July 2021 | Countercurrents

Archive for July, 2021

As Progressives Call for End to Blockade, Biden Announces More Sanctions Against Cuba

While President Joe Biden campaigned on a pledge to reverse the “failed” policies of his predecessor that “inflicted harm on Cubans and their families,” his administration—already under mounting pressure from progressives to deliver on that promise—announced new sanctions against Cuba on Friday. Following Cubans’ recent protests over shortages of food, medicine, and other essentials during the Covid-19 pandemic, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets[Read More…]

by Jessica Corbett — 31/07/2021 — 2 comments — World

How to manage urbanization

Urban areas are generally perceived to be expanding at the cost of displacing villagers and destroying villages. Even if their houses can be retained, villagers still lose their farms, farming and related livelihoods, being left only with cash compensation for purchased/ acquired farmland. Even if they are not cheated, as is quite often the case, and manage to get adequate[Read More…]

by Bharat Dogra — 31/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Counter Solutions

A Missed Opportunity: Rights of Nature Removed From New Draft of Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework

On July 12, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Secretariat released the first draft of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, deleting what is arguably the most important enabling condition: “to consider, where appropriate, the rights of nature,” replacing this language with “employing rights-based approaches.” This framework would have been the first international treaty to recognize Nature’s rights. It was undoubtedly noteworthy that[Read More…]

by Rachel Bustamante — 31/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Environmental Protection

Review: “Cruelty Or Humanity” By Stuart Rees – For Humanity, Banish Cruelty

“Cruelty Or Humanity” by Stuart Rees is an important book that should be in every institutional and public library. Despite the Mainstream hiding or softening horrific crimes, we are all aware of global cruelties, from deadly Developing World poverty to equally deadly war atrocities. We utterly abhor cruel people of personal acquaintance, and my reading of this powerful book instructs[Read More…]

by Dr Gideon Polya — 31/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Book Review

The Crofting System

A land tenure system that has existed for hundreds of years and remains relevant even in the twenty-first century is the Crofting system. Crofting is a traditional form of land tenure and small-scale food production system, specific to the Scottish Highlands, the islands of Scotland and earlier on the Isle of Man. Croft, Crofter and Crofting – these three are[Read More…]

by Anahat Gill — 31/07/2021 — 1 comment — Counter Solutions

Witness to Turbulent American Democracy: The Paradox for Soul Searching of American Acclaimed Values

The Myriad Drama at the US Congressional Committee Hearings Nancy Pelosi, the US House Speaker wanted an independent and non-partisan congressional investigation into the January 6, 2021 Trump planned mobbed invasion of the US Congressional complex in Washington, D.C. Its aim was to undo the peaceful transfer of power to Joe Biden- the President Elect according to the US Constitution.[Read More…]

by Dr Mahboob A Khawaja — 31/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

A bouquet of novel compounds: New treatment options for HIV

It was 40 years ago when the first case of HIV infection was diagnosed. Since then, 77.5 million people have been infected with the virus and 34 million people have died from AIDS-related causes. While a lot has been achieved in terms of providing lifesaving antiretroviral treatment to save lives, we still lost 690,000 people living with HIV to AIDS-related[Read More…]

by Shobha Shukla — 31/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Life/Philosophy

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar (R) welcomes the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, New Delhi, July 28, 2021.

Blinken’s Single-Point Agenda In Delhi – China

Blinken’s real mission was without doubt to stop India from drifting away from the US-led anti-China coalition. The Biden Administration is worried that without India, the QUAD would unravel and the containment strategy against China wouldn’t gain traction in Asia. Blinken also avoided making any assurances to give India full access to the raw materials for vaccine production. Did Blinken[Read More…]

by M K Bhadrakumar — 31/07/2021 — 1 comment — India

Blinken comes riding the Pegasus

What we are talking about is a variant of cybercrime. Would the Israeli government have been in the dark about what was happening right under their nose? Impossible. Indeed, was the US in the dark about what Israel was up to all this while? Again, impossible. The CIA and Mossad are joined at the hips. Shouldn’t India call for a[Read More…]

by M K Bhadrakumar — 31/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Return to Lifta Is Not A Wish; It’s A Promise, Israel!

Image: Left: Palestinians rallying in Lifta, northwest of Jerusalem (Apr 21, 2017). Right: from The Guardian article titled “‘We will return’: the battle to save an ancient Palestinian village from demolition” Much as I welcome the proliferation of articles on saving the ruins of Lifta from the Israeli development industry, I would much rather read articles that focus on saving[Read More…]

by Rima Najjar — 30/07/2021 — 1 comment — Palestine

“The Clash of Two Americas, the Unfinished Symphony”, a book by Matthew Ehret

Matthew Ehret, with contributions from Cynthia Chung, has written a much-needed book about the early history of the United States of America. The title of the book is The Clash of Two Americas, the Unfinished Symphony. It is volume 1 of a planned series. This essay is based on the book. The “Clash of Two America” is a compendium of[Read More…]

by David William Pear — 30/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Book Review

In rural Rajasthan, Dalit and Adivasi girls fight child marriages

Jaipur: Last year, as the Covid-19 pandemic raged across the world, 20-year-old Vineeta Meena’s dream of becoming a police officer seemed all but lost. Meena, a resident of Gokalpur village in Sapotra Block of Karauli district in Rajasthan was suddenly at home trying to thwart the repeated attempts of her parents to marry her off. “In March 2020, owing to[Read More…]

by Tabeenah Anjum — 30/07/2021 — 1 comment — COVID Response Watch

Forest Food — Important Source of Nutrition, Income and Joy for the Poor

“ They had never in their short lives had nice things to eat . They were young and their palates were untrained,[Read More…]

by Bharat Dogra — 30/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Counter Solutions

From Systems Theory to Action

At this time ecological thinkers are emphasizing systems, especially as these are defined by systems theory. This interdiscipline is a life-saving departure from traditional reductionist methods in science but has yet to be made relevant to people’s individual everyday conduct. The objective of this essay is to develop the notion of systems to explain how people can act systematically now[Read More…]

by Phila Back — 30/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Counter Solutions

On Degrowth

What is degrowth? Degrowth is an ambiguous label used by different currents that have emerged or have been reconsidered as such since the 1960s when the contemporary environmentalist movement got underway. The bulk of these movements identify as Greens although it includes eco-anarchists (e.g. Trainer 2010; Australian Simplicity Institute) and others. The ambiguity of what degrowth stands for is a problem both for its[Read More…]

by Kamran Nayeri — 30/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Book Review

Impact and Challenges on Lawyers during Covid-19

by Sweta Lakhani & Abhiraj Agarwal The Covid-19 crises has been witnessed by the world around and India is one of the countries with the huge population has suffered personal as well economic loses throughout this year. Due to constant lockdowns and limited hours of curfew, many young lawyers have faced a lot of challenges. It has transitioned from seeing[Read More…]

by Sweta Lakhani — 30/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

Sherni and the ‘Hunting Tale’

You would have gone to the forest 100 times, but could spot a tiger only once. But, be rest assured, the tiger would have spotted you 99 times. In the midst of a recent conversation, Malayalam writer and film maker Unni R. asked if I had seen Amit Masurkar’s OTT-released Hindi film Sherni. Unni asked this question in the context[Read More…]

by K M Seethi — 30/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Arts/Literature

John Woodcock One Of The Greatest Cricket Writers Passes On

Cricket writer and former cricket correspondent of ‘The Times’ John Woodcock left us a few days ago, just on the verge of turning 95 in August. It is hard to describe the magnitude of affection cricketers, writers and enthusiasts of the game expressed for him. The game truly lost an ornament. In his schooldays he revealed adept skill in games[Read More…]

by Harsh Thakor — 30/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Life/Philosophy

The Crisis in Tunisia

On July 25, 2021, Tunisian President Kais Saied dismissed Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi, froze the parliament, suspended the legal immunity of parliament members and took control of the general prosecutor’s office. He warned against any armed response to his actions: “Whoever shoots a bullet, the armed forces will respond with bullets.” In the hours after Saied’s announcement, huge crowds gathered[Read More…]

by Yanis Iqbal — 30/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

‘New Form’ of Ice Cream ‘Terrorism’: How Ben & Jerry’s has Exposed Israel’s anti-BDS Strategy

Ben & Jerry’s decision to suspend its operations in the occupied Palestinian West Bank is an event that is proving critical to Palestinian efforts, which ultimately aim at holding Israel accountable for its military occupation, apartheid and war crimes. By responding to the Palestinian call for boycotting apartheid Israel, the ice cream giant has delivered a blow to Israel’s attempts[Read More…]

by Dr Ramzy Baroud — 30/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Palestine

Julian Assange’s Ecuadorian citizenship revoked

Ecuador has stripped Julian Assange of his citizenship. The move is another outrageous assault on the WikiLeaks founder’s democratic rights, made in preparation for his extradition to the United States on charges under the Espionage Act. He is currently held in the UK’s Belmarsh maximum security prison, pending a case in the High Court. The decision to revoke citizenship was[Read More…]

by Thomas Scripps — 29/07/2021 — 1 comment — Human Rights

Planet’s Vital Signs Are Reaching Dangerous ‘Tipping Points’ Amid Climate Crisis, Scientists Warn

More than a year after the Covid-19 pandemic shut down economies around the world and sharply reduced worldwide travel—sparking speculation among some that emissions would plummet as a result—a coalition of scientists said in a paper published Wednesday that the planet is nonetheless reaching multiple “tipping points,” with levels of sea ice melt, deforestation, and other markers revealing that urgent action is[Read More…]

by Julia Conley — 29/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Climate Change

Pivoting to America

As a ROTC cadet and an Air Force officer, I was a tiny part of America’s vast Department of Defense (DoD) for 24 years until I retired and returned to civilian life as a history professor. My time in the military ran from the election of Ronald Reagan to the reign of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. It was[Read More…]

by William J Astore — 29/07/2021 — 1 comment — World

How Himalayan Highways Are Bringing More Risks Than Benefits to People

Recently there was a report of a woman in great pain in a remote village of Himachal Pradesh who had to be carried on back for over five miles by family members for treatment as no transport or even road was available in her village. This was by no means a very exceptional case. Such reports in fact appear from[Read More…]

by Bharat Dogra — 29/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

Guyana Defense Force soldiers in training exercise with US army personnel, Tradewinds, June, 2021

In Nobody’s Backyard: Rejecting Geo-Political and Historical Fatalism

Except for the hum of US helicopters flying overhead, there was a deafening silence throughout the Caribbean region, during the recent Operation Tradewinds, Progressive and Pan-African forces did not utter a word, as soldiers from Guyana, Brazil, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago participated in this region-wide military exercise with army personnel from the United[Read More…]

by Gerald A Perreira — 29/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Imperialism

The Political in ‘Political Prisoner’

It has been 500 days since Khalid Saifi’s incarceration, and 300 since Umar Khalid’s, in false UAPA cases; and a week since the custodial demise of Fr. Stan Swamy in the bogus Bhima Koregaon case. Both the Delhi riots and Bhima Koregaon cases are very important instances to explore the category of ‘political prisoner’ in contemporary Indian politics. They illustrate[Read More…]

by Achintya Anita Gurumurthy — 29/07/2021 — 1 comment — Human Rights

Members of Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee helping sex workers, transgenders and those in need of food supplies in this pandemic (Sourced by Purnima Sah)

Pandemic pushes transgender community in rural Bengal to brink of starvation

Kolkata: The 26 transgender people of a Cooch Behar village, West Bengal had their last wholesome meal before the first lockdown. For the past 15 years, they have been staying in a rented one-room-kitchen house, perched in the middle of potato and paddy fields of Bairagi Hatt hamlet in Mathabhanga block. But for the first time ever, they have been[Read More…]

by Purnima Sah — 29/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — COVID Response Watch

Foreign Ministers of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation at Dushanbe with Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon, July 14, 2021

UK scripts new Afghan plot for US

As often in modern history, Britain provides the plot for Washington to act. Russia, China, Iran are in the US crosshairs and Washington’s future agenda is principally oriented to blocking China’s Belt & Road, promoting regime change in Central Asia, using militant Islam as geopolitical tool, and consolidating a long-term presence in Afghanistan as a template of its Indo-Pacific strategy. [Read More…]

by M K Bhadrakumar — 29/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Remove unconstitutional sections from statute

“There were 1,307 cases registered by the police, in the last 6 years, under Section 66A of Information Technology Act, 2000, after Supreme Court declared it as unconstitutional… … The police and prosecutors, who are perpetuating this abuse, should be jailed for contempt of court. There should be a severe disciplinary action against the magistrates for framing charges under this[Read More…]

by Dr Madabhushi Sridhar — 29/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

Appointment of R K Asthana as Delhi Police Commissioner- Does it comply with the norms set by the apex court?

To Shri Rajiv Gauba Cabinet Secretary Govt of India Dear Shri Gauba, The website of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) emphasises the need for transparency in governance in the following words. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi firmly believes that transparency and accountability are the two cornerstones of any pro-people government. Transparency and accountability not only connect the people closer to the[Read More…]

by E A S Sarma — 29/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

Gary Sobers: Immortal Cricketer

Today the cricket world celebrates the 85th birthday of arguably the greatest cricketer ever, Sir Garfield Aubrun Sobers. His arrival on the cricket field was the equivalent of a prophet arriving, as though God had sent him to play cricket. None took all-round cricketing genius to such superlative heights. Sobers simply transcended or explored realms noone ever touched in the[Read More…]

by Harsh Thakor — 29/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Life/Philosophy

Pegasus: On the Trail of a Flying Horse

I have been persuaded by Noam Chomsky’s luminous and lucid insight that the politics we are familiar with simply befogs and obfuscates simple moral questions of right or wrong,just or unjust,good or evil.The questions that the Pegasus controversy raises are also basically moral ones,if you clean up all the usual confusing clutter. This is dismissed by vested and extremely partisan[Read More…]

by Hiren Gohain — 29/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

The Past Reveals the Climate Breakdown We Are Headed Towards

Climate modelling isn’t the only way of forecasting what our climate-changed world will look like by the century’s end and beyond. Indeed, the huge complexities and caveats involved in trying to build an accurate picture of a carbon-soaked planet from initial tenets, may not even make it the best. Instead, we can look back in time to periods in Earth’s 4.6[Read More…]

by Bill McGuire — 28/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Climate Change

Need for a Change of the dominant Narrative in An Asian Century

The key players of the global power contest must realize that we are past the cold war era wherein two superpowers fought for global domination. Suppressing a rising China simply because it threatens the American leadership will not be the end of this diplomatic war that the U.S. seems to be embarking upon. The current world order is far from[Read More…]

by Tanya Vatsa — 28/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

COVID-19 Pandemic Of The Unvaccinated, Vaccine Hesitancy, Manufactured Dissent & Lying By Omission

We are all concerned for family, friends, community and Humanity as a whole in the COVID-19 Pandemic especially as the much more infectious Delta strain has become dominant. However many of us will be frustrated by family members and friends who variously are vaccine hesitant, anti-vaxxer (anti-vaccination), accept bizarre conspiracy theories, and reject expert medical advice. Set out below are[Read More…]

by Dr Gideon Polya — 28/07/2021 — 1 comment — World

Papers Instead of Human Lives: The Sentencing of Daniel Hale

In May 2019, the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, that famous bastion of anti-whistleblowing fervour, unsealed an indictment charging former intelligence analyst Daniel Everett Hale with five counts of providing classified information to a reporter. The first four focused on obtaining national defense information, retaining and transmitting that information, causing the communication of that same information[Read More…]

by Dr Binoy Kampmark — 28/07/2021 — 1 comment — World

Record-smashing heat extremes may become much more likely with climate change, finds study

Cyprus. Cuba. Turkey. Canada. Northern Ireland. Antarctica. All recorded their hottest-ever temperatures in the last two years, and according to a new study, more such extremes are coming. A Reuters report said: In the next three decades, “record-shattering” heat waves could become two to seven times more frequent in the world than in the last 30 years, scientists report in[Read More…]

by Countercurrents Collective — 28/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Climate Change

Clouds May Speed Up Global Warming

“Cloud research is a tricky business. Clouds sometimes have a warming effect on the local climate and sometimes a cooling effect — it all depends on the type of cloud, the local climate and a variety of other conditions. “One of the most fundamental questions about climate change is also one of the thorniest: How much, exactly, will the Earth[Read More…]

by Countercurrents Collective — 28/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Climate Change

Protest in Barnala on May 26th by BKU(Ugrahan)

Modi government’s economic policies pose an existential threat to backward communities that must be resisted

The present government’s aggressive push for privatisation, corporatisation and automation – deviously dubbed ‘economic reforms’ – is undoing the gains made backward communities in recent decades, and must be resisted at all costs. ‘Economic reforms’ – it’s a catchphrase that India’s media pundits have repeated for three decades like a mantra, a sleight of hand meant to suggest that these[Read More…]

by KV Biju — 28/07/2021 — 1 comment — Globalisation

Nationhood Undefined

Someone I know serves as a high ranking officer of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) that India maintains under the aegis of the Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA) to “ manage: its own people. The British had just two such force to control and subjugate its colonial subjects but free India has found it necessary to maintain seven of them[Read More…]

by Shantanu Dutta — 28/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

The Little Talked About Covid-19 ‘Variants’: Vaccine Mismanagement Will Have Dire Repercussions

Do you remember the United Nations Millennium Development Goals? If not, you are not alone. These ambitious goals, which included the eradication of “extreme poverty and hunger”, to “combating lethal diseases” and “reducing child mortality worldwide”, proved to be yet another empty gesture which, unsurprisingly, amounted to little. Even if the architects of the project were well-intentioned as they labored[Read More…]

by Dr Ramzy Baroud — 28/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

A Tribute to Communist Revolutionary Comrade T. Nagi Redddy

Both Comrades died in July, and widely remembered on the occasion. This article is published to mark the occasion of com TN’s death on July 28, 1976. DV Rao died in 1984 July. DV Rao wrote several memorial articles on TN, bringing out some aspects of his life and work. Both TN and DV Rao were renowned communist revolutionary leaders[Read More…]

by DV Rao — 28/07/2021 — 1 comment — Life/Philosophy

Deconstructing Assam – Mizoram Border Clash

Most people in India do not know that the majority of the states in Northeast India were once part of the undivided province of Assam during Brtish colonial rule. Several of them also happen to be in the most earth-quake prone zone(zone 5) of the world.But the gruesome recent violence at Assam-Mizo border also forces us to recognize it as[Read More…]

by Hiren Gohain — 27/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

Failed Empire?

It was all so long ago, in a world seemingly without challengers. Do you even remember when we Americans lived on a planet with a recumbent Russia, a barely rising China, and no obvious foes except what later came to be known as an “axis of evil,” three countries then incapable of endangering this one? Oh, and, as it turned[Read More…]

by Tom Engelhardt — 27/07/2021 — 1 comment — Imperialism

Destroyed houses are seen in Schuld, Germany, Thursday, July 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

We Cannot Go on Like This: Merkel Says on Tackling Climate Crisis After Floods

Less than three months before leaving office, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has openly conceded that the industrial world has failed to adequately fight climate change and that more rapid, pain-inducing steps were urgently needed. Media reports said: Merkel, who has led Europe’s largest economy and one of the world’s leading emitters of CO2 for the last 16 years, reflected on her own bitter experience.[Read More…]

by Countercurrents Collective — 27/07/2021 — 1 comment — Climate Change

Heatwave in U.S.: From Coast to Coast, Millions Affected

A widespread heatwave has begun across the contiguous U.S., with at least 35 million people likely to see temperatures reach or exceed 100°F by the end of the week. Heat alerts are in place across at least 16 states in the south, midwest and western U.S. Media reports said: The hot weather, which comes courtesy of another heat dome building[Read More…]

by Countercurrents Collective — 27/07/2021 — 2 comments — Climate Change

Saangla Tragedy A Wake-up Call For Safety of Himalyan Travellers

On July 25 afternoon 11 tourists were crossing the Baaspa river in a rather remote part of Kinnaur region in Himachal Pradesh, on Saangla Chhitkul route, when warning shouts were heard from people from a distance. However the driver of the tempo traveler was busy negotiating the river bridge and did not hear the warning shouts. He wasn’t aware also[Read More…]

by Bharat Dogra — 27/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

Afghan children walk past a Taliban Red Unit, an elite force, Alingar district, Laghman province in eastern Afghanistan (File photo)

Afghanistan, Failure and Second Thoughts

It is a country other powers simply cannot leave alone. Even after abandoning its Kabul post in ignominy, tail tucked between their legs, Australia is now wondering if it should return – in some form. The Department of Trade and Foreign Affairs has been sending out a few signals, none of them definitive. “We will not comment on intelligence matters,”[Read More…]

by Dr Binoy Kampmark — 27/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

68th Anniversary of the Moncada Attack

68 years ago, on July 26, 1953, an angry young lawyer, Fidel Castro, led a small band of armed men in a failed attempt to seize the Moncada barracks in Santiago de Cuba, in Oriente province. Nearly one-half of the rebels were killed – most of them died under or following torture. While Fidel and his young comrades did not[Read More…]

by Yanis Iqbal — 27/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Vaccination among women 11% lower than in men in Madhya Pradesh

Bhopal: “I don’t want to take the vaccine as I have read on social media that I will not be able to bear a child,” said Rekha (name changed on request). The 22 year old, is a resident of Bhopal, the state capital of Madhya Pradesh, who fears that she will have grave side effects after vaccination that will render[Read More…]

by Shuchita Jha — 27/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — COVID Response Watch

Sarpatta Parambarai – A straw drawn from the Children of Ghetto

Watching Sarpatta Parambarai is a social necessity and celebration. The primary message conveyed here is don’t turn back from things that are real and painful to you. Perseverance is the life of Untouchable to taste success. India has produced and silver screened only two type of movies since independence. They are of two categories namely: Caste mongering movies Caste ignoring[Read More…]

by Udayakumar Vijayan — 27/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Arts/Literature

After the Apocalypse – America’s Role in a World Transformed

After the Apocalypse – America’s Role in a World Transformed. Andrew Bacevich. Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Company. New York. 2021. The contemporary apocalypse as seen by Andrew Bacevich in his latest book, “After the Apocalypse”, consists of four different horsemen: first mentioned are the severe climate effects of global warming; Trump “toxic and divisive” presidency is mentioned next; followed[Read More…]

by Jim Miles — 26/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Book Review

Corruption of Police Devastates Human Lives

by Advocate Mohammad Shoaib and Sandeep Pandey That corruption is rampant in police department is a common experience. However, there is another form of corruption which devastates lives of individuals and their families. It has now emerged as a common phenomenon that police more often than not register false cases because of which individuals have to spend number of years[Read More…]

by Sandeep Pandey — 26/07/2021 — 1 comment — Human Rights

Cartoon by K.P.Sasi

K.P. Sasi is a film maker, cartoonist and a writer

by K P Sasi — 26/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — COVID Response Watch

The Existential Question of Our Age

Here is the existential question of our Age: Is there a way for us to break out of our downward ecological spiral? The answer: Yes. But first we will have to examine all of those existing patterns of our thought and behavior we have believed to contain “inherent truths” that are now an existential threat; our lifestyles, our economics, our political systems,[Read More…]

by David Anderson — 26/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Counter Solutions

Why Landslides Are Becoming More Frequent and Destructive

Landslides are becoming increasingly frequent and destructive, and the last week of July 2021 has been particularly worrying in India in this context as within the span of a few days in Maharashtra, Western Ghats and Himalayan region landslides claimed over a 100 human lives. This is part of a rising trend of landslides becoming more destructive in India as[Read More…]

by Bharat Dogra — 26/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Environmental Protection

Sharks With NO Water

If you’re a working stiff with some sense of rhyme or reason, you should feel them near. They come in all shapes and sizes, these predators. For starters we have the ever-present War Sharks. These are the gung ho wave the flag gang, made up of Pentagon sharks and the super rich ( along with their political and media lackeys)[Read More…]

by Philip A Farruggio — 26/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

The case for ecocentric socialism: Part 1

“I wish to speak a word for Nature, for absolute freedom and wildness, as contrasted with a freedom and culture merely civil—to regard man as an inhabitant, or a part and parcel of Nature, rather than a member of society. I wish to make an extreme statement, if so I may make an emphatic one, for there are enough champions[Read More…]

by Kamran Nayeri — 26/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Counter Solutions

Letter from drone war whistleblower Daniel Hale to Judge Liam O’Grady

“We now kill people without ever seeing them. Now you push a button thousands of miles away … Since it’s all done by remote control, there’s no remorse … and then we come home in triumph.” —US Navy Admiral Gene LaRocque, speaking to a reporter in 1995. Dear Judge O’Grady, It is not a secret that I struggle to live[Read More…]

by Daniel Hale — 26/07/2021 — 2 comments — World

Expanding the buffet of choices for preventing HIV

Great strides have been made in HIV prevention, treatment and care, since the first case of the viral infection was reported 40 years ago. Thanks to the untiring efforts of the HIV community, activists, and medical fraternity, 74% (27.5 million) of the 37.7 million people living with HIV are able to access the lifesaving antiretroviral therapy today. But the governments’[Read More…]

by Shobha Shukla — 26/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Life/Philosophy

Medical Complicity With Torture In Israel

Introduction This paper concerns torture and medical complicity in its practice. In 2015, Amnesty International noted that 157 states had ratified the UN Convention Against Torture (UNCAT), but 141 states surveyed in the previous 5 years had used torture. Torture is a form of terrorism. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in 1998 defined torture as a crime[Read More…]

by Derek Summerfield — 26/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

Sidhu’s Politics & Congress!

Navjot Singh Sidhu has certainly had his way by being selected as the new Punjab Congress president. But his victory certainly doesn’t spell gains for all in the party and Congress itself. Speculations are afloat about intra-party tension still prevalent in state unit of Congress. Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh was reportedly opposed to Sidhu being given this charge.[Read More…]

by Nilofar Suhrawardy — 26/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

Periyar was not against Hindi as a language but opposed imposition of an alien culture on Dravidian people

This is another conversation with Thiru K Veermani which was recorded at Periyar Thidal, Chennai at the headquarters of Dravidar Kajhgam on November 1st, 2019. K Veeramani : Interview Part II Watch Part I of the Interview Thiru K Veeramani is the ideological disciple of EVR Periyar and one of the senior most leaders of the Dravidian movement at the[Read More…]

by Vidya Bhushan Rawat — 26/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Life/Philosophy

Just the Right Time to Bring Overdue Panchayati Raj Reforms

The widespread violence, threats and malpractices seen this month in the election first for district panchayat Presidents and then for block pramukhs in the panchayati raj ( PR , rural decentralization) elections in Uttar Pradesh should be an eye opener. This is a far cry from the vision of rural decentralization seen first by Mahatma Gandhi and his colleagues in[Read More…]

by Bharat Dogra — 26/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

A Question of Strategy – Farmers Stir and Its Foes

I don’t remember where exactly I read the story of the APMC Mandis falling apart in certain regions not immediately involved in the farmers’ stir.I hope fervently it is one of the shoals of fake stories swirling around in the ocean of Internet.But if true I think it should ring alarm bells in the leading circles of the mammoth farmers’[Read More…]

by Hiren Gohain — 25/07/2021 — 1 comment — India

Don’t Cry For Lifta: Palestinians Will Endure

Don’t Cry For Lifta: Palestinians Will Endure – There will never be a movie made titled “The Last of the Palestinians!” “The Jerusalem landscape seen through the ruins of a house at Lifta, 2017” — World Monuments Fund The last thing Palestinians need is to come to terms in sorrow with our dispossession at the hands of the apartheid, settler-colonial Jewish state.[Read More…]

by Rima Najjar — 25/07/2021 — 1 comment — Palestine

Cuba is an example of resistance, says Mexican president while wants to replace OAS

Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Saturday that Cuba is an “example of resistance,” and proposed the entire country should be declared a World Heritage site. Media reports said: The Mexican President praised Cuba’s ability to stand up to U.S. hostility since 1959. López Obrador has in the past stated his opposition to U.S. sanctions that limit commerce with[Read More…]

by Countercurrents Collective — 25/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Khori Gaon residents: Victims not ‘encroachers’

Since 14th July, the Haryana Government has been brutally demolishing houses built by Khori Gaon residents who have been living on this land for decades. Along with the bulldozers the residents have also been dealing with police violence and harassment simultaneously. The Municipal Corporation of Faridabad framed a draft policy for rehabilitation of Khori Gaon residents 5 weeks after the[Read More…]

by Press Release — 25/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

Disturbing Trend on the Rise of Harassment Against Asian-Americans

Trump supporter revealed it was Miles Yu who planned the anti-Asian policy. Recently, a screenshot of Trump supporters discussing Miles Yu’s anti-Asian policy in the Telegram group has been widely disseminated on social media. Such a criminal act of deliberately creating racial tensions and tearing American society apart has been criticized by netizens. In the screenshot of the telegram chat[Read More…]

by Junaid S Ahmad — 25/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

The Evolving Debate on COVID-19 Origin and Its Missing Component

On July 22, in the latest twist in the evolving debate on COVID origin, Chinese officials said that they were shocked and offended by a World Health Organization proposal to further investigate whether the COVID 19 pandemic emerged from a lab in Wuhan. Zeng Yixin, the vice minister of the Chinese Health Commission , said at a news conference in[Read More…]

by Bharat Dogra — 25/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Lonely and Old : The challenge of India’s seniors

Recently I had the opportunity to watch the Hindi film adaptation of Jaywant Dalvi’s famous Marathi play “ Sandhya Chhaya”. Set in the Mumbai (then Bombay) of the 1970s, it deals with the challenges of empty nesters. The play has just two characters – an elderly couple ( endearingly called “nana” and “nani”) who live in a large but empty[Read More…]

by Shantanu Dutta — 25/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Life/Philosophy

Brief notes on the African Sultans of Mediaeval Bengal

Translation based on the original Bangla contemporary piece: “Bangla-r Habshi-ra o Habshi Shasanmale Banglar Shamajik o Arthonoitik Obostha” by Al Hasan Circa 1204. The era of Muslim rule over Bengal began in earnest with Bakhtiyar’s conquest. However, Arab traders had begun to settle in the Chattogram, Noakhali and such other ports areas and their hinterland. Those were the thriving hubs[Read More…]

by Al Hasan — 24/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

Tibet and Xinjiyang: Cultural Revolution From Above

Left-inclined people in India are usually left in a twilight between belief and scepticism when faced with conflicting reports on affairs in Tibet and Xin Jiyang from Western and Chinese sources. Western sources dwell on massive social and cultural oppression attempting to recast by force the native identities of the peoples of these two regions.But Chinese sources trot out impressive-sounding[Read More…]

by Hiren Gohain — 24/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Greenwashing the Tokyo Olympic Games

“The gap between rhetoric and reality is a persistent one when looking at the sustainability of commitments of Olympic Games hosts”. Martin Müller, European Urban and Regional Studies, 2015 The organisers of the Olympics have always been into appearances and grand theatre. And the International Olympic Committee has always been keen in keeping them up, from the barely credible notion[Read More…]

by Dr Binoy Kampmark — 24/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Voices from the Covid Battlefield – Episode Four

In this series of interviews, Covid Response Watch brings you the voices of doctors, health workers, social activists and others, working at the grassroots, speaking about the multiple impacts of the Covid pandemic on the lives of ordinary Indian citizens. In this episode we speak to Dr Punyabrata Gun, joint-convener of the West Bengal Doctors Forum that has played a[Read More…]

by Dr Punyabrata Gun — 24/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — COVID Response Watch

Right of Conquest – a racist doctrine

After the most recent Gaza war I was asked to make a presentation to a local service club concerning events in Israel and the Middle East. The presentation started with an introduction of the current global situation, a broad brush covering the U.S. empire, its petrodollar, and the new multipolar geopolitical world. From there, it covered the history that made[Read More…]

by Jim Miles — 24/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Palestine

Remembering Comrade Arvind

On July 24th, 2008 Comrade Arvind left us, after a sudden illness. Today we commemorate Arvind’s 13th death anniversary. It is a travesty that the movement was robbed of one of it’s most creative exponents. His life was reminiscent of Lotus blooming in full, radiating the spirit of revolution. .Although he left us so early the revered comrade crystallised the[Read More…]

by Harsh Thakor — 24/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Life/Philosophy

New Studies on High Risks of Wireless Devices and Non-Ionizing Radiation

A recent peer reviewed study by the Environmental Working Group (USA) has made an important addition to the growing number of warnings by experts regarding the high possibility of risks from radiofrequency radiation emitted by wireless devices including cell-phones and tablets. This study, published in Environmental Health journal, has made an important plea for revising the highly outdated health[Read More…]

by Bharat Dogra — 24/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Life/Philosophy

Apocalypse

Apocalypse is complete destruction of the world as described in some detail in the biblical book of Revelation. Nothing worse can happen to humanity. Interestingly, it has been a recurring aspect of civilization for over two thousand years but every prediction of “End Times” has failed. Yet, modern day society is proving that apocalypse has multiple possible outcomes. In fact,[Read More…]

by Robert Hunziker — 23/07/2021 — 1 comment — Climate Change

Carlos Lazo getting ready to start his march from Miami to Washington, D.C. Credit: Tighe Barry

“Let Cuba live”: Lula, Correa, Cornel West and 400 Leading Personalities of the World Demand to U.S. President Biden

People from different walks of life are standing in support of revolution in Cuba. They are calling to defend the revolution in Cuba. Leading artists, intellectuals, personalities, U.S. lawmakers are calling on the U.S. government to withdraw blockade against Cuba. A Granma report said: As another reliable example of the rejection generated in the international community by the hostile policy[Read More…]

by Countercurrents Collective — 23/07/2021 — 1 comment — World

The vacant chair

The chair you left with me is an asylum of fear. Whenever it swings, the pungent aroma of your Cuban cigars pervades the breeze and my room fills with spiraling rings of smoke. When it swings, I can compile a thousand poems on solitude and hear your slogans rippling in the air. The vacant chair you left with me is[Read More…]

by Arsha Bijer — 23/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Arts/Literature

Farmers’ Struggle Challenges Modi Government’s Neo-Fascist Tyranny

Most heartening that the momentum of democratic resistance continues to flourish at Tikri border in Delhi, to challenge the oppression of the Saffron rulers. In a range of spheres it most relentlessly challenged the nefarious economic policies of the BJP govt. and called on people to leave no stone unturned in toppling them. Every democrat should be truly impressed by[Read More…]

by Harsh Thakor — 23/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

Priority was given to old, widow and disabled persons during ration distribution. Photo: Naresh Biswas

Covid lockdown forces Adivasis in MP to go back to their roots

With no income and all life at a standstill poor families around India have struggled to put together a square meal every day during the second wave of the Covid pandemic. With the government absent, many small voluntary and citizens groups stepped in to distribute rations consisting of cereals, pulses, oil, salt and sugar. In the Dindori district of eastern[Read More…]

by Shirish Khare — 23/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — COVID Response Watch

Stop Deep-Sea Mining

Marine Expert Statement Calling for a Pause to Deep-Sea Mining . Signed by 530 marine science & policy experts from over 44 countries The deep sea is home to a significant proportion of Earth’s biodiversity, with most species yet to be discovered. The richness and diversity of organisms in the deep sea supports ecosystem processes necessary for the Earth’s natural[Read More…]

by Press Release — 23/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Environmental Protection

Pakistan’s geo-economics is working well

Nine Chinese citizens were killed after a bus carrying them plunged into a ravine following an explosion in Pakistan’s far north Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, July 14, 2021… When the whole world is lamenting that the US is quitting Afghanistan in ignominy, the Biden Administration is snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. What an audacity of hope! The new QUAD will[Read More…]

by M K Bhadrakumar — 23/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — South Asia

Sedition: Antithesis Of Freedom Of Speech And Expression

“…these are fundamental rights from a police constable’s point of view and not from the point of view of a free and fighting nation. Here whatever right is given is taken away by a proviso. Sardar Patel would punish us if we make a speech, but Rajaji would punish us even before we have made the speech…”- Somnath Lahiri, during[Read More…]

by Dr Madabhushi Sridhar — 23/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

Artificial Intelligence Wants You (and Your Job) – We’d Better Control Machines Before They Control Us

My wife and I were recently driving in Virginia, amazed yet again that the GPS technology on our phones could guide us through a thicket of highways, around road accidents, and toward our precise destination. The artificial intelligence (AI) behind the soothing voice telling us where to turn has replaced passenger-seat navigators, maps, even traffic updates on the radio. How[Read More…]

by John Feffer — 22/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Cuba: US narrative paving way for military incursion

Threat for imperialist intervention in Cuba is increasing. A Havana, July 22, 2021 datelined AP report said: Cuba criticized the US and President Joe Biden on Wednesday for a series of statements by senior officials, accusing the US government of seeking to justify a military intervention. The report said: Johana Tablada, deputy director for US affairs at Cuba’s Ministry of[Read More…]

by Countercurrents Collective — 22/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

The Indo-Nepal border near Panitanki market has been shut for the past 14 months (Picture credit Roshan Gupta)

Small traders suffer as COVID-19 shuts borders with China, Nepal

Businessmen in the border towns of West Bengal and Sikkim struggle to survive, repay loans, as restrictions on movement of goods between neighbouring countries close markets. Siliguri: The closure of India’s borders with Nepal and China owing to the COVID-19 pandemic has forced a large number of traders to shut shop, as they forego their only source of income. Unable[Read More…]

by Roshan Gupta — 22/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — COVID Response Watch

Cuba’s Fight against Imperialism

Cuba has been witnessing anti-government protests since July 11, 2021. Several objective factors account for these demonstrations. Cuba is experiencing its greatest economic crisis in 30 years. The devastating knock-on effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the country’s tourism-dependent economy, coupled with criminal sanctions and blockade, have caused real hardship to the Cuban people. The decline in foreign visitors caused a loss of around $3[Read More…]

by Yanis Iqbal — 22/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Scene from Dear Evan Hansen (Courtesy: TIFF)

TIFF Releases its 2021 Gala & Special Presentation Titles

Following the announcement of the Canadian federal government to keep the US border open to the fully vaccinated US citizens and permanent residents as of August 9, 2021, and to the rest of the world as of September 7, 2021, Toronto International Film Festival {TIFF) is much hopeful of conducting its main business, as planned earlier. Last year. TIFF had[Read More…]

by Suresh Nellikode — 22/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Arts/Literature

Pegasus Spyware: Need For Thorough Investigation

To Shri A K Bhalla Union Home Secretary Dear Shri Bhalla, Kindly refer to my letters dated 31-3-2019, 31-10-2019 & 19-7-2021 addressed to you (copies forwarded here) on the possible use/misuse of Pegasus in India. I wish to draw your attention to a press conference held by the Chattisgarh Chief Minister, as indicated in a news report, “Pegasus: Chhattisgarh CM[Read More…]

by E A S Sarma — 22/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

Population Control Bill is anti-Dalit/Tribal and anti-Poor

As you are aware that Uttar Pradesh government has brought the Uttar Pradesh Population Control Bill, whose purpose has been said to control the population. This bill has been circulated for suggestions and objections. If passed by the legislature, it will become a law and will come into force after one year. Although the purpose of this law is said[Read More…]

by SR Darapuri — 22/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

Pegasus: Mumbo Jumbo Will Voodoo You!

In my early youth when the sheer magic of sound, rhythm and verbal atmospherics casts a spell on you,I remember having been captivated by a now-forgotten poem by the American poet Vachel Lindsay.It used stereotypes of Africa as a land of black magic in incantatory verse to evoke a feeling of dread of unknown mysteries.Named ‘Congo’,it used the words used[Read More…]

by Hiren Gohain — 22/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

Progress or War: On Islamophobia and Europe’s Demographic Shifts

Europe’s identity crisis is not confined to the ceaseless squabbles by Europeans over the EU, Brexit or football. It goes much deeper, reaching sensitive and dangerous territory, including that of culture and religion. Once more, Muslims stand at the heart of the continent’s identity debate. Of course, anti-Muslim sentiments are rarely framed to appear anti-Muslim. While Europe’s right-wing parties remain[Read More…]

by Dr Ramzy Baroud — 22/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

The Strange Math of Corruption

If Rs. 50 crore ( 500 million) is allocated for spending on an irrigation project and Rs. 10 crore is snatched up by corruption at various levels, then what is the amount that remains for actual development work? The most obvious answer would be Rs. 40 crore, but more often than not this is likely to be wrong. The reason[Read More…]

by Bharat Dogra — 22/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

Sri Lanka’s Falling Economy And Failing Good Governance

President Gotabaya acclaimed as un uncrowned king of Sri Lanka after defeating the Liberation of Tigers in the genocidal war with the assistance of 22 countries particularly from India, Pakistan and China as confirmed by his brother Mahinda Rajapakshae [Gotabaya’s brother] while he was on a visit to India in May 2009 is now facing an unpalatable deafening voices of[Read More…]

by Thambu Kanagasabai — 22/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — South Asia

Protest held in Canada against the custodial death of Father Stan Swamy and incarceration of scholars

On the birthday of jailed Indian scholar Anand Teltumbde, activists gathered outside the Visa and Passport Application Center of the world’s so called largest democracy in Surrey to raise their voices for his release, as well as others detained under draconian laws. Teltumbde, who turned 71 on July 15, was arrested last year on trumped up charges for merely questioning[Read More…]

by Press Release — 22/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

Subvert Cuba: Imperialist campaign and few facts

Assassinate Fidel and Raul, and subvert Cuba are now well-known facts related to the Empire. The Empire is ceaselessly engaged with this task since Revolution in Cuba; and the Empire considers the assassination attempts and acts of subversion as essential for its existence. Recent disturbance in Havana and some other places in Cuba have again brought this issue to forefront.[Read More…]

by Farooque Chowdhury — 21/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Pegasus Spyware: UN Urges Better Regulation of Surveillance Technology

The UN voiced alarm Monday at reports that several governments used Israeli phone malware to spy on activists, journalists and others, stressing the urgent need for better regulation of surveillance technology. Media reports said: The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said the apparent widespread use of Pegasus spy software to illegally undermine the rights of those under surveillance, including journalists[Read More…]

by Countercurrents Collective — 21/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

The Politics Of The Bicycle Lane

In recent years there is demand for bicycle lanes by a section of the bicycle community in India. It comes mainly from Metro cities and people who demand are also younger people who use fancy/professional bicycles and are members of various bicycle clubs. Ordinary people who use the standard/roadster/Bangla cycles do not appear to be part of this group and[Read More…]

by T Vijayendra — 21/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Counter Solutions

Remembering Bob Willis’ Great Spell

Today the cricket world celebrates the 40th anniversary of arguably the best ever spell by a fast bowler in the 4th innings of a test match. Late Bob Willis took spirit of resilience or combative spirit, to regions rarely traversed in sport. In the 4th test at Leeds versus Australia. Willis’s spell of 8-43 in the 2nd innings at Leeds[Read More…]

by Harsh Thakor — 21/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Life/Philosophy

Pegasus Rides Again: The NSO Group, Spyware and Human Rights

They keep insisting they don’t do it. But companies such as the Israeli NSO Group are global vendors for regimes, whatever stripe or colour, for surveillance tools to spy on those they deem of interest. The 2013 revelations by Edward Snowden that exposed the warrantless world of mass surveillance by entities such as the US National Security Agency and Britain’s[Read More…]

by Dr Binoy Kampmark — 21/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Why there are increasing reasons now for the USA to end its blockade of Cuba?

The USA has imposed the longest ever embargo on Cuba which has continued for almost six decades with very limited relaxations for short durations . The Cubans ( as well as other critics) refer to this as blockade to convey its more damaging impacts. For almost the last three decades the United Nations General Assembly has been regularly passing resolutions[Read More…]

by Bharat Dogra — 21/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Taxing times for India’s cooperative federalism

Far from bringing out the best in people and institutions, a crisis can bring out the worst too. That is precisely what seems to have happened, in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, to the concept of ‘cooperative federalism’ between the central and state governments, claimed as one of his key policies by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Since the beginning[Read More…]

by S Sundaram — 21/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — COVID Response Watch

Stranded, still: Workers address online press conference

Mohammad Arif is a singer of bhajans, and usually in high demand at functions. With the lockdown, functions were cancelled and bhajan singers were no longer needed. “I’ve taken a big hit, I’m just home in Meerut now, there is nowhere to go and no money made for months,” he said, at an online press conference held by the Stranded[Read More…]

by Rosamma Thomas — 20/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

Tale of two pandemics: Follow the science and do not forget one at the cost of the other

Covid-19 has posed innumerable health, economic, and social challenges for all, including people living with HIV. It has exposed the fragility of health systems around the globe and has diverted political attention and funding from other infectious diseases like TB and HIV. The opening session of the 11th International IAS Conference on HIV Science (#IAS2021) held virtually from Berlin, saw[Read More…]

by Shobha Shukla — 20/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Of Father Stan Swamy, humans and other species

A few years ago, on a visit to La Paz, the Bolivian capital set high in the Andean mountains, I spotted a board inside a restaurant that said ‘All Humans are Equal’ in Spanish. During the week I spent in the city, I saw the same sign at a few more eateries, enough to prompt me to ask a Bolivian[Read More…]

by Satya Sagar — 20/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

Genesis of Right Wing Islamic Activism

The US believed that Muslims between Greece and China, The Arc of Islam would function as fire wall against the USSR, and might even incite the restive Muslims inside the USSR to open rebellion. The U.S. and other Western countries and Israel have in turn befriended, manipulated, double crossed and cynically used the Mujahideen as cold war allies. After the[Read More…]

by Syed Ehtisham — 20/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Mobilising Against the Corporate Hijack of Agriculture and the UN Food Systems Summit

The UN Food Systems Summit (UNFSS), including a ‘pre-summit’, will take place in September 2021 in New York. The Italian government is hosting the pre-summit in Rome from 26–28 July. The UNFSS claims it aims to deliver the latest evidence-based, scientific approaches from around the world, launch a set of fresh commitments through coalitions of action and mobilise new financing[Read More…]

by Colin Todhunter — 20/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Khori Gaon Demolitions Public Hearing: Panel alarmed at human rights violations

20th July, 2021: This public hearing was organised to hear the affected citizens of Khorigaon and understand the status of implementation of the Supreme Court’s order of 7 June 2021. The Jury members included Environmentalist Ashish Kothari, Environmentalist Claude Alvares, Social Activist Ms. Anjali Bhardwaj, Adv. Tripti Poddar, Housing Right Activist, Prof. Amita Bhide from TISS, Mumbai and Prof. Bittu K.[Read More…]

by Press Release — 20/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

Precarity of Migrant Labour in Punjab’s Textile Industries

Punjab faces a severe power crisis in the literal and metaphorical sense.Unprecedented shortage in power supply, power thefts and rise in power demand has turned it into a power-starving state. Facing an acute shortage of power supply amidst soaring demand of power from the agricultural sector. Gap between demand and supply traces to increase in consumer demand and shut down[Read More…]

by Akashleena — 20/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

Some suggestions to enhance the credibility of Environment Impact Assessment

To Shri Bhupender Yadav Minister Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MEFCC) Govt of India Dear Shri Yadav, Rarely do persons with such credible professional background as you have, especially in the highly specialised field of environmental jurisprudence, are asked to preside over the MEFCC. Let me welcome you to your new assignment, with the earnest hope and belief that you[Read More…]

by E A S Sarma — 20/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Environmental Protection

Infectious Follies: Britain’s Freedom Day

He can scant resist a slogan, but UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s insistence on describing Britain’s exit from lockdown as Freedom Day came with its usual kitschy quality. All would be splendid as COVID-19 restrictions were lifted in the “move to step 4.” Social contact rules would be scrapped, along with mask mandates in various public spaces. Nightclubs could reopen;[Read More…]

by Dr Binoy Kampmark — 20/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Tomatoes and Apples–Big Agribusiness Promoted Despite Increasing Reports of Its Adverse Impact

As the farmers’ movement has set the alarm bells ringing regarding the need to check growing corporate control of agriculture, farmers and activists are now more conscious regarding drawing attention to adverse impacts of the clearly emerging trend of increasing corporatization of agriculture. Despite this, the trend of government policy appears to be clearly in favor of increasing corporate control.[Read More…]

by Bharat Dogra — 20/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

Progressive laws in a Regressive Society

The Hansal Mehta directed biopic “ Aligarh” is possibly the most stark of the recent films made that shows homophobia at its most brutal. The imagery of Manoj Bajpayee as the lonely and socially isolated Professor Siras, finding solace behind closed doors in endless pegs of whisky and melancholic Lata Mangeshkar songs will not easily leave you. Professor Siras has[Read More…]

by Shantanu Dutta — 20/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Arts/Literature

Goliath – The 100-year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy

Economic history is not a truly scintillating read. However, to understand how our society is arranged economically as it is today, “Goliath” provides an interesting background into the people, policies, and the political rhetoric (propaganda) that shaped the power struggle between monopoly power and democracy. Without forcefully stating it, that is the theme of the book: monopoly power as it[Read More…]

by Jim Miles — 19/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Book Review

Israel’s Antisemitism Ruse: When Racists Claim Victimhood

Bruised-fist grievance politics as an old imperial ruse Right now in New York we had a couple cases where police grabbed the brother and beat him unmercifully – and then charged him with assaulting them. They used the press to make it look like he’s the criminal and they’re the victim. This is how they do it, and if you[Read More…]

by Dan Freeman-Maloy — 19/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Palestine

The farmer couple, Dhanush Sahu and his wife Sona Bai, who committed suicide in Rajnandgaon (Picture sourced by Avdhesh Mallick)

Pandemic-driven bankruptcy fuels farmer suicides in Chhattisgarh

With the lockdown scuttling markets and slowing down trade and demand, farmers are letting their produce rot in the fields. They are drowning in debt and unable to plan their next harvest. Raipur: On June 5, 2021, Dhanush Sahu (58) and his wife Sona Bai (54) of Singhola village in Rajnandgaon district in Chhattisgarh hung themselves to death. “My[Read More…]

by Avdhesh Mallick — 19/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — COVID Response Watch

Politicians, Journalists, HR Activists And Others Spied Upon Using Pegasus Spyware

NSO Group, a private Israeli firm that sells surveillance technology to governments worldwide, insists that its Pegasus spyware is used only to “investigate terrorism and crime.” Leaked data, however, reveals that the company’s hacking tool “has been used to facilitate human rights violations around the world on a massive scale.” That’s according to an investigative report published Sunday by the[Read More…]

by Countercurrents Collective — 19/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Dangerous Games in Syria

Just a few months since Joe Biden’s election, US idea of terrorism has radically changed. With the media having spared no effort making people believe that the real terrorists are indeed the armed supporters of the Republicans, who are ready to take on the crowd of BLM “looters” and express their right to protest by demonstrating that rights at the[Read More…]

by Slavisha Batko Milacic — 19/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Imperialism

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (L) paid an ‘official working visit to White House and held talks with President Joe Biden (R), July 15, 2021.

Transitional period ahead in US-China relations

She was making it clear that China cannot be branded in one-dimensional terms as an adversary. Merkel is “convinced of our needing to be technological leaders… in many, many areas” but then, “Obviously, it’s legitimate for China wishing to do this as well. *** The ‘official working visit’ by the German Chancellor Angela Merkel to the White House on July 15[Read More…]

by M K Bhadrakumar — 19/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Fruit Orchards Face Increasing Threat From Indiscriminate Introduction of Exotic Species

In many fruit orchards exotic species are being introduced arbitrarily with a view to improving yields and income. However in the hurry to achieve these objectives it is often forgotten that exotic species can also lead to the introduction of new pests and predators as well as leading to extensive damage to native species. These exotics can be harmful for[Read More…]

by Bharat Dogra — 19/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Environmental Protection

Migration Is Not the Crisis: What Washington Could Really Do in Central America

Earlier this month, a Honduran court found David Castillo, a U.S.-trained former Army intelligence officer and the head of an internationally financed hydroelectric company, guilty of the 2016 murder of celebrated Indigenous activist Berta Cáceres. His company was building a dam that threatened the traditional lands and water sources of the Indigenous Lenca people. For years, Cáceres and her organization, the Council[Read More…]

by Aviva Chomsky — 19/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

Scenario for US & NATO Invasion of Crimea and Origins of American Hatred of Russia

“The average [Soviet] citizen’s innate readiness to defend Mother Russia against any invader was stronger than his assumed aversion to the Communist dictatorship. As to the Soviet armed forces, their unwavering determination, their unwillingness to admit defeat, and their capability to improvise astounded the Germans. Time and again these qualities compensated for the ineptitude of the Russian intermediate command…[Read More…]

by John Stanton — 19/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Imperialism

Way to Go Captain Ron!!!

Now I don’t recall what rank Gov. Ron DeSantis had in the Navy, while over in Iraq or Afghanistan, fighting the ‘ Good Fight’. After all, those countries have water … oh, maybe I mean drinking water or sewage water. I will just call him ‘ Captain Ron’ for purposes of this column, OK? The main point of contention is[Read More…]

by Philip A Farruggio — 19/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Modi, Mohan Bhagwat And The Secular Morality

After Mohan Bhagwat, the Sarsanchalak of the Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), addressed the ‘positivity unlimited’ theme about Covid calamity of India on 15 May, 2021, even secular writers in the national media started a chorus of Modi devil, Mohan Bhagwat angel song. ‘Bhagat snubbed modi’, ‘Bhagat advised him to accept collective responsibility’, ‘The RSS is for course correction’ and so[Read More…]

by Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd — 19/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

Shaheed Prithipal Singh Randhawa Made Immortal Contribution To Student Movement

Today is the 42nd martyrdom day of Student leader Prithipal Singh Randhawa .No Student leader in the history of India ever galvanized forces or crystallised or set guidelines of the mass line practice in student movement, in the magnitude of Prithipal.Exactly 42 years ago he was murdered by goons of the Akali Dal party. Few mass leaders ever better grasped[Read More…]

by Harsh Thakor — 18/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Life/Philosophy

Climate: We Are Not Doing Enough!

The Keeling Curve continues to rise steadily Measurements of the carbon dioxide content of the earth’s atmosphere as a function of time have been made ever since 1958 at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii. The resulting graph is called the “Keeling Curve”, in honor of Charles David Keeling, who started the monitoring and continued it until his death in[Read More…]

by John Scales Avery — 18/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Climate Change

Azadi : The Resurrection of a slogan

In August we celebrate the 74th anniversary of our independence. At the time, the communists had raised the slogan then famous or rather infamous – “ yeh azadi jhoohi hai” .. this is a false independence meaning that this independence would not mean anything the ordinary people fighting for daily survival and that this was a festival of the elite.[Read More…]

by Shantanu Dutta — 18/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

Land Reforms Need to be Revived on Urgent Basis

In recent times the government has been steadily going back on its commitment to land reforms in India. This is true of the union government as well as several state governments. This has been one of the most unfortunate aspects of development policy in India, leading to increase of inequality as well as reduction of possibilities of sustainable, ecologically protective,[Read More…]

by Bharat Dogra — 18/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

Flag of Afghan Taliban (in white) was raised on the Afghan side of the border with Pakistan at the major border crossing at Chaman, 14 July 2021. The ministerial meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the meeting of the SCO-Afghanistan working group at Dushanbe on July 13-14 have thrown light on the templates of China’s approach to the evolving situation in Afghanistan.

China explains its Afghan motivations

Contrary to the paranoia in the western (and Indian) media, Wang prioritised China’s security concerns in the prevailing situation in 3 main directions – namely, prevent the present conflict from morphing into a full-fledged civil war; restart the peace talks quickly; and, eliminate the risk of Afghanistan becoming again a revolving door of international terrorist groups. China’s commitment to the[Read More…]

by M K Bhadrakumar — 18/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

In Conversation with K Veeramani

Social Movements are long lasting and more effective way to bring changes in society : K Veeramani Mr K. Veeramani, is perhaps the senior most of the leaders of revolutionary Periyar E.V.Ramasamy’s Dravidian movement. He was groomed by Periyar since childhood. Born on December 2nd, 1933, he was inducted in the Dravidian movement under the leadership of EVR Periyar since[Read More…]

by Vidya Bhushan Rawat — 18/07/2021 — 1 comment — Life/Philosophy

China Communist Party Was Always A Controversy –Part-2

Three Worlds Theory, Mao, Deng, and DV Rao’s views Mao and Deng. Theirs was an association of 50 years, Deng being the General Secretary of CCP most of the time. Two-line struggle was part of CCP’s legacy. They never differed on TWT. This is part-2 of an article published on the occasion of death anniversary of com DV Rao. Part-1[Read More…]

by MA Krishna — 17/07/2021 — 1 comment — Life/Philosophy

CUBA: Differing Voices, Different Protests – I

A ‘Protest Song’, the Singers, what else they sang for, A Wrong Protester Vis-à-vis other kind of Cuban ‘protesters’ least talked-of #Patriayvida, @descemerbueno, @gentedezona, (René Pérez Joglar) @residente, @lajovencuba A new Cuban ‘protest-song’ is now much talked about. It is “Patria y Vida” sang by Descemer Bueno, Gente De Zona, and Yotuel, and written by Beatriz Luengo Gonzalez, Descemer Bueno,[Read More…]

by Sandeep Banerjee — 17/07/2021 — 1 comment — World

Green Initiatives of Punjab Are Welcome But Need Precautions to Maximize Benefits

Recent new initiatives of the Punjab government to bring real greenery to the state need to be widely welcomed. This state really needs environment protection, particularly as what was falsely called green revolution in farming caused such immense ( and entirely avoidable)ecological ruin. The new measures announced show much promise of increasing the overall green cover, and if adequate precaution[Read More…]

by Bharat Dogra — 17/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Environmental Protection

Ian Botham’s heroics in the greatest Test ever

Today we commemorate the 40th anniversary of the greatest test match ever in the history of Cricket, which had one of the greatest turnarounds in the history of sport. The 3rd test at Leeds from July 17-22 in 1981, between England and Australia was the equivalent of a Hollywood classic or epic novel. There could be rarely instances in the[Read More…]

by Harsh Thakor — 17/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Life/Philosophy

Floods have affected cities across Europe, including Zurich in Switzerland

Deadly flooding and heatwaves in Europe highlight urgency of climate action, says WMO

Heavy rainfall that has triggered deadly and catastrophic flooding in several western European countries, is just the latest indicator that all nations need to do more to hold back climate change-induced disasters, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Friday. The UN agency said that countries including Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands had received up to two months’ rain[Read More…]

by Countercurrents Collective — 17/07/2021 — 1 comment — Climate Change

World faces a ‘hurricane of humanitarian crises’, warns UN chief

There is a bloody surge” impacting humanitarian crises around the world, with civilians in conflict zones paying the highest price, UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres told the UN Security Council on Friday. UN’s and media reports said: The UN secretary general’s speech to the U.N. Security Council was read by UN deputy secretary-general Amina Mohammed. The UN chief cited Ethiopia’s Tigray[Read More…]

by Countercurrents Collective — 17/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Australia’s Labor Opposition Leader Albo Backs Apartheid Israel & Dooms Labor

In a speech to Australian Zionists the pro-Zionist Australian Labor Opposition leader Anthony “Albo” Albanese has grossly violated the policy of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) which promises to recognize the State of Palestine if it wins the forthcoming Federal election. Instead pro-Zionist Albo won’t do this before consulting with Zionists and Apartheid Israel, a position repugnant to anti-racist Jewish[Read More…]

by Dr Gideon Polya — 17/07/2021 — 1 comment — World

Functioning of Panchayati Raj Institutions in Bihar: Devolution or Delegation?

The upcoming panchayat election in Bihar is a good occasion to examine the broader issues faced by the Panchayati Raj Institution (“PRIs”) in Bihar. According to media reports, the State Election Commission of Bihar has started to prepare for the upcoming panchayat election in Bihar, and the poll process would commence from the end of August.[1] Preceded by a 23-year[Read More…]

by Mayank Labh — 17/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

Covid-19, State Repression and the Decline of People’s Movement

by Dr. Md Afroz & Md Tabrez Alam The outbreak of Covid-19 shattered the whole world, everything goes on standstill except state, it got absolute control over territory and population curtailed all civil political movement and weakened democracy. Covid-19 outbreak and Human Catastrophe The ongoing Corona virus popularly known as COVID-19 rocked the whole world with its large number[Read More…]

by MD Tabrez Alam — 17/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

The Battle for America’s and Israel’s Understanding of its True Soul & Selfhood

Haters Of America’s 1619 Project And Lovers Of Israel’s Jewish Nation-State Laws

How the United States of America and Jewish Nation State first were born is at the heart of the battlelines that have been drawn now between all those who hate America’s 1619 Project, that endeavors to tell students of American history and culture what it contends is the true story of its birth and development as a nation, and all[Read More…]

by Irwin Jerome — 17/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

China 101

Regardless of whether it is in democracies or otherwise, decisions on foreign policies including those that concern wars against other countries are almost always made exclusively by governments, with limited or no consultations with the citizens and often at the behest of vested interest who operate mostly within and at times, from abroad. Once decisions on wars are made, public[Read More…]

by M Adil Khan — 17/07/2021 — 1 comment — World

John Lewis from the Student Non Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge

The March Is Not Yet Over

Today is the first anniversary of the loss of John Lewis, a civil rights crusader. At the time of his death, Lewis was one of the last Selma-era civil rights leaders. In 1965, Selma, Alabama became a battle ground in an effort to guarantee Blacks the right to vote. During that time, a system of racial apartheid was in the[Read More…]

by Zeenat Khan — 17/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

1857 War of Independence to 1930s

My ancestors were directly affected by the momentous turn history took. Though not in the eye of the storm, living far from the center of action, and being academics rather than men of action, yet they lost a great deal because they would not collaborate with the ghasib (usurper), the term my nana used for the British till[Read More…]

by Syed Ehtisham — 17/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

India must halt mass eviction that threatens to leave 100,000 homeless – UN experts

GENEVA (16 July 2021) – UN human rights experts* today called on India to halt evictions of some 100,000 people – including 20,000 children – that began this week in the midst of monsoon rains. Demolition of homes began on Wednesday, 14 July, in a village in Haryana State built on protected forest land, even though the forest was actually[Read More…]

by Press Release — 16/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

Flooding in Germany and Belgium leaves over 100 dead

Severe thunderstorms and heavy rainfall have led to severe devastation and at least 93 fatalities so far in the German regions of Rhineland-Palatinate (50) and North Rhine-Westphalia (43). At least nine people have also been killed in Belgium. The actual death toll could be much higher. According to reports, 1,300 people are currently missing. On Friday morning, the Interior Minister[Read More…]

by Elisabeth Zimmermann — 16/07/2021 — 1 comment — World

USA’s Imperialist Stranglehold on Cuba

Cuba has been witnessing anti-government protests since July 11, 2021. These demonstrations are fuelled by a number of factors. The devastating knock-on effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on a developing nation like Cuba – a tourism-dependent economy – coupled with the criminal sanctions and blockade against the country have caused real hardship to the Cuban people and their economy. Cuban[Read More…]

by Yanis Iqbal — 16/07/2021 — 1 comment — World

On The Philosophy Of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism

Arguably No Marxist thinker or leader today in the World or in the last few decades has had such a profound grasp of the ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism as Professor Joma Sison. Formally he was the Chairman of the Communist party of Phillipines who laid the base for the re-organisation of the party and the launching of the 2 line struggle[Read More…]

by Harsh Thakor — 16/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Book Review

COVID19 Crisis In Malaysia: Questions And Motives

The significant increase in Covid 19 infections in our country in the last one week has prompted concerned Malaysians to ask the authorities to re-strategize their approach towards the fight against the spread of the virus. A total lockdown, some feel, where most movements are severely curbed is not the solution. They prefer a targeted lockdown which is focussed upon[Read More…]

by Dr Chandra Muzaffar — 16/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Mass death of hundreds of parrots focuses attention on a wider threat to birds and bees

The National Green Tribunal has very recently given orders to the chief wildlife warden of Punjab and other related authorities to investigate the sudden mass death of about 400 parrots in Faridkot town of Punjab and take appropriate remedial action. However this mass death of parrots is not a one-time event. Bird-lovers and lawyers associated with them in Faridkot have[Read More…]

by Bharat Dogra — 16/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Environmental Protection

Justice minus humanity is injustice

After NIA’s contentions, the special court has rejected the request for sipper. The judge did not ask NIA to prove the genuineness of their claim that nothing was confiscated by them..and without asking why you need 20 days to say yes or no to sipper request? Is it because a sipper in the hands of Parkinson patient is threat to[Read More…]

by Dr Madabhushi Sridhar — 16/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

Around 1000 Houses Demolished In Khori Gaon

Delhi and Haryana governments cannot shy away from the responsibility of the Khorigaon people. Without a feasible rehabilitation plan, stop the demolition in the midst of monsoon. Demolition continued in Khori village during the first monsoon rains in Delhi. Sitting in the comfort of her office, Garima Mittal, the commissioner of Faridabad Municipality, carried out the demolition drive. On July[Read More…]

by National Alliance of People’s Movements — 15/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

More than 100 activists write to Deccan Herald regarding vilifying and unethical advertisement

To, Mr. Sitaraman Shankar, Acting CEO, TPML, Editor, Deccan Herald CC: Mr B.S Arun, Deputy Editor 15 July 2021 We would like to draw your attention to the State page (Page 5) of E-Paper/Newspaper, released on 15 July 2021. The Deccan Herald’s (DH) Visual Connect ad on the page is not just factually incorrect, but also in appalling taste. Advertising[Read More…]

by Press Release — 15/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

Who Authorized America’s Wars? And Why They Never End

Sometimes, as I consider America’s never-ending wars of this century, I can’t help thinking of those lyrics from the Edwin Starr song, “(War, huh) Yeah! (What is it good for?) Absolutely nothing!” I mean, remind me, what good have those disastrous, failed, still largely ongoing conflicts done for this country? Or for you? Or for me? For years and years,[Read More…]

by Andrea Mazzarino — 15/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Imperialism

Tamils in Sri Lanka demand the restoration of their lost sovereignty

The Sinhala/Tamil relations and the ethnic conflict intensified immediately after the independence of the Island on February 04, 1948. The rise of Tamil nationalism is not entirely a new phenomenon but only resurgence. The institutionalization and entrenched structure of genocide of Tamils since independence is the main cause of the conflict that caused the deaths of 70,000 civilians according to[Read More…]

by Kumarathasan Rasingam — 15/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — South Asia

Hands Off Cuba!

It was not fire-breathing communists but Jawaharlal Nehru who took the initiative to recognize Cuba at a time when Western powers were bristling with frustrated rage against the tiny island-country only thirty and odd miles from the American coast.Because Nehru saw the Cuban revolution as part of the national liberation movement that roused people against suffocating colonial and imperialist dominance[Read More…]

by Hiren Gohain — 15/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Bomb Cuba, and a story to compare Cuba

There’s now call to bomb Cuba – a suggestion from the land of inequality, the Empire. Francis Suarez, Mayor of Miami, has called for US military intervention in Cuba. The mayor has cited many examples – from Panama to Kosovo. Mr. Suarez claims – all US attacks went smoothly. An act to feel proud by imperialists! The logic behind this[Read More…]

by Farooque Chowdhury — 15/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Imperialism

Cornel West accuses Harvard of ‘spiritual rot’ in resignation letter

Cornel West, prominent professor of African American studies and progressive activist, said this week that his resignation from Harvard University was driven by a tenure dispute and the Ivy League school’s “intellectual and spiritual bankruptcy.” According to media reports, Cornel West said in a letter dated June 30: “How sad it is to see our beloved Harvard Divinity School in such decline[Read More…]

by Countercurrents Collective — 15/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Strategic Law Suits Against Public Participation in India: Why the neutrality principle of law not working?

Abstract During recent years, a sharp rise is noted in the number of frivolous law suits filed to silence voices of dissenters and the marginalized sections including women who complaint against violence. These legal tactics are striking the roots of democracy and curbing the public discourse on the vital issues while choking the freedom of speech. In western countries, anti-SLAPP[Read More…]

by Adv Dr Shalu Nigam — 15/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

Kindly Help Our Author Sheshu Babu

Dear Authors and Readers of Countercurrents, You may all know Sheshu Babu an author for CC for long time. Most of our old authors may have received at least one thoughtful comment from him. In the early days, he used to read all CC articles and post a thoughtful comment for each article. Then one day, another CC author Emily[Read More…]

by Binu Mathew — 15/07/2021 — 2 comments — Life/Philosophy, Editor's Picks

Voices from the Covid Battlefield – Episode III

In this series of interviews Covid Response Watch brings you the voices of doctors, health workers, social activists and others, working at the grassroots, speaking about the multiple impacts of the Covid pandemic on the lives of ordinary Indian citizens. Here we talk to Satinath Sarangi, who has been working among the survivors of the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster, the[Read More…]

by Satinath Sarangi — 15/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — COVID Response Watch

Explosion kills 9 Chinese on way to China-invested dam project in Pakistan

Nine Chinese nationals and four Pakistani nationals were killed in a shuttle bus explosion in north Pakistan on Wednesday morning on their way to the China-invested Dasu hydropower project, Daily Dawn reported. The Dasu hydroelectric project is part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a US$65 billion investment plan under Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative that is aimed at connecting western[Read More…]

by Abdus Sattar Ghazali — 15/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Cuba: An Unexpected ‘Political’ Storm

Since July 11, Cuba has been facing a protest that started in a city and then spread to 60 to 70 points of turbulence. Everyone knows that Cuba is a thorn in the flesh for the US imperialist. Imperialist propaganda for decades was Cuba was alive only due to Soviet Military Umbrella and Soviet aids proved partially wrong after the[Read More…]

by Sandeep Banerjee — 15/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Vidyasagar and the Emergent Bengal Renaissance – Part I

Canons of Character from Shambhu Chandra Vidyaratna’s Vidyasagar Jeevan-Charit O Bhramaniras Part I [Translator’s commentary: There were two central pillars at the front end of the nineteenth century Bengal Renaissance and the social reformation movement, a cultural re-awakening considered a direct consequence of the English colonial establishment then on the rise in Bengal and gradually elsewhere in India. On the[Read More…]

by Monish R Chatterjee — 15/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Life/Philosophy

When Football Did Not Come Home

They were in with a shot. The English team, deliriously floating on chants of Football’s Coming Home, had made it to their first major tournament final since 1966. The UEFA European Football Championship would be decided at Wembley against an Italian side unblemished by defeat since September 2018. But the English, coached by the much admired Gareth Southgate, succumbed in[Read More…]

by Dr Binoy Kampmark — 15/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Family Separation Law: Israel’s Demographic War on Palestine Intensifies

When the Israeli Knesset (parliament) failed to renew what is commonly referred to as the Family Reunification Law, news reports and analyses misrepresented the story altogether. The even split of 59 MKs voting in favor of the law and 59 against it gave the erroneous impression that Israeli lawmakers are equally divided over the right of Palestinians to obtain permanent[Read More…]

by Dr Ramzy Baroud — 15/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Palestine

Peace, Ecology and People

The existential crisis has emerged at world level as the most crucial issue of our times. As is widely acknowledged now, this consists mainly of two components. Firstly, there are about a dozen serious environmental problems led by, but certainly not confined to, climate change. Secondly, there are the weapons of mass destruction as well as the possibility of space[Read More…]

by Bharat Dogra — 15/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Religion in Early Civilizations

Humans started building cities four thousand years ago, in Mesopotamia, then in Egypt, China, India. 1. Complexities of life arose, Myth of Cain, Ziggurat, Tower of Bavel. Human empowerment led to diminution of gods, Other gods emerged, Marduk, Chinese Pangu, Vedic gods, Adonis of Greece. 2. Axial age was the beginning of organized religions-Confucian, Tao, Buddhism, Hinduism, Mid-Eastern Monotheism,[Read More…]

by Syed Ehtisham — 15/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Life/Philosophy

Cuban protesters wave US flag and MSM go with photo-lie

The mainstream media (MSM) is over-active with news on protest in Cuba. All these news attract readers. One such news by National Review from the US is interesting: “In another tweet, Cuban dissidents are seen flying an American flag.” (“Cuban President blames US for ‘social unrest’ after massive anti-communist protest”, July 12, 2021, https://www.nationalreview.com/news/cuban-president-blames-u-s-for-social-unrest-after-massive-anti-communist-protest/) Has not the “protest” been exposed?[Read More…]

by Farooque Chowdhury — 14/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Thank you, dear Fr. Stan, you will live forever!

Dear Fr. Stan Swamy, On 5 July, you completed your pilgrimage here on earth! Thousands feel your loss everywhere; a light has gone out of our lives and there is darkness everywhere! There is spontaneous outrage because of what led to your death; most regard it as institutionalised murder! I am sure that you will not want us to mourn[Read More…]

by Cedric Prakash — 14/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

S.N., A Refreshingly Different Marxist

S. N. Nagarajan passed away in Chennai on 24 May morning. He was ninety-five years old, but intellectually active right to the end. Popularly known as SN (Sathyamangalam Nagarajan) his circle of friends was vast and varied. His role in popularising Marxist philosophy and political ideology among the people is widely recognised in Thamizhakam. He was a prolific writer in[Read More…]

by T G Jacob — 14/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Life/Philosophy

Turkey’s path to independence

The events in the Middle East have made a large number of interstate relations of the former “allies” very complicated due to the large-scale operation “Arab Spring”. After the failure of the original idea of creating the Great Middle East, a project in which the main role was played by Washington, in alliance primarily with the Gulf monarchies but also[Read More…]

by Slavisha Batko Milacic — 14/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Cancer…… Colostomy bag

Cancer Is not just a zodiac sign Like a crab its effects are not benign…. It is malign Life threatening Physical and mental taxing Deadly disease Will not leave body with ease…. It seeps into the system Like corruption in society And all the healthy cells cease To exist like virtues Demolished by vice …. Colostomy bag Hangs like a[Read More…]

by Sheshu Babu — 14/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Arts/Literature

Compelling Need for Comprehensive Inquiry Into U.P. Panchayati Raj Elections

While violence, intimidation and other more obvious aspects of irregularities which marred the recently held three-month long Panchayati Raj (PR) elections in India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) are now widely known, there is still urgent need for a more formal and detailed inquiry into various worrying aspects of these elections. There are four obvious reasons for this.[Read More…]

by Bharat Dogra — 14/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

Hands off Cuba: Defend the Revolution!

by Carlos L. Garrido & Edward Liger Smith Yesterday, the Midwestern Marx co-founders got together to discuss the recent imperialist attacks on Cuba. In the podcast below, Carlos and Edward analyze the Cuban protests in their historical context; beginning from the development of colonial monocropping and the subsequent sugar and tobacco dependency created on the Cuban economy thereof, to the[Read More…]

by Carlos L Garrido — 14/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Applying Nonviolent Noncooperation

I suppose I could have titled this writing Applying Nonviolent Noncooperation to Pernicious Consumerism, or to Malignant Normalcy. Notwithstanding, here are my thoughts…. For as long as it remains profitable NOT to find or accept solutions to planetary problems, those who possess economic and political power will not allow solutions. Looked at from another side, it is the same as[Read More…]

by David Sparenberg — 14/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Counter Solutions

Lives and Livelihoods in the Wake of Covid-19 Pandemic in Rural Bihar

by Gaurav Datt, Swati Dutta and Sunil Kumar Mishra The study The Covid-19 pandemic has triggered an unprecedented health and an economic crisis of in India. It is important to document how this crisis has affected people’s lives and livelihoods in different parts of the country. Based on phone interviews with more than 1600 households in rural Bihar, a study[Read More…]

by Gaurav Datt — 14/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

Ram Narayan Singh Maravi and his wife Indu Bai Maravi selling vegetables in Bhopal

Tribal artists forced to sell vegetables, and paintings on the street during pandemic

Bhopal: Selling vegetables on Bhopal’s Depot Chouraha with his wife, Gond artist Ram Narayan Singh Maravi always carries a tote bag full of paintings with his brushes and colours, at all times. His heart skips a beat every time a customer turns up for his vegetables but also asks to buy one of his paintings. “I carry this bag with[Read More…]

by Shuchita Jha — 14/07/2021 — 1 comment — COVID Response Watch

Tribute To Yashpal Sharma

Tragically former test cricketer Yashpal Sharma expired on Tuesday morning, suffering from a cardiac arrest. The cricket world mourns the death of this great servant to Indian cricket. He emboldened the spirit of the game at it’s utmost depth, with great reserves of courage and concentration. He may not have been the most talented, but was an epitome of determination,[Read More…]

by Harsh Thakor — 14/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Life/Philosophy

Problem of Parking in Urban Areas and their Possible Solutions

by Paritosh Singh, Akash Singh & Ashish Kumar Singh Abstract Vehicle parking is a major problem in urban areas in both developed and developing countries. Following the rapid increase of car ownership, many cities are suffering from lacking of car parking areas with imbalance between parking supply and demand which can be considered the initial reason for metropolis parking problems.[Read More…]

by Ashish Singh — 14/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Life/Philosophy

BK16: Why Is The Judiciary Still Sleeping?

The Bhima Koregaon15 spending a single additional night in jail is a travesty of justice. The third report by Arsenal Consulting on evidence planting became public on July 6, with even more damning evidence corroborating the first two reports in February and April that confirmed extensive evidence planting on Rona Wilson’s hard drive, the first of the arrestees in the[Read More…]

by Sangeeta Kamat — 14/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

Under the Shadow of the Pandemic: The Number of Hungry People Continued to Rise in 2020

The number of people in the world affected by hunger continued to increase in 2020 under the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic, says the annual UN report – The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World – published on Monday. According to the report, “Even in Northern America and Europe, where the lowest rates of food insecurity are found,[Read More…]

by Countercurrents Collective — 13/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

On the Brink in 2026: U.S.-China Near-War Status Report

It’s the summer of 2026, five years after the Biden administration identified the People’s Republic of China as the principal threat to U.S. security and Congress passed a raft of laws mandating a society-wide mobilization to ensure permanent U.S. domination of the Asia-Pacific region. Although major armed conflict between the United States and China has not yet broken out, numerous[Read More…]

by Michael T Klare — 13/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

The Farm Sector On A Trencher

The entire farm sector, comprising at least a quarter of the total population of the country, is up in arms. The structural crisis engulfing this sector was growing over a long time and periodic outbursts about the distorted state of affairs were happening over the past several decades. These outbursts had forms both violent and non-violent. The violent manifestations[Read More…]

by T G Jacob — 13/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

Drinking Coffee in the Early Morning Rain and Thinking of Donald Rumsfeld

It’s been raining incessantly for three days. It is a cool early morning in the beginning of July and I have just made a cup of coffee. Now an electrical power outage has occurred and so I am sitting in a rocking chair in the semi-darkness savoring my coffee and feeling thankful that I made it in time. I have[Read More…]

by Edward Curtin — 13/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Life/Philosophy

No room for Dissent

In the post world war era, when the first wave of decolonisation happened and many countries were given their independence, India was the most prominent of those let go. Most prominent in the sense that India was considered the crown jewel of the British empire and the British King was separately designated too as the emperor of India. India’s independence [Read More…]

by Shantanu Dutta — 13/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

Australia’s Hermit Nation Strategy Unravels

Australia, like other island states, has had spells of isolationist fancy and hermit dispositions. Protected by geography, distant and vast, the country’s first bit of legislation in 1901 was the Immigration Restriction Act. This nasty little statute came to be colloquially known as the White Australia Policy. Doors would remain open to Europeans and preferably those of Western stock. Fortress[Read More…]

by Dr Binoy Kampmark — 13/07/2021 — 1 comment — World

Imperialist Aggressions Against The Cuban Revolution

Since June 11, 2021, protests have been taking place in Cuba. USA’s imperialist Mafiosos have laid their vulturine eyes on these events, sensationalizing the demonstrations as evidences of the Cuban people’s disillusionment with their revolutionary government. Jake Sullivan, the US national security advisor, was quick to pose as a full-blown freedom fighter, saying: “The U.S. supports freedom of expression and assembly across Cuba,[Read More…]

by Yanis Iqbal — 13/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Rise in Lightning Deaths Points to Need for Better Protection Efforts

More than 70 people died from lightning strikes on a single day July 12 2021 in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. This is not an isolated case but reflects an overall rising trend in lightning incidents and mortality. On June 7 in West Bengal 27 lightning deaths were reported. Last year (2020) between June 25 and[Read More…]

by Bharat Dogra — 13/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Life/Philosophy

Hindutva and Culture

Terry Eagleton argues in his rollicking way that there is actually little to put your finger on when high-minded scholars talk about culture in hushed tones these days.He thinks the term stands in when proponents of modernity make a futile search for a transcendental purpose displaced from religion to maje sense of life.Religion was failing to provide a framework for[Read More…]

by Hiren Gohain — 13/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

A day in a Kolkata Covid-19 ward

“Dadu, Dadu…Get up Dadu. Eat something. Take your medicines. Drink a glass of water. Wake up Dadu. Oh Dadu…” ‘Dadu’ means grandfather in Bengali. When she utters the word, with deep sweetness and warmth, and when she repeats it again and again, cajoling the patient to wake up, it resurrects a stream of childhood memories and a deep sense of[Read More…]

by Amit Sengupta — 12/07/2021 — 1 comment — COVID Response Watch

China Communist Party Was Always A Controversy, Before And After Its Revolution, Before And After Mao: Comrade DV Rao

Comrade DV Rao, key leader of Telangana People’s Armed Struggle(1946-51). He is remembered on his death anniversary today. *** Even as the China Communist Party (CCP or CPC) celebrated its centenary (1921-2021 July 1), there is a shrill campaign against it in the global media, and even by some Leftist parties and their media. Many attribute it to post-Mao developments[Read More…]

by MA Krishna — 12/07/2021 — 1 comment — Life/Philosophy

153 Years… Nothing Changes!!

A must read for all who wish to study our Civil War history is Barnet Schecter’s 2005 book The Devil’s Own Work. He carefully covers the 1863 NYC Draft Riots, the major and important Civil War battles, and finally, the Reconstruction years leading up to the 1868 elections. I am focusing on the latter events, which are too sadly reminiscent[Read More…]

by Philip A Farruggio — 12/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Cuba faces loot, whose hands behind?

Imperialist media and its followers are over-active in circulating the news: Protests and loot in Cuba. Then, they draw conclusion: The people in Cuba are rejecting socialism. The MSM circulated news on Cuba said: Large anti-government protests broke out in Cuba’s major cities. Thousands of protesters marched on Sunday in Havana, Santiago de Cuba and other locales, decrying food, medicine[Read More…]

by Farooque Chowdhury — 12/07/2021 — 1 comment — World

U.S. transfers an airfield to Iraqi government forces in 2020. Credit: public domain

America’s Afghan War Is Over, So What About Iraq – and Iran?

by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies At Bagram air-base, Afghan scrap merchants are already picking through the graveyard of U.S. military equipment that was until recently the headquarters of America’s 20-year occupation of their country. Afghan officials say the last U.S. forces slipped away from Bagram in the dead of night, without notice or coordination. The Taliban are[Read More…]

by Medea Benjamin — 12/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Imperialism

A World of Total Illusion & Fantasy: Noam Chomsky Interview

Facing Future.TV founder and executive producer Stuart Scott and co-host Dale Walkonen recently broadcast a wide-ranging interview with Noam Chomsky about the state of human existence in the face of universal decadence. They started by referencing the Doomsday Clock (Science and Security Board Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists), which has pegged humanity’s risk of annihilation at an all-time high of[Read More…]

by Robert Hunziker — 12/07/2021 — 1 comment — World

154 Incidents Of Violence Against Christians In India In The First Six Months Of 2021

Perhaps, a new ministry of cooperation may bring in better understanding of others’ faith, especially those who oppose the practice of Christian faith. This year, 2021, hasn’t been any difference to Indian Christians in practicing their faith in their own country except that Indian Christians across globe came together to establish an exclusive day for themselves on July 3rd and[Read More…]

by A C Michael — 12/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

Why caste matters: On Dowry deaths in Kerala

by Karthika Jayakumar and Sivakami Recent events have coerced Keralites to reflect on the façade of progressiveness borne so proudly by the State. Lauded for its development experience, the continued prevalence of crimes like dowry deaths are reminders of the skewed power structures and deep-rooted patriarchy that has a stronghold here. The tipping point was on June 21, when 24-year-old[Read More…]

by Karthika Jayakumar — 12/07/2021 — 1 comment — Patriarchy

Devastating Drought Ravages California, Water Use by 15% Cut Suggested

As California faces devastating drought the U.S. state’s governor Gavin Newsom has asked people and businesses to voluntarily cut their water use by 15%. The western U.S. weathers a devastating drought. Reservoirs across California, which are depended on for agriculture, drinking water and fish habitat, have dwindled to dangerously low levels and some counties have already enacted mandatory water restrictions. Agriculture and tourism could[Read More…]

by Countercurrents Collective — 12/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Climate Change

The Fires This Time

In San Francisco, we’re finally starting to put away our masks. With 74% of the city’s residents over 12 fully vaccinated, for the first time in more than a year we’re enjoying walking, shopping, and eating out, our faces naked. So I was startled when my partner reminded me that we need to buy masks again very soon — N95 masks, that is. The California[Read More…]

by Rebecca Gordon — 12/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Climate Change

Rising Bread Price, and Fuel and Electricity Shortages Grip Lebanon without a Fully Functioning Government

Lebanon is facing shortages of fuel and electricity. The price of bread has risen again in bakeries and stores in Lebanon as a result of rising production costs and the free-falling pound, the Lebanese Economy Ministry said Saturday. Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri is slated to present President Michel Aoun this week with a new Cabinet lineup in a last-ditch[Read More…]

by Countercurrents Collective — 12/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

EU and Russia’s Fraught Relationship – A Timeline

Russia and Europe share strong historical and cultural ties from time immemorial. But these ties did not translate into amicable trade relations between the two. The Russian Federation and the European Union both came into existence in the early 1990’s. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Russia we all know today came into being. During the[Read More…]

by Livneet Shergill — 12/07/2021 — 1 comment — World

The Future of Work

by Thomas Klikauer and Meg Young It has been said many times that predicting the future is hard. Understanding this, the Nobel Laureate and father of the atomic model Niels Bohr once said, prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future! Just two prediction into the future of work show how such prophecies can go spectacularly wrong even[Read More…]

by Thomas Klikauer — 12/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Globalisation

Record Weekend Violence in USA Again Exposes High Risks of Gun Culture

The weekend of 4 July was supposed to be a celebratory time in the USA as celebrations of freedom day were being held all over the country and fireworks celebrations were being organized. But this turned out to be actually a nightmarish time for a very large number of people as random shooting incidents and brawls in many parts of[Read More…]

by Bharat Dogra — 12/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Kneeling against Racism: Solidarity in EURO 2020 Should Not be ‘Controversial’

Another football ‘controversy’ has started when football players participating in the ongoing ‘UEFA Euro 2020’, kneeled down during national anthems to protest racism, a serious problem that has plagued football stadiums for many years. Yet, while some players chose to kneel down, others opted not to, offering flimsy excuses as “players weren’t ready”, and “politics should stay out of football”.[Read More…]

by Dr Ramzy Baroud — 12/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

WHO’s doctor-patient ratio of 1:1000 – A far fetched dream for India!

The never ending queues outside the clinics, jam packed hospitals, and the backlogs of the surgeries, this is the typical scene outside any hospital in India. In order for a nation to conquer any health emergency and to avoid such situations to crop up in future, the first and foremost heed should be paid to the healthcare personnel. India’s frail[Read More…]

by Dr Sameeksha Dhillan — 12/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Life/Philosophy

DV Rao Remembered On His 37th Death Anniversary

Today we commemorate the 37th death anniversary of legendary Comrade Devulapalli Venkatestwara Rao or DV. Arguably DV was the greatest Indian Communist leader ever. No Comrade on theoretical plane contributed as much to stitch the thread or pave the path of mass line, integrating Mao Tse Tung thought with the peculiarities of the Indian conditions. In the manner of a[Read More…]

by Harsh Thakor — 12/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Life/Philosophy

Are we hungry for change for genuinely transforming food systems?

While the governments chant the mantra of “leaving no one behind”, it is ironic that they are abetting corporate grabbing of land and resources, which is pushing farmers out of agriculture. Corporations are exercising more and more control over food and agriculture and influencing public policies. The forthcoming United Nations Food Systems Summit 2021, tentatively to be held in September[Read More…]

by Shobha Shukla — 12/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Counter Solutions

Scars from NATO

After Yugoslavia’s (Serbia) President Slobodan Milosevic refused to accept the so-called Rambouillet Agreement in 1999, which in reality was NATO ultimatum that demanded from Serbia and Montenegro to allow NATO troops to occupy the province of Kosovo as well as that NATO can build bases in Serbia, and that all NATO personnel have diplomatic immunity, which means that they could[Read More…]

by Slavisha Batko Milacic — 11/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Imperialism

Personality and ambition potentially fuel divide among Gulf states

Personality as well as the conflation of genuine national interest with personal ambition contribute to the widening gap between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. It was only a matter of time before Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman would want to come out on his own and no longer be seen as the protégé of his erstwhile mentor[Read More…]

by Dr James M Dorsey — 11/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar (R, bottom) at the peace talks with Afghan government, Doha, Qatar (File photo)

Afghanistan, Iran And USA

Introduction On July 7, 2021 Iran hosted talks between the Afghan Government and Taliban (the Taliban delegation was led by Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai). The same day, the Taliban attacked the Badghis provincial capital Qalat-i-Naw. Iranian Foreign Minister, Javad Zarif emphatically stated that the Afghan people should decide their own future, while also stating that there was a major threat[Read More…]

by Tridivesh Singh Maini — 11/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Heatwave blankets U.S. West and California wildfire generates its own lightning

As another heatwave hits the U.S. West this weekend, firefighters struggled to contain an exploding Northern California wildfire under blazing temperatures. On Friday, Death Valley National Park in California recorded a staggering high of 130 degrees Fahrenheit (54 Celsius) and could reach the same high on Saturday. If verified, the 130-degree reading would be the hottest high recorded there since[Read More…]

by Countercurrents Collective — 11/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Climate Change

What’s not stopping capital from murdering workers?

Capital’s absolute disregard for life once again surfaces in Narayanganj, Bangladesh, where 52 workers have been burnt to death on 9 July 2021, after they were denied exit when fire broke out in the food-processing factory which had almost no fire-safety mechanisms installed. Many more are injured and struggling for life in burn units. The factory employed child workers as[Read More…]

by Omar Raad Chowdhury — 11/07/2021 — 2 comments — World

Need for redefining the population stabilization measures in India

With the proposal of population control measures by Uttar Pradesh government prior to just six months ahead of state assembly election of 2022, a huge controversy is being erupted. Population control in India has always remained a political issue rather than a social-economical issue of the nation. The Uttar Pradesh Population (Control, Stabilization and Welfare) draft, 2021 seems to be[Read More…]

by Dr Ahmed Raza — 11/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

Block Pramukh Elections in Uttar Pradesh Witness Excessive Violence and Intimidation

The block pramukh elections in the three-tier panchayati raj (rural decentralization) system of Uttar Pradesh, India’s largest state, took place on July 10 Saturday. The block pramukh is elected at the second tier. Many members are elected at the block level directly by people and these in turn elect the block pramukh. Hence direct voting by people is not involved[Read More…]

by Bharat Dogra — 11/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

Students fight vaccine hesitancy in Rajasthan villages

Jaipur: When the vaccination drive started in the country earlier this year there was worryingly low turnout initially in Rajasthan, India’s largest state. So much so that Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had personally appealed to people to come forward and take the jab. Vaccination rates have improved considerably now after interconnected groups of students from the rural areas of[Read More…]

by Tabeenah Anjum — 11/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — COVID Response Watch

52 Laborers Die In Bangladesh Factory: Fire-Death-Forget

Again fire; again deaths; and again the process of forgetting the firing of life. Fire and deaths, at least 52 laborers, in the Narayanganj-food-production factory is now news; and international news agencies have already disseminated the news of the murderous incident. So, there’s no scope to hide and deny; and no scope to claim that such reports tarnish image. The[Read More…]

by Farooque Chowdhury — 10/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Jovenel Moïse. Photograph: Andrés Martínez Casares/Reuters

A Short History of Haiti

The 1697 Treaty of Ryswick legalized French control over the western third of the island of Hispaniola – a Spanish asset – under the name of Saint-Domingue. The colony proved to be a valuable spigot of wealth. In 1789, Saint-Domingue supplied two-thirds of the overseas trade of France and was the greatest individual market for the European slave trade. It[Read More…]

by Yanis Iqbal — 10/07/2021 — 2 comments — World

Afghans through the lens of Irani cinema

Afghanistan is making the headlines again. The anxieties have increased following an irresponsible and a rushed withdrawal of the US troops. If it is any indication of things to come, the Bagram base was ransacked after US troops left in the dead of the night, leaving Afghan army and civilians to themselves. Commentators have been projecting a deadly picture of[Read More…]

by Mohd Aquil — 10/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Arts/Literature

Book Review: Vijay Prashad – Washington Bullets

A common line of argument from the contemporary American left is that “socialism has never been tried.” It’s understandable that Western socialists would make this argument to members of the US proletariat, who have been deeply affected by years of red scare propaganda. This argument however, ignores the millions who have struggled and died in an effort to move beyond[Read More…]

by Edward Liger Smith — 10/07/2021 — 1 comment — Book Review

Israel: A Terrorist Entity Masquerading as a “Jewish State”

“It seems that nothing the Israeli Government ever does to the Palestinians will meet with meaningful condemnation from Western governments. So long as the theft of Palestinian land is done quietly and in small slices, and so long as summary killings of Palestinians by Israeli soldiers are done just a few at a time, the USA, Britain, France, Germany etc.[Read More…]

by Ghali Hassan — 10/07/2021 — 1 comment — Palestine

Mojdurs Murdered

A food production factory in Narayanganj, Bangladesh caught fire yesterday leaving at least 52 workers dead and many missing. While this news bulletin may read as another fire incident, this is in fact an act of murder. The murderers are the Maaliks, the moneyed capital owners, who were not only negligent of fire security measures to be installed in the[Read More…]

by Omar Rashid Chowdhury — 10/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Uncategorized

Sri Lanka One Island – Two Nations

Sri Lanka formerly known as CEYLON is an island country in South Asia. Sri Lanka was historically comprised of two distinctive nations; the country’s history has been written or represented as if it were one nation. However, the two nations, namely Sinhalese and Tamils, have existed in Sri Lanka continuously from historic times, each with its own distinctive religious, linguistic,[Read More…]

by Kumarathasan Rasingam — 10/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — South Asia

Families of dead Covid Warriors struggle in MP

“Don’t you worry I will have to do a survey of Kovid-19 in Noorani Nagar, Green Park. It’s a question of people’s lives. By the grace of Allah everything will be fine, I will not die”. Sameer Khan breaks down as he recalls his wife Farah Qazi’s words of assurance about her own safety while working on a government survey[Read More…]

by Pooja Yadav — 10/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — COVID Response Watch

Pornography: Studies And Activists Warn About Neglected Aspect of Violence Against Women

“ As a result of our efforts violence against women was decreasing in villages here. But ever since this new menace of ashlilta on phone ( porn available on mobile phone) became easily accessible, problems have been increasing. In fact things have come to such a pass that even some new marriages are breaking down as a result of[Read More…]

by Bharat Dogra — 10/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Patriarchy

Build a nationwide anti-fascist democratic movement as a true tribute to Fr Stan Swamy

The present rulers of the country and state institutions have imprisoned Fr. Stan Swamy for a crime he did not commit, and killed him without being given proper treatment in time and without bail, to prove their allegiance to fascist corporate capitalism. He fought for the democratic rights of thousands of tribal in Jharkhand who were imprisoned under black laws[Read More…]

by Battini Rao — 10/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

Akhil Gogoi: A case of abuse of terrorist law

Almost all anti-CAA protestors are terrorists according to the Government of India and Governments of the states ruled by BJP or NDA coalition partner… the police in this state or that state go on registering false cases and make the innocent citizen to suffer the trauma of appeals up to Supreme Court. Specific directions from the Supreme Court that such[Read More…]

by Dr Madabhushi Sridhar — 10/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

CPC : Not the Party of Mao and Revolution… But of Counterrevolution and Capitalism-Imperialism

Official celebrations have been taking place throughout China to mark the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Xi Jinping and other leaders of the ruling CPC pretend that there is an unbroken chain from the founding congress of the party in July 1921 to the present-day CPC. Theirs is a story of the CPC realizing its mission[Read More…]

by Raymond Lotta — 10/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Tiananmen Square 1989 Revisited – Part I

Professors Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky in their classic “Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media” (1988) exposed in great forensic detail how US Mainstream media (MSM) operate as propaganda agents for US governments.” (countercurrents.org, June 26,2021) *** Even as the China Communist Party (CCP) celebrated its Birth Centenary at the historic Tiananmen Square on July 1, the[Read More…]

by MK Adithya — 10/07/2021 — 2 comments — World

People turn to extreme measures to keep cool in an extreme heatwave. (Getty Images)

Pacific Northwest heatwave virtually impossible without human-driven climate change, finds study

The historic heat wave that struck the Pacific Northwest and killed hundreds of people would have been “virtually impossible without human-caused climate change,” an international team of climate researchers said in a new report. The World Weather Attribution’s analysis, published July 8, 2021, Wednesday, found that the record-setting heat that triggered wildfires and was linked to hundreds of deaths was a one-in-a-1,000-year event that “would have been[Read More…]

by Countercurrents Collective — 09/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Climate Change

Arrest of Medha Patkar, Jagdish Khairalia and others

Condemn the arbitrary arrest of workers of the Century Workers Union as well as activists Medha Patkar, Jagdish Khairalia and others : Call Maharashtra Police to Free All Arrested State & Company Management must Dialogue with Workers and Withdraw the forced VRS policy: Uphold Right to Livelihoods of Workers 9th July, 2021: NAPM condemns the arbitrary manner in which protesting[Read More…]

by National Alliance of People’s Movements — 09/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

Governments must adopt a strong political declaration that the global crisis mandates

Because if they do not, then we are doomed to fail to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 (for which only 104 months are left). The clock is ticking but governments from around the world, who are convening at the United Nations High Level Political Forum (HLPF) seem to be regurgitating old timid commitments and shying away[Read More…]

by Shobha Shukla — 09/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Pandemic and Pendencies: Disaster at the Indian courts.

The Republic of India is facing the ferocity of pandemic with the highest rate of more than 4.12 lakh cases per day to the highest number of deaths of more than 4500-4700 a day during 2020-2021. The situation is worse at the rural side of the country. The first wave and the second wave of corona virus have jolted[Read More…]

by Rahila Sikandar — 09/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

New freedom of speech in the United States

Free speech has long been a cornerstone of American society. The US Constitution guarantees that no one shall be prosecuted for expressing his or her opinion. However, within the past few years the situation has completely changed. Recently, one of the United States’ oldest public figures – the legendary leader of the American Civil Liberties Union Ira Glasser, who for[Read More…]

by Slavisha Batko Milacic — 09/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Handover ceremony at Camp Anthonic, from US Army to Afghan Special Forces, Helmand province, Afghanistan, May 2, 2021.

Washington’s kiss of death

Rudyard Kipling, Bard of Empire, wrote a poem titled “The White Man’s Burden”. Written in February 1899, Kipling urged the US to colonize the Philippines and take up the burden of the Empire. A couplet reads: “Your new caught, sullen peoples, half devil and half child, take up the white man’s burden”. As the US gladly donned the imperial mantle,[Read More…]

by Mir Adnan Aziz — 09/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Imperialism

Religion, Sectarian Nationalism and Interfaith Marriages

One Hindu woman in Kanpur, UP lodged a complaint against her Muslim husband on the charge that he forcibly converted her. As it turned out she was forced to sign the FIR by Hindutva groups and she went to the police station, turned hostile and stated that the aggressive Hindu nationalist groups had forced her to file the complaint. Betwa[Read More…]

by Dr Ram Puniyani — 09/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Communal Harmony

Dr. BR Ambedkar: Memoirs of S.P. Shukla

Dear Darapuriji, Thank you for forwarding to me the charming piece of Dr. Bhagwan Das about his initial encounters with Dr. Ambedkar. The account has such endearing aura about both the persons. As I read it, memories welled up and I recalled the first opportunity I had of seeing Dr. Ambedkar at close quarters and even putting a question or[Read More…]

by S P Shukla — 09/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Life/Philosophy

Aspects of Nationality Question

In the backdrop of globalisation, liberalisation, increasing privatisation, and the role of multinationals, transnationals, WB, IMF and WTO etc. particularly in the Neo-colonial phase of imperialism the nationality question has assumed significant and very interesting dimensions. Nationality question came to the fore as a politico-economic movement with the emergence of bourgeois democratic revolution in Europe. Thus the nationality question was[Read More…]

by P Chandran — 09/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Judiciary On Trial

Justice must have a heart.It cannot be just an arena for legal pedantry and fireworks,though that unfortunately has been the case since the rise of Rhetoric in ancient Greece.If one does not FEEL the pain,suffering and loss an injustice causes,the outward demeanour of calm objectivity makes little sense.CJI Ramana had inspired some hope that we have left behind the long[Read More…]

by Hiren Gohain — 09/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

A Journey into the Unfamiliar Future

‘Runaway climate change (1) is not just a technical term in climatology, but a profound reflection of the catastrophic crisis we have reached. In recent years, India is experiencing a series of extreme weather events and finally the Ministry of Earth Sciences has released its first Climate Assessment report. Although hundreds of books and scientific articles published daily on the[Read More…]

by K Sahadevan — 09/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Book Review

Why India and Bangladesh Should Never Forget the Supreme Sacrifice of Albert Ekka, PVC

Many accounts of the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971 have concentrated more on the later glorious phase when victory of the Bangladesh liberation fighters and the Indian forces fighting in close cooperation with each other was achieved, or was close to being achieved. This glorious and well-deserved victory should not , however, lead us to neglecting the fact that victory[Read More…]

by Bharat Dogra — 09/07/2021 — 1 comment — Life/Philosophy

Cartoon by K.P.Sasi

by K P Sasi — 08/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — COVID Response Watch

Carlos Lazo: The Cuban American Leading the Charge to Transform U.S.-Cuba Policy

Carlos Lazo and a small band of Cuban Americans are on a 1,300-mile pilgrimage from Miami to Washington, D.C., to end the U.S. blockade of Cuba. Despite the blistering summer heat and occasional death threats (including a trucker who tried to run them off the road), the marchers persist. Lazo’s group is called Puentes de Amor, Bridges of Love, and[Read More…]

by Medea Benjamin — 08/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Pesticides Poisonings in India: Implications for business accountability and regulatory reform

Background In 2017, hundreds of small-scale farmers and farm workers were poisoned – and over 20 died – in just a few weeks whilst spraying pesticides on cotton fields in the district of Yavatmal. A key product involved was the insecticide Polo, manufactured by Syngenta. The use of Polo’s active ingredient diafenthiuron is long banned in Switzerland and the European[Read More…]

by Dr Narasimha Reddy Donthi — 08/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Environmental Protection

Sweeping Victory of District Panchayat President Elections by the BJP Points to Need for Wider Reforms

The recent panchayati raj ( rural decentralization ) elections held in Uttar Pradesh were regarded as very important at a political level. Many seasoned observers referred to these as a semi-final contest leading up to the final to be held next year in the form of Assembly Elections in the politically most important state of India. The three-tier panchayati election[Read More…]

by Bharat Dogra — 08/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

Stan Swamy Murder Has Lit A Spark Turning Into A Prairie Fire In Challenging Proto-Fascism

It is most heartening how the masses of India are not taking the custodial murder of Father Stan Swamy lying down. We must congratulate all the sections be it of the workers, peasants, youth or students who have collectively galvanised forces to crystallise resistance against neo-fascism. A spark is virtually being turned into a Prairie fire. In the last few[Read More…]

by Harsh Thakor — 08/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

The spread of the MODI virus – dancing the `Tandava Nritya’

While we are all worried about the spread of new variants of COVID-19 (whether we describe them as Delta or by some other name) all over the world, we tend to ignore the invasion of Indian society by another variant of COVID -19 which may be described as the MODI virus. It is a pandemic affecting every nook and corner[Read More…]

by Sumanta Banerjee — 08/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

Pakistani PM Imran Khan’s ultra-conservative inklings raise eyebrows

Widely seen as a populist with ultra-conservative inklings, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan increasingly appears to reinforce widespread traditionalist attitudes that reject religious tolerance as well as the rights of women and minorities. In doing so, Mr. Khan is aligning Pakistan in religious and social terms closer to Turkey than his country’s traditional allies, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab[Read More…]

by Dr James M Dorsey — 08/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — South Asia

The US Appeals the Assange Ruling

It took over half a year, but the US government’s case against Julian Assange continues its draining grind. Even the Biden administration, which claims to tolerate a free press and truthful dialogue with the fourth estate, has decided to exhaust its legal options in seeking the publisher’s scalp. On July 7, the UK High Court of Justice agreed to hear[Read More…]

by Dr Binoy Kampmark — 08/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas gestures during a meeting of the UN Security Council at UN headquarters in New York, U.S., February 20, 2018. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

The People vs. Mahmoud Abbas: Are the Palestinian Authority’s Days Numbered?

“The Palestinian Authority’s days are numbered”. This assertion has been oft repeated recently, especially after the torture to death on June 24 of a popular Palestinian activist, Nizar Banat, 42, at the hands of PA security goons in Hebron (Al-Khalil). The killing – or ‘assassination’ as some Palestinian rights groups describe it – of Banat, however, is commonplace. Torture in[Read More…]

by Dr Ramzy Baroud — 08/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Palestine

Baz Ratner/Reuters US troops in Afghanistan, June 2011

America- Led NATO in Afghanistan: Crimes against Humanity Call for Accountability

“We Are Going to Lose the War in Afghanistan and it will Help Bankrupt us. One of our major strategic blunders in Afghanistan was not to have recognized that both Great Britain and the Soviet Union attempted to pacify Afghanistan using the same military methods as ours and failed disastrously. We seem to have learned nothing from Afghanistan’s modern history[Read More…]

by Dr Mahboob A Khawaja — 08/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Imperialism

Thomas Hobbes – The Communist?

The British materialist philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) is one of the fathers of social contract theory and modern political philosophy. His magnus opus – Leviathan[i] – is a text which á la Plato’s Republic covers a wide breadth of subjects from epistemology, science, religion, and moral and political philosophy. However, his text is most widely remembered for its monarchism-endorsing political[Read More…]

by Carlos L Garrido — 08/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Life/Philosophy

Anand checking the oxygen of a woman working in the field

Where governments fail, youth respond to the Covid crisis

At the peak of the recent second wave of Covid infections while other parts of rural Uttar Pradesh struggled to survive the pandemic, there was no panic among residents in Deorai village of Kerakat block of Jaunpur district. This was thanks to the volunteer work done by a group of young activists, backed by celebrity poets and artists, to ensure[Read More…]

by Akash Pandey — 08/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — COVID Response Watch

Religion in money transfer

My hands are still shaking, and I feel uneasiness at heart while writing this. I have studied in India, Norway and Russia- in the top universities of these countries. I started writing for newspapers back in 2005. I grew up in different parts of UP due to my father’s job postings. We moved to Rae Bareli (my home town) back[Read More…]

by Ashish Singh — 08/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

‘My Life – The journey of a Dalit Sociologist’

Recent incidence in IIT Kharagpur of the verbal assault mounted by the professor on the marginalised students with proclamation of impunity from penal Action of State directs us to innumerable paradoxes in 21st Century India.It also implies that not all is well in the country who seeks to achieve the goal of Superpower in International Arena but still lacks[Read More…]

by Nikhil Sanjay-Rekha Adsule — 08/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Book Review

Fr. Stan Swamy’s institutional murder must lead to a nation-wide movement

Fr. Stan Swamy’s institutional murder must lead to a nation-wide movement against draconian, anti-people laws and state repression. NAPM joins citizens and democratic groups across the globe remembering the life and struggle of Stan Swamy with pain and pride 7th July, 2021: The news of the cold-blooded killing of Fr. Stan Swamy by all the institutions that held him arbitrarily in[Read More…]

by National Alliance of People’s Movements — 07/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

Remembering Frida Kahlo

July 6, 2021, was the 114th birth anniversary of Frida Kahlo – a revolutionary painter and socialist. Today, she has been fetishized, commodified and sanitized: her self-portraits and photographs stare out from T-shirts, calendars, fashion magazines and jewelry; her unique personality is used to sell everything – from Barbie dolls to cosmetics box sets. Kahlo’s present-day status as a global[Read More…]

by Yanis Iqbal — 07/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Life/Philosophy

Fr Stan Swamy has expired: But, his questions haven’t

In the death of Fr Stan Swamy on July 5, 2021, who was an “under trial” detainee languishing in the custody of the authorities, India has lost a courageous campaigner for adivasi rights. The manner in which the 84-year old Jesuit priest was forced to die has shaken the conscience of the nation. What hurts the feelings of any one[Read More…]

by E A S Sarma — 07/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

Heavy Metals have Contaminated Entire French Population, Warns Study

A study has found that nearly all French people are contaminated with heavy metals such as arsenic and mercury, and that exposure levels are higher than in other European countries. A RFI report said: France’s national health agency Santé Publique France said smoking and the consumption of fish and seafood products had contributed to the findings, published recently. The presence[Read More…]

by Countercurrents Collective — 07/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Are some more equal than others?

By Shobha Shukla, Bobby Ramakant, Sandeep Pandey In current times when India, like many other countries, is reeling under a severe economic crisis as well as backbreaking humanitarian crises, we also see ugly lavish (and avoidable) government expenditures, throwing austerity to the winds and jeopardising public interest. While equality is among the key values of the Indian Constitution, there are several[Read More…]

by Shobha Shukla — 07/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

From Bujha Singh to Stan Swamy

From Bujha Singh to Stan Swamy, the Indian state has proved that it doesn’t care for seniors when it comes to suppressing any voice of dissent July 5, 2021 will go down as another black day in the history of the world’s so-called largest democracy. It was then that an 84-year-old Roman Catholic priest, Stan Swamy, died in the custody[Read More…]

by Gurpreet Singh — 07/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

Pedestrians in Washington, D.C. walk past an image of Daniel Hale projected on a D.C. building on June 26, 2021 - Photo credit: Nick Mottern

Why Daniel Hale Deserves Gratitude, Not Prison

The whistleblower acted on behalf of the public’s right to know what is being done in its name “Pardon Daniel Hale.” These words hung in the air on a recent Saturday evening, projected onto several Washington, D.C. buildings, above the face of a courageous whistleblower facing ten years in prison. The artists aimed to inform the U.S. public about Daniel[Read More…]

by Kathy Kelly — 07/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

From Rumsfeld, the ‘ruthless little bastard’, to Remdesivir

What connects the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 to Remdesivir, the blockbuster medicine widely used during the ongoing Covid pandemic? First is the fact that both are based on dubious claims. The US invasion was carried out on the false pretext of Saddam Hussein having weapons of mass destruction, while Remdesivir has been aggressively marketed as a drug the[Read More…]

by Satya Sagar — 07/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — COVID Response Watch

Bagram after US military left the base, Kabul, July 5, 2021

A hybrid war to replace Afghan ‘forever war’?

The British newspaper Daily Telegraph did some kite-flying in the weekend that London is considering open-ended deployment of a contingent of elite special forces to Afghanistan “ to provide training to Afghan units and deploy with them on the ground as advisers.” At the same time, the New York Times reported that White House approves Gen. Austin S. Miller, the[Read More…]

by M K Bhadrakumar — 07/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Imperialism

The Great Indian Kitchen

India’s Hindi film industry produces the largest number of films in the world, but they barely tackle the question of gender justice while women characters in cinema are almost always peripheral. In the last few years, however, things seem to be changing. There is now a growing number of films that focus on gender justice. Women-centric films such as “Pink,[Read More…]

by Nehal Ahmed — 07/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Arts/Literature

The Covid Milestone

We are more than a year and half into the pandemic and this momentous time period has laid bare our vulnerabilities as a global society. The way coronavirus disease has been fought, has brought an enormous shift in our lives. Pandemic protocols, restrictions and lockdowns gave us a glimpse of the world suspended in time. The pandemic is far from[Read More…]

by Livneet Shergill — 06/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

From state to civil society, how Bengal responded to Covid

During the peak of the second surge of the deadly killer virus in summer this year, parts of urban India were trapped in daily despair — amidst a non-stop spiral of dying, death and desperation. The mighty Indian State led by a ‘powerful’ Hindutva icon had literally withered away, and the rich and the poor were on their own, left[Read More…]

by Amit Sengupta — 06/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — COVID Response Watch

America’s Drug Wars – Fifty Years of Reinforcing Racism

Fifty years ago, on June 17, 1971, President Richard Nixon stood before the White House press corps, staffers at his side, to announce “a new, all-out offensive” against drug abuse, which he denounced as “America’s public enemy number one.” He called on Congress to contribute $350 million for a worldwide attack on “the sources of supply.” The first battle in this new[Read More…]

by Alfred W McCoy — 06/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

New forensic report on Bhima Koregoan accused finds more evidence of planted files, this time on Surendra Gadling’s hard drive

Planting of files on Bhima Koregaon accused Surendra Gadling’s system follows a similar pattern as that on Rona Wilson’s system, new forensic report finds The already weakened case against the 16 accused in the Bhima Koregaon case was dealt a final blow by a third digital forensic report released earlier this afternoon by NDTV and the Washington Post. The report[Read More…]

by Mumbai Rises to Save Democracy — 06/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

Father Stan Was Martyred For Standing Against Proto-Fascism

Without doubt one of the great democrats or crusaders against proto- fascism has perished. Few activists in such a considerable degree voiced the very soul of the opressed masses of Jharkhand as Father Stan Swamy.He was a living illustration that regardless of age the relentless spirit is never lost in the quest for liberation from the clutches of tyranny. Father[Read More…]

by Harsh Thakor — 06/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

Ray and the Question of ‘True Adaptation’

Jean Luc Godard very rightfully claimed, ‘It is not where you take things from- it is where you take them to’. Reading this quote in the light of the recently released Netflix series Ray and its criticism that followed brings up a lot many questions. Ray, divided into four episodes, is based on Satyajit Ray’s stories. The world crafted by[Read More…]

by Shriyanshi Shukla — 06/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Arts/Literature

China’s Celebration of its own Brand of Imperialism in the guise of “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics”

Introduction The most significant component of Chinese Communist Party’s (CPC) Centenary Celebration held on July 1 2021 was the hour-long speech of Xi Jinping, the “core leader”, delivered to the crowd of thousands assembled in Tiananmen Square in a celebratory atmosphere. In his address Xi, as General Secretary of CPC standing ahead of its 25-member Politburo, President of China (the[Read More…]

by P J James — 06/07/2021 — 3 comments — World

Fr. Stan Swamy Will Be Remembered Always for His Deep Commitment to Justice and His Courage

The death of Fr. Stan Swamy in extremely tragic circumstances on July 5 will be mourned by all those who believe in the most basic human values. He will be remembered by countless people for his very strong commitment to justice and for standing up for his beliefs and values with great courage. He will be remembered as a champion[Read More…]

by Bharat Dogra — 06/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

Fatigue-Related Injuries, Deaths Return to the American Workplace From 10- to 16-Hour Shifts

It’s a workplace truism employers don’t want to hear, especially today when trying to make up lost production time from pandemic lockdowns by raising shifts to 10 to 16 hours. Yet employee fatigue has always been known to be counterproductive, expensive, and can either result in lifetime job-related injuries or death. The worst of such long-hour, fatigue-related global accidents to[Read More…]

by Barbara G Ellis — 06/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Life/Philosophy

Is AltE Truly the Best Solution to Climate Catastrophe?

“Accumulate, accumulate! That is Moses and the prophets!… Accumulation for the sake of accumulation, production for the sake of production: this was the historical mission of the bourgeoisie in the period of its domination …” Karl Marx, Capital, Vol 1, Ch 25 The world is threatened with environmental disaster and capitalists hope to make a killing off of it. Fossil[Read More…]

by Don Fitz — 06/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Counter Solutions

It’s All Over Now Red, White and Blue

Kudos to Bob Dylan for his great 60s song ‘ It’s All Over Now Baby Blue ‘. HIs lyrics, as usual, can fit into any social and political commentary: You must leave, now take what you need You think will last But whatever you wish to keep You better grab it fast Yonder stands your orphan with his gun Crying[Read More…]

by Philip A Farruggio — 06/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Imperialism

Dilip Kumar, The Doyen Of Bollywood

In the history of Hindi film industry no actor ever took intensity to such mythical proportions or regions as Dilip Kumar. In full flow Dilip Kumar could create the impact of an inferno or Tsunami .His acting possessed that rare quality of a genius, literally sculpting a new dimension to acting. No superstar looked as natural as Dilip Kumar, as[Read More…]

by Harsh Thakor — 06/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Arts/Literature

The financial situation for the circus business has gone from bad to worse due to the Covid pandemic and lockdown. (Photo Credits: Rambo Circus)

Folk entertainers struggle to survive Covid downturn

With five kilograms of ghungroo tied to her feet Chhaya Nagjakar practices her steps to the beat of a popular song for hours every day in her small house in the town of Miraj in Sangli district of Maharashtra. The 35-year-old tamasha artiste hopes to dance once again before thousands of mesmerized spectators sometime in the future. While Chaya persists[Read More…]

by Shirish Khare — 06/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — COVID Response Watch

Google’s Google Scholar Goggly

Read my letter to Sundar Pichai, go to Google Scholar, and raise your voice against Google’s unscrupulous and unscholarly ride on all of us for commerce and greed. Dear Sundar, I have been getting emails from Google reminding me “Time to update your articles”. Least said, such emails with no provision for replying are scandalous (scholarcitations-noreply@google.com), and against professional civility[Read More…]

by P Radhakrishnan — 06/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Uncategorized

The Institutional Murder of Fr. Stan Swamy

A statement by the family members and friends of the BK-16 We, the friends and family members of those accused in the Bhima Koregaon Conspiracy case, are deeply pained and shaken to the core by the loss of Father Stan Swamy. This is not a natural death, but the institutional murder of a gentle soul, committed by an inhuman state.[Read More…]

by Press Release — 06/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

Stan Swamy: Capital Punishment without trial

The death of Father Stan Swamy in Custody is a reminder of how India’s criminal justice system has collapsed and is being used by the party in power to criminalise the activists, writers, dissenters and political opponents. One need not to think too much of it but a sequence of events since 2014 after Narendra Modi government took power. Right[Read More…]

by Vidya Bhushan Rawat — 06/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

Hold All Those Responsible For Stan Swamy’s Death Accountable

Stan Swamy, a Jesuit priest, and human rights advocate died in custody Monday at the age of 84 after 270 days of arbitrary confinement. Despite his precarious health condition, advanced age, and positive Covid-19 test, the authorities consistently denied him parole and necessary treatment. I urge an unbiased and transparent investigation into Mr. Swamy’s death in order to hold all[Read More…]

by William Nicholas Gomes — 06/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

Stan Swamy: A Murder In Judicial Custody

CDRO salutes Fr. Stan Swamy, an activist and a champion of the rights of the tribal and marginalised people. CDRO believes that his death is nothing but a murder in judicial custody and urges all democratic people to protest against the death Fr. Stan Swamy’s death is nothing but a blatant murder in judicial custody. Modi-government and the Judiciary[Read More…]

by Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisation (CDRO) — 06/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

Fr. Stan is dead! Salutes to an extraordinary rights fighter!!

PUCL is extremely saddened and anguished by the death of Fr. Stan Swamy today, 5th July, 2021 in the Holy Family Hospital, Bandra, where he was undertaking treatment pursuant to an interim order of the Bombay High Court in his bail petition in the Bhima Koregaon case. What is most tragic is that even as the High Court Division Bench[Read More…]

by People's Union For Civil Liberties — 06/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

Global Warming, Climate Refugees, Migrations – And Beyond: Need for national-level planning

It is well established that global warming (GW) is driving climate change (CC). Thinkers believe that in coming years, GW-CC will adversely affect societies and nations on a global scale like nothing before. Important among the IPCC-predicted long-term effects of GW-CC, as applicable to India, are: (1) Rise in sea level due to polar ice-melt, leading to coastal erosion or[Read More…]

by S G Vombatkere — 05/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Climate Change

A Prophet is a Threat to the Powerful: A Tribute to Stan Swamy

No prophet is recognised by the powerful. Prophets are killed because they are a threat to the powerful. That was the message of the Gospel read at masses in Catholic churches on Sunday, 4th July. Stan Swamy was bearing witness to it on the same day by being critical and he left us today, 5th July, a martyr of the[Read More…]

by Dr Walter Fernandes — 05/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

Scrap the Bunder Diamond Mine Project

NAPM strongly opposes the destruction of Buxwaha protected forest region in Madhya Pradesh, for proposed Bunder diamond mining project. Government must immediately withdraw all projects which threaten the ecological and socio-cultural significance of Buxwaha 5th July, 2021: NAPM condemns the decision of the Government of Madhya Pradesh to carry out the proposed Bunder diamond block in the Buxwaha protected forests[Read More…]

by National Alliance of People’s Movements — 05/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Environmental Protection

Only 2% of Urban Poor Residents Fully Vaccinated and only 16% Received First Dose: Survey Study

A survey study conducted by the Indo Global Social Service Society has found that only 2% of slum/basti dwellers have been fully vaccinated (with 2 doses) and that a little over 16% of them have received their first dose since the vaccination was made available for all above 18. As the second wave of COVID-19 cases sweeps India, informal sector[Read More…]

by Adrian Dcruz — 05/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

A defaced statue of Queen Elizabeth II lies after being toppled during a rally outside the provincial legislature in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, July 1, 2021. © Reuters / Shannon VanRaes

1,100 Children Graves in Canada found, Queen Elizabeth II and Victoria statues toppled, 7 Churches lighted

Statues of Queen Elizabeth II and Queen Victoria were torn down by protesters in Winnipeg, Canada. The latest acts of protests followed a spree of attacks on Catholic churches built on First Nation lands. At least seven churches have caught fire in recent weeks, since the grim discovery of more than 1,100 unmarked graves at sites where Catholic-run residential schools used to[Read More…]

by Countercurrents Collective — 05/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

People above Profit: Thousands Demonstrate in Brazil in New Wave of Protests in 350 Cities

In Brazil, social movements, trade unions, and human rights activists on Saturday demonstrated in at least 350 cities to condemn the recent corruption scandal linking President Jair Bolsonaro with the purchase at inflated prices of Indian-produced Covaxin COVID-19 vaccines. The protests supported the impeachment petition submitted by unions, left political parties and social organizations to the Lower House on Wednesday. The nationwide mobilizations come after the Senate Commission[Read More…]

by Countercurrents Collective — 05/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Thordarson’s Fabrications: Another Hole in the Julian Assange Prosecution

The tyrannical, brutal cynicism of keeping Julian Assange in Belmarsh prison remains one of the more inglorious marks of the British legal system and, it should be said, its sponsors and colluders. Having won his case against extradition to the US, if only in deeply qualified terms, the UK keeps the WikiLeaks publisher banged up as the appeals process stutters.[Read More…]

by Dr Binoy Kampmark — 05/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Biden Acknowledges “Over The Horizon” Air Attacks Planned Against Taliban

“Over-the-horizon” air operations, possibly directed at the Taliban, may rely very heavily on drone assassination and drone targeting for manned aircraft. On July 2, fleeing questions from reporters about U.S. plans in Afghanistan, President Joe Biden sought refuge behind the July 4th Independence Day holiday, yet obliquely acknowledged that the U.S. will use some level of “over the horizon” air attacks[Read More…]

by Nick Mottern — 05/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Imperialism

India’s Stance on Net Zero: Act with Rationale

There is enough scientific evidence that tells us that climate change impacts are very much tangible as well as ravaging. These impacts are not only restricted to floods, droughts, melting glaciers, extreme events but are also striking hard on some of the important components of our very existence viz water, transport, energy, ecosystem and human health. To quote The Intergovernmental[Read More…]

by Dr Kuheli Mukhopadhyay — 05/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Climate Change

Data Sharing and Transparency in Covid Times Will Help Better Decentralized Response

Policy makers who have the important responsibility of taking decisions relating to Covid response face many difficulties. On some important issues relating to this pandemic even very senior scientists at world level do not have the same opinion. A lot of their understanding is based on their experience in the richest countries and may not be applicable in conditions of[Read More…]

by Bharat Dogra — 05/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

CCTV could have prevented custodial murder

The rule of law is under a serious challenge since the inception of Constitution of India, as far as killings in police custody are concerned. The Supreme Court recently ordered installation of CCTV cameras in every place of custodial activity under the control of the police. But it appears no state or no police personnel have taken a serious note[Read More…]

by Dr Madabhushi Sridhar — 05/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

Conspicuous silence of political parties on OBC reservation issues in the North

June 25th, 2021 marked 90th birth anniversary of former Prime Minister V P Singh but went unnoticed for the majority of the leaders who benefitted from his politics and good will generated by him. Except for Tejasvi Yadav who remembered Singh mentioning his bold initiative to implement Mandal Commission Report, there was no other north Indian leader particularly from OBCs[Read More…]

by Vidya Bhushan Rawat — 05/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

Stan Swamy’s Health: Open Letter To Chief Justice Of Bombay High Court

Respected Sir, This is to bring to your notice the irreversibly deteriorating condition of 84-year-old Father Stan Swamy, an undertrial prisoner accused in the Elgar Parishad case and lodged at Taloja Central Prison in Maharashtra. He has been under intensive care at the Holy Family Hospital at Bandra, Mumbai, after he was directed to be hospitalized on 28 May. Today,[Read More…]

by Press Release — 05/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

Urgent need for bail and specialised medical treatment for critical Stan Swamy

Statement by Jharkhand Jan Adhikar Mahasabha 84-year old Priest Stan Swamy’s health has deteriorated and he has been put on a ventilator at the Holy Family hospital. His situation is said to be critical. The NIA and central government are solely responsible for the sufferings of this elderly person and the current state of affair. The NIA court also played[Read More…]

by Press Release — 04/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

Epic drought in the U.S. West: Competing Interests Between Farmers and Fish, and Water Futures Fail to Yield

Extreme drought is tearing apart communities in a massive river basin along the U.S. states of Oregon-California border. Farmers, tribes and wildlife face a bleak future together. At the same time, water futures market is also failing the California farmers. A Guardian report – “Running out of water: how climate change fuels a crisis in the US west” – said[Read More…]

by Countercurrents Collective — 04/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Climate Change

Hijacking MY Flag!!

Well, as a baby boomer who has seen lots of instances of the empire using MY flag as their own private property, this newest one ‘ takes the cake’. I mean, my generation went through the whole ‘ America, love it or leave it’ rhetoric during the Vietnam debacle. Many of us, either old or new to activism, just tossed[Read More…]

by Philip A Farruggio — 04/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Leaving Bagram Airbase: The Day the US Imperium Turned Tail

From the Bagram Airbase they left, leaving behind a piece of the New York World Trade Centre that collapsed with such graphic horror on September 11, 2001. As with previous occupiers and occupants, the powers that had made this venue a residence of war operations were cutting their losses and running. Over the years, the base, originally built by the[Read More…]

by Dr Binoy Kampmark — 04/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Imperialism

Independence Day Celebration in Centre Square, Philadelphia, by John Lewis Krimmel, 1819

Public Awareness of Deadly Racist History versus Celebratory Feelings for Birth of Slave Owners USA

A lot has happened since the July 4th Independence Day celebrations of 2020 when yours truly saw published: Not All Americans Celebrate the Birth of a Racist Slave Owning USA Homicidal at Home Genocidal Abroad Prominently placed statues of famous racists are no longer acceptable, just as policemen shooting African Americans has finally become unacceptable. Why not dispense with the[Read More…]

by Jay Janson — 04/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

American Slavery and Global Capitalism

Edward Baptiste’s The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism attempts to provide a material analysis of the development of Slavery in the United States leading up to the Civil War. In doing so he reveals the origin of capitalism, and Western Economic Supremacy, to be the Southern Slave Plantations, who provided Northern and English Capitalists with[Read More…]

by Edward Liger Smith — 04/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

Lakshadweep: The New Administration’s Call And The Impending Ecological Crisis

A number of articles and series of news stories have already appeared in the mainstream media regarding the exceptionally illogical, and troubling new rules and regulations of the recently appointed administrator of Lakshadweep, Praful Khoda Patel, who served earlier as a home minister in the Narendra Modi-led Gujarat government. The actions taken by the new administration received much attention in[Read More…]

by Sadiya Sherin C T — 04/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Environmental Protection

Whither Congress?

Some observers like us have been saying in the face of much mistrust that without Congress in the team no coalition for a national opposition can really take off.But we too have been shaken by the continued stasis of the party.In states this has led to a strange inertia punctuated by quiet departures from time to time of one or[Read More…]

by Hiren Gohain — 04/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

Street Vendors Need Help and Support

Recent reports of a training program launched by the Punjab Government for street vendors are welcome. This training increases the capacity of vendors to provide safe food. This training has been linked also to institutions of community health and the experience of initial training programs conducted have been encouraging. Earlier training programs conducted by the National Association for Street Vendors[Read More…]

by Bharat Dogra — 04/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

Cartoon by K.P. Sasi

by K P Sasi — 04/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — COVID Response Watch

Reflections from the ground: Digital divide and Covid-19 in Uttarakhand

As the country recuperates from the devastating second wave of Covid-19, vaccination has become the only and the most effective possibility to beat the virus. But getting vaccinated isn’t as simple as it sounds. Saraswati Devi*, age 46, who lives in the outskirts of Almora town (Uttarakhand), is very anxious these days because she is finding it difficult to get[Read More…]

by Sadaf Javed — 04/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

Zhou Enlai (left) and Mao Zedong (second from left) at Chinese Communist capital of Yan’an, c.1936. Photo by Edgar Snow

CPC transforms China as a world class power

The CPC’s centennial marks a historic breakthrough for China by far exceeding the predictions of most foreign observers. In a nutshell, the CPC has achieved the twin collective goals of getting rid of poverty and standing up to bullying by foreigners. The CPC is omnipotent in China and has become synonymous with the nation, the society and its politics. ***[Read More…]

by M K Bhadrakumar — 03/07/2021 — 1 comment — World

This Is Only the Beginning: It’s About to Get Much Harder

Our planet hasn’t seen temperatures this hot in fifteen million years, when the sea level was forty meters higher than it is today. This is just the opening salvo. As the American west is gripped by potentially the worst drought since algebra was invented 1,200 years ago and temperature records are once again shattered on a weekly basis, we are entering into unknown[Read More…]

by Simon Whalley — 03/07/2021 — 1 comment — Climate Change

Taliban has won the war in Afghanistan, says Lord Dannatt, former British army head

The Taliban has “prevailed” in its battle with the West in Afghanistan, said General Lord Dannatt, the former head of the British Army as it emerged all UK and U.S. troops will be withdrawn on Sunday. Writing in The Telegraph, General Lord Dannatt said: “Ultimately, Taliban force of arms has prevailed, and the people of that country have been denied the[Read More…]

by Countercurrents Collective — 03/07/2021 — 1 comment — Imperialism

Fred Magdoff discusses capitalist agriculture

Ecological and social conditions are mostly ignored in a system in which profit is the goal Fred Magdoff, Professor Emeritus, University of Vermont, Plant and Soil Science, in an interview conducted by Farooque Chowdhury in June 2021, discusses aspects of capitalist agriculture, and politics with the agriculture system. The interview was conducted in view of Fred Magdoff’s (with Professor Harold van Es)[Read More…]

by Farooque Chowdhury — 03/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Counter Solutions

Who Was Edward Said? Biographically Interpreted and Existentially Recollected

[Prefatory Note: This is an edited text of Remarks on 30 June 2021 at the opening on the Book Launch of Timothy Brennan’s PLACES OF MIND: A LIFE OF EDWARD SAID (2021), an event under the auspices of the Cambridge Centre of Palestinian Studies, moderated by its director, Dr. Makram Khoury-Machool. Also participating in the discussion of Professor Brennan’s book[Read More…]

by Richard Falk — 03/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Book Review

China’s Programme of Socialist Modernization

On July 1, 2021, Chinese President and Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered a speech marking the centenary of the Communist Party of China (CPC). “Any attempt to divide the party from the Chinese people or to set the people against the party is bound to fail,” he said during the ceremony in the capital, Beijing. Xi said “the strengths[Read More…]

by Yanis Iqbal — 03/07/2021 — 1 comment — World

75th Anniversary of Telengana Armed Struggle

On July 4th we commemorate the 75th anniversary of the martyrdom of Komarayya in Telengana.It was this event that marked the turning point in the Telengana peasant uprising which lit the spark to turn into a prairie fire.Komarayya was a young man from a poor peasant and shepherd family of Kadiwendi village of the then Nalgonda district. He was then[Read More…]

by Harsh Thakor — 03/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

Appeal to NCST for suo motu intervention under Article 338A(9) of the Constitution in the case of Lakshadweep

To Hon’ble Chairman National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) Hon’ble Chairman, I enclose here a copy of a representation dated 8-6-2021 submitted by me to Rashtrapatiji on the concerns I have on a range of statutory regulations proposed to be adopted by the Administrator of Lakshadweep Union Territory (UT), which will have a significant impact on the lives of the[Read More…]

by E A S Sarma — 03/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

The Omar al-Mukhtar neighborhood of Gaza City after it was pounded by Israeli airstrikes, 12 May. Mohammed ZaanounActiveStills

Ongoing Palestinian Genocide & Gaza Concentration Camp Conditions By The Numbers

The world needs to know the horrendous dimensions of the ongoing Palestinian Genocide, and of the gross Apartheid Israeli maltreatment of 5.2 million Occupied Palestinians and in particular of the 2 million inmates of the blockaded and bombed Gaza Concentration Camp. A numbers-based summary of these ongoing atrocities will strengthen global Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against the intolerable obscenity[Read More…]

by Dr Gideon Polya — 03/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Palestine

The dilapidated entrance to the PHC in Solra, Haryana (Picture credit Gravit Bhirani)

Pandemic or not, this PHC in Solra is barely functional

In this rural health centre in Haryana, the staff shortage is so bad a security guard had to collect Covid samples. Solra: Primary health centres (PHC) are considered the backbone of public healthcare in rural India and they cater to nearly 50,000 people in some places like Solra village in Haryana’s Palwal district. The problems faced by this facility are[Read More…]

by Garvit Bhirani — 03/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — COVID Response Watch

The dubious record of the UN Champion of the Earth

On June 30 2021 Channel 4 broke the news of a senior Exxon Mobil lobbyist captured on camera explaining how US senators were roped into efforts to block climate change legislation. This should give us in India pause. Could such things be happening here too? In 2018, PM Narendra Modi was awarded the United Nations ‘Champion of the Earth’ award. Readers[Read More…]

by Rosamma Thomas — 02/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Environmental Protection

Visitors walk past the thermometer at the Furnace Creek Visitor Center in Death Valley, California, U.S. on June 17, 2021. (Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Heat Dome over the Pacific Northwest worst on record: hundreds die

The ‘heat dome’ over western Canada and parts of the U.S. Pacific northwest is taking its toll: Already hundreds of deaths. A Reuters report from Vancouver and Portland said: In Canada’s British Columbia, at least 486 sudden deaths were reported over five days, nearly three times the usual number that would occur in the province over that period, the B.C.[Read More…]

by Countercurrents Collective — 02/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Climate Change

Rumsfeld-lie – Iraq, Afghanistan devastated

Former US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld has died a few days back. The death-news pulls back the lie the US political leader uttered and sold forcefully around the world. That was not a petty lie. That was a devastating lie – creating a premise for an imperialist invasion of a sovereign country that resulted in the devastation of a people.[Read More…]

by Farooque Chowdhury — 02/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

July 4th bonds the United States with India and Muslims

America is the greatest nation on the Earth. Indeed, India is a part of the American Heritage from the very beginning. Upon declaration of our Independence on July 4, 1776, one of the first three heads of the States who recognized the sovereignty of the United States was Nederland, Morocco, and the kingdom of Mysore (now Karnataka), India. Morocco was the first country[Read More…]

by Dr Mike Ghouse — 02/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Bhopal relives gas disaster days during Covid wave

Hundreds have died. Thousands more are dogged by respiratory illness and other diseases. The long term impact on their health is still unknown. They have spent a fortune on medical treatment while losing jobs and incomes. They are deeply upset at the lack of state support to get over the crisis. This is a description of the woes of residents[Read More…]

by Pooja Yadav — 02/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — COVID Response Watch

Police arrest activists and protestors at Khori village

Not too far from the border of Delhi, Haryana’s Khori village has been the site of an unwavering protest movement. After a Supreme Court order on June 07, 2021 mandated the demolition of the slums of Khori village, the residents of the village took to protesting to save their houses. Most of the residents at the village are migrants from[Read More…]

by Press Release — 02/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights

Lockdown: Supreme Court Finally Delivers Some Justice

NAPM welcomes the Supreme Court judgment on rations for all migrant workers and time-bound registration of unorganized sector workers. SC has fallen short of delivering on its own observation of a “socialistic pattern of society”. Struggle for holding Govt and Judiciary accountable to working class must continue. 2nd July, 2021: The sudden and unplanned lockdown imposed by the union government in[Read More…]

by National Alliance of People’s Movements — 02/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

Democratic Processes and Kashmir Imbroglio

On 5th August 2019, through the Presidential ordinance the Article 370, giving autonomy to Kashmir was abolished. This article was the basis of Kashmir’s accession to India and it gave autonomy to Kashmir in all matters except defense, communication, currency and external affairs. Following this there was a suspension of most of the democratic rights; internet services were suspended and[Read More…]

by Dr Ram Puniyani — 02/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

The Known Knowns of Donald Rumsfeld

“On the morning of September 11, 2001, Donald Rumsfeld ran to the fire at the Pentagon to assist the wounded and ensure the safety of survivors,” expressed a mournful George W. Bush in a statement. “For the next five years, he was in steady service as a wartime secretary of defense – a duty he carried out with strength, skill,[Read More…]

by Dr Binoy Kampmark — 02/07/2021 — 1 comment — Life/Philosophy

The Rumsfeld Rules

Editors note: The death of former US Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld on 29 June marks the end of a man who was one of the main architects and executors of the infamous US invasion of Iraq in 2003. A War of Aggression made on the bogus pretext of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq harbouring weapons of mass destruction. Weapons that were[Read More…]

by Satya Sagar — 02/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

#FreeBrittney and all Saudi Women too!

By Ariel Gold and Medea Benjamin One week after Brittney Spears sent shockwaves across the world by relaying the conditions she has lived under for the past 13 years, a Los Angeles judge has denied her request to have her father removed from her conservatorship. Despite testifying that under her father’s care, she has not been allowed to marry, or[Read More…]

by Ariel Gold — 02/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Patriarchy

Living on a Sci-Fi Planet

Yes, once upon a time I regularly absorbed science fiction and imagined futures of wonder, but mainly of horror. What else could you think, if you read H.G. Wells’s War of the Worlds under the covers by flashlight while your parents thought you were asleep? Of course, that novel was a futuristic fantasy, involving as it did Martians arriving in London to[Read More…]

by Tom Engelhardt — 01/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World

Making Vaccines Mandatory – An Ethical Perspective

On June 28, the Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra said that only those who have received two doses of vaccines will be permitted entry into theatres, multiplexes, coaching centres, and colleges. A few days before, on June 24, the Gujarat High Court granted temporary relief to an IAF officer who received a show-cause notice from Indian Air Force over[Read More…]

by Pradeep Krishnatray — 01/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Life/Philosophy

Dalit-Adivasi in Uttar Pradesh and the question of land

According to the 2011 census, the total Scheduled Caste (Dalit) population in Uttar Pradesh is 4.13 crore, which is about 21% of the total population of Uttar Pradesh. According to the same census, there are 61.91 lakh families of Dalits in Uttar Pradesh, which is 23% of the total families of Uttar Pradesh. Similarly, the total population of Scheduled Tribes[Read More…]

by SR Darapuri — 01/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — India

Rabindranath- Finding Peace and Acceptance Through Art

Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark- Rabindranath Tagore Whenever the thought of Kabiguru crosses my mind, a shade of white illuminates my thoughts, a white which is as pure as the pearl lying in its shell waiting to be uncovered in an unknown sea. It is a well-known fact that white is[Read More…]

by Srijoni Hore — 01/07/2021 — 2 comments — Life/Philosophy

Prelude to a Riot

Set in an unnamed southern town amid lush plantations of pepper, bananas, coffee, rice, and narrated in soliloquy Annie Zaidi’s 184- page novel, Prelude to a Riot is a brilliant, bold, honest, critical commentary on contemporary India. “Abu doesn’t want to work the land. He says it’s pointless because we cannot take the land with us when we leave”. Abu,[Read More…]

by Abu Siddik — 01/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Book Review

Bennett’s Political Theater: The Decisive Israeli-Palestinian Fight Ahead

Many Palestinians believe that the May 10-21 military confrontation between Israel and the Gaza Resistance, along with the simultaneous popular revolt across Palestine, was a game-changer. Israel is doing everything in its power to prove them wrong. Palestinians are justified to hold this viewpoint; after all, their minuscule military capabilities in a besieged and impoverished tiny stretch of land, the[Read More…]

by Dr Ramzy Baroud — 01/07/2021 — 1 comment — Palestine

The Society of Muslim Brothers

Richard P. Mitchell’s book “The Society of Muslim Brothers” is one of first and most authentic book on the formation, Ideology and objectives of Muslim Brotherhood. Being a study conducted during most crucial period of Egypt, the time of Egypt revolution of 1952 and based on observance of true incidences and interviews of prominent personalities of Egypt (Brothers and non[Read More…]

by Dr Ghulam Nabi Naz — 01/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Book Review

Chhattisgarh government must restore health and human rights of people in Bastar

by Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA), Chhattisgarh and Chhattisgarh Right to Food Campaign (RTFC) Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA) and Right to Food Campaign (RTFC), Chhattisgarh are writing to the Chhattisgarh government to bring attention to the poor status of human rights and health rights of people living in the Bastar Region. For years the people of Bastar have been denied decent[Read More…]

by Press Release — 01/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Human Rights