On the eve of the NATO summit focusing on war against Russia in Ukraine as well as confronting China, top officials from Turkey, Sweden and Finland agreed on Tuesday in Madrid to a trilateral memorandum of understanding allowing Stockholm’s and Helsinki’s entry into the military alliance. After a meeting attended by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Turkish President Recep Tayyip[Read More…]
In remarks at the NATO Summit in Madrid, Spain, US President Joe Biden announced a sweeping increase in US troop deployments to Europe as part of a plan by NATO to militarize the continent for its ongoing war with Russia and escalating conflict with China. The NATO summit formally invited Sweden and Finland to join the alliance, effectively doubling NATO’s[Read More…]
Part 4. Mental escalators of violence in US policy and media makers. Part 4B. A competitive, threat-orientation towards international relations: Psychological patterns described by Lakoff, Spranger, and Allport False Bias #2. Life Is Competition; the Goal Is to Beat Adversaries and Stay on Top. Let’s take a look at actual, representative lines from Damon Wilson’s 2019 testimony, two years before[Read More…]
The recent political upheaval in Maharashtra is being seen mainly in a conventional way as a power struggle. But there is a serious need to go beyond that. One should never forget that the Shiv Sena is the creation of the Congress in the 1960s to defeat the then strong Communist movement, then came the murder of Communist MLA Krishna[Read More…]
Democratic and well-meaning sections across the country have already come up against the “Agnipath” scheme announced by Modi regime in mid-June 2022. As in the case of other corporate-fascist moves, the Agnipath was neither discussed in parliament nor in any parliamentary committees including the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence. It is a superimposed saffron-fascist offensive, the brainchild of RSS conceptualized[Read More…]
Instances of sympathy are rarely excuses to throw out the rule book. In the case of the European Union, throwing out the rule book about admission has tended to be a feature of enlargement. Credentials of candidate states have been, when needed, boosted or cooked for the occasion. Others, whatever the progress, have been ignored. For a collective that really[Read More…]
(Dedicated to the memory of Ghassan Kanafani, an iconic Palestinian leader and engaged intellectual who was assassinated by the Israeli Mossad on July 8, 1972) Years before the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, US media introduced many new characters, promoting them as ‘experts’ who helped ratchet up US propaganda, ultimately allowing the US government to secure enough popular support[Read More…]
On April 26, 2022, the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) announced that they had set up an office in the U.S. Embassy in Lusaka, Zambia. According to AFRICOM Brigadier General Peter Bailey, Deputy Director for Strategy, Engagement and Programs, the Office of Security Cooperation would be based in the U.S. Embassy building. Social media in Zambia buzzed with rumors about the creation[Read More…]
Leading media organizations have come out in strong support of recently arrested journalist Mohammed Zubair. These organizations include, among others, the Editors Guild of India, the Press Club of India, the Delhi Union of Journalists and DIGIPUB, a platform for several important digital media organizations. All these organizations have condemned the recent arrest of the noted journalist and demanded his[Read More…]
Note: This is the first in a series of articles on the economic and social crisis in Sri Lanka in the aftermath of Covid-19 by journalist Tushar Dhara who was in the country to report on the events there first hand. As New Year’s Eve rolled in on December 31, people in Sri Lanka thought the worst was over. After[Read More…]
On 24th June a big 5000 strong contingent of agricultural labour and industrial workers thronged towards the Chandigarh Assembly house, creating a dharna.Over A thousand agricultural workers under the leadership pf the Mazdur Mukti Morcha assembled to join Industrial workers, converging from regions all around Punjab. The venue was literally emblazened by the spirit of resistance, with red flags fluttering[Read More…]
Enough Enough is enough Now mourn that we have killed our Prophet’s Words. Isn’t the Prophet an epitome of love? Hang your neck in shame You have lost both worlds. Sorry, my brother Kanhaiya. We all are victims of hate. The looters have given fire in the haystack We, the poor fellows, are now being charred in the flame. Sorry,[Read More…]
IMSD condemns in strongest terms the brutal murder of Kanhaiya Lal in Udaipur by 2 Muslim fanatics, who have openly declared that they did so for the love of the prophet & thus is a case of death for Blasphemy! A tailor by profession, Kanhaiya’s only ‘crime’ was that he put up an online post in support of Nupur Sharma.[Read More…]
Part4 – Mental escalators of violence in US policy and media makers Part 4A. An Introduction to the Frame of Mind of Those Forever Leading US Foreign Policy False Bias #1. We Can Understand and Judge Other People Without Meeting Them, Without Engaging in Cooperative Dialogue, and Without Hearing Their Side of the Story. In these latest group of essays,[Read More…]
American exceptionalism can be a dreary thing, and no more so than each time a US president promotes the country’s imperial credentials and continued prowess. But in matters of literacy, shared wealth, and health care, the US has been outpaced by other states less inclined towards remorseless social Darwinism. The overruling of Roe v Wade by the US Supreme Court[Read More…]
The Tour of Duty scheme of recruitment for the Defence Services is catchily named Agnipath, and the youth to be recruited are named Agniveers. The implications of the Agnipath scheme are different for the Army (and within the Army for different arms and services), the Navy and the Air Force. This is because of the difference in the arena of[Read More…]
The G7 countries are “leaving millions to starve and cooking the planet,” Oxfam’s head of inequality policy Max Lawson has declared in a statement issued on Tuesday condemning the mere $4.5 billion the industrialized nations have pledged to fight the worst hunger crisis in decades. Lawson argued that “at least $28.5 billion more” was needed to “finance food and agriculture[Read More…]
“We affirm our support for the Mapping Project out of Boston, and condemn attempts to censor this useful educational tool.” The above expression of solidarity with an independent anonymous collective based in Boston that takes an innovative, well-researched approach to highlighting the connections between Zionist organizations and institutions is unremarkable — until you discover who is attempting to disassociate itself from it[Read More…]
In a recent report, the United Nations set out some top priorities everyone can practice in helping to counter climate change and keep Earth (humanly) habitable. Here is the short list: (1) eat a plant-based diet, (2) reduce unnecessary consumption and excessive waste (in the United States the reduction needs to be radical because the abuses are extreme and constant)[Read More…]
Dear Mrs Murmu Your nomination by the ruling party of Hindutva to be the next President of India fills the hearts of all Adivasis around India with great joy. At last the country will have one person from its most underprivileged and oppressed community as the President of India. Never mind the fact that all other Adivasis will still remain[Read More…]
It was on June 25, at around 4 PM, that the arrest drama of the civil rights activist Teesta Setalvad began. This is narrated by Teesta’s journalist friend Rukmani Sen who was present during the events that progressed to the activists’ arrest. Tao know about click; https://rukminiatwork.wordpress.com/about/ Teesta received a call in the morning from Noida’s office of ATS asking her[Read More…]
Last year, worldwide energy-related CO2 topped 36B tons. That’s a new world record. “Carbon dioxide removal is essential to achieve net zero [greenhouse-gas emissions],” Diána Ürge-Vorsatz, vice-chair of the working group that produced the nearly 3,000-page UN climate panel report. (Source: UN Climate Report: Carbon Removal is Now ‘Essential’, MIT Technology Review, April 4, 2022) “Removing the greenhouse gas from[Read More…]
American schools are soft, you say? I know what you mean. I taught college for 15 years, so I’ve dealt with my share of still-teenagers fresh out of high school. Many of them inspired me, but some had clearly earned high marks too easily and needed remedial help in math, English, or other subjects. School discipline had been too lax[Read More…]
Indian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release journalist Mohammad Zubair, and cease harassing him in retaliation for his work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. In the evening of Monday, June 27, officers with the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations unit of the Delhi police arrested Zubair, co-founder of the fact-checking website Alt News, after summoning him for questioning, according[Read More…]
The majority of Indian citizens are witnessing the persecution and everyday violence against their fellow citizens who are Muslims and religious minorities. The growing assaults on reason, science, secularism, Indian democracy and constitution are going to be landmarks in Indian history of diminishing democracy and citizenship rights. It is clear that Hindutva ideology is directly promoting sectarian politics of hate[Read More…]
Ecuador’s powerful Indigenous movements once again took to the streets on June 13 to press the conservative government of President Guillermo Lasso to agree to their list of economic and social demands. The government’s repressive response has led to many injuries and arrests and several deaths, as the situation continues to grow more intense. Lasso called for dialogue in the[Read More…]
Thousands of people marched in Madrid on Sunday to protest the NATO summit. A Reuters report said: Carrying the hammer and sickle flags, thousands protested in Madrid against a NATO summit in the Spanish capital next week. Amid tight security, the NATO leaders will meet in Madrid between 29-30 June. “Tanks yes, but of beer with tapas,” sang demonstrators, who[Read More…]
The People’s Bank of China is building a yuan reserve with five other nations in collaboration with the Bank for International Settlements. The countries China is teaming up are Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Chile. Each of the countries will contribute 15 billion yuan — about $2.2 billion — to a Renminbi Liquidity Arrangement, China’s central bank said in[Read More…]
How labour and God shaped the world As I went late to school in life, perhaps after eight years I was born, in mid 1960 (my school record birth day is 5 October, 1952), for quite some time I was with cattle and agrarian operations in my early juvenile days even after going to school in my village. Throughout the[Read More…]
National and international voices for justice for Teesta Setalvad, leading human rights defender, have continued to grow stronger since she was detained by the Indian authorities on June 25. UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights Defenders Mary Lawlor stated soon after Teesta’s detention that she is deeply concerned by this. She said that Teesta is a strong voice against hatred[Read More…]
The Supreme Court in its judgment the case of Zakia Jafri vs. State of Gujarat dismissed the petition filed by Zakia Jafri. Zakia Jafri had called for an investigation into the conspiracy to hatch the events which resulted in the massive carnage in Gujarat following the Godhra train burning on the morning of 27th February 2002. While dismissing this Supreme[Read More…]
To Shri Anil Kumar Jha Union Tribal Affairs Secretary Shri Alok Tandon Union Mines Secretary Shri Amitabh Jain Chief Secretary Chhattisgarh Dear S/Shri Jha, Tandon and Jain, I have come across a report (https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/nmdc-s-steel-plant-sale-may-fetch-enterprise-valuation-of-up-to-4-bn-122062700710_1.html) that the NMDC (a joint sector PSU of the Centre and the State governments) would be shortly hiving off its steel mill with[Read More…]
Around 1000 persons converged around Dadar station in Mumbai in a protest organised by Left organisations on Monday evening to condemn the arrest of Mumbai-based social activist activist Teesta Setalvad by the Gujarat police for allegedly submitting false evidence in the 2002 Gujarat riots case. Most positive to witness the traditional secular sprit of Mumbai ressurected with fervour of Hindutva[Read More…]
On June 24th, approximately 2000 African migrants made a desperate attempt at a mass border crossing, climbing the iron fence separating Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Melilla. Footage of African bodies piled up at the foot of the fence, many lifeless, while others were being savagely beaten by Moroccan Security Forces, went viral. To date, the number of[Read More…]
by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies As NATO holds its Summit in Madrid on June 28-30, the war in Ukraine is taking center stage. During a pre-Summit June 22 talk with Politico, NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg bragged about how well-prepared NATO was for this fight because, he said: “This was an invasion that was predicted, foreseen by[Read More…]
In general, we think of digital media as digitally encoded and machine-readable data that has been created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, and preserved on some sort of electronic device. At its base, the term digital means an electronic signal expressed as a series of digits: 0 + 1. It is electricity switched “on” and “off”, creating Ada Lovelace’s electronic[Read More…]
Well, not quite yet. Not so much are we referring to actual witches, rather us Americans who believe in true equality and fairness. This current ultra right wing culture that has seeped into our Supreme Court is terribly dangerous. They have most of the churches throughout this republic ( no play on words) in ‘ Lockstep’ with their mania. Not[Read More…]
This July marks the 39th anniversary of what became known as Black July. The riots of July 1983 in Sri Lanka would forever alter the course of ethnic tensions in the country, and would lead to the movement of Tamils out of Sri Lanka and into countries like Canada in increasingly dramatic numbers. The riots also marked a decisive shift[Read More…]
It is rather ironic that at a time when the CJI is addressing students at New York on democracy and senior Justice of Supreme Court D.Y.Chandrachud is speaking at King’s College,Cambridge on human rights and civil liberties,a vacation bench of SC here has administered an unexpected and rather uncalled-for blow to noted human rights activist Teesta Setalvad,prompting Gujarat Police and[Read More…]
Humanity is facing a choice it never had to face before: either radically change how people relate to nature and to one another or face ecological ruination and general social collapse. For a long time there has been a stubborn problem of awareness about the ecological perils awaiting us and its systemic root. By now, most people have become aware[Read More…]
To The Chief Minister of Karnataka Shri Basavaraj Bommai Government of Karnataka Bengaluru Respected Chief Minister, Sub: Concerns about peace and harmony within Karnataka and the urgent need to restore the state to a “sarva janangada shantiya thota” We have been trying to secure an appointment with you through your office for over a month. We wished to present this[Read More…]
You are Teesta What does it matter You have been born in Sikkim Or in Gujarat! From the rush of your flow hope takes birth from your magnanimity a thousand houses become bright Taking a thousand storms in your bosom thousand dams on your way you change course sometimes ripping out the rocks and sands When Narmada was red in[Read More…]
A UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) investigation has shown that the bullets that killed Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and injured her colleague Ali Sammoudi, were fired by Israeli forces. It is a damning refutation of Israel’s preposterous lie about her murder, including that she was shot by Palestinians firing indiscriminately at its troops. Spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters Friday, “All[Read More…]
Russia’s President Putin, in a speech on February 21, 2022, said: “Modern Ukraine was entirely created by….Communist Russia. The process began immediately after the revolution of 1917.” He then described the state as “Vladimir Ilych Lenin’s Ukraine.” Putin was harking back to the Romanov empire of the past, when Ukraine was under the Tsarist regime. Putin is today keen on [Read More…]
There is nothing astonishing about the alacrity with which President Joe Biden has reacted against US Supreme Court’s decision on abortion. Had he not been known as a devoted Catholic Christian, perhaps he may not have taken this step. Irrespective of the fact that he has expressed a similar stand earlier, that of not favouring a legal measure against abortion,[Read More…]
Today I along with leaders of people’s Movements like Lingaraj convener of Paschim Odisha Krusak sangathan, Lingaraj Azad of Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti and Narendra Mohanty of Human Rights were going to Kapand of Banei Subdivision to attend a meeting of villagers who are protesting against a proposed polluting industry of Kai International Ltd which will destroy a village forest and[Read More…]
Respected Chief Minister of Kerala, We are a group of people living in different parts of Kerala and working in social-cultural –educational –political and environmental fields. We are deeply concerned about the equitable and sustainable development of the State based on social and ecological justice. The fishers of this State whom you referred to as Kerala’s army has been praised[Read More…]
Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisations (CDRO), strongly condemns the false implication and detention of prominent human rights activist Teesta Setalvad in a criminal case. An FIR has been registered against her along with R. B. Sreekumar, a former Director General of Gujarat Police, and Sanjiv Bhatt, another IPS officer currently sentenced to life imprisonment. Teesta Setalvad and her organisation, Citizens[Read More…]
We are humans Sons of one mother One could be Hindu One could be Muslim The tribals call their god Gurung and Marung The Christians call him God The Muslims call him Allah The Hindus call him Bhagwan We are humans Sons of one mother Song of the Pata Chitrakars His name could be Ajay or Azizul. Or, both.[Read More…]
A victory For life’s sanctity? But not for the living. Black Lives were not sacred Gun-dead children neither Hungry kids- -freeloaders War-dead deserved it Snowflakes if seeking help Desperate mothers in a synthetic jail Beating our hearts to death Hated the moment born Lumumba in the Trunk The Sanctity of Life The Big Lie works When you believe it
In the wake of the highly expected overturning of Roe v. Wade, activists demonstrated their contempt in towns and cities across the country for the Supreme Court and its highly politicized conservative agenda in a National Day of Defiance. In San Francisco alone there were three simultaneous demonstrations with protesters voicing their commitment to reestablish Women’s Rights for Pro-Choice, while[Read More…]
It looks all too eerily similar as a method: the expulsion of individuals from their home, the demolition of said home and the punishing of entire families. All excused by a harsh reading of local regulations. But this method, used by Israeli authorities for years against vulnerable Palestinians, has become a weapon of choice for the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata[Read More…]
by Naveen Tewari and Sandeep Pandey A recent full front page of the advertisement by a Bhartiya Janata Party government declares, ‘House is not just a word. It is a place where power to dream comes and aspirations are fulfilled. Home is much about dignity and security than it is about shelter.’ It further goes on to quote Narendra Modi,[Read More…]
In May 2022 the University of Melbourne Student Union (UMSU) passed a motion condemning Israeli apartheid and urging Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against the “settler colonial apartheid state”. The University of Melbourne (UM) falsely condemned the motion as “anti-Semitic”, and under threat of Zionist legal action the UMSU rescinded the motion. Free speech faltered and falsehood triumphed at the[Read More…]
Background To understand the manoeuvrings of media, the framework within which the media is situated during specific paradigms of governance needs to be understood. Historically, there are links between forms of governance in the pre- and the post-independence phases in India and their impact of media (Boga, 2020). Imperialist countries that were dominant global powers imposed ethnonationalist frameworks to govern[Read More…]
Today we commemorate the 50th birth anniversary of the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR) of West Bengal which is one of the oldest human rights organisations in India. A truly landmark day in the history of the civil liberties movement in India. Positive that today inspite of all ups and down it is shimmering it’s torch . It[Read More…]
The mothers, fathers, relatives of the missing are on the streets for more than 1950 days in a sit-in protest demanding to know the whereabouts of their loved ones. They are holding EU, US & UN Flags and the pictures of their loved ones missing Since the end of the armed conflict, the families of the disappeared have participated in[Read More…]
On Friday, at the stroke of a pen, six unelected judges ended the right to abortion, dramatically altering the country’s legal and social landscape. For the first time in American history, the Supreme Court eliminated a fundamental constitutional right broadly recognized and supported by the overwhelming majority of the country’s population. The 6-3 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is[Read More…]
One of the reasons that Russian media has been completely blocked in the West, along with the unprecedented control and censorship over the Ukraine war narrative, is the fact that western governments simply do not want their public to know that the world is vastly changing. Ignorance might be bliss, arguably in some situations, but not in this case.[Read More…]
In 2010, Cuba’s former President Fidel Castro said: “López Obrador will be the person with the most moral and political authority in Mexico when the system collapses and, with it, the empire.” He was referring to Andrés Manuel López Obrador (known as AMLO), who is the current president of Mexico and head of the Morena (National Regeneration Movement) political party. Despite the wide lead he[Read More…]
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was interrogated for nearly 50-60 hours for five days by the enforcement directorate. The summons has also gone to Party president Sonia Gandhi in the National Herald Case. Everyone knows the reality that National Herald was a mouthpiece of the Congress party or India’s freedom movement started by its leader Jawahar Lal Nehru. For years, this[Read More…]
Shamshad Ansari, a resident of ‘Babu Ke Bhatkan’, a village in Siwan district in Bihar, is a matriculation pass and has been working as a driver in Saudi Arabia since 2002. The 35-year-old returned to his home in February 2020, about twenty days before the Covid lockdown in India. Was it better for him to return before the lockdown? Would[Read More…]
Uttarakhand welcomes thousands of tourists every year. Travelers from across the states make efforts to reach this hilly region nestled in the mighty Himalayan range. The natural beauty of this state often masks the challenges its inhabitants face in their daily life – what appears to be quintessential rural life to these travelers, is in reality a suffering for people[Read More…]
A 6.1-magnitude earthquake in a remote area of Afghanistan has killed at least 1,000 people and injured at least 1,500. While the worst affected area is the mountainous Paktika province, deaths have also been reported in the eastern provinces of Khost and Nangarhar. Many more bodies are thought to be buried in mud as heavy rain hampers rescue efforts. The[Read More…]
Immediately after British Home Secretary Priti Patel announced on Friday last week that she had approved Julian Assange’s extradition to the United States, the publisher and journalist was stripped naked and placed in a bare cell of London’s maximum-security Belmarsh Prison. This latest abuse of Assange’s democratic and human rights was reported by his father John Shipton to a rally[Read More…]
To Shri Rajiv Kumar Chief Election Commissioner Shri A C Pandey Election Commissioner Dear S/Shri Rajiv Kumar and Pandey, The naked display of money power by the political parties in India, as in display right now and amply evident over the years, raises concerns about the integrity of the electoral process itself and the role of the Election[Read More…]
UK trade union RMT members have once again taken to picket lines, in a show of industrial strength, on the second day of national rail strike action. Over 40,000 members are on strike over a multiyear pay freeze and a lack of job security, with Network Rail and the train operating companies threatening thousands of compulsory redundancies. For All[Read More…]
Nepal has decided to shun the U.S. State Partnership Programme (SPP). Media reports said: The Nepal government has decided to not forward the US’ state partnership programme (SPP). The meeting of the Council of Ministers held on Monday took this decision. The Cabinet also decided that every government agency needs to make communications on diplomatic relations via the Foreign Ministry. The government made the decision[Read More…]
It is mandatory for every President of India to take the following oath prescribed under Article 49 of the Indian Constitution before occupying the august office: “I, [Name] do swear in the name of God/solemnly affirm that I will faithfully execute the office of President (or discharge the functions of the President) of India and will to the best of my[Read More…]
The opening statements of Human Rights Commissioner and Core Members (UK, Canada, Germany, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Malawi) sum up Sri Lanka’s hollow and dismal performance and the disappointing compliance of Human Right Council’s Resolutions and Recommendations issued against Sri Lanka since October 2015. The Commissioner of Human Rights “called on Sri Lanka to focus on deeper institutional reforms to[Read More…]
BRICS is taking initiatives that stand as a challenge to the Empire-led world arrangement. The arrangement – Empire’s sole authority – in the world capitalist order will face stiff competition and resistance if BRICS initiatives move on steadily. The on-going Ukraine War has appeared as a significant lesson to all concerned standing on both sides of the war-line. The war[Read More…]
Colombia’s president-elect Gustavo Petro is wasting no time in fulfilling his promise of normalizing relations between his country and the socialist government in Venezuela, discussing with Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro the reopening of the border between the two nations three days after winning the election. Media reports said: Petro, a former guerrilla who won the presidential election on Sunday promising[Read More…]
Few people have such a privileged and unique background as Anamika Haksar whose experimental film Ghode Ko Jalebi Khilane Ja Riyan Hoon was released in a few cities in small theatres on June 15 She is the daughter of P.N. Haksar, one of our most respected administrators and an ardent Communsit in early days . She worked with Badal Sircar[Read More…]
Under Narendra Modi, unemployment reached a peak today. At the very least, even sanctioned government posts are not being completely replaced. An examination of various departments of the Central and State Governments has revealed that at least 30 lakh posts are vacant under the Central Government (including various agencies run by the Center) and another 30 lakh posts are vacant[Read More…]
The Congress Party’s ideological steps remind us of a famous saying of Lenin “ One Step Forward, Two Steps Backward’ not in a tactical sense of retreating and advancing with a progressive strategy in a given unfavourable political environment, but retreating in a more consistent manner with blindfolded vision. The present crisis is much bigger for the party than that[Read More…]
An earthquake which has been called the deadliest in two decades hit Afghanistan on June 22. The latest reports indicate that nearly 1000 people have died and the death toll is likely to increase as more reports are received from remote, cut-off areas. It is feared that crucial rescue help needed in the first 24 hours or so may not[Read More…]
In historic flood in many parts of Bangladesh and Northeast India hundreds of people have died and millions are stranded. About 4 million people were marooned in the northeastern Sylhet administrative division in Bangladesh, which is about a quarter of its population. In India North East state of Assam is worst affected where heavy rains are continuing for over two[Read More…]
Hollywood, like the US press, has not been spared the influential hand of government. Under the mask of various projects, the defence establishment has sought to influence the narrative of Freedom Land’s pursuits, buying a stake in the way exploits are marketed or, when needed, buried. The extent of such collaboration, manipulation and interference can be gathered in National Security[Read More…]
The Palestine National Football Team has, once more, done the seemingly impossible by qualifying for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup. By any standards, this is a great achievement, especially as the Palestinians have done it with style and convincing victories over Mongolia, Yemen and the Philippines, without conceding a single goal. However, for Palestinians, this is hardly about sports. This[Read More…]
In the Brazilian Amazon, as deforestation reaches record levels and rivers are increasingly polluted, the illegal gold mining contributing to these problems continues largely unabated. The response of the government has been to increase military action to curb environmental crimes in Brazil. Far from achieving this purpose, however, the military intervention has only led to tragedies in the region, directly or indirectly. A source from[Read More…]
An epidemic is hitting the US and ordinary citizens are unable to stop it. The reason is simple: the laws protect the killers. And those responsible for making the laws have abdicated their responsibility. The Gun Violence Archive reports that mass shootings have increased from 269 in 2014 to 693 in 2021. They do so even when the victims could[Read More…]
“So, Durga Puja is coming, it is not even 14 weeks from now…”. “The days are so tough, we are almost forgetting the taste of fish or meat” said Mahesh, speaking while working on a paddy field, not his own. “But other delicacies are there. Buy mustard oil for 10 Rs and some dried chili, fry deep and dry, keep[Read More…]
The official website of the Indian Army writes that approx 60,000 personnel retire each year, however, only a small percentage transit to a viable second career befitting their several years of service and experience. This smaĺĺ percentage is estimated to be just 10%. The balance 54,000 keep hunting for jobs year after year. Presently, India’s joblessness is around 8% among[Read More…]
It is World Camel Day on June 22. It is sheer accident that World Yoga Day, June 21, is not also World Camel Day – in December 2014, the United Nations accepted a resolution marking June 21 each year as Yoga Day; in 2009, a researcher in Pakistan, finding that the camel played an important role in the desert region[Read More…]
A powerful earthquake in Afghanistan killed more than 900 people and injured hundreds more on Wednesday, flattening homes and devastating entire villages in a nation already ravaged by decades of U.S.-led war and an ongoing economic collapse. The earthquake, which hit overnight, had an estimated magnitude of 6.1 with an epicenter near the nation’s border with Pakistan. “The death toll is likely to[Read More…]
The biggest rail strike in a generation in the UK went under way after last-ditch talks failed to reach agreement. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has rejected demands for a pay rise of at least seven per cent Entire cities and towns were cut off from the train network as strike action closes half of Britain’s rail lines. Huge swathes of Britain were without[Read More…]
The Hindustan Times has recently released its 1929 clipping on Shaheed Bhagat Singh. Why Bhagat Singh has become such an iconic figure of Indian Freedom struggle? This clipping gives an answer to the question. Almost the whole front page is devoted to Bhagat Singh and Dutt story of conviction in Delhi Assembly bomb case, giving lots of information, like the[Read More…]
By electing the Albanese Labor Government on 21 May 2022, Australia ended 10 years of appalling misrule by mendacious, corrupt, incompetent, anti-science and human rights-abusing Coalition governments. However after 1 month the honeymoon is over – Australia remains US- and Zionist-subverted, and the timid new Labor government is only making cosmetic baby steps on war, inequality, fossil fuels, climate change,[Read More…]
A very recent study on farmer suicides during 2000-2018 in six districts of Punjab has stated that as many as 88% of these were due to debts. This study by Sukhpal Singh, Manjeet Kaur and HS Kingra of Punjab Agriculture University published in the Economic and Political Weekly has stated about this state, which has seen the most intensive form[Read More…]
The Sangrur Lok Sabha by-election taking place on 23rd June, which might have seemed like an easy win for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) before the tragic assassination of Sidhu Moosewala on 29th May, has now become a political battle. The AAP has suffered a severe setback especially among younger voters who were previously its active supporters; their grief for[Read More…]
by Francesca de Gasparis & Rev. Fletcher Harper Signed by more than 500 African faith leaders and organizations, a letter cites the growing evidence that this model of agriculture is not serving the people of Africa nor creating a climate-resilient future for small-scale farmers In March, the Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute (SAFCEI) sent letters to the U.S. Agency for International[Read More…]
It’s a tough time to be the parent of a newborn in the United States today. Not only is child care prohibitively expensive, but the cost of all things including baby products is rising, COVID-19 poses a threat to children too young to be vaccinated—and there has been a months-long shortage of baby formula. The formula scarcity began when the COVID-19 pandemic[Read More…]
From his first days in office, Joe Biden and his national security advisers seemed determined to revive America’s fading global leadership via the strategy they knew best — challenging the “revisionist powers” Russia and China with a Cold War-style aggressiveness. When it came to Beijing, the president combined the policy initiatives of his predecessors, pursuing Barack Obama’s “strategic pivot” from[Read More…]
The history of humankind of the past hundred years have thrown up a gamut of emotions and heart-wrenching crises. An accentuating challenge is the displacement of millions upon millions of peoples throughout the planet. People are forced to flee or migrate from their homeland or places of birth for a variety of reasons. At the international level United Nations High[Read More…]
A recent book released on the first death anniversary of Sunderlal Bahuguna has recalled several inspiring episodes of social and ecological movements in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand. Edited by Madhu Pathak and published by Samay Sakshya, this book titled Sankalp ke Himalaya , for the most part in Hindi, will be remembered most for the chapters contributed by social[Read More…]
Usually, the Kashmiris think & believe that “Mainz Raat”/Mehndi Raat ( in Kashmiri, 1964) was the first movie produced by Hindi Cinema on Kashmir & that it was followed in 1972 by “Shayiri Kashmir Mehjoor”, movie in Urdu & Kashmiri . The first movie produced by Hindi Cinema on Kashmir was “KASHMIR HAMARA HAI” in 1948. The name of the[Read More…]
The Tamil homeland has been subjected to decades of Sinhalisation but since the end of the armed conflict, there has been a rise in the establishment of Buddhist temples and Sinhala settlements through the appropriation of Tamil land. The government has used it’s departments such as the archaeological and land survey departments to alter the demographics of the North-East. Rise[Read More…]
Sterlite’s Copper Smelting Plant at Tuticorin- Illegal for Sterlite to sell the occupied land which should revert to the original agricultural owners To Shri M. K. Stalin Chief Minister Tamil Nadu Dear Shri Stalin, I understand that the Sterlite company of the Vedanta Group has proposed to sell its Copper Smelter plant at Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu. It is ironic[Read More…]
The global ruling class is cementing into place a world where they govern without accountability, we are reduced to serfdom, the climate crisis accelerates, and mass death is normalized. It is hard to be sanguine about the future. The breakdown of the ecosystem is well documented. So is the refusal of the global ruling elite to pursue measures that might mitigate[Read More…]
Tens of thousands of workers demonstrated against the rising cost of living, with many linking the crisis to the NATO’s war and Russia policies. Many demonstrators condemned the US-led NATO alliance and its involvement in the Ukraine war. Many linked their dire economic straits to the EU’s sanctions regime on Russia and with the NATO’s rush to arm Ukraine. Protesters[Read More…]
A sordid enterprise, nasty, crude and needless. But the World Cup 2022 will be, should anyone bother watching it, stained by one of the highest casualty rates amongst workers in its history, marked by corruption and stained by a pharisee quality. The sportswashers, cleaning agent at the ready, will be out in force, and the hypocrites dressed to the nines.[Read More…]
On June 14, Government of India announced the Agnipath Scheme for Indian armed forces. The scheme would recruit 45,000 to 50,000 people — between the ages of 17.5 to 21 years — every year. The service would be for a duration of four years, at the end of which one-fourth of the recruits would be awarded permanent commission in the[Read More…]
It is true that the Agnipath recruitment scheme is a contractual-soldier scheme. That is, a youth of 17 to 21 years of age will be recruited in the three armed forces on a contract for four years term. They will not be entitled to the facilities and social security available to the regular soldiers till now. (The concessions being talked[Read More…]
Gustavo Petro, a former rebel, has been elected Colombia’s first leftist president on Sunday. Petro’s triumph, in one of the most historically conservative countries on the continent, is a stunning example of widespread discontent that is shaking the status quo. It is a powerful rejection of the political establishment that has ruled the South American nation for two centuries. Voters[Read More…]
New centers of power have emerged, the unipolar world order is not coming back, and the “colonial” way of thinking has failed, Russian President Vladimir Putin told the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on Friday. When the U.S. declared victory in the Cold War, Americans designated themselves the “messengers of God on earth,” with interests that should be considered sacred and no obligations,[Read More…]
The global mankind witnessing a fearsome and ferocious flow of military actions and reactions causing tragic human causalities that could inundate all norms of morality and civilizations plunging us to timeless darkness. Do the leaders know what they are doing or are they all delusional by Nature? When We, the People of knowledge speak truthfully of the creation of human[Read More…]
Thousands of youths upon the streets.Mainly but not exclusively BJP-ruled states. On their faces a burning desire to avenge a wrong.But not necessarily a maniacal rage with indiscriminate targets.Buses and trains in flames.Youths storming at everything associated with government with sticks and pelting stones at police.Police trying desperately to stem the tide.Lathi-charges and in one incident bullets. Frightening and disturbing[Read More…]
Right-wing fascists are trying hard to convert India into a Totalitarian State. What they don’t seem to realise is that, a diverse nation of 1.4 billion with strong democratic ethos cannot be ruled by force. One need to look no further than Kashmir to comprehend the futility of the so-called “Muscular Approach”. Peace is still elusive in the valley, even[Read More…]
The Zameen Prapt Sangharsh Commitee has secured a major victory after launching a sustained struggle ,in Jaloor village of Sangrur.It has managed to secure a lease for a 3 year period for 110 families to obtain 1/3rd Panchayat land. Noteworthy how the resistance has crystallised to be a major thorn in the flesh for the ruling classes. Bikka Singh Hathuah[Read More…]
The Centre likely to table the Bill in the Parliament in the monsoon session to amend the 2003 Electricity Act – The need for the States to express their views Respected Chief Minister, Kindly recall how the Centre, a few years ago, had unilaterally enacted the three farm laws, in addition to introducing a Bill to amend the 2003 electricity[Read More…]
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday stressed that the public needs to keep up its support of Ukraine after nearly four months of war. Media reports said: “The worry that we have is that a bit of Ukraine-fatigue is starting to set in around the world,” Johnson told reporters on the back of a trip to Kyiv. “It is[Read More…]
While attending the recent Shangri-La Dialogue on Security in Singapore, Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida Fumio stressed the need to oppose unilateral changes to the status quo by force, no matter where they occur. “I myself have a strong sense that Ukraine today may be East Asia tomorrow,” he warned. Needless to say, Kishida was referring to the possibility of a[Read More…]
by Harshavardhan Purandare and Sandeep Pandey Narendra Modi government just doesn’t seem to learn from its past mistakes. From demonetisation to Farmers’ laws with decision on Kashmir, Citizenship Amendment Act and Covid lockdown in the interim the citizens of this country have had to suffer because of not just the unwise decisions of the government but also the manner in[Read More…]
While the pipeline network has been expanding in Himachal Pradesh as a result of the emphasis placed on speeding up drinking water supply, at the same time drinking water scarcity from an increasing number of places is being reported. One basic reason for this is that a significant number of natural water sources including rivers, streams and khuds are being[Read More…]
“Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church” ,written by Christians for National Liberation and published by Foreign Languages Press earlier this year illustratively portrays the synthesis of Marxism with Christianity as practiced in context of the Philippines Revolution. Fitting that this year we commemorate 50th founding anniversary of CLN. It most symmetrically dissects every aspect of how the gap[Read More…]
The repeatedly tried measure by certain master-strategists of provoking communal tension, dividing votes along religious lines, polarising vote-banks for electoral gains appears to have backfired considerably this time. Yes, this refers to socio-political and diplomatic reaction to Nupur Sharma’s objectionable comments. Till recently, Nupur- former BJP spokesperson- was hardly known in national and international circles. Now, her “popularity” is reportedly[Read More…]
After a day-long conference of ‘Indian Intellectual Muslims Meet’ held in New Delhi last week, the cardinal questions remain unanswered. Why do the Indian Muslims find it hard to collectively agree on a way out, even though they share the threat of the communal frenzy and a large section of them is mired into socio-economic backwardness? Why is the[Read More…]
The Modi Government unveiled the new Agnipath scheme for recruiting soldiers across the three services. Under the new scheme, around 45,000 to 50,000 soldiers will be recruited annually, and most will leave the service in just four years. Of the total annual recruits, only 25 per cent will be allowed to continue for another 15 years under permanent commission.This is[Read More…]
My name is Ilaiah–O, you are from a wretched caste I added Shepherd to it–O, you have become a Christian I read and write–O, you have violated the Dharma I read and write in English–Then, you want to break India I travel abroad– O, Christians fund your travel I believe in one God–Then, you are in touch with Jesus My[Read More…]
Human history as cultural history We need to reform our teaching of history so that the emphasis will be placed on the gradual growth of human culture and knowledge, a growth to which all nations and ethnic groups have contributed. A new freely downloadable book I would like to announce the publication of a book which presents the lives and[Read More…]
Disclaimer This writer is not a legal practitioner and not educationally qualified in law. However, being one among the several Petitioners challenging the sedition law IPC Section 124A in the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, in which the cases are sub judice, what follows is a layperson’s understanding on some of the prominent aspects of sedition. Genesis of Section 124A[Read More…]
The only shock about the UK Home Secretary’s decision regarding Julian Assange was that it did not come sooner. In April, Chief Magistrate Senior District Judge Paul Goldspring expressed the view that he was “duty-bound” to send the case to Priti Patel to decide on whether to extradite the WikiLeaks founder to the United States to face 18 charges, 17[Read More…]
The Arctic is turning into a dream come true for doomsayers. It’s heating way too fast! Nostradamus is dancing in the street. Record-smashing Arctic temperatures may brighten the outlook for those who thrive, actually enjoy, disaster scenarios, but the great majority of people only get off on disasters in a movie theater, not in the wide open spaces at the[Read More…]
Activist, filmmaker and bestselling author Raj Patel was dressed as a genetically modified tomato when he met Rupa Marya, MD, more than a decade ago. They were at a protest organized against pesticide use, and Marya—who is a musician as well as a physician—was playing a show at the event with her world-touring band Rupa and the April Fishes. Patel says the two quickly[Read More…]
All the signs are that this summer will break all existing records for heatwaves. It is only the middle of June, and yet large parts of the world are already registering temperatures that in the past were not reached until the height of the season. The US weather map for June 16 shows almost the whole South and Southwest and[Read More…]
On all counts, the decision by the United Nations General Assembly to declare 18 June as the International Day for Countering Hate Speech (beginning this year 2022) is significant. It comes at a special moment of world history, when hate speech in several parts of the globe seem to have become the order of the day- leading to xenophobia, jingoism,[Read More…]
The recent developments in the South Asian region demand the immediate attention of our government. India is rocked by protests by its minority Muslim community after a spokesperson of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) made offensive remarks about Prophet Mohamad. Although Nupur Sharma has been suspended following outrage expressed by the Islamic nations, including the powerful ones[Read More…]
Former U.S. president Bill Clinton says he has never before been so concerned about the country’s foundational future, lamenting there’s a “fair chance” that the United States could “completely lose our constitutional democracy.” The former president appeared Wednesday on CBS’s “The Late Late Show” and responded to a question from host James Corden that alluded to Donald Trump’s presidency without[Read More…]
India is going through a lot of communal tensions for the last few years. As a response to it some secular persons have been, among other things, organising ‘Inter – Faith Meetings’. Recently in Hyderabad we have been having such meetings. Many religious leaders came. I was asked to represent the Atheists. In the meeting I declared myself ‘atheist, irreligious[Read More…]
Balraj Madhok’s died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a “stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji’s ideological commitment was strong & clarity of thought immense. He was[Read More…]
by Noam Chomsky and David Barsamian David Barsamian: Let’s head into the most obvious nightmare of this moment, the war in Ukraine and its effects globally. But first a little background. Let’s start with President George H.W. Bush’s assurance to then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev that NATO would not move “one inch to the east” — and that pledge has been[Read More…]
The Tsilhqot’in Struggle On 26 March 2018, Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau spoke of the six Tsilhqot’in chiefs who were arrested during a sacred peace-pipe ceremony and subsequently hanged for their part in a war to prevent the spread of smallpox by colonialists: “We recognize that these six chiefs were leaders of a nation, that they acted in accordance with[Read More…]
Governance is commonly defined as the exercise of power or authority by elected government for the well-being of their country’s citizens in accordance with the constitutional provision, the nation’s ethos and inclusiveness. Whereas, ‘political governance’ is the latest paradigm in the evolution of political system in which power or authority is exercised in such a way, so as to primarily[Read More…]
Today’s media reports on our visit to Dhinkia do not quite tell the facts. Myself, Lingaraj and Sudarsan Pradhan had accompanied Medha Patkar to ascertain the reports on repression on people opposing the Jindal Steel and other projects in Dhinkia, near Paradip, Odisha. We met with Debendra Swain, people’s movement leader detained since 14 January in Kujang jail and then[Read More…]
The saga of Dalit agricultural labour confrontation with ruling classes continues in Punjab. A rally was organised by the Pendu Mazdoor Union, the Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union, the Krantikari Pendu Mazdoor Union and the Zameen Prapt Sangharsh Commitee on June 10th at the Fruit market in town of Sangrur,projecting the demands of dalit agricultural labour for distribution of Panchayat land[Read More…]
Why Excessive Hostility of the Ruling Regime against the Congress and Its Leaders Should Worry All Democratic Forces The past week has been tragic and ominous for Indian democracy. A former law minister and some senior retired judges of both the Supreme Court and several high courts have condemned the actions of bulldozing and demolitions of houses of protestors as[Read More…]
“India is one of the biggest secular countries” is actually a fabricated statement, to be genuine; India witnesses multiple violations of secularism in every nuke and corner. Two of such violations of secularism in India include 1950 scheduled caste order para 3, which is a clear violation of secularism in India. Secularism implies unconditional freedom of religion or unconditional ignorance[Read More…]
The world nuclear weapons spending found a significant increase in 2021, finds the latest International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) report published on Tuesday. In one year, the nine nuclear-armed nations – U.S., China, Russia, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan and the UK — spent a total of $82.4 billion on upgrading and maintaining their estimated 13,000 nuclear[Read More…]
The U.S. sought to bolster its support in Asia by reassuring nations they do not need to join a coalition against China, drawing a stark contrast with Beijing’s threats to defend its interests with military force, said Bloomberg. The Bloomberg report — US Makes Asia Inroads by Playing Down Need to Oppose China — said on June 13: U.S. Defense[Read More…]
An interview with Kwesi Pratt Jr., a journalist and leader of the Socialist Movement of Ghana. In April 2018, the president of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, said that Ghana has “not offered a military base, and will not offer a military base to the United States of America.” His comments came after Ghana’s parliament had ratified a new defense cooperation agreement with the[Read More…]
The United States is moving fast on climate change—in the wrong direction. The Energy Information Agency forecasts that by 2023, the nation will set a new annual record for oil extraction: 4.6 billion barrels. Plans to build more than 200 new natural gas power plants are in the works. More than 130 new oil and gas pipelines now under development[Read More…]
While it is true that Zionism is a modern political ideology that has exploited religion to achieve specific colonial objectives in Palestine, prophecies continue to be a critical component of Israel’s perception of itself, and of the state’s relationship to other groups, especially Christian messianic groups in the United States and worldwide. The subject of religious prophecies and their centrality[Read More…]
The entire world witnessed how lakhs of migrant workers from around India had returned to their home-state Bihar during the Covid lockdown in early 2020. Where are they after a long gap of almost two years? What are they doing now? Has a large population been forced to migrate again? Or are there some people who have stayed in the[Read More…]
I watch you from afar, you stand with your back against a wall, and a firing squad in the front! The first shot is fired… …but no instant death, It was at your name! The second shot also doesn’t kill, it was at your attire! Next one was at your meal on the table! And the next one at your[Read More…]
If being ghettoised within the mainstream and slotted in the category of “outcasts” in society, then Blacks in America and Dalits in India perhaps face the same kind of discrimination in their respective societies. While the Dalits are born into it by virtue of their caste determined by social and cultural history, the Blacks are discriminated against on the basis[Read More…]
On Saturday, renowned international human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson announced a settlement with the British government over its surveillance of her while she has acted as a legal representative of persecuted WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange. The same day, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), where a case by Robinson against the British government was pending, took note of the[Read More…]
Ukraine’s allies are in disagreement on the question of the war. On June 14, a New York Times report — A Link to Besieged Ukrainians Is Cut, as Allies Question Strategy — said: “The last bridge to the city of Sievierodonetsk fell as battles raged, and some Western officials questioned Ukraine’s ability to keep resisting Russia.” The report said: “Ukraine’s[Read More…]
Apartheid Israel highly abusively occupied 78% of Palestine (1948-1967) and thence 100% for the 55 years after 1967. In the Occupied Palestinian Territories Apartheid Israel leads the world for killing journalists, and is among world leaders in “killing children per year per million of subject Indigenous population”. The civilized world must act by Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Apartheid[Read More…]
To Smt Nirmala Sitharaman Union Finance Minister Dear Smt Sitharaman, Your Ministry seems to be rushing into monetisation of assets of the CPSEs without adequate due diligence on the comparative costs and benefits. For example, I have come across a news report (https://www.livemint.com/industry/infrastructure/govt-asks-oil-psus-to-come-up-with-monetization-plan-11655236473972.html) that your ministry has been persuading the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas (MPNG) to ensure[Read More…]
“Keep Ithaka always in your mind. Arriving there is where you’re destined for.” C. P. Cavafy, trans. Edmund Keeley John Shipton, despite his size, glides with insect-like grace across surfaces. He moves with a hovering sense, a holy man with message and meaning. As Julian Assange’s father, he has found himself a bearer of messages and meaning, attempting to convince[Read More…]
Climate change and global warming, which is the largest part of the ‘change’ aspect, is suddenly getting the kind of special treatment that’s reserved for national tragedies. A special commission has been established to investigate a way out of the biggest human-caused failure of all time. It wouldn’t be quite so disturbing if it were not for the fact that[Read More…]
And so it was that another historical opportunity was missed by the countries of the Caribbean, Central and South America, with the exception of a few who had the courage to take a stand. The majority of leaders from the region, those who Maurice Bishop so aptly called “yard fowls”, and those who should have known better, traipsed up to[Read More…]
A scientist went against the grain on her industry’s rule against anthropomorphizing nonhuman animals—here’s what she discovered. Editor’s note: At 15, Catherine Raven left home and headed west to work as a national park ranger. She later earned a PhD in biology and built an off-the-grid house on an isolated plot of land in Montana, making a living by remote teaching[Read More…]
Dealing with the Disease that Never Seems to Leave Town On New Years’ Eve 2019, Americans celebrated the advent of the roaring ‘20s with fireworks and champagne, amid ominous news alerts from China. Surely that virus would stay on the other side of the planet. I cringe at how entitled we felt then. Covid-19 has now wiped out more than[Read More…]
In a letter released on June 14 and sent to the Supreme Court with the names of former Law Minister Shanti Bhushan and six former judges as well as some senior advocates and legal luminaries the recent repressive actions against protestors, including demolitions, in Uttar Pradesh have been called illegal. Shanti Bhushan was Law Minister during 1977-79 and had worked[Read More…]
I propose to deal with two entirely different issues under the same rubric,as one daily comes under an avalanche of news,a benumbing mixture of sheer frippery and disturbing political trends.Are we drifting towards a dangerous period of violent anarchy and brutal mind-boggling repression? First the daily inflow of one more senior and influential leader of the main opposition party deserting[Read More…]
A protest was organized recently on 10 June by highway construction workers in Rampur Ke Nirath area of Himachal Pradesh. The reason—most of the workers had not been paid their wages for almost four months by the contractor. While this was their main grievance the CPM leaders who addressed the protest meeting also said that labor laws were being widely[Read More…]
A UN survey entitled “Humanitarian Needs and Priorities—Food Security Crisis Sri Lanka” issued on June 9 painted a tragic picture of the social devastation being inflicted on workers and the poor by Colombo’s ruling elite and the capitalist system. “Sri Lanka is experiencing a multidimensional crisis, compounded by food insecurity, threatened livelihoods, shortages of essential medical items and rising protection[Read More…]
In editorials published on 14 June, several leading newspapers have expressed deep regret at the highly selective use of bulldozers to damage or demolish houses or other buildings related to or belonging to protesters. The Tribune has written an editorial appropriately titled ‘Free run for bulldozers—Bypassing of due process a dangerous trend ’. This editorial has written, “ The no-holds[Read More…]
I can see your ribs cracking and the bones bleeding within. Your eyes are numb tears frozen. I can see your hands shaking your legs heavy. Your heart is pounding breath rushing. I can see you standing alone watching a bulldozer ravaging memories, warmth and prayers, the favorite tea pot ammus’s prayer room. I can see the tumbling of your[Read More…]
The world, now more complex, is facing unprecedented polycrisis, the World Trade Organization (WTO) chief has warned. Export restrictions are pushing up food prices and could further exacerbate the global “polycrisis,” WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said at the opening of the 12th WTO ministerial conference in Geneva on Sunday. According to the official, the world has “become more complex” since[Read More…]
Save…Save…Save Every life Every water drop Even every broken vessel All can be mended Even those ripped apart Nurturance Empathy Compassion And so She would ceaselessly Murmur As the timeless brook Of centuries Old in years But an adolescent dreamer Holding on To revival Resurgence Resurrection The grand lady Of an age-old manor Mother…grand mother Of so[Read More…]
As our world spirals toward the catastrophe of nuclear war, there has never been a greater need for a new global balancing, a rejection of great power war, exploitation, and aggression. Now more than ever, we need to reject the brutal unipolar agenda of the United States, the dividing up of the world between hostile powers, and the suppression of[Read More…]
For a short while, at least as announced by the mainstream media, Canada found itself described as a “peacemaker” among the countries of the world. This was an image promoted abroad and valued domestically as Canadian troops, war materials, and military equipment worked around the world to maintain peace. This necessity for peace, when reviewed critically, came from the reality[Read More…]
Kabir Jayanti ( 14 June) is being observed at a time when the message of the great saint for inter-faith harmony is really needed in very troubled times. Such a great saint would like to be remembered on his jayanti not in terms of any ceremonies but in terms of real commitment to his everlasting message of true spirituality, love,[Read More…]
The United Nations Global Crisis Response Group warned in a report Wednesday that the ripple effects of the US-NATO conflict with Russia over Ukraine could exacerbate the human suffering of millions around the globe by escalating food and energy prices amid a worsening “global cost-of-living crisis unseen in at least a generation.” According to the report, the war has the potential to[Read More…]
During its first three weeks in office, Australia’s Labor government has responded with a quiet hostility to demands that it defend Julian Assange. Labor ministers have not mentioned Assange, unless directly questioned. And in response to those inquiries, they have made plain that they will continue the bipartisan complicity of the political establishment and state apparatus in the persecution of[Read More…]
Irrespective of whatever is ethnic identity of any shooter leading to violence and/or murders, how can approach towards him be decided by his religion, race, colour or any ethnic as well as national factor? A crime remains a crime. Sadly, double-standards of this nature still prevail. If Salvador Rolando Ramos was an Arab, a Muslim and/or a Black, the rage[Read More…]
OUTLINE: The present article deals with a neglected and marginalized Sheikha Gal community (of Kashmir). The article explains their linguistic and social exclusion, education, socio-economic status and the living standard, stigmatisation and stereotypes, ethnicity and their physical features. The article is based on a larger narrative and project of understanding the Sheikha Gal (as a linguistic community), more precisely, to understand the grammatical[Read More…]
Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy (IMSD) deplores the divisive and hate-driven politics behind the statements made by the now-suspended spokesperson of the BJP, Nupur Sharma, but it unequivocally condemns the threats to her life. IMSD also strongly condemns Al Qaeda for threatening retaliatory terror acts. IMSD believes that democracy is inconceivable without the freedom of speech, a freedom that is[Read More…]
Momentum in the Ukraine War has begun favoring Russia, and as a clear signal, the NATO Secretary-General has told Ukraine to decide how much territory it likes to concede in exchange of peace. A New York Times report — “Momentum in Ukraine Is Shifting in Russia’s Favor” (June 11, 2022) — said: Ukraine lacking the weaponry it needs, and Western[Read More…]
The United States remains a country of tenacious faith. The nature of that faith stretches from the digital pulpits of Silicon Valley, where cool technology occupies the seat of majesty, to the hot Bible Belt of spiritual endurance and suffering, where the good Lord holds sway in stern disapproval. In between, market fundamentalists take time to worship the invisible hand[Read More…]
The gun I carried on the streets of New York City in the late 1960s was a Beretta, similar to the pistol James Bond packed in the early Ian Fleming novels. It was a small, dark beauty that filled me with bravado. I was never afraid when I had it in my pocket, which is why I’m so very afraid[Read More…]
The idea of “self-determination” continues its hold on the hearts and minds of peoples yearning to breathe free. Kosovo, for example, established its independence in 2008, making it the world’s second-youngest country (after South Sudan, officially established in 2011). The landslide winner of Kosovo’s parliamentary elections in February 2021 was the Self-Determination Party (Vetëvendosje), which made Kosovo a rare Muslim-majority,[Read More…]
The importance of a bridge is usually according to its dimensions or its carrying capacity. This account concerns the events that led to the construction of a military (Bailey) bridge insignificant in its dimensions or load capacity, its construction under exceptional circumstances, and how it became important. Prelude April 1982. I joined 16 BRTF in Ladakh to take over command[Read More…]
Cases of desertion are growing among Ukrainian force, which is suffering significant losses, says report. It is also almost out of ammunition. Media reports said: There has been a rise in desertion as morale declines, says an intelligence report seen by The Independent. Ukraine is now dependent on Western donations of supplies, Ukrainian officials say. Reports are emerging that the[Read More…]
Convening of the Emergency National Assembly on 31 May 2022 marks the apogee of the most torrid fortnight of the talks. Apparently, the fraught issue of Naga flag and constitution is at the root of the current instability. That trust has been a casualty is borne out in the statements of those involved in peace negotiations. Acknowledging that something’s amiss[Read More…]
Starting on May 31, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov embarked on a tour to Gulf Cooperation Council countries, where he visited Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, among others. Lavrov’s main objective of these visits is to strengthen ties between Russia and GCC nations amid a global race for geopolitical dominance. The Middle East, especially the Gulf region, is vital[Read More…]
In one of the most inspiring examples of highly courageous spontaneous actions based on the unity of people, parallel governments were formed by freedom fighters in several parts of India in the course of the Quit India Movement in 1942. Although generally four such leading efforts have been identified in Satara ( Maharashtra), Talcher ( Odisha), Tamluk ( W.Bengal) and[Read More…]
In the recent act following Nupur Sharma’s statement on Prophet Mohammad, the BJP acted against her by suspending her from Party’s membership. This was after there was reaction by Middle Eastern countries. The BJP in its statement pointed that “The BJP strongly denounces insults of any religious personalities of any religion. The BJP is also against any ideology which insults[Read More…]
The recent furore over BJP spokesperson (now suspended) Nupur Sharma’s remarks on the Prophet Muhammad, has stirred a hornets nest the world over. Nupur’s condescending & arrogant outburst in a TV debate, wherein she made disparaging remarks with reference to Prophet Muhammad’s marriage to Hazrat Ayesha, as well as to his night journey on Buraq, his steed, referred to as[Read More…]
As an Indian who sometimes finds himself abroad, I get puzzled often by notions of ‘Indian food’. I have three reasons. For one, Indian food is a misnomer. There’s nothing like it – because different regions and subregions, religious and caste groups, and tribes in India have different cuisines. They use different spices in different combinations, not to mention different[Read More…]
There is a Bengali saying,”He who rides a tiger cannot dismount”.This would seem to apply to the entrenched political lobby which have been seeking assiduously to undermine the country’s constitution by burrowing into it and weakening it from within. The recent rather strict action taken against a national spokesperson of the ruling party,though nine days after her offending remarks,and only[Read More…]
Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) Campaign: Stopping GOSL Genocide Against the Tamils Presentation at Second International Conference on Tamil Nationhood and Genocide in Sri Lanka. Ottawa, Canada, 5-7 May 2018 The Sinhala-Buddhist Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) has inflicted outright genocide against the Eelam Tamils in flagrant violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention to which it is a contracting party. For[Read More…]
Peloton The Peloton craze suggests a decadence that has marked and will continue to mark the utter failure of the American experiment. Such statements are by design hyperbolic- even perhaps silly- but they point us in the direction of the heresies we need to embrace if we are to do something decent with the gifts we’ve been given. The story[Read More…]
The just concluded Summit of the Americas is nothing but a show of the Empire’s fleeting leadership in a region that the Empire considers as its backyard. Mr. Biden, the US President, expressed his hopes as he said: “I think I find no reason why the Western Hemisphere, the Western Hemisphere over the next 10 years, does not develop into[Read More…]
Scorching heat has again been accompanied this year by reports of acute drinking water shortages in many villages. The situation was supposed to be different this time because of an unprecedentedly high increase in the budget for drinking water supply in villages announced about 15 months back, but clearly the actual improvement has fallen far short of the high expectations[Read More…]
The Tamils are an ancient people. Their history had its beginnings in the rich alluvial plains near the southern extremity of peninsular India which included the land mass known as the island of Sri Lanka today. The island’s plant and animal life (including the presence of elephants) evidence the earlier land connection with the Indian sub continent. So too do[Read More…]
Ukraine acknowledges that it is losing artillery war to Russia. Ukraine forces are almost out of ammunition and can only rely on Western-supplied arms in the battle against Russia, a top Ukrainian intelligence official has said. “This is an artillery war now,” Vadim Skibitsky, the deputy head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, told The Guardian on Friday. Ranged combat is going to[Read More…]
Recently Arun Kumar Sinha posted in Marx_Forum, Murray Bookchin’s pamphlet ‘Listen! Marxist!’ This was published in the ’50s in which he admonished and rebuked the ‘Marxists’ community. To Marx_Forum Dear Arun, You are opening a Pandora’s Box by introducing Murray Bookchin. You are introducing Anarchism! Maybe time has come to introduce Anarchism to Marx_Forum although Marxists (including Marx) have never looked[Read More…]
Avail Practical Classes Free-of-Cost In 1993 an essay appeared in a US journal: “Clash of Civilisations” by Samuel Huntington which later appeared as a book [The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order by Samuel P. Huntington]. In the very first chapter we find: “One grim Weltanschauung [“philosophy (of life)”] for this new era was well expressed by[Read More…]
Standing frozen in a dark pond of shit Filling my neck with stink and puke I looked around to see many others breathing With their heads above the dark liquid shit Souls filled with fear to look around or down. Then I saw a reflection of light twinkling Penetrating the shadows of the leaves Of a mango tree of hope[Read More…]
June 10 bore witness to a valiant effort on the part of refugee groups and a trade union to stop what promises to be the first journey of many as part of the UK-Rwanda plan. Their attempt to seek an injunction failed to convince the High Court. Next Tuesday, the first flight from the UK to Rwanda filled with asylum[Read More…]
Disasters threaten human civilization Among the greatest dangers to human civilization are nuclear war and catastrophic climate change, dangers which also threaten the biosphere. In addition to these two existential threats, humans also face the threat of an extremely large-scale famine, involving billions of people, rather than millions. The beginning of this famine, which could involve much of the world’s[Read More…]
Ted Scambos, a polar scientist with 20 trips to Antarctica under his belt, makes a living trekking across glaciers, measuring the speed, thickness, and structure of ice. Dr. Scambos (University of Colorado/Boulder) recently penned an article: Ice World: Antarctica’s Riskiest Glacier is Under Assault From Below and Losing Its Grip. The Conversation, June 7, 2022. Scambos is a lead principal[Read More…]
The Indian National Congress under the leadership of Prime Minister Mr Rajiv Gandhi was responsible for the beginning of half-hearted liberalisation policies in the name of economic development and modernisation in India. The half-hearted liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation policies have become the cornerstone of new economic policies launched by the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. These policies are in full[Read More…]
Do you remember the iconic Union Carbide image from the 1950s or early 1960s? The one with the giant hand coming from the sky, pouring pesticides onto Indian soil. The blurb below the image includes the following: “Science helps build a new India – India has developed bold new plans to build its economy and bring the promise of a[Read More…]
A report commissioned by the United Nations’ Human Rights Council states that Israel’s “perpetual occupation” of Palestinian areas and its refusal to end it underpin the tensions between Palestinians and Israelis. The authors insist that ending of the occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza since their capture by Israel in the 1967 Arab Israeli war in full[Read More…]
The Summit of the Americas, now being held in Los Angeles, U.S., is facing criticism from different countries participating in the summit. Media reports including reports by teleSUR said: The president of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, deplored that all countries were not invited to the 9th Summit of the Americas. Argentina’s President was addressing the summit as the president pro tempore[Read More…]
June 7 was a bad day for Luis Almagro, secretary-general of the Organization of American States (OAS). During the ninth Summit of the Americas, a young man declared to him what he is: an assassin and puppet of the White House, instigator of the coup in Bolivia. He said that Almagro cannot come to give lessons on democracy when his hands are stained[Read More…]
Welcome to bizarro world. That’s where Turkey, a notorious state sponsor of international terrorism, has the sheer gall to accuse Finland and Sweden of supporting terrorists. Even more bizarre: Neither Finland, Sweden, the U.S., NATO, EU, nor any country or leader has, to my knowledge, pointed out Ankara’s glaring hypocrisy. Turkey claims that Finland and Sweden host members of the PKK, the[Read More…]
Marcello Musto, Karl Marx’s Writings on Alienation. New York: Palgrave Macmillan (2021). 164 pages Marcello Musto’s anthology of Karl Marx’s Writings on Alienation[1] is both comprehensive and concise, containing within the span of 100 pages the three decades long development of the concept through more than a dozen published works and posthumously published manuscripts. Additionally, Musto’s introduction to the anthology[Read More…]
Recent protests by environmental groups against the proposed felling of trees in Paris as part of efforts to speeding up of redevelopment for the 1924 Olympic Games have revived earlier controversies regarding the Olympic Games. The celebrations relating to this biggest sports event cover up increasing problems relating to them due to which a significant number of initial host candidates[Read More…]
In the last week of her life, my mother extracted a promise from me. “Make sure,” she said, “that Orion goes to college.” I swore that I would, although I wasn’t at all sure how I’d make it happen. Even in the year 2000, average tuitions were almost 10 times what my own undergraduate school had charged 30 years earlier. I knew[Read More…]
The Empire went to assert its position in the Latin America. But it has flopped. CNN headlined: “Snubs, from key leaders at Summit of the Americas reveal Biden’s struggle to assert US leadership in its neighborhood”. It’s a setback for the Empire. Today, it’s not an unimaginable development in the region. The IX Summit of the Americas has kicked off[Read More…]
Only few remain in denial of global warming (GW) leading to climate change (CC). At the other end of the scale, only few view GW-CC as an impending disaster. Leaders of societies and nations are among the bulk of in-betweens, and their understanding of GW-CC mostly remains limited. The Davos development dogma The focus of attention and planning among world[Read More…]
‘Revolution and Counter Revolution ‘printed by Foreign Languages Press in November 2021 and written by Pao Yu Ching is a most analytical work .It stands amongst the major achievements in modern times summarising the positive strides made by China under Mao from 1949-78 and how those objectives were inverted 180 degrees after 1978 after Deng Xiaoping. With intrinsic details she[Read More…]
by Jaspreet Kaur & Aarif Rashid Malik In order to understand “secularism” it is essential to understand various terms, like pluralism, liberalism, associated with it and the term as applied in the West and countries like India. “Secularsim” is most commonly defined as the separation of religion from civic affairs and the state, and may be broadened to the need[Read More…]
The U.S. government has better information on Russian troops in Ukraine than on Ukrainian forces, The New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing U.S. officials. Kiev is keeping its biggest military sponsor in the dark, possibly even misleading Washington to protect the generous flow of American military aid into the country, the newspaper claimed in a report (U.S. Lacks a[Read More…]
Suspension not expulsion of Nupur Sharma, ruling BJP spokeswoman who passed offensive remarks against Prophet Mohammed on a religious debate with Navika Kumar on Times Now on 27.05.2022 is analyzed by Pratap Bhanu Mehta, ex -president of the Center for Policy Research, New Delhi, as Half Victory because of political pressure from more than 15 Gulf countries including secretariat of[Read More…]
The canonization of the first ever layman of India, Devasahayam, or Lazarus (1712–1752) as saint, on the lines of Mother Theresa or on the lines of St.Peter, by the Vatican on 15 May, 2022 is historic in many strange ways. The human history of religions does not find a man of his kind of torturous life from birth, growth and[Read More…]
What more can be said with so much grief, after the spate of recent gun violence around the country? Can anything be added that has not already been said. The same questions have been haunting the country over the past two decades. Why do mass shootings appear to be accelerating? Why are children often being targeted? Why are teens, who[Read More…]
RSS is the organization with progeny going into hundreds and counting. The most well known of its affiliates may be BJP, VHP, ABVP and Bajrang Dal but its myriad organizations are spread practically in all nooks and corners of our country. Even where BJP Government is not the ruling one, its affiliates and RSS itself are hyper dynamic from last[Read More…]
Through his stories and novellas, Bharat Dogra makes it possible—the confluence of political sociology and literary imagination. Bharat Dogra, A Day in 2071: A Collection of Stories and Novellas, Saptarishi, New Delhi, 2022, pp. xiii+246, price: Rs. 399/ I have been reading Bharat Dogra’s essays and columns in a spectrum of newspapers and magazines for quite some time. What fascinates me[Read More…]
Britain’s Home Office is pressing ahead with its brutal policy of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda. Exactly two months after announcing its Migration and Economic Development Partnership deal with the east Africa state—under which people arriving illegally in the UK are to be sent 4,500 miles to have their asylum claim “processed”—the first flight is scheduled to depart on June 14. According[Read More…]
What took place between May 2021 and May 2022 is nothing less than a paradigm shift in Palestinian resistance. Thanks to the popular and inclusive nature of Palestinian mobilization against the Israeli occupation, resistance in Palestine is no longer an ideological, political or regional preference. In the period between the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993 and only a[Read More…]
It seems the government machinery which is so arrogant towards common people, listens only to voices of aggression. The officialdom sat meekly, almost scared yesterday on the dais in front of a large gathering of Aagri community farmers, men and women, during a public hearing on Metro 9 railway line. Scared indeed because there were two police officers on the[Read More…]
To Shri Rajnath Singh Union Defence Minister Dear Shri Rajnath Singh, Kindly refer to my earlier letter dated 3-2-2022 (https://countercurrents.org/2022/02/should-the-government-disinvest-beml-at-all-is-it-not-imprudent/) raising concerns against the proposed privatisation of Bharat Earth Movers Ltd. (BEML) which is a CPSE under the administrative oversight of your ministry and plays a crucial role in meeting the strategic requirements of the defence forces. I have extracted below[Read More…]
On June 3, Judge Santiago Pedraz of Spain’s national court, the Audienca Nacional, issued a summons for former CIA director and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to testify in an ongoing investigation into the conduct of private security firm UC Global and its founder, David Morales. The security firm is said to have been hired by US intelligence operatives[Read More…]
The World Bank (WB) has cut its global growth projection for this year from 4.1% to 2.9%, warning that many countries are likely to face recession. “Amid the war in Ukraine, surging inflation, and rising interest rates, global economic growth is expected to slump in 2022,” the Tuesday WB press release said. Below-average Growth “Several years of above-average inflation and below-average[Read More…]
Ukraine needs liquefied natural gas (LNG). The country is in discussions with the U.S. on purchasing and financing supplies of LNG instead of pipeline gas, which the country currently receives from EU states, Naftogaz CEO Yuriy Vitrenko said on Tuesday. Media reports said: Kiev is currently buying reverse gas supplies that those countries resell, after buying from Russia. The head of[Read More…]
Unlike corporations that sell to consumers, Lockheed Martin and the other top contractors to the U.S. Government are highly if not totally dependent upon sales to governments, for their profits, especially sales to their own government, which they control — they control their home market, which is the U.S. Government, and they use it (their government) to sell to its[Read More…]
How can we justify slaughtering cows to repair our hearts, when the consumption of cows is what weakens our hearts? The demand for bovine heart valves to treat cardiovascular disease—the top global killer—is rising, and there is a cruel irony—with which I have firsthand experience—in how the cattle industry has become both the problem and the solution. We rely on medical[Read More…]
by Vijay Prashad & Taroa Zúñiga Silva On May 29, 2022, a political earthquake struck Colombia: the left-leaning Historical Pact’s presidential candidate, Gustavo Petro, and vice-presidential candidate, Francia Márquez, won the first round of the presidential elections after getting 40.33 percent of the votes. The blocs representing the far-right and right-wing parties—which have dominated Colombian politics for most of its history—trailed far[Read More…]
The impact of the Covid pandemic on Indian companies has not been uniform across all sectors. In fact, the pandemic had come as a boon to some sectors and a bane to others. Despite some initial blips, companies in the healthcare sector and e-commerce companies have gained the most out of the pandemic period. On the other hand, companies in[Read More…]
The outrage in the Muslim world over the transgression of the red line in anti-Muslim politics in India is understandable, although the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party acted swiftly for damage control. The point is, the world has taken note that anti-Muslim politics has reached a crescendo in India and is undermining the country’s democratic foundations. The US state department last week flagged the[Read More…]
Ukraine President Zelensky appealed for more weapons to arrive faster, saying things could become very difficult for Ukraine if Russian forces broke through front lines in Donbas, the eastern region where Severodonetsk is the main city not in Russian hands. Media reports said: Britain has promised to send its first long-range missiles to Ukraine after a similar U.S. pledge which triggered Vladimir Putin[Read More…]
For a country experiencing its worst economic crisis since gaining independence in 1948, the picture of a touring team pampered and fussed over might cause consternation. But the Australian cricket tour to Sri Lanka has only been met by praise from the country’s cricket officials, where logic is inverted, and the gaze of responsibility averted. Not even a shortage of[Read More…]
War and racism have always been violently, tragically inseparable. For centuries, the most devastating and brutal conflicts in the world have been driven by destructive notions of racial superiority and murderous assertions of ethnic differences. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is abhorrent and deeply concerning. It is an unprovoked, unjustifiable outrage and a heinous violation of international law that will have[Read More…]
by Md Tabrez Alam & Achchhe Lal Prajapati ABSTRACT Jharkhand is a state rich in natural resources consisting of plateaus, small hills and forests located in the eastern part of India. Despite being a prosperous state, it faces challenges such as malnutrition, hunger, unemployment, illiteracy, corruption, poor health services and controversial politics. Even though Jharkhand is considered one of[Read More…]
When journalism became Churnalism – the churning out of massive amount of articles in a relatively short period of time, it turned journalism into a form of corporate propaganda that reflects the ideology of media owners. Yet, it also made media outlets to be increasingly reliant on the so-called news agencies that supply newspapers and TV with news items. Associated[Read More…]
On May 23, U.S. President Joe Biden officially launched the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) in Tokyo. Conceived and led by the United States, the IPEF has 13 founding members, including Australia, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. “The future of 21st century economy is going to largely be written in the[Read More…]
Nupur Sharma and Naveen Kumar Jindal reportedly made remarks against Prophet Muhammad. Indian Muslims are outraged. Islamic nations Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and Iran, have taken serious diplomatic objection, and Qatar has reportedly demanded “public apology” from India. In some of these countries, there are “… protests being lodged with the Indian missions, Indian[Read More…]
Since independence in 1948, the GoSL has tried to weaken (or outright deny) the concept of the “Tamil homeland” by engaging in processes of demographic change and repression through the three strategies that advance Sinhalization: land acquisition, militarization, and Buddhisization. Using these methods, the GoSL also seeks to strengthen a Sri Lankan identity, rooted in Sinhala-Buddhism (with a foremost place[Read More…]
Our leaders seem fascinated by the phrase ‘surgical strike’,like a child with a new toy playing with it any number of times.The suddenness that takes the target by surprise,the abruptness and the concentrated force that overwhelms resistance,all combine to put the party using it under a spell. The detoxification of Congress heritage in the state is the field where the[Read More…]
At a time when serious food shortages are emerging in several parts of world, food safety issues may get lesser attention and hence it is all the more important to assert that to protect human health, food safety is of the greatest importance. In addition, as we observe World Food Safety Day on June 7, it is equally important[Read More…]
U.S. congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) denounced the U.S. political system as an “oligarchy” on Friday, resuming the long-dormant class-war rhetoric that first attracted so many young voters to her campaign in 2018. “When you look at the fact that our elections are bought, that corporations and… powerful corporate lobbies have more say in our legislation than everyday people, we[Read More…]
On May 16, Sweden and Finland announced an end to decades of neutrality, proclaiming their intention to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and its escalating conflict with Russia. Less than three weeks later, Stockholm, Sweden’s capital, has been turned into a naval garrison with the arrival of a US amphibious assault battle group, consisting of the assault ship[Read More…]
The Galle Face protests which commenced on April 9th 2022 cannot be described as a mass uprising by the majority of the Sri Lankan population representing all sections of the communities particularly the middle and upper class sections besides the minority communities, the Tamil and Muslims. It was necessitated and forced upon on the low wages earning working population who[Read More…]
To Shri A K Jain Union Coal Secretary Dear Shri Jain, I had written to the Cabinet Secretary earlier on 5-5-2022 (https://countercurrents.org/2022/05/private-companies-exploiting-the-state-power-utilities-with-active-support-from-central-ministries/) about the likely factors that were responsible for the unprecedented coal crisis that has crippled the economy. Partly, the failure on the part of the private coal franchisees to deliver coal as per the expected levels has been a[Read More…]
The Indian Express report recently about a government-owned stadium being used by an IAS Officer to walk his dog after athletes practicing there were asked to vacate early, attracted so much public ire that the man and his wife, a fellow bureaucrat were transferred out with great rapidity. Obviously, the media coverage had a role to play in bringing to[Read More…]
India had remained an amphitheater of communalism for the last three-four decades. During this time the value of constitutional secularism was doomed to stumble here and there in the corridors of political power. In the eighties and nineties of the 20th century, there was a possibility that the society could be swept away by the flood of communalism at any[Read More…]
The World was shocked by the recent deliberate killing by an Israeli sniper of veteran Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. However over 50 journalists have been killed by Apartheid Israel in the last 2 decades. Careful analysis reveals that Apartheid Israel leads the World by far in terms of “average number of journalists killed per 10 million of[Read More…]
Only 23 days after the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) killed Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh on May 11, they have once again killed another journalist. As reported by the National Press Club Journalism Institute in Washington, 31-year-old journalist Ghufran Harun Warasneh was shot by IDF soldiers on June 1 while being questioned at an Israeli checkpoint in Area[Read More…]
Once upon a time, long, long ago — actually, it was early in the year 2000 — I was involved in publishing Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire. It had been written by the eminent scholar of Asia, former CIA consultant, and cold warrior Chalmers Johnson. I was his editor at Metropolitan Books. In its introduction, using a word[Read More…]
Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991, the US has been able to exert tremendous influence on other nations through its military and economic power. The world no longer was bipolar with the US and the Soviet Union competing for leadership. Instead, it has been a unipolar world under US hegemonic leadership. In 1997, US[Read More…]
War environs environment. War destructs and demolishes life, all forms of environment. It’s war’s powerful approach to contradictions within and with environment surrounding life. Wars including the current Ukraine War bear this signature of destruction of and on environment and ecology. The first victim is life; and, then comes surroundings of life that help sustain life. Activities to secure, nourish[Read More…]
The Inter-Linking of Rivers (ILR) Project in India is one of the most gigantic water-transfer projects ever envisaged in the entire world. This involves 30 (or 29) links of 37 rivers all over the country. Its cost was officially projected at Rs. 11 lakh crore (one crore=10 million) in 2016, although this is now considered an underestimate. This project was[Read More…]
May 15 this year came as a timely warning that India is in the center of the global warming crisis. On this day the maximum temperature crossed the 47 degrees Celsius limit in about 20 cities, mostly in northwest and central parts of the country. These cities also figured in the table of the hottest cities at world level on[Read More…]
The platinum jubilee will bore and cause some to yawn. It might certainly agitate the republican spleen in the fourteen countries where Queen Elizabeth II remains a constitutional head of state. But the question remains: How does the institution this figure represents endure, if it should at all? A rash of countries have expressed an interest in severing ties with[Read More…]
Labor activists from across the country, members of a number of unions, publicly announced the creation of LEPAIO, the Labor Education Project on the AFL-CIO International Operations, over the weekend of April 9-10. They held a press conference outside of AFL-CIO Headquarters on 16th Street in Washington, DC on April 8th, and followed with a four hour educational conference at[Read More…]
The impact of Covid has also affected the world of wildlife in India An especially high price during the epidemic period has been paid by tigers in the country. According to a recent report of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) 287 tigers have died since the onset of Covid in early 2020 till 31 May 2022. And tiger deaths,[Read More…]
Cuba and China have filed the first patent for a vaccine against not just COVID-19 and its many variants, but which could also be effective against several related viruses, the Cuban daily Granma reported on Thursday. In spite of a U.S.-directed blockade against trade with Cuba, the socialist island nation was able to develop five COVID-19 vaccines and inoculated 95% of[Read More…]
The wise men of the establishment are again telling us that hopes for lasting peace are a delusion. They declare that human nature makes it impossible, that war is built into our genes. They point to research by evolutionary biologists that indicates our closest genetic relatives, the chimpanzees, make war. Therefore war must be part of our heredity. “We’ve always[Read More…]
To Respected Chief Minister Sir, Kindly see my letters addressed to you sometime ago (accessible at the following links) on the need for the States to come together to set up a federal front to take up common issues with the Centre, so as to uphold the spirit of federalism that lies at the core of the Constitution. https://countercurrents.org/2022/03/proposal-for-a-federal-front-to-contain-the-onslaught-on-federalism/ https://countercurrents.org/2022/02/welcoming-the-opposition-to-centres-likely-move-to-privatise-singareni-collieries/ https://countercurrents.org/2022/02/onslaught-on-federalism-an-appeal-for-a-federal-front/[Read More…]
Social Environment is also crucial for Natural Environment, ignoring which no pious wish, no sci-tech can cure Nature Several species have shown their ability to change natural environment to some degree, Humans showed what maximum destructive changes can be done (an in some limited small-scale cases the opposite was tried). But ‘humans’ do not mean just a sum of some[Read More…]
“I’m absolutely convinced we will get a low-carbon, no-carbon economy at some point in time. The challenge is will we get there in time to heed the warnings of the scientists and avoid the worst consequences of the crisis?” (John Kerry, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, May 2022) In a soft pitch interview by Andy Serwer of Yahoo Finance on[Read More…]
The distance between Ukraine and Mali is measured in thousands of kilometers. But the geopolitical distance is much closer to the point that it appears as if the ongoing conflicts in both countries are the direct outcomes of the same geopolitical currents and transformation underway around the world. The Malian government is now accusing French troops of perpetuating a massacre[Read More…]
To Smt Nirmala Sitharaman Union Finance Minister Dear Smt Sitharaman, I refer to my earlier letter of May 19, 2022 (http://eassarma.in/sites/default/files/public/Drop-privatisation-forthwith.pdf) calling upon your Ministry to drop all further disinvestment proposals, in view of the dubious outcomes of the sale of the CEL and Pawan Hans and the potential fraudulent aspects of the LIC IPO. Apparently, the Centre is in[Read More…]
In 1972 a British doctor stumbled to refugee camps in Bangladesh, making sincere but rather clumsy efforts to make a contribution amidst an ocean of unmet medical needs. Five decades later, this uncertain initial effort has grown enough to reach out to over 500,000 of the poorest patients, many of them with serious conditions who would not have been able[Read More…]
The halting recovery of the Indian economy from the Covid pandemic received an unexpected blow from the Ukraine war. India’s corporate world is now struggling to cope with this double-trouble that has become a new challenge. In the second part of this series Covid Response Watch traces various trends in the corporate sector during the pandemic. The money kept flowing[Read More…]
The Kerala government’s proposed K-rail silver line project has created an uproar amongst the civil society of Kasaragod district, with it being the last junction as per the route map. Recently, in the last week of May, eminent citizens of Kerala’s Kasargod came together for a four-day walking protest alongside the proposed K-rail route in the district, propagandising the project’s[Read More…]
Kartik Pannalal was simply an ornament in his own right to the democratic Rights, Student and Communist revolutionary movement whose memories will shimmer forever.Kartik may be gone but his souls still sparkles in the hearts of many a well-wisher like an inextinguishable star. Today night on June 4th we commemorate his 25th death anniversary when he perished in a road[Read More…]
It was the summer of 2018 when I was visiting Berlin with my family. My curiosity for the history of the Holocaust was one of the reasons that took me there. Once we drove to the city from Frankfurt, where we landed for the first leg of our vacation to Europe, I began searching for any landmark associated with Martin[Read More…]
According to the Fermi Paradox the failure to date to achieve radio communication between Earth and extraterrestrial civilizations can be attributed to their short longevity due to inevitable self-destruction. Tragically Homo “sapiens” may not constitute an exception. The most extensive catastrophe in the history of Earth―the end-Permian- mass extinction 251 million years-ago, triggering atmospheric and marine warming, ocean acidification, toxic[Read More…]
Brazilian presidential candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called out U.S. President Joe Biden in two campaign speeches this week, citing the $40 billion in military aid Washington has pledged to Ukraine. “Biden, who has never made a speech to give $1 to those who are starving in Africa, announces $40 billion to help Ukraine buy weapons,” Lula said on Wednesday[Read More…]
“Aemilia Lanyer As Shakespeare’s Co-Author” by Mark Bradbeer presents a detailed case that a woman of colour and feminist poet, Aemilia Lanyer, was an important co-author of William Shakespeare, and hence made a big contribution to a body of works that are foundational to English literature and the English language that is spoken by over 1 billion people in India,[Read More…]
The Mazdoor Sangahatna Samiti of Jharkhand staged its 6th conference on 30th-31st May in Kucchi Bhavan in Maduban in Girdih district, .Around 250 -persons participated in a 3 day event of most qualitative significance in the working class movement. Defying a ban imposed last year in pretext of being a Maoist Front in November the Mazdoor Sanghatana Samiti valiantly resurrected[Read More…]
The chief of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS) Mohan Bhagwat accused western countries of sending arms to Ukraine. He also said that the western nations used to pit India and Pakistan against each other. Mohan Bhagwat is neither a diplomat nor India`s External Affairs Minister. How and in what capacity he is being allowed by the Modi government to make such statements[Read More…]
Come 5 June, the world will once again be ‘celebrating’ ‘World Environment Day’! There will be the usual plethora of events, plenty of fanfare and with many competing for ‘photo-ops’ to show how much they are doing for the environment! There will be the ‘mad rush’ to plant saplings, for politicians to take to the broom, on streets which have[Read More…]
After having a few lunches with Australia’s then opposition leader, Anthony Albanese, John Shipton felt reason to be confident. Albanese had promised Assange’s father that he would do whatever he could, should he win office, to bring the matter to a close. In December 2019, before a gathering at the Chifley Research Centre, Albanese also referred to Assange. “You don’t[Read More…]
In Sri Lanka it is a very serious concern that even after the government’s declaration of war victory and end of war, intimidation and harassment of media and journalists continue with increasing ferocity. People of Sri Lanka are deprived of their right to information and media and journalists are forced to practice an unprecedented level of self censorship. 34 Journalists[Read More…]
As India is troubled increasingly by more scorching heat waves than ever before, its water worries are also increasing. With 18% of the world’s population and 15% of its livestock but only 4% of the its fresh water resources, India is a water-stressed country whose water woes are further increasing in the times of climate change with more frequent droughts,[Read More…]
As Narendra Modi completed his eight years tenure (May 30 2022), there are claims and counter claims about the performance of his regime. Modi acolytes are very happy that during this period India has made great leaps in all areas of development. Various leaders from Amit Shah and others have praised the achievements of last eight years. Many other have[Read More…]
The Public Hearing was conducted by the state government for setting up of the second alumina plant of Aditya Birla Company at Kansariguda village under Podapadi panchayat in Kashipur block of Rayagada district, Odisha. A week before, A search about was carried out by police on all roads connecting Kashipur and Kansariguda, Sorish Padar to Laxmipur and Doraguda to[Read More…]
The Films Division under the Government of India’s Ministry of I&B has a certain genealogy that has been in a constant search of cinematographic forms that would make the body of the films handsome and at the same time accessible to the audiences at large. Right from its inception soon after India’s independence, the Films Division has been very interestingly[Read More…]
US President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday that Washington will deliver advanced longer-range missile systems HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) to the Ukrainian army, as part of yet another $700 million in military aid that the White House announced on May 31. This latest tranche brings the total direct military aid committed by the Biden administration since the beginning[Read More…]
A fascinating aspect of the freedom movement of India relates to very useful inter-actions among various streams of the movement, and their various meeting points. An interesting chapter of this concerns the family of Lala Gurudas Mal Talwar ( sometimes also written as Gurdasmal) whose various members contributed in very important ways to different streams of the freedom movement. This[Read More…]
Complacency has been the hallmark of NATO expansion. Over time, it has even become a form of derision, notably directed against Russia. As with many historical matters, records ignored can be records revisited, the second time around sometimes nastier than the first. With the Ukraine conflict raging, a few of Russia’s neighbours have reconsidered their position of military non-alignment and[Read More…]
In the film archive of The Associated Press there are 2.47 minutes of shaky footage dated 10th July 1972. The colour of the stock is crude, the quality grainy. The clip is disorientating, the camera continually moving as if searching for meaning. It’s an eerily silent piece of newsreel. With the absence of a long shot there’s little sense of[Read More…]
One of the less discussed side-effects of the Ukraine war is that it is likely to have aggravated the hunger crisis in many countries of Africa. Some of the countries more affected by hunger , like Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo ( DRC), had been getting substantial parts of their wheat imports from Russia and Ukraine, and to[Read More…]
The Israeli Supreme Court has decided that the Palestinian region of Masafer Yatta, located in the southern hills of Hebron, is to be entirely appropriated by the Israeli military and that a population of over 1,000 Palestinians is to be expelled. The Israeli Court decision, on May 4, was hardly shocking. Israel’s military occupation does not only consist of soldiers with guns,[Read More…]
Rahul Gandhi is being barracked by the saffron camp for saying the constitution does not mention the word ‘nation’.They argue the Preamble does so clearly.But no constitution in the world talks about any ‘nation’. Constitutions talk about the structure and powers of the State and the rights of the people.They are rendered necessary by the urge and need to eliminate[Read More…]
The horrifying mass murder of 18 school children and two teachers in Uvalde, TX occurred at the same time as the funeral of Celestine Chaney, grandmother of six and Buffalo, NY mass shooting victim, was taking place. Only two of the ten Black Americans killed in Buffalo by avowed white supremacists had been yet laid to rest when that tragedy[Read More…]
Who killed the baby? Who put fields on fire and why? Who spewed poisons in fresh village air? And, who robbed water underground? Moreover, will you only ban stubble burning without addressing the whole issue? An 18-month-old girl, Roopa, who stayed in hutments of migrant workers, was charred to death after a fire broke out in around 40 hutments in[Read More…]
Redundant Author: Bitan Chakraborty Translated from the original Bengali by Malati Mukherjee Published by Readomania, New Delhi May 2022, Paperback, Page 102, ISBN: 978-93-91800-38-3 “Redundant” as a word addresses excess. For something to be “redundant,” it must be superfluous. In the context of Bitan Chakraborty’s novella Redundant, we absorb excess through the exploits of one of the central characters, Shubho,[Read More…]
Few men can give us a better understanding of the saffronisation of archaeology and the temple mosque controversy than Ashish Avikunthak. He has spent 20 years researching Indian archaeology, he is a sensitive film maker, social activist, a multi faceted figure.He has a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from Stanford university, he teaches archaeology and film studies in Rhodes Island university[Read More…]
The world has been stunned by a double wonder: Bolivarian Venezuela’s political survival and its miraculous economic recovery: the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean has reported that it expects the Venezuelan economy to grow for the first time since 2014, by 5 per cent, one of the highest in the region. Venezuela’s rate of inflation has come[Read More…]
Europe lurched closer to an energy crisis on Tuesday after the Kremlin cut off gas supplies to major buyers including Shell. A Telegraph report said: Russia’s state-owned gas supplier, Gazprom, said supplies to Shell in Germany as well as to Ørsted in Denmark will be cut off on Wednesday after they refused to bow to Putin’s demands to pay in roubles. Gazprom[Read More…]
Though Bandung in Indonesia and Havana in Cuba couldn’t be farther apart geographically—with each city located on two distant islands in their respective countries and separated by more than 17,000 km—they have been ideologically close in the imaginations of many people across the Global South. The Third World Project, born out of the continuous collaboration between the newly independent states and[Read More…]
What is now called Israel, and should rightfully be called Palestine, is the result of the greatest replacement of the last centuries. The forces that shaped 18-year old Payton Gendron to commit mass murder at the Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo, N.Y on May 14, 2022, are the same as the forces that shaped 38-year old Baruch Goldstein to kill[Read More…]
The burden of absence savages the heart. How to give voice to the horrors of grief? In the valley of tears rivers from Eden run red with the salt of blood. In this Promise Land parents and prayers are exiled by violence. Each day an angel is fallen. The naming of victims! In gardens of hatred the flowering of graves.[Read More…]
Covid impact on India’s corporate sector The halting recovery of the Indian economy from the Covid pandemic received an unexpected blow from the Ukraine war. India’s corporate world is now struggling to cope with this double-trouble that has become a new challenge. This two part series let traces how the Indian corporate sector[1] fared through the pandemic. Before that, a[Read More…]
The Sangh Parivar has often talked a lot about its big concern for the rich heritage of the country, but now that there are several significant cases of the BJP-led union government inflicting heavy harm to this heritage, why is it so quiet about this? Bullocks have been the most useful farm animals of India for several centuries, for ploughing,[Read More…]
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 
A critical approach to the exploration of Identity & Violence: An attempt by the young researchers of EDRU 
Delay in Census enumeration, unreliable death registration and fake Aadhaar cards adversely impact integrity of elections, leads to misuse of public funds 
Special Significance of the Next Decade in Human History, and a Campaign Linked to This 
Prophets of Doom: Kissinger and the ‘Intellectual’ Decline of the West 
“Free Trade” as Revealed in the China-United States Paradigm 
Memorialize USA Lies About Each Mistaken Undeclared War Americans Remembered Today Gave Their Lives 
Tipu Sultan: Fallacies and Facts around the Historical Figure in India 
The intertwined history of caste and census in India 
A Tale of Two Indias 
Dismantle the structures of sexual violence, NOT the protesters’ tent! 
CDRO condemns the manhandling of the protesting wrestlers 
From Deathly Silence to Violence: The journey of Wrestlers struggling for Justice 
Workers Protests break out in China 
Now I Am Ravana’s Head 
Noam Chomsky on Why This Is the Most Dangerous Point in Human History 
HAK Birthdays: Henry Kissinger Turns 100 
Brotherhood and Friendship in a time of War- Reflections on The Mercenary, by Jeffrey E. Stern 
Weaknesses of the National Security Strategy 2022 – Part 8: The NSS falsely claims that Russia and Putin have malicious goals and spurn negotiation 
What role did trade unions play in the struggle for independence in Kenya? 
A Timely Warning on Avoiding the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework that Deserves Wide Attention 
Tinsel Gods 
Kirti Kisan Union conducts massive rally in Moga on issue of Canal Water 
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…]
