![A graphic created by NATO showing the military alliance’s “eastern flank.” [Photo: NATO]](https://cdn.countercurrents.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/NATO-Ukraine-200x150.webp "NATO summit vows to continue troop surge to Russia’s borders 1")
NATO foreign ministers met in Bucharest, Romania, on Tuesday, along with representatives of the prospective NATO members Ukraine, Finland, and Sweden to discuss a further expansion of the NATO war with Russia in Ukraine and the stationing of more troops on Russia’s Western borders. “In response to Russia’s full-fledged invasion of Ukraine, we are raising the readiness of our troops,”[Read More…]
This movie produced by Richard Attenborough which was released 40 years ago on November 30th, 1982, was classic in it’s own right. Ironical that it took an Englishman to embark upon the making of a film on this legendary figure. I can’t visualize a better pictorial portrayal of Gandhi’s life or an actor getting in the skin of the character[Read More…]
The total daily volume of crude shipped from Russia rebounded to 2.89 million barrels in the seven days to November 25, with the EU’s price cap deadline approaching, Bloomberg reported on Monday. According to the report, the volume of crude on vessels heading to China, India, and Turkey, plus the quantities on ships that are yet to show a final[Read More…]
This is a small article addressed to beginners Sustainable Consumption Life on earth can be divided in two parts – plant life and animal life. The difference between the two is that plants produce their own food whereas animals, humans included, live directly or indirectly on food produced by plants. To sustain themselves, humans consume goods and services not only[Read More…]
On November 21, 2022, Mali’s interim Prime Minister Colonel Abdoulaye Maïga posted a statement on social media to say that Mali has decided “to ban, with immediate effect, all activities carried out by NGOs operating in Mali with funding or material or technical support from France.” A few days before this statement, the French government cut official development assistance (ODA)[Read More…]
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is failing in its mission to help those in need after a disaster. Its mandate is simple — repair and rebuild — but racism, economic bias, and corruption leave the destitute without help. In Puerto Rico, the bureau made a bad situation worse after Category 4 Hurricane Maria devastated the area in 2017. When[Read More…]
In the hunger map of present day world, Somalia is probably the most seriously affected country of the 21st century. Somalia is reported by the UN to have lost 260,000 lives in and around 2011 to hunger and famine deaths, one of the very few countries in the world to have such a high number of recorded hunger deaths in[Read More…]
Just in case you didn’t notice, authoritarianism was on the ballot in the 2022 midterm elections. An unprecedented majority of candidates from one of the nation’s two major political parties were committed to undemocratic policies and outcomes. You would have to go back to the Democratic Party-dominated segregationist South of the 1950s to find such a sweeping array of authoritarian proclivities in[Read More…]
Malaysia ratified the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) on 30th September 2022. It comes into force on 30th November 2022.One hopes that the new Malaysian government will postpone its enforcement until a thorough cost-benefit analysis of the CPTPP is done and the findings presented to Parliament for debate. A postponement is necessary because the agreement impinges upon[Read More…]
Glimpses from the book launch — The Last Heroes: Foot Soldiers of Indian Freedom by noted journalist P. Sainath New Delhi: The Last Heroes: Foot Soldiers of Indian Freedom by noted journalist P. Sainath was launched at the India International Centre, New Delhi, yesterday. The book documents the country’s last living freedom fighters. It narrates life stories of 15 people[Read More…]
When British Conservative Party MPs anointed Rishi Sunak, in October this year, as their new prime minister, he effectually came to power without people having the chance to vote. He took over from Liz Truss who lasted for only 45 days. In fact he was the third prime minister in two months, inheriting a crisis-ridden government. Many demanded general election[Read More…]
To loot, or to advance economy, farmers are encountered. Role in economy makes farmers an important question in countries. This sub-continent too can’t ignore the question. Amit Bhaduri examines aspects related to recently concluded farmers’ movement in India in his The Emerging Face of Transformative Politics in India Farmers’ Movement (Aakar Books, Delhi, India, 2022, www.aakarbooks.com). The Emerging Face …[Read More…]
It was ‘Constitution Day’ once again on 26 November, as the nation remembered with profound gratitude the day in 1949, on which the Constituent Assembly ‘adopted, enacted and gave to ourselves’ a meaningful Constitution. The day was also a reminder that ‘Constitution Day’ for the citizens of India cannot be relegated to[Read More…]
What is it about a bunch of high-ranking people getting together at a Conference of the Parties (COP) at some major metropolitan center with plenty of 4-star and 5-star hotels in order to figure out how to save the planet, but it never works! For example, the tenth (10th) meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on[Read More…]
When lost to climatic disaster and environmental turbulence, where does a whole nation go? History speaks about movements of people, whether induced by human agency or environment, finding sanctuary and refuge on other terrains, or perishing altogether. In the case of the Pacific Island state of Tuvalu, the response is seemingly digital or, as its officials prefer to call it,[Read More…]
The climate crisis is a form of oppression by a wealthy few. In September 2022, an international group of climate scientists published a study showing that the world was close to, or in some cases had even surpassed, key tipping points in the climate crisis that would trigger irreversible changes in the world’s ecosystems. These include the collapse of the Greenland and[Read More…]
In all of the news surrounding Vladimir Putin, it might have been easy to overlook that he had recently revived a Soviet-era policy called the “Mother Heroine” award, which goes to women who bear 10 or more children, offering financial incentives and other benefits in a bid to spur population growth. He is not alone, with a host of men who[Read More…]
“The U.S. government should end its prosecution of Julian Assange for publishing secrets,” the editors of the Times, the Guardian, Le Monde, Der Spiegel and El Pais wrote in a joint letter published Monday. The letter was signed by Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger and the editors and publishers of the Guardian (Britain), Le Monde (France), Der Spiegel (Germany) and El Pais[Read More…]
The election victory of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as the president of Brazil for a third term on October 30 is expected to revise the relations between Brasília and Beijing. Brazil is going through a serious economic, political, social, and environmental crisis. Fighting poverty, resuming economic growth with income redistribution, reindustrializing the country, and reversing environmental abuses are urgent tasks, which will[Read More…]
Dear President Lula, When I visited you (Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva) in prison on August 30, 2018, in the brief time that the visit lasted, I experienced a whirlwind of ideas and emotions that remain as vivid today as they were then. A short time before, we had been together at the World Social Forum in Salvador da Bahia.[Read More…]
At a time when most of the world has left far behind the stage of prolonged COVID related lockdowns, the Chinese authorities have continued with very long lockdowns in several parts of the country, justifying this as a policy of so-called zero tolerance for COVID. This is both surprising and unfortunate, as recent experience of long stretched lockdowns in many[Read More…]
Every four years, the football world cup brings the world together. The euphoric bond transcends religious, ideological, political and time barriers. Messi, Mbappe, Neymar, Benzema and Mohammed Salah, artists in motion, mesmerize and enthrall fans as did football greats like Pele and Maradona. At a mind-boggling 227.27 million viewers per day an estimated 5 billion people, nearly three fourth of[Read More…]
As the title suggests, this is about the Germans and their beloved Autobahn for which, yet another piece of German forest – the Riegerwald – will be destroyed in a few days. This time it is on the A66 – A for Autobahn – the motorway with no limits on the madness of speeding. Yet, the German obsession with the[Read More…]
On 28th November, In Babarpur the Anganwadi workers Union launched a qualitative campaign in exposing the nefarious agenda of the BJP and AAP. It gheraoed house of labour minister Gopal Rai in a most intensive manner. It also blocked exit from the BJP office for leaders-ministers to step out.Mini-rallies were staged calling for boycotting both the parties. The people of[Read More…]
On November 26, the world’s so called largest democracy celebrated its Constitution Day. Not only were special events held by the Indian government back home, several programs were organized in the Diaspora, including one in BC. The Day was initiated by the current right wing Hindu Prime Minister Narendra Modi, under whom attacks on religious minorities, including Dalits and political[Read More…]
The world today is facing a big challenge like the food crisis due to Covid, the climate crisis, the Ukraine war, etc. In such a situation, there is a need to promote the cultivation and consumption of millet to ensure food security. Millet is such a super food, which is a traditional nutritious and low-cost alternative to deal with the[Read More…]
I beg to remain, SIR, Your most obedient servant, (Sd.) V.D. Savarkar, Convict no. 32778. An old saying: “When every record leaps to light, they shall ever be shamed.” In V.D. Savarkar’s case, every record disclosed exposes his deceit, venom and addiction to murder. Here is a list of the apologies and undertakings which Savarkar offered from 1911 to 1950,[Read More…]
Gandhi’s Assassin: The Making of Nathuram Godse and His Idea of India, Dhirendra K Jha, Vintage Books, 2022. ISBN-13 :978-0670096473. Pages 344 In the last few years, there have been a few scholarly books published about Gandhi and Nathuram Godse. These books attempt to re-create the context of Gandhi’s assassination. One such scholarly and well-written book is journalist Dhirendra Jha’s[Read More…]
Protests broke out in China this weekend, with demonstrators in Shanghai, Wuhan, Beijing and other locations demanding an end to the government’s stringent Covid restrictions. Videos shared on social media purportedly show some protesters calling for the downfall of the Chinese Communist Party. Media reports said: Crowds in Shanghai voiced their anger for the second day in a row on[Read More…]
The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) or the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) have long argued for ‘Hindu-Hindi-Hindustan’, which into recent years has translated into a crisper English expression: ‘One Nation-One Religion-One Language’. Given this backdrop, it is curious that the BJP government has organised the Kashi Tamil Sangamam in Varanasi, the Prime Minister’s constituency. Why did the BJP and RSS feel[Read More…]
Supreme Court’s firmness in upholding the Bombay High Court’s order granting bail to Anand Teltumbde has been widely appreciated. However, we must also listen to what this 73 year old distinguished scholar activist, coming out after spending 31 months in prison, had to stay regarding the case in which several other distinguished activists have also been implicated—“the sad thing is[Read More…]
As a consequence of my fledgling activism in my student life to my dedicated commitment towards socialism till now, I found umpteen occasions to meet and interact with many people active in this stream. I constantly learned and picked up something from verily everyone during my work and interactions with them. Of them some became the source of intellectual inspiration,[Read More…]
As President Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping arrived on the resort island of Bali, Indonesia, for their November 14th “summit,” relations between their two countries were on a hair-raising downward spiral, with tensions over Taiwan nearing the boiling point. Diplomats hoped, at best, for a modest reduction in tensions, which, to the relief of many, did occur. No[Read More…]
Though brief, the exchange between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Indonesia on November 16 has become a social media sensation. Xi, assertive if not domineering, lectured the visibly apprehensive Trudeau about the etiquette of diplomacy. This exchange can be considered another watershed moment in China’s relationship with[Read More…]
There are many western commentators who, apparently in profound dismay that a country which holds up the banner of socialism could be so economically successful, tiresomely deny that China practises socialism and insist that it is instead capitalist. Author Jeff Brown wrote that China is “history’s most successful socialist and communist country.” This conflation of communism and socialism is common but inaccurate.[Read More…]
The crimes of the Ukrainian army, which we can often see on social networks, horrify the entire civilized world. And if the West is the main financier and logistics provider for the Ukrainian army, the crimes committed by Ukrainian soldiers appalled even them. After the recent Ukrainian war crime in Makiivka, it was the Western media that put pressure to[Read More…]
Speaking on Constitution Day in Parliament in 2015, BJP representative Rajnath Singh again reiterated that the inclusion of the word secular in the Constitution is unnecessary and has been misused a lot. He further defined secularism and said that it does not mean secularism but sect neutrality. Even before this BJP and its allies have raised similar objections to this[Read More…]
In May the Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC-22), prepared by UN agencies and other expert groups, issued a clear warning stating that the acute hunger situation in world, including its extreme forms, is worse now than ever before since this annual report started being prepared. Then in mid-September the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Program, which[Read More…]
The poor are often unfairly blamed for straining Mumbai’s infrastructure, making it dirty.In fact, it can be argued that It is the rich who are in good measure responsible for making it dirty, consuming most of the land, grabbing more and more of it from the poor, causing severe road congestion and air pollution with their cars. One has only[Read More…]
To Smt Alka Tiwari Secretary National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) Subject:- Great Nicobar Island- A “Mega Infrastructure Project cleared by Ministry of Environment without prior clearance by NCST Dear Smt Tiwari, I wish to submit the following concerns about this project to Hon’ble NCST for their consideration. The Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MEFCC) accorded statutory Environment[Read More…]
Responding to the the call of Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), today (26 November, 2022), thousands of farmers, supported by workers, students, youth, women and ordinary people, staged mega foot-marches and rallies all over the country. Protest gatherings engulfed 25 state capitals, more than 300 district headquarters and numerous tehsil headquarters .History of a kind was made. The spirit of resistance[Read More…]
Suppose there is a restaurant in your locality which is notorious for serving unsafe food. Of course you feel very bad about this, but not exactly threatened as you have the option of not consuming its food and also warning your friends not to do so. But supposing the restaurant has such high-level connections that it acquires the[Read More…]
(The present article is published to mark the occasion of Constitution Day, November 26, 2022. It may be deemed as part-2 of an earlier article, published an year ago: A Peep into the past: On the occasion of 65th Anniversary of Ambedkar’s Nirvana – Remembering Ambedkar and Revisiting his Thoughts (06/12/2021) https://countercurrents.org/2021/12/a-peep-into-the-past-on-the-occasion-of-65th-anniversary-of-ambedkars-nirvana-remembering-ambedkar-and-revisiting-his-thoughts/ ) *** *** 26th November 2022 is being[Read More…]
Caption–Left: Gheith Najjar (white t-shirt) at Qatar 2022 World Cup. Right: A screen shot of an Israeli’s mobile captured as he was sharing Najjar’s image at Qatar 2022 World Cup Marco Balich, the creative director of the opening ceremony of the Qatar 2022 World Cup, probably has no idea that “bridging distances” when it comes to Palestinians and Israelis is a[Read More…]
The hyperthreat is a combination of impending ecological carnage influenced in large measure by hidden behind-the-scenes human forces that drain the vigor and lifeblood of reasonable solutions. A major exposé of the hyperthreat is the essence of a recently released book by E.G. Boulton, PhD: Cancelled Woman, Destination Safe Earth Publishing, 2022. Dr. Boulton introduces the concept of hyperththreat by reflecting[Read More…]
Left and right figures show warming in Europe of the summer half year during the latest four decades, sub-divided for clear-sky and all-sky conditions, respectively. Credit: Paul Glantz/Stockholm University The warming during the summer months in Europe has been much faster than the global average, finds a new study by scientists at Stockholm University (P. Glantz, O. G. Fawole, J.[Read More…]
Lula’s electoral return, wining the presidential election, is almost like a Phoenix. The former metal worker turned Union leader turned leading politician with an anti-imperialist brand turned symbol of hope to millions in Brazil and far, distant lands was booked and banished on false charge of corruption. But Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva came out from behind bar. He re-occupied[Read More…]
A new, freely downloadable, book I would like to announce the publication of a new book, entitled “Lives of Some Great Philosophers”. The pdf file of the book may be downloaded and circulated free of charge from the following link: https://eacpe.org/content/uploads/2022/11/Lives-of-Some-Great-Philosophers-by-John-Scales-Avery.pdf It is part of my series of books on cultural history. Human history as cultural history We need to[Read More…]
Aijaz Ahmad (1941-2022) who passed away on March 9 at Irvine, California earlier this year, was a truly original Marxist thinker, who applied Marxist concepts to interpret various events of the contemporary world. He underlined the importance of those concepts while rejecting all attempts to weaken or replace them through eclectic combinations formed by introducing post-modernist concepts into Marxism. He[Read More…]
Nicobar Mega Infra Project – destructive of the local ecology and detrimental to the interests of the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal communities- Revoke clearance for the project To Shri Bhupender Yadav Union Minister for Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MEFCC) Dear Shri Yadav, I have enclosed here a copy of my letter dated 15-11-2-022 addressed to you on a mega infra[Read More…]
Supreme Court has released six convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. This was bound to happen as earlier A.G. Perarivalan was released in the same case, setting a precedent. Even though four of them are Sri Lankans but a popular Tamil sentiment favoured the release of these convicts which is why Tamil political parties supported this and resolutions were[Read More…]
Violation of Model Code of Conduct by Shri Amit Shah, the Union Home Minister in Gujarat- Defer Gujarat Assembly elections in view of the far reaching ramifications of his statement To Shri Rajiv Kumar Chief Election Commissioner Shri A C Pandey Election Commissioner Shri A Goel Election Commissioner Dear S/Shri Rajiv Kumar/ Pandey and Goel, I have come[Read More…]
It is natural for all common people to wonder when the Prime Minister gets time to work because the Prime Minister has to sit in the office and dispose of the files, it takes time, but since last one year he has been busy with election campaigning. Voting has already been held in Himachal Pradesh, now voting will be held[Read More…]
She may have left us 16 years ago, but on her birth anniversary November 25, Surinder Kaur is being remembered very fondly by her countless admirers in India, Pakistan, Canada, UK, USA and several other countries as well. The contributions of the ‘Nightingale of Punjab’ to music can never be forgotten, all the more so in present times of degradation[Read More…]
Efforts to prevent violence against women and girls should be based on careful identification of causes When the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in his message for the International Day for Elimination of Violence against Women and Children ( November 25) that “every 11 minutes , a woman or girl is killed by an intimate partner or family[Read More…]
Asked by the ex-footballer who his allies against antisemitism are, the Jewish comedian was flummoxed. That’s because he has thrown his lot in with racists You may not have heard of the Jewish comedian David Baddiel or the black ex-footballer Jason Lee. You may not care about either of them. But their first-ever meeting – aired in two different formats[Read More…]
There are so many out there that would take a few moments to be thankful this holiday. Where shall I begin? All the tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of Iraqi, Afghan, Libyan and Syrian civilians who were displaced by US carpet bombs and other WMD. Those who are alive and still climbing out of the massive destruction our[Read More…]
Professor Jose Marie Sison ranks amongst the most accomplished Marxist leaders, and writers, to have landed their feet into the Communist movement. Few leaders have contributed so much to shape a nations’ path breaking achievements in revolutionary movement or defend citadel of Marxism –Leninism. Sison knitted the scattered seeds to sow the nucleus of the Communist Party and Philllipines and[Read More…]
Barely out of the starting blocks, the Qatar World Cup has already produced a fair share of upsets as well as politically and personally sensitive situations and incidents. Qatar’s 2:0 loss to Ecuador in the tournament’s opening match will have reinforced critics’ conviction that the Gulf state should never have been awarded World Cup hosting rights, among other things, because[Read More…]
by Debal Deb/ A K Shiburaj Dr. Debal Deb is an ecologist working with traditional farmers in eastern India to conserve indigenous seed diversity. Debal Deb, an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Science and a former Fulbright Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, US, left his job at the World Wildlife Fund in the mid-1990s after failing to[Read More…]
Simply electoral destiny of key parties in fray is not at stake during Gujarat Assembly elections. What also bears political significance is “leadership” of these very parties. Heading the list is of course, Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Nearly the same importance is held for another key Gujarati leader of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Gujarat is[Read More…]
The AIDS Bhedbhav Virodhi Andolan (ABVA) is releasing the second edition of ‘Less than Gay’ – A Citizens’ Report on the status of Homosexuality in India. The first edition of the Report – co-authored by seven members – was published in November 1991. This edition has a long essay running into 18,360 words in the form of an introduction written[Read More…]
Last week, Ukraine fired at least one missile into Poland, killing two Polish civilians, with the aim of blaming Moscow and drawing NATO directly into war with Russia. While the US and other NATO members rejected the claim by Ukraine that the missile strike was launched by Russia, the European countries have significantly increased their involvement in the conflict over the[Read More…]
The case of brutal, horrific violence against Shraddha Walkar has shaken the whole nation. It is gruesome and utterly despicable crime. One recalls with similar horror the case of Nirbhaya (Jyoti Singh), the Tandoor case, and the recent one of Abhijit Patidar, who slit the throat of Shilpa in a Jabalpur resort and video graphed it. One also recalls with[Read More…]
The European Union must cast aside all doubts about new anti-Russia sanctions and double down on slapping Moscow with new restrictions that would curb its missile industry, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said on Tuesday. Speaking at a regular briefing, Kuleba urged the EU to speed up the work on its ninth sanctions package, which he described as long overdue.[Read More…]
In 1945 from the ruins of the second world war emerged a new world and initially, for the people of world aspiring for democracy, freedom and justice the USA emerged as the most important center of hope. This is not because these people were not aware of several highly suspect aspects of the US ruling classes, but because these had[Read More…]
Even international alliances can unravel when nations confront the insanity of a nuclear holocaust. An illustration of this point occurred recently, after Vladimir Putin once again threatened Ukraine and other nations with nuclear war. “To defend Russia and our people, we doubtlessly will use all weapons resources at our disposal,” the Russian president said. “This is not a bluff.” In[Read More…]
The recent decision by the United States Department of Justice to open an investigation into the killing, last May, of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is not a game-changer, but important and worthy of reflection, nonetheless. Based on the long trajectory of US military and political support of Israel, and Washington’s constant shielding of Tel Aviv from any accountability for[Read More…]
How shall I climb When the ladder Is not mine? How shall I reach Thine ear When such is not my speech? How shall I engender Words When diction, close, In other bosoms sleep? I am a madhouse Closed to the weeping I am a tempest Whose eye is not his I am a whisper of a Man I cannot[Read More…]
The Zameen Prapt Sangharsh commitee launched a 10 day hunger strike dharna pressing for legitimate demands promised by the Aam Ami party at the DC office at Sangrur .Around 1500 dalit agricultural labourers converged at the venue. The ZPSC expressed determination in waging a persistent battle to achieve demands of allotment of 1/3rd Panchayat land, Implementation of law for[Read More…]
On 20th November on the first day of the MCD Elections in Pahadganj Delhi Aanganwadi workers Union organised a boycott campaign. They exposed the lies of the Aam Admi party, who betrayed all promises to the workers. Women raised slogans, raised the back flag, and recited songs. They reminded people of 884 workers terminated, for merely voicing heir just[Read More…]
During a speech at the Duma (Russian parliament) on Tuesday, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel rejected the unilateral sanctions imposed by the U.S. and its allies on Russia. A teleSUR report said: “Cuba strongly condemns the unfair unilaterally imposed sanctions against Russia. The reasons for the current conflict must be found in the aggressive policy of the United States and in the[Read More…]
The search for enemies of ‘Mother India’ has perhaps finally ended for RSS. It is the ‘ecosystem of Islamists, evangelists, cultural Marxists and global tech giants Google, Facebook and Twitter’ is being seen as India’s major challenge. A senior RSS functionary – who also coordinates work between RSS n BJP – shared his piece of mind about it at a[Read More…]
Fossil fuel interests have taken over climate talks. The acronym COP for “Conference of the Parties” should be changed to “Continue Oil Production.” Eighteen of the twenty companies that sponsored UN climate talks at the make-believe Egyptian resort Sharm El-Sheikh either directly support or partner with oil and gas companies. Global Witness/London identified at least 636 fossil lobbyists at COP27.[Read More…]
Despite all the renewable energy investments and installations, actual global greenhouse gas emissions keep increasing. That’s largely due to economic growth: While renewable energy supplies have expanded in recent years, world energy usage has ballooned even more—with the difference being supplied by fossil fuels. The more the world economy grows, the harder it is for additions of renewable energy to turn[Read More…]
The performance of poll-bound Gujarat on many social indicators has worsened in the past 15 years compared to other States. While Gujarat is economically one of the most advanced States in India, it fares poorly on social indicators, even featuring at the bottom of the list on some of them. The State tops the list on manufacturing-related indicators. But this[Read More…]
It has been one noisy time for the paladins of big tech. Jobs have been shed by the thousands at Meta, Amazon and Twitter; FTX, the second largest cryptocurrency company, has collapsed. Then came the conviction of Elizabeth Holmes, founder of the healthcare company Theranos, for fraud. Pursuing the steps of the college drop-out turned billionaire, Holmes claimed that her[Read More…]
Among all the people who leave for work on any given day, about 1000 do not return home—they die in workplace accidents. This is stated on the basis on the total number of occupational accident fatalities in a year, the WHO/ILO estimate for which is 360,000 in a year. This is very sad, but even more distressing is the fact[Read More…]
Review of Twenty Dollars and Change by Clarence Lusane City Lights Books|2022 In 2016, Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew declared that Harriett Tubman’s would be the new face of the $20 bill and that Andrew Jackson’s would be moved to the back. Scholars and activists, then and now, noted the irony- that two figures of such radically different dispositions[Read More…]
Srinivasan Jain, the popular TV anchor with NDTV, has done a tremendous service to the Constitution of India and thereby, to the people of India! In a hard-hitting exposé on his weekly segment ‘Truth vs Hype’, released on 19 November, Jain talks about the so-called ‘Forced Conversions’ with incontrovertible facts and the falsehoods and myths that are built around the[Read More…]
COP-27 (the 27th Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) has ended as expected on a note more or less of status quo. True, the long pending demand of countries worst affected by climate change for a loss and damage fund has been accepted, an important gain in itself, but any celebrations over this will be[Read More…]
Duncan Stone’s new book Different Class: The Untold Story of English Cricket has important lessons for Indian cricket and sports. It does not merely challenge the orthodoxy of English cricket, it demonstrates how the values and belief systems at its heart were developed in order to divide, rather than unite, the English at every level of the game. It was[Read More…]
The US Mid-term election in most cases is a losing affair for the incumbent party even in the normal period. The people are not better off under the first half of the Biden administration. In some cases, they are even worse off than under the Trump period. The Democrats went to the voting centers with a nightmarish scenario to follow.[Read More…]
[My tribute to the immortal love poems of my favorite poet of Bengal, Sunil Gangopadhyay.] My first love was a foggy blur Over my familiar world of twenty springs. He stretched over, with his eager eyes, His moving lips, his thrusting loins Eclipsing everything I thought, was my own terrain, Yet, I could never touch the contours of his desires,[Read More…]
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned: This winter may be a “life-threatening” experience for “millions” of Ukrainians. Hans Kluge, the WHO regional director for Europe, has warned: Up to three million Ukrainians are expected to migrate “in search of warmth and safety.” Kluge made this warning on Monday during a press conference in Kiev. “We expect 2-3 million more people[Read More…]
“And then both of them disappeared?!” – the kid asked his father with utter amazement. The father didn’t reply, only a strange smile spread across his face. The movie ended. The audience got up from their chairs but still, there was no humming inside the theatre. Everyone spellbound. The legend got us all. I entered the movie theatre with enough[Read More…]
Water is a finite resource on our planet. We can only rely on what we have, which translates to about 2.5 percent of drinkable fresh water. Of that amount, only 0.4 percent currently exists in lakes, rivers, and moisture in the atmosphere. The strain of this limited supply grows by the day and as this continues, the detrimental impact will continue to[Read More…]
Looking Beyond the Obvious Lens of Human Consciousness Cop 27 has just ended in Sharm el-Shaikh (Egypt) without any candid measures to deal with a readily available “Time Bomb”, of climate change affecting all and everything that is living on Earth. Nations and leaders made promises at COP 26 Glasgow Conference but never took practical steps to lower the fossil[Read More…]
3 massive dharnas of workers were organized at Jantar Mantar in the country’s capital, Delhi.yesterday.They represented massive polarisation against the anti-people policies of the Modi govt.and illustrate the wrath of the working class whose lives have been thrown in peril. Firstly, Asha workers converged from all over the country to stage a sit-in for their demands by Delhi Asha Kamgar[Read More…]
[I must begin with a “thank you” to the Indian Diaspora of Washington DC* and to Razi Saheb for letting me say a few words here. It is an honour for me to share the dais, even if virtually, with Gauhar Raza and Pervez Hoodbhoy. I was stressed about Razi Saheb being a stern time-keeper. So, I decided to jot[Read More…]
The Garden of Solitude is Siddhartha Gigoo’s debut work. Gigoo was born in Downtown, Srinagar in 1974 in a Kashmiri Hindu family. Kashmiri Hindus are generally known as Pandits. For the first fifteen years of his life, Siddhartha Gigoo lived in Srinagar. Then, in 1990, he and his family, alongwith thousands of other families migrated from the valley as a[Read More…]
There is nothing new to say Except that it is astounding, it is horrifying, it is revelatory that Those who began it, who knew what they were doing, who now know That the warming world, their enterprise, will kill itself and us too. And still they barely act. We will not say anything new Except that we will omit[Read More…]
To Smt Nirmala Sitharaman Union Finance Minister Dear Smt Sitharaman, In your Budget Speech this year, you referred to the government’s decision on Productivity Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme as follows: “The Productivity Linked Incentive in 14 sectors for achieving the vision of Atma Nirbhar Bharat has received excellent response, with potential to create 60 lakh new jobs, and an additional[Read More…]
In Manesar in Haryana.the Besonika Mazdoor Union held a Mazdoor Kisan Panchayat from 10 p.m to 3 p.m at the Gurgaon District Collectors office, protesting the anti-people policies of Modi govt.and pro-capitalist designs of the rulers Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan ) president Joginder Singh Ugrahan was present with other peasant organisation leaders. Workers organisations from Gurgaon and Uttarakhand also joined.[Read More…]
The Empire is going to face competition in the Asia-Pacific. It was unimaginable to the Empire years ago. The competition will be tougher. To the Empire, the Asia-Pacific was its own yard, a self-sphere for maneuvering, for forward positioning to counter then Soviet Union and China, for dominance, for exploitation of resources and labor. The region’s all economic potentialities were[Read More…]
Ghastly narrative surrounds Shraddha Walker’s alleged murder by her live-in partner, Aftab Poonawalla. She was in an abusive relationship, as is claimed by her friends and corroborated by her conversations with those around her. I do not intend to rake up details of Shraddha’s death, as the least we can do is give her dignity in her death which she[Read More…]
Back in 1968,when I was busy giving final shape to my revised thesis, I don’t think anyone in Cambridge had heard of Jaques Derrida.The impact of continental ,largely Hegelian Marxism charmed younger scholars while seniors were slightly dazed, though they appeared to prefer their empiricist slumber.Derrida had already thrown his first stone at the bee-hive in the form of a[Read More…]
The much expected 27th Conference of Parties (COP 27) has come to its conclusion, but without any concluding outcome for the planet. UN secretary general Antonio Guterres’s deep disappointment with the outcome of the COP 27 is sure to be echoed across the world. Guterres said on Sunday that the planet continues to be in the “emergency room” and the[Read More…]
(Everything in this article is just repetition. I have been saying all this since 1991-92. It is obvious that the Congress and the RSS/BJP do not like my ideas. But most socialists, advocates of social justice and communists also dislike my thoughts. I watch their measures and efforts to deal with the present crisis with interest. I respect them and[Read More…]
Indians Abroad for Pluralist India (IAPI) has welcomed the ongoing march started by the opposition Congress party in India. Bharat Jodo Yatra, aimed at uniting the country that is going through difficult times under a right wing Hindu nationalist BJP government, is gaining traction. The cofounder of IAPI, formed in response to growing attacks on religious minorities and political dissidents[Read More…]
Believe me, it’s strange to be an old man and feel like you’re living on a new planet. On November 7th, the day before the midterm elections, I took my usual afternoon walk in New York City and I was wearing a short-sleeved shirt! That was a first for me. And no wonder, since it was 76 degrees out —[Read More…]
In international strategic discussion a hot topic is the challenge posed to US dominance by China in the coming years. However the leadership position of the USA is increasingly under pressure not so much by external competition as by its own policy failures, internal weaknesses and problems. Democracy was supposed to be the biggest strength of the USA giving it[Read More…]
My dear friend Staughton Lynd died Thursday five days before what would have been his 93rd birthday. It is no overstatement to say that Staughton inspired millions of people around the world and I will always cherish a glorious weekend I spent with him and his lovely wife Alice at their home in Ohio in 2010. In honor of a[Read More…]
Soon after arriving in Oslo, my taxi zigzagged through the city’s well-organized streets and state-of-the-art infrastructure. Large billboards advertised the world’s leading brands in fashion, cars, and perfumes. Amid all the expressions of wealth and plenty, an electronic sign by a bus stop flashed the images of poor-looking African children needing help. Over the years, Norway has served as a[Read More…]
Bharat Jodo Yatra undertaken by Rahul Gandhi is receiving a popular response and large numbers are seen joining it including eminent citizens. Currently it has passed through the states of Tamilnadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and currently in Maharashtra. The yatra has been interpreted in different ways – as that of protecting the idea of India, building the personal[Read More…]
Dear friends, I am a baby elephant living in a camp made by human beings to rehabilitate orphaned ones like me, train and prepare me to be of use. I can see questions in your eyes about how I became an orphan. Though I do not claim to remember all the details there are moments I recollect walking close to[Read More…]
Media reports were speculating about the possible collapse of the social media platform Twitter following the resignation of another 1,200 employees the previous day in response to a recent ultimatum given to them by Elon Musk. The New York Times reported in an article entitled “Elon Musk’s Twitter Teeters on the Edge After Another 1,200 Leave,” that the billionaire owner sent a[Read More…]
In a clearly visible that, the word Universal Periodic Review (UPR) has been pronounced only by the UN member states and a few Civil Society organizations who work with the United Nations since 2008. Due to lack of awareness and exposure on the subject, neither the[Read More…]
On 17th November in Sidkul in Haridwar of Uttarakhand , Raja Biscuit company workers converged at a park to organise a public meeting protesting the halting of production. The workers discussed the topic of the management disabling the machines of the factory. In past months the plight of the Biscuit company workers has been reduced to turmoil. In India it[Read More…]
If you mention the name of Macliing Dulag to a Cordilleran, you are going to arouse three possible responses. One, the person has no idea who Dulag was. Two, the person has heard of the man but can’t accurately place where Dulag stands in Cordillera history. Millions of people knew the name of Che Guevara but hardly aware of his[Read More…]
A new Australian Labor Government was elected in May 2022, replacing an appalling Liberal Party-National Party Coalition Government. However after a mere 6 months decent, progressive, pro-environment and pro-peace Australians have already been disappointed by a cowardly and unprincipled Labor Government not meeting its pre-election rhetoric on matters ranging from banning nuclear weapons to strong action on climate change. Set[Read More…]
Poor, silly, protuberant Mike Pompeo. The stocky, irritated former CIA director and former Secretary of State is rather upset that those who worked under him dared wag their tongues about Julian Assange. The wagging so happened to relate to contemplated plans of abduction and assassination, something the US executive formally disallows though permits via various devious mechanisms. It’s not every[Read More…]
Despite India’s economic development in all sectors, growing poverty is a major problem with one-third of India’s population living below the poverty line. Poverty’s low standard of living, low income and lack of employment leave poor families with no choice but to employ their children instead of teaching them. Children are not only the present but also the future of[Read More…]
by Lalita Ramdas (with Ramu Ramdas) By now many of you have seen countless images and video footage of the Yatra, of the growing crowds . And the figure of Rahul Gandhi – ruffled hair and increasingly unkempt and greying beard – walking, talking, laughing, dancing, hugging – seemingly tireless. So is this a carefully constructed charade – purely[Read More…]
The historical agitation by the coastal people of Trivandrum has crossed 120 days. The struggle has been going on at Vizhinjam all these days under the leadership of the Trivandrum Latin archdiocese raising 7 demands including the demand that construction of the harbour has to be stopped and the destruction it has already caused to the coast to be enquired[Read More…]
To Smt Nirmala Sitharaman Union Finance Minister Dear Smt Sitharaman, I refer to a news report (https://www.businessworld.in/article/Union-Min-Pradhan-Seeks-Probe-Into-Farmers-Insurance-Scheme-In-Odisha-/17-11-2022-454459/) that Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, the Union Education Minister has written to the Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister, apparently on the basis of his own sordid experience in Odisha, to “launch an investigation into the ‘scam’ committed during the implementation of the Pradhan[Read More…]
Recent controversy regarding the research at Boston University’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) has again revived the concerns regarding continuation of certain types of high-risk biological research. As reported, a team of 14 scientists here has developed a new strain of COVID-19 that killed 80% of the mice infected with the virus in a laboratory setting. NEIDL has denied[Read More…]
To Shri A L Meena Union Coal Secretary Shri A K Jha Union Secretary for Tribal affairs Dear S/Shri Meena and Jha, I understand that the Ministry of Coal has allotted Gondalpura coal block in Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand in favour of the Adani Group and the local communities who would be displaced, including adivasis, are protesting against it (https://thewire.in/rights/gondalpura-coal-mining-adani-group-protests).[Read More…]
The seventeenth G20 Heads of State and Government Summit held in Bali, Indonesia, on 15–16 November stands out as a consequential event from many angles. The international politics is at an inflection point and the transition will not leave unaffected any of the institutions inherited from the past that is drifting away forever. However, the G20 can be an exception[Read More…]
A new study finds Greenland’s ice sheet thinning much further into the ice sheet core than previously thought, 100 miles inland. (Source: S. Khan, et al, Extensive Inland Thinning and Speed-Up of North-East Greenland Stream, Nature, November 9, 2022) The implications are extremely concerning and far-reaching especially for sea level rise. It is a significant development that will prompt climate[Read More…]
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and New People’s Army (NPA) are involved in one of the world’s longest-running insurgencies, and for over 50 years Red fighters have been resolutely waging armed resistance against the Philippine government and security forces. The recent election of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Romualdez Marcos Jr was a manifestation of how his father’s policies and particularly[Read More…]
The Flesh on the Cross It is a great meditation It is a great Truth Of the World The nails of our traitors Slowly bore into us As we call out our mad pain Into the Cold Nothing As our betrayed heart exhausts Itself In the callous hands Of an unseen God Dan Corjescu teaches at the University of Tübingen’s “Studium[Read More…]
Latest news from the battlefields of Ukraine indicate that the war game is moving in uncertain and unpredictable directions, and nothing is happening in terms of a final score – either by the Russians who have invaded Ukraine or the Ukrainians who are defending their territory. Russia’s recent decision to withdraw its foot soldiers from Kharson could be a temporary [Read More…]
This book is part 9 of the Sison reader series, ‘GRP-NDFP Peace Negotiations’ encompasses the years 1986 to 2022. It reflects the role Joma Sison played in exploring and realizing the peace negotiations. It carries the essays, statements and interviews related to the tremendous odds, explorations, preparations, the forging of agreements, frustrations and advances. The book also gives deep insight[Read More…]
The PUCL is concerned that the decision of the Supreme Court in `Janhit Abhiyan v Union of India’ upholding the constitutionality of reservations for `Economically Weaker Sections’ (EWS) does grave injustice to the vision of the Constitution makers who incorporated Art. 14, 15, 16 and 17 in the Constitution as a legal protection to counter historically entrenched and institutionalised[Read More…]
Ukraine has been accused of “openly lying” about a missile that hit Poland killing two civilians, earlier this week, the Financial Times reported on Thursday citing an unnamed diplomat from a NATO country. Ukraine rushed to pin the blame on Moscow, while the Russian Ministry of Defense stated that footage from the site showed “elements of a missile from an S-300[Read More…]
One who practices caste is a devil That devil has to be driven out of India India must be made a country of equality. The tiller must sow the letters of English Our soil must become a global knowledge power Caste has cultivated mindlessness The anti-caste pen will have to change India. Nationalism is not casteism Caste and race were[Read More…]
Wars tend to bury facts. What comes out of them is often a furiously untidy mix of accounts that, when considered later, constitute wisps of fantasy and presumption. Rarely accepted in the heat of battle is the concept of mistake: that a weapon was wrongly discharged or errantly hit an unintended target; a deployment that went awry; or that the[Read More…]
This November, voters stood up and rejected a host of anti-democratic candidates all across America. Although the GOP eked out a victory in the House of Representatives, dimming prospects for further progress on climate and other issues for at least a couple of years, the nation managed to avoid a much worse fate. In Part 1 of “In Real Time”[Read More…]
If humanity is to survive in the face of climate change, nuclear proliferation, and international political conflict, we must muster the courage to act with conviction and unity. On every level, starting at the individual and rising to the nation state, we must adopt the mindset with which world leaders approached the enormous task of ensuring global peace following the[Read More…]
The focal questions about war In dealing from both theoretical and practical points of view about war, at least six fundamental questions arise: 1) What is war?; 2) What types of war exist?; 3) Why do wars occur?; 4) What is the connection between war and justice?; 5) The question of war crimes?; and 6) Is it possible to replace[Read More…]
Here’s a seldom commented-upon reality of this century and this moment: the United States remains the number-one arms-exporting nation on the planet. Between 2017 and 2021, it grabbed 39% of the total global weapons market and there’s nothing new about that. It has, in fact, been the top arms dealer in every year but one for the past three decades. And it’s a remarkably[Read More…]
‘One Earth’ is A Great Theme for G-20, But How Do We Take it Forward in the Middle of Grim Realities? India has done well to select ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’ as the theme of the year of India’s presidency of G-20. In fact one can go a step further and say that if only this is accepted[Read More…]
They chained you Made you know Inside and out What it is like To be rock They taught you The secret hardnesses of time The Gorgon Face Of the clock You made love To the death of hope And a little water And a little bread Was given To strengthen you Into the shrill mockery of the sea You count[Read More…]
‘Under the Banner of Stalin ‘, is a compilation of articles published by Magpie, edited by Basu Acharya and introduced by Grover Furr ,that vividly illustrates the true contribution of Stalin to Marxism-Leninism and in constructing Socialism in Russia. It attempts to project Stalin in balanced perspective weighing his pros and cons. It places issues like personality cult, suppression of[Read More…]
U.S. President Joe Biden has said Tuesday’s blast on Polish territory, which killed two civilians, was caused by a Ukrainian air defense missile, Reuters has reported. The U.S. leader shared the information with his G7 and NATO partners, the news agency wrote on Wednesday, citing an anonymous NATO source. The incident in the village of Przewodow near the border with[Read More…]
“Ecomodernists offer no solutions to contemporary problems other than technical innovation and further integration into private markets which are structured systematically by centralized state power in favour of the wealthy… ” – Chris Smaje In 2017, the then Monsanto Chief Technology Officer Robb Fraley argued that his company made a mistake in not reaching out to the public about genetically modified organisms[Read More…]
By Prabir Purkayastha / Independent Media Institute In the hands of capital, “clean” natural gas is worse than “dirty” coal. But rich nations have devised an elaborate system to conceal facts and shift blame to poorer nations. COP27 has begun in Sharm el-Sheikh. Although the Ukraine war and the U.S. midterm elections have shifted our immediate focus away from the[Read More…]
On 17 November, 1913 the colonial British regime mobilized cannons and machine guns to fire on Bhil tribal freedom fighters gathered at the hill of Mangarh, located in present day Banswara district of South Rajasthan. Over 1500 of those gathered died. The legendary leader of the tribal community, Govind Guru ( or Govindgiri) was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment.[Read More…]
It all speaks to scale: the attorney generals of 40 states within the US clubbing together to charge Google for misleading users. On this occasion, the conduct focused on making users assume they had turned off the location tracking function on their accounts even as the company continued harvesting data about them. The $391.5 billion settlement was spearheaded by Oregon[Read More…]
At a recent Istanbul conference that brought many Palestinian scholars and activists together to discuss the search for a common narrative on Palestine, a Palestinian member of the audience declared at the end of a brief, but fiery intervention, ‘we are not red Indians’. The reference was a relatively old one. It was attributed to former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat[Read More…]
It passed more than the 100th anniversary of the end of the Great War in 1914−1918. Proportionally, in the war, Serbia suffered mostly among all countries involved in the conflict as it lost ¼ of its population followed by 50% of industrial destruction. The first war crimes or even the genocide occurred on the territory of Serbia but on other[Read More…]
The much contested debate pertaining to the relationship between Literature and History dates back to the classical times. Beginning with Aristotle, there have been constant efforts to identify the links and natures of these two domains of knowledge. In the traditional scholarship, History was often regarded as an art of particulars, while on the contrast, Literature was identified with universals.[Read More…]
Elections to Himachal Pradesh Assembly may be viewed as a symbolic example of what Indian political system and its socio-democratic fibre seem to be heading for. Given the importance accorded by certain leading politicians to try propagate use of religious cards at various levels in several parts of country, one is tempted to deliberate on their relevance in Himachal Pradesh.[Read More…]
Knowing that no right minded Indian thinks the rate of inflation, the price of potatoes, cooking oil, petrol, diesel, rice, flour, eggs, indeed, any commodity you can name, the indices of joblessness, the monopolization of national wealth, the degradation of Institutions, the collapse of parliament, the weakening of democracy, the preponderance of hate crimes and vendetta vigilantism, the studied relegation[Read More…]
An alleged missile strike in Poland Tuesday has killed 2 people. The Polish military and prosecutors have arrived at the scene of the blast, Visegrad 24 reports. The incident has increased tension. The incident occurred amid a large-scale missile attack that Russia launched at Ukraine. The Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushenko called it the “most massive shelling of Ukraine’s energy[Read More…]
16 November is the United Nations International Day for Tolerance In the scheme of universal values “tolerance” appears to be the most misunderstood and abused in everyday life. The United Nations General Assembly first discussed over three decades ago to get educational institutions and the general public to see “tolerance” as a staple of society. Therefore, in 1995 UNESCO[Read More…]
Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia: Wednesday 16/11 : Rich countries have delivered seven times more doses of COVID-19 vaccine per head than low-income countries[1], civil society groups have warned, as the G20 summit continues its session in Bali. The groups have called on the G20 governments to address the intellectual property barriers that have frustrated the sharing of vaccine and treatment technology.[Read More…]
The Zameen Prapt Sangharsh Commitee on November 15th staged a spirited day long dharna outside the district collectors office in Patiala, of around 600 persons from around 24 villages.Zonal leader Gurvinder Singh Bauda and Dharmveer Harigadh.With intensity at a highest pitch the dalit agricultural labourers it blocked the gates of the DC office. The ZPSC pledged to fight to the[Read More…]
Peter Malinauskas, the South Australian Premier, has been the latest convert to the LIV Golf circuit, showing little to no awareness about where the lion’s share of funding is coming from. When confronted with that, he paddles away the prospect of being compromised. With LIV Golf Adelaide, scheduled for April 21-23 next year, he has made an undeniable statement on[Read More…]
Since 1975, thousands of Sahrawi people have lived in five refugee camps in the Algerian Sahara. They named these camps after cities in Western Sahara: Ausserd, Boujdour, Dakhla, Laayoune, and Smara. In a straight line, Smara the camp is some 400 kilometers from Smara the city. But a sand berm, built in the 1980s by Morocco, makes the distance[Read More…]
Britons mourned the recent passing of Queen Elizabeth II, and understandably so. The outpouring of affection for their long-serving monarch was more than commendable, it was touching. Yet count me among those mystified that so many Americans also professed to care. With all due respect to Queen Latifah, we decided way back in 1776 that we’d had our fill of royalty. Mere[Read More…]
How Do Human Beings Relate to Their History? A Book Review of Urvashi Butalia’s The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India I am a big believer in the power of books to change the world. In my journey as a reader, I have come across a few of these sorts of books, one of them being[Read More…]
Way back in 1922 , the Bengali author of comic literature Sukumar Ray (father of the famous film maker Satyajit Ray), composed a poem entitled Act 21, lampooning the system of justice in India under British colonial rule. He of course had to invent another country to disguise the object of his satirical barb – by describing it as the [Read More…]
November 16 marks the 107th martyrdom day of a towering revolutionary of the Indian freedom struggle. Kartar Singh Sarabha was executed in 1915 in British India for waging a war against the Empire while he was only 18-and-a-half years old. He was a part of the Ghadar movement that was started to liberate India from foreign occupation through armed rebellion.[Read More…]
During the last two decades the experiences of over 7 million cotton growing farmers in India, the world’s highest producer of cotton, has changed drastically as a diversity of cotton varieties have been replaced to the extent of perhaps over 90 per cent by genetically engineered Bt cotton varieties like Bollgard I and Bollgard II. This change was widely promoted[Read More…]
Diversion of 130.75 sq km of heritage forest land in Greater Nicobar island for a Mega Infrastructure Project violates every conceivable environmental norm To Shri Bhupender Yadav Union Minister for Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MEFCC) Dear Shri Yadav, I refer to the Hindu news report (https://frontline.thehindu.com/environment/massive-infrastructure-project-proposed-by-central-government-threatens-great-nicobar-island/article65991977.ece) on an “in-principle” clearance accorded by the Forest Wing of your Ministry for[Read More…]
Iawahar Lal Nehru’s life and world always fascinated me. He speaks like a ‘teacher’ and one would be glued to him when we watch old videos of his press conferences or speeches. Yesterday BBC reposted Nehru’s first TV appearance recorded in June 1953 with leading editors in London when he had gone to participate in the coronation of Queen Elizabeth.[Read More…]
The discussion on football in India was so evasive about real issues at the Tata literature festival last Sunday in the context of the world cup football beginning this Sunday in Qatar. The whole focus was on commercialisation of the game, not democratisation, it was all about how to exploit the game for money and profits. There is a great[Read More…]
If 1 out of 2 high school girls feel persistently sad or hopeless and one out of six students plan suicide in a year, isn’t it time for a society so affected to look inwards at what has gone wrong, so that at least, and as a first step, the causes of such a dismal state of affairs can be[Read More…]
Executions, stonings and amputations are possible punishments for crimes once more in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Taliban leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada ordered Afghan judges to impose Sharia-law punishments for certain crimes, according to a tweet from Zabihullah Mujahid, Mr. Akhundzada’s spokesman. Mullah Akhundzada has ordered Afghan judges to fully implement sharia law and its punishments, which include mutilations, flogging and executions. The announcement was[Read More…]
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Turkish-Kurdish militia group, which is banned in Turkey as a terrorist organization, said on Monday that it was not involved in the Sunday explosion in Istanbul. “We have nothing to do with this incident and it is well-known by the public that we would not target civilians directly or approve of actions directed at[Read More…]
It is the fall of 2022. Close to 33,000 delegates across the world are in Egypt. Not in Cairo, Giza, or Alexandria, but across the Gulf of Suez in Sharm El Sheikh. These delegates have failed to outnumber the 60,000 (reportedly, that is the number) incarcerated in their host’s prisons. If COP will ever be remembered, this one would be[Read More…]
“On a hike in East Africa 2 million years ago, you might well have encountered a familiar cast of human characters: anxious mothers cuddling their babies and clutches of carefree children playing in the mud; temperamental youths chafing against the dictates of society and weary elders who just wanted to be left in peace; chest-thumping machos trying to impress the[Read More…]
Thousands of workers from every corner of the country swarmed to raise their voices in unison at the Ramlila Grounds in New Delhi, as part of Mazdoor Aakrosh Rally organized by Mazdoor Adhikar Sangharsh Abhiyan (MASA). We must salute the workers and organisations for braving all odds to do just what the doctor ordered, with the state of the economy[Read More…]
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) issued a new Living Amazon Report, 2022 at COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. The eye-opening report defines a horror story of human destruction of the world’s largest rainforest. There’s no other way to look at it. Commercialization of the Amazon Rainforest is rampant in a pattern of ignorance amidst reckless abandon with a level of[Read More…]
South-East Europe, and especially the Balkan Peninsula as the main part of it, have traditionally been the object of numerous geopolitical, geostrategic, and publicist analyses, as well as the subject of debates among the Balkan, European, and global experts in international relations. The new Iron Curtain or the Cold War 2.0 between western and eastern Europe was not the end[Read More…]
The Ukraine war has revitalized the silent competition between China and Russia in Central Asia. Despite the steady shift in China’s favor since the Soviet collapse, Russia’s entrenched influence and friendly ties between Beijing and Moscow will prevent open contention. At the recent Commonwealth for Independent States (CIS) summit held on October 14 in Astana, Kazakhstan, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon expressed previously[Read More…]
Kudos to Pink Floyd and their 1979 classic ‘ Comfortably Numb’ for inspiring me to write this critique. With the news that it looks like the Democrats will continue to control the Senate ( while most likely losing the House) shouts of joy rang throughout ‘ Blue America’ and ‘ Blue surrounded by Red America’. Justifiably so, whenever a fascist[Read More…]
The Gangsters were all waiting for me Their uninvited guest Their cigarettes were all lighted Their black ties were all straight I owed them without knowing And now had to pay them with my fate There was nowhere I was going Without their golden licence plate My life was theirs from the beginning There was no hand that I could[Read More…]
Young with the wisdom Of an elder Unfair. No childhood. That’s your life Not allowed ever To be angry Not allowed to raise Your hands Smile through it Take it well Extend your love Never act Poise Is a cage Poise Is torture But that’s what you want from me.
The humongous success of Bharat Jodo Yatra has brought forth many a dormant issues of Indian society and politics to the fore. While its title does hint to combat social divisions created along religious lines during last three decades, core issues of Indian society have come to fore. The problems of farmers, youth, rising prices, the worsening plight of Adivasis,[Read More…]
A day after the country became independent and Nehru was sworn-in as its first Prime Minister, he conveyed to the nation his undivided resolve in fighting communalism and separatism, with a reminder that “those who create mischief or trouble are our enemies, and they shall be dealt with severely”. The assassination of the Father of the Nation by Hindu fundamentalists[Read More…]
22,000 Anganwadi workers pledge to boycott AAP and BJP in Delhi civic polls and set to ban entry of ‘AAP’ and ‘BJP’ candidates in their neighbourhoods | The Delhi State Anganwadi Workers and Helpers Union (DSAWHU) held a press conference at Press Club of India, Delhi on November 11th. Fluttering its banner for upcoming MCD polls, the DSAWHU announced[Read More…]
Some recent political developments in India remind me of a legend associated with the founder of Sikhism. Guru Nanak, whose birth anniversary was celebrated on November 8, is credited for traveling widely, reforming the misguided and encouraging them to follow the path of truth and justice. One of those who came under his influence was Sajjan, the thug, who ran[Read More…]
Tomorrow, November 15, 2022, is predicted to be the day that the global population reaches eight billion. The projection is revealed in the UN’s World Population Prospects 2022 report, which also shows that India is on course to surpass China as the world’s most populous country in 2023. The latest UN projections suggest that the world’s population could grow to[Read More…]
To get to where they are, imperial powers will deceive, dissimulate and distort. The US imperium, that most awesome of devilish powers, has tentacled itself across the globe, often unbeknownst to its own citizens. In a report released by the New York University School of Law’s Brennan Center of Justice titled Secret War: How the US Uses Partnerships and Proxy[Read More…]
Washington’s vaunted “rules-based international order” has undergone a stress test following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and here’s the news so far: it hasn’t held up well. In fact, the disparate reactions to Vladimir Putin’s war have only highlighted stark global divisions, which reflect the unequal distribution of wealth and power. Such divisions have made it even harder for a multitude[Read More…]
by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies Senators Inhofe and Reed from the Senate Armed Services Committee Photo credit: AP If the powerful leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senators Jack Reed (D) and Jim Inhofe (R), have their way, Congress will soon invoke wartime emergency powers to build up even greater stockpiles of Pentagon weapons.[Read More…]
Palestinians and their supporters are justified in celebrating the election victory of the leftist presidential candidate, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, in Brazil’s runoff elections on October 30. But Lula’s victory is incomplete and could ultimately prove ineffectual if not followed by a concrete and centralized Palestinian strategy. Lula has proven, throughout the years, to be a genuine friend of[Read More…]
Increased consumption of ultraprocessed foods (UPFs) was associated with more than 10% of all-cause premature, preventable deaths in Brazil in 2019. That is the finding of a new peer-reviewed study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. The findings are significant not only for Brazil but also for high income countries such as the U S, Canada, the UK, and Australia, where UPFs[Read More…]
Do you think that love is waiting Do you think that someone’s there There are only the hounds retreating There is only a ghost going up the stairs Now all the cafès are empty Now all the waitresses have faded There’s no one to take your order There’s no rendezvous that’s fated You can pack your last suitcase You can[Read More…]
There are few writers who have displayed such consistency and continuity in their writings on justice and concerns of the unprivileged as Jeremy Seabrook. His writings on these and other issues of high social relevance are marked by deep sympathy for those who deserve and need this the most. Readers are frequently awed by the sheer brilliance of his deep[Read More…]
It’s a grotesque, ceremonial observance, marked by a degree of unpardonable acceptance. The First World War, which killed millions, extirpated classes in Europe, and destroyed monarchies, established a mawkish ritual that serves to continue, rather than prevent war. The more one grieves for the slaughtered and the brain frozen folly, the more one hopes for the next round of bloodletting,[Read More…]
On 17 October 2022, the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), released its annual Global Multidimensional Poverty Index(GMPI) report ‘Unpacking deprivation bundles to reduce multidimensional poverty’. The GMPI 2022 compares acute multidimensional poverty for 111 countries in developing regions. These countries are home to 6.1 billion people, three-quarters of the world’s population. Of these[Read More…]
In 2019, Prime Minister Modi envisioned “to make India a USD 5-trillion economy and global powerhouse by 2024-25” (https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/each-state-must-define-a-target-to-make-india-5-trillion-economy-pm-modi/articleshow/92288178.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst). More recently, he said. “BJP’s double-engine governments see India’s need for speed as ‘ambition’ and ‘scale’ as its ‘strength’, unlike their predecessors who treated the first as a ‘luxury”‘and the other as ‘risk’”,(http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/95460746.cms#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16682908062088&csi=0&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst) A USD 5-trillion sized economy by 2024-25 i.e.[Read More…]
In the discourse on climate change, as the inadequacy of incremental change is increasingly realized, we are now beginning to hear those much needed words more frequently—that much wider changes in economy and society are needed to check climate change effectively. What exactly does this mean? It is a widely accepted norm of present-day society that people keep aspiring for[Read More…]
The COP27 Climate Change Conference is underway in Egypt but failure born of neoliberal greed is already apparent. COP27 is ignoring the fundamental realities of Carbon Price, Carbon Debt, and the need for the social and environmental cost of greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution to be fully borne by the polluters. This failure condemns the climate change-impacted global South to horrendous[Read More…]
Presentation at the People’s Public Health Conference, November 4, 2022 Introduction: This talk will define imperialism and apply it to Russia and the US, identify the material and political causes of the war, depict the health and economic costs of this war, and recommend urgent strategies to end it. Imperialism Imperialism operates when industrialized countries must find new markets to[Read More…]
The amended IT Rules, 2021 were notified in end-October this year by MeitY, the electronics and IT ministry of the Indian government. They were withdrawn in June this year after pushback during stakeholder consultations, but even its amended version has not made much of a difference to how it is received. The rules are a clear articulation of the desire[Read More…]
by Rajeev Yadav, Arundhati Dhuru and Sandeep Pandey Azamgarh is a lively district of eastern Uttar Pradesh. Because of the entrepreneurial nature of people here Azamgarh is described as Kerala of U.P. People from here not only go to different parts of the country but also to abroad. Descendent of an indentured labourer family from here who migrated to Trinidad[Read More…]
A well-attended and qualitative discussion on “The Threat to Democracy” was organized by Janhastakshep on the 8th of November, 2022 in the Conference Hall at the Press Club of India. The main speakers who addressed the discussion included Justice Anjana Prakash, retired judge of Patna High Court, senior journalist Saba Naqvi, Sh N D Pancholi of Delhi PUCL and noted[Read More…]
While not entirely unexpected, the SC verdict on reservation for economically weaker sections has caused dismay and disappointment among those already enjoying reservation.It is not envy of the newly reserved class which will not encroach on their turf,but fear that it might push many in their position farther back in the race for advancement. Ravish Kumar of NDTV has rightly[Read More…]
Supreme Court’s split verdict on EWS that upholds the 103rd Constitutional Amendment Act of January 2019 brought out by Modi government providing 10% economic reservation to the economically backward upper castes (Economically Weaker Sections-EWS) excluding the ‘backward classes’ among SC/ST/OBC is a violation of the very conceptualisation on caste-based reservation as conceived in the Constitution. Revealingly, while the Hindutva forces[Read More…]
This is a rejoinder to Dr Ram Puniyani’s article “Kashmir: Blatant Distortions of History, an obstacle to Peace” Please allow me to state right at the outset that I have the highest regard for Prof. Puniyani, not only as a scholar of history but as a person devoted to peace and amity. And deeply I share his abhorrence of the[Read More…]
Worldwide, eleven thousand (11,000) sharks will be killed within the next 60 minutes. That’s 180 sharks per minute; it’s a bloody affair. One hundred million (100,000,000) are killed per year, mostly for shark fin soup. In fact, the shark-fin trade is responsible for 75% of sharks killed each year even though more than 50 countries have some kind of shark[Read More…]
We live in a fast-moving, technology-dominated era. Happiness is fleeting, and everything is replaceable or disposable. It is understandable that people are drawn to a utopian vision. Many find refuge in the concept of a “return” to an idealized past—one in which humans were not so numerous, and animals abounded; when the Earth was still clean and pure, and when[Read More…]
On 8th November,22 ,a group of self-styled Hindu extremists attacked the on going in-house meet of the Rationalists at Lohia Academy in Bhubaneswar as well as in Berhampur town of Odisha with an alibi to protect the so-called tradition (religious). The attack is nefarious. This attack is not only in support of not-taking any food during the period of solar[Read More…]
The Global Report on Food Crisis has been drawing attention to the people affected by acute hunger annually for seven years, and this year its recently presented estimates stated that as many as 205 million spread over 45 countries are affected by acute food insecurity and need urgent assistance. To this were later added 17 million people from 8 other[Read More…]
Stand at attention All you dogs And make fire for me Do not take the white branches From under the sea Leave me the Winter’s song On my tired breast Make nice with the West wind As the children run me down Cackling To the River There is an angry march Coming Red battalions of Revenge Flooding All your neat[Read More…]
The midterm elections in the US witnessed razor-thin races as Senate and House control hangs in the balance. But that didn’t discourage President Biden from holding a press conference on Wednesday to stake claim that the “giant red wave” didn’t happen. Biden said: “Democrats had a strong night. And we lost fewer seats in the House of Representatives than any Democratic President’s[Read More…]
Paying homage to stalwart and martyr of Civil Liberties Movement, Japa Lakshma Reddy, a public meeting under the supervision of Civil Rights Association Joint Karimnagar District Committee, was held on Monday, 7th November, 2022, at Sneha Sahiti Library, Godavarikhani from 4:30 pm to 8:15 pm. Civil rights society and people’s association leaders obeyed two minutes of silence to Japa Lakshma[Read More…]
Real wage growth indices in G20 countries, 2008-13, (2008=100) Source: Estimates based on NBS: National Data; and ILO: Global Wage Database. *** *** Media across the world and India is controlled by the pro-west, capitalist forces and it is consistently anti-China in its headlines. ‘Great and big democracies’ almost shun the vast China’s media and its sources, while pouring venom[Read More…]
Figure 1Surface average atmospheric CO2 concentration (ppm). Since 1980, monthly data are from NOAA/GML (Dlugokencky and Tans, 2022) and are based on an average of direct atmospheric CO2 measurements from multiple stations in the marine boundary layer (Masarie and Tans, 1995). The 1958–1979 monthly data are from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, based on an average of direct atmospheric CO2 measurements from the Mauna[Read More…]
The abrogation of Article 370 was done with the claims that this step will restore peace and give security for the hapless Kashmiri Pundit community. Three years down the line after the killings of over eight Kashmiri Pundits it is clear that the move was wrong to the core. Even earlier; while imposing demonetization on the nation, one of the[Read More…]
On November 7th, I headlined “U.S. and Allies Vote For Nazism at U.N.”, and opened: Annually, each year, since 2005, the U.S. Government has been one of only from 1 to 3 Governments to vote in the U.N. General Assembly against an annual statement by the General Assembly against racism and other forms of bigotry — an annual Resolution condemning[Read More…]
by Vijay Prashad and Zoe Alexandra Juliana Cardoso is sitting in her office in front of a lavender, orange, and yellow mandala that was made for her. She has been a member of São Paulo’s city council since 2008. On October 2, 2022, as a candidate for the Workers Party (PT), Cardoso won a seat in Brazil’s lower house, the[Read More…]
[Denton-Borhaug will give a version of this talk virtually to Veterans for Peace Chapter 102 at a Reclaim Armistice Day meeting at the Milwaukee City Hall Rotunda this Veteran’s Day.] Dear Veterans, I’m a civilian who, like many Americans, has strong ties to the U.S. Armed Forces. I never considered enlisting, but my father, uncles, cousins, and nephews did. As[Read More…]
My title comes from a song sung by soldiers as they marched to hell in the trenches of World War I and the same song my sisters and I sang in the car as our parents drove us to our summer vacation in paradise at Edgewater Farm. I think of this as we march to WW III. The soldiers, who would be[Read More…]
The novel Night of the Golden Butterfly (2010) by eminent Marxist intellectual and author, Tariq Ali, is a narrative which paints a dystopian vision of what political authoritarianism looks like. The novel primarily explores the rise and nexus between religious fanaticism, dictatorship, majoritarianism and military-mullah-feudal nexus in Tariq Ali’s native country Pakistan, referred nostalgically to as “Fatherland” in the novel.[Read More…]
The World Food Organization and the World Food Program recently released a joint review of the world-level acute hunger situation for the period October 2022—January 2023. This review starts by mapping the countries and regions worst affected by acute hunger and just a glance at this is adequate to tell us that the hunger hot-spots are most heavily concentrated in[Read More…]
I’m not really a poet I’m anti-gravity I’m stale mashed potatoes and gravy I’m what’s left out After your last pay check I’m the last words your wife says Before she kicks you out I’m the bum you most want to avoid Nah, I ain’t no poet I’m the lamplight the city always Forgets to fix I’m smallpox I’m aphasia[Read More…]
November 9, 2022, was the 145th birth anniversary of Allama Muhammad Iqbal – a globally renowned South Asian Muslim poet, and philosopher. The contemporary period of renewed cultural atavisms has reduced him to an ideologically zealous proponent of Pan-Islamism, leading to a crude anti-Westernism that rejects the universal values of freedom and equality to justify internal hierarchies within the Muslim[Read More…]
When Justice Ranjan Gogoi took over as Chief Justice of India (CJI), there was much expectation that he would reign in the systematic undermining of the Constitution of India and the rule of law by the BJP government. Particularly so because he was one of the 4 judges who called an unprecedented press meet against nefarious practices by the then[Read More…]
The climate crisis question today has turned into the question of exploitation and justice – exploitation by a few, and justice for the entire humanity. The recently released Oxfam report – Carbon billionaires, The investment emissions of the world’s richest people (Nov. 22, 2022, https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/bitstream/handle/10546/621446/bn-carbon-billlionaires-071122-en.pdf?sequence=14) – says a lot about this reality of exploitation by a few rich, and of the[Read More…]
The common understanding is that climate change will happen in some a far away land in the distant future. Recent events belie this belief. South Asia experienced unprecedented heat waves in March-April this year, and Europe hit record-breaking temperatures of 40oC. A third of Pakistan was flooded in July-August, killing >1,500 people, putting half a million people in relief camps[Read More…]
The US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan’s meetings with Ukrainian leaders, including President Vladimir Zelensky, in Kiev has created a lot of confusion and misperceptions. One one side, the White House maintains that the trip aimed “to underscore the United States’ steadfast support to Ukraine and its people.” The readout stated that Sullivan also affirmed “the continued provision of economic and humanitarian[Read More…]
The concerns expressed by a Supreme Court Bench on November 9 regarding the health of an elderly political prisoner Gautam Navlakha have been widely appreciated in the country. Justice Hrishikesh Roy found it disturbing that hardly any progress had been made since the charge-sheet against him was filed in October 2020 ( over two years ago). Justice K.M. Joseph stated,[Read More…]
Shimla has been my second home after Delhi since 1991, the year I joined the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS) as Fellow. During this long period of my association with Himachal Pradesh, I have been fortunate to have visited a larger number of cities, towns and a few villages of Himachal Pradesh. I got an opportunity to interact with[Read More…]
After February 2008 when Kosovo Albanian-dominated parliament proclaimed Kosovo’s independence (without organizing a referendum) with obvious US diplomatic support (unilateral recognition) with the explanation that the Kosovo case is unique in the world (i.e., it will be not repeated) one can ask the question: Is the problem of the southern Serbian province of Kosovo really unique and surely unrepeatable in[Read More…]
Allow me to announce my candidacy ahead of the current front man for this empire. Don is three years older than me and light years behind me intellectually and spiritually. His massive popularity gives weight to the adage ( mine actually) that ‘ Bullshit and super riches trump ( no pun intended) truth and justice’. He has the money, the[Read More…]
On November 9th yesterday, we commemorated the 38th death anniversary of Chandra Pulla Reddy, one of the most dedicated Communist revolutionaries of India. Confronting the darkest waters he combated revisionism with the tenacity of a boulder and shimmered light of Mao thought. No doubt he made serious errors of left and right variety but strived to practice mass line to[Read More…]
“They are claiming that our house is on Jindal’s land, but we have been living on this land for the past 20 years. This is our jal (water), jangal (forest) and zameen (land),” –Charana Samal, Dhinkia Villager Stop Unbridled Corporate loot and State Repression on People of Dhinkia ! Push Back Jindal Steel Works like POSCO! Resist Corporate-State nexus and[Read More…]
I attended an international conference on urban transport mobility in Kochi last week from November 4 to 6. After listening to ministers, bureaucrats and others at this conference as well as earlier meetings, one gets the clear impression that we are in for serious problems of road congestion and pollution. Things are going to become worse despite all tall talk[Read More…]
The Inquilabi Mazdoor Kendra and fraternal organisations conducted a series of programmes in different parts of Uttar Pradesh, commemorating the 105th anniversary of The Russian Revolution. In the qualitative sense most positive, in resurrecting the message of the Russian Revolution towards liberation of the toiling workers. Tribute to the painstaking mass work conducted by the Inquilabi Mazdoor Kendra in recent[Read More…]
When bell hooks speaks about the radical potential of sisterhood, she is informed by her experience as a Black woman in a white-dominated feminist space. When Virginia Woolf asks for a room of one’s own, she not only points to the condition of women within Victorian morality in general, she also reiterates her own lived experience as a woman[Read More…]
The on-going high profile international get together of presidents and prime ministers, top leaders, policy-makers and experts at the climate change conference of COP27 at the Red Sea Resort at Sharm-al-Shaikh near Cairo in Egypt is turning out to be a big headache for General Abdul Fattah El-Sisi, president and dictator of Egypt, and all his miscellaneous generals and ministers[Read More…]
A tiny number of persons produce the same level of carbon emissions as of entire France’s population, says a new climate report – Carbon billionaires The investment emissions of the world’s richest people (Nov. 22, 2022, https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/bitstream/handle/10546/621446/bn-carbon-billlionaires-071122-en.pdf?sequence=14) The study, published by Oxfam, an international NGO, found that the investments of 125 of the world’s richest individuals have a carbon footprint equivalent[Read More…]
As election day (November 12) approaches, people of Himachal Pradesh are more inclined to recall the more impressive achievements of the long era of Congress rule. In 2017-18 among Human Development indicators Himachal was at 7th place and in Gender Development indicators Himachal was at number 2 place ( compared to rank number 16 of neighboring state Haryana) among 36[Read More…]
Maybe, at this age nearing a century (86+), my days on this earth are soon coming to end. Some comments on the Indian Left should be made. I do not want to comment much on the main body of Sumanta’s article, except that for us poor and weak Third World peoples and states it is advantageous to live in a[Read More…]
The European Union’s Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell is not particularly perceived by the EU’s political elite or mainstream media as a rightwing ideologue or warmonger. But seen through a different, non-western prism, it is hard not to mistake him for one. Borrell’s recent comments that “Europe is a garden” and that “the rest of the world is a jungle”[Read More…]
Germany has sixteen states run by state minister-presidents. One state is currently governed by Germany’s most progressive political party, the Die Linke, carrying forward the intellectual heritage of Rosa Luxemburg, who over one hundred years ago said, We face a choice between socialism and barbarity. The barbarity came too soon in the form of her murder; next it came in[Read More…]
The 3:2 majority judgement of the Supreme Court on 7 November 2022 giving the go-ahead for the 103rd Constitutional Amendment envisaging 10 per cent reservation for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) within the General Category raises an array of questions: Is it in keeping with the notion of “JUSTICE, social, economic and political” as envisaged in the Constitution of India?[Read More…]
This morning was spoilt for me by my disgust at yet another shoddy attempt to besmirch Nehru’s reputation by somehow linking him to the disappearance of Netajee Subhash, great national leader and patriot of India.The disappearance is itself a conjecture till date as the remains in a Japanese temple(Yashukuni shrine) are yet to be conclusively proved as those of Netajee[Read More…]
Mia Mottley, PM of Barbodos, speaking at the ongoing ongoing COP27 UN climate summit, attacked the rich nations for their historical criminal past for present climate crisis and demanded 1 trillion US$ compensation to low income countries to tackle natural disasters. Madam Prime minister from a tiny Carribean nation is known for her bold speeches in world forums in advocating[Read More…]
Caption: Image shown during the Zoom broadcast of the Palestinian National Conference — Fourteen Million, 5 Nov 2022, while a recorded statement by Palestinian prisoners in support of the Conference was being aired. At the heart of the idea of rebuilding the PLO is to honor the sacrifices of Palestinian prisoners and martyrs. A paradigm shift in and outside occupied Palestine from the[Read More…]
On November 4th , a group of Anganwadi workers on Friday inaugurated a campaign to boycott the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming Delhi civic body polls on the issue of the termination of more than 800 of their counterparts. A most significant step embarked by the working class to expose not only the[Read More…]
Analysis of earnings reports and estimates carried out by S&P Global Commodity Insights for the Financial Times finds: Aggregate net income for publicly listed oil and gas companies operating in the U.S. exceeded $200 billion for the second and third quarters of the year. Citing the analysis, the media outlet reported over the weekend: U.S. oil producers have cashed in[Read More…]
Patriarchy cursed me, I laughed and move on They said you are a female, your birth is a burden I survived and thrived, flourished and bloomed Confronted their stereotypes and challenged their misleading notions I vowed that I will not accept their false binaries or phony divisions I will keep demanding equal rights and opportunities to be a human That[Read More…]
Shri Rajiv Kumar Chief Election Commissioner Shri A C Pandey Election Commissioner Dear S/Shri Rajiv Kumar and Pandey, I wonder whether the Election Commission of India (ECI) has come across two successive statutory notifications, one issued on 29-9-2022 (“State Bank of India (SBI), in the XXII Phase of sale, has been authorised to issue and encash Electoral Bonds through its[Read More…]
In early December 2021, Japan’s Self-Defense Force joined the U.S. armed forces for Resolute Dragon 2021, which the U.S. Marines called the “largest bilateral training exercise of the year.” Major General Jay Bargeron of the U.S. 3rd Marine Division said at the start of the exercise that the United States is “ready to fight and win if called upon.” Resolute Dragon 2022 followed[Read More…]
The tenure of President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil is defined by the deforestation of the Amazon, the return of 33 million Brazilians to hunger, and the terrible governance of the country during the pandemic. But it also marked a radical turning point on a subject that receives little public attention in general: foreign policy. It’s not just that the Bolsonaro[Read More…]
From my vantage point out here in the boonies, it’s easy to see that most of my fellow Canadians and citizens of at least the developed world are in society-wide implicatory denial on climate. (The climate science facts are not denied or re-interpreted, but instead “the psychological, political or moral implications that conventionally follow” from these facts are denied or[Read More…]
The cowardly, unprincipled, Zionist-subverted and US lackey Australian Labor Government, not content with betraying the poor and Palestinians, has betrayed Humanity and the Biosphere by refusing to support the latest UNGA vote on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). Nuclear weapons existentially threaten Australia, Humanity and the Biosphere, but Australia is deeply complicit in US, UK and[Read More…]
Daily reports highlight what is being done to the Palestinians, riveting narratives of the repressions and violence committed against them. More attention is required to ascertain what can be done for them, preparation of a strategic plan that leads to their liberation. Chilling to think the Palestinians may be doomed, but active and passive resistance, international protests, UN Declarations, boycotts, divestments, silent sanctions, myriad[Read More…]
by Ramzy Baroud and Romana Rubeo On Monday, October 31, Palestinians in the town of Al-Eizariya, east of Occupied East Jerusalem, observed a general strike. The strike was declared to be part of the community’s mourning of 49-year-old Barakat Moussa Odeh, who was killed by Israeli forces in Jericho a day earlier. This is not an isolated case. General strikes[Read More…]
by Bharat Dogra and Madhu Dogra A true mark of greatness is that the message conveyed by a person by work as well words, conduct as well as character, brings solace to people and reduces distress of people in contemporary times, but at the same time is also found to be of enduring importance to people when they cope with[Read More…]
The past eight years were the eight hottest ever recorded, says a new UN report. The report by the UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) indicates: The world is now deep into the climate crisis. Earth has warmed more than 1.1 degrees Celsius since the late 19th century, with roughly half of that increase occurring in the past 30 years, the report said.[Read More…]
When I was growing up, there was a parody of an old-fashioned public announcement tacked to the wall of our kitchen that I vividly remember. It had step-by-step instructions for what to do “in case of a nuclear bomb attack.” Step 6 was “bend over and place your head firmly between your legs”; step 7, “kiss your ass goodbye.” That[Read More…]
November 3, 2022, was a special day indeed! On that day, Pope Francis began a four-days historic visit to the Kingdom of Bahrain, where he was given an exceptionally warm welcome! From the time he arrived in Bahrain, he set the tone of his entire visit, by asking the Government of Bahrain to guarantee human[Read More…]
The Biden administration is privately encouraging Ukraine’s leaders to signal an openness to negotiate with Russia and drop their public refusal to engage in peace talks unless Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is removed from power, the Washington Post reported on Saturday. The leading U.S. daily quoted unnamed people familiar with the discussions as saying that the request by U.S. officials[Read More…]
A book announcement I would like to announce the publication of a new book, which may be downloaded and circulated free of charge from the following link: https://eacpe.org/content/uploads/2022/11/We-are-Demanding-Too-Much-by-John-Scales-Avery.pdf The explosive rise of human population When the global population of humans is plotted as a function of time over a period of twelve thousand years, and the uses of fossil fuels[Read More…]
Annually, each year, since 2005, the U.S. Government has been one of only from 1 to 3 Governments to vote in the U.N. General Assembly against an annual statement by the General Assembly against racism and other forms of bigotry — an annual Resolution condemning it, and expressing a commitment to doing everything possible to reduce bigoted acts. For the[Read More…]
It must be excruciatingly difficult having to decide whether to put some of one’s hundreds-of-billions of dollars, along with potential future profit, at risk to affirm one’s previous public declaration of support for the freedom of speech principle. That is the dilemma that Musk has before him. Musk finds Twitter threatened with an advertiser boycott. As I previously alluded to,[Read More…]
Soon, the US government may be making waves regarding another extradition request for a figure connected with that oft exaggerated notion of national security. While the high profile and insidious effort to extradite Julian Assange from the United Kingdom continues, the case of former US pilot, Marine Corps major and flight instructor Daniel Edmund Duggan has crossed the radar of[Read More…]
Regardless of the outcome of the latest Israeli elections, Arab parties will not reap meaningful political benefits, even if they collectively achieve their highest representation ever. The reason is not about the parties themselves, but in Israel’s skewed political system which is predicated on racism and marginalization of non-Jews. Israel was established on a problematic premise of being a homeland[Read More…]
The international crisis over the status of the Crimean Peninsula was in February-March 2014 when the peninsula became returned to the state’s territory of Russia from Ukraine. The Western Russophobic narrative immediately accused Russia of illegitimate annexation of the peninsula as well as of the occupation of the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine. However, the same narrative is not telling[Read More…]
Since mid-October there has been widespread concern regarding hurried introduction of GM (genetically modified) food crops in India due to the approval of a GM/HT (herbicide tolerant) mustard crop by a regulating agency. Hence there was a feeling of great relief on November 3 when the Supreme Court of India asked the government to maintain the status quo and not[Read More…]
The Modi government announced to increase the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of rabi crops including wheat by Rs 110, barley by Rs 100, gram by Rs 105. The recent announcement by the Modi government to increase the (MSP) of agricultural grains needs to be analysed in a larger context. The comparative study of increase in the MSP during the one[Read More…]
We are writing as diasporic Indian organizations and allies to express our solidarity with The Wire. We strongly condemn the witch hunt to which they are being subjected by the state. This is a grossly disproportionate and politically motivated response to the filing of cases of cheating, forgery, fraud, defamation, and criminal conspiracy against them by Amit Malviya, who heads[Read More…]
The coastal fishing community is on a struggle path against the disastrous International seaport which is being built at Vizhinjam by Adani ports. The port has resulted in coastal erosion leading to the disappearance of coasts and the destruction of houses in the fishing villages. The dredging in the port will result in the loss of local fishing habitats leading[Read More…]
Baban Thoke is an activist of Revolutionary Workers’ Party of India (RWPI), who has been active in the Mankhurd-Govandi region of Mumbai for last many years. He was the candidate of RWPI in the 2019 Loksabha and Vidhansabha elections. Baban has operated as a commited democrat, who was a major participant in the movements related to CAA-NRC-NPR, student and youth[Read More…]
The ban on the Sedition Act will remain in place for the time being. The Supreme Court has accepted the central government’s request to postpone the hearing in this case. The central government has said that it will do something about this issue in the winter session of Parliament. That means there may be some changes. In such a situation,[Read More…]
by Azhar Imran and Zerrish Khan During the days after former Prime Minister Imran Khan was ousted from office, there was jubilation by the Pakistani liberal-left. But they figured out quickly that they had to go into overdrive to produce and police a narrative of what happened. But bizarrely, that narrative wasn’t being constructed for Pakistanis, but for some mysterious[Read More…]
The enemies of the most honest and most popular political leader in Pakistan’s history tried to assassinate him. Since they suffered major defeats in election after election, could not succeed in their repeated efforts to have him declared ineligible for election, they realized that they could not beat Khan electorally. So they tried to kill him. He and many[Read More…]
It is generally believed that the sanitary behaviour of Keralites when compared to other states in India is better. This may be partly true. The better sanitary behaviour is a naturally and culturally evolved artefact which has its foundation in the ecology of the region and especially the abundant availability of water. But this cultural artefact is being challenged and[Read More…]
Pakistan has suffered its worst ever floods this year, resulting in over 1700 deaths, nearly 13,000 seriously injured persons and damage estimated at around $40 billon. UNICEF stated in a report that as a result of these floods, nearly 10 million children needed urgent assistance. As millions of persons were rendered homeless by floods, urgent reconstruction efforts are needed. Winter[Read More…]
Shyam Benegal ranks amongst the most defining architects of the art movement in Hindi cinema. Few directors transcended such layers in manifesting feudal or social oppression or displayed mastery at such a scale in exploring characters. Even when projecting social reality his plots were ever buoyant. Social reality was concurrent theme in movies of Benegal,who was a creature of the[Read More…]
Gods in Shackles: What Elephants Can Teach Us About Empathy, Resilience and Freedom, Sangita Iyer, Hay House, New Delhi, 2022. ISBN: 978-1-4019-6884-7. 304 pages This book talks about the ill-treatment meted out to Asian elephants in the state of Kerala, during religious processions. Well, almost. Gods in Shackles is a book that tries to interrogate the notions of loneliness suffered[Read More…]
To Shri Shaktikanta Das Governor RBI Dear Shri Das, As a statutory regulator for both banking and non-banking financial companies, the RBI is required to remain independent and maintain an arms length distance from their management. I have come across a disturbing news report recently (https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/rbi-encouraged-us-to-go-for-hdfc-hdfc-bank-merger-says-deepak-parekh-9452931.html) that the RBI had encouraged HDFC and HDFC Bank to go for a merger, in anticipation of[Read More…]
Dateline: November 7-18, 2022, Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. Dignitaries from every country will be meeting to discuss climate change at COP27. Based upon early confirmations, 90 heads of state will attend, lending an aura of importance. “Climate change is the crisis of our lifetime. If we are not able to reverse the present trend that is leading to a catastrophe in[Read More…]
by Pritam Singh and Niemeyer Almeida Filho In contrast to the isolationist foreign policy of the Bolsonaro regime, Lula stands out as one of the few global politicians to command respect from nations as diverse as the US, Russia, China and Germany. He may even play a crucial mediating role in resolving the Russia-Ukraine conflict. His respect both in the[Read More…]
Be it the protagonist in ‘Gandhi’ or Darwan Singh, the instructor in ‘Learning to Drive’ or Itzhak Stern, the Polish-Jewish Holocaust survivor in ‘Schindler’s List’, Ben Kingsley is a different persona to have in his extraordinary way when it comes to Cinema. It’s not different from earlier when he appeared as Salvador Dali, the most renowned mercurial Surrealist artist the[Read More…]
CEC’s reported statement that Morbi bridge collapse was a factor for delaying announcement of the dates of Gujarat elections To Smt Droupadi Murmu President of India Rashtrapati Bhawan Respected Rashtrapati Ji, I refer to a statement reported to have been made by the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) on November 3, 2022 that “Morbi bridge collapse, a factor in delay in[Read More…]
If very high and increasing mental health problems are reported from any society, then the most obvious response is to increase the availability of mental health services. However, if despite this, the trend of high incidence of such problems persists, then isn’t it time to inquire at a wider level regarding what problems of society are causing this and then[Read More…]
The country is lumbering towards an abyss,what with the reckless government caught in the toils of its own rash policies,and brazening it out with more and more incredible lies. Society still foundering in the terrible wilderness of divisive and hate-filled campaigns,and the opposition still unable to unite in their intoxication with imagined electoral triumphs. Not unexpectedly Rahul Gandhi’s bold initiative[Read More…]
New Delhi. 04 Nov 2022. Leading up to the COP27 meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, Indian climate activists and academics associated with Climate Justice Network urge the Government of India to develop socially-just approaches to climate action and climate adaptation. This is crucial to protect the lives and livelihoods of the communities that are bearing the brunt of the climate[Read More…]
The illuminating article in Countercurrents (November 1, 2022) by Mr. Sumanta Banerjee, “Leftist response to the war in Ukraine”, deserves discussion as it focuses on (1) the most burning issue of the moment – the Ukraine War, (2) the Indian Left’s position on the issue, and (3) a few observations on Stalin and Mao. Mr. Banerjee begins with a question:[Read More…]
Engulfing over 10 districts of Punjab, organisations related to CPI (ML) New Democracy, raised protest rallies commemorating 38th anniversary of massacre of the Sikh Community in aftermath of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s killing yesterday from 4.30-5.30. Spirit of resistance reached it’s crescendo like a spark igniting, resurrecting memories of the 1984 blood path whose very path the RSS is trodding[Read More…]
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has overwhelmingly voted in favor of a resolution condemning the U.S. embargo on Cuba for the 30th year in a row. Only the U.S. and Israel voted against the measure on Thursday, while Ukraine and Brazil abstained. Cuba celebrated a new victory in its struggle against the U.S. blockade, by achieving overwhelming support in[Read More…]
The global climate meeting called COP27 (the 27th Conference of Parties) will be held in the remote Egyptian desert resort of Sharm El-Sheik, Egypt from November 6-18. Given the extremely repressive nature of the Egyptian government, this gathering will likely be different from others, where there have been large, raucous protests led by civil society groups. So as tens of[Read More…]
They are falling like ninepins, and the Tories have now given the weary people of Britain yet another prime minister. And what a catch: stupendously wealthy, youthful – the youngest in two centuries – and a lawbreaker. As Chancellor of the Exchequer in the government of Boris Johnson, he was fined for breaches during the partygate scandal, despite telling the[Read More…]
To Shri Bhupender Yadav Union Labour Minister Dear Shri Yadav, Following several news reports on the problems faced by Indian migrant workers in Qatar, I addressed the External Affairs Minister, Dr S Jaishankar on 29-3-2021 for taking up the matter with the concerned authorities in Qatar. A copy of my letter is available in your Ministry. I extract below a relevant portion of[Read More…]
Some recent statements that have appeared in media indicate that there is a lot of pressure for very hurried introduction of genetically modified mustard crop after its approval by a regulating agency GEAC. Even the fact that on such an important matter the final government decision should be awaited has not been considered by GM lobbyists and pressure groups. In[Read More…]
The following statement is issued by the South Asian People’s Action on Climate Change (SAPACC), a rainbow coalition of individuals and organizations from Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka who are deeply concerned about the climate crisis. Greenhouse gases (GHGs) have caused an observed average global warming of 1.1oC above pre-industrial temperatures. That global warming is due to anthropogenic carbon[Read More…]
The bridge collapse at Morbi in Gujarat killed over 140 people and many missing but no head has been rolled. According to reports there were 33 children aged between one to ten years. The 143 years old and 230 meters long suspension bridge was made during the British period. It was also claimed that the bridge was in an extremely[Read More…]
Two districts of Gujarat have begun to grant citizenship to minorities(Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians) from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. More than hundreds drowned in Morbi, Gujarat in the moribund madness we call celebration. We are at the pedestal in the Global Hunger Index. Everyday capitalism is devouring our air, water, and land. And the big giant 56[Read More…]
Glaciers across the globe – including the last ones in Africa – will be unavoidably lost by 2050 due to climate change, the UN says in a report. A third of glaciers located in UN World Heritage sites will melt within three decades, a UNESCO report found. Mount Kilimanjaro’s last glaciers will vanish as will glaciers in the Alps and[Read More…]
Every year, the intensifying climate crisis brings more pain and suffering to hundreds of millions of people across the globe. The only way we can exit this climate crisis, and avoid an accelerating disaster, is by launching an urgent system-wide transformation of our economies and societies. But still, as the 2022 edition of the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) “Emissions Gap Report” shows,[Read More…]
While the levels of schadenfreude will be going through the roof given the unfolding farce in British politics, the resignation of Liz Truss as UK Prime Minister was troubling in one vital respect. True, her juvenile salad understanding of economics, which involved spending billions on tax cuts and energy subsidies, was lamentable. To cope with the beast of aggressive inflation,[Read More…]
Today on November 3rd, we commemorate the 40th death anniversary of E.H.Carr who made an outstanding contribution as a liberal historian and gave a new dimension to method of historical research. Carr was an epitome of historical accuracy, being more illustrative than any historian on Soviet Russia. Even though a liberal democrat he applied the Marxist historical materialist method. Carr[Read More…]
Stretching into love again After a hiatus of years Lips need old lips To see past new tears Our hands hung In Time’s hammock Patiently waiting For a rose Moon To lift moist memory From its quiet Garden Though lovers’ love is past And youth’s blind passion Now splashes in the hurrying verse Of loving recollection Your warm words have[Read More…]
When Shushma Datt started Rim Jhim (drizzle) radio, she was partly influenced by the rainy weather of Metro Vancouver to pick the name for her station. When she looks back almost four decades later, it does not feel the same. Once known as wet coast or Raincouver, the lower mainland is now constantly grappling with drought-like conditions and heat waves from summer[Read More…]
Well, if you have any sense of the climate of this American culture, you will realize just how far down the rabbit hole we have fallen. As a baby boomer I can look around me and gauge just how ‘ Dumbed down’ the populace is. I am not such a fool that I do not acknowledge that my generation experienced[Read More…]
Climate change is one of the biggest challenges of our times. It has to be checked as a matter of highest priority. Despite this adequate attention has not been given to how human life must change to realize this objective. We know that fossil fuels must be phased out and replaced by renewable energy. But is renewable energy capable of[Read More…]
A lot of dilemmas, lies, and misconceptions are present in Western geopolitical narratives taken without any critical approach by domestic Serbian pro-Western supporters (usually financed by Western agencies and Governments) about the war in NATO/EU-sponsored Ukraine, and Serbian position in newly geopolitical circumstances. This article aims to present the focal Western lie about Serbia trying to give some reasonable arguments[Read More…]
After India became Independent, the party which led the freedom movement, Indian National Congress, kept winning elections hands down for couple of times. The major opposition was from Communist Party and Socialist party/parties. Even after the birth of Bhartiaya Jansangh, previous avatar of RSS progeny BJP, was nowhere close to making any impact for a long time. The major electoral[Read More…]
The PUCL strongly condemns the raids on the residences and office of senior editors of the news portal, The Wire, in New Delhi and Mumbai on 31st October and 1st November, 2022 and manhandling of the lawyer, Mr. Shadan Farasat and other staff members of the Wire. The raids followed a First Information Report (FIR) registered in New Delhi on[Read More…]
Caption: On Al Mayadeen pan-Arabist satellite news channel being interviewed about the march in Brussels (Left to right): Mohammed Khatib, Europe coordinator of the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network; Jaldia Abubakra, a member of the Follow-Up Committee of the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement (Masar Badil); Khaled Barakat, one of the founders of Al Masar I had the privilege to be[Read More…]
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine staged a memorable rally in Gaza on October 25th, in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem. It is a testimony of the determination of the organisation to battle Israel against all odds. A member of the Political Bureau of the PFLP in the Gaza Strip, Saleh[Read More…]
inssan abhee tak zindaa hae, zindaa hone per sharminda hae! Human beings are still alive; They are ashamed to be alive! [Renowned cultural-political-human rights activist of Pakistan, Shahid Nadeem’s Urdu couplet on the silence of the civil society on attacks on minorities in Pakistan. He received forty lashes for writing and singing these lines by the Zia regime in Pakistan][Read More…]
Of late, opinions regarding the practice of Islamic women wearing hijab have run riot. However, the peak of controversies has been the non-western countries of India and Iran. It has been over forty days since the mysterious death of the Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini while in custody of the morality police in Tehran on September 16, 2022 has sparked widespread[Read More…]
U.S. troops are now on the ground in Ukraine, where they are monitoring NATO arms deliveries to the country, an anonymous Pentagon official told several U.S. media outlets on Monday. It is unclear how many personnel are involved, or where they are located. While Americans have fought and died in Ukraine of their own accord, Monday’s announcement marks the first[Read More…]
Oddly enough, I’ve read obituaries with fascination from the time I was quite young. And yet, in all these years, I’ve never really reflected on that fact. I don’t know whether it was out of some indirect fascination with death and the end of it all or curiosity about the wholeness (or half-ness or brokenness) of an individual life in[Read More…]
The world’s richest man has bought one of the world’s most popular social media platforms. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, is currently worth about $210 billion, and in November 2021 he was worth nearly $300 billion—an unheard-of figure for any individual in human history. Not only does his wealth bode ill for democracy, considering the financial influence that he has over politics, but[Read More…]
How do you bury responsibility for a decision inspired by a pilfered idea? Blame someone else, especially if that person came up with the idea to begin with. This tried method of distraction was used with invidious gusto by US President John F. Kennedy, who recast his role in reaching an agreement with the Soviet Union during the Cuban missile[Read More…]
While conservation and protection of environment should get very high priority in development planning, avoidable problems have been created whenever conservation has been pushed into a narrow path where it gets alienated from the concerns and needs of local people and communities. One aspect of this narrow approach, promoted by elites who frequently dominate conservation groups, relates to strong opposition[Read More…]
Despite scores of scientific study findings warning climate crisis and its consequences at global scale, the world capitalist system is still pressing on with its business of climate destruction. Deniers’ propaganda is also unabated. A huge amount of money, a part of capital, is engaged with in the business of climate-profit at the cost of deaths – death to our[Read More…]
Major contributors like Japan, Germany, France and multilateral banks need to engage with Asian governments to reform climate financial flows as an issue vital to the UN climate talks Asian countries have seen an annual 28% rise in climate finance to $20.5 billion in 2020 but this increase hides problems that are being mirrored across the world and are likely[Read More…]
There is nothing surprising about recent suggestion of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal regarding photographs of Hindu deities on Indian currency notes. This “suggestion” has come just ahead of assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. It has certainly succeeded in gaining substantial media coverage and political attention. Usage of this electoral-card –laced with religious appeal to apparently win Hindu[Read More…]
The Russian military closed the so-called “grain corridor” used to ship Ukrainian agriculture products through the Black Sea on Monday. The move was provoked by the actions of Ukraine, which used the route to launch attacks on Russia, the Russian Defense Ministry said. “Any navigation through the security corridor designated under the Black Sea grain shipment initiative would be halted[Read More…]
Close to the 38th anniversary of the Sikh Genocide, two Indian movies have tried to expose the reality of the world’s so called largest secular democracy. Laal Singh Chaddha and Jogi depict the state sponsored massacre of the Sikhs in the first week of November 1984, following the assassination of then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. Both are[Read More…]
With the U.S. midterm elections looming and Europe’s economic situation deteriorating, the threat of reduced international support for Ukraine could limit Kyiv’s options heading into the new year. Since February 24, 2022, Ukraine’s armed forces have successfully defended much of their country. But without American assistance, the Ukrainian military campaign would have likely floundered months ago. Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of[Read More…]
While the war rages on in Ukraine, how is the Left facing the multi-dimensional complex challenges thrown up by the war and the ravages that it is heaping upon its people ? The writer Arundhati Roy, in a lighter vein has summed up the Left’s dilemma as “tortuous yoga asanas – some pretty drastic seeing and unseeing – depending on [Read More…]
Since the end of the Second World War in 1945, there has been no other year when the possibility of a Third World War has been discussed as much as in the year 2022, mostly in the context of the Ukraine War and USA-Russia relations, but to a much lesser extent also in the context of Taiwan and USA-China relations.[Read More…]
All the chicken heads Are hung against the wall And in invisible velvet rooms Choice chokes on power And the stupid dance Of commanded wraiths Processes its time Declares victors’ empty victory Only the machine is glorious Structure is Caesar While the plebeians play dice Under a Lotto Number Soaked in blood Dan Corjescu teaches at the University of Tübingen’s “Studium[Read More…]
Avoiding the War on Terror would have saved over 10 million lives at home and abroad 
The Angertainer Steps Down: Rupert Murdoch’s Non-Retirement 
Climate Emergency Update, September 2023 
My appeal to Meta’s Oversight Board: Palestinian political and resistance organizations & individuals are not “terrorists” as classified by Israel 
Artificial Intelligence: Profit Versus Freedom 
How Can We Understand the Passage of Time? 
Pre- and Post-Soviet Language Policy in the East-Baltic States 
Breadcrumb 
Three Indian Movies win TIFF 2023 Awards 
Ukrainian president holds crisis talks in Washington amid failure of “spring offensive” 
Zelensky Faces Difficult Time In Washington D.C. 
Stumbling Towards Old Age And Looking for Someone to Lean On 
Tolstoy’s Dilemma 
Ukraine Peace Activists Protest During Zelensky White House Visit 
“Our world is becoming unhinged”: Antonio Guterres 
How Chances of Direct War between the USA and Russia Are Increasing 
G20 Biofuel Alliance threatens Food security 
Thousands Of Auto Workers Strike In Three U.S. Plants, Face Financial Hardship 
Submission To Australian National Anti-Corruption Commission, NACC: Mainstream Media Lying 
In The Name of Decolonization 
Is This the End of French Neo-Colonialism in Africa? 
Tel Aviv’s Losing Brands: Israeli ‘Coup’ and the Death of False Democracy 
Tackling Global Emergencies – UN International Day of Peace 
The Futility of Feudalistic Democracy 
Bayer over-riding Bhartiya Krishi 
Pulwama Bombing 14th February 2019: Unanswered Questions 
Himalayan Apple Growers Worried Over Increasing Threat from Imports 
After protests in flood-hit Derna, Libyan officials order journalists to leave 
International Day of Peace: Fostering Harmony and Unity in a World of Diversity 
More Butterflies, Fewer Billionaires — Unrigging the Global Economy 
Veganic Farming: How My Tiny Plot Produced 5,000 Pounds of Food Without Using Manure 
Fighting the Diaspora: India’s Campaign Against Khalistan 
CAIR Files Lawsuit to End Islamophobic No Fly List 
N.D.Mahanor, The Poet Who Taught Us to See Culture in Agriculture 
Dark and light streaks in India-China relations 
Why the Central Government Should Rush Special Aid Package for Himachal Pradesh 
Special Session: Another Image-Boosting Move? 
Eddelu ( Wake up) Karnataka: The Great Citizen’s Wall Against BJP 
Urgency of Improving Dam Safety Re-Emphasized in Libya and Ukraine 
Climate Crisis Threatens Largest U.S. Cities 
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…]
