolving a new development paradigm. His contribution to looking at tribal[Read More…]
From the mountaintops of southern Arizona, you can see a world without borders. I realized this just before I met Juan Carlos. I was about 20 miles from the border but well within the militarized zone that abuts it. I was, in fact, atop the Baboquivari mountain range, a place sacred to the Tohono O’odham, the Native American people who[Read More…]
Written by Romana Rubeo and Ramzy Baroud On April 1, a mural appeared in the Southern Italian city of Naples, depicting Palestinian workers lining at an Israeli military checkpoint near the occupied city of Bethlehem, in the West Bank. It is called ‘Welcome to Bethlehem’. The mural, which quickly became popular in the town and on social media, was the[Read More…]
After the darkest night, there is always a dawn We are all absolutely distraught and destroyed (as I am sure you and all people with hearts must be) with what is happening in Gaza/Palestine, which started with the attack on Al Aqsa during the night prayer on the 27th night of Ramadan, one of our holiest nights and has now[Read More…]
One of the world’s most inspiring movements for peace involved the Pashtun community. It was led by Badshah Khan, and earned the highest praise from Mahatma Gandhi who visited the villages and towns of the movement almost as a pilgrimage site. From 1933 to 1973, when Zahir Shah was the king for 40 long years, Afghanistan had a long period[Read More…]
The increasing conflict in many parts of the world and the near ruin of several once prosperous and well-resourced countries in recent times due to war, invasion and civil strife has re-emphasized the need for a strong and effective world peace which is unbiased and independent and can work with continuity. This should be created from bottom to top and[Read More…]
More than 17,000 Palestinians in Gaza are experiencing yet another episode of displacement as Israel escalated its attack on civilian infrastructure on Saturday, the 73rd annual commemoration of Nakba Day. At least 145 Palestinians in Gaza, including 41 children, have been killed since Israel began bombing it on Monday. Around 1,000 more have been injured. We have now documented 41 Palestinian[Read More…]
Jospeh Stiglitz, the Nobel laureate, in an essay last week , with a startling title Will Corporate Greed Prolong the Pandemic? , wrote: “…Their goal is simple: to maintain as much market power as they can for as long as possible in order to maximise profits..” Now China has gatecrashed the aggressively-guarded orchard of powerful western pharmaceutical companies… The WHO approved[Read More…]
The blaming of young people as ‘lazy, deviants, drug abusers, materialists, selfish, directionless, apolitical and other stereotypes continue to dominate public narratives. The objectives of these borderless narratives are designed to weaken young people’s ability to challenge and transform the society in which they live. The blame culture and negative portrayals are control mechanisms of old and established social, political,[Read More…]
Dumka, Jharkhand: ‘I am completely alone’, says Asha worker Jayshree Marandi sadly. ‘He would have helped me in the care and education of the children, but Covid-19 snatched him from me.’ Jayshree Marandi is talking about her husband, whom the pandemic swallowed. Jayshree remembers how he used to take her from village-to-village while he carried out his work. “ I[Read More…]
“Without quick action to curb CO2 emissions, global warming is likely to increase by 4 degrees Centigrade (7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) above today’s normal during the 21st century and that is dangerously close to the temperature of 6 degrees Centigrade above normal that initiated the Permian-Triassic extinction event 252 million years ago when 96% of all marine species and 70% of[Read More…]
Health is a precious asset. The World Health Organization identifies health as a state of total physical, mental, and social well-being, rather than simply the absence of disease. It also claims that there can be no true physical health without mental health. A person with good mental health is aware of their abilities, can cope with life’s normal stresses, can[Read More…]
Turbulent times- that’s where we are living in! It almost feels like a flight leading to neverland that has been in turbulence since December 2019 and all of us are confused passengers in it. While 2021 has ‘brought in a fresh ray of hope’ as the government of India announcement that has been automatically set as everyone’s caller-tune by default[Read More…]
On May 13 Thailand released data of record increase in Covid cases, but perhaps even more worrying was the fact that over half of the new cases were reported from two prisons located in Bangkok which also house quite a few political prisoners who had been arrested mainly for their protests against the government and the monarchy. This is just[Read More…]
Till some time back Sudha Bharadwaj was known to many friends and admirers as a public interest lawyer who had protected many vulnerable and poor persons, particularly workers from injustice. She also taught law at prestigious institutions and was a source of inspiration for many of her students. How have conditions changed? Now her only daughter Maaysha has been moving[Read More…]
Israel has bombed the building that houses media offices including AP, Al Jazeera , AJEnglish and other international news organisations. It was not immediately clear if there were casualties in Saturday’s attack. Live Al Jazeera video showed the 11-storey Al-Jalaa building, which also houses a number of residences and other offices, crashing to the ground after being bombed as dust[Read More…]
Israel is not exercising “the right to defend itself” in the occupied Palestinian territories. It is carrying out mass murder. It is a war crime. Nearly all the words and phrases used by the Democrats, Republicans and the talking heads on the media to describe the unrest inside Israel and the heaviest Israeli assault against the Palestinians since the 2014[Read More…]
On the Tikri border the water continues to simmer at a boiling point with magnitude of intensity of agitators never decreasing. With surgical skill the mass leaders and activists of the Bhartiya Kisan Union(Ugrahan) enable the flag of resistance to flutter. Below I am submitting four reports which perfectly illustrate the sheer power of the farmers resistance, like call continuously[Read More…]
Just a few days ago legendary Naxalite leader and C.P.I.(M.L) New Democracy Punjab state secretary Comrade Darshan Singh Khatkar turned 75.I don’t have an adjective to do justice to both his personal qualities and contribution towards the Communist Movement. Without a doubt one of the greatest ever comrades to have joined the contingent of the Communist revolutionary camp. Few comrades[Read More…]
May 15, 2021, marks the 73rd anniversary of Nakba (catastrophe). 1948, the year Israel was created, was also the year of the dispossession and expulsion of three-quarters of a million Palestinians and the destruction of more than 500 hundred villages and localities. Israel’s founding violently fragmented the Palestinian people and pushed them into multiple zones of space and classification: those[Read More…]
But the US withdrawal is no longer conditions-based, which means the Taliban have achieved their number one objective without bending on any of the key issues such as their continuing links with the al-Qaeda or their agenda to reestablish the Islamic Emirate… Apparently, all that the US extracted out of the Taliban is a tacit understanding that the western troops[Read More…]
Despite all the manipulations done by the Modi Government with the GDP figures, the economic slowdown has been so persistent that now, finally, the official figures also admit that economy began slowing down before the pandemic. GDP Growth Rate Till 2019, just before the elections, Modi and the then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley claimed that India is the fastest growing[Read More…]
Women and children account for nearly half of the more than 120 Palestinians killed in Gaza since Monday, according to Al-Mezan, a human rights group in the territory. This contradicts Israel’s claims that it is targeting Hamas infrastructure and making great efforts to avoid harming civilians. The death toll will likely climb higher as bodies are recovered from the rubble of the[Read More…]
Could we know the exact or even approximate number of deaths caused due to Covid-19 and related symptoms which took place in last one month in Uttar Pradesh and which continue to take place every day? Perhaps never! Although the social and print media is full of stories, images, videos and narratives related to huge number of deaths taking place[Read More…]
With the babble about Cold War paranoia becoming a routine matter in Canberra, the treacherous ground for war with China is being bedded down and readied. The Yellow Peril image never truly dissipated from Australia’s politics. It was crucial in framing the first act of the newly born Commonwealth in 1901: the Immigration Restriction Act. Even as China was being[Read More…]
Leaders in whose hands great trust is placed by their people must have an equally great sense of responsibility of not misusing this trust and of using their position and accompanying power very carefully. Israel is obviously a very important country which has elected Benjamin Netanyahu five times to the post of its Prime Minister. Well, he wasn’t always elected[Read More…]
![Double photo of the wall in Abu Dis:
Two photos joined, taken from the identical spot on either side of the Israeli wall as it severs Abu Dis in two (left=east, right=west; note the same minaret in both photos). The wall orphans Abu Dis on the right side into East Jerusalem. This both enlarges Israel’s claimed annexation of East Jerusalem, and facilitates the ethnic cleansing of the area’s people, since they now have the “wrong” ID cards (West Bank instead of East Jerusalem) in Israel’s bantustan system for non-Jews. Palestinians on the left side cannot go to the right side without special permission; for foreigners, it is perhaps a half-hour drive. Although Palestinians on the right side are free to go to the left side, they will likely never be able to return to the right side if they do. [photos: T Suárez]](https://cdn.countercurrents.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/West-Ban-Apartheid-Separation-Wall-200x150.jpg "Palestine: Five pivotal media fudges that empower Israel's ongoing crimes 440")
The western mass media’s coverage of the so-called “conflict” in Israel-Palestine is so flawed as to turn upside-down the public’s understanding of what is happening. Following are five specific points that are particularly relevant to the current violence. East Jerusalem is not in Israel. News analyses of Israeli actions at Sheikh Jarrah and the Al-Aqsa Mosque are invariably premised as[Read More…]
Dr. Akram Kewidar, an assistant professor at the Israa University, Gaza, has sent me videos of the Zionist carnage occurring in the Palestinian enclave. Israeli bombs are reducing entire residential buildings to dust and rubble; bodies lie mangled in pulverized cars; corpses are strewn on the streets like the remains of flattened houses. As I write these words, nearly 83[Read More…]
When children leave school for the day they are in a joyous mood. They are happy to be going home, and yet they have so much to tell their friends before they go. So friends cling to each other to say all their precious important things before they separate for the day. Free of the discipline of the classroom and[Read More…]
Seaspiracy is a powerful new documentary about the hazardous, unruly world of industrial fishing and stomach-churning abuse, overuse, disregard for life, as shown on Netflix, released by Disrupt Studios March 24th 2021. The opening scene of the film sets the tone with a long-shot of an isolated fishing trawler at sea as the voice-over of a former fishing vessel crew[Read More…]
Israel pounded the Gaza Strip for the fourth consecutive day on Thursday, with the health ministry in the territory reporting more than 100 killed in the most severe military offensive there since 2014. Palestinian armed groups in Gaza continued to retaliate by firing projectiles towards Israel. Seven people, including a soldier and two children, have been killed in rocket strikes in Israel[Read More…]
UN head Antonio Guterres implored the warring parties in Israel and Gaza to halt the bloodshed, amid reports that Israeli officials rejected a ceasefire plan floated by Egypt. “Out of respect for the spirit of Eid, I appeal for an immediate de-escalation and cessation of hostilities in Gaza and Israel,” the UN secretary-general said in a tweet on Thursday night.[Read More…]
Last week the academic community in Haryana, Punjab, Delhi and other states was greatly distress by the news of the death of Dr. Mahavir Narwal. Many of his former students, particularly those in Hissar , were reduced to tears. He was remembered by teachers as well as students not only for his learning and teaching but also for the important[Read More…]
For a very long time now, we have been hearing people declare that we should do things ‘according to our national characteristics’. From Bankim Chatterjee to Partha Chatterjee, the chatter has not changed much. There are two kinds of people who make this argument at present: the patriots and the great intellectuals who make tours of other countries. While using[Read More…]
In times of doubt and despair, remind yourself of a line from Pablo Neruda: “You can cut all the flowers, but you cannot keep Spring from coming”. The government has done everything to cut all communications. The roads have been blocked; trenches have been dug to prevent tractors from entering the city; beds of sharp nails have been laid out[Read More…]
The global death toll from the coronavirus pandemic has topped 3.34 million and over 160.8 million cases of the infection have been detected, according to Baltimore, Maryland’s Johns Hopkins University (JHU). The U.S., India and Brazil are the top three countries in terms of the number of registered coronavirus infections, while the largest number of COVID-19-related deaths has been observed[Read More…]
It is well known that Covid pandemic is caused by a novel virus (SARS-CoV-2), Its variants and mutated forms which did not exist earlier. It is natural not to have drugs that would prevent or eradicate this new virus! But if lakhs of people are getting infected, and suffering to the tune of thousands of deaths, the medical profession[Read More…]
No one is malicious and mean enough to believe that Modi has knowingly caused the death of lacs and disease to millions. He has done his best to prevent them but failed. He failed because his priorities were wrong and he lacked far-sightedness. He took no step in time to prevent the infected to enter the country and spread the[Read More…]
Nutan simply took grace to regions of divinity like no other actress who virtually traversed sublime realms when acting. She exuded the fragrance of a lotus blossoming or radiance of a full moon looking like a manifestation of the energy of the divine or a spiritual force transcending through her. No female star transcended spirituality in her[Read More…]
Where is Peace, and Where Are the Forces of Justice and Peace? While the overwhelming concern just now should of course be for steps which can check violence immediately, troubling questions remain as to what exactly have the efforts of over seven decades achieved for bringing justice to the people of Palestine and peace to the wider troubled region. While[Read More…]
Today I write to celebrate the full life of a Roman Catholic Dalit priest, Rev. Dr. P. Antonyraj SJ who passed away on 10th May. I was nineteen years old studying in St. Joseph’s College, Tiruchirappalli and staying in the hostel in Room No. 101, when I had several common mentors who moulded me in my college days like Fr. P.[Read More…]
[Analyzing the philosophy of Nobel laureate of Bengal, Rabindranath Tagore reflected in his literary works, on the occasion of his 160th birth anniversary.] “I have become my own version of an optimist. If I can’t make it through one door, I’ll go through another door—or I’ll make a door. Something terrific will come no matter how dark the present.” Nobel[Read More…]
Hany Babu, an undertrial prisoner in the Bhima Koregaon case, who has been in custody since July 2020 without trial has now been diagnosed as COVID Positive. Hany had developed an acute eye infection in Taloja Jail. He has little or no vision in his left eye due to the swelling, which has spread to the cheek, ear and forehead[Read More…]
Modi on April 19 announced “liberalised vaccine pricing” policy. “Private vaccination providers shall transparently declare their self-set vaccination price.” This is part-2 of a two-part article, dealing with Politics And Economics of the Vaccine policy. Covid-19 Vaccines: Politics And Economics Of The IPR Waiver Ploy –Part 1 was published on May 11: https://countercurrents.org/2021/05/covid-19-vaccines-politics-and-economics-of-the-ipr-waiver-ploy/ *** *** The Essence of Vaccine Policy[Read More…]
The rapid escalation of violence, including Israeli air attack, resulting in civil war type conditions in parts of Israel and Palestine territories is deeply distressing and coming as it does in pandemic times threatens to move towards serious humanitarian crisis. The crisis can also widen, leading to violence and tensions in other parts of the volatile region. The rapid escalation[Read More…]
One of our nation’s greatest novelists, Sinclair Lewis once wrote that ” When Fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross.” Are we soon to be approaching that Rubicon? January 6th , 2021 will go down in American history either as A) The culmination of years of far right wing Neo Fascist mechanisms[Read More…]
One hundred and fifty years ago, in the bloody wake of the Civil War, the abolitionist Julia Ward Howe issued a “Mother’s Day Proclamation.” The world, she wrote, could no longer bear such terrible violence and death. She called on women across the country to “rise up through the ashes and devastation” and come together in the cause of peace.[Read More…]
The Coca Cola bottling unit in Plachimada, Palakkad, lying unused since 2004, will soon be converted into a Covid care centre. Ecologist Dr S Faizi, who served as an expert member on the high powered committee set up by the state in 2009 to study the impact of the bottling plant on the local ecology and community, on Wednesday wrote[Read More…]
Walnut chairs of yearning are rocking on their own – in Palestine Blood-stamped graves are speaking to olive trees – in Palestine Ceramic cheeks of age-old homes are cracking under combat boots Is anything stable – in Palestine? Pores of soil are filtering the white shroud of martyrs What has befallen the people – in Palestine? Marbles of memory line[Read More…]
More than 130 prominent Indians condemn the attacks on the Palestinian worshippers in the Al-Aqsa Mosque & the residents of Sheikh Jarrah, by the Israeli apartheid regime. We stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people, as they valiantly resist the Israeli attempts to target & ethnically cleance the residents of Sheikh Jarrah & Silwan, both suburbs of East Jerusalem. We[Read More…]
With more anti-Asian hate crimes than 10 of the most populous U.S. cities combined in 2020, Vancouver has reportedly become the “Anti-Asian Hate Crime Capital of North America.” A report in Bloomberg looked into police figures collected by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism (CSHE) at Cal State San Bernardino. The Bloomberg report looks deeply, with historical[Read More…]
Vidarbha has been a fertile soil for many social reformers and intellectuals. It has played an active role in the nation’s destiny and its social, cultural and political rivulets have flown into and enriched the great sea of national civilization. One such luminary who emerged from Yavatmal was Kazi Syed Karimuddin. He rose to be a great criminal lawyer of[Read More…]
When Rome was burning, Emperor Nero was playing violin—it is said. What a coincidence! When India was suffering from Covid-19 our Prime Minister was busy playing with a peacock and photo-shooting for an advertisement film! When India is reeling under second and more dangerous wave of corona, the numbers of people affected and killed by the deadly virus are[Read More…]
We live in the most tumultuous times when exit from the world and life we have taken for granted is determined by a small being. As a woman living in Kerala ridden with patriarchal norms sugar coated as liberal progressive novel thought, it is but inevitable that one feels concerned about what one leaves behind, what will be the reference[Read More…]
Vaccination is the only solution to mitigate the ferocity of Covid-19. If we continue the present pace of vaccination, experts say that it would take many years to administer vaccine to all. The statistics released by the government disclose that we are unable to proceed with the vaccination due to the shortage of production of vaccine. Two vaccines Covishield[Read More…]
Written by Sandeep Pandey and Divesh Ranjan In the recently concluded elections in Assam, it turns out that if the votes of Mahajot alliance led by Congress Party and the alliance of Assam Jatiya Parishad and Raijor Dal are combined then they would have been in a position to prevent Bhartiya Janata Party from forming a government in Assam. If[Read More…]
Family and friends of activists arrested in Bhima Koregaon conspiracy case write to Hon’ble Chief Minister, Maharashtra state for immediate release of the Bhima Koregaon under trial detainees in light of the threats posed to their life and health due to the raging Covid 19 pandemic. Letter attached. —————–Letter——————— Date: 11/05/21 To, The Honorable CM, Maharshtra Mr. Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray,[Read More…]
The Biden administration is reportedly blocking the release of a United Nations Security Council statement calling for an immediate cease-fire as Israel continues its devastating assault on the occupied Gaza Strip, killing dozens of Palestinians and injuring hundreds more. According to Reuters, which cited anonymous diplomats and sources familiar with the Biden administration’s strategy, the United States is “delaying” the U.N.[Read More…]
My father Ashim Ray (1927-86) is considered an exceptional novelist and short story writer who has left a major contribution to serious Bengali literature. However, in his lifetime his contribution was not recognized and he never got any major award. He could carry on his serious writing only because my mother was super supportive of his work. She even copied[Read More…]
Balraj Sahni took art of acting simply to another dimension in his time, reminiscent of a Michelangelo. It is hard to find an adjective to do justice to his sheer sensitivity which reached spiritual depths or realism in his characters. He did not make the impact of Dev Anand,Raj Kapoor or Dilip Kumar but in championing or portraying the common[Read More…]
Four states and a Union territory saw the elections in 2021. Despite the dangerous Corona wave the elections were held in a way which suited the ruling dispensation at centre. While West Bengal (WB) results were most awaited and later welcomed for different reasons, BJP also made some gains particularly in Assam and Pudduchery. Even in WB its voting percentage[Read More…]
Not long ago, streets and roads of primary importance in significant parts of Delhi were subjected to a rampant, incessant renaming spree. The Akbar Road, for instance, an iconic road in Central Delhi was renamed Maharana Pratap road overnight. The given reason- the inglorious past of the Mughal and British figures in comparison with the shining history of the Hindu[Read More…]
Gas (fuel) outages are spreading across the U.S. Southeast as motorists rush to fill up their cars days after the biggest U.S. fuel pipeline temporarily shut down following a cyberattack. Gas stations in Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee were seeing some panic buying, said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. Virginia and Florida declared a state of[Read More…]
Israel deliberately destroyed a residential tower in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday despite warnings from Palestinian resistance groups not to target civilian infrastructure. Videos circulated on social media show the al-Hanadi apartment building collapsing after it was struck by an Israeli missile. #فيديو الاحتلال يدمر برج هنادي غرب مدينة #غزة الذي يضم 13 طابقا وأكثر من 40 شقة#غزة_تحت_القصف pic.twitter.com/3K9crPGgRt —[Read More…]
In the course of facing the ongoing challenge of the pandemic, a sad reality that has manifested itself time and again is that profit-driven health systems are unable to respond effectively to such crisis situations. There are several disturbing anecdotes of how the profit driven systems and the individuals running them behaved in a selfish and callous way towards[Read More…]
At the High Line, a popular tourist attraction in New York City, visitors to the West side of Lower Manhattan ascend above street level to what was once an elevated freight train line and is now a tranquil and architecturally intriguing promenade. Here walkers enjoy a park-like openness; with fellow strollers they experience urban beauty, art and the wonder of[Read More…]
There are two separate Sheikh Jarrah stories – one read and watched in the news and another that receives little media coverage or due analysis. The obvious story is that of the nightly raids and violence meted out by Israeli police and Jewish extremists against Palestinians in the devastated East Jerusalem neighborhood. For weeks, thousands of Jewish extremists have targeted[Read More…]
Why Is the Ruling Establishment Simply Incapable of Responding Any Other Way to the Pandemic? On the morning of 27th April I got a phone call from the youngest son of a trade union veteran of Kanpur, that everyone in his large household has been down with COVID-19 (henceforth Covid)-like symptoms. Though the condition of others was stable, his father’s oxygen[Read More…]
The Madras HC reminded the Election Commission that it was the “the most irresponsible institution” and even said its officials may be booked under murder charges…Causing death by negligence or recklessness by refusing to see the killer virus is murder strictly as per the definition in IPC. Please read Sections 299 and 300 of Indian Penal Code which is working[Read More…]
An Appeal to Chief Minister of Kerala Mr. Pinarayi Vijayan Sir, Please Intervene… To The Honourable Chief Minister of Kerala Dear Sir, We, the family members of Hany Babu M.T., who is the 12th person to be arrested in the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad case (NIA Case No. RC-02/2020/NIA/MUM), write to you in desperation and to bring to your kind attention[Read More…]
The Web of Life is under attack but almost nobody is aware because it’s happening mostly below surface. Scientists have identified a rampant worldwide Bugpocalypse that’s methodically killing the planet’s most significant and most crucial life support system, and it’s intentional! The victim is soil, which is the life source for 95% of the foods we cram down our throats[Read More…]
Joe Biden’s First 100 Days Were a Pentagon Prize The first 100 days of President Joe Biden’s administration have come and gone. While somewhat exaggerated, that milestone is normally considered the honeymoon period for any new president. Buoyed by a recent election triumph and inauguration, he’s expected to be at the peak of his power when it comes to advancing the[Read More…]
Written by Ali Abunimah, Maureen Clare Murphy and Tamara Nassar Twenty Palestinians, nine of them children, were killed in Israeli bombing attacks in the Gaza Strip on Monday night. This came at the end of a day of violence that began in occupied East Jerusalem, where Israeli forces assaulted worshippers at the al-Aqsa mosque compound, injuring hundreds. Scenes of brutality[Read More…]
The World Health Organization on Monday classified a coronavirus mutation first detected in India as a “variant of concern” for global health, warning that it appears to be more contagious than other strains. Experts believe the variant, formally known as B.1.617, could be a key driving force behind the devastating coronavirus surge in India, which has been reporting more than 300,000 new[Read More…]
One does not see disturbing images of oxygen and bed shortage in Mumbai as are being seen from other cities during the Covid crisis. But he well-organised media hype over Mumbai’s handling of Covid is likely to give a very misleading picture to the outside world that all is well in the Metropolis.The picture is far from rosy. It is[Read More…]
Written by Poornima Bisineer and Sandeep Pandey As the second more virulent wave of coronavirus rages on, the urban areas seem to be more adversely affected compared to the rural areas. Although, there are cases and deaths being now reported from rural areas too but the numbers in cities is disproportionately higher. And within the cities the better off localities[Read More…]
US announcement to discuss IPR relaxation came as Modi regime, a QUAD ally, was gasping for political breath after election setbacks, and an oxygen crisis in India. In a sudden change of heart, US announced, towards the end of April 2021, that it may relent on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) restrictions and may lift the ban on export of raw materials[Read More…]
It should be making officials in the White House tremble. Critical infrastructure supplying 45% of the East Coast’s diesel, gasoline and jet fuel, left at the mercy of a ransomware operation executed on May 6. In the process, 100 GB of data of Colonial Pipeline was seized and encrypted on computers and servers. The next day, those behind the operation[Read More…]
The investigation into the Vrbetice explosions in the Czech Republic quickly turned into a comedy. First, the country’s respected President Milos Zeman, obviously hating to go down in history, started making uncomfortable comments and casting doubt on the stated cause of the blasts. Then the media began to talk about the dark past of the owner of the ammunition that[Read More…]
US Condemns China’s Uighur Policy, while Providing Billions in Foreign Aid to Israel Condemned for Apartheid Policies The US has a long-standing double standard when it comes to condemning nations for human rights violations, including state-terrorist acts, if it considers them enemies. At the same time, the US strongly supports and in some cases provides billions in foreign aid, guaranteed[Read More…]
There is a general air of malaise at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). Approximately 43 professors – both serving and retired – have lost their lives due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The rate of deaths is dizzying – 18 serving teachers have died in merely 20 days. In addition, an undisclosed number of non-teaching staff have also died of the infection. Perturbed by these macabre conditions, Vice-Chancellor[Read More…]
Why aren’t U.S. crimes, including war crimes, regarded as crimes? The answer is, because it’s unpatriotic. This bit of shorthand requires explanation. The posed question begins with the assumption that the United States commits crimes. Not everyone would agree with this. Whether or not actions are regarded as crimes is dependent on the perspective of the observer. Best to ask[Read More…]
Criminal betrayal of the martyrs of India’s First War of Independence 1857 by the Indian rulers Now it is almost 170 years that people of this country; men, women, children belonging to all religions, regions and strata rose in revolt from Kashmir to Madras and Sylhet to the borders of Afghanistan. Today if Indians have forgotten about this glorious saga[Read More…]
The difficulties that Mexico has faced in recent times for protecting its food safety should be an eye-opener for all other developing countries including India. These difficulties are particularly acute in the case of corn crop which is the staple food-crop of the people of Mexico. After Mexico agreed to sign the infamous NAFTA trade agreement it was almost inevitable[Read More…]
Written by Bharat Dogra and Madhu Dogra Hindi film songs have often played an important role in articulating important social messages and taking them to a very large number of people. This may be a particularly opportune time for recalling those songs which have challenged communal forces in bold and effective ways. In this context perhaps the most popular song[Read More…]
Dear Com. Narwal, I know I never had the good fortune to meet you or your daughter Natasha Narwal in person. Like thousands of my fellow citizens of this country, I came across your name for the first time in 2020, when your daughter and her friends were illegally incarcerated for their brave resistance against the state in the form[Read More…]
An example of a DarkSide ransomware notice that appears on victims’ computer screens The U.S. government has issued emergency legislation on Sunday after the Colonial Pipeline, the country’s largest fuel pipeline, was hit by a ransomware cyber-attack. The Colonial Pipeline carries 2.5 million barrels a day, 45% of the U.S. East Coast’s supply of diesel, gasoline and jet fuel. It[Read More…]
Over Fish, France and UK are having a quarrel. But it is not fish that has started the quarrel. Media reports said: France’s junior minister for European affairs Clement Beane threatened the UK on financial services if Britain failed to grant licenses to French fishermen. Clement Beane said France would retaliate in sectors like banking in the European Union to[Read More…]
It is now painfully clear that the Government of India has been woefully underprepared for the second wave of COVID-19. The resulting misgovernance [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8, 9] is precipitating the announcement of partial or total lockdowns in various states to break the chain of infections. Like last year, informal workers have been left to fend for themselves and among them migrant workers[Read More…]
Respected Sri. E Sreedharan, you are welcome to wash your feet in Bharathapuzha now This note is written by someone who does not have any personal connection with you. We have spoken twice over phone. I contacted you in December 2017 with a request to speak in a convention organised by Bharathapuzha conservation committee at Pattamby Govt. Samskrutha college to[Read More…]
Though child sexual abuse has been recognised and widely discussed as a social problem for more than last three decades, little is known about male child sexual abuse in India. Based on the feminist perspective and rights of girl children, the initial researches addressed the question of childhood sexual memories of female adults or experiences of girl children. As a[Read More…]
In early 2020, the Coronavirus took all countries by surprise, causing the first Covid storm (Covid-1). Even countries with a sound public health infrastructure struggled to manage the crisis arising from system overload. It was well understood world-over that the three rules of masking-distancing-hygiene were vital primary measures. Lockdowns were announced, and understood as only a means to check Covid[Read More…]
The dance of death continues and it is extremely difficult to see people dying in pain without any dignity given to them even in death. Will India ever remember this holocaust which has not yet stopped even as we are nearing to two lakh fifty thousand deaths which is actually official figure but the real figure may be much higher.[Read More…]
Why don’t America’s wars ever end? I know, I know: President Joe Biden has announced that our combat troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan by 9/11 of this year, marking the 20th anniversary of the colossal failure of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney to defend America. Of course, that other 9/11 in 2001 shocked us all. I was teaching history at the[Read More…]
There has been a remarkable upsurge in the reach of journalism, social media, and public engagement, through digital sources in the recent 20 years. Every minute of every day, our planet now pulses with trillions of digital social signals, bombarding us with streams of status updates, news stories, tweets, pokes, posts, referrals, advertisements, notifications, shares, check-ins, and ratings from peers[Read More…]
American Muslim civil advocacy groups have denounced what they called Israeli aggression on unarmed Palestinians at Al-Aqsa Mosque. The US Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO), the largest coalition of major national, regional, and local Muslim organizations and Islamic institutions, strongly condemned the ongoing Israeli violence at Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan that Friday night (7 May / 25 Ramadan) alone seriously[Read More…]
After sparking controversy in other countries including India, the technology of genetically engineered mosquitoes is now leading to widespread protests in Florida USA. Here the biotechnology giant company Oxitec in collaboration with local officialdom is moving ahead with a pilot project to release millions of genetically engineered mosquitoes in Monroe County over a period of two years or so. The[Read More…]
Counting from the day the dharna of farmers started at Delhi borders, soon the movement will be completing six months or half a year. These are difficult days. Much of the work has to be done in exceptionally difficult conditions of the pandemic. There are several restrictions on mobilizations imposed by the authorities in pandemic times, and many normally sympathetic[Read More…]
To Smt Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Finance Minister With the daily new Covid cases exceeding 4 lakhs and the daily number of deaths exceeding 4,000, with nationwide shortages in terms of ambulances, hospital beds, ICU facilities, ventilators, Oxygen and even cremation space, and in view of the nationwide shortage of vaccines, people are losing their patience, looking for immediate corrective steps[Read More…]
Public Statement on the Sexual Assault and Abduction of a Young Woman Activist at Tikri Border We deeply mourn the death of a 26-year old activist from APDR (Sreerampur) in West Bengal, who passed away on 30th April, 2021 at Bahadurgarh in Haryana. She was deeply inspired by the farmers’ movement and had gone to express her solidarity at the[Read More…]
It was a scene which will forever be etched in the memory of millions the world over: on May 25 2020, on a street in Minneapolis, US- a white police officer Derek Chauvin, had his knee pressed down on the neck of a black American George Floyd. This continued for more than nine minutes. An excruciating bystander video(which immediately went[Read More…]
A video in which Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev is interviewed by Orla Guerin has resurfaced; the interview took place in November 2020. (The BBC version.) Revealing is what is not seen in the BBC version. When Aliyev held up the mirror to Guerin’s “accusation” that there was no free media in Azerbaijan, the BBC responded by censoring Aliyev’s reference to[Read More…]
The turmoil in Myanmar had all the hallmarks of a “colour revolution”… The chorus – BBC, Radio Free Asia, western NGOs promoting democracy and human rights… But the operative part hidden from view concentrated on the creation of a “government-in-exile” (a National Unity Government.) The parallels with Syria are striking — “Arab Spring” protests… India is a plausible sanctuary for[Read More…]
Rabindranath Tagore was far far away from what we popularly call patriotism. Our problem is that more we have been able to erase his ideals and ideas from our everyday life; more we have been able to be ‘Rabindrik.’ It is indeed sad to recognize this bitter truth. Our understanding of Rabindranath is confined to a mere recitation of his[Read More…]
Mothers are most important person of everyone’s life. To appreciate her efforts and love, Mother’s Day is celebrated throughout the world on second Sunday of May. On this day, we can see that social media is flooded with several posts in praise of mothers. Celebrating motherhood on Mother’s Day take us to a very important social issue. We hardly care[Read More…]
Silently and stealthily, unannounced and unheralded, imperialism may have already entered its most dangerous phase. Ironically this dangerous phase may not necessarily be linked to any definite evidence of increasing strength of imperialism. In fact the forces of imperialism have become so dangerous precisely because these are increasingly weaker and vulnerable in some respects, yet with more power of destruction.[Read More…]
There are some aspects of the experiences of Cuba in recent times from which many developing countries in particular can learn valuable lessons without necessarily accepting some other aspects. The persistence of imperialism , its injustices and even cruelties has been very much a reality of the world which emerged following the end of more formal and obvious forms of[Read More…]
In certain circumstances of the world the non-aligned movement was born in 1961 ( although the Bandung conference heralded the effort as early as 1955) and quickly gathered strength, before moving into a state of relative stagnation. Now in different circumstances and for somewhat different reasons the movement is becoming even more relevant and there is increasing need for strengthening[Read More…]
Written by Joseph Stiglitz and Lori Wallach The Covid-19 vaccines have been developed by scientists from all over the world, thanks to basic science supported by numerous governments. We must not let drug companies put profits ahead of lives. The only way to end the Covid-19 pandemic is to immunize enough people worldwide. The slogan “no one is safe until[Read More…]
The Tigray People’s Liberation Front’s (TPLF) launch of a massive attack on the Ethiopian Northern Command in early November last year has entailed considerable humanitarian ramifications, even if the worst case scenario has been avoided through swift and effective countermeasures that have thwarted its sinister designs. Prevailing challenges must indeed be gauged against the intractable quagmire that would have enveloped[Read More…]
Some political commentators have wondered why the BJP made the Bengal elections such a big deal. Former minister Yashwant Sinha puts forth the opinion on the NDTV site that it was done to nip Mamata Banerji’s national ambitions in the bud. Others felt that it was a crucial event for Amit Shah to “cement his position as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s[Read More…]
All media is filled with the news of death. All social media timelines are overwhelmed with accounts of suffering, pain and loss. Pictures of pyres burning that are splashed across front pages and captured by drones have developed the power to instantly dispatch across miles, to our very private corner, the smell of burning flesh caught in thick rolls of[Read More…]
Alam ha kari yaad Azad Azad (Abdul Ahad) kuni saate wuchte yaad pawayi madano. The world will frantically search for Azad. The time will come when you will recollect, my love! What prompted the tall turbaned school teacher to brag about his personality ? When one meanderers through the life history, achievements and the literary work he accomplished ,one[Read More…]
In the recent past we have seen enough of riots, trolling and devaluation of others in the name of collectivity. Nothing is like groups emancipation and collectivity if it is used for degradation and humiliation of others. Emotion which pleases us when others are suffering is dehumanizing. In the time of pandemic, there is a doubling of humanity crisis, both[Read More…]
The results of five assembly elections are out. There was a lot at stake particularly for the ruling dispensation of RSS which made every effort to dislodge the West Bengal’s Trinamool Congress led by Mamata Banerjee. Bengal was Amit Shah’s lab from where he wanted to show why he matters most for the BJP. As we all know, Amit Shah[Read More…]
Both the Supreme Court and several High courts have upheld the view, time and again, that getting a quality public health service facility is a basic human right of every citizen. Despite of it, during this pandemic, the number of deaths is hiking in major cities of the country due to the non-availability of Oxygen; owing to this, the crematoriums[Read More…]
On the climate problem as on any other, the Biden administration follows a time-honored U.S. tradition: addressing problems only so long as solutions are profit opportunities for powerful U.S. corporations. *** President Biden may have returned the U.S. to the Paris Agreement but this alleged renewal of multilateralism goes hand in hand with much harsher pursuit of Trump’s[Read More…]
The ideological divisions of today involve the organization of the international system of states. One side, led by the USA, UK, EU and NATO, subscribes to something it calls the “rules-based international order.” (India claims to follow this.) The other side, led by Russia and China, subscribes to “international law…The principles of this system are set out in the United[Read More…]
On April 28, 2021, many of Colombia’s largest unions held a national strike against tax reforms put forward by President Ivan Duque’s government to cover funds related to the COVID-19 pandemic and national debt . Demonstrators filled the streets of downtown Bogotá, Medellín, Cali, Barranquilla and Ibague, as well as smaller cities. Stores and most public services came to a[Read More…]
Aggressive forms of capitalism are not only snatching jobs ruthlessly but in addition are also increasing job related discontent, frustration and alienation. At the same time there is growing yearning for forms of economic organizations which can provide more satisfactory, stable, sustainable and creative livelihoods. In this context cooperatives should be getting increasing attention. However organization of cooperatives cannot[Read More…]
Several decades have passed since the Vietnam war ended, but its destruction has still continued. Sometimes a bomb buried in the ground suddenly explodes, and people still die from their impact. These bombs, after all, were designed not so much to destroy buildings but to kill people. These are not very isolated or rare incidents. Thousands of people are reported[Read More…]
Our Planet, Our Future is the title of the 2021 Nobel Prize Summit. As a follow up to that summit, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine recently published Our Planet, Our Future: An Urgent Call for Action d/d April 29th 2021. The opening paragraph of the Nobel Laureate declaration implicitly calls for immediate unified worldwide action: “The first[Read More…]
The concerned experts have been suggesting an increase in the share of GDP for health for last many years. The advice fell on the deaf ears of the government. Today we are seeing the result of the callousness in not paying heed to the experts’ advice. We are facing the consequences of that neglect. Some, of course are reaping the[Read More…]
The Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) tasted the allure of partial power during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led government. It has now experienced seven years of complete power under the leadership of Narendra Modi. The RSS has been nurtured in the right armpit of the Congress. Hence, it had gained some experience of sharing power since the Independence. RSS had enough time[Read More…]
In my lifetime I saw no Indian middle order batsman who was as much an embodiment of determination, will power or who displayed more grit in the depths of despair and above all selflessness. His name was Mohinder Bharadwaj Amarnath or ‘Jimmy’ Amarnath..No batsman illustrated more about cricket being in the mind. It was not about elegance or statistical records[Read More…]
With COVID cases swelling everyday and the declaration of the results of four poll-bound states and one Union territory, few questions have arisen in the present scenario of Assam’s politics. While speculations ablaze on who would take over the stewardship of the state, another question that needs to be addressed, is the position of the regional parties in the state.[Read More…]
Report of Press Conference held via Zoom on 6th May 2021, 3 pm Opening the press conference, Ms. Bhargavi Rao, Trustee of Environment Support Group noted “We have lost so many of our loved ones, not so much because of the virus as because of malgovernance.” She drew particular attention to the unnecessary deaths that happened in Gulbarga and Chamrajnagar due to the[Read More…]
The Supreme Court had rightly taken suo moto cognisance on 30th April of unruly attack on social media freedom from pro-ruling party forces. A tweet was calling out the difference in attitudes towards the Tablighi Jamaat event in 2020 and the Kumbh Mela. The Supreme Court gave a welcome direction on social media freedom. It ordered: “The Central Government and[Read More…]
There is generally a very strong tendency in terms of the appraisal of various projects including dam projects on a one-by-one basis. Hardly any effort is made to take an integrated view of the impacts of various projects in a region together, to look at their cumulative impact and inter-actions. This may prove to be a costly mistake particularly in[Read More…]
A new research led by scientists at UC Irvine and Boston University, published in Nature Climate Change (Jonathan A. Wang, Alessandro Baccini, Mary Farina, James T. Randerson, Mark A. Friedl, Disturbance suppresses the aboveground carbon sink in North American boreal forests, Nature Climate Change, 2021; DOI: 10.1038/s41558-021-01027-4 ) suggests that all the new green biomass is not as large a[Read More…]
What do the neo-fascist elements of South African apartheidism of the past and Israeli apartheidism of the present have in common: Afrikaner Nationalism and Jewish Orthodox Nationalism? Black phobia and Palestinian phobia? White Supremacy and Jewish Supremacy? White Separatism and Jewish Separatism? Afrikaner Storm Troopers and Likud Storm Troopers? All of the above or none of the above? THUMBNAIL HISTORICAL[Read More…]
The World health organisation the health wing of United Nations has stipulated certain public health and social measures to contain the spread of Covid-19 virus. The measures were contemplated by WHO taking into account the levels of Covid-19 transmission. One of the major measures stipulated is to maintain social distancing and avoid congregations. There is an obligation on the State[Read More…]
Mr Narendra Modi and his RSS brethren are masters of fraudulent claims. There are long lists of lies spread by the RSS, BJP and all their IT cell workers. It is not a personality disorder or lying with fear. Hindutva fascists are trained liars. Modi defended his government’s decision on demonetisation by arguing that ‘demonetisation’ is “an important step” in[Read More…]
The BJP has recently suffered serious reverses in state assembly elections in W.Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and what may even more worrying for its leadership, even in critical segments of the rural decentralization or panchayati elections in its strongholds of Uttar Pradesh. This is further confirmation, if such confirmation was needed, that several recent decisions of the government have[Read More…]
Many of us have had a recurring nightmare. You know the one. In a fog between sleeping and waking, you’re trying desperately to escape from something awful, some looming threat, but you feel paralyzed. Then, with great relief, you suddenly wake up, covered in sweat. The next night, or the next week, though, that same dream returns. For politicians of[Read More…]
The United States government last night moved to support a waiver of intellectual property protections of the Covid-19 vaccine. The People’s Vaccine Alliance has been campaigning to suspend Covid-19 intellectual property protections. This is the decision the world needed: by backing a waiver of intellectual property protections for Covid-19 vaccines the Biden Administration can increase the global supply of vaccines[Read More…]
Without doubt, Johnson has stolen a march over PM Modi just when the Indian foreign policy establishment is daydreaming about the possible induction of the UK into the Quad to contain China. Clearly, Johnson’s priorities are different — transfuse lifeblood from the former colony, the jewel in the Crown, into his “Global Britain” project. *** Three cheers for the[Read More…]
Without doubt Comrade Kobad Ghandy in book ‘Fractured Freedom” has taught us a lot about the weaknesses inherent in the Communist Movement ,giving all of us a great insight into it. Most pertinently it taps on issue of the individual subconscious. Kobad Ghandy proves the spiritual essence of a revolutionary. In it’s own right the work is a classic and[Read More…]
The recent pledges made by governments to limit carbon emissions will not be sufficient to meet the goal of keeping global temperatures from rising above 1.5 degrees Celsius, claims a new report. Instead, those nonbinding commitments will result in a rise in the average global temperature to a potentially catastrophic 2.4 degrees Celsius. The Climate Action Tracker (CAT), an independent[Read More…]
Statement by the Vikalp Sangam Core Group India is in the midst of a COVID emergency. The pandemic’s 2nd wave has exposed the abysmal state of its public health system and the poor quality and pace of response of central and state governments. While we recognise the herculean task that the public health system personnel have been performing for over[Read More…]
While so many differences have emerged in the context of the recent response to COVID-19 in various countries, one point on which it should be possible to establish wider agreement is that this response would have been much better if a robust, strong, well-rooted, trustworthy and trust-creating, community-based , well-resourced health system was in place in all rural as[Read More…]
While triumphantly launching the roll out of India-made vaccines on January 16, 2019, with a view to drive home his point of helping others selflessly, the Prime Minister quoted the following words of Gurajada Apparao, the eminent Telugu writer. “Sontha labham kontha manuko, porugu vadiki thodu padavoy. Desamante matti kadoyi, desamante manushuloy” The above verse, which was written more than[Read More…]
Being sufficiently able at your job is a good thing. But beware the trappings of zeal. When it comes to the business of retaining an inventory for humanity’s annihilation, the zealous should be kept away. But there Admiral Charles Richard was in April this year, with his siren calls, urging the US Senate to consider a simple proposition. “Sustainment of[Read More…]
This first May (2021), was also the day of 400th Anniversary of birth of the Ninth Sikh Guru Tegh Bahadurji. Guruji has a very important place in the consolidation of Sikhism; he was also the one who sacrificed his life for the sake of principles. As such Sikhism, the religion founded by Sant Shri Guru Nanak Dev ji has been a[Read More…]
The decision on April 30 by Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, to ‘postpone’ Palestinian elections, which would have been the first in 15 years, will deepen Palestinian division and could, potentially, signal the collapse of the Fatah Movement, at least in its current form. Unlike the last Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006, the big story, this time, was not the[Read More…]
On World Press Freedom day, Radical Desi has announced a new award for the daring journalists who have stood up for the oppressed and questioned the power. Named after the newspaper started by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar – an undisputed leader of the so-called untouchables in India – the Mooknayak journalism award will be given annually to exceptional media personalities. The[Read More…]
“And the first birthright of capital is equal exploitation of labor-power by all capitalists.” Marx thus describes a reality dominated by capital. Today, in this pandemic point, when death is sweeping away thousands of lives in countries, in India and Brazil, in cities, in New Delhi, Mumbai and Reo de Janeiro, when ordinary citizens are gasping for oxygen, when their[Read More…]
Soon after the reverses the BJP suffered in State Assembly elections in W.Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, it has suffered humiliation in some of its strongest households in Ayodhya, Varanasi and Mathura in a phase of the rural decentralization( panchayati) elections in the electoral heartland of Uttar Pradesh. Ayodhya has been the biggest centre of narrow religion-centered political mobilization of[Read More…]
The tempo of farmers movement continues at Tikri border at similar pitch as before with intensity of Coal in a blast furnace. A series of programmes have been launched by the Bharatiya Kisan Union)Ugrahan) commemorating the Ghadri Mela through confronting the neo-fascist tyranny of the agricultural bills imposed by the BJP party. The rebellious spirit of farmers is intensifying in[Read More…]
As the death toll and positivity rate in the wake of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic stays alarmingly high, lockdowns and other restrictions have been instituted in many parts of the country. Even though an announcement of a nationwide lockdown has not been made, work has been severely disrupted with calls for further curtailment of non-essential economic activity.[Read More…]
On April 23, 2021 the Economic Times published a short interview with K Vijay Raghavan, the Principal Scientific Advisor (PSA) to the Government of India. It is my understanding that the Office of the PSA is tasked with advising the government on scientific matters. This interview, however, would lead one to think otherwise: when the PSA’s responses are not factually[Read More…]
In the past several weeks, the world has looked on in horror as the coronavirus rages across India. With hospitals running out of beds, oxygen, and medicines, the official daily death toll has averaged around 3,000. Many claim that number could be an undercount; crematoriums and cemeteries have run out of space. The majority of India’s population are Hindu, who[Read More…]
It has been a relationship of characterised by bitterness and misunderstanding. It began with a poorly negotiated agreement – poor, that is, from the European Union perspective – between Brussels and AstraZeneca for the supply of COVID-19 vaccine doses. Less rigorous in terms of penalties and consequences than the UK-AstraZeneca deal, the EU version was very much the poor cousin,[Read More…]
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) revealed new standards on Tuesday, May 4, 2021 for what an average or “normal” U.S. climate looks like, showing average temperatures in the U.S. rising significantly. Shifting the baseline for normal temperatures highlights just how quickly climate crisis is affecting conditions on Earth. Updating these standards is important for helping shape government[Read More…]
As the counting of the West Bengal Assembly elections progressed in the morning of 2nd May, it didn’t take much time for one to understand that the Sanjukta Morcha (United Front) was heading towards a debacle. At the end of the day, the Morcha managed to win only a single seat in Bhangar constituency that went in favour of Noushad[Read More…]
Ever Since the Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) combine came to power in 2014 the deepest crisis it is facing is the Covid-19 dance of death. As of the end of April 2021 India has become the most Covid infected nation in the world and the prediction is that India will suffer the biggest human[Read More…]
The overwhelming majority of workers in India are employed in the informal sector where legal provisions for social security and welfare of workers have been weak and governments have also been unwilling or unable to commit the resources that are necessary for this. In such a situation specific cesses which have been levied on activities relating to a particular activity[Read More…]
First of all, I want to salute the front line health workers who have done a heroic job and have risked their life. No words or compensation can ever adequately express our gratitude. In the last analysis the reward of having done a good job is to have done it! Capitalism and Corona We are not the first one to[Read More…]
Dealing with the Forever Prison of America’s Forever Wars The Guantánamo conundrum never seems to end. Twelve years ago, I had other expectations. I envisioned a writing project that I had no doubt would be part of my future: an account of Guantánamo’s last 100 days. I expected to narrate in reverse, the episodes in a book I had just[Read More…]
According to the “Global Wage Report 2020-21”, in the few years before the COVID-19 crisis, annual average real wage growth for North America (Canada and USA) and Western Europe fluctuated between 0 and around 1 per cent. What accounts for this wage stagnation over much of the Global North? To answer this question, we need to briefly look at the pre-neoliberal economy[Read More…]
It is becoming increasingly clear that the most powerful and influential forces in the world are increasingly building a consensus around an approach to checking climate change which is centered on basically retaining the existing economic systems with all their distortions and inequalities. In particular excessive consumerism( based of course on excessive energy generation) of a significant section of the[Read More…]
The coronavirus pandemic has already caused the colossal loss of lives and livelihoods around the world. It continues to create havoc in different countries like Brazil and India. It has destroyed livelihoods, communities and families. This global health crisis has taken a terrible toll on individual lives by expanding unbelievable levels of anxiety, alienation, deaths, destitutions, loneliness and loss. The[Read More…]
The “extended Troika” on the Afghan problem comprising the United States, Russia, and China — and Pakistan — have announced in Doha on April 30 Friday a road map in consultation with the Ashraf Ghani government and Taliban as regards the way forward in immediate terms for reaching a peace settlement. The announcement followed consultations in Doha with the involvement[Read More…]
Nargis ranks amongst the most complete or consummate Indian actresses of all time. Sadly she left for her heavenly abode, 40 years ago. She was as natural as moonlight glimmering, in anger, sadness or laughter. Nargis posessed the intensity of coal fire and the sweetness of arose blooming. Nargis could in one moment look as calm as the water flowing[Read More…]
One of the lesser known aspects of recent Assembly elections which deserves to be known more widely is that the well-known social activist Akhil Gogoi has won the election from Sivasagar constituency from Assam even though he fought the election from behind the bars as he had been arrested following his opposition to Citizens’ Amendment Act ( CAA). Despite being[Read More…]
Partner with private firms to surveil domestic terrorists A May 3, 2021, Washington datelined CNN report said: The Biden administration is considering using outside firms to track extremist chatter by Americans online, an effort that would expand the government’s ability to gather intelligence but could draw criticism over surveillance of U.S. citizens. The Department of Homeland Security is limited in[Read More…]
If you ask those of us living in the Africa, almost all of us will tell you that the “human rights” that matter most are those that are basic to the right to life; food, water, shelter, medical care and education for your children. If you and you family are cold, hungry, sick and illiterate do you think “freedom of[Read More…]
A car bomb attack in Pakistan, possibly aimed at a Chinese diplomat, has demonstrated just how important peace and stability in the region is to Beijing and its $65 billion Belt and Road Initiative. On April 21 Wednesday evening a deadly blast struck a Pakistan hotel stemming from a car bomb, claiming four lives. The apparent target of the attack[Read More…]
A new freely downloadable book I would like to announce the publication of a book which discusses the things that I have experienced during my 67 years of work in the peace movement. The book may be freely downloaded and circulated from the following link: https://eacpe.org/app/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/67-years-in-the-peace-movement-by-John-Scales-Avery.pdf Holger Terp’s invitation Seven years ago, Holger Terp, the founder and web editor of[Read More…]
>> “Any epidemic anywhere must now be seen as a threat to virtually all countries especially those that serve as major hubs of international travel.” >> “Doctors worldwide are losing some of the most useful and affordable antibiotics.” >> “At least 333 million new cases of sexually transmitted diseases, other than HIV infection, occurred in one year.” These[Read More…]
One of the most persistent causes of human distress in world has been that too many human relationships are built around the tendencies of dominance and exploitation. This is true not just of the apparently more hostile relationships but even of some apparently friendly relationships where the urge for dominance often remains at least on one side and contributes[Read More…]
A storm gathers fast on the distant horizon, dim but visible. Murky skies and bloated gray clouds mesh into terrific beauty—and rumble of thunder that cleaves the day-gloom with a dazzling light and deafens. The earth shudders uneasily. Trees sway violently, birds are in flight, circling. The powerful wind flattens the solid things on its way, in fury. The burning[Read More…]
Written by Medea Benjamin and Marcy Winograd Imagine this scenario: A month before the vote on the federal budget, progressives in Congress declared, “We’ve studied President Biden’s proposed $753 billion military budget, an increase of $13 billion from Trump’s already inflated budget, and we can’t, in good conscience, support this.” Now that would be a show stopper, particularly if they[Read More…]
U.S. general: Afghan forces could face ‘bad possible outcomes’ A May 2, 2021, Washington datelined AP report said: Afghan government forces face an uncertain future and, in a worst-case scenario, some “bad possible outcomes” against Taliban insurgents as the withdrawal of American and coalition troops accelerates in the coming weeks, the top U.S. military officer said Sunday. Gen. Mark Milley[Read More…]
Criticism of Israel’s policies towards Palestinians has always induced a defensive rage from its defenders and advocates. A Threshold Crossed, a report by Human Rights Watch, lit several fires of rage and disapproval. Israel, according to the authors, is responsible for apartheid policies. The word, and the application of its meaning, is immemorially nasty. This deeply though through policy of[Read More…]
Professor Heike Schotten — Still captured from We Will Not Be Silenced webinar at the University of Massachusetts Boston After Heike Schotten, Associate Professor at the University of Massachusetts Boston (UMB), co-organized and moderated a webinar at the University of Massachusetts Boston entitled We Will not Be Silenced: The Repression of Academic Freedom and Resistance, from Leila Khaled to UMass Boston, UMB’s[Read More…]
According to research by Stop Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) Hate, there were nearly 3,800 anti-Asian racist incidents from March 19, 2020 to February 28, 2021, not including those that have occurred the most recently. America’s annual threat assessment has highlighted the dangers posed by China. The manufactured hysteria about Beijing’s supposed intentions reveals a country unnerved at the[Read More…]
An irony it may seem, but it is a fact. The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee—who successfully steered her party to power in West Bengal for the third time in a row—lost her battle at Nandigram by 1700 votes to her erstwhile lieutenant Shubhendu Adhikari who defected to the saffron party before the elections. The[Read More…]
Women against Sexual Violence and State Repression (WSS) stands firmly and unconditionally with survivors from various movement spaces, who have come forward with their testimonies of sexual assault, harassment and other forms of interpersonal violence on social media from Trolley Times, Swaraj Abhiyan and SFS. We are thankful to these survivors for finding the courage to share their traumatic experiences. Those[Read More…]
First the personal facts briefly: I obtained MBBS degree dated 15th February, 1975 from University of Delhi. Obtained Master of Surgery (Orthopaedics) degree dated 23rd March, 1979 from University of Delhi. Worked in Bihar in 1975 in the Small-pox Eradication Programme under the joint Govt. of India-WHO Project. Testimonial dated 6 February, 1975. Worked as Senior Research Fellow in an[Read More…]
Construction work is perhaps the second most important source of livelihood in the country after farming related work. Construction workers have faced extremely difficult times for more than a year as livelihood opportunities have decreased steeply. Those who are migrants have faced even greater difficulties but even those who are relatively better settled in cities have faced big problems not[Read More…]
In the middle of the serious conditions created by increasing Covid mortality, concerns over safety of teachers have increased following the allegations of deaths of nearly 700 teachers made by an association of primary teachers in the state in the context of the teachers who were assigned panchayat election duties. Government sources have denied that the election duty was related[Read More…]
Activists came together on the international workers’ day outside the Indian Visa and Passport Application Center in Surrey, to remember more than 300 farmers who have laid down their lives during the ongoing agitation. Indian farmers have been camping on the borders of New Delhi since November against controversial farm laws which have been passed by the ruling right wing[Read More…]
Today we celebrate the birth centenary on arguably India’s best film maker ever, Satyajit Ray. For sheer art of film making or portraying film making or weaving a plot to create a realistic film no artist surpassed Satyajit Ray. He simply took the art of film making to a new dimension. With the simplicity of stream water he could convey[Read More…]
Caste, Class and India’s Covid Catastrophe
Covid-19 patients dying on the streets gasping for oxygen. Hundreds of wailing, desperate folks searching for hospital beds to access treatment. Even the dead denied dignified funerals, their bodies dumped unceremoniously in the rivers of India. Much has been written about the reasons for the Indian government’s abysmal failure to prepare for the devastating surge in Covid-19 cases in India[Read More…]