In Germany and elsewhere, the issue of environmental protection is often understood as a rather young movement originating in the non-mainstream, green milieu of the 1970s. In the case of Germany, this might – at least partially – be a slight misconception. Germany has a very long history of an ecologically oriented radical right. Today’s German right-wing ecological renaissance is[Read More…]
They really do want to kill him. Perhaps it is high time that his detractors and sceptics, proven wrong essentially from the outset, admit that the US imperium, along with its client states, is willing to see Julian Assange perish in prison. The locality and venue, for the purposes of this exercise, are not relevant. Like the Inquisition, the Catholic[Read More…]
A long overdue tribute to honor each individual service member who gave their life during the 1950-1953 Korean War has finally been added to the Korean War monument here in Washington. In October of 2016, Congress enacted the “Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall of Remembrance Act” (Public Law 114–230) with the stipulation that related costs for its implementation would not[Read More…]
Dir. Arvind Gaur Written by: Ashok Lal Presented by Asmita Theatre Group in Sri Ram Centre for Art and Culture on 29th July 2022 The black t-shirt wearing and exceedingly soft-spoken young volunteers we encountered outside the venue exuded such an intense awareness of the injustices of the world that I wanted to pat them on the shoulder and tell[Read More…]
As India celebrates the 75th Independence Day, it is interesting to look at those Hindi film songs which have best reflected the spirit of the freedom movement in the years following the freedom of India from colonial rule. The coverage here is restricted to about two decades following freedom. First of all, there are songs directly dealing with films made[Read More…]
Some of the élites are in a fury and others busy in making cover up. West Bengal Education Ministry scam in recruiting teachers, though yet to be come as व्यापक (vyapak) as the व्यापम (vyapam) scam of the of Madhya Pradesh where one officer was found to be in possession of ₹70 crores, has already made storms in media, social-media[Read More…]
The American aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and its strike group, including a guided missile destroyer and cruiser, set out from Singapore on Monday heading toward the South China Sea and Taiwan. This deployment, clearly linked to the planned highly provocative visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan, greatly heightens US military and political tensions with China, which[Read More…]
We are stumbling—seemingly oblivious—into the bared teeth of the Anthropocene, a new geological epoch driven by humanity itself. We are walking straight into it and pretending it’s not here. The world today is on the verge of a major food emergency, provoked in part by Russia’s attack on Ukraine but more broadly by the damage heat from global warming is doing[Read More…]
For the first time, a significant loss at the base of the marine food web has been detected. The Scottish research vessel Capepod reported the findings in equatorial waters of the Atlantic Ocean. It’s a disturbing discovery, but first a look at the marine food web, starting with the lowest organisms: (1) phytoplankton – plant-like plankton: green algae, diatoms, and[Read More…]
by Vijay Prashad and Taroa Zúñiga Silva The Atacama salt flat in northern Chile, which stretches 1,200 square miles, is the largest source of lithium in the world. We are standing on a bluff, looking over la gran fosa, the great pit that sits at the southern end of the flat, which is shielded from public view. It is where the[Read More…]
The freedom movement of India is a highly inspiring chapter of world history. With their deeds and not just their words, year after year so many freedom fighters gave highly inspiring examples of facing very tough challenges in highly courageous ways, often making big sacrifices with a smile and freedom movement slogans and songs on their lips. The broad message[Read More…]
Bhutnath Kumbhakar, a master terracotta craftsman, heard that an emergency situation had developed and so he would not be permitted go out of the campus. The nationwide lockdown started due to the Covid pandemic while he was working as a resident artist in the NSHM campus in Durgapur. He along with several other artists continued their work inside the campus.[Read More…]
Vijay Singh Pathik (1882-1954) was an eminent freedom fighter, peasant leader, journalist, poet, author, educationist and historian who worked tirelessly all his life to fight both imperialism and feudalism at several levels. At one level he was active in the Indian National Congress, fulfilling important responsibilities in Rajasthan in particular but also in other areas. However he had started life[Read More…]
On 13 Dec 1946, Jawaharlal Nehru moved an “Objective Resolution” during the Constituent Assembly, which outlined the objectives of the Constitution. These were discussed and later became the constitutional Preamble, assuring to the People, the democratic core values of Justice, Liberty and Equality. Fraternity as a core value, was added by B.R.Ambedkar on 21 February 1948. B.R.Ambedkar urged that the[Read More…]
To me, the purest and strongest expression of Palestinian resistance comes from Al Masar Al Badil (Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement), a movement organized by activists who never accepted the path that led us to the disastrous and debilitating Oslo decades. With Oslo’s duplicity and perversion now obvious to all except the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian elite who benefit[Read More…]
With 161 votes in favour, and eight abstentions*, the UN General Assembly adopted a historic resolution on Thursday, declaring access to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, a universal human right. The resolution, based on a similar text adopted last year by the Human Rights Council, calls upon States, international organisations, and business enterprises to scale up efforts to ensure a healthy environment[Read More…]
Taiwan is a part of China and the 1.4 billion Chinese will not tolerate any challenges to the country’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity, President Xi Jinping told his U.S. counterpart, Joe Biden, in a phone call on Thursday. Xi’s warning comes amid reports that U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is preparing to visit the island next month, something China[Read More…]
To Smt Leena Nandan Secretary Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MEFCC) Govt of India Shri A K Jha Secretary Ministry of Tribal Affairs Govt of India Dear Smt Nandan and Shri Jha, I refer to the amendment introduced by the MEFCC to the Forest (Conservation) Rules vide GSR 480(E) dated 28-6-2022, in which the procedure for[Read More…]
The struggle of the people of Dhinkia and nearby villagers ( in Jagatsinghpur district of Odisha) to save the local green rural economy based on dhana – mina – pana (paddy, fish and vines of betel leaves , apart from cashew nuts) from the onslaught of highly polluting big industries has acquired a new relevance and resonance in the middle[Read More…]
The language is far from reassuring. Despite being caught red handed using facial recognition technology unbeknownst to customers, a number of Australia’s large retail companies have given a meek assurance that they will “pause” their use. The naughty will only show contrition in the most qualified of ways. It all began with an investigation by CHOICE which found that the[Read More…]
This August 15 (2022) we are completing 75 years of our freedom from the slavery of British rule. This is a time to introspect and commit ourselves to the movement which got us freedom and to assess whether we are walking the path of dreams of the visionaries of freedom movement. To mark the occasion the Government of India led[Read More…]
I have a brother with chronic schizophrenia. He had his first severe catatonic episode when he was 16 years old and I was 10. Later, he suffered from auditory hallucinations and heard voices saying nasty things to him. I remember my father reassuring him that the voices weren’t real and asking him whether he could ignore them. Sadly, it’s not that[Read More…]
A small group of dedicated activists today rallied in front of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) headquarters calling for the commission not to issue a second extension certificate to the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) a $5.5 billion 303-mile-long interstate natural gas project. The 42-inch diameter pipeline is facing opposition from numerable groups with issues related to global warming,[Read More…]
It’s only a few months since last we wrote about the dangers of war, pandemics, and climate change reaching a climax (https://multiracialunity.org/2022/05/07/an-exploding-world-requires-radical-change/), but already the crises are intensifying. Inflation, infection, injustice, impoverishment are all further endangering the lives of workers around the world. Consequences of Ukraine War Multiply As the lead op-ed in the NY Times said recently (6/22/2022),[Read More…]
For much of the period since the breakup of the Soviet Union, the US was politically, militarily and economically unchallenged. The US was now the world’s hegemon and, to remain dominant, it couldn’t allow powerful challengers to arise. This goal meant that the US viewed the relationship with nations such as Russia and China as a zero-sum game, thus reducing[Read More…]
Some Gandhians are feeling indignant about the special issue of ‘Antim Jan’ on Sarvakar. It is a monthly magazine published by a government organization, ‘Gandhi Darshan and Smriti’. Some journalists, intellectuals and party spokespersons/leaders too have expressed their unhappiness over the special issue. Gandhi’s great-grandson Tushar Gandhi’s statement also has come against the same. ‘Gandhi Darshan and Smriti’ is an[Read More…]
As the crisis of climate change has aggravated rapidly, there is a strong reason for being highly cautious about development of any new coal projects. Nevertheless, countries of the global south cannot entirely ban such development as they have to be concerned also about their crucial energy needs as well and of developing their own resources within the country for[Read More…]
The Pentagon could send additional ships, aircraft and surveillance systems to protect US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi if she proceeds with her plan to visit Taiwan, AP reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed US officials. A “contingency plan,” which is being developed by the U.S. military, involves creating “overlapping rings of protection” for the U.S. House speaker during her flight to[Read More…]
One of the most challenging tasks in India has been to report from those remote places which are in the middle of several conflicts and repressive policies. Apart from the more routine problems relating to collecting evidence and facts in remote areas, when these become conflict zones or when repression is being unleashed there, risks of journalism work increase considerably[Read More…]
Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) visited the United States on July 12 and offered five proposals to U.S. President Joe Biden. These proposals are based on AMLO’s in-depth knowledge of Mexican history and his reading of the economic crisis in the United States, which seems to be losing its edge as a global leader. The first of the proposals[Read More…]
To judge US President Joe Biden’s recent visit to Israel and Palestine as a ‘failure’ in terms of activating the dormant ‘peace process’ is simply a misnomer. For this statement to be accurate, Washington would have had to indicate even a nominal desire to push for negotiations between the Israeli government and the Palestinian leadership. Political and diplomatic platitudes aside,[Read More…]
A memorial meeting, remembering Com DV and TN was held in Khammam town of Telangana State on July27, 2022. Hundreds of people who are fighting for and supporting agrarian revolution attended, including a big number of adivasi and poor peasants, and large number of women. The meeting held in the peak of rainy season went on from10.30 am to[Read More…]
We were warned for decades about the death march we are on because of global warming. And yet, the global ruling class continues to frog-march us towards extinction. The past week has seen record-breaking heat waves across Europe. Wildfires have ripped through Spain, Portugal and France. London’s fire brigade experienced its busiest day since World War II. The U.K. saw its hottest day on record of 104.54 Fahrenheit. In[Read More…]
Prior to the Industrial Revolution, most humans were engaged in agriculture. Our relationship with nature was immediate. Within just a few generations, however, for many people across the world, their link with the land has been severed. Food now arrives pre-packaged (often precooked), preserved with chemicals and contains harmful pesticides, micro-plastics, hormones and/or various other contaminants. We are also being[Read More…]
Sri Lanka’s former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa is expected to return to the country from Singapore, a Sri Lankan lawmaker says. Cabinet spokesperson Bandula Gunawardena told reporters on Tuesday that G Rajapaksa was not in hiding but the date of his return was not known. The former president fled Sri Lanka after mass unrest over an economic crisis. Many protesters say[Read More…]
Australia’s 2 top universities, the University of Melbourne and the University of Sydney, have both falsely defamed their anti-racist Jewish and non-Jewish students as anti-Semitic for criticizing the appalling crimes of Israeli Apartheid, and have thus implicitly falsely defamed all anti-racists everywhere who rightly condemn the ongoing human rights abuses and ongoing Palestinian Genocide by Apartheid Israel. These 2 top[Read More…]
As UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson set the scene in spectacular fashion. All who sought to confine him to history, perished. He was the only one who seemed to survive, and reject, one diabolical scandal after the next – till now. No leader with such a destructive sense of presence could do anything but impair those who followed him. But[Read More…]
Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the United States House of Representatives, is reportedly scheduled to visit Taipei in August 2022. The stated purpose is supporting Asian democracy. The trip has more than irked the Chinese. The trip has obviously not been approved by the one recognized government of China in Beijing. Some may downplay the speaker of the US House of[Read More…]
One of the collateral damages of the war in Ukraine is the future of Indian medical students who went to study there. The typical profile of the students was that they appeared for the National Entrance and Eligibility Test(NEET) which regulates admission to medical colleges in India. But their scores were not high enough to get them a government medical[Read More…]
Lakh of the youths in the country are feeling fudged. Violent protests took place against the recently announced Agnipath scheme in the army recruitment for personnel below officer rank (PBOR). Under the new Agnipath scheme, the government has announced recruiting youths for the army, to be called Agniveers. Under this scheme, after qualifying, they will not have a secured tenure[Read More…]
The case of social activist Himanshu Kumar is attracting widespread concern as it is widely believed that something exceptionally unjust has happened, even when judged by recent standards. To capture the events so far very briefly, as a social activist working in Dantewada, Chattisgarh, Himanshu Kumar petitioned the Supreme Court in 2009 ( with co-petitioners) regarding an independent inquiry into[Read More…]
It may seem hard to believe, but only 15 years ago many of us were talking confidently about “peak oil” — the moment of maximum global oil output after which, with world reserves dwindling, its use would begin an irreversible decline. Then along came hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and the very notion of peak oil largely vanished. Instead, some analysts[Read More…]
Dear Sisters , Today 5 of us women have left our homes to participate and sit as Satyagrahis in the small pandal near Thiruvannathapuram Domestic terminal where the Anti Adani Vizhinjam Port struggle reaches its 50th day. Many of you may wonder why we are here and what we are trying to communicate by this Satyagraha. Titled the Indefinite Satyagraha[Read More…]
At a time when headlines were focused more on the heat wave in Europe, an event of great importance which should have received more attention was the melting of as much as 18 billion tons of ice sheets in just 3 days of mid-July in Greenland. Very frightening estimates have been presented of the extent of rise in sea level[Read More…]
China’s Foreign Ministry has warned the U.S. of “serious consequences” should U.S. House of Representative Speaker Nancy Pelosi visits Taiwan in a demonstration of developing ties between Washington and the autonomous island that Beijing sees as inalienable part of China’s territory. “The Chinese side has made it clear to the U.S. on many occasions that it is firmly opposed to[Read More…]
On 28th July we commemorate the 50th death anniversary of Charu Mazumdar,who was tortured to death in police custody. It ranks amongst the worst abuse of human rights of a political prisoner or leader in India or the world. Today history is repeating itself in with Custodial deaths being a routine occurrence in prisons.Charu’s assassination illustrated the neo-fascist nature of[Read More…]
The end credits to the Slumdog Children of Mumbai, a 2010 documentary made by Nick Read roll on my screen at 3:00 am. Yes, I am guilty of watching documentaries at odd hours and losing track of time. As I’m looking for more heartfelt documentaries to watch, I chance upon the trailer of the documentary, titled Right Forward, that’s based[Read More…]
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe won the presidential elections conducted by the Parliament on Thursday after Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled abroad amidst intense agitation over the economic crisis. He will serve the remaining tenure of Gotabaya Rajapaksa till November 2024. Ranil Wickremesinghe is a Sri Lankan Politician who is also currently the 9th President of Sri Lanka since July 21,[Read More…]
To Smt Nirmala Sitharaman Union Finance Minister Dear Smt Sitharaman, As one closely associated [as the then Chairman of the committee on Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) legislation in the year 2000] with the idea of evolving a statutory framework for the Centre and the States to ensure transparency in terms of the disclosure of fiscal liabilities to their respective[Read More…]
Veterinarians have an opportunity to uphold medical ethics—and give the nation’s factory-farmed animals a small bit of mercy when they are killed. The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) is holding its annual convention in Philadelphia starting on July 29. This is an opportunity for the group to formulate a policy statement opposing a method of killing farmed animals that epitomizes the inhumane[Read More…]
The Hundred Year War on Palestine – A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017. Rashid Khalidi. Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Company, New York, 2020. With the writing of The Hundred Year War on Palestine – A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017, Rashid Khalidi has created an interesting well written overview of the Zionist colonial-settler enterprise in[Read More…]
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday, July 19 conducted intense search operations at the residences of alleged Communist Party of India-Maoist sympathisers and the widow of Maoist leader Ramakrishna in Andhra Pradesh. The searches were conducted in Alakurapadu village of Tangutur mandal. The officials of NIA raided the residence of G Kalyan Rao, a poet and leader of Viplava[Read More…]
Few changes in armed forces have been as controversial as the Agnipath scheme of recruitment announced in June. It is very important for national interest to examine carefully the objections raised by several very senior and experienced veterans of armed forces, some of whom have distinguished themselves not just in the battlefield but as also as very learned commentators on[Read More…]
After an extensive national search, the Fellowship of Reconciliation-USA (FOR-USA) is proud to welcome our next executive director, Ariel Gold. Ms. Gold, a veteran peace and justice advocate, is taking the helm as the organization’s first Jewish executive director. Prior to this groundbreaking appointment, for the past seven years Ms. Gold worked at CODEPINK Women for Peace, where she was[Read More…]
As the UK suffered its hottest-ever temperatures only recently, Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now, interviewed Britain’s erudite environmental journalist George Monbiot July 21, 2022 about his most recent article in The Guardian: This Heatwave Has Eviscerated The Idea That Small Changes Can Tackle Extreme Weather, July 18, 2022. According to Monbiot: “Paper straws are not enough. Only System Change[Read More…]
by Global Kairos Asia Pacific Palestine Solidarity (GKAPPS) Global Kairos Asia Pacific Palestine Solidarity (GKAPPS) is a group of Asian Christian Theologians from 21 countries working in alliance with all religious communities and civil society movements in the Asia-Pacific region and around the Globe to act decisively to address the brutal and horrific situations of the continuing Nakba that the[Read More…]
When the present Chief Justice of India speaks,India listens.Not because of his position and power,but because he has restored a measure of trust in the justice system of the country following its steep decline under some of his predecessors. The point is critical.For the highest courts in the world are prone to be subjected to heated controversy from time to[Read More…]
The indomitable spirit of Raphael Lemkin, bibliophile, assiduous documenter of humanity’s dark deeds and inexecrable conduct, is bound to be an unsettled one. This brilliant, committed and peculiarly dedicated creature took years to come up with what would, in time, become a word so horrifying as to transfix judges of international law. The amalgam word of genocide stalks the conscience[Read More…]
In Greenland, last weekend temperatures rose enough to cause 18 billion tons of the country’s ice sheet to melt over three days. Scientists have warned about the fate of Greenland’s ice sheet. Scientists say what happened between July 15 and 17 is the latest massive melting event contributing to an increase in the global sea level. The amount of water from[Read More…]
To Smt Droupadi Murmu President of India Rashtrapati Bhawan Respected Rashtrapati Ji, I wish to congratulate you on being elected as the President of India. As the first representative of the adivasis of the country, I have no doubt that you will take a proactive role in re-orienting the policy of the government for the overall betterment of the adivasis’[Read More…]
In last five decade of twentieth century has been perhaps the most remarkable in period of human history in terms of scientific development as we have unlocked countless secrets. In this same period saw the creation of institution of global governance: the United Nations, the International monetary fund, the world bank, and the GATT which turned into World trade organization.[Read More…]
It is not possible to serve two masters with opposing goals. In the case of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it has not always been obvious that such a dichotomy exists, but it has become ever more apparent since Trump and Covid-19. Before that, many of us relied on the CDC for accuracy, integrity, public health science,[Read More…]
One: Earth is in danger. We are the source of Earth’s endangerment. Troubles are real. Consequences are rapidly becoming global reality. Two: Each person living on this Living Earth must take a clear, unwavering stand, standing in responsibility and raising an alerting voice. Three: Individual voices need to become a global chorus—the chorus of human choices. Four: Often people will[Read More…]
In recent times there have been several very impressive claims by the union government regarding its very strong commitment to various welfare programs. However at the same time we cannot ignore that equally strong criticisms questioning these claims have also been voiced. As a lot of statistics are often quoted in support of claims as well as criticisms, people are[Read More…]
Digital technology has demolished the borders between different countries without any war or confrontation. The same technology has come to the rescue of those families living across the Indo-Pak border who were separated during the partition of the subcontinent in 1947. More relief has come to those thousands of divided families in the Kashmir who have never been allowed to[Read More…]
Mrs Draupadi Murmu has expectedly won the Presidential contest defeating Shri Yashwant Sinha with a heavy margin. A large number of individual members of non-NDA political parties supported her apart from the ruling parties in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Jharkhand which reflected the popular sentiment among them not to be seen as opposing the candidature of the first President of[Read More…]
The Delhi state Aanganwadi workers and helpers Union launched an effective gherao at the city govt’s women and child development Department at Kashmere gate on July 22nd , raising slogans against the Aam Admi party dispensation. Their plight is symbolic of that of women workers all over the country, mercilessly entrapped by the contract system, denied stipulated or fair wages,[Read More…]
————————————————————————————————————————- NARMADA GHATI SE BAHUJAN GATHAYEN Editors: Ojas S. V., Madhuresh Kumar, Vijayan M. J. and, Joe Athiyali Translation: Chinmay Mishra New Delhi, April 2022, Navarun, Pp. 247, Price Rs. 350/- ————————————————————————————————————————– Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA, Save Narmada Movement) is one of the longest drawn (35 years) people’s movement against ‘development’ at the cost of people and nature in India.[Read More…]
(This article is based on a talk delivered at the online session organised by International Solidarity with the People’s Movement in Sri Lanka on a 23.07.2022) The people’s movement in Sri Lanka has entered into a deadlock with the ‘(s)election’ of Ranil Wickremesinghe as President. Within hours of him assuming office, a mid-night crackdown on the Galle Face protest camp[Read More…]
“But to watch cricket, there has to be a country left for us to watch it in, no?” A fan at the Galle Test Match that ended with an innings victory for Sri Lanka. July 11, 2022 Spirits were high on July 11 when the Sri Lankan cricket team beat the visiting Aussies by an innings even though the country[Read More…]
All of us who yearn to see a mass movement of workers united across national, racial and gender lines against capitalism and imperialism should remember and learn from the life of Walter Rodney. A Guyanese historian and activist who was murdered by his own ruling class in 1980 at the age of 38, Rodney understood the pitfalls of pseudo-socialism and[Read More…]
In a blog entry, reflecting on the G20 Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Bali, Indonesia on July 7-8, the High Representative of the European Union, Josep Borrell, seems to have accepted the painful truth that the West is losing what he termed “the global battle of narratives”. “The global battle of narratives is in full swing and, for now, we are[Read More…]
A small group of activists marched from Dupont Circle to the Philippine Embassy calling for President Biden to stop supporting the Philippine government of “BongBong” Marcos while calling for the prosecution of former President Duterte for the extrajudicial killings in his “War on Drugs.” Signs in both English and Tagalog were used to inspire resistance and to fight for change.[Read More…]
The Indo-Palestine Solidarity Network (IPSN) is a network of like- minded people drawn from all parts of the country committed to justice and freedom for Palestine. It seeks an end to the racist-colonialist-apartheid politics of Israel. Over the last three years, IPSN has consistently been involved in creating awareness about the conditions of the Palestinian people and drawing people together[Read More…]
The order passed by the SC bench led by Justice D.Y.Chandrachud releasing Mohammed Zubair on bail and clubbing together all six cases filed by UP and Delhi police comes as welcome relief at a time when the extraordinary judgment of another bench ordering prosecution of Teesta Setalvad,well-known human rights activist, seemed to be the culmination of courts’ indecisive and[Read More…]
Indiscriminate road building and hydropower projects are increasing the vulnerability of the mountainous areas of Uttarakhand to the impact of climate change that is manifesting in the form of cloud bursts and flash floods in recent years. With every passing year, both frequency and magnitude of the disasters is getting more severe. An example of how this is affecting the[Read More…]
As the world recovers from the pandemic, and many across the country are trying to find their feet with gainful employment, a study released early this year by CMIE reveals that agriculture absorbed an additional 11 million workers over the last 3 years. The study also indicates a loss of 15 million jobs in the rest of the economy. Mahesh[Read More…]
Constitutionally speaking, all citizens are equal before law and nobody can be discriminated against on basis of religion, race, caste, gender, place of birth and other such factors. Constitutional spirit of Indian democracy and secularism also bears this stamp. Against this backdrop, what is suggested by election of Draupadi Murmu as 15th President of this country with emphasis laid on[Read More…]
In what may be the most provocative escalation of the US-NATO war against Russia to date, the White House has confirmed that the US is planning to send NATO-made fighter jets to Ukraine. John Kirby, the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, confirmed that the Pentagon is discussing “providing fighter aircraft to the Ukrainians.” Kirby’s statement marks a rejection[Read More…]
In the largest crackdown on its film industry since 2010, Iran ordered internationally acclaimed filmmaker Jafar Panahi, 62, to serve a six-year jail sentence after he criticised the government. Panahi was arrested on July 11 when he went to the prosecutor’s office to follow up on the arrest of Mohammad Rasoulof, another well-known filmmaker, and Mostafa Aleahmad. The two were[Read More…]
Calling an all-Party meeting recently, MEA Minister S.Jaishankar rightly expressed official concern at the critical economic-financial situation of our southern neighbour Sri Lanka. It had caused large-scale protests. Jaishankar also allayed fears that a similar situation could arise in India. It is devoutly to be hoped that he is correct, in the interest of our People and our nation. The[Read More…]
The recent overturning of Roe v. Wade is part of a pattern of American exceptionalism that harms people in both the U.S. and the rest of the world. We know the United States is an outlier in abortion restrictions, but it is still startling to realize just how much. In the last two decades, 50 countries around the world have liberalized abortion[Read More…]
The health of all people is being sacrificed to Big Pharma profits and rich countries’ saber-rattling sanctions. Meanwhile, other countries are capable of meeting the world’s vaccine needs. The UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima had appealed before the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference in Geneva that the world would face a grim future if patent waivers did not take place. At a press[Read More…]
Post World War II Germany has exhibited commendable characteristics — publicly atoning for its Nazi past, working assiduously to create a thriving nation, designing a truly democratic country, integrating its European compatriots into a common market, leading others in opening borders to refugees, and modifying its previous ultra-nationalism to form the European union. Behind these praiseworthy attributes lurks another Germany[Read More…]
First Movement: Round Table and the Peers When Arthur realized he was to become king, and not just any king, but the illustrious Once and Future King, he went apart in solitude, looked out over the rolling land and for a long time contemplated the condition of the realm he was destined to guide, guard, and govern. Visibly on[Read More…]
Rule of law, transparency, accountability and citizenship rights are fundamental pillars of constitutional democracy. These pillars are eroding rapidly. The democratic cultures based on equality, liberty, justice, reason, science, secularism, tolerance and mutual respect for dissenting and diverse opinions are declining across the globe. The corporatisation of electoral campaigns, market command over political parties, corporate control over political processes and[Read More…]
To E. Tendayi Achiume, Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, Xenophobia and related intolerance, UN Re- Testimony at the civil society expert consultation by Prasant Paikray from India (Odisha) Dear E. Tendayi, I Prasant Paikray, the Spokesperson of Anti Jindal Anti POSCO Movement from Odisha, India do make the following submissions humbly for your understanding and intervention:[Read More…]
Respected Chief Minister, I had earlier addressed you through a series of letters on the range of policy changes introduced by the Centre that amounted to making inroads into the legislative and the executive domains of the States and overstepping the lakshman rekha of federalism that lies at the core of the parliamentary democratic system provided in the Constitution. The[Read More…]
There are increasing demands from many sides that the amendment of Electricity Act 2003 which the union government has been trying to push ahead for some time should not be passed in a hurry. It has been discussed that the government is likely to introduce the Electricity ( Amendment) Bill 2022 in the Monsoon Session of the Parliament. A reference[Read More…]
Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by Nathu Ram Godse. There are some people subscribing to Hindutva ideology who idolize Godse. Various leaders, activists associated with the Hindutva ideology from time to time have portrayed Godse as a patriot. Question is Gandhi was the tallest leader of India’s freedom movement and even before India achieved independence Godse was making an attempt to[Read More…]
by Ashish Kumar Singh & Akash Singh According to a NITI Aayog recent report titled ‘India’s Booming Gig and Platform Economy’ India’s gig workforce, estimated to be at 77 lakh in 2020-21. It is expected to go up to 2.35 crore by 2029-30. Gig worker are defined by Niti Aayog as those engaged in livelihoods outside the traditional employer-employee arrangement. Gig[Read More…]
Although there are many threads of kinship, those who study history can understand that there have been conflicts between Islam and Christianity since the beginning. Although it can be attributed to the Semitic tradition and the exact assimilation of the modern structure, it can undoubtedly be said that imperial political interests were behind it. But on the other hand, the role of[Read More…]
Japan in its first annual defense report issued since the war in Ukraine mentioned Russia and China’s deepening military cooperation that has included joint air and navy drills is raising security concerns in the region. The defence white paper approved by Prime Minister Kishida’s government identifies China, Russia and North Korea as its main security concerns. Rivalries Are Clear “The[Read More…]
Firefighters don’t normally allude to early English epics, but in a briefing on the massive Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire in northern New Mexico, a top field chief said, “It’s like Beowulf: it’s not the thing you fear, it is the mother of the thing you fear.” He meant that the flames you face may be terrifying, but scarier yet are the conditions[Read More…]
Thinktanks across Australia, tanked with cash from US sources and keen to think in furious agreement, are all showing how delighted they are with the AUKUS security pact and what potential it has for local, if subordinated industry. The United States Studies Centre, a loudspeaker for Washington’s opinions based at the University of Sydney, has added its bit to the[Read More…]
As government efforts to contain it fails even in rich nations, the world’s hunger and livelihoods crisis is rapidly escalating into an emergency. Western leaders and media have been blaming Russia and the war in Ukraine for this unfolding catastrophe, but the facts say otherwise. A month ago, the Food and Work Network, a coalition of academics, community activists, and[Read More…]
It’s time to rethink our broken and unfair family planning systems. July 11 was World Population Day, an observance established by the United Nations aiming to highlight population issues, particularly how the human population relates to the environment. The UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) marked the occasion by releasing its World Population Prospects 2022 report, which announced that the global human[Read More…]
The Coalition for Economic Democracy in Sri Lanka (CEDSL) is a group of concerned academics, activists, agricultural, fisheries and industrial workers, students, business persons, trade unionists, and professionals based ‘in country’ and overseas, including the diaspora, who uphold the values of economic rights and justice in public policy making. In the wake of two years of economically-devastating Covid-19 lockdowns, quantitative[Read More…]
The Indian state has constantly deceived the world by concealing its dismal record on minority rights through tokenism Let’s not be fooled by the election of the first indigenous (Adivasi) woman as India’s President. Draupadi Murmu made history after winning the presidential election. She was the candidate of the ruling right wing Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP). Prime Minister[Read More…]
High inflation, growing unemployment and depreciating rupee are three fundamental issues faced by Indian economy today. The educational and health infrastructure is falling apart. Human development is in the bottom of the nadir. Modi government has no plans to take responsibility to navigate Indian economy away from these crises. It is passing its responsibility on Indian people by reckless hiking[Read More…]
Sri Lanka was braced for more unrest after newly appointed president Ranil Wickremesinghe vowed to crack down on the protests that toppled his predecessor, condemning them as “against the law”. Speaking after being MPs picked him as successor to Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Wickremesinghe made it clear he would not tolerate those he perceived to be stirring up violence. “If you try[Read More…]
To Shri Tarun Bajaj Union Revenue Secretary Dear Shri Bajaj, I understand that the a Customs, Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) has pronounced an order in favour of the Adani Group in a case being investigated by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on alleged over invoicing of power equipment by some companies belonging to that group. I refer[Read More…]
Behind rolling power cuts loom deep-seated socioeconomic issues worsened by the rich countries of the world. On the morning of June 27, 2022, National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) shop steward David Fankomo joined his fellow members at the picket line outside Eskom’s Emalahleni office in the heart of South Africa’s coal belt. Workers at Eskom, the nation’s state-owned electricity utility,[Read More…]
Instability and rising living costs have caused significant growth in refugee and other migrant numbers globally. The opportunity to exploit the crisis will not be missed by other countries, most notably Russia. Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, more than 7 million Ukrainian refugees have left the country till mid-June. While some 1.5 million ended up in Russia, the rest have mostly[Read More…]
“Intellectuals must be seated in chosen assemblies and systems of public governance to overt individualistic insanity against the people.” German philosopher Immanuel Kant (“Perpetual Peace”, 1795). Western Leaders Skeptical of Tehran Summit Most Western leaders enjoin lingering suspicion if President Putin, President Ebrahim Raisi and President Erdogan will meet or could produce any tangible outcomes of Tehran Summit. Despite political[Read More…]
The importance of protecting biological diversity has been increasingly realized all over the world in recent times. This realization came in the wake of several disturbing trends such as very disturbing pace of destruction of natural forests and fast spread of monocultures over vast farming areas. As biological diversity was lost in nature but its importance was realized by powerful[Read More…]
Sri Lanka’s ethnocratic political structures and history of atrocities, and thereby the root causes that ultimately led to the present crisis. This will only lead to further instability, violence and economic collapse. There have been many moments in Sri Lanka’s history when governments have had the opportunity to change course and address the root causes of the island’s conflict, but[Read More…]
Gotabaya’s election as the President of Sri Lanka in December 2019 is unique as it exposes and endorses the underlying political ills of Sri Lanka namely racism, communalism, majoritarianism and Sinhala/Buddhist hegemony. His victory has cemented the paths of polarization and created separatist and segregating tendencies among the usual peaceful Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslim communities. This article briefly mentions the[Read More…]
Kalpavriksh, Snow Leopard Conservancy – India Trust (SLC-IT), Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF), Ladakh Media and Arts Organisation (LAMO), and Local Futures Five civil society organisations are encouraging the UT Administration and the Hill Council, along with Ladakhi society, to recognise and strengthen the goba (or nambardar) system. In a detailed study led by Kalpavriksh (a Pune-based organisation active in[Read More…]
The following is an abridged version of the second chapter of the author’s short (free-to-read) e-book Food, Dispossession and Dependency (2022) GM crops are required to feed the world is a well-worn industry slogan trotted out at every available opportunity. Just like the claim of GM crops being a tremendous success, this too is based on a myth. There is no[Read More…]
Sanjukta Dasgupta, Virasat Art Publication, Kolkata, 2021 Sanjukta Dasgupta has been a scholar and an academic over her entire working life. Having taught English literature in its varied manifestations has seen its reflection in her very scholarly books revolving around literature, both English and Bengali, but she later shifted to poetry in the original and in translation and is now[Read More…]
It rained for 9 hours at Summit Station/Greenland, 10,530’ elevation. Greenland is sending signals to coastal metropolises around the world that it’s never too early to start building seawalls. These are not mixed signals from the big ice island. Rather, they are straightforward signals indicative of rapid breakdown of average ice thickness of 5,000 feet sooner than ever thought possible.[Read More…]
“We regret we failed to protect you.” This was part of a statement issued by United Nations human rights experts on July 14, urging the Israeli government to release Palestinian prisoner Ahmad Manasra. Only 14 years old at the time of his arrest and torture by Israeli forces, Manasra is now 20 years old. His case is a representation of[Read More…]
When I was the age that my daughter is now, my favorite sweatshirt had the words “Choice, Choice, Choice, Choice” in rainbow letters across its front. My mom got me that sweatshirt at a 1989 rally in response to Webster v. Reproductive Health Services. In that case, the Supreme Court upheld a Missouri law restricting the use of state funds and facilities for[Read More…]
Co-written by Ms. Akanksha Sharma and Mr. Skand Priya I The phenomenon of caste as we see it today has evolved historically and been shaped materially. It is also perhaps the most written about Indian phenomenon and, consequently, has generated a truly colossal amount of scholarship, and this shows the hegemonic position Caste possesses in the contemporary Indian society and politics. Though[Read More…]
Governments can either come up with a collaborative and urgent plan to tackle the fossil fuel-driven climate emergency that is already wreaking deadly havoc across the globe or keep allowing corporations to pollute the atmosphere without limit, thereby condemning humanity to a grim future. That stark warning comes from United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, who said Monday: “We have a choice. Collective action[Read More…]
Europe’s second heat wave this summer is setting record temperatures across the continent. Much of Southern and Western Europe will reach highs of 40-47°C (104-117°F). Thousands of people are dying, large swaths of land are burning, and harvests are being destroyed in what climate change is making an increasingly common and severe phenomenon. Wildfires are raging across Portugal, Spain, France,[Read More…]
The Sri Lankan government may have won the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the north-east of the country, but another protracted struggle is looming on the horizon, that of winning democracy and development back from the clutches of militarisation. In the meantime, for those in the north (and the east) struggling to recover socially, economically and[Read More…]
The idea of writing short poetry that conveys intense feelings isn’t new but has flourished through the internet especially as a method of sharing emotions with multitudes, often using a beautiful layout to evoke a feeling many of us can relate to. Surely this move towards making poetry accessible to everyone is a good thing, but it can also be[Read More…]
While population and average wealth of residents grows in India’s metros, malnutrition and hunger too are spreading equally fast in their periphery. Mumbai, considered to be the country’s financial capital is a good example where the state legislative council was informed late last year that more than 4,000 children were found suffering from acute malnutrition. Women and Child Development[Read More…]
Jharkhand’s Saraikella Police arrested journalist Rupesh Kumar Singh from his house on July 17th, 2022 at noon. The police force along with magistrate attacked the house of Rupesh’s at Ramgarh, and his family members were interrogated in the name of search. Though police had search and arrest warrant, arrest warrant was not shown in anticipation of public resistance. Later, he[Read More…]
“He (Narendra Modi) gifted ittar (perfume derived from natural sources) bottles in zardozi box, crafted in Lucknow, to French President Emmanuel Macron.” (The Times of India, June 29, 2022) “Here is the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.” (Shakespeare: Macbeth). The above two quotes sum up the record [Read More…]
But are privacy rights coming in the way of reuniting lost children with families? In the backdrop of international development agencies such as International Labour Organisation (ILO) warning an imminent rise in incidence of child-trafficking during the pandemic, the Railway Police Force aims to use technology to outsmart unscrupulous elements trafficking children. It is rolling out a new set of[Read More…]
“Weaponising trade”, i.e., using trade as a tool of foreign policy aspirations and marginalizing rivals instead of as an opportunity for economic growth, is not new. It is well known that among most countries, “the United States bears a good share of responsibility” for increasingly weaponizing trade. The US and its allies have used trade embargoes and sanctions against countries,[Read More…]
The West does not have the stockpiles of weapons needed to sustain a prolonged military campaign in Ukraine or elsewhere, the CEO of one of the Pentagon’s main defense contractors has warned. The military-industrial complex therefore needs a “clear demand signal” from Western governments on what exactly it should produce and whether it will be purchased, Kathy Warden told the[Read More…]
Iran is technically capable of producing a nuclear bomb but no political decision on such an option has been made, Kamal Kharrazi, a senior adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, has said. “In a few days we were able to enrich uranium to 60% and we can easily produce 90% enriched uranium,” Kharrazi told Al Jazeera on Sunday. He[Read More…]
The United States, Saudi Arabia, and Israel, responsible for military fiascos, hundreds of thousands of deaths, and innumerable war crimes in the Middle East, are now plotting to attack Iran. The United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia are plotting a war with Iran. The 2015 Iranian nuclear arms accord, or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which Donald Trump sabotaged,[Read More…]
Well before the House select committee’s January 6th investigation began, trust in the classic American system of checks and balances as reliable protection against executive (or, more recently, Supreme Court) abuses of power had already fallen into a state of disgrace. A domestically shackled Biden presidency, a Congress unable to act, and a Supreme Court that seems ever more like[Read More…]
The mighty nationalist leaders from the Rajapaksa family in Sri Lanka looked helpless and cowardly when he was humiliated at the airport as he tried to flee abroad to protect himself from the agitating people who protested at the airport. Still, he used his powers as the arm forces followed it ‘dutifully’, knowing fully well that it was actually a[Read More…]
A Chhattisgarh court on July 14, 2022 acquited 121 tribals in an UAPA case after 5 years in jail. The accused were booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for allegedly assisting Maoists in the 2017 Burkapal attack, which killed 25 CRPF personnel. Of the 121 accused, seven were minors who were released earlier and one died during the[Read More…]
In June 2021 the Delhi High Court passed a judgment on a petition filed by leading film actor Juhi Chawla. She had filed a petition against hasty roll-out of 5G Technology. While anyone may agree or disagree with this, the fact remains that hundreds of scientists worldwide have been warning on the same issue that Juhi Chawla had taken to[Read More…]
(This article was written in November 2013 and had been published in the Mainstream Weekly, VOL LI, No 47, November 9, 2013. The article was highly criticized by certain progressive/secular intellectuals/columnists ranging from India to the US. Most of them thought it better to ignore the article as ‘trash’. A generation of young Indians has grown up since then. Definitely,[Read More…]
The scenes unfolding before us are rather dispiriting.Consider the lone crusade of the opposition’s joint candidate for the post of the President,Yashwant Sinha, as he travels from state to state like an old but sturdy war-horse.It now appears that some elements in the opposition have been brought up short by the support generated for Droupadi Murmu among considerable numbers[Read More…]
Sri Lankan protesters have vowed to continue their struggle for a complete change of the system by abolishing the presidency, as the popular uprising that ousted Gotabaya Rajapaksa as president marked the 100th day on Sunday. The anti-government protest began on April 9 near the presidential office and has been continuing without a break. “We will continue our fight till[Read More…]
Wildfires ravaged parts of Spain, France and Portugal Friday in the blistering heat, burning forests and prompting widespread evacuations. The ongoing heatwave has already claimed hundreds of lives in the west European countries. There is a spike in heat wave-related casualties in Western Europe. On Saturday, La Vanguardia reported that there were more than 360 deaths in Spain caused by the[Read More…]
The G7 summit in Elmau, Germany, June 26-28, and the NATO summit in Madrid, Spain, two days later, were practically useless in terms of providing actual solutions to ongoing global crises – the war in Ukraine, the looming famines, climate change and more. But the two events were important, nonetheless, as they provide a stark example of the impotence of[Read More…]
An avoidable controversy has arisen recently due to the unfortunate comments of a politician of Punjab who called Shahid Bhagat Singh a terrorist. That this politician is linked closely to the Khalistani ideology explains his narrow worldview, and his comments regarding Bhagat Singh were quickly dismissed by most people. However to counter false propaganda based on such comments, it will[Read More…]
Gotabaya Rajapaksa is a Sri Lankan politician and former military officer who served as the eighth President of Sri Lanka from 2019 until his resignation on 14 July 2022. Gotabaya Rajapakshe is believed to have directly overseen the country’s police and military, which have been accused by the UN, human rights groups and Sri Lanka’s own investigative agencies of crimes[Read More…]
While nominating Mrs. Draupadi Murmu,as candidate to President of India, ruling BJP boasted a savior of tribal people. However, by proposing changes to Forest Rights Act, 2006, the government is doing quite the opposite by subverting the interests of tribal people to benefit big companies. During the current monsoon session of Indian Parliament new rules are proposed to the present[Read More…]
by Ishika Jaiswal & Dr. Bimal Jaiswal India and Bangladesh are the two exceptional economies in South Asian region. Both the nations have number of similarities and both want to achieve remarkable economic growth in the shortest span of time possible. To attain this objective, both the economies are endeavouring altogether in certain sectors and sub-sectors. However, there are some[Read More…]
A recent news published in several newspapers has quoted India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as telling a seminar that she has asked the World Trade Organization (WTO) to allow India to export food grains from its public stockholding to nations which are facing food crisis. She said that India could help in reducing hunger or food insecurity but there was[Read More…]
In village Hardike in Sangrur a land distribution of reserved quota for dalit agricultural labour bid was thwarted by the administration. The Zameen Prapt Sangharsh Commitee lodged a concerted protest on July 13th in the village mobilizing over 500 persons.Shingara Singh, Shinder Kaur,,Jaswant Sinh Khedi ,Jasvir Kaur and Hakim Singh adressed the meeting. They elaborated the motive of the village[Read More…]
The fall and ignominious retreat of Sri Lanka’s Gotabaya Rajapaksa has enlivened one distinct possibility. Having formally resigned as Sri Lankan President, a point made via email from Singapore, those wishing to see him account for war crimes may get their wish. There have been various efforts in train regarding a man who ruthlessly concluded his country’s civil war in[Read More…]
President Biden’s Middle East trip that was claimed to be undertaken to bolster American interest in the region has instead angered activists around the world. Referring to himself as a “non-Jewish Zionist” to bolster his image and ongoing support while in Israel and at home along with his declaring Jerusalem as the capital of Israel has done nothing to placate[Read More…]
To Shri Rajiv Gauba Cabinet Secretary Govt of India I have just come across a public notice issued by the Union Ministry of Mines proposing a few far reaching amendments to the Mines & Minerals (Development & Regulation) Act, 1957 (MMDRA). I have enclosed here a copy of the relevant notice [Ministry of Mines No. M VI-1/3/2022- Mines VI dated[Read More…]
What Westerners call the West or Western civilization is a geopolitical space that emerged in the 16th century and expanded continuously until the 20th century. On the eve of World War I, about 90 percent of the globe was Western or Western-dominated: Europe, Russia, the Americas, Africa, Oceania, and much of Asia (with the partial exceptions of Japan and China).[Read More…]
“With 35% loss globally since 1970, wetlands are our most threatened ecosystem, disappearing three times faster than forests. Wetlands’ services for climate mitigation, adaptation biodiversity, and human health outweigh all other terrestrial ecosystems.” (Source: Wetlands are Being Lost at Alarming Rates, Global Wetland Outlook, 2021) Sudd is Africa’s largest freshwater wetland at roughly 3,500 square miles in an otherwise dry[Read More…]
Advocating for Palestine in Canada – Histories, Movements, Actions. Ed.: Emily Wills, Jeremy Wildeman, Michael Beuckert, Nadia Abu-Zahra. Fernwood Publishing, Halifax/Winnipeg, 2022. Different groups advocate for Palestine from a variety of perspectives while developing several common themes. Advocating for Palestine contains nine presentations looking at Palestine from the viewpoint of students, Jewish activism, indigenous issues, being Palestinian-Arab in Canada, and[Read More…]
Most of the myths regarding the history of Sri Lanka originate from the Mahavamsa. And so, Sinhalese Buddhist nationalists maintain that they are the Buddha’s selected people, and that the island of Sri Lanka is the Buddhist promised land At the opening of the nineteenth century, the existence of an historical record called the Mahavamsa, or Great Dynasty, was known[Read More…]
A massive agitation has been planned from July 21st to 25th by the farmers organization in Punjab to thwart the bid of the corporates to grab the land and pollute the waters of the rivers. Despite being the dominant state of agriculture, Punjab is a facing severe shortage of water for agriculture. Issue illustrates the patronising of corporate plunder[Read More…]
The disastrous condition of the most marginal rural workers who work in the 100 days work programme (MGNREGA) is now a burning issue in West Bengal. For more than six months, the workers are not getting their wages under MGNREGA. Both the central and state government do not seem interested in a solution. They are rather engaged in a war[Read More…]
In the continuing misery being faced by children as policy-makers increasingly push for an agenda of vegetarianism that has never been endorsed or debated in a country consisting of largely non-vegetarian people. Through a report by an expert committee, headed by John Vijay Sagar, Professor and Head, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, NIMHANS on health, the New Education Policy[Read More…]
Sri Lanka politicians are trying to settle popular unrest as parliament plans to meet tomorrow after the official resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was made today. Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said he expected to elect a new President through Parliament within 7 days in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. The Speaker said in terms of the Constitution Prime[Read More…]
The collapse of the short-lived Israeli government of Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid validates the argument that the political crisis in Israel was not entirely instigated and sustained by former Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Bennett’s coalition government consisted of eight parties, welding together arguably one of the oddest coalitions in the tumultuous history of Israeli politics. The mishmash cabinet[Read More…]
Priti Gulati Cox, It’s Time, ink on vellum, embroidery. See closeups of individual images here. On Juneteenth weekend, tens of thousands of people walked up Pennsylvania Avenue toward the U.S. Capitol as part of the epically titled Poor People’s and Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly and Moral March on Washington and to the Polls. (Priti Gulati Cox and I traveled via Amtrak[Read More…]
Trump’s appointments reveal the frightening far-reaching power of a corrupt president. Grasping the enormity, the breadth, and the depth of “Trump corruption” is rather astonishing. Most news junkies and politicos alike are quite familiar with the in-your-face looting, skimming, and self-dealing of the president and his family members. Beyond the family corruption, there is a much larger world of Trump[Read More…]
It’s hot and hazy as July rolls around. Growing up in the Baltimore swamplands, we used to say, “It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity.” Meaning that the humidity was harder to deal with than the feverish temperatures. At some point in my family, the phrase morphed into: “It’s not the heat, it’s the stupidity.” At the time, we meant[Read More…]
On Thursday, the Sri Lanka government announced a curfew in the capital Colombo and its suburbs that would run until 5am on Friday. To stop demonstrators from accessing the Parliament on Thursday, the Sri Lankan Army stationed tanks close to the building. Troops in green military uniforms and camouflage vests arrived by armored personnel carriers on Thursday to reinforce barricades around[Read More…]
“We must have full control over our electricity production and performance”, said the French Prime Minister recently, when she informed the Parliament of the government’s decision to increase its equity share from the present 83.76% to 100% in the EDF company, France’s premier nuclear electricity utility and one of the largest producers of nuclear electricity in the world. France has[Read More…]
The staggering rate of unemployment among university graduates in Bangladesh, and the difficulty faced by employers in securing a skilled workforce, pose a conundrum for the country’s development journey, with implications regarding productivity, growth, social welfare and integration in the global value chain. A World Bank study found that, more than a third of university graduates remain unemployed for one[Read More…]
The Government is in the process of finalizing a new public health bill while repealing the 125 year old Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897. While few will question the need for replacing such an old and outdated law, there is also urgent need for carefully studying the various provisions of the new bill so that it is not coercive and[Read More…]
![Tamil Nationalism [Eelam Tamils]](https://cdn.countercurrents.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Tamil-Sri-Lanka-200x150.jpg "Tamil Nationalism [Eelam Tamils] 322")
Tamil nationalism is the ideology which asserts that the Tamil people constitute a nation and promotes the cultural unity of Tamil people. Sri Lankan state violence, persecution, and discrimination from the 1940s to 70s pushed Eelam Tamil leadership to answer the Tamil national question, manoeuvring through a maze of democratic and diplomatic methods in an attempt to achieve only a[Read More…]
Sri Lankan crisis is likely to remain classic illustration for a long time of how “power-holders” can be forced to give in to aggressive command displayed by common people’s “power”. When people decide and choose to exercise their power as they have in Colombo, all “strategies” of curbing the same can burst like bubbles. There is a limit to which[Read More…]
U.S.-attributable climate damages. (a) Ensemble mean GDPpc changes in each country attributable to U.S. emissions, over 1990–2014 with territorial emissions accounting and a short-run (contemporaneous) damage function. Missing data (white countries) denotes countries without continuous GDPpc data from 1990 to 2014. b, c U.S.-attributable damages in the five countries with the greatest GDPpc percent decreases (b) and percent increases (c). The black lines[Read More…]
Most counts estimate that over 100,000 civilians died during the conflict, though accounts of the final stages of the war, when the Sri Lankan government defeated the Tamil Tigers militia in 2009, vary significantly, with the United Nations estimating the total casualties to be somewhere between 40,000 and 70,000 over a five-month period. Apart from that the death toll during[Read More…]
“As oil and gas prices rise so does the price of artificial chemical fertilisers – the lynch-pin of industrial agriculture’s claims to be ‘efficient’. In the UK, the price of nitrogen fertiliser has doubled over the past year to around £330 per tonne. With oil currently at over $130 a barrel and with OPEC warning it could reach $200 by[Read More…]
This week President Biden will pay a visit to Saudi Arabia. As it has been widely pointed out, this marks a shift for the president who came into office calling Saudi Arabia a “pariah” state for its many human rights violations. The kingdom’s reputation in the U.S. media has shadowy since the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi[Read More…]
“The American Century Is Over.” So claims the July 2022 cover of Harper’s Magazine, adding an all-too-pertinent question: “What’s Next?” What, indeed? Eighty years after the United States embarked upon the Great Crusade of World War II, a generation after it laid claim to the status of sole superpower following the fall of the Berlin Wall, and two decades after the Global[Read More…]
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has described Boris Johnson’s political tenure as “…one of the most shameful sagas in the history of British politics …[who] presided over a government defined by lies, sleaze, an utter lack of integrity, unlawful behaviour, incompetence, and a damaging culture of impunity in public office”. Sadiq further said that “At every turn, his government has sought[Read More…]
The National Solidarity Forum (NSF) is pleased to announce the call for 2022 nominations for Kandhamal Human Rights Awards: Kandhamal Human Rights Award for Individual category- It carries a cash award of INR 25,000 and a Plaque Kandhamal Human Rights Award for Institutional category- It carries a Plaque and Citation attesting the works. About KHR Awards: The National Solidarity Forum has instituted these[Read More…]
Social activists who devote their life selflessly to advancing the cause of justice and environment protection in peaceful and democratic ways are a source of great strength for any genuine democracy and any such country would take great pride in their achievements. Medha Patkar and her close colleagues in the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) are such activists whose achievements in[Read More…]
The current world population of 7.6 billion is expected to reach 8.6 billion in 2030, 9.8 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100, according to a new United Nations report released today. The global population is expected to reach 8 billion by November 15, the UN predicts With roughly 83 million people being added to the world’s population every[Read More…]
The war in Ukraine is dragging on. Today, the 11th of July 2022 is the 138th day of an armed conflict that began on the 24th of February when Russian president, Vladimir Putin, declared that his country is launching a special military operation in Ukraine. As one should expect, a few thousands have been killed so far on both sides.[Read More…]
The lobbying of Uber should, along with those of other corporate giants, only surprise those prone to pollyannaish escapism. Its hungry, desperate behaviour takes place in plain sight, and denials merely serve to emphasise the point. It resembles, in some crudely distant way, the operating rationale of the notorious British sex pest Jimmy Savile, who preyed upon his victims with[Read More…]
Today being 7-11, one would have thought it would be a lucky day. But America being America, ever fascinated with guns and gun culture, it’s just another day of violence in which, on average, sees 96 people killed by guns. Oddly, too, it was one week ago on July 4th that a deranged gunman killed seven people at an Independence[Read More…]
As President Joe Biden embarks on his trip to the Middle East, those of us back home must acknowledge that a “sensitive” trip would visit the victims rather than the butchers. President Joe Biden’s foreign policy advisors are applauding themselves for devising a “sensitive” itinerary as he plans to embark on a trip to the Middle East on July 13.[Read More…]
The West seems more fixated on spending social wealth on the military rather than addressing the climate catastrophe. During late April and early May, South Asia experienced the terrible impacts of global warming. Temperatures reached almost 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) in some cities in the region. These high temperatures came alongside dangerous flooding in Northeast India and in Bangladesh, as the[Read More…]
NDN Collective, inspired by the Standing Rock Sioux movement, releases a report on Dakota Access Pipeline. Climate justice means something different to everyone but when it brings to mind images of shrinking glaciers, islands of floating garbage, or oil leaking into the soil from a cross-country pipeline, the associations being made are actually examples of climate injustices, according to climate[Read More…]
If the six most fossil fuel dependent nations do not transition to use of cleaner energy sources and adapt to climate change they will face a bleak economic future. According to a new report by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) India , one among these six, is predicted to be the worst sufferer. The report recommends that these[Read More…]
Despite the promise by all countries to end TB by 2030 (and India to end TB by 2025), decline in TB rates, deaths, and number of new infections, is not steep enough to meet the target. Lot more action (and investment) needs to urgently happen if we are to #endTB in next 101 months globally (and next 41 months in[Read More…]
Punjab has one of the lowest forest coverage in the country as only about 4 per cent of the land here is reported to be under forest. Hence, apart from making longer-term efforts to increase its forest cover, it is extremely important to save its few remaining precious forests and it is in this context that the impressive mobilization that[Read More…]
Sri Lanka’s opposition parties are trying to cobble together an all-party government and pick candidates who can take over after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe agreed to step down, giving in to popular pressure in a country struggling to pay for essentials. Sri Lanka has been plunged into a political vacuum after an economic crisis sparked widespread protests[Read More…]
To Shri Bhupesh Baghel Chief Minister Chhattisgarh Dear Shri Baghel, I have come across a news report (https://indianexpress.com/article/india/forest-conservation-rules-disempower-tribals-congress-8021282/) on a Congress spokesperson alleging that the NDA government at the Centre had amended the rules framed under the Forest Conservation Act on June 28, 2022, that would effectively bypass the requirement under another Central legislation, the Forest Rights Act (FRA) which[Read More…]
According to Fermi’s Paradox, the failure to date to achieve radio communications between Earth and extraterrestrial civilizations can be attributed to the short-term self-destruction of technological civilization by means of contamination of air, water and land by lethal substances, and the creation of deadly weapons. In the 20-21st centuries this includes saturation of the atmosphere by greenhouse gases and proliferation of radioactivity. Lost in[Read More…]
Protesting against governments for human rights violations, illegal acts, war and other non-socially redeeming behavior can take many forms. Washington, like many nations’ capitals, is no exception when it comes to shaming governments, including our own, for their outrageous, illegal and immoral behavior. Being creative with bringing a public protest has always been a challenge for any number of reasons.[Read More…]
“Each time the rains failed our tubewell came to the rescue. This time the water table went down a lot by the end of May. There was hardly any irrigation possible even for an hour. Due to this the sugarcane crop we had grown in 9 acres turned yellow. It was expected that it would rain from June 5 to[Read More…]
On 9th July 1995, the Sri Lankan Air Force bombed the St Peter’s Church in Navaly and the nearby Sri Kathirgama Murugan Kovil, which were both sheltering displaced Tamils from army bombardment. A total of 13 bombs were dropped on the sheltering shrines, killing 147 on the spot with many more succumbing to injuries later. The victims included men, women[Read More…]
The Muslim religious practice of Bakrid – being observed in July this year – is in commemoration of an event in past history that is shared by both Islam and Christianity. Members of both the communities assert their devotion to a preacher known as Abraham among Jews and Ibrahim among Muslims. Note the similarities in the phonetic pronunciations. According to [Read More…]
by Sahba Husain & Meera Velayudhan Dakshayani Velayudhan was born on this day in 1912 at Bolghatty, a small island off the coast of the then princely state of Cochin, in an agrestic slave caste, Pulaya. She was the child of social change, for the early 1900s saw some of the earliest struggles for equality and recognition across Kerala. At[Read More…]
In a very holy land In a very pious place One hundred thirty crore people live Sensitive, religious, courageous and non-sensuous. We get hurt And rightly so When a polymorph smokes And a strange man named Zubair Says the truth We are very decent people We kiss in private We kill in public. We worship our goddesses. We are fine[Read More…]
We will soon be 8 billion on Planet Earth. Is this good news or bad, happy or sad? Well, the answer is not such a simplistic one, it is more nuanced. We can examine more than one side of various arguments. Some well-intentioned persons concerned with the present-day inability of very significant numbers of people to even meet their most[Read More…]
Who opposes democracy? None, but the anti-people, retrogressive forces oppose democracy. They carry on the job sacred to them. Despite wide preference for democracy as a political system, or process, it has got some problems; and the problems begin with its definition. With the term democracy, the general perception is bourgeois democracy, which is nothing but dictatorship of the bourgeoisie.[Read More…]
Mental escalators of violence in US policy and media makers – Part 4L. Without substance or proof, shallow US journalism condemns Putin’s alleged goals False Bias #12. Putin Bemoans the Fall of the Soviet Union Because He Is a Creep Who Loves Power, Status, Gulags, and Empires. In her article in The Atlantic, “Who Is Vladimir Putin’s Revisionist History For?”[Read More…]
Sri Lanka’s opposition political parties are trying to agree on a new government a day after the country’s president and prime minister offered to resign in the country’s most chaotic day in months of political turmoil, with protesters storming both officials’ homes and setting fire to one of the buildings in a rage over the nation’s economic crisis. Sri Lankan Army chief General[Read More…]
The Zameen Prapt Sangharsh committee staged an impressive blockade outside the office of the Block Development Officer at Sherpur town, in Sangrur.It was preceded by a rally staged from the fruit market to the bazaar. Around 1000 persons participated. Parmjeet Kaur Longowal , Darshan Singh Kheri, Darshan Singh Bajwa, Jasmeer Singh and Bikkar Singh Hathua .They .stated that in the[Read More…]
Faizan Mustafa, a Professor of law and vice-chancellor of National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR University of Law Hyderabad established by Legislative Assembly of Telangana) in a recent write-up (‘Muslims and Judiciary: We do not have Muslim or non-Muslim judges in India’, the Indian Express, July 8, 2022) disclosed that in 1997 he refused to undertake a project on[Read More…]
It was, all and all, an odd spectacle. The Ladies’ Singles victor for Wimbledon 2022 had all the credentials that would have otherwise guaranteed her barring. Being Russian-born, news outlets in Britain walked gingerly around The All England Club’s decision to ban Russian players yet permit Elena Rybakina to play. Sky News noted that, “Moscow-born Elena Rybakina, who represents Kazakhstan,[Read More…]
by Sahba Husain & Meera Velayudhan Dakshayani Velayudhan was born on this day in 1912 at Bolghatty, a small island off the coast of the then princely state of Cochin, in an agrestic slave caste, Pulaya. She was the child of social change, for the early 1900s saw some of the earliest struggles for equality and recognition across Kerala. At[Read More…]
On 14th of August 2006, the government forces deliberately bombed a girl’s orphanage killing 60 girls and wounding 120 who were between the ages of 15 and 18 In the Cenchcholai complex in Vallipunam in the Mullaithivu district hundreds of female students in the age group of 17-20 were gathered on 10 August 2006 for a weeklong training in leadership[Read More…]
Imperialist countries cannot wage war for global power without the tens of thousands of workers they recruit and arm to fight for their empires. If soldiers rebel and fraternize with opposing armies, they can end wars. Soldiers have significant power by deserting, sabotaging equipment, and refusing orders. There are some reports of Russian soldiers deserting; over 30,000 have died! International[Read More…]
In demonstrations across the nation today activist rallied under the call of Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights and in support of their actions, participants were asked to wear green, the internationally recognized symbol of abortion rights. Here in Washington, women of all ages along with their supporters, marched to the White House after a nearby rally in support of Women’s[Read More…]
Ajaya Kumar Singh is one of the main strengths of the struggle for justice in Kandhamal. A well known human rights activist, Ajaya Kumar is a recipient of the Minority Rights Day Award from the National Commission for Minorities (NCM). Through this interview, Rashida Nazria is documenting some of his reflections. Rashida: I have heard that your grandparents were Adivasis[Read More…]
Both the central government and the government of my state run on increasing debt,and annual expenditure far outstrips the budget.In the case of the Centre deficit runs into lakhs of crores.The CM of the state announces every heavy loan with flourish breathing the intoxicating mantra of ‘Vikash’.And the struggling shopkeeper,[Read More…]
There is little doubt that the Indian democracy is facing multiple challenges today. On the eve of the 75th year of its independence, this might be a critical question for debates from different vantage points. There are several internal and external challenges that India has been grappling with for many decades. The most challenging task is how to sustain a[Read More…]
Some statements stay with you. One of them is a Tweet I read a few days ago, just after Uddhav Thackeray had resigned as Chief Minister of Maharastra. The tweet was by a Muslim who said something like this “ I am born and brought up a Muslim and have lived in Bandra. I have seen 91 and 93. I[Read More…]
In a statement on June 24, the UN-Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned,“ There is a real risk that multiple famines will be declared in 2022.” He went on to add, “2023 could be even worse.” In a message to a meeting of representatives of several countries being held at Berlin, Mr. Guterres said that the world faces catastrophe because of[Read More…]
Mental escalators of violence in US policy and media makers – Part 4K. US “experts” display skills in creative fiction, but they fail in history, research, reading comprehension, and truth False Bias #11: Putin Is a Deluded Man Seeking Empire Whose Interest in History Reveals His Ignorance, Backward Views, and Crazed Longing for a Mythological Past. We’ve been talking about[Read More…]
The agenda of the central and state governments relating to land resources is slowly getting away from the long promises of freedom struggle, while we are celebrating the Azadi Ka Amrut Mahotsav. The move of the governments to digitizing of land records, computerized database, mapping of land areas using drone technology, conclusive land titling and registering property index of easy[Read More…]
by Roger Waters, Vijay Prashad and Manolo de los Santos The United States maintains a list of countries that it considers as “state sponsors of terrorism.” There are currently four countries on that list: Cuba, North Korea, Iran and Syria. The basic idea behind this list is that the U.S. State Department determines that these countries have “provided support for acts of[Read More…]
“The world is a dangerous place to live,” warned Albert Einstein, “not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about.” Have We, the People Ignored the impulse of Time for Change, Peace and Future-Making? Are we the human beings intelligent enough to THINK rationally and be reasonable to avoid catastrophic conflicts[Read More…]
Interview : Milan Sekulović, President ‘ Save Sinjajevina’, Montenegro Sinjajevina forests located in Montenegro in the Balkans are rich in bio diversity where pastoralists and other forest dwellers lived in complete harmony with nature. Growing militarisation is impacting not only our environment but also threatening to uproot communities who have lived in the forest for years and sustained it.[Read More…]
by Kathy Kelly and Matt Gannon “No War 2022, July 8 – 10,” hosted by World BEYOND War, will consider major and growing threats faced in today’s world. Emphasizing “Resistance and Regeneration,” the conference will feature practitioners of permaculture who work to heal scarred lands as well as abolish all war. Listening to various friends speak of the environmental impact[Read More…]
It’s entirely possible that doomsayers of the world, though widely ridiculed, could be on target about the prospects for global societal collapse. But, of course, when? According to a recent Noam Chomsky interview, it’s an ongoing grind that will end with a thud. The onset of societal collapse is not hidden. Rather, similar to animals in the wild, people sense[Read More…]
The worldwide cost-of-living crisis is pushing an additional 71 million people in the world’s poorest countries into extreme poverty, warned the a new report by the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) on Thursday The report said: “The war in Ukraine has severely disrupted global markets for food and energy due to both countries’ large global market shares. Before the war, Russia[Read More…]
The national strike in Ecuador, which ended on Thursday, June 30, is presented as a struggle for the collective rights of peoples and nationalities and as a new popular confrontation against neoliberal policies. The movement can be seen as a show of the strength, organization and expression of the different progressive social forces in Ecuador. The class struggle and the[Read More…]
Like the political equivalent of a cockroach, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson survived and endured one strike after another. His credibility was shot, his mendacity second to none. He lost the confidence of a party that delighted in his buffoonish performances and appeal. Fearing electoral punishment, senior ministers and aides have left his side. Labour opposition leader, Sir Keir Starmer,[Read More…]
America’s highest court has limited the EPA’s authority to regulate power plant emissions. Signed into law by President Richard Nixon in 1970 with the intention of reducing and controlling air pollution nationwide, the Clean Air Act is the nation’s primary federal air quality law, giving the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the authority to regulate air emissions from sources that are[Read More…]
This March, when the Biden administration presented a staggering $813 billion proposal for “national defense,” it was hard to imagine a budget that could go significantly higher or be more generous to the denizens of the military-industrial complex. After all, that request represented far more than peak spending in the Korean or Vietnam War years, and well over $100 billion more than at the[Read More…]
Mental escalators of violence in US policy and media makers – Part 4I. US “experts” falsely claim that a “prosperous, democratic Ukraine” is supported by the US and opposed by Putin False Bias #9. Putin Feels Threatened by a “Prosperous, Democratic Ukraine.” Derek Mitchell is the President of the National Democratic Institute, one of the four core institutes of the[Read More…]
This is not a disquisition on history,for I am no historian,not by a long shot.But it is an essay nudged by an interest in education.And in these times for all I can see resistance to a misguided and systematic destruction of our entire modern state[Read More…]
On May 3 World Freedom Day ten international human rights and press freedom organizations (including the Committee to Protect Journalists and PEN America) expressed serious concern at the increasing assaults on journalists and media freedom in recent times. They called upon the Indian authorities to stop targeting journalists and critics, and more particularly to desist from prosecuting them under sedition[Read More…]
Thirty-eight years ago in June 1984, the army launched an attack on the Golden Temple, Amritsar on 3 June with a proclamation to “flush out Sikh militants entrenched inside the holy shrine”. An orchestrated official propaganda, managed by New Delhi power-centre sought to justify the entry of the army on the eve of Guru Arjun Dev’s Shaheedi Divas being observed[Read More…]
More than 700 migrants died or disappeared trying to enter the U.S. from Mexico last year, said a new UN study. A new study has labeled the 2,000-mile (3,200km) border between the U.S. and Mexico the deadliest migration land route in the world. The study, conducted by the Missing Migrants Project and published by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), recorded at[Read More…]
Lack of trust in the news media is the news these days. The reasons are; rampant misinformation, the rise of authoritarian governments, the dominance of social media, etc. are adding to the lack of trust in the news media. To discuss these issues, experts gathered in Honolulu at the recent East-West Center International Media Conference. Here I am putting up[Read More…]
15 years have passed since Israel imposed a total siege on the Gaza Strip, subjecting nearly two million Palestinians to one of the longest and most cruel politically-motivated blockades in history. The Israeli government had then justified its siege as the only way to protect Israel from Palestinian “terrorism and rocket attacks”. This remains the official Israeli line until this[Read More…]
by Vijay Prashad & Manolo De Los Santos To move from 59 infant deaths out of every 1,000 live births to no infant deaths in the matter of a few decades is an extraordinary feat. Palpite, Cuba, is just a few miles away from Playa Girón, along the Bay of Pigs, where the United States attempted to overthrow the Cuban[Read More…]
Recently, Mayawati has supported the NDA’s presidential candidate, Draupadi Murmu, saying that her party and its policies have always been pro-tribal. Although this statement of Mayawati seems very natural and expected, the reality is completely opposite. Mayawati’s four times Chief Ministership period shows that Mayawati’s party and its policies have been utterly anti-tribal, as is evident from the following description.[Read More…]
Most Australians welcomed the defeat by Labor of the mendacious, corrupt, incompetent, climate criminal, and racist Australian Coalition Government in the 21 May 2022 elections. However the Australian Albanese Labor Government, while vastly better than its predecessor, is egregiously neoliberal, cowardly, pro-Zionist, US-beholden and pro-fossil fuels, and has so far failed on nuclear weapons, poverty and climate change that are[Read More…]
A number of U.S. veterans are reportedly training Ukrainian soldiers near the frontlines of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, said the New York Times in an article — In Ukraine, U.S. Veterans Step In Where the Military Will Not — on July 3, 2022, Sunday (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/03/us/politics/american-combat-volunteers-ukraine.html). “Americans are in Ukraine,” states the New York Times, noting that the exact number of U.S. citizens[Read More…]
Why does war persist? War was always madness, always immoral, always the cause of unspeakable suffering, economic waste and widespread destruction, and always a source of poverty, hate, barbarism and endless cycles of revenge and counter-revenge. It has always been a crime for soldiers to kill people, just as it is a crime for murderers in civil society to kill[Read More…]
Mental escalators of violence in US policy and media makers – Part 4H. To authoritarian US policymakers, those who prefer international law to the US-led unipolar world are dangerous, undemocratic, and aggressive False Bias #8: The Unipolar World Represents Democracy and the Free World, while Putin’s Disapproval of the Unipolar World Reveals His Dislike for Democracy and Freedom. We’ve been[Read More…]
When faced with the option of acquiring nuclear technology, states have rarely refused. Since the splitting of the atom and the deployment of atomic weapons in war, the acquisition of a nuclear capacity has been a dream. Those who did acquire it, in turn, tried to restrict others from joining what has become, over the years, an exclusive club guarded[Read More…]
In recent weeks, a newly emboldened right-wing Supreme Court struck down a more than century-old New York law restricting the carrying of concealed weapons and a nearly 50-year-old precedent on abortion. Meanwhile, the January 6th Committee has been laying out in graphic televised detail how our last president tried to subvert the 2020 election. Inflation, of course, continues to run riot; gas prices[Read More…]
They say we are a nation respecting freedom and individual privacy. Well, take a look at this news blip taken from anyone of many news sites: “Public universities in Florida will be required to survey both faculty and students on their political beliefs and viewpoints, with the institutions at risk of losing their funding if the responses are not satisfactory to the state’s[Read More…]
(This is part-1 of a two-part article on Emergency, formal and Undeclared.) “People lost even right to life during Emergency” said Prime Minister Modi, in the 90th episode of Mann Ki Baat, June 26. He reminded the nation about the imposition of Emergency 47 years ago, recalling how the “right to life and liberty” was snatched from citizens[Read More…]
Oil and gas workers at state giant Equinor are on strike in Norway, the largest producer of oil and gas in Western Europe. The strike is escalating Europe’s natural-gas crisis a week before a key pipeline with Russia shuts for maintenance. Benchmark Dutch natural gas futures surged 10% on Monday on news of the strike in Norway. Operator Equinor has[Read More…]
Mental escalators of violence in US policy and media makers – Part 4G. Black-and-white thinking and needs for noble purpose bring the domino theory back to life False Bias #7. Putin Is Using Ukraine As a Testing Ground for His War against Democracy. One would imagine that Derek Mitchell, president of the National Democratic Institute, one of the four core[Read More…]
Global warming has long been subjected to the propagandistic influence of a wide variety of public relations (PR) organizations. Yet, despite its overwhelming importance, the impact of public relations/propaganda on our awareness of global warming has long been overlooked. Over the past decades, gas and oil corporations have engaged many – if not almost all – top PR firms in[Read More…]
The incident occurred in two different series of actions: the first on 25 July 1983 when 35 Tamil prisoners were attacked and killed by Sinhalese inmates. The second massacre was two days later when Sinhalese inmates killed another 18 Tamil detainees and 3 prison deputies. ‘It is the massacres in the Welikade gaol which are attracting the most attention. There[Read More…]
Since the beginning of 2022, more than 650 serious crimes have been reported against women in India. This statistic encapsulates various egregious crimes that include rape, assault on women, kidnapping and abduction, brutality by husbands, and domestic abuse, among others. Instead of focusing on the social foundations of this growing gender oppression, the Indian state has largely maintained a punitive[Read More…]
Debajyoti Misra does not need any introduction. He is one of the most multi-faceted, talented, a bit eccentric and trained music composer in India whose fame reaches beyond Indian borders. His music for Anik Dutta’s recreation of the making of Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali has spread like wildfire among music lovers and the media. Music and orchestral performances across the[Read More…]
Two opinion-articles in The Washington Post help understand the current condition of the US, an advanced bourgeois democracy. Comments on these opinions are not needed. The “Don’t venerate or vilify the Founders. Vindicate their radical vision.” (July 3, 2022) opinion piece by Mr. Max Boot, The Washington Post columnist, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of[Read More…]
On Sanjoy Ghose’s 25th death anniversary, Ashutosh Tosaria tells us through a microstory how collectives are transforming lives of young girls and women across the country – an idea in which Sanjoy believed strongly. Two hours from Kolkata, a group of thirty young girls and women, all in the age group 16-22, had gathered in a village in Baruipur. They[Read More…]
Mental escalators of violence in US policy and media makers- Part 4F. US experts’ lack of empathy and lack of truthfulness cause them to twist Putin’s motives for military action in Ukraine False Bias #6. Putin Doesn’t Care about Ukrainians’ Lives or Sovereignty. Based on my reading of Putin’s 2007 Munich speech, July 2021 essay, and February 21 and 24,[Read More…]
It is good that the CJI has reminded a foreign audience abroad that the judiciary is committed to the constitution and its values,and not to any government creating havoc by flaunting its banner.In another recent function here a Supreme Court Judge has expressed his unhappiness at the media criticism of the different verdicts of the courts in different cases.[Read More…]
I love my children. I love my grandchildren. And have deep concern for the youth of the Earth. Who and what do you love? What we value defines who we are. Who we are is shaped by what we love. My doctor and I are talking about despair, depression, hopelessness and the upset of constant stress. I say, “I am[Read More…]
There have been several assertions on the part of the union government at high levels that natural farming will be promoted by it in a big way. While natural farming has been interpreted often in different ways, generally the meaning sought to be conveyed is that ecologically safe practices to produce healthy food free of harmful chemicals will be promoted[Read More…]
The US Supreme Court has been frantically busy of late, striking down law and legislation with an almost crazed, ideological enthusiasm. Gun laws have been invalidated; Roe v Wade and constitutional abortion rights, confined to history. And now, the Environmental Protection Agency has been clipped of its powers in a 6-3 decision. The June 30 decision of West Virginia v[Read More…]
On June 24th, at the think tank, the Hudson Institute, U.S. President Trump’s CIA chief and Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, delivered a 5,000+-word speech, suggesting that America has an essentially God-assigned mission to control the world, so as to preserve freedom and democracy for everybody, and that victory against Russia and China is therefore obligatory for the United States[Read More…]
Note: This is the second 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. On 18 March, 2020 – a week after the first local case of Covid-19 was reported in Sri Lanka –[Read More…]
Allow the CHAs to continue with their protests and rallies. Remove the magisterial powers of bail from the Jaipur police Commissionerate The PUCL- Rajasthan condemns the illegal arrest of Chandrashekhar Azad (Ravan), the President of the Bhim Army, by the Vidhyakpuri thana of the Jaipur Police Commissionerate, from Hotel Gangaur in Jaipur. What was the urgency to arrest them[Read More…]
Sixty years ago, in order to eradicate Evil Custom of DOWRY from the society, to eliminate violence against married women for want of Dowry and Dowry Deaths “ Dowry Prohibition Act “ was passed. This Act received the assent of the President of India on 20th May 1961 and the Act came into force on1st July 1961. This date is[Read More…]
Part 4. Mental escalators of violence in US policy and media makers Part 4E. Psychological patterns of US policymakers obstruct the creation of genuine democracy False Bias #5: The US Represents Democracy and the Free World, while Putin’s Russia Seeks to Destroy Democracy. We’ve been discussing how Mental Escalators, specifically US policy and media makers’ dysfunctional, skewed psychological patterns, falsehood,[Read More…]
A year ago, on 5 July 2021, when Father Stan Swamy left us, the world mourned the death of a great human being who epitomised compassion, courage, collaboration and commitment! ‘Stan’, as he was lovingly called by those close to him, died whilst he was still incarcerated. From the time he was illegally arrested on 8 October 2020, he languished[Read More…]
To Shri Rajiv Kumar Chief Election Commissioner Shri A C Pandey Election Commissioner Dear S/Shri Rajiv Kumar and Pandey, Please refer to my last letter dated 24-6-2022 about the danger posed by money power to the integrity of the electoral processes in the country (https://countercurrents.org/2022/06/money-power-of-the-political-parties-making-a-mockery-of-the-integrity-of-the-electoral-process/) I hope that the Election Commission of India (ECI) has considered my suggestions carefully and[Read More…]
Recently Mohammad Zubair, co-founder of fact-checking website Altnews was arrested in the name of ‘hurting religious sentiments.’ This was based on a supposed complaint on a post by Zubair in 2018. The twitter account which called for action was later deleted. The point is whether the specific post was a problem, or the role being played by altnews in fact[Read More…]
Recently serious concern was expressed by some senior doctors and doctors’ associations regarding the shortage of clofazimine, a drug urgently needed in the treatment of leprosy. The shortage is confined to private hospitals but nevertheless is affecting the treatment of many leprosy patients who need multi-drug combination treatment and the absence of one key drug adversely affects the overall treatment.[Read More…]
Part 4. Mental escalators of violence in US policy and media makers- Part 4D. Who truly stands against corruption? Black-and-white thinking causes US experts to believe falsehood False Bias #4. The US Is Fighting Against Corruption. The previous essay about authoritarianism referred to the 2019 testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee for the Senate Hearing of the National Defense[Read More…]
Of the many descriptions of the Japanese people readers are familiar with, e.g. industrious, polite, clean, etc., the description of Japanese as “honorary whites” may well be a first for many. Yet, it was not long ago that this term had official standing, albeit in apartheid South Africa. In the 1960s Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd determined it would be to[Read More…]
What a surprise! Even the Supreme Court of India can uphold justice today in India. For a while, I had a feeling that these institutions are slowly decaying in India. But that is not true. Though we have witnessed many judgments which indirectly provided space for further injustice, there are also many beautiful judgments which upheld the value of justice,[Read More…]
The Supreme Court has dismissed a plea by Nupur Sharma for clubbing together all the FIRs against her in different parts of the country. But before rejecting her plea, the court passed strong observations against her. The Court said that ‘she was singlehandedly’ responsible for what is happening in the country today. The courts also observed that whatever happened in[Read More…]
While razing the house of a Muslim family and setting them on fire with kerosene the man was thinking of the Buddhist monastery he planned to visit in Bhutan. It was his long drawn wish to meditate on the mountains where the air was thin. Meanwhile the wails of the hapless family floated back to his ears and he[Read More…]
America loves its military. It should because it’s the most expensive defense force of all time. $778B was allocated for defense spending in 2022. China comes in a distant second at $229B. All of which prompts a provocative question: What if the Marine Corps publishes a landmark study that claims recipients of the US government defense budget are collectively responsible[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) This is, according to the Italian socialist Antonio Gramsci, the ‘interregnum’- the rare and seismic moment in history when great transitions occur, when empires collapse and others rise, and when new conflicts and struggles ensue.[Read More…]
At the G7 Summit in Germany, on June 26, 2022, U.S. President Joe Biden made a pledge to raise $200 billion within the United States for global infrastructure spending. It was made clear that this new G7 project—the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII)—was intended to counter the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Given Biden’s failure to pass the Build[Read More…]
Many progressives are excited about the electoral victory of so-called leftist, Gustavo Petro, who defeated both the centrist candidate representing the status quo and the right wing Rodolfo Hernández. “So-called” leftist is the key word here, because, to quote Petro, he is fighting for “democracy and peace, not socialism.” 1 He wants to raise taxes on the rich, combat hunger,[Read More…]
At the conclusion of this week’s NATO summit in Madrid, Spain, the members of NATO, including most European states as well as the United States and Canada, adopted a strategy document outlining plans to militarize the European continent, massively escalate the war with Russia, and prepare for war with China. The document pledges to “deliver the full range of forces” needed “for[Read More…]
Mental escalators of violence in US policy and media makers – Part 4C. Who truly stands against authoritarianism? Black-and-white thinking causes US experts to believe falsehood False Bias #3. The US Is Fighting against Authoritarianism. In his 2019 testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee for the Senate Hearing of the National Defense Strategy, Damon Wilson, President of the National[Read More…]
If the homeless people faced a difficult time earlier in heat wave conditions, they are now suffering due to heavy rain in many places. Yet concerns relating to them hardly ever become a leading concern, except perhaps for a very few days in a year in a few places where deaths on footpaths caused by cold wave are reported. The[Read More…]
To Smt Nirmala Sitharaman Union Finance Minister Dear Smt Sitharaman, In your Budget speech last year, you had mentioned that the government would privatise a few PSU banks in due course. There are reports on statements originating from your Ministry that the government would introduce a Bill during the coming monsoon session for enabling it to privatise PSU banks in[Read More…]
President Dwight Eisenhower gave his first major presidential speech, The Cross of Iron, on April 16, 1953. He laid out several important precepts guiding US conduct in world affairs as well pointing out the cost of military spending in very concrete terms. Eisenhower stated: “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense,[Read More…]
During the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, the central issue was how short America’s available reaction-time to a Soviet blitz nuclear attack would be and whether it would be too short for America to respond before America’s leader, JFK, would be able to press the nuclear button and retaliate against such a Soviet nuclear first-strike (from so near a location as[Read More…]
State lawmakers introduced nearly 2,900 bills based on ALEC templates from 2010 through 2018. More than 600 of them became law. In June 2021, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law a bill banning the state from contracting with or investing in businesses that divest from coal, oil or natural gas companies. For Texas Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian—one of the state’s top[Read More…]
The vagabond who’s rapping at your door Is standing in the clothes that you once wore Strike another match, go start anew And it’s all over now, Baby Blue Those are lyrics from the great Bob Dylan song It’s All Over Now Baby Blue ( 1965). How appropriate they are now in Amerika 2022. We have finally become a damaged[Read More…]
Dealing with Trump’s Occupation of All Too Many American Hearts and Minds Increasingly, it seems, Americans have an anger problem. All too many of us now have the urge to use name-calling, violent social-media posts, threats, baseball bats, and guns to do what we once did with persuasion and voting. For example, during the year after Donald Trump entered the Oval Office, threats[Read More…]
It’s not always the case that a certain faith, religion or an ideology is misunderstood or misinterpreted exclusively by those who happen to profess a different faith, religion or ideology. The fact is that more often than not, it’s also the committed, diehard followers of a certain strand of faith or ideology upon whom is completely lost the essence of these[Read More…]
There are many instances where untruth has triumphed. The latest case of “Asatyameva Jayate“ is Supreme Court’s judgment on Teesta Setalvad, R B Sreekumar, and Sanjiv Bhatt. The judgment was pronounced on a simple case of an appeal against an order of the Gujarat High Court which rejected the revision petition filed by Zakia Jafri widow of late Ahsan Jafri. [Read More…]
European Union foreign ministers meet in Ukraine to escalate war with Russia 
The emergence of Bangladesh: Dynamics of people’s cultural and political struggles – Part III 
The Muslims in A Pathetic Condition in India and The Way Forward Them 
Bernie: Are you really in support of another endless war? 
Some Basic Remarks on the National Identities of the People Living in Ukraine with Short Historical Background 
Call It Only Clean India Mission—Nothing Beyond Investment and Capital Gains 
Of The Silent Shames of a Privileged Indian! 
Stupidity and Depravity Can Be Mutually Exclusive The emergence of Bangladesh: Dynamics of people’s cultural and political struggles _ Part II 
Addressing Malnutrition in Jharkhand: Progress, Challenges, and the Path Forward 
For modernization and mechanization of sanitation work, Sanitary Workers must exert pressure 
Satyagraha, Sarvodaya & Swachhagraha for Sustainable Living 
Why Our Popular Mass Movements Fail 
The Slow-Motion Equivalent of a Nuclear War? 
Australian National Anti-Corruption Commission Rejects Submissions Re Huge Australian War Crimes and Carbon Debt 
Modi regime’s double standards 
Let’s Stop Slapping! OR If India were a Classroom! The emergence of Bangladesh: Dynamics of people’s cultural and political struggles – Part I 
Flagging Support: Zelenskyy Loses Favour in Washington 
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From the Contemporary History of the Balkans: Greece and Slavo-Macedonians (1913-1993) 
My Amma (Malayalam word for Mother) passed away on August 22, 2023 at 3.10 AM. It is always difficult to deal with the passing of a parent, that too one’s mother. I thought the grief would go away. No it didn’t. All those bitter sweet memories won’t go away. At night I lie awake for hours. My friend, guide and[Read More…]
