Housing problems both for the weaker sections as well as for the middle class have worsened during COVID times. This can be seen even in some of the developed countries, although the problem is much more serious in poorer countries. Recent reports from the USA suggest that the period of moratrium on evictions ( due to non-payment of rent or[Read More…]
Phule-Ambedkarite ideology is the only alternative for Bahujans, says Dr Manisha Bangar, National Vice President, People’s Party of India, former National Vice President, BAMCEF in conversation with Vidya Bhushan Rawat Dr Manisha Bangar is a practicing Senior Consultant Gastroenterologist and Transplant Hepatologist, with around 20 years of clinical cum research and teaching experience. In terms of her medical qualification, she completed[Read More…]
It is right that the Western troops are finally leaving our country — they should have done so much earlier. We cannot have a serious peace process as long as the Americans are in Afghanistan. We must build our country with our [own] hands. …The Americans replaced the barbaric regime of the Taliban with brutal warlords, and then began to negotiate[Read More…]
Hurricane Ida made landfall Sunday as the second most powerful storm to hit the state of Louisiana in its recorded history, bringing widespread flooding from heavy rains and storm surge. High winds, blowing debris and falling trees damaged buildings and knocked out power to one million customers in Louisiana and over 120,000 in Mississippi. So far two deaths have been[Read More…]
This year in January we commemorated the centenary of Charlie Chaplin’s1st motion film ‘The Kid.’ No doubt such a film would be outdated today, in the days of high tech,artificial intelligence, mechanisation or automation. However it still has significance when the forces of globalization are tightening their noose in every sphere of life and putting a stranglehold on all democratic[Read More…]
Establishment journalists and politicians are despairingly asking: Why did we fail in our well-meaning efforts to help the Afghan people? What were our mistakes? But they ignore their first mistake: creating the Taliban. The USA’s attempts to dominate Afghanistan and its resources began 40 years ago when Jimmy Carter in one of his last acts as president approved a CIA[Read More…]
by Neha Saigal & Saumya Shrivastava Earlier this year, on a pleasant afternoon we made our way from the walled and very beautiful city of Jaipur to the narrow and uneven lanes of Karauli district. We were there to meet members of Rajasthan Rising, a relatively young movement led by girls, between the ages of 14-24 years, belonging to Bahujan[Read More…]
India’s diversity has been amazing as different cultures, religions, languages and ethnicities had been living here, cheek by jowl, from last many centuries. Bhakti-Sufi Saints and then the freedom movement cemented the bonds between diverse communities living here. But last few decades in general and last few years in particular have seen an assault on this syncretism and intercommunity relations.[Read More…]
Recently, I was involved in a discussion about the things we do and do not teach our children. I’ve already said quite a bit on this subject. But after talking with a few other people about education, and especially secondary education, I realized I approached the subject from the assumption that the purpose of school is to train the mind in skills[Read More…]
The Biden Administration, in dire straits over Afghanistan, is pursuing China for help. There have been two phone calls to Chinese State Councilor and FM Wang Yi from US Secretary of state Antony Blinken since August 16 alone. The taciturn readouts from Washington would have us believe that these conversations related exclusively to Afghan developments. But Beijing insists that they[Read More…]
As exampled by Apartheid Israel, racism is utterly wrong, cruel and unjust because people have no say in where and to whom they are born. Accordingly decent countries support the latest UN Anti-racism Conference (Durban IV) to be held in New York in September 2021. However, so far 11 pro-Apartheid Israel and hence pro-Apartheid and deeply racist Western countries have[Read More…]
by Marina Favaro & Sara Z. Kutchesfahani The desire to anticipate what the future holds is not new. The Delphic oracle in the eighth century BC held a prestigious and authoritative position in the Greek world, providing predictions and guidance to both city-states and individuals. In 1555, Nostradamus’ Les Propheties attracted an enthusiastic following, and even today many credit him with[Read More…]
The Americans, like the British and the Soviets before them, dug their own graveyard in Afghanistan. The Carthaginian general Hannibal, who came close to defeating the Roman Republic in the Second Punic War, committed suicide in 181 BC in exile as Roman soldiers closed in on his residence in the Bithynian village of Libyssa, now modern-day Turkey. It had been[Read More…]
In their new book, authors Rupa Marya and Raj Patel explore how capitalism and colonialism have caused sickness and how Indigenous knowledge can offer healing. Multiple planetary crises are breaking out simultaneously: a global pandemic, heat waves, deadly floods, disappearing biodiversity, failing infrastructure. To authors Rupa Marya and Raj Patel, these crises—and their solutions—are intimately linked and ought to be viewed[Read More…]
Bhubaneswar: As the sun rises over the horizon at the nondescript and pristine Chappar village in Odisha’s Koraput district, the radio comes on. For the past year, the community radio station ‘Dhimsa’ has become the Adivasi population’s primary source of information related to COVID-19, providing regular updates on government guidelines and safety protocols. The first programme begins at 6 am[Read More…]
“The farmers not only know how to farm, but they also know how to protect their fields,” said a farm leader from Punjab at the protest site on the outskirts of Delhi, where protesting farmers have been camping since last November. “We will fight over and over again and generation upon generation, but we will not let our land go,”[Read More…]
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. Some aspects of the Covid disaster are new and unprecedented but many of them are also a continuation of the[Read More…]
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) expects Hurricane Ida will continue to produce heavy rainfall through Monday across the central Gulf Coast, resulting in “life-threatening flash and urban flooding and significant river flooding impacts,” after it made landfall just west of Grande Isle, Louisiana, Sunday afternoon. The NHC had warned residents to expect “extremely life-threatening” storm surge inundation along the Gulf[Read More…]
by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies Americans have been shocked by videos of thousands of Afghans risking their lives to flee the Taliban’s return to power in their country – and then by an Islamic State suicide bombing and ensuing massacre by U.S. forces that together killed at least 170 people, including 13 U.S. troops. Even as UN[Read More…]
The US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan discussed today in an interview with CBS “Face the Nation” the evolving relationship between Washington and the Afghan Taliban. Three things emerge. First, Sullivan disclosed that “over-the-horizon strikes” against the ISIS-K from outside Afghanistan will continue but he ruled out any return to combat missions. Second, Sullivan claimed that after the complete withdrawal[Read More…]
This is a review, in two parts, of some aspects of the All-Party Meeting on Afghanistan August 26, convened by the Modi-led Indian govt. This Part-1deals with India’s foreign policy on the Afghan question. Part-2 will discuss some other aspects, of evacuation, of domestic politics etc. It was stated by the Govt that evacuating Indian personnel from the country is[Read More…]
On December 6th, 1988, Comrade Purushottam Pali left us. Without doubt he was one of the most defining and inspiring comrades in the work of the Indian Communist movement in the tribal regions. Few comrades in the forests India illuminated the spark of liberation or shimmered the spark of Marxism-Leninism Mao thought, at the scale of Comrade Pali. Throughout his[Read More…]
The Russia-China led SCO emerges to replace US-NATO both in military & economic terms These are indeed remarkable times we live in, even as history is unfolding before our very eyes. At the beginning of the 21st Century, the US was the global hegemon, bombing & invading country after country, terrorising the world, all in the name of fighting the[Read More…]
As a tsunami of crocodile tears engulfs Western politicians, history is suppressed. More than a generation ago, Afghanistan won its freedom, which the United States, Britain and their “allies” destroyed. In 1978, a liberation movement led by the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) overthrew the dictatorship of Mohammad Dawd, the cousin of King Zahir Shar. It was an immensely[Read More…]
The culture of civilization is a mass suicide pact this may seem a frivolous statement but let me hold your attention for a moment. There are 8 billion people on the planet almost all who are in favor of growth, progress, uplifting and such. Now this urge for growth has no upper limit. We could call this infinite growth. Thus[Read More…]
by Chaitanya Pandey and Sandeep Pandey India today is witness to two contesting ideas of nationalism. There is an idea of nationalism which emerged from the freedom movement. This idea of nationalism was inclusive and tried to take everybody along. It was based on concepts of democracy, secularism and socialism and espoused values of equality, justice, liberty and fraternity. The[Read More…]
On July 22nd, 2021, Modi Government informed the Parliament of its decision to disinvest its stake in 23 Central Public Sector Units (CPSUs) [1]. On August 23rd, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a four-year asset monetization plan under the National Monetization Pipeline [2]. Both these decisions were already anticipated since their announcement in the Union Budget 2021, and neatly fits[Read More…]
Amid chaotic politics and anti-immigrant and refugee sentiments, Stadio Olimpico in Rome seemed like an oasis of social and cultural harmony. AS Roma and Raja Casablanca fans gathered in their thousands on a hot Saturday evening to cheer for their teams in a friendly match, the first in the Olimpico for nearly a year and a half. The guest team is a[Read More…]
Global corporations are colonising India’s retail space through e-commerce and destroying small-scale physical retail and millions of livelihoods. Walmart entered into India in 2016 with a US$3.3 billion take-over of the online retail start-up Jet.com. This was followed in 2018 with a US$16 billion take-over of India’s largest online retail platform, Flipkart. Today, Walmart and Amazon control almost two thirds of[Read More…]
On August 26, 2021, a terrorist attack struck the area outside of the US-occupied Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISIS-K), a regional offshoot of Islamic State (ISIS), has officially taken responsibility for the bombing. The blasts killed more than 180 Afghan civilians. Thirteen US servicemen, two British nationals and the child of another British national[Read More…]
“The disaster the people of Afghanistan have endured over decades is beyond human imagination and the plight of the people has multiplied with big power games in Eurasia, which eventually resulted in the Taliban take over,” according to Dr. K.B. Usha, faculty at the Centre for Russian and Central Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.[Read More…]
We are about to go through the most profound shift in the climate debate in 20 years. The result will be the end of the gas industry’s hope of being a transition fuel, a brutal market disruption to the agriculture and livestock industries and the arrival of the climate emergency into public consciousness. This will all be driven by the[Read More…]
Abstract The stability of the Earth’s ecosystems, and hence the future of the human species, depends on people recognizing and responding to multiple, cascading social and ecological crises that can easily overwhelm our imaginations. We need to cultivate restless and relentless minds to deal with unprecedented analytical questions and moral challenges if we are to go beyond the failed approaches[Read More…]
“I am planning to get my Covid vaccine shot this week” I told a very dear German friend of mine the other day over the phone. “No! Don’t do that!” came the immediate response. “Why?” I asked. “They will inject nanobots into your bloodstream!” he said, with all sincerity and genuine concern for my well-being. I immediately realized I was[Read More…]
Earlier this year on 10th February the civil liberties movement or democratic rights movement commemorated the birth centenary of Comrade KVSN Prasad Rao,,who at the time of his death was the president of the Organization for Protection for Democratic Rights(OPDR).He perished due to accidental injuries on 10th October ,1986.His contribution will shimmer forever in the annals of the civil liberties[Read More…]
The official death toll from the terrorist attack outside Kabul international airport on Thursday was increased significantly on Friday to over 160. The number of Afghan victims almost tripled and the US Defense Department confirmed the death of one additional service member, bringing the total of American military fatalities to 13. At a Defense Department press briefing Friday morning, Major[Read More…]
Radical social critics often complain bitterly that the invocation of law and order is a fiction that merely upholds the legitimacy of propertied classes. The common man,who suffers most from the unequal rights under this system,whether in the hands of the police or in the callousness of bureaucracy,or for that matter,’the law’s delay’ in Hamlet’s monologue,tries ineffectually to escape its[Read More…]
The City of Burnaby has declared September 5 as a day to honour a slain Indian journalist. Daring editor Gauri Lankesh was allegedly murdered by right wing extremists in Bengaluru, on the ill-fated date in 2017. She consistently wrote against superstition and growing fanaticism under the current Hindu nationalist BJP government in New Delhi. Attacks on religious minorities and political[Read More…]
A lot of my work in recent years has been to work for the eradication of Forced Labour in India. The approach favoured in my set up ( and in many others) is what has come to be termed as a “ Raid and Rescue” approach. An establishment where Forced Labour is identified, a rescue team comprising or at least[Read More…]
The Indian establishment media hyped up Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 24 in a desperate attempt to distract attention from Delhi’s abject isolation over the Afghanistan situation. The desperation to clutch at any straw stems out of the complete breakdown of India’s Afghan policy. The government’s narrative on Afghanistan stands exposed as deeply[Read More…]
The mainstream Western media is full of news these days about people fleeing Kabul in the wake of the Taliban victory. Dramatic pictures of young and old scrambling to get on to jam-packed aeroplanes do make a huge impact. The message they convey is that a collective fear has gripped the Afghan people as they seek to escape the iron[Read More…]
The herbicide glyphosate – the most widely used herbicide on the planet – is authorised for use in the EU until December 2022. The EU is currently assessing whether its licence should be renewed. Environmentalist and campaigner Dr Rosemary Mason has just written an open letter to the head of the Pesticides Unit at the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA),[Read More…]
It was in 2009 I got a chance to meet this veteran artist and visionary who spend his life to fulfilment till the end, Dr.Vayala Vasudevan Pillai. One evening Jean was asked to do a video shoot of Thayambaka of Mattannur Sankarankutty at the Vighneswara temple in Vazhuthacaud and since he wanted assistance, he asked me to join him. We[Read More…]
A word can have strong meanings associated with it, and depending on its use, can be interpreted from different perspectives. Recently I heard a citation from Michael Ignatieff, Canada’s contribution to faux liberal thought, in which he used the word “obdurate”. Intrigued – yes, I more or less knew what it meant, stubborn or hard, but for some reason I[Read More…]
According to SPEI Global Drought Monitor, no continent is spared the ravages of severe drought, except for Antarctica. This is happening at a global temperature of 1.2°C above baseline, not 1.5°C above baseline which climate scientists agree is locked in. This article explores the countrywide impact of 1.2°C above baseline for the most vulnerable as well as the most privileged.[Read More…]
It is easy for derivative theoreticians who cannot creatively comprehend the deconstructive nature of creative texts to dismiss creative processes and their decentered layers and structures by highlighting a single element of a creative text, ignoring the fact that there are innumerable elements in the texts that act on each other to produce multiple levels of meaning and experience. ‘Walking[Read More…]
In what the US military described as a “complex attack,” several terrorists attacked a screening checkpoint at a gate into the Kabul airport and a nearby hotel on Thursday, inflicting a horrific toll of death and destruction. Unnamed Afghan health officials told the media that at least 60 Afghan citizens were killed and another 140 wounded. The Pentagon said that[Read More…]
The horrific terrorist strikes in Kabul on Thursday which killed at least 12 US servicemen and dozens of civilians will lead to a higher level of cooperation between the US and the Taliban. The commander of CENTCOM Gen. Kenneth McKenzie disclosed to journalists on Thursday that the US was already sharing information on terror threats in Afghanistan with Taliban. As[Read More…]
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. 1. 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[Read More…]
On 23rd August, we commemorated the 34th death anniversary of Samar Sen, one of the most creative and dynamic persons in Indian history. His writings and poems had the subtle touch which geniuses possess traversing almost surreal regions. What was most pertinent is how he formulated the path he wished to take and how in each juncture, he confronted the[Read More…]
New Delhi, August 27th 2021: The Coalition for a GM-Free India, a civil society platform that had been in the forefront of struggles against hazardous gene technologies being deployed in India, has termed the decision of Government of India to import GM soymeal as patently illegal. “It is a case of regulators abdicating their legally mandated responsibilities, and subjecting citizens[Read More…]
A discussion hosted by the World Sikh Parliament network and run on KTV – a UK-based satellite TV channel for the Sikh diaspora A detailed horror tale in the making for India, an exposé on what is planned, via the farm laws, to hand over Indian sovereignty and food security to big business. There will come a time pretty soon –[Read More…]
“Majorities are of two sorts: (1) communal majority and (2) political majority. A political majority is changeable in its class composition. A political majority grows. A communal majority is born. The admission to political majority is open. The door to communal majority is closed. The politics of political majority are free to all to make and unmake. The politics of[Read More…]
After 20 years of US/NATO/Afghan Puppet Army’s brutal and illegal occupation of Afghanistan, Kabul, the capital city finally fell on August 15, 2021, at the hands of the reclusive but a defiant new Taliban. The Fall has turned all military calculus upside down – world’s mightiest have been defeated by the world’s smallest, a jungle army, the new Taliban! Pundits[Read More…]
When the tears dry, it is worth considering why there is so much upset about the fall of Kabul (or reconquest) by the Taliban and the messy withdrawal of US-led forces. A large shield is employed: women, rights of the subject, education. Remove the shield, and we are left with a simple equation of power gone wrong in the name[Read More…]
Just two days before the horrible 9/11 attack on the USA, on September 9 2001, another extremely tragic attack took place in far-away Afghanistan which resulted in the assassination of rebel commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, the fabled Lion of Panjshir. As subsequent events were to prove, this 9/9 attack was related to the bigger 9/11 attack . What is even[Read More…]
In this series of interviews Covid Response Watch brings you the voices of doctors, health workers, social activists and others, working ats the grassroots, speaking about the multiple impacts of the Covid pandemic on the lives of ordinary Indian citizens. Some aspects of the Covid disaster are new and unprecedented but many of them are also a continuation of the[Read More…]
At present, there is a discussion of farmers’ movement all over the country. The Supreme Court has constituted a four-member committee. However, one of the members withdrew his name. During the hearing of the case, the apex court directed the farmers’ lawyer A.P. Singh said that women, children and old men of the movement should be sent home. The women[Read More…]
It’s a beautiful new beginning on the day of Rakhi across some villages and small towns in several districts of Bengal. Resurrecting a tradition started by Rabindranath Tagore, volunteers of the Bangla Sanskriti Manch have organized intimate get-togethers with locals. Everyone is tying rakhi on everyone’s hands, and there is a smile on every face. Here, it is a festival[Read More…]
The regional tour of Southeast Asia by the US Vice-President Kamala Harris got inundated with the tsunami of criticism over the United States’ frantic efforts to complete the evacuation out of Kabul Airport by the month-end. Again, Israel being a hugely attractive topic in US news cycles, Harris’ visit to Singapore and Vietnam may get marginalised with the arrival of[Read More…]
Well, you can see on the literally thousands of clips showing the chaos in Afghanistan… as if it only wasn’t always like this. Twenty years ago the Junior Bush Cabal , as I label them, decided to listen to their empire handlers and create a Phony War in Afghanistan and then another one in Iraq. Who orchestrated the rise of[Read More…]
Bolstering the case for meaningful climate action, a major report released Wednesday found that Earth’s atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations and sea levels both hit record highs in 2020. Based on the contributions of more than 530 scientists from over 60 countries and compiled by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), State of the Climate in 2020 is the 31st installment of[Read More…]
There is no doubt that unity is the most uttered and much used and abused word by the Tamil politicians and leaders who took control of the political destiny of Tamils since independence in 1948. It is also a history that Tamil leaders and parties on various occasions moved to form united fronts like the Tamil United Liberation Front [TULF][Read More…]
Rational thinking and scientific truths will have disastrous consequences sometimes where authoritarian state and irrational society turn into serious enemies. The All India Peoples Science Network, a network of over 40 Peoples Science Movements, has declared August 20 as the National Scientific Temper Day. The reason is lack of reasoned thinking. Greek philosopher Socrates was given death sentence, which he[Read More…]
The CIA Director William Burns had to travel to Kabul to seek a concession from the Taliban leadership to extend the August 31 deadline for the evacuations at Kabul Airport, which the Taliban political chief Mullah Ghani Baradar plainly refused. Beijing is almost certain to provide a firewall for the Taliban government against Western pressures. Put differently, the US influence[Read More…]
The killing of four young Palestinians by Israeli occupation soldiers in the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank, on August 16, is a consequential event, the repercussions of which are sure to be felt in the coming weeks and months. The four Palestinians – Saleh Mohammed Ammar, 19, Raed Ziad Abu Seif, 21, Nour Jarrar, 19, and Amjad[Read More…]
The latest figures released by the National Statistics Office for the financial year 2020-21 show that the Indian economy is in a slump. Between 2019-20 and 2020-21, India’s GDP lost Rs 10.56 lakh crore. This is a negative increase of -7.3 per cent. The demand-supply imbalance has led to a slowdown in the economy. In 2020-21, the per capita annual[Read More…]
On August 18 as members of the Movement against Unemployment hit the streets of the Madhya Pradesh capital Bhopal they were brutally caned by the police as they tried to move towards the Chief Minister’s residence in a bid to gherao it. Cases were also filed against many of the protestors, who were demanding jobs and the filling up of vacant[Read More…]
Podu cultivation is a traditional way of “shifting agriculture” in forests being practiced from ages and generation to generation. Lakhs of forest dwellers are solely dependent on this type of agriculture for their livelihood. The plight of lakhs of podu farmers in the state of Telangana is becoming precarious. The dismay and panic faced by them is very miserable. They[Read More…]
Efforts to prevent infant, child and maternal deaths across the country have proved futile. According to a recent report released by UNICEF, shocking information has come to the fore that six lakh children died in India in 2016. More dire is the fact that a quarter of the world’s infant deaths occur in our country, which has an infant mortality[Read More…]
The plan to marketise the vast infrastructure architecture of the country on the stock market for a windfall gain of Rs.6 lakh crore for the government has predictably agitated the opposition as it amounts to gambling with the ‘family silver’.I have no intention to pose as an expert in public finance as I have not even elementary knowledge of the[Read More…]
The distressing images coming from Afghanistan following the call of withdrawal of US forces is yet another poignant reminder of the humanitarian crisis facing millions of people around the world. According to the United Nations refugee agency more than 70 million people worldwide were displaced in 2018. In the past three years more numbers have been added to this tally.[Read More…]
The Biden EPA has put a stop to use of the pesticide chlorpyrifos on food crops, thereby reversing a decision by the Trump administration to allow it to continue to be sprayed on vegetables and fruit in spite of an Obama administration order in 2015 to ban the pesticide for public health reasons. This is but one of many examples[Read More…]
The Taliban have taken military control, but Afghanistan’s future is cloudy. Assumption that the Taliban can, by itself, effectively govern a nation divided by conflicting tribal loyalties and a partially reconstituted population, with a sharply contrary mindset, needs more validation. Rather than facts, agendas have delegated responsibility for the debacle in Afghanistan. Analysis demonstrates that United States President Joe Biden is[Read More…]
A panoramic view of Mes Ayna on the gentle hills and craggy mountains in Logar province 40 kilometres south-east of Kabul, Afghanistan, where Chinese firms signed contracts to mine one of the world’s largest untouched copper deposits estimated to contain 450 million metric tonnes of ore worth at least US$50 billion. China disclosed that unnamed US mining companies have[Read More…]
Tripta Lahiri’s book “ Maid in India” on what it means to be a domestic help in an average middle or upper class Indian households is a surprisingly accurate one. It does not paint a binary black and white picture – maids good and noble and employers all evil and cruel. It presents a balanced picture of the benevolent and[Read More…]
A man was crossing the platoon-fields fast. Up ahead lay the level-crossing. He was aiming to cross the railway yard adjoining the level crossing. Perhaps, he had thought that he would be safe once he reaches the Nazia Bazaar area. No one can be seen near or far away. Everything is empty, like a desert. At a distance lies a[Read More…]
Sangh Parivar and leaders and spokesmen of its affiliates never miss any opportunity to malign Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. The latest in their malicious campaign is an article written by Rakesh Sinha, BJP member of Rajya Sabha. In his article published in Indian Express (August `14) Sinha claims that “Despite the unbounded reverence for Mahatma Gandhi the masses rejected[Read More…]
Dr.Gail Omvedt, (81) one of the greatest scholars on caste studies passed away on 24 August 2021 evening in her village Kesegaon Maharashtra. She has pioneered caste studies having come as a student from America and settled down in India in the 1970s. She later married Bharat Patankar a Marxists scholar, activist; both of them lived in his village all[Read More…]
Since 2004, Amazon has been building a foothold on the African continent. In Cape Town, it already employs thousands in a global call centre and a range of data hubs. Its South African career portal is a busy place, with the vast majority of advertised jobs located in Cape Town. In April, as part of its aggrandising drive into the[Read More…]
“We are working very hard as frontline workers since the first wave of Covid-19 started. But we have neither got the recognition we deserved nor the money for extra work.” The lament of Anju, an ASHA worker for the last four years in Phulpur tehsil near Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh represents the sentiments of a bulk of the state’s over 1.5[Read More…]
Gail Omvedt is no more. She passed away today i.e. 25th August, 2021 in Kasegaon. On August 18th, I went to see her along with my dear friend Rahul Nirmal. Her condition was deteriorating and her partner Mr Bharat Patankar was doing everything to serve her at their ancestral house in Kasegaon, Maharasthra where Gail and Bharat decided to live[Read More…]
In recent months, Washington has had a lot to say about China’s ever-expanding air, naval, and missile power. But when Pentagon officials address the topic, they generally speak less about that country’s current capabilities, which remain vastly inferior to those of the U.S., than the world they foresee in the 2030s and 2040s, when Beijing is expected to have acquired[Read More…]
The decision by the African Union Commission, on July 22, to grant Israel observer status membership in the AU was the culmination of years of relentless Israeli efforts aimed at co-opting Africa’s largest political institution. Why is Israel so keen on penetrating Africa? What made African countries finally succumb to Israeli pressure and lobbying? To answer the above questions, one[Read More…]
While any new large-scale deforestation immediately attracts attention, the more insidious change of species often escapes attention and concern. However these changes can be very important. In particular if the share of broad-leaf species like the oak reduces significantly, then the soil and water conservation role as well as flood protection role of Himalayan and foothill forests will be lost[Read More…]
But for the accidental reading of Shahu Maharaj’s letter to the retired Governor of Bombay presidency, Lord Sydenham, written in 1918, I would not have thought of writing this essay. In my life time experience of writing about the Brahmin-Bania power in contemporary times at the expense of life threats and cases in various levels of courts the Dwija pundits[Read More…]
Covid lockdown and the Catastrophe of Hunger in India – Part Three The economic fallout of the Covid-19 lockdowns has created the worst humanitarian crisis in recent history. Numerous surveys have revealed the sheer gravity of this unfolding catastrophe in India and the world. Its starkest symptom is mass starvation, which is once again stalking the land. In this important[Read More…]
Except for Palestine – The Limits of Progressive Politics. Marc Lamont Hill and Mitchell Plitnick. The New Press, New York. 2021. “Except for Palestine” is a remarkable little book. Within it, the authors Hill and Plitnick present the larger picture that the self proclaimed progressive “universal” values of the United States are argued for in many troubled spots of the[Read More…]
Vancouver-based broadcaster Gurpreet Singh has tried to expose the growing polarization of Indian society and cinema through the story of one of the most popular movie stars. From Nazneen to Naina: 20 years of Kareena Kapoor Khan in Bollywood and what that means for India and the rest of the world is based on her film career so far, and[Read More…]
The security of democracy depends on our conscience and our adherence to democratic values! Replying to a question on the President’s address in the Rajya Sabha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi proudly said that India is not only the largest democracy in the world, but also the oldest. They were mostly referring to the Licchavi Republic. The Licchavi Republic was established[Read More…]
Recently, the District Panchayat of Aligarh has passed a resolution to rename Aligarh as Harigarh, calling it a ‘long-pending demand’. The move has come in continuation of many such successful attempts of renaming of places in the State including renaming of Allahabad to Prayagraj, of Faizabad to Ayodhya, among others. Using names as a tool of political validation is not[Read More…]
Around 150 Indian Muslims, supported by others committed to secular-democratic politics, have today called upon the Indian Muslim community to reject the idea of the ‘Islamic Emirate’ the Taliban seek to impose on the war-weary people of Afghanistan who are yearning for peace. The signatories include two retired High Court judges, legal luminaries, lawyers practising in the Supreme Court and[Read More…]
My city sits on the western edge of a body of water that has figured large in the nation’s history, Lake Erie. My wife and I are fortunate to live in the part of Toledo where the lake is literally our front yard. Grade school history classes, consisting mostly of memorizing wars and generals, taught that in the first battle[Read More…]
Complex society India is a diverse country. It has geo-climatic diversity and people who live in different geo-climatic regions have different ways of living and doing, with different cultures. India has been a socio-cultural entity with a civilizational identity for millennia. At Independence, India was a country of amazing complexity of cultures, languages, customs, religions, ethnicities, and an ancient caste[Read More…]
Then In 2011 the Great East Japan Earthquake and ensuing tsunami devastated northeast Japan, taking the lives of more than 18,000 people and triggering one of the worst industrial accidents in history: the crippling breakdown of the Fukushima Dai’ichi nuclear power plant. Three of the plant’s six reactors suffered perilous nuclear core meltdowns and hydrogen gas explosions, releasing radionuclides into[Read More…]
In one of his first acts in the White House, President Joe Biden signed an executive order to have the United States rejoin the Paris climate agreement. It signaled an important step in the country recommitting to action to tackle climate change after the Trump administration withdrew the United States from the accord and worked to roll back environmental regulations nationwide. Biden’s[Read More…]
On Friday, the third anniversary of climate campaigner Greta Thunberg’s lone protest outside the Swedish Parliament, a global report revealed the scale of risks posed by the climate emergency for the world’s children. The United Nations’ agency for children’s rights, UNICEF, introduced the first-ever Children’s Climate Risk Index, which shows that nearly half of the world’s children are at “extremely high risk” for being faced[Read More…]
Since the end of the feudal era, the world order has been largely structured by the nation-state system. Individuals have been willing to kill and die for their countries. The pursuit of individual and group interests has occurred largely within a national framework. Nonetheless, social and political movements have often transgressed national boundaries and expressed solidarities that go beyond them.[Read More…]
The flooding disaster in Humphreys County, Tennessee over the weekend has so far killed at least 21 people, including two toddlers, with another 45 still missing. The flash floods were the result of a storm which dropped 17 inches of rain on the region on Saturday evening, likely a new state record. Early imagery shows whole communities devastated, with scores[Read More…]
The great Afghan woman martyr, Meena (1956-1987) founded the REVOLUTIONARY ASSOCIATION OF THE WOMEN OF AFGHANISTAN (RAWA) in 1977. She was assassinated by the hired goons of KHAD (Afghanistan branch of KGB) and their fundamentalist accomplices in Quetta, Pakistan, on February 4, 1987. RAWA resolutely fought for the rights of the Afghan women against the Islamists and the Russians occupation[Read More…]
It ended in chaos and disaster. Kabul has fallen and Joe Biden is being blamed (by congressional Republicans in particular) for America’s now almost-20-year disaster in Afghanistan. But is the war on terror itself over? Apparently not. It seems like centuries ago, but do you remember when, in May 2003, President George W. Bush declared “Mission accomplished” as he spoke proudly of his invasion[Read More…]
The killing of Socrates left a stain on the fabric of Athenian society, a stain it nearly expanded 80 years later with similar threats of impiety towards an Aristotle determined not to let Athens “sin twice against philosophy.”[i] This original sin against philosophy has been immortalized in philosophy classrooms for millenniums to come – turning for philosophy[Read More…]
The economic fallout of the Covid-19 lockdowns has created the worst humanitarian crisis in recent history. Numerous surveys have revealed the sheer gravity of this unfolding catastrophe in India and the world. Its starkest symptom is mass starvation, which is once again stalking the land. In this important series of articles for Covid Response Watch researcher and journalist, Sajai Jose[Read More…]
The Kisan Andolan is closing in on nine months – braving deeply disturbing times, braving weather extremities, braving police brutalities, braving government’s insouciance and subterfuge, braving the dark Covid clouds, braving the despair of over 500 compatriot deaths. Nine months! Displaying a clear understanding on the subject and its issues, and a clearer sense of purpose. Not for a day[Read More…]
While the importance of increasing renewable energy particularly solar energy is now widely recognized, there is need also for giving more importance to its decentralized spread. There has been a tendency of placing more dependence on mega projects taken up by big business houses for expanding solar power capacity in several countries including India, but this can have several[Read More…]
Human beings have suppressed, oppressed, mutilated, humiliated and neglected their own fellow human beings due to many reasons throughout history. There are economic, cultural, social and political reason for such human rights violations. One of the reasons for such human rights violations in India is on the basis of identity. People have been killed, abused, lynched, molested, raped and burnt.[Read More…]
Do not for a minute think that this is a kind, heart-felt thing in the aftermath of Kabul’s fall. True, a number of Afghans will find their way to Germany, to Canada, to the UK, US and a much smaller number to Australia. But this will be part of the curtain act that, in time, will pass into memory and[Read More…]
The 20 year Afghan War has ended and the war criminal US, UK, NATO and Australian invaders have all but left a devastated land. The Indigenous Afghan Taliban rapidly and peacefully took over all of formerly Occupied Afghanistan as the collaborator government collapsed and the US-trained Afghan forces offered no resistance. A peaceful, liberated Afghanistan hopefully faces a brighter future[Read More…]
Most people in the world have had the experience of leaving the place where they were born and grew up. Usually they will only move as far as the next big city or to a neighbouring state But for some people, they will need to leave their country entirely – sometimes for a short time, but sometimes forever. There are[Read More…]
A sustained or protracted campaign has to be launched to save the life or Dr.Abimael Guzman or Chairman Gonzalo.He is on the verge of dying with continuous deterioration of health. The reactionary State cites untreated skin cancer which has now metastasized as the cause for Gonzalo’s admission to the hospital. Chairman Gonzalo’s condition is easily diagnosed and treatable at an[Read More…]
India was ready for change with liberalisation and globalization. As the then Finance Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh had said in his historic budget speech, the country needed a comprehensive fiscal adjustment, but the poor would also have to be saved from it. On July 25, 1991, an editorial article in ‘The Hindu’ had called it ‘sparing the poor’. At[Read More…]
We cannot eat money and there are no winners on a dead Earth. Science tells us that we now have fewer than 10 years to reduce the human burden on Earth or trigger tipping points in Earth’s natural systems from which there is no return. Most discussion centers on the climate emergency, but we also have crises related to air, water,[Read More…]
The economic fallout of the Covid-19 lockdowns has created the worst humanitarian crisis in recent history. Numerous surveys have revealed the sheer gravity of this unfolding catastrophe in India and the world. Its starkest symptom is mass starvation, which is once again stalking the land. In this important series of articles for Covid Response Watch researcher and journalist, Sajai Jose[Read More…]
The experience is a jarring one to stare for even a moment at the scene of the Jewish Nation-State & Occupied Palestinian Territories inextricably joined together; as if one were viewing through a telescope not at one of the universe’s distant galactic black holes, but rather peering back into the black void that exists here, on one of Planet Earth’s[Read More…]
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court N.V. Ramana recently asked the Attorney General of the Central Government, “Is there a need for a law of ‘treason’ which reminds us of the remnants of colonialism after 75 years of independence?” According to the court, section 124 (a) of the Act is being grossly misused. The ‘Sedition Act’ was enacted by the[Read More…]
The burden of edible oil imports has been increasing and edible oil prices have been rising sharply. Hence it was only to be expected that the government will soon announce some major initiative to resolve this crisis. On August 18 the Union Government announced the National Mission on Edible Oils with a financial outlay of Rs. 110,40 crore ( one[Read More…]
Adria Jagaranga was a student of Class 7. About 14 years old, the boy was a keen student. During the lockdown, he moved from Bhubaneswar, where he went to school, back to his village in Rayagada district of Odisha. The boy would go up the hill each day with a smartphone to attend online classes. A few days ago in[Read More…]
In 1988 on August 22nd, I became the 16th Indian to swim the English Channel and in this work I am summing up the challenge involved and how its experience or training for it has so many similarities with that of a the life of a Marxist or social revolutionary. Few challenges are as daunting as swimming the English Channel.[Read More…]
Nehru in retrospect certainly does not shine as brightly as he did during his lifetime.But the image has not dimmed as much as much as his detractors would like.There is a much more clear-headed perception of his weaknesses and failures,but also a willingness to make due allowance for the mistakes unavoidable in his pioneering leadership in a long march on[Read More…]
by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies America’s corporate media are ringing with recriminations over the humiliating U.S. military defeat in Afghanistan. But very little of the criticism goes to the root of the problem, which was the original decision to militarily invade and occupy Afghanistan in the first place. That decision set in motion a cycle of violence[Read More…]
In the days following the desperate evacuation of US troops from Afghanistan, the corporate press has launched an international propaganda campaign raising concerns for the “human rights” of residents of the Central Asian country. For the last 20 years, the corporate media and imperialist powers of the world raised no objections as the United States killed over 100,000 people, set[Read More…]
For various reasons, marginalised people like myself and vulnerable asylum seekers arriving by boat to UK shores are rarely heard from. Nevertheless, we have a lot to say to you. The UK government’s proposed Nationality and Borders Bill is politically expedient, not principled. I attempt to put myself in the shoes of those desperate asylum seekers who put their life[Read More…]
As in Iraq, as in Libya, as in Mali. It is time to finally bury the doctrine of the so-called “responsibility to protect”, which was coined at the time of the beginning of the Afghan war, and to brand it as what it was from the beginning: a neocolonial project. The headless flight of NATO troops from Afghanistan and the[Read More…]
With a harrowing new IPCC report, a global pandemic with no signs of abetting, and the ongoing humanitarian disasters left in the wake of war and conflict, it is easy to feel pessimistic. But in the necessary quest to push beyond the current limits of imagination and politics to foster solidarity beyond the state, we can still find grounds for[Read More…]
In the wake of interlocking global crises, we must remember that capitalist crises (of profitability or legitimacy or both) have led to collective action (revolutions, social movements), which in turn has sometimes compelled states and ruling elites to enact people-oriented welfarist policies. Let’s note, however, that since the 1980s, the ruling elites have refrained from enacting such policies; instead, they[Read More…]
“Having Palestinians, Africans, Asians, Latinx, Muslims, LGBTQIA folks, etc., in the NYCP Dept. doesn’t make it less brutal, violent or corrupt,” writes Mawusi Ture, sister of the late Kwame Ture/Stokely Carmichael and organizer for Black Alliance for Peace (BAP). Ture’s words refer to the promotion of Palestinian American Filastin Srour to captain, making her the first woman of Arab descent[Read More…]
Religious revival and highly charged conflicts in a shrinking world make it difficult for people of competing faiths to live together. Fundamentalists of all creeds exhibit a striking commonality; an inability to think rationally. Menachem Begin bombed the King Edward Hotel in Jerusalem 1945, communal riots in Jabalpur India in 1961, religious riots in Beirut in 1983, Babri[Read More…]
Vidya Bhushan Rawat speaks to Mr Raj Mohan, lyricist, singer and musician in Sarnami Bhojpuri Rootlessness is a serious crisis of the current generation as most enjoy the gated life styles surrounded by ‘gazettes and ‘connectivity’ where any guest is unwelcome and you are lost in the virtual world without ever caring or even thinking of your neighbours or near[Read More…]
The All-American Base World – 750 U.S. Military Bases Still Remain Around the Planet It was the spring of 2003 during the American-led invasion of Iraq. I was in second grade, living on a U.S. military base in Germany, attending one of the Pentagon’s many schools for families of servicemen stationed abroad. One Friday morning, my class was on the verge of[Read More…]
Filmmaker Ken Loach has been expelled from the Labour Party. He tweeted on Saturday: “Labour HQ finally decided I’m not fit to be a member of their party, as I will not disown those already expelled. Well … I am proud to stand with the good friends and comrades victimised by the purge. There is indeed a witch-hunt … [Labour[Read More…]
To build a different system—one that values healthy soils, biodiversity, clean water, and human capital over exploitation and profit at all costs—we must invest in the knowledge that supports it. Soil scientist E. Britt Moore drives home the foundational nature of soil to his undergraduate students with an etymology lesson. Human, he tells them, comes from the Latin humus, or soil.[Read More…]
The world is processing the dire warnings in the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report: We are on a path to see global temperature rise to surpass the 2-degree threshold, bringing more intense heat waves, droughts, and sea-level rise—unless we shift rapidly away from fossil fuels. And the climate movement is grappling with both a sense of urgency and[Read More…]
In late August of 2017, Rohima Kadu’s idyllic village of Chin Khali, Rakhine was visited by Myanmar’s much dreaded military, the Tatmadaw and its local Buddhist militia associates. A helpless Rohingya widow of 50, Rohima was at a loss. Her eldest daughter, with whom she was living at that time, was bedridden with malaria and too weak to run. So,[Read More…]
Abu Omar Khorasani was taken from Kabul’s Pul-i-Charkhi prison and unceremoniously shot. The first and only person to have been executed since the Taliban gained full control of Afghanistan, Mr. Khorasani was the head of the Islamic State in South Asia until he was arrested by government forces last year. The precise circumstances of his execution are not known. His[Read More…]
Preamble Every human being is born with intrinsic rights which recognise and protect her or his life and dignity. As civilization progressed, and specially with the formation of the United Nations after World War II, many international charters and covenants were formulated to define and codify these rights, and enjoin on member States to protect them. India with its plural[Read More…]
Kandhamal is now deeply seared into the collective memory of the Christian community in India. It is also now a part of Independent India’s tragic list of hate-driven mass violence targeting religious minorities, Adivasis and Dalits by non-state actors enjoying extraordinary impunity. The malevolent violence in the Kandhamal and adjoining districts of Odisha in 2007 and 2008 stands out for[Read More…]
After assuming power in Kabul, the Taliban has tried to soften its extremist image. In a press conference on August 17, 2021, the group’s spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said, inter alia, that they are committed to provide women their rights in accordance with Islam and that there will be no discrimination against them. He said women could work and go to school, but their[Read More…]
Taliban’s return to Kabul this week in lightning speed dislodging world’s No.1 self-styled sole Superpower Uncle Sam, is outstanding as much as astounding, considering Taleban’s de facto rag-tag force with primitive weapons and nil airpower. They outsmarted the U.S. in almost every department of high-altitude mountain guerrilla war. Quite significant too, that a U. S. push-out was accomplished even before[Read More…]
I got this on WhatsApp this morning: “If you ever feel useless, just remember … USA took 4 Presidents, thousands of lives, trillions of dollar and 20 years to replace Taliban with Taliban.” Keeping aside the humour and sarcasm, one must admire Americans’ candidness, once they know what they are talking or writing about. However, the bulk of Americans are[Read More…]
Afghan ambassador to Washington Ms. Adela Raz said that President Ghani and his cronies simply emptied the Afghan Treasury and left with the loot…India’s policymakers couldn’t have been unaware that a cabal was ruling Afghanistan but deliberately chose to ignore it… The Washington Post has exposed that the Pentagon commanders lied and the ‘forever war’ continued… The disconcerting fact is,[Read More…]
Speculations resting on numerous analyses are being voiced on what does withdrawal of United States from Afghanistan and take-over by Taliban really indicate? The former aspect is being viewed by most as defeat of the Superpower and the latter as probable return of terrorism to the country spelling distress for most, particularly women. Let us view the ground reality from[Read More…]
“To President Theodore Roosevelt – you are like the Wind and I like the Lion. You form the Tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the Ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will[Read More…]
A unique but critical conversation on Israel and Palestine is taking place outside the traditional discourse of Israeli colonialism and the Palestinian quest for liberation. It is an awkward and difficult – but overdue – discussion concerning American Jews’ relation to Israel and their commitment to its Zionist ideology. For many years, Israel has conveniently dubbed Jews who do[Read More…]
Why Sarpatta Parambarai holds an important place in Tamil film history? It not only has convincing arguments for Dalits and women but raising questions against the dominant images and ideas. A Tamil film, Unnal Mudiyum Thambi (‘you can do it brother’ ) released 33 years ago, directed by a prominent dialogue writer cum director K.Balachander, who directed hundred films[Read More…]
It’s only 76 days until world leaders convene in Glasgow, Scotland, for some of the most important international negotiations in history. What happens during the twelve days of the Glasgow Climate Talks (known by climate wonks as COP26) will go a long way to determining the fate of much of the Paris Climate Agreement―which is another way of saying the fate[Read More…]
The recent international focus on Afghanistan has led to the unfortunate neglect of a many-sided humanitarian crisis in Haiti which has aggravated around the same time. First, a high-intensity earthquake struck, and this was followed very soon by a tropical storm which brought heavy rains and flooding. This mountainous country is very prone to mudslides and landslides at the time[Read More…]
Civilisation has tended to be seen like a gift by those claiming to grant it. It is done, in the sense Rudyard Kipling intended it, with solemn duty. It is a task discharged as a burden borne heavily. In its modern form, notably in the hands of the US, it comes with fast food, roads, schools and blue chip stocks. [Read More…]
Chris Hedges, in his fine book American Fascists ( 2006), quotes from the late philosopher Karl Popper. In his piece The Open Society and Its Enemies Popper gives his views on tolerance vs. the intolerant. Here is a passage that is so relevant today: ” … If we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of[Read More…]
For the third time, in the last 18 months, Meha Saxena, studying at a premier private school in Jaipur was removed from her class WhatsApp group by the admin, who also happens to be the class teacher. The reason: her parents were unable to pay her school fees on time. Her father, who was a private employee lost his job[Read More…]
By Constitutional Conduct Group Dear Citizens of India, We are a group of retired officers of the All India and Central Services who have worked with the Central and State Governments in the course of our careers. As members of the Constitutional Conduct Group, we believe in impartiality, neutrality and commitment to the Indian Constitution and in safeguarding its values.[Read More…]
It was not an Independence Day event that got any coverage in the mainstream media – camel herders in Pali district brought their camels too and some of the camels sported national flags and posters around their necks. Some of the banners that the camel herders held up mentioned that they could no longer afford to keep taking care of[Read More…]
Taliban’s re-capture of Afghanistan was virtually certain after the February 2020 (Doha) US-Taliban deal concerning US forces pull-out from Afghanistan. Afghanistan’s immediate and regional neighbours had plenty of time to re-strategize the forthcoming situation. However, Taliban’s easy capture of Kabul due to the unexpectedly rapid collapse of Afghan forces trained and equipped by USA, has surprised all. Reports of Afghanistan[Read More…]
The present ruling dispensation is out to fulfill its dream of ‘one India, one religion, one language, one culture, one economy, and one party under one leader’ and to change Indian Constitution accordingly. The ruling party has absolute majority in the Parliament, but does not enjoy the sanction of the majority Indians. Nearly two-third of the electorate who cast their[Read More…]
Given the current climate emergency and the broader ecological breakdown that looms, there are few issues more pressing than that expressed by the single word: enough. What is enough? Put that question to any economist or politician, and you are likely to get a blank stare in return. In a society devoted to continuous economic growth, there is no way to[Read More…]
On Monday afternoon, US President Joe Biden delivered a nationally televised address in response to the collapse of the US-backed puppet government in Afghanistan. The scale and historical impact of the catastrophe suffered by American imperialism in Afghanistan, which in many respects exceeds even its defeat in the Vietnam War, found expression in the speech, perhaps the bleakest address by[Read More…]
India’s partition has been one of the major tragedies of the twentieth Century World. The loss of lives and the mass migrations have very few equivalent tragedies in the World. The wounds of the tragedy are not totally healed but people have engaged with the changed dynamics of nationalism. In the middle of all the gnawing problems which India is[Read More…]
The monsoon session has seen 20 bills passed in both Houses of Parliament, either without discussion or minimal, limited to treasury bench MPs speaking on the legislation. The Rajya Sabha has passed nine bills since the House convened on July 19 and clocked nearly 17 minutes per bill for discussion and passing, as the Centre decided to push the legislative[Read More…]
U.S House Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) recently introduced a bill in Congress to overhaul GDP, the nation’s most watched economic indicator. July 30th she introduced the Genuine Progress Indicator (“GPI”) Act. It would be a significant change for the trajectory of the socio-economic system. GPI is a new way to calculate GDP, but passage of the act in Congress is[Read More…]
Locals estimate that the employment of almost 50,000 people has been affected in Jharkhand’s Deoghar area alone, owing to cancellations of the Kanwar Yatra and Shravani Mela amidst COVID-19. Bihar: 35-year-old Amit Kumar Saha and his brother Rohit Kumar run a pooja shop in Sultanganj town in Bihar’s Bhagalpur district. The family, which lives right behind the shop, has been[Read More…]
If the goal is to protect environment from automobile pollution, improve road safety, and end economic disparities in the society, then vehicle scrappage policy is not likely to deliver on these tall promises. Rather such a policy could be counter-productive if we look closely at the aforementioned goals. Such a policy is another example of promoting market-based solutions to benefit[Read More…]
In the Shadows of the American Century – The Rise and Decline of US Global Power. ALfred W. McCoy. Haymarket Books, Chicago. 2017 Reading “In the Shadows of the American Century” is a bit of an up and down ride. The best part of the book for personal interest concerning the author is the Introduction. The author, Alfred McCoy, discusses[Read More…]
Jean Paul Sartre in the preface to, ‘The Wretched of the Earth: The European elite manufactured a native elite by picking up promising adolescents, branded them with western culture, stuffed them with high sounding phrases, brought them to the ‘mother country’ and sent them back’ white washed’, where they echoed European slogans.1 The third world is not a homogeneous[Read More…]
“A house constitutes a body of images that give mankind proofs or illusions of stability.” – Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space There is a vast and growing gulf between the world’s rich and poor. An obscene gulf. If we can read houses, they will confirm this. They offer a visible lesson in social class. Houses stand before us like books[Read More…]
On August 15th Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) celebrated the Farmer Labor Mukti-Sangharsh Day at 40 places with three big gatherings in hundreds of villages and cities across Punjab. The stage was inaugurated by paying tribute to more than 500 martyrs of Kisan movement everywhere and to Chacha Ajit Singh, the leader of the Anti-British Kisan Movement, on the occasion[Read More…]
Some countries are in shambles. Some countries are in a wreck — war torn, poverty-ridden, divided deeply from the world where such expressions are only hyperboles and not a reality. The major war in these fortunate parts of the world currently is mainly with the pandemic. These nations still have the bandwidth to explore how to make more money and[Read More…]
It unfolded as a story of fleeing. The Afghan president Ashraf Ghani, taking flight to Tajikistan, giving little clue of his intentions to colleagues. The fleeing of the infamous Abdul Rashid Dostum, a warlord assured to fight another day. The fleeing of tens of thousands of residents out of the city of Kabul, long seen as beyond the reach of[Read More…]
The first colonial settlers arrived in New England at about the same time as they arrived in Ireland. These settler-colonialists (planters) expropriated a half-million acres of arable land under the conviction that Ireland needed to be anglicized, civilized and controlled. In doing this the English colonists began a century of conflict as they attempted to supplant the Indigenous Gaelic inhabitants.[Read More…]
A Half-century Long Brutal USA Embargo Against Tiny Cuba! 184 Nations Vote For its End & Against US & Israel NEW YORK, June 23 (Reuters) – ‘U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration continued Washington’s tradition of voting against an annual United Nations General Assembly resolution calling for an end to a U.S. economic embargo on Cuba. The resolution was adopted[Read More…]
Introduction As India celebrates the Amrut Mahotsav (75 years) of its independence, the questions still remain why India still lags behind, why imperialists still have a say in running the country. In this era of imperialist globalization, Political Independence became increasingly a concept more imaginary than a reality. India, the second most populous country with a huge economy, often[Read More…]
On August 11, 2021, Pakistan’s Prime Minster Imran Khan said, “I tried to persuade the Taliban… three to four months back when they came here…The condition is that as long as [Afghanistan’s President] Ashraf Ghani is there, we [Taliban] are not going to talk to the Afghan government.” Three days later, news has arrived that Ghani is pondering over resignation,[Read More…]
Taliban advances in Afghanistan shift the Central Asian playing field on which China, India and the United States compete with rival infrastructure-driven approaches. At first glance, a Taliban takeover of Kabul would give China a 2:0 advantage against the US and India, but that could prove to be a shaky head start. The potential fall of the US-backed Afghan government[Read More…]
It was a Marathi Book- (Einsteinche Manovishv) – by Dr. Mo. Ra. Gunye, Research Scientist from Bhaba Atomic Research Centre in his Book (513 pages, studded with 18 Chapters a masterpiece of Literature as well), appropriately summarizes Value of Albert Einstein’s contributions in his Book, (Psychological Universe of Einstein- 1997) which prompted me to write Einstein’s Life Journey, though I[Read More…]
K.M. Seethi, Enduring Dilemma: Flashpoints in Kashmir and India-Pakistan Relations (KW Publishers Pvt Ltd New Delhi 2021) As India and Pakistan are set to celebrate the 75th Year of independence, the trauma of partition and the unsettled issues of the past continue to haunt the people of the subcontinent in diverse ways. The region of South Asia is not only[Read More…]
Lopsided development in Uttarakhand has increased the pace of outmigration of local villagers. More than 1000 villages are entirely abandoned, making them ‘ghost’ villages (Upadhyay, 2018). According to the Rural Development and Migration Commission of Uttarakhand, the reason for this mass exodus ranges from an inability to diversify livelihoods to lack of educational and healthcare institutions. Global climate[Read More…]
Today the nation celebrates independence with proto-fascism at a crescendo which disguises itself as a neo-liberal democracy. At no point in history have the forces of capital been so strong or dictated themselves so ruthlessly .Hindutva fascism has penetrated every sphere of society and the semi –bourgeois democratic socio-political system at an unprecedented scale. The ruling party has thrust a[Read More…]
The Indian Diaspora led by Foundation London Story, a diaspora-led organization based in the Netherlands, released the first EU-India People’s Roadmap on August 15, 2021. The Roadmap, is a common agenda to guide political action and strengthen the EU-India strategic partnership with human rights and inclusive values at its heart. Marking India’s Independence Day, the Roadmap is an assertion of democratic[Read More…]
In the first week of August construction workers from several parts of the country organized protests in Delhi and submitted memorandum of their demands to the union government, including the Labor Minister and the Prime Minister. Although the number of those joining the protest was kept low keeping in view COVID related precautions regarding travel and gatherings, construction workers from[Read More…]
India is much older than 75 years and hence its leaders need to speak the language of maturity and reasoning. Unfortunately, the prime minister and his government are least bothered about governance and more about elections. To declare August 14th as the ‘remembering the horror of partition day’ is nothing but deliberately creating an atmosphere of mistrust and disharmony. We[Read More…]
The historical vectors are moving with conviction and purpose; the weak and lacking in conviction are in retreat and the gun is doing the talking. The government of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, the security services and the Afghan National Army, seem to be either huddled in despair, capitulating or fleeing before the inexorable advance of the Taliban. They have the[Read More…]
I sat in Court 4 in the Royal Courts of Justice in London yesterday with Stella Moris, Julian Assange’s partner. I have known Stella for as long as I have known Julian. She, too, is a voice of freedom, coming from a family that fought the fascism of Apartheid. Today, her name was uttered in court by a barrister and[Read More…]
In the midst of the gloom caused by the Covid pandemic there is a uniquely inspiring story from Madhya Pradesh. It is about how a group of villagers smartly leveraged the ongoing vaccination drive to win their long running battle against corruption in a prestigious government scheme. The story starts in the pre-Covid period, when the villagers of Dularia gram[Read More…]
The United States lost the Afghanistan War a long time ago, as is quickly becoming apparent as the Taliban take city after city. After 2002, it was never clear what the US war aim was. You can’t win a war if you don’t have a clear objective. The war is lost before it begins. The initial US military action against the[Read More…]
![A member of the Afghan security forces walks in the sprawling Bagram air base after the American military departed, in Parwan province north of Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, July 5, 2021 [Credit: AP Photo/Rahmat Gul]](https://cdn.countercurrents.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/afghan-security-force-200x150.jpg "US troops return to Afghanistan as regime disintegrates 344")
The first of some 3,000 US soldiers and Marines ordered by the Biden administration back into Afghanistan began arriving at Kabul’s international airport Friday as six more of Afghanistan’s provincial capitals were overrun by the Taliban, bringing the total to 18 that have fallen to the insurgency. Another 4,000 US troops are being sent to Kuwait for a possible rapid[Read More…]
According to International Labour Organization’s (ILO) July 2021 policy brief, “Building Forward Fairer: Women’s rights to work and at work at the core of the COVID-19 recovery”: “Globally, between 2019 and 2020, women’s employment declined by 4.2 per cent, representing a drop of 54 million jobs, while men’s employment declined by 3 per cent, or 60 million jobs…in 2021, the[Read More…]
As India celebrates the Amrut Mahotsav (75 years) of its independence, the question still remains why India still lags behind, why imperialists still have a say in running the country. India, the second most populous country with a huge economy, often succumbs to pressures from foreign powers and foreign agencies like IMF and World Bank, in matters of economy and[Read More…]
Arguably the most qualitative protest of the dalit landless labourers challenging casteist oppression in the entire nation took place near the chief minister’s palatial house at Moti Mahal in Patiala, yesterday. Around 2000 dalit agricultural labourers led by the Zameen Prapti Sangharsh Commitee besieged Caspian Amrinder Singh’s residential house. The intensity of the demonstrators was immense. The protest embarrassed the[Read More…]
‘Such is your state; This is the cause; Remove the cause.’ -Ved Prakash Varuk Constantly forged in the crucible of struggles and resistance the peasant farmers’ protest reveals the transformative resolve to constitute a new Republic. To chart a more comprehensive emancipatory alternative, and negate frightening modes of domination, dispossession and racial hierarchy. The peasant insurgents endowed with a surfeit[Read More…]
RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat in a book release programme said that the DNA of Muslims and Hindus are one. The author of the book, is Dr. Khwaja Iftikar Ahmad titled ‘The Meeting of Minds :A bridging Initiative’ is a Muslim and he is part of the RSS created organisation, ‘Muslim Rashtriya Manch. ( Muslim National Front). In a way it[Read More…]
by Ulrich Brand and Markus Wissen Many necessary everyday items that are produced as commodities are tied to a range of activities that are invisible during their purchase, consumption and use: the origin of raw materials used in household appliances, medical devices or transport; water and energy infrastructures; the working conditions under which materials are extracted or textiles and food[Read More…]
India achieved independence in exceptionally difficult circumstances, but India also inherited a very rich legacy of the freedom movement to guide its path of progress after independence. It was a legacy much more valuable than any great treasure of gold or diamonds. It was a legacy obtained from the great struggles and sacrifices of several million freedom fighters who not[Read More…]
Rome is scorching hot. This beautiful city is becoming unbearable for other reasons, too. Though every corner of the beaming metropolis is a monument to historical grandeur, from the Colosseum in Rione Monti to the Basilica of Saint John Lateran in San Giovanni, it is now struggling under the weight of its own contradictions. In Via Appia, bins are overflowing[Read More…]
The Pentagon announced Thursday that the US is sending 3,000 US soldiers and Marines into Afghanistan with the ostensible mission of securing US diplomatic facilities in Kabul and organizing the evacuation of American civilians. Britain is sending 600 soldiers for the same purpose. The US deployment of one Army and two Marine infantry battalions has been ordered as the lightning[Read More…]
National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) has initiated a nation-wide, one-year long campaign called Jan Azadi 75: On the Path to Freedom, from 9th Aug 2021 to 15th Aug, 2022, to remember the values and aspirations of the freedom movement, re-assert the role, contributions and challenges of people’s resistances in the past 75 years and campaign across the country to[Read More…]
It is truly a heart touching sight, to witness the back breaking work of a dalit agricultural labour and the manner he is still bonded in the so called age of democracy. The shackles of casteist oppression embedded for centuries, are still entrenched. Under the invitation of Sajha Mazdoor Morcha based on rural and farm labour organizations, thousands of villagers[Read More…]
A new freely downloadable book I would like to announce the publication of a collection of the articles and book announcements which I have written during the last two years. Almost all of these have been published in Countercurrents or in TMS Weekly Digest or both. I am extremely grateful to Editor Binu Mathew and to Editor Antonio C.S. Rosa[Read More…]
Author – Badri Narayan Publisher – Penguin Random House India, March 2021 ‘There is no exaggeration in saying that the entire destiny of a country depends upon its intellectual class’ – Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar In this recent book Professor Badri Narayan (Social Historian and Cultural Anthropologist) maps out the political grammar of Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) and its parent[Read More…]
Taliban WAS the Government of Afghanistan for 4 Years When USA Invaded & Put in a Drug Lord Regime and For 20 Years the Taliban Continued To Govern Half of Afghanistan Outside the Cities and Coalition Military Bases Chronology: 1978, Afghani King overthrown. Popular women liberating Socialist gov. installed in Kabul. July,1979, Prez Carter secretly funds its overthrow by fundamentalist[Read More…]
The Covid pandemic has ushered in a massive ray of hope on the ground for the Left in West Bengal, thanks to the emergence of the youthful Red Volunteers responding to the emergency and crisis situation in Kolkata and across remote parts of the state. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) may have scored zero in the 2021 assembly and[Read More…]
Trepan Singh Chauhan, a great activist-author of Uttarakhand, left us last year (2020) on August 13, leaving behind a rich legacy of activism and writings that will serve as a source of inspiration for a long time. He died when he was only 48, and during his potentially most productive years he suffered from serious health problems and from the[Read More…]
The institutional murder of 84-year-old Jesuit priest Fr Stan Swamy, who died on 5 July 2021 while still in judicial custody, has shaken the very foundations of democracy in India. The importance and the urgency to defend democracy and all that is precious in the Constitution of India against repressive and anti-people laws, is perhaps felt today, as never before.[Read More…]
Farmers have been protesting in Delhi for three-and-a-half months over three agricultural laws passed by Parliament. Farmers’ organizations say the laws are for the benefit of corporates. Once these laws are enacted, corporates will not only be able to easily purchase farm produce, but will also be able to enter into contracts as required and purchase and store the products[Read More…]
This is Part-1 of a two-part article. This part shows how peace and tranquility at LAC is sought to be restored, in spite of a rare clash at Galwan last year. LAC was a rare border where not a single shot was fired, and none killed, in over four decades despite it being a disputed border. It further shows how[Read More…]
Admittedly, I hadn’t been there for 46 years, but old friends of mine still live (or at least lived) in the town of Greenville, California, and now… well, it’s more or less gone, though they survived. The Dixie Fire, one of those devastating West Coast blazes, had already “blackened” 504 square miles of Northern California in what was still essentially[Read More…]
With substsantive politics,which has serious concern with the economy having been quietly shelved,and now being shaped by masters of global finance in the shadows, politics has steadily turned into a noisy theatre.A few decent politicians are still struggling against the current.But the pull of the current seems simply overwhelming.One is disquietened by shows like passionate protests verging on violence and[Read More…]
The Statesman, May 2 1908: “The Railway station was crowded to see the boy. A mere boy of 18 or 19 years old, who looked quite determined. He came out of a first class compartment and walked all the way to phaeton, kept for him outside, like a cheerful boy who knows no anxiety… on taking his seat the boy[Read More…]
The collapse of US-backed Afghan security forces in the face of a nationwide offensive by the Taliban insurgency has led US military and intelligence officials to warn that the fall of Kabul could come within one month to 90 days, the Washington Post reported Wednesday. The new estimate represents a change in the already grim projection that the US-backed puppet regime of[Read More…]
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has released a very large, detailed and important document “Climate Change 2021. The physical science basis” that is prefaced by a detailed Summary for Policymakers (SPM) . Set out below for the benefit of busy readers is a summary and critique of this summary. In short, the SPM superbly sets out the science[Read More…]
All powers to Centre… and all responsibilities or liabilities are thrust on the heads of the states. The Centre has usurped all the powers of the State Governments over all the irrigation projects (35 on Krishna basin and 71 on Godavari). How can Union take over the complete ownership of two rivers and impose entire liabilities on two states? It[Read More…]
Remembering victims of targeted violence against Christian Adivasis and Dalits, expressing solidarity with all victims of hate cand violence in India. NSF announces Kandhamal Human Rights awards for Activists and Groups The National Solidarity Forum has instituted two annual awards in honour of the victims and survivors of the mass violence against Adivasi and Dalit Christians of Kandhamal and several[Read More…]
The desperate attempt by the US imperium to nab Julian Assange was elevated to another level on August 11 in a preliminary hearing before the UK High Court. The central component to this gruesome affair was the continuing libel of the expert witness upon which District Justice Vanessa Baraitser placed so much emphasis in her January 4 decision not to[Read More…]
Srinagar: Seven years ago, 45-year-old Yasmeen* witnessed the death of her brother, who was caught in a cross-fire between militants and army personnel in Kulgam, 67 km from Srinagar. For years, she was traumatised by the shrieks and the sight of him dying in a pool of blood. She was eventually diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and dissociative disorder. “She[Read More…]
by Medea Benjamin & Nicolas J. S. Davies Nine provincial capitals in Afghanistan have fallen to the Taliban in six days – Zaranj, Sheberghan, Sar-e-Pul, Kunduz, Taloqan, Aybak, Farah, Pul-e-Khumri and Faizabad – while fighting continues in four more – Lashkargah, Kandahar, Herat & Mazar-i-Sharif. U.S. military officials now believe Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, could fall in one to three months.[Read More…]
There is an ongoing, but hidden, Israeli war on the Palestinians which is rarely highlighted or even known. It is a water war, which has been in the making for decades. On July 26 and 27, two separate but intrinsically linked events took place in the Ein al-Hilweh area in the occupied Jordan Valley, and near the town of Beita,[Read More…]
Most of the great works of literature have been written from the perception of adult characters. It is seldom that a story with a small child as the main character finds a secure place in world literature, and it is even more rare to find the entire story being told from the perception of a small child. This is all[Read More…]
Since Covid-19 hit India early last year the million strong accredited social health activists or ASHA workers have been at the forefront of the public health response around the country. Just like their name ‘Asha’ implies they have brought hope to people, in both rural and urban areas, offering valuable medical advice and support. On a routine basis, the tasks[Read More…]
India acted rather petulantly when it turned it down Pakistan’s request for participation in the meeting on Afghanistan. Alas, India made a clumsy start to its long-awaited UNSC presidency. This farcical performance does no credit to India’s claim for permanent membership of the UN Security Council… This only leads to misperceptions that India is party to President Ashraf Ghani’s increasingly[Read More…]
On behalf of myself and of Federation of Independent Trade Unions-FITU, I wish to place on record our whole-hearted and deep condolences at the demise of Com. Vilas Sonawane, a dedicated and respected leader and activist of several people’s movements in India, particularly in the state of Maharashtra. Com.Vilas was of 69 years age, was suffering from parkinsonism and some[Read More…]
Recently I watched a film with the title “ Project Marathwada”. The story is about an old farmer from Nandurbar , a small town in Maharashtra. He wants to meet the Chief Minister. His son has recently committed suicide due to mounting debt and so have so many other farmers in the area. He is unable to meet the Chief[Read More…]
Musings on 75th year of our Independence With India getting freedom from colonial rule, the first Prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru summed up the aspirations and dreams of the leaders and participants in the movement in his famous and apt speech “Tryst with Destiny”. He stated, “The achievement we celebrate today is but a step, an opening of opportunity to the[Read More…]
A Short Profile of A Muslim Freedom Fighter — Maqbool Ahmed Jamaie India attained its independence on 15th of August, 1947 from British colonialism due to the combined and united efforts of all the communities of Indian sub-continent irrespective of their numbers – bigger or smaller — Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and others. The known Muslim Poet-philosopher of the sub-continent,[Read More…]
On Aug 5 this month a news alert emerged from London that all is perilously unwell with North Atlantic waters. Two science writers lost no time to put out reports, Sarah Kaplan from Washington Post (WP) as a Breaking News and Jessica Corbett with her version in Science Daily. This writer wrote an initial muted response to Kaplan in WP’s[Read More…]
Reviewer’s Note: I had the pleasure to review a proof of Stan Cox’s forthcoming book. I recommend it strongly and offer high praise, though caviled by a few nits. Please read on. Recent events have awakened even some typically passive people to the enormity of the synthetic disaster that is anthropogenic climate change. Though who “agreed with the Science” and[Read More…]
Bikinis are a mandatory part of female handball players’ dress code. In contrast, male players wear shorts. Similar sexist discrimination prevails almost in all events. Helen Jefferson Lenskyj, a retired professor from the University of Toronto specializing in critiques of the Olympic industry and gender issues in sport, said: “There are sports where the overt sexualization of female bodies is[Read More…]
My father, Athan G. Theoharis, passed away on July 3rd. A leading expert on the FBI, he was responsible for exposing the bureau’s widespread abuses of power. He was a loyal husband, dedicated father, scholar, civil libertarian, and voting-rights advocate with an indefatigable commitment to defending democracy. He schooled his children (and anyone who would listen, including scholars, journalists, and activists from a[Read More…]
The new Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report released on August 9, 2021—the first of four that make up the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment report—reiterates in scientific language (it deals with the physical science basis of global warming) what we have already known for quite some time from scores of previous studies: humanity faces a climate emergency, global warming is[Read More…]
Experts weigh in on how to change the systems and behaviors leading us to catastrophe. One of the best-known features of the Amazon rainforest is that it is, well, wet. But increasingly researchers are wondering how much longer that will be true. About three decades ago, disquieting research began suggesting that the twin effects of deforestation and climate change could cause the[Read More…]
The latest report issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Monday morning goes beyond all previous global scientific documents to definitively link human industrial and agricultural activity to climate change, and to link climate change to specific weather events like recent droughts, heat waves, storms and flooding. Some 234 scientists summarized the results of more than 14,000 separate[Read More…]
The Food and Consumer Affairs Ministry informed the Rajya Sabha in the first week of August that the sharpest rise in retail price of edible oils has been recorded in 2021 on a year-on-year basis since 2016. The price of sunflower oil this year has increased by 41%, folowed by a rise of 37% for soyabean oil, 35% for palmolin[Read More…]
Written by Pep Canadell, Joelle Gergis, Malte Meinshausen, Mark Hemer, Michael Grose Earth has warmed 1.09℃ since pre-industrial times and many changes such as sea-level rise and glacier melt are now virtually irreversible, according to the most sobering report yet by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The report also found escape from human-caused climate change is no longer[Read More…]
Canada is developing a new image: one of burning churches, toppling statues, and mass graves. There are thousands more unmarked graves, thousands more Indigenous children killed at residential schools, remaining to be unearthed. There can be no denying that this is Canada, and it has to change. But can Canada transform itself for the better? If the revelation of the[Read More…]
I was the CIA director. We lied, we cheated, we stole. — Mike Pompeo, former US secretary of state on how the United States conducts its business One of the filters in the Propaganda Model propounded by professors Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky was stoking a fear of communism. [1] The establishment’s anti-communism has never abated in the United States.[Read More…]
Early Imperialism was characterized also by ecological colonialism, that is to say the ecology was shaped by colonial interventions. While the interventions themselves were acts committed in furtherance of the needs of imperialist. The social necessities of capital to constantly valorize surplus value lead imperialist powers to extract valuable minerals and biological matters . This effected change in land use[Read More…]
Art- loving people of Bangladesh, and many other parts of the world, will recall the memory of the famous artist Sheikh Mohammad Sultan, popularly known at SM Sultan marking his 97th anniversary of birth. Narail district administration and SM Sultan Foundation have jointly taken programmes to mark the day. The programmes include Quaran Khani, placing floral wreaths at the grave[Read More…]
Noted Assamese poet Nabakanta Barua wrote a famous poem decades ago, with the title that translates into English as ‘There was a river here’. It describes in pretty ominous and disturbing words how the desert creeps in with slow invincibility.I used to nurse a feeling of dislike and disdain for it as it seemed to bracket out human agency. But[Read More…]
“The alarm bells are deafening, and the evidence is irrefutable: greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel burning and deforestation are choking our planet and putting billions of people at immediate risk.” A panel of leading scientists convened by the United Nations issued a comprehensive report Monday that contains a stark warning for humanity: The climate crisis is here, some of its[Read More…]
Some of the most hearwarming memories of the recent Olympic Games for India will remain of sportspersons from humble backgrounds overcoming very heavy odds to perform very well at the biggest international sports event. Whether their hard work and perseverence resulted in medals or not, the great effort they put in won widespread admiration. The most obvious example is that[Read More…]
How in essence, politics in India has been reduced merely to the battle of perceptions In the India of today what is passed for politics is actually nothing more than the management of perceptions which is being pursued to perfection in Kashmir. Here it is sheer rancour, malice and malevolence towards this place and its people that define how[Read More…]
I got a little tired of believing that the man who died during demonetisation while standing in a queue of a heart attack was any less important or not gold-medal deserving than the man who can throw a javelin further than others with the help of an Australian coach and a German or two for good measure I got a[Read More…]
With the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) in place, is there an optimistic scenario of a nuclear-weapon free world? This might certainly be a difficult but persistently challenging question the world has been grappling with ever since the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were devastated by atomic bombs, way back in 1945. Spectres of nuclear holocaust have[Read More…]
Director Chloe Zhao has created a somber, almost tragic look back, look now and look to the possible future for many of us working stiffs. The film is called Nomadland ( 2021) starring Frances McDormand as Fern, a 60 something widow forced out of her previous life and onto the road. The town where she had lived with her late[Read More…]
(This comment was written last year to mark 78th anniversary of the Quit India Movement. The same is re-issued for your reading on the 79th anniversary of that great movement of the Indian people inspired by the will to freedom) The 78th anniversary of the Quit India Movement, famously known as the August Revolution in the history of India’s freedom[Read More…]
Callum Alexander from Scotland recently contacted me with a few queries about renewable energy. I thought they were interesting questions that might occur to others, so I asked his permission to publish our dialog. Callum: If you replace a coal- or gas-fired power plant with a solar and/or wind farm (with a back-up reliable energy source), will you reduce or[Read More…]
Three new research articles wrestle with the question of nitrogen (N) availability in organic farming. All three are based on the indisputable fact that nitrogen availability is the factor that makes the biggest difference between organic and conventional farming. It is often claimed that half of the global food supply is made possible by the use of chemical fertilizers, but[Read More…]
Jonah Goldberg and Michael Ledeen have much in common. They are both writers and also cheerleaders for military interventions and, often, for frivolous wars. Writing in the conservative rag, The National Review, months before the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, Goldberg paraphrased a statement which he attributed to Ledeen with reference to the interventionist US foreign policy. “Every ten[Read More…]
In Khori Gaon, hundreds of families have been displaced and thousands of houses are being brutally demolished each day. After the completion of the demolition drive, the destitute working-class residents are being forced to live without any shelter. They are also being immediately and forcibly removed from the area and being threatened with police action. Despite the order of the[Read More…]
Dalit families targeted in Demolition Drive Undertaken by Bangalore Development Authority in Doddabettahalli (Yelahanka Hobli, Bangalore North) In a most shocking development, officials of the Bangalore Development Authority, backed by Bangalore Police, destroyed about 10 houses of villagers of Doddabettahalli. Each and every one of the families affected were from Dalit communities. In a similar drive, about 22 houses had been demolished at Somashettahalli, MedaAgrahara and Lakshmipura villages of the[Read More…]
“Relief to thieves, and Thousands of Crores of Rupees Loss to Government and Public,” says Swadeshi (SJM) leader, on Modi Govt Bill . Modi’s “swadeshi” regime passes Bill to benefit global capital, to the detriment of the Indian economy. *** “It is true that under pressure from international arbitration, government had no other option, but the title should be Relief[Read More…]
Recent scientific advancements have brought to the fore the promise of more effective and long-term solutions to help people living with HIV to thrive and not just survive. Today we have a buffet of HIV prevention options (such as, oral daily PrEP, once-a-month vaginal dapivirine ring for women, 2-monthly long-acting injectable) along with a bouquet of improved treatment modalities (monthly[Read More…]
Mohan Bhagawat, the Sarsanghchalak of RSS, made the statement about Islam not being in danger in India, that discord does not work and there is a need for Hindu Muslim dialogue to achieve peace in the country. His statement that ‘a person is not a Hindu if he says that Muslims should not live in India…those involved in mob lynching[Read More…]
Kerala, once celebrated as a model state for its effective response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and which had only eased its second state-wide lockdown nearly a month ago, has been in the news for all the wrong reasons lately. On August 3rd, fresh Covid-19 cases in the state surged to 23,676, the highest single-day count recorded by any state in[Read More…]
There are several reports in the press here in Assam that in several rural regions people queuing up from daybreak for the jab were told that the vaccine stock was exhausted after three or four hours.Incensed they created a huge ruckus,and at times vandalised the vaccine centre and attacked the staff.A friend from the countryside told me on phone that[Read More…]
The social groups whose development is more linked to radical social change are the Scheduled Castes (SCs) in Odisha. The Government of India Scheduled Castes Order 1936 had identified 54 sub-caste groups of Odisha as SCs but during last 70 years, the number of sub caste has increased in State and currently till 2015 it is 95 while some sub[Read More…]
To Narendra D Modi Prime Minister Dear Shri Modi, Sports strategy- Mere lip service will not suffice- Some suggestions on a sports strategy It is an extraordinary effort put in by the Indian athletes and sportspersons at the ongoing Tokyo Olympics which has brought laurels to India and united the entire nation with a collective sense of pride. It is[Read More…]
The cruel and genocidal oppression of the Indigenous Palestinians by nuclear terrorist, racist Zionist-run and genocidally racist Apartheid Israel invites comparison with the cruelties of Nazi Germany. However such comparisons made by anti-racist Jewish and non-Jewish humanitarians invite false and defamatory Zionist assertions of racism and anti-Semitism. To counter this, provided below is a shocking and detailed list of 52[Read More…]
As I write this piece ,what lingers in my mind is the picture of the Indian women’s hockey team entering the women’s hockey semi finals for the first time in history even though they eventually lost there. It is interesting turn of events in a country where women are generally denied as many opportunities as men that so many women[Read More…]
The corporate media was forced to admit the obvious by early July. Even before U.S. troops left Afghanistan, the reactionary Islamist Taliban that their invasion overthrew had retaken huge swaths of the country. After 20 years and over $2 trillion spent, Washington faced a massive failure with nothing to show for it but death and destruction. What apologists for U.S.[Read More…]
Bhopal: The second wave of Covid-19 has hit the people of Madhya Pradesh hard, with thousands losing their lives. The misery has not stopped though for millions of citizens in the state who now find themselves neck-deep in debt due to expenses borne during the pandemic as well as loss of jobs and income. The deepening economic crisis has devastated[Read More…]
Padma Sachdev, a great writer and upholder of human values, breathed her last at Mumbai on August 4 at the age of 81. She leaves behind her husband, Surinder Singh, a great singer of the famous Singh Bandhu duo, and daughter Meeta Sachdev. Several eminent persons including Karan Singh and Lata Mangeshkar, with whom she shared a very afffectionate and[Read More…]
DONOUGHMORE REFORMS OF THE BRITISH TO CEYLON – TOOK AWAY THE TAMIL’S NATIONHOOD AND THEIR JAFFNA KINGDOM It took away the Tamils rights and caused for the Pogroms against the Tamils – like BLACK JULY, GENOCIDE and continuing structural genocide. Sri Lanka [then Ceylon] would not have gained independence from the British without the support of the Tamil leaders it[Read More…]
Ish Kumar Gangania is an eminent Ambedkarite thinker, writer and poet who started writing nearly 20 years ago and has till date authored over 22 books of poems, essays, analysis and even Ghazals. Some of his poetry books have also been published in English. Born in Chhaprauli now part of district Baghpat, famously known for the constituency of former Prime[Read More…]
The world is on fire like never before: “Wildfires Have Erupted Across the Globe Scorching Places That Rarely Burned Before” (CNN headlines July 22, 2021) but not only is fire raging, Biblical floods are destroying entire communities, e.g. 9,000 homes swept away in central China (BBC News) as towns were nearly decimated in Germany, “Europe’s Deadly Floods Leave Scientists Stunned”[Read More…]
People`s consciousness in oppressed nations does not readily recognize natural resources as mere commodity having exchange and use value, rather people here retain the mystical ties with resources but in newly produced space the people are expropriated from their ties with the resources, this is catastrophic displacement of human emotions for a resource and not a revolutionary change in human[Read More…]
While heatwaves, fires, and floods produce warnings that “we are living in a climate emergency, here and now,” a scientific study suggested Thursday that a crucial Atlantic Ocean current system could collapse, which “would have severe impacts on the global climate system.” The study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, focuses on the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), which includes the Gulf Stream. As the United[Read More…]
Eighteen months into the latest pandemic, there are quite a few observations that can be made about the origins of, and responses to, the Covid-19 virus. The 24-hour news cycle and the lack of critical analysis have left a large part of the global population ill-informed, confused and seemingly helpless in the face of a real health crisis. No doubt[Read More…]
Poems for Lenin. That was the title of a collection of poems written by Satish Kalsekar, noted Marathi poet, in 1977. His passing way on July 24 is a great loss for the Left movement and literature at the national level because he built bridges with writers from other languages. His death was widely mourned with tributes flowing in from[Read More…]
PUDR’s report, Framed to Die: The Case of Stan Swamy, offers an exhaustive account of what lay behind Stan Swamy’s death in judicial custody in a private hospital on 5 July 2021. As is known, he was arrested from his room in Bagaicha ATC campus on 8 October 2020 under S. 120 B, 121 A, 124 A and 34 of[Read More…]
London:When talk of Zionism first made the rounds in the late nineteenth century, the Jewish Chronicle (JC), which had by then already been publishing for a half century, was firmly opposed to the new ethnic-nationalist movement. This changed abruptly in 1906, when L.J. Greenberg, an advertising agent, and Jacobus Kann, a Dutch banker, raised the funds to purchase the paper[Read More…]
Canons of Character from Shambhu Chandra Vidyaratna’s Vidyasagar Jeevan-Charit O Bhramaniras (This is part II of a 2-part article on one of the leading figures of the 19th-century Bengal renaissance- the scholar, educationist, humanitarian and social reformer, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. (Read Part I ) The translations presented here, and possible future installments are episodic excerpts extracted from the biographical text[Read More…]
On August 6, as the world observes Hiroshima Day (the 76th anniversary of the first-ever use of an atomic weapon in Hiroshima) , serious concerns regarding the threats from nuclear weapons are increasing in the middle of new tensions and power rivalries. We should not be misled into a false sense of security that the reduction in the number[Read More…]
Shall we understand that US crimes against humanity, including the use of nuclear weapons on civilians in cities, have been committed in a democracy and under a democratic system of government? Or shall we realize that the source of all this continuing genocidal mayhem and nuclear threat are the wealthy and powerful investors in war headquartered mainly on Wall St.[Read More…]
In common parlance Saviour, – [Called as Messiah in the Hebrew Bible] – is usually regarded “As a liberator or would be liberator of an oppressed people ”. Looking back at the crisis ridden political history and turmoil’s of Tamils in Sri Lanka since 1948 and viewing the current predicament of Tamils “It is not unreasonable to call for a[Read More…]
I would like to be seen as someone who is down to earth, caring and kind. Just one among the people who values humans in their struggles through life and stands for justice. Hence the ideas of success which try to show lives of successful people cut off from the rest of society makes little meaning for me. Living a[Read More…]
Let us accept it. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and several opposition leaders appear to be stepping towards giving Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies a strong fight in the coming parliamentary elections, scheduled for 2024. The breakfast meeting hosted by Rahul for them and their heading together for Parliament on bikes may be viewed as crucial symbolic gestures in[Read More…]
Premier Zhou En Lai was one of the greatest revolutionary leaders and Marxists of all time. A month ago we commemorated his 45th death anniversary. It is hard to envisage how a person so embedded in mandarin background could pull out of its clutches to tread the life of a proletarian revolutionary. No Comrade so firmly stood by Chairman Mao[Read More…]
Bhopal: While much of India is rushing to get vaccinated for Covid-19, there are still many people from the transgender and kinnar or hijra communities in the country who are lagging behind due to lack of awareness and counselling. Myths, fears and social stigma have also left the community wary of vaccination. And even when they do seek the vaccine,[Read More…]
The world this week marked the 200 millionth confirmed case of the coronavirus pandemic, the latest in a series of grim milestones amid a pandemic that has been plaguing humanity for the past 20 months. Alongside that sobering figure, the virus has prematurely taken more than 4.26 million human lives from their coworkers, friends and families. This week is also[Read More…]
The dog days of summer are upon us —and the record high temperatures killing hundreds in the Pacific Northwest and bringing 118 degree heat to Siberia serve as a harbinger of even hotter, more dangerous days unless we address the elephant in the room. The Pentagon. As the largest institutional consumer of oil and, therefore, the largest single U.S. emitter of greenhouse[Read More…]
“The thirty-year interregnum of U.S. global hegemony,” writes David Bromwich in the journal Raritan, “has been exposed as a fraud, a decoy, a cheat, [and] a sell.” Today, he continues, “the armies of the cheated are struggling to find the word for something that happened and happened wrong.” In fact, the armies of the cheated know exactly what happened, even if they[Read More…]
Wandering here and there Among adivasis everywhere Singing like active Nightingale Inspiring local people She explored people’s lives Offered succor without any avarice She was a darling To the folks who were listening And applauding One day, uniformed dragons came Choked her throat without shame Mutilated her body To frighten everybody Then mercilessly draped Her with some dress readymade And[Read More…]
Chambal Valley is a vast region around Chambal river in Central India, spread over parts of three states—Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. This region became notorious during the last century for its numerous dacoit gangs. Although they carried out robberies and kidnappings, the members of these gangs preferred to be called baghis or rebels, as many of them had[Read More…]
The passing away of Comrade Vilas Sonawane today is a huge loss to Dalit- OBC-Pasmanda movement all over the country. He was one of the very few who were extremely articulate and well read on the issue. Apart from that, his own experience of working with Communist Party of India (Marxist) gave him enough understanding of what ails our socio-political[Read More…]
When the Covid pandemic struck India in early 2020 many public health experts expected Mumbai’s’ Dharavi to be one of the most affected areas in the country. Spread over 2.1 square kilometres and with a population of 1 million, Dharavi is one of the most densely packed slums in the world. A majority of the residents use community toilets, while[Read More…]
This week, Twitter was keen to share the news about its new arrangement with The Associated Press and Reuters “to expand our efforts to identify and elevate credible information” on its platform. The company reiterates its commitment that people using its service are able to “easily find reliable information” hoping to “expand the scale and increase the speed of our[Read More…]
In David Oshinsky’s fine biography of Senator Joseph McCarthy ( A Conspiracy so Immense) we learn of the political climate in the early 1950s concerning the ( supposed ) threat of Communism. What many do not understand about Sen. McCarthy was that he was not the first or the only force in this movement to uncover this ‘ Red Menace’.[Read More…]
German women’s gymnastics team’s stand to wear unitard once again opens up the debate on agency and choice In Tokyo Olympics 2020, the German women’s gymnastics team decided to not wear a leotard, taking a stand against sexualization of women’s bodies. German gymnast Elizabeth Seith commented that “It’s about what feels comfortable. We wanted to show that every woman, everybody,[Read More…]
Vasantada Ramalingachari,was one of the major leaders of the Srikakulam Girijan Movement. and a central Commitee member of the Communist Party Re-Organization Centre of India(Marxist-Leninist) Although martyred 16 years ago in 2003 on November 24th his memories are still embedded in many a comrade’s mind ,like a red light shimmering within it. .In-spite of belonging to such a humble background[Read More…]
Water is a State subject. But Centre misinterpreted its common jurisdiction in Concurrent List and provisions of AP Reorganisation Act 2014, which nowhere stated that Centre could take away the rivers. The Centre issued a notification from New Delhi, on July 15, with number: S.O. 2842 (E) which has serious implications for two Telugu States- Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. It[Read More…]
From genetic engineering to geoengineering, we treat nature as though it’s a machine. This view of nature is deeply embedded in Western thought, but it’s a fundamental misconception with potentially disastrous consequences. Climate change, avers Rex Tillerson, ex-CEO of ExxonMobil and erstwhile US Secretary of State, “is an engineering problem, and it has engineering solutions.” This brief statement encapsulates how[Read More…]
When the Palestinian Olympic delegation of five athletes – adorned in traditional Palestinian attire and carrying the Palestinian flag – crossed into the Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium during the inauguration ceremony on July 23, I was overcome with pride and nostalgia. I grew up watching the Olympics. All of us did. Throughout the month-long international sports event, the Olympics were the[Read More…]
Today the world is talking about the Taliban as an extremely violent group known for very fierce fighting and extreme forms of violence. Many strategists are saying that the Taliban takeover of much of Afghanistan territory is a very serious threat for the spread of very violent forms of ideologies. Cruel revenge against all those who are perceived by[Read More…]
Lawyers, former diplomats, journalists, scholars and host of eminent Gandhians have written an open letter appealing that the Gandhi Ashram at Sabarmati not be disturbed. The government has proposed to make it a “world class” tourist destination, taking over the 54 acres near the Sabarmati River, where Gandhi lived between 1917 and 1930. Among the proposals is a VIP lounge,[Read More…]
Guwahati: With lockdown restrictions lifting, 40-year-old Joydeep Das*, a vegetable vendor from Assam’s Chirang district, has reopened his stall. His wife Kalpana* is glad that things are returning to normal and, more importantly, that her husband is “stable”. In 2005, Joydeep was abducted by a militant group in the neighbouring Kokrajhar district. His captors released him after a few hours[Read More…]
A few days ago, I happened to visit an ATM to withdraw some cash. The ATM was located in a busy marketplace and in a narrow space between two shops. The machine had to be reached by climbing a short flight of steps. At the glass fronted entrance there was a notice which referred to a Reserve Bank circular advising[Read More…]
The Public Inquiry into the murder of the resourceful journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia handed down its findings on July 29. Firm aim was taken at the Maltese State, which had “to shoulder responsibility for the assassination because it created an atmosphere of impunity, generated from the highest levels in the heart of the administration of the Office of the Prime[Read More…]
Trans: Ra Sh He opted for humanity, Got abandoned by humans. With a third eye that unbinds borders he danced to the wingbeats of a migratory bird within the range of a tele lens. He sported a beard like an anonymous guru. He had no disciples. He did not frame butterflies or rivers or trees. All of them[Read More…]
This summer, it seemed as if we Americans couldn’t wait to return to our traditional July 4th festivities. Haven’t we all been looking for something to celebrate? The church chimes in my community rang out battle hymns for about a week. The utility poles in my neighborhood were covered with “Hometown Hero” banners hanging proudly, sporting the smiling faces of uniformed local[Read More…]
Ebrahim Raisi will be sworn in as Iran’s next president on August 5, marking a defining moment in the situation around the nuclear issue. Having weathered the brunt of Trump’s ‘maximum pressure’, Tehran is in a better situation today. The international situation works in its favour too. Iran has gained strategic depth in the deepening partnership with Russia[Read More…]
The company has been looking forward to this for some time. For an outfit found wanting in dealing with inhabitants of a land whose culture it eviscerated in a matter of hours in May last year, Rio Tinto could think grandly about another future. The Anglo-Australian mining giant could add its name to a sounder, more environmentally sensitive programme, join[Read More…]
On July 27, 2021, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin – amid a diplomatic standoff with China – said: “We will not flinch when our interests are threatened. Yet we do not seek confrontation.” The message is clear: the US is turning its gaze to Asia and wants China to acquiesce to its imperialist aims. Viewpoints like these betray the[Read More…]
Human history as cultural history At present, history is taught as though power struggles were its most important aspect. Furthermore, the present teaching of history is an indoctrination in nationalism. We need to reform our teaching of history so that the emphasis will be placed on the gradual growth of human culture and knowledge, a growth to which all nations[Read More…]
The recent development in Tamil movie has received much appreciation among the intellectuals for portraying Dalit character as protagonist and bringing caste realities onto the screen. It has elevated Dalits from a stereotypical passive receiver of others sympathy to an active agent seeking justice. However, it is also criticized for merely replacing the social location of the typical hero in[Read More…]
Unpacking Social Disruption Social disruption is a radical change, and it will result in a breakdown of social life. Often it happens suddenly. An example of a change that is not social disruption is the transition of ‘family’ from ‘joint family system’ to ‘nuclear family system’. Since it is a gradual change, people get sufficient time to adapt and continue their lives[Read More…]
BHOPAL: July 30, 2021 will be recorded as a day of shame in the history of Dr. Gaur Central University of Madhya Pradesh. On this day the RSS affiliated Vidhyarthi Parishad directed the University to remove the names of two eminent scholars from the list of speakers who were to participate in a Webinar organised by the University. The ABVP[Read More…]
Lawrence in Arabia – War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East. Scott Anderson. Anchor Books, Random House LLC, New York, 2013. Every very seldom often a book comes along that greatly exceeds expectations. Lawrence in Arabia is one of those books. Scott Anderson’s writing is highly entertaining and highly informative at the same time. It[Read More…]
People’s Mission invites nominations for the ‘ Revolutionary Comrade Shiv Verma Media Awards’ 2021. It’s holding a programme from 4 pm onwards on Saturday , 14 August 2021 at Press Club of India, New Delhi , to present Awards to awardees , declared on 15 August 2020. People’s Mission will announce on on 14 August 2021 , winner of the[Read More…]
In June last year Devika, a student of class 9 in Malappuram district of Kerala, committed suicide as she could not access online lessons on the first day of the academic year, for want of a functioning television set at home. The note she left for her parents simply said, “I am leaving”. The incident sent shockwaves through Kerala, a[Read More…]
August 1, 2021, was the 13th death anniversary of comrade Harkishan Singh Surjeet. Born into a Bassi Jat family in the Punjabi village of Bundala on March 23, 1916, Surjeet began his revolutionary career influenced by the socialist revolutionary Bhagat Singh. In 1930 – at the age of 15 – he joined Bhagat’s Naujawan Bharat Sabha. On the first anniversary[Read More…]
As news spread in India and abroad of the death of Fr. Stan Swamy on July 5 in very tragic circumstances, messages of great sadness and concern poured in from many parts of India and world. In a condolence message European Union’s Special Representative for Human Rights Eamon Gilmore has called him a defender of indigenous people’s struggles. The Chief[Read More…]
World Pest Day is also known as World Pest Awareness Day, is celebrated on June 6 every year. The day is dedicated to spreading awareness of pest management among people around the world. The first World Pest Day was celebrated on June 6, 2017, at Beijing Hotel, China. The explorer of this day was the Chinese Pest Control Association. It[Read More…]
On July 21, I was walking in the forests surrounding the German Air Force Base at Büchel in the Eifel Mountains with three Catholic Worker friends, Susan van der Hijden of Amsterdam, Netherlands, Susan Crane of Redwood City, California, and Christiane Danowski of Dortmund, Germany. We were there at the end of an “International Week” of protests against the approximately[Read More…]
K.P. Sasi is a film maker, cartoonist and writer
Capitalism is deeply unjust. It is a system under which labour power has itself become a commodity and is bought and sold on the market like any other object of exchange. A condition of neo-slavery like this has been historically presupposed by the concentration of ownership of means of production in the hands of a minority class and the consequent[Read More…]
There has been a nationwide outpouring of condemnation, following the announcement yesterday by Mr. Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Minister of Minority Affairs, declaring Aug 1 as ‘Muslim Women’s Rights Day’ to mark the anniversary of the Triple Talaq law. Over 650 citizens – Muslim and non-Muslim women, men and trans persons, women rights activists, human rights activists, academics, students and[Read More…]
We have a dark wicked side. It controls many of our thoughts and actions. It ensnares the smart and the dumb, the privileged and the non privileged, the healthy and the sick. In today’s world it undermines many of our economic, social, political, philosophical and religious structures. It may be about to end our life on this Planet. This Essay defines it[Read More…]
If one reads Richard Condon’s 1958 novel The Manchurian Candidate or sees the original film (1962) or its remake (2004) one would realize my comparison to today’s events. In the novel ( and films ) we see a patrol of US soldiers being captured and then brainwashed by the enemy. The ones who survive this terrible experience are returned home,[Read More…]
Five hundred years ago,Francis Bacon wrote in his pithy way,”Revenge is a kind of wild justice.” Surely it gets wilder if you stretch your vendetta to a thousand years past.This is what we can conclude from what our External Affairs Minister said in a colloquiam to a fairly bland remark of Anthony Blinken,US secretary of state. S.Jaishankar,who had been a[Read More…]
With the recent Pegasus scandal, the relationship between state surveillance and democratic practices are in sharp contention. It seems that control has become the sacrament of state in India based on a conception of sovereignty that operates by strictly regulating and punishing those considered as the foes of the regime. In India the key challenge it seems remains the decolonisation[Read More…]
Look. I am before you. Now I am here: I am making a statement proclaiming a truth nothing less than an outcry. Listen. I am speaking truth crying out. Listen: Earth is dying one-only Earth. Earth is dying ravaged, abused. Not dying from old age not expiring by the will of God but perishing through serial extinctions from human[Read More…]
An Egyptian kangaroo court on Thursday sentenced 24 members of the Muslim Brotherhood to death in two separate cases, the daily Sabah reported. The state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper said the Damanhour Criminal Court ordered the death penalty for 16 defendants affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, including Mohamed Sweidan, a regional leader of the organization, for their involvement in the bombing of a[Read More…]
In a patriarchal society male privilege is not far away. So it should be no surprise that it has entered the domain of Covid vaccinations in India , especially at a time of vaccine shortage. Since the beginning of the vaccination drive, 14.99 crore doses have been administered to women while 17.8 crore doses have been given to men, government[Read More…]
Strike ends in Belsonika with reinstatement of 10 suspended workers 
A Man Without a Strategy: How Netanyahu Is Provoking Armed Intifada in the West Bank 
The Ancient Patterns of Migration 
Seven Reasons Why the Present Phase of Imperialism is the Most Dangerous Ever 
Unmasking Tourism’s Roadblocks 
Metro authorities humiliating ordinary commuters 
PLI Scheme- Do subsidies to profit-earning private manufacturers yield commensurate societal benefits? 
World Environment Day in India: Doing Justice with the Day 
Ben Roberts-Smith: The Breaking of a Plaster Saint 
Do we All need Religion? An Introspection 
Obama, Kissinger and the Nobel Peace Prize 
The Politics of Erdogan and Western Anxieties 
The Compulsion to Intervene – Why Washington Underwrites Violence in Ukraine 
Just War and Just War Theory 
Stolen Heirloom or poppycock 
‘Simply Inconceivable’ to Dump Fukushima Water in Pacific, Critics Say After Latest IAEA Report 
Eradicate Dowry, Eliminate Dowry Violence 
Growing number of elderly homeless in the US 
Rise Up in Solidarity with Protesting Wrestlers 
Plastic Pollution in Destinations: A Growing Threat to Environmental Sustainability 
The US Censors Dissenting Voices: On the Attacks Against the Midwestern Marx Institute 
The US Government Should At Least Listen to this Wisdom of its Top Experts on the Ukraine Crisis 
Indigenous Australians & Palestinians: Treaty, Truth, Voice, Referendum & Senator Lidia Thorpe 
Kya Sharmsaar hai hindustan……are wrestling champions of India going the Mohammed Ali way? 
Legislative Gaps Helping Overseas Shell Companies? 
Book Review: Marginalised but not Defeated 
When Will US Join Global Call to End Ukraine War? 
AUKUS, Congress and Cold Feet 
The Wars We Don’t (Care to) See – Aggression Made Easy 
Raising the Palestinian flag in Daley Plaza Center, Chicago: A powerful symbolic gesture 
Shocking Lack of Concern for World’s Safety by War Mongering Elite 
Has Hindutva been defeated in Karnataka? 
UN Agencies Warn ‘Acute Food Insecurity’ Likely to Worsen in 18 Hunger Hot Spots 
Meta and Privacy: The Economy of Data Transgressions 
A Response to The New York Times’ Ritualistic Denunciation of Mao’s Cultural Revolution… 
GM Crops Likely to Worsen Climate Change Related Problems for Farmers 
Symbolism of Sengol 
Forget GDP growth, it’s sustainable wellbeing we need to aim for 
Supremes Declare War on Wetlands 
Kings Coronation, Victory Day Parade and Perverse Values 
Our beloved K.P.Sasi is no more. Filmmaker, cartoonist, writer, mentor, friend and above all tireless activist championing the cause of every underdog, Sasi breathed his last, mid-afternoon this Christmas day – after battling a medical condition for months. I remember the last time I met him, almost exactly a month before he passed away, at the ayurvedic healing center in[Read More…]
